Good morning!
Since this is March 18th, this might be more accurately called a “hangover”, but it is Wednesday, so it will be known as an argument. And the argument is as follows: what has this young racing season shown you? Have you surprised yourself with your mightiness? Has your body and careful training forsaken you? Are you so painfully hung over that you won’t be able to call anyone a sandbagger until Thursday?
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I like bikes and training and fitness and all that, but what really makes this sport fun are the people you meet. One of the interesting things about the start of the new season is seeing who’s still racing, who’s missing, and who’s making a comeback.
Its really still a bit early to tell for sure, by the beginning of May we’ll have a better idea, but every year the deck seems to shuffle a little bit. I’ve only been around 6 seasons, and very few of the names on the results from 2003 are still around. More in the upper categories, almost no one from the 3’s and 4’s. I’m sure the guys who have been doing this 10 years+ have seen two or three full rotations of the racing crowd.
How about this season? Any notable absences yet? Any old faces returned?
Where is Chris Ugly?
at any races
ugli moved to Austin.
i love the nyc bike racing scene. you guys are great.
Rashad moved to Texas
but he didn’t even say bye
Rashad did not move to Texas.
Oops, I meant, I wish Bezdek moved to Texas.
bezdek was raised in oxygen tent, colorado. he should be banned.
for some climbs
-dave trimble
I am slow.
So am I
– Reed A.
no you aren’t
I’ve notived that the guys who are strong in March also tend to be the same guys who are strong in May.
I heard noise about a comeback…
the Visit Britain team of a few years ago? Gulla for one? Smilie moved west, what happened to the rest?
i have seen quite the opposite, actually… guys who are fast in march blow up in june and suck ass at fitchburg and nationals, where it actually counts. i love how guys accidentally peak in april because they have no idea what they’re doing, and all the races they’ve won don’t even count for upgrades.
HAHAHAH I’M LAUGHING!
1.United’s Sprinter Gavin. He has made a very nice transition and is one of the top sprinters on the road scene. I see he spent sometime training properly over the winter.
2. That I finished in the top ten in a 123 road race this early in the cold season when only training for specific track events.
My Question is, Where is Ken Harris….???
Will Ken be coming to the track to play this year…???
– LaCorte
where is he? haven’t seen him on the podium yet.
gulla is not coming back. ricky lowe was visit britain, no?
prensky got 2nd in a club race.
Some guys are just strong year around. They may some peaks and valleys, but peaks are higher, and the valleys are not as far below sea level as most of us.
A lot of the guys who are training properly for a mid-summer peak are relatively fast in March because they have put in lots of endurance miles over the winter while others have not. Surely some have gone too hard too early and will blow up by June. But others might appear to fade mid-summer not because they’ve trained wrong, but because their competition will experience greater gains in fitness over the next few weeks as they start to ride seriously again.
has been top ten every race so far this year. Looks like he’ll be a 2 before long
a lot of the strong 3s from last year will be 2s by mid-season
The summer fade theory is the biggest myth in all of cycling. Train consistently, race consistently. Maybe some folks think they can maintain fitness by just racing and fade, but the ones who stay the course stay at the front.
shit the only fade i’ll get this summer is my haircut
Play? Is that you?
No, the unemployment line doesn’t have wifi.
It’s been ages since I did any racing in CP, so I’ve got a questions about the sprint up Cat’s Paw hill – does anyone use a landmark for starting their sprint? That hill seems to stretch on further as your legs start dying.
Forget about bae, just focus on beating Wilson and you’ll win at least 2 races before April. I call it the Bezdek Method. Hasn’t failed me yet.
-N.B.
DISCLAIMER: Results may vary. Test data sampled 3/14/09 through 3/15/09 and may not prove effective for third attempt. Do not try this against shoulder-to-shoulder with any members of W.S. United. Tax, title, and destination fee extra. Member FDIC.
Lol to the Kid and Play reference
-Cameo
No surprises, I am still fat and slow. AWESOME! I guess I should have done more riding this winter instead of working hard to keep my job to feed my 4 kids and keep the creditors at bay. But who really measures their wealth anymore? A real man’s glory is only measured by his wattage. dammit.
i use 60 watts in my living room…light.
…different year. Another top 10 result right off the bat.
Sucks to be me. I guess I’ll win something when I get into shape.
totally agree. the people who think that being fit now hurts later are the guys who don’t do anything all winter and then race into shape, and thus make progress on other people in may or june. but guys who are fit now aren’t necessarily plateauing or getting worse at that point, they just aren’t improving as fast. yes, some guys might be too fit too early, and admittedly, it’s likely that you’ll fade if bringing racing into the mix means cutting back significantly on the training grind. but if you can find the time and discipline to stay relatively steady all year and continue training weaknesses, you will keep improving (within reason), and will also improve more year after year.
it IS possible to overtrain in January in February, I’ve seen it. But definitely much more common is undertraining. Not because guys are subscribing to some “myth”, just because it’s impossible for most people to get out in the middle of the day in the wintertime, except on weekends, and then only if there is no snow or ice on the ground. Of course indoors is better than nothing but it only goes so far and some NYCers can’t even have a trainer in their apartment because of noise. So if you are really fit in March, consider yourself fortunate and not necessarily morally superior.
