Training techniques to prepare for next year

So I've been seeing this psychologist to help me improve my life.
When we finally got to the heart of the matter she pointed out that my life only seemed to suck because of my inability to perform well, on the bike. "Unless you can get over your feelings of inadequacy on the bike, you'll never be able to conquor them in the bedroom" she said in a voice that vauguely reminds me of Dr. Ruth (for those of you born before 1980 you probably don't remember Dr. Ruth so look it up) - she's one of those tough love shrinks who doesn't pull punches (sometimes I hate her).

I reluctantly admitted to her of my fear of humiliation as the group takes that finishing turn onto Rt 70, knowing the pain and suffering and ultimate failure that that occurs over those last 4 torturous miles.

"It starts out easy enough" I tell her, I sandbag the last 1/2 hour of the ride to ensure I have enough gas in the tank to accomplish my game plan.

"But that isn't fair to the rest of the group" she tell me, I don't care, I want to be a tuesday night hero.

I recount for her those last 4 miles down Rt 70, how as we turn onto rt 70 I hold my cards close to the vest, but I know others have it figured it out and are waiting to pounce -I start slow, wait, patience is a virtue I tell myself, let some of the others take a pull, slowly move up, one rider at a time, "don't draw attention to yourself" I tell myself, slowly move into a posistion near the front of the pack. Timing is everything, I do some mental math, 3 minutes gone, 3.5 miles to go. Time to launch the attack - I get out of the saddle, start pedaling in a 53/15, on the slight downturn shift down to the 12 - "play your cards right this time" I tell myself.

"it's a good stratagy" she tells me.

But then I admit what happens to me next, the sense of worry, "how long can I keep this up?", and then it happens, the slow burn in my legs and lungs begins to grow warmer, and warmer, hotter and hotter into a full blown inferno, both my legs and lungs on fire - "I'm too old for this crap" I tell myself, "it ain't worth it", "if I can pull a top 20 I'll be happy" even though there are only 15 of us on the ride -

I hear the sounds of changing gears, riders behind me shifting up or down to suit their cadance, getting ready for the spring, slowly I find myself starting to give up as I hear the sounds of wheels and rubber twisting across the tarmac, closing in, that's when I've pretty much tossed in the towel and decide to call it a night.

And sure enough, the other riders begin passing me by, one by one - "must - hold - on" I tell myself. They ride on, I catch last wheel, the front attacker pulls off to let the paceling pull through, I struggle to stay on last wheel. I watch as the leader of the counter attack pulls in behind me, "Hold that wheel", the 3 words I hate the most - damn my legs hurt, not to mention my lungs and brain, toenails, nosehair and every other part of me - "why do I do this?" I asked myself week after week, I look behind me, I don't want to give up, the person on my wheel is counting on me to pull though, 1 rider, 2 riders, 3 riders pull off letting the paceling pull through - I can't stand it anymore, but I can't let the rider behind me down, choices to make - bail out or press on.

I opt for A and watch the other riders sprint forward winning a spot on the tuesday night podium.

I suck.

Back to Dr. Ruth - she told me I must turn my negative self talk to positive.
She suggested some positive thinking during my off season training; when I'm on the trainer I use vizualization techniques to help me with my sprint. "You can work on your pathetic climbing skills later" she says, sometimes she isn't very motivating.

"Start by vizualizing yourself as something strong and powerful as you take the turn onto Rt 70" she told me, I asked her for ideas and she suggested something like this:

"As you begin your assault on the trainer she told me, vizualize the explosive power that's going to erupt from your legs once you decide to make your move on the rest of the group - and don't play it the same way each week, don't hold back, attack as soon as you make the turn, it'll be unexpected and most riders cant deal with the though of a 4 mile sprint to the finish. And be prepared in case someone else in the group thinks they have the legs to carry them over those next several miles."
"Like this?" I asked her?

"Very good" she told me

She went on to tell me that once the power meter in your brain goes over 700w to visualize myself cruising along at a 40mph pace, cracking the mentally inferior riders as they watch me flying off the front, putting other riders in despair dropping them further and further behind as I begin churning out enough watts to turn the street lights in the city of Fitchburg back on. I close my eyes on the trainer and visualize the gap I begin opening up on the rest of the group as I turn on the afterburners - I can't help feeling impressed with myself thinking about how humiliating my overwhelming power is to the group behind me.

And knowing this is going on behnd me

While I enjoy the fruits of all my hard work this winter

I can always dream!!!!!!!

More COVAC 2009 - Click on image to see full size!

These were taken by one of the volunteers at the event.

Better late than never - my COVAC 2009 photos

These appear to be in reverse order, and they really show how bad of a photographer I am.
They only go up as far as the 2nd SAG, I was too tired and sore to care about taking photos after that point.
And I do have photos of our last Tuesday night ride (again nowhere near as good as Charlie's), I'll try getting those uploaded sometime soon.
http://s440.photobucket.com/albums/qq130/barryjo/COVAC%202009/

Here's the link to all the COVAC 2009 pictures

http://s623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/charliecycle/COVAC%202009/?track=share_email_album_view_click

New start time for our weekend rides.

Starting this weekend the rides from Gearworks on Saturday morning and the rides from Orchard Hills on Sunday morning’s start at 9:30am.

While I’m away this Saturday doing the Seacoast Century I’m sure someone will step up this Saturday morning to lead the ride in my absence.

See you all next weekend.

Charlie

Tuesday night ride report - last ride of '09

The most depressing ride of the year report

It’s kind of like I imagine the pros might feel on the last day of The Tour, the final ride of a sometimes enjoyable other times punishing some odd 20+ weeks of riding, riding into Paris onto the Champs Elysees, Leominster, Prospect St, whatever…. Mixed emotions, excited about the ride itself and the post ride dinner’s opportunity to eat, drink, drink more and reminisce over the events of the past 5 or 6 months. Depressed that another year of Tuesday night rides is in the books, older, fatter, slower than the year before, for me anyway.
I was so bummed out about this fact I ended up getting to the shop at 4:30 just so I could extend the experience by another 90 minutes. All I really got out of the 90 minutes was a new water bottle Daren owed me from COVAC, and “A Ride Greg” making me even more depressed telling me how he dialed his HR up to 210BPM on his last training ride. Bowling, Croquet or Golf is the one decision I need to make this winter, and I blew all my money on bike stuff so golf is definitely out.. C’est la vie mes amis.

The stats:
Miles: 20.52
Time: 1.00.25
Avg MPH: 20.4

The ride – I think it’s the same loop we normally do on every "last ride of the year". Heading out of the shop it really was like the final stage of The Tour, everyone talking it up, having fun, the only thing missing was the Dom and some flutes to drink out of.
To be honest, I don’t remember crap about the ride, I think it was due to too much of Peter Cunningham’s wine during the post ride festivities, but I remember things picking up once we crossed Rt 70 and started heading into Shirley, a nice brisk pace, hit the hill and things started falling apart but not too bad. Slowed at the top and by the time we hit the stop sign I think we had everyone.
From there a left over 2 and then a right towards the prison where the speed always picks up, damn I was stuck in the middle on some of the worst tarmac this side of the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix. No matter, a busted up bike is a good excuse to upgrade to a Tarmac SL3 next year, right? New bike = faster speed, or so the good folks at GW are always telling me.
Or maybe not, if I can’t afford a set of Calloway clubs, I certainly won’t be able to afford the SL3.
We somehow ended up in downtown Shirley as we tend to do when heading past the prison. Took a right in the center, well some of us did anyways before realizing we were going straight over the tracks and then right - we really need race radios to keep this stuff in order.
I think we went straight, and then somewhere along the way there was this slight incline that seemed to go on forever, especially with Tattoo Dave, Dustin Pedroia, and a host of other A riders turning up the watts as they quickly separated themselves from the rest of the group.
Thankfully there was a stop sign somewhere along the way where we all stopped to regroup.
Took off again, a left onto 2A and then a real quick, pedal scraping sharp right that would lead us into Devens.
At this point I remember 2 things.
1. Noah pulling a Lance Armstrong and cutting over the grass to shave about 20 feet off his ride, I was actually quite impressed with his riding ability and the show he put on. Nice of him to let me know he did it to make it into the ride report.
Which brings up an interesting point – I didn’t realize anyone actually read the crap I spew out in these ride reports until a lot of people on the ride, as well as at the post ride festivities made comments about my commentary. I suffer from insecurity that goes back to my childhood when Billy McManus beat me up in front of the hottest girl in the 4th grade, so I still don’t know if people were complimenting me or pissed off at me for something I wrote about them or some dumb name I might’ve come up for them for them. Trust me, it’s all good, I love you all!!!!!! And thanks for the added pressure of coming up with new material for next year (my plan is to write about 20 of these in the off season and tailor them to each of the weekly rides next year before posting in the blog - we'll see how that works out).
2. The other thing I remember is after Noah pulled his stunt the roads got real nice and the speed was way up as we dipped into Devens – man it was fun trying to hang on at 40+ MPH flying down those hills.
Once out of Devens we headed back into Lunenburg and came out to PJ Keating.
After the right I knew…… I bided my time, cruising along in the pace line, occasionally drifting to the left to see how things looked….. tick, tick, tick, pull out for another look, time to move up. Big ring or little ring??? Last ride of the year 53/17 big ring for sure!
Slowly made my way to the front knowing full well what was coming.
The worst feeling in the world, positioning yourself perfectly when you know the attack is about to come, moving off the front as we headed up the sorry excuse of a hill, burning matches, HR in the red, aiming to be the first to the top. Things are looking good this time, maybe I have a chance.
And then the unmistakable sound of gears clicking, the steady rhythm of riders out of the saddle as their bikes twisting from side to side, the sound of their wheels tearing up the road.
And worst of all knowing there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop it (except to resolve to train harder with more intervals and less beer in the off season) slowly being swallowed up, one by one until there’s 2, 4, 7, 10 up the road, matches burnt, screwed again as more riders passed by and then total humiliation as the late night jogger passed me on the hill past Padula’s.
“Train smarter, not longer” – this is why I was so interested at the after ride festivities trying to get Tom Orsini to start up the Tuesday night trainer rides we had going on at GW a couple years ago, only this year I want them to start in October, not February.

