Solobreak Wins Rick Newhouse Criterium

And he did it Solo- (he can't sprint his way out of a wet paper bag).
You heard it here first. www.Solobreak.blogspot.com

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2010 Rick Newhouse Criterium Results

Sorry to exclude the Women's and Juniors races, but we needed to get going! I'd like to salute the ArcenCiel team for their hard work and for successfully managing a first class event, per usual. Hat tip to Dave Potter and Dave Foley for taking the 35+ win and the 45+ win, respectively. Gratitude to Randy and Todd for burying themselves at the front on the final lap of the 35s- wish I could have done you proud in the field sprint. And to everyone who raced in today's miserable weather (especially the kids)- I salute you as well for not being a weenie.

Year To Date PMC 2009 and 2010

These charts give you an indication of training load. (top one is 2010, bottom one is 2009) The blue line is CTL- Chronic Training Load- a running average of TSS for the past 42 days. The pink line is ATL- Acute Training load- a running average of TSS for the past 7 days. The yellow line is TSB- Training Stress balance.

I know that some have a low opinion of this data, primarily because it doesnt account for the fatigue caused by life requirements, work, stress, wife, kids, mortgage, weightlifting, running if any, etc.. It's strictly bike induced stress that's given here. Anyway, it looks like in 2009 I didn't really begin to pour on the volume until April.

The PMC chart at the bottom shows you more of 2009- (thru June) I left the cursor one what I consider to be my peak of 2009. The high peak ATL (pink) that is shown indicates the day that I rode down to Ninigret, raced, and then rode home.

At any rate, I really like looking at these charts and getting a good idea of how much "work" is being accomplished (another word which is unpopular for some of you) especially when you can pinpoint your better performances and see the stress levels where you were successful.

I do not consider myself a maven on these matters- I'm learning more every day. I definitely consider myself a fanatik of analyzing the numbers though. it's like a hobby within a hobby.

Tour of Turkey- Rifat Caliskan's family presents

I have been following the results all week with mild interest, but today I caught a photo in the article by Cycling News which made my heart skip a beat. The jersey for best climber was awarded to Remi Pauriol by the family of Rifat Caliskan, who was at one time, Turkey's answer to Eddy Merckx. Rifat was a personal friend of our family. He raced with my father in the late 60s and when I was in Turkey back in 1989 as a very promising junior, he guided my training that summer to the podium of a big criterium [points] race in Corum. I finished 2nd to that year's elite Turkish National Road Champion, with junior gearing. I smoked every junior there of course, making me the virtual winner of my age group. I also snagged 10th in the road race the day prior. Little did I know at the time that my lithe 145 pound frame had just achieved the very peak of it's bike racing career. Life requirements and family misfortune made it a downhill journey from there on.. So I digress. The name Rifat Caliskan reminds me of so many things though. Rifat passed away recently, not too long after my father was taken from us by lung cancer.
Above, André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) took a hard-fought victory in stage five.

Rémi Pauriol was awarded the red jersey of best climber by the family of Rifat Caliskan, the famous Turkish cyclist from the 1970s who passed away five months ago.

Ninigret No 1

Looking at the weather prediction for this weekend, it was apparent that racing enjoyment would be curbed quite a bit on Saturday, making it all the more attractive to go to Ninigret last night. The same tired script played out of course, with all the big engines detaching themselves and surfing the field for an hour- Gary A- Tobi S- Billy Y- Billy M- Adam S- Randy R- Todd B (hope I didn’t miss anyone) they duked it out for the win (I think Tobi got it) while us mere mortals in the field worked it as a training race should be worked. I went for a prime at one point and got outgunned by a tall dude who I think is a junior (?) Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t quit because it was a 2 place prime (Nice six pack of Narragansett Lager- Ninigret has the best primes!) I almost tossed my cookies after that sprint, and had to really dig deeeeep to stay attached to the field- something made a lot harder by the many folks who were dropping out and jumping back in every other lap. I was getting gapped and it was even more painful to go around the bodies that were being spit out the back. This was a windy edition of Ninigret for sure. At 5 to go I had pulled myself together in the sprinter’s lounge and started moving up. By the time we heard the bell, I was 5^th wheel. On the back stretch I was 3^rd wheel. We had barely hit the final left hand curve and I became impatient and started my sprint 333 yards from the line. My leadouts were cooked and it was time to either GO or be swarmed and end up fighting for a wheel or a clear path. Field sprinting for 8^th place? Meh... It’s a training race. Why not practice some sprints? I wasn’t exactly sprinting from the back of the field.. The correct thing to do would have been to hug the right hand curb, but that’s not what I did- stupid me- I left a lane open on my right side and [correctly] held my line to the finish. Tall junior rider and someone in Cox uniform passed me on the right. 3^rd in the field sprint- I’ll take it. It was an excellent workout. The bad news is that when I got back to the car, my wife was in the driver’s seat while my son was kicking a soccer ball around. I put the bike up on the car, yelled at Reis to get in the car and jumped in the passenger side- I was cold. What do you think we left leaning against the car as we drove off? A Bontrager Race-X-Lite front wheel. We do not recall running it over, but it sure as hell didn’t make it into the car. I’m hoping a good Samaritan saw us drive off and is holding the wheel for me. It matches my Powertap wheel and I really want to get it back. Has a blackwall Conti 4000s tire on it and a Polar magnet on the spoke. Thanks for reading.

