Surgi Lube..

recommended to me by a team mate who crashed this year.. As the road rash heals, it begins to skin over and the draining slows down, making bandages stick to the raw flesh. This SurgiLube stuff is designed to keep injuries moist and prevent the "non-stick" bandages from sticking. Hope it doesn't burn. Anyone tried it?

Looking at the TT times from Bob Beal, I'm consoled by the fact that I only missed a top 5-6 placing by 10-11 seconds, on a bad day. Murat cramped up fiercely at the base of the RR climb on lap two. So much so that I could see the muscles in both quads contort under the skin. I stopped for a full minute and shook it out, walked it off, then continued.. and soon caught up to my four groupetto companions.. At the base of King Factory Road, I could feel the cramps returning, so I sat up and spun, resigning myself to DFL as my friends rode away from me.. As luck would have it, they all took a wrong turn and I beat them to the line, without even realizing what had happened. So ironic.

"Finish what you start" takes on a whole new meaning. It's worth it.

At any rate, I had some residual crampiness in the TT (hamstrings were acting up just before my start), and my confidence was shaken a bit because I was dropped. Hey lasy year we had holders at the start of the TT.. What happened this year?  

The aftermath

I am hurting all over. Knee, shin, hip, fore arm, wrist, both hands, shoulder.. All raw and oozing and clinging to my bandages. I'm at work, but I'm not concentrating too well. One of my carpenter foreman working for me up in Salem remarked that road rash is the equivalent of 3rd degree burns. I think that's over the top because I already see signs of healing, where burns take a lot longer to heal, and hurt constantly no matter what. Taking nothing but some occasional Advil for the pain. Everyone at work is astonished that I'm not doped up with narcotic grade prescription drugs. That stuff is as addictive as heroin. I used it a few years ago when I had a spiral tear in my rectum that needed stitching up. They also removed all my hemorhoids at that time.. That required Percosets, no way I could have managed without them.. This is nothing but nuisance pain.. although I will eat my words the next time I take a shower.. which I am trying to avoid for as long as possible. Starting to get a little gamey.. 

Bob Beal Criterium 2007: Video is Live

2007 Bob Beal 30-39 Criterium from Murat Altinbasak on Vimeo.
Here's the video from the Bob Beal Criterium, as promised. The crash is somewhere in the 8th-9th minute (in slo-mo too), if you want to wind ahead.. Also some footage of the aftermath, cleansing my wounds at the car with dear wife. If she wasn't there with me, I don't know what I would have done.. As I said to her on the drive home.. STILL better than a good day at work!
Also notice: When you're through here, I've posted some cool pictures from our recent trip to Turkey, at the other blog: www.amerikanturk.com
Thanks for looking/reading/watching.

Bob Beal Criterium 2007: Cameraman takes a fall

Here's a video grab upon impact with the ground.. I was feeling good, using the corner to gain some position.. then I seem to remember striking a pedal, and my rear wheel lifting.. when it smacked back down on the road, it exploded. Looks like the clincher freed itself from the rim and blew out.. Back to tubulars for me?

The camera man being yours truly... Murat crashed hard today. At the beginning of the 4th or 5th lap, diving into the hard left hand corner, my rear tire blew out, and I went skidding and sliding on my left side for what seemed like an eternity. My first thought upon standing up and checking myself, was taking a free lap and getting back into the race. Then I saw my brake hoods both bent inwards, my knuckles all shredded, and my rear flat.. I limped back to the car and nursed my wounds. I will post the video soon, which includes gratuitous coverage of my injuries, post-crash.. I also recorded a few short clips of the last laps of the crit, which was won my Amos Brumble of CCB in exemplary fashion..solo.. Dan Butler of BRC (who was parked next to me at the TT) took an impressive 2nd (1st for the 35-39), seconds ahead of a charging field. And team mate Rick Kotch took the field sprint for 3rd, bagging valuable (2nd place) points for his overall placing.
I counted a total of 25 isolated areas of skin loss, half of them on my hands. My shoulder, hip, elbow, wrist, knee and shin have all been stripped of skin. I bathed when I got home, and scrubbed every wound in the shower with soap.. The most pain I've felt since being hit by a car last year..