Oh well, once we all made it up to the top of Prospect street everyone took their flyers down to rt. 13, as usual we missed the light again (I don’t think we ever caught it the entire season).

Back to the shop.

Only one award to give out – “650” Dawn” on the blue Trek got female rider of the night award not only because she was the only female to show up for the ride, but because covered every move throughout the night.
I also fear I might have scared off all the other female riders after my COVAC comments about keeping my head up instead of on the saddle in front of me. I'm still learning so bear with me.

The post ride dinner, as always was a blast. It’s always my opportunity to learn about the people I ride with throughout the year but was afraid to ask. Like putting names to bikes, helmets and kits.
Hats off to Daren, Gene and the folks at Gear Works for their generous donations of 3 water bottles that were raffled off at the end of the night.
Oh yeah, there were gift certificates in those water bottles - I know Dan Oulette was happy that he can buy that new cassette he was thinking about earlier in the day.

What else is there to say? It was another great year of riding. I’m depressed, but I’ll be all right with a little therapy, and when the first sunny days January and February roll around when we can get back outside for some Saturday base training rides.
Until then there’s still a lot of good riding to be had throughout the fall.

Hope everyone has a great off season, looking forward to riding with you again in '10.

COVAC 2009 Ride Report - better late than never

The day started out so promising, I took Charlie's checklist of stuff I'd need for a century, added beer, camera, iPod and cell phone to it and thought I was all set. Everything packed the night before so I could roll out of bed, put the bike on the roof rack and head out.
Once again, I remember essentials such as iPod and beer, forget other stuff like sunscreen, my good sunglasses, bandanas (so as not to sweat over all my fellow riders), towels, a facecloth to clean up with after the ride. And post ride food. But the beer tasted pretty damn good at the end!
For some reason I never sleep well the night before something big like COVAC, an early morning flight, or anything else that requires me waking up before noon. It's not that I dwell on the event itself, or that I have undue anxiety about it, or anything like that that keeps me up at night. It's thinking about not getting enough sleep that keeps me up. And of course the fear of not waking up when the alarm goes off. Even with one of those wind up alarm clocks with the two bells on top that would wake the neighbots up, I know that with ambien and ear plugs you can sleep through stuff like wind up alarm clocks, the block party next door, the police sirens coming to break up said party after the gun shots start going off.
So maybe my worst mistake was not taking the ambien because I slept like crap and 4:30 came very quick.
After packing up the bike and other stuff, headed out, rolled into the hotel parking lot a little after 6:00, I was surprised to see the number of people already there, especially with less than ideal weather.
It was probably a little after 6:20 when we rolled out.
Pulling out of the parking lot I was already nervous about being the last car out , as we headed up route 2 I made a conscious effort to slowly move up until I was about 3rd or 4th wheel, er I mean car from the front.
There were two reasons for wanting to move to the front. One, I have no idea how to get to Hatfield and was afraid of getting dropped at a red light and missing the ride (Peter Cunningham told me missing the start really sucks). And two even more importantly - the first to get to the dunkin donuts parking lot in Hadley gets a primo spot in line to the rest room.

The weather driving down route 2 was to say the least, dreary. I kept hoping things would clear up by the time we got to COVAC, but it remained dismal as we turned off 2 and started the drive down 202. I was about ready to turn around and go back home and ride the rollers (which in hindsight woud've been a good idea) but I had a feeling the weather was about to turn.
And while driving down 202 it started happening, slowly at first, but it was obvious, the sky started to brighten, just a little but it was enough to make me hopeful everything would clear by the time we hit Hatfield.
And then as we drove over a hill close to the Quabbin it happened! The sun came out, ever so briefly, but it was there. And not coincidentally at the same time as the sun was breaking through the clouds the song "Lucky" by Radiohead (one of my all time favs) came out of my ipod, "I feel my luck could change", "it's going to be a glorious day" - and I somehow knew it was going to be a glorious day indeed.
Driving into Amherst it got even brighter until we got to Rt 9 and when the sun was totally through the clouds! Yahooooooo!

Stopped at Hadley D&D for a bio break, carbs and cafine - while there Daren pulled out the biggest bagle and cream cheese I'd ever seen (he'd be holding onto it since he and Nataline left home, how he made it all the way from home to Hadley without eating it was beyond me, but he did - it looked damn good and i wanted some). And then as we were looking at an oversized advertisement for one of D&D's products I learned about his fondness for the D&D Chicken Parm flatbread sandwich (served all day in case you ever have a craving for one at 7:00am on a Sunday morning) - I know he wanted it, but to his credit he resisted, I guess the 2lb bagle and cream cheese was enough of a pre-COVAC ride meal.
After the D&D stop we headed to COVAC, getting there a little after 8:00A, by the time we were done getting set up, photos,etc it was probably close to 8:30 before we got started.

The stats:
Miles 103.3
Time: 292 minutes (4 hours 50 minutes)
Average MPH: 21.2
Average Heart Rate: HC (that's beyond category)


Personally I think of this year's ride as "the Good the Bad and the Ugly" except I'm calling it "The Good, The Better, The Bad and the really Ugly", each segment based on 25 mile increments.

Part 1: The Good

The 1st 25 miles were very civilized, everyone taking their time warming up, enjoying each other's company, laughing it up, I think we were all hoping for a nice easy ride at a managable 20mph pace from start to finish. At least I was hoping that would be the plan.
During this time a certain un-named rider again pointed out the new helmet they were wearing, and the nice fragrent scent of it, a cross between lilac, honeydew and a dryer sheet (I know I mentioned this before, but one of my favorite scents while taking a leisurely Saturday afternoon ride is of Downy coming out of someone's dryer vent).
I also learned that you can actually GAIN weight riding COVAC! Who knew, but between the Hadley Dunkin Donut stop, the 3 SAG stops filled with yummies, and the post ride dinner, race reporter Natalie Couric explained to me her theory of weight gain during a 103 mile ride before interviewing your's truly (with microphone and all) asking what I planned on eating at that first SAG. I lied telling her some fruit, a muffin, maybe a banana. But I had my heart set on other things after Dave Lystila told me they were actually going to be serving up hot turkey dinners complete with stuffing, mashed potato smothered in gravy (mmmmm, gravy!) served with with a slice of fresh pumpkin pie and hot coffee to top it off with, The other dinner option was a Dunkin Donut chicken parm flat bread sandwich. Boy was I ever psyched to get to mile 25, even though it was a huge disapointment when we pulled in that SAG and all that was presented me was fruit, muffins, and bananas. Where the hell was the turkey dinner?!
Oh well, the banana, muffin, chex mix and water was still good, maybe the the chicken parm flat bread sandwiches would be waiting at mile 50.

Oh yeah, before we even got to the first SAG, somewhere around mile 20 there was a group of of us working real well together, like a machine we had the paceline thing working like a freight train tearing up the tracks, each of us taking turns at the front, all I could think of was this must've been what it was like for Astana doing the team time trial at this year's TDF……. That is until we went right when the rest of the ride was laughing at us as they followed the course to the left - I didn't notice who was out front and missed that turn (could've been me), but whoever it was, thanks for the extra watts needed to connect back up to the group. They would've come in handy around say mile 62.

Back to the 25 mile stop, pulling out someone flatted, I think it was Peter Cunningham which was good because he can swap a tube as quick as anyone. While we were waiting I noticed Daren was already low on water, with his one water bottle that someone loaned him back at the Hadley Dunkin Donuts (if you see the photos, the water bottle Daren is drinking from is actually a "free one" Gene gave me when I once spent $4000 on a new bike) - so if Daren is reading this, I want that water bottle back!
But that's not the story. To help unload some weight from her bike Natalie offered Daren some of her water from a bottle she was about to empty, he declined (maybe thinking she might need it somewhere before mile 50), so she starts pouring it out on the ground - Daren had an indescribable look of shock on his face watching the precious liquid spilling out on the pavement, I thought he was going to get down on his knees and start lapping it up, but he managed to catch her before the entire bottle was emptied and she gave him what was left.

