Keeping it real, staying humble

This has been a good week. Training went well. It is now Friday and I already put 11 hours of quality rides into my legs before the weekend and feel good.

After some time trial workouts, a really good endurance ride on Wednesday and the Rockleigh Race yesterday, I went for an easy TT spin today. I am more tired today because I only got 4 hours of sleep, but other than that things are great.

To top things off, I learned that my Cat. 2 upgrade was approved yesterday; so I am excited. That said, I am aware that I am on the bottom of my learning curve in this sport and at age 38 I am more like a kid that is eager to learn and improve. I try to learn from the best and clearly I am being coached by one of them, so I have that going for myself.

What always impresses me about Roger is that he is truly humble. It is a quality that I particularly appreciate in him and others who have that (my wife), since it makes their accomplishments appear in an even greater dimension. I remember one particular scenario a few weeks ago when a fellow racer from a different race asked Roger how his race went. Roger answered: "Went ok, I finished". He could have said that he had won, but he kept it on the low. That impressed me.

Webster dictionary defines humble in the following way:

1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive

2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission

3: ranking low in a hierarchy or scale, insignificant, unpretentious

Let's look for a moment how that can relate to cycling and teach us something:

Clearly it helps not to be arrogant no matter what, but even the terms "spirit of derence or submission" are interesting as they relate directly to the team aspect in cycling and the quality of "fitting in" and "making a difference" within a group with the same interest and one goal - to win as a TEAM.

I am generally impressed by this concept since cycling at its best is a team succeeding with ALL players contributing to lift their strongest member to the podium/win. The individual "insignificance" in terms of personal result may reflect itself in definite "significance" in terms of the overall achieved goal - a win/podium for the team.

I have to still learn a lot in term of tactics and working within a pre-given strategy and I am willing and eager to do so.

I am therefore looking foward to entering the Masters race in Fitchburg and focusing on these key aspects within a proven team, rather than competing in the Cat. 2's (alone).

Reaching out to Roger earlier today, I asked him specifically to guide me through that concept and his response was: "you will be working like a dog".

I expected nothing else and it sounds great as I am sitting in my office and reflect about next week and all the blessings that I am receiving every day.

Life is good, it represents a humble gift by our creator - honor it every day. "STAY HUMBLE" and good things shall happen!

(Name of photo on top: "the humble gift")

An impressive name (Giro) , but a circus by Roger

I was pretty sick on Monday still, fever and the shakes! I decided to go see the doctor on Tuesday to make sure I was not having the "Swine " or something , like always the doctor said I will be OK , just ride (I do not think he meant ride my bicycle though) it out! It is a virus , no medicine just rest ! Well, the Giro di New Jersey starts on Wednesday , so I guess that is not an option! I am still dizzy and now every muscle in between my ribcage and lungs hurts like hell. Like when you went to the gym after not going for years and you did this crazy boot camp class . Next day you could not move , because you were so sore . I could barely breath , even laying down was really hard !!

I ride a little on Wednesday afternoon , feels OK riding easy , so I pack up and drive to Flemington , NJ where the crit is that night( stage 1) . It is a 800 meter course with four corners, 100 guys basically riding 30 mph around a building, great!! As soon as the gun went of I had a hard time breathing , I was hoping it would slow down a little , but it did not , so I kind of let myself get dropped and then just rode around , got lapped a few times until they finally pulled 1/2 the field , it was super dangerous with all these lapped riders on the course anyway. Right then I kind of looked at this race as a joke !! I got a finishing time and was able to start tomorrow, that is all I wanted .




It was rain in the forecast for Thursday, they were right !! I now have a GPS, but still could not find the start, I get there 20 min before the start, it is mayhem , you can not park anywhere and there is no sign in sheet . There is this long outdrawn instructions speech by one of the super officials. Then a State Trooper gets a flat on his car , so that is an other 30 min standing around in the rain. We finally roll out and the first 15 miles or so are neutral , we ride out to this wooded area where the loop is that we are supposed to ride 7 times around . It is a about a 3 feet wide road and slick as an hockey rink!! We we go down this down hill and half the field hits the deck , just super slick , nobodies fault! I took the B- line to the grass, so no crash for me ! We get back up and to be honest the speed we were going neutral would probably be the speed you would be able to race on this course ( about 7 mph) . A bunch of riders started to complain and we stopped and decided it is too dangerous . The Officials claimed it was the rain , but that course would have been crazy dry as well. Nice place to train or ride a recreational ride with your wife , but 100 guys going 40 mph , what are these guys thinking???? We rode back to our cars ( they were still there , even they threatened to tow them) Day 2 of the circus was done , just the drive home again . 220 dollars plus driving, food and a lot time starting feel ,not worth it!! I wanted to race this race as training , but being sick and this poorly organised , it is not really working out at all!!


