Monday, April 26, 2010

Hooray! only 4 seconds away from Double Hooray!

Unlike all previous stages, I would actually had to get up early for Sunday's decisive time trial.  I spent Saturday night in frantic preparation for the race.  I was only 18 seconds away from the race lead and felt like it was within reach if I had a strong TT.  To have a shot, I knew I would have to pull out all the stops: I attached a plastic cover to my rear wheel for maximum aerodynamics, tinkered with the power meter on my TT bike so that it would work in every gear combination, and of course gave my legs a fresh shave.  I got everything ready that night and still had time to get 8 hours or sleep, but only just barely.  Thankfully sleep came easily thanks to the intensity of the circuit race that day.

I woke up feeling pretty good on Sunday morning.  After a delicious breakfast of oats and bananas, I loaded up all my time trial gadgetry and headed down to the course.  Once I got there and got my bike set up on the trainer for warm up, I got a little concerned.  My legs (aka the TWIN TOWERS) felt fine while spinning easily, but winding up to anywhere near TT wattage was pretty agonizing.  I could really feel the effects of the previous day's efforts.  Despite my misgivings I strapped on my futuristic "Spaceballs"-looking TT helmet and rode down to the start line.

In most stage races, riders start time trials at 30 second intervals in reverse order of GC.  The top placed riders have the advantage of those below them in the standings being out on the road in front, serving as rabbits to chase.  I was reasonably confident that I could ride fast enough to hang on to 3rd, but was worried about the rider just below me on GC.  He was a rather strapping fellow on who had crossed the line solo on Saturday, just over 30 seconds behind me.  The fact that he was strong enough to make his way through the last lap of Saturday's course by himself and only lost 30 seconds to the 3 of us suggested he had some good time trial power.  He was also on the Lenovo team out of Seattle, which contains many very fast category 1/2 riders.  On top of all that, he had even faster looking TT gear than mine.  I was seriously concerned that he would beat me by over 30 seconds in the TT and steal my place on the podium.  Since he was starting 30 seconds in front of me, I resolved to keep him within sight during the race and pass him if at all possible.  I felt that if I could achieve that goal I wouldn't need to worry about the two riders who were starting behind me.

I watched the Lenovo guy take off and lined up for my start.  I got clipped in, took a few deep breaths, and sprinted out of the gate.  Once I settled down in to the aero bars, I looked at the power meter and noticed that I was doing well over 400 watts (that is a lot of watts for me).  Last year, my best Coburg TT was around 345 average watts.  I knew that the out-and-back course was uphill on the first leg.  Since the uphill portion would be the slowest, I knew that it would pay off to go out a little bit too hard for the first half even if I suffered and was able to do fewer watts for the trip back down hill.  To my surprise, I found that holding over 400 watts was no problem for a lot of the climb.  I've averaged 389 up McBeth on the ghetto ride so I guess it wasn't too much of a stretch, but I was still shocked that I was able to go so hard for so long.  I think it must have been the adrenaline rush of being in a race because I really didn't feel any of the sluggishness that had plagued my warmup.  Before long, the wattage output paid off.  Within 5 minutes I was rapidly closing on the strapping Lenovo guy.  I slowed down a touch for a few seconds, and then cranked it up and blew past him.  It always pays to demoralize your TT competition by passing them at an elevated rate of speed.  I managed not to overcook it during the pass and held my pace until the turn around point.

At the turn around, I was able to see my chasers coming at me and noted that I had put a fair bit of time into Lenovo guy, but that the dude just ahead of me on GC was still fairly close behind.  There was no room to slack off on the way back down the grade.  I kept the watts high and my speed went way up with the slight downhill.  My time trial position is very aero with the unfortunate consequence of me not being able to see where I am going.  This caused a few terrifying moments because I really didn't remember the course being that curvy on the way up.  I actually had to get out of the aero bars and hit the brakes at one point to avoid a head on collision with a rider coming up in the opposite lane.  I managed to not crash, passed a few more riders, and accelerated for the finish despite the lack of a 1k to go sign.

On the way back to the staging area, I chatted with Phil (the Lenovo guy) who turned out to be a very nice dude.  He told me that he had never been passed like that in a time trial which made me feel pretty good about my ride.  I got back to the car and hung out while Lisa did her "race of truth", all the while wondering whether I had been fast enough to move up on GC.

My uncertainty lasted until I ventured downtown for the final stage of the race, the criterium.  It took some searching, but I finally found the time trial results.




I found the sheet for cat 4 men, and was elated!



Then I looked more closely at my margin of victory and looked down at the GC rankings following the TT.



