Sounds Like Now
A blog by saxophonist Brian Sacawa
Archive for Cycling
August 10, 2007 at 7:09 pm · Filed under Blog: Summer 07, Cycling
The wedding excitement has been pretty consuming, but I have been racing my bike. Last Saturday was the Pleasant Valley Road Race out in western Maryland. This was the most brutal race I’ve ever done. The course wasn’t really that tough, but at 100-degrees with humidity, the weather proved to be a huge factor. Mostly though, the weather was simply annoying. So much so that I got a little impatient. It all started about 15 miles into the 42-mile race. Anybody who’s raced Cat4 knows that breaks are never allowed to go. So on the second lap, when a rider was allowed to ride off the front and then seemingly increase his advantage over a few miles it started to seem like the heat might have started to break the field’s will. Still, one rider off the front a break does not make. But when another rider began to bridge up to him—a guy I’d raced with before and knew to be quite strong—I applied my Cat2-level sprint liberally and jumped out of the pack (after politely asking another rider on the front if I could get in front of him). I bridged to the first guy up the road and then together we bridged to the original solo attack. We were three. Cool.
We were able to get out of the field’s sight, which is a huge psychological blow for the field. If they see you dangling in front of them, it’s easy for them to get motivated and pull you back. But if you’re out of sight, you can break their will. This was really early in the race to attempt a break, but I thought if we could build up our advantage enough (and for long enough) that the field would just resign themselves to the fact that we’d made a winning move. We quickly built up a 40-second advantage, but it also became evident that the original instigator was not as strong as the other guy and myself. His pulls were really lame—my power meter confirmed this. Anyhow, it seemed like once we got a time check with our advantage coming down just a bit, the other strong guy kind of decided he didn’t want to contribute any more.
Honestly, I was kind of in a bad mood and decided to completely commit to this reckless break. I managed to stay out front on my own for about 10 miles, but got reeled in by the group, which seemed about 75 riders smaller than when I attacked. I rode along in the bunch for a bit and was just so damn hot that I decided to abandon. This was a first for me. It just wasn’t worth suffering in that heat for another 15 miles. I was much prouder of that DNF than if I’d sat in the entire race and got 10th place. At least I did something in the race. Though my coach said something that made me rethink my decision a little: “You need to let the field get rid of one of the stronger riders, rather than do the job for them.” So I picked up some good advice as well as an infection, which has hampered training this week. And the Tour de Christiana starts tomorrow. But I’ll still be lining up and hoping to contest in spite of it all.
July 14, 2007 at 4:10 pm · Filed under Blog: Summer 07, Cycling
So, you ride a great race. You stay out of trouble and tucked in the bunch. You cover a couple attacks to show that you’re willing to work and to avoid the post-finish line snide remarks (”Dude, that guy just sat in the entire time and didn’t work at all. What an…). You hammer to fight for good position going into the last critical corner, knowing that a touch of the brakes will end your race. You’re sixth wheel going into the final corner—in other words, perfect position. You know that you don’t have a sprinters’ profile so when you come out of the corner’s apex you rise out of the saddle and hit it hard, intending to bury yourself for the last 750 meters in hopes of surprising the sprinters—your only chance at victory. But then your chain comes off and your race is over. Yeah, so that’s how it went today.
