Chris Thater means vacation

Lap two of the Chris Thater Memorial crit, turn one
Keep in mind that the field was slowing for the turn
The pace was ordinarily well above 20 MPH

If you've been wondering why I'm been a little lackadaisical about blogging recently, let me assure that it has nothing to do with the terrible wildfires raging in California.

Instead, it has much more to do with the fact that I'm on vacation from work. Yes, that's right, vacation. Just as soon as I finish banging out this post, shower, and load the car, I'll be on my way to Cape Cod for a few days of relaxing with my parents. Then, later in the week, it's up to Vermont for the Green Mountain Stage Race, the first of my three fall goals.

It's going to be a great week, and to ensure that I return next week with the most-possible freshness, I'm going to be taking a break from the blog, beginning after this post. Hopefully, I'll be able to post updates from GMSR, beginning Friday, but if not, expect regular updates to resume on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

I started my time off from work at the Chris Thater Memorial Crit, which I covered for Velo News. Read the report here. Although it was a lot of fun to watch the race, it was a three-hour drive in each direction, which I could have done without. So it goes.

That's all. Have a great week!

When mechanicals get you down, it's back to your roots

This is what happens when you lock up your wheel on a hot day
That tire costs $70
Check out it's destination after less than 1,500 miles.

A couple weeks ago, I raced the Capital Region Road Race. My chances in the race were KO'd by an untimely tumble into a ditch, which also resulted in a ruined Continental Sprinter tubular tire (pictured above). On the up side, the race also resulted in fodder for a recent essay over at the Embrocation Cycling Journal.

It occurred to me today that I had never appropriately documented the damage, so here it is.

This has been a frustrating season, mechanically speaking, what with ruined bearings, cracked forks, cracked wheels, and broken handlebars. Today, I added to the frustration when my new fork, all shiny and white, came out of the box from Scott. I was all set to install the new party, when I realized (with a little guidance from Dave at Blue Sky), that there was no way I was getting the crown race off of the old fork without ruining it.

So, I'll be racing GMSR on the same fork I've been using all season, which may or may not be safe to ride on. Wish me luck! (Unless, of course, I find the exact part I need in the next seven days.)

In an effort to forget about all the crap I've dealt with, I went way back to my roots today by leading the Blue Sky Bicycles beginner's ride. There were only two cyclists at the appointed time, so I was looking forward to an easy spin out toward the Eastern Plateau, and then back to the city. About an hour, I figured.

Let me just say that the ride was lovely. Of the two beginners on the ride, Eric and Michelle, one was a bit more experience, a bit more comfortable, the other less so. But it was fun to impart the little knowledge that I've accumulated over the miles of pedaling circles around Saratoga. All the while, I was trying to think back to a time when I didn't know what "cross-chained" was, when I didn't know to shift to an easier gear before the hill, or when I would occasionally forget to unclip from my pedals and fall down at a traffic light.

Truth be told, I have no idea how I learned those lessons, and myriad others. Probably through a blindly groping period of f trial and error, if I had to guess. The ride also got me in the mode of trying to practice what I was preaching: spinning an easy gear, riding to the right of the lane, stopping for traffic lights, so on and so forth.

The bottom line is that the ride was fun for me, and I hope Eric and Michelle had a good time too, and maybe even came away with a little more knowledge than they went in with. I don't profess to be an expert, but it's nice to think that I might be able to ease a new cyclist's entry to the sport -- at least until Kyle is able to resume his leadership responsibilities!

Bernstein on tumbling into a ditch

D'oh!

My latest essay is up on Embrocation. Check it out, send it to someone you know (or, a few people), and for Pete's sake, don't wind up like that guy!

More Maltese photos, and some thoughts on Inglorious Basterds

It's still dark at 6 a.m.
This was the start of the second lap
Probably a bit early to get off the front, but I tried anyway

A couple more photos of Anthem Sports in action at this weekend's race surfaced over at Velocity Nation today. As usual, I got the most lens time, as I spent more than my fair share trying to get off the front.

Adam got some exposure too -- good thing those yellow Mavic shoes are easy to spot!

Can you spot Adam?
Look for yellow shoes
and cow print shoulders

I've already written about the race, so no need to re-hash details here.

After getting home last night, I went with my roomie and some friends to see Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's latest film. I greatly enjoyed the film, which is full of stomach-tightening tension, swift dialogue, and lively action. The film is billed as a dark comedy, but I'm not sure I took the same message, a thought which I'm going to expound on a bit. If you're the sort of person who doesn't like to read film teasers, you should probably stop reading, and come back tomorrow.

This film takes place in Nazi-occupied France, and centers on a group of Jewish-American soldiers who venture into France with the express purpose of killing Nazis. The villain is Col. Hans Landa, a Nazi charged with tracking down and killing Jews in France. Once we've met the various characters, and Tarantino has spilled a few tanker loads of blood to demonstrate how deep the blood lust runs in his version of World War II, we get to the movie's main action, which is a plot to kill Hitler, Goebbles, and other member's of the Nazi high command at the premier of a Nazi film.

Unbeknownst to the Nazis, the cinema to screen the premier is owned by a Jewish woman masquerading as a French woman. The woman, Shosanna Dreyfus, barely survives when her family is slaughtered by Landa in the film's opening scene. Needless to say, she also wants to kill Hitler & Co.

