New Track Bike

CyclingWMD offered me his nearly new Felt TK2 track bike frameset at a price I couldn't resist.

I built it up using some of the nicer parts that I have laying around and rode it for the first time in prospect park yesterday. It has 74/75 degree angles and a steeply raked 25 degree fork - all making for a very pleasant, nimble, and stable ride. A friend was doing 15 second standing start sprints, and I asked if I could join him on a few. I was amazed at how stiff and efficient the bike Felt! It also seems to fit me a little better than other bikes I've been riding in the 49-52cm size range. The Felt is marked as a 54cm and I have it set up with a 100mm stem instead of the 130-140cm length that I usually have.

Sprinting against my buddy I was able to keep both wheels planted on the ground for the entire sprint. Typically I find the front wheel bounces around beneath me in an all out sprint - maybe this has something to do with the larger frameset or the stiffness of the frame. It doesn't feel too big, just bigger than what I'm used to. And the weight is great, right around 16lbs.

I also like love the flat black paint. I've covered almost all of the decals with black electrical tape and am pleased with the result. I'll post a picture soon, in the meantime I'm going to try and ride this bike as much as possible before spring racing starts.

Here's a short video of the inaugural ride on the Felt with some buddies.

Missed the groove

In cyclocross the preride may be one of the more important things a racer can do as preparation.

Feeling a bit overconfident at Craigmeur today (10/28) I bombed down the first muddy hill at speed beyond my control.... and crashed ungloriously.

Eloy snapped a photo of me after my crash - you can see the blood streaming down my knee.

Fixed gear bicycle de-conversion, 8 gears for cyclocross!

The trend is to take remove brakes and multiple gear mechanism from a bike, install a fixed gear cog on the rear wheel, and ride the original bike "fixed." This is commonly referred to as a conversion. About two years ago I converted an old Peugeot as a fixed gear beater because it was simpler, less maintenance, easier to lock up, and I had the parts laying around. The PX10 was a very nice bike in it's day, sold as peugeot's top of the line racing bike.



This weekend I "de-converted" my 1970's peugeot "conversion" bike to a cyclocross bike. I rode the horse trails in prospect park last night and had a blast. I even fell off once and couldn't stop laughing about the absurdity of riding a road bike on horse trails going at full speed. So I picked up some serious tread cyclocross tires and will try my hand at cross racing.

Despite having spent a lot of money on a new carbon fiber road bike recently, this is now officially my favorite bike.

The Last Race of the 2007 Season

This is it, for me at least. The "Tour de Parc" criterium. I haven't been riding much in the past two weeks but at least I'll be well rested. I am entered in the master's category and I've found that some master's races, although generally faster than the category 3/4 races seem to suit my profile.

The report. 10th place.
25 miles with 1 hard turn around a security guard station. I scraped my pedal a few times on this course. I expected the pace to be faster at the beginning but it was fairly mellow. Then sometime in the first 5 laps a couple of riders started to break off the front. I waited just a little too long to bridge the gap, a Mengoni racer passed me and I thought to myself, 'this is it, go now!' but instead of bridging the full gap to what became the lead group, I bridged as far as I could and paired up with a champion systems guy. While we worked to catch them they worked to widen the gap. Eventually two others joined us and we became the group of 4 riders just behind the break. There were 8 riders in the fast moving break.

Sometime around lap 18 the remaining field got pulled off the course because we were very likely to lap them. We still hadn't caught the lead group, but two of their riders fell back into our group at around this time.

In the final lap, everyone in my group knew that we'd be sprinting for 7th and 8th place. The paceline got sloppy, everyone slowed down and the usual pre-sprint chicanery started. I tried not to pull into the wind and at the top of a small hill I was in a good position but about 500 yards from the finish. I jumped anyway and for a while I thought I might have a chance to win the race (actually, 7th place). 150 yards from the line I was caught, and wound up in 10th place.

In the end I was satisfied with my effort - I usually feel like I didn't sprint hard enough at the finish and I sprinted as long, hard, and fast as I was able to this time.

Given what I've learned about my 1 minute and 5 minutes power output I should have pushed up the pace even earlier... maybe even a mile or two before the finish.

Power Profiling Tool

No more whining, no more excuses.

Instead of writing about the club championship I am going to post my most up-to-date power numbers here because I found this profiling tool interesting.

