Sunday, July 28, 2013

New York's finest...

...my ass.  This is waaaay more representative of the real NYPD, not all that heroic bull crap you see on those NYC cop TV shows.  Parked IN the segregated bike lane for a doughnut run!  The worst part is that you'd probably get a ticket for leaving the bike lane to go around them.


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Shhhh...

...don't tell my surgeon!  8 more days until I'm allowed to do this haha.  Whatever, I've got bikes to ride.


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Recovery road...

...is unfortunately a road I'm all too familiar with.  Last Friday I went under the knife to have a right inguinal hernia repaired.  Surgery was successful and recovery has been going much better than expected.  Hopefully I will be on a spin bike in another week or so and back on the bike by the third week...riding easy of course.  Until then, I'll be enjoying the break from training and watching the Tour like it's my job!

Trying to catch up - Races #4 and #5

Yes, I've been neglecting the blog a bit these days.  I've been busy training and racing my bike so the blog hasn't exactly been priority #1.  Despite my absence here, I've completed another eight races prior to my mid-season break for surgery.  So here's a quick run down of what happened in races #4 and #5...

Race #4, Bethel Spring Series - This was the final race of the Bethel Spring Series and we were in the running for the team competition as well as the yellow jersey with one of our sprinters, Stefan.  Going into the race, Stefan was 2nd in points and needed to beat the yellow jersey as well as 3rd place in the standings to win.  For the team competition, we were in the lead with a small margin.  It was a tough race with lots of attacks but it all came down to the end of the race with a small group of riders getting away with about 5-6 laps to go.  Since things didn't seem to be closing down for a field sprint, we made our way back to the front to shut things down.  First Mike dropped the hammer.  Unfortunately he dropped it so hard that no one could follow.  I was up next after Mike came back with two to go.  I accelerated smoothly after the finishing climb and headed down the hill.  I knew there was someone on my wheel, I assumed the whole field was too.  Unfortunately at the bottom of the hill I had a chance to look back only to realize I was off the front with one of our competitors who was very anxious for me to drag him up to the break which we were closing in on rapidly.  I eased up, got yelled at by the wheel sucker, and forced him to go it on his own.  Seems he couldn't decipher which team I raced for despite our team kits!  I finished the lap in no man's land and got caught as we headed down the back straight.  This time there was fire in the peloton...they were flying.  I latched on to the back fairly spent and rolled into the finish a little frustrated at what had happened.  Despite my frustration, one of my teammates told me that rolling off the front is what lit the fire in the peloton, igniting the chase.  As it turns out, they caught the break on the finish stretch and Stefan sprinted to 2nd place, ahead of his competition, taking the yellow jersey.  That also cemented our win in the team competition, thus taking the double.


Race #5, Quabbin Road Race - This past winter, I discovered footage on YouTube from QRR...an unsanctioned race in Massachusetts that circumnavigates Quabbin Reserve and finishes on the climb to the tower.  The roads looked beautiful and it seemed to be a good event so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Several other teammates headed over for the race as well and I had Ira and Tim along side me in the 3/4's.  Well, there is a key word above that says a lot about this event...unsanctioned.  It was well organized, well run, and had a nice purse and deep payout.  Unfortunately, that's where the good ended.  Our field ended up with something like 134 category 3/4 riders...yet again with the center-line rule in place.  The course was extremely fast and the peloton was massive.  It didn't take long for me to start to feel real uncomfortable with the way guys were riding given the speed, very schizophrenic...either all out or slamming on the brakes.  I took my place on the left side near the double yellow so I'd hopefully have a way out if I needed it (this is called foreshadowing).  The first half of the race was on two lane state routes with typical state route traffic.  Unfortunately we didn't have a rolling enclosure that typically comes with a USAC race.  Instead, we had the "Blue Knights" who were off-duty cops on personal motorcycles.  I don't even think we had a full time follow car.  Judging by events, the traffic was doing a good job at ignoring our "Blue Knights" and passing the peloton at will in both directions, sometimes at the same time!  To make matters worse, the state route seemed narrow and had no shoulder, only a guard rail.  I knew it was only a matter of time and sure enough, on a gradual down hill in excess of 35 mph, someone touched, panicked, and went down setting off a nasty chain reaction.  I witnessed several guys pile in at full speed and the sound was horrible.  That was the last time I rode in the pack.  That crash split the field and I was now at the back of the front group where I remained the rest of the race.  About 10 miles later on another super fast gradual descent, there was a touch of wheels near the front setting off the second pile-up.  I could see a cloud of dust in the peloton from everyone slamming on their brakes, seconds later I smelled the burning pads.  With one eye on the oncoming lane (which was thankfully clear of traffic) and the other on the peloton, I swerved first around a guy sitting in the road with no bike and then around the massive pile of machines and men.  I saw Ira in front of the crash on his feet fiddling with his chain.  I asked if he was OK and he said yes.  Tim was safe somewhere behind me.  With that, I quickly set about closing the sizable gap to the remainder of the peloton which was still flying.  It seemed to take forever and I passed a few guys who tried and simply couldn't make it.  No sooner than I made contact, now completely shelled, we hit a long grinder and it was all out.  I remember focusing on the wheel ahead and trying to ignore my body screaming at me...staying locked on the wheel.  I survived to the top and things finally let up allowing for some much needed recovery.  I was now the sole FGX rider in a peloton of around 50.  The remaining 30 miles were mostly uneventful...except for a few guys who managed to crash on a climb at a relatively slow speed!  With around 4 miles to go the pace jumped as it was now all business.  I sat in, content to let others kill themselves in a vain attempt to get rid of a few more.  We turned into the Quabbin Reserve park and the road began to climb.  Despite descending this very climb for the "neutral" start, I has no clue about grade, length, or even exactly where the finish line was.  I sat at the back as the peloton aggressively attacked the climb from the bottom.  As the climb wore on, I started naturally moving forward as guys tired and drifted back.  Surprisingly, the climb was longer than I would have guessed and we were still hammering.  Finally we rounded a gradual bend to the left and I could see the finish.  I accelerated as did the guy just ahead of me.  In the final 200 meters, we passed many guys blowing to shreds.  Unfortunately I crossed the line feeling like I could have gone harder, a victim of not knowing the run up to the finish.  Regardless, I finished up lucky 13th and pocketed $90.  I told you there was a nice purse with deep payout!

In the days following QRR, video of the first crash in the 3/4 race hit the internet and it told a tale of just how dangerous this race was...not due to crashes but due to the lack of control of the surrounding traffic.  After the race, I vowed that that was my last QRR because I never felt safe until after the second crash slimmed the peloton down to around 50 riders.  A simple rolling enclosure with significantly more active lead/follow cars or on-duty police would have completely changed the experience.  It's a shame really, because it was a great race on a demanding course.