Wednesday July 21, 2010

The Clam Fest Circuit race in Yarmouth, ME is one of our favorite races of the year, and we always pull out all the stops to have a good showing there. Why such a good race? Well, it’s a true circuit race – a short but technical 3.5 mile course with a bunch of 90 degree corners, a stiff little uphill and a sweeping downhill finish right in front of Yarmouth town center. One part crit, one part road race and always fast, it’s a race that plays to our strengths as a team and it’s always a thrill to ride in front of a large, cheering crowd. Last year, we had great results, with Bradshaw taking a painfully close second place and Jay scooping up a bunch of primes, so this year we were intent on building on this success.

We needed to make sure we had riders in the many breaks that were likely to happen and also to control the front end of the race and keep the pace as high as possible. Kyle found himself in an early move that lasted a couple of the 10 laps. Just as his breakaway came back to the field, James attacked to take one of the few primes on offer. A couple laps later, Colin, who was diligently patrolling the front of the field set James up for another big money prime.

By the halfway mark, it was clear we were stamping our authority on the race, just as we had wanted.

Then Dylan McNicholas of the CCB team launched a vicious solo attack. Dylan is one of the strongest and winningest bike racers in New England and his attack was nothing to take lightly. Jurgen mobilized and launched an attack of his own to hunt Dylan down. He went off the front with 6 other riders and within a lap had caught Dylan and solidified a seven man break that established and held an advantage of about 20 seconds over the field.

We were content to have Jurgen in the break – he’s a strong and aggressive rider and we knew he could pull off a good result. At the same time, we knew that Dylan would be all but impossible to beat in a sprint, especially since Dylan had a teammate with him in the break to perform lead-out duties. Up in the break, Jurgen knew this too and started devising tactics he could employ to get the better of Dylan and his other breakaway companions.

On the final lap, comfortable with their time-gap on the field, the seven guys in the break started attacking each other. Dylan launched and was brought back. Jurgen knew that the window of opportunity was open and immediately countered with an attack of his own. With about 2k to go in the race, Jurgen decided to go it alone, down a long, gradual decent into the course’s steep final climb, and down the finishing straight to the finish in front of Yarmouth town hall. His gamble paid off in a huge way as he was able to gap the chasing breakaway and maintain this gap through the finish.

A colossal two minute effort by Jurgen and a much-deserved huge win for the local guy and for the team.

Meanwhile, back in the field the team set up for the sprint finish and the remaining placings available. Colin took third and Bradshaw forth in the field sprint just behind Jonathan Page of Planet Bike and Chandler Delinks of CCB; good enough for 10th and 11th on the day.

Jurgen, the newest edition to team Embrocation, brought home the goods. Everyone on the team was ecstatic with the result.

And then, as is our custom, we ate…

(A special thanks to Don and Dana McEwan for being such great fans of the team and allowing us to use their photographs.)

  Tuesday July 13, 2010

The Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race is pretty much one of, if not the biggest stage race on our calendar this year. It was something we took seriously and had high expectations coming in. Like all bike races, there were some successes and some let-downs, but all in all, the 51st running of the Longsjo will go down in the record books as a success for team Embrocation. Let’s break it down…

(Images courtesy of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

Stage 1 – Circuit Race
The circuit race at Fitchburg is a doozie. It usually falls the second day of the race, so a clear race leader has been established and there’s been some softening of the legs from the TT the day prior. This year, however, the circuit race led off. 16 laps; 16 times up the finishing climb – a stiff uphill sprint that completed once doesn’t register with the body, but by the fifth or so time it begins to take its toll. This is a race where breakaways can and do form off the front of the group, so our plan was to monitor the front of the race and make sure we were in any major moves, while discouraging others. The plan worked, with Jurgen and James patrolling the front part of the race, both getting into early breaks and allowing other Embrocators to chill out and save energy for the later attacks that were sure to come. Sure enough, just as Jurgen and James had returned to the field from one mid-race attack, Jackson launched a counter-attack, dragging several riders with him. A relatively large break established itself and stayed away – Jackson, always eager and willing to fight to the bitter end, gave the best uphill sprint he could, but the strength in his legs couldn’t quite reach its full potential as he was boxed out by a couple riders in front on him and narrowly missed the podium with a more-than-respectable fourth place finish out of a 10 man break. Behind in the field sprint, James managed to place in the top 5 for some serious Embrocation representation on the circuit stage.

