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ft. ord
2005/12/18
senior b
6th/13

didn't sleep very well last night because of the sheer volume of the weather. driving rain pounded on the skylights and windows while wind gusts rattled the deck door. hard to settled down to sleep without thinking of the race ahead. glad i slept lots friday night and grabbed a nap saturday afternoon. the drive down was equally eventful. picked up cisco out by the beach and headed for great hightway, which was partially closed. detoured to frederick where we saw a manhole cover lying next to its hole having been blown off from air and/or water pressure from below. glad i saw it and didn't drive over it. 280 south was pouring rain with crosswinds gusting sheets of water across it.

turns out monterey was calmer than the peninsula, but plenty wet. only had about 30 minutes to warmup once we finally arrived and got geared up. got a couple laps around the messy course in before heading to the starting line. much shorter laps than last time, with plenty of slick muddy corners and a zig-zag slog across a muddy field. my drivetrain was begging for mercy from the grit before the race was even underway.

just a small group of 13 diehards in the b's, no callups. got off the line with the lead group. tim granshaw flew by in the first couple laps looking really fast and quickly built a gap. others tried to pursue without much luck. i felt decent on the fast sections (typical) but had a hard time keeping pace through the slippery stuff. i don't think the tufos were hooking up so well in the slop. we were spared rain during our race, and the corners got noticably tackier as our race progressed. we even saw the sun for a few minutes. i slowly made progress on some of the guys i'd lost touch with, but it wasn't enough. 6th place was a little disappointing because i've beaten everyone who was ahead of me at some point this season. granshaw only once. the others multiple times.

the silver lining was that my closest competitors for the series were both behind me. andrew hammond in 7th, and david samples in 8th. i gained 3 points on samples, who now has only 3 points on me for the series win going into the finals. drastic changes in conditions really can mix things up.

another deluge settled in hard just after the finish and we all took cover of the military buildings we were parked near. left without a warm down. encountered more weather on the return trip and saw some of the carnage from the thunderstorm that had hit the city while we were gone. flooded and closed roads, dark traffic lights with confused drivers, and all sorts of jetsam on the roads.

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posted by <br> at 03:19 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo:julie [more]

roger williams park, providence, ri
2005/12/11
b men under 35
63rd/128

arrived at the park at 7:30 to gorgeous sunny skies and frozen mud. every rut and bump from the previous days' traffic was frozen solid. the most-traveled walkways were skating rinks on hills. the sun was just coming into view, and i hoped it would quickly warm the course before my 9:30 start. it started to, but the course was still pretty hard and trecherous. the good lines were now slippery ice, and riding them was often still the fastest if you could hold a line while ricocheting back and forth off the frozen ruts on either side. thankfully, the sun and traffic did much to warm the course after a couple laps, and it turned into sloppy but slightly more rideable mud-over-ice.

order of registration put me midpack of 128 riders at the start. got some decent speed off the line and managed to skirt around a good number on the side. got off to run the first wide section of hard snow with off camber corners that was inevitably chaotic. shouldered the bike but the pedal was in the wrong position, sticking into my side. pushed it out of the way and kept running around the carnage. went to get back on and my chain was off. must have fallen off when i back-pedaled to move the pedal. drat. had to stop and put it back on, losing probably 30 places in the process. this is my one qualm with single chainring setups using a chainwatcher on the inside. the chain can bounce off from the bottom when you back pedal. but i don't have the chainstay clearance for an inner guard ring. i need to look for other solutions.

spent the rest of the race sprinting around slower riders on the pavement, and passing whenever i could otherwise. probably made back most of the positions i lost, but not much more than that. 1-2 punch of bad start position (unavoidable) and an early mechanical in a big field pretty much did me in as far as getting a good result.

got a little annoyed when the seriously sandbagging leader lapped me halfway through my 4th lap, much earlier than justin robinson had yesterday in the lead of the 30-34 championship! i was expecting it in that race, not in the b's. he was :51 ahead of second place and 2:12 ahead of third! i was hoping, since it wasn't a national championship event, that they'd let me roll over the finish line, but nope. got pulled entering the final stretch. i hope that guy enjoys the sandbagger jersey that they give the b winner. and i hope he got some heckling on the podium.

still, the whole weekend was good experience racing out of my element in crowds of people with different skills and fitness levels. i didn't really come into it with big goals or expectations of good finishes. i went looking for the experience of nationals, northeast cyclocross, and to spend time with family. all of which i got.

it was great to see chip ever so briefly, and to watch and cheer lauren as she worked her way up to her top-20 position in the elites. in the money!

thanks again to my brother dan, sis-in law jen (with future neice squirt in the oven), and cousin wayne (more cowbell!) who traveled from brooklyn and ct to see the races and cheer me on. to my parents who chauffered (chaperoned?) us around new england through hell and high water. to my pit crew dad. and to my sweetie julie who traveled with me across the country to the cold, white northeast.

