The View from the Launch

There is some threshold between optimism and delusion, one that with 20-20 hindsight I failed to recognize while curled in bed Tuesday with some food poisoning / stomach flu, sleeping 14 hrs. Wednesday morning a friend at school, watching me struggle to walk down the street carrying a bag of exam blue books, asked if it were a good idea to race. I almost reassessed, but I had been looking forward to Joe Martin all year. The courses suited me, we had a good team including Sue, and because of Mt. Hood this would be a race where Advil-Chapstick could be a real force. I rallied somewhat for the time trial, and I guess I should be pleased with 10th given the circumstances, but I wasn't. On day two I was struggling mightily at the back of the tiny field before the racing even got hard, and by mile 20 I was off the back on a flat part, depleted and going backwards. Tim pulled around after maybe three miles and I got in the van, having lost six minutes already. It was pretty awful, but I was not going to repeat El Salvador. The team has been racing well, but yesterday is one everyone is second guessing. Trying to conserve and doubtful a break would succeed, the team let Cheerwine rider Robin Farina drift off the front, which seemed like a good idea given the wind. But there was no concerted effort to control the gap (Colavita's responsibility, but everyone's loss), which was aided by neutralization of the field, and Robin gained a whopping 10 minutes to seize the gc. Awesome ride by Robin, but also major errors made by others. There is a lot of regret and questions about how you change a race plan midway as well as "aren't we here to race our bikes?" I wish I could have been there, though who knows if I could have changed the outcome. Hanging out and trying to be helpful is kind of tough, but like in most sports when you get sidelined for injury or another reason, it's a chance to observe and learn and take stock. I am feeling well again and let me tell you, I plan to race my bike. Today is the final stage - a very challenging crit - and the team is extremely motivated to race. I am psyched to watch them rock!

There's no place like home...

Hard to explain how glad I am to be back in Connecticut. Sunday we raced very conservatively, aiming to light it up late to make it fast enough to try to unseat Tina. It took a lot of patience to roll around in a barely-moving circle when I finally had the legs to feel like attacking, not to mention the pent up desire for revenge after the beginning of the week! But it is one thing to race to make the race interesting and quite another to try the strategy you think might get you the win - and we were going for the latter. I did ok though there is much to learn and I have do say getting the elbows out in a big slow moving mob as the sprint winds up is not exactly my forte - yet. But Jen got 3rd again, plus Brenda wound it up for 4th. Hot damn, and we are just getting started. These are the very best sprinters in the country, getting ready for a season full of showdowns, from Philly to Crit Nationals. And check out those stylish sprinters! Other photos: Anniston at night (Sunny King), faux mansion with moose in Atlanta gated community, one of Atlanta's much- lambasted highways, me and Ralph, a former student of my Dad's who knew me as a kid, plus a very sad sandwich. The crit series brought lots of good intensity training, offset by absolute upheaval of all routine generally considered conducive to successful training and racing. Joe Martin will be the measuring stick...

Sleep Deprivation amid Wafflehouses

Things are getting better by the day! Friday the legs were coming around and it was super fun to race with Laura Bowles - we were starting to feel like a team. The sleep deprivation continues: race, eat, drive from Spartanburg to Atlanta, in bed by 2, up at 7:30, to sponsor event, lunch at Chipotle (no Wafflehouse!) nap at Starbucks, kill time, drive 2 hours to Anniston, AL. But sleep is overrated and you rally! We finally had our full team for Sunny King, sprinters galore. Legs finally getting better and so motivating to race for someone who can win. Jen got third and we are aiming for that top step today.

Still getting demolished

Raced last night in Greenwood and it was again pretty dismal. I am not feeling very good and guess I just have very few matches to burn, but it has been tough to find the spaces to race among the full teams of Aaron's, Cheerwine, and Colavita, who continue to dominate. Laura is joining us tonight and watch out, because this weekend we will be in full force. I just hope my legs come around!

Help, we have no race food!

We might have finished off our host family's spring lettuce mix and parmesan cheese, but this remarkably sneaky and iron-stomached 12-year old dog, Fitzgerald, devoured my gels and bars and ate 1,200 calories of Kirsten's protein bars in just one sitting. Remarkable!

Parris Island, SC

Making the Corps, an account of Marine Corps boot camp on Parris Island, is one of my favorites, so I was thrilled to realize this morning, on the advising of my host Sam, a Marine Corps captain and pilot, that I could ride my bike there! He and I talked about some interesting parallels between bike and military culture.

Walterboro: Lost the battle...

