free upgrade points, you got dropped rule, and other rule changes

Bored and looking at a few of the 2010 uscf rule changes:

1. FREE UPGRADE POINTS:
Attendance at a USA Cycling Development Camp will count as one qualifying race for category 5 to 4 upgrades. It will also count as 4 upgrade points for a category 4 to 3 upgrade and 3 upgrade points for a category 3 to 2 upgrade.

2. GOTTA DO THE FIELD SPRINT FOR 75TH IN STAGE RACES RULE:
A new time is assigned when there is a difference of one second or more between the back of the rear wheel of the last rider in a group and the front of the front wheel of the first rider of the following group.

I think it used to be 2 seconds. You best be on it in the last lap of those crits or that 1.0 second gap will be costing you that 30 second difference to the front of the field.

3. No Teaming up (on the little guys) Rule
There were a few rules covering this, but basically no jumping ship as a guest rider on another team if your team is in the race, no team A and team B in races with max team sizes, and no helping out that pro team who has the same sponsor as you.

4. No "you got dropped" faking so you can drop back and bridge up your teammate trying to lap the field rule:
If you get dropped in a crit and the break which was off the front laps you, you can sit in and hope they lap the field to rejoin, but you can't help in the effort- though I guess you could "attack" to bridge back up to the field, but if someone in that break trys to sit on your wheel they will get DQ'ed.

Some of the stuff in the rule book is interesting and some things just seem kind of funny and ridiculous, but don't think I have the time to read through the whole thing.

It's coming

Three more months and I'm sure I'll be all amped up and ready to race. The desire to ride the bike seldom fades. The desire to push and do torture rides does fade, but every year as the season approaches the desire of wanting pain and suffering comes out of nowhere at some point. Not sure when it will show up this year, but I'm sure it is coming and I both fear and anticipate it.

Oh, and riding the trainer doesn't count for shit, that just plain ol sucks.

I guess I keep racing because of the fact that I seriously don't know what to do with myself when I'm not going to bike races or because it is f'ing fun.

This post clearly demonstrates that I don't know what to do with myself when I'm not going to bike races.

dccx: 1 thing good

I managed to do one good thing the whole race. Chain came off while I was racing and I managed to reach down, grab it, and (very quickly) throw it back on whilst staying on the bike and without injuring myself, crashing, or losing any time. Though the saving of time was negated by my just falling over (once), sucking at getting clipped back in, and my inability to run.

Cross if fun- maybe I should actually practice some cx skills, but I probably won't

Thater

I suffered at the back
I closed way too many gaps
I finished near last
but better than the 75 other dudes that got gapped

(the preceding was a prime example of why I did not major in the arts)

page valley

Fun, hard, hot, too long. Trying to build for cyclocross season and seems like I'm finally getting some form back, but page valley was just a touch too long for me. So ready to have only 1 hour of suffering.

Nat was in the move of the day so I got to sit in the pack if you can call it that. Coming into the last lap it (the field of like 12 guys or so) shattered up the long gradual climb. Mckinney put in a big attack and guys were all over the place. I think that reduced the field to like 6 guys over the top- jose, barrie, githens, bax, mckinney and maybe 1 or 2 others. Over the top they had a little 5 second gap on me and it was game over, I looked back and there was nobody.

Needless to say it was a long last lap out there by myself. I kept looking back sure a few guys would come rolling up, but nobody. Then coming up the climb on the last lap I saw Nat ahead, he was pretty fried too, but at least he had a good excuse since he was in the break all day. Not a great day, but hardly anyone finished and I think the two of us were around 10th, which is where I seem to finish in every race.

boring ramblings, burnout, cool races

Was stoked that I finally got my cat 1 upgrade earlier this week after nabbing the last couple points I needed the other weekend up in PA at renfrew ras.

