Outdoors, Power Training, and the First race

I finally put my girly portions away and got outside the past couple weeks. It has been refreshing and invigorating. Riding for so long on an indoor trainer can be negative, at least for me. I was starting to forget about racing, real efforts, and the feel of riding a bike.

My first ride back on the road a few weeks back was with my new team, a bunch of much faster, much more experienced riders, specifically a pile of CAT 1, 2's. On top of that, they were revving up for Tour of Bahamas (which starts tomorrow) and i'm revving up for say....april-may? Needless to say i got dropped a lot. After spending some time outdoors, increasing my intensity, and riding more consistently, i had a much different experience this past weekend, a much more positive one. It bodes well for me and my up coming sophomore season.

This being my 2nd year riding a bike and racing (and this is truly my 2nd year...not "oh i didnt race seriously as a CAT 5...blah blah blah"). I was an overweight, no exercise, beer drinking fool, that in the winter would go hiking. July of 08 i started to commute 7 miles to work, rode a fixed gear till the week of my first race which is when i got my road bike. I guess i've really been just riding for a year and a half. Anyway, my point is, i'm brand new at this. One thing i have no clue about is power specific training. My team mates have me doing 15minx2 interval sets right now. That's increased recently from 12mins and will increase again pretty soon. I was talking to Jared, who pretty much runs our team and he was discussing the TT in the Bahamas and not having put in the power training for the 3 mile merckx style TT. I didnt know what he meant. I know last season i did a lot of 1min and 30sec intervals, but i dont know exactly why. Just like if i did 5minx5 right now, i'd have no idea what the point was? I know a bit why my mates have me doing the long intervals (besides it being a very big weakness of mine), but developing different sets of power as the season nears closer is very foreign to me.

I already mentioned it but members of my elite team have left to go to warmer climates to race their bikes. Jared Neiters, Bryan Vaughn, and Steven Gordon are all down there. Bryan Vaughn has been training very hard and should see some great results. Also, they sent pictures of our new kits and i'm very pleased.

Slow riding

I figured out the other day why i've been so slow...besides out of shape.

I put on an old set of wheels for the off season because they are heavier, cheaper($), and more durable. But, what i didn't know was that my rear wheel's axle was too tight. i had realized my rear wheel didn't spin very effectively, but i'm lazy and just kept on. My buddy at the bike shop said he'd take a look at it for me, so i brought him chipotle and my bike. Later he said it was all fixed and that it was spinning because it was too tight. He greased everything and got it working properly.

Hopefully riding will be a little "easier" now. I heard a quote about mechanics saying, "if you think something is wrong, it probably is".

Dishwashing Gloves...w/o finger brushes

Last winter season i learned a couple very important lessons.

1.Fenders rule (see image)
2.Riding in the rain longer than 45mins in temps below 50 is brutally painful, but fenders help.

I learned both of these from a friend's brother and telling him i know better despite his riding a bike as long i've probably been alive. or at least close to it.
I also told my wife last winter season, "remind me to ride outdoors even in the brutally cold rain, rather than on the rollers."

So last week, as you may know, was a very wet week. Beyond the stinging pain of very cold wetness on the body, i love the conditions...messy, wet, cold. Really, its just how cold my hands get when they are sopping wet and directly in the wind. I've seen the specialized Scuba gloves (not really scuba gloves, but its what they look like), but they are ridiculously expensive and i dont have an amazing discount anymore. So while shopping around the IKEA discount area for craft projects (yes crafts...or art if that sounds better), and i saw a basket full of black rubber dishwashing gloves for 79 cents a pair. They reminded me of the super expensive Specialized pair, but for a 150th of the price (or something like that). They are super thin but big enough to allow to fit a pair of winter gloves underneathe, keeping my hands both dry and warm. I got to try them out a few times last week, making the cold wet rides much more enjoyable, even at 6 or 7 am. light or dark.

79 cents. yes!

