Rapha's Take on the Gentlemen's Race

Rapha Gentlemen's Race - New Paltz, NY from RAPHA on Vimeo.

Here's Rapha's take on the fabulous Gentlemen's Race they put on in New Paltz last month. The five minute film is a hoot and the images on their website make the world look just a bit more beautiful and weird than it ususally does in only the way an expert photographer (or photo editor) can. Keep your eye's peeled for our signature green Bicycle Depot jerseys. It was truly a day to remember and it will probably be some time before I race in an event that sports its own film and camera crews. It was an honor to participate, a thrill to take second place and a hell of a lot of fun to ride.

Each of the teams was asked to send in a ride report. You can read them all at this link. Here's ours:

It all began on one of our regular Saturday morning rides in mid-April. When Mike shared the news that Rapha planned to stage a Gentlemen’s Race in New Paltz, it sounded too good to be true. A 200K race in our backyard with strong riders from across the East Coast? As the local boys (ex-locals for some), we knew these roads like the backs of our hands, but it was the first time that this team of six would ride together.

The climb up 44/55 went by fairly painlessly, and so too the rollers up to the base of Sugarloaf (some locals have dubbed it Pinch-a-loaf). Up until this point we were having a good time sitting on Danny’s wheel; chatting and screwing around a bit, but for better or worse we all knew what was in store. The hardest climb of the day broke a couple of us more than the others but the food and water at the summit was a big bonus.

The top of the Frost Valley climb prompted the now famous, “wounded animal” quote about the sounds one of our riders was making, but the descent off the backside was just dessert. In hindsight, stopping at the deli was probably a bit of a waste of time since the next good chunk went by very quickly as did just about everything until the base of Mohonk.

The final climb showed us for what we were: A mismatched bunch of locals who thought this race sounded like fun…almost six hours earlier. The 90 degree heat wore on us and though some of us climbed with no signs of fatigue, others fought back tossing Hostess Fruit Pie (apple) all over the road. Still, we all made it with some semblance of grace and were inspired to get this thing over with. We half expected one of the stronger teams to come rushing past us in the final trudge up Route 299, but it was not to be.

As the horses started to smell the barn, the skies opened up and we got some well-earned relief from the heat. With the rain, headaches disappeared, sore backs and legs felt new again - riding was truly fun for the first time in a while and with only Empire Cycling in front of us, it looked like the beer was staying in New Paltz this year.

Film Review: “Bicycle Dreams” (2009)

“Bicycle Dreams” is an entertaining and informative documentary on the Race Across America (RAAM) which examines the 2005 edition of that annual endurance event. Filmmaker Stephen Auerbach profiles half a dozen racers including endurance cycling superstar and four-time RAAM winner Jure Robic, fellow Slovenian Marko Baloh who currently holds the 24-hour world record, Frenchman Phillip Autissier, British racer Chris Hopkinson, Swedish cyclist Catharina Berge and American Chris Macdonald. The film follows their progress, includes interviews with racers, organizers, and crew members and showcases beautiful footage of the countryside between Oceanside, California and Atlantic City, New Jersey. "Bicycle Dreams" does a very good job of illustrating the dynamics of endurance cycling, including sleep, nutrition, crewing, etc.

As with the Everest expedition featured in Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, it's remarkable that tragedy befell participants in the event as it was under such close journalistic and artistic scrutiny. This was the race in which 53-year old Bob Breedlove was killed when he was struck by a pick-up truck near Trinidad, Colorado. In what are some gripping emotional moments in the film, participants and crew members of various teams find out about Breedlove’s death in real time and make decisions about their own participation as we watch.

There are a few things that Auerback leaves out that might have enhanced the story of what RAAM means to those who compete and follow the “world’s toughest race.” The film doesn't discuss the costs of competing in solo RAAM, which one 2008 racer estimated at over $10,000 or the training that goes into competing in this event. The film also focuses on the solo race only; no mention is made of the team racers at all during the film.

