Team Bicycle Therapy & Friends

The band's back together

2011-12-07T12:21:00.001-05:00

at Phelps School Cross / PA State Champs

Double Double: Super Cross Cup Day 2

2011-12-07T12:05:00.001-05:00

Not only do we wear matching spandex, we write interwoven race reports. Here it is from Mikey Green and Brendan McGrath who took 1st and 2nd in the Men's B at the Super Cross Cup Day 2.

Whistle.

After an unsuccessful marriage of cleat and pedal, the riders to my left and right dashed forward. I churned the hefty gear as hard as my right leg would allow while I determined when and where my pedal would be; a process of trial and error.

Clipped-in, I sprinted to catch up to the head of the race which Brendy was leading. Brendy: I actually made a good decision this day as compared to day 1 — I started in the big ring and actually got the hole shot instead of spinning out. After a few aggressive passings just ahead of the first turn, a 180º, I managed to squeeze into fifth wheel. The beginning section was of normal width, but due to the tricky, twisty, technical nature of the tree punctuated lane, the only place to safely ride was a thin tract no more than a few tire widths wide—passing was impossible and doing so would likely result in a high speed collision of man and wood. Patience was required until the course opened up…or else.

Brendy, still at the head of affairs, was causing the rider in 4th wheel ahead of me to lose ground on the uphill, off-camber traverse, taking with him Bremer and another. I knew I had to pass in order to maintain good position. I accelerated hard, bridging the small gap given to me with someone in tow.

The five-man group, now led by Bremer, started to pull away.

A super-fast, sweeping downhill transitioned abruptly into a technical, rooty, off-camber section taking us down towards the man-made lake. A hard downhill 180º and we hit the low & long stepped concrete staircase. We cut back and traversed down the same hill on the opposite side of the stairs we had just ascended. This is where misfortune caused Bremer a front flat after he rolled over the business end of a broken stake. To his credit, I’ve never seen a man scurry through a serpentine, technical hill section like that before. He was hard to pass. It was impressive.

We were down to four.

On cue, Brendy resumed the race lead and attacked with a hard effort. I was sitting in third position keeping my eyes on our lead foursome. We were well-away and had a two man tactical advantage. It was an ideal situation.

Through a soft-ground, pine straw covered tree slalom I managed to slip ahead of the rider in second wheel. To test the resolve of our group, I slowed the pace to let Brendy get some ground ahead and to force a reaction. Through the paved Start/Finish the isolated duo gave chase to close down the momentary separation as I sat right on them.

Brendy continued to push the pace for the remainder of the lap.

As if cursed, the same spot which cast its misfortune upon Bremer also gripped ahold of Brendy while he tangled in the high-side tape of the tricky, loose off-camber. We all stalled. In a moment of panic, I jumped off my bike and ran through the tape like a marathon finisher. I was in front at the perfect place to attack; a fast false flat power section just after a tricky bit. I attacked and got daylight almost immediately.

Brendy: After I boggle the off-camber root section Mikey got in 1st and I was in 3rd position. The kid in 2nd couldn't keep pace with Mikey through the next twisty section on the farthest side of the lake from the start-finish. As soon as Mikey had daylight I thought to myself "perfect" and literally sat up. We went through the start finish again as I was making faces at spectators. They encouraged me to get around the rider in front me as I just smiled and sat behind. At one point the rider in 3rd position encouraged the three of us to "not sit up" and I just replied "I have a teammate up there". My biggest fear at this point was that Bremer would catch us again...

Unfortunately, Brendy was delayed in a team tactic that involved him unable to contribute to the chase and rely on the strength of two strangers to reel me back.

Somehow Bremer got to the pit, changed his wheel, and continued to chase. At one point, I noticed through a section that doubled-back upon itself that he had clawed himself back into the chase group. Truly an impressive feat. I later learned that a second issue forced him out of that group and into no man’s land.

Brendy: Bremer caught our group at basically the same place he had fallen of the group in the first place. He took the lead and I knew I'd have to put in some effort at this point. The plan was 1-2, not 1-3. We went through a couple turns and he hit a nice root sending him over the bars and giving him a second puncture. He slowed the rider in front of me and I quickly got around. I put in a dig to get some distance. At this point I knew the 1-2 was going to become a reality. I stayed steady for the rest of the race to cross the line 2nd for the 2nd day in a row.

The course was such that the opportunities to gain time were far fewer than the chances to lose time. An error could easily consume chunks of time. Thankfully, I flowed through the course without mistake. I had found that place we all seek. To say “the zone” seems corny and lame, but that’s where I was: the zone.

With a lap and a half to go I noticed Brendy freed himself from the obligation of the group and had established himself a substantial lead over the fractured chase. I knew in that instant this race was ours and that we would soon occupy the top two steps of the podium.

photo by Marco Quezada

I crossed the line on the final lap with arms raised. A cross-breeze almost made my rarely used victory salute and embarrassing “internet famous” moment. With a quick adjustment, I maintained an awkward balance until I coasted to a stop. I circled back to watch Brendy cross the line. We embraced just after the finish line and celebrated our team’s day of good fortune. Brendy: We had learned prior to our event that 4 other teammates had also tasted victory on this very day. Truly the best day in our team’s memory.

Brendy's Super Cross Cup Day 1: No Silver Platters

2011-12-07T11:50:00.001-05:00

To my demise I started the race in my small ring. Not really sure why. I was clipped in and had a bike length on the rest of the field after the whistle. I continued to shift down my cassette until I was out of gears. I tried to put the bike in the big ring — no luck. That Crux front derailleur is very particular. I spun out and got 3rd wheel with Bremer on the front.

Bremer had the taste of blood in his mouth sitting 2nd in the MAC standings and 1st place (Shane) not at the race. Before I knew it he opened it up and had a 5 second gap. Eventually I was able to get around the rider in front of me but at this point closing the gap felt hopeless.

We cross the start-finish and I notice that I only have one rider with me. He's made no attempt to get around. Pass a few corners and we come across Bremer off his bike with a rolled tire. I almost want to stop and help, almost.

At this point I'm COMPLETELY confused. I'M leading the race — this doesn't happen. The kid is still sitting on and even makes a comment to me at one point as I bif a turn — "come on". This doesn't make me very happy as I've been toting him around the course for a couple laps now. I turn up the volume and he's gone.

Now I'm riding the course alone. We're 2 laps into a 6 lap race. I knew this was my chance to win a race. It wouldn't be the classiest way to win a race but that's ok. I'm not very classy.

All I can think is that I need to ride steady and hard. Not mess up AT ALL and just keep the pace up.

Through the turny sections I see that Bremer has fixed his bike or gotten a new one and has now caught the kid I dropped. Now I'm worried but continue to keep the pace up and keep my wits about me. By the last lap Bremer had gotten around the kid and was coming for me full gas (this is a lot of gas since he's basically a pro crit racer).

As we're coming into the last 0.25 of the lap I hear a serious rustling of leaves. We're at the off-camber section by the lake and Bremer is passing me on the lower side. I knew this was a sketchy section and thought better of trying to squeeze him out. A lapped rider is in front of us and barely gets out of the way before we're back to the exact same spot where Bremer had rolled a tire earlier in the race. I'm behind Bremer and sitting on his wheel fine. We come out of the second to last turn and he puts in a hard sprint but I stay right with him. He speeds into the barriers and I'm somewhat timid. He comes out of them as I'm going into them. He sprints to the finish about 30 meters up the road as I sit up and clap for him.

That guy is a very good rider and a good sport. I'm happy to compete with him. Although this could've been my big day, Bremer got it. He fought back SUPER hard and took it. I wasn't going to serve it to him on a silver platter though. My day will come, right? Here's to cyclocross racing!

Super Cross Cup Weekend Report: Portabello Mushroom version

2011-12-07T11:40:00.001-05:00

In Linda's own words, Women's B champ of the Super Cross Cup (MAC races #11 and #12) on November 19-20.

People kept on asking me after Saturday and Sunday's races how I got so fast. I've never won a cross race before and the ONLY thing I could come up with that made sense was the greasy, disgusting, stomach-knotting, New York chain restaurant portobello burger that I had both Friday and Saturday night. I think that's the key. I'm pretty sure anyway.

Both Saturday and Sunday played out pretty similarly (because of the fatty burger). Becca took off like a roadie at the start and I caught up to her in the first few turns like a mountain biker. Lucia gave me a bit of a run for my money on Sunday as I rounded almost every 180 turn with her intimidating race face coming at me. I wanna make this sound exciting but it there's not too much to draw out. I've never been out front like that for so long before...just riding my bike with people chasing me.

After winning Saturday, I almost wanna say I didn't like the feeling of being first (almost) because I felt this strange added pressure before Sunday's race. I normally put the targets on people's backs, they're not normally on my own back though. I take "training" and riding my bike as un-seriously as possible. (shout-out alert) I just really love being a part of this team and hanging out with you wonderful people, so when I actually do well, it's just an added bonus. It sort of blows my mind that I think I have the ability to Cat up to 3 after this weekend. I thought I'd be a 4 forever, and was actually totally fine with that.

BUT, with that all said, I'm still hungry for more (portobello burger)!!

photo by Marco Quezada

Back to the MAC at Fair Hill

2011-11-13T18:43:00.001-05:00

It's been 5 weeks since the moment of boom and I, um, raced Fair Hill this weekend. In a super diminished field (the crosstastic NY party known as Staten Cross stole many of the MAC ladies, and November got to the rest) I'd somehow held on to a front-row callup and took off at a controlled pace, just fast enough to stay out of traffic. Not long after that, Linda passed most of us in sweet style on some turn or another. I can't describe it but I bet Linda remembers which one: after spending so much time around the species known as bikerus mountainiae this year I'm convinced they all wear secret bionic contact lenses that help them identify the best lines (and other goodies in the woods) through singletrack. Anyway, they were off, never to be seen again.

photo by dennisbike

I was riding in the middle of a group with 3rd-8th (or so) just before the off-camber sections along the white fence when the girl in front slipped on a switchback, tripped up the one behind her, and I jumped off the bike and ran around them. On the Fair Hill course, with no single epic feature but tons of chicanery (oh the chicanes!) I managed to go just barely smooth and fast enough to begin lap 2 at the front of that group. At this point my body said, HEY SHORT TRACK, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU RODE HARD FOR 40 MINUTES and 3 or 300 ladies blew by me on the long uphill drag. I almost caught some near the end of the next lap, got tangled up along with a masters' woman by a kid who substituted straight for right and almost guillotined us with course tape, and after that just focused on riding as smoothly as I could to save my ass from a hard-charging Heather Heinrich. Rolled in 7th.

Roses:

Good job, ankle! Only a little bit achey breaky today. (Although you owe one to lace-up ankle brace)
The ever-awesome mechanics at Bicycle Therapy. ("I think something's wrong with the bottom bracket..." "Well, you did some cross races. In a cement mixer. But we'll repack it so you can race this weekend, and then order a new one for next week.")
Pre-riding with the Loam Ranger
Having fun swooping through the chicanery
Seeing Linda disappear as she stomped off to 2nd
Fatmarc's beard, the visual

Thorns:

Lungs don't remember this "racing" thing
Oh, right, my beloved Nascar bike has mega toe overlap
Nathalie on sick leave
Hearing Linda cheering for me on the side of the course. Boo and hiss. The hiss would be from the slit in her tire that flatted her out with 1.5 laps to go.
Fatmarc's beard, assuming Monkey's point of view

I'll let the fellows tell their own stories, but here's a preview: Dan Action getting his action on in the masters race, Gerry blowing us kisses while holding a top 10 position in the elites, Mike Mast winning crowd favorite for nose-wheelie style points, the Dutch Oven's flash-start TOTALLY WORKING this time, and... 867-5309.

Pride Goes Before A Fall

2011-11-13T18:26:00.001-05:00

First I had the opening lap of my life at Town Hall Cross a month ago, climbing St. Luke's staircase within spitting distance of some super fierce ladies. And then I went boom real fast, landing me on crutches for 10 days (including attending a conference for work all gimped out). For 5 weeks, I swapped bike racing for bike race groupie-ing.

