Posted by Dan on 28. June 2010 18:15
Flash forward to Sunday. Even though they were nearly killed by a pair of idiots that should never have been given a license, both Frank and Steve joined Wick and I for a delightful romp through the streets of the Town Center in Reston, VA. The RGS Title Reston Town Center Grand Prix 2010 was held in scorching heat (and not the dry kind, either) on the same course as last year. Fortunately the roads were dry this time. No one wants a crashfest, right?
Me and 95 of my closest friends lined up for the Cat 4 race. Wick and I were going to lay down a barrage of attacks to thin the herd, as any rider deemed out of contention would be pulled. Within three laps, I found myself off the front, alone again (naturally). I patiently waited for someone to bridge up, anyone, but I had no takers. I lasted a total of 6 laps before drifting back for some R&R. Wick made a few good efforts but ultimately they were reeled in. About half way through the race, Steve got gapped and was pulled and Frank joined him shortly after, citing hand problems. The bruise on his left hand looked a lot like Capt. Jack Sparrow's black spot.
Kraken's coming.
With 8 or 9 laps to go and a solo rider off the front, I was ready to bridge up. I'd worked with this guy in an earlier break when the other half dozen or so guys wouldn't, so I knew he'd welcome the company and wouldn't sit up in the middle of his pull. As I moved to the outside to begin my move, Wick jumped out with the idea to chase the leader down, setting me up for my own solo effort. The two of us moved up just after crossing the start finish line headed toward turn 1, maybe three or four wheels back. Just as we leaned in to make the turn, Wick was taken out by a rider immediately behind him who didn't see the corner coming because his head was down. He hit Wick's rear tire. I went down immediately after and judging by the marks on my back, was hit by two other cyclists; one of which entangled his bike with mine. We all eventually got up to the sound of our Chief Ref telling us to "GET TO THE PIT!" Unfortunately, some of us were hurt and most of us had to make adjustments to our bike before we could move toward the pit which was at least three city blocks away. The pack had 8 to go and the free laps ended with 7 to go. We had to somehow limp to the pit faster than the chasing peloton could make it around roughly the same distance. Guess what happened.
When I arrived at the pit, I was told I couldnt' have a free lap because the group had only 7 to go, but I could keep racing and that I was wasting time standing there. Taking the hint, I mounted my broken bike and took off. As I came around turn 8, I could hear announcer Joe Jefferson telling me to clear the course. I got within shouting distance of an assistant ref and told her I'd move if I was pulled. She confirmed I was pulled so I hauled myself onto the curb as the leader went by with the chasing peloton of 20 or so followed about 10 seconds behind. Nick Sachanda would eventually win solo with the chase group coming within 3 seconds or so. Nice job.
And with that, our Fun in the Sun came to an end. We dressed our wounds, passed bottles to Kyle Knott and Mike Stoop because they looked like they needed them, and got ourselves a sammich before heading back to the coastal paradise we call home. I can finish putting the Madone together and pack it up for France. I'll be doing the A.S.O. L'Etape du Tour - you'll see it as Stage 17 of the TdF departing Pau and finishing atop Col du Tourmalet. At least the course will be well marked. I can't say all of the 9,000+ riders will be watching where they're going though. See you in August at the Campus Crit at ODU. Registration is open now!
Posted by Dan on 28. June 2010 18:10
Following the disappointment of my erroneous navigation, I went home and bought a Garmin 705. Mostly for France, but maybe for Smithfield too. While keeping an eye on usacycling's Twitter updates, I anxiously waited for the results of the elite men's nats where Ben King was off the front alone with a 2:00+ gap. Literally 5 seconds after I see the tweet declaring him the winner, I get a phone call from Frank. "You're calling to tell me Ben King won the road race?" "No," he says. "We got hit by a car. Come and get us." Oof.
He and Steve M. had gone for a ride and were both hit by a two guys in a late model gray/silver Jeep Cherokee. They think they first encountered him immediately after turning left off of Miller Store Rd. at the airport. The driver pulled up along side and shouted something unintelligible, then turned left on Military Hwy. and was gone. Frank and Steve continued on Robin Hood Rd. headed toward home. After crossing over Sewells Point Rd., the jeep returned and steered toward the right curb where the two were riding, hitting Steve, who was on Frank's wheel, in the rib cage with the passenger's side-view mirror and then hit Frank with the bumper of the car. Neither was able to stay up (go figure) and they went down.
