New Bethlehem Criterium 2011 race report

(photos and videos coming...)

Because this race is so close to home, we usually get a good turnout from Lamprey. Frank did the morning Cat 5 race, netting a solid 3rd place, barely missing second by inches in the field sprint. The winner was gone solo.

In the Cat 4 race, we had Jeff, Roland, George, David, and myself. Jeff was interested in trying to make a break happen, and I would do what I could to help him out for as long as possible.

While warming up, Roland's BB came loose, and so he had to do an emergency bike switch with his wife's. Surprisingly, her bike actually fit him somewhat decently.

Good thing we had Roland back! For the first half of the race he did a bunch of work at the front, chasing down early moves. The field was pretty active, and there were constantly small groups trying to get away, but even more interest in chasing them all down. I waited until we were about half way through the race, hoping that the early activity would wear down the eagerness to chase somewhat, and people would start thinking about saving themselves for the finish. With 12 to go, there was a group of 2 that had been off the front for a few laps, but were now steadily drifting back to the field. Coming off the short hill from turn 3, I accelerated up the left side of the field where Jeff would be able to see me. Brandon came with us, and one other rider. I went hard for a short pull, hoping that I wasn't just dragging the field along, but not wanting to look back. With lots of attacks early in the race, and going right after a fast lap, seemed like good timing.

We caught and passed the group of 2 on the front straight, I looked back quickly to make sure we had a gap, and fortunately we were moving along pretty well. The fourth guy popped off pretty quickly, and then the three of us started a good rotation. I was glad to have Brandon up there as well, as he really helped out for a few laps. We kept the pace up, and had a pretty good rotation going, with Jeff doing the bulk of the work.

I finally popped off with about 6 laps left, leaving Jeff on his own. I drifted back into the field, and started recovering when POP, my real tire punctured before turn 4, with 4 laps left. Because the pit closed at 5 to go, I was officially out and DNF.

Jeff held on solo and took the win.

Back in the field, Roland was doing a great job controlling the field. David got a bee in his helmet, taking him out prematurely.

We finished over 5 minutes faster this year compared to last year for the same number of laps. That's more then 10% faster. Lots of attacks, and good racing.

New Bethlehem Criterium Cat 4 from Bikelink on Vimeo.

13:05 - "I like how Lamprey's kit has asset recovery..."

21:50 - Jeff has a drogue 'chute

25:35 - strong attack, group goes, and Jeff chases

26:50 - I go, not a clean break, but 4 of us get away

28:55 - Roland moves up to the front to patrol the field

30:10 - we have 12 seconds

33:20 - Roland on the front and Brandon comes back, we're just out of sight

38:00 - I drift back, fried

38:40 - Immediately flat, before I can reintegrate

44:10 - someone takes a solo flyer with 1.5 to go, gets a big gap quickly

46:06 - caught one lap later

46:40 - Breakaway bikes rider takes field sprint for 2nd with an awesome acceleration

Thanks to BikeLink for the video.

Always a fun race.

Mount Joy Road Race 2011 3/4 #@*&$!

Wow. That was a mess. No, that was worse. If you found this post because you did the race, then you know exactly what I'm trying to say.

It should have been a good race, we started off with all the right ingredients. Nice rolling course, 50+ entries in the 3/4 field, perfect weather, and several teams with good representation.

And it did start off well enough. We rolled off relatively slowly, there were a few solo moves that dangled off the front for a while, but no hard racing. I rotated through for one pull to keep things rolling, and found myself dangling off the front as well, not what I intended.

At one point the moto ref came up to us and told us that another field was 40 seconds behind us and we'd better get a move on. Shortly after that, a group went to the front and really started hammering it, the field was really strung out and it felt like the race was going to start splitting up. But right then, we get pulled over and stopped by the moto ref, we were going to have to let the Elite (or Masters?) field go by. As far as I could tell, we were all together at that point, except maybe one solo guy, but the moto ref was trying to send off small groups and everyone seemed confused. Some guys got really pissed and started swearing at the moto ref. I figured, no big deal, we'll probably all end up back together anyway, and maybe this would shake things up and spark some harder racing. Besides, I think we had another 3.5 laps to go at this point, plenty of race left to sort things out. We weren't helping the situation by riding like it was a parade. However, I don't think starting the Masters 45+ only 2 minutes after the 3/4 was good scheduling.

