Tuesday, August 12, 2008
M-Q pictures
Chris was off the front for a whole lot of K's - winning sprints and big checks, and getting some face time with the cameras.
A good shot of me with the mustache. the pink on our uniforms looks pretty tame when in quebec. they love the pink up there.
An interesting side note - my biker clone, Matt Toulouse (in the orange), also showed up with a very handsome mustache. It was even more like looking in a mirror when I saw him.
Like I said Chris was off the front for a long time...look, he's still out there!
Quebexican Adventure
La Classique Montreal-Quebec has come and gone (for the 60th year). I raced with 3 other teammates - Chris "Breakaway" Worden, Colin "Jabberwalkie" Jaskiewicz, and William "WD-40" Dugan (all 21) - and we did pretty darn well. Its a long race - 240km this year.
Last years race was 252km and it took about 5:12. This years course was slightly shorter at 240km and the race took about 5:50. Last year had a cross-tail wind and this year had a slight head wind. Tactics were pretty simple last year. Ride in a big 20 man break all day long and then go like crazy when the attacks start 40km from Quebec. I finished 8th. Amos road great in the break all day last year - but came apart a little at the end.
This year, Chris hit it hard at 10km and pulled 3 other riders off the front with him. They got pretty well up the road and Chris rode awesome. At 106km there is a pretty prestigious midway sprint competition ($250). We heard over the race radio that Chris had won the sprint. That put Colin, Will, and I in a pretty good mood for the 2nd half of the race. Chris' move had 8 more guys bridge up to it - and then eventually the race came back together at about 160km. That's when things got tricky. The race was much more complicated this year - attacks coming and going - teams pulling this back - new moves going - people bridging up. The challenging thing is trying to figure out how different teams are racing and how much people have left once we get over 200km.
I eventually went for it full gas with about 50km to go and was in the action from that point on. Will Dugan had already done the same and was up the road - but had an ill-timed flat and was caught out on the late race excitement he certainly would have been a part of. I bridged up to each group that was ahead of me on the road. Its hard to exactly describe the final 5km of the race as there was a lot stuff coming and going - lots of ins and outs. I had strong legs, but not a lot of quickness left. I finished 4th - just missing the podium, continuing the trend of being very good but not truly great. I hope to turn that around before the year is over. I think I raced a little under confident in the last 10km of the race. Its hard to figure out how tired other people are.
Colin came through in 9th place - he was following my wake up the road behind me catching all the groups on the road. Very impressive for a young guy who can sprint so well to ride that way in the last 15km of a 240km race. Will Dugan rode hard all the way to the line - but had understandably gotten a bit frustrated by the bad-luck out on the road. He will dominate this race one day! Chris Worden continued to impress everybody by riding in only a few minutes back on the win - super impressive after such aggressive early riding.
We had tremendous support out on the roads from Joe (WD-40's mentor) and Chris Worden's very nice parents (who are great feeders).
On an interesting side note - I used two things I'd never used before in this race that both helped a fair amount. We used race radios and it definitely helped me from "spacing out" while riding. I have a pretty bad tendency to just zone out during races and I found having Joe giving us race updates from the team car helped me keep my head in the game. The second thing I'd never used before was chamois cream. Its basically a cream that you rub into the pad that in is the bike shorts that reduces friction (a good thing for long days in the saddle). My ass still hurt at the end of the day, but definitely a ton less than last year!
Anyways, its an interesting race that is very well run and it was fun to do.
Last years race was 252km and it took about 5:12. This years course was slightly shorter at 240km and the race took about 5:50. Last year had a cross-tail wind and this year had a slight head wind. Tactics were pretty simple last year. Ride in a big 20 man break all day long and then go like crazy when the attacks start 40km from Quebec. I finished 8th. Amos road great in the break all day last year - but came apart a little at the end.
This year, Chris hit it hard at 10km and pulled 3 other riders off the front with him. They got pretty well up the road and Chris rode awesome. At 106km there is a pretty prestigious midway sprint competition ($250). We heard over the race radio that Chris had won the sprint. That put Colin, Will, and I in a pretty good mood for the 2nd half of the race. Chris' move had 8 more guys bridge up to it - and then eventually the race came back together at about 160km. That's when things got tricky. The race was much more complicated this year - attacks coming and going - teams pulling this back - new moves going - people bridging up. The challenging thing is trying to figure out how different teams are racing and how much people have left once we get over 200km.