May 31, 2007 at 4:07 pm · Filed under Blog: Spring 07, Cycling
How Brian Becomes Irritable During a 2.5 Hour Bike Ride
- Headwind going out and coming back
- Bitch in SUV insists on passing me on a descent despite the fact I am traveling in excess of 50mph
- Gears keep slipping on steep climbs
- 90-degree heat plus humidity
- Bad pavement
May 31, 2007 at 11:53 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 07, Cycling
For most people who don’t follow professional cycling, I imagine the sport seems like a very individual pursuit. But teamwork—an often overlooked portion of professional cycle racing—plays an incredibly important role. The only race that Americans pay ay attention to is the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong’s 7-year dominance of it before his retirement 2 years ago. But there’s no way that Lance could have won any of those Tour de France without the team that he handpicked for himself. CSC, who have had their share of scandal recently (first Basso, then Riis) built their successes on solid teamwork. That’s one thing I loved about racing for Team Aggress in Arizona—we were all in the race to help each other or the rider we’d designated as the contender for any particular race. When I crashed out of the crit last year, I was blocking for my teammate who was soloing off the front. This year, that same teammate set up our friend Brian for the AZ Crit Championship with a selfless move on the last lap. However, the award for best teammate has to go to Leonardo Piepoli at this year’s Giro. Sacrificing any individual glory, which he had rightly earned, he gave Riccó Stage 15 and allowed Gibo reclaim some of his past glory on Stage 17. What a guy.
May 9, 2007 at 7:20 pm · Filed under Blog: Spring 07, Cycling
Okay, it’s been a while since we’ve commented on the world of professional cycling here at SLN, but it’s about time to chime in on recent developments. First a quick question: In Lance Armstrong’s last two Tours de France, name the only two riders who were able to stay with him on some of the most demanding stages? Don’t bother looking for statistics, here’s the answer: Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich. So what, you say? Then this little thing called Operación Puerto happened, which has become the biggest doping scandal in cycling since the Festina Affair at the 1998 edition of the TdF. So Jan’s been implicated in the debacle and has since retired from the sport. And Basso finally got that monkey off his back by admitting his guilt. So here’s what I say: Come on, Lance. Who are you kidding? Honestly?
December 17, 2006 at 5:12 pm · Filed under Blog: Fall 06, Cycling
Stats: Time: 3:04:40; Distance: 51.67 miles; Avg Watts: 172; Kilojoules: 1906.
Playlist: Warren G, “Regulate”; Amerie, “1 Thing”; Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, “Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby)”; Lupe Fiasco, “The Instrumental”; Jay-Z, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”; Gorillaz, “November Has Come”; Lupe Fiasco, “Kick, Push”; Jay-Z, “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”; Kanye West, “Drive Slow”; Jamie Lidell, “A Little Bit More”; Mobb Deep & 50 Cent, “Outta Control (Remix)”; The Chemical Brothers, “Hold Tight London”; Jamie Lidell, “When I Come Back Around”; Gorillaz, “Dirty Harry”; Kanye West, “Heard ‘Em Say”; Dr. Dre, “Still D.R.E.”; Jay-Z, “Can I Get A…”; Kanye West, “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”; Gorillaz, “Fire Coming Out Of The Mountain”; Jay-Z, “Kingdom Come”; Kanye West, “Touch the Sky”; Des’ree, “You Gotta Be”; [Repeat 1X + 3 songs]
Items Consumed: 1 bidon of water, 1 bidon of orange Gatorade, 1 20oz bottle of Coca-Cola, 1 chocolate PowerBar, 1 oatmeal raisin walnut CLIF Bar; post-ride: 1 glass of Endurox w/ 2 tablets of creatine monohydrate.
Something I have known for a long time but was reminded of again today: Coca-Cola is the best energy drink, especially 2 hours and 35 minutes into a ride.
July 27, 2006 at 10:35 pm · Filed under Cycling
No! No! No! Please, Floyd. Say it ain’t so! I hate myself for thinking this, but when the UCI announced yesterday that one rider had tested positive for a banned substance during this year’s Tour, I immediately thought the worst—was it possible that Floyd’s Stage 17 epic was simply too spectacular? Like, illegal spectacular? My (and plenty of other cycling fans’) worst fears were realized when Phonak confirmed today that Landis was indeed the rider in question, which accounts for his mysterious absence from two post-Tour crits in Europe.