I ended up 4th in the MABRA BAR. I only had a small portion of my season as a CAT 4 so i think that's pretty good. I found out by email this morning that i missed out on a plaque. Bummer. A season of more near misses than Vee's, but i still (by my count) have 2 in the bank.

Updates

This blog is kind of pointless. a couple people i know just trashed theirs or are on their way to, which is completely understandable. I dont have anything relevant to say and i don't write very well, but yet i continue. so here goes more of irrelevant rambling.

Hiking-
Recently did a sunrise hike up Old Rag. Which included not going to bed due to the early nature of our departure. The hike was fun, sun rise was nice. It was a tad cold or i was a bit under dressed for sitting on a peak as short as it may be (3291 ft). Its the best we have around here for summit type of hiking. I'm going to go trail run it a few times here in the coming weeks. a solid 9 mile loop is good for a bit of running. yes, all you cyclist(ie Bert)...running.

Music-
Missed Saul William's visit to DC (again). If anyone is into good pop check out Head Automatica's album Propaganda or their earlier album Decadence know for its single Beating Heart Baby. Its good fun, catchy music. Their earlier album is good for a bit of dancing.

House-
My basement is finally done. and i'm enjoying it. still a lot 'o' bills to pay off.

Cycling-
I keep starting to put in miles only to be derailed by outside forces...Like a semi or the flu (h1n1). I have a solid commute worked out for the journey home in the dark. including a few miles of nice lightly traveled gravel roads (one of the dogs that always barks finally was loose last night and chased me...a little bit of extra fun). I'm working on a morning coffee ride, just need to find people who may be interested. Also, a once a week lunch ride; i have one taker. I'd do anything to ride in the daylight more than 30% of the week.

Movies-
Best couple movies i've seen lately- The Informant and Where the Wild Things Are. The Men Who Stare at Goats was a bit overdone. It played the quirky card a little too much without any sort of positive execution. The Informant is very very good. Best movie i've seen in a while.

What happens when you are the office prankster and ride a bike to work?
Old pictures. but i just found them. they are kind of funny.

New Team

Starting to get things ready for next season, which includes for the majority, my mindset. It doesn't help that it was 43 degrees this morning and I've got a while till I'm feeling used to it being cold. I believe i dressed as if it was below 20, at least it would have been the case back in Jan/Feb.

So the real news and big news (for myself) is I'm switching teams from 540cycling to Haymarket. Everything is set in motion, and its a matter of getting new kits at this point, which thankfully my old team will buy off my old ones, despite a few being ravaged a tad by asphalt.

Cycling Barriers

this may ruin my next racing season...
site

A little while back my wife and i bought a xbox 360. It is my first video game system ever. I still loathe video games (partially because they are addicting). I grew up not allowed to have video game systems. So when i purchased one, i played it non stop for 4 days...literally staying up till 4 am the first night. My wife was in Alabama visiting a friend and i was on a 2 week rest period from the bike, so i gorged on wasting time (and food and beer).

Since then, its slightly effected my motivation for cycling...go ride for a couple hours or go home and play Call of Duty? My inner self-hatred tells me most of the time i'm fat and slow, so i'll usually go ride, but still, its one more barricade to overcome, specially since we are approaching the cold hard winter. Which by the way, yesterday was miserable...low 60's in the mist/rain. Fenders help immensely. Dirt roads in rain = not a great idea...i kept reminding myself "i'm not in Paris-Roubaix, slow down, wrecking sucks".

Hopefully i dont have to permantly sell anything.

Oh, the reason we bought the xbox is
1.i love call of duty
2.wife loves the ever annoying Rock Band/Guitar Hero
3.Netflix streaming!

time to watch a doper win the vuelta...

more of the same

more cold(er), more rain.

i've lost a bunch of weight over the last week or two, 5-7lbs of real weight (opposed to water weight). wasn't too hard. swap veggies and fruit for...pretty much everything. remain healthy and not too terribly hungry.

