Two years in review

Well, since I deleted two years worth of powertap data (see previous post), I may as well summarize what I've done/learned since I got the powertap.

1. Usually I don't have much stamina or brains for racing before 8am. This may be due to my living situation on the lower east side where it's impossible to get to bed early on a Saturday night. Otherwise I'm a fair all arounder when my head is in it.

2. Last year I won two silver medals (cat4) and a gold (master's) at the state track championships. I missed the 200m sprint starts and wasn't able to land a spot on the omnium.

3. This year I won my first road race, the tour of freedom crit in NJ with about 50 starters. The race started at 3pm. Getting there involved taking a train then riding 8 miles. The perfect stress-free warmup. Driving elevates my heart rate from rest by 10-15 bpm, taking the train or getting a lift does not.

4. Helping team mates and friends win is amazing - but I expect the same loyalty/effort in return ...this is probably asking too much.

5. Taking the outside line in a crit may be faster but more dangerous since the inside rider is more likely to wipe out and take others with him. This happened to me twice and resulted in one broken bike. In the last minutes of a race it's important to be at the front. When it's time to go all out for the line, it doesn't matter so much who's behind you as long as no one is in front of you.

6. Training to peak works.

7. Rest. Rest a lot. It's a good thing to take it easy and miss races. The "race less and win more" strategy worked pretty well this year.

8. As long as the equipment works, bike weight doesn't seem to provide a great deal of advantage. More important is durability and efficiency. Light bikes sure are cool though!

9. Tubulars are expensive!

10. Don't crash.

Saris PowerAgent User Experience Major Snafu $@#!

A week ago I accidentally deleted myself as a user in Saris PowerAgent.

I have the latest version (7.4.4) of the software; when I clicked delete I was prompted once "Are you sure you want to delete User?". I hit the enter button in haste and because the default option is "OK," I deleted myself as a user and also deleted two years worth of racing and training data.

Finally today I got around to calling Saris and asked if there's a way to restore the data. Unfortunately, the only way is from a system backup.

All of the user data is stored in a "repository," typically on the c_drive (in windows) under ~/documents and settings/username/.poweragent/repository

Since I do not have a backup of this directory I was unable to restore the data.

If it were up to me, the software would have an additional dialog after the "Are you sure..." question. It would say something like this: "Warning: this action can not be undone. Do you really want to delete user username and all activities for user username?"

I was surprised and disappointed that deleting the user also deleted all of the activities for the user. Saris, I hope you are reading this!

Racing just to finish

My last post was about winning. This time it's about getting dropped. It's happened twice this year, both times at Floyd Bennet Field, both times in the 1/2/3 race, on the backstretch near the old finish line. It was on very windy days.

The backstretch is completely flat but on windy days I should approach it like a steep hill. When a little gap opens up, it's just as tough as being on a steep hill. It's the kind of challenge where dropped riders churn a 39x17 at 70rpm into the wind while the field pedals away in a 53x19.

The first time it happened, on the 9th lap of a 12 lap race, I chased for about 3 minutes and gave up. After the race I looked at the results and there was only one cat3 rider who finished. Even if I'd finished last I would have been the 2nd place cat3. So when I got dropped on 8/18, after trying wildly to avoid this, I decided to motor on. How did I finish? DFL. But out of 33 starters I was the 18th and last finisher. This reminds me of the first bike races I did in 2005/2006, where I got dropped the first few times.

I'm actually happy about it. It feels like a challenge, and I like challenges.

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Velodrome results

It doesn't happen often - but sometimes I win. Since this is an open personal diary (more so than anything else), I'm writing this post to remember what I did in the days prior to a win.

Sunday: governor's island bike race
Monday: very easy 17 mile spin
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: podium

Wearing glasses full time also helps me see things up the road, even when there's nothing there.

This is me off the front at the Governor's Island criterium on 8/09/09. Unfortunately my position at the finish was not great, I got 11th. Note to self: look for a landmark to initiate the sprint before the bell lap.

Photo credit: anthony skorochod

And here is my favorite photo, credit goes to my team mate Wai2Fast for taking this lovely panoramic at the Kissena Governor's Island Criterium.

