dc bike racing

Shawn "bega" Blumenfeld
a quest to win a championship...

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blueberry_soup_is_coming - February 18 2010
blueberry_circuit_race - April 12 2010
im-in-points - November 19 2009
on-lead-lap - November 25 2009
bike_to_work_day - May 24 2010
getting-ready-for-cross - September 14 2009
urban-cross-is-coming - November 14 2009
officiating_the_crits - May 17 2010
indoor-training - January 10 2010
officials-renewal-clinic - February 6 2010
waba_vasa_ride - March 11 2010
44th - December 2 2009
outdoors - January 27 2010
tacchino-ciclocross - November 8 2009
usa-cycling-radio-ban - February 3 2010
no-rain-for-me - March 29 2010
ten-nine-radio - February 8 2010
and-so-now-im-addicted - September 22 2009
kelley-acres-next-up - September 24 2009
hyattesville-cross - October 12 2009
re-urban-cross-is-coming - November 15 2009
photo-from-hyattsville - October 13 2009
another-cross - October 6 2009
off-to-the-races - February 25 2010
towc_part_2 - June 23 2010
re-tacchino-ciclocross - November 9 2009
kelley-acres-cross - October 5 2009
tour_of_washington_county - June 12 2010
south_jersey_training_series - March 22 2010

Over the years, I've dedicated a good deal of my life to helping other people race bikes. Whether from my early years of racing with the likes of Team Aggress, my own messenger racing Team Bega, and more recently the Hub Racing Women's Pro Team, I've received most of my glory from other people's victories. Don't get me wrong, I've played my part and I've recieved proper admiration for my job as a manager, a soigner, a domestique. But it's not the same as winning a race on the bike. And I've won a couple. But I want my own Championship. At the Cycle Messenger World Championships, I've qualified on the front line, placed top 20 twice, been in 6 finals. So now I really want to try to win my own championship in Guatemala at the 2010 CMWC... (im already thinking about 2011 also: the usa national championship timetrial in the mixed tandem masters classes)

towc_part_2

June 23 2010

i redlined on saturday. i didnt back off they way i was supposed to, i pushed instead. sometime around on the steep climb a couple of laps in (five 6-mile laps total), i started to feel the sugar running from my body. my eyes were watering, and my heart rate was climbing. i told myself to back off, timetrial the last couple of laps, make the time cut and race on sunday. i said it to myself over and over. but my legs didnt slow or pause and i didnt drop to an easier gear. instead i fought to stay with the front group over the hill. i knew it was over, that i was about to hit the wall. but i didnt back off. as the salt poured from my pores, i told myself again to back off. but i wasnt listening to myself. big mistake. i lost focus, concentration, the ability to pedal. i touched the wheel in front of me and shot out the back of the field like a rocket. i came to a standstill on the hill and then the legs cramped. completely stopped. frozen. take it easy, ride it out, make the time cut, i said to myself. i didnt listen. instead, i pushed to chase. i kept the caravan in sight ahead of me for a good solid lap. then i cramped again trying to chase over the same steep hill. i lost a lap sitting on the side of the road trying to get my cramped tight legs to move. some artemis guys cruising the course getting ready for a later race stopped to help me out. i drank some water. got back on the bike and rode out the distance, finally finishing almost 30m minutes back.

33rd technically, and though the results list me as "33rd, DNF, +29min", they should read "33rd, out of time, +29min" cause i indeed finished. not everyone did. big ups to jim who waited for me at the officials table so he could score me.

but i didnt get to race on sunday. the lesson? listen to yourself, back off, ride it out, and race on sunday. redline and youll blank a manifest, and be watching on sunday.

btw, 15 years almost to the day since i fell off catoctin mountain. and i turned 40 on sunday. next up i have some big officiating duties at the cap crit in dc, and the mabra masters champs following that. and its time to sit down and evaluate the training and reorganize for the final push towards guatemala.