road trip to vermont with some bike racing

Nick should once again be manning the race report on the team blog, so I will bloviate here. Fact-no matter how old you are, road trips rule. Load up some dudes, drive a bit, and let the hijinks begin. For us one hijinks started too soon. We lost a wheel of the roof before we were out of MA?? FML.
Driving into Burlington around 10. The last hour of the drive in full Translyvanian Hunger fog. Hit the youth hostel where we were staying-fear of bed bugs be damned. Right off the bat, I got off on the wrong foot with the inn keeper-apparently zombie jokes are off limits up here. Any way, we sacked out with dreams of race success.
We departed early and arrived at the Catamount Family Center in more fog.

And it was fucking cold. Fact-there is never a wrong season to bring winter hats to Vermont.
As the fog cleared,the dread set in. Course tap snaked its way up and down an hillside.Wet grass was everywhere with no pavement in site.
2.5 preride laps resulted in some grass covered bikes and an increased sense of impending doom.

Pinning on 3 numbers made me feel super pro. Before I was ready, it was call ups and time to get it on. Early reg'ing got me a front row start. I was ready to drop anchor and reverse hole shot as soon as possible.
Saturdays race was a 4 lap suffer fest with a lot of climbing and a cool ride up a bmx jump the wrong way. Hard as hell, but rad. Race was tough lots of climbing.
Blew up after 2 laps and pretty much chalked up the rest of the race to hard training. 16th was the result.
Parbo on the jump

We got to hang for the rest of the day, get sunburned, and watch people crush the course. Nick was running the camera so I just got to chill.
We headed back to Burlington with thoughts of Flatbreads pizza dominating my mind. I get grumpy when I am hungry and I was in dick mode. Standing next to and empty table for 15 minutes before getting seated at the same table did not help. Couple beers, a salad, and half a pizza later it was back to happyland and time for bed.
Up early enough to sit in a Starbucks parking lot for 20 minutes before we arrived(no surprise early) to the race. Sunday's course was less of a kick in the nuts as far as elevation, but the challenges came on some tricky downhill corners and medium length run up. Why do people try to get all 300 on things like this and try to ride up them only to flounder and die? If you can't ride it every time in practice-run it. It will be faster. At the start, I somehow found myself accelerating away and coming close to getting the hole shot. At which point I let of the gas and lost enough positions that I spent the rest of the race trying to get them back. Lap 2 found me passing Nick which would have ruled if he wasn't running with his bike. He made it to the pits and got himself together and was off. The course doubled back on itself enough that I was able to try and yell some encouragement to him. Maybe too much as he caught and passed me! Way to go Nick.
We managed to finish 12,13,14 on Sunday.
After a little chill time we packed up and rolled out. Really nice race. Good weekend. Good road trip. Hopefully a good warm up for NH next weekend.

extra power?

"Make good lines and use extra power to get through loose gravel. If you steer with your hips, push hard on the pedals from the back of the saddle and use the front wheel as a sort of rudder; you can clean most deep, loose gravel. " -Ira Ryan

Gravel riding tips from this article. Just need to find my extra power and I will be good to go.

Quad Cross

I was stoked to do this race cause it is one of the only races of the year that I can ride to. Riding to a race-outside of Wells Ave isn't really an option so this was a cool thing. Packing for a race with a car means you don't have to think too much-just throw it in, but when you are carrying everything you need on your back, you need to put some more thought into it. I could think all I want, but I still needed team mates to come through with things like a floor pump and pit wheels. It takes a village for one man to ride....... Speaking of team mates, Thom and Nick headed out Saturday night to help with course set up.

2nd time doing Quad Cross. Weather was pretty similar. Dry and cool. Course was a little tougher-they ran it into the woods and found some sand to make the run up a little tougher.
We had the whole team there. Billy,Nick, and Thom were in the 4 and I was in the old 4s. Had a decent start. Starts are not ever my strong suit so decent is an improvement. Took a lap or 2 to get it together, at which point I was in a group of about 8, and we proceeded to beat on each other for the remaining laps.
People definitely came out to race and were diving into ever corner and sprinting out of ever turn. Dusty as a hell-which I was reminded of when I laid down for a quick nap on the last lap. Crashed in a completely unremarkable left hand turn. Chalk that one up to last lap jitters. I get more uptight and nervous in the last lap than at the start. Once I realize it's the last lap, I tend to think to much and what handling I have goes out the window. Tons of people were out and it was nice to get a pretty thorough level of heckling throughout the course.
Hung out til the Pro race and then road home.
This was an extremely fun day and I think Quad Cross has earned it's spot on the calendar.
Nick has a race report on the team blog. Check it out. Maybe the other slackers on the team will have something to say soon. VT weekend with 3/4 of the crew on deck.

