FreshBikes Group Ride

Since the LCBC team has taken a brief hiatus from racing for a couple of weeks, we wanted to highlight an awesome group ride one of the team members, Andrew Stroup, stumbled across while down in DC on a weekday. The Arlington FreshBikes Tuesday group ride is not your common group ride. Unlike the numerous group rides we've grown accustomed to in Baltimore, you aren't simply joined by 5-6 other cyclists looking for a good workout, but a posse that is almost overwhelming.

Feeling like a neutral roll out for a gran fondo, Andrew was joined by ~150 other cyclists for a solid training ride through Arlington, Falls Church, and McLean. Attempting some reconnaissance pre-ride, Andrew identified some cyclists who he raced with throughout this season, talking about the A riders, the B riders, and then everybody else. As the ride began, FreshBikes requested all the "slower" riders to start up front. The group was escorted by a train of police cars and bikes, blocking major intersections and roads for a continuous roll out to the "loop." As the ride progressed out of Arlington, Andrew found himself in the middle of the pack, passing and being passed by various cyclists over some moderate rollers at a casual pace. As the group turned onto an on ramp (yes an on ramp) and headed West, the groups quickly broke off and the ride was on.

By the time Andrew realized what was happening, the A group noodled off the front. Keeping in contact with some of the other cyclists he had raced with, he bridged up to them and stayed in contact with the lead B group. He quickly learned that the A and B groups were more of a race than a ride and found himself constantly drafting, pulling, or bridging up climbs, around corners, and down descents.

The B group headed home after one lap, while the A loop stayed around for a couple more for some extra suffering. Andrew was with 3 or 4 riders that broke off the front of the B group and was rejoined with the remaining group as they entered back into Arlington.

Overall, the group ride was a great change of pace, a chance to catch up with some fellow racers in a non-hostile environment, and some good conditioning as the summer racing season comes to a close. As far as upcoming races for LCBC, we have our eyes set on the Highway to Heaven in a couple of weeks and the Dawg Days of Summer as a closer for this year's season.

Greenbelt Training Race and Team Update

Since the team took a weekend off of racing, they've had a chance to catch up on the Giro and Amgen while prepping for BikeJam. Meanwhile, Joe Siegel decided to enter a mid-week training race over at Greenbelt to test his new training regime and log another race for upgrading.

Still working on his last couple of Cat 5 races before upgrading, Joe entered the Group C Greenbelt Training Race. The field was about 30 deep, with some familiar faces as well as various unattached racers. In typical clydesdale fashion, Joe spent the majority of his time at the front of the pack, cranking away the watts and pushing the pace the entire race. Unfortunately once again, he was unable to inspire the other racers sucking on his back wheel to hop up there and form a legitimate breakaway. Already running on tired legs from a hard week of training, the power wasn't quite there to manage a solo breakaway.

Joe at Greenbelt Training Race, Group C

On the last lap, after the neutral turn, Joe, Nathan Ong, and another racer sat at the front of the group with little room for any racers behind them to pass. As predicted, a couple of meters out, Nathan shifted into his drops and started to lay the hammer down for his sprint finish. Joe quickly picked up on his back wheel and rode in for 2nd place.

Another solid performance by Joe in the Cat 5 field as he prepares himself for upgrading and joining the rest of the team. His upgrade will serve as a turning point, allowing the team to enter into 3/4 fields and race as a cohesive group with purpose.

As for our other racers, Dave Cohen is on the quick road to recovery from his double hernia surgery a couple of weeks ago. He's been easing into riding and recently joined up with the Wednesday night Twenty20 ride, winning the sprint section (and that's taking it easy, hah). On Monday, Andrew Stroup was out on a rainy training ride with Mike Retzlaff and crashed out over a bridge, breaking his left hand. This puts him out of racing for 6 weeks and a forced mini-winter break on the trainer. We wish him a speedy recovery. This leaves Luke Mysko to fend for himself at BikeJam this Sunday, but the entire team will be out at Patterson Park supporting our el presidente. Mid-term, the team is eyeing a couple of tour races (Tour of Page County) in June/July where we'll have the whole team riding together.

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.