ANYWAY.

A stage race is not a stage race without a TT, right?  That is what promoters think.  ACTUALLY, a stage race would be even better if there were two crits and a road race – or a circuit race, crit and a road race.  Difficult to do with the two races in one day format, but I am being an armchair promoter here.

So there was a TT, and Tim Mitchell was there, so we all know how that went.  I sold my TT bike and helmet this year, as all the thing did was sit in my bike room and hit me in the head when I tried to do something productive. I did it on my road bike, and I was faster than I was last year.  Granted, I didn’t have disco legs, so that probably helped (or DID IT?!?).  I gave it a bit of effort and it was done.

My teammates on the MetLife – NorEast Watt Factory gave it efforts ranging from honest to straight-chillin, shaking-out-the-car-dust.

I had $10 in my jersey, so on the way back to the car from the TT I grabbed some chocolate milk.  I also saw Owen Pope, and he was wearing a kilt, as he’s Owen Pope.

We had a bit of time between the TT and the crit, so we went to the coffee shop on the fourth corner to consume some tasty snacks and stimulants.  I had a colossal dinner the night before, and similarly large breakfast that morning, so all I needed was a delicious piece of fruit bread (or something of the sort) with my two cups of coffee to get me ready for business time.  Owen Pope was also at the coffee shop.

Teammate Austin Roach was wearing Crocs in public, so naturally I gave him shit about this.  I need to find him shoes that meet his needs (easy to put on) that aren’t so offensive to humanity.

I did not have two red-eyes before the crit (like I did before the UNH crit), as I did not have moving-out-of-my-apartment legs.  I also didn’t like the whole “my heart may explode” feeling that I got from that experience.

As the TT is an individual event, I didn’t fully realize the huge numbers that BikeReg/Cannondale had at the race until the start of the crit, when I was surrounded by blue, while and green grim reapers.  CCB also had about ten guys.

We got to the line, were informed that the race was shortened ten laps (YOU ARE RUINING MY RACING TO DOLLAR RATIO) because SOMEHOW the only two things that happen in Bennington per year were happening on the same day.

Last year at the crit, I had a bad startion postion, which ended up ruining my race – well, that and the two crashes that split the field and my inability to bridge across to the front third of the race because we were going 30 mph the entire time – so I made sure to line up as close to the front as I could.

Of course I botched the start and got pushed back about 30 or so guys in the first corner, and spent the next ten laps killing myself to get up to to the front-ish of the race.  Which was not easy, as, once again, we were going about 30 the entire time.  Hopefully I was away from people opening stupid gaps that I would have to close, burning PRECIOUS ENERGY (note: foreshadowing).

The race had primes every five laps – alternating sprint points/money and GC bonuses – so my brain thought that I could obviously get off the front of a crit controlled by BikeReg and CCB that was going 30 miles an hour and win a prime.

SOMEHOW my brain and my legs are poor at communicating.

So after some business came back, I punched it up the side with Peter Hurst and was going very hard for about 25 seconds, gassing myself, before looking back and seeing the ENTIRE FIELD SITTING ON MY WHEEL.

Okay, enough of that.

Later Justin Lindine got off the front, on his cross bike, and things became slightly less insane as BikeReg turned the speed down to 27 as Lindine gobbled up prime action like they were snakes in the bush of Iraq, not giving a shit.

This was nice.

He eventually came back, things returned to being really fast, and I found Ryan Fleming and Peter Bell and wanted to say “hey guys!” but we were going too fast and all of my energy was going to my legs and respiratory system instead of the speech centers of my brain.  I did not see my other teammates in the field, but instead saw them on the sidelines, looking marginally annoyed (note: this was foreshadowed earlier, as they had to close 10+ gaps in a strung-out crit…which is challenging and usually results in bike racer explosions).

blahblah, I stayed out of trouble, faded back a tad, and realized with 8 to go I should probably see if Peter Bell would like me to do anything in the final (aside from “surviving”), so I rode up to him, said “hi peter” and immediately realized I was starting to die, and if I tried to do anything for him, I’d just give him a leadout at 13 mph.

I returned to my plan of “surviving” and let the grown-ups do the work.

Fleming got all sneaky and whatnot, finishing 8th.  Things got real in the last lap, and there were some gaps, and I finished seven seconds down.

