Speed Week

Or should I say Speed Day? Right after Tour de Ephrata, I spent Sunday night in Philly and drove all day Monday down to Savannah, GA for a couple of the speed week races. I took at quick detour to my house in Richmond, did a joggy jog, showered, and jumped back in the car to continue the 700 mile drive south. It weird how some days driving can be fun, and other days it’s a complete drag. This was one of those days where I did not mind at all, especially once I got through the Philly/ Wilmington/ Baltimore/ DC traffic. Once you get south of Richmond on Interstate 95, its smooth sailing all the way to Jacksonville, FL. After leaving Philly at 8am, I finally made it to Savannah at 7:45 that night, nearly 12 hours later.

The USA Crits Speed Week series is a week long event, with each crit having around $10,000 of prize money, with races ranging from southern NC, GA, and SC. The 2 races I signed up for were Beaufort, and Walterboro. I had to get back to work on Friday, and I was also racing the rescheduled Jeff Cup race in Charlottesville, VA on May 8^th.

To my luck, both of the races were at twilight and went on until the sun went day. The start time for Beaufort was 7:30pm on Tuesday, which gave me a little bit of time to recover from the drive and get my mind set on racing. The day leading up to the race was chill and relaxing. I didn’t do anything too strenuous, unless you count walking as hard work. I ended up going over to Oatland Island Wildlife center, and lurked on the animals they had. I will never remember the difference between bison and buffalo, but they had 3 of those, a pack of wolves, bird, deer, gators, foxes, panthers (or something resembling them), and a lot of other stuff I don’t remember. Other than the obnoxious horseflies, the place was pretty awesome!

Around 4:30ish that afternoon, I rolled on up to Beaufort to throw down some big watts. The womens’ pro race was right before the mens, so it was nice walking around the course to see how people took the corners. The crit was only 1km in length, and had 4 corners. Not too technical, but I knew with 100 guys in the field, I would need to get a decent start spot or else I would be up the creek without a paddle. Unfortunately, everything I say I am going to do, I end up not doing it…so yeah, I rolled up and basically the whole field was there already. Crap, in the back again!

I knew to keep calm the first 20 minutes because that is usually when the pace is super fast. I rolled around, just following the people in front of me because I could not do anything else. The course was so short, and so fast, that it was nearly impossible to move up once the pace got rolling. About 30 minutes into the race, I found my sitting comfortably in the middle, but by then a breakaway already got out and was coming up on lapping the field. As I rode around in circles, I find that I get really bored. My race had 75 laps, and turning the laps around in 1:20 meant it would take around 90 minutes. As the race went on, it was fun to notice that the light was getting dimmer and dimmer each lap as the sun was setting. The turn one corner on the course smelling like a farm because it was stacked with about a ton of hay. Turn 2 smelled like all the chain smokers found each other and were lighting up. Turn 3 had the pungent smell of burnt rubber, from the brake pads slowing down the wheelsets of 75 riders. And the last corner smelling like sea water, since the wind was blowing from that direction. About 45 minutes into the race, my back was in agonizing pain, which I assumed was from the long drive. I stuck with the race though, and was definitely holding my own. Unfortunately, 30 minutes later I ended up pulling out due to back spasms. I figured everything would be ok, and the next day I could race again. I was exhausted, in pain, and all I could think about was how much ice cream would help the healing process…

Tour de Ephrata Day 2

The last of the 3-stage omnium in Ephrata was the crit. After some lunch at the closest Panera I could find—which was 10 miles down 222 in Lancaster, I proceeded to Wal Mart and Giant Food to lurk around. I didn’t find much, just some Powerade, and a thingamajig. No joke, that’s what it was called. Essentially it’s a candy bar with coco crisps, peanut butter, smothered and covered in a smooth delectable chocolate. Can you tell I enjoyed it?

I arrived to the crit about 2 hours before the start to walk around and figure out how the TT went from earlier that morning. Of the 60+ guys, I ended up with a solid 10^th. My time was 22:45, just outside the money which was Top 8. The winner was, *surprise* Bobby Lea with a 21:13. Not too bad considering I’m just getting into racing again…and racing a TT on a road bike decked out with “Jan Ulrich Alpe d’huez style” aerobars.

