Jonny Bold

YIKES!

2012-01-13T18:07:00.002-05:00

I bet you can't watch this without leaning to the left. NO THANKS!

The Best Race Of The Year

2012-01-01T20:32:00.002-05:00

The last day of 2011 was a great day. My good friend and teamate, Kevin Hines got together with Roger Aspholm and with help from a local campground (Jellystone), they put on a "bandit cross race". We were in Wareham, MA.

It would also serve as a pickup/dropoff point for Roger to collect bikes that he's gonna take out to Natz and Worldz in his trailer. The weather has been insanely warm and yesterday was no different. I woke up to 48 degrees at about 7 am on December 31st. By race time at noon it was overcast and in the low 50's with no wind. We'd be racing in shorstsleeves and no leg warmers, at least I did.

There was a great turnout too. Typically these type of things get 12 or 15 diehards, but it looked like we had at least 30 people at the start, maybe more. People came from all over. Some from Maine, NH, CT, and even NJ. Fergie even made it up from almost Philadelphia. The quality of the field was quite high as well. There were at least 5 guys that had been a former National Champion in an off road discipline, and of course Frank and Marky Mac led that category having done it at the PRO level. There were also lots of natz and worlds podium finishers there as well. Kathy Savary is a two time World Champion and multiple time national champion, she was on the start line also. One of USA's Cycloross pioneers was there as well, Tom (Steamboat) Stevens. I don't know where Paul Curly was, but I wish he was there with his daughter Emily. Maybe they drove out early to Madison.

The course was a very sandy Koksijde like course. I'm sure not nearly as hard, but lots of sand everywhere, actually not too unlike Master's Worlds in Mol, Belgium the last 2 years for me. It was a long lap with several dismounts and run ups and lots of power sections aroung cranberry bogs. We raced for an hour and it was very demanding, both in terms of technique, and fitness, especially if you haven't been training for 2 months and haven't been shy about having a few beers like myself.

Kevin made easy work out of the field since this is his preferred type of course and he happens to be fit as a fiddle too. Marky Mac started at the back like the old days and charged through the field quickly and easily and rode to 2nd place. Al Donahue rode a steady, strong race for 3rd, and Frankie Mac pipped me at the line for 4th after a full lap on a flat front tire and a lengthy wheel change. I've been beaten by worse guys than Frankie, but never a better one! It was a privledge to be at a race with such a friendly feel to it with such good racers and people.

The best part of the day was that when we got through racing, we went into a huge barn where there was a 35' long table completely set with tablecloths, plastic silverware and on each plate a gourmet sandwich and a big slice of melon. There were baskets of chips and bottled water and indoor plumbing. At some point either Roger or Kevin came around and collected a $10 entry fee for the race and lunch. That is pretty incredible. If you ask me, thats the blueprint for how to put on a bandit race. Everyone seemed to agree "It was the best race ever".

What a great way to close out the year and see lots of friends in a healthy, outdoor, fun day riding bikes. I'm sore today, but it's that good sore. Maybe I'll give a bike race a try some day and see how it goes.

Good luck to Kevin, Sammy, Marky Mac, Kathy and anyone else going out to Natz or Master's Worldz. Bring home some jersies boys and girls.

Oh if anyone has any pictures of the race, please send them along and I'll post them here.

Thanks for stoppin' by, JB

Thank You & Goodbye Old Friend

2011-12-13T13:00:00.001-05:00

This is just a quick note to Thank everyone out there that commented on my recent post about my re-evaluating of things.
There were certainly a lot of comments here that were all very nice and friendly. People were resoundingly understanding of exactly what I'm going through. 25 comments on a stupid little selfish cycling blog about some old fart's racing is pretty surprising in this day of facebook and twitter, but those comments weren't anywhere close to all the phonecalls, texts and emails I got from sooo many other friends and aquaintences. It really seems as though I'm not alone in this reality check. Thats good I guess.

It's been hard to see actual disappointment from friends that I'm not enjoying the bike at the moment. But I'll say this. It's been good to take a step back and think about other things, worthwhile things and worthwhile people that got routinely blown off so I could do yet another bike ride. I miss it, I do. I haven't ridden since the Noho races except for a short mountain bike ride on Thanksgiving day. I think it's a lot harder to stop, than it is to just keep doing what we do. I did hear the word addiction in lots of the comments and I can't say that that ever sounds like a healthy word.

I'll be back on the bike, maybe sooner than later. I honestly don't know what the future holds for me, but I do know how much I appreciate all the friendships and relationships that have come to me by being a semi fast old guy with a cool name, racing bikes in New England. I suppose I can thank Richard Fries for personally marketing me over the speakers at cross races for the better part of the last decade. Maybe I'll be back at the races, maybe not, but really....Thank You for all the good words and warm thoughts from every last one of you.

The second part of this post is extremely hard. It's a goodbye. No it's not a goodbye to cycling. It's a goodbye to a very good friend. His name is Dublin. He's a cat. I know what you guys are thinking, I'd probably be one of you. But.....theres always a but. He was special to me. A lot of you know or have met my significant other, Nancy. Well we were significant. I met Nancy in 2006 and shortly thereafter I met her baby boy, her Bubba Dubba. "Oh great, another chick with a cat" I thought. But he won me over in no time. He was just so warm, he wasn't spastic or too moody. He was truly an "Old Soul". He was always there when we came through the door, happy to see us even if we looked dirty or nasty. His brush ups in the kitchen or in the bathroom in the middle of the night on a pee break were special to us and they always came along with his purr. He would sometimes nibble toes and play an occasional game of swat with Nancy. He was 12 when I met him 17 now. He had diabetes, but she had that managed well for years. He'd have the occasional accident and then he'd go in for blood work to get him back on track. It was expensive, Nancy called him the million dollar kitty, but there was no way she could do anything else. She sacrificed a lot of things for herself to help him and she did it gladly. It wasn't always easy on her, but she knows now it was worth every last penny.

A few months ago he got distant and melancholy, the vet said he had cancer now, but he wasn't in pain. She knew her time with him was running out and she spent as much time as she could with him. Doding on him, telling him how handsome he was, how much she loved him. He seemed to understand, like always, and spent as much time as he could with her as well. It was really a love story.

Nancy and I hadn't been in touch for a few weeks. The last time I saw her and Dublin was the 2nd day of the Northampton races. I was running late in the morning and hurried off. In the car I realized I hadn't said goodbye to him like I should have because he was very sick now and losing weight as well as strength. I didn't say goodbye at all, because I was thinking about myself and bike racing. I got an email from her Sunday that said she hoped I was doing well, that she missed me and that she thought she should let me know that she was going to have to put him down the next day (Monday the 12th). Mondays are her day off. I replied at how sorry I was and how sad I felt. I pictured her at home spending time with him alone saying long teary goodbyes. My heart broke in two. For her, for him, for me. This part is hard to explain but we were trying to keep our distance from eachother and not communicate to make the split happen more easily, but thats been going on for a year now.

In the morning all I could think about was the two of them. I had finished up the job I was on on Saturday so I was just tying up loose ends. I wondered if he had already left us. I broke down and sent her a text. He was there, and having a good day too. They were together and I felt like a jerk for not being there, but I din't want to make it worse for Nancy either. She said she had a friend that was gonna go with her, because I said she'd be in no condition to drive. I said OK, but we kept texting. I said, just say the word and I'm in my car. Finally she did, and I sped off for RI. I didn't change my clothes, I looked like shit, but neither one of them would care about that.

When I walked in it was the saddest, hardest, most beautiful thing you could ever see. She sat there on the couch, tears running down her face with him on on her lap with the most peaceful expression on his face. He was purring, his beautiful little motor running as I kissed him. Tears just poured out of my eyes like they are right now as I write this. The thing that blew me away, that absolutely floored me, was that he knew. He knew it was almost all over and he was OK with it. He was so peaceful. I can't go into anymore detail tha this, I'm losing it here. But we were able to all spend some time together and I am so grateful for that. I got to say goodbye to my buddy and give him a propper burial. He's at Nancy's childhood home where her parents still live. He's in a nice sunny corner wher 2 fences meet, in the backyard, just like any cat would like. He's wrapped up warm in one of her cozy flannel massage blankets soaked in tears from two people that loved him, but the most important person in the world to him, Mumma, was with him to the very end, with him always and forever. I was simply a bystander. I could never touch that love they shared. That taught me a lot. THAT IS LOVE!!! Thats how you do it.

I drove home in a trance today. These next few weeks are gonna be hard on Nancy. Listen I know I got all soft and emotional on you here, but here's the thing, Nancy is an incredibly beautiful person inside and out. She's WAAAAAAAY too good for me. If you know her, even if you don't, please, just put her in your thoughts, send her good vibes to let her know that other good people care about her and her pain and her furry little buddy.

You can see from his picture that she didn't lie when she told him year after year, day after day, how "he was such a handsome boy". Goodbye Dublin. Goodbye Bubba Dubba. Thank You for being my friend. I love you. You will be missed so so much.

Thanks for reading, Jonny

At What Cost?

2011-11-20T13:45:00.001-05:00

If you're an older cyclist, you'll probably be able to relate to these thoughts. If you're younger, you'll probably brush it off, but some day, a long time from now, it might reverberate in your mind.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, about cycling, why I do it, why I love it, why I hate it, what it gives, what it takes, what it costs financially, emotionally, and physicaly.

I guess it started back in the summer when one of my heros and a good friend got hurt very badly in a mountain bike race. At first the news was just that he hurt his back and DNF'd. Then it turned into "it's pretty bad, he broke his back and got moved to a different hospital". Then it turned into "It's bad, he needs surgery", finally it became "It's very, very bad. He's lucky not to be paralyzed and he may never ride again". I don't think thats gonna be the case now, 13 weeks out from the accident, but all the emotions went through us at those moments when we heard the news.

There have been lots of bad crashes this year for the old guys. Several have had to be airlifted to hospitals. A lot of people don't think of me as an old guy, myself included because I don't feel old, and I can still go pretty good, but make no mistake about it....I am one of the old guys. I'm a lot closer to 50 than I am to having been 40....and 40 aint exactly young.

I told my friend Matty O "I never felt old, until I hit the ground at Providence". Laying there injured, and not sure if you can get up, your years make themselves known in a hurry. One of my teamates said to me "It couldn't have been that bad, you were going uphill, how fast could you have been going?" I've thought a lot about that and here's the thing. I was going as fast as I could, but it was probably only about 12 or 15 mph. It was a slight uphill into some wooden stairs. I screwed up my footwork at the last possible second to transition into running and just completely lost control of my body. I planted it onto the wooden stairs, face first. I didn't hit my face, but here's the thing, remember when Dale Earnhardt got killed at Daytona in a crash that didn't seem all that bad considering what those guys routinely walk away from? They determined that it was the sudden complete stop of momentum that made the impact so devastating. My crash was like that. I landed on hard wooden stairs with my thigh, rib cage and shoulder, all on the left side. The impact was so shocking, as I hit the ground before I even realized I was in a crash. There was nothing soft to hit at all. There was no slide, no tuck, no roll, no protective clench, just absorbtion.

I didn't know it, but my season ended right there. For the next few weeks I battled the pain and forced myself to train. Breakfast was usually a nice bowl of Advil and work was pure torture at times. My back was already very bad before the crash and the lack of mobility just made it worse. I felt like an 80 year old for days and days, just pathetic. Still I rode, I told myself it was just temporary and that I'd been through much worse, but there was something else wrong out there in the wind. My mind was on all the guys that have been injured lately, how they'd fare in recovery and more importantly in old age. Suddenly it seemed like every car that passed me, missed me by mere inches....and they did. It's brutal being a cyclist in America, at least where I live. People are so mean spirited just because they don't like guys in lycra. They drive 4" from my left leg at 50mph in 3 ton SUVs, with nothing preventing them from giving me a lot more room. How many people have driven by me totally shitfaced? How many were texting and looked up at the last second and swerved around me? When is my number up? Not "if" but "when"? I began to analyze my hobby and I decided that a fair description of what I do on a daily basis is essentially "PLAYING IN TRAFFIC". Thats my hobby...."PLAYING IN TRAFFIC". Does that seem like a good idea to you?

Maybe this is just my moment. I've had them before. But right now I hate it. I hate cycling. I hate that every fucking skinny douchebag racing a bike is on drugs. I hate that that makes our sport as a whole a joke, a laughing stock. I hate that it's something that gets into your soul and takes over your life. I hate that you can be riding along 1 minute enjoying the ride, the wind in your hair, life in general, and in an instant it can all be wiped away. I hate that we feel like we have to keep up with the insanely expensive technology by buying carbon everything, only to see it break 2months later. Who the hell can afford this sport? Not me. Not any more. Despite what some people seem to think, I'm not a rich man, it's not like my future and my retirement are all set. This behavior of spending all on this sport is downright irresponsible, and frankly stupid. At least for me. Some guys don't have to worry because it's a hobby that isn't breaking the bank for them. Good for you, you've worked hard in life to put yourself in that situation and you deserve whatever you want. I'm not jealous at all, I'm envious and also happy for you. So many guys that have achieved financial success are fat slobs that don't appreciate it. Not in this crowd.

The more I think about all these things, the more it makes sense to me. How much is enough? Am I happy with what I've achieved? Is doing the same thing more and more better than doing it just a few times? What am I trying to prove? Wouldn't it be nice to just be normal? Do I like driving all over New England week after week, month after month, year after year? Do I like getting home with 2 muddy bikes on a Sunday night while trying to get ready for the week ahead? Do I wanna spend my vacation dollars on a trip to Madison WI in friggen January? I hear Aruba is nice that time of year. The more I think about this, the more I realize just how retarded all this is.

But....theres always a "but".

What if I can win Natz or win Worlds? That'd be pretty cool. It is pretty cool, I've done both, but you know what....who gives a shit? 15 or 20 people might care about that and I'm not even sure I'm one of them. Being good enough to do really, really well is almost a curse. It's just amateur, master's racing but at the top level you're racing guys that all prepare just like pros. It's a MASSIVE commitment to get to that level, let alone knock them all off on the big day. Last year at cross natz I finished 3rd. The 2 guys in front of me had both previously ridden in the Olympics. At worlds I was focused on beating the defending World Champ, Marc Druyts. I did, and the Belgian National champ too, Mario Lamenns, but still I was 3rd. Marc is dead now. YES DEAD!!! He was riding home from a late summer road race when his heart stopped beating. He was my age. Now he's gone. He had children. Do you think his children think "I wish Pappa could have done a few more races before he died"? Of course not.

I don't know where I'm going with all this, but I keep getting questioned about what I'm doing. The truth of the matter is, I don't know. But it feels good to get this out here. I'm sure people will be dicks and call me a pussy and every other fucking thing. Thats fine, I guess thats what the internet is for huh? Anyway, I don't care. Walk a mile in my shoes some day, some week, then judge me.

Peace, JB

You Gotta Be Kidding Me!!!

2011-10-11T22:23:00.002-04:00

Green Mountain, Verge Series Race Weekend

2011-09-20T21:52:00.000-04:00

How did that happen? We're back in cyclocross season again already. I barely got my bikes together in time, and it felt more than odd to be ripping around on what felt like a road bike while not on the road. I got in a few days though before the race and by then it felt right as rain.

Green Mountain has never been my favorite venue to race at, but the beauty of the place is 2nd to none. It's always so nice to be there, but getting there is a different story. 4-1/2 hours drive time for me. I went up friday and got in a bunch of laps on the course just before dark. My good friend and teamate, David Rath and his family have welcomed me to stay with them for the last few years. It's super convenient, as it's only about 2 miles to the venue, if that. I think the dogs actually recognize me at this point.

This place is famous for the greuling climbs and saturday was no different. I came to the race a few pounds lighter this year and that seemed to help a lot. I can't say enough about how much Alan Atwood does for us at this venue, he also comped the entry fees for all the regional champions from last year's championship races. That meant I'd be racing for free, which is a huge bonus on such an expensive weekend. The guys at Verge are probably the nicest people I've ever met in all my sporting days.

The photo credit here goes to "Matty Ice".

Don & Mike made me a custom championship jersey skinsuit, complete with my Corner Cycle sponsor on the leg panels and red, white & blue banding at the collar, arms & legs. Thanks guys, YOU ROCK!!!

As you can see it gets pretty damn steep going up some of the climbs here, it makes for a good season opener, because everything else seems a little less hard after that. The races themselve's were tough and with newcomer to Master's racing in New England, Brian Willichoski on the line it wasn't gonna get easier any time soon. There was a big void however, my good pal Roger Aspholm is out for the season with some pretty serious injuries from a recent mountain bike race crash. He'll make a full recovery, but he has a long rehab in front of him. I can honestly say without a doubt, that I never would have come close to winning Nationals if it weren't for Roger. That guy pushes me to step up my game year after year. Racing him is just like racing at Natz. Top quality A1 athlete, that guy, and an even better person. We all miss having you at the races Rog, heal up soon.

I don't have time to go into a long race report, but I was able to win both days. On day 1 I had good legs and just followed Todd Bowden at the start, he absolutely crushed it and we gapped the field. When he faded a bit, I just kept going and that was it really. I got out to about 30 seconds or so, but then shut it down on the last lap to conserve for day 2 and also to be careful not to make any big mistakes. The gap at the line was only 7 seconds, but it wasn't that close. I sort of Cadilaced it in while Kevin and Brian sprinted it out behind me.

Day 2 was different. I didn't have the same legs at all, but I bet everyone felt that way. On the first lap a selection was made and Brian, Todd Bowden, his teamate Keith Gauvin and I made up the front group. That was it for the front spots, as the chase group never connected. About half way through the race I tried to crack the group with a pretty hard lap, we went down to 3 but it was mainly due to Keith having a miscue. I knew I wasn't gonna ride away from the other 2, as they looked strong and were riding very well. On the last lap, I attacked up the climb all the way to the barriers which were brutally hard to get over at the end of the long climb. From there it was a series of downhill chicane style corners into a fast sweeper that brought us into the finish straight. I kept the pressure on and just barely held off the other 2. Brian finished 2nd, and Todd 3rd.

I was pleasantly surprised to walk away with wins on both days, and a nice lead in the series. I'm not planning on defending it this weekend as the race is way back up in Burlington, VT again. I'm happy for the northern New Englanders that usually have to travel the farthest on average, but I'm gonna stay a little closer to home and support a couple of the small race promoters. After all they're part of the New England Cyclocross family as well. Then it's onto New England Worlds!

Thanks for reading, JB

Is It Just Me?

2011-09-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

I'm just sayin'.

Landmine Mountain Bike Race

2011-09-13T14:45:00.002-04:00

Landmine is a New England classic. Located in Wompatuck state park in Hingham, MA just south of Boston makes it geographically desirable for lots of people, me included. September also happens to be the best month of the year weather wise. Being part of the Rt. 66 series helps too. In fact this year it was the series final. Chris and Jill Logan put a ton of work and effort into this series and they deserve a lot of credit for that, Thanks you guys!

One of the interesting twists offered at Landmine is the Marathon class. This is 2 laps of the 25 mile loop. It doesn't sound that bad, but anyone who knows mountain biking, knows that 50 miles on a mountain bike in the woods is a BIG day. Not to mention the fact that Wompatuck is seriously boney with less dirt every year between the rocks and roots. There's also a fair amount of punchy climbs and plenty of physicality reqiured to maneuver the trails without losing momentum. I talked to a few guys about the marathon option and they seemed to think the regular 1 lap cross country race was a smart choice with cyclocross season right on the horizon. Indeed it would have been a smart choice. I'm not smart.

On the line for the start of the marathon I couldn't believe how many guys were lined up for a 50 mile, hard, boney, mountain bike race. It seemed like we had 35 or 40 guys. There was even a big group of cat 2,3 racers waiting to go just after our start. Several cat 2, 3 women raced the marathon distance. That is AWESOME! In total there were 475 racers there for one race or another on the day. That is huge! I love when mt. bike races have that kind of attendance (Weeping Willow in Ipswich comes to mind too). If there was a race like this every weekend all summer, I'd never go to a road race. Well thats probably not true either, cuz I loves me some good road racing and crit racing. Anyway, it was awesome to see so many people jazzed up for a mountain bike race.

At the whistle I took off like a shot practicing my cyclocross race start. We shot around the perimeter of the field that served as a parking lot and into the woods. I got to the woods first and kept the gas on all the way til we turned right into the singletrack. Shorty we came out to a section of pavement and I had a look to see who was there. There was CCNS rider on my wheel and then John Burns. That was it, the selection had been made....for now. The CCNS rider took to the front a little agressively and led for quite a while, he was pretty much drilling it and I knew it was pretty fast for a 50 miler. My intention had been to get separation and then ride a more controlled pace. He eventually made a mistake and threw his chain in a turn, and John took to the front. He was going just as hard so I just kept following. Eventually the CCNS rider got back, but it took a while, then he started to get gapped off here and there and soon he was off for good. John was steady with his power output weather it was uphill, technical, cart road or pavement. He was riding really well. He didn't ask me to pull through, he didn't attack, he didn't push the pace if I made a mistake but just kept doing his thing. Smart and steady.....and FAST.

The last 6 or 7 miles of lap 1 were a joy. I felt good, and had become super comfortable riding behind John. I took different lines in lots of places and they all worked out OK. Other times I followed directly. I was actually surprised when we popped out onto the field and we were half way done. Lap 1 was 1:51. We both stopped for new bottles and carried on our way. I told him to keep leading if he wanted since he was setting such a good tempo, he took right to it. About 15 minutes later I got a big warning sign. On a section where I clicked out to dab a foot for a balance check, I felt a cramp twinge through my right hamstring. Crap! It wasn't a full blown cramp, but it was definitely pulling and I was starting to feel them more and more throughout the legs. I was in a serious pre-cramped condition. I can actually ride for hours like this if it's just pedaling, but when it's technical rock gardens and I have to exert all of my leg strength at times, it isn't gonna be pretty for very long.

I guess we were about half way through the lap and it happened. We were passing lots of lappers and at the base of a rocky climb I had to dismount when I couldn't complete the pass that John had made. I had to hop off and the cramp pulled hard on the hamstring, it wasn't quite crippling yet, so I carried on. I wasn't really trying, but after a few minutes I managed to get back up to John. I honestly think he felt bad that the gap had formed because of a lapper and sort of eased up for me.

A little while later we both dismounted on another climb and when I went to remount....Jackpot! Full blown major siezure of my right hammy. I couldn't do a thing. I couldn't make it go away. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even see. It felt like someone had cut into my leg and clenched a pair of vice grips onto my hamstring muscles and then twisted agressively. Gawd it was awful! John was now gone for good, and I wondered if I was gonna have to walk out, or worse. Finally after a couple minutes of clutching onto a tree I was able to get up on a rock and sort of bring the bike beneath me. I pedaled with my left leg and shook out the right. I eventaully got it clipped into the pedal and could pedal easy. It worked itself out and went away for the time being, but I still had a long way to go. I went directly into survival mode. I didn't know how much of a gap we had, but I knew it was pretty big, but that I probably just lost most of it with that little episode.

Everything was going downhill inside my legs, which sucked because I still felt reasonably good everywhere else. It was amazing how differently I had to deal with some sections compared to 2 hours ago and a lap earlier. In yet another rocky section, I had a similar issue with my left hamstring. I was clutching away at it, when one of the lappers I just passed came up. I was tilting my head back with my eyes clenched shut, but I could hear him. I said "can't move, can't move", because I knew I was in the way. Again I lost a bunch of time, but eventually was able to carry on again. This was getting grim and I was ready to stop. I was pleased to come by the aid station and I thought it was pretty close to the end from my memory of the 1st lap. I came out onto the last road section and was actually feeling a little better after slowing down so much and also getting more gatorade in. At the top of the asphalt climb, I decided to look back. Not 50 meters behind me was my teamate Alec Petro, and he was crushing the pedals with me in his sights. Alec probably has more endurance than anyone in the field. I was glad it was my teamate, but of course we both wanted to beat eachother. The last section after entering the woods is 2 miles of pretty sweet singletrack. I knew the trail pretty well here and decided I'd just drill it until I cramped or crashed or finished. The new shot of adrenaline seemed to help me ignore the existing cramp issues and it was race on!

It turns out that right when Alec got me in his sights he broke his shifter, leaving him with only the little cog on the casette. I gapped him off a little only to crash when I crossed wheels with a lapper in sight of the field. That poor guy must have been like "What the heck, the finish is right there and you're riding like a maniac". I got it back together and luckily didn't cramp again. I went out onto the field and crossed the line TWO SECONDS ahead of Alec for 2nd place. Almost 4 hours of racing and we're friggen sprinting it out at the line. Unbelievable. I was thrilled to get 2nd place, because I wasn't gonna beat John no matter what.

When the results went up I was scored in 3rd about 20 seconds behind Greg Jancaitis. I knew this was wrong because no one ever passed me. I went over to Jill Logan and explained the situation to her. She said she'd track down Greg (who I've never even met) and see what was up. I went to my car and got some food. When I came back Jill waved me over to the table where she was talking to Greg. She had already told him what I had said. He just said, "I passed you when you were clutching at your hamstring in that rock garden". TALK ABOUT EMBARESSING! I just said "Oh shit, ya that was definitely me". I just put out my hand and said "nice ride". Greg was super cool about it, I think he saw my embarresment, and I felt like an idiot for saying "no one passed me". To further prove how good of a guy Greg is, he was one of the two riders that stopped to look after Roger Aspholm until help arrived, when he crashed in the Hampshire 100 a few weeks ago. Not thinking twice about his own race when a fellow athlete was injured. Thats as good as it gets in my book. Mountain biking is like that by and large. Everyone always looks to help out others in need.

So 3rd place overall. Oh well, still good to be on the podium with all the youngsters. Now it's on to the real season....Cyclocross.

See ya in the dirt, JB

Nice Night

2011-09-11T18:50:00.001-04:00

So I'm sitting out on my deck on a beautiful late summer night. My legs are destroyed from racing mtn. bikes today, and I'm enjoying a nice Sam Adams Octoberfest. The birds are all over the feeders and in the bird bath singing up a storm......and that reminded me of one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.......this.

So You Think You Can Ride huh?

2011-09-10T17:24:00.000-04:00

Check out this sick run. When you watch it the 2nd time, really listen to the commentators. They're outa their minds!

For My Mountain Bike Peeps

2011-08-31T22:33:00.000-04:00

Enjoy!

The Line - the movie from Marco Toniolo on Vimeo.

Topsfield Circuit Race

2011-08-30T16:53:00.000-04:00

Man, do I want this one back!

With Irene looming, it seemed like everyone wanted to get in a race before we had to deal with things like downed trees, power outages and yard clean ups. The field was stacked with good regional cat 1s and 2s as well as some of the stronger masters around. Over 110 riders on a lumpy 4.6 mile circuit with some really fast downhills meant everyone wanted to be at the front. Luckily we had a rolling closure of the roads. The first couple laps were nervous and sketchy as everyone got familiar with the turns and descents. There were more than a couple close calls. The problem here is that if there was a problem on one of the descents, it was gonna be a big, bad problem. Luckily there were none.

My plan was to be patient and save my matchbook for later when this race would get really hard. The thing is though, it was going really hard at times and guys were in trouble all over the place. Also, an early break had gone the last couple of years with a few ccb riders in it and that was it.....curtains. I started to think that would be the case today the way things were going.

After a fair amount of pressure over the back of the course, I guess about 3 laps into the 11-1/2 lap race, we came into an uphill left hander where it kicks up pretty good. I shot out of the bunch and drilled it up the hill to the top. A quick look back told me I had 2 guys with me. One was from 1K2GO and the other from CCNS. They both pulled through and we bombed into a gravity cavity (steep downhill followed by a steep uphill). The field had all the momentum and by the top of the hill we were caught. I knew it was doomed without a ccb guy in there. There were about 25 of those guys in the race it seemed, which makes sense, since it's promoted by Geoff Hamilton and the ccb team.

The next few laps was some great racing, guys were drilling it all over the place and the front 20 or so guys kept recycling to the front either attacking or chasing or trying to bridge to something. It was pretty hard and I didn't do a good job with the fluid intake. Plus I was torching matches at an alarming rate. I was starting to think it might stay together all the way now, even though there was alot of agression. I slid back in the bunch a little to sit out a lap of the fireworks and noticed several strong riders that hadn't been up front firing off bullets. They were being smart and economical. Fuckers! I realized I had no chance whatsoever with my legs in the hurt locker if we came to the end with these guys sitting here nice and fresh. Time to flick them.

With 3 laps to go I worked my way back up to the front of the bunch, just then 2 guys took a flyer, they were moving well, sharing the work, and ccb strongman Paul Richard took to the front in chase mode. All along the false flat backside he drilled it, with me on his wheel. I just about came off the wheel twice, he was going so hard. Just as we hit the uphill left hander he nailed them back and there was a sit up. I knew if everyone was as blown as I was from that hard tempo that Paul did, that it'd be the perfect time to hit out.

With the adrenaline that comes from knowing you're going to attack, I was able to crush it all the way to the top, but I was smashed when I got there. A quick look showed me what I wanted to see, a ccb rider, Famous Amos Brumble and also Bobby Bailey from 1K2GO. Pretty good company, and a huge gap back to the field, it had worked. Everyone was crosseyed from Paul's effort that there must not have been a reaction to the 3 of us. The most important part was that we had a ccb rider. No move was going anywhere without one of them.

Amos pulled through immediately, instead of playing defense like so many master's riders do. He drilled it so hard that I couldn't get on. Bobby and I actually took a couple pulls for each other just to get back up to him before the descent. We powered up the other side and it looked good. Amos went so friggen hard down the hill that he gapped me off and I probably have 40 lbs. on him. Near the bottom, he flicked the elbow for someone to pull through. I was trying, but still wasn't quite there yet after my hard attack. Bobby realized this and went to go around me to take a pull, but I was moving over too. We banged into each other at 40 mph. Have you seen Bobby Bailey? The guys is built like a brick shithouse. Both of us handled the contact just fine and it was understood that it was accidental and we went about our business of trying to make this jailbreak stick.

A few others were able to bridge up, and then a few more. I was a little discouraged that so many made it, but it was still worth it, and not everyone, but some guys were still drilling it. It looked good. Of course Dylan McNicholas (ccb) and Al Donahue (NCC-JAM) made it as well as "good ole boy" Tyler Munroe (ccb) and another 1K2GO rider, a CCNS rider, a Sunappee rider, Bill Yarbroudy (NBX), and John "Badass" Bedassa (Arc en Ciel). If you haven't heard of John yet......you will soon. Best I can tell he has no chinks in the armour, and can just about snap the cranks off the bike.

It was hard in the break, with 2 to go I thought we might be able to crack off some of the dead wood going up the climb, but it didn't happen. I wanted a top 5 or 6 result, maybe better. It looked good....Until the last lap when my good old friend, the "big C" reared its ugly head. On the bell lap, I had cramps shoot through my legs on 2 of the climbs, nothing I couldn't live with, but sprinting usually doesn't go so well in that situation. Crap!

Coming into the uphill finish, I was in a perfect spot, sitting 4th or 5th wheel with Tyler on the front just keeping it fast into the last turn. We flew around the corner and never came close to touching the breaks. Perfect! I knew we had to go from there and I stood up to charge like everyone else. Dylan had a sharp jump and pretty much sealed the deal right there. "Angry Legs Yabroudy", and "Badass" went flying by in a flash. I just had to kick it in for the best finish I could get, but my legs instantly siezed and it simply wasn't gonna happen. Now I was in the way. Everyone flew by as I sank deeper into the quicksand. I finished 12th, which sucked considering the opportunity that was there.

If I played my hand a little differently in a few key spots, things could have been different. Oh well, at least I laid it all out there, and at least those guys sitting in the pack waiting to kill it on the last 1/2 a lap didn't get to come out to play, small victory there I guess.

Thanks for stopping by, JB

Peak Adventures - VT 30 mile MTB Endurance Challenge(aka 666)

2011-08-21T23:11:00.005-04:00

OK, so that title is a little confusing. At first glance I thought it was part of the Rt. 66 series. Then I assumed it was a 30 mile race, kinda long but not too bad. Then I clicked on it, on bikreg, and saw that it was also called a 6 hour race. Hmmmm? This was gonna take some checking out. There was no "confirmed rider" list, so I couldn't ask anyone what was up, so I emailed the promoter. It turns out this used to be a 6 mile loop and riding 5 loops was quite a feat. So they thought maybe people could do 6 in 6 hours and go beyond the 30 mile mark. I guess they added another 6 because they knew it'd be hell.

There's more to the story. This place is privately owned land and the owner is an endurance junkie with plenty of money to burn, so he set out to create the coolest Mt. bike trails around. Well I have to say he succeeded wildly! I got a little background by asking the race director, Jason, all of my curious questions. It turns out they used a small excavator to cut benches into the side of the mountain for miles and miles. It's been ongoing for years now and the result is phenominal.

The main feature is bermed 180 degree turns. I'm not lying, there must be 400 - 500 of these babies. The material that makes up the soil up there is largely clay with tons of small busted up shale. In other words the most perfect material for building berms ever. There are also numerous wooden bridges and other man made features that seemlessly blend into the landscape.

This one had a wooden ramp run in. The fun factor on this 20 minute descent is a 10! Some of the berms are as tall as 10' on the back sides. If your brakes ever failed, you'd probably launch into orbit. The best part about this place is that it's free to ride whenever you want to, and they'd love to see you there. You can see some of the turns on that map, but trust me, it doesn't do it justice compared to what you'll see if you go.

The reason I found this race was that I wasn't thrilled with the $135 entry fee for the other mountain bike race in town. I blame Battenkill's promoter for this recent phenominon of races being ridiculously expensive just to enter, never mind the rest of the costs associated with this hobby. It's turning into triathlon, which is a sad, sad day. So while all of my faithful readers know, I like to support the small races and their promoters, I pulled the trigger and entered this race that cost $40 and included T-shirts and a pig roast post race feed in a really cool and laid back barn/farm atmosphere. There was also a $100 KOM/QOM award along with $250 to the male and female winners.

I drove up Friday and did a course recon. I almost shit! First of all I couldn't believe the enourmous playground that someone had clearly designed specificly for mountain biking, but also for how friggen hard it was gonna be. As fun as it is to bomb down a mountain into 180s with huge berms, it takes a lot of upper body strength and hand pressure to drive it, especially if you want to stay agressive to keep the fun as high as possible. The initial climb went on for an hour, and I finally popped out onto the treeless peak to be rewarded with phenominal views.

Once again the pictures don't do justice to the views I had up there. So that would be the KOM line. At race pace it'd still take close to 40 minutes, maybe even more. I sort of thought it'd drop right back down to the start, but the course has been lengthened to almost 9 miles over the last few years. There was a rolling section at the top that required a lot of physicality. Greeeeat! Then the Down hill started and it was glorious. Finally, at the bottom we got deposited into a field that gave you the first legit drinking area, only to face 2 hard, steep dirt road ramps that bring you back to the start finish. Which is at Amee Farm right on the world famous Rt. 100 in Pittsfield, VT.