Heeding the call of nature

No I’m not referring to growing a tail, or taking a wiz, or laying some cable or seeing a man about a horse. (What ?) it’s just that lately, my body is telling me to sleep lots. Maybe I’m “tireder” than I realize what with the racing I did Sat and Sunday and the supposed rest I was supposed to be getting last week and what did I do- I commuted to work almost every day, making for another 200+ mile week. Physically I feel great. Monday after work I took out a TT bike that is on loan to me and tried it for size. That was a 40 minute ride to Goddard Park and back- I did a lot of stopping and adjusting. The bike’s not for me.. Yesterday, I had the benefit of knocking off from work early and you would think that a 3-4 hour ride would follow, but for whatever reason, I really “did not feel like it”. Instead, I took a two hour afternoon power nap- and slept more deeply than I have in months. It was hard to snap out of it, but I got up feeling very fresh. Let me also point out that I have gone to bed at 9:30 for the past two nights.. It’s normal, right? To have days where you don’t feel like riding your bike? This morning was another case of the blues maybe. I got up at 5:00 am, all stoked about riding to work and back.. then I see that it’s 39 degrees outside. This makes me feel less than inspired, so after horking down a bowl of Mini Wheats, I went back to bed for another hour. Signals I’m getting from the body seem to indicate that this extra rest will make my next build period all the more effective. My weight is steady. My HR as I’m just sitting around is in the low 50s. No infections or allergies are bothering me. I guess this is what it’s like to really get some rest? Finally bought a new strap for my Polar HRM yesterday. Was worried that it wouldn’t work as I use the old 720i, but it took the signal in a heartbeat (that’s a pun).. REI told me to bring it back if it didn’t work, no questions asked. Got a nice 20% discount on it too, for being an REI member. Now we can start to look at my “decoupling”, whatever that means. Hopefully this strap feeds a signal to the Powertap too.. Ninigret tonight? I’d have to cancel a 7:00 appt with a contractor at the new house, and leave work early in order to be there. Should I let this well-rested-fresh-ness go to waste? Let’s see what kind of mood strikes.

For those who wondered, my performance at Myles Standish was the pits, but the data I gained from my peak hour was excellent- better than I expected. It’s nice to have something positive come from a day which, on the surface, appears unsuccessful.

TTYL.

Wells Ave No 1

I usually do not wait until April to do my first Wells Ave, but hey I'm glad I missed it last week! 15 people crashed and 5-6 were taken to the hospital. The A field was fit and strong today, it made for some good racing. I wasn't really put into much difficulty the whole race, except for the first 8-10 minutes. Anticipating a bell lap, I went clear on lap 3 or maybe 4. The gap was ginormous because of the tailwind on the back straight. As I am rounding the corner and expecting to claim my prime, a turbo-charged J. Spinelli went past me like a hurricane. Alone. I was in no-man's land for one full lap after that. He became a dot up the road and I spied a good sized group approaching from behind. Skip, Tobi, Thad, Ward.. Among others- they were going very hot and left me in their vapor trail. This was a mistake on my part. I should have shut it down and recovered right after JS passed me. Instead I kept grinding it out.m but the primary reason for going to Wells Ave today was to race HARD and get a solid chunk of CP60 data. That's what I was thinking about while wasting myself for a few laps there. Yesterday's poor performance from Myles Standish made me determined to go and do some work at Wells. So back to racing- the early break in pursuit of JS went through me, never to be seen again until they lapped the field (boy, when I fall apart in a race, it's effin serious- legs simply "no va"). So I ended up jumping back in the largish field. I did some work at the front and logged some beaucoup watts for a few laps. A field prime is announced and I'm up there ready to pounce, but its neutralized. Next lap- almost the same thing happened- but people were hesitating. I came up the right hand gutter from 2nd wheel to what I thought was an easy win. I did not expect to be challenged and that's why a CB guy took it from me in the last 20 meters, fair and square. I salute the guy.. But what's with the smarky attitude and looks from certain young blow-hards in the field afterwards? Indeed I was both gassed and pissed so I was heard shouting "what the FUCK are you looking at" on the back stretch. Not proud. Apologies for getting emotional about a stupid prime. This made me determined though.. 4 laps to go the bell rings one last time (surprisingly) and it's 2 places. Teammate Adam S is giving me a textbook leadout.. Until a log jam of cars going 20 mph impedes us. Neutralized. We pass the finish and the bell rings again. I'm at the very front and in control of my fatigue. I swing wide after the corner. Couple of JS's teammates light it up right after the corner, hard. I jump on to take 3rd wheel. For having a lousy day yesterday at Myles Standish and missing the break and losing two previous primes, it was nice to win that last one. Glad to have had a safe race- I shut it down on the last lap- what is the point of sprinting in a field populated by 14 guys who lapped you?
I must say- the switch to 172mm cranks was definitely correct. It "feels" like I can accelerate much more successfully, both on yesterday's climb and in today's sprints. Thanks for reading.
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Beaucoup volume

The verdict is still out whether I should regularly do this bike commute, which.. at 27 miles each way, totals 216 miles between Monday evening and Friday morning. Tack on any training rides or race mileage from Saturday and Sunday.. and I can have 300 mile weeks all summer long. I need to figure out how to manage this effectively and make sure I am not adding unintended fatigue. Sometime in May I expect to begin working from home 1-2 days a week and that will change the program quite a bit. In April I need to really pour on the volume if I am expecting to properly let the spring unwind in May. I didn’t crack 1000 miles in April 2009, but it appears this will happen before April 20^th this year. To wit I already have 288 miles and it’s only the 8^th. It’s also a rest week and I am skipping Ninigret tonight even though I know it will be epic with the warm toasty weather outside. My commutes this week are in the 2 watt/kg range, and I’m enjoying the hell out of taking my time and noticing all the things there are to notice on a 27 mile journey. So it’s active rest for me all week.. until Saturday.. when I expect to be doing something special- might be a field test, might be some racing in MA, or a combination of both. It’s time to hit the reset button and go into a new build period using an accurate new FTP. I want to do some time trials. How many choices are there in our area? Thanks for reading.

 

Revelations

On Sunday I took an early morning 3-1/2 hour ride and my legs were really fried from the crit racing at Chris Hinds on Saturday. Even so, I was able to average 19.5 mph and 195w- the ideal Tempo ride I guess.. It didn't occur to me that I forgot my pump until after I got home- a scary thought considering the bald/flat spot on my rear tire from all the wind trainer workouts.
Checking Chris Hinds Crit results at www.road-results.com I notice that out of the 51 finishers:
10 are Cat 1
19 are Cat 2
11 are Cat 3
2 are Cat 4
9 are Cat "?"
Cool. That's a lotsa cat 1s!
Funny thing too- I showed up for the race without renewing my license! Almost drove home to take care of it too- then I was informed I could do it right at the race by filling out a USAC form- sweet! What a relief that was..
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Wells Ave Criterium April 4, 2010

The was a bad crash Sunday and the end of this very nice video shows some of the aftermath of it. I heard that 4-6 people were hospitalized. I hope everyone if going to be okay. If anyone knows who went down, please let us know.

