High Point Hill Climb and Rock Lititz Tour

Zach Hyland and Andrew Stroup were out representing LCBC this last weekend in the Garden and Keystone States (NJ and PA).

Returning to Montague, NJ, Zach raced the High Point Hill Climb in the Cat 1/2/3 field for the second year in a row, a 5.5 mile time trial that finishes at the highest point in New Jersey. The climb was brutal and with a start time of 10:40 AM, the temperature matched the climb's severity, staying at a frigid 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Zach finished the course with a time of 23:36, finishing 15th overall and shaving 39 seconds off his last year's time.

During his weekend racing trip, Zach also had the opportunity to visit Cannondale's world headquarters in Bethel, CT, one of LCBC's sponsors, checking out a ton of really cool designs and products. (insert jealous remarks here)

Up in the small town of Lititz, PA, Andrew raced the Rock Lititz Tour in the Cat 5 field, his first staged race, consisting of a road race on Saturday, followed by a time trial in the morning and criterium in the afternoon. The tour was a great learning experience, testing his physical and mental stamina, finishing 27th overall out of 37 racers. Being one of the two Cat 5 racers on the team, he's now only one race away from upgrading into the Cat 4 field.

Andrew in the Rock Lititz Tour Road Race

A couple of interesting notes about the Rock Lititz Tour: 1) prior to the road race, racers who pre-rode the course were getting flat tires because someone threw down a whole bunch of tacks before the race (Andrew concluded it was the same kid who creepily smiled at racers at a corner while holding a toy shotgun), and 2) turn 4 in the crit was super sketchy with lots of wrecks all day long: http://www.sportsgrid.com/video/rock-lititz-bike-crash/

This weekend, the LCBC team has The Bunny Hop and Turkey Hill lined up w/ BikeJams in their sites. Best of luck to the team and all the racers!

A Weekend Filled w/ Bad Decisions

This weekend, our Cat 5 racers headed North and South, with Joe Siegel making his way up to the Farmersville Road Race and Andrew Stroup heading down to the All American Road Race. Both were hoping to repeat last weekend's favorable performances at Carl Dolan; however, the race gods had different plans for them.

In the Cat 4/5 race at Farmersville, Joe maintained a solid position throughout the entire race and ended up the lead rider with a little over a mile left to go. Unfortunately, during the last turn of the race, Joe went the wrong direction. He was able to stay with the group and finished mid pack, 27th overall (out of 68) and 7th among the Cat 5 field.

Joe at the Farmersville Road Race

In the Cat 5 race at the All American Road Race, Andrew started off in the back and was forced to deal with jumping wheels to maintain contact with the group. Misjudging a greater than 90 degree turn, he lost the group and spent the remainder of the race chasing the group, which maintained a 10-15 second gap, finishing 33rd out of 43. To add to the weekend's list of bad decisions, Andrew headed up to the Fort Ritchie Criterium on Sunday, only to find himself shoeless. A Cat 5 mistake he'll never make again!

Andrew at the All American Road race

Fortunately the season is still young and LCBC has only just begun. The majority of the team will be resting up this weekend; except for Andrew, who will be racing in his first staged race, the Rock Lititz Tour. The Rock Lititz Tour is a 2 day, 3 stage race, consisting of a road race, followed by a time trial and criterium the following day.

San Diego Velodrome

Another picture by Mark Mehlinger to make everyone a little more jealous of the West Coast velo culture.

San Diego Velodrome @ Balboa Park

Carl Dolan Spring Classic

LCBC sent three racers to the 19th Annual Carl Dolan Memorial/Howard County Library Spring Classic; Luke Mysko racing the Cat 1/2/3 and Joe Siegel and Andrew Stroup racing the Cat 4/5. The race weather was oddly warm (mid-80s) with a moderate breeze, making it feel more like June then April.

