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Thought I'd drop a note to tell about last nights bike race. As usual, I learned a few things about myself from the experience.
As you may know, our Texas State Road Time-Trial Championship is coming up on August 3rd. A time-trial, or TT is then each rider starts alone at a specific start time. Since the start time is already established, the officials simply note your finishing time and calculate the elapsed time for each rider. Each participant starts between 30 seconds and two minutes apart from each other. Racers are not allowed to draft off any other riders to gain an advantage. Because of this, the TT is known as the race of truth: it is simply the rider against the clock.

At this time of year, many race clubs do a local TT series. These are excellent practice sessions that give the riders a chance to learn new, TT specific equipment as well as condition themselves mentally and physically for this type of event. The dress rehearsal aspect of this series is very important, since riders may not use TT specific bicycles, helmets, or wheels out on a regular road ride.

So, I found a guy to ride tandem with me for the whole series. I had also hoped to race the State TT with him as well. Because he is a new racer, he was nervous and timid about doing the races with me. He knows that I have a lot of experience and he sincerely wanted someone stronger and more experienced for me. I believe that after a few rides in the practice series that he would do fine. The confidence quotient is not just a rehab center concept. It is just like developing blindness skills and attitudes. I'd want to give him the opportunity to learn, while I calmly show him some support and let him find his sea legs in a controlled environment, in a notch just above his comfort zone.

However, the night before the first practice TT, he called me to cancel. He had crashed his bike at a race last week and had a contusion on his hip. He had just seen his doctor that day and was advised not to push himself for a few weeks. I understood and sought out to find a replacement. He had waited to see if he would feel better, but at the last minute, the chances that I would find another teammate were diminishing quickly.

Through networking on the web, I found a guy, just hours before the event. I barely had enough time to prep my bike for a race. Usually, the day of a race is crucial to my performance. The amount of rest I get and what I eat can make a noticeable difference. In this case, I grabbed a spoonful of peanut butter, one of jelly, and a few swigs of pickle juice and hoped for the best.

At the registration table, it was a time to visit with old friends and meet a few new ones. I saw my friend Patti, one of the nights officials, who had ridden a lot with me this year before she crashed her mountain bike off-road. After much thought, I switched teams for my license. I raced with Team Hotel San Jose for two years, but went back to Violet Crown, the first team I joined when I moved to Austin, five seasons ago. Team support is very important to me as well. My race bib number was 709, yesterday's date and my sister's birthday. I wanted to win one for her.

James and I only had about ten minutes to warm up. He has a lot of tandem experience, but none with me. It takes me some time to gel with a new pilot, no matter what their experience level. TT's use special handlebars that make us more aerodynamic and fast. These low, narrow bars require some adjustment time when just riding, not to mention, competing. Yet, there we were, both with aerobars, ready to race.

At the start line, I heard a few more familiar voices of encouragement. It was 95 degrees and windy. I was sweaty from the pre-ride, but not fully warmed up. then I had trouble locking into my pedals, which I had just switched before this event, a pre-race no-no, but I just had to do it, my race shoes are better ventilated. Thankfully, we nailed our start time. If you miss it, you do not get a restart, the clock just keeps ticking away those precious seconds.

With a brief countdown, we were off! Soon after the start, there is a slight uphill. James called back to me to give him some power. I am a sprinter and specialize in such requests. However, it was too early in the race, I was not yet in my zone. But, with all the excitement, I gladly ramped up the power, trying to avoid dumping too much acid into my muscles. So, in the first mile or two of the nine-mile ride, my legs were already taxed and my chest was tight and burning. I knew it was not going to be a fun one today. Yet, we soon caught our 30-second man and were getting settled into our positions and each others rhythms. We took our first right turn and my confidence in James and the grip of my tires was increasing. After that turn, we were heading into a strong headwind. When you are trying to go fast, the wind only makes it harder. For much of this stretch, we had a slight uphill, not much, but at race pace, you feel every bit of it. James was an excellent cheerleader for me. I asked him to tell me about anything that could motivate me on the bike. He told me about our next rabbit to catch, our minute man. That guy was maybe 30 seconds ahead of us and James called back for more power. I was already compromised and suffering, but wanted that rabbit, too. I kicked it up a little more and hoped to soon hear some positive result from my effort. I did not want to let James down, though I thought he was the better rider last night. We caught that rabbit and moved onto our next, our 90-second man. As the fatigue set in, at the next turn, I felt myself struggling to keep centered on top of the bike. I was fine, but had to just concentrate and relax enough to let the bike lean under me. Throughout the race I had been trying to really open up my lungs. I had to settle for more frequent, shorter breaths, in time with my pedaling. We were then near the end and within sight of our third rabbit. James was saying that he wanted that rabbit. I did, too, but was riding hand-to-mouth at this point, trying to encourage myself to keep up the pace.

At the finish line, we were within 5 seconds of the man who started 90 seconds in front of us. I was exhausted. James may have stopped the pedals, but I had to keep pedaling to let my heart-rate come down gradually. We rode around a bit to catch our breath and flush the acid out of our legs. When I stepped off the bike, I was staggering a bit, so I grabbed my saddle for a little support. We returned to the truck and I wrapped a towel around me to remove my drenched skinsuit. We then waited for our results, while discussing the event with the other riders. We were back to the camaraderie and it was time to chill out, literally.

We completed the nine miles in 21 minutes and 37 seconds,with an average speed of around 23 mph. This was only two seconds faster than second place. Yet, considering everything, I was satisfied. Obviously, a tandem should be faster, though. Everyone else was on single bikes. Two of the guys there, who I knew to be strong finishers, ran in the upper 23, lower 24 minute range. The guy who finished 2 seconds behind us was a monster, worthy of everyone's respect. The overall course record is a 19:18. I hold the second fastest time with a 20:06. That was in the rain with a first-time captain.

After the race last night, I was noticeably higher than I had been in a while. The endorphins were really flowing and I felt very relaxed and steady. Even after 14 and a half hours after the race, I can still feel some effort to get those deep breaths. The muscles around my sternum are still a bit tight. My recovery should improve as I do more races. I also noticed more nerves at the start line. This, I attribute to not doing enough races this late in the season. I noticed that racing does more for me psychologically, than I had thought. I believe this is an important ingredient to competing in life. Hopefully, we will race again next week and go faster. I will keep you informed on my way to the State Championship.

Ron Burzese & the we-have-a-long-way-to-go-and-a-short-time-to-get-there-bears.
Austin, TX

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Disclaimer - The following reports are the sole works of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Violet Crown Sports Association or its members.
