WTFM 8.18.08

Tour De Millersburg
This was a great community event put on up in Millersburg Pa. The amount of people who volunteered was a high and surprising amount to me. Only the Redlands Bicycle Classic garners more community support but what I saw spoke volumes to me. I have to say I was shocked and felt touched when a local gentleman came up to me looking for some cyclist he made friends with last year. Wow people in town were looking forward to this event coming to town. He had a picture and he wanted to say hi and find out how they were doing. Man I must be screwed up, I botched a guys name I have been working with for 4 weeks today and this guy remembers the guys he cheered on.

This being my second week back on the bike I was thinking my fitness will be back in order. Nope did not happen. I was thinking man I will be back and flying high. I must be a comedian.

TT.
The TT is hard to describe. It starts off in town and drops down like 20-30 in elevation and is pretty much flat. In fact you swear you are climbing at times. There are a few rollers but overall it is gradual up hills and down hills. I was borrowing my friends tri-spokes and had my bike setup for the tt. I could tell my legs and heart did not match up but still held out hope for a good tt. I would love to place in the top 20 and be in the points. I thought anything under 30 minutes would be respectable. Since there was a lot guys with not tt setup I should be able to get my goal of top 20 and break 30 minutes.

So I ended up getting a time of 29:02. So almost a minute faster than I was projecting. I averaged 24.8 mph so that is not to bad right. That would have put me into an hour 40km. Well my team mate put the fastest time up (That was easily predicted) and in between him and I were 34 other riders who rode the thing faster than me. I suck. I can only imagine if I did not have all that stuff. So now it was determined I was not a GC contender. I finished mid pack in a ¾ field so not so bad.


Crit.
This was a long ass crit. I would rather think of it as a short circuit race. There was not technical aspect to it. If they added a 4 corner turn down the side streets to break up the long down hill(resting spot for out of shape guys like me). Road surface better than a lot of courses we have raced on.

I lined up. Bob Roll called up the top ten finishers of the TT. That is cool to have your name called by an American cycling icon. Come on he says cyclist names on tv and you just had your name called. That is a little something to brag about.

Since I had a leash to just ride stupid and aggressively, not that I don’t already do that, I had it as a legit reason. I get to the front on the beginning of the race to mix it up. Why not. I also like doing that to test the legs and open them up. It is not purely stupidity that I do that but I find it easier to do that and rest for a minute. My legs seemed to get primed up for the next effort. I hate the parade lap because the guys who neglected a warm up get their warm up. So I only lasted a lap off the front of 20 yards. Nothing much.

I kind of watched the front for a while but moved to the back for most of the race. Missed both crashes. I did not see a need to fight for the front since nothing was going on. I mean it was pretty bland race course allowing everyone to sit in. If the course was flatter it would have been harder. But if you busted your ass in the back to get up the hill you could sit in for the rest of the course. I sat in the 200 lbs group in the back with Bryan Burns. Rayman was a frequent guest but he sat on us for the best draft in the house.

With 6 to go Trembly from down south who has broken away at races got off the front. He was sitting something like 7th overall. Ray on my team was sitting 12th and figured if ray finished high in the pack he could get enough points and pass Jacob in overall placing. So I went to the front and drilled it as best I could. I know I suck as a TT and all of you guys are better than me and could have blown me out of the water. But I figured I would do my teamly duty since I knew I could not hold a candle to finishing in the top ten in the sprint. I just knew I did not have it or close to having it. So I worked a full lap on the front to get the pack up to breakaway artist. When we caught we were starting the wretched climb and I was done. Oh well. I lasted and got pulled a lap to go and placed.

Ryan Bracken won the crit after crashing. Bryan Vaughan took 3rd but I swore he got it because of the speed he was carrying.

Road Race.
Another beautiful day in PA. Just absolutely gorgeous. The course was a nice rolling country side road. It was like a big rectangle best describes it. Most of the climbing you had a tail wind. On the way back it was a strong headwind. How do I know this. I was out in it when riding alone on these country roads.

