A Rider’s Almanac

I heard from a guy who knows a guy who has a friend, whose sister said that the Tour of California may be coming to San Diego next year. Rumor has it that The Tour Organizers are thinking about potentially holding three stages in and around San Diego.

Stage X: A road stage that incorporates the South Grade of Mt. Palomar.

Stage Y: A time trial along the coast

Stage Z: A criterium in downtown La Jolla that utilizes the old La Jolla Grand Prix course.

How totally cool would it be if this happened. Can anyone confirm or deny?

If the Alpine Challenge was run by the same organizing body as the Tour de France, they would likely ban Arlyn. The guy is an animal. Last week I rode the 103 mile ADA Tour de Cure with him and he ended up towing me home the last 20 miles. He pretends like he is suffering throughout the first 3/4 of the ride and then puts down the hammer and destroys the field.

This week’s sacrificial lamb was me at the Alpine Challenge. I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not a climber, but I feel like I’m in pretty good shape and I have all those years of racing/training under my belt (right?). As usual, I felt really good for the first 2/3 of the ride. I was setting a comfortable pace up the long climb and it seemed to be hurting those around me (big ear-to-ear smile). I was even able to gap “el doper” a couple times. Granted they were small gaps, but heck, a bike length is a bike length.

At about mile 40, there is a 10 mile “bonus section” that is a 5 mile out-and-back leg with a nasty little hill that needs to be negotiated twice (once in each direction). I knew as soon as Arlyn spotted a rider ahead of us that I was in trouble. He’s like one of those trail horses that senses he’s close to the barn. Or perhaps a better analogy is a shark that senses blood in the water. I felt fine up and over the climb on the way out, but as soon as we hit the short flat section at the bottom of the climb before the turnaround, I knew I was in trouble. Arlyn was simply pulling away from me and quite quickly gapped me. Feeling guilty from dropping me last week - and forcing me to chase for 10 miles on my own when I had a slight mechanical problem - he sat up and waited for me. When I eventually caught him, I told him that he should ride on ahead because I was “done.” No sooner had I released him from his team obligation, he was gone, not to be seen again.

By the time I arrived at the finish, Arlyn had showered, changed, eaten lunch and received a massage. He was hanging out with a Spanish doctor friend of his looking as fresh as he did at the beginning of the ride. I thought it strange that the doctor would only refer to Arlyn by his initials, but I figured that was a Spanish thing.

It’s all good

Looking for something to do on Tuesday nights? If so, I highly recommend that you head out to the San Diego Velodrome @ Morley Field to watch some of San Diego’s fastest bicycle racers - both young and old - take to the track in a variety of different race formats. The racing gets underway at 6:30pm and lasts until approximately 9pm.

Last night was the second night of the regular season at the San Diego Velodrome and judging by the crowds in the stands and the riders in the infield, track racing is regaining in popularity among the locals. There was easily over 100 people in the stands, and I’d say 50-60 racers present spread over three categories [Category: # of riders] (A’s -really fast: 12, B’s -kinda fast: ~25, C’s -beginners: ~20.

I showed up to race with the A’s. I arrived at ~6:15 to find that the track was being closed to warm-ups - oops. After the track was cleared, the juniors hit the track for a series of races. Directly following the juniors was the first event of the evening for the other riders - a motor-pace session with all three categories on the track simultaneously culminating with a sprint. It works like this: All of the riders arrange themselves such that there are three groups on the track. The C’s are the first group and follow directly behind the motorcycle. The B’s follow behind the C Group leaving a small gap between the C Group and themselves, and the A Group follows behind the B group in a similar fashion. Within each group, each rider takes a full lap pull and then rotates to the back of his respective group to allow the next rider within his group to take his turn at the front. The C’s ride 15 laps and then sprint for the line. At this point, the B’s follow directly behind the motorcycle for an additional 15 laps and then sprint, and then the A’s take up position behind the motorcycle for an additional 15 and then sprint. After racing around the track for 45 laps reaching speeds in the mid 30s, I took 3rd - missing 1st by less than a foot and 2nd by even less than that.

