I felt like running By Fore....Roger

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....?

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

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

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

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

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....

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....