Yesterday was Bicycle Fetish Day! It started off with a block party in Williamsburg with music, food and bikes. There were some contests there for things like: prettiest bike, ugliest bike, most philosophical bike, etc. Someone had brought a mini ramp and there were some people doing jumps off the ramp, including a guy riding an impossible wheel (basically a wheel with pegs attached to the axle). There was also a race.
My friend Victor had organized an Alleycat race. An Alleycat is basically a street race through the city with very few rules. Typically you're given a "manifest" with a list of checkpoints and you have to go to each checkpoint in any order to complete the race. The course for this particular race was pretty short so I decided to do it. In particular the checkpoints were (listed in the order I completed them):
Essex and Houston St.
68th St. and 1st Ave.
38th St. between 8th and 9th Ave.
33 W 17th St.
Centre and Worth
Kenmare and Lafayette
And then back to the Bicycle Fetish Day. Here is a map of the course. We took the car path on the Williamsburg bridge and the Central Park 65th St. Transverse in order to save time. After the 38th St. checkpoint most of the people I was riding with headed down 7th Ave. whereas I took Broadway. I arrived at the 17th St. checkpoint about 20 seconds before they did so we regrouped to head downtown into the financial district. Once we were back on the Williamsburg bridge a couple of the guys started sprinting. I joined them but took it a little bit easier. Eventually we all got stuck behind a truck and a double-parked car on Havemayer and had to get off our bikes, lift them over some parked cars and ride on the sidewalk to get around. In the end I came in fifth place and won a Syncros hat, a t-shirt and a Crumpler pouch.
A little while after the Alleycat some track bike events were held. These included trackstands, footdown, freestyle and skids. The trackstand competition involved trackstanding normally for a certain amount of time. Once that time was up, you had to remove one hand from your handlebars. After another set amount of time, both hands had to come off. Eventually it came down to having only one foot on the bike. Almost everyone fell at that point with only a few people (myself included) able to stay up with only one foot. However I was the only person who was able to stay up for more than 5-10 seconds after we started the one-footed trackstands and I won $13 (it was $1 to enter, winner takes all).
After trackstands was footdown. This entails riding around in circles while trying to knock other people off their bikes. If you put your foot down you lose. I'm not terribly interested in footdown so I didn't participate.
Next up was the freestyle competition. Most of the people who competed were doing trick skids (leg over the bars, no hands, foot through the frame, etc.). I did some trackstand tricks - foot-through-the-frame trackstand, then did some bunny hops in that position, did a no-handed foot-through-the-frame trackstand and then attempted to bunny hop and failed. Dan G. ended up winning by doing some trick skids while curtseying with his hat.
The last track competition was the distance skid. Basically you sprint until you reach a certain point, and then you lock up your rear wheel and put as much of your weight forward as possible by leaning over your handlebars. This causes your rear wheel to skid, and whoever goes the furthest wins. I was the second person to skid and right when I started my skid I started to fishtail. I over corrected and ended up going down pretty hard. Apparently I hit my head, bounced/flipped over landing on my back then rolled around. I immediately popped back up on my feet and was pretty much okay. A little bruised and I had a couple of scraps (and I need a new helmet) but nothing serious.
The day ended with a party in the backyard of the City Reliquary.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A slow week
Last week was pretty slow, cycling-wise, as I had a lot of catching up to do at work. However the past three days have been pretty intense.
On tuesday after I got home from work I immediately headed out to Prospect Park for some lactate threshold training. I did a 20 minute sub-threshold interval, followed by a 20 minute recovery interval, then another sub-threshold interval. On the second interval my heartrate monitor kept saying "Check strap fit" so I based my workout mostly on RPE (rate of percieved excertion - how hard you think you are working). Not terribly scientific but still very useful.
Speaking of scientific training, I'm really looking forward to the Minoura eFlex computer/power-meter. It uses an insole to measure the amount of pressure you are putting on the pedals and converts that to power. It's probably not as accurate as torque based power-meters but it seems like it would be very easy/quick to switch between multiple bikes and would require no modifications in order for it to work with a track bike. Unfortunately the computer is not yet out and the power meter is an add-on that won't be out until next year. In the mean time I heard that a friend of a friend is trying to sell a PowerTap so I might try and get that.
Back to the riding - on Wednesday evening the Twilight series at Kissena continued. On the schedule was: an 8 lap scratch, a tempo and a Miss-and-Out. The scratch race was pretty uneventful and I finished with the pack. Right at the start of the Tempo race (a points race with the first two people to finish each lap getting 2 and 1 points respectively) there was a break of two riders. As far as I know they took most if not all of the laps. The Miss-and-Out was next and ended up being a huge disappointment. The fields for the scratch race and the tempo were pretty large, and I assumed that the field for the Miss-and-Out was large as well (I started the race towards the front of the pack and didn't really get a good look at it). After about 3 laps there were several people in front of me, but given the field size for the previous races I thought I was fine. Then I hear my number being called. For whatever reason a bunch of people decided not to do the Miss-and-Out. Lesson learned - make no assumptions.
Finally we come to this morning - a continuation of the thursday morning group rides! Once again I met up with some friends at 5am for a pre-work ride. This time we only went to Piermont so that the people who needed to be at work earlier could make it out. David and Gui didn't show up this time, which meant that Andrew and I were pushing the pace for most of the ride. I was a bit tired from all the riding I did Tuesday and Wednesday so overall it was a more moderate ride than last week. I hope that we can continue riding every week before work.
Next week I'll probably try to start training twice a day.
On tuesday after I got home from work I immediately headed out to Prospect Park for some lactate threshold training. I did a 20 minute sub-threshold interval, followed by a 20 minute recovery interval, then another sub-threshold interval. On the second interval my heartrate monitor kept saying "Check strap fit" so I based my workout mostly on RPE (rate of percieved excertion - how hard you think you are working). Not terribly scientific but still very useful.
Speaking of scientific training, I'm really looking forward to the Minoura eFlex computer/power-meter. It uses an insole to measure the amount of pressure you are putting on the pedals and converts that to power. It's probably not as accurate as torque based power-meters but it seems like it would be very easy/quick to switch between multiple bikes and would require no modifications in order for it to work with a track bike. Unfortunately the computer is not yet out and the power meter is an add-on that won't be out until next year. In the mean time I heard that a friend of a friend is trying to sell a PowerTap so I might try and get that.
Back to the riding - on Wednesday evening the Twilight series at Kissena continued. On the schedule was: an 8 lap scratch, a tempo and a Miss-and-Out. The scratch race was pretty uneventful and I finished with the pack. Right at the start of the Tempo race (a points race with the first two people to finish each lap getting 2 and 1 points respectively) there was a break of two riders. As far as I know they took most if not all of the laps. The Miss-and-Out was next and ended up being a huge disappointment. The fields for the scratch race and the tempo were pretty large, and I assumed that the field for the Miss-and-Out was large as well (I started the race towards the front of the pack and didn't really get a good look at it). After about 3 laps there were several people in front of me, but given the field size for the previous races I thought I was fine. Then I hear my number being called. For whatever reason a bunch of people decided not to do the Miss-and-Out. Lesson learned - make no assumptions.
Finally we come to this morning - a continuation of the thursday morning group rides! Once again I met up with some friends at 5am for a pre-work ride. This time we only went to Piermont so that the people who needed to be at work earlier could make it out. David and Gui didn't show up this time, which meant that Andrew and I were pushing the pace for most of the ride. I was a bit tired from all the riding I did Tuesday and Wednesday so overall it was a more moderate ride than last week. I hope that we can continue riding every week before work.
Next week I'll probably try to start training twice a day.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Cancelled races and Nyack
It rained yesterday. Actually, that's an understatement. Sudden thunderstorm is more descriptive. In any case, the Twilight series track race was cancelled. While this was depressing it did mean that I was well rested for today's adventure...
I woke up at 4am. Made myself some breakfast (sauteed tofu, peppers and onions), brushed my teeth and got my cycling clothes on. Grabbed my road bike (which I had just finished repairing the night before) and headed to the Williamsburg Bridge to meet up with some of my friends. Our goal was to bike to Nyack, NY, get some breakfast and be back in the city by the time we all needed to be at work.
Quite a few people showed up for this ride. At the WB bridge Dave, Lee, William and Gui showed up. Andrew met up with us at the George Washington Bridge.