One more day for me and I am done with this ! The TT is on Friday and I could almost bet money something is going to go wrong!! Feeling the best out of these 3 days , but not 100% , so I am not going to go crazy today . Just check out the TT bike , make sure everything works and goes smoothly. I warm up a little on the course , I hate the trainer , since this is not a big deal I just ride on the rode. Every things seems fine! I start , immediately the brake caliber starts rubbing against the inner chain ring , it is loud, having this super aero bike with a almost riding with the brakes on really makes sense ! About 100 meters into the race the SRM goes out , just speed noting else . This is the first time I am doing a TT with power OR not, no power , no file , what a waste!!!! I am feeling OK and I pass 3 guys , the 1 1/2 min guy!! I come to 4 way intersection , I kind of have the feeling that should be the turn around , but there is nobody there !! I keep going , kind of coasting to see what the other guys will do, there is no official to ask , so I finally turn around I say to myself I had enough, I am going back no matter what !! So I wasted probably a couple of minutes there !! The ride back goes well, not pushing 100% , but pretty fast ! After the race everybody who started in the beginning says the same thing, they had no clue where the turnaround was , some guy rode 32K instead of 20 K , great race !!


I looked at the results and they gave a bunch of guys a 2.00 min penalty , including myself ! I do not know if they added or sub tracked from our time ?? I do not really care , if it was legit I would have finished in the top 5-10 , but it does not matter, I am not starting tomorrow!!


Saturday was actually nice to stay at home instead of commuting to "Ringos" everyday . I originally entered the Gyro to get some good training in , but I was sick , so 3 days of recovery riding I guess was OK , otherwise I think I would have lost fitness on this deal! I did one of my favorite loops "the Orchard loop" with my neighbour, triathlte, buddy and client Matt Scott. Nice ride even litte rain the last hour it was better than any race that day! Legs felt good , but still a lot of tightness around the chest and the breathing was not great if I went a little harder.


Sunday is Fathers day and my favorite race around here, I never really miss this one , Housatonic Hills! I had entered the 35+ cat , there were some pretty good names on the list , so I figure since I am not 100% it would be a good race for me . It is a hilly nice long loop . The master beaters had to go around it twice . My team mate Rob L went up the road with a good friend and rival Jonny Bold , so I just sat in to see what would happen.(nothing happened) I have never missed the KOM in this race , but this year there was no Pasta goodie bag , so maybe I will wait and see maybe Rob can get it !!


We got to the KOM and I see Rob is a little off Jonny's wheel , so it was time time to bridge and start racing , it is a race after all! 4-5 of us catch the two after the KOM , Rob is doing a great job on the flats helping establishing the break and I think this will work ( only if any of the other guys would work) Sean Groom is riding well and does not miss a pull, at least he is racing! We get to the Constitution hill and at this point it does matter if you sit on or not , so just hard tempo to be able to maintain or open the gap ! We get over the top , I figure some one else would like this break to work , but it is just coasting by David T, and the other two. Bold and Groom still tries hard. It almost seems like these guys never been in a break and did not know what to do ! You do not stay away by coasting !! I do not know , since I have not really raced any masters races for a while , I guess the level is so different. I attacked them , might as well if they are just going to sit on .Then I just pulled for a few miles to see what they would do . Then we came to the stair stepper climb and I just rode my own pace and I guess that was the answer , they all got dropped . One older guy ( I forget his name Klipper?? Klapper??) was sort of in between , so I let him on . The other Wheelsuckers were gone , I felt bad for Sean , he deserved to be here! No price this time around on the KOM , so we just rode tempo up and then headed towards the finish! We rotated , not a crazy pace , but we were going . I flick my arm and nobody comes ??? what happened ?? My only buddy left is gone on a flat road?? By now I just figure it is nicer just to win this thing alone , so I actually rode pretty fast the last bit and felt pretty good again. Richard Freez was talking up a storm at the finish , I had not seen him since the CX nationals , great commentator! That was that , I think the 6th time I won this race . A couple of cookies and it was time to go ! I hung out a little with Bold and Kevin Hines , we got our price , like my daughter calls it and we will meet again!!!!

When I get home Finley wants to go swiming or fishing in the pool, she got a fishing pole , so off to the pool. As soon as we get there it starts raining again , so a short visit! Watched Fabian a little killing the TT in Tour de Swiss on Versus and then dinner&movie with the wife. A nice day after a very frustrating week of being sick and dealing with the BS Gyro Race !! Live and Learn , only do what you know is good for you!!


Dinner was gooooooood!!!!




Thanks for reading again!

killing it the whole week by Roger

In my last post I promised to write about what is going on during the week. Well the plan was to get a short simi recovery from the Balloon and Highbridge and then train some more and finally a good recovery before the Giro ( NJ ) . Monday was a recovery ride and meet with a new client, nice ride perfect weather about 2 hours nice easy pace , not too hilly. Jocelyn rode well and I got a pretty good idea were she stands . To ride with someone make it much easier to build their training program , a big piece of the puzzle! Juan tagged along , he was in need of an easier ride as well and it is nice for a new client to get some input from an other client while riding as well.

Tuesday early start , 6 am TT workout with Evan and Andreas. We had 2 hours to spare and I happen to know a perfect loop for TT's that is exactly 2 hours. Love the Ridley Dean , perfect fit and so cool , worth getting up at 5.30 am !Easy start , still a little sleepy , but the ride picks up and we are starting to feel pretty good .The skies are really dark and it is just matter of time when we are going to get soaked !! The last 20 min it is pretty much pouring! Evan hits a pothole covered with water and hits the deck . Luckily just a few scratches ! Then rush to the Gym to train 3 guys , that is a thing I did since I started my coaching business, nice connection to the gym and little side income . I am now established with do coaching and really pressed on time , so I would not really need to do any PT anymore , but to leave these guys hanging is hard for me !

