The Landis decision

Here's Floyd on the Champs Elysees in 2006
I was there to see him win the tour
It didn't last too long

Earlier today, Floyd Landis, the former winner of the 2006 Tour de France, lost his final chance to overturn the decision of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that stripped him of his Tour title nearly one year ago.

In cycling and most Olympic sports, a national body, USADA in this case, handles doping cases pertaining to any athlete licensed by that country. Even though Landis' violations occurred in France, he was disciplined here, by his national bodies. Because all Olympic sports are overseen by an international body, the International Olympic Committee, appeals that go beyond the national level come to an international court.

Landis' claim — that the samples of his blood were improperly tested in a French laboratory — was rejected by USADA, but he believed that he could still prove his point, so he appealed the case to the highest court in the world of sports, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The court dispatched a three-member panel to hear Landis' case in March, at the offices of a New York law firm, and they announced their findings on Monday.

The decision, that Landis' assertions were unfounded, solidifies Oscar Pereiro's place in the history books as the official winner of the 2006 race, although there will always be an asterisk next to his name, as fans and other competitors remember the way he inherited his Tour crown.

So what does any of this have to do with you and me?

I was in France in 2006 when Landis was on his way to winning the race. Staying in a fancy hotel in Istanbul (the dollar was stronger back then), I watched Landis nearly win the first stage of that year's race. A couple weeks later, I crowded into a bar in Rome to watch him collapse in the race's 16th stage, and then a day later, surge to launch himself back into contention. Days later, I cheered for him on the sport's most hallowed ground, Paris' Champs Elysees, to watch him finish the three-week race and receive the race winner's yellow jersey.

Three days after that, in an Internet café in Belgium, I read that Landis had tested positive for having an out-of-whack testosterone ratio, likely indicating a form of doping.

I wouldn't exactly say that my life immediately launched into a tailspin, or that I was forced to dive headlong into drugs and alcohol to console my grief, but I did lose a little bit of my interest in following my favorite sport. I know I wasn't the only one who had that reaction.

Landis made me and other fans question, as no one else had, whether what we'd been watching our heroes do out on the tarmac was real, or if it was false heroics, engineered victories created by chemistry and not hard work and sweat. I don't think anybody will ever look at the Tour de France the same way again, and for that, we can all thank Landis.

Not to change the subject, but there are some good photos from this weekend. Check back tomorrow for a glimpse!

Union Vale Road Race

I followed up yesterday's eighth place performance at the Maltese invitational with an eighth place at the very hilly Union Vale Road Race this afternoon. The course is a 14 mile loop, and we raced 4 laps.

It was so hot and humid before the start that I broke into a sweat while putting air in my tires. That was unpleasant. There was rain in the forecast, so I found myself hoping that it would rain. I did this race last year with Adam, but I was fat and out of shape then, and got dropped on the second lap. As such, my recollection of the course was less than complete. The course was much harder than I remember, with several long hills, and some shorter rollers. It also featured a 1.5-mile long finishing climb. The race was also made harder by a team of elite Aussie juniors, who were very strong, but were quick to violate the yellow line. There were about six of them on the team, so they were easily able to control the race.

The pace was pretty quick from the gun, with a few breaks going away. I did my best to stay near the front and help to control the breaks, and tried to get off the front on some of the course's bigger hills, but the field was pretty strong, and I wasn't able to get away. I even tried to work with a strong kid I know, Evan, from the CRCA Jr. Development team, who rode in a break with me at the Balloon Festival, but even working together, we couldn't make any ground.

My team mate Pete, who was also racing, helped bring back a key move in the last lap. Some time in the middle of the race it started raining, so the roads got wet, making the race a little sketchy, but mercifully cooling us off.

Halfway through the last lap one of the aussie kids got off the front, and was able to stay away. I was in the main group as we hit the base of the finishing climb, which was about a million miles long. The group immediately blew up, and I did my best to stick with the leaders. I couldn't stay with some of the aussies, and one or two others slipped ahead. I passed two riders in the last 400 meters, but they both sat on my wheel and out sprinted me at the line. In the end, I wound up eighth, but one of the aussies were relegated for crossing the yellow line (they all should have been relegated, but whatever), so I was officially seventh. Pete was in the mid-30s. If you average my finishes from Saturday and Sunday, you get 7.5. Not sure what that means, but there you go.

On the whole, it was a very successful weekend. I was hoping for the big "W" today, but it that goal continues to elude me. Maybe at the Empire State Games...

I've now got two weekends off for racing. I'll use one to observe Independence way, in some way yet to be determined. I'm scheduled to use the other weekend to cover a national-level mountain bike race at Windham Mountain. Here's to combining my passions! After that it's time to get my ass in gear for the Empire! In the means time, I'll be keeping you apprised of my training, and other races in the area.

Hopefully I'll have some photos of the race to post tomorrow. Keep the rubber side down!

This just in: I'm good at riding my bike!

Sprinting for eighth place on the far right
Next time I'm going to get in position sooner
And take the inside line

The evidence of this simple fact has been mounting for a few weeks: seventh in the Empire State Games Qualifier, third at the Balloon Festival, and twelfth at the uber-challenging Wilmington-Whiteface Road Race.

Today's result -- eighth at the Maltese Team Invitational -- might have been my crowning achievement. The race, help in Central Park, pits 17 teams of five riders against each other in a points competition. The top 20 finishers earn point for their team, and the team with the most points wins.

This pro/1/2/3 race in Central Park is a prestigious open event, and teams need an invitation to race. Getting invited was a coup for BVF, and we wanted to field a strong team to show we deserved our invite. I raced with fellow 3s Scott, Pete, Jonathan and William. The race was fast from the gun, and it took me a few laps to settle in and get used to the fast pace.

I tried a few times to get in small moves, but nothing stuck. The pace remained high, and we were often in single-file, as we flew around Central park. The course is mostly flat with a few rollers. On our second to last trip up the most difficult of these, the Harlem Hill, a few rider accelerated off the front. I went with them, and we soon had a gap. We rotated through to increase the gap, and as we started the bell lap, we had a 15-second lead. A small group bridged up to us in the last three miles, and it was an all-out drive to the line. Behind, Pete was working hard to disrupt the chase.

With the peloton nipping at our heels, we sprinted for the line. I crossed in eighth place, a solid result in a major regional race. My ride was good enough to place BVF seventh in the team standings. Unfortunately the pay out was only five deep.

Although I feel like I worked hard today, I don't think I burned too many matches, and feel like I have a reasonably good chance in tomorrow's Union Vale Road Race. Thankfully, I will once again have Pete's help.

The evidence we're been waiting for...

It's Thursday, and that means two things: Friday is tomorrow and Wednesday was yesterday. It also means that it's time for me to revisit my weekly tradition of offering a list of good and bad things from the week.

First a story: On Sunday I drove my car to Kings Ransom farm for work. It was warm and I'm trying to save gas, so I rolled down the windows and drove slowly to the farm. Then I drove back to the office and parked my car with the driver's side facing the building, as I always park. It rained a lot on Sunday evening and Monday. Some time on Tuesday the office HR woman announced that the windows were down on a green Nissan.

That can't be my car, I thought, I haven't driven since Sunday. Still, I went to the glass-fronted lobby and looked out at my car. It looked like all the windows were up. I went about my business for the rest of Tuesday, Wednesday, and the first part of Thursday. Oh, and it rained on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Then, when I was walking back to the office from having lunch at a local pizzeria, I happened to look at my car, and the passenger-side window was all the way down. All the way down.

Well, all things being equal, I was pretty lucky. I don't keep anything of value in my car, but the few non-valuable items that I do keep there (CD player, EZ-Pass, year's supply of safety pins, little red umbrella, various bike rack parts) were all still safely in their places. In fact, it didn't look like anyone had so much as stuck their head in the open window. The door was a little wet, and the car now smells like an old gym sock, but other than that, it's none the worse for wear. Tomorrow I'll Fabreeze the upholstery and we'll be good to go. However, I think this incident might represent the evidence I've long sought, that I really don't have any common sense.

Without further adieu:

Tops from the week:
1) 12th at Whiteface-Wilmington. It was hard, but worth it.
2) Racing the Maltese invitational on Saturday. It's an honor to be invited, even if I hardly have a chance to do well.
3) BVF/GQ Racing. My team mates are cleaning up all over the place.
4) My new pants. Banana Republic should have a sale every day.
5) My laptop's new battery. 5 hours of life on a good day!

Bottoms from the week:
1) The weekend weather forecast. Gonna be some wet races this weekend.
2) The Maltese Invitational. 6 a.m. start!? Are you kidding me?
3) My laptop's new battery. $129. Uhg.
4) Leaving my car window down all week. At least I didn't get robbed.
5) The bike-friendliness of the roads in Whiteface. Those cyclists need safer conditions!

Finally, photos from the weekend

Well, it's been a long wait to get some photos from Saturday's Wilmington-Whiteface road race, but some were posted today on team Placid Planet's website. Most of these were taken close to the top of the mile-long climb to the feed zone. I think the suffering in the photos will speak for itself. There was also a photographer stationed at the apex of a sharp turn on the course's main decent, although I still havn't located where those action-packed photos might be posted. Stay tuned!

Austin leads the pro/1/2/3 field up the climb
I gasp for breath
and wish I had someone to give me a feed

Finding my stride, mid race
Chris McBurnie says I should sit upright when I climb
Maybe I'll try it next time

And we're off!
Get ready for 69 miles of suffering
I'm in the middle of the shot

Some Canadians at the start
They think they're so fast...
OK, maybe some of them are

Dieter and this guy were off the front for two laps
Then they came back, and it was gruppo compato
But it was a pretty good run at the front

See you on the telephone

Want to talk to her? Just call 518.540.1400
She might be there, or it might be someone else.
Does it really matter?

I don't know what it is about the capital region, but people here seem to be incapable of going out and meeting people in real life. Instead, people in the region turn to call-in talk services. This might be OK if these call services were advertised only on the underside of pay phones next to the men's room at seedy bars. (And even then they wouldn't really be OK, they would just be easily avoided.)

In any event, here in the Capital Region (and perhaps elsewhere, I really don't know), we advertise our call in services right on TV, during Sex and the City, Family Guy, the nightly news and other popular shows, where you can hardly avoid seeing ads. Mostly, ads feature some hot little vixen wearing tight jeans and a belly-button-revealing shirt, who flirts with the camera and talk about how much fuuuunn it is to call Livelinks, and meet all sorts of fun, interesting, and sexy local singles. Sometimes the girl dances, sometimes she walks down the street, but she always talks with a full-lipped pouty embouchure that all but reaches out from the TV and grabs male viewers by gonads, and directs them to dial the local number. Becky seems to be less effected.

Well, I've never worked up the courage to call Livelinks (plus, I think Becky might frown on that), but I imagine it like a conference call full of horny, panting adults, verbally pawing at each other while trying not to let the telephone receiver fall our of their sweaty palms. Plus, with the marketing targeted so heavily at men, one has to wonder if this is really something women are intended to participate in, or if it really is just for men, and if the women on the other end are really just paid actors. Who knows.

Perhaps this is a necessity in a place where the population is spread out across many municiaplities, and none of them are connected by something as cleverly efficient as the subway. But isn't this what the internet is for?

And speaking of the internet, jdate.com, a dating site for the chosen people, seems to frighteningly successful at setting up couples. I won't tell you who I know that's met their match on Jdate, but I will say that I've yet to meet anyone who enjoys spending time with their pals on livelinks.

On a completely unrelated note, I've just seen a trailer for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. I'm as excited as the next guy to see this film, which looks awesome, but I wonder: Why couldn't the film makers make a new movie, rather than re-making the tired Batman v. Joker plot line we already enjoyed in Tim Burton's 1989 version of a similar story line?

Besides, Heath Ledger is/was a talented actor, but we all know that Jack Nicholson did an unparalleled job playing the Joker.

More bicycle races in the land of multisport

Another start-line shot from Saturday
I'm talking to Dieter: "What's the plan?"
"Try not to get dropped, keep the wheels on the ground."

Usually at work I write about government, politics and crime in Saratoga Springs. On Mondays, I also get to write about cycling, for my weekly sports column. Below is my column for Tuesday's paper. I was hoping to include new and exciting photos from the race (I know they're out there somewhere, I talked to one of the photographers today), but none have surfaced so far. Anyhow, enjoy my words:

WILMINGTON — This weekend saw about 130 bike racers venture deep into the heart of the land of the triathletes.

While perhaps appearing similar to the uninitiated, bicycle racers — AKA “roadies,” — and triathletes are inherently different.

So it was with a little trepidation that I got in the car to drive up to this remote Adirondack hamlet for a road race, mere miles away from where thousands will compete in July’s Ironman triathlon.

Sure enough, on my way to the start line, I saw hundreds of triathletes out training on the roads around Lake Placid.

Jim Walker, co-founder of Team Placid Planet, and promoter of Saturday’s Wilmington-Whiteface Road Race, seems to have found a way for the two sports to happily coexist.

“The club was founded by myself and several other road racers. But we’re in a small community, and we have a very strong tri contingent, so we thought it would be silly not to include them,” Walker said, and added that several members of his club who focus on triathlons turned out to volunteer as course marshals on Saturday.

Although racer turnout was less than Walker and his co-promoter, Bill McGreevy, had hoped, Walker said he was happy with his club’s first attempt at race promotion.

“We were hoping for 200, but based on gas prices, which have affected all the races that aren’t really well established, and the threatening weather, it was lower,” Walker said.

He added that while small fields might have been disappointing to some racers, it gave his team of 61 volunteers a chance to run the race smoothly.

“All the feedback has been really positive. A lot of people came up to us and said it was a great race,” he said.

And it was a great race. It had everything: fast, steep descents, gut-busting climbs, sharp turns, and a steep climb to the finish high up on the flank of Whiteface Mountain — and all held on quiet country roads where we saw only a few cars.

So why was such a great race poorly attended? Gas prices certainly played a role, but the buzz on Monday was that the trip to the Adirondacks was just too far for day-trippers coming from major population centers in New York City and Boston.

To make the travel worth their while, Walker said he wants to turn the race into a two-day event in 2009.

“We’re trying to figure out how to offer some other kind of race on Sunday, a criterium or circuit race to compliment the Saturday race. We knew right from the start that it was going to be hard for people to drive up here for one race, so we’re looking for ways to increase the draw,” he said.

He added that he and other organizers had looked for a way to include a second event this year, but met resistance from the government in Lake Placid, which is perhaps weary from other events closing down street in the village, including the Ironman.

“It was a red-tape battle we didn’t want to fight,” said Walker, but said he was hard at work to find a venue for 2009.

In addition to adding a second event for 2009, Walker said he hoped the race would help spur interest in junior racing, and to that end, convinced the Cambridge-based junior club, Farm Team Cycling to come up in numbers.

Farm Team rider competed in four junior categories and the Pro/1/2/3 event, winning all four junior races.

