I'd like to thank 8th graders for being 8th graders

Funny story happened to me yesterday.

So, Wednesday and Thursday of this week I was in Washington, DC for work. We flew out of Rochester at 6am Wednesday and were in meetings all day, then went to a reception held by the Georgian Embassy to celebrate Georgian Independence day, then met one of my college buddies (Kurt) for dinner, so needless to say it was a long day. Obviously, there was no time for working out on Wednesday, but I had planned this and needed a rest day anyways. With all of the racing I've been doing and a total of 5 races next week, I probably shouldn't be doing a lot of training, but I also shouldn't take two days off in a row with nothing at all, so I planned to get up and run Thursday morning. I finally got to bed around midnight Wednesday. After getting up at 4am, it goes without saying that I was running on fumes. My alarm clock went off at 545am, at which point I promptly made the decision to cancel the 6am run and get another 1.5 hours of sleep before our meetings that morning. My justification was that I had been racing and training a lot and maybe sleep would be more beneficial than training, but the truth is, that was a BS excuse and I just didn't want to get out of bed! Little did I know that one of the 8th grade classes staying in my hotel had a different plan for me...At 6:03 AM, the hotel fire alarm went off...sweet, I had just fallen back asleep...I contemplated my options:

- try to sleep through it, this seemed like a decent idea, except I couldn't be sure that it was one of those 8th graders yanking the alarm as part of some triple-dog-dare, and wasn't a real fire. Plus, the alarm was super loud, so actual sleep might be difficult.

- put on clothes and wait outside for the alarm to stop going off, however long that might take

- put on running shoes and execute my original plan

I opted for the run and got in an awesome 1 hour run by the Mall, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial. I then had an excellent day of meetings and flew home.

I've written on this blog a few times about finding motivation to train by whatever it takes to get you going, but I guess sometimes it also takes some 8th grade punk pulling the fire alarm in your hotel. So, here's to 8th graders acting like 8th graders!

Crit Racing - Are we having fun yet?

This past weekend was the Tour De Syracuse which involved a criterium, time trial and road race. Overall, the races went ok, no great results, but good to get an additional 80 miles of racing in my legs, which will hopefully pay off down the road this season. I felt very good in the TT and road race yesterday, just couldn't quite put it together in the final sprint in the road race. It was a fun and eventful weekend for the team as well, which I'm going to try to write about in more detail on the team page in the next few days, once the organizers of the event publish accurate results.

I also competed in a GVCC criterium last week Tuesday. Criteriums (crit for short) are typically run on a course about 1 mile in length and the riders typically race for a given amount of time (typically an hour or so) and then are given a "laps to go" number and race to the finish. Typically riders who do well in crits are good sprinters, handle their bikes very well in and out of corners, and are good at fighting for position in the pack. Since I have none of these qualities as a bike rider currently, it's not exactly the type of race that's in my wheelhouse. However, I would like to improve on these items, and I figure that I'm not going to get better at crits by avoiding them. Below are some pics from the Tuesday crit courtesy of our friends at Twin Line Velo who were marshaling the race.

I'm on the right in the black Monroe Extinguisher's jersey. As you can see, I haven't quite mastered the "hat underneath the helmet" look as my helmet looks all cock-eyed.
But apparently I do have the ability to ride crits with my eyes closed. (me on the left, Rick driving the pace hard on the right).

These were my first two crits since the Rochester twilight crit two years ago, where I got completely shelled. The Tuesday night crit was probably 25 riders or so, so a very reasonably sized group to move around in. The Syracuse crit was 77 riders strong at the start and I had forgotten how chaotic crits of that size can get. You're constantly fighting for position and it's almost impossible to pass people other than by taking aggressive lines in corners or risks on downhills. The Syracuse course was especially challenging as there was only one small gradual hill, which might have been an opportunity for me to move up in the group, except every time we hit the hill, it was 7 riders wide, so I couldn't get around anyone. Then we'd crest the hill and bomb down this downhill with a decently sharp left-hand bend where you had to break for guys in front of you, then chase to stay with the lead group, then repeat all that over and over again (20 times to be exact).

Oh, and crashes, those happen a lot in crits. One of my teammates avoided a crash by bunny-hopping the curb and riding in the grass for a while (excellent bike-handling), but by the time he got back onto the pavement, the lead group was up the road, and he was off the back, race over. I managed to stay in the group and avoid two crashes, but never got anywhere near the front of the race. It was pretty frustrating and stressful 22 miles of racing. Maybe it's a mental thing, but I was racing to avoid crashes and to keep the rubber side down and not racing to win, which is how you end up riding at the back of the group the entire race and finishing 54th. Anyways, it was good to get through that, and hopefully I'll feel a little more comfortable the next time I toe the line in a crit. Riding towards the front of the group and paying attention to where I am in the pack are both things I need to work on in road races, so I think that more crit experience might help with that.

We'll see, in two weeks, I have a road race and two crits in Rochester, so it looks like I'll be getting plenty of experience in.

The peer pressure effect

So, what happens when you put 65 competitive cyclists together on a saturday morning with no races that weekend?