Wells Ave Easter 2010 from pkl_limavady on Vimeo.

Teammate Matt K. won the crit, and the halfway prime, and he also won the field sprint at Chris Hinds for 7th. Nice work.

2010 Chris Hinds Criterium Results

Sorry I could not get a shot of the 45+ event, but I will tell you that Dave Kellogg won it. The result at the very bottom is the 35+ race. If anyone has the overall mileage for the Pro race and the 35+ race, please let me know. I raced data free in favor of fast race wheels, but I still want to know my mileage/speed if anyone has it please. Thanks.

Reflections of a successful winter

Success? Relative to what? Well.. I used to be one of those guys who didn’t touch the bike until April or May, and who would go to the old Lincoln Criterium in June/July and get dropped every three laps, jump back in and try again.. until finally after 3-4 weeks of this, I could hang in there and finish the A race, sometimes on the heels of the top ten guys sprinting for the win. Things are different now. I race cross 5-7 times a winter. I ride 3-6 hours almost every weekend, all winter long. I build a 1000 mile base by the end of February. I use a powermeter and know pretty well where I stand on any given day.. and yes a lot of it is still “by feel”. The data does more to verify how I’m feeling than dictate how I should be feeling.

This past Saturday with Gewilli and those hills will stand as a ride that I consider critical- one that pays big dividends later on. A TSS of 300 calls for a rest day this early in the season- I was not interested in repeating the effort on Sunday. I did a one hour spin indoors, barely turning the pedals. Instead of resting on Monday, I rested Sunday, and moved up Tuesday’s workout by one day, which consisted of six intervals of 3:00 at FT +10%. This was a hot workout, but didn’t cause much fatigue, so I poured it on again Tuesday night, doing 1:00 FT efforts at 90 rpm separated by 1:00 Endurance efforts at 110 rpm (repeat 20 times, with 10:00 rest in the middle). This gave me some fatigue, but I felt like I could do more at the end of this ride. Wednesday- REST- no riding whatsoever. Yesterday I took the bike to work. Scheduled myself to do a couple of 15:00 FT efforts, but this is “easier” to do indoors (mentally, indoors is harder). I was able to eek out one of my intervals on the bike path, but the occasional slowing down and stopping related to traffic and mud and water took away from it a bit. Still, a solid effort.. and I was flying- slight tailwind. Once off the bike path, there is no possible way to ride hard for more than a minute without stopping or dodging traffic, so I just made the most of it- decided to make this ride home something special. I was feeling exceptional. Looking back on the power distribution chart, it’s evident that more than ½ the ride was spent over FT, ½ under. And overall, 15 minutes of coasting- that’s a lot of zeroes factored into the averages. This fast ride home pleases me.

Indeed winter could have gone a lot more terribly or incorrectly, or unlucky or injurious than it has. I feel pretty fortunate to have emerged from the past six months injury free, at a good fighting weight, and in competitive form. It didn’t just happen, it wasn’t all luck. I was executing a plan, not exactly doing it “by feel” all the time.. because for a lazy phuc like me, if I did everything by feel, I’d have slept-in until noon every Saturday and every Sunday for the past 6 months.

Tomorrow will be a good test to see if all systems are go, but again it’s all relative. April 3^rd is not the time to call out the defining moment of your entire season, so I go into tomorrow with one expectation- to have fun. If I caulk up a top 10, I’ll be immensely happy, but not devastated if I’m tail-gunning all day. My “A” races are still more than two months away. Thanks for reading.

Does Normalized CP60 = Functional Threshold?

Saturday I rode for four hours- the first and last hour were by myself, the middle two hours were with Gewilli and Chris Burke. On the surface, the ride does not indicate anything impressive. Average speed of 16.8 mph and average watts of 171. It is easy to achieve these numbers on flat roads, by myself. But the Variability Index (VI) is 1.28 which indicates a lot of climbing. The TSS for the entire ride is 300 which is the highest I have done in one day, YTD. The data which matters the most to me though, is the small inset showing the CP60 (peak 60 minutes of average watts). The average is 191 watts, but the normalized average is 250, which is the current FT setting I'm using is WKO Peaks software. We were not going at race pace or turning ourselves inside out completely (for the most part), but we were not exactly slacking either.
FT means different things to different people. I use the number as a target during my longer intervals (those of 15-20 minute duration). Some workouts require me to go "FT+10%" and knowing this number comes in handy. But as a trusted source points out, my heart rate indicates that the FT I am currently using indoors may be too high. Some of this is because of the fatigue of a long day at work, some of it is because of overheating while indoors, or lack of a fresh supply of oxygen (I'm in a basement with no windows) and some of it is 'cardiac drift'.. I'm not completely convinced yet that I should aim lower during these workouts, but I'm thinking about it. The "VI" of a windtraner workout is typically exactly "1.0", which means that it's a constant steady grind- nothing like a ride in the rolling hills. If my Peak Normalized CP60 is achieved on a ride with lots of big hills, then translating that to a windtrainer workout needs to be given some consideration. At the end of the day, what needs to be evaluated is whether using a slightly lower [FT] target is going to force the same level of adaptation as a slightly higher one. Two back to back 15 minute FT intervals are supposed to be hard. The 2nd interval is supposed to show a little bit of weakness relative to the 1st one. I look at it this way.. training should be harder than racing. If I'm trying to condition myself to be a successful contributor to a breakaway that forms with 5 laps to go in a crit, it makes no sense to do a 15 minute interval at anything less than FT [or more]. If I'm trying to condition myself for a 10k time trial, it makes no sense to do a 15 minute interval at anything less than FT [or more]. One thing is for sure though.. using only a HRM can lead you into the weeds relative to the effort you're putting into an interval. The information is important, but by itself it can mislead.
Thanks for reading.

