Safe at Home

So I'm driving home last night, going through a part of Taunton near the hospital. I saw a big sign proclaiming the area a Baby Safe Haven. I wish I stopped to take a picture, but it was late and not the best neighborhood. The sign appeared to be instructions on the correct way to abandon a newborn. Holy shit. Thanks for reading.

Big Dilemma

My LMT and I normally don't converse too much when I'm getting a massage. I prefer to keep quiet, trying to totally zone out and let my muscles relax as far into a state of workability as possible. Putting everything else aside for an hour every couple of weeks shouldn't be too much to ask, and I have a hard time doing it on my own when just stretching. Once in a while though, we slip into conversation, usually about bike racing or something related.

Last week, I was lamenting about how I'd got a few new kits from my team (because I didn't have enough already), and for some reason I'd taken size L bibs, instead of XL.

"You wear XL?" she asked.

Well, yeah, my legs are too big to fit into larges.

"You don't have big legs."

Ouch.

I don't? WTF, I always did? Well, at least they're too big to fit into Verge Large shorts...

I consoled myself by thinking that well, she has worked as a soigneur for a few domestic pro teams that had track sprinters on their rosters. Yeah, that must be it. It' all relative. Or is it? Maybe my bulging quads of days gone by have gone bye-bye. Buh - bye. Getting old is bad enough without having years of mileage evaporate away into geriatric atrophy. Even worse, this means that even though my body weight is relatively stable, the composition is going down hill too. No wonder I'm so fucking slow. More shit to think about this winter. All the in-style coaches say that old masters need to hit the weight room to stave off aging. It's been a few years for me, I admit. Running and cross training just seems much more enjoyable and directly transferable to what I want to do. The recovery time from strength training always kicks my ass, but of course just like running, once you get used to it, it's not so bad. Pass the D-ball... Thanks for reading.

Ameri-Trash Monday

Monday is trash day around here. Normally I don't generate too much. Last week's bike room post made me think that maybe I should. One discovery was that a 700c wheel would actually fit in the trash bin without interfering with the cover closing. That's a bonus because once Mr. Trash Collector has the bin hooked up the hydraulic lift, he ain't stopping the dump for anything short of a glowing hunk of spent uranium. It was a small chip off the massive junk block, but I didn't think I'd see any future use for a bent-axled 600 hub laced to an Araya box rim. I think this wheel was stock issue on my old Nishiki TT bike. So off it went.

I have another wheel that is going today, off some junker bike. I'm not sure how it ended up here. There are a few others that will never see service too, but even with torched races and bent axles, old Super Record hubs can always be converted to a small amount of cash from some joker with a Campy monkey on his back. There's other junk that should go too, but it will wait. Little by little the pile of rubble must be reduced. I also stumbled across a bunch of sections of rebar in the basement. These were all cut to length for securing 2x12 planks to the ground for cross barriers. These are heavy and I don't think Allied Waste would tolerate them like they did an easily crushed wheel. Let me know if you're local and setting up a practice course and we can arrange a hostage swap.

The Saco Criterium on Saturday went really well for Team BOB. The results have not gone up on bikereg as of this morning, but Jumpin' Jimmy Breen won the Cat 4/5 race in a field sprint. Breen was lookin' pretty lean too. In the 45+ race, the BOB "A" team of the Cronoman, Tim-mee!, Duano, Gregor, Big John C, Fast John G, and of course me dominated the event. Gearworks was not there, but the rest of the field was pretty strong. We may have let one $10 prime get away, but Big John took the first of two $50 primes, and I took the second, then John G scored a $20 on the subsequent lap. After that Gregor infiltrated a six man move that was going away. I started to try to bridge, but John G was heading up the other side even faster, so I sat up going into the corner, allowing him to scoot across. John G was our man for the sprint, so the rest of us shut down (what was left of) the field and the break was gone. The technical course made chasing difficult and our job was easy. Gregor neutralized any attempts to split the break, and John G delivered the goods by taking the sprint to give Team BOB our first 45+ win of the season! Yee-hah. We may not be the best climbing team out there, but put us in a tight, bang your pedals on the pavement in every corner crit like this one and we have the right people. It felt good to finally put it together with the entire team firing hard. Thanks for reading.

