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%.

Race Report: ECCC Philadelphia Weekend

In summary: a disappointing weekend for me, but a good weekend for Team MIT.

Another all-too-familiar six hour drive brought Team MIT to Philadelphia, PA for a weekend of racing hosted by Temple, U. Penn, and Drexel. Many thanks to Max Feldman of U. Penn for hosting four of us, saving us a hotel room.

Saturday’s road race was on a familiar course for me; it was disappointing that the result of the race was familiar too. All of the people I marked as being likely participants in a breakaway ended up staying in the pack. In the second lap (of four), the attacks that formed the race-winning breakaway formed, and the pack did nothing – at all – to counter. At the end of the race, there was a pack sprint, which is not my strength. I knew in that second lap that the race was over; the rest of the race just became an increasingly irritating Saturday group ride. To be fair, I was spending too much time in the wind, and felt absolutely horrible. I suspect a mild stomach virus.

Sunday morning’s team time trial played on my strengths. The long, flat course was the first time that I worked with Guo-Liang Chew, Tim Humpton, and Mike Garrett in a TTT. We took the course conservatively, on account of the rain, and came in second place to Princeton in the Men’s A. I think we can win this race in the future.

The weather improved for the Sunday afternoon criterium, with temperatures in the 60s and sun. Frustrated by the laziness of the Men’s A pack, I joined the only breakaway in the race and stayed off with about four other guys for most of the race. Of course, none of the power sprinters were in the break, and – for the first time I’ve seen – the pack decided to work. We were caught, and it came down to a pack sprint, which is again not my strength. At least I put on a good show for 30 minutes.

After placing every weekend to date, this was a frustrating weekend of racing. I missed the move on Saturday, and got caught on Sunday. Oh well. I’m looking forward to more climbing and time trials next weekend at Army.

Philly Phlyer Race Profiles

U. Penn, Temple, and Drexel are hosting another beautiful weekend of ECCC racing in Philadelphia, PA, in Fairmount Park on the Schuylkill (Schoolgirl!) River. Forewarned is forearmed, so here are my thoughts on the courses.



This circuit race is one of the very few ECCC courses that I've done before (the other being Columbia). That long flat section could be great for establishing a break if no one is chasing, or could be the place where the pack comes back together if the wind is going the wrong way. The A field gets to go around the 6.5 mile course five times. My prediction is that a break will form early on around the course's major climb, which may or may not get caught. No matter what, the long, uphill finish is longer than even I would like. Like last year, the attacks will start on that very last climb, and the pace will get ever faster to the line. Cornering skills will help in two places: after the start for the left onto the river, and after the hill for the right back on to the river. The Men's A start time is about 3:20pm - so late!



The Team Time Trial course is about 8.5 miles long and dead flat, except for a section at the start and finish. Without a disc wheel to use, I'll be riding my Tri Spoke wheels. The wind could make things interesting. Aerodynamics will matter more than anything, so I think Team MIT will do well here. The Men's A start time is 8:30am.



This is a weird little crit course. If it is going clockwise as I believe it might, there will be a slight downhill finish. The Men's A field will go from the gun for 50 minutes, trying to wear out as many riders as possible before the finish. A good start is key. I believe this course is so short, flat, and empty, that you can see one side of it from the other. Cornering and pack skills are crucial to conserving energy for that inevitable final sprint. The Men's A start time is 2:50pm.

That crit is going to be nothing short of terrifying if the weather turns wet. Flats and crashes everywhere. I can only hope for the best.

Saturday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Saturday Night: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a low around 47. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Sunday: A chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 58. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Race Report: ECCC Delaware Weekend

Road race: 7/41 at 3m10s behind. 40 pts.
ITT: 34/34 at 15:59.99. (Should be 2/34 at 11:22.00 and 70 pts.)
Criterium: 4/30, 53 pts.

A six-hour drive from MIT brought us to beautiful Delaware, featuring milder temperatures than we have in the Northeast. The weather was beautiful all weekend, with sun, calm winds, and temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Many thanks to our gracious hosts, Senator and Mrs. Carper (!).

Saturday’s 68 mile road race was my first Men’s A race. I did not know what to expect from this stronger, more experienced field. Would attacks stick? Would the field counter-attack? Expecting the field to work harder than a B field, I allowed the race-winning breaks to leave early. About halfway through, when it seemed that the pack was soft-pedaling, I attacked. Just as I caught one of the chase groups, a Maryland state police officer almost killed us! Apparently, he didn’t know that there was a bicycle race going on, and, less than impressed by our aggressive, race-style riding, tried to run us off the road. I left the chase group, and rode solo for 90 minutes. I never caught the race leaders, but the pack never caught me. My 7th place finish tells me that I still have a few things to learn about racing.



The Individual Time Trial on Sunday morning should have been my shining moment, but instead, it was a disaster. A HED disc wheel that I purchased through Craigslist, broke, and apparently unsuccessfully repaired, failed at the start. The hub delaminated from the wheel, again, making it impossible to ride. I learned two important lessons. One, always pre-ride race equipment. I did not have a chance to do a proper warm-up. Two, I found out about USAC rule 3E5(b) the hard way: “The rider shall be held by an official at the start, but shall neither be restrained nor pushed. No restarts are permitted.” I was not given a restart for my wheel mishap. My time on the course was 11m22s. This would have put me in second place, and with a disc and proper warmup, I could have beaten Lipka for first. Damnit! At least the wind tunnel folks can use a broken disc wheel.