Following the motor-pacing session, each category in turn hits the track for another event. Each week the events are changed up to keep it interesting for both the racers and the fans. Last night, the A races included: A 12 lap Snowball - where the winner of each lap gets n-points equaling the lap number (i.e., Lap 1=1pt, Lap 2=2pt, Lap 12=12pts). I went off the front on lap three and took laps 3, 4 & 5 and then I was quickly swallowed up by the pack. It was a good idea on my part, but it would have been wiser to go a bit later so that the point count was higher. I worked really hard to stay off the front for three laps, but ended up with the same number of points as the guy who one the single sprint on lap 12. Next was a Miss-n-Out - where the last rider across the line on each lap is pulled from the race. When there are only three riders left, they sprint for position. I spent more time watching this one then racing it, if you get my meaning. The last race of the night for the A’s was a 5 mile scratch race in which I ended up taking 5th.

There was a nasty little crash in one of the B races caused by one rider overlapping wheels with another rider. Two riders went down pretty hard and got scraped up a bit, but fortunately both riders walked away without serious injury.

It was a great night of racing for both the riders and the fans. A word to the wise; it was really, really cold at the track last night, so when you head out to the track, remember to bundle up. You might also want to bring a few bucks with you to purchase a warm beverage from the snack bar.

See you next week at the track.

I’m constantly reminded that in San Diego, this means that there is a 90% chance of it being a perfectly glorious day - mostly sunny with some lingering storm clouds in the sky, no wind, large sun drenched waves along the coastal route, cool and crisp… I know the math doesn’t quite work out on the percentages, but the reality is that this is the reality. We only get about 9 inches of rain a year here, so the odds are that it’s not going to rain… and it didn’t!

The mantra for today’s ride was, “rain or shine… sickness or health… we’re riding.” Everyone on the team has been very busy with life, so we’ve each been riding quite a bit on our own and to tell the truth, I was growing weary of the solo riding.

Today’s ride profile called for us to meet along the coast in Solana Beach and go for an easy 40-45 miles with a quorum of Team Climb On Riders. As it turned out - for various reasons (…Dave…Ajay…) our large team ride turned into a small group ride of three riders. After recovering from the disappointment of The Team no-showing, we headed north along the coast at an easy, comfortable pace. It was such an unexpectedly nice day that we just kept going; through Carlsbad, through Cardiff, through Oceanside, and through Camp Pendleton where we decided to head back South.

Our ultimate destination was to meet back in Solana Beach at Pizza Port for some of the best pies in San Diego (I highly recommend the Pizza Vallarta - Canadian style bacon, olives, onions, & jalapeños - Delicious!). Our team may not always be motivated to ride, but they are motivated to eat. On arrival at The Port, we were greeted by four additional team members. It was nice to see some old faces and to meet some new ones.

When all was said and done, I racked up 72.5 miles on the day, had some really tasty pizza and got to hang out with some really cool people. It definitely beats riding alone and it’s a definite reminder why I live in San Diego.

Once I decided to get back into racing, I new it was only a matter of time before I would go down (i.e., crash), but I didn’t think it would happen the way it did. If you race a bicycle long enough - especially on the track or in criteriums - you’re going to be involved in a crash. More often than not, it’s of no fault of your own; nevertheless, with the high speeds and close proximity of the combatants (i.e., riders), it is inevitable. Just watch the Tour de France - with the best riders in the world - and you’ll see what I mean. It doesn’t require much to go wrong for there to be a massive pile up.

Last night I raced at the LA Velodrome. I’ve spoken of this place in a previous post. Just as a reminder, the LA Velodrome is an indoor wooden track that is 250m in length with 45 degree banking. When your up to speed - remember that part - riding on this track is like, well, riding a bike. The track may be intimidating to look at, but when you’re cruising around, you really don’t notice the steep banking.

Most mass start track races start from the outter rail of the track on the relatively flat straightaway. Riders line up from the start finish line, which on this velodrome is just before turn one, and continue as far back as the number of riders requires. All of the riders line up along the rail and the referee provides instructions for the upcoming race and then blows the whistle to get the race underway. Experienced riders realize that one cannot be too high on the banking at the start of the race as they do not have enough speed to maintain grip on the track. In fact, most ridres head straight for the apron and hop back on the track after turn two on the backstretch. 

I’ve raced on the track many times - albeit not on tracks as steep as the LA Velodrome - so I really have no excuse. Regardless, at the start of the 70 lap 1/2 Points Race, I found myself a bit higher than I should have been on the entrance to turn one (reminder: 45 degree banking). It all happened so quickly, so I’m not completely sure it was my fault - although I think it was. I tried to correct my position, but I was surrounded on all sides by other riders. To cut to the chase, one of my wheels slipped down the track (or perhaps I was knocked over by the rider on my high side) and the next thing I know, I was down - slidin’ on the wood - along with two or three other riders. We weren’t going very fast at this point so no one was hurt (aside from a bit of track rash), just mad. We all picked ourselves up and reentered the race. For the points race, we were allowed up to 5 laps to get back into the race without being penalized.

