The Suitcase of Courage

Why Cycle Wednesday:Stolen Kisses

A morning ride before work
is like a stolen kiss before detention.

Today is the last day of legislative session and the past few weeks have been the busiest of the whole year, filled with late nights.  Fortunately, I've been able to get out most mornings before going into the office and other than the past couple of days when it's been raining (and I'd rather get a few hours sleep than try to squeeze in a ride), these spring mornings have been beautiful.

So herewith is a short sampling of a few of the kisses I've stolen during these final busy days...

Foot-of-Main, Connecticut River, Essex

Otter Cove, Old Saybrook

Essex Town Dock

North Cove, Old Saybrook

Harvey's Beach, Old Saybrook

Steamboat Dock, Essex

All you morning folks know very well the joy of getting up with the sun, but it's a new experience for this night owl.  But given my schedule lately, the early morning is the only - and often the best - time to ride.  Nevertheless, we adjourn at midnight tonight and I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  With session over, I won't have to seize my opportunities so early in the day and I get (almost) as much pleasure out of sunsets than sunrises.

And as you can see, those kissess can be just as sweet. . .

Sunset, Town Beach, Old Saybrook

Race Report:Chris Hinds Ninigret Crit

One of my favorite race venues is Ninigret Park in Charlestown, RI.  Even when I lived much further away, I would try and race here any time I could.  The main races happen on three weekends in the spring and the Chris Hinds, Rick Newhouse, and Mystic Velo races have been second only to the Bethel race series as harbingers of the new season.  Now that I live closer, I've even been able to make it to an occasional mid-week training race series held there in the summer.

It's a flat six corner crit, but what it lacks in elevation change, it makes up in windy conditions and always-on speed.  Click here for a more detailed run-down.

I've done well here and there've been races here that I haven't even finished, but no matter the result I always enjoy racing Ninigret.  So it was with some expectation of, if not greatness, at least a good race that I lined up early last Saturday morning.  Since upgrading to Cat3, I've enjoyed racing later in the day but for this race - and even though we live less than an hour away - we had to get up before dawn to get to this race on time.

I lined up with teammate Lance (who, incidentally, had just won the previous race!) and 66 others.  After the usual preliminaries, the whistle blew and we were off.  Immediately, an attack went off the front and a few guys joined up.  For a few laps, there was actually a split and I began wondering if this race would be yet another example of how fit folks got during the mild winter off-season.  We were flying!

But I should know better by now - about five laps in, the race calmed down and while I couldn't move up quite as easily or as often as I thought I should, I could at least hang in fairly easily.

On the other hand, Lance actually made it look easy.  Despite a stiff headwind on the finishing straight, he'd won the previous race in a 3-man break with teammate Aaron (who came in 3rd!) and was clearly warmed up.  But his stamina was pretty impressive.  He kept things together for much of the race, chasing attacks and keeping things stretched out when necessary.

One of Mrs SOC's favorite angles at this race - a huge S curve that she always loves to shoot.  Unless otherwise indicated, race pics on this blog are hers (usually with an inferior camera and, this time, with just her phone).  As you can see, we were pretty stretched out at this point.  But despite the elastic stretching, it seldom broke and we all stayed together.

As is typical with crits, primes were offered throughout the race and - given the vagaries of a field sprint - I thought I'd try to win something.  So when the bell rang with about 10 laps to go, I used most of the lap to try and get up front.  By the time we hit the final corner, I was still about 15 guys back but somebody in front of me started moving up fast on the left side, and I got on his wheel.  Unfortunately, he started to fade after about 50 meters and I came around and hit the headwind sprint as hard as I could.

I'd started my sprint pretty far back, but I had the front 5 guys in my sights and was gaining.  I passed four of them and just nipped the front guy at the line.  I'd won what I thought was a big money cash prime, but I'd actually sprinted for a hat.  It's a nice hat though!

But I'd won a sprint.  And while the final sprint matters most, winning an intermediate sprint feels pretty awesome too.  Now I just had to try and recover and hope I had something left for the end.

With about 5 laps to go, I noticed that Lance had pulled out.  But being the great teammate he is, he took up a position at the sidelines to cheer me on.  If you've had anybody do that for you, you know how great that feels.  And how much you don't want to let them down.

photo by Meg Dineen McMahon

So I started moving up.  Predictably, rest of the pack had the same idea and things got faster.  But I was feeling good - so good in fact that I apparently thought nothing of being on the wrong end of the eventual winner.  In the pic above, I should be on BillYs wheel, not in front of him.

By the bell lap, I was in decent position, but the speed kept going up and when a group of us hit the second-to-last corner too hot, a bunch went right off the track.  But the Ninigret track has no curbs and is surrounded by hard-pack dirt & grass so while we all stayed upright - and I'd narrowly avoided going off the track myself - the necessary correction caused me to lose a bunch of spots.  I regained most of those by the time we hit the final corner and I was suddenly glad that the last corner is so far from the finish - I still had time.

