ToB 2009

Phew, what a day. I have to say it was harder than I expected it to be. Perhaps in retrospect I should have been a little more leary of the difficulty of the Tour of the Battenkill than I was. Had I been, I'm sure I wouldn't have slept as well as I did. I got up at 5:15 and had my coffee sans breakfast. What were you thinking, you ask? I had loads of carbs the two previous nights so I knew glycogen stores were topped off. I made my FRS for the ride up (because frankly I too am tired of being tired) and by 6:30 I was out the door to pick up my mates.

Sorry, girl, not this time.



The Rocket, Manimal, and myself have been "training" for this for some time. We'd put in our share of sub-20 degree rides just so we wouldn't get embarrassed in the heralded 30+ category. I can't tell you how many "What are you guys thinking?" comments we received when the word got out we were racing the 30+. I knew in my heart of hearts that despite our measly Cat 4 status, tattered jerseys and shorts, cross bikes, mountain bike shoes (sorry, James), and yes, hairy white legs, that we could hang with at least the middle of the pack. We must have been a sorry lot to the hard core roadies in the bunch but we managed to hang with the lead group through 80K. (more on that later)



Going into this race, I felt like I had a solid base- well over 1700 miles and a ton of climbing. The one thing that was lacking was the high end; I had done exactly one interval session and yes, it was the Tuesday before the race with Rocket. We did two circuits of a nearby lake that is about the flattest 8 miles you'll find anywhere in Litchfield County. On our 2nd circuit, trading 30 second pulls, we managed a paltry 24.2 mph average. Hey, there were like 25 mph headwinds around the entire lake... yeeeeeaah. What can I say? We're not exactly mashers. I think if you stacked the two of us head to toe we'd be a carbon shim under 11 feet. So yeah, the flat stuff isn't our forte but I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that we never train it. (Note: I will be doing some scooter motorpacing in the near future) Perhaps I'll have to risk life, limb, and bike next Spring and do a Crit or 2 to work on my flat power.



This was going to be my 2nd career "road" race. Ever. I'm not shitting you. Hey, I told you I was a rookie. So basically what you're telling me is that you did no high end stuff, this is your 2nd race ever, and you were riding your 18 lb. clunker cross bike? In the 30+, to boot? Well, yeah, I guess I'm either a complete fool or I like challenges. Maybe both. But hey, at least I didn't wear mtb shoes. Sorry, James. The story on that is James (Manimal), who is on my "team" and was leading the peloton for a while (and chasing down breaks, no less) was wearing his beat up mtb shoes and someone in the peloton said, "Hey, that guy's got mtb shoes on!" The jury is still out on whether that statement was made with scorn or adulation. I'm assuming it was made with the latter as he was in the lead group through 70K.



So the all-Dave Wiens team, calf hairs wisping in the wind and all, rolls up to the line. The pace for the first half hour or so was comfortable though I thought pretty quick. I think we covered over 20K. The roads really are a blur but I do remember Juniper Swamp being the first culling of the herd. Being a peloton neophyte, I was of course out of position toward the back at the start of this climb. I had to weave through the riders getting spit out like watermelon seeds and so by the time I crested the climb, the leaders had a gap of nearly 200 meters. Luckily, I had a lifesaver in the form of a dude with a yellow kit that aptly said "Asset Recovery" across his shorts. He drilled it to the back of the lead group pushing low 30's and I gladly sat in for the ride. This wouldn't be the first time Mr. Asset Recovery saved my ass. We hooked back on just before the turn for Rich Rd. and I promptly made my way up toward the middle of the group as to not let that happen again. It seems that this road racing thing requires not only strength and fitness but pack savviness as well. I burnt a match catching back onto the group just because I was out of position and did not know the course.



