Thursday night EXPO Time trail series

Well three weeks ago I did my first ever TT . I don't have a fancy TT bike nor do I think I will ever buy one but I'm out doing my thing.

The cool thing about TT's are it's only you . You race against the clock.

My first week ( I'm told we had a tail wind ) -> time 15:47

Week 2 calm -> time 16:07

Week three ( last night ) Headwind -> 16:56

What I'm not getting better each week ????

This is still hard but different . More on these after I do some more ..

Bla Bla bla bla bla

The East Hartford Crits started . Well sort of -> Week one rained out -> Week 2 we raced week 3 rained out.

As far as week 2 I wanted to go off the front and see how my legs would feel this night but our team was in a break away so I couldn't go play. So round & round we went, till late in the race and the break was way out front so I said screw it and took off on one of my test your legs & blow up flyers.

I went off the front getting yelled at from a team mate but till later did not know what the yelling was about. Hell I can't go the pace the fast guys go I just want to test myself. This is a training crit. But some folks take this stuff way serious. Any how I went off the front and then faded back happy I got to do my thing.

After the race I was scolded for my actions - Again opps - But I want to play too.

nuff on that

Take the time to read this

If you have 5 minutes, take the time and read up.

http://fakeplasticfish.com/2010/05/brand-new-plastic-free-vegetarian/

Blue hills road race MAY 2/2010

Bla bla Bla I had a bad day.........

Quabbin 62.5 mile Road Race Sunday 4/25/2010

Results :

Cat 3 winner 2:41

Cat 4 winner 2:43

Cat 5 winner 2:54

35+ winner 2:40

45+ winner 2:38

55+ winner 2:53

My class was 55+ - Last year I did not do as good as I wanted + got 21st, with a time of 3:13.

This year I had a bad day and got 31st with my time @ 3:26. Not one bit happy as I trained special for this race, and my main goal was to do better this year. Oh well with bike racing you just have bad days where the body / legs just are tired. I did what I thought was a good taper week with a few days off and two easy rides Thursday & Sat. but it did not work.

I will just change up my training and see what happens for my next road race. I’m going to miss Sterling 5/8 & Lake Sunapee 5/22 with family commitments. So it looks like my next road race is June 26 three village that will give me some time to adjust things.

I will start the EH Crit series & I may try another mtn Bike race late June. Time will tell on that.

Back to the drawing board.

Race reports : April 3 - April 10 & 11 - April 18

Race reports: April 3 - April 10 & 11 - April 18

I have been so busy with yard work, racing, training & real work, to keep up with my race reports.

So I will do my best to try and remember some of the high points of the last 4 weekends and 6 different races.

April 3

I went to Plainville to see if I could help teammate Steven Youmatz with holding on to his series lead in the 39+ Cat 4-5 class. He had told several of us at a ride or team meeting he was going to miss the last two races and could use some help to maybe take some points away from the competition to help him save his series lead in his April 3 race & if anyone could race April 10 + 17 to try keep some points away from the competition.

I did the CAT-4 race as a warm up with full plans to jump out 5 laps before the end and stretch out my back and get ready for the main event. The 3-4 race was fast it was my first time ever racing with CAT 3’s so I was a little gun shy. The race started out OK it was a little fast but Plainville is flat so I was able to hang on and was having a lot of fun. About ½ way into the race I started to get tired so I just let the pack go and soft pedaled for 2-3 laps. When the group came past I jumped back on for about 10 laps then just pulled out like I planned. This was so many weeks ago I can’t remember many details.

Ok so on to the main event Cat 4-5 39+

I just don’t remember what happened ……….


April 10 - Cat 4-5 39+

I went to Plainville on April 11 with full intentions to bury myself and do whatever I could to get some points to help teammate Steven Youmatz keep his series lead. At the start of the race the guy in 3rd in the series, Jim the promoter & some other guy took of in a break away right at the start. I was like I should jump with these guys but I didn't I was saying we will pull them back no big deal. As the laps went off no one wanted to work, nothing was organized at all so I went to the front and buried myself for a few laps. Nothing happened, so I floated to the back and recovered for 3-4 laps. I did this Again & Again - 5 times total and could not get anyone to work and try to bring the break back. Finally near the end of the race the 3 guys lapped the field so we were all racing for 4th at this point. I was like OK I will just do what ever to get 4th. I think the W/H guys and some of the other guys knew what I was up to because when I would float up front & try to get a wheel these guys we blocking me so bad. I never had issues getting back in the group. Not this day things were different with 3 laps to go I think I fought for two laps out in the wind. I was finally on a wheel on the last lap and up front where I wanted to be the three guys who lapped the field were sticking out front so I just worked as hard as I could to get behind them. But I burned so many matches sitting out in the wind for close to two laps I was worried what I had left. On the final corner I was in 4th - 5th wheel where I wanted to be but two of the W/H guys I had been fighting for a wheel got past me in the last corner as I'm sprinting towards the finish line John K gets past me. He got 6th & I got 7th. . Not sure what this did to help Steve Y but that's my story . I never worked so hard in a race but I learned I had some reserves I did not know I ever had.


