Anatomy of a Bike Crash

Apologize for my lengthy departure from blogging…….I know many of you out there were salivating for more of my Hemingwayesque prose!!

For the ardent readers of VeloNews they have “Anatomy of a Bike Race” articles on how a particular race was won and I decided to share with you my recent experience with a nasty bike wreck and how it occurred.

I was with my Team in West Virginia for our annual Spring training camp and we started off a chilly morning for a 95 mile ride with about 10k of climbing. I wanted to put in long miles during the camp to ready myself for a trip to Belgium and the cobbled Sportifs so on this day I rode with the more experienced riders in the Club. I was never worried about the miles or climbing but knew I could be dropped as these guys were Cat 1 thru 3…..no big deal as it has happened before and my ego was ready for it.

After a long climb right from the start and a descent to a 30 mile stretch of flat road we began a rotating pace line. I have done rotating pace lines before but it was not something I practice on a regular basis. Today we battled some winds so we were even closer together than we would be otherwise. During the first few miles my Teammates coached me a bit on my pace and level of effort so as to not get us out of rhythm and to maintain a steady effort……….we still had 70 miles to go.

After about 10 miles my rhythm was better and I was not surging nor changing the level of effort. I will say even though the level of effort was manageable for me physically I was probably holding the bars a bit tighter than the other guys. This may or may not have been a contributing factor…..

So here is a dissection of the events……………for a bit of history my coach had me working on my cadence while climbing all winter and I was definitely improving in this area…………..so now my turn is rotating toward the front (see sketch 1) and I see a small hill coming-up. Instead of maintaining the same effort I picked-up my cadence as I hit the hill and in a few seconds I was three bike lengths in front of the guys. The next teammate coming-up to take the front yelled that he was going to maintain the effort (probably in frustration with me) and I eased-off to let the others catch-up.

When I did this I had a different teammate come-up (sketch 2) and then move in front of me………………….hmmmmm……………..so what is going on here……………we are now out of synch even more……………I start drifting back and see other riders on my left moving-up. I expect a Teammate to take my former position and I would move in behind him………………..he did not.

This teammate yelled something (sketch 3) that I did not hear from the wind and my ears being covered…………so the gap in the pace line stayed as he did not move up and expected me to move over and take my original slot.

I look to my left (sketch 4) and no one is coming. This naturally moved my bike a bit to the left as well.

While I was glacially drifting to the left for the next few seconds the rider in front of me eased his cadence as the natural flow of the pace line. This caused him to slow and drift back while I was drifting to the left.

When I look ahead again I see our wheels crossed and about an inch apart with me moving left. I bump the wheel……….try to hold it. Bump it again but my momentum is headed left and in the next two seconds I knew it was going to hurt. Remember……………..the guy that hits the wheel almost always goes down.

Boom……….at 24 mph I hit the pavement with forearm and elbow hitting first. I know it was 24mph by checking my Garmin post-ride.

That odd piece sticking out is my Ulna

One plate, 9 screws, and 25 staples later

JOCMO: The positive of this experience is I did not hit my head, the fracture is treatable, and I expect full range of motion. Belgium will have to wait until next year…………………….

Como un Culo.............Lo Tenemos

Well..........................................sorry to not have blogged in a while but I thought it appropriate to express my opinion (hence the title of this post) based on the latest events in the cycling world regarding doping, Lance, and a whole bunch of others.................

Many of my cycling pals and non-cycling buddies are asking my take on Lance and doping so here goes.

Like many fans of the sport I am disappointed but I am absolutely amazed at the finger pointing by others in the sport. From my view Lance is being painted as the architect of some insidious doping conspiracy that was all his idea...............too late to ask Marco Pantani and Tom  Simpson for their opinion.

So......................what is also amazing is the hypocrisy of the sports fan. It seems so easy for USADA and UCI to strip Lance of his titles but in baseball there are but a few asterisks next to the steroid users and their homerun titles, no one is taking away the world series rings from other players or players that contributed to a championship. How about a good portion of professional football players and their PEDs? In America it would be tantamount to high-treason to have the NFL take away the Lombardi trophy if it were put out as public knowledge that key players to a championship were on some PED right? Are these athletes "leveling the playing field" as cyclists were?

Therefore......................if we strip Lance of his titles let's do it right..................let's strip Kornelia Ender of her gold medals and give them to Shirley Babashoff, how about going down the line and taking away records from baseball players, probably a handful of track and field stars, and who knows who else and what sports. Golf anyone??

Lance and a bunch of others cheated..........no doubt..................but what is important to consider is the culture of the sport during that time. The only thing I see that Lance did differently was professionalize doping. He was not some drug cartel kingpin but an athlete that paid his mortgage and provided for his family as a cyclist and a businessman--with cycling as his business. To paint him as a conspirator of all conspirators and that his dominant personality pushed other cyclists to dope is flawed. It is the concentration camp prison guard defense.We have cheaters on Wall Street, the mortgage crisis swindlers, politicians, and bunches of others in all kinds of career fields looking for an edge.

Okay.....that is it for now. I only hope that cycling cleans up its act and the rest of the dominoes fall so we can move forward................

JOCMO: The moment will come when this is no longer big news in cycling and we can applaud guys like Froome, Hushovd, Phinney, Wiggins, Evie Stevens, Judith Arndt, and many others for their great talent.,

Los Gatos

For the inquiring minds out there I have now changed my home-life significantly several months ago.....................

So.........................welcome Jamon and Queso........................a couple of Venezuelan born varmint cats that were given to me by a pal that is leaving the area and unable to take care or them anymore. Well, some of you know I have given thought to a pet since my sabbatical last summer and primarily leaning toward a small high energy hound dog but in the end I knew I could not be a good dog owner and be home every day at a particular time to let him out and I was not crazy about crating a dog all day. 


Enter los dos gatos...........................both of them are 11 years old and have been together since they were kittens. Jamon (aka Fatty, Gato) goes about 16.5 big ones and has a short torso compared to Queso. Queso, about 13 lbs, and with a real long body is comparatively skinny so I call him "Skinny" from time to time. Needless to say Jamon is the Alpha male of the two and is amazingly lazy. When I need to  move him to another room he just won't get up so I do this drag-pull motion and eventually he takes the hint and gets up. He is also quite affectionate and needs his deep tissue massage every day.

Jamon (top) and Queso (bottom)

Queso on the other hand is quite skittish to some extent--at least with me. Some women (that's you Judie!!) that have come to the house seem to relate better with him than me. Must be the tone of voice. Anyway...............Queso was in hiding for his first 3 weeks in the house. He slowly worked his way out and would let me touch him a bit but I had to be very careful or he would spook easily.

The first two months went pretty well and I was permitting the Gatos to have the run of the house when I was not around. This was no big deal for a while but then they became demanding and wanted to get in the shower several times a day to lap water from the faucet. They also wanted to sleep in my room but this was not possible because of the nocturnal alley cat noises they would make. So...............at night they were exiled to the basement and I let them out every morning when I woke. 

So let's jump up a bit and go over the not so pleasant last two months...............

Problem 1: One of these quys was doing the deuce out of the box and I could not explain why. For the first two months I had no issues and then Queso (this took a few weeks to figure out it was him) began doing the deuce out of the box and it was really frustrating me. I did not know what to do and it took a breeder to tell me that I had to retrain him. In the end, Jamon had to deal with the retraining as well because they don't like being apart. 

Thus began the 2-week cat prison. I had to keep both Gatos in the laundry room with the boxes and their food in close proximity. This worked fast and I had both cats back using the boxes. They did not like being isolated to the laundry room and tried to get out when I would come to feed them but life is tough for cat that wants to take liberties with the carpet.... :)

Now let's jump forward a week. The last few days of cat prison are coming to an end and I am about to head out of town for a week to Colorado. I have a pal staying in the house while I am going with her little min pin hound dog  and keeping Jamon and Queso from starving. Two days after I left she sent me an email that the cats have a nasty flea problem. I was oblivious to this. 

So..........................she kept them in the Laundry room until I returned and was a brave soldier to go in there and feed them with fleas all over the place. I think she and her dog were really stressed over this. Needless to say I get back in town a week later and go in to the laundry room and the Gatos are a mess. They were miserable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next morning off to the vet for some pills, drops, and some sprays for the house.

Thus the 2-week anti-flea odyssey began.

Eliminating the fleas from the Gatos took all of 45 min with the pills and drops but cleaning the house was another matter. I started with a full-blown vacuuming, spraying, and then laundering in hot water all the blankets, sheets, or throws in vicinity of Jamon and Queso.

After this was done over several days I took the cats out of the house to a friends for a day so I could flea bomb the house. Then, more vacuuming and I realized my 20+ year old vacuum was not getting it done. So..............welcome the new house tool....

The new Riccar--cutting edge

So over several days of intense vacuuming, mopping, laundry, I was just beginning to sense that the fleas were about to be eradicated. The life cycle was ending and they were few and far between. Then, old Jamon sprouted more fleas. I have since learned because he is less mobile, on the floor more than queso, and developing some hip problems, he is a target for fleas.

