I'm kicking my ass!

On tap for the weekend was the 40k Church Creek Time Trial Saturday and Reston 123 Crit on Sunday.

This video pretty much sums up how Church Creek went and felt:


Stephen Robinson continued his streak of pummeling me. Yep, 2nd place for moi in the 35+. But hey, it is fun to know that guy is going to show up every time bringing the pain. It keeps pushing me to try and improve. Thanks ABRT for promoting!

NOW, on to an interesting topic, RULES. After having raced triathlon for several years before coming to cycling, I've always been very conscious of drafting. But after my TT on Saturday, I realized that I wasn't really sure what the drafting rules are per USAC. Here's what happened. I catch the guy (different division) who started 30 seconds before me about ~8-9 miles in, just about that point where you are headed into the wind for what seems like forever. This guy decides to ride right off my left side for several miles. He would randomly pull up alongside me on the left, not passing, just sitting there. His bike was making this god awful annoying noise. He passes me back right before the final turn. So, this whole episode led me to read the rules, and yes, jackass, if you read this, you should have been penalized as you were cheating. I hope you feel good about your effort. Man, you were an annoyance.

3E6. Rider Conduct.
(a) On an out-and-back course, riders shall stay to the right of the centerline at all times [disqualification].
(b) No rider shall take pace behind another rider closer than 25 meters (80 feet) ahead or 2 meters (7 feet) to the side. [A rider who is observed taking pace shall receive a time penalty as specified in Table 2]. A rider may also be disqualified for extended and/or repeated pacing.
(c) No two riders may ride abreast other than when attempting to pass and such attempts shall not be maintained beyond a distance of 500 meters. An attempt to pass may be repeated an unlimited number of times but each time a challenging rider fails in his attempt, he shall drop back to 25 meters behind the challenged rider before renewing his attempt.

Oh, yeah, some 46 yr old dude went 50:39 and DESTROYED everyone. Wow, he only was like a minute behind DC Velo's wicked fast 4 man team. Things that make you go, hmmm.

Haig came over for dinner on Saturday. Igda and Emir whipped up an awesome Bosnian meal, Cevapcici & Burek!!!! So fattening, yet so delicious.

On to Reston Sunday:

With the toilet repaired, Emir's bedroom door fixed and furniture re-arranged between bedrooms, we headed out for the afternoon race.

This is a pretty sweet race. I've only done it twice, but I have to say, it is a killer venue and it's close! Evolution always runs a first class event. This race takes A LOT of volunteers for sure. Thanks Evolution!

start:

Not much to report really. An early move got away with some firepower...that may be an understatement. XO and DC Velo played havoc at the front of the field [which they should and is expected].
I like this overhead vid:

Reston Crit overhead shot from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

Much of the rest of the field appeared comfortable with racing for scraps after that for the next 70 minutes. Umm, that's about it. Igda shot a good video of Russ Langley inching out the win.

Reston Crit 123 Finish 2011 from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

SWEET, just read Gilbert won the Belgium jersey!!!! Wow, Tim Rugg took 3rd at Elite Nats. Congrats, Tim!

SOOO many things going on here

I was perusing Jim Wilson's excellent photographs from the Williamsport Crit on Sunday. I found this one to be extremely interesting prior to the start...brilliant photography

Why? Why Not?!

It's Monday. I survived.

Writing those two sentences nearly took the final amount of energy I have at the moment but I will try to dig deep here and write more (this turned out way longer than anticipated). I competed in the 1/2/3 Tour of Washington County this weekend. This is hands down the best stage race in our area. To do well, you need to bring your A game, be consistent and use your bullets wisely where it will have the most impact. As in all stage races, there's a heavy emphasis on the timed events. They can make or break you. Oh, and the field was STACKED with talent. What? around 90 fast dudes entered. Yikes!

Oh yeah, the promoter wanted to make sure we had plenty of pre stage race excitement by hosting an unbelievably cool Twilight Criterium starting at 8:15 p.m. on Friday. Without really thinking it through, I thought, "Hell, yeah!" I've never done a twilight crit - this will be awesome. The timeline begins (YES, I know this is overkill but I wasn't sure how to organize my thoughts so I just started typing).

FRIDAY:
11:30 am- Igda, Emir and I load up and start the drive to Hagerstown.

2:30 pm- Check into Holiday Inn Express and I try to get a nap in, somewhat successful

5:15 pm- Start heading over so we can watch the Bike Doctor fellas in the 3/4 race at 6 pm. Sobe TAKES the win from the break! Totally pumped to see that.

