Volunteer Park Criterium: Race Report

4/7/2012 8:40am
Cat 4 Men, 40 minutes, D-shaped 1k circuit with 50' of climbing per lap, copious amounts of moss on the back stretch - Ooooooooooh.
Avg Speed 23.3 mph
Max Speed 40.5 mph
8th place of 61

This race recap will be short and sweet. It's only a 40 minute race and my brain was without oxygen most of the time. So it's a little hazy.

I was pretty stoked on this crit in general; the course suits me, it's local, it's fast. With 50 feet of climbing per lap, which includes the uphill finish, I felt I could win this race. The plan was to race aggressively (shake and bake with Chris), ignore the primes and attack for the win with 2 to go.

At the very start of the race I dropped my chain and unclipped and almost ate shit  without even turning the pedal all the way around. The announcer JUST warned us not to embarrass ourselves in front of him or he'd give us a heckling. This was because there were multiple crashes at the start/finish of the Cat 5 race just before us. I embarrassed myself and had to try and catch back on.

After the first 5 minutes the pace slowed down a bit so Chis and I took turns attacking halfway up the climb until one of us was caught. This is also when I ran over a reflector turtle and my water bottle popped out of its cage. FUCKING 5 MINUTES IN, NO MORE WATER. On the 3rd round he actually got away, and stayed away for 3 or 4 laps. Just before he was swallowed up he lapped a couple dropped riders at the start/finish and snagged a prime. The announcer wasn't paying attention and awarded it to someone in the front of the field thinking Chris was a said dropped rider. Oh well. We stayed near the front of group to make sure nobody tried to get away. The only moves that went off where the ones that typically do when that bell rings for another enticing prime. I was so focused on reading my body and the race I hardly noticed prime laps or how many laps to go there were to go. Sometimes I think we all get like this during the intensity of a criterium, that is until "5 to go." This is when you wake the fuck up and get in line.

When 5 laps to go arrived I had learned that there were a handful of guys just sitting in the whole race making sure they were fresh for the sprint. Along with the campers were their allies making sure nobody got away. I decided that there was no way I was gonna pull a Tacoma Twilight move and win this with 2 to go. So I sat 5th wheel and didn't let anyone in. It turns out I only need a lap or so to (almost) completely recover. I felt surprisingly strong by the time the final lap arrived.

Last Lap
I moved up one more spot to 4th wheel since coming out of the last corner in prime position makes all the difference. I felt fresh and started the climb in a perfect gear with a perfect spin. All I could think about was how stoked I was that I'm going to win. I could easily come around these guys and snag it before everyone finished coming out of the corner. SO FRESH. YES. Then everything went the opposite direction. We come flying around the corner into the false flat finishing 200m and my lead out train pops and spreads. They start falling apart out of position forming this perfect little box around me. Go around left, I get the curb. Go around right, we all crash. FUCK. I let them veer left out of the turn when I knew perfectly well, everyone wins this race staying to the right! just before a gap opened infront of me to the right so I could come around, here comes Tony Blazejack (SCCA/Starbucks) and the rest of the fucking field are well up to speed. All I can do now is throttle it out as hard as I can and try to squeeze the top 7 (point only awarded 7 deep in crits). I proceed to cross the finish line with 1/2 a tank left. Whack Attack. 8th place.

Most people finish a race with excuses. Almost always. I'd like to finish this short recap with a little responsibility to my actions. I knew better, yet stayed on the doomed train anyways. Call it the heat of the moment, poor planning, etc. But in the end, it's my own damn fault.

Here is a set I picked out from the ever talented ReedKJ.SmugMug.com she makes me look fast and I am thankful. One of these days, when I have extra dollars, I'll have to donate to show my appreciation.

Independence Valley Road Race Classic - Race Report

3/24/2012 9:30am
Cat 4 Men, 41 miles, 2 laps of rolling country roads with 2 major climbs
Avg Speed 25.5 mph
Max Speed 50.5 mph
8th place of 66

IVRR is becoming a true 'hardman' spring classic race of the Pacific Northwest. The long steep climbs definitely separate the billy goats from the boys. Then you have the rollers that fill one valley between the climbs and open windy farmland in the other valley. It's an all around tough course.

