NBX Cross Day 2: Master 1/2/3 Race Report

When I opened my eyes this morning and looked out the window, going to Goddard Park seemed very improbable. It took some digging- some soul searching- some quiet comtemplation- and finally just saying the words "Let's go" to myself, before I sprung into action. Family debated a little bit about going with me, but I persuaded them to "htfu" and get ready to leave (in my kind and loving way). When we left the house and our minivan employed it's traction control system just to get moving (we had 1" of snow) I knew it was going to be an interesting day of racing. We got to the park in good time- right at 9:30. I mounted my Fuji and remembered that the front wheel was still flat. I smartly grabbed the 3 pound front wheel off my commuter bike before leaving, just so I could ride to registration, and probably steal it's inner tube. Said commuter wheel with Kenda tire did exceptionally well on the slippery ride to the carousel- using it in the race even crossed my mind, no pun intended. So after saying hi to Bill Y, J-Lo, Jim P and Chris D along the way, I make it to the carousel in time to register for the 35+ 1/2/3. Problem is, I don't ask how much to pay and I ignorantly write my check for $35 just like yesterday. Wrong. It's $40 and I don't have another check nor do I have any cash. I leave my license and go outside to do some panhandling. Christopher Dale whips out a fin for me without hesitating and I'm on my way. (Thanks again Chris) Number 164 is mine. I then make my way over to the pit to inquire about a front wheel (or a tube). Adam Sullivan offers me one of his wheels to use, but I'm not a lucky person- it could be a taco when I return it- you never know (thanks for offering though Adam) So my pit friend is more willing to sell me an inner tube than loan me a front wheel- don't blame him one bit- except I have no cash. Dear wife has it. So I promise to return to pay the $4 later on. Fine and dandy. From here, I go back over the bridge, back to the car and make myself ready to race. No trainer time though- I go straight out onto the course, and not a moment too soon. After chatting with team mate Lynn Samartano (16th in the women's 3/4 race) I realize that the race is being staged and I take the b-line straight to the start. Within moments, we're on. I can't deny that I expected to have an easier time today than I did yesterday. The legs were opened up, the course was technical with lots of slick hairpins and bottlenecks. If I could find the strength to sprint out of every corner- like in a crit- I might have done ok.. and this positive thinking worked! For my first 3 laps, I was not dead last, even though I started there. I was passing people. I had about 5-6 stragglers behind me. I'm going into the corners aggressively, powersliding the front wheel (that feels so cool when it happens and you recover from it, avoiding certain collision with the ground) I'm sprinting out of the saddle and getting some good speed. The worst parts were the sand pits and run-ups. This is where my weakness was always evident. I had to go deep into 180 bpm every time I had to run, plus my lower back felt like it was being kicked with steel toe boots. Then on my fourth lap I started to lose steam, heading down into the 2nd sand run (which was a LOT longer today) funny noise from the rear wheel- and pedaling seems a lot harder- sounded exactly like a spoke had popped and the wheel was rubbing. I get down to the sand, thinking nothing of it- how bad can it be. I hump the bike to the top and try to ride but the wheel is jammed. I dismount to the left of the bike, look at things, see nothing. I try to loosen the brake cable, but this isn't working. I start riding again, in earnest. The wheel is rubbing badly. I make it around a couple of switchbacks and the tire blows ka-boom. Turns out the tire bead failed and the tube was out of the rim (afterwards I see that the tire is shredded from the explosion) I try to keep riding, but the turns are too numerous and too icy to be riding on the rim.. I start to run. The pit is about 300 meters away. Once through all the turns, it's a straight shot for a while, so I start riding again, carefully. It's faster than running. I ride over some roots and almost lose it, but I make it to the pit without crashing. A rear wheel is quickly applied by my pit friend and I'm off. Everyone passed me by this time of course, and I lost a big chunk of time fiddling with the bike and running. From here, the finish is just about 150 meters. Lap card says 2 to go. I'm just beginning my 5th lap. I make it down to the 1st sand pit, make the run up, and then I see what I was dreading- the leaders down on the asphalt, kicking the crap out of eachother- flying. Needless to say, somewhere around the time I jumped the wooden barriers I was lapped by the first few leaders, and then by a few more, and by the time I completed my 5th lap, Paul Curley was the last to go by me and I watched him beat someone to the line as I followed them across the finish. My time for 5 laps- 51:15. Three minutes prior, Mark M won the race and completed his 6th lap. I'll often wonder whether yesterday's or today's flats caused me to be lapped. Let's just say it didn't help, and neither did starting at the very back of the field, as I always do. The accordian effect of the first run-up no doubt strings the whole field out pretty good, and being the first 20 guys through there is a clear advantage. There's no denying that I suck at running- I'm biomechanically inept at it, plus my Fuji is an overweight piece of shit, but I'm using the equipment which is compatible with my ability, I suppose. Maybe in fall 2009 things will be different. I admit that this cross thing has won me over a little bit- and the most compelling evidence I can give you is that I dug-deep and finished both races this weekend in spite of flatting and in spite of running all over creation to reach the pit and in spite of the knowledge that I would be dead last and lapped. That says something.
FULL RESULTS are UP at USA Cycling. Thanks for reading.
Here's the ubiquitous data file showing my heart rate and such:

NBX Cross at Goddard Park Day 2 Masters 1/2/3

This time I raced with the masters at 10:30. I wrote my check in the wrong amount when I registered, and thanks to my friend Chris Dale's deep pockets and generosity, I was able to pay the deficiency and settle up and get my license back. The pit crew helped me with a front wheel yesterday, they sold me a tube today, and they also gave me a rear wheel when I had my shotgun blow out in today's race. More on that later, but many many thanks for all of the help in the pit! Thanks to them, I did lots of running these past two days and I'd have two DNFs to my name were it not for them. This was an excellent weekend of racing- organizers, sponsors, volunteers, pit- everyone and everything was a class act- a model for others to follow. If I could complain about one thing- why not?- parking is too damn far from registration. TTYL.

NBX Cross at Goddard Park Day 1 Masters 1/2/3 Pictures

The way it usually goes for 'ol Murat, the race begins when he opens his eyes in the morning. Indulging in some extra sleep is a weakness which even Solobreak can't help me with and were it not for his call at 7:00 am, I would probably have slept until 9:00 and not 8:00. First order of business- dump the hamper on the laundry room floor and wash my cold weather apparel until the stink is gone. Check. Out the door at 9:22, planning to get there at 9:35-ish, one hour to get all sorted out and warmed up. Wrong! There's no gas in the minivan- it's running on fumes.. and I discover that I've forgotten to bring water. No worries- a quick stop at Sunoco and I get a quick $10 of gas and buy H2O. I'm down 8 more minutes.. So I get on my way- south on Route 2, Murat is snagged by every single red light there is. No amount of cursing gives me relief. I get to the park and pull over onto the right hand side thinking I can quickly make my way to registration. Nothing doing. I'm chased out of there and told I need to park in the field like everyone else. Down another 5 minutes. Here's the part that really turns my crank- what I did not expect is that it would take 10 minutes to ride from the car to registration. Didn't plan for that, no sir. I get to the table at 10:02 or :03. Registration for the Masters 1/2/3 is closed. I keep my cool. Who wants to get ready to race in only 25 minutes (15 if you count the ride back to the car). So your hero ends up registering for the 2/3 race (killer bees? first time I ever heard that one) In the first 30 minutes of waiting for my 12:30 race, I made myself useful and took over 200 pictures of the racers in the race which I was not permitted to enter. Warning- I use a 3 megapixel Kodak that I bought at Target 4+ years ago, out of the box, no instructions, and it's held together with a rubber band which I renew every few months because well, it breaks on me and lets the batteries fall out. I'm not a photographer. If you find any photos which are worthy of printing, you're a lucky bastard. In the spirit of giving you these mediocre photos, Murat put $25 toward a Pro Flickr account, so in case you find some picture in there which don't suck, there's a button in the sidebar where you can donate a buck or two. Humor me.
Here's the pictures at my Flickr account Enjoy.

Drumroll please..