This next season i'd rather break the stereotype of a fat crit racer. I'm planning on honing in on as many road races as possible specifically the ones i skipped like Lost River and Page Valley. Poolesville, which was one of my favorites, will be the main goal i think of next season along with Fawn Grove Roubaix. I like Fawn Grove's course...short punchy climbs, a few gravel roads, "peleton" shattered through attrition. This year i'll have teammates to help me in poolesville though. No more- chasing a breakaway for 20 miles solo...between dragging the pack and being way off the front.

Also, Caps 1st preseason game is tonight against the Buffalo Sabers. GO CAPS!

shaken not stirred

I got on the bike again today.

My neck is still killing me, as a sprained neck would. And im having continual headaches. If it keeps up i may get it checked out. I slammed my head pretty good. S-works helmets are getting expensive to keep on my head in proper condition.

In other news i had planned on switching teams for 2010 to Haymarket Bikes with the intentions of moving onto their elite team either at the end of next season or beginning of 2011. I even quit working at A-1 cycling, emailed my team, etc. But after more discussion with my teammates i decided to stay. I really like everyone on my team despite all being nearly twice my age. Which also makes for a lot of quick learning if i pay attention.

540 it is

Silly me

Arrogance got the best of me on Saturday. We had out last 540 series race @ Vint Hill. And since my wife left on Wednesday(till Sunday) to go visit a friend, my life has been a little less organized, typically consisting of not going to bed till 2 am at the earliest, being late for work, eating crap, etc. So with that said i hadn't planned on racing, mostly because I'm fried and partly because i applied for my CAT 3 (but its taking a year to get back?).

So after being up till 230 am on Friday and then getting up Saturday at 545, i decided what the hell, i might as well race. I've realized the silly mistakes I've been making that cause 2nd and 3rd places vs. 1st, so there is a grand chance i could get a win.

Silly me.

I also have yet to mention i stopped riding my bike earlier this week because i can't seem to go very far or very long and enjoy it at all. The plan was to not ride for 2 weeks and then hop back on very lightly till october.

Not riding + no sleep + slow legs = DNF

in a race that i shouldn't have a problem in. granted a breakaway went, and i got up to the front and burnt all my matches destroying myself only to flick the elbow...look back and see 2 NCVC guys waiting for me to burst so they can continue to soft pedal the pack for their 2 teammates in the break. F! that's depressing. i was later explained how to help counter this tactic which would have been good to know during the race.

Example:

All that to say, this is what i'm looking forward to next-

Aug 14-18 - Beach with Alissa
Sept 5th- !!! @ the blackcat in DC (Dance party!)
Sept ? - Hiking Pen-Mar to Harper's Ferry (42+ miles) in less than 24 hours.
Oct 1- Sunny Day Real Estate in Philly
Nov weekend- Hike AT through PA
Some cold weekend in Dec - hiking the AT in NOVA
1 week in Jan - Winter hiking trip in the Daks (via snowshoes...scratch the XC-ski idea)

Dance Party Anyone?

!!!, also known as Chik Chik Chik, will be playing at the Black Cat in DC on Sept 5th. Tickets go on sale this evening at 5. Count me in.

After repeated attempts to mount the bike and ride fast only to feel an unbearable burn and tiredness in my legs, i've decided to take an extended period of rest, which includes beer, pizza, dairy products, etc. Also to help curb the unavoidable weight gain, i've jumped back into the pool. Which so far has just been painful.

In other news, my wife left the state on wednesday to go visit a friend till sunday. So far my life has been a little unorganized and messy. But like my rest from the bike, the time has been filled with pizza and beer.

"Kettle you're black!"

In response to Ricco's extension of his suspension he says,
"It's better I don't talk to avoid saying something bad. The rules almost don't exist in cycling."

A doper complaining about the "rules" not being followed? I hate pricks.

more idiocy from....Astarloza

Welcome back

Yesterday i was planning on skipping the Wednesday "worlds" ride out of Haymarket, i'm so glad i didnt. It started raining on my way home and my legs were feeling decent so i changed routes and headed over to the shop to suffer. I love riding in the rain, at least when it doesnt include hard fast corners. On top of that i knew that one of the heavy hitters is currently in Bend, OR at u23 nationals (and doing pretty well mind you).

The usual nonsense happened, Jared, Ryan, and Joe attacked on the hill. i try in vain to make it up to them, only to get stuck in no mans land. Soon after i'm joined by my 2 teammates having dropped the rest of the riders (kind of surprising when i noticed only 2 made it up to me). Kept rotating through. There is one hill that makes it appear you're gaining on who ever is ahead, but its very deceiving. I thought we were rotating through on the hill and i ended up gapping Larry off the back from Zach and i. Soon after Zach picks up the pace, having towed him up the climb and i'm gapped. then i realize he's trying to gap me. I pass him to roll through the sprint. We all regroup after waiting a bit before the loop.

On the loop, the pace is super high and leading into the town for the sprint, Larry was keeping the pace high with me on his wheel and then he popped a bit too early leaving me out in the wind with too far to sprint. Ryan pulls through to give Jared a perfect drop off spot and i try in vain to charge for the line but i just didnt have the pop last night and Jared's hard to over come like that.

Round two on the loop, Jared and Ryan get away midway, and i make in it for the group sprint.

Heading back to the shop, Chris some how got way up the road. Jared launched up to catch up to him and Larry tried to go too. I never saw Jared again that night. We eventually caught Larry on the uphill, before the long drag race down antioch rd.

**Note** Dont watch Jens Voight's wreck a few times and his hospital video and then go ride down fast descents on wet roads. It's all i could think of descending Waterfall road...hitting the deck at 40-45mph.

Zach sat up on the climb over waterfall, i presume to just go home since he lives out that way. So we were trucking down antioch and after Bryan put in a huge pull, i blow through really hard and once i'm cooked i pull off to see we were down to 3 riders (larry, ryan, and myself), which was kind of my plan. i wanted to shed Bryan for the sprint. With about 1k to go i skipped a pull to let Larry in. Ryan pulled off and sat behind me. Larry kept the pace nice and high. Once the sprint line was about 300m-400m to go i let out my sprint, which was way too far against someone like Ryan who can hold power for a bit. Luckily, he started to gain on me and that last internal gear clicked over and I held him off.


I'm glad i'm feeling a bit better. Its taking me longer to recover from races/hard rides. Sunday we are going out to skyline. should be fun.

NOVA Track Racing

Something that has been developing this year and looks to start in the spring full swing is a track series. Ben Williams from A-1 Cycling (Manassas) has been wanting to get things running but lacked the support to jump start it, despite having the OK from the speedway. Right now (nothing confirmed) 540 cycling may lend a hand. It would be in Manassas @ the Old Dominion Speedway, probably being run in a similar fashion to the series in Richmond.

Regardless if 540 is involved, i'll keep encouraging Ben and for certain if and when it starts, i'll guarantee i'll be racing too. If you aren't interested in Track for competition, then maybe a good way to get a sprint workout in each week to help with the cornicopia of flat, open, industrial park crits that MABRA has so many of.

2nd again

Got up at 430 to go finish setting everything up for the race. Unfortunately thats a grand total of 4.5 hours of sleep after having to stay up because i forgot to wash my any and all of my race kits. oops. great.

Anyway, set everything up, sat around, helped with stuff around the site. watch kids race. Then finally i had to go get ready.

Get ready and then we race...around and around and around. boring mostly. I decided maybe to put the hammer down and string things out a bit. and i do. i work with a few others and we pop some riders. We get down to a much smaller size group. last lap i move up to the front, wanting to be about 5th wheel into the corner. and a kid shoots up the outside (me on the inside). One other guy follows him and gaps because no one up front reacts. we roll through the corner and i have a nice 30-40 yards between the lead 2 guys and myself the front one dies (as expected) leaving the other fresh to sprint. I unleash my sprint and am gaining on him like he is soft pedaling but i ran out of road again. 36mph sprint up a 1% or so grade. over 1300 watts too. not too bad.