Analyzing my first race as cat3 in a pro/1/2/3 field

Downloaded the powertap data and was surprised at what the numbers show.

Even though there were a lot of accelerations in the race, the numbers show a near "personal best" for 30 minutes power output (cough cough).

That would explain why later in the race I was unable to keep up with accelerations. Normally I have little trouble keeping up with riders accelerating but when the endurance number is pushed to the limit everything else is wiped off the table.

First race as "cat3" rider

Upgraded to the 3's, here's my lame FBF race report:

I was pretty psyched see a guy in Team Bissel kit at the start line with us... racing with a pro!

The conditions indicated there'd be a break as it was very windy. The first few laps (in the 1/2/3 field) were much more aggressive than in the 3/4s, with hard efforts followed by periods of relative calm and me sucking wheels. I should have been much less active in the beginning. Joaquin was off the front for a while with a few others. I didn't have the legs to counter and realized that I'd spent most of my capital in the first few laps. Duh!

Around lap 5 (of 12) I decided no more chasing attacks or efforts, I ride as efficiently as possible in order to finish. But the field kept wittling down and it was impossible ride caboose, even in the middle I kept having to close gaps.

Around lap 6 a champion systems guy shouted in Spanish, "ok, let's get some training in" (it helps to be bilingual). They (champion systems) started riding tempo at the front and things got really strung out. On lap 7 I was expending over 4/wkg just to stay in a draft on the back stretch.

Lap 8, coming out of turn 2, the guy in front of me pops. I knew it was going to happen but was hoping someone else would make the effort to close the gap since there were a lot of us stuck behind him and champsys was still setting the tempo.

Willie Payton(?) passed me but he was going to fast for me to latch on. I started working harder to bridge the gap. Coming out of turn 3 I saw a rider whom I know from the velodrome up the road. He seemed to be losing steam so I shouted at him to come on, we can make it. As I passed, I noticed his front tire was going flat! I've never seen so many flats in a race. Horrendous attrition in this race: 47 started and only 16 finished. I suspect some guys carry thumbtacks to use at the most opportune moment - when they think they're gonna get dropped they'll bust a derailleur with a bit of fishing line, or pop a tube with a tack to avoid embarrassment. In the end only two from my group made it back to the group, and I wasn't one of them. I struggled to finish the lap while realizing the gap was getting bigger. So I survived 9 laps.

Funny thing is an hour ago when I started writing this, I was going to write that the race was hard and upgrading sucks. But I took a break for a phone call and some beer. Now I think it feels good to push hard. New things to learn and new limits to expose. Wiser tactics to unravel. In essence, a whole new piñata of fun.

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Crescendo, Peak, Start Over. A race report... sort of.

My last post was about over-training in order to (hopefully) bring about a peak.

Unfortunately the event I was peaking for, (NY State Master's Track championship) was canceled this year. According to the officials, the reason was too low of turnout but I think it had to do with the bad weather that was predicted for the weekend. New York does not have an indoor velodrome, although one may be in the works. An indoor velodrome would be great, and profitable if they sell food, beer, and allow gambling on site, in my opinion.

Rather than let all of that hard training go towards nothing, I wanted to find a raced suited to my training and found one. It is called the "Freedom Tour" criterium organized by high gear cyclery. It required that I hop on an NJ Transit train to Stirling, NJ then ride 8 miles to the start. It also featured a late afternoon start, which for me is a big plus.

I lined up with 42 other racers, and 25 laps later I was the first one across the finish line.

With my very basic understanding of physiology and training, I was able to bring about peak form. I raced hard, covered almost every move, and somehow still had enough juice to sprint for the finish.

I guess this means it's time to take a rest week, then begin a new 3-week cycle. The $100 prize is much less than what I spend on eating, training, and bike parts but it's the biggest prize check I've ever earned. I still don't think I'll be signing with a pro-team anytime soon (or ever). Just gettin' my ride on, here.

Building Fitness

It's been a hard 3 days in a row of racing.

I raced Floyd on Tuesday night and did not make the break. Wednesday I raced at the track and qualified for the "A" feature. And last night rode to and raced at Rockleigh with several team mates, it felt very hard, was in several moves but not in the two-man break. Got 4th in the field sprint.

