Wood Dale Criterium / ABR State Championship
Masters 30+ 1,2,3
With my brother Chris in town for the next couple weeks, Wood Dale would be a nice tune up for the Superweek Geneva race the following weekend. We showed up on time to register for the Cat. 3 race but all the races had been delayed due to a recent thunderstorm. Since we couldn't afford to sit around for several hours, we decided to go ahead and jump into the 30+ race which was going off 20 minutes after we registered. It was an abbreviated warmup and my trip to the porta-potty almost made me miss the race, but I made it just in time for the whistle.
Not knowing what to expect, my goal for the race was to simply be aggressive and active and hopefully work in a coordinated way with my brother to get one or both of us a decent result. Early in the race we both took digs off the front in bids to get into the break, none of which paid off however. We missed the break so in the spirit of my original goal of being active I decided I'd be aggressive in my new role as domestique. There were a couple guys blocking and only a few of us willing to work so it fell largely on me and my brother to try to reel in the seven off the front. With only a couple laps to go I summoned every last bit of Jens Voigt I have in me to catch the break, which was now in sight, but just couldn't quite get it. On the final lap, Chris came streaking by to stake his claim on the final two corners knowing there was a relatively short downhill sprint off the final turn. He nearly took the field sprint but was caught at the line by former professional speedskater John Coyle, who referred to Chris in his race report as the "powerful rider in green."
It wasn't quite the race or the outcome we were hoping for but it was a blast getting the rare opportunity to race together again.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Fixed Gear Fever
Last year, in order to appease a nagging curiosity and fascination with fixed-gear bicycles, and as a healthy outlet to get me through a brutal winter, I took this:
And turned it into this (with some help from a guy I know who works in a bike shop):
It's a worthy and capable machine and plenty of bike to give me a taste of the single-speed craze that's become so popular. A racing machine it is not, but nevertheless I wanted to give the track a try and this was all I had. So I took it out to the Northbrook Velodrome on one of the last "beginner" nights of the track season - nights designated specifically for newbies like myself to get acquainted with track riding and racing.
I was nervous for a couple reasons. First, though I was proud of the bike I'd built (note the fancy photoshoot picture), I knew it had no business visiting a velodrome. It was an old Fuji touring frame I'd stripped down and built up with the cheapest eBay scraps I could find - so long as they were red and looked cool I didn't really care. There was a real part of me that expected the bike to explode into pieces the first time I put any real torque into the pedals. Thankfully, it never did. Second, I'd barely ridden a fixed gear bike in my life, save for a few trips around the block and making circles in the nearest parking lot. Tonight, we would be riding in a pack and even doing some mock racing. I was there to have fun and get some experience on the track but had no idea what I was doing so was a bit anxious that I might do something stupid and wreck the night. I didn't.
I've done my fair share of road racing over the past few years, but this is very different. With no gears and no brakes, it is a very purist form of cycling, and scarier and less scenic too. We spent some time just rolling around the track, warming up and getting comfortable while getting some introductory lessons on proper track etiquette from the coaches. Then out of nowhere they said, "Okay, go ahead and sprint," and everyone took off at full speed. "Oh shit," I thought, here comes the moment where I prove just how bad an idea it was to bring this bike here. I wasn't about to sit it out though, so I took off with them. My gearing was too low so I was spinning like crazy to keep up, but I was keeping up. It's hard to explain the feeling the first time you hit the bank of the turn at full speed. You lean into the turn and your brain tells you that your pedal is going to hit the ground so you want to keep that inside pedal up - but that's not an option - so you spin through it and it never does touch. I went through the first couple turns at speed convinced I was going to die, my heart rate shooting through the roof with dread, bracing for the inevitable carnage. It took a couple laps for my brain to fully accept the reality that I couldn't touch a pedal down even if I wanted to.
The rest of the night is a blur. I was having so much fun I didn't want it to end. I was sad when they made us leave. It was my only trip to the velodrome last summer, but I knew then that I'd be coming back for more. Which brings me to the best part - my new toy:
See you at the track!
And turned it into this (with some help from a guy I know who works in a bike shop):
It's a worthy and capable machine and plenty of bike to give me a taste of the single-speed craze that's become so popular. A racing machine it is not, but nevertheless I wanted to give the track a try and this was all I had. So I took it out to the Northbrook Velodrome on one of the last "beginner" nights of the track season - nights designated specifically for newbies like myself to get acquainted with track riding and racing.I was nervous for a couple reasons. First, though I was proud of the bike I'd built (note the fancy photoshoot picture), I knew it had no business visiting a velodrome. It was an old Fuji touring frame I'd stripped down and built up with the cheapest eBay scraps I could find - so long as they were red and looked cool I didn't really care. There was a real part of me that expected the bike to explode into pieces the first time I put any real torque into the pedals. Thankfully, it never did. Second, I'd barely ridden a fixed gear bike in my life, save for a few trips around the block and making circles in the nearest parking lot. Tonight, we would be riding in a pack and even doing some mock racing. I was there to have fun and get some experience on the track but had no idea what I was doing so was a bit anxious that I might do something stupid and wreck the night. I didn't.
I've done my fair share of road racing over the past few years, but this is very different. With no gears and no brakes, it is a very purist form of cycling, and scarier and less scenic too. We spent some time just rolling around the track, warming up and getting comfortable while getting some introductory lessons on proper track etiquette from the coaches. Then out of nowhere they said, "Okay, go ahead and sprint," and everyone took off at full speed. "Oh shit," I thought, here comes the moment where I prove just how bad an idea it was to bring this bike here. I wasn't about to sit it out though, so I took off with them. My gearing was too low so I was spinning like crazy to keep up, but I was keeping up. It's hard to explain the feeling the first time you hit the bank of the turn at full speed. You lean into the turn and your brain tells you that your pedal is going to hit the ground so you want to keep that inside pedal up - but that's not an option - so you spin through it and it never does touch. I went through the first couple turns at speed convinced I was going to die, my heart rate shooting through the roof with dread, bracing for the inevitable carnage. It took a couple laps for my brain to fully accept the reality that I couldn't touch a pedal down even if I wanted to.
The rest of the night is a blur. I was having so much fun I didn't want it to end. I was sad when they made us leave. It was my only trip to the velodrome last summer, but I knew then that I'd be coming back for more. Which brings me to the best part - my new toy:
See you at the track!
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