While on the way to Nyack we mostly stuck in a paceline and kept up a pretty good pace. We added in a few sprints at random just to change things up a bit, and occasionally just rode leisurely and chatted. Unfortunately Andrew had to get to work earlier than the rest of us and turned around shortly before the state line.
When we got to Nyack we stopped at Runcible Spoon (a muffin/coffee shop) and had some breakfast. While there this guy passed by on a Segway with his son holding onto his leg, hitching a ride. Lee snagged a blurry picture of the spectacle which he put up on his Flickr.
Dave decided he wanted to ride my bike for awhile since we are about the same height and use the same pedals. That meant that I got to ride his LOOK 595 with the SRAM groupset. We swapped bikes and started the ride back to the city.
The SRAM shifters are really quite ingenius. They consist of only a single paddle per shifter. A light tap on the paddle downshifts while a harder tap on the paddle upshifts. It was pretty easy to get the hang of, although I found myself reaching for the thumb lever that wasn't there a few times. Once we finished the climb up Tallman Mountain Park Dave and I switched bikes again and we continued on our way.
Once back in the city I headed home to eat, shower, swap bikes and head to work. I'm now sitting in my office fighting the urge to take a nap.
I woke up at 4am. Made myself some breakfast (sauteed tofu, peppers and onions), brushed my teeth and got my cycling clothes on. Grabbed my road bike (which I had just finished repairing the night before) and headed to the Williamsburg Bridge to meet up with some of my friends. Our goal was to bike to Nyack, NY, get some breakfast and be back in the city by the time we all needed to be at work.
Quite a few people showed up for this ride. At the WB bridge Dave, Lee, William and Gui showed up. Andrew met up with us at the George Washington Bridge.
While on the way to Nyack we mostly stuck in a paceline and kept up a pretty good pace. We added in a few sprints at random just to change things up a bit, and occasionally just rode leisurely and chatted. Unfortunately Andrew had to get to work earlier than the rest of us and turned around shortly before the state line.
When we got to Nyack we stopped at Runcible Spoon (a muffin/coffee shop) and had some breakfast. While there this guy passed by on a Segway with his son holding onto his leg, hitching a ride. Lee snagged a blurry picture of the spectacle which he put up on his Flickr.
Dave decided he wanted to ride my bike for awhile since we are about the same height and use the same pedals. That meant that I got to ride his LOOK 595 with the SRAM groupset. We swapped bikes and started the ride back to the city.
The SRAM shifters are really quite ingenius. They consist of only a single paddle per shifter. A light tap on the paddle downshifts while a harder tap on the paddle upshifts. It was pretty easy to get the hang of, although I found myself reaching for the thumb lever that wasn't there a few times. Once we finished the climb up Tallman Mountain Park Dave and I switched bikes again and we continued on our way.
Once back in the city I headed home to eat, shower, swap bikes and head to work. I'm now sitting in my office fighting the urge to take a nap.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Lactate Threshold Heart Rate
Last night I went to Prospect Park to perform a Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) test and calculate my LTHR. I chose Prospect Park because Central Park is being repaved and PP is also the perfect distance for such a test (3.3 miles, so 1 lap will take 10 minutes at 20mph).
To calculate my LTHR I followed the test outlined in The Cyclist's Training Bible - do a 30 minute time trial and record the average heart rate over the final 20 minutes. I set the timer on my heart rate monitor for 10 minutes and set it to start the chronometer one the timer finished. I started at Grand Army Plaza and finished a little over 1 lap when the 10 minutes was up. I figured I had a little over 2 laps left before I hit 30 minutes total.
During the time trial I occasionally looked at my watch and noticed that my heart rate was typically between 164 and 174bpm. On the downhill it would get as low as 156 and on the uphill I hit 189 at one point.
In the end my average for the last 20 minutes of the time trial was 171bpm. I'll use that figure for training purposes until I get a chance to run the test again.
To calculate my LTHR I followed the test outlined in The Cyclist's Training Bible - do a 30 minute time trial and record the average heart rate over the final 20 minutes. I set the timer on my heart rate monitor for 10 minutes and set it to start the chronometer one the timer finished. I started at Grand Army Plaza and finished a little over 1 lap when the 10 minutes was up. I figured I had a little over 2 laps left before I hit 30 minutes total.
