FinBlog

Bike Transport

2011-11-26T05:08:00.003-05:00

Bike Transport
Cross Nationals and Masters Worlds 2012

It is almost that time of the year again and I do not mean Christmas. Unfortunately I am not able to race this cross season at all including the Nationals or the Worlds , but I am still going . I drove to Bend, OR and back last year with the trailer full of bikes , so we should have even more east coast riders going this year , since it is half the distance . Let us take your cyclocross bikes to the National Championships and /or to the Master's Worlds 2012!

It is no big secret that flying across the country or really anywhere with a bicycle is very expensive and a very big hassle. The cost of the excess baggage can be as high as $200 per bike + $ 55.00 per suit case each way. When you get there you have to rent a car big enough to carry the bikes and the boxes, put the bikes together, and of course hope it all arrives in one piece
and on time!

Do the math and travel to these races hassle free and spend your energy on having a great race instead.Traveling is most of the time more exhausting than the actual race and if you are going to the Nationals or Worlds it would be nice to feel fresh and relaxed when you stand on that start line .

FINKRAFT , well me will drive both of your cyclocross bikes, plus a set of wheels and a small gear bag to the Cyclocross Nationals in Madison, WI and we will continue the transport to
Louisville, KY for the Masters Cyclocross World Championships in 2012.

Pricing:

One event - $250.00
Two events - $350.00

Price will include:

-Pick up / drop off will be around New Years
(neutral place on the East Coast , check for details)
-Have your bikes ready when you need them in Madison and later in Louisville
(no assembly required)
-Have bike stand, some tools, wash buckets, wind trainer, pumps ,etc
-I will be at the events everyday so you don’t have to transport your bike while there and I will also provide pit support.
(since I am not racing this time)
-Changing and warm-up under our Giant tent also available.
( chairs and some warm water even -;) )

We can handle multiple riders per event, so don’t be afraid to ask! Don’t race Nationals without a pit crew!

Payment for transportation must be made in advance and checks should be written out for the full amounts to FINKRAFT.

Contact Roger for details and book immediately, as space
is limited! First come, first served! On a good day we can only fit 32 bikes in our
trailer.

Hope you are enjoying the warm weather now -;)

Roger

2012 FinKraft Cycling Camp Tucson, AZ

2011-11-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

FinKraft will once again host a training camp in Tucson, AZ in 2012. This
is a perfect opportunity to build your base fitness and train like a pro with all the support you will need to do so. The minute you sign up you are committed to start training for your training camp , so the one week you spend with us riding 30 + hours has a very long term affect . You train to be in shape for the camp , once there you have the opportunity to just train , eat sleep/recover and this a tremendous boost in fitness , so when you come home you will be on a high and motivated to start racing and continue training . In other words this one week camp can have a several month effect on your fitness and motivation.

Most of you know I had a very bad crash in August at the New Hampshire 100 MTB race and the severity of my injuries has made the decision to have the FinKraft Cycling Camp in Tuscon in 2012 a difficult one. The FinKraft cycling camps, both in Arizona and Italy, are a trade mark of FinKraft and more camps are in the plans for the future. After carefully considering my condition and being very optimistic about my recovery, we have decided to go ahead with the 2012 Arizona cycling camp after all and it is time to sign up , because the camps will fill up fast. Start of camp is less than 4 months away and there are definitely still many uncertainties about my condition but the neck brace is coming off shortly and I've had my first indoor ride on a spin bike equipped with PowerCranks of course! I am going to very honest with you and say that riding with you every day at the camp might not be possible. This does not mean that your cycling camp experience could not be better than that of those who attended the camp in 2011. The service and the famous FinKraft hospitality will be at the highest level again and I will be next to you guys every minute of every ride, either on my bike, on a scooter or in a team car to assist and lead you . If I am unable to ride, I can offer an even more pro-level service with wheel support (wheels-in, wheels-out, just kidding), handing you food and drinks, video taping and much, much more. We will make every day a pro level experience for you.

The ride schedule is pretty standard and proven here in Tucson. Sundays is a meeting and greeting day, airport pick-up and drop-off's .Room assignments and a briefing about the camp and etc. A short ride in the afternoon over Gates Pass with a short loop to loosen up and check bikes for proper function and we are ready for our first dinner . The week will be a mix of climbing days , long and steady , and flatter roads with some wind. Well there is a little wind every day or more some days.

Mt Lemon is just an awesome climb that we can do anything on. Endurance , tempo or even some harder efforts if we wanted to . On top we get experience the altitude and as a reward the gigantic cookie is always waiting for us. There was a lot less snow last year and let's hope we have the same luck in 2012 , so not too cold and the decent back down is just a blast, 30 mph for 45 min with nice sweeping turns in other words free motor pacing.The Mt Lemon is such an awesome ride that we do it twice ( each week)

The Benson-Tombestone- Bisbee and back is a great 100 mile ride . Perfectly spaced stops and not too much climbing , just open roads in the desert with two really cool towns on the way. Pretty epic ride with the wind and the distance. Bisbee is just a cool laid back town and a perfect turn around point with a bakery to fuel us up for the ride back . With Tombstone as a half way point both ways , a real western town still alive . Then we have the Ora Valley- Oracle - Mamouth and back. This is the famous Empenada ride , with the 11 mile decent into a canyon where the one horse town of Mamouth lays.

The one problem is after eating 3-4 freshly baked apple or pumpkin empenadas we have to climb back out of the canyon. Easy day though and back a little earlier than most other days. A perfect mid week ride with a little more time in the afternoon to have a presentation by an bike industry rep etc. Then we have the Queen stage , the 6 hour + ride from the house( base camp to Kitt Peak ) we do a little later in the week to test both our mental and physical strenght. Kitt Peak is about 6700 feet , a 12 mile climb , steeper than Lemon and about 45 miles to get to . Of course there is a fun downhill involved , but the ride back is not easy with Gates Pass and back to Casa de FinKraft. You can see what an accomplishment and satisfaction each rider shows on their faces when they roll back into the garage . For dinner that night we have lasagna and lot's of it -:) . The whole week is about training over extending with proper rest and nutrition to really boost your level of fitness. This point of the camp is when you start feeling the miles , but also realize that you can Do It ! It is almost like you go through a transformation and you want more of this good stuff . As a reward we will go up Mt Lemmon on Friday again and you would think we all have tired legs by now , but that is not always the case . We know the climb now from doing it earlier in the week , so I think that helps us judge the effort and it is a lot of fun reaching the top a 2nd time in one week . Then there is the finally on Sat . Early wake up and down to Starbucks on University boulevard . Not to have coffee , but be part of one of the most famous group rides in the US , the Shoot Out . This is a fast and very big local group ride that some time could be more than 200 riders of all different levels. You might have the chance to ride next to some well known pros and measure you strenght against some really fast riders , kind of a taste of racing and a nice way of ending the week. You do not have to win this ride and please be careful , it is not worth crashing in early March . We all meet after at Starbucks again and ride back to the house .

Saturday of the camp is a great day . A great sense of accomplishment and a great afternoon to hang out by the pool and reflect of what we just went trough on this amazing week .

Time to do a little packing and then have some pizza and a couple of beers while watching some pictures and videos from our rides we did the past 7 days .

If you have done these camps before this blog post is very familiar and maybe it is something you are looking forward to again . If you are thinking about attending the 2012 camps , read and watch some of the pictures or blogs from the past years and that should be enough to get you excited for sure , I am excited just writing this and I am thinking of ways how we can make it even more exciting every day .

Hope to see you in Arizona this spring or later in Italy .http://sites.google.com/site/finkraftcoaching/services/cycling-training-camps/arizona-training-camp

Thanks for reading ,

Roger

Be ready when the gun goes off in CX

2011-09-16T13:23:00.011-04:00

CX is here and it is a different sport from what we have been doing so far this year -:)

I know it is pedaling a bike like on the road or on a Mtn bike and the guy or girl who goes the fastest wins , but what makes CX so different from the other cycling disciplines is the preparation before the gun goes off.

I will here write up a basic routine that I have used and followed for years and of course fine tuned and perfected over time . Many of you have already listened to me preaching this to you and adapted it to your own CX regiment.

When you pack up your car going to the race ; bring EVERYTHING you own cycling and cyclocross related !

If it is a double race weekend and you have to stay overnight or even just a one day race BRING;

-2 bikes (if you have 2) sometimes I would prefer 3 -;)
-Extra wheels with different type of tires ; mud , dry grass ( most important) and file thread ( not that important , but certain races a benefit ) if you have extra sets of wheels besides the ones on the bike(s) ; bring them! Tubes if you race on clinchers.
-Tools + extra break pads, pedals , a floor pump, tire gauge ( yes if you do not know how to go by feel , the pump gauge is not accurate ) chain lube and a bucket with brushes and simple green to clean your bike other than just hosing it off.
- Toe spikes and if you have 2 pairs of shoes, some screws and even cleats
- A bag of all different type of gloves , booties and hats
- Skinsuits ( L/S , S/S ) a clean one for each day , so you do not have to do laundry !
- Warm up kits ; shorts, jerseys , jackets ,arm, knee and leg warmers, rain jacket, rain pants, a lots of socks , base layers etc.
- Embrocation ( warm up oils like SportsBalm ) a little first aid kit and baby wipes and towles.
- Food , regular and sports food what you will need for 2 days , bottles and drink mix , gels and recovery stuff. Anything you are used to eating and what works for you !

If your race starts @ 12.00 for example :

- Get there around 9.15-9.20 !!! Yes 2.5- 2.45 before your start. That way you will have 2 chances to get on the course before your race which is very critical to be able to do well.
- Kit up as soon as get there and get your bike ready , start with a little higher tire pressure you think you will use in the race .
- The 9.00 am race will be over about 9.40 , so that is when you can get on the course for your first time .
- Try to get 2 laps in , ride slow , Check out the start ( lines and what side is better to be on ) check out lines on the course, get a feel of tire pressure , take some air out if it feels like a rough ride . Determine where to push hard and where to recover on the course .
- Go back to the car , pick up your number , eat something , get your other bike ready ,if you need to switch or try out another tire type get all this ready to go . Pin your number if you have time ( this is not important yet)
- The 10.00 am race will be over about 10.40 , so this will be the 2nd and final time you can get on the course . 2 laps again , little faster pace and go over the same things on the course as you did an hour ago , decide on tire and pressure choice for the race !
- Go back to the car , eat something , bathroom, get you skinsuit on with numbers pinned embrocation if needed , warm up jacket , leg warmers , decide on everything you will wear at the race, check your bike(s) , bring your spare bike or wheels to the pit.
- Now you should have about 45 min to warm up and get to the start.
- Warm up ; I prefer to warm up on a road if there is one available and the weather is not too nasty . Other wise on the trainer ( maybe under a tent)
-Tempo efforts 3-10 minin length works well for me . A gradual opening up and not all out which tends to accumulate too much lactate acid before the race and hard to get ride of before the start, but this is individual prefrence and as a coach we can talk and see what works the best for you .
- Get to the start 15 min in advance , take your warm up clothing off and be there for your call up ! if is cold and rainy keep a jacket over your shoulders as long as possible and then toss it to the side when it is time.
- Turn the pedal ( the one you will be clipping into) on your bike when you are on the start line , so when it comes up to about 11 o'clock it is flat and ready for you to step right in when the gun goes off and a minimal chance of missing clipping in .

You have now done all the home work on the day of your race and there will be no doubt in your mind about anything , you did not rush anything and you paid attention to every detail this morning to be 100% ready when the gun goes off.

THIS IS CYCLOCROSS

Crash Aftermath

2011-09-09T18:34:00.003-04:00

HI everybody,

Many of you have not talked or had any contact with me since my crash @ the NH 100 MTB race on Aug 21st . I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and am truly sorry for the laps in the coaching the last 3 weeks. I have now been home from the hospital for 2 days and after a tough 5 hour drive in the car being home many new challenges has presented them selves l can assure you . This coming Mon will be 2 weeks since my back surgery and a significant progress in mobility with less pain is something that has been the goal every day .

These 3 weeks has been the hardest of my life by far , but there has not been one day I have been depressed or down about anything . This is mainly thanks to my wife , who is an increadable strong person and really knew how to handle a situation like this. We took things as they came each day and delt with it . She gave you guys updates , but also at the same time really stressed the fact how important it was for me to get the proper rest and more or less isolated me from e-mails , calls and even visitors. I can not tell you how tiring talking on the phone for 5 min was . Do not get me wrong , without your support + hundreds of other people in the cycling community all over the country , Canada and even Europe being this strong and positive would not have been possible. Thank you, you are all family to me !

Well, one day at the time and now the rebuilding process starts. I was very fortunate to have a world class surgent and without really knowing at first that I was in one of the best hospitals in the country for spinal injuries, the Dartmouth- Hitchcock Medical Center . The care by the the nurses and the team of top notch doctors gave me made me feel I was in the right hands every single day I spent there. Before being discharged on Wed I spoke to my Dr who performed the surgery , Dr Lollis. He basically said 2 things ;" do not fall down and do not bend over too much for awhile" ! Key here is obviously TIME and PATIENCE. I can NOT ride my bike basically for 5-6 Months and to be sure of a full and complete recovery NOT RACE for a year. I know giving it the proper time to heal will be something I will appreciate when I do get back to training and racing.

My plan will be to get strong enough first to be able to function independently and move like a normal human being again . I will start riding on an indoor spin bike in a couple of Months , but I will not rush it and then I will see if am ready to get on the road by Dec- Jan to be ready for our FinKraft Camps in late Feb-March. The hard thing here is missing the 2011 Cross season , but that is something I can live with and I am perfectly fine resuming racing next summer and be fit and ready for Cross 2012.

Enough about me , obviously I can not ride with you guys for a little while , but I can now focus on coaching 100% in many more ways with a little more time in hand. As starters I will each day spend time with clients to catch up where we left off and get everybody back on track.Talk to you about how the Road or MTB season went this year . Discuss traingplans, adjustments needed to be done perhaps and goals achieved or goals for the future. Cyclocross starts tomorrow and once I am back on my feet it will be a perfect opportunity for me to come to the races and work as your coach and pass on my experience to you from the side lines . When not racing myself my time will be devoted 100% to you . This will be a huge benefit for you and a great opportunity for me to film ( GoPro) you and really watch you guys racing and help you be 100% prepared for each race with equipment choices, technique , strategies , warm-ups and etc. Our clients who do not race cross will not be left out here either, there is a lot of coaching that can be done this off season , no worries there.

In addition to the coaching we have the FinKraft CyclingTeam and our Retul fitting studio where I can do a lot of constructive work and bring things to another level . Big plans , but I will not forget to rest and heal , because to make all this possible I will need that balance.

Thanks again for your understanding and support.

Roger@FinKraft

2011 FinKraft Training Camp Sponsor Blog

2011-02-27T10:45:00.062-05:00

Hi , Back in NJ and a rainy day , so perfect time to catch up on some 'blogging " A month ago it was that time of the year again , Training Camp time. The weather back home on the East Coast had been terrible this winter and riding out doors has not been an option for most of us . I always look forward to the AZ Camp , it is pure and very straight forward training and all about building a solid base for the season to come . There is a lot of planning and work that goes into this camp way before I jump in the van ( which is a nice new addition to the Finkraft Enterprise-:)) and make the 2500 miles trip out to Tucson. To ensure this is a Pro camp with as much support as possible from various companies that has anything to do with being able to ride for 30 hours in one week is not easy these days.

All this would not be possible with out a lot of support from a lot of people , specially my wife Kimberly. This year Kim's dad Gerald and my daughter Finley got to experience the camp as well and it was just nice to have a family atmosphere during these 3 weeks .

Finley is here demonstration how to ride the Power Cranks , not easy but a very a good training tool for sure, something to put on your wish list if you do not already have a pair. It was great feeling having these guys around at the camp the whole time this year . Robert and Alessandro where at my side the whole camp and kept everything running smooth with the rides and any mechanical issues we had . Setting up and tiering down the camp is another job and a half and without these guys it would not be possible. At our camp everybody is kind of a family and besides us working even the clients helps out and it is just an amazing team feeling each week . Thank you all !!

We were able to get Accelerade, Zym ,Honey Stinger and GU as our sports nutrition companies , but we at FinKraft also have to add a ton more ride food to the list , something that I would like to build on in the future and secure more sports nutrition sponsors .

Thanks to Andreas relentless work trying to get companies supporting the camp, we were able to have a whole host of sport related products at display and to our use these three weeks .

We can not live on sports food , so the regular meals are very important to keep the guys going day after day . Barilla pasta is a life saver for this camp , what is a cyclists favorite food ? Pasta , right !! To have them as a sponsor for the camp is a privilege for the camp and could not be replaced by anything else . My wife Kim is the chef at the camp and I think her doing the shopping , planning the meals for each day so well really makes this camp a success .

Wasa , an other Scandinavian product I grew up on for lunch .The meals are something each rider remembers the most when they go home and me leading the rides and making sure the training is great seems secondary -:) .

Then we have our Primare Oatmeal Company; Country Choice Organic. This a our conclusive breakfast source , what an incredible product , I can not say enough about what kind of fuel this company provides us with . The selection is amazing , steelcut, quicksteel and instant oatmeal an oatmeal for every occasion. I have used this product now for years and I do not start a race or ride without a Country Choice Organic meal in my stomach .

Besides the breakfast food from Country Choice they are providing us with the Oatmeal on the Run bars which are a staple food on the rides in addition to Fit Kids snack food and the Organic cookies . I can not say enough about how great this company is , if you see these products in a store , they will be worth every Pennie and you will see what I am talking about . When it is hot out there ( in the 80's a lot of the days in AZ this year) or when you are riding in general you loose a lot of electrolytes , so we have ZYM in addition to Accelerade and GU . A great addition to the drinks on the bike and when we refill bottles on the road , just drop a tab in the bottle and you are good to go . I love these for both racing and training and you can even get the Catapult with 100 mg of caffeine , now that is a boost!!

When the sun is bright , electrolytes are not the only thing you loose , Kiss My Face was the skin saver and protector every day and their product is all natural , something that might be worth using the rest of the summer as well when it gets nice back home , they have SunBlock and a lot of other products as well for everybody.

Honey Stinger also came on board late in the game and the gels were a big hit on the camp , who does not love honey !!! Check their web site out , some delicious waffles on the menu at this company!

Dynamic Foot Systems is a company run by the famous Bill Peterson . Just unbelievable knowledge and experience when it comes to orthotics and bike fitting. Bill has 35 years of experience working with pro cyclist including Lance and other well known cyclists. To be able to meet and have a precision fitting and evaluation done by Bill is an honor and for us at the FinKraft camp to be able to do this while in Tucson each week is such an valuable asset to this Camp . Thank you Bill and stay Strong , our prayers are with you to get healthy again.

Speaking of fitting ; SMP saddles are interesting and well worth a try . We had a nice selection at the camp and this was the perfect time to try new things . Later you can then decide what works and what does not when get back home and start racing , that goes for everything you experienced at the camp .

Someone I have known now for quite some time is Andrew Backhaus . He introduced me to an altitude simulator product called Altolab and he has been coming to our camp the past couple of years and demostated what this device does and what the benefits are for us cyclists. Andrew also carries Suunto and Finish company that are pretty advanced in HR monitor technology just one field to mention. Andrew's presentations are very interesting and really cutting edge .

Keep it rolling , Thank you Jeff @ Schwalbe for hooking our camp and the FinKraft Cycling Team with these super fast tires.

Last but not least I want thank Mark @ Westwood Cycle for supporting me and my racing in many ways , without Mark I would not have a bike to ride , at least not as 'Bling " as this one ! Limited adition Di2 Giant Advanced SL, it does not get much cooler than this rocket ship-:)

This blog was a little contribute to our sponsors at the camp and a big thank you to them helping us put this yearly event on . They support me and some of them also support the Finkraft Cycling Team through out the year . Italy/Giro camp is next and even we are in Italy you will see these names and products making that camp possible . If you were at the camp or you are interested in anything I mentioned here , you can get it from us here at FinKraft of course at a killer price -;)

Thanks and stay out of trouble !!!

Paolo Zenoni

2010-10-13T21:09:00.004-04:00

In memory of Paolo Zenoni

Paolo Zenoni passed away on Sunday October 3rd, 2010 doing what he loved so much; riding his bike. Cycling was in Paolo's blood and it was only natural for him to go out for a bike ride Saturday morning, the bicycle was part of his everyday life. Growing up in Italy how could it not be.I got to know Paulo through cycling. I met him in our local bike store one day and at the time he was living in the US , practically next door . He started to race for Westwood Velo. Training and racing together became a weekly routine for us. Our friendship grew and our families became really close friends as well. After all we had so much in common, both Europeans with cycling as our passion. Paolo was just a great person to be around and I know we would have been friends even if we had not been riding bikes. Paolo was full of life and had a very positive attitude towards everything, never having a bad thing to say about anyone.Life went on and Paolo and Marni started a family. Shortly after their first son Tyler was born they decided to move back to Bergamo, Italy. In 2007 we went over and visited them and after seeing where they lived, I was so happy for them. This part of Italy is very beautiful and cycling on those climbs and roads was a dream. Ever since Paolo moved back to Italy he had this idea of me having a Cycling Camp there with him. The dream became reality this past spring and Paolo and I had our first Italy/ Giro Camp. Our small group spent 10 days with Paolo guiding us around the most amazing roads you could imagine. This really showed the great person Paolo truly was, he made this camp a life-long memory for all of us by taking us on these dream rides everyday and organizing everything else to make sure the camp was succesful and to ensure its growth for the years to come.I know that he was enthusiastic about making other people happy, something that seemed like a very natural thing for Paolo. He liked to share what he loved and enjoyed it with his family and friends, something I think that is one of the most important things in life. I am very fortunate to have known Paolo and to have become a close friend to him.