At 8:45 we had a pre race meeting and there was maybe 75 or 80 of us. The start would be LeMans style. Great, I wanted to do some running before 6+ hours of mountain bike racing on a savage mountain. The way the end works is that whoever goes the farthest in 6 hours wins. Well thats a little confusing to determine a clear cut winner. If I roll in after 5 hours and 50 minutes and 2nd place rolls in 2 minutes later on the same lap, then I win.... right? Wrong. You can start another lap as long as you're under 6 hours at that point.

We had to run around part of the farm to spread the field out before we jumped on bikes and started right into the single track. I put my bike as far away as possible, right at the entrance to the single track. I had to run further yes, but once I got my bike I didn't have to worry about someone screwing up in front of me. It was really silly looking at the start. A bunch of cyclist with gear packed all over their bodies for a 6 hour greulathon, complete with helmets, camel backs, pumps and all sorts of shit sticking out of pockets sprinting around greenhouses and compost piles. What a bunch of wierdos!

At the horn 2 guys took off like a shot. One was a big dude that seemed to be going a bit too hard. He went about 75 meters and then started to slow up. When I passed him he was breathing hard enough to melt ice. The next guy was running kind of duck footed, with a frame pump bouncing around in his jersy's back pocket. I decided to pass him too, before it fell out and tripped me up. In my back pocket, I could hear my CO2 cartridges clinking around. I got to my bike and bolted onto the trail 1st. Mission 1 was complete. The next goal was to go as hard as I needed to go to win the KOM, and then to shut'er down to conserve for what was gonna be a long hard day.

Chris Gagnon (Mt.Bikemind) put up strong resistence to this plan. It took a good 20 minutes of hard riding to put a gap into him, but I still had a long way to go. He wasn't letting up, I could constantly moniter the gap on all the switchbacks. I got up there and took the preme, and immediately shut it down. Chris joined me a few minutes later where we did introductions and chit chatted a bit. He was going good, and I had NO intention of pressing him. After all, I just went really deep and was covered in sweat and mud with the heat of the day coming up, and oh ya, we had more than 5 hours to go.....or so I thought. In reality I had more than 6 hours left to go.

Chris went well for the remainder of that lap. I stayed on his wheel and took a bottle out of my self feeder at the start finish line. He went harder than I wanted to up the climb and I was a little concerned about it. I was gonna let him go for a bit, but I found myself on his wheel again when he made a small mistake. When we got to the top, he stopped at the aid station to fill a bottle and I kept going. I never saw him again. I rode the downhill fast, just because it's so friggen fun (before your arms cramp). I took another bottle at the s/f line and headed up the hill again. It was a little after 11, so the 2 fastest laps of the day took more than 2 hours. I did the math in my head and didn't like the answers I was getting. I didn't exactly train for something this extreme, and I was hoping to squeak by doing as little as possible. I took it super easy on the climb this time up and kept looking for Chris, but I couldn't see him. Up near the top though, I saw another guy that clearly wasn't lapped. He was in ccb kit and he looked solid. You can pass right by eachother by 100 feet or so and be 3 minutes apart on some parts of the course. This was one of those spots. I din't panic, but it definitely gave me pause. Over the top I was in good shape, but just after that, on my least favorite section, I saw him on one of the opposite switchbacks. Holy shit! He's right there now. "OK time to ride JB, you took it easy all the way up, so you should be able to go hard for a while". I did that and then ripped the downhill. I fell off one of the wooden bridges at one point, but recovered well.

At the start of lap 4 I couldn't see him, so I decided to conserve again. I rode the climb at a reasonable pace and kept looking for him. I didn't see him except for long stretches where I could see 4 or 5 switchbacks back. At the top, I needed to fill my bottle up and the gatorade just wasn't flowing fast enough out of the spigot. I finally topped off and got going again. Then on one of the 1st turns in the section I was now starting to hate, I looked over and he was 15 feet away from me, but he still had to go around the muddy turn I had negotiated 10 seconds earlier. I couldn't believe it. This was starting to feel like a horror flick where the relentless monster just won't stop chasing you. I paniced a bit and started riding as hard as I could. Of course I made mistakes all over the place, and the course was starting to deteriorate quite a bit as well. Not to mention I'd been racing for over 4 hours now.

I managed to somehow put some time on him, and then fell off the same stupid bridge again. I felt cramping as I put my foot down to avoid the crash, and thought, "this is starting to go badly". On the descent it's a little harder to check on him because I had to look up instead of down, but of course I was still doing it.....until I almost smucked a tree when I should have been looking at the trail. That sort of shocked me into focusing on myself a little better and committed to doing my own thing as well as I could and stop worrying about him. But make no mistake, he was on my mind.

The bottom of the descent was my favorite part. There was one spot where I could finnaly let it go a bit and speeds were easily 30+ mph. I shot another gel, and battled up the 2 climbs going out of the field and took another bottle at the s/f line. I also reloaded my self feeder. I guess I finally got my shit together, because lap 5 was maybe my best of the race. Definitely not as fast as laps 1 or 2, but my best in terms of managing myself. I rode smart and clean. I knew smoothness was the key to saving energy. At the top I had a solid lead again and I was looking forward to the descent. Of course I messed up the same bridge again. When I say I fell off of it I don't mean that I crashed. You know when your line is bad and the balance isn't gonna correct it in time, without wiping out, so you jump the bike off, down into the mud and rocks instead of going off like a cat out the window. Theres always a chance you could crash doing that and it seems to be an ideal spot for cramps to make their presence known. That happened this time. My left hamstring turned into a clenched fist, complete with blinding pain. I tried to stretch it out the best I could, but after 5+ hours, that doesn't do much. Somehow I got it to stop and and continued on the descent.

Near the bottom, I remember my eyes feeling like they were sinking into my head. That's because they were. It's when you run out of carbs, fuel, and fat and your body starts burning muscle for energy. Lovely! I was sort of hoping that was gonna be enough to clinch it, but I feared the math I had done earlier in the day. Just before the last climb I passed a guy with a watch on, so I asked him what time it was. 2:40 was the answer. Just what I figured. If I stop now, then the horror movie monster will surely ride up the hill into the sunset taking the win with him.

I stopped at my cooler and had to fill a bottle with water, and grab 2 more gels. My friend Glen was sitting there in his chair with a few other people around and he asked why I was doing another lap. As I was trying to explain it to him, my hammy siezed up again and I dropped the bottle I just filled with my last electrolyte in it. I saved half of it and topped it off again. He was still quizzing me, when I said, "I gotta go".

I was almost resentful of having to do another lap. I considered that he might not have started the 6th lap, and that I was in fact already the winner. I actually considered waiting on one of the switchbacks to see if he was coming, and if he didn't, then I'd know he didn't start another lap and I could just ride down and park it. But I did know. I knew he was just around the corner tailing me from just out of sight, like a good horror movie monster would do. Waiting to actually see him would only increase my fear and shorten my lead. I had to commit to another 70-80 minutes of this torture. I was seeing spots now, and the trail had deteriorated to complete rubbish in places. I was burning muscle and my bike was completely caked in thick mud from the 3 or 4 short mud sectoins on the course. Good Times!

I didn't have much choice on this last lap about effort output, because some of the sections were all I could do to get up there. I thought back to flying up them 6 hours earlier with Chris and that seemed like 1000 years ago. I kept looking back for the monster, but didn't see him 'til one of those really long view sections I mentioned. The gap was solid and barring accidents I should be able to hold it, but this was clearly thin ice territory and anthing could happen. At this point whoever gets to the line 1st is the winner. I feared the worst from the cramps, so I wisely dismounted for tough sections rather than trying to dig into muscles that were clearly already pissed at me, and for good reason too!

Near the top, I heard an engine running. I knew what it was. The guy that had been on top of this mountain all day, at the kom/aid station, was getting off of it on his quad. It's funny when I get this far gone, that I actually realize to myself that I'm still having coherent thoughts running through my warped brain....almost like I shouldn't. I just hoped he wouldn't run me over. He tip toed around the corner, just in case there was a rider there, he left me a line and said there's still water up there if you need it. That was good news, because I was planning on it, and he had one of the two, 10 gallon coolers on the back of the quad. I got up there and tried to fill my bottle, but there was only a weak trickle coming from it. I knew I had to use my other arm to lean the cooler toward me, but I can't tell you how impossible that seemed. I chose not to as I could barely lift my arm off the handlebars. I settled for half a bottle and carried on. I was starting to panic a little in the section I had grown to loathe, that I might see Mr. ccb stalking me, but he didn't pop into view on any of my feared sections. I just had to get to the descent without cramping. I had the dreaded tricky bridge left between me and the start of the descent. I obsessed about it, of course. We all know thats the perfect way to botch it, which I did. My legs cramped almost everywhere when I had to make my best attempt at athleticism to avoid the crash, but it was so widespread that it was almost better than having one specific spot attacked by the big C.

I got back rolling again, knowing that I was in serious trouble and on my last few breaths of sporting life. Soon, no more would be possible. I died 1000 deaths on the downhill berms. What was tons of fun all day was now terror filled, running for your life with even my arms cramping now, in my triceps. I could feel the huge blisters under my gloves throbbing. I had 10,000 little scratches from all the thorn bushes lining the course on my sunburned, old man's skin. I had mud in my eyes, ears, nose, sphincter and every other place you can think of. My shoulder blades felt like 1 continuous piece of steel welded to my neck and spine like gussets on the Golden Gate Bridge. My bike weighed 1000 lbs, and I swear there was a grand piano hovering over my head in the sky, just waiting for the perfect moment to crush me. It was friggen glorious! I saw the monster on one of the switchbacks overhead, and I thought to myself..."of course, how could it be any other way?" He had gained considerable time on me YET AGAIN, and 1 mistake would be catostrophic. I may have forgotten to mention the fact that the winner gets $250 dollars and the 2nd placed rider gets ZERO. Ya, that would really suck to lose in the last 5 minutes of what was now close to 7 hours of racing. These sorts of races are usually separated by huge time gaps, but no....I got to race and strategize for 7 hours straight.

I bombed the last fun part of the descent onto the field. I waited a bit to look back and there coming out of the woods was my monster, only a couple hundred meters behind me.....if that. I still had the last 2 brutal dirt road ramps to polish off. I didn't look back on the first one, but half way up the last one, I looked back to see him at the bottom. At the top I looked again, he was half way up. I knew I had it now. I would normally have put in a little pace to close the deal and cross the line with some sort of speed and style, but I simply couldn't. I limped along the last 200 meters and crossed the line. The horror movie monster, who turned out to be Kurt Schmid crossed the line 10 seconds later. After 6 hours and 52 minutes of racing the winning gap was 10 seconds. You gotta be absolutely shitting me, right?

We shook hands, and then I tried to get off my bike. That didn't go too well, but I finally managed. Most of the pig was already eaten by everyone else who had been finished for hours. I ate my first bite of solid food in 8 hours. It was a pile of cookies with m&ms as chips. I can't tell you how delicious those were. In the race, I drank about 10 or 12 bottles, mostly gatorade with electrolytes, some water and about 12 gels. I'd definitely try to drink more next time and try to get some solid food in as well.

UPDATE: Here's a cool video of the first few minutes from the start from Steve Segenchuk. Thanks Steve!

This type of racing isn't for everyone, and I'm not sure it's for me, but you don't have to do this race to enjoy these trails. They're eager to spread the word about what they've got there, and I'm trying to help with that here. If you consider yourself a serious mountain biker or trail runner, then you owe it to yourself to go check this place out. You won't be sorry.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. JB

Happy Days Are Here Again

2011-08-18T20:45:00.000-04:00

In Stores now.

Oh Man, He Did It Again

2011-08-16T10:15:00.002-04:00

Another Very Sad Day

2011-08-14T02:01:00.000-04:00

I just got home and received an email from a friend that Marc Druyts had passed away today in Belgium. Marc was a serious stud on the cross bike. He was 4 times world champion, including 2010 when I was 3rd. He was twice 2nd and once 3rd.

I know he has children because I heard little ones saying "Go Pappa" when we were racing this past January (2011) also in Mol at the Master's World Championships for Cyclocross. He was a bit of a gruff guy on the exterior, at least to me maybe thats just because I'm an American, and I couldn't blame him for that. But make no mistake about it, we've lost a great champion today. RIP Champ......RIP.

Tour Of The Catskills

2011-08-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

I can't even begin to tell you how effin hard this event was, but I'll try. Last year it was very hard, with a 2 mile uphill tt prolouge, then a very tough hilly road race on stage 2, followed by another 100k road race on Sunday that went up the famous Devil's Kitchen Climb with grades as steep as 28%.

This year was easily twice as hard.

The tt was 12 miles over beautiful pavement, and rolling hills with long consistent grades. It finished with a nasty little 200 meter uphill kick on the driveway going up to Hunter Mountain Ski Area. Stage 2 was the new Devil's Kitchen stage and it was longer, hotter and way, way hillier. Stage 3 was similar to last year until we got over the first, seemingly endless 10k climb to the first KOM. Then we found a new route back that included more climbing, including one particular ramp that was just insane. To me the pitch seemed steeper than anything on the Devil's Kitchen climb. It didn't go on as long, but it was more exposed and it was in the low 90's out there with direct sun beating down on us. After that the last 12 miles were extremely lumpy and we ultimately finished on another ski resort driveway. In case you haven't noticed, ski resort driveways are usually pretty steep hills, especially when you're cracked out of your mind and body!

Bill and I drove out Friday morning and we really tried to bring as much pre-cooked food with us as we could to save money while we were there and also not get into any situations where our recovery depended on the service at a restaurant. It also eliminated the unkown, in terms of how good the food would actually be. We got to the hotel and checked in to find a sweet, spacious double room with eating area, fridge, and big bathroom with jacuzzi. We got everything unloaded and organized for the TT, which we could ride to, from the hotel.

Stage 1 went well for me. It was pretty straight forward, I'd like to see a little more technical aspect to it, but it was gonna be hard with some hot, dry wind kicking up. I went out easyish and let the effort come to me. In no time there was much suffering and agony, and I found that sweetspot where I knew I could tolerate the self torture. Thats a little sick huh? Well anyway, thats how you do it. If you can't self inflict agony, you'll never be any good at tt's. I started 4th from the beginning (so much for the defending champ going last) that meant only 3 targets to chase down. I finished them off just after the turn around. Then it was just me against me the rest of the way. I saved a little tiny something for the final assault on the steep run in and crossed the line in a full out of the saddle sprint. 25:18, good enough for the leader's jersey by a scant 8 seconds over tt/stage race rival Fred Thomas out of Maine. 3rd was 40+ master's new comer Erin Korff, and 4th was another stage race rival out of Canada, David Gazsi. The rest of the usual suspects were over a minute back, including Dan Staffo who is on a bloody tear this year. That time held up as the fastest time of the day until after 7:30 pm when the tail end of the PRO field took to the course. It had cooled down quite a bit, and the wind had laid down too. Only 3 guys cracked 25 and my 25:18 would have been good enough for 7th. I always wish I could race the tt in the PRO race, but thats where it stops. I have no desire to race 100 mile, mountaineous stages with 23-33 year olds that train, eat and sleep, all day, period.

I didn't get the chance to catch up with Dan Staffo the day before, but at the start of stage 2 I saw him and could instantly see why he had been absolutely ripping it up all year. He had cut some weight, not a lot, because he wasn't a big guy before. But he was extremely lean and the look in his eyes was ultra clear and content. He exuded a quite confidence, and easy smile as we exchanged pleasantries, since we hadn't seen each other since Cross season last year. The deep tan on his legs said one thing to me. "I've been riding a ton". I knew instantly he was a serious threat for the overall.

As if stage 2 wasn't hard enough based on all the rumblings and the course profile, not to mention the enourmous planet on fire beating down on us from overhead, guys thought it was a good idea to be super agressive. 5 minutes after being let out of the neutral roll out, my heart rate was pinned chasing the first attack from Carl Reglar that would be the first of approximately 35 or 40. Carl doesn't have a lot of snap when he attacks, but he's the energizer bunny when it comes to long break aways. He's done it a bunch of times and stuck it quite a few times too, which usually earns him a high place on GC, even though his tt is way below the rest of his game. With the amount of steep climbs and high heat on the docket, most would be content to be patient, but the few that wanted to go hard made it hard for everyone. I simply couldn't let Carl get away, so I sat on his wheel and followed all 40 attacks.....all friggen day long. Of course it get's obnoxious at some point, but at the end of the day I had to tip my hat to him just for being willing to try so hard, when so many guys are the exact opposite.

Late in the race, after lots of the hard early climbs were over, Todd Cassan from Westwood attacked and there was no reaction. A little while later 2 guys went up the road after him. Still no reaction. Bill and I were at the front pulling hard. At one point he came through and I stopped pedaling hard and let him go. When he looked back I signaled him to take off, and he did. Max Lippolis shot up to him and maybe 1 more guy too. Now Bill was up the road with 3 or 4 non threats to GC, so I wasn't obligated to pull. Carl had shot all his bullets and was now in the middle of the pack trying to be ready for Devil's Kitchen. I sat 3rd wheel behind Staffo. On a short climb, he snapped out and I made the split second decision not to respond because it was the sort of acceleration that would definitely have burned a match and made me a lot more suceptible to cramps later on. He was over a minute down after the tt, and I figured everyone knew how serious a threat he was and that they would chase, gradually. That way I wouldn't have to work and would actually have a small advantage if he was caught.

Well I guess they didn't consider him a threat, or they thought I would chase. But I don't chase my teamates. Sitting on a rider trying to bridge is different, but that ship had sailed. It was time to be patient and let it play out, and not look worried. Fred Thomas eventually went to the front and worked hard with a couple other guys helping out, but it certainly wasn't 100%. Still I felt like I had forced the hand of one of the most favored guys to win it all, (Fred). Thats why bike racing is so awesome. In triathlon, the strongest guy wins. In bike racing the smartest guy wins....but not always, anyone reasonably strong can win with some smarts.

Well it didn't play out like I hoped. I was hoping to force the other contenders to burn some matches and then all start the climb together. A pretty tall order when you're in the leader's jersey, but not impossible with a strong, loyal teamate, which I have in Wild Bill. Dan did that, but was rewarded with over a 90 second head start on the climb. The others (in the break) weren't a serious threat for the GC. Fred burned some matches on the run in. David Taylor, David Gazsi and Erin Korff were ominously quiet all day. I had definitely torched a ton of matches chasing Carl all damn day, but I had taken care of myself well and was still feeling a little snappy. Plus I just love this shit, so I was having a good time either way.

The climb is quite obvious as to where it actually begins. It sort of looks like the side of a building. It doesn't take long at all to see who has it. Maybe a minute, probably less. Fred and Erin went to the front and set hard tempo right away. The way I climb, I need a minute to establish the new rythm and make sure I don't start out too hard. I settled in just behind them by a couple bike lengths, and quickly reconized the breathing tendancies of David Taylor next to me. I didn't have to look, I knew it was him. I've given Dave a bunch of shit in the past for his tactics in break aways and just when the races are getting super hard, but the bottom line is that the guy is a stud, with no real weakness except maybe for sprinting. In case you haven't noticed, sprinting isn't real important in hilly stage races with uphill finishes. Anyway, thats how well I know the other guys, I can tell by his breathing who's there.

We worked well off eachother for a long way, up over the worst part of the climb and it lessened in pitch. Just then we went by Bill and he still looked pretty solid. Thats the exact spot where I dropped him (Taylor) last year and I thought the rest of the climb wasn't all that bad. Bad memory, bad tactics. I surged just a little thinking there was a relief point just around the corner, but in actuality it was where it kicked up again to probably 18% or so. Now I was in oxygen deficit on an 18% ramp. How do you recover from that? I'm pretty sure you can't but I had to try. That meant watching Dave ease by and slowly creep away by a few bike lenghts. I stayed within myself and actually felt a slight recovery. Just then Fred fell away from Erin. This all played out just meters in front of me as it takes 20 seconds or so to go just a tiny distance. Dave got with Erin and I went by Fred who was all of sudden popping like popcorn. I knew I was on the razor's edge of doing the same, but tried to listen to my body's signals. I was in seriuos agony, but I was ok to continue. Now Erin and Dave were working well together and there was a short respite before we hit another super steep ramp. This climb goes on forever. I was in no mans land as the 2 went over the top and out of sight while I battled for another 30 seconds.

The strongest guy in the race (Dan Staffo) was off the front alone, and then there was Cary Moretti, who was in the original break away, then Erin and Dave who were working together of course, then me. I couldn't see anyone behind me. There was about 8 rolling miles to the finish. Time to suffer and do the best damage control I could. Erin and Dave caught, and dropped Cary. I battled cramps and fatigue all the way into town and even sprinted my ass off against no one for 5th place on the day. The remnants finished another 25 seconds back or so, then there was pure carnage. Guys drifting in, in ones and twos all over the place. It looked like one of those charity rides.

When the dust settled I had saved 3rd place by 2 stinkin' seconds over Taylor. My sprint was well worth it. Dan was in yellow, Erin was in 2nd, me 3rd, Taylor 4th, Thomas 5th, Gazsi 6th, with more strong guys close behind. Uber competitive!

With cramps throughout our entire lower extremities, Bill and I drove back to the hotel. We were detoured because of the race finish onto a pretty sweet road (they're all sweet out here) and we saw 2 black bears run a cross the road in front of us. Way Cool! The next step was an ice jacuzzi bath followed by 17 hours of laying around on the beds and eating and drinking everything in sight. I was pumped for Sunday, but was still a bit anxious about how I had heard that Sunday's stage was harder than Saturday's. That didn't seem possible, but I knew it was true. There was a steady ominous rain that had started soon after we got back, it rained into the night as we fell asleep.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, with the wetness steaming from the earth as the mercury climbed by the minute. The hotel was 100% full of bike racers and everyone had the same look on their face. Sort of a combination of anxiety, pain, concern, fear and dread, all trying to be masked by stoic calmness. Yup, we're a bunch of wierdos alright!

We loaded the car with everything, since we'd leave right from the race for home. That was an added nusance, but a necessary one. The start is at the top of the hill next to the lodge at Windham Mountain Ski Area. Warming up was not plausible, since you'd have to coast down the rough driveway and then load up your legs climbing back up. No Thanks. I rode from the car to the start line for a 200 foot warm up. We started and rolled out neutral, when the they waved the flag for race on, Carl Reglar attacked. UGH! It was a long steady false flat uphill and when I stood up to follow the acceleration of the field, the back of my right hamstring contracted into a cramp. Greeeeaaaat! I'm one mile into an atrocious 100k stage and I'm cramping. You gotta be shitting me. I convinced myself that it was just the residual crap left over from yesterday, and that with some steady blood flow it'd be fine. I didn't need to be drilling it right at this moment though. It seemed the field felt the same way and Carl got himself away with one other guy. He was drilling it and so were we. Dan was on the front crushing it and I started to smile, because with so much going on, I had forgot to consider that he had a tough day ahead covering moves. After a few minutes my legs felt much better and I stood up and took a few digs to make sure the cramp wasn't gonna come back. I was fine for now.

Carl hung out there and I visualized another one of his all day moves making it to the line. So I attacked and went across. I felt great actually and we started drilling it straight away, but the other guy wouldn't work. Then we hit a 6 mile descent. Ya, we got caught. 1 match burned. We hit lots of hills, just like yesterday. Around here, they're not really hills, but climbs. Long brutal pitches in 39-28 or 26 gears with lots of heat became the norm. We rolled into the first KOM climb thats at least 10k long. Bill had taken a flyer with Erin's teamate and we thought that was a great tactic, but Dan just slowly ramped up the pace with a long patient pursuit and as we worked into the climb they were dangling in front of us. Bill dropped the other guy and for the next 7 or 8k he hung just in front of us as the field was finally content to take one of the climbs off. Dan and I actually sat at the front laughing and joking with New England good guy, Eric Gutbier and a few others. Bill survived to take maximum kom points, but Dan flexed his shiny muscles near the top and just rode the rest of us off, to essentailly clinch the kom competition for the weekend.

Lots of rollers filled the miles ahead, until we took an obscure left turn into a wooded section. It wasn't super steep right away, but you got the feeling it was about to get ugly. Ugly was a serious under statement, it got down right sickening. We rolled off a slight downhill, around a corner and there in front of us was the most vicious looking wall of pavement I've ever seen. Including the world famous "Beast" in St. Thomas back in my triathlon days. I can't even really comprehend how they got asphalt to stick to the earth here. Plus it was fully exposed in the sun. There were serious groans coming from the behind us. I tried to psyche myself up for it, but it was all I could do to not groan myself. I knew it was gonna suck for everyone.

Like the Devil's Kitchen climb it took about 3 seconds to see who was good. Dan (who only had a 39-26 for a low gear by the way) took to it like a baby takes to his blanket. Fred and Erin looked good too. Fred had come out in July to pre ride the whole area and had decided a compact crank set was the only way to deal with this climb, and he usually pushes a big gear on the climbs. Dave Taylor moved up and so did Carl Reglar. Dave made his way up to Fred and Erin while Carl got dropped and made his way back to me. Gazsi was there as well as Monte Franke and Cary Moretti. It was so incredibly hard that it felt scary in a "scared of heights" sort of way. If you fell over, you'd probably roll back down to the bottom of the hill. Dan separated from the front, and I looked up to see a couple of the guys in front of me "paperboying" (that means swerving back and forth to actually traverse the pitch at less of a degree to make it tolerable, actually more like possible). I did the same thing. A little while later I looked back. I was maybe 350 meters up the 500 meter wall and the sight behind me was surreal. It seemed like every rider in the field was going left or right, rather than straight. Guys were swerving all over the place and head on collisions became a possibility. I looked at my computer....2 mph. WTF! I had to be putting out 450-500 watts and I was going 2 mph. Swell.

Taylor, Thomas and Korff went over the top and eventually got back to Dan who had nothing to gain by dropping everyone. Then Gazsi, Franke, Moretti, Reglar and I got reconnected and began our chase. We were over the worst part of the climb, but not near the top yet, then there were rollers all the way home, about 10 or 11 miles away. We were all super committed to getting back and we settled in to the chase. I was a tiny fraction of myself physically, but my mind was still ticking away. Unfortunatley, it was telling me I was a tiny fraction of myself. Cramps were everywhere and I tried to sit on the bike differently to recruit slightly different muscles or pull on them from a new angle, it actually worked to some extent, but I was on the ropes. Still I tried to drill my turn on the front. There were times when I just couldn't get there to pull. I was riding all out to stay on. Morretti started to have trouble and he came off, then we hit a short downhill and he came back. Then I was in a bad patch and was coming off. Moretti actually gave me a friendly push as it was obvious I had just hit the wall. The other 3 pulled away, then Cary proceeded to gradually ride us back up to them with an extended strong pull in the wind. We got there and he gave me a thumbs up. I could not have appreciated it more. I was completely and utterly smashed at this point. You know when dying seems as good as living.....ya that place. And yet there was the front group, 50 little meters away. So close we could reach out and slap them. My mind knew it was simple to ride across to them on the terraine I was on, but I was in quicksand. Torture!

Just when it looked like they had looked back and seen that we were gonna get on, we hit another short, steep, cruel hill. That was the last bullet they needed to fire. They were in front of us because they had climbed better and they did it again on this climb. They disappeared over the top and when we got to the top they were well out of sight. A minute ago we could have spoken to them and they would have heard us, now they were in another stratosphere. We only had a few miles left and we bombed a long downhill, but never caught another glimpse of them. They dropped us. Gazsi attacked with a couple k to go. I sat there and did nothing, then a short while later, Reglar and Franke went after him. Moretti and I just took turns keeping up the tempo, all the way home. He pulled the whole way up the acess road to the line.

Dan won stage2, stage 3, the GC overall and the KOM overall. To say he was the strongest guy in the field is a ridiculous understatement. As Bill said, he could have ridden onto the dirt ski trails on his road bike and ridden right to the top of the ski hill. I'm so happy for Dan. He desreves every ounce of his sucsess. He even smoked us in the cycling fan department as we rode over several sections of steep road that had been chalked with his name. It doesn't get any cooler than that. GOOD ON YA DANNY BOY!!!

Dave Taylor was 2nd on the stage, Fred Thomas 3rd, Korff 4th, then 40 seconds later Franke in 5th, Reglar in 6th, Gazsi in 7th, Moretti and I rolled in another 20 seconds or so later for 8th and 9th. It was almost 5 minutes before the 10th place group came in and that was only 3 guys I think.

Dan won GC, Korff 2nd, Taylor 3rd, Thomas 4th, Bold 5th, Gazsi 6th, Moretti 7th, Reglar 8th, Franke 9th. Man talk about a hard, competitive race. Bill and I fought cramps the whole way home on the drive, at times locking up over seemingly nothing. Good times.

Thanks for reading. If anyone would like to share pictures of those insane climbs, send them along and I'll post them.

JB

Norwell Circuit Race....and stuff.

2011-08-01T22:09:00.002-04:00

The Norwell Circuit Race is really awesome. It's similar to Blue Hills Road Race in distance and terraine, but theres one thing that this race offers that makes it better than most. Thats a rolling closure of the roads, so we get to use the entire road surface on 99% of the course. That really changes the entire dynamic of the racing, you can actually do stuff. I guess Blue Hills Cycling Club actually stepped up and lent a helping hand to MBRC. Big Thank Yous to both clubs for two great races.

I was signed up for the 35s and 45s. Sammy was also, and Bill was in just the 35s since he's still a kid. My personal goal for the day was to try to get both of my teamates a result. Ideally a win of course, but a podium would be sweet. Both fields were really stacked and it was gonna be a tall order. In the past this race has been for break aways, but with these big fields it was gonna be tough.

The 45s were up first and my plan was to try to make the race hard by attacking several times. I usually get a big reaction, so it would pretty much mean everyone would have to burn some matches. I threw in a few hard ones and then more or less sat up, although I tried to not make it look obvious. The smart guys knew what was going on in no time, but thats OK, cuz I figured when Sammy counter attacked he'd get a couple strong mates for a solid break. We tried a bunch of times, but it just didn't happen. I was actually surprised to hear the bell ring for 1 to go as the race went by really fast. It was gonna be a sprint now for sure, but Sammy tried a last lap attack. It could have worked too, but there were just way too many strong guys believing they could win now.

I got into a good spot around 4th or 5th wheel. I was pretty confident in my speed and line through the last corner going into the TOUGH finish hill, so I decided I was gonna jump a fraction early so I could lead through there, if I blew up, so be it, but it was gonna be better than trying to come from behind on the uphill with all those attacks in my legs. It worked out really well actually and I held the lead for a long way, thinking I might just be able to steal it, but Matt Kressey powered through with about 100 meters to go. The Legend himself, Paul Curley, was on his wheel and they crossed the line just like that. I held on for 3rd in front of a hard charging Tobi Schultze, and an O&A rider.

We got the podium result, but it wasn't supposed to be me.....and it hurt like a mutha!

Bill was all fresh back at Town Hall where the race rolls out from and in no time we were back on the circuit doing the 35s. A group went away on the very 1st climb and it was checking out in a big way. We had no one in there and I paniced a bit. I followed Ciaran Mangan when he attempted to bridge and then the next few guys too. It got pretty strung out and I ended up on the Arc en Ciel rider's wheel with the world champion stripes on his sleeve. We were off the front of the bunch and closing fast on the break. He proceeded to ride me off his wheel with sheer power, I was in serious trouble. He went right up to the break and started to pull. I was dying on the finish climb when Bill and 2 others rolled by. I somehow scrapped on and they got me up to the break. I recovered the best I could on the downhill, cuz I knew we had to all be committed to make it stick. I had every intention to work, but it seemed like some guys got there accidently at the start and they weren't quite sure how to ride in a break. Bill took a big pull and Eric Pierce was on his wheel, I was behind him. He just left Bill on the front for way too long and I was chirping at him to pull through. He didn't, but I did and then we got caught. I was sooo frustrated.

Now I was completely screwed. I was cramping on the finish climb already and it was only lap 3, with like 8 to go or something like that. I had no choice but to go to the sweetspot in the pack and try to get dragged along, and drink. I had a gel and tried to spin a high cadence, but every time we came to the finish climb I was getting shot to the back. So that became the game. Move up on the downhills, recover and coast when I could and then battle to stay on, on the hill. Reapeat.

After about 5 laps I was starting to get a lot better and it was still all together. I decided I felt good enough to get up front and be a bike racer again. I was good for the moment, but knew it was gonna be a short window of opportunity. I went up the Finish climb feeling OK with 3 to go. I told Sammy I had 1 more match left and what I was gonna do. Then I told Bill Yarborudy my plan, and finally our Bill (Shattuck). After the downhill I would go to the front and make it hard for as long as I could up the false flat grade, then Bill & Bill could counter attack off of that, up over the finish climb and hopefully into the sunset. There was actually a small group just up the road and I settled into my effort, doing my best Jens Voight imitation. We ate up the break and I just kept going. I went as hard as I could for as long as I could, trying to make it faster and faster as I went. Bill S. was right on my wheel and Biil Y. right behind him or close by. When he saw me start to tie up, he yelled mailbox, mailbox. I knew what that meant, just get him to the next mailbox on the road so he could go from there.

I got him almost there and then he went, 4 or 5 others got there too and I was glad to see good friend Mike Rowell get in there. Mikey is one of the nicest people you'd ever wanna meet and he's been pretty hard on himself lately. I pulled off to the left and truly felt like I was gonna puke. I didn't and thats good cuz it's been since 1999 since I did that and that was in a helicopter over Maui, with the pilot fighting wind shear, (Ya I got it all in the bag).

Anyway, I looked back and was really surprised at what I saw.....nothing. The field wasn't in sight. Holy crap! I was so stoked that those guys had checked out. I was able to get my shit together just as the field caught me near the finish line. We got 2 to go. I knew I had to block now. The chase was really on now that we were on the downhill and fresh guy after fresh guy came to the front. Sammy and I did all we could to disrupt the organization but the break was in sight.

I was frustrated, as usual, that some of the strongest guys were on the front chasing. In that situation, if you're a strong man and not a sprinter, and you don't have a sprinter on the team, I think you should force the sprinters hands. Make them chase! If you use your big engine up to chase it down, then they're just gonna dust you in the end. You've been used and abused. But if you make them chase then you might actually be able to out power a sprinter thats been doing a lot of work. Anyway, thats just masters racing sometimes.

The next time up the hill (1 to go) my legs completely locked up. It felt like there was 2 gremlins inside my quads trying to punch and kick their way out my body. NOT GOOD! I got dropped, I had no choice, I pedaled around the last lap alone visualizing Bill winning or battling for it, and hoped it would be true. I must have lost 4 minutes on that lap.

In the end the break got caught with about a mile or so to go. Bill Yarbroudy still had enough to gallop to the win and Bill S. pulled off a pretty impressive 7th after the hard effort. Good on everyone in that race. It was real racing. Again I think having the whole road makes all the difference.

