The Explosion

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This was my first race with the Armed Forces Cycling Team, and the support is great. We got here 4 days early, I rode the course a million times, and I got to use a sweet set of wheels. I almost got a Cervelo, I heard, but guys on the team keep breaking theirs and I am the last guy on the totem poll. Needless to say, they ran out - so my trusty old Cannondale won't have to get dust and stuff.

My Aunt took the picture above, I need to call her soon because we are going to get dinner, but I am fried from the race.

The U-23 race exploded on the first lap, so we figured we would expect that in ours too. I marked EVERYTHING the first lap, and even bridged across to a couple of promising looking groups. I am not that great of a climber, but every lap I somehow made the separation. The first half of the race, I made sure Armed Forces was represented in every group. After one of the climbs, Ian Holt (on my team) made a split of about 7 that included the very dominate Cal Giant team. I was relieved, the climbs were starting to kick my but.

With one lap top go (17 miles) there was about 25 of us left out of 200. We were flying up the first climb and the break was coming back fast. We made contact with the break on the 2nd and final climb of the lap and I exploded. My faking I could climb had come to an end. God made my pedals start magically pedaling squares, and if I were not suffering so bad I may have thought it was cool.

I recovered at the top of the climb and was joined by about 7 other dudes. We rotated in to finish.

The Birthday that wll change the world...

My son's birthday is on August 1st, but we will be celebrating it on August 2nd which is my daughter's birthday. Paris (my son) will be 4 and Geneva (daughter) will be 14. If he is half as gifted in cycling as she is art running this birthday will be the day the Earth changed.

He is getting a bike.

My wife and I we perusing (just wanted to use a big word, probably did not spell it right), we were perusing Spokes Ect when Paris hoped on this thing started pedaling and was flying around the store. People got out of his way. I knew then what needed to be done.

I am in Bend Oregon right now getting ready for Elite Nationals with the Armed Forces Cycling Team, so my wife went to Spokes Ect and got the bike today. I am sure it is dialed in.

I have plans.

I am thinking, before he starts doing any real high speed or sprints, he is going to need some endurance. We will start off with real easy laps around the block which I will video tape for form the first few weeks - and adjust his bike as necessary for maximum power output and aerodynamics. It may be a little early for wind tunnel testing, maybe in a few months.

Without crossing any streets, our block is about a quarter of a mile. During the video/adjustment period he will do no more than 10 laps, which will be timed. I will not do anything crazy like push him too hard or anything but I know he will have it in him to start knocking out well over a hundred laps before the winter comes.

When the winter comes I will fix the bike to the trainer and make shift something like a high chair so he can eat and watch Spiderman and Penguins of Madagascar - which he loves, If he is not on the trainer he will have to watch Barney and Dora - which he hates.

By next spring he will be fit enough to begin interval and sprint workouts and I am thinking about getting him a heart rate monitor and sneaking Brian Butts power meter stuff of his bike and retro fitting it to Paris's bike and getting some historical data thing going like Lance and Chris Charmical.

Next summer, Sol, Parsis's younger brother will be old enough for a bike too, and we will probably get a bit faster bike from Spokes Ect for him than we got for Paris to level the playing field. I can see it now, mini crits around the block, and eventually 50 mile road race around Fort Belvoir.

I can't wait to get home to see his face when he gets that bike!

Notes

When old people give you advice, listen.

-A month and a half ago Phil Hepburn told me I seemed tired and needed to rest some. I got real busy at work, took a few days off of riding (so I rested, though not by choice) and came back flying.

-The best wheel builder in the world works at Spokes Etc on Quaker Lane. If you ever get sick of constantly changing spokes on a wheel, there is a guy named Bill there who knows his stuff. Thank God someone recommended him to me! I never give shop plugs, but I am so happy I am not having to race, ride and train on the same set of wheels all of the time - it is good to have someone who knows what they are doing rebuild the wheels that were accumulating in my garage. Which makes me think, I can probably ride sew-ups now. The reason I don't is that I don't trust anyone else to glue them on and I definitely don't trust myself, but I am thinking he knows his stuff well enough that he can do it.....

- Thanks to Art Brown I may soon be a TT contender! I have his old TT bike and have been riding it once a week. I am going to buy it, but before I can afford it he is letting me at it. It is crazy how quickly you get better on a TT bike if you keep riding the same one!

Giro Di Coppi

-Russ came down to support me. It is great to have a team mate in these masters races. With out a team mate these races can seem harder than big events. It is almost like I am being marked.

