Campy's announcement that they will offer an 11-speed group for next year reminded me of this bit from Spinal Tap.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Summer Solstice Races
This past weekend, I travelled down to the Wilmington area on consecutive days to compete in Stages 2 and 4 of the Summer Solstice Stage Race, promoted by Ohio Valley Racing. The courses are pretty flat, but long, so it was a good opportunity to build some endurance and possibly help my teammates out.
Stage 1 took place on Friday evening and I decided ahead of time that I would not race on Friday. It was probably a good choice because the weather was pretty crappy with storm fronts moving through the area. Jeff Aufdencamp was able to get 6th place in the field sprint, so the team plan on Stage 2 was to work to set-up Jeff.
The scheduled race for Saturday was to complete 5 laps on a 13-mile course, for a total of 65 miles. OVR advertised the race as “rolling” but that term is relative – someone from North Carolina would have called it pancake flat. But I knew this coming into the event so I was not disappointed. Upon arrival at the race venue, the word spread quickly through the parking lot that there was a section of about 3 miles on McKay Rd. that had been chip-sealed and was quite dangerous in spots with deep sections of gravel. After the sacrificial fields of Masters, Cat 5’s and Women were allowed to “enjoy” the full course, the race officials decided to circumvent the nasty stretch for the remaining racers and quickly lined out a new course, avoiding the chip-seal roads. This left us with an 8-mile course, so the lap count was upped to 8 to leave us with a total of 64 miles.
Immediately upon roll-out, Chris Grisvard and Walker’s own Jason McCoy struck out on a “see-if-sticks” attack. This was short lived and the peloton was not about to let anyone get away in the first 5 minutes. The Walker team was very aggressive in the first three laps – Doug McConaha, Doug Green, Todd Lee, John Markstein, and I all joined or initiated several attacks. Unfortunately nothing was sticking and our protected man, Jeff, had suffered a flat tire early and his day ended prematurely. It is worth noting that Doug McConaha took the unofficial KOM on the 2nd lap… to bad the official KOM did not occur until the 4th lap. =) As the race wore on, I decided to just stay toward the front and try to mark any attacks that I could. As is often the case in racing, I was in a bad position when the attack that stuck took off and there was no chance for me bridge up to it. That was pretty much the end of the story. By the end of the day, our squad was somewhat decimated, paying for early aggressions and I think only myself, Doug Green, and Doug McConaha finished with the first chase group. I managed to sneak into decent position for the field sprint and ended up 11th on the line. It’s funny how certain details of a race can escape me. Looking at the power data after the race, I see that I hit my peak 30-second power for the year (575 W) just 4 minutes into the race. I don’t recall the effort, but I’ll assume I was trying to cover a counter-attack after Jason had been caught. The power data also showed that this was the most intense race that I had done all year, with normalized power at 245 W, which translates into an intensity factor (IF) of 0.893 for me.
Sunday’s Stage 4 race WAS pancake flat. And, I am not complaining, but it was probably one of the most boring courses I have ever done. The schedule for Sunday was 6 laps of a 12-mile course, 72 miles in all. We lost John Markstein and Jason McCoy for the day, but we picked up Scott Spees.
On the first lap, Todd Lee worked his way into a break of 6 or 7 riders that managed to stay away until midway through the 2nd lap. After that, the race primarily stayed together until Jeff Aufdencamp took off on a solo flyer just as we headed south on Larrick Rd. on the 5th lap. I positioned myself at the front of the group to try to discourage the chase effort. Jeff held the field at bay for the majority of the lap, but on the flat road heading north back to the start-finish line, the Overall GC leader and one of his Canadian countrymen conspired to chase him down. When he was caught, Mitch Tallan unleashed a furious counter-attack heading into the start-finish and the pace picked up for a few miles. For the remainder of the last lap, Mitch proceeded to attack every time the pace lulled. As we headed back into the finish, I checked with Scott Spees to see how he was feeling. Scott told me to keep the pace high, so I made my way to the front and tried to do just that. After doing one good turn, I pulled off the front and was swarmed by the field, never to see the front again. To add insult to injury, the race official pulled up on his motor bike and admonished me for pulling off to far to the left and crossing the yellow line. I pleaded that I was not taking advantage, but rather was dropping back and trying to stay out of the way of the main field, so he only administered a warning. At any rate, the peloton took this as a warning to remain inside the lane, making moving up in the field nearly impossible. I found myself in the last third of a 40-man peloton and I knew my chances were remote, so I sat up for the sprint, opting not to risk the carnage.
So that was my weekend. Well, all except for going home to find some wonderful homemade father’s day presents from my daughter. We finished the day with a nice little fishing trip to a local pond where Allie caught 8 or 10 bluegill, which we always return so we can catch them again later.
