tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87654914668526896922024-03-12T20:05:31.272-04:00Until the Snow EndsColin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.comBlogger570125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-17605126836469373122023-10-03T13:17:00.006-04:002023-10-03T13:20:23.255-04:00Woodstock Enduro Race ReportSometimes I write race reports for B2C2 Slack that are long enough and fun enough I decide to archive them here. This is one of those. Woodstock Enduro Race ReportI am trying to race at least one enduro per year to keep my bike racing experiences DIVERSE. After doing an XC ride at Woodstock a few years back I knew the trails were steep and fun, so I was easily convinced to register forColin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-56709084988043540362023-06-11T15:16:00.004-04:002023-06-11T15:16:46.931-04:00Black River Grand Prix Race Report It's been a long time since I wrote anything here about bike racing, but I had a really fun time racing my bike up in Vermont this weekend and I wrote up a pretty wordy account of it on B2C2 Slack. Figured I'd archive it here in case anyone still reads blogs and/or ever uses Google to find out if this race is awesome (it is).--------------------So I showed up the night before at Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-16441576703573369542021-11-09T19:18:00.000-05:002021-11-09T19:18:22.965-05:00Give Me Your Money So We Can Give You Back Your Money[This isn't really a blog post so much as me entertaining myself with an honest marketing pitch for a product I believe is ridiculously and unsustainably underpriced]So it's been 8 months since Outside bought BikeReg and the rest of the world and I've basically spent my entire time since then working on I N T E G R A T I O N Swhich has been a long and sometimes annoying journey because gluing Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-61635459334694074882020-03-16T19:12:00.001-04:002020-03-16T21:35:59.268-04:00A letter to everyone's parents about CoronavirusBoy, what a great reason to write my first blog post in 8 months.
I have been traveling in Spain and just got back to America (current status: self-quarantined for 14 days and/or forever) as we grapple with the reality of what is happening, and more importantly, what is going to happen. Being in Recently In Europe (tm) and Extremely Online (tm), I've realized that my awareness of theColin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-79704143906282052482019-06-05T19:58:00.000-04:002019-06-07T09:33:32.976-04:00How the Leg was Skewered (tm)So, I haven't blogged in fifteen months, because like I said last time, after 12 years in the game I'm pretty much out of novel experiences in cycling. But good news! We had a NOVEL EXPERIENCE this past weekend!
The B2C2 squad was dialed at the Lime Rock GP, we had our best rider up the road in a 3-man break, and I was moving up on the last lap with our best sprinter in tow, so Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-26923724341106107092019-04-08T16:38:00.001-04:002019-04-08T16:48:48.886-04:00One Graph To Rule Them AllI get asked a few times a year about registration trends, but people mostly just want to see "that graph that shows everyone registers at the last minute." Instead of digging up the powerpoint it was in and forwarding it to someone, I'm posting it HERE so I can never have to search for that file again.
Of the registrations that are received in the final month leading up to an event:
Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-90440441872231762952018-03-27T06:42:00.003-04:002018-03-29T09:15:19.908-04:00Mansfield Madness Race ReportAfter twelve years of bike racing, it's increasingly rare that I run into an experience that's novel enough I feel compelled to write about it (what's up, blog that hasn't been touched in six months!). But, much to my surprise, fresh amateur bike racing experiences still DO exist in my life! And I had one this weekend.
I headed down to the UConn Mansfield Madness criterium with no Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-58001787390644893332017-09-07T23:29:00.002-04:002017-09-07T23:40:05.223-04:00Green Mountain Stage Race ReportI did this race last year and got my butt handed to me on 3 out of 4 stages. But it was so fun! I don't know why! So I came back. I dunno. It's different and hard and great and beautiful and expensive and hard.
Did I mention it's hard?
So yeah.
Stage 1: TT
Last year I got crushed in the TT, but I set a power record for 18 minutes, so it still made me feel Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-36192095601978663502017-07-28T08:35:00.000-04:002017-07-28T09:32:35.059-04:00Intelligentsia Cup Race ReportsLike most hypercompetitive amateur athletes, my first reaction to having an injury under control is to start operating like the injury never happened. So with my IT band finally allowing me to ride 2 hours more or less unencumbered, we're healed! Time to train ("train") for 2 weeks and then go race four crits in four days!
