Sunday, February 27, 2011

Ichabod's Roll

Maybe we should book more afternoon rolls. Attendance was great this afternoon. Pelo included Me, Ullrich, Stanton, Dustin, AT, Charlie, VJ and...wait for it.....Fitzy! Bored with the standard loop fare, and in search of a wind cheater, we decided to head north in search of the Parmer passage. Not only was it great to see Dustin and Stanton, but they were our guides, as they office somewhere up in that Parmer/South Dallas area.

It was a breezy and warm afternoon, with temps in the mid 80s and wind gusts around 20mph from the south. My marching orders called for an endurance ride. No microwave efforts, more like a crock pot. Long, slow and controlled ride. With the breeze, I rode the cross bike, my mudder. Garmin monitor was going wacky. I think it was picking up other rider data. as it showed some cadence info, and I don't have a cadence monitor. Maybe time for a new battery.

Fun to try a new route, but too much traffic. and a hairy moment with a motorist that deserves a beating left me really appreciating early morning rolls around the dam.

We had a tailwind all the way up to Parmer, then rotated pulls on the way back. Lost Dustin and Stanton at McNeill, victims of poor hall pass negotiating. But they are both in for 337! Looking forward to that roll fellas! Lost AT on 360 to his rip cord impulse. It was a good day, no epic anything, but no flats, no crashes kinda evened it out.
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Route looks like Ichabod Crane to me. Check it out.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/70509860

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Polar Express

Those of you with kids almost certainly know the book. Written and illustrated by Chris van Allsburg, it's a poignant story about the childish wonder of Christmas. In the story, only kids that still believe in Santa can hear the bells ringing on Santa's sleigh and reindeer. Once you can't hear the bells, you have crossed into the cynical world of grown ups, never to be truly naive again.

On today's ride, I heard the bells. And so did AT.

Intimate crew this am. Me, Crack, AT and Ullrich. Hoodie had a piano recital. Scheibs bowed out due to overservice on Friday. Fitzy had a lacrosse commitment. Panozz had a golf tourney, Malo went to Seinfeld, MC was in Vegas, Doherty was sleeping, etc. A veritable Puissancerria. We decided to roll down to Circle C and do a little team TT spin. While cruising over to SW Pkwy, our band of HCD was overtaken by the Rapha Gentlemen's Ride. About a hundred dudes. Not all gentlemen, by the way. Douche-factor aside, it was a fun diversion, as they held a brisk but manageable pace for us to tuck in and enjoy the pull down 360 to Loop1. They U-turned underneath Mopac, so we cut loose from the gents and dropped back to HCD pace.

The TT plan was to pull a four-man paceline, 30 second efforts, around the 8 mile TT loop. We cranked it up. Plan unravelled early as Cracker cracked and fell off the back a few turns into the effort. Down to three to share the load. Me, AT and Ullrich rotated and kept the lid on. We pulled back a bit on the first climb, but were churning in sync for the first 1/3 of the ride. Ullrich started turning green at the gills as we approached the turnaround, so we slowed the pace a bit. Even with the reduced effort, it looked like we were down to two. As we started the second half of the effort, we glanced back at the big german, and his head was down. Now it was a two-man effort. Me and AT started cranking, and believe me when I say it was our top-shelf effort. In looking at the power data, this was my best 20 minute effort. Ever.

Anyway, as you may know from experience, this part of the course is slightly downhill. Toward the end of my second pull in the 2-man rotation, I felt like I was gonna have to dial it back. Not sure what AT was thinking, but then OUT OF NOWHERE, I heard the bells of the Polar Express. Well, not actually bells. It was Ullrich! That bastage was back on the paceline! Using the slight elevation drop and some serious true grit, he had motored back to us. Unbelievable! Like re-discovering Santa, it was a freakin' Circle C miracle. Not only did he catch us, but he yells "Let Me Take a Pull!". Which we gladly accepted. Fully jacked, we turned up the heat for the remainder of the TT effort. I will let AT report the final numbers, but as with any AT-monitored ride, I am sure it's an HCD record.

Post TT we somehow lost Cracker. Took a roundabout route back to Lola, with Ullrich topping the ride off with a punk-rock puncture (see pic below). Looks like a wheel fit for Trent Reznor's bike.