Duration 5 sec	Watts/kg 15.53
1 min	7.34
5 min	4.58
10 min	3.98
30 min	3.58

It seems that I'm less of a sprinter than I thought I was, and more of an "all-arounder". Food for thought.

Calvert Toefield report

Arrrg. I haven't been able to get a result in these $#!@ park races. Finished in the top 15. About 6 yards from the line Tad came sprinting past me and got 8th place. Nice sprint!

I need an attitude adjustment. After racing for 50 miles in the rain and fog I am happy to finish and it shows in my sprint. I could have pushed myself harder at the end, and need to do that if I want a piece of the pie.

Maybe instead of thinking about how nice it will feel to win I should think about how shitty it feels to almost win.

Prospect Park Race 9/8/07

Today's race felt wicked fast. Average speed was 26.36. Maybe it's because the Bear Mountain race got canceled. Everyone seemed to be gunning from the start.

Initiated a move that lasted for about 1/2 lap but didn't stick, and later on chased down a move that didn't stick. Unable to find a good position for the sprint.

Here are numbers from the powertap.
Weight: 62kg, Distance: 29.77
Peak Power:
Burst: 1,105 watts
5 sec: 963 watts
30 sec: 484 watts
1 min: 376 watts
10 min: 235 watts
Max HR: 186, avg HR: 157

Ready to build up the megamo mtn bike that's sitting in the basement right now.

Green Mountain Stage Race

For me this was an incredibly fun way to spend 4 days, but it was also frustrating because of technical problems, a crash, a flat, and what a referree called a rider adjustment issue. Molly and I drove up to the Mad River Glen in Vermont. We spent our nights at Buffalo Bill's retreat with our own private outdoor jacuzzi nestled in the woods. The hot water and bubbles were a great way to relax after the hard day.

Day 1.
Uphill prologue to the top of Appalachian Gap. I used the powertap wheel for this and our 1 mile "neutral start" had me over 300 watts (almost 5watts/kilo) for the first section of the course. This pace is already above my LT, and coupled with the fact that I had 2 hours sleep the night before I did not get to the top of the hill with haste. Although 39x25 is the recommended gear, 39x27 would have been better since there are some very steep sections.



Day 2.
Yesterday's prologue was a great opener for the circuit race - I felt strong and ready for 54 miles of Vermont's rolling hills. 39x25 felt like the perfect gearing. I was riding with the first group of 7 racers when we started picking up the pace assertively. I thought we were going to form a break, when in fact we were sprinting for points. I was unaware of the sprinter's bonus until after we crossed the sprinter's line and since I felt good and thought I'd contest the points if I could. On the next lap two riders got away leaving three of us to battle for the very last sprinter's point. Of the three, I came in second, logically it was the other guy who got the point. By now I had memorized the location of the finish line. Then disaster struck on the third lap: I overlapped someone's wheel and crashed about 1km past the feed zone. I picked myself up and got back on the bike to try and catch the pack. Mavic's neutral support wagon pulled up along side me and asked if everything was all right. I looked down at my bike and noticed that my powertap head unit had come off. So I turned around and rode back down the mountain to retrieve it. Fortunately it was still intact but this ruined my chances of doing well in stage 2. I rode in with 6 others, winning our own little mini-race.

Day 3.
Mountains. I did not expect to do well in this stage, but gave it what I could. I flatted on the dirt section and had to change my own tire. I was glad that I brought a pump. Powertap data demonstrated my body was tired, 45% of the ride was spent in the heart rate recovery zone, 6% at race pace, 1% at max. The previous day recorded 26% in recovery, 7% at race pace, and 38% at max. With 39x27 gearing the best way to climb the appalachian gap was delivery boy style (zigzag) when conditions permitted. Molly had chalked a huge larger than life GO GUI sign on the road near the finish, but I was so tapped that I did not see it as I rode over it. Instead I was thinking don't peter-out (since I had seen text with "go peter" written on the road). I also heard Alan announce my name and club as I approached the the finish, giving me a little boost of extra energy.