NBX tracks

We live only a mile from Goddard Park. All the ruts from our cross wheels are still there, four months later. We ride there together. This is the last weekend where cars are blocked from entering the inner part of the park. The gates open April 1st and we'll have to ride somewhere else.
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Success breeds success

I'm fatigued. Tuesday night I did a very hard workout. Wednesday night I completed my income tax returns. I was up until 1:00 but it had to get done. Now I just have to file it.. So no workout Wednesday at all- that sucks.. So tired. It was another long day Thursday. I fretted a bit about the workout that needed to get done, and it wasn't until 9:30 pm that I could finally claim some time to myself and head to the basement. Intervals lasting more than 15 minutes are a real challenge for me- I either have ADD or my legs are built for all-or-nothing contractions, not these carefully metered, just below threshold efforts- which drive me completely insane- and this weakness which I'm working on also explains why I often get into the winning break but fall apart when it matters most. Here's the workout:
20:00 WU
5:00 FT
5:00 RI
15:00 FT
10:00 RI
15:00 FT
10:00 CD
It's true that I set my computer to display average watts and I try to hold a certain target wattage for the duration. The first 5 min are a shock to the system, really intended to get your juices flowing for the real efforts. The 1st 15 minute effort blows, but it blows mainly because all I can think is "I can't do this again!".. I get through it no problem, and my heart rate tops out at about 174. Surprisingly, after 10 minutes of recovery I'm rearing to go again! Of course 60 seconds into it I'm thinking twice.. I'm resisting the urge to look at the time elapsed. I'm counting the letters on a cardboard box, over and over again. I'm closing my eyes. I'm trying to apply force to the upstroke to balance leg fatigue. I'm looking at the time every 20 seconds and I can't stop imagining how good it will feel to stop. In the end, my heart rate is 183 and I average only 7 watts less than the 1st 15 minute effort. Wiped.. I am actually light-headed after I stop.. Like I could black out and fall to the floor, but the feeling passes.. And after 1 minute my pulse is down to 158. After 2 min its down to 130. It sounds cliche but success in training translates into success in racing. So why not be happy about pushing through a hard workout which you typically suck at? If I can do it in the basement, I can also do it on the road. So you see, we're training body and mind here, as it should be. Thanks for reading.

YTD Performance Management Charts- a comparison

One thing that immediately stands out about the winter of 2009 is that I did seven consecutive weekends of 3-4+ hour rides, and then took a big break. What happened is that we went to San Diego for a one week getaway. We went to Legoland, Wild Animal Kingdom, we drove up and over the mountains to Borrego Springs, we saw two stages of the Tour of California.. While we were there we went to the Carlsbad YMCA for swimming and Spinning classes.. So I got a much needed break after so much volume in Jan/Feb. Things resumed as before in March..
In 2010 things are a little bit different. I have been stingier with my weekends, relative to doing back to back long rides.. then I get severely ill right after my trip to NYC for the Toy Fair. This knocked me on my ass until early March, when food poisoning put me behind some more as well. Now I am playing a slow and steady game of catch-up.. and as of this date, I seem to have a level of CTL (chronic training load) which is par with 2009.
As I explained to Solobreak recently, my training volume is still only about 75-80 hours for the year.. maybe 90 hours by the end of March.. so endurance fitness is not exactly where I want it to be. It's not in the toilet, but it needs work. Thanks for reading.

The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that is even worse.

Racing does not necessarily equal correct training

..especially if you are driving one hour each way and you're behind the curve relative to base endurance. Anyway, I'll bet a lot of us cracked 200 miles for the first time this week. I couldn't have done it if I went to Wells Ave.. I needed to control my intensity and do a proper amount of volume, so instead I got a little bit extra sleep and rolled off at about 9:00, intentionally late for the pick-up race at Ninigret, but headed there nonetheless. A nice tailwind the whole way south on Route 2 is indicated by the speeds on the chart below. After tooling around for a few laps at Ninigret (there were about 20-25 guys there going pretty damn hard for March- I put in a couple of nice efforts as well).. I knew it was time to go. We had a birthday party to reach at 2:00 pm and I had a two hour date with a strong headwind. Even so, average speed was respectable, for one traveling solo with fenders and heavy wheels.. My weight is down to 166 (after the ride yesterday I was 164). I think the double 90 minute rides during the week are going to pay big dividends. I never got under 170 last season (except after a 4 hr ride), and here it's only March. There's a lot of portion control going on as well, it's not just training volume. To all of you who like to take jabs at my weight (you would think I was 5'-0" tall if you didnt know better) when I am down to 158 pounds in June and riding you off my wheel, you can go suck it. Here's the ubiquitious data which you come here to see:

Blackstone River Bikeway

My commute to work isn't all bad..
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Victory! I made it to mid-life

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
>Theodore Roosevelt

It's the last day which I can ever really call myself 38, and tomorrow is the 1st day of my 40th year.. so where did 39 go?

Thinking about the next three months of warming weather, I got excited about the possibility of doing three round trips per week, to work and back (Tues/Wed/Thurs) and doing one way trips Monday and Friday. Weather permitting, this is a total of 208 miles, and this doesn't include the weekend. Of course this doesnt account for the occasional Wednesday night Ninigret race- how would I make that happen? Probably by driving home Wednesday nights and driving to work Thursday mornings. Or I can skip Ninigret and do my own thing, or go to Wompatuck.. Last spring Tobi S. came over to me after Ninigret one night and pointed at my saddle, "How's that working out for you?" I wasn't sure what he meant at first. Oh yeah.. my saddle's nose is pointed down a few degrees. "I haven't changed it in years, and my junk doesn't get numb anymore." The other day I foolishly messed with my saddle, setting it more (but not quite) level and raising it a few millimeters. On the increased height, I have no issues. I think it was the correct turn of the dial.. but leveling off the saddle was a mistake. After 20 minutes I am so completely numb that I can be castrated and not ever know it. Stick to what you know.. Looking at the shoes I'm now wearing.. it's hard to believe I've been wearing them since July 2005?? I guess that's the best possible advertising that DMT can ever hope to have, because 5 years of riding [for me] is about 25,000 miles.. If I could find some new old stock I'd buy them again, but the stuff on the market now is so featherlight.. (I like the Mavics and the Sidi Ergo2s) that these are tank-like in comparison. I get to drive to Fairfield CT tomorrow for a mandatory Pre-bid meeting.. at 2:30.. not exactly where I want to be on a Friday afternoon on my birthday. I'm expecting to make the trip to Wells Ave on Sunday to see if these guns can still go fast after such a long winter. Maybe I'll ride there and back, or go early and do a team ride in the area beforehand. I was a hit last night on the ride home with my green arm warmers. People like that you make an effort. and I'm about as Irish as a sishkebab. Had the shirt too, at work. Sadly, it never occurred to me that I should imbibe some beer or spirits. We didn't have any at the house anyway.. and it's not usually something I crave.. drinking that is.. One thing about commuting by bike- it sure is easy to forget that your wallet is still in your backpack and discover it after a 1/2 hour drive to Officemax where you went to buy a new toner cartridge for your laser printer last night. Yeah that was me.. but I was with my boy and so it doesn't matter. He was totally FLYING at Goddard Park the other day. Dropped mommy and I like two sacks of potatoes. Rick Newhouse Crit has a kid's race.. maybe we should go to Ninigret and practice a few laps. I don't want him to pull a 'Murat' and take himself out in that first sharp corner. Thanks for reading.

