When Racing Isn't Fun - Pacific Raceways 7/29

It was a small and sad field yesterday. Not many people want to ride in the rain in July. If I hadn't promised Dave a ride home I would have probably skipped out too! They combined fields and I burned way to many matches in the first 20 minutes. When the cat 1,2,3's attacked on the climb I had nothing left and got dropped. Me an an Old Town guy worked together for the rest of the race. When I crossed the line they say "you got 5th!". What? I guess everyone else dropped out, but I'm too cheap after spending 15 dollars to race, I need to get my money's worth. :)

I think Dave got 2nd in the cat 4/5.

The best part didn't happen until this morning. As I dropped Dave off last night he gets this expression on his face and says "I left my ipod on the bed cover of your truck!". I told him that PIR is near my work so I'll go back in the morning (he's without a car right now). Sure enough laying in the road to the exit of the track is his black Ipod nano, wrapped neatly in a zip lock bag!

We gotta work on Dave's musical selection though.

This is not the way.

This weekend the monthly Critical Mass ride made headlines in the worst possible way. An altercation between a motorist and the group resulted in the driver being assaulted , his tires slashed and his car beaten.


It sounds like both parties were in the wrong. The driver pulled right into the ride hitting a rider (very stupid on his part). When he started to get mobbed he tried to get away (can you blame him?). But hitting the driver in the back of the head, punching him through the car window and then cutting his tires? Why where they carrying knives in the first place?

We don't need motorist fearing large groups of riders. Their is a better way to bring attention to cyclist and their rights. This isn't it.

CNN Video here:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/27/hahn.car.bike.showdown.king

So you want to work in advertising...

I did an 8 year tour in the advertising agency world before I finally decided I had enough. Working for an ad agency is like being in a dysfunctional family. You have account people who are trying to make everyone happy, creative people who day in and day out watch their work get destroyed by a clueless client (and are rightfully a little bitter), traffic managers who are just trying to get the thing out the door against impossible odds, and production managers who are given too little budget and no time...oh, and the media folks who are putting together actual measurable numbers in a completely ambiguous industry. It's one big cage match.

I'm cursed for the rest of my life to think about the back-end process every time I see some new ad on TV. In ever crappy ad you can almost hear the dialogue that went on back at concepting stages, or the changes that were made because of the (shudder) focus groups. Next time you see a crappy ad on TV, trust me, it probably didn't start out that way.

I came across this site randomly which is probably the best satire I've seen into what it's really like to work in advertising. Unfortunately a lot of it is true. I've had this conversation way to many times:

Yeah... I'm glad to have moved on.

What does this have to do with cycling? Not much, except now I'm working 8 hour days instead of 12 hours days plus weekends (and actually have a training plan) My wife says I'm actually acting like a real human.

Pacific Raceways, July 22: More Cowbell

Well...more like bike bell. This was my first race back on the bike since my little incident back at Derby Days, good old Pacific Raceways. Still waiting on my shifters to arrive, I'm riding the rain/commuter bike complete with my mountain bike shoes (still waiting on replacement straps from the crash) and of course a commuter bell which is actually mounted as a headset spacer. I felt like a total Fred, give me a helmet mirror and I'm set!

The course was flat and we talked Rory into doing a point a lap so we could all suffer. We did have a great turnout in the Men's field of myself, Vu, Greg, Darol, Dave H. and John. Dan came out for moral support still nursing a broken shoulder. I noticed Jill and Alyson in the women's race (I think we had a few more, sorry!) More on Alyson later...

Thinks started out pretty quick and the Cycle U team was out in force quickly setting the pace. It's gonna be a fast night! I took a lead out for John a few laps in and it HURT. I quickly realized that I was going to pay for not ridding much over the last 10 days. We worked pretty well together with Greg doing some incredible lead outs. I did what I could but had to sit in for a few laps after each one to recover.

About half way in a few guys attacked after we crossed the line an the pack slowed. I jumped to cover the break and we had a decent gap with one small group ahead and a chase group. I did my pull and noticed another Starbucks jersey behind me ready to lead..but wait...who has a pony tail? Oh, it's Alyson! She proceeded to lay down some serious watts, closing the gap and pulling a few guys behind her. The look on their faces was priceless!

Unfortunately we lost momentum and got absorbed by the pack. A few more laps in we were neutralized by the cat 1/2. As the last guy passed I rang the bell and gave the "GAME ON" shout. Once everyone stopped laughing we got serious and setup the last few laps.

The last lap was really moving (as expected) We setup well and Greg gave John and Dave an incredible lead out for the 1/2 last lap win. Dave ended up 2nd overall and our teamwork was excellent the entire night.

Needless to say...I'm exhausted.

Back in the Saddle Again...

Things are finally starting to feel better and I'm getting range of motion back in my knee. I plan to ride this weekend but not race. I'll save that for PIR on Tuesday.

I've been following the TDF off and on and came across this quote from Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of team Garmin/Chipotle:

"In a sprint finish you're going about 40mph, on a decent between 50 & 60mph. Next time you're in your car, get your speed up to 45mph, strip down to your underwear, then jump out the door. That's what it's like".

Yep. That about sums it up.

The Abici and the Stigmata

I'm building up an Abici Time Machine and a Santa Cruz Stigmata right now. The Stigmata is getting priority giving the approaching cross season.

As for the Abici, I got a really good deal on a new frame from a guy. I love the look of the bike and have heard great things, but for those who don't know Abici went out of business about 2 years ago so support is nonexistent. A bunch of them were shipped at the very end with missing parts, primarily the seat post clamps.

I had to track down a seat post clamp which is seriously over engineered given it's task. If you have one of these frames and need photos, advice, etc post a comment w/contact info and I'll do what I can!

Derby Days Crit - pride before the fall

I keep saying to myself that someday I'm going to start a blog. Now that I'm off the bike for a few days I guess this is as good as any! Redmond Derby Days was this weekend and I was representing Starbucks/SCCA in the mens Cat 4/5. Things were going well, really well. I had a great start and things were moving along well. I was sitting in the top 5 holding position (I'm on the far right), taking occasional pulls and feeling really strong. I heard one crash behind me out of turn 3 about 10 minutes in. A few of us shook it off and keep hammering.

About 15 minutes in a few more guys shoot up to the front. I see the guy from Hammer Nutrition and knew he was strong from the Capitol Crit so I hoped on his wheel. A few minutes later we were coming out of turn 1 and I'm right on his wheel. The line turns a little harder left than I'm anticipating and I'm half wheeling him and hearing that awful sound of tires and rims rubbing. He's going left, I'm going right. Guess who won...

I hit the ground pretty hard at about 25 miles an hour and felt like I slid for days. Had enough sense to tuck into a ball and watch 65+ riders come screaming by. One poor guy from Cycle U ran into me but manged to get up and keep going.

Once I got my senses back I jumped up and started collecting my things to the sidelines. Some guy is yelling "You get a free lap!". That's OK dude, I think I've had enough.

Net result is no broken bones but a lot of road rash on my right side. The shoulder is proving to be the most uncomfortable. The fun part was getting things scrubbed out at Urgent Care. Let's just say the first aid at the tent was...lacking.

As for equipment, I'm out a pair of Force Shifts, my favorite skinsuite, a set of bars, a helmet, gloves and the retention straps for my shoes (how those broke I have no idea).

This turned out to be a very expensive race for Team Starbucks as a whole. My teammates Scott and Bart got tangled up, costing Scott at least a frame (Orbea Orca - OUCH!). I heard a few more crashes while getting cleaned up. A check on Wheels In Focus caught some shots of the carnage.

On a positive note, Jane and Katy had a strong showing in the womens' (welcome back to racing Katy!) and Clayton took 7th in Cat 3.

Maybe next year...