And ya hit the ground runnin'

Summer sure seems to have ended abruptly around here. Like many of the 'cross fiends, I laced up the Saucony's yesterday and did a jog around the neighborhood. It's been nine weeks since I ran, and really more like twelve because back in June I had just jumped into the local 5-miler running on residual fitness.

Now I've got to look at the fall schedule. I'd like to work in a few duathlons in addition to the Pinnacle Challenge, but I don't see Eliot on the schedule this year. I guess that doesn't matter if you're focused on the process and not the results. That was a different post that never got written, but a few of the linkees from here touched on it a few weeks back. My results this year were pretty lackluster, yet the process went well and I felt my fitness got where I wanted it to be. Missing Monson due to car trouble, and then having the final stage of the WMSR canceled took away opportunities that were supposed to be "A" races. The other races during my summer peak were ridden with a different focus, working for the team. As has happened in the past, some of my best efforts were left out on the road in training races... Again, if I'm (properly) focused on the process, I guess that should not matter. My number one goal is to still be doing this shit and having fun with it when I'm 60, and beyond. Everything this year was consistent with that goal.

That all said, last weekend was an eye-opener. My performance at Stillwater was a big bummer. While I was there, I also got a good and scary look at myself in the hotel mirror. You know, the ones in the bathroom that cover the whole wall. I guess my mirrors at home aren't low enough to see what my mid-section really looks like. I did not see an athlete. I had a flashback to a business trip seven or eight years ago, when I had been away from serious training for a few years and was at my physical low point, and my weight at its high point (207). The beast in the mirror scared the shit out of me. This time was not nearly as bad, but I did realize I haven't been trying hard enough. At this point in the season I should be as lean as I can be, and I'm not. So that's a new focus for the fall too. Thanks for reading.

The Big Announcement

I was hoping for a nodcast, but that's not gonna happen now. I also cannot provide details, but there will be a new Low Speed Wind Tunnel (LSWT) opening very soon in New England. This facility was designed and built specifically for bicycle-based testing. It will be expensive, but we'll get to find out if aero gloves and shaving knuckle hair are really worth it. Stay tuned, thanks for reading.

Opera gloves

So you know, the comments from the blog all get fed to my gmail account. Well, after the last post, I started getting a google ad for these. They look pretty gay if you ask me (and I mean that in as politically correct and non-homophobic way as possible). For the record, I braved the Stillwater TT sans gloves, as it's supposed to be a timesaver... Thanks for reading.

Time

So simple yet so complex. When not measured, time is limitless, yet limited. When time is measured everything else is limited by it. The clock (or calendar) does not lie like we can. In life, it seems like everything is a trial. Trials are about finding the truth. So calling a time trial the race of truth is a pretty basic conclusion.

Time tells a lot of truths. How much or how little happens. Though it may go on forever, we only get so much, so what we do with it means everything, or nothing depending how you are looking at it.

The time trial at Stillwater revealed some truth for me -- I am not that fast. The course was excellent, a quiet farm road along the Hudson with no hills, just a few gentle rollers. The road surface was not the best, but there were no dangerous potholes, just some cracked sections that were less than perfect, but not stuff to slow you down. There were four concrete slab bridges where small creeks went under the road. I chose to get off the aerobars for each of these, as the transitions from asphalt were jarring due to the lip.

My preparations were pretty good. I got there late on Friday and rode the entire course just before dusk. On Saturday I got to the venue at 8 am and found my start time was not until 12:22. This was a surprise, because there were only 100 or so pre-regged and I had incorrectly assumed 30 second start intervals, which turned out to be a minute. So I was a little short of food. I went out on the road bike and rode 3/4ths of the course again, but didn't finish it because I wanted to be off before the Cub juniors started. I was able to refuel with a few Dunkin Munchkins pilfered from the registration table. Then I got kitted up for the race and did my final prep on the trainer.

My equipment was good. I had a skinsuit and booties, and my aero helmet. I had a Mavic disk shod with a high end Continental tire on the back, and a Specialized Tri spoke with a Torelli branded clincher on the front. On my shakedown run Friday night, the setting sun drew a perfect shadow on the roadside berm for me to check my position on the fly, and it looked very good, nice flat back. I am not totally comfortable with my seat and setup, but it was OK.

