We're going to postpone this weekend's April 13th Transition Clinic to Saturday June 14th.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
Late Post on Bino's first Crit experience
"You spin me right round, baby
right round like a record, baby
Right round round round
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round"
-Dead or Alive
So on Sunday I raced my first ever criterium road race at the Bethel Spring Series. I had been hemming and hawing all week about going, as the weather was looking pretty bitter, and I had been fighting off a head cold, but when my alarm went off that morning, the temperature was hovering around 30, and I was feeling pretty good. So I loaded up my car, dressed in my cold weather riding gear, and made the drive to Bethel.
I've been riding bikes as long as I can remember, racing mountain bikes for about 7 years, and racing triathlons (up to half Iron distance) for about 5 years. I've done my share of big group rides, both organized and informal, and I've been spending a good amount of time on the dreaded trainer this winter. My power numbers have steadily improved, and I'm actually feeling about as strong as I've ever felt going into a spring. But I haven't ridden outside since November! Those of you who know me know that I'm not a big fan of riding in the cold, and find it hard to motivate when the thermometer drops below 40 degrees fahrenheit. So when people started talking about doing a crit race in early March, I was pretty hesitant, but I figured it would be a good experience, and I could always bail at the last minute if the weather was especially bad.
So when I signed up, I thought it was time to understand what, exactly, "crit racing" was all about. Basically, it involves a very short loop (in this case, .8 miles) that you ride around for a predetermined number of laps or amount of time. The Bethel series is set up as 15 laps for Category 5 racers (what everyone starts at) and 20 laps for the higher categories. Some races have prizes or "primes" (pronounced "preems") for mid race lap leaders, but the Bethel series does not. Crits are known for being very fast and very technical, with lots of turns. The Bethel loop features a 90 degree right hand turn at the start, a steady downhill, and a short uphill to the finish line.
The race organizers require all Cat 5 racers to attend a pre-race clinic so that the more inexperienced riders (read: me) can learn some of the basic skills needed for racing safely. This started with pairing up and riding less than 6 inches apart. Think about being able to roll your fingers off your handlebar and touch the back of the other rider's hand. Next we practiced "rubbing" against the other rider. This wasn't meant to be used as an offensive weapon, but rather to be prepared if and when some accidental contact occurred. It was surprisingly hard to force myself to make contact with the other rider, so I'm not sure how effective this drill was.
And then it was time to race. We lined up on the start line, a few riders making nervous jokes, others looking very serious. Some riders shed a layer or two, took in a gu and some water, while others just looked ready. I had more normal pre-race butterflies, which for whatever reason I tend to feel in my shoulders and upper arms. It's a weird feeling, and only seems to happen just before a race. Then the whistle blew, and we were off. I initially flailed a bit with my pedal, but then jumped right into the pack and settled in. Honestly, after that, it's mostly a blur. There were a few near crashes in front of me as people tried to take the 90 degree turn too sharply and cut off other riders, a few lapped riders to pass, and certainly no good opportunities to drink or eat. No big deal though, it was cold so we weren't sweating too much and the race was only 12 miles so food was pretty irrelevant. I had a hard time keeping track of what lap we were on, but I figured as long as I stayed in the bunch I was doing ok. The first several laps were at a moderate pace, averaging about 2 minutes 5 seconds per lap, but on the last 2 laps the pace jumped considerably, to about 1:57 for the second to last and something even faster for the final. I'm not sure what the pace was, as I got spit out the back of the group about halfway through the last lap, but I finished it in just under 2 minutes, so the leaders must have done about 1:50 or less. I just couldn't hold on as the pace increased. But that gives me something to work for for the next race.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Team Bikeway 2014
As many of you who read this probobly know, the annual race team meeting is at 6:30 pm tomorrow at the Wappingers store. We will be introducing everyone and going over any and all changes made from previous years, in addition to talking about some of the new things which we will be trying to implement to help everyone reach their goals. We have a lot of new and exciting things planned, which I will be really happy to introduce to everyone tomorrow. I'm really stoked to meet everyone from the team who I have not met yet, in addition to our new members, and to hear about everyones race schedule and goals. I'm a racer at heart and I always will be, and whats better than racing myself is being a part of your racing as well. I hope that at some point this year I can say that I was able to do something to help everyone on the team, and I encourage everyone to reach out and ask if there is anything I can do!
