USA Cycling Rank Points Cheat Sheet

If you've ever wondered how the magical rank points are calculated for each of your results, here's the answer to your curiosity. Being one who follows this stuff closely and enjoys the added dimension of competition it gives us, I went to the trouble of preparing an Excel formula which will automatically spit out your rank points for any given event. You need to only enter four pieces of information:
1. Your result
2. Number of finishers
3. Race Value Level (found at the top of all USA Cycling results- look at previous year's results if unsure)
4. Event Rank Points (found right above the results of your category- for this example- the range is 176-500, and the two values are entered into two separate cells- D2 and E2)
You also need to enter the formula given in cell F2, which is:
=SUM(E2-D2)/(B2-1)*(A2-1)+C2
The example above shows you my rank points for today's result at the Fall River Criterium.
Remember that the rank given on your personal USA Cycling page is comprised of your top three results in the past 12 months. If you keep track of where you stand in your state and you wonder how so-and-so jumped ahead of you in the standings, you can use this worksheet to figure out which three events got them there. After creating the above spreadsheet, just copy Row 2 two more times and make cell F5 into an average of F2, F3 and F4.
Questions? I'm happy to help.

Ninigansett

Lap 1.. prime lap.. ArcenCiel rider goes.. good gap.. I attack.. chase.. catch him with two more ArcenCiels on my wheel.. they let me have the prime.. (thanks) A six pack of Narragansett tall boys. The four of us have a gap to play around with. We rotate hard for about three laps, but the heads of state back in the field would have none of it.. that, and I'm not in the team time trial mood. I've just gotten over a stomach virus, four days off the bike.. We're caught. No big deal. Few laps later I'm at back of the field just chillin' when the Arcs go on the attack again, open a gap with a few others.. Not a big gap.. something that can be jumped across within 1/2 lap.. but I'm at the back like a fool. So who decides to jump across? Two fast mofos who win at Ninigret regularly. That was it. Once that horsepower joined the other 4 up the road, it was over. So later on I had a good lap here and there- some occasionally impressive speed at the front when I floored it- people told me so.. like six or seven people. (thanks) I made an error about the final lap, realized it, and then resolved to empty the tank leading out the field for as long as I could. Didn't sprint. Felt okay overall so I'm pleased with my recovery from the bug. And my fears have been proven foolish- four days off the bike does not make you a slow poke and set you back one month in form. It hurts your acceleration but helps your top end cruising speed. I need to take a class on how to rest I think. Getting sick is not a good way to do it.

Blown

My hopes and my preparation for the Twilight Crit are shattered. I have not felt this ill, perhaps ever. Trips to the bathroom took all of my strength. This tiny bug really fucked me up. It was going to be an easy podium- I felt so sure of it. And with 25 rank points, even a mediocre result was going to move me way up in the masters rankings. Best laid plans can be destroyed by a god damned virus. Not happy. Not feeling good. Didn't even have tje strength to go watch the pro race with my brother. What else?
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Some improvement..

But I need to eat and food makes nauseous. Wife is out getting me Vitamin Water. There's still a slim chance I can race in 5-1/2 hours.
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Sick

A stomach bug has me weak dehydrated runny and with pain in every muscle.
T minus six hours to the crit and I'm losing hope.
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Slacking with a purpose

Did not ride home from work yesterday- apparel was soaked, shoes were soaked.. but I do regret not getting a nice hard ride in like I wanted to. Took the chance last night and let the smelly wet shoes soak in warm water with laundry soap and fabric softener. The foulness is gone, let's hope they don't fall apart during my crit on Saturday. Looks like I will be forced to take today off the bike. After work we're hitting the road for Rochester NY, expecting to arrive about 2:00 AM. Since tomorrow's a vacation day, I'm absolutely buried and overwhelmed today. Tomorrow, the day before the Twilight crit, I'll do a solid three hour ride, recovery/endurance pace, with a few accelerations and a few one minute FT intervals thrown in early on. I'm never good after a rest day where I do a one hour recovery ride or no ride at all. There needs to be some moderate TSS the day before a race. To wit, I was "fully rested" the day of the Cox Crit and I posted two dnfs in a row (I did about 15-20 hard laps total) Okay.. we can blame the combination of my BMI and the little hill up Waterman Street.. but the following day at Keith Berger I attacked from the line, never to see the main field again, opened a huge gap early, took a prime, ended up in the winning break, snagged 6th. Yeah I was motivated as hell from the failures at Cox.. Saturday I'll be super motivated to be racing in my hometown, at an event organized by my club (Genesee Valley Cycling Club), at a flat technical venue in downtown Rochester. I have all the ingredients needed for a podium or a win.. I just need to keep my head on straight and keep my attitude positive.

Wet

I regretted not wearing my rain jacket this morning- it was sprinkling lightly when I left, and a slight chill in the air too. Then about 1/2 way to work, I regretted not taking the shortcut- usually reserved for those days where I'm running late. Took a good soaking. Looking back at my rear tire, I notice that a stream of water is shooting directly at my ass. Shoulda rode the Redline 9-2-5 which has fenders.. but I HATE those moustache bars.

