We just returned from the Snowball Criterium #1. The race wasn't held because of impending rain. Apparently the promoter wanted to be remembered for backing out of holding the event, instead of how they thought riders would feel if the event was held and they "had to ride" in the rain. I would only predict a break between the hardcore purest-type crit riders and the not-so-hardy other riders. I sense fear of injury lawsuits, but that's just me.
One of the guys I was with, who is experienced with this kind of road cycle racing, said he was shocked it would be postponed due to weather. According to him, a race like this is postponed or cancelled only due to unusually dangerous conditions, for instance sleet and ice on the road.
Anyhow, the four of us returned trying to get our psyches to relax having steeled ourselves for the race intensities into which we knew we were about to be immersed.
The re-scheduled race will be held at the same place in Chesapeake on Sunday, April 29th. I'll continue training, stay signed up for that crit, and look for time trials to enter.
For those of you who are not familiar with the different types of road cycle races, a criterium is an all-out road race on a closed circuit, usually around a few city blocks, anywhere from 15 to 25 miles long in total distance(ours would have been 15 miles). Riders, in this case fifty, make turns as sharp as 90-degrees, often making body contact with riders beside them, and sprinting out of the corners getting quickly back to race tempo. They are known for their speed,high intensity, and crashes. I am told criteriums are an American creation in road cycle racing. Sounds just like us doesn't it? Kind of like football or hockey at 25 to 30 miles-per-hour.
Will keep you posted on my first season of bike racing and offer more musings of a lifetime sports tourist.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Today's Ride
Today we rode from Southern Shores to Ocean Hill into a 20+ knot northwest wind. From my home in Kill Devil Hills to Ocean Hill and back is 60 miles. It was fairly rough riding into a wind like that. The ride back however, was euphoric blazing along at 25-27 miles-per-hour. It's still base building time for me. I rode with two other club riders, one in his thirties and a new rider to our club, 21 years old and a former rider for the Ohio State Cycling team. His name is Rick. He is very strong.
Next week our club,GS Kitty Hawk/Kitty Hawk Cycling Club, will be represented for the first time in the Snowball Criterium #1 in Chesapeake, Virginia. Michael Gibson, Rick Devennish (the new rider), and myself will be in the C race as Category 5 racers. I have no delusions of grandeur for my own results never having even seen a criterium. I'll treat the race as a hard workout and an opportunity to learn. I look forward to it. I hope I can help our new cycling team have a rider win this event. Rick will have a reasonable chance to compete and it will be a thrill to see him race. I'll keep you posted on the race.
I still have about five more weeks of base building before readying myself for some spring time trials, where I have a higher comfort level. More later.
Next week our club,GS Kitty Hawk/Kitty Hawk Cycling Club, will be represented for the first time in the Snowball Criterium #1 in Chesapeake, Virginia. Michael Gibson, Rick Devennish (the new rider), and myself will be in the C race as Category 5 racers. I have no delusions of grandeur for my own results never having even seen a criterium. I'll treat the race as a hard workout and an opportunity to learn. I look forward to it. I hope I can help our new cycling team have a rider win this event. Rick will have a reasonable chance to compete and it will be a thrill to see him race. I'll keep you posted on the race.
I still have about five more weeks of base building before readying myself for some spring time trials, where I have a higher comfort level. More later.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Just watched Timmy Turner's surf film, Second Thoughts. Wanted to see if it would play on my notebook computer. It did thankfully. It's a film of three American surfers who travel to an island in Indonesia on the super cheap to find waves, camp out and surf.
They are dropped off on the island by locals who are asked to return for them in four weeks. Subsistence camping and epic barrels---rights and lefts---are the order of the film. Incredibly honest filming showing Timmy and his two buds deep in way overhead tubes as well as slam downs inside on the reef, stuff usually edited out or not shot by larger budget efforts. I'm impressed!
They filmed some of the best and clearest inside-the-barrel tail shots of surf boards tracking a wave face that I've ever seen: squash and round-pintails and their tail release tracks are there to view. After 42 years of surfing, I'm happy to see the spirit is still in good care and the pioneering for new waves continues. If you consider yourself a core surfer, you'll love Timmy's film.
It's real cold here now in the twenties with NW blowin' about 20 knots. Would love to travel to some warm waves now, but held back by obligations. Still dreaming about waves to come though, just around the corner here. Still road cycling and occasionally swimming indoors. Have entered my first criterium road race in Chesapeake February twenty-fifth. Should be interesting. More later.
They are dropped off on the island by locals who are asked to return for them in four weeks. Subsistence camping and epic barrels---rights and lefts---are the order of the film. Incredibly honest filming showing Timmy and his two buds deep in way overhead tubes as well as slam downs inside on the reef, stuff usually edited out or not shot by larger budget efforts. I'm impressed!
They filmed some of the best and clearest inside-the-barrel tail shots of surf boards tracking a wave face that I've ever seen: squash and round-pintails and their tail release tracks are there to view. After 42 years of surfing, I'm happy to see the spirit is still in good care and the pioneering for new waves continues. If you consider yourself a core surfer, you'll love Timmy's film.
It's real cold here now in the twenties with NW blowin' about 20 knots. Would love to travel to some warm waves now, but held back by obligations. Still dreaming about waves to come though, just around the corner here. Still road cycling and occasionally swimming indoors. Have entered my first criterium road race in Chesapeake February twenty-fifth. Should be interesting. More later.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
First post, Feb. 11, 2007
Is anyone out there? I am posting for the first time from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. It's sunny here today, about 50 degrees F., west wind around 15 mph, no ocean swell, ocean water temperature 46 degrees F.---a good day for a long bike ride, say around 50 miles. Can't surf now. So why not?
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