I eventually went for it full gas with about 50km to go and was in the action from that point on. Will Dugan had already done the same and was up the road - but had an ill-timed flat and was caught out on the late race excitement he certainly would have been a part of. I bridged up to each group that was ahead of me on the road. Its hard to exactly describe the final 5km of the race as there was a lot stuff coming and going - lots of ins and outs. I had strong legs, but not a lot of quickness left. I finished 4th - just missing the podium, continuing the trend of being very good but not truly great. I hope to turn that around before the year is over. I think I raced a little under confident in the last 10km of the race. Its hard to figure out how tired other people are.
Colin came through in 9th place - he was following my wake up the road behind me catching all the groups on the road. Very impressive for a young guy who can sprint so well to ride that way in the last 15km of a 240km race. Will Dugan rode hard all the way to the line - but had understandably gotten a bit frustrated by the bad-luck out on the road. He will dominate this race one day! Chris Worden continued to impress everybody by riding in only a few minutes back on the win - super impressive after such aggressive early riding.
We had tremendous support out on the roads from Joe (WD-40's mentor) and Chris Worden's very nice parents (who are great feeders).
On an interesting side note - I used two things I'd never used before in this race that both helped a fair amount. We used race radios and it definitely helped me from "spacing out" while riding. I have a pretty bad tendency to just zone out during races and I found having Joe giving us race updates from the team car helped me keep my head in the game. The second thing I'd never used before was chamois cream. Its basically a cream that you rub into the pad that in is the bike shorts that reduces friction (a good thing for long days in the saddle). My ass still hurt at the end of the day, but definitely a ton less than last year!
Anyways, its an interesting race that is very well run and it was fun to do.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Donkey Kong
Like my old friend John McKone used to say, "it was on like Donkey Kong". Blue team (CCB) was kicking ass and taking names in NH this past weekend and it felt good. A couple weeks back I'd hatched this plan in my head that Dan and Will and I were going to lead out Colin at the Concord Crit. In my plan I was going to come through the last turn at 42 mph and Colin was going to light it up like a Christmas tree (L'arbe de noel - for my french speaking readers). Well, it wasn't quite like I'd imagined....I only came through the last turn at 41.7mph. Oh well! Haha. It was awesome - Shake and Bake! Who-WAH. Oh, and we were shaking and baking all day long too. 7 out of the 8 primes. You could say Will, Patrick (the German) and I had a good shopping experience while we were in Concord.
Here's the report: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/SPORTS/808030361/1054/TOWNS13
If you zoom the finish line picture you can see a little bit of my mustache as I watch Colin. Will is also sporting a mustache now - and it looks like Dan has one on the way as well. Will Amos Brumble be forced to show up to GMSR with a mustache? Will Lassie save Timmy from drowning in the well? We'll find out next time folks...
Well, we rested up and then came back for more....
The Bow road race course is a tricky one - always up and down, not really any flat. If a strong racer misses a breakaway they can get very frustrated with the other riders. We used this to our advantage as we have a multitude of riders good in this type of course - so we used our strength wisely. WD-40 finally got up the road with Cassitron and 3 other guys and it was pretty much game over. Bow is a ballers course...and Will is ballin' good right now. He took the W with some good help from Dan and then Colin and I went 1-2 in the bunch sprint behind for 8th and 9th place (2 riders in between). This was all after just 3 laps of racing though - there was thunder and lightning so they told us we were going to finish at the halfway point. I guess it counts though - so its another one for blue team.
Next up...learning some "your mother" jokes in French to bring with us up to Montreal-Quebec this weekend. Quebec'ers race hard...and they race especially hard at this race...so it should be good stuff.
Here's the report: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/SPORTS/808030361/1054/TOWNS13
If you zoom the finish line picture you can see a little bit of my mustache as I watch Colin. Will is also sporting a mustache now - and it looks like Dan has one on the way as well. Will Amos Brumble be forced to show up to GMSR with a mustache? Will Lassie save Timmy from drowning in the well? We'll find out next time folks...
Well, we rested up and then came back for more....
The Bow road race course is a tricky one - always up and down, not really any flat. If a strong racer misses a breakaway they can get very frustrated with the other riders. We used this to our advantage as we have a multitude of riders good in this type of course - so we used our strength wisely. WD-40 finally got up the road with Cassitron and 3 other guys and it was pretty much game over. Bow is a ballers course...and Will is ballin' good right now. He took the W with some good help from Dan and then Colin and I went 1-2 in the bunch sprint behind for 8th and 9th place (2 riders in between). This was all after just 3 laps of racing though - there was thunder and lightning so they told us we were going to finish at the halfway point. I guess it counts though - so its another one for blue team.