A witness and her son checked to make sure they were OK, then sped after the jeep. She was able to get a partial license plate (XKT-49??) and share a few words with the driver (like "The cops have been called! You'd better go back! You hit them!" and a reply of "No, I didn't hit anyone!") before he sped away and she returned to the scene. Norfolk Police are trying to track these guys down for any number of charges. Frank's hand is broken, he's got road rash and bruises in various places and his bike looks a bit worse. Steve's in similar shape. If you have any information at all that might help the police find these guys, please let us know or call the Norfolk Police Department's Detective Division at 757-664-7036.
Let's wrap this weekend up with Part 3.
Posted by Dan on 28. June 2010 17:59
July is right around the corner and that means le Tour kicks off next weekend. The coolest thing about this year's tour is that I'll be there. I'll be on the Champs Elysées come the finale, too. Vacation of a lifetime and I'm ready to go. But before our flight leaves, I have a few races to knock out. Then I can pack up the bike and research my routes.
Saturday was Virginia Beach Wheelmen's Smithfield HAMmer Fest Two-Man Team Time Trial. I'd enlisted teammate John Lomogda to ride with me in the 2-man men's open category on the condition that we could get an early start time so he could make an early afternoon wedding. Joshua Goyet hooked us up with a 10:02 AM start time - second team off the line for the day. So far so good.
John and I had every intention of getting together sometime during the week and getting some miles in, practicing drafting in the aero position, timing and rotation. Unfortunately, preparing the office for a month-long absence took a lot longer than I thought so we missed our practice ride. Instead, we met up in Smithfield at 7:30 and got in a good practice ride before a more focused warm-up. After riding the first 5 miles or so, we both had a pretty good idea of how it'd go with the understanding we'd let it evolve as necessary.
We took off at 10:02, one minute after the first team. We quickly settled into a comfortable rotation schedule and were fully prepared to give it hell in "every man for himself" fashion should Dogzilla make another appearance. This quivering, snarling white-hot ball of canine terror launched out of his yard to greet us on our pre-ride so the pucker factor was slightly elevated. He was a no-show at game time and we moved on. With a polite "on your left" per their request, we overtook the first team and set out on our own, now further into the course than we'd made it during our earlier ride.
Long story short, we started passing riders going the other way. We followed the cones around a corner and met Joshua and the Chief Ref who told us we'd missed a turn. There'd been cones marking what appeared to be a left-hand turn so we did that. It turns out there was an arrow painted on the ground instructing us to go straight while the cones were there to direct returning riders through the right-hand turn that would point them to the finish line. We arrived at the intersection sooner than expected and beat the corner marshal by what sounded like less than a minute. After stopping to get the details of our mistake, then stopping again to chat with another corner marshal experiencing a bit of frustration of her own, we tucked in and finished our training ride, completing the entire course, albeit backward, in 1:06:57. Very disappointing. We were flying and John informed me he had plenty of juice in reserve for the last 20 minutes.
John on the home strech.
Me on the home stretch.
We'll be giving the TTT another shot come Church Creek in a few months and you KNOW we've got a score to settle with the Smithfield course next year.
Part 2 of this exciting weekend.
Posted by Dan on 22. June 2010 19:03
Following our monster race on Saturday was the Peter Teeuwen Memorial Omnium 23-Mile Time Trial (#1) in Chesapeake. Steve M. volunteered to be the Time Keeper which is fine as he doesn't care for TTs anyway. Frank and I were joined by teammates John Lomogda and Jonathan Harris of Running Etc. An early arrival gave plenty of time to get a good warm-up in under the tent and away from the sun's melting rays. Frank and I would be riding against our fellow Cat 4s in the combined 1/2/3/4 category while John would be doing the Masters 40+ and Jonathan went off with the Cat 5s.
I was the first Cat 4 off the ramp. There was a slight southerly breeze, but mostly it was just hot. Ten minutes after my start, I rolled across the flattened remains of tiny grass snake. Poor thing would be run over a bazillion more times that day as it lay there, slowly baking away. Lots of caterpillars and a small frog of some sort had also been run down and left to fry. The ditch held the rotting carcass of a deer. Not a good day to be an animal out on Shillelagh Rd.
