State RR Report

Well long time, no racing. Today was my first race since the Watermelon Crit, and it would be my first race since upgrading to a Cat 2. The race was to be around 90 miles long and we started with 57 riders. The course is a long circuit of 18-19 miles, that consists of mostly long flat roads. However there is one little section of climbs on the far edge of the course. The finishing straight is around 2-3 miles long without any turns. The important part is downhill heading into the last 300-400 meters where it kicks up into a sweet uphill finish. I have always liked this course and have always done well here(2nd last year, 13th but 1st in field sprint the year before that). However I was figuring on a different story this time around. It was brutally hot outside, temperatures were hovering around 90 degrees by the end of our first lap. The race followed a typical road race format. A breakaway was allowed to go on the first lap and quickly got out of sight. All the big teams were represented aside from NorthEastern. After the break rolled away the rest of the field was just chillin. I was content if for no other reason than I really wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I was not feeling up to a breakaway and since it was only myself and Wade representing the Beacon squad we really didn't have the man power to do anything about it.

  The next 60 or so miles would be spent at a very relaxed and comfortable pace. So I rolled up my sleeves and attempted to even out my tan lines a bit. During our relaxation there was one crash that happened right in front of me that I managed to avoid. Relaxing was enjoyable but in this time that we spent relaxing would be passed by the Cat 3 field not once but twice. After the second time they were on their last lap so we were told not to pass them. The field seemed to be getting a little more eager, people actually appeared like they wanted the pace to go up. We were biting on the heels of the Cat 3's all the way to the finish. They finished and we got our bell lap. 

Having rolled through the finishing straight four times already I was nervous about the sprint because the downhill leading into the sprint was really fast. I was figuring on not being worth much in the sprint but still I would give it my best. The elevated pace had brought back two members of the break, a Van Dessel rider and Mike Lynch from Mambo Kings, this left just a few more riders up the road but gave us two more teams that would give chase. The pace was intense over the two climbs which opened gaps and shelled some riders. I managed to stay up in the front group, but I was hurting. We caught the break as we came onto the finishing straight. Now it was my turn to try and find a good wheel for the sprint. I saw a Van Dessel train forming on the left hand side of the road and jumped onto the back of it. This is where the real fun begins. Van Dessel had a sweeper that wanted the wheel I wanted. (A Sweeper is a rider that sits on the sprinters wheel and sits up as the sprinter takes off, thus opening a nice gap on everyone else.) At first he tried to gently move in and take the wheel from me; I puffed out my elbows and made it clear that I wasn't budging. Well that surely wouldn't stop him, so he started to get more forceful, and again I resisted. At around 800-900 meters the train began to take off, the sweeper then hit me so hard that my bike was at 40-45 degree angle off the ground. I got gapped as people shouted at him to knock it off, I chased down the gap as quickly as possible but I was really under-geared at this point. I lost that wheel and jumped to another, I cant remember who. The sprint opened up and at this point my legs are screaming at me, I stand up and turn my gear over as fast as I could. Once the gear was turned over I sat down and just spun it out, again as fast as I could. I was gaining as we crested the hill but it was too late. However I ended up finishing 6th.

My first race as a Cat 2, 90 miles, 3:33 min and a 6th place finish.(With Jr. gearing) I was really pleased with the way my race went. I picked up 4 points towards my Cat 1 upgrade and ultimately it was an awesome race. 

Til Next time,

        Patrick

Watermelon Crit

It's been awhile since my last real race. Last weekend I decided to race the NJ State Individual Time Trial. Not my favorite event. I really don't like time trials. I have two reasons why; the first being that time trials are very boring, and the second being that I don't have any of the equipment. Oh well I finished 4th in the Jr. 17-18 event. I'm alright with that, still my power outputs were not the greatest and for that I was definitely disappointed. Life rolls on.

Today I took the short trip up to Rutgers for the Watermelon Crit. The only event that I could race was the Jr. 17-18 race. However it would be fun because my teammate Ross would be in the same race, just scored separately for his age division. Our plan for the race was to make it fast. I wanted to get a little cyclo-cross practice in so I planned on jumping off the front from the whistle. After that we were going to trade attacks.

