Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Belgian Beer? Yes Please!

Well that was the final Crit Practice of the season, and man am i going to miss it. I started off this season getting dropped on every race, and tonight i managed to win one! (thats accualy my first win as a cyclist, too bad it doesnt accualy count :-/ )

So anyway, I show up at Runway at about 5:40, Tony and his Dad came in about two minuets after me. This was the first or second one they made this year. Then Scott showed up, and Doug came at some point. Darrell couldnt make it, so Jeanne brought James and his camera.

Once we got underway, we had about 30 people, thats an estimate. So i was told i could ride hard today, so i did. The first two races i tried breaks, and got dropped. The third race i was a corner marshall. Now it was time to race. The following race i positioned myself just right at the end of the race. Before the last corner, Rob jumped, and i jumped with him. I managed to sprint around him up the hill and i won! Thats my first win. In the following two races i managed to finish 4th and 2nd. Im getting stronger. I hope i race like this on Monday, becasue Scott will need me. He sits second in the Michigan Challenge Series, and needs to finish 5th or better to win. So were going to help him.

A funny thing happened when we were finsihed tonight. I stole Dougs bike. James wanted to do an interview with him and he kept refusing, so i stole his bike, and locked it in my car. Well in the end he was leacing and i didnt want to get charged with theft, so i gave it back, and James interviewed me, so im thinking that will show up soon on his blog. So look for it.

Well im off to see if my parents like the beer.....yeeeah.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Rockford Crit Recap

So close, yet so far! This is a fun course, from the start you go out for a block, left hander, little hill, right-left, up the hill, it kicks up at the end, left hander crset the hill, left…right….left, long straight away, sketchy left, into the two block long finishing straight.
The obvious hard part of the course is the hill. It hurts the sprinters and it helps the strong little guys….like me. The three turn downhill section too is interesting. If you have a gap, you can keep your gap. Its fast enough that everyone has to go single file and, if you’re really good, you could actually gain a second or two through he turns. But the long three or four block straight away is just enough that the peloton can close a small gap, go around the sketchy left hander, and end up in a field sprint.
At the line, there were a lot of the usual people, Me, Scott, Doug, Dominick, Other Doug, Brent, you know, the Ann Arbor gang. From “go” I clipped in and went to the front. I wanted to make the first pull up the hill to get a feel for it, and to put others in a little bit of pain, because in the words of Darrell Anderson, “It’s fun to make people suffer”. The race started pretty tame, the pace picked up, but every time we hit that hill, the pace slowed, and riders like me could move up easily. Early on, coming around the last corner, I took it too wide, and ended up a half inch from the curb. I didn’t make that mistake again. A few minutes after that close call, Eric and Scott’s friend (I didn’t catch his name) went down in that corner. Scott and I avoided them, but called out to make sure they were alright, they were. A little road rash, but nothing more….that we know of. That was the extent of crashing, that I know of. The rest of the race was pretty typical, the hill hurt, the downhill was fast, people went for primes and then came back to the group, and others tried to get off the front and were pulled back in. With 30 seconds (plus two laps) to go, a Wolverine rider went off the front. When we came to the hill, with two laps to go, I made my move, passed and dropped the Wolverine rider. I was now free to fly, solo. I flew through the corners and into the finishing straight, everyone I knew, and anyone who knows the Velo Club was going crazy, with one lap left, the bell lap, I was 7-10 seconds off the front, with a hill that I am capable of flying up, left. When I hit that hill I dug as deep as I could and then it happened, my calves cramped for a second. That hurt, and I lost momentum. By the time I got back up to speed, the peloton was right on top of me, and they caught me on the top of the hill left turn. From there it was a mad dash to the line, I got in at 4th wheel, but in the long straight I got pushed back to 7th. In the sprint, I got passed by 3 people, putting me at 10th.
Man was I mad. Had I waited until the last lap, on the hill to make my move, I could have potentially won the race. Oh well.
I would like to thank Scott, Dan, and Eric. I could not have gotten the gap I had, without your guys help. As soon as I was off the front, you were there to block the group. So thank you, very much.
Next I would like to question Pothole’s warm up theory. Doug, wouldn’t it be cheaper if you didn’t pay to warm up. I mean, $25 to complete 3 laps seems like a waste. Ha-ha, but I’m sure you have your reasons.
James, nice save. You almost lost it in that first corner, but you stayed upright and finished the race strong. Good job out there, I hope you got your position figured out
Well that’s what I have for Rockford. I’m a little disappointed, but I will live.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Hines Drive TT






WOW! PAINFUL! Thats the one word i can use to describe this race. We had a decent turnout, i thought. But apparently numbers a WAY down compared to last year. My goal today was to go under 30 min. I was shooting for 29min, which i would be amazed if i got.