So.......................today I  had to go back to the vet and get more pills, more spray, and flea bomb the basement again. Not sure if it is under control or not. Next step.................a professional exterminator. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



JOCMO: These are good Gatos and have really changed my perspective. I can still be self-absorbed but they have eased my selfishness a little

Crits Anyone

Criterium Defined.... 

So let me continue my story about the challenges of Cat 5 Road Racing. A few weeks ago I competed in a weekend of crits to get a few more mass-start races under my belt so I can cat-up one of these days. Definitely looking like a 2013 objective as I just can't do any more road races this Summer.

Okay, so first up was a Cat 5 crit of 30 min duration with an hour or so rest and then a 60 min crit in the Cat 4/5 Masters division. I did the first race with pal and colleague Lex as he is dabbling in road racing as well. We both made the drive to Hagerstown, MD on a 1 mile course in section of town where the finish area was in a beautiful, old, elegant neighborhood and the other parts of the course were on the "other side of the tracks". For the record it was VERY HOT and the first race started at 8:30 and it was already in the 80's.

Lex and I stacked-up on the line and then we were off for 30 min of pack riding with about 40 other riders. Needless to say this was my first crit since last Summer and no doubt it is intense riding. It must take a while to be comfortable but the close quarters, speeds in the mid-20's, and a lot of inexperienced riders tapping the brakes makes things very stressful.

That's me out of the saddle on the first 90 degree turn

The race was certainly  competitive and there were no breakaways that held but I did struggle a bit coming out of the corners. For several laps I was at the back of the pack and this just saps energy because of the yo-yo effect. The last 3 laps is when the intensity picked-up. The scorers flip a number to let you know how many laps you have left and if you are in a bad position you have no chance for the bunch sprint.

Okay......................so we hit the scorers table and this is when the race picked-up. About 100 yards later we have a right turn with plenty of room but we are also carrying a lot of speed. I am mid-pack and just as we turned a rider went down about 4 bike lengths in front of me and immediately brought down 4-5 other riders. I was able to do the tap-tap, swerve, tap, swerve to avoid the carnage but by this time i was going about 10 mph and there were 7 riders that dodged all of the mess and they were about 200' in front of me. I sprinted but just burned up energy so I had no chance to catch-up. The last 2.5 laps went fast and I ended up 11th but it really did not matter. I was pleased that I did not go down though and am glad I have done all that mountain biking to permit me to react fast on a bike. Lex cleared the wreck clean and finished 5th.

After I was dropped in second race

After the race I cooled off in the shade of my car but the temps were climbing in to the 90s. I kicked back to take a load off my legs but when It was time to get going again I could tell it was not going to be easy to get the blood pumping again.

Starting Line Cat 4/5

In the drops and fading

 Well, let's cut to the chase as that is all I did in the second race was chase the pack for 2 laps and then i was spit out the back. Just no pop. So...............i ended up riding hard, sharing pulls with another guy, and just practiced my turns for the next 50 minutes. In the end it was worthwhile and great practice but the lead group lapped me twice, heck, maybe 3 times. VERY HUMBLING.

Fast forward to the next day at the Chantilly Crit. Again...............very hot. Thankfully Lex and I had done a workout here the previous week so we both knew the .7 mi course and the one 90 degree turn pretty well.

The 30 min of racing was a lot of fun and I did a better job of keeping in the middle of the pack or toward the front third. Heck, I even pulled for about 20 seconds. There was one interesting moment on the back straight away when a rider drifted in and bumped me as we were cruising at about 25mph. I said "Cuidete" and he responded with "you are in my line" and I responded "I have had this line for 30 secs" and he goes on and said "you are all over the place" and I said "then get up front" and he shut up at this point. Lex told me after the race that he was way out of line during this exchange because he (Lex) was on my wheel during the whole exchange and said my line was just fine.

Anyway, when we hit the last two laps just on the top of a short hill, there was a wreck of 4 riders--caused by the same velo club--NCVC/Long and Foster--that caused the wreck the previous day at Hagerstown. It happened at my 2 o'clock position and all I did was swerve a bit and get back on the back of the leaders. Needless to say I kept with the pack and with about 300 yards to go I tried to surge but sprinting is not my forte and I ended up finishing last of this bunch. 21st of 41 total. Lex was caught-up behind the wreck and he was in the same situation as I was at Hagerstown.

JOCMO: 3 more Cat 5s down and counting! Great to ride fast, handle the bike well, and start to get the edge you need for road racing.