The whistle blew and I was off. I got the holeshot. On the backstretch a Colavita rider bridged up to me, and so I eased off through the second corner. Once out of the corner I quickly gave it another go, this time I got a gap. I pushed the gap out over the next few laps until I was out of sight. I wanted to keep it up and hopefully be able to help Ross out in the field sprint. Sure enough with around 10 minutes left in the crit I had bridged all the way back up to the main group.(Which was only around 8 riders strong.) Shortly after I bridged up we were given 4 laps to go. There were a few attacks before this which Ross had covered perfectly. Things were all together, so I got Ross on my wheel and went to the front. I knew that if I could set a false tempo that it would discourage attacks, and ultimately make things easier. The laps ticked off with no attacks until we were coming through the finishing striaght to get the bell. A CRCA rider attacked out of the last corner, but Ross did an excellent job of letting me know what was going on and I covered the move. Shortly after that a Colavita rider started to move past me on the left. I knew it was now time to set a real tempo and string things out. I took it up to 26-27 mph on the backstretch and through the second corner. I jumped out of the corner and kept the pace high. Finally right before the final corner I started my final effort. We flew through the last corner and gave it about another 75-100m and dropped Ross off with around 200m left. Ross kicked out a nice sprint to take the victory in the field sprint and in his field. I took the overall victory as well as the victory in my field.

All in all it was a great race, Ross rode excellently and our tactics worked perfectly. We made the race and did exactly what we aimed to do.

Peace and Love,
Patrick

Prom, Racing, and NOT Sleeping...

Well this past Friday was the all anticipated Senior Prom 2008. It all got underway around 12:00 when I got to leave school early. (Had to get my hair did...or sleep) So I went got gas and picked up my dates flowers and then headed home for a nap that would be crucial to my survival of the night and the next day. I woke up around 4:30 and got a shower/cleaned the car/got dressed and went to pick up my date at 5:30. We took some pictures and some more pictures and some more pictures and then went to the school for pre-prom and more pictures. Finally it was time to actually go to the prom.
The prom was at the Renaissance Room in Washington Twp. which was really nice. The whole prom thing was a blast as it should be. After prom we headed back to school to board some buses and head over to Project prom at Dave and Busters. This was definitely an awesome time. We played games and bowled and did not sleep at all. The bus ride home we all slept a little but not very much. Once back at school I took my date home as well as my friend and her date. I got home around 7-7:30 am and immediately fell asleep...for an hour. Once I got up I ate and had my mom drive me down to the Wilmington Grand Prix race. This was going to be fun. The Crit was a big one, 92 starters with $1500 total prize list on line. I got a good warm up pre-riding the course. It featured to long straights with two short ends. The finishing straight was long and slightly uphill with brick street crossings, the backstretch was a slight downhill with a strong headwind into a tight third corner. I rolled around with Woody from Philly Ciclismo, we talked about how I thought the race would end in a field sprint, and that if we got in a break together we would really try an stick it out. We line up, the whistle blows and we were off. I worked hard to maintain a position in the top 15 riders. The pace was very fast, and was not letting up at all. Attacks were going but nothing really promising went. I gave it go with around 27 laps left. It didn't work, I just spent a lap in the wind. The race was fairly uneventful for awhile, just solidly fast. Around 12 laps to go I was sitting around 10-15th place when two riders in front of me collided and went down. One fell into my front wheel breaking 3 spokes, and nearly taking me down. I stuck my foot down and managed to kick off the ground rather than slide my body across it. However my front wheel was trashed. I made my way into the SRAM neutral service pit where my old heavy 32 spoke front wheel was traded for a nice light-weight Zipp 404. I took my free lap and jumped right back into the race. I was sitting on Woody's wheel when we got our 8 to go lap card. On the back stretch he attacked and I followed. We got a gap, not just any gap either a good gap. We started to work together and the pain began to set in. After four laps our lead had been extended to around 25 seconds. Then Woody attacked me into a corner, I just couldn't follow. However I did not give up. I kept giving it what little bit I had. I spent another three laps off the front by myself before having another rider bridge up to me with one lap remaining. He started to play games when he bridge on, I told him "Let's not screw around, let's just get to the finish, I won't even sprint." So he took the lead, I pulled once more on the backstretch and then we entered the final stretch, shook hands and started to sprint, I had nothing left. He took it with ease but I rolled in just behind him and 7 seconds ahead of the field. 3rd place is something that I can be quite happy with. After the race the announcer interviewed having heard about my prom night and me not sleeping at all. "Where's your dedication kid!" he said. I laughed and replied its my senior prom, I had to go. Besides I think I just proved my dedication on the last 8 laps. It was a great event. It was a great course, it was run smoothly, and was hard enough that 52 riders were pulled from the race. However that was to be my last race as a Cat 3, I upgraded later that day. Now its time to start on the next quest, doing well in Cat 2 events.

