Killington Stage Race

This Memorial Day weekend, while sane people were enjoying the 70s and sunshine back home, we made the long pilgrimage north and drove to the Killington Stage Race in Killington, Vermont.  We went despite the 40s and rain that were forecasted, and let me tell you, they were not making up that weather report!  It was some of the wettest, coldest racing I’ve done since Beacon Cross 2011 (shout out to everyone else who survived that race!), except unlike ‘cross, your race is not over and done in 45 minutes… oh, the joys of road racing.

Welcome racers! Should have said, “Hope you enjoy the cold weather and awesome riding!”

I raced the Women’s 3/4, and Jameson raced the Men’s 2.  The stages were a Saturday circuit race, a Sunday road race, and a Monday individual time trial.  We arrived Friday afternoon after a misty, rainy 8 hour drive, and promptly bundled up for a pre-ride of the circuit race course and road race final climb.  I seriously love VT – the roads are gorgeous, the drivers courteous, and the riding is superb.  Even in the rain.

Saturday morning rolled around and the mist turned into a drizzle, which gave way to outright rain as the day progressed.  My 8:10 start time saw temps in the high 30s/low 40s, but I put on every piece of riding clothing that I brought and made my way to the start line.  The 37 miles took just under 2 hours, and I felt like I was riding through a cold shower with my eyes open the entire time.  Forget those clear lenses in my sunglasses – useless in that rain!  I accidentally rode into 3rd place for the intermediate sprint, and my legs felt ok, so I was optimistic that the race would turn out well.  I did not anticipate spinning out with 1K to go on the downhill sprint finish.  The sprint was into a headwind, so although I gave it my all with about 300m to go, when I tried to come around riders and accelerate to the finish I just didn’t have the power to battle through the wind, and I finished 14th.

Jameson and his teammate, Matt, both kept it rubber-side-down in their circuit race in the afternoon.  Matt took 13th in the sprint, and they both felt pretty good given the conditions, as their race was shortened by 2 laps (they raced the same distance as I did).

Sunday’s weather promised to be slightly better – about 10 degrees warmer with less rain.  The course, on the other hand, promised a lot of pain:  61 miles for me, 76 for the boys, and two mountains, with the finish on the top of the second mountain at the base of the Killington ski lifts.

Happening at the finish line while we were racing.

I tried my best to hang with the top girls in my field, but I just couldn’t handle the pace on the middle climb.  Five miles of stair-stepping left little time for me to recover from the steep sections, so I dropped back to the first chase group and rode most of the race with a group of 10 ladies until the final climb.  I tried my best, but my legs were shot by that point so I revised my goal from “place well” to “just make it to the top.”  It really helped that my parents and sister were there cheering me on for the finish, along with Oz.  My survival mentality earned me another 14th place, but I lost about 15 minutes to the first-placed rider in my field.

I passed the time between my finish and Jameson’s finish by watching skiiers (really!) and warming up in a yert.  Jameson came across the line 13th in his field, grumbling about how he had made a tactical error to not ride away with a break that formed with about 25k to go.  Even though he attacked out of the field before the final climb, he still lost quite a bit of time (3:49) by missing that key move.

We re-grouped on Monday for the 11-mile time trial.  We’ve both been working industriously on our TT positions (lots of stage racing on the calendar this summer), and miraculously the SUN came out (!) and neither of us were totally burned out by the first two days of racing.  The TT was a steady, shallow climb, and we had a headwind, so aero gear made a big difference.  I managed to pass FIVE people during my race, and didn’t get passed by anyone.  This never happens for me!  I’m usually terrible at TTs!  I was pretty excited to see that I finished 12th, moving me up to 11th on the GC.

Giving a big effort on the last little climb of the TT. Rockin’ the C3 Evil Care Bear skinsuit

Jameson, questioning his decision to ride the 1080 Zipp front wheel he borrowed with the gusty winds, said he almost got blown off of the road several times during his race, costing him a few seconds.  Still, he took 5th place, moving up to 10th overall on the GC, and snagging a few elusive upgrade points.  He was especially satisfied after looking at the times in the Pro/1 field:  his time was the 7th fastest of everyone that rode the course for the day.

