Penn State Weekend...

...AKA why you shouldn't race when you aren't ready to...

This past weekend we headed down to State College for the PSU races...and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. I know it shouldn't matter since it's still early in the season and I haven't been consistently riding, but it's still really hard to deal with not performing to your expectations. But I have a legitimate excuse, right? Up to this point, I have ridden outside maybe a handful of times outside of racing, and I haven't ridden anything longer than a casual 55 miler a couple weeks ago. So I really shouldn't expect much...but I do.

Saturday was a very hilly 3lap, 64 mile road race in and around Black Moshannon Park, just north of State College. I should note that this was shortened from the original distance of 86 miles- a welcome change. I don't imagine too many other racers were looking forward to a fourth trip around that course. Here's the course profile (clearer when you click on it):


About 30 riders lined up for the A race at noon. Right out of the start, 3 riders went on a breakaway. That would not have been my strategy for this race. In any case, one of them came back to us within a few kilometers. Now the peloton was in third position on the road.

As you can see from the profile, there's a fairly significant descent 4 miles in. Earlier in the day, a rider had to be airlifted because he crashed on the descent...and I was almost another casualty of the race course. As we crested the slight gradient, I was positioned in the first third of the field, eager to not get gapped on the downhill and subsequently dropped on the flats following. Being light sure helps when you're going up, but is a disaster for long, windy descents.

We got our speed up to probably 50+mph on the drop and the field strung out in a line as we picked our way through the sweeping turns. About halfway down, my bike started to develop a rather significant and unnerving shimmy- the death wobble. My wheels are round/true, so I'm not sure what caused the resonance, aside from perhaps the road surface and gusting winds. I clamped the top tube with my legs and weighted my saddle more, but the wobble began to increase to the point that I knew I had to slow down to get my bike back under control. Unfortunately, braking does not rectify the issue and only worsens the situation until you finally get your speed low enough. For a good 20-30 seconds both my wheels were pitching rather wildly from side to side before I got control again. Given the distinct possibility of crashing at more than 50+mph, I stayed pretty calm. A year ago, I don't know what would have happened if I were put in the same situation. More than a few riders passed me here, eager to get out from behing "that guy."

I was happy to not be on the pavement, but I was also in the unenviable position of being shot out the rear of the field when we hit the flats. 2 minutes of pushing 53x12/13 finally brought me back on, though. I was safe for the moment. Unfortunately, lacking a proper warm-up and only 2-3 miles of steady riding before the descent, my legs were not exactly prepared to do that kind of effort, and I was already feeling it. Not good. As I integrated myself back into the field, I remarked that if my bike is going to do that on every descent I was going to DNF, regardless of my position in the race.

Two smaller climbs followed, which don't look that significant on the profile, but definitely softened up your legs. If you're familiar with the Ithaca area, think of the climb up Hurd Hill off of Ellis Hollow. A couple riders got on the front and drove the pace, but no real separation occurred. The pack was still intact as we hit the big climb for the first time.

As you can see from the profile, the climb starts at about 1000ft of elevation and goes up to 2440ft over the course of 6-7 miles. Not that steep on the whole (and no App Gap), but this was one hell of an ascent. The climbers took control at the front and drove it pretty quickly up the mountain. It wasn't extremely hard, but I was working quite a bit...and wishing I had the legs I had at Owasco/GMSR. I stayed in third or fourth wheel, ready to mark any accelerations (in theory). Luckily there were no real attacks- the purpose of this trip up the mountain was to shed the non-climbers. We came over the top with our field down to 15 riders. We were also alerted that the two riders up the road had a 5 minute gap at this point. No one seemed all that interested, though.

As we hit the rollers approaching the lap/start/finish a few deer ran out into the road, almost taking out the Princeton rider and our subsequent paceline. As if sketchy descents weren't enough to deal with...

The second lap was pretty uneventful, and my bike didn't develop the shimmy on any of the descent. This was certainly an improvement. When we weren't climbing, the peloton held a decidedly casual pace, which was really nice. These guys know how to ride! I took the time to eat half a Clif Bar and a Gu, and drained most of my water bottle before the second time up the mountain.

