An Unimpressive Finish, But Still First

Logistics were delayed this morning, as I needed to pick up my leader's jersey, and then spend a long time pinning numbers to it. I know, I know: cry me a river. I like to have these little things done before leaving!

Today's circuit race was as I expected. It was an overgrown crit, with a long, shallow downhill and a sharp uphill finish. The race was unremarkable: my goals were to stay upright and finish with the lead, and I did just that. Racing was a little dicier than I would have liked at the end, so I finished far from the front. Meh. At least I get to hold on to the leader's jersey - which means I don't have to do any more pinning tomorrow!

As one of the race leaders, I had to do the whole (mandatory!) interview and podium procedure. The announcers asked me what I thought of the race (I'm glad there were no crashes), and how I thought I would do tomorrow (we'll see - I'm not a super climber). I even had my ceremonial podium moment, complete with photos.

Maybe this is why Lance enjoys winning?

So I Won The ITT...

I've been looking forward to the Fitchburg race all week, nay, all month. I've been fiddling with bikes and doing lots of mental preparation. So, it's really encouraging that I did well in today's Men's Cat 3 ITT stage.

The TT bike received new, chicane-extension aerobars, and a wheel upgrade. Today, I used a Zipp 808 clincher front wheel (heavy!), and the usual Zipp 900 tubular disc in the rear. I had a 404 tubular, but I figured faster was better than lighter. I was right!

I looked at the junior's and master's results at work today. It looked like 19 minutes was the time to beat to place in the top 3, so I made that my goal. Although I passed four people (we were spaced at 30 second intervals), I failed to meet my personal goal by 5.40s. The 19:05.40 was still good for first place in the Cat 3 field, though. I voraciously consumed 100 grams of chocolate ice cream in celebration.

Tomorrow brings the 28 mile circuit race. It's a 3 mile loop, really an overgrown crit or something really similar to a Prospect Park race. My goal is to stay up and stay toward the front, trying to hold on to my lead. Of course, I have to wear a (mandatory!) leader's jersey, so I'll be a marked man. (At least I get a free shirt out of it.)

Thank you and goodnight.

Maps and Profiles - 50th Annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

It's been a little while, but I'm back with my priceless race course maps, profiles, and commentary. This is a crucial part of my pre-race prep. Forewarned is forearmed.

First up, the ITT course. It has a few rolling hills, but with only one turnaround, it's a big ring out-and-back. This is an incredibly strategic stage in the race. I just hope the weather holds up - a flat disc is a useless disc.

The circuit race looks like a blast. There is a steady 100 foot rise every lap and at the finish to keep the hurt high, but the long straight descent means lots of jockeying for position and little to keep people's speed down.


This looks familiar: it's almost identical to the X-Pot road race, voted the most soul crushing race in the ECCC. The famous Wachussett finishing climb is gone, but that only helps big guys like me so much. The nasty 12% grade is still there. I just hope a 39-25 can get me up the hill. I may have to dust off the 28. Ouch. Look for big moves in the GC here. (Tech note: the start and finish are at different places. On the profile, from the start to the crosshairs is a typical lap, and from the crosshairs to the end is the last lap.)


This is what all crits should be like: a one mile romp up and down Main Street, with a little climb to keep everyone on edge. This race looks absolutely fabulous. Who knows - the field may even get lapped!

The weather in Massachusetts lately has been, well, a good reminder of why I'm moving to California. (I'm moving! More in a later blog post.) Let's see what the skies have in store. Honestly, I'm expecting lots of rain, and thus, lots of flats. Blech.

Thursday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 70. Calm wind becoming south between 4 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Friday: A chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Saturday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76.

Race Report: USAC Collegiate Road National Championships

I've taken a long time between entries here. I can describe Nationals in just a few words:

"I wasn't feeling great, the men were disorganized, and the weather didn't do us any favors. We got second place overall."

Oh well, what's done is done. I'm now spending many hours preparing for Fitchburg, so stay tuned!

Nationals, Day Zero: Fort Collins, CO

No time for a real update, so look at photos instead! We pre-rode and drove the road course, and then I took a three-hour detour to drive up Trail Ridge Road.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jsoltren/ColoradoDayZero#

Race Report: EASTERNS

This was a good weekend for MIT; although we didn't win the weekend, we did win the overall ECCC title, meaning that we are the number one cycling team in the Northeast! It was a less fantastic weekend for me, personally.