But then, on the next lap, we get advised that we would see 1 to go on our next time through the S/F. So we're coming around towards the end of the final lap, and the pace is ramping up, when we suddenly find ourselves mingling with a group of Elite (or Masters?) racers. Their race had really broken up, and there seemed to be several groups on the course. There was a lot of confusion, as they thought we had at least another lap to go, and it wasn't clear who should get out of who's way. As soon as they realized that we were (trying) to finish, they let us on through.

Then, the finish. I was sitting somewhere in about the top 10, in good position, on the left side of the field just inside the double yellow line. It was a good spot to be, as I knew I'd have a clear shot with my sprint as soon as the road opened up, and I decided the timing was right. However, as we crest the overpass, some F&M rider (not sure who, it wasn't Drew) swung left, yelling at me that we had the whole road and I should get out of his way. He locked bars with me and almost took both of us down. This was completely idiotic, if he was boxed in at that point, then he waited too long to get a good position. My positioning was intentional, I was riding a straight line, and his move was dangerous. This guy was really hot-headed and I talked to another racer that had him picked out as a flaky rider.

Anyway, now the sprint is starting in earnest, but we're coming up to the finish along side a pace car, and it was getting really crowded, and even more dangerous, very quickly. The finish was a blur, I was trying to steer clear of the pace car, other riders, and there were a lot of speed discrepancies between the pace car, some guys sprinting, and some guys sitting up because of the situation. I was actually braking as I came across the finish line. It was incredibly dangerous.

Normally a 10th place in a 3/4 would be a good result for me, but not today. Kudos to all those smart and level headed enough to skip out on the sprint. That was wise.

Brandon fared slightly worse, he ended up with a rear derailleur in his front wheel, shredding up 4 spokes and really messing up his wheel. Fortunately he stayed upright. I can't believe that there weren't any severe wrecks.

I don't mind not getting a good result, as long as the racing was good, meaning: fast and safe. But to have the race shortened, and then choas at the finish line, was very unsatisfying. I think that it would have better to neutralize us a second time, then to have us finish a lap early, and trying to sprint in a zoo.

I'm sure that the organizers and officials got more then an ear full from a field of unhappy 3/4 racers. From what a very level-headed Pure Energy rider told me, the officials were very apologetic. They blamed it on a miss-communication due to poor radios.

Oh well, Mt Nebo is next weekend, and that's a race that will break up.

**UPDATE: Found some pictures and a post that show what happened with a little more clarity.

See this post for a clear explanation of the sequence of events that led up to this finish.

And his excellent photos document the convergence of the 3 fields on the finish line simultaneously.

And another photographer got the finish from the other side of the road.

Battenkill 2011 race report

After almost not signing up for Battenkill this year, I'm glad I changed my mind. I thought that I might have waited too long, based on how fast registration filled up last year, but when I looked at the pre-reg for the Masters 30+ and saw that 149/150 spots were filled, I figured that the very last slot was for me. So I had to take it.

In 2010, I logged over 500 miles for the month of March, and the first week of April was probably my best cycling condition of the entire year. This year, I barely hit 300 miles for the month of March, and my legs didn't feel like they were at the same level.

However, my main concern was navigating the course and climbs with a field of 150, that is a lot of people for a course with enforced yellow line rules, a covered bridge, and dirt climbs with few good lines. I decided to skip any warm up, and staged myself as far forward as possible, only a few rows back. Fortunately, I managed to save enough room to squeeze in Steve, Greg, Chris, and Jeff. I think that turned out to be a good move, as we could sit relatively chill up through the covered bridge and not worry about fighting our way past 100+ spots. Last year, sitting at the back of the field, the section right after the covered bridge was a really hard chase, with lots of gaps opening up. This year, it was much better up towards the front. Again, what a difference positioning makes.