The very interesting thing is that lots of riders got pulled and placed, with prorated times.  Which is good and correct.  However, the math for the time they got seems…not correct…as a lot of people who got pulled with 20 laps to go only finished 1:30 down.  So I’m not sure how that works.

Jeremy Durrin won.  Yay for him!

I put the race on Strava, too!

We went back to Ben’s house, and we ate a bunch of food, because the next day was the road race, and it was going to be really hard.  Hard races are great because there is NOWHERE TO HIDE.

Tim Mitchell was leading the overall by a minute, so it was CCB’s race to control.  To that point, there were two incredibly impressive things that happened in the road race:

1. Dylan McNicholas spent close to 70 miles at the front, riding tempo.
2. Justin Lindine got off the front, solo, for about 40 miles.  Could have been more.

I, meanwhile, just tried to make it over the climbs with the front group.

I also made a point of waving at everyone who was spectating on the side of the road, and took the time to notice cool things – like a penis spray painted on a road sign!  There was also some singing of “Sex Robot“.  And I ate.  A very large amount – two Clif bars, four gels, two bananas, and seven bottles (drank fluid from the bottles, didn’t eat them, as there aren’t any calories in plastic).

Obviously I did these things until I started getting tired and things started getting ugly.  This once again happened on the second to last climb, where I got popped but was able to chase back on with Max Korus, Pat Goguen and a few other dudes.

There was one more climb left – it was shorter, but really steep, and I was a TAD TIRED at this point.  Into the base of it, Dylan finally blew up, and I did what I could to stay with the front of the group.  When that became an impossible task, I did what I could to stay with some decent dropped people…and then I just tried to keep them in sight.

I came over the top of the climb with two dudes I didn’t know (not a great sign), and started drilling.  Pat Goguen was once again in the same boat as me, and was a few seconds back with another dude, so I waited up while screaming at him to come hang out.

And he did, and now the five of us started rotating to chase – but the non-me and non-Pat guys were riding like they just got dropped 85 miles into a 98 mile road race.  So Pat and I dropped them, and we rode and rode until we got really tired, and then kept a lively tempo for the last 5 k to the finish.

At some point during this, I thought to myself “Huh, Pat is climbing about as good as me and he has a MEAN SPRINT.  This should be interesting this year”.  So, yeah, Pat Goguen is going to start destroying people shortly.

Despite getting dropped, we only finished 3:33 down, and were the first riders to come in outside of the main group – me in 16th, Pat 17th.  Austin Roach was 15th, and Landen rolled in at 28th.

The race on Strava so you can stare in wonder at how great I am at making it over 6 of 7 climbs in the main group.

It wasn’t until I was halfway home in Dylan’s car that I checked the GC results and saw that I finished 16th overall, earning me 10% of my entry fee – AKA $20.

So if Dieter Drake would mail me a check, that’d be super!  LOL.

Bicycle Regulations
Any person propelling a bicycle on any public highway shall ride single file and shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as safely practicable.

Foot-based travel regulations were dealt with separately, and that law states:

Walking, Jogging, Running Regulations
Any person running, jogging, or walking on any public highway, shall run, jog, or walk single file and shall do so as near to the left side of the roadway as safely practicable.

This law was proposed at a Board of Selectman meeting on March 26 (see Section VII. NEW BUSINESS).  It is modeled after the current ordinance (unsearchable .PDF - relevant  info is in Article 4 at bottom of the first page) in Newington, NH, which simply states “NO PERSON operating a bicycle in the Town of Newington shall ride two or more abreast.”

To inform cyclists and visitors to Rye of the new law, the board of selectmen put up a sign at the police station that reads “Cyclists single file.  Road are for riding not chatting”.

This law is certainly disappointing - especially considering how friendly the Seacoast is to Bike To Work Week, and other active endeavors.  Even worse than the fact that the law exists is the way that the Board of Selectmen chose to inform cyclists of the law.  Saying that the “road is for riding, not chatting” is insulting and condescending.

It seems that the town of Rye considers roads to be used for driving, and nothing else.

Also, this law seemingly came out of nowhere – nothing was cited in the March 26 meeting minutes when Selectman Joseph Mills supported a single-file ordinance for Rye.

This is a very bad step for those of us who enjoy an active lifestyle – joggers, walkers, cyclists, anyone who may be using a road not in a car – and makes the town of Rye and Board of Selectmen look ignorant.