During the time trial I occasionally looked at my watch and noticed that my heart rate was typically between 164 and 174bpm. On the downhill it would get as low as 156 and on the uphill I hit 189 at one point.
In the end my average for the last 20 minutes of the time trial was 171bpm. I'll use that figure for training purposes until I get a chance to run the test again.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Kissena Twilight Series: week 2
Yesterday marked the second week of the Kissena Twilight Series. Since I upgraded to Cat 4 last week I had to ride with the B group (Cat 4/5) this time (although even if I hadn't upgraded I probably would have ridden with the B group). It was yet another gorgeous evening of mild temeratures and clear skies - perfect for racing.
I showed up, signed in and picked up my new number. Went infield, changed my clothes and hopped on the track for a warm-up. There was a nice long paceline going when I got there so I waited until they passed me and then hopped on the back. After a easy laps at a steady pace the official rang the bell. The racing was about to start.
The first race for the B group that night was a scratch race. It was pretty uneventful and I ended up around 7th place. Not too bad for my first race in the B group. The next race was a Miss-and-Out. The first few laps were fine, but then I made a fatal error - I sprinted to cross the finish line and ended up getting carried into the second position by turn 1. By turn 2 I decided to get on the wheel of the guy in front of me, who was in the sprinters lane. Big mistake. As soon as I got on his wheel the pack caught up to us and started passing us. Not only were they passing us, they were passing us really close, almost pushing us into the grass. By turn 3 I was near the back of the pack, and started trying to get into a better position. I was pulling up behind Pablo when a rider swerved up track a bit and actually bumped into Pablo. No one crashed but I did slow down enough that I ended up at the rear of the pack, completely boxed in. I got eliminated.
After my disappointing performance in the Miss-and-Out I was determined to do well in the Men's B feature. The feature race was a 12 lap "Devil's scratch" - a combination of a Miss-and-Out and a scratch race. For the first 6 laps the last rider is eliminated each lap. The final 6 laps are carried out like a normal scratch race. I made it passed the first 6 laps. On the final lap of the scratch, a group of 5 or 6 riders made a break on turn 3. Unfortunately there were two riders inbetween me and the break who weren't responding. I had to try and bridge a two rider gap, which I failed to do. In the process of trying to bridge the gap I also ended up pulling another rider behind me, who then sprinted past me to the finish line. Once again I ended up around 7th (or 8th).
Overall it was a very satisfying night of racing. I'm enjoying the faster pace of the B group and feel a little bit safer in the pack (aside from that one rider who bumped Pablo).
I showed up, signed in and picked up my new number. Went infield, changed my clothes and hopped on the track for a warm-up. There was a nice long paceline going when I got there so I waited until they passed me and then hopped on the back. After a easy laps at a steady pace the official rang the bell. The racing was about to start.
The first race for the B group that night was a scratch race. It was pretty uneventful and I ended up around 7th place. Not too bad for my first race in the B group. The next race was a Miss-and-Out. The first few laps were fine, but then I made a fatal error - I sprinted to cross the finish line and ended up getting carried into the second position by turn 1. By turn 2 I decided to get on the wheel of the guy in front of me, who was in the sprinters lane. Big mistake. As soon as I got on his wheel the pack caught up to us and started passing us. Not only were they passing us, they were passing us really close, almost pushing us into the grass. By turn 3 I was near the back of the pack, and started trying to get into a better position. I was pulling up behind Pablo when a rider swerved up track a bit and actually bumped into Pablo. No one crashed but I did slow down enough that I ended up at the rear of the pack, completely boxed in. I got eliminated.
After my disappointing performance in the Miss-and-Out I was determined to do well in the Men's B feature. The feature race was a 12 lap "Devil's scratch" - a combination of a Miss-and-Out and a scratch race. For the first 6 laps the last rider is eliminated each lap. The final 6 laps are carried out like a normal scratch race. I made it passed the first 6 laps. On the final lap of the scratch, a group of 5 or 6 riders made a break on turn 3. Unfortunately there were two riders inbetween me and the break who weren't responding. I had to try and bridge a two rider gap, which I failed to do. In the process of trying to bridge the gap I also ended up pulling another rider behind me, who then sprinted past me to the finish line. Once again I ended up around 7th (or 8th).
