More Quotes

It stopped raining in Hanover and I want to ride my bike, but I have things to do. To remedy this problem, here are a few cycling quotes.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.
-- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1896

It never gets easier, you just go faster.
-- Greg LeMond

l'Enfer Du Nord

Final collegiate bike races of the season... :( But it was awesome that the races were hosted at Dartmouth. The weekend started with a TTT (I wasn't going to do it, but I was needed to complete a team). It was hard, by far the most difficult TTT I had done (up the hills on Rt. 10 at River Road and Chieftain Hill for those from the Hanover area). So after that my legs were pretty shot. Later in the day we had a crit right on campus - we had frat brothers cheering for Dartmouth riders off their porches! For the weekend I moved up a category to race the harder road race course. So needless to say my mediocre crit abilities were even more mediocre in men's C. I did alright considering I was pretty tired already from the TTT and racing up a category.

Sunday was quite an epic road race. It was the longest circuit in ECCC history, going up two very formidable climbs, a total of 51 miles. I was feeling pretty good until the first hill came up, then I dropped like a rock to near the back of the pack... My legs were pretty dead from the last two races. But the following downhill was some of the most fun I had had on a bike to that point. I got in a paceline and we were able to make up a ton of time on the main pack, catching them by the bottom of the next climb. Since the receiver part of my computer broke off last weekend in my crash I didn't know how fast our paceline was going, but I heard someone say over 50 mph (sorry Mom if I'm scaring you, I wasn't in mortal danger). However, pushing hard in the downhill makes it difficult to keep with the pack in the next uphill... so I dropped off again. The great thing about bike races and my bad leg strength and good cardio strength is that I can be pushing as hard as my legs can go, but be able to hold a conversation with someone else. My trip up the final long, very long, hill was quite entertaining - I caught a few people, met some new people, had some chats, it was fun! Then the next downhill was even more fun than the first. I wasn't able to keep my place since I didn't push as hard as I should have over the top of the hill, but it was long and twisting and I was alone so I didn't feel bad using the whole road. It was sooooo much fun, it even made up for the horrible climb that preceded it. After the downhill I met up with a group of people and we pacelined really hard for the rest of the 15 or 20 miles left (again no bike computer). Sadly I saw the finish line ahead but didn't really comprehend it, so I finished last of my group... I finished exactly 8 minutes out of the lead, so pretty good, not great, but not a poor showing by any means.

After the weekend was over, with our great performances by Men's A riders, as well as everyone else, Dartmouth won the Eastern Championship!!! First time in a long time, that has happened apparently. If you'd like to look at results go to http://www.velocityresults.net/results/ and you can find finish line photos of the winners and results for all year.

And there's also Bike and Build stuff! I have fell far behind with all this racing recognizing people who have supported this wonderful cause. So here goes a long list! First there's my Mom, thanks Mom! Also a big thank you to my Uncle Bob and Aunt Karen for their generous donation. Thanks to the McMahons and the McCambridges as well as Petter and Janet Jahnsen. Jane Burri and Peter Sapin, and Gordon and Linda Wetzel also deserve thanks, and finally, last and certainly not least, Larry and Mary Lou Pratt!

phew lots of names! That means we can help more and more people! With everything that Bike and Build has received, everyone has donated $6542! That is AWESOME! So I guess I'll have to set a new goal... In the month and a half I'd like to try to get another $1000 to bring my total to $7500 before the start of the trip on June 18th! Only 50 more days!

Thanks everyone, and happy biking

Rubber side up

For the record, this is the second time I've typed this us. My computer crashed and lost the first version...

Last weekend was the UVM bike races, the last weekend before L'Enfer du Nord, the ECCC championships at Dartmouth. The first day was the TTT and road race, the second was the crit on the UVM campus. The TTT went fine, we didn't go all that hard, were very unorganized, and ended up halfway down the field. I was more excited for the road race though since it ended on a 20% climb up Mt. Philo outside of Burlington, VT. Being a smaller, 145 lbs biker with a semi-low gear, I like climbs. UVM has a bunch of wonderful race courses around Burlington, but instead of using the many scenic paved roads, they decided that it would be cool for a third of the race to be on a dusty, potholed, packed dirt road. Don't get me wrong, I like dirt roads, but not as much for long parts of races. This wasn't a short connector between two awesome pavement roads, this was a lot of dirt for no real reason...

