a weekend of racing in nice weather

what a change. short sleeves. sun (sunburn). it was nice, for a change.

turtle pond - 47 miles, finished up a 1.5k climb. Pretty much sat in and tried to stop my wheels from squeecking (yea, I was THAT guy). Was in a terrible spot going into the last time up the climb, found nate's (brandies) wheel and he picked off about 20 ppl, I came around, dropped the hammer, felt good, came to the false flat at 50m and found myself in no mans land between 10-15 riders who were 100m clear of the other 75-80 ppl (or whatever was left of the original field of 100) with a UVM kid about 10m ahead of me. I was feeling cooked, and just rolled in for 15-20th. A few guys off the front, and then however many were ahead of me. I lost my cellphone, got a sunburn, and locked up my rear wheel, ruining a tubular. Christian had a mechnical (go figure, he doesn't take care of his bike), the girls were dumb and none of them brought enough water. Linnea dropped out in like 9th place, although she did awesome for her first race and having ridden 4 times this year, she is an animal. rose missed her start and rode solo, sarah and delia were otb pretty quickly. I beat a bunch of collegiate b riders, giving me some more confidence for riding b's. We spent the night at unh, which was fun

saco training crit - I skipped the b race, rode like 2 laps of it to warmup and spent a lap pulling sarah up to a wheel. A race was a bigger field (30 or so maybe?) no colavita pro, but a bunch of other pro guys (some team, 6 or 7 of them were there). I bridged to a few promising looking break's, made a few attacks of my own, chased, took some (rather short/wimpy) pulls, and generally raced animated-ly again. Coming into the sprint, I was 2nd wheel, but with 5 guys off the front, and another 6 came past me in the sprint (confirming I can't sprint), although I spent a LONG time in the last 1000m out of the saddle just trying to hold the wheel. This series should have a u23 leader, just so I can win by default (I think). Heck, I would prbly still take u25.

176 miles for the week (with 2 days off, 1 for rest, 1 because my head wasn't up for it). That puts me at 2005 miles for the year.

every have one of those days

where nothing goes right? I had one today. First I had to get up at 8:30 for a meeting, I don't have class till 11. Then I did terribly on my pysch midterm, thats two of them now. Then my day went up a bit as I got to see family friends who were visiting the school and a professor helped me out with research for a paper. Then my female situation complicated itself. So I decided to go for a bike ride. It was super windy, but I was pissed and riding hard. I did my ever favorite love to hate it bigalow hill, and on my way back got a flat, about 8 miles from either the shop or campus. Pissed off, I just rode the 8 miles (8.43 actaully) at ~ 22mph just hoping I wouldn't die (it was a rear flat). I was on the p.o.s. wheels, so how much more damage could I do to them? (none). On the bright side, It was a very hard 8 miles and I got in a good workout. Now I have mastik on my hands (yes tubular glue mastik) as I used some to try to glue the leather back onto the shell of my saddle, which is slowly pealing off.

Maybe tmrw will be better. I think any one of 4 packages in the mail for me, if they showed up, would make me happy.

how to respond?

how do you respond to vatech? tyler said it better than i ever could, so read what he wrote.

podium time

Rose and I decided to wake up at 4:45am to drive down to the saco training crit. Turns out we could have slept till 6 and still be fine, but whatever. I sat in most of the b race, went to take one pull and got yelled at by some guy who was just in general grumpy, so I just sat in the back with the a racers. 15 miles done. 20 or so mph avg. Flat and boring course. Rose leads out the field, and gets passed by everyone.