The only thing hindering fast times were the constant winds that came up over the region. We would have a stiff headwind most of the way to the turnaround, then a tailwind most of the way back. My plan was to not overextend in the first 10k especially, and build into a stronger ride as I went along. I'd hoped for 56 minutes under excellent conditions, but the wind made it less than ideal, and I didn't know what to shoot for. I rolled out and started at about 41 kph, but took it easy over the first few rollers. The wind did not seem too bad at first. Toward the middle of the course I was feeling it, and my speed was not good. I was in my 53x16 and 15, but nothing bigger, rarely seeing the high side of 42 kph, often much less. My HR was up at LT, and I did not want to go higher at this stage of the ride. I had total control over it; pushed it up at will with more pedal pressure, and stabilized it by backing off. My effort was hard for what I was getting out of it though.

Past 10k I had about 15 minutes on the watch, not good. Things got worse. I could not speed up without going dangerously hard. I was already getting terrible dry throat from mouth breathing. The headwind buffeting got worse and worse, and I dared not get off the saddle to stretch, or even reach down for the bottle. That would be less costly on the run home with the tailwind. I stayed in the tuck and suffered into the wind. Approaching the turnaround, I saw my minute man going back the other way. He was a good rider and I though I might be gaining on him. At 100m from the turn I sat up, drank, and rolled into the tight turn around a cone in the narrow road. It felt good to stand and sprint back out, but not so good to see 30:30 on the watch. Yikes.

The good news is I immediately started to see the kinds of speeds you imagine in a TT. Suddenly 45 kph was almost effortless, and pushing into the 14 and 13 I'd see 48-50 kph on some stretches. I was still metering the effort a bit, but the door was 98% open. I got to 30k at around 44 minutes, and then the door was out to 100%. I still thought I had a chance to rip the final 10k in 13 minutes or less and post a respectable time. These things are often won and lost in the final kilometers, and I dug deep. There was a bit of rise between 4k and 2k to go, and then it was pretty much downhill or flat, so I was emptying the tank on the rise. However, just as the headwind had not seemed that bad in the first 10k, I lost the tailwind here too. In fact, it turned into an annoying and spooky straight crosswind off the river in the final few k, with the gusts pushing me and my disk/trispoked machine over a couple of feet at times, very unnerving. Keeping way forward on the bars and weighting the front wheel seemed to help. I still faded though, and crossed the line in 57:43, an average of just 41.5 kph (25.8 mph). Average cadence was 91 rpm.

Nobody had passed me, so I wondered if conditions were just slow. Then I turned around and rolled back to near the start to retrieve a jacket I'd left there, and Tony Settel (Deno's Wonder Wheel) roared in. He'd started seven minutes behind me, and only four minutes had passed since I finished... He ended up being the fastest Master 45+ with a time of 54:20, so much for poor conditions. There were three in my age group who went over 43 kph, and the overall winner in the elite men went sub 51 minutes for an average speed of 49 kph (29 mph), a new course record.

The truth was painful this weekend. I'm hurting, but I've got nobody to blame but myself. You cannot cheat time. It's still good to know the truth. Thanks for reading.

Oh yeah, saw these on a Zipp wheel. They are cut to match up with the deep dish rim. The end result is a very clean and aero looking setup. Probably not as good as a lenticular disc, but for those with lightweight deep dish rims built on a PT hub, this looks like the way to go. Only $65 and removable. The site also has track axles for the PT hub.

The Bike Room(s)

Last month, BKW did a post on The Bike Room. Yesterday, my bike room almost got the best of me. The quest all started out simply enough, I just needed to figure out a way to mount (huh-huh) a sensor magnet onto a tri-spoke. Despite my super-human sense of pacing and power output, I missed having a speed readout at the last TT and 40k is a long way to go without having some real idea of how you're doing. I know the 10k splits are good enough, but I wanted a speedo, is that so wrong?

A quick search online revealed most choose to fasten a magnet with glue. One guy said you could get some kind of super magnet out of an old hard drive. Hmmmm. I know there are some old drives somewhere upstairs but finding a tiny screwdriver or a chisel to take one apart seemed like too much work. Remembering that at one time I had a shoebox full of old bike computers and parts, I headed upstairs to begin my search - delaying my morning ride...