Our second time up was very much the same quick pace, but this time we didn't lose anyone. My legs felt slightly better (e.g. I was finally warmed up), but it still wasn't getting what I hoped from them. (I seem to be lacking any sort of power at the moment.) Given that we weren't dropping anyone, this trip up probably only served to cut the gap to the two leaders up the road. We began the climb with the 5 minute deficit and came to the top only 3 minutes back.

The last lap went pretty much the same as the first two...until the climbs came. I could start to feel a fair amount of fatigue creeping into my legs as I would get out of the saddle. Without the ability to stand, long climbs are far less pleasant and it's difficult to mark any accelerations. Interestingly enough, the fatigue started to happen around the 50 mile mark- roughly the length of my longest ride to date (hmmmm). For the moment though, the climbs weren't that quick, so I didn't have any trouble staying with the group. I also had to pee really badly, but couldn't muster anything while trying to go at 20mph. I can't wait to actually do that...

As we rolled up the final climb the usual suspects took control of the front, but this time the field strung out quicker than usual. I was beginning to have a fair amount of difficulty matching the pace and was finding myself choosing smaller gears than I normally would be using, given the gradients. I began to lose concentration and found myself staring at the wheel in front...not noticing that a group of 8 riders was significantly gapping us ahead. As I tried to stand and close the gap, it felt like my quads were going to tear off my femur and I was forced to sit down and take up another gear. They pulled away further. I tried my best to stay with the small groups that were left in their wake, but it just didn't last. As we came over the top I made an attempt to stay with a couple UNH riders that were slowly moving past; I stayed on their wheels for about 10 seconds. It was just not happening.

I venture that the last 5 miles of the race were some of my worst on a bicycle. I was completely bonked and went into survival mode. The combination of not riding combined with probably minimalist nutrition really added up and shot me down pretty quickly. However, out of our group of 15, I was still maintaining 12th or 13th place. I figured I could maybe hold on until the finish and get a top 15 placing. But damn, those effing rollers- every subsequent one killed me more. One by one, I got passed by riders who fell off the group earlier. As I finally came to the last downhill, I got passed by the last rider from our original group, Fissel from Delaware. Usually both strong climbers, it seems we both hit the wall pretty bad on that last time up. Luckily all that was left was a cruising downhill and a flat 300m run into the finish. I limped it home for 17th place overall. Still good for points on the day, but I felt like I had just came DFL. Talk about decent motivation to get me out there riding more...

Mtb Adventures

Have you ever read one of those Bicycling magazine (or any other for that matter) articles where they give you "tips and tricks" for on the road/trail problems? Well...

As I recall, it happened like this:
1. Head up a hill/wall that doesn't look as steep as you think,
2. Attempt a ring shift, but there's too much tension on the drivetrain to allow it,
3. Shift back to where you were,
4. Stand up, weight back
5. Break chain
6. Fall over, smashing kneecap on top tube in the process.

My first broken chain while mountain biking (or ever for that matter)! Intelligently, I had neither a spare chain pin, chain tool, or even my cell phone with me. And a titanium mtb frame is very hard/strong, so my knee wasn't feeling so great. BUT...I had once read an article somewhere that said you could "limp the bike home by using a stick/etc. as a chain pin." ALRIGHT, crisis averted! (Editor's Note: I think I read an article to that nature somewhere at sometime, but maybe I'm just imagining it all, in which case my whole point here is tragically flawed.)

Yeah...that DOES NOT WORK. I don't know what kind of sticks they had lying around where the article's author broke their chain, but I can't imagine any trailside material (except scrap metal) able to withstand the double shear present in a chain. Has anybody actually ever gotten that to work???

I tried several different types of tiny sticks (mostly live, since they wouldn't be as brittle), each failing as miserably as the last. Even in a stupid small gear (22x34) it would break with the slightest force on the pedals. I also scoured the random piles of garbage (ah, Long Island), attempting to use a ballpoint pen tip before I gave up, lowered my seat, and scooter'd my bike several miles out to the trailhead. The pen tip kind of worked, except I couldn't shave it down enough to make it through the derailleur pulleys. Ratcheting the cranks was far more annoying than looking stupid and scootering.

Lesson learned...always bring a chain tool when mountain biking.

Columbia Grant's Tomb Criterium

3rd update today...
I think I'm finally almost up to date on my race reports...having only raced one day this past weekend makes catching up a much more manageable task.

