Tag: photo

Capreo Cassette Modification

Two years ago when I ordered my Bike Friday Pocket Rocket, I opted to go with the Shimano Capreo cassette/rear hub combination. This system is specially designed for small wheeled bikes (the Pocket Rocket has 20″ wheels). Normal cassettes need to have at least 11 teeth. Since the Capreo system has a smaller spindle (at the end) it can go down to 9 teeth. This allows higher gear ratios on small wheeled bikes without using bigger chainrings.

The 9-speed Capreo cassette only comes in one configuration: 9-10-11-13-15-17-20-23-26 teeth. This is a fairly wide range of gears with 119.4″ at the high end and 30.4″ at the low end.

This is a great general purpose range of gears that will work for everything from ascending a mountain to descending a mountain. Unfortunately, I live nowhere near any mountains. Champaign County Illinois is the flattest place on earth. So I don’t need all the low gears, but I would like to have a set of gears which are closer together so there’s not a very big jump when I change gears.

The thing about the Capreo cassette is that the smallest four cogs are a non-standard size and they all fit together in a special way. The hub spindle is too small for cogs from any other cassette to work. So the 9-10-11-13 tooth cogs are essentially fixed. The largest five cogs are all standard sized, so I could replace all those with different sized cogs.

The first challenge is removing the Capreo cassette. Since it is a non-standard size a standard cassette removal tool won’t work. Shimano makes a custom tool, which I purchased a while back (from England, since none were available in the U.S. at the time), though I haven’t used yet. I whipped out the tool, positioned it on the cassette, and the instant I turned (before applying any real force) the brand new metal tool snapped.

Capreo cassette tools

Sigh. So now I have to replace that tool. On the bright side I happen to live four doors down from a friend who also owns a Bike Friday with a Capreo cassette. Gary was nice enough to let me borrow his (also unused) tool despite the very real chance I might break it as well. I eased into it and the tool didn’t break, but it did take quite a lot of force to remove the cassette. The Capreo cassette’s lock ring has large grooves which must be turned against each other to remove the cassette.

Capreo cassette lock ring

With the cassette off I was able to scavenge cogs from two other 9-speed cassettes (now that I’ve upgraded my road & TT bikes to 10-speed drivetrains) to produce a mutant hybrid cassette much better suited to the flat lands of central Illinois. I ended up with 9-10-11-13-14-15-16-17-19 tooth cogs. This cut the percent differences between gears roughly in half. I really wish I could get a 12 tooth cog in there because the 11-13 change is still 18.2% apart! Alas, the 13 is fixed for the Capreo cassette.

Old gears New gears
Standard Capreo cassette
Modified Capreo cassette

53 35.9 % 39
9 119.4 87.9
11.1 %
10 107.5 79.1
10.0 %
11 97.7 71.9
18.2 %
13 82.7 60.8
15.4 %
15 71.7 52.7
13.3 %
17 63.2 46.5
17.6 %
20 53.7 39.5
15.0 %
23 46.7 34.4
13.0 %
26 41.3 30.4

53 35.9 % 39
9 119.4 87.9
11.1 %
10 107.5 79.1
10.0 %
11 97.7 71.9
18.2 %
13 82.7 60.8
7.7 %
14 76.8 56.5
7.1 %
15 71.7 52.7
6.7 %
16 67.2 49.4
6.3 %
17 63.2 46.5
11.8 %
19 56.6 41.6

Gear inch tables generated by the late Sheldon Brown’s gear calculator

I tested out the new gears yesterday pulling Fig in his trailer. Even dragging the trailer/parachute into 25mph gusting headwinds the low gears were perfectly adequate.

Freedom Day

I ran the Freedom 5K this morning at 11am. It was 90˚ and sunny, very undesirable conditions for a short, fast, violent effort. On top of that my legs weren’t moving quite right after 75 miles of cycling yesterday. Yeah, that was a bad idea.

Are we having fun yet?

For some reason this race has way more competition than all the other local 5K races. All the area high school runners show up, which is not typical. This means about 20 runners will finish under 18:00, whereas a typical local race will have 2-5 runners that fast. Of course, the race started super fast. I was well off the leaders’ pace and I still passed the 1-mile mark in 5:32. Ugh, too fast.

