Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium race report

First off, I forgot to give an update on my races in the last few weeks. Why? Because I didn't do any of the planned races, and I did one that was not under the "planned races" section of my blog (the AP Finals which is the previous post). Sorry...

Yesterday was the Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium, another race I did last year, and the race that my club is the host. What does that mean? I had to get up at 4:00 am, to be at the race location by 5:30, only to find out I would just stand around and talk to the mothers of the junior racers on the team. Ok, so I did help put up the start/finish line which involved a teammate climbing into the tree, but that was pretty much it and only took 15-20 minutes.

The course is 1.3 miles long, a downhill at the beginning and two climbs with a false flat in between them at the end.

at 7am, I got back to my car, unpacked my bike and got ready for the race. Ate a banana and a chocolate chip muffin, drank a lot of sports drink, and just warmed up in the parking lot and on the race course. at 8:30, my race went off.

Feeling very comfortable, I actually stayed in the field for 2.5 laps. However, the pace picked up on the first climb on the 3rd lap (which made no sense to me) and I did get dropped. My legs felt like they were lead at this point and I kept considering just dropping out. I kept going though, and with a few laps to go I did get lapped. However, I just caught on to the back of the field and did a lap with them, which helped me catch up to a racer ahead of me on the same lap. Him and I then rode the last 1.5 laps together and it came down to a sprint finish. This is byfar, the FIRST and ONLY time anyone has beaten me out in a sprint. I was spinning in too low of a gear, while he just kept inching away from me. I gave up about 20 yards from the finish line because I wasn't in a sprinting gear.

I got 2nd to last place (19/20) but there was at least 22 starters. I think I did better last year than I did this year at this race.

Possibly another race next week, I would just have to give up a some soccer games I am scheduled to officiate in order to do this race, since it is on the other side of the NJ/PA border, but only 30 minutes from my school. Even though it might be possible to do all, it would be too much driving for me. I will update later this week.

yesterday I was a bike rider...

Tonight, I became a competitive cyclist.

I got 3RD and a bronze medal during the AP Finals at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center (Formally Lehigh Valley Velodrome) in my Adults category (19-39 year olds). I was up against 8 or 9 other cyclists, 3 or 4 of which I was to be concerned about being about the same strength as me or stronger. I almost got beaten by another guy, but just at the end I gave a few hard pushes to inch away from him, I just barely beat him by an inch or so.

Pictures will come in the next few days when they are put on the velodrome's website and when my dad runs the pictures from the camera to the computer.

New Dream: become a pro track rider at the Friday Nights in 5 years!

Michael Phelps

(tried posting last night, blogger wasn't allowing me to log in for some reason)

Congratulations to Michael Phelps for an incredible 8th Gold Medal win yesterday with his relay teammates. I was watching the race live and was scared they wouldn't do it when the second swimmer was falling back a little, tiny bit. But then Phelps was able to make that up and surpass the other swimmers by a little, and then the fourth guy finished it off. Just incredibly awesome.

And did you hear?

Phelps is the wealthiest swimmer at age 23, bringing in $5,000,000 in endorsements.

And I was blown away by this next fact about him... HE EATS 12,000 CALORIES A DAY! A DAY!! He trains 30 hours a week, I barely do that in 3 weeks, some of the time. The guy is incredible and just, a superhuman! WOW!

Haha very funny

If I haven't mentioned it yet, I am a High School official for basketball and soccer, as well as doing youth organizations. One of my basketball officiating "brother" sent out an email to the "brotherhood of officials" (10 or so of us in the brotherhood of "Axis of Evil" as we're called) busting me about not doing as well as I said I would in the Pottsville race, and then another "brother" sent out this email in response:

Test results just announced by head of city rec. dept.,Mary Quirk, that bicyclist,Zach Ellwood, had a high amount of FIC in his urine test which explains Zach's poor finish in last weeks race.Zach ,who touted throughout the "Deuce" that this was his year to win it all ,never thought that the substance would show up in his post race urine sample. When I questioned the local lab about the substance symbol,which perplexed even the so called "experts" the tester told me it is a very common substance found in O-Burg area people and that Zach is just a victim of his environment. The FIC is .....................................

