1. Team time trial practice gone wrong...
2. We're missing Rob Anderson...
2. We're missing Rob Anderson...
3. It's sunny...
Aloha from Maui
CR, WW, SC, and BI
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
This is the Maui version of Cherry Pie, but it doesn’t involve racing... it involves imbibing in the culinary delights and then burning off the calories by riding around in the Hawaiian sunshine.
By the way, congratulations Larry and Dean!!! You guys are amazing.
Haleakala, pictured below, is a 10,023 foot bump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The best part about this bump is that there is a paved road from sea level to the top. It's 38 miles or about 4 hours of climbing to the top. Anyone can ride down...
Craig Roemer and Rob Anderson saying, "aloha teammates", along Honoapiilani Road, Kahakaloa, Maui. This is by far and away one of the best bicycle rides in the world: minimal traffic, nice roads, plenty of climbing, great views, and clean fresh tropical air.
Right now, airfares to Maui are cheap. Come and join us.
Aloha
CR
By the way, congratulations Larry and Dean!!! You guys are amazing.
Haleakala, pictured below, is a 10,023 foot bump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The best part about this bump is that there is a paved road from sea level to the top. It's 38 miles or about 4 hours of climbing to the top. Anyone can ride down...
Craig Roemer and Rob Anderson saying, "aloha teammates", along Honoapiilani Road, Kahakaloa, Maui. This is by far and away one of the best bicycle rides in the world: minimal traffic, nice roads, plenty of climbing, great views, and clean fresh tropical air.
Right now, airfares to Maui are cheap. Come and join us.Aloha
CR
Monday, February 4, 2008
Hyperglide Suicide: Tour of the Bahamas
From my secret hideout in Florida, launched a quick strike into Bahamas for some warm weather racing. The race flyer said that Team Slipstream would be there, including Zabriskie, Vandevelde, Farrar, Pate, Creed and more. Who could resist a chance to race against that kind of muscle and talent?
Sure enough, there they were before the Stage 1 Time Trial, argyle skinsuits and all. Zabriskie went out and ripped a course record of 5:26 in this 3-mile flat-ish, out and back course.
My little red Specialized Transition got a lot attention from competitors as I rolled up to the start. The timer counted down to zero, and I put myself into a conservative powerband on the outbound leg, not knowing how much I could open up the throttle this early in the season. I hit the turnaround feeling pretty good (although already at 3:15), and gradually ramped the power.
Came back for a final time of 5:51, for 12th place. That made me pretty happy.
The Specialized Transition was flawless. Everything worked just like it should. The SRAM shifters and drivetrain were incredibly precise. I was very happy with my TT equipment.
42-mile circuit race came in the afternoon; 7 laps on a breezy, flat course. The pack rocketed out of the start, and I am pretty sure I saw less than 11 minutes on the clock when we hit the start finish after 6 miles. Then it slowed down, and I launched 4 attacks over the next 2 laps, getting up to 20 seconds on the last one before being reeled in. On lap 4, my chain fell off the big ring onto the BB (?!?!) and I couldn't maneuver it back on, so I had to stop to do it manually. Chase, chase, chase as the pack disappeared. Darn. Race officials put me back in on the next lap, told me to ride at the back of the pack so I could qualify to start the next day. Fortunately this kept me out of the horrendous wreck going into the final sprint.
Lesson 1: Change my chain rings more often? Don't ride a folding bike (Ritchey BreakAway) in a race? Still trying to figure this out.
105-mile road race on Sunday morning. Hot and breezy. Facing a 4-minute penalty for Saturday's missed lap, I went at the gun. Three of us worked like dogs (think sled dogs, not beagles, please) for one 17.5 mile lap, dragging along a Slipstream rider and rolling up a lead of 4 minutes to the field. Then a group of 12 or so, including 2-3 Slipstreams, rolled up to us. Now we're going to get somewhere, right? Maybe not...
That's when the suicide attacks started. Turns out that the Slipstream guys were on defense, and the other breakers would do anything to get rid of them. Attack, slow, attack, slow, on and on. I bridged to too many of the wrong breaks, and when the right one went (a relative concept: they were reeled in later in the race) I was drooling on my bars. The rest of the break sat up, and we went back to the field. Which took a really long time because of the 4-minute lead. Only 70 miles left in the race!
Then the pack noodled. 18 mph, 16 mph. Very nice and easy! Lulled by this, I sat at the back, drinking and recovering. That's when we hit the cross-wind section by the airport.