Stage 2 – Road Race
One of the monuments of New England bicycle racing, the Wachussett Mountain road race is, in fact, another circuit race, but in grander scale. We completed 7 laps of the course, each lap featuring a difficult climb – a two-tiered climb through the town of Princeton – about 4 minutes of climbing through the feedzone and down onto a false flat section. The plan for the day was not dissimilar from the previous day – control the race, make sure we were represented in every break and try to move James, Jurgen, Franny or Jackson up the GC or into a position where they could take a stage win. Again, the plan worked. Breakaways went up the road early; the first one with Colin, and a subsequent few with Jurgen and Jackson. Splits in the group were happening almost every lap at the top of the main climb. With the field strung out through the feed zone, a lead group of riders could get a gap from the main field, and with any luck, hold that gap. One such break went about mid-way through the race – a 4 main break with James in it. Eventually, 3 of these 4 riders would drift back to the main field, including James. One solo rider stayed in front of the field virtually the rest of the race. With one strong rider off the front and James tired from his time in the break, the rest of team Embro went to the front of the field and set a high pace in an attempt to bring the rider back and discourage any other attacks. At this point the plan was to set up Jackson for a stage result – he’d been riding strong all day and was the top-placed rider on the team at that point.

Colin burned himself out and faded off the back. So did Jurgen. Jackson did as much work as possible without dropping himself. The last time through the main climb, like on other laps, a group went clear of the main field at the top. A 6 man break established itself with about 12km to go. James, having recovered from his earlier efforts, was part of this final move – a last-ditch effort to stay in front of the main field and catch the solo leader. To make a long story short, the break was able to say in front of the main field for the remainder of the race. On the final climb to the finish line, James was able to best his breakaway companions with a final uphill sprint and in the last 50 meters catch and pass the solo breakaway to take the stage win. The team did their thing and James followed through with the best result possible on the day. Only a few moments after James, Jackson did what he does best and won the field sprint, gapping all other riders by about 5 seconds at the top of the hill.

For the team’s efforts they were rewarded with a stage win and a leader’s jersey for James.

Stage 3 – Time Trial
While the previous two days were perfect for Jackson, James and Jurgen, the TT was the say for Franny and Josh. Unfortunately, Josh, having done a great deal of work in the road stage to help the team, and suffering from the every-increasing heat levels had dropped out the day before. The time trial is an out and back, about 10 miles of relatively flat roads. Francisco did his thing and finished 13th on a day of blistering temperatures and very fast times. James and Jackson, both far from TT experts, suffered greatly and dropped down the GC – James, unfortunately but expected had the leaders jersey stripped from his back with extreme prejudice. Despite a few good times, notably by Jurgen and Franny, the TT was the weakest link of our race. Especially unfortunate given its supreme importance to the GC competition.

Stage 4 – Fitchburg Downtown Criterium
Since most of us are from Boston, we get a lot of crit practice and consider ourselves to be pretty good at them. So, we were all excited to tackle the final and fastest stage around downtown Fitchburg. The plan here was to control early on, try to facilitate breakaways in the middle third and if breaks did not stick then set up the sprint for either Kyle or Colin, both of whom felt confident in their sprinting abilities. Again, the team executed the plan. Early breaks didn’t get down the road without us in them or controlling them. Sadly none of these stuck, so we geared up for the sprint. Franny led out with two to go, pulling the field at remarkable speed until about 3/4 of a lap to go. James took over and pulled hard through the final turn at which point Colin and Kyle jumped with everything they had; Kyle pulling off in sight of the finish line, allowing Colin to open up a sprint. Like in the first race of the weekend, we came tantalizingly close to a podium – Colin finishing 4th on the stage by a fraction.

So, a stage win and three other top five finishes. Not too shabby. Yet another year where Fitchburg lived up to its reputation as one of the most difficult and storied races in the US.

