Commitment

I can't believe it's been 9 months since I've been here. My, my, my, time flies. OK, this year, from here on out, I promise to faithfully discharge my duty to chronicle all that is sports related. If there's time, I might even get off topic and talk a little life; who knows, maybe some theater or film. We will definitely be talking some hoops this year. Nate Robinson of the Knicks is this year's big surprise. I have never been so wrong about a player. I'm not a fan of Stephon Marbury, but he's getting a raw deal. More on that in future posts.

So after such a long hiatus, where do I begin? Ah, maybe I should share the reasons for my sudden disappearance from the blog scene. Well, one minute I'm doing 48mph down the side of hill at Harriman State Park (on my bike that is), hanging on for dear life, and the next minute, the stork drops this little guy off at my LBS (my son) and I'm knee deep in pampers and cloaked in the aura of fatherhood. So much for blogging for awhile.

Which brings me to the topic "du jour," Commitment. Yes, the big "C" word, often bandied about on the http://www.nyvelocity.com/ website. Every year, it seems as though one of the discussion topics on the site is whether one can be committed, in this case to the sport of cycling, if one doesn't spend all of his or her waking hours perfecting his or her pedal stroke. In other words, can a person with a family and a demanding career every truly be committed to being a winning bike racer?

Now after having been a father for eight months, having a fairly demanding job and trying to maintain that ever elusive thing called "balance," I think I am now qualified to answer. And I would say the answer is "maybe, but probably not." I mean, look, I think one can make a pretty compelling argument that there are degrees of commitment and that you must take a person's personal circumstances into the consideration when deciding whether he or she is committed. But for bike racers, local bike racers in particular, where only one thing matters, the result, no one really cares that you had to work late, take your spouse to dinner or the kids to a soccer game. With every one of those decisions, you give up valuable hours of training! That's not to say that one can't be good or even win races without training, but we're talking about commitment here.

An athlete that is truly committed to his or her sport will do everything to be better, including sacrifice time with friends and family. I've been on the scene now for a couple of seasons and I come from a basketball background, and I have seen some folks really give of themselves to be better athletes, and I am truly impressed by that. I mean, all I could think about after downing my third slice of pizza on Saturday night was damn, in a few weeks, I'll be racing against some guy who hasn't had a slice of pizza in 5 years... and then I went back into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine. LOL

The moral to the story is that there is no moral. There's no right or wrong answer, you should do what suits you. Ride 9W seven days a week, 5 hours a day until you drop, or ride once a week at 11pm on a Wednesday night after you've cooked a 3 course meal for your spouse and read your kids their favorite bedtime story. But whatever you do, just keep riding.

Bear Mountain and Other True Stories

It's been awhile since my last update, but in the post-Bear Mountain aftermath, I thought it was time to check in. The beginning of the season, April, came and went rather unceremoniously for me. I'm about 8 or 9 races in (including Battenkill and Bear) and results have been less than stellar. I've managed to put together some strong efforts in a couple of local races, but for one reason or the other, have not been able to close the deal. I'm not worried, I think my fitness and mental focus are starting to catch up with my desire to win, so I'm sure I'll get a couple before the season is out. My two main goals for the season are to: (1) get some wins at the Cadence Prospect Park Series, and (2) return to Bear with a top 20(ish) result. Both lofty but achievable goals.

With that said, let's talk a little about the Bear Mountain Spring Classic. Given that this was my first time doing this race, my goal simply to finish strong and in the top half of the field, and for the most part I accomplished that result. While I wasn't in perfect form, I did get plenty of rest and I had been feeling good in the week or two leading up to the race.

The temperature couldn't have been more ideal. It was in the mid-60's and the sun was shining. There was somewhat of a headwind kicking up, but nothing like FBF. I was pretty surprised, everything happened sort of quickly. We lined up - lots of people didn't show (probably those people who really care about Mother's Day), so anyone on the waiting list was in. We started 89 deep, which given the length of the race, really isn't too bad. At the start line, Alex kept saying, make sure you stay at the front going into the climb (a sign of things to come). I kept it in my head, but I also kept thinking, well, I generally have no problems moving up, so I'll be ok no matter where I am, as long as I'm not in the back. Nutrition, check, glasses, check, set the watch, done. Ready to roll, no doubt.