I sat in for the next 10 miles until selector #2- Joe Bean Road. If my memory serves me correctly this was a multi-tiered paved climb. It was an honest climb but to tell you the truth I just stayed aerobic and spun my 34x24. I was again toward the rear of the group on this one (when am I going to learn?) and I had to weave around some riders to the top. I crested this one in fair position with about a dozen or so riders and we latched back onto the main group which was now down to maybe 50. I did burn another match or two here hooking back on. It was on the dirt on Ferguson where I was surprised to see the Rocket who also must have been out of position on the Joe Bean climb. He latched on to our group and we made it back to the lead group.



The next 25-30K were uneventful- just meandering through the bucolic upstate NY farmland. I would look up at times and see James leading the peloton with his mtb shoes. I was thinking to myself, wow, he must be feeling good. That unfortunately would change for the worse later. It was good to see him up there. After the race, he told me that he was hoping to get his picture in a magazine. Had this race been about 20K shorter, he probably would have top 10'd.



Later, it seemed that the top 20 guys kept screwing with the peloton. We'd be cruising at like 25 mph and then there'd be intermittent bouts of 30+ mph which began to take its toll on my legs. Had I trained more specifically, this wouldn't have been quite as painful as it was. These bursts began to sap my climbing legs big time. Cycleworx was still well represented with the three of us still in the lead group of about 40 riders with less than 25K to go. I believe it was around Mountain Rd. that I lost contact with the lead group. James was in a spot of bother at this point and I tried hammering to get him back to the group- to no avail. He would later say he was having trouble seeing and would not recover his eyesight until halfway home. That's what I would call an ultra-Bonk. Yikes!


I bombed the sketchy descent at 40+ (Vittoria Open Pave EVO CG 24mm- perfect tire choice by the way) and could see the Rocket dangling about 200 meters up the road. He too, had been shelled at this point. I did what I could with Meeting House and I could see the lead group about 200 meters ahead of Rocket. I TT'd for a couple miles when we hit pavement and who do I catch? None other than Mr. "Asset Recovery" himself. I settled in behind him for about 20 seconds, came around for an honest pull, and then we held up for a group of 4. The six of us worked great together for the next 10K or so, holding a steady 27 mph. I was well on my way to Shitsville when we took the turn for Stage Rd. I kept a steady pace throughout the climb and didn't completely redline (I don't think my cramping hamstrings would allow me to anyway). I climbed with 2 other guys from our group of 6 and we ended up passing 3 or 4 guys in our category who were completely blown. I didn't want to blast the climb solo (not like I really could anyway) and end up in no man's land all the way to the finish. One of the guys I crested Stage with (a GHCC rider) took off and bridged to Rocket. I probably should have went with him. Instead I held back a hair and descended with a CVC Subaru rider. He was a ridiculously strong flat rider, though by this point his tree trunk legs weren't behaving for him. We traded pulls the last 5K as it just started to rain. It must have been kind of funny to the casual observer with my cadence at about 110 and his at 60. We were caught at the 1K to go by the 2 leaders of the Cat 3 race. They had a nice head of steam. CVC guy faded a bit down the stretch and as we made the turn for home I could see the Rocket and the GHCC rider sprinting for the line. It was an awesome feeling on the finishing straight with the race clock over the road. It almost had the feel of finishing a Tour stage as I crossed the line a few bike lengths ahead of CVC. I believe my official finish time was 2:49:43, good for 33rd place and 16 seconds down on the Rocket who finished 32nd. (GHCC guy pipped him at the line I guess) If I remember correctly, we were a little over 5 minutes down to the leaders. My Garmin said 61.36 miles, 2:47:31 ride time, with a surprising 4883 ft. of climbing. (I didn't start the Garmin until after we exited the neutral zone)



Here is the profile:

As you can see it was a bit punchy. The worst climb for me was probably Juniper Swamp because I wasn't yet opened up. But I will say, the compact with the 27 in the back was nice. I just chucked that baby in 4 Low and spun up it, keeping my weight over the rear tire for traction. Standing up was about half as efficient. Tire selection was spot on. Those Vittoria Open Pave EVO CG 24mm tires were perfect. Though you lose some in rolling resistance and weight, I wouldn't have wanted anything else when I bombed that dirt descent (Mountain Rd.?) at nearly 45 mph.

