Big Jim has carved out himself a great race. I went and watched last year, and this year I was able to race.
Masters 3/4
I got an ok starting position, I was lined up next to Gwadzilla. I wanted to keep it smooth and see if I could not hurt my back too much. I got an ok start, and had Bruce B. in my sights. I don't know if ever passed him, but by DCMTB teammate Brian caught up to me. I had a bad remount, landing on the tire/brake. I losed some time there. After the first 2 laps it was just going into maintaining mode, since I couldn't really get any power out of my body. I got passed by a good many people, but the only saving grace was that I was able to get the guy who caught up to me on the last off camber(almost wrecking there). I liked the double logs where you could jump them or dismount. I think bigger logs would be better so it was more of a question. Reminded me of the Swiss worldcup I watched, the barriers are not as high as the ones we use cause most pros were bunny hopping them and it didn't look 40 inches high.
Tandem
There was a tandumb race happening, and this time I made sure the pedal was on ok. I had Tyler from Family Bikes pack a pedal tap so that I could clean out the threads. That did the trick Matt's pedals went on fine, and we were ready to roll. We started in the first row, and were able to get the lead after the first corner. I knew the Padam team was coming behind us. They got us on the off camber downhill, and we never saw them again. We were riding good together, and had our shinning moment/almost disaster when we did a planned move that we talked about in a practice lap. After a downhilll there is a U-turn then an uphill rise. The Tom team was in front of us and Matt kicked it in going out of the turn and we stood for the whole hill. The almost disaster happened at the turn where we passed and hit a root I never saw in the Masters race. When we hit the root is sent our bike into the tape, but luckly I was able to control it. We did ok at the barriers, but we were not as insync as we were at DCCX. After the first lap we were in no-man's land, but our luck changed as we saw the Toms team have a mechanical with their timing chain having fallen off. So we caught them at the double logs, and tried to get them at the berm, but we were running out of trail. We got them on the off camber, and on the pavement for a 3rd place. We made the podium DCMTB's second podium of the day.
Thoughts:
Jim put on a great race, cool prizes I got some of the sausage and ate this week-yum.
The vibe pretty awesome.
I found the Elite race a lot more fun to watch since Joe D. started 2:30 down on the whole race, and he came back to win big.
The team support was out there today
Tandem races are great! I mean pretty cool motivating, and dieing out on the course with a friend.
Right now My favorite races for Mabra are Ed Sanders, DCCX, and Rockburn. I didn't do the one in Winchester, but I have seen the course so I will try that next year.
As the captain of DCMTB, DCCX is more than just a race for me. It's our team's way to give back to the biking community by putting on the best event that we can. Yet again, I think that we have succeeded, having over 700 racers and shattering the MABRA record of 80 women at our race. Mother nature came through as well (for the fourth year running) with sunny skies and mild temperatures. A big thank you to all the sponsors--Dogfish Head Alehouses (for tasty beer and pourers), Family Bikeshop (Jonathan rocks), Bobby's Pottys (we had to go big this year, with 7 porta-johns that still all became out of order by the end of the day), the Dutch Club (for making great pancakes). Stickyfingers Bakery, and Joe Foley Photography. Special thanks also to the Armed Forces Retirement Home for allowing us to use the beautiful grounds.
Men's Masters ¾
Well, I was worried a little bit going into this race. I had been working on the race and on my feet all day Saturday, and then was working the VIP team tent area in the morning. One good thing with having your own race, you get an ok start position. I was starting next to Mark D. from the team. I got a pretty good
s tart(which I seem to be able to do usually) Right before going to the finish line for the first time, I was able to get to Bruce B’s wheel. I had the opportunity to pre ride the course a Bruce had not been able to pre ride, and was not riding as smooth as I was. I got a little impatient and passed Bruce. This would be short lived as Bruce passed me, then Bill of CXHairs passed me as well. Around the 2nd or 3rd lap my back blew up. At that point I was in trouble, I went from like 17th to the 31st position I ended up at. I guess Gwadzilla was behind me closing in cause he finished right behind me. I did ok, but when you loose 15 places you are not going to be too happy.