I roll around, a race lines up, we start, rose is there, then disappears. She took off to ride to a nearby gas station to refill water. While she is gone, some dude in a full colavita kit joins in late. At first I think, oh, guess he is on the masters team. Get closer, and he has the helmet, the booties, the gloves, the bike, his name on the top tube. Uh-oh time. I go over and talk (I sort of know 2 of the guys on colavita from targetraining last year, at least I met them once). Things are cruising, I am feeling good. I realize I have half a bottle and a pack of clif blocks...this could be interesting, seeing as I ate a muffin and coffee for breakfast. Turns out (but I didn't know this at the time) colavita guy is dan vaillancourt, from saco. Had I known that, I probably would NOT have tried to follow his every attack, but I didn't know that. So I follow his attacks, at like 32mph, for awhile. I think we are going fast, Dan probably wasn't breaking a sweat (well, it was like 44 degrees out). We come to the first preem in a group of 5, and I take second behind Dan. He won 5 bucks, I get nothing. We get caught, I recover, another break goes, another preem, I take 2nd (and no money) again but this time behind a SMCC guy (souther maine cycling club). SMCC had like easily 1/2 the field. I realize soon that dan is just attacking to soften up the field/break my legs. So after 4 or 5, I decide to just sit in and let someone pull me up. Eventually, Dan and some guy go. Actaully 4 or 5 are up there. 1 falls off. I stop paying attention, but I guess 2 more fall off. They are gone, and the race is for 3rd (although I thought it was for 5th). Some little attacks go, but SMCC pulls them back. I attack at 2 to go, but no one comes with and I don't feel like riding solo for that long, so I rejoin the 25 person or so group. Bell lap comes, and I jump up to the paceline in the first corner. Next turn, I jump up to 5th wheel. At what I judge to be 1km to go, where there is a nice little tailwind and a straight, with only 2 turns, 1 gradual false flat, and the wind, to go, I decide, screw this whole pack finish get outsprinted in crits thing. So I turn on the jets.

I put my head down, count out 45 pedal strokes, look behind, and there is a guy with me. He comes through, then me. I say, lets make this work, between gasps. We take the 2nd to last turn, hit the hill and the wind, and my legs hurt. I say, you can have it if we make it to the line, I don't have anything left, as I try to get out of the saddle to hold his wheel. We hit the real flat and a crosswind, take the last turn, have about 600m to go, I look back, he looks back, I am on his wheel, I say, stop looking back, lets go. As in, I feel good, i'll take a pull. However this passes on SMCC guy (the one who outsprinted me for a preem earlier), because he pulls me. His speed starts to slow at 300m, and I am wondering, how long untill the pack comes flying by. We pass the 200m sign, I look back, see the pack about 100m behind us, and decide to just go for it. At 125 (or so) m to go, I come around SMCC guy and just give it all I have. No looking back, just pure out of the saddle vision is going blurry hammering. My legs hurt. My body hurts. I use what little I have left to attempt a bike throw (in case anyone was near, I had no idea) and come across. While trying to hold down the puke that feels like coming up, I turn around to see about 6 guys. I have no idea if SMCC made it or not, but I know I did. I ride a cool down lap, go talk to SMCC (I apologized for coming around after I said I wouldn't, he said no worries, you played your tactics well and turns out he held off the pack). Talk to dan briefly, go over to grab my sweatshirt, and find out I took 3rd. Woot. Whatever, it was a training race, but still, I'm happy. I took a risk in a crit and it paid off. Turns out, I missed $$ in both of the preems I went for, and the payout was 2 deep. So no money, but something? Oh wait, uscf pts towards the upgrade. 4 of them, brining the grand total to 4. I am 1/4 there now I guess. If nothing, I furthered my reputation as a guy who just attacks and attacks....

181 miles for the week. 18--something for the year. UNH next week. I am feeling good. Hurray bike racing. Both HUP and COLBY kits are supposed to arrive this week, along with my arm warmers. And more clif bars. And no real schoolwork. BUT MORE FRIGGEN SNOW. BOO. (I am clearly still in post-race delerium).

that was fun

wed. ride recap -
47 degrees (semi-warmth, finally) 15mph wind (finally, a "not" windy day)
2hrs, 28minutes, 42 seconds of riding. 48.53miles travelled (thats like mid 19-20mph avg.). 4X12min 89-90% Intervals, 4 minutes recovery (ouch). Rode out by myself, got into the intervals pretty quickly and did them man-style (into the wind). Was feeling good. Just finished up with intervals when I saw christian going the other way, about halfway through the lake loop (a 30 mile loop, I had done a 15 mile loop and then done the lake loop). I turn around, he is just out to kill himself (when is he not?) and he offers to double the legnth of my pulls, as he has less than an hour on the bike, and I have somewhere shy of two. This of course doesn't happen, and I find myself out of the saddle more and more, staring at his rear hub trying to just hold it. Then he pulls through, I kill myself for awhile (at this point my legs hurt to the point I can't put my hr past 85%), and on and on we go. On the last climb (after a fairly hilly ride, not the craziest around here, but in the top 3 or 4 hilliest routes we normally do), it is I who drops christian, not the other way around (as I was expecting). We roll back onto campus, my legs hurting in the satisfied, that was a good ride, type of way.

