Not much action here anymore, but I figured, what the hell, a little summer wrap-up:
2011 didn't look to be too promising, what with a torn rotator cuff and surgery keeping me untrained for 10 weeks. I played it by ear this year, doing long solo rides, hella intervals, fartlek-on-a-bike, some swimming, and a new one for me: rest and recovery between hard workouts. I guess it worked: I only raced 8 times this year, but the results were pretty good:
-Gravel Metric - win (tie)
-Glencoe - Cat 4 sprint points competition (yeah, it was only a couple of primes, but damn it's a fancy watch)
-Cat 4 State Champ - Points race. That's *my race* and I wanted it more than anything since the SSCX in 2009. I was marked but I took the last 3 sprints FTW. I won both cat 4 races that night, and was the top 4 in the 3/4s race. That's when I started to notice my form was coming on...
-Cat 3 State Champ - Scratch. My first night as a 3 and I won both 3s races! I came looking to work for Jeff, but he ordered me to go for the win myself. He worked them over and made it look easy for me. No disrespect to my fellow racers but the 3s field isn't too deep right now. A couple big dogs have upgraded, and one of the strongest 3s doesn't have a teammate, so Jeff's attacks were particularly effective. Just to bring me down to earth: In the 1/2/3s Points race, I thought I was the baller, getting on Moyer/JT/Whiteman as they established their break...I lasted about 20 seconds.
Felt ok on my first CX race, but I haven't touched the CX bike in 8 months and apparently I've forgotten how to corner in the dirt. I blame all those laps on 20 mm tires at 145 psi.
Onward!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
This one time...
I was on this xxx ride on a single speed and this cat rolls in with no helmet and a track bike and he pretty much killed it, riding solo in the wind alongside a thundering pack the whole time. I was like, uh yeah, he's good people, I gotta hang out with this guy.
I ran into this same guy wearing legwarmers at a ChiCrossCup race, a skirt too, because the year before they awarded double points for crossdressing, but I don't think they did that year, but I don't think he cared anyway. He told me to come out for the Tour da Chicago, and that whole thing happened, and I got on a team with this guy.
And one day I leaned on him to race with me at the track and help me out. He hadn't planned on it, and didn't feel like it, but I hassled him and offered to bring him Zipps and give him my prize money. And he came out to race, and it was fun and I won a lot. Andrew Nordyke rules.
I ran into this same guy wearing legwarmers at a ChiCrossCup race, a skirt too, because the year before they awarded double points for crossdressing, but I don't think they did that year, but I don't think he cared anyway. He told me to come out for the Tour da Chicago, and that whole thing happened, and I got on a team with this guy.
And one day I leaned on him to race with me at the track and help me out. He hadn't planned on it, and didn't feel like it, but I hassled him and offered to bring him Zipps and give him my prize money. And he came out to race, and it was fun and I won a lot. Andrew Nordyke rules.
Monday, June 13, 2011
da Tour
I'm easing out of my self-imposed embargo on race blogging, on account of all the thoughts swimming in my head. There's only so much you can explain to a patient wife; the rest has to go somewhere. Why not here?
It only took a few years longer than expected, but we finally got around to doing a proper stage race, the first Tour of Galena. My fitness is off this year on account of my off season injury and surgery, but I managed to get some miles in, so I was looking forward to it. I fancy myself more of an all rounder, so I thought it would be interesting to see how I stacked up in the omnium. Plus, Brian's white hot right now, so we had a real contender to look after.
Things that went right:
I headed out early, pre-rode the TT course, drove the RR course, and built up a tent for the bus dwellers, since I had a feeling they would surface well after dark. My aero wheels were undergeared for the climb, so I was happy to find that out ahead of time and rolled with a mixed pair.