Tandem
This was the race that I had been thinking about leading up to the race. I had originally planned to do the race with Sara. After pre-riding the course, Sara and I thought it best for our relationship that we didn’t ride it together. I got Matt E. from my team who was a great sport. He is a really strong rider, and fit the tandem great. Matt, and I had pre-ridden the course on Sat so we had an idea what we were doing. We had a slow start, but by the first turn one tandem blew up, and we were in 3rd place. At the barriers our technique came into play and we were in 2nd. The Toms boys caught back up to us, and we were doing ok until we messed up at the stairs(which we did good in practice). At some point we lost a pedal and some time getting it back on. I think after that on the backside of the course we saw one of the tandems roll a tubular(don’t use tubulars unless you have defense grade adhesive!) We lost some time on the uphill pavement, then lost our pedal again. We fixed it with a pedal wrench, but the damage was done we went into steady mode. The best part on the tandem was doing the bricks to the downhill, we were doing 33mph there. I had a good time on the Tandem and will hope to do it again this CX season.
DCCX has gotten better every year, and this year I was really happy with the course, and my little off road addition to the mix. Sara was great for coming out for the day as she was reading when she could and watchin’ her man do his thing too.
With the Boys with the FAT $200 for winning, unfortunately that didn't cover registration.
I have been lame and not been keeping up my blog for my 3 loyal readers...... Well I will be doing updates this week, and try to be on it for the next couple of weeks if I am racing.
I have done Scouts Honor I think like 4-6 times. I might have only missed one year of it. I did the first one at Poorfarm Park in Ashland which was cool. They have had Scouts Honor at the boy scouts camp for the last several years, and I think it is a great venue. The course this year was even longer then last year with around 12 miles. I think they have hit the sweet spot for course length right about an hour. The only thing I would say against the course, I don't know if it was new cut trail or weird drainage, but there were some slow sections in there even though it had been really dry. Hopefully it was new cut trail and next year it will be fast and smooth like the rest of the course.
-before the race:
So we decided to go down the day of, and I was going to have Sara come down at the end of the race and drive me to my parents. Things did not got to plan, I had Jonathan pick me up at my work parking lot and he went all the way to Annapolis to get Leland. We got to the traffic jam known as 95 and were running late to make the start. Mike K. was down in Williamsburg with his family and was to meet us there. Mike got there, and ended up having to do our first lap, as we got our registration. If Mike wasn't there it would have been a little dicey.
-the race
Mike did a good lap having us around 5th over-all, after the first lap. Jonathan went out and ripped a crazy fast time like 5 minutes faster then Mike which put us in 2nd over-all 1st for 4-man. I went out did a pretty good lap, and then Leland went out and pulled a good one as well. After the first laps we were into the darkness(race starts at 4pm). I was rocking my second lap when I had my front tire burb on me after I railed a turn with a dip in it. I had to refill the tire a little bit, so that cost me some time. We did consistant laps through the night with that 3-5 stretch being people's slowest laps. Jonathan was the rockstar of the race, he was just killing it the whole way. I wanted a sub 1:00 for my last lap and was able to pull that off. Jonathan took the only 5th lap, instead of Mike since he left to go back to Williamsburg to his family.
Notes:
-Good course, alot of ups and downs. I made a point to stay in the middle ring, and stand out of the saddle when I needed to.
-The Voodoo worked great in it's 3x9 geared with FT suspension. ( usually run this bike Rigid, and SS)
-Getting first was nice, and we grabbed 2nd over-all the 1st place duo team is semi-pro.
-I was riding with my saddle more forward then usual, but I really like to be "on-top" of the pedals for a fast course.
-We all did the race, on the bare minimum, got food on the way down(would eat half later that night) Jonathan brought the boiled potatoes which really helped. I didn't bring a tent but just rested in the chair with my lite sleeping bag.
-Bring bug spray next year!
-Have to see how the 2011 summer turns out, but I could see myself here once again.
