Mead Roubaix

This was my second adventure at a dirt road, road race. I have to tell you, racing in a pack on a dirt road with people I don’t know the skill level of is a little scary. Especially since after pre-riding and seeing how much more challenging the road surface was compared to Boulder Roubaix a few weeks earlier. There were no terribly difficult obstacles but the soft, dare I say sand, was going to make the difference. This race wasn’t really important so the goal was to be safe and see what I could do. Safety suggested that I stay near the front, particularly on the dirt sections so that I stayed out of trouble.

Things seemed wrong almost from the start of the race. Even on the opening part of the race I felt like I was going backwards. I simply couldn’t maintain my position and found myself drifting to the back. When we hit the first dirt section I was in the back third. But the group managed to stay on track. The motor cycle judge was a little over zealous with the “yellow line rule”, I understand racing right but he was whistling at everything and we were stuck racing on a third of a crappy road. Great, thanks dude.

Once on through the first dirt section and onto the pavement, I followed a teammate to the front of the group. We rolled up just before what I would say was the worst section of the race, sandy and rough. So I stayed on the front and tried to see how the race would do under pressure. I was expecting someone to come around at anytime but they didn’t. So I slowed and slowed and no one came around. Then they came flying around before the hill. I slowly worked my way towards the back of the group and then I found myself grasping to tail end of a splintering pack. I ended up getting split off. I did manage to find a former teammate, Todd, in my little chase group.

 Todd and I have raced a lot of cyclocross together so I felt total comfortable on his wheel. I pretty much felt like I knew how he would ride in the sand and dirt and I knew I could trust him. We worked really well together trying to bridge back up. We had the lead group in our view but never caught up. We chased for two and a half laps, picking up stragglers and dropping them, seeing some crash wreckage go by. In the end we raced to the finish and had a little one on one sprint out. We were both pretty tired so maybe sprint isn’t the right word but we went for it finishing within a wheel length of each other for 14th and 15th. I like to think my bike throw at the end made the difference, but whatever; it was fun to have a good hard ride with a friend.

 Lap 1: hiding in the back.

Lap 2: After a strong pull from Todd we were trying to bridge back up.

Lap 3: Trying to finish strong and pick off a few more riders.

The song I sing when I ride

I raced Mead Roubaix this past weekend but haven't gotten a chance to write up my story. This week is stupid busy but I'll try to get to it soon.

Until then enjoy a fun video.

An Open Letter to Wives

This was written by Grizzly Adam on his blog grizzlyadam.net. It is so well written, and true, that I wanted to post it here.

"To the wives of mountain bikers; from the delusional, dirty, oft-distracted men you married.

First thing first. Thanks. We ask a lot from you. You have been our crew at races, our nutritional experts, our sponsors, and our sounding boards. We know that such things were not always high on your list of Things-I-Want-To-Do-When-I-Get-Married, but nevertheless, here you are. Your understanding and support means the world to us. The only thing better than crossing the finish-line of a long-anticipated race is seeing you (and the kids!) at that finish-line. Thank you.

We men are strange creatures. Our intuitive instincts demand that we conquer the world around us. For thousands of years men have engaged in dominant behavior; we farm, hunt, build, and when that isn’t adequate, we make war. War is in our very nature. Our paradigm of the world is clouded with the fog of war.

Part of that warrior mentality is an innate desire to provide for ourselves, and our families. Until about 70 years ago doing so was fairly straightforward. If we needed food, we killed an animal or worked a farm. If we needed a house, we built one. Luxury and comfort were far subordinate to survival. Life was difficult, but fulfilling.

Modernity changed everything.

Today we are trapped behind desks. Food comes from well-lit grocery stores, heat comes from a thermostat, and our homes are more advanced and comfortable than any human dwelling in history. That need to conquer and provide has been replaced, warped. Instead of providing the essentials of survival with our hands, we perform menial tasks in an office, and are given a paycheck that simply buys needed supplies. This is hardly a bad thing, but it is a remarkably different (and new) method of earning a living. Life is soft, and not always fulfilling.

Our culture has changed. But our warrior gene has not.

And that is why we race our bikes.

We need something to conquer. We need adrenaline and uncertainty and risk. We need rivalry. We need to know that if we had to, we could physically conquer the world; that we could be the alpha male. And so we race our bikes. And in doing so, ward off enemies, and the effects of age, disease, and mid-life crisis. We are more emotionally stable, physically healthy, and culturally engaged because we race our bikes. Our introverted nature is reversed, forcing us to socialize amicably (once the race is over) rather than constantly spar with one another in the perpetual and destructive rut that has defined manhood since the very beginning. Despite its primal foundations, bike racing has turned men into sophisticates, capable of respectable, normal lives. We have beat our swords into wheelsets.

You know this is true. You know that we are better men because of the bicycle. We are distracted by carbon-fiber instead of secretaries. Our “poker-nights” are spent in yurts or on singletrack. Our mid-life crisis is an expensive bike, rather than a sports car, hair plugs, and a DUI. Our legs are the envy of women everywhere.

We know that sometimes we become overly focused on our fitness, our bikes, and our races. We know that you know that we’d much rather be training than be at your second-cousins’ dress rehearsal of Death of a Salesman. And we know that bikes and races and carbon soled shoes add up. Maybe you are right that that money would be better spent on new carpet, a car repair, or food for the kids.

But consider the alternative.

