"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - The Penguin and the Great Stage Race

I have been following our own little Penguin while he was suffering through the Green Mountain Stage races and he did fantastic. It is a gueling event for the end of the season but he manged to finish well.

CONGRATS KP on a great finish to a great season...:beer:

As much as I respect him and think he should be proud of his result, I bet you're gonna find that KP is a little dissappointed with his showing.

Mark

Can anyone link us to the results? Looked for KP on the web, couldn't locate him....

My neighbor Joe Straub (I curse the day he took up cycling) finished 2nd/GC in the Master's 40+. That dude is friggin scary. Of course his best marathon was sub 2:30. 'Tactics'? Please. You know anybody else who ever ran a sub 2:30 marathon? Right. Me neither. Joe's been racing bikes for less than two seasons. Apparently his Division 1 running talent (he got a full ride to a major university as a distance runner in his youth) does translate to bicycle racing. Duh.

GENETICS you friggin weenies. Pure and simple. Read it and weep. Good grief, 99% of us could train until our legs fell off, snort EPO and eat HGH for friggin breakfast and we'd never be able to ride with this guy. The naevete' about this elemental aspect of aerobic sports (like cycling, running, etc) evident in some of the posts here is rather amazing. But no worries. Race long enough and the sport will pound this reality into you race by fun-filled race : ). But that's half the fun.

Can anyone link us to the results? Looked for KP on the web, couldn't locate him....

My neighbor Joe Straub (I curse the day he took up cycling) finished 2nd/GC in the Master's 40+. That dude is friggin scary. Of course his best marathon was sub 2:30. 'Tactics'? Please. You know anybody else who ever ran a sub 2:30 marathon? Right. Me neither. Joe's been racing bikes for less than two seasons. Apparently his Division 1 running talent (he got a full ride to a major university as a distance runner in his youth) does translate to bicycle racing. Duh.

GENETICS you friggin weenies. Pure and simple. Read it and weep. Good grief, 99% of us could train until our legs fell off, snort EPO and eat HGH for friggin breakfast and we'd never be able to ride with this guy. The naevete' about this elemental aspect of aerobic sports (like cycling, running, etc) evident in some of the posts here is rather amazing. But no worries. Race long enough and the sport will pound this reality into you race by fun-filled race : ). But that's half the fun.


I think you described someone with excellent training habits and a super strong aerobic background and not necessarily someone with just an exceptional genetic makeup. Obviously his running did him justice.

GMSR results:
click here (http://www.gmsr.info/results.php)


Mark

Yeah, you're right...he won't be happy with that result....

I'm relatively happy with my result. I was racing with a head cold, and had more mechanicals than you can shake a stick at.

Day1: I decide the best course of action is to get on the front and drive the train up the shallower part of app gap. There was a slight headwind. This was not a good idea, as shown by my result.

Day2: My rear derailler cable snapped 4 miles into the race. I spent the next 68 miles alternating between my 53-12 and my 39-12. Not so fun, but I did finish with the pack, and actually threw down some attacks.

Day3: Flat tire about 10 miles into the race. Had to chase back on, and did. Said wheel change screwed up my shifting, so when in the little ring I could only use my 25T, but not my 23T-16T. This made climbing a bit difficult. Coming up baby gap, since he was my friend and I figured I was bupkiss on the GC anyway, I decided to do some work for the yellow jersey. I went to the front, and reeled in a one man break that was 50 seconds up the road. He (mailliot jaune) appreciated it. I still managed to get to the top of app gap on the wheel of the ESG road race bronze medalist.

Day4 (crit): had a new rear tire, and cornering on it was much like trying to corner on ice. After nearly crashing in every single corner in the first 2 laps, I pulled into the pit and they gave me a new wheel. I managed to survive the crit after that.

Also, I broke my SLR saddle, damn potholes. Also also, one of my bottle cages snapped. Did I mention I was sick?

Considering my luck this weekend, I'm just happy I managed to keep the rubber side down.