On my way back to Town Hall a guy in his driveway flagged me down. He had been standing there during the races. It was John O'Connell. He lives right there. John was one of the best triathletes around these parts back in the day. He won the first 6 or 7 races I ever did, while I was in 80th place or something. We went on to have many memorable battles once I learned what I was doing. He had taken a bunch of years off and had gotten back into it back in 2008 or so. He had just done the Marshfield Triathlon that morning. He was 2nd overall, and the guy is close to 50. He's still as ripped as ever. His wife had raced as well. I talked with him for a while, it was cool to catch up. Then I pedaled off with my siezed up legs.

One of the best things about Mondays is the easy ride. Just before I headed out to spin the legs and get some of the garbage out, left over from the races, I logged onto Tilford's blog. He's one of the most interesting guys you'll ever meet. This post made me laugh uncontrolably, and thats always a good way to start a bike ride.

As lots of you know, I live on Cape Cod. It's been stellar beach weather forever it seems. In the evening some of the neighborhoods near the beaches are pretty cool to ride through. There's so much life everywhere. People are on thier decks or in their yards. You can smell burgers cooking and hear the Sox game on tv's and radios, the birds are chirping and everything is in full bloom, it cools off a bit and there are stragglers coming off the beach still. On mondays I'm usually in the little ring, looking for the back roads and trying to take in this sort of stuff. Tonight I was quietly riding along when I saw a slender woman riding her bike up ahead. It was a beach cruiser and she had on one of those "after the beach sun dresses". It was a quiet wooded section where there were no houses. I was about 100 yards behind her when she stopped and stood up, she then proceeded to lift up her dress and reveal the beautiful backside of the female physique. Apparently riding a beach cruiser with a bikini on and a sundress over it, it tends to....well....turn into dental floss, if you know what I mean. Well she'd had enough and it had to come out! As she wrestled with her suit, she saw me, now about 20 feet behind her with a big smile on my face. She laughed and knew she was caught red handed. By now I'm right next to her riding by and I said "Thanks for the show". She was now red in the face and laughing hystericly. I was really glad she took it so well, and I couldn't believe how hard I'd laughed at 2 completely different things in less than 30 minutes.

When I got home, my friend Geoff texted me a picture from his Red Sox seats at Fenway

To me theres no better place to spend a summer evening than at Fenway. But when theres a sky like that, man thats special. Field of Dreams for sure. Anyway the relavence of mentioning that is the fact that he was nice enough to give me the same seats for Wednesday's game. Oh man!!! Thanks Geoff! I was lucky enough to go last week with my nephew and sister and "Matty Ice"

(Bill's son, same age as my nephew)and sit behind home plate to see Lester pitch. I have no idea how those guys can even try to hit that guy's curve ball.

OK, I think I'm done blabbering on.....for now.

Thanks for stopping by, JB

New England Cross Races

2011-07-27T17:18:00.001-04:00

We're very lucky here in New England. We have tons of cross races each season to pick from. Some parts of the country aren't like this at all. It's such a huge sport for us that lots of people want to step up and promote races at their local venues. Obviously this is a good thing, but with the Verge series getting bigger and bigger, is there a problem? Does the "big" series dominate the calendar? Does it monopolize it?

I think both of those things are true, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. For me these "A" races are where I want to be. It seems like most folks feel the same way based on attendance at these events. You can understand why, when you see the quality of the production when you race a Verge race. So whats the problem? I think it's the effect it has on the little guy, aka promoters of non Verge races. With 15 big races for the season it doesn't leave many scraps for the other promoters.

There's also another problem. The Verge races have gotten so popular that the schedule for the day is jam packed. There was much discussion about this last year and it's pretty amazing that they actually fit that much into the day. But...there's always a but, at what cost? Last year it was extremely hard to get a real good look at the course, and next to impossible to get in a hot lap. The races were so tightly scheduled that you had to be fully kitted up and ready to ride a lap the second the officials let you ride forward from the start line. Within a minute or two you were up behind the last rider in the field. Swarming that person would surely get you a tounge lashing, and subject you to mass "on-line abuse". So while 30 or 45 of us lingered behind said person until they finished, we often hit the finish line in time to see the next race staging. If you were quick, you might be able to cut the course and get most of a lap in before you got screamed at for being disrespectful to fellow racers (who were on the course 3 minutes back). We had to arrive 3-1/2 hours early before the race to try to do this twice, in between races.

The next thing that started to happen was for the officials to enforce the 80% rule which infuriated people to no end. They got pulled just because they were far behind. Even if there was no serious threat of them being lapped, they were mathematically eliminated so they had to get out. I think that rule was rectified, but it was generally a little more stressful and a little less fun to go the Verge races last year.

In no way am I saying ANYTHING bad against the guys at Verge. Don & Mike are the best! We have our kits made by them, and the stuf is PRO, PRO, PRO. Plus they "get it". Their long time sponsorship of this series is proof of that.

What I'm thinking about as a solution of some sort is to make the Verge series something for beginners to aspire to. In other words they would have to cut their teeth at the other races (non Verge races). If the powers that be in New England were to eliminate all the cat 4 categories they would be seriously helping out those other promoters. Not only that, but it would free up the schedule a bit at the Verge races, so everyone could get in a lap or two without feeling like you're stealing something or breaking the rules.

Some will say there are lots of weekends left after the Verge weekends, but there really aren't that many. Plus lots of people budget for x # of races per year. For me the 15 Verge plus Suckerbrook, Canton and the regional Championships (2 days) makes for a 19 race season, then natz and worlds. Thats more than a full season if you ask me. Others will say they want to race both days every weekend from mid September to mid December. Thats great if thats your thing, but it doesn't leave much time for decent training weeks, and most of those people are pretty burnt out by the time Northampton comes and goes along with daylight savings and warmer temps.

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud here. I don't really care one way or the other, cuz I'm gonna do my thing either way, but it might be nice to throw the small race promoters a bone instead of running them out town.

Racers could learn the ropes a little bit more before upgrading to the "big races". Some of those local races are so cool and laid back with a mellow vibe. I think thats important to experience. When you strip all that away and replace it with "road rage like anger" from officials and promoters, then you're literally wrecking a good thing.

Thanks for reading, JB

Tour Of The Hill Towns Road Race

2011-07-24T21:46:00.001-04:00

This one is one of the hardest races on the calendar. The terraine is hard enough, but in recent years the roads have gotten a lot worse and it always seems to be near 100 degrees with high humidity when race day rolls around. Thats pretty much the recipe for complete and utter suffering.

With the famed East Hawley Rd. climb coming at mile 20 there is always a lot of guys trying to get the head start by getting into a break from kilometer 0. This is pretty obnoxious for a race this hard because everyone acts as if theres no hills to come for 58 miles. Nothing culd be further from the truth, but still we race and cover attacks for 10 miles every year before everyone settles in and faces the fact that the hills will tear this thing to pieces.

Bill and I rode the front on the chopped up descent leading to the valley floor that brings us to the base of East Hawley Rd. We had both done a good job hydrating to that point having rdank a full bottle of gatorade as well as some gels. Now with 2 full bottles we started up the climb. It was savage, like always. Some call it the hardest 3 miles of asphalt in New England. I don't know about that, but it's gotta be in the top 5. It's friggen HARD!

There was a lot of suffering going on and everyone was breathing extremely hard. There was no air to breath though it seemed and everyone's jersies were fully unzipped. The pack thinnned and I looked over at Bill at one point, he didn't look good, but no one did. Just before the right hander about 3/4 of the way up, I decided to push it a touch because it's usually a lot more broken up by now.

Ed Angeli (Target Training), last year's winner, took the pace over just a few meters before the turn and Rob Hult (Gearworks) followed him. I was ok just at that moment, but all of a sudden things got pretty blury. I was so hot and all I could picture was a full bottle of ice cold water being poured over my head and then a big gulp into my mouth. Instead I took a swig of 95 degree water that I couldn't afford to pour over my head because I needed to drink it.

Just a few seconds later a very strong Joe Regan surged and David Taylor and a 545 rider were able to go with it. A couple others stayed there briefly, but soon came off and the group of 5 gapped us over the top by about 30 seconds or so. That was it, we were now racing for 6th because 5 is pretty much the perfect number for a strong break away. They were the best climbers, so not much chance of getting them back in the hills. Our group was about 12 or 15 guys but we picked up a couple that got dropped late and a few more came back in the miles after we went over the top. The last guy to get back was none other than Wild Bill. It was very impressive too, because at one point when we were flying down the road I looked back and didn't see anyone, and I could see really far. I don't know how he did it, but when he rolled onto the back we had a few laughs. At one point he said to me "It's all you today". I just laughed and said "no worries". Then I attacked.

Even though we were all pretty wasted and the top 5 was now an impossibility, a couple guys got with me. Todd Cassan (Westwood Velo) and Mark Phondorf (Colavita). Both are strong guys with good climbing skills and will work in a break away. I though that would be perfect, and it would have been but everyone else knew it was dangerous too. It's funny how when 5 guys are gone for so long, we get lulled into feeling like we're racing for a win of some sort out there. There were still a lot of strong guys left and they weren't having it, we kept the pressure on even after it came back together, but it eventually failed. I went back into the small bunch and had a drink and my last gel.

With about 10 miles left to race, which was about 5 minutes after the failed break away attempt, I bolted again. I went from the last rider in the bunch in the wide shoulder on the right and got a nice gap straight away. I took a peak under my arm and they were all looking at each other. I had something to start with, so I settled into my TT mode. Alan Potter (Blue Hills Cycling) took over the chasing responsibilities and for 6 miles or so I kept them at about 20 seconds. I felt good enough still, but the last climb was about to start.

This finish climb is over 4 miles long and the very bottom is the hardest part, after that it's my kind of climb. I started to suffer terribly when I hit the hill and my now smooth rythm was interrupted by the sever change in gradient. I got it together just as they caught me and Alan put in a dig. I surged and got his wheel. I thought "well that was a waste for the last 12 or 15 minutes of flogging myself because now I'm caught on the hill and I've used way more than any of them". But it was wierd, just as they caught me they seemed to slow down and there was short bit of looking around. I couldn't believe no one would attack here. I had just been brought back and the worst part of the hill was over and it was as prime a place to attack as ever. But nothing! So I did what I do.....I hit it again. Maybe they thought it was the final act of suicide or something but only a few guys followed the surge. Then I looked around again, Kurt Gustaffson (CRCA) was there and I said "do some work" he said "ok" and proceeded to pull through. I moved over to let the others fill in and they did but they just let Kurt ride away. I felt like I was in bizzaro world. What were these guys doing? I let a good size gap go just sitting on the wheels as I sat there stunned, then I said "ef this, I'm going up to him".

I surged across and that was sort of it. Alan Potter, who seemed more comfortable just chasing me, settled in about 5 seconds behind and stayed there for the next 3 miles or so. I put in a couple of surges on Kurt to test him, but he was solid. Finally with about 2K to go Alan caught us, the others were out of sight now behind us. I didn't mind him catching us because I figured he could take a few pulls and I knew I still had a decent kick left to finish with. But bizarro world continued. Just as Alan caught us he went straight off the back. I'd had enough of things not making sense, so I attacked right then, now Alan was way off but Kurt was solid and he covered it. I didn't plan for that I thought he'd drop, so now I was screwed. He wouldn't pull through again since I attacked him (I wouldn't....would you?) so I knew I had to make the tempo the rest of the way. I settled into it and felt pretty good actually. I made no effort to ask him for help, I knew the deal. But suddenly with the 1K to go sign right in front of us he starts overlapping my rear wheel a bit. I eased off the pedals a touch and he just pedaled through. No attack, just tempo. Wow! Thanks, I really don't deserve this after the way I've treated you. Am I in an abusive relationship here? Am I the batterer? Bizzaro world to the max! So with a couple hundred meters left, maybe 100 to the final hard right hander, I attack in the big ring and bolt around the corner and across the line for the "best of the rest" placing. 6th. Kurt was 7th, Alan 8th. Wild Bill took out the remnants of the field sprint for 9th. Ed Angeli won for the 2nd year in a row, Good on ya Eddy. Joe Regan was 2nd and thats all I really know as far as results.

It was a true day of suffering with all the heat and all the climbing, not to mention 7 hours of driving.
Not sure whats up next, but it looks like I might be on a "Superteam" for the 24 hours of Great Glen in August.

Thats it, thanks for reading, JB

The Horror at Harding Hill Mountain Bike Race

2011-07-18T18:16:00.001-04:00

If you're a promoter and you're trying to draw people in to your race. The title here isn't exactly the way to go. I know years ago in the mountain biking heyday there were all kinds of names like this. But maybe we should consider that it's different times these days. The steep entry fee had more than a few of us grumbling also, especially when you consider EFTA doesn't accept USAC licenses and so theres an additional cost tacked on as well.

I guess while I'm listing grievances I should also say WTF! to the promoters of the EFTA series and the Rt. 66 series. It seems like week after week we have mountain bike races on the same day. That is just stupid, it hurts everyone, most of all the promoters themselves. Mountain bike races don't exactly bring in thousands of entrants to begin with, so to put two well established series races on the calendar on the same day is inexcusable. If they looked at how all the cyclocross promoters communicate to avoid this exact issue, they'd see that its completely avoidable, and that they'd enjoy more $ in their pockets. Anyone thinking about a mountain bike race on any given day would have just the 1 option. Anyway that reminds me of a post I'm working on for Cross season and all the races we have there as well.

Onto the actual race. I hit the snooze on my alarm clock at 5 AM. I got up at 5:09. Whats with the clock makers cutting the snooze factor by a minute? I feel so ripped off when I can hardly get my eyes open. I guess nothing is safe from downsizing these days. I got out the door and on the road by 6 thinking it would be 3 hours drive time. (Elite race was at 10) To my surprise I got there in 2-1/2 leaving time for a pre ride lap since it was only a 5 mile loop. It was warm already.....I don't like warm. Hot is obviously worse. Opressive is downright disagreeable. I was scouting out a nice quiet place behind a huge dirt pile to drop the deuce when Matty O rolled up in his SUV and started laughing at me with my little roll of TP in my hand. Good times!

I'll do us all a favor and skip ahead a bit. Matty, Ski, and I kitted up and hit the trail for a pre ride. Matty had done this race about 10 times already and I'd never seen the course before, not sure but I think Ski was a "rookie" too. It was after 9 when we started and it was now officially hot and looking like opressive was a strong possibility. It didn't take long riding to be sweating profusely and I wondered how smart the 5 mile pre ride actually was. I wanted to see the course though so I carried on.

The course had a little of everything, it was pretty damn sweet actually. I felt like it suited me well but I was a bit paniced about the heat. I only had one gel left to my name and those babies are key in the heat. With just minutes before the start I went on a mission so sponge a gel or two from whoever was feeling generous. The boys at the NEMBA tent reconized the despair on my face and produced some power bar gel bloks (they're version of Clif Bar's Shot Blokz). I was greatful to them for hooking me up because I thought that might even be better than a gel since I could use them 3 or 4 times. Thanks guys!

The horn sounded and we were off. Matty took the hole shot and in no time it was the same 3 guys that pre-rode together racing up front. Matty was killing it as is customary at the begining of mtn. bike races. He carried on for quite a while and I just kept thinking that it was WAY too hard to try to do 5 laps like this. Half way into the lap I let Matty and Ski go in a measured risk sort of way. If they could keep doing that they were easily gonna mop the floor with me. Andy Gould who raced lap 1 with Matty and I in Moody Park came along and he was riding pretty fast also. I got on his wheel and tried to recover. I soon discovered that I like riding behind Andy, he selected some great lines and was smooth. Smoothness is paramount in mountain biking sucess. He seemed to want to go after those 2, but I told him they went out too hard and to just chill with me for a while and we'd see tham again on lap 3, 4, or 5.

On lap 2 I was already overheating and my jersy was completely unzipped and flapping in the wind. I hate how that looks and think it's pretty 'unpro" but I had no choice. It also makes finding the things you have in your pockets pretty hard too. I went to the front on a fire road and just turned up the pressure ever so slightly. By the end of that lap Andy was just off and I could catch a glimpse of Matty and Brian every once in a while. The gap stayed between 20 and 25 seconds. Then we hit some major lapped traffic. I'm usually pretty polite when I come up behind someone, I know they're race is important to them, but the way the rule is written is that the slower rider has to actually pull over and give the trail to the faster rider if it's single track. One guy just ignored several requests for some leeway and then flat out said "If you're that good go around". What a dick! It was in the most technical, rooted section out there and momentum is everything. I finally got by with a hairball pass that he left me no choice, but to try, and then without the momentum I needed I bobbled a root section and had to stop. He screamed at me to move out of his way as I was trying to get off my bike, Ya right buddy! He came to a stop and then couldn't get his foot off the pedal and had a slow motion tip over into the mud. That was awesome! I said "have a seat" as I took off. That cost me some time, but I still had more than 3 laps to start riding harder.

On lap 3 I turned up the pace just a fraction again, and less than half way through the lap I saw Matty coming off Brian a bit on a climb. I bolted past Matty and got up to Brian's wheel. He was going strong and I was content to follow for a while. I eventually went by and just tried to do my own thing, there was no attack, too far to go. At the very end of the lap there was a small rock pile that we had to hop up onto to continue pedaling out onto the field and finish/lap area. Brian did something behind me and I heard him say argh or something to that effect, so I put in a little pace increase to start lap 4 also. The plan was to ride harder each lap, but when I got to lap 5 with about 20 seconds on Brian, it was all I could do to just keep the same pace. Cramps were twinging through my legs everywhere. I was really scared I would end up on the ground clutchin at a leg. I simply couldn't push it. I kept checking to see if he was gaining on me, but he was having similar issues, as was everyone, I found out later. Lap 5 was a death march. I kept it going carefully and I was definitely still having fun with the course, but I knew one slight muscle contraction could spell the end of all the fun.

It ended up being uneventful for most of the lap, and I cruised in for the win just 30 seconds or so ahead of Brian. I'd say Matty was just another 20 or so behind him. The temperature had hit the 90's but the humidity was high and there was no breeze, especially in the woods. Racing a mountain bike in these conditions at full effort for 2 hours is something you oughta try sometime if you think you're pretty tough. Humility is good for us all.

Oh, it turns out those Power Bar gel blocks are almost impossible to swallow. For some reason the makers decided they'd be easier to swallow with a big chunk, of what felt and tasted like chalk, pasted onto the bottom of each one. I used to have PowerBar as a personal sponsor back in my Triathlon days and they're a great company....but this is a huge FAIL. It took me half a lap to get 2 of these little crud burgers down. Not to be ungreatful to the guy that gave them to me, but wow! Those things suck!

Thanks for reading, JB

All Out In Moody Park Mountain Bike Race

2011-06-27T22:39:00.001-04:00

So the easy play on words here is, "All Out In MUDDY Park". Parts of this course were seriously saturated, and the destruction we did to the trail network can only be compared to Mt. Snow. I thought we were done doing that sort of thing a long time ago, but I guess not. I felt guilty taking part in it, but it was a race, so I just figured I'd carry on and comment on it later.

The Elite field was a little lean with Putney Mountain Bike Race happening right down the road. Do we really need to have Mt. Bike races on the same day within 50 miles of each other? Seems crazy. We started with 7 elites and I was happy to see New England good guy Matty O at registration and on the line. Matt Boobar and "The Internet" were also numbered up and ready to go. There were also some really young looking cats with that eager/scared look on their faces. But thats not saying much coming from me. To me, everyone looks young these days. So it wasn't super deep, but plenty talented.

There was a short prolouge lap around the parking lot to try to help stretch the field a bit, before entering the single track. I managed to get into the woods 1st, and was soon passed by Matty O. There was another guy from Blue Steel Cyclery that I didn't know that made the selection as the 3 of us sort of separated from the field pretty early on. His name was Andy, I know this because I heard several people cheer him on.

It wasn't muddy for the entire circuit, which was just over 4 miles per lap I guess. There were a few sections of really fast double track and even some pretty stout climbing, but thankfully not too much. Lots of steep climbing combined with heavy mud on the bike and body as well as lots of off & ons takes it's toll.

Matty was impressive on lap 1 riding some of these mud bogs that looked impossible to me. He's pretty good at "creating" lines too. I was a mess, often c-blocking Andy when I dabbed or lost momentum. Late on lap 1, I bobbled pretty bad and Andy went around me as Matty pulled away. Before I knew it he was starting to disappear. I finally got back around Andy when it tilted uphill before we finished the lap.

I didn't see Matty again until very late in lap 2, and that encouraged me. I stayed on the gas and tried to be as efficient as possible, because I knew the shit he was doing in the mud was using up a lot of leg, and that sooner or later he wouldn't be able to do it as well. I just commited to running the mud bogs and even so, it was brutal. There were times my leg disappeared almost up to the knee and getting the leg out was tough & I just hoped my shoe would come with it......it did. At times I tried to lift the bike, but it seemed to weigh 1000 lbs.

I didn't catch Matty before we turned onto lap 3, but I had him in the cross hairs for sure. I was glad to be the hunter instead of the hunted. No one else was close behind me, so I figured it was worth risking cramps and cracking to go for the win. I got close in the first section of single track and mud bogs and when we came out onto the double track he was right there. I went by and commented on how much the mud sucked, and he agreed. I put in a hard attack/surge after a loose sandy 180 degree right hander and just stayed on the gas. I didn't look for awhile, but when I had to get off later for a mud sectiuon I noticed he wasn't there. I was encouraged by that and tried to increase my power output in the next climbing section, but the course was really starting to beat the shit outa me. Too much hard pedaling for 1 mph or less or just trying not to fall off a busted pallet bridge.

There was also the much talked about "Gravity Cavity" and I have to admit it's aptly named. Its a 100 meter or so straight vertical drop over a wide, dry wooden bridge right into a sandy, rooted, steep climb. On the first lap when we hadn't seen it yet we kind of fagged out a little going down, but the rest of the laps I let it rip and I'd say I easily hit 40 mph. It was cool!

I stayed on the gas the rest of lap 3 and kept drinking and shooting gels, which was hard to do because my bottles were disgustingly covered with thick, black, stinky mud. I rode lap 4 as hard as I could while trying to be conservative. Which translated to ripping the double track sections, running as hard as I could in the mud and being careful not to make the big mistake. I had a few of those shooting cramps you get when you put your foot down to balance check or dismount. Thankfully they were fleeting, and didn't have teeth to bite and lock in like a pit bull. I've had that happen before too. Ever see a guy rolling around on the ground with the agony face like he just got shot, for no apparent reason? I'm looking at you Rooter.

The bike performed amazingly well. The drivetrain was completely caked with sticky mud, but I had use of all the gears including both chainrings up front all day. The discs were making some haenous sounds of course, but I think that was everyone too.

I was able to cruise the last half lap and finish without the stress of being hunted. Matty pulled in about a minute later and Matt Boobar was 3rd just a short way behind Matty O. Colin 4th.

My teamate, Bill and I (Bill was 4th in the expert field on his brand new Superfly) found a nice neighbor that let us use her hose for a bike/body wash and that made all the difference in the world for the drive home.

I was a little bummed out to only get $50 for my first Elite win. Shit I got $50 for 4th last week, $200 for 2nd at Big Ring Rumpus, and $75 for third at Weeping Willow. $50 for the win? Really? Entry fee was $35ish, gas was easily $20 each for 2 guys, throw in a sandich & a pint and it cost me $20 to drive 7 hours and win a race. Thats still not bad I guess. I dunno, I just think the race winner should at least be able to break even on the day. Oh well.

Thanks for reading, JB

The Pinnacle Mountain Bike Race

2011-06-21T22:33:00.001-04:00

This is a tough race. It's hilly and fairly technical. Nothing dramatic in the technical department, but just rugged the whole way through. I did this race in 2009 and they've added some more climbing as well as descending that stretched out the lap by 5 or 6 minutes. They did some work on the re-routed sections of the descent and there were a few

major burmed corners. Those were way fun.

The Elite/Pro wave was the biggest I've raced in all year. It looked like 25 to 30 guys at the start. Andrew Freye and Dylan McNicholas were on the line as well as the Rooter, and several others that I didn't know but looked serious. We had 4 laps to do. The gun sounded and we took off like a shot. This is so mental for a hard 2 hour race, but if you don't do it you'll be buried behind too many guys and you'll never even see the front of the race ride away. I got to the front and slowed down a bit hoping everyone would be satisfied with the pace, but Andrew came through pretty hard so I jumped on in 2nd wheel. He went pretty hard up the long climb and I didn't put in any extra when he gapped me slightly, but instead just rode my own rythm and sooner or later I was back on his wheel. This scenario would repeat itself several times. He rode reasonably down the descent and I enjoyed not taking huge risks.

We had Dylan just about catch us near the top of the climb then he had a slight issue on the descent and decided to have a little dirt nap. That would be it for him on the day. He was banged up, but OK. 2 other guys were also close on the climb but at the bottom they were out of sight, although we couldn't see too far back.

The bottom of the descent has the famous Pinnacle Plummet which is a radically steep 100 meter drop from the sky. It's pretty easy to go from 15mph to 40mph in about 2 seconds. Andrew took a bad line at the top and had to grab a big handful of brake and I jumped ahead. I didn't try to push the advantage, but rather just rode my rythm. On the short splinter loop that brings us back to the propper climb I felt my rear tire get a little squishy on a corner. It kept getting worse, but it was pretty gradual. I just kept going because I didn't have a co2 withe me (dumbass).

Near the top of the climb Andrew pulled away a bit and I kinda thought I might not see him again, I was riding in a defensive way, trying not to burp any more air out of the tire. The descent is long and I never saw anyone. When I blasted the plummet at the bottom and curled around the field and headed back into the woods, Andrew was just 20 meters in front of me. Theres a pretty steep climb in the splinter section and I was right behind him again. Then on the same corner where I first felt the squisy tire a lap earlier, I burped out almost all of what was left. Now I was screwed. I was bottoming out on everything and now I was dabbing on simple sections just to try not to ruin my wheel. My plan was to keep rolling as well as I could and ask one of the lappers for a co2 when I ran into them.

Half way up the climb Chris Hamlin came by and passed me for 2nd place. He was cool and said "sorry about the flat". I asked the only person I passed on the climb if she had a co2 and she said "no....sorry". Then the climb goes from fire road to single track, and I got caught from behind again. It was Peter Ostroski. He noticed I had a flat right away and asked if I had anything. I said, "No I'm an idiot, I got nada". He said I have a co2 and I'll give it to you. That was so cool of him. He's never even met me, I'd been ahead of him for over half of the race and now he hands me a co2 with the head on it ready for use. So I can maybe get back up to speed and race him. Thats mountain bike racing for you.....everyone is nice and supportive. I will have co2s from now on and I'll give them to people that are stuck, like I was.

I hopped off at the very top of the climb to re-inflate, so I could just go straight to descending when I got back on. I drilled it for the next lap and a half and was surprised at how much I had left. I thought for sure I'd get a glimpse of someone in front of me. I did lots and lots of times, but it was always an expert rider that I was lapping. I never saw Peter, Chris or Andrew again until the finish line, where I returned Peter's co2 head and thanked him again for saving my whole day. Andrew won, Peter made it up to 2nd, and Chris was 3rd. I finished 4th and Colin was 5th. I was impressed with Colin's ride for sure. Dude's sharpening up them skills, and gettin fit. Good on ya Rooter!

On a side note, my teamate Jamie Tosca made the trip with me, but didn't have his best day. I was talking with Dylan at the finish line for like 15 minutes when I said "Where the hell is James"? Dylan goes "Oh he dropped out, he's over at your car". Doh. I'm sitting there waiting for him all that time and he's chillin in the shade drinking a Pepsi.

So it's Tuesday night and I'm still sore and tired from that damn race. Mountain bike racing is HARD!

Thats it, thanks for reading, JB

YES YES YES

2011-06-16T00:19:00.000-04:00

Of all our recent titles, this one means the most to me! I can't believe it. The BOSTON BRUINS ARE THE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Weeping Willow Mountain Bike Race

2011-05-22T20:25:00.003-04:00

What a cool race! Big Thanks going out to the promoters of this event. For a minute at the start of the race with all the expert fields lined up directly behind us, and lots of friends and family around it looked like the Hay Days of mountain bike racing in the 90's. Heck, it looked like that all day. I think thats awesome. Mt. Biking is coming back on strong. Promoters should try to follow this formula. Put on a race somewhat close to Boston, make it technical, but not dangerously so and try for a longish loop. You don't have to pay any cops and you need no road use permits. Just sit back and count the money.... and watch everybody have a good time. Way more smiles at mountain bike races than road races.

The PRO/Elite wave lined up with what looked like about 25 guys. We had a 3/4 mile stretch of double track to sort things out a bit before we hit the single track. It didn't sort much out but the position battle settled in with Adam Snyder (Jamis) leading us into the first LONG section of single track. He was buttery smooth and soon rolled off and outa sight. I was slotted in about 5th wheel or 4th in the line with Adam off the front. One of New England's favorite good guys, Matt Okeefe, took a stick in his wheel at one point and I had to body english my way around him narrowly missing a tiny little pine tree. True to form Matty appologized for making me have to take evasive action. No worries Matty, thats mt. bike racing. Just in front of me was Brain Willochoski [Ski] (Cannondale), Dan Valincourt (NCC) and another guy from Biker's Edge who I didn't know.

Just a short way in, I heard a pretty solid crash behind me and didn't dare look to see what happened or I'd likely end up with a similar fate. The course was extremely twisty or even twitchy, which was fun but it made for high focus and not many opportunities to pass or drink from our bottles. Ski was hammering away and the 4 of us separated from everyone else. I was riding blind, so to speak, as I had never seen the course before. I was smart enough to not try to ride a 10 mile loop before the race, so I figured I'd follow wheels for the 1st lap and then see how things shook out.

We came out of the single track at some point and I couldn't believe how hard these guys drilled it on the double track. It was a friggen blast, but WOW! 3 laps like this.....really? I was on the ropes like Ali taking hooks and uppercuts in the "rope-a-dope" (emphasis on dope). We came onto a long flooded straightaway that had mini river crossings and to my surprise, there was Adam just 150 meters in front of us. The guys seemed to ride even harder when they saw him and I just stayed in line trying to see through the blood in my eyes.

We hit some more single track and Adam started to pull away a bit. Shortly after that on some fire road Dan went to the front and slowly crept away. I didn't understand why the other 2, after crushing it so hard just let him get the gap on a slight uphill, but that effort was a big withdrawal from the leg bank and Dan just floated away. I looked up and he was almost across to Adam. I didn't plan on doing this, but I had recovered from the body blows and decided that, this was the race and made a jump to bridge. The other 2 tried to get on, but the steady uphill grade proved too much (or something) and they were off and I was in no man's land. I made a huge effort to "get there" and was concerned about not knowing the course too well. Sure enough we veered slightly left and went uphill on steep, loamy, rooty single track climb. I nearly blew sky high, but stayed within myself as best I could with a 190 heart rate. John Bernard of ccb, was watching the race and shouted some encouragement and also informed me there was a long downhill coming. That was good news. It took another 5 or 6 minutes, but I finally got on Dan who was just off Adam's wheel.

Adam was really nice to us after that as this was clearly the selection. He didn't crush the double track too hard, instead he drank and had a gel or two and Dan & I sat on. Dan waved me thru so he could eat something and soon after we hit the single track again. Adam just smoothed his way away from us. He made a small mistake a while later and we were back on, but not for long. I heard Dan make a mistake too and he was gapped off, but when we hit more lapped riders he got back to my wheel. On the double track he crushed it and I was back on the defensive, but was ok and just told myself it's only about half way thru, long way to go.

On the previously mentioned steep little single track climb, we hit some lappers at just the wrong moment, Dan snuck through but I ended up hitting his back wheel and had to dismount. I lost a gap there and then I proceeded to make a couple small mistakes. I came into a small hill way over geared and had to struggle up because there was way too much torque on the chain to try and shift on the hill. I was telling myself I'd get him back in the main part of the single track on lap 3 and I felt pretty good still. I could see him on a few of the U-turns on lap 3 and was gaining nicely. The lappers were a huge problem at this point, but most of them were so great about making way for me/us. Suddenly when I was exiting out of one of the turns I threw my chain off and couldn't pedal it back on. I had to dismount and the chain was actually stuck between a little guard for the bottom bracket carbon and the small chain ring. I'd been in the big ring for the entire race to that point, but when I finally got back up and running I decided it would be smart to leave it in the little ring for the rest of the single track, just to avoid having that happen again. Dan was outa sight now, but I stayed positive because he could just as easily make a mistake too.

By the time I got back to that brutal singletrack climb with only a short way to go, I could see him again. I gave it everything I had and the legs started to let me know that they weren't too thrilled with me, in the form of cramps on the climbs. I got a little closer on the long downhill and on the last bit of single track, but I made another small mistake that made me have to grab onto a tree for a balance check and that was all she wrote. When I came out onto the last little bit of fire road before the finish, he was a good 100- 200 yards ahead of me. Adam had already finished and Dan crossed in 2nd, I was in 3rd just a few seconds back.

The race was a huge blast and lodged firmly in the North Shore Cycling Community, I can't see it have anything but more sucess. The North Shore is a tremendous cycling community, probably one of the strongest in the U.S. and it's nice to be able to support them and thank them for promoting such a great event.

Thats it for now. Thanks for reading, JB

Stage Race Season is Here

2011-05-18T22:44:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a while since I posted a decent race report. That seems to be a trend with the New England blogosphere lately. Colin has kept us satiated, and I've enjoyed his reports. Mike Rowell has kept after it too. So I'm gonna make an effort to get back into a writing phase and take a pull at the keyboard.

This won't be a race report, but rather a preview. The big stage races are about to start and I'm pretty stoked about it. I'm gonna race the Mt. Bike this Sunday in Ipswich as long as it isn't under water, and thats always a lot of fun. Come to think of it Mt. bike races are more like races than road races. When the whistle blows everyone speeds off and tries to go as fast as they can and cross the finish line first, none of the tactical chess moves and certainly none of the sucky defensive (negative) racing. But where was I? Sorry I had a brain interuption there. Oh ya, stage racing....

Stage races are cool because they provide a chance to really plan a short getaway with friends/teamates. Some of the best times I had last summer were on the nights in between stages at races where we stayed as a team. For those of you that don't know us (Corner Cycle) I have a teamate, Bill Shattuck thats gets a little, shall we say, amped up for bike racing. I love that, cuz I feel the same way, but he has a way of verbalizing it that cracks me up. Get some caffiene into that guy and stand back! Anyway we have fun with the stage races. It's a lot of work and planning, but it's worth it to us. We have to bring 2 bikes each and he's been known to bring a 3rd just because thats Bill. Then there's the food, gear, tools, bikestand, pop up tent etc. We have to line up lodging and figure out the logistics of each stage, and then actually race. Beer is a big part of the weekend as is Sportscenter and flat out ragging on anyone and everyone/anything. In other words it's a total guy weekend. If we had time or money for strippers I'm sure that'd be part of the program too (sorry Mom).