Overall it was a very satisfying night of racing. I'm enjoying the faster pace of the B group and feel a little bit safer in the pack (aside from that one rider who bumped Pablo).
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Nutrition and interval training
As my training increases I have been thinking more and more about nutrition - on the bike and off. This has lead me to experiment with gels, and I have come up with my own recipe that is a close facimile of the Clif Shot apple pie. The main ingredient in Clif Shot gel is brown rice syrup which is an excellent base for gels - it has a good mix of complex and simple carbohydrates and electrolytes. The combination of high and low glycemic index sugars means that you get immediate and sustained energy. The electrolytes help with water absorption and prevents cramping. Clif Shot also has additional electrolytes and flavoring.
The brown rice syrup I had already had more potassium and sodium than the Clif Shot so I figured I could go without any addition electrolytes. All I had to do was figure out the flavoring. A combination of apple juice, lemon juice, cinnamon and allspice came pretty close to replicating the Clif Shot. It was a little less tart but still quite palatable (for a gel anyway).
Anyway, here's the recipe:
* 8 tablespoons of brown rice syrup
* 1 tablespoon of apple juice
* 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
* 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
* a touch of allspice
Stir all the ingredients together in a sauce pan over low heat until combined.
I had planned to do some interval training last night, so after I finished making the gel I poured it into a flask and headed to the park. I figured that using the gel during an hour of interval training would be a good test - if it was bad I wouldn't need it to continue my training and if it was good it certainly wouldn't hurt to use it.
It turned out that it worked pretty well. I'd take a shot of gel during each rest interval followed by some water. It tasted alright and I never felt like I was running out of energy. The only problem was that it was a bit thick. It was rather cool last night and by the end of my ride it was getting pretty hard to squeeze it out of the flask.
The brown rice syrup I had already had more potassium and sodium than the Clif Shot so I figured I could go without any addition electrolytes. All I had to do was figure out the flavoring. A combination of apple juice, lemon juice, cinnamon and allspice came pretty close to replicating the Clif Shot. It was a little less tart but still quite palatable (for a gel anyway).
Anyway, here's the recipe:
* 8 tablespoons of brown rice syrup
* 1 tablespoon of apple juice
* 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
* 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
* a touch of allspice
Stir all the ingredients together in a sauce pan over low heat until combined.
I had planned to do some interval training last night, so after I finished making the gel I poured it into a flask and headed to the park. I figured that using the gel during an hour of interval training would be a good test - if it was bad I wouldn't need it to continue my training and if it was good it certainly wouldn't hurt to use it.
It turned out that it worked pretty well. I'd take a shot of gel during each rest interval followed by some water. It tasted alright and I never felt like I was running out of energy. The only problem was that it was a bit thick. It was rather cool last night and by the end of my ride it was getting pretty hard to squeeze it out of the flask.
Monday, May 7, 2007
VeloCity Tour
The VeloCity Tour has started and hit the Kissena Velodrome on Sunday. The tour is a multi-city (NYC, SF and Chi) event aimed at bike messengers (though non-messengers can compete) with the top prize for first male and female messengers being round-trip airfare to Dublin, Ireland for the Cycle Messenger World Championships.
I competed in the first VeloCity Tour last year and it is what prompted me to start racing at the velodrome. Of course this meant that I had to compete again this year.
Since so many people registered (over 40 racers I believe) they split the Men's field into two groups based on the rider numbers (evens and odds). There were no categories (in fact many of the racers didn't have licenses as this was a non-USCF race) so everyone was lumped together. This meant there was a huge gap in terms of experience and speed.
The first race was a 10 lap scratch race. As soon as the whistle blew the pace picked up, and stayed pretty high the entire race. Most people would have taken it a little easier on the first few laps but I guess the faster guys, particularly those who hadn't raced on the track before, wanted to take off immediately. I stuck to the front the entire race and we had some semblance of a pace line. However on the last lap I was about 7 or 8 riders back when the top 5 or so started to take off. The two guys in front of my didn't respond so I was left to bridge a two person gap and try to catch up to the break. I wasn't able to catch up in time and ended up in a distant 6th.
