Gamjams review: Gloves

I'm relatively new to this whole cycling thing, but in the just over two years I have been riding I have used three, yes that's right three different kinds of gloves. My first gloves were your standard half finger gloves made by castelli. I loved these gloves, they were very ultra comfortable. While comfort is the reason to buy a pair of gloves, I find it annoying to have to pull gloves inside out to remove them. These gloves solved the problem with loops of faux leather in between the fingers that made it easy to pull the gloves straight off. The only other short finger gloves I have had are the ABRT team issue gloves and while I have like these gloves overallthere are a few things that could be changed. These gloves have a nice fit and are very form fitting which I like. The one thing I don't like is the placement of the extra gel cushion they placed on the pinky side of the palm. I have found that this pad if you will has a tendecy to bunch up and move to the saide of my hand where it does absolutely no good. Its not a huge deal. The other thing I don't like is that they are hard to remove. My third pair of gloves are made by Descente and they are my winter gloves. I find these gloves to be very versatile as they have gotten me through the last winter while wearing them in almost all conditions. They are warm and they fit well with a gauntlet style wrist. They also have an extra flap that you can fold over for extra finger protection from the wind. I have never been able to use this though as I feel when my full five finger gloves are turned in to basic mittens that I lose shifting and braking control. Other than that these gloves are great versatile winter gloves.

Thanks for reading,
Nick c

Gamjams Review: Bar Tape

In my realtively short time as a cyclist (two years) I have only use four different varieties of bar tape. One variety of this was made by cinelli and I'm not sure the model name, another two types I have used are made by fizik. These two types are both called mictotex but they are quite different in texture. On my training/crit/bad weather bike I have black fizik microtex tape that has sort of microfiber or suede feel which I like because it soaks up moisture and it more grippy. The other variety of fizik tape I have is also microtex as I mentioned earlier but it is kind of like microtex without the "tex" if you know what I mean. This tape is blue and on my race bike, and I'm not sure if I like it yet as I have been using mainly my other bike since it was installed. What I have noticed though is that this tape cracks easier and it doesn't really absorb any moisture which I'm sure will cause issues on hot summer rides. The fourth type of bar tape I have used came on my race bike when I bought it and it is the bontrager tape which I liked because it had a better vibration damping aspect than the fizik but when I started sweating holding the bars was like walking on ice. This tape was comparable in feel to the cinelli tape but one thing I liked better was that I found that if the bar end ever came out with the cinelli the tape would immediately unravel as there is no adhesive backing. Cinelli was probably my least favorite as it wasn't as cushioney(my word) as bontrager and didn't stay on. My ranking of the four tapes is black fizik(fluffy), bontrager, fizik(slippery), and then cinelli.

MLK Day Ride

Today some of the abrt guys and girls did a "holiday" ride. I was the only junior on the ride which was kind of upsetting yet awesome. We did the reverse of the regular saturday ride which was about 58 miles. The plan was to do a relaxed pace but, sometimes things don't always go as planed now do they? On the ride were Ryan Guttridge, Chris Kick, Alex Pline, Kristin(I'm drawing a blank on her last name, Steve Owens, me, and a couple of other people. This was a somewhat surprisingly low turnout but it was 32 degrees this morning. We rolled out at about 10 and immediately chris kick and I were wondering when the "relaxed" part of this ride was going to happen. Needless to say it never did. Ryan was on the front most of the day riding a moderate tempo he said "I'm just trying to keep everyone moving", in. But anyway I put in a few digs just to get some heat going, and I also traded pulls on the front pretty frequently. When we got to our planned stop(Sweet Sue's) in north beach we realized they were closed on mondays. Instead we went to the dash in which was equally as awesome. Thankfully we didn't spend too much time in the dashin because I didn't want to have to re warm myself. So we were of quickly with a mere 28 miles to go. The ride was rather un eventful up until about ten miles to go where Chris, Alex and I were dropped by ryan as he slowly dieseled away. The ride ended with about 3 hrs and 8 minutes. Pretty awesome ride. One of my favorites. Although it did take me about 30 minutes to get my core temp back to normal. Thanks for a great ride.
Nick c

Sorry for the no post recently!

