By: Embrocation Team Monday August 23, 2010

In last week’s Embro News section we mentioned that Pedro’s was going to be coming on as our latest team sponsor. This week they made good on their promise to supply us with some of their nicest goodies, including tools, lubes and cleaning products. Pedro’s has been sponsoring racing programs for years and they know a thing or two about how to best support their athletes. To them, as with our other sponsors, it’s more than just throwing money or goods at the teams and hoping for the best. It’s a process of educating the riders about the company, the products and in Pedro’s case, how to get the best results from these products. The boys at Pedro’s invited the team to spend some time with them at their facility in Haverhill, MA to get schooled on all the various items we’d be receiving and using over the course of the year.

So, this past Friday morning, Josh, Kyle, Linnea, Jackson, Jurgen, Pierre and James arrived at Pedro’s for the morning’s activities. Joining team Embro at Pedro’s were the four Keough brothers, known in the northeast and beyond as one of the cycling dynasties. They joined us and a few Pedro’s employees for a casual hour-long ride in the rolling hillsides of northeastern Massachusetts, followed by the obligatory coffee stop. Not a bad way to begin any meeting with a new sponsor, I would say.

After our ride, we settled down into comfy seats at the Pedro’s office to get an education in all things Pedro’s. Presenting to us was Matt Bracken, a staple of the bicycle industry for many years working for Merlin Metalworks back in the day, then Independent Fabrication and finally Pedro’s in recent years. One of the things that makes Matt so well-known is his extensive knowledge and experience working within the industry and as a mechanic for quite a few prominent athletes and teams over the years. Another is his incredible zeal for products. Any time Matt presents information about products it’s hard to tell where he ends and where the product begins, so infectious is his enthusiasm for what he represents.

Thus, we learned about Pedro’s, the company’s founding in Newport, Rhode Island 20 years ago; their commitment to making and improving their products, supporting racing and riding in all forms and doing everything possible to produce and delivery their products to market in the most environmentally-friendly manner possible. Matt was a wealth of information, both historical and current. He gave us a good overview of the various Pedro’s bike care products, including their cleaning products and their various condition-specific lubricants, including information on all their ingredients and when best to use them.

With our classroom time completed, we moved outside to enjoy some more of the beautiful day and watch Matt expertly clean Jackson’s dirty, gross bike. (In Jackson’s defense he made sure to get his bike extra dirty just for this event.)

The first step of the bike wash was to apply some Pro J solvent directly to the greasy, dirty drivetrain. This highly concentrated citrus degreaser was left to work while Matt prepared a bucket of bike wash, including Green Fizz which is Pedro’s multi-use bike cleaner. Once the Pro J had done its thing, Matt scrubbed the chain with a brush and then took a low pressure hose to the drivetrain and just as promised, Jackson’s gross, black, greasy chain quickly turned silver again as the grime melted off of it.

Drivetrain clean, Matt set to work with the bucket and brush, cleaning the frame, components and removing the wheels to give them a good and thorough cleaning. Each and every part getting a scrubbing with the foamy water / Green Fizz mix. This included the bar tape, which had, over a few hard weeks of training, turned from its original white to a dingy grey.

Next, Matt moved on to treating the drivetrain with lubricant. In this case he chose to use Ice Wax 2.0, which he said was one of the more popular choices for road riders because its bee’s wax formula cleaned, and quieted the chain in nearly all conditions. What was interesting was Matt’s method for application. He applied a large quantity of Ice Wax directly to the chain and then, while rotating the crank backwards, rubbed the chain between his thumb and forefinger, massaging the Ice Wax into the chain. As he did this, all the remaining dirt lodged in the chain’s rollers seemed to come out on Matt’s hand. After a minute of this treatment, the chain was as clean as the day it came out of the package. A quick rub with a clean rag, the chain was nice and lubricated and ready for action. Jackson’s Helium was back it’s bad-ass self again.

It was a good product demo and showed us the benefits of all the Pedro’s gear and even showed a few seasoned bike racers some easy new tips for bike maintenance.

