So blah

The winning team!
In addition to working on my sprint, I need to work on my photo positioning
Whatever, this is one happy team!

I would say that the past seven days have been pretty awesome. Well, mostly just last Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and today were OK, but nothing particularly special. In any event, as much fun as I had racing at Empires, it was pretty exhausting. I'm really looking forward toward relaxing with a local race this weekend. Unfortunately, I've got one more day of work before that can happen. So it goes. In any event, here are the best and worst moments of the week:

Tops:
1) Duh. The champions of the games.
2) The temperature this week. Up up up.
3) My first trip to the track. I guess it was fun. More on that soon.
4) More vacation time coming up! August is a good month.
5) My parents coming to watch the empire state games. Thanks so much, it was great to have you cheering for me!

Bottoms:
1) Being tired, all the time.
2) My sprinting ability. Gonna have to work on that.
3) Flashpoint. I think CBS missed the mark with this one.
4) My iPod being broken is really beginning to cause some problems.
5) Who knew that it rained so much upstate in the summer? Wow. To bad I turned my rain bike into a TT bike.

Tour de France memories

This is Fred
He really likes Floyd Landis
I'm on the fence

Here is an essay about the Tour de France. I'm still wrestling with my feelings about the ejection of three riders from this year's race, so I thought I'd write about a rider who wasn't ejected from the race, but perhaps should have been. This is a chapter in a book I'm writing about the two months I spent in Europe in 2006. Let me know if you like it, perhaps I'll post other chapters from the book, which is about half-finished. Enjoy.

The Greatest Bike Race on Earth

Liz and I got up early the next morning and boarded a train back to Paris. Our hosts were planning on staying in Normandy for the rest of the weekend, but we had an important date back in the city. Enough emotional roller coasters while visiting fields of battle, it was time to watch the Tour de France!

Now understand, I’ve been racing bicycles in one form or another since I was about 14. I’ve been following the Tour for almost as long, and understand, I don’t follow the Tour the way your average Joe follows baseball or football. I’m a super-fan when it comes to the Tour, which is not an easy thing to be when you live across an ocean from the race. Every July for the past seven or eight years I’ve found some way to know what’s going on in the race. First I was content reading woefully inadequate updates in the New York Times, and later watching it on TV after my parents got cable. For the past few summers I’ve followed live text updates online. Don’t tell my boss, but the reason that I was never able to get any work done before noon during the summer of 2005 was that I was too busy following the Tour. Irresponsible and negligent? Perhaps, but let me ask you this: How else would I have known what happened when David Zabriskie crashed in that year’s team time trial, thus ceding the yellow jersey to Lance Armstrong and relegating team CSC to second place in the stage? How else could I have followed George Hincapie and Oscar Pereiro as they broke away on stage 15, from Lezat-sur-Leze to Pla d’Adet? And I certainly wouldn’t have seen the now-disgraced Alexandre Vinokourov sprint to a win on the Champs Elysees, cycling’s most hallowed ground, in that Tour’s finale.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to be on the Champs to watch the end of the most important bike race in the world. A friend who’d been to see the race in previous years advised me to arrive early in order to secure a good spot, so we arrived at 11:30 a.m., about four hours before the race would roll into town (Liz was not happy about this).

It turned out to be a good thing, as France’s most beautiful avenue was already getting crowded. For any cyclist, being on the Champs Elysees at the finish of the Tour is like having seats behind home plate for game seven of the World Series, or sitting at the fifty-yard line at a Super Bowl. We happened to fall in with a group of Anglophone cycling fans from around the world – Pennsylvania and Melbourne – who had all come early to secure prized spots up against the barriers that line the road to protect the racers from us rabid fans.

Of all the English speakers around us, I spent the most time talking to an excitable man named Fred. He and his wife, Mabel, were from western Pennsylvania, the same area as Floyd Landis, the rough-and-tumble former Mennonite who would be crowned as the race winner later that afternoon. Fred was fanatical in his enthusiasm for Floyd. When a French film crew walking the street saw an American flag tied to the barriers near where Fred stood, they stopped and asked him his reactions to Floyd’s success. The vivacious little man started jumping up and down while chanting “Floyd! Floyd! Floyd!” As Fred bounced, a tan fishing vest that he was wearing, pockets stuffed with camera batteries, memory cards, pens, viewer’s guides, and all other manner of flotsam bounced up and down on his thin shoulders. It was as if his enthusiasm for the bearded champion robbed him of the ability to form coherent sentences or to express himself in an adult manner. Hoping not to be associated with Fred’s antics on French television, I shielded my face from the camera. Fred had hung the flag to give Floyd that little bit of extra support, thus leaving Liz and me no chance to pass ourselves off as Canadians, as we had been doing with some regularity. Antics like those continued for hours.

It seemed that years passed as we sat under the hot sun, jealously guarding our tiny patch of dusty sidewalk and listening to Fred tell stories about how a friend of his friend’s son had once seen Floyd on a training ride in Pennsylvania. It was fascinating, but I was too busy to appreciate his tales, as I tried to placate Liz, who grew grumpier and grumpier as the hours wore on.

Then, like the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the tour arrived.

First came teams of French junior riders. Kids of all ages rode parade laps around the avenue’s cobblestones as we all cheered them on. An announcer explained who they were, but he only spoke French. The general gist seemed to be that we might be looking at a future Tour winner, you never know.

Then came the publicity caravan. While we Americans sometimes forget it, the Tour was originally conceived of as a way to sell newspapers. While it’s since become a sporting event in its own right, it still holds tremendous marketing power. Every day of the race’s twenty-one days, the competitors are preceded by string of vehicles designed to entertain the spectators while pushing merchandise.

Most of the vehicles were advertising products that I’d never heard of, and in any case, I wasn’t able to read the French labels (how inconsiderate). Too bad, too, I’d be much more likely to buy a product, if I knew it had been advertised at the tour. All of the vehicles were blowing their horns, blaring music, and driving frantic zig-ziags down the road. This care-free driving, which blatantly ignored painted lane lines, was fine for the smaller cars but the bigger busses and trucks keeled over as they drove, first wallowing in one direction, and then the other, looking as if the driver was in the midst of a protracted grand mal seizure, rather than engaged in profitable salesmanship.

There were attractive men and woman hanging out of some of the open vehicles, waving and trying to smile. These hapless souls were my favorite part of the advertising caravan. Try though they might, it was pretty clear that twenty-one days and 2272 miles had taken a toll; the smiles were forced. They all looked rather carsick and thoroughly disgusted with their jobs. I’ll bet the annual return rate of Tour-caravan drivers and riders is fairly low.

Once the caravan left we waited around a bit more. The announcer was calling out things in French, and even though I had no idea what he was saying, the anticipation was so palpable I thought I might pee my pants. The crowd had been growing steadily as we’d been waiting, and was now ten-deep where we stood. I was glad we’d arrived hours early. Finally, there was a commotion at the far end of the Champs, down by the Arc de Triumph. A line of Gendarmerie on motorcycles driving in tight formation came onto the course, lights blinking and winking, sirens blaring full blast. Next came a red Skoda, bearing the race commissar, the chief referee. His driver leaned on the car’s horn, letting us know that the race was about to arrive. There was a furor as the crowd roared with excitement. Fred’s smile was about three miles wide and his hands flew into spastic motion as he tried to get his heavy camera into the ready position, adjust his sunglasses, cup his mouth to amplify his cheers, and wave his flag all at once. He didn’t wind up accomplishing anything.

Seconds later the racers arrived, accompanied by a fleet of motorcycles bearing more officials, TV cameras, and spare wheels. The noise was deafening. Fred steadied his hands by hanging onto the metal barrier. Floyd Landis’s Team Phonak was at the front of the peloton, an honorary position for the team of the Maillot Jaune, the race leader’s yellow jersey. Floyd’s team led the race around the course for the first few laps. From our spot we could see and feel the whoosh as about 150 of the world’s best cyclists raced by us, followed by dozens of team cars, more camera motorcycles and officials. They kept heading down the Champs toward the Tuilleries, before wheeling around and heading up in the opposite direction, turning again in front of the Arc de Triumph and coming back our way. I won’t bore you with the play-by-play; just know that I had the opportunity to see some of my biggest heroes competing on the sport’s biggest stage. At the end of race, Norwegian Thor Hushovd took the stage win over Aussie Robbie McEwen. Floyd finished safely in the peloton, and was named the winner of the race’s general classification, having accrued the lowest time over the twenty-one daily stages.

Of course, to say that Floyd’s win is now tainted is an understatement. Days after we stood on the Champs, listening to our national anthem and watching Floyd cover his heart on the top step of the podium, it would come out that he had produced a drug test result showing an abnormal testosterone ratio, likely meaning that he’d used banned substances to achieve his win. He now stands accused of cheating, and has been stripped of his Tour crown. Even two years later, he still says he didn’t do it.

I’m not sure of what to think about Floyd, but I do know that watching the world’s biggest bike race with thousands of other fans would become my best memory from all of my time in Europe. No amount of bad sportsmanship can take those moments away from me. The race felt like it should have been the culmination of our trip. Unfortunately, we still had five days in Paris, and then another month of baseless backpacking after that.

In Paris we visited the predictable sights, which I will list here to prove to you that I did everything I was supposed to do in Paris: The Louvre Museum; the Muse d’Orse; the Tuilleries; the Jardin du Luxembourg; the Eifel Tower; Notre Dam; Shakespeare & Company; and a one-time royal prison known as the Consiergerie, which had been the last home of Marie Antoinette. Of course, we also spent many hours wandering the streets, and even stumbled across some kind of an international beach volleyball tournament, at which I got to spend a couple wonderful hours ogling the pretty women in bikinis.

Some of it was interesting, but mostly it was just hot, and I longed for a change of climate. In fact, my most pleasant memories from my time in Paris, aside from the Tour, was sticking my feet in the green waters of a fountain outside the Louvre, and then listening to the satisfying squelching noises my sandals made as I walked across the marble floor in the museum’s lobby – that, and a particularly luscious gelato that I got near Notre Dam. Normandy’s cool temperatures had been a tease, so when our hosts took off for their summer vacation at the end of the week, we headed to the Loire Valley to continue ours. Much to my relief, it was cooler in the countryside.

Fuc*ed up sh*t

By now, you've probably already seen the video of Police Officer Patrick Pogan riping cyclist Christopher Long off of his bicycle during a Critical Mass ride last Friday. I've only ever done one or two Critical Mass rides in my day, because I mostly found them dangerous and stressful. But at the same time, I appreciated the fact that they were there. In fact, I found it comforting to know that I had peers who were willing to put themselves in harm's way to protect our cause.

That a police officer would attack a cyclist in such a flagrant display of disrespect. Although it's pretty well established that the law often displays a bias against cyclists, it's pretty unusual to actually see a physical confrontation between someone sworn to uphold the law and a peaceful (if annoying) protester. However, I am glad that this occurred in the day of digital video. Now it's easy to see what happened, and the officer can be punished. In fact, it seems that he was quickly stripped of his guns and badge and placed on desk duty. Not that that makes it OK.

It's somewhat ironic that the bicycle abuse that occurred in Times Square took place on Monday, hardly a week after a progressive law designed to protect cyclists was approved in New Hampshire. The law requires drivers to give bicyclists a three-foot berth when passing from behind, with an additional foot added for each additional 10 MPH over 40. Now, that is cycling-friendly legislation. The New York Bicycle Coalition has been trying for some time to instate a similar law here, but so far, to no avail.

But there is one flaw with the NH law. If some police officers don't approve the law, or of bicycles in general, (as is apparently the case in NYC), how can we trust that the law will be enforced? Furthermore, a fairly large problem that I see with the law is that a car will have to see the bicyclist in order to head the law. Any cyclist worth his or her weight in chamois cream should know that there is no threat from drivers who see you, and in order to heed the law, a motorist would have to see a cyclist in order to obey the law. Even if a driver blows their horn at you and flips you off, at least they saw you. The real danger is from cars that don't see you.

Between cars that some how don't see cyclists and officers disinclined to enforce the law (or act in a professional mater), I don't know how effective this law will be. Perhaps I'll have to go to NH to check it out.

Next Up: More torture!

Despite more poor showing at the recent Empire State Games points race, I'm planning on racing at least one criterium this weekend, and probably two. After all, when you can race in a state championship race less than 20 miles from your house, it seems foolish to miss out! Details below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BY THE GLENS FALLS DOWNTOWN CRITERIUM CYCLING RACE

7/28/08

Glens Falls , NY - Organizers of the Glens Falls Downtown Criterium Cycling Race announce the return of the popular event after a one year hiatus on Sunday, August 3rd. Postponed in 2007 due to the reconstruction of the downtown area, including a new roundabout, the race is prominently featured on the regional Pro/Am cycling calendar as the 2008 New York State Criterium Championship. Hosted by the Southern Adirondack Spokes (People) cycling club in Glens Falls (www.adirondackspokes.com), the event will have 9 separate races on closed City of Glens Falls streets - Junior to Professional - starting at 9 AM on Maple Street near the Queensbury Hotel. Kids races for children under 10 will be held at noon. Partial proceeds of the race will benefit Farm Team Cycling (www.farmteamcycling.org) - a regional cycling team for racers under 19. The event expects to draw entrants from throughout New York State and New England to compete for more than $2500 in cash and merchandise awards.

Starting & finishing on Maple Street near the City Park Gazebo, racers will make a right on Ridge Street and head toward the roundabout where they will continue onto Hudson Street, right on Elm, right on South Street, left on Bay, then a finish on Maple Street for a 6/10 mile circuit. Races range from 10 laps for the age 10-14 Juniors to 60 laps for the Pro/1/2/3 Men. The race is part of the NY Cup Road Cycling Series for 2008 and is sanctioned by USA Cycling. Additionally, the Juniors races are part of the USA Junior Olympic Racing Series. Spectators are encouraged to cheer the racers on around the course and to patronize the Glen Street businesses as the street will be closed to traffic during the race. The event's featured race - the Inside Edge Pro/1/2/3 Men's race - is expected to begin at 2:45 and continue until 4 PM.

Major sponsors for 2008 include Inside Edge Bike & Ski, TD Banknorth, Rick's Bike Shop, Baywood Surgical, Aimie's Dinner & Movie, Adirondack Neurology, and Adirondack Trust Company.

Race and registration information can be found at www.bikereg.com.

###

Empire State Games: Day 4 -- PHOTOS!!

Matt Purdy wins the road race!
A late-race solo attack locked it up for the ADK
Photos are from the road race, the text is about the TTT

Early this morning, the Adirondack team clinched the ESG title, accumulating 2563 points. The second-placed Western team had 1876 points. To put it another way, we won 15 medals -- six gold, four silvers, and four bronze, as well as the overall gold.

With a move up the road, the chase gets underway
The blue central team only placed one rider in the break
They tried to chase, but it didn't work well for them

This morning's team time trial was the games' final event. The men fielded two, five-man formations, while the three woman formed our third team. The men had to finish with three riders, the women needed just two at the line. I rode in the B team -- or, as we preferred to be called, the A- team -- and I can honestly say that the 40-mile race against the clock was one of the hardest of my life. James Morrison, Mark Sumner, Tony Fahlte and Andy Ruiz were my team mates.

Vinnie Scalia wears the ADK's yellow jersey
Vinnie rode to tenth place in the road race despite being taken out by an unscrupulous coach
Here he is on the climb to the finish line

The course was an L-shaped affair, with a turn-around at either end. One lap around the course was just a shade over 4 miles, which meant the five-man trains were completing 180-degree turns every two miles. Other than the turns, the course was pretty straight-forward, with smooth pavement on a highway, and plenty of rooms for teams (and our follow vehicles) to pass each other. There was one small rise over a bridge, but not much in the way of elevation gain.

Later in the race, pressure from the ADKs began to whittle the field down
Here Nathaniel and Deiter lead the group
Nate gets ready to ditch a water bottle and pick up a new one from coach Bob

We started off hard, and the pace remained high. I'm not hero; I'm not going to pretend. I suffered during the race. I used all of the tricks in the book: skipping pulls and taking short pulls to try and recover. For several laps in the middle we got tangled up with the western region team that had started us a lap ahead of us. They passed us, we passed them, they passed us, we passed them, so on and so forth. Finally, they dropped one of their riders and we took charge, relegating them to fourth overall.

With speeds averaging around 29 miles per hour, I hung on for the first seven of nine laps. At the end of the seventh lap, I pulled off the front into a headwind and found myself heading to the back of the line much faster than I should have been. I stood to accelerate back into the line, but I was too slow, my team had already gone up the road.

Early in the race, an acceleration sends riders up the road
The rest of us are on our heels
Andy sets the pace on the climb

It was sad to watch them ride away without me, but so it goes. A time trial team is like a train. You get "all aboard," and then the train leaves the station. The train doesn't wait for anyone. I finished the 40 miles and pulled off into the parking lot. Even after riding the last two laps slowly and alone, my computer still registered an average pace of 24 miles per hour.

Tony was a late addition to the team, but proved to be an integral member
Here he races up the feed zone climb in the rode race
He set a punishing pace on the back-side climb on lap three, and sent scores of riders out the back

Our A team was going out on a mission to win the race, and the toughest competition was expected from the Central team. The A team raced their hearts out, to take the win over Central, completing 40 miles in 1:29:25.31. Central's A team in second, 30 seconds back.

A downhill attack (!!) on the third lap sent me up the road with one other rider
Here I am climbing the hill on the penultimate lap
It hurt, but secured my 14th place finish.

Not to be outdone by our team mates, my team finish third, in a time of 1:30:11.7. Only about 46 seconds behind our winning teammates! That's one strong "B" team.

Justin Lindine is a bit faster than me
He finished second, also after a late-race attack
Here he is at the line

The women also put in a strong ride, capping off a week that saw them win the first three stages with a silver medal, completing 22 miles in 57:03.17. Nice.

James was third
He was also third in the 2007 road race
I still say two thirds ain't too shabby!

All in all, it was a great week of fun racing with an incredibly strong team. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the team and participate in the event, and hopefully I'll have many more chances to improve on this year's results!

Thanks to Tony and his family for these photos. Hopefully there will be more to come!

Empire State Games: Day 3

A brief post today because I'm tired. The team contested the stage three points race this afternoon, and continued our successful run at the overall. The format is somewhat unusual in that the first person across the finish line at the end of the race is not necessarily the winner. Instead, there are points on the line for the first four across on eight laps during the race. The person with the most points at the end of the race wins.

The four-turn race with a small hill was held on a similar course to the Chris Thater NRC race, held in August each year. The men completed 40 laps of the bumpy course, while the women completed 20.

Meredith Ehn started the day off right, leading the women to a win. Teammate Beth Miller finished second after giving us all a freight, crashing in the first half of the race. The crash left her with some scrapes, but no serious injuries. Her bike, didn't fare so well, suffering a terminal crack. No matter, a quick shout at Andy Ruiz netted her his bike, which is close in size, and, more importantly, was intact.

Meredith jumped back into the race and continued to contest sprints. Bryna Nestor took eighth.

My recollections of the men's race are pretty hazy, likely due to a severe oxygen debt accumulated during the event. However, the team rode very well, taking the win with Vinny Scalia, who attacked more or less from the gun, and stayed away with Cory Burns from the western region, lapping the field toward the end of the race.

Behind, the rest of the Adirondack team worked to lap up third- and fourth-place points. I worked to not get dropped, a task at which I eventually failed. But no matter. When the dust settled, Vinny took the win over Burns, with Justine Lindine, who rode the last ten laps solo, third. With our strong ride, we were able to extend our lead in the points race, and will look for a strong ride in tomorrow's team time trial. Stay tuned. Maybe someday I'll have photos to show you.

Results from days one and two here.

Empire State Games: Day 2

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

The Adirondack region team continued its roll through the Empire State Games in today's road race. The men's team swept the podium one-two-three, and the women went 1-2. In the 16-rider women's field, the team rounded out with eighth place, while the men placed our entire 10-man team in the top 30. I finished 14th, about seven minutes behind the winner. I was sixth on the team to cross the line. Matt Purdy, of Albany, soloed in for the win, while Justine Lindine, of Mapelcrest was second, and James Morrison, of Saratoga Springs, was third.

In the women's race, the unstoppable Beth Miller, of Albany, took the win, with Bryna Nestor second.

With today's results, the Adirnodack region now has a lead going into tomorrow's points race over our closest rivals, the Western region team.

The race started with a 4ish mile climb from the valley up onto a ridge. From the end of the short neutral zone, the ADK team went to the front and rode a hard tempo that quickly had riders going backward out of the field. We sent Vinny Scalia, of Queensbury, off the front on the climb, and he had a small gap but was brought back by the western team. So he went again. When we topped out it was a downhill section followed by a long, but not steep, climb. The lap ends with a steep climb to the feedzone, followed by a long moderate incline.

On the first trip through the feedzone I was riding near the front, and picked up a fresh water bottle from coach Bob Pavlik. I grabbed it funny and had a hard time getting it into the cage. When I looked up there had been an acceleration. James, Matt, Justin and Vinia had all made a surge that had split the field, taking about six other riders from various teams with them, including Cory Burns, who were had marked as a potential threat.

Now at the front of the main group, I tried to chase back to the split, but teammate Deiter came up and mentioned that we'd isolated Cory up the road and that another key rider on the central team had also missed the move. So we sat up. The pace immediately eased off, and riding was a lot more pleasant. With all six of the remaining ADK riders still in the now-reduced peloton, we pushed the pace on every climb, leaving more and more riders behind.

The course had one screaming-fast descent with three sharp turns. One the second-to-last lap I hit the front one the descent, more out of a fear of crashing than anything else. Leading through the tightest of the turns, I got a small gap when Nathaniel Ward, of Albany, tapped the breaks in the field behind me. When one central rider got onto my wheel, I drilled it to establish a gap. We had more than a minute going up the main climb. Deiter, who had been on a solo bridge, caught us as we crested the climb, and we worked in a group of three for the next few miles. We picked up a central rider and a Hudson Valley rider in the last few miles leading into the climb to the finish. Unfortunately for me, I was completely gassed by that point.

I worked hard to pull my group of four to the base of the last climb, and then watched the others race up ahead of me. I wish that I could have sprinted to stay ahead of the central rider to pick up the points, but I had nothing left, and was happy to limp in for 14th.

Up ahead, Matt Purdy had attacked the break to get away. Behind him, Justin attacked Cory Burns, who was cramping and couldn't hang. James could, and there was the podium. Vinnie was riding well in the break away when an uneducated person in the feedzone ran into him, knocking him off his bike, and destroying his cable. Stuck without the full use of his range of gears, He "limped" home to seventh.

Behind my move, it was thrilling to see on ADK rider after the next out sprinting riders from other teams, snapping up as many points as we could. What a day.

Following the race I ate a delicious Moe's burrito. Day complete.

Tomorrow is stage 3, the points race, which should see all kinds of mayhem. Stay tuned.

Empire State Games: Day 1

I write this post from a dorm room at Binghamton University. I left Saratoga Springs around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, en route to the Empire State Games, which will be contested here all week. On the way, I stopped in Albany to pick up my team mate Bryna Nestor, who dabbles in road racing, and is also a pro on the Sobe-Cannondale mountain bike team. It poured all day across most of the New York, and our bikes got pretty wet on the ride down, as I drove slowly to avoid hydroplaning.

After three hours of white-knuckle driving, we made it to Binghamton in time to collect our very cool blue ESG sweat suits, and to get settled into our dorm rooms. Most of the athletes here at the games are high school students, since most sports contested here don't have much in the way of amateur organization. Cycling is another story, with some of the best riders from New York turning out to contest the four events.

After going to sleep around 11 p.m. (the earliest I've gone to sleep in months), we woke up early for breakfast in the dining hall. Sleeping in dorm rooms, eating in a dining hall, I almost feel like I should knock on my door before I go back into my room, just in case my room mate doesn't want to be interrupted...

In any event, the first day's race was an individual time trial. As most readers know, I recently built a time trial bike in anticipation of this event. Since building it, I've ridden the bike outside twice and on my trainer once. Although I understand the importance of a good time trial in a stage race like this, I really like riding my road bike better, so I didn't put in as much time on the bike as I probably should have.

In any event, the race was on a T-shaped course with two turn-arounds. The start/finish was in a state park. I pre-rode the course prior to the start, and it was mostly flat with a few small rollers and a stiff headwind after the second turn. I rolled up to the start with a minute to spare, and tried to get set to race.

Riding a disk wheel borrowed from team mate Nathaniel Ward, I started out as hard as I could, and cruised along the first section of the course. As I approached the first turn around, I could see my minute man ahead of me, and I did my best to increase my pace in an effort to catch up. I was very nearly on him by the second turn around, and blew by him shortly there after. I pushed my 53x11 as hard I could going into the downhill finish, to stop the clock at 24:43. I was more than a minute off the winning pace, but very satisfied with my effort. I placed 31 out of about 60 riders.

Dieter Drake led the team home, taking third in the event. I didn't get his time, but it was fast. The western region team took first and second, but because we had eight of our ten riders in the top 21, we are currently leading the points race, with a 20-point lead over the Western region.

In the women's race, Beth Miller took the win for the ADK squad, and her two team mates, Bryna and Meredith, finished eight and ninth. They are currently second overall in points.

There were photos taken, but I've forgotten my camera cord, so you'll have to wait a bit to see them. Sorry. Tomorrow is the road race, and there should be plenty of fireworks on the road. Stay tuned.

Al Toefield

No photographic evidence that I've found yet, but I finished tenth or eleventh in Saturday morning's Al Toefield Memorial Road Race. Held in Prospect Park, the race consisted of 13 laps around the 3.3 mile loop, for a total of about 40 miles. This race is marginally different from other races in the park in that there are cash prizes on various laps (primes) on various laps.

This was also the first time I'd raced in Brooklyn this season. In years past, racing in Prospect Park was a staple of summer, and I hardly ever raced anywhere else. Not so anymore. So, it was sort of a treat to race on my old stomping grounds. Of course, 3.5 hours is a long way to drive to ride circles around the park, but I felt that it was important to get a race in before the Empire State Games, which start on Thursday.

The only other races were some crits in Connecticut, and the New York State Road Race Championships, which were sadly in Rochester, and thus to far away for me. So, I was in Brooklyn.

The race was pretty fast from the gun, with a few attacks and counter attacks. With nine or ten laps to go my teammate Chris Chin went off the front, and moved up to slow things down. About a lap later he was getting caught and I countered. One guy jumped onto my wheel as I was drilling it to establish a gap. Over the park's diminutive climb a third rider bridged up to us. We rotated smoothly through the lap but when we went through the start/finish the officials rang the bell to signify a prime. We put our heards down and rode to stay away, but with the peloton chomping at the bit, we were swept up within site of the finish line.

After that, I went back into the field and took a couple laps to recover. Unfortunately, I missed a key acceleration that sent eight riders off the front. Annoyed that I'd missed my opportunity for a top result, I moved closer to the front of the field. A lap later there was another prime, and in the aftermath of the sprint, I attacked the field, taking one rider with me, and then sweeping up a third who had been slightly ahead after contesting the sprint.

We rotated smoothly to establish a gap, and soon swept up fourth rider who had been dropped from the break. With four riders, we had a good rotation, and kept our pace high going around the park. I don't think we were ever gaining on the break, but we were putting time into the peloton.

With two laps to go two riders bridged to us from the field and rode like bitches, sitting on our wheels, but not pulling through. On the bell lap we picked up two more riders dropped from the break, who also sat on.

So we came to the line with eight riders. One guy wearing an MIT jersey, attacked with bout 400 meters to go. I had been on his wheel, second in line. Behind me was Paul Burrows, a cat 1 member of the United Homes team, and a very strong rider. He started yelling at me to bridge, but all I could think was "bridge yourself," knowing that he was clearly going to kick my ass in a sprint. Sure enough, with about 200 meter to go, he jumped, and everyone else reacted. I don't remember exactly how many people passed me on the line, but at the finish I was tenth or eleventh.

I'm not exactly sure what place I was because there was a discrepancy between what the officials reported adn what the race promoter reported. I got the eleventh-place cash, and the process of waiting around for it took about an hour, and I didnt' feel like staying around to hasstle over $5. In the end, I walked way with another top-15 result, and enough cash in my pocket to cover the entry fee. Sweet. And I continued my streak. I'm going to jinx myself by writing this, but I haven't finished worse than 12th in a race since the end of May. (Knock on wood.) Nice. That includes six races, in both 123 and 34 fields. I've got to be on some kind of good form.

In the master's event, teammate Alesandro continues his flying form with a 4th place finish after a solid team effort.

Next up for me is the Empire State Games, which start on Thursday with a 10-mile individual time trial. I believe that at this point I'm as fit as I can be for the games, and I'm going to concentrate on resting and eating right over the next three days. With a little luck, I'm hoping for a strong showing in the road race, and to not get dropped in the crit or team time trial.

I'm going to be very busy getting everything ready to go over the next couple days, so I'm going to take a blog break. There will be no post on Monday or Tuesday. There might not be a post on Wednesday either, depending on whether or not I can find an internet connection in Binghamton. Whatever happens, I plan to post reports from the games on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So check back frequently, there should be lots of good racing action!

For more information on the games, visit: http://www.empirestategames.org/summer/default.asp

If I find pictures from Saturday I will break my blog break and post them. See you later in the week!

The Highs and Lows

This was a very interesting week. I've now worked one job or another every day since Monday, July 7, making today my eleventh-straight work day. Tomorrow is number 12, and then I finally get a weekend. Whew. At least some of the work was different and interesting. In any event, I'm really looking forward to racing in Prospect Park on Saturday morning.

It's one of those funny things. When I lived in Brooklyn, I yearned to get out of the city for a race. Now that I've been driving all over the friggin' state for races, and dragging my ass up mountains all over the place, I think riding from Mom and Dad's house to the Park Slope and riding some fast laps around Prospect Park will be great fun. The only down side is that I have to drive four hours to Brooklyn to do it.

And now,

Tops from the week:
1) Windham NMBS Day 1 coverage on Velo News, by me.
2) Windham NMBS Day 2 coverae on Velo News, also by me.
3) Only six more days to the Empire State Games! Get excited, the final preparations are underway.
4) A certain fast new bike joins the fleet. Now I just have to learn to ride it!
5) The Tour! It's been really exciting, even if three riders and a whole team have been thrown out.

Bottoms from the week:
1) Riccardo Ricco. Asshole.
2) 12-day work weeks. I've got to chill out.
3) June's credit card bill. Uhg, I need to work more.
4) The economy, that one's obvious.
5) Leg shaving. What a pain. What I need is a hair grow on/off switch. Just turn the hair off for the summer. What an idea!

Viva le Tour

Cadel Evans and his new friend
Now that Evans is getting a lot of camera time,
We're learning that he has a kind of funny voice

We're now nearly two weeks into the greatest bike race on Earth. If you've been following the tour at all, you might have noticed that there has been no one team dominating the race. With no defending champion in this year's race, it was once again billed as a wide-open race, and during the first few weeks, it has been wide open. Good stuff.

Due mostly to Becky's endless understanding and good will, I've been able to watch most of the stages on TV. Once or twice I tried to follow the live updates online at work, but as much as I like knowing what happens when it happens, I was just being way to unproductive. So, I had to put the kibosh on that.

Instead, in the interest of preserving the excitement of a thrilling finale, I practice a version of media isolation between the hours of 11 a.m., and around 10:30 p.m., when each day's finish is rebroadcast. It's not easy to maintain this type of isolation, especially when one works at a newspaper. The first few days I just steered clear of Velo News during the day. Then one day, I clicked onto the New York Times, and there was a photo of that day's winner right on the front page. Damn, thwarted again! That wasn't fair, the mainstream press isn't supposed to care about the Tour! In any event, I now maintain stricter isolation. I no longer even glance at the wire reports we have constantly streaming in, for fear that a stage winner's name might pop up.

Obsessive? What gave it away?

But this is what you have to do. After all, it's not that much fun to watch a sporting even knowing the outcome!

In any event, this year's tour has been one of the most exciting that I can remember. I was on my feet rooting for Riccardo Ricco when he broke away and rode to win stage nine, and I was on the edge of my seat on Monday when Leonardo Piepoli won the stage, while Franck Schleck turned himself inside to gain position on the general classification. I can't pretend that I'm not excited to be riding nearly the same bike as the dominate Saunier-Duval/Scott team. (Although, it's the rider, and not the bike, that wins the race).

Some observations:
I think it's fairly clear that the majority of riders in this year's tour are clean, as evidenced by some uneven riding, and some unexpected results, like two flat stages ending in large break aways riding away from -- and staying away from the peloton. This would never have happened in an EPO-fueled peloton.

This is pretty well-trodden material, as far as blog fodder goes, but if we were to profile the average tour viewer, based on the ads displayed during the tour on the Versus network, we would surmise that the person is insecure in their masculinity, craves luxury vehicles, and is staunchly opposed to doping. We would also realistically assume that this person is fairly heavily tattooed, and, after the tour is over, enjoys watching men beat the shit out of each other. Each one of these points might be true, but I dont' think they are all true at the same time. I'm especially doubtful about the ultimate cage fighting, or whatever it is. I'm also personally affronted that Enzyte couldn't even be bothered to shoot a new commercial to annoy me with during this year's tour, but instead just recycled last years spot. Oh well.

That's almost all I've got. I just wanted to point out that I predicted a Schleck brother victory before the start of the tour, and we now have Franck Schleck in second place on GC, one second behind first-placed Cadel Evans. Franck's got a pretty serious time trial problem, but I'm hopeful that he'll be able to ride away from Evans (he already did it once) in the Alps, to secure his place atop the tour's podium. Andy Schleck, who, like me, was born in 1984, will get his day soone enough, I'm sure.

Finally, Cadel, the un-fun aussie, has apparently formed a close relationship with a certain stuffed lion. I'm not one to judge, but at least I leave my teddy bears at home when I appear before the international press.

In the pro shop: a new-ish bike joins the fleet

I've succumbed to peer pressure and built a TT bike
Not the handlebar set up
It does work as advertised.

I suppose this was inevitable. In the past five days I've crossed a threshold of sorts. I've gone from being a bike-obsessed nut to just being a plain old nut. How did it happen? I built a time trial bike. Yup, that's right, a bike purpose-built for two or three races a year.

For any lay people out there, a time trial is a race that sends riders off on their own to race for the fastest time on a set course. There is no drafting allowed. there are three key factors in these races: 1) The ability to overcome your mind telling you to stop. 2) The ability to put out incredible power for long stretches. 3) Aerodynamics. Point three is where the bike comes into play.

A TT bike puts the rider an a position that is slightly less maneuverable than your average school bus, but much more aerodynamically efficient than your standard road bike. In terms of your aero set up, the most important benefits come from rider position, followed by an aero helmet, followed by aero wheels. finally, an aero TT frame adds some benefit, but not all that much. As a side note, these types of bikes are not legal for road races, where they are unwieldy and downright dangerous, but they are becoming more common as many stage races integrate TTs.

