'That Guy'.

Every now and then, as we gather up for the regular weekend hammerfest ride, there will be some new guy all full of piss and vinegar strutting around, talking too loud, and jumping into the middle of conversations about gear or training or some recent race with comments that just don't fit.

Somewhere around 5k in, as the group rolls out for the 5 hour ride- settling in, chatting a bit - this guy will go to the front and push the pace. It's never enough to stop the conversations but it's enough for guys to close up the gaps and get a bit annoyed because they haven't switched on their iPods or finished the apple they were eating.

As the ride progresses the first little rise approaches and this same guy goes to the front then shuts it off at the top. The ride jams up and spreads across the road.

The riders sort themselves out again as the pace picks up on the way back down.

Each small rise, overpass, or grade of any kind the same thing happens.

Finally the pace picks up and as riders rotate through this guy hits the front. He accelerates; Not hard enough to worry anyone, just hard enough to be an annoyance. Once again the rhythm of the ride is disrupted for no purpose what so ever.

The group settles back into a groove. Finally, attacks come but they are real attacks. Jumps that force people to dig. Jumps that drive snot out of your nose and blur your vision as you fixate on the rear hub in front of you. Attacks on climbs that carry speed up and OVER the climbs and force guys to chase on the descents.

Breaks form. Chases form. The ride regroups.

Hours later we all cool down together minus a few guys who know their way home.

We stop, chat, throw back a coke, finish a power bar and the group fragments into many smaller groups who spin their way home.

No one asks about 'that guy' or even remembers when he came off the back.

We usually never see him again.

RACE REPORT: Pintung County, Southern Taiwan 28 Nov 2010

I got a call from a former team mate Friday afternoon about a race on Sunday. We hadn't entered but his team had and 1 rider had to back out at the last minute. If I wanted I could go and use his race number.

"Sure." I said, "Why not."

Small scheduling conflict. My wife's co-worker was getting married Saturday night. As the hubby I had to attend and, as this was business, celebratory drinks were in play.

Needless to say I can lay claim to at least 1 bottle of red wine...

4 hours sleep and I'm off in search of a start line.

I drive through the backwaters or rural Taiwan and viola, a start line. I prep, meet up with the guys from the team who give me a bib number and we're good to go.

Then one of my team mates shows up. Huh? This race is 15 minutes from his home and it seems I missed to email about it weeks ago. Fine.

We warm up, stage and we're off.

The course is basically 80km of flat road with 180 deg turn-arounds at either end. 10 laps.

There are 3 major teams present and 1 team has 15 guys in our 85 rider field. I had to deal with these jokers a few weeks ago at another race and I was not going to be manhandled by sheer numbers. My plan was to attack and attack until I could get in a move with riders from at least 2 of the 3 strong teams present.

Even if I failed I was looking at this as training anyway so what the heck.

Lap 1 I attack and there are plenty of takers. I attack again and I have just as many friends. The field is aggressive but there are plenty willing to chase and nothing gets even a few seconds.

Lap 2 rinse and repeat. There is a crash behind me. It doesn't seem to thin the field at all. Just after the turn around I see my team mate standing on a barricade shouting that I am now on my own. He was fine. He went down but not hard, but he got tangled up and ripped some spokes from the PT wheel I built for him 2 weeks ago.

I guess I know what is next in my truing stand.

Then there are a series of attacks and a rider unclips in front of me and goes down. He takes another rider with him. I see this kid hit the ground in front of me and I NARROWLY avoid running over his head. His neck was stretched out in front of my wheel like a holiday turkey. This required some minor acrobatics and I had to lean on a buddy to make it around.

This scared me a little.

Adrenaline is my friend. I go to the front and put it down into the wind in the hopes that several of the riders from the larger teams were caught behind the crash. A few were.

We go through the 180 and just after the inevitable jump out of the corner and regroup I attack hard.

I taste a little vino.

When I finally look to see who is on my wheel there is 1 rider from each of the two bigger teams. A good mix. We put it down at 50+ to open a gap.