Ran out of road, my fault again. Looking forward to faster last laps of the 3's. less chance of something weird happening.
Typical podium pic right? 1st-YES! 2nd-pissed 3rd-"happy to be up here."

Slowing Down

I want to ride my bike so bad but my legs say no.

I finally had a "hard" day on the bike this past wednesday, and my legs still feel sore/heavy. I got demolished on the group ride...granted it was a smaller group containing riders like DLP pro Steven Gordon, Joe D just coming back from his 9th place at X-C junior nationals, speedweek Jared Neiters , and JP. There were a few others, more at my level, but i was sucking so, i was the bottom of the barrel. Somewhere on our outerloop that we do twice before the rolling/hilly road back to town, Joe went. Jared and Steevo lined up like they were waiting to drag race each other up there. kind of odd but comical. They left us like we were sitting in a parking lot. JP went sometime and made it up easy. I think John went with Joe originally but was hanging off the back of that little group. Around about 3 or 4 miles before the sprint point we turned onto a road only to find that the front group, excluding John, had gotten pulled over by the police for taking a turn through a stop sign at 30+. awesome. I launched off my group to catch john who decided to take advantage and "win the sprint" by himself. I started to catch but he slowed my progress with about 100 yards to go. i stepped it up and thought i would just go ahead and empty myself out to catch. i was sitting well over 400 watts for the last 1-1.5 miles, slowly but surely catching John. which i eventually did, and then sat on until the "sprint" which i tip toed around him. After that it was game over for me. i limped home after hanging with the group for a little and then again after our re-group.

game over. and i thought it was in my head.

Ready for some AT

I kind of mentally cracked about a week and a half ago. I would say i did physically, but i'm sure if i hadn't quit in my head i could maybe have continued. I was registered for Giro Di Coppi, but after multiple skipped workouts/rides i decided my legs just couldnt continue on at this pace. I cut all workouts last week and riding at all through the weekend, drank a whole bottle of wine(by myself) while playing Call of Duty with a buddy, ate lots of pizza, ate cheeseburgers, doorbell ditched my parent's house while slightly intoxicated, set off fireworks on their porch, slept a lot, ate a butter finger bar, etc.

So i've been goofing off a bit. I haven't been sleeping well or much. I close my eyes and see bikes, sprint finishes, threatening breakaway attempts, and hear the sounds of bikes crunching. Its all very stressful.

With that said i'm doing two more races for fun. I'm "technically" a point shy of my CAT 3 upgrade, because i "technically" didnt win Ride Sally Ride (yes, i'm still bitching about that). but i'm in the top 5 for MABRA BAR CAT 4 which is cool. I believe 3 or 4 of those have upgraded now, which i will too.

Hopefully after that i can turn off competitive cycling in my mind for a bit. Knock some more sections of the AT out with my hiking buddies Dan and Darryl. I'm planning a terrible idea of 42-45 miles straight (Harpers Ferry to PenMar) starting around 5 pm and hopefully ending the next morning around 8 or 9, in time for a large stack of pancakes or something. Also a venture back into winter hiking this Jan with Dan in the Daks via snowshoes (scratch the XC-ski idea).

Now a picture of dissapointment...CAT 4 Crit Championship...last 25-50m.

moron discovered.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/di-luca-positive-for-cera-in-giro

truly what a dope. As Radiohead put it...No Surprises.

So close...

I hate reading long race reports so here we go...

Hagerstown Crit Championships
Rain delay for no real reason. Went around in a circle a bunch of times with tons of gaps opening up all the time. dropped most of the field. lots of wrecks. blah blah blah. Last bend i was 5th wheel, and the guy up front shot off with a ton of power...no response from the front 4 and so i drilled it immediately up the inside, passing 1, 2, 3, and the 4th guy and i clipped handlebars inevitably turning his handlebars sideways. I gave it everything i had to catch the guy going for the glory...with a gap of 4o yards on a slight downhill. But i only got within a bike length. i've never been so disappointed in a race result.

