Free Rolling

Rad!!

2011-11-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

check out this amazing new frame from Parlee.

mad mad fast sprinter bike. Perfection. you wouldn't believe the craftsmanship on this. not to mention the stiffness and lightness. spec'ed to be one hell of a sprint bike, but I bet it would slice up a points race or madison just as well.

http://giovannirey.blogspot.com/2011/11/bio-size-me-35.html

-----

do you all do this? I always put my sizing specs online. otherwise I can never find were I wrote it done.

http://giovannirey.blogspot.com/search/label/bikes

No Gnews is Good Gnews with Gary...Gnu

2011-10-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

a friend pointed out how hopelessly out of date my web page is... UPDATES.

I'm good. no injuries any more!

However, I have chosen to separate myself from racing this year. I think after all the years (18?) mtb, road, track, cx racing and touring and everything else I've figured out all i want to learn out about cycling and especially about racing. Time to find new passions and pastimes. I tried to estimate my total race days once. I think it is right around 1000. I've been a cat1 and then a pro on the track for many years. I've done at least a couple pro mtn bike races. I've slogged it out on the road with worst/best of them. I suck at cyclocross. By some fluke I once had a UCI professional world ranking #78. I've seen multiple generations of new racers go from excited and innocent novice, to arrogant and aspiring, to crushed and humble, a side trip to self-indulgent and deluded, and then finally to introverted and resigned. The life cycle of a aspiring amateur racer. I've been to all those places myself.

This, in case you were wondering, is a little detour into the self-indulgent, but hopefully not deluded. Not sure I can judge my own deludedness.

Out on the road I've run into 3 tour de france winners. greg lemond, flyod landis, and bjarne riis. Rode for an hour once chating with robin williams when a big group shattered. Most of the time I have no idea who is riding in the packs with me. Of course at some point I've trained and/or raced with every significant Norh American olympic/domestic/international track racers of the last 30 years. Most of the Australian and Kiwi and British racers as well. The big guns usually crush me. On occation they aren't paying enough attention and I can sneak in a good result, like when Steve Hill and I tag teamed Shane Perkins in a 5 lap scratch (Shane was en route to world sprint domination that year) I gave a great lead out, Steve finished it and won. Met Apollo Anton Ohno the speed skater once. Tyler Farrar, Katie Compton, Sam Whittingham... lots of other that do amazing things out in the cycling world that have played at the track with me at one point or other. There are at least 2 dozen of those plasticy USCF gold medals in a bag somewhere from Elite State Championship or Velodrome Championships in NorCal, SoCal, Pennsylvania, and New York. A hand full of the bigger even more plasticy National championship ones in various colors of silver, yellow, and brown. I can't name where they all came from.

All in all, I've had enough. we will see what next year brings.

onward!

----------------

btw. highlight form the last 8 months. hands down. sunset (and then late night) picnic on the river banks in paris.

places I've been reciently and met amazing people ... (on my two feet, with no annoying cleats on the bottom of my shoes): san francisco, LA, death valley, las vegas, tokyo, yokohama, bakersfield, orlando, dusseldorf, amsterdam, einohoven, paris, london, granada, orlando, jacksonville, oakland, napa, escondido, eureka, san diego, seoul korea, NYC ... and more to come.

latest pass times:

-saturday classes at Berkeley. (looking for oakland/berkeley pals to hang with after class btw. drop me a line. I'll buy the first round... of lemonade.)

-couchsurfing. (way more interesting and world changing then you might think.)

-old sckateboard collecting. (as wall art, homey don't skate)

-reading. ... well trying. my attention span seams to need some help lately.

-carear ... forgot about that. (yup. I am a really good professional engineer/marketing person. who, knew.)

-friendships. can it be done with out biking? call me, lets try :) I'm in!

-eating and drinking. like a champ!!

repost...

2011-03-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

copying from http://blackdogprocycling.com/ check out the team website. lots of good stuff over there...

----------

So… what?

pSoas. A medium size muscle I never knew I had that seems to have a unique ability to make me miserable. It also is damn good at getting other muscles to join forces like the legion of doom to make my inner superman hide in a kryptonite bunker.

It started 18months ago.

Flash back. One fine sunny august morning I am leaving my house and after inhaling a breath of wonderful fresh air and absorbing a face full of glorious sunlight I turned around and stooped over a bit to lock the door. A peculiar sensation hit me when I straightened up and put my keys in my pocket. I could not stand fully upright; I was stuck at a 15 degree waste bend.

Wow that was weird. I shook it off in a few seconds and went about my day. It happened 2 or 3 times more in the next month. Then one morning it was worse and it has never stopped.

I hadn’t and still haven’t crashed in a long time (knock knock). I hadn’t been lifting weights for 4 or 5 weeks already so it has nothing to do with any heavy lifting. I had no idea what it was. The only thing new in my routine was that I had just started dating someone for the first time in several months and all the stuff that goes with that. Perhaps the relationship had my mind elsewhere and bolstered me up with maybe a little bit too much bravado. A cavalier attitude is good for some things, but catching and repairing injures is not one of them.

http://www.andrewboyerlmt.com/

Besides, I was in the middle of race season and determined to carry on … so I did. I tried to do more stretching. Hamstrings, hip flexors, quads mainly but other stuff as well. I saw a handful of masseuses and tried a PT. It seams to keep the pain under control, but it wasn’t getting better… I started to be more and more aware of the discomfort when doing power efforts and starts on the bike as well. I also noticed that I could no longer sleep on my stomach, something that used to be normal to me. After a couple minutes it was that same I-can’t-straighten-my-back feeling and it would start to hurt. I had to roll onto my side and ball up.

And so it went for a year and half. Maintenance as best as I could, a lot of sprint training as usual, and a healthy amount of pain.

Until my knees went crazy.

They had been a little sore, which is normal for me, for months. No big deal. This one day I was out pedaling on a flat road. I was pretty well rested and mentally had the sensation that I was working hard. But I look down at my speedometer and I was only doing 12mph. Then I realized my heart and lungs weren’t really working at all…. I physically couldn’t push the pedals any harder. Not good.

Around the same time I went up to visit the amazing new Roaring Mouse Cycles shop in San Francisco to do some bike fit stuff with my good friend and fit guru Julie Bates. At one point she was setting up an alignment lazar on my knee and also doing a more traditional plumb line thing and commented “ah, gio?, why are your knee caps all squishy and moving around when I touch them?”. Ya,, well, sometimes you need someone to help tell you the obvious.

I had the same experience riding after another 3 or 4 days of rest, and that was it. I pulled the plug on training until I can seriously get my body working again. I need to be healthy to be happy, both now and for the rest of my life. Also, I’ve learned that living with chronic pain you can learn to do, but weather you learn to ignore it or not, the weight of it is still there putting negative preasure on every aspect of your life.

So now it is time to figure out this pain and fix it. Here is where mister pSoas and his evil minions abductor, hip flexor, and hamstrings all come into play. Ganging up like Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Sinestro, and Brainiac to do evil deeds.

Searching for the culprits.

Sorry the story gets a bit vague here … I’d like to explain it all, but I am just barely learning. Keeping it stretched is important. Stretches that involve back bends, or lunges, possibly with a slight twist is the way to get at it. Hydration helps a lot. But stretching alone will not solve these problems. The real problem (I think) is that the muscle is misfiring and never or rarely releases. Also because I did such a bad job of addressing it right away it has got my posture out of whack and that has other things acting up… all of which combined put extra pressure on my already slightly rickety knees. I did a great job teaching my body how to do things wrong. Like learning a good powerful pedal stroke for sprinting takes time (years) to training the muscles to fire in the correct sequence, you can also “train” parts of your body to do things wrong. Time to retrain my back, hips, legs to do things correctly. Posture and flexibility and good habits are everything. Its possible there is more going on, maybe a damage disk or something… I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know if I learn more.

http://startingstrength.com/

Here’s what I think I know. I’ve been told that often when your back or neck hurts the problem is often actually opposite to there you feel the pain. In my case I feel it around the Erector spinae, but I believe it is actually just because it is inflamed from trying to balance out a malfunctioning iliopsoas. This is a cool image. You can see how shortened hip flexors and over developed quads as well as overactive illiopsoas and a short, bunched up hamstring and long glutes that are accustomed to being in a cycling position can all contribute to a posture of pivoting the hips forward and giving the muscles on the lower back a really really rough go of it…. Even though they are not the source of the trouble at all.

What’s the connection between this in knees?…. I’d have to have Dr. Tolhurst tell you. But it has to do with the psoas and abducter and hamstrings not being well balanced. Also it has to do with the bad posture while lifting weights and walking and to some small extent cycling. Too much force/weight running down the front side of the legs and into the balls of the feet instead of into the heels.

Dr. Hank Tolhurst is my chiropractor. A super nice guy, avid cyclist, and former racer. He has worked with just about every top bicycle racer that has come through the San Jose area for the last 20 years… besides he can honestly claim (with photographic evidence) to have dropped Gregg Lemond from a 2 man break away in a race.

Right now my plan is built on Yoga, Dr. Tolhurst (Chiroprator/kinesiologist), and rest. For sure I will not be doing any hard cycling for at least 4 more weeks. Then I will see if I can ramp (slowly) back up to my normal routine. Given my stop and start training all winter. This means I’ll probably not be very fit for at least the first half of the summer. I’m hoping to be going full speed by the second half of summer… but healing first. My priorities are clear.

After 4 weeks rest, my knees are only a little sore and no longer swollen and if it were just that I would probably be back on the bike…. But it is the larger picture that I need to fix or all my training will be wasted.

Psoas. You have 2 of them. Look it up. Keep them happy.

http://www.somatics.com/psoas.htm

Free iPhone apps for Track Cycling....

2011-02-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

There are very useful free things to be had!!

2 new iPhone apps just for the Velodrome. This is a little bit self-promosional, so I hope you don't mind the post... however, I think this is a win-win for everyone. GearCalc and VeloTimeMachine. Guaranteed to make you faster!! ;)

For the next 10 days, this app will be free for everyone: GearCalc.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gearcalc/id412947619?mt=8

-Brought to you by Black Dog Pro Cycling and their Sponsors.

Parlee

Rudy Project

Roaring Mouse

-The gear chart you always wish you had. Simple, Fast, Easy

-Calculates both the precise and the "standard" gear inches for all common chainring, cog, tire width combinations.

-Calculates pacing information given cadence for common distances using the selected gear.

Free copys of: VeloTimeMachine.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/velotimemachine/id418069969?mt=8

-a sophisticated stopwatch for iPhone.

-overcomes the input limitations of the touch screen

-integrated immediate emailing of results and split times

-optionally calculates speed and cadence for every lap

-searchable log book of previous runs

-optional 5-beep countdown to start

-lap up/down counting modes.

don't like touch screen input for timing? ... email me for instruction on what else 'might' ;) be possible. Apple stopped allowing people to openly use the volume buttons for applications...

** 5 free copy's for FGF first come first serve.**

use one of these redemption code in iTunes. if it doesn't work then that code has already been used try the next.

67946RXYXPLN

LH9KHW4JF346

HHKJWJXKFEHJ

ERPTHL69M7WA

LA3R4MLE39W9

re: free gift codes: first come first serve. instructions for gift codes: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1574

The stopwatch costs $5 after the free ones are gone. Think of it this way... would you spend $30, $60, $100 on a good stop watch, $200 for one with a printer. This is better, you always have your phone with you anyway, and it only cost $5.

hi, still here?

2010-11-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

yes, of course i am. I'm just not typing much. yay, for keeping my mouth shut. ;)

training, eating, traveling, racing, working, loving, living... all the usual stuff.

eat lots of turkey!

gnats

2010-10-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Lots of good stuff to say about the riders and event. Excellent competition all around. Black Dog guys were great. Hellyer riders did awesome as well.

See it through my eyes (and my friends Martina, Nick, and Brian's eyes who help take photos on my camera)

---------

my personal recap... not so much glory, but still some good days at the track. i did alright.

had more in the tank for my 200m i think. just need more practice on that track to bring it out... gear choice, wind-up, line-through the corner, not hitting sponges, and all that sort of thing. I wasn't going to go tons faster this week, but there was probably enough left in the tank that maybe i could have qualified in 6th to 10th or so (which were all extremely close) and raced from there... i'll have to try again next year. my official result: 13th. lucky number 13. the first none-qualifier. blah.

keirin... better and worse. i did a solid first ride, but ended up second. (one advances). the rep was kinda a mess. I don't even remember if i finished 2nd or 3rd in that... but only one advances, so i was done.

team pursuit, and team sprint... Nope, didn't end up doing those. i didn't find a date to the prom.

thats that.

-----------

feedback. could someone please forward some feedback to the powers that be:::

feeback #1: me thinks that nats keirin tournement structure was a mess. 5 rider heats ? maybe... 4? ah, NO that is not a keirin. 3? f#$k no. 2? damnit!. Also, one-rider-advances heats means the reps are important, and the rep seeding was, ah... well it didn't turn out very well. guys in charge, please give this some thought. the structure and role of the tournament is more important then just getting G and Jimmy into the final... as was proven this year.

some tips from a rider...gasp... yes we do know somethings that officials may not.
1) avoid problems caused by 'scratches' by having riders check in before heat making. also last minute scratches should be penalized. didn't that used to be in the rule book?
2) if you are using minor placing in the heats to seed the reps then don't relegate winners to 6th and put them against 2nds and 3rds.
3) 4 riders at a time is not a keirin. 3 and 2 is just an embarrassment... a good way to kill of the event/sport.

feedback #2: please f'ning explain this...
https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2010&id=2477&info_id=30606
now they have me in 11th (qualifying). except on race day they had me at 13th (non qualifying).

i hope it is better next time.

--------
other tidbits for your amusement:

Elite National Keirin Final from Mario Ferrari on Vimeo.

Track Nationals - Scratch Finals from Steve Pelaez on Vimeo.

US National Championships Info...

2010-09-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom,

(and all you other internet lurkers ;) this weeks schedule:

thursday: help BlackDog win team pursuit national championships.
friday: a screaming fast PR in f200m and lots of fun and games in the sprint tourney.
saturday: win keirin national championship.
sunday: hang over from saturday night victory celebrations.

...
goal setting makes me smile. send me a nice steady stream of happy thoughts and good karma please.

Here is some event info for this week for you to follow along...

live video stream (maybe?)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/la-velodrome

schedule of events.
https://www.usacycling.org/events/2010/elitetrack/10EliteTrackSched.pdf

venue information.
http://www.lavelodrome.org/

results (maybe?).
https://www.usacycling.org/track/
http://www.cyclingnews.com/
https://www.usacycling.org/events/2010/elitetrack/

cheers,
giovanni

see you all in LA.

2010-09-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Steve for the excellent pump up video...

see you all in LA.

Hellyer War Cry from Steve Pelaez on Vimeo.

10 commandments

2010-09-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

This recently turned up on an ancient piece of papyrus found in a velodrome shaped sink hole along the Dead Sea. Archeologists are currently dating the condensed-milk-can that it was buried in (the preferred sports drink of the time). It is believe to be written in the hand of Major Taylor himself, it is also autographed by Maurice Garin (1904 TdF winner) and Steve Hill, who were thought to be in the area around 1900..

The script, written in izumi chain lube residue saturated in road soot, snot, and chain dust, reads as follows:

1) thou shall not give up without your best fight
2) thou shall not put everyone to sleep by going slow without a reason.
3) thou shall enjoy a good loss just as much as a good win.
4) your trash talk should be funny!!
5) winning with better equipment than your opponent is a humiliation.
6) thou shall strive to do the unexpected and learn new tactics
7) always congratulate a good opponent
(who follows these rules)
8) always thank a good official and good promoter and a good crowd of spectators.
9) your racing will happen on the track.. not on Facebook.
10) to be a sprinter you must Sprint!! this is not a fantasy game.
11) thou shall take ALL challengers and accept your fate with not fear of loosing.
12) healthy living and hard work are the only methods. drugs and all other secret advantages are for assholes.
13) thou shall train harder, smarter, and longer
14) thou shall always rest on mondays. (and party on sunday night after the race)

The church's commandments have groups "natural law", "respect my authoritah", and "I don't know what you are talking about??".... these sprint rules can be analyzed in groups as well. Scholars are using the groups of 'keep it real', 'love what you do', and 'love those you do it with'

The authenticity of this document is supported by the fact that there are 14 items in the 10 commandments. A points racer would have done a better job counting. Strangely, no mention of the UCI or USCF rule book was found.

More news as it develops in the middle east...

going round and round

2010-08-31T13:36:00.000-07:00

last friday::: not bad, but a little short. next time less tactics/control, more speed.

Elite Men Northern California Keirin Championships from Rick Adams on Vimeo.

next up, a quick trip to LA sept 11th, and then National Championships.

Far West Championship Recap.

2010-08-02T17:50:00.001-07:00

buffet!!

motorcycles!!

racing!!

sunsets!!

bacon and eggs!!

