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.

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."

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.

A Vee for a friend

My good pal Derek from r1v is taking a vacation at his family's place in OK. And like most self-indulged cyclists, he brought he bike with the intention of riding A LOT and possibly racing. Last night he did a local CAT 3/4 Crit and mopped up. He attacked from the gun staying solo for 8 laps when a lone rider bridged the 25 sec gap and 4 laps later popped leaving Derek alone again for 2 more laps when he decided he was a little tired of riding all by his lonesome and then drifted back to chill in the pack that was containing a fraction of the riders it was when the race started. Then a little later he burst forth once again, this time his brother-in-law in tow, who was popped shortly after and Derek was caught with 10 to go. A little bit later some other riders decided to further annihilate the dwindling pack with 2 to go and Derek went as well. Banking the final corner, Derek was sitting 2nd wheel and the lead rider let out his futile sprint while Derek sucked a wheel and soft pedaled behind him waiting till he finally popped, which he quickly did allowing Derek to spring forward, check over his shoulder once and cruise across the line 1st.

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.

Poolesville = FUN (field sprint for 6th)

That race was fun.

Wednesday i came down with a sinus infection...and a little bit a digestive problem. so i thought my chances at winning were shot so i figured aim top 10.

each lap was somewhere around 10 miles.

lap 1
slow boring. moved up. (lost 1 of 2 water bottles on the gravel section)

lap 2.
slow. got stuck on the front at the beginning. gunned it through the gravel section. 2 attacks went near the end. followed by me trying to bridge up.

lap 3
still trying to bridge but 1.wasn't able to shake the field and 2. wasn't able to make it all the way up to the chase.

i ended up bridging a guy to the chase (F!) then i red lined and sat in for a bit and then threw down a bigger attack. the chase group had a good lead on the field and i lost sight of the field, but the closest i got was about 20-30 yards off. that last little bit i couldn't close down despite later hearing from Martin that they were "waiting for me"...makes me feel a little worse. then later it was almost all brought back together but another team bridged two of their guys up plus 2 more guys instead and then turned their team's gear into neutral. so that means the 3 biggest teams in the field have guys up in the break and i'm left solo.

lap 4
tried in vain to chase more and more. rest. chase.rest.chase. but i heard 1:30 and gave up. not to mention still a lot of blocking going on. good for them...bad for me.

the end of lap 4 was a bit faster. hit the last corner with around 300m to go. with 200m to go a couple guys let out their sprint...i just sat on their wheel for a second and then let it rip. I let off a tad but a NCVC guy came running up the side so i had to pump it a bit further and i threw the bike for good measure.

so i got the field sprint for 6th. after being disappointed about not making the break i realized later i'd made my goal...still hacking nastiness up (and not from the race.)

Tomorrow is Reston GP with the 3/4 and 4 fields.

Oh and i was right Martin won.

ToWC

Lets keep this quick-

Stage 1 RR (with hills...)
Felt like crap (didn't ride due to inoperable bike previous two days). Sat in the pack...was in the middle and looked behind and i was on the back because the "back" had been dropped after the first lap. 3rd lap my chain wrapped around the rear D. Dude in the mechanic van had me back on the bike like Mechov at the Giro. amazingly quick. eventually caught the group, but exhausted. got dropped. caught back on. next lap, got dropped. i figured this would be the trend the rest of the race, but unfortunately i wasn't able to catch on a 3rd time. The top 10 hammered it out. My legs finally came around (despite cramping), and i caught about 10-15 people on the last lap and limited my losses by 2:59. Too bad i went into the RR so terribly

State 2 ITT
With the legs opened up and feeling better, i was a bit confident. Had a nice warm up, got on the course and did my thing. i remembered why i liked TT's as a junior. Threw up in my mouth a couple times, and then once all over myself in the last 2 miles. avg around 307 for watts. time was 29:23 for 12 miles. First time riding in the TT position in 7-8 years. I'm looking forward to next year and doing more ITT's. 29:23 was good enough for 13th moving me up into 17th overall.

State 3 Crit
Felt tired. Sat in and suffered. handlebars ended up pointing at the ground after hitting a couple potholes on laps 3 and 5(?)...it was early in the race. Ref said no for the free lap. moved up with 2 to go. and again with 1 to go. Unfortunately for me and Peter Warner, he wrecked in the last corner. For me it caused a gap to open up costing me the win for the crit...i had to settle for 4th. the front 4th got a head start on the sprint and i only caught the 4th one. i hit 1300 watts in that sprint which is pretty avg for sprints now-a-days. Mind you, with jacked up handlebars to boot.