We hung around for an extra day and went for a leisurely coffee-shop ride to Woodstock, VT on Tuesday morning before we left. We also found some of the most incredible smokehouse BBQ to “replenish calories,” and sampled a number of tasty VT brews that we don’t get at home.

All in all, a fun weekend, even if we came away with fewer upgrade points than we were hoping.  I highly recommend the Killington Stage Race (and it’s Labor Day counterpart, the Green Mountain Stage Race) to anyone looking for a well-run, challenging, fun weekend.

-The Hungry Cyclists

Instant gratification.

I know I’m not the best about posting timely race reports & recipes on this blog, so I recently got to thinking about why that happens.  I came to the conclusion that it’s because Jameson and I are actually out doing the things I want to blog about!  Silly me!  In an effort to bring more snippets of the Hungry Cyclist life to all of you readers, you can now follow us on Instagram.   Search for us (@twohungrycyclists) to get images of our biking/cooking/eating/living adventures added to your feed.

 

Also, don’t forget to check out our team websites (Diedre’s) (Jameson’s) and to follow Integrated Sports Medicine p/b Pyramid Training Systems on Facebook!

 

So many ways to stay in touch!  Hope you’re all getting out there and having fun on two wheels

 

-The Hungry Cyclists

 

Race Reports: Naval Yard Crit and Jeff Cup

This year, since Jameson and I are branching out and racing with different teams, we’re facing quite a few weekends where we’re each doing our own thing and going to different races.  This weekend was the first such example, with me and CAWES going to Philly for the Naval Yard Crit and Jameson and ISM traveling down into Virginia for Jefferson (Jeff) Cup.

The Naval Yard Crit was awesome, and I actually wrote a guest post about it for my team website here.  I won’t go into too many details (you can click through the other post if you’re curious), but it involved two separate national champions, six fast corners, and me getting popped on the third lap.  I hit my brakes too much.  Le sigh.

Jeff Cup was a fast and challenging race for the ISM boys.  All the “big guns” show up because it’s a qualifier for the Nature Valley Grand Prix, and the top-placed riders in the Men’s and Women’s elite fields that are not already on a pro/elite squad win a spot in the race.  ISM was trying to place Marcos in this spot, and showed up with a squad of seven.  Marcos got in an early break, and the guys did a great job covering, but unfortunately the peloton pulled Marcos’ group back.  The winning break launched a little later, with ISM missing out on the opportunity and unable to bridge.  It was a great effort for their first official team race, and they had a lot of fun hanging out at their home-stay with teammate Greg’s family.

Jefferson Cup Field Sprint. Marcos took 6th in the sprint, 10th overall.  He’s the second rider from the left, with the black sleeves/red stripes.

Lots more racing to come this season, and both the Hungry Cyclists are looking forward to it!

Thanks for reading!

Race Report: Morgantown Road Race

The first race of the season is always an unknown:  you don’t know how your legs will feel, you don’t know how hard your rivals have been training, and you don’t know if you’ll remember all the important little details like when to eat and drink.  Jameson and I both put in a lot of hours on the bike this winter, so we were anxious to see whether or not we’d be on form for the Morgantown Road Race.  We were ready to tackle the unknowns.

A bit of a misnomer, the race is held in Mt. Morris, PA, which is just outside of Morgantown, WV.  We did this race last year, and that ended well for Jameson, but painfully for me (I had zero legs last March).

We set off early Saturday morning, stopping briefly in Frederick to pick up Marcos, a teammate of Jameson’s on ISM.  We arrived at the course to find beautiful, sunny conditions without much wind.  Spring was finally in the air after what seemed like the longest winter ever (my apologies to the Midwest contingent; may the recent snow melt quickly).