In all, this is a very good film that explores the fascinating psychology of self-imposed suffering and agony that is endurance cycling. RAAM seems to be difficult to get out of one's system, too. Robic, Baloh and Autissier will all be racing next week when RAAM solo racers pull out of Oceanside on June 17. Fans can follow their progress on the RAAM website as well as the racers' personal websites. One of my favorite lines in the film is “If you’re not afraid, you’ve got a problem.” The film is available on DVD from the Bicycle Dreams website for $19.99. Buy it today.

Rapha Gentlemen’s Race: A Podium Finish!

Cars lined the sides of the wooded country road on the edge of the Shawangunk Ridge as riders wearing matching team kits pulled expensive road bikes down from rental car roof racks. The inaugural East Coast Rapha Gentlemen’s Race was about to begin. The rules were simple. Each six-person team had to follow a prescribed route, start together, hit three checkpoints together and finish together. Crews and drop-bags were forbidden. Entry to this invitation-only race was $60 per team and a case of beer. The winning team would win a Rapha jersey for each rider and the second place finishers would take home all the beer.

The field was comprised of eleven teams from as far away Boston and Pennsylvania. Bicycling Magazine, Empire Cycling, Embrocation Cycling, Rapha Racing, Rapha Continental, and others would be in attendance. When I looked at the roster I realized that Selene Yeager (The Fit Chick) would even be racing. It was an eclectic mix of teams with riders of various categories. Some teams, like the Empire pro-development team based in NYC, were assembled of twenty-something CAT-1 racers, while others had a splattering of riders in CAT-5 through CAT-1. The race was “handicapped” with teams heading out in small groups over a span of 45 minutes. First team across the line would win. We were seeded in the middle of the pack.

Rapha, the British cycling apparel company which has wedded a retro wool aesthetic with urban bike messenger chic and a stylish technical fit was coming to town. I have been a huge Rapha fan for several years and would own only Rapha gear if my salary allowed. As it is, I can afford only one or two Rapha purchases each year, yet I follow the Rapha-sponsored riders with awe and anticipation. Rapha sponsors elite teams such as Rapha Condor team in England as well as two US “Continental” squads that fit more easily into the randonneuring ethos of long, self-supported epic rides. Continental riders wear Rapha gear and their ride reports covering some of the most beautiful sections of North America are featured with eye-popping photos on the Rapha web site.

When I heard in mid-April that Rapha was planning to sponsor this race in our backyard, I knew that we had to assemble a local team. I felt like Dave Stoller in Breaking Away with the Italians coming to town. The locals were going to get a chance to race with the big boys (and girls). Mike Newman, who co-owns the Bicycle Depot in New Paltz, assembled a strong team and we were in. Knowing the local roads and specifically the hills we had in store for us was helpful. Danny Brennan, the former Bicycle Depot owner who now lives in Pennsylvania, was our strongest rider and did more than his share of pulling us over hill and dale throughout the day. We also had super strong road riders and triathletes Alex Sherwood and Travis Turner on board along with CAT-3 racer Patrick Clifford who recently finished third at Battenkill, Mike and me.

The race covered a challenging 200K course with 8500 feet of climbing. We began with a 1000-foot climb up route 44/55 over the Shawangunk ridge. On the climb we passed the HUP United team that had started 5 minutes before us. The next section contained rollers with a general ascent to the foot of the fable Sugerloaf climb. A several mile-long climb with a grade of up to 18%, Sugarloaf is a killer. The Rapha crew set up the first check point in a hair-pin turn just before the last bit of climbing. They refilled our water bottles and handed out bananas, gels and energy bars for those in need. There was a sweet descent that followed and then about 20 miles of “alpine” riding along a quiet stream in beautiful Frost Valley. After our disciplined paceline rolled through this valley, we enjoyed another screaming descent down Slide Mountain, a hill I normally do in reverse. It felt like sweet revenge on that bloody hill to ride down it for a change. Downhill riding is a major limiter as far as my racing goes, so I expended the slight gain I was able to muster on climbs by heading out in front of my team on the big descents. While they love a good 50 mph descent, I am happier at 40 mph. Looking at the computer, though, I realize that I topped out at 42 mph which is a PB for me.

At the bottom of the hill, several of our riders needed to refill their bottles so we stopped at the small deli and then hammered out the stretch of Route 28 down to the town of Phoenicia were we hit checkpoint 2. Around mile 85 as we neared the Ashokan Reservoir, we saw the first (and only) team to gain ground on us. Empire Cycling, whose Mike Magritte recently took second place in a recent Philadelphia criterium race would drop us like a bad habit. They caught us as we waited at the only red light on the course. I felt like a fish looking back at a pack of sharks. We held their wheels for a mile of so until we realized that just wasn’t going to work. We rolled on at a good pace and prepared for the last major climb of the day at mile 105. It was the climb over Mohonk mountain that all of us knew so well.

After a day of hard riding, I finally cracked a bit on the back climb of Mohonk. It was close to 90 degrees at this point; I should have poured some cold water over my head to cool down, but all I had in my bottles was warm Perpetuem. We regrouped as I crested the hill and enjoyed a fast and pleasant descent into New Paltz. We didn’t know how far back the next team was so we kept the pace high on the climb back up Route 299. Before Mohonk our pace averaged 21 mph which is not too shabby with about 8000 feet of climbing. After it, our average dropped down to 19.2 which was still pretty respectable over a hilly 200K. On the final few miles, we learned from one of the photographers that the next team was quite far back so we relaxed a bit just as the skies opened up to cool us off. It looked like that beer was staying in New Paltz.

Racers from each of the eleven teams gathered on the porch of the house that Rapha rented as a base to enjoy some pizza and share epic tales from the ride. It occurred to me, as I ate my fourth slice, that the Rapha Gentlemen’s Race wasn’t like Breaking Away after all. The local team took second place rather than first, and those “Italians” sure were nice.

How the 5:1 ratio is saving my marriage.

In Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100, Roy Wallack and Bill Katovsky ask readers to guess the ideal balance between “deposits” (generous acts we offer our families) and "withdrawals" (demands we place upon them) in a healthy relationship. Most men responded 2:1 while most women say 3:1. Contrary to popular belief, researchers have found that an ideal balance involves a 5:1 ratio to keep a marriage/relationship going smoothly!! In other words, people should make 5 “deposits” for every “withdrawal” to keep things feeling fair and respectful. No wonder the divorce rate is so high in this country. It is easy to lose track of the impact that being on a bike for 10 hours a day on back-to-back weekends with half days of driving and overnights in hotels can have. No wonder my wife was getting so testy every time I got near my bike.

My wife and I both work in schools and have two young children. Let me tell you, the month of May is an absolute killer. Evening after evening, weekend after weekend, we are beset by events of all shapes and sizes. Learning how NOT to fight this inevitable feature of my life makes everything much smoother, though. Last Saturday, I gave up riding altogether to be the Guy Friday at my wife’s annual spring dance concert. It was actually a lot of fun and it felt great to repay some of the tab I’ve run up for all of my time away.

During my first season of randonneuring, I made the serious tactical error of underestimating the impact that all of my riding was having on my wife and kids. I will not do that again. I made several concrete changes to get closer to that magical 5:1 goal.

1. Don’t talk about cycling all the time. It just makes people angry. My family easily mistakes talking about riding with riding. I don’t want to squander valuable time on the bike.


2. Offer to take the kids so my wife can go off and spend time with her friends or on activities she enjoys. Don’t wait until she asks me.


3. Do nice things for my wife and kids without being asked.


4. Say “yes” more to opportunities to be together as a family. Look at the calendar carefully and work alternating weekends of long rides into the schedule.


5. Commute to work whenever feasible (usually 2-3 times per week.) This is tricky for me as I work in the school that my children attend. A carpool to work has helped me squeeze miles in.


