Aug 08, 2011 at 11:09 PM
Is that a Redneck-Grin?
Tour of the Catskills
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:10 PM
Ryan bringing the rain...
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:10 PM
Norm right behind...
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:11 PM
High-socks not working out as well as expected
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:11 PM
Yeah, that's Teany fading in the distance...
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:13 PM
Does that guy in red Conan-Scream every finish?
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:14 PM
Yellow Jersey fought every step of the way.
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:16 PM
I was desperate - I thought the guy in Yellow behind me was Tarmac and we were going to lose Team GC
Aug 08, 2011 at 11:31 PM
This was a fantastic race, and a great experience. I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive team, and putting me the position of “protected rider” was incredibly generous. I truly appreciate it.
TT: I broke all 3 of the rules of the TT: went out too hard and Paid the Bastard Piper on the second half.
Stage 2
I was really happy to be descending well and was consistently impressed every time I heard JC “The Condor” Condon flying down past me looking pro as shit, “First Cat 4 Race My Ass,” I remember thinking.
A few miles before the second feed zone Whitey came by, picked me up and dropped me near the front out of the wind. He then went on up to the front, chatted with some dude and then WHAM he was away with one other guy (or two?)... Before long the peloton strung out and guys began to chase. That was fine, but for the fact we were approaching
Feed Zone 2…
My wife was in the feed zone holding up a beautiful tall-boy bottle of hydrating goodness - sadly we were roaring through at 22, 23 mph. I stuck my hand out to grab the bottle and quickly learned that a tall-boy (full) and a rider moving at speed meant I had about as much luck grabbing that bottle as I would have had grabbing a stripper pole and tearing it out from it’s moorings… WHAP! I hit my bottle and I briefly thought I’d broken my wrist. (She later told me she thought I’d managed a solid grab until about a second - and 15 feet later - she heard it ‘thud’ into the side of a van.)
From there until the bottom of the Kitchen went well - I was probably 5th wheel going in where I proceeded to suck donkey balls and watch guys go past me. I just tried to ride my own tempo and not get too excited when I saw guys grinding past. Near the top I was a little woozy and it took a while to figure out that it was indeed misting, if not beginning to rain. I made it over the top with a group of 4 or 5 and I think I did a decent job of organizing them “Short Pulls!” in the next couple of miles - it took some time as a couple of them wanted to attack. But we were a pretty well oiled machine by the time we caught Norm, and eventually, Ryan.
By then we were just a couple of miles from the finish and it was pouring - Greg Lemond World Championship style - felt very pro toward the end as we all sprinted for the line until about 50 meters out some crazy fucker behind me started screaming Conan style, “aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgh!” and sprinting like a contestant in “America’s got Techno-Talent” to make up - what - three seconds? I got the hell out of his way and did a seated drag race with the guy in front of me - winning by a bike length.
I had no idea what I was in for the next day…
Stage 3
Pure Murder. Things started out mildly with an early attack by one Tarmac and one Foundation guy; I remember telling Patrick that we needed to have representation in the break and in the most pro fashion he didn’t even look up he just jumped and before I could say “Pro” he was a little orange speck up the road bridging.
Things get blurry after that - the break stayed away and I dropped back to ask Ryan for direction. Ryan said, “chase,” and our guys went to the front and NAILED it so hard it nearly split the field. We were flying, and the pack was scared.
KOM 1 was an endless, savage sufferfest; I clung to the Yellow Jersey and his EMS “minder” throughout and I could tell that Yellow was in serious trouble and so was I. There were two Tarmac guys with us and (I think?) Norm… I remember pointing the 2 Tarmac guys out to Norm and saying “don’t let them get away” because I knew we had a slim lead on Team GC and I was terrified that Norm would let them go to take care of me; he was clearly stronger.
I also have a distinct vision of Ryan sashaying away from us out of the saddle making us look bad. Damn that dude can climb.
KOM2 was just a man-sized bag of Grovel. I have never suffered like that in my life. Totally absurd.