Through a series of twists that I don't see any need to reveal, the plot succeeds in the midst of a fire storm that recalls the ovens of an extermination camp.

Enough plot summary. As a historian (by training, anyway), I'm not really comfortable when films or books re-write history, but I'll give Tarantino a pass in this case, since it's fairly common knowledge that Hitler was not killed by a Jewish woman living on the down-low in Paris.

When sitting in the theater watching this film, I was at first confused when some members of the audience reacted to brutal deaths with laughter. In general, I don't think the Holocaust, or World War II are comical topics. This film's greatest strength was its ability to portray the tension felt by people living in Europe during the war, and by the people fighting it -- and how this tension could come to a head.

The Holocaust and World War II were all about this kind of tension, on both the inter-personal level, and the inter-national level. Tarantino's ability to create this palpable tensions does a better job than any other film I've ever seen of making the viewer feel those tensions. It's an important lesson, one that I learned a bit about while conducting research for my thesis, during which I interviewed several Holocaust survivors.

Far from being people isolated in concentration camps, the victims of Shoah understood what was going on in the world around them, and they can explain, better than anyone else I've met, the war's horrors. But they can't show you as Tarantino has.

That he wraps it all in an interesting plot, and sends Brad Pitt out to deliver his anti-Nazi screed through a thick Tennessee twang is all the better. People need to understand this period of our history, and this film helps bring it to the masses as "Band of Brothers" couldn't.

But why is it a comedy? Maybe it's in the eyes of the beholder, as in the people sitting in the film with me. Maybe machine gun fire really is funny, and I'm just too wrapped up in the film's message to see it. Or maybe we're going back to a more traditional definition of comedy, which is characterized simply as a conflict between two tribes. Two tribes? Check. Conflict? Check.

All of this is not to say that there aren't funny moments in the film, there are -- lots, but I hope viewers don't overlook the important lessons contained herein, in favor of laughing at a man's head split open by a baseball bat.

Anthem at Maltese

Don't get in the way of this train
Field sprint finish at the Maltese Invitational
That's me winning -- just kidding!

A bunch of country boys ventured down to the big city this weekend, for the Maltese Team Invitational. Anthem was represented in the team race by Dieter, Kevin, Adam, David, and myself.

We didn't get the result I think we all wanted, but I thought it was probably our best team effort this year, with all five of us riding comfortably (most of the time) in the top third of the peloton, and able to respond to attacks, and taking turns marking moves. I think we would have been able to secure a result if the finish had the course been slightly more to our strengths -- which appears not to be field sprints. Of course, Central Park is what it is, and there's really no point in wishing for what can't be. The good news is that we can work on our sprint next weekend at the Chris Thater memorial crit in Binghamton.

Kevin had the biggest transition this weekend:
From rural Wells, NY, to the big city
He's making it look easy here

This race started early in the morning -- at 6 a.m., to be precise. Kevin and I roused ourselves from bed at my parents' at 4 a.m., in order to eat, dress, and ride to the start in Central park in time. After the race, Kevin, David and I did a little ride, and then drove home through a tempest. As a result of all that, I am now rather tired.

Peter Hurst covers Empire
I'm about to launch myself onto his wheel, just after the bell
I made contact, but we were quickly brought back

I guess there isn't too much to say about the race itself. As expected, the big boys (Mengoni, Empire, Foundation, Champion Systems, as well as CCB and WS United) were all very active in controlling the front of the race. I made a few attempts to get off the front, as did David and Kevin, but it never seemed to work, even when David got into a move that seemingly had all the teams represented. Each time, someone would get on the front and hit the gas to bring the move back.

High speeds put us in single file for much of the race
Despite how this photo looks, I was not off the front on my own,
instead, I'm riding in a paceline

There was a massive crash as we went into the closing mile, fortunately, no one from Anthem went down, although Dieter was right in the midst of it, and had to brake hard, taking him out of contention.

The rest of us became mired in the field sprint, finishing anonymously in the middle of the pack. Somewhere up ahead, Lisban Quintero, of Foundation, won the race. You can't say we didn't try. The results sheet was interesting. About 60 finishers, all "same time," then a whole bunch of DNFs. That about sums up the character of the race -- no gaps allowed. Foundation won the team prize.

Thanks to Mike Green, of CRCA for inviting us to participate in the Maltese Invitational this year, photos courtesy of VelocityNation/Andy Shen (and, by courtesy, I mean taken without permission.)

Three down, two to go

I'm referring, of course, to days in the work week. Having started this week on Tuesday, I still have two more work days to look forward to. So it goes.

At least after work on Saturday, I'll be headed off to the city, for the Maltese Team Invitational, and some bonding miles with team mates. That'll be a good time, for sure.

In late-breaking, highly exciting news, I won a second-place award for blogging in the 2008-2009 New York Associated Press Association writing contest, for my work over at The City Desk, my work blog, and better-read cousin to Good Bye Blue Mondays.

Other than that bright spot, this has been a long, long day. I am rather tired as a result. I'm currently looking at my bike, which is filthy and in desperate need of cleaning -- the original plan for this evening. Yet, I am somehow not very motivated. Uhhgg.

Anyhow, let's get on to the important things:

Tops from the week:
1) The aforementioned second place award.
2) The Maltese team invitational. Either last year leaves me and the team only one place to go -- up!
3) So much delicious fish.
4) One more full week of work, and then it's vacation time!
5) Travis and Carrie's visit (this would be number one if I hadn't forgot that they'd been here, the weekend seems like a long time ago.)

Bottoms from the week:
1) My dog/ditch incident. At least I think I'll get a good essay out of it.
2) This insufferable heat.
3) Four flat tires? You have to be kidding me.
4) Short daylight hours. I think I prefer when it goes the other way.
5) Did I mention the heat?

Maltese team invitational

This weekend, myself and four team mates will be heading down to NYC for the 4th-annual Maltese Team Invitational.

This race, held in Central Park, has a somewhat unusual format, in which five-man teams compete against each other for points. Individual riders score points for finishing in the top 20, with 1st place earning the most points, on down to 20th. The team whose riders accumulates the most points wins the race.

Last year, while riding for BVF, I finished 8th out of a break away in this race, to secure a 7th-place finish for BVF. Unfortunately, we were out of the money.

After leaving BVF this year, it was looking like that would be my only shot at the Maltese race -- until I suggested that this might be a good event for the team, and uber-connected team manager Dieter put in a request to Mike Green, the promoter, to get us an invite.

As easy as that, Dieter, Kevin and I will venture down to the city, where we'll be joined by NYC-region residents David and Adam for Sunday's race.

It's shaping up to be a tough race, with many of the usual suspects bringing strong teams (Adler, Empire, Mengoni, CCB), as well as some of the big NYC players (Foundation, Champion Systems and Kissena). It looks like CCB and Anthem are the only non-NYC teams in the race. Hopefully I'll be able to imbue my team mates with a little bit of Central Park savvy -- though I'm sure we'll have a disadvantage over teams who race there every weekend.

Mostly, though, I'm looking forward to racing near home. After a season of driving to and from races and often spending more time in the car than on the bike, I'm really looking forward to waking up at my parent's house, getting dressed, riding to the race, and then riding home in time for breakfast -- before the neighbors have even come out to get their newspaper. Of course, there will still be at least 6 hours in the car getting to and from Saratoga, but we're not going to talk about that.

This will also be the first time I'll race a NYC event with a full team since leaving BVF. I don't want to put too many cards on the table, but I think we should be competitive, and I'm looking forward to it.

Check back for good news on Sunday evening!

Flat hell

I've been feeling very put upon lately.

Why? First of all, this heat is incredibly oppressive. Even tonight, when it's raining and cool out, it's about 110 degrees in the apartment, and 90% humidity. Every once in a while, I can feel a breath of outside air drift in through a window, but mostly it's just sticky hot. And our fans aren't doing nearly enough as far as pulling that cool air in.

Last night, when I was laying awake, sticking to my bedsheets, I very nearly got in the car to drive to the 24-hour Walmart, to see what they had in window unit. I settled for a cold shower instead -- it was much cheaper. Besides, the windows in this place are small and oddly-shaped. I'm not sure an AC would fit.

But, even with the heat expected to continue for the foreseeable future, that isn't my biggest problem. The bigger issue is that I've been plagued by The Flat.

Of course, by "The Flat," I am not referring to a swanky apartment complex in LA, or to the Flat Earth Society.

I'm referring to the fact that over the course of two rides (six hours on Monday and two and a half today), I suffered four flats, all in my rear wheel. By the time I heard the sound of rushing air for the fourth time, I was about ready to throw my bike into the nearest dumpster. Fortunately, I was way out in the sticks at the time, and there weren't any dumpsters around.

Here's the run down:

The first flat was in Glens Falls, about ninety minutes into a ride with James. Knowing we had a lot of road ahead, we stopped at Inside Edge so I could get a new spare and CO2. A couple hours later, while coming across Fox Hill Road, James and I had near-simultaneous flats, while coming down a loose decent. (BTW, Fox Hill Road is deteriorating quickly). I was glad we'd made that stop at Inside Edge.

Today's first flat came before I'd even made it out of town, on route 9P, just on the Saratoga Springs side of the Fish Creek bridge. I was somewhat wary about continuing on without a spare, but I figured after suffering three flats in 24 hours, it was highly unlikely that I'd get a fourth.

A couple hours later, after doing some heinously difficult LT intervals (thanks Scott!), I was rolling toward home, when I heard my tire releasing air for a fourth time. Cursing life while slowing down, all I could do was start scrolling through my mind's contact list to, see who might be available to come pick me up. Obviously, this is more complicated on a week day, during working hours.

But, I got a reprieve when I realized shortly before coming to a halt, that I still had some air in the tire. Even though I'd lost 40 or 50 pounds of pressure (my fingers are like pressure gauges), there was still enough in the tire to keep me rolling, and even though I could still hear the leak, it seemed to be very slow.

I rode home as fast as I could, hoping I wouldn't pinch-flat the damn thing.

So, on the one hand, I'm happy that I'm doing my part to keep Genuine Innovations in business, but on the other hand, I'm hoping that I'll have a flat-free ride tomorrow.