If you think my days are just riding and then watching Versus and Universal Sports, think again! From about 6.30 am to sometimes 10 pm I answer e-mails, phone calls ,analyse files and build training programs . In addition to the coaching I am constantly helping build a web site , sales and sponsor product development. Thank God I have my wife doing the books and Andreas handling a lot of promotional and sales stuff! Most recently I have hired an assistant coach , Kyle Wolfe. He will take on some new clients from now on and also does some other computer work taking the load of me a little and making this operation work more smoothly! The last thing I would want is take the personal attention away from each client, no matter how busy it is , that always comes first in this business, that is way they hired a coach in the first place anyway ! Besides all this I am a dad and husband > you all know what that means!

Wednesday is the standard Group ride from Westwood Cycle. This week we decided to step it up a little and ride to Perkins Dr (Bear Mountain) I told them we would go hard on the climb, so I guess everybody figured the best thing was to sit in all the way up to the base of the climb, so I just stayed on the front for about 2 hours or so, good pace for me and fit my plan perfectly. Believe it or not I have a training plan as well, not the most sophisticated one, but a plan!

Rode the big ring to the gate, pretty nice speed , still fast to the top, but could have gone faster if I had to . The price on top is the Coke , that makes the whole ride!! Shatt a little about how epic this ride is and put the rain jacket on and down we go! The ride back was fast as well and now everybody shipped in , the last 30 min was almost like a race and very good tactical training for the guys. Even a sprint finish! A great performance from everybody , some of the best numbers for some of the guys during training. Did I mention that it rained almost the whole time. Epic !!!!

Thursday same ride a little different route and I hope a different pace as well! It was slower and more civilized than the day before, but Evan was still throwing it down on Perkins, very impressive riding for the kid , 19 and 130 lbs . He certainly have the ambitions to make it ! Still felt good and even I had the NJ Masters RR on Sat ( that would be the end of this living on the edge training block) I rode pretty hard not too worried about being spent on Sat!

Friday , easy ride with my older client Bill. We ride together every week , a nice loop and nice pace for both of us , Bill enjoys it and it is an important thing to me as well. We stop at the bike store to pick up a wiring harness for an SRM I was installing for the State 40+ TT Champ, Mark P. The ride went smooth , besides almost getting killed when Bill run a red light in a four lane intersection, a weekly thing with Bill , makes things exciting , I call it the Russian Rulett!!

After this ride I had promised to ride with one of my Juniors Eli M. Anthony D came along as well. Met them at the new Strictly shop in Fort Lee. Nice easy ride on River Rd , then up on 9 W to Piermont and turn around . On he way back we did 2 leg openers ( like I needed that ) , but it was good for them since they were racing the next day like me. Done for the week , nice dinner with my wife and daughter and to bed !

4.00 am wake up call , why do they have to have 40 mile race start @ 7.00 am in the middle of nowhere???? I won this race 4 times in past years, so what was my objective today, I do not really know !! I sat in , a break went , sat in some more . Then I attacked on the same place I have attacked the last 4 years , bridge to he break . Troy and Mike R from Northeast Hardware got there too. The wind was immediately lost out of break aways guy's sails, and there was a big panic in the break. What do you do then ? Get caught by the field or attack again ! I chose the later option , split the break to 5 guys with my team mate Troy in it , great this is it, lets commit!! We rotate a few times , I pull thru and Mike does the same , who is next , there is nobody there, what happened?? Mike seems like he wants to go , so we went and the other guys just faded, I was very surprised!

Me and Mike rode around the two remaining laps , I am noticing that Mike is spinning an easier and easier gear and is taking shorter and shorter pulls , so we get to the famous climb and I flick my arm , Mike does not come thru , it is go time , seal the deal!! I would have attacked him there anyway , it would just have been much cooler to attack from behind , but oh well I accelerated off the front and there was a gap and I hit it again , good enough. Little tail wind towards the finish and one more hill, just in case ! Mike chased , that I thought he would. He is a very experienced rider and someone like him does not give up.

I made it over the finish line for the 5th time in first place. Since this race means a lot to Westwood Velo , for some reason , I was very happy to pull it off! Congrats to everybody on the team as well!

Sunday morning I had planned to go and watch my wife race the Harriman duathlon. I got her bike ready the night before and she got the really cool new Westwood/Finkraft trisuit , she was pretty excited . It was her day and I was not racing ! Me and Finley were ready to support, I thought my daughter a few slogans to yell out , like slowpoke, pass somebody , go faster, put it in the big ring and etc.

Nice race, I have done it a few times in the past and there was a lot of people I knew , some of my clients were there too, so it was fun to watch ! My wife was killing it on the first run and almost stayed with the boys, the bike is her weaker link, she only really rides her bike when she does these races, maybe that is what I should do too, seems to work for her! She looses a spot on the bike leg, but makes it up on the second run and wins the overall women's duathlon !! Impressive , now if she only rode her bike a little more she would be unbeatable !