Brittany Sumner, of Clifton Park, won the Girl’s 10 to 12 division, Keane Brennan, of Cambridge, won the boy’s 10 to 12 division, Jack McClarence, of Loudonville, won the boy’s 13 to 14 division, and Nathan Piche, of Hoosik Falls, won the boy’s 15 to 18 division.

Other local standouts included Mark Sumner, of Clifton Park and racing for Battenkill-United, who took second in the men’s 35+ division, Jenny Ives, of Gloversville, and racing for the Capital Bicycle Racing Club, who won the women’s Pro/1/2/3 event, and Kevin Mosher of Voorhesville, who took third in the category 5 event.

Matthew Purdy, of Albany, and racing for North Atlantic Velo took sixth in a pro/1/2/3 event that saw heavy hitters from the northeast and Canada tackling the difficult course.

Yann Deville, of Montreal, and racing for CIBC/Wood-Gundy, took the day’s premier prize, winning the 68-mile pro race.

Worlds Collide: 12th at Wilmington-Whiteface

And we're off!
The 1/2/3 men start our 68-mile event
I'm right in the center

Saturday was the Wilmington-Whiteface Road Race. This was a truly great event, but strange in several ways. First of all, I've spent almost more time than I can recall in the Keene Valley/Lake Placid region, either hiking or skiing. While driving to the race, past all of the craggy peaks, and storied trail heads, I didn't have a day pack and boots in my trunk, but a bicycle on my roof. So there was one collision, my past background in hiking, and my cycling-heavy present.

Then there were the triathletes. In about one month, Lake Placid will play host to one of only three sanction Ironman-distance races in the country. As such, there is a huge multi-sport culture in and around Lake Placid. On my drive in, I passed hundreds (and this is no exaggeration) of men and women awkwardly pedaling ill-fitting tt bikes, while trying not to fall over sideways when they were incapable of balancing on their aero bars. (In fairness, there were also a few men and women riding confidently riding along, looking fit and fast, much as I imagine Todd or Mike must look when they go out to ride their tri bikes.) And that was the day's second juxtaposition. We were a small band of roadies trying to establish a toehold in the land of the half-shirt. I'm sorry, but what self-respecting man wears something like that?

In an event, promoters of this new race are attempting to create a premier event on the NY calendar, to compliment the Tour of the Battenkill Valley, the NYS Crit Championships in Glens Falls, the Union Vale Road Race and the two Bear Mountain races. I was one of 25 racers who showed up for yesterday's Pro/1/2/3 race, so it seems that the promoters did everything right, except promote their event. There were way to many people in the three or four days leading up to the race saying that they hadn't heard about the race, all that, despite the fact that the race was listed as a "premier event," on www.bikereg.com for the past six weeks or so.

In any event, the organizers put together a course with a difficult loop of rolling terrain, including a steep mile-long climb up to the feedzone. With a name like Whiteface, this race had to have a finish climb, so organizers staged the race in the town of Wilmington, sent us six miles north to the 13-mile loop, which we completed four times. After the fourth lap, we raced back to Wilmington, and hung a right onto the Whiteface Memorial highway. We climbed up a 1.6 mile-long wall to the North Pole, and then promptly collapsed in a pool of misery.

As I said, there were 25 riders in my field, including a couple of our local hammers, Dieter Drake, Matt Purdy and Austin McLenithan; a local pro, Cory Burns, and some higher-category riders from Canada. The pace was different from most races, in that the pace was steadily fast, but would back off at the strangest time, like when cresting a climb, or when cruising on a flat. Having such a small field also made the race harder, in that there was nowhere to hide. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was going to be outclassed in this race, so I just did my best to keep a low profile, while covering any possible moves. It was easy enough to sit in, except for the one big climb, which was a bitch. I was briefly dropped on the third trip up the climb, but manage, with a group of five others, to catch back on. By that point, there were only about 15 people left in the peloton, and shortly thereafter, it started raining, again, hard. The drops of water felt like bullets on my lips and skin. It was miserable an probably dangerous, but we got through it.

Two riders slipped away while we were bruising on the six-mile ride toward the finish climb, and back in the field there was hardly a reaction, as we were all cold and wet by that point. I had thought the finishing limb would be a lot less steep than it turned out to be, so I attacked as soon as we hit the base. I quickly had a gap, but then, few minutes later, the climb got a lot steeper, the field caught up to me, and I was soon riding on my own, off the back. I managed to hold on for 12th place, out of the money, but happy to have made it as far as I did at the head of the peloton.

So that was that. It was a really fun event, with a great, down-home feel. The scenery is second-to-none, and afterwards, I had a great slice of pizza in Lake Placid afterwards. The scenery is too beautiful to leave it to the triathletes alone, us roadies need to make use of it too!

On a side note, I know that I sometimes make fun of triathletes, but it was really cool to see so many people riding around on a Saturday morning. I have to say though, for a place that has stacked such a claim on being the former home of the Olympics and the world-class Ironman, Lake Placid and it's surrounding communities have done little to accommodate cyclists or runners in their infrastructure. While driving home, I passed dozens of people finishing their runs in the narrow shoulder of Route 9N, and cyclists riding two-abreast on route 73 caused traffic to pile up for miles. I'm not gripping about the cyclists slowing traffic, I'm fine with that, but it would be nice if the roads had slightly wider shoulders to accommodate the cyclists in the area.

That's all for now, I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with more photos!

If the course wasn't hard enough, the weather was slightly less than cooperative. It started to rain while I was getting dressed for my race. Ever the optimist, I hadn't even brought so much as arm warmers along, much less anything that would actually protect me from the elements, for what I figured would be a sunny race. Fortunately, the rain stopped before my race started, and we got rolling on mostly-dry roads, and sunny skies. It sprinkled once early in the race.

The Thistle wins!

Look at the Thistle go!
We had three people in ours
It was a little crowded

On Wednesday evening I went sailing for the first time in more than a year. I started sailing at a very young age, when my Dad bought a 19-foot Oday Mariner. From then on, sailing became a fixture of our family vacations to Cape Cod. Later, when I started attending summer camp, I took my sailing seriously, and soon became adept at manning the Lasers we sailed at camp. Later still, as I've noted before, my Dad bought a 37-foot J Boat, which he soon started sailing around Long Island sound, joined often by my Mom, and occasionally by me. I haven't been sailing nearly as much in recent years. Summers are now dedicated to bicycles, and I'm often loath to miss a ride in favor of sailing.

But when my friend Scott invited me to race with him in a weekly club race on Wednesday, I wasn't going to miss the opportunity. (Of course, I wasn't going to miss a ride, so I got up extra-early to ride before work.) Then after work, I headed down to the sailing club, where I met Scott. We sailed a boat called a Thistle, which is a 17-foot sloop weighing about 500 pounds and carrying about 191 square feet of sail, plus a 220 square-foot spinnaker.

Manned by a crew of three, it is a very quick little boat, or so said Scott, who is much more knowledgeable about these things than I am. In any event, I was pretty much serving as ballast and doing my best to avoid the boom, until we were about to turn onto a run (with the win coming from behind us), and Scott looked at me and said "You do know how to trim the spinnaker, right?" Uhh... Well, for never having managed that type of sail on that type of boat, I think I did alright. I'm no expert, but I can follow directions. I managed to get the spinnaker up at the right time and get the jib down. I even successful jibed the spinnaker, and then doused it more-or-less correctly when it came time to sail up wind.

About 13 boats turned out, and it seemed that everyone took the racing pretty seriously, and we wound up finishing first in our class and second over all. The bottom line for me is that I love anything competitive, and I also love sailing. Combining them was great fun, so thank you for the invitation Scott! I hope to get to sail with you again soon. And now, onto the top and bottom five list!

Tops from the week:
1) The Thomas Arnold Memorial Century. What a fun ride!
2) Growing our own vegetables. I think they taste better this way.
3) Daniel Day Lewis's "There will be blood." I'm only halfway through, but so far, so good.
4) Sailing on Wednesday, thanks again Scott!
5) Wilmington-Whiteface road race. It's gonna be good, hard, fun.

Bottoms from the week:
1) There's never enough time for everything.
2) President Bush's solution to the rising price of oil. Good job, moron.
3) The continuing crisis in the Midwest. At least there aren't thousands dead like in China and Myanmar.
4) The finicky weather this week. Just get warm and stay warm.
5) My poor luck in finding someone to share a ride to the race this weekend. Oh well, I'll have to try to win some gas money!

The secret tip to save gas that you wont find on the internet

Lines at a gas station in Englwood Cliffs N.J.
Someone is making a lot of money
Think of all that sales tax

Just as an exercise, I've just spent some time perusing the internet looking for tips on how to save gas. I found a few good ones. I know a secret way to save gas. My tip wasn't published anywhere that I could find on the internet, and it will most likely surprise you. But we'll get back to that in a minute.

I consider myself a pretty serious gas miser, but even I found some new ways to save gas during my search of the internet. For instance: You'll likely save some gas if you thoroughly plan your route and travel plan before getting in the car. You wont have to worry about driving around lost, and you wont have to turn your car on and off while you stop to ask for directions.

The most basic tip, but probably the hardest to follow, is to slow down. Once you start driving above 55 MPH your car's gas mileage goes to crap. I've been making an effort to drive slower on the highway, but I've found that traveling at less than 65 MPH will often net you displeased honks. But it does work. The same principal applies in town. There is no need to drive 40 down Broadway.

Regardless of what tips work for you and which don't, I think it's safe to say that we're all feeling the pinch of increased gas prices. I took the photo at the top of this post about a week and a half ago when Becky and I were on our way home from my Mom's birthday party. I stopped to buy gas, as I usually do when driving home from the city, at a gas station in New Jersey on the Palisades Parkway. This particular gas station is the easiest way to get NJ-cheap gas without getting off the highway. And the gas was more than 50 cents cheaper per gallon than it was at the next rest stop, on the New York side of the border.

The gas station was packed. It was so packed that cars were practically backed up onto the highway. But the gas was cheaper. So anyway, I have a tip.

If you want to save gas, park your car and leave it parked. Most of us, with only a slight adaptation to our lifestyle can learn to get by without a car. If our energy situation keeps going the way it has been, we will soon be without a choice. Park your car. I've done it, you can too.

Homegrown

In these harsh economic times, a guy's got to do whatever he can to save a buck. To that end, Becky and I have started a small vegetable patch on an eave outside one of our living room windows. Here is a picture of it:

Not in their best light
I forgot to take a photo during daylight hours
But they taste good!

With a little help from Dante, who didn't feel like schlepping his vegetable plants to Alaska, Becky and I are now growing Swiss Chard and some other type of lettuce, which has small, roundish leaves and red stems. We first planted all the plants in planters on our front porch. Unfortunately, they weren't getting enough sunlight there. Then, one day, when there was some exceptionally strong wind, three of the four planters blew off the banister, dumping out the little seedlings.

I saved as many plants as I could and moved them to the eave, where they get a lot more sun. We now have about 15 lettuce plants outside our window. On Monday we had our first homegrown salad. Here is a picture of Becky enjoying the salad:

Mmm...
Not everything on the plate is homegrown
But the lettuce is!

It took a few weeks for our plants to grow enough to be harvestable, but it now seems that we'll be able to get supplement our store-bought lettuce with fresh, homegrown lettuce almost daily. I'd say that's pretty exciting. How did our homegrown leaves taste? Like lettuce.

Next, I think we'll try to grow some tomatoes!

In other news, last Thursday, Becky and I saw the neatest thing on the way to work (she was driving me because I needed to bring my car home). Right at one of the busiest intersections in town, where Route 50, Van Dam Street and Broadway come together, a red-beaked woodpecker was hard at work drilling a hole in a tree on the side of the street.

Knock, Knock, Knock
Everyone just stopped and stared
It was quite a moment for this city in the country

From the looks of things, he (or she) had been at it for quite some time, based on the giant pile of wood chips on the ground beneath the tree. It was a funny process to watch, as the woodpecker would hop from one side of the hold to the other, removing a bit of wood here, and a bit of wood there. Passers by reacted with mixtures of confusion, shock and guilty pleasure in watching this bit of nature unfolding in the middle of the city. I can say without a doubt, that it was one of the most interesting things I've seen on my short commute in the seven months I've lived off of Broadway.

As of Monday, the tree was still there
I'm not sure if it's going to survive in the long run
Knock! Knock! Knock!

Rocking the rock: The Thomas Arnold Memorial Century

Here are the boys with Fast Freddy
I missed the action, but I'm psyched as hell for my teammates!
Hopefully I'll be there next time.

OK, the big news first. You've probably already read this, but the Rock Racing professional cycling team was down in New York last weekend for the Harlem Skyscraper Crit. I'm not a crit guy, and the race was on Sunday, and I had to work, so I wasn't planning on going down, not even for the chance to watch the disgraced ex-dopers on that team race around Marcus Garvey Park.

What very nearly got me in the car and driving at 10 p.m. on Friday was the news that the Rock team was planning on racing in Prospect Park on Saturday morning. Watching ex-dopers is one thing. Racing with them, with the possibility -- no matter how remote -- of beating them... now that would be exciting.

But I ultimately decided that leaving Saratoga late at night, arriving in Brooklyn around 2 a.m., and then having to get up to race at 5 a.m., just on the remote chance that Rock showed up wasn't worth it. Well, Rock Racing did show up. Not only that but my teammates (who showed up in force that morning) took a sweat photo with Rock Racing member Freddy Rodriguez.

When I call Rock a bunch of ex-dopers, I don't include Freddy in that generalization. Freddy is a three-time US national champion, and a stage winner in the Giro d'Italia. I've got nothing but respect for him, and he remains one of only a few riders who raced in the early nineties who has never been connected to doping charges. Here's to you Freddy!

Incidentally, my teammate Allesandro continued his flying form and won he cat 4 race in Prospect Park. The next day he won the field sprint for third place at the Harlem crit. Forza Alessandro!

So anyway, while my teammates were winning races and hobnobbing with very cool company, I was out participating in the Thomas Arnold Memorial Century. I was the only rider participating. This ride has a brief but storied history. In May 2006, shortly after classes ended for the year, my buddy Tom and I decided it would be fun to go out and ride 100 miles, just for the hell of it.

Our route took us to the northern edge of Saratoga County, to the border with Warren County, along the shore of Lake Sacandaga, then through some of the flatlands in Milton and Malta. We rolled back onto campus with our computers reading 99 miles. I was ready to call it quits, but Tom cajoled me into riding a lap around campus to top off our clocks. "Come onnnn... we're so close!" He said, and he was right.

Here's my route from Saturday
Follow it if you can.
Cue sheets will be available for the 2009 edition.

We had both completed 100-mile rides before, but this one was different. There were no rest stops, there were no marshals direction us along the course, there was no charitable cause. Just two friends out for a really long ride.

I didn't start off the day on Saturday intending to ride 100 miles. I was just going out for a long ride, and I was going to cruise some of the same roads that Tom and I had way back in 2006. It was a long day in the saddle, and I was alone for nearly the whole thing. I encountered a couple of triathletes in the town of Hadley, but triathletes apparently don't like company. Besides, these guys pissed me off my riding the uber-expensive Cervelo P3 Carbon TT bike -- with regular drop handle bars mounted instead of aero bars. That's the worst faux pas I've seen in a long time.

Anyhow, the route took me up to Corinth, across the Hudson, up to Hadley/Luzerne, up to Hadley Hill Road, back to Lake Sacandaga in the town of Edinburgh, up the absurdly steep Snow Road, through "downtown" Edinburgh, then back to the lake. Across the lake to South Shore Road into the town of Providence, where I crossed back over the mountain to Route 29. Route 29 took me to Rock City Fall in the Town of Galway, and then eventually back to Saratoga. When I'd arrived at SPA State Park, on the edge of town, I realized that I'd completed 87 miles. What's another 13, I thought, and promptly set off around Saratoga Lake.

When I got home I'd completed 103 miles in 6 hours. it was a long day in the saddle, but it was well worth it, and just like the original ride with Tom, every pedal stroke was an adventure. I loved every second of it, and will plan to honor the tradition by completing the ride every spring while I'm here in Saratoga. Hopefully next time I'll have company.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Here is Mom at her birthday party.
It was Cousin Roy's birthday too
Mom is now celebrating in Peru

Yes, that's right, today is my Mom's birthday. We're not going to divulge any private information here, but this was a big birthday Mom. To celebrate, she and my Dad are in Peru. Even if on the other side of the equator, I still had a chance to talk to them on the phone today. It seems that in planning her birthday trip to South America, she neglected to realize that in the southern Hemisphere, June is the middle of winter. Oh well. It still sounded like she and my Dad were enjoying the trip. Today they toured Matchupitchu. Apparently Lima isn't much to see, and winter in Peru means rain.

If my Mom was disappointed with the weather, my Dad was thoroughly enjoying the history of the region. I didn't get very many details because international calls are expensive, and there's a delay in voice transmission over such a great distance, which makes talking on the phone a little tough. Anyhow, that was the Cliff's Notes version.

Some party guests
Dad is in the middle
I was a bit younger than most of the party guests.

Since my parents were going to be in Peru on her birthday, we celebrated the birthday last weekend. My Dad pulled off a logistical nightmare to make planning the Yankee's travel schedule look like a walk around the block, and successfully planned a surprise party. Unfortunately, I rode to third place at the Balloon Festival Classic, and was thus delayed leaving Saratoga. Then Becky and I nearly ran out of gas on the drive down, but that's a story for another time. Long story short, we missed the surprise, but I'm told that she was quite surprised. Well done Dad!

Mom, I wish you many happy returns.

Also, today is Brett's birthday. Happy birthday! I talked to Brett today as he was getting ready to celebrate with his brothers in Boston. Brett may soon be moving back to New York City to be the next Ralph Lauren, in which case I'll hopefully, finally have some clothes that fit me!

As you might have noticed, today was also the summer solstice. Here in Saratoga it stayed light until nearly 9 p.m. I wish it was this light all the time! Although I love summer, I always feel a twinge of sadness at the solstice as the shortening of the days means less time for riding, less time for tanning, and, worst of all, a steady decent toward the coldness of winter. I realize that it's fairly pessimistic of me to count down to winter after summer's just barely begun, but I can't help it. Anyhow, let's enjoy these long days while we can. I think in future years I'm going to celebrate the solstice like these people below.

Revelers revel on Coney Island
Funny, I don't see any men
perhaps they're all oggling from the sidelines

By the way, I found this photo on the Tugster blog, a blog about the New York City harbor.

By way of comparison, I spoke to Dante yesterday, who confirmed that up in Alaska it only gets dark for about three hours at night. And dark is a relative term. It's really more like an extended dusk until dawn. Now that's one way to get a lot of yard work done.

Oh, is it Thursday again?

It's Thursday again, and I'm another week tireder. I rode a lot this week. I also wrote a lot this week. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep a lot of this week. I'm beginning to think that my body clock is tied to the daylight hours. I seem to keep, no mater how hard I try, hours that are proportional to daylight hours. I love the long days, but I need to figure out how to get into bed earlier. But enough of that, let's get to these lists, so I can hit the sack.

Tops from the week:
1) Obviously Balloon Festival!
2) having Becky's help at Balloon Fesitval. So clutch!
3) The weather yesterday and today: warm during the day, cool at night. Let's hope this keep up for a while.
4) Writing about carpooling, and how more people should do it. (No link because the story hasn't been published yet.)
5) Valverde at the Dauphine. Maybe the Tour will be exciting after all. Maybe...

Bottoms from the week:
1) Boonen. This sucks for everyone.
2) Shaving. I might have to wax again soon. This shaving thing really sucks.
3) The first heat wave of the season. I'm glad it's over.
4) My missing tree.
5) Not racing this weekend, when my form is clearly rising, and there are races all over. Oh well. Hopefully I'll be well rested for the Willmington Road Race.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Sunday!

Oh, What the hell!

White powder
apparently illegal in Belgium
Although I though Boonen lived in Manaco

In this day and age, any time I read the words 'test' and 'positive' in the headlines on Velonews.com I die a little inside. It usually precedes an article about yet another pro cyclist having succumbed to the pressures of the sport and using some kind of banned substance to boost their performance. Tuesday was different.

This time was different. Instead of a pro using EPO of testosterone or some such thing, the news was that Tom Boonen tested positive, out of competition, for cocaine. So what, you ask? Although the use of cocaine out of competition cannot lead to a doping suspension in cycling, it's use is illegal in Belgium, where Boonen lives and was caught. Furthermore, big races like the Tour de France, which is now less than one month away, reserve the right to ban riders who damage the iage of the sport. The Tour was quick to announce that Boonen would not be eligible to take the Tour's start in Brest on July 5.

A contrite Boonen apologizes
Keep your head up man!
Could this be the end?

Well, as far as I'm concerned, that sucks. That doesn't just suck a little, that sucks a whole lot. As far as I'm concerned, Boonen is a rock star. Not all pro cyclists can achieve this kind of status. Fabian Wegman, Stephen Schumacher, Fabian Cancelara, Alejandro Valverde, Damiano Cunego, those guys are rock starts too. George "monkey ears" Hincapie? I think not. Levi "Lilliputian" Leipheimer? There's a funny joke.

So, to make a long story short: Boonen is a major celebrity in Belgium. As such, he has certain opportunities: he does a couple lines (or maybe a whole lot of lines). Is it right that he broke the laws of his country? Of course not, but as of now, no criminal charges have been filled. So why was the tour so quick to kick him out? I wish I knew.

Boonen wins Paris Roubaix in 2008
This is what we'll miss at the Tour
I've never been happier for those though rules

As far as I can tell, not having Boonen in the tour will not help draw more people to the already-tarnished sport, but will only drive them further away, as a Tour without Boonen mixing it up in the sprints will undoubtedly be a less interesting Tour. Speaking just for myself, I was already having a tough time getting excited for this year's race. In the past, I've practically shivered with excitement in the weeks leading up to the race. But in each successive year since Operation Puerto ravaged the sport, I've become less and less enthusiastic.

This isn't to say that I'm opposed to strict controls on doping. I think cleaning up the sport is a noble task. By all means, if someone is enhancing their performance in some way, get rid of them. But Puerto seems to have lead to an unwarranted and unneeded power struggles in the sport. From excluding last year's champion, to fighting with the international organizing body. What's more, Boonen's actions away from the sport have no impacted the sporting community, not just the athletes, but the fans, and everyone is a looser. Let the law handle Boonen, but let him ride unless his criminal punishment prevents it.

I'm sick of it all. Let Boonen ride.

When giants fall

Taking this tree down was no simple matter of 'timber!'
Apparently the two houses were at risk of falling limbs
Though, I didn't see any risk in leaving the tree.

There used to be a lovely, stately, healthy tree standing next to our house. This morning I woke up to work crews cutting it down. The woman on who's property the tree stood said she was taking it down because it was leaning on her house, and posing a danger to the the building, in the event that a strong wind blew it down.

Here's a picture of the tree in happier times.
My house has the red roof,
the tree was not leaning on the beige building

I don't know what the risk was of this particular tree falling over, but I can say that a careful inspection by me revealed absolutely no house-tree contact. I can also tell you that I will miss the cool, leafy scent emitted by this tress, and the way its leaves rustled outside my kitchen window in the morning when I ate breakfast.

Usually, I like seeing big trucks
It brings me back to my youth.
Not today.

I watched with sadness this morning as crews used a crane, a cherry picker and a mulcher to reduce the tree, which had been close to 100 feet tall, to nothing more than fill. I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the stump they left behind, but it revels a tree that was too large for me to wrap my arms around. I'll miss my neighbor's tree.

In other news, anyone who isn't sick of reading about my third-place ride at the Balloon Festival Classic, should cruise on over to my team's website, where there are some great photos, not only from my ride on Saturday, but also from some of my teammates' strong results in recent weeks. This has been our best season since I've joined the team in 2005, and I couldn't be prouder of all of our efforts this year!

More unto Saturday's ride

I'm still recovering from my ride on Saturday, both mentally and physically. As such, in lieu of writing a lot of words today, Here are a few more photos from the race that have surfaced. And since there are so many photos, I'm going to forgo my usual three line captions. Enjoy!

Cresting the climb on lap two.

Cresting the climb again, on lap three, this time mixed in with some masters

The field assaults the main climb

Winding the way to the top

Coming fast to the line, and legs... can't... go... any... further...

The climb on lap two, again

James gets the win, I take a deep breath

Zoooomm.... Podium at Balloon Festival!

Leading the charge up the course's main climb on lap 1
White booties make you go faster
I picked the wrong days to forget my gloves.

Way back at the beginning of this year I made six New Year's resolutions. So far I've done my best to make them all happen. This past weekend, I took a big step toward taking care of resolution number five. The resolution was to win bike races. I haven't yet earned the big 'W,' but I think I'm getting closer. On Saturday, undeterred by 90-degree heat, I finished third at the Balloon Festival Classic, in Cambridge, NY.

I described what the race was like last week, so I'm going to assume you have an idea of what the course is like. Keep reading for the blow-by-blow.

The day started off on a bad note, as I was behind schedule leaving the house, and couldn't find the race parking or registration. Then, after I found it, things got worse when I gave myself a flat by ripping the valve out of my rear wheel while trying to inflate it quickly. Of course, in my rush to leave, I'd neglected to bring a spare tube, and had to cannibalize a tube out of my spare front wheel.

Then it was time to get dressed. I'd brought along the same bibs that I was wearing when I crashed at Bear Mountain. I'd had a tailor repair a tear along one seam, but it seems that they didn't do a very good job, as I ripped the seem back open as I was putting the bibs on. Great. I had to race with ripped bibs. So it goes. At this point, the parking lot was nearly empty, as everyone was lined up for the start. I did a last minute check in my head:

Helmet? Check.
Energy gels? Check.
Sunglasses? Check.
Bicycle (tires inflated)? Check (check).
OK

I took one last look in the car... Fuck. My number, 102, was sitting on the driver's seat. As quickly as I could, I ripped my jersey off and pinned the number on. I had about 3 minutes until the start. With the number on and ready to go, I rode as fast as I could to the start line. About halfway there, I realized that I wasn't wearing my gloves. So it goes. In any event, I made it to the line, and the race started. The first lap was pretty slow and boring. The action heated up on lap two.

The climb on lap two
Riding in the break with three others
It hurt a bit more this time around.

The course features one short dirt climb. It's not very steep, but people took it unnecessarily cautiously and slowly. The pace in the beginning of the race was slow, and mired by people unwilling to work in the heat. On our second lap of the course, out of frustration more than anything else, I put in a hard acceleration up the dirt road. There had been two racers out ahead of the field as we approached the base of the climb, and I quickly reached the first of these riders, a North Atlantic Velo (NAV) guy, and continued on my upward trajectory, quickly gapping the field.

The podium!
James on the top step, me looking a little dazed.
The other guy kept talking about how he was going to flex his quads on the podium

Behind, my fellow Saratogian and training partner James Morrison, racing for CCB, saw a move with potential. He lit out of the field with a junior from the CRCA jr. Developmental team on his wheel. The two of them caught up to me and the NAV just as I was closing in on the second break-away rider. As we crested the climb, we had a gap of about 45 seconds and a group of five, heading into a steep decent and then a tailwind. Of course, there were still more than 30 miles to race, but a little optimism never hurt anyone.

We set up a rotation as soon as we hit the base of the decent, and our gap grew. A short while later the fifth rider in the group (the one whose team I don't know) popped, and started riding backwards. Now we were four. I was riding hard, but felt comfortable, and pulled through as hard as I could on each of my turns, without riding anybody off my wheel. The last thing you want to do in a breakaway is ride an irregular pace and mess up everyone's rhythm.

So we cruised on. We had started to loose a little ground as we approached the base of the course's steepest climb, but were still resolved to soldier on, and cruised up the hill at a reasonable pace. Along the way, the NAV guy got popped, and another rider, a southafrica.net rider, bridged up to us. At the feed zone, Becky handed me a water bottle, which was essential to my ability to ride on Saturday. Thanks babe! A larger racer, the southafrica.net guy descended off the back side of the climb like a ton of bricks, and actually dropped me on the way.

Coasting in for third!
Job well done,
and now I need about eight bottles of water and a nap

Once at the bottom, I hit the jets as hard as I could on a long, mostly flat, section back toward the start/finish. I soon caught back up to my fellows, but not without a little effort. We kept our rotation going as we started our third lap. The CRCA guy dropped his chain on one of the course's first climbs, and when he wasn't able to get it back on quickly, we were suddently a group of three. I only worried that we'd be caught once, when James screamed and ripped off his jersey, saying that there was a bee inside stinging him. That sucks. Like a real trooper, he rode on.

Eventually, the southafrica.net guy gave up the ghost, claiming he'd gone as far as he could. It was down to just two. I had the worst cramps I've ever experienced on the last trip up the course's main climb, but the cheers of many fans, family, and spectators along the side of the road kept me turning the pedals. I took a bottle of neutral water from a volunteer and dumped it over my head. It was hot as a frying pan out on the tarmac.

On the start line
Hoping for the best, but feeling nervous and hungry
Fortunately, thing improved rapidly

James and I crested the climb and dropped back down into the valley for the last few miles of the race. Along the way we'd passed a field of masters riders, and looking behind us we could see dozens of riders, but we didn't know if any were from our field. I just kept my head down, and turned my pedals as hard as I could. With about 1.5 kilometers left to race, one rider, who had apparently been chasing us on his own for 11 miles, caught us. Although I was impressed with his strong ride, I was pissed. Now, instead of having a gentlemanly sprint for the top two spots with James, we would actually have to race for the line.

The finish at the Balloon festival has a sharp left, then a sharp right, then 200 meters to the line. I was third wheel into the left, then shot up the inside to the right, railed the turn and unleashed my mightiest sprint. Unfortunately, my sprint isn't very mighty in the best circumstances, and certainly not after 65 miles of racing in 90-degree heat. James and the other guy flew past me as I sat up to coast in for third.

This was my best result of the season. In fact, it's my best result ever as a cat 3, and riding into that break and making it stick is, without a doubt, a highlight of my career thus far. That the result came at a regional road race on a hard course against a tough field makes it all the better.

I think one thing is clear: There are still two more steps on the podium (and lots more races) for me to conquer!

Another special thanks to Becky for standing on the side of the road in the day's blistering heat to hand me a water bottle at a key moment! I couldn't have done this without you! Thanks also for talking pictures.

Thanks to Ed Sharp. Someday I'll pay for the full-sized photo.

Thanks to Jesse G., for the shout-out on your blog!

Thursday top and bottom five

That's one huge fish!
He might have put a few thousand miles on the Subaru,
seems like it was worth it.

As you can see, Dante has arrived in Alaska. He says he caught two other, slightly smaller fish. It seems that the age of digital photography and email has laid rest to any chance of a fish tale, that's one huge fish! And now it's time for the week's top and bottom five lists. It's hard to see the light on a day that had me out at the scene of a wreck with two fatalities, and yet, it was a pretty good week. With a little luck, it could be an even better weekend.

Tops from the week:
1) I'm headed to Empires! I couldn't be more excited.
2) Balloon Festival is Saturday. And again, I couldn't be more excited.
3) Becky got to play with the Mayor's dog... but didn't know it until later!
4) This year-long week is about to end, it and it couldn't happen soon enough.
5) Grapefruit. I can't get enough.

Bottoms from the week:
1) My first full week without my college buddy's. I miss everyone, but I'm doing OK.
2) Becky's car breaking down on Sunday. At least it was a quick fix.
3) NBC's "Fear Itself." I don't think I'll be tuning in for episode two.
4) Heat wave's a-coming.
5) Coming home last Sunday, and finding our vegetable garden overturned in the yard. But fear not, we'll have some veggies some day!

The Balloon Festival

The Balloon Festival Course
One lap = 21.2 miles
Flatlanders need not apply

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! After the veritable media blitz I generated here in the lead up to the Tour of the Battenkill Valley, I've been more than a little remiss in my coverage of this weekend's big event, The Balloon Festival Classic.

This race is organized by the geniuses behind the Battenkill-Roubaix, led by Dieter Drake, an icon of racing in this part of the state. Like the B-R, this race features a dirt climb, but differs in that it's only a 21-mile course. Rather than completing one epic lap, racers in various fields complete various numbers of laps. I'm racing the 3/4 field, and will be racing three laps of the course.

Since I'd heard the course is tough, and because Dieter used the word "exceptional" in describing the one dirt climb, I was wary enough to go for a reconnaissance ride this evening. Although driving for the purpose of a training ride is usually against my policy, I occasionally make exceptions, especially where dirt roads are concerned.

The course is difficult. It seems that Dieter went out of his way to find steep climbs that begin with momentum-sapping turns at the base. There are at least three turns like this, where you're heading down an incline, and then you have to turn quickly into a steep climb. I rode two laps of the course tonight, and I think I discovered the secret to getting through these situation with some momentum, but I'm not going to reveal the secret here.

As far as the dirt goes, it turns out that "exceptional" means "exceptionally smooth," "like butter," or "fast and furious." The dirt section, at least when I rode it today, was very smooth, and posed about as much of an obstacle as your average wide-open road. The only potential problem I can see is dust related. When I rode the course today the dirt was damp, which made it solid, and offered good traction. Temps are supposed to be in the upper eights on Friday and Saturday, which could result in a loosening of the dirt surface. I'll give you a tip: resist the urge to stand and keep your butt in the saddle.

All in all, it looks to be an extremely fun, albeit challenging, course. Lately, I seem to be flying on longer climbs, and there aren't many of these on the Balloon Festival course, so I'll have to see if I can make anything happen on the shorter climbs.

Also, Deiter has been sending me the following press release for the past couple weeks. I realized today that this was my cue to put something in the paper. Unfortunately, I missed my opportunity to do that last week, when I wrote instead about the ESG qualifying race. Oh well. Hopefully this post will do a little to make up for it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Cambridge, NY - Farm Team Cycling and Cambridge Valley Cycling announce the 5th Annual Cambridge Valley Balloon Festival Classic Cycling Race on Saturday, June 7 in Cambridge, NY. Held in conjunction with the 8th Annual Cambridge Valley Balloon Festival, the race expects to draw racers from throughout the Northeast to compete on the scenic hills of the Battenkill & Cambridge Valleys of Southern Washington County. Races start & finish on Broad Street next to the historic & newly-reopened Cambridge Hotel. Participants will race on laps over a 21 mile loop with Professional riders racing 4 laps & 84 miles. The course includes direct passes through Cambridge each lap, a difficult 3 mile climb to Center Cambridge, and the infamous O'Donnell Hill in the Town of Jackson. The race also includes a dirt road section of Stevenson Road in the Town of Cambridge which is reminiscent of April's Tour of the Battenkill which drew more than 1100 riders from throughout the USA.

Races for Juniors begin at 9 AM on Broad Street, Cambridge. Amateur & Professional races will follow. The Cambridge Kids Classic - short races for children under 10 - will be held at approximately 2 PM on Broad Street. Race & event information can be found at www.farmteamcycling.org. The race benefits Farm Team Cycling, a regional cycling team for ages 10-18.

Looking for a few tough climbs...

I've been getting deeper and deeper into the woods
in my effort to find harder and harder climbs
Anyone want to race?

I've been doing some nutty things this spring, things that would make most people cringe. It's all in the name of turning myself into a rider in the style of Leonardo Piepoli. 60 and 70 miles rides in which I'll complete three or four climbs up some of our steepest climbs. West Mountain, Lake Desolation, and Fox Hill Road have all become well acquainted with my rubber.

It all seems to be working out, as I've been killing it on the climbs on our regular Tuesday night rides, and earlier in the spring I even managed to drop the feather-weight Dante going up the hills. I felt great on the first climb at Bear Mountain, but never got to test myself, as I crashed out of the race. Similarly, I flew up the first few climbs at Battenkill-Roubaix, but was KO'd by a flat tire early in the race. Hopefully I'll get a chance to show off my climbing legs this weekend at the Balloon Festival Classic.

I've managed to achieve a near-optimal power-to-weight ratio, as I regularly tip the scales between 152 and 155 pounds. At six-foot-three, that makes mean lean and hungry. (Don't worry, I still eat a ton). But, I still want to improve my climbing. So, to that end, I went off today in search of some steeper hills. On some occasions, I'll hit the steep side of Corinth Mountain, which has ramps that I reckon are around 20%, and sometimes I'll ride the hellaciously steep upper pitch of Ormsbee Road, but both of those are short, and I needed something longer to really get my Pantani on.

So today, I tried two new things. First, I rode the steep section of Ormsbee Road. The road passes a mountain side farm, then ends in a small paved parking area. The road turns to dirt, passes through a gate posted with private property signs, and heads farther up the side of the mountain. Usually, when I ride that road, either alone or with others, we turn around at this point. Today, while I was climbing the paved section, a big semi-trailer passed me, and cruised straight on to the dirt section. Emboldened by the thought that if the truck could do it, I could it, I surged through the gate and onto the dirt.

The dirt reaches of this road was not incredibly steep, but it was loose and rocky, which made the going difficult. I continued up for what seemed like a really long time, until I started seeing some hunting cabins, of the type occupied by particularly unsavory, unemployed men. After one of these men gave me an evil look, I decided it was time to turn around. But that road kept going, seemingly for quite some time. Next time I'm going back with friends, and we'll follow the road all the way to the end.

Next on my plate was a road that I'd never ridden before, Plank Road. Plank Road is a fairly common name for roads in Saratoga County. The reason is thus: Saratoga Springs has always been known for its mineral waters, and for as long as those waters were desirable outside of the city, there has always been a need for bottles in which the water could be shipped elsewhere.

At one time, there was a glass bottle factory on the top of this particular massif. It was located there because of its proximity to the ore necessary to make the bottles. This was before roads were well-paved, and many of the bottles would break before they made it to the springs. There were various solutions thought up to this problem, including, laying -- you guessed it -- including laying down planks on particularly treacherous stretches of road. Many of those roads are now called plank roads, although I've yet to encounter any planks.

So, I'd never ridden plank road, and I wasn't sure if it was paved or not, but I was intrigued by it, because my road map of the county showed it connecting to Lake Desolation Road, which is one of my favorite climbs, and an even more fun decent, because of it's smooth pavement. So, when I found myself in the area this morning, I figured it was time for an investigation.

The "Dead End" signs at the bottom of the climb were not encouraging, but I continued up all the same. It was a fun climb, with lots of switchbacks, little dips, and steep ramps. I climbed for what felt like about 10 minutes, before reaching the point where the pavement ended. It wasn't nearly as close to Lake Desolations as I'd hoped, but the dirt road continued up, so I continued up with it. Much to my disappointment, the road soon ended in someone's driveway. I suppose maps can sometimes be misleading.

With only 40 miles under my wheels for the day, I headed back down into the valley, and did my usual three repeats up the standard Lake Desolation climb. That climb is getting a little boring, but at least I'd tried something new today.

On a completely unrelated side note relating to my post last week about Usher's song "Love in this club." I've just seen Usher perform the song live on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The choreography was predictably sexual in nature, as expected (and the dancers were well cast). But was shocking is that Usher was way, way off key. They guy was flat! And he can't dance. So what do people see in him? Whatever.

New Buildings

pink
tart
delicious

On Tuesday evening, the Saratoga Springs City Council will hear proposals on two new buildings. I'm preparing for a marathon of coverage, beginning at noon tomorrow, and running until late tomorrow evening. As such, I need to hit the hay on the early side tonight, so I'm going to keep tonight's post ultra short.

I'll just leave you with this one quick analogy that I cook up a few hours ago. I was happily eating a delicious grapefruit when Becky asked if I'd always loved grapefruits. I answered that of course I've always loved grapefruits. She remarked that I hadn't always loved grapefruits, when in fact I have.

I explained that my love for grapefruits is a little like a manic-depressive cycle of food eating: Right now I'm in a manic phase, and I can't get enough of the tart, pink fruit. In a couple months I'll enter the depressive phase, and probably stop eating the fruit altogether, until my next manic swing. Such is the cycle!

Empire Games: How it went down

As I noted in a special dispatch yesterday, I achieved one of my major objectives for this season in qualifying for the Empire State Games.

The games pit teams from nine regions of New York State in athletic contests, and cycling is just one of many sports contested. Of course, cycling is the only sport I care about. In order to get to the games, cyclists have to compete in a trial race in their region. In each region, the top ten racers make the team, and get a ticket to the games in late July.

In the Adirondacks, the trials are held in the town of Nassau, on a 9.5 mile course of rolling country roads. A field of about 45 men and a handful of women lined up for the trials under gray skies threatening thunderstorms. With a warning that the race could be shortened if lightning started to strike, we set off on a 75-mile trek.

I've only raced on other ESG qualifier, but both that one and this one had a similar dynamic in that with no money on the line, and the top ten riders all recieving the same prize, the win becomes much less important. The pace was moderate in the beginning of the race as everyone stretched their legs. The pace got suddenly jacked up around mile 5, and we proceeded to rip around the course.

The pace remained high as we started the second lap, and numerous riders tried to fly off the front. Nothing stuck until the right combination of six of the region's strongest riders came together and drilled it to establish a gap.

Justin Lindine, of Target Training; Vinny Scalia; Matt Purdy; Austin McLenithan, of Farm Team Cycling; Nathaniel Ward, also of Target Training; and Dieter Drake, of Battenkill United pulled clear of the field, and with the twisty, hilly nature of the course, the riders were soon out of site of the field, and it seemed that everyone left behind all but gave up.

I did my best to get a train going to pull the move back, but with the exceptions of Mark Sumner, of Battenkill United, James Morrison, of CCB International, and Andy Ruiz of Keltic Cycling, no one seemed to want to race. By that point, the field had been reduced to about half, and only 20 riders were left to slug it out, and about 15 of those riders seemed content to cruise along at group-ride pace, while the gap to the six leaders continued to grow.

Here's proof that such negative racing does not yield results. I got extremely frustrated with three riders from team Placid Planet, who were riding slowly at the front of the peloton. At first I urged them to rotate through, and let others pull. When they didn't, myself and others just rode around them. Later, one apologized, and explained that he would "have normally pulled through," but couldn't because he was abiding by some team strategy.

"Oh, do you have someone up the road?" I asked.

"No," he said. I don't want to make any enemies here, but that has to be the worst team strategy I've ever seen: let a break go up the road without any representation, and then, instead of chasing, riding slowly, so that everyone else in the race gets to rest, saving it up to beat you later. Like I said: Worst. Strategy. Ever.

But enough of that. The race inched its way along, until the sixth lap, when the officials drove up along side us and told us that lightning was immanent and they were cutting a lap out of the race. By this time, the field had been whittled down to about 15 riders. With the race progressing slowly, and nothing of interest seeming likely to happen, I think we were all a little relieved. Besides, 66.5 miles is long enough.

That being said, with the first 6 of 10 qualifying spots gone up the road, only the first four finishers in our group were going to the games, and, with my legs heavy after doing more than their fair share of work during the race, I was worried about being out-gunned in the sprint. And I would have had to have immediately retired if any of the Placid Planet guys beat me. Just as I was thinking about all of that, it started raining.

With about 3 miles left in the race, I rolled off the front of the field going up a moderate incline. I didn't mean to attack, but before I knew it, I had a gap, so I stood up, and attacked. I knew that in ordinary situations, there was only a small chance of such a last-ditch effort coming to fruition. But this race was no ordinary situation. This was was the most negative race ever. Although I didn't see it happen, I'm sure that when I went off the front, everyone looked at each other, with a look that said: "I'm not going to chase, are you?," and let me go.

All of a sudden, after 62.5 miles of moderate riding, I was in the race of my life, a race to dispell all the poor results and bad luck of this season. I put my head down and turned he pedals harder. Coming up the climb to the finish in the last quarter-mile of the race, I had a sizable gap to the field and I knew that I had seventh place finish locked up. There was no cash prize, and there was no tangible prize at all, except an envelope of registration forms for the July games.

Behind me, Andy Ruiz, Mark Sumner and James Morrison took the last three spots on the team.

Dieter says this is one of the strongest teams the Adirondack region has had in recent memory. I don't know much about past teams, but I do know that I'm proud as hell to have made it onto the team, and am look forward to representing my region, along with these fine riders. Finally with a good reason, I'm also hoping that I can figure out a way to get a pair of carbon aero wheels to make me faster in the games' two time trials (team and individual). But I'm still really poor, so we'll see about that.

There was also a women's qualifier, which had the women racing with the men, but finishing after only four laps. Only three women are able to qualify for the games, and it was a North Atlantic Velo sweep of the top three spots.

The unstoppable Beth Miller won, after hanging in with the men until she'd completed her four laps. Behind, her team mates Meredith Ehn and Bryna Nestor took the second and third spots. Great racing ladies!