I managed to make it through my meetings today, and at about 2:00 I thought to myself "I haven't slept enough in the last few days - why aren't I tired?" Well, the two 5:30 wake-ups for races finally caught up to me. I was asleep since about five minutes after I had that thought, and I can feel myself drifting away again. Got... to... get... on the trainer....
Here are the results from this weekend:
Saturday in Plainville
Sunday in Bethel
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Turkeys?
It was a good weekend!
Saturday's race was in Plainville, on a short (.5 mile), totally flat course. I showed up for the 8am race, and there were about 20 people in the race. As usual, I sat in the back of the pack for almost the entire race, since I was still losing speed around the two 90 degree turns. It was a 45 minute race, and the last lap started fast and quickly slowed down. Before the second-to-last turn, everyone drifted to the outside of the road, and I decided (being at the back of the group) that I had to take that chance to get up to the front.
I sped up to a pretty good rate but I wasn't sprinting, and I was at the very front of the group going into the last turn. Alas - if there hadn't been a turn I might've been alright, but instead I lost a lot of speed and while I started my sprint from first place, I wasn't going fast enough to hold off everyone. I finished in 4th or 5th place, I believe (I'll post the results when they're put online).
After the race some guy chastised me for "not holding a line for the entire race." I wasn't sure at first that he was talking to me (he was) and so I didn't respond. He shook his head and rode off. I knew he was right - I'm struggling to lean far enough on the turns to maintain my line. But I'm learning.
This morning I showed up in Bethel for another race, and I parked my car and looked at the car to my right and it was the same guy who had called me out yesterday. We awkwardly avoided each other as we got our gear on and set our bikes up.
This race was a little shorter overall but on a longer course (better for me - no really sharp turns). I was ready to go at 8:00am (after a 5:30 wake-up in Salisbury) and the first lap started right on time.
They were cleaning the course as we rode, but they missed a group of ten wild turkeys that had wandered onto the back side of the course. Everyone in the group slowed way down as the animals stared at us before deciding to leisurely leave the course.
The middle of the race was pretty uneventful, as I sat in my usual position in the back of the pack. I was feeling fine but I'm still not skilled enough to manuever my way up to the front and stay there. Oh well. I'll learn.
The last lap was pretty interesting. The speed picked up early, and there was no room on the inside so I found my way back outside and got near the front. I knew there was a break up ahead (a few riders who had separated from the pack) but I didn't know how many, and I didn't think we could catch them.
On the back side, the pack got into trouble when one guy crashed before the final hill sprint and took out a few others, and slowed everyone down. This happened on the inside, so I was unaffected by it, and we started up the final hill and people were already sprinting.
I was staying with most of them without working too hard, and with about 50 yards left I started cranking hard. Everyone else, it seemed, had used all their gas, and I easily moved to the front of the pack, finishing a couple bike lengths ahead of the next guy.
About 20 minutes later they posted the results and I was suprised to see that only two teammates were in the break, which meant I took 3rd place!
All in all, a successful weekend. Work starts up again tomorrow, so I'll have less time to ride, but my afternoons are still free. Cat 4 here I come!
Saturday's race was in Plainville, on a short (.5 mile), totally flat course. I showed up for the 8am race, and there were about 20 people in the race. As usual, I sat in the back of the pack for almost the entire race, since I was still losing speed around the two 90 degree turns. It was a 45 minute race, and the last lap started fast and quickly slowed down. Before the second-to-last turn, everyone drifted to the outside of the road, and I decided (being at the back of the group) that I had to take that chance to get up to the front.
I sped up to a pretty good rate but I wasn't sprinting, and I was at the very front of the group going into the last turn. Alas - if there hadn't been a turn I might've been alright, but instead I lost a lot of speed and while I started my sprint from first place, I wasn't going fast enough to hold off everyone. I finished in 4th or 5th place, I believe (I'll post the results when they're put online).
After the race some guy chastised me for "not holding a line for the entire race." I wasn't sure at first that he was talking to me (he was) and so I didn't respond. He shook his head and rode off. I knew he was right - I'm struggling to lean far enough on the turns to maintain my line. But I'm learning.