Bob Beal 2007 Road Race 30-39 Part III: Grupetto

Bob Beal 2007 Road Race 30-39 Part II: "the Hill"

Bob Beal 2007 Road Race 30-39 Part I: Start

Bob Beal 2007 Road Race: Start from Murat Altinbasak on Vimeo.

Last minute stuff..

I'm going back to Union Cycle to buy a new cassette. Changed the chain and I fear it will skip.. Also picking up an aero helmet. Almost bought it on my lunch break, and declined.. Now I want it. No shoe covers at the shop, anyone have an extra pair I can borrow?

If anyone has an extra set of Profile or similar clip on aero bars, bring them tomorrow. I know of someone who's looking for a pair to buy, last minute..

JB, you're freaking me out. Turkceyi kimden ogrendin kardesim?

For JB: Bob Beal road course

Yes the course has changed, but I've never been on this new one (just parts of it). A trusted source says that there is some climbing, but that it's only kind of steep for a few hundred feet.. the rest being more gradual, more big ring kind of stuff, like the original course.. Last year I don't remember ever using the small ring. Maybe I'm confusing it with the Topsfield course. 

last minute TT bike change?

Took the old yellow epx out for a spin last night. This is the bike I had before the LOOK 486 came along. Rolf Vector Pro tubulars with Schwalbe top shelf tires on them.. Campy Chorus drivetrain.. 172.5mm cranks!

First I was amazed that I ever raced on the thing.. Then I marveled at the narrowness of the handlebars. Then I noticed how absolutely smooth the thing rides.. Shifts are whisper quiet.. Tires seem to float  across the road.. All brake and shift cables neatly concealed in the bar tape.. Then I got to thinking about whether I'd be hurting or improving my Bob Beal TT time if I decided to use it Saturday afternoon.. There are advantages.. but I'm fearful of injuring my knees or developing an unexpected pain in my back or a pinched nerve.. I'd also be sacrificing the use of my Powertap (such a dirty word these days.. especially for those who've been racing since the Lemond era, as I have been) Big deal, right? It IS a big deal. I'm not a machine that knows how hard I'm pedaling instinctively.. When time trialing is your weakness (as it is for me), you need to know how much effort you're putting out. Months of trainig with the Powertap has established my CP6 to be about 325 watts. So.. it's simply a matter of keeping my eye on the average watts from beginning to end. This avoids blowing up and it insures that I go at a rate that I've proven I can sustain, and it also tells me how much and when to light the afterburners to average it up in the final mile. As for aero gear, I have the Profile clip-on bars and I may tape over the vents in my helmet, lose the bottle cages, and buy or borrow a pair of lycra shoe covers. Oh and the skin suit.. These are all enhancements over last years attempt. So.. I guess I wish my PT whel was a Campy at this point. Switching bikes might be a poor choice. 

Ninigret, Jetlag, Infection, Blah blah blah

In Turkey, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting some ancient ruins.