--insert pictures here as soon as i get some time --

--proof reading and editing... soon, i promise ;) --

friends and good times in LA: Enjoying a very long day at encino velodrome with the Hellyer gang. Beth second in omnium to whitten (world omnium champ). Hanan 3rd. Hernandez and alex also riding great.Lala winning. Bev and robin having fun. I had some good sprints even if i didn't win them all. Won keirin. ... Good times

not much time for creativity. here are some of my gory race details...

goal was just to work hard. 6 or 7 high quality sprint efforts... and some time on the bike doing lots of warm ups and cool downs.

i took a full taper going to the keirin cup race. then took 3 or 4 days off to have fun in NYC. when i got back last week i found training HARD. first mission was to get the training volume back up. back in the weight room, long fixed gear road rides, and getting back to hellyer for the first time in 2 weeks was hard. A race. thats a good way to motivate.... so i only did a light workout 8am friday morning, then went to the office till 6pm, then got on the highway for LA. road worrior style. I don't advise the 6pm depature for a 6hr drive when you have to on the bike at 7am for a race... but I got it done.

encino. very friendly. nice track. rides well at most speeds. a couple unusual things, for one it could really use another 5degree of banking for the sprinters. the other is it has a flat shoulder up by the wall that is a bit scary until I learned to pretend it isn' there.

track experience on the f200 was very helpful as Alex and Jack showed us. qualifying very well and ahead of me. also National team members TJ and Daniel also got in front of me. by 2 and 1 tenth respectively.. I think i had a lot more in the tank though then my 200 showed...

first race Alex. I led, rode him around the track a bit, and then jumped late and hard for the win from 190m or so.

second race. TJ. I was thinking i wanted to lead this one again...but we had a bunch of back and forth and he surprised me a bit by jumping from behind at ~310meters. That was ok by me though. Enough distance to set up the slingshot. "slingshot engaged". Didn't quite make it though. I had a nasty little bobble in the final corner and the momentum wasn't quite enough... maybe a half a wheel short at the line. Got a good photo out of it though... ;) thanks Pat Benson.

Photo by Pat Benson

third sprint. Jack. bronze medal ride. similar to TJ, some dodge and weave ending with him leading out. he went at about ~320m. I thought I had this one cold. again a little bobble on the corner 4 bumps, but i had tons of momentum. announcer called it for me. most spectators thought i had it easily... but the photo finish camera said I was a little late in timing my pass... so good one for Jack. TJ then got a very decisive victory over Daniel Walker... final TJ, Daniel, Jack, Me.... alex then crushes the 5-8th ride mercilessly.

Keirin. some of the folks go home early, as the olympic style omniumis taking some time to get through. small field. feeling insecure about my lightweight and expensive tires/wheels I talk Jack and Alex into a "wheel truce". no disks. Clinchers for me... they used what they had as back ups as well. We should do this all the time!! anyway. I draw first starting position and lead out the sprint. the scooter seamed slow, and did not punch it to exit as I am used to...seamed he maybe slowed slightly before exiting. crazy...almost took myself out trying not to pass him in that last corner 2. Anyhow, I road a quick tempo a bit until one of the local LA guys tried an early move from the back... I caught him on my outside and kept him there for protection to block any of the others from taking a run at me. by ~150m to go he was gone and i hit it with whatever i had left for the win. Jack and Alex and then the rest to follow.

kilo. ouch. 7pm now. 12hrs of shamy time. i wanted it done. a mediocre time. 1:10 don't really know what is normal for this track. it was ok. i tried to figure out official times by looking over the CR's shoulder, but seems i was reading wrong. had thought i had the best time, turns out Zak was a little bit faster. i was second.

considering it was an event i wanted to use just as training , i got to say i am very pleased with the results. shamy on at 7am. shamy off at 8pm. that has to be some sort of record... well for a sprinter anyway.

You've got a friend in Pennsylvania!

2010-07-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

Good times racing at Valley Preferred Cycling Center this Friday night. Keirin and Madison. Well, just Keirin for me... too bad Ryan and Ryan couldn't be here also.

People are incredibly nice and helpful out here. From Ben and Marty at the track to the owners at Longswamp B&B and the Blue Orchid Inn, to the folks at the Wawa. Such beautiful countryside and awesome hot weather. All lightning bugs, green fields, and evening thundershowers here. :)

The racing was nuts. I started laughing out loud when being called up for the minor final... the list of names of the 'best loser race' was the hottest start list I had probably ever been a part of... before earlier in the evening anyway. I had a little fantasy that I would pull out an astounding and dramatic win just as the first lightning bolts from the ominous thunderclouds struck the stadium lights and showered everyone in sparkler dust and magic.

I had great legs and really felt ready for this race. With slightly better tactics or a little luck I could have made the final. It is a great feeling being part of an event this fast and spectacular.

Rock'n out and pounding the Gu,

gio
--Party time in NYC. 3 days off for my Bday!!! Catch you back in San Jose.

Check out the press release for the event... more words, less typing ;)

Keirin Cup Celebrates 25 Years This Friday Night
Valley Preferred Cycling Center hosts one of its most-celebrated events this Friday, as the Mead Orthopedics Keirin Cup XXV, presented by Coordinated Health, rolls into its 25th year. The Keirin Cup is one of the longest-running cycling events in the sport. This highly-tactical five-lap shootout begins with riders vying for precious track position and builds to an all-out sprint to the finish.
The Keirin Cup has always played a vital role in helping Valley Preferred Cycling Center attract strong contingents of international riders. This year's field is full of talent from beyond our borders. Several national teams, including those from Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, are in T-town this week. Riders from Australia, Poland, Italy, [San Jose CA :) ] and Trinidad & Tobago are also in town.
"There's going to be incredible racing with the line-up that we have and the amount of international talent that's here," said Marty Nothstein, executive director of Valley Preferred Cycling Center. "Both the men's field and the women's field are extremely strong this year. The Keirin Cup is a very prestigious race and there are a lot of riders that hope to have their name on that trophy."
Favorites: Picking the early favorites may seem like an easy task. On the men's side, Poland's Kamil Kuczynski returns as defending champion of the event. Kuczynski is already expressing his intentions to claim the Cup a second-straight year. However, he'll have to contend with Italy's Roberto Chiappa, who didn't compete at Valley Preferred Cycling Center last season. Chiappa, a three-time Olympian, has always been popular with the fans and may prove to be a sentimental favorite this Friday night.
On the women's side, reigning champ Natasha Hansen of New Zealand isn't back to defend the trophy, leaving the door open for a new name on the Cup. The early favorite may be Dutch rider Yvonne Hiljenaar, a former world champion and current world record holder.
http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001kRQllaBUV0dccDY_cJq5byXRp2bFCH4ohUVEoHZEa9T1e-ic5TDU0krml2Tigif7NtI2gKib0f4xWgxDk_dLl-sPyKQCTRbE1ngoZwtHKJ4UYAgYAy3aAA%3D%3D

better eat my wheaties...

2010-07-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

This week the other Black Dog guys are in italy, riding the Sei Giorni Delle Rosa. Check out their reports here . Frack'n awesome. I'm on my way out to Trexlertown to try my hand at their Keirin Cup race friday night. Its gonna be a tough one. Yay! for races that keep me humble. Good news is I am 'on' and super ready, bad news is that word has it we have a world cup level field so I am guessing everyone else is on form also.

did an 11.1** 200m this weekend at Hellyer with some wind even.

**ok, it was 11.26 as documented by officials/timers... but I am giving myself 7 hundredths since I was using an armadillo clincher/spokes after flatting my nice wheel.... and 11.19 is 11.1 if you count significant digits. right? actually more like 10.9 if you factor in my astrology. i mean it is not like i self timed myself or had an optimistically fat fingered coach do it... I might as well call it 10.8. TRACK RECORD!!! yay!!! me!!!

;)

see you at ttown!!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marty Nothstein"

To: "'Giovanni Rey''"

Subject: RE: keirin cup, details...

There will not be any heats in the morning...racing starts at 7:30 pm.
There are some very good riders in town....The Dutch have 2 riders, the kiwi
national team is here, Chiappa, Kuczinski, plus the canadians and our local
sprinters...

may the force be with me!!

.

4 sale- SRM, track bike, cross bike, motor...

2010-06-29T14:43:00.001-07:00

-----update 7/21. Teschner and SRM sold!! CX and Motard still availible.
-----price reduction!!! yay!!!! buy me!!! (on track and CX bikes)

Hi All

a few things to clear out:

SRM Track Power Meter: $1500 firm
---167.5 cranks. powercontroler V. (octalink bb not included)
good shape. cable a little chewed up but works and easily replaced by
contacting SRM.

--I believe this identical to the current model track SRM. dual reed switch and all that. the chainring spider bolts on from the inside. shimano octa link bottom bracket. I don't have any pictures on me... will snap something tonight. looks pretty much exactly like any other track SRM. the sensor cable is a little chewed up, you can order a new one from SRM... however it does work fine. charger, USB cable, and handlebar clamp included of course. Software is downloadable from SRM... you just need your track chainrings, standard HR strap if you want that, and any old wheel magnet.

buy my power meter to make your legs look like this...

Teschner Track Pro Carbon Frame: $650 obo.
---55cm top tube. Seatpost, Fork, Headset included.

--$2850 frame for 650$ holey smokes... I must be crazy. I shined it up last night and it looks awesome.

Ritchey Swiss Cross CX bike. Complete. (minus pedals) $1000 obo.
---54cm top tube
---Dura-Ace / XTR parts combo. 9sp.
---fair condition. call for details.

Husqvarna sm610 super moto bike. 2007... vrrrrmmm. ;) some ware and
tare. needs a tune up. ~8000 miles $4000 obo

I have a rule... if it sits for 3 months without me using it, it has
to go! my loss, your gain!!

WANTED::: BUY or TRADE
-high end clip on aero bar extensions... or possibly integrated set.
-new-ish apple iMac 27-inch :)

randomz from the weekend...

2010-06-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

things I want:::

flashtastic::

different strokes:::

TVC recap.

2010-06-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Beautiful weather and a smok'n fast field in San Jose last weekend for the Testarrosa Vineyards Velodrome Challenge. You got to love a race sponsored by a wine maker. The folks in the infield food and beverage area were living large.

The mens sprint field was headlined by perennial favorite Jimmy Watkins from SoCal and a red hot David Espinoza from Pennsylvania. Also Andy Williams from New Zealand (by way of Portland) had every intention of kicking ass and taking names. It didn't nearly stop there... it was a deeeeeep field. Deeper and faster then most Elite National Championship that I can remember. In the keirin final Jimmy gapped back a little bit in the middle of the pack and then caught everyone sleeping when he bolted through that gap and straight off the front where he stayed. Everyone else got stacked up behind Andy with Sam Milroy working hard around the outside for third. David got stuck in traffic mid pack and didn't get to play much in this one. Black Dog rider Giovanni Rey, yours truely, was feeling great after nearly winning a stacked 6-up first round ride with 4 of the top 8 seeds including David and Andy. Unfortunately, nearly winning and winning are not the same thing, and only one advances (David). In the rep round I fell pray to some questionable interpretations of starting rules, getting disqualified and sent home without getting to contest the race. Jimmy, Andy, Sam, David and the others will have to wait and wonder what a Black Dog's bite feels like ;)

The man meat was back out for the sprint tournament saturday morning. Jimmy, David, and TJ Mathieson essentially tied at an astounding 11.0 (for this track) 200m time. Hellyer Velodrome is plenty fast up to about 40 or 41 mph... but at that speed there is a sort of a wall that everyone hits as the tires start having to work very hard to get around the corner and speed gets scrubbed. Behind them Andy, Pete Billington, Sam and me. Things shuffled when the racing started. TJ was relegated and dropped down to 5th. Andy got himself disqualified for aggressive riding and Pete stepped up big time!!. The final, another big upset was David beating Jimmy. Pete beets Kevin Mansker for 3rd.

Oh yes, there were endurance racing and womens fields also... Dana Feiss rocked up hard in the womens sprints. Jame Carney showed everyone what a class rider looks like winning everything.... and Jason Allen, Jacob Duering, and Ben Jacques Maynes all dropped the hammer chasing Jame. Another highlight was Jnr threat Daniel Farinha also shining in the points race.

'till next time... (Trexlertown Keirin Cup, 7/23)

cheers,
Giovanni

updates...

2010-06-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

last weekends racing... what to write... blah, not much...

an unrewarding weekend for me. that happens. I was pretty strong,
but there are lots of things out of our control... so be it. I am
making fast and steady progress in my training now. a lot of gym
strength and road fitness all winter laid the ground work for rapid
growth when I started really sprint training on the bike 2 or 3 months
ago. if i stay on this growth curve i'll be breaking Chris Hoy's
world records by September.... ;) ... ok, so I better expect some
setbacks and a plateau that I will need to work through somehow ...
hoping the plateau comes later rather then sooner and any setbacks are
small. wish me luck... and say encouraging things when you see me. i
could use a little of that after a clusterfuck of a big race weekend.

this weekend... human powered vehicle races at hellyer. I'm
photographing and helping out. should be super interesting.

some light reading for you...

http://www.speed101.com/
http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/whpsc2009/speedchallenge-2009.htm
http://www.hpva.us/

------------------

Portable velodrome available::

Vandedrome

There has been some interest, but nothing definate yet, so it's
currently available for lease or purchase.

Vandedrome, portable wood and steel track, 154-167 meters, 48/16
degree turns/straights, built in 1994 by John VandeVelde, partial
restoration in 2008-2009, needs new racing surface, currently stored
in Lancaster, PA awaiting a building site. Owner: Major League
Cycling, Inc., P. O. Box 10695, Lancaster, PA 17605-0695,
717-468-8080, david@majorleaguecycling.com

2010-06-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

go bell lap go!!

"The Keirin" Atlanta 2010.

2010-06-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

THE KEIRIN from Lfour on Vimeo.

whatzit.. whenzit..

2010-06-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

Big weekend coming. Massive events at both Blaine, Minnesota and San Jose, Ca.

http://www.ridethetrack.com/tvc/index.html

http://www.nscsports.org/sports/cycling/events/fixed_gear_classic.htm

Black Dog Pro Cycling is split, with me in San Jose which has attracted most of the top sprinting talent in North America plus a sprinkling of hot spice from overseas. Ryan and Ryan are in Minnesota where the endurance field is look hot and there is a tie-in with the big Nature Valley Stage Race on the road.

The LTO team is, being all sprinters, all about the San Jose race.

FRIDAY NIGHT ~6PM WILL BE THE BEST NIGHT FOR SPECTATORS ALL YEAR AT SAN JOSE'S HELLYER PARK VELODROME. IT WILL BE A GREAT SHOW.

It is going to be good for me. I have been feeling small sprinkles of the old magic. Sometimes when I am looking for them and sometimes by accident the pixie dust sparkles ignite like phosphorus lighting up my heart and my legs. This week I am finally resting again and collecting all that fairy dust into one basket, compressing it into a wick, and going to light the fuse on thursday evening. By friday i am hoping to be burning white hot and will see if my flame burns bright enough to fill the up the shadows around the glow of the brilliant cyclist arriving this week from Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, San Diego, Colorado, Auckland and places beyond.

I'm feeling reflective....

I believe that over time persistence and optimism and driving/looking forward regardless of adversity and odds is what makes a champion. At the same time I believe there is no replacement for realism and preparation and no way to reverse mistakes once they are made. Racing is just a small version of life. Just big enough to be out of our control, but just small enough to be able to see almost all of it at the same time. It builds our egos into thinking we are self-sufficient and encourages selfish-self-importance, and then smashing and humbling us with helplessness and reminding us that without the people around us there is no value in anything.

I love racing.

...so, I feel good about the weekend. Got to get the details right though. No mistakes like last week. One day I started a warmup with my shoe too tight and fitting ackwardly. I figured "whatever I'll fix it right after this"... 10 minutes later my knee was throbbing. Oh, the little things. Then another day whatever I ate drove my body insane. I went from my normal ~187lbs wednesday up to 196lbs on friday. Only to get settled and drop back to 188 on saturday. Wholey smokes battman, what was that!!. MSG? too much Salt? nitrates? stress response? That can't happen this week.

wish me luck! and better yet wish me focus, discipline, health, and happiness 'cuase that stuff is better then luck.

--
off topic...

IMHO...

I got to say it since noone seams to be saying it out loud. They added "masters world keirin championships" to the San Jose schedule. This is a joke. litterally. there is no such thing. The people running this event have no juristriction beyond san jose and they just used the name for the fun of it. I thought it was a great idea to use the world championship name at first. why not. Then i realized that some people were taking that seriously. Not good. Well, I'm not much of a fan of 'elite' masters racing. but that isn't what I am talking about. My point is this is just a weekend in June at San Jose. Please don't get your panties in a bunch. And if you have a competitive need to go over the top proving yourself then you ARE invited to race in the Pro/Elite events.

... a classic way to ruin a brilliantly fun and rewarding event is to tag it with a "championship" title.

--
..here is a little treat I stumbled onto on the internet...

--

..and another Treat coming this weekend... (from last months Southern excursion)

A huge thanks to Lucius Williams who filmed and produced the short film, 'The Keirin'. The premiere of the film will be held on Saturday June 12th at 8pm. The venue for the premiere will be the Push Push Theater in Decatur. The film will be around 20mins in length and will revisit the action from our first Pro Race Series event of the year, Ethic, Inc presents 'The Keirin'. It'll be a great chance to relive the action. It's free ot come catch it, but we will be passing the hat around for donations to go to the velodrome and the theater.

Saturday June 12th, 8pm

Push Push Theater - http://www.pushpushtheater.com/
121 New Street
Decatur, GA

Thanks go out the following folks for making it happen:
Lucius Williams: http://lucius-iv.com/
Push Push Theater: http://www.pushpushtheater.com/
Ethic, Inc.: http://www.ethicinc.com/

ciao,
giovanni

mint juleps are ass kickers.