BOW DOWN BEFORE THE ONE YOU SERVE!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Boom Boom Pow - Hoodie style

Big crowd today. Hoodie, Dr Fuentes, Wulf, Yeti, Silencer, Bergamo, and me. Coach stopped by to drop off some equipment for delivery to the Invisible Tree. Weird weather, weird start. Realizing that I could go no where without shoes, I hopped in the car and told the Boys I would meet them up the road.

Apparently, Hoodie decided to make everyone suffer for my missing footwear. I barely got out of the car at the meeting spot before Hoodie was rolling up. Doc rode up later and complained about his average speed during the "warm up".

Headed down 620 out of Lakeway towards the dam. Everything was good until the last downhill at the dam. Hoodie had a bit of a blow out on the downhill. We all passed him thinking......, well I don't know what we were thinking. Everyone of us just rolled by him. He said later he called for help. With a hole in his tire after replacing his first tube he limped up to Walgreen's. A hammer gel foil inserted and a new tube installed, we left. At Anderson Mill, Hoodie completed the trifecta with a flat on his front tire. Boom boom pow.

Nice paceline on Spicewood (Sean great pull at the end!), and no head wind on 360 was just what we needed. Coffee at Lola's and then Hoodie and I rode back to my car. I think Todd needed more time in the saddle and he needed to burn off some frustration.

It was a survival ride that really had no rhythm. Hope tomorrow is better.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Panozzo's TONB Recap

Saturday – 40 Minute Circuit Race.  2.1 mile loop w/ a bell lap at the 40 minute mark.
First of all, this was a great setting for a circuit race.  It was a closed loop in a park overlooking Canyon Lake.  Each lap had about 100 ft of ascent after a decent downhill towards the water.  The edges of both sides of the road were chipping away which made it a little sketchy. 

I’ve discovered that I’m a sucker for the break even though I knew that breaks hadn’t survived all day and this course is notorious for coming down to a field sprint.  It’s just too fast to get away.  Not being one who trusted what I had heard, I followed a 3 man break on lap 6 that I’m pretty sure would have stayed away if we would have worked together.  We had a decent gap on the field but then 4 became 3 and then 3 became 2 and we got gobbled up. 

We managed to stay away for all of lap 7 but here is where I made my key tactical error.  After the field caught us, I decided to sit in for a little bit and get my legs back.  The problem with this was that I did that right as the bell rang for the last lap and it was game on.  All of a sudden, I was in the back third of the pack for the fast part of the loop with no opportunity to move up.  When we hit the uphill portion, I was blocked and wasn’t able to move up easily.  I tried my best but I needed to be top 10 at this point to have a chance.  I yelled at some dudes to get out of the way and a few did but not enough.  I sat up and finished with the pack but I learned a huge lesson in circuit racing that day.  You need to be in position with a couple laps to go.

We ended up doing 8 loops.  It was fast as hell.  We averaged 23.8 mph and my average heart rate was 171 bpm. 

Sunday – 36 mile road race.  3 laps around a 12 mile course just east of the malls in San Marcos.

We had 2 doughboys in the race today as I picked up Qunell early Sunday morning for his first road race.  I gave him the cliff notes version of all the various players in the field as we lined up and the few pointers that I had learned.  We had a one mile neutral start and I took this opportunity to implement my new strategy that I’d learned the day before.  I slid right to the back to avoid any temptation of going in a break.  I just didn’t think that a loop 1 break on an incredibly windy day would have any chance of surviving.  So I literally slid all the way to the back of the peloton.  The race started into the teeth of that nasty wind and I could see that a 3 rider break had formed as soon as we left the neutral zone.  I wasn’t going to do any work, yet.

The wind wreaked havoc early though and riders were dropping off the back at an alarming pace.  We started with 50 riders but it seemed like a third of the field was shelled after the first set of hills.  I know that because I was still on the back. 

We could see the break up the road but they were putting some distance between us.  By process of elimination after surveying the remaining field, I figured out who was in the break and it was disheartening.  First and second place from Copperas were in the break along with one of the guys teammates.  I realized that this break could stay away and at that moment I was upset with myself for not going in that break.  At the same time these guys were up the road, the peloton was being blocked helping them succeed.  I rolled up to Q to let him know what I saw and then proceeded to work my way towards the front. 

