Thanksgiving Post

I was lucky this Thanksgiving to be able to go home to Savannah with a new friend and bring my road bike back. This meant my track bike got a little neglected, but I got a lot of good riding in with my new friend, Paulo, and with Granger.  We averaged four hours a day, except for on Turkey day, when the rain and all of the cooking going on in the house convinced us to stay inside.

 Our first day in Savannah, Wednesday, was spent fixing Granger's VO and hitting up a bunch of trails. A bolt had snapped inside the boss for the downtube shifter. We tried drilling it out, but because it snapped at an angle, the drill bit wouldn't stay centered. To fix this we machined a bushing out of brass to keep the drill bit centered. After getting the VO rolling, we headed out to the Savannah Ogeechee River Canal Trail. The trail was root filled, but had many boardwalks that made up for it. We then headed over to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge and explored the rice paddies. It was a perfect day for it, and we got some fantastic views of the port. Thursday we took off, but we were back at it again on Friday. Welland Racing had a team ride in Richmond Hill that we went out to and hammered for a few hours. Richmond hill doesn't have the most scenic routes, but there's no lights and, depending on the road, no cars. Saturday we did the fast group ride and hung out with David Hiatt, and Sunday we did a 100km recovery ride with Granger and David. It was really fun showing someone else around Savannah and it was really interesting to get someone else's perspective on things. 

News For 2017 and Beyond

I'm excited to announce that I've been chosen as a rider for the junior development team Welland Racing, as well as being chosen to be a  Cinelli USA Brand Ambassador for the rest of the 2017 year. While the Georgia Tech Cycling Club offers a great opportunity to race at the collegiate level (they cover collegiate race expenses, provide bikes on a rent-out basis, provide consultation with a coach, and offer an environment where it's possible to meet training partners, who have a similar schedule), they don't support non collegiate races. For this reason, I'm very excited to be joining Welland Racing for the 2018 season. I look forward to racing with a serious team in non collegiate races and I'm grateful for the support they will provide, both financially and as a community, as a I strive to gain experience and fitness through the 2018 season.

Becoming a Cinelli USA Brand Ambassador was another happy occurrence. Cinelli is one of those brands with a special role in the cycling community, having found a niche in the track and fixed gear scene. Combine that with their proud Italian heritage and support for artists and you have a very special brand. I've always really enjoyed their products, both aesthetically and functionally, and I look forward to repping them for the rest of the 2017 year.

Token Bike Photo

Weekend Home

Cafe stop at Espresso Hill

I took a bus home to Savannah for the weekend after feeling a little homesick. It was a really nice way to de-stress from school, spend some time with the family, and catch up with some good friends. Despite getting in to Savannah at three a.m. Saturday, I was able to get up three hours later at six a.m. to set up my fixed gear, eat some breakfast, and roll out to meet the Perry Rubber group. It was really nice to see a bunch of familiar faces and ride out with the big Saturday group. I had a hundred mile ride on the training plan for Saturday, so I wasn't going to ride the whole way with the group. Thankfully though, I was able to talk two of the SCAD Savannah kids into going with me

SCAD Savannah wants YOU for their cycling team.

Bike or Banana?
Thankfully only one flat on this ride.

Granger, Lotti, and I rode out with the Perry Rubber group ride and then kept going on Ogeechee Road to do a cafe stop in Richmond Hill and begin our ride in earnest. We suffered one flat on the way over to Richmond Hill, but spirits stayed high as the temperature was perfect and the coffee shop, Espresso Hill, had some excellent scones waiting for us by the time we got there. Two hours and twenty five miles in we started our ride in earnest and set off to finish the rest of the seventy-five miles at a solid pace. I had raced with Lotti once before and Granger was an old training partner, so we quickly fell into a good rhythm and kept the pace high as we explored the quite Richmond Hill roads.     

Fixie whip for the ride. 

Our spirits were lifted after an impromptu store stop for peace tea. A little more than eighty miles in.

I was a little nervous about doing the ride on my fixed gear because I hadn't ridden it in a while, but I spent a lot of time that morning dialing in the fit and it payed off. Thankfully, running the stock 48-16 gear ratio was perfect for the long training ride we were doing. Unfortunately, non of us fueled properly. That led to some suffering towards the end and an unplanned store stop, but that's what we were all there for anyways: good roads, great friends, and a little suffering.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Why Everyone Needs a Training Partner

Proper store stop before night set in. 