Which was an interesting way to learn that cross is all about the bike, but it's not about the bike.

It's about road trips:

It's about bushwacking and number-stapling and putting a little back into the back side of a race (Albany is now Philly's sister city of cyclocross):

It's about having your teammates forgive you when you accidentally leave their spandex at the following laundromat in Connecticut during a snowstorm in October:

Also, it's about the SWAMP THING:

Well Sh*t, I Wanna Be In Fifth

2011-10-19T10:12:00.001-04:00

Among other awesome races by the team over the past few weeks, Linda Mattioni took 5th in the Women's 3/4 on Day 1 of Granogue Cross. In the money! (Or, in the free HEED and tires?) Here's her race report:

A repeat photo of Linda from Nittany Cross earlier this fall.

I started 4th or 5th row back next to Nathalie with Mountain Bike pro Kathleen Harding right behind me; her first cross race but she's a beast and I was scared. I'm still not sure how my race-self kicks in just yet, but the in first 20 feet I was kind of asleep and then...the switch flipped and I turned it on up the hill to blow past half the chicks in front of me before the hole shot. That stretch of asphalt with the strong tailwind felt like flying!!

Coming around the first twisty, rooty section Cati Scheifele (one of the chicks I always have my eye on to stay with/catch) went down and popped her knee right in front of me which made me slow down and almost cry thinking about it but I shook it out of me head and motored on because Kathleen had just past me and I wanted to crush her! I caught up to Kathleen on the next little bit of asphalt and passed her never to see her again. In my dreams it would have been because I'm super fast, in reality: Kathleen had major mechanicals.

I really, REALLY need to practice running up short hills. I would get to the top of the two run ups and stop...catch my breath...and sloooowly get back on my bike as one or two people passed me. I feel like people watching me are like WTF are you doing?? I would finally pass all of them again in the turns though. I cut it close the tape while they were taking it wide, it amazes me every time that they leave it open for me. I worked my way up to get behind Becca Schepps. I heard someone yell to her that she was in fifth. This verbal cue was crucial, because with all the 45+ women and the juniors, I never know where I'm at. I was like, well shit...I wanna be in fifth....so, I turned it up a notch and I passed her coming out of a turn. I tried to make a final move on the last climb up the asphalt to the finish but I couldn't grab anyone else. So in fifth I stayed.

Nittany Weekend In Brief: Sept 10-11, 2011

2011-09-20T10:20:00.013-04:00

Let's see:

Baby Gerry rode himself into a payout in the Elite Men's field. Look, Cyclocross Mag got it on video! Go to 0:14.

Willem, fueled by hollers of Team BT's #1 fan, nabs 5th out of 5371 racers on Day 1. Obviously the Dutch Oven's temperature was set to BROIL.

The killer Bs slayed the huge field (92 prereg'd), scoring a 10th, 13th, 15th, 15th, 24th, 39th over 2 days.

Linda shows the roadies how to downhill your way to a top 15, with Nathalie and Angie close behind.

The Jersey Devil loosened his grip on me this weekend. I went the right direction around the cross course for 8th and 9th! Can you tell by the shocked expression that this has never happened before?

Add it all up, and Team Bicycle Therapy / Melitta is in a strong third (one point behind our Ciclismo friends) in the MAC team standings. Hup hup.

Ketchup.

2011-09-19T14:47:00.023-04:00

It has been a while since our last post and a lot has happened. This post will be an attempt at catching up, so it will be a lot of pictures and a few results.

First the team bikes came in nice and early for the cross season to start.

here it is in parts

and here it is all built up. (thanks to my lovely wife for modeling with it)

Then we had a crazy hurricane that produced a little bit of flooding: (these are actually pictures of the week after the hurricane when it rained a little bit more and the river decided to spill over again right after they cleaned up the schuykill banks)

This flooding lead right into the nittany race weekend, which last year was a dust bowl that left every last MAC series racer wheezing for two months afterwards. This year, thanks to irene, we had mud and more mud.

The C's went off first with Anthony flying the flag: check out Anthony SKorochod's cycling captured for some pics of that race and Meisha's race. This is Anthony after the race:

This is anthony even later in the day

Like lipstick on a pig...

This is Meisha aftr the race: (no lipstick on this pig)

Then the lady's went off and every body looked pretty good:

there was Michelle and Linda:

and Angie

and Nathalie

Michelle killed it both days and is sitting pretty in the top 5 of the mac series. (front row callup)

Here's some action shots of Linda (she ain't afraid of no recalled fork):

Dan raced the elite masters race and looked good:

Then again Dan always looks good

Gerry raced the elite mens race for the first time and did great, finishing midpack in a field that included some international stars and J-pow

Here's Gerry getting pinned up:

Some action shots of Gerry:

Then it was almost night time and they decided to have the 2/3/4 rce:

team BT had a great showing:

Mike Miller of the Loam Rangers (or should I say, the Loam Ranger) also participated in his first cross race and killed it.

And we were all left with the beautiful memories of mudand getting clean: cue tommy boy

A short camping trip with the tandem.

2011-08-12T11:26:00.017-04:00

About a month ago my wife Jen, and myself went on vacation to the Netherlands to visit my family. We had a fantastic time and one of the biggest surprises to come out of it was an incredibly generous gift from my Aunt and uncle Anke and Reinier.

They gave us money towards purchasing a tandem. As tandem riders themselves they thought that Jen and I could benefit from the "Marriage counseling" that is riding a tandem. With the conversion from Euros to dollars we were able to by one hell of a two-person bike.

Jen found a great deal on craigslist and we quickly got to work logging miles on the tandem almost every day. Usually we do a park loop or two and in the few Weeks that we have owned the tandem I have twice taken Jen out on the hill ride (amazingly we are still married), but we still didn't have any longer rides logged in yet. That was until one of our newest ladies team members, Michelle Lee, had the great idea to go camping. She wanted to go out to French creek state park which is close enough to the city that we could do it by bike. This idea was perfect We could leave right after work on Friday and ride the 50 miles out there and hopefully be at the campsite by sundown or a little after. This was the route we decided to take

Mostly out on the bike path up until Phoenixeville and then up to the park. Nice and simple.

Here we are about to head out from the trellis on West River drive.

Well we made it to the whole foods in Phoenixeville just as they closed at 8 and had to beg our way into their pantry so that we would have something to eat when we got to the campsite. After securing our dinner to the bikes we plotted the rest of our course and headed out as the sun was starting to disappear

After this we didn't get many more shots because it was too dark. We made it to the campsite at around 10 pm and Michelle and Mike made a delicious pasta dinner that had us all filling our bellies with plenty of carbs. We crashed soon after dinner and I hadn't slept that good at a campsite in a long time. Morning came and we were able to take some pictures of our site:

Gratuitous bike shot

Chef Michael after preparing a great breakfast of bacon and eggs

Hungry campers eating said breakfast

Afterwards we packed up and headed out for a scenic ride back.

Michelle had plotted a wonderful route that took us through some of the most beautiful country that Pennsylvania has on offer.

We stopped in Phoenixville for a great little lunch and some beer before heading back into Philly on the bike path.

It was a blast of a weekend and it was only half over at that point. I have to say I was incredibly impressed with my wife, who is not as crazy about bikes like the rest of us are but she still did really well in pushing me along up all the climbs. Thanks again to Anke and Reinier for the wonderful gift that is the tandem.

from a Gentleman's Race to the Gentleman's Club; how to take years off your life in 24 hours.

2011-06-08T13:13:00.011-04:00

First off don't foregt about the historic riverton crit this weekend, click on the link or see the last post for details

So back in May we had the pleasure of doing the 2011 Rapha gentleman's race. We were given the chance to invite another team and so we decided that in the spirit of the race (which usually ends in a lot of drinking) we would invite the Ciclismo boys to the show (they are the only other team drinking in the parking lot with us after every race). This turned out to be a good decision when we found ourselves drunk in the hotel pool the night before the race playing grab ass (actually it was just Craig LeBair grabbing everyone else’s ass).

Needless to say with more people drunk in the hotel pool we looked a little less sad with our weird tan lines and oddly shaped bodies.

That was the night before…

A little back story: We had figured out who was going to race and had the team all set until the week before captain Jack Drummond, in what I hope is not developing into a pattern, broke his hand trying to race his mountainbike at the Belmont. Luckily for us we had a ringer for a replacement in Jon Goulet. Jon is new to the team this year and is luckily a cat 5. I say luckily because;

#1 he has no business being a cat 5

and #2 each team in the race gets a handicap based on the categories of their respective riders.

So the team now consisted of :

Anthony So

Brendan McGrath

Mikey Green

Geraldo Adasavage

Jon Goulet

And myself

So thanks to Goulet we got an early start time putting us in a position to do well in the race. We had 7 teams starting ahead of us and a lot of faster teams starting after us. As we set out Gerry thought it would be a good idea to get our first flat tire out of the way early and punctured within the first two miles. After that we started to bring back all the teams ahead of us, mostly because they had made wrong turns or crashed or couldn’t ride their bikes because of broken spokes or something. Note to all 4 of you who might read this and plan on doing this race, we had 2 separate GPSs and it came in very handy to confirm what one said against the other, so almost no wrong turns in 135 miles. One of the complaints we all had of the race was the lack of places to refuel along the way. At one point we stopped to ask some people for water at what turned out to be some sort of detox clinic. The employee there was kind enough to take our water bottles and fill them up for us, which we were glad for after hearing the screaming emanating from inside the clinic. I am not sure where it was but it definitely looked like this place:

By the halfway point we had caught all teams except for the 52 Vincents tandem team and kept thinking that they had made a wrong turn or something (because there was no way they were faster than us) until we were continually reminded by their tire tracks that they were still ahead of us. These observations were further confirmed when we got into the checkpoint at mile 88 and found out they were an hour ahead of us even though they started only 45 min ahead of us. Hats off to them, they were killing it out there. No worries though, we were still in second place on the road. After the checkpoint we had the unfortunate luck of having the camera crew join us to take our pictures. Up until this point we had only experienced a few trouble spots and only had to push teammates up a few hills, for the most part though we were keeping together nicely at a swift but sustainable pace. However, the camera has magical powers and when you point that thing at anybody they start to ride faster and begin to drop their teammates without breaking a sweat (this might be why pros ride so fast). At mile 95 and were introduced to first of many categorized climbs that came after already riding 100 miles of “rolling “ hills. Then with about 25 miles left we were caught by the Moots team who were looking much fresher than us. Team BH/Garneau caught up to us next after we were having "some" trouble on a climb. Turns out they had a guy on their tem who had crashed and broken his collarbone but still wanted to finish (if I were judging this competition team BH would have won the toughest lot of the bunch). Unfortunately for them they had to finally stop to get treatment for their broken teammate, probably a wise decision but they were so close to finishing. The only other team to catch us was the bicycling magazine team that was made up of a bunch of really fast ringers. They came by and we exchanged some pleasantries before they continued on to the fastest time of the day, stopping the clock at 8 hours and 55 minutes. We came in at just over 10 hours, a really long day in the saddle for everyone.

Thankfully there was cold beer to be had when we arrived and I ate what may have been the two most delicious hotdogs of my life. We waited a while until our teammate Dan Langlois (who rides on the Rapha Continental team) came in and put an impressive display of sprinting prowess on in the velodrome to beat the Kapplemuur team who came in at the same time. Upon closer inspection it looked like Dan had crashed at some point and was a little torn up. Apparently Dan had gone down on a gravel patch while descending but made it through with only a few minor abrasions.

We hung out for a while afterward but had to get back to the city where we were expected at Andy’s bachelor party.

So just to set things straight, our team raced 135 miles, then drove back to Philly to party until the wee hours of the morning to see that a teammate had a good farewell to the single life.

Our original captain Jack had a bunch of 5-hour energy waiting to bring us back to life. Many thanks to Jack for keeping us astute enough to enjoy the “gentleman’s club”.

So yadda yadda yadda…crash bang boom. (description of events are left out to protect all who were there from ever having to relive them)

The night ended with Anthony and myself getting some pizza at 3am from Lorenzo's on south st. (normally really bad pizza, but that night it tasted like I was eating a piece of Jesus).