Can't wait..

.to try on my new "Wasabi" colored wool arm warmers after work. In the spirit of this Day o' St Patrick.. My company will be offering it's own line of wool arm warmers this fall. How does the idea of a wool base layer that comes with matching arm warmers sound? Think of it as a long sleeve wool base layer with detachable sleeves. We will be the first to offer it as a nice affordable matching kit.. These will be marketed under our new brand: PurWool. (There should be a horizontal dash above the u) thanks for reading.
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Made where? And it's $85?!

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Who do you see?

Name the race and name the people.

Food poisoning, but there's good news too

Not the ideal way to lose weight, but I’m down to 165 pounds this morning because of a rancid gyro sandwich I ate for lunch two days ago. Did not sleep a wink the night before, and last night was only marginally better. My guts have been having painful spasms on and off for the last 24 hours. I don’t really know how I managed to ride to work yesterday morning without blacking out and crashing. It was cold, damp and I was going on no sleep. You know, I was suspicious of the sandwich they served me when the meat seemed to be overcooked.. a telling sign that they are not too confidant of it’s freshness or suitability as food. The lack of good places to eat around here (in Cumberland) is really getting on my nerves. Back in the day when I worked at Millwork One, Haruki Japanese restaurant was only 2 minutes away. Now there’s a Chipotle 1 minute away from there too (Garden City).. Here in Cumberland, I don’t know what f people eat. I am not the type who brings lunch from home. I don’t have time for that, though I do try.. but my plate is too full as it is to stop and put leftovers into Tupperware.. oh and to remember to bring the empties home and all that. The weekend appears to be very crappy weather, making it an ideal time to hit the gym and lift some weights, do a spin class, and complete my 2009 tax returns. We are purchasing a home in Warwick and yesterday something happened which makes me feel a lot better about the deal- after 4 months working at this new job, I finally got my first win yesterday. It was a publicly opened filed-sub bid for the laboratory casework contract in a brand new high school in Groton CT. My bid was the low number and not by much, meaning that I didn’t leave a lot of money on the table. It feels pretty damn good to sell ¼ million dollars of product in one fell swoop, and it does a lot to help secure my income and to make the purchase of this new house easier. Another huge win this week: one of our team’s sponsors had reached out to me last fall and offered to write a check for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. I declined and told them they didn’t have to pay us so early- let’s wait until the early spring when racing begins. Over the past few months I was beginning to second guess my approach, but I resolved NOT to call and pester them for the money. My faith and my patience paid off- the check arrived yesterday- enough to pay a large number of entry fees over the next two seasons. Anyway. Here’s a picture of our new place, below. And why not, here’s a picture of our old place too, which is now a rental property (orange shutters). The 3rd floor is available for $700 a month, heat and hot water included. It’s a nice space. I installed figured anigre wall paneling up there which I salvaged from the old Arthur Anderson space in Boston- it was taken over by Standard & Poors and they threw away truckloads of figured anigre paneling and doors. If you recall Arthur Anderson was tied to the whole Enron debacle. Please direct some of your positive energy towards the houses- I could use all the help I can get in keeping one rented and for closing the deal on the other. Those of you who bought some wool apparel from me the other week- I am immensely grateful. Thank you.

Four commutes = 106 miles

This is hard, especially in the AM. I rode home from work twice this week, and rode to work from home twice this week. If I did the round trip five days a week, it would be 265 miles, and 16 hours of training.. but I doubt this will happen. My goal is to make a minimum of 2 round trips a week (just like this week) and maybe up it to 3 in April and May. When the weather is nice, I can ride the back roads to get home and get some more "alone time" to do intervals or speedwork. This would occur mainly on route 116 as it circles all the way around and down to West Warwick. One thing I'm finding impossible to avoid is for my clothing to get completely drenched with sweat. After disrobing this morning here at the office, my pile of smelly clothing had to weigh about 15 pounds. Yucch.

FOR SALE: EPX Carbon Road Bike with Campy Chorus and Rolf wheels

Murat's back-up road bike is FOR SALE
Very lightly used with minimal wear and tear. First $1250 takes it. Or you can bid on it at EBAY and see where it goes.
The wheels are perfect. The drivetrain is like new. Weighs 17.8 pounds.

The first bike commute of 2010

I ended up leaving the office a little later than I expected, and got home 7:15 ish.. The whole ordeal took 1:30:26 to complete, door to door. The first part of this 26.37 mile journey is on a bike path- a really nice one. Much of it is ridden with water on both sides of you. After about 4 miles this launches you onto route 122 South, where you suddenly become the red-headed step-child of the motoring world. Central Falls is not the ghetto.. unless you live in East Greenwich. Then it's like the Bronx or something worse. Route 122 takes you right into the heart of Providence, where the chances of being smooshed into biker paste is unfortunately high. I must have stopped at every red light in the city. I rode on part of the last held COX Criterium course for a bit and shortly after this, I could finally exhale after getting onto Allens Avenue and passing one of my favorite watering holes. Let's just give it the code name "Desire". Then the ride begins to quiet down.. at least until I reach the airport area- then it gets crazy again. This is going to be an interesting commute- nothing like my old familiar ride into Cranston. Cumberland is a land far far away from E.G., and at 6:00 am I am going to repeat the exercise.. It will be mostly uphill and mostly into the wind. I hope to make it in one piece.

Riding 4+ hours is easy..

