Today's race

3 laps of a 10 mile rolling course...one minor hill; short. Doesn't seem that bad.

i think a combination of a few things happend:

1. didn't eat and drink enough before hand
   
2. shouldn't have spent all my energy bridging up to the break on the first lap right before a long gradual uphill only to be caught in no man's land and then dropped like a rock off a cliff.
   
3. bad week of riding.

i finished probably in 30 or 40-something place.

The fact that the 1/2/3 field lost half of its field is a little reassuring. the 35+ started with 120 and ended with 50...geez.

next sunday is another race. Fawn Grove Roubaix.

Welcome to NOVA cycling

This Sunday the Jeff Cup 2009 will happen down in Charlottesville. I had heard this was a big deal around here, but i was unaware of just how excited everyone gets around here for this one race. Pretty much everyone in a 100 mile radius of this race will show up. Every field, for the most part, max's out. In fact I've been on the wait list for a month now and I am finally the next one off.

Everyone is making "predictions" for the 1/2/3 field and Bobby Lea is one of those contenders. I'm not sure how Floyd Landis's teammate is a 1/2/3 but again, I'm new here.

I have a bit more confidence now in my riding ability, which is right on time for this "prestigious" event. 3 laps on a rolling 10 mile course, one slight climb and an uphill finish.

With that said, my ankle recently has been giving me problems and the last 3 days have been nearly void of bike riding because of funeral/family stuff going on. I did say nearly, so not entirely. i did what i could.

Mt Weather and more...

I rode up Mt Weather this past Saturday with John and Zach....it looks something like this:I learned I'm not the strongest climber. While I'm obviously not the greatest rider either and that may have a larger factor, it seems that everyone has their specialty...something they are good at. I'm thinking mine is not ascending and that's fine. I'll continue to find ridiculous climbs and pursue them. I like it.

Tonight the Caps play Toronto and playoffs are just a short period away. That may be a corny way of saying it, but its true and the Caps better start playing stronger or they'll end up in a positioning far less favorable come the first week of playoffs.

Jeff Cup is this Sunday. The course is fairly up and down 30 miles on a 10 mile lap with a single moderate climb and a false flat finish. Its also supposed to rain. I'm excited for that.

adios!

Vint Hill Crit Series

Yesterday was the 540cycling.com group ride (I'm not sure why everyone includes the ".com" at the end of anything 540cycling, but oh well...I'm new).

It was a little rainy yesterday, and by that i mean it rained all day and weened off around 330-4. So by 530 it was nice out. The road had dried up a bit and it was low 50's. I still figured the group ride would be less than 5 people and i was right. It was John, Zach and myself. I was a tad happy about this because i knew that meant they would want to go hard being that they are both strong riders and they know i can at least hang.

We headed over to the Vint Hill Park where we are organizing a local crit series. We did one lap just chatting and then the fun started; we started attacking each other. One of my biggest weaknesses is my inability to go hard for very long. Which obviously comes with a lot more riding/racing/training. maybe next year...Anyway, it was a ton of fun.

So from now on we are going to use Thursday night group rides as interval/crit practice at that park. it was a ton of fun. A nice mix up for the week.

In other news, my wife's Grandfather died two days ago. and the funeral is on Wednesday. I watched him literally die slowly, and its an experience I'll never forget. I kept thinking about the Death Cab for Cutie song "What Sarah Said", as we watched his blood pressure slowly but surely lower. He died in his sleep sometime after we left the hospital.

Go Caps!

Nothing exciting.

Nothing awesome happening. Not that there really ever has been. But especially not now.

I had a nice 40 mile bonk through the plains last Saturday (don't be deceived by the town name...a few little hills there).

Mentally trying to recover after multiple bad rides.

Road towards the plains via the fixie (46x15) up short sections of 10% or more. Finally bailed on the switchbacks and continued on towards the plains after i almost wrenched my handlebars off the bike. decent ride all-in-all.

Beautiful day yesterday (over 60 degrees), the white legs are starting to get some sun. 30 miles.

Registered now for 4 races in April. I'm aiming for 5 in May which would make me Cat 4 by June.

Riding with some guys from the team Sat up Mt Weather. I'm excited to test myself, but not excited at the probability of getting dropped.

While i used to be good at climbing and ITT's , I'm slowly realizing I'm bigger now and these skinny guys have a decent advantage over me going up these tough slopes. I still could be decent at ITT's though. I haven't attempted to out of fear of not being as good as i used to be.

I'm apprehensive to try the local Wednesday night ride. A bunch of 1/2/3's show up and pound it out.

Milan-San Remo is 300km? wtf?!

Hiking Season is over for me. I didn't get to go at all. Dan bailed on the only trip we had planned (mind you, it was a good excuse). I did do the daks with him back in Sept though...Looking at two trips for next winter. Also planning on trail running/Fast packing the Pen-Mar Section of the AT (40+ miles) in September with a buddy that is currently in Iraq.

OD on Vitamin C

I went to the group ride last night. It was nice. We didn't set a hard pace. Mostly a get to know everyone/the route ride. It was only 25 miles. All in all i got in 50 yesterday.

I was planning on 40 this morning because my wife is picking me up from work to go meet Dan, but i was hacking up a lung this morning (still sick) and it was snowing out. So i settled for 25, which seemed to be about right. I thought it was going to be 30 but i miscalculated part of the route. It was a terribly miserable ride...wet, freezing, feeling like crap, pitch black darkness. ugh.

I'm going to try and get in 50 before work(bike shop) tomorrow. Shouldn't be a problem.

riding everyday with a backpack is a bummer.

Paris-Nice

blahg.

Free Chick-Fil-A continues on the morning commute. tomorrow is the last day. The chicken biscuit.

I'm still losing weight. down to 176. 160 here i come!

I'm also still sick.

Pounded out 30 miles last night. horrible headwind and crosswind. nearly blew me off the bike at one point. huge head wind on a fixed is lots'o'fun.

Supposed to snow tomorrow morning. what? i just packed my winter gear up for the 2nd time.

Bought two new pairs of bibs during my lunch break after having worn the same pair this entire week so far...i know ew gross. i take two showers a day, only because of the shorts issue. Really i just have bad hygiene.

I'm enjoying "watching" Paris-Nice every morning this week.

Caps will probably lose to the Flyers tonight.

I'm meeting up with Dan for dinner tomorrow. He's in Rockville.

Group ride tonight with 540Cycling.com

i often confuse A with 4. weird.

I'm registered (in-time, opposed to wait list) for Fawn Grove Roubaix.

My ankle is doing a tad better.