There are only 5 things I would change for next year. 1. Double EPO dosage (Just kidding), 2. Do more high end training (or in my case more than one), 3. Ride Black Betty (riding a bike 4# lighter AND more efficient would have been nice), 4. Be more aware of my position in the peloton (I burnt a few matches really for being in the wrong place at the wrong time), and 5. Shave my goddamn legs (that would have saved me another .5#). All in all, it was a great race experience and undoubtedly I will be back next year despite the apparent inability of organizers to get the results up in a timely fashion. Oh well, it's all good.

She's done

Sorry for the dearth of posting in the last couple weeks to the 1 1/2 readers out there. (James you are half man/half amazing) I've been in the Dolomites stealth training with Michael Rasmussen.


No, actually, I've been getting in some good miles despite the shit weather we've been continuing to have despite it being almost mid-April already. Last Sunday was probably the windiest day I've ever experienced on a bike and yes I felt like I was filling in for Sisyphus. I had this bright idea of mapping a route to Danbury from the house to watch Em's first half-marathon. The wind out of the West was merciless and naturally I had to ride, you guessed it, West. I explicitly remember riding down a -4-5% bias and pedaling into what had to be a 35 mph gust- just to maintain 17 mph. Needless to say, the f-bombs were flowing. The first 16 miles took me over an hour so I knew continuing to ride West was a lesson in futility (Ok Mother Nature you won again) so I modified the route on the fly. I headed due South and to be honest I don't think it was much better as I found that I had to almost ride into the wind to maintain my balance. I was starting to feel like shit warmed over after 3.5 hours of the boxing match and I was getting anxious that I wouldn't catch the finish of Em's race. I managed to hold it together though, and got there just in time to change and snap a couple pics of her finishing.



I thought she did awesome- 1:48 and change. I think that's a hair under 8:15/mile pace if my math is right. She accomplished her goal- she finished without it being a death march at her first crack at the distance. 13 miles is no joke. And to think that just a year ago she lacked the confidence to run 1/4 of that distance. Nice job, Em!




Other exciting news is that I finally picked up my road machine. It's really a thing of beauty. Kudos to Josh and his ridiculous mechanic skills. His attention to detail is second to none. Sorry, Lance, in this case it is completely about the bike. Stupidly, I probably should have taken a picture of the drive side to show off my K-force light Compact (yeah I ride a compact, so sue me) coupled with my Red drivetrain. Without pedals it is 13.75 lbs. which, given my meager Cat 4 riding ability, I shouldn't even be riding. Yeah, yeah, I know it's below the UCI weight limit. With my Look Keo Ti pedals and if I decide to cut some of the post down, it'll probably be right at the 14 mark. Although the Garmin with speed/cadence sensor will probably put me in the low 14s. It's still over 2 lbs. lighter than my Giant. Speaking of weight, I'm over 5 lbs. lighter than last year at this time, so I'm already netting 7 lbs. less. I still think I can very easily dump another 5 lbs. of body garbage and that coupled with the 1580 miles and 148,000 ft. of climbing I've already got in, hopefully will get me somewhere. Where? I never know.

Hard "Core"

Alot of cyclists out there just simply ride. The word "gym" connotates bubonic plague and is avoided at all costs. Well, good news because what you are about to read doesn't require rubbing elbows with roided out freaks; The exercises can be done in the comfort of your own home. All it takes is about 10-15 minutes 2-3x a week and you'll totally feel the difference in your cycling.