Live, from Windham Mountain

In lieu of tonight's post, you should surf over to Velo News and check out my coverage of the Yankee Clipper at Windham Mountain.

Cross country report here.

Short track report here.

Although I don't think I'll ever give up the road to race on dirt, I do love the openness that you get at mountain bike races, where it's acceptable to walk right up to big-time pros, talk to them about their race, the course, the heat, whatever. I haven't covered as many road races as I have mountain, but road races usually involve a slightly higher level of formality, which is pleasantly lacking from the mountain bike scene.

I wasn't planning on going to Windham, but a last-minute request from Web editor Steven Frothingham got me to change my plans, and I'm glad I did, it was a fun day -- although my neck is now crispy-red.

That's all for tonight. Remember, I was going to take a day off from the blog -- I guess today's the day!

Ditch diving

The misery of riding off the back
Photo by Barry Koblenz
Check out the whole gallery here

I know I said I wasn't going to post anything today, but I couldn't resist writing about yet another calamitous ride. This time, the race was the Capital Region Road Race/N.Y.S. Road Race Championships.

I am very busy covering the Windham mountain bike race, so I'm going to post the short version:

It was the first lap, we'd just finished a difficult set of steep rollers, and were on a curving decent. Suddenly, a dog runs into the road. Most people were going tight inside to avoid it, but I was already on the yellow line, and didn't have room to go right. I tried to go wide around it as it was running toward me, but I soon ran out of road, and wound up tumbling into a ditch.

It could have been worse, as in this case, or this case, incidentally, both are from the 2007 Tour de France. It could also have been like this.

I was able to get up quickly, and much chasing ensued -- after I removed a tuft of grass from my shifter. After what must have been 15-20 minutes of a solo red-line effort (assisted at the end by some cars, but don't tell the ref...), I managed to get back into the field, at which point I almost immediately continued to ride like an idiot.

Putman lead the "chase"
Heat = suck
At least we still got some decent training miles in

At some point while I was inspecting the root system of native grass species, Anthem's David Costa had got off the front, so Putman and I were trying to keep the pace down. Suddenly, while riding on the front, two riders shot ahead on the left side of the road. Thinking this was a bridge, I jumped to cover, sitting on the two riders, and congratulating myself on riding great defense for my team mate up the road.

Moments later, the field caught up, and Nathaniel informed me that I was "covering" the Cat 3 breakaway. Oops.

We started the second lap, and I got dropped near the end of the rollers. Kevin and I finished the lap with another dropped rider, then set out for a third in the four-lap race. It was hot, and I wasn't exactly stoked about riding off the back, but so it goes, sometimes. Eventually we finished our third lap, and were all set to ride one more when the ref at the finish line informed us that we were being pulled and placed.

Well, I would have liked to have finished, but I wasn't going to complain too loudly -- after all, it f--ing hot, and I was decidedly miserable. Although it's been nice that this has been a cool summer (the rain has not been nice), the flip side is that yesterday's heat came as a real shock. I don't think I was the only person feeling it, but it seemed to compound my already-poor climbing.

Just another day in the life.

Oh, and at some point while trying to avoid the dog, I locked up my rear wheel and skidded, tearing a bay leaf-sized hole in my tread, on the tire that Dave at Blue Sky had glued for me just days earlier. Wonderful.

Packed weekend of riding ahead!

The state park is really excited
Really excited about something...
Jon took a photo of this sign on South Broadway today

This weekend feels like there's too much going on. Personally, I feel as though I'm being pulled in a million directions. Hopefully, I'll be able to find a way to have some fun, in the midst of it all.

Here's the weekend's agenda/possible agenda:
1) Travis and Carrie are coming to visit. It'll be the first time I've seen them since they got back from a year in China.
2) Saturday is the Capital Region Road Race, the NY State Championships. It looks like we'll actually have a real field, too, after a rush on late registrations.
3) Velo News has dispatched me to the final race in the National Mountain Bike Series at Windham Mountain on Sunday. Although the race is weekend-long, I'm only available for one day, so I'll be figuring out how to do two days of covered at once.
4) James is coming to town for some long rides. I wish I were able to join him on Sunday, and make it to Windham.

So, it's going to be a busy weekend. I wish there were some way I could spend the weekend at Windham, still make it to CRRR, and hang with Trav and Carrie. Unfortunately, I think I have to make some choices...

Tops from the week:
1) Getting my Zipp wheel back, ahead of schedule!
2) Willard Mountain... even if it took a little longer than expected.
3) So much biking, so little time.
4) Fish!
5) Glimmers of form shown at Tokeneke.

Bottoms from the week:
1) There's always a tire to patch.
2) Waiting on the bill from Zipp for the wheel repair...
3) August + third floor apartment + no air conditioning = motherfucking hot.
4) My chronic failures to meet Scott for a ride this week. Sorry buddy, we'll make it happen soon!
5) Work interfering with important stuff, like play!
6) Mooradian's Land Rover.... but I'm just kidding!

In lieu of my busy weekend, there will be no Sunday post this week. Instead, I'll post a link to the Velo News coverage of the Windham race.

The packed freezer edition

King Salmon is red
Halibut is White
There isn't room for anything else in the freezer

I have a close friend named Dante, who has now lived in Alaska for one winter and the better part of two summers. During the summer time, Dante works as a fishing guide at a family-owned lodge in Sterling, on the Kenai Peninsula, about three hours from Anchorage. (During the winter time, Dante is a fellow scribbler. He also maintains an excellent blog.)

There are many downsides to having a friend in Alaska -- it's tough to coordinate rides, shared beers are few and far between, etc... But, there are also some up-sides. Among these are the occasional deliveries of freshly-caught King Salmon, which Dante is kind enough to send me via overnight Fedex, as he did last year as well.

The only difference is that last year he sent me 20 pounds, and this year he sent 40 pounds of salmon, plus some bits of Halibut. I think it's safe to say that I'll be enjoying fish for quite some time (as will others who get a share of the bounty).

On a side note, I also think it's funny to note that in the picture from last year (linked to above) there are four bottles of liquor in the freezer. In this year's photo, there is only one. I believe an increased riding load has translated to far less drinking, and hence a change in freezer contents. Also, I don't think my freezer would have fit the 40 pounds of fish had there been much else in there. No word yet on how my roomie feels about my monopolization of the freezer, although I have a feeling that some fish will quell any ill-feelings.

So anyway, there are going to be some barbeque's in the coming weeks. If you want to see what Alaska-fresh salmon tastes like, you'd better start making nice to me now...

Relating to last night's post, earlier this evening Jamie and I collectively demonstrated how worthless a college degree can be in certain practical matters. You see, way back at Fitchburg, I got a flat in one of my tubulars. In order to fix the tire without unsewing the whole thing, it was suggested to me that I might try some Stan's NoTubes.

How do you get the thick NoTubes liquid into a tubular tire? You remove the valve core, and pour the goop liquid into the tiny opening. Unfortunately, that was not nearly as easy as I just made it sound, and we struggled for probably a good 30 minutes, before finding a little plastic cup with a square corner that allowed us to pour. I'm not even going to go into our myriad failed attempts prior to finding the proper impliment.

So, my tire has been filled with goop. Now, only time will tell if the fix will work, or if I'll be buying a new tire. Of course, the fact that I'm fixing my tire is a good thing, as it means that my rear Zipp wheel has been repaired and returned to me, all in time for Satruday's Capital Region Road Race. Huzzah! Now I just have to hope that I don't crack it again.

Here's my family:

I went to Brooklyn this weekend for Eric's 21st birthday
We took a family photo
I cut off everyone's feet.

Tire mania

I'm noticing, from careful study of the analytics reports that I get on blog traffic on this site, that most readers don't want to spend more than a couple of minutes (1 to 2) reading this site. So, I'm wondering if I would get more loyal visitors if I wrote shorter posts. Yesterday's brief entry was an experiment of sorts. We'll see how it goes.

Of course, shorter posts would mean that I have less of leash to uncork my talent for word-generation -- but maybe that's not the worst thing ever.

Let's consider this post to be day two of this experiment in brevity.

Tonight's topic? Pneumatic tires.

In my apartment, in addition to my four bikes (finally sold my mountain bike last week! Four is way better than five.) I've got a closet full of no fewer than four extra wheel sets -- and by "extra," I mean not currently affixed to a bicycle. Of course, each of the four bikes has a set of wheel on it.

But, I don't mean to boast about my wheel collection, and I don't mean to lecture on the importance of specialization in your wheelstock (we can do that another time).

Tonight, I wanted to complain a little about what a pain it is to keep them all running. For instance, while in Brooklyn over the weekend, I got a flat tire. I was close to home, so I rode the flat tire around the corner, and then switched to race wheels for my ride the next day.

Yesterday, I wanted to get back on the training wheels, so I put a new tube in. However, at $3 a pop, in these troubled economic times, you can't put anything to waste, so I installed a patched tube and went for a ride. When I got home, I found that I'd lost about 40 PSI from the patched tube. So, earlier this evening, I bit the bullet and installed a new (like, brand new) tube in my rear wheel.

Of course, flat tires are occasionally a fact of life -- especially when you use tires as crappy as the ones on my bike. BUT, wouldn't it be nice if someone could come up with a truly flat-proof system? The various tubeless systems are close, but still seems to be vulnerable to certain types of flats. Same with tubulars. But the problem with both of those systems is that if you do get a flat, fixing it is exponentially more of a pain in the ass. Which will likely lead to more issues in my wheel closet, and not less.

So, I'm waiting. Give a holler if you know of anything good!

Why ride off the front?

After Sunday's adventures off the front of the Tokeneke Classic, I was left thinking about the logic of riding in breakaways -- or rather, the lack thereof.

This season, most of my best results -- third at Bear Mountain, second at the Tour of Syracuse Road Race, top tens at the Tour of the Battenkill and Johnny Cake Lane, and a second at a Prospect Park Spring Series -- came in breakaways.

And that is why I keep trying it.

Breakaways, especially at the elite level, it would seem, are almost often reeled in before the finish -- but sometimes they work. For example, after he dropped us mortals, Matt Purdy won the Fitchburg road race in a solo break. A week later, James won Union Vale, also riding out of a break away.

The reason it's so tempting for me to go into breaks is that while they might be caught nine times out of ten, that tenth race is so worth it.

Maybe it's a little like gambling? The part that I still need to work on is keeping enough in the tank to be able to get back into the field, if the break does get caught. Thus far, I haven't been able to do this in the elite races in which I made breakaway attempts (Hilltowns, Tokeneke), but I'll get there.

Tokeneke Road Race Report

Today's race, the Tokeneke Classic, falls into the category of races I've done before, but sucked at, and have now returned to conquer.

OK, I didn't fully conquer, but the last time I raced Tokeneke, I have distinct memories of being dropped on the first of three laps in the cat 3 race, and then quitting.

Today, was a little different. I still felt horrible during the first lap, and thought I was going to puke several times -- due both to some fast and aggressive riding and an ill-timed cliff bar just prior to the start. In fact, I did get dropped on a long and steady uphill grind about mid-way through the first lap. Fortunately, together with team mate Adam, I managed to get back into the group. I had recovered enough (and my stomach settled enough), to hang tough on our first trip up the 2.5-mile long climb to the finish at the end of the first lap.

By this time, I was feeling better, and wasn't having any trouble at all on the smaller climbs that come early in the lap. Buoyed by my good sensations, I was sitting in the first third of the pack, near team mates Kevin and David, who were also riding well. Around the half-way point of the first lap, two riders went off the front -- it was BikeReg.com's Eric Schildge (brother of BVFer Adam Schildge) and an Exodus rider who I do not know.

Never one to sit in and let others dictate a race, I linked up with Adler's Matt Cutler in a bridge effort, taking off up the same roller where I'd been dropped on the previous lap.

We put steady time into the field, but weren't gaining on the break. Then James, of Embrocation Cycling Journal fame, and riders from CCNS and CCB came across to us. With five riders working, we were quickly able to bridge up to the two leaders.

We set up a pretty good rotation, and seemed to be putting in time on the field, as we were soon out of sight, and the SRAM car came up behind us. I later learned that we never had much more than a 40 second lead. Anyway, it was still cool to come through the finish line in the lead group, as it always is. We started the final lap with a 25-second advantage.

Unfortunately, we'd lost Cuttler and the Exodus rider on the climb to the finish, and Eric wasn't working, leave the other four of us to pull him along. We kept our lead going toward the lap's mid point, when Jake Hollenbach bridge across, and set a furious pace that quickly popped me and James.

I get that Jake wanted to get off the front, and had no reason to wait around for slower riders, but we'd been a mostly-well organized group up until that point, and his acceleration entirely shattered the group. Everyone was back in the fold in short order. Part of me wonders, with the climb coming, if we would have stood a chance to re-establish our gap without that big surge. Oh well.

In any event, I was pretty well spent when we got pulled back, and soon found myself dropped, along with David, James, and a few others. By this time, it was raining, and when others in the group started yelling at each other about pulling to hard or not pulling hard enough, I decided that I'd had enough, and shut it down. It was clear that we weren't getting back into the group anyway. I rode a more modest pace to the finish, where I bike-stabbed my way across the line to relegate a Colavita regional rider to 43rd, or some equally-unimportant placing.

Ah, small victories.

Coach Scott came out to watch the race, so I was glad to be able to put on a show for him, even if it didn't have the ending we would have liked. All in all, a very fun race. I'm now looking forward to the Capital Region Road Race on Saturday, which is shaping up to be an Anthem v. Spooky showdown. Hmmm... who would I put my money on in that race...

Belated Thursday post

Sometimes, when I don't post anything to the blog on a Thursday evenings, it's because I'm out doing something fun and age-appropriate.

Last night was not such a case. I was at home, cleaning my bike. I also watched Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, which was excellent. But, I'd got up at five in the morning to go for a ride before work, and by the time the rags and bike lust were put away, and the movie had finished, it was damn near one in the morning, netting me 20 hours of straight wakefulness, preceded by only five hours of rest the night before. So, you'll understand if I was a little too tired to start tapping away on the keyboard.

But, never fear, I'm back in the thick of things now.

This post comes to you from Brooklyn. I drove down earlier this evening to help my brother celebrate his 21st birthday (actually, he doesn't need much help, but I figured I'd go along for the ride anyway). Also, all of my bib shorts are dirty, and a trip home seemed like more fun than a trip to the laundromat.

Sunday is the Tokeneke Classic, in East Harland, CT. I'm declaring this the first race of my post-upgrade, late season comeback -- so watch out!!

Lots of good stuff this week:

Tops from the list:
1) Embrocation Cycling Journal -- here's to the successful launch of a new magazine!
2) The Sunday Social ride.
3) Eric's 21st Birthday! Maybe now he'll give me back the purloined license.
4) Finally sold my mountain bike! The fleet is now down to the very reasonable size of four.
5) John O's slick work.

Bottoms from the week:
1) My dating prospects after my first Embrocation contribution... now there's no hiding my true motives.
2) The continuing saga of broken carbon fiber. My new fork came with a steer tube 50mm too short. Thanks Scott! No word yet on the Zipp wheel.
3) Much time in the car this weekend.
4) Saratoga traffic in track season -- took me 30 minutes to get out of town today.
5) The track, in general.

