...and I rebuilt my road bike for the opening collegiate race at Rutgers this weekend. New team bike should be in the not too distant future...but I guess this will just have to do for the moment.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Porn...
New wheel, courtesy of an insider deal at Swan Cycles that I couldn't pass up. Pro-Lite Padova- works for both the road and track with a quick hub swap. I can't wait to actually open it up on the track (or the road)!
...and I rebuilt my road bike for the opening collegiate race at Rutgers this weekend. New team bike should be in the not too distant future...but I guess this will just have to do for the moment.
...and I rebuilt my road bike for the opening collegiate race at Rutgers this weekend. New team bike should be in the not too distant future...but I guess this will just have to do for the moment.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Winter in Ithaca
Now that I've done my final ski race weekend of the season, Ithaca is supposed to get a good amount of snow over the next few days. Timing is everything! As I'm trying to phase in more riding, this poses a problem...but you have to learn to adapt. This is what cross bikes were made for...
Now it's time for a spin on the rollers.
Now it's time for a spin on the rollers.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
More ski racin'- Regionals 15k classic
This weekend past was the USCSA Eastern Regionals at Waterville Valley, NH. Opting out of the stellar "drink until you can't function" scene for a weekend of amazing skiing is always well worth it for me. Some people's choices may vary.
A small contingent of us left early, around 1pm on Friday, heading out for a-- what shall I say?-- less than casual 9.5hr drive to the infamous Red Doors Motel in Lincoln, NH. Given the road conditions (snowing the entire time), I'm impressed we made such good time. I should also note that elapsed time included a drawn-out stop for pizza/pasta in Bennington, VT. The highlight of the drive included the final push down New Hampshire route 118, which was like driving on a ski trail, if ski trails had giant frost heaves that would cause your car to bottom out.
Courtesy of Google Maps
Outrageously high snow banks on either side mostly obscured all road signs, and generally any sensation that you were still driving on an actual road. Given the frequency of cars on the road (we didn't see anyone the entire time) and the probable lack of cell phone service, any kind of car trouble would have been a bit of a problem...
In my haste to leave, I neglected to bring any sort of blanket and was thus reduced to sleeping fully-clothed inside of a fitted sheet I had stowed with my air mattress. A surprisingly restful (but cold) night followed by an unfortunate wake-up time (with no immediate breakfast) found us at Waterville Valley at 7am...in perfect time for the nordic center to NOT be open for another hour. Several of us quietly sat down to some juice/coffee and bagels at a small place in the town square, only to be joined moments later by the cacophonous procession of a dozen other skiers with boots, bags, wax boxes and benches. Amidst glares from the shop staff and patrons, I sat amused by the spectacle before carefully outlining the decidedly awkward situation to the remarkably self-unaware Cornell skiers. This kind of maturity and decorum only comes with age. More embarrassment ensued, as the team prepared bagels (which arrived slightly after I had purchased mine) outside the shop window and proceeded to bring them back inside the cafe to eat. At this point, myself and several others chose to ignore our association with "those people."
Saturday was a classic race in mostly new powder, but recent grooming and rapidly warming conditions made waxing a little more technical than was initially apparent. The amount of ice in the tracks made for a rather abrasive surface, so we heated in a hard wax binder before deciding on the wax of the day...or the next 30 minutes. Typical waxing circle conditions ensued (10 people + 1 wax + 1 cork), causing me to pass on the Swix VR40 and use Toko blue in secret. In my warm-up, this was kicking rather well and had excellent glide. Following a kilometer or so, I could see a certain amount of scratches in the wax indicating the abrasiveness, so I ironed what I had, and added a couple more layers for good measure.
As usual, my overall warm-up was less than stellar, but with ~15k to ski, I figured the first few thousand meters of the race was plenty of distance to get into a rhythm. It was a mass start, which is pretty fun with classic. Still outrageously hectic, and not without its casualties (see below), but you can usually pass without too much issue.
Mass start crash involving Jordan, Ed, and myself from back in the day
The first few kilometers had its share of hot-shot starters, soon to fade, and the better skiers quickly gapped the small group I was in. I was content to stay with Derrick and Justin and see what was going to develop amongst us. I was skiing decently enough, but I really had to concentrate on settling in and getting my kick to work properly. After far too many years of frantic classic (a.k.a run) skiing with sticky wax, I'm finally learning how to relax and ski properly...I think.
After probably 3k or so, a couple other Clarkson skiers came up and made a move past us, which I followed with some duress. Also, Andrew had managed to gap our small group and I could never seem to close any distance on him for the remainder of the race. I'll admit I had to work a bit harder than I would have liked to keep pace on the uphills...this posed a bit of a problem because that's usually the only spot where I can make time up. Also, as the tracks warmed up, the Toko blue was providing very little kick even when set properly. I'm sure my heart rate was through the roof during every climb...I've forgotten what it's like to suffer so completely since I haven't raced a lot or done any intensity in the past couple months.