Decathlon day Wednesday: up at 4:30 in New Jersey; flew to Atlanta, then Savannah; drove to Beaufort, SC; built bike/picked up Kirsten/met host family's dog; drove to Walterboro, SC; waited through a bomb threat to race the bike; raced the bike at 7:30; drove back home, ate, in bed by midnight... Showed up at the race and other teams were saying "thank goodness you guys are here, it is getting old." The red teams - Colavita, Aaron's, and Cheerwine - are dominating the show and the others - Value Act, TIBCO, Vanderkitten - were getting grouchy. I had a new plan "be patient and count," with the intention of not wasting so much energy jumping on attacks, let alone making them myself, but then bridging to the break that stuck. It made sense given that Kirsten and Reem were looking to get their legs back. But easier said than done, right. I was patient - sort of - but then I missed the winning break. And I did try to get across, but the reds would not let me. Little me? I spent my energy trying and did not hold position into the final two corners and did not even finish in the money. Grrr. I was very sluggish on the bike with the jump almost laughable (prime - not even close), but otherwise felt ok. I guess it's to be expected after restful last three days on the bike followed by the long day. But I was pretty unsatisfied, not to mention exhausted.

The Bird Prime and Other Stories

This week has been jam-packed with exciting things, though hardly the model for pro recovery of abundant sleep, stretching, and couch-lounging with book in hand! My model for bike racing is that of the multi-dimensional life, but I am guessing most of us can relate to the feeling of having dodged a bullet with recovery when you really extend and still pull off a decent race, don't get sick, don't leave your bike wheel in the race parking lot as a result of sleep deprivation, etc. For instance I've been helping some of the undergraduates in the environmental policy class I TA craft research papers. Their curiosity, optimism and work ethic is so motivating. Sometimes more is more. On Friday I ended up in Boston, went for a ride on the once-familiar terrain of the bike path, Concord Ave, and out past Hanscom field. I had somehow forgotten Boston is a major city - there is so much traffic there - and compared to New Haven there are so many cyclists that convention seemed to be not to wave at other riders. I actually got into a argument with a driver this week in New Haven: the car flew by me from behind scarily close, then almost rear-ended the car ahead, they were really driving crazily. I was so scared I was mad, so I chased them down (rarely a good idea) and yelled "you almost hit me!" But we were all too worked up and the driver was yelling "you are on a bike, you can avoid me!" and "you are on the wrong side of the road, you are supposed to be riding against traffic!" both of which are obviously insane. And now the funny part: I was screaming at them "be careful, I don't want you to kill someone!" And they were screaming at me "be careful, this is a very dangerous road!." I think under different conditions we could identify some common goals... Anyway, I showed up at Sturbridge dragging (glad I was racing since if training I would have gone 10mph). But we had a pretty good race on a cool new course. Racing without teammates, my hope was for us to have a selection that resulted in a small group forming, to prevent a scenario of my needing to cover everything if one team (Terry or Radical Media) decided to fire off attack after attack, especially on the run into the finish. I was not strong enough and it was so windy that we ended up with I think eight in the final group, but I embraced patience on the final climb, sat in, and was able to pull it off. I definitely got lucky since the 34-11 was not the optimal gear for the downhill sprint at the top of this climb. I had to sit down I was spinning so frantically! I heard later 2nd place finisher Denise Ramsden dropped her chain - this bad luck comes around, goes around. Now for the best part: I picked up my world-traveled bike bag from Tom Stevens, which presented an opportunity to inquire about what had been tipped as the best Tom Stevens story ever: the BIRD PRIME. One year, Tom was racing one of the Quad Cities Criteriums, Moline Illinois, a .4-mile loop on a 100k race. And there was a bird drafting the field, flying up, then dive-bombing back down right on the shoulders of the riders and into the draft when it lost ground. Well, the crowd and the announcer starting rooting for the bird. And they passed around a hat for a crowd prime. After the race, it was announced that Tom had won "the bird prime," with a photo showing Tom just edging out the bird. $180! Today I am going to ride 10mph. I am glad it's cloudy because my eyelids got sunburned yesterday. Does Tifosi make goggles? On Wednesday I start my crit-racing extravaganza in Walterboro, South Carolina. Attached is a photo taken by Barry Koblenz at Battenkill, when I was being patient on the first real climb, following Kathleen and trailed closely by Mary Zider and Natasha Elliot.

Watch Out, Santa Boulderuscon!

Would anyone say to you in Boulder, at the top of a climb (or should I say small hill) where you have been doing intervals, "Nice job! You're good at this!" I ask. New Haven pretty much rocks.