I can tell you that I have done more sit-ups, crunches, and hanging leg raises than "Carter's got liver pills" (famous Dad saying, sorry). I think one year I did something like 7000 crunches. Yeah, I kept a log and yeah, I'm an idiot. So why have I had a couple of very bad episodes of back pain over the last few years? I wasn't training my core properly. Sure, I was doing the aforementioned exercises along with back hyperextensions and oblique twists. But, what those exercises do is mobilize the core, not stabilize it. The muscles that stabilize the core are the transverse abdominus, internal obliques, lumbar mulitifidus, pelvic floor muscles, diaphragm, and transversospinalis. These muscles function as an integrated functional unit; The stablization system works in concert with the movement system. When working optimally, each structural component distributes weight, absorbs force, and transfers ground-reaction forces. As such, these interdependent systems must be trained appropriately to allow for efficient functioning during dynamic activiites. Training the muscles of the movement system prior to the muscles of the stabilization system makes no structural, biomechanical, or logical sense. So to get you started, I will give you four basic exercises that require no equipment, just an empty space on the floor. I do these pretty much every other day:

1. Supported plank. Get into a standard push-up position, but instead of supporting the weight of your upper body with your hands, come down on your forearms and gently clasp your hands. So, your weight is then supported by your forearms and toes. Your goal is to be able to hold this position (with body parallel to the floor, mind you) for 2 minutes. Give it a try- much harder than it looks. When you can do the 2 minutes with relative ease, a nice progression would be to lift one leg and hold for 30 seconds, while maintaining the aforementioned position. Don't forget to do both sides. You will most likely notice that you have a stronger side and this exercise will address any imbalances that may have developed through sports, etc. Also, as you get stronger, you might try holding this position with your forearms planted on a Swiss Ball. When you can do that, again try lifting a leg and holding or if you're really adventurous try "drawing" small circles with your elbows. Pretty tough.

2. Side bridge. Lie on your side and come up on your forearm and ankle and lift your hip off the floor. You should be able to draw a straight line from elbow to ankle with your pelvis perpendicular to the floor. This exercise really hammers your obliques. If you follow the crest of your hip bone (the side that you lifted off the floor) toward your navel, you can feel the oblique working hard to keep your hip off the floor. (Unless of course you have been enjoying too many Ring Dings) Your goal is to hold this position for 60 seconds. Here's another progression for you: I will usually do 1:45, but every 20 seconds or so, I'll perform a couple of repetitions (i.e. let my hip come down to the floor and forcibly contract up into the held position). Have fun with this one.

3. Contralateral hip and shoulder extension. Hey, it was the most specific name I could come up with for this one. Here's how it's done. Come down on all fours. (hands and knees) What you are going to do is extend your hand out in front of you (neutral position- thumb up) as you simultaneously extend your opposite leg behind you. (i.e. left arm, right leg) Your ideal positioning should be such that your arm, torso, and extended leg behind you are all on the same plane. You will most definitely feel your core stabilizers working to maintain this position. The goal of this exercise will be to perform 4 repetitions per side with a 15 second hold on each. A nice progression for this one would be to balance on one knee by taking the weight off your supporting leg's shin by curling your foot a few inches off the floor toward your butt. You can also try doing more repetitions per side as well as longer isometric "hold" periods.

4. Bridge. Lay down on the floor in a supine position. (face up) Plant your heels close to your butt, making sure to keep your feet in line with your hips. Flex your glutes so that the only parts of your body touching the floor are your feet, shoulder blades, and head. Try and lift your hips as high as possible and hold for one minute. By actively contracting your glutes in this way, you are passively stretching your hip flexors. Tight hip flexors are usually the cause of alot of back problems and for cyclists where your hips are in a continuously flexed position, it is the perfect remedy. You can spot somebody with this "anterior pelvic tilt" because their posture profile will show a swayed back as a result of overcompensation of the erector spinae (lower back) muscles. It will also make the person appear as if they're a couple inches shorter than they actually are. (I definitely don't need to appear any shorter) Anyway, a progression to this exercise would be to hold the aforementioned position with one leg and perhaps adding in some movement in between the "holds" like marching. Be sure to maintain maximum hip height while doing this.

So, I have left you with four basic exercises to stabilize your core. If you stick with these 3-4 times a week, you will feel a definite improvement in posture and overall core strength when riding or doing any other type of dynamic exercise. They can all be done in your living room at home. All you need is a floor and some determination. Good luck. Next post I'll highlight some superior movement exercises for the core.