Over the next few months we’ll be getting some more Pedro’s goods. In addition to some new tricks up our sleeves we left with wide array of lubes and cleaners as well as Pedro’s monstrously awesome Master Tool Kit, a couple Domestique Pumps a work bench, and a Demi-Torque Wrench to match the Torque Wrench 2.0 we already have and love. We’ll be employing these items to good effect over the next few months, especially as cross season settles in and we’re camping out full time at the races. We’ll be packing the full arsenal of Pedro’s gear at the races, so look for it and ask our team riders for some samples or if you want their opinions on which Pedro’s product is best for what conditions.

By: Embrocation Team Monday July 5, 2010

Some days your legs just don’t show up, for absolutely no reason at
all. Unlike on the road, there’s no place to hide in a mountain bike race. No teammates to sit behind; no wheel to draft. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world. I went out to Wisconsin feeling strong and climbing well, but come race time it felt like I was pedaling in triangles and going nowhere.

The Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) is one of the largest race series in the US. The Subaru Cup was their first shot at putting on a national-level event and they did a spectacular job. The XC course was a 6km loop winding all over Nordic Mountain – mostly twisty singletrack in the woods (thankfully, as it was hot as hell and a billion percent humidity – and, like Josh, I wilt like a little flower in the humid heat).

We’d poked fun at the Wisconsin alpine “mountain”; boasting 250 feet of vertical with two chairlifts, but the course designer had done a good job winding all over the mountain using every possible foot of elevation. After three laps of attempting to make my legs work, Georgia Gould was closing fast and I was mercifully pulled.

Short track, aka “the Hurricane of Pain”, was the following day and my legs felt a little better, perhaps opened up by the XC the day before.
It was a typically disgusting MTB short track course, with 100 feet of climbing in a 3 minute lap. I got a great start and maintained contact over the hill, despite being in full fight-or-flight mode and suppressing the urge to throw up. I managed to settle in behind Chloe Forsman and a Trek girl for a couple of laps. By then, I was feeling a little cooked and Chloe was just warming up. She took off, along with the Trek girl, and I chased fore a few more laps before Katie Compton was breathing down my neck and my race was over. I was joined in short order by almost all of the rest of the field, as Katie went on to lap all but 6 other riders by the finish.

The Super D was a couple hours after the short track. For those of you unfamiliar with what super D entails, it’s basically a mass-start downhill race with some climbing thrown in. Typically it’s a 7 minute race in which both downhillers and XC racers compete. The race started at the top of Nordic Mountain and ran one of the XC climbs in reverse. Due to the tight nature of the singletrack turns, it was hard to make much time on the descending, instead the time gaps would be made at the climb from the bottom up to the finish — which, while relatively short, when placed at the end of a 5 minute pedal-to-the-metal downhill, hurt like hell.

Because of the number of competitors, they decided to split the field into two waves of approximately 10 riders. I lined up next to Super D Queen, Kelli Emmett. She got the holeshot into the singletrack, with me right on her tail. Kelli bunny-hopped the first rock garden, which seemed like a great idea, so I tried to follow suit. Coming unclipped mid-air, I managed to tap into some ninja skills and land one-footed to recover without losing all of my speed or going off into the woods.

I’ve heard that athletes are great liars – your brain needs to lie to your body to convince it to go harder and faster when your muscles are already screaming. It’ll convince you to push a bigger gear; get out of your seat and hammer; it’s only 10 seconds more…

By the time we hit the climb, I was employing every trick in the book up that final climb to keep pushing in the third race in two days. I finished second in my heat behind Kelli, third overall, for my first podium in a national-level race (admittedly, some of the other pros headed for the airport after the short track). It was a great way to finish a less-than-stellar weekend.

By: Embrocation Team Friday December 4, 2009

Our previous post on Sterling had to be pulled because the sizing on some of the photos was creating havoc on the website. They’ll be posted again later on. I love getting emails asking me “where did the latest team posting go?” This makes me feel like I’m doing something right with the whole team thing…

Anyway, on to Sterling Day 2. The blustery Saturday had given way to a sunny and seasonably warm Sunday with minimal wind. As is typical of the two day Verge races, the course had changed on the second day as well. While it shared many aspects in common with the previous day, Sunday’s course was more technical in nature – sharper corners and more of them, technical approaches to barriers and run-ups and a challenging off-camber downhill section into a 90 degree turn that caused more than a few slide-outs. Still a fast course, but better for technically proficient riders with the ability to accelerate quickly and repeatedly.

