ft. ritchie

Somehow I knew on my Wednesday training ride that I wouldn't have great legs on saturday, but you can have "bad" legs and still get a result. It was to be expected, i had peaked and felt good the last few weekends, so the inevitable off week was coming- whether it be physical or mental.

I had the threshold, but no pop today. A couple laps in I thought i was going down. An lsv guy tangled with me. Road took a slight left bend and narrowed. He came from behind me, he tried to squeeze in, leaned into me and hit my bars. This forced me over and he had room, but he went down. Somehow I just kept my cool, didn't hit the brakes and used my momentum to stay upright (barely).

Shook me up a little, but after another couple laps I forgot about it. It was pretty much single file the whole race, and I should have moved up when it wasn't, but I didn't.

Maybe 45 minutes in there was a split. I was near the back and then I went to bridge. I was right there, the group was maybe 2-3 seconds in front of me for a lap, but i just couldn't close it and was in no mans land. When i went one guy was on my wheel (or he was just going really hard after i went) and he jumped to the field. He flew by me and I just didn't have any pop to get on his wheel.

I was still in a group of 10+ and thought it might come back together, but it didn't. Only a couple of us wanted to work and after a few laps it was over. I knew I couldn't bridge it myself because I couldn't close it when they were right there, so no way could i close it now. I'm still not sure what NCVC was doing. We had a group of ~12 with about ~5 ncvc in it and they acted like a break was up the road, chasing guys down and not working, but it was a split. I didn't know it at the time, but they only had maybe 2 guys in the field of ~18 and then the rest back with us. I'm not great at math, but I'd rather have 7 in 30 than 2 in 18. Though if I raced smart it would have worked for me because i would have been in the lead group and i wouldn't have to worry about all those guys.

That's enough crit riding, back to a road race next week. They need to bring back mt. nebo road race. I need a race with some real hills.

crashin in poolesville

1st lap i sat in, and tried to find a good line in the dirt section. It was horrible with huge pot holes everywhere, i managed to hit most of them, but didn't flat and was with the group. 2nd lap i figured i would try the center in the dirt section, and it was butter. I rode right in the middle and only 2 potholes the entire length versus dozens every where else, and all i had to remember was where they were, plus they were "single" pot holes and could be bunny hopped versus everywhere else where if you bunny hopped one pothole you ended up in 2 others.

3rd lap i knew things would start to break up, so i made my way to the front. A few miles before the dirt guys started drilling it and it was single file. I was up front staying in the top 5. went into the dirt top 10. I made a little mistake and tried to pass on the dirt,getting out of the butter center line. That was a bad idea, hit a pothole hard with my front, but somehow didn't flat. Needless to say I went back to the center line and planned on staying there

After the dirt guys started attacking and it was getting blown apart.2 guys were away and i was up front getting ready to jump on the next person to go and try to bridge across. Then CRASH. I was at the front, top 10, and an ncvc rider (looked young, i think a junior) must have crossed wheels because he went down as we were going up a little roller. Happened right in front of me and i had no where to go. I hit the brakes, but slammed right into his body (hopefully he is doing okay, i know he got picked up by the ambulance). I got up and thought I could chase back on, but my rear wheel was TACOD and i couldn't ride it (unfortunately it was a brand new wheel, first ride on it, fortunately i didn't race my carbon wheels). I did get a wheel after a few minutes, but my race was over.Luckily I only had some road rash and besides rear wheel and some cosmetic damage the rest of bike looks okay.

ephrata

men's 1/2/3 road race, 60 miles. Flat, lots of wind.

Race was pretty simple, get about 3K from the s/f and survive until you made the turn. Crazy cross wind, and every lap it was single file in the gutter trying to get a little draft. The road kicked out at one point, so guys would end up riding off the road (by accident) since you were just relying on the wheel in front of you. I saw one crash there, but apparently there were a few. I ended up off the road there at one point, but it wasn't a big deal, there was little lip, but i just went 20 meters until that ended and got back in, plus I was sheltered from the wind. Guys must have been over correcting when they realized they were suddenly not on asphault anymore, because there was plenty of grass/gravel to ride in.