8:15 pm- Our race kicks off. I don't know, maybe 50 riders. A really cool course right in downtown Hagerstown. Joe Jefferson was keeping the crowd informed and adding to the excitement with his play by play. I will be honest though, I was a touch nervous that were no barriers set up on the main drag. I just had visions of someone walking across the street and taking out the field, but that never happened so I guess it was unwarranted. My plan was to chill as much as possible (if you can really do that when the average speed of the race is 27+mph) and just try to get in the money (top 15). It was an incredible experience as the daylight slowly subsided about 1/3 of the way through the race. The gradual darkening of the course added a whole new element to the sensations of the race. It was wicked cool. Although it felt like everything was a blur, you could really feel the energy from the crowd lining the start/finish stretch. It was motivating for sure. After maintaining good position during the race, I made sure I was positioned well going into the final 2 laps where the pace really ratcheted up. Unfortunately, my plans got derailed with a pile-up at the very front of field at the final corner. Somehow I managed to brake and slide/skid hard enough to avoid endoing over the top of a few riders on the ground, but that ended my chances. It looked like everyone walked away which was good. Eh, it happens. Just a bit bummed to go 75 mins with little to show for the effort. But no regrets for sure. When Igda asked me what the highlight of the weekend was, I told her, "I think I'd have to say the Twilight crit." That was cool.
Short Clip of Race:

FINISH:


10:30 pm- Make it back to the hotel after stopping for the greatest recovery dinner you can have, Taco Bell.

11:00 pm- Off to sleep...er, maybe not. Of all times to have insomnia! I don't know if it was the adrenaline from the race or the nervousness about getting up at 6:30 a.m. for the prologue and road race the next day. What the heck did I get myself into?! I think I finally got to sleep at about 2 a.m., geez.

SATURDAY:

6:30 a.m.- Ugh, wakeup. I wanted to stay in bed. We grabbed a light breakfast at the hotel, packed up the car and headed over to the Prologue.

8:49 a.m.- PROLOGUE start time. I rolled around for about 25 mins beforehand just to get the blood flowing. This is a pretty violent effort since it's only 4.5 miles with a few hills. It's just flat out going to hurt the entire time. But I was hoping the legs were ready for pain. Well, I let it rip the best I could for a time of 10:51 placing me 18th for the event. Ok, not a bad start.
Finish Video:


9:30 a.m.- 12:15 p.m.- I really wasn't sure what to do with myself. I tried to lay down in the car for a quick nap, but that wasn't happening. We went to the Subway at a nearby gas station for an early lunch. Otherwise, just chilled with Igda & Emir.

1:00 p.m.- Road Race! 63 miles. Man, it got a little steamy and hot by start time. I loaded up the bottles with some extra electrolytes. I'll be honest, with the amount of racing already in the legs, I knew I had to play it conservative. I cramped bad last year on the last lap and lost a good chunk of time so I was hoping to avoid that. There was definitely an interesting dynamic to the field this year. A) It was larger B) There were two significantly strong non-Mabra (GPOA & Happy Tooth) teams present and they DEFINITELY added intensity to the race. Folks were trying to get off the front all day...and some did for sure. But I don't think it was ever the mix the big teams all liked, so it would be pulled back by the one not represented. I do remember GPOA just hammering with like 3 or 4 guys, lining out the field for a good while at one point about a 1/3 of the way into the race. I must admit, it's pretty cool to witness a team working so well to bring back a move. Maybe it was the green uniforms that stood out, but those guys appeared to be everywhere. There were a couple of larger groups that split off, but they never really got any traction. I did make a couple of blunders in the race. The first being that I whiffed two bottle feeds from Emir. We were using these bottles Emir scored from UHC and those things were like trying to grab an ice cube, just slippery as hell. Custer did share a bottle of 100 degree water on lap 9 with me after he saw me miss the feed. The other blunder was chundering the high speed corner going into the lap. Geez, a big gap was going and I came flying down that hill a bit hot passing a few riders that didn't seem interested in closing the gap, ok, a lot hot. My back wheel slipped for a second causing me to alter my line, but I couldn't really brake. I thought for sure I was going into the ditch. Somehow I saved it and then did the honorable thing and quickly closed the gap. That sure got the adrenaline going. I sort of figured on about the 7th lap of 10, it was going to be a mad dash to line starting at the hill on the homestretch. The finish was a bit anti-climatic for me. I'll be honest, I sort of wanted that anyhow. I needed to save as much as possible for the TT the next day. I "thought" just making sure I finished in the field was good enough as they would give "same time". Well, that was a mistake on my part. It appeared they gave everyone their exact times by the second. So, I lost a handful of precious seconds for the mental lapse. Okay, now off to try and RECOVER!
123 Road Race Finish:


5:00 pm- Back at hotel and my savior wife gives me a short massage on the legs before dinner. We headed over to a great little Sushi place around 6:30.