One of the reasons I never used to sell anything was that then at least I'd know that eventually I'd find whatever it was I was looking for. Last year though, the rubble finally reached critical mass and I caved and got a booth at the cycling flea market. So now I can never be certain if I still have that _ _ _ _ that I suddenly feel like I could use. So I'm rummaging around the bike room and cannot find any box of computer stuff. And then there is one more problem. All the bike stuff is not in the bike room. In fact, a first time visitor to my ghetto palace might think the kitchen was the bike room.



But of course it is not. It's just the place where bikes that get ridden and stuff that goes on trips lives. But of course there are parts and junk there too, so it needs to be included in the search area. In some countries, my living room might qualify as a bike room too.



That's just the place where clothes get dropped and bags get packed and newly built wheels go to wait for me to buy rim tape. I'm afraid to go buy rim tape because if I go into the shop I might come out with a bike... We're not even going to go to the cellar today, but of course there is crap down there, but still no box of magnets.

So it's up to the bike room again, and it's pretty warm up there. And messy.





After tripping over some stuff, I decided to start straightening things out and tidying up a bit. I found a bunch of cross wheels and tires.



I think that's nine clinchers and seven tubulars, if you're counting. Too bad I don't plan on racing much more cross. Sorry Meg, but no Dugasts here. This ain't that kind of bike room.

Is there any stuff I can use here? Whoah, wait a minute, here are come clinchers I forgot I had, stuffed way in the corner. Guess I didn't really need to build those wheels last week after all. And look, some of them even have magnets on them! Now I just have to figure out how to fasten it.



Should I glue it or try to tape it? Keep in mind the tri-spoke is borrowed. Maybe I should ask the owner... And just for Gewilli and Coach Curly, here is what a real Mavic Comete disc wheel looks like. Ciao, I'm off to Stillwater. Thanks for reading (and waiting for all these stupid pictures to load).

GP4s

Last night, per usual on a Tuesday, I went to Wompatuck. However, as there is a real criterium with substantial prize money tonight in Salem, MA, the turnout was light. No matter, as at least 30 riders showed up. The Skipinator went up the road early, just like last week, and again we had a long chase, though not as fast this time. The pace was decent though, and several laps were done with the field pretty much single file, at least in the front half.

With the Stillwater 40K TT on the horizon Saturday, my goal was to just ride some good tempo and not do any big efforts. Thus, I stayed in the group, and at the back much of the time. I did a few turns in the rotation, and later on even did a few half-lap efforts at speed. Not sure what speed, as I'd swapped wheels before the race and the sensor was not picking up. Why the wheel swap? Well, up until this year, I always made it a point to train, and do training races, on "ordinary" wheels, as in 32 spoke Open 4's. I saved my "race wheels," a pair of Shimano 6500's with a low count of bladed, paired spokes, for real races. Now, for most folks these days, such a pair of wheels would represent their beater wheels, but I'm not most folks. As my current "race wheels" have only Ultegra-level hub internals, I've always tried to keep the mileage on them down. Way back in time, when our race wheels were tubulars and our training wheels were either heavier tubulars or some form of clincher, the wise among us bought expensive hubs for our training wheels, and maybe skimped on the race pair. The logic was that your training wheels would see far more miles, maybe even rainy ones, than the wheels used for racing would. I had plenty of Super Record race wheels too, but I was sort of a wheel whore back then. I hated repacking hubs and by working a few hours here and there at the local shop I could get bro-deal pricing on rims and stuff, so I preferred to just build more wheels and rotate them amongst my stable of bikes. But I knew lots of guys with Dura Ace/MA40s for training and 600 (aka Ultegra)/GEL280 setups for racing.

Back then, if you're pockets weren't deep enough for Campy Record Pave or Mavic SSC rims (I always found Campy rims to be rounder, and easier to build because of a better seam), the standard was the venerable Mavic GP4. This rugged ~400 gram tubular rim was cheap, strong, and still lighter than most clinchers of the day. Everyone had a pair. In fact, in the wheel pit at many crits, there would be so many Record/GP4 wheelsets shod with Vittoria CGs that it would be hard to tell them apart. I once took the wrong pair home after a race, and the other guy (who I still see in masters races) was a TOTAL DICK about it. The jackass was in the 1/2 race, and he had the same number that I wore in the 3's race, so why he was so bent escapes me to this day. But I digress...

