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Light Letter
There's not much news in this edition of the newsletter. Obviously that's because there is not too much happening in the Capital Region cycling world in January, especially this year. But it is also because only one person sent me anything to print. I know there is stuff happening out there worth writing about. A bunch of people ran in the First Night Race, and spinning classes have been going on all month. A first-hand account of either of these events would make a great story. What about you speed skaters? Surely you have been competing. Is anyone actually riding in this weather? Any ride this month had to be epic and worthy of a story. How about a cross-country ski account that gives a different perspective than mine? It doesn't have to be a race.
As I said at the outset, if you rely on me to be your sole source of information, the newsletter will be shorter and less exciting that it could be. Help me out by sending me some articles. Once again, my e-mail is thuneck@nycap.rr.com
Time Trial Series Tentatively Set
CBRC members tentatively established the venues and dates for the 2003 time trail series at the club meeting January 8. The meeting was held at the Guilderland Library and was attended by about 20 people.
After a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of various venues, it was decided to hold 3 races on the New Baltimore course, and one on the Vischer Ferry (Riverview) course. An uphill time trail from New Salem to Pinnacle was added to the series, as was a longer TT on a course in Easton, across the Hudson from Stillwater in southern Washington County. The longer time trail can be done individually or as a two-man team.
The New Baltimore races are tentatively set for April 30, May 14, and May 28. The Pinnacle race will be on June 18. Stillwater is to be held July 2. The series wraps up in Vischer Ferry on July 16. These are all Wednesdays.
The series offers something for everyone, rolling hills, big hills, flats with turn arounds, and a long flat course. Details such as entry fees, starting times, and a handicapping system still need to be ironed out. Everyone agreed that the series will need to be publicized better than it was two years ago to attract more participants.
Harry Lentz will promote the New Baltimore races; Dieter Drake is in charge of Stillwater; Tim Huneck is in charge of Vischer Ferry; and Ian Beilby will promote the hill climb.
New sponsors and clothing for this year were the only other major items discussed at the meeting. CK Cycles, ADK Associates, Homestead Funding, Coldwell Banker, The Earth Shop, and Albany Bridge will sponsor the club this year. Clothing is being redesigned to reflect the new sponsors and will arrive at the end of March. You will need to preorder all clothing except regular jerseys (vests, shorts, skinsuits, long-sleeved jerseys, etc). Club secretary Mark Sumner is handling ordering. He can be reached at messysum@aol.com or at the next meeting.
Speaking of the next meeting, it is Wednesday, February 5 at 6:00 at the Guilderland Library. The library is on the left about 3 miles west of the Northway on Rt. 20. Sponsorship, clothing orders, time trial details, the season kickoff party, early season rides, and other hot topics will be discussed.
Nation's Top Masters Teach Spinning
By: Ace staff reporter
Two of the nation's top ranked masters (according to USAcycling.org) are teaching spinning classes right here in the Capital District. Ian Beilby (#1) and Andy Ruiz (#5) are well into their 3rd year of leading spinning classes at the Albany ARC. Both instructors have been donating their time and experience to the club and the community. Capital Bicycle Racing Club, the club that organizes and promotes the classes, benefits greatly from participant's "donations". In addition, both club members and the community benefit from a terrific facility that allows group training and interaction over the long, cold winter months.
"The classes appear to have grown", says Mr. Beilby who remembers when just a few, hard-core racers showed up for the first dark night of training in January 2000.
"The word is really spreading. Soon we'll have to start turning people away", stated Mr. Ruiz half jokingly.
Attendance is now hovering around twenty riders per night. Contributing factors are probably the club's investment in a high-power audio system so riders can hear the instructor and the driving tunes, as well as the thrilling cycling videos that recap last season, which the club supplies for the workouts. Freezing cold temperatures outside probably don't hurt either.
Asked why the facility allows the club to make use of the full-size gym during off hours in these days of ever-present litigation, Ian says, "I think the ARC is just really into community building. They saw an opportunity to help promote a healthy, fun activity and grabbed it."
Andy admits both parties get something out it though. "Well, the club gets to fund some of its operating costs with the donations and the ARC picks up a bunch of annual contributors."
Classes happen each Monday and Thursday night through March at 6:00. If you're planning to attend, you do need to supply your own equipment (a bike and a trainer) and be prepared for an hour or more of sweating.