Not a bad way to end the day.
(Images copyright Jeffrey Jakucyk )
Stage 1 took place on Friday evening and I decided ahead of time that I would not race on Friday. It was probably a good choice because the weather was pretty crappy with storm fronts moving through the area. Jeff Aufdencamp was able to get 6th place in the field sprint, so the team plan on Stage 2 was to work to set-up Jeff.
The scheduled race for Saturday was to complete 5 laps on a 13-mile course, for a total of 65 miles. OVR advertised the race as “rolling” but that term is relative – someone from North Carolina would have called it pancake flat. But I knew this coming into the event so I was not disappointed. Upon arrival at the race venue, the word spread quickly through the parking lot that there was a section of about 3 miles on McKay Rd. that had been chip-sealed and was quite dangerous in spots with deep sections of gravel. After the sacrificial fields of Masters, Cat 5’s and Women were allowed to “enjoy” the full course, the race officials decided to circumvent the nasty stretch for the remaining racers and quickly lined out a new course, avoiding the chip-seal roads. This left us with an 8-mile course, so the lap count was upped to 8 to leave us with a total of 64 miles.
Immediately upon roll-out, Chris Grisvard and Walker’s own Jason McCoy struck out on a “see-if-sticks” attack. This was short lived and the peloton was not about to let anyone get away in the first 5 minutes. The Walker team was very aggressive in the first three laps – Doug McConaha, Doug Green, Todd Lee, John Markstein, and I all joined or initiated several attacks. Unfortunately nothing was sticking and our protected man, Jeff, had suffered a flat tire early and his day ended prematurely. It is worth noting that Doug McConaha took the unofficial KOM on the 2nd lap… to bad the official KOM did not occur until the 4th lap. =) As the race wore on, I decided to just stay toward the front and try to mark any attacks that I could. As is often the case in racing, I was in a bad position when the attack that stuck took off and there was no chance for me bridge up to it. That was pretty much the end of the story. By the end of the day, our squad was somewhat decimated, paying for early aggressions and I think only myself, Doug Green, and Doug McConaha finished with the first chase group. I managed to sneak into decent position for the field sprint and ended up 11th on the line. It’s funny how certain details of a race can escape me. Looking at the power data after the race, I see that I hit my peak 30-second power for the year (575 W) just 4 minutes into the race. I don’t recall the effort, but I’ll assume I was trying to cover a counter-attack after Jason had been caught. The power data also showed that this was the most intense race that I had done all year, with normalized power at 245 W, which translates into an intensity factor (IF) of 0.893 for me.
Sunday’s Stage 4 race WAS pancake flat. And, I am not complaining, but it was probably one of the most boring courses I have ever done. The schedule for Sunday was 6 laps of a 12-mile course, 72 miles in all. We lost John Markstein and Jason McCoy for the day, but we picked up Scott Spees.
On the first lap, Todd Lee worked his way into a break of 6 or 7 riders that managed to stay away until midway through the 2nd lap. After that, the race primarily stayed together until Jeff Aufdencamp took off on a solo flyer just as we headed south on Larrick Rd. on the 5th lap. I positioned myself at the front of the group to try to discourage the chase effort. Jeff held the field at bay for the majority of the lap, but on the flat road heading north back to the start-finish line, the Overall GC leader and one of his Canadian countrymen conspired to chase him down. When he was caught, Mitch Tallan unleashed a furious counter-attack heading into the start-finish and the pace picked up for a few miles. For the remainder of the last lap, Mitch proceeded to attack every time the pace lulled. As we headed back into the finish, I checked with Scott Spees to see how he was feeling. Scott told me to keep the pace high, so I made my way to the front and tried to do just that. After doing one good turn, I pulled off the front and was swarmed by the field, never to see the front again. To add insult to injury, the race official pulled up on his motor bike and admonished me for pulling off to far to the left and crossing the yellow line. I pleaded that I was not taking advantage, but rather was dropping back and trying to stay out of the way of the main field, so he only administered a warning. At any rate, the peloton took this as a warning to remain inside the lane, making moving up in the field nearly impossible. I found myself in the last third of a 40-man peloton and I knew my chances were remote, so I sat up for the sprint, opting not to risk the carnage.
So that was my weekend. Well, all except for going home to find some wonderful homemade father’s day presents from my daughter. We finished the day with a nice little fishing trip to a local pond where Allie caught 8 or 10 bluegill, which we always return so we can catch them again later.
Not a bad way to end the day.