This past weekend we started spring break, which was great since I could go home and then take the Long Island Rail Road into the city for the race on Saturday. Certainly the strangest way I've ever gone to a race. And since I'm not the "spring break type", racing and lots of riding is pretty much all I do this week.

Being on my own schedule also meant that I finally didn't have to wake up at 6am only to wait around for 8 hours until my own race! I ended up taking a 9:40 train, which meant I got to sleep until almost 9am. Not too bad...

Anthony and I sandwiched our bikes in the handicapped stall of the LIRR train and headed into Penn Station, getting in a little past 11am. Up to this point, I still had not eaten. This was partially my plan, but it was more caused by my morning rush than anything else. I suppose I should have eaten earlier, since it's probably not a good idea to be starving 2 hrs prior to your race. Whatever, I could eat Gu's.

Anthony went to an ATM while I watched the bikes outside an Au Bon Pain, my intended breakfast stop. Before I knew it, I was engaged by one of Penn Station's gregarious beggars, eager for handouts. He began the conversation by asking about the bikes...he knew my weakness! I can't resist a good bicycle chat. This particular fellow was asking for a juice- he said it'd be great if I could get it while I got my food. If I had some spare change, I might have surrendered it...but a juice??? That ain't cheap, guy. Anthony rescued me by feigning urgency to get up to the race...I was temporarily saved, but I couldn't get any of the good looking stuff inside. Dunkin Donuts would have to suffice.

We headed down the corridor to DD, and I got my typical pre-race bagel/muffin/juice...then from out of nowhere, that guy showed up again! He must have followed us on down, at which point he called bullshit on our "rush" and gave us another sob story before we just blew him off and headed on our way. I always feel guilty when these guys beg, but damn...don't be a pest.

Anyway...

We had about 90 blocks to ride to get up to Grant's Tomb, which wouldn't have been so bad if we had gotten any green lights. I wasn't averse to running the lights, but I didn't want to lose Anthony in the fairly heavy traffic. I also didn't want to die en route to the race by being reckless. Save recklessness for the racing! We eventually made it up there, with about an hour to spare. I usually like to get there a little earlier and get settled, but I pretty much had already done a decent warm-up, so that was fine by most accounts.

I quickly downed the bagel and muffin, along with a vanilla Gu chaser (best flavor, hands down) before I set to spinning on the rollers. About 20m away Josh Lipka (FiordiFrutta rider) was warming up with the other UNH folks, which spurred the topic of how he did some computrainer TT at an insane average power of 420W...most people in the A field knew they were in for it whenever he decided to use said power...

The race started out with a relatively small field of 29, which was great since it allowed a fair amount of moving around in the pack. You really couldn't get trapped and be unable to respond to a move. Also, the course was very non-technical, with a long, slightly uphill stretch to the start/finish area where you could make significant progress on the outsides without much difficulty. If there was a crit course for me, this was it.

The first few laps were unremarkable, as small half-hearted attacks came and went pretty quickly. As usual, I stalked the back of the field. On about the 4th or 5th time through the the start/finish, a few of the bigger names of the ECCC got a little antsy and started to make some definitive moves toward the front. There were maybe a handful of riders at about 50m from the field when I began the bridge. Apparently Lipka had the same idea, but his bridging effort was far more impressive as he came by me and closed the gap with all too much ease. I eventually made the jump, but I also brought the entire field with me. Within half a lap, everyone was together again.

The usual cat and mouse/resting ensued, and not much happened for a few laps before two riders made a strong jump that I didn't even see. What I did see, however, was a Columbia rider shoot up the right side, along with a couple UVM riders on the left. Again, I made the effort to get into that break. This time it stuck.

The gap opened fairly quickly and we got into a pretty efficient rotation in only a short amount of time. Our small group was composed of the aforementioned three, plus myself and a UNH rider. I was happy to see the UNH/UVM riders with me, because it meant that neither team would do any significant work to pull us back. This definitely had the makings of the move. We just had a loooooooong way to go. I recall seeing 15 laps to go at one point, but I think that was already several laps into our breakaway. We had to stay smooth and keep working together if we were going to stay away.