Then we were so excited to get her on the podium , but after all this , I guess the scoring company pressed the wrong button and messed up big time!! No awards and nobody got to know what their placing was! If this was a bike race , someone would have gotten killed, but not this crowd , they just quietly went home , after all it was only $ 60.00 to enter or more?? so no big deal! We got some stale bagels and a banana . It was fun, but a wooden plack would really have made our day !




I get home , my back is hurting in a wired way and I have the chills. I am getting sick!! Today is Tuesday , I have not ridden my bike since Saturday and the Giro starts tomorrow , does not look good!!







Thanks for reading again

Louden Swain and Ray Kinsella

There are several things that you need to bring with you on race day: your kit, your bicycle and your desire to succeed.

This may sound kinda silly, but most racers just want to finish without getting dropped or have their names not appear too far down on the results page when their friends look them up on Monday morning. However, if you go into the race with the concentrated thought towards an actual goal, that is more likely to happen. A simple mantra of "I want to win this race" or "this time I will beat my PR by 5 minutes" is sometimes all it takes.

This past weekend was the Nutmeg Criterium in New Britain, CT. The race also served as the CT State Criterium Championships. Although not necessarily a sporting powerhouse, CT is important because to succeed in cycling in New England is no easy feat. My goal of the race was to win the masters gold medal and to the start line I headed.

With attitude being everything, I backed into the first row on the start line. No sense in starting last I thought. This course was neither difficult nor easy, but field finishes can be tricky as the course is fast and rarely is there a selection. The finish straight also comes off of a weird off-camber corner downhill thing that can sometimes be dangerous and more likely VERY tricky to read correctly. I knew in order to score I had to be off the front.

At just three laps into the race the prime bell rung for $10. A few guys went off the front for it and I had my plan. I sat in the field waiting for them to get a gap that would not be caught before the lap line; and then went after them hard. It took a half lap, but I caught them with two others in tow. The first two exploded and we were gone. A few laps later 4 other guys came up from the field in a hard bridge. They were definitely going to catch us so I sat up from the attack to catch my breath for a few seconds, get a sip of water and then got onto the chase group that quickly caught the front. Same result, less effort.

We put a solid gain into the field despite a concentrated chase from the teams that missed the move over the next 16 laps. Nice. There were a few scary attacks in the last two laps, but I was able to get on them and make a sprint move at the finale. I got beat by 3 riders, but they were from NH and NY, so the State Champ was mine. Nice.

I had simply envisioned my result before the race and achieved it. Maybe if I had wanted the race win I could have scored better, but that was not the goal.

Have a Vision Quest. Build It and He Will Come. Whatever it takes, get that goal, get that score.

Wednesday - time to ride up to Perkins

Wednesday morning is when I get up at 4.30 AM. I hastely prepare my favorite Country Choice Oatmeal. The quick cooking one works best, the steel cut version would be better for a long ride since it "burns" slower, but weighing the option of getting up at 3.30AM to be at the stove babying this precious cereal for an hour +++ and getting in an extra hour of sleep, I go for the quick fix. A quick double espresso should bring me safely to the shop (or so I think - 30 minutes later I would be buying a second cup on the road).

As always I prepare all my stuff including water bottles the night before, since I got to be quick in the morning. 40 minutes to the Westwood shop requires efficiency and I have a job in the city so that requires me to time things before and after.

Roger said 6AM sharp. That means we will likely leave the shop at around 6.20AM. Fin-time. My compulsion concerning punctuality and the severe punishment I would receive from my conservative parents when I grew up in Italy (I am now 38 but still plenty of trauma left over) make my 5.50AM arrival at the shop possible. Oh well...nobody is here.

The ride was announced to be somewhat of a test....now I understand the word "somewhat" only served the purpose of "cutifying" the magnitude of this ride. TEST. I asked myself how I am feeling today - answer - not so bad. I am happy about that. I had the one or the other ride on Wednesdays were my poor sleep pattern has left me tired. Today was not one of those.

"Chatterbox" Evan, his collegiate friend Alex (climber build all the way), Jumbo Raheb, Al Blanchard and Mark (one other WV whose name escaped me) are off into the morning fog. We generate a nice pace up to Bear Mountain. A mix of "saving yourself" for the TEST and "starting to work" early develops in the group.

Roger looks at me and says at one point that he noticed himself pulling the group the entire time. That was certainly true and so I decided to go to the front and do some work as well, still keeping in mind that soon we will be in the TEST ZONE. As we arrive on the bottom, Evan, Alex and I pick up the pace and we look back briefly only to notice that we already have a small gap. I look for a second back again and Roger was there (I realize that his legs feel good, as they always seem to do...). So we ride a nice tempo for the first 4-5 minutes. I am feeling very good and looking at my heart rate I don't appear to be overly labored for the watts the SRM is showing me. Happy. Maybe too happy...

I decide to accelerade and see what would occur. I open up a gap. Now I feel even happier and the gap is slightly opening up, wow. I am pushing harder and harder at this point and I look down and see that I am pushing pretty unrealistic numbers (for me - every day stuff for Roger) for the climb to this point. Doubt briefly settles in, Roger is back there and my heart rate is now pretty high, my happiness played a joke on me! I noticed the attack position as I look back and I can see Roger's silhouette getting bigger and bigger. Damn, this would not work.