-Russ and I had planned on jumping from the group on the climb on the second lap, but guys were all ready attacking and going of the front on the 1st lap. Russ ended up in a group of six that included strong guys like R Munio and Mark Warno. I was stuck in the field still trying to warm up. I looked around and the realized with the exception of Bryan Vaughan, Chip Hoover and Ramon Benitez all of the fire power was up the road. Damn, I did not feel like going yet - my mind said yes but my body said no. I counted to 5, took a deep breath and jumped across. Luckily Russ wasn't pulling until I came across and when I connected it was game on. We never saw the pack again.

Russ did tempo before the climb and up the climb, and as we crested the top, Mark Warno Jumped him. If you know Russ, you probably know he stewed for the next lap. In the exact same spot, next lap, Russ did the same thing back to Mark Warno and disappeared in the distance with R (who names their kid with just one letter?) on his wheel. When the gap was right at what I knew I could barely close I jumped across. The three of us worked well together and came across 1,2 and 3.

Tom Buzas, our team manager came out to feed us. It is so cool how well he supports us! Since the race was so short, I did not need any water - but I wanted to acknowledge that he came out, so I gave him water by squirting him with my bottle.

Besides the bobble head trophy of Coppi, the best thing about Giro Di Coppi is that the parking lot is on a hill. If you car runs like mine, you know the importance of a hill - it negates the starter problem. Lame thing is, right when I am about to pop my clutch, some lady, staring at me like I owe her money walks out in front of me and I have to brake. Luckily there was enough hill to get coasting again.

Jose Wins! Hagerstown/Iron Hill, my car sucks and Vote for Jim Patton

Jose Escobar (very cartel sounding name), won the Dawg Days Circuit race yesterday. I honestly can't believe a break stuck, but we all felt confident that Jose would pull off the win if it did. I think he only needs 3 points now to get his upgrade to a 1. Yeah, that's right, if you were up in that break, you got beat by a cat 2! Actually, I guess we all got beat by a cat 2, but he is on my team.

At the Haggerstown MABRA Championship, Dave won..... again. I got 2nd.....again in a field sprint. Unfortunately I slid out in a turn and Blair from LSV hit me and face planted - broke his jaw. Hope he heals soon, he is getting pretty strong.

Iron Hill was pretty cool. Huge crowds yelling, cameras flashing, and the smell of bear and cigarettes wafting through the air. Night time crits are fun, and scary as hell. There was only four of us there, but thanks to Russ we made a couple handfuls of cash. http://racethemuscle.blogspot.com/2009/07/iron-hill-twilight.html

I was pretty tired after leaving Haggerstown. After the race, I found my auto tire flat and Sean Orourke went to get fix a flat. It worked for about 7 mile, when I was on the freeway heading to Iron Hill looking for a gas station en route to get it fixed for reals. So, I am driving along, minding my own business when my what I thought wasn't flat anymore tire starts humming to me. The hum in a very quick progression changes to a ogre like gurgle then a Flap! Flap! Flap - then I turn of into the 'Pennsylvania Welcome Center'.

I all ready had reservations about going to Iron Hill with crashing, all ready racing, my auto flatting when a crack of thunder ripped through the air. Cool, I get to change to my spare in a down pour. Worse yet, I needed to pump my spare with my bike pump. 45 minutes later and several thousand pumps I was on my way. It stopped raining when I pulled out of the Welcome Center parking lot. I am sure it was the same rain that delayed the Haggerstown cat 4 race.

I need to get a new tire now, but I don't want to waste money on it when I really should get a new car - my car has so many issues it may not make it through the next couple months - problem with that is I can't get financing now because someone with all of the same information as me in another state, except they spell their last name Hutchinson instead of Hutcheson has laid waste to my credit.

I used to always carry my bike in my car because I would fit training in here and there, but now I carry it because I may need it when my car decides to head toward the light. So, when you pass an abandoned KIA on the freeway, and 2 miles later you see some dude in flip flops on a road bike carrying three back packs, you know what happened.

On another bike racing note:

We are lucky to have the people in MABRA that we have representing us. I think MABRA is a great district to race in, and we should support the people who make it happen. I believe the voting opens Wed on the USA Cyclinng web page, so type your stuff in, click and vote!