8:30 pm- We heard there was a Bike Doctor team meeting at the pool plus Emir wanted to go swim. I didn't realize that Sobe had a cooler full of good beer! Yep, stayed until about 10 pm hoping a few beers would help me sleep! Sobe, I think I owe you a few beers.

10:00 pm- I begged Igda for a leg rub. She saved me. My legs felt better. Bedtime...a bit better sleep.

SUNDAY:
6:00 am- wake up call!!!! OUCH! Load up and drive 20 mins to TT. I was sitting 15th on GC going into the TT.

7:31 am- 10 mile TIME TRIAL start
I hopped on the bike and rolled around for about 25 mins, just trying to get the engine warmed up without taxing the legs. I guess I felt about as good as could be expected. I knew this would be more of a mental challenge than anything. It turns out that I had a relatively average performance (23:13, 25th for the TT). If I could have gone harder, I would have I guess. You gotta move on. This pushed me back to 19th on GC going into the Crit. I think about 40 seconds separated 10th through 20th. Every second REALLY does count! Side note: TOTALLY bummed for my teammate Scott Giles. He was sitting 5th on GC and flatted during TT. That was a horrible message to get.

10:00 am- Grab some breakfast at the hotel and lay down for about an hour. Still can't really sleep. Body and mind just won't relax.

12:00 pm- Head out to grab lunch and mosey over to the crit race down at Williamsport.

3:00 pm- 30 mile Criterium Race. FINAL leg in this journey. I had no wild ambitions for the race. I just HAD to finish this sucker! Last year, I suffered like a rented mule at this event...dropped halfway through. No lie, I was nervous. It looked like a large number of guys mailed in the TT to stay a bit fresher. Well, through a lot of self talk throughout the race, I did finish, 31st. I couldn't feel my legs afterward, but it was an exhilarating feeling to wrap this up! My GC placing held at 19th. Hey, I'm happy with that. It's a little consolation that the prize money went down to 20th...just about paid for my race registration.
Some Crit Video + finish:

TofWC Final Criterium 2011 from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

Crit Start:

[just in- pics from Nic and Jor from the crit- thanks!]

Pain Face:

A good field pic:

In hindsight, there's no doubt the twilight crit hurt my GC aspirations. I think there were only like 6 guys in the top 20 that also raced the Friday crit. But, I'm ok with that. This weekend was about pushing the envelope, doing something crazy, and above all else having fun. No regrets. Thanks Joe Jefferson and AVC for an amazing weekend! Emir, Igda and Leo- you are the BEST supporters!

I'll try to round up some vids and photos to enhance the post this week.

Benchmarks

Ugg, a little behind here, but I thought I'd jot down some stuff in my head. Last Saturday was the Air Force Clarendon Cup Criterium. You can read some more stuff about it at our team blog (see link over on the right). Back in 2009 at this race, my first year into cycling, I was a newly minted Category 4 rider ready to jump into the masters field. I think it was 35+ at that time. Well, I got completely and utterly shelled during that race. I was dropped after about 8 laps when my little group got split away from the field. It was the first time I ever thought about faking a mechanical so I could drop out...just prayed for a flat tire or something! I'll never forget that day.

Now 2 years later and I'm back for some redemption. I think it's safe to say that I've improved a lot between now and then. Not only physically, but mentally and skill wise as well.

In short, the race was really fun and tough. I made the moves necessary to get myself in contention with the contenders roughly a 1/3 of the way into the race. It was great to have a teammate in the move. Sure, in hindsight we should have played this out differently, but it is what is. I finished 9th, and as strange as it sounds, I felt really, really good about it. This was a big benchmark for me to compare where I was at just 2 years ago.

Here's some video of the race Igda shot:


Igda, Emi & I had a great brunch afterward while we got to watch the 123 race and then the Men's Pro Race.