..when you're in a big group. Even though the speeds are higher, you are doing less work in a double paceline where you get to pull for 10 minutes every hour or so.. The rest of the time, you're sucking wheel, chit-chatting, eating, drinking, looking around.. the only ones cracking more than 3 watts/kilo are the two guys at the front. With this in mind (and mountains of data to prove it) I embarked on a lonely journey towards the roads that I like the most, out in the reservoir area of Coventry and Scituate. This was going to be a morning of deliberate sensory deprivation and hill climbing. My only friends were my iPod and my ego.
Fifteen minutes into my ride on Division Road, I passed Mr Billy Y.. presumably (and later confirmed) to be on his way to meet the ArcenCiel ride at 8:00.. I sort of hoped he would pull a u-turn and trade pulls with me for 4 hours, but I was also tempted to turn around and head down there with him.. The problem with big group rides are the stops. Not that I mind them so much.. but the quicker you get the four hours over with, the better. In a big group, there is a preliminary stop to wait for everyopne, there are flats, pee breaks, kwik-e-mart breaks, dropped riders (sometimes me!).. all of which can make a 4 hour ride take 5 hours to complete. My plate is full, I can't afford to waste an hour, as much as I love the company I am in, I love my wife more. Anyway, long story short, I pictured a ride in my mind and in spite of repeatedly feeling like I wasn't going to make it, the ride was completed successfully in just over 4 hours. Speed was not impressive and neither was power, but relative to the usual big group ride, I actually clocked more TSS in 4 hours than I would have otherwise done in 5.

Saturday was beautiful and I treated wife and child to some off-roading at Big River for 90 minutes. What could be better? My legs were smoked from Saturday's TSS and I needed to shut it down for a couple of days. I'll admit though, that my OCD got the best of me and after the end of the season finale of Big Love, I went down into the basement for a one hour tempo spin, just to keep the engine primed.
Today I plan to ride home after work, then ride back in tomorrow morning. First bike commute of the year! 27 miles each way. Wish me luck.

Tour de New York is Coming!

My good friend Todd Scheske is in the news again. Between being a promoter of races such as the Rochester Twilight Criterium and the Tour de New York and being President of the very prestigious Genesee Valley Cycling Club, Todd helps me to train effectively and to time my peaks correctly. Today’s news article at VeloNews is pretty exciting, and if I’m not mistaken, the Tour de New York will also feature a downtown criterium for women, juniors and masters, with the Pro crit being the Feature Presentation of course. That’s another excuse for me to head out there and spend some time with my younger brother, who is finishing up his degree at Rochester Institute of Technology. As a team affiliated with the GVCC, maybe we can head out there as a Team and kick some tail!

Thanks for reading.

Racing this weekend?

Were it not for losing a week of training with a chest cold and related fatigue, I would be doing back-flips about this weekend’s opener at Charge Pond. Right now, I’m on the fence about it, and would prefer to keep working on endurance with a 4-5 hour ride than drive far away and pay money to enter a one hour drag race where someone is certain to crash, if not from nerves it will be from someone getting their doors blown off and then being unable to properly handle a bike. It is tempting, all the same.. Playing it by ear at this point. I rested yesterday- not even a light spin. I’m listening to my fatigue and it’s saying “whoa, 250 TSS on Sunday and another 72 on Tuesday.. even a light spin tonight will just increase your tiredness..” Well, I feel good today. Coughing is finally under control. Mucus is much reduced, though the occasional nose-blow is colored much like honey mustard salad dressing.. Gross. Anyway, here’s what I did Tuesday night, below. The 2nd interval was supposed to be 15 minutes. I failed- it would have wiped out the rest of the workout. So I compromised and did a 5 minute effort, followed by a 10 minute effort, followed by another 5 min effort. That’s 25 minutes total in the pain cave, not bad for a sick person.

Sunday: The Return

Obsessive compulsive types like me go through a living hell when they can’t ride due to illness, due to life requirements, or due to any reason at all really. Your hero took one final day of rest Saturday (but not without doing a one hour indoor spin) and on Sunday morning, he was ready to hit it hard. First off, I felt under-dressed. I blame this on the fact that I perspire profusely when I’m sick, and the extra moisture was giving me the chills.. Also, it was a very damp kind of cold on Sunday morning. I got to the meeting point ½ hour early too, meaning that after riding fairly hard for an hour (to keep warm) I had to spin easily back and forth on route 3 until everyone showed up. I shivered some more and at one point almost swore that I was going home. Two total hours of riding in this miserable cold felt like enough foolishness. As it is, my legs felt completely thrashed and dead to me the whole way there. I knew I was in for some punishment if I stuck around. But I don’t throw a leg out of bed at 6:00 am just to ride for two hours.. So I waited for all attendees and much to my surprise we were honored by the presence of a recently crowned National Champion and World Championship medalist. Those of you who need to know who this is, already know.. Well from what I read relative to the previous weekend, this was going to be another “average 20+ mph-or-die” kind of a ride.. Fine and dandy.. My Blackberry has GPS. I can always shut it down at any time that I need to and find my way home. Things were pretty civil and low-tempo up until we turned right onto route 49. Here, we split into two groups and let a gap open up- to practice pacelining. I wasn’t feeling too stressed until the road turned up and pointed up albeit gradually, for basically the whole way.. My front group was caught and passed after about 10 minutes, and the profile of route 49 is such that after another 5 minutes, your hero fell apart completely and some friends waited up for me and towed my ass back up to the rest of the group, a couple of times.. My lungs and head are so filled with goo and I am hacking so much throughout this ride that my judgment relative to riding is being questioned by others.. and rightly so. After the tempo mellowed again, I took the B-Line home and ended up with 75 miles in about 4:15. Slower than usual, but Sunday rides are hilly, and I’m sick.. The rest of the group apparently did just under 100 miles in just over 5 hours. I expected to be put into difficulty all day. That’s why I did it. And that’s probably why I am tolerated by this great group of guys: because they know that my heart’s into this 110%. At the end of the day, I am satisfied that I did the best I could with the situation I was in, and that puts one hell of a spring in my step today.

Thanks for reading.