Next up...learning some "your mother" jokes in French to bring with us up to Montreal-Quebec this weekend. Quebec'ers race hard...and they race especially hard at this race...so it should be good stuff.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Races that have come and gone.
Balloon Festival: Race went well- ended up getting 1-2'ed by Jamie and Josh from Fior di Frutta in the end though. Came in 3rd. Willie Dugan (aka WD-40) returned to racing - kicking ass and taking names.
Housatonic Hills: Really good legs - but ended up 3rd again. Rookies Chris and Colin road really well early in the race. Willie D and I made the final selection but I wasn't aggressive enough. Still, we managed to beat Todd Wells a week before he got 15th in Mt. Bike Worlds.
Giro d'Jersey: Mainly did this race because it had a ridiculous name. Went pretty well. Raced hard. Top 10 on all the stages - and the team attempted to Blitzkrieg the last stage. Good times.
Cox Charities Crit: NRC + $15,000 = me getting scared in the last lap. Didn't take nearly enough risks in the end - and used my brakes a handful of times in the last lap alone. I was trying to lead out Amos, but didn't do a good enough job.
Fitchburg: Oops. Not sure what I did, but the good legs were gone. I suppose crashing hard on my TT bike the day before the race in the parking lot at the Skirack doesn't help. I was excited for the road race and I had no gas. One of these days I'm going to nail this race!
Mt Holly: Hot Hot Hot. 100 degrees - 100 percent humidity - a light breeze. Before I knew what was happening I was getting the chills of dehydration. I finished, and most of the field didn't, but it wasn't pretty. Colin road well and was top NJ amateur.
Hilltowns: Back in business. Nearly took the first W of the season...only to get second. Jump early? Jump late? I went with early and Ted King came around me with 100m to go. Dan Cassidy was back in action and stomping the pedals.
Freedom Tour: Apparently this is a $3500 crit in NJ. Who knew? Dugan 3rd in a six man break. I lead out Colin and he showed all the NYC sprinters and PA track guys a clean set of wheels. Team is starting to race well together. Yee-Hah
Housatonic Hills: Really good legs - but ended up 3rd again. Rookies Chris and Colin road really well early in the race. Willie D and I made the final selection but I wasn't aggressive enough. Still, we managed to beat Todd Wells a week before he got 15th in Mt. Bike Worlds.
Giro d'Jersey: Mainly did this race because it had a ridiculous name. Went pretty well. Raced hard. Top 10 on all the stages - and the team attempted to Blitzkrieg the last stage. Good times.
Cox Charities Crit: NRC + $15,000 = me getting scared in the last lap. Didn't take nearly enough risks in the end - and used my brakes a handful of times in the last lap alone. I was trying to lead out Amos, but didn't do a good enough job.
Fitchburg: Oops. Not sure what I did, but the good legs were gone. I suppose crashing hard on my TT bike the day before the race in the parking lot at the Skirack doesn't help. I was excited for the road race and I had no gas. One of these days I'm going to nail this race!
Mt Holly: Hot Hot Hot. 100 degrees - 100 percent humidity - a light breeze. Before I knew what was happening I was getting the chills of dehydration. I finished, and most of the field didn't, but it wasn't pretty. Colin road well and was top NJ amateur.
Hilltowns: Back in business. Nearly took the first W of the season...only to get second. Jump early? Jump late? I went with early and Ted King came around me with 100m to go. Dan Cassidy was back in action and stomping the pedals.
Freedom Tour: Apparently this is a $3500 crit in NJ. Who knew? Dugan 3rd in a six man break. I lead out Colin and he showed all the NYC sprinters and PA track guys a clean set of wheels. Team is starting to race well together. Yee-Hah
Mustache
So, at long last I have a mustache again. If you have been living in a cave (or other subterranean dwelling) and are unaware of what a mustache is...then read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moustache
There are three main inspirational sources for my mustache. The first, of course, is my father. He has been without one for quite some time - but for a period of my childhood he was the proud owner of a very fine mustache. The second two are Marcus Sommers and Magnum PI.
Marcus
Magnum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moustache
There are three main inspirational sources for my mustache. The first, of course, is my father. He has been without one for quite some time - but for a period of my childhood he was the proud owner of a very fine mustache. The second two are Marcus Sommers and Magnum PI.
Marcus
Magnum
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