So you might wonder what crashing on a wooden track does to the body. Does one simply slide to a stop without injury? Does one get road rash like crashing on the street? The answer is that you end up with what I can best describe as a rug burn of sorts. When you slide on the track, you kind of stick, so what you end up with is a relatively clean skinning. The track is relatively smooth so your skin doesn’t get torn up like it does on the road. I ended up with tiny strawberries, one on my knee and one on my upper thigh, and a larger one on my lower arm. Unlike road rash, the track rash - at least mine - really doesn’t bleed; in fact, none of my injuries bled and almost looked immediately healed. In all honesty, the biggest injuries I suffered was a bruised ego and a ripped skinsuit (and that’s no minor thing ).

Aside from my early mental mistake, my evening was quite a success. I signed up to ride in both the Category 1/2/3 group and the 40+ Masters group. The result of this was that I ended up riding in 7 individual races which covered over 40 miles (including warm up laps). In the 70 lap 1/2 Points Race, I lapped the field with four or five other riders, but later gave the lap back as I petered out. In the 40+ 15 lap Scratch race, I think I was 3rd. In the 40+ 30 Lap Points Race, I scored points in each of the thee sprints - winning the first one, taking 4th in the second and taking 3rd or 4th in the final sprint. That should place me in the top 3 overall for that event. I completed all of the other races to little fanfare - but atleast I finished

Over the last couple months I have been asked at least a half dozen times whether I recommend a set of rollers or a more traditional resitance trainer for indoor training.

My answer each time I’ve been asked has been, “it depends.” It depends on what you want the contraption for.

If you are looking for a device that will allow you to sit in the comfort of your home in the evening or on a rainy day and get a great workout – albeit mentally painful :| - then a wind/magneto trainer is the way to go. You simply plop your bike atop the trainer and pedal until you pass out.

If you are looking for a device that will force you to be smooth on the bike (i.e., pedal in circles vs. stomping, relax your upper body, etc), then a set of rollers may be in order. When I used to ride rollers, I never had a set that had any sort of resistance (i.e., no fan/magnet). The rollers themselves are affected by the drag of the rollers themselves along with the drag caused by your bike, but nothing like a resistance trainer. You can purchase those as add-ons to your rollers if you are looking for that.

The biggest downside to rollers is that you can fall off. With a trainer, you can fall asleep and as long as you don’t topple off of your bike, you will be okay. On rollers, if you stop paying attention, you can lose control and fall off (…over and take out whatever is nearby). There is nothing keeping you on a set of rollers other than your own pedaling action and your balance. The first time you hop on a pair of rollers, it feels like riding on ice. Once you get the hang of it it’s not difficult at all, but you will still have the occasional brush with disaster (translation: not paying attention). You can get a fork stand to use with your rollers, but then what’s the point.

If you’re looking for a device to improve your pedaling motion and body position on the bike and to use for a quick warm up, then a set of rollers is for you. If you’re looking for a device to workout on when you can’t get on the road, then you want a traininer.

That’s my $ 0.02. I’d be very curious to hear what you think - especially those of you who have just recently tried/acquired a set of rollers.

… 31 miles along a road less traveled - Elfin Forrest

No more words necessary

I’ve raced on half-a-dozen or so velodromes in a few different states over my cycling career. I’ve raced on 250m tracks, 333m tracks and 400m tracks. I’ve raced on tracks at altitude (Colorado Springs), tracks that I thought had steep banking (the old Olympic Track at Dominguez Hills - 34 degree banking), and very old tracks with shallow banking (San Diego’s velodrome at Morley Field - 23-27 degree banking).

I remember the first time I raced the tracks at Encino (250m) and Dominguez hills (333m). Dominguez was the site of the ‘84 Olympic Games. At the time, to me, this was some hallowed ground. Apart from the Olympic allure, the tall steep banked turns are what caught my attention. Preparing to race on banking like that for the first time provokes quite a bit of anxiety. When one is used to riding on banking that hovers around 23 degrees, encountering banking that is 10+ degrees steeper is quite intimidating. Adding to the effect is the height (width) of the turns. The track at Encino has similar banking, but the track is only 250m. This results in the turns being much tighter. This has the effect of significantly increasing the G-forces the rider feels when sprinting through the turns. This force literally pushes the rider into the track exerting significant force onto the arms and neck.