Part 2: The Better

As we started out from mile 25 we were averaging a managable 19mph pace.
I can’t remember all the details of the next 25 miles, I do remember the pace began picking up - slowly. Somewhere in Greenfield we had to take a left, right, left slowing us down until we reached route 10(?) - and the tempo quickly picked up to the point where I don't remember my computer ever going below 20mph, at points we were over 30, working as a group, taking turns on the front - Tattoo Dave and several others were driving the pace to the point of insanity as the rest of us tried to hold the wheels of those on the front. At least it was flat so it was kind of fun.

Here's something not to say on a group ride (this happened maybe around mile 45) - we were cooking along working well as a group, being the nice guy I am I try to be accomodating to other riders riding on the outside of the paceline letting them pull in instead of having them drift all the way to the back of the line. That is as long as they meet the following requirements:
1. Are considerate and don't try forceing themselves between riders to avoid falling back (there are 2 or 5 Tuesday nighters who consistantly fall short of this requirement).
2. Are part of our group (no sandbaggers from Cyclonauts unless it's Dawn)
3. And their helmet doesn't smell
A certain female rider was on the outside, she looked over to to her right, I fell back and told her to jump in, someone behind jokingly told me "Don't let Natalie in". What not to say on a group ride? "I don't mind, I really don't want to look at Mark's (Muzzi) ass anyway", which was true enough but no sooner were the words out of my mouth when I realized how it must've sounded to the female rider I let in and every other female rider reading this who will now never want to ride in front of me (damn pervert!).
Fortunately the female with the fresh helmet took it all in stride, but I'm not sure how Daren felt after I told him abou the comment - it was only a couple of weeks ago I was commenting on his new saddle, I have to learn to keep my eyes up and my mouth shut!

Just as we were pulling up to mile 50 rest area Greg prophetically summed up our riding over the previous 25 miles. "What we just did was really dumb!", he went on to explain that it was stupid of us to expend so much energy drilling it on the easiest part of the ride and that we'd eventually pay the price on the next 30 miles when we hit the hills.
Prophetic indeed.
But then Tattoo Dave said something else - "sometimes you just can't say no when the speed picks up", hmmmm a paradox indeed. "To go or not to go, that is the question"
The next stretch was going to be interesting.

Mile 50 SAG
If you're not interested in reading out my digestive system I strongly recommend you skip this next part (don't read between the brackets, you can't say you weren't warned)

[When we pulled into the SAG my stomach wasn't feeling too well, I guess I should've taken one of Big Dave's Tums he keeps in his saddle bag. I was suffering from a bout of gastric distress and needed some relief, but this creates a big problem problem for me in that there are 2 places I can’t take a poop, an airplane and a portapotty - oh, and any rest stop on the Jersey turnpike. I was feeling pretty bad, so much so I didn't even care that they had no Chicken Parm flat bread sandwiches at the stop. Having no choice I went into one of the porta-johns, closed the door (and my eyes) and tried to think of pleasant thoughts to take my mind off my environment - a nice beach, Sedona, the scent of fresh lilacs, honeydews and laundry sheets. When none of that worked I dug deep into my bag of psychological tricks, visualizing a soft serve ice cream machine, the kind they have at Carol's Dairy Bar and the Dairy Queen, when I was a kid I always liked the vanilla-chocolate swirl soft serve and sitting there I dredged up old memories of the ice cream coming out of the machine, but not even that worked - this wasn't good. I hoped that it would pass (as these things sometimes do), I'd find out real soon.]

Anyways, at the stop I met up with a couple of Tuesday nighters includig Dawn (the superfast woman on the blue Trek riding with the camelback, and another woman who does tris and rides an awesome yellow Pinerello - they are in Charlie's photos). It was nice seeing them as well as a couple other people I recogized.

Part 3: The Bad

"Sometimes you can't say no", I couldn't get Tattoo Dave's words out of my head as we rolled out of the 50 mile stop at a leisurly pace on our way up to Brattleboro - we all made it over the tracks without any bike damage or concussions.
When we pulled into Brattleboro all I could think about was stopping at McNeils Brewery for a nice cold Dead Horse IPA or Duck's Breath ESB, but alas they don't open until 4 so I pedaled on.
Once we were over the bridge and into NH the pace again picked up. Because it was still flat it wasn't too brutal, but there was still some suffering involved. "Hold the wheel in front of you" I thought, another nugget of wisdom someone passed on to me earlier this year to make the suffering even worse, we were pushing a 25+ average as the miles quickly rolled by. And I was watching everyone one of them tick off on my computer, counting them down, mile 57, 58, mile 59, getting closer and closer to mile 62 - "sometimes you can't say no", "hold the wheel in front of you", "the fresh scent of lilac, honeydew and dryer sheets", "what am I doing trying to ride with these guys?", thoughts that kept spinning over and over through my head - at this point I made a deal with myself - hang with the group to the next SAG and you can take it easy on the last 20 miles.
It didn't work.
The organizers of the ride did an especially good job of timing the ride so the hottest part of the day coincides with the toughest part of the ride, the hills that start around mile 62. Up until then It didn't seem especially hot, but then the hills started and it felt like 90 with 90% humidity. The first hill wasn't too bad, I managed to hang on to most of the group, except for the kid in the NEBC kit on the black Super6, he was off the front.
Each consecutive hill seemed to get worse and worse, by the 3rd one I was hanging on by a thread.
And then I hit the hill I hate the most, I believe it's coming into the center of Northfield, it isn't even the steepest, but it's the most cruel because it comes at a time when I'm completely wasted from the heat and brutality of the pace set by Tattoo Dave, Big Dustin Pedroia, NEBC on the Super6, Lee, John on the black and gray Cdale, Florida Ken, and several others I was too gassed to remember who they were. Going up that hill is like climbing the Col De Tourmelet, only instead of it being a 19km climb at 7-10% gradient, it's like 1/2km at 2%. Either way, for me it's an HC climb and that was where I lost all contact with the lead group, and the suffering began in earnest.
Time to make a decision - 1. try and bridge up to the lead group (not happening), 2. wait for the main peleton to show up and ride it out with them, 3. ride my own pace for the next 10 or so miles to the last SAG.
I opted for option 3, hoping that I was going slow enough that option 2 would come into play.
It didn't and it was not a pleasant experience trying to go it alone. The miles were no longer ticking off at such a quick pace, 1 mile seemed like 10, 2 miles seemed like 25, 3 miles seemed like 50. "Just keep turning the pedals, ride your own pace, the rest of the group will pick you up soon enough", "lilacs, honeydew and dryer sheets", D&D chicken parm flat breads, Liz Hatch waiting to massage my aching legs at mile 80, all of these thoughts kept turning over and over in my head, but none of them were helping to relieve the suffering.
Over every hill, around every turn I kept hoping to see the sign for the last SAG, but it never came which is when I noticed there weren't any riders in sight, anywhere. Did I miss a turn? I was screwed if I did because I had a cell phone, but no one's number to call. I wasn't going to ask one of the locals for help because I know what happened in the movie Deliverance and I didn't want to be doing any squeeling. Nothing to do except pedal on, suffer, and worry.


Mile 80 SAG
Finally made it!
All the guys from the lead group were there, lounging around like they had just spent the last 30 miles at the spa.
I didn't dare sit for fear that I would never get up to finish the ride.
Less than 2 minutes later most of the rest of the group pulled in (why didn't I pedal slower?)
It wasn't until later, maybe when we were pulling out, that I noticed Andrea wasn't with us. I asked a couple riders if they saw her, no one seemed overly concerned, I assumed that she had picked up with Dawn and some of the other riders from mile 50. I assumed wrong.
Hindsight what it is, I think we need a better way to account for all the riders at each stop. Cell phones anyone?

Part 4: The Really Ugly
Needless to say I was less than enthused about the last 20 miles of the ride. Greg's words kept coming back to me all the way until the end. "We were really dumb" between miles 25 and 50, and I knew it was time to pay for mistakes made.
The ride into Erving wasn't terribly bad, even though every part of my body was in pain, especially my bottom (I wish I could find the illusive "perfect saddle" but I'm not sure it exist), at that point there was still hope of finishing with the 2nd group.
Then came mile 88 when all hope left me. Time to pay for another mistake.
All the time between miles 50 and 80 while I tried hanging with riders I should never have tried hanging with, and after getting dropped, riding alone thinking about dryer sheets, Liz, and other things, I managed to make the worst mistake of all. A total rookie mistake!
I forgot to take in liquids and food during those miles. I know enough about long distance riding to understand the importance of keeping hydrated and eating enough food to prevent bonking. Too bad for me for early deciding of going for the glory of a podium spot instead of riding smart.
Even at the mile 80 SAG where I knew I'd spent a lot of calories and fluids over the previous 30 miles, I still didn't think I needed to drink much more than a few glasses of water, some chex mix and a gel pack. I didn't want to tempt fate, so I stayed away from the bananas.. Again, dumb mistake (the theme of the day).
At mile 88 my back was beinging to hurt so I got up off the saddle to strech a little - and that's when the pain hit, I'd never felt anything like it before (that didn't involve whips and chains anyway), it was enough to cause me to fall right back down on my seat. My left hamsting cramped. Not bad enough to give up, but bad enough to know it was going to be a problem for the rest of the ride.
I watched as riders rode away, no chance of a podium spot, or finishing anywhere near the front for that matter. Oh well...
I caught on to the next group of riders, rode with them into Deerfield, things got a little mixxed up at the lights, I rode through the red light (bad move I know), and waited for the rest of the group. I started feeling good again.
Until I got out of my saddle again and the pain hit again, only this time the cramping moved into my quad - I knew I was screwed and that's when I basically had one goal in mind, making it back to the parking lot without the help of a car or ambulance.
A lot of what happened after that is a blur - the last thing I clearly remember is someone shouting "Right Turn", thankfully it was into the parking lot where all this began.