The Cat 4/5 and Cat 1/2/3 were the last two races of the day, so the guys arrived around noon to scope out the course and conduct their pre-race rituals. Word got around quick about the numerous wrecks on the course in almost every race. As Joe and Andrew pulled up to the starting line, the Cat 3/4 race was on the course again for a restart due to a really nasty wreck, sending a racer to the hospital with a cracked skull. During the last lap of the restart, another 5-7 bike wreck went down in the back of the pack, cutting the race in half; definitely not a good omen for the start of their race.

The officials decided to cut the Cat 4/5 distance from 10 to 8 laps, making the race about 16.7 miles. The reduced distance only increased the speed of the race with a 23.6mph pace, including a neutral lap due to a wreck mid-race. Joe and Andrew were able to maintain a mid-pack position throughout the ride, moving with the surges of the pace lines. As expected, the final lap pushed everyone's legs into overdrive, driving the pace to the highest of the entire race. The group started stretching, dodging the lapped racers on both sides, and testing the racers on whose legs would hold out to the finish line. As soon as the group made the final turn, the hammer was laid down into the descent, leading up to the incline and finish. Joe was able to pull away and grab a back wheel, only to get exposed to the wind towards the top of the hill, finishing ~10th overall. Andrew was not far behind, holding onto a wheel, attacking a little too early up the incline. Both Joe and Andrew finished well among the Cat 5s, 6th and 14th place out of 47 racers and a >80 field.

Joe and Andrew in the Cat 4/5

Luke's race followed immediately after, 18 laps on the board or ~38 miles. The pace was consistent and fast the entire race, where any mistake would push a racer to the back of the group and potentially dropped. Halfway into the race, a three man breakaway formed, consisting of two DC Velo racers and a Kelley racer. A couple of chase groups attempted to bridge the gap, but were never able to close the time difference and were consumed by the peloton. Luke maintained a solid mid-pack position, always finding a wheel and putting out solid efforts when the peloton would surge. The breakaway ended up creating over a minute time gap with 3 laps to go, securing the top three podium positions. During the final lap, Luke pushed hard around the turn and hammered out a solid sprint to secure a 21st place finish, 2nd among the Cat 3s.

Luke in the Cat 1/2/3

LCBC was represented well. Congratulations to all of them and we look forward to the next race!

PICTURES:

LCBC: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.205381836230901.28927.205375049564913&type=3

Others:

Julie Elliot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/julieelliott/sets/72157629470272160/

Daniel Meaurio: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115936314143919029140/albums/5732008639623777969

SoYoCo Circuit Race

Joe Siegel and Andrew Stroup headed up to Brogue, PA for the SoYoCo Circuit Race on Saturday. The weather was cold and like most races in middle PA, they were surrounded by rolling hills and Amish country.

The course consisted of two 90 degree turns right after downhill sections, followed by a mile long false flat and then a solid, short kicker right before the finish line. Increasing the difficulty, there were multiple patches of gravel and dirt all throughout the course.

Joe and Andrew were in the Cat 5 race, totaling 15 miles. During the second turn on the first lap, a wreck between two racers split the group in half, leaving 8-10 racers, including Andrew, in the back, chasing after the lead group, where Joe maintained his position, along with 15 others. Unfortunately, Andrew was having shifting problems, unable to downshift leaving him dropped and left to suffer in an unfavorable gear combination throughout the climbs.

Joe continued on with the lead group, where 2 guys made a break right before the last lap. Trying to motivate a chase, none of the other riders wanted to budge or had the legs to form a chase, leaving Joe at the front and no one to follow suit. Realizing that many of the racers in his group were in the same team as the two in the breakaway, a chase group was futile, so he laid the power down, threw down a solid attack a quarter of the way up the final kicker, leading the group by ~10m, and holding his position for a clear third place finish.

Joe's third place finish at the Cat 5 SoYoCo Circuit Race

Congratulations to Joe on his solid 3rd place finish and to both of them for priming their legs for the Carl Dolan the following day

Garmin Vector Delay

It looks like the elusive Garmin Vector power meter pedals stay elusive a little (or a lot) longer via a press release on Wednesday, providing no updated delivery date. This isn't the first time the pedals have been delayed and who knows if it'll be the last, although not providing a date likely resolves that issue.

Several LCBC riders have been looking forward to the summer release, but it looks like they'll have to put their pedal power dreams on hold and either stick with or turn to their Quarqs and PowerTaps for all their power measurement needs.

It's good that Garmin is taking the necessary time to refine the pedals before release to the public, but one can only wonder how long it'll take before our sweet dreams of knowing how imbalanced our legs are turn into reality. On the flip side, the Edge 500 was a nightmarish ordeal, where the first owners were more or less beta testers, so hopefully the delays indicate avoiding repeating the 500's history.

Posted on GamJams via Velo News

Interval Enthusiast

For quite some time the Lake Montebello loop has been closed due to a construction project that started mid-March. As of 10 April, the loop is open and available for runners and cyclists.

This is a great place for the guys that live in Baltimore to spin around on a recovery day, practice a pace line, or throw down some mean intervals, gauntlet style. LCBC is definitely glad to see the reopening and we'll see you out there!

Wednesday Night Worlds

Part of the LCBC training regime has been attending the Wednesday Night Worlds (WNW) ride, an unaffiliated, drop group ride. You’ll often see Cat 1 and 2 riders, along with the occasional Pros/Semi-Pros. Anyone making their way up the racing hierarchy or simply looking to test their chops against some challenging terrain and even more daunting riders, this is the place to be on Wednesday. You’ll find the ride breaking up as the stronger riders will make attacks and breakaways, testing the limits of the group. The route can be found here; 30 miles and over 2,500ft of vertical climbing through the Hunt Valley area.

This week, Luke and Joe made it out to represent LCBC. WNW had pushed back their start time to 6PM (from 5:30PM), but Luke wasn’t in on the update, leaving him plenty of time to warm up alone and reflect upon the ride to come. Unlike the past few WNW where the weather was temperate with a cool, mild breeze; tonight was cold with a solid overcast of dark clouds. Because of the weather change, the normal 20-25 attendance was whittled down to 15 riders.

Heading out of Oregon Ridge, Luke was at it again, leading the pack the majority of the way to the Stringtown climb. One can only assume he simply loves being at the front, hammering away until he can do so no more, plus likely keeping himself warm. While Luke was off leading the charge, Joe maintained a position in the middle of the pack and began to feel the effects of the cold. As the group turned onto the Stringtown and began the long effort upwards, Joe decided to raise his body temperature a little and move his way up towards Luke, who was still hammering it away, and hopped in front to get some work done. As the group made its way up the climb, the clouds opened up and spit out some mean sleet and hail to sweeten the Stringtown climb experience.

Finishing the Stringtown climb and continuing up Yeoho, Joe found himself in a breakaway with Andrew Suchocki (Kelley), where they caught up with two additional riders, Chris Beck and an unknown rider, and separated themselves from the main group. Joe’s legs weren’t feeling prime for the sustained effort of a breakaway, but dug deep, settled into his drops, and persisted on. Joe was able to contribute to the breakaway, pushing when necessary and having just enough time to recover on the descents. Meanwhile, Luke, Galen Wallace (Kelley), and 3 others formed a group and began the inevitable chase after the breakaway.

It wasn’t until the top of Corbett and the turn onto Glencoe where th breakaway split up, already losing the unknown rider a few miles back and now the remaining three creating separation amongst themselves. As the three approached Upper Glencoe, Chris went on the offensive and delivered an attack up the climb, followed by a response by Andrew, and Joe ten seconds behind him. As Joe topped the climb, Chris and Andrew were rolling through York, leaving Joe to contend with traffic for a good 45 seconds.

At this point, Joe decided to revert back to his tri-athlete days and throw down some TT/Threshold work, maintaining a constant 95-100% threshold for the remaining 8 miles, staying ahead of the group behind him. With an average 171 bpm and 98% FPT from York to the top of Cuba, Andrew (and Chris from time to time) remained in sight as he turned on Priceville, finally catching up to Andrew at the bottom of the last hill up Cuba, where Andrew turned the afterburners on and pulled away from Joe to finish the last climb, leaving Joe with a solid third place finish. A couple of miles back, Luke’s group broke up towards the end of Priceville and his friend Stewart flatted, where Luke stopped to help him get his bike back on the road.