So with the previous goal of 15th overall. i JUST missed it ending 17th overall all thanks to bad legs/mechanicals on the first stage. next year...

What NOT winning looks like...

The grand look of confusion "I WON! wait...what?"

no i didn't get passed at the line. no chance for that to happen. But i didn't get the "win" due to a restart. i guess its only fair and considering the circumstances it didn't really matter.

at least i found this picture and still got 4th the second time around.

pciture thanks to Amy Jones

Ride Sally Ride (CAT 4)

Our race was called early, about halfway through... they called last lap. i won the sprint and thought we were going home after 10 miles of racing, but no. they called us back to the line.

great.

They posted 10 laps to go. Josh Flexman on the last lap made the move on the inside. i had to solo sprint from the last corner to MAYBE catch the 2 trying to contend with Josh. We also passed the guy on the breakaway attempt from earlier. I was 4th.

They gave me the prime for the initial "win". I also got points for 1st...so that's really what i wanted.

Still kind of disappointing, but 4th isn't bad and a prime and points for 1st.

**note-i'm now hearing that we get BOTH results. for i get results for 1st and 4th. sick.

Season-1st half, 2nd half

I'm kind of hesitant to blog. i've noticed this thing appears a someone's blog list who is quite the popular rider around here. Its nice but i'm just a CAT 4 (and barely) and i dont think anyone cares what i have to say.

Anyhow. The 1st half of the race season has passed for me. I've achieved almost all my goals for the season too.

• I've collected 1 win (goal) (Syns-Fit Crit).
  
• I rode haymarket's Mt Weather ride (which i realize isn't much of a goal, but i set that goal after my 2nd month of riding, when the total 14 mile commute for the day was still a lot).
  
• I've also made it from 5 to 4 in a half of a season (goal) with a total of 4 podiums (bonus).
• Lost 40lbs.
• Be apart of a winning breakaway [2nd and 3rd places for myself] (1st race at Snowball 10 sec gap on last lap, just rode off the front. Waynesboro does it count with 6 guys annihilate the entire field?)
  

2nd half season goals

• Another win (maybe two)
• CAT up to 3 (i've been told by my riding peers that it shouldn't be out of reach)
• Top 15 at Tour of Washington County (worried about that TT)
• Lose 5-10 more lbs. (i'm apparently building muscle now...so this may be difficult)
  
• Be apart of 2 more winning breakaway's
• Lead a teammate out for a win.
  
• Top 3 at Hagerstown State Championship Crit (7/11)
• Vint Hill Development Series Overall Winner (home court advantage).

A lot of more goals for the rest of the season but i think most of them are realistic. I dont know if i will be able to lead out a teammate for a win, my chances are limited to a few races being that they are all 3's basically and only one of which is a sprinter so i'd substitute that for wasting myself for one of them if it meant victory in a breakaway.

I've learned a ton through the first half of this year, mostly in my first 2 bigger races which resulted in poor results. I've also learned a ton doing the Wednesday Night Haymarket ride. Those guys are all so good, and i get a ton of advice post ride from different guys. Not to mention the experience i gain from riding at speeds and intensities much higher than any CAT 5 race.

Upgrade status

status=approved.

i didnt need 10 races after all.

i am a CAT 4. still lowly in ranks but i'm happy with my progress.

Also, quick story-went on a short, VERY slow ride today being a rest day and all. got about 3 or 4 miles away and caught a flat. bummer right? but not a big deal. except after i quickly got it changed and was about to be back on my way my CO2 cartridge failed...it was a dud. major bummer since i left my cell at home and i'm apparently not smart enough to carry more than one cartridge (i usually do but i've not yet replaced the one i used just the other day). ugh.

walked 3 or 4 miles home carrying my bike and shoes (i'd rather walk barefoot than in shoes with Look cleats).

CAPS WON!

Bunny Hop and possible upgrade

pics by sam hill
The Bunny Hop Crit was very uneventful. Josh (cyclelife), Derek (route 1 velo) and myself led the first bunch of laps (not sure exactly how many). I did most of the pulls. I felt great and i wanted the tempo to be high. I contemplated trying to attack off the front and i thought since Josh and Derek were sitting right behind they could jump with me...but in the end i didn't have the balls to go for it. It may have worked seeing at the entire pack was strung out already.

Soon after i didn't feel like doing all the work anymore and let a couple other guys set the pace, which they did until about 2 laps to go. during which nothing happened except for a ton of almost wrecks, getting forced hard into the corner by a bunch of dive bombers, and a few nasty comments. one crazy guy sitting behind kept yelling at the top of his lungs with the utmost passion, "They are blocking! Those guys are getting away! Don't let them get away! HURRY!" i told him to shut it, seeing as no one was "blocking" and the guys "getting away" had been dropped and were about to get lapped.