As we go through the start/finish and hit the turn around, we have about 20 seconds and I see a group of 3 or 4 trying to make their way across. We keep it going and I decide that we really need those other legs to stay away. I communicate this, we agree and take the edge off slightly.

Three riders join us with 1 more rider from the strongest team there. There is also a former team mate who rode some UCI races with me about 8 years ago. He's a steady wheel and I'm glad he's there.

We settle in quickly and I move to the front and give the signal to echelon. We get the rotation going ( a bit choppy at first) but by a lap later we are working together and opening up the gap.

It seems as if the teams represented are working for this move. We are committed to the end now.

At the next turn around I see that the guys from the team that invited me have moved to the front and are leading the chase. I wonder if it occurred to them that I wouldn't even be there if they hadn't called me on Friday.

Each lap the gap grows and I throw up in my mouth a little. Twice. With about 3 to go I start having that internal battle about sitting up because I just can't manage 1 more pull. I rotate through and the internal dialogue continues.

Two to go and I tell myself to STFU and keep going. Then we catch the Masters race that started after us. This means that we put about 6km into them.

One joker tries to slide into our echelon as we roll past but I put my hand on his hip and gently put him back where he belongs.

He curses at me in Taiwanese.

Idjit.

We get the bell and it's clear that we are not getting caught. We have minutes on the group.

I know the attacks will come as we turn around for the last time with 4km to go and sure enough, a rider from the stronger team jumps. I sit. He was easily the strongest rider in the break and I don't want to blow what little jam I have chasing this move only to be countered out the back of the break.

With a 20m gap he glances back and then buries himself. Another rider goes and we all react. We're together and then another attack and together and finally the second rider from the same team goes.

I hesitate. I calculate that the rider from the other big team has to chase this. They are the local team and it is his responsibility. He hesitates and I roll the dice and wait. He finally accepts and goes but we've given them too much and now we're within 2km.

Crap.

I'm pretty spent and now fighting for third. Then there is a strong jump from behind me and I am up. He gets a good gap. I close on him with the other two on my wheel but I can't get him before the line.

I hold off the other two and finish fourth.

Not a bad outing all things considered.

On the podium they make fun of the white guy (all in good fun), which is always a good photo op, I take my medal, my money and hop in the team car for a thankfully short drive home.

I think I'll avoid the Shiraz for a while...

YUENLING SR 19-20 JUNE

I had a very bad start to the season. I injured my neck in the fall of 2009 and couldn't ride for almost 3 months. I lost fitness and gained weight. I started training again in January but it was much too late to have any real fitness or to get back to racing weight by Hau-Dong in April which was our first "A" race.

Because of this my best placing at Hau-Dong was 8th on DAY 1 which put me very far down on the points competition for the season. I was looking to these races to get back in the hunt for the season long points competition. I was lingering in the lowly teens and needed good results both days to move up significantly.Although I am starting to feel better and lose some weight (It gets much harder as you get older!) I still don't have the kind of power I would like for a course like this.

I could tell this after I tried to bridge to the first attack.

My first strategy was to get into an early move that had riders from at least 2 other strong teams. This was a technical course where riders would be out of sight after about a minute gap so I thought it was a good course for a break. The only problem with Plan ‘A' was that Bo Zhuo was fighting for top spot in his category and if I was riding in a break it would only help him if CKT had to work to try and bring us back. This was a gamble.

I tried to bridge across to a move I saw in the very beginning of the race but my legs were not as willing as my heart or head was and the group was too interested in not letting an early break go.

This course had 5 corners with the 3rd corner being a 180 turn. After riding the course I realized that after the 180 turn there was a sprint point into the wind, a bit more of a straight and then a right turn, a few pedal strokes, a left turn and sprint to the finish. I decided that the key place on the course was the headwind straight after the 180 and before the right-left onto the finish straight. I knew that if you weren't in position by then you would be sprinting for 20th place.



This was Plan B.

Keeping the group together and then getting Bo Zhuo into position here became the best plan for us and it would also allow me to help, if I could, at the end. By virtue of simply being in the mix at the end I was pretty sure I'd get a podium spot for myself as well.

