Tuesday church ride

Anticipating rain on Wednesday, I decided to make tonight's ride into something enjoyable. So I suited up from work and made my way to the church in Cranston. It's about 10 miles to get there. By the time I arrived, there were already about a dozen riders milling around, chatting, getting ready. As I'm told, the Tuesday night ride is easier then the Thursday night ride. That's what I needed, sincerely.. But, there was one rider there who I'd seen at past Thursday rides.. one who was real cool to talk with and one who says he's never raced. Could have fooled me! because on the first hill (Rocky Hill- my first time down that road- liked it) he took off on his own and hammered to the top solo. I was looking forward to an easy ride, nothing intense, but on this very gradual climb I put it into a comfortable gear and spun my way up nice and steady. Someone was on my wheel, don't know who, but I wasn't interested in dropping anyone, just going at my own moderate pace. Felt good, unlike Thursday where I'm turning myself inside out to hold a wheel on the climbs. So we meet the non-racer at the top, me and my anonymous companion. The rest of the group catches up shortly after, all strung out. Later on, we're on route 102 headed toward route 12. Kind of rolling terrain.. me and the non-racer (note to self: ask people their names!) we start to wind it up and push eachother a little bit. This guy's srong as hell in my opinion. We traded pulls down Carpenter Road, leaving the group behind. Rather, I took "a" pull and he motored the rest of the way while I kept looking down at my cassette and checking for flats.. You know what I mean.. By the time we reached Hope Furnace, I was in cool down mode and he just kept cranking all the way to 116 on his own. I caught up, a moment later the rest of the group caught up, and I had to screw to get home before the future ex-wife started packing her bags.. (or mine?) Very fun ride. Great people. Looking forward to next Tuesday. I still feel like I'm ina rut physically. Felt more energetic today for sure, legs felt heavy and stiff, but it was a good day on the bike for a change. Ninigret tomorrow? Will it rain? Should I join the big boys again on Thursday and subject myself to another thrashing?
Today I discovered that our man Arik Jon Holm won the 35+ race at Palmer! That news pretty much made my day.

Palmer Library 35+ Road Race Video

Palmer Library RR Video...

Sorry for the delay! My home wireless network kept failing, so I humped my computer downstairs closer to the router and finally got it done. Mind you, it takes about an hour to compile the video in Moviemaker, add titles, music etc.. It takes another hour to save it to disk. It then takes another hour to upload to Google, and then another hour for them to process and approve it. We're almost there. Thanks for patience.

I've hired a coach

No more riding my ass off just because the weather is nice, and then resting only on the rainy days. No more "winging it" when it comes to training frequency, duration and intensity. No more "racing my way into fitness".. No more fooling myself into believing that I have it "all figured out" just because I started started racing 20 years ago. Time for a serious gut check.. 

I have selected a coach who I believe will get me out of this death spiral, straighten me out and have me flying straight. I'm cautiously optimistic. And yes, this also means I am getting myself a power meter too.    

Palmer Library Road Race DNF Report

Grrrrrr. I continue to be eluded by the finish line of a road race.. It's no coincidence that all of the races I've ever won were criteriums. Why I continue to bash my head in trying to do an event I suck at, G-d only knows.. Maybe it's the fluke result (if you can call it that) which I earned at Topsfield last year in the P-1-2-3 race. Gave my confidence some wings.. but a few weeks later at Jamestown P-3, I quit after the first 54 minute lap. I was gassed. Seems that on a really good day, I can finish a road race. Anything less, and my heart isn't into it. The head prevails.. It says.. "You are suffering like a dog on the first lap, you shouldn't be in difficulty.. You are pack fodder today with no hope of even riding at the front, much less cracking top 20.. Three, four or five more laps of this will make you feel even worse.. and for what? To say you finished? 80th? DFL? Stop punishing yourself.. You're better than this.. Go home.. lick your wounds.. rest.. toss your training/rest plan in the circular file and start over.. Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.. All or nothing.."
Story of my life, those last three words..
After the first lap, a few miles past the finish, we were cresting a rise and I couldn't see the top.. I'm in the big ring and I notice a lot of others are in the little ring.. Should have followed suit, but I felt committed. After the top, I'm fading, dangling at the very back, legs sloshing with lactic acid, they don't want to go anymore.. It's at this point when a switch is thrown, one which illuminates the "This isn't fun anymore" sign.. I'm not a masochist, I race because I tend to enjoy it immensely, and polluting that enjoyment by forcing a bad day into a death march, isn't good for my future in the sport. After I begin to coast, a very friendly racer passes by, slows down and asks my name. In times when I want to turn invisible, I forget my manners- I didn't ask his name.. Hopefully he visits here and says hi. A few seconds later, Gewilli comes bombing down the road and the two of them try to rally me into a 40 mile training ride.. I consider it as I produce more acid trying to accelerate.. but my mind was already made up. The fire was smothered completely.. would not re-ignite. I pulled a u-turn back towards my wife and kid who were waiting for me at the Warren School. Regrets for that guys.. Thanks for trying and I hope you got more out of it than I did.
I think I'll clear my calendar of all road races for the next 30 days. "Stick to what you know" seems to ring true right now.
"All or nothing".. Destructive behavior? or not?