“Men’s A Criterium” is a scary string of words. The Delaware course, 0.5mi long, featured a tighter-than-90-degree bend at the bottom of a steep hill, and an uphill finish. Numerous crashes and delays caused our race to start 3 hours late. At our start, the guy in front of me failed to clip in, causing me to have yet another bad start. The race winning solo attacks took off early. Whenever I attacked, UVM countered and blocked. Taking control, I sat at the front of the pack, sat on the climbs, cornered hard, sprinted early up the hill, and took fourth. I’m a marked man now.

This was a great weekend, and I’m looking forward to Philly. I just hope I can find a disc in time!

Pre-Race Conspiring: Delaware Race Weekend

It looks like six hours of driving will lead to quite a race weekend in Newark, DE.


Oh hell. My first Men's A race is this monstrosity. We get to do this loop four times, just barely escaping the definition of a "circuit race" and making this a "road race". A 68-mile race is going to make this a war of attrition. The rider who has the best sprint after being in the saddle for about 2h30m is going to win. I'm going to try to ride smart: save energy, stay fueled, hide from the wind. My goal is to chase down exactly one attack: the one which forms the race-winning breakaway.


This here is the Delaware "lollipop" time trial course in all its glory. Time trialing is my strength, so I'll be looking for a strong performance here. Aero equipment is legal in the A's. All of that climbing makes me really wonder what the ideal combination of equipment is for this course. My tri-spoke is lighter than my disc, so the tri-spoke may very well make an appearance this weekend! Sometimes, having more equipment options is a curse. Aero or weight? That is the question. I need to pull out the scale.

When the Delaware folks said that this crit was on a new part of campus, they meant it. Of the major mapping solutions, only Google Maps knew about these roads - and even then, only the big ones. Using my usual trickery, I was able to re-create the roads very nicely in Topo. This looks like a very fast course, with an acute bend left at the bottom of a hill and an uphill finish. Hopefully this will be a course where individual strength and technique is enough to escape the pack.

With that said, who are the riders to watch? Anyone whose time beat mine in the Rutgers ITT is definitely someone to watch. That would be Josh Lipka (UNH blue, 153), Nick Frey (Princeton orange, 169), and Dan Cassidy (UVM yellow, 100). Points leader Eric Schlidge (Dartmouth green, 173) and strong finisher Thomas Coupe (UNH, 186), as well as Alex Bremer (Columbia blue, 161) are on the list as well. Of course, at this level it's anyone's race, but I'll be watching UVM and UNH closely for obvious team tactics.

Race Report: ECCC Columbia/Stevens Weekend and Cat++

Columbia and Stevens delivered an action-packed weekend of racing this past weekend. With cool spring temperatures, and even some sun on Saturday, all three of my races this weekend offered plenty of learning opportunities.



Columbia hosted the Grant’s Tomb criterium, on the usual course near their campus. The course had a long enough downhill section that let the pack easily catch any attempts at making a break. Sure, you could get some distance on the three corners just after the start, but the real strategic component was the long rise to the finish line. I took the conservative approach in the Cat 4 race in the morning, staying with the pack of mostly local NYC racers and a few collegiate riders hoping to earn some quick upgrade points. I chased down a couple of attacks, and made sure to stay toward the front of the pack and away from the crashed, but tried to hide from the wind. The last lap was fast, but with a good line, I was able to come around the lead group on that long rise to the finish, taking a conclusive first place in my second-ever road victory.



The afternoon’s Collegiate B race featured a smaller, but more aggressive field. Averaging 2 MPH faster than the morning race, numerous attacks failed as the pack picked up speed on the descent. I pulled more than I should have, trying to stay ahead of the pack with too much success. UVM’s Lee Peters (315, won the Rutgers circuit) and Marshall Ambros (320, second at the Princeton crit) were the riders to watch. Stupidly, I let Lee and a few UVM buddies pull away in the last lap. I came around everyone but Lee, finishing second.

We thought the Stevens crit would be a disorganized mess; we were pleasantly disappointed! The race, new this year, was a dream for anyone whose strengths included time trials, cornering, and descending. An uphill start/finish led to a hard right, a winding 15% downgrade, a wide right, and a 15% upgrade to the finish. The winning tactic was to leave the pack and take the corners fast. I had a poor start, and worked for many laps to get ahead of the pack. By the time I got there, Marshall was way off the front, and Lee was right on my wheel. Taking the descent and corner harder than anyone, I managed to open a gap for second place, never catching Marshall.

Two first place and two second place finishes to date were just enough to net me an upgrade to Men’s A and Category 3, my first major upgrade since 2003. I’ll be mixing it up with the big boys next weekend in Delaware.



A special thanks to my mother, who graciously hosted me and two other riders, treated us to dinner, and endured an hour-long subway ride to cheer on Team MIT. She is pleased to see so many female racers, and wonders how bicycles can go so fast.

Usual Pre-Race Detective Work

Looks like the ECCC races will offer two more criteriums this weekend: one at Columbia, the other at Stevens. I did my usual pre-race investigation using DeLorme Topo USA 7.0, though the amount of information Google Earth and Google Maps can give you about the "look and feel" of a course is really impressive.



The Columbia crit has three hard corners and one wide one. The sprint is on a slight uphill, and there is a short climb in every lap. I'm just hoping that the roads won't destroy my race wheels. After all, New York City has a reputation to maintain, and the city's streets have never disappointed me in their ability to destroy high-end race equipment.



The Stevens crit is new this year. I hope I drew it correctly, I wasn't positive which way the course ran. Either way, there are three real corners and an uphill finish. These courses are fairly similar in the number of turns and finishes. I wonder how this will affect pack strategy.

Really, I just want to start racing A's as soon as possible.