  Thursday July 8, 2010

After a few weeks of using the Lazer Genesis, there is universal praise from team Embrocation riders. We got a bunch of these helmets from the folks over at Lazer and so far, they’re awesome.

The Genesis, along with the slightly lighter Helium model, are the top-level road race helmets from Lazer. We see now why Lazer Helmets are the hottest things on the market right now. The Genesis has a bunch of features that make it one of the best all-round helmets we’ve run into.

  Monday July 5, 2010

Some days your legs just don’t show up, for absolutely no reason at
all. Unlike on the road, there’s no place to hide in a mountain bike race. No teammates to sit behind; no wheel to draft. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world. I went out to Wisconsin feeling strong and climbing well, but come race time it felt like I was pedaling in triangles and going nowhere.

The Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) is one of the largest race series in the US. The Subaru Cup was their first shot at putting on a national-level event and they did a spectacular job. The XC course was a 6km loop winding all over Nordic Mountain – mostly twisty singletrack in the woods (thankfully, as it was hot as hell and a billion percent humidity – and, like Josh, I wilt like a little flower in the humid heat).

We’d poked fun at the Wisconsin alpine “mountain”; boasting 250 feet of vertical with two chairlifts, but the course designer had done a good job winding all over the mountain using every possible foot of elevation. After three laps of attempting to make my legs work, Georgia Gould was closing fast and I was mercifully pulled.

Short track, aka “the Hurricane of Pain”, was the following day and my legs felt a little better, perhaps opened up by the XC the day before.
It was a typically disgusting MTB short track course, with 100 feet of climbing in a 3 minute lap. I got a great start and maintained contact over the hill, despite being in full fight-or-flight mode and suppressing the urge to throw up. I managed to settle in behind Chloe Forsman and a Trek girl for a couple of laps. By then, I was feeling a little cooked and Chloe was just warming up. She took off, along with the Trek girl, and I chased fore a few more laps before Katie Compton was breathing down my neck and my race was over. I was joined in short order by almost all of the rest of the field, as Katie went on to lap all but 6 other riders by the finish.

The Super D was a couple hours after the short track. For those of you unfamiliar with what super D entails, it’s basically a mass-start downhill race with some climbing thrown in. Typically it’s a 7 minute race in which both downhillers and XC racers compete. The race started at the top of Nordic Mountain and ran one of the XC climbs in reverse. Due to the tight nature of the singletrack turns, it was hard to make much time on the descending, instead the time gaps would be made at the climb from the bottom up to the finish — which, while relatively short, when placed at the end of a 5 minute pedal-to-the-metal downhill, hurt like hell.

Because of the number of competitors, they decided to split the field into two waves of approximately 10 riders. I lined up next to Super D Queen, Kelli Emmett. She got the holeshot into the singletrack, with me right on her tail. Kelli bunny-hopped the first rock garden, which seemed like a great idea, so I tried to follow suit. Coming unclipped mid-air, I managed to tap into some ninja skills and land one-footed to recover without losing all of my speed or going off into the woods.

I’ve heard that athletes are great liars – your brain needs to lie to your body to convince it to go harder and faster when your muscles are already screaming. It’ll convince you to push a bigger gear; get out of your seat and hammer; it’s only 10 seconds more…

By the time we hit the climb, I was employing every trick in the book up that final climb to keep pushing in the third race in two days. I finished second in my heat behind Kelli, third overall, for my first podium in a national-level race (admittedly, some of the other pros headed for the airport after the short track). It was a great way to finish a less-than-stellar weekend.