For starters, I was not feeling well going into this weekend. Be it allergies, a cold, or some form of H1N1, my lungs were full of mucus and I was feeling ache-y. Secondly, I was exhausted after driving all the way from MIT to State College; driving for eight hours was probably not the best idea. Finally, this was my second consecutive week of not riding enough. I think the mortgage folks have a good word for my performance this weekend: subprime.

The team trial, typically my strength, did not go well this weekend. The foggy, humid weather caused my visor to fog completely, leading to a bad turnaround and inability to see on the course. Communication and equipment issues made our run less smooth than I would have liked. We finished fourth.

The road race was easily the most difficult ride I've ever done, race or not. Every 21-mile lap featured 2,500 feet of climbing. I was able to hang with the pack for the first lap, but come lap two, I bonked. My heart rate and power numbers were telling me that I was not working hard, but I felt terrible! I was pulled after the third lap, not finishing the last lap of the race, and not placing in the points. We don't have hills like that Black Moshannon in Massacusetts. No fair.

Sunday's criterium was my redemption. It was fast from the gun. I raced strong, staying with the lead group and riding most of the pack off our wheel. Just as I was lining up for my end of race tactical move, bad luck struck. I got a flat, which caused me to take a spill on the last corner with two laps to go. The race was over. I finished in the points, but this result was a huge disappointment.

Hopefully, Nationals will be better for me!

Fun in store for this weekend at Easterns

Let's see what fun is in store for this weekend.



The TTT is decidedly not flat. It's full of these 100-foot climb false flats. As long as we're wary of those, and have people sag climbing as needed I think that our rotation should work.



Oh... wow. The Men's A race is 85 miles of this up-and-down nonsense. I know exactly where the attack will be: on the first climb. Do I have what it takes to keep up with the anorexic climbers?



This crit is flat and has lots of corners, just like the one at Nationals. It should suit me well. There is no advantage to staying in the pack, as it will just get strung out and take those corners slowly.

This looks like a great weekend of racing! I just hope the weather cooperates!

State College, PA:
Friday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a low around 52. West wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms likely before noon, then a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Saturday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Race Report: ECCC MIT X-Pot

Another weekend, another TTT victory! This weekend brought unseasonably warm temperatures (in the 80s) and plenty of sunshine to Westminster, MA for MIT's very own race weekend.

The weekend was off to a great start, with Team MIT leaving campus at 0530 to host our own race. The team time trial (now with four riders!) won by 15 seconds, instead of our usual margin on the order of tens of milliseconds.

For me, the rest of Saturday was downhill from there. I had an incredibly stressful week. I got insufficient sleep, no riding, and had to fly across the country for on-site interviews (which I bombed). I also had a big problem set, an exam, and plenty of bike work to keep me busy. Add in a thorough reaming by my advisor(s), and a similarly bad week for Jane, and there was little I could do to be prepared for the weekend. On top of all this, I sat (baked) in the sun for two hours marshalling, running out of water in the process.

I built my Roubaix road bike with lighter parts, less aggressive geometry, and a compact crank for this weekend's hilly road race on bad roads. The bike, weighing in at 16.0 lbs, was comfortable. Unfortunately, the handlebars and stem that I chose are super flexy, making me nervous. Ultimately, I just was in a poor state for the road race. After getting dropped the second time up the 16% grade, I pulled myself from the race. Tim finished 3rd, his best result this season.

Sunday was a better day for me. The morning was stressful. I manned the most busy intersection on the course as a marshal. It took me and a police officer to keep people from driving onto the crit course, and we still failed.

The criterium saw me back on my trusty Fuji. I've taken its solid ride for granted all season, but it's an ideal bike for me. Jason Sears joined us in the crit, helping to mix things up. Once again, the race winning break took off without me, but I did manage to finish a somewhat acceptable 9th.

The real highlight of the weekend was exterminating UVM's points lead. MIT is the ECCC champion going into Easterns. Will double points let us pull away from UVM once and for all? Will we be a D1 school next year? Stay tuned!

Race Report: ECCC Dartmouth Weekend

We had a fantastic week of racing. We won the Men's A TTT by 80 milliseconds, with three riders and two dropped chains. I soloed off the front of the crit for 40 minutes in the cold and rain. I got caught, but scopped up a ton of omnium points. In the hilly road race, a flat prevented me from catching the race winning break, but Tim won the field hill climb for 7th. Jane raced her first bike race ever, and won the Women's Intro road race by over 90 seconds! We're now scrambling for the MIT race weekend, which will be nothing short of awesome.

Dartmouth Course Profiles

This looks like an amazing weekend of racing, and the weather is supposed to be nothing short of beautiful.

