Race Report & Saturday AM Ride

Did the Friday Night race last night and, for the first time, I left after work from the office. I left the office at 3:00PM, caught the 3:34PM train to Wantagh, which arrived right at 4:30PM. My car was at the station all packed with bike, clothes, bottles, etc. Drove out to the race and got there at about 5:35PM, time enough to change into cycling clothes, register, and do 3 or 4 warm-up laps. I didn't have to burn a vacation day but it is a haul to get there from NYC.

As before, I did the "B" race. All groups were bigger than last week. I was disappointed in my result which was somewhere down in the pack. I made a few short attacks but the group was very strong this week. I was badly placed in the field when the sprint started so I was not a factor at all.

This morning I showed up to do the Brands ride. Some regulars from the shop were missing. I rode sweep up to the LIE then split off on my own to do West Hills, both ways. Gold Coast Century is coming up next week and there will be no shortage of hills on that one. Here is my GPS track from last year's ride (6300 ft of elevation gain). EB's tomorrow!

Kreb Race Results from 7/22/2007

Race results!

EB Paceline

Snapshot by an SBRA rider who passed us in the other direction.

The Trifecta!

Third riding day in a row as I joined the Early Birds in Manorville for the North route. Large group worked well together. I think we only lost about 5 guys on the final haul up Rt. 51 and Route 111. Pyzahl was kind enough to post photos and ride stats once again. One scary moment when a big old woodchuck (or groundhog?) decided to run straight through our 25 mph paceline! Rider three places in front of me ran over him but did not go down (lucky for all of us behind him or we would have been toast!). Woodchuck disappeared on the other side of the road.

Here are some of PyZahl's photos from the rest stop in Cutchogue, including me trying to work out a piece of Clif bar from between my teeth!

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Kreb Friday Night Race & Saturday Brands Ride

The first Kreb Friday Night race of the summer was held last night at Southampton College in Riverhead. I raced with the Cat. 4/5 "B" group. We had about 25 riders line up for the "B" group, about the same for the "A" group. There was a strong headwind on the back half of the course which affected the tactics for the race. Several breaks tried to get away but the choice was either on the front straightaway, which is downhill and the back straightaway which was into the headwind. Guys with aspirations for the sprint finish didn't want to work into the wind and that basically killed any breakaway attempts.

My big contribution was taking a solo flyer on the last lap on an uphill section at the end of the downhill straightaway. The pace slowed WAY down so I drilled it up the hill. No one chased and I got a big gap right away. I powered into the headwind and maintained a good gap until the final uphill when the sprinters started to wind it up. I was still in front at the top of the hill but by that time the tank was on EMPTY and I was quickly swallowed up by the sprint about 100 yards from the finish. Missed it by THAT much! The race was just 100 yards too short!

Got up early for the Brands ride this morning with the intention of making it an easy recovery ride. It started out that way and I was riding sweep with Jamie. At the turnaround point we decided to split into a fast group and a slower group as some of the Brands guys needed to get back to the shop. Nice pace going back and some good pacelining.

Probably do the Early Birds tomorrow. Was thinking of the ESG Time Trial Qualifier but I think I'd rather do 50 fast miles in the nice weather. Report to follow.

Hammering EB South

Fast ride with a large group and great weather today at the Early Birds. We went south. Here are Pyzahl's ride stats at his blog along with some photos.

Saturday, I rode with Jamie at the Brands ride. It was good to do that ride again (it must have been over a year since the last time

ESG Qualifier Results

Results are here for the 2007 ESG Road Race Qualifier for the Long Island region.
Only top 10 places shown. Needless to say, my name does not appear!

ESG Qualifier, First Race This Season

Been away from the blog for a while, but I have been doing the weekend ride thing for the past few weekends. Missed one nice Saturday due to work but I have been able to get two rides per weekend for the past three weeks. All have been solo rides on the usual Round Swamp Rd. - LIE - West Hills - Round Swamp Rd. loop, except for one ride with Joel from the Brand's group and todays ride, the ESG Qualifier for Long Island.