(Images copyright Jeffrey Jakucyk )
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Garrett Wonders Memorial Criterium
This past Saturday, our team lined up to contest the Garrett Wonders Memorial Criterium in downtown Westerville, OH. Huge thunderstorms rolled through early Saturday morning, waking me up around 4 AM with visions of racing through rain-flooded streets. Fortunately, though, the rain subsided and by the time we took the start line, the skies had cleared quite nicely.
Nine members of the mighty Walker Companies - Olympus Homes squad lined up for the titanic struggle on Saturday morning. The pace was hard from the gun and stayed that way pretty much the entire time. I was thrilled to find my wife and daughter stationed at the first corner of the course, cheering for me on every lap.
With our large numbers, our general plan was to keep things together and try to set up a sprint for either Jason or Scott. There were a fair number of primes given out and this kept the race animated, but never really created a big move off the front. (BTW, I think Chris Grisvard won at least three primes… man, I don’t know how the guy does it, but he knows how to stay in position and when to attack.) As for myself, I tried my best to stay near the front and contribute to the chase efforts any time there was a gap at the front. As the pace ramped up going into the bell lap, Scott told me to get on his wheel… easier said than done. I tried to hang on to him, but was forced off by a couple of guys who beat me to the punch. In the end, Scott was able to pull out a strong 3rd place finish, and I ended up somewhere around 12th. Turns out that if your peak power is somewhere south of 1,000 watts, you don’t stand much of a chance in a crit. Who knew? I think Scott received a few bucks for his effort, but I think my reward was even better.
Nine members of the mighty Walker Companies - Olympus Homes squad lined up for the titanic struggle on Saturday morning. The pace was hard from the gun and stayed that way pretty much the entire time. I was thrilled to find my wife and daughter stationed at the first corner of the course, cheering for me on every lap.
With our large numbers, our general plan was to keep things together and try to set up a sprint for either Jason or Scott. There were a fair number of primes given out and this kept the race animated, but never really created a big move off the front. (BTW, I think Chris Grisvard won at least three primes… man, I don’t know how the guy does it, but he knows how to stay in position and when to attack.) As for myself, I tried my best to stay near the front and contribute to the chase efforts any time there was a gap at the front. As the pace ramped up going into the bell lap, Scott told me to get on his wheel… easier said than done. I tried to hang on to him, but was forced off by a couple of guys who beat me to the punch. In the end, Scott was able to pull out a strong 3rd place finish, and I ended up somewhere around 12th. Turns out that if your peak power is somewhere south of 1,000 watts, you don’t stand much of a chance in a crit. Who knew? I think Scott received a few bucks for his effort, but I think my reward was even better.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Want to Win $10,000???
Too bad, because the winner’s check already has my name on it! =) But the great 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place prizes are still up for grabs as far as I’m concerned.
RoadBikeRides.com is promoting it's new website with a kick-a$$ contest. It’s easy to enter. Just go to www.RoadBikeRides.com and become a member. Read the contest rules and start entering ride maps, uploading pictures, posting in the forum, etc. to earn points. The ride mapping is extremely intuitive with great software powered by Google Maps ®. It's really easy to do, so you have no excuse for not entering.
Good luck… well, not too much… just enough to come in 2nd!
RoadBikeRides.com is promoting it's new website with a kick-a$$ contest. It’s easy to enter. Just go to www.RoadBikeRides.com and become a member. Read the contest rules and start entering ride maps, uploading pictures, posting in the forum, etc. to earn points. The ride mapping is extremely intuitive with great software powered by Google Maps ®. It's really easy to do, so you have no excuse for not entering.
Good luck… well, not too much… just enough to come in 2nd!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Back From a Short Vacation
Well, it’s been a while since my last blog. Work responsibilities and family life often get in the way for an amateur cyclist, but I try to march, uh, er, pedal onward.
For the Memorial Day weekend, we packed up the Fit, kitted out with a new Thule roof rack, and headed for Franklin, Tennessee where my father now lives. It turns out the cycling in and around the Franklin/Nashville area is fantastic! First of all, there is the Natchez Trace Parkway, which runs from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi, covering 440 miles. The Trace, as it is called by the locals, features controlled traffic, rolling hills, and smooth road surfaces. There is abundant wildlife along the trace, too, including wild turkey, deer, turtles, skunks, red-tail hawks, and opossums. Last year, I saw a mama opossum carrying several young on her back as she waddled along the road side. This year, I found a box turtle that somehow ended up on his back. Fortunately, it was still in the cool of the morning - if I had found him later in the day, he certainly would have been cooked inside that shell in the heat of the day. Chalk up one good deed in the karma account.
