Gruppo Loco

Mercy....

2009-09-26T10:52:00.002-04:00

60 miles in my legs demand a rest. After the crazy hills we had to climb, I give in and partake in some goodies.

Registration

2009-09-26T07:15:00.001-04:00

All checked in and ready to roll!

Here we go again

2009-09-26T06:07:00.001-04:00

I may be riding Solo Loco this morning, but the team is in my heart. Here is the fuel I am bringing with me as I try for 100 miles non stop today. I will keep you posted.

Wish me luck!!

The route

2009-09-13T16:51:00.000-04:00

In case you were wondering :)

Victory is ours!!

2009-09-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

Little over 100 miles in about 10 hours total. Time to head home for a well deserved shower.

From the whole Gruppo Loco team, we love you Shermie!

Almost there...

2009-09-13T15:19:00.000-04:00

Mile 92 and the animal in Martino finally escapes :)

Last rest stop

2009-09-13T14:01:00.002-04:00

In Queens, about to cross the Tri-Borough and into the Bronx, then ready to push home for the final stretch

Feel the power!

2009-09-13T14:01:00.001-04:00

Mile 80 at the Con Ed transformer storage

Taking flight

2009-09-13T13:09:00.000-04:00

Mile 75 finds us at LGA

We are the world

2009-09-13T11:06:00.000-04:00

Mile 55 brings us the Unisphere in Queens

First casualty

2009-09-13T11:02:00.000-04:00

Wrong turn by Martino leads to Lauren spilling blood in Queens

Lovely

2009-09-13T09:25:00.000-04:00

Mile 37 brings us the beach :)

Yummmm

2009-09-13T08:54:00.000-04:00

Martino and Lauren chow down!

Re-Fueling

2009-09-13T08:51:00.001-04:00

Pit stop at 35 miles for a nice PB&J :)

(Have no idea who the guy in the pic is, he just wheeled in right as I was snapping away)

Mile 16

2009-09-13T07:38:00.000-04:00

Lauren "Chipmunk" Hart at the first rest stop. Spirits are high and the weather is dry :)

Start of the TA Century

2009-09-13T06:08:00.000-04:00

The day is finally here!!! It's 6AM, pitch black and the mile counter is set to zero.......

Here we go!

Latest Efforts

2009-09-02T13:10:00.000-04:00

Central Park
16 min 58 sec lap
Nuff' said ;)

me & my bike

2009-06-29T11:04:00.001-04:00

Faster than U

2009-06-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

My new bike.... isnt she beautiful. Thank you Martino and Chris for all of your help in finding my perfect bike! Also, thank you for all of your knowledge because I had no clue what a Shimano 105 derailer was until this past weekend! Thanks again guys for now making me faster than U!!!!

5 Boros (in the rain) Tour- May 3rd 09

2009-05-04T18:13:00.000-04:00

Thank you Chris for the lovely set up, I hope that this post exceeds all of your expectations, it probably wont but I will still try. So for the record there is no "Lauren Factor" there is only the "Hogan Factor". I was 15 mins late due to alarm failures, but that didn't stop me. My internal alarm woke me at 5:37 suppose to meet Chris on this corner at 5:45, 15 mins late, I'd say that is pretty good. Anyway, we meet up at 6am, it looked like the weather was going to be okay for our ride. I was excited to get to the start and get a good spot. We hit the East side Green way all the way down to Battery Park City. We had a smooth ride down. Finally, we go to the start good thing we arrived at 6:40am, there was already a TON of riders there. We were two streets back from the start, Chris took a blurry picture of all the crazies who woke up at 3am to be at the start by 4. Or they camped out all night to get prime position. These were all the people behind us that decided to get a little extra shut eye..... Smart.

Pre-NYC Grim Lauren

At 8am, we were off! There were so many people it was hard to start, it was neat though a lot of people dressed up in funny outfits and costumes. People also had taped, glued items to their helmet... my favorite which I saw half way through the race was.... I must say very encouraging

If you look closely this rider has a Coors Light can taped to a wire on his helmet... at that time this is what I needed! Tapped from the Rockies!

Back to the start. Manhattan (Boro 1).. we went up 6th Ave all the way to central Park, down the huge hill, couldn't go at my usual lighting fast speed, it was wet and didn't want to risk a fall... got out of the park right before the HILL OF DEATH. Who said Manhattan was flat because it isn't at all! Glad I didn't have to pull Chris up that one :)

Out of our first Boro and into the Bronx (Boro 2)... Not much there we rode in and out like that... Next we were back in Manhattan and riding down the FDR, YES the FDR. When can you ever ride down the FDR without getting killed? NEVER it was really cool and possibly one of the worst roads, needs a little face lift. Then over the 59th Street Bridge, not on the bike path but on the actual bridge, great views!! As we were in the middle of the bridge we could still see riders all the way up the FDR. There were so many people!!! Then into Queens and Astoria (Boro 3) which is where we had to take a mandatory rest stop, I never found out why but we were waiting for a few mins so....