ESG is Empire State Games, the NY State Championships. The course was at Suffolk Community College in Riverhead, 25 laps, counter-clockwise. It worked out to about 43 miles. I figured there would be no time to eat during the race so I had two breakfasts, bowl of oatmeal at home and a PB&J in the car on the way there. Arrived at the college about 7:55am. Filled out the forms for registration, pinned on my number (152) and had time to take 4 or 5 warmup laps before the start.

There was a big field of riders from all over LI, at least 70-80, I would estimate. Lots of Kreb and East End riders. The race was fast but not the killer pace I was expecting. There were a few break attempts but I don't think any group got more than 30 seconds. I stayed in the pack most of the time. Actually it was pretty nice to be in the fast moving pack. My bike computer shows a maximum speed of 35 mph. I would gues we must have averaged at least 25 mph for the race. It ended in a sprint. Not sure where I finished but it was nowhere near the front, so I guess I don't have to worry about competing at the ESG's.

Anyway, it was fun to get back to racing finally and I'm satisfied to have been able to stay with the group that, for the most part, has been racing all spring. Hopefully the Friday night races (same course) will be starting up soon.

After the race I was able to see the finish line camera video as the USCF official tried to pick out the rider numbers but I didn't see mine. Hopefully they will post the results somewhere.

Mother's Day Weekend Rides

Saturday I went out to Rocky Point for the usual Pre-Early Birds Hill ride, led by Pyzahl. We started with a group of seven. We split into groups of 5 and 2. I was with the front 5 as we rolled into Iron Pier, the usual stopping and regrouping point. The group of two came in 5-10 minutes behind us. Pyzahl polled the group if anyone was interested in extending the ride from the usual 55 miles to 75. He had one taker and I said I would decide at the split-off point. It turns out that I was short on time and water, so I stayed with the group of three that headed back on the usual route. We ended up with about 50+ miles as we avoided the last set of hills. It was a great ride, as usual, and I was glad to stay with the main group through the hills. The legs must be coming back.

Discussing the ride at the regrouping point.

On Sunday, I needed to be back home by 9:00am and it worked out great for a short AM ride with Joel from the old Brands group. He was in town for Mother's Day so we agreed to meet for a 7:00AM to 9:00AM ride. We headed up Round Swamp Road (where I flatted!) and through West Hills. We hammered back to town with a tailwind most of the way. I was home by 9:10AM. Without the flat it would have been 9:00AM on the dot! It was good to see Joel again and (of course) it was a great ride.

Bratwurst!

I did the annual "Bratwurst" century today with some of the regulars from the Early Birds. We started at the Riverhead County Center, went up to Greenport on the North fork, ferry to Shelter Island, across SI, ferry to the South fork, then through Amagansett, the Hamptons, and back to Riverhead. Total mileage: 104.22. We had great weather and a strong group of riders, about 11 of us, in all. We stopped for lunch at mile 60 in Amagansett. Gerald took a couple of photos on the ferry, so if he posts them I will put links here.

A great ride and my first century of the year. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

Change of Plans Due to Rain

I headed out the door for the Early Bird ride this morning at 6:30am for a 7:30am ride start, but by the time I arrived in Manorville around 7:15am, I was in the middle of some significant rain. Temperature was also on the chilly side. I was not anticipating rain and didn't bring my vest or rain jacket. As I got off the LIE I swung right back around and headed back home, at least I could do a shorter ride and stay dry. I wasn't even sure if the EB's would be riding.

Turns out they did ride, though it turned out to be a wet one. Here is Pyzahl's report.

For me, I got home, changed into warmer clothes and did 20 miles around town, getting a good workout due to the high winds. Hopefully we will have good weather on Wednesday for the annual "Spring" century, a.k.a. the "Bratwurst". This is an unofficial ride with some of the SBRA group which sort of follows the Bike-Boat-Bike route scheduled later in the summer as an official club ride. I've done it the past two years. Last year we did the final 30 miles in pouring rain! Fingers are crossed for some good weather this year!