BTW, Penguin's season aint over yet!

Dude, you're an absolute machine!

I don't think I would even have finished with all that ***** going wrong.

Wow, all things considered, you did really well to finish!

So, how selective were the climbs? Did the race generally end up with 1 to 5 guys up the road, or in a bunch?

I think you described someone with excellent training habits and a super strong aerobic background and not necessarily someone with just an exceptional genetic makeup. Obviously his running did him justice.

GMSR results:
click here (http://www.gmsr.info/results.php)


Mark

You are clearly insane. Oh well. You're in the right place.

Let me know how many guys you know who got FULL RIDES for their distance running to a Division 1 university and who ran sub 2:30 marathons. If you need more than one hand to count them, alert the media. In the meantime, beef up on the lithium and seek professional help.

So, how selective were the climbs? Did the race generally end up with 1 to 5 guys up the road, or in a bunch?

They're steap mutha ****as to be sure, but there were lots of great climbers there. Middlebury gap was like 5k with an avg grade of 7% (the last 1.5k were 10%+, the last k being around 18%), but although it strung everything out the peloton came mostly back together on the backside. Baby gap was more of a long grinder than anything, 8k@4%, again stringing things out but I don't think many got dropped. I'd say we hit app gap with about 50 of the original 100 riders in the peloton. App gap is ridiculous, 5k avging 9%, with the last 500m avging 22%! Again, this strung things out a lot, but I imagine if we had to descend down the other side of it the peloton would have come back together again.

btw, descending app gap is the most fun you can ever have on a bike. Lots of turns and crazy steep at the top, I'm sure I was doing 60+ for a good portion of it.

Thats crazy, to have as many varied mechanicals and still finish. Great job!1!!

Jesus....I'm amazed you finished after hearing all that....

KP, isn't the drop from the nose of your saddle to the top of your handlbars steeper than any of those climbs? Be honest.

Wow, sounds like good times. At least nothing went on the descent of app gap.

App isnt the scary one. Lincoln is the scary one. West side starts with dirt then gives you to 22% sections, then you descend frost heaves. Fun. Really.

Coming up baby gap, since he was my friend and I figured I was bupkiss on the GC anyway, I decided to do some work for the yellow jersey. I went to the front, and reeled in a one man break that was 50 seconds up the road. He (mailliot jaune) appreciated it.

I raced with Jake yesterday (Tuesday ... yes he decided to join our Tuesday night festivities even after 4 straight days of torture in Vermont) and he gushed over the effort you put in for him. Solid, solid work my friend.

M

I was more than happy to do it for him! I wish I had helped him out earlier, as he wasted energy off the front, trying to chase the break down himself.

yow. talk about a week of mental toughness. I applaud you for finishing without being too bitter. :D

-bullseye

Great job penguin!

53/12! that's like 116 gear inches! even the 39/12 is a good 10 G/I too heavy to feel comfy in! good job man!

Congrats KP on riding an epic GMSR. I'm wondering if this is the race that was previouslky the Killington Stage Race (KSR), or if this is a completely different race, with different routes, that has replaced the KSR.

I did the KSR a few times many years ago and thought it was first class, and I'm considering tackling the GMSR next year.

Thanks.

gene r

So I run into Joe Straub, my neighbor today. As it turns out he got 4th in the 40+ G.C. not 2nd (misprint on the website). He says in the big mtn top finish he and one other guy are like 3 mins. up. He says the finishing climb was like 4.5 miles of a 5% grade topped off my 1km @ 15-20%. Joe dropped his breakaway companion and says he was FIFTY METERS from the line when the Quebec dude who won the 40+ G.C. caught him (totally by surprise) and passed him for the win at the end of a 100km road stage. Amazing.

I asked Joe why he wasn't looking over his shoulder to check if anyone was gaining on him and he said the grade was so steep he nearly crashed his bicycle trying to do so. Ouch. All things considered I'm glad I wasn't in that race : ).