My eagerness to dish up photos caused me to forgot to tell you the story of my race. This was my first 2/3 cross race ever. I was a trooper, I started at the very back per usual.. and after a few laps, instead of the usual "ride at my own pace all by myself" bullshit, I hooked up with 3-4 guys and stayed glued to them! This required me to push deep into the pain cave occasionally, primarily after the run-ups, where I am absolutely horrible. At any rate, just before completing lap 4- I did a power slide into the last left hand corner with my front wheel- a miracle that I didn't dump it hard. The two guys on my wheel had to squeeze the brakes. After going through the finish, my front tire turned to mush- and in no time, it was down on the rim. So approaching the first and more difficult sand pit, I'm done, or so I thought. We're not lapped at this point.. Hopes were dashed. I told my drop-mates about the flat and the immediate reply was "Lucky bastard". Hehe. So I shoulder the bike and run it all the way around the course to the pits. Watching me run is like watching a horror show, but I make it. A very quick neutral wheel change follows my clumsy prancing over the barriers and I'm off. Unfortunately, I lost some big time here and got myself lapped by the leaders a little beyond that muddy off camber corner. (2 to go changes to 1 to go, of course) By the time I reached the 2nd sand pit, a few more guys went past. From there I just held my meager speed and finished my 5th lap in exactly 45 minutes flat. I used the Polar HRM, and the data says that I reached 189 bpm on 3 or 4 occasions, and that I averaged 175 bpm for the 45 minutes. To wit: I should admit here that this was the most fun I've had in a cross race, and I'm wondering if maybe it was because I was in the 2/3 field and not the Masters 1/2/3 field. It seemed to me that these younger riders were more interested in having fun than in beating each other's brains out. End result- 64th place out of 67 finishers and 73 starters. Thanks for reading.

Canada's tolerance for obesity

Read about how obesity is rewarded in Canada while others are charged 90 Euros to bring back an extra suitcase of what remains of their dead father's belongings. -uck you Lufthansa.

Back on the wagon!

..or fell back off of it, depending upon your opinion of Power Meters.. For the past couple of months, your hero has been manually entering mileage, duration and even estimations of average power into his Peaks software. This was so that I could maintain some semblance of correctly maintained data which represents my TSS and the running averages called CTL and ATL. I thought the Powertap was kaput when all this time it was nothing but a broken wire near the shark fin. I crimped the two together- it's ugly, but it works. I'll add a pic later. Data is so intoxicating. I promise to share as many power charts as my time allows, from now until the next wire breaks.
Here, get used to seeing a lot of this in 2009.

Viga rocks

Many thanks to my friend and team mate Rick Gervais for introducing me to Viga. I'm in my car horking down a serving of chicken Pomodoro.. This is sooooo good. Their pizza is excellent too. Look it up: Viga Italian Eatery. Walking distance from my projects on Beacon Street.

Is there a contest?

I'm at Harvard for an appt but the fire alarms went off and everyone's outside. Standing near the dozens of bikes these students and faculty ride around campus, it seems as though there's competition to have the crappiest, least maintained Piece of Shit humanly possible. Homeless people have been observed riding better bikes. There's a Schwinn "Le Tour" from the early 80s with what appear to be the original tires on it. Do these college pukes have any self respect? If you can afford this tuition, you can afford a bike that doesn't suck this badly, I think. There are limits to what is considered safe to ride.. 

Time to kick off the indoor training

If not for falling asleep at 8:30 with my son last night, I was going to set up the windtrainer, bring the LOOK indoors and even try to splice together the broken wires of my Powertap shark-fin wire. Oh well. Extra rest and sleep never hurt, so I'll be doing it tonight instead, which will kick off the real beginning of my 2009 road season. Joy.. What I'm less certain about is whether I want to race at Goddard this weekend. Lately I'm not so gung-ho about it.. but that could change quickly. Money's tight. I can't deny my son's request for a Hot Wheels Trick-Track Triple Stunt Starter Set and then blow $60 on entry fees, at least not without some guilt..

Crappy Weather = Rest Day

I'm glad I did my 3-1/2 hours yesterday- it's wet and miserable today. Despite Sunday rides offered to me by my teammates and others, I decided to take rest and get some extra sleep. I'll add the Polar chart later on. So I left the house at 7:00 am Sat to make it to Sophies on Route 2 at 8:00. I was right on time, give or take 2 minutes. Nobody was around.. I had pretty much lost all hope right then and there. Took off my glove unzipped the jacket and retrived the Crackberry so I could e-mail J-Lo "where r u?" Hoping of course that he carried one also. Before I could even hit SEND, a train of yellow-orange-red came streaming out from behind Sophies, where I did not bother to look. They all turned right onto route 2, seemingly oblivious to me as I stood there- unzipped, ungloved and unprepared to jump onto the train. No worries- I sorted myself out and chased up to them before we hit route 138. It's always a lot of fun to meet up with the Arc crew. What sucks is that it's a one hour ride to get to Sophies, and I generally try to stay close to the house when it's very cold, so I always feel a little vulnerable and paranoid when I'm so deep into Southern RI. To wit, after riding with them for an hour Saturday, I was already into my 3rd hour and it took almost 90 minutes to get home after that- all on Route 3 north which, as I'll show you later, isn't at all flat.
Time to break out the rollers and wind trainer- looks like the weather is going to suck for a while.