NOOOOOO!!!!!  4 FREAKING SECONDS!!!!!!  If only I had not had to hit the brakes!!  If only I knew the finish was coming sooner and exhausted myself more completely!!  As always, I feel like I could have gone a little bit harder now that the race is in the books.  In truth though, I had a great ride in the TT and probably could not have gone any faster.  I decided to be happy with my victory and to see what the crit would bring.  Perhaps I could attack and get more than 4 seconds on the field... I've done it before in a crit...

I joined the throng of riders at the start line before the criterium and got called up to be recognized at the front for my GC placing, which was pretty cool.  Then the race got underway and the suffering began.  The pace seemed extremely high.  Either that, or I was extremely out of gas.  I am pretty sure both were true.  After a few laps I realized that there was no way I was going to get away from the field in my state of exhaustion.  I went in to survival mode and adopted the alternate goals of not crashing or getting shelled.  Fortunately for me, the crit was very short and I made it through to finish with the same time as the winner. 

 Not my field but similar.  You get the idea.


Travis Monroe, the skinny 15 year old from stage 2, won a boatload of primes in the race.  He is going to be a beast once he grows up and gets some meat on his bones.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear about him joining the pros one day.

Also impressive was the fact that the GC leader, Rusty Dodge sprinted to victory in the criterium.  That guy is one hell of an athlete.

After the crit I got to enjoy the podium ceremony for the time trial.  Climbing on to the top step was quite a thrill.  I have to hand it to the race organizers for allowing us rank amateurs to have a podium.  That kind of recognition made all of my lonely suffering on Wolf Creek Rd. this winter worth it.  Here is a shot of the TT podium (warning: skinsuit content)




And here is a shot of the top 5 on GC at the conclusion of the Cherry Blossom Classic.



I had the opportunity to chat with the winner a bit over the course of the weekend.  His name is Rusty Dodge and he is from Bellingham, WA.  I am alright being runner up to him for the following reasons:

1: He has one of the coolest names ever.  It is in the same league as Rip Torn and Red Fox.
2: He is a more well rounded rider than I am.  Sure I have the edge in time trialing, but he came damn close to me in the TT and won two field sprints as well.
3: He is a really nice guy.


After the podium my race weekend was officially over.  No more anti-embolism stockings and paranoia about eating the right things for recovery and hydration... at least not for a day or two.  After getting Lisa squared away for her race I went into relaxation mode.  It was a blast hanging out in the beer garden and watching the really fast people race in the pro/1/2 fields.  The knowledge that I had worked hard and had a successful stage race made the beer taste extra delicious. 

Hopefully the beers after the Cascade Cream Puff 100 this year will be just as tasty!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Podium!

After a night of restless sleep I woke up today to the sound of howling winds buffeting our host house.  I looked outside and noticed a few raindrops on the window.  The day was shaping up to be epic from the get go.  Thankfully the rain went away, but the wind kept on blowing with a vengeance.  We eventually found our way to the start, despite some slightly confusing directions in the race packet, and lined up to start.

I overheard multiple riders who had already finished their races talking about how hard the course was, and started to get nervous.  I decided that it would be crucial to remain near the front of the race because it sounded like every previous field had completely exploded, with riders trickling in to the finish in small groups.  Time gaps affecting GC were a certainty.

Today the race got hard from the gun.  On the first climb I made my way to the front where the GC leader was setting a hard tempo.  I was already suffering and hoped that the pace would be hard enough to split the field since I really didn't want to have a replay of yesterday where the large crowd contributed to the catastrophic crash.  I decided to contribute to making us all suffer and willingly took hard pulls.  Our efforts on the hills and in the wind quickly paid off.  We had whittled the lead pack down to about 15 riders on the first of our 7 laps. 

Things didn't get any easier once we had the break established.  We continued to kill it, and our pack got smaller and smaller.  The course was such that if you weren't climbing a hill, you were fighting an insane head or cross wind.  There was not anywhere to recover out there.  I was suffering so badly that I had no idea how many laps we had remaining until we heard the bell signaling 1 lap to go.

On the final lap, the race leader went to the front on the feed zone climb and set an even harder tempo than normal.  Behind him was a skinny 15 year old kid who can climb like a scared cat, one random dude behind the skinny kid, and then me.  Abruptly, the dude in front of me decided he had had enough of the pace being set, sat up and veered to the left, almost colliding with me.  This had the effect of opening a few bike length gap to the skinny kid and the GC leader.  They kept hammering and I immediately realized that this would probably be the winning move.  I gritted my teeth, accelerated from the already painful pace and tried to close the gap.  It took me at least a minute, but I finally made my way up to them.  Fortunately, I didn't bring anyone with me.  I had to sit in for a while after bridging up because I was so spent.  I eventually started taking pulls with them, but it became clear that they had a lot more left than I did.