There were lots of attacks over the rest of the race and Gavin and Steven worked well together to chase down dangerous moves. I rolled to the front a few times to lend a hand but mostly I kept in the group and watched key riders.

In the last laps a break had formed off the front. I had done some work to bring the gap down and I figured we would catch them just before the finish.

Coming into the last lap I prepared to place myself and Bo Zhuo. Coming out of the 180 corner a rider crashed in front of me and I just avoided him but I lost momentum and several places. I was now out of position to help anyone but I still had time to move up.

I positioned my self as best to sprint at the finish.

We caught the break just before the line and I ended up 3rd in my category. Bo Zhuo finished 4th in his cat but it wasn't enough and he slipped into second place for the season.

We had 1 more shot for him the next day.

DAY 2

This was a flat and windy road race. I spent most of the day hiding and keeping a good position in the group.

Today we were really riding to get a good result for Bo Zhuo to move him back into 1st place for the points competition. We didn't want to have him go head-to-head with the CKT rider in a sprint. This would be playing to his strength.

We decided that we needed either Bo Zhuo in a break or another rider in a break and to force other teams to chase. For me this meant I was chasing moves or leading out Gavin. Again Gavin and Bo Zhuo were busy at the front and we placed them in moves that looked promising but nothing was sticking for long.

As sometimes happens an innocent move rolled off the front and suddenly a few more joined them and there was a break and we were not in it. Crap.

We chased for a while and brought them back to withing a 10 seconds and then the bunch just stopped chasing because they though that the break was finished. WRONG! This was a serious mistake.

The break rolled away again and stayed away until the end.

When we had looked at the course profile we decided that I would lead Gavin out after a sprint point that was about 20km from the finish. We set up and jumped as planned but it was pretty windy and too far for 1 or 2 riders to go it alone. we needed others to come along.

After digging for a few minutes we realized we were just dangling and no-one was interested in our idea. We sat up and the bunch swallowed us up.

This meant my next task was to lead Bo Zhuo out in the final sprint.

With just over 3 km to go I got into position and got Bo Zhuo on my wheel. I flashed him 3km and started to move up. I flashed him 2km and rolled up next to the rider he needed to beat. I flashed him 1km and boxed the rider and started to jump.

The same bone head that had crashed in front of me on DAY 1 now pulled off the front and sat up. He was right in my line and the barrier was on my left. I wasn't sure what he was going to do and, instead of being aggressive and stuffing us in the small gap that remained I hesitated.

I had talked with Bo Zhuo about my lead out before the race. I told him that I would position him as best as I could but if he felt he needed to move to a different wheel, at any time, then he should do just that.

I'm sure Bo Zhuo felt my hesitation and he jumped around me into the tiny gap that was left. As he jumped in and through the gap it closed and he was gone.

I was still near the front and very much in the sprint so I kept it going. I was moving up and was looking at a good result.

There was a meeting the night before this race and at that meeting the organizer disclosed some changes to the course and other information. I was about to discover what the last change was.

The finish was down the main street of same small town on a double lane road with a divider. There was a long, straight run in: A perfect finishing straight. Now, mid sprint with about 150m to go, the course veered off of this road onto a single lane road with scrub brush and ditches on either side. I had no idea this was coming and barely kept my self out of the ditch.

As I straightened up my bike and tried to shift into a gear I could continue to sprint in riders shot past me and I lost several places. I got it going again and caught 2 riders but watched a rider in my category finish half a bike length ahead of me.

I was 5th in my cat and just out of the top 20 overall. Crap and double crap.

Bo Zhuo finished ahead of his rival but didn't finish on the podium or earn enough points to move back into 1st place. Not good either.

The positive from this is that we now know that Bo Zhuo and I can work together for his finishes. We've talked a bit and have a better strategy for next time. Long term I think this could work out well for us.

Team Time Trail or Smoke 'em If Ya Got 'em.

You know you've done a time trail right if you're worried about choking on your own vomit in the last 200m.

I think I got it right today.