The bell or horn or whistle or gun or whatever (I don't remember) went off and we were rolling. The first 3kms, the initial descent going into Tiorati was neutral, so there was a lot of breaking and burning rubber down that long hill. It was probably harder riding the break down the hill than pushing the big gear at 47mph (that's what I hit on the last time down). Finally, we hit the turn and were into the first climb. It wasn't too bad. My heart rate was higher than I thought it should be, but in a race, you don't worry about that, only staying with the field. Even with my heart pounding, I felt ok mostly. I was thinking, "whatever you do, fight and stay with the field, there will be time to catch your breath later." Once we were through the climb, the pace picked up significantly and I managed to settle in right in the middle of the field next to one of our team's legit climbers, David Trumpf (the "Frenchman"). The pace was fast, and before I knew it, we were back at the start line and as we came through, there were loads of spectators cheering. I can't say I've race a lot - this is my second season of racing - but I've raced enough to know that it's not often that you can race in an environment that is so spectator friendly. It was cool. We had a big NYVelocity cheering section. What's funny is that as I looked into the crowd and made eye contact with Alex - he yelled out, you got to get to the front, or something like that. That one adjustment could've possibly saved me 4 minutes in my overall time. Why? Because I made two big mistakes on the second descent. One, I failed to shift into a lower gear before I hit the bottom and, two, as Alex predicted, if you're not at the front, you'll fall behind some guys that are really struggling on the climb, you'll get gapped and it will be virtually impossible to catch back on. I realized that when you're not a super climber, you have to think your way up a longer climb - meaning you have position yourself in a way to stay withe field, which may require a little strategy. Bottom line is, I had to stay in my big chain ring and climb out of the saddle from the base of the hill until the first crest (about 400meters) - By now my heart rate was climbing fast. I wasn't exactly in the back, but I was no longer safely in the middle of the pack. Because I expended so much extra energy at the beginning of the climb, I was starting to worry, but continued to fight. I was determined to stay with the group, but I was working a lot harder than I would be if I were toward the front with a little cushion. Finally, I manage to get to the top of the climb with the group, but by now I was at my max heart rate and breathing like an old man without his asthma medication, and immediately the pace picks up - I can't rest and enjoy the downhill, I have to keep hammering to stay with the group. It's like almost being knocked out in a boxing match, but being saved by the bell... only there's no bell. Finally, as we come into the third loop, I needed to catch my breath, and in that instant, there was separation. Not a lot, but enough for me to think, I need a wheel... or two. Lucky for me, I wasn't the only one pulled off the back. There were a group of other relatively strong cat 4 riders who got pulled off the lead group, including Etsu, Steven Fritz from Ave A and Eric Robertson from Kissena.

Etsu and Steven managed to convince the non-CRCA guys that it was in our best interest to get together in a double pace line and work as hard as possible to catch back on. Some agreed and others didn't. The one's that didn't eventually got dropped off the back completely.

While we weren't able to catch back on, we were able to manage a respectable (it's all relative) finish of about 11 minutes off the winning time. Coming into the final stretch, we were six deep, some still taking pulls others resting a little in the draft. I was a little too noble in pulling and rotating to the back about 800meters from finish line. Bill Moss, from SA who joined our merry little band rotated to the front and then jumped. Etsu, also at the front jumped. I reacted late and before I knew it, my pace line brothers were across line just before me! Damn, that was MY 45th place! LOL I took a look at the overall times and it looked like there were quite a few guys, that didn't finish or came in so late that they didn't get clocked in. Not an easy race at all, but definitely worth the effort.

All in all, it was a fun day, excellent workout and I learned a lot about racing. The motto is for the fall race is "get 20," meaning fight hard for a top twenty(ish) place. Gotta have goals man, gotta have goals.