The guys catch me as we get closer to the gate. I manage to hang on but I need a bit of recovery now. Lifting the bike accross the gate should do just that, happy again. I try to slow this process, but would not show that to the guys :-)jump on and up the steeper part we go. I look down and see my HR still pretty high, I am working now....we go up and everyone's breathing becomes more audible (not Roger's - cannot hear a thing...)

He and Evan finally, half way up Perkins, open a little gap and Alex and I are left to climb at our own pace. I hear Alex commenting behind me, &#%^$&* and I feel the same way...I felt so good and now...

Oh well no biggie, the numbers were good and I knew that if I had not been overly excited further down the hill, I could have done even better towards the top.

A quick snack and a coke on top and back to the shop we roll. The ride gets quite fast and I do nothing to slow it down either since I need to time my way back to NYC - the job is waiting.

We arrive in WV - a great 3.5 hour ride. So good to be alive, so good to be celebrating the passion of cycling with friends.

Thursday ride. Everything hurts.

Today was the weekly Thursday training ride from Westwood Velo for various Finkrafters. Ordinarily, that would be enough of a description, but then how would I spend the rest of my evening?

It started poorly for me. I overslept. There was traffic on the highway on the way down. I didn't really sleep all that well. I was whiney. I was going to try to keep the whineyness to myself, but in the event the ride went poorly for me, I had to start the spin right away.

I pulled up to the Flying Fin's house, and Chatty young Evan and his Fin-ness were standing outside in the rain. Did I remember to say it was raining? More whine. I kitted up and we took off towards the store. I could only find one glove. Whine. Meeting us there was 12T Mark, some guy named Mike and "I am a mountain biker, do you have a problem with that" Jim. Fun all around. I resisted the urge to whine.

We headed up towards Bear Mountain. The rain had stopped but I was still whining as now I could complain about being overdressed. Aren't I fun? We were doing okay until the 130# kid decided to show his climbing prowess on 9W. Darn kids. I whined.

We made it into the park and started our speedy ascent of the Perkins Memorial Drive. It was actually kinda neat as a fog had rolled in and we were almost riding blind. The Fin mentioned that the summit was snowed in. I assumed he was kidding. I was doing great until I started to get a bit overheated and my head was hot and I was sweating. I was only wearing a thin cap under my helmet. I was soon dropped by my ride mates. I was too tired to whine this time.

At the top I stopped and took off my helmet to cool off and found the other glove trapped inside the cap. Explains why it didnt fit right and why I was so hot. It was soaked with sweat. Not pretty.

We turned around and headed home through the thriving metropolis of Haverstraw. We did speed work. The rain returned. The kid went uphill fast. Finally, that Mike guy says: are we there yet? Almost. At the end, 4:22. Good stuff. Pretty steady and a great workout. You should have been there. I was happy with my ride. The whining stopped.

BTW: my hands hurt from not wearing gloves. Whine.

After a few close ones - a win at Highbridge by Roger

Tour of Highbridge is probably my favorit New Jersey race now , since they do not have the Park Ridge one anymore!! A legbreaking hill , short but steap, when you have to go up it 11 times it becomes long and steap . A 3 mile loop with almost a "pave patch job" section and a screaming down hill into an s-turn , you would not think , you would see a sprint finish ! All the years I have done it it has always been a break , but almost never a solo break > I have always been there at the end, but always got beaten too > 2nd ( a couple of times ) 3rd (a couple of times ) ,4th ,5th ......

I raced the Ballon festival race the day before > I saw a balloon truck , but never seen any balloons there??? It is the same place as the Battenkill race was held this spring , but this one is a different loop , this year a shorter version due to constraction , so that meant 6 times up the feed zoone climb , lot of eating and drinking! I overslept this morning and 5.15 Evan was banging on my door! It takes 3 hours to get to Cambridge , NY and the Pro 12 starts at 9.25 > so now we need to hustle > I even managed to cook up some Country Choice oatmeal , take it to go of course with some green tea. Pick up Landino and further up the the road Andreas. My new GPS says we should arrive at 8.48 am , so that would leave us 30 min to get ready , not bad . I do not belive that thing anyway , so no sweat!! We get there at 8.49 am , I guess I was driving a little slow!

There is a few fast guys > Will Dugan and Josh Dillon with his team mate Justin Lindine and about 12 Spooky/Kenda guys. Well, the hill was the race !! Will and Josh drilled it up that thing every lap and I was the only guy that could hang . Race came together a few times after the hill , but on the 5th time up that was it for the rest of the pack , one guy amased me from Spooky , he managed to hold on!( young kid forgot his name , but nice ride) The last lap was no different and now the Spooky got dropped ( that hurt , if I only was 21) little cat and mouse game on the way into the finish , but nothing happend ! I figured if I get a jump on them two before the last turn I might have a shot, NO Will gets me before the turn and NO , Josh beats me on the line ! 3rd place > I am Ok with that, it was not that hard of a race , besides the hill , so I might feel simi good tomorrow ,I was thinking!! I found a 1966 bolwing throuphy on the side of the road , rolling back to the car > the guys thought that was the 3rd place price > pretty funny ! What was not funny was that I actually got a flat during the race > the wheel van would not give me a wheel , ( supposily I did not put a wheel in , go figure ! Luckily about 80 psi remained in my tire ,thank good for the sealant!! I finished the race and even sprinted !!