Fortunately I learned a lesson after year's race. My teammate, Jake Langdon, and I chased the 6-man breakaway (included one of our guys, Ted Schwartz) that formed immediately after the first climb, for nearly the entire race. Ted 3rd place and 6 minutes later Jake and I rolled in for 7th & 8th. Although this was an impressive effort for all of us, had we warmed up before the race, the three of us could have controlled the break. Instead, Jake and I were dropped with a handful of other poor souls that we eventually rode away from ourselves.

8:05am - Warm Up
My HSP teammate, Chris Carter, drove us to the race and got us there with almost an hour and a half to warm up and get situated. Score. We set up our trainers next to the truck, kitted up, and sipped on coffee and killed a bottle of water as we spun it out. I've never warmed up on the trainer before a race before; I don't know if that makes me an idiot or what. It was supposed to get into the mid-50's and you could feel it coming too, so I backed down on my embro application a little and got away with ARMWARMERS - woohoo! Finally a spring race where you can see the sun, feel it, and not have to wear everything you own to stay warm/dry enough to make it to the finish line.

9:20am - Line it up!
The official calls us up to the line, gives us the schpeel. As he is telling us we get the whole road at 1k to go instead of 200m, race organizer, Erik O Anderson, calls me out for not having a WSBA # yet. He then proceeds to make me feel like an ass for talking shit on his newest project, Capital Stage Race. Ooops. Who knew the internet was pubic? Or that people even read my blog for that matter? I couldn't tell if I should be flattered or embarrassed. I was a little of both. He wanted to kick me in the shin, regardless.

9:29am - Race
As we follow the lead car for neutral roll-out onto the race course, I find myself riding next to a familiar face, Nick Koops (Fischer Plumber Cycling, formerly ByrneInvent), and we get to chatting. We are talking about training, the course, and how we may or may not fare this gorgeous morning. I-shit-you-not, less than 10seconds after I compliment his Madfiber wheels, he hits a pothole, endos and eats major shit right next to me. His face hit my shoes, it was so close.

The car honks for the race to get under way, I had to forget about what just happened and start focusing on the climb that awaited us less than 2 miles up the road. I moved up to mid-pack and before I knew it, there we were. Boy was I glad I warmed up, I felt like a million bucks and just whizzed my way to the front group. It's fair to say nobody really expected what happened next, the entire field blew up and a selection was immediately made. I saw the fast guys in the lead group ahead of me so I began to bridge a seemingly small gap. This gap wasn't truly bridged until well after the decent because SOMEONE (Francis Atkinson SCCA/Starbucks Cycling) made it a point to "tear the legs off" anyone who tried to hold on. I sat on his wheel and look over my shoulder to find there were only 20 of us in the race now.

The Selection
With 20 of us working together I knew this was the move (crushing the first climb) that was going to win the race. Crazy. We had enough horsepower to split this group in half on the 2nd climb seeing as we had Garret, Paul and Martin (Audi), Francis and Jeff (SCCA), Todd (Stanley) then HSP boys Chris Carter and yours truly. These are all guys that usually make the break or instigate them on any given weekend, plus there has to be a couple new faces that wanted it bad enough to hang on.

We round the turn after miles of pacelining on open rolling farmland and begin the ascent we've all been anticipating. It's not that this climb is particularly gnarly, but that it's the last thing you want to deal with after driving the pace up and down rollers at threshold. Welcome to bicycle racing. I was mid pack starting the climb, and since there were only around 20 of us, it was pretty easy to just pull off to the left and pass anyone who was falling behind. It was then I saw the true beastmode strength of my teammate, Chris, as he motored up this hill effortlessly and almost dropped the whole group. WTF? I didn't know he was the Billy Goat King, sorry guys. By the time we finished our 50.5mph descent I noticed yet again the group had been split. There were now only 11 of us, woohoo.