The next race was a Miss-and-Out. Because the field was so large the final lap would consist of five people (all the previous Miss-and-Outs that I've been in have had a final lap of three). Since many of the riders were not very experienced with track racing and Miss-and-Outs are notorious for crashes I stayed near the front of the pack for most of the race. Fortunately there were no crashes during the race and slowly but surely the field was whittled down until there were only five riders left - and I was one of them. In the end I took fifth.
Next up were match sprints. The qualifiers consisted of groups of four. I was paired with Pablo, Craig and this other guy whose name I did not catch. As soon as the race started the other guy just took off. Craig, Pablo and I debated for a second whether we should chase him down immediately or not; since none of us knew him or how fast he was, we decided to chase him. We got on his wheel around the start of the second (and final lap). We all easily passed him, with Craig winning the sprint, Pablo taking a close second and me lagging behind for third. Afterwards I briefly spoke to the guy who took off early in our race, and it was pretty clear that he didn't understand the strategy of a match sprint. I told him that usually the first lap is really really slow as people try to jockey for a good position, and it's only in the second lap that someone will take off.
The final race was an Australian Pursuit. This was the first time I've ever done this sort of race and it was definitely an interesting type of race. Basically all the riders are evenly positioned around the track. Once the race starts, each rider tries to chase down the rider in front of them. If you get passed, you are out of the race. Unfortunately my legs just weren't into it and I got passed after two laps.
After the VeloCity tour was over there was an Alleycat race to the after party. I didn't participate as I didn't want to race an Alleycat on my track bike and I had brought my rollers with me. Instead my parents gave me a lift home where I had some time to take a shower and eat before heading to the after party (which was only a few blocks from where I live). I got on my commuter bike and started heading towards the bar when a guy on a road bike came flying up next to me and asked me where Union Ave. was. The bar was on Union Ave. so I figured he was racing the Alleycat - he was, and it turned out that he was totally lost (he was from SF) so I showed him the way.
Once there, Felipe (who organized the Alleycat) started the award ceremony. I have only three words to describe this award ceremony - UNDERGROUND, ILLEGAL, INTENSE!
I competed in the first VeloCity Tour last year and it is what prompted me to start racing at the velodrome. Of course this meant that I had to compete again this year.
Since so many people registered (over 40 racers I believe) they split the Men's field into two groups based on the rider numbers (evens and odds). There were no categories (in fact many of the racers didn't have licenses as this was a non-USCF race) so everyone was lumped together. This meant there was a huge gap in terms of experience and speed.
The first race was a 10 lap scratch race. As soon as the whistle blew the pace picked up, and stayed pretty high the entire race. Most people would have taken it a little easier on the first few laps but I guess the faster guys, particularly those who hadn't raced on the track before, wanted to take off immediately. I stuck to the front the entire race and we had some semblance of a pace line. However on the last lap I was about 7 or 8 riders back when the top 5 or so started to take off. The two guys in front of my didn't respond so I was left to bridge a two person gap and try to catch up to the break. I wasn't able to catch up in time and ended up in a distant 6th.
The next race was a Miss-and-Out. Because the field was so large the final lap would consist of five people (all the previous Miss-and-Outs that I've been in have had a final lap of three). Since many of the riders were not very experienced with track racing and Miss-and-Outs are notorious for crashes I stayed near the front of the pack for most of the race. Fortunately there were no crashes during the race and slowly but surely the field was whittled down until there were only five riders left - and I was one of them. In the end I took fifth.
Next up were match sprints. The qualifiers consisted of groups of four. I was paired with Pablo, Craig and this other guy whose name I did not catch. As soon as the race started the other guy just took off. Craig, Pablo and I debated for a second whether we should chase him down immediately or not; since none of us knew him or how fast he was, we decided to chase him. We got on his wheel around the start of the second (and final lap). We all easily passed him, with Craig winning the sprint, Pablo taking a close second and me lagging behind for third. Afterwards I briefly spoke to the guy who took off early in our race, and it was pretty clear that he didn't understand the strategy of a match sprint. I told him that usually the first lap is really really slow as people try to jockey for a good position, and it's only in the second lap that someone will take off.
