Cracker Barrel Pace Lines

It’s Christmas Eve, I’m Jewish, I really very strongly dislike Chinese food, and this here blog hasn’t been updated in a month, so I might as well do some blogification... The topic: Holidays, food, and (some) cycling.

1) The holidays are no fun for a Hebrew; everyone else gets his Christmas trees and lights, his eggnog and mistletoe, his happy church songs and merry family gatherings. We; however, are forced to dine at nasty Chinese food buffets.
2) The above brings me to my second topic: food. I take my food seriously. Each meal is planned for maximum effect: carb potential, lipid saturation, cycling impact, and - most importantly - taste. Of the three factors, taste is by far the most important. Joe Stone Crab’s Key Lime Pie or carrots? Haha.
3)Cycling is fun, but it takes effort. I don’t like putting forth much effort. It’s too much effort. However, cycling with a tailwind on a downhill while eating a Payday takes little effort, wherefore I cycle.

Why "topic" is singular and not plural:

I’m staying with family in Jupiter, FL. The weather has been petulant -- strong winds blowing clouds and storms from off the coast to drench the ground with rain and shade. The wind throwing up white thrashing arches of waves and the sand being torn from the beaches to pelt the humidity from the air into a salty and strangely sterile mist. [Ok, ok. I get it: “an utter failure, an ignorant, incompetent, pretentious, unwelcome, penniless” (Pygmalion) paragraph, but I’ve been reading a lot, so give me some leeway here].

With this weather, my riding has been limited to quick, hard rides. Today; however, I was determined not to be deterred from the roads. I decided to wake up early -- 6:25 -- and meet up with a local group. I savor my blubbery muffin and coffee, pack up my bike, don my “Team Pro Wanker 69” aero booties (because I’m that cool) and head off to the start of the ride.

It’s a fairly large group, but a potentially turbulent mix of riders. Down south, in these parts, they do the crazy Cracker Barrel pace line: a double pace line where the front two riders both pull off to the left of the road. Insanity... So, I’m a bit nervous to start. Soon, someone takes a flyer and we’re off! A group of the 7 "fast" men and one laggard - me - forms and we take pulls. Things are going well. We’re racing across Jupiter island. We streak past Tiger’s house. We pass golf carts and break the speed limit. We go flying through blind turns. For about the tenth time, I hit a reflector and PING, something new: a broken spoke, brakes rubbing, Scott fishtailing - nearly taking out the entire ride. But, he recovers and quickly pulls out a banana chocolate chip muffin to celebrate. Just don't forget to bring the wheel in, Scott.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and culminated in a stop at the Juno Beach Cafe after dropping off my wheel. I love little places like this - local hotspots of great greasy food. I order my favorite mid morning, post ride, pre-lunch meal: skillet... a layer of butter infused hash browns covered by an oily layer of cheddar and mozzarella cheese dotted with onion, jalapeno, and tomato covered in 3 scrambled eggs. I also had an english muffin and a raspberry flavored ice tea, of course... Just don't forget to pick up the wheel, Scott.

About 12 hours elapse with another 1000 Calories and it’s time for dinner: pecan encrusted trout served over a bed of rice, flanked by broccoli, and followed by a slice of Key Lime Pie, a favorite of mine. Only water to drink this time, smiling to myself.

Thus, the day concludes with me forgetting to pick up my wheel from the shop and me now unable to ride this weekend.

PRO WANKER, baby.

winter riding

hey all

so i am at home for an extended winter break, and i have been making the most of all the nice riding available to me. i was in vermont over thanksgiving weekend, and two of these pictures showcase the hilly terrain and beautiful weather that i was lucky enough to be able to ride in. the other picture is from a regular ride of mine in guilford, connecticut that goes by the coastline.

so here are some pictures.

hopefully everyone is finding a way (whether it be riding outside or in, running, stair climbing, weight lifting...) to stay fit as the winter approaches. only 3 months until racing season!

Belated Northbrook Cross Update

So, it's ridiculous that no one has updated the blog since October 5th...get with it people! Anyway, as an offending non-poster, I figured I'd do a gigantic post on the always awesome Northbrook cross race that happened a few weeks ago. Hopefully, this will encourage all of you to come down and witness the Championships at Montrose Harbor on Sunday. As I am lazy, this will be more of a photo montage than me actually explaining what happened.

First, there are the obligatory pre-race photos. In attendance were Courtney, Josh, Bryan and I. Bryan has a sweet skinsuit, many were jealous.

Courtney's race came before ours, so I took pictures. Per her usual routine she dropped the hammer on a bunch of fools.

Start

Technical Descent

Showin' them fools how to hit the sand

Then it was our turn. 75 people in a cross race is fucking insane on the start. Josh and I seemed to make it out okay.

Over the first barrier to a run-up

Up into a switchback section

Josh showing the sand who's boss

Bonus glamor shot of my calves

Also, there was a video shot during the race that I made a few appearances in:

CROSS II The Hecklers from Paul Michna on Vimeo.