So it all starts in about a week and a half at Killington Stage Race. This race is great and the promoter aligns it with the Giro and makes the jersies a lot like those of the Giro. For aging athletes this is as good as it gets. Cycling is the only sport I know of that gives us old guys a chance to play like the PROs. We may not be as fast or as strong as the PRO racers around the world, but when we're racing up and down mountains in New England it's as real, and as beautiful as it gets. It's a huge privledge to be in these races, and have something to compete for, and the competition is fierce. I mean it's downright fierce! Half the guys spend a week or more in warm weather climates during the winter to jump start their training with a "camp". That way they can get an edge in the early spring races. Nowadays everyone has a coach, a proper diet, incredible PRO equiptment and a lot of experience. There are lots of former PROs in the races too, making it feel more like the real deal than ever.

Killington is a great race and it packs the name of a very famous stage race from days gone by and has been resurected in the last 2 years. It also shares the name with the World Famous Ski Resort, and thats exactly where we finish up 3 days of racing, on the top of a beaslty climb up the back service road to the base of the main ski hill. It has a lot to offer and it has glitz and glamour.......but, (there's always a but) the following weekend there is another stage race that packs a great punch, and a hell of a bang for the buck.

I'm talking about the Connecticut Stage Race. This is one of those stage races that packs 3 stages into 2 days, and I do mean packs. Saturday morning starts out with a hard rolling TT at the base of the Berkshires in Nortwestern CT. Later in the afternoon there is a very significant circuit race with a tough punchy hill and lots of time bonuses available at 2 different points lines. The finish line is the sprint competition line and the top of the punchy climb is the KOM line. GC time bonuses match the points making every lap a barn burner. Sunday is stage 3 and it's a 93 mile road race through the Berkies. When else do you get the chance to race that distance as a master's athlete? You don't. It's an absolutely awesome race. I did 5 stage races last year, and I can honestly say this is the best one. I'm not taking anything away from the others, but this is the best for lots of reasons. It pays well, it has gorgeous, wide, safe roads with minimal traffic. Each stage is legit and really has an impact on the overall. One of my favorite things is how rural it is, I often say you don't see a single commercial entity throughout the whole road race, and it's an unbelievable part of New England you'll never go see if you don't race there. You really owe it to yourself to have this experience. The promoter is as nice as they come too. Go check it out, you won't be sorry.

There was already a stage race in VT this year where the Tour of the Dragons had it's rookie year and I heard great things about that race also. Fitchburg has gone away this year, but it's gonna stay as a crit with a hefty prize purse. Later in the year there's the Tour of the Catskills, not officailly New England, but very close in NY and also packs a great schedule of stages, most notably the final stage that includes the world famous climb up the "Devils Kitchen". Finally there's the Green Mountain Stage Race. One of my all time favorites, also put on by Gary Kessler, the same promoter as Killington. The scenery at this race is second to none. The view from the top of App Gap is something every New Englander should have in their memory. (The picture doesn't do it justice) It's one of those awe inspiring views that make you remember how insignificant we really are.

Well thats my Stage Race Season preview. I hope to see you all out there chasing those prestigious jersies.

Thanks for stopping by, JB

A Very Sad Day

2011-05-09T16:59:00.000-04:00

Today is a very bad day for cycling. As if we're not hit with enough bad news stories concerning cycling these days, this one is truly tragic. On stage 3 of the Giro today, while descending off a mountain, a young superstar of cycling, from cycling mad Belgium, lost his life when he crashed at a high rate of speed. Wouter Weylandt, 26, riding for Leopard-TREK, has left us. He died doing what he loved. Ironicly, 1 year ago he won stage 3 of the same race, which was probably the greatest highlight of his racing career. His girlfriend is expecting their baby in September, and today is the day after Mother's Day. I can just imagine how proud his Belgian Mom was to be able to say the reason my son isn't with me on Mother's day is because he's racing in one of the biggest races in the world and he won this stage last year.

Just look at the charisma this guy had. Not everyone can walk around with that kind of self assuredness. He was best friend and training partner to American, Tyler Farrar who lives in Belgium during the racing season. I can only imagine what he's going through. I don't even know any of these guys, but I've been sick to my stomach all day.

The sport we love is that dangerous. You can be riding along 1 second with the wind in your face and a big smile, and in an instant you can be hurt badly, mamed or paralyzed, or in rare instances even killed. To a large extent it's only as dangerous as you make it, but things that are out of our control can still happen.

I have a lot of friends making trips to Italy and France this spring/summer to ride these roads we all dream about. Please be carefull everyone.

RIP Wouter

The Coaching Era Begins

2011-04-13T19:37:00.003-04:00

I've had people telling me to start a coaching business forever it seems, and I have in fact coached several athletes to varied levels of sucsess. A few triathletes as well as several cyclists and cross racers. I just never got around to getting it up and running as an official entity. Well now I've done that.

I don't have a degree in exercise physiology or anything quite that official, however I do know several "coaches" who are certified by USAC and USAT, that I would consider bad candidates for a coach simply because they've never actually achieved any decent sucess in their own athletic endeavors. It's to each his/her own I guess. Hopefully you'll check out the site and spread the word.....if I have any readers left that is.

I look at it this way.....it'll give Solobreak a post topic when he decides to bust my balls on this. It should be humorous....

Thanks for reading, JB

The Offy/Acceptance

2011-02-22T12:58:00.007-05:00

The offseason. It's officially here. I don't want to....but I have to accept it. The last race this past Sunday was a true nail biter. For the first time in years, one of the three major series was up for grabs on the last day of the series. Sven Nys' experience and ability to handle pressure saw him come out on top of the young challenger in Kevin Pauwels. Ya, there's one more race tomorrow, but thats really just more of a parade than anything else.

After reading the excellent interview with Greg Keller, I began to wonder. You see, Greg knows the whole game. He 's the guy that can tell you about tires, sealants, glues, racers from all over the world, races from all over the world and the diversity of the courses. He can tell you about the mud, and the beer, and the cigarettes....the hooligans, the venue's and the outdoor pissoires. He can tell you about the promoters and the backers, the juniors, the masters, the men and the women. He writes a phenominal blog, and he's probably the most passionate guy I've met concerning all things cyclocross. So what I started to wonder about, was....How many people in the US actually know this sport inside and out like Greg does? I would venture to say, not many. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it starts to be when people just start spewing things like, "They should do this or they should that", when they themselves don't even really know who "they" are.

People in this country seem to want to make our game the same as what we see from Belgium and a couple countries in close proximity to Belgium. I don't really understand that. To quote Bill Bellicheck, "it is what it is". We have such different cultural surroundings that I see that as an impossibility, but I also don't think that's a bad thing, just a different thing. Look we're never gonna have cross races that pay athletes $5000-$10,000 just to start the race. We'll probably never have major TV coverage of our events. We're a niche within a niche within a niche, we need to realize that and accept that. I can appreciate the dreamy eyed passionate fan (also racer) that wants all of that, and believes "It's a great spectator sport......people would watch it if it were on TV". But I don't think so, not in this country. (Picture the Miller Lite beer commercial with the guy in a speedo ordering a beer from the hot babe/bartender who tells him "Not in this country"). Thats just how it is, we need to accept that.

I for one think thats fine, because what we do have is unique. Since when do we follow? Aren't we more wired to lead? Their way might look better from here, but it's just different. The region we watch races from is a fraction of the size of New England. That alone is why we could never "reproduce" what they do. We need to accept that. If we had similar circumstances we probably would. Cycling is to them, what football is to us. We need to accept that. The sport doesn't have to be sold to the masses there, it's knit into the fabric of their history, just like football, baseball, basketball and Nascar are in this country. We can't look at it from the US cyclocrosser's point of view, we have to accept that what matters is the US sports fan point of view. It'll never change, and thats OK. We have a great participant based sport here that is thriving, but more people show up to watch high school sports than they do for cyclocross. Thats fine, I accept that. In the US, every fan at a football game is not a football player.

At US cyclocross races just about every fan is a racer. In Belgium most of the Cross fans are older, heavier, cigarette smoking, beer drinking commoners (see US football fans). At the Belgian National PRO Championships there were less than 20 starters and only 13 finishers. Does that seem like the biggest country for cyclocross to you? It's spectator driven in their country and participant driven in this country. The difference is everything in this day and age, when everything comes down to the almighty buck$$$. Spectators, pay entrance fees to watch, they buy beer, and food, and watch the televised events, that can in turn, sell advertising. On the up side, in this country participants buy equiptment from all the maufacturers. It's just different. Accept it.

Our country is much bigger, with a much harsher winter. Everyone likes to say "They have snow and ice races in Europe too" and they do, but much fewer. People point to Poprad in 1999 (thats a long time ago floks) and Tabor at the Worlds last year in 2010. There is usually a short period where they get a little snow on the ground in Belgium too, but it's not the norm and the big factor is that they don't get the deep frost in the ground. Typically the freeze is short and temps regulate back to their normal conditions, which is temps from the high 30's to the low 50's, with no frost in the ground. Lots of mud yes, but no frost. So to try to align our schedule to thiers just seems silly to me. I can hack it and I'll be at all the January Championships, but it just doesn't make sense to me. At those races we'll have the potential for very dangerous conditions. I don't mean you could crash and get hurt, that can happen anywhere. I mean there's the potential for frostbite and hypothermia. I don't think we should be so desparate to follow their example, that we sacrifice logic. Ironicly we don't take advantage of our geography. Belgium doesn't have the option to have warm weather races within their borders. Lots of the top PROS head off to Majorca during the week and then head back to Belgie for the weekends to race. In the US we could have those late season races in some of the warmer climate states/locales. I wish USAC would work to improve the model for Natz so that promoters from those places would actually want to bid for it. Actually I wish USAC would do a lot of things, but I digress. I don't see having Natz 3 or 4 weeks later as making a big difference in preparing 7 or 8 athletes for Worlds. Instead, I agree with Greg that anyone that wants to do well needs to go live there, like Jon Page. Greg's best quote in that whole interview was something to the affect of "You can't just expect to show up for a week in December and kick ass". Why will it be different in January? It won't be. We need to accept that. Besides....isn't turning the sport on it's ear for 10 or 15 athletes a little warped?

Worlds in the US in 2013 will be different, it will be American Cross and the Euro's will have to accept that too. The thing we Americans forget to realize is that even by moving our Natz up to January we're not really following their model. Worlds were almost a month ago and since then, two of the three major series have been decided. They KEEP racing after Worlds over there, which is also awesome. Their last cross race is tomorrow, and this weekend is the first of the Spring Classics with both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne happening saturday and sunday, both in Belgium in the same places cross races are still breaking down their courses. It's just different, we have to accept that. In most of New England there is 3' of snow and ice on the grond, the roads look like bombs have hit them for weeks, and the biggest races we have in this country might be some crits in Florida and Texas and SoCal. But thats OK, the world is a smaller place with the internet, and being a fan can happen from anywhere in the world.

I feel like Nationals or Worlds should NOT be the last race of the year. If everyone keeps racing after the big championships then the new champions can showcase their new jersies and enjoy their peak race fitness a little while longer. That doesn't mean having even more races into late January and February in the US. It means having the National Championships a lot earlier in the season, more like Canada does. I think eventually we need to see a split between amateur and PRO championships, just like we see on the road. US Natz is largely a masters affair. USAC could split it into two events, two venues, two different dates. In the US we've always made Natz the big party/show, but just when everyone is amped to the max we shut it all down and go away. That seems wrong to me.

Anyway, I hate the off season. It leaves me with too much time to think about all this stuff and write about it. It won't be long though before the miracle of Spring brings us back to it all.

Peace out, JB

Just Another Euro Pro's Apartment

2011-02-19T13:30:00.003-05:00

My favorite part comes at 2:04.

Pro Cycling is a friggen' joke!!!

PRICE REDUCED!!! For Sale

2011-02-11T16:35:00.001-05:00

19.5" Alluminum TREK 8500 mountain bike.

Hard Tail. 26" wheels. FOX RL fork/shock. Shimano XT components and disc brakes, Bontrager carbon seat post, carbon riser bar. Bontrager saddle. SRAM Gripshift 9-speed. This bike is cared for extremely well, new chain and casettes frequently. Fork is maintained, everything works flawlessly. There are 2 sets of Bontrager wheels.

One is RL (Race Light) alluminum, the other is super light RXL (Race Extra Light) scandium. There are a set of Schwalbe studded tires (on the bike), 2.1" excellent for ice riding. There is a set of Hutchinson UST Python 2.0" and also 6 extra tires all in good shape. 1 Bontrager, 1 Maxxis High Roller (Steve Larson signature model),

2 Bontrager small block treads, 2 Kenda Nevegals. I also have spare tubes and an extra deraileur hanger. All this for $1500, and you'll be set for trail riding and racing!

Hoogerheide World Cup, The Netherlands

2011-01-26T16:25:00.000-05:00

Going to a World Cup Cross Race is like going to the Super Bowl for me. Wait. No. It's better. WAY BETTER!!! Especially since the stress of my own big race is over with. We got there in time to see the Juniors race, then the U23's. After that there's a big break so I was able to talk to a couple of the PROS

while they warmed up. Marianne Vos seems as happy to see me as I was to meet her. Nothing like a photo op with the most decorated female cyclist in recent history. She was absolutely as sweet as could be. Although I'm pulling for Katie Compton at Worlds, I certainly developed a newfound sweetspot for Marianne.

Then I grabbed a beer and checked out some of the PRO camper setups.
I'm sure you can figure out who's bikes these are. Of course I had to have some frites, and a mystery sausage too.

The flyover comes right after a very hard horshoe turn in the woods on thick loamy, greasy dirt with deep ruts. Making it around the 2nd part of that uphill turn is hard enough, then the riders come out of the woods and have to climb up that beast. It was amazing to see even the best in the world fight to get up the astroturf ramp. My camera battery was extremely low, so I saved it for the men's race, but Katie was awesome and rode away from a very strong Hanka Kupfernagel, as well as Marianne Vos. It was an impressive and dominant display. I had predicted the top 5 before the race and I had all 5 with a couple spots flip flopped, but Katie was my pick for the win.

I also picked my favorite Stevens rider, Neils Albert to win. On a training ride earlier in the week we passed Neils and Phillipe Walsleben on one of the canal bikepaths. It was Wednesday and they were haulin ass! I was coming around a corner and looked up and Neils Friggen Albert was barreling down on me. I lunged over to get out the way while he just held his line and kept drilling it, as if to say "You better get out of my way, you old wanker". Ha ha ha

Stybar got out to an early
lead and looked awesome, but he couldn't hold it. Neils on the other hand had me worried. He didn't look good early. Tim Johnson was on the front of the chase group for almost 2 full laps and I'm telling you, the guy
was absolutely KILLING IT! I was so pumped, first Katie and now Tim. Eventually Neils did his thing and rode up and then away from everyone, making me 2 for 2 in the prediction department.

Of course the king was looking good too. If I had it my way, Sven would win Worlds every year until he retires, but I don't think it'll happen. I hope I'm wrong, but my picks for Worlds go like this.

Women
1. Katie Compton
2. Marianne Vos
3. Hanka Kupfernagle
4. Katerina Nash
5. Sanne Van Passen

Men
1. Neils Albert
2. Zdenek Stybar
3. Kevin Pauwels
4. Sven Nys
5. Klaas Vantournout
6. Francis Mourey
7. Tom Meesuen
8. Bart Aeronouts
9. Philipe Walsleben
10. Tim Johnson

Hopefully Danny Summerhil or Zack McDonald can get in the top 10 in the U23s.

I wish Cross season wasn't over, but the snow is piling up outside my door as I type this. There is one other tidbit I should let you know about next year's Master's Worlds in Kentuckey. The Euros aren't coming. I asked every one of them that I spoke to and not one was even considering it. It's gonna be US Nationals with a few odd Canadians and foriegners. Oh well, I'm pumped for it either way!

Thanks for reading, JB

Master's Worlds 2011, Mol, Belgium

2011-01-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

The Motherland. Belgium. Home of beer, waffles, chocolate and cycling. This place is addictive, even though the simplest things can become a challenge, like trying to dry one's clothes, or buy some fuel, or groceries after 7 PM, or on a Sunday.

If I weren't a cyclist I'd probably feel differently, but all those little things go away when you constantly see groups of cyclists and children, and old folks all out on bikes. Wheather it be for sport, or commuting to school or work, or going to market.

Consider that it's late January, the fields are green and saturated, there is a constant drizzle that switches between rain and light rain. It's usually around 40-45 degrees, and it doesn't seem to discourage anyone from being out on a bike.

The country is marked with thousands of canals and waterways. On both sides of these canals are bike paths, paved and beautiful. Some of the canals are quite large and extremely industrious, but the smaller canals that tend to meander through the countryside through fields and woods are my favorites. No cars, no signs of human life at all other than the canal itself and the asphalt, for miles and miles.

The fresh bread that they bake here is worth the trip alone, and the beer! OH THE BEER!!! So tasty and some pack quite a punch too. Thats probably the one thing that is less expensive when you get here, everything else is super expensive. Fuel is about $7 a gallon or 1.30 euro/litre. Groceries are expensive too. Plus you lose money on the conversion since the dollar is so week. For $100 you get 64 euros, and then the prices seem high even if the dollar and euro were equal.

There is another thing that's less expensive.....Cyclocross races. Typically you pay 5 or 6 euros for a race number which is made of thin vinyl. There are about 600 pin holes in the corners from being used that many times. When the race is over you return the number for 5 euros plus whatever prize money you may have earned.

We moved our flight up 1 day to get out of here before the big snowstorm shut down the airports. That was good planning because the storm barreled up the coast as we darted over the Atlantic Ocean, missing it by a couple hours. All our bags made it and in 1 piece so we had a major portion of the "concerns" out of the way and checked off sucessfully. We got our bikes built up pretty quickly and then headed out on our first ride to explore our new neighborhood for the next 2 weeks. This year we stayed in Tielte Winge which was a good central location and also rumored to be the home town of Eddy Merckx. I don't think thats true based on a quick search, but thats what we were being told while we were there.

The idea of this ride was just to shake out the legs and get the flight out of them and get the blood moving. The body does funny things when you fly over 6 time zones. Some respond better than others. I struggle with it terribly, while Kevin aces it. The guy can step off a plane anywhere in the world and instantly adapt to the time difference. He sleeps when you're supposed to and doesn't wake up for hours in the middle of the night like so many of us do.

We were at a house that regularly houses cyclists, so they were set up for us quite well. They had spare road wheels for us to train on, as well as trainers and a floor pump that we could use at the races. I didn't bring a lot of tools but I did throw my tire guage in my bag which was key since the pump was good but inaccurate in terms of pressure. There were 2 junior Canadians at the house (Ben Perry, & Yohan Patry)as well as another Canadian Masters rider, Ed Campbell. It was a good dynamic having so many cyclists in the house and more came and went as the 2 weeks went by. We found good training routes and interesting places.

Something I noticed this time around that I didn't notice last year were these tiny little religious shrines that dotted the roadsides as well as some more remote spots. I had noticed them and this particular one stood out as the most unique one I saw. There was a beaten in little path up through the corn field that made me think that it sees quite a few visits. I'm not religious at all, but thats pretty cool.

Our first race was in Langemark, about an hour and a half West of our location. Last year we were warned about not doing the race since it was just a pure mud race, flat as a table and deep sloggy field after field. We didn't go last year, but this year we really needed 2 races on the weekend before Worlds to get race ready. It sucked! It was almost impossible to get through the mud for me, and I destroyed my leg muscles in trying. Kevin had no problems winning the 50+ category. In an interesting twist we had a ton of Americans there. Peter Webber, who won with his teamate Brandon Dwight in 2nd. Also on hand was former Olympian (1996 Atlanta, Mountain Biking)Don Myrah who had stripped me of my National Cross title in December. Boulder had a whole slew of riders there actually, adding Brian Hludzinsky, Ward Baker, Micheal Robson as well as Kurt Perham who used to live there but is now a New Englander up in Maine. We also had a few Canadians there and although they weren't at this race Adam Whitney and his wife Marylyn Ruseckas were in Belgium as well. The legendary Steve Tilford would join us later in the week. Steve has THE most interesting blog to read I've ever come across (sorry Chandler). I reccomend giving it a look.

After a serious bike washing we loaded up for the next day's race in Bakel, Holland. If Langemark was my least favorite race of all time, Bakel was my most favorite! Right in the center of the most picturesque town they have a big wooded lot, with lots of small hills. The course serpentined its way through the woods, up and down and out into a long, hard, sandy run up as well as some short field sections. The most fun course ever! Read about it more here.

Kevin, Don myrah, Marc Bodreau, Adam Whitney and I were in the back row while the Boulder crew had figured out a few tricks and got some sweet call ups. I had made my way up to 8th or so with lots of guys just in front of me that I had been gaining on all day when I made a small mistake and slid out a corner trying to take it too fast. I didn't lose much time in getting back going, or so I thought. The chain had come off and in an attempt to pedal it back on it got wedged between the stay and chain ring. I lost huge time and about 5 or 6 places before I could get it straightened out. I ended up 12th, but the result wasn't as important as how I felt on the bike, and I felt tremendous that day, on a course that was very similar to last year's World's course in Mol, Belgium.

If Belgium is a great place to be a cyclist, then Holland is twice as good. Often times the roads have more space dedicated to bike lanes than for vehicle traffic. There's often one thin road for cars going both ways, but after a small strip of grass or trees there's a bike path on BOTH sides of the road. On the way into Bakel which was the most beautiful day of our trip, 55 degrees and sunny with no wind, we saw group after group of cyclists on the paths on both sides of the road. Not just some group of 3 or 4 hackers, but 20-25 guys all kitted up like PROS. They all sit on the bike like PROS too. The wanker ratio is low. They've been raised from birth with cycling in their blood, the 30-40something that picks up Bicycle Magazine and decides to take up cycling doesn't exist here. If a driver hits a cyclist with their car, they can be guarenteed to go to jail. There is no problems with cars. The "cyclist hate" is non existent.

The week between the races is the hardest time for me. It's hard to keep yourself busy and productive. We had intended to go to Oudinaarde on Tuesday for a trip up the Koppenberg as well as a visit to the Tour of Flanders Museum. But a quick email to Kurt (the Boulder crew is staying in Oudinaarde) confirmed that the museum was closed, so we scrapped our one day of planned tourism, although we had toured Antwerp's pedestrianized Diamond District on our first full day in Belgium which also included some hot laps on the semi broken down Belgian National Elite Championship Course, so that was kinda touristy.

We did daily rides and daily bike washes, including 2 trips to Mol, which is about a 45-50 minute drive, for recon laps. I visited my favorite little tree lined lane in the woods near the race venue. I don't know what it is about this spot in the woods of Mol, but I'd gladly have some of my ashes spread here when I die. It's as peaceful a place as I've ever experienced.

Daily trips to market for dinner stuff and fresh beer were also part of the ritual. Finally we were up to the day before the big race and all I had to do was take the race rig out for a shakedown ride and do some openers for about an hour. I went by a street called Stevens St. so I thought I should snap off a picture. I wish I had taken more pics of the local landscape. You would've seen that most everything is built from concrete and brick or stone. I guess I won't be a Belgian carpenter, I'd probably struggle cutting rafters by the metric system anyway.

Race day came and it was raining lightly as we drove over to Mol for the 3rd time in 4 days. It stoppped shortly after we arrived. Kev's race was at 11:30 and mine was at 12:30. We got there at 9 AM. Thats way too early for my liking, but his race was earlier so I had to just chill for a while. To me theres no reason to get to the venue too early, especially if you've already done a ton of laps on the course and have it all dialed in. Too much time can be a negative as you just get more nervous being at the actual venue. He wanted to go get a number right away, but that was the last thing I wanted to do. He asked why not? and I said because I didn't want to be on the top of the list. The way this works is that the call up is random. When I hear random, I think every name is gonna go in a hat or a bucket or something and they'll pull the names out 1 at a time. NO! They can't be bothered with that. I found that out last year. The way they do it is they take the list of entrants which in my race was 80 guys, way more than last year, and they choose a place to start. Somewhere in the middle is typical. Then if they start at number 40 they go right up 41, 42, 43 etc. When they get to the end they either go to #1 and go up, or go to #39 and go down. The thing that I sort of thought of during one of my 4 hours of awakeness in the middle of the night earlier in the week was that the top guys always seem to be in the front 2 rows. I thought that if I signed up right next to them that I'd at least improve my chances at a decent call up. Shoot, anything would be better than last row, which is what I got last year. I figured if I signed up for a 12:30 race at 9 oclock that I'd probably be #1 or 2. I didn't want that. I waited in the warm car til 10 and then went up to registration. I couldn't believe it, but Marc Druyts, the present World Champion in my group was right at the table next to me filling out his form, the next guy that walks in is Mario Lammens, the present Belgian National Champ. Druyts got #44, I got #45 and Mario got #46.

I was rolling around warming up when Kevin staged, he was in the last row, but the field wasn't too big. I made it up to 3rd last year from the last row and Kevin is great at working his way through traffic. The other thing working against him though was the length of the race. They were scheduled to race for 30 minutes. Steve Tilford got a 4th row call up that he "converted" to 3rd row, wearing bib #1, so I figured my "system" was probably pretty worthless. I was prepared to start in the back and brawl my way up.

Tilly was 9th after the first big sand section and in a good spot to contend. Kev was way back in traffic so heavy that he was having trouble remounting his bike because it was so crowded. Then I had to leave and go to the car to go through my trainer workout and last minute race preparations. I wouldn't see the race, but I knew that going in. Mark Verloo won again and Tilly was 3rd after losing a spot on the last hard sand section in "the bowl". Before that he was in 2nd at 5 seconds down. Kevin got all the way up to 6th but was never in it.

Belgium 1st and 2nd, USA 3rd.

In my race the first call up was #38. I was on the front row right between the World Champion, and the former World Champion/current Belgian Champion.....right where I belong, I thought. I figured if I could handle these 2 guys I'd probably win the thing. I beat them both, but two 3-time World Champions also beat me. I won the hole shot with ease and led onto the beach, Mario came around me after we ran and he sort of bobbled the exit of the beach which was also deep sand, I had to dismount and lost some spots, but was still at the front of the race. Mario checked out right then, but he started to fade after a few minutes and by the end of the lap we were all together again, a front group of 5 with 2 more close and trying to make the selection. Just as we came out of a tricky little sand section that spilled us onto the finishing straightaway, Tilly yelled to me that "it's better to ride at the front on this course Jon". I thought, my thoughts exactly and drilled it to the front again gapping them off slightly before hitting the beach 1st again. I rode the sand OK, but Dirk Mertens, jumped around me before the exit. He did the same thing on the next lap, but Eric Teck had gapped us a bit in the initial run in. When we got off the beach I passed Dirk and was riding in 2nd with Dirk on my wheel and Marc Druyts hanging on. Mario was dropped. Just before a little "down up" with a hard left hander in it, Dirk shot past me again. Thats where I lost the World Championship. I'm pretty confident in saying I was the strongest guy that day. There's a tricky double root at the top of the little rise and with the sandy soil diminishing, the roots were getting taller and taller all day, and there's a big stump just to the left of the line on the exit too. It really was a very tricky little spot with a lot going on. I had it dialed though.

I figured Dirk would do a good job with it like all the top riders and I didn't leave much of a gap. He gaffed it and basicly got hung up on it. With a split second to react I had no where to go. I slammed into him from behind and basicly pushed him forward right when he needed it, and helped him get his momentum back. I had to hobble over the roots and my chain dropped. As I sucessfully pedaled it back on Druyts went by, and a big gap was created. Now Eric was in the lead with Dirk very close, and Marc and I chasing at about 12 seconds or so. OK time for plan B. I let Druyts slay himself to defend his title while I sat to learn his lines and see if he knew something I didn't. He didn't. His lines sucked and he was in my way. I passed him and dropped him, but he was still close....scrapping. Dirk caught Eric and seemed to gap him immediately. I don't think Eric bobbled a sand section, but he was just in a bad patch. I caught Eric and Druyts was scrapping to get back. I slayed it as best I could but Eric was way better in the sand. I was more fit and able to hurt him, but anthing I gained I lost in the sand. On the last lap we were about 10 seconds back and unless Dirk made a mistake we were racing for Silver. We traded passes several times all of them clean. There was no bullshit at all, the guy was a classy rider in every sense. I had the front position coming into the barriers which is less than a minute from the finish. He came flying by as we hurdled the barriers and passed me on foot. Turns out he was better at the barriers than me too. He handled the last tricky sand section with ease and started sprinting while I swerved out of the sand. He had beat me and we both knew it. I looked up and Dirk crossed the line, then Eric, then I noodled in for 3rd.

Belgium 1st and 2nd, USA 3rd.

Last year, I just wanted the chance to race, this year I got it, but with the same result. The 2 races were polar opposites though. Last year after working through traffic, I was alone for 3 laps just chasing my brains out. This year I was in the mix all day racing for the World Title, leading at times and being very agressive. I didn't get disrespected at all by guys doing things the Belgies have sort of come to be known for. I know when I'm racing another guy that is confident and strong, that it makes a statement, and respect is automatic. Maybe I made that statement. Maybe they recognized me from last year. Dirk was 2nd last year. All in all it was an excellent experience. It was such a buzz to be in the race. I keep playing through my head what might have happened if I protected my spot better, not letting Dirk get by me at that critical moment. He would have lost time to me and I would have caught Eric when he was in his bad patch and I coulda gapped him. This will torment me, and motivate me. In hindsight I think the lap before Dirk had probably seen that I cleaned that obstacle and wanted to get in front of me so I wouldn't gap him if I cleaned it again. Smart racer! This reminds me of my pal Sammy's quote..."Cyclocross is like trying to play chess while you're drowning". The good ones do it well. All I can do is tip my hat to Dirk. He beat a few guys that were there to win, and capable of it that day. Nice ride!

So now I have two.

Poor Don Myrah had a similar fate as Kevin and was buried on the start grid in about the 7th row. He passed a ton of guys, but also was never in it and finished 12th pretty far back on time.

Later I watched and cheered for Pete Webber and Brandon Dwight, as they were our last chance for a jersey, but it wasn't to be. The guy that won their race was on another planet and had power and skill to spare. Pete was 4th and Brandon 6th. I did get a good shot of Pete going over the little "down up root section" though. He also had it dialed, and I snapped this picture. You can't see how exposed the roots are below or how loose the sand was in the approach but you can see the big stump that made it even more tricky if you bobbled left a little. It gave guys fits all day, Marc Druyts was running that spot and he's a 3-time World Champion.

Anyway, thats that. The next day we went to the World Cup in Hoogerhiede, but I'm sick of typing, so I'll save that for another day.

Thanks for reading, JB

Glahsta 2010

2010-10-04T17:06:00.000-04:00

New England Worlds. The greatest nickname for the greatest race on the East Coast.

I LOVE THIS RACE!!!

My back hates the chicane/barrier get offs but it's an excellent feature. I'm feeling it today though.

The field was stacked as usual in the 35s. On top of the usual hard hitting North Easters we had the Canadian National champ along for the weekend, Peter Mogg. I like most things Canadian, and Peter was no exception. A hard nosed, strong racer, confident in his strength and a friendly guy after the races. The rest of the group was Roger Aspholm, teamates Kevin Hines, Jamie Tosca, & Bill Shattuck. Kurt Perham, Curtis Boivin, Matt Kraus, Rob Hult, Steve Proulx and lots more.

Day 1 saw an untraditional start line at the top of the hill going down, a quick horshoe off to the right and then back across the street into the sand and then lots of the usual stuff we typically see at Gloucester. They managed to create a longish lap and we only had to race 5 of them.

It was hard to get a good start and I was buried around 12th or so. I moved up a bit, then made a mistake in a tight chicane and lost a spot and a big gap. I stayed cool and rode hard, at least I had a good look at the lines while I was gapped off. I got back on near the end of the seawall section and tried to recover a bit. Jamie was just in front of me and Roger was just in fron of him. Kevin was somewhere behind me, and it was the Canadian champ on the very front, but there were a lot of bodies between me and him.

After a slight recovery I went by Jamie and Roger into a tight S turn between 2 trees. Just as I entered into it Kurt Perham and Matt Kraus tangled a bit in front of me. I braked hard and managed to sneak by them both on the inside absolutely clean. I passed a couple more before the next turn and then it was only Rob Hult and Peter Mogg in fron of me. I figured Roger hadn't snuck through the tiny door that opened for just a second like I did, so I was eager to get to the front......and off of it. I had to wait until we got through a lot of twisty stuff, so I just breathed as deeply as I could because I knew I was about to go very deep.

When we came off the "backstop chicane" the lane opened up and I drilled it. I went past both guys and into the lead right at the finish of lap 1. From there I just did what I do. I drilled it where I could, tried to recover in the more technical sections while picking good clean lines and monitoring what was happening behind me. Mogg was tough, he hung close for a while but was never in my draft. If I made a mistake he'd have been right back in business though. Eventually he faded a bit and I took a brief break from "full gas" in hopes that once I recovered I could hit it again, and hopefully be able to keep the throttle open all the way to the finish.

As Mogg faded slightly, Kev came up and put him away. I'm not sure how he had gapped Roger and all the others but he was now just clear of Mogg and about 10 seconds behind me. Roger made it up to Mogg also and a good battle ensued between those 2 guys.
I kept the gas on and so did Kev, we made it to the line in that order, me first and Kev about 10 seconds behind me. Mogg separated himself from Roger and took the last poduim spot by 5 seconds over the "Flying Finn".

That was win #5 for me at Gloucester and the only thing as perfectly satisfying as that to me, is an ice cold Sam Adams Octoberfest. Which I am presently sipping.

The podium was 3 National Champions. 2 USA and 1 Canada.
That is pretty cool! Not to mention that Roger was National Champ last year and is presently National Champ on the road.

Day 2 would be the same cast of characters plus Marky Mac (Mark McCormack, former USPRO road and cross National Champion) AKA "Mark the Shark". The course was the classic and legendary course that we've come to know so well over the years. Boilerplate fast, TOUGH run up, lots of twists and turns with varying surfaces, off camber chicanes, windy as heck with big competition and big crowds. Lately the 35s have become a bit of a show stealer in terms of spectators. They put us at noon time, right after the 45s and 55s race together. Most of those guys are our buds and we've known them for years and still race a ton of different races together. So what happens is lots of those guys finish their race and then change up and grab a cold beer or two, since it's now noon time AND they're done racing, and then they wanna watch the 35s race, which is sometimes as exciting as the PRO race that happens later in the day. Not nearly as fast, but exciting. Since there are SO many UCI races in the US these days, we don't always see a super deep field in the PRO races. But thats much later in the day anyway and lots of us have "honey-do lists", or other family obligations to get to. That being said, I myself love to watch the PROS race. I not only watch.....I study (and drink beer of course).

So anyway the whistle blows and we charge up the long paved section into the bottle neck at the top. This start is so hard, but it's my favorite because I don't get off the line like I used to, but this run out gives me time to get the engine fully involved and up after the finish line I usually start going faster while everyone else is slowing slightly. Thats exactly what happened yesterday, and I rode into the narrow entrance onto the upper field in 1st place. I never know where the big players are when I win the hole shot because I don't have eyes in the back of my head, but I have a good idea in my mind who's on my wheel.....cue the Jaws theme now.