My body feels different, happy and tired bike racer.

Training shortcut does not equal Good Result!

Lacking sufficient time for a long ride this weekend I decided to do repeats up the Williamsburg bridge on Sunday night. I warmed up a bit then used 50x17 gearing to get to the first apex where the path splits, sprinting most of the way. I think it's about 600 meters. Monday I did not ride at all, would have been good to go for a light spin.

Raced FBF tonight and felt a little jagged, like I was pedaling in squares. I missed the split and did not contest the intermediate sprints, so my racing sucked.

Maybe this type of training will help recruit some more fast twitch muscles for short sprint events like the flying 200m. NY State Championships start July 24.

Free mountain bike race series at Highbridge Park

Highbridge park is an Urban park in New York City with a nice technical mountain bike course. I recently learned of this free race series. It runs on alternate Thursdays at Highbridge and sponsored by NYC Velo. More information available at the website nycmtb.com.

On a different note... Up until just a few days ago we've been having rain non stop in New York City. The sun is finally starting to peek out. For a laugh, play the video below. We rode out to Rockleigh, NJ and this is post race, repairing flat #5 in a downpour. The race organizers were kind enough to stop and let us borrow their floor pump.

Sprinting

Poor positioning. I was in the wind for most of the 340 meter long(!) sprint to the line at Floyd Bennett Field last night.

It may have been wiser be more patient. When a sprint containing the leaders erupted on the left I knew I had to go with it, even though I was on the far right. Unfortunately I sprinted in a straight line instead of attempting to bridge over to the left. Probably safer this way.

It's a little hazy now but I paused 10 seconds into my sprint.... long enough to get gassed by a couple of guys who finished 5th and 6th.


Good power numbers, shitty finish.

Maybe the smart thing to do would have been to jump first - but not too hard. Just hard enough to get the right position and then duke it out with whoever wanted to stay at the front.

7th place / 95 starters

Sports drinks and oral health

In 2008/2009 I had to spend more time than I would have liked visiting my dentist. One reason being that I had two cavities on my front teeth, specifically on my canines.

How is this related to cycling? Well, the dentist was surprised by the fact that someone my age had cavities there. We talked about possible etiology and after ruling out methamphetamine use, I'm mildly certain this condition has some causality in drinking sweetened sports drinks during long rides.

So I switched sports drinks. Part of my reason for choosing Hammer Nutrition product is that they're not sweetened with sugar (sucrose or glucose or syrups). In fact, their short endurance product (heed) is lightly sweetened with Stevia and Xylitol.

Xylitol is supposed to actually be good for your teeth.

In addition to switching endurance drinks I'm making an effort to keep fuel and hydration separate, especially for rides over two hours. The rational being that I can consume a bit of nutrition/energy, then wash/rinse it down with plain water. It's not as good as brushing one's teeth but the water ought to be healthier for teeth and gums than consuming a sugary drink for hours at a time.

As an added benefit, click the link to get 15% off the first order from Hammer Nutrition.

Velodrome 5/6/09

The muscle memory came back and I remembered how to sprint starting with the second race of the night.

My bud Al Barouh pipped me at the line for points in the first race of the evening, and I think the brain fired a signal to the engine room.

The signal was the one that triggers the desire to race hard, oxygen debt is good, and give 100% when there's less than that left in the bank.

Quite simply, there's no point in looking back.

Rode aggressively the rest of the night to help a team mate win the scratch race and held on for 5th, placed 3rd in the snowball, and 4th in the feature.

Kissena Velodrome Opening Weekend 2009

A fun filled two days of racing. Made some tactical errors, lost some races, placed in others. It was a busy event, with nearly 100 registered racers across all fields. Raced the Makino, with 32h box-section clinchers.

The kilometer is a 2.5 lap timetrial, and I would describe it as the most dreadful minute and half one can spend on a bike. The only thought going through my head at lap 1.5 is, "why am I doing this?". I think the same thought went through my head last year, at the same spot. Next year I need better mental preparation for this.

Some of Gary Berger's photos capture the determination and pain of Racing the Kilo.

The team sprint goes fine, I am our lead man riding the first lap and we have a good lead when I pull off.