Norma Bandy (John's better half) is on the 9 week Ride Across America from Seattle to Boston. Check out her blog texasroadqueen.blogspot.com for comentary and great pictures. Ethan (Bam Bam) Moorhead wins 17-18 Texas State Time Trial Bam Bam showed'm how to time trial and won the championship jersey and gold medal in the 17-18 year old category of the State Time Trial Championship on August 8, 2009 in Castroville, Texas. He finished the 20 kilometer out and back course in 28 minutes and 20 seconds, 16 seconds faster than the second place finisher. Twelve more VC racers competed in the Individual and Tandem categories. Check out their finishing places and times in the Recent Race Results below or on the Races page. KRISTIAN HOUSE WINS BRITISH ROAD RACE TITLE! Kristian may be the British National Champion but he's still a Texas boy too. This is him in his championship jersey. It says, "The Dude" under the Texas flag. That's our Kristian. Former Violet Crown junior and current Rapha-Condor professional Kristian House bested a field loaded with Olympic gold medalists, classics winners, Tour de France and Giro d’Italia stage winners, and former national champions to capture the 2009 British Professional Road Championship in Abergavenny, Wales Sunday, June 28th. House, who rode for Violet Crown as a teenager in the late 1990s, took the biggest win of his professional career, outsprinting Dan Lloyd (Cervelo Test Team) and Peter Kennaugh (British Cycling Under-23 Team) for the top spot on the podium. The trio bested a veritable who’s-who list of top British cyclists, forcing Chris Froome (Barloworld), former champion Roger Hammond (Cervelo Test Team), and reigning Milan-San Remo winner Mark Cavendish to settle for 4th-6th, respectively. In what was by all accounts an incredibly hard race, House, Lloyd, and Kennaugh worked to bring back a break by Froome and reigning World and Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins, with another bunch led by superstar Cavendish breathing down the trio’s necks. In the finalé, House out-sprinted his two companions to add the red-white-and-blue jersey of GBR National Champion to a palmarés that includes victories in Ireland’s FBD Insurance Rás, Britain’s Lincoln GP, the Tour of the South, and Belgium’s Kortrijk GP. Congratulations, Kristian, from all of your fans in Austin and from your gray-bearded compadres at Violet Crown! by Kurt Bauer 6/28/09 Cyclocross Nationals by John Collins 12/15/08 Left Tuesday am with Commander Jay (008) Bond with two cross bikes and many wheels. Temps in the low 60s. As we headed further North the temps started dropping ...down to about 25 in OK City...ice on the roads and some snow. Sleet and snow when we got to Witchita...an omen of things to come. Many places with cars and tractor trailers off the road. Conditions added about 2 hours to the drive and got in late about 11:30 pm. Got up Wednesday am for bfast with temps down to 14 degress. Hit the KC course site and found they were just setting up. Large open field with a long vertical from top to bottom. About 1" of snow on the field grass. They let us walk the course ( 1.8 miles approx - 3 km) which we did 2 times. Much, much climbing and many, many downhill off camber turns which we would discover soon enough. Came back in the pm with our bikes and stuff and we were able to ride the outside parallel to the course. No one allowed on the course the day before the races. No problems at all with the tall grass and snow. Definitely slow climbing but no turning or descending problems ( that was to come). Same start Thursday am....25 degrees or so; got to the course around 1030 am and set up the bikes. Dropped my clincher tire pressure to 40# from my always 50 or 55 # or so in Tx. Since we had parked at the top of the course we watched some of the races ....A Mens B 30 to 39 race. We noticed that every single inch of the course had turned to mud from the mornings racing. Several things became quite apparent....it was very slow going and the course was slippery. We basically moved down the course and watched riders at every turn to see the line and position. Riders were falling right and left and having serious trouble handling the downhill off camber stuff. Jeff C from SA broke his rear D on the 2nd lap of the B race and finished in the back. We got to ride the course at noon and did two wu laps. My first real riding in mud. It was even more apparent how difficult the course was. In many slight uphills I was totally spinning out on my rear wheel...many rpms but no speed. Talk about a heat buildup! We tried to ride the outside on the course as much as possible to get traction on what was left of the grass. I took a big sliding fall on the nastiest off camber turn on my 2nd wu lap. Apparently the rear wheel was loading up with "adobe mud" and got like a slick. I had Maxxis MeMo 34 mm tires which were supposed to be good in the mud. Nope... Spent 40 minutes in line waiting to get our bikes hosed off...they went to power sprayers from hoses after we had been there 20 mins or so - bike and shoes were totally covered in mud . Front D had a big clump of mud stuck to it as well as the brake housings. My shoe bottoms were also totally covered in mud...but never really had a cleat problem but was knocking mud off when I could. Watched mens 55+ from the cleaning station; Dave Parks from D got a terrible start and finished in the back. Rode to the van and made some adjustments - moved my seat as far back as I felt comfortable, lowered my tire pressue down to 35#, and removed a bunch of clothes. Basically had a long sleeve shirt and my VC jersey and tights for 30 degree weather. Was not cold during the race. Rode back down to the race start ...got in line and checked in....small field in our 60s group. Legs and body felt great. Had a good start on the paved run out until I got pushed into the outside tape in the first turn. Then just gradually kept losing ground to the leaders as I ground out the course. Managed to pass two people on the last two laps and was just slowly moving around the course. Only a few real easy sections of the course where I felt I could really get some speed and stay straight. Every other turn, climb, descent was difficult and hard work. Fell on that same off camber turn 2 more times...really nasty. Bike got real heavy after the first lap. Two sections of uphill rolling washboard; really, really slow going. One set of stairs at the top of the course followed by a short straight downhill and a short straight uphill ...ran that whole section ( as did everyone else). One double board barrier at the bottom of the course...and another set of stairs in very slippery mud on the side of the course followed by many dh off camber turns and then back to the paved start/finish. Ended up doing 4 laps ( 40 min race) and was 8 minutes behind the winner; finished 13/16. Most of the winners looked like they had dialed in their wheels/tires and just rolled through the course. Many winners were using Dugast tires. But seriously, anyone who won a race on any day was one hell of a bike rider!!!!!!! And then got back in line to get our bikes cleaned.....etc. etc where every single person was talking about tire type, tire width and tire pressue. Any tire that could shed mud looked like a winner. Michelin Mud definitely did not work. Jay's Tufo flexxus didn't work either at 32mm and 35#. Good pressures may have been 25 to 28 #...with 32 mm mud shedding tires. Thinner seemed to be better. Friday...ground hog day. Same stuff except it snowed and rained a little bit last night. Did 2 wu laps at noon again...believe it or not the course was even slicker. Front tire loaded up with mud also and I just went where the bike wanted to go. Rear end felt like it was moving sideways 4 or 5 inches in some areas. Took a fall on a totally benign part of the course. Ran through the off camber stuff and passed some people riding. Walked my bike in one section and passed a girl riding. The Jr racers were switching bike about every 1.5 laps or so. The pit crews were running from the pits to the cleaning area ( 200 yds ) and back again. Well, we woke up Saturday with the temps way up - 48 degrees at 8am - and the wind howling at 30 mph. Got to the course and found the course had dried out- no mud - but it was very soft and spongy. After watching some races we could see that traction wasn't a problem but the course was still very, very difficult and slow. Wind was blowing uphill but a lot of climbing was across the hill so not a a real big help. Jay did his 2 wu laps at noon and had quick lunch and then hit the trainer in the tent by the start area. Got to the line ( 4th or 5th row ) ...70 some riders involved for the 50- 54. I had my bike in the pit area in case there was a problem. Jay got a good start and was mid pack as they hit the first turn. And then it was just a grind fest. He was in the middle pack and had a bunch of people close in front and a bunch close behind. Pretty much stayed that way for the race. Unfortunately for Jay, Ned Overend was in his race and had the course dialed in after the first lap. One guy challenged him on that lap but then it was hasta la vista baby ! And Ned cruised to a big margin win. Jay was not caught by Ned O but got pulled as he came down to the