GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll

List Lurker: 09-03-10

2010-09-03T07:19:09-04:00

While you were busy hitting the delete key, I was busy living vicariously as a lonely list lurker. Here's what you missed on the regional cycling list-serves...

Across the Virginia Cycling Association, the road season was winding down and folks' typing fingers were entering a low-volume transition period (all of which was very, very SFW):

Virginia BAR Administrator, Bill Henderson, has been hard at work figuring out who's faster than whom more often than not. He's got the BAR Updated through the State TT Championships by now and wants you to know there only one BAR race left! Time to start really trying!
Did I say "only one BAR event left?" Sure did. The Hampton Bay Days Criterium State Age Grade Championship is going to compete with Hurricane Earl for top billing in Hampton VA this weekend. My money's on the criterium because we all know how the song goes: Earl's gotta die. (Okay, maybe you don't that song. But just because I do doesn't make me less of a man. I'm secure.)

MABRA was also eerily quiet (though much less SFW) as folks made the transition from road riding to 'cross racing and from posting pointless comments to posting non-cycing related videos:

Ruggy Bear wanted to know what everyone thought about the season. He cares about your fondest memory and greatest regret. Unfortunately, only his Lil'RingerBuddy cared enough to send the very least.
VDOT upgraded Lawyers Road in Reston with a bike lane about a year ago. Now they are putting together a scientific study of the effects on traffic patterns and they want your feedback. Of course, since it's a government agency with millions of your tax dollars, they use nothing but the best research methodology. That's why they set up this high-tech Survey Monkey questionnaire. So, if you have the technical expertise and the sort of Top Secret clearance required for such activity, touch the monkey, answer the questions, and look forward to even more cutting edge technology from the same folks who brought you "the Mixing Bowl."
Speaking of touching the monkey, I have to mention that someone was a very bad bicyclist this week and gave bored MABRA'inians a naughty video to download and enjoy be aghast at. Now I know you would never click on anything that said "Megan Fox Sex Tape." Heck, you don't like clicking on this site and it's totally safe! But since you're still dying to know what all the fuss is about, I did download a cleaned up version of the video and you can feel good about checking it out. Seriously, this is SFW (even though the quantity / quality of MABRA postings indicates that "work" is very relative word for many of us.)
In response to that naughty video (PSFW), the moderators of the list took the phrase "those responsible have been sacked" very seriously and are looking for new list-serve moderators. If you are one of those lonely types who gets the slobbery jitters when you hear "you've got mail," drop the moderators a line and say "I'm tired of lurking! Let me run the show!" Obviously I don't know anyone who lives for this stuff; that would be pathetic. But still, someone out there probably reads all of this junk, right? Beuler? Beuler?
The Special Olympics State Cycling Championship is being held on September 25th in Sykesville MD. They need some volunteers to help out with all sorts of things. If you can help (or if you are in need of some community service hours, juniors or bad-boy seniors!), contact Tracy Lea.
The MABRA BAR is also nearing completion. It's updated (of course) but you'll want to get one more bit of fast out of your legs at next week's Turkey Day event if you want to make a last minute surge for the line.
Oh, and by the way... Fondest memory? Greatest regret, Ruggy Bear? Did you just buy a "random conversation starter kit" or something? Seriously, it takes more than that to bait the MABRA bear. Theis district is filled with Cat 1 In-Box Stuffers; reminiscing is so bush league...

Got any comments, interpretations, re-interpretations, or mis-interprations? Send them to me; I've got nothing better to do than to sit in my darkened room and live vicariously as a list-lurker...

Gus Grissom races for Team GamJams Racing, teaches Greek and Latin at DeMatha Catholic High School, and writes a dissertation in his spare time. He compiles this column strictly for fortune and glory.

Dombrowski and Meidhof: Faster Than You

2010-09-02T15:03:57-04:00

We already know that Joe Dombrowski was picked up as a stagiare by Trek/Livestrong to race the Tour of Utah. The race was an extended audition for the 2010 Jefferson Cup winner: if he performed well, he stood a chance at a contract for the 2011 season. After a shaky start in Utah, Joe found his rhythm with the team. Said Dombrowski, "the first few days, I rode really poorly, suffering with the altitude. I would get dropped on a climb, chase back on, and get dropped again. It was rough. After about my third day out at altitude, I started to come around. I was riding at the front on the climbs, and finishing in the bunch. It was a big confidence boost, as I was a little on edge from my early race performance. I felt a little bit of pressure to perform."

Joe executed his role as domestique admirably, and made a comfortable switch from a starring to supporting role: "It was a different experience riding under a director, as well. We all had specific instructions in the morning, especially as we were often defending, or pursuing a jersey. I was often trying to get in breaks, ride the front, or grab bottles for teammates or Levi. It was a gratifying experience to try and help the team in any way I could."

