Christiana

Christiana didn't start out better than anything else this summer, but it ended with a bang.

Saturday:

Road Race:
I was feeling pretty good all day in the field. Much much more comfortable than last year when I got shelled out of the 3/4 field on the first climb of the first lap. This time I used the climb to move up in position, and kept my ground for most of the course, usually loosing a little bit in the beginnings of a windy section. On the 4th time up the climb we caught the remnants of the women's race, which made things really complicated. I was chugging along on the climb, surrounded by people as usual, when I realized that me and the few guys around me had gotten dropped, and were surrounded by girls. Now usually this wouldn't bother me, but right then I wasn't in the mood for that sort of thing. Not a huge deal, did a little bit more work than I would have liked, but made the gap up relatively easily. Had to chase back on at the same spot on the final lap as well, but that was due to my loosing contact with the first 10 over the climb. So it all regroups, and a pretty large group of about 40 guys is heading into the finishing uphill section, not even a climb. Well I heard a crash behind me, and was happy to be in front of it... but the next crash that took up the entire width of the road was in front of me, and I couldn't quite get around it in time. Had to unclip, cyclocross over some poor bastard with half a face, and finished out of the points. I was feeling good and ready to put the hammer down on the last 300m too... I was only like 6 or 7 guys back. Oh well. No points.

Sunday:

Time Trial:
I thought I would be the only disc wheel fully aeroed out geek in the 4 field, but oh was I wrong. There were some funky stuff out for the 4's, and some other strong TT'ers, which I didn't expect. I finished up 3rd, about 20 seconds off the pace. I think this is a good sign still though. Even though last year I would have won the 4s by a good minute and a quarter. I'm still working on my position, I can get a little lower, and I don't feel as comfortable spinning up hills in my position now as I did last year... I'll be ready to fly by collegiate TT time. So... got some points.

My arms look really high right? Don't worry, I already bought an adjustable stem.

Crit:
I was pretty happy to be sitting top 10 after only scoring in the TT, thanks to the fact that the people who scored in the road race couldn't TT very well. With a good finish, I'd be able to get some GC money. Got a great start, and was 3rd wheel the whole time around the first lap. The first two guys kept switching, and trying to get me to come through, but I just sat on... I'm not going to pull on the first lap numbnuts. Well they both crashed out... first and second guys through the last turn on the first lap.



suckers. I stayed at the front as much as I could during the whole race. I felt pretty crappy in parts, letting some gaps go, but was lucky enough to always have someone next to me that was willing to close it down, and I was able to recover. The junior Polish kid took off with a few laps to go- I didn't even see him go. I just noticed that the kid who looked like was getting lapped had the pace car in front of him for a whole lap... hmmm. I moved up on the technical part on the backside, and was in a pretty good spot for the last turn. I took it pretty far inside, and started my sprint from a ways back. My legs felt much better than I anticipated and I took about 10 or 15 guys in that last uphill straight to get 6th.

Those placings on Sunday were good enough for 4th overall. Look out GMSR! You best be careful for the kid with the big quads going backwards fast on the hills, don't get caught behind me.

Doylestown

This Sunday was a circuit race out in Doylestown that a bunch of PSU folk made it out to. I did the 3/4, and felt pretty comfortable in the rolling course for the first two laps. At some point a break of two riders had a relatively significant lead, so I decided to jump across. I did so a lot more easily than I thought I should have been able to, and the reason for that become apparent quite quickly. The first time I went to pull through they both yelled up to me to ease up. Are you serious? Jesus, I just bridged up to you dudes and you can't sit on? So you can guess how that break ended up... As we were being caught another group of two tookoff, and I decided to give it a shot again. This time the other two guys were much stronger, and were taking some long hard pulls. I did my best to match their pace, but found it a bit much after about half a lap. Once I dropped from their wheels I glanced back quickly and saw the field, and decided to not kill myself and just wait for them. I didn't realize how far back they really were, or maybe I would have turned myself inside out to stay with the leaders. Turns out that the two stayed away for the win. Johan from Faulkner Honda jumped with 2 to go, and I went up to him and tried to work up to the leaders, but that wasn't shaking. Didn't have much in the tank after all that work, as I just finished up with the field. Legs felt pretty good so I'm looking forward to Christiana next weekend.