There is also outstanding riding in the areas surrounding Franklin. I found a phenomenal website for the Harpeth Bike Club that included many maps and cue sheets. I found a great route which started at the Agriculture Expo Center, less than 2 miles from my Dad’s house. The ride was great – fantastic road surfaces with rolling, twisting rural roads and virtually no traffic. At one point I saw a sign reading “For Sale: Miniature Dachshunds.” I thought that Dachshunds were, by definition, miniature and didn’t know that an even smaller version existed. Does that make the regular Dachshunds “Great Dachshunds?” I digress… another good resource for rides in the area can be found here.
Monday came too fast and it was time to go home. I got to spend some quality time with the family and some good time on the bike. We taught our daughter to play Crazy 8’s and she flourished, immediately besting Heather and I in a best-of-7 tournament. We’re back home now and back to the grind that it our work-a-day existence. I can’t be on vacation forever, but I will always have a bike to help me escape the reality.
For the Memorial Day weekend, we packed up the Fit, kitted out with a new Thule roof rack, and headed for Franklin, Tennessee where my father now lives. It turns out the cycling in and around the Franklin/Nashville area is fantastic! First of all, there is the Natchez Trace Parkway, which runs from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi, covering 440 miles. The Trace, as it is called by the locals, features controlled traffic, rolling hills, and smooth road surfaces. There is abundant wildlife along the trace, too, including wild turkey, deer, turtles, skunks, red-tail hawks, and opossums. Last year, I saw a mama opossum carrying several young on her back as she waddled along the road side. This year, I found a box turtle that somehow ended up on his back. Fortunately, it was still in the cool of the morning - if I had found him later in the day, he certainly would have been cooked inside that shell in the heat of the day. Chalk up one good deed in the karma account.
There is also outstanding riding in the areas surrounding Franklin. I found a phenomenal website for the Harpeth Bike Club that included many maps and cue sheets. I found a great route which started at the Agriculture Expo Center, less than 2 miles from my Dad’s house. The ride was great – fantastic road surfaces with rolling, twisting rural roads and virtually no traffic. At one point I saw a sign reading “For Sale: Miniature Dachshunds.” I thought that Dachshunds were, by definition, miniature and didn’t know that an even smaller version existed. Does that make the regular Dachshunds “Great Dachshunds?” I digress… another good resource for rides in the area can be found here.
Monday came too fast and it was time to go home. I got to spend some quality time with the family and some good time on the bike. We taught our daughter to play Crazy 8’s and she flourished, immediately besting Heather and I in a best-of-7 tournament. We’re back home now and back to the grind that it our work-a-day existence. I can’t be on vacation forever, but I will always have a bike to help me escape the reality.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I hate weathermen
OK, I know that's kinda mean. And it's not really their fault. The weather in the spring is just frickin' unpredictable. I guess what I really hate is springtime. Which leads me to another point. I know many people that say their favorite season is fall. They like the cooler temps and the changing color of the leaves. Phooey. I hate fall. Fall sucks. You know why? Because fall means two things: 1) Summer's over; and B) Winter's coming.
Anyway, my tirade on weather forecasting is due to the events on Saturday. All week long the forecast had been for bad weather on Saturday. Typically I ignore the forecasts until the 24-hour period directly preceding the activity for which I need a forecast. Sure enough, Friday night, all the local news forecasters and even the online weather sites were predicting rain and scattered thunderstorms for Saturday. I woke up early on Saturday and again checked all the weather websites - same story - a chance of severe weather in the afternoon.
I am disappointed because the race course for Saturday is one of my favorites - Sugar Grove. But the course has some serious descents which are sketchy enough even when it's dry (ask Mitch Tallan about them - he beefed heavy there last year) and I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of trying to negotiate them on slick roads. And with gas hovering at $3.85 per gallon, I opted not to make the drive down to Sugar Grove.
Idiot.
Turned out to be a beautiful day.
Oh, well. At least I thrashed myself severly on my training ride trying to simulate same race-type efforts.
I hate spring.
Anyway, my tirade on weather forecasting is due to the events on Saturday. All week long the forecast had been for bad weather on Saturday. Typically I ignore the forecasts until the 24-hour period directly preceding the activity for which I need a forecast. Sure enough, Friday night, all the local news forecasters and even the online weather sites were predicting rain and scattered thunderstorms for Saturday. I woke up early on Saturday and again checked all the weather websites - same story - a chance of severe weather in the afternoon.
I am disappointed because the race course for Saturday is one of my favorites - Sugar Grove. But the course has some serious descents which are sketchy enough even when it's dry (ask Mitch Tallan about them - he beefed heavy there last year) and I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of trying to negotiate them on slick roads. And with gas hovering at $3.85 per gallon, I opted not to make the drive down to Sugar Grove.
Idiot.
Turned out to be a beautiful day.
Oh, well. At least I thrashed myself severly on my training ride trying to simulate same race-type efforts.
I hate spring.
Friday, May 16, 2008
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