I skied much of the first lap with a group of 2 Clarkson skiers (Andy and Drew, I think) and one trailer from UMPI before being joined by another Cornell skier, Chris, during the second time around. He took the approach of a Brian of bygone days, and could kick up every gradient the trail had to offer. He stomped his way uphill as I pulled out of the tracks at any gradient not conducive to double poling or impotent double pole w/kick. My lats and armpits told the story of a person sorely unprepared hours later. Our group of 5 shot down to 4 as Drew bridged up to Andrew, leaving us to scramble out the final kilometers. Sticky-skied Chris got dropped on the final, mostly downhill, 2k and the UMPI skier finally came around. I put forth some marginal effort, but soon acquiesced to my probable finish- I ended up 7th.
I was pretty happy about the overall race, although my finish wasn't that great. I didn't hit the wax correctly and I felt like crap, but I skied the race technically well. It's hard to judge my fitness off something like that, so I hoped the following day's skate race would provide some more definitive answers. Suffice to say it did, as I will report on shortly.
A small contingent of us left early, around 1pm on Friday, heading out for a-- what shall I say?-- less than casual 9.5hr drive to the infamous Red Doors Motel in Lincoln, NH. Given the road conditions (snowing the entire time), I'm impressed we made such good time. I should also note that elapsed time included a drawn-out stop for pizza/pasta in Bennington, VT. The highlight of the drive included the final push down New Hampshire route 118, which was like driving on a ski trail, if ski trails had giant frost heaves that would cause your car to bottom out.
Courtesy of Google Maps
Outrageously high snow banks on either side mostly obscured all road signs, and generally any sensation that you were still driving on an actual road. Given the frequency of cars on the road (we didn't see anyone the entire time) and the probable lack of cell phone service, any kind of car trouble would have been a bit of a problem...
In my haste to leave, I neglected to bring any sort of blanket and was thus reduced to sleeping fully-clothed inside of a fitted sheet I had stowed with my air mattress. A surprisingly restful (but cold) night followed by an unfortunate wake-up time (with no immediate breakfast) found us at Waterville Valley at 7am...in perfect time for the nordic center to NOT be open for another hour. Several of us quietly sat down to some juice/coffee and bagels at a small place in the town square, only to be joined moments later by the cacophonous procession of a dozen other skiers with boots, bags, wax boxes and benches. Amidst glares from the shop staff and patrons, I sat amused by the spectacle before carefully outlining the decidedly awkward situation to the remarkably self-unaware Cornell skiers. This kind of maturity and decorum only comes with age. More embarrassment ensued, as the team prepared bagels (which arrived slightly after I had purchased mine) outside the shop window and proceeded to bring them back inside the cafe to eat. At this point, myself and several others chose to ignore our association with "those people."
Saturday was a classic race in mostly new powder, but recent grooming and rapidly warming conditions made waxing a little more technical than was initially apparent. The amount of ice in the tracks made for a rather abrasive surface, so we heated in a hard wax binder before deciding on the wax of the day...or the next 30 minutes. Typical waxing circle conditions ensued (10 people + 1 wax + 1 cork), causing me to pass on the Swix VR40 and use Toko blue in secret. In my warm-up, this was kicking rather well and had excellent glide. Following a kilometer or so, I could see a certain amount of scratches in the wax indicating the abrasiveness, so I ironed what I had, and added a couple more layers for good measure.
As usual, my overall warm-up was less than stellar, but with ~15k to ski, I figured the first few thousand meters of the race was plenty of distance to get into a rhythm. It was a mass start, which is pretty fun with classic. Still outrageously hectic, and not without its casualties (see below), but you can usually pass without too much issue.
Mass start crash involving Jordan, Ed, and myself from back in the day
The first few kilometers had its share of hot-shot starters, soon to fade, and the better skiers quickly gapped the small group I was in. I was content to stay with Derrick and Justin and see what was going to develop amongst us. I was skiing decently enough, but I really had to concentrate on settling in and getting my kick to work properly. After far too many years of frantic classic (a.k.a run) skiing with sticky wax, I'm finally learning how to relax and ski properly...I think.
After probably 3k or so, a couple other Clarkson skiers came up and made a move past us, which I followed with some duress. Also, Andrew had managed to gap our small group and I could never seem to close any distance on him for the remainder of the race. I'll admit I had to work a bit harder than I would have liked to keep pace on the uphills...this posed a bit of a problem because that's usually the only spot where I can make time up. Also, as the tracks warmed up, the Toko blue was providing very little kick even when set properly. I'm sure my heart rate was through the roof during every climb...I've forgotten what it's like to suffer so completely since I haven't raced a lot or done any intensity in the past couple months.
I skied much of the first lap with a group of 2 Clarkson skiers (Andy and Drew, I think) and one trailer from UMPI before being joined by another Cornell skier, Chris, during the second time around. He took the approach of a Brian of bygone days, and could kick up every gradient the trail had to offer. He stomped his way uphill as I pulled out of the tracks at any gradient not conducive to double poling or impotent double pole w/kick. My lats and armpits told the story of a person sorely unprepared hours later. Our group of 5 shot down to 4 as Drew bridged up to Andrew, leaving us to scramble out the final kilometers. Sticky-skied Chris got dropped on the final, mostly downhill, 2k and the UMPI skier finally came around. I put forth some marginal effort, but soon acquiesced to my probable finish- I ended up 7th.