Pain Cave
I often hear cyclists talk about the "Pain Cave", but as a frequent visitor myself, I know most of them don't know what it's like to really enter that dark place. I'm confident that our group of 11 went there atleast 4 or 5 different times as we finished out this last lap. I say this because no matter what moves were made we all finished the race together. Ouch. As we took turns pulling, well by we I mean everyone except the guy on Olympic Orthopaedic, the thought on everyones mind was in anticipation as to who would drive the train up that first hill again. These moments are probably my favorite aspects of racing, when friends become enemies. We all worked so hard to get away and stay away, but on this last lap, it's all about shaking off a few more people (to increase your odds at finishing well) then working together again with whoever survived.

To properly 'cut to the chase,' I will say that we all tried to shake eachother multiple times and all failed.  However, there was this moment on the final climb when Chris attacked but nobody could possibly hold his wheel, so he just soloed up to the top and down the climb. He was caught by us before we got to the bottom. If a couple people could have caught him, that could have been it. The true hadman of the day was Francis. He drove the pace of our group almost the whole time, then in the final 5k decideds to counter attack after Garrett and I have our fun. This guy proceeds to just time trial away from all of us. We let him dangle out there, but not so much because it's a tactical decision, but more because none of us want to kill ourselves just to catch him. We are getting close to 2k, so we unanimously decide to chase. It sucks but we caught that SOB. Uh oh, there's the 1k sign! We get the whole road, whose gonna lead it out? I don't care I'm sitting 3rd wheel. Crap everyone just slowed down and now I'm leading the sprint. Fine, full gas and I'm hoping nobody has the legs to come around. But they all do. 150m and everyone jumps around me and it's just a battle to catch a draft then BOOM Jeff Reed (SCCA) takes the win, compliments to his teammate Francis. I finished right behind Paul for 8th place - 2 points YAY!

I wanted 1st pretty badly, but I made the mistake of working a little too much though out the race and not sitting further back in the final lead up to the sprint. Not to mention, it was a really fucking hard race and we went fast the whole time, so I'm not sure I'd have the legs to deliver in the end anyways.

Next week, one of my favorite races the Volunteer Park Criterium.

Gluten Free Energy Bar - Recipe

For athletes and hungry people alike, I present to you a completely modifiable energy bar recipe:

Ingredients:

-3/4c. Nut butter of your choice (tahini might be a new favorite for me)
-3/4c. Sweetener syrup (local honey, agave, brown rice syrup, etc)
-2 1/2c. Trail mix (should include an assortment of seeds, nuts, and lots of dried fruit... This is where you get to modify your proportions and have a little fun - I just added 1c. chopped dates to 1 1/2c. of trail mix that had raisins in it, ya dig?)
-4c. GLUTEN FREE brown rice crispie cereal (I used Kellog's GF Rice Crispies)
-1tsp. Kosher salt
-1tsp. Vanilla extract

Method:


1. Prepare a large baking pan (around 9" x 13") by coating with Earth Balance or some other cooking oil, to prevent your bars from sticking.

2. In a pretty large mixing bowl combine your nut/seed/dried fruit mix with the crispies. Mix well.

3. In a sauce pan, on low heat combine nut butter, sweetener syrup, salt and vanilla extract. Stir constantly and get it hot enough that you get some bubbles. Be very careful though, that much sugar on heat will scald pretty easily.

4. After your nutty syrup is warm and well combined, use a spatula and pour it into your mixing bowl - making sure to get everything coated.

5. Use the spatula to transfer and pack your energy bar mixture down into the baking pan. Get it nice and level and cool in the refrigerator for atleast 1 hour.

After it's completely cool and hardened use a butter knife to portion to your liking. Wrap in parchment paper, then in a sando baggy, place in your jersey pocket and go ride.

Tour de Dung Road Race Series #2 - Race Report

3/17/2012 9:50am
Cat 4 Men, 48 miles, 4 laps of wide open farmland roads
Avg Speed 24.6 mph
Max Speed 38.9 mph
7th place of 58

This race was much more exciting than the week prior at Sequim #1 because of its sheer speed and aggression from the other racers. Personally I prefer a fast pace and aggressive type of race, to me it's just safer. If you don't have the legs, you won't be in my (our) way, and it forces everyone to work together instead of mindlessly riding 3 abreast in the wind.