The final race was an Australian Pursuit. This was the first time I've ever done this sort of race and it was definitely an interesting type of race. Basically all the riders are evenly positioned around the track. Once the race starts, each rider tries to chase down the rider in front of them. If you get passed, you are out of the race. Unfortunately my legs just weren't into it and I got passed after two laps.
After the VeloCity tour was over there was an Alleycat race to the after party. I didn't participate as I didn't want to race an Alleycat on my track bike and I had brought my rollers with me. Instead my parents gave me a lift home where I had some time to take a shower and eat before heading to the after party (which was only a few blocks from where I live). I got on my commuter bike and started heading towards the bar when a guy on a road bike came flying up next to me and asked me where Union Ave. was. The bar was on Union Ave. so I figured he was racing the Alleycat - he was, and it turned out that he was totally lost (he was from SF) so I showed him the way.
Once there, Felipe (who organized the Alleycat) started the award ceremony. I have only three words to describe this award ceremony - UNDERGROUND, ILLEGAL, INTENSE!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
The Flying Scotsman
Last friday the movie The Flying Scotsman was released in the US. This movie is a dramatization of the autobiography of Graeme Obree, who twice held the Hour Record. The film stars Johnny Lee Miller as Graeme Obree who does a wonderful job portraying the Scotsman - although I might be biased as Hackers was one of my favorite movies (Johnny Lee Miller plays Dade Murphy/CrashOverride/ZeroCool in Hackers).
Though at times the film followed the typical inspirational-sports-film format and it had its fair-share of cheesy moments, and certainly had a few anachronism and other such inaccuracies, it was very enjoyable. There aren't many sports movies about Cycling (Breaking Away, American Flyers and Quicksilver come to mind, but nothing recent) so it was quite refreshing to not only see a movie about cycling, but a movie about one of my favorite cyclists and his attempt at the hour record.
Though at times the film followed the typical inspirational-sports-film format and it had its fair-share of cheesy moments, and certainly had a few anachronism and other such inaccuracies, it was very enjoyable. There aren't many sports movies about Cycling (Breaking Away, American Flyers and Quicksilver come to mind, but nothing recent) so it was quite refreshing to not only see a movie about cycling, but a movie about one of my favorite cyclists and his attempt at the hour record.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Chris Boardman documentary on YouTube
In addition to the two videos in the previous post, I have found this documentary on Chris Boardman. I haven't watched the entire thing yet, but I'm posting it here anyway. It's broken up into five parts:
YouTube videos
There are a couple of youtube videos of successful hour record attempts that I have found.
The first is Graeme Obree breaking the record for the first time using his unique "tuck" position:
The second is Tony Rominger breaking the record for the second time:
The first is Graeme Obree breaking the record for the first time using his unique "tuck" position:
The second is Tony Rominger breaking the record for the second time:
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Kissena Twilight Series and license upgrades
Last night was the first night of the Kissena Twilight Series - 16 weeks of racing on Wednesday nights. There are five groups: Men's A (1/2/3, 4 by permission), Men's B (4/5), Men's C (5 only), Women and Masters. Two races per group and two features.
I was originally signed up to race in the B group, however Dan had signed up for the C group and I was interested in trying some of our strategies again. I talked to Alan (the official) and switched to the C group.There was a points race scheduled, so Dan and I planned to use the same attack we used during the points race last weekend. Gui didn't make it to the track that night so instead we enlisted our friend Pablo to be part of our break. We explained our strategy to Pablo who was really only half listening.
The strategy would have to wait however, as the first race for the C group was a Win-and-Out. In this type of race there are a series of sprints, with the winner of the first sprint winning the race, the winner of the second sprint coming in second, etc. This particular Win-and-Out would consist of 9 laps with 3 sprints - the final sprint would determine third, fourth and fifth.
Since I'm not that good at sprinting my plan was to attack on turn two and try to make a break for it. However right before I started my attack another rider tried to get into the paceline I was in right in front of me. He obviously didn't see me there until just before he was about to bump me and he freaked out. He swerved up track but miraculously did not cause a crash. In that moment, someone else attacked. I jumped and got on his wheel, but it didn't last long as the rest of the field responded and was soon passing us. On the next sprint Dan and Pablo attacked and I caught on to their break. This time the rest of the field didn't respond quickly enough and so it came down to a three man sprint. We were all within half a wheel of each other but Pablo ended up winning the sprint to get second place. Dan and I still had a gap on the field so we decided to try and maintain our break. On turn three of the last lap this guy Andres came flying past us. Fortunately his was a solo effort and we still had an impressive gap on the rest of the pack. I slingshoted around Dan on turn four and ended up in fourth place.