2010-05-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

yup that is what I learned down south. they taste pretty good, but don't let them sneak up on you. wow.

not a lot of time to write, but wanted to drop a quick not thanking all involved in putting on Dick Lane Velodrome's, Pro Racing Series. "the Keirin" invitational. a very fun event. good crowd, interesting and fun track, excellent competition to sprint against, and amazing people the whole way around.

it was 2 days of racing. sprints and some omnium stuff on friday night, then omnium agian saturday afternoon, then the main Keirin tournement saturday night. i struggle big time on friday in the sprints, but did manage to at least do well in a couple of the minor events (1st in 5 lap dash for cash, and 3rd in 20lap motorpaced scratch race). saturday I was feeling healthier and also my confidence on the track was going up. it is a nicely shaped track, but it has some bumps that take a day or two to get used to.... otherwise they are confidence zappers, which equates to speed zappers.

the main gig, for me at least, was the keirin. 12-rider invitation round robin tournement. 4 points-accumulating races then a final for the top 6.

Final results were:

Espinoza, Baranoski, Sullivan, Lacorte, Rey(me), Lakatosh in the Final and Linchitz, Holt, Hernandez, Erkine, and Rossignol in the 7-12 ride.

I was 5th. A good 5th though. I was happy with it. I road boldly and had fun with it, and have just started doing real sprint training a 4 weeks ago. So this is really good. Also the other dudes were impressive. Lakatosh and Espinoza both breaking the track 200m record. Linchitz with recent 10.6 times in LA. and all other others showing great speed the day before.

good times. man i love racing.

a couple of my favorite snap shots from the weekend...

the gang from Ttwon.

expressions of appreciation from Faster Mustache racing team...
I really think they should all grow handlebars, don't you?

friday crowd

rockstars abound.

racing

Scott, and Steve...

special thanks to Steve Hill, my host for the weekend. Also Jeff Hopkins the promoter, Scott Patton the announcer and everyone else who volunteered and made it happen.

ciao,
giovanni

keirin dialogs

2010-04-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

soo..... what was that all about...

ok, non-track racer friends, let me explain. that video [click here] in the previous post was a type of race called a keirin. it was invented in Japan and has taken on a bit of a cult following. tragically most of the cult members have never seen a race, let alone done one. The cult is more about the hipness of riding track bikes on the street to your local coffee shop and admiration of the craftsmanship of some of the traditional Japanese bikes... that almost no-one outside of japan ever actually race on since they are a bit out of date. Much like the wooden baseball bat, traditional Japanese frames are only used because a strict organizing body is enforcing retro-rules on them for the sake of tradition (and 'maybe' fairness). A nice hand made wooden bat can be a thing of beauty though.

I digress... so the actual race is 2000 meters in length, the first 1400 meters are paced by either a motorcycle or bicycle rider. Any attempt to pass the pacer before that 600m to go mark will result in instant disqualification.

At the start line 5 to 9 riders are held up in a row by coaches or volunteers. (usually 6 riders for international competition, and 9 for Japanese races with serious gambling, and usually 8 for local events). Because only a handful of riders race a time, commonly there will be some preliminary races to get to the main event. Often the preliminary races will include a second chance race know as a repecharde. Eventually it will all come down to those 8 or so riders who make it to the final.

The starting positions from top to bottom are decided randomly by drawing cards. All the riders, with their holders then hobble onto the track, get on their bikes, give each other a few evil glances and stares, and get final instructions from the officials. The riders may not move before a start gun or start whistle signals them just as the pacer is passing by on the inside. The riders must stay close to the pacer... or at least the rider who drew the inside lane is required to stay close to the pacer in the case that no one else does. The speed of the pacer varies a bit, but generally at the start it is 24mph and when the pacer leaves the track at 600 meters to go it is 32mph.

When the pacer leaves the track, obviously, it is all-out, full-speed, race to the finish. Having the pacer get everyone to a decent starting speed makes the final sprint extremely exciting as the speed even at the drop off is high enough to create a nice draft that keeps the riders in the back close too (and in striking range) of the riders in the front. Finish speeds well in excess of 40mph are common.

Thats the basics... now some finer points... there a quite a few "un-rules". Technically the holders must just hold up the rider and may not help by pushing at the start... ya, not really the case. Technically no contact between riders is permitted... ya, not really the case. Technically it is strictly a solo event and team work or collusion between riders in not permitted...ya, you guessed it, not really the case. I've been told 'no head butting', but i say that is debatable as well.

For a race that is at most 2 minutes long (and the un-paced fast part is less then 30 seconds long) the complexity and difficulty of the tactics is astounding. Basically each race plays out like an NFL scrimmage, with lots of huge powerful dudes pic'ing and tacking and pushing and shoving... except that instead of everyone working toward one of two common team goals, in the keirin every rider has their own agenda. Dog eat dog.

I love keirin. It is frig'n awesome!!

Maybe the best way to fully understand it is for me to run through some of the intricacies of the race that Steve posted that awesome video for. I should start with a list of the riders.

Sam "Maximus" Milroy - LTO velo, most powerfull rider in the group. grey and black outfit with normal helmet.

Gio "maestro" Rey - (Me) - LTO velo, training partner to Sam.
grey and black outfit with white ball shaped helmet.

Alan V. - a power house, but doesn't normally like to mix it up tactically very much. all black outfit

Matt Talbot -VP team, coached by McCook. dark blue with red highlights

Dave McCook - VP team, veteran, extremely cagey. dark blue with red highlights

Nole Studley - cowboy, training partner to Talbot, McCook. yellow and black

Steve Peleaz - (camera man) Veteran, very good at getting through small holes and a smoothness in pedaling that lets him achieve and maintain a surprisingly high speed.

Pat Briggs - The hammer. Not as into the track as some of the others as he is an outstanding road racer... he does everything well, and feels NO pain. when we are puking lactid acid he just laughs at us and attacks again. white and purple outfit.

-- first things to notice... 2 very likely groups that may help each other. the McCook/Talbot/Studley group, and the Milroy/Rey group. The track record in resent races shows that these pods will control the event. There is a good chance that the remaining riders will also help each other when faced with this opposition. It is also good to realize that Milroy and Talbot are the 2 most likely 'designated winners' from the respective factions. And as it turns out Briggs and Paleaz loosely conspired to help each other, mostly to Paleaz's benefit, as well.

so if you got to the start line and you didn't see any of that coming you pretty much are already screwed. you also might note the headwind on the back stretch and the tail wind finish. this means the prime passing zone will be on the back stretch or the end of the backstretch. leading into the finish on the home stretch is a safe(r) bet.

the start: In a big race having a good pusher is EVERYTHING. No one is better the Matt Martinez. If you can't get him then find the biggest dude you can. It is not just how hard they push you, it is how much you trust them to hold you up straight and keep you calm at the line. If you are struggling just to hang out at the start line it is going to be a really hard race. Nothing you can do about what position you draw. Generally the bottom is better. When you start close to the bottom/inside you can always slide backward a spot or two, but you may never get the chance to move forward again until the pacer pulls off (unless you ride out in the wind without drafting).

Always take a look around before the start. Note who is going to be challenging you for position in the scramble for the pacer. Also notice any rookies that are already clenching their handlebars and who's knees are shaking. They aren't going anywhere, you can write them off already. Breath deep, stay loose, and don't clench up or even grab the handle bars until you have to.

At any rate... the next thing you know "BANG" the gun goes off and we are back to the specifics of the video. I had the inside spot. Somehow McCook got a better start then me, maybe a better pusher... he was immediately challenging me for the Pacer. I let him have it. I want to be near the front, but either 1st or 2nd is fine with me. Briggs then comes up and challenges me a bit for McCooks draft, but there really is nothing he can do if I don't want to give it up so he relents. As soon as that settled down Talbott comes up around the outside and McCook lets Talbott in front of him. A classic team play. Control the front, possibly lead each other out, possibly obstruct riders behind. Sam then comes up. I let Sam in front of me, and then quickly he and I shuffle with him letting me back in front of him.

Now the deck is loaded. The VP team, while less powerful then the LTO team, has control of the front. McCook is crafty and aggressive in ways that sometimes can disrupt much stronger riders who try to pass him. The LTO team is in a pretty good spot as well, close to the front with only riders that they "should" be able to pass fairly easily in front of them. Behind, Briggs and Paleaz and Alan see all this and know that LTO if not VP are going to go 100% full gas making it extremely hard to move up and around the outside; and they have a lot ground to make up to get back to the front.

The only possibly move for Briggs and Paleaz (and the others) is to attack first, but not before the pacer gets out of the way, else be disqualified. Briggs agrees to tow Paleaz forward and time it so that they hit the front just as the pacer pulls out at 600 meters to the finish.

VP is sitting on the front, but is somewhat flat footed. They can't really accelerate before the pacer pulls off, since the are already first in line.

I drop back and leave a 1 bike length gap in front of me and wait for the rush of Briggs and Paleaz to come up the outside. I then blast through the gap and pop up such that Brigg's rush is somewhat derailed. I drive forward and catch a little flack from McCook, some minor contact, but nothing that slowed me down. I find the front anyway and don't look back.

My plan A was just go full speed with Sam behind me and let him be rested to light up the last 100 meters in the case that I wasn't strong enough to lead the whole way... this didn't work. Sam got stuck in traffic with the whole McCook, Briggs, Paleaz jam-up.

Plan B was better!!... I continued full gas seeing that I had something of gap. Whoever was going to chase me was going to have to explode themselves to catch back up. If they didn't do it then I would walk away for the win. If they did do it... well then Sam would be drafting them ready to crush them. Sam is bad ass, no one was going to go full gas for 600 meters and still stay ahead of a fresh, drafting Sam at the finish.

I was rolling pretty well. I tried to conserve a little in hopes of driving hard all the way to the finish line but there was a strong head wind on the back stretch that really hurt me. Palaez chased up to me in the draft here and was threatening to pass by the last corner.

In the last corner I saw Palaez on my hip and I saw a shadow that looked like Sam storming around the outside. (the further outside you go, the harder it is to pass. Palaez was one rider out...Sam was two rider out... that is hard). Seeing Sam coming I slowed and dropped to the very bottom edge of the track to make way... and he did not disappoint. a crushing final blow.

Keirin.

basically a few simple rules:

1) No teamwork, no contact, no pushing at the start. ;)

2) eyes in the back of your head,

3) know everything about everyone who goes to the start line with you.

4) have a plan, and expert it to hurt.

5) aggression, aggression, aggression... he who hesitates doesn't have a chance. just see it and do it. there is no chance to think about it.

6) be prepared for rider to rider contact.

7) being the strongest does not guarantee anything.

8) if you don't get disqualified every once in a while you aren't trying hard enough.

9) use exactly as much energy as you need to at any given instant, no more.

10)... ah... shoot, there are always 10 rules. i only have 9. I KNOW: have fun!

ciao,
giovanni

play time...

2010-04-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

another Keirin video from Steve... http://velobiscuit.blogspot.com/

nothing like a little 1-2 punch tag team riding. yeeehaaaw!!

thinking my saddle looks a little low, hmm. if I keep changing things sooner or later I have got to find the majic spot. opinions are welcome.... ?

a good day of racing for me saturday. end of a training cycle. 2 or 3 more days then I'm taking a short break. yeah! for breaks. saturday there was the keirin from the video, this time Sam got the victory in style. ouch that headwind on the back straight was killing me. glad we pulled it off. Scratch I got a little tired of defending against all the late attacks. I got over eager and attacked for myself prematurely. fun race... but my 3 or 4 lap move was just a bit to much for me. miss-n-out was fun. I devil'd it. always entertaining, for me anyway. the mccook-studley-talbot mobsters were riding as a block again and they were hard to beat. at least they didn't have the san jose crowd also playing their game this time. I believe they got 1-2-3 by controlling the front while I was playing around at the back. live and learn. fun does not always = results, but I'm ok with that. I think the highlights of the day were Briggs and Peleaz. Briggs looks awesome. doing tons of hard work and still sprinting very well. That is the real deal!, not like us fakers. Peleaz did much less work, but showed some really nice speed on several occasions. Impressive. Sam... he crushed it too, but we expect that ;)

we had some crash-age in the C group. I haven't heard how everyone is doing. well I hope. heal fast, come back and play.

Fwd: Racing BIO

2010-04-13T12:04:00.001-07:00

haven't published anything for a few weeks, sorry for the vacuum. seams like time to share something.

It has actually been a tough couple weeks. The over the top March training routine was hard to bounce back from. However I am confident it will pay off big in coming months. This month, I am definitely going to tone it down a bit and get focused as it is time to get serious about sprinting and going fast in general. I'm booked for "Need for Speed" and "The Keirin" events may 7/8 in Atlanta. Got 1 month to get my ass in gear. Hopefully i'll turn some of this strength and fitness into speed. "abracadabra" ;) ... or was it "shazam" ... shoot; if I could just remember the majic words.

race info here

Right now I am getting away from the heavy-slug-it-out weight lifting for the season and switching back to faster more power movements. In doing so, I have falling in with an Olympic lifting group. This is by far the most 'fun' I've ever had in a gym. throwing weights around, learning new things, and most importantly they have a social scene a lot like track cycling. The last 3 weeks may be the most I have ever spoken to anyone in a gym... more then the rest of my life combined. I like people. what can I say.

looks sorta' like :

interested? contact Rob@FocusedTrainers.com

Ah, yes, I promised a BIO. I needed to type this up for a couple wwweby things...
why not share....

-------------------------------

I began racing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1991 at the
encouragement of a high school physical education teacher. Until then
I had been using my father's Bottechia racing bike to explore the far
suburbs that my family had recently moved to. I loved the
Pennsylvanian countryside. Hated the sewup tires.
Former ice hockey player, former collegiate rower, occasional skier,
lifelong chocolate addict.
Nickname: 'Giovanni'. Ok, so that is what it says on my passport,
but everyone calls me 'Gio'. Mike Hernandez, the promoter
extraordinaire at San Jose Velodrome, likes to call me 'Maestro' when
I am sprinting, and just make fun of my over sized legs when I am
suffering in long points races.
In the last 3 years, I've visited over 20 velodromes in 4 countries.
Black Dog Professional Cycling Team -- check out the team on Facebook
Member LTO Velo (Left Turn Only) Cycling

National
US National Championships Keirin 4th 2008
US Masters Team Sprint Champion 2008
US National Championships Team Sprint 4rth 2009
US National Championships top ten Madison, Scratch, Keirin 2006
Domestic
Portland Alpenrose Challenge Sprint 2nd 2008
Hellyer American Velodrome Challenge Keirin 2nd 2008
Lehigh Valley Velodrome Fastest Man on Wheels Keirin 11th 2008
Lehigh Valley Velodrome Championships Keirin Champion 2006
US Talent Pool Trials Kilo Champion February 2007
California
California State Sprint Champion 2009
California State Team Sprint Champion 2009
Hellyer Friday Night Sprint Champion 2008, 2009
Hellyer Velodrome Championships 6x Champion Keirin, Sprints, Scratch 2007-2009

otbphoto

how not to ride a keirin

2010-03-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

1- step 1 . 5 days spend in Las Vegas with no bike and a big appetite. fly back to town as close to race time as possible. NO. don't even look at your bike, it hates you.
2- at the start draw number 8 of 8 when you had already decided you wanted to ride from the front. yay for the 8 ball!!
3- get off balance when your holder pushes you and pull a wheelie into the wall when the start whistle goes off
[3b- crash on the start line (I somehow managed to skip this step, thank god)]
4- go back up to the front and signal your teammate to let you in... but don't actually get in because you left a half inch too much space between you and the teammate and a certain squirmy little rider crashed his way in between us and blocks me to the outside.
5- drop back a little into 3rd or 4rth spot and let above mentioned rider slide back and pin me into the gutter all the way from 4laps to go to 100meters to go
6- drop back slightly further and 'politely' ask next rider in line (Zak) to let me out... haha. ya, that was smart. I've obviously lost my touch. I need a spiked helmet. I've gone soft.
7 - give up and quit with 100m to go because teammate was looking good for the win.

I enjoyed it all the same. Love racing!!

Sam [Maximus] , sorry I didn't help more.

Nick, heal up fast buddy, we got more racing to do.

nice video! thanks Steve and Rick. http://velobiscuit.blogspot.com/

11!!!

2010-03-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

more training babble...

It took 3 tries, but this week i finally got my 11 workouts in. yay!. All were at least satisfactory. 4 were excellent ass kicking sessions, 1 was slightly below par, the rest were just good steady work... get'n it done. legs are pleasantly toasted right now. kinda tingly and warm feeling... unless I am walking upstairs then they are tingly and lead-like ;) but overall I feel great and going into a rest week with high energy levels and good health. Legs will be spunky again when I get back on the program in 4 or 5 days. In the meantime I am traveling and maybe going to take advantage of the no-biking and fresh legs to belt out a PR attempt in the weight room on wednesday or thursday night.

I like the routine, but think maybe I need to sub in one more day of real on-bike sprint workouts. Was planning the same routine for next month. Will have to report back later what I decide to do.

My CycleSoles are amazing. I'm such are retard for doubting... that plus a slight increase of my saddle height has help my pedaling a lot. Currently riding PR's on my lunch training loop (90 minute workout now only takes 80 minutes ;) also PR's on my roller spinnouts >200rpm at >900Watts for 10-20seconds and much faster then that if I take the resistance unit off my rollers. Lifting is on par with my heaviest periods last year, except I am 10 pounds lighter and I have not scarified anything in my other training to do it this time. plyos I've switched box jumps for more entertaining stairs-jumping and bounding in the gymnasium, just managed a clean 5-step-at-a-time double leg jump up the 2 flights of stairs (~40 inches up and ~55 inches out, continuously)... all that and I feel great.