Heat

It was blazingly hot and I started to fade. My second mile was slower, and my third mile was even slower. I finished around 20th place or so. The clock read 17:55, though my watch read 18:09, a substantially larger discrepancy than usual. Other runners mentioned the same thing. I wonder what the official time will be… The race went okay, considering the horrible weather.

After the race I quickly changed gears and got the family ready to ride Big Red in the parade. Each year the Champaign County Bikes advocacy group invites members to ride in the parade. We’ve done this a few times before. This would be Will‘s first parade.

Trailer

Ready for the parade

Pre-parade

Two sweaty guys

Again, it was blazingly hot. We stood around in the staging area for a little before finding a tree to rest under for a few minutes. Just minutes before we were to start the parade the rain began to pour. Everyone else ran for cover, but I relished the welcome relief from the heat. I was soaking wet and it was the best I had felt all day. The rain slowed to a drizzle as we began on wet streets. A few blocks into the parade it stopped. By the end the roads were dry.

Parade start

Parade start

CCB

Champaign County Bikes in the parade

On the back of the tandem

Melissa’s view never changes

Gary rides the “Jazz-cycle”

Parade Ragfields

Team Ragfield in parade mode

Finally, after the parade Will took his first swim in his new pool.

Swimming

Good times were had by all. We’re not watching fireworks right now. The boy’s asleep and we’re exhausted, so that’s probably a good thing.

June 2010 Stats

Photo of the Day

June 2010

Running

Transportation

Hmm. I must have done something wrong here. First it was a week in California with no running. Then I sort of injured my foot slightly and it took about two more weeks before I could run again. The good news is I’m running again. The less good news is that this is the worst time of year to be running. I’ll probably stick to running once or twice per week to maintain my fitness until it cools down in the fall. It’s cycling season anyway.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
Total 429.17 Mile 47 9.13128 Mile

Cycling

Marin

I did a fair amount of cycling in California, which was great. I also did the Illinois State championship road race (O’Fallon) and criterium (Peoria). I had not results worth mentioning, but I was happy with my performance in both races.

June 2010 Cycling by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 31.6 Mile 7 4.51429 Mile
Big Red 12. Mile 3 4. Mile
Lynskey 15.95 Mile 1 15.95 Mile
Pocket Rocket 113.62 Mile 5 22.724 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 274.8 Mile 6 45.8 Mile
Total 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile

January-June 2010 Cycling by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 260.6 Mile 38 6.85789 Mile
Big Red 49.4 Mile 8 6.175 Mile
El Fuego 40.9 Mile 11 3.71818 Mile
Lynskey 31.8 Mile 2 15.9 Mile
Pocket Rocket 214.74 Mile 9 23.86 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 1439.97 Mile 42 34.285 Mile
Total 2037.41 Mile 110 18.5219 Mile

2010 Cycling by month

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
Total 1948.59 Mile 105 18.558 Mile

Walking

We did a lot of walking in San Francisco, which helped bring my Moon Walk total up to 500 “miles” (also includes miles converted from running & cycling). Hey, the Buffalo finished first again this year, and I didn’t have the lowest total on the team :)

Two sweaty guys hiking the Coastal Trail

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
Total 272.11 Mile 76 3.58039 Mile

The many hills of San Francisco

Last week the whole family was out in San Francisco while I attended Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). This was my ninth WWDC (two in San Jose and seven in San Francisco), missing out only in 2006 when Apple held the conference in August (for some reason) the week after we moved to Nicaragua.

The conference was good, even if the ridiculously growing size does get a little more frustrating each year. The technical sessions are all covered by non-disclosure agreements, so I won’t discuss any of them (as if you cared).

The keynote (which some of you may remember I participated in back in 2005) was also good. Unfortunately, due to the size of the conference I keep showing up earlier and earlier to get in line for the keynote and I keep ending up farther and farther back in line. I showed up a little over three hours early this year. The line was nearly one mile long, and I barely squeaked into some of the back rows of the conference room filled with over 5,000 people. The new iPhone looks pretty awesome. In fact, William just bought me one for Father’s Day. Wasn’t that nice?

Will in the big city

While we were there I purposely didn’t adjust to the different time zone so I would continue wake up early to go for a ride on the Pocket Rocket each morning before the conference. The first morning I tackled Twin Peaks, which, at over 800 feet above sea level, is one of the highest points in the city. Shortly after the climb begins it kicks straight up to 17%, which was a tough first hill for someone who lives in Illinois. It stays steep for a good long three city blocks before leveling out to a more reasonable 11-12%. Of course, it was super foggy that particular morning, so I couldn’t see anything at the top. If I could have seen anything it would have looked like this (photo from last year).