Post Race with teammate Scott:

With Igda:

Brunch:

Pro Race spectating:

A GREAT shot of Emi with Hilton Clarke from UHC (the winner):

We're heading up to Hagerstown, MD for the Tour of Washington County tomorrow. LOTS of racing on tap for the weekend!!!!

Anatomy of a bike spill...

At RSR during the 123 race, I went down through the apex of the second to last corner going into the bell lap. Thankfully, I came away unscathed. I just happened to be a few bikes behind from where it all started with no escape hatch. I think one of the NCVC guy's was pretty beat up, so I hope he heals up. Custer shared some photos from Ed who was road guarding at the time.

Let's face it, crashes in bike racing are inevitable. It happens...and it usually happens in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it's through no fault of yours, sometimes it is your fault. You can bitch and moan about it as much as you want, but it won't do any good. Unless it's something idiotic a rider did to cause the crash, you just have to move on and put it behind you. It's just one race. Oh, if you did cause someone to crash, have the cajones to apologize afterward. Yeah, it doesn't fix things but it goes a long way to forgiveness. We all make mistakes. Oh, and don't be a d-bag if a rider apologizes. Karma is a bitch in this sport.

It's the omnipresent danger during a race that creates the unwritten code for bicycle racers. Racers must trust each other to ride safe. You can't race if you have the fear of crashing. You'll be even more of a danger to other riders.

That said, here's an interesting sequence with a few comments on the photos.
Happy Field:

Oh, No!

RSR- Do Work!

So, Ride Sally Ride was this past Saturday. Good to see former teammates AND beautiful weather! I was wrapping up a good block of training and I knew this course would be good for some hard, fast miles. The plan was to tear myself up in the 35+ and then hit the 123 for miles. I pulled out my "Do Work" shirt for motivation.

Coined by Rob Dyrdek and his personal body guard Christopher "Big Black" Boykins...man I miss that show.

Thanks Whole Wheeler's! Good day!

This just in, some video of the 35+ race shot by former teammate. Thanks BAS!

Ride Sally Ride M35+ C1234 from Patriot on Vimeo.

Sometimes in Bike Racing things are hard to explain...

I'm completely starting out backward here because I want to try and capture my thoughts and emotions on a subject that few may never have the opportunity to comprehend.

This past weekend I raced the Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix 2/3 Omnium Stage Race. This is a prestigious event on the calendar and the City of Wilmington along with the promoter go above and beyond to pull this off in spectacular style and flare. As my friend Pete Custer said, "If there was a day to have a good day, THIS was it!" If you want to read a full Bike Doctor team report, you can check this out now: TeamBikeDoctorBlog I'll be sharing more things throughout the week as I have time.

What I'm going to try and describe right now is the emotions that you feel when you have a glorious bike racing experience. I know I won't do it justice b/c I'm doing it in bits and pieces as I have time so bear with me here.

We all race on a team. We all want to see OUR team win. Nobody remembers second on, right? Most of us train a lot with very good friends that race on other teams. At least I hope so because cycling IS a social sport. You're missing out on so much if you stay huddled up in your own "team" surroundings. You can stop reading now if that's you because nothing else I write here will make any sense.

Sure, come race day we are all competitors, but there is a ton of time spent putting in grueling rides in some crazy weather conditions, often times with our cycling friends which aren't necessarily our current teammates. It is during these times that you develop a common bond...a fondness for the suffering...a respect for the athletes you train with. Seeing friends and training partners succeed is fulfilling. It makes you proud. Heck, in a strange way their success makes you feel good even if they aren't on the same team or in the same damn race.

I came to bike racing late in life. I absolutely fell in love with it. My first team was Whole Wheel Velo. I raced with WWVC for the first two years. A great group of fellas. This is where I met Pete Custer, another former WWVC alumnus. Pete was always incredibly insightful and helpful with a maturity well beyond his age. I picked his brain often and still do to this day! Hell, I liked Pete so much and thought so highly of him, I offered him a job at my company when we needed an IT guy. It's worked out wonderful.

I've found in athletics that you can get a pretty good gauge on someones character fairly quick. Are they patient? Are they honest? How do they handle stress? How driven are they? Do they go out of their way to help others? Are they selfish? Are they a good teammate? Do they get along with other teammates? Do teammates respect him/her? Etc. Sure, having Pete around the office probably isn't the most productive thing. Somehow every conversation always ends with some tangent related to cycling, lol.