mike, of carnegie (see pictures/stories below) took 5th in a 1/2/3/4 training crit tonight. 3 guys up the road, he was in a second group of 4, he and the guy ahead of him just avoided getting swallowed by the pack at the line. First off, awesome job, congrats. Second, collegiate crits are stupid....he is the guy usually right around me, and he can take 5th in a 1/2/3/4. The guy who was 4th is a cat 1 who won the pa state crit last year. Yet mike has 0 ECCC pts this year (that means no top 12's). Thats just dumb. Third, maine needs weeknight crits.

meh.

meh sort of describes my week. I was a bit sick wed-fri (taking thus. off) and life is chugging along. I managed to put in 205.52 miles in 12:34. I rode pretty big days both today and yesterday, in the nasty cold (well, not as bad as feb, but once you have had a taste of warmth, anything below 40 is cold). Today we had 30mph of wind, if not more. That was less than fun. For the year I am at 1648 miles. That is under 1000 miles shy of my total for last year. And this is the 1 year anniversy of me buying the LeMond, riding a few times, and jumping into a race. What a difference a year can make.

In good news, I won a town line sprint today. Normally that wouldn't be exciting. Except I have never, ever, ever won a town line sprint. I have won preem's before just by being in a break and being up front that lap, but never a sprint. I was riding with one other person (some sunday easter group ride) and he (paul, fast masters racer/sprinter) destroyed me on the first one. The second one, for the first time in my life I felt like I was sprinting. Paul went first, and led untill about 10m from the sign. I pulled up next to him at like 50m, shifted up, and went past and just nipped him, bike throw and all. It really felt different than my normal attempts at "sprinting" and if I can repeat it (and beat someone who is actaully good at crits) maybe I can learn to sprint after all. Before you ruin my moment of glory by saying "that wasn't a real town line sprint" or whatever, don't, I don't want to hear it. I normally get beaten in town line sprints by a teammate who gets dropped in the D field (what does that say about me?). I'll never be good at spriting, but maybe decent? Never mind the fact I was sprinting in my little ring (39X11, the new sprint gear...) which I didn't notice untill after the sign....

some picture action

I am sick as crap. Had to take the day off. Then again, it had been 19 days since my last off day, so that isn't the end of the world. I was a few days from a schedualed off day, and my legs are still feeling good. But I woke up this morning with the head cold and figured, uh-oh, gotta be careful. By lunch it was the full on fluid in the chest cough, which = off day. Fruit, water, veggie diet for the day (it usually works for me) and a huge nap, and alot of sleep tonight and hopefully I'll be back on my feet tmrw. If not, well, I'm not racing this weekend, so a few days off won't exactly kill me right now, but I'd rather be on the bike. So I am posting pictures of when I felt good in an effort to trick my body into feeling better. Somehow I doubt it will work, but its worth a shot, I think.

Have you ever seen someone sooo stoked for a
front row start (not in a 'cross race)? Well, I gave a fist pump. Mike was talking to me.....little did we know that front row was pretty much the high point of both of our races.

Somewhere in hurty-land. In fact, it hurts so much I went blurry. Judging by the fact I'm in the drops its either the first 5 or last 5 laps, as I rode the middle 15 on the hoods. I'm gonna go with first 5, as I don't really remember following a yale kid late in the race (no offense yale kid, you are probably smarter than me and will run the world one day).

And finally, my meager attempt to sprint in the road race. Note how bundled up the guy next to me is. Wimp. In another pic from the road race, you can see a sliver of exposed leg, and you know its me, since EVERYONE else in the race had at least knee warmers if not full on cold gear on. Oh yea, I can't sprint. Then again, bundled up guy beat me, maybe I shouldn't call him a wimp, should I?

For the record, all of these photo's are borrowed from an unnamed website. Hence the proof. Mike (carnegie melon mike) told me how to borrow them, but I am no good w/ computers, so we didn't try to attempt to remove proof.

Now if only our new kits would come in. Its april for crying out loud. Teaser of the kit, or at least the picture I saw before we submitted our final design.

Come On

It is april 4th/5th. It is snowing. The last few days it rain/snowed. The next few days it is supposed to rain/snow. COME ON, ENOUGH ALREADY. I WANT TO F*CKING RIDE MY F*CKING BIKE. There, I said it. I am tough, but not BKW hardman tough (great site, check it out). I try, but lets be honest, I am a shrimpy white jewish kid from the suburbs.

