GRSR: Just for clyde.

Ok. Got to the race at 5AM to sweep, replace the haybales that were knocked down by drunks along
frat row (or as my coach put it: "There's a lot of drunk ass hos on this campus!"), etc. The kid who
was supposed to built my bike the night before shows up with three frames.... um, there were only
supposed to be two bikes built up, dude. One is built, sweet - but its not mine. The other, my bike,
a lugged steel Allez, looks no different than it did a month ago. In other words, a frame, fork,
stem, downtube shifters, rear derailleur, and bars. Thats it. Shit.

Frantically strip parts off of the other frame and put them on the bike. The wheels he has for me
are WAY out of true - at least 5mm. True them using the brakes I stole from the other bike, and
eventually get them to be fairly true. Can't get the cassette to work at all, so I give up and bring
it to the Pedros guys we paid to be our Pit crew. They fix things up, after much juggling of parts
and what not, but he says my cassette is probably going to fall off the bike, and if I hear lots of
grinding noises, then just give up. Ok, whatever, I only expect to do 3 or 4 laps anyway!

Finally get everything together, go out for a warmup ride. Wow, this is pretty easy, as long as
you're drafting. Nice. My legs feel like shite tho, I don't know why. Could be the 3 hours of sleep
I got the night before (not my fault, I was going for 6, but its hard to sleep in a dorm on a
saturday night, what with all the drunks and the "lets throw water on everybody and throw them in
the shower" party in my suite). I have a minor crash when I discover my rear brakes weren't adjusted
too well, and don't really work. I don't fall down, but I rip the guy's shorts in front of me and
knock him over when he makes a quick stop after being cut off by a car. shoot, I'm sorry dude! He's
fine, no harm done, I adjust my brakes a little, straighten out my stem, and we're off.

Get back in time to prerun the course once or twice. I feel ok, getting the hang of this whole
cornering thing - and there's a lot of it, six right angle turns, including one chicane with a
slight uphill in the
middle. One nasty but short hill climb, and then a long straightaway thats just enough uphill to
make you hurt like a mofo but appear flat - so demoralizing, its not even funny. It was
everybody's most hated part of the course

On the nasty little hill climb, my legs suddenly seize. Ow ow ow, son of a biznatch! Both cramp up
massively. I probably should have had more to eat than half a bagel and one clif bar, but I had zero
time to do anything, between cleaning the course, building the bike, and putting out fires. I hurry
back to the start/finish as quickly as I can, and do everything I can to loosen up my legs. I get
them looser, but they're still spasming when I'm standing on the start line. Oh well, at least my
bud charlie the downhiller is there with me! It was both our first days ever on road bikes, so we're
in the same situation.

We're called to the front because we're hosting, so I manage to stay in front through the first few
corners. I'm kinda shakey on the corners, I have no idea what the limits of the bike and the
somewhat-worn tires are. At least I know how to take the best line through a corner, a lot of these
guys don't know how to turn at ALL. there are people all over the course, and none of the racers
want to draft anybody, so its just chaos. I can't find a wheel that I'm not either passing on all
the corners or thats sprinting away from me on every flat (which was most of them). Damn. I stay in
the top pack for about a lap and a half, then the legs start to tighten up again and I drop back to
the back half for the next lap and a half. Somewhere in there, charlie is behind me, drafting, and
my back tire slides out on a smooth manhole cover on the second turn of the chicane. Those mountain
bike handling skills sure came in handy! Clipping pedals cranking out of turns, doing all those
things you do when you don't know your bike. Kinda scary when I'm going all out!

Charlie cranks past me on a climb after my legs tighten up, and I swing back behind him on the
flats. We stick together for a bit, and as we cross the s/f line, my coach, announcing, goes "And
here comes Jon Bond and Charlie, from Tufts University. They're on the mountain bike team, and
amazingly enough, this is their first time ever on those road bikes!" Haha, thanks Mark, you're the
man. I pass Charlie at some point, find a wheel for a while, and then get forced into teh curb on
the second turn of the chicane. By some miracle I didn't crash, but the jolt was enough to really
shock the muscles in my legs, and they cramp up full on again. I try to drive through it, but I lose
all my momentum and the hill and subsequent slightly sloped straightaway to the s/f line kill me. I
find a small bunch of riders and we form a very loose pack, but the official calls us out because
we're going to be passed by the pace car and lead group, and they pull out all the racers that get
lapped or are going to be lapped soon for safety reasons. I made it 5 or so laps, but my legs are
killing me. Charlie was either pulled early the next lap (he might have passed me somewhere in
there, I forget) or just before me when the beautiful beautiful Maserati pace car passes him.