We kept steadily shedding riders as they got dropped or flatted. I didn't remember the exact location of too many landmarks on the course, except for Meetinghouse Rd at mile 50-52. Last year, I went deep into the red trying to maintain contact, but then had very little left for the last 10 miles. This year, I let a gap open on the second part of Meetinghouse Rd, but didn't panic. After I crested the top, a small chase group came by quickly and I managed to jump on. One guy was doing almost all the work, and I had no legs to contribute. We got up to the lead group which looked like at most 30 riders at this point and reintegrated.



However, the next problem was a long, windy, paved downhill section. I kept letting gaps open, and as long as there were people behind me to come around and close it, I bubbled up to the rear until I finally popped off the back. At this point I knew I wouldn't be able to get back, my legs were done. On Stage Rd, I was joined by another rider and we worked together to roll in to the finish. I couldn't contribute much, but no one else got by.



Finished 25th out of 105 finishers, an improvement from last year, and a result I'm happy with in the Masters field.

The Intensive tubeless tires on the Kysrium Elites worked great. They aren't the fastest rolling tires around, but they're incredibly tough. I rimmed out hard in a pothole on a paved section (some of the paved roads were worse then the dirt) but no problems. I was worried that I might have bent the rim, but the only evidence was a bit of sealant that squirted out of the rim/tire joint. I could ride the bad sections and move up on the shoulders without any worry of flatting. I also was glad that I went with even lower gearing then last year, a 52x36 with a 11x28 is very low at the low end, and I don't think I used the 28, but it was a good option to have available.

Jeff had a great ride and finished 18th. A great weekend of racing. Chris had a good response to the guy complaining and moaning, the weather was perfect, the riding was great, and adds that up to an excellent weekend.

March series

After the cancellation of Stevens, it was time to quickly find another option for Sunday. Fortunately, just nearby is the March series by Lehighwheelmen.

Brandon and I headed over, I signed up for the A and B race, but unfortunately he had to do the cat 5 race because of his new license.

I rolled up to the B start behind Bob and recognized several national champions, track stars, former Olympians, and the like. I had to clarify that this was, indeed, the start of the B race. Yikes.

Somewhere in the middle of the race, a break was gone, but a sprint was coming up. I couldn't remember how many people were in the break, but I thought that there was a reasonable chance that there might be a point still left for the field. I went, but got passed before the line. So unless the break only had 2 people in it, no points for me. I really should pay more attention and have better general race awareness.

Similar thing happened in the A race, I'm following some guys wheel, and another guy comes around me and asks me what I'm waiting for. He obviously wanted me to pull through earlier. I look back and realize we're in a group of about 6-8 with a good gap behind us. The race is just shredding apart. So I start rotating through and trying to help out. We weren't flowing very smoothly, about half of us were trying to set up a rotating double pace line (probably the best option for the number we had), but others were taking longer hard pulls that strung us out single file. I'm guilty of trying to do both at different times. It was such a short course, that the double pace line was tough to keep rotating through the turns.

I have no idea how many groups were ahead of us, or behind us, all I know is that we got lapped twice by the leaders. Wow, they were flying.

But good racing, got to pay more attention, though.

Limestone Cross at the Kiln

Less then 24 hours after returning from Nepal, I rolled up to the start of the Limestone Cross at the Kiln. I had been on a bike twice in the past 5 weeks, and the last time was over 2 weeks ago, but any chance to do a cross race was an opportunity to be seized. It was after midnight Nepal time, and I was still tired from our 30+ hour trip, so I had no real objectives other then to have fun, and get some exercise with light exposure to help readjust my circadian rhythms.

I have no idea where the race organizers got their call up list from, but staging at the back was fine with me, as I was far from finely tuned racing shape. The biggest perk of a local race is the amount of spectators that will come out and watch, several Lamprey Systems families were there.



The race started with the usual congestion in the middle of the pack, but with the muddy and snowy conditions, riders were sliding out all over and there were several crashes right in the first few turns. I saw one guy do an endo and flip over his front wheel. I managed to slip past most of the wreckage and work my way up from the back of the field.