Iron Cross
Oh you beast, I think I know you and then you go and change on me. The Iron Cross race is something that any biker who has a CX bike should do. The race is between a SM100 kind of race, a dirt road race, and a mountain bike race. The nice thing about the race is that it is short enough that most people finish within an hour of almost everyone else. This was my race this year. I had broken my pinky in May, so this was my objective race. I started training late, cause I moved from Arlington to DC this July. So it wasn't until late August that I started to get the miles and rides in (the OMG-Shepherdstown stuff is great training). By September, I was getting a good amount of rides, and I had done Ed Sanders, and AVC cross before Iron Cross. My back was starting to act up even with those short events, so I had no idea what was going to happen at Iron CX. An Unexpected Partner
Two of my DCMTB teammates Matt E. and Mark P. went up a day early and stayed in one of the cabins. I am thinking that will be the ticket for next year. The unexpected partner was Sid. I haven't ridden with Sid in a long time so I was surprised to hear that he was going to be doing Iron CX. He rented a CX bike, and I gave him a helping hand by letting him borrow a set of 38mm WTB interwolfs. This tire is not made anymore, but it is the perfect tread for this event. I might try and run them tubeless next year. I ran them this year with Latex tubes. So Sid and I met up at Scots run near 495 at 5:15 am and got on the road. We got up there pretty quick with plenty of time to spare. Pre-Race
This year the weather was warmer then when I did it in 2007. I was worried about clothing, but I settled on wool bib shorts, knee warmers, arm warmers, jersey and vest. Sid and I met up with Matt and Mark, and we were able to put our stuff in their cabin. I planned bags with CO2 and tubes at both stops just in case.We talked about the course, and people were getting nervous.
The Start, Lippencote Trail, to Wigwam
Matt started fast and I was on his wheel, but then we switched. We got to the open road/trail, and Matt went speeding ahead. Mark eventually caught up to me as well and passed me. I had only been racing for 30 minutes and I was already starting to feel my back. I knew it was going to be a rough day. I was climbing ok, but I think this year my descending was going great. I felt really comfortable on the downhills. The road sections were not going well for me. I think that next year I will have to work on doing more road riding to work on my high-end speed. We did a paved road climb, and then it was on to the first real singletrack. One of the keys to racing this race is top levers on a CX bike. Going up the trail, I was riding smooth and slowly catching up to and passing some people. Once the trail went downhill I started doing even better. I somehow ended up behind two other mt. bikers or skilled riders, cause the three of us passed like 20+ people on the trail. We were going over logs (some over a foot high) and I made it past the part in 2007 where I walked. Now I was in front of 30+ people who had previously been in front of me. Just as in 2007, everyone was doing pacelines that were going too fast for me to even get in on. Matt caught up to me again (I had passed him) and passed me again. Wigwam to Aid 3
The good thing about having done the race was that I knew how much Wigwam sucks. This year I carried my bike across my back, with it kinda resting on my camelbak. I think this was the right way to do it, but I think that if you could have a bungee to hold on to so that your hands are not in a weird position, it would be bettter. Might work on that. Once at the rest stop, I took a minute to take off my vest, arm warmers, and knee warmers, put them in my drop bag, and fill up my bottle. Matt was just in front of me. I caught up to him and he was going a little slower, so I passed him. The next downhill was sick, I was riding it fast like 45 mph and felt comfortable (my back not so much), but was thinking if I wreck this is going to be bad. At one point I took a turn a little too hot and ended off the road, but I was fine. I dropped some people going down the mountain, but the problem with that speed is you can miss your next turn! So I went left at this Y and felt that there should be someone near me. So I turned around and saw some people up the road going into the woods. So I was now behind like 10 people I had passed. I saw Matt again, who was cursing me, the race, and his lot in life it seems. This was a new singletrack section, where my top levers, and 34-32 gearing was coming in handy. I was passing people and hooked up with a mountain biker. I actually passed the mountain biker on the downhill--pretty amazing. I was then mostly on my own to aid 3.