3 hours back and legs in the ice barrel , feeling pretty good ! At least I get to sleep tomorrow , race does not start until 1-2 o'clock!! Jehaaa!!

My wife and daughter comes to Highbridge . They have a play ground there and it is a nice mellow park to hang out in and watch the race . If your are not fit or like to go uphill , this a race would most likely be the one to skip though!!

Empire, Kelly Pro Team, Champion System, Jittery Joe U-23 team, Van Dessel and North eastern Hardwear had 4-5 guys , all pretty fast ! Then there are a bounch of other guys from smalller teams and it is just me , myself and my Giant again !! The first part of the race is hectic, as it should be , but for me not to miss the break that will form sooner or later I have to cover everything !! First lap 50.00 ShopRite prime !! I get in break right away , so why not go for it , I take it , now we can finaly get something to eat!!

Attack , attack , attack and one more and 3 guys gets away ! Next time up the hill Gavi attacks and me , Nick Bax and a Jittery Joe guy gets on , we bridge to the other 3 and now we are 6 > every important team is there> perfect , that is the move !!! Everyone knows that and does not really miss a pull > we drop Gabe from Van Dessel and we are 5 left! Every guy in the break is under 25 years old > I do not want to bring them to the line , so I wait until 2 to go and it is all or nothing up the hill> I drop everybody except Mike Margarite from Empire> we know each other and I do not think his wants a sprint finish either , so we work pretty good together > no more attacks . I time my last pull pretty close to the finish and get Mike on the front! There is a head wind ( I noticed that 9 laps ago ) so wait!! Mike seems to believe that he can beat me 250 meters out and goes very early , I wait as long as possible and gets by him , scooooore!!

Perfect tactics and my wife and daughter got to see me win !! The only dissapointment was the price money> $ 100.00 for the win , after all that > I have gotten $ 250.00 for second there before> oh well , enough for pizza and beer!!

I finished yet an other race on a soft tire , two flats in two days > still won the race I always wanted to win as a Pro 12 !!

This post is about racing, yeah bla,bla, bla> I will try to write a litte about what is going on during the week > working and training > eating and sleeping next time , sound more exciting right!!

Tube tops are in again !!! Even I had a bike lenght at the end it was not enough time to zipp up!

Thanks again for reading !!

Another CT Stage race write up....

A good week it has been
After searching for something like a "peak" for some time, I now feel that I am getting closer. Like most things in live you only understand peaks as you look at before and after, and after is the unknown, so there is a chance that I am in peak form right now and things may not evolve further from here, but I do not think and hope so.Roger suggested after a few dissappointments (Jiminy Peak, Bear Mountain) to go back and create another mini-base with riding longer rides at lower intensity. Since Memorial Day weekend and the week leading up to it were relatively slow for me, I managed to get in a few extra long rides and that was very beneficial as I am finding out. Roger really knows his stuff and reads "situations" perfectly.Long story short, I felt great throughout the CT Stage race, the time trial, although also not my best (I had to open up my position twice to adjust my speed sensor, which in contrast to the purists of this discipline I mounted on the fork, slipped and got into my front wheel) was a good one and resulted in me just being out some 20 seconds form the lead. As it turned out the TT was the whole race if you did not get into any trouble later.The Circuit Race (Roger calls it Circus Race) was another feel good experience. My legs felt good but since I did not trust all that "positive feeling" I decided to stick with the plan and conserve energy for the next day.The next day was a serious task, 91 miles, few of us train let alone race this distance, but without going into a turn by turn description, I felt great once again and was able to both respond to breaks and initiate them at times.Although the field stayed for the most part together, I felt like I could have raced all day. My legs felt super. I thought I might give it a shot at the end, but chose a bad line into the finish - 12th place. 5th overall in the GC. Happy!Another good week is just coming to the weekend. I had two recovery rides Monday and Tuesday a longer one on Wednesday, Thursday Rockleigh (10th place) and now the Balloon is waiting as well as Bear Mountain TT.I hope my progression curve keeps steepening.More later!

If there are no corners, is it still a criterium?

Officially, yes. A criterium is defined as a closed course circuit race of less than two kilometers. However, at this past Sunday's CT Coast Criterium in Bethel, CT; the all too familiar course was mostly one big circle.

With a rash of promoter conspiracies preventing us from racing in Masters events, I signed up for the P123 race of 35 laps. Not too bad except that I did 27 in a training race there on Wednesday and another 22 with the girl beforehand in the B race. I was dizzy just thinking about it.

A small prereg group led to a very talented and fast race due to late day sign ins. The group started fast under calm and sunny skies. Despite several spirited attacks by yours truly and others, nothing stayed away and with 10 laps to go, the word went out that we were going to have a bunch gallop. Yeehaw! There is nothing I love more than banging bars at 70kph with no health insurance! Ugh.