April 11 - Betel – Masters 45+ & Cat 3-4


Ok so my new plan for this weekend was to race my normal Masters 45+ class in Betel then help out Team Mate Aki in the 3-4 Class again. So off the Masters class goes. It seemed real fast this week not good as I was also doing the next race with no rest time. Ok maybe I will bail out with 5 to go like I did in Plainville two weeks ago. The race goes on and I’m having a lot of fun I was not out front with the real fast strong guys but I was having a blast. SO I decided to do the full race and not pull out.

Pis from Chris Adams BLOG ( SOC )

The race starts and on lap 3 or 4 of 30 I had a mechanical I was not sure if it was a bump going up the hill but all of a sudden my chain kept falling off to my small ring. So I soft pedaled around a lap kicking my front derailleur. Finally I got off the bike and kicked & bent, took off and it was still not working correct. I worked on it one more time and then attempted to get back on the train. No way - my tired worn out legs from the previous race were cooked. After working for two laps fixing the bike my legs just turned to LEAD & I could not ride. I was done I pulled over at the start finish line and just watched the race. Oh well next week I will have a different plan only one race.


April 18 - Betel –Cat 3-4

Add team Pic Again from SOC BLOG ( Chris Adams)


This was the last race of the series and Aki had to win or beat the series leader by a few places so we had a big group of 9 guys to work and chase down all the breaks. I did my best to hang on and did not help at all two laps from the end I was cooked and fell off the back. AKi got 2nd ans won the series so good stuff for sure.

2010 Bethel CDP Gold Race – Sunday March 28 2010

Bethel CDP Gold Race – Sunday March 28 2010





CAT 3-4 race

The boys in the BAND ( Team Expo - Superior Energy / Manchester cycle)

This was my third week racing the Bethel Crit series and for my first time ever I was racing the CAT 3-4 class. This is no big deal for all the guys who do this race but for me I was a bit nervous to say the least. I had never intended on doing this race content with the Masters 45+ class with some safer older guys and me a relative new racer. I started racing in the fall of 2008 with two races and maybe 20 -25 races last year mostly training crits. I have more fun doing these races and will continue to focus on what’s fun for me. After reading one of my teammates ( SOC’s ) Blog last week - living the race as I read I decided I was going to join teammates supporting team Expo in the CAT 3-4 race.

To all the riders in this race it was no big deal they have all done this before so I line up near the front and off we go. The pace was not blistering as I assumed it was going to be and I ended up on the right side maybe ½ way into a pack of 60 ish guys & a few gals. I moved around a bit and then got on the right side for a few laps I was feeling good I only did 50 easy miles sat vs. the 70 harder miles I did the week before so in my square head I was going to be ok. One other thing I didn’t know about or plan for was this race was 30 laps vs. the 23 I had been doing. So those extra laps had me a bit concerned during the early part of the race.

When the group would slow up on the hill I would just ease off save my legs and keep rolling along testing what I was made of. Once during the race I ended up way up front and not wanting to take any hard pulls or needing to do any help at that time I eased back to the middle of the pack.

I was having a lot of fun my nervousness was way down, and I started thinking ok where is my teammate Aki. I moved up a few times so I could ride near him and pretend I was a real racer helping out my teammate like we watch on TV during the Tour de France. I was having the time of my life (OLD FART racing with a bunch of young guys) and I was still staying with the bunch and not my normal self…. You know off the back !!!

I need to find the WEB site for the photographer guy on the scooter as I think he got some pic’s of me when I was on the outside for quite a few laps.

OK back to the race – the race went along and I was feeling real good, I guess my training so far this winter + into race season is working this year. Several more laps then were getting to the point where the 45+ race ends 23 laps and I still have legs Cool. This is getting even better and it’s not a total suffer fest ( YET ) . A few more laps and I’m getting a bit tired then the pace ramps way up and I’m hanging on by a thread for a lap or so. As we go up the hill one more time I hear the bell ringing ( this tells us one lap to go). Wow that’s it last lap I look back to see how far from the end of the group I have slipped to and I am the end of the group. Damm and my legs are TOAST – Gotta keep with the group only one more lap. Well after the race talking with Jeff M from the ( IRS Medic team), I found out why all of a sudden I was not able to hang on. Jeff said the guys up front were drilling it hard and I popped . I still had ½ a LAP to go but the GAS tank was DRY. I was still very happy I raced with 7 team mates, I did my TINY part to help mostly just showing up , but it was a great day and I will race this class 4/11 & 4/18 the last two races in the series for sure.