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posted by <br> at 04:06 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo:julie [more]

roger williams park, providence, ri
2005/12/10
masters 30-34
38th/66

a comedy of lowlights lead up to this race. traveled east earlier in the week for long overdue and much enjoyed visit with family. went out for a very chilly tuneup ride on thursday afternoon from my grandparents' house in meriden, new hampshire. shifting was crunchy because the bike was left outside in the car overnight. got a couple shifts out before it totally froze up. i was hoping the lube had just seized up and would thaw out if i brought it inside. no dice, so i snipped the cable, cranked down the set screws, and turned in into a 39x15 singlespeed, which is a pretty darn steep gear for cyclocross.

we decided to leave an hour earlier than planned friday morning to try to make it to a bike shop in providence and still make my scheduled 2:00 start time. it was a good thing, because we woke up to heavy snow, and it took 5 hours to make the normally 3 hour drive. thanks dad for the superhero driving through all consistancies of slop. no time to go to the shop, or even gear up in time to preride the course during the open course window. julie and i made our slippery way to registration and it was barely raining and not windy, so i was trying to stay optimistic regardless of how cold and wet lauren's friend chris looked after his 11:00 race.

huddled under the tailgate of the minivan to get ready. was already pretty wet and chilled, started to grapple with myself as to if it was worth the bother with my one steep gear on the snowy muddy course. decided to keep moving and try to make it to the start, if only for course preview. then the wind picked up and the rain turned to sleet, blowing right under the tailgate and soaking me in my street clothes. stood around for a couple minutes trying to figure out how to change without stepping barefoot in a freezing puddle before deciding that it was just too ridiculous and climbing back into the warm van. as it turned out the light rain and calm air earlier was the eye of a ministorm that quickly passed. there was reportedly thundersnow, which i didn't even know existed. ah, providence. beautiful sunset over the naragansett bay mocked me in my hotel not 2 hours later.

stopped by a bike shop that i remember from my college days and they kindly sold me just a right shifter, new cables, and bar tape. swapped them out that afteroon. found out that my race had been postponed until the next day at 11:00pm after returning from adam and maya's. (good to see those kids.) now that's some serious weather, to cancel a cross race. props to chris, jeff hane, and anyone else who rallied and made it out for the friday races.

fast-forward to the next day, and it was sunny skies, gorgeous new england park, and hard snowy mud. i still hand't seen most of the course, so i started fairly easy. despite the regulation width of the course, there weren't many line options established yet. you pretty much slowed to a near stop in the bumpy rutted snow if you strayed from the few good lines through most sections.

some highlights:

+ seeing my brother yelling his head off on lap two having just arrived from brooklyn, and him continuing to run all over the course and cheer.

+ all the other voices i heard out there cheering for me both days (julie, mom, dad, dan, jen, lauren, jeff hane, others). thanks, jeff, for the tip on the rideable left line up one of the rises. i rode it every lap and gained time.

+ cheering on justin robinson lapping me 30 seconds from the line and the win.

i rode the course pretty conservativly, and stayed mostly upright. east coasters sure aren't afraid to crash. hard. i generaly felt fitter than most of the people around me seemed. passed a bunch on the pavement. feel like i could have done more with a better start position and more course familiarity.

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posted by <br> at 07:10 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (1)

cccp
coyote point, san mateo
2005/12/05
senior b
4th/30
series: 6th/73

just like two weeks ago, i felt way better going into the second race of the weekend on sunday. head more in the game. legs a little heavy, but not bad. i did my 2 minute warmup efforts in the same place as yesterday, starting out by the fishing pier and wrapping around and up the hill to the museum. i found myself getting to the top of the hill about 5 seconds faster than yesterday, which was a good sign.