Jameson and Marcos rolled out with the 1/2/3 field and onto the 45-mile loop that comprised the course.  Their field boasted a full roster of Kelly/LSV riders, which was sure to make it an aggressive race.  Marcos made it into an early break, so Jameson rode the race “just waiting for something to happen.”  He commented later that he wished he had been more aggressive, because his legs felt great, and the hilly course suited him.  Marcos successfully sprinted for 5th place and landed a podium spot, and Jameson ended up finishing with the pack.  Great day for ISM, and Jameson was glad to know his legs were where they should be.

My race gave me a bit of a surprise when the promoters rolled all 12 of the 1/2/3 women off the line with the 40-some-strong Master’s field.  Guess I should have looked at the info a little more closely!  It was fun, for a change, to be on a road racing course in such a big group, and for the most part, the Master’s racers were polite to the women.  On the first big climb, I stayed with the top racers in my group, but didn’t have the legs for the last little pitch.  I proceeded to weave through the carnage of the Master’s field for the rest of the race, sliding nicely into a 7th place finish.  I was exceedingly pleased, because the podium was occupied with strong racers such as Katherine Giles and Stephanie Swan.

After the race, we visited a race sponsor, Rising Creek Bakery, for the best sandwiches and baked treats.  Hungry cyclists were hungry no more!

Looking forward to the rest of the race season, and excited to see my training starting to pay off.

 

P.S. Sorry for the lack of photos.  Google, you let me down this time… although I found this and this.  Apparently I’m a little behind in my reporting.  Double Womps.

Century Addicts

Base training has come and gone, but we’re still feeling the effects of all those miles in our legs.  In a good way.  This year, Jameson became quasi-obsessed with century rides, completing 4 of them in the space of 5 weeks.  I’m sure that anyone reading this who trains at a Pro/1/2 level is like, “Yeah, so?” Let’s just pause a minute and appreciate the slight insanity it takes to accomplish this.

105 miles, and it was slightly snowing. He was pretty hangry before he started chowing down on these leftovers…

Now, it’s a little embarrassing for me to admit this, but in the six years I’ve been riding, I had never done a century.  Here’s Mr. Show-off, doing four of them, and I’m all like, “I’ll just stick to my 70 and 80 mile rides, thanks.”  I finally succumbed to peer pressure and decided this was the year I would do my first 100 mile ride.

BChan poses at the MD/PA state line, a little over halfway through our ride. We just hit the tailwind, so we felt pretty baller.

I recruited BChan to partake in my crazy idea, and one windy day in February we set off for PA, following a route that Jameson had laid out several weeks previously.  Incidentally, he did his own century that day, and beat us home by about 3 hours.  Don’t judge.

Jameson’s ride that day.

I’m not going to lie, it was a hard ride.  And we went very slowly.  Eight hours is a long time to be out in the cold February wind!  Highlights of the route included a pea-gravel descent, followed by a gravel climb (it had been raining, it was wet, and I was having flashbacks to cyclocross), and a stop at a gas station in PA.  I love it when people ask you, “Where are you riding from today?” The look on their face when you say “Baltimore” is priceless.  After purchasing as much sugar as we could stomach (mmmm Poptarts and Turkey Hill iced tea) we turned around into our tailwind and promptly got lost.  Later, we’d be glad, because those two miles ended up being important to reach our grand total of 100.

My ride with BChan. Yes, Strava says 97 miles. Strava can suck it – I did 100.

We headed back across the Mason-Dixon line, pausing for pictures, at which point I neglected to re-start my Garmin.  Three miles later, I was wondering why the route we were following wasn’t showing us any closer to home… yeah…

The last three hours were not the most enjoyable I’ve ever spent on a bike, but I was in good company (BChan rocks), and after I had defrosted in the shower at home, I was really glad I’d undertaken this milestone in my life as a cyclist.  Have any of you readers been addicted to centuries?  I’m certainly looking forward to doing one again

Recipe: Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Chorizo Burritos

Every year, starting around February, I go to the grocery store for my weekly shopping trip and absolutely stuff that cart full of food.  Seriously, the people at the checkout line probably assume I’m buying for a family of five (strengthened by the fact that I frequently buy Teddy Grahams and Goldfish).  Nope, just two ravenous athletes!