The field would blow apart every lap, and then usually come together, but it took its toll and only about 40 finished in the field. I hung in there and was hoping to have a little left for the last lap. I went with a couple little attacks at the start of the last lap, but nothing was sticking. I had nada left and knew my race was over when I didn't have enough juice to move up before we hit the crosswind section coming into the finish.

TT, 8 miles. I rode hard, but apparently not hard enough. Finished around 30th. I did the 3 most important things though. Got to my start on time, didn't make a wrong turn, and didn't crash.

Crit. 25 miles, short and fast. I just didn't feel like mixing it up, got a little bit of training out of it, moved up a few times, but I pretty much just cruised the back.

SoYoCo

Probably too long and boring, but here it is, a "real" race report whatever that means.

east york county pa. SoYoCo Circuit Race. ~2.5 mile laps, 45 miles(19 laps). men's 1/2/3, field ~40. Result: 7th

This was a nice road circuit on backroads with entire road open, it was all up or down. Short (<30 second) steep climb with s/f at the top into a fast decent with a 90 degree turn at the bottom that was a little sketchy and had to slow down for. Then little gradual uphill,slight downhill into another 90 degree turn into a long gradual uphill into the wind, to 90 degree turn to the steep s/f climb.

Guys were attacking pretty early on and i was staying up front going with a few moves. After maybe 4 laps a group of about 5 got away with 2 harley guys in it. I knew that was the move. I attacked to try and bridge and had a few others come with me. We were catching them, but it was touch and go as the field was on us. We basically caught the group a little before the s/f climb. What i didn't realize was that we had shattered the field. Field of about 12 now and the 5 in the move, i didn't think we went so hard that it would be shattered only15 miles in. Everybody sort of sat up as we caught the move, but it never completely came together. There was no counter, but 5 guys just rolled away (some who were in the initial break and maybe a couple from the field). They just slowly rolled away, a few seconds in front of us, I had just helped to bring it back and was expecting someone to do a little work, but no one did (oops, should have been more aggressive and just gone, but 90% of the time it comes together when there is no counter, and it's usually just a waste of energy).

That ended up being the move. I put in a flurry of attacks to try and get a bridge group, but it wasn't happening, everything was getting chased down. I could have hammered and drug the field to the move,blown up, and then a counter would have gone, that would have been pointless (I figured at this point that I had a good chance of winning (6th) from the field with the sprint being a climb). Anytime I would get a little group going it just got chased down, then everyone sat up. We still had 25 miles to go and i decided to just sit in for awhile, i was just wasting energy.

The huge field was getting smaller every lap, and a few of us kept attacking on the climb and guys slowly fell off. I started attacking on the backside again and kept getting in small groups, and the harley guy (Chuck ?) was also putting in some good attacks. Eventually he attacked on the gradual uphill and everyone just sat up this time. I bridged to him on the climb. There were maybe 5 or so laps left at this point and 3 guys chasing behind us (that was what was left of the field). We built a little gap and stayed 20-40 seconds in front. Last lap I tried to gap him after the turn on the decent, but he was on me, and it was chess at this point and he just sat on my wheel the rest of the lap. I felt good, just didn't have much jump in me. He attacked before the last turn into the s/f climb and got a huge gap on me. I gained a lot of ground on the climb, but not enough and he beat me.

mount joy

legs felt good today, and prediction came true. sat in, attacked, field sprint. I did this race last year and it is hard to get away because the downhill is long and fast and the field catches everything on the decent.

we did just over 50 miles, 9 or 10 laps. sat in a while. with 5 to go a little group was up the road. I went to the front and got a big gap on the field up the climb. the break was just in front of me at that point, but I just sat up. I could have hammered to the downhill to catch the break, but i'm not completely stupid. It was going to come together.

