Bethel again... the good, the bad, and the (very) ugly

Same set of races as last week, and this time, with another week of training under the belt and a bit more speed in my legs I figured I'd try to do more than just sit on the back for the 3/4

Things started out pretty much the same as they did the week prior, with the pack putting in laps around the 26mph average but never really crushing it for more than a lap at a time. I resolved to wait until about halfway into the race and then start moving up.

I was getting a bit more comfortable with these guys too. The 3/4 is kind of sketchy in comparison to the P123 (and certainly in comparison to most if not all masters fields) but I was starting to read it well.

So, around lap 14, I moved to the middle of the pack. We come around the turn two sweeper, and I see a crash happen to the left. This of course being a full field of 125 racers or so means that things are very tight. I see my exit point to the right, and know I have riders all around me. Things are looking like they should stay together as long as we all slow down in unison and keep it sane...

But..

Well, sometimes things don't go according to the script. Dominoes start falling. A cascade effect and just at the point where I think I might still make it out of here (or course I am on the brakes during this whole episode) a rider hits the deck point blank in front of me.

I'm still carrying a bit too much speed and riders on all sides so I have one option left. More brakes and prayer.

Well, the brakes worked. The prayer... dunno about that. I scrubbed off speed down to 5mph by the time I was about to run right over the guy and then did a stoppie. For a split-second I thought maybe I would save it, but the momentum carried me into a backflip instead, landing on the pileup, whacking my elbow and calf, and giving me the weirdest chainring tattoo ever (right on the back)

I get up. People are picking themselves off the road and riding away. I take stock of my condition. With the exception of the painful elbow (which still works so nothing broken) I am fine. The bike is fine sans a few scratches.

(the bad)

Then I look over to the left.

Geez... Is that guy.......

I walk over to him. He's breathing...badly. Totally unconscious.

Sounds just like someone in deep REM sleep with apnea. Ick.

Then I get a bit closer. Blood. Everywhere. Pouring out. I've never seen so much come out of a person so fast before. I need to go sit on the grass to keep from getting ill.

(the ugly)

I wait with a few other riders for the ambulance to come. It comes. They get the board out and haul him away.

The rest of the 3/4 is cancelled. The promoter (a friend of mine) is totally shook up.

So...

The trick now is to get back on the horse and confront the fear demons right away. I line up for the P123 which was scheduled last that day and went off (late) but without a hitch. Success = finishing the race without getting spooked or getting dropped.

Success.

(the good)

http://app.strava.com/rides/5404465

St. Patrick's Day Team Ride

Five of us rode the closest thing we've had to a team ride in 2012.  We met at around 9 am and just sort of chilled inside for about an hour.  This was a wise move since it was still a bit nippy out at that time.  We discussed the general plan for the ride, which was meant to be a casual team ride that was steady and would allow us to practice riding together, rather than a hammerfest where we literally race each other.  There will be plenty of that to come, and, after all, it's only March, so nobody needs to feel like they won or lost the "ride" at the end of the day.  We headed outside to find that, although the high for the day was predicted to be near 70, it was still cloudy and sub-50, so the arm/leg warmers and jackets didn't get to sit this one out.

On deck we had Brad Helmetsie, Chris Jones, Mike Meier, Chuck Rhoades, and Andrew Williams.  The route started out with a short steep climb followed by a long downhill, then mostly flat into Hallstead, PA.  We were able to practice some good pacelining using both the single file longer pull version as well as the double file quick pull version.  We practiced staying as close to one another as possible in the double line, which reduces drag from the wind and makes pedaling easier for everyone.  We cruised through downtown Hallstead in a line going about 25 MPH.

Next, it was on to New Milford, PA.  This part of the ride consists of some easy rollers on a back road that parallels the main road, so we were able to get some more double pacelining in.  We made our way into New Milford, where we took a short break at one of our sponsors, the New Milford Bike Shop.

After a short break, and some perusing in the shop, we headed back the way we came until taking a detour up Banta Road.  Banta is a steady climb about 2.5 - 3 miles long.  Our group spread out a bit on this, but not too much, so no one got an extended rest at the top waiting for the others to finish.