If we didn’t race, we’d be overweight and diabetic. We’d be ornery. We’d complain about our station in life more than we already do. Our legs would be hairy, pasty, and ambiguously defined. Instead of a $5,000 bike in the garage, there’d be a $450,000 Mercedes SLR McClaren.

If we didn’t race our bikes, we’d be forced to repress our warrior ancestry. An explosion would be imminent. One day you’d wake up wondering how your husband, pudgy and pasty, turned up in a high-roller casino suite in Las Vegas with 3 call-girls and a kilo of cocaine; the FBI, DEA, ATF, and mafia shilos chasing him.

Indeed, when you consider the alternatives, it is you who owes us your gratitude.

Bike racing has kept us out of jail.

You’re welcome."

Fed Center Circuit Race

I believe I had a bit of a mental break through during this race. I’m always nervous before a road race; the reason for my nervousness is the proximity to other racers during the race. Mountain biking and cyclocross, for most part, do not have the peloton feel. This race was pretty complicated with 17 turns every lap, each lap being 4 miles and the race lasting 6 laps. That’s a lot of turns.

When the race started out, I went right to the front to get through the first couple of turns. I figured if someone was going to do something stupid it would be early when they were excited. Turns out the first and only crash I saw was during lap two. Silly actually, on a short climb a rider rubbed wheels with the guy that stood up in front of him. Typically when a rider stands up his back wheel moves back, I guess that guy didn’t know that. He went down on the slower part of the hill. I was two riders back and pinned up against the median. His back wheel went into the gutter where I was, and me and the guy in front of me just rode over his back wheel and kept trucking. I heard later everyone made it back into the group, including the rider that fell.

During the rest of the race the group kind of started to gel and figured out the corners. Near the end of the race people were taking the corners faster and safer. Still slowing down more than they needed, which afforded me an easy way to move up. In the end we had a pack of about 25 riders racing down to the finish. I had just made a big effort to pull back in a guy off the front hoping one of my stronger teammates would benefit. (The guy that was off the front managed to hold on for the win but finished with the exact same time as the pack, so it was close.) As we raced down the finishing stretch I snuck my way up and finished right in the lead group for 14th. My teammates captured 4th and 9th as well as 24th and 25th.

Overall, I accomplished my goal of finishing near the front but more importantly I became a little more confident in the pack after having to negotiate that complicated course. Within an hour or so of our race the wind moved in and the rain began, culminating with some spring snow that evening. It was a great race to squeeze in before the storm.

Edit: 4/17/12
Found some photos of the race on www.sportifimages.com, Dean these babies are so good you made me look good out there!

Boulder Roubaix

I raced the Boulder Roubaix this past weekend. It's been a while since I've done much road racing. This one was looking like my kind of race, 60% dirt road and 40% pavement. The race was phenomenal, if they move it from this location they'd be stupid. The past couple of years its moved around and this is by far a truly awesome, beautiful, humbling and fun coarse. (yes, it's hard).

I lined up with the SM4/35+, there were about 100+ starters. Which reminds me of my cyclocross days a few years ago. The scariest part of this race was lining up with that many people, not knowing their skill levels. I kept up near the front and didn't really run into any problems until coming back in to the start finish line for our second lap. It's a hard section with a number of short punchy climbs. The pace was high and I was just holding on when the guy in front of me decided he needed to look at his back wheel and not pedal. I guess he was done or though he had a flat tire or, I don't know. If I would have pulled out and around him I would have taken out a number of racers coming up quickly. I yelled at him to pedal but I had to wait to get around him and try and jump back on the group. In the end I got gaped off.

I started picking up stragglers and we quickly formed a group. A group that worked reasonable well together. We kept the lead group in sight, a few minutes ahead and tried to chase back on. There were a few strong riders in our chase group and when they let the group work, we were flying. Otherwise they would pull too hard, tire out the weaker riders and ultimately slow the entire group. Before long on our second lap we were picking up racers from the category before us (SM4). They jumped in but they were totally spent and further disrupted our chase. I know they just wanted to get to the finish line but they shouldn't have been in there and at the very least they should of stayed in the back.

Coming into the finishing stretch I though I could out smart my fellow chase pack, but I out smarted myself and totally misjudged the finishing straight. Ended up at the back of the group on the line. We only finished a few minutes off the lead pack.

I have to tell you, I haven't raced in the 35/4's on the road much but it seams to me they are FLYING this year. At roubaix the top 25 finished faster than the winner of the SM4 open group (traditionally the 18-34 year olds). I don't know if its the great spring weather or what but I'm impressed; I hope it's all the great coaching available around here. I have a great base fitness and I feel things are getting better but for now I'm just hoping I can finish in the lead pack even though I had dreams of upgrading this year.

A couple of photos of me chasing back on for the finishing straight, I caught the 5 guys not in the photo only to promptly drop myself.


Here's a movie of the pro's racing a little later in the day.

Hello Friends

It's been a while I know, and for that I'm sorry. It feels like life has been a circle of daily events: get kids ready for school, get them off to school, go to work, come home, help with homework, get kids ready for bed, go to bed. Hopefully getting a workout in there. It hasn't felt like I was going anywhere and all my energy has been going into just trying to keep up.

This endless circle of events has made it difficult to write anything interesting, not that my previous posts were all that interesting. I'm going to try and turn that around by posting more, not necessarily by making them more interesting. Well, maybe it'll be interesting to some of you.

Talk to you soon.

"Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches"