Junior cycle fitness racer gets some press.. More importantly Doug, Like Rick is diong some great things for junior racing and endurance sports for youth..
http://cheshire.patch.com/articles/camp-teaches-young-athletes-triathlon-skills?ncid=M255
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Track Happenings
As you all know, I've been trying to get fit for track nationals. This past Saturday was my third trip to T-Town this season. I've spent 2 Tuesday nights racing with the Cat 2's and 3's. I can hang on pretty good with those guys, but when they throw us in with the Cat 1/ pros for the long points race, it's "hang on for dear life". Last Tuesday, Bobby Lee (Olympian 2008), made us look like girl scouts.
Saturday is Masters 30+ racing. I was hoping to ride the cat 3-4 masters. The first race was an 18 lap points race and they had cat 1-4 race together (about 35 guys). I got 2 4th place sprints and that got me 8th overall. They asked that I ride with the 1's and 2's the rest of the day. So I did. I was up there a bit, but it was tough. I rode a cat 3-4 points race towards the end of the day and got 2nd.
Nationals are just over a month away. Each time I head down there I feel a little better. I'm going again tomorrow (can't wait).. Rick
Father's Day HHRR 50+ - Dig Deep?
Nobody should be nervous racing their 'home' course ... well, I was. It was the CT State Champs, and there was lots of strong 50+ Masters on the start line. I am starting to feel the wear-and-tear from all the racing earlier in the season, so I was unsure about my mental fitness. Climbing-wise, I was feel good. The question was: can I dig deep when there's a strong move going up the road? And there's a hand full of riders I had to watch ... Gerry Clapper is one of them.
Gerry and I made eye connect at the start-line. We both said hello, but it was a different kind of 'hello' ... there was a message behind it: 'Let's say 'goodbye' to this field' ... meaning, let's breakaway. Once the race got started, nothing really happened until the KOM hill ... Gerry attacked and he attacked HARD. My eyes almost popped-out when he did make that move: It was time to dig deep ... Do I have what it takes to dig deep? About halfway up the climb, I found the 'force': "That little fu#ker, I know how to ride this hill!". So, I attacked and caught him before the top. He looked back and said, 'nice'. I put eyes back in my head and rolled ahead ... chasing after two loose riders. We pushed it, but we did kill it. A smaller field caught all four of us at the feed zone. After the feed, Gerry was back up front pushing the pace. Hmmm ... not smart from my point-of-view. He pushed the pace, most of the way, to the KOM hill. I see it coming ... Gerry was going to attack, again, at the bottom of the KOM hill, and he did! And his move was even harder than last time. I said to myself, 'don't panic, just attack this hill up and over ... just like a cross-country skier'. I stayed posed and caught Gerry half way up and motored passed him. He jumped on my wheel and we rode over the top together. THIS IS THE RACE ... I said to myself. I swear I rode down the backside of the KOM hill over 50 mph ... but to my surprise, four other riders bridged on. Whoa! Time for the mad dash to the line. The closer we got the stronger I felt. Yea ... I'm ready for the sprint. I also knew who was weak in the group of 6 of us while peddling downhill to the finish. The sprint for the finish started just before we turned off the main road by David K. (Arc) I was third in line thinking ... go, but start your sprint at 200m. I did ... coming around one last rider (CCB) for the win. Whew! Done! Spring racing season is over. Today is the first day of summer ... Go celebrate!
Gerry and I made eye connect at the start-line. We both said hello, but it was a different kind of 'hello' ... there was a message behind it: 'Let's say 'goodbye' to this field' ... meaning, let's breakaway. Once the race got started, nothing really happened until the KOM hill ... Gerry attacked and he attacked HARD. My eyes almost popped-out when he did make that move: It was time to dig deep ... Do I have what it takes to dig deep? About halfway up the climb, I found the 'force': "That little fu#ker, I know how to ride this hill!". So, I attacked and caught him before the top. He looked back and said, 'nice'. I put eyes back in my head and rolled ahead ... chasing after two loose riders. We pushed it, but we did kill it. A smaller field caught all four of us at the feed zone. After the feed, Gerry was back up front pushing the pace. Hmmm ... not smart from my point-of-view. He pushed the pace, most of the way, to the KOM hill. I see it coming ... Gerry was going to attack, again, at the bottom of the KOM hill, and he did! And his move was even harder than last time. I said to myself, 'don't panic, just attack this hill up and over ... just like a cross-country skier'. I stayed posed and caught Gerry half way up and motored passed him. He jumped on my wheel and we rode over the top together. THIS IS THE RACE ... I said to myself. I swear I rode down the backside of the KOM hill over 50 mph ... but to my surprise, four other riders bridged on. Whoa! Time for the mad dash to the line. The closer we got the stronger I felt. Yea ... I'm ready for the sprint. I also knew who was weak in the group of 6 of us while peddling downhill to the finish. The sprint for the finish started just before we turned off the main road by David K. (Arc) I was third in line thinking ... go, but start your sprint at 200m. I did ... coming around one last rider (CCB) for the win. Whew! Done! Spring racing season is over. Today is the first day of summer ... Go celebrate!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
CT STATE CHAMPS - HOUSY GOLD
In the 40+, I took 4th, which was good enough for the gold medal. In fact, our team has now won the Connecticut State Championship 3 years in a row. Ryan won in 2009, and I took the baton from him when he decided to focus on triathlons. Today's race was hard. Staffo took off from the gun, and held it. Impressive! Mike rode really well as usual. He was pounding the front, and powered a nice move. Too bad it didn't stick. Race came down to a field sprint for 3rd, as Troy got away at the end and held off the field. Mike was ready to rock n roll with his typical superman lead out, but Max L gunned it at the bottom of the hill. I stuck his wheel, and we gapped the field. I tried to get around him at the finish, but missed it by inches. Great to share the podium with Arlen and Badger.