Joe and Andrew rolled into Oregon Ridge together w/ the main group 5 minutes behind, followed shortly after by Luke and Stewart. Always an adventure and a test of your limits, WNW is where it’s at when it comes to race season training.

Baltimore Velo Updates

Although there are various Baltimore velo blogs, sometimes our readers don't always have the luxury of perusing and filtering through all the blogs and posts, so we'll try and condense a quick summary of Baltimore related velo news pertinent to the team to keep you informed.

First off, if you'd like to check out the individual Baltimore velo blogs, here are some links to get you started:

http://baltimorevelo.com/
http://www.bmorebikes.com/
http://bmorefixed.com/home/

3-Foot Law

The most interesting Baltimore velo news has been the study published by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for a Livable Future. The study addressed Baltimore's use of the "3-foot law." The article, written by Dave Love and posted on www.bmorebikes.com (the article is no longer available via B'more Bikes, but the original study is available here)

TLDR: 1 out of 6 motorists don't adhere to the Maryland law, surprise surprise, BUT lucky for the cylists, if you're riding on a street with a bike lane, motorists follow the law 20% more often.

Bottom line, keep an eye over your left shoulder because we all know that riding with/next to Baltimore motorists can be sketchy. Be safe out there!


Greenspring Ave Bike Lanes

Riding the train of safety and bike lanes, if you're deciding to head North out of Baltimore via Greenspring Ave, feel a little more at ease with some new bike lanes that have been added North of Cross Country Boulevard. B'more Bikes has the story here.

LCBC rides LA

LCBC strikes the West Coast again, this time with Andrew Stroup leading the charge. During a business trip this week, Andrew found himself spending a few days at a LAX hotel. Since Joe and Andrew have a double header race weekend, Andrew could not simply let four days go by without his legs spinning. Originally, he was going to pack his team bike (Cannondale CAAD10) and fly it out to LA, unfortunately, the airline he booked was going to charge $200/direction. So instead he found a great bike shop 30m north of LAX in Santa Monica, Helen's Cycles, who was a Cannondale dealer and rented CAAD9 bikes.

Flying in on Monday afternoon, he checked into his hotel and grabbed a cab out to Helen's Cycles, making it to the bike shop 30m before closing. The bike shop was in a great location, a 15m bike ride down Santa Monica Blvd to the shore and park! The crew was helpful and friendly, and already had the bike ready for him. Adding to the sweet deal, the bike they brought out wasn't a CAAD9, but a '11 CAAD10 instead, being even one step closer to his own bike! Andrew rolled out of the bike shop and headed back to the hotel, taking an easy 45m route back into LAX.

Since Andrew had obligations on Tuesday, starting at 8AM and ending at 4PM, he decided he would try and get an early morning ride in, followed by an afternoon ride. Conducting some early recon, Andrew found two locations, Palos Verdes (PV) and Topanga State Park, finding various Cat 3 climbs. Since Baltimore and the surrounding Maryland area has very limited Cat 3 climbs, he definitely wanted to test his chops against the longer efforts. Using Garmin Connect and his Edge 500, he created courses (40mi round trips) moving along the coast line and into the foothills of each area.

Tuesday morning was an early start, clipping in at 4:30AM (7:30AM EST) w/ a 15mi ride South down the coast line through Manhattan and Redondo Beach, rolling up to the foothills of PV. Andrew made his way up the Cat 3 climb, spinning up Via Del Monte. While making his way up the climb, he would catch glimpses of the coast, an absolutely beautiful view of LA 800ft below shared with an endless blue horizon, appreciating the West Coast terrain and topography.