The DD

So what is the DD you ask?? Well.................in the vernacular of great rides, hard rides, gran fondos, and pat yourself on the back the DD...............AKA the Diabolical Double................is a double metric century in Garrett County Maryland. The architect of this route is the legendary Kyle Yost................he of the many cycling ventures around the globe......................and a randonneur with few equals................at least in my circles where we don't get paid to ride.

The Queue before the start at 7am

The previous week I rode 148 at the B2B and I felt recovered for this event as I had not ridden much the last few days. After rolling out of DC with a bit of traffic I worked my way toward Appalachia and Garrett County. The three hour drive was not as bad as I had expected and it really only was about 15 min more because of the traffic but I was able to make it to the Wisp Ski Resort for check-in and pre-Fondo dinner.

Old pal Theresa was at the front desk volunteering so we chatted a bit. I then saw Legendary Amy (in town from Boulder)  in the packet pickup room as we had planned to ride part of the Fondo together the next day. During dinner we had the pleasure of listening to Saul Raisin as our guest speaker. He talked to us about his traumatic bike wreck during a professional race and the subsequent brain injury and recovery. I also learned that he would be a roommate for two nights in the guest house that I was in with the Gran Fondo Director Greg Safko.

Sam and Legendary Amy at Aid Station 1

Saul was great to have as a roommate and I could not help but compare his injury and recovery to that of friend Kevin (see post from last September) with whom I did the Nations Tri with as his Captain and guide. Both Kevin and Saul have suffered some short term memory loss and both cope with it in different ways. With Saul he knows he will forget so if he needs something or has to do something he will write it down on his phone or "ask for the $20" for a copy of his book right away so he won't forget to ask later. 

Me and Saul

Needless to say it was great to pick his brain about cycling, racing on the same team as Thor Hushovd and what it was like to race against others so well known in the sport around the globe. We also had several chats about doping in the sport and Saul will not mince words. He and his teammates were clean and there were a lot of guys he raced against that were not. He is unabashed that a lot of top riders were doping and if when I asked him if titles were stripped from riders in the grand tours how deep would they have to go to find a clean winner and his response "pretty deep".

Next day was an early wake-up for my standard pre-ride meal of oatmeal and almond butter with a banana. Gran Fondos are not races per se but they are timed and this one had timing maps on several of the tough climbs to award King of the Mountains (KOM) points.

Amy working it!

Okay....................so let's start talking about the route. There were no 20+ MPH pacelines with 110 in your legs at this ride like last week at the B2B. The climbs are steep and relentless and with temps in the 80s, humidity, and barely a cloud in the sky, the heat added another challenge. 

Needless to say I rode a good portion of the first 70 miles with Amy and around midday I was slowing a bit. I was just losing some pop and this often hits me in high heat conditions. So, I basically told Amy to keep moving and because she is an elite amateur road cyclist who dabbles in races against pros I know I was slowing her down. 

I kept the legs churning and was holding my own but definitely looking forward to the aid station in Westernport. I stopped on the way DOWN in to town on Westernport Road and stopped at the Wall to check out my brick from 2008. A brief reminder.....................the Wall is 31% gradient and to make it up without clicking out or using a triple ring is TOUGH!

My Brick in the Wall from 2008

 I caught up with Amy at the aid station and after waiting for about 15 min for a spare tube from a flat I had an hour earlier in a gravel road we were off and heading back-up! I was definitely slowing Amy down so I told her to take off and I rode on my own for the rest of the ride. 

The last 30 or so miles went better than expected. My legs were definitely tired but when the heat started to drop a bit and after some calories I started to feel better and this was just before the long schlep of about 6 miles up Kitzmiller road. While refueling another rider asked "who is that woman you were riding with?" So I went on to recount the Legend of Amy and her unwavering power and persistence on long rides, amateur racing career, and natural talent. This guy goes "She is really fast but you are not too bad either!! ;) 

Well...................I launched from the aid station, settled in, put the ego in check, and slalomed up parts of this to keep a rhythm. I passed a handful of riders and started to feel a lot better.

At Finish

I was able to link up with some riders for the last 15 miles or so and that made it a bit easier coming in to town. The last hill to the ski resort was no fun but I was able to keep a good pace and work it up the hill and passed another handful of riders but still slower than I thought I could go.

 

Amy and Theresa from the TriCATs era!

JOCMO: Riding with longtime cycling pals on amazing roads.................if you don't ride you won't understand.

How Far Would You Ride............................

For a Harpoon!!

That is the catch phrase on the jersey given to us for the Harpoon Brewery to Brewery (B2B) from Boston to Windsor, Vermont. I just did this ride last weekend with a cycling buddy Steve from Virginia and college classmate Bill from Massachusetts.