Thanks to all those who came to beanpot to support the racers. Picture is from the "death corner" which was not very "deathly" this year, sort of a let down. Although riding it with no brakes for 15 laps was sort of an experience, I had the levers in so far they were touching the bars, and I was barely slowing down.....if that doesn't teach ya how to corner, I don't know what will. Look at my pasty-white arms and legs --> its clear I go to school in maine, where is snows, in april, alot.

Next crit I do, no matter how much pain I am in just holding on, I am 100% determined to get up to the front, and to make an attack. That is how you attack (not like I normally do, when the pace is slow to moderate, like a wimp) and that is how you make attacks work (see bucknell crit). I would honestly rather go for it and have my heart explode, my legs fall off, or my eyes pop out of my sockets than spend 30-45 minutes trying to hold onto the wheel in front of me for dear life, knowing that I WILL get outsprinted. Who knows, it just might work too. Odds on me really doing this vs. another make the tiny selection group and get outsprinted by just about all who made it.....1 in 10? For some reason when I am actaully in the race, my will to make said attack is far less, and just hanging on seems like the way to go.

(un)lucky number 2

The number two was the theme of the weekend for me. So many things happened in the number two:

2 crashes
2 flat tires (though one was on the car)
2 races
2 breakaways
2 pts (ECCC pts)

Road race - saturday, 40 miles - 3 laps of 13 miles, 1 big climb and 2 small ones per lap. I wake up on time for a change, get in a good warmup, meet some cool bowdoin kids (one of whom inadvertantly comes up with the best pickup line ever while oogling the c50's "hey, can I spin your wheel?" - I heart collegiate cycling), and head to the start. Things start, I am mid-pack, chillin, talk to mike (carnegie mellon) and dan (drexel). First little climb, and I feel like moving up, so I do....easily. Over the top, I sort of roll off the front. Next thing I know a kid bridges up. I don't really feel like working, and take it easy, and we get caught. I settle in up front, take a pull or two (rather slowly) and on a little rise, some kid goes. I decide to follow him. A third kid bridges. I think, why not? We start going, and don't really build up a lead. We come through to the big decent, and 3 more kids join up with us, although our gap is tiny. We get caught at the base of the biggish climb, and I grind out the climb, and recover pretty quickly. From there some kid attacks, who stays away for the win. I spend the next two laps sitting in the front 10 wheels. Some kids go down behind me shortly after the start of lap three. I make a few more psuedo-attacks and take some pulls. I try to eat my clif block shots, and half of them end up falling (with the other half in my mouth). Last lap on the climb, I am 5th wheel, some kid pushes the pace, and I follow. We pull away, and about 75 ft from the top of the climb, I blow. A second kid comes up a bit ahead of what is left of the group, I jump to get on his wheel, but am not recovered. I come over the top alone, halfway between the kid in front of me and a few guys who now make up the lead group. That group catches me and re-organizes on the descent. I sit 4th wheel hanging on for dear life, using what little legs I have left to try pulling, to no avail. No one has teammates, and no one wants to pull us up to the two guys ahead of us, who are clearly within site. I try pushing the pace one last time on the final little climb, but don't have the legs. I set myself up on dans wheel for the sprint (kid has 3 sprint wins this year so far) and watch him and the rest of the group pull away from me in the sprint. I hold off 1 or 2 of the guys in our group, for 11th, and 2 ECCC points (yay?). Some tufts kid comes up to me after the race and says "nice race man, you were awesome up there attacking and being all agressive, well done".....that made my day and made up for the fact not burning so much early, and I may have held on to that wheel on the last climb. I was stupid and didn't start eating early enough in the race either, lesson learned.