Not sure how many years my life was shortened that day but it was definitely worth it. Can't wait to do it again next year.

Photos courtesy of Matt Harris and Jason Cole

Historic riverton Criterium

2011-02-23T15:04:00.004-05:00

Historic Riverton Criterium

Sunday, June 12, 2011

HELD UNDER USA CYCLING PERMIT 939

RACE HELD RAIN OR SHINE

X-mas Cross and MTB follies is now live on bikereg

2010-11-12T09:44:00.001-05:00

click it and get ready to enjoy all the fun.
http://www.BikeReg.com/promoter/logos.asp?EventID=11972

X-Mas cross & MTB Follies

2010-10-25T23:39:00.003-04:00

To kick off the end of the cross season, team bicycle therapy will be hosting the return of the X-Mas cross and MTB Follies. This was a race that the shop used to promote back in the days when people did cross races on old steel clunkers cobbled together from leftovers in the basement or junkyard. In this vain we will be holding this race the day before the Bilenky Junkyard Cross race for an extra special weekend of cross as only the city of brotherly can provide, full of shenanigans and tetanus shots. The "Follies" race will be held on December 18th up on the Belmont plateau and the Junkyard cross will be held amongst the twisted metal that the boys at Bilenky call home.

More details will follow.

There will also be a party Saturday night

2010-10-14T16:41:00.004-04:00

So this lasr wekend a few of the team went up to race in Providence RI and a few went up to NY to do the westwood race. for the rest of us it was a weekend off. which means long rides with coffee in manyunk and a dutch pancake (pannkoeken) party. Here are a few shots of the weekend, cause you know we can't be bothered to write up a race report.

Meisha never stops surprising me, like when on Saturday he pulled out musette bag for carrying home baguettes.

On Sunday's ride we saw something on the side of the road that reminded us that big pussies needs love to.

Some people think the handkerchief hanging out of the back pocket looks cool. Mikey, on the other hand, likes the pancakerchief. mm panckaes and beer.
These two are shots of the consequences of the first real muddy race last weekend (town hall). I finally got to use the hose in my back for something other than ....
Mr.T's water war!

Townhall Cross Men's B Race Report...

2010-10-05T21:24:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday, Willem and I hopped in the Focus and blazed up the Northeast Extension to Bethlehem, PA for the first annual Townhall Cross Race. On the way up we made our usual stop at Wawa for their pretzels and clean facilities (race day always gives me a nervous stomach.)

We did a pre-ride and the course was pretty compact...there weren't a lot of fast power sections, but lots and lots of fun up and downs and off-camber turns as well as the main event: St. Luke's Staircase, a long slog up a hill with somewhere around a half-dozen switchbacks. It ended with a nasty, slick kicker at the top that a lot of people ended up running.

I ended up starting in the first row for the first time ever and wasted no time in taking the holeshot. However, my time at the front was short-lived, but I did get a brief moment of glory as we ascended St. Luke's Staircase for the first time. Willem and I were right at the front and we both rode the steep, slick top part. Somebody behind us was impressed and yelled out something along the lines of "WAY TO GO, BICYCLE THERAPY! RIDE IT!" which got me psyched.

Willem got into a pretty select group after the top of the hill and I didn't see him again until after the race when I asked him how he did (he won, taking Team BT's first cross scalp of the season.) I faded back a little bit, lost a few spots but then found my rhythm.

One of the fun things about cross is that even though you may be out of the race at the front, you can still find yourself in an epic battle somewhere in the middle, and I spent the final three laps of the race duking it out with two dudes for 6-8th place. I ended up finishing 7th...one dude I just couldn't catch and the other dude I did everything short of tackling him to keep him from passing me. At one point, I slid out on a turn passing a lapped rider and spread my entire body out in front of him to prevent him from getting by. I apologized for racing like a dick afterwards and we laughed about it...reason number 3497239472 why cross rules. If that had happened in a road race there would have been a fist fight in the parking lot. Matt Allyr and Eric Oishi, I only know your names from the results on USACycling.com, but we had an awesome couple of laps and I look forward to crossing swords again. I fricking love bike racing.

After the B race, Team BT had a couple of people in the later races. Meisha took 5th in the 55+ Masters race. While cheering him on, Willem and I had the following exchange:

Willem (cheering on random Masters riders): "C'mon! Keep it up! Keep it up!"

Jack: "Dude, that's fucked up! Don't tell a masters rider to keep it up! They probably hear that shit all the time!"

I kid, I kid.

There was only one women's race, so Nathalie and Linda took on a pretty stacked field in the 1/2/3/4 race...Linda ended up 10th and Nathalie 13th.

All in all, an awesome day of racing...great weather, great dudes and ladies, and AM beers in the parking lot after the race.

(re)gluing tires

2010-09-27T21:43:00.008-04:00

As some well known blogger (bsnyc) once wrote, you're not serious until you've started to use adhesive to mount your tires. It seems like everybody and their pet chihuahua is blogging these days about proper tire gluing technique. Its been a while since our last post and we here at team BT, after long deliberation at team meetings (the bar), have decided to prepare a tutorial for our ever faithful audience on how to properly mount a tubular (or power bottom). Now a few words of caution, team BT's interest in tire mounting as of late has come about by the early season cross races that have tested our gluing techinique more than the limits of our strength and endurance (nobody on the team even broke a sweat at nittany). So far the team is 2 for 3 in the last three races in how many times a team member has rolled a tire.

Discalimer: none of these were glued at the shop.

So when asking about mounting technique our ever verbose wellspring of knowledge Mikey Green had this to say:

I would, but I'm out of town.

Just make sure you apply several layers to each the rim and the tire using thin even coats. I've found the V.Mastik to dry rather quickly which makes it a bit difficult the control.. Here are some tips:

work in small sections. Apply a bead of glue between spoke holes and spread. Once you get the flow, work slightly larger sections.

Rim, rim, tire, tire. By the time you've glued each four components, the first glued will be dry enough to apply another layer. Aim for three coats on each tire and rim. Remember thin even coats covering entire base tape and edge to edge on the rim. It's easiest to inflate the tire to keep shape and bend it to a figure eight.

Once all layers are on and dry, apply a bead all the way around the rim and spread it quickly. This is the wet coat. Tire will be mounted almost immediately.

Take deep breath.

Get your tire and insert the valve stem. Stretch the tire and set it in the rim bed in 6 inch increments. Stretch evenly. By the tome you get to the final section it should snap on with a little thumb effort.

Now make sure it is straight using the base tape around the stem area as a reference. Spin it and adjust any high or low spots as needed. Inflate more and make micro adjustments.

You're done. Now do it again with the other wheel and grab a victory beer.

M.g.

Or you can take Jacks approach: "its arts and craft time, lets glue one thing to another, C'mon we learned this in grade school"

Kirkwood

2010-08-09T15:52:00.006-04:00

We can all learn some lessons from the 4 race at Kirkwood this past weekend. For starters, if you want to block for a teammate on a breakaway, all you have to do is ride like 95% of the Tuesday night Drives Ride. Act like you just don't quite have what it takes to pull through to the front, but refuse to drop out of rotation. Andrew Satinsky nailed that act this weekend, allowing me to get enough of a gap on a two-man break that I thought we might be able to stay away.

Which brings us to lesson two: Know the guy next to you. If he makes you a little nervous, ignore it. It's a 4 race, for crying out loud. Everybody is a little shaky on race day. But if he makes you a lot nervous, trust your gut. He's probably going to half-wheel you down a hill and put you into the split-rail fence at the bottom. By the time we got bikes untangled and got rolling, the main field had us in their sights again, and the break was over. Time to sit up and get some rest before the inevitable bunch sprint, right?

Wrong. Lesson three: The punishment WILL fit the crime. Andrew was pretty harshly punished for his excellent teamwork, and got hung out to dry on the front of the pack for the better part of a lap. On a pretty windy day, no less. By the time we pulled on to the final straight, a mile long false flat into a steady headwind, our fate was sealed. I didn't have enough left in my legs to bring the pace up and string things out, so when I looked back at 1k to go and saw Andrew over my shoulder with the rest of the field spread 6-deep across both lanes just behind him, I knew our fate was sealed. God bless him for trying, though.

And after he went for it, and the pack engulfed us, and we chatted across the finish line into 22nd and 23rd places, there were a few LHLs in the trunk to take some of the sting out of bitter, bitter defeat.

We'll conclude today's exercise with lesson four: If you're going to lose, do it in good company. It also doesn't hurt to know that there's a bushel of steamed crabs waiting for you just a 15 mile ride away, to know that you're going to spend the evening breathing clean suburban air tinged with horse manure instead of whatever it is that fills the Delaware, and that in the morning you're going to ride home shoulder to shoulder with people you CAN trust not to edge you off the road.

Oh, and smores. Smores help too.

Brownstown 2/3 Race Report...

2010-06-28T11:10:00.001-04:00

Last weekend, Team BT was represented in both the 4 and 2/3 races at Brownstown. Ansel, Andy, Mike Mast and Brendan did the 4. Dan, Willem and I rounded out the squad for the 2/3. I’ll let the boys in the 4 race do their own race report.

It was really toasty when we lined up…somewhere north of 90 degrees. However, there was a steady breeze throughout the race that kept things from getting too hot and also made position in the pack very important.

The course was great…it was relatively flat, with a lot of turns and a super fun section with a loose chip road.

The Team BT plan was to sit in for a while and see how things went before trying to animate the race. Willem attacked a few times early and Dan kept things interesting as well, trying to bridge solo to an early break and then trying to get away later in the race. I hadn’t raced since Turkey Hill the first week of May, so my strategy was to sit in and see if I could seize an opportunity at the end.

As per usual, the break that stuck was one that we didn’t get into. 7 or 8 guys got away, with plenty of teammates in the field to block/chase down attacks, so with about two to go we were working on getting a good result in the field sprint.

For some reason, I lost track of which lap we were on…I thought the penultimate lap was the last one, and put in some good work moving myself up to 5th wheel. I sat on the wheel of everyone trying to get up the road, maintaining my position but definitely drawing the ire of some of my fellow racers. I buried myself keeping this position and readying myself for what I thought would be the final sprint.

With about a mile and a half to go, I heard a spectator call out “Great job, only one more to go!” My heart sank. While this wasn’t as dramatic as sprinting to “victory” on the penultimate lap and then realizing there was still one to go, I was pretty cooked and dropped back into the pack. I worked my way back up to the middle of the pack on the final lap, but couldn’t get any closer.

In the end, Dan factored into the field sprint, placing 13th overall (and 1st Cat 3!!!) . I wasn’t close enough to the front to bother with sprinting, so I rolled in at 29th overall, 10th Cat 3. Willem got gapped a little bit with 4 to go and ended up getting pulled.

All in all, a good day on the road and we celebrated in our usual fashion with beers immediately after the race. Even if the race doesn’t go exactly right for you, it’s always a good day when you finish with the rubber side down, drinking a Magic Hat in the parking lot.

Rapha Gentleman's Race - Cornwall, CT

2010-05-28T17:16:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, Team BT was lucky enough to be invited to Rapha's East Coast Gentleman's race.

The course started in Litchfield, CT and went into MA and NY at points. ~115 miles, somewhere between 9000-12000 feet of climbing (depening on who was counting!), 40% gravel roads. You basically have teams of 6 and you all have to finish together. They stagger the start times of teams based on perceived team strength.

Our squad of gentlemen included myself, Gerald, Brendan and Mikey Green. Our good friends Joe Reynolds and Donny Green were nice enough to ride with us as ringers to round out our group. They ended up being awesome additions, riding strong all day.

BT ended up 3rd behind Eastman and Team Embrocation. However, we had the 2nd fastest time of a team that finished all six dudes. Jonathan Adler got 5 people finishing ahead of us, but were DQ'd for losing a guy.

I have never suffered on a bike they way that I did on Saturday. I had been in Wichita, KS for the past two weeks, riding nothing but flat, straight roads. I got back into Philly at midnight on Friday and was on the road for CT at 4:30am. Not a great start to what would end up being an insanely hard day.