The slippery conditions probably worked to my advantage, as there was more emphasis on bike handling then leg power (which I was distinctly lacking). By starting off conservatively, I could ride more efficiently towards the end of the race, hold better lines in the turns, and avoid the fatigue induced sloppiness that can put racers into the ground.



Greg had a good start, and by the time I came around after the first lap, I got word from the sidelines that Greg was in the lead. Unfortunately, he got taken out on the steep, wooded climb and somehow sheared off his front valve stem.

Check out the crash sequence in the background:







Unfortunately, this was the end of Greg's race as he hadn't brought his spare bike.





A group of hecklers had assembled themselves on the wooded climb and were taking advantage of the slow speeds to pummel racers with snow balls. It took them 3 laps before they were able to finally land one on me.



You can see Selene's snowball in mid flight.

I passed for 5th place as he was taking a beer hand up at the top of the run-up, but I was a long way off from the podium spots. The race paid down to the top 5, so I managed to get my entry fee covered. You can't go wrong with a cross race, I hope this trend of winter racing continues, it would be nicer to have a longer cross season.

Winter training has been kick-started.

Gotta love the snow man, great work by (L-R) Ashley, Sophia, Ella, and Maya:

Spring Mount Race Report

Last year this course was quite muddy, with a huge sloppy section of peanut butter mud that was a real leg wrecker. With that thought, and the memory of last weeks Fifth St Cross race (12+ hours straight of rain), I ran straight to Cutter's and bought a pair of Specialized Captain CX tires. It wasn't until much later that it dawned on me that the "2bliss" advertised on the tires wasn't 1bliss version 2.0, or a statement that these tires were going to make me extremely happy, but actually TUBELESS.

Cool, bonus. I had no idea.

So my mental confusion aside, and an extra pair of mud wheels just in case, I rode down with Greg and Roland to get there early for the "C" race. It was cooold, and the wind was really starting whipping up some frigid wind chill.

Greg decided to jump in the "C" race, so Lamprey Systems had a good showing with George, Roland, Greg, David, and Jeremy showing up. In usual Greg style, he took off from the gun and took the lead early. He was so far ahead of the next guys, that the announcer missed him on each lap, and called the guys behind him as the "leaders". Amy wasn't going to put up with that, so she straightened out the announcer for all of us. It looked like he was going to pull it off, but got passed right at the end by just a few bike lengths. Jeremy had a good race, pulling off a solid top 10 (7th?).

Although I had almost 3 hours to get ready for my race, I somehow managed to get to the line late, and barely got my call up position. Then, to top off my start, I had my number pinned on the wrong side. So I'm stripping off my jersey, trying to switch the number around, and dropping my pins into the rocks. Great.

Finally I was good to go (I think the officials waited for me, they didn't hide their surprise when I actually got the number on the correct that it was right side up). The start was fast and I came through the prologue loop somewhere between 10 and 15. After that it thinned out and I started moving up. I got up to the front with Joe and another strong rider. We had a great support crew cheering at the sand pit, so I decided to try and ride it, and actually got through. After the fast start, we settled down in the middle of the race and it didn't take long for us to grow to a group of 6 at the front. I wanted to try to keep the pace high so others wouldn't ride up to us, but the wind was absolutely killer and finding a wheel to sit behind was crucial, especially on the open back section.

Overall, I was happy with my riding, I was carrying good speed through the turns, my light weight was an asset here as I could take a tighter line with the same speed and make passes on the insides of the turns. I momentarily panicked as I burped a bunch of air out of my rear tire again, but calmed down when I realized it was holding, and as a bonus my bike felt even faster yet. I was bottoming out on the tree stumps, but the bike floated over the course and cornered great. What a difference. I probably finished with not much more then 20 psi.

I knew that if it came down to a sprint at the end with this group of 6, I wouldn't be able to really contest it, but trying some solo move at the end didn't seem prudent with the wind. Plus my right quad was cramping up and I didn't have much left by the time the last lap came around. In the end, I couldn't match the accelerations and rolled through for 6th.

But great racing; riding in the group helped with pacing, flow, and wind. Forty minutes never went by so quickly.

Philladelphia Ciclismo put on a great race, I liked the course much better then last year, and their food was awesome. The gusting winds blew the cheese off my chili, but it was still awesome.