None of this experience prepared me for the new world class velodrome at the Home Depot Center in Dominguez Hills. Built in 2004 at a cost of $15 million, the new La Velodrome at the ADT Event Center is 250m indoor wood bicycle racing track that sports 45 degree banking in the turns, leveling out to 13 degree banking in the middle of the straights. 45 degree banking…think about it… that is really, really steep.

In my attempt to get back into race fitness as quickly as possible, I’ve been signing up for every race I can find on both the road and the track. I’ve found that early season racing is the best, if not the only, way to get back into race fitness. I find it really hard to train at the same intensity on my own training rides. In this vein, I planned to race at the LA Velodrome on 2/16. From the moment I signed up for the race, I was extremely anxious - scared is more accurate. I feared the idea of 45 degree banking. How does one not simply slip off the track? How can my tires possibly stick? How fast does one have to go to stay on the track? All of these thoughts and more were going through my head.

Yesterday was finally the day of the race, and I was even more anxious then before. To be allowed to ride on the LA Veldrome, you either need to be an USAC (USCF) Cat-1 on the track, or hold an accreditation (i.e., take an intro class) from the track. I happen to be a Cat-1 on the track, but I still thought it would be a very good idea to take the intro class to find out if there was anything special I should know about this particular track. As it turns out, the track offers an accelerated accreditation class the hour prior to racing.

I arrived at the track a couple hours early. I did this so that I could check out the track and watch some other riders ride before I was supposed to. Walking into the ADT Center for this first time is quite awe inspiring and impressive. Most of the tracks that I ride on are old, outdoor, concrete tracks that don’t look very impressive. They’re usually associated with some county park and they may or may not be surrounded by a chain link fence. The standard tracks in California usually boast a grassy infield with a bleacher or two, but not much to write home about. The LA Velodrome is completely different. This isn’t your mother’s velodrome, this is a venue. Imagine if they plopped a 250m velodrome into the center of the San Diego Sports Arena and your vision would be close.

The pictures of the track on the LA Velodrome web site do not do the track justice. The track looks like a giant wooden salad bowl (albeit more of a stubby cigar shape), and the banked turns are like vertical walls. When you enter the venue and approach the track from above (where the seats are), the banked turns look almost completely vertical. I was even more anxious. In the turns, the track does not gradually increase in steepness, it’s 45 degrees starting right at the apron. I honestly do not believe that it would be possible to walk up to the top rail in the middle of the turn - it’s that steep. In fact, there is a sign afixed to the infield of the velodrome that reads, “If you slide off the track, your day’s session is done.” Warm fuzzies…

I registered for the day’s races and walked my equipment into the infield of the track. From this vantage point, the banked turns looked even steeper and for the first time I noticed how tall the turns were. I’m not exactly sure how wide the track is, but from the bottom of the turn, it seemed like the banking rose up about 100 feet. It was insanely steep and insanely high (tall) - anxiety on overload. If I were a baby, I would have fallen asleep from the overload. Those of you with children will understand this.

The accreditation class covered general track etiquette and some points related specifically to the LA Velodrome. If you have some reasonable track experience, then nothing new was really covered. Taking the class did ease my anxiety a bit though. There are two parts to the class: the “classroom portion,” and the riding portion. 15 minutes before the racing was to begin, the track was closed so the newbies could get on the track. This was done to protect the other riders in case any of us newbies should slide off the track.

I actually hopped on the track a bit before this and to my amazement; it was simply like riding a bike. At first I rode on the apron (the completely flat and level portion of the track), then once I was up to speed, I rode up just above the Sprinters Lane - not too far to fall from here. When you’re on the track, it doesn’t seem so scary. I rode around at this level for a bit and then gradually rode higher and higher on the track. First to the Stayers Line (the blue line near the middle of the track) and then up to the rail. I tagged onto the end of the pace line that was spinning around the track and worked in the group for a bit to get used to the close contact on this track. Again, it was like every other track. After a bit, I picked up the pace and practiced some full speed corning. The increased down forces that I was accustomed to from Encino were present and expected. At speed, the banking in the turns is very welcome as one is almost perpendicular relative to the banking of the track. Incidentally, this means that the rider is almost parallel to the horizontal surface of the velodrome floor. Aside from the banking, the first thing one will notice when riding on the LA Velodrome is how smooth the track is. All of the other tracks I’ve ridden on are bumpy, but not LA - smooth as glass. I found the track to have very good grip. I did not feel like I was slipping at all. Others were not so lucky.