I managed to drop the Tarmac guys who had been “Schlecking” me and then some ten foot tall skinny Monster in Stars & Stripes comes flying up - he was going so well I though he was a pro/am who’d needed a wheel change and was chasing on. Incredibly I clung to him and we worked well together through the end of the pain-satchel called KOM2.
Turns out he was NYFD so I talked him up a bit on the descents and together we tried to drop the remaining guy in yellow (I thought it was Tarmac but I think he was from another field entirely).
About 5 km from the finish we lost Faux-Tarmac and started TTT’ing it in - I dug as deep as I ever have for the finish and got well clear - but not clear enough - Stars & Stripes aka Jeffrey finished almost a minute ahead of me on GC. We need to recruit that guy - and Peter Bysshe too, if we can.
Gentlemen, it was a pleasure. I look forward to going to war again soon. That is, once I can bear to look at my bike again.
TT: I broke all 3 of the rules of the TT: went out too hard and Paid the Bastard Piper on the second half.
Stage 2
I was really happy to be descending well and was consistently impressed every time I heard JC “The Condor” Condon flying down past me looking pro as shit, “First Cat 4 Race My Ass,” I remember thinking.
A few miles before the second feed zone Whitey came by, picked me up and dropped me near the front out of the wind. He then went on up to the front, chatted with some dude and then WHAM he was away with one other guy (or two?)... Before long the peloton strung out and guys began to chase. That was fine, but for the fact we were approaching
Feed Zone 2…
My wife was in the feed zone holding up a beautiful tall-boy bottle of hydrating goodness - sadly we were roaring through at 22, 23 mph. I stuck my hand out to grab the bottle and quickly learned that a tall-boy (full) and a rider moving at speed meant I had about as much luck grabbing that bottle as I would have had grabbing a stripper pole and tearing it out from it’s moorings… WHAP! I hit my bottle and I briefly thought I’d broken my wrist. (She later told me she thought I’d managed a solid grab until about a second - and 15 feet later - she heard it ‘thud’ into the side of a van.)
From there until the bottom of the Kitchen went well - I was probably 5th wheel going in where I proceeded to suck donkey balls and watch guys go past me. I just tried to ride my own tempo and not get too excited when I saw guys grinding past. Near the top I was a little woozy and it took a while to figure out that it was indeed misting, if not beginning to rain. I made it over the top with a group of 4 or 5 and I think I did a decent job of organizing them “Short Pulls!” in the next couple of miles - it took some time as a couple of them wanted to attack. But we were a pretty well oiled machine by the time we caught Norm, and eventually, Ryan.
By then we were just a couple of miles from the finish and it was pouring - Greg Lemond World Championship style - felt very pro toward the end as we all sprinted for the line until about 50 meters out some crazy fucker behind me started screaming Conan style, “aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgh!” and sprinting like a contestant in “America’s got Techno-Talent” to make up - what - three seconds? I got the hell out of his way and did a seated drag race with the guy in front of me - winning by a bike length.
I had no idea what I was in for the next day…
Stage 3
Pure Murder. Things started out mildly with an early attack by one Tarmac and one Foundation guy; I remember telling Patrick that we needed to have representation in the break and in the most pro fashion he didn’t even look up he just jumped and before I could say “Pro” he was a little orange speck up the road bridging.
Things get blurry after that - the break stayed away and I dropped back to ask Ryan for direction. Ryan said, “chase,” and our guys went to the front and NAILED it so hard it nearly split the field. We were flying, and the pack was scared.
KOM 1 was an endless, savage sufferfest; I clung to the Yellow Jersey and his EMS “minder” throughout and I could tell that Yellow was in serious trouble and so was I. There were two Tarmac guys with us and (I think?) Norm… I remember pointing the 2 Tarmac guys out to Norm and saying “don’t let them get away” because I knew we had a slim lead on Team GC and I was terrified that Norm would let them go to take care of me; he was clearly stronger.
I also have a distinct vision of Ryan sashaying away from us out of the saddle making us look bad. Damn that dude can climb.