Or so I thought.  From my position, I didn't see that three guys had gotten off the front sometime during the bell lap and I sprinted in the gutter up the right side thinking I could at least get in the top ten.  As I crossed the line, I thought I'd made it.

  

Here's the finshline video.  If you know right where to look, you can see me coming up the left side of the screen during the field sprint.  I'm going pretty fast and nobody's passing me, but I was too far back.  And - given the three guys I didn't see - I didn't make it into the top ten after all.  I had to settle for 12th.

All in all, not a bad result considering the (relatively) large and strong field.  It was a safe, fun race & I got to race with a great teammate.  It was only later, after the results were posted, that I realized that they paid ten deep.  Ah well - 2 places out of the money isn't bad.  And I did win a cool hat.

The final race of the Bethel series is this coming Sunday.  The leaderboard is wide open, so we still have a chance to win the overall.  It's a little bit of a long shot, but that'll just make winning more dramatic and brag-worthy.  The forecast is great, many of our friends will be there, and we have plans with friends afterwards.  So no matter what the result is, it's going to be a fun day.

Why Cycle Wednesday:Morning Ride

Whether you're staring down a late night at work or an afternoon forecast of rain, a morning ride may be just the thing you need to cheat The Man or cheat The Weather.  You can rest assured all the rest of the day that you not only got your ride in but, no matter what happens, you were able to be outside in nature for at least a little while.  It does a soul (not to mention a body) good.  Of course, it doesn't hurt if you can enjoy the incomparable feeling of pedaling your bike past beautiful scenery like this.

It's hard for a decidedly-not-morning-person like me to get up early enough to enjoy such pleasures, but in addition to all the benefits outlined above, I also wanted to test out an experiment.  I've been trying to silence an intermittent "tick tick tick" sound for over a year now and nothing undermines the sheer pleasure of riding a road bike than having some random creak or click disturbing the sound of silence.  On this particular morning, I finally solved the problem.

All I could hear was the sound of my tires on the pavement, the air passing by my ears, and the calm ocean gently lapping the shore.

***

This is the first Why Cycle Wednesday of the season.  Next up - Chris Hinds (Ninigret) Race Report!

Cycling Fun Friday:Blackpoint Beach Loop

While this blog focuses a lot on bike racing, you'll also find a lot of other posts that explore "fun" riding too.  As fun as racing is, like many others I find it just as fun to answer the call of the open road on a beautiful day and do some exploring at a slower pace.  Incidentally, it's good training too.  You sometimes have to go slow to go fast, and the Blackpoint Beach Loop is definitely a ride you want to take your time doing.

All these roads are familiar to me, so there wasn't much in the way of "discovery," but I'd never strung them together in quite this way before.  I think I've put together a pretty cool route though that includes a lot of neat points of interest and wonderful scenery along the way.  There's even a stop at a local bike shop where you can get your bottles refilled, a great used book store (in case you have some extra time and room in your jersey pocket), and - best of all - an out-of-the-way independent coffee shop where you can get a great snack toward the end of the ride.  So follow along on the map and join me for a virtual tour.  I'll point out the best things along the way.

The only way you can get from Old Saybrook across the Connecticut River to Old Lyme is by taking the I-95 highway bridge across  and its the first major feature of the ride.  Fortunately, the Baldwin Bridge has a bike/ped walkway on its north side so you don't have to dodge interstate traffic.

And as you can see, it affords some really nice views of the river valley from over 80 feet up.

Shortly after you cross the bridge, and on your way to Old Lyme, you cross the Lieutenant River.  You'll notice there are plenty of water views during this ride.

Going across the Baldwin Bridge is of course VERY noisy with all the traffic and the road from the end of the bridge to Old Lyme is a wide 4-lane main road.  But right after you cross the Lieutenant River, you take a left (being careful of the traffic) and head into the village of Old Lyme itself.

Old Lyme is the home of the Florence Griswold Museum and the "Home of American Impressionism."  The village hasn't changed much in the last hundred years and retains much of its turn-of-the-(last)century charm.  Certainly worth taking your time to explore.  Of course, the best way is by bike.

You'll enter town alongside this church and take a right.  You're well off the main roads by now and can enjoy the passing scenery without too much fuss (or dealing with traffic).

And there's lots of scenery to enjoy.  It's still relatively rural out this way and small farms dot the landscape.  This is one such farm between Old Lyme and Niantic.

After taking the backroads, you'll end up back on Rt. 156 - a fairly busy road that roughly follows the shore of Long Island Sound.  Fortunately, the road is smooth and the shoulders are wide.  If you don't get shaken by the occasional big oil truck going by (never too close - they're pretty used to cyclists around here), you can enjoy the big, swoopy curves and undulating terrain.