6. Ride to family events whenever possible. My in-laws have a house in the mountains 75 miles north of us. If I add a few loops in, it becomes a 100 mile ride. If I help pack the car the night before and head out early, we can arrive there at the same time.


7. Ride at night and early in the morning. My wife is a light sleeper so waking up at or before dawn often involves waking her as well unless I sleep in another room.


8. Try to involve my family more. In addition to entering a few events with my son, this year, I’ve also asked my wife and kids to crew for me at the Saratoga 12-hour race. We’ve secured a lovely B & B right near the staging area so every lap of the 32-mile course will bring me into contact with “my team.” I’ll really benefit from their help, not having to refill and mix my bottles, and moral support. I’m hoping that the thrill of the race will rub off on my loved ones and they will understand a bit better the pull that events like this have on me. I also hope to add miles to my results with their help.

Who knows? The 5:1 ratio may be impossible. So far, though, the effort has been paying off. The fact that I love my wife more than my bike has never been in question. Making her feel that this is the case is not always a simple matter.

The NYC Five Boro Bike Tour

I swore I would never do it again. The last time I rode in the annual NYC Five Boro Bike Tour, I decided that I stood a better chance on the open streets of NYC, playing chicken with cabs than trying to dodge the swerving riders who were a little rusty around the edges. Then my son changed all that. This year, I had one of the most exceptional rides I can remember because not only was it a hell of a lot of fun, but I discovered that my son is superman.

When I first proposed the ride to Eli back in March after receiving a flier in the mail, he instantly said, “sure – let’s do it.” He had just signed up for the Team Get Outdoors bike challenge and had fire in his eyes about logging in long miles. He had not yet ridden more than 10 miles at one time, but hey, how bad could it be, dad, we get to takes breaks, right?

Now training wasn’t exactly what I’d call methodical. In fact, it was tough to get out for more than 10 miles at a time together in the weeks leading up to the big ride. He found the rolling hills on Block Island to be somewhat daunting. I looked at his little circus bike the week before the big day and I began to think this might not have been the best idea after all. Since the 5 Boro route is a fairly tight loop and riders are never too far from a subway stop, it seemed like we had plenty of options if things should turn south. In fact, I had my eyes on the Brooklyn Bridge bailout at mile 25 as a real likely scenario.

My in-laws' apartment in Tribeca provides the perfect staging ground for this ride. We could wake up at a leisurely 7:00 and still get to the start in plenty of time. We filled our bottles, quickly dressed and brought the bikes to street level by elevator and headed out for our two mile ride to the start. The mass start of this event is well-orchestrated but the wait is a killer. After 45 minutes of waiting we rode off into the horizon. The atmosphere was pleasant and festive with riders passing beach balls across the avenue to kill time. The weather was dreadful, though, and it rained all day.

After we rolled out, we easily settled into a comfortable pace as we rode quickly through the Village and Chelsea on our way to Central Park. The absolute best thing about this ride is that the streets of NYC are closed to traffic for the full 42 miles. It’s simply magical to ride through one of the world’s major cities with 30,000 other cyclists. There’s nothing quite like it and the magic worked its spell on Eli.

The park itself was less pleasant than the preceding section because of the bottlenecks that the narrower streets caused. This was to be a recurring drawback on the ride. Due to the huge size of the field, whenever the road narrowed significantly, we were forced to walk our bikes like drivers in bumper to bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway. This was especially challenging when soaked to the bone and chilled later in the ride. After exiting the park into Harlem, we hopped across the Madison Avenue bridge for a short 3 block foray into the Bronx and the headed south over the Third Avenue Bridge to the FDR drive.

The first official rest stop came at mile 15 at a school off the FDR drive at 116th street. Eli and I stopped to pick up a few energy bars and some water and use the porta potties. The FDR Drive down the east side of Manhattan was a major highlight of the ride. The large southbound lane was closed and we were able to take in the impressive vistas as we travelled downtown. Especially welcome was the tunnel under the UN and Tudor City which provided relieve from the rain. It was also exhilarating to yell and screech in a tunnel with hundreds of other cyclists. As we headed downtown, the route crossed the East River at the Queensboro Bridge. The bridge was a bit crowded which led to a delay at the entrance but the views were cool as was the ironwork and drop netting to protect vehicles from flaling debrius. The second rest area came at mile 18 in Astoria.