I was pretty happy about the overall race, although my finish wasn't that great. I didn't hit the wax correctly and I felt like crap, but I skied the race technically well. It's hard to judge my fitness off something like that, so I hoped the following day's skate race would provide some more definitive answers. Suffice to say it did, as I will report on shortly.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The 2008 Road Season!
...is going to involve a lot of driving! (and hopefully a lot of fun) With the second and final ski race weekend this Saturday and Sunday at Waterville Valley, I started thinking ahead to the impending road season.
Being on the NorEast team is going to commit me to some races and other events, but before I have that information, my tentative schedule looks something like this (* denotes 98% definite...everything else- who knows?):
*March 15: Columbia Grant's Tomb Crit (50min.)
March 29: Penn State RR (85.6 miles?!?!)
March 30: Penn State Crit (60min.)
*April 5: Army RR (70 miles last year)
*April 6: Army Hill Climb + Crit (probably 60min. + 10-11min. hill climb)
*April 12: Boston Beanpot RR (78 miles last year)
April 13: Boston Beanpot Tufts Crit (not too sure- sketchy crit)
*April 19: Battenkill-Roubaix (82 miles)
*April 26-27: ECCC Championships at Dartmouth
May 3: Jiminy Peak RR (150km=93 miles...probably won't do this, but still thinking about it.)
May 4: Hollenbeck's Spring Classic (maybe ~60 miles? local, low-key race)
May 10: Bristol Mountain RR (won this as a cat4, but p/1/2 field is very small...maybe not)
May 11: Bear Mountain Spring Classic (98 miles!...possibility)
May 17: Syracuse Race Weekend RR+TT (small field, may not be worth it)
May 18: Syracuse Race Weekend Crit OR North Stonington Classic (CT)
May 25: Downtown Hartford Crit (big race...but it's a crit...)
June 7: Balloon Festival Race (not a big race, so maybe not)
*June 14: Cyclonauts RR (56 miles last year...nice and reasonable)
*June 15: Housatonic Hills RR (81 miles- great race...great finish)
June 22: Owasco Flyer (easy local race to keep things going before Fitchburg)
*July 3-6: Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic (biggest race of the season)
July 12-13: Owasco Stage Race (small field for p/1/2...probably just take it easy after F-L)
*July 26: Tour of the Hilltowns (97 miles)
August 3: Central NH RR (64 miles, smaller field, maybe)
*August 8-10: Rochester Omnium (if they let small teams ride the p/1/2 race)
August 16: Concord Crit (probably required for the team)
*August 29-September 1: Green Mountain Stage Race (YEAH!)
then...CYCLOCROSS!
That adds up to be somewhere in the range of 35-40 races for the spring/summer, before any additional track days (whether single bike or tandem!). It's a good thing entry fees are covered for a lot of this...something tells me I won't be making money like I did last season.
With this tentative schedule, I should probably sit down and think about goals and training in specific for races like Fitchburg and GMSR...but I'm sure I probably won't ever get around to it. And I should also start riding more!
All for now.
Being on the NorEast team is going to commit me to some races and other events, but before I have that information, my tentative schedule looks something like this (* denotes 98% definite...everything else- who knows?):
*March 15: Columbia Grant's Tomb Crit (50min.)
March 29: Penn State RR (85.6 miles?!?!)
March 30: Penn State Crit (60min.)
*April 5: Army RR (70 miles last year)
*April 6: Army Hill Climb + Crit (probably 60min. + 10-11min. hill climb)
*April 12: Boston Beanpot RR (78 miles last year)
April 13: Boston Beanpot Tufts Crit (not too sure- sketchy crit)
*April 19: Battenkill-Roubaix (82 miles)
*April 26-27: ECCC Championships at Dartmouth
May 3: Jiminy Peak RR (150km=93 miles...probably won't do this, but still thinking about it.)
May 4: Hollenbeck's Spring Classic (maybe ~60 miles? local, low-key race)
May 10: Bristol Mountain RR (won this as a cat4, but p/1/2 field is very small...maybe not)
May 11: Bear Mountain Spring Classic (98 miles!...possibility)
May 17: Syracuse Race Weekend RR+TT (small field, may not be worth it)
May 18: Syracuse Race Weekend Crit OR North Stonington Classic (CT)
May 25: Downtown Hartford Crit (big race...but it's a crit...)
June 7: Balloon Festival Race (not a big race, so maybe not)
*June 14: Cyclonauts RR (56 miles last year...nice and reasonable)
*June 15: Housatonic Hills RR (81 miles- great race...great finish)
June 22: Owasco Flyer (easy local race to keep things going before Fitchburg)
*July 3-6: Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic (biggest race of the season)
July 12-13: Owasco Stage Race (small field for p/1/2...probably just take it easy after F-L)
*July 26: Tour of the Hilltowns (97 miles)
August 3: Central NH RR (64 miles, smaller field, maybe)
*August 8-10: Rochester Omnium (if they let small teams ride the p/1/2 race)
August 16: Concord Crit (probably required for the team)
*August 29-September 1: Green Mountain Stage Race (YEAH!)
then...CYCLOCROSS!