Vote for Jim Patton Candidate for Re‐Election as USCF Trustee, Eastern Region

Experience 30+ years in Cycling
• Racer
• Promoter
• Team Manager (founded US Navy Cycling Team)
• Motor Referee • Cyclocross Referee
• Track Secretary Positions in Cycling
• USCF Trustee (2003‐2009)
• USAC Board of Director’s (2004‐2009)

Goals
• Continued emphasis on improved communication
• Simplify USA Cycling licensing and race permit process
• Continued improved USA Cycling Membership value

Questions? jim@jimpatton.net

Congats to Russ

Today Russ got 4th. With the field as stacked as it is here, that is absolutely outstanding. The climb today was pretty tough, and the first few laps we blazed it - feeding was out of the question. I finished with the second group on the road. Although it was a road race, we did an 11 mile circuit with a pretty long climb 10 times. The last few times were miserable, and I cracked from the front group with 1 to go. I ended with 49th. Wow, that was a lot of work for 49th! It looks like we are down to 123 riders left from 171. The crit is going to be crazy with that many riders.

Jose Escobar, our Cat 2 got 2nd in the 2's race! He is riding well and will be a 1 soon. Him and his wife-type Michelle really are one of the best things we have on this team. Thanks for feeding us Michelle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday in the circuit race I got 16th. The field was so shattered I moved up from the 120's to the 60's on GC.

I am still impressed with Russ's ride today.

My roommate here at the dorm is an Aussie kid named Michael Freebird. Really it is Freeburg, but with his strong accent it sounds like he is saying Freebird. He is a track rider doing this for training.

Keck raced today despite his horrific crash yesterday. He borrowed a bike from SRAM, and was pretty strong all day - even attacking and being in moves.

Oh! The Carnage!

Honestly, the field here at Fitchburg is the strongest I have seen in years. If your a good US rider and your not starting the Tour tomorrow, your probably here. It is a NRC race.

Today's race was a 70+ mile circuit race. The distance does not phase me, but this nasty little hill we have to climb 24 times did. About three hours before the race, the weather forecast called for thunder, lightning and hail. Great. Russ warned me that the hard part of the race was not the hill, but the section after the hill - which proved to be true.

By the time the race started, the weather report had changed. Thank God, though it did start raining about half way through. The first three laps were hella fast, and I heard guys were getting dropped immediately. That was good because we had over 170 starters. Groups would get away, and groups would come back and it was steadily super fast.

Then it started to rain. Guys were sliding out, overlapping wheels and tearing out spokes. One good thing was we were going easy through turns, but the accordion affect was creating an insane sprint down the straight aways. I am sure tail gunners did not last long. At this point, I was focusing on staying up right.

Before the rain, a group got away on the flat after the climb where we sprinted for points. The 6 of them stayed away, and got close to two minutes on us, but Bissel brought it down to 15 seconds by the time we crossed the line to protect Zirbel's lead.

At about 12 to go, we were waved to one side of a traffic median we normally split for. There was an ambulance and people all around someone. I did not know it then, but it was Keck. He is fine, but he did have to go to the ER to find out if he had carbon fiber in his arm from his frame.

I did not get a picture of his seat or top tube because he took that with him to show the x ray people what the were looking for. There is a word for what we found out. Serendipity I think, but his wife Jen, in the same hour he crashed, crashed her car! She sent this picture

Now, what are the chances of that happening! She is all right, but the car is totaled. At least they got all of that out of the way at once.

Oh yeah, I heard I got top 15 today, but I don't know yet for sure. I had tunnel vision sprinting up that hill. If I did, that will be one of my best results given the level of competition here.

Also, I finally got selected by the Military to do an event! I am going to Nationals with them. I am pretty excited because this is my first opportunity to represent the services as an athlete. When I first found out I was so happy I ran into my Commanding Officer's office and punched him in the arm with the intention of telling him the good news. He was on the phone talking all serious and kind of glared at me. I realized what I had just done and left immediately, but he never said anything of the event. Out.

Fitchburg Time Trial

I hate time trials. Besides sprinting and climbing, my worst thing is time trials. The individual time trial is how I ended up getting 2nd instead of first overall at ToWC. My legs felt great, in fact they never hurt at all, it was my head. I kept thinking about things like work and stuff. I ended in the middle, not the front middle, or the middle middle - you get my point.

Tomorrow is the 75 mile circuit race with a pretty big hill. we climb it 20+ times. The day after that is the 120+ mile road race. It is funny I look forward to the hard road races and I dread the less than 10 mile individual time trials. Maybe it is because there is all the action in the mass start race that keeps your mind busy.

We are all in the wireless center here at Fitchburg University are all on lap tops, and Keck is sitting next to me with a book. He couldn't find the PDF somewhere? Just kidding.

Also, the weather here has been crazy. Thunder, lightning, rain. I was sure that they would cancel the TT for safety, but the thunder and lightning ended (although it continued to rain). Russ is next to me blogging too. He had a good TT.