First thing to go wrong:
I drilled the first half of the TT, but at the turnaround, I made a mistake (apparently the kind that triathletes rake each other for!) I came around the barrel nicely, and using every inch of the road, I bore down for a standing start at the edge. A little sandy gravel was hidden on the surface and my rear wheel went sideways under the power stroke. I hit the dirt, and recovered quickly, but it killed my time. I finished 24th of 42. Not too bad considering, but about 23 seconds out of the top ten (and the points that came with it). I have a surprisingly bleedy scalped knee.
An Iron Cycles guy noted the irony that that a couple weeks ago I did 65 miles flawlessly in the gravel (and won), and this weekend, I did a couple seconds and hit the deck. C'est la vie.
Brian killed it and Al Pearson, fresh off a year of grad school, finished with him in 4th and 5th. A genetically gifted Toftoy brother killed us all, but I take some solace in the fact that he beat all of the P/1/2s field as well.
I didn't have high hopes for the RR, but I hoped to hang on to the main field longer than I did. The kickers were ok but the steep climbs got me. To think I used to sprint up rollers all day on a 53x16 back in Atlanta. That was 25 pounds ago (on a good day) but hey, I probably couldn't crack 600 watts back then, right? I fell in with a strong dude from Bellum and before long, two teammates in Al and Josh. The four of us hit lap two with a few xxx'ers and independents chasing.
We had a solid rotation going with Bellum outclassing us a bit in the power department, but we all worked our asses off. We spent a little too much time re-carbing and got caught by 4-5 chasers. This killed the collegial vibe, as not one of the newcomers would take a quality pull.
For some reason, I had discovered that I could hold a solid pace in the 27 on the steep hills, then miraculously around the midpoint, just take off. Great, NOW I find climbing power? I did this once to see if we could shed the wheelsuckers, but no one came with me. I went with it and solo'ed for a few miles, but got caught. I did it again on another hill and got caught after a few miles. My teammate joked about me going for a solo breakaway and I replied "I have to do what the legs tell me to do." I'm not settling in for comfy ride to the line.
I decided to make the last attack count, and just past the vineyard, I found my magical climbing power halfway up the hill. My breakmates inadvertently fueled it, as they settled into 'this sucks, are we there yet' kind of chatter. That shit makes me crazy in races, when people get into a group ride 'just get home' mentality. Frankly it makes me want to attack, so I did, and it stuck for a good long time.
A few miles later I was caught by a xxx'er and a Rhythm guy. 2-3 miles from the finish, I just decided to take soft pulls and watch the distance. xxx was in front and as soon as he figured out that no one was pulling through, we came to a little hill. He motioned for someone to pull through and I attacked. A little digger and I look back to see Rhythm on my wheel and no one else.
We slow rolled it a bit, sizing up the match sprint plan, and passed inside the 1000m mark. He coasted a bit and started stretching his glutes and calves out of the saddle. It was a little earlier than I wanted to jump but I couldn't let the opportunity pass. I went full gas and caught him off guard. It wasn't a huge gap, but it was enough. Up, down, left, right, and held it to the line.
Man I miss road racing. Battling for 30th feels great, until you realize...that it was a battle for 30th.
Brian got a flat, found no Campy 10 speed in the neutral wheel truck, and ended up taking Andrew's shoes and bike. He held on for 25th, his shot at the W and the Omnium were gone. Mike held on for 13th and Max for 18th or so.
My legs were trashed for the crit but I kept telling myself 'so are everyone else's.' Apparently that was not too true as the pace was a solid 27-28 in both stretches for most of the race. My long slow training plan showed and I was out of jumps after a dozen laps. I managed to stay in the pack and dodged crashes to finish 21st. Meh. Brian got second and after being in the top ten all race, Josh went down and killed his frame in the process. Double Meh.
I figure I finished around 31/42 in the Omnium but if I pretend I didn't crash in the TT I could have finished 26th if I'd gotten a single omnium point. Not too bad considering my fitness, but man, exhausting and taxing to say the least.
