I'm on Twitter

As you can see to the right I am now on Twitter under the name cptcrnch. Since my tech guy got a better offer for the weekend of Nightmare my idea of having a live GPS update of where I was on the road got put in the can. So I will be posting updates through out the day of Nightmare as to where I am, how I am feeling, and other random thoughts that may pop into my head.

I will be using the next 7 days to get both me and the bike ready. I have one more good training

ride planned for tomorrow back in PA and then several easy 20 mile rides on tap to keep the legs loose. On Wednesday I am planning on cleaning my bike and going over it from top to bottom to make sure we don't have another problem like last year. But just in case we do I am bringing a second bike and extra wheel set - nothing is going to stop me this year.

Ride Safe!

Captain Crunch

P.S. The picture above is from the 2007 Nightmare

There's a story behind this photo

The above photo was taken on July 25th just above Ellenville NY. Jim came up to do a great 90 mile ride through the Catskills with me and afterward we met up with a bunch of other guys to watch the TdF declare the victor on Mount Ventoux.

July 25th is a day that I will remember as long as I live. I finally dropped Jim on a climb (Ulster Heights Rd). I have been riding with Jim for three years and consider him my mentor when it comes to the bike. To finally beat him on a climb is something I have been trying to do for quite some time now

The house we rode to (where the above picture was taken) was on top of a rather steep climb. It gains 700 feet in around 4 miles before leveling off for the last 1 mile. Granted he ran out of gas, but I was also running on emtpy on the climb. At the very bottom there was a very steep ramp and I acclerated just to keep the current pace. About a 1/4 of way up the road ramped up again and 90 degrees to the left. I looked back to see if Jim was still with me, only to my surprise to see that he was well off my wheel.

From there on I was going 110% trying to widen the gap. I have never been in so much pain on a climb - a combination of the distance, lack of fuel in the tank, and the climb itself. But I knew if I was suffering Jim was suffering more. By the end I had put somewhere around 3 to 4 mintues on him in a

Of course he will get his rematch on Gold Mine Rd. coming up sometime in August or September and I'm sure he will school me as he usually does. But for one day in July I was king of the mountain - the man being chased and not the one doing the chasing.

Best!

Captain Crunch

Nightmare

T-12 days until the biggest event of the season. The Deodate road race was canceled due to a lack of racers - but I will be picking up the Strasburg road race on Aug 29. One final tune up before GMSR.

See you on the road!

Captain Crunch

Union Vale Road Race

Things didn't quite go like I was hoping today. For starters a much stronger field showed up for the Cat. 4/5 race than the Housatonic Hills. Most of these guys come from NYC since it was only 1.5 hours away. Also, Kissena and NYVelocity each brought huge teams (looking at the confirmed list shows that NYVelocity brought 10 men), making it harder for us little guys who are a team of one.

The second problem was I ran too much drink mix in my water. By the middle of the second lap I was starting to get some mean stomach cramps. Fortunately there were neutral water bottles in the feed zone. I was able to grab one and by the end of the third lap I was starting to feel better. Another lesson learned. I won't be repeating that mistake again on the Nightmare.

Now for the actual race. It was 44 miles along a circuit of about 14 miles and 900 feet of climbing per lap. On the last lap we had a finishing climb that gained 600 feet in 1.5 miles at an average of around 18%.

The first lap was at a nice pace, as I thought it would be with the distance to be covered. From the beginning of the second it was game on. A flurry of doomed attacks went of the front. Most of the time though it was Kissena or NYVelocity guys, so their teams (understandably) were not helping in pulling the breaks back. We averaged a brutal pace of 21mph over the course of entire race until we hit the bottom of the final climb. On a course like this, that pace hurts - A LOT.

Since I knew I was having trouble sticking with the strong men up the climbs I would go to the front at the very beginning and slowly slide back so that by the top I was in the middle of the main group of 40 riders. The tactic worked well as I was able to stay between 5th and 10th wheel most of the race. I used the knowledge gained from Housatonic and hardly did any work on the front and this probably saved my race. By the finishing climb I was well positioned at the front of the group.

I knew I wouldn't be able to hang with the top guys on the climb. I simply rode my pace up the hill. It was hard as guys were going around me with the lead group but I knew if I played my cards right I would be able to catch most of them as they burned out further up the climb. The tactic worked and I was able to climb a good 15 or 20 places up between the halfway point of the climb and the top/finish line.

It just wasn't my day today with the field that showed up. I managed to get 17th out of 75. Not bad, but not a top ten. Although it wasn't what I was hoping for I am still happy with it. The field that showed up was really strong so simply the fact that I was able to stay up front all day until the very end makes me feel good. My first race of the season I was getting shelled at mile 10, but now I can stick with the big boys until the very end.

After today's race I still have high hopes of doing well at the Green Mountain race. Even though it's a 4/5 race, most of the fast 4's will probably be doing the cat. 4 only race leaving us a newbies to fight it out in the cat. 4/5.

By the way, Nightmare is less than 30 days away!

Best!

Captain Crunch

Furnace Hill

Still hard, but I'm getting faster on it!