Road Racing

Unpublished

ACA's position on challenging courses

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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From a rider who asked the ACA what their position on challenging courses like the previous Mead Roubaix Race

The official ACA position is that the Mead Roubaix course is a unique and challenging event. Riders were encouraged to check out the course and pre-ride before race day. While crashing is regrettable and painful, I think the Roubaix-style of event should always have a place on the ACA calendar.

Who is the new ACA Executive Director Chris McGee?

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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I had the luxury of riding with Chris about 3 weeks ago in Golden up Lookout and around roads I have no clue where we were but Chris could probably recite the route and alternative routes like rain man dropping numbers. I learned that studying maps is one of his many hobbies so that guy knows every route! Above all Chris is a funny guy who likes to talk to you, about anything, especially football if you happen to be a Steelers fan.

Below is a bio I got from Chris, because I could never get it together and do a interview of him... darn day job keeps getting in the way. Thanks Chris for sharing

1985 started riding and racing at 14 in Pennsylvania. We couldn't drive, so created our own stage race "The Tour of Visette". Don't really know where that name came from. We made leaders jerseys out of white t-shirts from JC Penney.

We found somebody who could drive, and got to the Tour of Somerville, where I got crushed by the 7-11 junior team with Jonas Carney. Wow - a serious eye-opener.

Started working at Klein Bikes in Chehalis WA in 1987, did my first mountain bike race in Ashland Oregon - The Revenge of the Siskiyous. Then went to Crystal Mtn, WA - the Specialized Rockhopper series. Greg Herbold was racing XC at the time. Got 7th in juniors, and got beer poured on my head by the Klein family. Was 16. Worked at Klein after high school and summers in college until 1992. Did my first century at Seattle to Portland with Gary Klein.

I raced both mountain and collegiate road while I lived in Pittsburgh - talk about awful racing conditions. We did a lot of 3 stage omniums: tt, crit, rr. One tt we still call "the Blizzard time trial" because it was snowing so badly that nobody warmed up, we just sat in the cars with the heat on. Then we got out and raced, and everyone fell down at the turnaround - it was so slushy. We raced the Month of Mud cyclocross series in western PA. One race had a creek crossing, and at registration they would always post the water temperature so you'd know what to expect. 38 degree water is cold on racing legs!

Interview with Alexi Grewal on his Roubaix race

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Photo Credit: 303Photo

With permission from The Alexi Grewal Story

Story: “So Alexi how was the Mead Roubaix race last weekend?”

Alexi: “Oh, it was OK,” he said slowly, then took a drink of coffee.

Story: I hate it when he makes me play 20 questions to find out what place he got, “And how did you do?”

Alexi: “… lot of guys quit… lot of guys went down… went to the hospital.”

Story: I also hate these terse/vague answers. I was going to have to say something to provoke him so I said, “So Alexi, did you really race from Mead, Colorado to Roubaix, France? I looked on ‘Map Quest’ to see how far it was, but it couldn’t tell me the distance… probably the Atlantic Ocean threw it off. How did you get across the Atlantic Ocean, Alexi?”

Alexi: No response (he’s killing me here). He took another drink of his coffee then finally said, “I got dropped… just another hard training ride.”

Story: “Did you finish?”

Alexi: “The break happened in the first 15 miles. There was a 30 mph crosswind… there was no way. I only had a 10 minute warm-up.” He took a sip, looked at me and said slowly, “I saw the break go… I knew how hard I’d have to go… I just didn’t feel like it.”

Story: I didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure what to say to this. We sat there in silence for a few minutes.

I know how hard it is for an endurance athlete to say something like that. It’s not OK for an endurance athlete to say that they don’t feel like it. Endurance athletes suffer to hell and back… and they still feel guilty about not going hard enough.

Alexi: But then Alexi started talking… as if suddenly it was “OK” to not “feel like it” and he had permission to go on,

Unpublished

Training Tips

Submitted by 303admin on

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As you head into the heart of the racing season, you’re body will start to accumulate fatigue which can influence your performance in negative ways. Here are few tips for
maximizing your recovery from day to day and week to week:

a. GET ADEQUATE REST! This means sleeping at night AND interspersing your training with appropriate rest days. Too many days in a row of intensive training will break you down. Be sure to listen to your body and take days off
or easy intermittently. Poor sleep quality will harm your bodies ability to restore itself. Make sure to avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed, as well as stimulating activities such as television or exercise. Establishing a ritual behavior before bed will help to induce sleep too. Reading or a bath or shower will signal your body its time
to start relaxing into sleep mode.

Louisville Crit - Post Race interview with Boulder Racing

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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[303 Cycling]: As a promoter what was your experience with the chip timing system, how did it effect registration and post race results. Are there any bugs that still need to get worked out?

[Boulder Racing]: With any new changes or system there’s going to be some nervousness going into race day. However, our staff comes from a chip timing background, directing over 20 chip timed events in the last 3 years, so we were more excited than nervous. In terms of registration everything was super smooth and the ACA did a great job of educating the rider on proper chip placement etc.

We feel the key to a successful registration process is to encourage as much pre-registration as possible. The Louisville Crit saw record attendance on Saturday with perfect racing conditions. All pre-reg riders were able to walk up to the pre-reg line, simply sign their “pre-filled out” waiver, and walk away with their number. They saved the couple minutes it takes to fill out a full registration form and kept the registration line nice and short. On top of that all their information was already pre-entered into the chip system’s database, which saves the timing company valuable time before each race starts. Imagine a field size of 65+ riders and having to type all that data in 20min before each race start.

Boulder's Higgins Finishes 6th at World Track Cycling Championships

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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March 23, 2011

Apeldoorn, Netherlands - Boulder's Cari Higgins (US National Cycling Team) competing in her first World Championships, placed sixth in the Women's Points Race on Wednesday. Later this week she will compete in the Women's Individual Pursuit along with USA teammate Sarah Hammer, the current World Champion in the event. Cari has eleven career elite National Championships and four Pan American Cycling Championship medals.

Higgins commented "After a couple of unfortunate crashes racing four World Cups this winter, I am really excited to have a good result at Worlds. I had to take some chances with the world's best women, like going for the first sprint and hoping to recover quickly. I am looking forward to taking this form to the Pan Am Championships this April in Columbia. It is an honor to represent the US National Team every time I put on the stars and stripes as we work towards our goal, the London 2012 Olympics".

Cari is coached by Neal Henderson of Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. She also serves an athlete representatives to the USA Cycling Board in Colorado Springs, CO.

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