Much to my surprise, the attacks started immediately following neutral roll-out, and like the week before they were immediately covered and countered. Finally some consistency with the amateur racers that parallels the way professionals ride (sort of). My plan for today was to sit in, not attack, not do any work and wait it out for the field sprint. Boring but it works for everyone else, why not?

Less than halfway into the 2nd lap I look around and notice HALF THE FIELD HAS BEEN DROPPED! What the fuck? Naturally the attacks keep on coming, as does the surging. Garrett Charlson (Audi), whom is in great form for the start of the season I might add, decides to attack right after someone is reeled in and solos into the distance. I believe everyone was thinking what I was thinking, "What a wasted effort, he's not going to solo away from all of us..." Well, this may have been true but he put such an impressive gap on the final stretch that a grip of us got antsy and decided to chase. This chase lasted atleast 3 miles and avg'd about 29mph. It hurt. I was gapped by 3 different small chase groups and wasn't about to be left behind. I put my head down and TT'd my way up the road, unknowingly dragging 6 or 7 others with me. I caught the first group ahead of me and was closing on the second at the start of the third lap. I started to get really nervous when I saw Garrett had been joined by PJ (Hagens Berman) and Francis (SCAA/ Starbucks) both whom have built in motors in their legs. The final group ahead of me was falling apart so as I approached I let out one final effort to try and drop as many guys behind me as I could. It worked out pretty well and next thing I knew we had a 10-man breakaway. I reminded our group there was absolutely no reason we couldn't ride away from the field with this much horsepower - we put our heads down and rotated beautifully, each of us taking short pulls... well, all of us but one, some guy on Bikesale.com was just sitting in.

Final Lap
This is my favorite part of any breakaway - where friends become enemies. We collectively decided to pick the pace up on the rollers to drop said Bikesale.com rider and anyone else who couldn't hang. I thought for sure these efforts would cut our group in half, but alas, only our lazy bumblebee friend. Coming into the final kilometers Garrett does something I would have done and attacks the group. I bridge up and REALLY REALLY contemplated counter attacking but sat in instead. Bad call on my part. There was enough of a gap and we were closing in on the finish line quick enough that this could have been a 1-2 victory. Sitting in allowed eveyone to catch up and resume resting for the finish line. As 200m approached, I found myself sitting 2nd wheel ready to jump. In fact just before I dropped some gears for my sprint Todd (Cycle U) and PJ (Hagens Berman) take off from behind me - FUCK. I underestimated my cadence and failed to close the gap they set.  Granted I was tired, caught off guard, and sprinting isn't my strength (yet). I laid out every ounce of energy I had left and snagged a 7th place! Woohoo, 1 placing better than last week.

I was very impressed with our effort and definitely learned a few more lessons for the road ahead.

Photo credit: ReedKJ I'd like to give her a shout out for being such a trooper and strong supporter of NW bicycle racing. She's out there in the pissing rain or shine, making all of us look so cool and fast. If you see a picture(s) you like, give back and make a purchase, I know I will.

Recipe: Vegan Sloppy Joes

I like to think my best recipes come to me while working the line at around 5:00pm just before the Happy Hour rush comes. I'll be sitting there firing up some chorizo and quail eggs for someone sipping on a delicious red sangria when I think to myself, "Hmm, what should I make for family (staff) meal tonight?"

This is usually dictated by what we have lying around in the kitchen that needs to be eaten, who's working (we have a lot of vegetarians in Front of the House), and my overall level of creativity. Since we had a couple cups of dried green lentils hanging out, I decided to feed my coworkers a play on an American classic: Sloppy Joes.

 This recipe makes a lot, and like most anything you try and cook don't get bent on proportions, just look for desired texture/taste.

