Going back and looking at last year's "Rookies" post, everything I wrote then seems almost foreign to me now. Our once mostly rookie team is now full with veterans, with two fast up-and-coming rookies to boot. It seems like we have finally put an end to our perpetually revolving door of riders, trading it for the door analogy of a legitimate and sustainable team.
Please don't tell them (seriously, don't...I don't think they even know this blog exists), but I love our rookies. Let me clarify; I love what our rookies stand for. They are happy to put in the time and work just like the rest of us, with the knowledge that they are likely only training for races in years to come. It is this commitment to a team they are barely familiar with that gives me hope for our future as a program.
All in all, I am proud that these guys can see how much this team means to us and put in the work to build on our program's legacy. If we didn't continue to develop our team from the bottom up, then there would be no team left, but only a disjointed series of individual efforts over the years.
Keep an eye out for some more updates soon. Winter Break Training Camp in sunny South Carolina is only a few weeks away!
Now it's time to watch some magnificent team building a la Tom Crean. Go Hoosiers!
Tuesday, November 27
Tuesday, October 30
Fall Series Wrap-up
Thanks to everyone who helped put on the best yet Fall Series!
This year's events were: - Individual Time Trials on Thursday,
- Cyclocross on Friday,
- Duathlon on Saturday and
- Street Sprints on Sunday
Our team had a good showing, with Nick and Paul claiming 2nd and 4th places in the 1 mile ITT with some particularly scary corners on Thursday to win the event for the team.
Cyclocross was a crazy event, where a lot of us were just trying to not crash each lap on the wet, muddy, sandy and leaf-covered obstacle course. Phi Psi's Miles Johnson showed how much of a role experience plays in this race, opening up an impressive early gap. Nick and Thomas stayed upright long enough to score a team 7th place for us.
The Duathlon was a 1 mile run, followed by an 8 lap sprint on the track and closed out with a 1.5 mile run around the stadium. Drew and Nick claimed 5th and 6th in this event for a 2nd place team score.
The final event, Street Sprints, was a tournament-style measure of who had the strongest legs over 200 meters from a standing start. Kris Zee of Cru Cycling was a monster off the line and walked away with the event. When asked by JB if he, as returning champion, wanted a best-of-three final round, he opted out, presumably responding, "No thanks, Jordan, I'll just win this one". Paul and Drew both made it through to earn quarter-final round time bonuses to hang on to 4th place in the event and 3rd place overall.
Overall, we had a great showing in this year's Fall Series. Thanks again to all the event organizers, officials, volunteers and riders for making last weekend lots of fun.
This year's events were: - Individual Time Trials on Thursday,
- Cyclocross on Friday,
- Duathlon on Saturday and
- Street Sprints on Sunday
Our team had a good showing, with Nick and Paul claiming 2nd and 4th places in the 1 mile ITT with some particularly scary corners on Thursday to win the event for the team.
Cyclocross was a crazy event, where a lot of us were just trying to not crash each lap on the wet, muddy, sandy and leaf-covered obstacle course. Phi Psi's Miles Johnson showed how much of a role experience plays in this race, opening up an impressive early gap. Nick and Thomas stayed upright long enough to score a team 7th place for us.
The Duathlon was a 1 mile run, followed by an 8 lap sprint on the track and closed out with a 1.5 mile run around the stadium. Drew and Nick claimed 5th and 6th in this event for a 2nd place team score.
The final event, Street Sprints, was a tournament-style measure of who had the strongest legs over 200 meters from a standing start. Kris Zee of Cru Cycling was a monster off the line and walked away with the event. When asked by JB if he, as returning champion, wanted a best-of-three final round, he opted out, presumably responding, "No thanks, Jordan, I'll just win this one". Paul and Drew both made it through to earn quarter-final round time bonuses to hang on to 4th place in the event and 3rd place overall.
Overall, we had a great showing in this year's Fall Series. Thanks again to all the event organizers, officials, volunteers and riders for making last weekend lots of fun.
Monday, October 22
Can we please get some "bad" weather?