Personally I will be focusing on XC Mtb races this year, and secondarily I will be getting my feet wet in some road racing as well, which has been a long time coming. In addition to that, I will be doing some Enduro and DH events, and of course a Triathlon. I've done a few Xterras, but now its time for me to step up and do a real Tri. For me, doing tris are a great way to go and do a fun and challenging event which I can really enjoy without pressure to reach a goal. This is because I am not a swimmer, not even a little, I'm better described as drift wood when Im in water. As far as running goes, I struggle with it mentally, as the work to fun ratio isn't very high, but in a triathlon situation its obviously very rewarding when all is said and done and you can dig deep and finish strong.
Thats it for me, below is last years team awards!
Nate
Volunteer of the year - Karena Frenzel
Inspiring athlete of the year, "Paul Frank award" - Dawn Panny
Community Leader of the year - Sam Train
Junior Athlete of the year - Madison MacDougall
Break Through Season award - Zuri Wilson, and Eric Waldron
Featured Athlete of the year - Erica Ruge
Overcoming anything that stood in the way of getting back on the bike - Lars Liebmann
Best Dressed/Most likely to match bike and outfit - Dawn Panny
Die hard award - Richard Giliotti
Most likely to provide an awesome draft - John Esposito
Coach of the year - Coach Vic
Personally I will be focusing on XC Mtb races this year, and secondarily I will be getting my feet wet in some road racing as well, which has been a long time coming. In addition to that, I will be doing some Enduro and DH events, and of course a Triathlon. I've done a few Xterras, but now its time for me to step up and do a real Tri. For me, doing tris are a great way to go and do a fun and challenging event which I can really enjoy without pressure to reach a goal. This is because I am not a swimmer, not even a little, I'm better described as drift wood when Im in water. As far as running goes, I struggle with it mentally, as the work to fun ratio isn't very high, but in a triathlon situation its obviously very rewarding when all is said and done and you can dig deep and finish strong.
Thats it for me, below is last years team awards!
Nate
Volunteer of the year - Karena Frenzel
Inspiring athlete of the year, "Paul Frank award" - Dawn Panny
Community Leader of the year - Sam Train
Junior Athlete of the year - Madison MacDougall
Break Through Season award - Zuri Wilson, and Eric Waldron
Featured Athlete of the year - Erica Ruge
Overcoming anything that stood in the way of getting back on the bike - Lars Liebmann
Best Dressed/Most likely to match bike and outfit - Dawn Panny
Die hard award - Richard Giliotti
Most likely to provide an awesome draft - John Esposito
Coach of the year - Coach Vic
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Nates NC trip
With 2014 well underway, after the annual holiday cramming of course, by that I obviously mean food and time....Its time to get back on our bikes. If that's a good enough opening line to work off of, Then I will take this time to introduce myself to those who have not met me in the Wappingers store yet. My name is Nate Kanney and I am new to Bikeway as of a few months ago, with that being said, I am confident to say that I am very lucky to be here as its a really enjoyable business to be a part of, in addition to a great staff to be in the company of everyday.
After a lot of slap jawing about making a trip to Asheville, NC with some friends, over years, we finally made it happen. We all managed to get a few days off of work, and pull plans together for a long weekend of riding in Pisgah Forest. For those who are unfamiliar, Pisgah is a major mtb destination because of its sheer beauty and Mountainous terrain. I just got a new Specialized Enduro 29 early in the winter but had only ridden it locally where its not quite being used to nearly its potential, but I'll get to that later. As you can imagine, when three guys with bicycles do a road trip there will always be two stories, one being the road trip and the other being the riding.