Slipstream put the hammer down at the front as I was sitting in dead last position. Nothing personal. I was guttered in the head/cross wind, wondering if I could ride faster over in the grass. My eyes were bleeding. Guys were dropping off in front of me, forcing me to bridge again and again. When I could no longer bridge another gap, I fell off the back. I found one other guy willing to work, and we tried to ride back up to the field, hoping they would slow down when the course turned into the headwind, but it didn't work. My race was done.
Lessons 2 and 3: Pro road races with top talent are long and hard; going at the gun makes for good training, but mostly not a winning tactic for non-mutants. This was a training race for me, so that probably wasn't a bad decision. Most important, NEVER sit at the back going into a crosswind section. Even if you are strong enough to hold the next wheel, the guy in front of you won't be. A bridge to nowhere is called a pier.
Generally this is a fun, pretty well organized race with decent talent and nice weather. Opt for the Pro/1/2, since the masters fields are tiny.
Sure enough, there they were before the Stage 1 Time Trial, argyle skinsuits and all. Zabriskie went out and ripped a course record of 5:26 in this 3-mile flat-ish, out and back course.
My little red Specialized Transition got a lot attention from competitors as I rolled up to the start. The timer counted down to zero, and I put myself into a conservative powerband on the outbound leg, not knowing how much I could open up the throttle this early in the season. I hit the turnaround feeling pretty good (although already at 3:15), and gradually ramped the power.
Came back for a final time of 5:51, for 12th place. That made me pretty happy.
The Specialized Transition was flawless. Everything worked just like it should. The SRAM shifters and drivetrain were incredibly precise. I was very happy with my TT equipment.
42-mile circuit race came in the afternoon; 7 laps on a breezy, flat course. The pack rocketed out of the start, and I am pretty sure I saw less than 11 minutes on the clock when we hit the start finish after 6 miles. Then it slowed down, and I launched 4 attacks over the next 2 laps, getting up to 20 seconds on the last one before being reeled in. On lap 4, my chain fell off the big ring onto the BB (?!?!) and I couldn't maneuver it back on, so I had to stop to do it manually. Chase, chase, chase as the pack disappeared. Darn. Race officials put me back in on the next lap, told me to ride at the back of the pack so I could qualify to start the next day. Fortunately this kept me out of the horrendous wreck going into the final sprint.
Lesson 1: Change my chain rings more often? Don't ride a folding bike (Ritchey BreakAway) in a race? Still trying to figure this out.
105-mile road race on Sunday morning. Hot and breezy. Facing a 4-minute penalty for Saturday's missed lap, I went at the gun. Three of us worked like dogs (think sled dogs, not beagles, please) for one 17.5 mile lap, dragging along a Slipstream rider and rolling up a lead of 4 minutes to the field. Then a group of 12 or so, including 2-3 Slipstreams, rolled up to us. Now we're going to get somewhere, right? Maybe not...
That's when the suicide attacks started. Turns out that the Slipstream guys were on defense, and the other breakers would do anything to get rid of them. Attack, slow, attack, slow, on and on. I bridged to too many of the wrong breaks, and when the right one went (a relative concept: they were reeled in later in the race) I was drooling on my bars. The rest of the break sat up, and we went back to the field. Which took a really long time because of the 4-minute lead. Only 70 miles left in the race!
Then the pack noodled. 18 mph, 16 mph. Very nice and easy! Lulled by this, I sat at the back, drinking and recovering. That's when we hit the cross-wind section by the airport.
Slipstream put the hammer down at the front as I was sitting in dead last position. Nothing personal. I was guttered in the head/cross wind, wondering if I could ride faster over in the grass. My eyes were bleeding. Guys were dropping off in front of me, forcing me to bridge again and again. When I could no longer bridge another gap, I fell off the back. I found one other guy willing to work, and we tried to ride back up to the field, hoping they would slow down when the course turned into the headwind, but it didn't work. My race was done.
Lessons 2 and 3: Pro road races with top talent are long and hard; going at the gun makes for good training, but mostly not a winning tactic for non-mutants. This was a training race for me, so that probably wasn't a bad decision. Most important, NEVER sit at the back going into a crosswind section. Even if you are strong enough to hold the next wheel, the guy in front of you won't be. A bridge to nowhere is called a pier.
Generally this is a fun, pretty well organized race with decent talent and nice weather. Opt for the Pro/1/2, since the masters fields are tiny.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Making some cash in Vegas
Posted by Dylan on behalf of Wyatt.
