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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Spin City Classic

Maybe it was the excitement of a race bike, but it did feel much better. The one thing I noticed was the stem was too short, and I felt like I was all over it. If I’m going to go to the Spin City Classic, then I have to get another stem put on. So the next morning I skipped the Sheridian Ride, and went by the shop to get Tony to put on another stem. This one was longer, and felt closer to how the Pinarello felt. I take the bike around the shop for a spin, and I feel more comfortable on it. So I got home and Ms. P has everything pack for our 190 mile road trip up to Orlando. Joel L, a Cat 5 racer is driving up to race, so that is one guy that I know of. The whole way she is looking at his book as I play with my ipod that has Off Road to Athens Playing through the car speakers. She looks at me and says, “ I want a dog”! I look at her, and say “ What”! She said you just bought a $5000.00 bike, and I want a dog. I look at her, and I said, “Do you realize my bike doesn’t poop? She started laughing. We stay silent for a little bit, then say, small dog, easy temperment, and semi-independent”. She shows me the open book, and it’s picture of Yorkie. I said, do your research, then come back to me when you are ready.

We drive into Orlando, and I’m anxious to get out and ride, but I have to find a parking space. About 2 miles from the exit, a Red Ford sports car comes flying passed me with a Black Honda Civic in tow. I look at Ms. P, and she says, “He has to Pee”, and we both start laughing. As I get off the exit, I call Joel to see if he knows exactly where to go since he races before. He says, “That’s you behind me right”. I look in front of me and I see the Red Ford, and I say “ I don’t see your Explorer”. He said, “I bought a Mustang”, and I started laughing. I said, that was you racing the Honda? “He said I’m just getting ready”. I follow him as we get around the city only to find out he doesn’t know where to park. After a few circle I decide to find my own place to park. I park in the building that has Bank of America on the top floor which is about 4 blocks away.

We have about 90 mins before my race, so we decide to go get a quick bite to eat and I would register at the same time. We I have a turkey wrap with chips and OJ, and Ms P had some of the best looking curly fries you ever want to put you eyes on. I register and go back to the car to get dress and focused to race. From the car I can see that Joel has already been dropped, and is in a group with 3 other riders. When I get back I ask Ms P, “Was there a crash”, she say “ Nope, Joel got dropped”. I said, “They haven’t been racing 10 mins yet”. We both look at each other, and she say’s “He’ll have to race is new Mustang back on the turnpike to get his moneys worth.

We have to wait at the Cat 5’ers finish there race. As we wait I see some familiar faces in the crowd. C. Wright from the Rosewood, Oasis from the Mtn bike scene, and Felix Perez. Now, I have a long history with Felix. Back in 04 when we were beginners I beat him in every race we had in the spring mtn bike series. He actually didn’t show up for the last race, and I later found out he didn’t want to lose again. That was 2004, and I didn’t see him again until the Fall of 2005 at a mtn bike race in Bellview. Now, fast forward to 2007, when he has his own team called “Preferred Alliance” which is his mortgage company and he is the title sponsor. He is fit, and has at least 3 riders working for him. We chat a little and he informs me that he is winning the State Series in Cat 4. Wow, I thought, this should be an interesting race to say the least.

We are off and the pace is high, and I haven’t settled in yet. I’m noticing that the course is bumpy and I don’t have the clean lines yet (Excuse the mtn bike talk). I start to feel like the bars are getting away from me and they are. Tony didn’t tighten my stem enough and now my bars keep going down every time I hit a bump. I have to grab the hoods and pull them back up. I look down at my HR monitor, and it says 6mins, 42 seconds. I say to myself, “ This is going to be a long race”. I start to think about my options. Option 1: Stop and see if I can get someone to let me borrow an allen key. Nope, I don’t know if I pull out to stop if they will pull me from the race. I’m such a rookie, I don’t even know the freaking rules. Option 2: Let myself get dropped, go back to the car and Ms. P will probably tell me to race the other cars back home to get my moneys worth. That’s not gonna work either. Option 3: Pull the handlebars back up after ever freaking bump I it. Great! I found a temporary solution to this problem.