Last year B2C2 sent a small squad of racers to the Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-3130726771972929062017-06-06T08:47:00.003-04:002017-06-06T09:07:12.377-04:00Thunder Mountain Enduro Race ReportHey, remember when I wrote race reports? You might think that I stopped race reporting because blogging is dead (tm), but actually it's because I hurt my IT band in February and have barely ridden, nevermind raced, this year. The cause of the injury? I walked up a canyon for 5 minutes, rock climbed for 2 hours, and then walked back to the car. Yeah, that's it. WellColin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-40630537374445319652017-01-26T08:46:00.001-05:002017-01-26T17:19:47.462-05:00U23 Women's World Championship PreviewHey American Cyclocross Fans! Are you HYPED to get up at 7AM on January 28th and watch the women's U23 world championship? YES YOU ARE!
This thing has only been around for two years, but Ellen Noble won the U23 World Cup and Emma White was the youngest woman to ever win a UCI race (take that, Marianne Vos), so you better believe that #MERICA is gonna show up guns a-blazin, sweep the Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-38913012870794982072017-01-09T08:42:00.004-05:002017-01-09T08:42:49.439-05:00Cross Nationals 35-39 Race ReportI haven't raced 'cross nationals in five years. Last time I went, I drove to Madison and had what could charitably be described as a "bland" experience. Most notably, I spent the season getting hyped for what would surely be the sickest snow/ice cx race ever, only to show up and race a 40 degree tractor pull.
So when 2017 Nationals were announced in Hartford, I knew I had to Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-79401866255525022742017-01-02T23:44:00.001-05:002017-01-02T23:52:50.599-05:00When Do Cyclocrossers Slow Down?It's hard to believe, but the 10th anniversary of crossresults passed this year. (Apparently I started Dec 2nd, 2006 according to this blog post). One of the cool things is that now I have ten years of data to analyze. One of the less cool things is that now I am ten years older, so I've started thinking about things like "when will I get slow(er)?"
When a rider Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-78936302562609605572016-11-04T08:19:00.001-04:002016-11-04T08:19:14.955-04:00Cheshire Cross/Orchard Cross Race ReportsThis is my eleventh season of racing cross, and I still like it enough that I have to hold myself back from racing doubles every weekend. This weekend I failed, because Cheshire Cross is close and awesome and Orchard Cross is far and awesome.
Cheshire Cross Race Report
I've been coming here for a few years now, because there's some really unique and fun woods trail, and the best Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-22967402043147464222016-10-27T08:24:00.001-04:002016-10-27T08:24:09.244-04:00Gran Prix of Gloucester Race ReportsObviously these are
wicked late, but Gloucester is still the best race in New England (now with a more seasonable date!) and I have two chainstay cams to archive for the internet, if nothing else.
Day 1
Despite ULTRAPaully's best efforts, I got a great random draw on Saturday. So great, in fact, that Adam Craig's lackadaisical sprinting was the only reason I didn't go into the first Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-25885865405029449502016-09-30T20:18:00.000-04:002016-09-30T20:18:12.790-04:00Midnight Ride of Cyclocross Race Report
Midnight Ride is one of my favorite cross races, but I never blog about it because it comes right before Night Weasels, and for some mysterious reason I always have a lot of things that seem more important than blogging around that time. But not this year!
(I wonder what Night Weasels task I'm forgetting right now)
The reason I love Midnight Ride, of course, is that the course is 85% Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-28634568252604823392016-09-21T21:46:00.002-04:002016-09-21T22:15:10.319-04:00Should You Throw Your Water Bottle When Racing a Road Bike?The other day, with 1.5 laps left in a cat 3 crit, the guy in front of me reached down into his bottle cage, grabbed his bottle, and threw it wildly onto the sidewalk, almost hitting a spectator.