This was one of those rides where I felt great, until five minutes into it the humidity hit me and all of my sore, non-cycling muscles from doing squats the day before began telling me to go home. Atlanta had been experiencing a little bit of a dry, cold front that had left me totally unprepared for 80% humidity, further because both Conner and I were semi-swamped with school we didn't leave until rush hour. Everybody loves cyclist during rush hour. Despite making it out of the perimeter in thirty minutes (we may of split a couple lanes), an hour into the ride I was totally over it. I had pulled my already sore hip flexor, clumsily bunny hopping a pot hole, while trying to not get run over by cars passing in our lane. The dull, random pain combined with my body's shock at the humidity meant that if I had been solo I would of called it quits and gone home an hour in. Thankfully though, I wasn't the only one on this ride. Conner needed someone to ride home with in the dark if he was going to do the full workout that he wanted to get in. Nursing a sore ego, I sat on his wheel for the better part of fifty miles.

The route sampled some pristine country roads. 

Low and behold, once the sun started setting my hip flexor had worked itself out and the humidity began to drop. Suddenly I was feeling great and we made great time on the way back as we switched off on the front. What had been a crappy day on the bike, turned into a great training ride with some great scenery. It only took some fifty miles for things to turn around. It's days like these where the true value of a training partner is seen. Someone to get you out of bed at six in the morning or force you to keep going when otherwise you would not.

Training With the Tech Kids

The team on our weekly, coach-led ride. 

While the Georgia Tech Cycling Team is a club team, I've been fortunate to meet many kids who are very passionate about the sport and competing. In addition, many past club members and officers have worked hard to secure sponsors so that the team is in a good place financially. I was worried coming from riding with the SCAD Savannah kids, a varsity team, that it would be hard to find the same level of motivation on the Tech team, but that has not been the case at all. While we don't have organized practices or training plans that are given out, we meet up to ride, talk about training, and help new riders make their own training plan.  All in all, it's a great environment for an up and coming racer, and I'm looking forward to the coming road season.

Savannah To Atlanta: Moving into Tech

I managed to transfer to Georgia Tech this fall and am beyond excited. While I'm sad to be leaving many great professors at Armstrong State, the Savannah cycling community, and many of my friends on the SCAD Savannah Team, I'm looking forward to challenging myself against a very bright group of kids and joining the Georgia Tech Cycling Team for both road and track. I'm going to try to continue the posts about cycling, but I'm going to also try to add a series of posts about cooking in a college dorm. Eating healthy as an athlete can be challenging enough without the added stress of a tight budget and a communal cooking space. Hopefully something can be gained from chronicling my struggles as a collegiate cook.

A big thanks to my family for helping move me in and being supportive of me as I go through college. Another big thanks to the Savannah cycling community, especially Paul, Jed, David and Edgemont at Perry Rubber, and Stephen for being so supportive of me as I got started as a cyclist. I'm going to miss the Gallery Rides and Savannah's cycling community.

Blue Goose Road Race

I had a great time at the Blue Goose Road Race this past spring, and I'm looking forward to returning this coming year. The race is put on as a joint effort between The Savannah Wheelmen and the Blue Goose Bike Hostel. The route covers rolling terrain with a seriously steep category four climb that tends to split the field. As only one of two cat fives to make the split I was guaranteed a podium and spent most of the race hanging out in the pack. Another cat five bridged up to us, but he was seriously cooked and I was able to out sprint him in the downhill finish to claim second. Besides a nasty crash during the downhill, sprint finish (the one questionable part of the race course) the cat 4/5 race was relatively calm with everyone taking the corners safely and holding their lines. 

Specialized Allez E5 Elite Peter Sagan World Cup Edition

New Whip

Saying Goodbye to the Lotus

It's been real, but it's time for a new bike. I'm going to keep the lotus as a project bike and eventually put SKS fenders on it to make it a rain bike. Before that though, I need to touch up the paint and take it apart again. I also need to make the fit less race-y. It's been a great bike. I definitly felt like the only thing holding me back on it was the gear ratio given by the six speed mountain bike freewheel. The jumps between gears were just too big to contest sprints on the flats. The downtube friction shift could be annoying at times, but the shifting was always very clean and never let me down.