Well anyways, my good friend Melinda went with me today, we stopped and picked up David on our way through Ann Arbor. When we got there, there were already a good amount of people. David and I broke out the trainers and set up the bikes. I jumped on immediatly and started warming up. Melinda pinned on my numbers while i spun. I was happy to see such a good turnout from Ann Arbor, Mark Lovejoy, Dawn, Joe and Steven Christy, Doug, Dominick and Tony Wieczorek, The Anderson Family, The Vermulen Family, David and I.

Well the start came alot faster then i had anticipated, so i wasnt as warmed up as i could have been, but i had been spinning for a good 40 min. Before i went to the start i found James and asked if i could borrow his TT helmet (seeing as mine STILL isnt in yet). Im so glad he said yes, im sure it made a hige difference in my time. Well it was time to start. I line up, clip in, get a quick "good luck" from David, and im off. I hit 31mph in my sprint from the start, then i settled into a good rythem. I made smooth lines through all the turns, apexing them as much as possible. When i got to the barrell, the turnaround point, David had already passed me (he started 30 seconds back) and i had Doug ("pothole") and Doug (wolverine) in my sight. They started 1min30sec, and 1min ahead of me, respectively. Doug knew i was close too, because as he got back up to speed at the barrel and saw David and I, he started mumbling to himself. I knew i was moving, because at the turn around my time was 14:30, thats 29min on the dot! I kept the Dougs in my sight, but i just couldnt close the gap. The finish line came up quickly. I came around a bend and there was the timing tent. Grandmaster B was still about 100m ahead of me, so i started sprinting and just missed taking him at the line. I gave him a nice pat on the shoulder and he turned, saw me, and wasnt too pleased with his ride. I ended up finishing 4th in the Cat 4 feild with a time of 28:32! 28 seconds faster than i thought i was capable of.

Now it was time to recover. It was only an hour and a half until we started the 2-man TT. There were 10 2-man groups. The groups were interesting, david and i, James and Alexy, Tony, and Dominick, Darrell and ???, and then Doug and ???.

David and I started off strong. We wanted to break 28 min. But it was soon evident that David was feeling better than I was, because he kept getting little gaps on me. This resulted in him pulling for longer periods of time. Which made me feel bad, so David, im sorry. We were making really good time on the way out, that was for sure. But we didn't realize we had a tailwind the entire way out. When we got to the barrel, i went through first, and carried more speed through it because David found about a 30m gap between us when he lined himself up again. He quickly closed it and we were on our way back. THe way back was brutal, headwinds the whole time. For the last 2 miles, i had to of been anerobic. I hurt, i hurt bad. But i stayed with David, and we crossed the line together to get a time of 28:01! Two seconds off our goal! But it was good enough for 3rd place, 20-30 seconds behind D. Anderson and his partner.

A very memorable moment of the 2-man TT was when Douglas "the cat""Pothole""grandmaster B" Gatto came across the line. There was a loud "AHHHHHH!" deffinitly a scream of pain, that got us all laughing. Thanks Doug, we enjoy your agony.

Kudos to James Anderson. Your doing strong, you will do well in the Cat 4s (when your dad lets you race again). I believe your time was 32:08 or something close. That was faster than my 20k time at the beginning of the year. So good job!

All in all, it was a good day. 4th and 3rd. That adds a few more points for michigan challenge, and $10 for getting 3rd in the TTT.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

2-Man TT

Last night was a taxing ride. But i accualy feel really good today. David and i are going to do the 2-Man TT at Hines, as well as out own individual TT. Last night i drove over to Barton Park to meet up with David, so we could practice. Stephen Christy got there around the same time that i did, so he warmed up with David and I. We rode to Dexter and then turned around, because there is less traffic on HRD. Stephen let David and I go so we could practice, and then came riding in a little later. David and I have always worked well together, and last night was no different. We kept a fast pace, along with smooth exchanges.