In the points race, I have flashbacks of racing against Colin in a keirin race from last Fall and I follow his attack coming into the 3rd lap. I work hard to get in front of him instead of staying in his draft which would have been smarter. I work so hard doing this that I lose track and sprint at the wrong lap, unable to respond to the counter attack on the bell lap and miss a 5 man break - so I get no points at all.

Sunday is a little more consistent. It is my first time doing match sprints. The first matches are not difficult, but in the semi-final I am a little under-geared racing against Luke in a 49x15. He races smart, jumps first on the flat between turns 2 and 3, forces me to the outside before coming down into the sprinters lane and taking the win by a bike length.

The miss-and-out and the scratch races are fine, we were all feeling tired for the last race of the day (miss-and-out). I promise to try and help Al get on the podium if he can survive through the bell lap. When the bell lap rings he is already out of the race so I roll into 4th place.

Everyone showed their legs and form, and we got a lot of sun. A load of photos from the weekend.

Eloy's photostream

Gabe's Picasa set

A New York Times "Cityroom" story about us

2009 opening weekend results file (pdf)

Gary's photo sets include this one of everyone checking the results. one two.

New Old Makino

I took this out for it's first real ride yesterday and it rides.

But it got me thinking... about the fact that for some unknowable reason I am drawn to second-hand frames.

It may be because they resonate with a different frequency than a new bike. Or it may be that a used bike has a bit of mystery. My own naivité contributes greatly to this theory -- I have no clue whose name is written (in Kanjii) on the downtube.

It is often the bit of mystery that makes discovering a bike's attributes pleasurable.

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Car Courtesy

There are reasons why we bikers often feel like we're not getting the respect we deserve on the road. First, bikes are small and weak. We don't pose much of a threat to vehicles. Second, bikes can be unpredictable in relation to cars.

I do a few things to get more r-e-s-p-e-c-t on the road. These are just my personal opinions.

1. Use hand signals and take the lane. If I don't feel like there's enough room (for a cellphone talking coffee drinking fastfood munching driver with screaming kids in the back seat) to pass me without having to think twice, I'll take the lane. The whole lane. If I get honked at, it just means that I've been noticed instead of run off the road or worse. I try and use hand signals to indicate which direction I'm going, especially at intersections, and I will point even when I'm going straight. If I'm about to merge onto a bridge path from a roadway, I'll signal to drivers that I'm slowing down. There are some good tips for urban cyclists in the book urban biker's tips and tricks.

2. Bike Lights. This may sound silly but I often use my bike lights during the daytime, always when it's overcast, raining, or very early in the morning. It's as a simple courtesy to drivers, reminds them that I am not the same type of vehicle as them even though I am on the road. It is a subtle way of asking motorists take notice. I believe it also helps pedestrians realize that a vehicle is coming at them at a high rate of speed when I'm riding in New York City. Rechargeable batteries keep costs low and prevent dead nicads from reaching the landfills.

3. Never ride on the right hand side of a truck near an intersections. Trucks make wide right hand turns and it's easy too easy to get swept under a wheel.

4. This is a bit more subtle and takes a while to get a feel for it but I try and ride in between waves of traffic. If I'm stuck in a motorcade of vehicles racing to make timed lights I try and adjust my speed so I'm either off the front or off the back of the bloat.

5. Bike lanes can be just as dangerous as roadways. If riding in a bike lane I try to either ride far enough from parked cars to avoid being doored, or ride slow enough to be able to stop abruptly if necessary. Because I sometimes ride faster than traffic, I avoid some bike lanes.

6. MUPs (multiple use path) can also be dangerous places when pedestrians, skaters, joggers, kids, and sometimes pets all mix together. I keep my speed under control in these places depending on how busy it is. If they're too crowded to ride safely I let everyone else enjoy them while I take the road. I'd rather not be the jerk on the bike yelling at people to move out of my way.


7. If you ever get in a verbal confrontation with a driver it rarely matters who was right or wrong since it's all adrenaline. This tip may help tone things down a little. Maybe... Ask them if they know anybody else who rides a bike - their kids, significant other, friends, whatever. Ask them if they would consider this person the next time they do whatever offensive thing it was that they did to you.