Once I have my plan down, I start to focus on the actual race. Once I’m back in the race I realize that my HR is like 10 beat higher than what it normally is. The course is up and down, and the backside has an awful headwind. There is at least 1 turn that is on the red bricks, and it has hay on that corner just in case something happens. I then realize I need to get use to pulling the bars back up, or I need to find the smoothest part of the course. There was no smooth part of the course, so I was back to Option 3. I started looking for my usual suspects. I found C. Wright and Felix with his Preferred Alliance train near the front. Every time we made a right turn, I stole a couple of spots and eventually got to them. We all trades spots near the front. Felix sees me keep adjust the bars, and she say’s “ Fix those bars Pacer”, I ignore him as we make a turn. I say to myself” Option 3 Pacer, option 3”. They ring the bell for 5 laps to go, and there goes the attacks. This is a Cat 4 race so a lot more of the attacks happen, and they are stronger attacks. I look back and I swear it looks a like we still have the same 70 riders that started. With 2 laps to go I’m still deciding if I really want to go for the sprint. I’m not sure how the bars will handle that kind of all out effort. Plus, I’m new to this bike. I’m still waiting for an answer to come to me. One lap to go, and say “Having no plan is best”. So I keep myself completely in the dark. Around the last turn riders start to go for it. I’m easily in the 20’s, and it totally breaks apart. There is no organized train at all. Everyone has to do their own sprint, this is my favorite kind of sprint. I wait for the last set of bricks, and I launch my attack. I easily past 10 riders on the right side (Including Felix) and my bars are sliding, but I can manage it. I finish the sprint in the top 10 (In the money) and my bars are almost completely upside down.

I go back to the tent, and everyone is swearing up and down that they finished in the top 10. What is worst is the video they use was malfunctioning, so they are trying to guess where the riders place. I look on the list and I didn’t even see my number at all. I look at 3 riders and I say, “ I pass all 3 of you guys”, they all agree, and we are back to square one. After about 10 more minutes I walk over to Ms. P and say “We have a quagmire”, because the video that records the finish was not working. Everybody is over there holding up there numbers saying they are in the money. Ms. P held up the camera and said, “I video taped the finish”. I said, “ Women, See, that’s why I’m gonna marry you girl”, “ It’s a Bonnie & Clyde thang”. Girl, Bonefish is on me when we get back.

I take my camera over to the scoring table and within 4 mins we are down to 12 guys. All those guys that had ambition to be in the top 10 got there numbers pulled. One guy didn’t even finish in the top 20 and was there politicking for a top 10 spot. We watched it over and over until the battery went dead. By then the scorers had an idea of how the placing went. I was given the 6th place money, so I accepted 6th place in my heart. When I check the website later, I was put down for 7th place I have the video here. You help me decide where I finished. I’m wearing the blue and white uniform.


Pacer Out!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

My New Steed



I just moved up from a $1800.00 Pinarello from 2004, to a true race bike in the Felt F1C. Get me to the Freaking Starting Line

Pacer Out!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Rosewood Series 1, Race 2



My plan is to get at least 4 points to lead the sprinters jersey, and finish in the top 3 for the overall. That is a lot of sprinting. I have a bad habit of starting my sprint too late, so for the sprints I decide to get into a higher position. I’m too far in the lead and 3 riders come around me before I even start my sprint, and I end up 6th place. They only give out points for the top 3, Damn, no points this time around. The race continues and there are attacks but noone gets away. The second sprint is even worst as I was in a good position, but my legs said “Out of order”. I had no zip in my legs and took 5th.

I then realized what happened yesterday has taken it out of me. So I just sat in the group and waited for the final sprint. When they ring the bell that there is 3 laps to go, all kinds of riders come out of the woodwork to stage their own solo glory. All it does is allow us to keep a nice pace that discourages any real attacks from going too far. With one lap to go I’m in the top 10 sitting comfortable waiting for the real players to show there face. Mike Bush makes a jump on the next to last corner and gets a gap. Coming around the last turn I’m still in the same position, and things start to heat up. Abdel makes the first move as he jumps to sprint speed. The riders group behind him and Chris W. looks back just before he stands up. Everyone is full throttle right now, and I still don’t have any power. I’m in 6th place, and I need to finish top 5 to get points. I put my head down and go inside myself to salvage something of this race. I’m still in 6th, and I catch and pass Mike Bush 50 meters before the line, so I finish 5th. Ok, no more planning out the race, it never goes close to plan.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Sherdian Ride

After last weeks personal taming of Razorback, I really went after some singletrack at Markhum this week. So my new plan of riding more back to back laps just under threshold has seen huge improvements. I don’t feel as good with my position, so I do plan to go to up to Atlanta to see Eddie O’dea to get a professional bike fit after Ms. P and I get married in Vegas. There is another race in Rosewood this weekend and I feel comfortable that I can do some damage in the race. I’m in 3rd overall, and tied for the sprinter’s jersey.

I go to the Sheridian ride on Saturday morning to prime my legs for the race tomorrow. This is one of the fastest group rides in South Florida, if not the fastest. Over 70 riders come out, but only about 40 should be there. It was a crosswind on Hwy 27, and I was way in the back talking to some other riders. When things got going people started dropping off, and I was committed to making it to the lead group. The cross wind is awful and I’m starting to go into the red, but I don’t want to get caught out with all the riders that got drop because noone will want to work at that point. So I make several digs as riders are getting slung shot off the back. I’m way into the red now, and not sure if I’m gonna bridge to the group. Nor do I think I should put out this kind of effort the day before a race. As my HR reach 175 the crosswind is getting the best of me. At the point that my HR reaches 180bpm, I decide to give it up. I drop off and I look back and there is a Mitsubishi Montero coming up with a group of riders, This SUV comes to the ride every Saturday morning and pulls the drop riders back to the main group when there is a crosswind. This is the first time I have ever needed his services. I jump back on and we are going about 31mph, and we get up to another group of about 25 riders. The main group is way up the road. I have already emotionally checked out of any hard efforts because I want to save my legs for the race tomorrow. Once we go over I-75 at 35mph, I look down and I have a front flat. SHIT! I may hit the deck. We have to make a swooping right turn, and I’m able to wave everyone off and ride right into the grass. There was about 8miles to go in the ride. So I walked the bike over to the bus stop, sat down, played with my ipod, fixed the flat. Fortunately, I live about 2 miles away from the flat, so I cruised on in and called it day. Went home, laid upside down to let the legs drain, then took a nap.

Pacer Out!

Monday, March 12, 2007

The Taming of Razorback


My dress rehearsal for race speed was a success last week, so I decided that Reddick is the beast I need to get over. I have never raced well at this place, but I have slowing been getting better. Last year at the FL State Series I showed a bunch of improvement, but my laps times fell off too much. Another reason this trip was easy to pull off was Fabienne’s favorite (Yamato’s) Japanese restaurant was only 40 miles away in Gainesville. So we decided to put the new Honda Hybrid to the test to see if it 45mph on the road would stand up on the highway. It is awesome in the city, and I’m saving a bunch of money. It’s not as powerful when I want to make a move to beat a yellow light, but I don’t race cars. A cool thing about it is when you come to a stop, the engine turns off. It feels like the car is off, and when I take my foot off the pedal the engine pops back on. OK, back to the story

Fast Forward and we are in Orlando, and Fabienne and I are convinced that this is the last time that we take the hybrid on a road trip. We are getting around 30mph on the highway, and our Jetta gets 34mph. OK, this is an “In City” car.

We get to Razorback, pay the fee to get in, and take the car under the shade. I start setting up and I start to see some of the racers riding around and chatting with each other. I see a group of riders from the South (Tim W, Henry D, Joe.V,) along with Robert Bounds. We go in to do a pre-ride lap. I heard they had added an addition to the front part of the course, and I hadn’t seen that part since 2000 when I was a beginner. I forgot just how big it was, and it was definitely going to zap the legs. The first part of the course was ok, one lung burner, but it can be managed. Robert gets a nice flow going and Tim, myself, Henry, and Joe are in tow. After about 2 miles Joe V has dropped off, but we keep it going. I’m spending all my time studying the course at where I can make my hard efforts and where I must take it easy. This place is jagged for sure and the one section they reopen (I don’t know the names of these sections, I just ride them) is very rooted and gutted out, and I ain’t exactly a small dude at 188lbs. We finish the lap without incident, and I decide to go out on another one. I love riding by myself now, and I get a flow going and mark all the sections of interest for the next day. I get back to the car, and I still feel energized and would love to do another lap, but I know that is a bad idea. So we pack up the car, and head back to the Laquinta. Fabienne loves to have me explain the course and what I expect from myself. What she likes to ask is, “ How are you gonna look after the first lap”? I told her I’m gonna let go of the lead group way before I blow up, set my own pace for the first lap, then crank it up once I have found my zone.

I’m back in the hotel and I really don’t feel like driving to Gainesville, but she is gonna hand off my water bottles tomorrow, so I better be her support crew tonight. The drive was quick, the katsu chicken was the best I have had so far, and the drive back to was even faster. Watched some boxing on HBO, then I tinkered with my bike to work out the anxiety of taming this beast tomorrow.

We wake up and go to Panera Bread as our normal ritual. I have the egg and cheese something or other with OJ, which is my ritual. I love having the 11:30 wave because I don’t have to stress about getting there early and get situated. We get there, and the dirt road seems bumpier than usually, but the excitement of getting in gets the better of me. I pay my fee and I’m lucky enough to get the same place that I parked yesterday, SWEET. Just when I pull up I see some people looking at the car. Now, either they think the hybrid is the bomb, or I’m dragging a monkey under the car. I get out, and there it is, a F#*KING flat tire. Damn, it’s bad on the highway and now I got a flat. I gotta race, so I’m gonna have to worry about this when the race is over.

Lap 1
Dave fires the horn, and the hounds are off. I don’t get my foot clipped in and cost me 5 spots as we line up. I knew that was gonna cost me because the first big climb is technical and I know that someone is going to make a mistake. It happens, and Mark Gerard, Greg Derosa, Nixon, Harvey and some others have to dismount and run up the climb. In the meantime Bounds and Mad Maddox are already up the singletrack. We catch them and we kind of group together, but are spread out. Then we get to the normal part of the course where the singletrack is fast and tight. It’s Bounds, Trent, Mark G, Greg D, Harvey, me and Nixon and then there is a gap. Bounds is riding the escalator and he is putting the pace down. I can manage it but I know I got about 20 mins until I back off, so I just keep it steady. We go down one of the gutted out sections and to the very big open climb. I can see Bound slightly dropping Trent, and I’m in the next group. They don’t seem that far ahead, but once we get up and over the climb, the switch backs let you know they have about 15sec. I’m in a flow, but starting to feel the effects of hitting all the climbs really hard. The different between me from one year ago, is I couldn’t keep this pace from a technical standpoint. Now, I can, so I have to be sure not to blow up. Once we go into the next gutted out section I look behind me and let Nixon pass me, because I’m not going to let this course rip me a new one, AGAIN. So I spend the rest of the first lap trying to find my own zone, making sure I have enough for the next 20 miles. Once I finished the first lap I can hear riders in the rear of me, but haven’t looked back yet. Once I pass the start/finish I see Matt Hammond charging.

Lap 2

SH!T, I have been riding too slow. If Matt can catch me, then I have been camping out. I have been so concerned with not blowing up that I backed off way too much. I’ll have to see if I can pick it back up, because I know he is going to “ Hard Charge It” once he gets up to me. I keep riding the same pace and as he gets up to me I pull out of the trail to let him past. But I have a problem unclipping, so I fall right over as he pass me. Now he has gapped me by 5 seconds. I don’t panic, I know Matt. I also know I’m riding good and it’s going to have to take a really hard effort for him to drop me. We are back in the tight swooping singletrack, and I’m pulling him back in. A couple of mins later I’m back on his wheel and feeling totally inspired. He is leading the 40+ Experts by a huge margin, but he is drilling it and riding like we are in the same race. Every chance he can get he is out of the saddle engaging those deep tissue muscles trying to drop me. I’m burning a match or two, but I don’t feel like I need to back off, so I stay on his wheel. I see Trent and Nixon a little bit ahead, and I’m thinking, “ We’ll catch them by the end of the lap”, and it’ll be really exciting to have 4 riders regroup for the last lap. The lap is 10 miles so it’s a lot to give that kind of effort. Then at mile 8, he waves for me to take over. He gives me the helm on of the slight downhill sections and I gun it. I’m thinking that I will get another jolt of inspiration if I’m able to get up to Trent and Nixon. I put my head down, finish the lap, and I’m above my limit and starting to feel it. At the end of the lap, I tell Matt I have no interest in catching them, and I now just want to finish in my position. My main goal is to not blow to pieces and drop off time like I did in the past.

Lap 3

Matt takes back over, he is riding fast but he no longer has the urgency to drop me because he was feeling cramps coming on in the 2nd lap effort. I’m pleased to just sit on, we trade leading sections. At the halfway point I can see Trent and Nixon, and they seem closer. At this point, Matt says he is finished taking pulls at the front. So I bring in the last half of the lap. I make several attacks to see if I can pull the guys back in that are ahead of me. I started feeling like my legs were losing power in the last 2 miles, but I’m gonna give a hard dig since the race has gone way above my expectations. I finished the race in 7th place. Only to find out it Nixon was 18 seconds ahead of me, Trent was 15 seconds ahead of him, and Greg was 10 second a head of him. So there was real battle going on up there. After the race I talked to Trent and Nixon and they both stated that seeing me coming back to them gave them extra motivation. Bound smoked everyone with Harvey coming in 2nd. Mark G lost the most time in the last lap, but still hung on for 3rd. I was happy with my performance because I’m notorious for dropping off from lap to lap. This race was my best effort to date

Last year at FL State Series my lap times on a 6.2 mile course (4laps)
Lap 1: 29.86
Lap 2: 31.81 (2mins drop off in time)
Lap 3: 33.37 (1min, 20sec drop off in time)
Lap 4: 34.49 (1min drop off in time)
Lap times this year on a longer, bigger 10mile course (3 laps):
Lap 1: 49.44
Lap 2: 50.27 (45sec drop in time)
Lap 3: 51.18 (50 sec drop of in time)

Now that is some GANGSTA A$$ “Speed Racing”

Speed Pacer Out

Monday, March 5, 2007

Rosewood Road Series - Race 1

March 4th

I had raced Rosewood 3 times in 2005, and that was the extent of my road racing. I finished 3rd in the Cat 5 Cyclefest race in Oct 06, and then I upgraded to Cat 4. The Rosewood Series puts the Cat 4/5 group together, so you have some good riders, and some Cat 6’s if there is such a thing.

My legs felt great as I was warming up, and that was about all that I wanted. I actually had no expectation for the race besides putting in some really hard efforts. I knew the major players, and I just decided to stay behind them because they would keep me out of trouble.

Making the last turn going into the first spring, Green guy hits the deck on the last turn, and I instantly go from 20th or so, to 5th. I looked up to the sky and said “Thank you God”! So I sit on the wheels and wait to make my move. I ramped it up and came around the 2 riders to take the first sprint and $50.00.




Then all of a sudden my tire felt like it was going flat, and when I would come out of a corner I would really have to ramp it up to stay with the riders. I opened my brake levers, but it was still happening. I looked down and my skewer was loose, so I pulled out of the group. I slammed on my brakes, quickly tighten it back, and jumped back on my bike and put in the biggest effort to catch the back of the group. I havent’ done enough races to know that I can wait for the group to come back around.

For the next 15 mins I was still in the red zone because there were multiple attacks trying to get away. Just when my heartrate went down I heard the announcer with the cowbell saying that we had 3 laps. So I went from the back of the group to the middle, and I was looking for 1 wheel that knew. It was Super Sprinter Christopher Wright, and he has historically been the faster rider in this division for 3+ years ( Don’t ask me why he hasn’t moved up yet). 2 laps to got and it gets moving to over 30mph, and riders that can’t handle that pace start moving out of the way to find a wheel to draft behind and I move up into the top ten. Christopher is 2 bikes ahead of me. 1 lap to go, and a rider with Columbia on the back of his uniform makes a solo break. A bunch of riders chase, but the sprinters are just watching. On the back side of the course I look down and we are going 34mph, so I know it’s going to stay fast. Coming around the last corner the 2 riders turn too wide, and I end up right behind Chris for the final Sprint. (Again, thank you God).


I decide to just stay on his wheel, and he surges and I surge too. He looks back, puts his head down and makes is final surge and I’m directly on his wheel. If it’s a 5 race series I’ll get my chances go come around him. So I’m thinking 2nd place is not bad for a person that did not have any goals. Turns out one of those guys that was in that break actually got a huge lead and he cruised in for the easy win, so I actually finished 3rd. Now I have a reason to continue racing on the road. I think I can do a little something out here.

Pacer Out!

2 Race Weekend

March 3rd

I would have a nice dress-rehearsal the weekend before Reddick race in the form of the Hospice 100. It is an event in its first year, and in memory of the mtn biker Cindy Feeney that died of cancer in the Fall of 2004. I decided to do it at the last minute and thought I had a team in with Andres and Wes Paradise. The night before I’m watching the movie 300 and I get a message from the Active Cycle’s shop owner ( Karem ) that Andres has pulled out. So the next morning I’m at the event scrambling to find a team that could compete with the Trek Team. Wes was in, and Karem has sent 2 riders to join us. They were First Timers which would make it very interesting if we wanted to be competitive. 2 First-Timers that ride for Active Cycles had a man bail on them, so I ask Wes if he would mind doing it anyway. So we decided to race as a Sport Team since I was an Expert, Wes is a Sport rider, and we had 2 First Timers. So it would turn into a very high intensity training ride.

Fast forward to the lemans starts. GO!! And I take the first 15 steps and I’m already in first place, but the empty water bottle comes out of the back of my jersey. I have to stop, turn around and pick it up. I manage to get back to my bike in the top 20, but I’m behind a lot of slow riders. The first part of Markhum is very tight and I know that I’m losing time, HELL, I’m not really in the race with 2 First Timers on my team anyway. Coming around a bumpy decent my change drops. WHAT!! When has my chain every dropped, and on the outside of my chainring? Not a great time to have it drop as I got passed by 20 riders before I got it back on. Now I’m really motivated because this lap is going to be slow for another reason. I get going and at the top of the dump I pass 6 riders going into the next singletrack and I start getting a rhythm, and slide out on some rocks and hit the deck. I get up and my chain is off again.



Observe the dirty left side

After a couple of choice 4 letter words I’m back on the bike and much more relaxed because I know this lap is a wash. So I settle in and I don’t even ask a rider if I can pass when I come up on his wheel, I just wait for an open section to pass. I finish the lap 5th over all with a lap time of 27mins, and 1 minute behind the fastest lap, but I know why.

The first timer was up, and he put in a 35minute laps and at that point I decided I was really going to have a good training ride. The second first timer was up, and he did a 33 minute laps. Wes brought up the rear and he did a 27 minute lap. I decided I would do 2 laps back to back. I did a 26 and 27 minute lap, and it was balls out. The First Timers did a 32 and 33 minute lap, and Wes put out another 27min lap. I did the last lap in 26 mins, 17sec. The fastest time of the day, and it was the best that I had felt. I still felt like I needed more, so I decided to the the Rosewood Crit Series Race the next day.