Luckily everyone did their part, although the UVM riders shared the responsibility of being dead weight and not pulling through. While one pulled, the other consistently remained last wheel in the group. It was kind of annoying, but that's part of it all. Spectators kept us informed of the gaps...unfortunately the two in front were opening up a little bit on each lap. I guess we could have expected that. We weren't exactly killing ourselves and there didn't seem to be any urgency to make the catch anyway. Oh yeah, and Lipka bridged up to us with a solo effort with probably 10 laps to go. Must be nice to be able to do whatever you want in a race. He provided the group with some additional rest and horsepower, so his company was more than welcome.

Our breakaway- note that I chose the outside line so that pedaling through the turn could make up for my lack of inertia. It also afforded me the risk of clipping a pedal at 30mph...

With about 5 laps to go, I got a little paranoid and looked back to see the field ~30 seconds back...they weren't there previously(!). Luckily we were close enough to the finish at this point that we would survive, barring unforeseen tragedy. I think the others realized this as well and we began to ride with a little more purpose. As we headed into the final kilometer, little efforts started to break up the group, and I came out of the final turn with last wheel. I probably should have attempted to maintain more contact with the front, but I didn't want to go too early and blow up. As such, Lipka and the Columbia rider were too far ahead coming into the final sprint. As we rolled up the gentle incline to the finish I shut my eyes and put my head down, hoping that I could pick off at least a few of these guys. I stood up, applied my meager power, and went for it along the right side, passing the two UVM riders and coming just short in the race for 5th. I'd like to think that given a few more meters I could have made it past him. In any case, I was really happy with my 6th place. In a crit, no less! Once I actually start to consistently ride, I feel like good things could happen this season. I should really start working on that...

Older News- Philly Phlyer (Circuit Race)

There was ample time between the TTT and the 31 mile circuit race, but having pulled our team for 8 miles I wasn't sure how my legs would recover for the afternoon. Whatever.

Following the TTT we went to a bagel "shoppe" (very Collegetown Bagels atmosphere) for lunch. I'm not sure a Reuben was the best between-race meal, but it was pretty damn good. And I never felt bad later on, so it couldn't have been too ill-advised. Getting there, however, involved a whole bunch of driving through West Philadelphia (oh my) before we crossed this one street and it instantly turned into one of the wealthiest neighborhoods I've ever seen. The transition was unreal.

The circuit race started off well, as some rider screwed up clipping in, swerved to the left, and took out a handful of riders not 5 meters into the race. Well done. As usual, I positioned myself at the back, ready to bear the consequences of the accordion effect made even greater by the large field size. A couple attacks went up the road, and I was neither willing nor able to make any sort of effort to join them. The headwind kept the field close and spread from the gutter to the yellow line. If you weren't in the front couple lines, there was nothing you could do about any attacks. Even then, there was no element of surprise when everyone in the field could see you winding up to make the break.

The first couple laps went by without any incident, and the two small hills on course presented a new challenge, as I got to see the sprinter-types small ringing up the pedestrian inclines. I presume they were saving their legs, but I still can't wait until we get to do some real climbing. I'm tired of getting crapped on in the final meters of these flat races.

In any case, I decided that a pack finish without any earnest attack would make the day kind of a failure, so I went for a solo break halfway through lap 3. I probably should have attacked earlier on the "hill", given how much distance I gained in only a short amount of actual ascent. As I crested the top, I looked back to check the gap. Despite the impending headwinds, I kept it pinned. Maybe they would get lazy and I could get away? Probably not, but worth a shot.

At times I opened the gap wider and could begin to see the tail end of the initial breakaway. If only I had others with me, or I had insane power on tap I possibly could have bridged. As I came through the start/finish I got Cornell some "press" over the PA as the announcer called out the riders passing through. Not long after this, I was joined by 3 other riders. Was this going to be the help I needed to close that gap to the front? No. No, it wasn't.

We didn't work together well at all and before not too long the field swallowed us up on the flat section along the river. Almost instantly, attacks shot off and we were clinging to the tail end of the peloton as it strung out in a line. Luckily the attempts were half-hearted and the field made the catch and backed off the pace rather quickly. It seemed that for the moment the failed solo break wouldn't be the death of me.

The remainder of the race went by without any further incident, as the field kept the pace under control and reigned in any other attacks. The speed on the inclines was higher than before, but nothing to cry about. We never did catch the initial breakaway group of ~10 (I think) and it ended up being a bunch sprint for the remainder of the placings. I tried to stand up and go, but it just wasn't happening. Too much effort prior, and too few fast twitch muscle fibers conspired against me having a respectable final sprint. I sat up and rolled in for another unremarkable pack finish. But at least I made it interesting for a little while; I was happy about that.