After an efficient drive, surprisingly, from home to Connecticut for a stop at TGOs overnight, and then on to Boston I linked up with Steve at the Harpoon brewery for packet pick, some great free beer, a bit of schwag from IBEX and then we rode over to Pasta Beach for dinner and then I was done for the night. 

Many thanks to my old USAF pal Steve (a different Steve) who let me crash in his house in Charlestown 2.5 miles from the ride start. The 5:15 wake-up was painless and I was out the door and at the brewery in about 7 minutes.

Steve in the start Queue

Steve was already in the line to roll out when I arrived so I had to hurry to eat a bagel, park my car, use the loo, and then we waited for 30 minutes for our time to roll out. For safety purposes only 25 riders were allowed to depart every 10 minutes. Ideally we were to ride in a pack of 25 for the first 25-30 miles but that broke up pretty soon after the first water stop and Steve flatted. So, we just linked up with the next pack on its way by. I will say riding through downtown Boston, normally choked with people and traffic, was a great experience but I definitely do not miss the damage a New England winter does to the roads---dodging potholes everywhere!!

Steve a victim of the potholes

The Queue

We stopped briefly at the first aid station for a pee break and then we were back on the road in our pack of riders and that is when Steve hit a pothole dead-on and had his first flat of the day. Anyway, I snapped the phote, watched him change the tube, and then we were back on the road.

About 10 min later one of the sag cars drove by and asked if I needed anything. Well...................of course...............so I asked for an apple fritter and a cup of coffee. She just laughed, sped off for a few min, and then came back and started handing me mini clif bars. After I had 4-5 she said "take a few more because you are skinny" and then she drove off again.

Feeling the heat! About 90!

 The ride continued working our way Northwest and the roads began to improve significantly--did i mention the potholes yet??. Translation.......................fewer potholes but there was one section of about 50 yards where there were a bunch of potholes and at this time there was a pretty good pack moving and boom..............boom.............boom...............about 5 riders were pulling off the road because of flats. What happened was we were riding too fast to be able to see the potholes and react accordingly. JOCMO..................it did not happen to me......................

I rarely drink soda but this Coke was Awesome!

Aid Station 3. Mile 98.

After our rest at Mile 98 it was tough to get going........................for the non-cyclists out there after you have a rhythm and then take a break it is real tough to get the blood going again in the legs. When Steve and I mounted back-up the first 30 minutes were a challenge to get the legs moving.

So after mile 98 and then cresting the century mark the temps were climbing and it was about 90 but humidity bearable..................unlike DC. At about the 110 mark Steve and I linked-up with a few other riders and we had a group of 6-7 and surprisingly we were moving along at a pretty good clip. The terrain was relatively flat so we had some legs left in us.


At this point we just started to push the pace and this is one of those wonderful things about long rides and riding in general. For the next 10-15 miles we just pushed the pace hard and kept the line going. Not sure what the average was as most of us were busy keeping up, watching our line, and taking in fluids but looking down at my Garmin from time to time I would assess we were in the 21-24 mph range for 10-15 miles. Needless to say when we hit a hill about 2 miles from the aid station I was absolutely toast. No Joy left in my legs whatsoever but it was definitely worth the effort to ride that hard..

the next aid station was a desperate need to refuel, dump some cold water over my head to drop my core temp and take in some calories. Not sure why but at the B2B the pickles are a big hit at the aid stations but not for me. I took in some fruit and a lot of fluids.

Bill and Steve with post ride chow and Harpoon IPA

Steve nudged me to get going and said "Let's get this thing done" so we were back on the road with about 20 to go. We kept a good pace and with about 6 miles to go Steve had another flat........................bummer. So I pulled out my spare tube and C02 and he was back on the road in about 5 min.

Rock N Roll

The last few miles in was pretty easy and when we crossed the line, grabbed our pint glasses, my U Maine pal Bill was waiting. Several great brews, a pile of food, and then we were in the shuttle back to Beantown.

I did not need it but MAVIC Wheel Support all Day!

JOCMO: Nothing like a paceline with 110 in your legs and moving along in the 22-24 mph range. This is what makes it worthwhile!!

Pullin the Pins

Just a short post to let you know the pins were pulled from my pinkie on Monday. As expected Dr. Zahir pulled them without anesthetic and then I was out and on my way to the pool for the first time in a month.

Only a little worse for wear

The pool was great and super to get my hand wet for the first time in a month. It is swollen like a sausage and pretty stiff but I am gaining a few degrees of flexibility each day.

JOCMO: On the bike without the splint--yeah