The ladies pretty much rocked it. Daph got 2nd in the TT, did the road race on a frickin' 23 toother in the back, and then she and Marie pushed the pace relentlessly in the crit to hurt the field. Daph got 3rd in the crit and 3rd in the omnium. I almost forgot that they were doing their 2nd and 3rd road races, but they have a lot of track experience. Jannette wasn't feeling it, but she's still sort of recovering from last year's crash, having just gotten a dental implant last week. She felt like her body was trying to generate bone, not race bikes.
The crew was in prime heckling mode, we didn't get ticketed for open containers, Jeff killed it in a Karaoke duet with Newt (then raced the crit the next day), and in general, a good time was had by all. Can't wait to do it again, just not any time soon.
It only took a few years longer than expected, but we finally got around to doing a proper stage race, the first Tour of Galena. My fitness is off this year on account of my off season injury and surgery, but I managed to get some miles in, so I was looking forward to it. I fancy myself more of an all rounder, so I thought it would be interesting to see how I stacked up in the omnium. Plus, Brian's white hot right now, so we had a real contender to look after.
Things that went right:
I headed out early, pre-rode the TT course, drove the RR course, and built up a tent for the bus dwellers, since I had a feeling they would surface well after dark. My aero wheels were undergeared for the climb, so I was happy to find that out ahead of time and rolled with a mixed pair.
First thing to go wrong:
I drilled the first half of the TT, but at the turnaround, I made a mistake (apparently the kind that triathletes rake each other for!) I came around the barrel nicely, and using every inch of the road, I bore down for a standing start at the edge. A little sandy gravel was hidden on the surface and my rear wheel went sideways under the power stroke. I hit the dirt, and recovered quickly, but it killed my time. I finished 24th of 42. Not too bad considering, but about 23 seconds out of the top ten (and the points that came with it). I have a surprisingly bleedy scalped knee.
An Iron Cycles guy noted the irony that that a couple weeks ago I did 65 miles flawlessly in the gravel (and won), and this weekend, I did a couple seconds and hit the deck. C'est la vie.
Brian killed it and Al Pearson, fresh off a year of grad school, finished with him in 4th and 5th. A genetically gifted Toftoy brother killed us all, but I take some solace in the fact that he beat all of the P/1/2s field as well.
I didn't have high hopes for the RR, but I hoped to hang on to the main field longer than I did. The kickers were ok but the steep climbs got me. To think I used to sprint up rollers all day on a 53x16 back in Atlanta. That was 25 pounds ago (on a good day) but hey, I probably couldn't crack 600 watts back then, right? I fell in with a strong dude from Bellum and before long, two teammates in Al and Josh. The four of us hit lap two with a few xxx'ers and independents chasing.
We had a solid rotation going with Bellum outclassing us a bit in the power department, but we all worked our asses off. We spent a little too much time re-carbing and got caught by 4-5 chasers. This killed the collegial vibe, as not one of the newcomers would take a quality pull.
For some reason, I had discovered that I could hold a solid pace in the 27 on the steep hills, then miraculously around the midpoint, just take off. Great, NOW I find climbing power? I did this once to see if we could shed the wheelsuckers, but no one came with me. I went with it and solo'ed for a few miles, but got caught. I did it again on another hill and got caught after a few miles. My teammate joked about me going for a solo breakaway and I replied "I have to do what the legs tell me to do." I'm not settling in for comfy ride to the line.
I decided to make the last attack count, and just past the vineyard, I found my magical climbing power halfway up the hill. My breakmates inadvertently fueled it, as they settled into 'this sucks, are we there yet' kind of chatter. That shit makes me crazy in races, when people get into a group ride 'just get home' mentality. Frankly it makes me want to attack, so I did, and it stuck for a good long time.
A few miles later I was caught by a xxx'er and a Rhythm guy. 2-3 miles from the finish, I just decided to take soft pulls and watch the distance. xxx was in front and as soon as he figured out that no one was pulling through, we came to a little hill. He motioned for someone to pull through and I attacked. A little digger and I look back to see Rhythm on my wheel and no one else.