I'll keep the road trip story as brief as possible, as its really bicycles and shooting dirt with them that makes us tick. The plan was to leave around 6pm on thursday, rotate drivers all night and arrive in time to get a good breakfast and have all day to ride before we went back to the hotel and binged on sleep. Of course that is just wishfull thinking isn't it. The van we were driving had a belt pully seize sometime shortly after we left, which led to the belt braking. When we got the low batter indication, it was 8pm and we were in the heart of Pa, meaning there was nothing around. We were able to get to an auto parts store within minutes of closing, but of course the parts we needed were special order only. We got savvy with google searching on our phones and were able to get a belt and pully that were almost the right size which we had remained optimistic that we could make work to salvage everything and get through the night. One thing leads to another and we dont have the right tools, were risking being the background of a "people of wal-mart" photo post while were doing a roadside repair in their parking lot....and of course without John Deere or Cummins clothing on we were obviously not from around there.
By the time we were back on the road and headed south again, we had gotten a hotel, and spent the morning driving around trying to find a mechanic that could do it that morning, which we were lucky to have even found. We were wheels up again at around 1 pm and after a quick internet search of riding areas along our route we found a place called Michaux state forest which was ideal as it was only about 10 minutes from the interstate. Michaux was clearly an old Dirt bike riding area, with alot of trails that while were covering all the nicest features, were not made with the best use of elevation in mind. When all was said and done we had seen a few absolutely beautiful trails in a great place but our minds were still on Asheville.
Next we arrived at our hotel in Asheville around 1:15 am and couldn't sleep till the white dotted line had finished blazing by in our minds. We met up with someone in Pisgah forest who was a friend and had offered to be our guide, and it just so happened that he was the national DH champion from a few years ago! Right off the bat we had a 40 minute climb, it was on a dirt road which weaved around each hill and canyon until we were nearly at the top of one of the peaks. At this point I was thinking that we would have a two hour descent ahead of us but as it turned out the route back was almost all the way on the top of a ridgeline, or ridgeback depending on where you live. Needless to say, this made for yet even more climbing, mostly power climbs, but on the bright side this meant that the downhills were much more exciting....err, exhilarating! Now I was getting into the nitty gritty and seeing what the Enduro 29 was capable of!
12 miles and 3500 feet later we were done, for the moment. We wanted more though as there was still a few hours of daylight left and we knew we were staring down the tunnel at a blustery cold NY winter in a few days. We loaded up in a blink and hit the road for a place called DuPont. DuPont is a place that is very likely what you will see photos of when you google image search for mtn biking in Asheville, with lots of trail that ride on top of rock slab....
Later that night we were all thoroughly exhausted but managed to stay awake long enough to catch the Supercross races on tv which were live from California, so unfortunately it was another late night, but certainly a great way to cap a great day.
The next morning we were wheels up bright and early on the road back north, with a stop to ride at a place called Carvins Cove, in Roanoke Virginia. This particular destination came shockingly well recommended. Of course we though that NC would be the best riding we did on a weekend trip to NC we thought. As it turns out, it really was but mostly because of the majestic views and sense of adventure you can get from a ride out in the mountains like that. Carvins Cove was again, alot of climbing, we started with a 35 minute climb that started casually, and quickly turned into a dig headed straight up the mountain, at about the time when I was really ready for it to let up, it did just that by turning into a switch back trail that went about a quarter of a mile at a time and then hairpin turning back in the other direction. This was quite necessary as at the level of the mountain, it was too steep to go up any other way. As soon as we were all regrouped at the top we went straight into one of the go to trails, "the Gauntlet"! It was 6 minutes of awesome, hands down, no questions asked..we lost 1000 feet in 1.9 miles and averaged 18.5 mph, and it was all awesome singletrack. Before we were done at Carvins, we did two more laps up the mountain and got two other similar descents to the gauntlet in, which was an awesome way to cap off a great weekend of riding and get the ball rolling on 2014.
Thanks for reading, I'm looking forward to meeting and working with you all this year!
Get on your bikes!
Nate
After a lot of slap jawing about making a trip to Asheville, NC with some friends, over years, we finally made it happen. We all managed to get a few days off of work, and pull plans together for a long weekend of riding in Pisgah Forest. For those who are unfamiliar, Pisgah is a major mtb destination because of its sheer beauty and Mountainous terrain. I just got a new Specialized Enduro 29 early in the winter but had only ridden it locally where its not quite being used to nearly its potential, but I'll get to that later. As you can imagine, when three guys with bicycles do a road trip there will always be two stories, one being the road trip and the other being the riding.