Altoona Recap

Well this is a bit late, but I'll recount the Toona race weekend real quick.

The first day is the "race to the corner" circuit race. I felt pretty good the whole race, but should have known better than to try and take it solo down towards the end. But I felt like I was Jens Voight, so I took a good hard flyer off with about 200 or so meters to go before THE TURN. I took the turn with a gap, and held on for the uphill section after it, and after taking the next turn found myself being swarmed by the field already. I rode it in for 65th.

Second day went a bit better. I gunned it on the opening straight to get right to the front. I hung out up there for a few miles, and was being steadily shoved a little further back than I would have liked when I got pushed clear off the road by a kid trying to avoid a dude who dropped his chain. Not much harm done, chased right back to the front, and drilled it as hard as I dared on the first 1/2 of the climb to string out the group. I was hoping to form a small group right from the get go, but thinking about it now, riding tempo, however hard, is not really the way to make a selection even on this "road race" course. I slipped towards the steep KOM and come across behind, but reintegrated with the 2nd group over the top. I did a ton of work, but it was clear we weren't bringing anything more than people who had given up back. I sat in for last kilometer or so and easily took the field sprint to save some face. 19th.

Third day was the crit. I didn't finish this last year so I was hoping to at least do that. I got a second row start spot and took advantage of that to sprint out in the top 10 through the first lap. Certainly a lot easier than being in the back. I routinely moved up on the finishing straight by going real close to the barriers and wide around the uphill turn. About halfway through I got caught behind a crash on the last corner. I had to unclip, and sort of took my time getting back on my bike and snagged a free lap. By this time the field was relatively small so I didn't have any trouble getting back up to the front. I felt pretty good and stayed up there for the rest of the race, but just didn't have the punch to fight for the top spots for the whole last lap. Have to set yourself up first, and then hope you have something left for the sprint, not the other way around. 21st.

All in all a fun weekend. We had what seemed like 10 people staying at our new place, so it was a bit hectic. Again the highlight was Lisa taking 3rd the first two days, and despite a crash in the last corner of the crit, she managed to keep her 3rd place, even though we didn't realize that for a few days after.... oops

Training week + Giro di Coppi

My brother Nick was in town this past week to hang out and ride a lot. And ride a lot we did. It was certainly a big step up in hours from what I've been putting in. The week totalled about 20 hours. Big days were the Tuesday Blackhawk-->MagicMo-->BlackMo mountain spectacular, followed up by the Alexandria-->Speedride century of fun. I felt a lot better than I thought I would after such a week, and was excited to head out to do a rather up and down road race course down in Maryland put on by a team we have both previously ridden for.

The day of racing was started off by Lisa, Nick's wife, trouncing the competition once again to claim her 12th victory of the year. Sandbagger. Nick and I went off a few hours later. I had 50 hilly miles ahead of me whereas Nick had about 75 I believe. I did my best to stay near the front, as I knew splits would occur on the climbs that abound throughout the course. The first lap I worked pretty hard, and was about 10-15th wheel through the uphill finish. The next lap I hung out and saved my energy as much as I could. During the third lap a few breaks started getting small gaps, and I noticed the Coppi guys (who's jersey I was wearing) weren't getting into all of them. So I went up there and the next one that split off without one of us on there I waited for someone else to jump and just rode their wheel up to the break, sucker. I'm not sure why he did it either because he had a guy up there. Anyway we all pulled through once, and then I found myself first into a relatively hard corner into a narrow uphill road. I looked back and our gap was pretty small, so I decided to see if I could get just one or two of the guys to come with me and attacked pretty hard through the corner. Noone came up, and I was alone up there with a gap I couldn't hold for the 20 or so miles left in the race, so I just rode up the climb steadily and reintegrated into the group. After that I recovered as best I could and stayed in the top quarter of the now relatively small field. Two guys jumped where I had the previous lap, and they ended up staying away. I was right there, but I was like... oh oh! not doing that again. Oh well. Came time for the uphill sprint and I had jack, so I just rode it in for what is a respectable 23rd, considering how many miles I put in this week.