This past weekend I headed to the South Nevada Stage Race in hopes of getting some warm early season race miles in my legs. Somehow I convinced two teammates to join me for the long trip to race in January - Mike Audley from our Masters team and Charlie Avis from our Junior program. We arrived in Vegas Friday morning in less than optimal conditions with scattered showers and cold temperatures predicted for the weekend. Mike and I cruised through the first two days of racing in the Master 35s getting some solid racing miles with a focus on solid training rather than results. Young Charlie's experience was another story as he raced in the elite 3s as a 16 year old junior. This was Charlie’s first stage race and as we were warming up for the first stage, Charlie and I talked about what a great start of the season it would be for him if he could get himself on the podium and start his campaign to get back to Europe this summer to race with the Junior National Team. Friday was a 20K out and back TT that began with a downhill start with a tailwind and ended (obviously) with an uphill finish into a headwind. Charlie rode a loaner bike, without aero equipment and was required to ride junior gearing. Regardless, he rode a great time finishing 3rd (30 seconds out of 1st place).
Saturday was a criteruim around the UNLV stadium. Charlie was clearly a marked man throughout the day as he was shadowed by several riders. A break of five riders (all out of contention for the GC) got away in an early break and managed to stay away to finish 40 second up on the main group. Charlie rode a smart race and finished with all the top GC contenders and maintained his 3rd place position on GC. In the first two days of racing we were able to beat the odds of the weather, staying dry and relatively warm. Sunday was a different story. We woke early Sunday morning to driving rain and temperatures in the high 30’s. The profile for the day was 7,500 feet of climbing in 52 miles. When we arrived at the start an hour south of Vegas it was still raining hard and the temperature was in the low 40’s. Charlie, Greg (Charlie’s dad), Mike and I stood in the rain debating what to do. Mike and I quickly came to the conclusion that it did not make sense for us to race in these conditions given our objectives for the weekend. Charlie felt differently. He said he could not live with himself if he did not give it a shot. Mike and I, the old men, handed Charlie all the warm and dry clothes that we had, wished him luck and jumped back in the car. The race stayed together until the last climb of day as everyone tried to stay warm. At the base of the last climb there was single attack by a rider not in the chase for the GC. Charlie and one other rider sat on the front and pushed a hard tempo that quickly blew up the field leaving Charlie with one other rider and one rider up the road (neither of the other riders were in the hunt for GC). The finish was a downhill finish. Charlie and his chase companion were quickly closing in on the sole leader but at this point Charlie was not able to be of much assistance to the chase given he was completely spun out in his junior gearing. The three ended up finishing together with Charlie taking 3rd place for the day, but having put serious time into the other contenders for the GC. Charlie took the GC for a win on his first ever stage race... way to go Charlie!!! Overall it was an excellent weekend and having Charlie win the race with such class and heart makes being a part of this team truly exceptional.
This past weekend I headed to the South Nevada Stage Race in hopes of getting some warm early season race miles in my legs. Somehow I convinced two teammates to join me for the long trip to race in January - Mike Audley from our Masters team and Charlie Avis from our Junior program. We arrived in Vegas Friday morning in less than optimal conditions with scattered showers and cold temperatures predicted for the weekend. Mike and I cruised through the first two days of racing in the Master 35s getting some solid racing miles with a focus on solid training rather than results. Young Charlie's experience was another story as he raced in the elite 3s as a 16 year old junior. This was Charlie’s first stage race and as we were warming up for the first stage, Charlie and I talked about what a great start of the season it would be for him if he could get himself on the podium and start his campaign to get back to Europe this summer to race with the Junior National Team. Friday was a 20K out and back TT that began with a downhill start with a tailwind and ended (obviously) with an uphill finish into a headwind. Charlie rode a loaner bike, without aero equipment and was required to ride junior gearing. Regardless, he rode a great time finishing 3rd (30 seconds out of 1st place).