It was nice to see the smooth changeover of this great race from Zephyr to Bethel. All the traditions that the Z-boys built up remained: same great course, festive finish area with food, Richard Fries on the PA, crazy Bryan Atwood on the drums at the KOM, massive crowd at the feed zone, legend sightings (Jimmy Frazier) and good hard racing. Props to Greg, John R. and the Bethel gang.
Shoulda, Coulda Woulda.....
Last October I was still a die hard triathete that was pissed that my knee would not cooperate with me running, so I talked Tom Wilkis to start an Aquabike division of the Griskus Triathlon(In an Aquabike you just swim and bike, but skip the run)
Now fast forward to this year and I am really enjoying road racing and want to do Housatonic Hills which is the same weekend as the Griskus. I figured since I had been training for the CT Stage Race that did not materialize that I could do the aquabike on Saturday and Housatonic on Sunday, but I really wanted to do well at Housatonic. I was debating skipping the aquabike, but since I asked them to create the new division I felt obligated to race. Ok, so now how hard do I race the aquabike so I am not shot for Housatonic which was my primary objective? Hmmmm.....
As Ryan reported on earlier, race day at Quassy was a little crazy because of the fog. They debated cancelling the swim and then finally decided to shorted it at press on. Unlike Ryan, I took the wrong line from the shore. There were no buoys in sight at the gun. Half the pack went straight out and the other half of us went slightly left. After 100yds, I realized that I guessed wrong. and was way left of the first buoy. Oh well, what can you do? I came out of the water feeling good, but still with questions about how hard to press the bike so that I would do well in the aquabike, but still have something left for Housatonic. The first few miles of the bike were the toughest mentally for me racing because I let people pass me without reacting. I decided to ride about 80% max HR, but no more. I had people passing me that I knew were not as strong on the bike as I was, but let them go so I would have some gas in the tank for Sunday, but still kept a good pace.
The race ended with little fanfare because unlike a bike race or doing all 3 portions of the triathlon, an aquabike finishes without a finish line. Your time is calculated when you hit transition and no one knows that you are done. Oh well, I do not do it for the crowds anyway.
As it turned out I was the only male in the aquabike so I did not have to work at all on the bike. I am, however, the Northeast Regional Aquabike Champion for 2011!!!! I got a big medal for first(and last) place.
So now on to Sunday and Housatonic Hills...
I felt good warming up and was anticipating a good finish. As I lined up, I noticed that there were several big teams that could pose a problem for a solo rider(Bethel, Bike Way and Tarmac). Ryan told me before the race that if I did not ask USAC for an upgrade after the race that he would start calling me a sandbagger. Well, as it turns out there are other obvious reasons to get out of cat 5. On the neutral start up Constitution, someone dropped their chain and almost took half of the field down.
I was feeling good at the start and the Bike Way team was doing a great job controlling the pace with 3 riders on the front. They would let one drift off the front and then block the main field to see if they could get anything to happen. This went on for the first several miles, but they never got away. The lead groups was all together coming down Hut Hill Rd. and as we were making the turn everyone noticed some loose gravel on the tight portion of the turn,hit the brakes and took it wide. A Tarmac rider cut the corner closer without slowing and I grabbed his wheel. It was early, but I thought if I had someone with me we could break away. For the next 3 miles we increase our lead and then after my pull I looked back and the Tarmac rider was 3 bike lengths behind me. He yelled "I'm done." OK so now what to do? We are about 15 miles from the finish with 2 hard climbs and I only have a few hundred yards lead. I decided to take the downhills hard hoping that the chasers would burn some matches catching me. I sat up when we hit an uphill and let them catch me which was fine because I was not in distress after the descents. A few minutes into the climb I touched wheels with the Bike Way rider in front of me. I was not sure if it was his fault or if it was me just being too tired to pay attention. Luckily I was able to keep upright and no one went down.
Fast forward a few miles to Davenport. We make the right for the last few hills and on the climb I was right behind the same rider I clipped earlier. Guess what? It happened again!!!! I realized too late that when he transistioned from a standing climb to a seated climb that he paused which threw his bike back. This time when I clipped his wheel I went down. UGH....
