Kreb Friday Night Race Video

I did the "B" race on Friday. Only got 7th place but felt strong and had a 4 or 5 lap solo breakaway. I also ended up on the front at the start of the finish sprint so I led it out, finished 7th.

Ed was there at took some cool video! Check it out!



Recovered today with a nice ride with the Brands crew. Did about 25 miles with the group then another 25 on my own. Early Birds tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

Did my 5th Tour of the Hamptons Today

Just got back home about an hour ago after completing my 5th Tour of the Hamptons century ride. Nice cool weather today and a bit less wind than Saturday made for perfect contidions. We had a core group of about a dozen riders which we kept together for the whole 105 miles. This ride is advertised as "flat", and it is, compared to some other rides like the Gold Coast and Highlander, but there are still many rolling sections to sap the legs. Having done this ride a few times I have a good idea of where to conserve energy and where to make up time in a fast paceline. Got a nice t-shirt out of the deal too!

Yesterday was an easy-paced Brands ride, plus I added in a little detour through West Hills Park for myself. Now I need to start focusing on how I'm going to drag myself up those 11,000 ft of hills at next month's Highlander!

Weekend Rides

I ended my vacation with a solo ride on Friday, Aug 3rd, skipping the Friday Night race which was a 5-lap Time Trial.

For the past two weekends I've settled into the routine of Saturday morning Brands Ride and Sunday Morning Early Birds ride. Weather has been great and the rides have been fantastic. This past weekend we had a small turnout of six riders for the Brands ride but the group stayed together and we had one of our best rides yet, IMHO. Sunday, the Birds went south. Thirty-one riders and a fast pace (23 mph average at the 34-mile rest stop). Things broke up after that after a flat. About 1/2 of the group kept going. I waited and came in with the second group.

Next weekend I will probably do Brands on Saturday. Sunday will be a change of pace as I am signed up for the Tour of the Hamptons. One hundred miles from Southampton to Montauk and back.


Me finishing the 2006 Tour of the Hamptons.

Ride Updates

Did the Early Birds on the 22nd then did not ride at all for 8 days as we packed-up the family and went on vacation. Was thinking about bringing the bike but decided not to since ride oportunities would be very limited and I didn't get my act together to plan anything out. This week I rode 40 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus a 30-miler this morning. Legs are really sore but I'm trying to work back into shape for the Early Birds this Sunday. Race tomorrow is a 5 lap Time Trial but I think I will skip it this week.

July 20th Race Results

Kind of old news but here are the 7/20 race results.

Thrills and Spills at the Friday Night Races

Managed to take the sprint for 2nd place with a bike throw at the line in the B race last night. There was a nasty crash in the B race. Two riders touched wheels. The rider behind fell hard and the rider behind ran into him then went over his handlebars. This happened right in front of me and I had to lock-up the brakes to avoid it myself. A couple of us stopped to make sure they were okay. They both remounted but left the race after the next lap. Those of us who stopped started to chase back to the group. They had slowed down to wait for us and we caught back on after two laps. It turns out that one rider didn't wait and he went on to win the race. Of course there is no rule that says you have to wait for riders after a crash but it is kind of questionable sportsmanship to benefit in a situation like that. There were also two crashes in the A race, one of which resulted in a possible broken collarbone. So a bit of a bloodbath at the races this week. On the plus side, second place is my best result so far in any race!

Nice 50-mile spin this morning to recover. Met up with the group at Brands and did the first 30 miles with them. Then went off to West Hills and back home.

"Hypersonic"

Pyzahl described today's EB ride as "Hypersonic" in his blog. It was a fast ride, but, then again, it ALWAYS IS! As usual, thanks to Pyzahl for ride stats and photos.

Here is a photo of the big EB group stopped for a minor crash. Rider was okay. (I'm on the left edge next to the rider in the VT jersey)


Here is the speed distribution for the ride.



Saturday was a Brands ride. Went away with two other riders for a fast section, then solo, through West Hills. Caught back up with ride on the way back.

July 6 Race Results

Here, from Kreb Cycle website.

Gold Coast is in the books!

Pyzahl's Photos

Pyzahl's Ride Stats

Rode the Huntington Bicycle Club's Gold Coast Century today. This ride has the reputation of being on of the hilliest on Long Island. Weather today was hot!

I started out in a large group of about 20 riders. At the 50-mile rest stop, most decided on doing the 70 mile route. Myself and six others went for the full century. It was a good, strong group and we finished with a ride time of 5 hr 22 min, elapsed time was 6 hr 30 min. I went through 5 bottles of sports drink, 2 bottles of water, 1 1/2 PB&J sandwiches, one power bar and half of an orange on the ride.

Pyzahl was in the 100-mile group and he took lots of photos so I will put up some links when he posts them.

Epic Night at the Races!

Tonight's race schedule included a 1-lap Time Trial, followed by a traditional circuit race. Things were made even more interesting with the weather!

I was one of about 30 riders who signed up for the time trial, which consisted of one lap of the usual circuit course. I also had the honor of being the first rider in the TT. We left at 30 second intervals. The weather was a factor as I rode in the middle of a downpour. It was the same for the first 8 or so riders, then things started to clear a bit. At least, the rain tapered off. I finished with a time of 4 min 14 sec. Not sure where that rates out of all the riders. Results should be on the Kreb site in a couple of days.

On to the circuit race. I rode with the "B" group which had about 13 riders tonight. There were 2 primes and I pipped another rider on the line to take the second prime, my first. The two hard accelerations for the primes split the field and I ended up in a six man breakaway, which was eventually whittled down to four riders. I put a lot of effort into helping the break stay away, probably more than I should have. As a result, I finished fourth in the race. But still, my BEST finish! My payday, at least covered my entry fee and gas money! A really satisfying outing, especially with the difficult conditions. And we finally got a break to stick in the "B" race.

Wish I had some photos! Probably recover with a short ride tomorrow morning, and looking forward to a challenging, hilly century at the Gold Coast on Sunday!

Sunday EB Ride and Tuesday Solo Ride

Great fast EB South on Sunday. Here is Pyzahl's blog entry and a link to his GPS track, if interested. The highlight, for me was when Joe C. flew up the left of the peloton and told me to get on his wheel. He took me straight up to the front and later said it was "payback" for my closing some gaps on the last EB ride. That was cool.

Today, got a late start but did the "usual" route. Perfect weather again!

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.