So it has been a while since my last post. For the 2 of you that actually read this, i am sorry. Any way just a quick update: training has been kind of spotty but i'm really motivated as i'm trying to get cat.3 this year. So once i get back from georgia, training will really start. I got a garmin edge 500 for christmas and so far it is an awesome tool. Having so much data literally at my finger tips is amazing. That being said if anyone wants to give me a good deal on a power meter, just email me: nick134679@hotmail.com . As i said my training was spotty and i'm ultra slow right now because im getting ready to do some long slow distance, which means big T.I.T.S. (time in the saddle). At least for me that is. Anyway i wanted to do more milage this last week before i went on vacation and during my break but, life gets in the way. Another big goal is battenkill which is coming up faster than i realize. I had better get to training. Another post is soon to come about the davidsonville holiday ride on christmas eve but i just don't have the time right now.

Turkey Day race report

This sunday was Turkey day in september, and it was awesome! I came into this race just hoping I could hang on because I hadn't really trained since before FCCC in july.
So I showed up early on sunday morning at about 830. My race went off at 1015. This year I have really fine tuned my pre race prep so, I just sat in the car and under the tent in the parking lot. I got registered and all that "jazz". Andrew and ryan showed up about an hour and 15 minutes after. I started warming up at about 930 so I could get in 25 to 30 minutes and still have time to change out my rear wheel and do my roll out. After I got off the trainer I took 2 easy laps to check out the course. While I was reconning the course there were 3 ambulances tending to a crash in the race before mine. Not something I want to see when I'm about to race in the rain. So then I got my roll out and had the typical pre race chat with the official. So we started and I settled into a good rhythym I feel after I got used to the course. I would drop off the back alittle in the last corner so I could take it faster and I could make up the gap on the finishing stretch. Then I would cycle around the group of 20. With about 7 laps to go of a 12 lap crit an ncvc junior attacked and I followed we got a small gap which was awesome. I usually can't even stay with the group in juniors races so I was very happy to be doing something not just being pack fill. But that move was short lived as there were no artemis juniors in it. When we were caught steven kendall counter-attacked and I was in the red for a little while there but I stayed with the group. The road conditions were pretty poor at the stevensville turkey day venue. There were drains every 200 feet or so. I kept getting pinned into one about 1/3 of the way through and I kept having to stop pedaling to go over it. I don't know why I didn't learn from my mistakes. Maybe I'm just an idiot idk. There was a big hole after another drain that I also had to bunny hop atleast 3 times. That was annoying. On the final lap there was a split in the field that I didn't make because I was tail gunning that was kind of frustrating but, that's racing. In the final sprint for 10th was dumb I just followed wheels and I ended up getting 13th because a rider came around me and threw his bike. That was cool though. Overall I'm very happy with this race and really wish I would have raced more this year even tough I race probably 5 times as much as last year. Only one more race left: juniors day out. I'm not racing cross. I really wish I was. I plan on writing more about rides and stuff, so if you actually read this you have more to look forwatd to. I'd like to say thanks for all the help to a few people: Lance Lacy, thanks a bunch for all you've done for me. I wouldn't have had half the season I had without your help and advice.
My parent, thanks a bunch for all the financial support and taking me to races. I couldn't have raced this season with out me.
Mr. Dan thanks for providing the ABRT juniors team with all of your knowledge and organisational skills and such.
Mrs. Lisa, thanks for being the email coordinator person. We wouldn't have even known about races and rides without you.
Sorry if I forgot anyone but thanks a bunch
Nick c

Turkey Day race report

This sunday was Turkey day in september, and it was awesome! I came into this race just hoping I could hang on because I hadn't really trained since before FCCC in july.
So I showed up early on sunday morning at about 830. My race went off at 1015. This year I have really fine tuned my pre race prep so, I just sat in the car and under the tent in the parking lot. I got registered and all that "jazz". Andrew and ryan showed up about an hour and 15 minutes after. I started warming up at about 930 so I could get in 25 to 30 minutes and still have time to change out my rear wheel and do my roll out. After I got off the trainer I took 2 easy laps to check out the course. While I was reconning the course there were 3 ambulances tending to a crash in the race before mine. Not something I want to see when I'm about to race in the rain. So then I got my roll out and had the typical pre race chat with the official. So we started and I settled into a good rhythym I feel after I got used to the course. I would drop off the back alittle in the last corner so I could take it faster and I could make up the gap on the finishing stretch. Then I would cycle around the group of 20. With about 7 laps to go of a 12 lap crit an ncvc junior attacked and I followed we got a small gap which was awesome. I usually can't even stay with the group in juniors races so I was very happy to be doing something not just being pack fill. But that move was short lived as there were no artemis juniors in it. When we were caught steven kendall counter-attacked and I was in the red for a little while there but I stayed with the group. The road conditions were pretty poor at the stevensville turkey day venue. There were drains every 200 feet or so. I kept getting pinned into one about 1/3 of the way through and I kept having to stop pedaling to go over it. I don't know why I didn't learn from my mistakes. Maybe I'm just an idiot idk. There was a big hole after another drain that I also had to bunny hop atleast 3 times. That was annoying. On the final lap there was a split in the field that I didn't make because I was tail gunning that was kind of frustrating but, that's racing. In the final sprint for 10th was dumb I just followed wheels and I ended up getting 13th because a rider came around me and threw his bike. That was cool though. Overall I'm very happy with this race and really wish I would have raced more this year even tough I race probably 5 times as much as last year. Only one more race left: juniors day out. I'm not racing cross. I really wish I was. I plan on writing more about rides and stuff, so if you actually read this you have more to look forwatd to. I'd like to say thanks for all the help to a few people: Lance Lacy, thanks a bunch for all you've done for me. I wouldn't have had half the season I had without your help and advice.
My parent, thanks a bunch for all the financial support and taking me to races. I couldn't have raced this season with out me.
Mr. Dan thanks for providing the ABRT juniors team with all of your knowledge and organisational skills and such.
Mrs. Lisa, thanks for being the email coordinator person. We wouldn't have even known about races and rides without you.
Sorry if I forgot anyone but thanks a bunch
Nick c