By the time I got back up and clipped in I was about 50yds behind the lead pack and still had to finish the climb. I was able to make up a little ground by the time we crested the climb, but I was maxed out. We made the right turn and started descending and I knew that if I was going to have a chance to finish well I would need to make it up on the descent. As other riders were sitting up and recovering, I buried myself to catch the leaders. I caught them right before the KOM and got a small breather before the turn. Once on the KOM, they were starting to gap me and I did not have the energy to keep pace. Over the top I once again found myself 40-50yds back from the lead. More hard decending instead of recovering. Oh well.. its almost over and mostly down hill. Thankfully I am heavy and descend well so I was able to latch back on with 2-3 miles to go.
From there I tried to just tuck in and rest. I felt fine as the school came into view. I was about 7th wheel as we made the turn. A few riders started the sprint from there and I waited until we hit the 200M mark(which in hind sight was too late) I made up a few place and crossed 4th about 5 meters out of first.
I am still trying to learn how to race and wondering if I will ever stop wondering what I could have done differently to do better.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda.....
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Pat Griskus Olympic distance
THis race was serving as the 2011 Northeast regional olympic distance tri championships.. (roadies- this is a one mile swim, 40K b, 10 K r) I had thought about riding to the race today- 15 miles to quassy down rte 67 which is mostly flat so this would have been ok.. however when i woke at 4am, the fog was thick and was not letting up-- truth be told I was feeling a little tired from the day at 6 flags with junior Haug 1 and 2 yesterday, and from a great day of training on thursday- my longest run(16 m) and longest swim(4400 yards) thus far leading up to Placid. OK enough excuses.
Got to the race early and saw that there were going to be lots of fast people.. definitely a stacked field. I got a good one mile run wu and than a 15 min bike, got the wetsuit on and bull@#$% with some people I know.. than to the swim start. That fog, not lifted yet. could not even see the buoys and the race director attempted to delay the start for the fog to get burned off.. didn't work and they had to change the buoys, bring them in closer and shorted the course.. this was like a sprint race swim, HARd and fast but having to look hard for the boys .. i got out in 11 min, and out of the water in like 4th or 5th in my wave of 35-44 year olds...
to the bike and I saw the leaders getting on their bikes as I was taking the wetsuit off. I love the new suit but it is tighter around the ankles so a little more of a struggle. I mounted the specialized - I chose not to ride the ROLF race tubulars as I am saving the tires now for placid but rode the little heavier but still some nice clinchers I got from CYCLEFITNESS made by Roval. I caught one guy on the bike abut got passed by one guy too so that was equal.. anyway I felt a little dead on the bike today. no pawer tap to keep me in check and I went out HARD. I had not preridden this course but have ridden all the roads individually at some point in training. GOing out hard though kind of sapped the legs for the hills that I did not anticipate being so relentless.
SO I came in for T2 in the same place as when I started which is not a normal bike split for me, which might be due to dead legs but also I have improved my swim this year so get out with some faster guys..
RUN- I had a hard time on this run, which is my weakness and even worse is downhill running which just beats me up.. THe first 1.5 miles is downhill than back up 1.5 miles than down 1.5 miles than up 1.5 miles. One thing that keeps me motivated is racing against individuals. last year a guy ran me down on EVERY race. A real nice guy but it still gives me some motivation to try to not let this happen again. If he does great becuase he is a super nice guy but if not good for me. SO at mile 3.1 turnaround he was 25 seconds behind, than the dreaded downhill again. At that last turnaround he was only 9-10 sec back. Man I got motivated and in my not so great a runner way I gunned it. I stayed ahead but heard footsteps the entire time. My overall pace was like 6: 49 for the run, which on a tough uphill downhill race I am not too upset about.
21st overall- the officials said 600 people but i estimate in the mid 400s. either way not bad and I qualified for USA age group nationals in Burllington- Im not going, but next year that is the goal with no IM on the plate - again it will be in VT.
Next up. a short sprint in Jul y than placid. And lots of suffering on Wed night- more on that later.
thanks for reading. ryan
Got to the race early and saw that there were going to be lots of fast people.. definitely a stacked field. I got a good one mile run wu and than a 15 min bike, got the wetsuit on and bull@#$% with some people I know.. than to the swim start. That fog, not lifted yet. could not even see the buoys and the race director attempted to delay the start for the fog to get burned off.. didn't work and they had to change the buoys, bring them in closer and shorted the course.. this was like a sprint race swim, HARd and fast but having to look hard for the boys .. i got out in 11 min, and out of the water in like 4th or 5th in my wave of 35-44 year olds...
to the bike and I saw the leaders getting on their bikes as I was taking the wetsuit off. I love the new suit but it is tighter around the ankles so a little more of a struggle. I mounted the specialized - I chose not to ride the ROLF race tubulars as I am saving the tires now for placid but rode the little heavier but still some nice clinchers I got from CYCLEFITNESS made by Roval. I caught one guy on the bike abut got passed by one guy too so that was equal.. anyway I felt a little dead on the bike today. no pawer tap to keep me in check and I went out HARD. I had not preridden this course but have ridden all the roads individually at some point in training. GOing out hard though kind of sapped the legs for the hills that I did not anticipate being so relentless.