That adds up to be somewhere in the range of 35-40 races for the spring/summer, before any additional track days (whether single bike or tandem!). It's a good thing entry fees are covered for a lot of this...something tells me I won't be making money like I did last season.
With this tentative schedule, I should probably sit down and think about goals and training in specific for races like Fitchburg and GMSR...but I'm sure I probably won't ever get around to it. And I should also start riding more!
All for now.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Random picture
While looking at some random pics on my computer that I have from Tandem Track Nationals, I found this gem. It desperately needs a caption. Imagine what the fellow on the right is saying or thinking...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Prospect Race Weekend- part deux.
Suffice to say, I woke up very sore on Sunday morning. My entire back had suffered the effects of its only serious double poling since...last year. Typical lower back issues plus very sore rhomboids. But it was a skate race, so I knew I had a slightly better shot of turning in a decent finish. I've been told skating works the same leg muscle groups as cycling, and I was hoping that was indeed the case. Maybe I should consider myself a skate "specialist"?
I neglected to scrape my skis the night before, so that meant some last minute waxing before we left the house in the morning. I really have to start remembering that it's a lot more hectic having to deal with waxing on the day of the race. But procrastination always wins. Waking up at 6:15am was generally unpleasant, but overall the morning was pretty casual. The rest of the team left with a good amount of time to spare, while Molly and myself waited until the last reasonable minute. I wasn't in any rush to get to Prospect an hour early, and her race didn't start until 10am anyway.
This time I opted for straight Toko red LF glide, since I was anticipating slightly colder temperatures than those we saw on Saturday. I'm not really sure what the temperature ended up being, but I probably could have used the HFBD 8 again. Glide during the race seemed good given the conditions, so I suppose I made the correct, economical decision in the end.
The casual (or exhausted) nature of the morning continued, as I strolled out to warm-up...only to find that my two person wave was 1:30 from going off! I skied my 30m warmup to the line, stripped down, and soon found my boots hopelessly clumped with the wet, falling snow. In a last minute act of desperation, I pleaded for a later start...and it worked. I now had 10 minutes until I had to go. God bless the USCSA and their lack of formality.
While I was happy that I actually got to ski more than a few feet before my race, I realized starting at the back of the field would inevitably cause problems as well. It was snowing fairly heavily and the trail was soft to begin with, due to several inches of overnight accumulation. After the entire field had passed through, all the uphills were mashed potatoes. High-knee skating all the way! Not to mention that there would also be significantly more skiers to pass, given the late start.
I started out pretty well and immediately caught a handful of skiers on the flatter kilometers prior to Workout Hill. The snow was definitely pretty slow to further add difficulty to the race. Even though it was frustrating, I knew this would probably help my finish placing.
The first real issue came before the end of the first lap, as I began down the S-turn downhill that leads into the lodge area. Sufficient sliding had caused a berm to build up, which was nice...but it left a good amount of exposed ice in the middle of the turn. I took the left-hander well enough, but came down to the right hander to find a Clarkson skier had fallen right in the good line. Shit. I hit the ice, slid to the outside, over/through the powdery berm, and ate it pretty hard. I recall rolling over my pole, but managed to not break it in the process. Naturally I looked pretty professional going into the start/finish area, with a solid layer of snow covering my entire body. I definitely lost a fair amount of time there. Nothing like using good wax to save 5 seconds over 10k, when a hard fall on a fast downhill can cost you 20 seconds and a lot of speed.
I skied the second lap fairly well, save 3 incidents while trying to pass other skiers. The Prospect trails are just wide enough to convince the overtaken skier that they can continue to skate...but just narrow enough to make passing extremely precarious. I put my tip into the side of the trail each of these times, causing either minor spins, or complete washouts. I think I was 2/3 in washouts. These faults naturally compounded themselves, since the passed skier made it no easier the second time. [I'd like to note that when a really fast citizen racer passed me, I made the effort to double pole on the uphill. Empathy, people.]
In typical fashion, I fell on the icy turn again- this time solely because I'm still terrible at downhills. This trip was a bit less disastrous, though, so I think I could have only lost ~10s in the process. I dusted off, skied down to the field, and put in a pretty good finish kick- at least I could attempt to look competent, belying my downhill skiing ability. I finished strong enough, but I never really felt tapped...I still wish I could finish a race and be forced to collapse like so many World Cup skiers. I guess I could fake it and look ridiculous.
I ended up 4th- 10 seconds out of 3rd and 11 seconds out of 2nd. So yeah...falling cost me significant places. Not a big deal given that my finish placing doesn't matter, but somewhat annoying nonetheless. I think I was over a minute off Chad's pace, so I probably can't argue I lost that much time laying in the snow.