Last lap I got in good position with under 2k to go. there was a little crash beside/behind me, but luckily i wasn't in it. i was in good position, top 10, but no one lit up the front, and guys just swarmed around me. When it's fast i'm good at holding my position, but i suck when it isn't and i always drop spots.

I had good legs, and wanted to open it up, but was in horrible position for the sprint (too far back) even though my legs felt good. it started to open up on the left, but then it didn't and i was too far back. Results are already posted a few hours after the race, i was pack fodder once again.

none of the stupid non racing crazy stuff that is fun to blog about happened today, just a typical race. Oh, but i did cramp a little. my fucking toe cramped, i don't know why the hell that happened, but better than having my leg cramp.

the new bike with race wheels rocks, though i'm still pack fodder because i don't have the mentality to put my elbows out and try to stay up front when it gets sketchy.

new bike is just stock 20f/24r. didn't have any 16f/20r in stock. was going to get built with american classic hubs, but they discontinued the 16 hole front hub

Boring (walkersville)

Well i got into the walkersville race, but didn't do much. guys attacked, nobody was letting any moves go, i trolled the back. I was glad just to be back racing, though i wasn't doing too much racing just sitting in. Got used to the new bike, first ride on it besides an hour on the trainer the day before. headset came a little loose by end of the race, no biigie.

My fitness was there, felt pretty easy sitting in, but for some reason i started cramping only 30 miles in. I got caught behind a crash with 2 to go before the first little climb. I thought I was done, but managed to bridge back up before the top of the climb. Then last lap the legs felt better and cramps started to go away, kinda weird.

Next week I'll have my race wheels, so I'll have to attack. prediction for next week, I'll sit in a few laps to warm up, go with couple moves that get 10 seconds, then it will come together and i'll "sprint" for 50th. that describes 90 percent of bike races.

i'll eventually race (wrong bike)

two weeks ago, crashed day before strasburg, couldn't race. didn't have a bike by last weekend, cold toes. wasn't sure what insurance was going to do/how much i was gonna get, but i needed a bike. can't race kirkwood tomorrow bc i have a 58cm frame. don't know if i can race walkersville bc i am way down the waitlist.

earlier this week i was just going to order a tcr frameset, but giant wasn't offering it as a frameset only, just the advantage, and i didn't know how much i was getting and didn't want to spend more than i'd get.

So, bike shop was going to hook me up with a sweet FUJI team issue frameset. Shop said it should be in thursday, i wasn't planning on picking it up until friday, build it up, do a race prep ride on it, and then race kirkwood saturday.

Shop gets the bike friday morning, but it is the WRONG SIZE. Fuji shipped a 58 cm and the shop ordered a 54 cm. Yeah, Fuji messed up, but they fessed up and i'd have to say excellent customer service. shop said they (fuji) would refund my entry fee if i had pre-reg'd, but i didn't. Went to shop later in the day and they said fuji actually said they might be willing to drive it down from philly to get tonight. I declined, it wasn't going to be worth it to get late friday night, have to build up, and then get up early saturday. They are suppossed to hand deliver to the shop tuesday morning, which is good since i am off work and it is the only time i can build it up. hopefully i get to race walkersville, i'm pretty far down on the waitlist

This is the FOURTH time i've gone to get a bike/frame and it wasn't there/wrong size. end of 2005/2006 my raleigh frame cracked at the chainstay. I was suppossed to get a replacement frame, raleigh sent it to the lbs, but it was a 58, and i was supposed to get a 55. lbs sent it back, next one came, but it was a 58 AGAIN, i gave up and just sold the frame.

In 2006 i had to go to baltimore to pick up my lsv team bike. called, said it was ready. made the 90 mile drive and it wasn't there. basically some corporate/non-team guy got the same bike, same size, and also with ergomo. apparently it got picked up earlier in the day, without the bike shop knowing even though it wasn't suppossed to.

I'm also getting a set of custom built wheels. reynolds dv46 carbon tubulars, american classic hubs, dt aero spokes, 16 front radial and 24 2x rear.