"Undulating" is one way to put it.  The topography in this part of the state is full of short, steep climbs and quick descents.  But there's one HUGE descent going eastbound, just short of Rocky Neck State Park, that if you have the redlight timed right has a nice long run-out and will likely give you your highest speed of the day (thankfully, it's a T-intersection coming from the left, so cross traffic isn't a problem).

You'll pass the entrance to the Park on your right (itself worth exploring if you have the time) and take a right onto Fairhaven Road toward Blackpoint Peninsula.

Just as an aside, one of the joys of writing this blog - especially "travelogues" like this - is that I end up learning more about where I'm riding.  I'd always thought of the Blackpoint section of Niantic as a refuge for well-off folks in old colonial homes - much like the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook.  But as with most things, there's a lot more than meets the eye.  And especially for the history-minded, you don't have to scratch the surface much before you discover something interesting.

In this case, literally.

Apparently, Niantic was named after the Nehantic Indians that used to live is this area and the Blackpoint Peninsula was their last reservation.  According to the best research available Wikipedia:

By 1870, the Nehantics were declared extinct by the state and their 300-acre (1.2 km) reservation, the Black Point peninsula of East Lyme, was sold. In 1886, their burial ground was sold and desecrated, and the Crescent beach community filled over it. As recently as 1988, Nehantic skeletal remains were uncovered by new construction.

Sometimes, learning history can be depressing.  But it certainly gives you a much richer view of the world and every time I ride around Blackpoint in the future, I'll think of what used to be and thereby honor the memory of those that were there.

But those ghosts of the past were nowhere in my mind as I rode the Blackpoint loop this day, especially not with scenes like these cropping up at nearly every bend in the road.

Given how much shoreline property is (over)developed, scenes like this - where the meadow goes right down to the sea - are especially rare.  I wonder how long it'll be before a house will be built here.  I wonder what the construction might unearth...

Just about every house in this area is worth photographing, but if I got to pick one to live in, it'd probably be this one, right at the point.

The (now-infamous, to my mind at least) Crescent Beach area.  A lovely spot, made all the more poignant by its history.  It was hit especially hard by the hurricane/tropical storm last Autumn.  But it looks like it's about ready for the upcoming season.

At the eastern-most point of our map, you'll find Niantic Bay Bicycles - a local shop which caters to the tourist and beach trade (natch), but there's a respectable number of racing bikes in the inventory as well.  It's run by nice folks (& former racers) who know their stuff - and will let you use the facilities and refill your bottles.

Heading back west now, but still in the Niantic section of East Lyme, you'll pass by The Book Barn.  It's actually a collection of four separate buildings and a number of sheds and offers a little bit of just about everything.

Randy, the owner, is a cyclist as well - though this business keeps him too busy to get out to ride as much as he'd like.  As much as I encourage folks to ride when they can, I have to admit I just about always drive here - all the better to haul more books away (at least until I get a bike trailer).

From here you continue to head west on Rt. 156 from Niantic back past the Blackpoint turnoff, but not quite as far as Rocky Neck.  Fortunately, you take a right and head north before having to climb up that great descent you bombed down earlier.

But what goes down eventually has to go up and though it's certainly not as steep, the northbound leg of this trip is a steady ascent.  Fortunately, you're treated to a lot of nice farmland scenes along the way.  (Un?)fortunately, you'll be going slow so you can thoroughly enjoy them.  At least you won't be slowing down many cars - there's little traffic on this segment.

Once you get to Rt. 1 you've hit one of the highest points of the ride - if not the highest.  You'll turn left to head west and will have to deal with trucks and general traffic until you can turn off just past Rogers Lake.  The shoulders are decent, but not as well-maintained as those on Rt. 156.

But being a much older road (the original "Boston Post Road"), you'll get little gems like this along the way.  I've ridden this section at least a dozen times before, but I guess I've either been going too fast - or, more likely, the foliage was too dense - to see this old milepost, marking 10 miles from New London.

Just past the southern end of Rogers Lake, you'll take a right and head northwest on Town Woods Road.  Unsurprisingly, given the name, it's pretty woodsy but the shade is nice and cool in the summer.  But this time of year, you can see more of the farms along the way.  As with all of these pics, you can click for a larger view and if you "embiggen" this one, you'll see the sheep napping in front of the barn.

Ah - finally - Ashlawn Farm, the home of Ashlawn Farm Coffee Roastery & Cafe.  A little over 30 miles into your ride, you're ready for a nice break - and this is one of the best around.

What started out as a working farm has diversified into one of the best little gathering places in the area.  It's especially popular on Saturdays in the summer (they're closed on Sundays), but luckily they're open year-round.  Just make sure you don't need a "natural" break in the off-season.  The portapotties are strictly summer only.