- 2c. dried lentils
- 1c. toasted almonds
- 2 pablano or other green peppers, large dice
- 1 large yellow onion, large dice
- 12oz. canned tomatoes (muir glen or something decent)
- 3 cloves of garlic,  minced or thinly sliced
- 1/4c. nutritional yeast
- 1/2c. tomato paste
- salt, pepper to taste
- 1T. cumin and crushed red chili flakes (each)
- parsley, oregano, and other chopped up tasty herbs

First things first, get your food processor out. If you don't have one, no biggy, you just get to sculpt your guns a little more.

1. In a large pot with boiling water and a pinch of salt, add your lentils. Cover and kill the heat. Set a timer for 45 minutes.

2. In hot pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt throw in your onions and peppers. Saute until you see some carmelization, this is when you want to toss in the garlic, mmmmm. Once the garlic is toasty, toss it all in a large mixing bowl. Deglaze your pan.

3. In your hot pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt add your tomato paste and cook until darker in color, then add to your mixing bowl.

4. Place your toasted almonds in the food processor with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt (see the pattern here? "Seasoning as you go") Pulse until course, or chunks start to stick together. Add this to your mixing bowl.

5. Strain your canned tomatoes and dice them before adding to your precious bowl of goodies, making sure to reserve the liquid.

6. Add the remainder ingredients (except the tomato juices) and mix thoroughly. You'll notice it's pretty dry, so a little bit at a time mix in your tomato juice from the canned stuff until sloppy. If it's still not sloppy enough, mix in water, stock or ketchup until sloppy enough.

There's your mix, when ready to eat heat in a covered pan with a splash of water to get it going. After it's warm enough, I think you know how to put it on a bun and cover it with lettuce and queso.

BOOOM. Enjoy your fiber and protein laden meal :)

Stairmaster 6000 Alleycat - Seattle

(via ZLOG)
The Stairmaster 6000 race is quickly approaching this Saturday the 31st. It will be a grueling challenge of man and bike versus stairs. This is another race to benefit the 2013 NACCC in Seattle, so be there and show your suppoort. Check out the Facebook page for this race and also the 2013 NACCCs.

Tour de Dung Road Race Series #1 - Race Report

3/10/2012 9:50am
Cat 4 Men, 48 miles, 4 laps of wide open farmland roads
Avg Speed 23.8mph
Max Speed 35.2mph
8th place of 64


The Tour de Dung road race series in Sequim, Wa is part of the official kickstart in Northwest bicycle racing. It's staggered with the Mason Lake road races so we can all size eachother up and see who upgraded at the end of last season and who's slacking. I'm bitter can you tell? Bitter or not, I am making progress - third race of my season and I seem to be placing higher each time (Eatonville: 22nd, Mason Lake #1: 11th, and Sequim #1: 8th). Back to the report you were so kind to check in on... Sequim, pronounced "squim," is located a couple hours North of Seattle in the 'rain shadow' of the Olympic mountain range. I'm telling you about this because a rain shadow determines whether or not we race in pleasant conditions or shitty ones. Fortunately, it was typical stormy weather on our drive out there and clear as soon as we descended from the pass into Sequim. Awesome, a dry-ish race.

Our minivan stuffed with bikes and racers missed the 7:10am ferry to Kingston which would have given us about an hour to warm up before roll out. We took the 7:50 ferry and made it to the race in enough time to register, kit up and spin the pedals down the road for 10 minutes or so. Typical. I was surprised to see my teammate Thorsten there, since he was having trouble getting a ride. But he made it and was pretty chipper and chatty, not really like him. As we "warmed up" I discovered he only needed 1 more point to upgrade into the Cat 3's, I'd be stoked on life too. According to USA Cycling, this means he only needs to finish in 8th place if there are more than 50 people racing in our field. We discussed tactics and headed to the start line.

Ready-Set-Race
Turns out we had 4 HSP guys in our race: Chris Carter, Jim Peterson, Thor and I so we lined up and rolled out together. Our said "tactics" were to stay in the front of the race, and likely sprint it out at the end. The roads were wet and if the right bunch made a move today, it could stick... painful, but it could stick. Immediately following neutral roll out the attacks started, which is impressive for a Cat 4 race. However, because this is a Cat 4 race, all moves were automatically covered. Most of this first lap averaged 23mph so when it jumped to 26 you knew someone was trying to get up the road. If it kept up like this, I knew everyone would be cashed out by the last lap. I crossed my fingers.