Grant's Tomb Criterium report soon enough.

Older news- Philly Phlyer (Saturday + TTT)

From two weekends ago-

Once again we left Ithaca in a snowstorm...when you're leaving for a bike race in a snowstorm, it's probably a reasonable assumption that you are an idiot who shouldn't be racing so soon in the season. But that's us. Luckily this time the snow changed over to rain so that we could make the drive in a decent time. So that's improvement over Rutgers' weekend right there!

Saturday's race was a moderately hilly 15 mile loop that A's were supposed to do 3 times. There was a lot of build up about the hills, so I was excited that this could be a race to make a move that would stick. All that talk for nothing...

The D classes got to ride the course at 8am in a moderate rain before the real weather system came rolling in and began washing out the course. Before it got really bad, the climbers drove the loop to find both the uphills/attack points and the apparently dangerous downhill turns; several of our riders slid out on the smooth/wet pavement during the race. It was a fun looking course- the hills weren't as bad as everyone made them sound, but the downhills were a whole other story. There were more than a handful of >90 degree turns at the bottom of fairly significant descents and a lot of very sharp bends in the road. I really wished I had disc brakes on my road bike, knowing how ineffective sidepulls were going to be...

As it turned out, the course preview was a waste of time and gas. About an hour later, the officials cancelled the road race and changed it to a downtown criterium in Phoenixville. Apparently a lot of mud was washing onto the roads...right in those tricky corners and descents...they don't want us to have any fun! I decided that the rain combined with the crappy course made this a lose-lose situation for me. The benefit:risk ratio wasn't there, so I didn't race and instead rode the rollers and stayed dry. There wasn't any carnage in the A race, but it just didn't look fun- I think I made the right decision.

On Sunday, we woke up to much better weather (save the wind), but much colder temperatures. The weather channel was reporting 30 with a windchill of 18. I was thinking some sort of blue or violet wax would be kicking today...oh wait. Damn.

The lineup for the day was a 8.4 mile team time trial followed later in the day by a circuit race around much of the same course. Unfortunately, the TTT meant that I had to race before 9am...what the hell!?!? But I was excited to use my disc wheel and my other stupid aero equipment, so I think that made it marginally more tolerable.

The Cornell A class TTT was, in a word: a disaster. We kind of assumed that we all had enough experience to know how to paceline together. That was a crucial mistake. Right out of the start we got a little separated in a semi-technical downhill section. Steve let it run while I was serving as sweeper. Ben was a little hesitant in the downhill turns, so we had little gaps open up in our team. I wasn't too worried though...we'd get it under control when we hit the flat/straight sections, right?

Wrong. Our rotation was either slow or non-existent and by the first turnaround (<2 miles in) we dropped our fourth rider, Jake. He's a strong rider, so I don't know how we managed that. In any case, the time is recorded on the third finisher, so we made the decision to go on without him. As we pulled out of the roundabout, we got blasted with a headwind that would end up causing problems for the entire day. I pushed it pretty hard to fight the wind...and ended up gapping Steve and Ben by 20m or so before I realized it. So I sat up a bit to wait. Once they were back on my wheel, I picked it up again...and gapped them again. Hmmm. I should really re-think my strategy here.

As it turned out, Steve was in pain from both his knee and his hands freezing to the aero bars, and Ben was just having an off day. So I ended up pulling them for 85-90% of the race and possibly sacrificing a bit of my own race for later. It wasn't too bad- I just settled into an honest pace and kept it even, checking the shadows to see if they were still in tow. Tiny gaps opened here and there, but overall we started to work a little bit better. As the finish approached, we actually started to rotate leads and look like a semi-competent unit. I imagine if we had a few more miles, we could have beaten Team CSC with our precision...

I think our finish was fairly indicative of the problems we had, but we certainly weren't the slowest team on the day. We just need more practice and I think we'll be in the points next time.

New kits for Cornell Cycling

It was a long time in design and production, but they arrived last Friday, right before we left for Philadelphia. From the start, these jerseys were very polarizing, but the response so far has been overwhelmingly positive from both Cornell riders and from the rest of the peloton. Best kit in the ECCC? Maybe not everyone's favorite, but definitely the most unique.