Stella Azzura retro bar tape

This stuff is harder than it looks to install! The flat top shape of modern bars also means you need to be careful not to "wrap yourself short"..
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Weight = 167

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TSS=68

I guess I could have just spun for 15 minutes and then explained how important it is to slowly ease back into training after missing an entire week with illness.. I don't have time for that and I'm allergic to bullshit.. so my preference is to pick up where I left off, by repeating a very recent workout and trying to detect any residual weakness from having a cold. We're back on track.This was a very common workout for me when indoors:
20:00 WU
10x:
1:00 EN 110rpm
1:00 FT 90 rpm
5:00 RI
5x:
1:00 EN 110rpm
1:00 FT 90 rpm
15:00 CD
Apologies to those of you who would have preferred to see me thrash myself randomly for 90 minutes without any real structure or purpose, and then judge my workout by the amount of sweat on the floor.

HasyunUSA and WeeBIKE- now separate websites

During one of my recent late night insomniac episodes, I found the mental fortitude to set up a new retail website to separate the Kid’s Bikes we sell from the Merino Wool Underwear we sell. The wool apparel can still be found at http://www.weebike.com/, but the storefront gives very little indication of this, so those who are interested in kid’s bikes, primarily see kid’s bikes.

To make our Google Adwords campaign for wool underwear more effective, it seemed pretty obvious to us that those who want to buy wool are not interested in kid’s bikes, nor are they interested in buying wool from a site where kid’s bikes are featured. For this reason, http://www.hasyunusa.com/ was born. As simple and plain-jane as this site appears, it is no easy task to get the domain name transferred over and get the merchant account codes, certificates and passwords installed. This Hasyun site took me about 2 hours to create, and it’s automatically populated with everything that I have in my Ebay store, within a minute of launch. This meant that I had to go in and delete all the non-wool items, but this only takes a few minutes. So now you know.

Some of you also know that I am sponsoring the ArcenCiel Racing Team with a combination of merchandise, discounts and cash. The ass-end of their kit is going to look something like this:

It’s an honor to be affiliated with such a classy bunch of masters. I won’t drop names here but the initials of TB, RR, DK, BM et al represent incredibly strong men who ride all winter long and win races regularly. They are also an older group who has an appreciation for wool cycling apparel.

We’ve been in business 2-1/2 years and so far, so good. We haven’t lost any money, and we’re blessed that a lot of our money is sitting tight in the form of inventory. This means growth! Even so, every cent we have made that didn’t go towards purchasing more inventory, has gone towards the support and cash sponsorship of the M1 Racing/WeeBIKE.com Racing Team. We have been covering nearly all entry fees for our riders and we are probably the only team offering prize-matching- something which a few of our guys have done very well with- our team won six races last season.

All this cash outlay means we are basically running the operation hand to mouth. We recently had to take a loan from a family member so that we could put a deposit down on a home, said loan being in anticipation of my tax return check. Don’t let the 2 retail websites and the 6 blogs fool you: we are not wealthy people. I own a rental property in West Warwick and I rent a condo in East Greenwich so my son can go to a good school. Some very attractively priced FannieMae foreclosures are hitting the market right now and you can pick them up for only 3% down if you get a Homepath mortgage. Go to Homepath.com and you will find everything you need to know, including the listings for your area. It’s free. This is where we found the house we are buying, which is in the Cowesett area of Warwick. Buy on weakness, sell on strength!

There was some point which I needed to make but it’s lost on me at the moment.. Indeed- here it is. It would please us immensely of the racing community which we support could consider reciprocating and maybe thinking about buying some of our Hasyun Wool Underwear or one of our many brands of kid’s bikes. We have sold wool underwear and bikes to people all over the world, but our recent decision NOT to open a brick and mortar retail store was directly linked to the fact that we are selling to people everywhere EXCEPT in New England. I don’t know how any kind of overhead can possibly be supported when the community you live in is not spending any money. We’re nonplussed, but grateful for all of the hundreds of customers which we have in places like UK, Russia, Israel, Australia, Canada and Mexico. Some local sales will make it a lot easier to have enough cash to close on this property which we are trying to buy.

This morning I was flipping through my new Velonews and discovered one of the product promos was for a short sleeve merino wool base layer, by a company called Capo. This “limited edition” item is selling for $80, and from the picture I found of it online, it’s practically see-thru, and no indication is given of exactly how much wool is used to construct it, or where it’s made. As a person engaged in the wool trade, I can tell you that the cost of this piece is probably about $7-10, depending upon the volume. The rest of the $70 mark-up goes to cover overhead, advertising, distribution, fancy web design, freight, customs, packaging, and expensive ads in Velonews. If you detect a little bit of frustration, you are right-on.

We sell a high quality short sleeve merino wool blend base layer for $29.95, plus $2.95 for shipping. Our competition, be it Capo, Ibex or Smartwool, is engaged in some kind of delusional price-point which only the wealthy and ignorant can afford to pay. There is no way that any of the people I train and ride and race with can afford that kind of dough for a paper thin wool undershirt of unknown wool content and unknown origin. That being said, I want to announce that our introductory period for our apparel is ending on February 28^th. On March 1^st the new price of our 75% merino wool blend short sleeve base layer will be adjusted to $39.95, which is still ½ the price of the boutique brands. For select teams in the New England area, I will be sharing one of two Coupon Codes which can be used at checkout. One will be for 10% off and for teams which I sponsor, it is a LOT more.

We have recently added two types of long underwear for men: black in 75% merino wool blend, and beige in 100% merino wool. Please go to the website and browse the selection: http://www.hasyunusa.com/ These are both reasonably priced for $38.95 and $39.95, respectively.

Let me tell you what happened to me last night.. Some of you have heard that I’m in the middle of a very nasty chest/head cold. Well last night I was feeling a little better, and I went to bed with my Hasyun Merino Wool base layer as a pajama top, because I had the feeling that it would be a night where I am going to sweat buckets. Four hours later, I awoke to heed nature’s call. Lying on my back, the covers pulled up to my neck, I felt very snug and comfortable. It wasn’t until I threw the covers off of me that I realized that I was lying in a pool of sweat, the sheets, blankets, wool shirt and flannel bottoms all soaked through completely. The important distinction to make though, is that wool retains 70% of it’s insulating properties even after it is soaked through. With any other type of undershirt, I probably would have woken up 3-4 times to change shirts. This means that the wool shirt allowed me to get more rest, and keep warm too. For the record, I have one Hasyun base layer which I bought 3 years ago- and it fits me better and better with each washing. Seems to have a ‘memory’ relative to my body shape. These things are built to last with flat stitched seams using a double knit interlock fabric.