 

 

And now for a much needed break from 'serious' bike racing

A competitor falls from an obstacle bridge during the 56th annual 'Teichfahren' (pond-cycling) event in the former eastern German village of Bischdorf, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of Berlin, August 3, 2008. Around 40 people took part in the traditional Bischdorf fun race on Sunday, which was hosted by the local youth association. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz

31/61

Ha! I could not have posted a more "middle of the pack" result if I tried.. 30 finish before me and 30 after. The suck knob was set to "Medium" today.
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Concord Crit

Nice course! Fast. Loved it. I didn't sprint. It was a bit dicey and I played it safe. Had fun but wish I had more balls and more punch on the last lap. I'm not at my best but not that far off either. We're staying up here tonight. I'll decide in the AM whether to do Bow or Wells.
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Burnt?

So having missed a chance to race Wed at Ninigret due to the carnies, I resolved to do a tough 2 hour ride yesterday. The first 20 minutes were pretty strong, but then I just fell apart completely. Just stopped pedaling, started coasting, almost stopped. Wanted to turn around and go straight home.. Seriously considered it. but instead I dropped it into my granny gear (39x21) and resolved to ride for two hours, no matter what, who cares how fast or how many watts or whatever. Quitting the ride would be just plain wrong. It was a very sudden meltdown. Legs just wouldn't turn.. even though they feel fresh albeit weird from having two easy days in a row.. It was partly from long term fatigue, partly from a low energy level, and mostly, it was in my head. I'm losing interest in the bike, tired of it. Need a long break- like two weeks of not even looking at it or something. Remember- mid November is a long time ago. Mid November is when I started my 2008 season and I have not relented since that time. I thought I might just be sick and tired of training but I also don't seem to get too excited about racing either. This is all normal, no doubt.. but it manifests itself as a form of guilt somehow. That brings me down. It makes sense to feel a little burnt out at this point in the season, but it also feels like a big let-down, a failure of sorts.. and that just sucks balls because there's enough "un-success" in this sport without beating ourselves up about having had enough of it. I've promised people that I want to race in Concord tomorrow, I've even said that I want to do really well. (Is it an unspoken thing that everyone wants to win the bike race?.. because you never hear anyone actually ever say it out loud, it's all concealed, assumed.. Could it be that for most of us, we subconciously don't WANT to win?.. because we do not expect to win?.. and maybe we're afraid that screwing up our expectations with a victory, will hurt? That's some effed up logic, but the more I try to unravel it, the better I feel)

Desire and Belief.. That's the key. It's too bad they don't make a pill to boost them.. because it's obvious that the people who win bike races are the one who want it the most. They want it so much that they condition themselves to believe that they can. Long story short- You can't successfully train or race on a bike when you don't feel like doing it. Maybe I just had one off day.. We'll see tomorrow, won't we?

171-1/2

For the first time all season my weight has dipped under 172. (forgive me if this sounds gross- but that's after my daily morning bowl of Raisin Bran and after my daily morning elimination) That's using a state of the art digital scale. All season long, I've been in the 173-176 range. Weird that during a week where my training volume and intensity has dipped, I drop a few pounds. I need to rest my way to weight loss, apparently. Cool.

Nonigret

It's probably for the best.. since I drove up to Boston today, drove home in the afternoon, grabbed the family, drove down to Ninigret Park.. only to discover that the place has been taken over by some carnie folks. Man what a bummer. I centered the past few days of training around the idea of racing tonight and once again: pfffffffftttt. After wasting over an hour of my family's time driving to Charlestown and back, I didn't have it in me to say "okay- no race, but now I must train". I almost did it, but what truly stopped me is that I was feeling totally spent from work and from all the driving I did today. Spent. The drive to Ninigret only to discover the race is off, really took the wind out of my sails on top of being so fatigued.. I wish I had gone to Wompatuck instead, straight from Boston.. but then my family wouldn't be able to go with me.

Two month look ahead

This much I'm sure about:
Next weekend: Concord Crit
August 9: Rochester Twilight Crit
August 17: Fall River Crit
August 23: Chris Thater Memorial Crit
September 13-14: Bob Beal Stage Race
Other events will be thrown into the mix, on impulse.

Pissed

I did everything right. Trained right. Rested. Shaved. Cleaned the chain, rings, der and cassette (which I loath), went to bed early.. And for what? To wake up to a downpour. Sorry Norwell. Maybe next year. What really turns my crank is that the rain has not let up long enough to do a decent training ride. I'm relegated from racing, and from proper training, to the forking wind trainer.. You wait all week for the weekend and then pfffffffttt... Now I just want to punch somebody or something.
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'A mountain bike changed my life'

CNN Hero's nonprofit Pedals for Progress gives new life to used bicycles
Dave Schweidenback saw transformative effects of bikes while in the Peace Corps
More than 115,000 used bikes have been sent to 32 developing countries since '91
Low-cost bikes help local residents gain access to jobs, health care and schools

 

"There's a bike that's unloved in every garage in this country. Rather than put these old bikes in landfills for no reason, we can use them as economic stimulus to aid our neighbors," Schweidenback says.

