New(ish) Blog

Earlier this year, we moved our blog to a server that we control, with our own domain name.  It can be found at princetoncycling.com. We’ve finally merged the content from this blog to the new site, and so this site will be taken down shortly. If you want to keep up with the team’s activities, please use the new site!

Here’s a video of a guy on rollers.

What the hell is with people videotaping themselves on rollers? I mean, really? Come on. Is this something I’m supposed to care about and study, or is it simply that the sadist in me wants to see straight-up, carbon fiber splintering, chainring through the calf, blood-and-guts roller gore? Because the latter is certainly true, this video is very disappointing, but it did make me think.

So here we have a guy, on his nice Look (surprisingly not riding carbon tubular wheels, but I’m sure the delivery of his Lightweights was delayed by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull), riding his rollers for the first time. Look at him go!

As the video progresses, you notice that this is not your typical soft-core self-shot  first time on the rollers video–his wife is holding the camera. I just can’t imagine how the conversation went down. Actually I can. It was probably along the lines of: “Honey, I need to, erm, uh, check my position on the bike, can you, uhh, videotape me?” His position as it turns out, is impeccable: stiff arms, head drooped between his shoulders, knees cocked out to the side–all ideal for high-speed cornering (or taking a crap).

So there you go. No carnage, no off the rollers and through the VCR, no handlebar breakage–in fact, this video kind of sucks. I’m sitting here wondering why someone would even take the time to post this video (or, moreover, why someone would write a blog post about it). But there is a positive takeaway: it’s frickin’ 85 degrees and sunny right now, isn’t it so nice to be OUTSIDE riding your bike?

Study to pass. Ride to win. Leave roller videotaping to the Freds. Princeton Cycling.

Then when you get back from your ride, you can watch some sweet hub videos:

rrrrrrrwwwwrrwwrwwrwrwwrwrwrwrwrwrwrwrwwrwrwr!

It’s all about performance.

Army 4/17-18

One advantage, and probably the only advantage, of having such a small team is that we got to sleep in on Saturday since we didn’t have any teams in the TTT at Army!  And missing that TTT was especially nice, because when we rolled up, well-rested, in our soccer-mom mini van (same one that we took last weekend, coincidentally) the clouds broke and the rain stopped, and we didn’t have to go into the circuit race cold, wet, and miserable like everyone else.  Not that this advantage particularly helped us, but it definitely didn’t hurt.

I neglected to warm before my race (deciding a bathroom stop was more important) and felt great for the first lap, but my legs were done for after that.  I managed to roll across the finish line just as the rain was picking up again (great timing, if I do say so myself).  Aaron’s warmup, on the other hand, went a little long, and by the time he made it to the staging area his race was had already started.  He started almost a full lap behind the pack (on a windy 3-mile loop) and despite his efforts he wasn’t able to close the gap.  Fortunately, a Chipotle stop on the way home lifted all our spirits – that place is really starting to grow on me…

Sunday, despite our ridiculous 5:20 am departure, went much better.  David joined Aaron, Jon (who drove and supported us both days – thank you!) and I for the hill climb time trial and criterium on the Army campus.  Somehow I managed to finish the ITT, although I still don’t believe I was actually 10th (women’s C) – I was going so slow on some of the pitches that walking would have been a better choice!  David pulled off a nice top ten finish in the men’s C race as well, and Aaron blew apart the B field, winning by 20 seconds (he would have been 7th in the A field).

The criterium was a short, fully-visible 4.5-corner corner course, with a small rise at the finish line.  David stayed safe and rolled in with the field.

David in the crit

I finally felt comfortable in a crit for the first time this season – sitting in the 5th or 6th spot is much easier and less nerve-racking than hanging out at the back of the field.

Becca in the crit

My number one goal all season has been not to crash, and luckily I avoided the finish line pileup.

Women's C finish line crash (you can see my head and orange shoulder)

Aaron had set himself up well in his race, pushing the pace early before settling into the pack instead of going off the front (I didn’t know he could do that).

Aaron, at the front

Unfortunately, he took a corner too fast in his attempt to break away from the pack and crashed – I didn’t know Jon could run that fast, sprinting over there. Aaron ended up scraped and bloody, but he’ll heal.  It’s his cracked frame that won’t…

Aaron, post-crash

David and I had good races to end the season, and hopefully Aaron will be able to make it to the start on time and stay upright next weekend at Easterns in Dartmouth. Can’t wait until next year!

Yale – April 10/11

Anthony, David, Max and I (Becca) headed up to New Haven last weekend for the Yale Lux et Velocitas weekend.

Because you can't take this picture and not include it.

Taken at the staging area, the time trial and and circuit races finished at the monument at the top.

The hill climb time trial and circuit race were on Saturday, both of which finished with a mile-long, switchback climb to the top of the nearby hill (I’m afraid I can’t call it a mountain, although it was more than steep enough for me at the end of a race).  Sunday featured a thankfully flat, 5-turn criterium in the shadow of the imposing hill.

Our wonderful minivan/base camp.

Anthony has a bright future as a soccer mom, successfully navigating our minivan through New York City and on to Connecticut without incident.

Nice action shot of Anthony on the rollers.

David in the circuit race.

David had a strong weekend, especially in the circuit race, finishing 16th.

Max

Max ended up 20th in the time trial, which dashed his hopes of winning the King of the Mountain jersey – but there’s always next year.

Anthony in the crit (pre-crash, but I'm pretty sure this is the corner it happened on).

After good races on Saturday, Anthony went down hard in the criterium on Sunday, flatted, grabbed a new wheel from the pit, caught the pack and finished with the field, but has a good bit of road rash to show for his efforts. Last thing I knew he was headed to student health to get his collarbone x-rayed; hopefully it’s not broken and he’ll be back on the bike soon!

Princeton Weekend

Yes! Yes! Yes! Maybe! SHIT! :

Here’s a photo of Tony, no doubt in the 53×11, climbing the wall on Grandview. That isn’t a grimace, he’s laughing at the guys behind him.

Big congrats/thanks/”You’re freaking awesome” to Jon for organizing an amazing weekend of grueling racing.

Also, nice work to Tony and David who turned in some top end finishes in the C field. Apparently there is a high correlation between the difficulty of the course and how well these boys ride. Did I say boys? I mean real men: both refuse to shave their legs.

Philly Phlizyer

Nick the Thick wins Men’s A Road Race. See the race report here: http://ecccnews.wordpress.com/race-reports/week-3-philly-phlyer/philly-phlyer-road-race/bennette-rewards-teammates-hard-work-with-victory/ (The URL says it all).

(photo: That’s Max  in the Mario Kart-like crit. In a noble attempt to reach the front after a back row start, he pedaled through a tight corner and found the pavement. Turns out he bounces pretty well.)