Sunday also featured the infamous 3-legged races and the distribution of highly inappropriate Valentine's Day fare. [Jordan and I think we could help you work on your double pole...] Molly and I skied to a win in our first heat, no doubt facilitated by our dispatch of the competition. The lesson?- DON'T GET IN OUR WAY. Sadly, we couldn't capitalize on our strongarm tactics a second time, and lost in the semi-finals to the eventual victors. But I feel it was a win nontheless, as we got out of standing around in the cold, and no equipment was broken in the process.
...so that was it, minus some detail. Oh yeah- I got an ice cream cone on the way back to Ithaca. What a weekend! I think I'll do one more weekend at Waterville Valley in a couple of weeks. Hopefully sans falling. But after that...it's time to ride.
I neglected to scrape my skis the night before, so that meant some last minute waxing before we left the house in the morning. I really have to start remembering that it's a lot more hectic having to deal with waxing on the day of the race. But procrastination always wins. Waking up at 6:15am was generally unpleasant, but overall the morning was pretty casual. The rest of the team left with a good amount of time to spare, while Molly and myself waited until the last reasonable minute. I wasn't in any rush to get to Prospect an hour early, and her race didn't start until 10am anyway.
This time I opted for straight Toko red LF glide, since I was anticipating slightly colder temperatures than those we saw on Saturday. I'm not really sure what the temperature ended up being, but I probably could have used the HFBD 8 again. Glide during the race seemed good given the conditions, so I suppose I made the correct, economical decision in the end.
The casual (or exhausted) nature of the morning continued, as I strolled out to warm-up...only to find that my two person wave was 1:30 from going off! I skied my 30m warmup to the line, stripped down, and soon found my boots hopelessly clumped with the wet, falling snow. In a last minute act of desperation, I pleaded for a later start...and it worked. I now had 10 minutes until I had to go. God bless the USCSA and their lack of formality.
While I was happy that I actually got to ski more than a few feet before my race, I realized starting at the back of the field would inevitably cause problems as well. It was snowing fairly heavily and the trail was soft to begin with, due to several inches of overnight accumulation. After the entire field had passed through, all the uphills were mashed potatoes. High-knee skating all the way! Not to mention that there would also be significantly more skiers to pass, given the late start.
I started out pretty well and immediately caught a handful of skiers on the flatter kilometers prior to Workout Hill. The snow was definitely pretty slow to further add difficulty to the race. Even though it was frustrating, I knew this would probably help my finish placing.
The first real issue came before the end of the first lap, as I began down the S-turn downhill that leads into the lodge area. Sufficient sliding had caused a berm to build up, which was nice...but it left a good amount of exposed ice in the middle of the turn. I took the left-hander well enough, but came down to the right hander to find a Clarkson skier had fallen right in the good line. Shit. I hit the ice, slid to the outside, over/through the powdery berm, and ate it pretty hard. I recall rolling over my pole, but managed to not break it in the process. Naturally I looked pretty professional going into the start/finish area, with a solid layer of snow covering my entire body. I definitely lost a fair amount of time there. Nothing like using good wax to save 5 seconds over 10k, when a hard fall on a fast downhill can cost you 20 seconds and a lot of speed.
I skied the second lap fairly well, save 3 incidents while trying to pass other skiers. The Prospect trails are just wide enough to convince the overtaken skier that they can continue to skate...but just narrow enough to make passing extremely precarious. I put my tip into the side of the trail each of these times, causing either minor spins, or complete washouts. I think I was 2/3 in washouts. These faults naturally compounded themselves, since the passed skier made it no easier the second time. [I'd like to note that when a really fast citizen racer passed me, I made the effort to double pole on the uphill. Empathy, people.]
In typical fashion, I fell on the icy turn again- this time solely because I'm still terrible at downhills. This trip was a bit less disastrous, though, so I think I could have only lost ~10s in the process. I dusted off, skied down to the field, and put in a pretty good finish kick- at least I could attempt to look competent, belying my downhill skiing ability. I finished strong enough, but I never really felt tapped...I still wish I could finish a race and be forced to collapse like so many World Cup skiers. I guess I could fake it and look ridiculous.
I ended up 4th- 10 seconds out of 3rd and 11 seconds out of 2nd. So yeah...falling cost me significant places. Not a big deal given that my finish placing doesn't matter, but somewhat annoying nonetheless. I think I was over a minute off Chad's pace, so I probably can't argue I lost that much time laying in the snow.
Sunday also featured the infamous 3-legged races and the distribution of highly inappropriate Valentine's Day fare. [Jordan and I think we could help you work on your double pole...] Molly and I skied to a win in our first heat, no doubt facilitated by our dispatch of the competition. The lesson?- DON'T GET IN OUR WAY. Sadly, we couldn't capitalize on our strongarm tactics a second time, and lost in the semi-finals to the eventual victors. But I feel it was a win nontheless, as we got out of standing around in the cold, and no equipment was broken in the process.
...so that was it, minus some detail. Oh yeah- I got an ice cream cone on the way back to Ithaca. What a weekend! I think I'll do one more weekend at Waterville Valley in a couple of weeks. Hopefully sans falling. But after that...it's time to ride.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Prospect Race Weekend- part one.
This past weekend I did my first and possibly only race weekend of the ski season at Prospect Mountain in VT. With no days on snow the previous week, very spotty snow prior, and a general lack of specific ski training all year, I knew it was going to be great...Actually...it wasn't that bad, all things considered.
Because of an Eastern Cup in the morning, the USCSA races were moved to 3pm, which I was a big fan of. Given that I usually train in the afternoons/evenings my body was probably more ready than it would be at, say, 9am. I'm never going to complain about the luxury of sleeping in. Additionally, the 3pm start meant that they had perfectly timed the beginning of a 15k classic race to coincide with the arrival of a heavy snow squall ...and the temperature was ~30F.
The night before I decided that I've had this eBay'd Swix HFBD 8 in my wax box for 3 years and haven't used it once...and it was finally warm enough to justify using such a glide wax. Using good wax - whether it helped or not - was pretty exciting. Even better was ironing fluoros in the unventilated basement...
The kick waxing was "easier" than expected, mostly due to my laziness and my ability to quickly settle the matter of kick versus glide. Spoiler alert: kick won. I went with Toko yellow, although I think Toko red would have been a more sensible choice. Why Toko over Swix? I'm not exactly sure, but for some reason I perceive using Toko to be like drinking a microbrew...it's often good stuff and it satisfies some desire to be esoteric/different. Although I guess I could have gone and used Rode or some other random wax to accomplish the same effect. I debated a little red over said yellow, but I knew I was going to be lazy and sloppy during the race, so I stuck with what what was sticking (altogether too much).
For once in my ski racing "career", I got a good course preview/warm-up in, skiing to the sound of Molly whining (haha) about how her kick wasn't working (on a Swix product, I might add). My kick was good, glide was ok (a bit draggy), and the tracks were temporarily decent, so I was pretty positive on the race. I was figuring a top 3 was a reasonable expectation.
Looking at the start list, I could see that Clarkson alum Chad Day started :30 seconds ahead and I had Matt Delaney following me by :30. In an ideal (read: unlikely) situation, Matt would eventually catch me and I would hang on for dear life as he dragged me up to Chad..or not. Since I had little expectation or chance of beating either of them, I hoped I could at least use them to pull me to a good time.
So yeah...the race.
Chad immediately skied out of sight and I never saw him until he was fully clothed and cheering me into the finish... Also, it seems Matt was having an off-day and most likely packed it in early. With each lap (3 in total) I could see the time gap slowly opening...generally not how this situation usually plays out. But maybe my lack of ski training had prepared me in some spectacular, unforeseen way? The only thing left to do during the race was actually count on pacing myself and skiing well. As usual with classic races, my striding was hurried and sloppy, and my transitions suffered mightily. As each double poling section ended, I entered my striding way too early and probably looked pretty dumb. I also may have looked dumb because I was wearing a cycling skinsuit with leg and arm warmers. But if you can't wear outrageous things, what's the point of racing anyway? After the first few kilometers I burned off my nerves, made the necessary adjustments, and began to ski like I guess I should. Translation: my lack of skiing caught up with me, and I was forced to slow down and relax.
I nailed some big positive splits...which may have been alright had my initial lap time been anything close to fast. I dug my hole and it just kept getting deeper. There was a fair amount of double poling, which my back was totally not prepared for...I know I definitely lost some time there. Also, despite the whole course being stride-able, save maybe one section, all the uphill tracks were destroyed as I came around after the first lap. Great. So the next couple laps were spent sliding through the powder in some hope that the former tracks would provide some kind of guidance.
I ended up 6th overall, I think, a few minutes off the winning pace and somewhat off my usual placing, relative to the skiers I knew. Not great, but what else could I have expected? Jim confirmed that training is all about specificity- something I never really thought about too much. It definitely put things in perspective though..it's not like I could run a sub-16:00 5k on cycling training, no matter how good I was feeling at the time. Sounds like a cop-out, but I think it really is true...and it makes me feel better about marginal results!
Naturally I followed the race with a 30 second cool down followed by some stylin' tele turns on the downhill slopes at Prospect. So yeah, that was cool.
Skate race report soon enough.
Because of an Eastern Cup in the morning, the USCSA races were moved to 3pm, which I was a big fan of. Given that I usually train in the afternoons/evenings my body was probably more ready than it would be at, say, 9am. I'm never going to complain about the luxury of sleeping in. Additionally, the 3pm start meant that they had perfectly timed the beginning of a 15k classic race to coincide with the arrival of a heavy snow squall ...and the temperature was ~30F.
The night before I decided that I've had this eBay'd Swix HFBD 8 in my wax box for 3 years and haven't used it once...and it was finally warm enough to justify using such a glide wax. Using good wax - whether it helped or not - was pretty exciting. Even better was ironing fluoros in the unventilated basement...