Local racing has begun. 1 sprint tournement and 3 weekly omniums so far. All went well. I'm fitting them is as training and the "what is he doing".... "sprinter that has lost his mind" comments have been used more then once to describe my constant hard driving of the pack and spending all my time in the wind. Things are looking good. Next saturday I may try to get down to business a little more instead of just training. That is a qualifier race for the big Hellyer AVC race in June. As a member of a UCI professional team I am prequalified.... but, I do love a race ;)

Speaking of local weekly racing... Tuesday nights are awesome!! 2 medium length races crammed into a nice short session under the lights (25 and ~50 lap races and then 20 minutes or so of madison practice at whatever pace we feel like). Really fun and good for getting the bload pumping and the speed up. Huge attendance in the B and C fields... they may start having to enforce field limits. The A field has plenty of space... so come on down. I've been known to turn myself inside out for a beer preme though... so don't expect it to be easy.

ciao,
giovanni

training update...

2010-02-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

i've been working hard, and unusually quiet about it. here's a recap for those that geek out on this stuff. please comment if you have thoughts. please!!

november-december:
casual unorganized training. working reasonably hard, but not a lot of structure. 3-5 days on the bike riding 1.5hr to 2.5hrs at a time steady hard tempo. also ramping up in the weight room with a lot of 10rep squats and core strength stuff. ending with 10 sets of 10 reps at 225lbs, deep, low-bar squats.

January-February:
fixed training schedule... structure!! yikes!!!. 4x in the gym. 5 days on the road. 1 day on the track. 1 full rest day.

Gym:

2 days of semi-heavy squats. "working weight" not pushing for max's but solid 5sets of 6 reps with excellent form and power. pumping them out. Core work and one or two quick sets of plyo jumps at the end.
2 days of either one leg squats or one leg deadlift. Not terribly heavy… balance and stability. Core excercises. Also one of these days has box jumps, the other has a bunch of agility/running-jummping stuff.

Bike:

2 days of best hard tempo. Not necessarily spectacular as the heavy weights usually have me saturated with lactic acid, but I push as hard and steadily as I can for 90 minutes at 105 to 115 cadence. My route has some hill, but no mountains.
1 recovery ride… 45min to 2hrs depending on how I feel
1 endurance ride. 2 to 3hrs steady riding, no real intensity guidelines, however I feel that day, but a bit longer ride for sure.
1 track day. Mostly speedwork on small gears. Some jumps. Some flying efforts on small gear. Not really structured.

Stretching as much as possible. Generally all gym workouts.

March-April:
New program. Less road, more track, less heavy weight, more plyo's and quick stuff in the gym. heavy weight that I do do will be getting closer to max lifts though. ** also 7days in England... don't miss the Battle for the British Midlands 2 --the sequel . I can't wait to go back and do all the local racing again.

gym:

1 heavy squats day 5 sets + core + one or two plyo sets
1 moderate weight. dead lift + core + one or two plyo sets
1 day stairs-plyos
2 days moderate weight. stabilty stuff. one leg squats or one leg deadlift + box jumps or agility stuff.

bike:

1 day track endurance/omnium racing. Small-ish gears.
1 day track sprint training. Jumps and top speed. Increasing gears.
1 day hard road tempo ride 1.5hrs.
1 endurance ride 2-3hrs
1 recovery ride
1 roller workout. 1hr moderate effort with footspeed sprints every 5minutes.

Stretching as much as possible. Generally all gym workouts.

May-June:
Pretty far out there so less detail.. but in general this is what i am thinking.

3 days gym. One day heavy, but only 3 sets. 2 days of plyos and stability sutff
3 days track. Generally one day power/strength, one day speedwork, one day omnium racing.
3-4 rollers or road workouts TBD.

July-
Race-tastic!!

Aug-Sept-
Identify and focus on weaknesses leading into Track Nationals and Winter racing.

----
all that in 3-4 week blocks of hard work with one week easy (50% volume)

CycleSoles Sexyfeet day #2.

2010-02-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'm a sensitive guy. I mean, no-one has ever touched the bottom of me feet without a swift (and mostly involuntary) kick. And on the equipment front I regularly search ebay for yet another pair of the same shimano shoe model that went out of production 4 years ago. I do the same thing with saddles and even sunglasses (check out my 10year old briko's sometime... love'em). I have 5 pairs of the same pedals just in case (for only 2 bikes). I recently "suffered" with a ~3degree twisted cleat for several months before finally taking the risk of adjusting it.... You get the point.

The idea of custom footbeds from cyclesoles scare me a bit. But beyond the fear of change lyes a promise of injury prevention, increased comfort, and maybe just maybe a touch more power. The basic principle is simple. Make a foot bed that supports the foot just-right so that the ankle and knee don't have to compensate with/for any unwarranted twisting or bending movement. Even if my body is successful at stabilizing my joints, if I can release the stabilizing muscles around my knees and ankles and feet from this task then my comfort and performance can go up. Also during hard training blocks these little muscles sometimes give out first and become limiters. That's the big secret isn't it... find your limiters and remove them. So lets try it, I want to believe!

These guys know what there doing. CycleSoles is a fully custom molded and ground insole for your foot and shoe. It is done in a fit studio setting, not the shoe corner at the bike shop and not in between derailleur cable changes. This is what Julie does... footbeds and bike fits in the Roaring Mouse Fit Studio on the corner of irving and 15th in San Francisco.

The place is nice, but simple. Big windows, clean, well lit, no nonsense... A trainer to hold your bike (and also soon a dedicated fit-bike) an oven, a grinder, and a message/exam table. The wall behind the fit area is covered with specialized fit-tools. Bars and stems of all imaginable dimensions, protractors, alignment lasers, right angles and plumb lines.

The first step is an exam. Julie takes some history and checks for basic bike fit problems like unmatching legs, twisted bits and pieces and joints that don't move. Turns out I have a slightly longer right leg, also my ankles are built like bulldozers, but I have the feet of a ballerina. Makes sense. I also ride with my feet closer then most people. I'm basically scraping the cranks with my foot and ankle all the time. Then she busted me for bad bike maintenance and letting my seatpost slip down last week. "dude, do you really pedal like this? your seat is too low" ... ah, ya, my tape marker fell off... and I never do bike maintenance or change things unless, well, ... i don't.

There is a fancy contraption that they use to hold you in a 90deg pedaling position (roughly the position of max pedal pressure) and then aligns your foot, knee, and hip with a gauge and laser. The freshly baked hot footbed then goes under your foot for a couple minutes for modling then the insole and the shoe go into the back room for some magic to happen on the belt grinder.

Simple.. but with as much as I like hanging out and talking to Julie it takes about 2 hrs.

I put them on in the shop for quick test and was immediately awed by the static comfort... they just felt perfect.. like I was born with them on my feet... ah, but who cares what your shoes feel like when you are standing around. Riding is what matters...

Ride #1. Track bike. Rollers. A bit hung over and exhausted. (oops). well 30minutes down. Nothing to report. I think my knees are tracking a bit straighter and a little further from the top tube. Also my normal ankle roll has change. Where I used to roll my ankle inward and flatten out my foot on the downstroke I was clearly not doing that now. I was, however, "ankling" fluidly ( dropping my heal on the downstroke and raising it the upstroke ).... but I wasn't pedaling hard enough to say if I liked it or not. Oh, and the foot/fit comfort was spectacular.

Ride #2. 90min hard tempo. Hills, Road bike. (lunch break ride). Some flats, some short climbs, some smoking downhills. Foothill, Altamonte, Page Mill, Arastradero loop 18.5mph. I love slipping these things on now. Sexy slippers. I didn't want to overdue it until I had a chance to adapt to the changes. Hard riding on fresh changes is always a recipe for injury.... but then I caught a tail wind and it was ON. I'm such a sucker for going fast. At first I noticed my heels pulling outward, even unclipping once or twice. Also a little fatigue/cramping in my calves. This was my old ankle-roll habit dying. But no problem it passed after 30minutes or so. The feeling of stability was inspiring. This ride gave me solid 5min blocks of steep climbing at 70rpm and high torque as well as some nice high speed blocks of slight downhill at 120rpm. All felt very natural. No tinges, no foot discomfort, and I really liked my knee action. I mean why pull in/out on my knee if all I need is the right insole and "shazam" it just goes straight by itself. This turned out to be one of my strongest rides so far this season.

... this week 2 more of my lunch rides, then some track time... I'll update later... I want to see what these feel like doing track bike jumps and starts. I can't wait. I wonder if I put these in my weight lifting shoes? ;)

-giovanni
http://www.roaringmousecycles.com/
http://cyclesoles.com/
http://blackdogprocycling.blogspot.com/

2/22/2010 update:

awesome!

loved them on the road from day one.

track took a little more getting used to. also found that I need to raise that saddle 2-3mm, not sure if that was because of change in how I was rotating my ankles or not? at any rate I've done 2 or 3 workouts in San Jose, and i did 4 track sessions in LA this weekend and love them.

workout go something like this...basic 30 minute aerobic warmup followed by a dozen or so sprint efforts. typically a sprint effort is 10 to 15 second long efforts with 10 or so minutes recovery. basically accelerations form ~10mph to ~40mph (50rpm to 160rpm). ~1400 to 1700watts. sometimes down the banking... sometimes up the banking.

I don't feel super limber at the high cadence yet this season. but starts and jumps at the lower cadence things are awesome. I think i need just a little more time to adapt. also I'm not anywhere close to peek fitness so maybe I just need to train more ;)

2010-01-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

BLACK DOG

yay!

facebook killed the blog-o-sphere

2009-11-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

yup I'm still around and doing my thing.

i found myself not writing or writing increasingly lame blog entries... so for now just consider it writers block. but I still eat, bike, travel, drink, revel, and grovel as always, so expect more stories to be posted sooner or later.

this month most of my creativity is going to into playing with my camera. check out my pics on picasa or a few low res versions on facebook.

up next: another month of playing with puppies in los gatos and riding my bike on fun rides, then a long week in NYC with my sister, then back to hard core training for the summer bike racing... but hopefully with a lighter easier tone to it then last year.

facebook me:

sorry i got to say if I can't remember who you are and don't introduce yourself, i may just let it slide. no offence.

my photo are --here--:

hell ya art collection

2009-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

I always download these because... because they are cool!! love bike the bike art. thanks to whoever come up with these.

randomz

2009-10-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

just dropping some random photo updates so the blog page doesn't get any staler then it already is ;) ...

later,
g

Notes from Elite Track Nats

2009-10-05T10:43:00.001-07:00

home.

thanks for helping cheering, coaching, and most of all friending... and I don't mean on facebook.

we had a great gang of hellyerites hanging out in a rental house and at the track. we laughed hard. that was good. hellyerites "rocked up" as coach liz would say and represented well in every single event. honestly almost every single podium had a hellyer rider on it. I can think of at least 10 hellyer riders who received some sort of bling... gold, silver, bronze, or brass (what is that metal called they give us of 4rth anyway?). Also a balzilion hellyer riders (25 or so) who competed amazingly well just behind the winners.

"the state of hellyer" is hell-a-fast.

we are raising really talented riders and we are keeping then involved and interested and helping them to get even fasters as the years go by... and we have shit loads of fun. yay!

Thank you, BOD, officials, promoters, bloggers, facebookers, photographers, county park people, tax payers, and of course all the racers.

btw. to you "masters" two 50year old dudes got 3rd in a crazy fast and stacked Madison. stop doubting and start training!!!

-------------------

hows' that: capturing all the good stuff that is swirling around in my head. some shadows too. I was slow and grumpy and unlucky last week. not my best race week of not my best year.

yes I did deserve to get DQ'ed from the keirin. I did what they said I did. I have reasons why I did it that make sense to me and most of the people watching... but that doesn't change the fact that it is written in the rule book and I got to be "THE EXAMPLE" for the dumb ass chief official. even though I was being mugged at the time I did push back a little with the only part of my body that could reach the rider above me who was mugging me (my head. aka "head but"). In part this was caused because the stupid rookie motor driver that was afraid to properly enter the track and road the first several laps on the apron, creating a very confused situation. I had a 1 lap keirin tournement. They stoped the race, DQ'ed me, and I was not permitted in the rep ride. $45 entry fee. that goes with my $45 entry fee for the standing 250 , and my entry fee for the team sprint, also 1 lap. I paid $120 to do 3 laps of a 250 velodrome. yay!. :|

sprints were about the same. no DQ, but a bad 200m so the way the tournament works the best I could do was race for 5th because my first race was a no-win situation against the number one qualifier. My second chance race was a good one, and I thought I had it won... but the situation changed in the last 100m and I didn't adapt fast enough. So my day was done. I'm not sure but my official results are probably 12th.

250, kilo, team sprint... meh. they were all fine performances i guess. not great. my team sprint team was awesome, I wish I could have given them a better start. Next year!

Weekend Fun w/ da hooligans

2009-08-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

LTO Sweeps Sprint Events at Cal/Nevada state championships.

2009-08-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

LTO takes 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in both the Sprints and Keirin. Also a team win in the Olympic Sprint, and 1st and 2nd in the 1000meter Time Trial.

Hot weather saturday for the kilo and sprints. If 105deg weather seams warm to you then you weren't watching the hot hot races. The days started out with the 1000 Meter Time trial ("kilo"). LTO racers Pete Billington and Giovanni Rey were contesting a strong field of both new and veteran racers. A flock of jnr racers from Team San Jose and Team Specialized with modest starts and scorching fast finishes were crowding the score board at 1:10 and 1:11 reminding the favorites to take the race seriously. The final 3 riders to go were Giovanni, Larry Nolan (specialized masters), and Pete. A nice steady ride for Giovanni cracked the score board with a 1:09 ... immediately followed by the kilo master, and all around animal Larry Nolan who fell just a hair short at 1:10. This left Pete to ride. The solid start and awe inspiring top speed coming around for the first of 3 laps make it clear that this was going to be good. 1:08. The final was Pete 1st, Giovanni 2nd, Larry 3rd.

Early round keirins showcased the the riders to watch. LTO sprinters Pete and Giovanni were joined by teammate Sam Milroy in the event, all making it to the final. Dave McCook, Steve Peleaz, Nick Harter, Brian Peterson and Rick Adams showed good form and savy riding to also make to the final with the LTO riders. From the start things were interesting... Giovanni was immediately challenged by Dave McCook for the motor. Giovanni however had the advantage of the inside starting spot and Dave relented. Making room for Pete Billington to slide up the outside and take the motor away from Giovanni. Sam then also move up and settled into a spot 2 abreast with LTO teammates establishing an iron grip on the front. The pace motorcycle then ramped the field up to race starting speed of 33mph and Dave McCook immediately attack trying to break up the LTO stronghold on the front and pushing the pace up over 40mph. Pete countered Dave's move and accelerated to a tire blistering speed leaving the field in chaos pushing and shoving for drafts behind him. By the final corner it was all LTO. Pete followed by Giovanni followed by Sam. Giovanni and Sam push forward a bit to challenge Pete to the line, but the honors and the glory belong to Pete today. An outstanding ride.

The next event, Team Sprint, saw some dramatic weather changes. The heat was still on, but now so was the wind. Wind gust were pushing riders back and forth all over the track. This timed event required maximal efforts from all 3 LTO sprinters to work together for a collective time. Sam led the first leg followed by Pete and Giovanni anchored. Sam destroyed the start showing truely amazing acceleration leaving Pete and Giovanni's lungs and legs burning with anticipation for their shot at living up to the lead out that Sam had handed them. The result was 1:07.4 on a wind blown chaotic ride over the 1010meter course.. This had to stand up to a challenge from Allen Vigrincic, Jeff Solt, and Marzio Sandaval. The final: LTO 1st. Vigrincic/Solt/Sandoval 1.08 second.

Day 2 of racing was "just" sprints on a pleasantly "cool" 92degree day. The honor of being #1 qualifier went to sprinting legend Jeff Solt with 11.39. A blink behind him were Giovanni followed by Sam and Pete from LTO Velo (11.4, 11.4, 11.5 respectively). Behind them was Allen, Nick, Josh, and the rest of the field. Jeff got a bye on round 1, Giovanni and Sam advanced relatively easily. However, Pete was close enough to the middle of the seeding order for a challenging and exciting ride against Allen. Pete wins with dominant and powerful move around the outside of the last corner. Round 2 put Pete against Jeff, and Sam against Giovanni. Again Pete wins with a big move around the outside routing the #1 qualifier. Giovanni wins from the front against Sam, just barely holding off a last second charge to the line. This put Pete and Giovanni in the ride off for gold/silver and Sam and Jeff in the ride off for bronze. This last round is best of 3 race matchup. Sam controls and bests Jeff in 2 straight with perfectly executed rides from the front. Both times leading into the last lap with a controlled and watchfull effort before unleashing out of corner 2 and accelerating dramatically all the way to the finish line. The story was the same in first ride between Giovanni and Pete with Giovanni taking it. The final ride for gold saw something different. Giovanni, drawing the lead, forced Pete to the front early by back pedaled hard. Pete took the front and then some. Driving hard and leaving Giovanni flat footed and well behind him with 600 meters to go. It was a nail bitter for the next lap as both riders balanced the need to close/extend the gap with the risk of not having the enough gas to contest the final run to the line. At the 200meter mark, however, the race resolved itself with Giovanni charging hard through the remaining gap and Pete unalbe to manage a second acceleration to match him. Giovanni 1st, Pete 2nd, Sam 3rd.

Wish the guys luck with one more month of hard training before Sam, Pete, and Giovanni meet up with 4rth teammate Steve Hill in Los Anglese for the Elite National Track Championships.

ramblings and updates...