OF course we needed a Beckham Hair shot (did you know that Chris Hogan has artificial intelligence in each hair follicle, which are programmed to a certain position and will immediately return to that position no matter what. I have heard it is risky procedure but if done correctly you can do ANYTHING, I mean anything, scuba diving, sky diving and even bike riding in a monsoon with a helmet on and your hair is guaranteed to still look amazing.)

And WOW looks amazing...

Still waiting in this line of cyclist! I think we went over that Bridge... have no idea which one it is.... Maybe that took us to Brooklyn? ????

After this mess of waiting and people we were in Astoria, it was flat and nice to ride faster, still not turbo speed, the wet roads and wet shoes.... not a good combo.

BUT def a great find. A 45 year old man with a heavy Staten Island accent was riding the EXACT same bike as me!!!!! Yes a 1990-something Trek carbon fiber... with the shifters on the frame... yes it was awesome! See Chris and Martino my bike is still in style!!!

Now over the Pulaski Bridge and into Brooklyn (Boro 4)... Brooklyn was neat, people came out to cheer us on, even in the rain. Chris dinged his bell and said HI to everyone! It's pouring rain, we both have soaked shoes, Chris was still in a GREAT mood! Which helped me as my toes were about to freeze off... "Chris my toes are frozen, I think I have frost bit" He replied "I think it has to be at least 32 degrees. Your toes aren't going to fall off, you are fine, keep riding"

So around mile 30, if we thought it couldn't get any worst, it starts raining harder... Now my toes are really falling off. I am just thinking Get me home, Get me home.... as we peddle faster to the Verrazno Bridge... YES almost there. If it were a beautiful day we would have had AWESOME views from up there. It was really neat to ride on. The climb up was tough but it was worth it to fly down... I still was very careful I didn't want to wreck. YEAYYY Staten Island (Boro 5 Thank God!) Were Finished!

Total time was 3:47 Not bad for rain and 30,000 riders! I talked to a girl today who didn't finish until 4pm! She was in the back of the pack. Didn't even cross the start line until 9:30am! SO glad we go there early. Now it was off to the Staten Island Ferry to get back to the mainland. Thought I was cold and frozen before... ugh now my toes are really frost bit. Luckily I choose a 6'5" guy as my riding partner, came in handy, nice wind shield! Thank you.

All in all a great ride, no road bumps in our ride. Tons of riders who had fallen, gotten flat tires, or simply who couldn't finish due to the conductions. Next year can only be better!

Brand new shoes ended up soaked and muddy=$95.00

Entry in to the 5 Boros Race=$48.00

Powerbars, gels, and energy drinks to keep going=$6.79

NYC grim sprayed on your face from other bikers and riding GRUPPO LOCO style=Priceless!

Too bad Martino wasn't there I would have loved to see how many times we would stop to use the bathroom. How many times he would Purell his hands, face, arms, legs because of all the grim. He may have gotten a panic attack. There is always next year!

Simple Math

2009-05-04T12:49:00.000-04:00

You remember elementary school math.

1 + 1 = 2

2 + 3 = 5

4 + 4 = 8

etc.....

So what do you get when you add up 30,000 riders, 42 miles of city roads and bridges, 2 members of Gruppo Loco and 1 all day rain storm???

You get the NYC 5 Borough Bike Tour of course!

So it's 6 AM Sunday morning and I meet up with Lauren. Luckily we live in the UES so it's very convenient. Ok, so there was a little "Lauren Factor" this time and we got started about 15 minutes late, but that is another story.

We hop on the Greenway and 7 miles later we are in Battery Park for the start of the Tour. Details to follow from Gruppo Loco member Lauren in her inaugural post!

Perfect Day?

2009-04-26T23:23:00.000-04:00

So, how do you define a perfect day? I suppose that is a different thing for each person. For some it might be a day by the pool while soaking up some rays. For others it might mean time in a remote wilderness on a camping expedition. You can see where I am going with this.

For me, this Saturday came pretty darn close to being about as perfect as you can get. I hear you asking now "So Chris... tell us, what made it so great????" If you'll hold on and stop talking I'll tell you. To start off I was wearing my super cool new helmet which perfectly matches the color scheme of the Kharma, a beautiful blend of red, white & carbon! To further enhance the day was the amazing weather. I was actually out of the door & pedaling across town with no sleeves or leg warmers, and I was loving it. But the real kicker is that I was headed across town to meet up with my best friend Martino, one of the other founders of Gruppo Loco. And to top it all off, in spite of the claimed "Hogan Factor" (see previous post from Martino for the exact equation), I was right on time!