Overall, 23 riders actually complete the race out of over 50 entries.

I stretch as best I can, and go help run the race. I take some pictures of our Mens C riders before
they start, witness a guy hit the curb, slide along it with his rims, clip a haybale, and manage to
stay up. Scary shite! I eventually go marshal the chicane, and take some more pictures from there. I
didn't have my camera during the Women's B race, so I don't get any pictures of our female riders,
but one gets 6th.

Some very tightly contested races, one major crash that sends somebody to the hospital (i think
they're ok), some minor tumbles, and a whole lot of close calls. One guy dominates the mens' C race,
lapping the field (he should have raced B, hopefully he'll move up next time). Another guy dominates
the mens' A race, also lapping the field. He then stays with the pack and proceeds to either win or
help his teammates win almost all of the primes (sp?). Damn, that man is a machine... Mike the
machine, actually.

Meet some very cool people, get pissed off at how stupid people are ("dude, don't go... don't cross
the street yet... YO! There's a 90,000 car coming around the corner at like 30mph, followed by a
whole pack of bikers doing the same... don't!... jesus, get out of the way!" Stupid people.)

Overall, the race goes off very very well. Everybody is complementing us on how well the course was
prepped, and how fun, fast, and technical the course was.

I'm going to train on the road bike, but no more racing for me this year. Save that for the fall, on
my mountain bike!

Here's a bunch of random shots from the race. none of me, since I was taking them. Most aren't
great, some are decent. Hard to take still photos in not-great-lighting without a viewfinder (don't
know why they didn't include one on my digital camera, it really is a pain, but oh well, I'm getting
better with it!).

http://www.pbase.com/tuftscrit/crit

Jon Bond

 

"Jonathan Bond" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Jon Bond
>

Great report Jon, good stuff.

--
Chris
________________
www.chrisgroff.com

 

Jonathan Bond wrote:
>snip<
>
> http://www.pbase.com/tuftscrit/crit
>
> Jon Bond
>

And race results:

http://www.eccc-info.com/2003/results_beanpot_criterium.html

Look at Men's C - 74 starters, only 14 finished. Damn.

Jon Bond

 

Jonathan Bond wrote:
> Overall, the race goes off very very well. Everybody is complementing us on how well the course
> was prepped, and how fun, fast, and technical the course was.

Ain't Crit racing great!?!?!?!

 

ClydesdaleMTB wrote:
>
>
> Jonathan Bond wrote:
>
>> Overall, the race goes off very very well. Everybody is complementing us on how well the course
>> was prepped, and how fun, fast, and technical the course was.
>
>
> Ain't Crit racing great!?!?!?!
>
>

if I was in shape, knew the bike, and the bike didn't weigh as much as my mountain bike...
then maybe

Jon Bond

 

"Jonathan Bond" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Jonathan Bond wrote:
> >snip<
> >
> > http://www.pbase.com/tuftscrit/crit
> >
> > Jon Bond
> >

Wow, that IS a beautiful pace car. How does a college race end up with one of those?! At least one
'cross bike in there too. Cool stuff.
>
> And race results:
>
> http://www.eccc-info.com/2003/results_beanpot_criterium.html
>
> Look at Men's C - 74 starters, only 14 finished. Damn.
>

Heh, that's cool, I recognize some of the UNH people. Women's A 6th is my friend's roomie. She's a
beast. And I mean that in a good way.

> Jon Bond

Nice report

 

Jonathan Bond wrote:

> Ok. Got to the race at 5AM to sweep, replace the haybales that were knocked down by drunks
> ...<snip>>
>
> http://www.pbase.com/tuftscrit/crit
>
> Jon Bond

Very nice Jon! Sounds like all in all it was a great time...

Jimbo(san)

 

Jonathan Bond <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Ok. Got to the race at 5AM to sweep, replace the haybales that were knocked down by drunks along
> frat row (or as my coach put it: "There's a lot of drunk ass hos on this campus!"), etc. The kid
> who was supposed to built my bike the night before shows up with three frames.... um, there were
> only supposed to be two bikes built up, dude. One is built, sweet - but its not mine. The other,
> my bike, a lugged steel Allez, looks no different than it did a month ago. In other words, a
> frame, fork, stem, downtube shifters, rear derailleur, and bars. Thats it. Shit.
>
>
> http://www.pbase.com/tuftscrit/crit
>
> Jon Bond

Great fun to read about your adventure on "the other side." I'm surprised you managed to stay in one
piece, first time on a GRRace like that. I've seen guys go down over nothing. But what do you
attribute the miserable leg cramps to? Gearing? Shoes? Pavement? Potassium deficiency?

