Obligatory Ninigret Race Report

Me, Duano, and JWR4. Not sure where Timmy was post-race.

This was just another race at Ninigret, but since you asked for a race report, you get one. If you want a more exciting story, check out Jonny Bold's report on the 35+ race, the last few laps of which were about as thrilling to watch as a small-field old guy's race can get. I only raced the 45+ category at this event, promoted by Mystic Velo. My teammates Timmy, Duano, and JWR4 were also present in the field of 39 starters, a bit on the small side but typical for Ninigret. There were a lot of good riders in the group though, and not much dead wood.

We were supposed to do 22 laps or something, but I suspect the lap cards got messed up at some point and we did one less than whatever was scheduled. According to the time/distance on the bikereg results we averaged almost 46 kph (28+ mph), and I honestly don't think the race was nearly that fast. It seemed to me that we went from 3 to go to 1 to go but nobody else said anything so I'm not sure. Anyhow, the race consisted of typical Ninigret aggression for the first half. The wind was blowing off the water, so right crosswind/headwind on the backside, though not nearly as hard as it sometimes is. Timmy, Duano, and I took turns initiating and covering moves but nothing got too far. Around ten laps in Timmy was covering a decent looking move when Todd Buckley (Arc-en-Ciel) gave chase, with me on his wheel. Going by the start/finish, they rang the bell for a $10 prime. Todd pulled me up past Timmy's grouppo down at the west end of the course, and I pulled through hard on the backstretch. Somewhere over there, Sammy Morse (Corner Cycle), Mike Norton (Cyclonauts), and Gary Dalton (Cox Cable) made contact with us. Sammy sprinted for the prime and took it.

The next few laps it seemed like everyone was missing pulls except for me, but we still managed to draw a nice gap on the field. Sammy was just recovering from the prime sprint, and I guess Todd was trying to take Mike off the back to get rid of him, knowing that Mike would easily outsprint the rest of us if we let him hang around. Gary was just hanging on the best he could, but he did rotate through on all his turns. I thought he looked fine so I was a bit worried about him too. I'm friends with the other three, but I didn't know much about Gary or his abilities.

Within a lap or two we had a steady rotation going and a big gap. Then Robin told me from the infield that Duano was coming across in a group that was only 10 seconds back, with the field at 28 seconds. A glance back confirmed this, so I stopped working. I figured one more lap and I'd situp and go back to get him, because I was having a fairly easy time in the break. We could see the field on the front stretch going by the pit, so we were way up. However, the next lap the gap to the chase was announced as 20 seconds! I thought they'd blown, but it turns out that Mike Pavlov (CCB) who was the motor in the chase, had crashed himself out. I did not know this, but I started working again. Somewhere along the line Sammy took another prime. Norton tried to negotiate a deal for a split but I guess he was rejected. I stayed out of it because I was trying to figure out a way to win this thing without Duano.


See, Duano really was coming across the gap.

Tactics are much tougher when you're friends with your rivals. I prefer to keep the competition at arm's length, as that makes it easier to do what you have to do. Mike is a former team mate, but Todd and Sammy are more my style of rider and were doing way more work in the break. Like them, I knew I had to ride against Mike, who is a powerful and successful sprinter. I did not know about Gary. I thought about attacking but I knew Todd and Sammy were strong enough to chase me down, and I did NOT want to end up 5th. I didn't have to think about it much though, because before long Todd attacked. I let him go to see what Mike would do. So did Sammy at first. It was very windy so I could not hear the shouting from the infield so well, but I got the impression that Duano was still chasing, so I hung back. Todd got a very big gap, at least ten seconds, before Sammy gave chase with Mike covering him. I went after them and Gary came with me. Then Sammy sat up. Mike did not respond. Neither did I. Sammy was aggravated with me but I wasn't sure if Duano was still coming across, and I did not want to give Gary and Mike a free ride into a group sprint that I would almost surely lose. In hindsight, I probably should have pulled Todd back a bit closer to see if that got Mike to work. But I thought we still had two laps to go. I pulled but not very hard. Then Sammy jumped around me at what turned out to be 1.25 laps to go, and Norton went with him. I let them go and forced Dalton to chase, sitting on his wheel all the way down the front stretch, where they rang the bell for one to go. Todd was still over 10 seconds up, with Sammy and Mike about halfway between him and me/Gary. I thought I'd blown it completely.