Palmer Library 35+ Road Race Video, Coming Up

32 minutes of footage.

Ready for Palmer?

As ready as possible I guess.. I rode 30 easy miles today.. and got to thinking.. whatever I've done in the past 30 days has a much bigger effect on tomorrow's performance than anything I do today.. So why fret about anything? What's done is done. You either have it or you don't.. Going easy today was the right move, because the most important thing of all tomorrow is to feel rested at the start.. The camera is installed, this time aimed a little lower so I don't end up recording so much sky.. I am going to turn it on at the start and we'll get about 30 minutes of continuous footage out of it- one lap or more. If it were possible to start it on the third lap I would, but it's not possible to reach under the saddle, power it up and hit the start button, not without stopping. I could lower the quality of the recording and get an hour or more out of the 2 gig SD card, but that might end up looking pretty bad on screen.

Recent charts: Loud Road & Tunk Hill Road

The first chart shows you a ride in the Pittsford/Victor area of Rochester, NY this past weekend. The hill which you see in the profile is the infamous "Loud Road" which climbs 319 feet in 1.4 miles. Then a fast descent and another 172 foot rise in 1/2 mile. I lived only five miles from this road as a junior, and used it very often to work on climbing. Back then I'd grind it out in the 42x16 seated, as I was 30 pounds lighter than present. I always feel at home on that climb. The GVCC used the two climbs for a prologue TT one year, part of a stage race we organized. I got 4th.

This second chart is tonight's ride from the Church. Big turn out, especially after we connected with another group of 6-7 riders. Towards the end of my ride, peaking in the 78th minute, is the Tunk Hill Road climb.. (I had to head towards home after this climb, hence the mirror image) This is another rise which I'm pretty familiar with, having climbed it dozens of times in the past few years, but always by myself, never in a group. I always wondered how I'd fare in a fast group like tonight. Truth is, I can't climb very well right now. Felt really good on the steeper first half, then I came apart about 100 meters from the summit. This one rises 220 feet in one mile, but the 2nd half isn't steep at all.. Looking back on my Polar records, I find that my fastest time up this hill is 4 minutes flat, using the big ring back on Oct 2nd... Today was the same exact time of 4 minutes, except using the little ring and very early in the season in comparison. I'm hoping this means I'm ahead of the curve in 2007. Thanks for reading.

Palmer Library Road Race: I'm in

Confirmed Rider List

Junk Miles?

After my meltdown at the GVCC Classic, I didn't get to see Todd Scheske again, but he called me in the evening to make sure I was okay. I love that. Says it all about him doesn't it? Anyway we get to talking about things for almost 1/2 hour and I explain that I weigh 25 pounds more than we did back when we were juniors (I'm 174) Todd, on the other hand, seems to have lost weight since that time somehow.. Todd's like "holy shit dude! Drop ten pounds and your power/kg will go off the chart" Duh! I've known this.. but no matter what I do I can't get under 170 so far this season.. Maybe I will soon though because of the daily bike commute becoming a regular thing.. Hope so.. although Todd refers to such riding as "junk miles". (Ouch) Todd's a Cat One who definitely has his stuff together, going to Master's Nationals, winning at Chris Thater et al... We're the same age. He uses a power meter and trains smart.. So smart in fact that he offers coaching... The Cat One (Mike Mathis) who won the GVCC Classic is Todd's pupil. With my recent lack of results and getting my nose rubbed in it publicly, I'm thinking I'll take him up on it. Insanity can be defined as continuing to do the same thing, and expecting different results. Could I be beyond help? At my genetically pre-disposed limits of performance? I doubt it.    