Breaking up

Let me first say that it's been at least six weeks since I've broken up or been broken up with. This is post is not only about me, for once.

However, there have recently, there have been a few breakups in the world around me, which, as always, gets me thinking about the breakups I have been involved in. It's always sad, someone almost always gets hurt, no matter how good a reason there is for ending the relationship.

During a previous break up, the reasons were geography and creed. Another breakup was over a drifting-apart, of sorts. There have been others, with many reasons, but all have followed the same general rule:

In all cases, there was a break up-er (if you will), and a break up-ee. A very wise man (OK, it was my Dad) once told me that every relationship has these two roles. Someone will end things; be it by kicking the bucket first, by announcing that "it simply isn't working any more," or by committing some transgression.

Both roles are equally crappy. If your the one doing the breaking up, chances are that you feel bad about hurting the person you're leaving. Even if you're sure you will both be better off in the long run, it's still a sad thing to contemplate how the other will feel, how you are hurting them.

On the flip side, it's no more fun to be left. Chances are, you liked the person you were with and have every intention of spending the foreseeable future in their company. Now, suddenly, they don't want to see you? Or, at least not in the same way? What the hell?! Maybe you saw it coming, maybe you didn't. Either way, you thought you had a partner, but you don't.

I feel badly for everyone I know currently going through a change in relationship status, and I hope that we all come out on our feet.

In equally somber news, I'm thinking of Susan, Fatty, and their girls.

Embrocation, defined

Is that the Spirit of Life?

Is she holding a cow bell and a stein?
Why, yes she is!

As you've probably surmised, this is another image presaging things coming to Saratoga... That's all I'm saying.

After Sunday's mass mailing, I've been inundated in email from friends and family who are excitedly reading the first offerings from Embrocation Cycling Journal. (If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out, and be sure to read my dating guide for cyclists.)

This flood of emails is one of my favorite things about sending out mass-mailings, as it's often a chance to catch up with people I haven't heard from in a while. BUT, responding to all those emails does take a little time, so you'll forgive me if tonight's post is a bit truncated.

A lot of the email I'm getting is wondering what, exactly, embrocation is. Here it is: embrocation, or linaments, or Belgian knee warmers, is an oily paste that cyclists, especially those racing in inclement conditions, use to protect their legs from the elements. The oil is usually about the consistency of Vasoline, and contains a heat element. The oils come in a variety of "temperatures."

In wet or muddy conditions ('cross and early spring races) embrocation is great, because it lets your legs feel warm, without having to wear leg or knee warmers, which can get heavy with absorbed water. When applying linaments, I always feel a little like I'm shellacking my legs. The oily paste creates an impervious barrier that keeps the elements out. It also has the added benefit of accumulating road dirt and other grime, which makes you look very hardcore at the finish line.

So, why name a magazine after this stuff? For some reason that I won't pretend to understand, embrocation has become a near-mythic aspect of cycling in some circles. It has at least one blog named after it, and some people feel that their racing success hinges directly on the proper combination and application of embrocation. I'm not sure if the oils actually have that kind of power, but the fact that some riders think it does is enough to give this product a permanent place in the annals of cycling lore -- just as the Embrocation Cycling Journal is becoming a repository of cycling lore. So there you go.

In other news, I went for a bike ride today.

Since I didn't have to be in to work until 2 p.m., I went out for a longish bike ride. It started out with some torture, courtesy of Coach Scott. This torture came in the form of 15-minute lactic threshold intervals. Have your legs ever burned so bad you wished you could tear them off? If you're curious, try to ride as hard as you possibly can for 15 minutes, then repeat twice more.

After the intervals, I popped up and over West Mountain, one of the only Lake Sacandaga climbs I didn't get to on Sunday. I was originally planning on heading back to Corinth the easy way, over Hunt Lake Road, but when I realized I still had nearly two hours to ride, I turned left at the bottom of the descent instead, and headed again toward Fox Hill Road.

The climb hadn't changed much since Sunday, but it's been dry for two days (I may declare a drought tomorrow), and the dirt section on top of the road was dry as well.

I was a little surprised to find that riding it today was actually slower than it was on Sunday. The dry conditions made for slightly worse traction, and there seemed to be more bumps than usual.

It was still a fun, four-hour ride for a Tuesday morning.

Sunday's rainy century

Here's a slightly easier version of Sunday's route
Note the omission of Fox Hill Road and Luzerne Road.
As we get older, the rides get tougher...

On Sunday, myself and some of Saratoga's hardiest cyclists banded together for a 96-mile, 6,000-foot slog around some of the region's most fearsome climbs. This ride reminded me that what starts as your regular Sunday ride can always turn into an "epic," and those are the best kinds of rides.

In the week preceding the ride, the route I submitted to the group via email was dubbed "Andrew's Death March," "Sacandaga Slog," and "The Sunday Social Ride."

To give you a sense of the ride's difficulty, let me first describe for you Corinth Mountain Road. The relevant section of this road is about a mile long, starts out with a gradual drag away from Route 9 in Wilton, then suddenly kicks up to a sustained grade of near-20 percent. There are three turns, which means you don't have to live in fear for the entire climb, as you can't always see how much more you have ahead of you.

