andy reagan only the interesting stuff

Tour de Syracuse

I ended up doing only the criterium race on Saturday, and it was a ton of fun.  I went down to Onondaga Park in Syracuse a few hours early, in time to catch Anna finishing third in her crit.  Here's how it went down.  If you're going to read this, gotta play this in the background (it'll make sense in the end): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYH_R6bx9-w&feature=related

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and I went for a good 15 minute ride around the Strathmore area of Syracuse before coming back to pin my number on and get to the start line.  That is a beautiful area of Syracuse, huge perfectly-manicured houses with a view of the skyscrapers just a mile below.

I went over to registration to grab some pins, and while I was in the tent, they called my name over the loudspeaker to come to registration.  Well, beat them there.  They said that I was not eligible to race in the Cat 4 which race which I had registered for, because I was still a Cat 5.  Turned out that online I'm still showing up as a Category 5, when I should be a Category 4 after I was approved for my upgrade.  Thanks to DROID I was able to pull up the approved upgrade email, and the guys at registration pinned my number on since the race was going to start soon.  I went up onto the stage at the finish line and showed them my email, they pulled up my info on line, and got it all sorted out.

Altogether, it was a good chance to cool down instead of finishing warming up before the start of the race. It was by far the biggest field of the day, with over 50 riders, and I made sure to line up in the front row.  Just as we were about to go, I caught my dad waving behind the group, and was glad that my parents had made it for the start.

As soon as they said "GO!" I was clipped in and moving, and some dude in a red skinsuit next to me had sprinted off the line.  I assumed that it was going to be a fast start, and sprinted after him.  To my surprise, when I looked back and expected to have the whole field on my wheel as I caught him, there was no one at all.  The entire group was a couple hundred feet behind us, and this guy in red was crushing it.  I stuck on him, my cold legs complaining furiously, but I told them to shut up.

We were crushing, but still I had expected that we would be quickly pulled in after the first of 22, 1-mile laps.  Again, our lead had grown to be huge, and we were pulling away.  I didn't want to kill myself since the course was so long, there was no hope for lapping the field and little hope of riding for an hour out front, but still pulled through pretty hard.  I didn't hear it, but my dad said that I got a sweet shout-out over the loud speaker as Andy Reagan from Virginia Tech pulled away from the group.  We rode out front for like 3.5 laps before getting reeled in, and I sat in the group for what must've been 5 more to recover.

The course was somewhat tight, not really tight but with such a huge group, there wasn't any room to move up.  When the first wave of primes came, I wanted to go, but there was just no making through the group to the front.  As the lap count shrunk, I moved up near the front, and was in the action for a few primes just to hold the position.

With two laps to go, I fought harder to stay up front, and coming into the last lap had perfect position, 5th wheel.  But as we approached the line all the dudes in front of me disappeared, and I was on the front.  Not good position.  So I pulled hard through the line, through the first corner, and then attacked off the front.  Not good move.  But, I went for it.  Opened a small gap, but with close to a mile until the finish.  I went as hard as I could, but my legs cracked as I tried to hold off a field that had been resting on my wheel.  So, they all passed me.  And I rolled through the finish near the back, unable to summon a second effort on the uphill to move up.

In conclusion, I made some strong moves, and felt confident in my ability to race Cat 4.  I didn't finish as well as I would have liked, but on a race like this, I really needed a team and to race smart....but racing smart ain't no fun!

After the race I was able to catch up with the dude I'd rode out front with, and some of the other guys I was riding with in the group.  I'd seen Emily Garrant there before the race, but forgot that she had said her bf was racing Cat 5 right after until I was halfway home.  Perhaps the highlight was walking back to my car, and a guy from WVU was on his trainer blasting the techno remix to Country Roads that we heard every race this spring from their van.

Amberations Race

Today I won a bike race, the very same race that was the first one I ever did, which was pretty cool.  Three years ago, Bill Bell talked me into doing this race that raises money for Amberations, and that first year I got a flat.  Having raced three seasons of collegiate cycling with Virginia Tech, I've gained some fitness over the years. And I've learned that going out to the bars and getting 4hrs of sleep for 2 nights before races is very beneficial.

It was pouring rain for the whole race, which was actually pretty short, only taking a total of 50:11. At the start, I went hard on the front hoping to lose anyone that shouldn't be there, and succeeded well, as the group had somehow splintered to 5. The real challenge of the course which circles Otisco Lake is the short, steep climb on Churchill Rd.  The roads takes a 150 degree turn, and then its 20% grade for .2 miles.  Doesn't sound long, but that part is freaking steep.  It continues upward at a sligthly more reasonable grade for another half mile or so, then it's downhill (plus a few rollers) to the finish.  When we hit the hill, I took off, and was about two minutes ahead of the next guy at the top where my fan crew was stationed.

Thanks for the support!

Since I knew I had a pretty big lead, I crushed it even harder for the remainder of the race, all the while hoping to open enough of a lead to have time to change a flat, since that's the only way I wasn't winning now.  As I approached the finish line, there was no one in sight so I eased up a little for my final sprint.  Since I had been by myself, I'd been throwing down some attacks against myself earlier.  I came within sight of the line, and opened it up for my self-lead out.  I then pulled off of myself lead-out man and sprinted through the line, sprinting away from the invisible peleton.

The race organizer was on her way to the finish line to tell the timers that they should expect finishers in 5-10 minutes, so it sounds like I opened a course record in a downpour! It was three or four minutes before the next guy came through.

The trophy is pretty sweet, and I got some cool schwag, including a t-shirt from and $25 to Bike Loft East, 6 ice creams at Carvel North Syracuse, 6 games of bowling at AMF Strike 'N Spare Lanes, and a water bottle:

Schwag! The wheel on trophy spins

Altogether it was a lot of fun, and I feel accomplished to have won the same race that had been my first.  I recommend this ride/race to everyone! I'll see if I can get my Mom to do it next year, after I successfully transform her into an age-group-dominating triathlete... Here's the organization's website again: http://www.amberations.org/

Bonus Pictures

And here's the rest of what was on camera too!

WVU Race Weekend

I had an amazing time this past weekend racing at WVU with the team. The races went well, and it was great talking and hanging out in the beautiful weather, and great atmosphere the whole time.  And I'm currently procrastinating real life (some homework) to write about how much fun I had.

Sunset tonight in Blacksburg

Friday: HW, Test, then driving!

I had a tough week of schoolwork, among other things school-related (applying to grad school...the usual) and finished up Friday.  First, with turning in my Number Theory problem set on which I was able to figure out the two really hard problems and finish up my C++ program in the morning.  And I took my second exam in Advanced Calculus, which I think went pretty well.  I studied for it as much as I though was reasonable, which probably amount to two or so hours...because all there really is to do studying is memorize definitions (4 pages of them) which I know by now already, and go over the homework.

Jumping back in time to Thursday, I had a C++ exam and I'm pretty sure I crushed it.  I was disappointed with my performance on the first test, probably because I didn't really study and the questions were just picky about the syntax.  But now that we're into more complicated programming, I like it better.  Last time I didn't do any of the Koofers, but this time I did three of them and it was getting pretty repetitive.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester I have been eating with the Tri team for lunch at D2, but they were on their way to Nationals in Alabama already so it was just Andy W and I.  Just saw Grayson in the parking lot as we got back from the races, and it sounded like they did really well, 8th overall, so congrats to them!  So my day Thursday was like: wake up, C++ koofer, Num Anal class, lunch, study C++ for three hours and work on a prime number program, C++ test, then coding for another two hours before I gave it up and went to PK's for dinner with the cycling team guys.  One of the problems for number theory was to write a program to determine whether a given really really large number was prime.  I would do it in MATLAB, but it can only factor numbers up to 2^32 (even though I'm running the 64 bit version) so I tried to learn Mathematica which can factor numbers that big.  But programming in Mathematica is super confusing, and totally unlike any other language.  It's stupid.  So I resorted to C++, and the program I wrote was like 400 lines of code, and there is still more I need to add to make it work fully.  A lot of that is a function that factors big numbers, then another one that takes bases to giant exponents in binary...and you don't care anymore.

I was going to attempt an easy ride Friday, but didn't get a chance to before I needed to pack up, and have time to submit my beer for competition before leaving at 4.  I submitted my IPA with just cascade hops that Will and I brewed under "American IPA" and my Raison D'Etre clone under "Belgian Dubbel" and I think that my belgian has a good shot at it.  The IPA...I'm just hoping that it's at least carbonated by the time they judge them.

The drive to WV is long, but we split it half and half (2.5 hrs each) with a stop at Pies and Pints, an awesome pizza place in Fayetteville, WV.  The black bean pizza that Jacob and I split was delicious, but Rogue's Chateau beer was an imperial porter, but too harsh on the roastedness.  The chocolate malt made it taste really burnt. Oh well on that.  At the hotel for the night we hung out, and drank some Yuenglings before calling it a night.

Saturday: Double Criterium

The criterium course in downtown Clarksburg is an awesome venue, with the race going around two city blocks in the middle of downtown.  The mayor loves having us out, and there are all sorts of activities with a kids race, people in costumes, and a cop on 10 foot stilts was walking around.  I even saw the mayor, who came up and introduced herself to all of us, riding around on a trike in the open area in the middle of the course where the kids stuff was going on too.