I was right

It took 90 minutes before I felt comfortable- toes got quite chilly, but 51 miles and 3:08 later, I was home, feeling good, feeling thankful, and very hungry. I'll post a Polar chart of the ride later on, if the mood strikes. Avg HR was 155. My race form is clearly kaput- I'm re-building base fitness. Nine days off the bike when I had the flu the other week, really hurt what little form I had left.

Turkey Day- Ride yourself to caloric deficiency..

..then add it on two-fold at dinner..
Thursday morning at 8:00 am: Holy Apostles Church at the corner of Route 12 and Pippin Orchard Road (same place where everyone meets Tuesday and Thursday nights, see below) We'll depart from the church at 8:00 and most likely head north towards 116 and take a left turn onto Peeptoad and end up criss-crossing back towards western Coventry. Chances are, I'll be doing this ride all by myself. Prove me wrong! 8:00 am Thursday Holy Apostles Church! See below.

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Chris Hoy: Man vs Machine

I don't know why this reached my INBOX at work.. Click to enlarge.
See www.raceofchampions.com for ticket details.

What a mistake

To think that I could ride an hour each way, to hook up with a 3 hour ride in that cold was very poor judgment on my part. Not only was I off the bike for 9 days prior, I just emerged from a week of having a very bad cold, it was 20 degrees when I left the house, and I went to meet up with a group of guys who like to trounce the hills of Rhode Island once a week. It's bad enough that I don't climb well and that I'm out of form- it's also 20 degrees out. Add to this I'm 20 minutes early to the meeting point- thanks to mis-judging the distance and a tailwind. I did laps up and down the street to keep warm. Then the toe warmers I got for such a great deal at Marshalls- they suck. So by the time we roll off at 9:00 or whatever I'm an icicle. In weather like this, I usually stay close to home, so in case I get too cold I can bail and be home in 20-30 minutes, tops. To break this golden rule of sub-freezing winter riding- very dumb of me. The time off the bike was no help- my left knee started to hurt before I even got to Venda Ravioli. Then I panicked and tried to nurse it a little bit, making the right knee share in the hurt. Then our little group of five started hitting some gradual climbs and the right knee went berserk. Near the top of the first longish climb- one which I'm completely unfamiliar with- I can't push on the right knee any more and I let a gap open. Took my head right out of it at that point, and being near a local road which I knew would take me home in about an hour (route 116), I pulled a u-turn and spun home. Today my knee hurts just to walk. I'm feeling my age.. Needless to say, this ride was incompatible with me on so many levels, when Gewilli turned to me and said "why?".. the easiest answer was to just say "cold". When I got home about an hour later, it was still only 28 degrees out. 2-1/2 hours was enough. Had I stayed with those guys (Nathan, Aaron, Mark and Gewilli) my knees would be completely trashed and I would have ended up doing 4+ hours. Enough stupidity prevailed that I had to draw the line somewhere. On the bright side, making promises to ride with others is a good way to force your ass outside into the freezing cold, where you might otherwise say -uck it and just sleep in. From that standpoint- no regrets. I'll try again in a few weeks when the knee re-adapts to harder stresses.

A Solution For You!

The G-Diddy

Not only did I co-populate his office with a pre-announced visit coinciding with some work that his employer has hired me to do for them, I also got wrestled to the floor and my camera forcibly removed from my clenched fist when I threatened to shoot a pic of the slovenly mess he calls his desk. Err, I made up that last part, about the wrestling. So.. yeah not only did I get to see his monotone looking Giant cross-bike-turned-commuter with squishy Schwalbe tires weighing a kilo each occupying 1/2 of the floor space in the room, I also promised to do an epic three hour hilly ride with him on Sunday. I hope I live to tell about it, and not hear about how those tires slowed him down.. Hills in November, go figure. Like me, G-Diddy has hacked off the lion's-mane-which-can't-be-tamed, which is pictured here. I'm gonna get an earful for this one, but this pic isn't marked 'private' or anything in his Flickr account, so why not.