There are several tricky corners with roots involved in the rythm section that brings us out to the seawall, and I don't allow myself to check on the competition until I get onto the cinder road and can safely look back. Just as I suspected, Mark 2nd, Roger 3rd. Onto the run up and this high speed get off is tricky.
Last year as I swung my right leg back and over my saddle I actually hit some part of Mark's bike with my foot. Thank God it wasn't his front brake lever! Somehow I think if that was about to happen to Mark, he'd just knock my foot off to the side with his hand while preserving his race and skelital system in a calm, cool manner. I was actually thinking "I hope I don't hit anything with my foot this year". I'd be willing to bet he remembered it too.

Well I poured the gas on for all I was worth for 3 laps. In that time I don't think I got Mark more than 2 feet off my wheel and down the long backstretch along the ocean he rode just inside of me on my left as the wind was from the right. I know what you're thinking, I should have pinned myself to the course tape on the left side, but I hated that line. When I'm on the front I ride my preferred lines. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, we were going pretty damn fast down there and he was getting a much easier ride, yes, but I wasn't gonna ride some piece of crap line full of loose sharp rocks. I had managed to pop everyone else off and I was pretty pleased with my day 2 legs. Roger was off, but never by much,
and as we hit the pavement at the beginning of lap 3 I asked Mark for some help. No answer. I worked hard up to the finish line and got the 4 to go card as the crowd really started to grow. It's hard not to notice this at Gloucester. I simultaneously moved to my right and flicked the elbow, but like we were on a tandem he moved right with me. OK, I sorta figured that, but I was starting to pay the price of 2 very hard laps and Roger was still very close. 1 lap later, it was about the same, but Roger had gotten closer at some point and then I stretched it out again.

We were halfway through the 6 lap race and Kevin had shaken the Canadian Champ, but a fiesty Rob Hult was still on him.
They were getting close now too, and I was obviously slowing down a little. It's really hard to ride from the front, because I'm trying to make it all the way to the finish line and the chasers are looking at me as the finish line. They can see just in front of them where they want to be. But I love it! In one race last year in RI, Roger and I were separated by 4 seconds for 4 straight laps, both guys going full gas. That. Is. Racing! But so is being in a 4 man front group that we would soon become.

Near the end of the 5th lap Roger had reattached to Mark and me, and Kev was almost there too. I knew I had to get off the front and I knew Mark wasn't gonna pull through. I also knew Roger wasn't gonna come take a nice friendly pull without attacking the shit out of us, so I kinda soft pedaled all the turns on the way back from the far end of the lower field. This let me get some oxygen that I was gonna need shortly into my lungs and also let Kevin get attached after an incredible race long bridge. When I went through the last corner near the sand pit, I moved way over to the left and slowed as I looked right. Mark didn't take the bait as expected, Roger launched a hard attack as expected. I was ready, but it still hurt like hell. He doesn't do one of these wimpy attacks where he goes hard for 10 seconds and looks back 6 times. He NEVER does that! He hits out hard, usually on a hill and dares you to try to follow it, then he just keeps going. It's great to see! If you have the legs, then shuv it down their throats and make them take what you're dishing out. It may sound corny to you, but it's some manly shit that I respect and appreciate.....and try to emulate. I pretty much had it covered and then we hit the super tight chicane after a small uphill that we actually had to hit the brakes on because we were coming in so hot. Mark was on my wheel and Kev was just slightly off. Roger kept the pressure on coming out of the chicane and directly into the backstop chicane, which was a tunnel of noise and cowbells, just like the barriers right next to the beer tent had been for the last few laps, and down onto the approach to the pavement.

On the pavement Roger lit it up again. This was SAVAGE! You can see how
he has a small gap on me and everyone is full on at this point. We flew past the line and got the bell, and I swear it seemed as loud as Nationals last year. Roger started to fade ever so slightly and after a check over his shoulder to see we were there he eased slightly. Now I'm not gonna lie, I was cross eyed and in agony, but this was a golden opportunity to counter attack. My mind was sharp, but my legs were pretty worked not to metion a maximum heart rate pounding my chest wall. Still, it had to be done. This is where I try to emulate that manly shit I was talking about...he he he.

I punched it around Roger and crushed the cranks as hard as I could trying to break them. I told myself I had to maintain it up onto the field and to the corner where it'd be easier to look back to see if I had earned the gap I wanted. I did the best I could and looked when I got there. Mark had responded and was on me and Roger was close too. Kev was still tacked on as well, but everyone looked like shit, including me. That 2 minutes that I just described is what made this one the best races I 've ever been a part of. That and the last 2 minutes of the race too.

So I didn't earn a gap, but now everyone was gassed and we were on the last lap. I was pretty sure no one was gonna try to take the front spot from me for at least a minute or two. I actually recovered and felt my adrenaline come up, because I love this shit so much. Last lap at Gloucester with 4 strong guys and a frantic crowd, and a win from the day before already tucked under my belt. I felt like I could roll the dice and no matter what happened now there wouldn't be a reason to not hold my head high when the dust settled. I kept the pace reasonable as we all recovered a bit, then I tried to work out what to do. The Jaws theme was getting louder now. I had to smack him in the mouth (obviously figuratively) before the sprint or he'd win. The barriers were absolutely deafening with people screaming at the tops of their lungs just inches from my, about to burst head. I stayed on the front through the remainder of the lap down to the far end of the field again. After all the twisty turns I tried to accelerate into the last one and take a small risk going through it faster than I had all day, clipping it with my leg as I went by. Instantly I poured on the gas and held it all the way past the pits and up the hill into the tight chicane. Mark was slightly gapped off. I should have hopped off my bike and run it there to attempt something different and faster to throw him off, but I only got that idea later when I saw Jerome Townsend do it in the PRO race. Instead I slowed to practically 0 mph to tiptoe around like we had all day and then gassed it again into the backstop chicane. When I came out of that I stole a look and the Great White was starting to lick his big pointy teeth. I hit the pavement and looked to see where he was going and he went wide right out to the fencing, I reacted well, but he was already by me. It was still a long way to go and I fought as hard as I could, while my mind played a flashback of him sprinting Jackson Stewart in the same place years ago in the Saturn Colors. Jackson actually came back on him in that sprint and pipped him at the line for 2nd place. I would have to try that, although I'm no Jackson Stewart, but......theres always a "but", he wasn't the same Marky Mac either. I needed to get along side him with 50 meters to go to have any chance, but I simply couldn't. I ended up just staying on his wheel and riding his draft to ensure a 2nd place over Roger. UPDATE: It looked like this.I patted him on the back just after the line as well as Kevin and Roger. All 4 of us were smiling ear to ear after we caught our breath. It was an awesome race to be a part of and I sent them all an email today with a picture attached thanking them for such an epic battle.

My back went up in flames from those high speed get offs so I retreated to the Corner Cycle Compound for some advil and to spin on the trainer a bit. Shortly after podium we were hanging back at the cars, having some laughs and doing some bench racing, when we got the ultimate visitor. I had gotten to know Tim Johnson a bit when we rode a bunch of hours together at Jeremy's "Grand Fundo Ride" back in July. I had asked him on Saturday if he'd take a picture with Kev and me, with all 3 of us in the Stars and Stripes kits. He said sure, but I didn't have my camera with me at the moment, so I said maybe tomorrow would be easier.
We were planning on stopping by the Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com trailer, but he did us 1 better and stopped by our spot down by the start line. He was awesome and had us laughing with just typical guy/bikeracer type stuff.
Bill had finally had enough from behind the camera and decided to jump in front of it. I told Tim that Bill was our
"Resident Wise Guy" and they shared a laugh. We all did actually. Thanks for stopping by Tim, that was way cool. You made the weekend that much better, and then better again when you mopped the floor with the entire field in the PRO race. Jeremy and Jamey were the only 2 close, making it a cannondale/cyclocrossworld.com sweep of the podium. We'll be cheering for you guys all year! go get 'em New England!

Thanks for reading, JB

Oh Hey, This Thing Is Still Here Huh?

2010-10-01T19:05:00.000-04:00

Well like always, Green Mountain Stage Race takes a lot out of me, both before and after, but what a great race. I saw Fitchburg scaled back to a one day crit. I hope that doesn't happen to GMSR.

So Cross season is here and in full swing. It's the eve of the biggest race in this country with the exception of Natz, but with Natz being on a revolving location/venue format, I'd have to say the best race you could ever win is "Glahstah".

The PROs are exciting to watch thats for sure, but this is a place where the gray haired old farts come to read about "their" races. In the 35+ race over recent history winners have included Jim Brown, Rich Maile (3), John Verheul, Richard Feldman, Roger Aspholm, Mark McCormack, Chris Peck (2), Jonny Bold (4), and Kevin Hines. Thats quite the list, I'd LOVE to add #5. At the moment it's pouring out and thats good for me, so we'll see how soggy old Stage Fort Park is in the morning.

But lets back up. The season started at Quad Cross 3 weeks ago. Deep field for a local race as everyone needed a tune up before heading to the first Verge races in VT a week later. I separated early on, but there was a certain "Mark the Shark" lurking
in the early laps and while he was skilled enough to ride the sandy corner, I wasn't. He brought me back and then later attacked in the same place, sucessfully gapping me off with 2 to go and held it all the way to the line. A good rust shaker, now it was time for the real deal.

So just 2 weeks after being just south of Canada for GMSR we were back for the Catamount Race Weekend. The first stop on the 2010 Verge New England Series. Kevin was fresh off a silver medal performance in the Master's World Mountain Bike Championships in Brazil. He would be strong, and Roger.......well, he's Roger, and VT is pretty hilly. He was also fresh off of winning US Master's Road Natz, and a trip to Austria for Master's Road World Championships, as well as a little R&R.

Long story short. Roger killed us. Over a minute on Saturday to Kevin in 2nd and a little more on me in 3rd. Sunday it was deja vu. Kev stayed closer, while I faded, and a very strong Kurt Perham hung onto Kev's wheel until half way through the last lap. He clinched 3rd while I hung on to 4th. Kev is 20 points off the series lead and I'm 35 back. Ouch!

Last weekend Kevin and I raced Adam's new race at Loon Mt. It was tough and technical, and heavy with lots of climbing. After a so so start I took to the front and turned it up. I earned a gap over Rob Hult and Kevin and kept checking it often. Pretty soon Kev detached from Rob and so I waited a little on one of the long paved sections. When he got on I started drilling it again. We were hoping for a nice 2 man show in our flashy new National Champ's Kits, but in the next technical section I put a little gap on Kev. OK, that just doesn't happen. He's way better at cornering than me. I though he might have just made a small mistake, but it turns out he was just on a bad day. So I just rode. After a while Rob went back by Kev and all of a sudden I started to feel horrible. The climbs started to really slow me down and I pretty much cracked. Rob tasted blood and came back from a healthy deficit to overtake me and win going away.

After the race, Kev and I were starved to death and we realized we didn't do such a good job of feuling up for the 3 o'clock race. Not to take anything away from Rob. He rode great! But we learned a little something about the late afternoon start. Good thing too, because our race the next day was at 2:30 in the Elite Race at Sucker Brook Cross.

We had an actual lunch this time and felt a lot better racing. Not a lot of guys on the pre reg list, but at the line we had 4 Corner Cycle Riders, (me, Kev, Jamie, and Bill) plus Synjen on the Bay Hill, CL Noonan, Corner Cycle Squad and also Nate Morse on the same team. Dylan Mcnicholas, Al Donahue, Josh Dillon, Josh Leahman, Brian Wilichoski, Chandler Delinks and more were all on the line. Good field.

First lap was fast as expected and extremely dusty. Theres a great sand pit feature near the end of the lap and that thinned things down a little. I was near the front with Dylan and the next time through the sand I led in. I rode it and gapped the field a bit which was already pretty strung out. Dylan closed the gap back up to me over the paved start/finish area and as we went into the serpentine sections on the fields I said "let's just work this thing together". He was cool with that and we worked hard like teamates to get away from a few guys nipping at our heels.

We stretched it out pretty well over the next 4 laps and it looked at that point like the group behind (Al, Josh Dillon and Kev) were racing each other. We had a solid 35-45 second lead I'd guess. With about 3 to go Dylan ran the small stair section really well and also remounted very fast, with a solid click in of the pedals he attacked hard down to the grassy, loose dirt 180 degree turn. I fought to limit the damage, but he slowly pulled away. That was just about the 45 minute mark of the race which is what I'm used to racing and he also was simply stronger and had another gear. He put a solid gap into me over the next 2-1/2 laps to easily win. I was very satisfied with 2nd. Al Donahue attacked late to gap off the others and finish out the podium in 3rd.

Highlights of the day were Solobreak dropping by while we warmed up and entertained us with some hilarious cheers/heckles. Also a nice surprise were the podium girls!

The course was the best yet at Sucker Brook in my opinion. Jack Chapman and crew do such a great job at this race. I look at it as a sort of "Canton North". With so many big races around it's nice to see one with this vibe.

That brings us up to speed for now. Hopefully I'll have something worthwhile to say after G-Star.

Thanks for stopping by, JB

Green Mountain Stage Race

2010-09-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

There is no place more beautiful than the Green Mountains of Vermont in late summer. This place, this race are my favorites.
It's hard to make this race your favorite, because it's so damn hard. The Corner Cycle Master's Racing Team had 4 strong guys for this one. Myself, Wild Bill, Sammy, and Dave Connery who's been spending most of the summer doing tri's. Dave is local to GMSR.

Stage 1 is the road bike only TT. There's a tough hill on the 10k course and then a tough uphill finish. It's all big ring, but not for everyone. I had a tremendous ride and felt like I managed the course and my pain well. I won it 3 years ago and was 2nd to Roger last year. I figured when I was done that I had won it based on how strong I felt. The one and only guy I wasn't sure about was Fast Fred Thomas. It turns out I had good reason to worry about Fred, as he pipped me by 3 seconds. Doh! No leader's jersey. Great ride Fred!

Stage 2 is the longish, hillyish, hotish circuit race. It was pretty lame really. The whole bunch rode around in HIGH winds and stayed together the whole way. KOM points were up for grabs as well as sprint points at the finish line each time through. 2 kom's, 3 sprints including the finish. There was a bad crash coming to the line on lap 1 which was truly a waste because there were 2 guys just up the road that took the first 2 spots for points and there was only 1 spot left. It happened right in front of me and I was able to jump over the yellow line and avoid it as guys went tumbling. Thankfully there were no cars coming or I would have dove into the pile as a "lesser of 2 evil's". The biggest name caught up in the crash was John Funk. He was sore, but not injured too bad and soldiered on avoiding the time cut, but it was a long day for him and a few others.

There were time bonuses on the line that went 5 deep and any one of them would leap frog me over Fred and into the leader's jersey, so that was my goal for the day. I had excellent support from my team all day and while Bill grabbed a few sprint points, he was able to start the leadout on the final run in. Dave lost the wheel and wasn't able to contribute, but good ole Sammy took it up from about 1k to go. He was building into his sprint when the "Fuji train" came by. I immediately jumped left to follow them and Gary Aspenes was there too, we fought for the wheel, but they were too quick and gapped it. I settled in behind Gary as he buried it for 3 or 4 seconds, then, even though I didn't have much oxygen left, I jumped around him and pounded the pedals as hard as I could. I wasn't gonna catch the front 3, but I didn't have to. I hung on for 4th and beat some good sprinter's in the process as Fuji went 1, 2, 3. I scored a 5 second bonus and leapfrogged Fred into the GC lead. So we were 100% successful on the day in terms of our goal, but everyone in the field was a little red faced about Fuji sweeping the podium for the stage. Good on ya Fuji, that was awesome!

Carefull what you wish for. It was stage 3....the MONSTER Queen stage of the GMSR. 70 miles with 3 major climbs (2 of them Gap roads)and tons of other little leg breaking walls, along with dirt road sections and HIGH winds. The team was prepared to defend the jersey and ride for me. I love you guys!

The first climb is a new one that we used to get around a major section of rt. 100 that's in bad shape. It's actually the descent we do after the finish of the TT. The team was all over the front here and at the bottom of the descent, Wild Bill took off, eventually Carl Reglar and Cary Moretti bridged up to him. Those 3 would define the stage as they stayed away from most everyone all day. Bill took maximum sprint points and pulled on the green jersey as a result. Over Middlebury gap we had passed the 3's neutralizing them, only to have them come back on us and neutralize us. The officials only made them sit at the road side for 1 minute. We had caught them for 10 minutes. That always worries you with a break up the road, especially when you're in yellow.

We went over Middlebury with a big group and it got bigger on the descent, then we rode some trash miles before we came to the right hander onto Notch Rd. which is a major 500 meter steep wall, that leads right into the dirt road section. That was FUN, FUN, FUN!!! Nothing like drilling it at the front of a 50 man group over dirt roads and looking back and seeing dust and carnage and a long straight line of riders with gaps all over the place. Coming off the dirt there was a new climb going up into Bristol. This is where things got interesting. At the start of the dirt road the moto ref told us the gap was 2:30 to the lead 3. That sort of worried me (OK I friggen shit!)as Carl was only 30 seconds or so behind me. I knew Bill would no longer be working up there, but it was time to go! I led onto the new climb and put in a small dig, John Funk brought the tempo up again and then David Taylor drilled it hard. It was that effort that I knew I had to follow and I was able to, but I went deep. The field was blowing to bits and all the heads of state were up front. This is when the group ride turns into a race. When the break is starting to go up the road, thats when it's a race. I live for that moment. We split it and it was Taylor, Rob Lattanzi, myself, Mark Pohndorf, John Funk and David Ghazi. I guess I made the decision to work before the split even formed. I was scared the race was gonna slip away and Carl would run away with it. Plus I know how it works with 1 guy sitting on a break, it usually kills it. I did have Bill up the road, but I didn't think it through enough. I visualized Carl and Cary still driving it hard with a 2:30 lead. I guess I had the right to sit on the move and play poker. I wish I had been so coy. We absolutely crushed it for what seemed like 25 minutes, when we came to the right hander onto Rt. 17 that starts Baby Gap. Just in front of us were the 3's again, but just in front of them was our 3 leaders. They looked close on the climb, but were still probably a minute ahead.

We slowly reeled them in near the top of baby gap, but they all still looked pretty good. We hit App Gap with 4k of brutal climbing left to go and I was a little low on bullets. I usually use the "lead in" miles to fuel up a bit, but instead I was in a 6 man paceline with some of the best masters riders around. The only guy missing was Fred, that's because he flatted on the dirt road, or he would have been there for sure. I felt good at first, but it's not that steep. I actually went to the front because that's what I did at Catskills, so I figured I'd ride my own tempo again. Slowly Taylor and Ghazi came around and made a stronger tempo. I couldn't match it, but I had time on both of them so I just had to cope with it and do the best climb I could. Next Lattanzi (who's tough as nails) came by and then Funk. They pulled away, but not a decisively as the 2 Davids. John lost tons of time on GC the day before so he wasn't a concern for the overall. Lattanzi was pretty close though. Moretti went out the back and Bill, Carl and Pohndorf were in the same boat with me.

I kinda cracked with 2.5k to go, and it was a battle to say the least.

Taylor did a great climb and won, Ghazi was 2nd, Funk 3rd, Lattanzi 4th, Carl got around me on the final 500 meters and took 5th, I was 6th, Bill 7th, Pohndorf 8th and Moretti just held off the field. I lost the jersey to Ghazi and Taylor slotted in in 2nd, I was 3rd, Lattanzi was 4 seconds behind me in 4th and Bill was 7th.

Lots of time bonuses up for grabs in the crit. It went back and forth a bit between me and Lattanzi, but I was able to pull away from him and actually close on Taylor, but not enough to overtake him.
Marky Mac took off and won the crit, Ghazi won the overall, Taylor 2nd, me 3rd. Mark also took the green jersey with the points from the finish.

The highlight of the weekend and maybe the whole season was watching Jamie in the cat 2 race (crit) in a super fast race. They did 25 miles in 41 minutes!!! I swear they were faster than the PRO's. He was in absolutely perfect position all day, and nicely danced his bike around a nasty turn 1 crash. With 1 to go he was 4th wheel with 65 riders strung out in a LONG line. He came around the last corner and while everyone went pretty wide he was the first to get inside and start his sprint. I've tried (ridiculously) to sprint with him in hundreds of trainging sessions. It's a friggen joke! He puts 30 meters on me in 5 seconds. I could tell by his focus late in the race that he was possesed with winning it. He was 3rd last year and knew he could win it. When he made his run a few guys were able to get close, but there was no way they were gonna get around him.
He accelerated all the way to line and shuvved a fist into the air as he won that shit!!! That was his LAST race as a 34 year old. Ya, you know what I'm saying....

Overall I'm really pleased with hitting the podium at this race. Thats the first time I ever made the final podium. This is a super hard race to win, but I hope to try again next year. After breaking my collarbone 4 weeks from the start of the race, I'd be crazy not to be stoked with that result. David Ghazi, Fred Taylor and I went head to head in 3 different stage races this year. Fred won Killington, I won Catskills, and David won GMSR, and in this race we all wore the leader's jersey for 1 day. Good stuff.

Now it's time for some fun in the dirt.

Thanks for reading, JB

It's In

2010-09-01T20:31:00.000-04:00

Not to be out done by Gewilli My Stevens is back from being painted, right in time for Cross season.

I'm 100% focused on Green Mountain Stage Race at the moment, but this is pretty cool. I can't wait to rip it on this rocket ship!

Thanks for stoppin' by, JB

2010 D2R2 Pure Bonus

2010-08-22T20:21:00.000-04:00

Thats what this was to me. Pure Bonus! As you know I was pretty sure 2 weeks ago that the D2R2 was off the schedule for me. I hoped to get back for Cross at first, but then after quickly feeling a lot better, I figured I'd be able to race Green Mountain Stage Race. Then after more healing and more ride time, I decided in the 11th hour that I'd be saddling up for D2R2. With this being billed as the hardest century ride you'll ever do, which is actually well over 100 miles at 113 or so, it wouldn't seem too hard to believe. But.....there's always a "but", this is no road ride. This is a "dirt road randonee" that starts in Deerfield, MA, in the "hilltown" region. Hence the name D2R2. It is 85-90% dirt roads, some of which are basicly cart roads that you couldn't drive a 2 wheel drive car on. It is hillier than you can imagine. 13,000 feet of climbing. With that comes descending, lots of descending on dirt roads. This year was gonna be tricky because with the dry summer, the dirt roads have turned into washboards in lots of places. Not great for a broken collarbone with 2 weeks of healing, but as I told all my mates, my ribs were actually the worse injury in terms of feeling pain while riding a bike. I knew I had to be safe and easy on the descents, but I have to admit to feeling the thrill most of the day and letting go of the brakes a fair amount. I had one close call when I almost overcooked a left hander that entered a small bridge. I managed it OK though by putting an outrigger out (clicking out of the pedal and leaning the inside foot out in case of a tire slide) and measuring what distance I had left to complete the turn. I made it with a couple inches to spare, and then told myself to go back to being more careful than that again. I'm very sorry to report that 2 very good friends from the ccb team had 2 separate cases of bad luck, and went down hard, both breaking collarbones. Well I don't know that for sure, but I know Tyler Munroe did for sure because he was back at the finish tent, drinking a beer, (atta boy Ty) with the tell tale signs of a clavicle fracture. Then we heard Jim Nash had also gone down and it was said that he had also broken a shoulder and was at the hospital. Many speedy recovery wishes to you guys. I hope it's not too bad for you. This is RUGGED terraine, and it has demanded respect from lots of men.

At any rate, I was on an absolute high just being there with this crew. I had been somewhat depressed since my Louisville trip, and I knew this was the sort of thing that could snap me out of my funk. I hate the hot weather and Saturday was calm and cool with a hint of cyclocross in the air. Had I stayed home because of the injuries, I would have woken to that cool dry autumn air and instantly gotten more depressed, knowing what I was missing. So in the start corral at 6:30 after letting all the tough guys go at the early 6 AM start time, we had Solobreak, Dougie, Kevin Buckley, Sammy, Kev, Synjen, John Funk, Tim Grosbeck, Steve Roszco, John Mosher, Chris White, Chris Peck, and our fearless leader who knows the entire route by memory and was also our gracious host Friday night....Jay Gump and lots of others.

It was cold starting out so we started with arm warmers and thin vests. After about an hour we stopped and dropped any extra clothing items by a covered bridge and Jay's wife Megan picked it all up later and put it another car that was coming down later for the shorter 100k ride. A BIG thank you to Jay and Megan for making our adventure as fun & friendly as it could be. By that time we had already done some serious climbing. I highly recomend Dave's report for a much better description of some of the technical aspects of where we were and what kind of grades we faced, and of course Dave's unmatched humor. But this is such a huge ride that we really hadn't even scratched the surface yet, especially since we were still fresh. 1 hour into a 9 hour "Hellride" means squat! The first few descents were a litmus test of sorts for me personally. The climbs were hard, yes, but the descents were where I'd have to absorb more vibration and shock into my injured skelatal system. I'm not a big believer in pill popping, but for this extreme effort under extreme circumstances, I'd decided to have as close to 800 mg of ibuprofin coursing through my blood as possible. So I had advil with me and took 800 mg before we started and again 3-1/2 hours later and then again 3-1/2 hours after that. The first few washboard sections were unpleasant, but I finally decided I wasn't doing any more damage and was just holding on too tight making things worse, so I loosened up a bit and it made all the difference in the world. Like all sports, the key is to do it in as a relaxed state as possible.

We were climbing a very tough hill in the woods at one point and as we looked up there was a calf (baby cow, not Sammy's lower leg) in the road and more or less trotting right at us with a somwhat disgruntled look on his face. I had told myself I wanted to enjoy this ride more and take some pictures, but when you're climbing these brutal dirt climbs and you've got one bad arm that doesn't reach pockets on your back very well, it's well.....hard. I faded back though and made the attempt, I fumbled with the pocket and the cliff bars on top of it but managed to get it out and turn it on and fire one off just as "Norm" (Cityslicker's) got off the edge of the road. It turns out I videoed him by mistake which I have no idea how I did it, but here he is.

We eventually hit the food/fluid stop at the sunflower field. This was one of the main reasons I had brought the camera along. Last year this was a sea of 8' tall sunflowers that were all in full bloom. The ride was about a month earlier last year, and this year they had planted a different kind of sunflower, they weren't as tall and had gone by just a little bit by the time we arrived. It was a better snapshot last year, but that will have to live on in my memory, unless someone took a shot in 2009 that they'd like to share. Thanks to Rosey, we can now see the difference...

There were countless climbs and descents. The steepest was easily Achambo, the longest was probably Hillman, but the hardest of all was Patton that falls at about the 90-93 mile mark. We had an extraordinary group of climbers. Most of the day, the only somewhat competitive times were on these hills, and I was able to be at or on the front for all of them.....until Patton. In 2009 I famously attacked Kevin here (and by famously, I mean he and I remember it) after he waited for me numerous times earlier in the day, only to have him counter attack me and club me to death on the final steep wall that is more or less 20% on golf ball sized gravel. I survived the first half OK with Kevin and Chris Peck and John Funk who I have a mountain of respect and admiration for, then it lessened in terms of steepness and I repeated my attack from a year ago.....kind of. I was able to recover and go between Chris and Kev and put in a surge, but I gapped no one, and I laughed to myself as Kev said "oh no, not this again". I'm even laughing now as I write this, because it will be tradition from now on of course, but I was pretty close to being toast at that moment and the kill was imminent. Those 3 took off and I was left in the dust and backward rolling golf balls as I suffered up to the top, but while this is where my suffering was at it's greatest, it was where my happiness was at it's peak. I was here, I was in the late stages of the ride on the last killer climb with a food stop at the top and as long as I kept my head, I was gonna do this. I promise you I wasn't trying to be a hardass when I decided to ride it, rather I needed it. I wouldn't risk furter injuring myself if that was a possiblity. Of course it's a possiblity for anyone to injure themselves on this ride, but I didn't feel as though just participating would injure me, so I trusted my instincts again. Ya, that let me down last time, but I could list hundreds of thousands of instances where it didn't so I wasn't gonna check my confidence at the door now. I say I needed it, because this is my drug. People like anyone reading this right now inspire me. People like you Dougie, that live life like it's a one time chance (because it is!). I'm more comfortable in my skin with all of you masochistic nutjobs than I am anywhere else. I mean that affectionately of course!

The rest of the ride wasn't uneventful, we had 3 flats, one of which was mine, but no crashes and when we came off the last, possibly hardest dirt road sector, we were all smiles. The group was fragmented a little but it was more or less all together for a good size portion of us that started together.
I felt like I was on drugs! I'm so greatful that I was able to have this day with everyone, with absolutely perfect weather. I thought for sure it was gonna be wiped away after my crash, so it only served to emphasize how much I do love the spiritual side of cycling. Racing is great, but I won't always race, I will however always ride. I have to, I need it like a junkie needs the needle.

They do SO much for you at this event. The food along the way is unreal and the friendliness is off the charts. The organization is flawless, and when you're done they offer a shuttle to the school where we can shower and then back to an incredible dinner and beer. I would have sat there and drank with Solo 'til they threw us out, but my pal Sammy was driving and he needed to go, so we left after only a few. I'm sure it was for the better anyway.

If you like tough rides and dirt roads and you think the Battenkill race is the big deal, you're dead wrong. That's a silly little flatish spin with a circus atmosphere compared to this baby. This is THE challenge for anyone looking for one, and it supports a great cause. You also get more than your money's worth throughout the day.

Thanks for reading, JB

Progress Report

2010-08-18T17:49:00.000-04:00

Well, it must have been all the well wishes, because I've been healing at a very pleasing rate. My hand remained swollen and tender for a quite few days after getting home, but the collarbone was less and less painful as long as I didn't do anything stupid. I was really good about trying not to move it the whole first week.

During that time I went to see my local orthopedic surgeon that helped me through the much worse, displaced right side (the other side and dominant hand) clavicle fracture at the end of 2004. He was on vacation, but his P.A. Jim Thomas, who happens to ride for NEBC and is really, really strong, and is also an occasional training partner took super care of me. It was so cool to have a familiar face and an actual bike racer to be able to talk to. No eye rolls, no looks like I'm a crazy man, just a friend reaching out to help. That alone brought my spirits way up. He looked at my hand as well and noticed that a few of the stitches were "matress sutures" and that the continued swelling of the hand had more or less sent the stitches under the skin.

He had another X-ray taken at the PRO sharp shooter angle and then he brought me some good news. The bone had already started to heal a bit and it hadn't slipped at all. It wasn't likely that it would now. It's right in the middle of the clavicle between the sternum and shoulder. He said it broke upward, but then returned back down to it's (more or less) normal location. All this was good news and I knew he knew the next thing that was gonna come out of my mouth. "When can I ride outdoors"? He said "Well Tyler Hamilton did it the next day, and this is probably similar to the break he had" he went on to say "it's not gonna feel real good and I wouldn't reccomend any mountain biking just yet, but if you can take the discomfort, the bone isn't gonna move."

Yee Ha!

Then before I left, he took a closer look at the sutures and said that the wounds, were more or less healed, at least enough where they weren't gonna split open again, and that if he wanted me to have him take the stitches out instead of doing it myself one handed, that it wouldn't be a problem. I said "sure, have at it". It was a good thing too, because those matress sutures really were a little trickier than any of the ones I've ever taken out. I couldn't imagine wasting a trip in Cape Cod summer traffic to have someone cut a few tiny stitchs and then pull them out, so it was great that he took care of it there and then.

That was Thursday and I decided to wait til the next day to try a ride, making it a full week off the bike, which I was really kind of due for anyway. Friday I ended up really busy and didn't get a chance to ride til later in the day and at the last minute I decided it would be best to give it a go on the trainer, just to see what everything was gonna feel like. It was a smart decision, unlike many I make, and it turned out the hand was the hardest injury to deal with since I really had no strength in the hand and it hurt to try to close it. I just sort of sat it on the top of the bars and it supported some of the weight that I was allowing to be on that side which was probably only about 25% anyway, so it was good enough. I rode for an hour and was thrilled to be able to ride, but my hatred for the trainer was firmly in place.

The next day Jamie dragged me around for a couple hours on the roads. I took a few feeble pulls, but not much. The collarbone definitely lets me know it's busted, but I'm more or less in a fixed position. Trying to look back can be more painful than hitting a bump. The hand was slightly better too, and I knew it was good to be trying to use it. The skin is actually a lot tighter since the holes in my skin weren't lacerations, but rather deep abrasions, and had to be pulled together somewhat unnaturally to close the wounds. So I guess I got a "hand lift". That isn't gonna help these old catcher's mitts any.....trust me. After being a cyclist and a carpenter all my life, my hands are a bit weathered to say the least.

I've been able to ride each day and the hand is now almost completely back to normal size, except for the middle knuckle that stuck out the most and absorbed most of the impact. It's a lot stronger and the skin is starting to feel like it won't tear when I try to make a fist, which I still can't do. Having this happen to my non dominant side is more than a big relief. Having injured that side of my body before, I know full well the pitfalls of trying to do life's little things with the useless hand. Try wiping your butt with the "other" hand sometime and see how that goes. I hope you're not a fingernail biter! Thats just the beginning of it, it goes on and on. So things are a lot better than they could be!

The one injury that isn't cooperating is the ribs. They seem to have actually gotten worse. I think the soft tissue damage is starting to rear it's ugly head and combined with the ribs themselves, it's pretty sharp at times. When I first get on the bike it's like having just gotten off the deck after crashing. The pain is sharp, as I'm not used to the lungs expanding that much and thats what pushes against the inside of the ribcage. Eventually after a few miles it gets a little better, or I just get more used to it, but it's hard to get the oxygen to the muscles when the breathing is handicapped. It's fine though, it'll get better in time and for now I can actually ride.

I'm just getting a little stir crazy though (I didn't have far to go). Today I took the cross bike for it's first voyage since Belgium and it was nice to have a little more upright position and a softer feel from the tires. I figured I'd make sure to give it a shakedown before I try to ride it Saturday. I thought I might take a little spin on it in Western MA on Saturday with a few friends. There's this little group ride called the D2R2 that is lots of fun, so I think I'll go do that since I already entered and all. I need to ride with the boys more than anything and see all the smiling faces to really get me back on my feet. I hope to see you all there, be sure to come say hi.

Thanks for all the shout outs and for reading, JB

Ahh Crap

2010-08-08T12:34:00.000-04:00

So I was out to improve on my 5th place in the TT, at the Natz Road Race. The course is super technical and lots of little hills, also lots of hard corners, and of course 100 guys all wanting to ride near the front. I had seen a few races already, including Kevin's race on Tuesday when he finished a fine 5th. Also the race right before mine was the 40-44 which Roger Aspholm handily won from a ten man group. All of the races had blown apart due to the nature of the course and agressive racing. It had been well over 100 degrees all week, but by Friday it was in the low to mid 90's. That hardly seems great but the humidity was also down making the "feels like" temperature a good 20 degrees cooler than Wednesdays races.

We hit the line at 2:30 in the heat of the day and it was fast and frantic right away. I was able to get to the front just in time to avoid being in or behind a pile up about 2/3 of the way around the 1st lap. We hit the hardest climb and I was 3rd wheel feeling fine. I fought the urge to attack when the guys around me were clearly breathing a lot harder than me. Over the top a couple guys shot to the front before a hard off camber left hand turn. I had ridden the course the day before and got all the corners dialed in, so I was confident in my lines. When the 4 or 5 guys in front of me slowed way down and took it real wide, I thought "what pussies". I held my speed and at the last second dove hard for the inside apex of the corner. I had a beautiful line and a clean line of vision. In that split second I thought "this is how to ride that corner ladies". Before that thought was even gone from my mind, I heard and felt an interuption at the base of my rear wheel. I was going fast and railing the corner. The wheel made a boney scrape and I slid a bit. I reacted well and got the bike back under me for an instant, then my rear wheel felt like the brakes had been squeezed hard and i went into a washout skid. I seemed to actually pick up speed as I pinwheeled around the bend. I couldn't save it again although I tried all the way down. I hit the deck hard and bounced a bit then slid, still on the inside of the turn and taking out no one else.

I hopped up instantly and scurried off to the inside on the sidewalk. The group sped by as I took inventory, shoulder hurts bad. I tried to move it and it wasn't too too terrible. I felt the collarbone, nothing obvious. My leg had a good size patch of roadrash at the calf. No worries. My hand hurt a lot, but it was at the knuckles under my now crimson gloves. The index finger that was on the front break in the ready position looked like hamburger. The pavement was that chip seal crap that just destroys flesh. All in all I was up on my feet and not in pure agony.

The back of the bunch went by and I was now looking at my rear wheel. I had rolled a section of the tire off the rim. That was the initial part of the loss of control. In the time it took for the wheel to rotate up to the brakes I had regained control, albeit for a nanosecond, but at that level of hyper awareness I knew I had saved it. Then in the next nanosecond when the part of the tire that was off the rim lodged itself in the brakes forcing a lock up and skid, I had "re-lost" control and this skid lasted long enough due to my velocity that there would be no saving it at that extreme body lean angle.

The wheel car was right there which surprised me, because the other pile up was only minutes before. I think there may have been 2 wheel cars. At any rate those guys were on it. I knew I took a hard hit and my hand was bleeding really bad. I told him I was all set as I was rolling the tire back on the rim. He looked and said "Oh you rolled it".....and so my embarrassment began. Thats just SO non PRO. Theres actually a penalty in the rulebook for rolling a tire. Or at least there used to be, I don't know if it's still there, but it should be. I'm so greatful that I didn't take anyone else out or hurt them. Then I'd feel 1000 times worse. The wheel guy asked what I needed and I said I'm done. I knew I was injured pretty bad in the shoulder area and my hand was seriously messed up.....actually worse than I realized at the time. I was in the drops and my fist took the initial impact ripping 3 big holes in the knucles from the pinky to the middle finger. The index finger that was forward, on the brake lever was spared at the fist knucle, but was not so lucky on the middle knuckle. That was the hamburger spot.

I got back on my bike after everyone had gone and just spun back toward the finish area. My plan was to start my drive home after my race. I figured I'd better have the paramedics clean me up a bit before I saddled up to drive. I had to ride half way back around the course to find one of the ambulances, and when I came to a little punchy hill I stood up to pedal a bit and thats when I started to really think I had broken the clavicle too. I've done it before, both "greenstick" and "displaced". Displaced is very obvious and ver painful immediately. Greenstick can vary, but it basicly means the bone is in tact structurally, but it has a crack in it. I self diagnosed it as a greenstick fracture at that point. My white handlebar tape was now bright red as was my Dura Ace shifter. When I got to the ambulance. I took off my helmet, shades, and gloves. I didn't like what I saw when my left glove came off. The 3 holes in my knuckles were VERY deep. There was white inside at the bottom of the wounds and I said "Oh shit, thats right down to the bone". The paramedic looked and said,"Ya dude, you're going to the hospital. I said, "maybe, lets just clean me up for now".

As I sat on the steps to the Ambulance and got the wounds washed up, I started to feel a lot worse and I was hopeful the collarbone wasn't busted but I knew it was. I was right. I decided to skip the ambulace ride and drive myself to the hospital. I was able to change and load my bike without too much pain and then took a walk up to turn in my timing chip and then over to the feed zone to thank those that were gonna feed me and grab my cooler.

At the hospital, they actually had a hand division at the ER. They eventually got me in there but I had to have lots of X-Rays done, on the hand and clavicle, and ribs which were now giving me a ton of pain and making it real hard to breathe. My race was still going on back at the venue. Eventually the surgeon decided my hand was not broken and after some painful tests it was determined that there was no tendon or joint damage. It turns out the white at the bottom of the wounds was the tendon, not the bone. He was straight from China and his english wasn't very good at all. I didn't care as long as his medical knowledge was good. The nurse told me was an outstanding hand specialist and that was good enough for me. Well he may be a great surgeon but his bedside manner and awareness of other injuries was a bit lacking. He proceeded to make me his bitch as he stabbed at my ripped apart hand with the anastesia. Squeezing the back of my hand that was extremely tender and jerking my arm to the position he desired. I have what I consider a very high pain threshold. I can sit there and suck up the pain that came with my injuries, but when I start getting tortured at those specific locations, it gets a little......shall we say.....aggrivating. I finnaly had to scream with one particular movement, and then in a very BOLD voice I yelled. "Does this guy even know I have a broken collarbone?"
It turns out he didn't. He works on hands and in his mind the hand is it's own entity. I'm laying there with road rash all over my leg and hand, and it took me quite a while just to get down on the table and get my arm out to the side where he needed it, with the ribs and collarbone shooting pain signals all through my body, and it never occured to him that I may have other injuries. After that he was better, but not by a lot. The hand is a delicate area to have to work on, I didn't realize it was gonna be so bad, but I aged a couple years in that little room.

After that I got a sling for my arm and then I had to ask them to dress the "dollar bill" size road rash on my leg so it wouldn't harden up while I drove. I walked out of there at 8pm. I had been there over 3 hours, and now as I walked out into the parking lot with fading daylight in Louisville, KY after an incredibly long and draining day I looked at my car and realized it was gonna be my prison cell for the forseeable future. I went to Walgreens and got my anti-infection antibiotics, and then went next door to a sandwich shop and got a sub. After I ate it, it was 9 o'clock and almost dark out. I headed East. 1000 miles from home.

I drove for 4-1/2 hours and stopped at a rest area after seeing way to many deer on the highway. I got out and walked around a little and started to realize that I was pretty jacked up. I didn't fill the Vicoden scrip, and I won't. That stuff is pure evil. I'd rather feel pain any day over what that crap does to you. I wondered if I should have accepted Nancy or Jamie's offer to fly out and drive me home, but I could never let them do that. I'm independant to a fault. I climbed back into my cell and reclined the seat to try to sleep a little. I had already decided that it would actually be easier to sleep sitting up and that I wasn't gonna get a good nights sleep no matter what. I actually went straight out, and surprisingly slept off and on for almost 5 hours. I was really wrecked.

Wakeing up in a world of pain in a West Virginia rest area with a dark gloomy fog all around and big rig diesels idleing nearby was unpleasant to say the least. Every little movement brought pain to something, but the ribs were the most acute area at the moment. I managed to get out and take a walk and have a squirt. My breath and body stunk like shit, and I felt sorry for myself as I walked back to my cell.

Then something happened. I thought of the vets that are coming home from needless, pointless wars. They're missing arms or legs while life back home really goes unchanged. They risk their lives and lots of them lose them too. So I figured they'd love to wake up in a car in West Virginia with a broken collarbone and some hand wounds. They'd be so thrilled to be able to drive to their home on that very day. And so thats what I decided.....to be happy. I decided to shut up and drive. I'm not gonna lie and say I had that attitude all the way, but during the bad patches I made myself think like that. At times I thought, "boy I should have just driven home from the Catskills race on a high and I'd be all good right now. But then I said "No, you don't know that, you could have been in a fatal car accident if you went that way, or some other thing. Theres no way to know, you just have to go out there and live life. The decisions I made led me here. Thats fine, I'll heal and rest and come back stronger.

I finally pulled into Nancy's place around 7:30 Saturday night. She was at her high school reunion that she had planned for months. (I told her not to cancel her plans to look after me). It was a tough couple of days, but the're behind me now. Thanks for all the calls, texts, and emails from friends and family.....you know who you are. I couldn't take calls on the road because my left arm was slinged hard against my body and my right arm was stuck to the steering wheel

About my tire rolling off. I can blame no one but myself. I've glued hundreds of tires on in my life and never rolled one off. Some of the thoughts I have are that I left the bikes and wheels in the car most of the time I was out there. It was well over 100 degrees in the shade (where the temperature is taken) but in the sun in a black SUV, it was probably 150 or so. I was careful to let air out of the tires so they didn't explode, but I honestly never considered the liquifying effect that the heat may have on the glued up tubulars. My bad. I also rode the course the days before the race getting the corners dialed in on my training wheels which are aluminum rimmed clinchers. It's not possible to roll a clincher. I was very confident in my speed and line entering the corner, I had done my homework, I knew the corner perfectly. I threw it in there hard, but not dangerously.....I didn't think. I'd do it again, because thats what I've always done. I recon the corners and know all the geometry before I get to it in a race. I practice them at speed so I don't get surprised in the race. My gluing method is similar to all the expert articles you can read on the subject. My tires were new right before the Hilltowns race, where I had no issues and also none at the Tour Of the Catskills, although there was never a corner as severe at those races. Either way you slice it, if I did a bad glue job, or stupidly allowed the glue to "cook" off the rims, or if I just overbaked the turn it's my fault, no one elses, so that, believe it or not, makes it easier to accept. I'm very embarressed about it and so glad I didn't hurt anyone else in the process.

So thats it, my road season is now over. I'm very sad to be missing D2R2 (anyone wanna buy my entry) especially after talking about how much fun it was gonna be with Sammy and Kev and John Funk and Jay Gump etc. I'm very sad to be missing GMSR, which is maybe my favorite stage race. I've got the best climbing legs of my life and to have a go at the overall there would have been a dream. As it is though, this is easily my best road season ever. So I'll take rest, and heal up and try to get ready for the Cross season. (The real season). I'll be on the line in VT at the first Verge weekend, ready to rip in the Stars & Stripes.....and you can be damn sure I'll have the corners dialed in!

Thanks for Reading, JB

Tour of the Catskills

2010-08-05T12:13:00.000-04:00

This is late, but thats because I'm in Kentucky for Master's Road Natz. It's been over 100 degrees here since I got here Monday, and real humid on top of it all, but more on that later.

I went into Catskills hoping to be in the mix. All I had heard was horror stories about all the climbing. Even the 2 mile prolouge (individual start TT format) looked like it went straight up on the web site's profile. I spoke to a few people that had done it and they said TT bikes were mostly not used, but they were allowed. I put mine in the car anyway, because I thought I might drive from NY to KY for Natz, but hadn't yet decided.

When I got to the prolouge course I was early enough to ride it a couple times. I went out on my road bike and it was uphill, yes, but not super steep. I thought I could lay down more power on the TT bike so when I descended back down I switched bikes and gave it a test run on the TT bike. My decision was fast. TT bike it is. I'm not big on following the masses, so the fact that everyone was using a road bike only made it better for my head. I've often said "if everyone is going left....I'm going right". Take a drive on any highway in the US and look at the driver's in the left hand "speed" lane and you'll see what I mean. Just a bunch of sheep following each other. You have to break free from that and stand alone. Well I do anyway.

The field was more stacked than any race I've been to this year. I had a good ride, I knew that, but I was surprised to hear I had won. I thought Fast Fred Thomas was gonna take some time out of me, but he slotted in down in 7th. I was 12 seconds clear of Carl Reglar from Danbury Audi, and a few more on the Canadian stud David Ghazi. Troy Kimball, John Funk, David Taylor, John Gee, and Wild Bill filled out some of the top 10 spots.

Stage 1 looked hard on paper, but after the TT I figured it wouldn't be as bad as it looked. I was right.......It was worse! Bill patrolled the front early on and a few things went away briefly, but Bill brought them back. He actually had a slight gap with Carl Reglar for a K or two but others pulled that back as well. Shortly after that we hit the base of the hill. It was steep too. I figured it would be about 2 miles of climbing based again on the profile. Bill's big effort just beforehand shuffled him to the back and soon a select group of 15 were at the front. It was most of the names from the top 10 in the TT but also present were Rob Lattanzi, Eric Gutbier, and Harry (Kip) Stover. At times it was very hard as the pitch kept changing and in turn the tempo. Eric was having a great day climbing and it was him on the front setting the hard tempo. After 2 miles of very difficult, hot climbing we saw KOM 5k written on the road. I almost shit. Thats still over 3 miles to the top, and lots of times theres more climbing after the kom line. That was the case here too, but as it got steeper near the top I actually felt better and by then I didn't think anyone was gonna drop me. We crested the hill and there was no one there to record the KOM points, no one at the second one either about 15 k later.

We had a long way to go and David Taylor tried a solo attack that wasn't gonna go anywhere. I went to the front and just rode tempo and left him hanging out there about 100 meters and laughed as he looked back constantly. David is not my favorite rider, I'll leave it at that. A few other things were tried and none of them went anywhere, so we were just dickin around really. Finally I said, "Hey lets just rotate for the next 10 miles so we don't get caught" I wasn't worried about the overall at this point because lots of guys were thinking about the stage win and so nothing was gonna get away on flat roads with 10 miles left. To my surprise, after a while, everyone fell into place and was working. It was really cool to be in a 15 man group working it right. I figured we were gonna make it to the line no worries. At that instant we got caught by 6 or 7 guys, one being Wild Bill.

We were told that we'd have a 2 mile road closure to the finish and that there would be no yellow line rule at that time. We kept looking for it because our odometers were at 50 miles and then 51 and counting. The race distance was advertised at 52 miles. Still cars were coming toward us and no 1k to go signs or anything. Suddenly we came around a corner and the line was 120 meters in front of us. Everyone went at the same time and the guys on the front stayed on the front and Kip took it. Carl Reglar was 2nd, jumping him 6 seconds closer to me via the time bonus and Fred Thomas was 3rd. Now my lead was only 6 seconds going into the "Devil's Kitchen Stage" on Sunday.

Sunday there was an early KOM line and a very hard move went from 500 meters. It looked painful, but it was clear that it was for points and not for a break attempt so I sat tight. Just a couple meters before the line, Rob Lattanzi went hard for 4th place points and kept on going right through the other's that had sprinted so hard. One other guy tacked on and they split. Good old Westwood Velo was bringing the race to Corner Cycle. The gap went out pretty good right away and then Marky G. and Mark Pohndorf got together off the front of us as well and they were also working well together. Bill was getting pretty smoked, both from Saturday and now Sunday doing lots of work. No one was helping at this moment. I knew I had to ride, so I did. Bill and I were taking pulls and we brought back Mark & Mark, but Rob was still way up there. We stayed steady and got some help from a few others. I remember John Funk taking some very good pulls. We had them right in our sights and then Rob's break away mate sat up and came back to us. Rob continued on. That sort of lulled us into a non chase mode and then we descended forever! Rob was outa sight and we were all eating and drinking and wizzin' off the bike. It was really a slow few miles. The pace never really hotted up again and this concerned me because there were places where we could see a LONG way and we couldn't see Rob. Bill was working his tail off, and getting no help. Finally when he took a breather and we slowed down even more I had to go to the front again and lay down some tempo.

Bill pulled along side of me and asked if I thought it was wise. I said "it was necessary and I didn't want to gamble". I said "Westwood did a good job putting us against the wall so it was time to tip my hat to them." I felt great though and the miles on the front with Bill were easy and it felt good to finally ride. We were getting close to Devil's Kitchen now. We had driven it the day before and it made App Gap look a roller. Hardest thing I'd ever seen, including Switzerland and St. Thomas. A few miles before we got there I went back a bit and munched on some food and gels. Poor Bill was now in full sacrifice mode burying himself to the base of the hardest climb we'd ever seen. I really admired him at that moment and look forward to returning the favor. I had commented at Killington how much I respected the O&A boys for doing the same for Fred, well this was even better because he was alone and he was doing it for me. It inspired me and I told myself I'd show my gratitude for his hard work by doing the best possible climb I could.

We hit the base and we didn't get the split, but we later heard Rob was 3 minutes up. Bill said "JB send a car for me". I gave him a fist pump, but I also knew he'd never quit and climb into a car. Of course he didn't and soldiered on to a very respectable finish. It was instantly the same 15 guys from Saturday climbing the first wall, and soon it was 12 or so, then 10. I was fine at the moment, but knew it was a long way to go. John Gee who was 4th on GC moved slightly ahead and I was surprised that no one matched him. After a minute I went around the left side and rode a bit faster and went right up to him. It was super hard, don't get me wrong, but I was still in my comfort zone. He quickly faded and then I was alone. A minute ago I could hear 10 guys breathing like crazy. Now it was silent, my own breathing disappeared into my mind and there was this beautiful absolute feeling. It was just me and the bike and the mountain, I relished it and thought of Bill's efforts and my word to honor that work. I was very inspired that I was riding ahead of all the best master's climbers in New England and Canada. A few minutes like this went by and suddenly I could hear breathing again. I had just about reached the worst part of the climb a savage 22% section with bad pavement. John Funk pulled up on my right and David Taylor on my left. I actually snuck a peek back which is hard to do without tipping over and I was happy to see it was just those 2 that had made it up to me. All the others were dropped, some were weaving now.

The 3 of us crested that section together and the hill lesened a bit, I recovered and set a harder tempo, actually grabbing a couple bigger gears before the next wall. Finally John pulled through and looked over at me and said "It's just us". I had popped Taylor off. That was the best thing I could have heard because he wouldn't have worked at all once over the top (I'd bet my life on it) and I still needed to ride as hard as I could to catch Rob and win the overall. The worst of the hill was behind us now, although it was still massive suffering, but John and I worked well together all the way to the KOM which I was happy to not contest him on. Then we started to descend, but thankfully there were lots of little uphills on the way down. I say thankfully because thats where I was able to hit it really hard and I think after 60k alone Rob was probably not enjoying those so much. I was riding as hard as I possibly could, saving nothing. Finally on a slight corner I caught a glimpse of Rob and knew that I just had to avoid a mishap now. We caught him pretty quickly after that and still had about 3 or 4 miles to go. He jumped on and couldn't work. I know Rob would have if he could have, but I didn't care either. I was riding for GC so I was content to hammer away. Funky John matched every pull I took and finally at 1k he decided not to come through. I wasn't gonna slow down and mess around with it, I wasn't in the mood. I just stayed on the front and drilled it. We could see the line from 1200 meteres out, so there were no surprises on this day and there were also signs every 100 meters. I drilled it all the way to 200 to go when John pulled through and accelerated and Rob followed. John held it to the line, Rob was 2nd, I was 3rd.

We had more than 30 seconds on the chase group of 4 or 5 too, so John moved into 2nd overall and Rob 3rd. That was easily my greatest win ever, and a jersey that I'll probably frame. This is one of those races that you have to do.....put it on the bucket list.

Oh and then I drove to Louisville, KY and promptly stunk up the joint with a 5th place ride in the TT. It wasn't that bad really, but I had different aspirations. I had a bad patch in the race and you can't win Natz with a bad patch in the TT. I hope to do better tomorow in the road race, but it's still over 100 degrees.....we'll see.

Thanks for reading, JB

NOW THAT WAS FUN!!!

2010-07-18T20:41:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I was looking at the schedule on bikreg and something caught my attention. It was the Jeremy Powers Grand Fundo. Now, being a cyclocross addict, anything with his name automatically catches my interest so of course I read on. It turns out that he and 2 buddies started this fund for supporting young riders that might not normally be able to get to bike races. They were putting on a "fun ride" in the beautiful hills of their home riding area in and around Easthampton MA. Lots of it was gonna be on dirt roads and when I saw that I was in for sure. I was able to get Sammy (Morse) on board and Nate (Sam's son) just might be Jeremy's biggest fan, so he was in too. Synjen Marroco also made the trip, and he's always good to have on any ride. Always a good spirit and a smile and laugh, not to mention how strong he's gotten. So Corner Cycle was well represented, although I'd be lying if I said a lot of people didn't ask where Kevin and Bill were that day.

From the minute I pulled into Ed Hamel's horse pasture across the street from his gorgeous country home overlooking Mt. Tom and 100s of miles of longviews, I knew it was gonna be a great day. The crew already had the advertised pig roast well under way and a big tent was set up that would be critical for keeping us out of the sun after the ride while we partied for a while.

Of course Jeremy's Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com teamates supported him in this venture. So with Jeremy, Jamey Driscoll and Tim Johnson on board it was definitely gonna be a case of riding with our heros. Jeremy's road teamate from JellyBelly, Brad Huff also lent a hand, and it was colorful to say the least. That guy is a riot! Lots of local PROs and strongmen also showed up. Eric Schildge from Mountain Khakis, and Dylan McNicholas from ccb, and a very strong man named Chandler who I'd never had the privledge to meet before to name a few. It turns out Chandler is from Ipswich, and the North Shore connection to Tim made sense when he displayed his strength.
Of course Tim's world famous wife Lynne Besette was also along for the fun. One particular wirey guy was very vocal and seemed to have endless energy and spirit. That turned out to be the famous Anthony that Jeremy met while riding one day and has (from what I read on his blog) sort of mentored ever since. Anthony was the heart and soul of the ride, and kept us all laughing..... and working.

So not to be a namedropper or one of those geeks that gets too excited by all these bigshots, but let's just say it was a huge privledge to ride with this group. I had to really think about it, but I decided to wear the stars and stripes. I didn't take too much abuse for it, but some good natured ass busting is always good for everyone.

There was a pretty wide range of ability level in the 100+ rider group, but after a few climbs in 90 degree heat we had a smaller bunch up front. It was a fairly lumpy route, both in terms of course profile and also the occasional loose rock or pothole in the dirt road sections. That being said though, the best part was the dirt sections, especially when it went uphill. I wish the entire ride was on dirt. They had a nice water stop set up for us at about 25 miles or so and boxes and boxes of jelly beans. Yum! At the halfway mark there was an icecream truck stop. The dirt sections were where we ramped it up a bit and then we'd slowly regroup afterward. There was town line sprints and even a convenience store stop late in the ride. We rolled back to the start area and people slowly trickled in while we "showered" under Ed's garden hose. Then we drank some beers (after lots of water, gatorade & watermelon) and then we ate the pig. along with lots of other delicious side dishes.

After some laughs and storytelling Jeremy and Brad took to the microphone and announced a raffle of lots of sponsor schwag. We bought a bunch of tickets and when the winners were drawn our crew cleaned up. It's like Brad said "You reep what you sow". It was a super hot day and a super fun day. It was more or less a mini D2R2 so that was perfect preparation for that. They put it on the perfect weekend, because there were no major races conflicting with it. I really hope this happens again for years to come. I often comment on other people's blogs about riding for enjoyment vs. training out of a sense of responsibilty to a structured plan. This was exactly that, and at the end of the day it was perfect training too.

Thanks for reading, JB

Fitchburg Stage Race

2010-07-05T17:34:00.000-04:00

Well I've been trying to win this race since I started racing bikes in 2003. I don't remember how many attempts I've made, but there have been a few. I know the roads well. Fitchburg has the distinction of being the 2nd oldest (still running) race in the country. I have no idea what the first one is. Anyone?

It's always followed the typical format of TT as stage 1, then the dicey circuit race as stage 2 with it's brutal uphill finish climb that we hit 9 times for a 28 mile race that usually last's just over an hour and finishes in a bunch gallop. Stage 3 is usually the equally brutal Road Race that has always finished at the top of Mt. Wachusett. Last year the road was being repaired from the horrible ice storm in December of 2008, so we finished in Princeton center with an extra lap thrown in for good measure. This year the finish would also be in Princeton and maybe for 2011 also as they continue to do a "beautification" project on the road. Stage 4 has always been the downtown crit, and for some reason the most prestigious crit wins you can ever get are those within the stage races like here and in Burlington, VT in the GMSR.

This year they did a shake up, which I believe is good. They put the circuit race 1st, road race 2nd, TT 3rd, and Crit 4th. You need to try to keep things fresh and this was a new twist. Another new twist was the implementation of a "40+ Master's race", rather than 35+. I like this too as I get older, but before I ever did a bike race I understood "masters" to be 40+. Thats how it is in running and also in Triathlon. Last year, Chris Fischer, former Saturn PRO, and 35 year old, showed up on some very good form along with some very strong support riders from CA to open up a can of whoop ass on us. They even handled Roger the Rocket. Maybe that had something to do with the promoter's decision.....I don't know. At any rate, Roger, who is 42 decided to go to the race in Cananda this year that's gaining popularity and #s of entries.

With all the changes in place we had a relatively small field, (for Fitchburg) about 50 guys, ready to go. You can say it was a diminished field, but with lots of New England tough guys lined up it sure as hell wasn't gonna be a gimme. I raced in CT at Housatonic 2 weeks ago which I consider a must do race if you're gonna have a crack at the hills of Fitchburg. I discovered a very fit Max Lippolis there and he was signed up for Fitchburg, so was the current 50-54 Time Trial World Champion, Dzmitry Buben, and his teamate Paul Richard who's also been riding very well this year with lots of wins. Mark "Soups" Suprenant was on board and also some "imports". Sean Coleman from US Military cycling, who was packing a mean sprint, and a few other out of towners. Cyclonauts had 2 strongmen, including Zen. Benidorm had a very strong squad and we (Corner Cycle) had a strong trio as well with myself and Sammy and also Ron Jacobs.

Stage 1- The circuit race. Very painful the first few times up the hill, as we sprinted for points on lap 1 and again on lap 3 I believe. I was ready to sit in all day and take the day off. I even told Sammy that at one point. But......there's always a "but". I started to feel better as the race went on and then I started feeling down right snappy. Every time there were points up for grabs the sprint up the hill did damage to the field, but those that sprinted were so gassed that they sat up soon after and we always regrouped. I had decided that on the last lap I was gonna have a go. As if Sammy read my mind, he kept it hot down the descent into the corner at the bottom of the hill and arched a beautiful line with no brakes around the corner which allowed us to have a nice roll into the beastly climb. He took it halfway up to where there's a slight plateau. From there I attacked up the right side and blew by 2 riders that had tried an ill timed jailbreak. Max jumped on my wheel and at the top we had a solid gap. I snuck a peak as we took the hard right hander and liked what I saw. We had a good gap to a couple of stragglers that appeared to be having some real difficulty with breathjing and pedaling. Max knew that the next 2 minutes were where we'd break it if we were going to and I knew it as well. He pulled through and worked his ass off for a solid 25-30 seconds. Then my turn, then his......all the way to the line. On the final corner I led through and started up the hill I was dreading. Max let me roll onto the plateau and then went through. He didn't even really attack, but I was smoked and I couldn't hold him. 200 meters to go and he did the right thing and went up as hard as he could and won. I hung on for 2nd and for the first time that I'm aware of, a break made it to the line in the master's race. He got a bigger time bonus and the leader's jersey, and I slotted in 2nd on GC.

Stage 2 is the monster road race with tons of exposed climbing and 64 miles long with the heat coming up. It was pretty tame at first and we got caught by some of the junior field and were neutralized. I saw Max hop off his bike for a squirt and I followed suit. Antime you can relieve that pressure it's sooo nice! We got right back in with no hard effort at all. We had another opportunity again later when we went neutral for a 2nd time and I yelled "Pee Break". All 50 of us pulled off for a natural break. Nice! The hill was hard of course, but I was having a pretty easy time riding the front of the group with Max, Dzmitry, Bruce Dhiel, Gary Jasdewski, Sammy and a few others. On the 2nd to last lap Max hit the wall before Princeton center extremely hard. I mean SAVAGE! I had to follow, to protect my standing and also Sammy's who is also a very strong time trialist. Our plan for the day was to be defensive and make sure we don't lose ground before the TT. He gapped me, but I limited the bleeding. Richard Fries was very excited to see the race opening up right at his vantage point and animated it like no one else can over the PA system. Over the top, up by the feed zone I had him in check about 10 meters away. He wasn't gonna get away from me now and we both knew it. Suddenly Bruce and Dzmitry came through and we bacame a 4 man group. The first thing I did was to appologize to everyone for the fact that I wasn't gonna work. I wasn't gonna help strong men put time into Sammy before the TT. They understood and were cool. They tried a couple of jumps, but I covered them and soon a couple more guys got on. The group, led by Sammy was getting closer and I was checking on them often. Just before the big Mountain Rd. descent they got back on and I gave Sammy the fist pump. The rest of the lap was a little punchy with lots of guys taking a shot at a break away. Benidorm forced me to burn a few more matches while they attacked and set up their man for the day, Arlen Wenzel. We came to the last hill and Gary Jazdewski was looking strong and ready to go, as well as a few others. But it was Mad Max that lit it up again and it was just as fierce as the lap before. I hesitated, because I was in the hurt locker already and then I just went because I knew I had to. I fought my way up to the corner 10 meters behind and just then Arlen came by and had a surge to offer. I did not. Sean Coleman went by and then a couple more. I had to fight it to the line and minimize the damage. With 50 or 75 meters to go Sammy came by and he filled up the open space in front of me allowing me to get the same time as the small group. We lost 10 seconds to Max, but he also gained another 10 second bonus with his 2nd straight win. Very impressive!

Sammy finished 6th on the stage and I was 8th. I was in 2nd on gc at 29 seconds and Sammy was 4th at 44 seconds.

The TT is pretty straightforward. Go hard alone.....compare times later. I won in 18:39, Dzmitry was 2nd in 19:03, Sammy 3rd in 19:20. Max lost a solid chunk of time (and the jersey) with a 20:00. I was in the lead with Dzmitry 2nd at 39 seconds, Max at 52 seconds in 3rd and Sammy in 4th at 56 seconds. So we had to get Sammy a time bonus in the crit to leapfrog him over Max and onto the podium.

We had a solid plan for the crit and actually executed it pretty well. After covering attacks throughout the race, with some very timely help from Ronny J, including a pretty hard double hit from the 545 boys on the last 2 laps I led it out from about 700 meters. I took it through the last 2 left handers and onto the finishing stretch and pounded the pedals for another 100 meters before blowing up. That was the plan. David Hilenbrand had jumped my wheel when the 545 attack came on the last lap and he was still there when I pulled off. He went right from there which was probably about 250 meters out. Sammy went too, but Paul and Max were right on him and both snuck by at the line, with David holding it. Sammy was 4th place, and Max got 3rd and another 4 second bonus, so we didn't get it done, but I give Max a lot of credit. He rode brilliantly all week and defended his spot right to the end. We still had a decent result and it's something we can build on.

I rolled over the line torward the back of the bunch with my arms up wearing the leader's jersey at Fitchburg. I hadn't even thought about it all day because I was so focused on our team plan, which was an absolute blast to do. It sunk in a little while later that I had won the race I've been after for a long time.
Fitchburg is as true a staple of New England Bike Racing as there is and I'm pretty stoked to add the feather to my cap.

In a rare race appearance I had Nancy along as a spectator which was perfect because I got flowers on the podium so I got to look like a nice guy when I gave them to her. I had been making the trip back and forth each day to her place in RI, which was just under an hour each way and well worth it compared to paying for lodging. Not to mention the PRO leg rubs I got each night. Thanks Baby!

So thats it. Thats all I got.
Thanks for reading, JB

Pictoral Of Some Recent Rides

2010-06-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been trying to enjoy the rides for all they're worth. Especially on easy days, which there have been lots of due to back to back stage races. Here are a few photos of some of the scenes my rides have offered up recently.

......and then there's this one that I took for my biggest fan. You know who you are...
That's all I got.
See ya at the races, JB

Connecticut Stage Race

2010-06-07T11:33:00.000-04:00

The Connecticut stage race is a thing of beauty. I feel bad for the promoter, Jim Thompson that he was up against Killington this year. Ya, Killington was last weekend, but lots of people won't do 2 stage races in a row for lots of reasons, and with Killington having such long history, more people went to that race. What great problems we have in New England for bike racing. Some reasons you might want to choose CT over VT next year, or at least choose to do both are these:

1. It's a better race. The circuit race is awesome with 6 hotspot sprints (for master's) and a stout climb. 10 laps of the 3.5 mile circuit were a lot more action packed than that much too easy, much too dangerous circuit race in VT. The time trial is a wash, but the 91 mile road race on Sunday that doesn't go by a single commercial entity and is in the heart of the Berkshires is one of the most beautiful rides you could ever do. It's hilly but nothing brutal.

2. The cost. It's less than half the entry fee of Killington, and also pays out just about the same amount. Enough said.

3. The promoter. Jim Thompson is a racer's promoter, a guy's guy. He is committed to the event and actually asked Kevin and I in a sit down conversation "what would be the one, or two things I could do, or do better to make the race even better"? Thats as good as it gets if you ask me.

Now I'm not trying to knock Killington here. PLEASE don't get that impression. I am very fond of Gary Kessler and all he does with GMSR and now also Killington. I realize everyone has different cost's related to their events and they set the entry fee to accomodate those expenses. I get it, and I will be back over and over to race in VT. All I'm saying is this is a great race to do and if you're a true New England bike racer you owe it to yourself to have the experience.

Now onto the racing.

Kev was back from Italy while Sammy was taking a much needed break, so we had 3 guys again, with Bill and myself. This race is a little different. There are 2 master's categories, 40's & 50's, but they combine the fields to race together and separate results later. Prize money is equal.

The TT is a tough one, like all of them. You could make a TT downhill with a tailwind and it would still hurt like hell. Classic out and back. 8 miles a little up a little down. I was able to win since Fast Fred stayed in Maine this weekend by 36 seconds over Troy Kimball who was alone from Westwood Velo, while a couple of eligable teammates decided to race the PRO, 1, 2 field??? Girard O'Shea did a great ride to hit the podium in 3rd exactly one minute back. Teammate Bill Shattuck was in 4th at 1:10. In the 50's Kevin finished in 2nd, 9 seconds behind the World Champion, "The Russian Concussion" Dmitry Buben.

It was close to 11 am and stage 2 started at 1:30. We packed up and drove to the hotel in nearby Torrington, took showers, ate some food, put our feet up for 45 minutes and then went back to the venue.

Stage 2 is the circuit race and a LOT was at stake. There were points available for the typical KOM and Sprinter's jersies. BUT (theres always a BUT) the points also represented time bonuses for GC. That meant a guy could conceivably gain 36 seconds by winning all the sprints. We had a solid plan for how to deal with this and executed it pretty well. The KOM sprint suited me better, so I was gonna go for that and hope Troy didn't have enough energy to go for both. Lots of little breaks went up the road that gobbled up points, but I always got 2nd at the line, so I ended up winning the poka dots at the end of the day with 12 points. Bill was in 2nd which meant he'd wear it the next day. Kevin was able to follow the surges at both lines all day and was able to win the green jersey and was also tied for the poka dots. Bill and I actually slipped away after the last KOM and tried a jailbreak for 2-1/2 of the last 3 laps. We got caught on the climb on the last lap and I was toast. Somehow, Bill was able to muster up one more big effort and finished 2nd in the stage! That was unreal, as I was just swingin' on the back of the bunch at that point, after the break away attempt. To say Bill is riding well is a ridiculous understatement. He's killin' it!

Here's a shot of 3 old geezers with the jersies we earned, about to go to the start line for the 3rd stage.
I know, I know..... we look like huge douche bags.

The queen stage in all of New England bike racing (ok maybe App. Gap trumps it, but 91 hilly miles is the real deal) was on tap for Sunday. We had an interesting forcast. Rain, heavy at times, thunder showers possible, with tornado warnings thrown in. We left without any precip but that changed soon as a steady, cooling rain began to fall. It was super humid and somewhat warm so the rain actually felt pretty damn good.

Steve Badger slipped away alone early and was going pretty fast. Poor Bill was part of a 3 man team, and the other 2 had leader's jersies on. You know how the leader is not supposed to work and his teammates just ride tempo at the front all day.... Well this is 91 miles in the hills and pouring rain and NOBODY was helping him. He loved it though, and was tough as nails. He eventually brought back Badger, but before we got much farther Ed Angelli slipped away and made a nice gap and eventually went out of sight on us. I came to the front and was helping Bill a bit. I was on the front for a pretty good spell feeling very good actually, when Bill came up and said "we have a problem". That's never good. It turns out that Kev's electronic Dura-Ace crapped out in the rain and he no longer had rear deraileur capabilities. Thankfully he was in about the 15 and did have the front deraileur. I went back to see if I could mess with the cable where it entered the deraileur, but the cable is different than regular housing and it's real flimsy and limp so I couldn't do much with it, but it didn't look like it had come away anyway. He was gonna stop to mess with it and I said "don't you dare, you might get off only to achieve nothing and then have to chase the field for 20 minutes". He stayed in, and we hoped it might come around. It never did.

After the first lap (the 1st lap is 51 miles, the 2nd is 40 miles and a completely different loop with the last 20k overlapping the first) the sprint and KOM points were mostly all gobbled up by Ed and a couple other guys that attacked just for the points without much of a reaction from the field, including the sprint leader, which surprised me. To me you have to defend a jersey, you don't just sit there and do nothing when it's seriously threatened. But thats just me....whatever. I did sprint at the KOM just to get the last remaining point, hoping that would seal my KOM jersey, but really not too concerned with it since I was more focused on the Yellow jersy. It turned out that I had the math all done properly in my head. Ed had 6 points to start the day. I knew he won the KOM line so that gave him 12, but I got 1 so I should retain it. BUT (there's always a BUT) the screw up from the day before at the KOM line bit me. They had only recorded 4 finishers from the 1st sprint in the circuit race, but in fact it went 5 deep. It only said "Unknown rider" on the official results in 5th place on the 1st sprint, when we started the 3rd stage. Later I learned the "Unknown rider" had stepped up and claimed his point, it was Ed. So he actually had 7 points to start the day, so now we both had 13 and he won the last sprint, so thats how that story went. Ed also got enough points to win the Green jersey too. Now thats a fruitful break away as each competition paid $75 for 1st place, not to mention 2 sweet jersies for his wall.

Kev, jumped away before the KOM line also and easily won that sprint as well as the overall competition for the 50's KOM. Shortly after that in a particularly heavy downpour, we got a very bright lightning flash and almost an immediate thunder boom. It was very close and I feared they'd stop us and call it a day with Ed possibly winning it all if they took the results from the situation on the road at that moment. Luckily there was no more lightning and the rain let up a bit. We were riding pretty hard tempo and still no sign of Ed. The official car came up and told us that at mile 70 we were gonna be neutral for the steel bridge that had caused about 30 riders from the PRO, 1, 2 race to crash. I happened to ask the official in the car if he could tell me the gap to the leader and he said 2:35. I almost shit! TWO FREAKING THIRTY FIVE!!! Thats a HUGE gap. We had 30 some odd miles to race and I intended on defending my jersey and winning, but at that moment I was no longer the leader. I went to the front and rode hard. Kevin was right by my side as well as Bill, who I was worried was gonna run out of bullets at some point. It got pretty quiet, and it got pretty hilly. What was left of the field was in a long straight line. On one long steep uphill Kev came by me on his 2 speed and proceeded to mash the crap out of the hill. He had to, that was the only gear he had. I was comfortable on his wheel, but pretty damn close to being uncomfortable. He stayed on the gas and split the field. I looked back and there was carnage all over the hill. Several guys hung on, and near the top I pulled through and kept the pressure high. More high speed descents and a few rollers followed and I looked around to see who had made it. The first thing I noticed was that Bill didn't make it. We had Kevin and me, Dmitry (ccb), Bill Thompson (Keltic), Troy Kimball (Westwood), Monte Frank (Cyclefitness), and Carl Reglar (Danbury Audi). Carl was the stage winner at Killington last monday on that queen stage. We caught Ed just before the Neutral bridge where they actually made us dismount and walk over the bridge. That was a good decision by the promoter, because as every cyclist should know.....wet steel is like ice!

Shortly after that there was a loud voice in the group announcing "Thats right mo-fo's I'm back"! It was our boy "Wild Bill". I laughed my ass off as he was super animated, and now we had all 3 of our team members in a 9 man break at the front of the race. We had closed the 2:35 gap in a matter of 25 or 30 minutes. It took a little while, but eventually everyone was working in the group. With 10k to go we made a hard right, and for the 2nd time in the race we climbed the steady grade back toward the finish road. Carl Reglar drilled it here and the rotation went away since it was pretty hard to just follow him. He kept it pretty hot most of the way. Near the top of the road is where the hill really kicks and it continues onto the finishing road and the last couple kilometers of the TT course. It flattens out some but is still up hill until a short descent before a final uphill to the line.

Bill and I had reconned the finish on Friday afternoon when we got there. I told him if I still had legs at that point in the road race that I'd try an attack there on the steep part just before we turn left onto the TT course. It's probably 2 or 3k out or so. When we got close, I slid toward the back and told Bill I felt good and was gonna go. I told him to be ready and just follow the inevitable chase. If it worked I'd win, if it didn't, I'd force the others to ride way harder than they wanted to at mile 89 while pulling Bill and Kevin with them, in effect forcing them to burn their last matches while they lead out my teammates. Isn't bike racing awesome? You have to think of this stuff ahead of time, because when you're racing and cracked like a spring egg, it's hard to have good coherent thoughts.

Well it worked, and then it worked some more. I gapped them when I hit it, and maintained my effort up onto the last part of the TT course. I felt great and still had lots of energy left....somehow. I settled into my TT mode and committed to my 2nd jailbreak attempt in 2 days. This kind of move is 1 in 20 at best, maybe more like 1 in 50, but what a day that 1 makes for! I looked back and Troy was on the front drilling it and it looked like a few hadn't been able to match their acceleration. I drilled it up over the false flat where another very similar section of road went slightly uphill to the beginning of that final little plunge. I looked again and the gap was holding. "Could I do it?" I wanted it so badly. I told myself "this would make one hell of a first road race win". Yup thats right.....I've NEVER won a proper road race. TTs, crits, circuit races, mountain bike races, cross races yes, but never a road race. I hit the little plunge and went onto the uphill to the finish. I looked once more, and even though I had a good gap still, I was scared shitless. The last 200 meters of a sprint the chase can make up huge ground and eat you alive. I've been there before too. I went as hard as I could to the line and didn't dare put my arms up. I was maxed. The guy that finished right behind me and was screaming with joy was none other than "Wild Bill". He rode the train all the way to the end and then jumped it for 2nd. Kevin was right there too, getting 2nd to Dmitry in the 50s, and at the same time locking up all 3 jersies in his race. He walked away with the GC, Sprinter's, and KOM's jersies in the 50's.

We've had a great couple of weeks for the team and will now take a little rest.
Thanks for reading if you got this far, JB

Killington Stage Race

2010-06-01T20:23:00.000-04:00

I wasn't racing bikes when the original Killington happened back in the day. Actually I was, but it used to be prefaced with a swim, and followed by a run. What was I thinking? Anyway thats a story for another day.

Corner Cycle had a 3 man crew for the race since Kev was in Italy with Roger doing another awesome training camp. It was Bill Shattuck, Sammy Morse and myself for this one.

In an interesting twist they put the TT in the middle as stage 2. I liked the dynamic, because it felt like a lot more was on the line in Stage 1 on Saturday. And indeed there was. 3 jersies were up for grabs. 3 uphill sprints for the KOM jersey and 3 downhill/flat sprints for the sprint leader's jersey. Of course the stage winner would be the race leader in the Pink jersey.

Arc en Ceil was active and agressive right from the rain soaked start. It eventually dried out, but Arc never stopped being agressive. I love the way these guys race. If everyone raced like that it would be awesome!!! Every race would be a shootout, instead of "don't work contest". Lots of attacks stayed out for a while, but in the end it was a sprint finish. When the dust settled it was our man Bill Shattuck in the KOM jersey, John Grenier (who's old enough to qualify for the 50+ field) in the sprinter's jersey, and Ron Bourgin from O&A uncorked a hell of a sprint for the stage win and a nice new leader's jersey. Ron's teammate and TT favorite, Fred Thomas played it as cool as a cucumber and never showed his face at the front of the race. He burned no matches and finished in the same time as everyone else, leaving him as fresh as possible for the TT on Sunday.

The hardest thing about the TT was waiting until 3 o'clock to start. The next hardest thing was the wind. Man it was brutal! 11 miles uphill into the wind is a really good test of strength, speed, aero position, and mental fortitude. I had a very good ride and caught some pretty quick guys from behind. I knew Fred had been faster than me in recent TTs, but I was hopeful that I nipped him or that I was at least close.

Well it turns out I was neither. Fred was the class of the field by A LOT and pummeled me by 43 seconds. I was 2nd, Canadian David Ghazi was third, and Teammate Sammy was 4th. Bill had a great ride on his new TT rig and look for him to continue to improve in this discipline, as Corner Cycle riders pride themselves on all disciplines of the sport. Ron Bourgin also had a strong ride and combined with his 12second time bonus he slotted into 4th overall on GC while the top 3 from the TT were top 3 on GC.

I had a hard time swallowing the TT loss, but I give Fred all the credit in the world. The guy is as tough as nails and very dedicated and talented to boot. So O&A took the first 2 stages and traded the leader's jersey within the team. Pretty dominant I'd have to say.

Stage 3 was an opportunity to put the pressure on. We had driven the course the day before, while waiting for the TT to start. It was a beast! Pretty easy at first, but then the hills start and there were a lot of them and some pretty steep pitches to boot. It eventually came back out onto rt. 4 where we made our way back to the skyship base area and took a hard left onto East Mountain Road.

Now this isn't a gap road, but I promise you it's just as serious. When the top is reached you're not done. There's a series of rollers that looked like they'd really hurt and the the dreaded left turn onto the famous Killing acces road, where we would ascend up the mountain until the pavement stopped and the ski hill began.

It was nice and cool in the morning and we rolled out at 8:50:00. At 8:50:15 Randy Rusk from Arc en Ceil attacked hard (I told you they were awesome), Corner Cycle rider and KOM leader Bill Shattuck quickly grabbed the wheel and a Danbury Cycling Club rider also followed. No one did a thing! Except those 3. They proceeded to drill it for 100K. Most people never saw them again. O&A took to the front and made steady tempo, Sammy spent time near the front interrupting the flow of their chase, and I sat back in the sweetspot and coasted as much as I could. Fred Thomas, and David Ghazi were doing the same though. The gap went out to 1:45 and eventually 2 minutes. Bill was gobbling up maximum KOM points along the way.

Back in the bunch it was pretty civil over the halfway climb and also the feed zone climb. We hit a nice dirt road section and that went uphill pretty sharply for a while too. Then it was a pretty fast descent on dirt and gravel, but it was fine and everyone kept their cool. We popped out on rt. 4 with a good size field still together. The sight lines were pretty long and we also had a slight headwind. To my delight the break was not in sight. O&A wasn't in the best of shape as they only had 2 guys left, and they looked like they took a few punches in the hills.

After some snacking and some high speed wizzin' off the bike, the chase got serious and Fred's last 2 guys went to work at the front. I really give that team a tremendous amount of credit for being a TEAM. Ron was in 4th overall and completely sacrificed for his leader. I'm not sure who the other guy was, but the 2 of them had us in a straight line for what seemed like 15 miles. It hurt a lot, but every time we went around another corner and didn't see the break, I got more and more excited that they'd make it, and Bill, being the highest place GC rider in the break would steal the entire stage race, and walk off with the climber's jersey and also the leader's jersey.

We got to within 1/2 a mile from the turn onto East Mountain Rd. and the 2 O&A comrades were done. I actually gave them both a pat on the back as they faded back through the bunch just before we made the turn. They did a great job being a team. I was glad we were able to put pressure on them along with Arc en Ceil and the other rider, but I really admired thier team work, and also our's.

So now it was on! Fred was straight onto the front with David glued to his wheel and me and 6 or 7 others right behind them. Fred amazes me on climbs. He looks like he's about to blow and he pushes a huge gear. Just when you think he looks bad, he rides away. He makes me feel like I don't try nearly hard enough. A poker face he doesn't have. But he doesn't care. He rides as hard as can and wears it on his face, and ignores you and dares you at the same time. If I put that much pressure on the pedals I'd cramp terribly in 100 meters. At 180 lbs. I have to try to emulate guys like Big Mig Indurain. I try to stay at my limit at my steady effort and limit my losses.

4 minutes into the climb after the big U-turn, Fred and David started to gap me. Mark Gunsalis, Rob Lattanzi, Bruce Diehl, Fabio Piergintelli, and several others formed the "rest of the best" bunch and everyone else was officially out of it. The hill isn't consistent, it changes pitch lots of times as it winds up the mountain. At one point Marky G. found a "good patch" and it looked like he might ride away from us. The next pitch wasn't as good for him though and he came right back to us as Fred and David inched away. When the pitch changed again a few minutes later I found some oxygen and grabbed another gear and discovered my own "good patch". I soon found myself off the front of the remainder bunch but still losing a little ground to the front 2.

All of a sudden Randy was in front of me and I hadn't seen him for 2-1/2 hours. He didn't look completely blown either. Still fighting in fact. Thats the sort of thing that really motivates me and it couldn't have come at a better time. In my mind his effort was heroic and I felt the adrenaline come up when I thought about what he had willingly put himself through for the last 2-1/2 hours. I was so focused on my own suffering that I had forgotten about the break entirely. I had in fact forgotten everything in my life except the hill, my body and my bike. It was absolute. NICE!

Fred and David slowly gained more time, and it was clear I wasn't gonna get back to them, but I was riding well and wanted my best possible performance. I hit the KOM line, and I hoped Bill had gotten there first also. I know he was at 2nd at the worst because I could see Fred and David go over it just ahead and Randy was behind now. The rollers at the top were a difficult challenge. Once I locked into the suffering it was as if I just wanted to climb right to the top. The downhills played tricks on my body, but I made sense of it and found the best rythm I could. I made the left turn onto the access road and saw the 1k to go sign. I also saw 1000 meters of steady machine graded 7 or 8% pitch. I could see Fred an David and others too. I hoped it wasn't Bill because there were lots of dropped cat 3 riders finishing up also. I held my gap to the finish and even tried a bit of a sprint, just in case my time cushion to David was still in tact, but I thought he had probably leap frogged me.

As I crossed the line I saw Bill being held up by a volunteer, but he had a big smile on his face and screamed for me. It turns out the other guy that was in the break with him, Carl Reglar, dropped him early on on the final climb, and held on to win the stage. That is AWESOME!!! He went 100k in a break away from kilometer zero in a mountaineous stage and stuck it to the end. Bill was about to finish 2nd and looked back at 100 meters to go and Fred & David were right there. After 100k in a break and surviving the killer climb he gets caught by 2 guys with 100 meters to go. Cruel!!! It was scarey too, because Carl got maximum points on the last 2 KOM's and just when Bill was about to get 2nd place points at the finish he ends up with 4th place points. It turned out he finished with 33 points and Carl finished with 32. Oh Man! I crossed the line in 5th place and slipped from 2nd to 3rd overall on the final GC. Still very happy to be on the podium at such a prestigious stage race. Bill's huge effort moved him all the way up to 4th on GC. Sammy crossed the line a short time later and we were all smiles. We congratulated everyone else and the descended at 50 mph to our rented house, that just happened to be off of East Mountain Rd.

What a great weekend. Bill and I are off to race the CT stage race, and while we won't have Sammy, we will get Kevin back. We'll need him too as we're out to defend my overall title from last year and maybe even have a crack at the other jersies as well.

Thanks for reading, JB

TT Bike On The Block

2010-05-18T23:41:00.000-04:00

I finally received the new Trek TTX Time Trial Rig that I bought back in February, so I'm selling the FAITHFULL Bianchi aluminum bike. It's got Dura Ace 10 speed with bar end shifters, FSA carbon crank with 54 tooth big ring, Easton Carbon fork (bladed), Salsa 110 mm stem, OVAL Concepts aero bars, camponoglo centaur brakes, Selle San Marco era saddle. The bike will not include wheels or pedals. The bike is a large. I'm a 58cm on the road bike so you can go from there. With seatpost, stem and handlebar adjustments, you can fit this bike if you're 5'10" to 6' 2". $1000.xx

Just in time for all those stage race TT's

Hit me up, JB

A Little Wild Kingdom In My Back Yard

2010-05-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

I came home from a ride the other day and went around back to go into the walk out basement to put my stuff away. All that is normal, but when I went upstairs and looked out the window, I saw this guy hanging out on the section of railing I extended from the deck, to make the drop off the retaining wall a little safer.

He was stalking a couple squirrels that were more than aware of his presence. I watched for a while, while it played out, hoping to see a kill. I didn't want to scare him off either. Eventually he decided to switch up his viewpoint and flew over to a nearby tree branch.

Then I went outdoors to try to get an even better look. I moved slowly and he was fully aware of me, but was super focused on the squirrels, who were surprisingly enough, staying very close by on the tree. I guess they knew enough to realize he couldn't manage a mid air U-turn through branches, so they sat and waited him out. Both squirrels were making a hell of a lot of noise though. I got close enough to get another shot.

Shortly after that he flew up to a higher branch and was harder to see through the leaves. The squirrels were still squakking away, but I called it a wrap and went inside for some lunch.

Pretty cool though. I'm a huge birdwatcher, so this was a treat. The Red Tail was as big as I've ever seen. When he was sitting on the rail he was probably 20" high and looked absolutely huge. Bigger than some dogs.

Thats it for now. Master's road races are incredibly retarded to race in and even worse to write about, so I've been waiting for an exciting one to report on, but it could very well be that we have to wait for Cross to see some real racing again.

Thanks for reading, JB

Sterling Race Report

2010-05-10T15:17:00.000-04:00

This might be my best race report ever.

I didn't go.

I slept in and listened to the rain pound against the roof and walls. At race time I checked the radar for Sterling and couldn't believe how much red and orange was all over the map. After reading all the race reports, I'm even more happy with my decision. It was gonna be a weekend off from racing anyway, but I usually don't time things so well.

Good job to anyone who soldiered on in that mess, and to the promoters who clearly didn't deserve that.
JB

What a Night!!!

2010-04-21T23:01:00.000-04:00

Well this is a pretty damn good night. First I got in a nice hard 2 hour ride with good friends Gray Eldridge and Jeff Craddock. Then as we grilled up some chicken and portabellas we started watching the Sox and the Bruins. Both games went back and forth and eventually ended up in extra frames. Then in double overtime the B's knocked one in and skated off with a 3-2 win and a 3-1 lead in the series. A hugely pivotal win.

Then after quickly checking in on Fox to make sure my neighbor Chioban Magnus made it through to the final 6 on American Idol (she did). I flipped back to the sox game that was in the 12th inning tied at 7. Youk hit a wall ball with a man on 2nd base and that ended that game.

All this after last night, the Celtics without big man Kevin Garnett, absolutely embarressed Miami with a laugher of a blowout. Throw in the news that Big Ben Rothlisberger got handed a nice 6 game suspension for violating team conduct, and we've got a damn good night in The Boston Sports World.

The only thing that just makes no sense on this great sports night is this I just can't wrap my mind around that one.

Thanks for reading, JB

Chris Hinds Crit

2010-04-04T20:57:00.000-04:00

Well as race reports go this won't be a good one, but you gotta take your lumps in this sport. I had bad legs and low energy. This doesn't happen to me often, but it does happen, and I can't do anything to change it once I'm in the midst of it, like anyone.

It was my first race in the 45s group and I've always known those races are the same or even harder than some of the 35s races, but I have to admit, I had a little bit of the classic over confident feeling going into it. I was also heavily marked, which is that nice compliment that nobody wants.

I think it was a couple of my attacks into the wind that split the field, but it was a big group with 3 Arc en Ceil hall of famers in there. They did exactly what good teams do without ever having to go over the plan. They started hitting us with attacks, and when one was covered the next teammate went. They got a very well deserved win from good friend David Kellog. Randy and Todd played their roles perfectly. A small chase group caught us after it became super negative, and that just added to the ass kicking I took in the gallop to the line. I ended up 8th.

Race #2 was the 35s immediately after the suffer fest that was the 45s. Teammate Bill Shattuck had already raced the PRO race with Jamie Tosca so all we had was 2 hurtin' puppies for the 35s. (Jamie is only 34 racing age).

I felt awful in the early laps of the race and watched helplessly as the strongmen got in a break. Arc en Ceil once again got 2 guys in there. Man they did a great job all day!

Meanwhile I was struggling to even hold onto the group, but the pace eased a bit and I slowly started to feel a little better. The break was gone and not coming back ever again. There I was riding around in the bunch after not making the break, or even trying. There's nothing I hate more! It's so obnoxious how some guys will then chase hard after guys that try flyers, only to catch them and then go right back to soft pedaling as the real leaders ride farther away (and I'm not talking about guys with teammates in the break). Feeling my self hatred boil up I figured I owed it to myself to do everything possible to not be the thing I despise.

I threw in an attack after the welders brought back a flyer, and gained a decent gap. I got help when a CVC rider bridged up and we started to rotate, but he only lasted for a lap and then exploded. I think he may have been in a long break in the PRO race too. Anyway it lasted for about 10 or 11 laps in that brutal wind when I got caught by 2 riders with 1-1/2 to go, and then the whole field 30 meters from the line. It was a flogging I richly deserved.

Anyway this race isn't about me, or you or any of the winners on the day. It's about Chris Hinds and his son that he left far too early in life, and for that I'm glad I gave every ounce my body could muster up on the day. Thanks to everyone for supporting this race, and if you didn't donate your prize money, then you should send it back now. Jon Lowenstien and the Arc en Ceil team (and others) have done an amazing thing for this family. I never met Chris, or his wife and son, but it's clear that they are part of the family. The family of The New England Bike Racing Community.

This is the thank you note that just about everyone reading here, already read from their own email inbox. A touch of class that pulls on the heart strings for sure!

FROM: 8th Annual Chris Hinds FUJI "Sunshine" Criterium
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Thanks to everyone for racing yesterday. For the first time in 5 years, we had a perfect day with actual sunshine. We ended up with about 100 more people this year from last. We made a bit of money to give to Sam Hinds, Chris Hinds' 8 year old son. I did all the paperwork today, and we cleared a little over $3,000.00. We only made about $1,400 last year. That's the best we have ever done since moving the race to Ninigret. I consider this race a long term project as Sam grows up and plan on putting it together for many more years. I know the little that this race produces could never replace Chris for Sam, but it should add up over the years. I spent about one half hour talking with Sloan, Chris's wife, while the 45's were racing. She told me how much the race means to her and Sam. He likes to come out and see some of "Daddy's friends" each year.

Thanks again.
Jon Lowenstein

Thanks for reading, JB

Finally a race report !

2010-03-29T13:26:00.000-04:00

The King of Burlingame mountain bike TT is an oddity. Thats not to say it's a bad thing. It is in fact a lot of fun and a great way to start the racing anew in a fresh season and in a low key event.

It's a 7 mile loop around a pond in a state park in RI. It confuses me as to why people would say this is a "roadie's course" or "not that technical". There are parts that are pretty much just dirt roads, yes. BUT, (there's always a but) there are some serious boneyards out there too. Rock gardens, fallen trees, numerous roots, running water crossings, tricky slimey wooden bridges, and deep, dark, mysterious puddles. Oh ya "roadie course for sure". uhhmm NO!

I am the defending "King", so I figured I'd better go race and defend my crown. "It's good to be king." Having won the previous year I got to go first, but thats not the way a TT usually works. It's usually the fastest guys go last, but since it's in the woods on mountain bikes maybe it's an advantage to not have to make any passes. In that regard it may be an advantage. However, they're were no rabbits to chase....although I did see some sort of otter and a white tail deer.
Last year I had fast guys to chase and that helped immensely to make me push. This year I had to just rip it and stay mentally focused.

I rode the technical sections that come early on a lot better than last year and avoided the crash that I took last year also. I got on top of the gear in the power sections and had a really good feel going. I knew I was faster at certain points than last year and that was positive reinforcement to hammer. The ground was wetter and there were some puddles that scrubbed some speed off too, but I felt excellent and knew I had a potentially race winning ride going. I railed all the wooden bridges and charged hard to the line. I was pretty sure I had gone as fast as last year's course record time, or at least very close to it. I figured the only one that could threaten that ride would be my teammate Kevin "The Missile" Hines. But I had crushed the power sections so hard that I held out hope that I might even have sucsessfully defended the title.

I was soaked to the bone from the last big puddle that had sent a wall of water over my entire body, so I just spun right on down to the parking lot and got on some dry shoes and then rode up to the start a few miles away and got all the team's jersey's and bottles and then headed back. The troops were all done now, we had a great crew representing. Aside from Kevin and me we also had Sammy Morse and Bill Shattuck. 4 guys in the expert field at a mountain bike race is pretty sweet!

Well the results came up and I was very surprised. Not that Kevin beat me. I figured he could do that, after all he beat every fast guy in New England at the Golden Bike race in Hingham last year by 7 minutes. Do you have any idea how much of a beatdown 7 minutes is? The guy that got 2nd was the guy that beat Tim Johnson earlier in the year. So, NO I wasn't surprised Kevin beat me, I was just surprised that my time was over a minute slower than last year's when I rode sections of the course much better, and actually have better fitness than this time last year. I guess the ground was a lot softer than I realized and I didn't push myself like I should have, but I'm sure glad the Crown stayed in the Corner Cycle family.

The Missile told me he was coming after my crown some time during the cross season, and I can honestly say I didn't lose it, but was beaten for it. I showed up fit and ready to rip, put in my best ride and he just stomped me! ;o) Well he may have the crown, but thanks to that slow earth, I still have the course record......for now.

Seriously though, I don't think anyone is gonna beat Kev on a mountain bike all year. The guy floats through the boneyards and climbs like Roger, he has plenty of power on the straight forward sections, he doesn't cramp, and can ride for 6 hours, so you tell me how you plan to beat him. He even knows how to crash propperly!

Anyway, it was great to get out there again and see some familiar faces. Thanks to all the folks that helped promote the King Of Burlingame. I hope to see you again next year.
Thanks for reading, JB

Must See To Believe!

2010-03-19T18:24:00.000-04:00

David Kellog just sent me this. I can't friggen believe this. Thanks David Check it out!

Up and Down

2010-03-04T10:54:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was a great day to ride. It was sunnier than I can remember it being for well over 2 weeks, and half way through my ride, I saw this.
The streetsweeper is one of my favorite sights of the year. This was in Bourne, MA, now they may have jumped the gun a little (whats a few more wasted tax dollars?) but you gotta love the optomism.

Later in the ride I saw this guy hanging out on the rocks. Probably trying to avoid being lunch for the sharks that lurk beneath. If you can't make it out, there's a seal on that big rock. This is just off of Woods Hole at Nobska Light. The view doesn't suck! I wish I had my actual camera and not just my phone. It was WAY cooler than it looks.

Sadly the next day was pure misery. Wet blowing snow with 45mph gusts ....but you gotta do what you gotta do. In Belgium they seemed to just go about the business of gettin'er done. It was a good lesson in sticktoitiveness. It has stuck with me, how they are. If it weren't for that and my ipod I don't think this ride would have happened. I got in almost 2 hours in the woods on the mountain bike and got drenched, but timed my return just right as my fingers and toes were just starting to go numb when I got back.

Maybe thats how they achieve such heavenly praise.Can you imagine this sort of thing in this country?.....Me either, it'll NEVER happen!

The Rhode Island Scene

2010-03-01T14:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to ride with some friends in RI. These rides are pretty famous for the good hard workman like approach. Right up my alley, so after threatening to show up for a couple weeks, things finally worked out and I got over there for the 8:30 AM start time. I'm not sure of the town, but I believe we were near the Coventry/Richmond border, in the Western part of the state.

It's pretty rural out that way which is also my preference, so I was pretty stoked to be riding with some of New England's legends, on my favorite type of roads. Temperature was fine in the low 30s and no precip, there were even some sunny breaks throughout the day.

The cast of characters was a great one. Lots of Arc en Ciel riders, Todd Buckley,(T-Buck as I like to say), Randy Rusk, Dave Kellog, and many more. NBX was well represented with Bill "Angry Legs" Yarbroudy, and J-Lo. There were lots of others too. I think there was about 14 or 15 of us at the start. Those few names I just mentioned represent lots of Stage Race overall winners as well as countless 1 day classics and crits throughout New England. A very top notch crew, and it was a privledge to be welcomed to their ride.

I often enjoy this phase of the season more than most because we all go out and suffer. Thats really the idea.....to suffer, and in recovering from these sessions, fitness improves. It's a nice contrast to some race days when it seems more like the concept is to be the guy to do the least amount of work. Nobody could be accused of being allergic to work yesterday. It was solid.

The direction started out west and in no time we found ourselves in CT, and it got even more rural. There were acres and acres of farmland and that yummy smell/taste of methane. I actually mean that, as nasty as that actually smells, it usually means you're on some classic country road in New England with the big acreage views, and no vehicle traffic. I suppose you could be in PA as well as a few other places, but it always means ideal riding according to my sensory recognition.

At one point, on a rolling hills kinda road, we split into 2 groups. The 6 strongest guys stayed back while the rest of the bunch started working a rotation ahead of us. We gave them a good head start and then we did the same. Eventually we reeled them in, but we all stayed in formation, and our group pulled away on the long steady climbs in the miles that followed. It was perfect training and we all got pretty quiet in our concerted effort. At the end of that road we circled back and re-grouped with everyone. Randy ocherstrated the whole thing and it's always nice to see a senior rider take the responsibility of the ride and make sure everyone is more or less on the same page.

Next up was the store stop, and then we hit some very hilly terraine. It was awesome out there, as we just kept getting deeper and deeper into the woods. I think I heard banjo music at one point........hey at least it wasn't Ned Beatty squealing like a pig! Guys were starting to get pretty cooked and I'm not sure but I think we were a thinner group than when we started. Now thats motivation to bring your A-game. Ride well or be left in banjo country.

We eventually worked our way back out to rt. 3 which is where we started, BUT (there's always a but) what I didn't know was that it was a quite a few miles back to the cars and it was a series of long ass stair step climbs. It got pretty hard there and the strong men came to the front to make the tempo. It went on and on and on. Finally at the top of what just seemed like another step, I heard Randy say "OK time to spin it out". I was glad to hear that and relented. At that point it had only been Randy, Dave and myself for a while. Bill had gone the other way on rt.3 to get home or he would have more than likely been tearing our legs off. Todd and J-Lo were just behind us, and the rest of the guys were spread out like the end of a charity ride or something......carnage!

Only a few of us had driven to the start location and we were just under 3 hours at that point, so 4 of us just kept going right on by the cars and did another big loop with the guys that were heading for home, and then we circled back through another great, but steep hilly road to get back, adding another full hour to the ride.

Another great day in the saddle, with good friends. This may sound really corny, but as I get older and older I appreciate these days more and more. When my time is up here on Earth and I look back on it, I don't wanna say "I should have spent more time at work" or "I wish I got to enjoy more outings with people that share the same passion as me". This is it, we only get one go'round, and at least half of my life is behind me now, so I want to do what I love to do with people that feel the same way. We're so lucky to feel this way about something you can do right into your old age. I can honestly say that some of the best times of my life have been on long winter training rides with so many different people. We may piss and moan about the winters in New England, but it's what makes us who we are. Anyone can ride in 70 degree weather all year, but if you ride here in the winter, really ride, then you're more than OK and also pretty tough in my book. Not that that means a damn thing, but I know a few of you know what I mean.

Which brings me to this.....We did it! The winter is basicly over. Sure we can still take a few more hits and probably will, but the light is at the end of the tunnel now. The days are longer and day light savings time is less than 2 weeks away, the sun is higher in the sky and is actually effective at warming the air temperature, when it finally comes out. We can even race our bikes this Saturday at the Charge Pond training series. This is a great training tool and I reccomend trying to get to 1 or 2 of them to sharpen up some of those base miles with some actual race efforts.

Thats it for now, Thanks for reading,
JB

In Case You Forgot

2010-02-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Coming soon to a sky near you.....

By Request from J-LO

2010-02-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

Today was a typical winter ride from the home one of the best US Domestic PROS to ever play the game. Marky Mac won just about everything there was to win back in the day, and if he didn't, his brother Frank did.....probably twice. These guys joined the gray haired leauge a while ago, but none us of will ever forget what they accomplished, or the fact that if they should decide to train half as hard as they used to that they'd mop the floor with us. Heck lots of times they do without all that much training, just look at the fields and results from Witches Cup the last few years.

Oh, and by typical....I mean SAVAGE!

5 of us did a similar ride last Sunday on a windier day. 4 hours with 5 guys is a lot of exposure. It hurt. So logical thinking would mean that with 11 guys we'd have a lot more coverage and sitting on time.....right? Well ya sure, BUT (there's always a "but") the way this works is like this. 2 by 2 for 10 minutes each. Mark always goes in the first pairing from his driveway and he sets the tone and pace of the ride. I knew we were in for it today when we were rolling in the 24 -27 mph range on a section with a slight tailwind.

Riders were required to have full fenders with extensions on the back to help keep the riders behind somewhat dry. There is a fair amount of chatter like any ride, but the structure and disciplne force you to have your shit together or you risk being "that guy". We've all been that guy before. No one has ever enjoyed that purgatory. The threat of it looms all day like the grim reeper. Wanna go yet? Food, fluid replacement and cash are a must. If you're smart a cell phone isn't a bad idea either, more than 1 rider has had to call for rescue before. Still wanna go?