After riding through Brooklyn for a bit, we were presented with the 25-mile short cut crossing the Brooklyn Bridge back to Lower Manhattan. It was an option many riders were exercising. When I presented this option to Eli, he said, “What are you kidding me? And miss Staten Island?” We pedaled on with determination. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway was fairly pleasant, but also beset by lane closures that resulted in bottle necks and walking our bikes in the pouring rain. There were a few grades on the BQE and I was amazed to watch seemingly healthy adults walking their bikes. No mechanicals, just the result of exhaustion. Not Eli, though, he just kept on pedaling throughout the event. Eventually we made it to the base of the mighty Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. This was actually a pretty big hill. At one point, Eli slowed to the point where it became hard for him to sustain his forward momentum and we walked a bit. I pointed out to him that if I pushed him a bit it would be easier to pedal that to walk. He gave it a shot and rode the rest of the climb. After the crest, we both cruised down to the bottom where the festival awaited.

The festival is a bit of a tease, because after we reached it, there was still a 3-mile victory ride to the ferry launch where we met our ride home to Battery Park. The wait was about 20 minutes in the cold wet air, but the boat ride itself was warm and delicious. We disembarked in lower Manhattan like our ancestors before us only with this time with bikes. A short pedal up to Tribeca and we were home to family and a warm shower.

A few great Eli quotes from the road:

• “Once you’re’ wet, you can’t really get much wetter.”
• “Why do we keep stopping at the rest areas Dad, let’s keep going.”
• “This is so much fun. I can’t believe we’re doing this. I can’t believe how much fun this is.”
• “We never do anything like this, just the two of us.”
• “Let’s do this every year.”

What amazed me most about Eli’s performance is his absolute consistency and stamina. Pedaling away on that little circus bike, he never once suggested we bail out, turn back or even modify our goal in any way. He was like the Energizer Bunny banging that drum all the way to Staten Island.

Unlike the trophy Eli gets for simply showing up in his soccer league, he EARNED the right to feel immensely proud of his accomplishment. Other people were quitting. Grown-ups were walking their bikes. He hammered up the huge grade on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. At one point, we saw a young boy on a road bike and in that moment I saw some very exciting possibilities unfold for my son and me in the future.

What was I like as a nine year old? Would it ever have occurred to me to ride 46 miles on my bike? Doubtful. For me, that came later. For now, Eli is superman and I am in awe.

RAAM 2009: Right around the corner

In just over 50 days, the solo racers will leave Oceanside, CA in their epic attempt to cross America the hard way arriving in Annapolis, MD some 8-9 days later. With “the world’s toughest bike race” just around the corner, I took a peek at the race’s website to get the juices flowing and to see what lies ahead. Like the Tour de France in July, RAAM provides plenty of spectacle and inspiration. I mean this race is 800 miles longer than the TDF and completed in less than half as many days! I KNOW I will never ride in Le Tour, but RAAM? Who knows, that might actually be possible.

RAAM mystifies me. 3000 miles, two epic mountain passes, days battling brutal prairie headwinds and searing desert heat, not to mention living for a week on a liquid diet and a few hours of sleep. Financing the ride, assembling a nine-person crew and mastering the logistics necessary to participate, though, makes riding the bike look like the easy part! The total cost for a solo racer is about $20,000 when you factor in entry and all of the transportation and crew costs! One of my favorite racers (whom I’ve never met, by the way) is Kevin Kaiser. I like following Kevin because he strikes me as a normal guy doing absolutely incredible things. Kevin is a racer with plenty of randonneuring experience who raced RAAM last year for the first time in the 2-person team division with his teammate Jeff Bauer. Riding as Team Gran Fondo Fixies, Kevin and Jeff finished in fourth position in 8 days, 4 hours and 21 minutes on FIXED-gear bikes! It was great to follow their blog as they crossed the country. My favorite post involved one of their bikes flying off the roof because one of the crew members forgot to secure a quick release. I mean that sounds like something I would do! Here’s a group of guys I can relate to! Learn more about Kevin and his first solo RAAM attempt on his website. You can also donate a few bucks to help off-set his cost.