paved start/finish area. I'll let Jay add any other impressions on the race that he might have had. We stayed for the elite races on Sunday ....when we left the hotel room it was about 56 degrees. When we got to the course it was about 40 degrees and the wind was howling. The women collegiate racers had started out in shorts and jerseys and were frozen by the time they got done. The women's elite boiled down to a battle between Katie Compton and Georgia Gould and Rachel Lloyd....with Katie Compton pulling away the last couple of laps. The temps kept dropping and were in the 20s when the elite men took off. Huge battle here with a lot of position changes the first 40 minutes or so but Ryan Trebon was in a commanding lead when we left ....and ended up winning the race.He was flying around the course...and spent a significant amount of time out of the saddle on any uphill or for any acceleration effort. Always something new and different in this sport. Cheers, jcc Seconds Count by Steve James "You need a new time trial bike? What's wrong with the one you bought last year?" "It's not UCI legal." "UC what?" "Well, it's not legal to race at the national championship time trial." "Are you going to the national championships?" "No, but they may make my old TT bike illegal for next year's state championships and I want to stay ahead of them." "Oh. Well, whatever." The partially dis-assembled "new" TT bike arrived at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday and the MoPac TT was at 6:00 P.M. At 6:15 P.M. I finally had the "new" TT bike (a 2007 Orbea Ordu from eBay) ready to ride. At 6:40 P.M. I hopped on the Orbea, rolled out the driveway and immediately noticed that the seat was too high. (Oh well, it's as low as it will go without sawing off the custom seat post. Just ride it as it is. What can it really hurt? I knew better but it was "new." ) While going down the road for the one and a half miles to the TT start, I pushed a couple of the rollers and spun hard on the flats to get the heart rate up a bit as a warm-up. Had to make it through the start timing trap before 7:00 P.M. Made it with a few minutes to spare. Rode a pretty fast time trial and hung around the Veloway parking area for a few minutes afterwards to get a few Ooh! Ahh's! on my "new" bike. Rode home feeling pretty good, all things considered. Next day noticed that a small muscle in the lower, front of both legs, just above the ankles, was getting sore. The day after that, they were both quite sore. Oops! Guess that the too high saddle did hurt something. Cut 1/2 inch off the seat post and lowered the saddle to the correct height and test rode it. Much better but the legs took a week to stop being sore. Hmm, little things count, don't they? Practiced two weeks on the Orbea with no sore muscles. Felt good. Had a respectable time in the next Tuesday evening MoPac TT but not as fast as I thought I could do. Hmm, what was wrong? What could I change? Sitting on the bike in front of the mirror in the bathroom, it looked like my back was not as flat as it should be and my chest would be catching some wind. Measured the angle and length of the stem. Nothing on the market in a fixed stem would work so bought a Ritchey adjustable stem, 100 mm length. The old stem was a 70 mm. Changed out the stems. Hmm, too much steerer tube sticking out. Cut some off and re-positioned bars. Measurements showed the bars 1 inch lower and 1.5 inches farther forward. Okay, now the saddle could be raised a little, but not too much. "What are you doing to your "new" bike now?" "Changing the stem." "What was wrong with the old one?" "I couldn't get the handle bars low enough." "Why do you need to get lower?" "To catch less wind on my chest." "And that will do what?" "Make me go faster." "How much are you lowering the bar?" "About an inch." "All that trouble for 1 inch?" "Yeah, every little bit helps." "How much could that possibly help?" "I dunno....maybe a few seconds in 25 miles." "All that for a few seconds?" "Well, in a time trial, every second counts. You never know." Only one week before the state championship TT. Time for tapering the training. Rode the "lowered" Orbea around the TT course Tuesday morning. It felt good. Ed said my back was flat and chest was not catching any wind. Did a few intervals, one more lap and went home feeling confident that the bike was ready -- but was I? After a boring Wednesday and Thursday doing fewer miles but several intervals on MoPac and the Veloway and a few short intervals on the Veloway on Friday morning my training and tapering was over. I was as physically ready as I was going to get. Friday afternoon found me.... "Shaving your legs again?" "Yeah. It's been two months since the state road race. They're getting almost furry." "And that will make you go faster tomorrow morning?" "Well, I can't shave and taper without shaving, can I?" "Hm. Air does not create nearly as much drag as water so shaving your legs won't help you as much as it helps swimmers." "Right but besides being part of the bicycle racers uniform, shaved legs might make a few seconds difference in 25 miles. I need all the help I can get." "Why, do you have some new competition?" "Yep. Fellow named Greg aged up this year. His time was 26 seconds faster than mine last year." "Oh yeah? Maybe you'd better shave your arms too. (grin)" 3:00 A.M can't be what I'm seeing on that damn clock. Alarm won't go off 'till 4:00. Roll over and try to get another hour of sleep......3:30 A.M Oh Well! Go ahead and get up. You're not sleeping anyway. Scarf the peanut butter and banana covered bagel. Chug the juice. Load the drink into the little camelbak. Toss the already packed bag into the van with it's already loaded bikes, wheels and everything else and start the uneventful drive to Pattison. Hmm, still 20 miles to Columbus. Not going to get to Pattison quite as early as I expected. 65 mph night speed limit down Hwy 71. Daylight now on I10 so kick it up to 75. I wonder why so few cars are at the Royal high school. Wonder where registration is this year, it's obviously not here at the high school. Might as well use one of the four empty porta-potties while I'm here. Ah, Ha! Registration is here at the little school next to the start. What tha? There's an empty parking space next to the admin building. 7:15 already and there's a 20 person long line at registration with only one or two guys handing out numbers. 7:30 and I'm still pinning on the number. No time to warm up on the spare bike. Gotta go directly with the TT bike on the road. Shoe covers - Check, Smooth lycra gloves - Check, Number flat on top of camelbak when I bend over into TT position - Check, TT helmet in place - Check, OH S#%@!! the damn water bottle cage is still on the bike. Glad I brought the allen wrench. Now it's off. Lock the van and roll out to the start area, it's already 8:00....only 12 and 1/2 minutes before start time. That guy I just passed with the Northwest jersey must be Greg. Damn he looks fit and on a Cervelo P3 Carbon with 100 mm wheels too. Shake it off! I'm fit and I'll put my Orbea Ordu and Nimble tri-spokes up against his setup any day....today's MY day. Legs feel great. Full of energy and nothing sore. Heart rate is jumping up quickly with each faster mini-interval so I'm as ready as I'm gonna get. 8:10 at the start area. Shift into the 39 x 15 for the start. It's slightly down hill. "Now we're ready for the Men's 60-64 age group to start," says the announcer over the PA system. "First up is Sean McGrady." Start official, "Are you Sean?" "No, I'm Steve James. I'm second behind Sean." "SEAN MCGRADY ARE YOU HERE? I guess not." 8:11:55, 4, 3, 2, 1. "GO," says the official to the empty space. "Okay Steve, you're next." Roll up. Set front brake. Zero the cycle computer. Pull down helmet visor. Make sure guy is holding my saddle. Grab rear brake. Up on bike. "Lean me a little to the left please. A little more. Perfect. Thank you all for officiating the race." "5..4..3..2..1..GO" Start smoothly now. Okay. A few standing strokes. Sit. Down on the tri-bars. Shift to the 53. Spin it up. HR 154 and climbing. Speed 28. Looking good. Legs burning a little from the start. Breathe faster to clear legs and increase cadence. Slightly uphill. Hold that speed over 25. Shift down a cog and spin it more. Okay, first hill gone. Shift up, cadence 90 or so, speed 27, excellent. Round the corner and up the next hill. Push it hard over the top. Great, kept it over 25 but legs felt it in that bigger gear. That's okay, down the hill and across the bridge - 28, looking good. Up the other side and on to the long, slightly up-hill section. Gotta keep it over 26 here. Damn, 25.5, HR 167. Push a little harder. Don't want to make last year's mistake of going out too slowly and not being able to go faster coming back. Gotta go out hard with this slight left-quartering tail wind even though it's slightly up-hill most of the way out. There's the 10K turn-around for the 20K riders. I'll bet they don't realize I'm the first of the 40K riders. Yep! They're motioning for me to turn around. Just keep pushing and shake your head, "NO." They got the idea and are getting out of my way. I hope they have someone at the 20K turn-around when I get there. Don't want another screw-up like in Midland. Here