Know Your Rivals...

..so says the coolest road racing website I've found, at least since discovering that USA Cycling used a ranking system which ranked me higher than I deserve credit for.. (hey it works for golfers, why not for us?) One clear weakness of USA Cycling which know your rival excels at, is giving you a compilation of results for an entire team. I love it! Especially because you can filter those results by category, by team member, by placing (how many times did your team get 4th place?) or by race (road race, crit, tt). Very cool to play with the data.. Below is a compilation of all of my team's criterium results in 30+ Masters events:Now for the very interesting data. Know your rival will also give you a report of who you are most commonly shouldering, hooking, elbowing, cursing, and trying to pass when there's 100 meters to go.. Here's my list of rivals:
There are still some things which need to evolve a little more- our team's website isn't listed for example, and neither is our parent club, GVCC. My 18th place result at the Blue Hills Classic is missing too- but that's most likely because I registered 'day-of' and this almost always guarantees that someone will mis-spell my name, my team or my license number (that's an inadvertant plug for Bikereg- your personal and team data is always consistent and spelled right- meaning no missing results) I expect that the blanks will slowly be filled in over time- it depends on the owner of the site having the continued resolve of a Buddhist monk. I hope it continues because it's informative and entertaining to tool around with. It's going to be interesting to see the condensed results of particular teams, those other than my own that is. Give it a try. Look up any team's results, then filter it to narrow it down to age, category, wins, or even particuar events.

1989 Albany Tulip Festival Criterium

By popular demand of one reader: Your hero from 20 years ago- the Torpado SLX in action. Yeah that's me racing the thing, being tailed by a very well oiled Aaron Newland and his team of teenage dudes with matching kits, matching bikes, matching helmets and even "clipless pedals".. Notice I'm still using my Alfredo Binda straps and my Mavic GEL280s with Clemente Super Criterium Silk tubies on there.. IIRC, George Hincapie won this junior race without breaking a sweat. I sprinted to 4th place (have a pic of that somewhere). Distinctly remember having to lie down after that race from cramps and how all my insides started spasming, I tried so damn hard. I still have the prize money envelope somewhere, probably the race number too. I remember being astonished about getting $60 for 4th place and loving it. Back then, I didn't have a skinsuit, so I'd tuck my GVCC jersey into my shorts and discreetly safety pin them together in a few places. Voila- the poor man's skinsuit is born.
Found it: Murat sprints for 4th, but it feels like a win. Mr. red/yellow threw his bike too early. Click to enlarge.

If you're wristwatch is the accessory which says the most about you..

..Then mine must say that I hate myself. I'll post a picture of it tonight. Although, to be fair, I used to use a SEIKO, which is the company which came up with the above tripe in the first place.
To be continued.

Now that I think of it, the heading shows you my previous watch- a Seiko Automatic which I got on Ebay for $50. The reason I don't wear it now is because I broke the strap in a fit of rage- I was at Dunkin Donuts on route 138, on my way to the Ninigret Crit, running late of course. Everyone behind the counter was serving the -ucking drive thru customers and us schmucks in side the store were being ignored. I said something profane and flung the door open to get out, using my wristwatch as leverage. The strap broke. It's still good- needs one of those spring loaded pins. My wife bought me this travesty of a timepiece when I jokingly told her I always wanted a calculator watch. So you see, my watch says that I love my wife.

Who wants to do a Spring Training Camp!?

in TURKEY!! Serious. I'm setting it up.

Update. This is not a joke. Flights from Boston are about $1000, but I expect there to be promotions in the spring. I am looking to have base at either the seaside town of Mudanya, which is close to tons of spectacular roads that I'm very familiar with, or at an all inclusive resort in Antalya, which will cost more and be quite luxurious. We've been to a few and never been less than astonished at the quality of the food and the amenities. I don't know the roads as well, but Antalya has the added benefit of being warmer in April (think Florida), and having more local attractions like rafting and mountain bike tours. The bottom line is that I am definitley going, same as last year, and probably for two weeks straight. One week in Mudanya/Bursa and one week in Antalya. I came back from Turkey last year in very solid form. Think about it. This idea will develop more if people show me some interest. Otherwise, I suppose I'm on my own, which is fine and dandy. I'd rather share the experience though!