The majority of the climbing was on two endless gravel hills...I'm not sure of the exact distance of each, but the first one took about 45 minutes to get up. 45 minutes of 8-15% grade on gravel. I'm talking going 7mph spinning a 60 cadence in my 39x26. I'm usually totally solid going uphill, but I did not have it this day. I was cramping by mile 40. I actually had to stop for a little bit going up the second big climb, and I'm not too proud to admit that Joe pushed me uphill on at least two separate occasions. These climbs were evil...they just kept going and going and going.

As a cruel joke, they sent us up one last insanely steep, shorter hill about 10 miles from the finish, aptly named Everest Hill road. I had to paperboy it going up. I hit some gravel on the side of the road, both my thighs cramped and I came to a complete stop and tipped over. A lot of the ride was being photographed by Rapha and I was very glad that they didn't catch that!

All of the parts of the ride that didn't suck were some of the best riding ever...I've never been up to that area before and it was beautiful. The roads were great and scenic there were a few long, fast descents with switchbacks that were amazing and so much fun to ride. If you asked me immediately after finishing if I would ever do that ride again, I would have said emphatically "fuck no", but by today I've forgotten how hard it was and how I can't wait to do it again next year!

Big thanks to the folks from Rapha, not only for putting on an awesome event and also for putting us up (not to mention putting up WITH us) for a few nights.

The ride was documented extensively by Rapha with photos and video, and I'll be sure to post links as soon as they hit the web. I apologize for the lack of details in this report, but I spent the entire 7.5 hours in the pain cave and my memories are pretty foggy.

Results:

1: The Eastmans (7hrs 43min)
2: Embrocation 6:40
3:Bicycle Therapy 7:25
4: HUP UNITED 8:15
5: Rapha Racing NYC 8:00
6: Rapha Continental 8:17
7: Geekhouse 9:23
8: Seven 9:38
9: Fifth Street Cross 9:45
10: Independent Fabrication 10:10
11: Bilenky 10:55 (all tandems)
12: Adler *Finished a man down 7:15
13: Pedro's *Finished a man down 7:30
14: BH/Garneu *Finished a man down 7:34

Race Report: Farmersville Road Race 2/3

2010-04-27T10:26:00.003-04:00

Tough race on Saturday...8 laps of 6.6 miles...~54 miles total. It was pretty flat, with a lot of long straightaways and then a lot of sections with tight turns.

Out of ~70+ starters, I ended up 14th overall and 4th among Cat 3s.

I had a bad start off the line as well and i spent 6 of the 8 laps in the back 1/3 of the race. I was really hurting on the first couple of laps and wondering why I even do this. There were a bunch of turns and I was sprinting out of the saddle to catch back on after every turn. Seriously, the course was like a giant 9-corner crit.

Once we hit an hour in, you could tell that a lot of the really powerful crit dudes who usually only race for 60 minutes were slowing down. I was moving up little by little and the more I moved up, obviously the less work i was doing.

On the last lap I was moving up on the side just as an attack went off the front...in the confusion, the field strung out a little and cleared the road enough where I was able to catch on to the back of the attack, which put me at fifth wheel or so with 3 miles to go.

There was a United Health Group dude off the front who nobody was interested in chasing. There were a couple of fake attacks, but everybody was interested in racing for 2nd place it seemed.

I messed up a little bit responding to one of the fake attacks just before 1km to go and lost my solid position and ended up on the front. I stayed there a little too long and lost a couple of places when the next attack happened. I was able to catch a wheel going into the last turn, but I was now far enough back that I knew I wasn't going to have a chance to win the field sprint.

I picked a few dudes off on the finishing stretch, but I was kicking myself for losing my spot with 2k to go. I totally had a moment when I panicked and thought to myself 'what am I doing here, I don't belong here, these dudes are all 2s, how did I end up at the front?' and lost concentration long enough to end up in the wind a little too long...so I ended up sprinting for top 20 and not top 10.

Still, i'm psyched on the result. I feel like i've been just riding and not racing in races so far this season, and I was definitely racing at the end yesterday.

Andy picked up a 6th in the Cat 5 race...I'm sure he'll post a race report as well.

What was looming in the distance. Subtitle: Battenkill and it's aftermath. Pt. 1

2010-04-21T14:16:00.004-04:00

When you sign up for a race with a five month wait til you're actually on the start line you tend to find yourself thinking about it a lot. It becomes a centerless and uncertain way of thinking and planning for an event . Questions start coming into play that challenge your best laid plans, never mind any actual tangible obstacles such as sickness or injury, those roadblocks swell to the level of the point of abject failures.
Of course, I write of the Tour of Battenkill. As many times I tell myself that the race is a paltry sixty-something mile ride the likes of I've done countless times prior in my riding habits, I think back to previous experiences I've had in the race or one of my team mates is there to co-conspire my tranquility with their own anxieties. The kicker is that this is an ongoing theme for five months. Five months. I am not a man born of complete consistency, nor do I have the desire or attention for too many things too far in the future. My way of going into this is to lay out a decent plan where I might be able to get a bit more caught up in one week following the next and so on until the last few weeks are in sight. When I get troubled or need a little reminder of what's to come, I tend to shift my thoughts to things more insignificant and palpable. One of my favorite reminders being equipment. Let's look at tires, will I want to change my saddle, will these bottle cages eject my belongings as soon as I hit the first dirt section? These thought remind me that the race is coming but give more footing as far as I feel like I am planning the right way more so than the physiological guessing that I can easily get wrapped up in. Will my legs work, am I overdoing this, do I go up hills decent enough?
It's easier for me to quell my team mates' concerns that it is to quiet my own. I tell them it's a not that crazy of a race. I know that it's not, but no one is too assured when I say it. Not even me.
Let's not get too involved in the lead up to the race, at least not the first four months. Suffice to say that I got on the bike a lot, both here in the frigid north east and in sunnier climes of Florida, I got out on some fantastic long rides, I made sure to hit up some dirt roads for good measure. I'll also spare you the details of getting sick and feel like there was never any way I was going to be in good enough shape to race. When you feel like everything you are doing is preparation for something, the sense of purpose in you has a way to exaggerate all fears to an ultimate finality.
With a month to go all nagging questions have to be stifled. Again I typically turn towards preparing equipment. The basement becomes a whirl of work, glue and grease. After riding through the thaw here much needs attention. Bottom brackets come out, get cleaned and re-installed. Oh good, that creaking is gone. Race wheels get pulled out from the bags and inspected, new tubulars get stretched and prepped. I search around all my parts and wonder why I have so many used cassettes lying around and if they'll work with my chain. Nope, they sure don't. Time to buy an new chain and cassette. (Do I throw out the used ones? No way. Damned if I know why I don't.)

The day to glue new tires is a fun one for me. I like the process, I truly do. The way I feel about it is like this: If I'm going to glue one set of wheels, I'd might as well glue a few more. The process becomes that much bigger and demands more efficiency. Total like. A team mate drops a set of wheels he wants glued and now I've got a party on my hands. On a nice day I like to do this outside on the patio. It looks like this:
A miniature service course. With all mechanic duties finished, the last part of the wait time is to be filled with travel arrangements, finding pretty much the entire accumulation of apparel and accessory you might have given the unpredictability of the weather up in the northern reaches of eastern New York, and the finishing touches of training to ready one's self for the upcoming task. That'll be part two. Soon.

Union Grove 2/3 Race Report....

2010-03-28T19:53:00.004-04:00

After getting split from the main field in the crosswinds at the Philly Phlyer, I was down in the dumps. I finished the race, but off the back. I felt like I’d forgotten how to keep a wheel in front of me, and when I rode the Drives the following Tuesday, my fears were compounded when I kept letting gaps open in front of me and was having a tough time closing them back up.

I had a long, easy ride to NYC on my calendar for the weekend, but with Battenkill looming a mere 2.5 weeks away, I felt like I wanted to get some more racing in my legs.

I saw the Union Grove 2/3 race on BikeReg, and asked if anyone else wanted to get some racing in over the weekend. Willem signed up before I had even made up my mind to race and then Gerald was enlisted after some gentle arm-twisting.

For some reason, the idea of doing a 2/3 race terrified me. As a recently upgraded 3, I had cut my teeth on 4/5 and 4 races, doing only the occasional 3/4. Doing an elite race conjured up images of Dominique Rollin lapping the 1/2/3 field at Greentree in 2008 without breaking a sweat, or the Rite Aid boys dropping the hammer from the whistle at Lower Providence that same year, shedding 75% of the field in the first three laps.

The race was going to be 11 laps of a 4.6-mile circuit. We didn’t really talk strategy on the drive out to Amish country, we talked survival. We figured that we’d hang for as long as we could, and would consider it a success if we were still in the main field with 5 laps to go.

We got to the race, and there were two French-Canadian riders with international licenses signing in ahead of us. Their licenses said Cat 1 and their tan lies said that they had probably been doing a lot of training/racing someplace other than Montreal. They told the promoters that they were Cat 2 in the U.S. Willem shot me a knowing glance…we were outclassed. Totally fucked. We’d be lucky to make it through the first lap without getting spit out the back.

We lined up and tried to keep things light, chatting with a few friendlies from TriStateVelo about cross and drinking (Team BT’s two favorite subjects.) Looking around, lining up for a 2/3 race was a lot different than a lower category race. Now I know that looks can be deceiving on the starting line of an amateur bike race, but our starting group was a goober-free zone. There wasn’t a helmet mirror or hairy leg in sight. We took our position where we thought we belonged…towards the back.

The starting whistle blew and off we went. Of course it took me two tries to get clipped in. I looked up, expecting to see the field a half-mile down the road already. Nope, they were still there and I caught right on.

A funny thing happened as we started the second lap. I felt good. I was riding well and I felt comfortable within the group. The speed was high, but the race was smooth. It was a lot different than even the 3/4 races I’d done…everybody seemed comfortable riding really close to each other, nobody slammed their brakes going into turns and there was a lot less of the hot-headed in-race verbal instruction that is all too common in the lower categories.

The course was pretty fast…only a few corners and a few power climbs. Nothing really hard enough to cause a big selection, but enough technical sections to keep it from being a straight-up drag race. There were a couple of straightaways through wide-open farmland where positioning within the pack was key to avoid crosswinds.

As the race went on, I felt more and more comfortable and even moved up and spent some time up at the front. Gerald never met a break he didn’t want to try to get in, so he tried his hardest to get away, to no avail. As the “Laps to Go” sign ticked down, I kept waiting for someone to drop the hammer and outclass us and out us as the soft posers that we came into the race feeling like we were.

It never happened. I kept feeling better and better and started feeling more like I was racing than just trying to hang on.

I wish that I could conclude this report by saying that Willem and I formed a leadout train for Gerald on the last lap, putting him in perfect position for a sprint victory.

Unfortunately, this isn’t that kind of story.

A couple of guys stayed off the front to win. Another small group chasing those guys got in a few seconds before the main pack.

However, we all finished with the main pack. Gerald rolled in first at 17^th, I wasn’t far behind at 35^th and Willem ended up 54^th after getting caught behind a guy who broke his chain.

If you are a numbers person, it was a pretty unimpressive result for Team BT. Nobody in the money, and aside from a few of Gerald’s attacks, we didn’t really animate the race or try to play all of our cards.

However, considering the fact that we were hoping to simply survive half the race, we considered it a wild success, and we celebrated immediately afterward in true Team BT fashion with some cold Lion’s Head Lights and peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches.

We do this for fun, and any time you finish the race with the rubber side up in a better position than you thought possible, it’s time to celebrate.

Now on to Battenkill!

Philly Phlyer, View from the back

2010-03-24T23:01:00.005-04:00

The first race for most of us this season who didn't go to the FL training camp was the collegiate race The Philly Phlyer that also has a 3/4 category. This was a short circuit race of four laps on the west side of Farmount park.
There was much talk of strategy before the race, Jack had done really well last year so everyone wanted to see his murder face cross the line first this year. So the plan was to have most of the team try to start a break, then bring Jack up to that break, then block. Just in case this didn't work Brendan and I were to sit in the whole race saving our selves for the final sprint.