Aid 3-Fin
So at the aid station, I filled up my bottle again, and had a cup to go as well. This was the start of the big ass climbing. I had 2 interesting experiences. One was with Todd B. from the SS Outlaw crew was rocking it on his SS. I was climbing steady in my small gear as he was mashing away. We both said that our legs were getting some twinges. At some point Todd must had had both legs cramp, cause he fell into a heap on the side of the fire road. The other person I rode next to was a beast of a rider. She was the 4th or 5th place female (and I later found out she was 51 years old--go her). She was riding a bike almost like a touring bike. She was breathing up a storm, pushing a big ass gear. and she would pedal, then walk, pedal then walk. I was just going constant (slowly). We went back and forth, with her going in front until she had to walk, and me catching back up to her because I was still actually pedaling my bike. She then left me as it leveled out at the top. Once it started down hill I dropped her hard. I finally got to the last singletrack section. This is the funnest part of the course, but you are usually too tired to like it. The singletrack seemed longer, and more technical then before. I knew I was running slower, cause last time I rode most of the last walk up. After going though the last singletrack, I heard my tire rubbing. I looked at it and I had broken a spoke (I found out later it was 2). So I was thinking about what to do. I didn't want the tire to take off all my paint on the bike. I found the bad spot and just whacked it a couple of times, and that seemed to true it enough not to hit my frame. Now I had no rear brake though. The last pavement downhill was trickier then last time, since I only really had a front brake. My wheel was so messed up it made the bike do a lurching motion. I did the last 2-3 big rollers, then back to the finish. I made it just under 5 hours. I achieved my goal, but I thought I was faster. I think that most people's times were slower cause of the added singletrack (which is a good thing).
Thoughts
This race should be only CX bikes like the Three Peaks Race
Next year if I got up with some people I will try to have us ride as a group until the first singletrack
I need to work on leg speed for the road sections
I should make a small bungee thing to help hold the bike for Wigwam, and then dump it at the aid station
I plan to ride my stans wheels next year
Thinking about doing a spring training camp and doing the ride then
Seems like most roadies were riding mountain bikes, and it was mountain bikers on the CX bikes.
I think the Camelbak and one water bottle is the way to go, only had to fill it once.
A guy shot a video of the race, the cyclocross stuff you see that is only at the very beginning. You can see Matt E. @ 1:52 on the HUGE hike a bike. and you can see me at 2:02 at the rest stop eating a GU. Also I zip on by on the trail at 2:25 (had taken a wrong turn so had to pass a bunch of people I passed once already)
We got down to Harrisonburg and got our camping spot setup up on helopad area near Tood Lake. Mike K. had a huge tent and Leland, Mike, Ian and I all slept in it. It was big enough for Mike and I to have to full size sleeping mattresses and the other guys were on their own bedrolls. Best comment of the night was in the morning when Mike said we are some quiet ass sleepers. None of us are snorers which was nice.
So in the morning the weather was total crap, it had been raining the whole night, and it was not looking great for riding. Kevin, and Matt B. stayed at a hotel, and joined us, and Jonathan got down to the area around 10am.
We decided to do the Southern Traverse because we thought we might get out of the lite rain we were in. We were kinda right. We got to the start of the Southern Traverse and it was a little misty, but as we climbed the ridge to get to the single track we basically climbed into a cloud. This would be how the rest of the ride would follow, we would go up, down, going left and right of the ridge line and would get less rain or more.
After the ride we did yesterday, I was not feeling as spunky. I felt I had the endurance to ride just not the snap. I ended up riding mostly with Kevin, and Matt B. Matt was having some issues getting used to the rocks we have here in the east coast compared to UK where is from. The front guys would wait up for us, even though I told them to just go ahead.
After we did the big downhill, we were going to do the 16 mile slog back on the road. I had told Kevin I would ride with him back on the singletrack if he wanted. In the end we all decided to take the road. Chris D. was riding strong, I ended up catching up with him, and pace lining with him for like 10miles. He lead most of the way I tried to contribute when I could.