KOM2 was just a man-sized bag of Grovel. I have never suffered like that in my life. Totally absurd.
I managed to drop the Tarmac guys who had been “Schlecking” me and then some ten foot tall skinny Monster in Stars & Stripes comes flying up - he was going so well I though he was a pro/am who’d needed a wheel change and was chasing on. Incredibly I clung to him and we worked well together through the end of the pain-satchel called KOM2.
Turns out he was NYFD so I talked him up a bit on the descents and together we tried to drop the remaining guy in yellow (I thought it was Tarmac but I think he was from another field entirely).
About 5 km from the finish we lost Faux-Tarmac and started TTT’ing it in - I dug as deep as I ever have for the finish and got well clear - but not clear enough - Stars & Stripes aka Jeffrey finished almost a minute ahead of me on GC. We need to recruit that guy - and Peter Bysshe too, if we can.
Gentlemen, it was a pleasure. I look forward to going to war again soon. That is, once I can bear to look at my bike again.
Aug 09, 2011 at 12:02 AM
Posted By: Wojciech PI love this. To many riders, being pro mean's taking your hands off bars, pushing people around, throwing shit on the ground (wrappers, bottles, etc), talking a lot of smack. To you guys, it's putting your team before yourself. I remember how, this spring and early summer, riders were puking their guts out for John M as he was on his way to all kinds of mfugly leader jersey's and what not. And it sounds like there was some nice payback on his end this past weekend as he was one of the guys shredding shit up for the team's protected riders.
*Joe got off his bike and was telling me to take it..* Pro as shit. Thanks again for that man
I've always found team racing to be the most fun and it is my hope, that for any of you guys who want a chance to get some support at a race, even if you aren't the strongest, that you do. Because you deserve it, trust me...you do.
My second hope is that as you guys start collecting upgrade points like they're gold teeth (gold being the only thing worth trading on the stock market these days), that you bring your great attitudes and strong legs to the cat 1/2/3 races. I'm not sure if this is transfer season for us types too, but I think that there are a few new cat 3s who enjoyed racing with JP, Myles, myself, Ragot, Katz, Robertson and other cat 2/3 guys this year in the park. We didn't always get a big result, but in my 9 or so years of racing in the parks, I have never seen so many successful breakaways, and there is no question that the racing tactics of the Kissena 1/2/3s was a big part of making that happen.
Aug 09, 2011 at 09:38 AM
That skinsuit is not flattering.
Yeah, great weekend. It was fun to go on hammerfests and decoy attacks, only to have the worst cramps of my life 10 miles *before* DK. Not a great plan to barely ride for 3 weeks and have a sinus/respiratory infection leading into a stage race! But the house party was rocking and my weenie dog fended off the giant groundhogs to keep us safe inside.
Congrats to everyone who rode themselves into near cardiac arrest and working so hard to seal up the team classification. It's definitely cool to see another rider (Ryan's brother who was de facto Kissena for the race) drop back with me to ride Ryan back on after an early mechanical. There were plenty of selfless acts the whole weekend from a lot of guys. I love the other riders "what the hell is going on?" remarks when the tempo hits breaking point. Oh, that's Kissena at the front. Ha.
You can probably make it with a 39/28, but to be competitive, a compact is a better idea. Or not be 175 lbs. Yeah, I cramped and walked on the second to last "kicker".
Yeah, great weekend. It was fun to go on hammerfests and decoy attacks, only to have the worst cramps of my life 10 miles *before* DK. Not a great plan to barely ride for 3 weeks and have a sinus/respiratory infection leading into a stage race! But the house party was rocking and my weenie dog fended off the giant groundhogs to keep us safe inside.
Congrats to everyone who rode themselves into near cardiac arrest and working so hard to seal up the team classification. It's definitely cool to see another rider (Ryan's brother who was de facto Kissena for the race) drop back with me to ride Ryan back on after an early mechanical. There were plenty of selfless acts the whole weekend from a lot of guys. I love the other riders "what the hell is going on?" remarks when the tempo hits breaking point. Oh, that's Kissena at the front. Ha.
You can probably make it with a 39/28, but to be competitive, a compact is a better idea. Or not be 175 lbs. Yeah, I cramped and walked on the second to last "kicker".
Aug 09, 2011 at 11:05 AM
These are some truly inspirational race reports, gents. High fives all around.
Aug 09, 2011 at 01:30 PM
The pictures I put up are courtesy (and Kudos to!) my wife.
Just found these:
http://eye.pyzahl.net/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
Just found these:
http://eye.pyzahl.net/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
Aug 09, 2011 at 01:53 PM
Aug 09, 2011 at 08:48 PM
Man, was the ToC tough. Wasn't ready for it, but learned a lot about my abilities and what I need to do to improve. I'm so happy the 4's won team GC. You should all be very proud of yourselves. Pleasure to meet each and every one of you. Look forward to racing together once I'm a 4.
Christian
Christian
Aug 10, 2011 at 09:02 AM
Awesome reports guys. You're making me want to loose 10lbs and target this race next year.
Aug 10, 2011 at 03:00 PM
Nice pics, Jules. Glad someone caught me hurting.
It was a pleasure meeting everyone and thanks to Ryan for organizing the house situation and providing delicious meals along with our other cooks. Next year the watercarriers should take care of these duties while the stars rest...
I felt abysmal going into Friday, I wish I could have been of more help on Sat and Sun but for whatever reason I was not feeling at all fast. Sunday I flatted 6 miles in and tried to couple back onto the caboose but that was just when Kissena started hammering at the front on the long descent.
It was a pleasure meeting everyone and thanks to Ryan for organizing the house situation and providing delicious meals along with our other cooks. Next year the watercarriers should take care of these duties while the stars rest...
I felt abysmal going into Friday, I wish I could have been of more help on Sat and Sun but for whatever reason I was not feeling at all fast. Sunday I flatted 6 miles in and tried to couple back onto the caboose but that was just when Kissena started hammering at the front on the long descent.
Aug 10, 2011 at 06:28 PM
well, must say the 2011 Tour of Catskills was quite an enlightening event for me, 1st stage race, 1st TT, 1st team away event. Great and quite beautiful neighborhood of Hunter, Tannersville & Windham NY...takes a wee bit of the ouch out when climbing 17&24% 'ramps'. i particuarly enjoyed meeting &having a meal/race video with a few more Kissenas, the house &crew were like a portable bike shop in a fancy architecturally appointed off-season ski chalet w/our pal 'Leroy' as mascot.
regarding, the race the short report from me, is 'was alone', in the cat5 45+:
day1, placed 19th/49 w/ a 00:31 for 12mi TT, 19thCG.
day2, placed 13th/39 w/a 3:32, 12thCG, same time as 12th who road my wheel to final 100m finish; was dropped by half pack on 3rd step of 1st climb(the one adam warned me about) @5mi mark (may have been tired from TT & practice for TT or may be a lousey climber), after descent could see the pack 800m ahead but couldnt seem to make a dent in bridging-up, in the next 4 miles i picked up 3riders off back, formed a 'groupetto' &chased to the foot of DK climb w/one man left(paul) from the groupetto who climb w/me...did johnM's 'tac-like a sailor' all the way up DK to 1km togo of KOM2, geared up &road off passing plenty of stragglers finished super hard in full rain w/200m sprint to line, "that felt good!"
day3, placed 14th/39 w/ a 3:41, 10min back of remaining pack, 14thCG; was dropped this time at mile24 1km into climb of KOM1, mistake/or not! to attack repeatedly & keep pace high before 1st KOM a rather relentless 5mi series of 8-12%climbs...the leaders got to calling me 'beep, beep' each time i took off on a slight descent(you know 'gravity) and rolled up 500m ahead all alone took a drink and fell back into the pack for a rest, finally, leaders came up and we did make a gap but the KOM leader was not interested in working so it fell quickly apart. basically, i 'bonked @the 24mi mark which may have happened anyway given the chase effort on day2, unfortunately, no one fell off the pack which as it soon broke into (2) parts 4 leaders and a small group of 12, i caught 3 by the end, had a mechanical on descent of KOM2 -2:30min to wrench chain out from small ring &BB, and finished relatively strong as pro leaders break-away passed me w/5mi togo and pro peleton passed w/3mi togo, definitely a different ending "that was NOT as fun!"
so, no pictures, minor tactics, &plenty of lessons learned. bravo to 4's!!! Woj & ALL for a good showing.
