Though I'm not sure it's the right place to post, this is the wheel sale I talked with Jeff C in the morning.

Mavic Cosmic Carbone Pro w/ PowerTap SL+2.4 $1,199.00 (used to be $2,500.00)
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/product-components/2010-mavic-cosmic-carbone-pro-powertap-tubular-rear-wheel-9961.267.0.html

I will be out there tomorrow around 645 for 2 hours or so if you want to join...just ride backwards.

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzJng8Mq3A

Late Weekly Post...
those continuing with road
Tuesday is sprint day 9-12 5-8 second sprints either stopped or rolling. Literally, knock yourself out.
easy in between.

Wed tt day again. Keep up 2 2 lap tt efforts with 20 min recovery.
Thurs easy
Friday easy with openers.
Sat sun. Race and or ride hard and long.

Cx riders do the same, but keep the rpms below 85 for all your efforts. (not sprints)

E

by "35% chance of rain", the weatherfolk meant "it will rain directly on prospect park for an hour." Despite the weather, Lt Dan, Jef K, Rich P and me made the best of it and beat each other up with a lighthearted version of our usual sprint workout.

I woke up late this morning and couldn't join. I will be there tomorrow.

I got out a little late and rode for awhile. it was gross. tomorrow looks better, I hope to wake up earlier and get to ride with you all.

Mike

Trainer day...

Yeah pretty yuck out. The bike needed a bath, but that's not quite what I had in mind...

Not exactly the place for this but thought it would be silly to start a whole new thread just for my quick race report.

Been out here in Portland since last Thursday and have gotten in some great rides with my brother and a buddy of mine who both live here and race together for Portobello Racing (sponsored by a local vegan Trattoria, this is Portland remember). At least 2 hours every day, mostly on either nearly empty roads or bike paths that run 15-20 miles one way out into the suburbs.

Last night we lined up for the Masters 4 race at Portland International Raceway, a 2 miles winding circuit that hosts auto racing on the weekends. Smooth as glass blacktop with a wide roadway the whole way around. This is their evening summer race series, very similar in feel to FBF with medium size fields, wind coming off the Columbia river, and the evening sun warming things up.

My brother's team had 3 others plus myself (I wore their socks as a subtle reminder to the guys I didn't know not to chase me down). I felt horrible the first 2 laps from a combination of some hard miles the days before and almost zero warm up. I put myself right in the front and kept the pace relatively slow and jumped on a couple early moves just to get the legs opened up. By the 3rd lap I was feeling great.

They run the races with 3 "hot laps" per race where the first 3 over the line get points which count for the race win and also for a monthly competition. So if you score points on the hot laps you can theoretically not win the final but end up winning the race due to points. Odd format but that's their way.

My buddy had pointed out two teams to watch, one who lined it up for every sprint and one that attacked all the time. The first hot lap bell was rang and sure enough the sprinter team got them selves organized. Two guys were already up the road and it was clear they weren't going to be caught before the line but there was still on more point on offer. I immediately tried to insert myself in their rotation with the plan to ride their wheel to some points. They were obviously not used to folks trying to bust into their line as they did everything they could to dislodge me including hands on my hips pushing me out of the way and some knocking of handlebars. I held my ground (hey I race in NY damn it) and as we came into the sprint straight I was wheel #3 with their two leadout guys in front of me and their sprinter behind me. They wound it up and when they realized their sprinter wasn't there they pulled a clever move where the second guy totally dropped anchor, forcing me to brake while their first leadout guy took off. I had to come around the second guy and start my sprint very early just to catch his wheel. I got on but didn't have enough to come around him and ended up 4th in that sprint.

The rest of the race was a ton of fun with lots of attacking but nothing getting too far away. I bridged up to a couple moves that stayed away for a 1/2 lap or so but eventually got shut down. Finally with 3 to go I sat in for a lap with the plan to try to sprint for the final. Some jostling and hard riding for a couple laps and I find myself in 5th wheel behind 3 of the strong sprinters and one other rider from my brother's team coming to the final 500 meters. We come around the final corner and I'm now 3rd wheel. I am doing everything I can to stay on the wheel in front of me and try to judge the distance to the line. Finally I jump and there's on guys out ahead of me. But where's the line? I'm fading and it's not coming fast enough. I look left and right and see 5 guys on either side flying past and finally we hit the line.

I held on for 13th. Still need to work on my sprinting but happy enough with the result. All told a very fun race and we had a nice time talking with some of the other teams afterwards. If anyone finds themselves in Portland I recommend racing at PIR.