Aside from the plethora of road kill, the rest of the ride was rather unexciting. The fifth turn almost got exciting as a car that had pulled onto the road in front of me made it to the intersection first. The officer working that corner quickly cleared them and my ride went on without having to draw on my creating cornering skills (of which I have none). The final stretch came and went. I returned to the comfort of the tent and enjoyed a traditional post-race Diet Coke while I waited for the rest of the team.
Frank slid across the line in a cyan and Madone blur. John came in a while later. I'd passed Jonathan heading out as I was finishing, so we wouldn't see him for awhile. Results were posted at long last and I placed 3rd in the 1/2/3/4 group, 1st Cat 4 with a time of 0:50:27. Frank was 18th overall, 11th Cat 4 with a time of 0:55:24. John took 3rd in his category with a time of 00:51:45 and Jonathan finished in 1:04:50 for 22nd.
Next weekend is the VB Wheelemen/Team Vanderkitten Smithfield HAMmer Fest 2-Man Team Time Trial. John and I will be doing the 27+ mile course in under 50 minutes or YOUR MONEY BACK!! After that is a little thing up in Reston.
Posted by Dan on 22. June 2010 18:42
I spent the better portion of last week sitting around watching the sun kill my lawn. Saturday came at long last and Wick and I set out for fragrant Richmond and points beyond. 20 miles beyond to be precise. Team Nature's Path gathered some cones and officials and threw a killer circuit race at the Meadows near the Kings Dominion Center for People Who Can't Race Bikes Good Or Maybe Didn't Know They Were Doing It Right Down The Road. This course was advertised as having 9 90-degree corners and a hill. What it really had was 9 90-degree turns, a pair of constant-radius loops, a chicane ending with a 100+ degree turn leading to a short hill with a few more curves, corners, descents and swirling winds for days. The 200 meter mark was immediately after a left hand turn and 100 meters before the final right hander leaving little room for a proper sprint. Throw in the heat and you got yourself all the ingredients for a event folks will talk about for months and years to come.
Frank and Steve M. would also be joining us in our race, but before we got that far, we someone convinced fellow Monday night attendee to fork out the cash for an annual license and gear up for the 5 race. Kirk is a strong rider who's chased down our group from miles away without breaking a sweat, so we were sure he'd do well in his first race ever. Unfortunately, I missed the end, but word is Kirk rode a great race, staying near (but off) the front and covered all the moves. His race ended in a bunch sprint where he got 6th. Fantastic results for his first race. We all learned from his race that you didn't want to be too far from the front coming around the second to last corner on the bell lap.
We warmed up while the 3s did their thing and lined up an hour later. Our race would be 21 laps around the 1.4 mile circuit. Wick, Frank and I took the line with Steve right behind us. 42 other riders joined us and we got our last minute instructions. The ref blew the whistle and we were off. Once again, my left pedal betrayed me and the entire field passed by me as I sat there shaking my head. I eventually clipped in and took off, getting to the front after an entire lap or so as Wick led the pack on a high-speed run to weed out the non-cornering types among us. After 5 laps, I charged up the hill and found myself with a small gap. For whatever reason, they let me go so the gap opened to 15 seconds or so. I maintained that for another 8 laps while my teammates did their best to relax the pace in the chasing peloton.
I passed a few lapped riders on the descent when John Hessian of Carytown rolls up on my right, accompanied by Tim Pope of Fat Frogs and Hugh Brown of team Rostello/Cycor. The calvary had finally arrived. Our gap opened up to a week and a half as we worked our way through the remaining 6 or 7 laps. The heat, pace, hill and more heat took its toll. Only 23 of the initial 46 finished. The rest melted into a pile of carbony human goo. Of those that made it, only 10 were on the lead lap. My group charged the line and I fought to hang on, finishing 4th. Frank came in with the pack in 7th, Wick in 10th and Steve hung on for 18th. I'd say we were pretty happy with three riders in the top 10.
A giant "merci beaucoup" to Kevin Horvath of VB Wheelmen and his Photo Posse for the pictures. Thanks to Team Nature's Path for finding yet another great venue. Maybe next year's course could run through a waterfall or ride-through freezer? Just a thought...