Because I had no GC aspirations and could give a shit about racing smart. I was proposing to a lot of guys to just attack like crazy. Steve Wahl was drinking the Kool-aid I was drinking, but he was stronger than me.

I attacked really early in the race to see if anyone would go. Nobody bit. Of course then I went again steve bridged up along with John P. (the long ride). They went well I lasted about a minute. I could have lasted longer but steve went hard by me I could not catch his wheel. Fruck.

I sat in and attacked intermittently. I was just trying to get something going. Not necessarily for me but Ted M. and Ray P to get in something. You never know what happens. A few times I would ride up to the front thinking guys would grab my wheel, not that I was blowing by them and the next thing I knew I was 20 feet off the front. WTF. Nobody grabbed my wheel and I am not pulling the pack. I would sit up and think why is nobody drafting me. I was willing to pull the pack around but nobody would ride my wheel. Not that I was going to leave them hanging in the wind. I was going to pull the pack because nobody wanted to. Plus it kept Ted in the front and none of the dips who pack fodder the whole race to come around him and put him near the back.

So I would come back sit and watch. When ever I saw Ted near the back I would ride next to him and try to drag him near the front. If I saw pulling the pack I would think what is he doing that is my job. I would rush to the front to block the wind for him. I wanted him to save his energy and try to break. That was the plan.

I of course worked too hard during the race and popped off the back on the final lap. I did not care. The race was out of my hands and all I could hope for is if Ted could get away. I was having fun doing something. Guys were sitting there being pussies. My legs were completely dead. The last 10 miles were really hard. That freaking wind on the way back just killed me. I got in some good training to help me prepare for Green Mountain. I have a goal of finishing that race with all the climbing.

I rode into town tired but satisfied because I raced. I can careless to sprint with 45 guys who did nothing the whole race. I do not think that is racing. The day was beautiful and the weekend was still there.

Other notes.

Bob Roll is a very nice guy. Meeting him at the meet and greet was pretty cool. He is just your average guy. I had another picture painted in my head after reading his book. He was pretty normal instead of a wack job. Maybe he is not a wack job because he can identify himself being wacky.

I gave him my opinion about the coverage of paul and phil sitting infront of the blue screen. I also told him if he typed VS.com takes you to a video sex site and not Versus. He actually said he never heard of that and will try it. So I have bob roll checking up on porn. If you read that in his next book that is because of me. Overall it was cool. I do not get star struck but when you hear the guy talk he sounds the exact same from tv and he talks back. It is like whoa am I on drugs. I have been watching him ever since the mid/late nineties when he did a mountain bike show on oln.

I also came up with a good analogy for Bryan Vaughan. He is like a big piece of shit that rides a bicycle. And a lot of other riders are flies. When that guy would move a string of flies moves with him where ever he goes. He stops the flies crowd around him. It is wild nobody will let him ride off the front. If you are so worried he is going to win the race let him go. I would rather sprint against Bryan when he rode 10 miles with a couple other riders in the wind than when he can sit in a big field. I do not get that. Plus everyone is strong since they do not ride in the wind. That is at least how I think. Now if he goes when a bunch of top tt guys go then I would worry.

Overall I had a great time. The event is well run and I will be attending next year. I actually originally planned to peak for this event but you all know about the wrench thrown into the works. So I made the best of the race.

The one thing I find really disturbing is I was told guys were making fun of me and talking shit about me while racing the bike. Now I can take some playful ribbing but if this is not done that way I am calling shenanigans. There was a reason to my actions. If it is a lack of understanding of my action so be it, your mistake. I leave my comments section open to anons to say what they want to keep me honest in my postings. I am not inviting you just come on this thing and start crap but to talk about things. I’m open to it. And by the way thanks to you guys who recognized what I was doing and to all the work I was putting in. When I heard stuff being said about me it really rubbed me wrong. The last thing I want to be known as is a complete and utter clown. There is a difference of being laughed at and being laughed with. Hell I am the first to admit I do stupid stuff, but let me in on the joke if you are talking shit about me.