All of that food can get expensive, so I’ve been playing around with ways to stretch our food budget and still get a well-rounded meal.  One can only eat so much pasta and tomato sauce.  Jameson’s a big fan of burritos (and Mexican food in general), and these sweet potato, black bean, and chorizo burritos got an enthusiastic two thumbs up.

Jameson’s burrito in the process of being inhaled.

Start the burritos by finding two medium-sized sweet potatoes and peeling them, then dicing them into 1 cm cubes.  That may seem tiny, but smaller cubes = faster cooking, and I’m sure you’re pretty darn hungry.

Peel two sweet potatoes before dicing into 1 cm cubes.

Take your chorizo sausage (removing casings if necessary) and crumble into a sauté pan on medium-high heat.  I use fresh chorizo because it’s what my grocery store carries, however I am sure that cured chorizo would be equally delicious.

Crumble chorizo into a sauté pan and brown.

Once your sausage is nicely browned, add the sweet potato and stir to coat in the rendered oil from the sausage.  Continue cooking on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until your potatoes have browned a bit on the outsides.

Dice veggies into small pieces.

Add the rest of the veggies, seasonings, and black beans, stir, and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cook covered for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.  Taste-testing is a rough job, but someone’s got to do it!

Once the filling is done, assemble your burritos by spreading 1/4-1/3 c of hot cooked rice in a burrito shell, followed by 1/2-3/4 c of filling.  Sprinkle with cubed queso fresco (or other cheese that you enjoy).  If you are Jameson, you will use way too much filling and need to add an extra burrito shell as you roll up your goods.

Love this brand of Queso Fresco!

Enjoy!

Recipe:  Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Chorizo Burritos

Ratings:

Prep/3, Leftovers/4.5, Guilt Factor/3.5, Overall/4.5

Ingredients:

2.5 c sweet potato cut in 1 cm cubes
3 fresh chorizo sausages, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 poblano pepper, chopped, with seeds removed
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 c black beans *Note: this is approximately the amount in 1 can of black beans.  I make my own in my slow cooker using this method
1 c frozen corn, thawed and drained

1.5 c queso fresco cheese, cubed

4-5 burrito shells

2 c cooked white or brown rice

To make the burritos:

1.  Peel and dice sweet potatoes, set aside.

2.  Remove chorizo sausages from casings.  Heat a large sauté pan (one that has a lid) over medium-high heat and crumble the sausage into the pan.  Break up sausage with a spatula or wooden spoon and cook until sausage is browned on all sides.

3.  Add diced sweet potato and stir to coat in rendered oil in pan.  Cook on medium-high heat until potato pieces are browned on edges.

4.  Add the rest of the vegetables, seasonings, and black beans to the pan, stir to mix, and cook, covered, until potatoes are done (approximately 15 minutes).

5.  Assemble burritos – in a burrito shell, place 1/3-1/2 c hot cooked rice, 1/2-3/4 c filling, and sprinkle with cubed queso fresco or other shredded cheese.  Roll up burrito.  Eat & enjoy.

Winter Trainer Love

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted on here!  I haven’t ventured to this site in a while, and when I did, I found a half-written post about the awesome Thanksgiving ride I did with my teammates… oops.  I guess that gives an indication of how life has been since the end of cyclocross season – busy, busy, busy!

Jameson and I both finished out our ‘cross seasons with Limestone Cross at the Kiln (mud-fest!) and then allowed for a short unstructured rest period.  I ran a lot with Oz, and we both went to spin class with our parents over Christmas, but mostly that time involved eating way too much good food and spending time with friends.

January rolled around and it was back to the grindstone!  Time to buckle down and train for road season!