We slow rolled it a bit, sizing up the match sprint plan, and passed inside the 1000m mark. He coasted a bit and started stretching his glutes and calves out of the saddle. It was a little earlier than I wanted to jump but I couldn't let the opportunity pass. I went full gas and caught him off guard. It wasn't a huge gap, but it was enough. Up, down, left, right, and held it to the line.
Man I miss road racing. Battling for 30th feels great, until you realize...that it was a battle for 30th.
Brian got a flat, found no Campy 10 speed in the neutral wheel truck, and ended up taking Andrew's shoes and bike. He held on for 25th, his shot at the W and the Omnium were gone. Mike held on for 13th and Max for 18th or so.
My legs were trashed for the crit but I kept telling myself 'so are everyone else's.' Apparently that was not too true as the pace was a solid 27-28 in both stretches for most of the race. My long slow training plan showed and I was out of jumps after a dozen laps. I managed to stay in the pack and dodged crashes to finish 21st. Meh. Brian got second and after being in the top ten all race, Josh went down and killed his frame in the process. Double Meh.
I figure I finished around 31/42 in the Omnium but if I pretend I didn't crash in the TT I could have finished 26th if I'd gotten a single omnium point. Not too bad considering my fitness, but man, exhausting and taxing to say the least.
The ladies pretty much rocked it. Daph got 2nd in the TT, did the road race on a frickin' 23 toother in the back, and then she and Marie pushed the pace relentlessly in the crit to hurt the field. Daph got 3rd in the crit and 3rd in the omnium. I almost forgot that they were doing their 2nd and 3rd road races, but they have a lot of track experience. Jannette wasn't feeling it, but she's still sort of recovering from last year's crash, having just gotten a dental implant last week. She felt like her body was trying to generate bone, not race bikes.
The crew was in prime heckling mode, we didn't get ticketed for open containers, Jeff killed it in a Karaoke duet with Newt (then raced the crit the next day), and in general, a good time was had by all. Can't wait to do it again, just not any time soon.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Twenty Eleven
There are enough blogs out there about bike racing, and I just don't feel compelled to add to them at the moment. However, I need a place to put the picture above (courtesy of Amy Dykema) to capture the day that I finally won a goddamned road race. Even if it was sort of an alleycat cyclocross type of road race. Blogged to death on the team site here with pictures here.
Monday, August 30, 2010
one door closes, another one opens
Jaysus what a weekend. The basics:
Masters' Track State Champs. I was targeting the kilo, but not enough to actually try out different gear inches or get some quality advice. I spun out and got second place. arg. Normally I wouldn't be too upset about not winning, but the field was thin and I had lots more in the tank. So I went into the 3k pursuit with a little fire in my belly, but no pacing strategy. Somehow I pulled a 3:59, about a half second up on Chuck Judy. I was convinced he had it in the bag. I would have thought the officials would've grouped us a little more on account of the small field, but hey, 40-44 was almost the same field that 40-49 would have been. Good thing they didn't go totally by the rulebook, or the day would have possibly been rounded to 30+ and Jeff Whiteman would have won everything. It seemed like the big boys stayed home to rest for Nats, and somehow "Masters' 40-44 3k State Champ" just doesn't exactly blow your hair back, but I'll take it.
Meanwhile back in Gotham city, Ella got 2nd in the Chicago Triathlon, out of 152 in her division! Woot! Nearly last out of the water (they really ought to call the kids' ChiTri swim "water-jogging"). 3rd after a killer T1, then grabbed one spot in the run. The winner was even in sight, but with a little too much ground to make up.
Lang did his first 'real' soccer games, and man, trial by fire: 4 games in two days, in the heat, and up against some psycho suburban teams. He got a hefty plaque. I'm proud of him. He was working hard and having fun, and just givin' er. Soccer gets so little ink in this family, and he had a couple of great moves, a header or two, a couple reverses. Awesome.