comes that 4-way stop sign. Yep! Just as I thought....no cop. Well, no cars either so fly right through it. Around the corner and on-down the road. HR 171. Damn, 25.0. Pick it up dude! Try a bigger gear. HR 174, 26....that's better. Grab a drink. You'll need the fluid and the sugar for the last half. Keep down on the tri-bars and stay aero while you drink. Every second counts. Finally, the turn around. Great, they have a cop out directing traffic. Damn, 3 trucks coming up behind me. Stay down and hammer 'til the last second. Let them take care of the trucks. Okay, shift to the 39. Up off the tri-bars and grab two hands-full of breaks, swing right, cut left behind the cop and in front of that dude standing in the other lane. "Thank you." Stand up and sprint out of the turn. Back on the tri-bars. Shift back to the 53 and PUSH. Quick check of turn-around time. Looking at 29:30 now so turn-around time about 29:15. Gotta do the same going back to break an hour. Push it guy. Ooof! That's a head wind. Quartering from the right and it's uphill for a couple of miles too. Aack! 23.5 and HR's 175. That sucks. Push harder!! Gear up. Okay HR 176, 25.0. Finally, left curve so wind's from right and I'm on the slight downhill section. Wind's gusting a bit. Keep toward the right side of the shoulder but not in the road debris. No flats now! Ignore the wind. PUSH HARDER. Damn these little hills are hard. HR 177, 21.0. Gotta push hard over the hill. Through the yellow flashing light. Nice of that truck to wait at the intersection and not turn in front of me. Keep pushing, only 8 miles to go. Great! There's a cop at the 4 way stop now. "Thank you." Aargh! 24.5. Gusty wind from the right and nothing to stop it. Ignore the wind! Quit goofing off and push it! CONCENTRATE!!! 25.5, HR 176. Breathe faster. More oxygen to the legs. Tree-line coming up on the right. Great! Less crosswind. 26.0, HR 174. That's better. Round the right bend, down the hill, round the left bend, up the hill. HAMMER IT! Big gear. Keep the speed up. 24.5, not bad. HR 178....don't worry about it, the finish is around the next bend. Down the straight. Little blue canopy on the right. 1 K to go! HR 177, 27.0. 110% time. Head down. Up the hill. Gear down one cog and push it. Stay down. Speed still 27. Push PAST the finish line. Crowd cheers as announcer says, "And there's #341, Steve James crossing the line." Punch the computer button. 1:00:13. AARRGHHH! Missed the hour by 14 seconds. Have to add 1 second lag time for computer to start after the start line. Oh well. It's 1:44 faster than last year. Gear down and circle around back toward the start line to watch the other's finish. There's Joe, my 30 second man but he's more than 30 seconds behind my time. Where's Greg. There he comes. That was fast. Oh Well. I gave it everything I had. Ride down the other road to warm-down for a few miles. Back to the van. Two Northwest guys sitting on the tailgate of the truck next to my van. "One of you Greg?" "I am," said one. "I'm Steve James." "How'd you do, Steve?" asked Donna as she walked by. "It depends on how well Greg here did." "What'd you do, Greg?" "About an hour." "Yeah, me too. I'll bet we're less than 10 seconds apart." Chug the bottle of recovery drink and a bottle of water. Damn it's getting hot and it's only 9:30 A.M. I'm glad we got to start early this year. Time for the gallon-jug-shower. Hm, nice concrete area over next to the building. Beats muddy feet. That feels much better. Everything back in the van and ready to go. Time to check the results, if they're posted yet. Hm, not here behind registration like they said they would be. I'll bet they're over by the start line. That was a hot 100 yard walk from the van. Ah Yes! There's the bulletin board next to the white canopy over the victory podium. Stomach butterflies. Did I train hard enough? Did I taper correctly? Was my gear everything it could be? Did I focus well enough out on the course? Could I have squeezed more out of myself on those up hill sections or into the wind? Deep breath, lean over, adjust the bifocals. There's the Men's 60-64 section. My name is ON TOP. I WON! State Champion again. By how much. Lets see. My time was 1:00:14. Greg's was 1:00:17. I won by 3 seconds! Seconds count. Steve James 8/6/08
Manda TT (1st day) on a Tandem by Ron Burzese 7/10/08 Hi, Thought I'd drop a note to tell about last nights bike race. As usual, I learned a few things about myself from the experience. As you may know, our Texas State Road Time-Trial Championship is coming up on August 3rd. A time-trial, or TT is then each rider starts alone at a specific start time. Since the start time is already established, the officials simply note your finishing time and calculate the elapsed time for each rider. Each participant starts between 30 seconds and two minutes apart from each other. Racers are not allowed to draft off any other riders to gain an advantage. Because of this, the TT is known as the race of truth: it is simply the rider against the clock. At this time of year, many race clubs do a local TT series. These are excellent practice sessions that give the riders a chance to learn new, TT specific equipment as well as condition themselves mentally and physically for this type of event. The dress rehearsal aspect of this series is very important, since riders may not use TT specific bicycles, helmets, or wheels out on a regular road ride. So, I found a guy to ride tandem with me for the whole series. I had also hoped to race the State TT with him as well. Because he is a new racer, he was nervous and timid about doing the races with me. He knows that I have a lot of experience and he sincerely wanted someone stronger and more experienced for me. I believe that after a few rides in the practice series that he would do fine. The confidence quotient is not just a rehab center concept. It is just like developing blindness skills and attitudes. I'd want to give him the opportunity to learn, while I calmly show him some support and let him find his sea legs in a controlled environment, in a notch just above his comfort zone. However, the night before the first practice TT, he called me to cancel. He had crashed his bike at a race last week and had a contusion on his hip. He had just seen his doctor that day and was advised not to push himself for a few weeks. I understood and sought out to find a replacement. He had waited to see if he would feel better, but at the last minute, the chances that I would find another teammate were diminishing quickly. Through networking on the web, I found a guy, just hours before the event. I barely had enough time to prep my bike for a race. Usually, the day of a race is crucial to my performance. The amount of rest I get and what I eat can make a noticeable difference. In this case, I grabbed a spoonful of peanut butter, one of jelly, and a few swigs of pickle juice and hoped for the best. At the registration table, it was a time to visit with old friends and meet a few new ones. I saw my friend Patti, one of the nights officials, who had ridden a lot with me this year before she crashed her mountain bike off-road. After much thought, I switched teams for my license. I raced with Team Hotel San Jose for two years, but went back to Violet Crown, the first team I joined when I moved to Austin, five seasons ago. Team support is very important to me as well. My race bib number was 709, yesterday's date and my sister's birthday. I wanted to win one for her. James and I only had about ten minutes to warm up. He has a lot of tandem experience, but none with me. It takes me some time to gel with a new pilot, no matter what their experience level. TT's use special handlebars that make us more aerodynamic and fast. These low, narrow bars require some adjustment time when just riding, not to mention, competing. Yet, there we were, both with aerobars, ready to race. At the start line, I heard a few more familiar voices of encouragement. It was 95 degrees and windy. I was sweaty from the pre-ride, but not fully warmed up. then I had trouble locking into my pedals, which I had just switched before this event, a pre-race no-no, but I just had to do it, my race shoes are better ventilated. Thankfully, we nailed our start time. If you miss it, you do not get a restart, the clock just keeps ticking away those precious seconds. With a brief countdown, we were off! Soon after the start, there is a slight uphill. James called back to me to give him some power. I am a sprinter and specialize in such requests. However, it was too early in the race, I was not yet in my zone. But, with all the excitement, I gladly ramped up the power, trying to avoid dumping too much acid into my muscles. So, in the first mile or two of the nine-mile ride, my legs were already taxed and my chest was tight and burning. I knew it was not going to be a fun one today. Yet, we soon caught our 30-second man and were getting settled into our positions and each others rhythms. We took our first right turn and my confidence in James and the grip of my tires was increasing. After that turn, we were heading into a strong headwind. When you are trying to go fast, the wind only makes it harder. For much of this stretch, we had a slight uphill, not much, but at race pace, you feel every bit