Why we ride

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to why I drag myself out of bed at some ungodly hour almost every morning to ride this ridiculously expensive and uncomfortable piece of machinery that I call my bike. I mean, there are less mind numbing, less tedious ways to stay in shape. I could take a kickboxing class, play hoop or do any number of other things which wouldn't require me to wake up at 5:30am, dress in layers and layers of polyester, fleece or whatever is the latest, high tech wicking fabric and go out into the blistering cold before sun up. Sure, I get a kick out of slowly but surely becoming a better stronger, more competitive cyclist. I'm looking forward to racing the first half of the season. If you don't cycle or race, you couldn't possibly appreciate how difficult it is and how much effort it takes to be a truly competitive bike racer. In the beginning, you improve quickly, but at some point, it takes so much work to make small incremental improvements that you begin to wonder whether it's time to move on to anther sport. Luckily, I'm still in the "beginning" stage. But that's not it.

I definitely enjoy being able to eat pretty much what I want,when I want and not really gain weight - Although I will admit, spending 3, 4, 5 hours on the bike doesn't leave much time (or energy) for the weight room. In the words of that old comedian that played the homeless guy in The Wedding Singer, "I used to be much stronger!"

While those are certainly valid reasons to bite the bullet and keep riding, the real reason I ride evident from the shot above, a spectacular view of New Jersey taken Saturday morning at about 8:00am from the south bike/walkway on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge. I got an early start on my 5 hour endurance ride up 9W. The morning started off overcast, but as I started to make my way up Riverside Drive toward the bridge, the sun started to fight its way from behind the clouds and you could just feel the temperature start to rise. It may not seem like it when you're walking down 2nd Avenue wearing a big wool coat, but when you're on a road bike doing about 20mph wearing Hind artic tights and a Hincapie team issued winter jacket (made of the latest polyester/fleece wicking fabric of course) a temperature increase to 37 degrees, up from 32 seems like a heat wave. I know there's some guy in Wisconsin that may come across my rantings and say "these New Yorkers are real punks," but hey, that guy should get a life.

Anyway, as I started to make my way across the bikeway, I looked to my left and was just compelled to stop and take in the view. I ride across the bridge all the time, but in typical New Yorker fashion, I'm usually so preoccupied with one thing or another - engaged in conversation with my riding partners, thinking about family, work, money, career, getting back to the city - that I rarely take a moment to "see the sights, smell the smells" (an inside joke). But last Saturday was one of those rare times when I got out early enough to, at least for a few minutes, be alone and have the bridge and the scenery all to myself. I felt like I needed to pull out the trusty Nikon P2 point and shoot camera and capture this moment. I could just tell people how great the world looks from the south side of the George Washington Bridge at 8:00am on a Saturday morning in January, but they probably wouldn't believe it.

We ride because the world just looks better on a bike. (That's hot - That should be like some Lance Armstrong Nike commercial)

Hey, I can't make this up. I'm out early Saturday morning and I almost get run over by two deer just off 9W before Piermont.

It's gets better - can you say chickens in the road?

You gotta love cycling. I'll be back later in the week with more updates.

The Bike Station

You never know what you're going to find in New York City. I'm walking from Park Ave West on Union Square South (17th Street) toward Broadway and I see something that resembles one of the new city bus stops. I'm thinking to myself, no bus runs along this street, and if it did, it would create a heck of a lot of traffic when it stopped on this narrow two stretch that connects Broadway to Union Square South. As I get closer and look, I realize that it's some sort of fancy, high tech, high end bicycling parking station. Who knew? How contradictory – just across the street in Union Square Park, on the first Friday of every month (I think) they hold one of those critical mass rides where cyclists from all over the city gather, exchange pleasantries and embark on a monthly sojourn to some far off part of the city, perhaps midtown or the lower east side. In anticipation of all the "chaos" that the "man" believes will ensue, the city floods the park and the surrounding neighborhood with police. You'd think President Bush was planning on riding his track bike down Broadway. On one hand, you seem to have police looking to "shut down" these folks who only want to advocate the use of bicycle transportation in the city, and just across the street you have the city actually making an effort to encourage cycling by creating this. I guess that's why I love New York, it's just layered, rife with inconsistency and nothing really is as it seems.

In any event, the station is pretty cool, there is ample room to park multiple bikes, the signage is nice and it has a detailed map of the city's current and proposed cycling routes. I guess pretty soon we'll be like some Scandinavian country – all we need now is more vacation, better health care, less crime and cleaner streets. We're almost there.

The one funny thing is that in New York, anything new, even something as benign as a bike station, will manage to really excite some people but piss other people off. The woman pictured below just unchained her bike (as side note, while it's great to have this bike station, it might be better if you didn't have to buy a 200 lb chain to lock your bike up – they will steal anything that isn't nailed down in Union Square) and was impressed by the city's efforts to encourage cycling. Another woman standing nearby, a vendor selling I don't know what, thought that the creation of the bike station was part of a larger conspiracy to take away space from and ultimately get rid of all local street vendors. It was an interesting perspective, and one I couldn't dismiss – I mean, this IS New York after all.

The misery of the winter has begun - the pain of an indoor time trial, after work no less. So I had a 20 minute field test/time trial to get threshold wattage. You need that number in order to get your training zones. I planned on doing this outside, but it rained in the morning, so I got on the trainer after work. Nothing to say but this sucked, although not as bad in the past. Even after a good warm up the first 5 or so minutes just makes you want to quit, it's just uncomfortable, needless suffering. After the first 5, it's still hard, but you've accepted that you got through the first few minutes and there's only 15 more minutes to go. At this point, you just set little milestones for yourself, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes... I'm almost there. By now, you start to get a little confidence and actually start thinking, "damn, I probably started off too easy, maybe I can step it up. " At minute 15, I knew I had more in me and really started to work to keep my wattage on the high side. I was still at least 10 beats below my max heart rate, so I know I may have started off too easy and that I still had more in the tank. By the last minute, I work really hard to finish strong. Before you know it, it's over and while you warm down, you're thinking, "that wasn't SO bad. I know I can beat that performance." There's always next month.

9W

Long, long weekend of riding. 75 miles on Saturday and 50 miles on Sunday, all endurance. Is it really worth it? We'll see in April once we start racing again.

On Saturday, I started out at about 8:30am with a few people from NY Velocity, but we stopped several times, and when it's that cold, the side of the road is no place to be. I broke off just before Piermont and continued up 9W and rode the hills behind Nyack College. I struggled with keeping my hands warm. When I wear big gloves or "lobster claws," my hands sweat and the moisture stays in the gloves eventually making my hands cold. There's nothing worse than having wet clothes stuck to you in 30 degree weather... except maybe being wet and then getting a flat, crashing or having a mechanical. On the other hand (no pun intended), when I wear lighter gloves, the wind kills my hands. I need solutions. I refuse to go indoors unless it's below say 28 degrees.

After hitting the hills, I felt so good, I decided to hop back onto 9W and continue on up to Congers, just past Rockland Lake State Park. By now, the temperature had gone up to close to 40, up from about 32, a heat wave, so the ride was infinitely more tolerable. On the way back, I ran into some teammates and Reed from Avenue A Razorfish and enjoyed comfortable group pace back to the GW Bridge.

I was feeling ambitious after the ride (it's the Ironman in me) so I went over to CP to do a 45 minute slow run on the trails. Slow pace, high heart rate and probably too early in the year for that kind of work, but it was nice outside. My freakin knee is still bothering me, not as much as previously, but enough for me to think I should make a doctor's appointment. I'm hoping it's just a strain. I can't do another serious injury.

Anyway, I paid for that run the next day on the bike. I got a late start, the weather was still kind of miserable and I wanted to get back in time for the Giant game. Right from the start, my legs were completely dead. There would be no tempo, no fast pace, just strictly endurance. I made a conscious decision to not wear use my iPod and to stay focused on the training. I could've used the distraction. Finally, on the way back going south on 9W, just past the NY/NJ state line, a guy from Princeton Review zoomed past me and I decided to have a little pride and stay close to him back to the G dub. It's not that he was riding all that fast, it's just that I needed something to distract me from the burning in my legs. For the most part it worked - I was able to keep pace and get my ass back to the bridge within a reasonable amount of time. Got home, Giants were up and Eli was marching the troops down the field for an 8+ minute scoring drive. Nice way to cap off a day of riding.