Gravé

Got a little time off work after doing a couple of weeks of long days. Had a nice recovery ride along the Hudson River yesterday and I attempted to explore going up the East River (there's supposedly a new bike path, according to the map) but I was stymied by the ever present construction. With little elevation gain to speak of, it was an easy and leg clearing spin. Today was much, much different. Temperatures were sweltering, the wind felt like a hair dryer. After threading my way across the GWB I took River Road again, hitting all the hills hard trying to improve my times from the last round. The heat cracked me on the last one waaaaay before the top and I had to grind my way up, nothing too unusual I guess. To my elation I discovered two sectors of strade bianche/ gravé in a state park--a happy ending to a wrong turn--and it caused me to reflect on this point of the season. Thing is, I miss the spring classics. Pretty badly (surprise, surprise). I miss the one day battles against the elements and the roads. It doesn't help that this year's Tour GC is a regular snoozefest. I've already come to the conclusion that this year's TdF is more interesting as a series of one day races. It may seem that Sky are lazy in the low and medium mountain stages but I'm enjoying all the interesting breakaways this year. And at least the French will be happy for once considering all the stage wins they've picked up. I guess it made me a little sentimental for Scotland and northern European riding. I certainly don't miss my bike, and while it looks like a replacement is farther and farther away as the days go by, I find myself still wanting to tackle tough, winding, narrow roads; nasty wind; mud at every corner; lashing rain. Like my favorite PRO Spartacus believes, each and every race is battle, it's a fight and I guess I connect to that. But on the other hand, I now have an awesome ironed-on bib tan. Back to reality, more searing blacktop, and more hills for the way home. At this point I was just trying to get home, I stopped to refill my big bottles twice, and I must admit, the argyle strip on Garmin-Sharp's Cervélo's is probably one of the nicest touches on any PRO bike (at the other end of the spectrum don't get me started on Sagan's "Tourminator." He's 22, he can get away with that now but soon it's gonna look childish and make him look like a sore winner).

Lou Maltese Memorial

After a month of not racing I got the fire back in my belly and entered into the Lou Maltese Memorial Race, a big open race--riders from outside the club could enter--in honor of one of the founders of my club, CRCA. With more unknown riders, and a few who had little if any racing experience, the peloton was nervous throughout the morning, despite the lack of rain. At certain moments I felt unsafe sitting 7th back off the front. I wasn't in the best of shape but I took a couple digs before missing the winning break (I knew the riders were strong, but I figured the group could pull them back eventually, unfortunately I was wrong). In some senses it was a thankfully uneventful race. I tried to make a jump about a half mile away from the finish line to pick up 5th place, but the pace was too high, I had too little left in the tank, and so I couldn't sustain enough of a gap. I didn't really want to get involved in a bunch sprint with several riders I had never seen before and had reserves about their handling ability so I sat up and came in towards the back to not risk a crash. Team SixCycle are watermarked accordingly, SKN Photography provided others. More photos from the Moto here and here, thanks to NYC Velocity/ "MQ." Like always, pics are of my group only, follow the jumps to see all photos of the day's racing.

The Alps, from John

The Alps, from Fraser

The Alps, from Toby

Palisades

Another scorcher of a day today, but at least sunny. Still didn't want to ride my normal loop, so I drove just across the river for a little scenic riding. To my elated surprise, SRAM was running a demo day at the shop I was going to meet my dad at. After speaking with a rep, I managed to get a pair of Zipp 404 Firecrests on my bike for the day. Call me crazy, but I wanted to try out the wheels on my bike instead of an S-works Tarmac SL4 with New SRAM Red and Zipp wheels and finishing kit. Headed down to the River Road which, as it turns out, is more poorly paved than Scotland. You read that correctly, I found a road worse than Scottish ones. I'm amazed too. Stretches were particularly cringe inducing seeing as I was on US$2500 wheels that weren't mine--but they ironed out a lot of the bumps and holes quite nicely, carbon wheels work much like a carbon frame: flexible in the right ways, stiff in the right ways. Nothing describes how these wheels rolled. They just wanted to go fast. They felt like they were slipping through the air; they held speed so incredibly well I felt like I was constantly on the brakes just to hold a constant speed. The ride was pleasant, if hot again. Rolling hills were a challenge but nothing savage. Fun day in the saddle, and I'm now most likely very loyal to Zipp, the wheels were incredible.

Press F5

9:30 to 6. Out of the house by 9:10. Same subway, same walk through the station. Same desk, same snack times, same type of lunch; read, analyze, write, repeat for next report. Head home, same train (same car sometimes even, so I'm close to the exit at my station). Tuesday morning, ride 3 laps of Central Park. Thursday evening, ride 3 laps of Central Park. Saturday and Sunday, if I was lucky, 3 laps of Central Park. Maybe race on the weekend. The daily grind shouldn't extend to my rides, or anyone's rides should it? Riding was feeling like work: it's almost more stressful than work trying to not hit anyone (you could never know until you ride NYC). After a over a month of doing the same 10k lap--with a couple of exceptions--I was more than ready for a change of scenery. Particularly after discovering so much more of Fife this past academic year. I drove out to the beach community where some of my favorite roads are. Its largely flat, like everywhere else on the Eastern Seaboard of the US, but there are some stiff rollers. The mostly quiet roads twist through woods and along bays or run flat, long, and straight (itd be a perfect road for a TT) along beaches. Weather was more sweltering than I expected, but still not like riding in the city itself where the building radiate extra heat. A couple of nasty bumps led to some handlebar slip--now I know why the PROs run aluminum cockpits at P-R and the RVV--but on the bright side a bike shop that usually nickels and dimes riders fixed it for me for free, even checking the tightness with a torque wrench. Anyways, back to the rollout; unfortunately, winds and false flats kept my legs churning away constantly. I headed towards the hills  but at the top of each hill I was greeted with a fast(ish), fun, flowing descent. Since there is little elevation gain they don't last terribly long and only a few could even be considered in the running for the term "technical." What they are is ego-boosting: just hard enough so you have to pay attention and steer the bike, but nowhere near dangerous or difficult enough to be worried about the risks. I must say, they are also a perfect fit for my race bike, which is not nimble enough for a crit but she loves swooping curves on descents and happily rails through them. My garmin (or my spotty mapping abilities) led me astray only a couple times and up interesting roads both times. All in all a refreshing, head-clearing ride and a necessary change of pace to the grind. I hate to rub things in, but written on a blackberry on the beach, with an ice cold beer next to my chair. Maybe, just maybe, prepared to hit the routine again. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be headed up the Hudson River. Stay tuned. And sorry for the lack of pictures, I forgot the camera, there will be plenty come August.