SO I came in for T2 in the same place as when I started which is not a normal bike split for me, which might be due to dead legs but also I have improved my swim this year so get out with some faster guys..
RUN- I had a hard time on this run, which is my weakness and even worse is downhill running which just beats me up.. THe first 1.5 miles is downhill than back up 1.5 miles than down 1.5 miles than up 1.5 miles. One thing that keeps me motivated is racing against individuals. last year a guy ran me down on EVERY race. A real nice guy but it still gives me some motivation to try to not let this happen again. If he does great becuase he is a super nice guy but if not good for me. SO at mile 3.1 turnaround he was 25 seconds behind, than the dreaded downhill again. At that last turnaround he was only 9-10 sec back. Man I got motivated and in my not so great a runner way I gunned it. I stayed ahead but heard footsteps the entire time. My overall pace was like 6: 49 for the run, which on a tough uphill downhill race I am not too upset about.
21st overall- the officials said 600 people but i estimate in the mid 400s. either way not bad and I qualified for USA age group nationals in Burllington- Im not going, but next year that is the goal with no IM on the plate - again it will be in VT.
Next up. a short sprint in Jul y than placid. And lots of suffering on Wed night- more on that later.
thanks for reading. ryan
Monday, June 13, 2011
Hell Hat No Fury Like a Woman Scorned...
... and if you are an endurance athlete in New England this year the woman who appears most scorned is Mother Nature. And who wants to be on her bad side? After a winter of record setting snow fall, where much of my strength training came from shovelling snow, we thought perhaps we had earned some respite from her scorn. However, April and may had more rainy days than not. Not warm rainy days that make you want to dance in the street to get cool, but those dreary days hovering in the low 50s with maybe some slight low 60s, but those were rare.
Than about two weeks ago we literally went from low 60s and raining to 2 days later having upper 80s with Georgia like humidity. Wholly crap, what happened to spring? Things settled down to a little more normal intmeritten rain and low 80s for about a week. So Mike doug and I planned a 5 hour ride on Thursday. Turns out it was going to be 98 and humid. We were doing the housatonic course which is relentless, up and down and a pain even on cool days. The first lap was not too bad as we left at 930. We got to our cars and each decided we only went through one bottle of water so would be fine with one bottle for lap # 2... big mistake. ABout half way though the temp had shot up and we all sucked down the bottle... luckily the garden store in Roxbury had potable water and we soaked out heads and filled out bottles. MIke left us and Doug and I continued for anohter 90 min but half way though jumped in the wonderful cool river ... I was barely pushing 130 watts back to the car and suffering..
Flash forwad 2 days... Early morning ride so i could have a nice family day. plan for 4 hours on TT bike, IM pace. 10 min into the ride, 60 degrees and it starts to pour... I had my rain slicker and was not able to take it off the entire wet, miserable ride.
Please, I know the weather gods are pissed, but a couple weeks of 75-82 degrees with low humidity is in order.. hey bikes are good for the carbon footprint right?
Ryan
Than about two weeks ago we literally went from low 60s and raining to 2 days later having upper 80s with Georgia like humidity. Wholly crap, what happened to spring? Things settled down to a little more normal intmeritten rain and low 80s for about a week. So Mike doug and I planned a 5 hour ride on Thursday. Turns out it was going to be 98 and humid. We were doing the housatonic course which is relentless, up and down and a pain even on cool days. The first lap was not too bad as we left at 930. We got to our cars and each decided we only went through one bottle of water so would be fine with one bottle for lap # 2... big mistake. ABout half way though the temp had shot up and we all sucked down the bottle... luckily the garden store in Roxbury had potable water and we soaked out heads and filled out bottles. MIke left us and Doug and I continued for anohter 90 min but half way though jumped in the wonderful cool river ... I was barely pushing 130 watts back to the car and suffering..
Flash forwad 2 days... Early morning ride so i could have a nice family day. plan for 4 hours on TT bike, IM pace. 10 min into the ride, 60 degrees and it starts to pour... I had my rain slicker and was not able to take it off the entire wet, miserable ride.
Please, I know the weather gods are pissed, but a couple weeks of 75-82 degrees with low humidity is in order.. hey bikes are good for the carbon footprint right?
Ryan
Purgatory Road Race / Lake Auburn RR
Good hard racing on a cold, wet morning. It is June, right?
Funk took 3rd (ho hum another podium) in 45+.
I was 9th (3rd in what was left of field) in the 35+. 4 guys went early. I thought that was a suicide mission with strong riders in field. I was wrong. Then 2 guys snuck away late. I thought that was going no where, especially since every move from field up to then was brought back. Wrong again. On finishing climb, Max L went hard and had a gap. I went after him with a 545 guy sitting on my wheel. I couldn't close to Max and couldn't shed 545, but did put 10 seconds on field. 545 thanked me for the lift by coming around me with about 100m to the line.
Good to see the Boss (Tom O) decked out old school.
Props to promoter for a well organized race on a nice circuit.