We (Team AminoSTRONG-BDOP-CKT) did our first TTT today and got spanked by those who should have spanked us but walked away feeling good about the effort none the less.
The course was a dog-leg course that was 3.5km long and we did 3 1/2 laps which came out to just over 30km. That means there were 7 180 degree turns in wet conditions that were unnerving at best. Because the course was so short it was really hard to settle into a rhythm. You would get one or two pulls before setting up for the 180 and trying to group back up again.
We had never practiced a TTT as a 6 man team before and we had about a hour to work on it before our start. This did give us a good chance to warm up but the lessons just learned we not so easy to remember when the vision blurred.
The technical nature of the course favoured the 2 Continental teams and the National team that beat us by 1 to 2 minutes over 30km. I'm sure we lost 5 seconds at each turn and that adds up pretty quick.

The teams started out at 1 minute intervals and we caught our minute team after less than 10km. Since we started second that put us in first position on the course. Personally, I find it much easier to dig when I am focused on reeling in the rider(s) just up the road. It's much harder for me when we are being chased.

We were caught after about 15km or so and managed to hold them within 10 seconds for the remainder of the lap. By the next lap the eventual winners (on TT bikes with full gear) passed us. Were were on regular road bikes but, even with TT bikes, discs and aero bars these guys should have caught us or given up their Continental licenses.
The last 3km was a 3% grind into the wind that lead to the last wet 180 turn around and then 1.5km to the finish. The rider in front me lead through the turn and then I moved to the front to lay down whatever was left. I nailed it as best as I could and then the other guys came around me a few hundred meters out from the finish. Since I was the fourth guy (of the 4 of us left) the time was on me.
The guys pulled around me and headed for the line. I got gaped and dig as I might I had to growl or yelp or making some kind of horrible sound for the 3rd guy to back off enough that I could get on his wheel for the finish. This was about the time I started to worry about the chunks.

He only had to tap his brakes once or twice but I'm sure we lost a few seconds there, too. We would have lost much more if they had ridden away from me and left me there to spit out chunks 200m from the line so it may have worked out for the better in the long run.
The lesson learned today is that we need better technical prep for next year. By this I mean we need to work on the technical aspects of out TTT: smoother transitions, better turns and we need to understand better when it is time to jettison a rider as opposed to letting a cooked rider continue in the rotation.

Also, I hope out cockpit sponsor (KORE) will have TT equipment available to us for 2011. Not that this would have changed the outcome this time but it will help us when we are better prepared for next time.

All said and done it was an immense amount of work in a short period of time and I'm glad it's over and we managed a podium spot.
We also managed to snag a post race interview that should be up on the web soon. It was a great chance to plug our sponsor's products and certainly a bonus.

10th TOUR of EAST TAIWAN

I learned this weekend that I have ridden this race since the inaugural year. I have also raced this course under other names so the long 6 hour drive there and the same 6+ back are all too familiar.

We left Tainan, in the South, at zero-dark:thirty and drove for 2 hours through some mountains and and then headed North up along the East Coast next to the Ocean. We arrived 4 hours later to cool temps and light rain in the start city of Haulien. We checked into the hotel and did the usual pre-race prep, crap, managers/teams meeting and had a quick chat with the organizer to discuss the fact that we were not allowed to use rider radios.

Yup, no radios while we are feeding from cars on some narrow, twisty roads that are strewn with bridges. Car to race radios were a must but no car to rider radio. We were told that they wanted to make the racing more...aggressive. My point was that rider radios would make feeding a little less...hazardous.

The decision had already been made for this race and I asked that they review the decision again after the race, if they could, with regards to next year. Ok.

STAGE 1 : 138km with some double digit climbing after 30km. Then 9okm of wind and rollers until a short right onto a popper for the finish.

I am pretty behind in my training but starting to see some results. I decided to just sit in all day and get some race hours in my legs. I crested with the second group and we chased for a bit. An attack had gone and the main bunch backed off and we closed on the race caravan.

I knew that we were about to pass through a small town with a small bridge, narrow roads and a couple of tight bends. The caravan would pretty much come to a crawl. The question had actually been raised the night before at the managers meeting and the race referee clearly stated that the caravan is part of the race. If you were in the caravan for any reason you could leapfrog from vehicle to vehicle until you got to the officials car and then you had to cross from there to the back of the race on your own.

