DER Development Squad: Tired of Traveling Alone

Jason Isbell "Traveling Alone"

(click on YouTube link above)

Jason Isbell's sad lament in his soulful "Traveling Alone" reminds me of the common theme woven through the frequent requests of young riders who have asked to join Downeast Racing for next year. "Dude, I love racing but it's not as fun when you have to race alone." Some called me Mr. Pfeifle but "dude" is ok as the important part was the passion for racing the bike that was exhibited. Actually, this reminds me of a comment I overheard early in my career when a guy said, "If I had to race alone all the time, I'd quit!" And it's true. It's tons more fun racing on a team - driving to the race, lining up together, dodging potholes, wind, rain, eyeballs rolling backwards - you can't beat shared adventures. As a young rider on a team there's also the added bonus of the shared mission of moving up the category scale. The guys know that, depending on the course profile and a rider's strong point, the team could be working for ... me!! That definitely increases one's chances for success and that's clearly an inducement for joining a team.

 

So we at Downeast Racing have decided to open a development team of Cat 3-4 riders who have respectfully exhibited talent and ambition. The guys we have chosen know that success in racing is never a given and that talent and ambition must be complimented with hard work. It's a good mix of riders and we will be sure to keep all abreast of how training and racing progresses. Our new teammates are:

 

John Boucher  - Portland

Devin Frederick - Scarborough

Steve Bryant - OOB

Nathan Coste - Kennebunk

Luke Salvato - Brunswick

Matt Robinson - Portland

 

May I also add that Devins Hamlin will be riding with us next year. Although long on experience, desire & ability he, too, was in a position of racing alone. Well, not any longer. Welcome aboard, all. 

 

The Sustainable Athlete & Downeast Racing



We at Downeast Racing are happy to announce that The Sustainable Athlete, an endurance athlete coaching service with a nicely equiped training center, is now the coaching sponsor of our team. If anyone has doubts about the value of the use of a professional coaching program, one need not look further than the results posted this year by our Eliot Pitney. Last winter Eliot approached Doug Welling of The Sustainable Athlete for help and together they developed a training program that would prepare Eliot to maximize his abilities. Did the combination of proper coaching, genetics and self motivation take Eliot to the next level?   Indeed, yes, as Eliot won his season opening race (Tour of the Battenkill, Cat 3) in convincing fashion. Eliot "sustained" his excellent form throughout the long racing season and earned his Cat 2 upgrade along the way as well as winning a bunch more events. These fine results certainly caught the attention of Downeast Racing's riders who are now excited to avail themselves of the coaching and training facility services. In case it is not known by some, the benefits of coaching are:

 

- access to a "proven & tested" program

- personalized training structure

- a proper build up to target races

- sustained training-racing enjoyment

- daily peace of mind

- confidence

- performance improvement!!

 

That's a pretty nice line up of benefits. One can learn more about The Sustainable Athlete at their website: http://www.thesustainableathlete.com/

 

CX in full swing

After a long road season and countless hours grinding out the paved miles, a few Downeast Racers are finding their second wind in the mud, dirt and grass of New England cyclocross.  

Earlier in the month, Mainers were treated to a great weekend of local racing between Downeast Cyclocross (hey - great name there!) and Casco Bay CX.  This past weekend New Hampshire hosted the epic Orchard Cross, a venue with no rival, complete with massive dirt berms, a small pump track and numerous tight turns through the apple orchard.  Eager to mix it up with a packed 3/4 field Matt Moon and Eliot Pitney carved the course finishing a respectable 10th and 11th out of the field or nearly 100 New Englsnd CX'ers. 

Dan Vaillancourt did not want to miss out on the action either, and he shredded the course, and the P1/2/3 field for a 9th place finish.  Watch out New England, Danny V is getting his CX swagger back!

Orchard Cross hosted their annual costume ride and the giraffe made another appearance, as elegant as ever.  

There is racing every weekend but it might be a few weeks before the boys in blue lace up the boots for another slog through the mud and dirt.