Fun course, and hard day in the saddle when 25 miles into an 88 mile road race my teammate Nat and I ended up getting away with no one else in tow. We Caught the GPOA guy that had been solo away, we wanted him in the break since they had 6 guys in the race, but he was fried and went backwards fast. Next 30-40 miles Nat and I (mainly Nat towing me as he is riding like an animal right now) worked up the gap to about 2 minutes, but it was not to be. GPOA chased us down, but spent most of their guys and half the field in the process. Then we rolled around at like 15 mph the next two hours since everyone was gassed, though it went hard up the climb every lap.

After all that Nat won the field sprint, and I nabbed 5th. We also got 2nd and 3rd in the k.o.m. points, and Nat almost pulled off the bonus prize of first and kom which would have netted us a 1 hour plane ride at night over pittsburgh.

I still don't think the 88 miles was as bad as the 50 miles of Nebo the day before which was the Nick Bax show- attack from the gun and continue until he just rode away and crushed everyone. On the second to last lap I got shelled from the field which was down to 10 riders, then I probably rode a 12 mph average (seriously, I was going pathetically slow) the last lap and a half just to finish, 2 guys ended up passing me, but luckily 12th was still in the money

Been a little burned out, but still a few good races left I'm gonna try to do as I usually seem to have good form in August if I manage to race. Seems like every year the same thing happens: I come out strong in April/May, kinda suck around the start of june, get a little better form in July, and if I can avoid burnout and keep going into August I have good form.

Fitchburg eats cables

I did Fitchburg in 2005 and 2006. One of those years when I went up there with Matt Cooke his rear shifter cable came apart at the head inside the Dura-ace lever during the road race and he somehow finished and made it up the mountain in his 39x11/12.

I think one of those years when I was up there with Kris Auer the same thing happened to him.

This year it was my turn, yep 7800 DA levers. End of the circuit race shifting seemed a little off, figured it was from all the grit/sand on the roads. Get to the road race, hop on the bike and shifting is really fucked up in the rear when I'm in my little ring. Run it to Sram support to adjust it, at this point I was thinking it might be the cable, but dude adjusted it and seemed okay.

Start the road race, get to the climb and won't stay in a cog when I'm in the little ring, could get it to say in the 39x25, but that was about it, lets just say that sucked. Since it was okay in the big ring I did the crit without checking it, plus if something went wrong I could just take a lap and get a pit bike

Luckily my cable didn't completely come apart inside the shifter, but cable was the first thing I checked when I got home. The head almost broke off inside, but it was hanging on by like 2 strands.

I knew I should have replaced it before the race, so remember to replace your shifter cables before the time fitchburg rolls around.

THE ACTUAL RACE

TT: didn't put in a horrible time, but I definitely think I could have gone at least 20 seconds faster. Was in the mid 20's with like only 1.5 seconds between me and the five guys in front of me. Figured this was gonna pretty much decide gc since no moutain climb

Circuit: My teammate Nat got in an early move the suprisingly stayed away as it dangled out front of the field the whole race always between 10-20 seconds. He got 3rd and also picked up the green (points) jersey which he lost in the rr, but did a great job of killing it in the crit to get it back.

Road Race: first or second lap a 6 man move went. I think with 4 or 5 to go I went with one other dude on the climb and we got a good gap, but field reeled us in on the descent. A few K before the climb a dude in black attacked and both Nat and I were on it and we had a break. Railed it up the climb and the gap was established. Some guys fell off and then some bridged up after the descent. We ended up with a group of about 6 guys and we all were working well. The earlier break had come apart and only one solo guy was away. I thought for sure this was the move.

We worked well the next few laps (@ 11 miles each), but then on the last lap the field ( or what 35 guys that were left of it) came out of nowhere and caught us on the descent, that really sucked. It had the race leader and bunch of guys high on gc so they had the horsepower and apparently the organization to chase us. After that all I could do was finish 27th and lost some time to the guys in the front half of the field, but somehow moved from 27th in gc to 19th.

Crit: Pretty much everyone in the group I was in the day before was suffering and near the back. The field pretty much stayed together, but I moved up 1 place in gc because I think one of the guys I was in the move with the day before got lapped.

Fun race, was hoping to finish top 10 in gc, raced well, just didn't play out right, but managed a top 20 and still in the money.