Market Street

Anyway, I had to hurry straight back in order to stand in a really long line for hours. It was just eight miles with a total of 850 feet of climbing entirely in the third and fourth miles.

The next day I rode up one of the steepest hills I’ve found in the city (Kearny between Broadway and Vallejo, the road is closed to traffic). It’s somewhere in the ballpark of 25-30%. I had to lean really far forward to keep from tumbling over backward. Yes, that steep… but only for a block. After that was Telegraph Hill up to Coit Tower. This climb was used in the prologue of the Tour of California the first few years of the race.

Financial district

But that was just the first few miles. I followed the bay shoreline to the Golden Gate Bridge and rode across to the Marin Headlands. I intended to climb Hawk Hill, but the road was closed half way up so I took a detour to somewhere I’d never been before, which was amazing.

Marin

Marin

Beach

Tuesday’s ride had 2200 feet of climbing in 26 miles.

Wednesday I took a break because I felt a little twinge in my calf after Tuesday’s ride and I didn’t want to risk making it worse. Fortunately the twinge only lasted a day and by Thursday morning I was back at it. I hit Twin Peaks again, this time better prepared for the steepness. Instead of turning around there I continued on through Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, past the Cliff House, the Legion of Honor, the Presidio (along the bike course for the Alcatraz Triathlon I did in 2003), across the bridge to the Marin headlands, and partway up Hawk Hill before turning around and heading home. Just for kicks I rode up Russian Hill and Nob Hill on the way back through town. Russian Hill on Hyde street is 23% for a few city blocks–too steep to sit, too steep to stop (you wouldn’t be able to start back up).

City

Grade

Thursday’s ride was 2800 feet of climbing in 27 miles.

Friday I tackled Mt. Tamalpais for the Nth time. Last year I rode Mt. Diablo instead, so I was happy to be back on familiar ground. After cool weather all week it was super hot on Friday. This made the mountain that much more difficult. I doubt I made my fastest ascent of the mountain that day, but I steadily knocked out each of the 10 miles from bottom to top.

Mt. Tam may not be as high as Mt. Diablo, but it sure is a lot more scenic, offering a lot more wooded areas, as well as ocean views.

Mt Tam

Mt Tam

Mt Tam

Mt Tam view

Mt Tam view

San Francisco from the top of Mt. Tam

Bridge and Mt Tam

Here’s the opposite view: Mt. Tam from San Francisco

Friday’s ride was 4114 feet of climbing (2500 on Mt. Tam) in 50 miles.

Saturday I skipped a ride in favor of lots of walking and hiking with the family. Here’s William and me hiking the coastal trail, which was part of the run course for the Alcatraz Triathlon I did in 2003.

Two sweaty guys hiking the Coastal Trail

We all had a great trip. Check out William’s blog for lots more family photos.

The O’Fallon Grand Prix No-Drop Group Ride

“Enough of this Sunday stroll. Let’s hurt a little.”

-Barry The Cannibal Muzzin (American Flyers)

Saturday was the Illinois state championship cycling road race. A decent group of riders from my Wild Card Cycling team headed down to O’Fallon for the race. The hot weather and rolling hills should have provided a very challenging race. I wanted to do what I could to help my teammates out before dropping off the pace by the end.

We had five Wild Cards from Champaign in the cat 4 race (Jason, Tom, Luke, Scott, and me), along with one Wild Card from St. Louis (Mike). The races started a bit late, at which point the weather was already becoming a bit unbearable. The temperature was in the low 90’s and the humidity was high. Fortunately the skies were still overcast at this point, though the sun would come out later.

Mark & Nick

Mark and Nick rode the cat 3 race

I made a point to start near the front, after starting too far back in my last three races. The speed was moderately easy the first part of the race. Nobody pushed the pace, nobody broke away. The course had an awful lot of turns (I’m not sure there was more than one mile straight the entire 22.5 mile loop), which caused some accordion effect at the back of the group. Later in the first loop a few people tried to push the pace (mostly my teammate Luke) but nothing stuck. At one point I almost shouted out “Enough of this Sunday stroll. Let’s hurt a little.” but I didn’t think anyone would get the American Flyers reference.

Scott put in a pretty good attack at the start of the second and final loop. I thought this would finally heat up the race, but it was not to be. The other teams chased him down and sat on his wheel the same as they had been doing to Luke the whole race. Scott and Luke alternated near the front trying to push the pace, but nobody else and any interest in working… but they also had no interest in letting Luke or Scott go.

Scott & Luke

Luke and Scott both spent a lot of time at the front when nobody wanted to work with them

Mid-way through the second lap Jason got a flat tire. He was probably our best chance for a win. The hills hadn’t made as much of a difference in the race as I had hoped. First, they were all big ring climbs, not steep enough or long enough. Second, with narrow roads and slow riders in front, we climbed… the… hills… so… slow… and then slowed down even more once we reached the top. I don’t think anyone dropped off the back.

At one point I passed a few guys on the right and, without trying, somehow ended up off the front of the slow-moving group. Whatever. Let’s push the pace a little. I ramped it up to 25-26 mph and pulled for a mile or so to try to string the group out a little. I flicked my elbow for the next guy to pull through. Nothing. I pulled a little longer. Nothing. I slowed down. They slowed down with me. I slowed down more. They slowed down more. I stopped pedaling. Nobody passed me. By the time I was coasting at 16 mph someone eventually reluctantly passed me and I dropped back in a few places.

Art

Art and Shea (not pictured) rode the cat 5 race

The last 10 miles of the race were 10 of the most frustrating miles I’ve ever ridden. We were going 16-17 mph. The whole group was still together. The group was all bunched up and nobody had any room to move up. I don’t know who the hell was blocking the entire race or what the hell they were thinking, but I was pissed. 2000 meters to go, 18 mph. 1000 meters to go, under 20 mph. The last hill should have split the group, but again we took it incredibly slowly. I had no room to move. I had to stop pedaling several times to avoid running into slower riders.

800 meters from the finish line the race started. This final stretch was closed to traffic and the road was five lanes wide. 40 relatively fresh riders now decided to sprint to the finish. It was pandemonium. People were weaving all over the place. 500 meters from the finish I sat up and soft pedaled. I had no interest in dying for some shitty race.

We waited three hours (for a chip-timed bike race!) for the results to be posted, only to find out Luke & Tom (and about 10 other people) had been disqualified for crossing over the centerline of the road at some point during the race. Now, I’m sure they did cross over the center line. I certainly did a few times. Everyone in the race did a few times. The DQed riders can’t really complain that they didn’t break the rules, they did. I’m completely baffled at how a dozen riders were DQed and the many, may others who broke the same rule weren’t DQed.

So, the good news is I had a decent training ride and got a chance to improve my group riding skills. I handled the heat surprisingly well. The hills were a non-issue despite no hill training. The bad news is that the race was frustratingly slow. I got caught in the middle of a 40 person bunch sprint, which was scary as hell. Jason got a flat. Luke & Tom got DQed. I’m not upset that I didn’t win–I should have had no chance to win. I was far from the best rider in that race. I shouldn’t even have finished with the lead pack. The race should have been a lot harder. More riders should have been dropped. That wasn’t really even a race. It was more of a group ride that ended with a sprint finish.

May 2010 Stats

Photo of the Day

Still going.

Running

Easy go

After the Illinois Marathon at the beginning of the month I took a week off, then I took another week very easy. Half way through the month I picked up my training again and I feel that I am getting back into shape pretty well. I had a decent run at my first Buffalo Trace trail race. Then I ran pretty well at the Memorial Day 5K at the end of the month. Of the seven times I ran in May, three were races.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
Total 411.19 Mile 44 9.34523 Mile

Cycling

Rob

Cycling also took a bit of a back seat while I recovered from the marathon. Since then I’ve stepped up the quantity and quality of training and I definitely feel like I’m starting to get into decent shape on the back after a very slow start to the season. I did the two local criteriums, as well as a practice time trial on my new bike… all with slightly disappointing results. But I’m getting there.