I encourage everyone reading this who is a Rye resident to contact the board of selectmen and let them know who you feel about this new ordinance (phone 603-964-5523 xt. 10, email nweiand@town.rye.nh.us).

UPDATE:
I called the selectmen’s office at the number above.  The assistant I spoke to said that they’ve been getting a lot of negative comments for the law and the sign – she is compiling all input from emails and phone calls, so please let them know!

UPDATE:
Article on Seacoast Online.

Also, this great photo from Gus’ Bike Shop Facebook page:

UPDATE:
Thomson has some thoughts.

As usual, Alex Cox came to rescue, with a .gpx file he made at some point.  I converted it to a .crs .tcx file at GPSies.com, and now it’s on my Garmin.

FILES:

Tour of the Dragons P/1/2 Road Race (GPX)
Tour of the Dragons P/1/2 Road Race (TCX)

LONGER POINT:
As a dude who has worked on bike races in the past, I know how absurdly annoying it is when people don’t pre-register.  You spend your nights awake, staring at the BikeReg confirmed riders screen, hoping the numbers creep up so you don’t lose money on your event.

I’ve been hammering away at this point on the Twitter, but I thought I’d hammer away on it some more, because I feel like it.  And I have an Internet Weblog, which I honestly forgot about, as I have trained myself to only think in 140 character quips.

Anyway, I find that it is generally foolish to not pre-register for a bike race.  If you actually do not know what your plans for that day might be (if, for example, you are closing on a house on Friday, moving in, but there is a race on Saturday) sure, don’t pre-reg.

From a purely personal view, filling out paper work at the venue is annoying.  I’d much rather have an Internet Robot do my bidding for me from the comfort of my cube/couch/toilet (YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT.  MULTITASKING).  It’s one less thing to have to worry about.

There have been times when I’ve pre-registered for a race, but the day of the weather was terrible (see: Ice World).  After learning to hate Ice World, I’ve made peace with just not going.  I do not want to waste a day driving to be miserable, and I’m sure that the cycling club appreciates my “donation” of $30.  Yes, I am lucky enough to be able to write off $30 maybe twice a year when I bail on a race because of shit weather (or a sudden change of plans), but this is my Internet Website, and this is where I put things that I think.

I think a lot of people believe it is “cool” to not pre-reg, so you can “surprise” everyone by showing up.  Um…not really a thing.  People know where you live, and people know that you race.  So, if there’s a race 90 minutes from where I live, I’m very likely going to show up.  If it’s five hours, I probably won’t.  There isn’t much of an element of surprise there – other races can PROBABLY predict where you are going to be.

It is truly a jerk thing to not pre-reg, because it puts races in danger of being cancelled, and it makes promoters lives difficult.  And if you’re a fancypants person who “doesn’t pre-reg” and you show up and expect to just get added to the race due to the fanciness of your pants, you are a jerk.

Let’s not be jerks, everyone.

These are some thoughts I have.

awesomepeoplehangingouttogether:

GZA, RZA and Bill Murray.

Observations of riding in Boston suburbs vs. New Hampshire:

• Family in a car drove by us, kids in back rolled the window down and yelled “THE ROAD IS FOR CARS”. Good luck raising your asshole kids, parents!
• Rode by some little kids in a yard, playing, who waved at us and we waved back. At the same moment, a dude in a Highlander drove past us in the other direction, sunroof open, middle finger displayed for us (and the little kids.

Drivers are way nicer in New Hampshire. Boston can keep the nightlife, things to do and total asshole drivers. I like open, friendly roads and having nothing to do!

I know the blog has been quiet, because life has gotten BUSY. But this is AWESOME.

• I got yelled at three times – once by Dylan, once by Collin Huston, and once by a (potentially) angry stranger. Dylan and Collin were pleasant.
• I rode home in shorts and a short sleeve jersey. Yes!
• I rode 112 miles today.
• Bikes continue to be the raddest machines ever.

I think this is one of the best bits ever.  I love Louis CK, and this sums up so many things that I’m aggravated about in a wonderful way.

I’m all up in the front page of the Charles Coaching site.

This is interesting because:
1. My legs look awesome.
2. This was taken at the Portsmouth Crit when I was in a break with Aidan.  A few laps later, I SMOKED HIM for a $100 prime.  It was great.
3. Aidan looks sad because he doesn’t have an amazing beard, like I do.

Thanks to Hunter for FEEDING MY EGO.