Day 4.
Burlington criterium. The first 8 laps of this race were blisteringly fast as the top racers tried to drop anyone who couldn't maintain the intense pace. I started towards the back of the pack but was moving up quickly and feeling better. I was riding somewhere in the top third when my chain fell off. I pedaled it back on but then I couldn't shift into the big ring. I stopped in the pit area for an adjustment - grateful of my first opportunity to use the support services. A marshall in the tent told me it was a "rider adjustment error." He said I had to chase to catch up to the group instead of taking advantage of the a free lap rule. Madness! I chased but could not catch up to the lead group. I was pulled from the race with a 6 other riders and we all got 1 point.

I finished with a GC score of -19. This put me in 51st place overall. Next year I will arrive prepared.

More race reports

Connecticut Coast Criterium - 8/26 - 4th place
35 minutes plus 5 laps. A very plain course with a short hill and one turn. The uphill sprint helps keep it clean (53x19 or 17). There were 7 preems none for me. But 4th place at the finish line resulted in my first cash prize. Next Friday is the start of gmsr!

Kissena Velodrome Racing - 8/22 - 3 points.
Using a 48x15 gear ratio instead of 48x14, it was much easier to accelerate and this produced good results. Qualified for the A feature. I think it is worth trying 49x15.

Prospect Park Master's Race - 8/18 - finished with the breakaway in a category 1-4 field!
34 miles. This race started fast from the first lap. It was a little on the chilly side (about 65 degrees) and windy. In the first 3 laps there were a few random breaks off the front but poorly organized. On the fourth lap the peloton caught up to a small group and a strong counterattack was organized by Global Locate. Charlie was in the group that had just gotten caught, and I'm not sure but Eloy might have been too. In a flash I looked up the road and I could see nothing but GL and Deno's lycra getting away. One of us had to get up to the front and I didn't see Mark T up front making a move.

I chased and caught up with the group. We started making good time. More riders joined us and we grew to about 15 strong. I took several turns pulling. I didn't want anyone to think I was the sandbagger. The preem lap came right after our breakaway and two GL guys worked together to win back their entry fee. It was all I could do to be third man across the line. Another rider thanked me for it; meaning that I'd kept the group together instead of letting the GL guys get away. I was cautious with my pulls, trying to keep them short. There was some complaining about pulling through but it was not directed at me. It's remarkable that the guys tittering off the back have enough breath to complain as much as they do. At one point the wind was blowing hard across the road and three of us rode in echelon. That was fun especially when it seemed like other guys were having a hard time keeping a paceline together.

With three laps to go I wanted to quit and I didn't think I could handle the effort. I looked around and realized I might not feel as bad as the other guys (relatively). So I kept going.

With two to go I knew I'd finish - but was still dreading being dropped.

Just one lap to go, not so bad.

Final lap. A global locate guy jumps the gun and roars down the hill with about a mile to go. He put a good distance between us. Later as we're nearing the finish I'm remember that in hard races I have a good windup but no jump. I should try to wind up for the sprint instead of jumping for it. As we're nearing the finish line guys behind me jump for it. I think I'll grab a wheel somewhere... there's still room. A guy cuts very close in front and his pedal touches my front spokes with a ping... this guy had space on the other side so it was not a nice move. My desire to stay upright overcomes my desire to jump for a wheel. 5,6,8 guys pass me. Maybe more. They all get away. I pass a few guys who provided leadouts. Finally I hobble across the line on my own, somewhere around 12th place.

We stayed away for a total of 6 laps, and rode fine but I didn't race well enough to place.

When the results were announced I realized some of the winners did not participate actively in our pace lines. (ie., 6th-10th place) There's one guy I didn't even see riding with us. Poo poo on them for hiding! I guess sandbagging is a small offense when there's a large split compared to when it's a five man breakaway.

two new race reports

Raced Saturday morning (6:30am start!) in prospect park. Somehow I got boxed in at the sprint for the line. I was on the inside and kept trying to go around a ML guy for what seemed like minutes... then we were at the line.
Today was the last FBF race of the year. It's looking better for next year's races, or so Charlie writes in his email.
I tried to race well, not giving anything to the other teams and always working with and countering my team-mates attacks. There was a split at the end, and although we caught the main group, 3-4 guys still managed to get away but just barely. Coming up to the finish line, I noticed I was towing 3 guys behind me. I pulled off a little... but unfortunately none of them had any steam. So we lost momentum and I finished with the pack. It might have been better to keep pulling even if I was burning steam - I think I just need more confidence (or a bigger engine).