We’ll both be representing new teams this year for road:  Jameson is riding for Integrated Sports Medicine, and I’m riding for CAWES (both still on C3 for cyclocross, though).  New teams and teammates should make for a fun season, so we’re sticking with a training plan (as per usual) to make sure our fitness allows for us to enjoy racing to the fullest.

A lot of our friends and teammates think we’re a bit nuts, because we do the bulk of our winter training on, well, the stationary trainer (to be precise, Jameson prefers using the rollers).  There’s a lot of hateful feelings towards trainers floating around out there, but I’m going to argue that it’s time for you to make a peace treaty.  Here are my top 3 reasons I love my trainer:

1) Time.  Working any sort of job complicates training, but when you work as much as we do, there’s little hope of sneaking an outdoor ride in during the week when daylight hours are from 6:30AM-5:30PM.  There is absolutely no way either of us would hit our hours if we didn’t ride the trainer for an hour or two every night.

2) Weather.  Last year, we lucked out in the Mid Atlantic and had a super mild winter.  Mother Nature is not cooperating so nicely this year, so being on the trainer for two hours is infinitely preferable to freezing my toes off by riding outdoors.

3) Netflix.  Nothing makes zone 2 on the trainer fly by like a bad disaster movie.  So far this year, we’ve spun to Deep Impact, Vertical Limit, and Volcano, to name a few.  I somehow feel less guilty for ploughing through several season of a TV show in a week when I’ve been watching it all on the bike.

Anyways, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, show your trainer some love and take a quick spin.  Then eat more chocolates.  Or cookies.  Or both.

Double Race Report: Kutztown Cross Day 1 and Rockburn Cross

**Note:  I wrote this post last week, and then Thanksgiving got in the way.  Apologies all around!**

This weekend was a double race weekend for Jameson, and I tagged along for Saturday’s race.

As you may know, Jameson is on the hunt for upgrade points towards his Cat1.  For this reason, we got up at 5:30 AM this past Saturday and drove to Kutztown, PA, for his 10:30 AM race (my race was at 1:45 PM…) so he could get in an adequate warm-up and maximize his chance at upgrade point success.

Jameson warms up for his race.

At this point, I would like to introduce the newest member of the Hungry Cyclist clan:  meet Oz.  Oz is a 3-year-old boarder collie mix we adopted at the end of October from a C3 teammate.  He really loves cross races, and since I had a long time  to hang out in the morning, I was glad for the company.  While Jameson pre-rode and got his number situated, Oz and I walked around the course.  We discovered that it was quite flat, had lots of turns that wove and doubled back, and a “spiral of death.”  The course had the potential to suit Jameson well, because it looked like there were several straightaways where he could rev up his TT engine and hopefully put some people behind him.

Meet Oz!

Jameson drew a 4th row start – not the most auspicious placing.  Plus, he’s gotten spoiled by the MAC series where he sits front and center every race, although last weekend that didn’t play out well (this video shows the action).

The prologue was a wide-open lane that turned around a pavilion before a sharp left-hander brought you into the course.  Jameson tried to move through the traffic at the start, but he entered the course in approximately 16th place.  It turned out the the course was narrow, so passing was difficult and he stayed out of the top ten for several laps.  I could tell he was frustrated because he had enough breath to make disparaging remarks every time he passed me.

Angry Jameson

I told him to use his anger, and I think he may have taken my suggestion because with 3 laps to go, he barreled past 4 guys in the start/finish segment to catapult himself into 7th place.  He then started picking off 6th and 5th place, narrowing in on 4th & 3rd.  The top two guys had quite a lead on the rest of the field, but he was gaining on them.  Unfortunately the race ended with Jameson in 4th place.  Later, he looked at his Garmin and found that the refs had ended around 40 minutes instead of the full 45.  Needless to say, he was a bit bummed.

Fatmarc on the podium! Winner winner, sausage dinner.