A total of eight teammates lined up at the start, which is a big turn out for any team. The weather was perfect, it was in the 70's and I was worried that I had already gotten too much sun, but the wind was starting to pick up as the race went off.
I assumed my roll and stuck to the wheels infront of me like glue. The group made its way down from memorial hall on to West River Drive and it was easy to see that this was going to be a scary race. Everyone was twitchy, and many riders hadn't ridden in a group for several months. On the first climb there was a crash that nearly took out Jack. As the race went on I could see red and black jerseys go up the road, over and over attacking the field either trying to start a break away or bridge up the an existing one.

As the last lap came up I decided it was time to move to the front or be trapped in the back for ever. My legs felt fresh and I hopped behind Mike Green as we jockeyed for position up front, Brendan and Gerry were also in the mix. Gerry had earlier been part of a breakaway with 3 other strong riders but he had fallen off. By the last lap they where too far up the road and wouldn't be brought back. On the last trip up west river drive Mikey went on a flyer and tried to bridge up the the brake away, putting out a huge effort and staying away from the pack for the whole straight flat stretch but he got caught on the hill.

As we hit the last climb up to Memorial Hall I knew I had to attack on the hill because I wasn't gong to be able to out sprint the field. I went off the front of the field and was the first to top the hill. I was passed in the traffic circle, then as my legs and lungs screamed I was passed a couple more times on the final straight to the finish line. I crossed at 7th place with Brendan close behind at 18th, Gerry 23rd. Jack unfortunately was caught out in the wind a few times, and most of the other teammates burnt themselves out earlier in the race working for the team.
All and all, it was a great start to the season. It was a perfect day and a really fun race. Racing is always better when its in your back yard.
Cheers.

When you test the limits of your mind and body, sometimes shit happens.

2010-02-23T12:18:00.002-05:00

With Philadelphia and much of the Eastern Seaboard blanketed with record-breaking snowfall, indoor riding has been the only option. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Indoor training forces oneself to make the most of each mind-numbing, minute-watching training session. You ride with purpose and a plan instead of just accumulating junk miles. And, since there seems to be a built in timer which regulates how long one can endure on an indoor trainer—somewhere between 1½-2 hours—recovery (whether planned or accidental) gets its well-deserved attention.

Yesterday was the first time since February 4th I was able to ride my bike outside. That’s seventeen days! Team Bicycle Therapy (minus Willem) planned to meet up and ride the Rockhill WaWa training race—a 2 lap circuit around the Radnor Hunt Club. *Note* rides are often identified from where they depart, usually little or no other significance whatsoever. Take the Bulldog Ride for example: it meets at a statue of a bulldog. Where it goes…I have no idea.

It was a beautiful warm and cloudless day (anything over 40ºF is considered warm these days). The sun was shining bright, which was accentuated by the sparkle of the lingering snow. Team Bicycle Therapy, in full livery, rode double paceline down West River Drive at a casual pace. Everyone had a chance to chat and catch-up on man gossip. It was good to be all together again.

Our team arrived at Rockhill WaWa first. Mischa used the opportunity to give us a secret pep-talk about race tactics and offered up some suggestions. He encouraged us to try something…anything. We are always thankful for his wisdom and guidance.

Riders streamed in from all directions. Though I didn’t know many of the attendees by name, it was still like a reunion, a homecoming of sorts. Pleasantries and hugs were shared by many. Once the group 40 or so was established and settled, we were on our way. The mood was excited and jubilant. Everyone was happy to be playing outside, once again amongst friends.

We made our way to the race course. The 20ish miles in between allowed everyone to stretch their legs and find a comfortable spot in the group. For others, it was a chance to test their legs with short-lived attacks. People looked strong. Everyone’s indoor training has paid off, and it showed.

We all gathered at the start line of the circuit, fully warmed. We paused momentarily for the demarcation of the finishing line. Again, we were off. People were feisty from the start, launching attacks. Most were brought back quickly, but near the end of the first lap there were two riders 100m off the front, daring someone to chase. Coming out of the last corner, Dan L. and I were on the front of the group. I figured I could open a gap while the pack braked into the more-than-90ºcorner. I let off the brakes and jumped on the pedals. I chased hard for a couple kilometers, but couldn’t manage to bridge up to the leading duo. I sat up and waited to get reeled in by the group. This was my something. It was a good go, but not good enough.

I made a tactical error as I was re-absorbed into the peloton. Instead of moving to the far left of the road where I should’ve been, I was on the right—the drive side (a.k.a. the fast lane). As the accelerating group began to pass, I was caught in the gutter with nowhere to go. I squeezed back in line about five or so wheels back, with legs still tingling from the effort. I filed in behind a rider who in the cycling world would be described as a “Clydesdale”, a 200+ pounder. The draft my Clyde provided me was amazing. I was practically sucked right along in a vacuum. Minimal effort was needed to keep pace. I was almost fully recovered.

There is, however, one downside I can think of when riding behind someone that large: Gravity. (One could argue that gravity has been a nuisance ever since that infamous apple landed on Sir Isaac Newton’s head). As the pack rolled along a flattish part of the course, gravity was the least of my concerns, it didn’t even exist. But, when the road tipped upwards, gravity let its awesome presence be known and exerted a tremendous force upon the hefty man ahead of me. To counteract the downward pull, Clyde stepped up on the pedals to supply the drivetrain with more gravity-defying power. This unintentionally caused his rear wheel to shoot back at me faster than my lactic acid addled brain could react to avoid. Before I knew it, my front wheel was overlapped with his rear wheel. Our rubber tires joined and buzzed an awful buzz, which seemed to signal the pack, like a drone to the hive, of the impending danger. 99 times out of 100 this can only result in one thing: road rash. While there is a glimmer of hope, sadly to say, I was not in the lucky percentile. I was on the ground skidding in the gutter out of control.

Helmet Cam Video From Swamp Classic Cat 3 Race...

2010-02-11T13:26:00.002-05:00

You can see Dan and Gerry mixing it up a little bit.

I definitely agree with the music choice.

Coming to an end, snowy times are nigh.

2010-02-09T14:22:00.010-05:00

The last couple of days of our sunshine trip culminated in a couple of days of racing. One discipline in which we were absolutely novice in, and one that was familiar, but our last experiences were a ways off in the past of our collective memories.
The first was Saturday's team time trial. This, as I think we've all come to find out, is an interesting experiment in team dynamics. The variables are many, and seem to multiply with the amount of people participating. I would say our initial attempt at this sort of race was enlightening, if not a bit dis-organized at times. That said, we rolled in in 5th place. I for one have only desire more to do a race like this again, it's complexities are many and that makes it all the more compelling. I wish I had photos, but as we all raced, alas, we had no one to take them.
Our bikes all aero-ed out for the Saturday's time trial.

Cages came off given the short times of both races.

As soon as we finished the TTT we hurried to get the aero bars off our bikes, the race left a bad taste in our mouths and shedding any superfluous equipment possible seemed an act to salvage a bit of our collective morale.
Thanks for nothing!

Saturday night was a quiet one for us in comparison to the week's previous socializing. We stayed in for the night with our gracious hosts, Niles and Ernie, and were joined by friends Stephen and Lily coming up from Tampa to race in Sunday's criterium.
Even at a decidedly low point, the night was fantastic, we enjoyed wine and other libations and ate some incredible food made by both of our hosts.
Ernie serves it up right!
Sunday found us with rejuvenated spirits, but not without a bit of nervous energy regarding the task for the day. It was the day for the Gainesville downtown crit, a fun, bumpy course with more than its fair share of brick and torn asphalt. If being nervous wasn't enough, it was our last day down south. The sinking feelings crept in as we began to realize the inevitability of our long drive towards the awful, though somewhat characteristic, wintery conditions at home.
That aside, we were treated to a parting gift of dessert for breakfast and coffee by a good friend at a cafe.
Pre-race desserts get us in the mood.

We had four riders riding in three different races. Ansel was going to mix it up in the cat. 5 race, Brendan in the 4's, and Gerry and I in the 3's. Ansel held court at the front of his very short race, being the sole person chasing down a rider with a rapidly diminishing lead off the front. By the last lap though, Ansel decided to set himself up for the bunch sprint and let some others resume chasing the leader whose gap had come down to 10 seconds. Apparently everyone else had the same idea and let the leader go. Ansel more than handily won the field sprint for second.
An unmistakable Ansel powers to the front of the field.
On the bricks, on the hunt.
Brendan's race was almost a cookie cutter crit. One breakaway attempt saw Brendy lead a chase to shut it down, but that was pretty much all the excitement of his race. He played it smart by sitting towards the back and let others dictate the pace, which saw rider after rider shed off the back of the pack lap after lap. In the sprint Brendan could only guess whose wheel to follow towards the line, and finished a respectable 12th for the day. None of us really targeted this weekend of racing as an important one for our season. The goal was a modest one; it's purpose to really flesh out what level of fitness we were at and get comfortable racing again. We weren't not hoping for a win, but I won't say it was the total goal.
Brendy cutting it in over the bricks and looking good.
Looking for a wheel in the sprint.

Gerry and I lined up for our race with a plan to look for, or initiate some breaks to try to get away. Our original plan of going off at the gun got a bit messed up as I missed my pedal and found myself too far from him at the first turn. I did get a chance to start an early attack and 3 others came with me. We held out only for two laps or so before getting caught. I went toward the back of the field as Gerry moved to the front to keep his eye open for other attacks. Thanks to our gorgeous kits for being so standout that I could locate Gerry anywhere he was in the field, and for making our team the absolute best-dressed at the race.
Looking good on the start line.

Gerry got one off with one other rider. I moved to the front to block a bit, but the pack was just surging to get the two of them back. Once together, I took an opportunity to take the race's only cash prime. Handily winning that, I amused myself by completing the lap solo, getting caught at the third and fourth turn.
Gerry going with a promising attack.
On my way to a cash prize.
With four laps to go in the race, it was all but decided that no attack would result in a winning break. Everyone seemed to want it to come down to a field sprint. Gerry and I had a talk, I was to lead him out for the finish. With two to go, we got our way into a good position and by the last turns we were ten wheels back or so. Turning onto the finishing straight I saw a good line with a few wheels to follow, and started ramping it up nice and early to give Gerry a nice launch. A bit of sketchyness at 300 meters caused a blip of hesitation and we had to ramp it up again, only a bit further back than we were. Gerry came around, timing it right, but the best we could pull out was 12th. I sat back down after he launched and rolled in at 19th. Not our best results, but I still feel the race was a success. We rode it the right way, being as dominant and active as we could. When it came down to the finish, we were able to find each other easily and comfortably enact our plan. In the pass-fail nature of crits and bunch sprints, The stars really need to align for a stellar finish. Given a bit of trouble in the finish added to not knowing who to stick to coming into the final run, I feel we did it right. Especially if you think of our whole team finishing top 20 in each of our races, top 12 if you count my lead out as a sacrifice.
One of the watering holes we frequented, Boca Fiesta, is located on the race course. One of the owners, a dear friend Geoff, was offering up what he was calling a "consolation prize" to racers. The "prize" was a shot of tequila followed by a beer. After picking up my ten buck for the prime and checking results, we headed over for adequate consoling.
In looking for the podium, we found the bar.
The team indulging in some true consoling.
The team, thoroughly consoled, and looking great.

2010-02-09T13:37:00.002-05:00

It comes but once a year: Red Bowl! The 2010 edition is ready to go, so come up to North Bowl on March 6th, from 2-6PM, and help support the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It's $10 in advance, $15 at the door, and that gets you free bowling, raffle tickets, drink specials, and the chance to kick it with local cycling luminaries. Get your tickets at the shop or just click here to buy online. It's been a blast the last few years, so get out of the house and support local cycling!

While You Guys Were Building Igloos, Shoveling Snow and Cavorting About in the Sun...

2010-02-08T22:26:00.005-05:00

...I was doing hot laps in the cold woods.

from character building to igloo building.