But no matter what time of year you go, you can't possibly beat this view from a table on the patio.  That's Town Woods Road coming in from the distance.  After you finish your coffee and biscotti, you'll head down the road that goes off to the right, past the stone wall.

Once you get back to Rt. 156 you have two choices.  Either take some more backroads by taking a quick left onto Saunders Hollow Road, or just continue south on 156 back to the bridge.  156 is certainly the busier option, but considering it's mostly downhill from here, you'll just about be able to keep up with any traffic.

Once you get back to the bridge's eastern approach, look for a small path leading off to the right.  It'll bring you down to this overlook, complete with many informative plaques.  Again, these will be of most interest to the history buffs (including natural history buffs), but you've probably come to expect that from me by now.

Incidentally, this view (especially if you enlarge the pic) shows how I outfit my racing bike for these more-leisurely jaunts: saddle bag (horrors!), lights (most of my weekday riding is at least partly in the dark), frame pump (in case you run out of CO2, or find a cyclist-in-need along the way), bombproof wheels (Mavic Ksyrium SL2s - which have never needed to be retrued even after literally thousands of miles).

After this shot, I got back on the bike and - eschewing the little path that brought me here - I practiced a little cyclocross, riding up the side of the hill back to the bridge's walkway.

And from there it was a quick 15 minutes back home.  I'd only ridden 37 miles, and was never more than 15 miles from home, but it took me 3 1/2 hours with all the stops.  Like I said at the beginning, it was a beautiful day and perfect for strolling.  And if you have to go slow to go fast, this ride should make me plenty fast for my next race.

The Accidental 9th

(or "How To Win a Field Sprint Without Really "Trying")

Yesterday's Criterium de Bethel was the penultimate race of this year's Bethel Spring Series.  After having won the first of the six races, we haven't had the leader's jersey since.  But the way the series points are weighted toward the end, we're still in the hunt.  Unfortunately, so are a lot of other teams.

We counted on those other teams yesterday, figuring that they would chase anyone that tried to escape and keep things together.  That ended up being a mistake.  Somehow, we all let Bethel's Bill Muzzio (who had come in 2nd in a previous race) get up the road with 7 others.  By the time we (and apparently the rest of the teams) realized how dangerous this was, it was too late.  Lance & Joel did what they could to try and bring things back together and BJ tried to bridge, but the gap had grown too large and they weren't coming back.

With all the points taken by the break, all that was left to race for was honor and, frankly, fun.  It was a safe race , with only one minor, low speed crash, the result of some wheel touching in corner 1.  The guys got right up - almost too quickly given that the rest of the pack was coming by.  If you crash, please don't pick your bike up - and turn it laterally - until all the other racers have passed you.  But that was the only "scary" bit.  Even the forecast rain held off for us.

With the break up the road, it was relatively slow a lot of the time but I was glad to be able to recover from abortive chase attempts in time to have something left at the end and fly the colors.

I wasn't quite sure how best to do that though until turn 2 of the bell lap.  Things had finally strung out a bit and gaps were opening up.  SDC came up on my seven,  tapped me to let me know he was there, and I had my unspoken answer.  I started to edge to through the pack to the right side, knowing that SDC could easily follow any so-called "needle" I could thread, and - as expected - the right opened wide on the backstretch.

Diving into the deep end of the huge opening, I didn't care so much that I was going right into the wind.  I dug in and we passed by the arrowhead that was charging on the left side near the yellow line.

Shortly after we passed the front, I heard SDC yell "GO! GO!" and I dug deeper, committed to the lead out.  We were only racing for 9th at that point, but I was going to do my best to get SDC to the line ahead of everybody that was left.

As I approached the bottom of the hill, I was fading fast and hoping that SDC would be coming around me any second.  Why doesn't he come around??  I peeked to make sure that whatever direction I pulled off on wouldn't interfere with his line, but when I looked behind I saw I had a huge gap on him and the rest of the field.

Wait, WHAT?!  That's not supposed to happen!

That was my first thought, but my second thought was "OH CRAP!  Now I gotta try and hold this to the line!"

Well, as you no doubt guessed (my blogpost titles aren't usually subtle), I held it.  Just barely.  And with a little unwitting help from my friends.

  

What I didn't know was happening behind me I found out about after the race.  They say the most convincing liars are those that actually believe the lie they're telling.  Well, apparently, the corrrollary to that is the best way to fool everybody else is to fool yourself.  *I* thought I was doing a lead out, but everybody else thought I was just going too early and was therefore doomed.  By the time SDC politely mentioned in passing yelled to the guys around him "GO! GO! HE'S LEADING ME OUT!!" (I'd only heard the first part), I'd already gotten a healthy gap.  So my friends in the pack may not have meant to help me, but by sitting up or otherwise not launching as early as I did, I caught them sleeping made it to the line first.