The ride into the parking lot wasn't the best part of the day, but it was certianly a relief knowing those 103 miles were done and I could notch my second century of my short and less than fulfilling career as a bike rider.
When the ride was over I asked Charlie how many centuries he had under his belt, he told more than he wanted to remember.
Same for Paul Skerry, and I'm sure Big Dave and others too…… None of them looked completely wasted when I saw them in the parking lot, I'm sure none of them rode like a DUMB ass either. Oh well, live and learn I guess. I might get this right in a another 10 or so years - I just need to learn who to listen to (Big Dave who told me to go easy when we pulled out of the mile 25 SAG), and who NOT to listen to (Tattoo Dave - "sometimes you just can't say no").

All things considered, and now that I've a couple days to recover, it was definitely the high point of the year for me. And I'm looking forward to many more to come if I don't sell my bike before next season……

Thanks to all the Tuesday nighters who made this another memorable year, even though it isn't officially over until the last ride on the 22nd. Don't forget to save your appetite, I heard Il Forno's is going to be offering up Chicken Parm flat bread sandwiches

Tri-State Seacoast Century, September 26-27, 2009

Big Dave, Bruce and I are doing this century as well. If anyone wants to join us let me know.

Ride Description: The Tri-State Seacoast Century route is primarily along the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine coastlines.

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

For those waiting for a COVAC ride report

You're going to have to wait a little longer.
I was actually writing the report as I rode along yesterday, but somewhere around mile 65 I completely lost it. Thank Tattoo Dave and the others riding up front all day for the delay. They completely destroyed me, physically and mentally. Those last 10 miles were the longest 10 miles of my life.
I'll publish something soon.
I'll also create a photobucket account we can all access to upload COVAC photos and any other photos we have..... last ride of the year is September 22, hopefully we can get a few more photos from that ride as well as the post ride dinner (which I will not miss!)

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC 2009

COVAC century logistics

Meet at the Marriot to car pool from there at 6am.
150 Royal Plaza Drive
Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420 USA

Were aiming to lift off from the start in Hatfield at 8am.
Hatfield Pavilion
Billings Way,
Hatfield, Mass

Bring your own t-paper, they usually run out.


After everyone is finished there will be post ride eating pizza activities at
Bertucci's Brick Oven Restaurant
233 N. Pleasant St.
Amherst, MA

Tuesday ride report - 9/8/09

Yesterday morning I read an email Charlie sent me letting me know he wouldn't be on this week's ride (fishing again) and that I was solely responsible for this week's Tuesday night's ride report - "So it’s all on you to gin up the ride report, NO PRESSURE!" - direct quote.
Sometimes I go on about the anxiety I feel when I see a field of blue kits lined up at the front of the Tuesday ride, thinking about the pain and suffering they are going to inflict on the ride. Sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's not so bad, more often than not it's managable.
But that kind of pressure is nothing compared to the pressure I've begun feeling in trying to churn out these ride reports week after week. I find the anxiety attacks starting Sunday evening, lasting all day Monday, turning into full fledged panic by Tuesday. I wonder if Stephen King feels the same pressure trying to knock out 2-3 books a year? I suppose when you have his money and success there's little worry about much of anything.
Which leads me to wonder, is there any money to be made in writing up these ride reports? Maybe everyone could pass the basket around before the Tuesday night ride.
Maybe not.

Distance: 30.95
Ride time: 1:31:21
Average MPH: 20.3

As we lined up I had mixed emotions - no blue spin arts kits, but no A ride either - which meant it was going to be a combined A/B ride. Luciano, Big "Dustin Pedroia" on the black Super Six, blue Six13, red "Psycho" kit on the green Liquigas bike, a new woman on a yellow Pinerello (I love that bike and she can ride it too!), black Scott cr1, "Oulette" on the black Specialized - too many question marks.
And there were the usual cast of Tuesday nighters, Mark on his vintage steel Paramount, Big Dave, Natalie sporting a fresh new helmet, Daren and others.

Rode up to Prospect St, down past the shopping center/ Orchard Hills, left onto Mechanic St, about 1/4 mile down the road someone had a gap of about 30 feet and kept looking back, slowed down for the group, and then tried to accelarate when the group reached him - this always screws things up, rode around him and tried setting a steady pace down Mechanic and onto 70. I pulled for what seemed like forever, I kept going and going (there comes a time when you need to pull off so as not to slow the pace), just as I was about to flick off Luciano and the rest of the group pulled through on my right, I just stayed to the left and let the train pass until I caught last wheel and stuggled like hell to hang on. I was afraid I was about to get dropped for the first time this year - I didn't know wheather to spin it or mash it (I opted for the latter) and searched my brain for a song I could use to try and move back on to last wheel ("Black Betty" worked perfectly).
When I finally had enough gas to look up I couldn't believe it, there were several riders way off the front, Luciano, Blue Six13, Big Dustin Pedroia, Green Liquigas, I think the yellow Pinerello and a couple others were there too - a spectator stuck in the back, I watched as several riders in the main group decided to move up (although I still don't know what they were trying to accomplish because they weren't going after the lead group) they were riding dangerously close to the double yellow, maybe over it, on rt 70 that's never a good idea.
I finally recovered enough where I felt strong enough to move up to the front, and then off the front hoping to get a group on my wheel to try and work to bridge up to the group of 5, I guess I should've asked for help instead of hoping for it - no one went (saving themselves for COVAC I'm sure). So I was off the front with no help, left out to hang in the breeze, bridged up to a lone rider also stuck out in no mans land - asked him to work, no deal. So no help, no way to bridge the group of 5 who were working together, I rode alone listening to "Black Betty" as I watched the lead group pull away to the intersection of 117.
One thing that amazes me is watching Luciano ride his bike, seemingly without effort, on the one hand it makes me want to commit to raising my training up 10 notches in the off season, while on the other hand giving up riding altogether knowing I'll never be that good (it's got to be the Italian genetics). Him and "blue Six13" had it going on all night and even though they spent a fair amount of time hanging in the peleton, when they wanted to go they went, and even when they didn't go for townline sprints you knew they were just playing nice on the B ride.
From 70 we took the right onto 117 and then onto Langden, straight through towards Sterling Rd, that short little climb was when I realized how warm and humid it was, I was sucking air going up that short hill watching more riders pull away - we got to the end and a quick right onto Sterling Rd - signals got mixxed up and like a sheep I followed a few others who bore right down Sterling rd, while the main group went left onto Deershorn, I didn't have the bike handling skills to cut across the grass like several others did so I had to ride up to the left that cuts across to Deershorn, again hanging on the back when I caught back up.
Cut across 62 onto Chace Hill, I knew what was coming so I tried to move up while at the same time saving myself, but it didn't work, one by one I was passed by the stronger riders as we started the climb up the hill, the ride down the other side was fast as we made our way down to 110.
A right onto 110, the pace remained brisk, I don't know if I was finally warmed up or the ride eased up, but I didn't feel like throwing up as much as I did the previous 10 miles so that was enough to make me feel like sprinting to the W. Boylston town line - it was the most pathetic sprint ever, I might have cranked out enough power to maybe light a 45 watt lightbulb, I "won" but I don't think it counted for any sprinter points since it was uncontested.
We continued on all the way to the intersection of 12, turned right and then headed towards Sterling.
It was starting to get dark the pace was quick as it always is down 12, as we got close to Sterling Center Big Dustin Pedroia who was doing a lot of the work asked if he screwed up by pulling too hard - "Do you think I dropped them?"
Me - "Maybe"
Red Fuji Roubaix - "should we wait up?"
Me - "yeah, pull into the bank parking lot and we'll wait up"
No sooner in the bank parking lot -
Daren - "what, did you guys think you dropped us (chuckle) ?"
Me - "I thought we had a 1/2 mile gap on you"
Luciano- "your team director on race radio had the wrong time gap, it was only 1/2 meter, not 1/2 mile"
The ride got cranked up again going down Rt 12 - everyone was working well, I cheated (if there is such a thing in bike racing) by finding shelter on the inside, completely out of the wind, perfect positioning, hardly any work for the first couple miles out of Sterling center.
I was 3rd wheel when I finally found my way back into the paceline, Litespeed in front, Elaine 2nd wheel and your's truly. Litespeed did his work, then Elaine tucked into the drops and started hammering it, HARD! She was really working it so much so I was finding it hard to hang on. My turn, I did a quick pull before bailing (because I had no idea which turn we were taking) - snuck back into the paceline but found it hard holding the wheel in front of me - after pulling back in I tried to hang on but couldn't, I bailed not knowing Daren had my wheel - he yelled at me for not holding the wheel in front and leaving a gap for him to bridge - I did what I could to get back in there and try to help Daren out, but I wasn't strong enough and couldn't do it so I spent the rest of the ride contemplating whether or not to sell the bike and take up another sport, maybe bowling, maybe croquet, I belive both to be noble sports, and as a bonus one can drink beer while competing, unlike cycling where you have to wait for the ride to end before imbibing.
Took the left onto N Row, everyone rode their own pace up to the end before turning right onto Pleasant. Made the last little climb up to Sholan Farms and then cruised downhill all the way to the shop.
When I got back to my car I realized I might have worked harder than I needed to - I noticed my front rim had been rubbing against the brake pad all night, even when I opened up the brake lever it was still rubbing, I was too tired to try and diagnose the problem. I'm sure Gene will help me out by selling me those Zipp 404s, even if a quick wheel truing might solve the problem.
Time to taper down the miles before Sunday's big event. The weather looks real good so I'm hoping we have a great turnout for COVAC, and better yet, the post ride imbibing! I think I feel a sick day coming on for next Monday.