He rebounded by watching our teammate Fatmarc race the singles speed race.  FM informed us before hand that you could earn a 30 second time bonus every lap by taking a “bologna hand-up” and that he intended to take full advantage of this.  It worked out quite well, as FM WON!   My other teammate Diane raced the women’s 3/4, and then it was time for the 1/2 women to be called to the line.

Diane rocking it during her race.

My race had a surprisingly well-stacked field.  Teammates LVG, Bad Kat, and Jen T showed up to race, as did a number of other MAC series regulars (Kutztown Cross was not a MAC race, it was a PACX series race).  I was literally the very last to be called to the starting grid, but we only had about 3 rows of starters so I didn’t feel farther back than usual.  At the gun, I had a great position on the inside of the impending turn, so I was able to work my way up to mid-pack by the time we turned onto the course.

Laura Van Gilder (LVG) cruising through the start/finish straight.

LVG took off, reveling in the “grass crit” nature of the course, and powered her way to an uncontested win.  I worked my way through several Peanut Butter & Co. girls to catch up to my own teammates.  Lauri Webber was being chased by Jen and Bad Kat, so I tried to nose my way up onto Kat’s wheel and hang with their group.

Bad Kat taking the turns like a pro.

Bad Kat definitely had me in the straightaways, so with about 2 laps to go I finally got tired and started to fall back.

Jen sporting the 2012 Halloween skin suit.

Jen and Lauri Webber were pulling away, and the race finished up Jen – 8th, Lauri – 9th, Bad Kat – 10th, Me – 11th.  I was pretty proud of my effort.  I definitely feel like I have been improving as my season goes on, and finishing so close to my teammates was pretty cool.

Me trying to stay on Kat’s wheel.

Jameson decided to race again at the MABRA race, Rockburn, on Sunday.  I chose to play road bikes with BChan, Choppah, and friends instead, so I did not witness what I am sure was quite a site.  Apparently Jameson was so far off the back of the Elite field that he decided drinking beer hand-ups was the best course of action.  Beer ended up all over his face, arms, and bike, so it sounded like he was having fun.

Sunday road ride with my new road team! Excited to be on CAWES!

Hoping you all had a fun race / ride this weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Recipe: Fruit Crumble Bars

I made these bars awhile back for the DCCX race (which happened before I started this blog, so there’s no race report).  They were good, and people seemed to like them, but they needed a little tweaking.

This week, I needed some, ahem, added encouragement to help my colleagues show up to a meeting for my PhD program’s newsletter, so I thought it would be a great time to bust out these bars for a second shot.  Sweet, crumbly crust sandwiched around a moist, flavorful filling… that would make me show up for a meeting!  As an added bonus, they’re quick and easy and can be whipped up any old weeknight while you’re making dinner.

This terrible picture is due to the bars disappearing before I could snag a proper shot. I promise to work on my food photography!

These bars are versatile in terms of what fruit you can use, and I like the fact that they’re made with whole-wheat flour and olive oil:  it takes the guilt factor down a notch or two.

Race Report: FSVS @ Fair Hill

Sometimes, you show up to a race, and everything goes as you expect.  Your warm-up is uneventful, your race result matches the crossresults predictor, and as you drive back home, you’re satisfied.  It was a good day.  Now, sometimes you have great race days:  the course unexpectedly plays to all your strengths, your legs feel better than they’ve felt in years, and as you drive home, all you can talk about is how incredibly awesome it is to race bikes and to WIN!

Teammate Jake ready to race the Killer B’s! Photo c/o Dennis Smith (dennisbike.com).

FSVS @ Fair Hill was neither of those scenarios.  No, it was the third type of race day:  the utter disaster.  Yet, as we drove home, no one was pissed or crying or banging their head repeatedly against the car door.  Why?  Because we have the BEST teammates in the world.  They can help turn a disaster-day into a good one, which never fails to impress me.

Some days, it’s your teammates that make showing up to the race worthwhile. Thanks FM & Diane, for being awesome. Photo c/o Dennis Smith (dennisbike.com).