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)

waba_vasa_ride

March 11 2010

so "leading" a ride like the vasa ride from the swedish embassy is really more like following the ride. with hundreds of participants, way more than expected, me and the other marshalls on the ride had to depend on experienced riders like arley kemmerer and heidi goldberg and mark plotz to hang in with the front group so we could follow and fix flats and such. it went off with out a hitch, and i rode the 60 miles moving from one group to the next, helping those on the side of the road as i went.

but since this is about my training, ill properly relate it to that topic: 60 miles in this format is actually a pretty good resemblance to the finals at cmwc. every group i was with was moving pretty fast, but i wasnt settled to just stay with anyone. id make sure they were ok, then accelerate to the next bunch up the road. the stopping and starting for lights, intersections, conversations, mechanicals (other's mechanicals, not mine of course, though my new pedal/shoe combo was squeaking a bit) all have a similar strain on the heartrate as hitting the checkpoint at cmwc. up and down, try to recover instantly, and try to stay in control of your breathing and muscles the whole way through. any exhaustion would be a bad sign right now. i wasnt pushing race pace or anything, and kept my heartrate below the redline. so how was i at the end of the 4 hours? fresh and ready to go again. just where i want to be right now. the endurance feels good, the winter hours have paid off. next comes speed. im going to have to race to really get that. im thinking about the dismall dash tt this sunday. tt's are a great measure, and the 25 miles in southern virginia will be a good test for me. but it will take crits, and riding off wheels like dave osbourne and josh frick to really get my speed up. still a long way to go, but i feel the training is on the right path...