Last night I rode on GP4s. These wheels have DuraAce hubs and they came on my cross bike when I bought it from one of the Team Saturn guys a few years back. I glued up some Tufo S33s and they have been sitting in the bike room, rarely used since then. Well, I dragged them out for Mt A and found they had a 12-23 10 speed cassette on them that I do not remember buying. Sweet. At Mt A I did not end up using them, but I had them out so I threw them on the bike before heading to Womp. They are pretty heavy by today's standards, but that is nothing compared to the spoiling I've got from riding aero wheels day in and day out. At speed, man, these wheels are more work. Not that I didn't already know this, but over this year I guess I'd gotten so used to the advantage that is was not an advantage anymore. I still did some hard efforts last night that had people struggling to hold my wheel, but I don't think they had to struggle quite as hard.

There is a lesson here, but I'm not sure what it is. Yeah, I've read elsewhere about how we should all ride deep dish carbon rims all the time in order to become accustomed to them in the crosswinds. Sure dude, it has nothing to do with being able to keep up with your buddies who train more. I still believe in going the other direction; train on heavy stuff so that your "good" stuff feels special in races. It's a mental boost. And it is all relative, as maybe your "heavy" stuff is lighter than my "good" stuff. I wonder how many people even know what GP4s are these days?

Last week I finally caved and bought medium dish carbon rimmed wheels... Still haven't ridden them yet. No more hilly races for me this year anyway. Thanks for reading.

Not a man for the cols

My performance at the Mount Agamenticus Time Trial was not all I'd hoped for. This race is not exactly a hill climb, although it's predominantly uphill, and has a stiff climb at the end. However, the first 3.5 miles are flat. Aerobars are not allowed, in part because the course includes a dirt road, which was a bit rough this year, but not too bad. I did use my aero helmet, even though I knew it might be a bit warm on the final climb. I think this was a good decision.

I felt like I was flying on the opening section, averaging about 42.5 kph up until the first climb, where I think I undergeared. I had gone a bit too deep on the flats (seem to be making a habit of that this year) and for the rest of the race every time I dug down the slightest bit, I went over the edge and right into the red zone. From the start ramp to the dirt section took me about 13:20, probably 30 seconds faster than last year. Then things started to unravel. From there to the base of the access road took me about 5:15, only 10 seconds faster than last year, despite getting a wheel change in 2006. So really I must have ridden this at least 45 seconds slower. The final climb took 4:41 this year, ~20 seconds more than last year. My finish time ended up at 23:17, only a slight improvement over the flat-delayed 2006 mark of 23:39. I was totally gassed at the finish too.

Interestingly, overall winner Donnie Mills clocked 21:12, taking 125 seconds out of me. At the 2007 WMSR TT just one month ago, he only beat me by 17 seconds. Factoring in the greater length of the Mt A race, make it the equivalent of around 30 seconds advantage on a flatter WMSR-style course. So I really suck on the uphill, at least compared to Donnie. Oh well, on to the Stillwater 40k. Thanks for reading.

Nothing but Mammals

So the big news today is that Tailwind Sports could not find $15,000,000 per year worth of sponsorship to replace the outgoing Discovery Channel backing, and will now disband. Fifteen million, for one team. That looks to be about twice the annual budget of usacycling. Personally I'm glad that this sum of money didn't go into supporting just one team of professionals, especially when it appears to me (accountants in the audience please chime in) that about half of the usacycling budget comes from the members. Of course, about 80% of that goes right back out for insurance. The other big ticket item was 2.6 mil for "100 coaches training 600 athletes."

Remember when Micheal Jordan wanted to play minor league baseball, and he ended up practically buying the team he played for? This deal reminds me of that. We've got a handful of riders at the top of the sport making more money than the budget of the entire minor leagues. Not cool. You would think that someone would realize that putting money into the farm teams could be more beneficial then putting it all into the pharm teams. Eventually if enough events and little development teams managed to survive, there might be more talent to go around and you wouldn't have to pay seven figures to get a decent rider. Or something like that. Thanks for reading.

