Can-Am Police and Fire games 2010: Criterium

I was excited and nervous for the criterium race. All year, I've been racing crits well, but I knew there would be some strong guys at the Can-Am games. My best finish prior to the games was a 3rd place podium at the Grandview Grand Prix a few week prior. The good part about the crit at the games was that we'd gotten word that the organizers were combining some of the fields, but would still grade the finishers separately. This meant that Dennis and I could work together, but not compete against each other for medals, since we were in different categories.
The course was tight. It was a 1 mile loop, but turn 3 was a nasty little turn into a small alley, which also went up hill. If that wasn't bad enough, there was a concrete curb on one side and a concrete water drain on the other side! Dennis' advice was for us to be in front of the pack going into that turn, so we wouldn't get caught in the confusion of the group going into that turn. When the start whistle was blown, I went straight to the front of the race! (Dennis told me to go up front, but he didn't say how far , so I went as far as I could!!) We navigated all the turns well, learning our lines along the way. On lap 2, Dennis moved around me and let me draft a little. I think this was also his way of reeling me back in so that I didn't stay out front and blow up too early. On the third lap, we starting letting some of the other racers/teams do some of the work up front. Over the course of the entire race, Dennis and I stayed at the front of the race, taking our turns pulling, and not letting anybody get away. On the final lap, going into turn 3 (the nasty one), Dennis pulled off the perfect move, and put himself into first place going up the hill. At the final turn, he hit the gas and sprinted away for the win. Coming around turn 4, I had a few guys around me, so I did the same and sprinted hard for the line, beating them out for a Gold as well. Earlier in the evening, Ramon had earned silver in his class. It was another successful day for CRFP Cycling!

Can-Am Police and Fire Games 2010: TT

I'd never TT'd before, so I didn't really know what to expect. The day before the race, I had gone to preview the 9 mile course with my teammate Ramon. The course was mostly flat with a few rolling hill thrown in. My bike was prepped with clip-on style aero bars, and my seat was moved to the forward position. Instead of "holders" (somebody holding your bike, while you clipped into the pedals), we had metal gates to lean on. I entered the gate, got a few last minute words of advice from Ramon, and off I went! The last thing that Ramon said to me (in his Puerto Rican accent) was, "Remember...leave it all out on the course. Don't save ANYTHING for tomorrow, just concentrate on TODAY." Hammering down the first straightaway, I managed to keep the bike around 27mph for the first couple miles. After a few quick turns, it was onto the back side of the course, where the hills were. I was breathing heavy, and my heart rate was in the 170's, BUT my legs weren't going numb yet, so I kept pushing. I turned onto the final stretch, which was about a 1.5 mile long straightaway, where I dialed it up a little further. This is when I started to really feel the effort in my legs. I considered backing off the power a bit, when I remembered what Ramon said to me: "Don't save ANYTHING for tomorrow...", so I kicked it up even further! When I saw the finish line, I pushed my legs until I couldn't see straight anymore! After crossing the finish line, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at how much fun the TT was! I was laughing, hurting, and struggling to breath; all at the same time! It was incredibly enjoyable! I knew my time, but didn't get the results until the following day at the criterium. My effort had earned a Silver medal! My teammates, Ramon and Dennis, both earned Gold!

Grandview Grand Prix Criterium

On Saturday, 7/24, I took a 3rd place finish at the Grandview Grand Prix Criterium. From the start, I placed myself at the front of the pack, settling into a rhythm, around the top 5 throughout the technical course. With 2 laps to go, I followed an attack when 2 riders jumped off the front and separated from the field. I found myself isolated, just of the back of the leaders for half a lap, but picked up the chase group, and worked to reel the front of the race back in. In the bunch sprint for the line, I finished strong for a spot on the podium.

Tour of Tucker County Road Race 5/29/10

The Tour of Tucker County road race is listed by Velo News as one of the top ten hardest races in the country. It definitely lived up to it's legend. Over 34 miles, the course climbs about 5,000 vertical feet, and by the end I felt completely wasted.

A teammate and I rolled into the parking lot for registration about 2 hrs prior to the start of the race. After we picked up our packets, we pre-drove the course, and got back just in time to get dressed and fill our bottles. The hill leaving the registration area was deemed UNSAFE to ride down, so we had a neutral roll-out to a starting point. On the way down the hill, it was SO STEEP, that people's wheels were heating up enough to blow out their tires!! By the time we made it to the starting line, the Cat 4/5 wheel car was completely out of spare tubes and CO2 canisters!!