Friday Night

This video rules for some many reasons
1.Joe Lopes. Sad that Joe and Dave are both RIP.
2.Skaters vs BMX. Took rollerbladers to get us off each others backs
3.The Dutch what? As if the Rabo friendly Orange and Blue color scheme wasn't good enough, Vanderspeck has the nickname "The Flying Dutchman "
4.Vander-Roll? Is it as bad as the street plant?
5.The 80s tv dude-Stay Classy!

Magnus Backstedt Interview

Magnus Backstedt has always been one of my favorite riders. Devoted to the classics, his status as a hardman cannot be questioned. His crowning moment has to be his Roubaix win in 2004, but I have spent many an hour on the trainer watching him set brutal tempo in a breakaway in the 08 edition of Flanders. He has been a supporter of the Pan-Mass challenge here in MA for a while and being reminded of this got me thinking and reminiscing a bit. Roubaix was epic, but I was always puzzled by his attempt at the derny hour record. What was the motivation to suffer behind a motorbike turning that huge gear? On a whim,I emailed Big Maggy's coffee to see if he would be interested in an interview. I was pretty shocked when I got a quick reply in the affirmative. So here are a few questions with a real giant of cycling.


WWDIS:Why did you decide to pursue the derny hour record?
MB: I just love riding the track and riding behind the Derny is one of my favourite things to do. I quite quickly realised i was very fast behind it. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan on the night with the driver getting "big occasion nerves". Unfortunately i never got the time to give it another go.

WWDIS: What was harder Roubaix or the derny hour?
MB:I think Roubaix, more due to the time it takes to become human again after a complete emptying of the tank and all the physical issues the cobbles cause. Still the Hour was not easy.


WWDIS: What were your favorite races?
MB: For me there was really only one race. Second Sunday in April is a special day in my calendar and always will be. The Paris Roubaix is such a special event and I have a great love for the race itself and the history behind the race.

WWDIS:Did you ever do any derny crits?
MB:No I never did. I was always busy with other races.
WWDIS: Are they as sketchy as the appear?
MB:I don't think they are any worse than other races.

WWDIS: You road for a lot of teams over the years-what was your favorite bike?
MB: Difficult question to answer. I had so many purpose built bikes made for me and a lot of custom jobs. Have to say though that the Felt AR1 was probably one of my favourites. Also had quite a lot of input to that bike being made. Jim Felt did an awesome job there. Another favourite is the Cervelo P3 and i recently got a Wilier Cento Uno that again was made to my spec. As an off the peg bike i think the bike that my team is riding this year has to be one of the stiffest and lightest i have ever ridden. It's a small brand. Nishiki team Carbon it's called. You can find them on www.nishiki.se

WWDIS:This is a mandatory interview question, do you prefer Campy or Shimano? Or Sram?
MB: Shimano

WWDIS:How did you get associated with the Pan-Mass Challenge?
MB: Long story. Matt Dillis who is the captain of the Forza-G PMC team is working together with me distributing my coffee in the US and on that road we ended up with me riding the PMC. One of the best rides i have done. I do a lot of stuff for charities and my coffee donates a % of the profit to cancer charities, the PMC being one of them. Find the coffee on www.bigmaggys.com

WWDIS: How was it being on the podium with Roger Hammond?
MB:Well, Rog and me are good friends and used to share a house in Belgium. I felt for him not winning, but on that day there was only going to be one winner and that was me. I think he can appreciate that. He rode really strong that day and luckily for me i just managed to outmaneuver all of them coming out of the final turn. Track cycling move!! Well, knowing how people move on the track helped me a lot that day.

WWDIS:Have you or do you race cross?
MB: I have only ever done a couple of local ones in south wales where I live. Not really my thing. I'm too heavy and bog down in the mud. I do like taking my MTB on a spin though.

WWDIS: My blog focuses on cycling and music, so what are some of your favorite bands?
MB: Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Black eyed Peas, the XX. i have something like 8500 tunes on my ipod and it varies from the one extreme to another.

WWDIS:You seem to be busy with your coffee, team,and TV commentating? What else are you up to?
MB: I also have my bike/coffee shop on Jersey Channel islands. Apart from that and my family i don't really have time to do anything else.

So there you have it. Amazing racer, retires and seems to stay just as busy. Get some of that coffee!

PS
want one of these

never the same.

One of my favorite things about cross is the constant flux. You can have a race at the same place every year and change the course to make it different. Even if you don't change the course, weather can give you 2 totally different races. Even hour to hour. If you do 2 races in one day, you are not really riding the same course-especially if it rains. You need to be ready for anything.
For example Palmer MA. I have done this race 3 times. 1st time it was later in the year and a mess of frozen mud ruts and grass. Last year was an epic mudfest with submerged roots and pouring rain. This year it was dry and hot. Still had roots. Roots everywhere. Popping out of the ground like zombies trying to free themselves from their graves.
race report on the other blog later.

Cross Season

Posted a race report from our team's first race on the new team blog. Check it out
Or follow us on Facebook.

Rain, Mud, and Fun all on day one of the season? Stoked.