Also, it seems our custom here at Team Embrocation is to always have a better Sunday session, like Saturday was a warm-up.

In the Cat 3 race, Morrison took his second victory in as many days. Despite an early race crash, James was able to find his way back up to the front of the race and attacked out of the lead group of 3 into the final series of turns to take the win. Meanwhile, Cary crashed a few times and broke his front wheel but still managed to come in 12th on the day, limiting his losses to Verge leader Colin Huston and keeping himself in the running for the overall Verge leadership.

In the elite women’s race, Perri had one of her better performances of the year and raced with consistent strength and keen presence of mind the entire time to slot in at 9th place only a short distance behind some of the fastest women in the world.

The ride of the day came from Pete Bradshaw in the elite men’s race. It’s been a roller-coaster season for Mr. Bradshaw with some rough times early in the season. In recent weeks, though, Bradshaw seems to have found his legs.

On Sunday he earned his first UCI point by finishing 10th after a long and difficult battle against many of the best riders around, including Al Donahue and Manny Goguen and was able to finish just behind Luke Keough and Dylan McNicholas.

Pete Smith and PBV also raced in the elite men’s field and represented well. Pete finishing 18th on the day with a solid ride.

Good race and good performances all around. Everyone is looking forward to the finale of the Verge series races this weekend in Warwick, RI.

And one more thing. Boom:

Here’s our boy Eric tackling the run-up at the Northampton race early last month. Photo by Kevin Gutting from the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

By: Embrocation Team Monday November 23, 2009

Shedd park is a local race in Lowell, MA, close to Boston and not far from New Hampshire. Despite the big races on Long Island this weekend, the big doggies still came out to play in Lowell – there was some serious talent on display this year with an elite field featuring many of the nation’s fastest riders. We held our own on a fast course with variable terrain.

By: Embrocation Team Monday November 16, 2009

It was a hard weekend both mentally and physically with broken bikes, flats, jammed shifting, and nearly rolled tubulars but we managed to keep a full fleet of bikes running for the entirety of the weekend and I was able to get on Tim Johnson’s wheel both days…

Day 1
———
Hurricane Ida left us with mud. Thick sloppy mud laced with grass. ‘Trenton Mud’ was a phrase we’ve all heard since last years slop-fest and we were treated to more today. I’ve been waiting for this race for a few weeks now and have really been trying to get on form to turn myself inside out here for a decent result. Mud is a bit of an enemy for me so after an early forecast of dry weather was overruled by mother nature, I was nervous to see what Ida had done to my grass track. I had an ok start and once things started to string out I tried to put some power down, but to no avail. Hoping that others were having the same difficulties I slogged on and worked out a few lines through the twisty off camber sections near the top of the course. In fact, I think was actually going faster through those sections than on the straights. Eventually the course got the better of me though. My rear derailleur clogged with grass and I snapped the hanger. People streamed by and I was hoping the slowness of the course would keep me from getting lapped but Trebon caught me a turn before the pit. Johnson entered the pit just after me. I let him exit first and I jumped on his wheel for the first time of the week. There is a reason he was lapping me though and soon I was alone again after getting schooled on a few corners. TJ must train by riding on the rails of train tracks because although he appears to be cornering with reckless abandon his wheels never seem to stray from the line. I finished up and got to trying to find a new hanger for the next days race.

Day 2
————-
We were awaiting our grid positions when, after only the first row or two had been placed, the remaining 50 riders rushed the grid. Your starting position was now determined by your confidence in how long you can sprint full bore into the backs of the best cyclocrossers in the country and get on the brakes before you smash into them. After some grumbling and noticing that a few people with UCI points were on the back row we were re-gridded. (It’s funny to note that those with UCI points didn’t seem to mind being where they were too much? Ultra confident that they would be able to cut through the fodder and get to the front group maybe? Or maybe they just forgot what its like to stand in place, 10 seconds at a time, while the flow of riders funnels through each of the first few technical corners.) Happy now with the grid but with a loss of one row the race started.