With 1 to go i moved into position about 6th or 7th wheel right next to Josh Flexman and when we were approaching the last corner the guys at the front of the line decided not to keep pedaling causing a quick bunch up and some how i got stuck in the middle. Someone made a jump from behind and Josh caught on (for the win) and i squeezed my way out somehow and powered past everyone for 3rd.

After the race we all went to lunch.

I got home later and sent in my request for an upgrade from 5 to 4. I know i dont have 10 races yet but 4 podiums (including a win) should be enough...so says the guys from my team and they've been doing it a lot longer than i have.

Caps won on saturday! and play again tonight!

Waynesboro Grand Prix #1 (CAT 5)

95 degrees at the start.

the course-basically one long up hill and one long down hill with a tad bit of flat in between. everything in total= 1 mile.

at the whistle a few guys really jammed it and i grabbed on.

i noticed i felt like crap...repeat of the Jeff Cup race, type of feeling.

decided to do little to no pulling, and try and just hang on.

Did some pulling anyway.

fell of the back of the breakaway a couple of times.

caught back on. got dehydrated.

put in one stupid "attack" on the last lap...(i should have saved it.)

felt horrible.

led up the hill 200m from the finish.

got passed. hit the wheel of the eventual winner.

bike went sideways. caught the bike.

and managed 3rd place.

afterwards i wanted to crawl into a dark cold wet place and die.

Syns Fit CAT 5 race (1st!)

The race started off quick. Some of the evolution guys thought it wise to sprint from lap one...which lasted about a lap or two. It was pretty uneventful for a while. a few guys tried to go only to die soon after getting off the front or they would just hover about 3-5 seconds out in front.

About halfway through the race as we rolled up to the first corner, someone in the middle of the pack did something stupid and wrecked, causing a great number of riders to wreck as well. We went from 50(riders) to 25 quick. i got stuck behind the wreck and nearly wrapped up in it but i avoided and then chased to get back on...i didn't have to extend myself that much.

A lap or so after the wreck we were cruising fairly slow so i blew off the front and got a gap. Not only did i get a decent gap but i felt great. i asked the moto-ref if the guy up the road was getting lapped or on a breakaway, which it was the latter. I thought once i got to him maybe we could work together but he couldn't hang. I stayed away for a couple laps, but soon after i was slowly getting caught so i just sat up altogether and jumped back on near the front.

More people would put in an attack, again, only to die right off the front. That went on till the last lap. I was getting screwed in the corners because no one has the balls to lean a bike over, instead they grab their brakes.... So i was near the middle/back of the pack after turn 1 of 2 on the last lap. My only lane was up the gutter so i gunned it up the gutter inches from the curb, got about 6th wheel into the last corner. the front was fairly spread out and i thought my race was pretty much over...maybe a podium. So again i gunned it and to my own amazement started to pass everyone. i was quicklygaining places-5th, 4th, 3rd (podium!) 2nd, and then 1st by a bike length.

Fawn Grove Roubaix (another CAT 5 mistake)

Fawn Grove brought out all kinds of riders...or at least all different kinds of gear for the bikes. In my group alone i saw a few triple cranksets, camelbacks, and thin worn down 700x23c. Other excentricities included a nice set of super deep carbon wheels (it was really windy and crappy road conditions), a few cross bikes (slighty over the top), and the list goes on.

The hills ended up being very short but also steep, so those along with the trecherously deep gravel section, it broke everything up pretty quickly. Which in my group (4/5) i figured would happen. All of a sudden i was out in front with 4 other decently strong guys chasing down the one guy who was pretty far off the front. And to be honestly fair...we weren't really chasing nor trying to breakaway from the group. Just keeping a mildly hard tempo. We descended the biggest down hill into a T-bone intersection and everyone ahead of me went left, and i followed without thinking. Shortly after i though it was weird that the pack wasn't in sight since it was a long straight uphill. we all turned around expecting the worst...we went the wrong way, which was the case. A guy from NCVC (Dan Paulson) and i rode the rest of the race together, not really pushing it too hard, but still managed to beat most of the field. 27th and 28th.

The most dissapointing thing is that i felt really good and was doing really well. Probably would have done really well too had i not made that silly mistake.

John Nusbaum took 11 in the 3/4 field, which had he done the 40+ group, he very well may have won. Simeon Green (dude from south France) took 6th in the Pro/1/2 field. He rode up with John and i to the race. Really nice guy.

2 weeks till Syns-Fit.

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!

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.