My second cat 4 race - another video for you guys to watch.

[CAMPYBOB]

After months of keen anticipation...er...right!

These scans are crappy quality, but you have to remember the dinosaurs still roamed the Earth when they were taken and the digital camera and GoPro were decades off in the future.

From the district road race qualifier in Akron, 1990. I finished 10th after splitting the field on the hill on the final lap. I set my team mate up for a third place in the sprint.

I'm riding 5th wheel in this pic and I have a team mate behind me. We're at the tail end of the pack and diving into a 180° left-hander that was right after this fast downhill sweeper.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

These pics are also from the 1990 season, according to the writing on the back of them. They are from the Nelsonville, Ohio criterium that was part of the A-to-Z (formerly Athens to Zanesville) race weekend.

With the glass so dark they won't even know my name!

Off the front solo and hauling ass in a big gear...a rare pic for me! Racing on those slippery bricks found on both the Athens and Nelsonville courses was kind of freaky. If it rained...entire fields were on the deck. I was 37 years old in these pictures and I think I had a pony tail banded up behind my neck that summer.

Help arrives...later to be followed up by the field. Heads up, looking through the turn, getting dragged along by a big boy locomotive type. Look at the legs on that guy! Looks like a Cliff Bar rider? There's no mention of my finishing position on the back of the photo so probably just field filler...again.

Colin, that bike is a 58 CM x 58 CM. I still have it and drag it out every now and then. It rides fast and handles like it ain't even there...just disappears underneath me. 42-52 up front and a 12-21 on the back, Campy baby! It also has Modolo bars and the infamous Modolo 'Death Stem'!

Hmmm...my not so hip ProTec helmet would be considered a very up-to-date aero model today!

It looks like my locomotive guy is using Campy Delta brakes...no wonder he's so fast!

Both of us are using downtube shifters. Mad shifting skillz!

 

[swampy1970]

That's my skinny white ass in the summer of 1985.

Pinarello meets Buick. Buick wins.

That's from a (poor quality) scan of an old print. It's also one of three Pinarellos that got totaled while I was onboard. Bad juju bike for me! And I still have a Montello and a Treviso at the other house!

The Buick made a left in front of my like I was the Invisible Cyclist. I did a 2-1/2 forward flip over the trunk lid and landed on a manhole cover in the middle of a busy intersection.

I had only minor injuries and the accident occurred right in front of the Emergency Room entrance of a local hospital. The Campy rim was broken into four pieces. The fork, top tube and down tube were FUBAR. That was one of my favorite crit bikes.

Cinelli Giro bars? I think that's your problem. You should have manned up and rode the 66's.

Nice bike shame the riders riding skills weren't equally as good. Pinarello out maneuvered by a Buick?

Old pics. I only have a few scanned, the rest are someone in cardboard boxes and have stayed there for the last 20 years...

Sometime around the winter of 1994 I think. Lactate testing on the old outdoor track near Stoke. It was some oddball size - like 491 meters around but I forget exactly because my couch challenged me to ride the Kilo in less than 1m 20. I'll be damned if that wasn't the hardest thing I'd ever done in under 3 hours on a bike. The above pic was at the end of lap 1. Lap 2 was a whole different level of hurt. I remember achieving max heart rate on that one of 212.

We tried recreating that ride in the lab on a calibrated treadmill but when the lights went out from starting too fast at around the 45 second mark the rolling road just wasn't the safest place to be.

Time trial fun. 1995 possibly 96. Resplendant in a Descente 'bat suit' aka the special skinsuit developed for the US Olympic team. Managed to blag on off the Descente distributor. Still have it upstairs but the fact that it's dried out and that I'm nowhere near 140lbs means that I probably won't be able to even get the shorts part on... Bob will recognize the delta brakes, record cranks and Shamals. I just remember the pain - slightly uphill and hauling a monster gear. 56/52 up front, 11-19 8 speed cassette on the back.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Quote by swami:
"Cinelli Giro bars? I think that's your problem. You should have manned up and rode the 66's."

I think those were Giro bars. It's a road racer. I use 65 Crit's on the track bike, 2 MM lower than the Campione 66.



"Nice bike shame the riders riding skills weren't equally as good."
My riding skills were excellent and my aerial acrobatics even better.

"Pinarello out maneuvered by a Buick?"
Driver ran a red light to make the left in front of me. I almost had it saved. After kicking it sideways and sliding along the passenger side the front wheel was hooked by her bumper corner. It was one of those chrome steel bumpers that protruded from the sheet metal a couple of inches.


"Old pics. I only have a few scanned, the rest are someone in cardboard boxes and have stayed there for the last 20 years..."
I can see why. Dirt? Why are you riding on dirt? Oh...that's right. England.