2009-07-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

my bday is coming up... I'd rather just hang out then get gifts or anything... but I was thinking if you really wanted to get me something one of these would be pretty cool. ~1990 Moser TT bike.

I am off to Portland on friday then Seattle the next weekend for some good fun racing. Numbers the last few days are promising. I hope that they peak upward a little bit more with rest this week and I do some crazy fast riding up north. Either way though... I am ready for some fun. Hope to see you there.

july 17-19
http://www.alpenrosechallenge.com/

july 24-25
http://www.fsagrandprix.com/

ciao,
g

2009-07-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

"... i would get around a women and I just freeze up....now whenever I see a pretty women I'm like.. Hold Up. I'm Lando Calrisian. I blew up the second death star."

word.

weekend action...

2009-06-29T18:54:00.001-07:00

I think the Hellyer AVC was a huge success. really cool. fields were maybe better then anything I've seen or even heard of in a long time anywhere in the US. The weather was warm all evening and the party in the stands was rock'n. Particularly on friday night. Total madness out there.

lots of thanks to Rick Kevin Warren and the crew.

The kiwi guys Hayden and Jason particular impressed me with their punch that just kept on going. And Daniel with his new found turbo diesel... just keeps rolling and rolling at warp speed. And Laura and Liz the beauties from down under that kept the unstoppable Shelley Olds and team on their toes all weekend. Gideon and Jame with their finesse and insane bike handling, and Jimmy with his track record setting rocket power. Basically tons of amazingness.

Hanan and Jimmy S. the super-surprise winners in the women scratch and the men points were absolutely on fire. class.

The vibe on the infield was as warm as the day was hot... and then later as goofy and silly could be as we emptied every bottle of Rob's wine that we could find in the every cooler in every tent..

hey Seattle people!? where'd you run off too? thought we were going to tare up Palo Alto late night?

A rock'n weekend fo sure.

------------------------

my racing --- not so rocking.

fun but no results. a lot of bad luck and a bunch of dumb give aways....take this for what its worth, but " I feel" I was between the 2nd and 4rth strongest sprinter there (definitely after Jimmy, but in pretty close with the next couple). I could'a should'a would'a. :|. but I messed EVERYTHING up. some give aways, some bad life/diet decisions keeping me up at night, some messed up keirin starting rules, some bad lane draws, and some inconsistency and lack of focus, and too much attention paid to things other then my racing. really kinda makes me angry thinking about how much investment i've made to let it all go like that with zero results. ARRARRRRRRRRR!!!

but it was a spectacular weekend and wonderful racing and I am trying to remember all the awesome things and people that were happening.

here's a little play by play. ho-hum...(warning...this won't be very exciting)
1) keirin round 1. for some reason I got in the same heat as my 2 teammates. only one advances. we had a loose plan... and it all fell into place with Pete being the man... Yay! Pete. We took over the front and went full gas with sweepers and a possible late pass... basically keirin 101.

2) keirin 2nd chance qualifier. weird tournament format and super strong field create an almost exact replay of last years field for the final. I got a crap start spot (7 of 8) and no push (apparently I was the only one following the officials 'strict' directions) and had to ride a crappy ride from the back. A few little hooks from Peleaz and Sam on the way around the outside (4-wide) and the best I could manage was 3rd. I just never committed to it and had to go the long-hard way... and there you go first looser... 2 advance. (Peleaz and Gideon, who later went 1-2 in the final)

3) miss-n-out. Just a fun race for me, no pressure... I got myself into a nice little pocket near the front and cruised along easily for 10 -15 laps or so... then the field folded around me and I found myself surprised to be at the back. Generally i don't mind the back, but this time I wasn't really focused and miss calculated the crazy speed of the pack and ran out of space and time to come around the top a lap or two later. Fun ride. no expectations in the endurance races so this was just candy for me.

4) sprints... well my warmup effort was good... ~5.60s for 100m . to bad my real effort was 1mph slower from start to finish. @ 5.75s / 11.5s I don't understand why really. I hit the exact same ramp up speeds (all recorded in the SRM), but for some reason my HR was way higher and I was tired and flat already when I jumped. strange. maybe i was holding my breath. i don't know. so that put me back in shit'ville for the sprint tourney. I met Jimmy in the first round and I didn't even bother trying. (dumb, 'cause in retrospect there may have been some windows when Jimmy wasn't paying enough attention, and you never know...). Then I faced Daniel W in the first rep... this was a pretty good ride. finally a real race. I led out and controlled the jump very well and drag raced Daniel arond the bend, loosing by a couple inches. Daneil went on to soundly beat Pete and Kalyn and take the 3rd place spot. The end of sprints for me.

5) what the heck... A scratch 45lap race! why not? nutz fast. I'm betting it was 31-32mph average, but I lost my SRM data for that ride so I can't be sure. I made a bold move to try for the pack sprint (2nd) at 700 meters. I was looking good for a bit, but by 200m to go a couple guys started closing on me and I got smoked at about 100m to go. A train of 6 or so came screaming by as I started fading and I am ashamed to say I stopped fighting and coasted in. But I was happy for some small amount of glory just the same... a little glory-candy to end the weekend and send me home a little more satisfied.

SRM wise, my power was 100wats lower then 3-4 weeks ago, but maybe that was because of the longer more wound-up efforts instead of the more idealized 'jumps' i do for training. or maybe I was off.. but power wasn't really the problem, a whole to of everything else.

This fri/sat, Bike racing event...

2009-06-25T09:51:00.001-07:00

Hi All,

Just wanted to drop you a line and invite you to stop by the bicycle races this weekend in San Jose...

This is the biggest, fastest, bestest racing and party we have all year. Lots of racing, easy to watch, food/beer, free (except for parking), family friendly. Come and go anytime, there are lots of races (generally best-for-last). Friday night 7pm - ~10pm. Also lots of racing saturday. Schedule is here. http://www.ridethetrack.com/avc/2009_avc_program.pdf

Below is a press release from a few weeks back... the latest update is that even more international athletes... including olympians and world champions have signed up. (lucky for me this press release went out before some of them signed up... or I may not have gotten my name in there ;)

If you come down remember it sometimes gets a bit cold out at night still.

cheers,
giovanni

-------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

International stars and top US cyclists to compete at American Velodrome Challenge in San Jose, CA

The American Velodrome Challenge (AVC) will be held at the Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose, CA on June 26 and 27. The event will feature sprint and endurance racing including Montano Velo Keirin, Concept Cyclery Women's Points Race and Peckham Memorial Points Race as well as SportVelo Miss-n-Out, Scratch, Madison and Sprint events. Racers will compete for nearly $15,000 in cash prizes.

In the endurance women's events, Shelley Olds (Proman) will be back to defend her Concept Cyclery Points Race and Testarossa Scratch Race titles. "Pocket Rocket" Shelley Olds says, "The AVC is one of the highlights of my season every year. It combines highly contested racing with a great atmosphere for spectating. It's fantastic to have a race of this caliber at my local track." With $1,000 going to the winner of the Concept Cyclery Women's Points Race, the race is guaranteed to be rocket fast. The women's sprint events will see Jen Featheringill (Bike Central) defend her Keirin and Sprint titles against USA elite national champion Cari Higgins (Proman) and Cristin Walker, the USA U23 National Sprint Champion.

The Peckham Memorial Points Race will see the 2008 winner Kenny Williams (First Rate Mortgage) defend against the 2007 winner Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (Bissell). Also chasing after the $1,000 that goes to the winner of the Peckham Memorial Points Race will be Jason Allen (Subway - Avanti), a track World Cup Gold medalist, Daniel Holloway (Holowesko-Garmin), US Elite Champion and World Cup bronze medalist, and New Zealand's Hayden Godfrey (Subway - Avanti), the 2008 Omnium World Champion. Godfrey says, "I have heard great things about the American Velodrome Challenge and I'm looking forward to compete in this year's event". Other nations represented at AVC include: Canada, Slovakia and Germany.

Gio Rey (Montano Velo) will be back to win after being piped at the line in the 2008 Montano Velo Elite Men's Keirin. Expect Jimmy Watkins (Empower Coaching), current USA Sprint and Keirin champion, and his Team Sprint teammate Kelyn Akuna to make the race fast.

Rick Adams, co-promoter of the AVC said, "I am proud of the local business support to bring high level racing to Hellyer." Bruce Hollibaugh, Concept Cyclery's owner said, "Sponsoring the AVC helps our community prosper and sponsoring the Women's Points Race aligns with our many successful women customers."

Racing will be on Friday (June 26) from 7pm - 10:30pm and Saturday (June 27) from 6pm - 10pm. There is no entrance fee to the velodrome and food and drinks will be provided. Park entrance/parking at the County park is $6. Complete information can be found at www.ridethetrack.com/avc

Hellyer Velodrome is located at the Hellyer County Park, 995 Hellyer Ave San Jose, CA 95111 and can be easily accessed from Highway 101, exit "Hellyer Av."

Contact

Andreas Vogel
AVC communication
andreas.vogel@gmail.com
415 341 3438

Rick Adams
AVC promoter
oldtrackie@gmail.com

Hellyer Velodrome, San Jose, CA
http://ridethetrack.com/AVC

Directions
http://www.ridethetrack.com/map.html

wooza's

2009-06-22T10:24:00.001-07:00

check this photo of Ben and Lance and Levi off velonews....jeez' Ben, stop smiling so much you are making lance and levi look like they are working. dude. shelley also. the happy pain face.... guys, teach me that trick ?! ;)

this mornings race reports from nevada city totally made my day.

--------------

friday night was a kick also. thanks to the mice for hosting pirate night. I was a little woond up trying to figure out how I was riding going into next weeks big race. having all the happy silly hellyer folks to play with was awesome.

racing wise, i was pretty happy with m 10 laps following you guys around in the scratch race. 31.7mph average and it was smooth sailing for me [in the back]. I didn't want to burn any matches... just staying warm so I jumped ship after ~10laps. you dudes at the front were killing it. Seriously big races often don't run much faster then that. not sure how the pace went after I quite, but it looked like it stayed high.

I was going way to easy in the miss-n-out. seriously didn't know I was at risk until 5 feet from the line... oops. that never works out well. bummer because I wanted to take a shot at winning that one, but I was distracted from having to chase at the start and also clashing with jnr joel... he was crowding me for lap after lap, I thought 4 laps of that was enough... gave him a warning headbut, then on lap 5 of running my good tires through the gutter and riding in his unprotected arm pit I had enough and clobbered him... freaking out alden and a few other dudes... I take no responsibility, I told them deal with it or don't crowd me... guess that earns me the grumpy old dude prize for the day. I think he thought I would give up Brians wheel eventually if he kept it up... hahahahaha. I "thought" I was being hell-a-nice letting it go that long before taking action.

sprints were good. speeds were decent but not spectacular... rest now, spectacular speed should be ready next weekend.

oh, yeah... they boo'ed me for the sprint win. ??!?? haha. Pete... sounds like you are the new crowd favorite. I'm gonna have to start wearing all black... I can do a dark, stealth ninja, Racer X good/bad guy sort of a thing.

-----------

This Friday night 6/26... Come watch, drink beer, check out what we do... the race fields are spectacular. Seriously spectacular, international superstars in top form.

http://ridethetrack.com/AVC

new track team ready to roll.

2009-06-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hard training and new projects...

Lots of successful training the last month or so. Really awesome... and now this... a new team, we have lift off!!!. Nothing fancy, no big ego's, nothing really to boast about except us doing what we want to do and going faster then anyone else.

Sorry if I haven't made it clear, but my days with MV track are over. I put in an effort to merge this group and that but it wasn't to be, so this year I am rolling as LTO Velo with a renewed focus, new sponsors, and new amazing teammates.

check it out:

yes, I did the web work myself.. expect lots of typos. feel free to email me corrections.

toys

2009-04-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

ahhh... oooowwww .... aaaahhhh....

ok, well I like it anyway. meet my new toy. got some modifications I need to make. 2 projects done, 1 to go. this weekend I redid the exhaust shielding near my left foot after a blue-jeans and boot combustion incident. then I invented an exhaust deflector contraption (photo: right) so that I could motorpace (or be motorpaced) by this bike without feeling like I was back in a bar in Pittsburgh's south side. one last little project... the mirrors. right now the toy round things are pretty much only good for looking at my breasts. (unimpressive). I am going to violate the previous owners fashion sense and put standard mirrors back on. Then I am ready to go.

this thing it fun!! just fun and easy to ride. non of that scary "what happens if I twist this too far" sensation, but still fast enough to break some laws and scare my mom. Don't tell mom, but this thing is the wheelie king... stopies too... think how much I can save on tires by only using one at time. I also did my first supermoto style corner the other day... :D damn that was fun.

(for the uninitiated: the actual racing [that I have no intention in participating in] that originates this style motorcycle looks like this)

----

Here is my sea otter report... went down, said hi to a dozen or so of my favorite bike people, did the ducati demo ride, went home. Ya, sea otter is way over rated... but friends and ducati's, now you got something.

(here's paule about to lead me out for a sprint
in the Ducati Paceline)

---

A little BBQ/Birthday fly by this weekend. Thanks John.

(how many little people does it take to put out a candle? )

---

sure and why not... a training update. I got of track last month. To many big weight lifting days, and not enough rest, and then I got sick. Yuk. Sickness only lasted 4 days, but when I stopped sniffling I found myself 5lbs lighter, exhausted, only able to lift 80% of what I had been. Which I guess doesn't sound so bad, but I faught for months to up my squats that 5 or 10%. So one lame week before I finally got around to resting, the rest week, the sick week, and then the next half-ass week...I've manage to waste 4 whole weeks with only marginal training value. but...

I'm back!!! yup. This morning I did 91% of my previous best (345x6, 375x2) and am not feeling any road blocks. Jeeze, I'm too honest, I can't believe I put my actual training info online. Everyone else makes shit up and/or doubles it. let see... my best squat is 690lbs x6 ;) . Also getting better on the bike. Been enjoying my road rides and getting some solid track workouts. Look out Hellyer AVC... I'm a coming.

---

maybe one of us will get all PR and all that and write up some glossy, shiney, publicity verbage... here is a little teaser. There is a new track racing team in town... LTO Velo. Damn fast riders if I say so myself. Bad ass outfits too.

---

"I am not interested in money," said actress Marilyn Monroe. "I just want to be wonderful." Consider the possibility of trying out that approach for a while, Leo. I'm not, of course, encouraging you to be apathetic toward financial matters. But I do think it's an excellent time to for you to specialize in making yourself more wonderful. The cosmic signs say that you now have access to unprecedented reserves of the most profound kind of charm (not the cheap, fake, manipulative stuff). They also suggest that certain qualities in you that have previously been merely fine are primed to evolve into being amazingly marvelous.

http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/leo.html

"amazingly marvelous".

I like that. sounds like I'm in for a good week.

---

ciao,
giovanni

lines and numbers

2009-04-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

no, don't get excited, no glory here... just a graph I thought was interesting. this was one of my timed 200m runs from yesterday on the 250m track. the cursers are pretty close to the right spots for the 200m start and end time.

red is HR, pink speed, green is power, blue is cadence.

Go fast turn left... right, left

2009-04-11T09:21:00.001-07:00

"if you turn left far enough you will find yourself turning right"

Race car sounds identified. D1 drifters.

Zzzzzzooommmm ... Screeeeeech....zooommmm

DUCK!!

2009-04-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

LA training camp v.2.0 April.

Last week, las vegas.... lots of work but some good night out action as well. The venicitian is awesome. love the fake sky and the fake italian piazza, sorry no pic. Plus, best part was my expense account for a wolfgang puck lunch. kept going back everyday until they started giving me free deserts just to get me to stop trying to talk to them. ;)

Plain White T's concert... good stuff. Thanks for the ticket Mad.

alas, a week of pressed flesh with folks from every corner of the world at the trade show, and then tequila and debauchery at the equally packed clubs at night kinda cost me my health for a few days... but when its time to go play at ADT for a track training camp, you just gotta go. wouldn't miss it if my eyeballs turned grean and had moth buggers shooting out of my nose and pink fuz everywhere.

(My new alter ego... moth monster. saw this movie in 3D last night)

Pete praying to the hipster gods in Long Beach fixie shop...

Me praying to my chocolate god in Long Beach cafe...

When ducks want to migrate do they always just fly? If i were a duck I would weigh my options? should i drive to LA? "no, honey, lets drive this time." "Flying is so exhausting and they are going to make us check our flippers at security and you always get sick when we fly. bird flu sucks"

Oh, yes, we did some riding as well...

was happy to hit a 43mph top speeds around the bend once, yeaaaa-haaaw! but something doesn't seam right, I think the default SRM wheel size must be wrong, 'cuase the top speeds and 200m times don't line up at all. 200m times were very unimpressive. Anybody ever analyze this? I'm using a normal 23mm clincher tire. 153rpm in a 49x14.

hark... the destinctive sound of race cars ripping it up outside the hotel. I have no idea what's up... but this merits investigation. Long Beach GP next week. (but I won't be here)

ciao,
Giovanni

dancing shoes, flowers, and majic numbers

2009-03-15T16:00:00.001-07:00

Not writing; it felt like undone homework for a while, but after a month or so it all just drifts away into faded memories. Triage. Get done what I have to… starts with eating and sleeping. Work. Training. Friends when I can. Other commitments like coaching and teams. Then a good bit of time to try and reign in my wandering mind. Thoughts of motorcycles and vacations and looking for fun of all sorts.

Actually a disappointing week. Very busy and lonely and full of little disappointments, 'work', team drama, and bad health. Took a ding to my motivation this week as the shit seams to hit the fan with the Hawk team. I can’t say a lot since things still seam to be in flux, but let’s just call it a royal mess. Thank goodness for my friends who race with me. I’m lucky to be surrounded by folks that think more-or-less like I do. Future personal glory is a goal and would be great icing on the cake, but what makes it all work and all worth doing is the people you do it with. Team or no team.

I do want that chocolate icing on my cake though. So I’m training my arse off …got to say I feel better then I ever have while training this hard. I think it is nutrition and keeping a lid on the personal drama (more or less ;). RE: The nutrition. I’ve become and emergen-C addict. Tons of vitamin B and C. Also I am onto glutamine, BCAA, glocosamine, and fish oil. I think the main thing was the vitamin B and C though. The jury is still out on the other stuff.

Some good stuff. Mom visited a couple weeks ago: Hi Mom!

Some more good stuff: New road bike this week. Got a lightspeed Icon frame from Paule. It is amazing. It rides smooth as silk, just gliding over the road without all the vibration. It also is much stiffer then my last bike, much lighter then my last bike, and is all click'itty click with a fresh cables and drivetrain. Awesome.

New dancing shoes.(actually weight lifting shoes, but I bet I could dance in them). Would like to say I put up an extra 100lbs on my squats today because of my shinny new shoes, but that isn’t completely true. They did feel good though. Very stable and the raised heal made that extra 2 inches of depth that I wanted completely painless. Not quite “ass to ankles” but I’m now definitely in the “hamstrings to calves” realm. Ok, I hear it coming: NO. deep squats are not bad for your knees. Badly done squats of any depth are bad for you knees… do them right or don’t bother.

Some folks love numbers. Ok. Then here you go. Lots and lots of numbers. Analyze away.

In 10 weeks since the first of the year I have put 752 miles on my road bike, 462 miles on my track bike (track plus rollers). I have squatted or deadlifted. 352000 pounds. And launched myself 2400 feet up onto plyometric boxes. SRM data looks pretty good... I'm hoping for some pretty big spikes whenever I finally taper a bit. In the past I've always managed that in late June or early July. Big jumps in performance to come. I can't wait.

The routine is 2 days at the track doing big gear work, medium length sprints one day and starts the other. 2 days in the gym focusing on upping my 6 and 8 rep squat PR 10lbs per week… every week. 2 or 3 road rides, 2 or 3 roller workouts and tons and tons of food. Adam told me to go ahead and gain weight while I do all the strength training… but I had to cap it at 195lbs. I am not going over 195… I just can’t., my pants don’t fit.

Upcoming tidbits: Las Vegas for a week March 29tht. Then a training camp in LA April 9th

ciao,
giovanni

LA and back, jack

2009-02-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

No time to type, recycling my text. Hope yinz don't mind... ("yinz", its a Pittsburgh thing... seems like a good day for some 'burgh talk, stehlers and all).

LA and back last weekend to do some training, and get out of dodge for a day or two.

Was a good weekend. easy travels and great riding.

We killed it friday afternoon sprint training. Adam and Travis coaching and riding, Pete, the Walkers, 2 other texas folks and me training. Also Sarah Hammer and Sparks showed up... I think they were just there to make us feel bad in our warmup though ;) love those steady 35mph warmups, not.

I'm the only one that raced friday. Everyone else was resting. Gluton that I am. Then back on again saturday morning doing sprint work.

Hit some good numbers. New high for 10 and 20 second max power. Didn't really do the right sort of jumps to hit 1 and 5 second maximums but they were close as well. With the help of a big lead out train I also pinged some 43mph top speeds coming around the corner once. Damn that is fun.

This week is big in the gym, then a rest week. This weeks goal is 4 sets of squats at 315lbsx10 deep and fast. Will be hard, but I think I can nail it.

A new Alpenrose race video popped up on Facebook this week. I linked it in FB. check it out. http://www.lormormedia.com/movie/avcpromo.php

What else is new...hmmm... ah, yes, I finally gave in and dropped by GNC to stock up on all the goodies that everyone has been recommending. Protien recovery drink, L-Glutamine, Fish Oil, Chondrotin, Glucosamine, BCAA, and a new multivitamin.... on the first pass, this has resulted in one hell of an upset stomach and a mild headache. sweet. well can't say "it doesn't do anything" ;)

ciao,
g

thank my sis for this one ;) she is always trying to help me understand women.

oh, and a note from Mom:

subject: Re: yeah!! stealers
from: Carol
to: Giovanni

steelers...ironworkers
stealers...thieves
!!!!

oops ;)

Word of the day is:

2009-01-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new event: Stiletto Sprints!!

2009-01-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

some overdue notes and updates. its been a long time since I updated the page, sorry

I've been cycling, partying, cycling, eating, lifting weights, drinking wine, cycling, skiing, cycling, working, cycling, eating way too much panatone, cycling, joining Courtside (fancy althetic club in LG), cycling, drinking tequila, cycling, and learning how to use my new SRM (which involves cycling).

this year I gave just about everyone chocolate for Christmas. twas the year of the coco. also a major cheese shipment to my family. so coco cheese and flowers. not really doing my part to help the factory workers in china/detroit/whereever, but all my friends and family are fat and happy ;)

Still chugging along working with Adam on my training for next year. Working hard, but doing a good job of keeping myself mentally and physically out of the gutter. I might have been sliding a bit just before christmass... but then again maybe that was just holiday ma laze. On the other side of the coaching coin I am enjoying working with my 2 clients. Fun. I think they both are going to do amazing things this year. Ya, me too... I am going to do amazing things as well. ;)

maybe I'll bore you all to death with some SRM plots of my workouts... here, if you can figure out what this one means I'll get one more box of chocolate out of my gift stash as a thank you.

what the hell does this mean!!!

----

word of the day is : "audacious "

audacious • \aw-DAY-shus\ • adjective

1 : daring, bold
2 : insolent *
3 : marked by originality and verve

Example Sentence:
The band has been making original and creative music for well over ten years, but their latest album is by far their most audacious to date.

Did you know?
Shakespeare used "audacious" seven times in his plays.
The word, which comes from the Latin root "audac-" ("bold").
In the 16th century: it was one of the earliest "-acious" words in English. Subsequently, we've added lots of "-acious" adjectives to our lexicon, including "pugnacious," "loquacious," "voracious," and even, in the 19th century, "bodacious" (which is most likely a combination of "bold" and "audacious"). haha-- bodacious means :HOT!!!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl

---

The world's record for most people running in a "Stiletto Sprint" is 265. That's how many put on three-inch high heels and competed in an 80-meter race in Australia last September. It's quite possible that your imminent future will have metaphorical resemblances to that event, Leo. If you want to strive for a certain goal, you may have to take on some limitation or handicap. My advice? Don't spend a minute resenting the imposed impediment. Just push ahead with cheerful equanimity and liberated pluck. You can win your equivalent of the Stiletto Sprint.

...http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/

----

Hi Team (and everyone else),

:)

I hope you have all had a spectacular holiday season. I wish you all the chocolate cake and eggnog you can eat.... you deserve it!!

The new season is sneaking up on us and I know I can speak for the San Jose crew when I say we are full steam ahead and training our arse's off. Pete B and I are training together often and going to shatter all expectation next year: look out. Matias and Steve P. are out there pushing hard as well. I hear Matias is growing some massive guns!... and Steve is deep into Russian stealth training running up hills with logs on his back.

So... there are some events coming up here in San Jose. I want to make sure the locals make it, and the out of town folks feel invited and do their best to join the family at Hellyer for a week or two.

1)June 12th-- $20k Speed Rebellion Keirin Challenge. This is Robin Horwitz.'s baby :) don't miss it.
2)June 19-20th- Hellyer AVC (another $10k+ event)
3)March 6-8- Steve Hill trackcamp. I'll let Steve fill in details. Robin mentioned that Hawk E riders will not have to pay. I really hope we can get some momentum behind this and use it to do some training together. http://www.thresholdpower.com/index.php?p=product&id=3&parent=1

Come to san jose. In March! June! or both. In June you should make a week out of it and do both big events. There is ample open track time to train mid-week, local track races on tuesday, wednesday, local crits, and wonderful road riding on either roiling or mountainous roads. I can help set up host housing if you need that.

Word is that the uniform order is moving forward quickly now. I don't know a due date, but I understand that production is in its final steps.

Thats it for now...

what is happening at your corner of the world ?

Happy New Year!!

gio

2008-12-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

hmmm. rain rain go away, come again another day...

The track clinic James and I were to put on this weekend was semi-canceled due to weather. ya "semi-canceled" that is what I said. Obviously we were having a little trouble make a decision on that one. We gave everyone fair warning that rain would cancel on saturday and then we showed up and hoped for the best. Turned out we got a lot done. It was cold, and I felt guilty sitting folks down and making them listen to us talk while shivering... but they stayed focused and seamed to understand what we were trying to say. It was fun. It would be more fun on a nice 75degree day (instead of 45degrees), but I enjoyed doing it, and think it went well. Rain date in January to do it again, for real ... day TBD.

Sunday we didn't try, which is kind of good, since I realized once I sat down on saturday night that I was exhausted. Getting up at 4:30 to get my training in before the 8am clinic was maybe a little harder then i though it would be. Lesson learned. 4:30AM... bad... surprisingly dark at that hour? who knew :(

Thanks Everyone!!!

------------------------

fw: from D.C. Funny : "Santa's inbox"

Advanced Track Skills Clinic

2008-12-03T17:59:00.001-08:00

Hi All,

I am helping to put on a clinic in 2 weeks at Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose, Dec 13th and 14th. This is a well rounded endeavor for the endurance rider or sprinter, man or women. We are reservering some flexibility in the schedule depending on the needs of those who register. Most participents have some racing under thier belt and are looking for direction to continuing their rapid increases in speed, skill, and confidence. New track racers are also welcome and should be able to absorb just as much information, however, new folks may form a second group in some of the drills. Come join us!! Please give use some idea of your background when you register.

A few slots remaining... details here: http://www.ridethetrack.com/calendar/

Advanced Track Skills Clinic

December 13 and 14, 2008 at Hellyer Park Velodrome, San Jose

This December 13th and 14th join National Championship medalist Giovanni Rey, and former professional and Wenzel Cycling coach James Hibbard, for a weekend of advanced skill building at the Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose.

This four session two day clinic will help you to develop the necessary advanced skill-set for riding both endurance and sprint track events and will include discussion, track time, drills as well as video analysis.

All levels are welcome.

hawk relay cycling

2008-12-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

News from http://www.hawkrelaycycling.com/

Double World Champion Sarah Hammer signs with Hawk Relay Cycling Team

Los Angeles, CA - 2008 Olympian, Sarah Hammer, will be riding for the newly established U.C.I. professional cycling team, Hawk Relay Cycling. Two-time World Champion Sarah Hammer, has committed to a two year sponsorship agreement which will see her racing in domestic competitions, the Pan-American Championships, World Cups and World Championship events for Hawk Relay Cycling.

Hammer of Temecula, CA is 25 years old and a two-time World Champion in the 3km pursuit as well as a seven-time World Cup gold medalist. She will be joined at Hawk Relay Cycling by 2008 Olympian, Adam Duvendeck, 3 time National Champion Jimmy Watkins and Canadian Commonwealth Games silver medalist, Travis Smith.

"This is a great day for the Hawk Relay Cycling Team," stated team director Robin Horwitz. "Sarah brings tremendous value to the team. Sponsors and fans like her a lot and sheâ€™s shown tremendous results in the past with a history of winning at the World level. I know with the private sector sponsorship and a superior support system for the next 4 years, she'll be standing on the top of the podium at the London Olympics."

Hammer will be working with an extraordinary coaching team led by 2008 U.S. Olympic head-track cycling coach, Andy Sparks. The coaching staff will also include Hunter Allen, CEO of Peaks Coaching Group and owner of CyclingPeaks Software and Dr. Marcus Elliott of p3 who will be partnering with the Hawk Relay Cycling Team to focus on cycling-specific scientific methods of strength development.

"I am excited to help build this revolutionary high-performance team as I look to the 2012 Olympic Games." said Hammer. "I am thrilled to not only have industry experts such as Hunter Allen and Marcus Elliott on board with this project but equally excited to have motivated and talented teammates that share a similar mindset and goal. Together with Hawk Relay in the coming years, I think the three of us will be able to do some great things on and off the bike."

About Hawk Relay Cycling Team
About Hawk Relay Cycling Team The Hawk Relay Cycling Team is a U.C.I professional cycling team based in Southern California. The team is directed by Robin Horwitz with the goal of building the premier professional track cycling team in the World. The teamâ€™s roster includes two-time World Champion and 2008 Olympian, Sarah Hammer, two-time U.S. Olympian Adam Duvendeck, three time National Champion Jimmy Watkins, Canadian National Champion and Commonwealth Games medalist, Travis Smith. The Hawk Relay Cycling team is sponsored by Hawk Relay, SportsMX, ThresholdPower Sports Agency, Giro Helmets, Zoot, Squadra, The Shopoff Group, and P3 (www.p3.md). Visit www.hawkrelaycycling.com for more information.

About Hawk Relay
Hawk Relay was established in 2006 and provides VRS and internet-based TRS services. Its mission is to provide deaf and hard of hearing people with the necessary tools to achieve full and equal telecommunications access. For more information go to http://www.hawkrelay.com.

... and if you dig through the team web site you might find the names of some folks you know ;) well on the development squad anyway.

.

somewhere else?

2008-11-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

snot problems in manchester? Here is a little snap shot from somewhere else in the cycling world.

cheers,
g

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bob Barber <b.b---@manchestervelodrome.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 6:03 AM
Subject: Velodrome News Friday 21st November

Changes/additions to the track programme:

The Wednesday Sprint/Keirin SQT has seen a significant rise in numbers
recently. From Wed 26th November, sessions will need to be booked and paid
for in advance with reception. Cost is £10.80, no concessions. The session
will be limited to 24 riders. Phone 0161 223 2244 and choose option 3 for
reception. Former National Sprint Champion and World record holder Mark
Barry is the lead coach on these sessions.

The Wednesday Derny session also needs to be booked and paid for in advance
with reception, starting on Wed 3rd December. The limit for the Derny
session is 40 riders, but booking in advance will help gauge how many Derny
pacers to engage, and how many Dernys to prepare. Cost is £10.80, no
concessions. Phone 0161 223 2244 and choose option 3 for reception.

On the evening SQT sessions, you may be issued with a wrist band for the
session, which needs to be displayed on your handlebars, to be allowed on
the track. There are continuing problems with riders not handing in their
accreditation and not paying for the session. Whilst there may be a
frustration in getting through reception, this will be eased for the busy
sessions with payment in advance. Riders should allow themselves plenty of
time, and bring their accreditation to get through reception quickly. There
was in incident this week where a frustrated rider used inappropriate
language with Velodrome staff, and the Management will take away
accreditation on a temporary or permanent basis in such situations.

Another continuing problem is riders "snotting" on the track. It is
dangerous, unhealthy and disgusting for staff members who clean the track
and trackside advertising boards. If riders are seen doing it by the coach
they will be told to leave the session. If you see it happening in front of
you, please report it to the coach!

This Saturday 22nd September is Madison SQT between 11.00am -1.00pm.

Thursday 4th December between 8.00-10.00pm is a Birkenhead North End CC club
session, and guest riders are welcome at a cost of £10.00. Please e mail
Mark Houldin if you want to ride: mark.houldin@ntlworld.com

Saturday 6th December - there is no Saturday SQT session between
11.00-1.00pm

Extra sessions

Wednesday 26th November
SQT Vets & B 9.00 -11.00am - no need to book in advance
Taster 11.00-12.00 noon - book in advance

Wednesday 3rd December
SQT Vets & B 9.00 -11.00am - no need to book in advance
Taster 11.00-12.00 noon - book in advance

Bob Barber
Cycling Manager
Manchester Velodrome
Stuart Street
Manchester M11 4DQ
T: 0161 230 2271 Direct
T: 0161 223 2244 Switchboard
F: 0161 231 0592
For the latest news and information about activities and events taking place
at Manchester Velodrome, check out our website; www.manchestervelodrome.com

one time, at camp...

2008-11-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

my new pet project... click and read on...

#98

2008-11-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

... apparently because of that one UCI race I did in Trexlertown, I have an official world ranking for Keirin. #98 babe! 97 spots to go. Really just a fluke... seams the points went pretty deep at that race. Lots of the Ttown folks rank high on this in the 20's and 30's... helps when you can get to UCI races just by hanging at your home track. It doesn't get real serious though until you look at the super humans in the top 10. I dream.

Started working with Adam Duvendeck as a coach. Interesting program... I know I've always posted just about everything I know and do for training, but now that I am paying someone that doesn't seam appropriate. I'll give you the high level though. So far, major strength and power focus. Not to much endurance. No footspeed stuff right now. A very moderate amount of aerobic training. A lot of big gear power work on the bike, and a lot of plyometrics and some stability and core strength exercise. Absolutely no slow LSD stuff... I'm very optomistic. This is gonna be awesome!

The December 13-14 camp with James Hibbard and Wenzel coaching that I am working on is coming allong really well. I really think we can help sooo much. I am supper excited by the chance to do this. Web site will be up this week.