The kick waxing was "easier" than expected, mostly due to my laziness and my ability to quickly settle the matter of kick versus glide. Spoiler alert: kick won. I went with Toko yellow, although I think Toko red would have been a more sensible choice. Why Toko over Swix? I'm not exactly sure, but for some reason I perceive using Toko to be like drinking a microbrew...it's often good stuff and it satisfies some desire to be esoteric/different. Although I guess I could have gone and used Rode or some other random wax to accomplish the same effect. I debated a little red over said yellow, but I knew I was going to be lazy and sloppy during the race, so I stuck with what what was sticking (altogether too much).
For once in my ski racing "career", I got a good course preview/warm-up in, skiing to the sound of Molly whining (haha) about how her kick wasn't working (on a Swix product, I might add). My kick was good, glide was ok (a bit draggy), and the tracks were temporarily decent, so I was pretty positive on the race. I was figuring a top 3 was a reasonable expectation.
Looking at the start list, I could see that Clarkson alum Chad Day started :30 seconds ahead and I had Matt Delaney following me by :30. In an ideal (read: unlikely) situation, Matt would eventually catch me and I would hang on for dear life as he dragged me up to Chad..or not. Since I had little expectation or chance of beating either of them, I hoped I could at least use them to pull me to a good time.
So yeah...the race.
Chad immediately skied out of sight and I never saw him until he was fully clothed and cheering me into the finish... Also, it seems Matt was having an off-day and most likely packed it in early. With each lap (3 in total) I could see the time gap slowly opening...generally not how this situation usually plays out. But maybe my lack of ski training had prepared me in some spectacular, unforeseen way? The only thing left to do during the race was actually count on pacing myself and skiing well. As usual with classic races, my striding was hurried and sloppy, and my transitions suffered mightily. As each double poling section ended, I entered my striding way too early and probably looked pretty dumb. I also may have looked dumb because I was wearing a cycling skinsuit with leg and arm warmers. But if you can't wear outrageous things, what's the point of racing anyway? After the first few kilometers I burned off my nerves, made the necessary adjustments, and began to ski like I guess I should. Translation: my lack of skiing caught up with me, and I was forced to slow down and relax.
I nailed some big positive splits...which may have been alright had my initial lap time been anything close to fast. I dug my hole and it just kept getting deeper. There was a fair amount of double poling, which my back was totally not prepared for...I know I definitely lost some time there. Also, despite the whole course being stride-able, save maybe one section, all the uphill tracks were destroyed as I came around after the first lap. Great. So the next couple laps were spent sliding through the powder in some hope that the former tracks would provide some kind of guidance.
I ended up 6th overall, I think, a few minutes off the winning pace and somewhat off my usual placing, relative to the skiers I knew. Not great, but what else could I have expected? Jim confirmed that training is all about specificity- something I never really thought about too much. It definitely put things in perspective though..it's not like I could run a sub-16:00 5k on cycling training, no matter how good I was feeling at the time. Sounds like a cop-out, but I think it really is true...and it makes me feel better about marginal results!
Naturally I followed the race with a 30 second cool down followed by some stylin' tele turns on the downhill slopes at Prospect. So yeah, that was cool.
Skate race report soon enough.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Status quo.
It's been raining and well above freezing for the past few days, and anything resembling skiable snow is now gone...Being somewhat bored, I figured I'd update this thing and hopefully stir up some motivation in the process. We'll see if that comes by the conclusion of this entry...
Since I returned from the nordic heaven that is Mont Ste-Anne and we had our sprint "race" in VT, I've had only one decent day on snow- a ~3hr day at Salmon Hills two weekends ago with some of the Ithaca College crew. Days like that remind me why I love skiing and winter so much. I opted out of the last two USCSA weekends, due mainly to the quality of the racing, my lack of desire to drive, and a few other things that kept me in Ithaca. Skating was decent until a week or so ago, but my motivation to drive that far to trails quickly waned with the snow depth. Lately, a dusting of powder over a solid ice base provided some difficult classic at Hammond Hill, but I am sure that is gone following the rain. At the very least, the woods at HH were very picturesque for touring. Essentially, my "ski training" has consisted of milling around either Hammond or Connecticut Hill with my friend Molly in some attempt to delude ourselves that there is a season between autumn and spring. However, I've since been abandoned for the remainder of the winter, since apparently a semester in New Zealand is a more attractive option than crappy skiing in Ithaca...go figure, haha.
This coming weekend is the USCSA Clarkson Carnival at Prospect Mtn. in VT, and I'll be heading over to do that. This will possibly be my only "legitimate" ski race for the entire winter, which is kind of sad to admit. I've since scrapped plans to do the Gatineau 53k, due to lack of snow time and the outrageous price, courtesy of the US dollar. Prospect is also hosting an Eastern Cup race Saturday morning which I had initially thought about doing...but after further consideration (mainly the race entry + NENSA fee) I think I'll take the free race instead. I can also avoid getting stomped on by high school kids...