Finally, we turned on to the final climb that was 300 meters from the finish line.  My two companions began to sprint, and I was instantly popped.  What followed was what seemed like the longest 200 meters I have ever traveled on a bicycle.  I actually had to shift in to my lowest gear to make it across the line because of the combination of climb and headwind.  I lost 18 seconds to the kid that won, but still put 30 seconds in to the guy that got 4th on the stage. 

Getting 3rd on the stage put me in to 3rd on GC, which meant I actually got to spend some time on the podium for the first time in my life.  I won a somewhat effeminate tote bag decorated with a cherry motif that was stuffed full of nature valley granola bars and other treats.  The 15 year old that won the stage donated his prize bottle of wine to me for legal reasons, which is pretty cool.


Tomorrow will bring the time trial and crit.  I am really wondering how the two guys in front of me are in the race against the clock.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Cherry Blossom: Stage 1

Today was the first stage of my first stage race in several years - the Cherry Blossom Classic.  This is only the second time it has been put on, so I am not sure how it is already a "classic", but I suppose that isn't important.  Anyway, my cat. 4 field was more than full with 78 competitors, so I was a touch concerned with the prospect of gobs of semi to uber sketchy riders packed tightly across the road like sardines.  It turns out that my concern was warranted.



After rolling out of the parking lot, the pace stayed conversational for a few miles before the guys at the front decided to pick it up on a few rollers.  There is a team called "Ten Guys Named Alex", and their riders always seem to be at the front pulling during races this year.  As usual, they seemed content to tow the field around for the first circuit of the course.  I stayed tucked in behind a heavily muscled Life Cycle guy who won King's Valley since I figured his would be a good wheel on the climb.  When we did hit the long climb the pace picked up nicely and I ended up abandoning Mr. Life Cycle and weaseled my way up through the pack, which was finally beginning to string out.  I slotted in around 4th wheel at the summit and we began the descent.  Shortly afterward, a couple of Hagens Berman guys came up beside us and squeezed into the line of riders.  These two HB fellows then proceeded to rub bars and shoulders with each other and it quickly became apparent to me (I was 2 wheels behind them in the line) that they were going down.  Sure enough, CRUNCH - down they went effectively blocking the entire lane of the road.  Perhaps because I saw it coming it seemed like the crash happened in Matrix-style slow motion and I managed to steer my way around the carnage.  I sprinted back up to the leaders and we kept riding along.  A few miles later I realized two things:
1. We were going much faster than on the first lap
2. There were only about 15 of us

I felt a bit cheesy being in a breakaway that was caused by a crash, but wasn't about to sit up and rejoin the field because of it.  We ended up getting a decent rotating paceline going, although it was nowhere near as fast as ghetto ride pacelines.  We kept the pace high around the rest of the course, and went quite hard up the climb the second time which popped a few people out the back.  I crested the climb at the front and the descent went smoothly.  I was at the front with 1 k to go, which was apparently when both lanes of the road became open to us because a big load of riders came around me in the left lane.  I realized that I wasn't going to contend for the sprint and stayed tucked in and rolled across the line in 10th, happy to have finished with the same time as the winner.

I hung around the line to wait for the field to finish, and was pretty surprised when they didn't come in until over 3 minutes after us.  It turns out that the crash got much worse after I darted around it and lots of guys went down.  There were stories of broken frames and taco-ed carbon wheels, and apparently at least one guy went to the hospital.  I snapped a couple of pictures what I think was aftermath of the crash, a Hagens Berman Ridley with a front wheel with fewer spokes than the new Rolf TT models:


Something is not quite right with this bike...

 Ummmm thats probably not fixable with a few turns of a spoke wrench


I am really hoping I don't get caught behind a crash tomorrow.  I'm learning that there is quite a bit of luck involved in bike racing.  Had I been a little closer or a little further away from the first guys that crashed, I would have either went down or at least have missed the winning break.  Provided things go alright tomorrow, I like my chances on GC with the time trial coming up.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A late King's Valley / Icebreaker Crit race report. Or: MY FIRST WIN!!

Two weekends ago I doubled up on bike races: the King's Valley Road Race near Corvallis on Saturday, and the Icebreaker Criterium in west Eugene on Sunday.  I had attempted King's Valley twice before, and on both occasions was dropped handily on the longest hill on the course.  I am much more fit now than in previous years, so I decided it was time to give it another go.