Posted by Dan on 15. June 2010 18:19
Things were fairly quiet for Celerity Cycling this weekend. Team Vanderkitten - Virginia Beach hosted the only race of the weekend on the Snowball Crit course from earlier this year. It's a nice course, but it seems to have gotten really hot. Donning the kit in anger this weekend would be Dan R., Frank, Mike Shipp and me. Steve M. would be prancing about in his sky blue polo, waving his clipboard at the naughtier cyclists among us and enjoying the delicious lunch that Team Vanderkitten provided the officials. Evidently they didn't like the leftover hot dogs WE gave them last weekend. Whatever.
Yeah, that's Steve and his clipboard (left). Taking a little break from prancing I guess.
First race for us would be Dan R. in the Cat 5 field. Dan is less than a week off a tour of half the US by bike. He came back to Hampton Roads and ran some ungodly distance a few days before the race. This guy is a monster. After his race started, it appeared he wasn't happy with the pace being set so he set out to ride his own race - off the front. Unfortunately, in a Cat 4-like move, the pack followed his every move. The cat and mouse games wouldn't deter him, though. Eventually, his efforts left him needing rest and the pack rode off without him while he took it. He took on the role of Mama Duck as he chased the main field with several other riders clinging to his wheel for dear life. He eventually shelled them, but never caught the field. Considering I can't run half a mile - ever - and he just ran 9 miles after doing 150 miles/day on the bike for several weeks, we'll give him a pass on this one.
Dan R. in one of his many off-the-front moments.
The masters race was run immediately before the 4 race so I took a pass and lined up with the latter group. Twenty-four riders turned out to brave heat which had to be closing in on 200 degrees. There were two rules for this race: Always Be Hydrating and never slow down - that wind keeps you from melting.
Mike checking to see if he's melting.
I'm always eager to try one of those "took off from the start and was never seen from again" moves, so I jumped at the whistle. Turns out it's a lot more work than it looks like. With the entire pack in one convenient package, we meandered around the course a couple three times before Frank slipped away off the front with Jerry Hadley (TriPower) and an unidentified Fat Frogs rider. You've probably read enough of these to know they didn't last too long. When they came in, I took a stab at it. I was soon joined by what would be the members of the winning group composed of the entire bloody main field. No one was getting away today. We tried, oh how we tried. The power file shows numerous attempts at getting away all followed by that tell-tale flat period where I coasted while waiting for a wheel for me to grab as they passed by me. Mike even took a short lived shot at a break.
Frank surrounded by the TriPower Secret Service. They'd eventually let him crash.
And so it went until the bell lap. The pace ramped up as we approached the dreaded 2nd 90 degree turn. This is the same corner Wick crashed in back in March. Everyone wants to go fast and wide through that turn so if you're unfortunate enough to find yourself on the outside, there's a high probability that you're going down. Frank found this out the hard way, though not quite as hard as Wick. Frank landed in the grass, on his back, staring up at the clouds having been put in the curb by the charging hoard. I chose a nicer, happier line closer to the inside, much in the same way Frank chose an inside line in Fayetteville, and found myself in a prime position to contest the sprint, still around fifth wheel. I finished third and Mike came in close behind in 9th. Frank picked up his bike, now with Authentic Battle Damage! and limped across the line in 21st. This guy can crash, daydream about cloud puppies and STILL not finish last! He's unstoppable!
Frank is fine though still firmly convinced he was feeling good enough to win that race had he not been forced out. I'm pretty sure he's right. We all thank Team Vanderkitten for hosting the race. Next weekend is the Team Nature's Path Crit in Richmond and the Peter Teeuwen Memorial Omnium 23 Mile Time Trial #1.
All pictures in this post courtesy of BJ Samuel of Team Vanderkitten.
Posted by Dan on 8. June 2010 05:13
The call for local races in Hampton Roads was answered this weekend with a pair of fine crits presented by Team TriPower and Celerity Cycling p/b Fitness Together. First up was the Amphibious Assault Crit held within the heavily guarded Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story. Wick and Frank took their chances with the gate guards, the wind and new-for-2010 furnacey heat (as opposed to last year's rain). Had the winds shifted 180 degrees, it might have been very pleasant with cool bay breezes pushing riders down the back stretch. Instead, they got hot winds from the southwest making things miserable. I was comfortably seated in a church somewhere in Virginia Beach listening to the soothing music at my children's violin recital so if you want details, check out Frank's blog. We don't write about such things here. SPOILER: Congratulations to Frank on his 4th place finish following some hard work and wise moves.
