Why haven't I made a blog post lately? Because racing sucks.
And the recap:
Portland Plaza Rules Committee: Voted in favor of keeping the rules the same and not allowing bicycles in the elevator and thus residents' units. And I didn't raise a big enough stink about it.
Ironclad Crit: Won two primes, but then the final lap someone else pulled my same move for the win and then I got lectured for being dangerous (which was deserved).
Brad Lewis Crit: Won two primes again, but then "Sofa King" won the race and a pair of ZIPPs.
Tabor: Psyche! Tabor is all done for the season. Hustled over there and then it wasn't happening. Then I went to pump my tire and the valve came off.
New Carbon Wheels: Stayed past my bedtime numerous nights to see my new carbon wheels come to being.
Cascade Lakes: Attacked got swallowed, attacked got swallowed. Putzed around with the filed until the final climb and then didn't hang on. Not a bad finish, but probably coulda done better.
TT: A minute 15 late for my start. And then got passed by 2 more people. Didn't realize tubulars lose air like crazy so was probably riding at 40psi.
Crit: Nipped for a prime, stuck behind a clusterfrack on the final lap.
Awbrey Butte: Had a great technique of hillclimbing against a pathetic field where a break never materialized. Final lap we alleycatted our way past stopped cars on the course while going downhill, then raced thru a final roundabout that had kids on cruiser bikes going thru it and then I was smack dab on the front with 400 to go and knew I was screwed. I completely gave up and floated back so hard that some guy rammed into me, snapped my deraileur hanger in half, gashed my rear tire and gashed up my new carbon wheel that had been ridden for the third time ever. I drug his bike for about 50 meters while staying upright.
And then Randy won the Tacoma fantasy Tour de France mini-league. Someone kill me and put me out of my misery now. Thanks.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Being Average Sucks
So it was another Tuesday, another PIR. Feeling all right I did the usual: go with a bunch of attacks and attack a bunch myself. And again as usual, I always seemed to attack at the wrong time and got zero points and an average field finish.
Another Wednesday another Mt. Tabor. At this race my secret weapon of swapping out my compact chainring for a normal chainring coupled with my 11/21 cassette sucked the climb out of me. I was barely hanging on in the climbs and got dropped so so hard in the final sprint. Ugh.
Another weekend another set of races. This time in Bend. This time an omnium. Saturday was the crit and I was feeling meh at best. My strategy was to make sure that DeMoe wouldn't win for the third time in a row. I set myself up for a prime with 2 to go and nearly got it with 2 to go. Then DeMoe launched, but then pulled an Evan and pedal-striked and crashed out himself and 5 other chasers. But after the prime sprint I had nothing for the final sprint.
Then there was the time trial where I whipped out another secret weapon, a skinsuit. I ended up getting 11th and midpack which is decent, but again nipped by 7 seconds out of omnium points. At the time I was happy that nobody passed me, but damn I need a full TT setup.
And for the final mundane race of the week, the road race. It's been a while since I've done 60 miles. And again, attack, get caught follow attack, get swallowed, are we at the sprint yet? Get myself to the front of the train for the sprint and get passed to get 12th. 0 omnium points for the weekend. Then, chose between either a frustrated Mindy for not having won in a while either or a pissed off "did-I-seriously-just-crash-because-of-someone-doing-a-power-bike-throw-stretch-in-front-of-me?" Brian to ride with back to Portland. Mindy assigned me to Brian's van.
Another Wednesday another Mt. Tabor. At this race my secret weapon of swapping out my compact chainring for a normal chainring coupled with my 11/21 cassette sucked the climb out of me. I was barely hanging on in the climbs and got dropped so so hard in the final sprint. Ugh.
Another weekend another set of races. This time in Bend. This time an omnium. Saturday was the crit and I was feeling meh at best. My strategy was to make sure that DeMoe wouldn't win for the third time in a row. I set myself up for a prime with 2 to go and nearly got it with 2 to go. Then DeMoe launched, but then pulled an Evan and pedal-striked and crashed out himself and 5 other chasers. But after the prime sprint I had nothing for the final sprint.
Then there was the time trial where I whipped out another secret weapon, a skinsuit. I ended up getting 11th and midpack which is decent, but again nipped by 7 seconds out of omnium points. At the time I was happy that nobody passed me, but damn I need a full TT setup.
And for the final mundane race of the week, the road race. It's been a while since I've done 60 miles. And again, attack, get caught follow attack, get swallowed, are we at the sprint yet? Get myself to the front of the train for the sprint and get passed to get 12th. 0 omnium points for the weekend. Then, chose between either a frustrated Mindy for not having won in a while either or a pissed off "did-I-seriously-just-crash-because-of-someone-doing-a-power-bike-throw-stretch-in-front-of-me?" Brian to ride with back to Portland. Mindy assigned me to Brian's van.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Tactical Battles
For a while now, I have felt like my fitness is something of a question mark in terms of whether I have enough of it to win. However, after this week I'm thinking that I do have the fitness but am lacking in the tactical game of mine and perhaps haven't just lucked out really well in a while.
PIR
On Monday I was doing an easy ride and broke a spoke on a wheel that Cliff loaned to me. This is just crazy how frequently I break stuff. I really need to do something about it. I was able to get another loaner wheel (this time a team wheel and not Cliff's) from Cliff again. We headed down to PIR. I was kind of taking my time to get ready and ended up missing the start of the 123 field. I was chasing in TT mode for a full two laps but eventually made it which impressed myself. As has happened before at recent PIRs, a break started forming which I happened to be in again. However this time I just got so bored of being in breaks and really wanted to focus on my group sprinting skills so I soft pedaled my way back to the field and even considered chasing back the break, but the field was able to. However, I still wasn't able to get the sweet spot for the group sprint so it was a bit frustrating.