So where is all this going? Not sure, but I wanted to share a bit of background. During the Wilmington Road Race on Sunday, Pete and I shared an experience together that very few bike racers will ever be able to understand. We raced smart and both had the same intuitions for when it was time to make our moves throughout the race. The funny thing is we never even talked to each about race strategy. Obviously, we are on separate teams, but still, sometimes a wink or a casual conversation before or during the race is appropriate, especially since I didn't have teammates in the race.

When the initial break of 10 got away, as noted on the Bike Doctor blog, I was really jazzed to see Pete in the move. When we stretched the gap to the field and everyone was working hard, I started to believe this was THE winning move. When I sensed the break crumbling and mentioned to Pete that we needed to go, he knew it, too.

It has taken a little bit of time, but I think I'm just now beginning to grasp what bike racing is all about. It's not winning. It's not losing. It's the thrill of trying to "make" the race. Now I know that is a pretty vague statement b/c it can take shape in so many forms. No two races are alike. I once heard, "it's the racers that make that race." It's so true. We either choose to make the race exciting, challenging, memorable, or we don't. And as all bike racers understand, there's never a right or wrong move. Racing is unpredictable. Maybe that's why it's addictive to me?

Now fast forward to our initial attack being pulled back by our fellow breakaway companions. There was no script. Pete and I were the only one's ready to put everything on the line. All or nothing. Maybe that's what separates the winners from the losers? I don't know. But both of us realized on our own without any spoken word that we had to TRY.

I'm going to quote my teammate Jim here because he summed it up best:
"take a good lesson from Pete's tactics...if you want it...sometimes you need to grab it, shake it, make it submit and call you uncle....winning from the front is a tactic straight from the page of the Prefontaine playbook. Well done!"

Once we made our final get away, it was deja vu. Here we are, just the two of us doing what we've done hundreds of times in training trying to put the hurt on each other. The strange situation was that we now shared a common bond - we were running from a peleton of 80 really strong riders trying to catch us. We needed our collective strength to make this happen. More than a few folks commented that they didn't know we were still out there. That my friends is a demonstration of bike race tactics. It was all part of the plan. We KNEW the field would slowly reel in the break once they were in sight. There would be a pause. I was betting that most of the field had no idea how many riders were in the break anyway. I think the only one's that knew for sure there were still riders up the road were Nicholas and DJ since Pete C wasn't there.

Now let me tell you. Neither of us had a meter, but I can tell you with certainty, we put every fiber of muscle into the pedals those last 6-7 miles. It was surreal. We were LIVING something you only see on TV during a pro race. Full motorcycle escorts on wide open roads and highways. I remember rolling through a huge intersection. Cars were halted. There we are - two jackass cyclist's furiously pedaling alone with slobber running out of our mouths. I can't imagine what folks were thinking at the sight of that!!

I can't describe the feeling when I caught the first glimpse of the city's skyline. What an adrenaline rush! I KNEW we had to be close. I had forgot to start my Garmin so I thought it was 4 or 5 miles short. I was right. When we made the turn onto Market St, I swear that gradual uphill felt like Mt. Everest. Custer started drilling it. I was like damn, "ENJOY IT!" I knew we weren't going to be caught. The last time I saw the field was about 20 miles before that.

Now this is an interesting part. Some won't understand, some may. Now don't get me wrong. I would have loved to win this race. But that's not what this whole experience was about for me. It was the thrill of pulling off something spectacular. Taking first was obsolete to me at this point. This was a rare occasion for me to take great pride in seeing someone that I care more about off the bike have something special to cherish forever. Let's get one thing straight, I wasn't gifting anything here. No deals were made. Custer rode like a champion. Plus, I've sprinted with him a thousand times and don't think I've ever beat him!!! Now if it had been someone else I was with, different story.

I know this is weird, but to see him raise his arms and cross the line meant more to me than any bike race I've ever won. This was a rare occasion where I had the ability to help him succeed. It meant more than words can describe. I guess if I had a little brother, this is what it would feel like watch him spread his wings and do his thing.

I'm also really happy to see the North-Tek-Aria team doing so well this year. Nicholas and I have a great past together as well, so there's nothing more exciting than to see them having fun and getting results. Mad respect to those guys for doing things the way they are right now.

Now that the sappiness is over, here are some great pics (Thanks Jor!!!):
Approaching the finish-

Getting closer:

Victory salute coming!

And there you have it!

The Field for leftovers

Me getting on Podium

Happy Podium

Full Podium

More to come, but that's it for the sappiness.