I've moved!

I migrated over to Tumblr where I am currently getting things in order and refining the blog. All my archives have transferred over, so I'm letting this ship sink. Find me in the same place:

http://ototheo.com

or

ototheo.tumblr.com


Thanks for the support!

-Phil

BKLA "Black Edition" Jersey Pre-Sale

Due to popular demand and as a celebration of the #BKLA13 adventure HSUPER! is offering a limited Black Edition of the Jersey design used for our trip. Pre-order yours now here before April 5th!

BKLA13

This trip has so far been amazing on so many levels. There really aren't any words to sum it up. Everything has panned out perfectly. When one (or many) of us hesitated towards something, someone pushed us all to do it and it has ended amazing every time. I am amongst a great group of people that push each other on and off the bike. We are already planning our next trip later this year.

I will update this blog after the trip with some photos and words that I don't post over at bkla13.tumblr.com. In the meantime, check that out since we are all collectively posting there during the trip.

One from Friday on top of the Hollywood hills:

BKLA

So I haven't posted anything about the adventure in front of me right now. 6 of us are going to LA this Wednesday.

During that time we have 3 rides planned in the mountains, and another in Topanga canyon. 4 of us are also doing the Wolfpack Hustle Marathon crash race. Its a 26 mile, point to point race at 4am that spans the LA marathon course.

March 18th is my birthday, and I can't think of a better way to spend it. The rest of the time will be filled with food, beach, sun, sand and massages. I can't fucking wait!

You can follow our adventure at : bkla13.tumblr.com, http://cycleangelo.cc, or http://the5thfloor.co.uk

On instagram: #BKLA13

Ready to roll!

Grants Tomb Crit 3/9/13

This past weekend was Grants Tomb Crit. Fun, fast course. I felt like I did everything right during the race until the end. The final sprint started way earlier than expected. By the time I realized what was going on, I knew my chances were over. I probably put in a solid 75% effort at the end and ended up 9th out of a field of 50 or so. Our lead group of 11 had about 45 seconds on the rest of the peloton at the finish.

Photo © Anthony Benavides

First road race of the season, first crash of the season...

I wasn't planning on racing until Tour of the Battenkill in April. As it sits now I will have 4 races before I do that one. Today was #1, the Spring series in Central Park.

I felt good this morning except my knee which has been giving me issues. Legs felt strong and ready and I had 3 of my friends to work with in the race. Everything felt in place.

The race started and it was pretty laid back until the 2nd half of the second lap. A few insignificant breakaways happened...the kind where you see it happening but immediately know they will be reeled in. I just sat back and conserved energy and let things unfold.

The finish was after a small uphill. I was getting myself in position for the final sprint. I went to the outside and saw my line. I saw one guy that I needed to pass and then I was going to hammer it to the finish. As I was passing him, I think someone slammed into him from the side. He then crashed into me sending me flipping and taking out a huge group of riders.

I don't remember much but I do remember landing on my head, and turning around in the fetal position with my feet pointing at the other cyclists crashing. Being in a crash is like getting doored by a car... You literally have no time to prepare. It just hits you out of nowhere and at any time. All it takes is one stupid move. My friend Chris stopped when he saw me crash and helped me, and carried my bike over to the finish. Last year I did the same for him when he crashed.

The casualties of the crash included mangling of my bars, hoods and saddle, all of which I was able to put back in place. My Rapha winter bibs and shoe covers are torn up, I cracked my helmet, broke my garmin mount and my shoe ratchet clasp, and worst of all put a big gash in the paint on my frame.

I'm a bit bruised up but I still consider myself very lucky. A friend crashed yesterday and broke his collarbone which will probably ruin his season. I can't imagine putting in this much time and training and having something like that happen. It could always be worse!

On a lighter note my friend Dave (5th floor) took 3rd, and he also took 1st in yesterday's race in NJ. Dude is crushing it!

Brooklyn to Bear mountain and back 2/24/13

I've been itching to go climb Bear mountain for awhile. I haven't been there since last summer. Riding to Bear and taking the train back to the city is a tough ride in itself. Riding there and back is another story. Today Chris and I decided over a doughnut and coffee that that was our plan for the day.

We barely got out of our neighborhood when I got a flat. It was wet out, and there was a huge chunk of glass that gashed my nearly brand new tire. I fixed it and went on without a second tube or Co2. We made it to a shop about 25 miles in and I re-upped. 1 80mm valve tube and 1 co2, $20!! I was raped, but I needed it so fuck it.

After that stop we decided that we wouldn't stop until we got to the top of Bear. Both of us hate stopping. Especially in Winter. It takes forever to warm up the legs. Chris got a flat about 30 miles later. We were hoping that this wasn't gonna be one of "those" days. Him and I have been through some rides where we've gone through an insane amount of tubes.

Anyways, we made it to Bear, had some snacks at the top as we enjoyed the view, and descended (always the best part) as my fingers went numb.

After the descent was the long ride back home. My right knee has given me a list of problems over the years. Today out of nowhere the outer right of my knee and my IT band were on fire. Every pedal stroke was pushed through pain. I had no choice at this point, so we just kept pushing. I rode a lot of it out of the saddle as it somehow temporarily relieved the pain. It hurt the most on climbs, and there was a ton of that.

We stopped at a gas station to rehydrate, and I took some sodium bicarbonate and Advil. It helped quite a bit, but by mile 100, We were both in the same pain cave.

We were both pushing it all day, but not to the limit. I think we maintained a strong, but not overly heavy pace. At that 100 mile marker all either of us could think of was food, so the pain had to be pushed aside. For what it felt like I had left in me, we were still able to push hard the rest of the way back. Even when we tried to take it easy, it just flat out hurt.

We made it back to Brooklyn with burrito's as our motivation. Food really helps the mind stay focused. I swear that on rides I am probably thinking about what I'm going to eat after about 90% of the time. We ended up at Taqueiria Tepango which is in our hood. Its a usual stop after rides as they let us bring our bikes in. We both inhaled our food and talked about all that ran through our minds all day.

All in all it was an awesome time. Most of my training rides right now are about 50-75 miles. No matter how much I ride I still feel a sense of accomplishment going over 100. Today was no exception. About 120 miles with over 7,000 feet of climbing. Done deal.