Peace and Love,
Patrick

Diggin Deep

Today was the Memorial Hall Crit in Philly. I signed up to race the Cat 3/4 race. The weather was perfect, a little breezy but nice and warm. The course was short only around .6-.7 miles long and it was flat as a pancake. My field was very large with 72 riders finishing the race. Due to the large field and the nature of the course I anticipated a very fast race. I would not be wronged, the race started off fast and never really let off. It wasn't a terribly long race with only 42 laps, but they would all be pretty fast. The finishing straight was a tailwind section that was very fast every lap. The backstretch was a pretty sturdy headwind. Around 10 laps into the race I countered a move on the back stretch and found myself alone off the front. I would spend two laps off the front. No one would bridge by themselves and I was shut down. I took another flyer with around 11-12 laps to go, only to have a similar result. This was a little discouraging because I knew I wouldn't be worth anything in a field sprint with a tailwind. A few laps pass and more attacks get no where. We get 5 to go and on the back stretch Woody from Philly Ciclismo takes a flyer and gets clear. He was off the front solo and was looking strong. At one point his lead was all the way out to 23 seconds. I really thought that he could get the win. However we hit 2 laps to go and we're catching up fast. The catch was made on the back stretch. I knew this was my one shot. I attacked hard from the right side of the road over to the left and started to drive it. I managed to get a decent gap. I rail the third corner and the fourth and make my way onto the finishing straight with the tailwind. I stay as aero as possible and just try and stay comfortable and save a little for the backstretch in the wind. As I'm flying down the stretch the words of a wise MAMBO kings rider float into my ears, "Don't Look Back! You have gap! Give it EVERYTHING!" These words stayed with me through the finish line where I got the bell signifying one more lap. I dove into the first corner trying to keep as much speed as possible and the same for the second corner. I knew the field was close, I stood up and jumped hard out of turn two. This is where pain and suffering took over my body. My brain was off with the simple words "GIVE IT EVERYTHING" floating around inside my head. I finally make it to turn three and dive into it and power over to turn four. I hit the last tailwind stretch. I sprint out of the corner and really dig deep. I'm sitting down trying to get every last bit of power out of my legs. People are yelling and screaming for me, and for those that are just behind me. I can't see the line yet, I know it is coming but it seems like it was still miles away. I can now hear the carbon wheels echoing on the pavement just behind me, I see the wheels enter my peripherals...and then I see the most glorious sight. A line of black tape across the ground. I throw for the line and see that I am the first person across, but barely. I won be about 6 inches or so. I throw my arms up. It was an incredible victory. Junior gears and everything. It is funny, and while this surely does not justify the rule, it has forced me to learn a new style of racing. I would like to thank everyone out there who was cheering for me, especially my parents whose support allows me to do what I do. What a day. That race brings me up to a 50% win ratio for road races this year. I feel great and I am really enjoying it all.