2010-02-06T19:25:00.007-05:00

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade right? Well, what do you do when life dumps a cubic shit-ton of snow in your back yard? you make an igloo, naturally.

Cross Training

2010-02-06T16:23:00.003-05:00

While part of the crew is down soaking up the sun and doing some early season racing, the rest of us are back in Philly braving the weather and riding when we can. Last night and into today we had a bit of a snowstorm and we were provided the opportunity to do a little off the bike training. My street had about 2 feet the whole way with a few drifts up to about five feet.As you can see I shovel about as straight as I ride a bike.

I'll close this post by saying building character is bullshit, my back hurts and I have a snowball in the freezer for each of the four Florida assholes when they get home.

Preview to the Remix

2010-02-05T14:26:00.009-05:00

The rain is coming down pretty hard now. Dan just worked some magic on a VCR that was gathering dust under the TV, and we're settling down for a hard earned nap with the 1985 classic American Flyers playing in the background.

Today was a full length dress rehearsal for tomorrow's TTT. It's been a very educational exercise in the mechanics and importance of aerodynamics, and we've had a lot of help in the form of our newest training tool:

After switching to iBike from some other power-measuring tools pretty early on in their development, Lee came through in a big way this year and brokered a great team deal. Our whole TT squad (and most of the rest of the team) are using the iAero. For those still unfamiliar with the system, it uses a pressure sensor on the leading edge of the computer, combined with speed and angle measurements to calculate a very accurate power output. Turns out that there is a bigger difference than I ever realized between perceived effort and actual wattage.

In a road race with a field of 40 riders, drafting is a relatively uncomplicated situation. It's like being asked to chase a big rig down the highway. In a single-file line of four riders, though, it's more like chasing a Scion xA egg car. Factor in a gusting crosswind, and realtime wind readings make it a heck of a lot easier to track down what little draft there is to be had.

Progress was made, and the ride data backs it up. Today's transitions were much smoother than yesterdays, even in windier conditions. Practice is paying off, and we're all relatively calm and confident heading into the real thing. Wish us luck tomorrow. We want to represent the team well.

Goobernatorial Candidacy

2010-02-04T17:07:00.007-05:00

Astute readers may notice the absence of one Boy Langlois from today's escapades. A happy coincidence gave him the opportunity to spend some time with his father, leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves.

When the former Mayor of Gainesville aspires to a higher office, he has to hit the campaign trail. Hard. And while our evening activities have centered around the idea that there's no such thing as bad publicity, we decided to devote a day to building positive public image.

Today was the first attempt at a paceline with aero bars, and all told it went quite well. At least, nobody got hurt and we all looked like goobers. Sounds like a success to me. Our 30 mile ride this afternoon included a 14 mile mock TTT, and a lazy return home with several high-profile campaign stops on the way.

We watched as Brendan:

Mingled with his constituents,

Engaged in acts of public service,

and supported local conservation efforts.

After we got home, he rewarded his campaign managers with his first post-vegan attempt at cooking eggs.

They were great. Gerald was quite pleased. He expressed himself through interpretive dance, and set back the effort to restore our image by a few days.

Springtime Forever.

2010-02-04T09:27:00.003-05:00

When a post goes out calling for a host to put up roughly half a team of cyclists traveling with most of a team's equipment, you need a lot of luck and great fortune to have someone elect out their place to you.
Fortune truly smiled upon us as an old friend did just that. With no trepidation, Niles, owner of Recycled Bikes, a true Gainesville staple and instituiton offered up house for us to invade. It has been so comfortable and hospitable, we could want for no more. Ample space, great food and a beautiful house There is no more to say. Here are some photos.

2010-02-03T20:58:00.003-05:00

After a fun night doing a victory lap of the Gainesville bars we were back up and ready to ride with a respectable start time of approximately noon. The boys prepared with plenty of leg oil and we were off.

We headed out of town via the Hawthorne Trail and then onto CR 234, a familiar road for me. Live Oaks with Spanish Moss line the road as it sweeps through cow pastures.

The team pulls together for what turns out to be a 60 mile tempo ride on a cool 60 degree day.

About forty miles in we take a quick break in the shade while Gerald secures his cleat.

Among the mega fauna spotted that day were zebras, plenty of cows, ponies, and what appeared to be gazelles.

Team photo.

After our ride we swung by Leo's in full kit and grabbed a few slices.

Our friend Josh was nice enough to treat us with some creme brulee. Our ride for the day was over with no schedule for the rest of the day. Winter training camp 2010 continues.

Spring Comes Early pt.1

2010-02-03T10:15:00.006-05:00

Our clown car made the trip from Philly to Gainesville FL. In a scant of fourteen hours. The car was packed tight with gear and personnel, the roof decked out to the nines with bikes and wheels, doubling the height of the car itself.

Sleeping in the car was close to impossible, and it seemed like temperatures were not rising as we moved toward lower lattitudes. Snow still covered the ground as far south as both Carolinas. To our avail, as we cruised into our destination, warm rainy skies greeted us then cleared to gorgeous skies. We hardly settled into town before getting in the monkey suits and heading out out for a ride.
Like a pack of goofy animals sprung from a cage we bounded out onto the roads that were familiar to some and new to others. Canopies of moss covered live oaks covered the roads still wet and cool from the morning's showers. Beautiful.
The night saw us taking samples of the watering holes in town for a good while before we shut down in our host's house. Which is nothing short of fantastic, I should add.

McGrath bikes (Philly delicacy)

2009-11-23T21:52:00.014-05:00

In case anybody was wondering what Brendan does in his spare time when he is not saving the world from global warming or defending his position as the #1 ranked cat4 cross racer in the Universe. Here are some shots of Brendan building a sweet cross frame for his friend Christian.

The drawing

laying out the tubes

Mitering action shot

mitered tube (solid)

Front triangle, almost ready for fillet

Iron Cross VII, mud, blood, sweat and tears in the woods

2009-10-12T10:24:00.005-04:00

I pre-reged for this race a while ago when I had the 70 dollars to blow on a race. As the date for the race drew nearer I felt less and less prepared and motivated to do it and more and more people that said they were going to go dropped out. At the 11th hour I got hooked up with a ride with Team Bike Therapy's newest/first/oldest team member Misha (I hope I'm spelling that right) and Warren from Alliance. Misha was one of the founders of the team that would one day become Team Bicycle Therapy, he recently quit Amoroso's to go back to Therapy to start racing cross at the age of 60. Warren is a crit/ track powerhouse rider and is one of the riders responsible to pushing the drives ride to 36 mph on the first lap.
I have to thank Lee for helping to cut out a whole lot of driving time by helping tune Misha's Subaru WRX, it is a very quick car even, loaded with gear, three people and bikes. But we got to the camp ground where the IC lite race was earlier that day, and sat down to our spaghetti dinner in the dining hall. There were about 30 to 40 people in sweat shirts and flannels packing down second helpings of pasta. After dinner we grabbed a bunk house, it was a small partially open shelter with no heat or insulation or bunks. We all laid our sleeping bags and pads our and did our preped for the next day, filling camel backs, ect. Warren and Misha both brought a bottle of wine so we emptied both using our new iron cross pint glasses. As we where getting ready to turn in Chris Pagoda from ciclismo popped his head in the bunk house looking for a place to sleep.

The next morning it was cold, I was freezing after I got out of my sleeping bag. I did push ups to warm up every few minutes, put my chamios cream on with a cold hand and colder cream. Misha made some really good strong coffee but I really didn't wake up until after the first hard road climb and fire road climb. Check point one seamed to come really fast, I was in that early morning auto pilot until the first single track section that I conservatively picked my way though while everyone I passed on the climbs blew by me. But the whole ride until the third check point was pure pleasure. Crisp sunny day, 40+ mph descents on fire roads, bridging up to a small group on the roads and flat sections of fire roads and organizing a pace line, the leaves were at their peak fall colors and shimmered in the sun. The coarse was very well marked, the volunteers at the aid stations were extremely helpful.

Even the long hike-a-bikes where you shoulder your bike and hike for over a mile up the side of a mountain, where hard but not all that bad. After check point three, the road pitched up toward the sky, you would reach what from below looked like the top thinking it couldn't keep going, and it did, for about 5 miles of hard fire road climbing. My tempo was a bit to fast and on the rollers at the top of the climb I came within an inch of cracking. Which is where Warren did crack, after getting three flat tires both of his legs cramped up and he feel over, still clipped in and then started to cry from the pain. That is how hard of a race it was. The single track after the rollers was really tough, and the last hard climb on the single track is where I did crack, my legs cramped up and I had to walk my bike up the last part of the climb before the last hike-a-bike. Mercifully the last 5 miles of riding where on the road, they flew by, I rolled over the finish line after four hours and thirty five minutes in 45th place and received my iron cross socks.

The winner did it in three hours and fourty five mintues, and the last person in finished in seven hours and fourty minutes. Most races are as hard as you make them but this race is just hard period. But I'll be back next year, maybe I'll break 4 hours.

Images are from Felkerino's Flickr site

Preamble to Hillbilly Hustle v.4

2009-10-05T13:13:00.002-04:00

John-Jack Drummond and I have an affinity for driving to New Jersey and racing our bikes together. On this particular occasion, we were headed to Elmer—a small stretch of land in south-western NJ’s rural farming land. This sparsely populated area of just 1400 inhabitants is known for its sprawling acres of orchards, which fan out in every direction. And, at this time of year, the trees are still bejeweled with brilliant red fruit.

George Carlin would often poke fun at NJ. For example, saying: “New Jersey is the Garden State?…yeah, right!…What are they growing, smokestacks?” I suppose, for him, growing up in New York City, he viewed NJ as an inferior patch of land across the River—much like we Philadelphians view the City of Camden. It’s there, though, we wish it wasn’t. If George visited Elmer, he would realize NJ is only mostly a criss-cross of highways, byways, jughandles, smokestacks, and boardwalks. There are still secret gardens tucked away out there. Thank God.

For both John-Jack and I, this was our first cyclocross race of the season. At 7’oclock in the morning we were both filled with anxiety and coffee. This combination often leads to frequent trips to the bathroom—this time was no exception.

Our twin-bikes were clean & shiny as we hoisted them to the roof. In a matter of hours, though, that would all be changed. After a final check of equipment & sundries, we packed the car. Once satisfied everything was in order, we headed for the fog drenched Walt Whitman Bridge—guided by the lifeless voice of John-Jack’s GPS. It was eerie, though, in a matter of 35 minutes we would safely be at our destination: Hillbilly Hustle v.4

Once off the highway, we zigzagged through the farmland and its backroads. As we approached the address, a man clad in fluorescent clothing guided us to park in a recently mowed field. The car scraped at the topsoil as hundreds of grasshoppers hopped to avoid a crushing fate.

After signing-in, we completed our silly-long checklist of the pre-race routine—numbers were pinned, tires inflated, legs smoldered from the heat of embrocation on our freshly shaven legs. We spent the remaining time before the race surveying the course’s twists & turns. This being New Jersey, after all, there were no real ups & downs, save for a man-made heap of dirt aptly named Mt. Doom.

Because Mt. Doom claimed a victim last year (in the form of a broken clavicle), and this being New Jersey, a round-about was created for those too scared or unwilling to traverse the earthen pile. Taking the bypass, however, would cost a rider two extra seconds to navigate.