More bullet points... sorry, pharagraphs are soo 1999. I am working on my 1:1 coaching project as well. So far 1 rider on board. I think I can handle 1 or 2 more. Interested? let me know. The guy I am helping now (who can introduce himself if he likes... ) is looking to be a sprinter with some omnium riding... much like I have done in the past... perfect!! we are going to kill it. I guess this actually is project #2. Project #1 was a crash course in speedwork and pursuiting with Megan before ENats. Hard to evaluiatewhat we did in 7 weeks... but she raced very well and attacked ENats with confidence so I think we killed it.

rank=98

REY Giovanni

USA19760726

USA

age=32

pts=12

Fwd: photos for you!

2008-10-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the quietness of the web page. I figure I've been spamming away enough about bike racing and such all summer that now we all deserve a break. I've just been hanging out and living it up. Find myself unhealthy again. Good thing I don't need to train right now. Is this flu/cold season already or am I just unlucky?. Been on my bike a couple times this week. Went to the weight room once. Yoga was fun... but ... hard. Damn. Turns out my hamstrings are made of beef jerky.

Here is a weekend in the life of...

thanks Jenny/Shawn for the pics,
g

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jenny Oh
Subject: photos for you!

Feel free to blog 'em.

See you soon for mojitos and ravioli-eating contest!

love
jenny

tgif

2008-10-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

Friday

Friday is most certainly the greatest of days.
The reasons it’s great are too many to say.
But with that said, I’ll try to explain
Why Friday is better than a day without rain.

You see on Friday, you can work with a smile.
You need only work, for a little while.
For the weekend is near and then you can play.
Much fun to be brought by the most generous of days.

And generous it is, as morning treats can attest.
The cream filled donuts are definitely the best.
But don’t dare forget, the bagels are good too.
If there’s none in your office, that’s too bad for you.

Friday isn’t all treats and happy things.
There is but one obstacle the day does bring.
And that, my friend, is the slowing of time.
But if you can bare it, you’ll do just fine.

So join with me and laugh and cheer.
The work week’s end is drawing near.
Join with me and praise this day.
I’ve said what I’ve said, and I’ve nothing more to say.

-----

c'ya at the races. Cyclocross this sunday!!! promise not to laugh at me.

more race report stuff

2008-10-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Love re-posting Brian's race reports... so well written, and so much easier then typing stuff up myself ;) (photo by Rob Evans, SRM data of Brian's bike)

From: Brian Peterson
Event: Elite Track Nationals Team Sprint
Location: ADT Center, LA
Date: 10/05/2008
Teammates: Giovanni Rey, Pete Billington
Result: 5th of 10 teams

Originally Steve Hill was scheduled to ride with Gio and Pete. However, Steve crashed hard earlier in the week and was unable to ride. Gio and Pete looked for a third rider, but came up short and so I was asked to fill in. I was happy to ride with them, but knew I'd be a far cry from the power that Steve would have contributed to this team.

The order was Gio, Pete, then me. Gio has a good start lap, Pete is strong all the way around, and I can usually hold good speed at the end of an effort. I had not practiced a standing start in over a month, so starting 3rd and high on the banking would help me off the line.

I really was worried about the start, and didn't want to be chasing down the back straight to get on Pete's wheel. Well, I didn't have to worry about that, but...

We got a clean shot out of the gate and I made a beeline for the first turn, falling perfectly onto Pete's wheel as we entered the turn. I was amazed, I got on the wheel easily. Perfect.

We came out of turn two and were winding it up, cadence getting fast, I sat down.

Then it happened, we started to enter turn 3 and Gio was still accelerating, but I wasn't! A gap opened. I tried to accelerate, I knew I needed to get Pete's wheel. I could not. I was a bike length or two behind. I realized that I might be doing two laps in the wind...

I made a little progress on getting back to Pete, but I never really got a good draft, I just went as hard as I could. The 1/4 lap splits showed that I didn't slow too much during my final lap (just a 0.1 second differential), but I was probably not able to go as hard as if I'd been "resting" in the draft for the first two laps.

We ended up 5th, with a 49.93. 4th place was a 49.64, so the difference there was about the same as the gap between me and Pete. 3rd place was a 49.43... had I been in the draft for two laps rather than in the wind, would a half second faster been possible? Who really knows, but maybe.

My SRM was actually working at ADT for once, and I was able to review the data. I had the best start I've ever recorded in terms of power and top speed (41.5 mph!). I gave all that I had, so that was a positive.

I also think that perhaps I just "relaxed" for a fraction when I realized I had Pete's wheel on the start. This is not a team pursuit, you don't "settle in," you constantly accelerate that first lap. So maybe I had a mental lapse as much as a physical one.

All in all I was happy, not bad for not practicing the team sprint, and we got on the podium and got a medal. This ride was a lot of fun and certainly a good way to end the season. No need to cool down afterwards! :-)

Thanks to Gio and Pete for letting me ride with them!

Brian Peterson

---

I got a request for more of the nitty gritty play by play stuff... Here are some tidbits.

250m. TT. was strangely dazed while waiting for the starting beeps. I don't know exactly why. I used to be so proud of my start timing. This time I was just sitting there looking up the track at the corner when the gate let me go. I coasted a foot or so forward and down onto the blue band and thought about just forgetting this event... then figured "oops, but what the hell... " and I let loose a pretty good, but very late standing lap. Some lame time, 20.2 maybe. 94" gear. drop bars.

Kilo. already wrote about this. 96" gear. again some start gate trouble. this time I went a half second early and had to double pump the gate (since it didn't let me go). Still a 19.5s start lap. Not the sub 19 I was looking for, but pretty good considering the trouble getting out of the gate and the big gear... then the saddle snapped, and the rest is history. No reride, even though I had equiptment failure since I did not stop. 1:08. 9th? place (or 10th, I never checked)

Sprints. Had some great warmup jumps, and I got all excited when Matt Martinez gave me a big push off. It sort of messed with my mind and I found myself flying up to the wall at high speed... like 30mph uphill on my warmup lap. Shit. I tried to make the best of my supper fast wind up, but was flat when I jumped. 11.5. disappointing but good enough to get in. Next time "just like warmup" I know I can go faster then that. I met Blatch in the first round. I was unfocused and a little down after bad luck with the kilo and a slow 200. That was interesting. We were doing a little dodge and weave... 'r well actually he was expecting me to, but I just hovered and went straight and played possum until I got the window I wanted with 300m to go. I dove under him coming out of corner 4. In a flash back of my Travis Smith crash in Portland he dropped on me. This time however, I flinched. He forced me off the track onto the apron, himself into the blue band (I think). This was a pretty clear foul on his side. It confused me, I didn't know what to do about it. Neither did Blatch I think. He backed off and I came back onto the track in front of him. I didn't know if the race was over or what... he stopped pedaling, so I slowed way back down (stupidly). As we came around to the back stretch he made a charge and I tried to jump and hold him up, but there is a reason he went to the olympics and I didn't. He came across the line first. But what about the foul? turns out you get some breaks when you are the reigning champ. They said since he backed off and the sprint restarted it was ok. I say, it was a blatent and major foul that put me way off the track... I thought the race was over and then was distracted and half ass after that. but truely, he is way faster then me so I guess it turned out as it should. It is a honor to race against the best. It would have been nice to catch a break though. In the reps I was now even more unfocused. 3 riders, one gets back into the tournament the other 2 are done. I went long. I got a good gap, but someone said they took pulls or something to bring me back and I faded at the end. Sprints over. tied for 9-12.

Keirin. After a day off, I was re focused. I do love keirin. yeah! Keirin. First round I had Rockmore and Beardsley. Also Martinez and Fraylee. Matt Martinez took the motor and I was second. Fraylee made the first move and I jumped around Matt and under Fraylee to hold him up. He tried a couple surges, but I sluffed back with him and then jumped again and continued to razor him when I had to. By 1 lap to go Rockmore and Beardsley were starting to make a move around the outside so I jumped again in anticipation. Maybe a little to hard as it took them longer to get onto my hip then I wanted (yes it is possible to be to far in front... I much prefer to have them on my hip or outside then sitting 1/2 bike length behind me). We went 3 wide at the finish line. Photo finish between me and Rockmore. Beardsley was frustrated and 1/2 wheel back. (see video in older post). That was a fun ride. 2nd round. Esponoza and Williams were in my heat along with Cox, Mathison, and Brian Abers. I started on the outside and spent a lot of energy trying to fight for a good spot. Williams and Esponoza were working together to control the front and I didn't want to start at the back of the line. Try as I may I couldn't get in and dropped back. Jumping again at 500m. Just far enough out that no one had gone full gas yet, but not so far that I was afraid of going full gas myself. Around the outside of corner 3 Mathison came up at me... why I have no idea.. it was a dumb move and he took himself out, crashing hard and putting yet another spiraling dent in my new disc wheel. That kind of pisses me off. I managed to slot in front of Brian Abers who flinched a bit at the sounds of the crash and I followed Esponoza and Williams around for the 3rd and final qualifying spot for the final. In the Keirin final were the 3 youngsters Esponoza, Williams, Rockmore who showed clear intent to work together. Jimmy Watkins who was clearly the strongest. Fraylee again, and me. Again I got the crappy starting spot on the way outside. The 3 amigos got the motor and proceeded to do some sort of weird razzle dazzle swapping positions every half lap. I guess this was for Jimmy's benefit. I was behind Jimmy. Fraylee made the first move. He got the front early and no one fought him for it. A half lap latter, Jimmy powered up and around the outside. This was my plan B "HOLD ONTO JIMMY"... but shit, not this time, that dude is powerfull. I didn't commit and didn't make it around with him and flinched at the idea of riding 3 wide on the outside. I dove back down and decided to ride it out looking for an opportunistic move later. yah, that never works, at least not when the strongest guy is already at the front and stretching it out. Anywho I got out of my little box in the last 100m and move up to 4rth. Good. Next time I want more. final result 4rth place

Team sprint: see Brians notes above. I concoured my nemisis, the start gate. yeah!! a clean start. I went 90% or so the first quarter lap before floaring the accelorator to make sure we all started together and still managed a 19.3. Looking for that 18.x. Next trip to LA I am doing it. Excellent ride. Pete and Brian killed it. 5th place.

---

I'm thinking about doing some more coaching this coming year. Not a ton, just 2 to 5 riders.. enough to pay my own coaching bill. Trickle down economics. Interested in working with me?

.

6 days in Dusseldorf

2008-10-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

hiya,

After racing for a week in Los Angeles, we crammed into my little car and drove me to LAX. Beth and Megan were kind enough to drive my car home while I jumped on a redeye straight to Germany for work. A long hard week. Coming off of racing every day and camping out on the floor and going to a week of 10hr days on my feet and dinners out (via a redeye flight) was asking a lot. I’ve basically been sick all week, and not doing my normal adventuring. Well until Saturday anyway. I got out and wandered around Rhine-land. Here is what I learned. Dusseldorf is nuts. Wholey beer drinking crazy nightlife. I also learned that track cycling is alive and well here. I visited the local velodrome only to find them cleaning up after some huge event they had the night before (while I was in the beer halls… damn…).

I think I have a long diatribe brewing that stemmed from a very drawn out conversation with a missionary group while waiting at LAX. A bunch of kids, 20 or 21 at the oldest. They kept trying to save my soul or something. I kept trying to get them to realize that they had no idea what they were talking about, they were just spouting empty rhetoric that someone else had programmed them to say.

Anywho… North-Central germany along the Rhine river “looks like” Watsonville in the spring… field after field of grean vegetables. However everytime I got to dinner we eat meat for an appetizer, meat for the main course, and meat for desert. If anyone offers you “fruit” for desert… pears, raspberries, or maybe plums… just say no. They mean pear, raspberry or plum Schnapps.

Back home in 15hrs. Can’t wait to sleep in my own bed.

Ciao,

Giovanni

--feeling fat today---

notes to myself:

Remember to thank Jeff Palin and return his awesome aerobars (and ask again if he will sell them to me)
Remember to thank Tim Montagne and retrurn his awesome electric pump
Remember to thank Paul Yazolino and return his 13t cog. (this was not so awesome.. it was just a cog with 13t on it... but I did some awesome training on it!!)
Remember to thank BethNewall for all her work setting things up for in LA
Remember to thank Stephanie Hsieh profusely for letting us use her amazing apartment in Pasadina.
Remember to thank Pete, Brian, Megan, Beth, Rob, Shelley, for the support and cheering section.
Remember to thank... shoot. so many folks help me so often I don't even know were to start. I'll stick to the LA stuff for now.

2008-10-09T02:50:00.000-07:00

Keirin Vidz from US Track National Championships last week:

more at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/swing8

Last one....

2008-10-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Notes from 2008 US National Track Championships: October 1-5. Los Angeles

Team sprint. 5th

Brian p pinch hits for Steve hill who has one too many broken bones to ride with us. Great job brian!! Heal Fast Steve.

Kalyn Jimmy W and Dean Tracy winn

Last events are Madison and womens points race. Meg and Shelley are on next.

---
Women points race: Meg rode like a champ. Drilling it at the front of the pack to try and help Shelley.... Untill the rope snapped and Megan took a lap. Finishing 6th. Just a handfull of sprint points from the top step. Shelley was quiet in this one.

Madison: Daniel and Colby owned it. Not much else to say. Rock racing did a good job in second with Guy East and Austin Carrol

----

Getting on a plane for Germany. See u in 8 days.

Brass hurts your teeth

2008-10-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Notes from 2008 US National Track Championships: October 1-5. Los Angeles

Daniel wins!!!

2008-10-03T20:54:00.001-07:00

Mens scratch. Dominant. 2 laps and the sprint.

Williams, orielly, roman kilun behind Daniel I think.

Shelley wins!!!

2008-10-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Scratch race.

She is happy :)

Long days

2008-10-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

Notes from 2008 US National Track Championships: October 1-5. Los Angeles

Great sprinting by pete has him in the 5-8 ride final.

Steve and rob and Devon and roman and Daniel all got the nod for the scratch final. So did Megan beth and Shelley on the womens side.

I was a bit flat and kinda rode a bit dumb. Having fun though..especially enjoying the end o day cerveza.

A close one...

2008-10-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

Notes from 2008 US National Track Championships: October 1-5. Los Angeles

2 second off the winning time for proman . Grrrr. Payback next time.

One for the ladies...

2008-10-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

Notes from 2008 US National Track Championships: October 1-5. Los Angeles

~40 200m s earlier. Top 12 seed into sprint tourney. Jimmy w quals
first in sprints with 10.6 hill second blatch third. I am seeded
10th so I meet blatch in first round. I messed up a bit, think I can
do better. But no matter since I made the cut.

Team pursuits now. My money is on who ever is riding with Taylor p.
(that includes Daniel h). Will post later.

Womens Team pursuit will be good... Go proman!!!

Beth did a great 500 earlier to start her week. Good things to come.

Some days things go your way...

2008-10-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Notes from 2008 US National Track Championships: October 1-5. Los Angeles

And some days stuff breaks.

1:08 kilo. Pete was a couple hundreths faster. Bobby was just ahead
of him.

Taylor Phinney destoyed everyone with a 1:03.2. The dude is the real
deal. I think he was just goofing arround. Jimmy second in 1:05.7,
Steve hill third also in the 1:05s.

I struggle with the start timing. Then broke my seat on the first lap
and had to wrestle it the whole way. Basically Squating half on the
seat half off, in the aerobars... But not putting my elbows down.
Must have looked funny.

Next year...

But first i got a ton more racing todo this week :)

pimp track bike 4sale...

2008-09-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is an extra Montano Velo Team track bike that can now be yours. Custom made for the team’s elite riders only. 5 exist. If you try to get Hunter Cycles to make you another one you will have to wait your way through his multi-month backlog and it will cost considerably more. Frame and most of the components are brand new… ridden only twice. Awesome ride for you. Any track event… or the coolest thing the city kids ever saw riding to the pub, makes no difference to me. But I do hope you race on it. This thing is fast and agile and stable all at once. If it fits you it will be the perfect any-event track bike. And look at the pics. It is gorgeous and very unique. The wheels are the only part ‘not’ new… they have some use on them (full discloser;). They are fast and incredibly stiff. You can not buy a pre-made wheel this good, especially if you are a sprinter. Straight and true.

Custom Hunter Track Frame and Fork headset and FSA carbon seatpost.
-55cm top tube -74deg x 74deg, 37mm rake
-high BB (45mm drop)
-custom arched tubing design
-includes Headset and FSA carbon seatpost.
-some seat height restrictions due to mast design... tell me your seat-rail to BB measurement and I will confirm.

Components
-2008 FSA carbon track crank (new)
-2008 FSA ISIS track BB (new)
-San Marco Rolls saddle (new)
-FSA carbon seatpost (new).
-Deda aluminium track sprint bars
-100mm stem 8deg or 16deg adjustable
-48t TA chainring
-Izumi V chain
-pedals keywin CRM track.

Wheels—Custom Extremely strong, stiff, light, fast…
-Zipp track 360 rims
-Sapim CX-Ray spokes ($3 a piece)
-24 spoke radial front
-28 spoke 3x rear
-Vittoria EVO CX sew up. (road tire) – ½ used.
-Phil Wood high flange rear hub (new)
-Phil Wood heavy duty axle nuts/washer (new)
-Paul Components front hub
-18t cog, or I have some extra 14t sitting around I think.

Yes the rider name is just a sticker... that comes off.