New Bethlehem Criterium

New Bethleham Criterium: Cat 4 from Bikelink on Vimeo.

Highlights:
12:45 guy goes down (hard to tell what happens)

15:00 My move

16:15 Greg goes

21:40 back in the field

As much as I'm not a crit racer, (as a <140 lb "skinny guy", my element is anywhere the road is going up) I really enjoyed this crit. The roads are plenty wide, tons of room to maneuver and pass, plus the race is only a few miles from where I roll out of bed.

I crawled out at 8am to catch David, Jeff, and Frank in the Cat 5 race. The first time the pack rolled around, I saw David out in front with a several second gap. He looked very comfortable and sat near the front for most of the race. The first half I watched from turn 3, the small hill and false flat was taking its toll on the back part of the field. Riders were trickling off of the back constantly. It was here that 2 years ago I got dropped on my first ever road race in the Cat 5 field.

David had a good sprint at the end, good enough for 3rd in the Cat 5s. I'm sure if he had a better position coming into the final sprint, he would have placed even higher.

I still had 2-3 hours before my race, so I went back home to get breakfast and get ready. It was going to be a hot day, so hydrating would be important.

I rolled to the start with Greg and Roland. Greg usually does masters races, and I think he expected the Cat 4 field to be sketchy, dangerous, and slow. Last year, when Roland did the Masters 35+, he missed his clip in at the start and the field just rode away from him right from the gun.

There were no team plans, but we had a good cheering squad and were on our "home" course. My only goal was not to just sit in and wait for the field sprint which I usually can't contest anyway.



The pace felt pretty comfortable, both F&M and QCW had good team representation and did plenty of pace setting at the front. After the first few laps of sitting on the back, I moved up to the front around turn 3 and decided to push the pace. It wasn't intended as a solo attack, but when I looked back I was on my own. At that point I just decided to make a go of it, bury myself, and see how long it lasted.



I could hear the cheering section really going when I came around, and that was a little extra motivation. On the next lap, I saw Greg coming up, so I waited a bit and joined with him.



We rotated for a bit, and soon a third guy joined us. Unfortunately, at that point my efforts were catching up with me, and my pulls weren't enough to gain any more time. The three of us dangled off the front of the field for a while.



I slipped back into the field, and let myself recover for a bit. It was early enough in the race that I had plenty of time before thinking about the finish yet. Roland was still fresh, so I wanted to see if I could get him into position.



Greg moved us up, and for a while I followed him with Roland behind me. With 2 laps to go, I lost Greg's wheel and he went to the front to drive up the pace. On the last lap, I got separated from Roland so my leadout idea didn't come to fruition. I actually felt good at the finish, and moved up some spots, but I was coming from pretty far back so only just managed 18th. While not a big result, the race was a ton of fun, and I enjoyed helping to animate it a little. Check out the helmet cam video.

Can't wait until next year...

Farmersville RR

Three days later and I'm still trying to make up my mind about what I thought of the Farmersville Road Race.

I signed up for the 4 race hoping for some "rolling hills" and an "uphill" finish. Well, the course turned out to be quite flat and the unphill finish wasn't more then a slight riser in the last 300 meters.



Counter to my usual tendencies, I staged right at the front and decided that I'd work on keeping a good position. Right from the whistle some guy took off and got about a maximum of 45 seconds on the first lap. I took a few pulls at the front and felt pretty comfortable. After we caught him, I drifted towards the rear of the pack.

At one point we were really strung out and gaps started opening up so I put in a big effort to move up, soon we came around with 2 laps to go and I picked up the pace on the finishing stretch to get back to the front. That worked well, but it was hard to stay there, by the time we came back around with 1 to go, I was back at the rear of the group again. I tried moving back up, but everyone else had the same idea and I couldn't get anywhere. The last lap got pretty quick and by the time we hit the final kilometer guys were holding their spots pretty firmly and I couldn't get anywhere. We came around the final turn and sprints opened up with me starting at the back of the group. I rolled through in the very back, to finish 27th out of 51.