After a brief bit of chit chat and a quick trip to the loo for Martino (apparently one of many that day) we were off to Piermont for a nice Saturday ride. Now of course, a little back story is needed to fully appreciate the day. The week before, I had tweaked my back and I was feeling extra stiff this morning. Couple that with Martino working off a Tito's Friday and it is safe to say we were both operating at less than 100%. Be that as it may, it seems there is no cure like a few miles on the road with a clear sunny day above, and 18 lbs of pure carbon bliss below.

We took the "new and improved" route up toward the GWB. Although this route does lack the skull crusher hill that takes you up into the barrio, it also has the benefit of not taking you to the barrio. I do believe that if you stayed still long enough at a red light you might find your Shimano kit gone, and your bike up on cinder blocks ;)

You want to know how I knew the day was going to be a good ride? As I am following Martino, he doesn't stop at the classic meeting spot before the GWB. He doesn't even blink at the rest stop on the other side, which is a popular place for people to chat and check gear before pushing onwards. Nope... he just motors straight on through until we reach the superbly positioned bike shop there in NJ.

Now this bike shop.....talk about location, location, location. If you can think back to the 50's and imagine a classic car hop then you will have an idea. You know, like something out of Happy Days. Now... take out all the hot rods, jalopies, etc and replace them with Cervelos, Treks, Pinarellos and a rare Tomasso. And while we are at it strike the poodle skirts, guys in jeans, leather jackets, letterman sweater, etc and swap with skin tight riding shorts and cycling jerseys in all kinds of crazy colors and sponsors. So now you have an idea of what this place is like. They are doing business hand over fist, and have every cycling amenity necessary, except of course for some Advil for my aching back, but that is another story all together.

So, off we go and the miles seem to melt away. The day is good, but unknown to us was about to get great. Up from behind us a tiny little nothing of a girl on a Cervelo tri-bike pushes ahead of us and sets in a good pace. As if buy instinct, Martino settles in a bit behind and me right on his draft. Being taller I am just able to see her, Martino, and the road in front of the group. That is when I had my "zen cycling" moment. I was getting a great pull from the group and it seemed like there was no effort in my strokes. Just move the legs in circles and magic happens. We tucked down and seemed to fly. Up hills, down hills, even the flats, we just seemed to have the best pace I've ever ridden. I took a quick glance down at the Cat-Eye and noticed we were just shy of 35 mph on a nice down slope and it seemed like we weren't even trying.

Alas, all good things must come to an end as we reached Piermont and decided to go downtown for a bite to eat and a little relaxation. A slow cruise into the heart of the quaint area led us to some shops, cafes and delis with an army of hight tech bike gear parked out front. The deli offered up two low fat tuna fish sandwiches and fresh fruit for dessert. We parked in front of what appeared to be a courthouse of some kind. All I know is it had comfy benches that were in the shade. Did I mention it was sunny???

So, with lunch in our belly, and some rest in our legs we headed back home. I wish I could say that the miles went by with little effort, and we hit another group to ride with, but that would be an outright lie. And here at Gruppo Loco, we keep the lies to a minimum. Unless of course if one of the team members asks "Do these shorts make my butt look big??" Then of course a little white lie never hurt anyone...

Yes the hills back were tough, and pushed us pretty hard, but in the end nothing gained easily is ever valued highly. Of course once I get that compact crank and a better cadence... but again, a story for another day. Before you know it we are back across the GWB bridge and then onto Riverside drive and then the Greenway, which is where this story began.

All told, about 6 hours of riding, 50 miles, a few rests and a ton of fun. Don't you wish every one of your Saturdays could be like that??

So what if I like "W"

2009-04-12T22:22:00.000-04:00

I know what you are probably thinking; that you don’t need to waste your time reading some cycling team blog to have politics shoved down your throat (especially from someone that likes W). I am also quite sure that if you wanted an uneducated political opinion, you would simply tune into a Sarah Palin radio broadcast or twitter Kim Jong-il (Shit! Shit! Fire the missiles!)

Its okay. I like W, as in Route 9W. It starts at the George Washington Bridge and ends 35 miles later in a nice little town named Piermont. However, there are some interesting parallels between W and 9W. 9W is empty, seems to go on forever, and it promises to be a nice smooth ride, but in the end it always makes my ass hurt.