Glad you got announced to the crowd as a first-time GRoadie, and a regular mtnbiker.

Good job, and all that, old top, but now get back to your mountainbike. ;-P

Paladin

 

Paladin wrote:
> Jonathan Bond <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>Ok. Got to the race at 5AM to sweep, replace the haybales that were knocked down by drunks along
>>frat row (or as my coach put it: "There's a lot of drunk ass hos on this campus!"), etc. The kid
>>who was supposed to built my bike the night before shows up with three frames.... um, there were
>>only supposed to be two bikes built up, dude. One is built, sweet - but its not mine. The other,
>>my bike, a lugged steel Allez, looks no different than it did a month ago. In other words, a
>>frame, fork, stem, downtube shifters, rear derailleur, and bars. Thats it. Shit.
>>
>>
>>http://www.pbase.com/tuftscrit/crit
>>
>>Jon Bond
>
>
> Great fun to read about your adventure on "the other side." I'm surprised you managed to stay in
> one piece, first time on a GRRace like that. I've seen guys go down over nothing. But what do you
> attribute the miserable leg cramps to? Gearing? Shoes? Pavement? Potassium deficiency?

Probably a combo of dehydration, ion deficiency, being generally out of shape, and not being used to
the bike. I think my seat might have been a little bit high too, just enough that I was pointing my
toes a little bit and wreaking havoc on my calves. All I had to eat since I was up at about 3AM was
3/4 of a cinamon raisin bagel, a clif bar, and a bottle of water. Not smart, but I didn't have time
for anything more.

My shoes were my regular old Shimano mountain bike shoes, and my same Time ATAC pedals. I did move
the cleats a little farther back because they were in front of my toes before, so I might have moved
them a little too much.

> Glad you got announced to the crowd as a first-time GRoadie, and a regular mtnbiker.

yup, my coach is da bomb.

> Good job, and all that, old top, but now get back to your mountainbike. ;-P

I've still gotta wait for those damn trails to dry out. I need to find an 8/9 speed rear road
wheel (anybody got one they're not using anymore? even a hub???) and buy an 8 speed cassette -
running 7 gears from an 8 speed cog on a 7 speed hub with 8 speed shifters and derailleur doesn't
make for incredibly crisp shifts. The downtube shifters were really annoying for such a fast,
twisty race too.

I might end up buying an entry level road bike from Jamis (if we end up taking them as a sponsor -
the rep wants us, so its just our decision now). Something LIGHTER than 23 pounds, or whatever my
road bike weighs (its a LOT!). I figure road rides once or twice a week and mountain bike the rest.
I got destroyed in the races on the climbs, and flew through the technical stuff, so I definitely
know where I need to improve.

Jon Bond

 

Jonathan Bond wrote:

> Probably a combo of dehydration, ion deficiency, being generally out of shape, and not being used
> to the bike.....My shoes were my regular old Shimano mountain bike shoes, and my same Time ATAC
> pedals. I did move the cleats a little farther back because they were in front of my toes before,
> so I might have moved them a little too much.
>

An ion defiecency eh???? Hmmm must remeber that next time I go on a road ride an I get dropped...
"Hey guys wait up.... I can't speed up.... my ions are defiecient!!!!" ;-P (J/K)

I would say you did pretty damn well considering everything... No matter what these "serious" mtbers
tell you Jon ;-)... Road riding is the best training if you are going to race mtb.

Jimbo(san)

 

"jimbo(san)" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Jonathan Bond wrote:
>
> > Probably a combo of dehydration, ion deficiency, being generally out of shape, and not being
> > used to the bike.....My shoes were my regular old
Shimano mountain bike shoes, and my same
> > Time ATAC pedals. I did move the cleats a little farther back because they were in front of my
> > toes before, so I might have moved them a little too much.
> >
>
> An ion defiecency eh???? Hmmm must remeber that next time I go on a road ride an I get dropped...
> "Hey guys wait up.... I can't speed up.... my ions are defiecient!!!!" ;-P
(J/K)

Hehehehe..."The dilithium crystals are unravelling Captin ! We're givin' it all she's got!"

>
> I would say you did pretty damn well considering everything... No matter
what these "serious" mtbers tell you Jon ;-)... Road
> riding is the best training if you are going to race mtb.
>

This is true. It's really the best way to put in the long miles you need to build a strong base
without beating yourself to death on rough trails.

Mike