Well, ninth.  Those eight escapees came in a good bit ahead of me, taking all of yesterday's points with them and putting Bethel's Muzzio in the leader's jersey going into the final week.

We have one race left and few cards left to play.  But we're still in the game.  And with the Easter holiday we have two weeks to come up with a strategy that'll put us in yellow when it matters most.  Hopefully there'll be nothing accidental about that.

Full results of yesterday's races here

Garmin data here

Criterium de Bethel 2012:Photos & Data

Until I can write up a report of the day's fun, here's a link to the photos that Mrs. SOC took of the Cat 3/4 race and my Garmin data.

You can also get to the photo album by clicking on the "Criterium de Bethel 2012" link on the left side of this page (under "Photo Albums" natch).  When I post the report, I'll have a finishline video too (also courtesy Mrs. SOC).

Until then, bedtime....

The Hardest Easiest Race

I want to thank all of you that took the time to post a comment and for sharing your thoughts about Markus.  The way our racing community has expressed its support and shared in this loss has been truly amazing and a great comfort.  Time will heal, but we all in our own way will continue to bear the scar of this loss.

Ever since it was announced, I knew there was no other place I could be than at Francis J. Clark Industrial Park this past Sunday morning for a memorial service honoring Markus' memory.  After a very tough week for so many of us, we needed to be together, to encourage each other, and to hopefully - somehow - start healing from what happened.

The rainy weather kept the number of racers down and the fields were smaller than usual, but nothing diminished the outpouring of support during the memorial.  Well over a hundred racers milled about waiting to start the silent lap.  When Markus' team, Pawling Cycle, decided to go to the site for a few moments of silence, everybody else decided to follow them, not quite sure what else to do.  Once they came back, the owner of Pawling Cycle made some very moving remarks and then everybody went on the official lap.  SDC, the series promoter, shared some thoughts as well, and then the rest of the day's racing continued.

It was cold and raw, so most folks were content to hang out in Panificio Navona, eating snacks & sipping coffee.  Those that were watching the Cat4 race, though, got to witness something special.  Brandon Freyer of Pawling Cycle won the race, pointing to the sky as he crossed the line.

Seeing the next race, then the race after that, was a strange experience.  Things seemed to get back to normal a little bit - whatever that means.  Each time the official made his announcements, the whistle blew and I heard the sound of cleats clipping in, it became just a little bit easier to imagine that we could in fact do this again.  We could remember Markus and race as we know he loved to do.

My one race of the day was the Cat3/4 race and it was pretty mellow.  I expected that the wet roads would keep speeds down, and I was totally ok with that.  Being off the bike for almost two weeks, I didn't know what to expect fitness-wise, and I certainly wasn't planning on doing anything aggressive under the day's conditions.  Seems others felt the same way and our race felt more like a fast group ride than an actual race.  Things were spirited here and there, but once a break established up the road - taking all but one of the points with it - folks seemed content to just ride.

There were a few attacks and a couple of times somebody attempted to bridge to the break.  After one of the primes I heard someone yell "yeah - he got it for Markus" and realized that Brandon was one of the guys in the break, and had won that prime.

Though things were subdued, we were still racing and with about 10 laps to go, I asked BJ whether he'd like to try to bridge - I'd see how far I could get him.  I pulled him as far as I could, getting 1/3 of the way up the hill before he launched.  He was out in no man's land for a good three laps, but the break was too strong for him to catch.

As the race wound down, I went back to see whether SDC wanted to do anything for the end.  We thought all the points were up the road, so decided we'd just ride.  I wanted to get one more hard effort in, though, so with about 5 laps to go, I took off.  Friend Esteban came up to me a lap later and we started trading pulls - him doing much of the work and me fading fast.  I'm not usually one to be in a break, or a chase group, much preferring to stay in the shelter of the pack til the end.  But we held together until the start of the bell lap, when I came off going around corner one.

We'd gotten a pretty good gap on the field by that point, but I heard later that the break had almost lapped us.  Unfortunately, the gap wasn't enough for me to hold off the pack, and I got swamped going up the hill toward the finish.  The only good thing for my race was seeing teammate SDC - or rather hearing him - whoosh, whoosh, whooshing up the right side, winning the field sprint for 7th.  Just outside the points.  Esteban had come in 6th & I wished even more that I'd been able to hang on for just one more lap.

Despite how hard I'd made the final laps on myself, all the numbers on my Garmin said it was an easy race.  But it was one of the toughest I've ever been in emotionally.  I can only imagine that it was even tougher for others.  Markus was never far from our minds, and I don't expect that he ever will be as long as we race here.

