Saturday, December 27, 2008

marital strife

This holiday season, Patrick and I are working on upgrading our bicycle workshop. By upgrading, I mean moving it out of the living room. We are one month away from closing on a home with a basement and large garage (if all goes well). We are also having my Lemond repainted. These projects are causing us to take stock of our equipment situation. It seems that I brought Shimano components into the relationship and Patrick came with Campy. These stepchildren are not getting along! Patrick has a full set of Campy components that he purchased for a new road bike which have been sitting for months when he decided that he cannot afford a new road bike frame.

So, dear readers.

Please please buy our Bianchi Pista track bike - brand new never ridden!!! so we can have cash to put towards a new frame for Patrick

Should we sell all of our Campy parts and replace with Shimano so that we can interchange our wheels and quickly trade out parts among our bikes? Is there another couple out there that would be interested in making a gear swap?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Cyclocross Race Reports

Photos of NEBC at our local races

Cyclocross is riding a bike around tight turns, on the side of a hill, in mud. Scary!! Also getting off your bike to run over barriers and then getting back on (Ed: think steeplechase for bikes). I fell down more in one season of cyclocross than I had fallen on my road bike EVER. I found bruises after the races and didn't know how they got there. By the end of the season, I had figured out how to stay on the bike so I'll declare success. Next year, I'll work on riding fast.

I was excited about cross because Patrick was showing an interest in the bicycle again. After Green Mountain, he had enough with supporting/spectating and wanted to ride himself. He spent a month getting a cyclocross bike together. I already had a cross bike - my Lemond I had ridden in Puerto Rico and which has since become a commuting warrior.

I had an agreement with Patrick to stick to races within 1-1/2 hours from our apartment. Off to the local races.

Amesbury- my first cross race

Sucker Brook

Bedford

Gloucester

Canton

MRC

Lowell

10 total cross races for me and then the ice and sub freezing temps arrived. No more racing for me.

Race Reports from 2008 Road Races


There are several types of bicycle races.

Time trials of you against the clock and which are short, sometimes a half hour or less.

Road races and circuit races out on a long course for several hours, 30-80 miles for the women's races around here. This is the best kind of race for me because of the hills.

Criterium races are fast races of 45 min-hour around a short loop in a downtown area. These are the most exciting to watch, because you can see the race from one place. They are sprinter's races, so the worst for me to ride. Also, scary because there seem to be the most crashes in this kind of race.

Stage races are multi-day affairs involving all of the types of races. The overall placement in the event, GC, is usually based on your combined times from all of the races. There are time bonuses for the first positions in a given race. Every rider that finishes in the peloton will receive the same time for that race.

USA Cycling officiates the races and tracks the results.

There are different categories based on your previous results. You have to race with others in your category. Usually, the races run all day with different groups starting out separately. Beginners start first, so we had a lot of early wake up calls this summer.

Cat 4 is the lowest women's category and Cat 1 is the best and most experienced amateur level. Cat 4 women are often put in with the older men's group or the junior boys because the race organizers don't think there are enough women to justify a separate race.

Race Reports

I can't find a race report for my first race of the season, Turtle Pond.

It was April and cold. The Cat 4 women were with the Masters (older) men and women. The masters men were pushing the group along on the 1st lap. I stayed up with them until we hit the hill after 1 lap, then became a straggler. I ended up 4th and rode almost the full last lap alone.

Sterling Road Race

Sunapee Road Race

Waterville Time Trial

Lake Auburn Road Race

Housatonic Hills Road Race

After Housatonic Hills, I had enough points with USA Cycling to upgrade to Category 3 and race with the stronger women.

Fitchburg Stage Race

Attleboro Crit

Seems that I've lost reports from a few races from July and August

Working Man's Stage Race

This was a multi-day event after work. The 2nd day was the road race and there were only 17 women, several of which were not experienced in bike racing. We got about 2 miles out and I was 4th or 5th in a line of ladies riding into the wind. The road was flat and decent condition. I suddenly heard the most horrible sounds behind me. Patrick was driving the pace car and looked in the rear view mirror to see an airborne bicycle. I did not look behind me because I did not want to see carnage. I knew that it was a big wreck because there was only a very small group still rolling. I later found out that 8 ladies went down. Several ladies suffered broken clavicles, head injuries or both. One the broken clavicles belonged to my teammate, Julie Lockhart who is 67 years old. I was worried that injury might stop her cycling, but not at all. A months later and she was out at the cyclocross races.