I started the road race feeling GREAT. I could move up and down in the pack with little effort, I sat about 5 or 6 wheels back from the front of the pack (so somewhere around 15th). I probably should have been higher up in the pack, but I wanted to get some other Dartmouth riders together before moving up there. Around five and half miles into the race (on the dirt) there was a long somewhat winding downhill with more than it's fair share of potholes. Just my luck, the Harvard rider sitting two wheels up from me hit a pothole head on and started to crash. The guy slightly behind him and to the right (we were on the far left side of the pack) from Yale hit him, and then next came me. I had three choices, swerve right and take out most of the pack, go left and go head on into a tree, or just go straight through the two of them. As I really had no time to react (and my eyes were probably closed by then accepting my fate) I went head on, without really breaking, into the two riders and their bikes. After the impact I remembered a Yale rider going over me as I looked up at the sky, thinking "oh man that hurt a bit".

After that I got up and made sure everyone was fine (there were 4 crash victims), no big injuries to report, and after a minute or so, I checked out my bike, surprisingly it was ridable. After fixing the seat and picking up my water bottle I set off again, solo, with some road rash on my elbow, upper arm and knee. I was able to complete the race, but without the benefit of a pack, around 12 minutes out of the lead.

The next day my luck turned a bit, I was able to have the best Crit for me ever. I finished at the back of the lead pack, much better than last weekend's off the back, getting pulled from the race.

So for now I'm looking ahead to next weekend's races, while nursing my bruised and bloodied (well not too much blood) body.

Rubber side down

"Rubber side down", seems like one of the only things I did right this weekend at Boston Beanpot Classic races. I came into the weekend thinking I would do much better than I actually ended up, really no one to blame but myself here. Taking time consuming classes and only riding... three times before the TTT (team time trial for those not into racing) was probably not the best idea. My cardiovascular system seems fine, I can get plenty of oxygen and I'm not hyperventilating or anything, just my leg muscles don't seem to like going that fast... I would stand up to sprint and my legs would feel like dead weights. On the bright side, I had a blast - the cycling team is a lot of fun and the TTT did go well, my team got 5th. I will definitely be doing more riding before the UVM races. I did achieve one of my goals of not falling in corner #2 of the Beanpot Crit, it actually was surprisingly easy especially since my field was going to slow around the corners...

So yes, conclusion of my long rambling, nonsensical post is that I am slow and somewhat out of shape, but bike racing is fun and spending the entire weekend with new friends is equally awesome, so go ride bikes! It will make you feel great!

Also a few notes, I would like to thank my Aunt Mary Lee, Nan & Andy Satter, and Linda & David Duff for their generous donations in support of my ride. My goal by the beginning of the trip is to reach $5000, which is definitely possible. I think with these last donations I should be up around $4700 so far. Thanks to all my donors for their support!

So I guess I forgot to mention what bike I will be riding across the country on... whoops. It is a Specialized Allez Triple (yes I am not giving in to the racing part of my brain that said get a double). It will be outfitting (besides with stock componentry) with my racing pedals, Look Keo Carbons, and my saddle (of which I have two since I like it so much), a Selle Italia C2. Do I have a picture of it on my camera, yes - do I have a way to get said picture onto my computer, no, since I can't find the cable, it is lost somewhere in the depths of my room. So the picture from the website will have to suffice.
Of note, the Specialized website say it has a carbon seatpost, it looks awfully like an aluminum seatpost wrapped with carbon, but it all works for me, I don't really care that much...

Now go ride your bike!

$4000!!!

YES, so I forgot to look on the Bike and Build website before posting that last post and it looks like over the weekend I have reached by $4000 goal. A super thanks to Mary Jo and Bob Cadieux, the Klopfers, Tammy Clayton, and Tim and Anne Stone! Their help pushed me over the $4000 mark. If you haven't donated yet but were thinking about it, definitely do it! 100% of all your donation will be put to use to house families facing housing problems, no administrative costs or anything taken out.

So I looked back and it seems like I forgot to mention my Grandma Denman in my long lists of thank yous. So thank you very much Grandma for all your support, not just in the form of a check, but also backing me mentally as well. All your help is greatly appreciated, and I'm sorry I didn't put you in the first time.

Just a few stats, in 2001 98 million Americans (that's 41% of all Americans!!) are facing either cost burdens (paying more that 30% of their income on housing, the general line used by pretty much everyone in the government and NGOs), overcrowding, or a physical inadequacy of housing. 11 million of those are "worst-case needs". That means they recieve no government assistance, make less that 50% of the area medium income, pay more than 50% of their income on housing, and live in housing with severe physical inadequacies (no hot water, electricity, toilets, bathtubs or showers). Of those 11 million, 3.6 million are children, 1.4 million are elderly, and 1.3 million are disable adults. That is what your donation goes to. This are solutions to this, there is very little adequate affordable housing, and groups like Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together allow some of those 98 million Americans the opportunity to help build their own house, and buy it using a no-interest mortgage on their terms, for a selling price that is exactly equal to the price it took the build it, no mark ups, no profit. This system works, we just need more help! You can help.