Last week, I did Lake Auburn RR after the CT Stage Race debacle. Strong CCB and OA teams dominated the race which was a combined 35+/45+ field. Unfortunately, there was a lot of negative racing. Hey: I know you have a guy in the break, and I know you're not going to work, but please don't mess up the chase. Just sit on. Thank you. Yes, there was another really early break that stayed away. Ciaran and Paul are riding really well, so big props to them. I ended up 3rd in field and 3rd in small 35+ field.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Karmic Infraction or Poor Planning?
This past weekend was supposed to be my big A race for the year. The kids had a cub scout field trip to Battleship Cove in Massachusetts for a sleepover on the ship which I decided to forego in order to race. On Wednesday, the CT Stage race was cancelled and instead of deciding to go to Mass with the kids I decided to jump into the Rev3 1/2 Iron and do the Aquabike (for those who don't know, an aquabike is a triathlon minus the run designed for those of us who can't run any more.) I had trained hard for this weekend and tapered well as evidenced by Wednesday night's race in Bethel. I wanted to race.
Due to the bubble collapse at the Cheshire pool this winter, my swimming was severely lacking. I have only been in the water 6 or 7 times since December. That being said, my form felt good and I just lacked endurance. Since I have been focusing on the bike this year, I figured that my bike split would make up for any deficiencies in the swim. I was hoping to come in under 3:20 which would put me on the podium based on last years times. This meant a sub 35 minute swim and a 2:45 bike split.
I had not done a tri in over a year so getting ready for the race the night before I went through everything twice to make sure I was ready. I got to Quassy a little before 6AM since the bikes were racked last night there was no need to arrive early and get a good spot.
I get everything set up in transition and realize I do not have my timing chip in my race bag. I know I had one yesterday when I registered. When I was getting ready Saturday night, I completely forgot about the need for a chip and had not bothered to put it in my bag. Big oops!!! Luckily the race coordinators were prepared for morons like me and I got a new chip with no issues.
Now that I had everything back on track I headed down to the water. The aquabike went off with the women's swim wave. This meant that there would be much less pushing and shoving than in a male swim wave. My plan was to start out easy so that I would not start hyperventilating and could control my breathing(this sucks just ask Ryan) I started on the far right so I had a clean line to the buoy and would be away from the crowd. I was feeling good, swimming straight and had no issues during the swim. I tried a few times to jump into someone's wake to draft. The first two attempts failed because the swimmers were kicking too much and making too many bubbles. I finally found a swimmer dragging their legs and got into a groove behind them. We did not hit any traffic until the second red buoy at which point, I decided I had saved enough energy and was ready to jump ahead of the person I was drafting behind. I upped the tempo and knew I was doing OK because I was passing many swimmers from previous waves.
Exiting the water and running into transition, I checked my swim split. 33:55 Ok I was right on track. No issues in transition so I was out on the bike course. I had previewed only the first 5 miles and last 5 miles of the course so I was not sure where to push it and where to hold back. My legs felt strong and I was keeping my HR between 150 and 160 which I knew I could maintain for about 3 hours. I was consistently passing riders and only had 2 people pass me during the first half of the ride. I rode over something about halfway through the ride which sounded odd, but I did not know what it was. I immediately looked down at my front wheel to make sure things were OK. The wheel was still rolling true and the tire was inflated so I figured I had dodged a bullet. As I am about 5 miles into a 7 mile climb I hear a loud hiss and then fell "thump, thump, thump..." Obviously, I had not dodged that bullet. No big deal, I was averaging about 21mph and knew I could afford a quick flat fix. I take the wheel off and get the old tube out quickly. I unfold the new tube and get ready to put the valve extender on the new tube. WTF, the michelin tube does not have a removable core. What to do now???? The valve stem is not long enough for my 66mm rims. At this point I am still telling myself that someone will stop and help out with an extra tube. Five minutes go by and I am convincing myself that I can still make up the time. Finally a friend from the Shoreline Sharks stops and offers to help. He has a different valve extender, but it doesn't fit either. He only has one extra tube and can't afford to offer it up.
I felt like one of those dudes hanging out in the parking lot at a Grateful Dead show with their index finger out. I need a miracle!!!!!
I have to say that the triathlon community is much nicer in general than the road racing community. Dozens of people asked if I was OK or needed help, but when said I needed a tube with a long valve stem no one had an extra. The woman whose front yard I was sitting on even came out and asked if I needed anything. She did not have a tube either.
I decided to just start cheering people up the hill since I had nothing better to do. There were supposed to be a mechanic's car somewhere along the course. Ever car that went by brought my hopes up, and then deflated them as they drove by me.
After fifty minutes(Yes!! 50 minutes!!) Another rider stops and asks if I need help. I look up and it is my friend Catherine. Score!! She has an extra tube with a long stem.
Finally I m back on the bike, but have no chance at finishing well. My bike computer still had my ride time on it so I decided to see how I could do for a net time. It was turing into a hard training day.
Have you ever ridden hard for over an hour then stopped for about an hour without stretching and just sit down, then hop back on the bike and ride hard again? I do not recommend it. It took me a while to get my legs back.
The rest of the race was uneventful and I finished with a clock time of over 4 hours but a net bike split of 2:43 which I was happy with.