It deeply saddens me having to cope with the reality of his passing at such a young age leaving the most beautiful family behind, something that I will never understand or cannot ever come to terms with the fact that it had to happen to a wonderful person like Paolo.My prayers each night will be for Paolo's family to stay strong and may Paolo rest in peace.

I will never forget you my friend!

My dear friend - I will miss you ,

Roger

Final Day at the Italy Camp

2010-09-24T15:06:00.006-04:00

It was not fare , Kevin's bike was so light at these altitudes that he had to hold it down , otherwise it would have floated away!

Ok, the Giro is over ( well so are the other two Grand Tours ) and we have one more day of the camp left . Since we were not able to climb Passo San Marco in the beginning of the week we decided to give it an other try , but from the other side . Little overcast and the roads were slightly wet from some rain over the night, but no big deal this was not a 3 hour ride to the base this time and I personally think this is a very cool ride through the Brembo Valley .

Slight uphill the whole way to the base of the mountain and then a good hour of pretty serious climbing . The race was on right away , I think everybody was feeling pretty good after a rest day and some motivation from watching the Giro stage the day before.

I could only imagine how hard it would be racing up this thing for real , it was relentless . I had done this climb in 2007 , so I kind of knew it , but I do not think it helped much. Paolo has ridden this thing numerous times as well . We get to the top , there is still snow and we can look down the other side where we had to turn around the other day .

It felt like a great accomplishment that we made it to the top and it was a great closing to the camp , we had now ridden everything we had planned .

There is a small lodge just below the summit ( I stopped there as well in 2007 to warm up after climbing in the freezing rain for 2hours) , so we rolled down and we had a great lunch .

Laughing about the adventures we had gone through during the week and more Coke of course!

. The ride back was nice , pretty much all down hill except for the drive to the hotel. Kevin even thought about offering us some motor pacing. A great 4 hour ride to end the camp .

A very successful week , something like 35 hours of ( mostly climbing ) riding on awesome roads with the most spectacular views. The sad thing was; now it was time to put the bike back into the box ! If Mark only could figure out why the bike box seemed smaller than it was when he came here.There is nothing I would change about this camp and I hope when you read the entire blog about our week in Italy you get the same idea and sign up for next year . This camp is quite demanding and you need good fitness and skills , but it is also the ride of your life time everyday .

Thanks to Paolo who made all these rides possible. He also took care of the travel and lodging logistics in Italy which was perfect . Paolo was no doubt the "Man" of the camp and I really hope we can have him as our guide again next year , he even gained some fitness for himself during this week . I am very fortunate to have a friend like him , thanks again!

Fabio and Matteo at the Cascina Belveldi Hotel treated us like family . Great guys and I can not thank them enough for what the did for us.

The service was absolutely phenomenal and I would not stay anywhere else in the future when we go back.

Then the food and wine they served just makes me hungry thinking about it . I rode and raced a lot this year , but it is save to say these were the best days on the bike in 2010 and I am really looking forward to do this camp again next year . Plan ahead , there will be maximum 8-10 spots available. The camp will be held last week in May again with an epic ride schedule on tap right around the Giro di Italia.
Pappini breaking out his special lemonchelli , the hotel care taker and former bike racer , quite a character

Thanks for reading and hope you will be able to experience all this next year .

Ciao

Roger

Giro di Italia

2010-09-16T08:27:00.011-04:00

Hi again,

I apologize that I have not kept up with the blogging lately . With traveling around the world and I do not even know where all this time went . Cross is here and the road season is over . The last Grand Tour( Vuelta ) is almost done . I really want to finish our 2010 Giro/camp blog so you can read about it and decide if this is something you should put on your calendar for next year, since we are already about to send out the flyers for our 2011 camps I feel bad. Well anyway , were I left off was our trip up the Gihsallo , next day was an early rise , but not to ride .

A 16 passenger bus with a driver picked us up at 7.00 am from the hotel and we were on our way to the Giro. A nice day of recovery from riding and a very exciting day for us . Today was stage 19 and a very decisive stage in the race .

We would be able to to Basso and CO. twice on the roads we just rode a couple of days ago . We had a little extra time , so once in the Valtalina Valley , a very well known wine region in Italy , we made a stop at the Rinaldi Winery

The owner happened to be someone that Paolo went to school with , so they gave us a nice tour and some " wine factory outlet " discount on their fine wines .

A nice experience and unbelievable good wine . After our stop we continued to Tirano where we would see the boys come thru the first time .

This is right on the boarder to Switzerland , so we just got off the bus and walked across the boarder. A perfect spot to watch , front row seats for sure .

The race goes by quick even it is on a climb,

but as a cyclist you feel the chills run down your spine when the caravan of police ,advertisements and the riders of course and then all the team cars come by. The guys you read about in Magazines and see on TV is right there, a few feet away.

Back on the bus and a short drive over the mountain ( Aprica , where they finished yesterday after going over Mortirolo which we also rode the other day ) Our next spot was on the slopes of Tonale where today's finish would be after climbing up Gavia from Bormio and then a hair raising decent down to where we were in the rain .

We found a nice little bar and since it was raining a little now and it was lunch time , a perfect spot to have a bit to eat and watch the race on TV until we had to back out and see the real action. We bought our Giro souvenirs and took our spot on the road up to Tonale .

Boy , was this race shattered by now .First the guys in Pink

Then the Groupetto ,these guys had a hard day behind them and you could see that in their faces . There was a lot of people here at this spot and we could feel the real Grand Tour athmospher , we were the 'Tifosi" today ! A very different day , but a great memory and motivation to ride again tomorrow . Marco Pinotti , a friend o Paolo had a good Giro .

One more day of the camp and we will get to spend that one on the bicycle again. An other great dinner was waiting for us the hotel and a nice way of ending a perfect day .I love riding my bike , but taking one day off to experience the Giro was well worth it and I hope we can do this again next year.

Ciao

Roger

Ghisallo

2010-07-25T17:20:00.005-04:00

Friday, Ghisallo

It has been a while since we did this ride, but I wrote a bunch of notes each day while we were in Italy on our FinKraft Camp, a trip that you do no forget anyway. I have not had time to post everything, but I will finish off the whole camp, so you guys can see what it was all about and if interested next year you can sign up.
Today was a pretty nostalgic ride to Ghisallo. A ride we all were looking forward, scenic, but nothing crazy climbing. Uphill for sure and an hour to the base in Bellagio along side Lake Como, we are feeling good and really enjoying the view. The Ghisallo climb is about 12 K , we took the Super Ghilsalo , since it is a little longer , isn't that what you supposed to do anyway , no short cuts ! A few rain drops, but nothing that would spoil the day. Legs were good today and if it was a race, I think I would have had a chance! At the top there is the very famous Madonna del Ghisallo , a bike sanctuary filled with nostalgic bike from way back , some thing you would never see some where else . This is bike “heaven “ with a museum next door and a restaurant, which we picked over the museum, it was lunchtime and the boys were hungry!
We had a quick lunch and then back on the bikes, we took the back way, around the mountain a nice route were the Giro di Lombardi goes as well on October, fare amount of climbing, but nice roads and not much cars. We ride by all the lakes around the Como region and after a nice 4-hour loop we are back at Cascina Belvedi. A perfect ride, perfect timing to watch the Giro while having some cheese, bread and wine. Big day at the Giro, Mortirolo and finishing at Aprica. We were just there 2 day ago, familiar grounds and even more exciting to watch. Tomorrow is our off day and we get to watch the Giro live 2 feet away from Basso and the rest of the crew. A relaxing night and more great food !

Ciao

Roger

De Rosa

2010-07-07T16:46:00.009-04:00

Thursday, De Rosa

Recovery ride in the rain and then off to the De Rosa factory, that is the plan for today, well not the rain, but we were just so lucky that it only rained today and not on any other day of the camp. We slept in (big day yesterday) and after the standard breakfast onto a nice and kind of special ride to the old part of Bergamo. To be more exact; Cita Alta. Some round stone covered streets, not exactly easy to ride on in the rain and uphill, thru the famous gate where the Giro and the World Cup Race; Tour of Lombardi has passed thru so many times. Quick stop at the town square and by now it is raining pretty hard. Enough of the sightseeing and time to head back towards the Hotel, we passed some slopes with wine yards and some really old building all surrounded by a wall, with the road snaking along the wall in between some really cool old houses, what a great place to live. Paolo takes us by his property he bought and intends to start an apple orchard on in the future, a really cool hidden location right in the middle of history. The rain just picks up and it is a couple of inches of water on the road by now and it is starting to get cold. We are soaked to the bone by the time we get back to the Hotel, but no big deal. 2 ½ hours in the rain is not the end of the world. Little lunch and a good clean up is next on the menu. This afternoon we have a visit at the De Rosa factory scheduled.
We have to do a short drive into Milan where the Factory is located and by now the sun is out again.
The pace is pretty old school, but still high tech at the same time. We get a nice tour through the pro shop where they have all different models and a lot of De Rosa clothing. Then into the actual factory where the bikes are made. Yes, they are made in Italy and they were very proud of that. We get to see the step-by-step procedure and a great explanation of the actual manufacturing of these sexy bikes. They are very open, no secrets here! These frames go through pretty stiff testing and the Italian craftsman ship is very is not compromised at any stage. Now if we only could sneak one out. This one was actually presented as a gift to me at the end of the visit ( sold it already on e-bay , sorry) Many Pro Teams has ridden these frames and still do today.Riders like Pettachi and De Luca and Garcelli have all been on these bikes . De Rosa has always been a bike that competed with Colonago and Bianchi, in other words the big league! Some souvenirs and we are on the way to a clothing company call Rosti . The Italian version of Verge . Cool to see how the cycling clothing is made and designed. We bought a few pieces to see what Paolo's Team clothing is like .

A lot of drooling and dreaming today , not enough money in the bank though to bring home one of these ( I am talking about the Ferarri) , next year we will be more prepared !A fun day and now we are recovered and re-energized to do another epic ride , I am thinking Ghisallo!

First more R-5 and some Cassancelli and we will be ready to go!

Ciao

Roger

Mortirolo & Gavia

2010-06-21T22:09:00.008-04:00

Wednesday,

Today was a big day for the FinKraft Camp, I personally have dreamt all my life ( well as long as I been cycling ) about riding up and over Mortirolo and the Gavia Pass , those are the climbs you always hear about and both of them have made such a difference in the Giro every time the race has gone over these epic and legendary mountains .( no different this year) Paolo had a asked a few team mates of his to join us on this epic day and Gian Carlo and Mr Moreti himself showed up in style with the Moreti Team Van . I wonder where I am going to sit ? Mark is thinking ;not back here

We left early and it was quite a drive to Tirano, which would be our starting point. A quick espresso stop and some fuel for the Van. The girls were following us with a car other than loosing us in the first traffic circle the 3 hour drive went smooth, a couple of text messages to the states about a Project One Trek for Lugiano and some funny stories and a nap was pretty much the topic for this trip. We arrive in Tirano and find a parking area and we unload the bikes and get kitted up, the girls would continue to Bormio for a day of sight seeing and shopping. Tirano is a border town to Switzerland and there is a train that goes up the mountain through the glacier in to St Moriz, always an option for a scenic day in the Alps. We head out of town, already an up hill right away, kind of an indication what was to come.Mortirolo is not all that far from Tirano and we get o the base pretty quickly. This climb is not in the open and until you get to the top you are kind of in the woods going up a road averaging 12-18% pretty much the whole way. I have a 39/26, the other guys got 27’s or 28’s, but a compact would not be a bad idea!! This hill does not let up and it is like lifting weights for an hour. Kevin hit the gas and did not look back, the Moretti boys took it pretty easy, I rode fast some sections and then stopped and took pictures of the guys or views, in other words I did the Tourist thing. We passed the Pantani monument and eventually made it towards the top and guess what; there were already people camping out for the race (does not come up here until Friday) to get a prime spot. A few more pictures and we put the rain capes on and started the decent. It was not as hairy as the uphill part, but it was narrow ad twisty and turny though the woods and eventually through some open fields with some incredible views once again and finally we pass by some villages, we are in the valley and making a left onto the main road. A good pair of aluminum rims and some solid breaks is what you need for this trip. One down and one more to go, Mortirolo was everything you could ever dream about when it comes to steep climbs, so what would the Gavia be like? I could not wait!
So we made it down the hill (mountain) and make the left onto the main road heading towards Tonale and Ponte di Legno , slight uphil even in the Valley . We start climbing the Gavia , an unbelievable road , switch back roads with no guard rails , just safety nets in the turns for the race , which will come by here on Saturday. Soon it starts getting colder and the road is o longer open or cars. We go through this tunnel, a very steep section and pitch black in there; I cannot even see my front wheel. It feels like we are riding on gravel or ice, but it is actually salt. We finally get out of it and now we have snow banks on each side of the road about 5 feet high in some places. Paolo is feeling good and we are hammering out a good solid pace to the top of the Pass (I think Paolo wanted to sprint for some KOM points, but we just decided not to) Now we are at famous lodge of Passo di Gavia, they are putting up a huge Giro sign outside and getting the place ready, it just opened two days ago for the season (the snow might have had something to do with that!) We dry up and warm up with some hot tea and a couple of panni’s all at the same time.

After checking out the memorbilia from over the years it is time to bundle up and get ready for the decent, we are at 8600 feet after all, so it will be awhile before we get down. It is one of the most epic and hair raising decent I ever gone done, you look over the edge and see some villages that are about 2 cm big, there are humongous mountains surrounding us and we are just flying down this narrow road. We go through Santa Caterina mach speed, in between old mountain building and this just goes forever. My rear wheel bearing is screaming and is about to lock up I think, but I cannot really slow down either. We make it in one piece to Bormio, a famous ski town and right at the bottom of Stelvio, which we will do next year! I would have liked to check this town out a little, oh well next time! It is about 4.00 pm already and it is still a long way back to Tirano where we have our team van. Since it is still kind of down hill we keep a good pace, almost feels a little like a race. I guess the closest feeling in being in the Giro and I think after climbing Mortirolo and Gavia in one day the adrenalin was flowing pretty well! A couple of raindrops and overcast sky’s makes this valley look even more humbling. A few attacks and a final sprint for the Tirano town line and were are BACK! About almost 3 hours after having our tea party at the Passo di Gavia.A great day at the office and now it was time for some Pizza (we are in Italy after all) on the way back to the hotel, we knew it was going to be a late night and our ride time as over 6 hours, so we needed food and a lot of it! The Italians were looking at us and thinking, man those Americans can eat!!

If we would have done one more climb ( Santa Cristina ) it would have been the route of the Marco Pantani Grand Fondo , a ride/race that would be a lot of fun to do one day !

Sorry the updating of the camp blog is lagging a little but I hope you enjoy reading it !

Ciao Ciao Ciao Ciao

Recovery Ride Italian style

2010-06-15T13:50:00.010-04:00

Tuesday,

I think after the Passo San Marco 8 hour spin , some sort of an easier day was on every one's mind.

A 3 hour recovery ride sounded right . We started our ride to the local bike shop, Paolo’s bike shop in other words the Italian version of Westwood cycle.

Super organized and nice European style shop called Salvi’s .With all the connections to the local bike manufactures as well , so it looked good for us to be able to visit one later this week( maybe Colonago , Bianchi or De Rosa ??)

We are like kids in a candy store and me and Kevin ordered a pair of Sidi shoes, colors not sold in the US, the blue and white Ergo 2’s! A must have, to stand out back home in the local races. We all have our bikes looked at by the bike mechanic and he takes great care to get rid of the creaking and noises we all have in the our bikes by now, especially my bike, with stuff being loose and basically falling off! Mr. Lugiano Moreti, the owner of Paolo’s team and also a sponsor of the U23 Cyclisti Begamasca team as well, is already at the bike shop and ready to go for a ride with us. We ride past the hotel and head up towards Paolo’s house into Almenno Valley, but we take a left onto a 15 K recovery climb . The road goes up to a radio tower( Paolo old us to not use our cell phones , apparently it was a risk to get your phone fried???) and it is a nice big climb right in our back yard .We can see our hotel on the other side of he valley , a nice comforting feeling on a recovery day!

This camp's one and only mechanical strikes Jon , the small chain ring buckles and that is the end of his ride , he limps back to the hotel in the big ring and then back to the bike store to get surgery on bike , since it is a Zipp crank it is not an easy fix with Zipp parts like this not that common around here. We continue our recovery climb and we reach the top were there is a nice lunch spot at Valcava, nice view once again , not just mountains !There is also a lake with some sunbathers at the top of the mountain, if you know what I mean and once again this camera is not that good!( I hope my wife does not read this !) After some Panini's we head back down and decided to stop by Paolo's house to show the guys where he lives . I beautiful place right at the bottom of the switch back we just came down ( another former Giro decent) , still an incredible view of the Valley right from his yard. Sultan was happy to see us ( the dog) as well .

We rode through the town of Sant Omobono, back towards the hotel , still plenty time left of the day to enjoy , but first we had to climb up our drive WAY once again , loved it !!

Quick change of clothes and a recovery bike wash for every body. A good day and ready to go again !

Of course we needed a good meal first and some R 5 ( vino rosso) , and a good meal would not be without some Casincelli ravioli!! Tasty !!

The day goes by fast , but it was a great one and tomorrow will be the Queen stage of the Camp, we are leaving early for Tirano to do the Mortirolo and the the Gavia Pass , so let's hope it does not snow !

Ciao

Roger

Passo San Marco

2010-06-11T06:58:00.009-04:00

Pappini ( an ex elite bike racer ) is giving us some advice about today's route , I think he said; "way don't you guys just stay here and watch the Giro and smoke cigarettes with me instead of doing this monster ride " , my Italian is not that good , so I could be wrong .

Passo San Marco, a famous climb from the Giro in the past , our planned ride time was about 6 hours , so a big day.We set off from the hotel @ 9.00 am, today we will have a 3 hour to Morbegno where the climb starts.

The roads are narrow (not just on the twisty mountain roads, they are narrow every where) and there is a lot of traffic going to Lecco with big trucks, so bike-handling skills are put the test following an Italian ( Paolo) zipping in and out of traffic circles, once passed Lecco it gets better and riding next to Lake Como is just very cool , watch Giro di Lombardi and you know what I am talking about. Rolling terrain thru towns with a lot of history and view that pictures cannot describe. The lake on the left side and the mountains on the right. Sorry the zoom on my camera was a little out of focus on this picture.

We make our way towards the Valtelina Valley where a lots of wines comes from, the sunny side of the mountain slopes are filled with win yards. Pizzockeri ( not sure about the spelling, I am sure about the taste) is another dish we have on the menu at our hotel that originates from this area.

After a fairly flat 3 hour ride we are at the base of San Marco in Morbegno , this is a beast of a climb ,it is not that flat anymore as you can see, as a matter of fact pretty steep and consistent , last time I rode this one it was pouring rain , so the visibility was about zero and freezing cold , today it was perfect weather and the boys are dancing on the pedals , this is the real deal and what you see on TV from the Giro is what we are experiencing!

After climbing for about1 ½ hours we start seeing snow, and first there are some fallen trees on the road, but that does not stop us, we just carry the bike over and continue up the climb. It was not a problem at all for a cyclocoss rider like Kevin!

All of a sudden we come a height were there are no more trees, about 4 K to go to the pass. There is snow all over the road, and avalanche! We can almost see the top and I hiked up over the snow a little, but it is so steep and there is no way we can make it any further! Snow and cycling shoes does not match all that well either.

There is no road!! We have to go back the same way we came, a 20 K decent and a 3-hour ride back to the hotel, like I said “ another day on the bike” 8 hours to be precise! This is not so bad, it is warm, unbelievable view and guess what; there is a mountain café/hotel where the trees where fallen and lady with a little Kid (Ricardo) comes zipping around on a 4-wheeler that is the who runs the restaurant! She was open for Business!

After climbing up the 20% steep gravel drive to the absolutely oasis of the mountain, about 20 K up and no one around we have cokes, pasta, cheese, bread and even desert.

I think the best lunch anyone could dream of, we were even thinking about staying the night, there were plenty of rooms available here. Even Giovanni Formagio looks very pleased with the spread!

Richardo was providing the entertainment while we were eating ( a mountain dance with his dog ) priceless!

We finally had to get going, the decent was a blast and back to Mobegno , then the death march started back to the hotel. 8 hours ride time and 11 hours since we left this morning, epic the least, but we all survived the ride back with some cokes and Nutella filled croissants along the way and there was even a sprint up the final K to the hotel.

Boy did the dinner tasted good after this ride , lasagna , crapes , more casancelli and wine of course! After some stories about the day and some good laughs about what we had experienced we all agreed we were going to sleep in tomorrow!

Kevin was wondering if these wooden bikes come with DI2 as well , he was think of maybe doing a demo ride later in the week up the Gavia Pass .

A day on the bike to remember.

Ciao again , it will only get better , so do not miss the next blogpost !

Roger

First real ride of the Italy Camp

2010-06-07T20:59:00.011-04:00

Sunday 5/23/2010

Well, it was either this road or the Killington stage 2 TT, but since we were here in Italy this one made more sense -:) Had to rub it in a little !!