This kid got some, winning the kid's race in style

We didn't have anyone in the first race, Men's D, but there were five of us ready to get Andy W the win in the Men's C.  The race was 30 min, and it was a fast race, mostly due to Jake.  He was up front most of the race, put in two attacks, and made us all work.  I attacked at some point, and got off the front, but App State weren't the ones chasing me so I eased off.  Coming down to the last lap, Andy W and I were not in great position at all.  He got on my wheel into the last lap, and as we came around the start/finish I drilled it with him behind me and we got up near the front into turn one.  I pulled at something like 1200W, and on that stretch blew myself up.  Coming out of turn 2 into the slight uphill, I was cooked and wasn't able to communicate that to Andy who stayed behind me for too long.  App went around me to the left, and Andy was left to chase them into the last two corners, and to the finish line.  In retrospect, I shouldn't have gone too hard on that first pull, and saved enough to give Andy a real lead out, or at least let him know that I was dead.  So I pretty much screwed the pooch on that one...and it was a frustrating finish.  I think Andy got like 4th or something, but he needs wins to move up.

Ben Warren in the A race, in a 3 man break

After the collegiate races, there were also USAC category races going on.  By USAC races, I just mean non-collegiate races.  Technically our collegiate races are part of USAC, but we race in the collegiate categories of A through D.  That's unique to collegiate, and all the other races across the country have categories 1 through 5. And pro, which is above 1 I guess. But 1's and A's are the fastest, and down from there.

Tyler G finishing 3rd in Men's B, solid. Lots of people at the finish, you can see the activity area on the right

On my license, I'm still a cat 5 (beginner), and so Jake, Christian and I decided to race the cat 5 race.  The guy from WVU organizing the races offered the collegiate guys a discount to $15 for a second race of the day, which was cool.  The race was 30min, same length as Men's C.  It ended up being mostly a collegiate rematch too.

Mike B enjoying the Men's B race as well

There were three prime laps (pronounced preem), which are laps in which the first person wins something.  In collegiate, every race that I've done for that matter, the primes are for more points.  Which is exciting, but not really.  Perhaps the coolest part of real racing is that there are real prizes.  So for the primes, the prizes were a sausage, tshirt, and hat for the first one, a water bottle and cage for the second, and I don't even remember what the third was.  I just remember hearing them, and thinking that first one was pretty sweet, and I wanted it.  The other races earlier had growlers from Mountain State Brewing, but we're just cat 5 I guess.  Those were half the reason I signed up.

And last random picture, Will M and Tyler on the front of the B race

From the gun, we hit it real hard.  By we, I mean Christian and Jake on the front of the race.  I felt bad that we were going so hard in the beginner category, it was definitely not a beginner pace.  I was on the back for the first 15 minutes, and then started to move up.  Within a few laps, we were already lapping people, whoops.  I was waiting on the first prime, and when I heard the bell I got up to about 5th wheel.  Coming into the finish, there is a hard turn into a short steep uphill, then a dowhill to the finish line.  Out of that last corner I was something like 6th, and got on it.  As I crested the hill and looked down at the start/finish, I was really far back from the first guy, with quite a few people in the way, but I sprinted with everything I had and weaved through them.  The first guy was still a bike length ahead of me with 50 feet to go and I was sprinting hard, and right at the line I threw my forward and jusssst put my front wheel ahead of his. Victory!  That was the best sprint I think that I've ever put in race, maybe, I made up serious ground and pimped that guy hard.

I was cooked from that sprint, and luckily had gotten far enough ahead that I could relax without anyone attacking on the next lap.  I just hung in until the finish really, going for the second prime (think I got second) but I wasn't going to burn my last match.  They put the last prime with two laps to go...which meant that the next lap was going to be fast for the prime, and then it was the last lap!  I hated it when they did that to us last time.  But I knew enough not to sprint too hard for that last prime so I could stay on the final lap, and didn't go for the prime.  Luckily no one else went for too hard either, and we were mostly together after it going into the last lap.  Into the fast downhill turn 3, Jake A was first wheel and crushed the hard corner, opening up a gap on second.  I was like 4 or 5th or something at this point, and coming uphill out of the last corner was talking to myself.  This is the last sprint Andy, give it everything you've got.  So I sat on Jake's little train, and he was drilling it so no one was about to come around.  In reality, it was a perfect leadout.  I came off of his wheel sprinting, but didn't want to nab my own teammate at the line so I think I held back a little, although I'm not even sure that I had more anyway.  Jake crushed it all the way through the finish for the win, which was sweet.  I flew around to the right for 3rd, which I was totally happy with.

I did end up getting my sausage prime, and some pretty sweet socks and a tshirt.  And for 3rd, I got $15, which covered my entry fee, sweet! Jake got $35, which was awesome for him, he was working so hard the whole race.  And I totally couldn't have won either the prime, or come in third without being able to sit in the group while Christian was working hard up front, so a big kudos to him as well.

Doing well in the race put me in a great mood, and we other really strong performances on the day as well.  Everyone was happy, it was a good day of racing.  I'll write about those other performances on the cycling website, maybe.  Getting dinner was an adventure, it's freakin tough making a decision with 15 people, but we eventually ended up at a Chinese buffet which was good enough.  We were all tired, but chilled until midnight before going to bed, talkin about girls and of course, bikes.

Sunday: Road Race

I'm out of time a little, I shall write later about the road race.  Ciao!