We went out that night to the greek place in Harrisonburg, and had some laughs. I ended up going back that night with Kevin, which had I known I was going to do that I would have done the singletrack back instead of the road. Hopping we can do this again next year, and there is some better weather.
Kevin got this for X-Mas I thought it was a joke. but it is real.
Almost there, it was raining in DC, and sprinkling here, luckily on the trail totally dry
Leland was leaving the area and I wanted him to experience some of the big up, and downhills that he never got to ride during the various races. Four of us were taking Friday off to do Liberty Furnace, and we would meet up with more of the DCMTB crew on Friday/Saturday to do a ride in the Stokesville area.
I will not lie this ride has some major climbing...... as you can see that first 3 miles is a whopper! Some in the group were not happy about it, but Ian and myself we fine to try and climb what we could and walk the other stuff. We got the first climb and descended the fire road to the rocky downhill trail. We then took a right onto a trail I had not done, but it part of the Big Schlosh loop. There were some rocky sections, and a full on rock mine field in the forest that we had to go through. I did my rendition of a hail mary, superman endo going through the rock garden. Had to deal with that bruise the whole weekend.
Yes, that's a trail. See the yellow blaze
We took the road to trout pond, in the future I will do the double track by the general store. Ian and I had a good challenge up this climb, and I think we might have made it, but there was a tree down so it was not to be. On the ridgeline, Mike finally seemed happy, and I was just happy to be riding my HT OK here, since I am used to having my dual suspension bike with me. The downhill was too much for me, I didn't take it as fast as Young Buck and Mike. The ride was good, minus 25minutes of Ian fighting a UST tire that had a sidewall gash. A big THX to Mike for the post ride Burritos!
I've done this ride once a year for the last four years or so. This year, I was doing the ride with a smaller group and it was a little more relaxed. We started off, and at Hamburg, we all went our own pace. It was very interesting because having done the climbs out in Boulder recently, I was able to compare and contrast them with the Frederick climbs.
I do quite well on a climb like Hamburg, which is pretty steep--being 3 miles and 1168ft of elevation. The difference between this ride and the ones I'd done in Colorado was that even though there is a good amount of elevation gain, there are spots of flats or a lesser gradient where you can catch your breath. I finished the climb a little bit before Chris and Jonathan, and then we worked our way down Highland School, getting to some high speeds. My bike wasn't feeling quite right, and I realized once we got to the bottom that my tires were a little overinflated. Right before we got to Harp Hill, Jonathan had a flat that we had to change. This took a little bit longer than usual, but while we were there, I used the stop to deflate my tires a bit and get more grip on the downhills. I was the last to leave, and a lady in a minivan said to me, "You can't delay the inevitable," before I started up the next climb.
Going up Harp Hill, I caught up to Jonathan and Chris, who had gotten pretty far up the road already. I did the climb at a pretty good clip, using my technique of attacking at the super steep parts to keep my cadance high. We worked our way down to the first rest stop and bought some extra water.
On the way to the Gapland Climb, the scenery was nice, but we were a little exposed to the heat and sun with the 90 degree temperature.
At the top of the Gapland Climb, which is very steep at the beginning but mellows out after the initial push, there is a park that is a great rest stop with bathrooms and water. After a discussion with the group and a look at our watches, we decided that we didn't really need to go all of the way to Shepherdstown. I came up with an idea for a route that would add a climb and allow us to get the same elevation as going the extra 20 miles to Shepherdstown and back. I decided that we would take a little northern detour and then hook up with Dogstreet Rd. to then hit the Reno Climb that we would normally hit on the route from Shepherdstown.
We did the Reno Climb, which is always an interesting one because of the super sharp kicker in the beginning--after which you lose all of that elevation and have to go up again to go over the real ridge. We didn't get to enjoy the full downhill of the Reno Climb because we needed to take the left-hand turn to Foxgap Road that would lead us to an extra climb. We went back over the ridge that we just came down on Alt. 40, which was a little crowded but had a shoulder.