Given all that and my desire to perform in three time trials that I have scheduled later this season (including two at next week's Empire State Games), and weighed against my relatively small budget, I decided to undertake a special project. I turned Douglas, my old rod bike, into an aero bike by replacing the front end, thus placing me in an aero position on the bike, for improved efficiency against the wind. Check it out:

The aero set up
mounted on Douglas
It isn't the lightest thing in the world

It starts with the base bar
This is what attaches to the stem, and carries the brake levers
I went the aluminum Vision model from FSA, and Cane Creek levers

A matching Vision stem connects the bar and bike
My trust Cat Eye computer will keep an eye on the pace
But there's no looking down at it, while riding, that would break aero form

The long pointy things are the aero extensions
You put your elbows on the pads and hold onto the end
These are also aluminum Vision pieces

Dura-Ace shifters take care of moving the chain
These are decentralized from the brakes, which means you have to plan your shifts
But you can shift without breaking form, very important.

Some things don't change
I shelled out about $150 for the aero equipment and couldn't afford new wheels
These Easton Circuit wheels and Hutchinson tires will take care of the speed

All in all, the bike (which I've ridden once since finishing it), works as advertised. It was noticeably faster on flat roads, and I got the shifting and brakes more or less dialed, which was nice. Hopefully, this will help me be more competitive in the ITT and TTT and the empire state games, and, ultimately, keep me in contention in the ITT at the Green Mountain Stage Race, in August. Also true to the discipline for which it was built, the bike was quite painful to ride. My back and neck didn't hurt, nor did my knees but I had an unanticipated pain in my wrist. Hopefully I'll become used to the funny hand position before I have to race it. Otherwise I'll just have to ride hard enough that I can't feel my hands anymore!

More from Windham

The women's Pro Cross Country podium
I didn't get any photos of the race, so this is my attempt to make amends
side note: a lot of the women wore a lot of jewelry while racing

I'm now on the road to recovery from my weekend at the Windham NMBS. I unpacked my bag, took a shower, and managed even to write more about the race for my weekly cycling column at work today. Velo News, which is a little backed up because of a relatively unimportant race taking place in France right, posted my report from Sunday this afternoon. You can find the report here. That brings the number of items I've had published in Velo News up to five, which is pretty damn exciting if you ask me! Hopefully there will be many more to come. You can read about day one here, and the preview here.

In other news, how awesome is this year's Tour de France?! I'll have more to say about that as the race goes on, but I'll say this: remember who predicted a win by one of the Schlecks before the tour started. That's right, Frank is going to turn that one second deficit into a wide margin in the next mountain stage, just you watch!

And now, what you've all been wating for, some photos from this weekend's mountain bike race at Windham Mountain. I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked to, but I got tired of schlepping the camera around. Notably, I would have loved to have taken some photos from the women's race, or the short track, but what can you do? Enjoy!

The start of lap one
Sam Schultz (Subaru/Gary Fischer) tears up the climb
He would take fifth. He's 22.

More people climb the mountain
These guys were going really fast,
but the race still got bottled up in the early stages

Mike Mooradian in the Pro race
Mike is one of my training partners up here in Saratoga
He made a go of it, but suffered a cramp

Day two saw a different kind of race
Mathieu Toulouse, who won the pro XC race on day one, sizes up the competition
The verdict? They're small, but fierce

Lindsay Bishop, Mafia Racing, races with the tykes
Lindsay raced in the ECCC at the same time I did
or so it turns out

News Flash: Bernstein at Windham NMBS

Toulouse pips Craig at Windham Mountain

Above is a link to my race recap of the first day of the National Mountain Bike Series race at Windham Mountain. My report on day two hasn't yet been published, but I'll post a link tomorrow. I was assigned to cover the race, which featured three of four members of the U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike team, and a member of the Canadian Olympic team, for Velo News. I took a bunch of photos on Saturday, but I'm feeling too lazy to download them tonight. Look for those tomorrow as well.

On the whole, covering the two day events was a lot of fun. Organizers at Windham Mountain
made things very easy for me, giving me a wifi connection and a place to work, as well as feeding me throughout the weekend (albeit, the food left a little to be desired, in terms of fat content and variety, but beggars can't be choosers!). The NMBS format, which places the top-tier pros right in the crowds, provides plenty of access to the athletes. As a member of the media, I was expected to bother the athletes after their races ended, but even if I were just a fan, I would have had numerous opportunities to chat with Olympians Adam Craig, Todd Wells and Georgia Gould, as well as other top pros. At a pro road race with athletes of this caliber, a fan would hardly have a chance to schmooze it up with the athletes.

I doubt that I'll ever be a regular at mountain events, but I certainly understand their appeal.

That being said, covering a race was no picnic. It wasn't easy to schlep my ass all over the ski hill, trying to make sense of what was happening on the course, and making sure that I was in all the right places at the right times. This was made a little more difficult by the fact that some events, like the men's DH and women's short track, took place at the same time, which ment I had to employ some journalism tricks to figure out had happened. All that running around on the dusty mountain left me sweaty and dirty at the end of Saturday, and my only reward was bedding down under the stars in a field near the mountain. It wasn't the best night's sleep I've every had, but it certainly was different.

Alright, in case you can't tell, I'm a bit tired. I'll be back tomorrow with photos.

News Flash, and an appology

OK, OK, I know, I didn't post anything last night. I'm sorry. As I'm sure you assumed, I was at the Malta Drive-In Theater with Becky. Sometimes the blog just can't be the top priority. In case you're wondering, we saw a double feature for $8 each. We saw "Hancock," with Will Smith, and Adam Sandler in "Don't Mess With the Zohan." I thought both were hillarious.

In any event, here's the big news flash: Ahead of tomorrow's National Mountain Bike Series race at Windham Mountain, Velo News has published a race preview by yours truly! You can read it here. I'm no expert on professional mountain biking, but the editors at Velo News sure know how to make it look like I do!

Tomorrow morning I'll be driving down to Windham to cover the two-day event, camping out overnight tomorrow, and driving back home sometime on Sunday. This is my first real assignment from Velo News, and I'm very excited for it, and I won't let my editors at Velo news down, I promise!

While I'm down in the Catskills, I'm going to sneak out for a ride early on Sunday with Jesse, of the Bell Lap blog, and will hopefully get a chance to sample some of the local fair he keeps telling me about.

And now, since I was remiss last night, here is the weekly top and bottom lists (but it's late, so I'm not doing any hyperlinks):

Tops from the week:
1) Viva Le Tour! The action this week has been awesome.
2) Hiking with Becky last weekend, what a good time.
3) Visiting Camp. It's been too long.
4) Covering the NMBS for Velo News.
5) A super-secret surprise, to be revealed next week....

Bottoms from the week:
1) So tired....
2) The drive-in... eh. It's cheap, but you have to sit in a car.
3) Eleven-day work weeks. I'm going to be really tired by the end of this.
4) The state of my ipod. It will be the radio this weekend.
5) Riding at the State Office Campus. Just like Prospect Park. At least the crew is fun!

Le Tour

Go Cav, Go!
TDF stage 5
But what are his team mates doing?

OK, the Tour de France has been going on for five days, and I've yet to address it any meaningful way on my blog. Imagine that. I've been horribly remiss in my duties a cycling blogger. Sorry.

Well, fear not. I might not have been writing about the Tour, but I have been reading about, thousands of words a day on hundreds of websites, in an effort to understand every angle of the race. My productivity at work is at an all time low, and while this sort of behavior bordered on acceptable last July, when I was working at a triathlon store where most of the staff had an interest in the race. Not so much this year. Although the sports department has been putting daily wire stories on the cover of the sports section, they don't actually seem to have much invested in the race.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Following the Tour de France is like being a parent: you have to commit all the way to your children, if you can't, it's best to just leave the continuation of the human race to someone who can.