This morning I showed up in Bethel for another race, and I parked my car and looked at the car to my right and it was the same guy who had called me out yesterday. We awkwardly avoided each other as we got our gear on and set our bikes up.
This race was a little shorter overall but on a longer course (better for me - no really sharp turns). I was ready to go at 8:00am (after a 5:30 wake-up in Salisbury) and the first lap started right on time.
They were cleaning the course as we rode, but they missed a group of ten wild turkeys that had wandered onto the back side of the course. Everyone in the group slowed way down as the animals stared at us before deciding to leisurely leave the course.
The middle of the race was pretty uneventful, as I sat in my usual position in the back of the pack. I was feeling fine but I'm still not skilled enough to manuever my way up to the front and stay there. Oh well. I'll learn.
The last lap was pretty interesting. The speed picked up early, and there was no room on the inside so I found my way back outside and got near the front. I knew there was a break up ahead (a few riders who had separated from the pack) but I didn't know how many, and I didn't think we could catch them.
On the back side, the pack got into trouble when one guy crashed before the final hill sprint and took out a few others, and slowed everyone down. This happened on the inside, so I was unaffected by it, and we started up the final hill and people were already sprinting.
I was staying with most of them without working too hard, and with about 50 yards left I started cranking hard. Everyone else, it seemed, had used all their gas, and I easily moved to the front of the pack, finishing a couple bike lengths ahead of the next guy.
About 20 minutes later they posted the results and I was suprised to see that only two teammates were in the break, which meant I took 3rd place!
All in all, a successful weekend. Work starts up again tomorrow, so I'll have less time to ride, but my afternoons are still free. Cat 4 here I come!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
For Jenks
So far I haven't spread the word to the world that I'm running this blog, which means that I'm pretty much writing for one person: Mike Jenks. So today's post is dedicated to this leader-of-men, the wonderful, talented, dashingly good-looking friend of friends.
Almost two weeks ago now I entered my first race ever, on the morning of Saturday, March 10. Being a novice racer (Cat 5) my race began at 8:00am, which necessitated a 5:30 wake-up. After driving an hour to the course, getting registered and warmed-up, the 45-minute race began on time.
It was incredible the things that I learned on the first lap. First, it's hard to clip into my funky pedals anyway, and even harder to do it under pressure. Second, being so close to so many other bikes is nervewracking. Third, turns are really hard. And finally, bike racing is a lot of fun.
The race was pretty uneventful - I stationed myself at the very back of the pack and stayed there for the duration. The reason for this was that 1) I don't really know how to move up in the pack yet, and 2) I am not good at doing these sweeping 90 degree turns without losing speed. After every single turn I fell off the back of the pack and had to catch back up.
However, on the last lap, I realized that I still had some gas in the tank, and so I started sprinting from about 150 yards away from the finish. Everyone else was going full tilt as well, so I couldn't catch up with the leaders, but I passed about eight or nine guys before finishing in 5th place. I was very pleased.
I did another race at 11am on the same day, and got dropped from the pack pretty quickly. I was tired and the other riders were faster than in my first group. I won't be doing two races in one day again soon. Despite getting lapped, the race organizers screwed up the results, saying I cam in 7th place, when it was probably more like 20th. I didn't get points or anything, so I didn't correct them.
Results are here. I'm doing another race in the same series in two days, so now it's all about getting ready.
Thanks for reading, Mike.
Almost two weeks ago now I entered my first race ever, on the morning of Saturday, March 10. Being a novice racer (Cat 5) my race began at 8:00am, which necessitated a 5:30 wake-up. After driving an hour to the course, getting registered and warmed-up, the 45-minute race began on time.
It was incredible the things that I learned on the first lap. First, it's hard to clip into my funky pedals anyway, and even harder to do it under pressure. Second, being so close to so many other bikes is nervewracking. Third, turns are really hard. And finally, bike racing is a lot of fun.