At the end of the week, DS Axel Merckx told Joe he passed the audition, and that he had a spot on the 2011 team. Joe will divide his 2011 season between Trek/Livestrong and racing in Europe on the US National team. He doesn't expect much downtime between now and them, with a full cyclocross season followed by the first Trek/Livestrong camp in December. "I have to say, I am pretty stoked on the whole thing. I was a Cat 3 at the beginning of the season, not even sure whether I wanted to do a season on the road. If you told me I would have an opportunity to travel the world, getting paid to race my bike, on a pro road team, I definitely wouldn't have believed you."

Jason Meidhof (CleanCurrents p/b Don Beyer Volvo) is about two times the age of young Dombrowski, and is now also a two time national track champion. Meidhof repeated in the Men 35-39 Individual Pursuit on the Superdrome in Frisco Texas yesterday, posting the day's fastest time in the challenging windy conditions of 3:40.355 for the 3K TT.

Meidhof is carrying momentum and national caliber fitness into the Team Pursuit and the Points Race: "my goal is to sweep the events I have entered." He knows it won't be easy, even if he were just up against local riders. Ted Michaels (Evolution Cycling) landed on the podium alongside Meidhof, and there are other formidable MABRA squads in contetion: "Keep an eye out as the Saroff guys are looking strong too."

GamJams Tech: Premes, Picks, Promos — 9-2-10

2010-09-02T07:32:42-04:00

As a cyclist, the search for newer and better gear is constant — there's always something else out there. Premes, Picks, Promos will highlight both the next big thing and the sleeper deal.

Short of a freak September snowstorm, nothing will snap a bike shop into thinking winter quicker than receiving the first shipment of fall/winter clothing. We got ours about a week ago ... on a 90-degree day.

The first wave was from Pearl Izumi, but we have Capo, Castelli and — possibly — another shipment from Pearl on the way, along with various odds and ends from smaller companies.

Even though it means a fairly stark change in weather, it's always nice to turn over the inventory and get something different on the floor. Regular customers need something new to look at, but so do we. Here are three things worth checking out if you should happen to stumble into my shop (or anybody else's, really):

Pearl Izumi PRO Softshell Lite glove ($55): You can say what you want about Pearl Izumi (boring is the first word that comes to my mind), but the company does a couple of things very well: gloves and winter accessories. The PRO Softshell Lite glove is a nice combination of the two, and should be well-suited to that first blast of chilly air.

It has windstopper material on the back and a longer cuff than most lightweight gloves. There are a few nice details, too — Pittards leather palm, reflective thumb material (think of how your thumbs fall over your hoods) and a nice, long snot wiper on the rest of the thumb. When trying it on, you can instantly tell it's a warmer glove, but I'm guessing it'll be fairly versatile — low 50s to low 40s, and maybe upper 30s if it's not too windy.

Capo LE Wind Vest ($80): Is there any piece of clothing more valuable than a nice vest? I say no, but I dress pretty lightly when it gets cold. A jersey, vest and arm warmers will do the trick for me down into the upper 20s. As such, that takes care of most of my winter riding conditions.

For people who run a bit cooler than me, a vest can span conditions from the mid-30s on up into the mid-50s. The Capo LE vest is made of, essentially, tent material. It's wind and water resistant, packs very small and has stretchy side panels to create a fitted look. What's worse than wearing a sail for a vest or jacket? Riding next to someone who's wearing a sail and having to listen to it the entire time. Like other Capo tops, it has a full-length lockable zipper.

Mad Alchemy Embrocation ($18.95): To answer your question, no — there's nothing more pro than embrocation in cold weather. And though I have a fairly large tub of Qoleum embrocation left over from last year, I'm looking forward to trying some of Mad Alchemy's goods.

The Qoleum embrocation seems a bit heavy-handed, like they mixed two tanks of stuff together: burn and strong smell. Mad Alchemy products come across with a bit more subtlety but tend to keep the burn. I could use a bit more subtlety. Should the temperature dip below, say, 80, I'll let you know what I find.

—

There's plenty more new stuff, obviously, but these are the early highlights. You may have read yesterdday about the Schleck brothers jumping onto Treks for 2011 (if you haven't, go here). We heard rumblings of that while we were in Madison, Wisc., in early August. The most interesting nugget in that release is the helmets — the team will be wearing new Bontrager helmets. That's another Madison tidbit — Trek invested a lot of time and money in new lids over the past year. We were told more than that or shown anything, so the unveiling should be pretty interesting.

—

In addition to being GamJams Tech Editor, Bryan Redemske manages the Trek Bicycle Store of Omaha, is a professional writer (he's in the middle of a bacon-centric writing project right now) and a Cat 3 racer. He drinks a lot of coffee.