Corinth Mountain is a go-to when Saratoga-area riders are looking for an accessible climb guaranteed to put them in the red. This was the first of six significant climbs on Sunday's route. I really can't take credit for designing the route, as this was James Morrison's regular training ride when he lived in Saratoga.

When looking at the course profile generated on www.MapMyRides.com, the feared Corinth climb was dwarfed by successively-taller, sometimes steeper climbs on Luzerne Road, Hadley Hill Road, Yates Road, and Fox Hill Road. I did this ride several times last year, and earlier this season, but with a heavy schedule of races in May, June, and July, it had been a few months.

Even so, for me, with my eye on the Green Mountain Stage Race, Fall Bear, and the Tour of the Catskills, this type of climbing-heavy route is just the thing to get my climbing legs going again, and the mileage is in the ball park of what I do in races anyway.

Most of the time, I'm left to do my longer training rides alone, so I was grateful to have along this time Jamie, Steve, Ken Grey, John Onderdonk, Mark Bettinger, Douglas Meyer, Todd Shapiro, Dr. Bob Love, Andrew Atkins and his brother Dean. Steve Williams, of Northville, met us halfway, with his friend Glen. To be sure, it was a sizable crew for an on-the-whim Sunday 100-miler.

That might have been the end of the story, (group of guys go for a long ride, come home, eat a lot of food), but it started raining about half way through the ride, when were rolling north on Stony Creek Road, pushing the margins of Saratoga County.

It really started coming down as we climbed Hadley Hill Road, quickly soaking the whole group. No worries, we just kept riding. Eventually the rain eased to more of a consistent spit. The rain, and clouds that came with it, also mercifully kept the temperatures down. Despite the rain and hills, everyone kept in good spirits, even when we turned onto the hellaciously-steep Yates Hill Road, which is so steep you might as well be looking up at the flat side of a skyscraper.

Of course, a climb is never quite as steep as you think it's going to be. After rolling across Military Road, we eventually sopped our way into Edinburgh, for the second of two water stops. The clerks were less than pleased to have a group of sodden spandex-wearers perusing the aisles, making a mess of everything.

No matter. Refueled, we rolled downhill from Edinburgh, to the Bachellerville Bridge, where a strong cross wind forced us into echelons (sort of). Then it was time for the day's final obstacle, the ascent up Fox Hill Road, to the ride's highest elevation. Fox Hill would also lead us to the day's biggest question mark: whether or not the dirt section on the top would be rideable, as it usually is, but sometimes isn't.

We re-grouped at Tinney's Tavern, made good use of Bob Priestly's garden hose to wash off the mud, and then completed our loop through Greenfield, rolling back into town with wet everything, but also with a contended sense of accomplishment. After all, a 6-hour ride is fun, but six hours in the rain is something else entirely.

Last year, I once had the pleasure of doing the same ride in the rain, alone. It was a lot more fun with friends.

If you'd like to ride the Sunday Social, here's the route.

Embrocation essay!

In lieu of tonight's post, I'm going to publish a copy of an email that I just sent to my fast-growing fan club, announcing my first essay being published with the Embrocation Cycling Journal. If you are not on my mailing list and would like to be, please let me know: bernstein.andrew@gmail.com

Earlier today, myself and 10 other hearty soles ventured out for a 98-mile mile ride, that saw us climb 6,000 feet, about have of which was done in the rain. Check back tomorrow for a full ride report.

Friends,
The last time I wrote to you all, there was a cool spring edge to the air, summer was still a far-away thought, and here in New York's 20th Congressional District, Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco were about to face off in a special election.

Now, four months later, only one thing has changed: Murphy won the election, while we continue to endure spring-like weather and wish that summer might someday arrive. So it goes.

Embrocation Cycling Journal is a Boston-based quarterly magazine that aims to capture the cycling experience through words and images. It's not about bicycle racing, per se, but looks to examine the two-wheeled culture as a whole, from artists who paint bikes to some of the sport's quirkiest personalities. The magazine has been around for a little while, but is now making a new push on it's website (www.embrocationmagazine.com).

I am proud to say that I am a part of this new online campaign, and have joined a talented stable of cycling writers who will be providing regular content online. Although Embrocation is a cycling publication, even non-cyclists will find much of the content interesting. Case-in-point: here is a link to my first contribution to the site, titled "Racer's Program for Dating."

I don't want to give away my punch line, but anyone who has ever tried to balance a love life and a serious hobby or career will appreciate my words on this topic. I hope that you will find the time to read my first contribution, and to read some of what else Embrocation has to offer. I promise you won't be disappointed!

This is a new web effort for a start-up publication, and you can help us get off to a running start by passing on the link to my story of to the website, post it to your Facebook profile, or have it sky-written if you must, just help us get the word out! And, don't forget to check back with Embrocation frequently, there will be new content online everyday.

Enjoy, and I hope to hear from you soon, AB

P.S. As always, please let me know if you prefer not to receive these emails.

P.P.S. If you're wondering what embrocation is, you're not alone. Click here for a semi-sensical explanation.

P.P.S. My blog, Good Bye Blue Mondays, is alive and well, don't forget to read it often!