And that may be one of the best memorials to his memory there can be.  Everybody wants to be remembered in some way, to have some validation that they mattered and were important to somebody.  The thoughts and words shared Sunday morning certainly expressed what Markus meant to so many whose lives he touched.  But whether we knew him personally or not, I know that every time we race the Bethel Spring Series, his memory will continue to live in our hearts.

 

Markus Bohler, In Memoriam

Last Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day - one of many we've had during this warmer-than-normal March.  It promised a spectacular day for racing, but I was home sick, missing my first Bethel race in years.

That afternoon, I got the first news that something had gone very wrong on this otherwise perfect day.  In the race I'd missed, there'd been a crash and the race was neutralized.  Then cancelled.  One guy was rushed off to the hospital, somebody I didn't know.  But we racers assume the risks of the occasional crash, the occasional broken bone or bike.  So I prayed and hoped that the guys involved in the crash would heal up quickly and get back to racing soon, even if it meant having to listen to the same stories that all of us who've taken a tumble too often tell.  But I wasn't there.  I didn't see what happened.  Those that were, and did, prayed and hoped harder than I could've imagined necessary.

As more reports came in, it became quickly clear that this crash was different.  That the guy who'd been rushed to the hospital was in really bad shape, that he might be there for a while.  Then the speculation started that he actually might not make it.  Please God, No!  That's not the way it's supposed to happen.  Sure, he can be battered & bruised & broken.  But that's it - that's all we agree to when we clip in.  We don't agree to worse.  We can't possibly imagine it.

And then, Monday morning, the worst news of all.  Markus Bohler left us.  Ever since Monday morning - and for many, since Sunday afternoon - it's been hard for a lot of us to get on our bikes.  To do what we love to do.  We take a little more time to be with our families rather than be out riding.  If you're at all like me, you've been in a kind of fog for the last four days.  The feeling of having the wind knocked out of me isn't due only to the severe cold I'm recovering from.

I didn't have the privilege of knowing Markus personally, but I know that I often raced with him.  He was part of our family in the sense that we bike racers are a very close-knit community, and the thoughts and words pouring in from all over the country in tribute to him are evidence that he was one of our best.  Knowing how his passing has affected me, and the darkness it's caused me to confront, I cannot possibly imagine the pain, the heartache and the questioning of those closest to him or anyone that was racing with him that day.  My prayers for them, as well as for Markus' family, continue.

It's cliche almost to the point of being meaningless to say "Life is precious" - "Live each day to its fullest."  We've become experts at denying life's inevitable end to the point such reminders are as common as they are disregarded.  How many of us truly live as if each day could be our last?  You can't truly live if you're always in the shadow of death, but you can't appreciate how blessed life is if you never confront that darkness.  Events like this are cold reminders that we cannot take life for granted. 

My main way of "coping" with such thoughts is to move on and forget as quickly as possible.  But I can't.  Not this time.  The death of a fellow racer, doing nothing wrong, doing what we all love doing, on a track known for its safety, makes no sense at all.  You can't just move on and forget - you have to stop and lift the veil from your own mortality, consider how you spend the precious days you've been blessed with, and what there may be waiting for us on the other side of this life.

Some may be tempted to say "what a waste" and be angry at what happened.  Depending on your perspective, the fact Markus died doing what he loved is either the highest privilege or the cruellest irony.  But even in the middle of this tragedy there are glimmers of consolation: the overwhelming outpouring of love and support of friends, the generosity and kindness of strangers, the eradication of the complacency (even if only temporarily) that life and loved ones can ever be taken for granted.

One of life's paradoxes is that we sometimes learn the most about a person after they've left us, from the people who knew him best.  Their testimony is evidence of a life lived, whether well or poorly.  Everything I've heard about Markus is that he lived his life well, he was highly respected by all who knew him, and could often be seen encouraging or helping others, whether on the track or off.  His legacy is one we could all be proud to call our own and we owe a debt of gratitude to his family for sharing him with us.

There are a number of ways we can offer some comfort to them and help preserve the memory of our friend and fellow-racer.  You can read about one such effort here.  There will also be a memorial service/ride at the track this Sunday morning and you can learn more about that here.

Hopefully, as we draw together as a family and allow healing to take place, we'll again be able to ride and race, doing what we love to do, treating each and every day as the gift that it is.  I can't think of a better way to honor Markus' memory.

2012 Racing Season OpenerRonde de Bethel

Like the first crocus or robin, the Bethel Spring Series is a harbinger of spring and the start of the bike racing season in Connecticut.  It’s always fun anticipating the series start – the Sweep Day the day before the first race is like last-minute holiday shopping and race day itself is a unique combination of Christmas & family reunion, with a lot of pain and reckoning thrown in for good measure.  Whether we’re targeting it or not, those of us that plan on racing Bethel at all are sure to train over the winter, and this past Sunday, March 4^th, was our first chance to see whether the training would pay off.