Back to the instructors. Riding trainers indoors has gotten a bad wrap of being boring. How do the instructors keep it interesting? "I try to think of the type of training I'd be doing if I were outside and then try to simulate it in the gym. It's visualization. As the instructor, you have to convey where you are and what you're doing to the class", said Ian who also teaches spinning at the Steuben Club downtown.
Andy replied a bit differently. "You just have to ride hard in between the rest intervals. That makes the class fly."
Certainly having two of the nation's top masters cyclists helps too. One thing you certainly don't have to worry about is some of those goofy workouts dreamed up by non-cycling types that have you standing on your head doing push-ups or getting off the bike and running in place beside it.
The ARC is located at the corner of Blessing Rd. and Krumkill Rd. in Albany. Anyone is welcome to attend, though Ian and Andy ask that you get there early so you have plenty of time to set up.
Cross-Country Training
As many of you know, I spend the winter season on the cross-country ski circuit. I’ve been skiing nearly as long as I’ve been cycling and have been competing the past several years. The New York State Ski Racing Association (NYSSRA) runs a full slate of races. You can race somewhere in New York every weekend between mid-December and mid-March. That doesn’t even count New England, which, like cycling, is even more of a hotbed for the sport. There are also some great races in Canada.
I think skiing is great training. Workouts can be as hard as you like and I find it easier to go hard alone when skiing than when cycling. I’d also rather be skiing on a 20-degree day than riding. And the break from riding is welcome. By spring I can’t wait to get back on the bike.
Ski conditioning transfers pretty well to cycling. Each spring I’m usually a little behind the people who have been riding all winter, but I seem to get my cycling legs pretty quickly. My heart and lungs don’t really know what I’ve doing all winter. They only know that I’ve been punishing them.
For me, there are a couple of drawbacks to skiing. Unlike cycling, it’s a sport driven by technique. The best skiers have been skiing for years and spend hours each year perfecting their technique. As a result they ski very efficiently. I do not. Since there is really no drafting in this sport, if you ski inefficiently, like me, you will go much slower for the same amount of effort as someone who has better technique. I am constantly being thrashed by people I can hang with, and even beat, on the bike.
The obvious solution is to improve technique. But we live in Albany. Except for once-a-decade winters like this one, it doesn’t really snow here that much. To improve technique you have to ski and to ski you need snow. It’s a Catch 22 situation.
Because of these drawbacks I am schizophrenic about how much I ski each winter. We come off a no-snow winter like last year and I all but give up the sport. I do no training for skiing in the fall and make few plans to race. Then, we get pounded with snow. The next year I roller ski all fall, attend a camp to improve my technique, circle race dates on my calendar, and, predictably, it doesn’t snow.
I’ve come to accept skiing as a sport I do to train for cycling. For me, it’s easier to train if I am racing. I try to my best, but don’t get hung up on results.
I highly recommend cross-country skiing as a form of cross training. The races are fun and, just like in cycling, there is a good group of people who follow the circuit each year. If you’re interested in trying a race, the NYSSRA website is: www.borg.com/~lwmh/nyssra. There are a growing number of cyclists racing.
Loppet Means Pain
The Lake Placid Loppet is one of the premier cross-country ski races in the northeast, if not the country. It kicks off the American Ski Marathon series, and draws racers from all over. You can ski 25 km or 50 km in either classic or skate technique.
This year’s Loppet was held Saturday, January 25 at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. It was the largest field ever, probably because more people are skiing due to the amount of snow this winter. A lot of cyclists showed up to race - Bob Maswick and myself from CBRC; Eric Juzysta from Saratoga; Ed Lis Lake Placid; Noah Gullickson and Sean Manion from Hudson Valley; plus several from western Mass. and NYC.
I’m not sure what Loppet means, but I think it is Norwegian for “causing great pain.” The course is similar to the one used in the 1980 Olympics. It climbs close to 1800 feet per 15.5-mile lap. A course profile looks like a child’s drawing of a mountain range, straight up and straight down, over and over again. One of the “hills” is nicknamed Russian Hill because in the Olympics the Russians complained that it was too steep for an Olympic race. That would be the same Russians who live in places like Siberia and eat Yak meat. It’s like a Belgian complaining about the rain.