Per usual my adrenaline spikes in those first few moments of the crit and I'm sprinting through the first couple of corners and dragging a few other opportunists with me, away from the field. Within one lap, we had the gap which was maintained all the way to the end- about 15-20 seconds. Regrettably, I felt weak and tired after the first three laps and had to either sit up or risk an irreversible implosion. I feel very jetlagged and the cold I caught while in Turkey is still working me over, not fully cleared up yet. On a better day, I would have been fine in this break- the speed wasn't mind-blowing. It's been a recurring theme though. I'm terrible at grinding it out at a steady pace, and favor repeated hard accelerations and quick recoveries. I handle it better. All season long I've been putting myself in the breaks which end up winning, but always lack the experience/power to survive for more than 5-6 minutes. As team mate Rick Kotch commented afterwards, maybe I'm burning too many matches, pulling through too hard, or for too long. Maybe it's nerves or maybe it's an overly ambitious desire to be a big contributor to the break. I'm kind of fearful of being fingered as a weak link, so I try to hard to avoid a deliberate "let's drop the dead weight" attack. It ends up costing me. Needless to say, my five team mates were astonished and pissed that I didn't stay up there (rightly so, but this is a training race, and I have team mates who encourage us to chase them when they're in a break). One team mate even promised never to block for me again, which is fine because I've never asked or expected that of anyone. I put myself out there, gave it my best shot (all things considered) and came up short. Where were they at the start? Nothing stops them from co-attacking with me from the gun, right? Oh well.. bygones I guess. I'll continue to do this- get into breaks as much as possible and work on this weakness until it's eliminated. I just need to succeed once and prove to myself I can do it. After that I'm sure that success will breed success. After surrendering from the break, I started to get a little dizzy and a nuisance cramp in my lower right abdomen was really bothering me. With about 12-15 laps to go I took a lap to check myself, catch my breath and refocus. The light headedness might be from the bio clock being all messed up. Racing at 6:00 pm Eastern is like racing at 1:00 am for me right now.. Couple more days and I hope to be back to my former self. I've put on 2-3 pounds since before traveling to Turkey, and it's pretty obvious that this trip- even with all the form-preserving rides I did while over there- has taken something out of me. Shouldn't expect to be 100% for a little while. As for Bob Beal- I hope to simply have lots of fun in the RR and Crit, but I plan to hit the TT with guns blazing and leave everything I have out on the course. There's a 40 ouncer at stake.. and I'm not really sure who is supposed to chug it if they win the bet, which is against me beating last year's time by 40 seconds. If it rains as predicted, the bet's off. We should change the terms to a top ten finish instead. (21st last year) Thanks for reading.

Bob Beal.. Interesting..

I'm all pre-registered and find it hard to believe that they will not accept race day entries, especially given the fact that there are only 25 guys in the 35-39 category (we had 33 last year). What's so interesting is that out of the the 25 guys registered for this weekend, only 3 of them were pre-registered last year. Hypothetically speaking.. if race day entries were accepted on Saturday morning, another 30 riders could potentially be added to the 35-39 start list. On the condition that no one moved up an age group, of course. I'm sure there's some shifting of categories in there. I have team mates in there with me this time! Cool. Last year a few of us were scattered among different age groups. Time to go to Ninigret!

Blackberry me

I'm getting one tomorrow, from work. Every project manager but me already has one, because I was expected to  move into the estimating department and do very limited travel. This transition is going to be delayed, so my unit is on order. I'm not sure if this is something to be happy about, but I love techie stuff, so I guess I'll like it for at least the first few weeks. Any good video games in those things? On that note..

You know what the world needs? A bike race video game. Similar to Grand Theft Auto, except you're an American in Europe, start out broke, doing odd jobs like trafficking dope to survive, to buy bikes, race, get fit etc. It could work. Put me down for one, when it comes out.   

Rankings a joke?

Hey Solo: Does this seem to be a joke too? Did I make it to 5th with my suckiness and by not winning anything? Apparently so. Consistent mediocrity pays.. Besides, you're looking at TT results for a narrow band of masters. Remember that if S.F. has only one or two TT results, he's given default points (maximum) for the deficient events. Give yourself some friggin credit. You're no slouch in the TT department.

Look at the bigger picture in Mass..

Automobiles

Is it me or are the cars on the road in Turkey just so much cooler than the ones we have here? Fiats, Peugeots, Renaults, Citroens.. You have to see some of these things. Our friends in Istanbul have a Citroen Picasso (C4?) It's a minivan like I've never seen before. I won't bore you with details.. except that when you put your hand into the map pockets on the front doors, they light up inside. One example. The dashboard is a-mazing. (Am I easily impressed?) In Istanbul, we spent a little time in Bebek, which in my mind, is the equivalent of Beverly Hills. I saw more Land Rover Discoveries in one short drive than I've seen all year in Providence. An Aston Martin was double parked with it's four ways blinking. WTF. Man, those Citroens are cool.. all of them. And if you haven't seen the new Peugeots (no longer sold in the US for 10-15 years) go to their website and look. They're hot.   

Profile aero bars..