The race was pretty uneventful - I stationed myself at the very back of the pack and stayed there for the duration. The reason for this was that 1) I don't really know how to move up in the pack yet, and 2) I am not good at doing these sweeping 90 degree turns without losing speed. After every single turn I fell off the back of the pack and had to catch back up.
However, on the last lap, I realized that I still had some gas in the tank, and so I started sprinting from about 150 yards away from the finish. Everyone else was going full tilt as well, so I couldn't catch up with the leaders, but I passed about eight or nine guys before finishing in 5th place. I was very pleased.
I did another race at 11am on the same day, and got dropped from the pack pretty quickly. I was tired and the other riders were faster than in my first group. I won't be doing two races in one day again soon. Despite getting lapped, the race organizers screwed up the results, saying I cam in 7th place, when it was probably more like 20th. I didn't get points or anything, so I didn't correct them.
Results are here. I'm doing another race in the same series in two days, so now it's all about getting ready.
Thanks for reading, Mike.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Black Irish
I just finished watching the pilot episode of The Black Donnellys - a new NBC show that I had heard good things about. It seems like a pretty 
great show - I caught the end of a new episode tonight while I was flipping the channels, and it was good enough to draw me in to download the first one off of iTunes. It's the story of a reluctant hero, which is usually enough to draw me in. Anyway, I recommend it.
This is the great thing about the new career I'm going to embark on: watching TV shows and movies is considered "research." It's like when I was studying in Spain and I considered watching television "practice" for my Spanish - every time I sit down and really watch something, it gives me a bunch of ideas for what I'll write. Even if the only thing that I know tonight is that I want to write and star in a movie about a Scottish badass who outsmarts most people but occasionally has to beat the crap out of somebody when all else fails. It's a can't miss premise. I'm already fine-tuning my accent.
I'm about to download the other episodes that I haven't seen so that I can watch them tomorrow while I'm on the trainer. I've set up a system in my small room here in Vermont that lets me plug my headphones in and watch stuff on my computer while I'm riding. I only got an hour in today (then promptly ate some ice cream to undo all the work) but I also lifted so it wasn't a total failure. Maybe I'll get outside tomorrow, though I hear it might snow. Also, at this point I'm planning on sleeping into the early afternoon.
great show - I caught the end of a new episode tonight while I was flipping the channels, and it was good enough to draw me in to download the first one off of iTunes. It's the story of a reluctant hero, which is usually enough to draw me in. Anyway, I recommend it.This is the great thing about the new career I'm going to embark on: watching TV shows and movies is considered "research." It's like when I was studying in Spain and I considered watching television "practice" for my Spanish - every time I sit down and really watch something, it gives me a bunch of ideas for what I'll write. Even if the only thing that I know tonight is that I want to write and star in a movie about a Scottish badass who outsmarts most people but occasionally has to beat the crap out of somebody when all else fails. It's a can't miss premise. I'm already fine-tuning my accent.
I'm about to download the other episodes that I haven't seen so that I can watch them tomorrow while I'm on the trainer. I've set up a system in my small room here in Vermont that lets me plug my headphones in and watch stuff on my computer while I'm riding. I only got an hour in today (then promptly ate some ice cream to undo all the work) but I also lifted so it wasn't a total failure. Maybe I'll get outside tomorrow, though I hear it might snow. Also, at this point I'm planning on sleeping into the early afternoon.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Back in the Saddle Again
So it's been a little more than five months since my last attempt at keeping a blog - no matter. I'm got some new free time, I'm a lame duck at work (and it's okay if my students read that phrase because they won't know what it means) and I'm on the bike more than ever. Updating this regularly will be my way to write consistently, keep track of my training, and entertain the masses.
In any case, I took today off, which was okay. I'll need to go pretty hard tomorrow because of all the carbs I ingested on St. Patty's Day in Boston, and I don't want to fall off the wagon. I've got a race on Saturday and another on Sunday so I can't take a break just yet.
Tomorrow I'll fill you in one the first race of my career, which was a far better event then the second race of my career. I suppose I'll fill you in on both.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)