On our warm-up lap I, too, fell victim to the deceivingly dangerous Doom. I approached the steep ramp with what I thought was enough speed to send me safely to the other side. As I reached the top, I stalled. My bottom bracket scraped the crest while my front wheel sunk into the still-soft unpacked dirt. Unlike my bike, my body was in motion, though, I was no longer in control—gravity had taken over me. I flipped forward, my feet solidly locked into the pedals. My bike and I, once atop the great Doom, were splayed shamefully on the ground below. Welcome to cyclocross, I thought. I received high marks in fallsmanship from the microphoned announcers calling the play-by-play. I could see the confidence evaporate from the faces of my girlfriend, Father, and random onlookers as I picked myself off the ground. I bolted upright, jumped on the bike, and surveyed the damage. My pride may have sustained a broken collar bone, but my body was fine. I rode away with all parts in working order. Off to the races…

-m-

Whirlybird race report and hangover competition

2009-09-29T11:05:00.003-04:00

This is my first time using a blog or anything like it, but people wanted a race report so here it is. We left Philly at a decent hour for race day because thankfully the C-race was slated to start at 10 am and the venue was only 30 mins away. On the drive over we all compared notes on the level of hangover and the hangover competition was a tie between Gerry and Brendan to be later decided in who would finish worse in their race. Both Gerry and Brendan did the C-race as well as honorary member Eian. Gerry got off to a good start and lead the first two laps with a pretty good gap proving once again that his blood flows better through his veins when thinned with alchohol. Brendan also did a fine job riding in top ten for the majority of the race until an untimely crash opened up his knee and spilled out what seems to be a tar like substance (luckily the UCI wasn't there because Brendan's blood look to thick not to be doped)So Gerry ended up 5th on the day (could have been 4th but a number of lapped riders thought it would be fun to block his way on the run up). Brendan finished 13th thereby winning the hangover competition here is a side by side comparison of the hangover face

Eian also rode a fine race. I am not sure if he was participating in the hangover competition but the expression on his face sure made it look like he was. However, as we learned last week, Eian has an uncanny ability to capture the classic suffer face right when the camera man snaps a shot of him. The rest of the race he just rides around with a smile I swear.

The next race was the B race where Mike Mast experienced the highs and lows of good form stuck behind a bad crash. Mike was the 3rd to last person through the first turn thanks to a crash that happened right in fornt of him on the start line.
Out of the 75 or so that started Mike's race He moved up through the field finishing a respectable 32nd given the 3 other crashes he was stuck behind.
Watching him during the race, he looked strong and kept moving up the whole time.
My race was next, and I have to thank everyone for sticking around to watch, it was great to have people cheering for me. I got a good start and was leading the first lap when Mike Yozell tried to take and inside line on a turn and crashed into me. we were both tangled up and found ourselves at the back of the group. Follwing Yozell up through the group was fun and educational but I definitely burned a lot of matches doing it. By the end of the race my legs were cramping up and I was having a hard time remounting after barriers as seen in this picture.

I ended up 10th on the day and felt good for most of the race. I felt so good that I was even attempting to blow kisses to the camera manAnd on a final note I want to thank My wife Jen and all who helped her in picking out and putting together my most amazing Birthday present (wheels pictured below)...Andy, Dan, Shane. It was a total surprise, they ride great, they look beautiful and give me a shit-eating grin every time.

Charm City- Intimate reflections and Photo contest

2009-09-21T20:37:00.010-04:00

Holy Crap what a weekend. Nittany Lion pictures are still being loaded, so I'll wait until they are up to talk about all that. So straight on to Sunday and Charm city. We had a big crew of Willem, Brendan, Mike and me from the team, and teammates in spirit but not in kit, Dan Action and Eian from Firehouse bikes, drove down and raced with us. Luckily we all raced the B race except Dan who was racing for UCI points, so we didn't have to wake up to early.
The course was pretty much the same as last year. Nice new touches were the stars instead of the barriers on back hill, and soul food. I don't remember there being soul food last year but I'm happy they will be at a few other MAC races. I was pissed when I didn't get a call up at the start but I got over it as soon the gun went off. Eian was pre-riding the course when everyone was lining up, then was still riding up to the start when the pack went by and had to jump on from behind. So out of a race of 125 starters and with most of us lining up in the back of the field, our results where...

I got 8th place, after the results were initially posted as 10th, Willem got 22nd, Mike got 57th, Brendan got 78th and Eian who had to chase on to the whole race got 83rd. Dan had crap luck again in the UCI race when he went down and his bike decided to ghost ride down the hill but still finished in the money.

But it was a really fun race, I saw alot of familiar faces and met some new ones. And one last thing, really bike thanks to Mikes girlfriend Becky who saved our lives when she saw a SUV Mike didn't see.

So on to the next thing. The competition was hot, there was a lot of photo's provided by Cycling Captured and MLK Images, many, many, many mediocre pictures. Demon Cats was also there but I don't feel like waiting for the photos to load. So the winner for the Charm city cross race is... Eian! for this amazing expression that expresses all that cross racing is.

Willem gets runner up for having the same look of unshakable concentration in every picture. Its like he's doing taxes.

and Brendan gets the last podium for this piture of him running away from a this enormous man who was trying to crush him under his size 20 feet. and here are some more photo's of Willem

This is Mike

Some of me (shane)

Brendan

and Eian, again showing us what suffering really looks like.

Cyclocross is hard...

2009-09-12T12:56:00.004-04:00

I took my cross bike out this morning before work for its maiden voyage. The bike performed flawlessly. I, on the other hand, had a hard time keeping the rubber down. I hit the deck more than a few times…but who’s counting. I laughed, got back on the rig, and shredded more trail (the usage of the word "shredded" is debatable). The dribble of blood coming from my knee only made me want to ride harder, get better. I could have ridden all day. Damn work was calling, though.

Cyclocross is a beast. Having a road biking mentality, my mind was bent as I tried to apply what I thought were the proper techniques to successfully navigate the terrain. On many occasions I was on the brink of disaster—overcooking turns, turning too sharply, even climbing out of the saddle was calamitous on the loose gravel (that’s where I obtained the trickle of aforementioned blood).

After I realized my tires were a tit over-inflated, I stopped, lessened the pressure, and was again on my way. It’s amazing the difference in ride-feel after releasing 5-10 psi. The road was instantly softer and more forgiving. I was carrying more speed through the turns. I felt steadier. "This rules", I thought. "I am totally into this".

*Sidenote* Dan Langlois is an animal. He tears through the woods like a rabid boar. I have a lot to learn, bigger balls to grow. I look forward to the challenges to come.

I omitted the part about Nathalie kicking my butt, which she did—all over the woods. She rocks!

I’m glad you set up tepid laps, Nathalie. It was an awakening experience. I now know what I’m getting myself into (bloody knees and falling in large nettle plants). It will be some time before I graduate to warm laps and beyond.

Stay radical!

Cross Practice

2009-09-09T21:47:00.005-04:00

Congratulations to Gerry, Shane, Juliet and Willem for making it out to cross practice in the beautiful weather we had this evening. Much props to Juliet and Gerry for making it out for the first time. I think I fell more than both of them combined. Gerry, ever the asshole, was really good and kept up with the A ride after doing two sets of the B ride and riding away from everyone in that ride. A good dose of rain made the course nice and slippery. I think we are all ready for next week's practice and the first races of the season right after that. Also congrats to Mike Green for getting out the first time on his cross bike.

Milk Chug Monday Challenge

2009-08-24T22:16:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago Gerry made a drunken wager with Mikey Green that he could consume an entire gallon of milk in one hour. Later, he sobered up and did some research on the Internet and learned that while it was physically possible, the results were often unpleasant.

Faced with the facts, he did what any sane, reasonable human being would do...he tried to get himself out of the bet.

Mikey Green would have none of this, so a date was set and a venue was chosen. A couple of friends stopped by for a few beers to watch the spectacle. Good times were had by all...well, except for Gerry.

Here, for your viewing pleasure is video documentation of Gerry's attempt at consuming an entire gallon of whole milk in one hour:

Course de Marlton-Evesham-Marlton

2009-08-23T16:50:00.003-04:00

Mikey Green and I took a ride over the Ben Franklin today for some Jersey-style crit racing at the Course de Marlton-Evesham-Marlton. This is a fancy name for a bike race held on a course in an office park that most area racers have spun around thousands of times. The course has two right angle turns and a sweeping S turn on the back end. It ends on a slight uphill that probably rises no higher than 20ft, but thins the herd a lot more than you'd think.

After taking in the first Master's race, we signed up and lined up and were off. In a lower category race, this is the time of the season where most racers have good fitness, so unfortunately a lot of sketchy riders who would be getting shot OTB in the spring are now strong enough to wreak havoc at the front.

And by wreak havoc, I don't mean getting up to the front and setting a hard pace or breaking away, I mean sitting up in the middle of hard efforts, taking hands off the bars when they should remain on the bars and plenty of unpredictability in the corners.

Mikey and I did our best to stay at the front and stay out of trouble. I haven't raced a crit since the first week of May, so it was a bit of an adjustment at first...a little closer, a little twitchier. However, when you go through the same loop 20 times, it makes it really easy to pick out the right lines and the places to be when it gets fast.

There were two crashes...one in the middle of the race right by the start/finish line and another in the final third of the race on the backside of the course. Mike and I stayed out of trouble and found ourselves 1 and 2 going into the last lap.

Mike played the dutiful teammate and led out...I was right on his wheel, which was going to force someone else to make the first move. A QCW rider and another dude jumped past on the right in the final half mile and I was able to get on their wheel. The finish was on an uphill and I started my sprint a little bit to early. I picked off the other dude, but the QCW rider and two other guys passed me from behind when I faded a little bit at the line. I came in fourth, but just missed the podium spot I was aiming for.

Mikey was pretty spent from his leadout and got swallowed up and came in 45th (it was a pretty big field.) Big ups to Mike because he definitely put me into a position to finish well and I am positive that without that leadout, I probably finish in 10th at best.

All in all, a good day. A good result and both Mikey and I kept the rubber side down and keeping with tradition, we enjoyed 11am Lionshead Lights immediately following the race.

Also, I threw down one of my best murderfaces to date in the final sprint...I really hope the photographer was able to get a shot.

Grass Track!

2009-08-10T20:44:00.003-04:00

The Grass track was a real good time. I'm going to blame my being bad at it on my tires. My lack of ability, taking turns to wide and forgetting to put weight on my outside hand could have also contributed to me sucking. Mike Mast would go pro if you could go pro in grass track races. He's been saving up his legs all season and he's now found his true calling. Willem is a jerk and you should never let him get his handle bars infront of yours. Nice to see such a large showing of team therapy tonight. had everyone but Brendan and Jack there.

Rumor has it that cross practice will start in early September thanks to our friends at Wissihickon cyclry.

Race of the Race pics, your second chance to win big.

2009-08-05T07:08:00.004-04:00

After much deliberation I've decided that this last weekends prize of being in the right place at the right time is...

Brendan looking the fastest,
and Jack at a close second, both with the side views. One of Jacks typical murder faces would have pushed him over and given him the win.

Mikey getting a third place. Great photo but it loses a few spots because you can see his bike in the picture and sharp eyes could tell that its a Trek.
And hear are some of the others. Better luck next weekend .

Doylestown Circuit Race Report...

2009-08-03T22:56:00.002-04:00

Team BT brought a full squad to Doylestown for the 4th Annual Cyclesports Circuit race. We had three in the 5 race and three plus a secret one in the 3/4. The weather was for shit so the 4 race ended up getting cancelled and the 5 race was shortened. I only saw the 5 race go by a few times, but every time I noticed that Andy, Ansel and Miguel were holding it down in the front...and a lot of dudes were getting popped off the back. In the end, Miguel took 4th, Ansel took 7th and Andy came in 8th. I'm sure one of those dudes can fill in the blanks about what it was like. Anyhow, Kudos to Miguel for his first top 5 and kudos to Ansel and Andy for top tens in the their second and first road races.

Gerry, Brendan, Dan and I lined up for the 3/4 race in what was probably the worst weather of the day so far. It's funny...they cancelled the 4 race, but it would have taken place during the best weather of the day. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful race. It rained on and off during the first few laps and then came down insanely hard at the end. The rain pretty much neutralized the race save for a few premes that Gerry went for. I think he ended up second in every single one. I felt bad...if I knew that was what he wanted to do, I would have tried to be more helpful.

At the end, we were all up towards the front...I lost my nerve on the last corner and didn't try to really carve it to get myself in a good position for the sprint. To be honest, I was stoked that I had made it that far in a rainy 3/4 race without crashing out so I felt like I had already won. I think a lot of other people had the same idea...I'm pretty sure that if it would have been dry about 23984702398470 people would have tried diving into that last corner and stacked everybody up. Gerry and Dan ended up in the top 15, I think and Brendan and I rolled in not too far back. I didn't check the results as it was basically a torrential downpour at that point.