As you can imagine, RAAM is filled with characters. The four-time reigning champion is the Slovenian cyclist Jure Robic. Robic is alleged to hallucinate and become motivated by chasing demons. He has been known to turn on his crew and hurl incoherent insults at them along the way. Robic, a family man with a young son who is also an active member of the Slovenian military, finished the race last year in 8 days, 23 hours, 33 minutes. Since his principal competitor, Austrian Gerhardt Gulewicz DNF-ed after a crash at mile 562 the field was wide open for Jure to win again. The second solo racer, Mark Pattinson, came in 23 hours behind Robic. This year, Robic and Gulewicz will be joined by Marko Baloh, also from Slovenia (what do they have in the water over there?) who currently holds the world 24-hour outdoor track record with a result of 553 miles!!! Baloh also won the 2-person team division in RAAM 2008.

RAAM is one hell of a race and increasingly easy to follow in real time. Many of the riders have blogs and Twitter accounts that will post updates in real time. The central RAAM office also maintains a blog and now a Facebook and Twitter presence, so it should be easier this year than ever to follow rider progress over the 8-9 days of the race. RAAM certainly won’t be covered on the major networks, ESPN or even Versus, except as one of those “psycho-human-interest” stories that punctuate slow news days, so the internet will be the place to look for updates as you spend a week in mid-June thinking “yup, they’re still racing . . .”

RESPECT! This race is EPIC and only in my wildest fantasies could I complete such a massive undertaking. I mentioned to my wife today that I’d like to hold this out as a lifetime goal for say, when I turn 50. She quickly reminded me that I would have two kids in college at that point and, by the way, where the hell did I expect to get $20,000?!? Well, with two college-aged kids and a wife, I think I just found 3 crew members . . .

RAAM 2015?!? We’ll see; it’s only 6 years off . . . Before that maybe it will be the Race Across the West (RAW) at 1044 miles or the Race Around Ireland at 1350 miles, both of which would be great preparation for RAAM and incredible achievements on their own.

CRDC - The First Race of the Season

After a long winter of base training and several weeks of more intense speed and hill work, it was finally time for the rubber to hit the road. The Connecticut River Double Century race, hosted by Wayne Cernak, was all I had hoped it would be and more. The weather couldn’t have been better with clear blue skies and temperatures ranging from the mid-forties to the upper fifties. The race began at 6:00 a.m. with roads still a bit damp from overnight showers, but within a short while, as the sun climbed in the sky, they dried out completely.

With the early morning start, I decided to drive up to Brattleboro on Saturday night and share a room at the conveniently located AND economical (a steal at $45/room, folks) Motel 6 with my friend Don Nolte. We even got the benefit of a personalized wake-up call from none other than the jolly Tom Bodette at 4:45 a.m. Although coming off a week-long vacation with my family on Block Island, I was a bit tired from all of the driving (RI to NY to VT within 24 hours) yet as usual, I tossed and turned during the night and didn’t get a very good rest.

There were only nine racers in the CRDC this year, which is a great mystery to me based on the event’s wonderful route and excellent organization. It may come a bit early in the season, but it’s certainly more than worth the cost of gas to get there! I highly recommend it for ultra racers and randonneurs in search of a good early season effort to get things going. In fact, it makes me realize that we should have more double century races here on the East Coast. THERE ARE 22 DOUBLE CENTURIES THIS YEAR IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ALONE PEOPLE!!! What’s wrong with this picture?!?

