Racing - March 30, 2013 Plainville Sideline Report

So normally a race report involves me racing and reporting about the race. In this case I couldn't race because my back was bothering me. I'd essentially collapsed Thursday - it was awkward because Junior was already in the car, ready to go to day care, and I decided to move some stuff out of the way before we left. That's when I collapsed. It was a bit tricky driving the car to day care but luckily it's just a mile away from the house. I rested for a good half hour in day care with Junior walking all over around me, then I managed to get home.

I spent Friday on the living room floor - the Missus put a pack of diapers on a chair, Junior was playing with a package of wipes, and I spent the day mostly at eye level with Junior. By the evening I could sort of pick him up so my back was getting a bit better. Nonetheless I decided against racing the next day, just to allow my fragile back to strengthen a bit.

Saturday I intentionally left my bike behind because I knew that if I brought it I'd be tempted to race. Instead I brought a camera. Unpacking the car in the parking lot I felt that quiver in my back and I realized that I had to be careful. The stroller helped as I didn't have to carry Junior other than to put him into it and take him out. Any other times I carried Junior I wanted to carry him and felt okay doing it.

I arrived at the course a bit late so I barely got settled before the Cat 3-4 race lined up. With conflicted races the field wasn't that big but the racers there all wanted a piece of the action. The race promised some fireworks.

Lots of Expo red and black.

The race ended up coming down to Expo versus everyone else. Usually "everyone else" gives you bad odds but Expo had a good 40% of the field so the numbers actually favored Expo. In a way I felt sorry for the others. I've been on both sides of the numbers, having lined up with 10 or even 15 teammates in some races, and in other races watching another team line up 10 or 12 teammates (and wondering what I'd do to beat them).

The Expo racers are active for the most part, willing to work, willing to see the wind, so at least it wasn't totally negative.

Moves went from the beginning.

The Expo boys started launching moves right away but the others knew that they couldn't let anything go. Chasing immediately neutralized some of the Expo advantage because there was no gap to exploit. Once a gap formed then the Expo riders in the field would be riding negatively and that would force wedges into the gap between the field and the break.

Junior and one of his babysitters.

Junior spent the race mainly with some very enthusiastic babysitters. He enjoyed his first experience with the grass on the ground and tried to walk on the paved sidewalk. Pops managed to avoid having Junior experience his first skinned knee. Pops isn't ready to deal with that yet.

Promising move.

If you're outnumbered in a field then a good move is to make moves. Inevitably you'll attract a rider or two from the "big team" and then the rest of the team will block, helping you. Biker's Edge racer Eric made such a move, drawing SOC, but the rest of the field brought them back.

Dave trying to launch Stan.

Of course the numerically superior team ought to make moves too. Dave, the team cheerleader, rode in support of the selected leaders for the day. Stan, the overall leader of the Cat 3-4 Series, naturally qualified as a leader. When a move went up the road Dave tried to launch Stan but the others wouldn't let such an obvious move go.

Aha.

Finally the field basically split. In a larger field it'd have been a break, but in this race it was more of a split. It appears that Dave, after doing some work, eased off while sitting towards the front of the group. Everyone else eased off too and suddenly a gap opened. Eric made a good move to join the front and the group immediately started working.

Jeff W, center, after a supreme bridge effort.

Two riders knew the move when they saw it and made supreme efforts to bridge - Jeff W (Devil's Gear) and Jeff M (Expo). Others tried too but they didn't make it. Although Expo's Jeff made it across quickly, having seen the split early on, Jeff W waited until the gap was something like 30 seconds before going clear of the field. The gap was big enough that I didn't bother taking pictures because a solo rider in pain doesn't look impressive - it just looks like a rider off the back.

Of course at some point Jeff W suddenly looked like he was going to bridge and I got so excited I forgot about taking pictures. Oops.

Jeff W at the front

He bridged just before the end of the race so he set about working for his teammate in the break.

Stan

Expo Jeff, biding his time.

As a spectator I couldn't see what happened on the last lap but inevitably an Expo rider crossed the line first, and incredibly it was Jeff. He'd done a perfect race, bridged to the winning move and then waited patiently in the sprint to win.

Expo Jeff winning, barely.

Eric's excellent helmet cam footage below:

It becomes obvious how hard everyone went on that last lap. Jeff W sets it up, Expo Lance drills it for Stan, and then it becomes a free for all. Expo Jeff played it perfectly and the late jump gave him a well earned win.