Pre-EB Ride

Did Pyzahl's pre-EB ride again this morning. Strong group of 5 riders, or, I should say, strong group of 4 riders... plus me. I am definitely lagging on the hills but this is a friendly ride so we regrouped when necessary. Actually, one rider started to bonk about 10 miles from the end, and (surprise) it wasn't me. So, we took it pretty easy in order to keep the group together. Weather was perfect.

Here are couple of pictures from PyZahl:





Percy and Marco at Iron Pier Beach Park.





Marco and I discussing the merits of my bike, Phil and Owen in the background.

Tomorrow, the Early Birds! Real early, 7:30am.

Two Great Rides This Weekend

Two great rides this weekend, two HARD rides, and 100+ total miles for the weekend! Saturday I met up with Pyzahl for his pre-Early Bird Saturday hill ride. He changed the start time to 8:00am, which is fine with me. I was the only other rider to show up so it was just the two of us. Weather might have also been a factor in the low turnout as it seemed to be threatening to rain. We had a nice ride through the morning fog. There was practically no wind which made it easy to maintain a nice brisk pace.
Here is Pyzahl's GPS track.

Sunday I went out to Manorville for the Early Birds. We went North this week with a slightly revised finish due to construction on Route 51. Nice turnout of riders (about 15 of us, I think). Most of the racing guys were in Central Park for the last of the spring race series. Next week should be interesting when they start showing up for the Early Birds again. We got a few brief periods of drizzle which had no effect on the ride itself but was a little bit of a let down since I just cleaned the bike yesterday afternoon. :-(

All-in-all, a great workout. Now I remember why I drive all the way out to Manorville to do this ride. Will post pictures and/or route track is Pyzahl posts them.

Spring has (finally) Sprung

Great waether this weekend and two really nice rides, as a result!
Saturday did 40 miles solo down Round Swamp Road and the LIE service road.
Awesome ride with the Early Birds this morning. We did the south route, once again, and had a nice strong group. A couple of quick stops for a mechanical and a flat, plus the usual 7-11 stop. Got reaquainted with a couple of riders I hadn't seen since the end of the birds rides last year.
I hope this weather continues for a while.
Also took a nice family bike ride to Cedar Creek and back with Linda and Tina. The park was FULL of bikes! Can't wait for the bike path to open.

Pyzahl's Saturday AM Ride

Did Pyzahl's hilly ride from Rocky Point this morning. Strong group of about 10-11 riders. We battled some strong headwind on the return leg of the loop. Got dropped on the last set of hills but I coasted in only about 30 seconds behind the rest of the group.

Here are some pictures of the ride, courtesy of Pyzahl (thanks Percy!):

Riders chatting at the start (my back is to the camera).

Jeff, Mark, Joe, and I at the halfway point, Iron Pier Beach State Park.

The group at Iron Pier.

More of the group.

Pyzahl tracked the ride with his GPS, here is a link to the Motionbased track.

I'm not sure how many more times I will make it to this ride. Its really a great ride but the traffic heading back home was insane. Perhaps the start time will get pushed up in the future.

Back to the Early Birds

Seeing as there were no ill effects from yesterday's group ride, I decided to go for it by joining the Early Birds this morning. Had a nice size group (12-15, or so). Nice pace. Most of the super-strong guys were not there (racing today, I think) so there weren't many crazy attacks. I'm starting to remember how nice it is to recover in a paceline on a group ride, compared to a solo ride where there is really no place to hide from the wind.
Next weekend is Easter and we will be upstate so I won't make it to the Birds ride, but I hope to start getting out there on a more regular basis. Looks like work will be the main obstacle.
Pyzahl was on the ride again and took pictures. So, once again, if he posts them I will put some links in the blog. TTFN!