After taking a quick break at the top of the climb to refuel, he made his way down Via Coronel, which is where the story turns for the worse. Halfway down the descent, a car came cruising around a bend with their brights on, blinding Andrew. As soon as the car passed, the road T'd and he was suppose to make a left. Going 35mph, he didn't have time to course correct, hit the brakes hard, skidded, turned sideways, and finally hit the curb and flew into someone's yard. Like any bicycle crash, the first couple of minutes became surreal. Andrew stood up, tried to prioritize a post-wreck checklist, and patted down his body to make sure nothing was broken. Fortunately, everything checked out, no broken bones or protruding body parts. Also the bike was good, minus the front brake being misaligned. The majority of injuries were on his right side with no major external cuts or scrapes, minus a nice road rash down the left side of his face (see below). Adjusting himself and his bike, he hopped back on the bike and continued the descent and ride back up the coastline to LAX with 18 miles remaining.

Taken immediately post-crash to assess the damage

During the ride back, the sun was finally rising and although still recovering from the wreck, he refused to let it damper the great scenery and experience of this early morning ride. Once he reached Manhattan Beach, he stopped at the pier, near the Roundhouse Marine Lab & Aquarium, and took a quick picture.

Enjoying the coastline sunrise

Throughout the entire ride back to LAX, he felt sluggish and his pace (15-16mph) was much slower compared to the ride down to PV (20-12mph). Not until the stoplight right before his hotel, he noticed the right side of his front break was rubbing against the wheel, making those last 18mi a resistance training ride!

After some bandaging, meetings, compression socks, a quick hour nap, and more meetings, 4PM rolled around and he was free for the day. Originally, he was planning to ride Wednesday, returning the bike Wednesday evening, but the forecast predicted an 80% chance of rain starting late Tuesday evening through Thursday morning. Since he still had to get the bike back to the shop and take a cab back to the hotel, he decided to truncate his time on the bike and throw in another ride Tuesday afternoon before returning the bike @ 7PM. He threw on his beaten kit and headed North up the shore line towards Topanga State Park, riding through Venice Beach and down Ocean Avenue (insert the Yellowcard tune here).

The afternoon climb took him all the way up Amalfi Drive/Alta Mura Road, ending at someone's gated driveway. The majority of the climb was easier than this morning, minus the nice kicker at the end, which ended with a beautiful view of Rustic Canyon Park.

Rustic Canyon Park view at the top of Alta Mura Road

During his trip back to Helen's Cycles, he made one last stop at the Santa Monica pier, next to the park. Grabbing a sweet picture of him, the LCBC team kit, the bike, and the park before returning the bike.

Santa Monica Beach Park

Logging 60 miles for the day, two cat 3 climbs, a wreck, and some amazing views, Tuesday in LA was quite the adventure; one Andrew is looking forward to repeating (minus the wreck) next time he's out on the West Coast, hopefully next time with Mark in San Diego!

West Coast Representation

One of the original members of LCBC, Mark Mehlinger, recently moved out to San Diego to seek out new adventures, roads, and mountains, since Maryland simply could not contain him anymore. Since being out there over the past couple of weeks, he has had the opportunity to experience the SoCal velo culture, which has been a drastic change from the East Coast scene.

During one of his morning group rides with the San Diego Bicycle Club, where over 100 riders were in attendance, Mark found himself at the front of the B group, making a break away with a few bold others. During the breakout, he noticed another guy in the break away rocking an Adventure for the Cure jersey with the Princeton Sports logo. When the group reached a light and had to slow down, Mark had a quick conversation with the cyclist, asking about the jersey and where the local Princeton Sports shop was located, since he didn't realize it was a national chain. The cyclist responds, "Columbia ... Columbia, Maryland." Mark instantly did a double take and explained his recent move from Baltimore. It was later discovered that Mark had actually sold this guy a coffee table through Craigslist some time back, while they were both in Mayland, such a small world! Mark also found out there was another guy with this cyclist who both rode and wore the Adventure for the Cure kits. They were originally from San Diego, moved out to Maryland a few years ago before moving back.

This new found connection through a random series of events led to a mean climb-fest out East today, riding out to some mountains to test Mark's chops against the West coast terrain. Best of luck Mark and keep the representation strong!

West Coast Princeton Sports representation