Junior in the feed zone.

For Junior it was time to eat. The whole event distracted him so much that he didn't fuss for about 3 hours before he wanted to eat (normally it's 90 minutes) and he didn't think about a diaper change until I changed him.

With lunch out of the way it was time for the 4-5 race.

Expo Dave at the front.

With so much focus on the 3-4 race the two Expo riders in the 4-5 race were cooked. Dave and Lance tried to play but they'd given everything in the 3-4 race in support of their teammates.

One active team - Cycling Concepts.

One guy that's been trying solo moves at Plainville and Bethel launched yet another attack with 5 to go. Cycling Concepts Mike is a tall, lanky rider unafraid of the wind.

Another move, this time by Cycling Concepts Mike.

I knew about his 10 lap escapade at Bethel, ended at the bottom of the hill on the last lap. I hoped that he could pull this one off.

Junior wondering if Mike can make it.

Mike at the bell - it looks good.

Mike took the bell with a decent gap but the field really ramped it up. Expo Lance was one guy trying to close the gap hard, a final effort for him on this double race day.

Mike holds off a hard charging field.

Mike managed to hold off the field, throwing his bike as insurance just in case. The picture doesn't do the speed justice - he won by maybe a tenth of a second. Had the race been another 100 meters I think it'd have been a different story.

A better fitting hat.

I worried about Junior and tried to put on one of my caps. It's a bit scary that my hat fits him better than a hat he wore a few months ago.

With this first very sunny race out of the way Junior and I headed home. I wished I could have raced but I also knew that this was the smarter thing to do. I had to be good for Bethel in a promoting way and I couldn't risk that for my own selfish reasons.

Plainville - A Diamond in the Rough

"Back in the day", the old guys would say. I was 15 and to me it seemed like all I heard about was "back in the day" from those old guys. I mean they were at least 20 or something, old fogeys, they had to shave and stuff. And they always talked about how lucky I was, how things were so much easier for me. When they started, racers were tougher and grittier and didn't rely on new-fangled equipment like they do nowadays.

Now I say "Back in the day". Go figure.

Well, back in the day when the racing community found a budding new racer, they'd call them a "diamond in the rough". Nothing negative about it - simply a racer that needed a bit of time to mature. They said this about Greg LeMond who ended up one of the best riders ever; they also said it of other racers, many of whom didn't make it through the system before burning up and dropping out.

I raced the Plainville Spring Series race yesterday. As soon as I did a lap in the race I knew that this was a diamond in the rough. The course has two right turns, a right "bend", and a right-left swerve. It is totally flat. It promotes speed work, pack riding skills, and encourages sharp attacks and violent chases. It even has a "last turn" which is reasonably critical in positioning for the sprint.

Okay, the weather was incredible - a touch over 70 degrees, sunny, a hint of wind. And although I hadn't ridden much in the last month or two (except racing at Bethel), I did do an intense two days prior - I rode just over two hours in two days. Not a lot I know but to me I felt like I was immersed in training (the two hours took place over three rides on Thursday and Friday, ending at 7:30 PM Friday). I had my new pedals, shoes, and a yet-to-be-mentioned gizmo so I was making efforts all over the place. So my legs felt reasonably good albeit a little more fatigued than normal. But with the lack of riding, fatigued legs felt a lot better than, say, puffy and swollen slow legs.

I got lost getting to the race, breaking a basic rule of bike racing - know where the race is before you leave the house. The Plainville police station was closed (I didn't want to call 911 to find out where the race was) and after about 45 minutes of rising panic I finally drove by a bike shop, slammed on the brakes, parked, ran in, and got directions. Ends up the exit where I made a highway u-turn was the exit for the race - if I'd gone right instead of left, I'd have been at the course almost an hour earlier.

Anyway, I got there, registered, started setting up the helmet cam, and tried to do everything at once. I lined up okay with a one lap warmup - I think that amounts to about 1 mile of riding including riding over from the parking lot.

There were all sorts of permutations in the race - individual and team standings, just like in Bethel. And with a smaller field and a lot of three teams present, I figured any break with the three teams would simply disappear up the road. And when the leader crashed at the start (dunno what happened) and the rival team launched half their team at the same time, we were off at a crackin' pace.

Small fields are terribly hard to read. It's more important to choose your moves because if you follow the wrong one and blow, you get dropped. And after I went with what I thought was the winning move, suddenly we got caught, I was blown, and hasta la vista, I was OTB.

I rolled around till I got lapped then sat at the back, which is where I should have been instead of bridging to breaks. And since I was a lap down, I didn't do much to interfere with the fight for the two overalls - the team and the individual prizes.

Because I got lost on the way to the race, I had had no time to learn who was in what place in the Series. So I had no idea who was in what position other than the leader (he wore a Leader's Jersey). He raced for team Blue. This other team wanted to beat them. That was apparent when one of their guys yelled to his teammates "We only chase Blue". They must have had second overall and wanted it to come down to a sprint.

Hey I know how to read races! With that in mind I stayed out of Blue and We Chase Blue's way.

Interestingly enough, with a few laps to go, another team's rider came up to me. They'd been somewhat active, had shown up with some numbers, but I didn't understand why. Well, it became clear at that point when the rider told me he was in second overall.

Second?

I asked about We Chase Blue - ends up they wanted the team prize.

Ah.

Sub-plots within the plots.

Anyway Secondo would have to win and the current leader finish worse than third in order to take the Series. The only way to do that would be to bridge to a two man break and beat them. But it didn't seem likely (the other two teams were marking all the moves). And we were rapidly running out of race - it was only a few laps to go.

With some sketchiness in the field I moved up some and ended up semi-active, i.e. responsible for keeping on the wheel in front of me. I tried to be some invisible pack glue, holding things together but not influencing the moves.

With the bell approaching, I was following Secondo and he was trying to get his guys lined up to do a leadout. We Chase Blue had a good half dozen guys on the front. Blue, with the leader, were just behind.

I figured this would be the time when I tried to "get my lap back".

I rode around Secondo and a teammate who had just slotted in ahead of him. Knowing a good thing when they see it, they latched on, I think a third teammate getting the picture and joining the train. Then I started to gun it.

I had to get around the We Chase Blue leadout before the first turn - I didn't but I drew up next to them and we went into the first turn two wide. Then, after checking to make sure the guys were on my wheel, I moved my hands to the tops, sat upright, and started going hard.

I learned a long time ago if I leadout from the drops there's no draft - so my leadouts are on my tops, sitting up, elbows out, trying to be as tall and as wide as possible.

I accelerated to the low 30's and held it there. I recently saw a great clip of Fred Rodriguez leading out his man (I forget but maybe Zanini?) to a stage win in the Tour. I wanted to emulate him. But I'm no Freddy. I started to thrash. I started recruiting muscles I forgot existed. And finally I started to cramp a bit. I realized I couldn't make it to the final turn so I pulled off just short of it - ideally I should have gone around the turn in front and then pulled off.

About 6 or 7 riders came past me - the rest had been gapped.

Nice.

They sprinted and after all that work, all that chasing, nothing changed overall, at least nothing at the top.

I spoke with the promoter as he's been struggling with the Series for two years. He mentioned some of the things he's run into over the last year. An unpleasant tenant near the course which he's seemed to be handling well so far. I've dealt with the same, even going to the guy's liquor store to speak with him about the "unpleasant marshal". Said marshal is now my fiancee and she told him he couldn't drive on the course as the race was about to pass. You can guess who's side I was on in that one.

Another problem - in the rush to give out prizes he gave out money to the wrong people. In one race the overall teams were thought to be tied on points and the promoter awarded the prize to the team that did better on the last day. But one rider's annual purchase license finally made it through the USAC system the previous week and his points at the beginning of the Series technically won his team, the one in second, the team GC. I told him he should ask for the money back as the now-second-place team technically didn't earn it. I've done the same - it's embarrassing but I awarded the team trophy to the wrong team one year. The team with the trophy graciously met with the team that won at a later race. The trophy changed ownership, they shook hands, and then proceeded to pound each other's legs into Jello in the race later that day. And personally I've mailed back prize money I didn't win - like my miraculous 6th at the Jiminy Peak Road Race. Miraculous because I got into my car after a lap and was well on my way home when the race finished.

And finally, like all new grassroots promoters, low turnouts have hurt his budget - I guess it's two years now where he's essentially paying a lot of money to watch other people race. He's struggled with race categories and is focused on trying to appeal to more racers willing to show up and race.

Like all new promoters, he has his struggles. That is what I call rough.

But the course really suits racers preparing for the speed and intensity of the summer racing. I think a cold, windy, sandy race there would be less than pleasant, but that would be the case anywhere. A day like yesterday was great. Very fast, very consistent, and a long enough course that you can't solo easily for a lap.

I call that a diamond.

I think this is a great venue. There are always improvements - the promoter was talking about what changes he wanted to make for next year before he finished paying out the prize money. I was doing the same at Bethel too.

Although technically his race sort of competes for a limited pool of racers with mine (since it's tough to do two days of racing in a row in March and April), I really hope his Series blossoms like Bethel did more than 10 years ago. His Series has slightly different offering than Bethel and I think it a better course for the new racers who need to get used to the speed of racing. Bethel is better for racers easing into the season.

And heck, maybe next year I can do both Series. I could virtually double the number of races I do every year!

Here's to polishing up a diamond.

Equipment - new pedals and shoes

After the Bethel Spring Series ends, I make equipment adjustments as necessary. I normally don't make them during the Series as it'll throw me off or I'll get some weird twinge in my knee. Even this year, the year of nothing at Bethel, I still waited. Today we deal with power transfer from me to the bike.

For a long time I've used Shimano SPD-R's, I think for about 10 years. Have they been out that long? Whatever. And I've had Sidi Genius shoes. I'm on the G5's so I must have had G4's before. Or G3's. Something.

The G5's are cool - I got them in 2003 in London while there for work. They're red and blue and oh so cool.


They work well and are totally predictable. But like all shoes with a few years on them, they're starting to show their age.

And the SPD-R's, as durable as they are, have a couple weak points. One is the slightly heavier weight - and when I'm pushing almost 18 pounds of bike around in race trim (and over 20 when training) I started thinking about how to lose some grammage off the bike. But the main weak point is the small amount of cleat surface actually touching the shoe. It's easier to move the cleat on the shoe than it is to move the shoe on the pedal - so the process of unclipping tends to move the cleat and not unclip your shoe with predictable results.

If I loosen things up so I can get out easier, well, it works. I get out a lot easier. The problem is that the shoes unclip too easily - like when I'm making efforts. I learned this the hard way at the Poughkeepsie Crit a couple years ago. I went sprawling at 35 mph while sprinting down a bumpy straight. Not fun. So I keep the pedals really tight and have to hit my shoes with my fist to get the shoes out.

During this year's Bethel I decided it was time to make a change.

A couple years ago I bought some Sidi Zetas - the Sidis that have no buckle, just three velcro straps. Then I learned I couldn't use SPD-R's with them (no adapter, sort of). So they've been sitting, waiting for a "normal" cleat (and pedal). They were part of my aborted Aerolite experiment.


Then recently I bought some cool looking Sidi's with some carbon in the sole. I looked them up, they're the "Energy2 HTs". I got them primarily because they're red and blue. Okay not really, but I didn't want white shoes either. I figure they look like my old shoe so they're sort of stealthy. I think they're heavier but I'm hoping the stiffness helps a bit with my absolute sprint.


I also got three sets of Look Keo's to match my fiancee's Keo. She has the Sprint and I ended up with two Sprints and one Carbon. The latter will go on my main bike (a carbon Giant). The Sprints will go on my spare bike (AL Giant) and the tandem. This way we can do things like swap spots on the tandem, swap pedals if we have to, and have a lot of the same cleat sitting on the shelf as spares.

Both the Zetas and the new Sidis have been assigned the Keo cleats. I'll keep the SPD-R's (I have two sets) and the G5's for something, maybe the track bike or the mountain bike (which I only ride on the road at this time).

For the next week or so I'll be checking the cleat position, the shoe-pedal height (to see if I have to raise or lower the seat), and fiddle with the shoes. I'm so used to the G5's I automatically set the shoe to a certain setting regardless of what it feels like because I know that it'll be right in 5 minutes. The new Sidis are different (buckle plus two fishing wire things) and I have no idea how to set this stuff up.

My first race should be the first race of the year over 60 degrees, the last Plainville race. It's actually tomorrow (Saturday). We'll see how it goes.

The winter shoes I rarely use but I include them in my Sidi fetish shot here. I've skipped earlier shoes as they look too ragged for this nice shot.


(L-R) Back row, Sidi winter road shoes (used twice), G5's, Sidi winter mountain bike shoes. Middle row (pedals), SPD-R's, Look Keo Sprint, Keo Sprints again, and the Look Keo Carbon on the crankarm. Front row, Energy2 HTs, Zetas.