"This is the transfer of wealth between nations because these have great value overseas. And they give people the ability to hold a job or a child the ability to go to school."

Full story on CNN 

 

Get Involved: Pedals for Progress

In Depth: CNN Heroes

Nominate your CNN Hero

 

Hear hear! Let's find a home for all those cyclo-cross bikes that hang dormant for 10 months out of each year! Send them to far away places to enhance people's lives. Such a waste otherwise..

Smelly shoes: "This can't be healthy"

It was summer of 2005 when I bought the pair of cycling shoes which I use currently (I now realize)- a pair of DMT Ultramax Flash or something or other. My previous DMTs came apart after just a couple of rainy rides. This current pair though- I'm blown away by the durability. They were made in Bosnia, of all places, and let me tell you- these things have been soaked through at least 20 times in the past few seasons. I've changed the cleats on them for the 5th time. Still, they look pretty good and fit me superbly after three years of abusive use and crashes. I even put custom DIY insoles in there (the kind you heat in the oven) so they conform to my feet perfectly. Unfortunately, all of this rainy riding and stuffing them with newspaper overnight, has made these things smell hideous. I'm basically considering replacement for that reason alone, otherwise I can see these shoes lasting through next season. But there comes a point on the smell-o-meter where you have to say "Whoa, this can't be healthy". I can't imagine the vast numbers and varieties of microscopic friends who now accompany me on every ride. I'm thinking they probably weigh a lot more than they did when I bought them, kind of like a mattress, which gets heavier from use over the years. Gross.

I can't believe it's really been three years since I bought these. That's a blog post from when I first started out with my other blog, Amerikan Turk. Seems I got my money's worth ($139 actually)

Thanks.

Weekend of Rest

No ride Sat no ride Sunday. We went to Scarborough Beach today- it totally smelled like ass- I could not get myself to swim in that freezing smelly water. We didn't stay too long. I was tempted to do a lite easy spin on the bike, but I have to admit- I don't really feel like riding lately. The thought of training hard- I'm not into it like before. It's been eight hard months of training for me. No wins. No podiums. A fair amount of stress and depression. No real vacation to speak of. Borderline burnout. So I took Mon, Tues, Sat and Sun off the bike. No doubt I'll be paying for it in terms of speed, but maybe some freshness will make up for it. Since Attleboro/New Britain last weekend, I am dead tired and very lacking in motivation. So tired.. And no amount of sleep or rest is helping. What is wrong with me?
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Dead Legs

Skipped riding Monday and Tuesday. Commuted to/from work yesterday. (Even rode the bike to lunch) Also did a couple hours today after work. Threw in a couple of back to back 3 minute FT intervals. They hurt a lot more than they should have. Am I going to be flying after this rest week? I'm beginning to wonder. Next "A" race in my crosshairs: the Rochester Omnium Weekend, the 35+ crit, that is. August 9th. There's some other stuff before then, but none are A or even B events for me.
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The Jouney Ends

It has been an epic trip for my family, one which began on May 23rd and which ends today, in one hour. Once today's page is turned, it's as though a chapter has ended. It's time for an intermission. For any of you who have followed me on this journey, who have prayed for me to be strong, who have shared in my sorrow and mourned the loss of my father with me, who have imagined themselves beside me on my breath taking bike rides on the coast or in the mountains, who have cared for me deeply enough to leave me supportive comments or write me privately: I salute you and offer my sincere Thanks and Love. I now sit here at Boston Logan Airport's Terminal E, sipping coffee and sitting front row of the arrivals gate. With an hour or so before wife Ebru and son Reis emerge through the doors marked 'No Entry', what else is left to do besides try to conjure up a happy ending? Regrettably, I don't have any such words to offer at the moment.
Healing is not a destination, it's a journey. Healing is repair. Healing makes what was broken, stronger than it was before. In order for my father to build his first kanun from scratch, he needed to break his 25 year old kanun down into a pile of broken wooden parts, in order to know how to build one himself. And when we bike racers ttake punishingly fast training rides, perform eye popping intervals and leg breaking climbs, we're also destroying things in order for them to be rebuilt stronger, in order to force an adaptation which makes us better, faster, more powerful.. And never were the six words I now live by more compelling and beautiful than when Father began chemotherapy treatment, which pumps a harmful poison into the body in a sort of scorched earth manner, killing most of the bad cells but also devastating some of the good.. Like a controlled forest fire. I saw what he went through and I saw him fight and never give up. I saw him down, and I saw him getting kicked while he was down. I've even kicked him a few times myself, long ago.. I saw him getting back up over and over and over again. No matter how hard he hit the deck.. He was my champion.. And he is sorely missed.
From all of this, no one has become as enriched as I have.. No one.. And now, these six words ring as true as ever:
"We are created, by being destroyed."
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