This process caused him to open up a two or three bike length gap in front of him which he then had to pedal hard to close... almost certainly negating any gains he made by losing the weight of the Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-59380240684482199162016-09-09T08:19:00.002-04:002016-09-09T10:42:42.891-04:00Green Mountain Stage Race Race ReportThese days I am as much a race promoter as I am a bike racer, it seems. And race promoting is hard. There's a reason you never saw a Greenfield Criterium, Gnar Weasels, or August Adventure Promotion Report posted here -- the more you do it, the less novelty there is, but the workload is the same. And it's a lot. And it wears on you.
This is why, one day in early July, I Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-84092174813147178352016-07-28T09:00:00.000-04:002016-07-28T11:33:33.108-04:00Come With Me on a Lovingly Curated Backwoods Gravel Dirt Sand Wood Road Bike RideHey! Let's go ride some bikes.
This spring I got elected to be on the NEBRA Board. NEBRA is a bunch of people who donate their time to making New England Bike Racing bettAr. And one of my jobs as a NEBRA board member (other than sending emails... oh god so many emails) was coming up with the route for the NEBRA August Adventure, because I am a map dork who lives in the Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-16986008743056380322016-06-07T08:40:00.001-04:002016-06-07T08:40:55.265-04:00Greenfield Criterium HYPE POST
The Bearscat 50 was awesome. Will I ever have time to write about it? Probably not! But Christin won so that's all you really need to know.
The reason I have no time to write about 5+ hours of slippery bike racing is that I have to make phone calls (nooooooooo) and write emails (okaaaaaaaaay) and visit businesses (!!!!!!!) to make the Greenfield Crit happen along Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-53169740168155566042016-05-25T08:16:00.000-04:002016-05-25T08:21:13.247-04:00Weeping Willow Race ReportThere was a moment on Friday when the word "Noreaster" was getting thrown around, and I was thinking that this was going to be the raddest/most-trail-damaging race ever. But the ever-fickle New England weather changed yet again, and it dumped rain 100 miles off the coast. Willowdale State Forest? A bone dry, blazing-fast dustfest as always. But I'm not complaining.
Being just 45 minutes Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-25423495861997612016-05-18T08:25:00.000-04:002016-05-18T08:28:33.885-04:00Eastern Grind Race ReportThe Eastern Grind was awesome. After the first two Kenda Cups were blazing-fast, drafting pedal contests (note: not a complaint), it rained the night before the Grind and turned an already somewhat technical course into a GNARFEST.
But the weather was terrible (50 with intermittent rain) and the weather was terrible last year, too, and it was far from Boston (like 3 hours) so tons ofColin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-92009439946172569482016-05-13T08:44:00.000-04:002016-05-13T10:40:16.096-04:00Bear Brook + Seven Sisters Sufferweekend ReportThis past weekend I did two competitive athletic events. It was like cross season, except totally different. Here's how it went down:
Bear Brook Classic Race Report
This was a new race at an old venue. The venue is still close to Boston and Concord. The turnout was still great. The course was still pedaly.
It was actually a very nice course, in that the Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-51186394723653141582016-01-15T08:46:00.000-05:002016-01-15T08:46:04.849-05:00Post Nationals Hype Post!!
Is it possible to HYPE nationals five days after it's over? I'm not sure. But I started looking at these numbers and I got psyched for the 2016-17 'cross season, so it was good for something.
I wrote about the crossresults vs USAC predictions last week, but now we can look at what actually happened!
The problem is that you really can't judge the quality of a prediction off a Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8765491466852689692.post-73217383288620566572016-01-04T22:48:00.002-05:002016-01-05T09:15:17.992-05:002016 Cross Nationals Race Predictor Throwdown!I distinctly remember Steve Johnson telling me that if we didn't agree on a price for selling crossresults to USAC that they would copy it.
And they did! Like, all of it ...to the best of their ability, which means it's a reasonable facsimile of crossresults now, but not an exact clone, and that clone also has a "race predictor." (I like the part where they didn't change the name). Colin Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06289923497258059725noreply@blogger.com8