Maybe I should have taken a hint when the CT Stage race was cancelled. I think someone was telling me that I should have been in MA with the kids.
The race is very well run and the bike course is extremely challenging. I am already pencilling it in for 2012 so I can get some vengeance.(Note to self - Do not schedule any kids events for the first weekend of June 2012)
Due to the bubble collapse at the Cheshire pool this winter, my swimming was severely lacking. I have only been in the water 6 or 7 times since December. That being said, my form felt good and I just lacked endurance. Since I have been focusing on the bike this year, I figured that my bike split would make up for any deficiencies in the swim. I was hoping to come in under 3:20 which would put me on the podium based on last years times. This meant a sub 35 minute swim and a 2:45 bike split.
I had not done a tri in over a year so getting ready for the race the night before I went through everything twice to make sure I was ready. I got to Quassy a little before 6AM since the bikes were racked last night there was no need to arrive early and get a good spot.
I get everything set up in transition and realize I do not have my timing chip in my race bag. I know I had one yesterday when I registered. When I was getting ready Saturday night, I completely forgot about the need for a chip and had not bothered to put it in my bag. Big oops!!! Luckily the race coordinators were prepared for morons like me and I got a new chip with no issues.
Now that I had everything back on track I headed down to the water. The aquabike went off with the women's swim wave. This meant that there would be much less pushing and shoving than in a male swim wave. My plan was to start out easy so that I would not start hyperventilating and could control my breathing(this sucks just ask Ryan) I started on the far right so I had a clean line to the buoy and would be away from the crowd. I was feeling good, swimming straight and had no issues during the swim. I tried a few times to jump into someone's wake to draft. The first two attempts failed because the swimmers were kicking too much and making too many bubbles. I finally found a swimmer dragging their legs and got into a groove behind them. We did not hit any traffic until the second red buoy at which point, I decided I had saved enough energy and was ready to jump ahead of the person I was drafting behind. I upped the tempo and knew I was doing OK because I was passing many swimmers from previous waves.
Exiting the water and running into transition, I checked my swim split. 33:55 Ok I was right on track. No issues in transition so I was out on the bike course. I had previewed only the first 5 miles and last 5 miles of the course so I was not sure where to push it and where to hold back. My legs felt strong and I was keeping my HR between 150 and 160 which I knew I could maintain for about 3 hours. I was consistently passing riders and only had 2 people pass me during the first half of the ride. I rode over something about halfway through the ride which sounded odd, but I did not know what it was. I immediately looked down at my front wheel to make sure things were OK. The wheel was still rolling true and the tire was inflated so I figured I had dodged a bullet. As I am about 5 miles into a 7 mile climb I hear a loud hiss and then fell "thump, thump, thump..." Obviously, I had not dodged that bullet. No big deal, I was averaging about 21mph and knew I could afford a quick flat fix. I take the wheel off and get the old tube out quickly. I unfold the new tube and get ready to put the valve extender on the new tube. WTF, the michelin tube does not have a removable core. What to do now???? The valve stem is not long enough for my 66mm rims. At this point I am still telling myself that someone will stop and help out with an extra tube. Five minutes go by and I am convincing myself that I can still make up the time. Finally a friend from the Shoreline Sharks stops and offers to help. He has a different valve extender, but it doesn't fit either. He only has one extra tube and can't afford to offer it up.
I felt like one of those dudes hanging out in the parking lot at a Grateful Dead show with their index finger out. I need a miracle!!!!!
I have to say that the triathlon community is much nicer in general than the road racing community. Dozens of people asked if I was OK or needed help, but when said I needed a tube with a long valve stem no one had an extra. The woman whose front yard I was sitting on even came out and asked if I needed anything. She did not have a tube either.
I decided to just start cheering people up the hill since I had nothing better to do. There were supposed to be a mechanic's car somewhere along the course. Ever car that went by brought my hopes up, and then deflated them as they drove by me.
After fifty minutes(Yes!! 50 minutes!!) Another rider stops and asks if I need help. I look up and it is my friend Catherine. Score!! She has an extra tube with a long stem.
Finally I m back on the bike, but have no chance at finishing well. My bike computer still had my ride time on it so I decided to see how I could do for a net time. It was turing into a hard training day.
Have you ever ridden hard for over an hour then stopped for about an hour without stretching and just sit down, then hop back on the bike and ride hard again? I do not recommend it. It took me a while to get my legs back.
The rest of the race was uneventful and I finished with a clock time of over 4 hours but a net bike split of 2:43 which I was happy with.
Maybe I should have taken a hint when the CT Stage race was cancelled. I think someone was telling me that I should have been in MA with the kids.
The race is very well run and the bike course is extremely challenging. I am already pencilling it in for 2012 so I can get some vengeance.(Note to self - Do not schedule any kids events for the first weekend of June 2012)
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Quassy 1/2
I started the day feeling a little tired after a day spent in my military uniform yesterday. i was able to get out of day two of drill but not yesterday. Otherwise I felt good this am. i woke up earlier than the alarm; who can actually sleep soundly the night before a big Apriority race for yourself. Maybe with some pharmaceutical enhancement but that would probably leave you groggy in the am. Anyway, I woke at 330, stretched in bed and tried to get in race mode- i read my nook for awhile to relax until 4 am.. jumped out of bed and threw down my oatmeal, banana and a granola bar. I was thinking protein but nothing sounded good on the pre race stomach nerves so I stuck with good old carbs... almost opened the nutella but skipped that too.