The next (and final) race for the Cs was the points race. Dan, Pablo and I had a quick last minute discussion of our tactics and then lined up on the fence to wait for the start of the race. Unfortunately we go split up on the sprint lap with Pablo near the front, me in the middle and Dan in the back of the pack. Right after the sprint I started to attack and shouted at Pablo as a passed him to get on my wheel. I had no idea where Dan was but I hoped that he was close enough behind us that he could catch us.
At the same time we launched our attack, another group of riders made a break for it as well. There was a bit of chaos as our group and the other group overlapped and it was difficult for us to keep a proper paceline. In addition to that Pablo had not really been paying attention to our strategy and so when I pulled up track on turn 3 for Pablo to take a turn pulling he followed me up track instead of passing me. In the end two riders in the other break pulled ahead with Dan persuing them and me persuing Dan. And it remained that way until the end, putting me in the fourth position for the second and third sprint.
After the races were often I spoke to Alan about upgrading to Cat 4. The requirements are 4 days of track racing and a track safety class. They don't really have any track safety classes at Kissena, but John Campo has a training clinic every Saturday (and I had gone to one) so Alan told me to fill out the form on http://www.usacycling.org. When I got home I filled out the form and Alan approved it so as of last night I am a Category 4 track racer.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Kissena Opening Weekend official results
The official results for the Opening Weekend at Kissena have been posted: http://www.kissena.info/track/.
Intervals
Last night I went to Central Park to do an hour of interval training. I took the Pulaski bridge into Queens and got on the Queensboro bridge. There was a van used by the construction crew parked right at the entrance but there was enough space for me to get by. I didn't think much of it until I got about halfway over the bridge and there was a crane sitting in the middle of the bike path. I ended up having to lift my bike over the "legs" of the crane and walk past it. When I got to the Manhattan side of the bridge the gate was closed and there was a construction guy telling bikers/pedestrians the bridge was closed. He asked me how I got through (no one stopped me) and then opened the gate for me.
I made my way to Central Park and started the timer on my watch. I would do 5 minutes of riding while trying to keep my heartrate within 80-90% of my max, followed by 5 minutes of recovery riding. I'd repeat this for one hour.
Unfortunately it seems to me like my heartrate monitor is a little finicky. At high intensity it often seems like it is not accurately measuring my heartrate and is giving me a number that is too low. One minute it will be registering 169bpm, a minute later it will register 184bpm without any (perceivable) increase in intensity. I think the problem may be the contact points on the chest strap - I may need to keep them moist by spraying water on them more often. It could also be the battery in the chest strap as I have already needed to replace the watch battery. Despite this it is still a useful tool and I'm better off training with it than without.
After an hour of these intervals I still felt pretty good so next time I think I'll double the high intensity interval but leave the rest intervals at 5 minutes. Ultimately I'll have to be able to sustain a high intensity for an hour so I'll have to continually increase the duration of my intervals over the two months I have to train.
I made my way to Central Park and started the timer on my watch. I would do 5 minutes of riding while trying to keep my heartrate within 80-90% of my max, followed by 5 minutes of recovery riding. I'd repeat this for one hour.
Unfortunately it seems to me like my heartrate monitor is a little finicky. At high intensity it often seems like it is not accurately measuring my heartrate and is giving me a number that is too low. One minute it will be registering 169bpm, a minute later it will register 184bpm without any (perceivable) increase in intensity. I think the problem may be the contact points on the chest strap - I may need to keep them moist by spraying water on them more often. It could also be the battery in the chest strap as I have already needed to replace the watch battery. Despite this it is still a useful tool and I'm better off training with it than without.
After an hour of these intervals I still felt pretty good so next time I think I'll double the high intensity interval but leave the rest intervals at 5 minutes. Ultimately I'll have to be able to sustain a high intensity for an hour so I'll have to continually increase the duration of my intervals over the two months I have to train.
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