The race started pretty uneventfully, and we made our way towards the hills. Ryan (teammate) and I stayed somewhere around the front 1/3 of the field. About 3 miles in, we reached the first major hill. From bottom to top, the hill was about 7.5 miles long. I thought Ryan had popped about 1/4 of the way up the hill, so I decided to maintain my pace, and lead a small chase group up the hill. A few miles up the hill, Ryan came flying past me, pulling me and the rest of my group the rest of the way up!! Once atop the first mountain, Ryan and I worked together, pulling a group of 8 about 20 miles through the race. It was frustrating at times, that nobody else was willing to come up and share the workload....but such is racing, I suppose.

Everything went well for us through the rolling section of the course, including a kick-ass downhill that lasted for a mile or so (I love carving through high-speed turns!!). We stayed strong, and led all the way to the final, 4 mile climb to the finish. On that hill, we saw a max grade of 34%, and sustained nearly 20% for almost a mile. The hill was brutal. In fact, it was obscene. At one point, I actually saw 2.7mph on my speedometer. Needless to say, I was cooked at the top. Ryan finished just in front of me (I think he waited for me...), so we took 26th and 27th place.

I was a little disappointed in my performance. I had hoped to finish a little stronger than I did. I think I'm going to take a few weeks, and train aerobically. I may be overtraining during my rides a little bit. Maybe next time, I can find a race with a few less hills!

Smoketown Airport Criterium

5/15/10 - I raced in the Smoketown Airport Criterium, in Lancaster County, PA. I entered the Cat 4/5 field, and it was the first time that I hadn't raced strictly Cat 5. We started out on a neutral lap around the runways, being paced by a nice, shiny red corvette. For the lap being "neutral", I can say that it's the closest I've ever been to being taken out by another rider. Some idiot came across 3 other riders, and basically "body checked" me in the middle of the turn. I have no idea how we managed to stay upright. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but that's why you're supposed to "hold your line" in a turn...
Once the neutral lap was finished, the racing was underway, and was fast! There was an "S" turn at the beginning of the back side of the runway, on the fast side of the loop, then we went all the way to the end of the runway into a sharp, 180 degree curve, then back up the other side to the other 180 degree turn, completing the loop. On the backside of the runway, we'd get up to about 30-35 mph, then slow for the turn. The bike that I'm currently riding (Kestrel Talon) handled the corner's better than I'd expected, so I was usually able to hold a decent amount of speed into, and coming out of the turns. Coming up the front straight away was WINDY (15mph winds), so as long as I could come out of the turn well, we'd bunch up into a tight pack and head up to the top turn. The racing was fast and fun, and as usual there were small attacks here and there, and jocky-ing for position. My only rule for myself, was to not get caught moving backwards through the field, like I felt in my last crit (at RIR), when I found myself off the back, and in the wind by myself. Everything worked well, and I feel like I conserved energy where I could. Towards the end of the race, with about 5 laps to go, the field started to split apart. I found myself strung out, somewhere behind the main group, but with about 7 other bikes around me. I took it upon myself to talk it up a bit with the other riders, and organized a chase group to reel the peloton back in. This worked extremely well, and within 3 laps, we had latched back on, passing several riders along the way and finished just behind the main group. The picture above is me leading the chase group, going out to catch the main field.
Overall, I finished 36th (out of 75) in the mixed field, but took 9th place for Cat 5. I'm very pleased with that performance. Each race this year has gone a little better each time. My next race is the Tour of Tucker County in 2 weeks, which is billed as one of the top 10 hardest races in the country. It has several sustained climbs over several miles. I'll make sure to blog about it after the race.

Oakley Customer Service Issue

Recently, I'd been shopping for new sunglasses. I've worn Oakley sunglasses almost exclusively since 1994. The optics, fit, and styles have been unrivaled, in my opinion. I've currently been rocking my Half Jackets for about 5 years, and last year I bought a new set of XLJ lenses for them (previous frames include Frogskins,
M Frames, Fives, Minutes, Twentys, and Square Wires). I've always been 100% satisfied. I've also always bought from various retail locations.

This time, while shopping around, I surfed a few different manufacturer's websites. Other brands that caught my eye were Rudy Project and Smith. My stipulations for my purchase this year were simple: I wanted full frame coverage (I'm not happy with my Half Jackets for cycling), they had to have rubber nose pieces (to prevent sliding down my face while in the drops), and they had to look good. When I went to Oakley's website, the new Straight Jackets (white chrome with red iridium lenses) immediately caught my eye. As soon as I had a chance, I stopped by, or called every sunglasses store I could think of, trying to find them. At the very least, I tried on different frames to see which ones fit my narrow face. NOBODY had the white chrome Straight Jackets. Finally, stopping by a retail store in the mall, I KNEW that the Straight Jacket frames fit me well, and decided to place an order directly through Oakley via their website.