I got to the race at 530 , saw some people I know - DOug from out team was doing the aquabike due to a running injury. A guy Don who ran me down in every race last year but a nice guy and Jason who will also be going to Lake Placid.
The swim: After a brief warmup and lots of chamois application, down to the swim. I lined up in the front and really went hard from the start trying to get some space from the other 200 people lined up with me. It was really crowded and I wanted space. After a fast 300 yards I had to slow down but got a little anxious- my suit felt tight, my breathing was off. I had to talk myself down and slow down. THe nerves were on overdrive and I actually thought about treading water to get my breath. I imagine for my bike race buddies it oampares to being in a group sprint( I dont do group sprints when I race bikes), everyone is crowding you and you want space and dont want to give an inch. Anyway I eventaully got my rhythm and had an otherwise decent swim. REV3 did a great job marking the swim course- TALL swim buoys easy to see from your swim position and I did a decent swim. Out of water around 29:45 and crossed the mat just over 30 min. Not bad. Right around my goal and on pace for my Placid goal of one hour for the swim
THe bike: Anyone who rides this area of Ct knows that there are some killer rolling hills and the REV3 has the reputation for being one of the hardest bike runs in the sport of 1/2 IM. I spoke with Chad and he wanted me to shoot for 220 than 230 the last 10 miles to not blow up and have something for the run. Now, I like to ride hard - I typically try to build a cushion on the bike so this idea of saving for the run- well it was different. The PT helps for that though. The ROLF I got from Rick at the shop has a PT and it really helped keep me in check. ALthough I did feel like I had a good angel on one shoulder saying- remember what Chad said and a bad angel on the other saying this is too slow- punch it. SO i ended up averaging about 240 watts for the ride. About 20 miles into the ride, I made a HUGE amateur like mistake, I was totally in the zone, took a right turn, went about a mile and realized there was no one around me. i was second guessing myself.. did i really see the arrow correct? Was it a straight arrow? so i slowed, looked around - no one there WTF!, went on, slowed and than actually turned around and rode a minute, 1 and 10 seconds than saw 2 people-- that sucked. Only lost probably 2 minutes though. It did put me in a position to pace with 3 pretty strong guys... no draft but pace- we all know that just outside the box though you do get a little a draft and BIG psychological boost. I went from like 40th after the swim to 18th amateur after the ride...
The RUN- HILLY - damn this was a hard course. But my legs felt pretty good from the start. The first 2.5 miles is down hill and I was averaging under a 7 minute pace which for a non runner like me is good. Than the hills started but i was able to keep a pretty good pace and only slowed a little for the hills I was getting passed by some fast dudes and a few fast ladies too.. even with my run work I am still not in that run league yet. I was able to do some drafting and the last 3 miles one of the female pros who started 10 min before me, pulled in front of me and that was the motivation I needed to keep pushing my pace. i averaged a 7:35 mile which for me, on this course I was happy with but did fall to 58th overall amateur out of 900 or so.
REV3 does a great job and i am really happy to have a race of this caliber in little old CT.. last year the mans Ironman world champ was here and this year the womens Ironman world champ was here. She only took 2nd female so that gives an idea of the talent that came here for the 150,000 pro purse..
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday's B Race - A Snowball in Hell
Earlier in the day I got an email that the CT Stage Race was cancelled. WTF. This was to be my first A Race as a cyclist since switching over from triathlons. I spent the last two months suffering in expectation of seeing what I can do on a stage race. There was a combination of anger, disappointment and depression eating at me all afternoon. I was trying to decide if I should drive to Bethel and ride or just sit home and drink a beer. Luckily I chose the former!!
Although Ryan's body felt like "the nail" during the A race, his brain was still sharp as a tack. His strategy got me my first win. Having never done a snowball race before, I knew that I needed a strategy but I did not know what that strategy should be. After warming up I rolled over to Ryan asking for some pointers. He suggested that I let let the first few sprints go without challenging and then on the 3rd or 4th sprint stay up front and attack just as the sprinters sit up.