Pyzahl's Pre-EB Ride

I rode Pyzahl's Saturday B+ paced ride today. It is meant to be a slower paced warmup ride to the traditional Sunday Early Bird hammerfest. The ride starts in Rocky Point, goes out to Iron Pier Beach State Park, and back. Here is the ride route. It incorporates elements from both the Early Bird's North Route and the Trevor's Winter EB route. A nice ride with lots of rollers and good roads. Temperature was mid to high thirties at the ride start but it didn't really seem that cold. More of an issue was the wind, but still, not all that bad.
Especially since we had six riders (me, Percy, Kevin, Phil, John, and Robin). I had forgotten how good it feels to ride in a fast paceline instead of fighting the wind the whole time.It was a very good pace, around 20 mph average. A bit fast for a B+ ride but everyone was up to it and we had some nice tailwinds at times.
I hope to do this ride on the future whenever possible. I saw that Percy had his camera out at Iron Pier so if he post pictures from the ride I will add some links here.
Robin mentioned that a bunch of the guys have been doing the Spring Races in Central Park. Sounds cool!

Is it Spring Yet?

Did a 48-mile road ride this morning. Still a chill in the air but things warmed up as the sun came out. I was orinially intending to do Pyzahl's 55-mile ride in Rocky Point this morning but I didn't quite feel 100% ready so I decided to do a solo ride instead. In retrospect it was probably a good idea. As much as I want to get back to doing those fast group rides, I still have a ways to go to get the form back.



Ride today was nice. Mostly dry roads despite yesterday's rain. Still some melting snow in West Hills. Saw lots of bikers out, including a few remnants from what (I'm guessing) was the end of the Triangle Ride. Man, just thinking about THAT intense ride is making me think I've got a lot of riding to do before I'm ready for something like that.



Based on my upcoming work scedule, I don't think I will really be able to dedicate the time I want to to cycling until the end of May. The SBRA Spring (Bratwurst) century should be coming up in April. I would really like to try it. I need to see if I can get at leat one 75-miler in before then. Will most likely miss the Montauk Century on 5/12 due to work obligations. I won't even talk about racing (although the Great Neck Cycling Challenge is being revived this May 20th!)

Me (in blue) at the 2005 Great Neck Race!

Return to the Road

Well, February was pretty much a write-off in terms of the bike. Only a couple of outdoor rides, a week or two on the trainer, then....nothing. I hadn't ridden in over two weeks, almost three. Busy with work, some cold weather, general lack of motivation.

With forcast of temperatures in the 50's I was looking forward to finally getting back out on the road. Did the 50-mile "usual" route. Wasn't as painful as I was thinking it would be but still revealed that I've lost a lot of conditioning with my light riding schedule over the past 3 months. The Early Birds are starting up again out of Manorville tomorrow but I will probably skip it for a week or two. I've got to get some legs back before I try to keep up with that group.

Other bike news, I've upgraded my racing license to category 4 so hopefully that may open up the oportunity to do a couple of more races this year. We'll see.

Looking forward to another 50-miler tomorrow, maybe solo or maybe with the Early Birds.

Its Cold and Getting Colder

Rode the trainer all five work days this week. I reduced the ride to to 1/2 hour but increased the intensity so its still a good workout. If I get up at 5:00am I can do the 1/2 workout and still get a train to get to work by 8:00 or 8:15am. I will try to keep this streak going through the winter.

Did the old 25 mile route today up Round Swamp Rd. and first LIE hill. Very cold and windy today, around mid-20's. I suited up with lots of layers. Stayed pretty warm. Hands were a little cold at the beginning of the ride and feet were cold at the end, but I think I have a pretty good setup for a 1-1/2 hour ride in temps down to 20F.

I heated up the water bottle before I went out so that it wouldn't freeze before the end of the ride.

All-in-all it was good to hit the open road after a week of indoor riding. Extreme cold is headed this way tomorrow so it may be back to the trainer on Super Bowl Sunday. Go COLTS!!