GVCC Classic

My five or so readers might want to know: I got my ass handed to me in Sunday's race. If they had a 35+ race, I might have had 1/2 a chance.. They did 40+ instead.. so I had to try the 1-2 race. Out of over 40 starters, about 18 finished. Guess I'm not the only one who needs to "turn down the suck knob". Results
My buddy Todd got 7th.. Judging from the times, the small field was pretty much shattered at the end..

Click here to visit Murat's myspace page

...NOT! Except for his anti-Semitism, I consider it a privilege to share the last three letters of my name with Borat. (yes, they are r-a-t.. go wild with that one)
IAGSHEMASH!!!

GVCC Spring Classic Prelude

Today's weather was awesome.. enough so that I took a 2-1/2 hour recovery ride in anticipation of tomorrow's death march of 66 miles in the 1-2-3 event. A good friend since 20 years ago, Todd Scheske, is the organiser (and president of the Genesee Valley Cycling Club). Today I rang his wireless kind of frantically to tell him I was on my way to Rochester, but that I couldn't find my license. No worries, he says. We made the trip in 6-1/2 hours, including one 1/2 hour pit stop. Upon arrival at my mom's, I suited up and hit the road with my younger brother Ali. He accompanied me for the first 90 minutes, then I continued on my own after that. The straight flat wide shouldered roads of northeast Monroe County are nice, especially when you want to take it easy. HR got up over 125 only once or twice, otherwise I was just doing 90-110 bpm, what a recovery ride should be.. So now I'm alone while wife, son, mother and brother are all out with friends. Sipping an Amstel Light, which I know I won't finish.. Legs freshly shorn.. I was like, wow, it's been a while hasn't it? Actually I'm on the once a week program.. Little secret: use good quality hair conditioner instead of shaving cream. So much better for the skin, no cuts or nicks, ever.. Anyways, I notice some veins have finally reached the surface! Some of the veins had veins of their own popping out.. Kidding. It's just encouraging to see that the layer of fat on my legs has gotten thinner, that's all. What will tomorrow bring? It's a rolling 11 mile loop with 1000 feet of climbing per lap, and we're doing it six times. I'm excited to be racing back in my home town.. together with some old friends here in Western NY. To be honest, a lot of the people I used to run with aren't in the sport anymore. Too bad... but many others still are.. My goal is to finish tomorrow without popping. Get to the end of the sixth lap without any stupid strength wasting maneuvers. I tend to get ahead of myself on the short climbs, pushing 100% to the top and then expecting to recover on the other side. I need to use my energy in carefully metered doses if I am to last 66 miles without cramping up. It will be a disappointment if I get shelled.. but let's not confuse humility with a lack of self-respect... I intend to have a great time and come away with a great day of training among friends, if nothing else.

Turkish weightlifters take podium in Strasbourg Euro Championship

"...Meanwhile, Sibel Simsek won the bronze medal in snatch, and silver medals in clean and jerk and the combined category for women's 63 kg class. Simsek lifted 98 kg in snatch on her second attempt to put her in third for her weight group. She also lifted 122 kg in the clean and jerk category to claim the silver medal. With a total of 215 kg, Sibel Simsek finished second, where Armenian Meline Daluzyan won the gold medal lifting 243 kg in total. Daluzyan broke the European record for juniors in snatch and the World record in clean and jerk with her performance on the second day of the tournament...." TDN Report

Is it Saturday?