I had been secretly hoping for a good result, last year I had several finishes in the top 10-15 of Cat 4 races and I figured that I was much stronger this year. But it was not to be, my legs felt good, but they couldn't get me anywhere. It was really a race of positioning and that showed me that I have much to learn in that area.

That said, fighting for positions on a narrow country road with chicanes, doglegs, and rough gutters just isn't my ideal type of racing.

It's a good thing it was such a beautiful day for riding in Lancaster county.

I sat down by the finish after the race to just relax, soak in the beautiful day, enjoy the peace and quiet, and watch the Cat 5 and 2/3 races go.

I'll be looking for hillier races in the future, something that breaks up the field a little. However, this race makes me think that a Cat 3 upgrade is going to be very difficult this season. Up until recently, that goal had been a major motivation for training hard this season. I'm beginning to think that I'll take a shift in my racing goals for the season, maybe bring in some more running, find some duathlons, and try some adventure races. If the road races go well, and I get some upgrade points, that's great. If not, I'll still be having fun.

Nah, who am I kidding, I really want to get some good result in Cat 4 this season! It's time to do some real training, re-motivate myself, and pick up some races to really focus on.

One of the three ways to get to Cat 3 is earn 20 points in a 12 month period. That's going to take a lot of racing.

Marten

Tour of the Battenkill Race report

Well that was fun.

We drove up Friday early afternoon to beat traffic and get to the hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY at a good time. But before we could leave, we had to have some car issues looked at. I don't think that the mechanic quite knew what he was doing, after a few tactful suggestions, we decided to just move on.



So a little behind schedule which meant that David couldn't get to pre-registration, so he'd have an extra early morning on Saturday. We ate well on the way up, plenty of good food packed! Becca's post marathon cookies were a big hit.



We made it just on time to check in to the hotel and scoot over to meet the rest of the team for dinner.



After that we were all ready to go straight to bed. David had to get up at 6am to get registered and make his start time at 9:25 am. It was freezing in the morning, literally only a few degrees above, but with a vicious wind chill. I tried to sleep in a bit, but I was too wound up with pre-race nerves and was wide awake by 8 am. I barely managed to get my french toast breakfast down, then it was time for final preparations.

The thing with biking is that it has too many accessories and paraphernalia. Layering clothes for the weather, arm warmers, knee warmers, which gloves? bottles, food, drink mixes or water? gells, shots, or bars? Spare wheels, bag of tools, etc etc...

We drove out to Cambridge and I was glad to see that the weather was coming up through the forties and there was even a hint of sun once in a while. Steve called to say that it was frickin' freezing, and the wind chill was brutal. Alright, maybe I'll add a base layer.



Most of us were racing, but Becca and Amy did a fantastic job with support. After we rolled out, they headed out to the second feed zone with all the kids, bottles for everyone. I'm trying to imagine watching those kids, keeping an eye out for the groups of racers coming through, and trying to get the right bottles to the right people. Not an easy task! Plus, they were looking for 4 of us in the Masters 30+, 1 in Women Cat 4 35+, 1 in Women Cat 4, and 1 in the Cat 4 Men.

David was still racing by the time we rolled out, so I didn't get to hear his story until we were finished.

We started with almost 50 degree weather, but the wind was quite chilly. I was actually surprised how slow the first part of the race was, but as soon as we hit the first real climb, we were definitely going. I saw Greg and Jeff still sitting in good position, but on the paved climb between the feed zones, the pack split and the field took the opportunity to try and separate for good. Greg was caught out, but after a hard chase, he got back on. After that we slowed way down for the next several miles.

Becca's bottle hand off was perfect, I heard her yelling and got over to the side of the road just in time to scoop up my bottle.

I hit a max of 48.3 mph down the dirt descent, but most of the dirt sections were pretty smooth and were very rideable with a smooth line.