Im not sure what it is, but the last hour before a race always seems to fly by. Also, I don’t know if I am just lucky (sarcasm) but I always seem to unintentionally end up on the very back row at the start line. Being in that position is not conducive to racing a crit. The first 20 minutes were super fast and nearly impossible to move up on the 4 turn, .7 mile course. I sat in, went fast and turned left a good 60 corners before the field became tired and I could attack. In 1 lap, I went from nearly last, to top 10, to off the front. This course for some reason was impossible to get away. I’m guessing because the race was only 25 miles, guys were going pushing extra meat the whole time, and there was no rest for the weary. Occasionally I found myself daydreaming, and I would slide to the back of the field until I realized what was going on, and then I would move up again. Oops. My friend from college, Owen Hassig, who was also there racing, mentioned something I never really thought of. I think my concentration, or lack of in a race, is due to the fact that it just gets boring. Yes, cardiovascularly I find myself in a heap of pain, but when it comes down to it… doing 35 laps around 4 streets in an hour is not entertaining.

At the end of the race, I went off the front a good 4 to 5 times, and never made it. In my opinion this race was more for tuning up and getting into racing shape for some Speed Week races. At least I ended the day with an epic feast of Tommy Guns BBQ with my host for the weekend and best friend, TJ Storm. Everything at that place was amazing—from the deep fried macaroni, to the freshly cut fries, to the hawg. Definitely looking forward to that place next time I’m up there!

Getting back into it

Tour de Ephrata

It’s been a while since I’ve been on this thing. I guess the past year was uber busy so I never really had the time to write anything. All summer I worked at NASA, and tried to get decent riding in… When it’s all said and done, working 40 hours a week and trying to ride at the competitive level takes a lot out of you. To get you up to date, I am now working at Endorphin Fitness bike shop in RVA, and riding for myself. I am no longer part of RichmondProCycling, excuse me…RichmondCyclingCorps. Don’t get me wrong, working with the inner-city youth, tutoring, and riding bikes with them was awesome. I just have other aspirations.

Now that it’s May, I am starting to get into the swing of things. Right about this time last year, I was in solid fitness shape from racing collegiate cycling for 3 months. Instead of having a good 25 races under my belt, I have 3 races. Two of which occurred in the past 24 hours~ Tour de Ephrata.

Yesterday was an 81 mile RR, that included a windy, but scenic course, with rollers and kickers, and 1 hard 9% climb. Each lap was 9 miles, so it seemed rather long. Through the first half of the race, I felt solid and was pushing some decent meat. I got out on a breakaway in lap 2 and was away with 6 others guys for a good hour until we got caught. About that time, Bobby Lea (2 time Olympian) attacked hard and I jumped his wheel, with Kyle Wamsley following. We were rolling good, bringing back the 2 man break that was 2 minutes up with road. With 18 miles to go, I started getting horrible cramps in my legs. On the last climb, in the 9% section, I locked up and pulled out of the Lea group and drifted back to the chase group following a minute behind. I had my best friend at the race to feed me, but somehow he got caught up in the excitement and took pictures the whole race instead of give me water! Lol. All good though, the water would have helped, but I think what I really needed was electrolytes. Being out of the race circuit for 7 months almost made me forgot how to race. Live and learn, and I definitely learned that race. Of the 81 miles, I raced a good 73 of them and was in contention for the money. Had I not cramped, I would have been in the lead breakaway, but instead, I decided to pull out and try to save myself for the TT and crit on Sunday (Today!).

The TT was this morning on a rolling course, that was 4 miles flat, 2 miles of steady climbing, and 2 miles of steep climbing. At the finish, I realized why the race promoter called it “Pain Mountain TT”. I rolled the first 4 miles fast, and caught my 30 second, and 1 minute man within 9 minutes. The next 2 miles were not horrible, but the last kilometer killed me. I managed to almost catch my 90second man, but alas he stayed away! In the end, I ended up with around 22:45 for the 8 miles. Im not sure where that placed me, but hopefully I was in the top 8 so I can get a little gas money/ race entry back. I guess I’ll find out later today and put it on my next post, talking about the TDE crit. Insha3allah the rain will hold off for it. Crit + rain + 60 guys = crashes, and I think I would rather save myself for the speedweek crits of Beaufort and Walterboro, SC.

At least I get to look forward to bbq, brownies, and ice cream tonight. There’s always a bright side to racin bikes!