Enabling Talent

Ben True: Winner at All Levels

Every now and then a kid comes along and, right off the bat, you (and everyone else) notices that he or she is better than their peers. You see it on the soccer pitch, the football field, the basketball court, the cross country course and, by extention, on the piano or in math. It's a wow thing as in "Wow! that kid's good" - an instant appreciation of talent. And when this kid comes onto the radar, it becomes fun to follow their career and see how it progresses against increasingly hard competition - college, minors, big leagues. A case in point in Maine is Ben True, the fabulously talented distance runner originally from North Yarmouth. Won in high school (Greely). Won in college (Dartmouth). Winning on the pro circuit. He's won because of natural talent, a love for his sport and scientifically applied training. One could also note the application of "hard work", but to these people the work is not "hard" but rather it is welcomed. Sitting at the piano for 4 hours straight? Ugh! to most people but pure joy to the gifted.  These guys wake up every morning and wonder "What can I do today to get better?". Consumed but happily so.

Benjamin Wolfe: Cycling Prodigy

We have these talent standouts in cycling, too. A young guy (age 19) who looks like his ticket is punched for bigger things is Cal-Giant's Benjamin Wolfe. We at Downeast Racing witnessed first hand his prowess while at the Beverley Crit this summer. The kid dominated against a national class gathering where he just rode away from the field - once again. However, and maybe unique to cycling in the USA, many talented riders blossum at a later age. A lot of talent comes to cycling AFTER their careers in other sports because opportunities for continuing in those sports ends. How many pro soccer openings are there a year? What do you do after a college rowing career (Eliot)? In cycling, the opportunity for advancement never ends and that's a gravitational pull to those who love to compete. Combine that competitive love & maturity with what the bike mysteriously does to the soul once you hop onto the saddle, and that "wow talent" emerges in surprisingly many people. Each year Downeast Racing looks to discover that latent Maine talent and provide these guys with an opportunity to discover just what lies within them. For our initial year we were heavily skewed toward proven talent with a sprinkling of latent. For 2015 we will bring on a few more latents where mixing them with the veterens will help to develop their potential. It's an exciting endeavor for us, so stay tuned and we will introduce you to our new members shortly.

Joe Moving On Up

 

Joe Struggled at Battenkill

The beauty of bike racing is that you have to earn your way to the top. Nothing is given, which makes the reward of achievement ever more meaningful. We at Downeast Racing are especially proud to announce that Joe Lynch has been notified by USA Cycling that he has been upgraded to a Category 2 racer. The pyramid of racing participants gets much more pointy as one moves from a 5 to a 4 to a 3 to a 2. There are but thirteen 2's in the state of Maine.

 

Joe spent the first half of the season in service to others and, in the process, gaining form. At Battenkill he worked to keep Eliot fresh for Joe Bean Hill at the halfway point of the race where Joe then sagged to a 101 place finish and Eliot surged to a win. Excellent work both and equally appreiciated by those on the team and in the peleton. More work at Sunapee and Killington where the depth of form continued to run deeper and deeper. Come July Joe exploded on the cat 3s (and everyone else) and showed all that he could play at the front, stay at the front and finish at the front. He forced the break at the New Britain Crit (3rd), hammered the front at the Balloon Festival Crit (5th) and then rode away from the field over the final 24 miles for a 35 second solo win at Jamestown. Of course Joe is the first to give credit to his Downeast Racing teammates for their help in his success, and they were only to happy to finally be able to return the favor. So, congrats, Joe, on a very deserving achievement. 

 

Joe showing his 2nd half good form

Leading the Way at the Mayor's Cup

Jamestown2014

Pardon my writing this in 1st person. It comes straight from the heart. While the Jamestown Classic offers a modest purse and plastic milk crates for a podium, it completely embodies the reason I race my bicycle. A scenic circuit around the island of Jamestown, RI, tough competition, great weather and great memories from past races. In short, it is a whole bunch of fun.

At the end of a strong season with many top 5 finishes, loosing often to CCB, Hottubes and others, Jeff Dixon, Ta Herrera and I (Joey Lynch) showed for the Masters 35+ and 45+ race of about 38 miles. One of my fondest bike racing memories is watching Ta win this race last year in front of his wife and two boys. The problem with this is it means we went into this year’s race with a marked man on our team!