(All the graphics actually lineup across seams and pockets, although my picture doesn't seem to reflect that)

Rutgers Weekend, the circuit race

Another day of getting up at 6am to ferry bikes over to the start so that the D's could race. I do really miss getting sleep on weekends. But hey, that's what the weekdays are for, right?

After dropping off said bikes, we piled into another car and headed to breakfast at IHOP. We came hungry and left happy. We also beat the hungry Christians to breakfast...at 10am that place had a line out the door when church must have let out. While it sucks having to get up so early, it's great racing in the afternoon because you can eat anything you want for breakfast...including a stack of pancakes, bacon, and three eggs!

I waited around for an eternity before our race got underway. This was arguably my first pack race of the season, since my single lap in Saturday's criterium doesn't really count as anything significant. It really is remarkable how well the A field rides in comparison to the others. They're so smooth through turns and it's actually comfortable to take a turn at speed with these guys.

The first few laps were pretty uneventful, but that soon changed...

There was a significant amount of rough pavement on the lower section of the course that had the field riding all over the place and into the left hand (on-coming) lane. I was getting pretty jarred from hitting the mostly unavoidable potholes and linear cracks. Penn State rider Adam was allegedly grabbing his water bottle when he stacked it really hard. Someone said he hit a bump while reaching and wedged the bottle between his front wheel and downtube or something similar. Luckily I was far enough way to avoid him, his bike, and the offending beverage vessel. However, the slowdown at the rear of the field caused a small gap to open that I had to work fairly hard to close. This gap shed fellow Cornellian, Cameron, who had previously done a lot of work at the front of the field in small attacks. Another unfortunate incident befallen Cornell riders. But in consideration of what happened to Adam, it's an insignificant matter at best.

On the next lap, the field passed Adam as he was being waiting for the ambulance, lying on the ground. This caused a significant change in the tone of the race. If we were being "safe" before, everyone was extra careful now. Seeing something like that really puts it all in perspective. It's not worth the risks some people take. In any case, on the next time through, race marshals halted the race and told us to return to the start/finish area so that EMS could get access.

The 20 minute stoppage in the race allowed the whole field to start fresh (including Cameron) so that changed the race quite a bit. Additionally, the course was diverted to go around the area of the accident. I don't know why they didn't do that in the first place. As we started up again, you could hear everyone groaning about their legs. At least I wasn't the only one.

The remaining laps were fairly uneventful...until the last one. Up to this point, the sprinters controlled the race as they sent teammates to the front to neutralize any attacks. As we came through for the bell lap, it became even more evident this was going to be a 35 person pack sprint. Great!...ugh.

Cameron took advantage of the slow pace and shot off on a solo break. The field took some attention, but did little more than let him dangle 20m off the front of the field. He held it for 3/4 of the lap before he was joined by a couple others. In the meantime, I was marking a couple guys I knew to have a good turn of speed in the finishing sprint. Perhaps I could ride their wheels to a decent finish???

Turns out that plan changed quickly. As we hit the last right hand turn onto the finishing stretch, I was sitting fourth or fifth wheel. I nailed the inside line, stood up, and went for it...at 800m from the line! I knew this was a suicide move at its finest, but I wanted to be out front of anything that could happen as riders set up for the sprint. Initially I opened up a small gap that Cameron seemed to think would stick. Ha! I knew it wasn't to last, but I gave it the gas anyway. Cornell riders may not be smart, but they're crazy! I was that poor soul you see in pro races hanging 10m off the group, with the impending doom of the peloton bearing down on him.

I looked back at 600m to go and found the entire field strung out behind me. I was the leadout man for a 35 person finishing sprint! I thought about swinging clear across the road so that I could get out of the way since my legs were fried. I then thought better about it and just held my line straight. With 200m to go, I got swarmed by every rider in the field as they came around me in every conceivable direction. Just hold your line and you'll be fine...and I was. I let the entire field pass and then rolled in a few seconds after. Not too bad. I couldn't care less about my finishing spot in a race like that, especially when I haven't ridden for more than an hour (or even outside) in several months. And I can't sprint anyway... But that was a ton of fun- I can't wait to do it practically every weekend from now until September. Ahh, bike racing...

WHERE ARE THE HILLS?!?!