Tour de Brendan's Scrapes

Here's a brief review of the scrapes I've had this wonderful month of June:


The EMT treats my scrapes earlier this month at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic. (There's a video of the crash in a previous post.)

The scrape on my leg from the crash at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic.

The scrape on my arm from the crash at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic.

The scrape on my left arm from the crash at Rockford.

The scrape on my right arm from the crash at Rockford.

A smaller scrape below my knee from the crash at Rockford. I covered it with a Tegaderm patch.

A bigger scrape above my knee from Rockford. I didn't feel like taking off the gauze, so you'll have to use your imagination.

A scrape on my shoulder from Rockford.

Smaller cuts on my left hand from Rockford.

Smaller cuts on my right hand from Rockford.

The materials I used this morning to change my bandages.

The progress of the scrape on my leg from the Fixed Gear Classic.

So yeah. Forgive my language, but I'm pretty fucking sick of crashing. I've crashed four times since May:

1.) During the road race at collegiate nationals another rider tangled his bars with mine in a left turn. We both went down and my race was pretty much screwed from then. I probably could have avoided the crash if I was a bit looser or if I had been riding closer to the front of the pack.

2.) The next day, at the criterium at collegiate nationals, there was a 6" gap in the the start / finish straight running parallel to our line. Each lap, everyone pretty much had to sideways-bunny-hop it to get around the corner. A rider several places behind me got his wheel caught in it and slid out, causing the guy ahead of him to slide out, causing the guy ahead of him to slide out, causing me to slide out. I seriously thought I had avoided the crash when I heard it happen, but then a rider came sliding into my rear wheel. The officials neutralized the race while one of the crashed riders was stretchered away.

3.) At the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic, the rider on second wheel overlapped the first rider's wheel as he finished his pull. He slid down the track, taking out my rear wheel and causing Dave Byer to t-bone him.

4.) At Rockford, my front tire went flat in a fast downhill 90 degree left turn, causing me to hit the ground instantly and slide a few feet on the pavement. Eric Forrester happened to be the unlucky rider behind me and also went down.

I had the pleasure of taking the most painful shower of my life yesterday.

I'm hoping I'll be healed enough to ride the 3-day at the velodrome this weekend. It's going to be my biggest race of the season and I've been preparing for it since April.

In other news, Luke and I did well at this week's Nas-Track race. We timed our exchanges perfectly in the two Madisons and ended up winning every sprint as well as the overall. I have a snazzy new Nas-Track hat now.

Ciao. :)

Allen Park Criterium

Well, Allen Park was kind of... meh. The legs weren't feeling strong and I started the race on an empty stomach so I couldn't put out any power. I tried to bridge to a few early breaks with no success. The winning break went off when I was chilling in the back and then the group split up. I ended up just getting in a little pacing workout in the back until I rolled off the front the lap before the promoter pulled us.

My teammate, Bruce, ended up 5th after ripping out a spoke from his rear wheel in the final sprint.

I'm looking forward to some track racing tomorrow and this week as well as the Rockford Criterium. Criteriums in flat office parks (e.g. Allen Park, BTR Park) aren't really my thing.

What I did in Minnesota

I think this video pretty much sums it up:



I'm the second rider to go down (in the blue). The third guy to go down (Dave Byer) completely trashed his front 808.

Blaine for the Weekend

This weekend I will have to forgo my shot at the glory and fame that comes with the Michigan U23 State Championship to venture to Blaine, MN for the Fixed Gear Classic. There are supposed to be some pretty fast riders there, including Roberto Chiappa.

Chiappa has competed against Theo Bos, which means that after racing against him, I will have indirectly competed against Theo Bos.



I feel like I'm famous already.

Memorial Weekend Recap

I did three things this weekend:
- Raced at Frankenmuth
- Fed the Cascades Cycling Team at Leelanau
- Raced at Gaslight

It's been a fun weekend.

Frankenmuth Race Report

Frankenmuth went really well for me. Since the race started at 7:30AM, I had to wake up at 4:30AM and leave by 5:00AM. Standing on the start line, I felt more like taking a nap rather than racing my bike. Once the race got going, I felt better, though.

As usual, a bunch of people launched attacks right from the start. I followed a few attacks, staying on Danny Klein's wheel. A few of us got a gap but the pack brought it back right away. As we re-approached the pack, Kyle Jacobson of ISCorp / UW Milwaukee attacked and passed us. I knew from collegiate season that he had a big engine in him and that he could ride in the wind well, so I yelled at Danny to jump on his wheel. Danny seemed complacent with letting Kyle go (probably because he didn't know Kyle's strength) so I jumped around him and bridged up to Kyle's wheel.

Kyle and I worked together for a while, maintaining a few hundred meter gap on the field. At one point, it looked like the gap was coming down and I felt like sitting up. Kyle kept pulling strong, though, so I stuck with it. The pack must have decided to stop chasing because all of a sudden our gap started widening. After a while, they were out sight. Kyle and I worked together really well. He's a stronger rider in the wind, so I had to work hard to stay with him.