Richmond Hill Sunbury Ride

This was a great, long ride put on by a couple of the riders in Richmond Hill. The ride started and ended at the Espresso Hill Coffee Shop, which turned out to be quite a highlight. The coffee at the shop was excellent, as were their pastries. I've never been a big fan of scones, but their scones were perfect and have me converted. Besides the coffee shop, the rural roads and marsh views made for a great ride. While drivers in Richmond hill aren't used to seeing cyclist on the road, in the large group of twenty some riders it felt quite safe.

Photos From Gainsville

Sufferfest

Early morning fog made for some fun spectating during the collegiate A/B criterium.

First Race Weekend

This past weekend I drove down to Gainsville for the annual Swamp Classic road race and criterium. I was hoping to have started the Armstrong team by now, but unfortunately there is still a lot of bureaucratics to go through, so I was forced to race in the CAT 5 category instead of the collegiate A category. The road race was held about fifteen minutes south of Gainsville and featured rolling hills along with what felt like sections of paved gravel. The criterium was held the following day in downtown Gainsville and featured city potholes, a mixed road surface of bricks and pavement, coffee shop spectators, and a surprising amount of elevation gain for what was a circuit around three city blocks. 

feat Granger

During the road race, the CAT 5 peloton was a mess with turns being taken at a crawl, sudden surges, and no one wanting to pull. Most of the race we were just cruising. While not bad for those at the front, the surges for anyone at the back were brutal. The whole of the first lap I was thinking "racing sucks, I'm never doing this again," but halfway through something clicked and I was able to position myself at the front. I slowly learned to anticipate the surges and know who not to be behind on the climbs (bigger guys would get dropped and drag you down with them) and who's wheel to avoid on the flats (the juniors gave almost no draft and couldn't sprint surge as well as the bigger guys). By the third lap racing was fun.

On the third lap, I managed to lose track of the laps and broke away from the pack with a little over a km to go. I attacked on a steep hill and railed it to the finish. Once at the finish I stopped pedaling and had all but come to a stop when someone yelled, "you still have one more lap dude!" The peloton came rushing by shortly after. If I had seen the lap sign I maybe could of kept going, but once I had stopped there was no way I was going to get back up to speed in time to catch the group. I laughed it off and went back to watching people race. Thankfully I hadn't thrown my hands in the air.

Pain face leading up to the "finish" during my solo break.

The criterium went much better. Despite being at the front of the pack for most of the race, during the last few laps I made a mistake cornering and went onto the curb. Thankfully, there was a ramp, so I was able to 'smoothly' ride onto the sidewalk and bunny hop back into the pack. This put me in the back of the pack, and with five laps to go I just wasn't able to get the positioning right in time to put me at the front for the finish.

One of the juniors going through the coffee-shop corner during the criterium. Later in the day there would be a nasty crash right here.

Wednesday Night Crit Night at Georgia Tech, Savannah

Late to the party, as always.

Bricked Phone, No Strava, the Horror

My LG G4 experienced the boot loading loop leaving me without Strava. I've sent it in for repair.

Hopefully LG will cover it, but who knows. In the meantime here's a picture of some bikes and Rupert's butt. 

Lotus Legend

This bike has undergone a few changes going from gears, to a single speed, and finally back to gears. I'm kicking, my younger self for making it fixed and abusing the hell out of it, but you live and you learn. It originally had a suntour winner six speed freewheel, but that's been worn out and replaced with a shimano 6 speed freewheel. In addition, the bottom bracket has been replaced with a shimano, cartridge style bottom bracket. While the original bottom bracket was a suntour model (? don't quote me on that) with a campy taper, I didn't want to pay triple the price for a campy bottom bracket, so I bought a shimano bottom bracket 2mm smaller (113 instead of 115) and called it a day. So far it's been working out well.

  

Kilo WT Gets a New Headset

The Kilo WT's stock headset finally gave up the ghost. Luckily origin 8 makes a pretty cheap cartridge bearing replacement.
https://www.amazon.com/Origin8-Pro-Threadless-Headset/dp/B00Q58FDJY

Wood is Good

Spotted in downtown Savannah.

MLK Day Spin

Took advantage of the break from classes on MLK day and went for a ride with some friends. It ended up being a dirty thirty with spray from wet roads. Typical Savannah winter weather.