The TTT course will be a true test of will. The long flat sections favor raw power and aeroness, but there are two major climbs on the course that will test our ability to work together. I look forward to being the anchor that makes sure we go 60 MPH+ down those hills in full aero gear.


The crit looks short and fast. Lots of corners means that the pack will get really strung out, so I'll be relying on my strong cornering skills. There is a slight (3%) downhill going into turns 4 and 5. I just hope there are no crashes.

This looks like it could be the best race of the season. A long road course with some epic climbs. Where will the race-winning break happen? Who will drop who on those hills? I'm just glad that the weather calls for calm winds. The Men's A race, at over 70 miles, is long enough that nutrition is a huge strategic thing. I'll eat a big dinner for the next few nights!

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. West wind between 3 and 10 mph.

Saturday: A slight chance of showers before 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Calm wind becoming northwest between 4 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 30. Light north wind.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 28.

Race Report: ECCC Yale "Lux Et Velocitas" Weekend

In summary: a mostly strong weekend for me. Cat 2 upgrade points: 7/25. MIT grows closer to being the top ECCC team.

This past weekend saw us racing in New Haven, CT, home of delicious Pepe’s pizza. Try their white clam pie if you get a chance. It’s quite good, well worth a 30 minute wait and riding in a rainy headwind with a pizza pie in your hand. (From experience.)

Saturday started with the last individual time trial of the season. This course offered climbing, cornering, and long straightaways. It really favored an all-rounder. I had a strong performance, the strongest TT performance I’ve had all season, to place third. I was just two seconds behind second place! Darn. The winner was over 20 seconds faster, so I still have some work to do.

The favorable morning weather turned to cold, rain, and wind for the afternoon’s circuit race. Our race was shortened to 90 minutes, which was still long enough to make me and many other riders seriously hypothermic. I decided to race with a rain jacket, which was a stupid idea. It made me less aero. I was working so hard to keep up with the pack, that I was toasted by the time the obvious race-winning break took off. I held on for a depressing 22nd place finish.

That race really took a lot out of me. I cracked yet another carbon tubular rim on the corners on the circuit – great, more money to spend. I forgot my rollers at the course. In general, I was just exhausted and cross for the rest of the evening. It’s no fun when you’re the only A rider and everyone else just wants to leave while you’re coming in from your race.

Sunday’s races were both late in the afternoon, giving me plenty of time to get homework done in the morning. The crit course was the bottom of the circuit course, so we were all familiar with it. In the Men’s A crit, I stayed toward the front of the pack and avoided doing work. I had a good, but not great, line into the finishing stretch, taking a barely acceptable 9th. As soon as that was done, I started warming up for the USAC Men’s 3 / 4 crit. I was absolutely spent from the Men’s A crit, but the pace was so slow in the second race that I just had to wait for the end. Repeating my first mistake, I had a poor line and, lacking a real sprint, got third.

I’m looking forward to the Dartmouth weekend coming up. There will be a TTT and a road race to really put us through our paces. I’m most excited about Jane’s first race. She’ll be doing the Women’s Intro road race on Sunday.

Yale Course Preview

Dear Yale, thank you for providing MapMyRide.com versions of your courses. This allowed me to export them as .GPX tracks. I can view them in Topo USA to make profiles, and in Google Earth to do flyovers. You saved me a lot of work. Of course, you drew the circuit race backwards, but I suppose no one is perfect. Sincerely, Jose



The ITT course, as viewed from above, looks like a squid. It's only four miles long, but those four miles will be painful. There are lots of rolling hills that only get steeper at the end, like a sinusoid multiplied by an exponential. I need to remember to attack the climbs super hard, and recover on the downhills. I'll be riding the lightest and most aero equipment I can find, incorporating some of my aforementioned optimizations (i.e. no chammy butter).


This looks like my kind of circuit race. The 4.3 mile circuit features a wall every lap, followed by a long, fast, curvy descent. (The descent is not as bad as it looks; Topo doesn't know how to deal with bridges.) Depending on the wind direction, that long road section on the west side of the course could bring the pack together. If the roads are narrow, then the terrain will offer strategic advantages. The finish of this race, after 2 hours for the A racers, is the last 1.3 miles of the ITT course above. Ouch. I'm more of a climber than a sprinter, though.