We got the best double paceline yet going on our way back through Conklin and into Binghamton.  It does seem like these rides could greatly improve our pacelining skills if we made them regular occurences.  Hopefully we'll get many more of these going with even more members of the team.  Then we can start putting our skills to use in some weekend races.  Once we got back into Binghamton, Andrew broke off -- He rode an hour to the ride, we rode for 3 hours or so with him, then he had to ride an hour home, and tomorrow he is racing another crit in Bethel!  Look for a race report from him after. -- then the rest of us decided to head downtown and cruise along the river since by this point the sun was out in full force and temps were well into the 60s.  Here's a link to a map our our complete route:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/75810600/

First Spring Team Ride!

Well, it may not be officially spring yet, but look for the RUUD colors on the roads this Saturday for a spring-weather St. Patty's Day ride. We'll be leaving the Binghamton area around 9am and heading out to New Milford and back. If you see us, feel free to grab a wheel and tag along!

Bethel - first race of the year

I did this one last year around the same time.

This year was going to be a bit different. They made the races longer, and there would be almost no break in between the two races I signed up for.

Criteriums are my worst (by far) discipline and as such, I tend to try to race them as often as I can, especially early in the season. I don't race them "to race", but to learn the most efficient ways of going fast since what I really care about is not losing time or getting dropped in a crit that is part of a stage race. With my rather unimpressive sprint and climber's build I know what the advantages and disadvantages are out there, especially in large fields full of big natural crit guys.

Hence I have the most fun doing these races when I treat them as motorpacing. The fact that the motors are human notwithstanding.

There is an art to surfing wheels in a crit. You need to take advantage of little opportunities to move up (provided that is what you really want) and identify the specific riders who will tend to drag you back or pull you up. You also have to pay attention to the course and find the spots where it is better to be right, or better to be left, or better up the middle.

Early on in the 3/4 I was looking for opportunities to move up as the field went into crosswind sections on the leeward side, but that was pointless, as I really had no intention of contesting either of these races. The back was relatively smooth (as tends to be the case in this event anyway) so I stuck back there. The draft was better anyway since, for some odd reason, the race rarely strung out.

I've been training a lot over the winter, but not a lot of intensity, and that seems to have yielded a pretty good aerobic fitness (I was nose-breathing for most of this crit) but the legs would whine and complain at me every time we went up that damn hill to the S/F line.

30 laps in, 30 laps out. I stayed away from the field sprint (knowing about the big crashes the week before) but everyone stayed upright. I coasted in somewhere in the back.

Now things get interesting. A negligible break to drink some more fluid, eat a granola bar, and then hold on to your hat for the 1/2/3....

I line up near the back, bomb my clipin for the second time in a row (need new cleats soon) and immediately am throwing 500w into the bike just to hold the wheels. This is gonna be a tougher race for sure. I'm feeling the wind in the draft as well, since it's already strung out (which rarely happened in the previous race)

I don't think I'm gonna finish this one.

The hill is harder this time. I am routinely hitting 600w keeping pace going up this hump, and it's starting to take its toll (especially when things string out into the wind immediately following) so I am not nose breathing anymore. In fact, everything is starting to feel pretty fatigued.

The race, however, feels a lot smoother. I tend to trust wheels and draft closer, having more faith in the quality of the riders when surrounded on all sides.

So I made it through 25 laps (out of 46) for a grand total of 55 times racing this loop and up that hill. Not bad for day one.

The 3/4 was faster than I thought at 25.2mph. The 1/2/3 was faster still at 25.8. motorpacing.

see the ride here: (click on LAPS, lap 2 is the 3/4, lap 4 is the 1/2/3)

http://app.strava.com/rides/5086353

Diversification

Sometimes it's nice to get off the bike and do something different or even to do something different on the bike. While our team is primarily a Road Racing team, many of our members have long been Time Trialers, Triathletes, Mountain Bikers, Cyclocross Racers, and Runners. Today I ran the St. Patrick's 4-miler running race in Binghamton and it felt great. In past years I've done several running races in addition to bike races, and for me, it's a nice change of pace every once in a while, and the crosstraining seems to improve my overall fitness which also helps in the road races on the bike. In addition to several other running races, both on and off road, this season, I plan to compete in the Du The Lakes Duathlon, the Waverly Glen Challenge MTB race, and a full season of Cyclcross races in the fall. I anticipate that all this will keep me fit, prevent me from getting bored, and lead to overall better results in road races this year.

Welcome to the new RUUD Racing team blog.  We will keep this full of the latest news, race reports, and results throughout the season.  Hope you enjoy!