GamJams Survey: Double Duty

2010-09-01T06:55:02-04:00

Unlike the professional riders we tend to emulate — whether we like it or not — most of us don't have a quiver of wheels available for every situation. More likely, you have one set of nice wheels and a couple of others that serve as everyday trainers or backups.

With a few exceptions, most race wheels used on the road can easily handle cyclocross duties as well. But would you use your precious road hoops for such a situation? Or maybe it's an excuse to get another set of race wheels?

Will your race wheels come out for CX duty?online survey

DCMTB brings its weekly Wednesday Night CX clinics back to Fort Reno Park this September

2010-08-31T05:40:32-04:00

September is just around the corner, and DCMTB is happy to announce the return of its annual Wednesday night series of cyclocross clinics at Fort Reno Park in NW Washington DC.

All levels of riders are welcome. First timers are encouraged. All you need is a bike with knobby tires and a desire to learn.

Clinics start promptly at 6:00 pm at the Fort Reno Park bandstand. Please arrive early to register This is a USA Cycling non-competitive event.

Let our area’s CX Superstars get you tuned up for a great CX season.

Sept. 1st: Mike Birner/Mid-Maryland Coaching- CX "Crash course" – all the basics of cyclocross. Everything you’ll need to know for your first race.
Sept. 8th: Marc Gwadz/DCMTB- breaking down some CX skills – dealing with barriers, cornering, and more.
Sept . 15th: Wes Schempf/ C3 finding and keeping speed on the course.
Sept. 22nd: Arley Kemmerer DC-ChiX women only. Arley will focus all aspects of CX, with tips for the woman racer.

* To offset the costs from USA Cycling, we’re asking attendees with a USAC license to pay $1 for insurance. If you don¹t have a USAC annual license, the fee will be $5 for a one-day non-race license.

For more details contact Raul Rojas or Dave Vannier.

See you at Fort Reno this September.

List Lurker: 08-27-10

2010-08-27T09:47:29-04:00

While you were busy hitting the delete key, I was busy living vicariously as a lonely list lurker. Here's what you missed on the regional cycling list-serves...

The Virginia Cycling Association had a few things to say:

Sure the end of the season is nigh upon us, but that doesn't mean it's over just yet. It's time to start peaking for Turkey Day! Yes, Bobby Phillips said "Tradezone course damage be damned!" and found another venue for this traditional end-of-season event. So get ready to rock the Chesapeake Business Park in Stevensville, MD on Sept. 12th. Details will follow, but until then, just get yourself ready to go fast one last time (until October 23rd...)
A couple of riders wanted everyone in Virginia to know that they got ticks while mountain biking at Freedom Park. One of the ticks was really small. Apparently they live in the woods. Who knew? Still, Virginia, you've been warned.
This weekend is the Virginia State Track Championships (and GFTL Criterium). Check it out; register; then go fast and turn left. Braden Govoni says "it's going to be fun." With a bold marketing statement like that, you know it'll probably be fun.
As the weather turns cooler (or just less hot), Virginia getting 'cross crazy. You want the Virgnia 'Cross Schedule? Here's the latest schedule. (Whoever owns that blog owes me some free socks!)

The MABRA world was equally abuzz with 'cross talk and other important topics:

The MABRA 'Cross schedule has also been updated and can be found right here (and I want some of their socks as well! I'm a sucker for free socks...).
Several groups are running 'cross practices at various locations: Haymarket has it on Tuesday evenings (check website for details) while DCMTB has Wednesday sessions at Fort Reno.
The BAR has been updated (of course) and I'm still not winning (of course). But Dave Harrell has promised that even his pending shoulder removal/replacement surgery will not slow him down on the updates! Get well soon, Dave! I need a BAR point.
The MABRA Track Championships are being held this Sunday and there's still time for you to register and prove that you do actually know how to ride a fixie. Registration numbers are sort of low, so the law of averages may still be on your side!
There was some discussion about a mythical event known as the "Rockville Twilight Criterium" Here's the deal: it's not being held on Sept. 11th. It has been moved to October 23rd. Now, before you can say "I don't do races in October unless they involve knobby tires and barriers," let me offer two words: Street-Sprints and Doughnuts, Yes, the GamJams World Headquarters has welcomed onto its staff a new VP of Doughnut Operations who is busy planning a unique, fun, and hotly contested event full of fried doughy goodness and speed (and, yes, 'cross barriers will be involved for some side action). Start building your off-season doughnut tolerance and stay tuned for more details...

Got any comments, interpretations, re-interpretations, or mis-interprations? Send them to me; I've got nothing better to do than to sit in my darkened room and live vicariously as a list-lurker...