During the training and racing sessions, I saw four different riders fall. One simply slipped off the track. For those of you who think falling riders will slide on the wood; trust me, they don’t. I should caveat that a bit. They do slide, but they leave a bit of skin behind. Unlike sliding across the asphalt where the skin is chewed up and torn and tiny bits of the road are deposited into the wound, sliding on the wood is more like sliding across the rug. The rider ends up with what looks like a nasty rug burn with the top layer of skin removed. The wounds are very clean though. A couple other riders went down after a race. I think one slipped and took the other out. Finally, a rider crashed in one of my races as he literally snapped his very expensive Easton Carbon Fiber handlebars. He literally ripped one of the drops off.

During the first mass start race of the day; I was still a bit anxious. I was comfortable on the track tooling around on my own, but now that it was time to race, there were still some nerves. A few laps into this race, I was feeling very comfortable and all of the anxiety and concerns I was feeling leading up to this point had subsided. Not knowing how this process would go, I had decided to select a very light race schedule. I did not win any of my events - nor was that my goal - but I did do much better than I had done the previous week in San Diego. Next time I hit the track, I’ll be going for the win. No more excuses!

The net of my experience at the LA Velodrome is that I’m hooked. This track totally rocks. It is definitely my new favorite track. I plan to do quite a bit more racing in LA.

… makes you stronger, or so the adage goes.

I raced at the velodrome today and it was hard. I haven’t raced on the track in about a decade and a half, but my mind still has memories of past victories. I didn’t win anything today, but I was the recipient of a great workout and it was great to be mixing it up back on the track again.

Racing the last two weeks has taught me that my fitness is in pretty good shape, but I still have quite a bit of work to do if I plan to be winning any races,  and I do. On the track today, I felt pretty good early into the 60 lap motor-pace session, but just didn’t have enough left in the tank to push it to the next level required to take the victory. With one lap to go (the bell lap), I found myself on the front - not where I wanted to be. The pace had been whipped up to 32mph and I just didn’t have the fitness to keep it going.

After the initial 60 lap session, I was pretty well spent. The eight lap scratch was roughly seven laps too many and the 20 lap scratch was just painful. It’s clear that I need to start pushing the bigger gears in training.

The last race of the day wasn’t actually a race at all. Six of us took to the track to attempt a 5 mile Madison record. I don’t think there was much thought that we were actually going to break any records today, but it was a good excuse for practicing Madison exchanges. 5 miles equates to 24 laps on a 333m track so each of us took 4 pulls. A real Madison is a trip to watch if you ever get the chance. I highly recommend it. I was a bit rusty on the receiving end of the exchanges, but I can throw with the best of them.

Oh yeah… It turns out that two if not three of the guys I was racing today are past or current World Champions on the track. I guess I should have figured the World Champion stripes on their jersey’s and bikes weren’t simply there for decoration.

On another positive note, I had by far the largest cheering section of any rider on the track. Many of the Team Climb On! faithful were there urging me on and it certainly helped. I definitely owe you guys a victory or two!

I’ve been sick all week and haven’t gotten in squat for mileage, so I was itching to get out on the road today. I’m planning to race at the velodrome tomorrow, so the plan was to take it easy.

It couldn’t have been a nicer day on the road. I headed up the coast for an easy spin with a plan of doing somewhere between 30 and 40 miles. Along the coast, it was sunny, the winds were relatively calm, the sky was clear except for some haze on the horizon, and I could see forever. I tend to take the good weather we have in San Diego for granted, but after a few weeks of unseasonably cold weather, it was nice to have a day in the mid 70s.

I don’t know if it was because I was fresh from not riding much during the week, or if it is the recovery from my sickness, or if it was just the beautiful weather, but I ended up riding a bit further then I had planned and at a pretty good clip. I’m a bit tired now, but I feel good and hopefully I will be recovered by tomorrow.

I ended up getting in 42.5 miles at an average speed of 19.1 mph and it felt really, really easy.