Course conditions had dried through the day and we had a few new sections of grass that had held up through the day’s earlier races. The remaining mud was either thick and packing into deep greasy ruts or a slow grass bog of spongecake and super glue.

After the start I found Manny Goguen’s wheel and we were actually going fast. The legs were feeling good and I had a fast wheel in front of me (Manny finished 27th the day before!). We closed on the group in front of us really fast into some technical twists and turns. When the course opened up again I took the initiative and went past the group into the barriers. I caught someone right at the barriers, his first step an unrecoverable tell on what was to happen next. A stuffed foot on the first barrier led to a front wheel into the second and a headfirst dive into the mud. I tried to sneak by on the right but our bikes tangled and I went down too. The crash really took the wind out of me and I sort of settled into a steady grind after coming tauntingly close to getting the wheels of Dave Wilcox and Colin Reuter but never quite getting there. Johnson came by me on his second to last lap and for the second time of the weekend I jumped on his wheel for a few turns and a quick lesson on efficiency. I stayed with him just long enough to have a fleeting thought of ‘this isn’t so bad’ but the next turn and little run up a hill turned into a 5 second gap and by the time I remounted my bike he was on and through the next turn 100 meters down the course. Oh well, I finished up and found my traveling companions who not only did a pro job in the pit, but saved me a few crazy zeppole pastry things for a perfect post race heart attack.

Other notes
—————-
When in Trenton its worth checking out Malaga Restaurant. Been there twice now for their Paella and its pretty damn good. Carey went for the small steak which was bigger than his subwoofers. Really good but expect $20 a plate.

Vincent’s pizza has Zeppoles, the most crazy pastry ever. Must eat one.

When leaving Trenton 206 to 287 is a fast low key option to Rt 1 to 95.

Take the Tappan Zee bridge not the George Washington! Myerson gave us the tip for taking Rt 206 and provided this classic tweet:
“Just ripped across the Tappan Zee and heard from @johnswah that @jessedanthony is stuck on the GW. Rookie.”

Thanks to Ian Campbell at IC Photo for the images above.

By: Embrocation Team Monday November 9, 2009

There were some remarkable performances by Embrocation riders on day one of the Verge races in Northampton, MA. In the 3 field, Chris Laflamme and Cary Fridrich had awesome days both, finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively and Cary taking the overall lead in the Verge series. In the pro field, Bradshaw rode like a man possessed to finish 17th, while Pete Smith churned away just a couple riders behind to finish 20th.

Since I was away in New York attending another event there (stay tuned for more details on that) most of the race reporting this weekend comes from day 2.

Kyle preps his bike, no doubt cleaned thoroughly the night before… then flexes the guns prior to start.

Friend of the team Brock Dennis had a little fall while warming up and did some serious damage to his shoulder.

Laflamme suits up for another hard race…

Then gets off to an early lead with a few other riders on the first lap.

I had a decent start but faltered a bit on the second lap and fell into a chase group a little bit behind the Laflamme lead group.

Cary wears the Verge series leader’s jersey, which weighs heavily on him this day.

Kyle had a rough start but made up ground on the flat, grassy sections.

Laflamme drops the others in the lead group and wrestles his bike through the sand pit…

And manages to keep it upright.

I was not as skilled and ran my way through the sand.

Chris takes a hard-fought and long-awaited win, holding off a hard charge from two NCC riders.

Chris was happy with his win, but rode so hard to get it he bit through his tongue and had a mouth full of blood.

I managed to shed a few riders to finish 5th, but wasn’t able to catch the Laflamme group.

Cary’s disappointment with his ride is evident as he crosses the line in 10th…

But his hard effort to limit his losses paid off as he was able to retain the overall lead in the Verge series for another day.

Laflamme enjoys the top box on the podium, flanked by Evan Huff and Colin Murphy from NCC, who gave chase but to no avail.

Gold.

___________________________________________________________

The Pro field was typical of the Verge races. Relatively small field with an extremely deep talent pool.

The pro field departs.