Now I'm off to our beach house in Washington and back to NY in about a week. Cheers.

nice read, Jim. Sounds like a good effort and a fun race. I really enjoyed racing PIR when out in Portland last year.

Jim, glad you're having a good time out there. My favorite part was: "Smooth as glass blacktop with a wide roadway the whole way around."

Jim,

That was a great report. Great story telling, I really thought you were going to pull off 1st (at least across the line)! Points format races are interesting, I think I need to try more of them.

Nice work Jim... and a good write-up indeed!

Jim! Cool report. Wish I was there with you.

Morning Crew - repeat last week's schedule.

Except for CX'ers - your 2 lap TT efforts, every even minute, sprint for about 10 seconds and then keep going at your prior pace. So 10s on, 1:50 "off" Although the off isn't really off. Again, big gear, lower RPMS. Stand up the hill.

Started practicing CX dismount/remounts this morning. Mondays are a good day to practice these as it's an easy day for many of us. Please join next week!

P.S. @ragot That time-trial-with-a-sprint-every-two-minutes shenanigans sounds less than fun.

It is character building. Don't worry, you won't set any power records with those sprints.

I might set some throw-up records with sprinting in the middle of a time trial.

is that a modified "hour of power"?

Ian, Jeff W, Joji, Norm, Rich P & I were out for this morning's antics. Norm laid down the law by setting a scorching TT pace as usual, and Ian was taking his PowerCranks out for a sprinty jaunt. Somewhere in between, I was the only one doing the CX workout of mixed TT avec sprints efforts. What a load of fun those were!

In a mixed blessing my second effort was derailed by my third flat this week. The love affair with Vittoria Open Corsa CXs seems to be coming to an end. They sure do roll nice but one cross-eyed glance might destroy the casing. grumblebitchmoan. I dunno wtf is up with me and flats this season. More than ever before.

With my road season pretty much over, perhaps I'll return to the comfy wood-feel of the Gatorskins and the search for a new pair of tires based on almost purely subjective criteria will begin anew.

Sorry you flatted. I really liked my Open Corsa CX tubulars last year --raced them for 10 or more races (and trained a bit too) and never a problem. I've had Open Corsa CG tires (the heavier / more durable version) on my Fulcrums for about 700-800 miles of riding this summer. They are quite dependable and I've raced them at a few races, incl. Catskills. They don't feel slow. But maybe I'd have been a little quicker and/or a little more durable myself had I raced something "racier". All the clincher wheel/tire combos --even my 180g Veloflexes with latex tubes-- feel significantly slower to accelerate than my Edge Tubulars which are about a pound lighter than my moderately light clincher setups.

210g for the CX;
244g for the CG;
180g for Veloflex Master 22 (also proving durable so far).

Well, this post is in danger of being commandeered over to the Bike/Tech discussion thread. Hopefully, WDC isn't watching too closely...

as for the training --it was good. Thanks Jeff W. for staying on my wheel during my TTs --knowing someone was on my wheel and the occasional shouts to keep the pace up were very helpful. Next week, I follow you and holler encouragement!

I was not doing the TT with sprints, so I was quite impressed with Rich H. keeping a high speed-up and munching some torquey sprints every 2 minutes. Joji and the other Rich (sorry don't know the last name) were crunching it hard on their TTs as well.

On Joji's second TT, he was really burning it up the hill on the first lap... how did your time end-up for that effort Joji?

My times were:
TT1: lap 1 was 8:15, lap 2: 7:52.
TT2: lap 1 was 8:01*, lap 2 was 8:01.

*not super sure about this time, I may not have remembered it correctly.

And Ian was out doing sprint work with his Power Cranks. How'd that go Ian? Hope you didn't tear any cartilage or anything of the sort...

Drafting off Norm during his TT was a horrifying experience.

Posted By: normanzoI've had Open Corsa CG tires (the heavier / more durable version) on my Fulcrums for about 700-800 miles of riding this summer. They are quite dependable and I've raced them at a few races, incl. Catskills. They don't feel slow.

A mighty fine idea; I'd forgotten about the Open Pavé. Perhaps the extra rubber will add some reliability. Thanks, Norm.

@ rhenning have you checked you don't have a burr somewhere on your rim? I ride conti 4k's pretty much year in & year out; very few problems thus far <knock wood>

Norm: the sprints went a lot better than I expected. A bigger gear than usual (54x13), managed about 150m before failure.
Failure = leg fails to pull up and over the top of the stroke, causing a sudden collapse into the seat !

I did 6 sprints.

Ian -- ouch on that failure! Interesting tool for training... I am skeptical, but will read-up on the Power Cranks.

Has anyone reconned Prospect post Irene?