Relay cross: I was slated to partner with Jannette, but after her crash, I got a shot at racing with Ella for the first time. She was a little spooked by the triple-bend/harbor drop/couch madness, but started to shine mid-first lap. The whirlpool taught her how to lean into the turns more than I'd been able to. We somehow finished 35th of 50, but more importantly, I had the best time ever at a cross race, and that's saying something. She was slightly shell shocked for a while, but she's definitely down for doing more cross. Hup! Hup!
Mom was domestique to the stars. Gotta go serve her up a vacation.
Masters' Track State Champs. I was targeting the kilo, but not enough to actually try out different gear inches or get some quality advice. I spun out and got second place. arg. Normally I wouldn't be too upset about not winning, but the field was thin and I had lots more in the tank. So I went into the 3k pursuit with a little fire in my belly, but no pacing strategy. Somehow I pulled a 3:59, about a half second up on Chuck Judy. I was convinced he had it in the bag. I would have thought the officials would've grouped us a little more on account of the small field, but hey, 40-44 was almost the same field that 40-49 would have been. Good thing they didn't go totally by the rulebook, or the day would have possibly been rounded to 30+ and Jeff Whiteman would have won everything. It seemed like the big boys stayed home to rest for Nats, and somehow "Masters' 40-44 3k State Champ" just doesn't exactly blow your hair back, but I'll take it.
Meanwhile back in Gotham city, Ella got 2nd in the Chicago Triathlon, out of 152 in her division! Woot! Nearly last out of the water (they really ought to call the kids' ChiTri swim "water-jogging"). 3rd after a killer T1, then grabbed one spot in the run. The winner was even in sight, but with a little too much ground to make up.
Lang did his first 'real' soccer games, and man, trial by fire: 4 games in two days, in the heat, and up against some psycho suburban teams. He got a hefty plaque. I'm proud of him. He was working hard and having fun, and just givin' er. Soccer gets so little ink in this family, and he had a couple of great moves, a header or two, a couple reverses. Awesome.
Relay cross: I was slated to partner with Jannette, but after her crash, I got a shot at racing with Ella for the first time. She was a little spooked by the triple-bend/harbor drop/couch madness, but started to shine mid-first lap. The whirlpool taught her how to lean into the turns more than I'd been able to. We somehow finished 35th of 50, but more importantly, I had the best time ever at a cross race, and that's saying something. She was slightly shell shocked for a while, but she's definitely down for doing more cross. Hup! Hup!
Mom was domestique to the stars. Gotta go serve her up a vacation.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
My team is made of awesome
I'm taking a break from the self-imposed 'blog-about-every-race-experience' blackout (easy when you're dropped from the lead pack at Glencoe), but all racing should be as fun as last night at Soldier Field.
The cuttin' crew was rollin' deep, and we did one by the books in the first race. The players:
Andrew - Mechanical issues kept him from racing, so he drove the rickshaw down, with an injured Jannette and her sister on board.
Bradley - Flat in the first lap
RoadHouse - Crampy legs when he tried to move up. He just got into grad school yesterday, so one can't expect everything to go right.
Maxwell - Everyone could see cuttin' crew had the numbers in the race, so our attacks had to be taken seriously. Max and I led a few early to push the pace and soften the field.
Mike - Shows up out of nowhere with 2 to go, straight to the front, to pick up the pace and stretch out the field.
Me - With one to go, I take over and Jeff's yelling GO GO GO GO GO. I get 2/3 of a lap in, at the best pace I could manage.
Jeff - Jumps off my wheel and takes it home for the win.
I took a prime and Jeff took the other two. That's James Brown Tight.
Race #2 was a whatever, but with free entry for any repeat offenders, a bunch of people jumped in ass-dragging. Andrew managed to play a part in this race by offering a $5 prime on the 5th lap and the field imploded. Jeff took it, and I confess I let him stay up there, thinking he could repeat his last performance at Soldier, where he sat 3rd wheel in the break until unceremoniously stealing the win. I made a bunch of folks chase around me and didn't help anything. Pockets of 2, 3 riders everywhere and...oops, I see Heffy coming back. Time to make the donuts.
We get going again and we're in this little packlet of 4-5, then 10, then 8, then 4-5...all the while still 10 seconds off the three leaders. It wasn't so much working together as it was trading attacks to shell our group. It became clear that we weren't bringing them back and I decided to sit on Jeff's wheel and let him do the thinking for both of us. Around 3 to go, he was like "you ready?" and I'm thinking no, but saying yes. 1.5 laps to go and he ramps it up. Our group sees it coming but only Bicycle Heaven can respond, but he misses my wheel but stays in sight. Heffy pulls off in the penultimate turn and I go all in with a throw for good measure. Snap! 1 to go! I had a gap and just had to give 'er all the way around, and I see the leaders just a few seconds ahead. Could I? No. It wasn't meant to be, and I finished just off the podium, holding off Bicycle Heaven.
Mike from Mox was about the only wild card in the deck last night, finishing 3rd and 1st in our races, and that's with no team support. The main event turned out to be a pretty small affair, down to Liam and Padfield, with Liam FTW. Ah well, 1 win, 5 premes, a wooden medal for me, and my first proper leadout. Not a bad night for the team.
The cuttin' crew was rollin' deep, and we did one by the books in the first race. The players:
Andrew - Mechanical issues kept him from racing, so he drove the rickshaw down, with an injured Jannette and her sister on board.
Bradley - Flat in the first lap
RoadHouse - Crampy legs when he tried to move up. He just got into grad school yesterday, so one can't expect everything to go right.
Maxwell - Everyone could see cuttin' crew had the numbers in the race, so our attacks had to be taken seriously. Max and I led a few early to push the pace and soften the field.
Mike - Shows up out of nowhere with 2 to go, straight to the front, to pick up the pace and stretch out the field.
Me - With one to go, I take over and Jeff's yelling GO GO GO GO GO. I get 2/3 of a lap in, at the best pace I could manage.
Jeff - Jumps off my wheel and takes it home for the win.
I took a prime and Jeff took the other two. That's James Brown Tight.
Race #2 was a whatever, but with free entry for any repeat offenders, a bunch of people jumped in ass-dragging. Andrew managed to play a part in this race by offering a $5 prime on the 5th lap and the field imploded. Jeff took it, and I confess I let him stay up there, thinking he could repeat his last performance at Soldier, where he sat 3rd wheel in the break until unceremoniously stealing the win. I made a bunch of folks chase around me and didn't help anything. Pockets of 2, 3 riders everywhere and...oops, I see Heffy coming back. Time to make the donuts.
We get going again and we're in this little packlet of 4-5, then 10, then 8, then 4-5...all the while still 10 seconds off the three leaders. It wasn't so much working together as it was trading attacks to shell our group. It became clear that we weren't bringing them back and I decided to sit on Jeff's wheel and let him do the thinking for both of us. Around 3 to go, he was like "you ready?" and I'm thinking no, but saying yes. 1.5 laps to go and he ramps it up. Our group sees it coming but only Bicycle Heaven can respond, but he misses my wheel but stays in sight. Heffy pulls off in the penultimate turn and I go all in with a throw for good measure. Snap! 1 to go! I had a gap and just had to give 'er all the way around, and I see the leaders just a few seconds ahead. Could I? No. It wasn't meant to be, and I finished just off the podium, holding off Bicycle Heaven.
Mike from Mox was about the only wild card in the deck last night, finishing 3rd and 1st in our races, and that's with no team support. The main event turned out to be a pretty small affair, down to Liam and Padfield, with Liam FTW. Ah well, 1 win, 5 premes, a wooden medal for me, and my first proper leadout. Not a bad night for the team.
Monday, July 26, 2010
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