May 2010 by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 52.6 Mile 9 5.84444 Mile
Big Red 14.5 Mile 2 7.25 Mile
Lynskey 15.85 Mile 1 15.85 Mile
Pocket Rocket 69.85 Mile 2 34.925 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 213.09 Mile 6 35.515 Mile
Total 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile

January – May 2010 by bike

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 225.4 Mile 30 7.51333 Mile
Big Red 14.5 Mile 2 7.25 Mile
El Fuego 40.9 Mile 11 3.71818 Mile
Lynskey 15.85 Mile 1 15.85 Mile
Pocket Rocket 101.12 Mile 4 25.28 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 1102.85 Mile 35 31.51 Mile
Total 1500.62 Mile 83 18.0798 Mile

Cycling 2010 by month

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
Total 1500.62 Mile 83 18.0798 Mile

Walking

euphemism

I think all the walking really helped me recover from the marathon. Probably half of this was to and from work. The other half was pushing Will around town in the stroller.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
Total 207.91 Mile 60 3.46517 Mile

Danville Memorial Day 5K

Pondering

I ran my 3rd Danville Memorial Day 5K this morning. The race went well for me despite the hot and humid weather. I think I’m finally starting to acclimatize. Melissa was kind enough to let me borrow her girly watch when I discovered I’d left mine at home. I recorded my mile splits, but I tried something different (for me) by not actually looking at them and instead running solely on how I feel. It worked reasonably well.

#1 fan

My #1 fan

The pack started fast and I dropped into 12th place or so after ¼ mile. I moved up to 9th by ½ mile. I moved up to 4th by 1 mile. My split was 5:33, a bit fast. The 2nd mile was mostly into a headwind and I really worked hard to maintain my pace.

Easy come

Whoa, we’re half way there

Easy go

Whoa, living on a prayer

Spectators

Grandma Barb keeps an eye out for Will’s daddy

My next split was 5:55, a bit closer to what I expected. Amazingly, I still felt good at this point. That never happens. I continued to push the pace into the 3rd mile, but just a short distance later we hit a long wide open section with no shade and I absolutely baked in the sun.

Home stretch

The heat hurt me more the last mile than the running did. My 3rd mile split was also 5:55. One runner passed me around the 3 mile mark. I finished in 17:56 (I think, the results seem to be a bit off at the moment), 5th overall, 1st in my age group… identical results to last year.

This expression sums it up pretty well

This sums it up pretty well

Angelic

Will was enthralled

Award

It was a good race. Many thanks to Melissa, Will, and my parents for coming out to cheer me on. Also, thanks to my dad for taking the race photos.

TT

I have an old time trial bike, but it’s showing it’s age… and more importantly it uses a non-standard (650c) wheel size. I wanted to get a nice(r) set of wheels for both road races and time trials/triathlons so last October (on my birthday) I purchased a new frame, planning to build the bike up over the winter. Winter came and went. Spring came and went. I finally got around to ordering the parts last week. I wanted to do my first Seymour TT of the year on Tuesday of this week, so Monday night I spent five hours assembling the bike. I was missing a few parts, so I had to scavenge some from two other bikes… but I made it work.

Stealth

16 pounds of titanium, carbon, & aluminum

The time trial was my first actual ride on the bike, which may not have been the best idea. I did figure out pretty quickly what adjustments I still need to make. My time was actually the slowest I’ve done for the course by a couple seconds. I haven’t done this time trial in nearly two years. Last year I was injured and I’ve trained very little on the bike since Will was born. I’m rapidly gaining fitness on the bike at the moment, so I think by the end of the summer I’ll have a new best time.

Bib

Urbana Grand Prix

Starting line

The weekend of racing concluded on Sunday with the Urbana Grand Prix, another criterium, this time in downtown Urbana. The course was shorter than Saturday’s course and it was actually modified at the last minute to include a 180˚ turn (the course was shaped like the letter “b”). This would be tricky to navigate.

Frenchy in the 180˚

Mark rounds the 180˚ turn in the cat 3 race

Slow motion video of 180˚ turn in cat 3 race

Another situation to deal with was the heat. It was unseasonably hot at 80˚ on Saturday, while on Sunday it was even hotter at 90˚. With two hard races in my legs the day before, this race had disaster written all over it.

Chad

Chad

Alexei & Luke

Alexei & Luke

Fortunately, I had a few things in my favor. Despite the previous day’s efforts I felt somewhat fresh. Also, Sunday’s race was cat 4 instead of cat 3-4 like the previous day. I would not be up against many of the fastest riders from yesterday’s race. Also the field was smaller, so it wouldn’t be quite so crowded in the corners.