I don't like the term, "bad weather". What is bad for one person could well be quite nice for another. If 35 degrees and raining means that I'm training and you're not, I'd call that good weather (you may not).
Last year, we had an unusually mild winter. I hated it. There was no occasion to our rides. Putting on a jacket and some legwarmers for a moderately chilly mid-January jaunt just seems wrong. I love the single digit suffer-fests of frozen fingers and toes. I love rides when I have the road to myself, free of the fair-weather heroes and Hilly Hundred types. I love it when all you can hear is the swishing of the tires over whichever physical state of water that day might have brought and the sound that it makes when it just runs off your saturated body and kit helplessly with nowhere to go.
There is a certain, inexplicable quality of riding in conditions in which others choose not to that makes you want to go faster. It's not just that the cold, rain, snow or hail takes your mind off of the pain you are submitting your legs to; it has something to do with the reason you're out there. It is a reminder that you're not one of the summer peloton, but of something a little more distinguished. You may not be the fastest, but you're doing everything you can to get there, and that's something you can't say about all the people who used to be on the road when the weather was "good".
In closing, let me once again refer you to the Old Velomiskrit:
Last year, we had an unusually mild winter. I hated it. There was no occasion to our rides. Putting on a jacket and some legwarmers for a moderately chilly mid-January jaunt just seems wrong. I love the single digit suffer-fests of frozen fingers and toes. I love rides when I have the road to myself, free of the fair-weather heroes and Hilly Hundred types. I love it when all you can hear is the swishing of the tires over whichever physical state of water that day might have brought and the sound that it makes when it just runs off your saturated body and kit helplessly with nowhere to go.
There is a certain, inexplicable quality of riding in conditions in which others choose not to that makes you want to go faster. It's not just that the cold, rain, snow or hail takes your mind off of the pain you are submitting your legs to; it has something to do with the reason you're out there. It is a reminder that you're not one of the summer peloton, but of something a little more distinguished. You may not be the fastest, but you're doing everything you can to get there, and that's something you can't say about all the people who used to be on the road when the weather was "good".
In closing, let me once again refer you to the Old Velomiskrit:
Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.
Wednesday, October 10
Simple Economics
Some more inspiration from the velominati (this time it's marko's):
...the beauty of pain is that it is free to any of us who are willing to take it. By placing value on pain we recognize that there is plenty of it laying around for the taking because so many other people do what they can to avoid it.I'm predicting a further increase in the local pain surplus to be brought in with the coming long weekend. It's a buyer's market, gentlemen. Buy, buy, buy.
Sunday, April 29
Post-Race
After a year's hard work, all of our training hinged on one thing: The Race. We came out ready to go, excited to see what we could do.
Suddenly, after moving up through the pack, Torrance was headbutted off the bike at the front of a crash in turn 1.
We couldn't seem to catch any breaks, working with Cutters to catch back on, dropping all the other crashed teams only to lose the Cutters' wheel on a mistimed exchange just before they finished making up the half lap back without us around lap 25. At this point we had burnt a few too many matches to make a move by ourselves to catch up. We sat up and after a few sets were back in the pack, one lap down.
It is hard to judge how we fit into the race after this point, since we all got perfect burns for exchanges since the lead riders were no longer marking our moves. However, all of the racing was strong and safe, staying near the front of the pack at all but the most unlucky of times. Wimmer was taken down by a crash to put us another lap down around the half way point, then Torrance was put down again, this time by the yellow jersey-ed perennial self-crashing favorite, and was stretchered off.
We finished the race in a frankly miraculous 12th place considering the three out of four big pileups we were in. Next year, we hope to not be so unlucky; but more importantly, next year we will look to control the race more and not take any chances behind the wheel-rubbing masses.
With the 2012 race behind us, our schedules now transition to summer road racing and lots more miles. Many of our competitors are now our teammates, a reminder of the great camaraderie there is within the race and the cycling community. In the mean time, enjoy some pictures from the race!
We'll see you out there!
Suddenly, after moving up through the pack, Torrance was headbutted off the bike at the front of a crash in turn 1.
We couldn't seem to catch any breaks, working with Cutters to catch back on, dropping all the other crashed teams only to lose the Cutters' wheel on a mistimed exchange just before they finished making up the half lap back without us around lap 25. At this point we had burnt a few too many matches to make a move by ourselves to catch up. We sat up and after a few sets were back in the pack, one lap down.
It is hard to judge how we fit into the race after this point, since we all got perfect burns for exchanges since the lead riders were no longer marking our moves. However, all of the racing was strong and safe, staying near the front of the pack at all but the most unlucky of times. Wimmer was taken down by a crash to put us another lap down around the half way point, then Torrance was put down again, this time by the yellow jersey-ed perennial self-crashing favorite, and was stretchered off.
We finished the race in a frankly miraculous 12th place considering the three out of four big pileups we were in. Next year, we hope to not be so unlucky; but more importantly, next year we will look to control the race more and not take any chances behind the wheel-rubbing masses.
With the 2012 race behind us, our schedules now transition to summer road racing and lots more miles. Many of our competitors are now our teammates, a reminder of the great camaraderie there is within the race and the cycling community. In the mean time, enjoy some pictures from the race!
We'll see you out there!
Wednesday, April 4
Race Day Shirts 2012
Race day is less than 3 weeks away... This means its getting time to buy your race day shirt to rep the EP!
Check out the design for this year and email us at sigepcycling@gmail.com with your order by this Sunday at midnight. Each shirt is available in American Apparel sizes S-XL and costs $15.
You can send in a check or alternatively send your order in with the appropriate donation on our PayPal link. If you can't make it for the race to pick your shirt up but would still like to show your support, email us and we can get it shipped to you.
Check out the design for this year and email us at sigepcycling@gmail.com with your order by this Sunday at midnight. Each shirt is available in American Apparel sizes S-XL and costs $15.
You can send in a check or alternatively send your order in with the appropriate donation on our PayPal link. If you can't make it for the race to pick your shirt up but would still like to show your support, email us and we can get it shipped to you.
Thursday, March 1
Rookies
While so many other teams are returning full rosters of four or more riders (with 5th year seniors a bit of a theme this year), we have two riders returning from last year's team and a total of one year of race experience between them.
In no way is this a pessimistic post though; we are expecting this to be our strongest season since our return to the race in 2007. Having one freshman, two sophomores, and a junior only gives us more hope of great things to come. For now, though, we are focused on the 2012 race.
Our summers consisted of countless miles, enjoying the weather on 50+ mile training rides with hometown clubs and teams. Fall semester let us get lots of great team work in together before we thought the weather would force us inside; but the unusually mild winter gave the team an opportunity to endure the snowy, icy roads and perma-frozen toes regularly with only an occasional roller workout taking the place of one of these Five and Dime rides. Now spring is here, and long rides are transitioning to brutal intervals, pack riding, and exchange work.
Our pokey little four man team has stuck it out through all of this, always striving to be better and having a great time along the way. From laying it all out on a sprint to a Wednesday Worlds finish line to belting out "Wagon Wheel" or Disney tunes with some questionable lyrics, I can safely say that I am immensely proud of what our team has become and where we are going. Keep an eye out for us this year.
Drew
In no way is this a pessimistic post though; we are expecting this to be our strongest season since our return to the race in 2007. Having one freshman, two sophomores, and a junior only gives us more hope of great things to come. For now, though, we are focused on the 2012 race.
Our summers consisted of countless miles, enjoying the weather on 50+ mile training rides with hometown clubs and teams. Fall semester let us get lots of great team work in together before we thought the weather would force us inside; but the unusually mild winter gave the team an opportunity to endure the snowy, icy roads and perma-frozen toes regularly with only an occasional roller workout taking the place of one of these Five and Dime rides. Now spring is here, and long rides are transitioning to brutal intervals, pack riding, and exchange work.
Our pokey little four man team has stuck it out through all of this, always striving to be better and having a great time along the way. From laying it all out on a sprint to a Wednesday Worlds finish line to belting out "Wagon Wheel" or Disney tunes with some questionable lyrics, I can safely say that I am immensely proud of what our team has become and where we are going. Keep an eye out for us this year.
Drew
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