First Loser

The past eight Mondays in a row have been rest days. Usually this means I make every effort to get to Tuesday night Wompatuck early, in order to get a good warmup. With aging I've found pedaling very gently at the start can make a big difference later on in the ride. Yesterday I did not make it down to the park in good time, and only had enough spare minutes to kit up and ride in to the race loop before the start. And oh yeah, the BRC guy in the breakaway last week was David Tremblay, not Tom Francis. Sorry Dave!

Coming off of the Concord Criterium - Central NH Road Race double weekend, I was feeling a bit Bow-legged as I slowly rolled through the park. My Bow race deserves a story to itself, but it's not that unique, so I'll be brief: the course was hard, the race was hard, the new hill was hard, we lost over twenty of the fifty starters within the first ten minutes of the race, and were down to 21 by the end of the second lap. The third time up the double climbs, I lost contact twice, the second time ending up behind the "caravan" of a wheel van and official's car, but ultimately got back on the field at the bottom of the first "old" descent. The fourth and final time up the new climb, the race exploded and I was relegated to the third small group on the road, finishing 15th. I was pretty happy because I managed my energy well and paced myself on the new climb so as to be able to regroup on the short descent before the "old" climb, thus conquering it each time without blowing to smithereens and losing minutes. Course management, you know?

Back to the 'tuck. With no warmup and no pressing plans for serious work, I sat at the back for the first few laps, but the hostilities up front started quickly. A group of four or five attacked and rode away, and a second group formed a chase. Both groups went out of sight. The pack was not going all that slow either, just slow enough, but luckily none of the Coast juniors/espoirs team made either break and these strong lads organized a nice chase. We started flying. This was the fastest and smoothest Wompatuck race all year. By now I was feeling better and I joined in, but there were at least ten riders sharing the pacemaking and we motored along in a glorious high-speed single-file rotation. It took almost ten laps to catch the first group, but the leaders were still nowhere to be seen. I'm not sure exactly who was up there, but I believe it was Adam Myerson (NERAC), Johs Huseby (Fiordifrutta), the Skipinator, and someone else, so plenty of horsepower. Eventually the group of professional sportsmen came back in to view up ahead of the chasing pack.

The first 45 minutes of the race, we averaged over 44 kph! I wish every week was like this. Everyone later commented on how much fun it was. With about eight laps to go it was now grouppo compacto. Things slowed down a bit, but a flurry of attacks kept it spirited until about three to go, when it finally bunched up. I was in the back and even thought about just going home, keeping a cork in it and saving something for later in the week. I'd ended up feeling great all night and had got in some good work without too much muscle strain. I wish I'd had a cadence sensor on, because even when we were flying, I used mostly my 16 and 15 cogs, only using the 14 a little, and never the 13. I stayed in though, stuck at the back.

At a lap and a half to go, you could tell a fierce sprint was shaping up. Coast has Jake Keough, and Myerson looked to be gunning for it as he aggressively pushed his way up nearer the front. A little attack of a few guys went ahead, and it strung out just a bit coming back toward where the race starts. I took the opportunity to slide up the left side, almost all the way to the front. The road stayed clear, so I started to accelerate, and the front of the group slowed, so I popped out of there and took off. One of the break guys looked to be starting his own move, but I flew right by. I later saw my speed at this point was 55 kph, which is faster than my usual sprint!

I knew this was going to be tough. The bell was ringing for one to go and I did not look back. I went over the hump hill and tucked in for the little downhill, pedaling like a madman. Then I sensed a rider behind, and it turned out to be Rick Kotch (Union Velo), team mate of the 'rat. Rick took a strong pull and I rotated through. We were clear by a good margin but had 800 meters to go with a ferocious pack bearing down on us from behind. I've been here many times before, and getting caught in the final stretch is not always pretty. Pretty dangerous is more like it. I pulled hard. Rick came through again, almost like a jump. I looked back and we appeared to be all set, but I was not certain. He slowed at 250 meters but I continued to bury myself. I did not want to get caught. Rick came around for the win at the end, and Myerson sprinted in for third less than five seconds behind us. The 31 mile/50k race had taken just under 1:07 (almost 45 kph avg). The last lap with Rick was 48 kph. Great night, pocketed $5 for second, thanks for reading.