  Friday June 11, 2010

It was supposed to be one of our focus races this year. The 2 day, 3 stage race in Litchfield County, Connecticut promises some of the best racing of the year, crammed into one weekend. It starts with a technical but fast time trial on Saturday morning. The Saturday afternoon circuit race is roller-coaster-like with a 3 mile, 3 corner course with a significant hill climb and screaming downhill in each lap. The road race on Sunday morning is a long 90 miles and seldom features a flat road. Coming into this road race, we had a handful of Embro riders in the top 20 in GC and had secured a couple top 10 finishes in the previous two stages. We’re a team that normally excels in the longer road races, so we felt confident that we’d have some solid results and maybe get a few riders moved up in GC. This is where things went somewhat pear-shaped, though. It actually turned out to be a (dare I say?) epic day, just not in the way we anticipated…

Colin recalled his series of events quite succinctly:

After the commissaire car for our field laughed at me when i asked where my support was (Me:“how do i get home without wheel support” Official: “I don’t know”); after i stood in the rain on some random corner in the middle of nowhere for about an hour; after the cat3 support car actually stopped and yelled to me that they wouldn’t help me (not couldn’t, but wouldn’t… wrong field?!); after i listened to you guys crash via the police band with a local fireman (“multiple bicycle rider crash”,4 transports!” ); a dropped 3, who had been given a 9sp campy rear for his ten speed SRAM drivetrain when he got ‘supported’, found me. when he inflated my rear with his spare tube and a compressed air cartridge it froze to his hand because of the biblical rain and PV=nRT. which was actually kind of cool.

Steve Francisco dropped a story on us that we couldn’t make up even if we tried. Here he relates his experience of the weekend:

Leading into last weekends race was a bit crazy for me.

- I finally received my TT rig the weekend before. Built it up, rode it for a few hours on Monday.
- Rode the Tuesday Night Championships and felt like ass.
- Dialed in my TT position on Wed night via SKYPE with my coach from CO.
- Recovery ride on the TT rig for an hour on Thursday to get used to the position.
- Opener workout on the TT rig on Friday – and felt like ass again.

The week was pretty much wrapped up – and all I needed to do on friday was attend my daughter, Olivia’s end of the year ballet recital. 7pm on Friday – and ended at 10pm. It was great – and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

At 10:30pm I met Jake Hollenbeck and we drove to Saratoga Springs so that we would have a shorter drive in the morning. Got to my parent’s house in Saratoga around 1:00am – and went right to sleep.

Up and out at 6:30am – Uncommon Grounds was closed – so we had to hit the bagel shop. And, we were on the road to CT.

Got there no problem, and the TT went off. It was my fourth ride on the TT rig, and my first P/1/2 Stage Race, and first real TT race. All the Embrocators had solid rides and it was super fun to see everyone so stoked to be there and racing together. I had a pretty solid time in the TT, I didn’t really feel like I went as hard as I should have – but I’m still trying to figure out how to pace out my effort over those distances and in that position. Overall, we had Cory in 12th on GC and me in 21st (which was just crazy… right?) Josh and Bradshaw were all right up there too.

The Circuit Race in the afternoon was crazy fast for me – I was getting tail whipped around the middle to back of that pack all race, but we all managed to stay safe – and James and Bradshaw were up there at the sharp end of the race pretty much the whole time with Cory and probably a few others, but, I couldn’t really tell because my head was down most of the time – just trying to get used to the pace and accelerations. I think Cory, James and Bradshaw where right up there at the end too…. studs.

That road race on Sunday was crazytown. I’ve heard multiple different stories on how it all “went down” – but all I can remember is this: it started pretty chill for the most part; some early attacks and racing at the front was pretty fun – and for the first time (for me this year) I was able to ride pretty comfortably at the front end of the field. In fact, for most of the race – up until the cluster fuck at around mile 60 – we had almost all of us up there. It was so cool to see four, five or six of the baby blues clustered up at the front. After the first feed zone – the pace started to pick up – and as the road surface got worse the rollers got bigger and steeper – putting most of the back half of the field in difficulty. I recall flying down a really shitty road – and banging a super hard right hand turn – and having to go pretty much as hard as I have ever gone on a bike – to stay with the front end of the race. For me, this was a completely different sport from racing CAT 3 – I was holding my position, but just barely. James and Bradshaw were up at the front – trading punches and just beating the shit out of one another. I faded off the tail end of that group – and proceeded to try and TT myself back on over the next several rollers. I saw a small group with Josh in there coming up behind me – so I dialed it back a bit – and just as they caught me, we all ended up catching back to the front group. Once we made contact – we started down a steep pitch – and watched the first 15-20 riders all hit the deck on the metal bridge. We were coming down this hill at around 40mph – and just barely had enough time to skid to a stop and walk our bikes across the bridge. James went down, but got right back up and back on his bike. He was covered from head to toe in mud – it was crazy mud – like ‘cross mud.