Clear enough for me.

I had been sitting on watching the chase but then I moved up. As we got within 50 meters of the back of the caravan I jumped. They were snaked through the small town (JiCi) so I closed quickly and was in the middle of the team cars when they started to accelerate again to catch the bunch. I was joined by a few more riders who had had the same idea and we passed through the caravan and crossed to the bunch.

Things were pretty aggressive and I spent the rest of the race following wheels and looking for free rides towards the front. I enjoyed doing the little things like sliding into gaps just as they were opening and working my way into the top 10 through the middle of the group.

The finish was a small riser that turned right and then popped up and snaked around a meridian. This race ended with a small break and then a group of 50+ riders all trying to pretzel their way through this finish. There was a crash in front of me. It was great to watch and the guy was fine but it was a full ass-over-tea kettle kind of crash.

A fine end to the ride.

All of the Elite cats (basically Riders from Continental/Pro Continental teams, Nation team riders, Espoir, Senior and Elite Masters) race together. As a team we had a primary goal for this even which was a podium spot.

Stage 1: Bo Zhuo was 2nd in Elite Master 30+. Mission accomplished. 4 of 6 finished in the bunch. If dropped, riders were told to spin in with a group and save their jam for Stage 2. Steven and Hansom did just that.

STAGE 2: 178km with a 3~4 km climb 100km in and a 2~3km finish climb.

Our riders have had success on this stage and so we were focused on it. We wanted another podium spot for our Elite 30+ rider.

The racing was fast and aggressive. My 12T got a good going over and there were a couple of times when I was wondering about an 11T.

We tried to work a rider into an early break but nothing from anyone was sticking. There were pretty consistent attacks in the first 100km and there was still the days main obstacle. Then we sat and we waited. We would let the climb help with the selection if it could and then we would look for a move with our designated rider.

Up and over the climb and it produced a break of 3 riders and culled the herd a bit. We bunched back up after the descent and I came out of hiding. We tried a few lead outs trying to get the right mix 10 seconds off the front. Too many chasers or no takers. Still 60km to go.

I went back to get my BCAA8000 from the team car when our designated guy followed the right wheel and was away. I worked towards the front and the group seemed to have let them go for the most part so I sat and waited and watched.

Eventually it was clear they were gone and I started to think about getting either Gavin or An Long in another move. So far it looked like we would have 1 guy in the top 6 over-all, (and a Masters Podium) and I was hoping for another rider in the top 10. This would result in a solid point haul for our team.

As the pace picked up I rolled to the front and caught An Long's eye. As I saw him get up to move across to me I jumped to where he would be and he was stuck to me and we were nailing it. I put my head down and saw that there were wheels behind him.

I kept it going for a bit longer and then backed off hoping that someone would jump and An Long could go with it. I watched...the pace eased...chasers but no takers.

I drifted back for a bit and finished off my BCAA8000. I hitched a ride back to the front and flicked my lever as I rode even with Gavin. He saw me and we jumped together. We caught people and we had 100m+ before I sat back down. Ok, I thought, now it's either dangle out here with Gavin and hope we don't die or dangle just long enough to see if there are any takers.

I wanted to attack here because it was on the outskirts of a small town were the road narrows and twists a bit and the group would naturally hesitate. It did and we continued to dangle. I told Gavin that I would use what I had left but that I hoped someone would work across soon because I was starting to see spots. At least I think I told him that or maybe I just thought it in my head and I was so cross-eyed that I only think I told him that.

Regardless, a few riders from strong teams came across and the move took hold. My mission complete I drifted back to the group to contemplate the finish of the race.

Just before the final climb (a 2~3km big-ring climb) I came to the conclusion that I was cashed and really hadn't eaten enough food. I got a wee bit dizzy and suddenly cold. As we rolled onto the climb I let the group roll away and I set a tempo to the finish. Gavin, who was in the 2nd move that I had spent myself on, was caught with 1km to go. It was a good move and worth a shot.