Mount A Trash Talk

There are two good races on the calendar this weekend. On Saturday, we have the Gate City Cyclone Criterium promoted by Team BOB and Goodales Bike Shops in Nashua NH. This is on the old course around Holman Stadium. Don't miss this as it is one of the best crit courses in New England, and a chance to race close to home.

Sunday we have the Mount Friggin' A Time Trial up in Maine. I know some of you are off doing the 24 hours of Bug Bites at Mt Washington, but the real racing is at Mt A on Sunday. Here are several reasons to do the race at Mount A, even if you don't like TTs.

1) You don't need a TT bike. In fact, aerobars are not allowed at this event.
2) They are not allowed because part of the course is a downhill dirt road.
3) The downhill dirt road is cool.
4) The downhill dirt road turns into an uphill dirt road.
5) Before you get to the dirt road, you have a few miles of nice, flat paved road.
6) Even before that, you get to start on a cool wooden starting ramp, just like in the tour.
7) If I remember correctly, they even have the beeping thing.
8) Even if I'm imagining that part, the ramp is still cool.
9) The steep $30 entry fee mostly goes to a trails alliance, and the rest goes toward running this cool race with lots of prizes.
10) The course finishes on the Mt A access road, a steep, switchbacked, paved climb of about a mile at 10% or so. Last year complete with a dude in the Devil costume.

This is a fun event, grassroots bike racing at its best. Maine hospitality too. If you don't go to Mount A, you can't trash talk. If you are going, please lay it down now. See you there, thanks for reading.

Nodcast 7 - Nega-Coach Goes to Concord

For higher quality viewing, download .mov file here. The audio is MUCH better with the QT version. Thanks for watching.

Vote for Mike

The USA Cycling elections are underway and Mike Norton is running for the east coast slot. Mike narrowly lost to the incumbent last year. I've known Mike for 20 years. I hated him as a competitor, but loved him as a team mate. Mike is hands down the best race promoter in New England today, putting on the Palmer and Sturbridge races, along with Monson and the Stafford Crit. His ability to put on three top-notch road races a year speaks for itself. These elections typically have poor turnout, so every vote really does matter. Login to your usacycling account RIGHT NOW and vote for Mike. Don't accept status quo. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday Night Wompatuck

Another good workout at Wompatuck last night. There was a bigger than usual field, around 50 riders, including some new faces like the Ace and Ward. Big fields sometimes mean slow races at Wompatuck though, and for several laps we just weren't rolling too quickly. I tried to pace it up by going to the front for my intervals. I'd try to go for an entire lap, but usually someone would come around me after about two minutes.

After a while I got mired way in the back. That sucked and nothing was happening up front so at ten to go I made my way up and jumped hard to try for another interval. My speedo was not working but I felt like I was flying and at the top of the rise I heard a voice from behind say "Dave, are you doing an interval?" to which I replied "yes" and thus I was allowed to finish my lap, which took 2:44, so I know that's around 48 kph. Cool. I sat up and found it was Tom Francis (BRC). Now there are two Tom Francis on BRC but I think this one is the older of the two. He said he did not feel that strong, but we were way ahead of the field, so he pulled through. I recovered and started pulling again, figuring we'd be reeled in with a lap or two.

Well, I guess in our absence there was a crash back in the field. This kind of neutralized things for a bit and allowed us to pad our lead. Adding to our fortune, I don't think too many riders in the group even knew there was a break up the road. So we keep going, not super fast (turned out to be about a 41.5 kph average for 28 minutes). I was doing 75-80% of the work, but Tom was cool and took his turns which gave me recovery time. With a few laps to go I can't believe we're not caught yet, and was fully expecting a cavalry of Markie, Sammy, and the others to come flying by in a counter. Nope. Two to go, nobody back there. One to go, still nobody. Wow. Tom acknowledges that I've been driving this thing and says he won't sprint so I motor hard the last lap and we cross 25 seconds ahead of the field. The guy doing the lap cards said he was calling out splits to the field, and Curley said he knew we were up there, so at least a few guys had to know. Weird, but I'll take it. Thanks for reading.