The big myth is that you need to ride craploads of miles to be fast. You can be quite fast with four hours per week on the trainer if you are very focused. If you can handle the trainer work mentally (which isn’t that hard if you only do hour long rides), you also are far less likely to burn yourself out than doing 15-20 hours of monotonous riding week in week out.
Oh and since you have will have a higher threshold than you would have otherwise, you will still be able to ride just fine on a five hour ride.
The trainer is also an excellent for bike handling skills.s
yeah … spending 15 hours riding outside, enjoying the scenery, talking to friends, etc. is so friggin boring. It sounds absolutely terrible.
Because 9W is so stunningly beautiful. And let’s face it, most people riding 15+ hour weeks are doing a lot of riding alone. In any case, if you like riding outside that much and don’t get burned out, that’s great and you should keep doing it. But the idea that everyone needs to do that to enjoy cycling and ride strong is flat out wrong. Oh, and trainer riding is only for the winter anyway when the landscape is brown and the weather sucks.
I’m not debating effectiveness. Certainly, some things are done far more effectively alone inside (and I’m not talking about reading the NYT online). Whatever floats yer boat …
http://ironman.com/thumbs.php?w=290&h=290&i=/articles/2005/imported/h-1114456068.jpg
Many guys with long work days are forced even during the nice months to put hours in on the rollers and trainer to get their focused intervals in. Last year I mostly rode the trainer during the week and then got outside for some long hilly rides on the weekend. No one likes the trainer but sometimes its all you can fit in and there is no debating the focused workouts you can get on it in a 1 hour workout.
I also think that guys racing in the park and doing flat crits do not need the LSD during the winter if they are doing 10 hours of focused stregth and aerobic workouts. Now if you are a Cat1 doing 75mile plus races with hills that may be a different story.
i find that a couple of doping cycles helps spectacularly to get my fitness in order coming into the season
everyone’s an expert. but not everyone wins.
train as long and hard as you can, at your skill level, without overtraining, using periodization techniques to be at your own peak performance. end of story.
Also – EAT DORITOS. Just sayin’
oh yeah that reminds me. get your weight down as much as possible without losing power. fat ass.
srsly though many of these comments are people trying to justify their own shitty winter training. it’s too late to fix things. you’ll race into good fitness but you’ll never peak as hard as the dudes who’ve been logging hours since november. SCIENCE!
Most on this site are Cat4s and 5s who have not yet been jaded by the racing scene. To be a good Cat4 racing the local park races all you need to do is work on your 1 minute power and sprint. You dont need 20 hours a week for this.
you most be a cad 3.
Logging 10 hours a week of focused workouts on the trainer (SubLTs – VO2Max) is far from shitty. Its alot more draining physically and mentally than noodling around at LSD for 20 hours a week. People have different work schedules and goals. What works for the 20somthing freelancer does not work for the person with a family and 7-8pm job. This is why coaches have become so popular.
i love to noodle around on lsd.
WS United riders are far too agressive and have no idea of sportsmanship. Plenty of carbon fiber, power meters and “coaches” but why so many crashes???
but they are built on friendship
The old school way was to do base miles and base miles and base miles. But that really does shit, in all honesty. All it really does is prepare you for the Race Across America, it doesn’t prepare you to go fast. Intensity and being specific about the way you’re training has taken its place.
I ride a CAAD 9.
I get all of my base with yo moms. word.
“Intensity and being specific about the way you’re training has taken its place”.
Uhh…ya, until you have to race for 4 hours and your longest ride since September was 2 hours. Have fun limping to the line.
This guy was right – “train as long and hard as you can, at your skill level, without overtraining, using periodization techniques to be at your own peak performance. end of story.” there’s no formula.
I also don’t have a single cat 1 or 2 friend that trains 4 hours a week and does well. And I sure as hell don’t know who rides their trainer indoors in April, May, etc..at least not anyone that would admit to it. If you get home late, get a light and get on the road.
Men’s Teams
Bissell Pro Cycling
BMC Racing Team
Bobs Bicycles.com
California Giant-Specialized
Champion Systems Racing
Colavita Sutter Home
DLP Racing
Empire Cycling Team p/b Northwave
Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living Foundation
Garmin- Holoweko Partners- Felt
Jelly Belly
Kahala La-Grange
Kelly Benefit Strategies
Land Rover-Orbea
Metro Volkswagen Cycling Team
Mt. Khakis
OUCH p/b Maxxis
Ride Clean Team
Rock Racing
Team Hotel San Jose
Team Type 1
Team VRC NOW-MS Society
Team Waste Management
Ten Speed Drive/BH Bicycles
Trek-Livestrong
Webcor/ Alto Velo
unfortunately, i was forced to ride the entire second half of last summer indoors during the week. not fun, but it did pretty insane things to my final peak in august.
so are gangs, WSU use intimidation to move around the field, maybe thats what it takes, maybe thats what WSU are used to receiving…
But if ANYONE comes near me in an “unsportsmanlike” attitude in a race, I will get their number and have them DQd.
Lest I have them inspect the potholes/barricades/curb, “aisle or window” seat…
are great for specific work and testing. You should be on a training diet of at least once per month testing for progress with a specific protocol. Racing lets you know where you are relative to your competition and therefore where you need to train.
Nobody claims base miles/LSD will help you peak for anything. Base miles help you avoid injury once you start to race into fitness or before intervals (indoor and outside)…
sheesh, the forest not the trees boys and girls…
I am so happy someone flamed 9:42. You flamed Christian Van de Velde. I just posted his quote from the Schmalz interview to see if he’d get flamed. And you guys came through!
“Uhh…ya, until you have to race for 4 hours and your longest ride since September was 2 hours. Have fun limping to the line.”
Love me some NY Velocity.
YOUR AN IDIOT! YOU TOO VDV!
oh come on. VDV has been racing his whole life, he doesn’t have to work on his base. that was the point of that comment. you cat 4s still have some work to do.
11:37 —
That’s funny, and, as far as it goes, fair, but you do have to recognize that the text you quote means very samething substantively different coming from someone like christian vdv than a typical nyvelocity poster. If I talk about “base miles and base miles and base miles,” it’s probably at least twenty fewer weekly hours than what vdv means by the phrase.
Is it fair to say that trainer miles provide ample fitness to sit in and win a sprints at a local races? However, for longer, and hilly out of towners like Housatonic, B Kill etc you need some road miles/time. Also, some guys seem to mix up the off-season outdoor miles with tempo, hill repeats, and near red line on the 9W return trip. Long Fast Distance?
no it’s not fair to say. hours on the bike are hours no matter where you do them.
people who don’t ride inside long hours in the winter don’t because they can’t handle it mentally.
for some reason it is a lot more uncomfortable indoors.
11:48 — Sure VDV has base miles but if you look at any of the science these days with regard to endurance athletes it is absolutely true that the wisdom is changing — base is out, intensity is in, and LSD is going the way of the do-do bird. You can sit around and talk like old graybeards at a fishing shop — good for you — but the studies are not on your side anymore, whether it’s a Cat. 6 or a Grand Tour winner. Plus, that sh-t was funny yo!
you are conflating long hours in the winter with LSD. one does not necessarily mean the other.
anyway the vernal equinox is two days away. no looking back now.
Pete Cannell. Look him up. Trainer training = national championships. Almost all of his outdoor rides are the races he is winning, otherwise indoor training. Yes you can do it year round, no you don’t need LSD or “base” miles.
ha, “base is out.” good! see you at at battenkill… or maybe not.
Okay, Baseman, see you with a wife and kids and a job……or maybe not!
who needs a wife and kids
is there something the matter with that? what is the big rush?
That’s what she said
Yeah, flame the hell out of me but this winter I did maybe 3 spin classes and probably 6 laps of Central Park a week. I ran 15 miles a week as well to keep the weight down. Spin classes are so much better than sitting on the trainer. Good scenery and despite the cheesy music once you figure out the right instructor the workout can be pretty decent.
So far so good, I’m wheel sucking with the best of them in the A’s, no problems keeping up.
Mind you my training plan was based on just doing park racing this year so nothing longer than 40 miles or so.
You want to go a little faster this season? Stop pigging out. Seriously. People think they can just go to town on anything they want just because they ride 10 hours a week. It’s insane how people will buy carbon bottle cages and then go to the Runcible and pound the scones like they’re on death row. Stop chubbing your face – lose 10 lbs and you will be quicker than you’d be with component you can buy. And don’t gimme the carbo load – you’re not doing a stage race in the Alps, you can live on less.
Of course, your life will suck. Dieting blows.
So how far are you willing to go?
Again, that’s what she said
so true. fat asses!
Will Bethel and Spring Series count towards going from a 3 to a 2?
Only if results are submitted to USAC or there is a way to confirm results, number of starters and distance.
where the hell are spring series results? i got 26th in the 5’s by my reckoning, and dammit i want to see it in print.
A**clown if you would have finished 1,2 or even 3 place you wouldn’t be asking for results A**clown packfiller. Your probably the cry baby talking about ws united pushes me around and are aggressive in the races.I bet your wife wear the pants in the relationship A**clown.A**clown@manup.org.
you probably do have to do tons of miles the first few years of racing. But if you have years of riding/racing, probably just a few hours of week and then some speed work will do the trick. especially for crits and park races.
hey 20:12 a** clown, i hire a weight trainer, a cycling trainer, a soigneur, and put a fresh tube in my bento box each month if i don’t use the prior one. who are you to tell me i’m not worth the meivici w/lighweight ventoux’s i’m sitting on? if i wanna publicly mark my progress from lantern rouge to 26th, that’s my prerogative. so there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_aWmU7Q7c&feature=related
… You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a ** clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
your funny lookin’, that’s what. ws united’s sprinters’ arms are bigger than your legs. and your an idiot.
Riding is not riding no matter where you do it. There is a transition period if you have been on the rollers or trainer all winter. tranisition period is about 3-4 weeks depending on the rider.
There is not friction and you legs get used to the easy riding unless you are using a spin bike, fluid or mag trainer. However, once the transition period is over you will begin to see the diffrence in your sprinting.
CC…
watching leadouts develop…
who got the best with a sprinter to match?
Kissena got a sprinter, WSU, ChampionSys, Empire, who?
Just trying figure out who wheel to sweep?
Paulie
1. Empire will have the best crit/sprint team.
2. I ride the trainer 2-3 times a week for 20-50 minutes and x-c ski 4-5 times a week for 1-2 hours from November through March.
3. I ride 12-18 hours a week from March through September
4. Not the same thing works for everyone for a multitude of reasons like life situation and physiology – but 4 hours on the trainer (even done 100% effeciently) is just enough to keep you looking good – not race fast. Unless you are racing people with much less talent than you.
5. WS United guys are big, but certainly not scary. I’m just a skinny kid from Vermont…man up people! Rubbin’ is racing.
6. Eugene needs to get back from Arizona.
7. NYVelocity gives me hours of entertainment.
8. More guys need to wear skinsuits recreationally. If I actually lived in NYC I would ride around Central Park in an Empire skinsuit all day.
9. The East Coast racing season really starts at Battenkill. The how and why of that race becoming so important alludes me…but that’s when its really game time.
10. You should have cross-country skied more this winter. 😉
-Jake Hollenbach – Empire ’09 – Bah-dah-bing Bah-Dah-boom
I will start off by saying that im white, except from my waist down. For years you fools have been counting out the ws united team. Why? is it because they are mostly a very good black team? Most of the time all i hear is empire and champion system and mengoni. But the only team thats winning as much races as the WS united team is empire, the others are crap. White folks, black folks, get your selves together and focus on cycling and give credit where it is due. Intead of bashing and talking down on some very nice guys. oh and Jermaine Burrowes is a problem, any cyclist that every been on a break with him knows how good he is, even me.
Is a team of the past. They have a few solid guys this year but the team is not what it was.
i don’t get what you are saying. your post is dangerously close to iDOTish. There is no anti-WSU conspiracy. The win races, yes. They also use a tactic of bullish keirin BS during the races. Those are two accurate statements. Nice guys, fast, dangerous. That has nothing to do with race, religion, bike brand or dietary preferences. Just a simple observation. I will finish by saying that my ethnic background bears no significance on this post what so ever.
dangerously close? guy said “im white, except from my waist down”
uhh
…that will test the balance of appeal: love of riding fast vs. return on ego investment. Once the reality of what it takes to get consistent results above Cat. 3 sets in, those who are more ego-bound can find their motivation fading away.
It is enough that everything important in one’s life needs to be going reasonably well, to be able to sustain 15 to 25 hours of training and racing each week. And no-one has mentioned injuries and other adverse physical aspects, either.
Sometimes, given the lack of status that is readily apparent compared with other “major” sports in the United States, it is remarkable that these great efforts are expended for so little social recognition; and there should be little wonder that such exertions are difficult to maintain in the long term.
Does anyone know of any school that would spend on bicycle racing support and facility expenses with such ease, as is so often an unconscious “no-brainer” where basketball, football, and baseball are concerned? Do these sports suffer from the consistent denigration of unbalanced journalism that plagues bicycle racing? How often are there articles or headlines about the ruined bodies and dreams that football produces in tens of thousands of men, every year? Or, about the loss of economic opportunity and individual social development caused by absurd fawning over otherwise miniscle chances for professional success?
We buck a heavy tide. Whatever we can sustain in such desultury conditions deserves to be commended.
15- 25 Hours! I get 8-12 if I’m lucky. Occasional placings, but I still love racing the bike.
12 hours is a rest week dude
it’s high irony that the people who try to push the envelope are often called selfish.
this kid has quads the size of tree trunks and i want to lick em like new nikes.