Fall Fling - Part II

The Art of Bike Racing - Julia Child Style

Bike racing is a lot like cooking; it’s a big, often tasty, sometimes scalding, and always painful mess. Like each dish, each rider has his own flavor. Some riders are big and hearty - a thick stew. Others are light and wispy - cool whip, perhaps. And others, some rare few, are a bit salty and a bit sweet, filling but not vomatorium inducing - maybe a Wiggins or a Lance. Everyone aspires to be such a dish and I, thankfully, do not. I’m more like some haphazard creation. Take some cookies, some ice cream (preferably cookie dough flavor), some caffeine, and some butter, heck, some I can’t believe it’s not butter butter, throw it in a bowl and then get two more and eat them as quickly as you can. I’m that rider and that’s how I race - like a fool. And somehow, sometimes, it works.

And each race has it’s own identity too. If the Tour de France is the pinnacle of cycling, glamor, and luck, it is, then, the soufflé. By that measure, the Fall Fling is maybe a brownie that was left over from last weekend's party and is now a bit stale and hard with some random powdered sugar sprinkled on top. ( No offense to ABD. It’s a great and fun series! Just no TDF.)

All this was floating around my mind as I prepared for the race (nothing like food to get you focused). A series that, coming into Sunday, I was leading in the 3s by about three points over my gracious and damn strong teammate, James Bird (IsCorp). My lead was courtesy of Will Novaks’s help in last weekend’s road race, lots o’ luck, and my win in the TT.

Naturally, I threw out the whole damn recipe at the start of the race... Q: What do you do if you’re leading a series coming into the final day? A: NOT attack into head winds, drop yourself multiple times, burn all your matches. Suffice it to say, my race was an exercise in what not to do. I did not respect my fellow riders and underestimated their strengths. My frequent attacks left me unprepared to cover the break or help Will out. I even botched the sprint. The haphazard creation that is Rosy Weiner was a failure. I was a melted ice cream sundae or a diet coke. Something was off. It was a miracle I won the series.

Were it not for Will, I would not be writing this blog post. It was due to Will’s help that I won. See, he threw a small and intimate get together for the cycling team on Saturday evening. With my getting to sleep early and having a good, carb filled meal (courtesy of Nate, Hannah, and Axie), my legs had enough reserve in them to survive the day. Carbs rule! Actually, the cheering of the team and the shame that would be loss before them got me through it.

NU Cycling rocks...

Some random thoughts:

Will is damn strong. Attacking into a headwind and sticking it for second place. Contador material.

Axie and Hannah have, um, great taste in music. Enough said.

Based on race results, Subway > Coolata + donuts as a pre-race food.

Hartley = god.

Food poisoning can be your friend - when it happens to your opponents.

Fall Fling Part 1

This past weekend the Fall Fling began with a crit Saturday and a road race Sunday. The Northwestern team was well represented both days with many new faces. Courtney, Scott, and I raced the crit which was an isolated oval with only one moderate corner. A heavy headwind on the back stretch did keep things interesting. I raced first with the cat 5's. The race was pretty uneventful until a prem let one rider develop a nice break and eventually won. I began the chase with 2 laps to get but was unable to get anyone else to take up the chase on the last lap. The field sprint passed but I managed to stay strong enough for 10th. Courtney raced women's cat 4 and worked well with her competitors to maintain a high pace and keeping a lead group of 5-6 riders. She sprinted for 2nd in the prem and 4th in the finish. Scott raced 1/2/3 but sadly Courtney and I weren't able to stick around and cheer him on.On Sunday the school was very well represented with veterans Hannah, Axie, Will, Ian, and Alex along with new racers Nate and Joe joining Courtney, Scott, and myself. This time the girls raced first with Axie's cat 3 girls racing with the Masters 50+. The race was fast and she did a great job of hanging with those crazy old guys to finish with the pack and the other girls. Hannah and Courtney had some drama in their race with a small crash dropping Courtney from the pack. Luckily no one was injured and Courtney rode hard to get back up to the next 3 laps to get back with the pack.
Will and Scott rode hard in an animated 1/2/3 race in which no large groups remained by the finish. Taking part in a break Will went out to an early lead. That break was caught but Scott took off with the next group. Will battled up to that break and the two of them kept in the mix to the finish with Will getting 4th and Scott just a little bit in back of him. With Ian, Alex, Nate, Joe, and I all racing cat 5 we were well in control of the race from the beginning. Ian and Alex fought hard to bring back the breaks. Nate did an excellent job of maintaining a top position for his first race. Ian had one scary moment when the rider in front of him pushed him off the road. Using his cross skills he kept riding and got right back into the field. I made a break for it on the last lap but no one was able to come with so I was out alone in a strong cross wind. Upon looking back after a stretch and seeing 3 riders on the front working hard to catch me, I decided it was better to sit up and take it easy. Ian, Alex, and Nate stayed with the top riders into the final stretch. I sprinted too early and ran out of gas but Ian and Nate finished in the top 10 of the field sprint. Joe took some time to adjust to racing with a large group but finished strong.

I hope Northwestern can bring an even larger group to the circuit race next Sunday!

Andy K>

CX Bike

So, I'm psyched for the cross cup to start this Sunday (4B represent). And, because no one else seems to be posting to the blog, I thought I'd grace it with some pics of my baby:



I feel like I need to throw some compact bars on this thing...but I'm never in the drops anyway.

Sheared Chainring Bolt

So, I've gotten in the habit of getting on my sweet trainer setup to do some intervals before I eat breakfast. This morning I was mid-sprint and heard a pop from my BB area. I stopped and found that I had straight sheared one of my chainring bolts in half...badass: