Jamie Smith: Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer
While aimed primarily at the bike racer's family & friends, this is a REALLY fun read for the "roadie" himself. The author uses liberal doses of humor to explain why we do what we do - and how odd it looks to "normal" people. The cartoon illustrations are spot on as well. (****)
Greg Moody: Two Wheels: A Cycling Murder Mystery
Slow pace during the first 1/3, too many cliches and well-worn character types almost derail this mystery, but stick to it and you'll be rewarded with a surprising amount of suspense and plot twists during the second half. A must read if you're a cyclists who's into mysteries - if only because the genre is so underpopulated. (***)
Dave Shields: The Tour
Great sequel to "The Race" but stands on its own. Particularly good account of how a clean racer can be sorely tempted to dope. Written before the 2006 Tour de France, it's still relevant and eerily prescient. Get it to help you understand some of what may be going on with all those TdeF riders. (****)
Kendra Wenzel: Bike Racing 101
If you buy and read just one book as a beginning racer - this is the one to get. With with whole sections on "Getting Ready to Race," training, skills and strategy, "Bike Racing 101" covers the waterfront.
For a full review of this and other racing books, click on "Bike Racing 101" under Categories in the right hand column of this site. (*****)
Eric Harr: Ride Fast: Get Up to Speed on Your Bike in 10 Weeks or Less
If you follow the plan in this book, you WILL get faster. Though I make no guarantees about the 25mph average, I know that following even a prepackaged plan is better than no plan at all. It's the next best thing to having a personal coach. (****)
William Fotheringham: Cycle Racing: How to Train, Race and Win
Covers all the basics of bike racing with a nice, general overview. What this book lacks in depth-of-detail, it certainly makes up in superb layout and stunning photos. It's a pleasure to read and refer to, and ideal if you want a quick read. (***)
Robert Hurst: The Art of Cycling: A Guide to Bicycling in 21st-Century America
Just finished reading this and really enjoyed it. Hurst takes what could be a dry topic (cycling in the city) and infuses it with a lot of philosophy and humor. Heavily footnoted, if you could get a PhD in cycling, this would be one of the primary texts. (*****)
Miriam Webster: The Age of the Bicycle
Short novel about a world where there's no cars and everybody travels by bike. If it had really played that out with all the implications, it would have been a better book. As it is, it has a little too much fantasy for my taste (water wizards, magic bicycles, and some strange parallel world where the genders are reversed). Decent read, but not at all what I expected. (**)
Speaks for itself . . .
Courtesy Carlton Reid and Quickrelease.tv
If anybody knows what the music is, I'd be much obliged.
I think the song may be "A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics" by James Horner which is from the "A Beautiful Mind" soundtrack.
Vive La Tour!
Being able to get back on the road recently and just ride for the sheer enjoyment of it got me to reminiscing about how I got into serious cycling/racing in the first place. . .
My wife (long before she was Mrs. Suitcase) and I were coming up on our 10th Anniversary and the subject of gifts came up. I already knew what I was going to get her as a symbol of my love and commitment, but "what can I get you?" she asked. Well, it just so happened that I`d been riding my mountain bike on railtrails a lot but - since seeing LeMond win the Tour while I was in High School - I had always wanted a REALLY LIGHT and REALLY FAST road bike. I`d even hoped back then to race a little, but never did. "Why not?" I thought - maybe a new bike would be a good gift!
So I had a LOT of fun doing all the research and shopping around, finally choosing a 2005 Cannondale R900 (CAAD8 frame, Campy Veloce gruppo, sexy Gipiemme low-spoke count wheels - sweet!). Boy what a difference from my old ride! Stiff, responsive and SOOOOO light.
That was early August 2005. By the end of the month - and knowing nothing about "training" - I decided to take advantage of a beautiful day and just take a nice long ride on my new bike. So I mapped out (what I thought was) a moderately long loop, packed up and mounted my handlebar bag(! including a book, flipflops, lunch, etc(??!)) and set off. About halfway through the route, I stopped at a bike shop and, after asking me where I was riding from, the owner said – “ah, you’re going for a century, eh?” A “CENTURY”?! I’d of course heard of these feats, but it frankly hadn’t even occurred to me. Until then. He suggested I check my odometer – “you’re sure to be close even if you just turned around now…” He was right. By the time I got back to my truck a few hours later, I had ridden just over 100 miles. The last 25 or so were brutal. I did it though – but decided to learn about “training.”
A few weeks later, I heard about a race in Jamestown, RI on Columbus Day. I’d also met a former racer at my church (amazing what talks of “centuries” will bring out of the woodwork!) and thought seriously about entering. But didn’t think I was *quite* ready for that yet. From my century experience, I knew I had pretty good stamina – but what about actual speed?