So, we soft-pedaled for a bit until whoever felt like racing after that crash was able to get themselves together and get back up and rolling. From there it really became a blurr of a fast single file pace – up and down in severe downpours and thunder – through the next feed zone until we brought back the group containing Bradshaw. It was just about then that, almost all together – we realized that we were back on the first loop of the course and heading in the exact opposite direction of the finishing town. With no support vehicles or lead cars, we must have missed the critical turn. By this time our group had drastically dwindled, by people either coming off the back due to the pace or just figuring out on their own that we were hammering down the road in the wrong direction.

At about our furthest point, after multiple u-turns, Bradshaw flatted. We figured we would send someone back to get him once we finished. 3 miles later I flatted. Josh kept going with the small group, heading back to the finish and planned to send someone for me too. So, I walked along the edge of the road for about 20min, until a chick wearing a International Bicycles kit rolled up on me on her way back from feeding at the feed zone. She didn’t have anything to help fix my flat so she was just going to ride along while I walked. After a minute or so she suggested that I shoulder my bike and she would give me a ride (ala Chris Horner @ Cascade last summer). So, I threw my bike over my shoulder and hopped on her bike. She sat, pretty much, on my lap and pedaled while I balanced us by dragging my feet – and holding onto her shoulder. We rolled like this for about 2 or 3 miles (by this time, I was “getting to know” this cute chick from International Bicycle pretty well.) No, I didn’t get her name, but she was cool about it… ya know?

After rolling for a while a car finally stopped and asked if they could help. There were two couples in the car, one was a local couple that lived in Colebrook, CT and the other was their friends visiting from Holland. We took my wheels off and put my bike in their trunk and I jumped into the back seat next to this beautiful Dutch woman. By this time, I am completely soaked, covered in road spray, and trying not to make a mess of the back seat of the car. The Dutch guy was driving and asking me all kinds of questions about racing here in the states and trying to understand how the race went so incredibly wrong, to the point that I had gotten lost and flatted without the support vehicles. He was in pure amazement at my story – he was only making the whole thing even better.

So, they brought me back to the finish area where I got out of the car and re-assembled my rig. At that point, the head official came running over to make sure I was okay and thanked the people for bringing me home. Once I explained what had happened, with Josh calmly supporting the veracity of my story, she told me to put my helmet back on and to just walk across the finish line.

That’s pretty much what I can recall from the experience. Pretty crazy.

  Thursday May 27, 2010

SRAM’s Red components took the road cycling world by storm when it was unveiled a couple years ago: The first sub 2000 gram group; the first group with standard ceramic bearings in bottom bracket and derailleur pulleys and the ultimate expression of SRAM’s DoubleTap shift feature.

Kyle summed up his thoughts about SRAM Red rather succinctly:

“Ever since I’ve owned a road bike, it’s been Campy and nothing but Campy. Why? Because it was the best – or so I thought until this season. I’ll admit, I’ve “made the leap” BIG TIME. The best way to describe my experience with Red is “beautiful simplicity”. Not overly complex in design, very tight springs, and a pop that instills confidence with every shift. As a sprinter, my favorite feature is the ability to grip the paddle and shift in full flight – no hesitation, no loss of speed, and no worry about dumping your cassette. It is, bar none, the best performing, maintenance-free group I’ve ever used.”

