shovelhd

Purgatory is looking really solid in all fields. Should be some great racing.

TheKillerPenguin

I am definitely looking forward to it.

Where will you be stationed?

shovelhd

I don't know yet. Wth three waves hopefully different ones. Gotta go for those upgrade opportunities. I'll keep an eye out for you, Grolby, Mikey, and Nutso.

hubcyclist

I'm projected to finish in the 50s in my field, hope to buck the trend! Lol

aaacidrap

Hoping to make it to Purgatory, all depends on how rough of a Saturday night I have

TheKillerPenguin

I made the mistake of servicing the bb today and my drive side bearing is straight up seized to the crank. I've spent the past 2 hrs alternating pb blaster, screw driver, and even a headset crown remover and it is still right where it was. So I may not make it to Purgatory because I don't have a crankset in my bike at the moment and there is a bearing that is fubar attached to it.

island rider

wanna borrow a bike?

Edonis13

Have you tried heating up the bearing with a torch and then giving it hell?

TheKillerPenguin

Got it with a vice grip and more pb blaster. My bike shop is fargin awesome. Bearing was galvanized on.

TheKillerPenguin

So uh, does one wear the state champ jersey when racing out of state? I'm not clear on the etiquette for this crap.

Ygduf

in a race? no, I wouldn't

gsteinb

Hang it on your wall. Never wear it.

TheKillerPenguin

Word.
But free race entries!

island rider

Raced New Britain yesterday. 4s and 4/5 poor performance. Sat up in last lap of the first race and rolled in last or so, cruised in for the second race and finished mid pack. No matter what I did it I always ended up back in the field. Moving up inside was too tight and felt sketchy (maybe it was just me, but other strong guys I talked to had the same opinion) and I'd have to go outside, eat wind and move up to the top 10, then we'd come out of the woods and into the cross wind and the group would slow and we'd get swarmed. Same thing up the hill and again after the final turn. Twice I ended up grass surfing in the turns because the guy inside of me came across. (I'd say closed the door, but I'm not sure that was really it.) I saw some scary stuff in the middle of the group. During each race I actually had to convince myself not to just roll to my car and leave. (Again, maybe it was just me.)

Funny thing, my performance at New Britain has always been like this (the races haven't always felt that tight/sketchy though). Every time I race there it has this same feeling and I end up disappointed. I guess it's just not my course. Then I usually perform well at my next race. SoI'm looking forward to White Plains.

New development though… my hands went completely numb in the drops. Like at one time I was wondering why I felt like I was pedaling so hard and realized my hand was on the brakes. I train in the drops without this problem and I usually race in the drops. Could it just be the death grip I had on the bars?

carpediemracing 

Yesterday was really windy. It made shelter sort of precious and reduced usable pavmnt to the bare minimum. You had to be to the right on the backstretch, left on the main straight, inside was better at the top of the hill (but worse at the bottom). It got pretty tight at times.

With wind if it's really hard to move up or hold position up front then it's usually better to let everyone have a shot at it, fatigue their legs, then do whatever. For a Cat 3 race it might be 3 or 4 to go when guys are finally getting a bit tired of chasing moves. Until then just sit in shelter and wait for people to bash their heads against the wall. My teammate Stan has done a ton of work in the first 3/4 of a race, like 20 miles of trying to force a move with an uncooperative field who makes him work super hard for a 10 second gap. Then when he finally gets in a great move at, say, 2 to go, and the field immediately gives him 15 seconds, he's too fried to make it work.

A rider that made it work - I spoke to the guy that won Cat 2 Somerville, one of the staff at the Spring Series. He said he and his teammate tried to make some moves go early. They realized real quick that up front guys were doing 500-600w while guys at the back were coasting. Nothing could get away more than a few seconds. He and his teammate agreed to wait for everyone to get a bit tired and maybe try moves inside 4 to go (2 mile laps so it's sort of like 8 or 9 laps to go at New Britain). Staff guy got away after Turn 2, 3 laps to go. He soloed, had realistically 12-15 seconds at the bell, and won by half a wheel. He tried making early moves, realized the wind was such that it would be impossible to get away early, waited for everyone to fatigue a bunch, then punched it.

Finally, although early moves may work early in the season, as everyone gets more and more fit, it's tougher and tougher to make such moves work. You really have to decide when you want to go and do absolutely everything to save energy until then. Yesterday maybe you move up once, get swarmed, and realize, oh, it's gonna take a lot of work to maintain position. Pull the rip cord, get to the back, and wait. Everyone up there is wasting their legs doing exactly what you did while you're at 120w/120bpm, yawning, wondering if I'd yell at you if you go to the hoods now. You might move up one more time to test things, then drop back. Then when you decide it's time you move up for real. It might be 3 to go, 4 to go, 2 to go.

Numb hands - obviously check any changes you might have made - tape, gloves, position, etc. For that particular race you may not have moved your hands around as much. Also you might have been more tense, as you said. I've finished races there where my eyes are dry from not blinking much. I probably had a wide-eyed "I'm about to die" look on my face for the whole race. Nutmeg is sometimes longer, this year they shortened the 3s due to a crash (someone cut to the curb immediately after the sprint in the prior race and someone hit the deck due to that), but a slightly longer race can push you over the cusp. FInally Walnut Hill doesn't encourage you to move around much. At Bethel I'm on the hoods most of the time up the hill. At Walnut Hill I prefer to be on the drops so I consciously move to the hoods now and then.

shovelhd

Purgatory did deliver great racing. Cat4, a guy put 2:30 on the field and got sucked up. Another solo flyer with 10k to go was caught, but the solo counter at 2k out won it. Cat 5, a guy in his second race ever put 1:30 on the field and soloed for the win. Cat3 had too many solo attacks to count. One stuck with a bridge group of 8, then 7, then 6. An attack on the 1k finish hill won it. I did the last lap of the pros which was blown to smithereens. A group of three took it followed by two chase groups and what was left of the field.

Hubcyclist, check your number in your side view mirror before staging. We like them right side up. Nice to see you TKP, Mikey, and grolby.

grolby

Good to see you, too! Not the race I was hoping for but it was still a fun one - hard, fast, aggressive racing.

TheKillerPenguin

Also Purgatory.

Meh. Lived up to its spiritual namesake, so there's that.

Good to see all the BFers milling about.

mike868y

Purgatory was fun. Great to see everyone and the course always delivers great racing.

TheKillerPenguin

Oh yeah, the course and race were awesome no question.

Also for its quality I'm amazed at how inexpensive it was. Rare to find a road race that cheap nowadays it seems, I hope they're breaking even.

mike868y

I thought that as well when I reg'd. No idea how they're doing. I would happily pay $60 for that race.

globecanvas

owwwwww

Ygduf

shovelhd

GLV is a big club with great sponsorship. All of the officials vehicles were Zipcar BMW X-drive SUV things that made all sorts of nagging noises. Better than some claptrap volunteer car though. We hit over 50 on the descent in the pros and they were barely 50 meters back.

hubcyclist

Great seeing shovel, mikey and grolby, sorry I didn't see/meet some other local folks. Once again off the back for me, but again a good race for me. I rode within my abilities which resulted in gaining several spots along the way (but came agonizingly close to gaining three more spots right at the end, but couldn't best the guys on that last climb). Shovel, you mentioned that Cat5 winner, I looked at his strava and his NP was like 344w, whereas mine was 246w. That's just nuts.

And yes, I apparently pinned on my number wrong, I didn't really have any clue there was a proper placement! I also was a total fred and was wearing my rolled down tube socks, I forgot to change them whilst rushing around in the morning. D'oh!