However, unlike a ride with W, 9W is very rewarding, and a strong measurement of your training, talent and persistence. So today Chris and I thought we would start to hack some miles off of that long and hilly road called dubbya. (FYI – it is a 75 mile round trip of long steep hills, dry roadside shrubbery, and endless asphalt…I just wanted to get the visual of George out of your head).

So, we started out at our normal meeting place in front of The Boat Basin restaurant on the West Side Greenway, then crossed the bridge and made our way to the W. It was just Chris and I as Maria is getting in some city riding training on her own, Joey is cruising the South Pacific on a canoe, and Lauren was out drinking with her brother (Lauren with a drink in her hand on a Sunday afternoon…what a shocker!)

We found 9W and settled into a nice pace. After a short stop to explore a new bike shop along the route, we pressed on to make it a little more than half way to Piermont. As this was only our 4th ride of the season, we were aware that every mile out is a mile back, so we decided to turn around.

We made it all the way back to 96th street when the chain on my brand new bike suddenly snapped. (I assure you, this had nothing to do with the tune-up I performed on the bike last night…seriously…nothing to do with me….at all…without question…a totally random incident…eh hem…)

However, being an Italian cyclist, this mechanical mishap was not a problem for me. I simply reached down into my jersey, pulled out my standard issue thick gold chain necklace, (discarded the obligatory crucifix), quickly threaded it through the sprockets, wiped some hair grease on the chain, and we were off (yes, I always carry a can of Dapper Dan Hair Pomade with me…do you not?).

Okay, that is not completely true. I am Italian, but being an Australian Italian, they took all of my gold from me at Ellis Island when I came to New York. But, as luck would have it, there is a bike store on 96th and Broadway. So Chris and I walked our bikes to the shop and had them replace my Ultegra chain (Ultegra is just a fancy way of saying; “give me $50.00 dollars for a regular chain, but this one comes in a fancy box and is the only one we have that fits your bike please). So I paid and we were on our way.

A quick lunch back at the Boat Basin, then a subway across the Hudson, and I just made it home before Gidget crapped on my carpet (for those of you that don’t know me, Gidget is my dog, not my wife or girlfriend. However, if we ever meet over martinis, remind me to tell you a funny story about a girl I dated back in high-school, involving a ski trip and miss-labeled bottle of ex-lax…)

Until next ride….keep on donating!!!!!

A day shopping with Maria

2009-04-05T17:23:00.000-04:00

Errr, I mean Another Successful Training day!

So, it appears that our team has waaay more Loco than Gruppo. It seems that we can never get the whole gang in one place at the same time.

Now, I am talking about the number of team members that can make the same ride on particular day, and not about the actual time we all meet up on an agreed day.

The former is a logistics problem that on this certain Sunday, involves Lauren committed to hunting for Old Bay seasoned Easter Eggs in God knows where. And Joey trying to recover from two weeks on a cruise being force-fed margaritas and " Cajun Dancing Shrimp" (I am only hoping that is seafood and not some tiny ballet performer from New Orleans).

The latter is affectionately known to us all as "The Hogan Factor". For those of you that are not familiar with this phenomenon, but are comfortable with basic math equations, here is the formula:

The time the team actually meets is X. X=the agreed upon time to meet +time for Chris to hit his snooze button 7.6 times +time for Chris to have a shower +time for Chris to make his multi-super-terrific-spin-protein-shake +time for Chris to have the perfect Beckham hair +SlLBhChCf.

Now I must explain the last part of this formula or you may be lost. SlLBhChCf is a rare scientific alignment of human hair follicle partials that result in the undocumented periodic tables sign of SlLBhChCf (Literally translated as: “Still looks Like Beckham’s hair Considering helmet Compression factors”). There is no doubt within the scientific community, or from our team for that matter, that this is the very reason Chris is late for each and every team training. But Damn! His hair ALWAYS looks good!

Having said that, Mr. Hogan was actually on time for this ride (I can only assume that lower temperatures accelerates SlLBhChCf because it was bloody COLD out there!!!!)

But alas, it was just the three of us; Chris, Maria (Maria is our very best fund raiser and has put us over 100%!! Yeah Go Maria!!!) and I. So with the frigid wind blowing a gale (wow, that reminds me of a friend of mine in Thailand that dated a transvestite named gail…um, never mind…) that showed for the day.

So instead of making the long trip to Piermont, we decided to do six mile loops of Central Park in the face of an ice wind that would make ET turn his bike around. (Phone home? Phone me when you get a heated seat, a windshield and a basket full of grande vanilla moca cappuccino’s you anti-alien hating bastards!)