OhhhCala- Day 1 Stage 1!! --Ocala Stage Race

Another late blog. Oops. Things have been extremely busy for me, and I’ve had trouble finding the time to actually sit down and write something constructive. Working 40 hours a week at NASA, as well as trying to ride bikes/ racing at least 3 races a week really takes its toll on me. Yeah, im not superhuman, but pretty darn close. 2 weeks ago I went down to the good ole’ sunshine state to race the Ocala Stage Race in Ocala, FL. Let me tell you something, I now know why they call it the sunshine state…I actually got tanlines THROUGH my jersey it was so sunny down there. Yeahh Budday. Anyways, I left Friday and drove straight to Jacksonville, FL, where I stayed with my girlfriend and her family. I definitely had to eat Panera when I got there… (Black Bean soup and bread bowl, just for you Shane!! Plus, it’s always a winning combo!) and Erin met me at the Panera close to her house. It was great seeing her, obviously, and we just chilled for a bit before going back to her house to crash. The next morning I had to wake up at 630ish to drive 2 hours to Ocala for a 60 mile RR, and later that day there was a 5 mile TT. This stage race was legit; complete with timing chips, AND time bonuses on certain laps.

The first race was at 10am. I suited up and was talking to a kid parked next to me, who was apparently a Cat4 (I thought he was going to race my pro12 race the whole time…he looked decent). I was moving around nonstop trying to get all of my bottles and food ready, as well as throw a pair of wheels into the wheel truck. When I left to throw the wheels in, and came back to my car to grab some chamois cream, the kid next to me said “Hey, you have a fan club.” I was confused, yet excited at the same time. I looked around and saw a few cute girls standing around…and I asked him who it was. Turns out, he wasn’t sure…He just knew that there were some other racers talking about this fast guy who came down from Virginia to race…and I was the only one from Virginia there… cool stuff! I headed toward the line and got a spot in the top third of the field. I was actually quite surprised how big the race was. There were about 75 guys in my race, and I bet 50% of the could speak Spanish.

The first lap was basically a feeler for the course. 12 miles of rolling terrain, with a powerful sun, and 100+ heat index. It was like racing in Africa…or at least how I would image Africa being if I ever did race there. The roads were all smooth, except one. There was a minefield of potholes scattered in random spots on the road, and with 75 people riding 12 inches apart from one another, you could not see them until it was too late. I was extremely anxious the first lap, being use to the crit racing up North. I kept forgetting the race was 60 miles, and would take a little bit longer than 90 minutes… (sarcasm). I watched as a few people went off the front for breakaways. It took all I had to hold back and watch, but I knew it was hot, and anyone trying to suffer out there that long is crazy. At the end of the first lap, I started moving toward the front because there were 3 time bonuses: 6 seconds, 4 seconds, and 2 seconds. I was able to snag the 2 second bonus, and boost my confidence just a little more. Coming around the 2nd lap along the minefield road, I nailed a pot hole. The hole jarred my bottle loose from my bike, but somehow I pulled off a miraculous save and caught the bottle with my foot. I was able to use my cat-like reflexes, and jam the bottle between my shoe and my down tube. Woooo that was a close one!! No sooner did I take a sigh of relieve, I went through another pothole because the guy in front of me obscured my vision. This one totally pillage me. I heard the worst noise a cyclist could hear while racing(other than a crash)… the sound of air coming out of a tire. Then I felt that little ‘skip’ which happens once you get a flat. Ohhh man. There goes my race, right down the drain. Being a stage race, this was a do or die moment. I definitely wanted to do, but I felt like I was about to die.

I waited for the wheel truck to come up behind me so I could grab a spare. It took a few minutes to find my wheel since there were only 40 other sets in the back of the pickup… Once I found it, I did a nascar speed pit stop, and jumped back on the bike. While I was changing out the back wheel, the man driving the wheel truck said he would pace me back to the peloton!! Oh Yeahhhh! My race was saved, almost. We were flying down the road at around 35mph, and I was sucking wind as hard as I could. It was definitely scary though—riding a matter of 2 feet behind a pickup truck, not knowing what is in the road in front of you, or if the driver would suddenly swerve or slam on the breaks… At that moment, I was too focused on getting back up to the peloton and back in the race. It took a good, hard, 10ish minutes to get back up to the field. Once I got there, I just sat in and caught my breath. It definitely took a lot out of me…

While sitting in, I met this guy named Roger. He was a great dude, and knew about me already/ he had heard my name. I guess he follows usacycling and saw my name as a collegiate national champion…but at the time he couldn’t remember where my name was from. I asked Roger if there was a break up the road, and he wasn’t sure—but thought there wasn’t. Also, Roger offered his couch for me to sleep on that night, but I had already gotten a hotel room so I couldn’t take him up on the offer. Oh well, maybe next time!! After sitting in for exactly 1 lap, I moved to the front right before a kicker. There was a guy in front of me who lifted the pace so hard that we just broke off the head of the exhausted peloton. So then it was the two of us, chasing a 3 man breakaway already up the road. Both of us were Big Boi’ing the watts, and caught the break within 4 miles. It was a hard effort, and the worst part was, half the race was still left! We managed to keep about a minute gap on the chasing peloton, and on the last lap I turned around and saw they were closing up on us fast. Time to work!