I started to move up with 5 to go and faught hard to keep position going into the finale. With two to go I bumped a Spooky/Kenda rider off of his leadout and had a good spot. "Excuse me, pardon me, coming through." We flew down the left side and towards the finish. The lead pulled off early and "d'oh" I was in the wind with 200m to go. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I went for it hard only to die a thousand deaths with about 20m to go. I was passed quite often and had to settle for 9th place.

Not too shabby really for a some-what old guy. I have had a pretty good string of single digit finishes lately (CTSR not withstanding) so I could live with it. I was also pleased to see a hard working 19 year old win the day; maybe there is a future to cycling?

Not to be outdone, the Fin won his race in Joisey. Which exit? HAHAHAHA! Really though, my only regret of the weekend was that I didn't go up to Auburn, ME for the very hilly and very difficult road race there on Saturday and beat that poser dude that bought his Cervelo kit from an online store. Wait a second, I am getting a message now...seems that...wait...oh. That Cervelo guy was indeed the pride of New England just back from finishing his rookie Giro d'Italia: Ted King. Great work Ted, we are all proud of you!

Two weeks: Housatonic Hills Road Race. Now this is NOT a criterium.

Things were too blurry to tell if it really was CT

Well, this past weekend was the premiere of the Connecticut Stage Race way up in Colebrook, CT. A two day, three stage event, it promised to be a good early season warmup for the important races down the road this summer.

My comparatively young age meant that I was forced to compete in the mostly elite P12 field and not the Masters as I hoped. Even though all the categories strangely had the same distance, I was cautious going into it as the talent was to be superb. Or so I had hoped...as until the last week, only about 12 other riders had entered. They were all Northeast regulars, plus the Flying Fin himself. Well, on the last few days the field quickly filled with a few professionals and most of the New England elite.

The elite status was quickly shown on the 8 mile opening time trial. I was still tired and sore from bouncing off of the Hartford pavement the week before and was flat tired and couldn't get on top of the pedals. His Fin-ship took a flying 3rd place by just a few seconds.

Then, a mere 6 hours later, the second stage - 8 laps of 3 miles circuit race - started. The pace was brutal from the start and most of the event was raced in a straight line. Downhills topped 47 mph and uphills seemed a bit faster. The field all stayed together and no real time differences were made. Everyone went home for a late dinner and to think about the 91 mile road race in the morning.

Ah, morning. Nervous energy abounded. This was new course, and we were mostly unfamiliar. The attacks started as soon as the first pedal was clipped in and seemed to never stop. My plan was to try to get in a properly represented early move to both save my legs (better to be the responder than the respondee later) and unofficially help the Fin should he bridge up later. Well, I tried pretty hard. Then, after coming off a solid attack group on some rolling hills with my heart at 190bpm, I watched a Colavita pro go streaking by on my right. Whoops. Then the GC leader up the middle, two more pros and of course, the Fin. Ouch. I missed that one. However, I was not the only one who missed it as the GC 2nd place also did.

With his team at the front to try to catch up, the race was really on. The field streaked down the road and covered 29 miles in the first hour. We reached the first feed zone at 40 miles in just 1:24. Yet still the break was up the road. Amazing. It was the fastest I have gone in years. Everything hurt. The normal chit chatting and joking that goes on in races was replaced by the fighting for wheels and speeds over 50mph. Yikes.

We came through town at the end of the first big loop at about 50 miles and over 20 riders pulled off right there, too exhausted to continue. I foolishly continued until the one more pro and the missed opportunist attacked to bridge the struggling two minute gap. Bam, pow, zing. Race over for the rest of us. I finally climbed off in the second feed zone at mile 70 with one of the other lads and went back home. Up the road the break stayed away and that is all I know. I was too tired to ask.

It was a good event in a nice town with good weather. I think. I have shut out much of the memories to avoid late life trauma. Very fast. Only about half of the starters from the time trial saw the finish of the road race a mere 27 hours later. Good stuff.

For me, it was fantastic training for my masters campaign. For others, it was the second time they rode their new time trial bikes. Three chances to guess who! Talk to you next week!