FCCC!!!!!

This past weekend was The Tour de FCCC. The Tour de FCCC is a three stage juniors only stage race in allentown pennsylvania. This was my first stage race and to be honest I came into it knowing I wasn't very prepared. The week before I had been on vacation and only had the opportunity to train twice for one hour each time. I got back from vacation late thursday night and left early saturday for pennsylvania. My family and I stayed in room 328 at the comfort Inn about 15 minutes from the time trial and road race venue. On friday night my family and I ate at a restaurant called Bostons. I ordered lasagna and it was blegh but that's beyond the point.

I didn't get much sleep friday night as I was watching Lockup Raw. (Only the greatest show about Mendocino county ever.) so I woke up early on saturday morning so i could indulge in the bountiful feast that was Comfort Inn's continental breakfast. It was lovely! I had taken a drive around the TT/RR course the night before and I knew that it was going to be rough. I think my course reconnaissance only made me nervous. I got to the venue at about 7:15 or so, so I could check in and get my TT start time. During the time while I was waiting for my TT start time Kevin and I got in a lap of the course so we could get a feel for the hills. At 8:30 the TT times were posted and i was set to go off at 9:27. I relaxed for about 20 minutes and this made me nervous because I knew I should have brought my Aero-bars but I didn't I then started to warm up about 40 minutes to shuttle launch(A.K.A. my weak example of a TT). The TT did not go well at all I was hoping for a a sub 12 minute for the 4 mile route but ended up with a 12:40. I was passed 2 times and one was within the first 3 minutes. This was pretty disheartening.

The 15-16 mens road race was set to start with the 17-18 women at 12:32. This left about 3 hours after the TT to go get something to eat. The team and I all went to Cracker Barrel and I got some real breakfast. We showed back up at the venue about an hour early for the Road Race and Aidan and I decided to sit in the car to keep cool. Aidan and I had a few flaws in our race prep because we barely drank any water which was a huge flaw. The road race started slowly but quickly heated up and I soon found myself off the back with a young lady named isabella before the first lap was even over. I rode one more lap at a painfully slow pace and decided to call it quits on the Road Race. I hated myself for dnf-ing but I had to. Aidan dnf-fed one lap later we both didn't drink enough. We watched Kevin race in impressive fashion.

I woke up the next morning thinking I wasn't going to race the crit (even though I dnf-fed the Road Race we were allowed to race the crit with a time of 2 hours for the RR.) just because of nerves but Aidan convinced me to. I am so glad that i decided to race the crit because this had to be one of the most fun races I have ever done. The crit was set to be 20 miles (my longest crit so far). The race stated off pretty fast and I was holding on but having a great time. Aidan attacked with a few other guys which lifted the pace further and I was dropped. I eased off to recover and waited for the pack to come back around so that I could hop back on. I got back on with about 8 laps to go and I held on until the last lap and I finished just behind the pack.

Congrats To Aidan for getting 12th in the crit and congrats to kevin for racing strong all weekend. I will speak for the 3 guys that went up to The Tour de FCCC and say that I hope we can bring more teammates next year and maybe get a good result on GC.

RANDOM INFO:

The 15-16 and 17-18 TT's were both 4.1 miles. Both RR's were 7 laps or 29 miles. The 15-16 crit was 20 miles and the 17-18 crit was 25 miles.

Thanks for reading,

Nick Caddenhead