On the Road Again with Bigfoot...

I finally kicked that damn cold and got a good week or riding in! Sunday I had a normalized power of 230 for a 3-hour ride (yeah, I know, way too high for this time of year). It felt good the first week off the bike, and then the following week and a half I was really missing it! Now I have to get used to riding in the cooler weather. It was in the low 40s to start Sunday’s ride (today, the car read 33 degrees on the way to work). I had to turn my heat on in the house for the first time this season.

On Saturday, a bunch of us got together to do a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Vertical. Bigfoot is Barley Wine style beer (9.6% and made for aging!). We tasted 15 different vintages: 1990, 1994, 1995, and 1997-2008. It was very interesting to see how this beer aged over the time. The 1994 really stood out. There really wasn’t a bad year and I put the peak at about 6 years old. Did I mention, I was a little buzzed after drinking my set!

River Horse Honey Bunches of Ants

Even though I was sick, I headed over to the Kennett Square Brew Fest last weekend. I had the pleasure of trying on of the most unique beers I've had (at least ingredients wise). Here is the description;

• Leo introduced the rest of the River Horse staff to one of his hometown favorites, cooked black ants. Mama sends them from Mexico where they are only able to be collected for about 9 weeks a year during the rainy season. The black leaf eating ant is considered a delicacy, traditionally used as a wedding gift with the belief that they are an aphrodisiac. Their light woody flavor and rumored libido enhancing qualities are equally represented in this Burnt Sugar Ale for a less than conventional brew.

Yumm, beer with Black Ants. Now if only I can get a hold of the beer made with pooh coffee;

• Mikkeller has created a special edition of their flagship beer Beer Geek Breakfast for the Copenhagen Beer Festival every year. This version is a different recipe and it is brewed with the famous vietnamese coffee ca phe chon, that has travelled trough the intestinal system of a weasel.

Sick as a Dog...

This picture says it all! As soon as the season ended, I came down with a nasty cold that just doesn't want to let go. I thought I was getting better last weekend, but yesterday and today, I'm twice as bad off than last week! At least it is after the season, but I'm really itching to get back on the bike (coming on 2 weeks now).

PowerTap is now selling their upgrade to make their hubs compatible withe the Garmin 705! I just ordered one yesterday and can't wait to get it. They send you an updated (pictured above) that upgrades/updates the PowerTap. You are then requested to send the updater back for a 'special' gift (how about refunding some of the $100).

The Season is Officially Over for Me

The race season is officially over for me! What better way to end it than do a Time Trial (yep, I still suck at these). 21.7 miles and relatively flat. I finished 2nd in the Cat 3 field. I’ll give you a hint on how many people where in the Cat 3 field…I didn’t beat anyone. I had one of my worst times on the out leg. I heard some other racers say the air felt heavy for some reason. I know it was cold at the start. Driving to the TT, my car had 42 degrees! Last Sunday it was in the upper 80s and humid.

The race season by the numbers…

I competed in 48 races. I made the decision to only do races that I wanted to and those that fit my strengths better. With this in mind, thought I would do less than last year. I was surprised that last year I did 48 races as well. Gone are the days that I’ll do ~60 races in a year! Here is the number of races broken down by month;

March 4 races
April 5 races
May 9 races
June 7 races
July 11 races
August 8 races
September 4 races

I managed to get 16 top tens; my best year for top tens in a long time. I think the only other year I did better, was when I got over 25 top tens. This was the year that got enough points to upgrade to a Cat 2. I had my upgrade letter typed up, sealed, and ready to send (back in the old days you had to snail mail your upgrade request to the district rep). I was going to send in my request after I got back from Superweek. Right before I got back, Trish told me she was pregnant with Alex…goodbye Cat 2 dreams! Big difference from last year – I only had 5 top tens in the same number of races.

Time to rest and enjoy some longer easier rides. I know in about 2 weeks, I’ll be eagerly counting down the days until next year’s racing start!