I can.

In addition to watching live updates on the internet and reading about the tour, I've also been watching daily coverage on Versus. Yes, I'm truly obsessed. I was thrilled when Alessandro Valverde rocketed to take the first stage, and I was on the edge of my seat when Will Frischkorn (sp?) sprinted for the stage win on Monday. I was crushed when Fabian Cancelara failed to win Tuesday's time trial.

But what we have to discuss tonight is Mark Cavendish's sprint win in today's stage. Cav is the newest sprinter on the scene, and boy is he fast. Watching him zip toward the line this morning was thrilling, although I have to admit that I was rooting for eternally second-placed Zabel. What's curious though, is that if you look carefully at the photo at the top of this post (which I stole from Velo News), you can see Cav's team mates' hands up in the air behind him.

It seems to me that ever since Zabel led Alessandro Pettachi out to a win in some race a few years ago, it's become de rigeur for team mates to celebrate their sprinter's victory. OK, a little team camaraderie never hurt anybody, but whatever happened to playing it cool? Bike racing is a sport of stoics, and Lance Armstrong, is the archetype, even if I've got my issues with him. This exuberant jubilations might be OK for football, but us cyclists should be above it. If you didn't win the race, keep your damn hands on the bars.

Alright, that's enough of that. One observation about the TV coverage: What is it about cyclists that makes us the target audience for Enzyte, "natural male enhancement?" Cycling is a sport for men comfortable enough to literally put their package on display (albeit through spandex), not for sissies who need "enhancement."

More observations to come.

Windham East Coast Nationals

Most of the time, at work, I write about government and politics. Once a week I get to write about bicycles, for my weekly cycling column, which is published every Tuesday.

Here is this week's column, in which I write about this weekend's national-level mountain bike race, to be held at the Windham Mountain ski area. I'll be attending the race to cover it for Velo News, and obviously I'm pretty excited about that. Although my report will likely only wind up on the Web, this is the first time that the magazine is trusting me to cover a national-level event, that will feature some members of the 2008 Olympic mountain bike team. There will be plenty of dispatches from the race this weekend. Here's a preview.

Pros descend on Windham

WINDHAM — Last week we went to France, this week, we’re going to the dirt. In my road-centric world, I sometimes forget there is a whole world of cyclists out there who like to ride beyond pavement’s edge. This column is for you.

Adam Craig, a 2008 Olympian will be among the all-star cast turning out to race the East Coast Nationals, to be held at Windham Mountain this weekend.

Craig, who races for the Giant Mountain Bike team, will join top level competitors Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Sam Schultz, from the Subaru-Gary Fischer team, as well teammate Carl Decker.

Local pro mountain bike racer Mike Mooradian of Team SPIN, one of only two New York-based pros, is expected to start the event as well. In addition, two professional road racers, Justine Lindine, of Mapelcrest, and usually racing for Target Training, and Andy Guptil, who usually races for the Colavita/Sutter Home professional road team, are both expected to ride fat tires this weekend, ditching their usual team apparel in favor of a local shop’s jersey.

The event, which includes races in five mountain biking disciplines for amateurs and professional athletes, begins on Friday and continues throughout the weekend. The first-year event, held just a week before the national championships at Mt. Snow, in Vermont, is part of the National Mountain Bike Series, the premier calendar for domestic racing.

“NMBS has a huge following. It’s one of the oldest series in the United States. The best riders need to be there to complete and all the amateur and recreational racers want to be there as well,” said Nick Bove, one of the event’s promoters, and the owner of Windham Mountain Outfitters, a cycling and snow sports shop located near the mountain. Lindine and Guptil will both wear Windham Mountain Outfitter’s jerseys this weekend.

He added that the position on the calendar, one week before the national championships, made it feasible for some athletes to make the trip from the west coast. Bove said promoters expected between 800 and 1,000 racers to compete in men’s and women’s cross country and short track races, as well as the gravity-powered downhill, super-D, and dual slalom races.

With all of the events finishing within viewing distance of the mountain’s base, spectators will be able to watch numerous events all at one spot. Spectators who pay to get onto the mountain will be treated to an unusual feature: over-under passes, where racers on the cross-country course will cross bridges constructed over the downhill course. Bove said that a crew of volunteer built the overpasses, as well as about 30 bridges that range from two to ten feet wide.

“These are enormous structures with a lot of engineering. It adds an element of character to the race,” he said, adding that while some bridges exist only to enhance the quality of the race, others were put in place to protect wetlands from erosion.

Events official begin with training session on Thursday, but the real action is reserved for the weekend.

On Saturday, the pro men and women’s cross country races will send racers climbing a circuitous path up the ski slopes, and then back down. Competitors at different levels will complete different numbers of laps.

Following the conclusion of that race, pro and semi-pro racers will take to the gravity course for the dual-slalom race.

Dual-slalom, or DS, is similar to a gated ski race, but with jumps, berms, and stutter bumps added to enhance the race. Bove said that this event, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, will be one of the most spectator friendly races.

Sunday begins with the women’s downhill final at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, and continues with the men’s contest. Downhill is similar to a downhill ski race: riders start at the top of the mountain, and race to the bottom, competing for the fastest time, while negotiating various obstacles along the way. The afternoon continues with the short-track race on Sunday afternoon, in which racers compete on a short circuit, in a spectator-friendly venue.

The weekend wraps up with a super-D race on Sunday afternoon. Similar to the downhill course, the super-D integrates uphill elements, and requires racers to pick their equipment carefully. The prime viewing spot will be at the lodge at Windham Mountain, and amateur events will be spread throughout the weekend.

For more information, visit http://www.windhammountainbike.com/

Getting back to my roots

Camp Pok-O-Moonshine
100 Reber Road
My parents sent many letters here.

In high school and college one of the questions new friends and acquaintances asked me more than any other was: "How did you get into hiking and cycling in Brooklyn?" Well, it's a reasonable question. After all, I raced fat tires on the dirt long before I ever straddled a road bike, and I was concerned with advances in Gore Tex long before I could enumerate the comparative merits of Reynolds 853 steel or high modulus carbon fiber.

Robinson Hall, AKA, The Dinning Hall
I never really understood the flags
This is after it had bee swept after lunch

This plaque is in the D-hall
It's hard to see, but I'm forever memorialized here, on the upper right
Andrew Bernstein, 46er number 4836

The anser has either three or four words, depending on what you consider to be a word: Camp Pok-O-MacCready, located in Wilsboro, NY. I first went to camp at the age of 12, after my childhood friends Lee Brady went had a great time. Pok-O, as it's known to those in the know, is a very traditional camp, with activities like swimming, sports involving balls, sports involving running around, hay-bale bucking, boating, horse stall cleaning, rock climbing, rock moving, hiking, mountain biking, wood splitting, arts & crafts, music, horseback riding, and more.

Camp even had a winter program, between Christmas and new Years, which I attended once, and returned to as a counselor for three years. That's where I learned how to snowshoe, keep warm in the winter, and truly enjoy the snow.