Judging from the very light traffic on the roads and bike path, I wondered for a second as rode in to work this morning. Finally it looks like I can resume my regular program of commuting by bike. This requires me to keep a big inventory of clothing in my office, but it's worth the trouble of course. This morning I am reminded of how riding to work has the same effect as two cups of coffee- the fog is lifted.. thinking becomes linear instead of that chaotic white noise.. I'm NOT a morning person. On the other hand, it also has the same effect as fasting. I'm starving. Just as I was turning into my place of business on Minnesota Ave in Warwick, I encountered a "REFUND NOW" rider from the opposite direction. I had seen him before, but always on days that I drove to work. Bike commuters have this unspoken respect for eachother, you can feel it... I will be racing in Rochester NY this Sunday in the GVCC Classic road race. I'm going to do the 1-2-3 race and I'm hoping to see a few old friends at the start and finish. Good luck to everyone at Turtle Pond.

A Rare Two Hour Ride

I suited up at work and set out to meet the folks who ride every Thursday from a church on Route 12, where it crosses Pippin Orchard Road. Thanks to a teammate who took pity on me, I discovered this ride. It's kind of frustrating to discover after five years living in West Warwick, that this ride has been going off just 3 miles from my house. Oh well.. Apparently, these guys do this ride year round, which to me is stunning. As I've said repeatedly, Murat is a total weenie when the temp dips below 40. So there were seven of us. I could only recognize two of them, and in fact one was an ArcenCiel rider who I had met previously at the Sophie's ride about 1-1/2 years ago. He remembered me and I was happy about that. We chatted a little bit about this past weekend. It's all good. We took a route which I am very familiar with.. Hope Furnace is a road I know every square inch of.. but then we turned onto Maple Valley, going in the WRONG direction... (I've never gone up that hill. My typical hilly ride takes me up route 12, left on Old Plainfield Road, left on 102 and left onto Maple Valley, DOWN it, never up) At any rate, I could tell that my riding partners were doing this hill for the umpteenth time.. Me, I can't tell where we are on the damn thing. We hadn't climbed it very much when I realized I would pop long before reaching the top, if I tried to hold their pace. Besides, the future ex-wife was expecting me home by 6:30 and this road would take me to an ETA of 7:30. Not good for future riding "permission". So I nonchalantly woosed out of the hill, announced that I needed to go, and I doubled back in the most direct route home, using 117.. Overall I got 2 hours in, plus the 15 or so minutes where the watch was stopped. Took me 35 minutes to ride to the church in the first place, so I was satisfied. I don't mind admitting that I want to be strong enough to complete this ride with them in the coming weeks, and today I wasn't. I've not climbed anything over 1/4 mile since late February when I was in San Diego. Just glad to have found a local group ride where an ass-kicking is more or less guaranteed. Riding alone all the time only takes you to a certain level. I'll be riding to/from work tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for reading.

Let's look for the positive

On the bright side, my testicles have finally descended.. Additionally, the world of racers who blog.. or bloggers who race.. has received some important exposure lately. An increase of traffic here has resulted in the discovery [for many of you] that there are many other blogs out there which are authored by racers, bicyclists, enthusiasts.. etc.. I can only imagine this to be a good contribution to the future of our sport, and it's my belief that the "sport" of blogging is going to become as intertwined into bike racing as, say.. your regular visits to Velonews, USACycling, and Bikereg.. Hopefully this site will be a regular destination for many of you. Hopefully you will use this as a portal to all of the other fine blogs out there, listed in my sidebar. It goes without saying that I try to include every cycling blog I encounter, without regard for the author's achievements, race category, team, location, discipline, DNFs, choice of equipment, race, religion, ethnicity or gender. Many of the New England team sites and blogs are listed here as well. If you want your site to be added, or want to recommend a site for inclusion, please leave a comment with the address. Many thanks. 

 

More trash talk?

Well no, not really. Just a startling and unhappy realization. For many years, I've been telling my wife that the bicycle racing community is a first class group, without exception. I've been telling her that all of us are mature, intelligent, dedicated, strong, disciplined... all of the good things that one would willingly expose his family to.. I've been telling her never to worry about who we encounter at Wells or Lincoln or Ninigret, that she can follow our 3 year old son Reis as he wanders person to person and says "Hi" to total strangers, without worry or fear, because they're all great people. I've been telling her never to lock the door when we're at a race, in case I need to grab something last minute before start, because bike racers do not steal. I've been telling her that "these are the people I want to associate with, there are none better".. I've been proven wrong. What lies I've been telling.. what many words I must now eat.. Regrettably, my dear wife reads this blog, and it's comments.. Do the math. I'm thankful my son can't read yet because if he could read, he'd be afraid to come to another bike race with his dad. So to all of the basement people out there, whoever you are, and whatever your results list or ranking looks like.. my startling realization is that it's time for me to stop pre-judging all bike racers, even the very "best" ones, as though they are all saints, completely free of bad habits or language or thinking.. How pathetically naive of me. More than anything else which has transpired in the past few days, this realization bothers me the most.. Our so-called tight knit New England "family" seems to have some serious identity problems.. kind of like Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, something I spoke about as an invited guest on NPR's OpenSource last fall. Everything's fine and dandy until you are openly critical, until you expose weakness, until you denigrate the status quo. Such fascism is something which the Turkish Republic is strongly criticised for. If you know a little something about Orhan Pamuk's recent fame and fortune, you will know what I mean. If you decide that you disagree so stongly that it's necessary for you to begin throwing your own feces around like a red assed chimpanzee, go for it. You will only be perpetuating the ideas which I've set forth. Better to prove me wrong so that we can share some relief.

"In the slaughterhouse, every sheep is hung by it's own leg..."

Let me make some things clear to those who might care:
1. I first raced a bike as a 16 year old back in 1987, this continued for about five great years. (How I miss the days of winning junior races without hardly any training)
2. In 1991, as a second year cat 2 at 20 years of age, I was forced to quit the sport due to family problems. Three years of no racing, no riding, money problems, stress, depression and poor health followed.
3. In 1994 I tried to get back into it, training and racing overseas in Turkey for one season. Limited results. Demoralizing as hell.
4. I got married in 1995.. and the realities of just plain surviving trumped any bike racing aspirations.. until 1999. So another four years of no riding, no racing and poor health. I had no choice. Relocated to New England area in '99.
5. In 2000 I bought a used KONA road bike from a kid who worked at Providence Bicycle and started training again.
6. In 2001 I continued to train, got my license and tried a few races, and ended up crashing badly at Lincoln.
7. In 2002 I took the year off, regrettably, to restore the 1870 colonial fixer-upper we had bought.
8. In 2003 I started training and racing again, but I crashed hard in early August, our first son was born in late August, I quit my job, and I had serious surgery in the fall. Good times. Mediocre results, but not bad for one starting with a fitness base of less than zero..
9. In 2004 I took the year off again. Spending time with our newborn son was top priority.
10. In 2005 I started training and racing again, with the Colavita New England team. Great people.
11. In 2006 I also raced, joining my good friends at Union Velo, and kept fit over the winter by playing indoor soccer. For the first time in a long time, I didn't get dropped in my first Wells Ave race of the season. 'Broke' two fingers playing indoor soccer in February, sprained my right ankle badly in June (still have weakness in my right foot and calf), hit by a car and hospitalized in July, survived all of it and had some decent (to me) but mediocre (to most) results, but nothing to be ashamed of.
12. It's 2007 and I'm racing again.. the first time I've done it for 3 contiguous seasons, since I was 19 years old (I'm now 36) Hoping for a few top ten finishes.. maybe one or two top three finishes seem within reach..if not this year, sometime in the next few years.. my goals are modest.
So what's my point? It's this: "KNOW something about any person who you're ripping to shreds, or else ____ ___ ____ __". You can fill in the blanks. I know where I stand folks. No need to knock me down from some kind of imagined high horse using un-informed verbal assaults. It won't do you any good. On the other hand, it might be exactly the kind of inspiration I need to rise up and try to prove something, and that would be to myself, not to or for anyone else's approval. I will hungrily eat humble pie and admit that I brought it upon myself. (see title) I take full responsibility for my foot-in-mouth episode and express my sincere regrets, apologies, and salutations to those who were offended by my recent race report. Let's not let it become contagious.
Thanks for reading.

Rick Newhouse Criterium 1-2-3 Race VIDEO

Here it is... Please give it a view.. and if you see someone you know in there, let them know about it, send them a link. If you LIKE what you see, please be a sport and click on one of the advertisers, either here or at www.amerikanturk.com . No need to buy anything! Just click and you'll be helping support the recording of future race videos. Many thanks.