The cast of charachters was diverse and friendly. I'll try to name them all. Mark M. myself, Jon Lowenstien, Tobi Schultze, Mike Rowell, Bill Shattuck, Gary Aspnes, Sinjen Marrocco, Lou Salemy, David Kellog, and Andy from Bikebarn. I think thats everyone.

If you're smart you get in the back at the start and try to pair up with someone thats not gonna rip your legs off. I'm not smart. I'm on a pretty good run of form since I kept it hot for Cross Worlds in late January, so I was eager to go. It was pretty uneventful along the way, which is a good thing. No drama, no mechanicals. We were flying all over the place. I know enough to keep the calories up, especially early, so after one of my pulls, I had a nice PB&J. I can only eat so many bars.

There were signs of cracking early on, and so with an odd # the stronger guy in the pairing would "move up" 1 spot in the rotation after the pull. Everyone was in decent shape at the store stop at 2:10. LONG way to go though. The suffering began. Most guys didn't know it, but there was 2:30 left to go. Not even half way.

There was some head wind, and some hills and some hard pulls by some of the stronger men. I'm gonna go right ahead and say that Gary was the strongest on the day. He looked so easy on his bike, and lean, and I never saw him stand up once. Sporting a full winter beard and no gloves all day, he exemplified the New England Hard Man. Good on ya Gary.

4 hours into it, it was pretty quiet. There were 11 very private pain vessels pedaling in unison while we visualized all kinds of food and Mark's driveway. I was paired up with my new teammate Bill Shattuck and he lives nearby and told me we were almost done because we were getting real close. I knew Mark would detour us if needed to meet the advertised duration. I didn't have the heart to tell him that though. All of a sudden we were all jolted out of our trances when Mark slapped a metal road sign. "Everyone awake"?

Sure enough we pulled a "Supertramp" and took the long way home. The last hill is somewhat famous or infamous to lots of guys. Good friend Kyle Wolf once had to be pushed up there as he was so cracked he was gonna fall in the gutter and hurt himself ("that guy"). I've been dropped there as well. It's just awful if you're toast. Well some of the guys today were french toast. I'm truly sorry for setting the tempo up there today like that, but for me it was that tempo or the gutter.

At the top of the hill it's time to shut it down and cool down for 7 or 8 minutes back to Mark's place. Thank Christ!!! Bill and I did 3-1/2 yesterday too and I was really feeling it at that point. So thats it, everyone survived it and I know some guys had to go deep into places they didn't even know they had. You can really get in touch with your soul when you're that ahnialated.

As if the sight of our vehicles and the knowing that it was over wasn't good enough, Mark's wife, Suzanne, brought out a plate of "fresh from the oven" brownies. A better snack has never been had! Thank You Suzanne! I had stuck a recovery shake in the snowbank when we left so that washed it down just nice.

Thanks to everyone for riding and for being ready to go at 10. Especially to Mark for leading and hosting. Theres no better ride to do than one of these winter rides from his place, but I think everyone should place this sort of structure on their weekend group rides. No attacks, no town lines, no baggin out on your spot in line or your pull. The suffering will come soon enough, and so will the fitness.

I can't wait to do it again.
Thanks for reading, JB

Historic Day/Night for the USA

2010-02-18T07:22:00.000-05:00

What a day and night for the US Olympic Team! Here's a live medal count that currently shows how we're dominating the world...

View the vancouver2010.com medals' table

Click on blue arrow at bottom right to update.

2010 Winter Olympics - O' Canada

2010-02-12T10:46:00.000-05:00

It starts today. I seem to really like all things Canadian. I'm sure they'll put on a great show, that's what it's all aboot anyway.
Cheers, JB

New Video Just In

2010-02-10T20:46:00.000-05:00

Just found this on youtube... Really wish I had a better call up or one more lap at the end.
JB

The Beer Tent

2010-02-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid they have us beat hands down in this department. This video doesn't do justice to the level of public drunkeness that was taking place in this massive tent. There had to be 2 or 3 thousand people in there. All drunk, all "singing". Good times! If you try, your mind's eye can see Gewilli right in the middle of this crowd, complete with orange prison suit, beer in hand, belting out a tune.

Of course the only thing to do after you drink a bunch of beer is to take a wizz......also in public of course.

If you consider yourself a beer loving, cyclocross fanatic, you simply must go to Belgium and take in a World Cup Race. Of course this is actually in Holland, but it's so close to the border that it's primarily Belgian fans.

A word about Worlds

2010-02-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry guys, this post hit the big time and they'd prefer the hits and comments to go there. http://www.cxmagazine.com/bold-words-thoughts-nationals-worlds

Worlds

2010-01-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

OK I'm finally back from Belgium and settled again. It was an unbelievable trip. If you like warm weather and mountains for your cycling preference, then maybe Belgium isn't your ideal winter cycling destination. If on the other hand your heros are guys like Eddy Mercyx, Johan Museau, Mario DeClerq, Sven Nys, Bart Wellens or Ervin Vervecken, to name a few, then you'll probably feel like a very privledged person to roll over some of the cobbles and pavement that these men have also ridden over. I'm in that group for sure. Besides, anyone can ride in nice weather.

We arrived on the 14th of January and quickly put together 1 bike each, just to get in a quick ride. We did the other one the next day, all the stuff got there undamaged and on time. There was a lot of snow still on the ground when we got in. The forecast was for cold temps so it was gonna be there for a while. Here is the little A-Frame we rented for the duration of our stay, it was actually on the Master's World Championship course. No lie, 50 meters from the start finish line.

On Friday we went to nearby Kasterlee to preview a course that we thought we'd be racing on Saturday, but we discovered it was actually the Belgian National Championships and the race would be on Sunday. In an interesting twist we were welcome to race their National Championships. Kev had a little issue with a valve on one of his wheels, so we found the local bike shop. The owner was a super nice guy and we found ourselves in the back work area where all the magic happens and like any self respecting bike shop, all the girly pictures hang on the wall. There were also a lot of Bart Wellens newspaper clippings on the wall.

Suddenly Kevin and I were looking down on the floor where there were 2 Team Fidea Ridleys sitting with the front wheels off. In very non flashy style they both said Bart Wellens on the top tube. At first glance I thought maybe it was a signature model that was available for the public, but the block letters were too small for that, and as I said "Are those his bikes?" a little guy walked by us from behind and started putting one of the front wheels on. He sort of had his back to us and had on a jacket with a high collar and a winter hat, but as he turned sideways I could see a little blonde hair sticking out and then his profile. I whispered to Kev "Is that him?" I turned to the shop owner who had a big smile on his face and just said "Ya Ya" as he laughed. Now I'm not one to get star struck, but I gotta admit standing there and meeting Bart Wellens a 4 time World Champion and 9 time Belgian National Champion, was some SHIT!!! Nicest guy you ever wanna meet too, perfect English and he talked about how he visited Boston some time ago with his pal Tim Johnson. Turns out he was a full time mechanic in the shop for 6 years before turning PRO, and he lives about 10k down the road. Later in the week the owner pulled out Barts World Champion bike from 2004, just to show it to us. He had it in the way back room. The thing was beautiful!!!

So we thought we would go race in Holland on Saturday in Bakel. We fought off the jet lag and loaded up our 6 speed Diesel, Ford Galaxy Mini Van and headed North for the 1 hour drive. Beautiful drive. Got there and found out the race was also on Sunday. Crap! We had a hard time figuring out the races and the categories and even the days the races were held on. It's not so clear and lots of various information is contradictory, oh well, no worries. We drove back to Kasterlee and burned some more laps. The course was incredible. Thank god we do our share of mountain bike races. The course was a single track winding through the woods up and down hills around tight corners with trees on the inside and also in the follow through of lots of the corners on snowy/icy "Bend" like conditions. There was also a section in a corn field that was brutally filled with frozen ruts and loose wet mud on the top 2" that had thawed. A LONG, narrow paved section (fake cobbles like bricks or pavers)made up the start and finish area.

Sunday dawned and as we understood it I would race in the B Masters which is men 40-49 at 11:30, Kev would race in the C Masters which was 50 and up and would be at 12:30. It had warmed up and everything was melting rapidly. We got to the venue and couldn't believe how many campers were there! 100s of them. Some big, some more personal, but just about everyone had one and they all set up their tents and awnings and get the work stand out and all the wash stuff. They make us look like a bunch of amateurs in that regard. Totally PRO, and there wasn't even a PRO category at this race. They're used to the mud since the country really never dries out.

We went to sign up and the entry fee was 5 Euro, which we would get back when we returned our numbers. Free racing!!! What the Heck? We get signed in and the organizer tells us my race is at 11:30, but Kevin's is at 10:30.....not 12:30. It was about 9:45 at that moment. A quick change up and a short spin and Kev was off to the line. I put his bike in the pit and then went out on the road to warm up. As I rode out I watched the last part of his start where they came off the pavement and onto a snow, ice and water covered field and then up into the woods into the single track. He was about 15th off the pavement, but they rode like pussies before the climb into the woods and Kev picked off 10 of them right there. He went into the woods in 5th. I did my warmup on the road. In Belgium every inch of road has a clearly marked bike lane or in most cases an actual bike path that runs parallel to the road. I know what you're thinking....those are dangerous because the drivers coming out of side streets and driveways pull in front of you. Not here! The drivers look for bikers first and then cross the path before looking for cars.

The commentator was busy doing the race, but I couldn't understand a bit of it. I had to get down to the start soon. I put my stuff away that I didn't need, dropped a bike in the pit and headed down. When I went by the start they were doing the Podium for Kev's race, and there on the top step fully kitted out in his Captain America skinsuit was Kevin standing next to (on the same step)another guy. This guy was wearing a brand new Belgian National Champions Jersey. I didn't have my camera. I was in the same skinsuit headed to the start.....of course I didn't have a camera, but I wish I did. UPDATE: We have a picture...He won the friggen thing!!! He's National Champion of Belgium as well as America, but they didn't give him the jersey.

My race was unspectacular and there were some serious headhunters in there. I struggled with the jet lag and did my best, but I was way off. I thoroughly enjoyed it though and found it cool to be cheered for as the "Americana". What was wierd was seeing how many actual fans had come out for a non PRO race. These were not people from the other fields. These were townfolk that walked over and plunked down a few Euros to watch the races and socialize in the beer tent. Oh ya, they almost all smoke too, and riding through clouds of cigarette smoke wasn't the coolest thing I ever did. I ended up 15th, the last paying spot. I gave back my number and got my 5 Euro back and another 5 for the prize money. Kev won 30 Euro which is almost $50. They had hot shower facilities there and everyone just walks into the shower with their kit on and gets the heavy part of the mud off of everything before actually showering. Very cool!

Now we had 5 days to get ready for Worlds and I don't intend on boring you with the details of that, but one day sticks out. Wednesday after doing a nice road loop, and some beautiful wooded bike trails, we hit the course for some laps. After a few easy laps we saw a group of guys that really looked like they knew what they were doing. We hitched onto the back of the group and there was one guy riding the whole thing on his tops wearing a Masters World Champion's kit. It was an awesome kit!!! Another had on a white Jersey with the Belgain National Champions tri-colors across it. That ended up being Gert Wellens, Bart's brother. He had just won the "Elite without contract" national title a week and a half earlier. There were a few others too and we went from doing tempo to doing hot laps. It was so cool and also the perfect Wednesday training session. I went from riding the course pretty well to riding it very well and my confidence went way up. We spoke to the World Champ later after we cooled down a bit, he's (was)the 30-34 World Champ, nice guy, his name is Sven Van Eyndt, he got beat Saturday and was suffering from back pain.

Race day. We had our info straight finally and Kev raced at 11:30 and I raced at 12:30. It was gonna be hard to watch his race at all if I was gonna prepare properly for mine. The big thing here is the call up. They do it randomly, but the USA has a history of getting flicked. After I burned a couple of laps before Kev's race I went up to the start grid where half the field was lined up, Kev was on the 2nd row! That's a very big deal.

He hadn't made any friends at the Natz the weekend before, and the guy that was the most upset with him, Mark Verloo, was undefeated all year until that race when Kevin's participation changed the dynamic and another Belgie took the jersey. Verloo was actually in the last row, so this was encouraging for me in regards to hoping for a good call up for myself.

After 1 lap Kev was in the lead with the Belgian Champ on his wheel. There was a gap to the next riders and I'm not sure if Verloo was in there or not. Kev dropped everyone on the 2nd lap, but at the beginning of the 3rd lap Verloo showed up. They rode around together for the remainder of the race and I guess Verloo has some cagey characteristics to his riding and also lots of power and skill. He was able to gap off Kev on the last lap and charge to the line with Kev in hot, close pursuit, but off just enough to see it slip away. An awesome result to finish 2nd at Worlds but also heart breakingly close. 1st is the only result that matters. But he equaled the highest ever finish for an American man at Master's Worlds. I think.

I was all keyed up to hear my name in an early call up. 1st row...nope. 2nd row.....nope. 3rd row......no. 4th.... nada. 5th.....niet. 6th.....not a chance. 7th.....no sir. OK last row it is. CRAP CRAP CRAP!!! There was a fat guy in front of me. I took some risks on the pavement to move up and they all worked out OK. I hit the beach in about 35th or so, where everyone got off and ran except the front row guys. I passed a ton of guys running and hit the woods in 16th. Made a few passes and got to 14th by the pit, where Kev told me my spot. Long way to go, but I told myself I could do it. I passed lots of guys, but one Italian tried to stuff me into a tree, just because I was going faster than him. I wanted so badly to get off my bike and kick his ass right there, but I hit the brakes and waited for a better spot. I passed him on the road.....never to see him again. I got into 3rd place and was in no man's land. At the start of the 3rd lap a former world champion, Danny Verhestraeten came out of nowhere and passed me going onto the beach, he gapped me, but I made good pace on the riding portion of the beach. He bobbled in the deep sand going up into the woods and I grooved a rut and passed him. He was breathing really hard. I kept him between 3-6 seconds for the next couple laps when I started seeing the 2nd place rider. I was feeling good now and had the course dialed, although it was possible to make mistakes everywhere, true cross racing. I closed on 2nd and pulled away from 4th. At the pit on the last lap, Kev said "He's right there....7 seconds" I drilled it as best as I could and was clearly catching him. That lap might have been my fastest of the day. Over the barriers and onto the pavement he was right there, as I pressed hard to gain on him I looked up and just in front of him the guy going over the line (there were some lappers mixed in) raised his arms up in victory. I couldn't believe it. It was the first time I saw him all day, and I just missed catching the 2nd placed guy too.

37 minutes of racing. We always go 45 in the USA, but we were scheduled to do 40 here. I feel like if we raced 1 more lap like we should have that I could very well be World Champion. I was feeling good and they were starting to crack. Oh well, I'm very pleased to go over there and come home with a medal from Worlds. Silver or bronze are the same in my eyes. The only result that matters is 1st! It turns out that the guys in 1st, 2nd, and 4th are all former or present or defending World Champions. There might have been more in the field, I'm not sure...

A HUGE congratulations goes out to Marilyn Ruseckas, from Vermont! She got the job done and will wear the World Champions colors for the following year. An honor I get goosebumps thinking about. Good on ya New England, and USA, way to go Marilyn, and thanks for the tasty beers during our celebration.

Thats it for now, Thanks for reading, JB

Onto World Championships!

2009-12-23T17:48:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the great comments in my previous posts. I guess all you have to do is have an awful start to make a really exciting race report.

Kevin and I and Roger have decided to go to Mol, Belgium for the Master's Cyclocross World Championships. The race is January 23rd, 2010. We'll go 1 week early and do a couple "local" races. One in Belgium and another in The Netherlands. Then the following weekend is the Worlds. We should be well acclimated by then and we'll also be able to ride some laps on the Worlds course.

I'll do my best to keep you posted, JB

Dream Come True!!!

2009-12-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

I literally dreampt about this. A lot! It's crazy how much emphasis and importance we crossers put on Natz. I never get nervous too much before big races, but at Natz it's a whole different thing. I guess since I took the whole week off from work, had my bikes driven across the country, flew 6500 miles round trip, rented a mini van, and booked a hotel, it should feel a little different. But I felt the same way in 2005 when the race was about an hour from my house. It's just that it's the best jersey you could ever win. I think it's because Cross is so spectator friendly, that wearing that jersey is better than the road jersey because more people show up to watch and cheer at cross races.

If you're still not doing any Cross, what are you thinking? Come out and give it a go, and you'll probably be hooked.

Anyway, let me start by saying that USAC gave me the flick. I finished 4th at Natz last year, and the top 8 from last year get the call ups. Unless you happen to move up an age group. Then you're just some other schmuck like the rest of the 150 riders in the race. (The 40-44 group had 190....more on that in a bit). The online registration was a classic West Coast fast one. They didn't announce the registration opening until the last minute and even then it was on the eve of a very big race in Providence.....and oh ya, they opened it up at midnight. Plus the site crashed. USAC did NOTHING to insure this process would be fair and practical. So even though I was on the podium at Natz last year, I was buried on the 3rd row this year. You may not think thats bad, but it's basicly a prison sentence and it makes winning an extreme long shot.

The temps had been below zero for the majority of the time we'd been there, but in the early afternoon the sun was out and it warmed into the high 30s. Some spots got pretty moist for a while, but with my race at 3:30 the sun was low and behind the mountains and trees. The temperature dropped fast and the course turned to slip and slide, boiler plate. Catastrophic crashes could happen on 100% of the course.

The gun sounded and we charged up the narrow pavement start chute. It was maybe 150 yards to turn one which was an icy plywood ramp over a curb into a 180. The front row guys got around OK and them some "online holeshot" specialist stacked it in the turn and the pileup ensued. I came to a stop, got off my bike and stood there waiting for people to get up and get going. The leaders were flying away on 3 long straight aways. I finally got through and figured there was no chance in hell of fulfilling my goal now.

Still I wasn't gonna go all this way and not try with everything I had. I later learned I was in 45th place or so at that point. I started passing when I could, but everyone was trying to do the same thing and I lost places in some spots. Everyone had beer muscles. I bumped with one guy and he was solid. I could tell he was a good rider based on how firm he was when we bumped. I looked over when I could, it was Dale Knapp. I made some more passes and took some sweet lines that I had dialed in during my 2 warm up rides. When I went by the pit someone yelled "38th place Jonny GET UP THERE". Another power section and I picked off a few more. Then we crossed the road and went onto the even more technical side of the course. I got hung up in traffic a lot and could see James Coates off the front and all alone with no one in his way. I got through a couple more and up to a hill that was a sheet of ice on the 90 degree corner leading into it. The hill wasn't too bad if you got through the icy approach, but I had to drop to the little ring to get up it since I was basicly starting from a stand still. I got 3/4 of the way up and ran into a guy that just came off his bike. CRAP!!!

I got going through the start finish, and most of the mayhem was behind me since guys were cracking now. Still I was in about 25th. I passed a big group in the next straight away and a couple more here and there. I was moving now, but still way back. I saw that Coates was still gone and Mark Noble was in 2nd also alone. These were the 2 guys I considered my strongest competition before the race. Both have won Cross Natz twice before and Noble is a former British Track Cycling Olympian. I felt awesome and was comfortable enough on the icy course to put down big power, that I just happen to have since my training has been spot on for the approach to Natz this year. Across the road someone yelled "12th Jonny GO GO GO" one more before the crazy downhill dropoff righthander, another just before the u-turn into the run up on the stairs, (I dove hard into the inside line, braked hard and moved him over), another on the stairs, and 1 more before the remount, (I just ran farther than him and passed him on foot then jumped on) Now there were only guys here and there in front of me, but one of them slid out on the icy off camber little rise up to the icy flat driveway, before the icy run/ride up. I couldn't gain any spots there because we just had to go so slowly and will our bikes around the corners.

I did get a clean run at the hill this time and rode it no problem. Onto the start finish pavement sections I had Fergy in my sights. He started on the front row. Boy that would have been nice! I got him just before the pit and Fergy being the good friend he is gave me some encouragement after I passed. Sammy was just ahead with another guy on his wheel. I went very hard to get around them as they were approaching an icy right hander under and around a tree. I let Sammy know it was me as we had talked about so he wouldn't try to block me out. I went into the corner way too hot and hit the patch of ice and drifted BIG TIME. I made it over the ice and onto some dirt with a wild foot out and kept it upright and then clipped in and charged again. A couple of icy u-turns later there was a straigt away and at the end of it another 180. I saw Noble going toward me and only a few more guys between us. I ate them up before the pit and was on Noble's wheel in 3rd place. I attacked by him and across the road. I figured it was gonna take a while to gain on Coats, but as I looked ahead, he was right in front of me getting off the ground. He had crashed in that crazy downhill right hander. It was a very tricky spot. He was able to get up and go, but I was on him going up the stairs. He didn't run fast enough for my liking up the steps and I ended up running into him. I passed him in the remount area and went into the lead....Holy Shit!

OK this is my game now I thought. "See if you can stay with me Mr." I drilled it for the next 2 laps riding everything but the steps and barriers. Lapped riders were everywhere and very much affecting our ability to actually race. I'm so pissed that USAC would rather make more $ in entry fees rather than have championship racing at the championships. I was stretching him out of every corner and he was able to scrap back on over and over. This guy is an awesome bike rider! Finally the dreaded lapper crashed in front of me on that icy rise up to the driveway and I had nowhere to go. I T-boned his bike and my front wheel got tangled in his pedal. Coates went by me there, but I got his wheel. We rode the hill OK, but it was getting much worse at the bottom (at the beginning of the climb) and I almost slid out.

We got 2 to go and nobody else was close to us. He was riding way too slow for my liking, but the way to beat him was gonna be to pass him with half a lap to go and hurt him, get him so gassed that all he do is follow....if that. I sat tight on his wheel and plotted my spot to go for the win. He seemed glad that I wasn't attacking him any more, although I'm not sure I shouldn't have. But once I make a plan, I usually decide thats my best chance to win and I stuck with my decision. I thought to myself "This is what Marky Mac would do, so it should be a decent plan". I also felt very confident in my sprint, because I was way stronger than him in the power sections.

I decided my spot was gonna be just after the pit, on the power grade before we cross onto the more technical side, on the last lap. That lap (the 2nd to last) was pretty uneventful most of the way, but the crowd was absolutely MASSIVE. The sun was pretty much down now and with my sunglasses on I actually remember thinking "it's getting dark". The beer tent, which we went right by and did the barriers with the smell of beer pouring off the fans, was absolutely deafening. Over the icy rise up clean, across the skating rink driveway clean, around the corner I followed Coats into the run/ride up. I bobbled it at the bottom and had to get off. CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!!! He rode it and everyone went nuts for him, he saw the gap and absolutely went for broke. I was gapped off bad! Through the start finish I was about 10 seconds back as the bell rang. I was surprisingly calm and I drilled it the hardest I could in the power sections gaining all the way, and also telling myself that a mistake now would be the end of my chances. I had this side of the course dialed in though, and on the 180 we looked right at each other. I was very close again, but still one section behind. I closed with every pedal stroke and found myself on his wheel at the corner before the pits. I took a brief rest and went around the left hander onto "my section" I actually left a small gap so when I went I could get a better run on him. In an instant I bolted, knowing that I was back in control and had a 10 meter gap. He closed it on the corners after the road crossing, but I knew he would. I had him right where I wanted him.....under pressure. I screamed at the lappers and they moved in time. Up the stairs, over the barriers and over the icy rise up, cleanly, over the icy driveway clean, but slow and careful. He was right on me. I tried to shift into the little ring but my finger was frozen and I couldn't feel the shifter doing anything. I fumbled with it as I rolled toward the icy approach to the run/ride up. It shifted just in time, but I was distracted and didn't find my line. I bobbled again. I didn't allow myself to panic and I knew I was in the better spot on the front. I hopped off my bike as fast as I could, but it was unplanned, so it was a true scramble. I went to run when I felt him run into me, and I could hear the fans all go "Oh!" I ran up there for all I was worth and remounted. Now I was going downhill to the last two paved sections, BUT my bike was in the little ring and my hand was frozen and worthless. I shifted the back first just to get a bigger gear, then I fought with the front, trying to get 'er into the big ring with my useless hand. The second it took felt like an eternity and I stole a look back just as I saw the chain climb up into the business gear.

He was right there and I just turned forward and drilled it. I got another gear and had the lead going into the last 90 degree right hander but was going faster than I had gone through the corner yet. I committed and had to protect the inside line. I made it with room to spare and just poured it on all the way through the line. There was no way in hell I was gonna look back again or celebrate. I could feel I had it, but wasn't gonna risk it. I could put my arms up on the podium.

I did it! My dream was realized, even though I almost screwed it up. Here I am back at the hotel with my race kit still on, and an extra jersey to boot. I didn't mean to close my eyes, but it sort of sums up the contentment I felt at that moment.

To make it an even sweeter weekend, Kevin went out the next day and made it a double for the "Dynamic Corner Cycle Duo".
Kev made easy work of it compared to me and got the holeshot and won going away, after a close 1st lap, by well over 30 seconds or so. It may not be as exciting to watch, but I would have loved to have bored everyone in my race. It just wasn't meant to be. But hey, they pretty much HAVE to give me a call up next year so we'll see what happens.

Sammy also finished up a fine 6th, just off the podium, matching his son Nate's performance earlier.

Teammate David Rath (2 time Natz Champ) stood on the podium in the 60+ category with a fine 4th. A much better way to spend a weekend in December than in a halo with a broken neck. Nice job David!

Also a big congratulations to Paul Curley for winning his 875th National Title. Very inspiring Paul!!!

Thanks for all the previous comments, and for reading. JB

Got It!

2009-12-07T15:36:00.000-05:00

Well it seems that I have at least 4 readers, so I'll keep you all posted on the finale of the New England Verge Cyclocross Series.

As you know, this season has been a knock down, drag out street brawl in the 35+ category with the jersey jumping from back to back to back all year.

Lined up in the brisk wind at Goddard Park in RI, for the 14th and final race of the series, Roger and I were separated by 5 measly points and Kevin wasn't far behind either, but it would have taken both of us finishing out of the points or way down for him to win it. It was most likely gonna be a battle for the series between Roger and me. With the point difference between 1st and 2nd in any race being 10 points it was winner take all, or whoever finished in front of the other. Kinda like when we were kids playnig basketball in the driveway and somebody's mom said "time for dinner". We usually said "next point wins".

And so it was.....next point wins.

After our instructions and a hilarious plea for all competitors to keep one foot on the ground til the whistle blew (not mentioning any names) due to a certain "flyer" on Saturday. We were off.

I got my pedal pretty clean and the sprint was a lot less hectic and dangerous than the previous day's. I followed Roger onto the sand and up the steep run. I felt good so I went to the front through the barriers and pressed the 1st lap. Coming into the wet roots befor the pit I dumped it on my left side, Rog got around OK and I was up in an instant. My chain had come off, but I saw that before I remounted and knew I had to pedal it back on. It jumped right on, so I didn't enter the pit which was right there. I didn't lose the wheel and I followed Roger for a full lap. Marky Mac had connected and Kev was just about on now too. Roger peeled off and I went through and drilled it. I stayed there for the next 3 laps on the front with Mark sticking on me like velcro and Kevin in 3rd looking comfortable. Roger slotted in, in 4th.

The good news for me was that Roger didn't look his best and was getting gapped off on lots of turn exits. All I needed was a shred of positive feedback to motivate me more and that was it. I started crushing certain power sections after technical corners, and after he clawed back several times, I finally got him off a little more and he wasn't reconnecting at all. I was pretty pinned, but adrenaline is a beautiful thing if you can control it.

The gap continued to grow and we got the bell. I had some serious support out there in terms of screaming, lunatic, New England Cyclocross fans (Thanks Team BOB and others). The gap was there and I just had to seal the deal with my final lap in New England for 2009. So of course I caught my foot on the 2nd barrier and crashed forward. I scrambled up in a jiff and got back on......LOSER! The only damage done was losing one spot to Mark. He went real slow through the next little section and I passed him as we went by the pits for the 2nd to last time. He sort of challenged my surge, and as we went around the next corner I said "I don't care about winning the race today". What I meant was that I just wanted to be on the front driving it for another half lap or so to guarentee my series win. Then he could go for the win. I wasn't gonna risk nationals by trying to fight Marky Mac in the last few corners if I didn't have to. I think we know how that would have turned out anyway. Kev was just as happy as I was so he didn't try his hardest to beat him either. I literally sat up with a few short sections left to go and crossed the line alone in 3rd with 5 fingers on one hand and one on the other raised, to signal my 6th series win in a row.

Undoubtably the hardest one yet! I almost feel bad, because I really do like Roger that much. Picture a friend of your's in a tight battle for a big series win. You'd be pulling for him right? Well thats our deal. Of course neither of us is gonna let the other just have it, which is what makes it so exciting, but I will say this. I hope he wins Nationals again, since I don't have any teammates in his race this year. It's not gonna be easy though. Natz never is. There's phenominal guys in every category.

A huge thank you to anyone that put up a cheer for me this year. There's a lot of you. I'm glad New England rallied around one of their own this weekend and showed how much they wanted that jersey sticking around these parts for the winter. I'm thrilled to be the guy you all supported. Kevin and I must have had 40 or 50 people wish us luck Sunday morning while we made our preps.....including a classy guy named Roger Aspholm.

An even bigger THANK YOU to Jamie for helping me at every single race this year with his mechanical expertise, pit crewing, soignieur, training partner and of course friendship. Try finding someone that will train with you in the dark in 30 degree temps after you both get out of work at the end of the day, and he wasn't even racing really so that's even more generous.

To one of the best guys you ever wanna meet, and easily the most talented bike racer on the Corner Cycle team. The incredibly loyal and super fast "old" guy.... Kevin Hines. Thanks for all the help and motivation all year long Kev!

After Roger mopped the floor with us in VT on the opening weekend. Kevin came up with this slogan "The jersey is not going back to New Jersey". It may have rented space there for most of the season, but it's home now!

To Sammy, and of course Trish and Nate who gave us a great series to follow in the 45+ and narrowly missed the top step of the final podium to another New England fan favorite. Mark Gunsalis of Team FUJI. Congrats Mark!

And I'd be in big trouble if I left out Nancy. Not only is she my girlfriend, but a fellow athlete (triathlete) and a massage therapist, who just happens to live very close to Roger Williams and also Goddard Park. Let's just say that I had about as PRO treatment as anyone ever did this past weekend. With my back going up in flames in Saturday's race, and chronic chest tightness as well as some pretty sore sticks. I was in good hands.......to say the least. Thanks Babe!

Finally I'd like to dedicate this season long struggle and ultimate victory to the owner of our team and Corner Cycle. One of my closest friends for over 2 decades. A guy that supports cycling and racing at all levels, ESPECIALLY juniors. George (Lefty) Sykes. George doesn't get the opportunity to come out to the races that much, but if you've ever seen him at the races, you know there's no one that enjoys it more. It seems like one of his favorite days of the year, each year, is the final day of the Verge series in RI. He makes it a point to get down there and see his friends and his team race some cross. With the event having a beer sponsor, it's a match made in heaven.

I spoke to Georgey Saturday night to keep him posted of what had happened, and we talked about a lot of different things, but then the conversation got very serious and he explained to me that his Mom was gravely ill and was close to passing. This is a very private thing, so I don't wanna go into detail here, but he said she was with family and comfortably sleeping and everyone had time to understand what was happening and come to terms with it. He said unless she passed before the race he'd be there to cheer us on.

I was really glad to see him pull into the parking lot just as I did in the morning. Half way through our warm ups he told me he had to go.....his Mom had passed. I can't even imagine how hard this is, since my Mom is still with me, but I imagine there can't be anything more personal than losing the person that brought you into the world. The woman that carried you inside of her for 9 months and then nurtured you and raised you. My deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathy go out to you buddy.

Well that wraps up another awesome season of Cyclocross in New England. We're off to Bend, OR to try to grab a few more jersies. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading, JB

Lucky #13

2009-12-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

Well today was race #13 out of 14 Verges Series races. It was miserable weather. 40 degrees and pouring rain. The field was pretty damn stacked, with Kevin, me and Roger battling for the overall, we also had Matt Kraus back in the mix, as well as both Mark and Frank McCormack. Kurt Perham has been riding super lately, and home court advantage would have to go to Curtis Boivin.

The start was wierd. I didn't get my pedal too quick, but at least I kept my foot on there and didn't slip it. I think the Canadian Steve Proulx got the holeshot. Undoubtably because of his sweet Stevens Carbon race rig.

It didn't take long to see who had the juice. We hit the pavement after a pretty frantic start off and I surfed a wheel until I got up to speed and then went across the small gap to Roger and Kurt and Steve. We dove off the pavement and onto a greasy corner and I ended up taking an inside line which I didn't really want, but I hooked up thanks to the Dugast Rhinos, and blasted off on the exit.

I didn't look back right away, but I could feel that I was alone. Before hitting the long sandy beach run I snuck a peek and saw that I had a handful of seconds on Roger. There could have been 1000 people in the race today, but the 1 guy I had to beat was Roger and he was right there, wearing 2 things I want.....the leader's jersey and a National Champion's kit. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I kept drilling it. So did he. I went by the pits and Jamie yelled "4 seconds". That's not much, but when you're both going full gas, it's something worth pushing for to try and stretch it out.

A lap later.....4 seconds.

2 laps later.......4 seconds......2 laps to go.

Finally I started to see an increase in my lead on that lap and when I got the bell, there was a beautiful thing happening. Kevin was making his way up to Roger after a bad start, and I'm telling you he was way behind Roger at first. He was on him next time I looked and I told myself to focus, but I was hoping I could hang on and then see Kev take the 2nd place points.

Thats what happened, and so after 13 races, with 1 to go I have 665 points to Roger's 660. A five point lead with everything on the line for tomorrow. Very cool.

It looks like 2-4 inches of snow overnight. This is gonna be very interesting!!!

Thats it for now, gotta put my legs up. JB

Ever heard this before?

2009-12-03T16:56:00.000-05:00

Battenkill Entry Fees

2009-12-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

So the Battenkill Race is up on Bikereg now. It's not open yet, that happens later in the month, but there's something there that really sticks out. The entry fee is $75. SEVENTY FIVE dollars for a bike race! Are you freaking kidding me? If you wanna race the cat 2s or the PRO, 1 race you get the added pleasure of paying $85.

Hey this is America and people can do whatever they want within the laws. But that is dangerously close to a crime. I for one will not be there. I've got a season's full of off road riding, so I see no need to take a Friday off from work drive 4-1/2 hours (each way) and pay $75 to do a race with a very high percentage of flat tires. I double flatted last year about halfway through.

I think if we just go along with it and say things like "Well it's a good quality, unique race", we're asking for other promoters to start doing the same thing. This isn't Triathlon!

I strongly urge all New Englanders to stay in New England that weekend and support "our" races and "our" promoters. If you want the best, most unique ride you can do, enter the D2R2 instead. I promise you won't regret it! It's $50 and you get about $100 worth of value and the memory of a day that will blow your mind.

Do the right thing and boycott Battenkill and their gouging of us. Sure it's not the end of the world to pay that $, but it's the principle and it sets a precedent.

OK I'm done ranting.....JB