Peace and Love,
Patrick

Senior Trip, another crit, and my feeble attempt at Mountain Biking

Senior Trip was amazing! Flat out one of the best times of my life. We left early on Tuesday morning like April 15th? By early I mean 2 a.m. Our flight didn't leave until almost 8 a.m. I didn't sleep much at the school, however I slept the whole bus ride to the Airport. We get to the airport and check in, and get moving through security. This first trip through security was one of the worst experiences of the whole trip. While in line I check for my cell phone in my pocket, it isn't there. Shit. It must have fallen out of my pocket on the bus ride. I inform a teacher, and long story short I would eventually get my phone back. (When I got home from the trip.) So we hang out in the airport for awhile and wait for our flight time. Luckily they had a pretty cool playground. Finally we board the plane and wait
some more. We take off, and with a big cheer from my classmates we were off on Senior Trip officially. The plane ride was smooth and quick.
The first day we hit up Epcot before checking into our rooms at the All-Star Music Resort. Epcot sucked, it's really pretty lame. There are like four attractions and loads of people, and the attractions are nothing special in my mind. (For the record I don't really like amusement parks, I'm just generally not amused.) After Epcot and checking in we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It ended up being just Brian Anderson (My Asian travel companion) and me for the first hour or so. We went on some alright rides, and then met up with the girls for dinner. Dinner was nothing special, just more Disney fast food. After dinner we head over to the Thunder Mountain railroad. Waiting in line had to be the best part about this ride. Our whole group was just being crazy. Our group was Brian, Myself, and like 8 girls. After Thunder Mountain Railroad we headed over to Splash Mountain because there was no wait. We got soaked and it was 55 degrees out. We froze but it was awesome. As soon as we get off the ride the fireworks display began; I must admit it was a pretty awesome display. After the fireworks we headed back to the hotel...cold and tired. The next day was Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. I had never been there before so it was kind of neat to see something new. Other than that, Universal was kind of lame. There were some cool roller coasters and the Mummy ride was also pretty cool but other than that it wasn't anything special. We left Universal around 4 p.m. and drove back to hit up the Animal Kingdom for a special after hours thing. We get in the park and run to Expedition Everest, only to find out that it is closed due to a mechanical problem. Then it was back to the front of the park to see if we could go back to our hotel early. Of course of teachers were not allowing that, but that didn't stop us from trying to find a way out. As seen here: Plotting our escape.
After around a half hour of messing around at the front of the park we were finally allowed to leave. We hustled back to our rooms, got changed and then play Ultimate Frisbee in the pool. It was pretty cool because we got some other kids that were swimming to play and I don't know it was just cool. So after about an hour of that it was off to bed as the next day would be another long adventure.
The next morning after breakfast my room jetted over to Animal Kingdom to try and get on Everest. We got lucky and had to wait like 10 minutes, and even luckier because Brian Anderson and myself got front row seats. Everest was definitely a cool ride. Once we finished up on Everest we left the park and went over to Disney's Hollywood Studios a.k.a. MGM. We went on a bunch of rides and hung out with some cool people. A must see for anyone going to Disney is the car stunt show. I also got selected to be a volunteer in the back lot studios tour. That was cool I got to pretend to be a PT boat captain.
All in all MGM was pretty cool, and remains my favorite park. That night we loaded up on the buses and headed over to Sea World for the Luoa. That was a fun little show with a short little dance afterwards. Friday was our day at the water park. Brian and I decided to make it a relaxing day at Typhon Lagoon. We got there as soon as it opened and went straight over to the Water Coasters. Brian and I went tandem style and on our third trip down we were getting pretty aggressive. We were just railing the corners, really leaning into them, really getting some speed. Until one corner where we got a little too aggressive, and flipped it. We both fell around 5-6 feet in the air and slammed into the slide. It hurt, it hurt a lot. However we were both cracking up. The rest of the day was pretty awesome, we played some volleyball, I got fried and we swam some more. It was awesome. That night we all went to MGM again to see the Fantasmic show. Which again was pretty surprising and I think is a must see. The next day, our last day would be spent in the Magic Kingdom. It was a lot of fun and then it was time to leave. Everything went well on the way home and I got in around 11 p.m. What an awesome trip, I really am glad I decided to go.
Sunday morning and it's back to normal, I headed over to the Lower Providence Crit to do the 3/4 race. Not riding for a week definitely hurt me. I didn't have the high end endurance I normally would. A break managed to get away late in the race with two guys in it. They would stay away, I turned in a decent field sprint for an 6th place overall. I had also picked up a prime earlier in the race. Not too bad for not riding, though I definitely would need to get that speed back.
Sunday April 27th. My attempt at Mt. Biking, I signed up to race the Jr. Expert class at the Norba race in Maryland. All I have to say is mechanicals and mud. Thats about it, I didn't finish.

