Redlands Photos

Redlands so far...

Wednesday: 4am wake-up, fly to CA, preview the course, move into the host house (check it!), procure some food etc, and then it is 10pm Pacific time and I am dead. But I raced up that hill, obsessing about wheel choice, opting for two deep-dish Carbones on a road bike with clip-ons. Ideal would be light TT bike with proper climbing gearing and deep dish front plus non-tank rear disc - that is my take. But I rode hard and finished 25th and given this winter and three days of racing training crits, I was pleased. Today I got a flat 3 miles into the new circuit race, exploded tube wrapped around my cassette and brakes, resulting in a painfully slow wheel change that had me out of sight of the caravan. My chase basically killed me, and my teammate Kele who dropped back to help. I was dying after that. I love bumper-hopping in the caravan but not that much. The tube yanked the brakes off-center and I ended up getting off the bike before the second QOM for some bike wrestling. So a 40mile tt with two others to make the time cut. I'm exhausted, sunburned, and disappointed. Betina and Kirsten led the Advil charge, finishing in the second group. Kele had a race-ending mechanical, Brenda and Megan will live to fight another day. It's awesome to be racing, even though today was so short-lived and painful.

Musings

Yesterday while riding I heard a bark and alertly looked up to see a poodle with a fancy haircut presiding over an equally well-kept lawn. I love Connecticut! Last week turned out to be quite busy, given my vacation-maximizing approach of high-tailing it into town Sunday night. And remarkably, each week when on Tuesday I think I am just about a goner, I suffer total amnesia to the fact that 90% of each week's commitments fall on Tuesday. I continue to work off a long list! Some accomplishments: Bob helped me to dial in the position on the new bike, getting rid of some crazy stack height resulting from a stem with too much drop plus being on the large end of the height range when it comes to this frame size. The bike is now tip-top, and this guy is amazing to the point I forgive his lack of enthusiasm for sardines. Speaking of which, and along the lines of my fantastic crazy friends, check out this tribute to a sandwich hawked on the streets of Istanbul. School endeavors have been interesting, with potential for exciting on research of health impacts of urban parks. Considering too the scale of impact and action: Attended a talk on carbon markets based on "avoided deforestation credits," REDD, but think I have more faith in this X-tra cycle, brought to my attention by Laura Bowles and shown at work in this photo. Here is a link to an animated short I saw at Banff Film Fest, about noise pollution in a badger colony. Also pictured is the bro (with snowboard), maximizing life in Juneau! Lobster mits and thermal jacket yesterday, 25 degrees today but should warm for Bethel Worlds, but Wednesday I go to Redlands. Will spur the fitness to say the least!

New Beginnings: Wells Ave on Easter!

A conference brought me to Boston on Saturday and offered up the chance to see some friends and race the famous Wells Ave Training Crit for the first time ever on Sunday! It surpassed my expectations as a training resource where you can sit in and motorpace, attack / follow some attacks, or spend some time at the front. It was cold and windy, with moments of complete leg malfunction! Now I am back at school, tons to do and 1.5 weeks until Redlands.

Advil Camp and Road 2008

Asheville, NC - Soon I can point to the full blow-by-blow on the Fuji athlete blog, but for now a few highlights: tunnels on the Blue Ridge, no internet, 5hr ride starting in 20-something temperatures, super-sweet team bike, Quinoa Flakes, pretending it was warm for photo shoots, dogs bearing teeth, Tifosi and other treats, and my awesome teammates - Laura Bowles, Heather Labance, Elisa Gagnon, Sarah Tillotson, Jen McCrae, Natalie Klemko, Kirsten Robbins, Brenda Lyons, Reem Jishi, and Sue Palmer-Komar. We are an underdog team whose racers are balancing racing with working, going to school, and raising kids. We are somewhat lacking in the young and sassy department, so I might have to be the one to say "Whatever I'm bad I do what I wanna," in the words of one favorite cross teammate. We aim to pick our battles and win some big races. We have the potential - now to embark on the intriguing, exciting, and difficult quest to create a whole bigger than the sum of its parts. My earlier concern about finding freshness for a road season that will include many familiar races seems far away - there is so much to do and learn and accomplish this season. First among these would be Redlands, which starts April 3rd! Very specific training will hopefully prepare me to race with just one or two days of racing in the legs - unfortunately there is nothing to be done for the tell-tale winter pallor of a New Englander. Camera batteries died just three photos in; photo copyright Jeff Zimmerman so I am trying to pilfer from some teammates' blogs. Spectacular riding - I plan to return to Asheville sometime when it is WARM!

Pause

Last week's ghastly accident in which three cyclists were mowed down, two killed, by a county sheriff's deputy in California who crossed the yellow line and entered the wrong lane of traffic gives reason for pause. This was a good article on the legal response and media portrayal of the incident, by Bicycling and the Law author Bob Mionske. Check out this quick video too.

Asheville

New year, new team, new kit, new place to train! Team camp and would that I could send the Blue Ridge Parkway to New Haven as an email attachment. Cold but oh so nice. More later. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.

WOW!

Far more exciting lately than my own griping about the weather has been following the success of friends: Katheryn Curi Mattis, who came up with me through New England racing (and evidently kept going) and who was my teammate in 2004, won the Geelong World Cup! Berkshire champion and accomplice on many snow hikes (not to mention mechanical savior) Dave Drumm made the bikes tip-top for the race, Velo Bella teammate Amy Dombrowski continues her lightning rise through international racing, and former teammate Erinne Willock looks poised for a great season. Wow. And while I pine a bit for such racing adventures, I also have an acute awareness of how extremely difficult it is to do what they have done – physically but especially the extreme level of sacrifice and the opportunity costs in other areas of life. Here in Connecticut, I need to hold out one more week before I head to Asheville for our Advil team camp and my spring break training block. I am still thinking hard about how to give a freshness to the season, how to step it up. Men’s racing would be really good for me, since I am quite good in terms of 1-4hr fitness, far less good in terms of 1-10minute fitness. I need to not feel I am failing to support the women’s sport and the promoters who make it happen, or imply that the quality of the regional women’s fields is not high. Other tidbits: I neglected to realize that my bottom bracket had gone to hell so now that it’s been replaced I feel I am riding a lightning bolt. Looking forward to Bethel this weekend, and I have plenty else to keep me busy, such as memorizing the meanings of acronyms such as BACT, BDAT, and BAT (anyone know these?) and nailing down some thesis stuff. Too many interests (better than too few). The Yale team has its first collegiate race weekend this weekend – hurray! Our email list contained this great bit of advice from one German graduate student: Think of this: Ein gutes Pferd springt so hoch wie es muss, nicht höher. (A good horse jumps as high as it has to, not higher)

Subconscious Skips Sleeping Giant

I was finally going to brave the Sleeping Giant ride yesterday, to break out of my recent pattern of riding within a 100 watt range within a 10rpm zone on flat terrain or trainer. This is the ride I swore off three years ago, after I got hit from behind, the guy flipping up over a guardrail, because I decided to stop at a red light and not follow the riders ahead of me. It was a scary example of group-think and I lost my own better judgment. I am kind of renowned for my disdain for the ride. But yesterday I even went so far as showing up, but then I rode ahead to avoid waiting for the ride start, and overshot the turn (which I clearly know) and missed the ride! I realized at that point I was dreading the ride, went and did a nice hilly loop on the rural roads west of New Haven (as cities go this place is pretty nice for pedaling). Trying to figure out the best approach to this spring season: Redlands but then a big gap in my NRC schedule and there's a question in my mind about how to make things new and stimulating, given the familiarity of so many of these races. That said I am strangely excited for Bethel next Sunday. These photos are from time spent training in La Canada (home of the Rose Bowl) near Pasedena back in 2004.

