Monthly Archives: April 2016

Season on Hold

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

Okay, I got an offer, that for some reason interested me, so I’m going to put racing on hold for a few months.

I got a call from a reporter from the LA Times last week and did a fairly long interview about the Nicholas Brandt-Sorenson deal.  The story wasn’t so much on Nicholas selling doping products on the internet but was about the outrage about him holding so many Strava KOM’s in the LA area.

The reporter was asking me if the KOM’s were necessary for Strava’s business model and how much I thought that removing them would cost Strava’s bottom line.

I told him that I was kind of dismayed that the article wasn’t more about a master guy that didn’t hold a license, selling doping products.  And maybe even using them.  He said that was the premise.   I guess we were all still assuming that he was using the products he was selling to grab all these Strava KOM’s under the pseudonym Thorfinn-Sassquash.   I really have no idea if that is true.

The reporter called me up again yesterday and he has been in contact, multiple times, with Strava and they want to do a secret experiment.  At least that was how it was presented to me, but as I listened, the secrecy wasn’t really that important, thus, this post.

Anyway,  someone that knows me at Strava and this guy from the LA Times, they decided that they should fly me out to LA and pay me try to retake as many Strava KOM’s as possible from Thorfinn.  They are fairly sure that I am riding legitimately, ie, no drugs, and are interested whether I can retake any, most, or all of Mr. Sassquash’s KOM’s and how long it would take me to do it.

Obviously it wasn’t an easy decision.  They realized it wasn’t going to be a week proposition, so I told them I needed to drive out to California, to bring Tucker along, and get a place to stay semi-permanently.  Maybe I could set some KOM’s during races?

They said they would put me up in the Shade Hotel, Manhattan Beach, for two, maybe three months, and it was up to me to retake as many KOM’s as I could.  (The hotel has a killer breakfast buffet.)

I went to Thorfinn’s Strava page and saw that he has about 200+ more followers than a couple weeks ago when this all came down.  That old adage, even bad news is better than no news, or something like that ,is true.  Thorfinn set a new KOM on Tom Solane Trail Climb just yesterday.

So, I called the reporter back and told him that I would accept his offer.   I told him that they would need to find someone else to conquer the running KOM’s that Nicholas holds.  They weren’t so interested in those.  He said that the story would be on cycling.

He made sure that I was using a power meter and wanted me to record all the power numbers etc.  I told them that Strava did that already for me.   Another perk out the deal is that I’m getting a new Garmin 1000.  My old 800 is on its last legs and I didn’t think it would cut the mustard for this important endeavor.   We also talked about using a bicycle with a motor to see how many more watts it might take to reclaim the KOM’s that are too far out of reach for my meager abilities.  Seems a little ridiculous.   I don’t think that is a very  plausible idea?

I have a couple weeks to get everything in order.  I’m hoping to maybe race Joe Martin and then go out with some good form.

So,  I am going to be a the first professional Strava KOM reclaimer I guess. Not a bad gig.  Strava is sending me clothing.  I suggested that they get Thorfinn’s clothing company Brandt-Sorenson, to make the clothing(I’m interested in seeing what a $400 pair of bib shorts feel like), but I think they already have their own clothing.  Maybe I can get Nicholas himself to escort me on some of the segments?

I figure I can probably schedule 10 KOM’s per ride, so it will take me close to 90 days to try them all.  Some I might have to ride a few times, wind aided, etc., so maybe it might take a little longer.  I’m excited to be getting paid to do such an important task.    I’m hoping I can rally a few good riders to help me out later this month in the LA area.  Remember to follow me on Strava to keep up with my quest.

 

Heat map of the LA area. I'm studying it.

Heat map of the LA area. I’m studying it.

Tucker didn't like the idea of living in a hotel for 3 or 4 months very much. I guess it would be half of his life. (He is such an exhibitionist.)

Tucker didn’t like the idea of living in a hotel for 3 or 4 months very much. I guess it would be half of his life. (He is such an exhibitionist.)

 

 

Starting the Weekend Tired

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

Thank god for the weekend.  Seems like there is too much stuff to do during the week.  I would normally rest up for racing on the weekend, but since I’m just mediocre, it seems responsible to be doing things now so I don’t have to do them later when I’m better than mediocre.

I rode pretty hard on Thursday, nearly 60 miles and it was super windy.  I was hoping to rest up some yesterday, but started a car project on Dennis’ van and it ended up being from 11 to 5:30.  It seemed pretty nice in the driveway when everyone was rolling up to ride and I was still dressed in street clothes covered in grease.  So I changed pretty quick and was just a little late.

I under dressed by a lot.  I thought it was in the upper 50’s and it was really in the mid 40’s.  My legs and hands were cold the whole way.  I never got warm.

Today is a local road/circuit race over by Lawrence.  It is only 41 miles and I was thinking about riding the 45 miles over there, but might drive.  I think I will maybe ride after the race instead of before.  I would sort of like to try to ride to the best of my ability and don’t think that would be after nearly 90 miles.  It is supposed to be much warmer today, so that is good.  Not hot, but in the 60’s.  Hot is tomorrow.  The forecast is for the mid 80’s.

There is a criterium tomorrow afternoon, so that should be interesting.  Flanders is tomorrow too.  I’m having to go with Sagan, even though I think that Cancellara should win.  I don’t think he can shake Sagan and Sagan will outsprint him.  I very much doubt Bonnen will be there. Greg Van Avermaet might be, then that will be interesting.  Sagan has been pulling with Cancellara this past couple months.  I doubt he’ll get so tired that he has a problem.  But it is a bike race and anything can happen.

Tucker has been great the past few days.  I took him to the vet and he gained 9 1/2 pounds the last 3 weeks.  He’s all done with his shots and is good to go.  He has been running with me on my bike, plus walking a couple times a day.  He is getting much faster.  About a mile an hour each run.  I’m keeping it pretty short until he grown up a little more.

Trudi is in Holland with the BMC Development Team.  She said that the guys are young and don’t get their legs rubbed except at races, so their legs are hard.  A Dutch guy that she is massaging won yesterday, so he has all the jerseys.  Kind of fun when that happens.  It is a three day stage race, so it is early.

Okay, I’d better get going.  Going out to breakfast with Dennis, Bill, Catherine and her mom.Then heading off to race.  I hope a few more guys show up.  I think there are only 2 pre-registered.  I’m hoping for 20, but don’t think that is going to happen.  This small races are really hard.

The BMC guy that won. Not sure of his name.

The BMC guy that won. I don’t know his name.

New rotors, calipers and pads on Dennis' van.

New rotors, calipers and pads on Dennis’ van.

Seems like I have been doing a lot of brakes recently.

Seems like I have been doing a lot of brakes recently.

Frankie and Tucker on Dennis' lap heading over to the trails to walk.

Frankie and Tucker on Dennis’ lap heading over to the trails to walk.

This is from two days ago. Tucker seems pretty scared when Hawkeye started barking. He is much bolder now.

This is from two days ago. Tucker seems pretty scared when Hawkeye started barking. He is much bolder now.