solobreak

As advertised, yesterday was the Millennium Mile up in Londonderry. Zencycle decided not to run for some reason. Duano could not make it either, as he had some pressing business to tend to. The Cronoman came, but he just spectated. Way Fast Whitey was the only other Team BOB member to compete. He even rode his bike through the rain and fog to get there and back home. Yikes. At least it was pretty warm, hence the fog from all the snow.

There were almost 600 runners. Shitloads of kids. The organizers make no attempts to keep them off the front of the pack either, and even seem to encourage it. It's a pretty dangerous situation really. Some of them are as young as two years old. There was a team of about fifty grade school kids in uniform who all lined up at the front. Of course, there are some hard core track runners too. The course is flat for a quarter mile, then starts going downhill, and loses over 100 feet by the 3/4 mile mark. Then the end is flat, with maybe even a hint of rise in one spot.

During warmup my calves were way tight. I think the Brooks trail runners that I've been trying have something to do with this. There was a running track out behind the school that was mostly snow free. I was having trouble doing two minute laps. My "strides" were pathetic. My original plan was to run next to Duano and then beat him in the sprint, since I can't even come close to that on the bike. But he was a no-show. I needed a new plan, and sure didn't feel like I'd be able to run fast. I headed back to the car and changed into shorts and my racing shoes. Instantly my calves felt better. It was almost start time.

I lined up in the third row. There was no national anthem this year. They fired a gun and we went. As usual, all the little kids, and about half the adults bolted from the line like the race was 100 meters. I can hit the first mile in around 5:45 in a "normal" 5k, and I was for sure running faster than that, yet I had about 200 people in front of me and more coming by. Then they all blow and put the flashers on. I was bobbing and weaving like OJ through the airport just trying not to trample someone. Pretty ridiculous. There was a big plywood sign for 1/4 mile but I was so busy elbowing and navigating that I could not take a split.

Last time I ran this, in 2008, my time was 4:51, and it HURT. Bad. This time, I felt awesome. I'm not sure why. I've worked a lot on my downhill running, as well as my turnover/cadence, and it's helped. The half mile sign came up suspiciously fast, a 2:19 split. That's a 4:38 pace and we're still flying downhill! Not only that, but now there's actually some clear road. But I have to wonder if the sign was in the proper location. My 3/4 mile split was 1:21. The end seemed brutally long but the clock said 4:54 as I passed it into the chute, another 1:20 split on my watch even though I'd hit the button well late of the line. Yet my official time was 4:58, 45th place, 7 seconds slower than last time.

I can't complain about that. I never do speedwork, instead preferring to just run hills. I'm thinking about finding a place to do mile repeats soon though. My legs weren't the best but I think my heart and lungs are in great form because this felt like a cruise to me. The winning masters time was 4:30. 28 seconds is an eternity at this distance, but I'm nonetheless encouraged because only five of the 44 runners ahead of me were my age or older. And I'm not a runner.

So that's it, the last race of 2009. There were less of them than I thought. Maybe I'll put up some year-end stats later this week. Thanks for reading.

Solobreak sightings are at 0:09 and at 0:35, where there are still over fifty riders behind me. I must have been on the ground longer than I thought, 'cuz I found the back soon after...


Tomorrow is the shortest race of the year for me, the Millennium Mile in lovable Londonderry, NH. It's looking like we'll have a nice contingent of Team BOB misfits toeing the line at 2 pm for the mostly downhill sprint. I've done this once before, in 2008, making the line in 4:51. It hurt. The winner was sub-4. This year I've got no plans to even attempt to equal or better that mark. This time it's just an excuse to run out in the middle of the street and spend some pub time with my mates afterward.

The chief reason for this is that in just four short weeks, I'm signed up for what will (in all likelihood) be my longest running race of the year, the Boston Prep 16 Miler in the next town over from Londonderry. I did this one once before too, also in 2008, running 1:51:17 or something like that in a raging snowstorm. To this day, that is the furthest I've ever run in my life, with probably close to 18 miles on the day since at this race you have to park a mile away from the start. I can't predict how that one will go yet, but I'm hoping for reasonable weather with better footing than last time. I'm looking forward to throwing down against the Ironmatron as well as possibly Feltslave. Maybe even zencycle? GCD? You owe us an update too BTW. The race closes at 800, and they have a startlist posted online, currently with 515 registrants. Don't let that fool you though, as mail-ins are not on that list so the race is closer to closing out than it appears. The weather is a crapshoot, but the entry is only $40 and you get a real technical base layer, much better than a t-shirt, and the post race food is good.

Since the Norwood Turkey Trot 4 miler back in November, my running focus has been on building endurance only. Translation: I'm going out and running slow, mostly on the trails, concerned only with staying out there a bit longer than the time before that. In California I bagged a few runs of over 90 minutes, with hills. Then at nats I kinda banged my knees up a little bit while hurling my tired old body down onto the ice. That was setback number one, and the snowstorm last week was number two. Prior to the snow though, I did get out on Saturday for 12 miles or so in Borderland. That's flat, so I tried to make it tempo and my legs were pretty sore this week. Wednesday found me on a treadmill for the first time in over a year -- well that sucked. On to Christmas. With all my holiday obligations taken care of on the eve, I was free to find some low-traffic industrial byways for a good run on Friday. I hit Blue Hills, and ran some big hilly loops on Royall Street, Green Street, and the Reebok campus, with a detour up and down the access road at around the hour mark (btw, the road was cleared and salted, and would even have been safe on a road bike except for two patches near the top where the snowguns from the ski area coat the pavement with overspray). Total mileage was around 14-14.5 in exactly two hours. That's a lot for me, hence my low hopes for a fast mile tomorrow. My only goal is to beat Duano...

So now I need a training plan for the rest of January. I am not a fan of running in the street to begin with, but the woods are in no shape for trailwork right now (except for snowshoes). Forget the treadmill; I think a 35 minute "better than nothing" run is about my limit there. That might suffice for mid-week. So my best bet looks like finding races on the weekends, and praying for a January thaw. And I have to hope the bash damage on my knee is only that. Thanks for reading.

Photo by Dan Gindling

I'm out of order here; this one happened the weekend before nationals. The event took place at Balboa Park, home of the San Diego Velodrome. This was SCPS #14 but with a non-series race the same day, as well as the distance from LA, the turnout was expected to be somewhat lower than at Glendale. Overall though, the promoters were pleasantly surprised, as they got so many entrants they ran out of numbers. In the 45+ though, we had just 14 starters, but with some quality riders nonetheless.

The course was FAST. Kind of a throwback to the 90's with cheesy single barriers, but I was loving it because it was power, power, power. The nickname of this race is Balboa Roubaix because a large section of the course traverses a barren dirt lot where the surface is mostly embedded rocks. Not too many of the kind that stick up and give you pinch flats, just stuff like you see in the linked photos. After a circuit of the vacant lot, the course led up and down through some varied trails among scrub brush, then around the back of the velodrome. A short ride/runup led to some grass around tennis courts. It had been heavily watered, so there was even a little mud! A course tape "pinwheel" preceded a fast off-camber around the tennis courts before a short hill and barrier section led back to the fast open power section. On the last lap only, we were diverted into the velodrome for a 1.5 lap finish. I think it's a concrete 250 of around 28 degrees banking, similar to Encino.

At the start I fell into the conga line about halfway back to see how things shook out. At first I thought it was all together but as soon as we got through all the chicanes and hit the open area it became evident that the top three had already opened a huge gap on the rest of us. The lot sits high on a hill overlooking the city and ocean, and it was windy. This was also the coldest day San Diego had seen in a long time. The locals were shivering in the 55 degree temps. Honestly, with the wind, when the sun went behind the clouds it really was a little chilly. I saw more than a few down parkas. I'm not kidding.

Feeling strong, I drilled it away from the group and was closing the gap on the lead three. One of them was jumping away from the other two, who appeared to be in a very negative drafting match, probably the reason that I *almost* was able to close the gap before the twisties. I burned a half match, maybe more, but three minutes into a 45 minute race I felt it wise to hold back something. That was probably a mistake. Losing sight of the lead trio, and with only one pre-ride lap, I overshot a few corners and even went off-course once, as it could have been taped off a bit better than it was. Like I said, small race, bit of a throwback.

As it was two riders were able to bridge up to me from behind, and I never saw the lead three again. Instead, I became entangled in a battle with the other two. One guy was on a mountain bike. You still see this in SoCal, and there are even riders in the elite races who run CX bikes with flat bars. Some of them are quite fast too. In the "pinwheel" the course tape was blowing all over the place. It was staked out wide, and I tried to use the entire width to late-apex the inner stake and get good exit speed. But the combination of blowing tape and my blurry vision conspired to have me totally botch it, and I cut across two stakes early, riding myself straight into the tape while the other two cut behind me, bewildered. Now I was playing catch up. I told you I got myself entangled in a battle...

Luckily the MTB guy was sitting on the other guy, and I was stronger than both of them. I bridged up on the windy section, then sat on to recover before going around as soon as we hit the twisties. Going into the ride/runup, the first guy passes me, and then the MTB guy tries to, but I shut him down. He starts growling at me, saying "you'd better not be getting off" and I'm like "you bet your ass I am." I mean fuck, it's a cross race. The thing was rideable I guess, but I hadn't had time to scout the lines. And I think running was just as fast. It sure was for me that lap, as I totally nailed it, passed the first guy on the remount and sprinted away, distancing myself from both of them. The rest of the race would be a solo TT, no drama on the velodrome, and I ended up fourth.

A week of training and no work had left me feeling pretty spry, and in SoCal a second race is only $5, so I signed on for the 3/4 event an hour later. There were about 40 starters, I think. This time I lined up second row as series leaders got callups. My recently acquired course knowledge would help, so I was more aggressive on the start, even though it was kind of a clusterphuck with a log barrier about 100m into it, and a larger pack this time. Onto the power section I was feeling very fit, all opened up, really better than I have all cross season. I'm still not the best starter, but I picked off a rider here and there and moved into the top 10. My dismounts and barrier running were better than they've been all year too. One of my main fitness goals this entire season was to improve my overall athleticism and I think I succeeded. I'm doing much better at actually "leaping" when I approach the barriers, confident that my jump off will produce the needed air time, and I'm smoother on the remounts. At least I was out in SoCal anyway; I wasn't losing ground on the barriers, and may have even been gaining some.

The race developed into a three or four way battle with those near me, with others still in sight ahead, so things were looking up. Having a full race on this course behind me, I'd been hitting the lines perfectly, especially the pinwheel... Until of course, I repeated the exact same mistake as in the first race, lost my bearings in the blowing tape, and rode right into it. Three guys got by this time. But like I said, my lungs felt big and open, my legs felt awesome; I owned these guys, so I charged back after them, faster than I'd gone all day. Flying into the off-camber turn around the corner of the tennis courts, I buried the inside pedal into the turf, high-siding myself violently down the slope. Ouch. Wasn't planning on that. One more guy got by. A bit shaken, I got up, quickly rode it off and started to try to charge back yet again. My adrenaline was kicking in and I was thinking "you can still salvage this, nats is next week, don't save anything, GO!" This is not my normal modus operandi, but like I keep saying, I felt great and think I was hitting a nice peak fitness-wise at just the right time.

Remounting over the big log jump, I powered off into the wide-open vacant lot autobahn. But then I felt a "pop" and suddenly my front wheel is rubbing the brakes with every revolution. Weird as I did not feel it immediately after the crash, but it did not seem bad enough to be a broken spoke either. I probably should have stopped to check it out, but I'm totally fired up, remember? My thought pattern was like "fuck it, I don't care how much the brakes are rubbing, I'm killing this!" so I shifted up two gears and kept drilling it... for about a half lap. Then BOOM goes the tire. Game over. At least I got another twenty minutes or so at threshold for my $5. Not sure exactly what happened, but the Bontrager tire/rim combination is not the tightest fit, so I probably broke the bead or "rolled" the clicher a little bit in the crash. Or just damaged the tire. Not sure why the delayed reaction, or maybe I just didn't notice it when I first got going again. I was bummed though, as this race had a decent field and for sure I was not finished moving up through it. Oh well. If you're keeping score, that makes three mishaps in the eight days I'd owned this bike, and we weren't even on the way to nats yet. Thanks for reading.

This was a bright idea I had. At first I was going to just email this to Reuter, but soon realized that wasn't good enough. Instead I'm posting it to here, so you're like my copyright attorney who works pro bono. At least the makes you PRO. Can you tell I've been reading Thom's blog?

So here is the idea: Combine the "berm" and the "pinwheel." It will be awesome, and only require about an acre of land, two bulldozers, a power tamper, and a week of time to complete. Imagine a bermed pinwheel, perhaps even with some whoops and jumps thrown in to it someplace, circling three or four times before terminating in the mother of all bermed hairpins and then heading back out the other way, also bermed of course. It would have multi-colored plastic-wrap solid barriers on each side (just in case someone was so awesome they overshot the berm), of course different colors on the left and right. To mark the center, we'd have either a giant flagpole with the lion of Flanders on it, or perhaps some sort of Olympic Torch thing, which we could light with a flaming arrow before the Cat 4 race. Better yet, a burning Fiero on top of a giant pedestal. This would be much cooler than some lame three story flyover, which are way overrated and really no better than riding over the troll bridge at King's Castleland or some miniature golf course. Thanks for reading.

...about the Paul Bunyan statue. Thanks for reading.

Since it's all of six fucking degrees outside this morning, today's as good a time as any to pimp the stylin' wool base layers being sold by our pal Murat over on his retail sideline site weebike.com. Many of you are aware that I'm known to extol the virtues of Ibex wool clothing here, and the truth is that stuff, specifically their wool shorts and knickers, has changed my life. OK, the way I approach life in winter anyway. No more restrictive layers; in this stuff I can stay warm without being mummified by layers of so-called "thermal lycra" or what have you. The Ibex leg and arm warmer accessories are equally awesome for the extremities, as is their headgear for your noggin. But what about my torso?

Enter Murat and his Hasyun wool base layers. Sure, Ibex sells a line of wool base garments too, and the truth be told, they're slightly nicer in feel and trim than the Hasyun stuff. But compare $60 for an Ibex woolies T with the $25 for a similar item from weebike. I like super-nice quality clothing as much as the next person, but we're talking base layers here. Sure, the Ibex stuff is so nice that you could probably wear it out in public when it's brand new, if that's your thing. But under your jersey or jacket on a ride in 28 degree temps? You'll never know the difference. The real beauty of wool though, is for the in between temp rides, the ones that start out in the 40s but end up pushing 60 or better. Here is where wool blows away other base layer fabrics, as it will keep you warm, even when wet, without smothering you when things heat up. I wore wool almost every day on my recent west coast trip, and it was absolutely perfect for the days when it was 55 and windy on the PCH, but pushing 80 as soon as I turned off and started climbing up a canyon road in the sun. No need to put on a wind jacket when bombing back down, comfy as can be all the way out and back.

Cons? All wool picks up serious lint in the wash, so you have to keep it separate from unlike colors if you care what it looks like. You also don't want to put it in the dryer. And definitely keep it away from your cycling shit with velcro, as that stuff will rip it apart in the wash if you're not careful. What about the itch factor? Well honestly, with Ibex stuff, for me that doesn't exist. As noted earlier, the Haysun fabric is not quite as soft, but I can wear it next to my skin no problem, and forget about it two minutes after I put it on. If you're really sensitive, it's still a good product to wear over a thin poly underbase on cold days. The only other issue with the Haysun is that when new they have an overbearing mothball odor and you're going to need to wash it out once or twice before use. Good luck, stay warm, thanks for reading.

Your hero. Notice there are no riders behind me. This was the section added on Friday in an attempt to increase lap times. Must be the first lap because...


By lap two I was exiting the course at this same point.


The Champion shows how it's done. In these conditions, being the strongest was not enough. Jonny was the best rider in every respect, period.


With our time in scenic Bend dwindling, we hit the beer tent for a few before making the dash across town to the Cumberland House for a cyclo-blogger summit meeting with Gewilli and G-Ride. These guys all had to race the next day too... Curtis took the serious racer approach, laying off the sauce and opting instead to take an ice bath.


Gewilli gets some last-minute advice from Nega-Coach. Thanks for reading.