..bought a pair before leaving for Turkey and tried them on one of my rides. Really like the extra leverage and power you can produce by bearing down on the elbow pads.. Nice. I may video myself on the windtrainer and post it for your comments. This TT stuff is new to me.. Not sure if I'm supposed to move the saddle forward a touch.. Looking forward to this weekend! Cautiously optimistic about this weekend.. Now if only I can borrow someone's Oakley MP3 sunglasses for the TT! Jesus of Suburbia!

Home sweet home

We made it home last night, safe and sound. More later!

Checkin in..

Real quick.. famous last words. I am as happy as a tornado in a trailer park. Fit and tan.. Even did a little test 3 mile TT today. Burdened with tons of water, two spares, a camera etc, I eeked it out in 7:00 flat, 314 watts average. I had gas left at the end, could have done better, and I was even delayed a touch by a bus.. Took lots of pictures and video of some ancient ruins this morning, on my ride, that is.. Aspendos. Many pictures to come, I think I've taken over 200 so far.

One thing.. and I hate to sound racist.. but the Russians who populate these resorts are bar none the rudest most ignorant pigs I've ever encountered. I may regret saying this later on.. but trust me, these people would sooner spit in your face than piss on an open wound for you, much less smile. Whatever.. No disrespect for Russians in general, just the few who can somehow afford to be here. Douche bags.

Sunday: Turkish F1 Grand Prix

Hey maybe we can catch a glimpse of this as we land in Istanbul Sunday afternoon? -Murat

Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil enters the pits during the first practice session at Istanbul Park racetrack in Istanbul August 24, 2007. The Turkish F1 Grand Prix race will be held in Istanbul on Sunday. REUTERS/Max Rossi (TURKEY)

McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain drives during a second free practice session at Istanbul Park race track in Istanbul August 24, 2007. The Turkish F1 Grand Prix race will be held in Istanbul on Sunday. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY)

McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain takes a curve during a free practice session at Istanbul Park race track in Istanbul August 24, 2007. The Turkish F1 Grand Prix race will be held in Istanbul on Sunday. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY)

Break dancing

Last night, Ninigret Criterium. Per usual I find myself in the break that forms right after the start. Actually had to work hard to bridge up to it.. then the pain really began. Five or six of us in a fast rotation put my CP-5-6-7 deep into 300 watts- not something I can sustain for an hour. That's one of the beauties of the Powertap- once you're in a break, you can reset a new interval and track the average watts. If it's early and you see that you are doing 120% of FT, basically going VOmax, then you know in advance that this isn't your break- you're going to pop if you don't ease up.. On the other hand, if there's only 3-4 laps to go, then you might decide that you can hold on.. I look down and after the first 7 minutes I'm averaging 325 watts, and struggling to pull through. The rotation was fast and I wasn't getting the amount of recovery I needed between pulls. With guys like Paul Curley, Billie Mark and Bill Yabroudy in the break, you can be assured that I was hurting more than anyone else in there. With 50 more minutes to race, I smartly drifted back to the field and took up chasing instead, which I've decided is a lot more fun than being chased (for now). They were caught within another lap.. Mid-race I found myself in another high powered five man break for a couple of laps.. but this one disintegrated right after the sprint for the prime.. I was oblivious, didn't even realize the bell had sounded. Later, another three man break forms up the road. Not a big gap, but something that I know will take almost a lap to shut down. I go for it, full gas for 1/2 lap, missing the connection by a couple of car lengths.. Well.. there were two guys on my wheel who fired around me in the instant I discovered them back there. It was Bill Yabroudy and another Gearworks guy, not sure which. I'm left in no man's land, spent.. They connected with the other three and stayed away until the end. With one to go I put another dig at the front (did this many times actually), trying to contribute to the effort to catch these guys (we had no one up there) So I empty the tank up until the final bend before the finish, and let the strung out field swarm past me on the final straight. I think I did an honorable race. Set some new highs for CP6 and CP7 watts too.

No Ninigret Crit next week, according to the pre-race announcement, and the following week the race is Thursday night, with the "A"s starting at 6:00 (not 6:30) Check your sources to verify.