Oh well life rolls on, it makes me appreciate my road bike soo much more.

Peace and Love,
Patrick

Rollin On

Today was the Trofeo de Evesham crit. The course if the same as the Thursday night training ride. I signed up to race the Pro/1/2/3, now most races the "Pro" part of that really means nothing. Today was not most races. Before I signed up for the race I could already see the Tyler Wren and Davide Frattini from Colavita/Sutter Homes Professional Cycling team would be showing up. Alright cool I can deal with that. I've been riding strong, so let's see what I can do. I have a pretty easy morning as I did leave until 9:30 am. I arrive and head down to sign in and get my number. On my way I run into Mike Jenks and Ryan Pettit and we start talking about racing against Pro's. Well It turns out not only are the Colavita guys going to be racing but Francois Parisien of Symmetrics Pro Cycling team and Dominique Rollin of Toyota-United Pro Cycling team were also going to be racing. Now for those of you who do not follow professional cycling Rollin is a 6 time Canadian National Time Trial Champion. Also in February at the Amgen Tour of California he won Stage 4 in a long breakaway, beating out George Hincapie for the win. http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/feb08/california08/?id=results/california084 is where you can go to read about that. So now I'm a little more nervous. Also as I am still considered a Junior rider (Under 19 years old) I have to race with junior specific gearing that doesn't allow me to go as fast as those that are older than myself even when we are racing in the same race. I had to deal with junior gearing and I am not going to complain about it anymore. It is a fact of life, a hard fact to face but a fact all the same. The race starts off pretty quickly as we descend down the small rise on the backstretch a crash happens behind me. Just glad I wasn't involved. Still it was racing time. I take a pull on the front and try to open a gap and it didn't work. Still I stayed up near the front and made my way over to Rollin's wheel. I figure if he goes I want to go with him. Sure enough out of the next corner he went. I had the power to stay with him, just not gearing. I spun out and could not keep his wheel. Francois Parisien and Steve Blackman of Human Zoom also went with Rollin. I got back into the field and could only hope for a chase to develop. Sure enough one did, with around 7 or 8 riders including both Colavita riders. I bridged over solo and prepared to do some work. I started pulling through, however there were two Human Zoom riders in the mix and they would not help or do any work. Which is smart, I love doing that when I'm in their position. After about two laps I take a pull and we had shed a good portion of the large group, when I looked back for someone to pull through there was only one guy left, Frattini. He pulls through and now it's just the two of us. We trade pulls for around 3-4 laps, we started to pull the break back about 2 laps in. The gap came down to around 15-20 seconds, however it went right back out and 2 laps later we were caught. I was pretty pumped about working with Frattini, even if it was only for 4 laps. Once back in the field I drifted towards the back to recover. I knew it was only a matter of time before we would be lapped. Sure enough with 17 of 33 laps remaining we were caught be the leading trio. Once they caught us I moved back towards the front in hopes that I might be able to try and get away. With around 13 laps to go I jump hard and get a quick gap. No one joined me... at first. I keep on the gas up the hill and onto the descent. I'm about to give up when I look back and see Tyler Wren coming across the gap solo, as he gets close he gives me a shout to get on. I accelerate and catch onto his wheel. I'm feeling it now my legs are spinning fast and were moving. I take a pull onto the main stretch, and then Tyler takes back over. I look back and Parisien had bridge up. However he did not pull through and my legs were shot and the field was charging. I sat up. Tyler gave it another go and went off solo and would stay off to the finish. I fell back into the field and would have to focus my efforts on sprinting. I moved up and had decent positioning for the sprint, until I ended up too far to the front. It wouldn't matter. The last lap was fast, I tried to keep up as best I could. I was spinning like mad and the sprint didn't really go well. I ended up 16th. I'm alright with that. Rollin won the race, big surprise there! I was not planning on sprinting today, I knew my sprint would be worthless with a downhill finish. I'm happy with the way I rode today, I went toe-to-toe with some very strong professional riders, and not only did I survive but I mixed things up a bit. I traded pulls with two pro riders. It's a confidence booster and I learned a lot today. It was also neat to talk with the pros after the race and get some of their input, and I would like to thank them for making it a very interesting race today. All in all it was a good day.