Sunday was our turn to promote. All season long, we take take take. It was time we gave something back. Something fast, oval and hot. We thoughtfully held our race on the inland side of the tunnel at the Langley Speedway in Hampton. To put it in food terms, racing at Langley Speedway is like the microwave popcorn of the racing world - just set up an official's tent, add riders and BEEEP! you've got a race.
The first race we participated in was the Cat 4 run right after the juniors when it was a cool 90 degrees out. Frank, Wick and I took a break from whatever it was we were doing while my wife ran registration and lined up. Steve M. graciously agreed to help in the officials' tent so he didn't get to race. Steve has our undying gratitude (but not our money). Thanks, Steve!
The 4 race started out fast and simmered down after a lap or two. Wick was the first off the front. He regretted his decision as he motored past the lap board which read '56' or some awful number like that. The pack seemed unwilling to play his reindeer games and he was caught within a few laps. Very shortly after I was gone with Hugh Brown of Rostello/Cycor and a TriPower rider. We had a good thing going but soon lost TriPower. Hugh and I fought the pain of our loss and continued on until a catch looked imminent with something like 42 to go and he decided to sit up. I opted to do the opposite, opening the gap a little more.
The last thing in the world I expected at that time was for Frank to come sashaying up and suggest we "do this." A brief glance confirmed we still had a gap so we kept it up. Back in the pack, Wick was having the time of his life causing hate and discontent by disrupting any semblance of organization that dared raise its frail, wobbly head. Frank and I whittled away the laps until we hit 10 to go and we were joined by Noah Clevinger of JRVS/Casey Auto. The three of us worked to near exhaustion and finished ahead of the pack. Frank and I took 1st and 2nd (not necessarily in that order) and Noah got 3rd. Always nice to win your own race. Thanks, Frank and Wick!
Fat Frogs hosted a race at Langley Speedway in April during their well-attended race weekend and had to cancel their track events due to low turnout. In an attempt to entice roadies to give track events another chance, we tacked on an all-categories, all-ages, road-bike-only Miss & Out race. Frank and I would do this one too because that's the kind of people we are. Unfortunately for me, I did not study up on Miss & Out tactics (or any track tactics for that matter) so I was absolutely clueless. I figured I'd ride this like a crit, tucking in a safe spot and coming around just before the line. That worked for the first two laps, but I found myself all boxed in with nowhere to sprint on the third. Not wanting to stop the race to fill out an incident report (especially if it was on me), I was out. Frank went on to finish 5th out of 11. Congratulations to Mark King, Kevin Horvath and Tim Pope for their finishes in this extremely fun race. We'll be doing more of these soon.
Photo courtesy of BJ Samuel.
The final race for our team would be the masters race. After a few very tame warm-up laps, Dan King, Tim Mullins and I went off the front. We lapped the field in what seemed like 5 laps. Maybe a little more, probably less. We mingled with the field and were shortly joined by the chase group that had followed us from the way back when. Now we had a peloton with 50% of the riders on the lead lap. Having not taken inventory of the chase group, it was difficult knowing who was who so everything was countered. At some point near the end, Bill Scanlon slipped away virtually unnoticed. When the bunch sprint finally rolled around, he'd already won and I was ready for a nap. Riding Frank's really old 9-speed Fuji Roubaix with a 10-speed cassette and the most uncomfortable bars ever made, sprinting was probably a bad idea so I just sat there and took 10th.
With that, our racing for the day came to an end. We had a few more races to go before we packed up and went home. We want to thank the folks at Brooks Systems, Langley Speedway, concessioners, officials and each and every rider and spectator that came out to brave the heat and race, making this a fantastic and incident-free event. I'll be ecstatic if our Campus Crit at ODU on 8/1 runs half as smooth as this one.
Lydia got some pictures of the Cat 4 and Masters races. They'll be posted here when ready.
UPDATE: Results have been posted.