-h;>
regarding, the race the short report from me, is 'was alone', in the cat5 45+:
day1, placed 19th/49 w/ a 00:31 for 12mi TT, 19thCG.
day2, placed 13th/39 w/a 3:32, 12thCG, same time as 12th who road my wheel to final 100m finish; was dropped by half pack on 3rd step of 1st climb(the one adam warned me about) @5mi mark (may have been tired from TT & practice for TT or may be a lousey climber), after descent could see the pack 800m ahead but couldnt seem to make a dent in bridging-up, in the next 4 miles i picked up 3riders off back, formed a 'groupetto' &chased to the foot of DK climb w/one man left(paul) from the groupetto who climb w/me...did johnM's 'tac-like a sailor' all the way up DK to 1km togo of KOM2, geared up &road off passing plenty of stragglers finished super hard in full rain w/200m sprint to line, "that felt good!"
day3, placed 14th/39 w/ a 3:41, 10min back of remaining pack, 14thCG; was dropped this time at mile24 1km into climb of KOM1, mistake/or not! to attack repeatedly & keep pace high before 1st KOM a rather relentless 5mi series of 8-12%climbs...the leaders got to calling me 'beep, beep' each time i took off on a slight descent(you know 'gravity) and rolled up 500m ahead all alone took a drink and fell back into the pack for a rest, finally, leaders came up and we did make a gap but the KOM leader was not interested in working so it fell quickly apart. basically, i 'bonked @the 24mi mark which may have happened anyway given the chase effort on day2, unfortunately, no one fell off the pack which as it soon broke into (2) parts 4 leaders and a small group of 12, i caught 3 by the end, had a mechanical on descent of KOM2 -2:30min to wrench chain out from small ring &BB, and finished relatively strong as pro leaders break-away passed me w/5mi togo and pro peleton passed w/3mi togo, definitely a different ending "that was NOT as fun!"
so, no pictures, minor tactics, &plenty of lessons learned. bravo to 4's!!! Woj & ALL for a good showing.
-h;>
Aug 11, 2011 at 11:20 PM
http://trainerconfessions.typepad.com/blog/
Nice mention of both Norm and Ryan here
Nice mention of both Norm and Ryan here
Aug 12, 2011 at 12:32 AM
Nice find Jules. Another great tale of a Kissena rider being selfless!
Aug 17, 2011 at 07:36 PM
Via ifixbykes...
Aug 17, 2011 at 07:37 PM
Go William.
Aug 17, 2011 at 07:38 PM
Domestiquesville
Aug 17, 2011 at 07:51 PM
@John um, that's not me. That's William. I do not wear short red socks, and I do not have 6 lbs of sexy chest hair.
Aug 17, 2011 at 08:11 PM
There seems to be another cat. 3 hiding on the left (of the picture), three rows deep. Joe M.? Wojciech?
Aug 17, 2011 at 08:22 PM
I that picture of us by the car, I love the way that apart from Jeff, everyone looks like they left it all on the road. That was before the race!
Aug 17, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Yes...William's power to weight ratio would dramtically increase if he shaved off that racoon stuck to his chest...
Aug 17, 2011 at 08:43 PM
hahah. those pics of William are from Pawling I think. We had a lot of guys in the 3/4 race so it could be many different folks.
Aug 17, 2011 at 09:11 PM
@Adam... especially the one sitting in the car...
Aug 17, 2011 at 09:49 PM
Correction: Racoons generally run 10 lbs or more. A marmot is more plausible.