Mount Ascutney Hill Climb

This was a nice chance from the normal races. The race is short and steep. It is about a half hour - very slow uphill. I would say it is more of a personal challenge than a race. At the start I had to laugh at the guy next to me. He was concerned his odometer would shut off because he was going too slowly for the computer to register. Many people do this race with special gearing so they can spin up instead of standing up and grunting like myself. If it wasn't for the commitment to the NEBC team for next year, I think I would do more of these type of races, and a lot fewer crits.

Tour of Hilltowns

I was literally tearing up during the race trying to not get dropped on the climbs. Women were with master's men that were pushing the pace. I finished in the front group of women, 5th I think and have never been so happy that a race was over.

Tokeneke

This was a climbing race and my first one with ladies from the NEBC elite team. The downhill section was great fun and I felt confident moving between people while speeding downhill. After that, it was survival of the fittest up a massive hill. Two girls got away and I worked with a group in pursuit. The final climb is long and exciting with several attacks. Unfortunately, my calf muscle cramped up while I chased after the second attack. I wasn't prepared for the final turn of the course and it took me by surprise. I ended up last in the group that hit the turn together. That was good for 5th or 6th place and the silver medal for Massachusetts State Road Race. The winner was also from Mass and the other girls in the group were from neighboring states.

Witches Cup Crit

I did this race to get a little more comfortable with crits before heading to Green Mountain. It didn't fit very well into my training plan, unfortunately, but Patrick was sweet to drive behind me with headlights all the way home so I could get in a few more miles.

Green Mountain Stage Race

2008 cycling in New England

I found the Northeast Bicycle Club on the internet and contacted them.

Cathy Rowell invited me to her house for spinning in the dead of winter and started scaring me with her mountain biking war stories. I was excited to go to the race clinic the club had in April and learn what bicycle racing was all about.

New England thawed and my new bike arrived in May. I won my first race on it thanks to help from my NEBC teammates. The next weekend, I invited myself to a group ride of 6 Gaps in Vermont that Patrick read about on the internet. This ride was lead by Doug Jansen and you can read his account in his May 25th entry.

The ride has 6 climbs and one of them, Lincoln Gap, is really punishing. I could feel my front wheel losing traction on that climb which was disturbing. I was going full out to stay on the bike because the grade was so steep. I figured that if I unclipped, there would be no way to get back on again. The descent off Lincoln Gap was very disturbingly steep on gravel. Once may have been enough for me riding on Lincoln Gap.

After that, it was off to the races. Patrick and I went all over New England going to bicycle races. I am going to make posts for some race reports that I have.

We found out pretty quick that it is not easy to become a bike racer. Patrick was not able to keep up with the group and after a few experiences of finishing the race alone, decided he wasn't having fun. He was a great supporter for me, taking me to races and taking care of my bike.

Just when we thought we had enough, we started all over again...learning how to ride off road and race cyclocross. Patrick has a lot more fun with this, because in cyclocross there is not a big group to keep up with. Most people are pretty spread out so you can enjoy the ride at your own pace.

Late cross season, ice came to New England. The first day there was ice, I fell on it outside our apartment when I was leaving for work (I ride to work most days). I cut my chin open and did not have the confidence to finish out the cross season. Patrick got me some studded tires for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Links to Bicycle Art

The abandoned bicycles of New York

Is your home getting cluttered with parts? It's time to get crafty and creative.

Boston, can we please be more like Portland. Pretty please.

Very cool


Cycle Chic

More photos than you can enjoy in an off season

Ode to a Bicycle

Pablo Neruda on the bicycle

Oda a la bicicleta

Iba
por el camino
crepitante:
el sol se desgranaba
como maíz ardiendo
y era
la tierra
calurosa
un infinito círculo
con cielo arriba
azul, deshabitado.

Pasaron
junto a mí
las bicicletas,
los únicos
insectos
de aquel
minuto
seco del verano,
sigilosas,
veloces,
transparentes:
me parecieron
sólo
movimientos del aire.

Obreros y muchachas
a las fábricas
iban
entregando
los ojos
al verano,
las cabezas al cielo,
sentados
en los
élitros
de las vertiginosas
bicicletas
que silbaban
cruzando
puentes, rosales, zarza
y mediodía.

Pensé en la tarde cuando los muchachos
se laven,
canten, coman, levanten
una copa
de vino
en honor
del amor
y de la vida,
y a la puerta
esperando
la bicicleta
inmóvil
porque
sólo
de movimiento fue su alma
y allí caída
no es
insecto transparente
que recorre
el verano,
sino
esqueleto
frío
que sólo
recupera
un cuerpo errante
con la urgencia
y la luz,
es decir,
con
la
resurrección
de cada día.


Ode to bicycles

I was walking
down
a sizzling road:
the sun popped like
a field of blazing maize,
the
earth
was hot,
an infinite circle
with an empty
blue sky overhead.

A few bicycles
passed
me by,
the only
insects
in
that dry
moment of summer,
silent,
swift,
translucent;
they
barely stirred
the air.

Workers and girls
were riding to their
factories,
giving
their eyes
to summer,
their heads to the sky,
sitting on the
hard
beetle backs
of the whirling
bicycles
that whirred
as they rode by
bridges, rosebushes, brambles
and midday.

I thought about evening when
the boys
wash up,
sing, eat, raise
a cup
of wine
in honor
of love
and life,
and waiting
at the door,
the bicycle,
stilled,
because
only moving
does it have a soul,
and fallen there
it isn't
a translucent insect
humming
through summer
but
a cold
skeleton
that will return to
life
only
when it's needed,
when it's light,
that is,
with
the
resurrection
of each day.

Not sure who to credit with the translation. I copied the poem from this website.

my history of cycling prior to New England

The long story about how I came to race my bicycle

I love to ride my bike. I started exploring on my bicycle when I was 8 years old. I had a bright pink bike with a banana seat. I lived in rural Illinois and took my bike around the neighborhood to get out of the house. I love to be outdoors and explore. In junior high, we moved to the town of Pekin, Ill. I took my three speed out to explore the new neighborhood. I can still see each street in my memory, smelling like freshly cut grass. Many older folks would sit on their porch swings or lawn chairs and watch the evening come in. In high school, I took my sister's bike (a too-big 20 speed she built from parts found on the curb) to explore neighboring towns. There are some nice summer rides there, if long straight roads bordered by cornfields works for you.

During my sophomore year of high school, I joined the track and cross country teams as a way to get out of the house and to find an outlet for my competitive nature. I thank my coach, Don Merrick, for all of the support he gave me during my years on those teams. I loved to run and I still do. I bet that every person in town saw me at one time or another out on the roads. As much as I loved running, I had very little idea how to get better at it or how to be an athlete at all. My abysmal diet and sleep schedule were a major hindrance to effective training. By graduation, I had two injuries from overtraining and no results. I decided to not to walk on to a college team. It was going to take all my efforts to get through my college coursework.

That didn't stop me from enjoying running for fun. One of the reasons that I decided to attend Iowa State was that it had many safe areas for running. My sister wouldn't let me take her bike to college, so I bought a red Schwinn. I rode that for transportation in college and occasionally for fun. One day my freshman year I decided to ride it from Ames to Ledges State Park. That is around 15 miles. It was a very windy day, but I was undeterred. After all, it was a tailwind out there. On the way back, I was on the side of a highway and the wind really whipped across the prairie. I had to forcefully push the handlebar to keep the bike straight, and my back ached. I had a dinner engagement with my roommate's family and just could not pedal fast enough. Of course I had no food which probably didn't help. The little trip was so rough that I don't think I went far out of Ames after that.

I did have some great experiences exploring off the bike when I was in college. I spent 3 semesters abroad in Australia and Mexico and had some great hiking trips. I thank Dave Noble

Dave Noble's web page

for his great canyoning trips and backpacking advice. I would have been happy to keep on hiking and backpacking around but the allure of financial stability was too great and I took a job for Big Pharma instead.

My new boss was a great help to me as I found my way in the "real world." He invited me to run with him during lunch breaks and got me into running local races. The first race I ran with him was the March Madness half marathon in the Chicago-land area. It was madness alright, it was quite cold with a touch of snow. My legs were killing me, but I completed the race, the farthest distance I had run. Next up was a 30 k. I referred to this as the "big race" and felt serious trepidation. It was an out and back on a flat, unpaved course. You can't have an easier course than that. I felt great for the first half...and then wow, I never knew my legs could hurt so much. A little group of marathon runners encouraged me to keep going and I finished with a 3rd place finish in my age group. Although that was the most painful experience of my life, the marathoners had told me that I could run a marathon. The following summer, I started training for the Chicago marathon. Training was tough and all consuming. I had a 3rd shift job and also taught ESL classes in the evening. When I wasn't asleep, I was running.

I loved running through the neighborhoods of Chicago during the marathon. It was awesome to feel the spirit of so many runners as they met their personal goals. I was surprised by how well the training had prepared me for race. Not only did I finish, but I didn't feel too bad at the end. I had qualified to run the Boston Marathon, which worked out well with a job opportunity I had in Worcester, MA for the spring. I learned then, the difference between training in the summer and training in winter in New England. Hello, treadmill and skis. The highlight of the Boston Marathon was seeing the photos from my new boyfriend, Patrick. He watched runners stream by for hours to get a few photos of me looking like a very sweaty, angry, tired stick-figured runner.

That summer I had a great group of runners I met with in the morning. And once or twice a week I took the Schwinn out for recreational group rides with folks from the Appalachian Mountain Club. Patrick wanted me to do an triathlon with him and encouraged me to upgrade from the Schwinn. I went to the store and bought the sale special - a steel Lemond Poprad cyclocross bike. Patrick packed the bike up and off I went to a new work opportunity in Puerto Rico.

I found a Puerto Rican recreational cycling group, cycloturismo, on the internet and met them one cool, wet Feb morning. The planned ride was 50 miles through the mountains. I cannot tell you how gracious these riders were towards me. My Spanish was poor and my riding was worse. Prior to meeting with the group, I had given the clipless pedals a practice run, but I didn't have the hang of them and I fell in a gas station parking lot. Also, I was the last rider going through the mountains. I had no idea how cold it could be in Puerto Rico. I didn't any jerseys and hadn't I thought to bring a jacket. I was fantasizing about soup for a few hours on that trip. After we made it back to the cars (yea!!!) the leader invited me to join the group for their planned ride around the island that spring. He told me where the local bike store was and suggested that I buy a set of road tires.



Every weekend the group met in a different town to train for the ride around the island. Those weekends rides were the highlight of my week. We went through beautiful areas, and the riders were very supportive of each other and social. We had a sag wagon and stopped for long breaks. The ride around the island was a great trip. We rode about 300 miles over 3 days and it was a most awesome adventure for me. I got to learn intimately every cuesta and bajada on the island's coastal lands. We rode in a group, behind a large truck blaring Puerto Rican tunes. This is how I came to know every word to Daddy Yankee's Gasolina. The trip had such an impact on me that rode around the island again the following year. Patrick and I am going around the island soon in Feb 2009. If you are interested in riding around Puerto Rico, I can refer you to a good group.

After the trip, I continued to ride weekly with the club. I really loved the rides in the mountains. I'm fairly small, so climbing is where I have an advantage. I had a lot of fun leaving guys in the dust. One very happy day for me was a club ride up the rain forest mountain El Yunque.

During this time, I ran the local races in Puerto Rico which were great fun. Patrick decided that he wanted to run a marathon and we met in Minnesota for the Twin Cities marathon.

Some folks in the cycling club used the rides to train for triathlon and encouraged me to try triathlon. I was interested, but didn't know how to swim well enough. I was trying to learn how to swim in the hopes of doing a triathlon the next year. A local bike shop owner had seen me climb a few times and asked me to join his cycling team for the 2006 season. I started riding with the guys on the team and got my butt kicked in a number of training sessions. I still didn't have a race bike, but I was looking forward to getting a cheap carbon-fiber frame through the team.

The winter and spring of 05/06 was tough as I dealt with a an injury to my neck and shoulder. I was very frustrated to have to stop riding my bike. After a few months of laying on the couch, I started trying to get in shape again summer 06. I wasn't able to race that season and I didn't get motivated to as much as go watch a race. After my friend was in a bad crash, I decided maybe the racing wasn't for me.

I spent the summer working to improve my fitness. The folks that I loved so much from the cycloturismo group had pretty much split and gone their own ways. I knew the island well enough then, so I planned my own rides and had a personal goal to climb to the ridge at the center of the island. I did not manage to achieve this goal on my own, but did so with a group that winter.

I did an Olympic triathlon with my friend Connnie at the end of the summer. That was exciting. I was 2nd to last out of the water, but passed enough folks on the bike and run to finish mid field. Connie made a wrong turn and joined some other people on an off course detour which helped my results even more than my pedaling. I raced the local duathlons and had great fun with those. I was so excited for my 2nd triathlon, sprint distance. Connie loaned me her Lightspeed for the race and I was raring to go. That didn't last long as I got waaaaaay behind after I hit a 100 m stretch of jellyfish. The top women swam right through those, but I decided to prolong the discomfort by treading water and screaming for a while. Since that, I've been staying on land.

The winter of 06/07 was great for cycling and running. Patrick and I had gotten married, and I was planning to leave my job and return to the U.S. I was taking full advantage of the sun and warmth while it lasted. I raced several local duathlons, which were great fun. I had the running part down, but lost all of the races to a woman named Sara who was stronger and also smarter on the bike.