COVAC Century Sunday Sept. 13th

I'm sure Daren will be sending out an email notice for this ride.
For those who haven't done COVAC (http://www.amherstrotaryclub.org/covac/), it's a 104 mile ride that starts in Hatfield Ma, travels up one side of the Connecticut River to Brattleboro Vt, over the river into NH, and back south down the east side of the river. The SAG stops (for food and drink) are very well stocked with pasteries, cookies, fruits, coffee, gatorade, and water - so be sure to register to help support them.
Registeration ends Wednesday (yes as in tomorrow at 8:59pm), so sign up early so you can help their causes and get a free t-shirt and baked potatoe at the end of the ride.
If you've always wanted to do a century but never thought you could, this is probably one of the easiest centuries this side of Iowa and Nebraska. Because it runs along side the river it is for the most part flat. The only exception being about a 10 mile stretch after the mile 50 SAG stop. As I recall, these hills are more the rolling variety you might find along 119 heading west into Rindge NH and not stuff like heading into Princeton Center or Mason NH. And because we ride as a group it's even easier as we all spend our share of time in the wind (taking pulls) helping those behind us.
I guess I should mention something I found out a couple of years ago - the first 75 miles the ride the group pretty much stays together, we wait up for anyone who has a mechanical problem and regroup at each 25 mile SAG stop.... but the pace gets turned up a notch or 3 after the 75 mile stop, we'll still wait for mechanicals and all, but it does get fast. And then for the last 10 or so miles anyone wanting to finish in the front should definately pay close attention because this is usually where the trouble makers are going to stir things up by trying to break away. Depending on who's in the mix (i.e. anyone really strong who is used to the A ride pace), you may want to sit it out and enjoy the fast pace being set by everyone else. Think of it this way, most know how much the sprint along Rt 70 can hurt. Well this is 7 miles further, 10x harder and usually into the wind.
But COVAC isn't a race, it's a long group ride where most riders are simply out to have a fun time, enjoy each other's company, enjoy some spectacular scenery and get together for the post ride dinner.
The ride ends where it began, more food and beer, unfortunately you need to pay for the beer.

In years past the plan has been to meet as a group at 6:00am in the Courtyard Hotel (formally the Best Western and now home to Coco Keys water park on Rt 31 in Fitchburg) - from there we'll drive to Hatfield as a group so we can begin the ride at 8:00.
Hopefully as many of the tuesday night and saturday morning GW regulars as possible can make it. Of all the group rides we do, this one is the best!

Tuesday night ride report 9/2

Arrived at the gym and found that I had;
Grabbed my bib knickers instead of my bib shorts.
Forgot my socks for after the ride.
Forgot my towel for my shower after the ride.
This getting more mature thing is starting to suck.

Here it is September already, where did the summer go? Felt like a Fall night last night with the temperature at launch at 69F, with a slight Southwest wind. I started out wearing my arm warmers as well. I think my blood is thinning out. I’m guessing around 25 riders or so showed up for the ride.

We were headed on the roads that go by the Grand View golf course. Starts getting dark around 7:30pm, so Daren set a very brisk pace right out of the chute. I was in the big ring right after we went by the hospital. Once we made the right turn on the climbs to the Grand View golf course I got dropped from the lead group. By the time I had arrived at the top they had already hit a bucket of balls.

We re-grouped at the top, slapped it in the big ring, then off we went screaming down all the down hills then a very sharp left at the near the base of Justice Hill Road, onto Leominster Rd. A right onto 140 then a quick left onto Gleason Road. Then another right and a quick left onto Bullard Road which brought us to Route 62 where we turn left and stayed on this all the way to Moore’s corner on route 140. From here we got on what used to be the old 140 TT course that took us by the Sterling Airport. A right onto Route 12 then a left onto Gates road where we went over some nasty RR tracks. One dropped bottle that slowed down the groups pace a tad then it was full throttle again as we headed over to Route 70 in Lancaster.

All this was rolling terrain and I had a few red zone moments, mostly on the uphill sections staying with the front group. As we all know once you get to Route 70 it’s going to get REALLY hard. We had a small lead group about 8 of us tooling along and I’m almost at my max when Greg who’s on the front turns up the screws and now I’m beyond my max, well over the redline, completely shattered and fell off the group just before we got to Route 2.

By now it’s pretty dark and the temperature had dropped to 62F so now I was glad I had my knickers on as well as my arm warmers. Meandered over to Target and caught the lead riders at the lights there. Had visions of the fire box sprint, but that’s just what it was, a vision. I was so far back they were out of site by the time I arrived at the fire box. Rode back to the gym and walked in at 8:55pm completely wasted.