Well I’ve said a lot more here than I expected to, but hopefully you have learned a few things about our business, about the teams we sponsor and where to go find foreclosed homes. Thanks for reading.

Grandpa got a bath..

I've never owned a bike which was put to such heavy use, as this one.. So yeah I think of it as an old man- but a fit one- like Harrison Ford (he's 67!?) The design of this frame seems a little bit dated, but I am pretty sure that it's as stiff a frame as anything else I can replace it with. I can't get the chain to rub the front derailleur when stomping on the pedals, so I'm thinking it still has a good amount of life left. It needs to because I can't afford a new bike right now.. We're buying a foreclosure from FannieMae and we need every penny for closing. I'm going to throw a pair of Zipp 404 tubulars on it and see how it goes. I have a pair available to me for a great price, and I figure shaving off a pound of rotational weight is going to help me more than a new frameset will. Besides, I don't think I will enjoy obsessing over a new bike's sensitive paint job. This old LOOK has a lot of battle scars already.. kind of the way my knees do..
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PowerTap Crap

This is from last Saturday.. I did not require the device to tell me how much force to apply to the pedals, no, that kind of worked itself out in accordance with the company I was with. I like using the device as a flight data recorder though.. comparing successive weeks and seeing a pattern which indicates success.. Thanks for reading.

best luggage ever

For $2 you get this lightweight and indestructible bag that perfect for whipping bike race stuff into from across the room.. Unless you're the type who wastes their time folding clothing.
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Thoughts about Coaching

Consider this: On top of racing a bike, you are working a challenging life smothering job and running a home based business and managing a masters racing team and you have a demanding wife and an active six year old son and you rent an expensive condo and own a rental property and you manage a retail website and contribute to five blogs, and from this hurricane of stress you manage to steal 10-15 hours a week for bike practice (a miracle in and of itself)..

Successful self-coaching.. as it relates to a correctly planned training program, with the optimal amount of volume, intensity and rest, is not something you fall ass-backwards into, especially when you don’t have the luxury of riding as much as you want, whenever you want to.. Sound familiar?

It’s not so far fetched that the person described above may not have the brainpower left at the end of the day to figure out the best way to optimize their limited training time. For masters like us, it’s “now or never” time. Masters are chewing through their handlebars in the last 1k2go for their results, rightly so, as they are not getting any younger. Indeed, for those who really want to be successful, the age of 40 is not the time to “wing it” relative to a successful training program, and even if we know how to get to 90% of our potential for success, it’s the last 10% which matters and it’s the last 10% which is the easiest to screw up. Some race results are measured in millimeters. It doesn’t take a very large advantage in form to break from the top 10 of your races into the top 3 of your races. Hire a coach for the correct reasons.

Thanks for reading.

 

Nonplussed

Let you in on a secret:

There is a house for sale on Ives Road in Warwick- happens to be ¼ mile past the main entry to the infamous Goddard Park- a picture perfect little house with all of the features, the price, and the taxes which we were looking for- walking distance to the park and to the beach- front view of a golf course, fenced yard, solid foundation, mature landscape, deck, shed, etc- it was a foreclosure being sold by Fannie Mae- priced $100k less than the previous owners paid for it 2-1/2 years ago- we offered a little bit over the asking price on the 1^st day it was on the market.. and lost it to another buyer somehow.

It’s funny how you can attach yourself emotionally to a home that you want, imagine your family’s future in it, even look forward to using your windtrainer in it’s basement, and then *poof*. A bucket of ice water when you are informed that your *above-asking-price* offer wasn’t good enough. Yeah we have a rock solid pre-qual letter in-hand. I should feel blessed and lucky for having the ability to buy a 2^nd home but.. instead I’m nonplussed.

Thanks for reading.

2010 Field Test No 1

If my power data ramblings do not please you, tough luck. I got home from a relatively easy day at work and after horking down a burrito bowl from Chipotle (nothing but rice, black beans, meat and hot salsa) I noticed my resting h.r. was low- as in about 50 while standing up looking in the mirror. Yesterday I took rest- just a light easy spin on my spinning bike. Last Sunday I thought I might try a field test during my indoor training at Providence Bike, but aborted that idea after the 5 minute "blow-out". (280 watts?!) Meaningless to you, I know.. At any rate, I was feeling up to the task tonight, so I just did it. 20:00 warm up, followed by three 1:00 intervals in zone 5, 1:00 apart. Then 5:00 recovery.. Followed by a zone 4+ 20% interval of 5:00 (300w+ this time), then 10:00 recovery, and finally, 20:00 TT. It was a success. (Note: "success" is indicated relative to completion- in years past i am guilty of aborting a couple of field tests simply because fatigue caught up to me about 7-8 minutes into the TT. No such failure on this first try) Anyway, I set a realistic target and hit it hard. By starting out conservatively I was able to really control the intensity in the 2nd 10 minutes. I changed gearing and cadence a few times, and it helped.. The last 2 minutes were eye popping. I actually went a little past 20 minutes to average it up to where I wanted, meaning that I did better than the PT indicates. I'll download in the morning and see what's what. Thanks for reading.
Update: Added below is the 20 minute TT chart from last night, and at the bottom left, find the data from a field test from the same time last winter (1/23/09). Last night's data is on the right.
It pleases me to see that the winter program is bearing some fruit. When you consider that I am 5 pounds lighter this time around, it looks even better from a watts/kg standpoint. Thanks.

1989 UB Classic Criterium

I do not rejoice in finishing 2nd, but laying eyes on this photo for the 1st time, 22 years later, is quite a treat. I call your attention to the larger gap which Ryan Muncy and I opened on the field that day. Facebook made it possible for to re-connect with my old friend and to see myself in a photo finish. Pretty cool I think.
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Bike for sale: Redline 9-2-5

I paid $450 for this bike and put maybe 500 miles on it.

I don’t know the size, but I’m 5’-9” and it fits me nicely.

Yours for $300.

Moustache bars are not included- I sold them on Ebay.

Yeah- someone paid money for them, go figure.