Training by feel, priorities and the lucky bed, oats, tech tip, and PEI

Be careful what you wish for with this animal training model because the Powertap is in the garage in Wisconsin again. Please reps let me know if you ever need equipment tested, because I seem to be surprising hard on it. I did this week’s “train my weaknesses” workouts by feel, sprint accelerations and those standing climbing intervals, after which my legs were so wrecked I set a world record in showering speed (shower jersey here – the one jersey Alex Wrubelski doesn’t have). On Friday I experienced some horror when in the first hour of a recovery ride I averaged 10.1mph, no joke, getting passed by commuters on full mountain bikes with nubby tires. I was wisely reminded about priorities, namely that I am looking ahead to Joe Martin, Battenkill a stop along the way. So now that the legs rallied and I had some good luck at Battenkill, the same applies: look ahead to Joe Martin. I will also note that I stayed in yet another mansion for host housing. I wonder what my hosts would think about my Spartan New Haven apartment! I slept in the same twin bed as last year’s winner Heather Labance – go figure. One of these days I will do a tribute to oats and the many strange oat concoctions I have been introduced to through bike racing: raw oats with milk, walnuts, raisins, and an apple sliced with a julienne mincer; oats with cheddar cheese and maple syrup; oats with egg whites; oats with whole eggs; oats with apricots; oats with yogurt; or my own one-time unintentional disaster I did not have the heart to throw away: oats with raisins and cumin. And a tech tip: really I am a big fan of the third-eye chain watcher – get one! Not to mention the drivetrain set-up of 34-50 compact with SRAM 11-26 cassette (works fine with Shimano drivetrain). Finally, zip me an email asap if you might be interested in racing PEI in early June with my team. Awesome race though Gilbert Blithe is fictional. Pictured: Rice Mansion Inn; post-race with Zoe, host Christine, and Andrea; Elisa and Rebecca.

Do you ever get bored?

Sometimes people ask me this and I am usually pretty puzzled. (Ok trainer maybe!) But there is a lot to think about on the bike, such as: that our Advil kit looks exactly like the CT license plate or what all these people outside now that it's spring do all winter. And today, spinning along to clear out my legs, I was imagining myself as a hummingbird, and I wondered, what if your coach communicated the training by way of animal icons? And you would have a weekly schedule of say tortoise ride Monday, cheetah Tuesday, ox Wednesday, hummingbird Thursday, sloth Friday, mountain goat Saturday, gazelle on Sunday. I think it would work just fine. I raced Bethel with the men this weekend, there to witness Jacob Hacker my favorite health care economist seal up the series. Then I rode around that area, sky changing every five seconds from ominous grey to crisp blue, and it was oh so nice. Hats off to Andrea Myers and Ann Marie Miller who have taken the women's series by STORM this spring. I missed some good battles but am really fighting the "steady hard" fitness this year. This week my training is the ultimate in training my weaknesses. Wish me luck on the standing climbing intervals!

Redlands: The Infamous Sunset

Missed opportunity on Sunset today. The race starts with 3 miles of positioning-war race-pace "neutral" climbing followed by the Sunset climb, part of a 10k technical circuit that twists up and down through residential neighborhoods. The first time up the climb is QOM plus a time bonus. Read: field-shattering selection in the first 25 minutes of the race. I came off the front group just before the QOM, then caught a group of five that bridged back into the first group. Right when I caught, at the goading of some Aaron's riders, I tried to jump across to Meredith Miller, who would be the ideal breakaway companion, but did not go cleanly enough and had the group on my wheel. Then, after the descent and preparing to enter the climb, sitting second wheel, I dropped my chain. I NEVER do this! Even shifting into the big ring wouldn't get it back so I got off the bike. A second group caught just then so there was some hope but it rode through me as I was stopped and I couldn't bridge up on the climb. Kathleen Billington and I rode pretty much 8 laps together. (Thanks for the water!) I am already plotting my return, because I came to love that course yesterday. There's isn't a single steep section of climbing and the descent, once you nail the corners, is so fun. One of these days... Betina and Kirsten missed that crucial first selection. They are capable of much more and well, it's only early April! Brenda did what she wanted, finished the day in lanterne rouge. At the front, Webcor's Alex Wrubelski took the time bonus and the stage, snatched the leader's jersey, climbers jersey, and I think sprinter jersey too. CRAZY. Mara was the strongest climber but this year that wasn't good enough. Redlands is a different race without the long finishing climb on Oak Glen.