Hammer Head Racing Blog

(Diva, Sgt, and welcome to the newcomer “Fish”)

 Today was awesome 72+ degrees and sunny so we strolled out onto the old 15 mile route to introduce the new guy “Fish” to Crystal Lake road.  They both seemed to get along well.  Fish didn’t let the road over power him.   And the road didn’t spook and buck him off or take a bite out of him like it did to some of us.

We spent a lot of time talking about the route, the pack, bikes, etc… therefore we weren’t exactly struggling to breathe.  But thank goodness for that.  I’m fried already especially after the working that Bull put me through this morning.

Fish obviously has some pack experience already so he blended in right away even with the treacherous 15 mph side wind.  Fish was on his old Cadillac Shwinn since his Rubeax has not arrived yet.

Hope to see you out more often Fish.

{Pops, Stang, Bull, Dog}

Today we did a 1 on 3 team matchup…Dog against the rest of us.  Dog jumped off the front at the start and we let him stay there as we warmed up.  He headed south 0n 400w and ran into a very stiff headwind so it wasn’t long before we were all back together.  We tried wearing Dog out by alternating attacks but he responded to all but one immediately.  Heading through the 200S hills we got behind a wide tractor/plow combo.  I spotted an opening and charged around it and put some distance on the rest of them.  I was alone for a couple of miles but Dog got around the tractor and back to me as we went up the long upslope to 800W.  My partners were still stuck behind the tractor as Dog took off hoping to leave us all behind for good.

Stang and Bull finally caught up with me heading north with Dog about a 1/4 mile in front of us.  We wanted to leave him up there as long as possible.  Going by Crystal Lake Dog had an encounter with a 4-legged variety that charged him and hit his rear wheel almost knocking him down.  A short time later Dog knew with the bad crosswind he wouldn’t hold us off so he shut it down and we were a group again heading past the egg plant.  We tried a couple more attacks but Dog closed them down quickly.  As we came over the last rise Bull jumped off the front so hard that I couldn’t hang on but Dog & Stang stayed right with him.  Bull gave it everything he had and Dog finally jumped past him as they approached the finish.  Stang made a valiant effort that fell short by inches as Dog took us all down for the well deserved win.

{Pops, Geek, Stang, Dog}

Dog suggested splitting into 2 two man teams so we went with Dog & Stang as one team and Geek & me as the other one.  One point for first place down to 4 points for last place…lowest total wins.  I was afraid of an attack right off the bat and Dog did not disappoint me.  He charged up the first rise with Geek and Stang hanging with him while I smelled their exhaust fumes and thought that was a quick way to decide the outcome.  They got out to about a 1/4 mile gap before I finally warmed up and felt like I wasn’t falling any further behind (just what I wanted after yesterday’s time trial, a repeat performance).  Geek finally figured out my only way back was for him to go to the front and try and slow the pace down.  So with the 3 of them playing cat & mouse I gradually cut the gap and got back to them as we turned back into the 200S hills (reverse hill route) with a 24 mph average.

Stang had been out front for awhile so after a 10 second break I attacked from the rear and now was all by myself.  Dog closed the gap on me a short time later with Geek & Stang back a ways.  Dog of course was smart and made me do all the work through the hills hoping I would tire enough to bring Stang back to us.  Dog attacked me on the last hill as I was dying and gapped me big time.  I quickly checked my average at the top of the hill to compare to yesterday’s TT and it was identical (22.6).  I caught Dog as we turned north on 400W.  I thought if Geek has been smart he has been making Stang do all the work on the way back in so that he can take 3rd place.  Dog attacked me a couple more times going north but every time I caught back up he would slow and force me to the front to keep the gap on the other two.  Dog and I finished as expected (Dog – 1st, Pops – 2nd) and I thought we would have a team tie if Geek finished 3rd.  For some reason Geek pulled up nursery hill and then Stang attacked hard and dropped him to take the third position giving their team the win.    

I am extremely proud of everybody today. 

The TT is about individual effort and challenging yourself.  And from what I saw everyone was giving 100% out there and having fun doing it.  With a TT sometimes you have a good day, and sometimes a bad day.  There is no forgiveness like being able to tuck into a pack draft when you’re feeling weak until you can recover.  We did get a little more wind assist than wind penalty so these numbers will be challenging to match again next month with less wind.  But hopefully with more miles comes more strength so we may be able to do better yet?  We will easily all be beating our numbers without wind before the summer is up.

 I hope some of you really enjoyed finishing in front of the Dog.  That may never happen again?

Just for a little perspective on the wind, here are my lap speeds.

23.2 mph west on CL rd.

25.9 mph south on 800W (31 top speed)

19.4 mph east to the finish on 200S.  (I was fried by 200)

(MJ, Troll, Dog, Geek, Bones, Sgt, Kong, Stang)  

 Today the A&B team was out making us work hard.  I came in just in time to enjoy their 30.0 mph bursts through the hills into the wind.  I had a 24.4 average at the turnaround.

Coming home the pace settled a little and dropped all the way to 24.3 mph.  I figured since I had to turn on 400W my team could use that info to their advantage.  So I used all that I had to jump off the front and sprint to the hill at the end of the flats hoping to spook out an A&B chase.  But for some reason some one on my own team (kb) called out, “Don’t worry.  He’s turning!”  But Geek didn’t hear and chased after me.  At the top of the hill I stood and rocked my bike to act like I was accelerating back up to speed, but I really was pedaling soft by now.  I turned to look at the gap and they were tight on my wheel again.  It actually startled me because I didn’t see them coming.  Then I backed off and turned on 400. 