Pre COVAC training ride - 8/30

My checklist of things to prepare for and stuff to bring on a Century or Century training ride:
Pre Ride:
1. strong coffee
- double check
2. Eat a good breakfast, blueberry pancakes with nice Vermont medium amber syrup (Oatmeal and Egg whites are probably better, but no where near as yummy!)
- check
Stuff to bring for the ride:
1. GU, Hammer drink mix, cliff bars, stuff to sustain
- check
2. Lots of water
- check
3. stuff to fix a flat, including a couple inner tubes and co2 cartridges
- check
4. miscellaneous stuff - cell phone, money, allen wrench set, road id, credit cards
- check
5. toilet paper
- damn, missed that one!
Post ride:
6. Carbs in the form of beer
For today's ride there are 2 reports, the first is Greg's report:
According to Greg's computer:
79.14 miles
15 minutes
Average speed: 140 MPH -
In short, balls to the wall for the entire ride. Average HR 155 Max HR 320, Average watts (for those who use power) 550W Greg's ride was so fast it was over before it began.
For the rest of us:
79.19 miles
239.5 minuets (call it an even 4 hours)
19.8 average speed
4089 feet of climbing (sportracks s/w was like 1000 ft less)
My 45 year old average HR: 122bpm
My 45 year old Max HR: 175 (climbing up towards Crotchet Mtn and riding a 3 man break with Ken and the kid in the NEBC kit for the last 5 miles (not really a break because we went a different route than the rest of the group) - damn those miles hurt))
It was nice to ride with a lot of people I haven't seen on the Tuesday night ride this year, Elaine, Lee, Ken and his wife from Florida, (sorry I suck at names and can't remember, blame it on the sangria), Greg and Susan (although I was riding with them on Saturdays earlier this year).
Starting temp was around 54, it had to be in the 80s when we rolled back onto Charlie's street.
We started slow as we headed from Charlie's onto 119 up through Willard Brook, no attacking, everyone riding single file, in zone 1 - 2 as we made our way up to 31. When we arrived at the top, thankfully Charlie took the right up 31 to Turnpike which skipped the 1.5 miles of climbing up 119 into Ashby Center. Not to worry, there was climbing to come.
We rode along 119 at a slow tempo, everyone warming up, but I wasn't warming up, I was freezing, it was cold! Finally 10 miles into the ride Andrea made a nice move by pulling to the outside and moved to the front and get things moving things along.
I skipped in front of her and started setting a tempo to meet Greg's expectation of a 23mph average for the ride.
From there we began moving at a 20+ pace along 119.
This is the point in the ride where #1 and #2 from the top of the report started kicking in, making me wish I had thought to bring #5 because things were happening. This shows how dumb men can be (or me anyway), I can remember #6 post ride carbs but forget #5 which should be a staple in everyone's saddlebag - good lesson learned. But like George Harrison once said, All Things Must Pass, and thankfully this did to.
After some serious sweating, and it wasn't from the tempo we were riding, we hit the downhill leading to 202 in Ringe, took a right and headed off up 202 into Jaffery.
Once in Jaffery we stopped at the right aid, refueled and continued down 202.
This is where the weather started to get real nice, I love that stretch out of Jaffery into Peterborough, guessing we averaged about 25mph all the way into Peterborough. I think we were all feeling pretty good about then, good enough to do 100, 125, 300 miles.
But there was sangria and beer waiting back at Charlie's so we needed to prioritize things (alcohol > riding).
By the time we were in Peterborough the sun was out, it warmed up nicely as we headed across 101 into Peterborough and up to Happy Valley, Greenfield and Bennington. Somewhere along this stretch we took a quick stop to regroup, peel off armwarmers/ leg warmers and cool down.
Once we started again we headed for 47 up towards Crotchet Mountain.
This is where the climbing, and the pain and suffering began. It seemed as if that entire road all the way into Francestown was one continuous climb, I jumped out front on one of the climbs, but quickly got swallowed up by those behind me and then struggled to stay on the back wheel.
Once past the mountain, we cruised down 47, 2nd NH turnpike all the way into Francestown.
Stopped to regroup, we caught up to Greg who was enjoying a Dovebar and Cherry Dr. Pepper - I thought for sure he would be in need of #6 after that combo.
A quick pitstop at the Francestown FD and then cruised down 136 into New Boston, regrouped at the end of the road before turning right towards Mt Vernon.
For those who like fast, this was it, flying down the hill reaching speeds upwards of 50mph, I was getting vertigo feathering my breaks as others went screaming down that hill. Once at the bottom, probably around mile 60 there was the unmistakable sound of a flat - of course it had to be the only guy on the ride riding tubulars. But I will hand it to Bruce, he was faster than a Mark Martin pit stop tearing the tire and glue from the rim and quickly replacing it with his spare. Less than 10 minutes and we were back on the road catching up with the rest of the group waiting for us at the store/ pharmacy.
From there we rode 13 into Amherst and Milford, John Roche ditched us along the way, he did his work and his day was over, the rest of the group stayed together moving right along 13 through Milford, Mason, Brookline, everyone taking their pulls, keeping the train moving - good fun until we took the left onto Townsend Hill Road.
Now I don't know about everyone else, but me? I don't like roads that have the name "Hill" in them unless it's preceded by "Down" (as in "Down Hill Rd) - this is where the pain and suffering really started, less than 10 miles to go, several of the climbers started up the hill, I did my best to hang on, but somewhere along the way I lost the wheel in front of me and fell off into "no man's land", the lead 2 riders 100 meters in front of me, a bunch of people behind me, I kept my tempo and eventually caught onto the front 2 riders.
For those who haven't done COVAC, here's my take on it - everything will pretty much stay together, fun, laughter and camaraderie for the first 75 miles - but after that 3rd SAG stop everything changes - it gets fast and you want to do everything you can to hang onto wheels, do some work, hang on some more until you reach the 90 mile mark where for those the last 10 miles it's every man, woman, child, for themselves; and this is kind of what it felt like for me trying to hang on to Ken and the kid in the NEBC kit riding the Cannondale for those last few miles of today's ride - in short, it's friggin' hurt as we apparently took a different route than everyone else coming down Wallace Hill taking a right on Highland, out to 13, we breifly saw the rest of the group behind us, Ken and the kid did a good 90% of the work while I held on and took a couple pulls trying to help our cause of getting to Joyce St before the rest of the group.
I don't know who got there first, it doesn't matter - it was the best ride of the year!
Afterwards we all enjoyed each other's company, the sangria, chips, refreshments, pizza were all great. Hats off to our gracious host Charlie, he put together the perfect day of riding and post ride party anyone could wish for.
14 more days to COVAC! Get ready for those last 25 miles, they are a blast!
And the post COVAC dinner - more post ride carb replenishment!

Edit:
I thought of this today, one of the funniest moments of the day, for me at least, was when we stopped at the store in Francestown and someone came out with a muffin and Paul Skerry explained the Seinfeld Episode with the muffin tops, if anyone hasn't seen this, it truely is a classic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHtWEH0euh4

Tuesday ride report 8/25

30 miles (this is a guesstimate, my computer went into shutdown mode for a few minutes)
85 minute of ride time (the days are getting shorter)
21.2mph on my computer - again a guesstimate

Another warm night, that makes like 5+ weeks in a row of really good weather for the Tuesday night ride. Nice, especially after all the crappy weather we had at the beginning of Summer. Knowing it’s coming to an makes one appreciate it even more. Although Fall riding ain’t so bad either!

As was the case last week, the Spin Arts team took their place at the front of the line again this week. But unlike last week I didn't even bother trying to come up with a plan on hanging with them, if anyone went off the front I was resigned to letting them go, even if it meant losing a spot on the Tuesday night podium, which based on the speed and intensity of this year's rides, seems to be a pretty big deal.
But Daren picked a fairly tame route this week, not too many difficult climbs, in fact the only one that stands out in my mind is the climb up Wallace Hill Rd (Townsend?). Oh, and the hills up in W Townsend as we crossed 119 at the store and began the ride back to the shop. Those hurt a little (okay, they hurt a lot).
All in all it was a pretty uneventful night - even with the quick pace I don't think we lost too many riders, everyone played nice and there were no odors of any kind to report, save for a skunk or two. Ernie's light is still a problem, but I've learned how to get low and use other riders to shield myself from it (thanks Dixie Chick Raye).

Started out up Prospect St and rode straight all the way to the left turn that takes us past PJ Keating. Something didn’t seem right this week, the tempo was actually a “normal” B ride pace, unlike the weeks before when things seemed to quickly get out of control on the flats of Rt. 70, or the climb up Pleasant St. Whatever the case I wasn’t complaining.
There was a slight jam up trying to get under the narrow bridge past Keating, with traffic coming in both directions it was especially challenging, but no one went down and we kept on going.
All the way down Reservoir St he pace steadily increased, but it never got to the all out hammering pace.
As we rode along I made the mistake of asking Daren about his new saddle. If you're a guy here's a hint, never ask another rider about their new saddle because it raises too many questions about what it is you’re paying attention to while riding. The only reason I noticed (and I swear this is the truth) is just last week I was looking to buy a new saddle (SMP Evolution) and Daren tried to sell me his, which as I noticed was conspicuously missing from his bike this week (Hmmmmm). When he tried selling it to me I politely told him "thanks but no thanks", I'm sure he's good about personal hygiene (unlike Greg who was telling me about his saddle sore from 3500 miles of riding and only washing his bibs 30 or so times this year), but the thought of riding a used saddle, especially a guy's saddle, didn't appeal to me so I told him I'd pay the extra $150 for the new one. Which left me wondering last week, did I really get a new saddle or did Daren simply take the saddle off his bike and put it on mine? When I got home I had the neighbor's dog come over to see if he would get excited over any new scents, he didn't so I didn't bother bleaching the saddle after the ride. (and I'm joking of course, I know Daren and the folks at GW are very ethical and wouldn't sell me a used saddle)

Rode straight to the end of Reservoir Rd, a right, a left, another right until we came out onto 2A.
2A is pretty beat up and it's pretty near impossible for the riders up front to call out all the cracks and holes. I got caught in a pretty deep crevice with riders on both sides of me, I still don't know how I managed to maintain balance for 30 feet not taking down anyone. The pace down 2A was obviously fast, 24+mph for a lot it, but it's flat and we managed to maintain a pretty good line so it wasn't that painful.
Took a left onto Lawton heading into W Groton, a right onto Groton and then a hard left onto Townsend Rd, had a good pace going all the way to 119 where we stopped to regroup.
From there we went straight across, a little ways up the road there was a garage on fire, all kinds of fire trucks coming down the hill forcing us to ride single file. There really wasn’t any way to move up to the front before the climb up Wallace Hill so it was slow going as I looked up and saw riders blasting off the front as they began the climb. Once past the fire the pain and suffering started as we headed up the hill - as is usually the case the group got pretty split up going up, once at the top we again regrouped, some riders got yelled at for lollygagging in the middle of the road, not paying attention as the unknowingly came pretty close to getting taken out by a guy in an SUV who also wasn't paying attention until almost taking out said riders.
Fast down Highland Rd, a couple of turns until we ended coming out to the road by the Townsend PD.
From there we turned onto Dudley Rd and once we got past the rough stretch of road “A Ride Greg” moved to the front and started driving the pace, I had second wheel and barely managed to hang on before taking my pull trying my best to keep the pace Greg established. After emptying the tank, flicked the elbow and pulled off letting the pace line pull through – the plan was working nice, stretch everything out so we could ride in a single file pace line which we managed to maintain most the way down to 119.
Once we came up to the intersection of 119 (where the store in Townsend is), not quite sure what happened (I heard someone double flatted) we held up for 15 or so minutes before we starting the climbs up W Townsend. I’m not sure but I think some riders cheated by not waiting and getting a head start before the rest of the group took off, all I know is there was some riders way off the front that usually aren't way off the front - they were promptly disqualified from consideration of a spot on the Tuesday Night Podium.
Literally rode through the 4 corners in Lunenburg (sorry to the drivers held up as the train continued through a red light - there's no stopping at 7:45 with little daylight left). Punched it down Leominster Rd at a crazy 30+mph, riders all over the road trying to get to the front. Avoided all temptation to stop at the ice cream stand, continued fast all the way to the light at the Honey Farms in Leominster. Phew!
A left onto 13 and everything settled down into a nice easy pace back to the shop.