of it. James was an excellent cheerleader for me. I asked him to tell me about anything that could motivate me on the bike. He told me about our next rabbit to catch, our minute man. That guy was maybe 30 seconds ahead of us and James called back for more power. I was already compromised and suffering, but wanted that rabbit, too. I kicked it up a little more and hoped to soon hear some positive result from my effort. I did not want to let James down, though I thought he was the better rider last night. We caught that rabbit and moved onto our next, our 90-second man. As the fatigue set in, at the next turn, I felt myself struggling to keep centered on top of the bike. I was fine, but had to just concentrate and relax enough to let the bike lean under me. Throughout the race I had been trying to really open up my lungs. I had to settle for more frequent, shorter breaths, in time with my pedaling. We were then near the end and within sight of our third rabbit. James was saying that he wanted that rabbit. I did, too, but was riding hand-to-mouth at this point, trying to encourage myself to keep up the pace. At the finish line, we were within 5 seconds of the man who started 90 seconds in front of us. I was exhausted. James may have stopped the pedals, but I had to keep pedaling to let my heart-rate come down gradually. We rode around a bit to catch our breath and flush the acid out of our legs. When I stepped off the bike, I was staggering a bit, so I grabbed my saddle for a little support. We returned to the truck and I wrapped a towel around me to remove my drenched skinsuit. We then waited for our results, while discussing the event with the other riders. We were back to the camaraderie and it was time to chill out, literally. We completed the nine miles in 21 minutes and 37 seconds,with an average speed of around 23 mph. This was only two seconds faster than second place. Yet, considering everything, I was satisfied. Obviously, a tandem should be faster, though. Everyone else was on single bikes. Two of the guys there, who I knew to be strong finishers, ran in the upper 23, lower 24 minute range. The guy who finished 2 seconds behind us was a monster, worthy of everyone's respect. The overall course record is a 19:18. I hold the second fastest time with a 20:06. That was in the rain with a first-time captain. After the race last night, I was noticeably higher than I had been in a while. The endorphins were really flowing and I felt very relaxed and steady. Even after 14 and a half hours after the race, I can still feel some effort to get those deep breaths. The muscles around my sternum are still a bit tight. My recovery should improve as I do more races. I also noticed more nerves at the start line. This, I attribute to not doing enough races this late in the season. I noticed that racing does more for me psychologically, than I had thought. I believe this is an important ingredient to competing in life. Hopefully, we will race again next week and go faster. I will keep you informed on my way to the State Championship. Ron Burzese & the we-have-a-long-way-to-go-and-a-short-time-to-get-there-bears. Austin, TX State Championship (age graded)RR Copperas Cove June 7, 08 Race Reports 45-54 Race by Frank Kurzawa The heat was inhuman today - not as hot as expected but the humidity made up for it. I'm not sure how many starters were on the 45+/50+ start line, but I think it was somewhere north of 70. VC had Tom Linehan, Karthauser (!!!- first race in 4 years), Kim Wrinkle, Jay Bond, Schreffler. Did I forget anyone? The first half of the race was not hard. Scott Bennett (GeriAtrix/45+) and Tom Craddock (NWCC/50+/won the 45+ state championship about 5 years ago) got up the road early in front of an apathetic pack. Later, a group of four that included Jim Wilkinson (Matrix/50+/2nd in 50+ last year) and Daniel Joder (Joe's/50+) got up the road. But the real action didn't start until we turned into the crosswinds on the plateau after Inez. We went single file for miles along the left side of the road. I had good position on Max Miley's wheel (about 10th position). Unfortunately a NWCC horned in on me, and he eventually blew up. I was already at my limit and couldn't close the gap he had created. I was so blown I couldn't even get in the 1st chase but somehow got in the second chase. This put about 20 people up the road in front of me, including 50+'ers Graeme Mardon (NWCC), Eric Jordan, Will Visser (Brain & Spine). The leaders soon caught and dropped Joder and he shot straight out the back of our group as well but our second chase couldn't close on the two groups in front (soon melded into a single group). I figured my race was over when we hadn't closed on the lead group by the time we turned out of the cross and back into the headwind road that hits the big climb out of the creek. But I went ahead and rode it out. Our group of 6 gained a few stragglers, lost a few, etc. I was totally blown in the heat, I had no energy at all, but remarkably, most in our group seemed to have even less energy than me. Brad Houston (50+) was also in our group, but the rest were all 45+. Linehan had been in our group briefly in the crosswind but disappeared out the back when I wasn't looking. Schreff, Wrinkle, Jay were all MIA. As we climbed out of the big creek (about 10 miles to go) I passed Tom Craddock cramping so badly that he was almost falling over (remember he went away in the first mile with Scott Bennett). As we crested the climb the front group was essentially out of sight but there were a couple shelled stragglers we could see in the distance. We soon caught John Woodson (GeriAtrix/45+) and he seemed to think that there were no 50+ up the road but I was pretty sure he was clueless on that point. Nonetheless that inspired me to work a little harder on the way in, with the hope that if there really were only a few and some got shelled maybe we could catch them. Soon it was down to just 4 of us - Woodson and three other 45+ (one of which we caught on the way in). With 5 miles to go we passed Jim Wilkerson crashed in the middle of the road and being attended to by a follow vehicle. Recall that he had been off the front for a very long time. He told me later that he had eventually dropped (1 by 1) all 3 of his breakaway companions and was caught by the leaders on the big climb around mile 40. He crashed when he was drinking from his bottle in the cross wind and a gust blew the rider in front of him into his front wheel. Bummer. My finish was relatively uneventful. The main thing was I had no idea how many 50+'ers had finished ahead of me. I had mentally thrown in the towel 20 miles earlier but Woodson had gotten me to wondering... I reconstructed the leaders' finish by talking to a few others: The large group eventually split in two, each with about 8 or 10 guys in it. Woodson had been dropped when he had tried to tow the second group up to the first on the big climb, then was attacked as they crested as everyone decided to race for 10th place rather than catch the lead group of 10. The lead group splintered on the run in with Erick Benz getting away solo (!) and finishing a minute up on everyone. Max Miley (last year's 45+ winner ) was second. In the 50+ competition Steve Waters outsprinted Will Visser for the Gold. Then Erik Jordan managed to come in 3rd. Graeme Mardon got 4th in the 50+ finishing about a minute after those guys. My group of four came in about a minute after Graeme, getting me 5th. Brad Houston finished in his group 2 minutes later getting 6th in the 50+. I didn't get a chance to talk to Linehan, Kart, Kim, Jay afterwards. I talked briefly to Schreffler and he was in a world of hurt. Welcome to the club! All-in-all it was a hot, humid, painful day. Ouch! I think Steve Waters and Erick Benz are both worthy champions. zaz 55/60/65 Race by John Bartle I figured it would be a challenging States when we headed out on what would be the finish stretch with a tailwind at 15 past 90 degrees fahrenheit, at a 25 - 30 mph pace, just baking from the blacktop below and the sun above and the nervous energy all around. When we got out onto the loop part of the course with a cross tailwind things opened up a bit and I was tempted (and succumbed) to bridging up to a couple of riders who have separated themselves of the front. Just as we consolidated and I was thinking of making a little working group of nonthreatening riders. I look around and Bain is marching up with a couple of riders in tow. Bain proceeded to up the pace and I was just hanging on, sitting on. We soon got a sizable gap. I was thinking [that was hard but I'm in good position and can do this for a while. But I looked down at my odometer and it read 16 miles - 50 miles was looking to be a long long way away.] Then we came to a long grade and Bain just tore the group up. Jack Avigael stayed with him and the rest of us were scattered over the hillside, with me OTB first. We regouped and within a couple of miles were reabsorbed by the remaining field, about 15. The 3 starting VC'ers Steve James, Mike Haney and I, were the only club represented by more than one in the group. We proceeded to grind out the crosswind section with gutter riding. When we entered the headwind there was a period of old man story-swapping riding (i.e. slow) but happy we had dispatched PBain. I made a couple of furtive attempts of the front, but no go; the others could see that it was futile, which made it so. In the final run in we were down to 8 and Mike made an excellent attack on the last significant hill. I watched as two riders jumped up to him; Paul who had been working and a good participant in the race and one other, Russell. They stayed away to the finish, about 4 miles, Mike worked hard to keep the break away then opened up the sprint too soon and came in 5th. instead of 3rd. Back in the group of 5 Steve and I monitored our competition. There was only one other 60+ rider besides Steve, so he only had to finish ahead of that rider to be State Champ. The stayer of the group opened up the sprint and Steve got on his wheel so I let them go and concentrated on taking maximum shelter for the wind (wheelsucking, if you will) coming around the last two guys just before my legs cramped up - for 7th. It was a good race, I was happy to be in the top 10. [Seymour and Greg, you could have kicked some butt] JB 55/60/65 Race by Steve James As Frank so eloquently wrote, "The heat was inhuman today." What he did not emphasize enough, IMHO, was the nasty wind along with the heat. This was perhaps the hardest State Championship RR I've ever done. Our 55/60/65 pack contained 25 riders. From VC were Mike Haney, John Bartle (both in the 55-59 group) and I in the 60-64 group. The first 8 miles out to the loop were downwind and uneventful, but quite fast. After we turned left into the crosswind, we hugged the right side of the road in mostly single file. A few of the 55+ guys tried moves but they were quickly brought back. Sitting at the back was Tom Bain, like a great white shark, getting ready to attack. After we went through the next downwind section and started the crosswind from the right section on a very narrow back road, Bain and Jack Avigael took off. Nobody tried to catch them so the rest of us settled down into survival mode, for the most part. When the pace slowed, Mr. Bartle went off the front for a while to liven it up and later Dr. Haney did the same to keep things going. I sat in with my main competition, Rusty Bowers from Dallas. He and I raced against each other several years ago and again this year at Fort Davis. He was the TXBRA points leader for 2007. Rusty tried to slip off the front a couple of times but I quickly jumped up to him. Finally we just sat back and let the 55+ guys set the pace. The heat and wind were getting to all of us and by the 35 mile mark, there were only 12 or so left in the peloton. Four of us were in the 60-64 category. I was having a hard time keeping a positive attitude as we pushed on up each successive hill but I told myself that if I were hurting this badly, the others must be hurting as much or more. After we turned back onto the 8 mile finishing stretch, almost straight into the wind, we all looked like we really wanted to be somewhere else. In my almost totally wasted state, I told myself that I had driven all the way to the race and raced for two hours so it would be really stupid to quit now. You never know what will happen next. I was trying to psych myself up for the inevitable finishing sprint against Rusty when, with about four miles to go, he flatted. Of course I did the appropriate thing at that time, I went to the front and hammered. :-) That was all I needed to motivate me to go like crazy for the finish. By then, there were only 5 of us left. About 3 miles before then, Dr. Haney and a couple of other 55+ had gone off the front of our group and were out of sight. Sooooo, there I was with three 55+ racers (one of which was Mr. Bartle) and one other 60+ racer, which I was trying to figure out how to beat at the end. Well, he was trying to figure out how to beat me also. We played cat and mouse behind the three 55+ guys for the last couple of miles before the finish. As we approached the 200 meter point, the strongest of the 55+ riders was behind me with the other riders in front. He jumped hard around me and I gave it all I had to jump on his wheel. He hammered and I followed for about 100 meters and then I looked back, expecting to see the others right on my wheel. Imagine my surprise and elation when I saw all of them waaaay back there. I pulled up next to the guy and informed him that I was a 60+ racer (so he didn't have to worry about sprinting against me) and that we had a big gap so he should go even harder, which he did. I kept looking back expecting the group to suddenly sprint up and catch us. But they did no such thing. I was able to sit up about 15 meters from the line and coast across for the win in the 60-64 category. Mike Haney finished 5th in the 55+ and John Bartle finished in the group of 4 behind me for 7th. By the way, in case you're wondering, Tom Bain and Jack Avigael finished over eight minutes ahead of the chase group. Bain is an amazing time trialist. It is now 9:15 and I'm still feeling the effects of the really hard race, heat and wind. At my age, I should be smarter than to torture myself like that, shouldn't I? Oh well, I'll feel better tomorrow and after a couple of days, I'll be looking forward to the next race, which will be the Tuesday evening TT on Mopac/45. Wearing my hard earned 2008 State Champion jersey on tomorrow's ride will also help me forget how painful acquiring it was. Of course, we just do these races for the glory and the bragging rights, don't we? :-) SJ
The Saddle Sore that Ate Detroit by Frank Kurzawa Frank wrote this story around 1995. His trials and tribulations may, like Lance, have motivated him to greatness as he won the State Championship road race in his age group in 1997. The PDF of The Saddle Sore that Ate Detroit is 4 pages.
Lago VistaRace Report - March 1 and 2, 2008 by Greg LaKomski The following represents my opinions and contains possibly lactate compromised facts as I remember them! The climbs were grinding and seemingly never ending and the descents winding and fast. The Alps? No - the annual Lago Vista torture fest. For those of you who “aren’t from around here,” Lago Vista is a small community on the shores of Lake Travis. Most of the folks who live there seem to really like the annual race and many volunteer for crossing guards and marshals. Even the Lago police get into it. It’s probably the only practice they get in crowd management. They are one of the few police departments that actually understand how to do lead vehicle work! Thank you Lago coppers. The Saturday course was about 5.7 miles long and consisted of about 3.5 miles of steady climbing at about 3 to 4 % with three short steeper sections. Thankfully the last half-mile or so of climbing was of the easier variety which allowed some level of recovery. After a right hand turn things change dramatically and it seems you are either screaming downhill at 35 MPH or sprinting uphill to start the whole thing over. Cornering at very high speeds with a whole bunch of your best friends is pretty wild but the guys I was around know what they are doing so you don’t worry - much. The finish line is at the top of a very steep but thankfully not too long jump hill with a very fast downhill approach. All in all this is a very demanding circuit. On Sunday the course was changed to eliminate the recovery flat near the top. That makes the course shorter and a real bitch. Before I go further, I want to talk about adrenaline and the effects. The body produces this stuff for a reason and the effects are predictable. Aggression, anger, no tolerance for stupidity, immediate and direct words and actions. Anyone who signs up as an official understands that, or better understand that. All racers value and respect the generally high quality of officials we have. Unfortunately, all it takes is one idiot on either side. When you get idiots on both sides some very bad things can happen. End of commentary. Saturday morning was wonderful with low wind and short sleeve temps. Giant pile of people at the start line getting sorted out into race groups. All was good in the world. In order to understand what happened later some background is needed. The 35+ and 45+ packs were essentially the same in terms of ability with a large bunch of 1, 2, 3s, national and state champions, ect in each pack. The typical lap time for both packs is between 12 and 15 minutes at about 23 - 25 mphavg. Both packs had a bunch of guys and several well-represented teams. The 35+ group rolled out first. We waited, and we waited, and we waited to go next. After waiting some more we roll away and mercifully didn’t go to hammer mode for a couple of miles. I am having a great time since I feel fresh and I am going up the steep climbs in the saddle without much difficulty. Two laps go by and I am grooving. At midpoint of lap 3 in a section where large median planters divide the road, we are caught by a large lead 35+ pack complete with police and moto escort. No biggee other than wondering why in the hell did they catch us so quickly (and the answer is). We sort of neutralize to let them by. I didn’t see it and only heard the yellin and was only told later by reliable sources, but given what happened next I would believe IT. The IT was one of MY teammates who should have known better jumping on the back of