$1800 complete
$800 frame/fork (hs, seatpost included)

don’t want my seat or pedals or wheels … we can negotiate discounts for things I take off. But please don’t ask me to sell "just parts".

a toast

2008-09-25T11:19:00.001-07:00

the coolest thing about weddings and Ren and Tiff's wedding this weekend in particular is how the intensity and importance of the day resonates in everything they do that day and in days before. this is a moment that has mountains of meaning for them. I am honored, so incredibly honored to have been invited to be there. thank you Renee and Tiffney,

you include me not just on that day, but ever day. you adopted me as part of your family, even made me an honorary lesbian (oh, was that a secret?). somehow I know that I am not the first or the last that you will adopt and protect and encourage and find joy with. that is just the type of people you are. let the intensity of this weekend carry on and fill your days.

cheers!

giovanni

-----

no bike stuff today... I'm resting. ;)

udates...

2008-09-24T15:33:00.001-07:00

not feeling the time for actually paragraphs. here are some bullet points::

reg'ed for all the sprint events at Elite Nationals next week. 4 events $170. kinda nuts. but this one I can at least say is worth it to me. I didn't flinch.
collecting info before logging in for one more race. team sprint. Steve Hill, Pete Bilington and me. Should be good.
wish I could fit in the scratch race, but I think I have about all the racing I can handle already.
sunday from LA I redeye directly to Germany for work (and the tail end of octoberfest ;).
final race preperation ongoing. I feel pretty good. well, not actually... sundays workout was a bit of a crusher. some big breakthroughs. however, I feel good about my prospect of snapping back with a vengence by next wednesday.
pet project tonight, patching a crack on my carbon frame. I'm kinda excited about it. I went out at lunch to http://www.acp-composites.com/ who were absolutely awesome. nice folks. I got carbon wrap and special epoxy. some sandpaper and brushes from home depot on the way home and I will be good to go. will post results.
first race wednesday 2pm-ish. 250m and 1km TT.

Attn: Do gooders...

2008-09-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Attention all you do gooders. How about bike racing and saving the planet and having fun at the same time. click --here--

They tell me we racer folks are all self absorbed. Personally I don't believe that. Just maybe a little wave of that that comes and goes in the 2nd or 3rd year. All you special people who are too legit for charity work, go do a race and collect some swag. The rest of us will thank you for helping to feed some hungry people.

Saturday, December 6th

enduros are sooo...

2008-09-19T13:17:00.002-07:00

that's funny. ;)

how do you get scream shots to come out readable anyway? sorry about that, best I could figure out.

Were else would I be?

2008-09-18T03:54:00.000-07:00

My last night in Atlanta, will be at the track in San jose Thursday
night. Some good racing and good people, thank you all for all your
hospitality.

Hill sprints!!

2008-09-16T19:26:00.001-07:00

Check out the sexysexy lap card "person" at dick lane velodrome.

Took turns motorpacing and driving the moto for Steve hill tonight
between mstr and jnr races. Motorpaced standing starts good stuff.

This track is uphill in the home stretch... 4 or 5 feet ellivation
gain so I'm calling these hill sprints. A little bumpy also. Reminds
me of Portland ( which I love ) except a creek runs right through the
middle of this one. Also an awesome oak tree on the infield right
next to the creek. All in all a very interesting track. Don't know
the history, but I think it us veryold.

How we roll'

2008-09-16T04:51:00.001-07:00

Saturday shots

2008-09-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hello from Atlanta

2008-09-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

8 to 5 ... But then it's track time.

Playtime tonight, then racing tues, weds.

Ciao,
G

crispy monday

2008-09-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

quick race report... got to get to work.

Masters 30-34 Point race saturday: small field very hot (95+deg?) , 11 starters, 5 or 6 finishers, 90 long laps. "death march" was used to describe it more then once. Was trying to work for Rob. I did some good things, and made some mistakes. In the end J/Andy won. Rob withdrew. I actually quit with about 15 to go also. I was in contention for 3rd, but just wasn't that into it. I'm a sprinter after all, and had mentally prepared myself to work for Rob, so I was done. Apparently I ruffled some officials feathers again. There was talk of official warnings and whatnot but I never got official notice so I guess it doesn't matter. Maybe they were annoyed with me after making a fuss on tuesday in the kilo incident.

Team Sprint. 1:07.3. Falls well into my predicted range. Actually we were legitimately headed toward about 1:06.5 I think, except for some carnage at the start line. Pete got caught up and pretty much had to come back out of the infield grass. He's a trouper though and got'er'done. With out that trouble it would have been sizzl'n fast, better in the 2nd lap, and a faster launch into the 3rd lap. Matias cranked out an excellent start lap, the trouble happened behind him. All in all a good run. 1st in group, 0.17 seconds of the fastest time of the day... damn I wanted that. Thanks guys. As a reward for staying out of trouble (finally) they gave me a new shirt and some ugly fake gold jewelery.

Watched the madison. Excellent race. (the 30-40, the later 40+ race was another death march). Best madison I've watched in quite a while. Wish I was out there.

cheers,
g

---

too much time outdoors standing around. i'm crispy.

thank you Jeff Palin for the aero bar loners. I feel faster already. ;)

4 weeks to go until I stop being all healthy and training all the time. tequila and twinky time!!

---

2008-09-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

lalalalalaaaa

hmmm. Custard filled chocolate donuts. Best part of my day ;)

---

untill I can get myself to stop muttering about yesterday I am going to think only about this donut. creamy, chocolate goodness, oozing between my tongue and cheeks. pastry melting like butter in the back of my mouth. chocalate frosting teasing the tip of my toungue and accidentally doting my nose.... aaah ..

I've been told that according to the officials I started one full beep (second early), which makes me feel better. That wayI know I did not screw up. One second early. haha, now that is funny. I was busy picking my noise when the clock was at one...

for your amuzement some technical information:
http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php?name=Coaching&op=sst

oops...grumbling again...

chocolate donut.

hmmm donut.

F#$% !!!!

2008-09-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

WARNING... this is not a "nice" post. if that bothers you just stop now.

---
I am so fracking incredibly uncontrollably angry.

I am trying not to write a long winded note about the officials and outrageous entree fees.

...and my disqualification without even riding from this fracking stupid masters "pat myself on the back" national championship race that I would very very likely have won by a large margin.

I am sorry the standards are so low... but moving the body before the buzzer does not constitute a false start. moving the bike does. Todays staff would not know a good, fast, proper start if Chris Hoy did it. seriously.

Sorry Pete. You had a excellent ride, and I don't want to take away from you.... but today was going to be my day. I was going to shatter all past personal times by multiple seconds. I WAS going to win. I was going to win by a large margin. I was going to show/see what I could do when I taper and prepair again in 5 weeks for the real national championships. I was going to cash in on some delayed gratification. I was going to not let guys who have less experience, less knowledge, and less ability talk in my my prescience about there grandiose Masters championships. Is it arrogant to make the claim that I was going to win?... probably. But I want so incredibly badly to back this up. I complained, and protested, and pleaded and begged. I WANT to show what I can do on a good day so badly that it is killing me, officially or unofficially. An unofficial ride just to post a time... why was that so impossible?

Its been hard. after riding through a horrible stretch of physical and emotional ups and downs since mid july, injury, being sick, exhausted, and travel weary... I focused and sacrificed and did everything just right in the hope of being able to ride my bike fast again today. yup today. not until the very last stages of my warmup did I know if I was going to be worth a spit. But then without even breaking a sweat the majic came out of my legs... the do no wrong majic that I have not felt for a long long time. I did my final warmup jump at the fastest speed I have EVER pedal my bicycle without a motorpacer.... and didn't even feel a thing. it was effortless. Today is likely the fastest day I ever "should have had" on a bike. to bad it is over and all I have is rage and frustration to show for it.

for those non-racers who don't know, and those racers who don't know... the windows of performance are very small and short. especially for a kilo. this sucks.

its not that I did not do as well as I wanted to... its that I wasn't allowed to ride.

X$$$% (*&$!)( *%!@)#$%*(& !

randomness and rants...

2008-08-28T09:59:00.001-07:00

randomz from the last couple weeks... cleaning up my iphone photo library....

----

i am getting ready for a kilometer time trial next tuesday.

kilo should go well. I've been working hard doing some endurance rides and VOX intervals. Got my speed back close to where it was earlier. Also been doing tons of flying kilo efforts and sprints in the aerobars. Not much that I can actually guesstimate an ETA from, but enough that I think it will be a lot better then the last attempt. just to ham it up for the internet lurkers: expect 1:07.0 on the inside and 1:10.0 on the outside. then I have 4 more weeks to get serious about it before THE National Champions in October.

Also looking forward to a strong team sprint ride with Pete and Matias. There are some good competitors. Serious focus will be required. I am optimistic though. ETA: 1:06 on the inside 1:08.5 on the outside. thats a big range... that is why the focus and concentration is so important. we don't have the practice in to really gaurentee a time, just have to go out and crush some pedals.

And the points race.... sometimes I can put the smack down in a points race. Not sure if this will be my day. But I do love going fast in circles... so here goes.

No sprints or pursuits or madison. I don't have time for sprints, hate riding pursuits, and the madison is looking more hardcore then lil'o sprinter me wants to bother with (especially at $44 a ride).

---

this is the masters racing stuff. in cycling, "masters" means age group racing for folks over 30 usually in 5 yr batches. not my favorite race situation in the world... I mean if I am going to lay it on the line and do my best the last thing I want is some wanker saying "yes but you didn't race against me/him" because they were 3 years younger or 2 or 20 years older. what if I don't win? there will be dozens and dozens of champions crowned, some are extraordinary, but many really aren't very well trained and don't have a ton of experience or knowledge. but we all will be hearing about their championness for years to come. oh so easy to forget to say that "master" word when reffering to the race they won. All this is finger nails on a chalkboard to me as I struggle to learn and grow and move forward in the sport. in the past every time I raced I took on all comers. it was always more important to race up then it was to pat myself on the back with an easier result. no excuses! no BS. you either are the fastest or you aren't, and if you do win then never forget a little humility for those that were not there that day. this is probably the first time I have raced to win in a handicap class since I was a cat3 struggling with the rules to get a cat 2 upgrade 6 or 7 years ago (in my book a handicap class is any class that is protected from 'theoretically faster' riders entering it)

well whatever. I'll show up. do my ride, go home. Does anything else matter? probably not. the ridiculous $132 I just dropped in entry fee's for my 3 rides kinda matters. I hear there is free beer saturday night. gonna do a lot of drinking and eating for my $132 bones. another reason to do the points race... I got to get my dollar to laps ratio down.

its a race... I am a racer... so I am racing... c u next week at the races,

rock on,

g

Silliness

2008-08-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Bring it on Dumpling Girl. Jenny-the-Oh, thinks she can take me in a Dumpling -vs- ravioli eating contest. BRING IT ON.

Solve this puzzle to get into the contest----

You are on a horse, galloping at a constant speed, on your right side is a
sharp drop-off, and on your left side is an elephant traveling at the same
speed as you.

Directly in front of you is a galloping kangaroo and your horse is unable
to overtake him. Behind you is a lion running at the same speed as you
and the kangaroo.

What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?????

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWER...

GET YOUR DRUNK ASS OFF OF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND.!!!!!!!!

Come play on Saturday?

2008-08-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

Hiya,

I'm working the beginner clinic at Hellyer Park Velodrome Saturday. Come play?

Info: (8/23/2008 8:30 to noon) http://www.ridethetrack.com/info_sat.html

C'ya Saturday Morning... or Tonight at the Races.

---
BTW, tonight at the friday night races we have special guest sprinter Kalyn Akuna. He's been a hair faster and beating me in match sprints most of the summer, and I am not so perky this week... this will be tough. More COW BELL.

(case in point)
video by Jenny Oh

This week...

2008-08-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a cut'n'pastie job about this friday racing. Will be good. Hope to see you all there racing or watching. Drunks or sobers welcome. Gonna be a hard one for me. Got a heavy training load, might make me slow... and this is my only chance to clinch the season sprint title. If I blow it Nick or Marzio will take over when I miss the final race next month. Help me. I need some bell ringing, board pounding, beer swill'n, hooliganism to get me to the line.

ciao,

giovanni

----

This Friday Night, Aug 22nd …

VELODROME TRACK RACING!!!

or, you can check it out LIVE, 7pm’ish

broadcast: www.stickam.com/ncnca_kc (thank you Casey Kerrigan and tell me how much i owe you!!!)

- - -

What do you get for your FREE admission at the Hellyer Velodrome?

Free Food
Free Drinks
Chill atmosphere … hot racing!

-
There’s music, there’s announcing, there’s rowdiness.

pay for parking.
- - -

Oh, yes, I guess I should follow up briefly on the Olympic updates. The sprint team finished 8th. that is a great ride by them. I am pretty sure it is PR for them. Crazy fast. The others were just not human. The Olympics seam to bring that out. Jennie Read was solid... but not her day this time. 7-ish I think. In the Endurance side. Taylor Phinney is amazing. 7th final I think. But what he has done is just otherworldly. The kid is 17 and has only been on a bike for 2 years. He will do whatever he wants to do in the future. Sarah Hammer finished 5th. Probably a little disappointing for her, but really very good. Bobby Lea seams to have struggled in the points race, he started with a big splash and attack, but then got dropped. Madison w/ Mike Freedman didn't go much better from the results, but I did not see any racing video. Any ride at this level is an awesome ride. Thanks for representing. Nice work!

Oly Updates

2008-08-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

The American surgical mask bandits are doing awesome!! keep the masks on!!

Taylor and Sarah are in there for the next round in their pursuits as are the sprint team. All have along way to go for to catch other-worldly top spot, but are within spitting distance of the other podium spots.

Thanks Beth for dropping a comment and remembering --" alison shanks, who is seeded in place 4, came out to hellyer a little over a month ago for a timed events day! " -- yup she was totally friendly and grounded. Very cool. But then all the trackies are friendly, Jennie and Sarah too. Of course everyone met Adam and Giddeon in June when they were racing at Hellyer. I don't think the other US olympians (Micheal B, Bobby, or Mike F) have ever been to Hellyer, but more good people. There's a trend here... mean, self-absorded, folks don't go very far. You have got to be able to handle the big picture first if you are going to accomplish these little details... like riding your bike in circles. I'm working on it.

----------

Phinney, Hammer advance in Beijing, team sprint squad 8th

Beijing, China (August 15, 2008)--As track cycling began at the Olympic Games on Friday, the United States took its first step towards the medal rounds of the men's and women's individual pursuit when both Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo.) and Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) advanced to the first round from their respective qualifying heats.

Competing in his first Olympic Games at the age of 18, Phinney qualified seventh with a mark of 4 minutes, 22.860 seconds over 4,000 meters. Needing a top-eight finish to advance, Phinney locked up a head-to-head match against New Zealand's Hayden Roulston. Seeded second, Roulston clocked a 4:18.990 in his qualifying heat. On Saturday, Phinney needs to beat Roulston in order to advance to the medal round.

“My goal was just to qualify,” said Phinney following his performance. “That was the hardest I’ve ever pushed myself in a pursuit. In training we thought the track would be faster, but it might have been a little colder in here today.”

In the women's 3,000-meter event, Hammer qualified fifth with a time of 3:35.471. In her first round match, she'll face New Zealand's Alison Shanks who earned the four seed in 3:34.312.

Wendy Houvenhagel (GBR) nabbed the top seed in the women's field with a 3:28.443, while compatriot Bradley Wiggins set the standard in the men's field with a 4:15.031 - a new Olympic record.

With a mark seven seconds slower than the top seed, Hammer wasn’t thrilled with her performance, but the Olympic format, which includes three rounds of competition than the usual two, is expected to work to her advantage.

“It was ugly for me personally,” Hammer said of her qualifying heat.” That’s not how I hope to feel. My body wasn’t handling it today. Four laps in I was like, ‘oh, this is not going to be fun.’ It was just a bad day. I was a little nervous, so I’m lucky it’s over three rounds.”

In the only event contested to completion on Friday, the American team sprint squad of Michael Blatchford (Cypress, Calif.), Adam Duvendeck (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Giddeon Massie (Zionhill, Pa.) finished eighth overall.

Needing one of the eight fastest times in qualifying to advance into the first round, the trio originally recorded the ninth-fastest time with a mark of 45.346 seconds, however Poland was later relegated for a rule infraction and the U.S. climbed one spot to eighth. The commissaire’s ruling sent the U.S. to round one where they we're matched against a British squad that claimed the top seed with a 42.950.

In round one, Great Britain dominated the three-lap, 750-meter race with a 43.034 while the U.S. posted a 45.423.

The result sent Great Britain to the gold-medal final where it edged France to add an Olympic title to the world championship it won just a few months ago. In the final, the British squad clocked a 42.950, while France turned in a 43.541. In the bronze-medal match, Germany ousted the Netherlands for the final spot on the podium with a mark of 44.197.

For two thirds of the American team sprint squad, competition will go on as Massie will race in the keirin on Saturday and Blatchford will contest the match sprint beginning Sunday. Phinney and Hammer will contest the first round of the individual pursuit on Saturday with the men's finals scheduled for later that same evening and the women's finals set for Sunday. Also in action for Team USA tomorrow will be Bobby Lea (Mertztown, Pa.) in the men's points race.

2008 Olympic Games

Beijing, China

Aug. 8-24

Team Sprint

1. Great Britain 42.950

2. France 43.541

3. Germany 44.197

8. United States (Blatchford, Duvendeck, Massie)

Men’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) 4:15.031 – Olympic Record

2. Hayden Roulston (NZL) 4:18.990

3. Alexei Markov (RUS) 4:21.498

7. Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo.) 4:22.860

Women’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying

1. Wendy Houvenhagel (GBR) 3:28.443

2. Rebecca Romero (GBR) 3:28.641

3. Lesya Kalitovska (UKR) 3:31.942

5. Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) 3:35.471