I got in with a group of about 10 guys and we rotated a pace line at the front of this chase group (which was now down to about 25 riders or so).  We started to put a dent in the break which fueled more guys to work and we reeled them in about a third of the way through lap 2.  Then it got weird.  Everyone sat up.  It turned into a training ride for the remainder of lap 2.  We were literally chatting it up.  It went from a blazing pace to conversation pace.  Half the field had been shelled but we were certainly vulnerable to them catching back up.

Towards the end of lap 2, there were a few small attacks (one of which I followed) but they weren’t organized and the remaining field reeled them all in.  On lap 3 as we hit the hills again, we were at about 90% of race pace but the wind kept us all in check.  Then at the top of the hill and a right turn with about 8 miles to go (still into a hurting cross wind) this guy attacked.  No one responded.  Nobody (including me) thought he could stay away solo with the wind with 8 miles to go.  He was putting some distance between us and no one was working together at the front.    I could tell that he was getting away and since no one was interested in working together I had an idea.  I didn’t want to do all the work at the front of this group just to give someone else a chance to win.  So with 6 miles to go, I attacked.  I never looked back.  I just put my head down and turned the pedals over with foam coming out of my mouth ala a Andy Schleck time trial effort.  We were approaching the fast section of the course so I thought it would make it a little harder for the field to catch me and perhaps I could stay away for a solo second place finish. 

It took a while but I started to see the leader out in front of me and he became the carrot.  I just kept turning over a big gear trying to catch him.  Nearing the end of the third lap, the course heading west back towards the outlet malls with a hard left straight to the finish with a tough cross wind from the left.  I could see the field out of my periphery after the turn and I estimated that I had about 20 seconds on them.  The leader was about 150 meters ahead of me but I could see that I wasn’t going to catch him.  I dug deep and managed to stay away for a solo second.  It felt awesome.

Next week, Walberg and Pace Bend.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

And then there were two....

Has winter finally fired her last shot at the Dough? I don't know but today the group at muster time was just two cyclist. Mid-week training, racing, and answering a Higher calling were all contributors to today's motley duo. Just me and the Silencer (Sean) at the start. Old school Dam Loop was just what we needed.

After leaving Lola's, we made it down the first hill after Barton Creek and as we climbed the next hill I thought a heard a child's bicycle bell. Could it be? Yes it was Bergmano coming up on my wheel! He had reeled us in after he saw us leave Lola's. And then there were three..... Oh great, I thought. Coach tenderized me yesterday with 45 miles and a good training pace line. Now I have the Silencer who is strong like bull and Bergmano.....well if you ridden with him, you know.

Head wind out Bee Cave was bearable, tailwind on 620 was WAY too good. I led a downhill downwind run along 620. (When you're old and rotund you have to take what the route gives you!) At one point, I was fully upright on the bars with the spinnaker raised doing 31 mph! Of course you all know we had to pay the fiddler for that tailwind.

Quick stop at Walgreen's and through River Place brought us down to 2222 and then back to 360. OUCH. As we turned into what felt like a wind tunnel test, I tried to collect myself and focus on a rhythm with the pedals. The bridge was a little squirrely as you had to pedal hard to go downhill! Six miles of pain later, we made it back to the cars and some coffee. All in all a great ride. The kind that you dread starting, but once you've completed it you are glad you got out of bed.

One last thing. Both days this weekend I heard birds chirping. Saturday, the first bird said to me..."Don't try to stay on Coach's wheel right now, you are a long way from home. BTW, Spring is coming!" Today the bird just said...."Lighten your heart, Spring is coming!" So hopefully more of the Dough will come out of hibernation next weekend.

Ullrich

Saturday, February 12, 2011

This is My Backyard!

Those hard enough to handle the 30 degree start included Ullrich, La-vell, Vijay and Me. What promised to be a big Dough Roll turned into a four man paceline. Some had legit alibis, other's excuses reeked of Puissance*. {Puissance, that's the word of the day.} 

We rolled out to Fitzhugh via Southwest Pkwy. First hour we took a nice, controlled spin. While spinning, we were left standing still by the ATC ride. Someday we will hook on the back of that roll and kick it up a few notches. But, not today. They whooshed by, with that cool thrumming of collective carbon rims, all of them pushing big boy watts.