What is nice about the Alt. 40 climb is that it is graded for trucks and so it's a gradual ascent and you just need to keep a good rhythm to get up it. Once we got to the saddle of the climb, we went further north up the ridge on Monument Road. At the top, we waited for Jonathan, who was kinda cramping by that point.
We then did another road called Michael that I'd never done before that is a super fast downhill and has two or three tight corners. I was leading, and I had two little surprising moments. I yelled out to warning to the guys about the turns, and I believe Jonathan actually ended up having a two-wheel drift skid. We made it down the descent and then continued on Monument to the prior rest stop, where we had stashed our extra water. Jonathan had put too much mix into his drinks and wasn't at his best, but he still said he would make it through and do Coxy Brown, which he had not done in two previous attempts.
We left the rest stop and worked our way to the Mother Coxy Brown. Coxy Brown is a very interesting climb. It seems no matter how many times I've done it, I still have my "come-to-Jesus" or "am-I-going-to-get-off-this-bike-and-walk" moment on it. I have done the climb enough to know that it's gonna hurt, but I know I can do it. I realized I'd gone out a little too fast on the first part when after the flat middle part, the second seemed even harder this time despite my past experience with it. All three of us made it up the climb, and what goes up must come down. The downhill back to the cars on Gambrill/Shookstown Rd. is a blast, and you can coast all the way back to the cars.
So we ended up with 68 miles and about 300 ft. less of elevation game than if we had done the full 83 miles of the original route. In some ways, I like this route better, but I do like that bakery in Shepherdstown.
For my second day in Boulder I was to do a solo ride, while Rob was running the route of the Boulder half Iron man, and Sara and Christie were doing their own run. I had thought to go out to do the Mountains that were behind the house. I went on Bikely to scope out a route, and made one that was only 37 miles and let me go up the mountain and then come back down.
I woke up early with the weather being cool in the high 60's and cloudy with Fog. I got my cue and got the bottles filled up with water and Power Aid. I also brought a 3rd bottle in my jersey so I wouldn't go through the problem that I had the day before of not having enough to drink.
The first thing I noticed was that the 60miles the day before had done a number on the undercarriage. Rob's seat was harder, and narrower then I am used to. So I lubed up :-) I decided to be cruel to myself, and instead of going around Lee Hill I thought I would go over it, since it would be less mileage.
The first thing to note is that Rob's bike is a regular 39-53 with a 25 in back. I am used to riding a 36-50 so I knew the gears might be an issue with this ride. Climbing Lee Hill reminded me of the climbing I usually do on the hilly rides on the east coast. Pretty darn steep, with some steeps, and not too many miles. As I was going up Lee Hill I was getting worried, cause I was on the lowest gear and breathing up a storm. I kept it up and eventually I got to the top. I was a little worried, cause if the rest of the ride was going to be like this my knees would be toast! The downhill to Lefthand Canyon Dr. is crazy steep going into a full U-turn, I took it nice and easy since I wasn't in a race or anything.
Right at the cloud line
Once I got to Lefthand Canyon Dr. I started the gradual climb up to Ward. Now this kind of climbing is not to my liking... It was a shallow grade of 4%? maybe and I was running the upper end of the cassette, but was not pedaling slow. The climbing never let up, so I never got a breather. I would stand to change the tempo of the climbing, but the lack of steps was taking it's toll on the boat anchor of body weight I am carrying around. As I was climbing I was seeing a number of cyclists coming down the mountain wearing arm warmers, and jackets. The weather was still cloudy, cool, and muggy. I was wearing a muscle jersey after the 90+ degrees the day before. The only thing keeping me warm was that I had been climbing for an hour or so. It got to the point where I had goosebumps on my arms. As I was getting into Ward I was hitting the clouds, thinking if it isn't sunny on the decent I am screwed. Once I got on to Peak to Peak Hwy, I realized why I had seen a fair amount of bikers. They were part of the Sunrise Valley century going on. They were going the opposite way that I was going. I must have seen around 1000 bikers throughout the ride. Peak to Peak Hwy was nice, and had some great views. Thankfully the sun decided to show itself so I was finally not cold. As I was starting to descend I was looking for a road called Jamestown, and by this time my cue sheet had gotten a bunch of sweat on it and was soggy(so I couldn't read it). I ended up taking a right on Rt. 7 but still descending. At mile 38 I knew something was up, since I should of been done with the ride. I wasn't that upset, cause I was still descending, but I didn't know if this was taking me to the other side of the mountain away from Boulder. I was thinking to call Sara and see if they could come pick me up since I was not going to be able to make it back over a mountain, and we had plans that I needed to get back for(I had no cell signal). I happened by a park, and I thought to just look at the Kiosk hoping there was a map or something. They had a brochure on the parks in the Boulder area, that had a map. With the map I could see where I was and realized I could get back ok, even though it was going to be a little bit of a drag. After 18 miles of descending......let me repeat that 18 miles of mostly going downhill that is something I am not used to. I got into Lyons and then took Foothills back to Boulder. I was now riding with a lot of the Century folk, Foothills has a nice big shoulder, but it is a busy road. There are a few up and downs that you have to do, but finally I made it back.
2 hard days, but two totally different experiences I liked the day two terrian better
Decsending through the canyons made my trip, something that I will remember.
Great to experiance 20+ miles of climbing before topping out.
With my build the power climbing with steps suits me better.
Maybe next year do an extended vacation with more biking.
Well Sara had been meaning to visit one of her best friends Christie since she had moved to Boulder CO. I had met Christie several times, and her Husband Rob, who is a triathlete. Rob and myself had talked about biking a little, but we had never ridden together.
Before the trip I knew that Rob and I would get in at least one ride. I was going to try and ride his bike instead of renting or lugging my bike out there. I found out later that Rob used to work Velonews/Triathlete and knew the head guy at Cervelo. So Rob had a SL-3 for me to ride, and he would ride his P-3. I brought out my ancient spd Dura Ace pedals I use, since I ride with Mt. shoes all the time. I also brought out my 130mm stem to go on his 56cm bike(I ride a 58 normally). He said there was enough post. I put on my stem, and raised the seatpost, moved the saddle back, and when I tightened the clamp-POP I broke the seatclamp. We went to Excel sports and got another Clamp that was a Cervelo clamp, that was made the same way, but had been beefed up where I had cracked his. The clamp cost me $35, but was a lot cheaper then renting a bike.
56cm SL-3 That rode for the weekend
One fast dude
The ride we did was on a 90+ day we did a rolling ride to Carter Lake. I am used to riding a compact, and was interesting being back on regular rings for the weekend. On our way out we were hitting some pretty high speeds on Foothills road. I did some digs on Rob, which he might have been surprised by. This was the first time I have ridden with someone on a Tri Bike. For the riding we were doing, it was interesting cause once we got to the high 20's I needed to draft behind Rob, and in the 30's I couldn't let him get too far away from me or I would loose him. There were some small hills, nothing too big, the biggest being the climb to the lake itself. The gearing was fine for that, but I was worried cause I was to do another ride the next day with more climbing.
The ride back was almost the same way we came. The ride down the hill we came up to get to the lake, I gave Rob some room, and the last turn off the hill he was in his aero bars, and must have been doing 35-40 so I really couldn't catch up to him. He waited for me at the next turn. So as we were going back. I was starting to loose it, I didn't drink enough I think. I also had said that I would be good for 50, and it was the last 11 that really got me(we did 62). I would have been fine if I could of just gone my own pace. Rob was being nice and would slow, and I would suck his wheel at 20 then 18,and 16 I just couldn't keep the pace. After the ride, my legs hurt so bad that I really couldn't stand I had to laydown for a bit to recover.
Was a good ride, I think I can ride with Rob pretty well when I am in shape. I think I surprised him on how I rode the small hills there, but I didn't have the power with endurance when I am in shape too keep my speed on the flats.
I saw this a lot during the ride back, I was a wheel sucking fool