The other advise I had gotten from another friend was try and break away a few laps before the points start and see if I can pick off the first few laps. With those two thoughts in mind I rode the first few laps of the race. Several break attempts went off the front but were brought back so I thought that an early break would only waste energy. Unfortunately as I was sitting in the pack a few riders decided that they were going with 14 laps to go. They were several riders strong and stayed away for the first 2 sprints and then the peleton brought it back together. The 3rd sprint lap was as a group and I rode easy up the hill to gauge what was going on. The speed started to ramp up on the back half of the loop for the 4th sprint. I was sitting about 6th wheel and the front riders had a little gap on the field so I figured this my chance. Just as the first rider crossed the sprint point and sat up I jumped. The two Pawling Cycle guys who won the sprint took a wide turn around the corner to rest. I took the corner tight, got in the drops and went for broke. I looked back on the back straight away and realized I had no one on my wheel. I went through the 5th sprint solo and then the mental battle started. Being that I had never been in this position before, I was not sure how long I could ride flat out. My legs felt good, but my HR was very near max for the 6th and 7th sprints. Now I started trying to do math in my head to try and figure out how many points I needed. At this point, there was one rider about 50 yds behind me with the main group no where in sight. Coming up the hill for the 8th sprint I noticed that the solo rider had made up some time on me so I went all out up the hill. After crossing the sprint point I was totally spent and almost crashed because my leg hit my seat as I sat down. After a few wobbles I recovered and made the turn. I decided that this lap was about recovering on the downhill and then one last burst to the 9th sprint. I figured if I could make it over first I would have accumulated enough points. The 9th sprint came up and the solo rider in second was back to about a 50 yd gap and the main group was still nowhere in sight. Since I had calculated that I had enough point, I figured I had nothing to lose so I buried myself for the final lap. As I started the climb to the finish line I realized that I had stayed away so I was able ease up and cross the line at a leisurely pace.
I am really starting to like this sport. It requires a combination of strength, strategy, skill, nerve, luck and guts.
Although Ryan's body felt like "the nail" during the A race, his brain was still sharp as a tack. His strategy got me my first win. Having never done a snowball race before, I knew that I needed a strategy but I did not know what that strategy should be. After warming up I rolled over to Ryan asking for some pointers. He suggested that I let let the first few sprints go without challenging and then on the 3rd or 4th sprint stay up front and attack just as the sprinters sit up.
The other advise I had gotten from another friend was try and break away a few laps before the points start and see if I can pick off the first few laps. With those two thoughts in mind I rode the first few laps of the race. Several break attempts went off the front but were brought back so I thought that an early break would only waste energy. Unfortunately as I was sitting in the pack a few riders decided that they were going with 14 laps to go. They were several riders strong and stayed away for the first 2 sprints and then the peleton brought it back together. The 3rd sprint lap was as a group and I rode easy up the hill to gauge what was going on. The speed started to ramp up on the back half of the loop for the 4th sprint. I was sitting about 6th wheel and the front riders had a little gap on the field so I figured this my chance. Just as the first rider crossed the sprint point and sat up I jumped. The two Pawling Cycle guys who won the sprint took a wide turn around the corner to rest. I took the corner tight, got in the drops and went for broke. I looked back on the back straight away and realized I had no one on my wheel. I went through the 5th sprint solo and then the mental battle started. Being that I had never been in this position before, I was not sure how long I could ride flat out. My legs felt good, but my HR was very near max for the 6th and 7th sprints. Now I started trying to do math in my head to try and figure out how many points I needed. At this point, there was one rider about 50 yds behind me with the main group no where in sight. Coming up the hill for the 8th sprint I noticed that the solo rider had made up some time on me so I went all out up the hill. After crossing the sprint point I was totally spent and almost crashed because my leg hit my seat as I sat down. After a few wobbles I recovered and made the turn. I decided that this lap was about recovering on the downhill and then one last burst to the 9th sprint. I figured if I could make it over first I would have accumulated enough points. The 9th sprint came up and the solo rider in second was back to about a 50 yd gap and the main group was still nowhere in sight. Since I had calculated that I had enough point, I figured I had nothing to lose so I buried myself for the final lap. As I started the climb to the finish line I realized that I had stayed away so I was able ease up and cross the line at a leisurely pace.
I am really starting to like this sport. It requires a combination of strength, strategy, skill, nerve, luck and guts.
Cycle Fitness WED NIght race
I think it was lance who said sometimes you are the hammer and sometimes the nail.. tonight I was definitely the nail. I had done a 6 mile run at noon to try to start acclimating to the heat and humidity. I felt crappy than and I felt worse for the race. Actually lining up I felt some fluttering sensation I had not felt since last time I had A FIB two years ago. Mike said I should cut back on the caffeine.. Well maybe....
I started the race anyway and the legs were not there.... I could not respond on the hills or on the flat. I than started thinking that I am coming off my second biggest training week and have not ridden in 3 days - just run and swim- and I have my first A race on Sunday- Quassy REV3 1/2 IM. I hope to have a good race that day and I dont think going the extra 20 min would help me blow open my legs more than the first 30 min I just suffered through. SO, I had Mike grab my wheel and did my best to help bridge up to a little break that had formed. Really pretty weak effort on my part but Mike finished it up and made it to the front group. THan I soft pedaled and rode to my car. Matt got back to his winning ways but it looked like a good finish and it was great to see Beasly out there pulling Mike up to a break as well. Rick has really shown some improvement this year and Mike definitely looking super strong thanks to lots of hard work. He finished up a TOUGH race in 4th after a 375 mile week last week.
As soon as i got home, I got the kids to bed and jumped in a 10 minute ice bath.... today the legs feel a little better.
Great job to DOug, our new B racer who soloed the last 6 laps for a win... nice
Ryan
Ryan
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