Sunday - crit, 25 laps of ?? miles. Ride to the course, as my car has a flat tire....a premonition of things to come. Line up front row (what a change from the norm) next to mike and near dan. Things start, things are fast. I turn around 5 laps in, see mike and 2 other guys on my wheel, and wonder where the rest of the pack went. (there were like 20 guys in the group). My legs really hurt and felt like rocks from 3 laps in, so it was a long race. Coming up the hill, I would have to stand and grind out 65-70rpm and try not to get droppped....every lap. Lap 10 or so, some kid went down, kid in front of me rode into him and I jammed brake but rode into him. Put a foot down and stayed up, but had to pull my handlebars out of his bike. My chain was off, my brakes were rubbing (someone hit me from behind) and my leg was bleeding --> free lap time. I ride back to the pit, and 15ft from the pit my rear tire explodes.....literally....bang (well the tube). I get a neutral service wheel, and am back in the lead group (along with 1 other kid from the crash). We chase for half a lap and catch back on, but not before my brakes are all messed up and I skid through a corner, promting me to spend awhile trying to open the little levers while riding. Sit in the pack for awhile, finally move from like 3rd to last wheel to maybe 7th wheel, but I am hurting and just fall back where I was. Last lap comes around finally, and I am stoked to hear the bell. 3rd to last turn, and the kid on front of me is on the ground. I hit him, and the kid behind me goes down. I shake myself off, see no one behind me, and decide to ride in behind the group for whatever place. A kid blows a tire in the group, drops back, but still beats me (on a flat) as I am using what little I have left to sprint....for 15th. Considering the circumstances and my being too skinny to be good at crits, i'll take it. I had a great post race talk with alexi (alumni) and the neutral service guys even gave a free tube and changed my tire for me....thats service (at no charge). We rode home, fixed the car, and got back to school....break is over :(

Week in review - 284.24 miles in 17:26.....1 crash during training (wind + sand) but a good time and lots of miles. That puts me at 1442.68 miles for 2007, so far....816 for the month of march. I think I am going to skip uvm....I love that climb, but I have 2 exams I NEED to do well on, so it may be an off weekend for me.....we'll see. Hopefully some good weather will come, and I can do the shop ride up here if I stay (I've never done it, oddly).

friggen a

Mile 69.45 out of mile 70 yesterday, I decide to lay my bike down...almost home, but hit a super sandy patch + wind, and over I went. Road rash, bent derailler hanger (well it was already bent, but I had to go get a new one this morning, luckily bethel cycles had one) but it sort of annoyed me. Now I have road rash all over my hip, in a spot that just cleared up two months ago, from a crash during 'cross. Son of a #$%. Two 4+ hour rides this week, and my legs hurt a bit. I am also starting to have some tan lines.....not yet, but I laid the foundation. I also got to a read a book, some hemmingway about paris in the '20's, it was pretty decent. For the record, yes, I know how to read (I do go to colby from time to time, after all).

I am somewhat looking forward to this weekends races. These were my 1st ever races, last year. I have, well, 1000 or so miles more in my legs than I did last season at this point (plus lifting and racing experience). I know the courses pretty well, and I think the road race is pretty well suited to me. It is hilly, but not super super climbing intense (the legs aren't totally read for that I don't think yet) and I know the climbs from last year (somewhat) so I am 'crossing my fingers. Also some plans to get into a break in the 'crit with some friends maybe.....maybe. I have been feeling good all week (well, tired, but strong) and recovering well, and well, I am going to stop talking, stop putting pressure/expecations on my self, go sleep/rest some more and then race my bike.

warmth

It was warm out. Like, short sleeve top and bottom, no gloves, sweating.....warm. I rode a shade over 4 hours and did a shade over 66 miles. I did it very stupidly, doing mostly flat first 2 hours, and mostly hills 2nd two. I also was with the wind for an hour, then into the wind for two, and then with the wind to end it. Somewhere up one of the 20% + grade hills in the 3rd hour, into the wind, my soul was crushed. I also saw like 10-15 other cyclists out on the roads, first time all year I've seen anyone else out.

I also met mandy today over at TT. she seemed really nice, and it was sort of cool to meet someone whose blog you have read for awhile (though I didn't tell her that fact). She gave me an

impressivly firm/strong handshake....for a female or a male, it caught me off guard. Oh yea, she was...um...well...rather hot. While I was there I picked up some new embro (my stock of greyhound juice ran out last weekend) - its made by elite, and i guess its called o3zone or something like that "thermogel forte". It's made in italy, and has writing in english second, so you know its good. Sadly, it sort of absorbed and leaves no sheen although the package does say that the "warm tingling sensation" and "skin reddening" is "perfectly normal". At like 20 bucks for 100ml, this crap better be good. Its supposed to be not short sleeve weather again tmrw/thus, so maybe I'll give it a try.