All in all it was another great night of riding! Hopefully we can keep the ride going through September!

Tuesday 8/18 ride report

The power of positive thinking…. Affirmations reinforcing positive thinking. Tony Robbins, Depack Chopor, Tony Little, how can high performance people like these people be wrong? Especially Tony Little!
"I am a good person and because of that people really like me!", "I am a good bike rider and I can hang with the best of them. Well except for Luciano, Tom Orsini, Tattoo Dave and the other A riders" - Affirmations I spend an hour meditating on each morning when I wake up, and an hour before I go to bed each night.
On tonight's ride, thanks to a certain nameless local racing team who stacked the field - okay I'm calling them out, it was Spin Arts, I was forced into the power of negative thinking - "Damn it, I am not as good as I think I am. Who am I kidding, people hate me.. I AM not as good as I think I am…. I suck…. I suck more... there's no place like home, there's no place like home……"

40.5 miles
2:09:27 time
21.1 average MPH

We did the fruitlands loop and then some.
As soon as we hit Prospect St I noticed this funky odor coming from someone in front of me (not unusual on a hot steamy summer night). But this wasn't the usual stink of the guy (or gal) who didn't bother washing their chamois from the previous day's ride - this was a softer, gentler odor (I guess you might call it a scent). I'm kind of like a dog when it comes to this stuff, I tend to sniff around until I lock onto where it's coming from. After spending time drifting up and down the group I finally got a good read on it. "Huh? that's strange", I don't know how but the softer gentler scent seemed to be coming from Natalie's helmet of all places. I think it's time to give the helmet a bath.

Onto the ride.
Again, I don't know a lot of the roads east of Leominster, but I think most are familiar with the route.
We headed out to Rt 70, the Spin Arts boys and girls set the tempo which was fast. I got my one and only lead pull on that stretch, and when I got it up to about 27mph someone behind me told me to turn it up to 30…. Damn, this is a recreational ride, not a race. I did what I was told and held it as long as I could before flicking the elbow as the rest of the group pulled through.
A couple guys on yellow bikes (Boulder Cycling, Putney) and the Spin Arts team continued the fast pace all the way to the end.
The group pretty much stayed together as we took a right onto 117 and a left onto (Langden?). A mile onto Landgen Dave Lystra was the first to launch off the front - I yelled at "A Ride Greg" to chase him down for his team, but he was content to let him go ("they only move in one direction, which is back" was his response) and sure enough Dave was reeled back in.
We crossed over 70 and hit some rough roads before coming to the 5 corners - someone flatted (thank God, it was the soonest I had ever felt I needed a break in all the rides we've done this summer) - we regrouped at the gas station before heading towards Bolton.
As we rode towards Bolton I heard the Spin Arts guys in front of me ("A Ride Greg" and a couple of other trouble makers) talking about 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, lead outs, etc, something was going on, but I was too dense or tired to realize what it was - it was too late when I realized they were setting up for the town line sprint - damn, before I knew what happened they and several others were off. Not sure who won, what difference does it matter - it was the night's theme, all Spin Arts all the time.
This is when I realized it was going to be a long hard night. From there on out it seemed like every time I looked up someone was off the front, sometimes way off the front.
Crossed 117 and headed towards Harvard, tried to stay on the front, but it was difficult - more guys & gals keeping a quick pace as we all braced ourselves for the hills.
I tried to concentrate on keeping the right gear, holding my line and staying on the wheel in front of me, I could hear everyone changing gears, I knew the attacks were about to come - sure enough one by one riders started moving up seeing who was going to be the first to the top.
I lost all my concentration though when I saw the nun walking the side of the road and someone from behind asked if that would be in the ride report? How the heck do you write something funny about a nun walking down the side of the road without being sacreligious - I'm in enough trouble here on earth, I'm not going to temp fate in the afterlife. She was kinda cute though, for a nun.
One problem on the way up the hills, behind me I heard the unmistakable sound of bikes colliding, unclipping (someone else must've lost concentration thinking about the nun too) - fortunately there was no damage, someone made a move and touched wheels with a rider behind them, fortunately the rider in the back managed to recover without going down (good bike control).
We regrouped at the top of the hill - headed down hill, a right a left another turn until we ended up on 110.
Looked up there was another rider way off the front - "A Ride Greg - let's bridge up and help your team mate" I yelled - I didn't think he was interested until he appoligized to Andi for what he was about to do which was to bridge up to his team mate ("A Ride", there's no appoligizing in bike racing, even on the B ride - just go) - I decided to go along to "help" - yeah right, as soon as we both went there were 5-10 riders on our wheels - my plan was to take turns rotating 30 second pulls with "A Ride" - this was the point in the ride when I realized I am not as good as I think I am. Not even close. No sooner did I jump in front of "A Ride" to take a pull when I found myself being swallowed up by the 5 or so people who latched on (after some thought I realized it was "A Ride Greg's" team mates ensuring a break didn't happen). Damn! It didn't matter, none of them were able to bridge up to what I was sure was another Spin Arts rider who was the first to arrive at the rotary.
Once around the rotary things got scary, real scary. - we headed out down the road the McDonalds is on (Sandy Pond road?)
It was getting dark and we still had a way to go - people were still riding the double yellow - I barely noticed the car coming in the opposite direction until I heard their brakes lock up - I looked behind me and had one of those WtF moments when I realized the other car coming from up behind that crossed over the double yellow trying to get around us. It was as close to a head on collision as I had ever seen.
And then it happened again.
And then Daren stopped the ride - I didn’t see it, but apparently a car coming up from behind came pretty close to taking out half the riders on the outside trying to move up 1 to 3 positions. Stupid! It's not a race, or even a training ride, although it felt that way all night. With all the moves going on and jockying for positions, there was very little paceline riding.
After Daren had the culprits in tears, things settled down a bit.
Took some more roads I don't know through Groton, eventually coming onto 225.
As we were heading down 225 towards Shirley all I kept thinking is "gotta get around Ernie, gotta get around Ernie", but I couldn't, for a good several miles I was stuck directly behind him staring at the brightest tail light I had ever seen, at least a 120 watter which I think he had hooked up to his power tap, the faster we went the brighter it seemed to get - (I swear they can see this light from the space station) - finally I gave up and pulled behind Dixie Chick Raye got into the drops and used her petite body to sheild me from the light.
The rest of the ride was uneventful - took a right onto 2A and a quick left taking us past the sand and gravel pit - one last sprint up the hill heading towards Powell. I usually grind this hill out in the big ring, but when Daren asked if I was going big or small I realized I didn't have the power, or desire to grind it out - so I told him small…. Good call Daren, sooooo much easier spinning it up the hill in a smaller gear than trying to grind it out in my 54.
From there we headed out of Lunenburg to Leominster, I was too tired to even drill it down Prospect St - watched as everyone went flying down to the red light - got across 13 and on to the shop.

Other than the couple of close calls, it was another good ride - I don't mind the heat after the miserable early season we had.

Tuesday 8/11 Charlie Ride Report

I think I called in sick for this one, or maybe this was the one that I sucked so bad on I decided not to write a report.
Anyway, here's Charlie's report (used without permission).

Partly cloudy last night, with very little wind. About 86F at the start, very humid which made for a heat index of 93F.

Once again another great turnout, with 40-50 riders for the intermediate ride and maybe 8 or so riders for the “A” ride.

For last night’s fun filled evening, Daren decided on the loop around the Wachusetts reservoir. I was in the back at the start and a small group of us did not make the very first light at Route 12. We did not make the second one either so the chase to catch back up was on. I was in the big ring before we went by Leominster Hospital and it was pretty much full gas going up Washington Street and we caught back up at the end of Washington at the West street intersection. From here it was pretty much a steady tempo all the way up Pleasant street except for the harder effort required up to the farm at the top.

We regrouped at North Row road and you could really feel the heat and by this time I was dripping wet. Daren indicated that the next re-grouping point would be near the old stone church in West Boylston. So a fast decent to Route 12 then a nice fast tempo all the way to the second re-grouping point. I did pause for a moment of contemplation when we crossed over the railroad bridge on which I had crashed a few weeks back. The pothole is still there and I was riding well away from it as we blasted past.