We spun up to Fitzhugh, and turned the heat up a little bit. Weather started a bit nipply, but turned phenomenal. Hard to believe that this sweet Hill Country riding is right in my backyard. I live here baby!

For the majority of the roll we hung together, with the exception of a few greyhound moments. On the way back we drove a sweet paceline (See Lap 9 for details). Also did a few intervals for grins (laps 3.5.7 and 11).

Post-ride Veej and Ullrich did some recon in LaGrange. How does it look fellas? And Panozz? How was the Crit?





According to Urban Dictionary, Puissance is defined as:

*Puissance
The aroma generated by someone that yields to their inner soft-man. Odor is a combination of curdled breast milk and failure.

Example-
When Billy googled the temperature, the room filled with sickly-sweet puissance. He went back to bed.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Time Capsule

I recently ran across an article that demonstrates the timeless appeal of the bike. You should read the whole thing (see link below) and let me know if you agree. Written by Stefan Kanfer for Time Magazine, here are a couple of excerpts that really hit home with me: 
  • It is this freedom, from gas and even from roads, that has brought the American bicycle to its new prominence. For the first time since World War I, cycles are outselling cars. Moreover, the machines are no longer a juvenile item.

  • The bike rider may not get there as fast as in the cab or the family car. But along the way he is creating conditions of health, enjoying the weather and collecting some valuable human truths: every forward motion costs effort; balance means a total involvement in the task; energy has its limits; to stop precipitately is to court disaster; and, of course, a skill once learned is never quite forgotten.
Make sure you note WHEN the article was written, then reflect on how relevant its message remains today.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Panozzo's Race Recap


ACR Recap 2011, Castroville, TX  February 6, 2011
Category 5

There were 50 riders in our field.  This was a circuit race which I’ve now learned is defined as  “A mass-start road-cycle race somewhat similar to a criterium in that it consists of several laps of a closed circuit, but where the length of each circuit or lap is slightly longer, up to a couple of miles per lap.”

Our circuit was 2.5 miles and consisted of 10 laps with two 90 degree turns and an uphill finish consisting of about a 3% grade hill for the last K.  Our race started at 8:02 when it was about 29 degrees.  The pace was brisk right out of the gate and I just tried to stay in the first 10 riders or so.  After the first lap, I could tell that it was going to be a course that was tough to get away.  There were two sections where it felt natural to attack but you just weren’t going to get much separation due to the speed of the pelo at that point of the course.  There were a few half hearted attacks (including one that I launched for giggles) but nobody would work together so there just wasn’t much urgency for anyone to get away.  This was going to come down to a field sprint.

With three laps to go, I was near the front as the pace slowed on the uphill portion of the circuit.  There was compression in the peloton and I was engulfed on both sides.  The pace picked back up but all of sudden everyone was so jittery and I didn’t feel right being boxed in.  Before I knew it, I heard the same dreadful noise from the Pedal thru the Pines - Carbon bikes hitting the deck and brakes slamming.  I was about 5 bikes back from the mayhem but not in a position to avoid going down. Luckily the guy in front of me took the brunt of me.  I remember seeing him curled up in the fetal as I rolled right up over him and we both braced expecting more riders to hit us, which they didn’t.  His rear wheel literally got stuck on my handlebar up over the hood of the shifter which required some careful surgery to unattach them.  After separating them, I gave my bike a once over to see if I was done.  At first, I had that VJ moment where the bike looks worse than it is and you think you’ll have to wholesale it for parts.  Both wheels and brakes needed to be adjusted to get them to spin correctly and the rear derailleur looked bent.  The front right shifter was bent in a little bit.  I reset both wheels, move the shifter back out, adjusted the brakes leaving the calipers open.  Derailleur turned out to be fine after a couple of shifts.  I felt fine so then it was back on the road.

I lost about a minute to the peloton but I was pissed.  My race at this point was all about catching them.  I time trialed myself like a mad man through the lap point (2 laps to go) burning match after match.  I wish there was a way to bottle up post crash adrenalin (maybe they have and it’s called clenbuterol).  After about 2 miles of time trialing, I actually saw the peloton up ahead which gave me the last bit of adrenalin that I needed.  I managed to bridge the gap right at the lap point which I couldn’t believe.  I thought my race was done. 