I ordered late last Wednesday night. I payed extra shipping fees for 2nd Day Air via UPS. The order processed, and I got a confirmation email in the wee hours of Thursday morning. I used UPS' website to estimate my delivery. It showed that as long as the order shipped on Thurs., I should have my awesome, new sunglasses in my hands by the end of Saturday. Friday, I tracked my package via UPS, which showed that my package had been RESCHEDULED for a delivery date of Tuesday. DEFINITELY not the 2 day shipping that I had paid for. On Monday (today), I called Oakley customer service and explained to them my disappointment. The rep. explained to me that this was normal and, in fact, exactly what I had ordered. She explained that UPS does not deliver on Saturdays, and that even though my package shipped Friday (why didn't it ship Thursday...I ordered Wednesday?), Friday and Monday would be my transit days, and Tuesday was my delivery date. While I was on the phone, I went to UPS' website and explained to her that UPS originally showed my delivery date of Saturday, but later was updated and rescheduled to Tuesday. She still insisted it is the correct ship time.

I'm a rather non-confrontational person these days, so I didn't want to argue with her. Is it too much to expect my shipping costs to be refunded? Is this really how Oakley wants to do business? I wonder if I'd decided on the Rudy Project glasses, would their customer service say the same thing? I know the ship time doesn't seem like a monumental crisis, but I specifically paid for faster shipping, and didn't get it. I think Oakley can afford to refund my extra $9...after all, I paid $160 for the sunglasses.

Mt. Joy Road Race Recap

Today was a pretty short race. It was a little over 20 miles on a course with some nice, rolling hills. We did 4 laps, and gained about 2300 feet of climbing. With the exception of the 19% grade in the middle of the course, it really wasn't that bad. Since I've done rather poorly so far this year (38th and 31st), I figured I'd change my strategy. Previous to today, I was putting forth a pretty big effort right off the starting line, and blowing up a little over 10 miles in. Today, I figured I'd hold back a little, and try to stay comfortable in the pack, while making the other guys work for me.

When I got out of my truck this morning, it was only 42 degrees, and the wind felt every bit of 20 mph. Last week, I started writing my itinerary down on paper, so that I wouldn't forget to do things...like eat and warm up! I did this again today, and it worked well. After I warmed up on the trainer for 30 mins, I headed to the starting line, where we promptly waited around for 15 mins! Ugh! Finally, we got under way and started on the first lap. I stayed almost exactly in the center of the pack the entire first lap...and felt GREAT. Some guy jumped off the front and kept going. We only caught a glimpse of him when we began the second lap. He was gone. Lap 2 had some good accelerations and attacks, but again, I didn't want to respond with a counter-attack, I just wanted to sit in a draft (out of the wind), and conserve energy. This time, on the hills, the front half of the group accelerated, so I made sure I stayed with them (including the 19% grade!). By the end of the second lap, I was still feeling pretty good, so I moved up into the top 6, and hung out for a mile or so. The wind was pretty rough, and it seemed like the guys up front had the same idea as me, so people actually started to shuffle back into the pack, and I found myself out front. I pulled for about a half mile, then moved back into the pack myself. I didn't want to blow up in the middle of the third lap. A couple miles later, on the big hills, is when the major attacks started. I jumped with the front bunch, and stayed with them throughout the third lap, but once we started lap 4 (final lap), I could feel my legs started to pump up, so I backed off a little. The last thing I wanted to do at this point, was to get dropped so close to the end...especially since I had been so good about sticking to my strategy up to this point. There was a big attack in the hills this last time, and I didn't have the legs to go with it, so I kept my heart rate down, and picked up the next guy coming by. We worked together until the end, almost catching the lead group by the finish line. He sprinted better than I did at the end, so he finished 15th, and I finished 16th.  I'm definitely pleased with the results.

My next race is either going to be 2 or 4 weeks away. I haven't decided which. I'm going to train like a madman between now and then, though. I think I'm going to focus on intervals, as it's what I've been missing for a while.

Overall, today's plan worked. I didn't try to get out front right off the bat. I kept myself from blowing up too early, and sat back, but didn't let the front of the race get away from me. It was a pretty good end to a day that looked like the cold and wind was going to be a problem.