I rode around the island again, this time with a faster and more competitive group. I also had
two amazing rides that winter with the San Juan Cycling club. This is a randoneering group that takes some long, punishing trips on the island. I have great memories of riding in the cool dark mornings along the beach or climbing with the sounds of the birds waking up. The most notable ride I had with that group was a 300 km brevet. That morning, I was climbing alone and took a turn without consulting my map. I rode from just below the mountain ridge at Aibonito to the coastal town of Salinas, before thinking it was odd that I had not encountered a sign of life on that mad descent. The reason was that the route of the planned ride did not go to Salinas until the afternoon. It was 9:30 am. I considering riding the route backwards, that way I would come apon the fastest riders in a few hours and could draft off them back to San Juan. That was the most sensible thing at that point, but it would be giving up on the ride. Instead I headed up the hardest climb on the island with about a quarter bottle of water. Several hours later I was thrilled to come upon the last rider of the group in the hills above Coamo. My legs were trashed, I was dehydrated, and I still had at least 100 miles to go. I'm happy to say that I did complete the ride, about 12 hours for 210 miles including getting lost a 2nd time and wandering around some hot God forsaken town for a while. Big thanks to a group of guys that pulled me from Fajardo in the dark.

I trained hard in Dec/ Jan for the Coamo half marathon which is in Feb. That is a race for very dedicated runners. It is crazy and if you have run it, you know what I mean. I think it is the hardest race of any kind on the island. It also involves running through crowds of drunks and for non-elites, non supported runners like myself, sharing the limited water supply by passing cups with the other runners.

The week before the half marathon, I felt strong on the bike and brought the Lemond to a training time trial to see what time trial was all about. It was about getting passed by some very expensive bikes with whooshing sounds. I came in last. It was a humbling experience.

After hearing my sad tale, Connie let me take the Lightspeed to a pre-season race the following day in the town of Coamo. If you are a Puerto Rican athlete you know Coamo means climbing. Hot, dry climbing. It was a mass start race. And I mean MASS START. All riders together, men, women, and juniors. I didn't even know how many other women there were. At the start, I did find out from one of them that bike races don't provide water like running races. That was going to be a major problem for me. I had gone to the race alone, so I didn't have anyone to give me bottles and I hadn't thought to put bottles in my jersey. And we were off. I didn't get clipped in right away, so had to work to catch the tail of riders heading up the hill. It was great fun to try to move through the groups of guys in the race. I think we had 4 laps of about 10 miles. Each lap involved a long climb, a steep climb, a fast descent into town and then through the tight town streets. I was passing on the climb, but getting passed cornering in town. On the 2nd lap, I passed another woman and I ended up the first woman. I was able to finish strong thanks to the goodwill of a junior I knew that gave me a bottle on the last lap.

The half marathon in Coamo went fairly well. I came in 10th and then a few weeks later, won a duathlon on the Teodoro Moscoso bridge when my rival, Sara did not show up.

I had one more wonderful group ride, in which I met my goal of climbing the ridge. Even better, we descended to the south coast of the island and climbed all the way back over again. Life was good and the winter had been great.

My enthusiasm had been high and I had overdone it by packing too many hard days into Feb. One key mistake was trying to get a personal best in the 10 K the afternoon after I won the duathlon and then not taking several rest days prior to a very hard ride the next weekend. I found myself with some injured tendons and forced rest to try to recuperate for my best adventure yet.

It was time to pack up my bike and take it on the plane, back the U.S. I sold my car and computer, and gave my kitchen appliances to Connie. Patrick and I set off to hike the length of the Pacific Crest Trail. 6 months on foot and living out of a tent. You can read about it on my previous blog

Patrick & Clara's Trailjournal



After our hike, I found work in the Boston area and bought a new racing bike. I was ready to get off my feet and back on a bike.

Happy New Year, Bicycle People

Happy New Year, bicycle people. 2008 has been the year of the bicycle for me. I have had the pleasure to meet a great many cyclists in New England this year and explore many wonderful roads on my bicycle. I love to hear your stories and cycling adventures and am starting this blog to share some of my own reflections. This summer was a great adventure for me as I took a self taught full immersion course in bicycle racing. For some time, I have wanted to start a blog to dialogue with other beginner racers about their thoughts and experience....but training and racing took precedence. Please feel free to send me any stories or bicycle related links that you have to cteijido "at" gmail and I will add them to this blog. If you are also a beginner racer, please send a link to your blog.

One topic that I would like to hear about is how you got into racing. My experience has been that this sport is not welcoming to beginners. It is expensive and requires a very large initial investment. It is also brutal. If you can't keep up, you are dropped off the back at the first hill and out riding by yourself. There are quite a few crashes in the races. If you crash, you can have a very serious injury, not to mention lose that beautiful bicycle. I'm interested to read some thoughtful essays about why exactly we are doing this.