Typical Me
As we made our way onto the backstretch I positioned myself 10 wheels back for optimal pouncing leverage. I almost jumped six or seven times before I actually did, mostly because I wanted to try out some advice I read on Bicyling.com. Just after a Starbucks rider was pulled back I attacked with just about everything I had. This didn't work out like I had hoped. Honestly, I don't know really know what I had hoped. I looked over my shoulder and the field was atleast 300m away from me. I opened a bigger gap than I intended and I couldn't even tell if they were chasing or letting me go. I figured I would just put my head down and see what happened. Maybe 3 minutes later I looked back and noticed they were, indeed chasing and I was going to be caught quite soon. I didn't get a chance to warm up before the race so instead of sitting up I took my ass out of the saddle and gassed it a bit longer. I figured that I'm in better form than most of them so I could recover pretty easily. After they caught me a couple guys cracked some jokes about how predictable I am.

Public Service Announcement: Joking with me like that only gives me a big head, so don't say anything if you don't want me to do it again.

To my surprise, the attacks didn't stop after the first lap, or the second. This kind of racing (covering any and all moves) takes a toll on the field as you could imagine. It became the most apparent when a guy on the Audi team just kept rolling straight on through as the rest of the pack was trying to do a bike race and turn right to stay on the course. He was 15 or 20 wheels back so he almost took everyone out. That was interesting to watch, AND nobody crashed. Woohoo. After that Thor and I made sure to stay in the front to avoid any other shenanigans that may follow. Alas, on our way up to the front an Apex Racing guy almost took his teammate out RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I would have been pissed to be taken down for some dumb shit like that. Fortunately this was a sign that everyone was getting restless, because Thor and I felt great.

FINAL LAP
I did some work at the start of the last lap to drive the pace up a bit. I knew it was going to be a field sprint, and I needed better odds than last week. Good thing Thor was looking out for me because I was probably on the front for a little too long. Gotta save the legs. Position position. Once we made it to the backstretch Fare Start Racing and Cycle U started launching attacks to string the field out. It worked to my advantage and I landed myself a sweet spot 3 wheels back right behind Dean Jasper from Fare Start Racing. I know he's a strong sprinter so I stayed put. Thor on the other hand decided to lead out the last 4 miles? What the fuck? Apparently I thought they'd let him into a good spot in the final kilometers if he drove the train for a bit. And they did. Around the last corner safe and sound, 1.5k to go, and the pace gets roaring. 30mph to be exact. The problem I had with the final 1k is that not one team had the legs to lead out. It just turned into us riding 4 and 5 abreast with people squeezing into smaller spaces than they should at high speed.

Approaching 200m
The sign is in view and everyone is bumping shoulders, it's getting really sketchy. I don't like it. Suddenly there's a slight surge so everyone freaks out and speeds up too quickly. This now presents me with the following situation: a) Crash because I'm getting pinched pretty badly or b) cross a wheel and possibly take someone behind me out so I can take the spot that opened up in front of me. I decided to go with b) and not crash. Seconds after I took this new comfy spot prepared for me, I heard that horrible chain of sounds nobody should have to hear - squealing, snapping carbon fiber, screams and the sound of a dry chip-seal road tearing at the flesh of the innocent (or not so innocent).

This is bike racing. 200m is here and Dean jumps on the outside and I follow, then he goes back. Big Todd from Cycle U is huge and throwing his bike so I just go all the way around him and sprint it out with my nose in the wind. I pretty much lead Thor out. Final meters, Thor comes around me for 3rd and I try to give it every lest pedal stroke I have. We cross the line and realize that I have no excuses for why I didn't win. I simply went too early. If I had stayed behind Dean the whole time I could have snuck out later with more juice. 8th place, but it was a good race and I earned 1 upgrade point so I'm happy.

Redemption this Saturday for #2 in the series.

More pictures found HERE from ReedKJ

Thanks for reading.