I'll keep the road trip story as brief as possible, as its really bicycles and shooting dirt with them that makes us tick. The plan was to leave around 6pm on thursday, rotate drivers all night and arrive in time to get a good breakfast and have all day to ride before we went back to the hotel and binged on sleep. Of course that is just wishfull thinking isn't it. The van we were driving had a belt pully seize sometime shortly after we left, which led to the belt braking. When we got the low batter indication, it was 8pm and we were in the heart of Pa, meaning there was nothing around. We were able to get to an auto parts store within minutes of closing, but of course the parts we needed were special order only. We got savvy with google searching on our phones and were able to get a belt and pully that were almost the right size which we had remained optimistic that we could make work to salvage everything and get through the night. One thing leads to another and we dont have the right tools, were risking being the background of a "people of wal-mart" photo post while were doing a roadside repair in their parking lot....and of course without John Deere or Cummins clothing on we were obviously not from around there.
By the time we were back on the road and headed south again, we had gotten a hotel, and spent the morning driving around trying to find a mechanic that could do it that morning, which we were lucky to have even found. We were wheels up again at around 1 pm and after a quick internet search of riding areas along our route we found a place called Michaux state forest which was ideal as it was only about 10 minutes from the interstate. Michaux was clearly an old Dirt bike riding area, with alot of trails that while were covering all the nicest features, were not made with the best use of elevation in mind. When all was said and done we had seen a few absolutely beautiful trails in a great place but our minds were still on Asheville.
Next we arrived at our hotel in Asheville around 1:15 am and couldn't sleep till the white dotted line had finished blazing by in our minds. We met up with someone in Pisgah forest who was a friend and had offered to be our guide, and it just so happened that he was the national DH champion from a few years ago! Right off the bat we had a 40 minute climb, it was on a dirt road which weaved around each hill and canyon until we were nearly at the top of one of the peaks. At this point I was thinking that we would have a two hour descent ahead of us but as it turned out the route back was almost all the way on the top of a ridgeline, or ridgeback depending on where you live. Needless to say, this made for yet even more climbing, mostly power climbs, but on the bright side this meant that the downhills were much more exciting....err, exhilarating! Now I was getting into the nitty gritty and seeing what the Enduro 29 was capable of!
12 miles and 3500 feet later we were done, for the moment. We wanted more though as there was still a few hours of daylight left and we knew we were staring down the tunnel at a blustery cold NY winter in a few days. We loaded up in a blink and hit the road for a place called DuPont. DuPont is a place that is very likely what you will see photos of when you google image search for mtn biking in Asheville, with lots of trail that ride on top of rock slab....
Later that night we were all thoroughly exhausted but managed to stay awake long enough to catch the Supercross races on tv which were live from California, so unfortunately it was another late night, but certainly a great way to cap a great day.
The next morning we were wheels up bright and early on the road back north, with a stop to ride at a place called Carvins Cove, in Roanoke Virginia. This particular destination came shockingly well recommended. Of course we though that NC would be the best riding we did on a weekend trip to NC we thought. As it turns out, it really was but mostly because of the majestic views and sense of adventure you can get from a ride out in the mountains like that. Carvins Cove was again, alot of climbing, we started with a 35 minute climb that started casually, and quickly turned into a dig headed straight up the mountain, at about the time when I was really ready for it to let up, it did just that by turning into a switch back trail that went about a quarter of a mile at a time and then hairpin turning back in the other direction. This was quite necessary as at the level of the mountain, it was too steep to go up any other way. As soon as we were all regrouped at the top we went straight into one of the go to trails, "the Gauntlet"! It was 6 minutes of awesome, hands down, no questions asked..we lost 1000 feet in 1.9 miles and averaged 18.5 mph, and it was all awesome singletrack. Before we were done at Carvins, we did two more laps up the mountain and got two other similar descents to the gauntlet in, which was an awesome way to cap off a great weekend of riding and get the ball rolling on 2014.
Thanks for reading, I'm looking forward to meeting and working with you all this year!
Get on your bikes!
Nate
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