Last Road Race of the Season

At the last minute, I rearranged my last weekend planned racing schedule. I was monitoring the Master’s State Time Trial registration and thought I had until Friday 12:30pm to sign up. Guess what? The pre-registration only dead line was at Friday 12:30am. No big deal as the course was way too hilly for me anyway and I probably subconsciously didn’t sign up on purpose. Only pain in the ass was I put my TT bars on my bike for nothing! I also changed plans and raced in a 44 mile, 35+ circuit race on Sunday vs. a crit.

There were 3 of us in the circuit race. As a team, we were pretty aggressive and covered every move that went up the road. Tom was able to get into the break/split that eventually stayed away. I took 2nd in the ensuing field sprint, but really didn’t care since all the spots were up the road. With 1 lap to go, I told Mike I wasn’t going to sprint. Of course I found myself up front on Mike’s wheel and sprinted for the last time of the 2008 season.

Someone in the race had a helmet camera on. It was pointed backwards and took pictures every 3 seconds. Below are a couple that I’m in. Check out some of the other photos on his site at http://www.hussey.smugmug.com/gallery/5978676_uXP4F#373263683_zBfF3

Hurricane Wreaks my Weekend Plans!

The remnants of Hurricane Hanna messed up all my plans for racing last weekend. They cancelled the Phillipsburg Crit on Thursday. That left me with thinking about doing a TT on Sunday. On Friday, the TT got postponed. The TT was set to go off on Sunday but the fear was there would be too much debris on the roads. That left me with plan C, a hilly ass Road Race. The only good thing about the RR is it was ~ 40 minutes from home. I usually don’t bother showing up to a race where the flyer says there is a 1.5km climb in it and then some rollers. What was I supposed to do? Not race (yeah right). The rains and winds didn't start until late Saturday so at least I got a ride in outside on Saturday!

I line up for the 40+ start and the officials say, at the top there is a KOM sprint. Shit. What the Hell am I doing at a race not only with hills, but a KOM! The was 7 laps of a 10km circuit for a total of 70km. My goal was to make it to the top of the climbs with the pack for the 1st two laps. Guess what? I made my goal and was just gapped off at the top of the second climb on the second lap. I chased like Hell, but 20 feet became 50 feet became 100 feet and so on! I solo for a couple laps and a group of 3 riders catch up to me. I do a few laps with them and that’s that. I guess I’m happy that I made my goal and got a good work out in. Maybe for next year I should work on my climbing (or not).

The Streak Ends...

Going into last weekend's races, I managed to grab 5 top 10's in a row. That streak ended!

I don't know why I raced on Sunday. I've said this before and will say it again, I won't be coming back to that race! Sure the roads are in rough shape, but it is a Crit course and that doesn't really bother me. What really bothers me, is that the Cat 3 race was only 12 miles long! That's what, Cat 5 distance? Races this short, to me, means the promoter is more concerned with getting as many fields as possible to rake in the cash!

Sunday I raced in the 35+ race at Basking Ridge. Another short race; only 15 miles. I like this course though. 1 mile in length with 5 turns including a chicane and a power hill. Unfortunately, the P/1/2/3 field was just before ours and paid out $2,000. That means the 35+ race was stacked with those guys doubling up. I was in the front the 1st 5 laps and even tried to get in a break, but that was it. I went back and played tail gunner for the rest of the race.

I love this coming Saturday's course, but the prediction is for the remnants of Hurricane Hanna should be hitting us. Heavy rain and gusty winds. I heard anywhere from 5 inches of rain with 60 mph gusts...

Pics from Last Weekend

Some pictures from last weekend's races. The first two are from Sunday's 40+ and the last two are from Saturday's Cat 3/4 race.

Beer and Racing

This weekend there were 2 races held outside of the Allentown Brew Works. How can you go wrong with racing in front of a Brew Pub! They did a great job of closing down a 1 mile crit course in the middle of a busy town (especially on a Saturday). I was expecting a pancake flat crit but there was a power rise on the back side (and everyone knows how I hate anything that even slightly goes up). Typical 4 corner rectangle with a nice straight, slightly downhill, lead-in to the finish.