This was my third Loppet, and the first time I’ve been smart enough to sign up for the 25 km race. Two laps (50 km) on that course are sinister. Last year, when I trained much more for the ski season than this year, the 50k hurt more than any event I have ever done. Maybe wisdom does come with age, or maybe the pain isn’t erased just yet.
I begin all ski races the same way, too hard. There are no categories in ski racing, so everyone goes at once. It would be like a bike race with all fields mixed together. No matter how much I tell myself before the race not to go out too hard, I always get caught up in the adrenaline of it all and shoot off, trying to keep up with the big boys. Maybe I’m still not old enough for wisdom.
This year was no different. I thought I held back some. I let Noah and Sean go, knowing they were faster. But near the 5k point I looked at my heart rate monitor and saw 180, close to my maximum. Not good. I backed off at that point, but the damage was done. Soon after 5k the real hills begin. Russian is one. Another is named East Hill. One doesn’t look too bad until you glance up to the right, see people skiing above the trees, and realize where you have to go. After awhile, they all blend together in the fog and drool.
I survived the hills as best I could. In skate skiing there is a technique called single sticking. Normally you pole every other glide, but in single sticking you pole and glide together. It’s the technique I teach my kids when they are struggling with hills. It’s a little like using a triple chain ring on a hill. Sometimes it’s all that’s left when you body turns to Jell-O. After the race a friend of mine told me he had to single stick up a few of the steeper hills. This is a guy who finished the 50k in fewer than 3 hours, the benchmark of a really fast skier. I didn’t feel as bad when he told me that. I also didn’t tell him I single-sticked up all the hills from about 8k on.
My wax also helped me at this point. Waxing is another variable in ski racing that we just don’t have in cycling. Your choice of wax and your ability to apply it successfully can be huge. Imagine if cyclists had to pick their tires for the road conditions. Pick well and you would have little rolling resistance. Pick poorly and you would stick like glue, rolling along several miles per hour slower than the competition. Waxing is like that. On this day my wax worked great. I continually lost the group I was skiing with on uphills, but by throwing in a couple hard pole plants near the top and getting into a tuck, I easily caught them on each downhill. This saved me until my arms completely went jelly and I had to single stick the whole hill, not just the steep parts. No wax could save me then and I spent the rest of the race alone.
At 17k you re-enter the stadium and cross over to the biathlon side. While still somewhat hilly, this part of Mt. Van Hoevenberg is much easier. I recovered somewhat and regained some semblance of form.
I finished the race in 1:46:10, a little slower than my goal of 1:40. That put me just below the middle of the 25k pack, about 10 to 15 minutes slower than Sean, Noah and the other fast guys, and a whopping 28 minutes behind the winner. But, like I said earlier, I wasn’t here for results, just a great workout. And I was very glad I wasn’t here to do a second lap.
Loppet Results
25k classic
Bob Maswick 1:42:42 (2nd in 45-49 age group)
Eric Juzysta 2:17:35 (6th in 35-39, and darn fast for a guy skiing on a 10-year old pair of waxless skis)
25k skate
Noah Gullickson 1:31:34 (6th in 35-39)
Tim Huneck 1:46:16 (17th in 40-44)
50k skate
Ed Lis 3:09:06 (19th in 35-39)
Results of other ski races involving CBRC members and friends of CBRC
Lapland Lake Reindeer Roundup, December 14, 10k pursuit: 5k classic followed by 5k skate.
Open and masters
12. Bob Maswick 44:17
22. Tim Huneck 46:49
Great Sacadaga Mini-Marathon, Day, NY, Jan. 11, 28k skate
Open and Masters
18. Bob Maswick 1:52:48
Shenendehowa Race, Day, NY, Jan. 12, 10k classic
Masters
16. Tim Huneck 43:53
NYSEF/ Duofold, Mt Van Hoevenberg, Jan. 19, 11k classic
Open and Masters
18. Bob Maswick 47:50
23. Ed Lis 51:09
38. Dave Beals 1:05:45 (Way to go Dave! That’s a very respectable time on a tough course.)
Special note: This was almost my best result of the year. I registered for this race, but didn’t go. Somehow my name got attached to the time of a fast guy. I was awarded second place for a while. It certainly got people’s attention. “How did he do that? I’ve skied with him before and he’s never been fast!” was the general reaction. Anyway, this could be a new race strategy. Give your name to a fast guy and take his result. Anyone want to work out a deal?
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