Laflamme was so moved by the SRAM items that he wrote a veritable essay:

When word was passed down late last year that new team rigs would be fit with SRAM Red I was intensely ambivalent. That is, I had heard Red described by recreational weekend warriors and devoted racing friends alike with superlatives and eyes glinting in mischievous disbelief. Like many of them, I was coming off of a high level of fidelity to Shimano’s Dura-Ace. My partiality was born of season after season of light weight, precise, reliable, (and most importantly for me) easily serviceable road group. Despite hearing time after time that Red was far and away the better road group I was still incredulous. Here are some of my initial impressions after a few weeks of use:

When comparing products such as Dura-Ace and Red the subtleties are where the important differences lie. One of my concerns was that having the downshifting area reduced from the entirety of the Shimano lever to the comparatively small Red DoubleTap lever, I would misshift frequently when riding cross eyed either up a climb or in the drops and be forced to modify my hand position to compensate.

Thankfully, this seemingly insignificant phobia turned out to be just that, insignificant. After a ride or two and subsequent adjusting and micro adjusting, the Red hoods allowed for comfortable hand position and easy up-shifting while both in the drops and on the hoods. I attribute this primarily to the shape and length of the hoods which feel even more nature to my Shimano conditioned hands than the DA.

However, I would like to see decreased throw to actuate the up-shift. In a strict ease-of-up-shift competition SRAM Red loses to Shimano Dura-Ace (though not by much). But this is compensated for by a superior up-shift (and we all now going harder is more virtuous than going easier. It’s nice to have a component manufacture shadow that sentiment).

It has always been my contention that a racer should know his equipment backwards and forwards. Because of this I typically do all, or most of my installation and repair work and have a higher than normal appreciation for little subtle pieces of engineering. On this front Red did not disappoint. Two things that caused me to nod in silent approval were 1- the rear derailleur cable routing INTO the derailleur itself (the cable routes towards the back allowing to achieve higher tension while installing a cable than with the DA) 2- easily accessible tension adjusters on the brake calipers.

Installation was seamless once I discovered that shift cables route from the INSIDE of the hood (never build up a new bike in a dark room 4-5 beers deep). In respect to ease of installation I found the SRAM Red group to be even easier than installing Shimano Dura-Ace. At first blush SRAM Red appears to be every bit as easy to service as well, should the need arise.

Ultimately, I’m going to have to give the SRAM Red group an enthusiastic nod of approval. All of my misgivings proved to be ill-founded (save the cable holding, which is a dying dream either way) and when considering weight and dollar bills, SRAM wins out easily over Dura-Ace.

  Monday May 24, 2010

Why did we, instead of sending a full roster to the Sunapee Road Race or other legitimate races, commit ourselves instead to the Gentlemen’s race hosted by Rapha? Well, for starters it’s a good break from the usual race schedule. It’s also great training for the upcoming stage race season. More than that, though it’s a team-building exercise – a 120 mile team time trial effort over large hills, most of them dirt. Six teammates working as best they can, in unison, to beat 14 other teams doing the same. To level the playing field, Rapha organized a system of staggered starts: the teams started on the course, slowest to fastest, over the course of an hour and a half. First to the line is the winner.

We brought a solid team, with aspirations of victory. Jay, Jackson, Pete Smith, Josh, Pete Bradshaw and James represented Embrocation out on the roads (and dirt paths) of Litchfield County, Connecticut this past Saturday. Pierre and Steve Francisco were also there, racing for the Rapha Continental team, and as such were our competition for the day.

The defining characteristic of the course (actually designed by Pierre) were the rocky dirt roads; extremely rocky. This led to a multitude of flat tires for many teams – 5 in total for us. In the end this would prove the difference between victory and defeat. It would seem the key to victory in this race is to ride, flat-free for as long as possible while not dropping any teammates – finishing with anything less than a full compliment of 6 riders is grounds for disqualification.

In the end we finished second, despite our many flat tires and despite a couple of our riders enduring soft patches and near-bonking toward the end of the brutal day. Here’s a little snipped on an email Josh sent to the rest of the team the following day:

_To all those who supported me yesterday:
An agent of the spirit world was swirling above me, inviting me to
cross over to the other side. But you guys kept me inside the circle
of the living.

And I just want to say, thanks._

That pretty much sums it up. That and these pictures:

  Wednesday May 12, 2010

Ridley’s flagship Helium is our official team issue road bicycle for the 2010 season. It’s the lightest frameset the Belgian company offers, but in the best of Ridley tradition the focus is on durability and stiffness first.