FREEZE ICE CREAM!!!!!!
That explains why Zach had that extra "spare tire",better luck next year,follow in the feet of Stepdad and drink your nourishment

Yours in sports,
Joe-Secretary Pottsville Basketball Officials

Freeze is an Ice Cream/Restaurant place just outside of my hometown. And my "stepdad" is another official that everyone calls my other dad because I'm always around him and I do look up to him as well. I thought this was funny enough to share.

And actually, another funny thing is that I haven't been to Freeze in at least a year! I'M INNOCENT I TELL YA!

Allentown Sportsfest Race Report

Another PR today. Average speed of 20.6 mph at finishing line. Could have been higher but I'll get to that in a bit.

Before the race as I was warming up, I noticed my front derailleur was acting strange. I COULDN'T GET INTO THE LARGE RING!! My buddy from the local bike shop was there to race Cat 5 as well, so he looked at it quickly and told me to just try to get into the large ring and stay in that ring throughout the race. I was able to get it into the large ring eventually and didn't even touch the left shifter except to brake. Turns out you could do this criterium in the large ring alone.

So the races were all behind about 15 minutes, and of course since we're Cat 5 and we "really don't matter all that much" they knocked our race from 12 laps to 10 laps, so we only did 8 miles (.8 miles per lap). I had a good start, was in the middle of the pack for the first lap or two, then started dropping back. I was able to stay directly behind the pack for another few laps until my legs were getting that stiff feeling from the lactate threshold level being reached or surpassed. So I just kind of backed off a little, hoping I would sprint on the downhill to catch up. No luck. There were at least two guys that got dropped before me, and so I kind of slowed down. (This is where my average mph could have been higher if I didn't slow down to let these guys catch up to me). Anyways, so they caught up to me, but the older rider couldn't keep up anymore and so I rode with just the one guy. Pissing me off by drafting me, and I've tried everything to get him to pull through, except actually saying "hey buddy, pull through and do some of the work" (I'm still shy about that kind of stuff).

So then on the second to last lap, I started slowing down conserving my energy and had my head tilted back to see what this guy was doing. This lap we were doing like 13 or 14 mph, just trying to see what the other was doing and figuring out what we needed to do. coming around the first turn of the last lap I was able to get him to pull through and I drafted him until the 2nd turn which he just didn't want to lead anymore. I stayed on his side and on the third turn, I started sprinting and got ahead of him by maybe 5 yards, I sat down until the fourth turn, still looking back to see where he was, and then a few seconds out of that turn I got out of the saddle and sprinted for the finish line ahead of him. Just to prove I am a tactical rider and a darn good sprinter. I just need to be up front so the sprinting power can be useful.

for a good article on this subject, big guys like me and sprinting, speed, etc., click here to go to my blog-friend Ron over at Cozy Beehive who found an article about it

According to the final results I finished second to last, but like I said before, there was at least one more rider behind me than the guy I finished with. I don't know how many started, but hopefully the DNFs will be posted as well when the results are posted online.

Like I said, I think I have great sprinting potential, it's just a matter of staying with the lead pack until the finish where I can unleash the beast in me.

Tomorrow I start training at the track. I still don't have a track bike so I will have to use one of the velodrome's bikes, which are provided for free when you do the Air Products Developmental Cycling Program. I will be participating in two of their programs; Adult Advanced and Adult Fitness. I can't wait. I also hope to get a track bike before the Air Product Finals, which is the last night of Professional racing at this velodrome, which has a "special" race for those that participated in the Air Products program. So I will get to race on a Friday night in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators, as well as many who will watch it live on TV on the local channel. Talk about pressure!