We set out to keep our marked man out of the wind and cover attacks so he would not have to. About 10 miles in, I found myself off the front through covering one of those attacks. Well, it means a ton of work, but if I am off the front, Ta and Jeff’s work shifts more toward thinking in the main peloton (another thing they both do quite well). If the peloton is not happy with who is up the road, someone other than Downeast Racing will have to do something about it! And so, my objective became to make the peloton work if they did not want me where I was. One way or the other, my position would be a large factor in our success. But how do you keep pushing on the pedals time and time again harder than everyone else each time? Why did we show today? I rode by the Herrara family cheering section, cause to reflect, how many family dinners did I miss because I was out riding? How many times did I drag myself out on my bicycle after a long day of work? How many Strava KOMs does Ta have in Brunswick and why? How many times have we come up just a little short this season to very strong competition? Lots of folks have made sacrifices so we could be here today at this silly bike race.

Amazingly one pedal stroke at a time got me to the finish line to hear the cheer of Judy Stevens and the bell for the last lap of the 2 lap race. I will surely have nothing left after they catch me to escort Ta to the finish line. But, the other teams will need to work if they want to catch me and either way, they will have to sprint against a relatively fresh Ta… One stroke at a time gets me through the dirt section and back to the determined head wind out to the lighthouse. Where is the Herrera family? Gone to the finish to get a picture of it. At this point it occurred to me that Ta and Jeff were in back doing everything they could to insure the success of my break and it was now my job to ride my heart out. Nothing like a little pressure for motivation! So, what makes the difference here? Each pedal stroke has to be harder than everyone else’s behind me, especially up the hill before the finish. I look behind, no one in sight, I can do this, for me, for my family, for my team! And then, the last thing to think about, there is a strong crosswind so do not put BOTH hands in the air when you cross the finish line!

I am thrilled to end our season like this, blessed to be surrounded by competence.

Interval Timer: Indoor Training Tool

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/

 

When doing a workout on a trainer or a set of rollers, it is nice to have a big clock handy so that the timing of your efforts and intervals can be easily monitored.  A nice tool I have found is the INTERVAL TIMER stopwatch available for downloading on to your computer at the above noted web address. The timer can be easily programmed with an infinite amount of segments and a nice loud BEEP goes off when each time segment is over. So, you can program 15 minutes for a warm-up, 2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy, 2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy X's how many you want, then 5 minute rest and then 2-1-2-1-2-etc. OR 3 minutes effort, 15 seconds sprint, 1 minute easy ... repeat. Whatever you want to do. Workouts can be saved. Very easy, very handy, very visable.

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

Northern California Climbing

I had to travel just north of San Francisco on business last week - another work trip, which is typically bad for the training schedule.  I always try to catch workouts on the stationary bikes at the hotel, but time passes slowly and workouts are difficult at best.

One of the wooded climbs

This trip, however, was a little different.  My meetings didn't really kick in until the evening of my first day there, so I headed over to the Sausalito Bike Company to grab a rental for the day.  The shop was awesome - I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a high end rental while in the Bay area.  The crew there hooked me up with a super sweet Giant TCR Advanced with Di2 shifting.

Before I left the shop, I was given some great advice on routes.  I ended up doing a loop starting near Sausalito that ran through the mountains between Larkspur and Point Reyes on the coast.  The shop employee cautioned me that the route had a good amount of climbing, and he was right!  As I climbed several forty minute climbs punctuated by fast switchback descents, I looked forward to each successive climb because of the descent that I knew would follow.  I also had to laugh to myself, because I knew that most of the Downeast crew - especially Hank and Eliot probably would love the ride for the opposite reason (the climb itself).

MTB Trails

 After about 2 hours of climbing and descending, I ended up on the top of Mount Tam, the birthplace of mountain biking.  The views of San Francisco in the distance were breathtaking, and the mountain
biking trails carving through the golden hills on the climb looked absolutely amazing.  Next time I will have to spend a bit of time on a fat tire bike checking them out.

I rolled off the mountain and rode all the way to the coast and coastal route 1.   I rode through a small town, whose name I can't remember, but whose population I can - 487.  After a bit of rest on the coastal flats, I turned right and started climbing through the mountains again, across a dam in the forest, and back to the car.  All in all, one of the best rides of the year - sunshine, 85 degrees, and exploring new roads.

View from Mount Tam

The next few days consisted of 'rides' in the hotel fitness room, but I was able to make a return trip on my final day in California.  I rented the same bike again and set out on the same route - this day was mostly the same, but very different.  This time I was familiar with the roads, so the climbs seemed easier, and I could carry a little more speed through the switchbacks.

The biggest difference on this ride was the wildlife!  It all started when I was climbing up a deserted road outside of Point Reyes; I crested a hill, and 50 meters ahead of me stood a mountain lion in the middle of the road!  I was a bit freaked out, but I kept slowly rolling forward, and it finally walked off the road.  I think I must have continued to look back over my shoulder for the next 20 minutes in case it decided to chase me down.  But that wasn't all - I also saw a coyote standing alongside the road, a large brown snake, and finally 2 deer crossed the road just before I arrived back at the car.  Day 2 ended up being a memorable day as well, but for totally different reasons!

Coyote!

I will be back in the area again in November, and I plan on looking up my new friends at the Sausalito Bike Company again on my return trip - hopefully they will still have that sweet Giant TCR Advanced in their rental fleet!

Thanks for reading...

Jeff

No pressure riding - fall at its best

It is easy to get caught up in the racing season and focus solely on being in peak condition for that moment when the selection is made.  You spend so much time with your head down, staring at your stem, that you forget to take in your surroundings.  That is why the fall is the best time to be on your bike, and why Downeast Racing was seen criss crossing the White Mountains of New Hampshire in prime leaf peeping season.  

With no specific training on the docket, the boys set off on a 130 mile cruise taking in the sights from the top of the Kanc, up through Franconia Notch on the FNBP, a slight detour through Littleton to address a mechanical issue (huge thanks to Littleton Bike and Fitness for saving Dan's bacon), up and over Jefferson on an epic section of dirt road, raced the setting sun down Pinkham, over Bear and finished off with a spirited ride down to Conway.  

The foliage was in prime form, as was Hank who flew up the climbs.  The nice women who runs a roadside hotdog stand near Jefferson, NH re-opened for Dan who needed a beef frank to power the last 60 miles and the only thing we absolutely had to do on the ride was beat the setting sun.  It was a pretty epic day on the bike, the kind of thing that is tough to do anytime other than the fall.

Big thanks to Hank, Dan and Zev for thinking 130+ miles and 10,000 feet of climbing was a good idea.  With any luck, there will be another weekend like this before the end of the year!  

If you ever get stranded in Littleton, look up Dan's new best friends at Littleton Bike and Fitness.  They fixed up a busted rear wheel and got us back on the road in no time.  Cheers guys!

Giro & 'Druber: The Real Deal

Giro's Steve Swartzendruber in the French Alps

Companies that hire industry passionate people make inspired product. Case in point is Giro (cycling shoes & helmets) and Steve Swartzendruber ('Drubes) their Director of Product Creation - Footwear & Softgoods. Have you worn their shoes lately? There are plenty of opportunities because they make all types - road, mountain, triathlon, commuting, kicking around. We at Downeast Racing are fortunate enough to wear the Trans and one can tell from all the attributes important to cyclist that much thought and insight has gone into the design, development and production of this shoe. Probably much of that inspired insight comes straight from the Drubes. Ever since I have known him from way back when, he has been coo-coo for cycling. The history and drama of the sport - loves it. The heroism of the cycling legends and current protagonists - knows all their stories down to last finisher in the 1922 Milan-San Remo race. The lifestyle - he probably wrote the "Rules of Cycling". That smile you see on his face? It's there whenever he hops onto the saddle and starts heading to wherever the road may go. So, with that type of devoted energy going into his and his Giro mates' work, one can rest assured that nothing but what's best for your cycling performance & enjoyment is enimating from Giro's designers and on through to your clamping into the pedal. Thanks Giro and 'Drubes for being such a fine contributor to cycling.