On the third lap, a group of three was getting pretty close to us so Kyle and I sat up to rest so they could catch us and give us more power. Once they caught us, we started riding even faster in a strong rotating paceline. The group consisted of two ISCorp riders, a rider from Raisin Rack, a Torelli rider and me.

On the next lap, Danny Klein and James Bruce bridged up to us (I don't know how - we were absolutely flying with the pack nowhere in sight). They were both pretty spent from their hard efforts.

We continued to work together well. On the last lap, in the final headwind section before the tailwind, an ISCorp guy really nailed the pace. Danny, Bruce, and I couldn't hold it so we ended up dropping. As the three of us turned into the tailwind section we looked to our right to see a small, menacing speck in the distance. We worked together through the tailwind section (catching Kyle), trying to keep that speck away from us, but those red, white, and blue Rite-Aid colors just kept getting closer. As we turned into the last leg, Jake Rytlewski of Rite-Aid was quickly gaining ground on us.

We all rode hard up the final uphill, with James Bruce pulling hard. As we turned the final corner, Kyle nailed the pace around James. I tried to follow but I couldn't close the bike-length between us. As I dug deep, that red, white and blue jersey creeped by me about 200 meters from the finish. He just barely got around Kyle to take fourth place. I ended up sixth for the day. Matthew Busche, of ISCorp, who nailed the pace in the headwind section, took the win.

Leelanau Race Report



Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to ride in Leelanau this year, and I'm thinking that was probably for the better considering almost every strong rider from Michigan didn't finish. Instead, I fed the Cascades Womens' Cycling Team in the feed zones.

Helping out their team was a really fun and interesting experience. They're a great group and I enjoyed helping them, even though I couldn't understand what many of them were saying (they're all from Montreal and many of them only speak a little English). Julie Bellerose (who rode for U of M this season) took the top place on their team, coming in at 13th. Her teammate, Veronique was not far behind in 15th. Considering the strength of the field this year, they all did really well.

For me, the experience of being at a race but not racing was really unusual. It's a different kind of stress trying to help riders rather than racing. There's less pressure, but I still have an important task to do. Getting from the first to the second feed zone was especially stressful because there was very little time to do it. Luckily, I successfully navigated the back roads and made it to the second feed just in time for a parched Julie and Veronique to roll by.

Overall, I'm really grateful that Equipe Cascades gave me the opportunity to help them. Additionally, watching the mens' race has shown me what level I'll need to reach to be able to ride with the big guns if I have the opportunity to race next year.

Gaslight Race Report

Gaslight also provided a good bit of enjoyment this Memorial weekend. The race started with a quick pace, with a lot of small attacks right from the gun. I followed a bunch of them, but none seemed to stick. A few laps into the race, a strong group of around five riders had a good gap on the group. One of my teammates (I think) yelled for me to get up there, so I made my way to the front of the peloton and jumped. I opened a nice little gap and made it about three quarters of the way to the lead group before pulling off to let the rider following me take a turn. I was happy to see my teammate Bruce Rivera right there. He finished the bridge and we made it to the fast group. Both he and I needed to recover, so we sat in for a few seconds. I took an inventory of the group and it looked very similar to the lead group at Frankemuth.

Two ISCorp riders pulled through really hard and the Raisin Rack rider (from Frankenmuth let a gap open up). I was still spent from bridging that I couldn't jump across the gap. In retrospect, I should have at least tried to close the gap, because those riders ended up riding away for the win.

The rest of us just floated back to the pack. I sat in for a while as more attacks went. Another group with Bruce Rivera got up the road, so I went to the front of the peloton and did a little blocking and covering.

By the end of the race, all the money places were up the road, so people seemed less determined. On the last lap, I jumped on a move by John Sammut and Luke. Luke had asked John to get him away from the pack and up to a dangling lead group. John pulled hard but stalled out, leaving the chase up to Luke. Unfortunately, we just ended up dragging a bunch of Jet Fuel guys with us. Luke pulled off and I sat up when my teammate, Terry Palmer, jumped around us. I moved over and let the pack go by me to coast in. Bruce ended up sixth and Ken Vernier got 14th - in the money.

Overall, this has been a great Memorial weekend.

Tour of Kensington Valley Recap

Well, today I raced in the Tour of Kensington Valley. It's probably the longest road race I'll do this year. The flier claimed it was 97 miles, but my teammate measured it at 102 miles.

Given the length of the race, and the fact that it started at 7:15AM, nobody really warmed up for it. This lack of warm-up really played into the race, because the first attack came at around 500 meters. We rolled off the line, and before I knew it, a Bissell guy jumped, followed by Greg Christian of Team Turin. I quickly latched on to them with a few more guys. The pack didn't really seem to think we were serious, considering we still had to ride 100 miles, so they just sat up. A few more guys came across and we started a rotating paceline. I looked around and all the major teams were represented, with the exception of Wolverines. Luckily, Danny Klein bridged up. Now that we had representation from every major team, we could ride away.