"but I forget exactly because my couch challenged me..."
I see. Was your couch manned by Sigmund Freud? So...in the end your couch won the challenge. How do you really feel about your couch?

And why is there some dude riding around a soccer field in that stunning photograph of a finger?


Lugged or lugless Goff?


"I probably won't be able to even get the shorts part on..."
Dude!


"Bob will recognize the delta brakes, record cranks and Shamals."
Back when you had good taste...


"56/52 up front, 11-19 8 speed cassette on the back."
You should have manned up and used a single 56.

 

[egrocket]

Nice video, really appreciate all the help it gives me. Seeing this I can realize how unexperienced I am. That race seems scary, I don't know if I could go that fast being that close to people.

 

[collin2985]

Lol great photos guys... That's what I'm talking about! It's a damn shame you guys didn't have as many photographers as we do now. Every cat V race is lined with art school drop outs hoping that someone buys a copy of one of the 6000 shots they take. I have a 60 inch print of a myself and 4 other riders in a breakaway in the pouring rain. I think we finished 10 minutes ahead of the peloton on a 60 mile course. Back when I was a brand new cat V, it was like winning the Olympics to get 4th place.

Here's todays race highlights:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWv2HdR8M6Q[/video]

 

[collin2985]

Last cat 4 race

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYJ23q6fizw&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[collin2985]

1st cat 3 race
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NNavBMUreU&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Quote by Collin:
"Every cat V race is lined with art school drop outs hoping that someone buys a copy of one of the 6000 shots they take."

I think that's the funniest (and probably the most true) comment I've read on the internet in months! Can we add the English Lit. majors that are hoping to get two column-inches published in the local free newspaper?

"I have a 60 inch print of a myself and 4 other riders in a breakaway in the pouring rain."

Let's see that bad boy print!

"I think we finished 10 minutes ahead of the peloton on a 60 mile course. Back when I was a brand new cat V, it was like winning the Olympics to get 4th place."

I have a second place trophy from some Podunk 30-mile road race that no one has ever heard of. The race doesn't even exist anymore and hasn't been held in decades. But, every time I see that cup it reminds me that I was once young enough and strong enough to have finished ahead of a guy that later became a national level rider.

I'm sure your videos will be far more valuable as a historical record of your adventures and accomplishments than my dusty trophies and medals. I would gladly trade them for more pictures and some of them thar motion pictures your generation is making. They may not be Oscar material, but they are cool as all get out. Your kids are going to love them and I can almost hear them laughing at your wife saying, "Collin must move up!".

 

[kylerlittle]

That's awesome.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Good job on the Ft. Ritchie Crit. and I hope your road rash heals up. Congrats on the upgrade. Frankly, I thought you earned it last season with your good results.

Finishing in the field in your first Cat. 3 is fantastic. In my day the 3's were only a little faster. They were a little better riders as far as general skill went, but the crashes were just as frequent due to, as you put it, more aggressive riding for position. Well, that and some of them were just stupid fast Cat. 4's without a brain, but with the legs to get a move up.

I used to think that if I ever moved up to a 2 the crashes would become much less frequent. I never made it to 2 and watching from the sidelines I figured out the Pro-1-2 crashes occurred a little less often, but at much higher speeds!

 

[collin2985]

Thanks Bob. Cat 3 does feel faster. I can only imagine the power it takes to surge to 32-35 mph and then just rotate back in with the other guys on the front. It wasn't like that the whole time but they definitely stretched the whole peloton out a few times. At one point I thought I was in an ok position near the middle of the pack and I look up and saw that the pack stretched half a lap ahead of me. "Uh oh."

Regarding the 1-2 crashes. That stuff is scary. Even when they're not crashing, the way they weave in and out of each other is insane. I guess the thought of crashing at 30 mph keeps them motivated to pay attention every millisecond of the race.

 

[collin2985]

Getting my butt kicked in Maryland's amateur version of the Tour de France.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ODejoZzn0&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[CAMPYBOB]

What caused that crash? I couldn't see anyone in front of him that might have been a wheel overlap? No potholes? WTH? It's like he just decided to throw the bike around and crash.

Weirdly Cat. 5'ish crash.

A FIFTEEN minute crit?!?! I'll bet that was fast.

 

[collin2985]

I talked to him at my most recent race. No idea what caused that crash. He did end up with a concussion, poor guy.

In this race, I finally managed to help my team... Really blew my mind how I was able to get on the front so many times.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b98lo3MLLc&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Good job! You're strong and getting stronger...smart and getting smarter. It's racing like that which will get you to the 2's.

Classic moto chase! Too bad he wouldn't...cooperate

And now...now...they know your name. They respect you. They may even fear you.

Finishing 50-some back after a race like that, you can allow a wry grin to cross your face for the work you've put in.

Congratulations. You earned it, again.