The crit course overlaps heavily with the circuit race course. Everyone will know the turns and the ideal lines really well, so I'm guessing this will be a hard, fast race. The slight uphill finish suits me well. The Men's A race, 60 minutes long starting at 2:25pm, will be ideal practice for the USCF 3-4 race at 4:30pm. I'm looking for Cat 2 upgrade points in that 3-4 race. It looks like a beautiful course, round and round around a park. I just hope that the roads are closed. With the yellow line rule, it's one narrow lane for the whole course. With the road closed, it's two lanes the whole way.

Race Report: ECCC Army Weekend

We welcomed the shorter than usual drive to West Point, NY for this weekend's racing.



The Team Time Trial was the first event this weekend. We fielded two A teams in an effort to see who was in contention for nationals. In doing this, we went in knowing that we would probably not do well. It appears that this was not the case: with good team work and a little luck, MIT's Men's A TTT teams placed first and third, with my team emerging victorious. We beat UVM by a tiny margin.

The circuit race and the crit were instances of deja vu. Once again, the race winning break took off without me. In the circuit, it was the usual Lipka/Frey/UVM/USMA combination that stuck. I got tired of braking on the descent, so I soloed away about two thirds of the way into the race. Steve from USMA bridged, and together, we took 7th and 8th. In the crit, I did not race intelligently, dragging the pack with me wherever I went - even when I caught Frey. The break that did stick was not the one I expected, so even though I followed my strategy, it did not work.

The hill climb time trial had its ups and downs. The ups included 750 feet of climbing, and me setting a new power record of 421W for 10 minutes, or a little over 5 W/kg. I could have gone harder, and with experience, could have done better. Tim beat my time by a few seconds.

It was an excellent weekend for the team, however. We placed first overall, and we're almost the top ranked ECCC team now. Laura Ralston had a perfect weekend and is moving up to the A's. I also outsprinted a train (photograph courtesy of Tony Laidig).

Absurd Weight Savings

I've been spending too much brainpower lately thinking about all of the ridiculous optimizations I can make for this Sunday's hill climb time trial (HCTT). At about 181 lbs these days, I need every advantage I can get. Here are a few of my silly ideas.

• Weigh all of my rideable socks, and wear the lightest pair.
• Possibly forego the heart rate monitor.
• Weigh the skin suit, a jersey, and my shorts, and pick the lightest setup.
• Pin my number on with only four safety pins, and/or make a minimalist frame number.
• Remove water bottle cage bolts and headset top cap.
• Use my Zipp 404s (lightest wheels I have) with the lightest skewers I have.
• Remove springs from skewers.
  
• Fill tires with helium.
• Clean the bike - dirt is heavy.
  
• Forego sunglasses and gloves. (I don't use chammy cream, bit I would forego that, too.)
  
• Remove front derailleur and just rock the small ring (probably not happening).
• Diet aggressively this week to get the weight down.
• Warm up with too many layers to shed as much water weight as possible.
• Use lightest possible computer. Does the Quark work with the PowerTap head? It should.
• Use the Roubaix instead of the Aloha for the weekend? It might be lighter.

I don't think I'll do all of these, but I'm always thinking.

Army Race Profiles

As always, here is the week's pre-race conspiring. We have some more interesting courses than usual this week. (As an aside, minus points to Army for having really awful maps in their flyer. I can only hope that I re-drew these routes correctly. I did the best I could.


This TTT is as challenging as MIT's practice Dover course, if not moreso. It's constant ups and downs. My weight will pull the TTT team down the hills, but I just hope I don't hold us up on the climb. I'll use my Zipp disc if it's here in time. This course needs a real balance of power and lightness, ideally suited for all-rounders heavy enough to go downhill fast. This should be a really interesting race. Men's A: roughly 8:15.


The circuit race features a nasty climb every lap. Indeed, this is a climber's race, though the long-ish downhill may serve to benefit the pack. The hill is the place to watch for the inevitable attacks. I'll try to be toward the front of the pack to use my superb descending skills. Men's A: roughly 3:30pm. 80 minutes.


And there it is: the HCTT. I'll be staring at my power meter for this race, staying within zone so as to not burn out too fast. I'm a decent climber, especially for my weight, and hundreds of hours on the PowerCranks should pay off here. I'm looking for a strong result. Men's A: roughly 8:20am.


We'll end the weekend with another dead-flat crit, reminiscent of this past weekend at Philly. It can get pretty windy by that river, too. It looks like a fun course with a few really sharp corners, but otherwise little to filter the pack. Men's A: roughly 3:00pm. 60 minutes.

In terms of the weather, it looks like there is little chance for more dreaded springtime rain:

Friday Night: A chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 37. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Saturday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60.
Sunday Night: A chance of rain. Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. Chance of precipitation is 30%.