Nick also put in a great ride to pull out a 12th in the Pro 1,2 race. Nice way to break in the new carbon race hoops. Didn't see much of the race, but it was splintered to all hell on the last lap. Two places out of the money... d'oh.

So now it's time to eat pasta and take it easy this week... Toona coming up, gotta score a point.

Hummelstown + SRAM

I went out to do the former Harrisburg Honda Crit, now held in Hummelstown, Pa. I did the 3/4 field in hopes that I would really dig deep and stay in, which would be some great preparation for Toona's technical crit.

I got a horrible start, and was chasing from the get go. The very first straight on the course necks down into a tight left hander which was a clusterfuck. I came close to trackstanding (although it was nothing compared to Norristown). By the time I came around to top off lap number one I was at the end of the field which was strung out taking over the entire finishing straightaway. At some point my rear wheel, which was just built up recently, again succumbed to my unbelievable force and let a few spokes loosen halfway down the threads. I didn't really even notice it until I stopped, which happened rather suddenly as every other rotation of my wheel my brakes locked up. I didn't realize it until it was not really possible to grab a lap or anything. MOTHERFUCKER. Not that I had a result in my legs, but still. MOTHERFUCKER.

Anyway, there were cooler things to be seen. Across from where I sat down to watch the race sat a bike shop's tent displaying some high end bikes. I gazed over and realized one of them was a Cannondale System6 with SRAM Force shifters and ders. MOTHERFUCKER! So of course I went over and checked it out. I rode it up and down the street numerous times fooling around with the shifting. I really liked it... Certainly a learning curve, but it feels crisp. The angle that the shifter motion is swept back is natural, but it takes some getting used to... if that makes sense. Something didn't feel comfortable where the shifters met the bars, but that can usually be changed by how you mount them, or wrap the tape. I tried out the shifting position when you're in the drops holding the shifting lever back and flicking your wrist. It worked really well, and certainly very possible to do in a sprint. The one thing I didn't like right off was that there is no trim on the front der. What's with that? The dude from the shop said because of the Double Tap, they couldn't do it. Shutup. If the rear has ten "trim" positions, if you will, why can't the front have more than two positions?

Anyway, I got home and rode Penn's Caves because I was pissed. Almost bonked. Never good to ride when you're pissed, but I'm tired now so I'll sleep better. At least I didn't crash I guess, Kyle may have broken his collarbone, so hopefully he can get back on the bike soon. Certainly could have been worse for both of us.

Training

July 4th... spent a few hours out on the bike. Munas and I rode Upper Lime into Black Mo. We rode all the climbs very steady which was relatively easy on the early climbs, and became increasingly difficult, at least for me, as we progressed through the ride. I hadn't climbed over ridges here side by side with someone in a while and it really made me realize that I had let my climbing technique suffer quite a bit. (That assumes I had better technique back at some point). Realizing that I dropped back quickly whenever I let my upperbody bounce or if I didn't keep even pressure on the pedals throughout the full stroke. Basically I realized I just need to concentrate a whole lot more at keeping my upper body steady, and my pedaling action smooth. Earthbreaking right? Just didn't realize I had gotten so sloppy. Hopefully I can get used to riding a bit more fluently for Toona.

I got the Harrisburg (now Hummelstown) Honda crit, Mount Penn and Giro di Coppi on the schedule before Toona. The last two there should let me test out some more climbing in a racing situation.

On another vein, sucks for Valverde, Rodriguez and Erik Dekker. What is the record for collarbone fractures in one day at the Tour??

Some racing updates...

Well it's been a little while since I've updated this. You can certainly read into that, I haven't had anything encouraging or fun to share for a while.

Some catchup: Few weeks ago I did both the 4/5 and the 3/4 at Pfieffer Hill. The course was a few miles with one pretty good climb and a few other painful uphill pitches. One lap into the 4/5 I broke my spoke. Immediately my wheel was rubbing badly on the brakes, so I just had to stop and wait for the sag wagon. The guy who picked me up was the promoter, whom I had actually contacted before about the poor quality maps he has on his website. He was a pretty cool guy, and he eventually hooked me up with a spoke and lent me some tools to fix my wheel. So I got it all patched up for the 3/4. However I just didn't have the legs to hang with the 3/4 field on the climb. I later discovered that I had broken two more spokes. Often when you break one and just replace it without retensioning, the wheel is much weaker. On a better note Luke managed to get a top 15 in the 3/4, finishing up strong in the front group... rock on.

So now onto the reason I feel like writing here again. This past weekend Munas, Kyle, Matt S., Kristine "Jersey" J., Rachel and I did the Tour de Sales at De Sale University. It was a "collegiate" race in the middle of the summer. The first day was a crit, and despite only having about 12 starters, the action was hot from the beginning. Mike Chauner from Bucknell (A rider, strong dude) attacked through the first turn, and everyone groaned. The field chased him down, and about a lap later they rang the bell for a $10 prime. Some messing around on the backside left me a lane, so I took it on a slight uphill, and had enough of a gap to take the prime. Chauner quickly bridged up to me and the break was off. I didn't take consistent pulls the first two laps or so off the front. I wasn't sure how smart it was to ride with this kid to the finish, but I figured 2nd place as a worse case scenario isn't bad. So we worked pretty well together for the next 10-12 laps. Munas, Kyle and Spohn were all chasing down people trying to bridge up during this time. Chauner and I opened up about a 3/4 lap lead, and the messing around began. We attacked each other for about a lap and a half before he finally jumped and I just couldn't respond. I finished it up for 2nd place. Good day. Munas rounded out the podium by taking the field sprint.

Sunday was a circuit race, with a pretty good climb near the finish. I felt good in the first few laps, and was trying to help keep tabs on Chauner, and possibly make him feel it a bit on the climb. That backfired a bit when I couldn't hang on the climb, and got dropped with 2 to go. Munas again sprinted well to get 3rd while Kyle came up big to get 5th. Kevin, a JMU rider, made a great move in the finale to outsmart Chaunder and Munas for the win.

And the girls won everything. Noone else showed up... sucks.

Fun weekend all in all. Only thing that sucked is that now I have two checks made out to "Penn State Cycling". Greeeaaat. That'll be easy to get money. I'll post some pictures later.

Annodization take 2

Well the second round of annodization went much better. There are moments when my high school self would have hit my current self upside the head, and my first swing at annodization was one of those. I wired up the batteries in parallel in attempts to try and add up the voltage. Well, it doesn't quite work that way, and switching to series hookups made all the difference. It was much quicker, you could hear a little crackaling, and could definetly hear hydrogen gas bubbling out from under the paper towel. Sweet. The first picture of the headtube is a bit weird looking because of the flash. I did the whole headtube in the deep blue, and then tried to bring out the "A" headbadge by holding the electrode there longer, thus making it a brighter blue. Sort of worked, I'll have to touch it up in the daylight. The last two pictures show the flames on the toptube, which came out pretty well. A little leaking occured with the stencil, but I'm confident that once I get a good stencil made for the lettering I want to put on, then that problem will be eliminated.

Annodization...part 1

I was really excited to begin annodizing my bike, but so far the results haven't lived up to the hype. I think my biggest problem is lack of voltage. I'm just using 27 volts for now, and I want to do at least 45 next time to try and get a deeper blueish color instead of the yellowish/brown there now. I'm thinking I also need a voltmeter to track how quickly I'm killing the batteries. Anyway, here are some pictures of the first round with the annodization... probably try it again later in the week when I have some more time on my hands. There is some promise though, hopefully in a few weeks time my bike will look faster than me.

Carbon Wheels...

So I finally got my carbone glued up, and it's smooth, and sounds schweet. I've heard carbon wheels ridden around before, but the sound from a carbon wheel sounds like an airplane taking off, which is very different than what a normal aluminum rimmed wheel sounds like. Now it's not all about sound. Style counts too.

Memorial Hall

This past Saturday I was in Philly for the PA state criterium championships. The course was about a 0.6 mile 4 corner standard course. The interesting thing was the fact that you could see the entire course from the center, and the large puddles on the outside or inside of the turns. Right from the gun the rain was pouring down, and there was even a clap of thunder or two. For a moment I thought it might be called, but the weather cleared a bit, and we were able to do the 40 laps.

It was extremely easy to move around in the field, being that the roads were extremely wide and the field wasn't too large (no more than 75 I would say). I stayed up in the top 1/3 for the whole race. About 5 or so laps in I found myself right at the front when a lone dude who had been off the front was caught. I figured now is as good a time as ever, and took a little dig for myself. I was only out for about 3/4 of a lap, but it served as a decent warmup. I didn't let myself slide back more than 5 or 10 spots when I got caught. I've had the habit of letting myself get thrown right to the back of the field when getting caught back in, and I was happy with staying up front this time. The last lap proved a bit more difficult to move up than any of the others (who would have figured) and I ended up getting boxed out going into turn 3. Coming out of turn 3 the guy I was following through, a Cornell kid (who had been pretty sketchy all race) decided to go off into a large puddle and into the field next to the course. I had to ease up for a moment to get around his ass, and that little bit was enough to kick me out of contention. Still very happy with the effort though. Kyle C. was up there and got 15th while Jeff S. flatted with 5 corners to go and wasn't able to get up for the sprint.

I'm looking forward to a hard week of training. My next stint at a paid training ride , or racing as you may know it as, should be at Pieffer. Maybe here I can finally do the 4/5 ; 3/4 combo. Look out.

Worst Speed Ride Ever

Well I did the speed ride yesterday, and it pretty much sucked right from the get go. It was a lot bigger than when I did it two weeks ago, so I was looking forward to trying and sticking around longer. I figured less pulls would mean I could stay in the wheels longer. Well it was also a helluva lot faster I think, so I was off about halfway down 45. Rode by myself for much of it, then caught Frank from Wheelworks, and some other dude caught us, so we worked for a little bit. I took a good hard pull at the front, and then was not able to get onto their wheels again. So I rode the whole way home by myself. I took the shortcut through Merango, but I still didn't catch the group, they must have been flying. I saw the slower group that did the shortcut, and it was pretty big.

Well all of that wouldn't have made it the worst ride ever, just a bit frustrating. But on the way home I also completly broke my left STI lever which had been on the rocks for some time. For now it's stuck in the big ring, and I hope that it stays like that so I can "race" Memorial Hall this weekend.

Millport 4/5 Race Report

This is my imitation of an Andy Munas race report.

Myself, Jeff Schutt, Adam Snoke and Shawn Limbert were representing the blue and white (in and out of actual blue and white) at Millport this Saturday in the 4/5.

The race started off relatively easy, with a single rider establishing about a 15-20 second lead that lasted about the first 2 of 8 laps. It was a bit windy, and there were not enough technical sections to really get an advantage on a field today, unless you were really heads and shoulders above the rest. I managed to stay in the first 10 or so places for the first few laps and found it humorous that people were yelling to get riders to come through and work hard to bring the single rider back. I never pulled, and would have bitch smacked anyone who yelled at me. The wind did the trick, and the rider was back in the field relatively shortly. About halfway through I was suffering a bit more and the rest of the PSU contingent was moving to the front as I was sliding towards the back. Coming through to see 2 laps to go, the officials sprung a prime on us, for what I'm not exactly sure. Mr. Snoke, not being too mathematically inclined, thought it was the end of the race and worked hard to get a 4th place in the 1 deep prime. Not sure exactly what happened to him on the actual last lap, but he didn't quite have it to sprint again. Meanwhile Limbert and Schutt moved up very strongly. Jeff took a top 10 spot, while Shawn took the perfect leadout from I believe some Iron Hill riders to take the win. I got caught up behind a stupid crash on the only "uphill" on the last lap. I didn't go down but got slowed juuuust enough to not be able to fight back on. Generally though, I was happy with my efforts, and am looking forward to being able to mix it up in a finale shortly.

Melissa Wills also did I believe a 3/4 Woman's race, while Erica Allar, who got her cat 2 upgrade, was forced to do the Men's 1,2,3! I wasn't able to hang around, so I don't know how they fared. Hopefully Erica's "Sarah Uhl" type move didn't prove too short and she was able to hang in there.

Next Saturday: Rapho Road Race. Possibly a 4/5 3/4 double? We'll see how the legs feel this week...maybe a bit too soon to be thinking that, let's finish one first eh?

Time Trial Course

Well I went out and did the Tadpole TT course Friday morning, in the pouring rain none the less. I was dissapointed that I had forgotten about it the evening before, and I had to work instead. So I went out and put in what I felt like was a pretty decent effort. I have a new position on the TT bike, and it felt allright on the way out to the turnaround. I clocked 13 minutes on the dot at the turnaround, which was well behind my pace from last year of 12:20. I finished it off in about 27:15, a lot slower than my 24:25 from last year. I bumped my seat up about a centimeter for the ride home, and I think that'll feel better especially when pulling myself up gradients in the aerobars. So I'll have to keep on getting out on that bike and get more and more comfortable on it... My first real TT will likely be at Owasco the weekend before Toona, I hope to rip that one open.

Also the SRAM Force group looks pretty hot. I believe the retail is going to be $1,800.00, so I may be able to get it for a bit over a grand... have to start saving now. Donations are welcome.

Family Trip

I just got back from a trip out to Ohio, where my grandma, Aunt, and brother all live. I first visited Yellow Springs, OH where I saw my 1 year old neice and brother. Cheyan is walking around like crazy, and eats a signifigant portion of her body weight at every sitting. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I went for a ride with my oldest brother, and just relaxed before heading up to Lima the next day.

My grandma is in a nursing home there, and it was not a great visit. The decision was made to put her under hospice care, which is basically making you comfortable instead of actively treating your condition. She isn't all that aware of what is going on around her, and I'm not exactly sure if she knew who I was. She wants to just go, but just can't yet. I wish that she could just fall asleep and have a peaceful journey... Seems that we don't have a very good way to help our aging citizens. I can't imagine that she is very comfortable with things as they are... The nursing home itself is really nice though, they have birds to watch, activities to do... seems like one of the better ones.

Anyway, I'm back to the realities of State College for a while, riding my bike, working at the shop, studying for the GRE's (yea... have to start that).

Racin' again.

Well, I'll probably start posting some more thigns on here, but this will serve as a quick update. I started training a few weeks ago, and have been trying to get as much time in the saddle as possible, trying to make up for some down time. I raced Union Grove this past weekend. It was a 5 lap circuit race, and I hung on for the first 4, but just didn't have the punch to stay with the group on a little riser on the last lap. Still felt pretty good about my effort though. Check out the picture below of me pretending to be Cipo.

I am being a bum in State College this summer and just riding, working at the Bicycle Shop, and starting to study for the GRE at some point. If you're ever in the 814, drop me a line, I'll be around during the weeks.

Next race: Millport on 6/27

Nittany Classic + New Therapy + Roubaix

Well the Nittany Classic has come and gone, what a quality weekend. I was blown away at the effort our club put into this event. The planning was done well, but was made all the more solid by the people marshaling during races and making tons of food for the kickass dinner on Saturday night. The raffle got us some more cash and garnered excitement on Saturday, while Sunday's roadrace went off without a hitch despite a roadway sized tractor and a neutral rollout through a highway interchange 3 times over. I can't wait for next year. Myself and Andy have already been discussing possible tweeks to our weekend to maximize quality and minimize the chance that any other pretender school would get Easterns. As of now I'm the only person running for Road Race Director for next year, so... I guess I got that job. Schweet.

I also have started physical therapy at a new place. I'm now going to the place near the hospital, Penn State Orthapedics. I like the therapist, he took a good chunk of time to talk with me, and his points made a lot of sense. The biggest issue, which was never pointed out to me before, is that my right leg has NO hyperextension right now. So if you're sitting on a bed with your legs out in front of you, hyperextension is picking up your heel from the bed while keeping your knee on the bed. My left knee can do it for about an inch or two which is normal. My right leg doesn't budge. I also stand with my right knee noticably in front of my left (due to the lack of hyperextension). So I'm doing some stretches and exercises aimed at helping the knee to reach full range of motion (something I thought I had months ago). After a few days it's already feeling better, but I also haven't been really stressing it much. I'm hopeful that this new perspective will help, but I'll try and stay grounded for the time being.

I watched Paris-Roubaix this morning. What a kickass race! Cancellra (CSC) was looking strong all day and took out the win in impressive fashion, while three riders got DQ'ed (2nd,3rd and 4th on the road) for going around a train blocking. Crazy stuff! I figured the days of trains stopping races was long gone. Boonen's group was behind the group that went around the barricades and they stopped. Throw in some crashes (poor Hincappie and Steels) and some gutsy performances (Hammond! never mentioned but the brother had stitches in his knee!! I feel ya buddy). Great race. I'll try and record it. If I can't, I'm buying it. Great trainer viewing material right there.

Nittany Classic is coming...

So it's been a while. This weekened the all knowing road race director and myself flyered the road race circuit, then did a quick lap via two wheels. I think after walking around for 2 hours my knee was ready for a rest, so the ride didn't go so well. Didn't go so well for Andy either as his back is still bugging him. Injuries suck.

Today we flyered the crit course. I get such a weird vibe from MOST of the people who came to the door and talked to me in Bellefonte. Semi-rude, semi-"why they hell are you closing my road"... but there were some nice people who wished us luck in the race.

I also did a quick Boalsburg loop, which felt great. I think not being on my feet for two hours before a ride is the key. Hopefully I can slowly... very slowly... ramp up some time on the bike.

So the Nittany Classic weekend is coming. Three events in two days. I'm excited to see the kid's race... I hope some kids show up! We are planning, in conjunction with some riders from CRBC whom know Dr. Kulakowski's family, to have a prime in his memory at our race. The idea was also put out there that we could have this prime in years to come, which I think would be a great thing to do. The money raised for it could go to the scholarship fund, and a small % to the rider winning it.

If you're around State College area this weekend and are bored, call me. I'll give you a corner to marshall.

Changing Mindset

Everything is what you make of it. I've come to the conclusion that I just need to wrap my mind around that fact. I know I need to stay positive about things, and the easiest way to do that is to change the thing you need to be positive about. In my mind I've written off this collegiate season as a loss, which is much better than hoping to race later on. I don't feel anxious to get better and ride soon. The thing I'm feeling positive about now is getting back to training sometime over the summer, doing a little bit of racing, and then finding a way to stick around and race ECCC next year. It's a lot easier to be positive about those goals, and it takes a lot of pressure off me. I don't think I realized how stressed out I was trying to get on the bike so I could get into some sort of shape for April ECCC races. Screw it. Collegiate races are fun, but they're not worth ruining a whole semester, especially some people's last semester. So here's to Rutgers, I'm going to rock that prologue.

Sike

This past weekend was the first ECCC race of the season at Rutgers University. It was my first time officiating, and it started out boring, and got a lot better as the weekend went along. I started off standing in the freezing cold doing the ITT, writing down numbers of people who passed. After not too long I swung my car around and sat in that instead. It was warmer. Mild entertainment came in the form of people who steered straight through the large line of cones, and did a much harder turn-around than necessary, and from the dude in Men's A who way overcooked the turn, went into the mud, and fell. Hilarious dude, thanks for making my morning. I later found out that two guys skipped the turn-around, and didn't bother to tell anyone... and had times minutes faster than other competitors. Needless to say they were DQed. I felt a bit better after hearing this, as I felt a bit more worthwhile.

The crit in the afternoon was more interesting. I wrote down numbers of people falling off the back, and those winning the prime sprints. It was a little confusing, especially with the Women's B and Men's D and C fields. It was cold and windy, and I was happy to get back to CT's housing hookup for the best post-race dinner put on by a host family ever.

The next day was the circut race and it was real easy to do. Not many lapped riders, or not many lapped riders who kept riding I should say. I just sat around wrote numbers again. I was much better at catching numbers and documenting the race than the first day.

I must say that officiating is not very fun. It was allright because I got paid $100 (which is going to purchase a Mavic Carbone btw). However I'd much rather be racing.

Which reminds me- went to see the surgeon today, and he said the swelling was a lot more than he though it should be... told me to ice it more, some other stretches, and to lay off riding over an hour for a while, like May. He mentioned that 80% of people who see results from my surgery will have seen it by this point. I wanted to ask him how many people really expected to benefit from my surgery, but I think I know what he means. Sucks. I don't think I'll be making it out to many more collegiate weekends now, I can't stand going and not racing, I'd rather pretend it's not going on and I'm not missing anything. Good luck guys/gals. I will still be doing the Philly weekend, however, as I need to pick up that Carbone from Stephan... wonder when I'll get to put it to use.