Saturday was the Cat 3/4 race. 25 laps for 25 miles. I actually didn’t feel that bad on the rise. Sure, I had to sit in the middle or back of the field to make it, but I held in there. I was in about 20th spot coming out of the final turn. Luckily it was a down hill sprint and I had my 11. I go as hard as I can for as long as I can and just kept passing people. I started on the very left, had to wiggle my way into the middle and finally swung right. I ended up in 7th place. Not bad for the position I had in the last turn. Faster sprint as my computer had ~41 mph.

Sunday was the Masters 40+. I tried to stay up front to make and splits but you know the story. I drifted to the back and he split happens immediately. 7 guys up the road and get a shit load of time on us. I took 2nd our field for 9th overall.

After Sunday’s race, I sat outside the brewpub and had a few beers. Nothing like sitting in 90 degree weather drinking a 9% Belgian Tripel and then a 7% Grand Cru!

It’s been one of the best months for top 10s for me; 5 straight and all in the month of August. Hopefully I can keep that up until the end of the season!

Counting my Lucky Stars...

Saturday’s race was nearly my most ‘costly’ race ever. It was a typical crit course with some rough spots. The racecourse corresponded with a huge festival/fair. Turn 1 and 2 were located at the far end of the fair and everyone would stop and watch as the race came by. I guess all the jarring around caused my Garmin mount to have some issues (and honestly, I don’t think I had the zip ties on correctly). Coming around turn 2, I felt something hit my leg and go skidding off into the huge crowd watching. At first I thought it was my water bottle. About a ½ lap later, I looked down and saw my Garmin 705 missing. My heart really jumped! Too late to stop racing and look for it and I figured some kid has it now.

The second after crossing the finish line, I went to the spot where the Garmin flew into the crowd. There was a policeman stationed there to make sure no one wandered onto the course. I asked him if he saw something fly out of the pack. He told me my Garmin hit him on the foot and he initially thought his cell phone had fallen. He also said he took it up to the officials where I promptly claimed it back. There were just some minor scratches on one side and the protective door on the back was missing (Garmin is sending me out a free replacement for the missing door). Other than that, it works just fine.

I’m still counting my lucky stars…

Crazy 8s

Yesterday I raced the 40+ in Burlington NJ. 4 corner course that was ~1.2 miles in length. They shortened the course this year and thankfully the roads where a little smoother too! Not much to say other than I let someone push their way in front of me in the final stretch which caused me to lose my teammates wheel. When I looked up past him, I noticed he opened up a 5+ bike length gap. Game over. Why force your way into a sprint and then pull that crap! I ended up in 8th.

Today I did the Cat 3 at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame Crit. Same course as early this year. When I did this race earlier in the season, I had some 'problems' on the power hill and ended up in the 20s. Today I felt great on the hill. I even got into a break with 10 laps to go. I thought it looked good as it was just me and 2 other riders from the same team (and they had teammates in the field). We were caught with 5 laps to go. After the race, I heard that their own teammates pulled them back (nice). When we were caught, I tried to stay at the front as best I could. I ended up 8th (7th in the field sprint). My 2nd 8th place in 2 days...

Yep, I still Hate TTs!

It's been over a year since I did my last TT and I had this shiny new TT helmet waiting to be broken in, so I decided to do a 16km TT. Flat course (false flats at the most) so at least I won't suffer on any hills! I had 2 goals; beat my best time and not finish last. I completed both goals and finished 7th in the 1/2/3 field (I won't tell you how many were in the field, but I'll give you a hint; I wasn't last). This just reconfirms that I suck at Time Trials. Honestly, even though I'm no good at them, I do enjoy doing the flat ones and believe they are great workouts...

More SW Pictures

I know you wanted to see more pictures of me racing, so here they are (all from the Kenosha race at Superweek);

SW Photos

Some good pics of me at Superweek...