The tour of CT by Roger

This past weekend was the first stage race for most of us amatures> the tour of Coneticut! I am late as usual , trying to pack everything in the car 5.00 am and then pick up John Landino in Ridgewood >it was not happening , too much stuff since we were staying over night . TT bike , wheels and bags and my kitchen . Key thing when you are on the road . If you want to eat what you like > bring it !! Saves a lot of time and money , but also no surprises! We get on the road almost 45 min late > John wants coffee from Duncan D's , but the first one we hit has a mile long line , so we decide to keep going ! We see a sign for Ducan D's on 684 and we get off> well we really get off course > after driving 10 mile in the wrong direction we finally find it > long line > great!!
We find our way back to the highway and next thing>you guessed it right > bathroom stop> this was quick , but now we are really late ! We get to Winstead, CT and now we just have to find the race ! Eneas from Targetraining pulls up and he thinks it should be down the road> he was right !! So much for the GPS my wife gave to me for my birthday a few days ago!
John has less than one hour to get ready > I start later , so I got plenty of time !
I brought the trainer , but desided not to use it> there was a nice road to warm up , which I always prefer if I have the option > I absolutly hate the trainer ! This is only the 3rd time I am riding the Ridley Dean TT bike , first race , it should be interesting ! Mark & Allan @ Westwood Cycle went out of their way as usual to get this bike finished and ready for this weekend > Like I said before , without them > I probably would not be racing at all! It feels fast and everything seems to work , so I spend about 30 min for warm up > legs are a little heavy , but nothing I am worried about .
Before the warm up I usually do my whole preparation ritual > Sports Balm start oil on my legs , drink some Amp (Mountain Dew) some other sports drink , eat some cliffbar , put all the gear on, the super sonic skinsuit ( litte wird in my opinion ,but suposely fast as hell) shoe covers ( do the really work ?? that is the question) drink some more Amp and then last the Uvex areo helmet , very cool and super light > I always wonder what this thing would do if I crashed ?? Some more Amp and then ride to the line > wirrrrrred!! One more gel and about to puke , but now it is go time !
The first mile of a TT is always hell, but once you get going >it is all good !! Took almost to the turn around intil the legs finaly opened up > Boy does this Bike feel fast when you get up to speed!! On the way back I catch 3 guys > I do not know if this means anything> I am going fast or they are just slow > do not know them ! Good second half and the fit on the new bike was pretty good > a couple tweeks here and there as expected > but a nice "Rocket Ship" >3rd place , 14 sec off the lead > not too bad! I am happy , but not my best TT of my life ( can not remeber if I ever had one)
Circuit ( or circus ) race is next! It is shorth, but when it is just me, myself and my Giant ( no team mates) you have to be on your toes! I did think this was a pretty hard race > the funny thing is that guys that you do not really see in the road race and probably a few minutes down on GC now all of a sudden mixing it up . I hate to say it but it makes it more dangerous and little enoying . I do not feel that sparky in this race at all , since there is no time bonuses > let's keep it together! I stretched out a few times , but nothing to talk about > Will Dugan wins, perfect timing of his attack > congrats!
Now it is pretty late ( almost past my bed time , remember I am old ) We meet up with Troy , Rob L , Andreas and Monica at a pretty nice outside Italian place call Baci. Food is good and a glas of wine was a nice reward for the days efforts!!
Back to Quality Inn (the only quality about this place is the price OR NOT> too expencive ) and some Cake and Ice bath before bed is on tap! The ice bath really helps recover , but painful if the water is cold enough . Pull your compression socks on and lights out> it will be a long day tomorrow for everybody!
I brought my laptop with me , I figured I would catch up on some work , but it never fails! Not much extra time and the only thing I really had time for was check who won that days stage in the Giro > Gilbert! When you are on the road , my wife always asks me what I am going to do with all that free time I have in between races. What free time ?? I always tell her I will go to the Mall or the Movies or just chill at the Pool! Yeah right , there is just about enough time to eat and sleep , besides running around lugging your bike and bags in and out of the hotel!

Road race , what should be the plan here?? Well , we roll out and Robbie King asks me if I am "the Roger" > I guess I am !! I do not know anybody else that would be?? Maybe Hammond?? Anyway he as a brother racing the Giro and he has the same cool wheels as me >Mavic Ultimate Carbon . Super expensive , but stiff and light that accelerate like nothing else! 10 miles into the race a few guys surge over a climb and I follow because the race leader Eneas is there as well> Tuns out it is Robbie, Will D , Dan Bowman from Kelly, Dan Vallancourt, so basicly the 6 stongest guys in the race only Josh Dillon and Hoag missed it !
Looks good we are going so fast I can barely breath and we gain some time quickly ! Nobody misses a pull and we are gone . I knew it is only Bikereg/Cannondale that would chase ( maybe CCNS ) , so basicly I am in 2nd now on the road . The course was by no means flat > it was up and down going mach speed! I start feeling better as we go , thank God!! Everything is going smooth and we are going down a long decent and Robbie tells me Eneas is gone <> Eneas is back , just a wheel change ! We get to about 20 miles to go and the pace car is telling us a small group is bridgeing > who can that be ? a 3 min gap! Yes it is Dillon and Hoag , now the top six is all at the front of the race ! 10 K to go the attacks starts <> I am still tired and today is Friday.Tomorrow I have to do an other 85 mile race with the same animals ! It was a cool race and I am very satisfied the way it went >a nice build up to bigger things!
This week was pretty uneventfull> Mon Recovery ride on TT bike ( make some adjustments ) Tues Recovery ride on Power Carnks , Wed sandbagged the groupride (still very tired legs) Thurs > ride the Wed group ride loop , felt a little better> then go watch the Thursday night World at Rockleigh ( felt much better watching than riding) Today rain > hoping to get a short ride in at some point !!
I am picking up my FinKraft Adidas rain jackets from the printer, so I might have to try them out ! If nothing else good happend this week I got to spend some fun time with my daughter and I worked on my office as well > new desk ( well used , on a budget) and my new Lenova computer set up > this thing is just so fast and cool( almost like the Dean) . Monica , thanks for the IBM hook up!!! So the business is moving along slowly , but in a good direction > I always try to remind myself how lucky I am to be able to do what I really like ! Just taking it slow> step by step!!

Thanks for reading this extreamly long blog and until next time > race Hard!!!