The past couple of years, I’ve headed into Bethel with the smug confidence that comes from knowing I tolerate the indoor trainer more than many, much better, racers.  And last year’s Snowpocalypse prevented a lot of training and seemed to give me an edge.  But this year’s mild winter promised hot racing.  And yesterday didn’t disappoint.  Or did, depending on the state of your legs.  Mine were a mixed bag.  My training has been going as per usual, but everybody else seems to have raised their game a bit.

There were a lot of firsts yesterday as well:

• First time I've (tried to) help SDC with the race;
• First time Mrs. SOC has missed a Bethel race;
• First time I've started a race without warming up;
• First time I've raced my bike off-road, without crashing;
• First time I've finished dead last.

I wanted to get there early to help where I could, but I don't exactly live close to the track, so had to get up and leave extra early.  Too early for Mrs. SOC, and she decided it best to try and whittle down a long list of things she wanted to get done at home.  Once I got to the race, I couldn't believe everything that SDC does.  He has lots of wonderful help, but it's amazing how much there is to do.  He makes it look so easy.  Unfortunately, he makes racing without warming up first look easy too.  It isn't.  I rolled up to the line with him right before the whistle went off and immediately regretted not having gone around the track at least once.  I was immediately at the back and struggling.

I warmed up eventually and did what I could to help a team that was doing pretty well without me.  I helped bring back one of the breaks, but most of the work was being done by Joel (who's looking really fit and fast on his new bike this year), TJ (ditto - and after some real scary health challenges last year), Dennis (who still claims he's not a crit racer) and Lance (who's always strong and fast, unless he's broken his bike. Again).  Joe and Jeff were there too - and of course BeeJay.  At least that's what I heard - I was never at the front long enough to see any of them myself.

The racing was fast, but safe, and the only race of the day that actually had sunshine.  With 5 laps to go, and starting to actually feel like I could do something significant, I started moving up.  I wasn't sure where the rest of the guys were at that point - I could only hope they were further up than I was - but I found SDC about 1/4 way through the final lap and told him to get on my wheel.  I started leading him up the right side and was glad I had enough left to actually make some good progress.

But with about a 1/2 lap to go, on the backstretch, the whole field shifted right, pushing me into the curb.  I still don't know whether I just rolled up the curb onto the grass or if I actually hopped up - but I do know that once I was off-road the first thought I had was "oh crap - I'm gonna crash in my first race of the season."  Somehow I stayed upright, but then I saw a driveway coming up fast.  I hopped over that curb, onto the driveway, and hopped back up over the other side.  By the time I got back onto the track, the race was gone up the road.

I pedaled in dead last.  But at least I hadn't crashed.

And another huge consolation - I heard that SDC came in 8th and teammate BeeJay had won!  I'd hoped that with SDC on my wheel that he would have captured my 'cross antics on his helmet cam, but savvy racer that he is, he'd read the pack and moved left as they moved right - getting him into better position (clearly), but missing out on the entertainment.

After a quick bottle refill and a quick check of the bike (I remember hitting one of the curbs hard enough that I thought I might have broken my carbon wheel, but thankfully all looked fine), I had friend Dave cut off my Cat3/4 number to reveal the Pro123 number beneath.  And I lined up for another race - warmed up this time.   Well, as warmed up as you can be while standing there shivering uncontrollably.  The clouds had rolled back in and the temperature had dropped considerably.

Once we got started, I felt better.  It's a lot easier to race when your only goal is to sit in and hang on as long as possible.  And wanting to pay penance for a previous poor result motivates you to stay in way past when you might otherwise give up.  At 46 laps, on top of the 30 I'd just done, finishing would be a huge accomplishment.

After feeling relatively good for the first dozen or so laps, my legs started to remind me of all the miles I hadn't ridden over the winter.  My heart & lungs were fine - my HR would drop back to zone 2 by the backstretch each lap - but my legs got harder and harder to turn over.  And that blasted hill!  Each time I reached the top, I started telling myself "just one more time."

Such are the lies we bike racers tell ourselves.

When the lapcards FINALLY got into the low teens, I started thinking I might be able to finish after all, despite the increasing sluggishness (or decreasing peppiness) of my legs.  But that hill was taking its toll and going through the start/finish at the top, and with 5 laps to go, I was OTB.

As I rounded corner 1, I figured I'd at least finish the lap and call it a day.  But for some reason - maybe teams setting up for the sprint finish? - the pack slowed just enough for me to catch back on by the backstretch and I was able to stay in there for the next 4 laps and the finish, coming in 43rd out of 71.

But the results weren't as important as what I learned - I definitely need more sleep the night before a race, and I need to be sure to warmup at least a little.  I'll do that next week and see whether those things explain my performance or if yesterday was an indication of how 2012 is going to look.

If nothing else, I got in a good workout - 60 miles at a bit over 24mph avg.  I checked my records and I haven't ridden 60 miles in a day since last September(!)  Maybe that explains things a bit.