Enough about the race, though...the real highlights involved a bunch of dudes in wet spandex flying down a giant slide intended for 60-lb kids and then CRUSHING an Indian buffet. I ended up in a food coma for the rest of the day and didn't eat again until the next morning.

Awesome dudes, awesome day.

Spectracross

2009-08-02T10:05:00.003-04:00

Well this is what the mild action of the first "B" mens race looked like. It was unfortunate that there wasn't more people racing but if there had been I won't have gotten 3rd. Another unfortunate part of the race was that some of the races had a pretty big payout while other races, like the one I was in had no cash, no merch, just the reward of self satisfaction. One last unfortunate thing was the feeling when your finished with your race, that your not covered in mud, but in shit. Luckly there were lots of places to wash livestock near by. But the race was flat and hot.
After the race, we went into the state fair to look around. We saw chickens.

Goats and sheep.

And people that didn't really get how to use sunscreen.

All around awesome day.

Sand in your shoes

2009-07-30T08:46:00.002-04:00

I took this picture this morning of a nice place to practice your sand trap skills while ruining your drive-train. It includes a fallen tree barrier at just the right height near the end. Two more days til spectra cross and I hope there isn't as low of a turn out as the pre-reg list suggests.

Weekend Update: Gentlemen's Century and other stuff

2009-07-27T17:14:00.009-04:00

Everything always seems to happen when I actually get the leave the city, well fun things happen that is. Everyone hears I'm going to be away so they all throw a party. A few guys went for a long ride without me and Mike wrote about it but he's to intimidated by the power of the blog to post it so I'm doing it for him.

“Half One—the first fifty miles”

It was early on a fine July morning, about 7:30. At the museum was an assembly black & red clad cyclists waiting for the Gentlemen’s Century to get underway. After all confirmed riders arrived, we set off down the road—we wouldn’t return until what would later be logged at 115 or so miles.

It was an interesting ride, made much more interesting by the frayed derailleur cable that turned my 20 speed race machine into a 2 speed ride of attrition. My spirits were as frayed as that cable, having occurred in the first five miles. I almost turned back towards home. For some reason, I pressed on.

Luckily, Andy & Dan, 2 highly trained mechanics, were there to adjust my limit screw to give me a much more forgiving gear combination than 39x12 and 53x12. Again, we were on our way. I was riding my bike, still unsure if I made a rational decision to join the group for 95 additional miles or was this an act of hubris. It’s debatable.

Keeping up with racers over the twisting, undulating terrain proved difficult, having nothing more than pedal cadence to alter my speed. I could feel the effort costing extra energy. The fluctuations in cadence mirrored that of my heartbeat. Up, down, up, down. If you’ve never pedaled at 135 rpm for an extended period of time, I suggest you give it a go.

The roads of the northern suburbs are very familiar to me. I started out riding these roads, especially those of Buck County. These roads have much to offer: they are challenging, scenic, and not heavily travelled. It is easy to forget where and when you are with the mix of colonial and contemporary houses. Bottom line: this is a really beautiful area—a cycling heaven.

After roughly 50 miles, we made it to our first destination: a quiet, out-of-the-way French Bakery hidden in one of New Hope’s back alley’s. We sat in the shade of a tree and joked while eating delicious pastries and sipping coffee. This is the way all Sundays are meant to be spent. Life is good.

There are a couple of other happenings in the not-so-distant future. I just signed up for Spectra Cross at the NJ State Fair for the August 1st "B" race. I made sure to wait long enough that if the start position is based on registration, I will be stuck in the back of the grid. With run-ups over crushed cars and on a field that is shared with monster trucks, its probably a good idea to leave your new carbon wheels with dugast tires at home. There are several cross races that are having their registration opening soon , Wissahickon, Charm City, Iron Cross and a few others. I might blow my rent money if it gets me up front for all the good races.
Jack has informed us that "state championship road race will be held on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (Sept 6) and will be the same course as last year in Robeson Township".

While I was in Ithaca, NY this weekend I saw a million older folks with cue sheets and up right riding positions. I asked one woman if she was on a sportive. She told me that she wasn't but she was in fact on a ride from Cortland to somewhere else in the area and it was a two day supported ride. This made me want tell her that she was in fact on a sportive but didn't know it and it made me want to do another. These organized sportives are great, unlike at races where everyone looks more fit then you, you feel like superman surrounded by all these men and women in their 50's and 60's that fill out their club fit jerseys, and there is an enormous amount of food. Its like twelve church bake sales converged to make sure you don't bonk.
Why did I go to Ithaca in the first place, I'm sure you ask yourself? It wasn't just so we could camp through six thunderstorms, it was to unload my cat on my parents who live up north. Isn't Oden a noble cat.

Drawing with Freaking Lasers!!! Lunch Meat and Man Meat.

2009-07-22T21:04:00.003-04:00

So I've got this thing at work that cuts and draws with light. This is what it does to anodized aluminum. Unfortunately it will not cut C-fiber, alloys or steel, the world isn't that magical yet, but it can do plastics, leather, wood and some other stuff like lunch meat and pumpkins. I may be able to cut C-fiber with the power of water soon so I might be making custom chain guards for cross. If not I'll be making cutting bash guards from sliced ham.

Now for the man meat.
Lee manage to get us all together in the same at the same time to take team pictures. Imagine our embarrassment when we all showed up wearing the same thing. The picture is a link to the rest of the gallery. Thank you Lee.

Blog Gone Public and Big Day For Team Therapy

2009-07-20T22:38:00.004-04:00

So the whole wide world can read this now. Lee gave us his blessing this evening while we were taking some Team pictures on the top of a BBQ joint across from the bike shop. A link to the pics will be posted soon, (you can identify me by looking for the one who is most handsome).

In bigger news Team Therapy cleaned up last weekend at the races. I'll copy Jack and Mike's words since they were there.

"Hey friends:

I don't know if any of you heard yet, but Team BT claimed its second scalp of the season yesterday when Gerry won the 4/5 race at the Ronde Van Mullica in Hammonton, NJ. Big bad Brendan took second, I rolled in at 10th and Miguel Green came in at 17th. Here's how it went down:

Mikey and I woke up at the asscrack of dawn to drive to Hammonton, NJ for some NJ-style racing. For the uninitiated, NJ-style racing means no hills, a lot of elbows, a lot of yelling and not a lot of attacking. I haven't been racing in Jersey this summer and I haven't been doing Greentree on Thursday nights so I kind of forgot how tuned-up NJ racers can be...especially in a lower category race.

Brendan and Gerry were running a little late and barely made the start. We lined up and were all joking about how much alcohol we had consumed in the past 48 hours. The race was to be 4 10-mile laps through the Pine Barrens. The course was pancake-flat and only had five right hand turns. It felt like the world's longest 4-corner crit course.

Lap 1 was pretty uneventful...two guys went off the front right from the beginning and we brought them back. As we came back to the start/finish line, Gerry and I attacked, hoping to bring a couple of people with us or at least provoke a reaction. This being a 4/5 race in NJ, they just let us go. I couldn't believe it. We were off the front for a few miles and saw that nothing would come of it, so we sat up and rejoined the group. Gerry tried to get in another break, but nobody was interested in doing anything other than sitting in.

So we sat in for the remaining laps...the pace got pushed slightly in the last lap. The course ends on a 4-mile straightaway and I found myself on the front as the straightaway began. I turned to the dude next to me and said "The finish line is a lot further away than you think." I was totally in his head.

I started riding pretty slow at the front to force somebody else to move to the front to work. It happened eventually, and I made my way back into the line about 15 riders back or so. I could see Gerry and Brendan ahead of me. As we approached the finish line, the front of the group stretched out but they weren't going fast. This being New Jersey, everybody was just waiting for a bunch sprint. I had a clear lane on the left and I knew I could give Gerry a pull to about 150 meters out.

I attacked on the left side from about 15 riders back and even I was surprised at how quickly I got to the front. I was really hoping that Gerry saw me and hopped on my wheel...

I didn't look back, so I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but both Brendan and Gerry got on my wheel and then sprinted around to take 1-2. I think there was at least a bike length between them and whoever was third. It was so awesome. All week we were talking about how we were going to get Gerry to the line and we did it! Brendan taking second was icing on the cake. I still made it in 10th place so I got credit towards my upgrade.

A bunch of people congratulated our dudes but of course, this being Jersey, there was a lot of talk after the race from some other "coulda woulda shoulda" dudes about how slow the sprint was how no one wanted to work and blah blah blah, which made it all the more sweeter.

All in all, a great race for BT and I'd love for Brendan and Gerry to fill in some of the blanks in my report if they want to relive it.

Cheers,

Jack"

"Unidentified rider #17

This was my first " crit-style-race". Fighting for position and dropping
elbows seems to be the way it's done. Guy were riding like complete
jerks; making rapid accelerations and decelerations. It was hard to get
a good rhythm (status quo for crits, as I am told). One guy was diving
into the inside of each corner and totally jamming up everyone's lines.
At one point, he made direct contact with me and my handlebars. Luckily,
I could see this developing before it occurred. Otherwise, I would have
hit the deck at 25+ through a corner and spread all over the road. I was
not pleased and made him aware of my frustration. This is just from the
first lap, though, the remaining three would be something very similar.

I was in good position for the whole race until the final 4-5
miles--when everyone jammed into the front--due to the slow pace down
the final stretch. I was surprised how many guys were towed to the line.
Guys that shouldn't have been there were. I was boxed in.

Gerry's experience showed during the final stretch. We were side by side
during the last few miles. However, he managed to weave through the
tiniest places to get himself into a better position, a position that
allowed him to make a race winning dash to the line.

When the sprint started, many of those ahead couldn't match the sudden
burst of speed. I found myself having to dodge road furniture while
simultaneously sprinting for a better result. I thought for sure I was
going to crash and momentarily thought about sitting up to avoid the
pile-up I was sure was about to ensue.

Unless you cross the line first, it's hard to estimate where you placed
in the pack. I was hoping my final push to the line put me somewhere in
the first 30 riders. My goal prior to stepping in the queue before the
race was a top 20--a reasonable goal for a Cat 5 racing in a 4/5. After
the results were posted I scanned from top to bottom. There's Gerry in
first position, followed by Brendan slotted in second. I looked a bit
further down and my eyes came across the name of Jack Drummond rounding
out the top 10. I kept going down the list. 15, 20, still no me. 25 came
and went, as did 30. I went all the way down and my name was not to be
found. Huh?

I had to go over to the camera man to determine where in the group I had
placed. We went through the photo-finish photos. It was interesting to
see the developments from another, much less scary perspective. We
started from the winner and worked our way down the heavily populated
group sprint. I was tucked in behind another rider with only half of my
number visible. "That's me", I shouted with glee as he counted off the
17th place finisher. That spot on the result sheet was filled with
"unidentified rider". It was me. Woo!

Everything went according to plan; Gerry took the win with the
assistance of a well placed slip-stream provided by none other than Jack
Drummond. Brendan wanted a podium position, which he got. And I wanted
to come in with the top twenty riders...

This is my finest day in black & red.

Mikey Green"

Mount Nebo Video Again

2009-07-13T18:39:00.002-04:00

Untitled from Juliet Shen on Vimeo.

Look what I did in half a lunch break

2009-07-13T11:58:00.000-04:00

Limitless horizons we have before us. Shirks will tremble when they see how serious we are about talking about cycling. I've only invited The team so far as we havn't really gotten Lee's blessing as of yet and we should probably get that before we take the privacy setting off.

CATEGORY	DISTANCE	START TIME	PRIZES/PLACES	ENTRY FEE	FIELD LIMIT
CAT 4	25 miles	1:00pm	500/ 10 places	$30	75
MASTERS* 35+	30 miles	To follow	700/12places	$30	75
Kids	Sprint/1 lap	To follow	Medals/Ribbons	N/A	25
1/2/3	35 miles	To follow	1500/ 15 places	$30	75