On the way back to Barton, we passed Mark Lovejoy, who was out for an evening spin with a small groupetto of cyclists. When we got to the park, we turned around, yet again, but this time we didnt go full blast. We just set a nice tempo and worked on keeping a really tight paceline. We discussed the start, and the turn around. At the start, we will have to see who is feeling better to see who will do the first pull. When we get to the turn around, i am going through first. Then we will have to battle it out to see who goes across the line first. haha!

All in all, if was a good ride. I set two new PRs. #1) Fastest training ride - Av. 23mph #2)Highest calorie consumtion in an hour - 720 Calories.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Ada Recap

Hey all, sorry i havent been updating. I've been busy getting ready for college. You know, student loans, scholorships, books, supplies, food, etc. Well ANYWAYS.... Saturday was the Delta Imports/Ada Crit, and a fun race it was.

First off, i felt like crap durring the race. I was fine warming up and everything, but when they said "go!" my legs were dead. Any little gap that formed, forced me to dig to close it.

This is a fun course, thats for sure....a little sketchy, but fun. The finishing straight is just that, a long straight semi-downhill road. Then the first left hander, nice and wide plenty of room to dive to the inside if you miss the pole on the corner. Then the road narrows, it goes from about 3 lanes, to 1, and there is another 90 degree left hander. So if you werent at the front, you had to slow way down to get around this corner. Then it was flat as the road gradualy turned left again, only on this part of the course, there was no curb, and the shoulder was messy. Then came the most dreaded part of the course. The chicane. It was a sharp left-right sequence. It wasnt that bad if you were at the very front, or the very back, but anywhere in between, if was dangerous. The turn was bad enough, without the manhole covers, and the pothole and the riders not holding their line. After that it kicks up slightly, a right hander, then your in the finishing straight.

Our race started off nicely, considering i was doing tempo for the first lap. From the gun, i went to the front to try and controll the peloton, and it seemed to work...at least for one lap. Then i pulled off and jsut sat in the group, because, like i said, i didn't feel very good. There were a few breakaways, but they all got pulled in, and there were three primes, all of no interest to me. With 3 laps to go, i started moving myself up to the front. And going into the last lap, i was sitting about 9th. I don't know exactly what all happened in the race, but i know there were some tense people out there. I know this, and the riders around me at the time know this, because i was threatened.

On the last lap, on the back straight, some guy decides to get out of the saddle and strech his legs, and his handle bars start swaying side to side. Now i know im reletively new to the sport....but last time i checked, when your in the MIDDLE of the peloton, and its tight, you dont get out of the saddle and move your bars around. Well his bars ended up hitting me in the thigh. Now im used to things like this, its the norm...but it almost knocked me off my bike. So i turned and looked at him and yelled "what are you doing!?" and his response was a little less...kind. Youngins, please skip forword to the next paragraph. His favorite word appears to start with an F, and end with a K. Because he yelled back at me "I got ____ pushed! You little ____er! Want me to ____ing push you for real!?"

So as we approached the chicane for the last time, i looked down at my computer, and it said 31mph. I then looked at Scott, who was directly to my right and said "we are going too fast." Well i can honestly say, i dont think ive ever been that close to the ground, and still on my bike. We were so low, that Scott was accualy towering over me. He was lucky thought. His wheel skipped out, but he managed to keep it upright. Doug lost about 10 spots when the rider in front of him flatted and went off into the grass. The little hill after the chicane took out anything i had left in me. When we got to the straight, i just rode with whatever i had. Scott managed to jump up to the front and get 7th, while i settled for 11th. I then came home and slept a grand total of 14 hours.

I would like to congradulate James, and Alexy. From what i hear, you two rode a superp race. Managing not to get lapped by the peloton, and finishing with some adults in your wake. Great job you two! Don't worry, you guys will be up there winning cat 4 races soon.

I would next like to thank the Andersons for being our personal cheering section. I dont know about Scott, but i know it helped me and kept me going.

I see that James Bird stayed in the Cat 3 peloton. I dont know James that well, but i thought that i would share that he went to camp with me in June, and he raced the Tour de l'avanier. With Taylor Birman.

And to close...Ada deffinitly had the BEST PRIME ever! An ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH! Yes thats right, they gave away an electric toothbrush. Too bad it wasnt Joe announcing, i think he would have just gone insane if he got to give that out as a prime.

Oh yeah, almost forgot....the guy that yelled at me....some riders came up to me after the race....yeah he didnt get pushed at all. He just didnt know how to ride.