Side note: I recently eclipsed the 100,000 ft. climbed barrier for the year. My actual totals are 1152 miles, 110868 ft. That puts me at over 96' per mile. Not bad, although the half a million mark seems more daunting than I originally thought. I suppose that number will go up rapidly with longer/hillier rides planned for the summer.

Nice weekend... finally

Yeah, I got my first "color" of the year on Sunday. I'm having a tough time dressing with this recent spate of more seasonable weather. I ended up forgetting my arm warmers and going with a short-sleeved jersey with a vest over it- cold on the descents but perfect for the climbs. After 46 miles (5100 ft.) and a couple of 20 minute chunks Saturday, I figured I'd up the ante a bit for Sunday despite having to go out for a surprise birthday party at a piano bar in New Haven the night before. I had hopes for about 70 miles (~4 hours) but getting to bed at 1:30 a.m. had me rethinking my intentions. I was by no means hung over (3 BLs over 6 hrs but who's counting) but instead of getting my usual 8-9 hours, I got maybe half that. I modified the route on the fly because when it becomes a sufferfest, really what's the point? I guess we learn to listen to our bodies as we age, huh? It did however end up being a proper ride afterall and I'm not in the hurt locker today though I did get a solid 10+ of shuteye last night:

Weekend totals: 104 miles, 11220 ft. vert

I guess I suffer from the same disease as hilljunkie.

2009 To Do List

Tour of Battenkill- 4.18

Vermont 6 Gaps- 5.23

Housatonic Hills- 6.14

Okemo- 6.27

Ascutney- 7.18

Equinox- 8.1

D2R2- 8.15

Burke- 9.5

VT50- 9.27

Greylock- 10.10

In addition, I'll probably do a couplethree mtb races that don't require me driving more than 2 hours one-way. If schedule allows I may head out to PA for Iron Cross in September. Anybody up for a weekend epic, drop me a line and I'll see what I can work out. As far as today, it looks like it's a go:

No Mas

I'm not sure if it was my epic weekend in February (I know, I'm an idiot) or being laid up for a solid week with the flu, but I'm throwing in the towel with the cold weather riding. I feel like a Navy Seal who's just "rung the bell", but I've just mentally had it. Battling the freakin' wind every time out just makes for another extra day of recovery. I've been averaging roughly 80 miles a week since the beginning fo the year with roughly 900 ft+ climbing for every mile ridden. To top it off, I think maybe 30 miles total were ridden in over 40 degrees. They weren't all hard miles mind you, but being exposed to the elements has wiped me mentally. I'm not looking to be hero here, I'm just ranting. So the trainer it is, I guess, although it seems to take about 200mg of caffeine and 30 minutes of staring at the bike before I actually get on it. Ugh.


No mas. No mas. No bike outside 'til 45 degrees.


Thanks for tuning in.

In other exciting news...

Just got my approval for upgrade to Cat 4 Road and Cat 3 Cross. Being a Masters rider, that's all I really need anyway. I was getting nervous as I heard Manimal surprisingly got denied the upgrade to Cat 4 Road when he went to renew. This boggles my mind because he's basically been ripping me to shreds the last couple of months. Now he has to go do a couple of Cat 5 Crits down in Bethel to qualify for the upgrade. He shouldn't have any problem but I hear they're famous for crashes.

The concern with USA Cycling must be the whole mass-start thing. You don't have to deal with that in MTB so much, but MTBers are known to have superior bike handling skills. Hmmm. It must have been my saweet 39th place finish in the Cat 4 Housy Hills RR which I obviously raced illegally in my first go on the road. Or maybe it was my stellar string of top 20 finishes in the Verge Series in Masters 3/4. I'm embarrassed to even write that for chrissakes. Whatever the case, I'm glad to not be exchanging elbows with a bunch of Cat 5 big ring fools. Manimal, good luck to ya.