Saturday was a criteruim around the UNLV stadium. Charlie was clearly a marked man throughout the day as he was shadowed by several riders. A break of five riders (all out of contention for the GC) got away in an early break and managed to stay away to finish 40 second up on the main group. Charlie rode a smart race and finished with all the top GC contenders and maintained his 3rd place position on GC. In the first two days of racing we were able to beat the odds of the weather, staying dry and relatively warm. Sunday was a different story. We woke early Sunday morning to driving rain and temperatures in the high 30’s. The profile for the day was 7,500 feet of climbing in 52 miles. When we arrived at the start an hour south of Vegas it was still raining hard and the temperature was in the low 40’s. Charlie, Greg (Charlie’s dad), Mike and I stood in the rain debating what to do. Mike and I quickly came to the conclusion that it did not make sense for us to race in these conditions given our objectives for the weekend. Charlie felt differently. He said he could not live with himself if he did not give it a shot. Mike and I, the old men, handed Charlie all the warm and dry clothes that we had, wished him luck and jumped back in the car. The race stayed together until the last climb of day as everyone tried to stay warm. At the base of the last climb there was single attack by a rider not in the chase for the GC. Charlie and one other rider sat on the front and pushed a hard tempo that quickly blew up the field leaving Charlie with one other rider and one rider up the road (neither of the other riders were in the hunt for GC). The finish was a downhill finish. Charlie and his chase companion were quickly closing in on the sole leader but at this point Charlie was not able to be of much assistance to the chase given he was completely spun out in his junior gearing. The three ended up finishing together with Charlie taking 3rd place for the day, but having put serious time into the other contenders for the GC. Charlie took the GC for a win on his first ever stage race... way to go Charlie!!! Overall it was an excellent weekend and having Charlie win the race with such class and heart makes being a part of this team truly exceptional.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Just when I get use to riding on the left, looking over my right shoulder, staying to the left when turning left, crossing all the way across traffic when turning right, giving way to the right, legally riding two abreast or more, weet bix, vegemite, meat pies, pasties, sausage rolls, iced coffee, and Cooper’s Red Ale it’s almost time to leave Australia. The last three weeks have flown right by… As my time in Oz comes to a close, I’m already making plans to be back here again next year. Anyone interested in coming along?
I stayed in the Hills above the city of Adelaide, South Australia (about 500m above sea level). Here the riding terrain is vast and varied: flats to 25 minutes climbs. It was like being in Napa without the cold rainy weather.My motive for coming to Australia was simple: ride, eat, drink, socialize, and repeat. Following the Tour Down Under was far less important. Although, during the TDU I took kindly to photography: www.pezcyclingnews.com/cgi/gallerypicget.asp?pic=http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/babes/babes08/dunder08-3.jpg I got my socks…
Along with the Pro Tour race, there was a Veterans (Masters) Race Series: 80km road race, 24km time trial, and 5 laps on the stage 6 TDU downtown circuit. Not boring you with details, I ended up second in the RR, 3rd in the time trial (without a TT bike), and crashed out with 1km to go in the circuit race.
The South Australia Veterans Cycling Council (SAVCC) and its cast of characters are amazingly similar to NCNCA. Aside from having fewer members with strange accents and quirky phrases, I felt like I was in Cali.
Other cycling sites along the way:
Along with the Pro Tour race, there was a Veterans (Masters) Race Series: 80km road race, 24km time trial, and 5 laps on the stage 6 TDU downtown circuit. Not boring you with details, I ended up second in the RR, 3rd in the time trial (without a TT bike), and crashed out with 1km to go in the circuit race.
The South Australia Veterans Cycling Council (SAVCC) and its cast of characters are amazingly similar to NCNCA. Aside from having fewer members with strange accents and quirky phrases, I felt like I was in Cali.
Other cycling sites along the way:
Provided that the weather is good, I will be at the Early Bird Crit on 2/3. If it rains, I’ll see you in Merced.
Cheers
Craig
Cheers
Craig
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Testing with Clark from endurance
On Tuesday I went in for my V02 test with Clark Natwick from endurance (a 2008 sponser for coaching and testing). Their office is in the financial district of San Francisco. I went in and was expecting a doctor's office like how other test facilities are. It looks like an exercise club. There were spin classes going on and bike fittings. It looked like a fun place to be. It turns out that the person who tested me had tested me before at Max Testa's. They had me do two test with a special bike and a large breathing mechanism. I don't know how to describe it other than a large plastic mouth piece or a scuba mouth piece. I finished the first test which was fun because they didn't push me till failure. Then I did the second test which wasn't fun because they pushed you almost to failure. After it was over they talked to me about my results and how they effect my training plan. I came home and found an email in my inbox with my number that I plugged into a chart. It gave me my zones for training. I enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to the next test. I am very glad that they are one of our sponsors.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Team Mates
Last Friday I was riding up Happy Valley Road (I call it Angry Valley) towards Lafayette. I flatted and was having a hell of a time getting the rear tire off the DT Swiss rim. It was not pretty. All of the sudden a white car comes racing down the hill towards me and stops. I was waiting for some inappropriate language and was not disappointed, it was Ken giving me a bad time. He was a real savior; he ripped the tire off the rim with his bare hands and then put a new tube in and got the tire back on! I had been trying to use a skewer to do it! That was real teamwork and I really appreciate it. I will do the same when the time comes. Of course the tire flatted again about 4 miles later and I had to use two skewers to get it off the rim; my follow vehicle never showed up! Thanks again Ken!
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