There was a crash, almost immediately and Peters Bradshaw and Smith are caught in the tumble, but unhurt.

Pete Smith puts in an all-out effort to chase back on to the group.

Rubi is arguably the most stylish of us all on the bike. So smooth…

And on the run-up, he was putting on a clinic. He may have been the fastest off the bike of the entire race.

PVB takes a hard corner at full speed and wears his emotions vividly.

Bradshaw clawed his way back from behind the crash and reeled in Adam Meyerson. They rode together for the latter part of the race.

Bradshaw tried his best to shake off Meyerson before the sprint finish, but couldn’t drop the CycleSmart rider.

Bradshaw slides in for an 18th place finish on the day – quite impressive by any standard, especially considering the issues at the start.

By: Embrocation Team Wednesday November 4, 2009

Team member Chris Laflamme was recently interviewed by a well-known local cycling blog, Maine Velophile Below is the majority of the interview, printed with permission from Dana, who runs that blog.

How long have you been racing your bike?

The very first race I did was a mountain bike race in the fall of 2004 at Sleepy Hollow in Huntington, Vermont while in college. I was on an orange Klein Pulse Race that I bought on Ebay for the Trek Across Maine. My friends, riders from St. Michael’s Cycling Team, were yelling at me not to lose. It was so hard and my body was hurting in all kinds of ways theretofore not experienced.

What got you started in the sport?

As unlikely an answer as it is, the thing that got me into racing was the Trek Across Maine. I had to give up basketball because of some intense and Earth shattering shin-splints I developed. The summer after my freshman year in college my uncles convinced me it would be a really good idea to pedal a bicycle across Maine with them. That was when the orange Klein was procured on Ebay. I sprinted the first 20 miles on the first day and almost passed out on the side of the road. I remember sitting on a moss covered rock thinking that I was going to die and people were calmly riding by asking me if I was alright… I wasn’t.

When I got to college and hooked up with the guys from the cycling club and after doing some rides with them they convinced me to do my first race, which was that mountain bike race in Vermont. I was lucky enough to be involved with St. Michael’s College Cycling Club when it had a solid contingent of the region’s best riders and the psychological support for a beginner was indispensable.

How long were you with SMCC? Did you start out as a Cat 5 with them?

I started with SMCC after from a hot tip from Dan Vaillancourt. I was checking out results on bikereg.com and saw that Dan was riding for SMCC. I thought he was sponsored by the hospital in Biddeford (SMMC). I wrote him a drunken email one night at college requesting some advice. We were both from Maine, going to school in VT, he was leading the ECCC, and I had once tried to date his sister so I thought that was enough to suggest a connection. He said I should get involved with SMCC when I get back home during summer. On one of my first rides (still one of my favorites) I bonked hard coming back on Route 9 and had to sit down on the ground. Jack Beaudoin offered to stay with me and we all met at the pizza shop after the ride with Joe Moreshedd and other guys. That is the reason SMCC is such a great thing. There was so much pain on those SMCC rides and the company was first rate: Reverend Dan, Jamie Wright, Jacko, Joe Moreshedd, Joe Hepp & his calves, Dixon, the list just doesn’t stop. I learned as much about being good person as being a good rider in their company, so I thank them for that.

Chris LaFlamme, second from the right, with a few of his previous teammates

You recently became a Cat 2. How hard was it to go from a Cat 3 to a Cat 2?

Once you transition from 3 to 2 you realize that even though you were going hard as a 3 you were never truly racing in the same way as the pros that you look up to. Once you get to the 2s you’re racing the Pro/1/2 category every week where you have regionally, nationally, and sometimes internationally talented riders ripping the race apart. You have teams performing race tactics and, I apologize if this sounds elitist, but you are finally racing your bicycle for real. The difficultly level is certainly higher and the gap between the best and the worst is a yawning chasm. You have guys that have just upgraded from 3 and you have guys like McCormack, Vaillancourt, the Brothers King, and the Keogh Klan that regularly kill it on a national level. The distance and speed both ratchet up significantly making having a team damn near indispensable.

You now ride for the Embrocation Cycling Journal Team. How did that come about? What has that transition been like?

Better than perfect. I was showing up to all the early season races while I was still a cat 3 and I kept seeing these guys that I raced against the year before in the 3’s in these beautiful kits on these fantastic looking green bikes. Even better, they were mixing it up in the Pro1/2 races. I knew two of the guys, James Morrison & Jay Combs, fairly well so when I finally pulled the cat 2 trigger I approached them expecting to get declined. Thankfully I didn’t.

The best thing about this team is the quality of each rider as an individual. I could spend a full week with any of these guys in a one room shack without a TV and talk about anything from fiscal policy, to philosophy, to tire tread. This past weekend we stacked 7 people in my little apartment and had a blast. You can’t underestimate how important a thing that dynamic is.

How much time do you spend training?

That’s a hard question. After I upgraded I got dropped in my first Pro1/2 race (Sunapee Road Race) which was also my first race with the team. That set off alarm bells in my head so I started hitting 20 hour weeks for 3 weeks in a row, which was no mean feat since I work for the Man 9-6. I found that that is about my saturation point. Most weeks I go for between 12-18 depending on where I’m at in my season.

What is your favorite event?

The Green Mountain Stage Race will always hold special meaning for me since it always feels like a homecoming. I went to college at St. Michael’s in Colchester, VT as I said, which is right next to Burlington. A lot of those roads the race goes through are the same roads that had an integral part in my starting up as a cyclist. I have a very strong nostalgic connection to that race which adds to it’s desirability for me. I never get quite as excited or nervous for any other race all year.

Cyclocross seems to be all the rage. When did you start racing ‘cross?

Yeah, it’s fun right?! The year before last I discovered this thing called cyclocross which I understood to be some idiotic form of mountain bike racing with road bikes. I volunteered at SMCC’s Rotary Park ‘cross race that year and raced the B race on my mountain bike in swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt. The guys at the front of the race were a bit perplexed because I found myself up there for the first couple of laps. I did a couple more races like that the following year. Gloucester was great; on my mountain bike in a child’s Human Torch Halloween costume. I think some parents averted their childrens’ eyes. It was after that race in Gloucester that I knew I would try to race the following year (this year) to try to do well.

Chris in his Human Torch costume at Grand Prix of Gloucester in 2008

You had a great weekend in Providence with a podium spot the first day. Talk a little bit about that race – what worked, what didn’t work, your mishap on day two.

Thanks. It’s great that people actually care and follow that stuff back home. It’s motivating and keeps me honest to know that I’m not only representing myself and my team but also southern Maine.

I’m quickly discovering that I have a tendency to go out too hard and fade in the end – something that you witnessed first hand in New Gloucester. So my plan for Providence was to just hang comfortably with the leaders and attack for the win with one to go. It didn’t quite work out that way. The two guys who beat me just went a little harder than I could in the end. I was really disappointed because for the first 2 laps it was so easy that I kept forcing myself not to attack. I attacked a little too early when one of the guys in our group of 3 hit the ground on a slippery turn. I got reeled back in and didn’t have the punch to hang until the end. I held onto a podium spot, which was nice. The good thing about cyclocross, and even racing in New England in general, is that every time you take a clean beating – no mechanicals or issues of any kind – you can’t help but be really happy for those doing the beating since they are almost always really good guys.

I am always always always better on the second day so I had high hopes for myself. When my front wheel washed out in front of me ½ through the first lap and someone landed on my wheels rendering my bike unridable I was a bit vexed. After a very long pedal exchange into the put I was off on a neutral bike about 5 minutes off the back of the race. Unfortunately, this was my fastest ‘cross racing form of the year so far. I just felt better and better while I tried to pass as many people as possible but I was racing from 5 minutes off the back of the group due to pilot error. My favorite thing about that weekend was battling to get back into the group. You’d be amazed at how tenacious the riders where when I tried to pass them. We were bumping elbows and battling for 70th, 60th, & 50th place. I actually lost a hard fought sprinting battle with a guy for 51st. That was awesome.

Chris at the Downeast Cyclocross race in New Gloucester, Maine. We could always pick him out by this bright orange gloves.

Chris, far right, proving he’s a better racer on the second day with a podium spot.

Why embrocate?

If you would have asked me that last week before DownEast my answer wouldn’t hold quite so much zeal. Slathering my legs up before Saturday’s race and being able to race warm without leg warmers was borderline euphoric. I didn’t even know the word embrocation before this year and now I am absolutely in love with it. I’ll enumerate the reasons for my love:

The smell – so fresh and tasty you have to fight to not eat it with a spoon.

The look – shiny glistening legs make you look and feel faster than you really are. That’s a double edged sword.

The function – cold and/or wet weather riding without the added mess and weight of heavy leg or knee warmers collecting mud and water. Embrocation also beads off water and thin mud not allowing it to seep into your skin.

The feel (during) – if applied correctly (I’m still working on my technique) you’re legs start to get the slow burn right at the start line. The warmth keeps going all through the race.

The feel (after) – in the shower after a ride the embrocation is re-activated giving your legs slow radiating warmth that is very welcome after a cold, long ride.

What is your favorite Mad Alchemy product?

Although all the medium heat stuff is more in season right now (Uber Secret, Russich Tea, Coffee & regular) I used the Cold Weather Mellow heat a lot this fall and summer. It’s perfect for those early morning rides that are just cold enough to require leg warmers at the start but you know that it’s going to warm up to the point were you won’t want them towards the middle. In the light rain it is fantastic. I would say that is certainly the most versatile year ‘round Mad Alchemy product. I’m using Russisch Tea a lot right now though. Ask me again in April and I might have a different answer. I hear Insanity is back on the market (hotter than the hottest hot). I’ve never tried it so I’ll let you know.

What is your favorite piece of equipment for your bike or your body?

That saddle is right up there but my favorite, couldn’t live without, would die if I didn’t have it, item would be the Rapha Softshell Jacket I just got. It is so light you can wear it on mildly warm days but it’s also impervious to wind and rain. It has all these sneaky little secret features like a pump holder in the back pocket, a rain flap, a high collar, shallow pockets etc. The list goes on and on. I love that thing.

What’s up next? Short term, long term goals?

That is something I’ve been struggling with for that past week or two. In the short term there are some Verge races that I would love to do. Northhampton being on the top of the list. I am also registered for the JV B Team Nationals out in Bend, OR. I don’t really know if I can train effectively for Nationals and still be as good as possible for the road season next year. During this time I’m typically tootling around looking at leaves and riding my little ring a lot.

The longer term goals are a bit more exciting.

I want to be good enough next spring to help the team for Battenkill. That is a fantastic race. Absolutely one of a kind in this region. I won’t have the fitness to contest the win I don’t think but I should be able to tear myself apart to see to it that someone on the team has a shot at the podium.

Fitchburg is a pretty big goal for me next year. The course will suit me better since that are putting the finish climb back to the road race. I would like to go ballistic here.

Ideally I would like to have enough points to be a cat 1 by Green Mountain Stage Race next year, which is a seriously tall order. If not, I’ll have my sights set on the top spot on the box for GC.

I’m really looking forward to the Elite Amateur National Championships in 2011. All the fastest guys in the nation without a contract will be there and by 2011 I should have what it takes to not get dropped and actually race the race not just participate.

You are pretty young and racing a lot. What advice would you give to a new kid just starting out?

Eat! Eat food and don’t mess around with weight control. I know there is a lot of pressure within the cycling community to hold extremely low weight but juniors should ignore this. Stay away from unhealthy food and fake calories but, to quote Davis Phinney, “Eat a lot, ride a lot. Ride a lot, eat a lot.” Also, go out of your way to respect officials, promoters, and volunteers. They are the pillars on which this bike racing thing rests and I rarely see them get the respect they deserve. Don’t do it for any hope of favors to special treatment. Just do it because it’s right.

By: Embrocation Team Sunday November 1, 2009

By: Embrocation Team Sunday November 1, 2009

Saturday was off to an earlier than usual start for me and the family. I decided racing the masters race would be my best option for maintaining my marriage, and love of my children. Trick or treat holds significant gravity in our household and seeing that Ella had been wearing her unicorn costume for the past 3 weeks was a pretty good indicator of the importance of Halloween. Fortunately, the race is relatively close and has a kick-ass playground to keep the kids occupied during my warm up.