I also wish the Peter Warner and i hadn't connected handlebars. i felt really bad. i went back to check on him and apologize. Not sure what to say or what to do about a situation like that. I'm not sure how i passed 3 guys on the same line and connected with the 4th one. I wish i could have taken it back. A gap was there and then it wasn't.

Dawg Days
around around around. i pretty much passed the time by staying out of trouble and making faces at the cameras my wife, mom, and friend's wife were holding. no breakaways were going to go with the way things were going. Last lap i got screwed on the inside through the first stretch and almost went down, and then the "move" went up the outside on the backstretch vs where i was which was the inside...again i'm out of position having to make up about 20 places. sitting about 20th at the top of the hill i open up my sprint and gap the field and almost catch 2nd place at the line, enough that i threw my bike.

another weekend of racing.

One year

Last week marks my first full year back into cycling and i might as well say it was my first year ever considering how long i rode before and how long ago it was.

This time last year i was riding the 15 miles(total) back and forth to work and exhausted each way. I remember only riding 4 days a week because i was so sore. I was also 45lbs heavier. I'm skinnier now than when i was a veggie-trendy-hipster-rock-star-wannabe with 15lbs of crazy hair on my head.

My favorite cycling quote is from Greg Lemond "it doesn't get easier, you just get faster" or something like that.

In one year:

• Made it from CAT 5 to CAT 3 (pending getting one more point...shouldn't be too hard)
• Rode straight through winter including 2 sub zero mornings
  
• Bought 3 bikes (Cannondale track bike, Giant TCR [sold], and Look something rather)
• Rode my longest ride yet 80 something?
  
• Joined my first team 540Cycling.com
  
• Got my first win (Syns-Fit Crit)
• Won a prime (Bryan Park Circuit Race)
• Got a flat in a race (Bryan Park Circuit Race)
  
• Did my first "stage-race"
• Got a "call up" at a race (even though i wasn't there)
• Was off the bike 3 days (only twice) and Off 2 days (Only a hand full of times)
• Gave the bird to countless cars
• Slapped a few windows in traffic
• Wrecked in a race (Reston Grand Prix)
• Got dropped in a race (Jeff Cup)
• Made the wrong turn in a race (Fawn Grove Roubaix)
• Brought my bike on its first vacation (Orlando, FL)
  
• Was towed behind a dump truck down a major high traffic road at 40+ (awesome)
• Beat Zach up Bull Run once (slaughtered by him every other time)
• Found out that i'm a McFatty sprinter.
• Rode 70+ miles on a fixed gear(46x16) on very hilly terrain. twice. and 50+ many many times.
  

As i only have a few more races for the season i'm thinking i'm light years ahead of where i was this time last year and i am really looking forward to next year. I won a 3-month free coaching service at a race so i'll use that come Jan or Feb and see if i can get a little extra insight. Having teammates that have been racing for 25+ years really helps though.

With that said, the TTT from the tour is on. Its the best part of the whole tour in my opinion. adios.

Reston Gp (3/4)

In short. i suffered through my first 3 race. was in the top 10 with 2 to go. had all 3 teammates around including Larry to lead me out and i wrecked.

Possibilities of why-
1.Tubular rolled of the rim when booking around that hard corner.
2.caught the edge of the rim
3.clipped the pedal on the pavement? dont think so.
4. out of ideas.

I'm pretty sure my front tubular rolled of the rim. I was assured that the tires and what not were in great working condition.

my teammate Larry salvaged 4th.

In the 4 race (which i wasn't present for) i got an introduction. wtf? called a sprinting phenom by the race announcer? (i will say this though, it makes my cuts hurt a little less)
pic thanks to Jim Wilson