Dog led out for the sprint since he is still suffering some sickness.  MJ easily walked away from the group he had brutalized for the last 48 minutes without much of a response and won the sprint.  I think nobody wanted to get involved for fear more beatings.  Final average was 24.1 mph.  (That is the fastest ever Jan, Feb, Mar or April)(We don’t get rides up there until late May)

(We also surpassed 1003 miles for 2010.  That is just 10 shy of 2009 at end of April)

MJ had on their awesome new kit with the bones on it.  Judging from the ride I would say that suit is even faster than last year’s?  At one point it seemed like there was a flaming trail behind that skeletal Ghost Rider!  Apparently our bikers didn’t suffer enough last night to appease his taste for blood?

(Kong, Sgt, Bones, Geek, Anne)

 Today we went out for a rare easy ride on the Berko and we stayed so fresh we descided to do the black jack around the lake.  I don’t know the average because I’m having computer trouble but I would guess around 20?

We started with Bones, Kong and Sgt and picked up Anne and Geek on CL rd.

TT next Monday 4/26/10 on the regular hill route starting on the peak of 200’s first hill. 

The route then turns right on 800W and goes north 2 mi.

Then turn right again on Crystal Lake rd. and finish on the top of the hill past the Warsaw city limit sign.

(Sgt, Pops, Geek, Kong, Yeti, Diva, BP and Toad were out later)

Today we finally got that easy ride.  Geek’s pulls were not his normal intensity, he was giving us a rare break, and we were all getting a turn up front as we went out on the Dutchman.

Coming home speed picked up a bit and I sensed Pops was not his man of steel self today.  Then on 400 hill I ramped up the intensity and split up the pack.  Then Geek pulled Nursery hill.  I left him up there until almost the cut.  I gapped back about a bike length so when I attacked I got some momentum built up before I was out into the wind.  This allowed me to get a gap started on Pops.  Then as Pops chased my slipstream I up spun a high cadence then up shifted and held him off to claim the win for the Sgt.  Final avg 22.6 mph.

TT next Tuesday 4/27/10 on the regular hill route starting on the peak of 200’s first hill.

(Pops, Sgt, Bull, Bones, Stang, Kong, Yeti, Diva, Napa)

 Geek jumped off the front early and it seemed like we would just let him go?  And I’m ok with that.  We cruised out at an easy 21-22 mph pace.  When it was my turn I bumped it up to almost 24 which was still real easy with the slight wind assist and I stayed up front for a mile.  The gap seemed to hold at this pace.  Then Stang came around and announced he was going to give a sacrificial pull then drop off and he narrowed about 1/3 of the gap.  Then Bull did the same.  To my surprise it was just me and the Yeti and the Yeti gave himself to finish the gap.  I had no intention of catching Geek, but now that I am the only one left I couldn’t waste these valiant efforts.  So I stayed with Geek, but it took some doing.  He pulled 90% of the time and I was just trying to survive.

On 200S I had a flat and The Geek stopped to help while I pulled off a record 15 minute flat repair.  Then we continued on and on CL rd we came up on the pack and passed them back.  But Geek kept such a high tempo I couldn’t get around so Geek claimed the win.  I can’t down load my Polar right now but based on the lap time I’m pretty sure we were around 23.4’ish?

(Pops, Sgt, Bull, Bones, Stang, Kong, Yeti, Diva, Napa)

 Today 9 bikes showed up.   We talked and cruised out at 18.2 mph on 200S.  A couple bikes cut off short, so some decided to go long and headed out to 950W for a Berko.  At that point we also picked it up to 20 mph the rest of the way to the turnaround.

Coming home with a sweet tail wind we spent some time around the flats at 28 mph.  As we neared the finish our return average was 24.2 mph.  Bull gave a good hard pull and so did Stang.  Coming in at 31 mph on Stang’s wheel I waited until the cut and then hit 36 to pull out front.  I saw Pops pull up on my wheel so I shifted once more and hit 37, but Pops spun just a bit faster and beat me by an inch in the photo finish.  The ride average was 21 mph.

(Sgt, Bull, Bones, Kong, Yeti, Diva)

 Bull suggested the Alpes today.  Remembering that he popped himself taking the first hill last time I told Yeti I was going to plan on him repeating the same mistake today.  So I followed Bull’s rear wheel on the first hill.  Then Bull sprinted the last 20%  while I just kept my pace and watched him go to his victory.  Then descending the other side I tucked and put the power on to catch and pass him while he struggled to breathe.  Yeti heeded my advice and was right on my wheel.  But then on hill #2 Yeti charged past me to claim the peak.  Then on the descent I took him out and took the 3^rd hill for Sgt due to my gap.  20.6 mph lap 1.

Then I grew the gap enough that the Sgt also took 1 & 2 & 3 without charging them to claim 4 victories. Lap 2 was 20.1 mph. 

 With my descent gap I kept a TT pace to seal the sprint also.  Unbeknownst to me the group paused at the egg plant to regroup and cruise home.  But I’ll still take the mountain win for the day since it is Sgt’s first win this year.

Note to Bull; don’t take the first hill, or the second!  Sit in on someone and stay comfortable.  You can go for any hill after that, but not #1 or #2 if you want to survive.

How do people feel about a TT Tuesday?