got a better start off the line and up the hill. not at the front, but not too far off. pretty much with the people i've been finishing with in other pilarcitos races. this was one of those days i love, where people just keep coming back to you. it's a great feeling no matter where you are in the field. i'd bridge up to the next guy, sit in for a bit, and then be unsatisfied with the pace, so go around and repeat. it's also way easier to find wheels to suck on days like this, and i think i only rode the straightaway by the beach unaided once.

i think the course in this direction is better for me too. i seem to pull away from people on the small power humps up the hill, and was suprisingly running around people in the sand. coming into the last lap, i managed to hold onto the wheel of eric nelson from east sac. i was feeling good and in the need of redemption from the sprint i lost yesterday, so pretty much just decided i was going to beat him. let him pull me all the way to the curb drop before the last corner. i don't know why he took the corner wide with someone on his wheel, but i just apexed it a little tighter and sprinted right past. pretty much textbook. just 5 seconds off the podium, and 27 from the lead. with the double points for the finals, this solid finish bumped me up from 8th to 6th in the series. just wish i could find this kind of speed earlier in the season. i hope i can make it last until cccx finals in january.

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posted by <br> at 07:05 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

bianchi 'cross
coyote point, san mateo
2005/12/3
cat b
9th/28
teammates: nada

after listening to my coworkers cough and sneeze their way through the week, i was starting to feel like a hypochondriac going into the big weekend. an energy drop on friday night was starting to make me nervous so i just went to bed early and tried to get lots of sleep. felt okay in the morning, but still a little sluggish. i think this saturday racing thing is just challenging for me. once i got to the venue, bundled up against the cold wind coming off the bay, and got out on the course i was feeling better, and my heartrate was coming up fine. nutrition worked out better for me than earlier pilarcitos races with late starts. managed to choke down an extra pb&j on top of my usual assortment of pre-race stuff, and it got me through the race without feeling like i was fading like in the first 2 races.

got a bad bad start off the line despite getting my first callup in a pilarcitos race. didn't have my balance after my first pushoff, so had to take a second step before clipping in. oh well, didn't really get stuck in any traffic jams, and managed to avoid several minor incidents just in front of me. managed to find wheels and stay out of the wind the first several laps, but by midrace i was alone making some headway on a couple guys that seemed just a little too far up the road, making faces at the camera planted at the bottom of the little drop down to the pits, and trying to maintain my gap over a ritchey guy behind me. with one lap to go i thought i had him, but he must have put in quite an effort, because by the time we got back down the hill onto the back section he was on my wheel. drat. he came around and i grabbed his wheel for the long finishing straightaway. he stayed on the left line through the woodchips, so i decided to take the right line. in retrospect i should have stayed in his draft on the left, because i think the longer line i took slowed me down just a bit more than him, and i couldn't quite get around him before the line.

a little disappointing to lose the sprint, but on the bright side 9th is my best finish in the series thus far. i held my 8th place standing in the points. only 1 point from 7th...

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posted by <br> at 08:48 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

these are just some small things that make me happy in not necessarily the healthiest or most enlightened sorts of ways. in no particular order:

+ system of a down - goofy armenian guitar wrok[!] goodness

+ double rainbow pumpkin ice cream - seasonal creamy orange goodness

+ csi - gory crime drama goodness

+ pink nipples [stop it!] - boozy licorice goodness

- 1.5 oz. sambuca
- 1.5 oz. vodka
- .5 oz. grenadine
pour over ice, sip, tastes even better as ice melts

i sort of made this one up. we bought a bottle of sambuca on a whim and were looking for mixed drinks to make in an old bartender's reference guide i have. it listed sambuca and vodka as a silver nipple, but i thought it needed something, so i threw in the grenadine. better. i went about my business. when i picked it up again later after the ice had partially melted, it tasted even better. cut down on the syrupyness some.

+ ong bak - martial arts cinema goodness with a thai spice and all the trappings.

+ chicken tikka masala - savory creamy orange goodness

+ post-race kfc - junk-food goodness

after central coast races, i'm in the habit of stopping for gas at the same exit off 101. it's the first gilroy exit headed back north. there just so happens to be a kfc/a&w combo where i can get popcorn chicken, cole slaw, and a root beer float. it hits the spot. this is, of course, after more orthodox post-race recovery nutrition - endurox. (orthodox endurox is decidedly not a guilty pleasure.) it's the only time i go to kfc, i swear... this week i got a burrito with friends instead, which was good and all, but i kind of missed kfc...

+ thai iced tea - sweet creamy orange goodness

posted by <br> at 12:17 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)