Picture stolen off the interwebs from the weekend. One of my solo break attempts...shortly before I vom'd and dropped out. I know, not at all aero, but I was minutes from puking and was starting to feel sick, hence I sat up, and have a great look about me.

race weekend duex

Bucknell cycling classic. 36 mile road race, 30 minute crit. I stayed at the really fast bucknell guys room, thanks again for hooking that up, greatly appreciated.

Road race - felt very strong. Moved up easily on the hills early as things started out very, very slow. We are talking the D's who started 2 min behind us were gonna catch us slow. I tried a break, well, actaully three. One was solo, one I initiated and somene followed, one was me seeing a rider who I thought "looked fast" and 3 seconds later he went, and I followed. None stayed away more than a few minutes. Then I got sick, puked and dropped out. It sucked, I felt like I could have tried something with the hills, I felt super strong, but the finish (and 3 miles heading to it) were all flat, so who knows. Looking forward to boston.

Criterium - felt less than great. Actaully, the dude in front of me didn't clip in and I was near the back from the gun. 4 dudes took off, never to be seen again. Things were lined out from the end of the first lap, and I was like 30-40 wheels back. Which was bad. I had very few oppertunities to move up, and when I did, my legs weren't having it. Things were fast, and a very technical course meants lots of small gaps needed to be closed down just to stay in contact. Finally, at 4 to go, I got all the way up to 5th-6th wheel. It was clear the break was gone, so I decided to see if I had the legs for a psuedo-sprint. I was going to try a break, but wind and speed and lots of work just moving up and I wasn't really feeling it. 3 turns to go, and I get real close, and I mean super, super close to the guy next to me. Like, not just bumping elbows, but he was literally supporting me, all my weight was on him. Apparently someone cut him off, and he came into my line, and there was no room, i'm just happy he didn't freak out and kept going and we both stayed up (we talked about it after the race). I came through the last turn 15th wheel. My super amazing sprint skills put me into 13th at the line, which was good for 17th with the 4 off the front. Not amazing, but just behind the spinters, for a total climber, on a flat, windy, technical crit....isn't bad. I proved to myself I have some legs, and my speed is starting to come around.

In the A race, rkelly was one of like 7-10 guys who went away and lapped the field....hugely impressive, props to him. Ryan, if you see this, I have a sweet picture of you leading the break in the 2nd to last turn (where I was that guy screaming for you 'cross style), but my computer is broken, so if you want it i'll send it to you in like 2 weeks once my computer gets back from the spa (dell repair center).

Seeing as the week is over...185.97mi, 11:26:51. Huge week on tap for break this week (well not huge, but big). Things are coming along.....maybe?

16.6

ec90sl fork + tubulars = 16.6lbs. No pics, I am having technical issues (I broke my computer). Maybe sometime next week, or the week after that, or the week after that. It looks fast.

Shakedown ride on the wheels - hubs are buttery smooth like the other neuvation hubs I have, and the wheels turn. Good supple feel to the tubbies, seemed a bit "less harsh" and I felt they "went" at speed nicely. It's all in my head, I guess. I liked them. And they were fine in 15mph cross winds.

say what

It had been awhile since I posted a pic, and too much text blog = boring. Oh yea, the tubulars showed up today. They are stretching over at the shop, glue'd (or extreme tape'd) later in the week, shakedown ride fri prbly, and then bust 'em out at bucknell. Time to venga, if you will. The blue is the basetape, and is actaully less than the picture shows. I had the tire on only partways in the pic and it wasn't centered, so you see more blue than you normally would. You get the idea though. The tubulars were pretty cool, the sidewall almost looks like a michelin p2r limited edition, it had the same sort of diagonal goldish lines on it, as you can see in the pic. smooth center, some basic grippy tread type on the side (not tread, but small dots I guess). Blue cloth basetape. Oh yea, ec90sl fork also on the way. Maybe will get here pre-break. If so, bike will prbly be sub 17 in race livery. I have a fast bike (at least it looks fast), so now I need to be equally fast.

week 7

7 weeks of riding on the books. Somehow, this one doesn't seem like it will be one to remmeber. an astounding 4 days on the bike, some great sickness, a measily 101 miles in 6:18. Heck, I could do that in one day. Started week 6 in the gym, so I am almost done there and I am getting wayyyy stronger. I am at something like 385 miles for the month, and just shy of 1k for the year so far. Things would have been bigger, but after finding out the race sat was cancelled I opted for a day off (since my legs were none to recovered) and then partook in doghead, colby's fine tradition of waking up at 430am on the saturday closest to st. patty's, and drinking your mind out. I was planning on going home after sleeping all afternoon and sobering up to drive home and race (poorly) the next day, but that race was cancelled too. So I decided to continue my stupidness, take a second day off from riding, and go all out. At least I got it out of my system. I got in some quaility time on the rollers today, watched some free cycling.tv ( thanks tyler for the tip, and I agree, lamesauce on the race weekend).