I finished, had a coke, some fruit, some protein, a hot shower and we drove back to the start hotel. During the awards presentation we learned that Steven (the rider who had been dropped the day before and who had wisely spun back in with 20 other riders) also won 5th place in Elite Men 20+ (Senior riders) and that aminoSTRONG-BDOP-CKT was TEAM 6th OVERALL.

After this I felt a little better.

Then the 7 hour drive home thinking about the next race.

Congrats to the aminoSTRONG-BDOP-CKT Cycling Team for 3 good days.

Training Camp Feb 2010

I had designed a 4 day Training Camp to run over the Chinese New Year holidays that was about 160km each day with thousands of meters of climbing. In short, I had planned routes that would have destroyed me.

But it's a training camp. That's what I wanted to do. Also, we have one rider who will ride the Tour de Taiwan in a few weeks so he needed some more big climbing.

The weather had other plans.

Those included temps that were 10 degrees below normal, big winds and heavy rain. If it were summer time it would have been no problem and we would have ridden through it. And honestly, it wasn't that cold...at sea level. I wanted to take the guys above 2000m as many times as I could in 4 days. This was a whole different kettle of fish.

Then I heard that there were problems with some of the roads. OK. Plan B.

We canceled the first 2 days and then piled in the team cars and headed south where there was less rain.Day 1 was a flat windy, rainy ride at race pace for 4 1/2 hour where we headed south and then turned around and rode home. Luckily it was dry for the way back.

I could sure feel how poor my fitness is. I had a neck injury that kept me off the bike for more than 2 months and now I am over weight and well behind where I need to be for my first "A" race in May. But enough of this.

The second day we did some climbing and the weather was finally on our side. It was beautiful. We had a good 45 mins of flat roads to warm up and then we hit the first of 5 climbs on the day. This one only went up about 1000m but there were several long pitches in double digits.

We had a few former team members (locals) join us for the ride so we were 8 riders in all. I just didn't want to be the 8th guy over the top. I managed to keep a couple guys in sight (with 2 more behind me) until the last km. Then I just had to spin it up and over.We waited at the top and then rode back down and onto the 2nd and 3rd climbs. We encountered some road closures due to rock slides and I think we were all pretty happy that we had changed to plan B as we would have most likely be caught out somewhere at altitude, in the rain.

This was our first camp together and we managed to eek out almost 10 hours of training under nasty conditions. The guys seem to be gelling as a group and there are certainly no personality conflicts.

I few races together and this could turn into a pretty good team. I'm certainly looking forward to the season and I hope I can drop the weight and find some bloody fitness soon.

Team Launch 2010

Last week we had our Official Team Launch. We invited 60 sponsors, riders, friends and family to dinner Willy's Pub. We had the entire second floor to ourselves, which was good because we had about 100 people to the After Party.

Things went very well. I was told the food was good and plentiful. The beer, wine and vodka seemed to flow and the tunes were spot on.

Our sponsors were quite pleased with the event we put together and we generated some decent media interest including requests for follow on articles and one to embed a reporter in our training camp in February.


We were able to display out sponsors products which now includes hand-built wheels I am selling through dealers here in Taiwan. This made me feel pretty good as it's been a long road (over a short time) to get here.

"And how does one go about making a cycling team, you ask?"

"Why, that's a good question. It usually goes something like this:"

SEPT: Find and identify potential sponsors.

OCT: Submit proposals to current or potential new sponsors.
Follow up.
Bug them some more.

NOV: Bug them some more.
Design uniforms and coordinate the 'look' of the team.
Tell sponsors they need to get on board soon so that you can have uniforms ready in time for the Team launch.

Late NOV: Don't Panic.

DEC: Panic.
Bug the sponsors some more until they finally relent just so you will go away (or so they think).
Repeatedly stress to the company making your uniform exactly when you really need them.

Late DEC:Money arrives.

Uniforms arrive.
Bikes arrive.
Wheels arrive.
Other stuff arrives.

JAN: Hold team launch and after party.

Later that night, after everyone has gone home, try not to look too much like this: That is pretty much how to make a cycling team.

Now I actually have to go ride my bike.