I stood up and sprinted around Gary, dropping him. Around the tight west end turns I was carrying so much speed I nearly crashed. Out on the backstretch it looked like Todd might be fading way up ahead, so I poured it on and made contact with Sammy/Mike at the little right hand kink in the course. I sat on them for a brief second to recover, then launched as hard as I could into the second to last turn, drawing the tiniest of gaps. It was drag race time, but somehow I got on top of the gear and did not get punched in the face by any wind gusts. Todd held on by five seconds though, with me crossing in front of Sammy by a few bike lengths. It also turned out that the field closed rapidly at the end, absorbing poor Gary and almost getting Mike, but not quite. Duano took 7th. Thanks for reading.


I barely held off Sammy.


Norton took fourth, narrowly staying ahead of the rapidly closing field.

In the meantime

Yeah, I know, slow month on the blog. Thanks to the few of you who cared enough to write in and complain. So what have I been up to? Let's begin with "the NOTS."

I am NOT running my air conditioner, because it's NOT like summer out there. I am also NOT sitting on my couch right now, because my MacBook is NOT working. I did NOT purchase an extended warranty when I bought it 18 short months ago, so I am NOT happy. This situation is somewhat relevant to my NOT blogging, as I am NOT thrilled about sitting here at my desk, because that is NOT that much different than working.

I'm also NOT too impressed with the new layout over at cyclingnews.com, although if you adblock all the flash content, it's NOT really much different than before. I will NOT miss the corny lead-ins and headlines ("Altinbasak dreams of Harlem glory"). I have NOT been bike commuting, and I do NOT have an excuse. I had a bunch more of these, but I'm NOT really awake so I'm NOT remembering them right now. Oh yeah, I'm NOT watching any television because I do NOT have cable and I did NOT purchase a digital converter. If anyone has experience with a USB TV tuner, preferably cross-platform, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Most of all though, I've NOT been racing. In fact, other than a few times up at the CBTT, I didn't compete at all between Sunapee on May 16 and Ninigret this past weekend. I did NOT attempt to defend my title at the Rye Duathlon because I have NOT been running nearly enough. In fact, I've been down to once a week or so, and I've only accumulated about 17 hours in my running shoes for the entire calendar year. Contrast that with 52 hours for the same time period last year and you'll understand why I was NOT confident going into Sunday's Children's Museum 5 miler, held just around the corner from my home. You'll also understand why I'm NOT unhappy about putting up my slowest race pace in over two years, because it was NOT nearly as bad as I'd expected. Ok, I'll stop now.

In between I did a bunch of training, and a bunch of just riding for fun. Me and the Cronoman did a solid slugfest one day where we explored the area of Dougie's lunch rides. Of course we didn't think to check a map or anything first, so we never found Chestnut Hill Road. Next time. I also did a bunch of "workouts" which is a good way to cut an evening ride short after you "meet all your training goals." Kind of an excuse to go home while it's still light outside. I also tinkered with my bikes a bit and made my old bike fit much closer to the way my new bike does. It's still good enough for criteriums like Ninigret... I also entered D2R2, which was another reason I'm interested in keeping my old bike up and running. The first time I did this (for me) 10 hour event, I rode my ill-fitting, super flexible, no water bottle bosses cyclocross rig, using 700x35 Paselas and a 38x32 low gear. That was OK, but then last year I decided to use my P.O.S. low-end aluminum commuter bike, with the same tires (we know how that went). The triple crank was nice to have, but that bike doesn't fit so well either, but also is a bit heavy and totally rides like shit. The frame is, as they say, lifeless. you get what you pay for sometimes I guess. I rode this same bike on Six Gaps last year too, so I suffered on this beast of a machine for my two longest outing of the year. This year I decided that even though things like this aren't races, I owe it to myself to set up something a bit nicer. One of these days I'll procure a bike purpose-built for this sort of thing, but not this year. I don't want to subject my new carbon bike to the flying rocks and pounding of D2R2's 130k of dirt roads though, so right now I'm thinking of going with the Kinesis/"Motobecane." The 28 mm Paselas just barely clear the brakes, but I might be brave enough to try 25s this year. With the boneshaker aluminum frame, the Thudbuster ST seatpost might be pressed into service just for the day. The fork on this thing is pretty "compliant" already, so no worries there. I'll break the bank and purchase an IRD 30T 10s cassette, and pair it with a 34T front ring, or maybe even try one of the 33T TA units. Not sure if that is worth the money though.

This weekend, the Team BOB Olde Home Day Circuit Race is on deck. I'd sort of like to make it to my old stompin' grounds, Thompson Speedway for the MRC race later that night, but with a BBQ at Duano's house slated for Saturday afternoon, I'm not sure an evening race would be such a good idea... Just give me a little extra racing room if I decide to show up.

Running Sunday kind of gave me the bug to keep going with that too. I can't say I've enjoyed my infrequent training runs so much lately, but the pure suffering of running five miles flat out brought back the spark. I'm not sure how to handle this as I've let my bike fitness slip a bit already (translation: added a few kgs), and so I need to bear down and focus to prepare for the Hilltowns-Bow-Mt A TT-D2R2 block of events coming up in a month or so. Running won't help much there, but I'm still going to try to work some in so that I can be ready for the fall races. My foot seems OK, and that is after running in flats on pavement at the race. That's it for now, thanks for hanging in there and reading. I'll think about a Ninigret race report for tomorrow.


I went to Fenway. The game rained out just after five innings and the Sox lost. I am the albatross.


I raced at Ninigret.


And made the winning break, but did not win.

Stupid Ranting

Yes, the worst kind of blog entry of all, but since I'm overdue, this is all you get. I'll make it a multipurpose deal, a variety pack of mini-rants.

The wide turn. This is for the four-wheeled vehicle drivers. After a few high-profile incidents of elderly people driving up on the sidewalks and what not, Massachusetts is abuzz with calls to re-test drivers who are over a certain age. It might sound like a good idea, but I'm here to burst your bluehair bubble and inform you that horrible drivers come in all ages. Why is it big news when an old person loses it in a parking lot, when dozens, if not hundreds of younger drivers commit equally dangerous offenses every hour of the day? But the wide turn - when I learned to drive, standard instructions were to make left turns from the left edge of the lane, and right turns from the right. This ain't a criterium. Never mind that if you were waiting to take a left, you weren't supposed to turn your wheels until you were proceeding, so that if you got rear-ended you would not be pushed into the path of the oncoming traffic. Lately, everywhere I go, right turns are taken from the extreme left of the lane. And it's not like these drivers are carrying speed either. I think it's a cell phone/one-handed driving thing, as the goal is to navigate the road with as little steering wheel effort as possible. You get the idea. Don't be a shitty driver.

The link in a new tab/window. This applies to a bunch of you. If your links open in a new tab, fix the fucking things. It's not 1997 anymore. If I want a new tab, then I'll do that myself. Are you paranoid that I'll leave your crappy site and not come back?

Aerobars and a baggy t-shirt. Actually I shouldn't rant about this. Keep on doing it. Obviously I need to be amused. Thanks for reading.

Until the dirt ends

Reuter wins a road race!. Dude, that's awesome. You're a roadie now. There is no escaping it. Congrats!

Come to the Light

In case you haven't noticed, we're in peak daylight hours season. Don't waste it waiting around for deep summer; there's no time like the present to roll up the big hours. Forget all your stupid training goals that you never meet anyway -- you just love to ride, right? So just ride, ride, ride until you can't even stand up straight anymore.

OK, I'm half kidding, yet normally that is what I do this time of year. If I don't, then when August comes around and it's getting dark at 7:30 again, I'll wish I did. But let's not be stupid. I learned the hard way what neglecting your structural fitness during the peak season can do to you. I have ridden my bike until I couldn't stand up straight anymore. It wasn't a good idea.

With that, I present to you two challenges. 1) give the routine shown here in what might be the greatest blog post of all time a try. At least try part of it. 2) Come up with your own blog post, illustrated with 1/100th the amusement value of that one. I'm thinking Thom has a shot at (2) but none of you have a prayer at (1), especially him. Thanks for reading.