No one took any photos of my field. Here is what Google came up with.


After the customary early departure, we arrived in the staging area, which was quite frigid with a gusty cold wind blowing through.  I was looking forward to getting the race going so I could warm up.  Once the race was underway a couple of guys attacked during the first lap but no one seemed at all interested in joining them and working so they always came back in to the fold quickly.  I think all the rollers kept the field from getting complacent since the pace was fairly consistently high whenever the road pitched up.  This also discouraged would be attackers.  I wouldn't say any major selections happened, but I know there were people getting shelled in the crosswind section and probably on the climb.  I worked very hard to stay near the front going into the final climb on each lap, and was one of the first few over the top every time.  Coming in to the climb on the final lap, a few more guys managed to sneak around me in the pack and I was a little boxed in, but still fairly close to the front.  I applied the gas gradually as the climb started and rolled past a fair number of dudes who probably hit the gas too hard early on the slope.  I think I should have gone harder from the beginning in hindsight, but that is easy to say now that I am sitting on my couch and not suffering.  One dude clipped someone's wheel and rode in to the ditch ahead of me, and Kennet's little brother blew up spectacularly while sprinting for the line.  I was happy with a 5th place finish, but I think I could have done better if I had hit it earlier on the climb and got with the leaders at the beginning.  5th place was good enough for a cash prize, and I even got Goldstein's trivia question correct for $5 more (it was Tom Boonen winning Paris Roubaix - duh!).  After the race, I put on my recovery compression socks and did some lawn mowing and yard work.

 Kind of like plowing through the wind on a solo breakaway.  
Dammit why didn't anyone bring a camera!?!

Later that night, one of the torrential downpours we have been having occurred and I started to worry about the conditions of the course for the Icebreaker crit.  I've crashed a few times this season, and taking corners at high speed on a wet road didn't sound too appealing.  By the morning of the race things were drying out a bit, so at the last minute I made the decision to go for it, kitted up and jumped in the car to get my crit on.  There were about five riders from the Pacific Power team in the field, and I was initially worried that they were going to effectively use their numbers to dominate the race.  They did a bit of attacking and counter attacking early on and made some attempts at "blocking" which really didn't work.  They had riders off the front for a couple of laps, but none of the moves looked very threatening. When the first bell rang for a prime, a couple of guys from Portland attacked hard and went free at the beginning of the lap.  Two more riders went on the back stretch to try to bridge, and then I went because I figured that if all five of us got a gap we could work together and make the break stick.  Even though there were still 18 laps to go, I thought a break of a few strong guys could run away with the race.  After the prime, all of us who were off the front came together and it became apparent that those dudes were only interested in the prime because they sat up despite the decent gap back to the main field.  I didn't attack them since I actually was hoping at least one of them would go with me.  I just ramped it up to a time trial effort and quickly noticed that I was all alone.  I had a pretty sizable gap on the field, which was catching the 4 other guys.  I thought things might slow down when they re joined the pack, so I was motivated to make my gap even bigger and kept going as hard as I could.  I noticed that there were still 17 laps to go, but I figured that if I could meter my effort and not blow up, either someone would join me and we could stay away, or the worst thing that could happen is that I would get caught and have to make another plan.  I put my head down and kept suffering, using the thought of lapping the field and getting back in to the draft as motivation to keep going.  The laps kept ticking by and I didn't start really hurting bad until about 5 to go.  This was also when one guy got pretty close to bridging up to me.  He must have motivated the pack, because they got a fair bit closer as well.  I knew that if the solo guy caught me at that point he would most likely take me in the sprint, so I didn't wait for him at all.  I managed to pick it up a mph or so, and finally heard the bell for 1 to go.  Knowing the field would be winding it up for the sprint, I emptied the gas tank, and managed to hold them off for the win.  That was the first mass start race that I have ever won; it was certainly one of the most thrilling moments I have ever experienced on two wheels.