I worked on my position again and stayed in the top 10 riders for the last lap till the 1K sign.  Pace was high at this point and a couple of attacks were launched but I could tell that I didn’t have it after that bridge effort.  I wasn’t in the top 10 riders at the 250m sign so I sat up and finished with the pack. It was definitely one of those races that left me wondering “what if”.  

I estimate that about 8-10 of us that went down in the crash.  One guy hit his head and was bleeding pretty good from the forehead but looked to be ok post ride.  I still don’t know what happened.  I’m actually pretty good.  I’ve got a sore wrist and some cuts on my arm but that’s about it.  I was lucky.  Hope the dough ride today was a little less eventful. 

Next week – New Braunfels – Saturday is a circuit and Sunday is a road race.


Saturday, February 5, 2011

Ride Slides 3 Hours on Account of Awesome

Ullrich called me late last night to lobby for a later start. He took the safety angle, given the recent freeze and the possibility of ice remnants. I grudgingly accepted his Spock-like logic. Engineers. The thought of an 11am ride dropping an A-bomb on my day was not exciting, but we are Texans. And as Lovell so accurately described, we cannot operate vehicles in icy conditions.

So we rolled a late one. And guess who showed up (10 minutes late)? Malo! Joining the Mal, it was me, AT, Ullrich, Sean (the Silencer), La-velle and the Hoodmeister. It was the right call. Despite the increased traffic and the crazy wind, conditions were great. And given the slush we encountered on the roll, a later start may have saved a frame. And a collarbone.

We did the Full Oz, and added a climb up Cuernavaca for good measure. Pain was the prescription for the day. And it was shared by all.  The warmup climb up Cuernavaca served notice that this was not a day for spinning it out. AT was pushing the pace, Hood was living his nickname, and even I dealt a few rounds of cycle-suffering. And once I was tenderized, the Silencer glided past, delivering his kill shot.

We ran into a VOP group at the Walgreens, where Ullrich was doing a full kit removal on the sidewalk (it was warming up fast). Velo on That!

Huge efforts on:
Dam-Walgreens (Sean/Me)
620-Anderson Mill (Me/Hood)
Anderson Mill (AT)
Spicewood (AT)
360-Jollyville (Hood/AT)
Shoal Creek (All of Us)
Bull Creek (I still reign)
Rollingwood-Lola (All of Us)

On Spicewood we Renshawed AT in a big way, siphoning his wheel until the final climb, then going Cavendish. Good times.

No time to hang out post-ride, but it was a winner!


Mauricio in Action

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Eternal Second

As winter rages and temps in Austin are at their lowest in the past 20 years, let's take a step back into the warm glow of history. Cycling lore is tough to find in these parts, but the internet is the great equalizer. (I got all this data off Wikipedia, so it must be right.) 

Before Jan Ullrich was tagged as first loser, there was PouPou. Yes, it's pronounced poo-poo. Raymond Poulidor had the unfortunate timing to race in an era that began with Jacques Anquetil (conjure up your stuffiest, most self-important French stereotype, then make him a beast on the pedals), then Eddy Merckx. JacqA won the Tour 5 times, the Giro twice and the Vuelta once. Then along comes Merckx, who won the Tour 5 times, the Giro 5 times and the Vuelta once. PouPou finished 2nd in the Tour three times and 3rd place FIVE times, including in his last appearance at age 40. He never won the damn thing. Hard luck for a French farmboy. But here's the kicker. He was the fan favorite. His nickname was no favor, but I gotta respect the French for pulling for the underdog. Poulidor sounds like my kinda guy. Always in there, plugging away despite the odds. This picture below really frames his character. Anquetil (on the left), with his hair brushed back all Pat Riley-style, and Poulidor on the right, just grinding it out, not giving an inch. Inspiring.

So the next time you get crapped outta the back of the peloton, Consider WWPPD (what would pou pou do?) Although he had a shitty nickname his attitude was kickass! So keep on grinding. 


Poulidor (right) battles it out with his fellow frenchie nemesis Anquetil in the mountains.