It’s sad that when a rider does something special like Floyd on Stage 17—or Roberto Heras overcoming an awful crash in last year’s Vuelta to topple Menchov—we almost automatically begin to speculate that there might have been something other than that rider’s ability, heart, or desire involved. What about Basso’s virtuosic Giro performance? Who can look back at that now and not wonder (although the jury is still out)? It’s really too bad for the sport. I still love cycling. And I still think Floyd’s clean as well as the man. There’s got to be an explanation, like he was probably so pissed off and embarrassed the night after his Stage 16 implosion that his body simply made all that extra testosterone in his fury. I mean, come on, the only thing Floyd ever did wrong was wear bad sunglasses.
July 11, 2006 at 8:44 am · Filed under Cycling
An appropriate image on the eve of the Tour’s first big day in the mountains. Will there be a major sorting out tomorrow? I’m not even going to hazard a guess. However, I’ll wager that Rasmussen puts in a big KOM bid on Thursday. [Image courtesy of Brother Pachucki.]
July 11, 2006 at 8:00 am · Filed under Cycling
I’ve seen plenty of cycling videos over the years—many Tours de France, several Giros, spring classics, Hell On Wheels, and so on, and on, and on. However, I recently watched a DVD that became immediately one of my all-time favorites: PRO - A Feature Documentary. Here’s a brief synopsis from the film’s website: “Using [the 2004] US PRO Championship in Philadelphia as its canvas, the film follows riders from every one of the major teams through the experience of Philly week and goes behind the scenes to learn what it takes to orchestrate and execute a victory at the most prestigious one day classic in American bike racing.”
Serious cycling fanatics will love the detail—the discussion and execution of team tactics, etc.—and marvel over the riders’ abilities and ability to suffer, like Danny Pate and Mike Sayers of Health Net driving a ridiculous break and putting the hurt on pretty much all by themselves for the better part of 100 miles, or Chris Horner attacking once, getting caught, and then going again from the bottom of Manayunk Wall all the way to the top causing complete carnage (although the move ultimately didn’t succeed). And while July cycling fans might not know the names of Danny Pate or Mike Sayers or Gord Fraser or Chris Horner or Erik Saunders or Mark McCormack, it doesn’t matter because the film takes you into their lives and into their minds, in the days leading up to the race and even months before the race. You get to know these riders as people—what makes them tick, what drives them, what their fears are. It puts faces on a sport that can sometimes seem anonymous as we watch the peloton roll by on OLN. That, and you get a play-by-play, lap-by-lap account of how tactics are playing out, what their immediate and likely consequences are and will be, what “needs to” and “should” happen, and why certain riders and teams are doing what they are doing.
All of this combined not only makes an exciting video, but also provides a way into the sport of professional cycling, which can often seem esoteric and disorganized to those who don’t follow the sport regularly. (I’d give it 5 Netflix stars if I could. But they don’t carry it!)
July 8, 2006 at 2:52 pm · Filed under Blog: Summer 06, Cycling
Here’s a common question: why do cyclists shave their legs? Many people think that cyclists shave their legs to reduce drag, much like a swimmer. However, cutting through the wind and slicing through the water are somewhat different and as a result, shaved legs have almost no effect on aerodynamics. I always answer this question with a story. Here goes.
So. Do you drive a car? [A: Yes.] Do you have insurance for your car? [A: Yes.] When you drive your car, do you expect to crash it? [A: No.] But you still have insurance, right? Just in case? [A: Yes.]
For a cyclist, shaving your legs is like having insurance for your car. You don’t expect or plan on crashing, but it might happen. There are several benefits to shearing yourself. First, if you hit the pavement, you will likely slide on it, creating a wonderful abrasion known as “road rash.” Sliding on the road with hairy legs will actually create a worse wound as the hair will rip more skin off. Second, shaved legs make cleaning the wound much easier. Third, as the wound heals, you do not have to worry about an infection caused by hair healing in the wound.
Enough gore. Here are a few other benefits: 1) massage is easier and less painful, 2) perspiration will evaporate faster, which has a cooling effect, and 3) it just looks nice.
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