Best of all though, yesterday was more than a race (or races) or a workout - it was a great time to see old friends and meet new ones.  Many of these folks I see only at the races, and they're sorely missed during the offseason.  The last time I'd seen JohnM, he was spinning down the road at Jamestown (and not in a good way), but he was there yesterday - even though he's not quite ready to race yet.  And I even got to meet some folks that read this blog, and some that I only know online.  I appreciate their taking the time to come up and (re)introduce themselves.  And of course Rob, Frank, Rick & Rebecca, Dave & Melissa, and my friends out on the track - whether teammates or not - are all reminders that there's lots of great racing ahead.

That's what makes racing fun.  No matter how well or how poorly you do, you're still able to be outside, with like-minded folks, doing something you love - and getting fit at the same time (or at least mitigating some of what you did the rest of the week).  And how cool is that?

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For the data-minded, here are the numbers for the Cat 3/4 race and for the Pro123 race.

Cape Cod Training Camp(?)

Strange - I'm beginning this post the same way I ended the last post.  But believe it or not, this is a totally different picture of a different day.  Yes, there have been only TWO snow days so far this year, and I got a pic of each of them.

This picture is more special though since it was shot on the morning of our trip to Chatham, MA out on the "elbow" of Cape Cod.  I'd promised Mrs. Suitcase a little 3 day weekend away for her birthday and - bonus! - I got to take my bike.  But seeing this snow shocker when we woke up prompted me to get a trainer ride in before we left.

Good thing - all the way up that Friday it was snowy and rainy.  Just as well - I'd gotten my workout in and could take the rest of the day off to read & nap at the B&B.

The next day was cold but sunny.  And - as I was to find out - VERY windy.  The Mrs. had plans for the afternoon and I took advantage of the time to get out for a ride.  This is the shot of the bike at the B&B - "B&B&B" as Velomonkey pointed out.

I rode west into the wind toward Harwich on the Chatham branch of the CCRT (Cape Cod Rail Trail), averaging a bit over 14 mph for a lot of effort.  But as I turned at the Harwich rotary (yes, even rail trails in Massachusetts have rotaries) and headed northeast to Orleans, I had mostly a tailwind.

Nice.

After a stop and a chat with Jahn at Idle Times Bike Shop, I headed back south along Rt. 28 to Chatham.  Despite the cold and wind, the scene above was MUCH nicer than the scene last time I rode here:

(taken from SDC's helmet cam/blog) 

Well, that was summer time (more crowded) and, um, northbound.

Anyway, I had no incidents this time and was happy to get the pretty pic along Little Pleasant Bay.

I was even happier to get back to the Mrs and enjoy reading by the fire back at the B&B.  I'd only ridden 32 miles, but it was a nice triangle route and - given the wind - was enough of a workout for the day.  Click here for the route map and details.

We had to check out the next morning, so I needed to get up extra early if I wanted to get one more ride in.  Which I did.  But it was a LOT colder and - unbelieveably - even MORE windy than the previous day.  I only rode 12.5 miles and was out about an hour, but I got to explore a lot of the local roads and side streets in Chatham and got some great pics.  The one above is of the lighthouse - well, one of the lighthouses.  As I discovered later, like Old Saybrook, Chatham has two of them.

This is down by the Chatham Fish Market.  Many of the boats were already gone fishin', but these pleasure craft were still bobbing around with the sunrise.

Another shot up the beach a ways.  The wind was so strong here I almost got blown over while I was trying to aim the camera.

I'd seen the "other" lighthouse in the distance during my ride the previous day, but wanted to be sure and go back with a decent camera to capture it.

I'm not quite sure how you get out there - the land wasn't connected from what I could see - but it certainly looks lonely, and a bit romantic, sitting out there so exposed to the elements.

I was feeling pretty exposed to the elements myself by that point, and it was getting near time for the the non-bed "B" part of the B&B.  Two Eggs Benedict and a few muffins & coffee later and I was ready to get us all packed up and back on the road to home.

I hadn't meant for our weekend getaway to evolve into a 2 day training camp, but I can never seem to go to Cape Cod and not take my bike - no matter what the weather.  And despite the temperature and "breeze" the sun certainly made for some nice rides - my 3rd and 4th rides outside of the year(!)

But it's back to the trainer this week, in preparation for Six Sundays in Purgatory the Bethel Spring Series this coming Sunday.  Despite my recent rides, I don't have the miles in my legs I'd hoped to by now, but racing with the guys is always a blast no matter what my condition.  If nothing else, at least I'll get some good blog fodder and you should see more frequent posts here in the coming weeks.

And even my license came in the mail on Monday - just in time.  So I've got no excuses, ready or not.  How about you?  Hope to see some of you out there!