Rochester is a much more active community than people may realize. There are organized group activities every Saturday or Sunday. Everything from people getting together to train for their first marathon, century ride or triathlon to people getting together to really push it. These are all great options for people depending on what their goals are. On the "really push it front" there are a couple of famous ones in the Rochester area. For runners, there is the oven door run which typically meets at 630am every saturday for long runs that usually involve a lot of hills and a lot of people running faster than they were planning on that day. It's typically a nice easy pace until someone decides it shouldn't be a "nice easy pace" anymore (after about 5 minutes) and everyone takes turns pushing the pace, for the next 10-12 miles.

For cyclists, the competitive group ride is called the "latte ride" and meets up every Saturday at 730am for a 45 mile group ride that turns into an all-out, full-gas hammer fest. It's the same concept, everyone rolls out together at an easy spin and then someone decides to put an end to the friendship festival, at which point competitiveness and what I like to call the "peer pressure effect" takes over. Street sign sprints, hilltop sprints, long strung-out single-file lines going 28mph are all common occurances. No one wants to get dropped from the group and everyone wants everyone else to get dropped. It doesn't take a degree in excercise physiology to realize that it's a tough workout.

Since there were no races close to Rochester this past weekend, most of the local teams were out for the latte ride in full force and it lived up to it's reputation. To put things in perspective, I had a bike race Thursday, 5k running race Friday, and did a 58 mile ride in bristol featuring several steep climbs on Sunday, and the latte ride was by far the hardest workout I did in that four-day stretch. Sometimes you don't need to have a race bib pinned on to push your limits, all it takes is the peer pressure effect. Everyone went harder than they would have on their own and ended up getting a killer workout in all before 10am. While it's always fun to race, sometimes it's also awesome to "not let racing get in the way of training" as a skier I know would say, and get out and mix it up a with your buddies with no agenda.

On a side note, the 5km run mentioned above (Apple Blossom Festival in Williamson, NY) was my first running race since the fall, and first event of any type that took less than an hour, since ski season, so that was sort of a shock to the system. The race went ok for me, I ran a 17:52, so nothing special, but felt ok and managed to finish 3rd overall. The big story of the race was the winner is a new guy that works here at Harris. He played soccer in college, so he's in pretty good shape, but he ran a 17:20 or something. So, he'll be a nice addition to the Harris Corp. Challenge team this year.

Bristol Mtn RR 3, Marty 0

I had two bike races this past week. Last Thursday the GVCC G-Tour raced the Rush course. I hadn't been out to the Rush course since the 3-man roller ski race that Chad, Jason and I did last December. It's definitely one of the tougher courses we race during the Thursday night series and after a few weeks in a row with big pack finishes, I was looking forward to having a more selective race (read - no field sprint). I felt pretty good, so I tried to be aggressive with a few attacks early on that didn't stick, but the field was getting thinner with a few more guys dropped every time up the main hill. My teammate Phil was also one of the main aggressors and was looking pretty strong as well. Eventually a break of three got a pretty big gap, and both Phil and I missed the break. Phil tried to bridge with two laps to go and almost made it, but had to settle for 5th. Realizing that I didn't want it to come down to a sprint, I attacked the main group with a little under a lap to go and ended up making it to the line before they did, so I ended up 6th. So, not quite a win, but it was good to be able to make strong late attack like that stick. It was also good to finally get some points for the year, so I guess I'm no longer a non-contributing zero for the team this season!

The 2nd race of the week was the Bristol Mountain Road race on Saturday, which would be 3 laps of a 17 mile course (51 miles total) that includes a long climb up Egypt Road. The first bike race I ever competed in was this race three years ago. At that point I had no idea what to expect and ended up getting shelled out of the main group before we even got to Egypt. I also wasn't in great shape at that point as I was still in grad school and maybe working out 3-4 hours a week at the most. The following year I came back in better shape and with some more race experience and expected to do better, then three miles into the race I got a flat and that was all she wrote. This year (my first time racing in the cat 4 group), I went into the race confident that I could hang on to the final group and hopefully end up with a good finish, but it wasn't to be. The first time up Egypt, I started the climb pretty far back in the pack, but managed to move up to about 20th wheel about 2/3 of the way up, then was able to settle into a descent tempo. There was a pretty good acceleration put in by a couple of the riders near the top of the climb and I got little gapped by 15 or so riders at the very top. I managed to chase back onto that group, but then was subsequently dropped on the downhill (I was going over 50mph's and apparently that wasn't even close to fast enough, because the group just pulled away from me). I obviously haven't quite mastered the proper aerodynamics to descend quickly. That and there's a reason I'm a cross country skier and not a downhill skier, I'm not the biggest fan of high speeds, and in usual training rides, typically go downhill like a grandmother! Once I got gapped on the downhill I had to make up maybe 10 seconds on route 64 (which had about a 30mph headwind), I never mustered up enough to get back into the lead group and ended up riding the next 35 miles with a group of about 7 that was in the same predicament as me.

So, I ended up pretty much right in the middle of the results sheet, which I wasn't too happy with, but when I put things in perspective and look back on it, the fact is that I don't have much experience in weekend races at this level and made a few tactical blunders that wouldn't have made a difference in the Thursday night races or at the Cat 5 level where I was the last time I was doing these weekend races, but simple things like riding too far back in the pack at the beginning of a climb and never taking the time to work on descending were significant factors. So, while it wasn't the result I was hoping for, it's one more race that goes down as a learning experience (albeit a cold, windy one).

I got a nice e-mail yesterday from a fellow nordic skier who was in the race (and has more bike racing experience than I do) who gave me some very constructive advice including the following "you were thinking too hard, searching for something to do. You look like a skier trying to ski a bike race." When I read this I couldn't help but think of the classic line in Bull Durham - "Don't think, it can only hurt the ball club"! Once again, I need to remember some of the advice that I used to give all those idiot pitchers, don't overthink things meat!

It also wasn't the luckiest day for the other guys on the team as Rick was sick and Phil got flat tire at the end of the first lap after making that final selection on the climb. The good news is that we have plenty of chances to redeem ourselves over the next few weeks as there will be a lot more racing and hopefully we can put a few good ones together.

Quotes from weekend

Here are some of the memorable quotes from the weekend (names removed):

- "As for the weekend, I talked to Lucas already, but my attendance is up in the air right now. I planned on being there but looks like I have to work on Saturday...If I can get outta here by noon, Ill be there by 5 to drink 100 beers.... but if not Im going to have to catch you in June. Go get em." - e-mail received on Friday morning

- "I can't believe you went for a run this morning. You are a sick f*ck."

- "I didn't know they made bottles of Gentleman Jack that big."

- "Is it possible to tear your rotator cuff playing wiffle ball? How would I know if that just happened?"

- "I'm going to jack that deer up if it gets any closer."

- "This is the first trash plate I've ever eaten while it's still daylight out."

Music related quotes:

- "I haven't listened to this much bluegrass ever, it must be Marty's iPod."

- "I feel like I'm at Bonnaroo."

- "I haven't heard any Tragically Hip or Guster songs since I lived with Marty."

- "We need to listen to someone else' iPod for a while, I'm all twang-ed out."

Skip and go naked (drink concoction) related quotes

- "It's almost noon, it's no longer appropriate to be drinking a bloody mary, better get the skip and go's mixed up."

- In response to a question that went something like "what's the big deal with these skip and go's?": "You know how there's a difference between a wine-drunk and a beer-drunk? Well, skip and go's are a their own category, totally different ballpark. Not even the same sport."

- "I've never drank these and not puked. They're awesome."

- "I've had three cups of that stuff and now I can't feel my teeth." (that was a quote from the biggest guy at the party)

- "My beer pong partner seems pretty hammered, I'm a little worried." - "don't worry, I've seen him much worse than this and still be a productive beer pong player."

Thanks guys!

I just got home from my bachelor party and couldn't imagine a more perfect weekend. In total 18 guys descended on a "cabin" in Forsestport, NY (between Utica and Old Forge). This cabin was more like a frat house than a cabin and a great setup for the weekend. There was also a 9 hole golf course on the same complex. A good chunk of the guys that made the journey were teammates of mine from college, or I met through other RIT baseball teammates. This got me thinking about how I was initially disappointed to be going to RIT in the first place as a high school senior, but looking back on it, I couldn't imagine not knowing these guys and am extremely thankful that things went the way they did and I ended up at RIT with all of these guys as teammates. Ok, I'll stop sounding like an NCAA commercial now.

The attendees included Doogie and Feldman (flew in from LA), Super Rob (flew in from Phoenix), Lucas (drove up from Ct) and Kevin (who got back from a month long trip in Tbilisi, Georgia on Thursday night, and I would imagine going out of town for a weekend of more drinking probably wasn't what he had as #1 on his priority list).

The weekend basically involved some heavy boozing in the middle of the woods, golf and lawn games, I won't go into all the details, but I will say that it sounds like a couple of my buddies need some lessons in proper golf-cart driving!

Here are some pics.

Kevin standing in front of possibly the biggest rock either of us had seen. This stream was right behind the cabin we were staying in.
Farmen, Crandle and Kevin. What you can't see is Farmen's very inappropriate t-shirt commenting on certain preferences of Red Sox fans.
Knodel repping a little Colgate slice of live - Slices! Many of the buddies I have from college accompanied me for weekends here or there to Colgate, including Knodel (who I lived with for 4 years and is one of the goofier guys you'll ever meet, he's a left-handed pitcher though which explains a lot.).

Dear landowners - stop feeding deer, this is not normal behavior. Deer were basically walking up to us all weekend. At one point a couple of us decided to try and wrestle the next one that came up (not sure that was sound decision-making, but anyways), the deer must have heard us because they started harassing the other cabins and houses instead of ours after that.

Speaking of bad decision making, this was the damage done on Friday night only.

Can't even begin to express how much it meant to me that these guys were able to get out there. I know there were several other guys that had things come up and couldn't make it, and Kevin gave a Georgian-style toast last night to the guys that couldn't make it. The whole weekend made me so thankful for the group of friends that I have.