Peace and Love,
Patrick

Pinecone Road Race

First race of the year! Weather Forecast three days out, Sunny with a high of 62 degrees. Day of weather, Pouring rain and a high of 45 degrees. Oh well, I'm racing anyway. I was racing in the Cat 3 field at the Pinecone Road Race in Hammonton, NJ. The course is a typical Hammonton course of flat roads, 4 turns, and long straights. The loop was 6.3 miles long and the Cat 3 field would be doing a total of 7 laps. The field is slim at only 35 +/- riders. Bruce and Dan also lined up with me. We start and take a gentle pace for the first lap, just feeling things out a bit. The second lap featured more of the same, until someone decided to liven things up a bit with a slight attack. Naturally he didn't get far as with most attacks from a slow peleton don't. As we reeled him in I countered and got a gap. I pushed it out and was hoping that someone would come and join me. After a few minutes and with no one even attempting to chase and still having a long way to go I sat up. That took care of the second lap. The third lap I countered an attack on the finishing straight and again found myself all alone with a decent gap on the field. Still I'm a long way off and I really don't feel like being out there all alone. So I set a decent tempo pace and just cruise. It took the field around an entire lap to pull me back. The next lap went by fairly uneventful. On the 5th lap Bruce took a flyer into the finishing straight, no one went with him. People started to chase and I would just sit on every single persons wheel. No one really aggressively fought me to stop messing things up. Bruce stayed away for half of that lap until we made the catch into the second corner on the course. Coming out of the corner Bruce was about 15 yards of the front still but had sat up. I punched it out of the corner, this time I took another rider with me. We started working together immediately, the field had a little more motivation to chase now. We stayed away through that entire stretch, coming out of the next corner we were joined by a Keswick Cycles (Temple University) rider. It was a nice addition to the break. For the remainder of that lap we worked together pretty well. The field was definitely a little more interested in racing now though. We got one to go and headed onto the first straight away. As we came around the second corner a group of 5 chasers caught on. There were two more collegiate riders, Toby from Johns Hopkins who used to race with Beacon and another rider who races for Drexel. They join up and at first some of them start looking around. My thoughts are great you bridge up here, congratulate yourself later before we get caught by the field. I'm still good with doing work even if some people are not working entirely. There were about two riders who were not doing their fair share, one because he physically could not and was only slowing things down when he tried to work, and the other was deliberately not working. Oh well thats racing. We hit the final straight with around 30 seconds gap on the field. Then disaster almost strikes, Toby and I touched wheels, his front to my back. Luckily neither one of us goes down, unfortunately I broke a spoke. My wheel is rubbing on the brake a little and the spoke is ticking on my frame every revolution. Toby faired a little worse as his wheel was rubbing a little harder on his brake. While all this was happening one of the other riders had launched an attack. He was dangling around 15 meters of the front. We hit around 800m to go and the I'm coming to my turn in the rotation, this is where I am forced to make a tough decision. Pull through and I might get stuck leading things out, or go now and try and get away. I have a good sprint but I also have junior gears as well. I decide not to leave it to chance, I attack. I punch it from the center line over to the right side of the road and then full steam ahead. I quickly catch and pass the rider who was already away, and I just keep on as much power as I can. I established a solid gap from the initial burst. On my way to the line I took a few glances back just to keep tabs on the other riders. One rider was coming on strong but I had timed it right and would finish with about 5 bike lengths lead. I was so pumped, what a way to start the season.



I was able to grab another 10 points towards my Cat 2 upgrade. A huge thanks goes out to my teammates for blocking back in the field, and also for my mom for driving me there and taking some cool video.
Dan and I post race.

Peace and Love,
Patrick