In all, I have not yet mastered a complete liquid nutrition strategy. I had hoped to fuel using only Hammer Perpetuem and Hammer Gel. I chose to use two one-hour Perpetuem bottles since I didn’t have a crew and didn’t want to bring a hydration pack along for the ride. Since the course was designed as a figure-eight loop that circled back to the hotel, I was able to leave an ice chest in my car with a few bottles of premixed Perpetuem to pick up at the mid-point. Aside from that, I sent a drop bag along with Wayne to the two check points (north and south) with powder to mix with water. In the future, I’ll think about mixing a multi-hour bottle of Perpetuem and taking in H2O from a second source. I also carried a flask of chocolate Hammer Gel and left one in the drop bag to pick up along the way. This came in very handy as my energy started to flag around mile 170.

I was very fortunate to fall into the company of two outstanding cyclists on Sunday. Soon after the start, I formed a lead group with John and Brad, both strong and experienced ultra racers, with great stories to share about past events. We stopped only to check in, refill water and eat a few fig bars at the three check points. John and Brad and I hung together throughout the full race and finished in 11 hours, 35 minutes which worked out to a 17.5 mph average on and off the bike. I really had no clear idea how long this race was going to take, but had set a goal of 12 hours and wasn’t sure this was possible so early in the season. With the help and motivation of two very strong riders, though, I was able to do even better. Wayne posted the results up on the website within 24 hours and I enthusiastically entered my time into the UMCA database as part of the 2009 UltraCup challenge.

In all, I was very pleased with the day and feel that the race bodes well for the season ahead. I still have no idea what 1400K is going to feel like this summer, but at least I know I’m off to a good start.

I realized a few things about my training past and future:

1. Early season base training is critical. Even though none of my rides this season was longer than 140 miles, it helped that I completed six rides above 100 miles since January.


2. I need more speed work, especially as it relates to sustained efforts along flat to rolling terrain.


3. Climbing hills is a relative strength of mine, so I should probably pull back on hill training if it means more time for speed intervals.


4. I need to train with the aerobars on flat to rolling terrain for upcoming races such as the Saratoga 12-hour race in July.


5. I need to contiue to fine tune the nutrition.

The next organized event on my calendar is the sold-out NYC Five Boro Bike Tour on May 3. I SWORE I would never ride in this event again after the last time. Sure it’s fun to ride on NYC streets that have been closed to traffic, but with all the swerving and sudden stops from the 30,000 or so other riders, it feels more dangerous than skating with drunks. But this time will be different. This time I’m riding with my nine-year old son, Eli and we won’t be trying to ride in a pace line. Now I can’t wait!

(R)est and (R)ecovery: The discipline of (not)riding.

If you’re like me, there never seems to be enough time to train and ride as much as you’d like. Paradoxically, though, the best strategy in the week before a big event is to pull back on both distance and intensity. It’s shocking how hard this can be. Justifications for a last minute hammer fest abound:

• “The other riders will all be stronger, faster and better trained.”


• “If I just ride more miles I’ll be in better shape.”


• “Maybe more hill repeats will strengthen my legs.”

As many wiser and more experienced cyclists and trainers have written: very little gain is possible in the final week before a big event. The best we can hope for at this point is to enter the ride as well-prepared and well-rested as possible. Any intensity at this point will be counterproductive. It's time to taper. While I can grasp this on an intellectual level, it’s very hard not to get up on that bike and hammer away. This is why R & R right before a big event requires so much discipline.

Tapering has been especially hard this week because the weather is fabulous and I have so much extra time on my hands due to vacation. So I’ve spent some time as a tourist on this lovely island, ridden with my son and father-in-law at “family pace” and focused on OFF bike planning and preparation as much as possible. I’ve reviewed the race cue sheet, planned liquid resupply, scoped out the weather forecast and fine-tuned my nutritional strategy through research on the Hammer website.

I may not be the strongest rider in the field on Sunday; my focus now is to be the strongest rider I can be. So far, it seems like things are falling into place nicely.