Battling the Elements...In My Apartment

Snow, ice, rain, and now the seemingly innocuous environment of my apartment... Given this impressive outdoor weather - don't get me wrong I don't hate winter, I just lack enthusiasm for New Haven's pseudo-winter - I was on the trainer again. All good to start and then I just overheated, smoke coming out the ears sort of thing, hr 20-30 beats higher than it should be. Drank 6 bottles and still lost weight in water. Not supposed to feel ill after training... Checked out these power files of Judith Arndt cruising easily around Mallorca for 200k. Such a contrast to my riding right now, which is this "go go go" while I can stay warm or stay on the trainer mentality - oh to just cruise around in warmth and sun. Supposedly German cyclists, if the weather looks bad for the weekend, will hop on a plane to Mallorca, so some friends of mine and I have taken to asking "Mallorca this weekend?" Finally, write this great news into your September calendar: The Portsmouth Crit promoter has moved the start time of the women's race so that it no longer conflicts with the Suckerbrook Cyclocross. Let's all go out and race this great double day! Photos to indicate my point about New Haven winter: yesterday brought pouring rain on top of snow, necessitating cyclocross pit boots just to leave the house, then today gorgeous, a brilliant winter day, almost Mallorca!

Recovery Day, Food for Thought, and Technical Tip with Disclaimer

“Day off” for a cyclist, even one with an uber-flexible student life, is pretty much a misnomer. We all know it is code for: blitz on work, run errands, clean the house, do laundry, make phone calls during daylight hours, pay bills, etc. Yesterday I did schoolwork non-stop from 6:30 to 4:00, to the point of absolute exhaustion. But I was again amazed at how much I can get done when not exhausted from pedaling. Recovery scores again though, since I got off the trainer just now to news that one of today’s classes got cancelled, making my epic Tuesday much less epic. So now I am listening to On Point’s “The Soaring Price of Food,” having read this interesting story on the origin of muscle fatigue and done some quality stretching. I haven’t read it all yet but came across this great essay title, “My Other Car is a Bright Green City.” (And not trying to be high and mighty here - I ridiculously drive around in a 4wd station wagon, drive a lot every year.) Yesterday there was no way I was riding outside, with temperatures in the low ‘20s and tons of wind. This morning I found out a friend rode 5hrs; today he is doing 6hrs, again with temps in the low 20s! Power to him. Maybe I need to be tougher. Now for the technical tip: I have now sheered off the rear derailleur shift cable of my DuraAce 10-speed shifter at the point of its entry into the hood/shifter four times. (It's the center of the photo.) The shifting starts to go bad, then all of a sudden you are stuck in the 12. It’s a weird problem, and the cable head then can get stuck in the shifter. The best explanation I can find is this: that it’s a consequence of leaving your bike in an easy cog when not riding, since this stresses the cable and leaves it in a highly bent position. I am trying to remember to shift into the smallest cog after riding, just in case this helps.

Weather Triumphs, Sparking a New Approach

Smarty-pants me thought I would outfox the weather today, so went out early to beat the snow and promptly crashed on a patch of black ice. Then I noticed the ice was all over, rear wheel even spinning out at times, and I tip-toed my way back home, riding as much as possible cross-style on the frosted grass so I wouldn’t eat it and get run over. Then I jumped on the trainer, buoyed first by an hour of silence, then by this new trash radio favorite, 104.1, (being the last person on the planet without an ipod) and proceeded to make my shoes just as soaking wet as they were yesterday. To add insult to injury, it’s now sunny and 42 (though rain and snow still forecast). I am adopting a strategy of interest-based not positional bargaining with the weather and will keep you posted. Dinner plans for tonight involve bringing a salad, so eat local is going to have to include walking to Romeo and Caesar’s Market today to buy a California lettuce. Otherwise, I’m charging on with the project, reminded of one time canoe camping with my brother and friends on an island in Lake Millinocket in Maine, where we had an excess of onions and roasted them over a fire, on whittled sticks and wrapped in tinfoil, each layer seasoned with a different spice – cumin, cinnamon, pepper, oregano. Going to stop before I adopt the complete diabetes-inducing diet, but for now I still have an orange, carrots, red cabbage, frozen peas, onions, and garlic in the produce department and the project has inspired some creativity. Check this out in the unintended consequences department: evidently two studies are saying biofuels are going to have a bigger carbon footprint than conventional fuels, due to forest clearing. Haven't really thought it through but one thing's certain: good intentions alone don't guarantee a positive outcome. Here's to finding the low-hanging fruit.