It was time to go to work ( riding I mean -:) ) nothing else to do , so a perfect day for a bike ride!

I slept like a rock (I wonder why -:)) I think about 10 hours. After breakfast Italian style; about 3 different coffees (Americana, cappuccino and espresso) and tea with croissants, cooked ham, cheese, bread, yogurts and yes; Nutella . A little different from we are used to at home, but I decided I am not going stress out about not having almond butter and Trader Joe’s stuff while here , so we are going with he flow and enjoying the superb service provided by Fabio and the Hotel owner Matteo.

The traffic was not too bad , since it was Sunday , so we got a chance to ease into the rytmen of narrow streets and a round abouts every mile filled with little cars and scooters. Bike handling skills are a big part of this camp as you will see !

To days ride plan was a 4-5 hour near by the hotel. It turned out to be an amazing route, thru the out skirts of Bergamo up a 10 K climb up to the town of Selvino, a very nice view and an awesome switch back climb.

A nice way of enjoying the view!!

Past the nice little restaurants at the top and then a decent down into Brembo Vally, a right hand turn passed the San Pellegrino water company and along side a beautiful river into the Taleggio valley/ mountain (where they make the cheese)

The road snakes along side the river and a nice steady climb past some little mountain towns, steady grade with switch backs and after climbing for a good 15-20 K of climbing we crested the top and now what was left was a 15K serpentine decent that the Giro came down last year as well.
Back up to the hotel, a 1.5 K (probably close to 16% at some spots) climb with the finish line at the top, I think Kevin took the KOM points today . Good amount of climbing and a nice pace and everyone did great. We had so many great rides ahead of us, but this loop would probably top the list at the end of the week I am sure. Paolo knows the roads here like I do around us back home and this is something that will make this camp unforgettable and a life time memory for all us!
The hotel is super clean, nice beds in very quiet rooms and when you open a window you have an picture perfect view, even from the bathroom , how could you go wrong first thing in the morning -:) With a courtyard restaurant it is the most relaxing place to eat and recover after the rides.

We have a balcony for our bike area, very private and a nice place to change and keep our bike stuff while over looking the valley.

Dinner is at 7.30 , but after having our R4 Endurox provided by Accelerade we switch over to R5 ( Vino Rosso ) , an amazing house red vine along with some fresh bread and about 10 different cheeses, so I am not planning on loosing any weight this week. Then dinner, antipasto ( all kind of thin sliced meats , cheeses, other specialty appetizers that we even never heard of ) The staple main course is for sure Casancelli ( a home made ravioli filled with meat known for this region) made right here in the Cascina Belvedi . The food here is unbelievable, everything is made fresh here and with a lot of pride. We sat at the dinner table for about 3 hours, eating and drinking wine, but not over eating just socializing and enjoying life.

Once done with desert and another plate of grilled meats -:) it was time to go to bed and get ready for another big day on the bike.

Ciao,

Roger

On European soil

2010-06-03T06:29:00.006-04:00

Saturday

Landed and after a couple of miles walking thru the airport in Brussels we found a spot to camp out and we needed some sleep, did not get much on the plane and we all felt like we had not slept in days. Quick bite to eat, I forgot how expensive Europe was, 12 euros for a couple eggs, a bowl cereal and some fresh squeezed orange juice, delicious!
When you are really tired I guess you can sleep anywhere but on a plane, so the rock hard airport bench felt like a pastropedic bed in a 5 star hotel ( see the picture in the last blog ) . Finally back on a plane and off to Milan, a nice short flight and no problems with anything. Our luggage came right away and we out of there in no time. Our bus driver Carlos was there waiting to pick us up with a FinKraft Camp sign in his hand and Kevin Hines were there too (he lost his suit case in Paris, but it had came on a later flight so it was all good) Nice smooth ride to our hotel and now the weather is beautiful and not what we have seen on TV from the Giro the last couple of weeks.

The hotel is amazing, located on top of a slope over looking the valley, a very private and quite place that you could just dream about and not really think would exist.

The drive way or road ( last 1.5 K about 12-15% ) up to the hotel was steep with a little gravel at the last 100 meters to make every ride each day plenty challenging, just the way we like it at the FinKraft camps !

Kevin is eager to get on the bike for a quick spin before dinner, so I slap my bike together and off we go! The legs feel surprisingly good and we ride for about an hour without really knowing where to go, but is just great to be on the bike in Italy. Paolo already took the rest of the guys on a 2-hour “welcome” ride before, so when we got back it was dinnertime. Something we all have been waiting for since we left the US on Friday and really had not eaten anything good in days!

The hotel Cascina Belvedi is from the 1800’s, so very rustic and a great atmosphere and the food is out of this world, not mentioning the best wine I ever had!

An unbelievable first night dinner, a great start to a week. Now we just needed a good nights sleep and we can start what we are here for; riding our bikes and soaking up the Italian culture!

There was even plenty of mouth watering delicacies for our vegetarian -:)

Stay tuned for more amazing pictures and stories ,

Roger

Italy here we come!

2010-06-01T18:17:00.008-04:00

It is my birthday and I am sitting on a plane to Milan, Italy with my wife, Finley and Megan, my stepdaughter…they are all really cute and adorable!!(My wife wrote this part!) Raced the Thursday night Worlds last night at Rochleigh, (my race # was 42, funny! that is what I am today) A great training race by my house and it was my first race on my new training bike,

Giant Advanced , a great riding bike and plenty fast for training races and riding around Italy.

It was a big turn out and quite a few fast ones showed up; some times I think these guys take this race more seriously than the weekend races. It is fun and I can ride there and back home after, how can you beat that! Most areas have these races during the week, I think it is a good mid week speed workout (if you are looking for one) and just a great time to turn the screw or just hang out with the local Hammerheads for an hour. For me it is a chance to race with a lot of my clients and see them in action.

This week I also got the TT bike I have been waiting for a long time, a Giant Trinity, the super tricked out rig that Menchov rode in the Giro last year, so I had to take it out for a few spins before we left to get used the new machine and after a few modifications with the handle bar set up, decided to go with the L shape extensions “ Contador style” it seems like a very good set up, we will see in the CT stage race when I come back. Now the rear Super 9 and the front 1080 is just missing!
Packing everything and doing 100 other things in the morning seems like a routine by now and within a few hours the bike is in the box and a special suit case packed with a lot of supplies for the camp from Accelerade

(the bottles arrived by Fedex , always on time, just as we were loading Eric Carlson’s airport shuttle, thanks Justin Fink at Accelerade!!) The usual 5 piece luggage + a car seat for Finley, could not have fit one more thing, my wife has this figured this out by now and checks everything in before we leave and guess what, it was only $ 50.00 extra, nice job! I guess that is why we are married!
We fly to Brussels, Belgium first and then eventually to Milan, the other camp attendees will already be there by then and Paolo will have them situated in the Hotel in Bergamo. The action does not really start until Sunday, so Saturday is just a day to put the bike together and shake the legs out from the trip over. A 6 hour time difference and an over night fight plays tricks on you and you do not feel all that sparky the fist day, let’s see how we adjust this time around, it is not like driving the Massachusetts for 3 hours.
Ok, dinner is done with and nap time, 3 more hours to Belgium!

An update from Italy will follow each day , so do not go any where !

Roger

2010-05-18T08:54:00.005-04:00

Thursday Devil’s Den TT

After a nice Italian dinner at Primo’s with my wife’s family we finally got to my wife’s cousins house (our super nice accommodations on a horse farm) and we were ready for bed, exhausted and I was thinking; how am I going to be able to race for 4 days?

Finally got some sleep (actually slept in to about 8.30 am), I do not remember when I did that in years. Some breakfast and then it was time to put the bike together. Mark at Westwood Cycle had hooked me up with a special bike box for my Giant Advanced SL, ISP (would not fit in a regular box with the seat mast) everything went smooth and no damage from the flight and I was ready to go for a spin and shake the legs out.
Nice roads and no cars, the legs actually feel pretty good, a nice surprise I guess.

I will race in the afternoon everyday, so for late start time races like this, I try to sleep a little later and eat a light breakfast when I get up and then 2-2 ½ hours before the start eat my second breakfast, but now my Country Choice Organic oat meal with all the special toppings J. It works for me and it is a very solid meal any time of the day J!
My wife’s dad lives here as well, so he was kind to run us around and let us use his ‘Hot Rod” pick-up truck as well. Off to Devil’s Den and start the warm-up for the 9.00 min effort, a Pro racer broke 8.00 min, so breaking 9.00 would be awesome! Spoke to Beamon at the bottom of the hill and he said it seemed a little faster times this year, tail wind? It is not that steep, but consistent and no switchbacks. It is pretty hot by now, I have no idea who I am racing against, so I am just going to do my best and see what happens. I paced myself pretty good, but did not feel all that powerful, caught two guys, but that does not mean anything, dizzy crossing the finish line @ 9.06 which put m in 8th place or the day. Still in striking distance, but would have needed another 10-15 sec.

Friday, the 110-mile Road race, one big loop and a cool finish in the middle of Fayetteville on Dickson Street. Tour style I guess !

I still do not know who is who in the race, but I wrote some # down on the stem and kind of figured out some teams that looked that they had some firepower. This really put my “ reading the race skills to the test”. The weather is nice, but windy as hell. I was hoping nobody would know me either and maybe get into a nice early break J. Well that was not going to happen, it was like I had a red flashing light on my helmet every time I attacked or bridged to a small break, so that was a no go! All it did was open the door for a few guys to counter and get away, but the big teams were not in the move, so I was safe and I decided to wait. The wind was brutal and the course was just rolling until about the first feed zone (the 47 mile mark). Nice climb and the group split up, I was surprised and pleased at he same time. Got my bottles from my wife and just continued being patient. It all came back together with 2 guys 4 min out front. The Mercy boys and a couple other teams were on the front now and we were approaching the longest climb of the day, about 7 miles, but nothing steep, just kind of rolling, but I was looking around and seemed like they were hurting. It was mostly a big ring climb. I looked at the Cateye and we were almost at top, so it was time to go in my book!! All or nothing, I attacked hard and a good gap opened up, I see one guy coming across, but that was it. We caught the beak immediately, one guys was done and we just blew by him. We caught the last guy and he was able to latch on, amazing. We needed him for sure! 25 miles to go in a brutal head wind, we were going as hard as humanly possible 27-30 mph, some places less J!
We built the lead to 48 sec, but the chasers were not giving up, it went down to 35 sec. The moto was very good giving us the splits, but the early break guy was no all that sparky anymore and not contributing all that much. When I commit I will never give up until they catch me in a situation like this, so I am burring myself at the front and so is Robert ( the eventual overall winner) , we make it thru a very hard sections ( almost like riding against the wall) and we see the town , very cool finish , but with a few leg breaking rollers before we make that last left hand turn onto Dickson Street . We lost the 3rd guy and it was just two man up sprint to the line, I still had some left in the tank, but not enough, 2nd and a time bonus with a gap to the rest. A good day and feeling strong (not like on the TT).

Saturday, the Hog Eye Circuit race.

Wow , two Fins in one picture( 748 Janne Hamalainen) and me !

This course I knew and it has a pretty good hill in it , so maybe this could be another day for gaining some more time. You ride out to the 23 mile loop and then after 3 loops you ride back to the start/finish. The problem here is that it is about 35 miles almost downhill or flat rolling terrain to the finish after the last time up the hill. The first lap was crawling, one guy goes and puts 4 min into us again, I will wait and see how these guys will race . Nobody seems like they want to race, steady pace, but pretty slow and no attacks on the hill. The only way for me or Robert (yesterday’s winner) to be able to get away was to go all out on the climb on the last lap and drop most guys. A good plan and we tried , but it did not happen and right the 35 miles from the finish we all knew I was going to be a bunch sprint . Now they just needed to catch the lone break away guy, he was sticking it out , but no chance today . Caught him 10K to go and now it was just matter of staying up right and finishing with the bunch. Not a hard race and did not really feel all that spent which was a good thing. Little Mexican food and a beer to cerebrate my step daughter’s graduation from college right here in Fayetteville , AR. Congrats to Megan !

Sunday the 12 turn crit down town Fayetteville.

A super technical crit course and some climbing as well as you can see!

Watching the Pros right before our race I knew this was going to be hard. It was mostly single file and positioning was the key in this race. Once we got half way thru and the field was thinned out to about a 1/3 it was nice. Very smooth and fast with all the best riders left. It was a fu crit and really enjoyed the technical part of it and the hill each lap really sorted out things . I had to ride away and finish with a gap to win the over all, but at the same time I did not want risk my 3rd place either. I attacked a few times up the hill , but it wasted a lot of energy with no result, so my plan was no just to stay up right and try to finish well. The two last laps were so fast that there was no moving up anywhere , with only 15 guys left at the end I finished 12th , but same time as the winner , so no time gaps and kept my 3rd place in the GC .

All set and done ! 3 young guys on the podium !

Thanks for reading , Bear and Italy next !

Roger

Joe Martin Stage Race , AR

2010-05-12T19:41:00.003-04:00

Joe Martin Stage race

I have been way too busy to be able to keep up with my blog lately. Sorry if I left you hanging-:)! The coaching is what my business is all about and my main focus is making sure our clients are getting the best possible service and writing is not my strong point unless you have not noticed, so it is not just the time that is the limiting factor here!

We had a pretty successful spring with several wins with our clients. 2 big cat 4 wins in Battenkill and in Quabbin with Greg D and Eli M. On an armature level these races are big and an early season goal for a lot of riders, so amazing results, congrats to these boys.

Since we came back from our Tucson, AZ camp the training has been going well, but I have not really ramped it up until the last 3-4 weeks, I had a good ride in Quabbin with the big boys and seems like I am getting a little closer to were I left off last year. Right now I am sitting on a plane to AR (Arkansas) to start the Joe Martin stage race tomorrow.
I have done this race in the past, but not since they gained NRC status, so it will be interesting. What I like about it is that they have an elite cat 1 2 separate race from the actual pro race. Same distances, but no trade teams, so when you race alone (just me and myself and the Giant) it makes the playing field more even and we still get to do the full 4 days.
I have only done 5 races so far this year, kind of a plan (race less and train more) this early part of the year. Something that works quite well when you are an older athlete. It is very tempting to race 3-4 times a week in all the local “ training races “ and get the intensity in, but then you just race and recover, not much else is possible or at least not a very productive way of training in my opinion. Do not get me wrong, you need to race for training as well, but do blocks of racing and then recovery and then blocks of training and so forth. Cycles of certain elements in your training are what you want, not the same thing week after week.
I had some success in my racing carrier I guess starting from XC –skiing to cycling, but I always look for new things to get faster such as races (I am trying a few new ones this year), equipment (new Giant TT bike on the way and even a 29er MTB) training methods (secret -:)) I am a big believer if your are not in your comfort zone you will stay more focused and push yourself to new limits.
Well that is it, the plane is about to land and now we just have to hope all the luggage is in one piece and on the same plane as me. I almost rather drive 2 days than fly for 3 hours, if you know what I mean! After lugging a bike box, wheel box, 2 sut cases and a baby car seat thru the aiport , I think maybe I should just become a normal "Family Guy " start drinking beer and watch Nascar on Sundays .
I will keep you posted on the race progress this weekend and how life is with the cowboys down south.

If your have not booked your trip to the Italy/Giro Camp yet, it is not too late yet. We are not leaving until May 21st -:)!

Thanks for reading again

Roger

2010 FinKraft Italy/ Giro Camp May 22nd -31st

2010-03-21T10:36:00.006-04:00

Well , the Tucson Camp is done and it is time to think "Italy"If you read the blog or you attended the AZ camp you know what it is all about!

I am happy to announce that a long time dream of mine will come true this2010 spring. FinKraft, in partnership with our friend Paolo Zenoni who lives in Bergamo, Italy will provide a fully supported cycling experience in Italy. Often called “the mother country of cycling” in many people’s eyes, we will be riding on legendary roads and routes that the Giro d’ Italia and other classic road races like Giro di Lombardy have passed through over the years. There is no other country with such a strong history in cycling and such amazing scenery. Cycling here is a culture and if you love cycling, this trip is a dream come true.We will leave in the evening from the US on May 21st and arrive in Milan the following morning (May 22nd). If traveling from a different destination all arrivals have to be on Saturday morning to enable a convenient airport pick-up for all clients at the same time. We will have a support van (Team bus) which will be our transportation during our stay. Each client is responsible for his or her own airline ticket and bike transport to Milan, but group discount for airline tickets might be available. Upon arrival at our base camp Hotel Cascina Belvedi (http://www.cascinabelvedi.it/) we will get settled and after a short nap we will assemble our bikes and go for a light spin before dinner. The personnel is English speaking and our accommodations include a big breakfast and a nice real authentic Italian dinner every day. The ride program will be flexible with weather conditions and logistics such as travel to and from different locations.
Here is a preliminary route schedule:

Saturday: arrive at the airport; bus transfer to the hotel; bikes assembly and short easy facultative ride.

Sunday: scenic loop, relatively flat and visit to the old city of Bergamo (Citta`Alta). Spouses take public transportation (easy) and meet up in Citta` Alta. Riding time: 4 hours

Monday: hilly ride, Passo San Marco. Spa day/hiking for the spouses (stores are closed Monday morning but open in the afternoon around 3:30pm so shopping not possible in the am). Riding time: 5 hours.

Tuesday: bus transfer to the beautiful town of Stresa and flat ride around Lago Maggiore. Spouses can enjoy strolling through the town and taking a ferry ride on the lake, visiting the isles and the enchanting gardens. Riding time: 6 hours.

Wednesday: hilly ride to Madonna del Ghisallo and visit to the museum of the cyclists and to the sanctuary of the Madonna del Ghisallo. Spouses take bus to Bergamo and train to Milano to shopping/sightseeing - full day for them and rest afternoon for us. Riding time: 4 hours.

Thursday: travel by bus to Bormio. Climb the Mortirolo and the Gavia passes. Spouses have the opportunity to see this alpine town, where the World Ski Cup is held every year and ride by bus to the ski town of Livigno enjoying breathtaking mountain views (1,5 hour by bus from Bormio) and tax free shopping. Riding time: 6 very tough hours.

Friday: easy ride around the Bergamo area. Relaxing in countryside for the spouses. (Idea: take local bus to either 1) horseback riding in Valle Imagna for a few hours, 2) visit to winery locally, 3) indoor swimming pool for fun with the kids, etc) Riding time: 3 hours

Saturday: Giro d'Italia day! Bikes will be left at hotel and everyone can have a fun day watching the hill finishing 20th stage of the Giro (Bormio - Ponte di Legno - Tonale) - bus trip to location to watch stage and back later to hotel.

Sunday: Nice ride through the rolling vineyards of Franciacorta; bikes packing. Wives bus to Bergamo, train to Lake Como for the day) Riding time: 4 hours. Monday: Bus transfer to the airport. Program may change due to weather reasons.

Monday: Bus transfer to Airport Total riding time: at least 32 hours with some extremely challenging climbs.

Deadline for sign up is March 31st, 2010. There are a lot of logistics for this trip , so the sooner the better.

Thanks

Last Sun rise in AZ

2010-03-13T17:08:00.006-05:00

Last sun rise for us , early rise for the Shoot Out , the finally again for week # 3, the ride nobody really wants to do after riding 25-30 hours, but can not miss either after coming all the way out here ( bragging rights for the resume back home)

After some epic rides and climbs , sometimes walking up the hills ( just kidding) , laying down ( not kidding), wanting to turn around or just having a break thru ride this years camp is coming to an end and it is time pack up and get back to the east coast and start racing , again!!!!

Of course we have to take advantage of a beautiful afternoon and relax a little by the pool , before having pizza and beers to cap of a great week of training.

You would think my wife is Italian ,well she has been to Italy once ( does that count ??)

Every week we did the "Shoot Out " on the last day of the camp , a little race tune up before heading back home and an opportunity to ride with some of the Pros who are in town , Todd Well, some Garmin Pros and a bunch of Canadians that are not afraid to trow it down on this world famous group ride, you never know who you will see on this one !

Posing at Starbucks after some Latte's ( or what ever they call it ) , Tucson is such a cycling capitol in the states for the winter months and this is where a lot of guys put in their base miles while it is snowing at home !

This picture makes me hungry ! The food was just incredible every day , it was my wife cooking all the meals, even I eat the same food at home it just seemed like everything here is so much better???

Did I mention , we have full airport pick and drop of and if you sent the bike out with us , all you needed was a bag of clothes for this camp and you were good to go ( notice how happy these guys are 5.00 am )

Until next time , AZ in the rear view and onto some new things !!

Thanks for following us on our FinKraft Training Camp , hope to see YOU out there next year!

Roger

Living the Pro life

2010-03-11T21:34:00.006-05:00

On top of the world with Kevin and the Power Cranks, big day " The Queen Stage " 115 miles to Kitt Peak and back with a nice finish over Gates Pass. The official finish line ( not our drive way)

Some R&R at the top ! These guys worked hard climbing up this thing , this is not a Touring Camp by no means!
It was an awesome effort by everybody , very impressive riding on a gorgeous day by this group, 6 hours plus in the saddle is a big day for any bike rider!

After a long day in the office , a nice out door shower is what makes it all worth it . Now we just need a Sauna and I would feel like home ( Finland )

We were pretty close to Mexico today and a we had a few Empenadas on he way , so what is better to finish off the day with some Mexican , Burritos with the works !!

.....and what is left?? clean up in aisle 2!!

Fun stuff and great training , the guys here are reaching some new heights and experiencing the Pro life or if not even better( no pressure here) !

Roger

More training Camp

2010-03-08T23:35:00.008-05:00

Three Gringos in town , cold and windy ride to Bisbee via Tombstone with the new crew , what happened to the AZ weather we all came here for?

No , we are not in Italy yet ! Only Bisbee , but that is still a great stop!

Nice little cafe , Rob really enjoyed himself , felt like home at our rest stop ( just got out of the shower I think -:)

National Champion steering down some Bisbee pie at the coffee shop at our turn around!

It is an old mining town , so a few things is made out of copper! I do not know what Paul is pointing at though!

Traveling to the rides could be an experience , the Border Patrol took this one real well! We are about 8 miles from the Mexican border after all.

Nutrition is as important ( if not even more) as the rides or the rest we get here on the camp . You can never pack enough ride food into your jersey pockets , but nobody has bonked yet either, so that says something.

The boys from Italy were doing great eating the Barilla spaghetti " the right way" . The dinners are really what keeps this crew going , thanks Kimberly and the girls who are helping in the kitchen. More about the Menu here at the FinKraft Camp to come soon, that is my blog intentions for this week, besides keep "Marinating" the boys on their bikes :)

Roger

Power Cranks up to 9000 feet

2010-03-07T09:03:00.005-05:00

When you ride the Cranks and as your ability improves you will always look for new challenges.

It could be as simple as adding time to your ride or just trying to keep a cadence above 85 rpm !

I have ridden them for over 10 years now and pretty much run out of challenges . I wanted to promote the Power Cranks here on our FinKraft Training Camp this year, since we are dealer for them now and it would be great opportunity to show our clients what they are all about.

I have never had them out here in Tucson , so riding up Mt Lemmon on Power Cranks was new to me and a nice way to show case them .

I had good company from James and Wayne and the pace was pretty decent all the way up , James said if we did not go all the way to the top to Ski Valley, we could not live with ourselves , I guess no choice there!

Some heckling and telling a few war stories at the cookie shack in Summer Haven before we had to plummet back down , another challenge for sure !

If you ever descended a 20 mile plus climb on Power Cranks you know what I mean!

Everything is big , big Mountain, big Cokes and big Cookies! Life is good !!!

This was pretty good day in the saddle , about 5 hours ride time on new grounds with Cranks !

If you want to keep it interesting and challenge yourself , get a pair of Power Cranks . Best training tool out there in my opinion , worth every penny!

Roger

FinKraft Camp update

2010-03-04T21:33:00.005-05:00

A few adjustments for Anthony and Wayne and we are good to go , 115 miles ahead of us , so everything needs to be perfect , anything that is not ; will show up for sure . This camp is a testing ground for a lot of things , bike fit is one them !

Well , we made it abut 2 miles when the flat fest started , Cactus thorns galore! A test on tires and patience

We had a beautiful day ahead of us , but 6 flats in a six hour ride , what is going on ? It did not really spoil anything , we had all day and nothing else to do , we are here to ride our bikes and that is it , besides eating and sleeping. Speaking of eating; Burrito Night tonight!

Some rides could be really looooooong and haaaaaaaard !

AZ critters , all poisonous according to Steve including this Scram one laying on the road up Kitt Peak , so just look no touching !

I think I am a Kitt Peak member by now , 2 times up in 2 weeks . Great ride by Adam, Steve and Rich today , solid ride by all the boys today for that matter , close to 4000 cals burnt today and a few new Kitt Peak members today !

This is the best food hands down I ever had a on a bike ride , this empenada blows every bar, gel or any kind of sports food away ever invented !

On one of our flatter and some what easier day , if you can call a 4 hour with an 11 miles gradual climb in it an easy ride is to via Oracle to Mammoth and back to our starting point in Ora Valley .

We did this one the first week as well , but due to 40 degree temps , rain sideways and 50 mph winds , we chickened out and turned around in Oracle and missed the most amazing scenery , something that you could not ever imagine . Unbelievable back drop ( a drop from 4500 feet to 2300 feet) into a town of nothing , we saw maybe 4 people in the whole town almost scary! But .... we found Gold, a Mexican bakery ! Unbelievable empenadas right out of the owen . They were so good we bought 28 , yes she would not sell anymore to us after begging for some more!

A classic picture in a town of nothing but empenadas and a bike !

More FinKraft Camping in AZ

2010-03-04T08:28:00.003-05:00

Yes , we do ride on these roads , this is the road up Mt Lemmon and we do this one twice each week. What a Breath taking ride -:) litterly!

If you like climbing there is plenty of it for sure , but on this one you ca catch a nice rytmen and really find your climbing groove or not ! Experience the altitude as well which is new to most of all.

It looks cold with the snow on the side of road , but it is really not for the most part!

This camp is very International ( 8-9 different countries ) , here we have our French rider David dancing up the climb. Now if we only had a bike like these the rides would be a breeze !

What goes up , comes down !One of the most thrilling decent around . Flying down without touching the breaks for an hour .

It could be a hair raising experience for sure , but who would no want that on a bicycle !

Believe it or not there is time for some breaks here and there , even though this guy will get a $ 50.00 fine later in the mail( he does not know yet)

At the end of the day a little soaking and just hanging loose is all it is about!

Now we just have to hope we all become faster bike racer , that is the purpose of this life style for all of us , we have to keep reminding ourselves of that :)

Roger

Camp update 2nd week

2010-03-03T22:18:00.005-05:00

This is what it looks like from our house in the morning , not a bad view to wake up to !!

Since we are doing all the rides all over again ( man I have to ride up Mt Lemmon 6 times before this thing is over ) I am just going to update you guys on cool events that happens along the way .

Sunday , rain and cold all day!

Little antsy for the new guys, lots of snacking , getting settled and resting from travel ( means a little recovery for me and Kyle too) , you can sense the restless feeling and everybody wanted to get out for a ride . I would have ridden for sure , but it was just nasty out there all day . So we made the best of it and watched the Olympics , the 50 K classic style XC race , awesome race !! Way to go Nortug, amazing sprint ! Good time to get to know the guys and let them know will be on the menu for week .

Monday , perfect day . Not a cloud on the sky and a good day to start the 2nd week . Flat ( or some what ) Tombstone and Bisbee. Nice group and a very smooth ride , no problems at all !

Heading towards the OK Corral , once again.

Here comes the train !

Last hour a 11 man pace line at a 25 mph + , so drilling it ! Great way to go from Tombstone back to Walmart in Benson. ( remember to check out people@walmart.com sometimes) A couple of guys had some beans and rice in Bisbee , I never had that on a ride before??? , go figure !!

Clean all the bottles and
a great dinner, I will never eat out again , the food is just awesome ! After onto reviewing of some files and post ride talk on the screen to make sure we all started off on a good note ! The weather looks solid for the week , that is all that matters ! There is snow and sleet in the forcast for the east coast one guy said , oh well -:) We will see some snow tomorrow on Mt Lemmon , but it will be 70 dergees at the bottom.

Roger

Camp update day 7

2010-02-28T22:14:00.008-05:00

Saturday , shoot out day! Wrong group , but looks like a Shoot Out !

Scramble to get ready a little earlier this morning , thank god for instant Country Choice Organic oatmeal !

This camp would not run if it was not for this Girl!!

Saddle up and roll down the hills to catch the ride , at least we thought we would ! We see the group, great ! Hum little small for the normal shoot out ??? It was about 25 riders that had missed the actual ride that had left @ 7.00 am and not 7.30 am as we all thought.

No Pictures , it was tooo fast to get the camera out of my pocket !

Oh well, we rode it anyway and there was plenty of action . The pace picked up pretty good after we got on Mission Rd and past the last traffic light , so no different from the real one . The camp boys threw it down and put the hurt on the locals , so it was fun and we all had a good time. We did the shorter version and after getting back to Starbucks we were all laughing about it over coffees ! Get er done , Kip kept saying !

Last day for some guys of the first week, so it was beer and pizza night ! A great ending to a great week !

Now it was time for airport pickups and drop offs again and a new crew stared to trickle in !

Time to do it all over again ,week # 2 ready to go !

Some new guys on the couch !

Roger

Camp update day 6

2010-02-28T08:04:00.004-05:00

After a 115 mile day on Thursday , the guys hung their heads this morning and wanted to crawl UNDER their beds when they heard we are going up MT Lemmon this afternoon.

The roads were clear and no restrictions , sounded like it we would be getting the " Worlds Largest cookie " after all.

Drove to Saguro East again , skipped the roller coaster loop because our plan to was to go slow , but make it up to the top , so no wasting time on anything else.

Nice steady tempo and the miles was ticking off nicely , but the snow kept getting higher and higher on the side of the roads .The group got a little smaller , but a few of us kept going , after two hours we were at Ski Valley ( too bad we had no skis) the conditions were great and the mountain was packed with people enjoying the snow and the perfect weather.

Rolled down to Summer Haven and it was Time !! The $ 5.00 Giant cookie , calories for us to last for a week. After finishing that meal we now had to climb up to get down , weird! Legs were like tree trunks and now it was cold . We descended like rocks and flew like jets down the mountain . It warmed up dramatically and by the time we were back at the car it was hot . I was happy the guys made it up , Mt Lemmon has always been the staple of the camps all these years I have been out here . An another Pro day , we even saw a few pros on the climb , so this is the training grounds for the best , no doubt.
It is Friday night , the "shoot out " group ride in the AM !! The finally of the first week!

Roger

Camp update day 5

2010-02-27T14:30:00.005-05:00

The new FinKraft Kit on to Kitt Peak , another epic day!

We decided to man up and ride from the house, not too hard the first hour since mostly down hill! The only downside was we would have a pretty hard finish to tackle after 100 miles or so , no problem though.
This ride is traditionally very windy on the way out to the actual climb , a few Coyotes and a never ending false flat made the ride out pretty challenging ! A few drills up the 12 mile climb and a little digging and pushing the limit was the theme of the day . Very impressive by the group of 11 riders . Coming back down was a thrill for most guys and we were flying , we do not have mountains like this on the East Coast.

Nice stops at the "road kill circle K " on way out and same place again on the way back , great motivation to keep it rolling .

After slugging it for 57 miles we reached the Top!

The weather was perfect and an awesome ride all around , 115 miles and a very Strong performance for everybody , but some tired bodies at the dinner table . Little quiet , but very satisfied faces , we "got er done" again!

Bill himself had to check Mark's bike set up to what we were dealing with here.

Of course the day was not done . Back to Bill Peterson for a couple of follow ups with the guys .

Bill is straightening out Ian here , not an easy task ! A great day in the saddle once again !

Roger

Camp update day 4

2010-02-25T08:37:00.005-05:00

Today was a flatter , but could be a windy ride , scenic and fun ride to Bisbee via Tombstone . Sounds easy , wrong !! Still 96 miles in the saddle that could become a sting in the tail after 3 days in to the camp for sure.

We have to do a little drive to the start, Benson that is . Park at Walmart and check out the "people at Walmart " before the ride . Then " Saddle up " and onto Tombstone . A beautiful day and everyone is having a blast , double pace line where we can and single up where we have to . The FinKraft pose' rides into town and this is something us spandex dudes do not see everyday ( and I think something Wyatt Earp does not see either)

Short stop and then to Bisbee, cool 25 miles stretch of nothing ! Then a 5 mile false flat climb up to about 6500 feet or something like that , a good place to turn the screw a little before we go thru the tunnle down into the "Bowl of Bisbee". Lunch time , a really cool town to get a bit to eat , nobody is in a hurry here for sure . Our Canadian friend Louis even got to meet the local Sheriff ( flat tire and got a ride to town ,very funny story )

After we stuffed our "pie holes " with a little pie , it was just about doing the whole thing in reverse , simple ! Now it was slightly down hill and some places tail wind , we had a blast and made it back flying for the most part , " a good testing for the "Glue" , nobody came unglued and with a little suffering we were back at Walmart . It was all about " get'er done"

Load up and back to base camp for tonight's Alto Lab presentation , late as usual ( my personal trade mark it seems )

Ok, let's see what altitude training is all about. Andrew Backhaus came down here from Alto Lab to present their product ,which is a very interesting concept . We all know you can benefit from altitude training if you do it right . There are many different ways to do it, but after listening Andrew this seems like a very effective and simple way of doing this at a fairly inexpensive as well..

Notice the stack on this one , Louis turn out to be an excellent " lab rat" Good stuff ! Finally dinner , more Barilla pasta , how could you go wrong , big day tomorrow -:)

Roger

Camp update day 3

2010-02-23T22:25:00.006-05:00

( @ 7000 feet)

A little flooding on the way from the day before , but that did not ruin our day !

We woke up to crystal clear blue skies, but still a chill in the air . Today Mt Lemon was on tap for the first time this week . We had the trailer loaded today , made the logistics much easier and quicker . Our start point was at Saguro National Park by the Old Spanish Trail. This Park has an amazing 8 mile roller coaster loop , one way traffic , a fun warm up loop before we hit the road to tackle the challenge of the day , the reports were 5 feet of snow at the top with road closures at the 14 mile mark . Lovely -:)

Everybody were riding strong and the group stayed in tact for the most part of the 14 uphill miles . We hit some snow and slush at about 5000 feet , so the roads were wet and we were a little concerned about coming back down ! At the windy point was the end , road closed and plenty of snow ! Mark G's wife was a trooper and drove up to meet us with some Cokes , snacks and some warm clothes for the ride down . A life saver and appreciated by all of us . The roads were actually almost melted by the time we rolled back down, but a little wet for sure ! It warmed up quickly and the ride back to the park with a couple attacks thrown down and one more loop in the park now in shorts and lighter clothing was a nice way to finish of the day !! 4.15 hours on the bike , not bad !

For me it was on Power Cranks ! A sponsor that seems to have fell thru the cracks . They were supposed to have 2 Rev Master bikes here for the clients to try and get familiarized to the concept of Power Cranks , 3 days into the camp and no sign of the bikes ???

A quick drive back to the Base Camp and change clothes with some R4 recovery and some Wasa supplied lunch goodies and then off to MR Bill Peterson' Dynamic Feet . They have a facility right in town and we have the Camp here , so what a threat for the FinKraft Training Camp this is !

Little check up with the boys! Bill really knows his stuff and explains everything as he goes along!
As I said before , I wanted to make this camp very Pro like and Bill is the man with with some incredible experience in fitting and foot bed building with ortatics for cyclist and other athletes for about 35 years now . I met Bill 15 years ago and I am still wearing the same ortotics today . The group was amazed with the knowledge " The Man" has , he works with Pro Teams and goes to their Camps each year . Lance has been his client and now 5 of our first weeks clients are as well, how cool is that !Some guys will need a little more adjustment than others , but Bill will take care of it , no doubt there!
Thanks Bill, everyone loved the presentation and we at FinKraft really appreciate are honored that we got to introduce Dynamic Feet to our clients , this is the real deal!

A super day top off with and another super dinner , yes lasagna , a camp favorite after tonight for sure and desert prepared by Kim and Pam , Great job ladies ! All the great meals just makes all these rides so much easier . Thanks for the hard work , a corner stone of the camp is the nutrition , I am so glad to have my wife here and make this happen .

Time flies and a quick overview of the day and it is time to hit the hay !! Big day tomorrow , start in Benson and ride to Tombstone ( OK Coral) and then onto Bisbee and back to Benson of course , a nice 100 miler, that is the ride we have on Tap for tomorrow!

Roger

Camp Update day 2

2010-02-22T22:41:00.005-05:00

Day 2 , day of flats !
Well , the weather Gods were not on our side today for sure ! We kind ot though we would have a window in the morning and escape the rain , so we loaded up the bikes and drove up RT 77 a little ways to beat some traffic and parked in Ora Valley , still not raining , but not looking good either
The ride is a simple out and back , nice wide shoulder , but a slight incline at a 2600 feet start and by we got to Oracle we were at 4500 feet , soaking wet, freezing cold and 4 flats . After huddling around in Circle K for 20 mins we were ready to back out and get hammered by some nasty head wind and numbing freezing rain , are we in AZ ?????

The group was tough as nails and we grinded it back to the car , if someone had stopped and offered us a ride back , I would have considered the option , but since I am the captain I guess , I would be the last man to abandon ship !! Made it back and it got warmer and of course stopped raining by the time we had the bikes back on the roof .

Some lunch and time to chill , well almost everyone ! Kyle spent the afternoon washing the bikes and Kim cooking and washing clothes. The best part was the sprint relay XC skiing race at the Olympics , what a race !! Little R&R for the team and computer time and before we knew it , it was dinner time! Fish with oven roasted potatoes and the greens of course , some good eat'n !!

Our nightly Power file analyses and post ride talk in addition to a little heads up for tomorrow's ride , Mtn Lemon !! Sun shine , the two words that will be welcome after a day like this , but it is all good !!

Roger

Camp Update day 1

2010-02-22T16:12:00.009-05:00

Day One !

Sunday , a good day for a bike ride !

Or not , the couch looks pretty comfortable !

The early arrivals were chomping at the bit and after a delicious breakfast prepared by our chief Kim. The plan was to do a little shorter ride in the Gates Pass area , that what we did . Good steady pace with a little of a turn of the throttle up Gates Pass on the way back , nice opener for sure . Everybody rode well , a very good crew ! A couple more clients trickled in during the afternoon , so a second ride was on tap with Larry and Gerard . We did a shorter verzon of the Gates Pass , Kinney loop and almost dark by the time we finally climbed back up to the house .

Just in time for a super nice dinner , pasta with balsamic chicken with all the works . Eating good this week is important to every client balance with rest and of course the rides.

After dinner , mine and Kyle ' s presentation to welcome everybody and get as much detail about what his camp is all about . Practical advice for rides and some house rules, but also a more scientific approach to the time spent here. Nutritional tracking , power and HR files analyses daily and a lot information , but I am sure it will all make sense by the time the week is over .

Good stuff, bed time , well I have to pick up another bed for me and Kim before that will be a reality, nobody said it would be a vacation -:)

Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully the forecast is wrong and no rain !

More updates around the corner.

FinKraft Cycling Training Camp 2010 , days before

2010-02-21T18:00:00.007-05:00

Hi ,

We finally had to leave the snow castle and after a couple of days of packing got on the road to the Sun or TucSUN ! The trailer and the FinKraft Team car is locked and loaded !Lots of bikes and stuff!!
Sponsor drinks and foods , wheels , Finkraft Camp supplies you name !! We are ready to do some heavy duty training.

We just hit the Arkansas border, my wife is from here , so I have been here a few times before did a few races even back in the day .Too bad we did not have time to stop by Grace Land in Memphis , but I am sure Elvis did not mind. Yes Memphis not Egypt!This is a long drive , about 2500 miles and we only covered 1137 so far so we have to keep moving , well a quick stop at Cracker Barrel for some pancakes !!

Parked next to other Team Busses!
Long boring drive thru Texas , serious head wind and a lot of oil pumps and wind mills.We arrived at Tucson at 6.00 pm , all in one piece and no trouble with really anything ! First night in Days INNNNN , right at the Speedway and RT 10 , nice for a short ride over in the morning to the" Shoot Out ", the world famous group ride !! We get our bikes out of the trailer and get some supermarket dinner and that is pretty much it for that day , very tired after the drive and just need some sleeeep!!!
Early rise and some breakfast and the over to Starbucks for the start of the ride ! The shoot Out is always fast and a lot of fit riders on it , no difference today ! About 150 riders and a lot of East Coasters as well , it was fun and fast , way toooo fast for a ride after sitting in a car for 3 days !
Then off to our Finkraft base Camp , the W. Hidden Canyon! The drive way is like climbing a wall, but we managed to get up there with the trailer , amazing house !After 3 hours of unloading and sorting out the bikes and god knows what , the first clients starts showing up . I go and pick up my wife Kim from the airport and then do some more food shopping , there will be a lot eat'n and riding the next 3 weeks! Still working all night and finally have dinner at about 10.00 pm and we are open for business ! Mark and Lindy from England and Mark G and Pam from New England all went for Mexican and now everybody start to get exited to get on their bikes and do some riding !!
The camp is litterly full and stacked with some awesome rides and various presentations . There is so much work done by Andreas that you could never imagine to secure these sponsors. Endless hours planning things with my wife , such as meals and supplies in addition of securing this incredible house we will be staying in . Billing and book keeping and 'get er done' type of stuff, so many thanks to Andreas, Kim, Kyle and all the sponsors involved in this operation FinKraft .
Thanks and keep reading.
Roger

FINKRAFT KITS ARE AVAILABLE FOR ORDER

2010-01-14T09:49:00.003-05:00

Please note that the image above is not 100% accurately reflecting the colors chosen. The "blackish looking color" is actually a very nice navy blue

NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDER!

Several months have gone by since the idea has arisen to create a beautiful high end FinKraft Team kit.

Roger himself has spent numerous hours
designing the layout with the most helpful cooperation by our friends at Verge.

The result is what we believe to be one of the better looking kits (to be modest) out there, coupled with very high quality materials.

We encourage you to order your kit asap. We are trying to time the delivery of all kits to coincide with our Premier event of the year the Tucson Arizona Training Camp, which we feel would be a perfect opportunity to "show your colors" for the first time.

In order to do so, all orders must be in by Tuesday, January 19th.

Below you find the design of the kit as well as preferred pricing.

This kit reflects the work of just a few parties directly involved in its creation from concept to realization.

We wish to point out that without our respected sponsors we would not be able to progress within our company's vision, which ultimately is meant to benefit all of you!

So thank you clients and thank you sponsors!!

MSRP. / FIN = FinKraft Client Cost

Elite Jersey with Trafo fabric
and Full hidden zipper MSRP. $109 / FIN $99

Elite Bib Shorts with
ESP2 chamois MSRP. $129 / FIN $116

Elite Warsaw Jacket MSRP. $229 / FIN $206

Classic Lite Vest MSRP. $89 / FIN $79

Arm Warmers MSRP. $35 / FIN $30

Leg Warmers MSRP. $45 / FIN $40

Knee Warmers MSRP. $35 / FIN $35

MTB is good for you...

2010-01-13T10:46:00.013-05:00

These shoes are made for walking...

1994 Jamis Dakar

I have not written a blog in a while since I believe that my training routine and cycling life are for the most part consistent with those of others who read these blogs.

For weeks I had been contemplating taking Roger up on the offer of joining an MTB group ride on a weekend. Too fond was I of the many good rides in the past and too obvious was the fact that I was ready for a little changeup in my training routine!

The previous week he had called me on Sunday AM at around 8.30AM to inform me of the ride which was about to take place that same morning (about 9.30AM). This would have been perfect, except I had not ridden my mountain bike in some time... Down to the garage I went and I looked at the machine. There she was...sitting there in the corner, neglected and forgotten but surely worthy of my inspection....

My jaw dropping 1994 Jamis Dakar full suspension rocket (Fox piggy back suspension and Judy Rock Shox XC - see photo on top) was sitting there with two flats, an inch of dust on the frame and tires which I had changed to be "non-nobby" to accomodate a weekend ride on the road with my wife in the Finger Lakes some time ago.

In short...I was not going to be ready within the hour. Bummer. I ended up doing an indoor trainer workout that morning, but surely troubled by the fact that my material was to blame for a missed fun ride. This wasn't going to happen again.

I had a week to get ready and I did. I changed the tires (these suckers were resilient), Roger so generously had supplied me with, and did a quick do-over on the bike and ... I was ready!

This time the destination was the Lewis Morris State Park near our friend Troy Kimball in Randolph, NJ. I knew in advance from the people attending this ride that it was going to be a hard enough ride, but I had no problems with that. My fitness was good and I knew that I could hang since I had done so with my brother in law who is a respectable Mountain biker himself and we battled together - he with his poison green Gary Fisher Supercaliber and me with my Jamis Dakar. When we rode, and it has been admittingly some time ago (you guessed it), we felt like the real deal flying down single tracks in New Paltz, etc.

But this is 2010....
The first thing that caught my eye, and I had somewhat suspected it prior to my arrival, was the fact that everyone had mountain bikes that are much, much newer. What made it so much more obvious was the fact that Adam Duncan's bike was also a Jamis Dakar but about 15 years newer. The color was pretty much the same, but that was about it. In envy I looked at everyone's material and realized that I was going to be the "retro guy" for the day. I was lucky enough that the temperatures called for shoe covers which saved me the guy's comments on my MTB shoes (see photo above) - the Model T of MTB food wear. I did not share with them that my shoe laces broke as I tied them in Troy's basement (I did not believe that their's had laces!)

Off we went and after I got adjusted to the terrain and the bike I have not been on in a while, I felt really good. It did strike me as strange that everyone was going up the initials dirt climbs (mostly ice) with relative ease, while I was slipping and sliding. Until finally Jim Vreeland pointed out to me that both my Maxxis Larsen Tires were mounted in the wrong direction in...In other words I had no grip. All I could do is change the front wheel to comply and off we went again. I could hang with everyone just fine and I was happy about that.

As I went down the hill in one section I noticed that my "trusty" Avid front brakes had left me hanging and down the ditch I went. I thought, good, nothing broken and all the trees are still standing; as I made the walk back up to the trail I realized that the bunch was not there any longer.

Result from my escapade in the ditch

I did not know my surroundings so I started pedalling frantically since I had seen enough episodes of "Man against Wild" not to realize that you don't want to be in the woods in the dark, especially if you don't know the woods. I forgot my phone and frankly had no food either, since I had taken off the outer jacket shell prior to the ride, which would have contained both.

After about 10-15 minutes I was not sure anymore whether I was going in the right direction, so I went back and eventually found the guys who...came back for me (yeah!!!!). I tried to be as relaxed appearing as possible and gave them a much cooler greeting in relation to my inner excitement about being reunited with them once again. (Hey, what's up...? :-) )

We rode a total of about 3 hours and I felt great. We all did!
Summary of the day: go out there and "just do it" - you may encounter surprises but at the end of the day you likely will have had a blast!

Can't think of a witty title

2010-01-08T14:38:00.003-05:00

Greetings from snowy Connecticut. I may have to sell my bikes, as they will never see the roads again. I actually stacked, unstacked and then restacked piles of firewood in the backyard the other day just so I could get outside training. Lift with your knees, maintain a steady HR, you know the drill.

Last night was nice. Our friend Justin Lindine came over for dinner with his young wife Jess. As my faithful readers will remember, he is just home from racing cyclocross in Belgium. He brought me a cool souvenir from one of his races last week: the "Officieel prgramma ten voordele van Ziekenzorg en KG Loenhout; de 26ste Azencross den Loenhout". It is this really nicely made 20 page long full color brochure of the race.

It has stories about the history of the race, pictures of all the past world champions (wereldkampioenen) and all of the race favorites (de favorieten). It also has a complete start list of every rider, including our own Justin Wolverine Lindine; plus recent results and the prize list. By the way, the winner (winnar) gets 26,000E, which is just slightly more than the cat 4 prize at Battenkill! Ha!

Justin talked about how there were almost 20,000 people at the race and how they were more than willing to pay 10E for entry into the grounds. There they bought frites in paper cones, plus as much Bier as they can handle. Which apparently varied from spectator to spectator. This passion from the fans helps drive and support the racers. Just awesome.

I sat at my italian designed dining room table in my long straight back modern chairs and imagined what that must be like have here in our country. Now, let's be clear, I am not one of those guys that thinks Europe is the best all; it is pretty neat in the different and traditional ways they do things, but at the same time, I like to get gas on Sundays. I will say however, that if people actually came and watched most bike races, I really feel that they would understand and appreciate the sport a lot more than most do now.

Watching a circuit race like a criterium or cyclocross is a great way to learn about the sport. Spectators would instantly see how hard it is to win a race and how the rolling chess match that is a bike race is constantly moving and evolving. Almost every person I have ever taken to a race instantly becomes a fan. Maybe some day those fans would be willing to pay a small fee to come watch a great race and then that fee would help cover the expenses that young lads like Justin incur in order to try to live that dream.

It's my dream too. This spring, ask your friends and neighbors to come watch your local spring training race. Bribe them with lunch afterwards, but I bet the next time they will come on their own and maybe bring their own friends too.

It may snow in Belgium, horray!

2010-01-03T17:19:00.002-05:00

As you, my faithful readers may remember, our friend Justin Lindine is racing cyclocross in Belgium as part of the Euro Cross Camp. The Fin "suggested" that I set up a blog for him so that we could just link to him; but after a lot of delays on my part I finally got it set up. However, the Flemmish internet provider automatically translated everything into Dutch. Awkward. So, without further delay, here is the latest from Justin:

So it’s been a few days since the last update. I’d say a lot transpired, but in reality a good bit of it has been down time. Which is good because everyone, myself included, were beginning to look a little ragged around the edges with racing and travel. So after Loenhout we had theoretically two days until the next race in Baal. This meant that Wednesday was pretty much spent as a rest day. An opportunity to get the bikes running smoothly again, do some laundry and some grocery shopping and shop around for some choice Belgian gifts for our families. And then, the highlight of the day, a trip to the bowling alley for an inter-team competition.

So let me be the first to say that cyclists should pretty much stick to cycling. There is a reason that we are good at what we do and it does not, as a general rule of thumb (at least in my experience) relate very well to other sports, games or hobbies. The only thing that caries over is the intensity and competitive drive, no matter how misguided. So let me paint this picture for you: seventeen skinny dorks drinking a smattering of cokes (and some waters) in the midst of a relatively small town bowling alley surrounded by a mix of Belgian club team bowlers and families with little kids. Most of who by the way are bowling better then us; and I mean the little kids, not the club guys. In any case, despite out ineptitude and the fact that the highest score of our group was a 140, we had a pretty good time and managed to liven up an otherwise sedated Wednesday evening at the bowling alley. Go team USA!

Thursday was a transition day if you will. For the guys that were planning on racing the next day in Baal it was openers and rest. For those that weren’t it was a longer training day. For me it was decision-making morning. I had initially intended to race the last three days of camp in a row doing Baal, St. Niklass, and then one other that I don’t know how to spell right this second and don’t have the name in front of me. Suffice it to say it’s in Holland somewhere. Anyway, the case was raised that this plan was slightly ambitious. And that Baal would probably be the muddiest, most power intensive course in the camp. So I was left with a debate going on in my head. One side of me was sore, tired and of the mindset that I would benefit from one more day of training. On the other hand, I came here to race and there was a race to go to, and wouldn’t I be letting myself down if I didn’t race?

Sigh…Such are the debates cyclists are always having with themselves. A never-ending series of inner debates ranging from what or what not to eat to racing schedule. After several cups of coffee I finally decided that it might be in my best interest and in the interest of results to take the one more day and then race the last two days of camp instead. After finally making the call on this front, I had the relief of having made a decision and the anxiety of now wondering what to do with my training for the day.

Luckily, this one didn’t take long. We set off for a foreign country. Four American conquistadors on a pilgrimage to cycling Mecca. We were going to Roubaix. Like all great quests, this one was fraught with problems from the beginning. First off we didn’t, between the four of us, speak either of the languages we would be encountering on this ride. Second, we didn’t really know where we were going. And last, but not least, it was raining and intermittently sleeting with a roar of a head wind and dark gray clouds moving quickly over the uninterrupted fields of Belgium.

No problem. The folded map went in my pocket, the rain capes came out, and away we went each of us (or at least myself) narrating in my head the story of how we were emulating out heroic hardmen of the cobbled classics unconcerned with things as trivial as the elements in our quest for glory on the velodrome of Robaix. So it was cold. And wet. But we soldiered on and after some fumbled direction getting from a French speaking Belgian that required the use of a lot of hand symbols and head nodding, and only one altercation with a motorist despite riding on some busy suburban streets (and after the car cut us off and we yelled our newly learned “hofferdoma!” or what the hell in Flemish, and the people on the sidewalk agreed and also yelled at the car), we rolled up to the hallowed gates of cycledom. Making the right hand turn into the sports complex that houses the Roubaix velodrome was akin to a spiritual moment.

I may be biased, and a self admitted bike geek, but as a racer it’s not easy to avoid the goose bumps that creep up the back of your neck and arms thinking of all the greats who have made this same turn to the roar of a stadium of waiting fans. The track may have been closed, and the bleacher empty when we got there, but all of us stood at the gates taking the obligatory pictures and not having to strain our imaginations very hard to hear the cheers and smell the beer and wish for nothing more then to hoist a giant cobble over our heads in victory. For nothing more then the best.

After another rest day/openers Saturday, today, was St. Niklaas. After two days of more frigid temperatures the mud that had racked our racing and especially Baal (which, by the way, I’m really kind of glad I didn’t do) had frozen pretty solid and the course in Baal was fast. As the day warmed slightly under a hazy sun the top layer of frozen mud loosened up a bit and the turns became increasingly greasy and would even more so as the race progressed. I had a pretty good call up-third row- and was on my way to having a good start when the cluster f began. Three turns into the course someone goes down. I dive to the right inside of the turn to avoid the bodies along with some oversized (read tall) euro. When we bump shoulders, he decides that the thing to do is punch me and nock me off the bike. Only then the asshole (excuse the French) has to put a foot down anyway to avoid the crash. And then he takes that opportunity to look directly at me and then use his heel to taco my front wheel.

That’s right…you read that right. The SOB deliberately put his foot through my front wheel. WTF! Anyhow after a little exchange where I was less then polite I remounted luckily able to get the wheel to spin cleanly and make my way to the pit. The good news is I didn’t lose more then a few spots. The bad news, because it was the first lap and no one thought I would be pitting yet, my bike was not out in the pit lane. Commence the standing and waiting while the whole field passes by. Ok…this is not a problem. I rally. I chase so, so hard. I catch groups and blow by them without pausing. I am actually, for once having a really good race. I catch no less then 25 people. Unfortunately when your coming from the 60’s an hour is just not long enough. I end up 31st.

And despite the drama, and the bad luck, I am happy with my race. Without the whole wheel debacle I am confident I would have been inside the top 25. I felt really good on the bike. The course was a perfect mix of twisty slightly sloppy fast rolling fun. There was minimal running and even some single track. Pretty sweet. Oh, and one bit of European trivia…barriers are way less cool over here. Out of all the races I’ve done so far I’ve only encountered one set of double barriers. I love it. Muddy run ups, tricky off cambers and stairs are a way cooler way to integrate the dismounting into cyclocross. I don’t know why everyone feels like we have to have to have barriers all the time, but clearly it’s not necessary, and I for one wouldn’t miss them all that much. But enough of my diatribe against barriers. I am just short legged and probably biased.

Tomorrow is another day, another race, and the conditions might just be epic. There is a forecast of snow and 6 below Celsius. Awesome. Out on a bang. I’ll let you all know how it goes. Wish me luck. Justin

Aggression versus aggressive

2010-01-01T18:49:00.004-05:00

Happy new year to everyone. My faithful readers will know that we have been putting up some notes from Justin in Belgium. I had the pleasure of talking to him yesterday on Skype.

First, let me digress by saying that this Skype is the coolest thing ever. We talked to each other over the internet for free using our mics and headsets. I am not allowed to use a webcam anymore, or go near a Chuck E Cheese, but that is a completely other blog!

Anyhow, one of the things that Justin and I discussed was how aggressive and hard core the racing is over there. With head banging and arm grabbing at every corner, the competition is fierce at all times. He said the battle for 40th was as intense as the fight for the lead! You see, cycling is a big deal over there. These guys are heros; there are kids who know more about racing than the racers themselves. They charge admission of 10e to get into a cyclocross race. When was the last time there were spectators at a 'cross race that were not either related to the athletes or had already raced themselves that same day? Intense.

But, the question comes to my mind about what if racing was intense on this side of the pond? You see, over here we all almost know each other by our first names. In particular in the masters races, we have been together for 20 years or more. So, when in the fields or courses, we say "excuse me" or "hey Matt, let me by!"; as opposed to just pushing our way around.

Cyclocross might not be that big of a deal. The ground is a soft, and speeds slow enough that a touch of wheels that creates a fall might not do any damage. But we all have a friend (you know who you are) that gets accused of racing too hard. What? Are you crazy? He is trying to win! And usually does! My answer to those guys are that they shouldn't have been in his way in the first place, OR, go faster and dont let him by you!

So, what about on the road? Sure, here the courses sometimes select themselves and with a longer time to move about the pack, you are seldomn left out of place. But have you ever watched the europeans race? How about the 20k leading up to Troisville in Paris-Roubaix? Yikes, those guys are serious. And they are also professional; so they are not going to do anything that will get them or their teammates hurt, but at the same time, they have a job to do.

Now, I am not condoning a more physical race. Heck, we simply can't race "gutter to gutter" here in the States because of that pesky yellow line rule thing. But at the same time, you have to "be in it to win it". Unfortunately, my good friend Aki was hurt last summer by a guy with a bad reputation for aggressive sprinting. This is not what I meant. Don't be so crazy that you or worse, someone else who we all respect gets hurt.

I mean: when you are coming to that steep hill at the Capital Region Road Race, you had better be at the front, or it is game over. You might have to eat some wind, but hey, either that or turn around.

I mean: if you have to sprint up the left and dig deep for 400m towards the end of criterium in order to be ready for the finale, then prepare for that.

I mean: when I describe my workouts to clients as if you were Tyler Durden "I want you to hit me as hard as you can..." then you better go hard and be aggressive when you train so that it translates cleanly on race day.

I don't mean: be a jerk and knock people down. Train right, don't resort to aggression.

I also don't mean: follow the famous guy around all day or the other guy that won last year. That is just a waste of an entry fee. Use the aggressive tactic and go for the score.

This is a subject that I know we will discuss a lot this year. I like to try to win races off the front or at least at the pointy end of the stick. Not only is it easier to predict the results, but it is easier for the girls to pick you out in the crowd!

Always train like you race. I am super excited for the upcoming season, and I am sure you are too!

And the hits just keep coming: more updates from Justin in Belgium

2009-12-30T10:00:00.002-05:00

Our friend Justin Lindine is still in Belgium as part of the Euro Cross Camp. Until I get around to setting up his own blog, we are copying a few of his emails over for all of you to see.

It was a nightmare stop and go roller coaster before we even got to the race. I couldn’t tell if the surges in traffic were making me more or less nauseous then the radio “Donna” mix of incredibly bad American pop with Belgian techno-esque noise. In either case those of us in the back seat were rapidly reaching terminal sick state accompanied by the desperate need to pee. Great.

Step one after arriving at the venue was to miss the access to our parking zone. Step two was to use the facilities between a team sprinter van and some nice Belgian persons shrubbery. Ahh… After that desperate evacuation of fluid and some much needed fresh air there was the question of this whole race thing we were supposed to be getting ready for. The weather was pretty atrocious…I mean, nice typical Belgian weather. In other words it was 2 degrees Celsius and raining. It doesn’t take a degree in soil science to guess that rain, plus bike racers plus a farmer’s field equals all sort of pasty, peanut-buttery mud. Sweet! Because really, my bike has not had enough beat into it over the last couple of days. Sigh.

Morale in Camp USA was not what you would call “high” upon arrival. There were shivering U23 riders milling around, waiting for their ride home. Unfortunately their race was still being called in the distance. Me and my two other “profs” (Troy and Brian) sat in the warming van after riding our one course recon lap pondering the deeper questions of motivation and purpose in addition to line choice, dismount or ride, and some just general complaining about how hard it was going to suck to slog through a tractor pull of mud for an hour. Our musings did nothing to change the weather or the course however, and soon it was time to ride the trainers and do something of a warm up.

The course at Loenhout is nothing if not a really good example of an inventive use of open featureless space. When I say that a lot of it is just a farm field, I’m not kidding. But through the magic of design and a lot of sponsorship dollars, out of this field rise multiple flyovers, and a pump-track like whoop section (if you think this sounds like fun, go to your local BMX track, put 20lbs of air in the tires of your cross bike and try it out: it’s terrifying at high speed, and I like pump tracks). Once again I was amazed at the crowds at these races. I mean, who wants to come out on a day like this: sane animals are hibernating or migrating right about now. But despite this there were thousands upon thousands of Belgians making their way into the rainy wetness of some random field to watch us accomplish what a tractor and a plow would in about half the time. As I made my way around the course trying not to look like a flailing idiot too much of the time, I rode through clouds of cigar and cigarette smoke so thick I could almost taste it. This is racing. This is awesome. I’m riding well. I’m being lapped by Sven Nys. Sigh.

It took forever to figure out how to get back to the car. I was cold, dejected and not wanting to stare into the faces of a public so excited by this sport. “How many fences are there in this place?” “Where the hell am I?” But in reality the people were polite and eventually, after me looking dazed and confused for long enough, gave me directions back to town and the parking lot. It’s amazing how you can ride so many laps around a labyrinthine course without having any understanding of where it actually goes. So now we were back in the van, piling wet muddy clothes into bags to deal with later. Another day in the books and still not much of a result to speak of. Troy managed a pretty solid result riding in with a group containing mountain biking icon Jose Hermidia for 30th. Not too shabby.

The rest of us, or at least myself, spent the van ride back thankfully a little less motion sick albeit a little more reflective. As I sit staring out the window at the Belgian countryside passing by I’m already thinking about the next race, and the bike maintenance I have to try and get done in the next couple of days, and what I’ve learned here that I can take with me into next season and beyond. It’s been a humbling day for a lot of us to be sure, but I know that at least for myself, I’m trying to soak in as much experience as the Belgian mud soaks in the rain….tomorrow is another day.

Update from Justin Lindine in Belgium

2009-12-23T20:19:00.002-05:00

As some of you may remember, our friend Justin Lindine is in Belgium at the Euro Cross Camp. We will be putting up some of his updates until we get him set as a writer. Thank you for all of your support to help get him there!

Today was the first race day of the camp. It was a relatively small race in the town of Middelkerke which is on the northern coast of Belgium. From what I was told it is a race normally decided by strong coastal winds and sand. Today however was a little bit of a different story. It was very cold, as it has been for the past week or so here, and the snow that the area received was still in place on the course. By the time we raced it was a treacherous mix of snow and one "good" muddy line through it all. That being said the course could have been fun, with some wide open sections, a nasty run-up and some fast 180's, along with a good amount of spectators for a smaller race.

However, this is where my personal story goes awry. It was race day and my bikes still weren't here. To say I'm a little stressed out may be understatement. Fortunately, I was able to borrow the loaner bike that the camp has to race on. Unfortunately, the bike is a good four sizes too big, the rear shifter sort of sometimes works, and I had to use some borrowed pedals because as you might guess, they are in my bike case as well. Now, I don't like to make trivial excuses for bad rides, and a good rider can make a bad bike work. But, it definitely didn't add to a day where I might not have felt that good anyway. So as I sprinted off the start line with my sweet second row call up (right behind f'ing Sven Nys!) I struggled to make my shifter go through the gears, and sat more or less on the top tube (with the bars higher then my now slammed seat).

Long story short, it wasn't the best race I've ever had, and I wound up getting lapped which is not great. Hopefully it was at least worth the effort and a blowing out of the legs will do me good come the world cup in Zolder this weekend. Hopefully as well, my bikes will make it here tomorrow and I can get out a bit and check out the countryside. I'll keep you all posted....with what I am expecting to be improving news.

Justin Lindine

Nationals in Bend, OR by Roger

2009-12-21T12:45:00.009-05:00

Nationals

Like I said I would write what happened in Bend on the way home, well I did, but never finished the story due to a red eye flight.
We got to Bend on Wednesday night and got settled at the La Quinta hotel, which was a very nice place to stay for a bike racer. Big rooms, tasty waffles for breakfast and a friendly maintenance guy who let as work on our bike in the “ boiler room”. The only problem was the 9-degree weather!
It was a long day and we need to eat, so Ralf and me took Matt Spinks advice to look for a restaurant call Pastini. It was very weird, a year ago we did the Nationals in Kansas City and we ate at a little fancy shopping center that looked identical to this one where Pastini was. The food was pretty good, so yes we ate there the next 3 nights; I guess that is pretty weird too according to Kyle, perfectly fine with me!
Kyle and Justin made it there that night as well after driving from RI with all the bikes. It sounded like they went thru hell getting there with a little pressure time wise, since we all were supposed to start riding the course on Thursday and Richard Sachs had his race on the first day. With the 3-hour time difference from home, now it was really late, but at the same time I did not want adjust to it either. My race is 9.30 am on Sat, so actually at 12.30 our time which would workout well since we are used to race at that time back home all the time.

Thursday morning, cold as hell! We get the bikes ready and head Wal-Mart to get some toe and hand warmers. Felt like we were going ice fishing or something, got a thermos and some socks as well! Then to the venue, it was squeezed into a small some sort of a warehouse parking lot. What else would you expect for the Nationals? The course is covered in ice and snow, super short and narrow and twisty with a million turns. It also has a set of stairs with 22 or 23 steps, very Euro! The hour that was available for pre-riding was like a balancing act, there was about 2000 people on it and only a few new how to ride on the snow ice, so we definitely got a good look at the course going 2 mph around it a few times. There were a million different races going on all day, every day, categories I never heard of. What is a B-race under 29 years?? Time goes quick we rode back to the hotel on roads covered with slush, sand and ice. Thursday and Friday was identical; wake up, waffles, Wal-Mart, ride the rush hour or gridlock on the course which they extended every day, clean the bikes, Pastini and then to bed @ 9.00 pm.

The real excitement on Friday was the 45-49 age group race with one of our clients, Ralf Warmuth starting on the front row with a good chance of finishing on the podium. Ralf has trained almost specifically for this event all year; he more or less put all the eggs in one basket to put his goals in perspective. Our good friend Jon Bold was in that race as well and between these two guys they probably made this race the most exciting to watch all weekend. Jon battled for the win after moving up from 45th spot at one point to the lead with James Coats. An epic battle all the way to the end, just like we race in New England every weekend and think that was to Jon’s advantage. JB wins and Ralf is in 3rd place one lap to go, gets stuck behind a lapped rider (that was supposed to get pulled???) and Noble slips by, a little bobble on the barriers and it costs Ralf his 3rd spot. 3rd or 4th is still a phenomenal performance by the German and I was really excited for both of them and a good start to the weekend. In addition to these guys an other East Coaster, Paul Curly had won the day before in he 55-59 category.

Race day; I felt good! We got to the course nice and early and I started to ride the course to test out some tires, did 4 laps on 4 different tires, file thread it is! The funny thing is that I had about 6 sets of different wheels with me, but Jon Bold offered me his Dugast file threads on a nice light Reynolds wheel, a very special tire, so that was no brainier at all. A very nice gesture from our new National Champion to offer that to a fears competitor all year, I would have done the same for that matter though.

Kevin Hines was up first (8.30 am start). Tillford was there, but did not line up, so I already new who was going to be the first FinKraft client to win the Nationals before the gun went off. Kevin races with me and Jon all year and I do not know any other 50 plus guys that are actually beating us occasionally, so as long as he stays up right and does not break anything on the ice he will have the stars and stripes at the end of the day. Kevin got a good start and just rode his own race and there was nobody even near him. He crashes a few times, but it did not matter this was probably the most dominant win all weekend. Great job, it has been such a pleasure to work with Kevin and Ralf and for them to have such good results is just outstanding.
Then it was my turn, I got a good warm up on the course testing out all those tires and then on the trainer while Kevin raced, so I was ready .It is great to get the first call up, but standing there for about 15-20 min waiting for the rest of the 190 guys to get lined up is not. It was not too cold so, not bad.

I manage to pull off the dream start ( hole shoot), I knew the start was critical and getting to the 180 turn would be important and then have less guys to deal with on the ice. The first lap went well, I think I was second up the stairs, but then for some reason I started to get passed on the really slick parts by a few guys, no attacks they just kind of rolled by. I had a small crash in the turn before the stairs, but nothing critical. Now am in like 10th spot and there are a group of slower riders in front of me, but not being able to pass at too many places my race was over, almost lost the fire to race and it felt like I was just riding around without really pushing myself. A very mediocre race for me, disappointing, but on the other hand this as one race out of 20 something cross races and a ton of road racing this year. I had a great season and not many disappointments at all which is unusual in bike racing. I went back to the hotel, took a shower and packed up, I was actually relieved it was over, I was tired and did not want think about a bicycle for a little while. Ralf and I went back to he venue and watched the U-23 race and then the 35-39 age group right after. Kyle and Justin had already pretty much packed up the bikes for the guys who were done racing and the million wheels we had, I have to say if it was not for Kyle and Justin, this trip would have been a lot more painful, thanks guys!
The drive back to Portland was interesting; a little snowstorm going over Mt Hood made the roads pretty traitorous. We made it and after returning the rental car, we were back at the airport. I change my flight to the red eye one , no breaks by the Continental people , they charge me a nice $ 150 and gave me some attitude to go with it. It was either that or stay another night in a hotel and pay for a baby sitter back home. Now we had some time to kill, so a couple of beers (Belgian) and a greasy burger were perfect after not eaten much all day. I think this might have been one of the best moments of the trip. Red eye flight back home, not much sleep, but glad to be back home!

A long story, I hope you are not bored to death reading it , the weather is crappy now , so there are nothing else to do anyway. Read blogs and watch YouTube , before you know it is back to racing !

Thanks

Roger

Summing it all up by Roger

2009-12-17T10:37:00.010-05:00

I am on a plane to Portland, OR sitting next to the German. (Ralf) The bikes are in Wyoming by now if not even further by now. Hell of a trip for everybody with bad weather and lot of stuff to move across the country for a 45 min race. A normal beer dinking and cigarette smoking Joe would say this is insanity! I agree, what was even more insane was the New England Verge series consisting of 14 races all over the place.
I could have driven back and forth to Bend, OR three times with the amount of miles I racked up going to all those races chasing the over all series win.

I never even unpacked a lot of times; it was just wash what was covered with mud, clean the bikes and make a trip to the bike store and rebuild the headsets and bottom brackets. I did my best to keeping thing organized and still do my job coaching and riding with clients in addition to try to do some training and recovering myself.

The New England series or the “Masters World cup” like I call it. The competition makes this CX series the best in the country. Everybody has their ups and downs in a stretch of 14 races for sure and if you are not ON one weekend you better hope you finish in the top 10 and still get some points. The coverage on the various web sites all tells how it goes down each weekend , so you all know the stories by now. Some courses and weather conditions suit some riders better and from Sep to Dec Mother Nature will throw everything possible at you guaranteed. Every venue has double race weekends and that also affects the results sometimes, it is extremely hard to have 2 perfect races back to back. I think I was the only one who won both races one weekend (Vermont).

Well it went right down to the wire; I was leading by 10 points going into the last 2 races in Warwick, RI. I always feel like I am on the enemy’s territory in New England, even though we are all friends and I even coach a few guys there. I am the guy to beat, no matter if I am winning or just fighting for a placing. Well it is no different to me either, I am there to beat them any chance I get, it does not matter if it is on the road or in cross.
I drove up the night before with the trailer in tow, since everybody who were going to the Nationals were going to be at this race and Kyle was going to take of for Bend, OR right after the Sunday race.
We raced hard again, Jon Bold was in control and I was hanging on for dear life to preserve my lead. I was close on Sat 5 sec off the whole race, but I did not feel like the same guy I was in Vermont 3 months ago. Sunday was even worse, lower back tightens up 1 lap to go and then it was game over, oh well! I won 5 races and Jon won 6, that was all it took to loose the series by 10 points. It is really hard to get to the top, but once you get there it does not become any easier, that is when the struggle starts to stay there. The last 2-3 weeks was a tuff period of time trying to stay motivated, recover and do the right kind of training for the fitness to stay at least the same or keep rising to yet another level.
I was winning races in March and had super form all throughout the summer with some really hard road races at the Pro 1 2 level, so when I am not beating the master’s field in cross by a mile, something is going on ! Maybe tired????

Great season though, won a USGP race and 3 Mac races as well plus a lot of 2nd places (first looser) so no complaints. My wife has been super supportive, it is not easy with baby sitters and me being on the road every weekend. She works hard at her real job as a nurse and then works for FinKraft (as hard if not even harder) on her days off besides being a mom. To be a girlfriend or wife to a cyclist or any other elite athlete for that matter takes a lot. I grew up doing this stuff, but for some one to jump into a life like this with no racing life background it is probably the hardest thing to adapt for someone and really puts a relationship to the test. A topic I will write more about another time in the off-season, a very important part of racing that every single athlete experiences.

The bikes (Ridley) were fantastic and all the tires (Challenge and Dugast) and wheels (mostly Zipp and Mavic) never let me down either. The super flashy National Champ Kit by Verge stood out and drew a lot of attention for sure. All the other things that Mark @ Westwood Cycle supplied me with like gloves for example (a whole bag full) and the service and the 12 tires( did not roll one) Allan glued this fall for me is irreplaceable in racing at this level. Sports Balm, Uvex and Country Choice Organic products is what gave me that extra boost each week to do better and win. This is something we all should think about, if someone gives you something for free or even a discount on a product that helps you in any way doing what you love (racing). When the gun goes off, race a little extra hard and show that the support means a lot to you. This is sometimes the only way of giving back besides saying thank you!

The plane landed (finally), we are in Portland and it is 25 degrees! A 3 hour drive over Mt Hood and we should be in Bend, 14 hours later since leaving my house in NJ. I will write what happens in Bend (if anything) on the way back , I hope Kyle and Justin are getting close as well , we will need the bikes to race !

Thanks for reading,

Roger

Now they call you Prince Charming...

2009-12-16T21:42:00.002-05:00

I cannot even imagine what the inside of my car must smell like to "outsiders". I have to be used to it by now.

First, to say that I am over-caffinated would be a slight to moderate understatement. So there is some gurgling there.

Then, all of the "elite" bikes were put away without being washed, so there is that 4 day old mud thing starting to build up.

I am pretty sure that Justin left some of his Grandmothers swiss cheese in the passenger door pocket back in Boise.

I am also pretty sure that Boldy did NOT wash his national championship winning skinsuit before he put it in his bag and then stacked that bag directly behind me in the back seat.

I cannot remember the last time I did laundry. Or even bothered to change clothes into clean laundry, for that matter. Hey, out of site, out of mind.

Last but not least, there is a teeny tiny bit of flop sweat left over from that fog thing in Utah.

So, for all of you, my faithful readers, scratch the computer screen and sniff. Yikes.

A few passing thoughts: Cleveland does not rock. Why do some trucks have fancy lights and others none at all? JB: thanks for the messages Champ.

Training tip: wash your kits in cold with a little oxy-clean.

Sorry, no pictures.

2009-12-15T23:44:00.003-05:00

I never thought I would ever say that I am happy to be back in Iowa, but I am happy to be back in Iowa. Kinda.

So this morning started with me calling the Wyoming State Highway Patrol after the light trailer ban continued to be in effect on I-80. It went something like this:

"Good morning, Wyoming Highway Patrol, Lt Crespin speaking."
"Hi, is the ban still in effect for I-80 east?"
"What does the internet say?"
"Oh. Um, It's not that I don't think your state is nice, but I want to leave, how to do I that?"
"Have you tried the old route 30?"
"oh"

So, I went across to the coffee shop and asked the guy with the biggest hat about old route 30. They gave me directions. So, I started my simple 100 mile detour of Southeast Wyoming around Elk Mountain on a lovely single lane desert road. I got to see the town of Medicine Bow (elev. 7700, pop. 274) and the bustling Bosler (elev. 7640, pop 0). Yup, zero. A real life ghost town. Pretty cool. Soon, I made it to Laramie and back on the Interstate.

Then, my enemy appeared, and his name is Nebraska. Even with "severe clear" skies and dry roads, this state takes forever and is freaking cold. I mean, it took 8 hours it was 6 degrees in Omaha. What? How do you grow corn in 6 degrees? And those cows only have thin leather jackets, they must be freezing!

So, here I am Iowa, resting up for the big push home. Oh wait, did I tell you the best part of Iowa? Well let me tell you: its their 350 miles of grooved concrete highway. Except for the fact that the trailer is filed with extremely light carbon fiber bikes and wheels, so the trailer bounces up and down on every groove and rocks the Kyle-mobile more than a Friday night at the movies! ha!

Ok, that's it.

Remember, you race like you train.

Chasing windmills in my dreams...

2009-12-14T22:06:00.008-05:00

"They put poets in prison?" " No." "Too bad." Alright, fair warning: this is going to be a long one. So get a drink and a snack. I'll wait...still waiting...ok?...time for me now?...Thanks.

The USAC Cyclocross National Championships are finally over. I will not lie to you, my faithful readers, it was chaos. A repeat thumbs up to Kevin and Ralf, great showing Finkrafters! Yesterday was the "elite" race. It was incredibly fast; those guys are on top of their game and it was very impressive. It was also cool to see the nice guys from New England bring it hard to Treefarm and Mr "Rude" JP. Nicely done gents.

Our own Justin Lindine is ranked 11th in the country, so he got a sweat call up spot. He handled the start well and was going strong. However, on the back side of the course, the sun had set behind the hills and some water froze on a short section of pavement. He, and most of the field (including then leader J-Pow) fell hard. Justin carved himself up and ripped his only long sleeve skinsuit. He was able to catch back on and moved up to 13th overall when he flatted just beyond the pit. Crap. By the time he ran all around the muddy course, the officials pulled him and all the other riders. A bit disappointing. Unfortunately, the nature of cyclocross is that sometimes it happens. We put him on a plane this morning in Boise, ID to go home early so he can heal and get ready for Belgium. We went to a meeting on Saturday evening and the schedule will be awesome. They even gave him cards to hand out to the fans at the races. So freakin' cool. He will write some blogs for us to tell about the adventures over there.

Ok, now I get to vent a little. This weekend's event was a joke. Normally when we go to bike races, the promoter is a club or a rider or a fan. However, when the USAC puts on their events, they use a large scale promoter who is there to make a profit. For all we know, when the guys that put on Natz finish, they have to prep for the Bon Jovi concert next. With fees at least at $70, we should have been able to count on course marshalls, pit passes, or at least the same course every day. Instead, it was chaos, and with fields over 190 riders; people were getting lapped and pulled within a two laps. Crazy.

Then there was the venue: a lovely mountain town, sure. But this town is 3 hours from the nearest airport and as far as I can tell, the course was held at a toxic waste dump.

Then, this other picture is a view from the spoils piles over towards the lovely mud slop called the service pits. It was disgusting. Then there is this picture a pile of garbage on the far side of the course. If you look carefully, you can see the course tape in the background. You don't see those pictures on the internet!!!

Ok, I feel better. Now, you ask: Kyle, from where are you typing this lovely note? Well, I am stranded in Rawlins, Wyoming. Yup, they have closed I-80 Eastbound due to high winds. Apparently my car and trailer (with 25 bicycles) will blow over. No snow, but wind. Ugh.

However, this part of the country is stunning. That's it for now. I am hoping that the wind will stop so I can get the heck out of here and back east. I don't like beards. If you have been to Oregon, you would understand.

Train hard, race harder.

Just around the Bend

2009-12-13T12:09:00.002-05:00

Greetings from Bend, OR again! Today is Sunday and the last day of the Cyclocross National Championships. It has been a very interesting week.

First off, CONGRATULATIONS to Finkrafter Kevin Hines who won the masters 50+ race on Saturday morning. It was a great race! Kevin was second in line going into the first hairpin turn at the beginning of the race, passed the one person and never looked back. With cold and icy conditions, the course was treacherous but Kevin never faltered and beat the next placed rider by almost a minute. It was fantastic. He was supposed to have heavy competition from a famous ex world champion, but rumor around here was when that guy heard Kevin was a Finkrafter, he decided not to show up! Awesome. Good work to Kevin for a long season of racing and training. In fact, Coach Roger advised Kevin to race the "faster" 35+ Verge series all year, and that prep made him heads and shoulders above the rest. It was great to watch.

In the 45+ event, Finkrafter Ralf Warmuth was amazing in taking 4th place. He has been moving up every year and now to be on the podium was just great. Ralf rode a smart race, never panicing on the ice and moving up lap after lap. He was cautious and aggressive at the same time, and his hard work really paid off. Our friend Jon Bold won day in one of the best races I have ever seen. Remember, rubbin' is racin'!

Roger came to this venue after winning races since March and the defending champion. He absolutely railed the hole shot at about 30mph but had some issues and was not able to defend. The competition was incredible and the racing great.

Also, our friend Luke Keough took 3rd in the under 23 event. This is considered the future of bike racing, and so is Luke. He was beat by a guy on a Protour team, so it hardly seemed fair.

Well, today is the big show. The elite races for men and women. It should be awesome as this year has really been a slug fest out there, and the Northwest guys have been giving a lot of trash talk about us New Englanders and Northeast guys. Cant wait. Our own Justin Lindine has an 11th spot call up, so that should really help him. I hope everyone thinks good thoughts.

We head back East this afternoon so Justin can get on a plane to Belgium for the Superprestige and Zolder World Cup. Freaking awesome.

Ok, one last thing to mention. The hotel where we have been staying has been great. They have a fantastic waffle machine, the staff has been very friendly and the maintenance guy let us use their hose and indoor (warm) shop to work on the bikes and the maids don't freak when they see what Roger does to a hotel room.

Also, when I went to get batteries for my camera this morning (hence no pics of Kevin, sorry) the neat market next door has an amazing selection of snacks, porn, bongs, 40 oz beers, and thankfully, batteries. This has been an interesting trip to say the least.

More from the road this week! Stay on that training, this is the fitness time of year!

It's not heaven, it's Iowa!

2009-12-10T02:13:00.005-05:00

I hate two things in the world. Actually four, but that is a subject for another blog. These two are easy: Pennsylvania and Nebraska. Let me tell you why:

I am driving across the country this week for the Cyclocross National Championships. With the Finkraft mini-trailer filled beyond reasonable capacity, me and one of our athletes left the final Verge race in Rhode Island on Sunday night headed for Bend, Oregon. After quick sprints through RI, CT, NY and NJ, the long haul through the Keystone State begins.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the importance the Eastern part played on our Independence. Lancaster with its roots in religious Freedom is great. The industry of the West is critical to the health of our nation. My Dad hunts in the Northern parts and things it is keen.

But when you are just trying to drive through the damn thing, Pennsylvania stinks. Seriously, it takes about 75 hours to get across and after whipping though all of those tiny states so quickly, the State is a huge buzz kill. I hate you Pennsylvania.

Next let’s vent a bit about Nebraska. Previous to this trip, I had no real opinion about the Cornhusker state. Then I drove through it on Tuesday. For those who watch the TV news, they had a little weather. A lot of weather. It snowed really hard and there was a constant North to South wind that tried to blow me, my bike racer laden car, and the Finkraft mini-trailer (mentioned above) all the way down to Texas. I have been to Texas, I did not want to go back.

So, Nebraska took a really long time too. Almost twice as long. Very disappointing. I now hate corn and if I ever see another advertisement for “beef, it’s what for dinner” again, I will puke.

Whew. I actually feel much better now. So tonight I will make it to Bend. Greeting me there will be the Finster, Ralf, Kevin, and several of our New England friends and fellow bike racers. Wish them all speed and skill. Luck is for those who didn’t train.

Did I mention how it was negative five degrees this morning in Wyoming? I will, don’t worry!

Youth and the young

2009-11-03T17:34:00.003-05:00

I received a telephone call this morning from the director of a fairly famous cycling team about one of the riders we help out here at Finkraft. I can't name any names, but the team is sponsored by that thing on most of your handlebars, and the guy wears funny glasses.

We are trying to get the young lad a job on his team. It was a good conversation and some good steps were taken. It was amazing how the director knew specific results from specific races and events. These were races where this young lad kicked some serious butt, and he was noticed. Success all around. I was very impressed as to how the director was such a gentleman and professional on the phone. No beating around the bush: this is the deal and this is how it works.

I was also pretty darn excited that he already knew who I was before the call; that was almost as cool as him knowing the rider. With rare exception, my racing days are over, nowadays it is all about the athletes and the racers.

It reminded me of the importance of setting goals when working with your coaches. These goals could be an USAC upgrade, finishing a triathlon within a certain time, or scoring well in an important race so that a Protour team winds up calling your coach a few weeks later.

Remember that these goals can be lofty or lowly; they are your dreams and you need to try to live them the best you can! Talk to your coach about 2010 during the next few weeks and follow his or her directions so that you can work towards completing the goals.