Short stop at the store at the intersection of route 12 and route 140, then onward on Route 140 to the next turn onto route 70 in Boylston. I thought things might turn up a notch on the climb up to Boylston center but no raging hormones were in evidence from the young guns which was a good thing. From here it was pretty much a steady tempo all the way to Clinton. Just before we started down the Clinton dam hill I could see dark clouds to the North and rain which looked like we were headed for.

Re-grouped in Clinton and headed for home. As we approached route 70 in Lancaster it kept getting darker and darker. As usual the hammer dropped as soon as we got on route 70 and very shortly after that the rain and wind came soaking everyone. The last 4-5 miles back to the shop were not a lot of fun.

The temperature had dropped to 73F when we finished at 8am. It was very dark but that was due to the storm I think. Were losing 2 minutes of daylight each day now. So 14 minutes less daylight next Tuesday night.

When I arrived at my house in West Townsend it was bone dry, no rain at all last night.


COVAC in 32 days, Sunday Sept 13th.

Tuesday 8/4 Ride Report

Total Ride: 40 miles
Total time: 2:20
Average speed: 19.6mph

First off I want to express my disapointment at not being invited to the GW annual outing. I'm sure the invitation was somehow lost in the mail, but nonetheless I know Gene's got my phone number because he's always calling me trying to collect on the $6.49 he thinks I owe him for the gel packs (I got the receipt to prove I paid!). Hell, I would've even gone as Darren's date, I'm not proud, for free beer and food I would've held hands with him for a couple hours.
I hope the flight out to Nantucket on Gene's Gulfstream was enjoyable, along with the lobsters, wine, champagne and beer.
Maybe next year.

Onto the ride… 2 weeks in a row with hot weather and no rain. Someone might mistake this for summer.
Last things first. After the ride a secret vote was taken, Darren's out, Natalie's in as the new ride leader. She proved herself by picking the perfect route for a hot summer's night. Nice roads, good pace, and only 1 flat near the end of the ride. Great job!

I'm not sure of some of the roads, but we took off out of the shop and headed up towards the hospital and zigged and zagged our way over to Pleasant St which wasn't so pleasant as we started the climb towards Sholan Farms. I tried to think of something to distract myself from the pain that was being inflicted on me from the 2 guys in the front - the John Denver song "Sunshine on my Shoulders (makes me happy)" came into my head, problem solved (kind of). HR was way in the red most of the ride up there as I struggled to stay on the wheels of the guy on the Cervelo R3 (Target Training kit) and another guy on a blue Cannondale wearing a blue Unum kit - who invited these guys to the party? these guys were strong and pulled about 10 of us past Sholan to the intersection of N. Row Rd.
I didn't realize a gap that had opened until we waited up for the rest of the group. (after thinking about it I realized they got caught at a red light and that was the reason for the 10 minute wait).
From there things settled down, a little bit. We continued up (and down and up again) Heywood Rd to Rowley to Justice Hill which is always good fun on a hot night, went down Justice Hill cutoff and came out to 62(?) - a quick left off 62 onto some back roads until we finally ended up on Rt31, headed south to the corner store .
Pulled out onto Manning St, across 190 looking for a left onto Osgood street (or some street that began with an O) - hOsmer st, close enough.
Over to 140 and then the back roads into Sterling Center, down 62, cut over some more back roads I don't know - someone flatted, waited up, down George Hill to Langen, right on 117 and then the left onto the infamous 4 mile stretch of Rt 70.
Nice steady pace as we began that last 4 miles, 18, 19, maybe 20mph (too dark to see the computer) - I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more, I knew it was coming and I'd be damned if I was going to miss it. Or was everyone content to take it easy for the last few miles.
The guy in the Harpoon kit kept up the nice steady pace. Didn't he know?
I couldn't stand it anymore, I'm no hero, but I was feeling strong so I launched off the front, it was a strange feeling, I seemed to be getting stronger and stronger with each pedal stroke - I felt as stong as 10 Fabien Cancellaras pulling away from the group, I didn't need to look back, I quickly calculated the gap I was opening, 10meters, 50, 100, 150, 200 meters! It was incredible as I thought about the trail of dust those behind me were left choking on.
After about 2 miles (or maybe it was 2/10ths of a mile that seemed like 2 miles) I finally looked back.
And then I woke up from my dream.
Cervelo R3, Blue Cannondale, gray cannondale, Dave Lystra, Rwanda, and a couple of others were about to swallow me up. Damn, I had burnt every match I had, just pick a wheel and try and stay on. Closed my eyes and tried not to think about the pain.
"Sunshine on my shoulders, makes me happy"

Another great Tuesday night…. About the only part that sucked was realizing the days are quickly getting shorter. I can't believe COVAC is less than a month away.

Tuesday Night 7/14 Ride Report

Total distance: 46.53 (including a quick 3 mile warm up with Dave Dufort)
Total time: 2:12
Average MPH: 21.1
Total climbing: 1996ft according to Garmin Training Center software, 888ft on SportTracks software - something's not right!

Forgive me in advance, I know most every road west and north of Fitchburg, but whenever we head east I'm lost as was the case last night. So I don't know a lot of the street names and route numbers.
The ride headed up Prospect to Mechanic St, crossing over 70 along the road that runs parallel to rt 2 (I think it's the same road they found the body wrapped in a blue tarp earlier this year, I might not have the ability to remember my anniversary but I tend to remember morbid facts like that). Thankfully the only foul odors seemed to be coming from 1 or 2 in front of me and not from the side of the road.
The ride started out boring as hell, flat as a pancake. Rode into Shirley, a right onto the road that takes us past the prison. Everyone was going at a pretty good pace while passing through Devens into downtown Ayer before taking a left somewhere around JP O'Hanlon's onto a couple of back roads before ending up on a long straight road.
I'll admit, I was riding in the back, not paying attention. Basically falling asleep.
And then everything changed.
When I woke up there were 5 or 7 riders away, a good 1/2 mile off the front, bombing down whatever road it was we were on in Ayer. I saw Dave Lystra up the road and bridged up to him, but we couldn't get it going to bridge the gap to the lead riders.
I probably shouldn't tell anyone this, but everytime I see Dave I have this god awful image of him in a toga. I'll spare everyone the details - but I'm sure someone at the Gardner Ale House has pictures if anyone's interested (I'd suggest not trying to track them down).
Anyways, we regrouped somewhere before Littleton Depot and the took a right on Harwood Ave, maintained a quick pace, and then the hills started.
So much for a boring ride.
I wanted to stay near the front so I marked a couple people's bikes, I'll admit to not being good remembering people's names, but Brandt, Natalie, the guy on the red Giant TCR, the kid from GW on the Cervelo, a Litespeed, dark gray R600 and a couple others are the ones I remember (and it's hard remembering when you're oxygen depleted) We regrouped in Littleton for a flat before heading into Boxboro, Acton, picked up 111 and more hills, dropped by red TCR and a bunch of others (and these aren't even real hills). Caught back on, went up past Fruitlands, damn that hill is painful.
Once over the top everyone was taking flyers down the hill, fast and furious all the way into Bolton. There were a few people close to the double yellow I feared for with cars coming up the opposite side. But everyone was safe.
We regrouped at the intersection of 110 and 117 (Bolton Orchards) which is where I had my once in a lifetime moment of glory.
Just as the light turned green Brandt shouted out to Darren to hop on his wheel and he would play the lead out for the town line sprint into Lancaster (Mark Renshaw to Mark Cavendish). But Darren missed his cue and didn't jump on. Lucky me, I found myself on Brandt's wheel - while he was churning out like 100,000 watts of power leading me out, I was probably at about 200 watts, legs on fire, lungs on fire, gasping for air trying to hang on - all the time all I could think about was if I don't hang on all his work would have been been a big FAIL and someone else was going to take the sprint.
Brandt set it up perfectly - I somehow managed to hang on. With about 100 yards before the town line he peeled off to the left, I was in his slipstream and flew past him, I heard a lot of swearing all around when other's realized how perfectly Brandt played it as I took the glory over the line.
Now I know how important Mark Renshaw is to Mark Cavendish. Renshaw does all the work, Cavendish cranks it out for the last 500m and takes all the glory.
Fun times on a Tuesday night!!!!
The ride along Rt 70 through Lancaster center was uneventful until we took the right onto the last 4 miles of rt 70.
Again, I don't know people's names, but I know one thing - there are a lot of stong women on the Tuesday night ride who can tear it up over those last few miles. A couple of Spin Arts kits one on a Colnalgo the other on a blue Spin Arts bike, the petite woman with the blue Trek 5200 and camelback (I still can't figure out where she gets all that power), Andi on the Specialized, Natalie - all of them are incredibly stong especially when a lot of the guys, myself included are hurting on those last few miles along Rt 70.... It was a fast 4 miles, a good paceline with everyone taking short pulls before pulling off and jumping on the back again.
I could feel the GU rising up in my throat trying my best to hang on to that group for the last several miles - as always those few miles were brutal!
Finally got to the dealership and slowed it down. Cruised back on Mechanic and flew down Prospect street back to the shop.
All in all it was another great Tuesday night ride.
I wish everynight could be Tuesday. There's no better group of people to ride with.