Portland Plaza bicycle policy update
On Wednesday the Portland Plaza HOA met for their monthly meeting. A lot was on the agenda and the items were pretty cool - the paneling on the outside of the building was being replaced for the first time since it was built I believe and with the new material it was going to make the building 98,000 pounds lighter! However, the reason I was there was to protest the bicycle policy of course. I brought up the issue and it was bantered about for a bit. The main resistance against the building changing the rules was simply that they didn't want to change the rules. This made me feel a lot of empathy for a rather extreme bit similar comparison to people who opposed things like civil rights and in modern times gay marriage. While being a bicyclist isn't as life-defining as those issues I'm sure that those other parties really had to go through (and still do) the same kind of bullshit of people in power (or not) who resist changing human-made rules that severely impede on the pursuit of happiness of those that it affects while in the end imposing the rule has very little benefit and/or avoids small or mitigable negative consequences to those who try to keep the rules rules. I'm sure I have some items that I'm to blame for being that bad person I'm describing, but I am hopeful that the world and myself will change for the better.
Anyways, the issue of the bike policy did make it to the rules committee without riots, protests or Malcom X style advocacy.
Swan Island
And now back to racing at Swan Island (or not really Swam Island, but close enough!) which is the crit that Guinness Cycling Team puts on each year. I had practice-rode the course before, but the finish line turned out to be in a different place than I had expected. For I believe the first time this year on a weekend race, I was racing with 3 other teammates in the field. Two of them were from OSU I believe and another I've seen at PIR. It's kind of strange seeing racers showing up at these racers wearing your kit and yet you've never met them. All I knew is that at least one of the OSU guys was strong.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to edit this post and take out a big gripe and ensuing gossip-magazine material that I wrote about a move a teammate made that I was not happy with. However, I'm happy to say that our team is working it out and will have better communication next time.
What I do when there aren't races on a 3-day weekend
Two part answer:
1. Ride my bicycle
2. Slack off
So on Sunday I spent a decent part of the day hanging out with my team leader Dave Klipper and friends. I love people who are characters and Dave is one for sure in a way that brings joy to my heart. He helps me out a lot discussing tactical things, scores deals for our team, helps me work on my bike and will say some very absurdly inappropriate yet hillarious remarks at least once a day. And with the help of Dave and his crew, I've found a secret weapon (or two) that I'm about to unleash on everyone this coming week. Stay posted.
PIR
On Monday I was doing an easy ride and broke a spoke on a wheel that Cliff loaned to me. This is just crazy how frequently I break stuff. I really need to do something about it. I was able to get another loaner wheel (this time a team wheel and not Cliff's) from Cliff again. We headed down to PIR. I was kind of taking my time to get ready and ended up missing the start of the 123 field. I was chasing in TT mode for a full two laps but eventually made it which impressed myself. As has happened before at recent PIRs, a break started forming which I happened to be in again. However this time I just got so bored of being in breaks and really wanted to focus on my group sprinting skills so I soft pedaled my way back to the field and even considered chasing back the break, but the field was able to. However, I still wasn't able to get the sweet spot for the group sprint so it was a bit frustrating.
Portland Plaza bicycle policy update
On Wednesday the Portland Plaza HOA met for their monthly meeting. A lot was on the agenda and the items were pretty cool - the paneling on the outside of the building was being replaced for the first time since it was built I believe and with the new material it was going to make the building 98,000 pounds lighter! However, the reason I was there was to protest the bicycle policy of course. I brought up the issue and it was bantered about for a bit. The main resistance against the building changing the rules was simply that they didn't want to change the rules. This made me feel a lot of empathy for a rather extreme bit similar comparison to people who opposed things like civil rights and in modern times gay marriage. While being a bicyclist isn't as life-defining as those issues I'm sure that those other parties really had to go through (and still do) the same kind of bullshit of people in power (or not) who resist changing human-made rules that severely impede on the pursuit of happiness of those that it affects while in the end imposing the rule has very little benefit and/or avoids small or mitigable negative consequences to those who try to keep the rules rules. I'm sure I have some items that I'm to blame for being that bad person I'm describing, but I am hopeful that the world and myself will change for the better.
Anyways, the issue of the bike policy did make it to the rules committee without riots, protests or Malcom X style advocacy.
Swan Island
And now back to racing at Swan Island (or not really Swam Island, but close enough!) which is the crit that Guinness Cycling Team puts on each year. I had practice-rode the course before, but the finish line turned out to be in a different place than I had expected. For I believe the first time this year on a weekend race, I was racing with 3 other teammates in the field. Two of them were from OSU I believe and another I've seen at PIR. It's kind of strange seeing racers showing up at these racers wearing your kit and yet you've never met them. All I knew is that at least one of the OSU guys was strong.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to edit this post and take out a big gripe and ensuing gossip-magazine material that I wrote about a move a teammate made that I was not happy with. However, I'm happy to say that our team is working it out and will have better communication next time.
What I do when there aren't races on a 3-day weekend
Two part answer:
1. Ride my bicycle
2. Slack off
So on Sunday I spent a decent part of the day hanging out with my team leader Dave Klipper and friends. I love people who are characters and Dave is one for sure in a way that brings joy to my heart. He helps me out a lot discussing tactical things, scores deals for our team, helps me work on my bike and will say some very absurdly inappropriate yet hillarious remarks at least once a day. And with the help of Dave and his crew, I've found a secret weapon (or two) that I'm about to unleash on everyone this coming week. Stay posted.
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