Know your rights. These two organizations are both local to New York and have done a lot of work on behalf of cyclists. Times-Up.org, and Transalt.org.

Have fun, be safe!

Jewel Warmer

This looks like a simple and clever solution, the name of the product explains exactly what it does.

Apology

I apologize if my previous nutrition post sounded like a shill for Hammer products or strawberry Yoo-hoo. I'm not paid or endorsed by anyone to write.

If you expected to read something bike related, this time check Matthew's blog at no one line. He's a good writer and I really enjoyed the Stephen Roche video on his site.


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An Idiot's Nutrition - Avoiding The Bonk

One of the things about being a cyclist is that at some point, you will find yourself in an unfamiliar situation, ill prepared, and success will come through perseverance and maybe improvisation.

Last week I scheduled a longish morning ride with two friends, both bike messengers and strong amateur racers. I also decided to skip breakfast. Instead of eating I'd prepared a flask of Hammer Perpetuem mixed with Hammer Gel for the ride.

A few miles into the ride, I realized that I'd left the flask at home. A banana wasn't going to be enough to keep me from bonking on this ride, so we stopped at a bodega in Spanish Harlem before heading over the George Washington bridge into NJ. Unfortunately the deli did not have any energy bars or useful food. It was mostly beer, chips, kitty litter and pet food, and two friendly cats.

My friend JP had once mentioned that Yoohoo can work as a cheap recovery drink, and it was available so I bought myself a strawberry Yoohoo. The stuff is pretty foul in my opinion, but I suppose I prefer fake strawberry over fake chocolate flavor.

I didn't think the Yoohoo would be enough for me. Luckily they also had sweetened condensed milk (scm) and I asked to have it opened at the counter. Scm is used to make dulce de leche and also makes a nice thai iced coffee. It's delicious and very sweet.

I mixed a bit of scm with water in a bottle, and it dissolved nicely - but the taste was gross. I added a bit of Strawberry Yoohoo to the mix. The tartness of the Yoohoo made the mix drinkable, and in fact quite good. I was able to log just under 70 miles with no breakfast and NO BONK. The cool thing is that I rode a personal best for max 5 seconds effort two hours into the ride. Personal bests don't mean much, but for this time of year I was surprised.

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= personal best?

I believe the fuel made the difference, and I became curious about the nutritional differences between strawberry scm and the good stuff that I'd left at home.

Wikipedia explains that condensed milk was invented in the 1850's and issued as a field ration for soldiers during the civil war.

To have an idea what kind of calorie rocket this stuff is, a full can (14 oz) contains about 1,300 calories, and 30g of protein + 30g of fat, with 225 g of carbohydrate. I'd used about 1/2 a can and had some left over after finishing the ride.

The amount of Perpeteum that I'd planned on using was about 3 scoops, or 400 calories with 3g of fat, 9g of protein, and 8Og of carbohydrate. I also added a bunch of Hammer Gel to that.

The expensive energy drinks have almost the same ratios as sweetened condensed milk, though the carbs in condensed milk are indicated as coming entirely from sugars, while the carbs in Hammer are described as only about 7% sugars.

Hammer Nutrition fills their products with something called "Long-chain Maltodextrin," which seems to be an easy to digest complex carb. Milk contains lactose - a double sugar but still not a complex carb. Complex carbs are good because they provide energy for endurance, while simple sugars like those in milk give a quick spike but burn out fast. On the other hand, milk is still pretty good nutritionally.

Anyway, it worked pretty well. For the long term I'm going back to Hammer... I think.


I'm not paid to endorse Hammer products but you can use the link below to get a discount on your first order.
Click this link to get 15% off at Hammer Nutrition.


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Spring is not here... (yet)

Ritchey Tom Slick "Fortress" tire with metal shard
Originally uploaded by 40x14

But it's coming soon. One thing about winter riding is that the roads often contain hidden surprises.

Starting in November I installed a set of Ritchey's tom slick "fortress" tires. I don't know if these are still made or not, but they're pretty tough. For example, I pulled this metal shard out of the tire and the innertube was undamaged.

The Ritchey is even tougher than the Continental all season or gatorskin tires.