My moment of "oh crap" came after the climb to Meetinghouse Rd. I looked up and saw two walls of dirt road and the field was really laying down the hammer. I hung on for the first climb, but a small gap opened up on the second part of the climb and I couldn't make up the deficit despite burying myself. I looked up and saw a group of 30-40 descending after the yellow Mavic tent and I knew I was popped off. I jumped into a small group of 3 others who were chasing hard, but I was too cooked to stay in the rotation. I slowed up and got on a larger group that were working pretty well together and rotated through until the final dirt climb. Everything completely split up at that point, but I followed 3 guys up and over the top. For some reason, I decided to try and get around the front guy on a descent and that extra effort put me a little too much into the red, for a little too long, and then I lost contact with them. They rode off and I soloed in the last few miles. The finishing miles were flat, and I felt alright, but my legs had no extra strength left.

So I rolled in 37th out of 84 finishers. Not bad for my first Masters race, so I'm happy with that.

It was a beautiful course, after the first few kilometers I relaxed enough to start looking around and enjoy the race. The route was smooth and it was great fun to come barreling into these towns and have all traffic stopped for the field. Greenwich even had a big cheering section going.

Definitely a fun race, for some reason I let the idea of a Masters race get to me and spent the morning far more nervous then I should have been. The roads were actually in really good condition, the Masters pack was very smooth, and it was just a really well run race.



There is no way to not be in a great mood after a race like that.

What worked:

1. Specialized bottle cages - Nothing is coming loose from those grips
   
2. Continental GP 4000 25mm - Good traction and a good ride, no flats
   
3. 12-27 cassette - Crucial, I could sit and spin while maintaining traction on the dirt climbs while passing guys trying to mash a taller gear and just slipping around
   
4. Bring a spare tube - If you do flat, it's a long way home
   

Jen got second and earned herself a podium spot!

Ah, this is going to be a good season...

Other Battenkill Masters 30+ race reports [1]

Greg's Garmin File.

They say it is only a matter of time...

...before every bike racer goes down in an accident. Well my time came at the Cat 4 Deodate Road race.

It couldn't have been much more gentle if I had been gently lowered onto a bed of cotton balls by a stork. I heard some crashing sounds and the riders in front of me are playing the fall down game right in the middle of the road. I'm trying to brake to a stop, steer to the grass, and not roll over the guy in front of me doing a rather elegant tuck and roll maneuver. It all happened in a split second, but I saw it in slow motion. I tumbled down and quickly assessed the situation, blades of grass were sticking out of various orifices (bicycle, mostly), but no one looked hurt. One guy was swearing up a storm, but he was just pissed off. So I grabbed my bike, jumped back on the road, clipped in, and tore off.

I realized my chances of chasing back on solo were slim, so I waited up for another guy. I asked him if he wanted to try and chase back on, and he did, so we went. It was tough, and we got the pack to within 20 seconds and I just couldn't seem to close the final gap. It took hard work, but finally, after about 5 miles, we hooked up. After a brief instant of relief, I had a moment of shock and disappointment when I looked around and the race numbers I saw were all wrong. It looked like the masters 35 45+ race... I was getting ready to charge off the front in search of the Cat 4s, when I realized that they were all up there, apparently we had swept up a bunch of riders from the master's race.

Then it came down to positioning again. It was bell lap and I had 6 miles to recover a bit, and try to move up again. I made it to the front 10 or so, and got pushed off onto the grass. Although I managed to stay up I was in the back of the field again. The final kilometer has two sweeping 90 degree turns, before the last 300 meters. I was trying to move up again and a guy in front of me goes off into the grass and skids to a stop before the corn field so I had to back off. Finally, we're going around the final turn and I'm surprised my legs still feel so good. The last 200 meters and I'm weaving around people, moving up quickly, and passing a bunch of people. I ended up 10th again, not bad for chasing back on after the accident.

The lesson learned is bike racing is like real estate, position, position, position. Although I made it to the front of the pack several times, I quickly slid back again when I'd get stuck behind a slow wheel. Strategically, if I'd been more willing to work on the front, I would have been able to maintain a good position as well as miss out on the wrecks at the back of the pack.

Kudos to Levi for taking the win, it was well deserved. He did a ton of work at the front. Levi is a classy, courteous, and selfless rider. The few times I've raced with him, he's stood out for his willingness to work hard, and help out any other rider who is also willing to put forth the effort. At the Smoketown airport crit Cat 5 race he offered me his wheel to help me take a preme.