Lisa raced with the cat. 3 men along with several of my Paul's teammates.  Their race was quite animated and a lot of fun to watch.  It ended up being won by a couple of dudes in a breakaway, with 3rd and 4th place going to yet another breakaway containing my buddy Matt Baumann.  Winning is much more fun than being dropped.  Now that I am somewhat fit I am going to be chasing that dragon for the rest of the season.  Hopefully I will get another "W" under my belt before winter rolls around.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Tobacco - Live in PDX

Last week, Kat, Todd and I ventured up to Portland to catch Tobacco on his tour up the west coast. For those not in the know, Tobacco is the pseudonym of Tom Fec, the man behind Black Moth Super Rainbow. BMSR is a 5-piece band, complete with live drums, bass, and multiple analog synths. Tobacco is essentially Fec on his own, and the music is more similar to hip-hop than the electronic hippie rock of BMSR. It is definitely not your garden-variety hip-hop, however. To my ears, it sounds like music from a ghetto in the distant utopian future, where the obsolete robots hang out and unsavory things sometimes happen after dark. Back to the events of the night though…





There were several other acts performing that night. We arrived at the venue during Pictureplane's set. His music is similar to mainstream late 90’s dance techno, except with vocals and some dissonance. It wasn’t really my cup of tea but it was fun watching the throngs of Portland kids dancing away with abandon. Especially impressive was the dance troupe that came in matching outfits with a load of accessories including strings of Christmas lights.

Next up was Small Black, an indie pop band from New York. They had good energy, especially their bass player. I think a bass player that really gets into it does a lot for a live band, but maybe I am biased since I used to be a bass player that got into it during my days as a rock star in the massive liberal arts college music scene in Tacoma WA. Unfortunately, small Black’s music was pretty forgettable.

Finally it came time for Tobacco to perform. Tobacco was backed up on synth by a woman from BMSR (his girlfriend?) who calls herself “The Seven Fields of Aphelion” and a mysterious masked individual who’s function seemed to largely be that of a hype man. They took the stage and set up two data projectors. One featured video mashups from the 80’s and 90’s – lots of low budget horror movies, break dancing clips, and some bizarre though not technically obscene porno. The other projector was hooked up to a laptop that was running Chat Roulette. I was unfamiliar with this program until the concert, but quickly learned that it connects you with random individuals that you are supposed to video-chat with. It turns out that a large number of the users consist of fellows that like to show each other their respective junks. As the concert went on, the program switched from dude to dude in their bedrooms and connected them to a room full of dancing weirdos. We more than once served as an audience for a junk display. Kat took the stage and typed out conversations with a few of these dudes. She also kept the laptop appropriately aimed at the crowd and served as a very effective hype assistant.



Aside from the projected wackiness the performance wasn’t super exciting. I think this is a common problem with live electronic music. Most of the music was coming from Tobacco’s laptop. It sounded great, but watching someone play guitar is certainly more interesting than watching someone type. He did do the vocals through a guitar talk box instead of his usual vocoder though. It was visually a little more entertaining but it didn’t sound quite as cool. BMSR was a lot more fun to watch with their live drummer and bassist. I am pretty sure Tobacco realized this, and that is why he had the hype man up there going nuts. He did a pretty good job of going nuts- his activities included crowd surfing, dancing on stage with random Portland girls, and occasionally manning the chat roulette laptop with vigor. As a side note, there is a rumor that the hype man in the Los Angeles show was Tobacco’s collaborator and all around famous guy Beck.


The hype mask



The crowd was quite in to the performance and there was much dancing and merrymaking. Everyone was very disappointed when the set ended and there was no encore. After the show, I visited the merchandise table where Tobacco and "The Seven Fields of Aphelion" (I really wish I knew her real name so I wouldn’t have to type that anymore) were selling stuff. I chatted with them for a bit and bought a DVD of the crazy shit that was projected during the show. They both came across as very down to earth and friendly, especially TSFOA.  As a fan, it sure is a lot of fun to chat in person with the musicians you listen to every day.


We skipped out on The Hood Internet’s set and left the venue on a quest for food as Todd had skipped dinner. I was turned away at the the Doug Fir because my driver’s license was expired (oops), so we went to Voodo Doughnut. They were sadly out of bacon maple bars, much to Kat’s displeasure, so we made do with apple fritters and regular maple bars. The fritter was delicious, although it probably contained more than one day’s worth of calories. One can’t be an anal cyclist all the time though, right? The drive back to Eugene went quickly with the good conversation provided by my chums. Overall it was a fantastic experience. Look forward to more reports from Portland concerts in the future.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Doug has a blog now? Yes indeed I do. I have been quantifying my vanity pretty carefully for the past while and it has finally crossed the blogging threshold (this is just beyond the point where hair product seems like a good idea in case you were wondering). Happy Cycling it is the title. I stole that from a Boards of Canada song. It seems appropriate because I plan on writing about music and cycling. I’ll also throw in some science from time to time to keep you on your toes. I used to do radio as an undergrad and have been missing it for years now. I plan on running this thing like my old radio show, so stay tuned.