Fast forward to Winter 2006. I’d just turned 37 and had this great bike and figured I wasn’t getting any younger. I wanted to try racing a least ONCE in my life. So I bought or borrowed all the books I could find on racing and training and, with the help of my race friend (Mickey), Chris Carmichael and Troy Jacobsen (via video), started getting into some kind of shape. I entered my first race – the Hartford (CT) Criterium. A perfect venue, I thought. Not only around a nice park, but I could see the park itself from my office window. Talk about incentive – if I failed to race it, its mere presence would just taunt me. And I could at least try it out before work (and traffic). So I rode it once myself and once with Mick and figured I could at least *finish* if nothing else. I also heard about a training crit on Tuesdays which I thought I should try out just to remove a bit of the mystery from racing.
What a disaster – and what a blast!! The cornering was the toughest part. No, actually, the cornering ROCKED! Getting dropped after 5 laps – with about 20 left to go – was the toughest part. Of course, there was a stiff headwind. On *both* sides of the track (or so it seemed). But I kept slogging away – determined to finish even if it killed me. And was thankfully lapped with 3 laps to go. Being sheltered in the pack – even if they’re on a different lap – was sweet. But I had my work cut out for me. Need more speed. That was Tuesday May 23rd and my first race was the following Sunday.
Suffice it to say I was pretty nervous Sunday morning. As Mickey suggested, my goals were just to be safe and not crash (um, great advice still today...). Finishing would be a bonus – especially for a first race. After I got over the worse nerves at the starting line, fearing I’d warmed up TOO much (the race ended up running about 40 min late) and spent what little gas I may have had, I started off grabbing the first wheel I could. My strategy – if you could call it that – was to just grab the wheel of whoever was leading and hang on for as long as possible. I figured if I was toward the front I’d be less likely to be involved in a crash (fulfilling goals 1 & 2) and if I could just hang on to a wheel, I’d be more likely to finish (getting the “bonus”).
So that’s what I did – for 14 out of 15 laps. On the second to the last lap, there was a crash. Thankfully, it was behind me – but I’ll never forget the sound of it, all banging metal and cursing. Fortunately, nobody was hurt seriously, but it did shake all us Cat5s up a little. Then, literally going into the final corner of the last lap, as we were getting out of our saddles to sprint for the line, the guy next to me and I hit wheels. We both recovered (miraculously) and didn’t go down, but it was enough to break my concentration.
Despite that – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Not only did I not crash, and not only did I FINISH, but I was in the TOP THIRD for my first race! I’d actually been in the first 5 going into the final corner, but got beat at the line by 12 others. I discovered later that my front wheel was bent and my left brake lever was pushed over, so it’d been an even harder bump than I thought. But I couldn’t blame that for my showing – I was out of gas at the line anyway. But WOW – 13th out of 37 in my first race. VERY cool!
Haven't done quite as well there since - 37th last year, and DNF this year. But just thinking about how it all started makes me want to get out there again as soon as possible . . .
This week's edition of WCW is a special one for a number of reasons. This past weekend my brother and sis'-in-law visited from overseas, and I got to play a cool role in helping them surprise our mom and dad. Talk about a shock! It was especially nice for mom, as it was her birthday on Sunday. It was just too bad they could only stay for the weekend. A short visit to be sure, but sweet.
Also, on Saturday, Mrs. Suitcase and I got to see some good friends race at the CT State Criterium Championships (pics in a future post). It was a little bittersweet for me since I'd targeted this race and couldn't do it due to my recent injury, but it was nice to get to see Dave, Mickey, and Guido race. It was especially great to see Mickey doing so well now that he seems to have gotten the warmup dialed in a bit. I got to see some teammates I hadn't seen since the Hartford Crit, and we got to see Mr. & Mrs. SDC and Mr. & Mrs. Hobgoblin as well. Special congrats to SDC on his bronze medal. Very cool!
Yesterday, I got in to see the orthopedist for my follow-up (special thanks to Guido for the referral) and got some very good news. Seems I'm healing quicker than he expected I would and he cleared me to get out on the road.
Yes, boys and girls, I've FINALLY been unchained from the indoor trainer and let out of the basement!
Now I just have to be sure I don't crash for a while ("Avoid sand patches and traffic" I think he said).
On a more serious note, he explicitly did *not* clear me to race yet. While things are healing nicely, it's still been only a little over 4 weeks since the crash and he wants everything hardened up before he's comfortable letting me engage in any really risky riding (which includes crits apparently). He thinks things should be all back to new in about another month - which is VERY fast considering my age ("You're not a kid anymore.") but still a little disappointing since there's only a couple of races left after that that I could be at all competitive in and get any of those upgrade points I was hoping to get.
So, all in all, while I may have to postpone my Cat3 dream until next season (EARLY next season!), I'm just happy to be able to get back out and ride in the fresh air.