In addition to the sparse skiing and fueled by exercise addiction, about three days a week have been spent on the rollers in Barton Hall, or outside getting muddy on the cross bike. I much prefer the latter, although I'm sure the golf course crews don't. It's not the most fun to be training indoors so much, but using rollers and having the company definitely makes the time pass quicker. The ~2hr sessions usually consist of 15-30 minute intervals combined with pullups, core, and various other exercises to break the boredom. We also spend a fair amount of time screwing around with things like no-handed, one-legged pedaling while on the rollers. Or practicing trackstanding the tandem with Steve F.- if we can't be fast we have to at least look good at Tandem Sprint Nationals this summer.
The road season starts in a month or so, but I don't think I'll be racing in earnest until mid-to-late April. Tentatively, I plan on doing the Grant's Tomb Criterium for the Columbia race weekend in mid-March. It's probably really awesome to race in NYC which is really my only reason for considering it. Even if I don't do well, it'll be a good rust-buster and hopefully will get me more into crit racing. Plus, much of my family/friends have yet to witness the shitstorm that is a criterium. Just don't crash...
As for the rest of the season...I have no idea! I think some of it will be dictated by my commitment to the NorEast Cycling Team...probably means some racing in New Hampshire. I'm focusing on Fitchburg-Longsjo in early July and naturally the Green Mountain Stage Race, but one of the great luxuries of being a cat 2 is that I don't need to register for my entire summer season in January. With winter currently being the way it is, I'm really longing for the warm summer Tuesday nights spent racing with the FLCC. And then the crunch of leaves and crisp air of cyclocross. But let's not think too far ahead...
I'm sure I will soon update with the holy grail of blog entries- the pre-season goals assessment. I'm actually really curious to get it written down and look it over.
Things are finally looking up.
Since I returned from the nordic heaven that is Mont Ste-Anne and we had our sprint "race" in VT, I've had only one decent day on snow- a ~3hr day at Salmon Hills two weekends ago with some of the Ithaca College crew. Days like that remind me why I love skiing and winter so much. I opted out of the last two USCSA weekends, due mainly to the quality of the racing, my lack of desire to drive, and a few other things that kept me in Ithaca. Skating was decent until a week or so ago, but my motivation to drive that far to trails quickly waned with the snow depth. Lately, a dusting of powder over a solid ice base provided some difficult classic at Hammond Hill, but I am sure that is gone following the rain. At the very least, the woods at HH were very picturesque for touring. Essentially, my "ski training" has consisted of milling around either Hammond or Connecticut Hill with my friend Molly in some attempt to delude ourselves that there is a season between autumn and spring. However, I've since been abandoned for the remainder of the winter, since apparently a semester in New Zealand is a more attractive option than crappy skiing in Ithaca...go figure, haha.
This coming weekend is the USCSA Clarkson Carnival at Prospect Mtn. in VT, and I'll be heading over to do that. This will possibly be my only "legitimate" ski race for the entire winter, which is kind of sad to admit. I've since scrapped plans to do the Gatineau 53k, due to lack of snow time and the outrageous price, courtesy of the US dollar. Prospect is also hosting an Eastern Cup race Saturday morning which I had initially thought about doing...but after further consideration (mainly the race entry + NENSA fee) I think I'll take the free race instead. I can also avoid getting stomped on by high school kids...
In addition to the sparse skiing and fueled by exercise addiction, about three days a week have been spent on the rollers in Barton Hall, or outside getting muddy on the cross bike. I much prefer the latter, although I'm sure the golf course crews don't. It's not the most fun to be training indoors so much, but using rollers and having the company definitely makes the time pass quicker. The ~2hr sessions usually consist of 15-30 minute intervals combined with pullups, core, and various other exercises to break the boredom. We also spend a fair amount of time screwing around with things like no-handed, one-legged pedaling while on the rollers. Or practicing trackstanding the tandem with Steve F.- if we can't be fast we have to at least look good at Tandem Sprint Nationals this summer.
The road season starts in a month or so, but I don't think I'll be racing in earnest until mid-to-late April. Tentatively, I plan on doing the Grant's Tomb Criterium for the Columbia race weekend in mid-March. It's probably really awesome to race in NYC which is really my only reason for considering it. Even if I don't do well, it'll be a good rust-buster and hopefully will get me more into crit racing. Plus, much of my family/friends have yet to witness the shitstorm that is a criterium. Just don't crash...
As for the rest of the season...I have no idea! I think some of it will be dictated by my commitment to the NorEast Cycling Team...probably means some racing in New Hampshire. I'm focusing on Fitchburg-Longsjo in early July and naturally the Green Mountain Stage Race, but one of the great luxuries of being a cat 2 is that I don't need to register for my entire summer season in January. With winter currently being the way it is, I'm really longing for the warm summer Tuesday nights spent racing with the FLCC. And then the crunch of leaves and crisp air of cyclocross. But let's not think too far ahead...
I'm sure I will soon update with the holy grail of blog entries- the pre-season goals assessment. I'm actually really curious to get it written down and look it over.
Things are finally looking up.
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