and more

nate asked jak to marry him on the start line of the womens a circuit. we were somewhere around the gw bridge, but she said yes and everyone was happy. maybe they will have crazy bike nerd kids someday? Seriously though, they are awesome and best of luck to them.

blah blah blah - 40 degrees, snow, and 20-30mph of wind

The title pretty much describes sundays circtuit race. I felt blah. Actaully, my legs felt pretty ok. I got a bunch of sleep, had a good warmup, and had ok legs. Nothing crazy, but not drained by any means, which is always good. It was windy, crazy windy, like 20-30mph of wind, and gusts. I met mike (carnegie mellon - rbr) right after the gun, his pink bar tape is quite distinctive. Felt fine for the first few laps (i think we did 11 or 12 maybe?). Got up to the front at like 4 or 5 to go, spent a lap or two in the front 5, didn't do any work, but just spent some time up at the front. The finish was a long uphill, maybe 2% grade. Not enough to give any climber a real advantage, especially considering it was into the wind. Each time we would hit the wind and that slight hill (more like a false flat) the speed would drop from like 25 to 18, then jump back to 22 and stay there 'till we left the wind. At the bell lap I sort of knew I didn't have it in me to sprint, especially with the wind. I slowly drifted back, was like 4 from the back halfway into it. At the 2nd to last turn, the kid in front of me lost his wheel. Sort of annoying, but who really cares if I was going to pack finish or first chase group? Right then we hit the wind, the pack kept the pace up as the sprint lead outs were in full force, and it was clear we weren't going to close the gap as it grew from 25m to 75m before we hit the last turn. Myself and those behind me sat on the kids wheel, and there were maybe 4 of us, caught a kid who lost the pack with the speed of the sprint, and then sprinted.

I was out front with like, um, 250m to go. Great. Some kid came past me and got a maybe a wheel on me, and I threw my bike to hold on to.....33rd place, great. It was actaully all not bad, as I ended up sprinting, which I wouldnt have in the pack. I took 2nd in a 5up sprint, which I was fine with. I also timed my bike throw perfectly, which was awesome. The kid I beat even gave me a fist pound for a good sprint after the line.....in the driving snow, which was sweet. What happened to sun and warmth?

Overall, it was a good weekend of training, I stayed alive, had fun, and got some experience under the belt. I was something like 85th on the TT - 7:15:XX over 2.8 miles. Winner of a's was like 5:53:XX......winner of c's was 6:10:XX. So while I am not much of a tt-er, clearly, I was pretty far off and need to get better, it was a really short tt. Jeff beat me by about 1.3 seconds, nate was about 10 seconds up on him.....nothing I like worse than getting beaten by those two.....Jeff was also like 5 spots up on me, with his 1.3 seconds. I ended up 39th in the crit, not 40th, but who the f cares, really?

I got to stop at home on the drive back, got a nice chicken parm and a break from driving, which I did 6 of 8 hours today. Wayyyy better than the drive down. I got #636 for collegiate racing, which is good, I usually do well with numbers that are sequential or symettrical, for some reason. I was 232 and 454 in my best 2 'cross races last fall, and 345 in my best crit last year.

The week is over - week whatever of training. 5 days of riding, 2 of them races. First real intervals on the bike earlier. Also 2 days of lifting. 131.31 miles of riding in 8:06:05 on the bike. Short week, should have been more but I missed my 1 hr spin on friday, and took an extra day off. Oh well. Next week will be big with no racing, more gym, and some good motivation to train harder-er.

that sucked

Day 1 of racing of 07 is on the books, and it sucked.

Things started by oversleeping by an hour. After rushing to the race, things were backed up an hour so all was good. Said hi to Miller and Jeff (unh) kids

2.75 mile flat TT. slight breeze. tt's aren't my thing. I got in a great warmup, stayed on the trainer till the last minute and was one of the last guys to go. Guy behind me graduated from colby a few years back. 20 second intervals. My head isn't really in it untill im clicked in and on the line, but when that happens its go time and my body all of a sudden is "on". I set out at a good pace, spinning ~ 100rpm, fell fine, legs fell o.k. no real burn, but they dont feel great. Hit the turn around fine, don't mess it up, get up to speed, forearms on the bars, spinning good, all of a sudden, the guy who was behind me is next to me. I turn it up a notch, and he disappears. I almost take a wrong turn, costing me 1-3 seconds, but so does guy behind me. Get to the 500m to go spot, still feeling strong. 250m to go, uh-oh, my legs are starting to hurt, my breathing is gone, and im feeling iffy. 100m to go I blow. Guy who was behind me comes flying by, I get out of the saddle and giv'er, and finish wheel and wheel with him. So I clearly couldn't have won. I think my time was about 7:13, will know official results tmrw. I think I avg'd ~ 22.8 mph, which isnt bad for a non-aero tt with roughly 5-10mph of wind, for a non-tt guy. I was actaully pretty happy that I paced myself better than I normally do.

Cool down, drive to the crit spot. Pre-ride, warm up, get a few calories in me. Feel ok still. Say hi to Katie (tufts) and Emily (bu). 2nd row, outside start to the crit. I'm not even in my pedals when I hear someone go down behind me (and then a few more) out of the start. I get in and people start to drill the pace. Group is cut in half. End of the first lap, come out of the corner, and next thing I know the guy in front of me is upside down. I have a half second to think, wow, this is going to suck, as I try to brake/swerve, but with nowhere to go I lay it down. I am fine, back up before the second group has passed us. I take my free lap, along with one other guy (everyone was fine). But i was pissed, i was riding 7-8th wheel and there was a crash. I thought I would be fine up front, but no. We re-start, I am totally mentally out of it and trying not to crash, slip off, sit up, work with the first group to catch me. Repeat the process till I am solo off the back, sit up and get pulled with 4 to go (12 or 13 laps, i forget). I am not really pissed, I was totally fine, my bike was fine, etc etc, but it was a downer. Then again, i'm not really built for crits. Cool down, watch Rose (colby teammate) take 2nd in the womens b crit (her first ever) along with a preem or two, get emily's (bu) jacket at the womens a start, cheer for people, and now I'm ready for dinner and bed. Also saw jak and alex (unh). It was fun, I'm glad im ok and didn't get hurt (knock on wood), put in some good turns with chase groups, but still a blah race. It happens though.

I know i'm not much of a tt/crit racer, but lets hope tmrw's circuit is a bit better (and maybe a hill or two). It was super nice to be out in the sun in 60 degrees with short sleeves on this morning, with only armwarmers for the crit. Beats maine, if nothing else.

what a day

in reference to friday. left colby at noon, 8 inches snow and 28 degrees. driving was rough. by the maine-nh border, it was 40 degrees and rain, by mass-ct border it was sunny, it took 3 hours to drive the 26 miles of ny thanks to a HUGE car wreck, moved 50 ft in 1 hour at one point, but we had an amazing meal, a comfy bed and a warm house thanks to our gracious hosts who stayed up till 1130 for us to arrive to eat their dinner (we originally planned on showing up around 930), which alex hooked up through his crew connections. time to get up and go bike race in, 4 hours. its on.

bike racing time

After a few hours of phone calls, nervousness, etc. We finally figured out this weekend. All register'd up, have a place to stay (someones friend, lives close by) bike is cleaned, and on the trainer for a quick spin tmrw morning, legs are getting ready to be shaven, get to drive through a snowstorm.....I can't wait. All packed with like 8 different baselayer options, tons of clifbars packed, etc. etc. Now I need some sleep, but its like an 8year old the night before you go to disneyland, we all know it aint happening.