And ride I did - a mere 6 hrs after seeing the doc, and right after work, I got out for a nice 25 mile ride. It was the first day my bike's been outside since Memorial Day Weekend. And I loved it.
Here are some pics from the ride - and a fitting way to end this week's edition of Why Cycle Wednesday...
Old Saybrook - Long Island Sound in the distance
North Cove
Essex & the Connecticut River
I have to admit, after my crash last week I thought to myself - "why do I do this?" Why do I race? Why do I even ride? There are certainly safer hobbies.
But almost as quickly, I reminded myself of all the reasons. Reasons that usually become the basis of a Why Cycle Wednesday: the silence and solitude of a morning ride, the exhilaration of a descent or a tailwind, the agony - and then satisfaction - of conquering a climb. If you've read this blog for any period of time, you'll also notice a less obvious reason - though sublimated in many of my posts, but not (IIRC) ever the actual focus of a WCW - being part of a community of really great people.
I think of friends that came out on a snow filled - but bright and sunny - day in March to join me for a ride.
I think of folks I meet on the road during a century, that become friends way before the finish.
I think of Esteban, using the legs he honed while growing up in Peru to pace me to the top of East Rock.
I remember the Memorial Day ride last year when Mrs. Suitcase rode 70(?!) miles, with a lot of encouragement - and cheers - from our friends at our old place.
I think of my friend Larry, who decided to do a metric on his 65th birthday - and, on a whim, we ended up doing a full 65 miles, one for each of his years.
John who encouraged me to get off my mountainbike and onto the road; Mickey who's early coaching efforts included agreeing to my insane early morning ride schedule.
Jeff & Sarah who have some of the best places in the country to ride and graciously host us when they can - and come over to our place when they can.
These were all folks I met through cycling over the past couple of years. And, amazingly and wonderfully, I keep meeting great new people on the road, at races, through this blog. Kim, Paul, Dave, Patrick, Adam, Jim, Rick, Bob, Chris, Felipe, Caroline - all wonderful sources of support and encouragement.
And my recent crash - bad as it was - reminded me once again how amazing this community is. Shawn, Joe, Shelly, Guido - who all stayed with me while waiting for the EMTs to finish. And especially Aki and Ann who not only packed up my gear and kept Mrs. Suitcase and me company in the hospital, but didn't let my little mishap dampen our plans for dinner and conversation.
So, at the risk of allowing this post to get too sappy (though I could just blame the percocet), I'm dedicating this WCW to all the wonderful people I've met through biking/racing, all the folks that read this blog, and those that take the extra time to leave a comment, everybody's that offered advice or guidance in my fledgling pursuit of an upgrade, all of you that have put up with my incessant questions. Your passion and enthusiasm for this sport is contagious and I'm blessed to get a chance to share my passion and enthusiasm with you.
I rode my bike in to work this morning. Yes, it's Bike Month and this is Bike to Work Week. But while those are certainly good reasons to ride, they aren't why I decided to ride over 40 miles from my home to my office today.
I rode because I could. Because five years ago today - also a Wednesday as it turns out - I was admitted to the hospital and then diagnosed the next day with Crohns Disease. While I'd been sick on and off for a long time, I never thought it was anything major. It just became "my normal." But this was different. I'd never been in the hospital for it. And doctors were seriously considering surgery.
To make a long story short (if you'd like the more detailed version, click here), I was in the hospital that first time for almost a week. All that summer, they tried to treat it with drugs and avoid surgery. I was in the hospital again in November, and they determined that the drugs weren't working. I had surgery in December (10 day stay that time) and was in the hospital again in January. Four times in nine months.
I didn't know what my life was going to be like going forward. I'd read and heard about all the worse case scenarios and how Crohns can exhaust you and make you dependent. In some cases, you don't even want to risk leaving your house, or associating with other people, and you feel tired all the time.
But I've been very blessed with a good doctor and we discovered that I responded well to a cancer-fighting drug that's used with some success in Crohns patients. As a result, I've been in remission (mostly) for the past few years. But I wanted to make sure I wouldn't take my health for granted again.
So for my 10th wedding anniversary, Mrs. Suitcase got me a racing bike. I'd never been one for exercising - hate doing it for its own sake - but I knew I needed to take better care of myself and I always enjoyed riding. Now I'd have a fancy new bike that would make me feel guilty if I didn't use it.
I started riding as much as I could. Short trips at first, then longer. All of them - purposely - going by the hospital where I'd been so often. It was my own little way of kicking Crohns in the teeth.
Just riding for myself wasn't enough though. I wanted to do more. And when Mrs. Suitcase told me about a charity ride for Chrons Disease, and especially when I saw the video, I knew I HAD to do it.