the lead 35+ pack as it came by. ARRRG! The reaction was furious in many ways. Everyone started screaming at him and at the same time they were not going to let him go and went into overdrive. The seeds of destruction had been sown. Now you had two lead packs, two sets of cars, motos, wheel vehicles all mixed together at very high speeds. I really don’t like descending at high speed next to a pick up truck. This mess somewhat sorted out by the time we went through start finish but we now had no separation. The 35+ slowed slightly and we had the pedal down and we caught them again right after start finish. I was maybe 8th in a straight arrow line and we attacked the 35+ with a vengeance. I guess it was hoping to break the field. All it did was jack up the pace and piss off the 35+ who attacked us back. Now you had two strong fields going at each other, oncoming cars (the course was not closed and the centerline rule was in effect – yeah right), and one moto official with less than a full load of common sense. Warning: The following not suitable for minors! I guess the officials decided to neutralize us to get things sorted out. Rather than get in front of the lead and start waving and yelling and generally doing it the right way, the moto pulled up along side the field and told them to slow down or something. I didn’t hear it and apparently whoever did told him to #@#% off. What I did see as we were furiously climbing a steeper section was this moto pull in front of the field and stop. At least one bike crashed into the back of the moto. Others started to stop to help and some started to stop to with the possible intent of tearing the moto off his bike and beating him senseless, which he deserved at this point. He suddenly took off without even being concerned about the carnage on the ground behind him. There was a rage thing happening and it was going out of control. The screaming was intense and all of my comments about adrenaline now apply. The lead cars were now stopped and we all came to a halt. 35+, us, everything. You had at least 100 really, really pissed off, jacked up guys. WOW!!!! The whole situation was surreal and getting dangerous since we were all over the road. My hats off to the poor guy from the follow car who had to stand up in front of us and sort it out. The official took the screaming in and asked us to calm down. After a few minutes I guess we did and he cut the 35+ loose. Everyone who had been dropped had now shown up and a large contingent of 35+ chasers streamed around as best they could. We were rolled out neutral for a bit to loosen up and then cut loose again. There are now non-race cars in this mess and one stops. Wham! I see someone pile into the back of it. More screaming but this time we sit up for just a minute and the crashee gets back on his bike and rejoins. My legs are seized up from the stopping and I can tell others are in a world of hurt from cramps. Will it never end? The next several laps are a haze of hammering as we get the bell. We crank the last lap and my legs are feeling it. I am looking around the best I can for my sprinter John Schreffler. No sprinter. All I can do is position and hope he finds my wheel. Find out later he was seizing up bad from the stopping and got popped off. I start taking crit lines and crit chances on the downhill corners to get up to the front. Left hand sweeper comes up and I hit something on the pavement. The bike jumps and my right foot snaps out of the pedal. After working that hard I am not going to loose any position. I don’t know why it is so hard to clip back in when you are going 30 mph with the bike leaned hard into a turn but it is. I am slamming my foot into the pedal and after several tries I feel a click. Sorry to Tom Linehan who was right on my wheel and thought I was going down. We are now sprinting as hard as we can over the brow of a hill into the approach to the line. No matter what happens, there is nothing that is more fun than the insanity of a sprint. I think I hit the base of the finish hill in the top 10 and got passed by some and passed others. Ended up 15th. Violet Crown did great with Greg Hall getting 6th and VC at 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th and 21st. Sunday was very windy, there was no place to recover, the boys gassed it from the flag, and I was tired. OK enough excuses. I lasted three laps out of nine and cratered. Watched the rest of the race from a nice grassy spot near start finish. Greg LaKomski
Tour of New Braunfels Road Race Sunday, 2/3/08 Frank Kurzawa's experiences in the P/1/2/3 race (72 miles). Well that was one hard race. I felt like my legs were ripped off and the bloody stumps crammed down my throat. I was in trouble almost from the start. The crosswind section was hard, followed by that left-hander into the relatively short headwind stretch that was always the hardest part of the race for me. As painful as York River Rd. was, I really didn't mind the road surface, then it was followed by a sprint up the feedzone hill on every frickin' lap. And then I could never seem to get a draft on the rest of the tailwind stretch as we were on the centerline all the way to the northern tip of the course. The only time that the pack seemed to slow at all was on the headwind stretch on Centerpoint Rd., but I never drew any comfort from it b/c I knew that the group would just go that much harder when we turned right, into the crosswinds. I was finally shelled for good 3/4's of the way through the race w/ a lap and a half to go. I couldn't quite keep in contact around the corner onto York River Rd. I had a little company w/ 2 other riders, but one of them disappeared behind us on the feedzone hill and the other one seemed to run out of gas on the big hill in the headwind side so I finished alone. The pack was probably already 10 minutes ahead by that point, I think the officials had already left. LOL Ex-VC'er Zac Lytle spent much of the race at the back with me. The difference is, he was just comfortably sitting in, while I was struggling just to stay in contact, with a new life-and-death challenge almost every other minute. As Will Ross said afterwards, it was windy and fast. But I feel much better today. Later, Zaz
Greg Lakomski – Race Report 2 - Saturday Feb 2, 2008 – OMLoop Criterium Watching the sun rise over Canyon Lake was a real treat after having a week of clouds and fog. Donna and I managed to be the first racers to get to the course. (It seemed we got up awful early:) Women 123 were first up so it was pleasant not to have to rush. I had lots of time and spent it wisely cheering my wife on. Before continuing, I feel the need to wax a bit philosophical. Bike racing is a unique sport. With the possible exception of team skydiving, there is no other team sport where once engaged you either finish or quit (or splat ). There are no time outs, no half times, no substitutions, and no chances for long talks with your coach around a white board (well, radio conversations maybe). It is only after the race is over and you sit with your mates trying to figure out what went right and what went wrong that you really get to think through the race both from a physical and tactical perspective. Races are in general not won by the strongest but by the best combination on that day of physical aptitude for the particular course and race brainpower. I was once told by a coach that you start a race with a full fuel tank and the winner will likely be he who manages that fuel load the best. That’s where the brainpower comes in and on Saturday I was clearly thinking with the “other” brain! For some reason, this race always attracts a stellar field and this Saturday was no exception. Almost every masters racer of note and a whole lot of post it notes like me were there. Bain, Sladek, Korioth, Joder, - need I say more. Violet Crown lined up Greg Hall, John Shreffler, Tom Linehan, Dan Johnston , and yours truly. It was a big bunch, maybe 65 racers, the weather was perfect, and it was time to throw down for 40 minutes with a vengeance. If you have never done this race before, the course is a rolling couple of mile loop with only one real turn, which is uphill, hard left, and right in front of the crowd at registration. It is always dicey from the gun as speeds are in the upper 20s and the road’s twists cause the pack to move back and forth without warning. The S-F line is maybe 600m before the left turn at the base of the climb. A typical lap involves coming into this climb at full tilt and trying to manage position to make the corner without braking to be able carry speed. Once through the corner you are out of saddle for a bit then settling into a grinding climb that gets harder with every short lap. The road sweeps into a long left going curve that thankfully ends going into a steep left curving downhill that allows those who are strung out to reconsolidate and rest a bit. There is a short period of very high speed action that bears right leading to a short, steep left going precursor jump climb. You are going so fast that it isn’t as bad as it might be and holding position is your only focus. At this point we started to pick up a tail wind as we wound into the slightly climbing right curving approach to the finish curve and through S-F. We were hauling ass every single lap! Needless to say, this was not a course where you recovered well from overusing your turbo. Within minutes (seconds) of the start, four of the big men jumped off and stayed off. I remember the chase getting close at one point, but with some very experienced blocking, it just wouldn’t happen. For my part, I was having some technical difficulties early on with stumpyleg’s cleat releasing as I was evading certain death from slashing. I have installed new pedals, and for some reason, there is very little side to side angular motion required to disengage. The leg popped loose early in the second lap which resulted in a rapid exit stage backwards. It took me a bit to get it locked back in and that meant I had to chase hard to get back on. Thank god for the downhill section and a little luck but bad for the fuel level. The next several laps were difficult but I was having a good if painful time riding well and racing stupidly, going into minor oxygen debt, and in general not covering my sprinter’s butt like I should have been doing. I was climbing tolerably well and seemed to be able to move up and deal with the corner. All of the dicing up front was fun, but in hindsight and I do mean hind, I would have been much better served by taking a much more conservative approach. We got three to go and as we charged through the turn it became clear that we had decided enmass that the break was gone and not coming back. Everyone was getting very tired and very sloppy. A lactic fog had replaced what little mental acuity I started the race with. All of a sudden there was a swerve of rear wheel into my front wheel and things went bad in a very big hurry. Holy road rash Batman! I managed to finesse the bars but the sudden body movement required to keep the bike under me also unclipped stumpyleg again. I planted my butt on the saddle, kicked out my other foot, and rode the whole mess right out the back. Many apologies to those around me. Double sorry to whoever had to eject into the ditch to miss me! By the time I got stumpyleg locked back in (this requires more careful placement than it should) the pack was 200 m up the road and chase as I might there was no way it was going to happen. I had a lovely time hammering the last two and a half laps pretending it was the trials. Just lovely:) I think I finished a minute or so after the sprint which was OK since I was definitely not last by a long shot. Stupidity one, strength zero. Get em next time. I am pleased to report that my teammate and poorly assisted sprinter John Shreffler rose above his dire prerace characterization of his fitness and was 5th in the sprint after overcoming a serious boxin job. John is one of the smartest sprinters out there and if he’s there at the end he always seems to find a way to the front. My prosthetics sponsor Aaron Foreman, owner of Orthotic Prosthetic Technologies was the sprint winner having correctly picked pink as the train to take to the line and riding strong enough to be in the station. Congrats to them both. Greg
Race Report – Copperas Cove – Jan 19 Greg LaKomski The first race of the season is always challenging and yesterdays Copperas Cove Road Race was no exception. With temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and a moderate north wind, every piece of riding gear you had bought with was barely adequate. Thank god for the sun. Teams from every corner of Texas and several other states were there. I assume that for someone from Kansas it felt balmy. VC put in a strong presence with Greg Hall, Rick Hall, Seymour, Lynn Cornet, Scott Yates, Mike Haney, Doug Ballew and Donna LaKomski. Aaron Foreman – a Cat 2 who is the owner of Orthopedic and Prosthetic Technologies and my sponsor was also in attendance. The Men's 35 plus combined with the Women’s open field was 100 strong and 100 nervous and hyped up. As we rolled out and I started to check out who was there, I began to get that bad feeling that a whole lot of Cat 1-2 s decided to sign up for the 35+ instead of going extra long. Given the wide variety of skills in the pack and the constant bumping and slashing the ride was somewhat terrifying in the early going. It was a confusion of overlapping wheels, thrashing up hills only to slow suddenly after the crest, and snot flying everywhere due to the wind and cold temperature. It was so dicey that it was hard to even get a drink. Given the number of 1 / 2 s in the field I had expected better but squirreldom knows no bounds. At the same time I will freely admit that I was a squirrel just like everyone else. Hypocrisy is a terrible thing. At least two riders noodled off the front within he first ten miles and the pack let them go. They would stay off for 40 miles and have as much as a kilometer lead. Greg Hall tried the same move and was swarmed. He waited a while and tried again, was swarmed again. I tried to jump off with another guy thinking maybe they would let a poor one legged guy go but this also caused a violent reaction. I guess they confused me with the other Greg At that point I decided that sitting in and waiting for the big guys to deal with the break was the only thing to do. Oh well. Greg Hall is too well known and too good to be let go. I think that I just confused them. I tried to just stay in the front third of the field and remind myself that I actually enjoyed road racing. As the pack sorted itself out it I was able to relax a little bit and enjoy the racing. It truly was just wait and be patient. Even got to do just a bit of occasional sightseeing. As we approached the 30 mile point I was pondering why there had not been a reaction yet to the break which we could no longer see in front of us. I studied the old mental race map and realized that we were about to turn right on a straight rode with the potential for a serious crosswind. I said a quick Oh Shit! and made a move through the pack for the right shoulder. Around me a lot of very hard core riders suddenly began moving forward through very small gaps doing the same thing I was doing trying to get to the front. It seemed that it wasn’t more thana couple of minutes later that we hit the corner. All hell broke loose as we surged onto a narrow, sandy, potholed road. All I could do was get on the pedals, hammer, and keep shifting. Grab wheel, jump hole, change wheel, miss wheel, hammer, hammer, hammer was all you could do. I glanced down and saw 30 something and decided it was better not to know. I was having a blast. As we came screaming out of the first tree lined section of road and into the cross wind, I was finally able to see the little dot in the distance that was our target. Everyone still with us, maybe 30 riders (I don’t know how to look back at that speed) were all players. Suffering in front seemed preferable to suffering in the back so that’s where I stayed. The pace backed off a bit and one team tried to put someone up the road for some unknown, obviously flawed reason but no one was going to put up with this. We just went around him and put it overdrive again. I seem to remember one of my team mates trying to go up the road and my blocking for a bit with a San Jose rider. That didn’t work either. Double overdrive now. After some wild antics, three of us set up across the narrow road with the rest of the lead group stretched out behind us and pounded. I could only hope that Greg Hall was back there cause it was not clear that with this level of effort that Stumpy was going to be a strong finisher. The wind was not as bad as it could of been and we clearly wanted the break before we turned onto the down wind stretch back to town. I was hooked up for the duration. All I could do was keep going and pray that all the stuff I was hitting wouldn’t cause a problem. We caught those poor guys just as we hit the feed zone at 40 miles. It became very clear at that moment that their luck, my luck, and my rear tire pressure had simultaneously run out. As I came to a stop and stripped off my rear wheel I realized two things. First, we were down to 20 guys and the next chase group was at least 30 sec back, which was a good thing. The second thing was that the follow car was nowhere in sight, which was a very bad thing. After several minutes of waiting and spastically trying to get my brain switched to tube changing mode, some folks in the feedzone pulled a pump out of their car and crossing the road to help. We had a great time chatting and changing the tube. Heck we had all the time in the world. It took 15 minutes before the official car pulled up. Thankfully, I didn’t have to say anything and he was harassed by the feeders for not being there for me. He had some lame excuse about stopping for a crash with severely bleeding riders and coordinating the ambulance. Ok, I’ll cut him a break:) My day was essentially over but the truth is that I wouldn’t have been long for that Cat 1-2 world anyway. Lets say that I rode the final 13 miles at a comfortable pace with what was left of my quads. Donna and I drug our tired bodies to IHOP to gorge ourselves on the largest platter they had. We had done the best we could do. I had a great race and a great time despite the cold. Next week is a power training week and the Tour of New Braunfels is in two weeks so it is time to stop whinin and start poundin. Greg Lakomski