This is The Point
It's where I swam as an older camper
There used to be a diving board, but it's been taken away. What a shame

Here are some boats moored at the boat docks
We sailed Lasers and Laser IIs
I spent a lot of time on those docks

I attended Pok-O for five summers as a camper (1997 to 2001), and one as a counselor (2003). In that time, I was introduced to mountain biking and mountain bike racing, and by extension, bike racing in general. Also, Pok-O is where I first learned to go hiking and camping. All activities which would more or less shape my life up until today. In addition to that, I also learned a lot about being independent, being away from home, and all of those good things that one is supposed to learn at camp.

This is the cabin where the Advanced Section live (Counselors in Training)
I lived here for two summers
We painted the giant skull on the floor, but I couldn't tell you why

I didn't have the best summer of my life in 2003, when I worked there. It wasn't camp's fault, I was just in a rough spot, and not ready to be in the isolated pressure cooker of camp. I left camp in 2003 without any real thought of returning, but I never stopped thinking about my camp friends, both the others kids in my age group, who I spent every summer with, and the counselors, the ones I lives with, and the older, camp fixtures.

Long House Right,
A cabin for 11-12 year olds
I was a counselor here in 2003

In January, I was out for a hike in the Adirondack high peaks with Dante and Tom, when I crossed paths with Sharp Swan. Sharp, or Sharpe (Sharpie), as he's known, is the Executive Director of camp, and son of Jack Swan, the owner. Sharp was in and out of camp while I was a camper, and he was my boss when I was a counselor. At one time, Sharp held the record for the fastest ascent of the Adirondack 46, and is something of an Adirondack legend. Sharp, after getting over the initial shock of seeing me after my five-year absence, was quick to invite me to visit camp.

My mark is permanent in more ways than one
The "Wandering Lunatics" set a camp record,
climbing 37 of the 46 Adirondack high peaks in the summer of 2001

So, with this weekend off from racing, and Becky and I planning a trip up to camp's neighborhood, I figured it was time for a visit. I was a little worries that camps would be different from the way I remembered it, and that it would be sad to see it changing with out me. But, no worries there, even though camp had changed a little, it was also the same. Most of the camp fixtures that I remember from my day were still there: Ken "Squeaky" Hertz, Tim "Skip" Singer, Kenny Ryba, and Dave Durant. In my brief visit I had a chance to visit my old cabins, the bike barn, the boat docks, the hockey rink, and the counselor's lounge. Plus, I got to re-sample camp fare (turns out, that doesn't change either, it was chicken patties, the best camp meal ever!)

This is a rope swing outside of Beetlejuice
That's another cabin where I was the counselor
This one had a much better view

Although some things had changed, like a brand-new bathroom for some of the campers, a fresh coat of pain in the dinning hall, and a big inflatable raft at one of the swim docks, in place of the old wooden raft, mostly, it was also the same: campers tucking in to chicken patties, and talking excitedly about the morning's soccer match or the afternoon's capture the flag. It was also nice to see that even after five years, my mark was still on the camp, and people still knew who I was.

Here's a lean-to that camp is building
It's been assembled, and is now getting taken apart
to be ferried across the lake

Sqeaky said it best: "Once in the family, always in the family." I won't wait another five years before visiting again.

Becky goes hiking!

To celebrate Independence Day, and eschewing the first day of the Tour de France, Becky and I drove up to the Adirondack high peaks for an overnight hike in the high peaks region. This was Becky's first foray into real wilderness, and her first night spent sleeping in the woods.

After stopping off for a visit at my old summer camp in Wilsboro, NY (more on that tomorrow), we headed over to Keene Valley. Leaving the car at the Adirondack Loj, we hiked to Marcy Dam and made camp. After an early dinner and early bed time, we got up, ate breakfast and headed off to climb Phelps Mountain, before trekking to Indian Falls. After a successful day in the mountains, we hiked back to the car, to have dinner at the Noon Mark Diner, a high peaks staple, even if the food leaves a little to be desired. Below is the trip in photos, in no particular order:

Water courses over the rocks at Indian Falls
The water cut a narrow trough
Which overflows at high water

The trough pours water over the edge
Thus, the falls.
Not sure why it's "Indian Falls," but so it goes.

I climbed down below the fall to take a shower
It was pretty easy to get down
Getting back up was a little harder

Between dinner and bed
There were a few hours to kill until dark
I passed the time sitting on a rock in a stream

This is me sleeping in my sleeping bag
Becky thought it was pretty funny
that my head was burrowed all the way in to the bag

Success!
Becky makes it to the top of her first 46er
Phelps was my second 46er, so we're starting in the same neighborhood

The bottom of Phelps Mountian
That was one long mile!
I think it might have been harder on the way down.

Becky looks a little apprehensive
But she's a trooper!
This is two miles into the first day.

This is me crossing the same river
This is a shortcut to cut out some small hills from the trail to Marcy Dam
Not too many people know about it.

Here's the view from Marcy Dam
Dam in the foreground,
Colden and Avalanche Mountains in the background.

Here's the camp site.
Tent up, getting ready to cook dinner
The problem with this trip: we forgot things to do while waiting for dark!

And that was our trip. There might be a few more photos popping up tomorrow...

In other news, I just realized that Jeremy Piven, Ari Gold on 'Entourage,' plays the evil, and very short, Dean in the hilarious Will Farell film Old School. Now that's funny stuff!

Tops and Bottoms: July 4 Edition!

That's right, as I write this, we are a mere 90 minutes away from Independence Day, the best of the three summer holidays. You already know this, but July 4 is a great holiday because of three things: a day off from work, hot dogs, and fireworks. The rest of it, as they say, is the history.

Not too much to report tonight. I wrapped up another workweek, and Becky and I celebrated (even though she has to work tomorrow), by going out for Mexican, and we're now watch Lions for Lambs over a bowl of ice cream. I can't think of a better way to kick off the holiday weekend.

This week also saw the volume of racing and training that I've been doing catch up with me in a big way. I still put in my usual 20 hours on the bike, and scored two top-ten results last weekend. It was great fun, but I'm feeling weary, and my legs are tired to the point where walking up and down stairs is a struggle. Riding my fixxie around town is downright painful. So, I'm looking forward to taking this weekend off, and going hiking with Becky. She's never been camping before, so I'm really looking forward to taking her into the woods and show her some of this region's splendor. Then I'll be rested, recharged, and ready to hit the road with a singular focus on getting into shape for the Empire State Games, which are now just three weeks away.

And with that, here's the week's highs and lows:
Tops from the week:
1) 8th Place at the Maltese Team Invitational. Bringing home the bacon for Brooklyn.
2) 7th Place at the Union Vale Road Race. Climbing my way through the peloton. Still no photos, though.
3) Taking Becky camping this weekend! It's going to be so much fun, if the bears don't get us.
4) Last night's team time trial practice. We've got one stacked team for the games.
5) Tour de France starts on Saturday! I'm going out on a limb, and say that a Schleck brother will take it. Who will you pick? More on this to come.

Bottoms from the week:
1) Letting myself get out-sprinted at Union Vale. Could have been fifth place, dammit.
2) Hot summer weather.
3) Huge summer crowds here in the Spa city. It was nice when I could ride down Broadway without getting a horn blown at me.
4) Sitting at home while I should be at Fitchburg. Oh well, at least I'm getting rested.
5) 24 hours in a day. Not enough time!