Get Your Guts in Gear is like an MS 150 for Crohns Disease. It's a 210 mile ride from New York City to Saratoga Springs that raises funds and awareness. I rode it last year, and am doing it again this year.
The fundraising is a little tougher this time around with the economy in the doldrums, but many of you have already been generous with your support. THANK YOU so very much! If you'd like to learn more about this project and/or to sponsor me, you can click here or click the "Get Your Guts in Gear" button in the upper right corner of the blog. Your donation will be put to very good use and it'll also allow me to participate again this year (there's a fundraising minimum to ride).
Whether you can help out or not, I hope if you or someone you know has Crohns Disease that you've been encouraged by my story. You're not alone. There is hope. And over a hundred Crohns patients, family members and loved ones will be riding up the Hudson River for you June 6-8, 2008.
I plan to be one of them. With the miles I got in this morning, I should be ready.
---------------------------
If you'd like to read more about how I got from the hospital to participating in GYGIG, check out the first edition of "Because I Can." To read more about Crohns Disease, click here.
For today's WCW, another morning ride. Between chores and weather, I haven't been on the bike since Saturday. So I was due for an LSD ride.
Even tried a new route - this time highlighting Deep River, CT - 20 miles of rolling country side, New England villages, and river views.
All views taken from the bike this morning (tying to keep the "W" in WCW). . .
Deep River Town Hall, at the corner of old Middlesex Turnpike (now Rt. 154) and Rt. 80. Neat old brick building. Unfortunately, they're building a Walgreen's next door. Won't be as interesting architecturally, fer sure. Guess we should be thankful the old town hall has survived.
Connecticut River view along River Road on the way from Deep River to Essex, CT. The fact that the lens was a little fogged from being inside my jacket actually gives this pic an impressionist effect.
Ditto the above - actually just a little further south (and a lot higher up). Looking north along the Connecticut River.
I shot all these - as I usually have lately - with the camphone. Pretty good for a phone, but I think I'll start carrying the real, actual digital camera again to get some sharper images.
All in all, another beautiful morning ride - sets a nice tone for the long & late workdays I have to do this time of year. But only a week of this crazy schedule left to go!
Hope the weather in your area is letting you get out and ride. If so, share a comment and/or point us to some pics!
In this week's edition of WCW, scenes from my ride this morning (courtesy camphone). After working late last night, it was very tough getting up this morning, but the scenery made it all worthwhile.
Boat Launch - Essex, CT
Connecticut River at dawn
First Congregational Church - Essex, CT
Spring has FINALLY sprung here "where the river meets the sea." Hope you're able to get out and ride!
For this week's edition of Why Cycle Wednesday - Scenes from my ride this morning (apologies for the camphone quality).
Doesn't get much more timely - or beautiful. I'm not a morning person, but rides like this may just change my mind (that and the prospect of having to stay late at the office and not get to ride otherwise).
Hope you're able to get out during the beautiful weather!
View from last Wednesday's after work ride. What could be better for a Why Cycle Wednesday post?
Despite my aversion to roads with "Hill" or "Mountain" in the name, you don't get the nice views if you're not willing to pay the price. The toll for this view was made easier by the company who helped pace me up the climb.
Locals may recognize this location in north central Connecticut. Others will have to wait until I can post additional details later.
In the meantime, enjoy the view!
About this time last year, as the racing season was beginning, I did a Why Cycle Wednesday post on racing - it actually evolved into a race report on the 2006 New Britain Crit. But no matter, JesseG over at The Bell Lap (which I highly recommend) had a great post last Friday quoting an article by Adam Hodges Myerson on why we race. I wish I'd written it. But since I didn't I'll do the next best thing - quote it here for those of you that haven't seen it before. Enjoy - and Happy Hump Day!
"... It's the riders who race every weekend with no hope of ever winning that amaze and puzzle me, and earn my deepest respect. They suffer the most with pain itself as their only clear reward for their effort. To line up every weekend knowing that that's what faces you; that's courage.I enjoy training as much as I do racing. I enjoy being systematic and scientific in the approach I take to my preparation, I like the meditative aspect of my daily training rides, and I like the feeling of being fit. But it's the game we play on the bike, the races we do on the weekend, that helps us play out the dynamics of the world at large on a small, personal scale with no real repercussions. It lets us get closer to pain, and closer to death, normally without experiencing any lasting consequences. I am aware of the glaring exceptions to this rule (Nicole Reinhart, Fabio Casertelli), but they themselves are the reminders that we are, in fact, alive, and need to make the most of the authentic life we have. Without the games, without the suffering, it would be simple to forget. That's the reward we get from racing and from suffering, far above and beyond any trophies or prize money we might or might not win. It's a reminder that we are alive in this increasingly dead and uninspired world. And that's what keeps us coming back every weekend."
By Adam Hodges Myerson
Find the full (and excellent) article here.