Well, we headed off and made a loop of the park, never wondering why it was so empty (did I mention it was COLD?!!) and then Chris realized that Maria was crying. Not just a normal cry, but that Daffy Duck has his quack stuck in a bear trap tears. It seems that Maria forgot her glasses (yes, riding a bike in sub zero weather does that to the old peepers), so it was suggested that we stop for some quick fix shades at Columbus Circle to get her a pair (And wow, if Jackie-O ever rode a bike in Central park, she would be jealous….ah hem…).

And then we were off again. Another loop before I offered Maria a compliment on her cool blue riding gloves. She turned with that innocent naive smile and said “But I’m not wearing any gloves…” Yeah, we immediately made our way to the nearest bike shop and picked up some winter riding gloves for our little riding buddy. And oddly, the gloves she had chosen were not that far off of the blue of her frozen hands.

Okay, now we are set. One more six-mile lap and Chris and I are racing up Harlem Hill. He turns back at the apex and says, “Why is Maria lifting her feet off of the pedals every other time she spins? I mean, I think her knees are hitting her chin?!”

As I look around, it’s true! Her feet were everywhere but on the pedals. It looked like Raggedy Ann trying to bike-jack Pee-Wee Herman.

We pulled over and let Maria catch up with us and decided that the one-sided slippery pedals could only have less grip if you sprayed them with a full can of Pam (I prefer the garlic Pam with the blue cap. It does not really have a full garlic flavor, but more of a light hint of…oh…sorry…back to the story…)

One last stop for Maria and we had a new set of proper pedals on her bike. Then, we were all done shopping (I mean riding) for the day, so we headed for a nice warm Mexican lunch on the West Side.

And that’s about it. So what have we learned on this ride? I think there are a few very important messages.

The first is that a team is a team, no matter who shows up. We all have commitments, and that is totally cool because we have each other to rely on to get us through the ride.

The second is to always ride prepared. If not, bring your Visa card because Manhattan does not take cold, flats or lunch for free.

And the third, is that I am pretty sure that Pee-Wee Herman molested ET. Don’t ask me why I know, I just know.

Until next time…thank you for supporting us....

New Bike

2009-03-16T14:06:00.000-04:00

My Scott P3 Sportster served me well all during the summer last year. With a super strong frame, knobby tires and oh so convenient front suspension, you couldn't ask for a better bike to navigate the rough and rugged streets of New York City (cobblestone streets anyone???). However, I came to the realization that it just wasn't the right bike to tackle the 100 miles in September.

So, today I got in my first few miles on the new addition to the Hogan bike family. The Kuota Kharma is my first road bike, and my initial impression is "wow!", what a difference the right bike can make. I got a great deal on last years model, otherwise I wouldn't have splurged on a carbon fiber frame, with such nice components.

I just got back from a lap of central park, which is a little over 6 miles. I put in a very hard ride last night on the stationary bike at the gym, so my legs were still a bit cooked. I'm also using a cheap pair of pedals until I take the plunge for a clip-less set. I suspect that will give me a boost once I have mastered those. That having been said, despite the chilly weather I clocked a personal best of 21 min, 45 seconds. I could just feel the power in the bike cutting through the air ;)

So, all in a all I am very pleased and looking forward to lots more miles when the weather is better.

First Ride

2009-03-09T12:15:00.000-04:00

This Saturday was a beautiful day in New York, so we took advantage of the warm weather and got in our first real ride of the season. Originally we had planned to meet up with Joey (a co-worker of Martino) and do our famous "5-bridges tour". That ride takes us across the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Pulaski, and Queensborough bridges in order, and covers approximately 31-35 miles, depending on how much meandering we do.

Alas, due to a bike mechanical failure, Joey was unable to make it. Instead Martino and I did an easy warm up lap around the park with what appeared to be every other bike owner in Manhattan! It's amazing how the first day of good weather brings the people out. After that we headed down the west side on the greenway to check out a few of our favorite riding spots from last year. After a nice lunch and a few more miles, we put Martino on the train back to Newport and I headed home to the UES.

I found a great Google mashup app that lets you plot lines of travel and it calculates your distance traveled (http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm). According to the map, we put in about 14 miles that day. All in all a good ride, and I noticed that my arms even got a little pink from the sun. I'll definitely have to remember the sunblock next time.

2009-03-03T15:34:00.000-05:00

Friends and colleagues,

This year we are training to participate in the NYC Century which is a 100-mile bike tour around the boroughs of NYC. The event takes place September 13th, 2009.

http://www.nyccentury.org

We decided this would be a wonderful opportunity to raise funds for breast cancer treatment and research in the name of a good friend of ours who is battling this disease.

Details to follow...