So the
UVM Cycling team had this crazy idea to have a 24 hour trainer ride in order to raise some money to fund a local bike safety clinic for elementary school students with any additional money going to help the club out. A good idea, right? All us socially awkward cyclist have to do is bring a bicycle, hop into a trainer, and spin our legs for awhile and the mostly sedentary population can be amazed and toss us some spare change. If only things were that easy.
For the most part, people were very generous and liked the legitimate cause being supported by a bunch of college kids with big quads. But that was before it began to get dark, and colder, and attract a bunch of sketchy fellows who helped us on the first shift (5pm - 10:30pm) pass the time. This included the various people who came by and asked if we had a solar power generator (yes, thats correct
solar power) in the trainer to capture all of the power we generated for later use. I suppose thats what you get for living in an area know for the hippie, alternative power loving population. To this we politely replied that, yes, we were generating many watts over our hours of time on the trainers and that they were connected via underground cables that routed to the local shops and kept them lit and heated throughout the winter time. Nice.
This wasn't even the beginning. Another activist approached and told tales of woe such as the funding for breast cancer being 30 times as much as prostate cancer and the unfairness of this.
As I left from my first shift, an older homeless man had come and began telling his story of being imprisoned by John D. Rockafeller and truly being an alien in human form with his real body being kept by the Rockafellers and the CIA. He also apparently had organs made from cancerous tumors that he crudely fashioned by cutting them and sewing them into the various organs necessary for survival. The us mint is also apparently being run by the CIA and if anyone sees any 1977 coins or bills, you should hold onto it, for they are worth many thousands of dollars due to the fact they were printed by the same Rockafellers and insiders involved in the Watergate scandal. This was also apparently the year that the world's magnetic fields reversed, the planets aligned and water began to flow backwards. Welcome to Burlington, the city of the future.
Thankfully I missed the graveyard shift, when many other wonderful people came by for a visit to Chris Warden and Vinnie Scalia, our two guys holding it down for the night. They were smart enough to bring a video camera to capture the craziness. This included a shirtless tibetan sherpa screaming wildly and breaking his cellphone on the ground, sexual advances of an inebriated young woman to a front tire before dropping trow for a little bathroom break in a nearby alleyway, another lady wildly meowing while pounding on a shop window, and the late-night snow plow passing within inches of annihilating our entire tent setup. A Beauty to behold, I'm sure. Makes me glad that I was completely passed out for that entire time.
The next day, I returned to do some more trainer riding and fill in any gaps that people didn't show up to ride in. This allowed me another 4 hours on the trainer to people watch and enjoy the company of my fellow UVM compatriots. All in all, it was successful, free coffee was provided by the fine folks of starbucks, many stories have come from the experience, everything went off without a hitch, and a fun time was had by all involved. Can't wait til race season starts.
Well here it is, my new TT bike. Still getting things adjusted to fit so there will still be many changes coming. Yesterday I was planning on a 60 mile ride to help the fitting process and 10 mile into it my chain snapped. I really wasn't looking forward to the walk home and luckily I didn't have to. I got some great help from Keven Sweeney, a local cyclist. First he offered to go home and get me a chain tool, which was great of him. Unfortunately he had one of those folding chain tools that never seem to work quite right so I couldn't get the chain fixed. Then he offered to drive me home. I got the chain fixed easily once I was at home and had access to my work stand and tools.
Saturday was the Peanut Butter Festival Mt. Bike Race. It was 15 miles through beautiful New Bethlehem, PA. It was a cool morning, only about 50*. It was sunny at first but the clouds rolled in and took care of that. It was actually very nice weather for the race because I knew although we would be cold standing at the start line it would be plenty warm by the time we were 5 minutes into the race. The race was going well and I was into the single track in about 12-15th place and sitting comfortably. I was just waiting for the more wide open spots that I knew were coming so I could pass. Then disaster struck. At first I was only wheezing a little, but then a whole lot. Full blown asthma attack and I was miles from my inhaler. I should have used it before the race but I had decided not to just so I could see if I could make it through the race without needing it. At that point I did the only thing I could do, I pushed through and kept moving along, even if it was at a much slower pace. After I was able to breathe again I eventually caught 2 or 3 of the people who had passed me but the rest were just too far ahead. I ended up finishing in 19th place. That was sort of discouraging but I did feel good that I improved my finish time from the previous year by 11 minutes and that was even with the asthma attacks.
I departed VA at 4:00a.m. Saturday morning. I only got 4 hours of sleep which is not the ideal way to prepare for a stage race. I got there at 8:10 and had an hour to prepare for the Saturday morning ITT after stopping by registration. I warmed up for 20 minutes on the trainer before heading to the start line. It was a flat 12 mile out and back with only one slight rise in the course. The weekend started off well with a 4th place finish in the ITT. Then it was off to get something to eat and try my best to recover slightly before the afternoon crit. I actually ended up falling asleep in my car while waiting around. The crit was 13 laps/20 miles. I hung in for the first 12 miles and then on the only slight rise in the course I came unhitched and there was no catching back on. The only reason I finished the race was because I had to in order to take the start at the road race on Sunday. Saturday night I got a good night of rest and was up early Sunday morning hoping I had recovered enough to make a showing at the road race. So I was feeling good and on my way to the start line when disaster struck and my chain cracked in half. That was it, end of my race before it ever started. Now for the 4 hour drive back to good old Waynesboro, VA. The weekend started out well with a 4th place in the TT and only got worse from there. I guess you live and learn and along the way I met Bob Roll.
On Saturday I was in Harrisonburg, VA for the Tour of Virginia criterium. It was 15 laps of a flat 1.3 mile course. There were two 90 degree corners and one 160 degree corner. Now to set the stage for this story there are a few things you need to know about me and criteriums. First, I have never finished one. I've only tried two of them but didn't finish either because of a wreck occurring in front of me in both and I never caught back on. Second, I don't like them. Finally, third, on my yearly training plan that I wrote in December one of my season long goals was just to finish with the main pack in one of these crazy events. Now back to the race. It was a good field of cat. 3, cat. 4, and juniors. I figured it would be fast since this is one of the larger profile events in VA, similar to the Tour de 'toona in PA. The race started out fast and never let up. No one wanted to let a break go anywhere which was fine with me because that meant I just got to hide from the wind until the last lap. It was a nice day in the high 60's at race time and sunny. The race was very uneventful and actually easier than I had thought it would be. Now jump to the end...............Coming down the final straight I had positioned myself in fifth or sixth place for the sprint when someone from behind me takes off like a rocket. I say to myself, "Self, this is your chance." So I follow his wheel. It seemed to be going well at first as he seemed to be going strong. Then all of a sudden he just died. Right in the middle of the road he just putzed out. So there I was into the wind with 500 yards still to go. I knew I was in trouble so I just took off and hoped for the best. With about 200 yards I hear the clicking of derailleurs and there goes a guy whizzing past and then another and another. I ended up finishing 4th cat. 4 and 7th over all. Not too bad, but not too good either. On the other hand I did finally finish a crit. with the main pack and I was happy about that.
I also got to see the movie 24 Solo in the theater in Harrisonburg. It was a cool experience. The director of the film was there to talk about the making of the movie. Sue Haywood was there to watch the movie, she was also in the last movie from Gripped Films, Off Road to Athens. There were also a bunch of the pros who had just finished their race who decided to stop by and see the movie. It was truly awesome. I'm not sure if it would have been as powerful if it was not in a movie theater but I do know that I'm psyched to go ride my mtb. I'll be getting the receiving my copy of the movie in the mail this week if anyone would like to see it let me know. It may be the greatest cycling movie ever!