The race, initially, went off pretty much as I expected. I felt confident and strong during my warm up and hit the line flying. I sat up a bit and went through the first corner in second position. I was quickly leading the group through the outer field and by the time I hit the barriers 4 of us had a decent gap on the rest of the field. Kevin Hines, Sam Morse, Curtis Boivin and I rode together for a lap or so before Hines rode off the front of the group with a little help / blocking from his teammate Morse. I waited just a second too long and Hines had us gapped.

Obviously, Morse was not going to work to pull back his teammate, and Boivin didn’t seem interested in doing anything but waiting for the finish, so I turned myself inside out to chase, attack, and gap the other two in the group, but to no avail. A slight slip on the last lap, left me gapped, efforts to catch back on drained me for the sprint. I finished 4th on the day. I felt like the young Padawan Learner getting schooled by his master. Outwitted, but not beaten in the least.

I was excited to race Sunday as well. The smaller races mean that I have a chance to compete, an opportunity not to get my head kicked in by the truly elite of the elite. With the small-ish field and a heavy-petting zoo, everyone was sure to come home happy.

Honestly, this was one of the most fun, best courses I’ve raced on this year. Brian, from Nor’east, did a great job setting up the course with enough twists and turns to make even the best bike handler dizzy. The orchard section combined with the fast, hard-packed farm roads made for a quick ride. Bradshaw nailed the holeshot, and raced strongly all day. I felt strong again today, and felt like a champ after passing Justin Spinelli on a fast dirt section of the course (he had obviously flatted, but dropping a guy like that does a bunch for one’s confidence). About 5 seconds later, J-Spin got a bike change and promptly dropped me.

Bradshaw and I rode together for a lap or so, but Peter’s legs proved too strong for me. He gradually rode away from me and held his spot for 4th place. I was being chased by a group of 3 for most of the race and was caught on the last lap by the group. I promptly attacked, dropping Colin Murphy (future teammate and all-around good guy). I attacked again and dropped ccb’s John Bernard. That left me with one guy to beat for 5th place.

In the end, I set Damien up perfectly to take him down in the sprint. He took a very strange line through the last corner, like a line that I would never had taken had I ridden that corner 1000 times. Instead of following his natural arch, he braked and sharpened his trajectory, cornering much harder than was necessary. I had to break in order to avoid hitting his rear wheel. By the time I could regain speed, he had beaten me by a tread’s width.

Thanks for reading.

Pete Smith

By: Embrocation Team Monday October 26, 2009

Jeremy’s been dreaming about mud. Now I’m having nightmares about it. Calling this past weekend bike racing is a bit of a stretch, I would say. The races at New Gloucester, Maine were the muddiest conditions I’ve encountered in a long time – certainly the muddiest by far of this year.

Saturday rained – hard. And it was cold. The racing was wet and miserable. While the weather improved greatly the following day, the mud situation worsened, as the previous 24 hours left the entire course a bog, much of it impassible.

As always, I feel it’s best to tell the story of a weekend in pictures. Notice a few things as you peruse this array of photos:

1) New team jackets from Rapha. There’s been a long, profitable and unofficial relationship between Embrocation and Rapha. I was more than proud to present the team with the new rain jackets from Rapha tastefully emblazoned with our moka pot logos. Supertight.

2) Um, new team bikes. New team bikes! Ridley X-Fires to be exact. They just arrived the previous Thursday, leaving minimal time to build them up prior to the mud-slinging. These things absolutely rock. Kudos to Jeremy for applying his design prowess to delivering a stunning paint job and to a bunch of Belgians who evidently know a whole lot about how to build a bicycle.

3) Suffer face. Who has the best? My money is on Pete Smith this time around. Picture after picture, he is the incarnation of intensity.

4) Action in the pits. With so much mud, the pits were alive and kicking – never a dull moment. Laflamme went right from the Cat 3 podium to frantically washing bikes for the elite race.

5) Broken stuff. Dirty stuff. Broken, dirty stuff.

And away we go.