The 4 remaining people in the break started hammering, and we had an awesome, fluid paceline rolling. In 5 miles, we turned the 30 second gap into 70 seconds, and then we knew that one of us would come out the winner. Everyone eased off the gas in the last mile, and it started to be a cat and mouse game. I rolled up the hill half a mile from the finish on the front of the paceline, and then rotated off. The other 3 guys came up, and rode 3 abreast. So here is the situation now…3 guys, all in front of me, all riding next to each other, with the finish line .3 miles away. I waited for them to all look at one another to see who would be the first to jump. When they did, I launched an attack that left 2 of them wondering, and 1 of them chasing. Unfortunately, the chaser was able to get in my slipstream and come around me at the line. I was happy though—I got another time bonus for 2nd place, and I put 2 and 4 seconds into the other two riders in my breakaway in the last quarter mile. I was also glad the race was over. I was extremely dehydrated, and overheated. All I wanted was to find a Panera, and chill out before I had to do the time trial…

Wilmington Grand Prix

Wilmington—

RPC left the morning of, to go up to Wilmington, DE to race the Wilmington Grand Prix. This is my first huge race with the team, and I was pretty excited about the whole thing. Wilmington was a good 4 hour drive, and the time was spent in the team car with Jeff Buckles and Craig Dodson. This was also my first race back from Nationals in Wisconsin 2 weeks prior. Wilmington was a NRC race—National Racing Calendar—so all the big name teams were there, and the field was about 120 riders I think. There were a few things that had me nervous: 1. The field size. I am use to the ACCC races that have a max of 30ish riders on a good weekend. 2. The caliber of racers. These guys are fast, unlike the ACCC races which is a mixture of Cat1,2, and 3s. The grand prix was all Pro, 1…

Nonetheless, I told myself it was like collegiate nationals crit to mentally give me a boost. Man, could I have ever been more wrong? From the gun, it was balls on the wall as hard as you can go. The race was 35 miles, and was composed of an 8 turn loop. The start/finish was a long uphill, that the peloton was railing at 28mph. After what seemed like an hour of racing, Iooked down at my watch to see how long we’ve actually gone…. 9 minutes. Crap, are you kidding me??

Buckles, Dodson, and Matt Spohn were already in good position. Buckles and Spohn got the prestigious call-up because of previous race results. I focused on them and started moving up person by person each lap. It took forever to get anywhere, or at least it seemed that way. I would pass people, a lap later take a peek behind me, and no one would be there. They would pull out of the race, and it seemed like I was always last. Around the 3^rd mile on the course, I hit a gnarley bump and sent my front wheel out of true. I continued to race on it for another 30 minutes until I looked down and noticed that the wheel was rubbing my front brake. That lap, I stopped and got a free lap, switched out my front Kazane wheel for a Zipp 404.

When I jumped back in, I found myself sitting comfortably in the mid pack range. I maintained my spot for about 10 laps. Going around a corner, a guy in from of me bumped wheels and he ended up going down. I had the OS syndrome—“Oh Shit” and swerved around him. “Phew” I thought…but no sooner did I think I was safe, a guy came from behind me and took me out. There I was, laying on the ground with 4 other people. Luckily, no one was seriously injured, and I rushed by to the start finish to the wheel pit to get another free lap. This time when I jumped in, I was sitting top 20. Also at that moment, a small cloud came overhead and let out some rain. Not a lot of rain though, just enough to mix the oil to the top of the road… danger!! Going down one the hills, 15 guys in front of me all fell over at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it before. They just all fell, at the exact same time, without even hitting one another. I found myself now in the top 5, and I was freaking out. There were 8 laps to go, and I was in a perfect position!! At the lap counter kept ticking down, I was having a harder and harder time maintaining my spot. I kept drifting back, slowly, until I found myself in the very back of the field. I didn’t understand what was going on. My fitness is good, I was mashing down the gears, yet I was going backwards??? With 4 laps to go, I pulled out. After inspecting my bike on the side of the road, I noticed my back break was rubbing. It wasn’t a soft rub either—it was a rub that wouldn’t even let the wheel spin around when you free spin it with your hand. I guess the crash ended up knocking my brake out of alignment, and consequently put an end to the 1^st big race of the year. Things are coming together though, and I’m learning quite a lot from the guys on RPC. Definitely a great group of guys, and I’m exciting to be riding with them this year. We’ll see what comes of it!!

Ps. Sorry this blog is a late post. I started writing it and never finished… now its done though, so yay.