Imagine how it feels: reaching what you want after months of hard work. Good stuff all around.

We look forward to hearing from some of you soon. Tell your friends, we can help them too.

Racin' and rubbin'

2009-10-27T10:23:00.015-04:00

It has been a while; I think GMSR was the last time I wrote anything on my blog. I raced the Bear Mountain RR and Tour of Catskills and 10 crosses since then. Not to mention I driven about 5000 miles and stayed 15-20 nights in hotels and eaten good and bad food in a dozen different restaurants.

I am the 5th week into cross right now, I am finally starting to get things together and get the hang of things. A lot of new stuff this year. Thanks to Mark at Westwood Cycle, the Zipp 303 wheels + Griffo Challenge tires even though I have not gotten to use these things due to extream mud conditions every weekend and the Dugast Rhinos are getting the full use. A pair of 2010 Ridley X-Nights courtesy of John at QBP, the best ride you can only imagine in cross. Mark is the main source behind a lot of things like building the bikes and servicing the equipment in my racing both on the road and in cross with Allan’s help of course. I do not know how many tires Allan has glued or bikes he has built this year. Bike racing is a very demanding sport of all levels and I would not achieve these results without Mark and Allan, I like to remind others and myself this fact every time I get on the bike.

Kurt at Verge came thru with the amazing looking stars and stripes skin suit, that are pretty much destroyed by now, it is like throwing your stuff into a pig pen and let the “hawgs” go wild ( great movie by the way) . You all know how I feel about the whole National thing, but it has all the sponsors on it and it looks cool as hell. Wore it for the first time at the Verge Series CX in RI, the skin suit even matches the bikes, I guess looks goes a long way after all! Last but not least, if you are looking to get a new pair of cross shoe, Shimano M310S moldable to your foot, light, firm and stiff like a road shoe – there is no power loss with this babies. Oh I forgot – Sports Balm , I am going threw the hot balm like almond butter ( my favorite food , as you know if you been around me long enough) .

First back to road racing. In one month 3 stage wins and overall at the GMSR, but also 3 second place , that is also fine with me , but there is one that still bugs me every day; Chris Thater Memorial crit! Probably the worst 2nd place I ever got in my bike-racing career. I lost $ 100.00 and a pair of Mavic wheels in a sprint that I should have won with my eyes closed. Totally my mistake and nobody else to blame, just waited to long and F…up big time! Then there is those 2nd places that I do not mind at all; Bear and a stage at the Tour of Catskills.

At the end of Sept, it felt like I just a 4 week training camp and could not been any more ready for CX, but the week before Green Mtn CX I got a stomach bug and even while up there my stomach was killing me, except on the bike, won both races and took the leaders Jersey for the first time ever in the New England World Cup.
Since then it has been ups and downs in that series, lost it in Gloucester and regained it in Rhode Island, lost it again to day in Maine and guess what regained it again the 2nd day in Maine and I still have it. The first day in Maine I almost got hypothermia from the pouring rain and upper 30’s temps. I love CX, but sometimes there is a fine line “is it really a cross course or is it mountain biking? “ I think that was the case on day one in New Gloucester, ME. The course was the same on Day 2 , but in reverse. This suited me better because the down hill became an up hill. The mud was even worse than the day before , but 60 degrees under blue skies was ideal and I managed to power away from the competition and take the win . This meant that the leaders jersey was mine again, so a good weekend after all.

The best part of CX , when it is over!

The Mac series is not my priority this year, but I love those races as well and they are a little closer to home. The competition is not as deep either as Verge, but there is no guarantee that I will win the races there either. I love when you win a race that goes down to the wire all the way to the finish and that was the case last week in Wissahikon with Matt Krause. Better yet it was filmed by http://www.cyclingdirt.com plus an interview after, how pro is that?
I have been training pretty hard lately (maybe too hard?) something I like to do . The more I ride the better I usually race. When the engine is running hot during the week, the level of performance is much higher as well on the weekend. The problem is; do I get the proper recovery from the intense CX races and all the driving? My goal is to be good again in Dec and maybe in Jan, I know I can still lift my game from where I am riding right now and that is a good feeling. Winning as much as possible and of course the New England series would be great, but winning a big one at the end it was counts the most..

Bridging From One Season to Another

2009-10-05T21:44:00.000-04:00

As I stare out of my window into the New England woods, I become all too familiar with the impending autumn. The days are growing shorter and the evening air much crisper. Despite all the beauty of the changing leaves, I can only think of one thing: cyclocross season is almost here!

When the road racing season draws to a close many riders simply hang up their bikes for a few months, resigning themselves to indoor gym classes and the occasional weekend group ride, if the weather is nice. But for a growing group of racers, the fall season brings out the cyclocross bikes: machines akin to standard road bikes but with no water bottles, nobby tires and cantilever brakes.

The sport started about a century ago in Europe when road racers looking to continue their racing and training during the winter were forced across fields and over fences to avoid the snow covered roads. This new cycling discipline steadily grew into the very popular sport we now have today. When people ask me for a description, I tell them to imagine Steeplechase events, but on bicycles. The sport is a mass start bike race on a course loop that takes about seven or eight minutes to complete, with less than half on pavement and low hurdles and other obstacles like sand pits or dirt hills that often force a rider off of his bike to carry it and run. The races are held over a time length of 45 or 60 minutes, rather than a number of laps or a preset distance. The sport is a fantastic spectator event, as they are often held in parks or fields where one can watch most of the race lap from one location.

What makes this sport both fun and demanding is how it requires the athlete to not only be a strong cyclist, but also to be good at bike handing skills, a solid runner and have upper body strength to lift or carry the bicycle when needed. As such, the training for this sport is very different from normal cycling and sometimes can even favors triathletes.

The training for this sport often starts well before the season begins (usually in mid September), which can be tricky. Although the running distances can be short in cyclocross, their intensity and ability to change a race require that the racers be good at it. However, your average cyclist does not run much during the season. Often in August they will try to get out once a week for a short run, and then step it up much more once Labor Day arrives. The type of running required in a race usually means some track workouts for short intense speed, a few trail runs to help with the balance and high step exercises like stadium stairs and grass drills.

The intense pace and power required to go as fast as possible for under an hour also requires very strong core muscle strength. Cycling specific workouts including abdominal and lower back building exercises like crunches and planks are good and should be worked into the weekly routine as soon as possible, and then throughout the cyclocross season to prevent injury and muscle exhaustion.

Upper body workouts are also needed to help condition the arms, hands and shoulders for the lifting and carrying of the bike. Monkey lifts, wrist curls and box or ball pushups are a great way to help with this part.

And on the bike itself, most workouts are shorter and more explosive; taking advantage of the yearlong fitness level that most cyclists and multisport athletes have built. The need to be able to push the bike at high levels through the grass and mud requires that the racers can handle high intensity levels almost all the time.

Of course, the most important thing is to practice the sport itself when you train. Although you might look a little silly running around your local town park carrying your bicycle, getting use to doing all the different things associated with cyclocross is absolutely crucial.

Cyclocross is great for all levels of athletes as the bicycles are comparatively inexpensive and an entry level ride will get you through a whole season of beginner races. It is also a great way to continue your season a bit longer and stay fit in the process. The next year is always a lot easier to start when you come off of a three month racing season of fitness and power. Cyclocross racing also helps prevent burnout as you are doing a whole new sport that continues to benefit your summertime goals.

Waking Up Is Hard to Do

2009-10-05T21:41:00.001-04:00

At a recent regional Olympic distance triathlon, open water currents and course issues made the swim portion of the race take much longer than is normally expected. When one of our clients came out of the water, she looked at her watch and we could instantly see that she was dejected. Her time was over six minutes longer than she had hoped even though she was one of the first women out of the water. In a very well attended and “important” event such as this, being at the pointy end of the race was very impressive, no matter what the time.

When what she thought was becoming a bad race was combined with the cold temperatures and driving rain, the fire in her eyes quickly faded. This could have been a difficult day for all involved but she was able to regain her wits and save her podium position.

One of the most difficult things to coach is self motivation. Defined as “the initiative to continue a task or activity without another’s prodding or supervision” it would be easy to think that athletes can only be born with such inner drive. Taking anyone off of the streets and helping them to reach those high standards or complete such a difficult accomplishment as a triathlon would itself be difficult otherwise.

Every day we ask our clients or ourselves to get out of bed before dawn for those long runs or swim classes, to join the local group bike ride in the afternoons and make it to the gym during lunch. When preparing for a long season or long distance endurance event, these personal sacrifices are almost mandatory. Something has to help athletes gain that motivation.

Narcissistic words such as self-confidence and self-awareness are important parts of becoming motivated. If the athlete has the knowledge that they can achieve a certain effort or distance, it instantly gives them that confidence and awareness and that helps get them through the rough spots and bad weather. No longer are they whispering “I think I can;” they are screaming “I know I will!”

Without sounding too preferential, TrainingPeaks is a fantastic tool to help with this process. The structure of a schedule or plan given by the coach is a great way to build a client’s fitness level and preparation towards an event or goal. Then, the ability that the client has to provide feedback about those workouts and track and gauge their fitness and abilities also helps. When the athlete downloads their workouts, fills in such information as sleep habits, body composition and time worked out, they can see tangible proof that they are finishing their workouts and that they are truly getting fitter.

Now that the seasons of most traditional endurance sports are drawing to a close, using a structure training plan is even more important to help fight the doldrums of winter and the potential monotony of indoor training exercises.

Almost everyone responds well to structure, no matter what their core beliefs about the subject. Utilizing the experience and knowledge of a coach to help reach a goal combined with the organizational help of TrainingPeaks makes those goals and races all the more attainable.

Sign up for a TrainingPeaks account today: get motivated to stay on track with your fitness!

The Last of the MohiFins

2009-09-22T18:20:00.006-04:00

This past weekend, in that part of New York State where once the Delaware, Mohawk and Mohicans all raced their bicycles, an elder from a far away land came to claim "coup" on them all. Young men like Uncas and Magua were to compete against this man who had come to be called "The Flying Fin".

Soaring through the air is an important medicine to posess, but alas, it was the local standout, Chingackgook who would eventually rule the weekend. The man from a far away place surely tried to shoot straight like an arrow towards the sun - and to that sun he asked for speed as he was Roger, the Last of the MohiFins.

Not even the great James Fenimore Cooper could have scripted a better tribute to the great people who gave their souls to this beautiful part of New York State. The Tour of Catskills was a three stage event with an opening uphill-ish time trial, and two days of road races that would break the mind and spirit of even the strongest warrior.

There were Finkfrafters galore: Roger, Reggie, James, David, Todd, Death Row John, Jerry and lots of others. The elite race was a small field but with some very strong riders. Bruyneel Academy rider Peter Horn, cat2 strongman Cameron, Colavita pro and local boy Andy Gumpthill (straight off of Missouri), and the Bikereg duo of Alister Ratclif and local boy Justin Lindine. Now it is no secret and Justin and Alister used to race for me for several years, and I hold a special place in my blackened shriveled up heart for them, but when the road tips uphill: look out fo the Flying Fin.

Well, the time trial was pretty fast and everyone was within a few seconds of each other going into the first 80 mile road race. Incredibly, the finish came down to a sprint amongst the predicted strong men (the rest dropped like 4th period French class) and the Colavita pro beat the Fin by a hair. The resulting chaos put the Euro based Horn into the leaders jersey.

The next day was a 71 mile road race which included an almost 5 mile climb just 6 miles from the finish. It was no big secret that Roger would put the hurt into everyone on this climb and go for the win. However, a wrench was thrown in when Alister attacked early in the stage hunting the KOM and that forced the leader and others to chase. When Roger did finally go on the climb, he bought back the remants of the break, and although the attack was described as brutal, the tactics of the day allowed others to not work as hard and the group was still six going into town.

As Justin's teammate was out all day, he was able to conserve and bounce back after Roger at the finale and win the stage. While we all sat around afterwards, a quick math count also saw that Justin's bonus time netted him the overall win as well. Great. Roger took third for the day and 4th overall. Not too shabby considering the others in front of him were half his age and pretty darn quick.

All of the Finkrafters finished in style with James scoring a top ten. This race was very hard and difficult to complete after such a long season. It should be noted that I did not even kid myself into racing this year: no thank you!!!! Congrats to all of them for pressing on, now it is time to prepare for next year!

The Green Monster Stage race by Roger

2009-09-11T19:15:00.013-04:00

After tossing a coin to decide if I should do the Pro 1 or the master beater race , well after all considered I signed up for the 40+ race . It is an expensive race , long trip and many days away from home , so we made it an family trip or a vacation race like my daughter called it.

Prior to this race we had a very tragic event happen in our Westwood Cycling Community . The son of our friend and teammate Gregg Cossgrove was lost in a swimming accedent and taken by the sea. About 15 of us at the GMSR all wore black "Livestrong bands" in memory of Chance.

Since I told Andreas to see if we could get the black bands I thought about winning the road race stage and dedicating the win on the highest point of the race to Chance. It seemed like that was the only thing ,besides wearing the bands and giving our prayers to Gregg and his family, that had any meaning still racing our bikes after something like this happened.

We were staying with Andreas, Monica, Joe, Trish , Eric and Bernadette in a ski condo on top of Sugarbush. Cool to just hang out and cook up a storm every night and not have to go out to some restaurant that you do not know what you will get. The weather was incredible this time , this was the 8th time I did the GMSR and probably the warmest it has ever been. I missed it one year when my daughter was born and that year it rained and was really cold. Lucky me!!

The TT is the first stage and the Master race does not go off until about 5.00 pm , so I had all day to chill and even go for an easy spin.It was easy until I had to ride back up the Sugarbush Access Rd , the gearing was a little off , a 46 is good on the TT , but not on this hill! Legs felt good , much better than the night before on our pre ride , I could barely keep up with Allan and Andreas . I knew a longer warm up was key on this TT , so I rode a good 45 -50 min on the road ( RT 100 ) and things started to fall in place . I knew I went too hard on the first part up the hill last year , so I held back a little and it worked out well . By the time I got over the top I felt nice and was able to really get on top of the 55 chain ring. The last K is brutal with the infamous "ditch" and a slight uphill the last 500 meters. I posted a 14.43 which was good enough for the win ! My good buddy Jon B took second this time ,21 sec back . In a TT you just go as hard as you can , try to gage your effort over the course to the max. No tactics , it is what it is , no matter what category you ride! Got the Yellow Jersey and dinner cooked by the girls. Yummy!!

Day 2 , the Circuit race is on the old course with the King of the Mountain and Sprint points at stake. We ride to the course and meet the girls there, quick wheel change , it is time for the Mavic Ultimates. Bling!! Troy wants the sprinters Jersey and Joe the KOM . I figure I probaly just help these guys and stay in Yellow. We do the lead out for the first sprint , no other team helps , but when we see the line everybody wants the points and go crazy. We missed that one ! KOM is next and we just keep it together and I let Joe take a stab at it , but I noticed he was getting swarmed by a bunch of guys , so I attacked them pretty hard 300 meters to go and got a hugh gap , so that was it , 5 points in the bag. Next sprint Troy got a few and I decided that KOM and a set of Edge wheels would become mine . 5 more points , exact same attack . It is all togther and Rob Lattenzi rolls up next to me , I told him to attack late in the race so we would not have to lead out or chase right away . Off he goes and two guys jumps on his wheel , shortly there after Max L takes himself out by overlapping Rob's wheel at the same time George Opria attacks and since he is in 3rd place in the GC I cover him . A couple more joins us Fred Thomas is one of them . There is a gap instantly and we have a break of 6. It is a head wind and we open the gap up quickly. I can see these guys are on the rivet , but it looks good . I have a teammate (Rob) so 1 K I attack them , but they are still clawing them self back , so I sit up and position myself behind the OA guys . I knew the headwind would be a factor and I waited . Mersee jumps and I get up to his wheel and now I knew I could win or at least lead out Rob . Win # 2 , 10 sprint points , 10 KOM points which means all 3 Jerseys, that is a good day! Ice bath and dinner, can not wait!!

Day 3 , I have only race about 5 masters races this year for a lot of reasons. I knew when we rolled down the neural hill onto RT 100 that this would be a painful ride either way how you looked at it. I rode on the front pretty much the entire race , if I would have not, someone would just rolled off and nobody would have cared , because they were to busy following the Yellow Jersey. I decided if someone was going to ride away they would have to earn it. I chased everything , kept it together on the Brandon Gap and got 10 more KOM points , so that was it for the KOM , since there was only 15 more left. Got in a few small breaks , but everything got chased down as quickly as it got away. Fast thru the dirt section , I do not know why ?? Right after we crawled up the Baby Gap, perfect place to attack , but nothing ! We get to the bottom of the App Gap. They should have just started our race there and skipped the first 73 miles , it was "who can beat Roger up the hill" . This where you get the time in this race and if nobody goes on the front and drills it , how is this possible?? You can race ( or hold hands) for 3 days and then loose it all in the Crit the next day with 45 sec time bonuses on the line. I also knew if we climb this 3k steady a lot more guys will hang on . Since 95% of the guys had sat in , somebody had to be fresh you would think. I surged on and off and by 2 K I was alone, now I just had to seal the deal ! I was too lazy to change my cassette out the night before , so 23 was the gear of choice! It was fine until the final 300 meter, 18% you know what I mean. Win # 3 ; This one was for Chance !

Day 4, The Burlington Crit.

We had to move out of our lovely bunk beds and once again pack up everything . It is a 45 min drive North to Burlington from Sugarbush. A really cool course in a really cool town overlooking Lake Champlaine. This is what most guys here just wait for all weekend , a 15 mile crit! I figured everybody was thinking if I would win the 4th stage and go after the Spinters Jersey as well. I acctually it crossed my mind , but Rob needed a few sec to get on the podium and Troy really wanted to win the stage, so just sat back a little to see what would happen. Man, if these guys would have raced like this all weekend it could have been interesting, it was fast! Rob got the seconds and one to go Mark Gunsales attacks and all the New Englanders was probably letting him go, I would have liked to as well ( Mark is a cool guy and a good friend of mine ) , but I have to ride for the team and help Troy try win the stage , so I got on the front at the first turn and let Troy loose at the last turn ( #6) , we would have needed Rob to take Troy a little closer, so Max L was on Troy's wheel (where Troy needed to be) and stole the show both from Mark and Troy. Oh well, it was close and good racing . There is always a bike race next week again, Bear Moutain!!!

Finley in the "Feed Zone " , no wonder I did not get a bottle!!!

The over all podium was actually really cool. The OA guys had brought a bottle of Champange ( I do not know if they had plans to win the thing or they just had a bottle on hand ??) Anyway I got to spary it around like the real deal and it was a nice touch !! Thanks Team OA!!

Now we just had to get that burger and fries at our favorite sidewalk cafe and watch the 2's got at it! This last day is such a nice race and town to hang out in , caps the great weekend off and you just do not want to get in the car and drive home for 6 hours! Oh well we will be back here again in 3 weeks for some CROSS, can not wait!!

Thanks for reading, more racing to come!!

Alien autopsy provides startling results

2009-08-18T20:56:00.006-04:00

Dateline: Haworth, NJ. The Finkfraft Press has dug up exciting news about the sole survivor of what was thought to be an UFO that landed in this area in 1992. This Unidentified Finnish Object's pilot had apparently integrated himself with our population and began to take up our sports with what was thought to be his plot of evil world domination.

Well, breaking news from Harriman NY came this weekend when it was discovered that the UFO was actually human! Oh, my gosh is right. Despite his winning the NY Biathlon #2 with very fast runs and a bike split that would have gotten a car driver several tickets (true); this reporter was on hand to see Roger Aspholm tired and sore. It turns out that even he can regret not doing any run training prior to the 3-16-3 event. Yes, it's true, his legs hurt going down stairs on the next day just like the rest of us. Very exciting news indeed.

Also in the biathlon were the UFO's mind-melted wife Kim, who score in her age group bested only by friend Lan Huynh. Finkrafter Eric Carlson was there too with solid times and efforts.

The event also had a triathlon at the same time with a 1/2 mile swim proceeding the bike and run held on the classic Bear Mtn/Harriman course. Competing in the triathlon were Finkrafter Lyn McCabe, taking her age group with ease and 6th overall. Finkraft coach Kyle Wolfe woke up to take 9th overall and the silver in his age group. Not too shabby.

It should be noted that the UFO did not compete in the previously day's triathlon at the same location (with reverse bike loop, cool) further proving his now obvious humaness. However, Finkrafter Lyn McCabe was there, winning her age group again and 5th overall, as well as Matt Scott with a solid time and David Marcus taking the age group bronze. Not too shabby for an old guy!!

Special mention goes to friend Stephen Katz for competing in both days and doing darn good in both of them. Awesome!

This reporter is relieved that the UFO was not from another planet, but now is even more suspect of what is obviously a government conspiracy regarding human mutant gene experiments that produced the athlete rumored to be called "The Flying Fin". We can only imagine the destruction that might be rained down on our peaceful earth with this news. One thing is for certain: We Are Not Alone.

I felt like running By Fore....Roger

2009-08-18T19:01:00.013-04:00

A couple of weeks has gone by, time flies when your are having fun. Well , it seems like it all came to a screeching halt on Sunday , I decided to do my annual duathlon without any running in my legs since last Dec and now I can not barely walk. I have run some marathons in the past, 12-15 years ago and the next 3 days was just like this after the race. Every single inch of my legs hurts like hell. To add some insult to the injury, I got a cold as well !

The duathlon went OK , it was an friendly event with my wife, Eric, Burny and Trish. Joe and Monica were our fanclub , taking pictures and cheering us on . I knew what the consequences would be , so I really tried to hold back on the run . It was 3 miles then 16 miles on the bike and another painful 3 miles run to finish of my legs! We got to sport the new FinKraft/Westwood Cycle multisport suits , the cyling farmers tan goes really well with these sleeveless things.

I love the bike part of any duathlon. Particularly this one , since I have probably ridden this Harriman race course about 300 times . Duathletes and triathltes are a different breed and my only goal is to kill them all on the bike . No different this time . There was one pro triathlte though that tried to hunt me down on the second run , but fell short and I crossed the finish line first and my legs were instantly destroyed.

The day before we did the Capitol Region Road Race , which is also the NY State Champion ships.
Three of my friends and people I ride with quite often took home the Gold. Great job Maria, Shane and Allan.
I had good legs , but bad tactics. I and the 3-4 other favorites just watched each other and next thing you know there was a bunch of guys up the road and we were 4 mins back chasing the rest of the day . There are guys that have nobody in the break and thinks it is cool to just sit on on soft pedal their way thru , so a frustrating situation . I won last weeks Tokeneke, Peter Hurst 2nd and Jamie Discroll 3rd . Well, we are all in this group with in addition of Matt Mainer who has two guys up the road, so he was allowed to sit on, no problem there . I am 41 and has no ambitions to turn pro or anything so I race hard until I blow up , if not I win a few. I like to test myself against these younger guys and it is fun for me if the race is hard. I am happy the way I felt and I made some good efforts in the race, even we were racing for 5th , not a bad day!

The week before that was a great week. I got some really quality hours of training , actually the second part of a pretty big block . It is very rare that you can do a perfect 10 mile point to point TT , almost flat and no wind. Well the Kingwood or "the Kingpin "( like I call this race) TT is just like that and an perfect opportunity to test yourself on the road. The power were up there and watts per kg what I wanted to see, 5.5 watts /kg. Besides missing my start time by a min 20 or so, this was a perfect run!
The next day was an other cool road race , yes with hills! Tokeneke road race , little short for a pro 1 2 race only 63 miles , but the field was nice and stacked with some top notch North East riders. The race was really fast the first lap and I was not feeling so sparky, but nothing went away and the next lap was slow as hell. Sure enough a few guys start rolling of the front and once again nobody seems to care . The climbs are a little longer in this race , so the break never really gained too much time and on the 3rd lap I contributed a little to the chase with two Indyfab guys , Peter Hurst and this tall Spanish guy ( pretty strong). About 30 guys were just sitting on , including 4-5 Bikereg/Cannondale guys since they had Eric S in the break. We got it close enough so they pulled the Scram car out in between the group and the break. That was my plan anyway , to get them close and maybe do a bridge attempt on the climb after the dam. Well , I just had to sit on Jamie Discroll's wheel for a mile or two at 500+ watts and the job was done, only 4-5 guys were able to hang on and we caught the break in no time , so now we are about 10 guys at the front ! I liked this situation much better, because I knew 4-5 of those guys were tired . We all came together at the bottom of the finishing climb , my plan was just to follow wheels and be at striking distance once it mattered . For some reason I felt really good now . Jamie, Peter and Alistar kept surging and that pretty much narrowed things down to 4 of us . I was the most patience I ever been in a race and once their tanks started to show signs of E (empty) , right about 200 meters to go , it was time to go ! I actually never timed a finishing sprint this well and it seem like I had several bike lenghts at the line . I personally think this was one of my better wins in a while , it is not so easy to win a pro 12 race to begin with . Last year I won Unionvale and Tour of Catskills which was big too, but this one felt good ! I got to wear a nice Foam hat on the podium and $ 250.00 , after paying my babysitter that day ,I was still ahead of the game !

The week before that we had out Westwood Velo Long Meadow TT champion ships , it was the CRCA club TT champion ships as well, but I consider this to be the Westwood Velo Worlds as well! A beautiful morning on the most beautiful TT course there is . In addition the organisation of this event is flawless with Steve Goldman behind the wheel. I had ridden the course about 3-4 times that week with various clients , besides a ton of other hours of riding , so not exactly tapered and fresh . I felt good on my warm up and down the course before the start. I do not like warming up on the trainer so I almost always choose the road ! This course is well suited to me , long gradual false flats and hills , could you ask for anything else ? A hard TT course for sure. My goal is always to win , but if you can finish on a different min than anyone else that is a bonus!

Then right after we were stupid enough to ride the TTT , same course with my buddies; Andreas, Glen and Joe. TTT is a lot of fun and I whish they had more of those , well maybe not the same day as the individiual one though , it is not that much fun! We took a respectable 3rd , beaten by the CRCA boys! Loosing sucks!!

Now this is a long time a go , I am really surprised I remembered what happened. Usually I do not remember what I had for breakfast , I am not someone who lives in the past , it is all about what can I accomplish today. Maybe win The Finally Of the Rockleigh Series , that is where I am going now.

Thanks for reading again.

Ready for a cruise....?

2009-08-13T14:32:00.004-04:00

Another weekend went by and Tokeneke had not the expected outcome for me.
The same was true for Tour of Hillstown and Unionvale for that matter.
I questioned the reasons for the poor results and came to following conclusions. Besides the fact that my legs did not feel super in either of the two last races (Unionvale was a mechanical) compare to like mid-season, I noticed that my head was not 100% in them. The will to fight and suffer was somewhat not there.
Now, I love the bike, love riding it, thinking about it, even at work, etc. but something had changed - faded over the past couple of weeks - THE DESIRE TO RACE.
Now, most would call it a burn-out situation, but frankly I am already thinking of Capital Region so that alone is likely not the case. I truly believe that I just need to re-set, re-fresh my mind and things will once more fall in place, because the fitness is there and the coach seems to believe that also.
The other day I was on a short luncheon ride and rode up the Westside and noticed a herd of people coming off a cruise.
Weird thing about it is, that I almost never took interest in them on any level since I had a cliche picture of them - feasting on huge overgrown buffets and then just lay in some chair by a pool with a mixed drink, etc.
As that picture popped into my mind I realized that I for once would not mind being one of those "cruisers". This conclusion bundled with a stressful morning really did not make the ride itself more enjoyable.
What is the morale of this write-up? Actually, no idea - but if there is one it would be that we all may have a little slump throughout the season and unless we subcome to the "temptation of a week's cruise" we will overcome it and be stronger, or another morale could be "go on the cruise" and transform your body in one week to a dimension that will surely make you more "powerful".
Either way, I will continue to train hard and look forward to Green Mountain - a race that I really LOVE.

Practicing what I preach

2009-08-04T20:43:00.007-04:00

I could never lie to you, my faithful readers, everything hurts. Let me tell you why. The Fin has asked me to race in the upcoming NYC Triathlon at Bear Mountain on August 16th. It's a short sprint course: 0.5m swim, 16m bike and 3m run. Piece of cake I tell him. Heck, I won it twice back in the early 90's I tell him. I did that course first when I was in High School, I tell him. What I neglect to tell him is that it has been some time since I have ran or swim. Ugh.

Let me continue to be honest here...I am feeling a little pressure. I am one of the multisport coaches at Finkraft. And we know his Finship is going to go fast, that is just what he does. And Mrs. Fin won the duathlon event last year. Yikes. I better get cracking.

I have been running a bit. That first day was ugly. My legs have been very comfortable on that saddle, not having to support any actual weight. After my first run, I was sore for a week. Then lets talk about swimming. I am primarily a bike racer. That means I have skinny arms; not ideal for upper body sports. They too are tired.

So, I hit the pool. It has been a long time since my multisport glory days. Long gone are the 90 second interval sessions. Long gone is the knowledge of being alpha male at the YMCA. Long gone is the lack of fear of drowning. I might need assistance. Well, this doesn't get any better. My girlfriend is also doing the event, plus several others. She is a former NCAA Div I swimmer. She is very fast. She is not riding her bike when in the pool, which means she can rub my face in the fact that she is finally faster than me in sports. It has been a few long drives home from the pool. I better get cracking.

It is coming back fast. I remember my strokes, I remember my drills. I ride the time trial bike a lot anyhow, so that part is easy. And running is just natural, anyone can run! I look to find my other equipment. The tri-suits have changed styles a bit; might need to get something a little less revealing. And there will definitely be more shaving involved in the coming weeks.

I am excited about it. I am looking forward to showing the Finkraft clients that they are invested in a qualified company with qualified coaches. I am looking forward to just surviving! Yikes! Really though, check out all of our resources for tips and ideals for race day for triathlons and duathlons. Thanks for reading and if you don't race, wish me luck!!!!

2nd part of the season

2009-07-26T10:57:00.013-04:00

Bikes make good clothing racks as well!!

It has been 3 weeks since Fitchburg and I have been sleeping in my own bed now for a few weeks. Yesterday was my first race back , Tour of Hilltown. I like to ease back into it , yeah right. Tour of Hilltowns are one of the hardest and most painful races around here due to the distance( 97 mile) and hills! A tall order for a 40+ guy.

Rewind a little , after Fitchburg which went Ok , raced the 35+ , I was maybe not as hungry to win as previous years, but by Saturday starting to feel back to normal . I managed to get 2nd overall and win the road race stage after the the National tabacle , so not all that bad ! In addition team Westwood Velo won the crit stage with Troy Kimball , now also coached by Finkraft!

Just a lots of ice baths and all the other trick you have to pull out of the bag to keep going!

I still did a few more days of training after the 6 days of racing and then pulled the plug. 4 days off the bike for some family time , wedding and chilling out in pool was a nice time and a big mental recovery. The body just does not like it all that much , it really does some wired things and even it is very good for healing , 4 days not doing anything makes you feel awful!

No comments!!!

Back to work and training , low intensity , just volume, 28 hours ( first day short and easy on the Power Cranks) and 7th day the Rocket ride to introduce some intensity back to the system. Felt surprisingly good and motivated again . More Power Cranks the second week , but recovery as well and only two longer rides one little faster one up to Bear Mountain with Andreas, Evan and Allan . Come Saturday recovered just in time for the Tour of Hilltown.

Powercranks , coke and BearMountain ..........life is good , but painful!!

A little race report , very fast as usual right from the gun and 10 miles into the 97 mile race a split in the field happens and I was not going to miss that!! Who ever did miss that one would be chasing a looong time ! About 20 riders with most team represented and the pace remained high. We built up a lead pretty quickly. The real race always starts on the second lap when we get to the BIG climb, a 5 mile wall . Dan Vallencourt, Mike Barton, Mike Margarite, William Goodfellow and myself separated ourselves from the rest and this was the race !! Funny 2 years ago , it was almost the identical break. Dan, Mike B and myself. Just 2 new guys . There was definitely a few spots of bother, like Phil Liggets says . This race is very hard at times and the suffering is unbelievable if you want to be there in the end. You always have good moments and next thing you know you almost get dropped. That is the time to pull yourself inside out and hope to come back. It happened a few times and I think that is when the experience comes to play. I think a probably felt the best 1K to go ( go figure) It was a tad to late because Dan attacked and got away 2K to go , he was no doubt the strongest in the break and I new he was the guy to beat. It was a 3 man sprint for second , I just got past on the line , but held on for 3rd . Not too bad for an old fart like Lance refers himself amongst the 20 year old fast men!

Now a day rest and spend some time with my daughter then an other big training block . I do not race that much in August because it is in September when it all starts , CycloCross!! Every weekend Saturday and Sunday until pretty much Christmas! This puts a lot of stress on everything that involves me , family, work, my body and even on my car! I am pretty excited , two new X-Nights are on order I am prepared more than ever! Before that still 2 more months of hard road races, this is the halfway mark !!

In training mode , this bike weighs at least 45 lbs , should meet the USA cycling standards!!

Thanks for reading again

Roger

Taking the lads to the Tour de Quebec

2009-07-15T11:57:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I had the extreme fortune and pleasure to act as directeur sportif for the Bikereg.com/Cannondale amateur team in their trip up north to race in the Tour of Quebec. They are an excellent group of lads whose goal is to be the number one ranked amateur team in the United States. They are well on their way.

Some of you may remember that before I came to Finkraft I had been the manager and director of a local U-25 team for a few years. This was the best experience of my life. Being able to teach developing riders about racing and how to handle all aspects of life on the road, both literally and figuratively. Well, I was equally excited to be asked to help out for this four day, five stage event in and around the City of Quebec.

With only five riders (the sixth was home nursing injury) on board, we made the long drive on Wednesday to the race hotel at Mount Ste Anne; famous for its mountain bike races. The first stage was the next day on the Il d'Orleans, a windswept farming community in the middle of the Lawrence River. The race was a major success with the lads taking 2nd and 4th along with the climbers jersey. The raced very "heads up" always initiating or following attacks so that the pressure was on the other teams to respond.

Friday morning saw a tail wind driven 5.1 km time trial with speeds over 60kph. Crazy fast. The team took 4th and 5th, but only by 0.2 seconds to the GC leader, a Canadian strong man. That afternoon was a very hard and fast criterium. Now this was fun. Justin Lindine made the race an absolute horror show for everyone else. Literally constantly on the attack, Justin put so much pressure on the GC leader that he completely burned up the other team one by one! Only 20 riders finished on the lead lap from an original 115, and all five of them were Bikereg. Very nice.

On Saturday, the rain came. With the course around the old Garneau RR loop, the pressure was on the local riders to score, but no such luck. Things were getting edgy all around including with the team staff. They were trying to sabotage us, and several pushing matches and umbrella fights started in the feed zone. Not to worry, I am a professional. Cold, wet and windy, Josh bridged up to a faltering breakaway about mid way through the race. He did this by having two riders constantly attack again to tire out the favorites and other strong riders. Once a low placed break got up the road, he then used two other teammates to make a finish sprint type leadout going into a steep hill. He launched off that lead to attack and bridge up to the break; attacked the break solo, and hold off for the stage win and snatch the overall lead. Very nice indeed.

Sundays final stage was no joke. It was 17 turns of a 5.7 km loop with a 800 meter long 21% hill each loop. Yes, you read that correctly. Ouch. One of the riders, Thom, had been so active in attacking and covering all week that he was in third place for the Maillot Noir, or the black jersey for the most combative rider. It was on the shoulders of a rider from a French team, and they looked pretty serious. We discuss it and how there were sprints early on the first and third lap into the race. He scored on both times and then settled into sitting on a small breakaway until the next sprint on the 11th lap. He easily took that and secured the jersey. Amazing. Meanwhile, back in the field, the race was down to about 15 riders when Justin covered an attack at about 80kph with 2 to go. This blew up the rest of the riders and only 5 were left with Josh sitting pretty. He basically led the finale and sat on the back of the small sprint to take the overall win. It was really great.

With such a small team, I had multiple duties as cook, soigneur, directeur, manager, mechanic and chief bottle washer. But watching them race so well and take the overall win was worth every sleepless moment. There were lots of strong riders there that weekend, and it took smart racing to take the win. Congrats to the lads for a great showing.

One final note: it was the first time I had ever been to Quebec. What a beautiful place with a real European feel. The people were nice and the weather and scenery just awesome. We do suspect however, that polar bears roam the streets come winter, but with a passport, we can just cross back down to safety!

Still keeping it together! by Roger

2009-07-10T16:36:00.007-04:00

It is a long road to nowhere! The picture above is the TT course at the Masters Nationals. One of the nicest roads in America !!

Me and Mark Pohndorf made the drive to Louisville , yet an other National Championship Race . I did the race there in 2003 and got 2nd in the road race that year in the 35-39 , so I knew the course and since I won the CX Nationals last Dec a lot of good things has happened . I was willing to drive 12 hours each way and spend my money on 3 nights in a hotel , food and everything that goes along with it. If you pay $ 80.00 bucks to race each event and there is no price money the only way this trip would pay off was to win the Jersey! Long story short , I did WIN!! The Jersey went to the guy that would have truthfully finished 5th though .

The road race was held in a park on a 4.8 mile course , a 10 lap roller coaster with 100 guys . Is that really a road race ? circuit race ? or just a freak show that was poorly organized and the easy way out to hold this race. Look at the TT course what does that tell you . I have travelled and raced all over America and there are really nice places and roads in this country, but why use them when we can make a lot of money on entry fees and just have the race in a park.

There was a 4 man break including myself towards the end of the race , we come around NO BELL, so we are racing and trying to stick it. Half way thru that lap I asked the Moto Ref " how many more to go ?" He put one finger up and says one ! I attack the break and it splits , me and David Henderson are the 2 leaders . We are going into what we think should be the last lap , Moto says 15 sec to the 2 chasers . We make it , David is really drilling it up the finishing climb( just a hill) he pretty much went 500 meters out . I was just waiting for him to fade , which he almost did not , I got by him right at the line and won the National Championship by a couple inches! Mission accomplished , now the rest of the week just race for fun.....wrong!!!

Later we find out that the other guys finished on the lap before , the 2 chaser turned around and as they were going into the finishing shoot 3 guys caught them and beat them to the line ! The field was a minute behind.

This is what happened in the race , I was in it and everyone else knows what happened as well , but the Officials made so many mistakes and did not really know the facts of the race . No bell, the Moto ref can not use his radio or count for the matter to 10 , lapped riders not pulled ( because they would get pissed ), not closing off the course to direct us towards the finish and not knowing what lap we were on . The whole race just turned into a total disaster. It could have been corrected and the winner could have been awarded with the Jersey, but instead the officials just lied and covered up their incompetence and over ruled the protest and the finishing order was the order we crossed the line ! I finished 54th and David 55th, so that means we lapped half the field . The guy or typical " I do not know what happened " I guess I won , even there was 4 guys ahead of me , felt good about it and is going to wear the Jersey as a proud National Champion!

I lost every bit of respect for the Jersey or any official that had anything to do with organizing this event! The US National Champion Ship does not mean anything to me anymore. I will probably never take part the Nationals again . If it was not for the sponsorship deals from the CX win , I would mail that Jersey and medal back to USA Cycling for sure . I feel embarrassed wearing that after the disrespect in Louisville. In the past I thought that was the race to win and a very proud thing to wear if you were able to pull it off. No more, now it feels like being the Clown of the circus ! This even feels hard to write about , as of today I would enjoy winning our local "Thursday night Worlds "( Rockleigh) a lot more than wearing the stars and stripes , not a thing for me anymore!!!! All the support I get from Mark @ Westwoodcycle , it means a lot to deliver and win big races . That is my way of saying "thanks" and this sort of thing (stupidy)takes a lot away from the sport and makes it hard to feel good about a lot of things! Hey it is only a bike race at the end of the day!

The freak show did not end on Tuesday . The next day was the National TT . I was not really into this at all , but Mark was here for this event and if there was a slim chance of beating Feldman , I would be up for that. In addition , if I was to win the TT , I could have stuck it to the USA Cycling and not accepted the Jersey , that was the plan , but ....it did not happened ! There was a 2 hour delay for all starts due to POOR organization once again , no marshals to close of the exits ramps to our Interstate TT course, what a surprise! I did not bother to warm up, a waist of energy at this point . Some guys warmed up 3 times due the delays , I rolled up to the start , with my now UCI legal TT bike after hacking my nose of the saddle to get the 5 cm behind the bottom bracket! I felt fine , no fire though to race !! Just kind of rode a fast pace and finished 10th , I guess better than 54th , but did not really care! Mark got 13th and within 1/2 an hour we were out of there!!!! On the road again!! Racing to make it to the start of our next TT , the first stage of Fitchburg! My starting time was 11.07 , a mere 23 hours late!

Cracker Barrel, one of the best pancake stops on this trip, a first for Mark. When you spend 30 something hours in a car and you do not see anything but chain food crap , you have to pick one to survive !

This race and trip was a serious mental challenge and a test if you really like racing and riding your bike . Thanks for reading !

My biggest fan....

2009-07-10T15:44:00.009-04:00

What do we need to perform well each week in the races?
For once it helps to train smart, eat wholesome food and get enough rest.
Another factor that surely helps is avoiding too much stress whenever possible.
Often overlooked is the support of your spouse/partner in this equation.
I celebrate my 14th wedding anniversary today and I dedicate this brief write up to my wonderful wife Monica.
As cyclists we tend to become one-dimensional and often overlook the needs of those around us. "Got to go for a ride now!", "have to take a nap", "this weekend will not work well (neither will the next one, or the following one for that matter)" are some of the standard answers to our spouses at times when they try to get some quality time in with us.
It is no different for Monica and I, and I have often looked at myself in dissappointment for this type of neglect after a filled weekend of driving and racing.
I am fully aware of it and truly make the effort to balance things, but is it enough? Hardly!
Monica on the other hand is the kindest most generous person one can wish for as a wife and supports my cyclist life and racing with an attitude that is absolutely wonderful.
Not only does she understand how much I enjoy this sport but she tries to be involved by going to races with me, waiting in feed zones handing water bottles to me and my team mates, taking photos during and afterwards, giving me moral support when needed and ground me when necessary.

So, this blog is to you darling! Thank you for everything.

P.S. and sorry to those of you who are absolutely not interested in my private stuff....

Keeping it real, staying humble

2009-06-26T15:33:00.012-04:00

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

2009-06-20T07:54:00.009-04:00

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

2009-06-15T19:47:00.009-04:00

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

2009-06-15T13:28:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-12T09:59:00.007-04:00

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.

2009-06-11T17:49:00.006-04:00

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.