Despite my best effort to start a little farther up the field I ended up about 3/4 of the way back at the first turn and I gradually drifted backward from there. I wasn’t off the back yet, but I was dangling there pretty quickly. The first four turns each loop went fairly well, but the 180˚ was a killer. The group accelerated really hard out of that turn, and at the back this effort was even further exaggerated for me. I would slip off the back, chase for 2/3 lap, catch back on just before the 180˚, the slip of the back again.

I wasted a lot of energy this way, but I hadn’t completely popped yet. A dozen or so short laps into the race a guy crashed in front of me in the 180˚, forcing me to swing wide and nearly come to a stop. At that point I had no chance of catching back up, but I hammered on. I chased solo for a few laps, then I started working with another rider, then another. We would catch up to another dropped rider around the time someone from my group would slip off the back. I spent the rest of the race in a pack of 2-5 riders. I think I was taking longer pulls than the others, but I didn’t really mind. At that point I was in it for the workout and the race experience. I wasn’t going to finish high up in the standings.

Rob

Rob chasing alone

Rob & Erik

Rob chasing with Erik

Chase pack

Chase group. It’s kind of funny how my face never changes.

Before too long we got lapped by the field. Not too long after that we got lapped a second time by the lead breakaway of two riders, including my teammate Jason (2nd in the cat 4-5 race the previous day). He looked very strong. He pulled away from the other guy and went off on his own. It was the last lap before the rest of the field lapped us the second time, apparently the other Wild Card riders did a good job at disrupting the chase, bettering Jason’s chance of staying away. He won by a sizable margin. Three other Wild Card’s finished 4, 6, & 7. I ended up 21. Of the 10 or so criteriums I’ve raced, I only managed to finish with the lead group once. This type of racing does not suit me… but I feel a lot better about it now than I did one week ago.

Razzle Dazzle

Jason finished 1st in the cat 4 race

Later in the day was the cat 3 race, featuring Wild Cards Mark & Nick. Both were active in breakaways early on, but eventually fell off the pace and both dropped out.

Frenchy working hard

Mark

Nick out of the 180˚

Nick

Hot day

The heat was brutal

The cat 3 race had a photo finish, which I captured with the high speed camera. I guess this wasn’t a great angle because I still can’t tell who won. The judges awarded the victory to the rider nearest to my camera (in the orange).

Thanks to Melissa for the photos of the cat 4 race.

Tour de Champaign

Following the Buffalo Trace trail race on Saturday morning I took Will for a three mile walk in the hot sun (hot for me, he was covered) to get a smoothie and some lunch. The smoothie really hit the spot. After we got back home I packed up my camera gear and headed over to the Tour de Champaign, the first of two days of bicycle racing in town last weekend. I had already pre-registered for the Sunday race. I didn’t plan to race on Saturday because of my running race that morning. Plans change.

Wild Card

After getting there and watching my friends in the cat 4-5 race I just had to do it. I borrowed some money, registered for the later cat 3-4 race, rode home on my commuter bike, changed clothes, swapped the wheels on my race bike (which also involved swapping the cassette and brake pads), rode back to the race, pinned on my race number (thanks Karl), handed my wallet and phone to Melissa (who had since walked over to the race), and went straight to the starting line with just a few moments to spare. It was hectic–probably not the best way to prepare for a race… particularly my second race of the day… in this heat… with this many good riders (I’m a cat 4, but this was my first race against cat 3 riders)… after walking three miles… I’m getting good at making excuses.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a stellar performance. I stayed with the main pack for a few laps, but the brutal accelerations wreaked havoc on my tired legs. I popped off the back and began chasing. Eventually I started working with my teammate Scott who was in the same position. Frankly this was probably better for us as we both have a lot more experience with time trial racing than with criterium racing. We worked hard together, though Scott was a little stronger than I was. After 20 minutes or so the main pack lapped us, at which point we stopped. It was too hot and I was too exhausted to keep racing that far behind.

DNF

It was fun anyway, and good preparation for Sunday’s race. I haven’t raced a criterium in almost two years. I was definitely not accustomed to the fast cornering in the pack and the accelerations out of every corner. So, if nothing else, it was good practice.

Chase

Alexei in a breakaway in the cat 4-5 race

Art

Art in the cat 4-5 race

Shea

Shea in the cat 4-5 race

Luke

Luke finished 3rd in the cat 4-5 race

Jonathan

Jonathan (Olympic silver medalist speed skater!) in the cat 4-5 race

Jason catches back on after wheel change

Jason finished 2nd in the cat 4-5 race