Pottsville City Cycle 17 Race Report

so today I did the Pottsville City Cycle 17, a non-usac sanctioned race. Last year I did horrible, but this year I did a lot better. I did 17 miles in just over an hour, and had my best average during any race which was 17 mph. This was with a power climb on each lap (3+ miles per lap) that I couldn't make it up each lap without walking up except for the last lap last year. This year, I got up all 5 times, and not only that, I got up quicker on all the laps individually than I did the only time I got up last year. My climbing skills are getting better!!!

My time was something like 1:01:16. Last year my time was like 1:08 or somewhere around there, so I did beat my time last year by 5 minutes. I placed 45th out of well over 60 riders. This year there were a lot more competitive guys than there were last year, which did play on my mind mentally prior to the race and probably was why I dropped off the back of the main group through the bike path on the first lap. After getting dropped I decided to race against my time last year. Next year I hope to do around 55 minutes.

Anyways, my buddy who races for Kutztown University won the race, beating the guy who won this race 5-7 years on the row. My buddy just barely beat him out in the sprint.

Now I must relax and get ready for my race tomorrow morning, a 12 lap x .8 mile/lap criterium. Knowing that I did 17 mph average today, I should do well tomorrow.

Overall, I felt great and comfortable on the course. The one turn I was always having problems with last year, I only went off on the first lap when I was with the leading pack. Someone kind of got in my line and I was forced off the road, but not so much that I got right back in where I was in the pack. Other than that, I was comfortable. Now I must concentrate tomorrow morning... race report will come tomorrow night or Monday.

Double Header this weekend

This is one of the few weekends I've been waiting for all summer. The Pottsville City Cycle 17 race on Saturday and the Allentown Sportsfest on Sunday. I can't wait. Huge Carb-loading starts Thursday Afternoon for this weekend, and then at least a day off from riding next Monday!

Saturday's race, Pottsville City Cycle 17, starts at 10:00. 17 miles total, with 5 three mile loops. Since the course is about a 15 minute drive from my house, I've been training on it for the last several weeks, as well as a few times earlier in the summer. I will go there one more time tomorrow before the race.

I plan to get there around 8:00 or 8:30 (it will get crowded since there is a kid's race before this race) so I can go around the course at least one time as warm up, and then get on the trainer or just ride around the parking lot and course until the race starts.

Last year I didn't do too well, on account that my bike was in the shop for a week up until the night before the race, so I had no time to practice that week. My legs were stiff and not ready that morning, and I felt it through the whole race. I did somewhere around a hour and 6 minutes, placing 48th out of atleast 60. This race is open to ANYONE, of any age and skill level, so there aren't categories as USAC races are.

My friend Kyle from Kutztown placed 2nd last year, and he plans to go for first this year. Another one of his teammates from Kutztown, Noah, will be joining, so I believe the two of us will help Kyle throughout the race to get first, while we'll place, hopefully, top 5. My only enemy is 18th street, a power climb that is pretty scary. If I can get up that with Kyle and Noah, I should be fine, however they're both Cat 3 while I'm cat 5 so they could very well get ahead of me easily. I'll just sprint on the downhill to catch up with them if I have to on each lap.

Then Sunday... Allentown. I remember this course from last year and liked it a lot. 12 laps of .8 mile each. This is the one that I mistakenly tried on the 3rd or 4th lap to push myself towards the front of the pack on the slight uphill at the start of each lap, and burnt out my energy. This time I will just try to get a good start and be close to the front of the pack during the race. At some point, if no one does yet, I will probably initiate an attack (I hope no one else doing the race is reading this!) to speed things up, and maybe have a few others leading the race that I could work with to keep away from the pack and finish together with a sprint. I have a lot of confident in myself for this one, because I did well last year in this one and could have done better if I didn't make that mistake on the 3rd or 4th lap. I was very comfortable sitting in the back half of the pack while waiting for something to happen. I just got impatience with myself and the rest of the pack that I wanted to partake in some of the actions up front. Anyways, I hope I can make the breakaway with another few riders to place top 5. If that doesn't happen, I will try to place top 10. My main objective is to finish with or ahead of the main pack and not get lapped!

Saturday afternoon I'll post about Pottsville, Sunday or Monday I will post about Allentown.