We settled into a nice, strong rotating paceline, getting a big gap on the pack. I took a pretty hard pull and decided to go to the back of the group to recover. Some Lathrup Industries guy was back there and he created a gap. He, a Bissell guy, and I looked at eachother, playing the "No, you pull" game. This was a stupid move on my part because we all got dropped from the group. I attacked the two other guys up a hill and got a gap on them. Though now that I look back at it, Bissell must have been using team radios because the Bissell guy was waiting for his teammate to bridge back up so he could leapfrog him into the pack. I jumped on their wheels and they dragged me back to the lead group. The Lathrup Industries guy just disappeared. When I got back to the lead group Danny was like "Dude, where'd you go?" and I said "I was back aways for a little bit." He replied "Don't ever do that again," which cracked me up.

We kept the pace strong, getting a five minute gap at one point, according to Joe Lekovish at the feed zone. A bunch of my teammates and a bunch of Wolverines were worried I didn't have any food, so every time I came through the feed zone I had two or three people offering me bottles and gels. A thanks goes out to all my teammates as well as Maia Orabi and the Dubrishes for offering me bottles.

Anyways, with about 4.5 laps to go, going up the feed zone climb, Danny and Greg nailed the pace and made everyone suffer. They got a good little gap on us. A Bissell guy jumped across the gap and then Greg rode off the front of them. The five of us that remained suffered for a while and then the other Bissell guy jumped across the gap on the next lap's feed zone climb. We now had Pete Schilling of Priority Health, a South Lyon guy, and a Giant guy. The four of us suffered for a while until a group with John Card got up to us.

Once they reached us, the pace slowed quite a bit. Zach McBride of Priority Health went to pull off the front and nobody followed, so he just rode off the front and got away.

Coming in to the final climb and sprint, I tried to stay on the USA National guy's wheel, but I got separated to the other side of the pack. That separation proved unfortunate because he attacked at just that moment. Peter Schilling also attacked going into the final straightaway and got a little gap. John Card sprinted hard to try to get around him which gave me a good lead out. He didn't get around Peter, but I was able to jump around him before the finish line.

I ended up 9th overall, which I'm really happy with given the strength of the field. Greg Christian won the race on his solo breakaway.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Omnium Points Series at the velodrome. It should be interesting, to say the least. I'm still pretty tired from today.

Oh, and also I should mention that the University of Michigan now has a national champion! Julie Bellerose masterfully won the womens' division 1 criterium in Fort Collins, Colorado at collegiate nationals! She's now back in Canada, but she's going to return to Michigan for Leelanau where I'll be providing feed zone support for her Cascades pro cycling team.

My Collegiate Road Nationals Experience (a.k.a. How you Shouldn't Race a Bike)

Where's Brendan?

Well, I hope I don't sound like a crybaby too much. My last two posts have pretty much been me complaining about my road racing and this one's not much different. It's about today's Collegiate Road Nationals race in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The lollipop-style course consisted of a long, steep climb right from the gun, followed by hilly loops at the top, then back down for the finish. Conditions were OK, but not that great for me - temperatures in the 40s and 50s and high wind. As we stood on the starting line, the announcer told us they were going to shorten the course by ten miles because a snowstorm was coming.

The race started out pretty hard with the whole group nailing the pace right from the gun. I slowly drifted back in the pack as the strong winds baked me (any sort of wind pretty much destroys me - I guess that's why I'm not a time trialist). Once we reached the climb with a tailwind I started flying past suffering riders. A gap opened up and I found myself and a bunch of other riders off the back of a 30+ rider group. Not discouraged, I pressed on, passing more and more shelled riders. A group of around ten of us formed not too far behind the peloton and we settled into a chase.

We eventually caught the peloton after the first lap. It felt nice to be relieved from chasing and to sit in a big draft. After five minutes or so of riding with the peloton, we came around a corner and another rider tangled his bars with me. We both went down. Uninjured, I quickly got back up and jumped on my bike. Unfortunately, the peloton had just started an acceleration, so despite the fact that I was 30 seconds back, I just couldn't catch them.

Eventually, another chase group with two of my U of M teammates, Mattison and Kyle, caught me in a headwind section and I jumped in with them.

This second chase group finally caught the peloton in the feed zone after two more laps of chasing. I decided to chill in the back for a while, which turned out to be my biggest mistake of the day. As soon as we exited the loop section of the course, the road turned up and the group started climbing hard. A bunch of gaps opened up ahead of me and I found chase effort futile. I continued to ride hard to the finish, picking up a few riders here and there. I rolled into the finish in 72nd - about mid pack.

Despite all of this complaining, I'm still glad I did this race for several reasons:
1.) I now have experience in a national-caliber road race so I know what to expect in the future.
2.) I learned a good lesson about riding in a pack.
3.) I had fun.

I'll probably post another update after tomorrow's criterium.

(For the photo: I'm in the middle of the field of riders. My head's popping up and you can see my white-rimmed sunglasses)