19%

In keeping with our number titles. That is the peak hill gradient I climbed on a group ride with 6 other Dartmouth Cycling team members. I decided that in order to do well in the Boston Beanpot races this weekend, I should probably do some riding. Maybe I should have started out a little easier... This ride is called the "28 Miles of Hell", for those of you familiar with the Dartmouth area a description from Cosmo Catalano '04 can be found here. This ride consists of 5 of the hardest climbs in the immediate vicinity. Hills are normally my specialty, but being out of bike shape, not eating lunch, and the shear number and size of these hills made this a VERY difficult ride. I could barely stand up to shower afterward. You know it is going to be a difficult climb when you see at the bottom a sign that says "Trucks use low gear: 19% grade". In addition to the steepness, some of the hills were still covered in sand so whenever your back tire would go over a sandy patch you would skid out, almost causing me to start rolling backwards...

In other news, I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow, I plan on using every available elevator.

Quotes of the day

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.
--Ernest Hemingway

I thought of that while riding my bike.
-- Albert Einstein on his theory of relativity

That is all.

92.05%

No, not the percent I just got on my last physics test, the progress I have made raising $4000. That comes out to be $3682 to be exact. If I reach $4000 and you still would like to donate, don't worry, you still can. Of the first $4000, some of that goes to administrative costs (yeah I know, but there are always other costs), but after $4000 one hundred percent of the donation goes to the Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity or one of the many other programs that we give grants to along the route. Speaking of which, if you know of an affordable housing project that is run or executed mainly by college aged young adults (18-25 is the range Bike and Build gives), let them know about these grants that Bike and Build gives. More information can be found on the grant part of the Bike and Build website.

On another note, I haven't yet thanked my latest donors. So a huge thank you to the Gerleks, the Hignites, Anchorage's favorite Fireweed 400 family team, the Cravez's, sadly I will miss it, some friends of mine were going to go for the 4 person mixed 200 mile record... but back to the thanking! Finally I need to thank Cammy and Scott Taylor, and my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim for their generous donations!

So with my bike arriving I decided to make a list of all the stuff I need to get a hold of before I start biking. I just got another pair of nice armwarmers (these ones are merino wool and have Dartmouth and the D logo on them :D). Besides that I need to find me: some Conti GatorSkin Tires (I don't want too many flats), a bunch of tubes, some dry chain lube (I'm assuming it'll be pretty dry this summer), I'll have to see if I have space for a full on pillow, but I might need to find a compressible travel pillow if I'm cramped for space. Oh and a sweet color to paint my bike!

That is all for today. My posts will probably be pretty random until I can get a schedule down (a.k.a on the road), but I'll just post anything worthwhile before then on here when it comes up.

BIKE!

After a Bike and Build participant raises $1000, if they choose, Bike and Build will provide them with a road bike that they can use for the summer, and then keep after its wheels are dipped in the Pacific Ocean. I decided that while it would be nice to ride my race bike across country, if I fall I want to be comfortable I'm not going to scratch the carbon fiber (meaning it could catastrophically break at any point, a la my ski pole over spring break). So the bike is built, stock seat and pedals are on, which I will be removing once I am done racing for the year and my bike seat (which I LOVE) and my pedals (which I love too, but not as much), can be moved from race bike to BNB bike.

My experience with Zane's Cycles (who BNB ordered bikes through) was fine. I just told them what size bike I would be (it was easy since the 54cm has very similar geometry to my race bike) and they shipped it. Once it was packed up it only took 18 hours to get from Connecticut to Hanover. They packaged it up very well, it took a long time to get all the padding off, but after building it up and adjusting the derailers, I did notice one thing. Their instructions said to just put the seat tube in and the pedals on. But they were bone dry, no grease whatsoever. Me being the bike geek that I am - this was not a problem, slap on some Phil Wood Waterproof Grease to the seat tube and pedal threads and off I go, but for someone not so bike-obsessed as myself, who doesn't keep 3 oz (TSA approved :P) of bike grease within easy access, this might be a problem. It might not but it will probably be quite hard for them to remove their seat tube or pedals later. Besides the fact it would have been nice for Zanes to put in a little ketchup packet of grease, all is well and good with the bike.

Now I just need a name for, him or her... Also I am thinking of painting it so I can be a little unique, so I'll need a color too. If you have any suggestions feel free to comment or write me an email! YAY biking!