I think I have spring break (last week of march) lined up. Drive home thus. night, drive to bucknell fri, race sat/sun, drive back home sun night, train at home mon/tues, drive up to VT with rose, train in VT (hopefully no snow and lots of mtns) wed/thus, thus night drive to boston and visit a friend, spend friday w/ said friend, get in a nice little spin, then race sat/sun in boston. Should be a good mix of places, temperatures, etc. Rose is crazy and fun to be around, supposedly her parents are nuts (some ppl stayed there for a mtb race in the fall) and I would LOVE to get to VT and do some mtn passes for a few days.

fight to the death

thats right, im calling out you, old man winter. cage match. fight to the death. although i may be a skinny bike dork, I am pretty sure I could take you. You got my second race cancelled this weekend, and I am out for blood.

I guess I should just go skiing, huh?

f you old man winter, f you

because of this "huge" "nor'easter" that is "slamming" nyc with snow, my bike race got cancelled. why don't you go to siberia or something where winter is appreciated. you are unwanted here, so go away. hopefully things will get cleaned up and we may race sunday.

maine, make up your mind

seriously, the weather games need to end. One day its 45, the next they are predicting 100 feet on snow. Then its 50 and windy, then sleeting, then 30 and calm, then 5, then back to 50, another 25 feet of snow. I know march is spring/winter, but come on, some consistancy please. Let's just hope this weekend it doesn't snow that much and we can race.

It was pouring rain, dumping buckets, whatever, and 42 and windy today, so Rose and I decided to go for a 2.5 hour death march. My feet and hands stayed dry for 38 minutes. at 42 minutes, my hands were numb, at 1:08 my wool socks decided they didnt want to keep the feet warm anymore and they dissappeared, and the rest of the ride sucked. I could barely see (was wearing glasses and a cycling cap) from the rain, spray, spray from wheels, etc etc. My face was covered in dirt/road grime, as was rose's. My legs felt great though. It felt hardcore, if nothing else (it really wasn't though, a century in those conditions yes, somewhere around 40 miles, no) And my bike is cleaner now than it was pre-ride (though its still very dirty) so I will have to clean it less tonight/tmrw before the races this weekend. If only my clothes would dry out before I have to pack them tmrw morning, things would be on the up and up.

fun

I totally forgot how much fun it is to ride in groups of 5-10. Went for a ride with a small group of us today, and it was a blast. Inevitably some are in better and worse shape, and the constant hills tend to break things into two groups (10 seconds gap, tops), with the occasional person riding in between. It's great being able to ride with either, tow people up, drop back, bridge back up, at will. Rotating through and chatting with everyone, having people bridge up to the front group and then "attack" and see who follows, etc. etc. It's just playing, and its so much fun. Town line sprints, etc. etc. Better yet, was my legs felt ok (still not 100%, but wayyy more recovered than during the weekend, had yesterday off). And perhaps the funniest part of the ride was christian and I riding Rose off our wheel on a climb, her hammering the downhill and breif flat before the next climb, catching us about 500m from the base of the climb, and then getting dropped again as soon as the road got steep. It wasn't like we were racing, but you could tell Rose was going pretty hard (she is the type of person who would) and was getting pissed off at not being able to hold mine/christians wheels.....we weren't going all out, but we were pushing the pace on the climbs.....It was big ring interval day for me after all. It was perhaps the most fun I have had on the bike in 07 - the fact it was 44 and I "only" needed to wear 1 baselayer and arm/leg warmers and booties and full gloves may have helped.

still me

the "new" author - josh, is also me. Allons-y was on a different account and it's way easier for me to not have to log out of gmail, log in as allons-y, log out, and then back into my gmail account every time I want to post. So allons-y will be faded out (if possible deleted, but it took me 3 months to figure out how to add someone an author). So if you see posts, comments, etc. by josh, its me. I figured this was easier than re-creating the whole blog in another account w/ new address, etc. etc. I guess I will still have to use allons-y to modify things though.