Parachute?

This has been slowing me down for the last two months...

Oh well

Race season was going pretty good up to this point. Mid April my form was down a bit, had a slight cold...and reduced time for training.
The last few weeks were looking good, I was getting stronger again and more focused on my training.... had some bad luck in races with flat tires and getting run into a ditch...but my legs were getting better and better... you can't just rely on racing results to validate your performances.

Then this happens, just riding the trail. I went down, fractured my elbow. And now need surgery to screw it all together again. Eight weeks in a cast(non weight bearing)...... sweet!

What hurts more then the injury is the fact that the weather is so great, and the racing I will miss.

Now though I get to spend more time with Kele and Jett, although in Kele's words " I'm even more useless now"

Independence Valley…

And I thought it might be a bit wet, but at least it would be warmer then a few weeks ago at Mason lake.
As We got closer and closer to the race, the colder it got and by the time we pulled into the parking lot the thermometer said 36’F and there was a rain snow mix coming down. All winter I don’t think I’ve ridden in such bad whether, and then I would have had fenders, and for sure extra gloves with me, I wouldn’t have been out there for four hours.
I had two layers of plastic bags over my feet, a serious rain coat and 3 layers of gloves.. and it still didn’t stop my feet and hands from becoming solid blocks.

After only a few miles we climbed for the first time. The good news was that by the top I was nice and warm, but the bad news was that I had worse legs then in months… maybe it was the last few weeks of hard riding catching up with me, or maybe it was the weather. I can only remember a few times when I’ve felt that bad in a race… and now when I think about it, it’s about around this time of year.
Anyway, sometimes you fell bad at the start just to turn around and fell great later on, and the only way to find out was keep going. The first climb was a lot harder then it should have been, well at least I was warm.
First lap was no problem. After the descent of the 2nd climb, a few guys took of. I expected more people to chase, and when nobody did; I tried a bit by going to the front and pick the pace up. This is where I quickly realized my legs didn’t just hurt on the climbs… the flats weren’t so good either.
The reason we all got so cold was that there wasn’t much chasing, once the second chase group got of the front, pretty much all of the big teams had riders up there…so we rode around way too slow for our own good(until the climb that is).
By the 4th and last time up the bigger hill my legs were awful, somehow though I managed to stay with what was left of the pack(15 riders or so).. my legs now actually hurt every pedal stroke going up the climb. Four guys stayed of, with Ian Mensher wining, very nice. We sprinted for 5th. With 1km to go, I thought I was in a pretty good spot, but once the sprint stated, a bit too late for me, there wasn’t much passing going on…and I was really disappointed with finishing 13th overall. I should jumped earlier and not waited for the sprint to start, oh well, there wasn’t much in those legs. Teufel took 8th, not bad after being in the chase group, and got caught by the pack with ½ lap to go. I think only 20 people finished, the rest had pulled out…

Another weekend.

Two dry days in a row… not bad for March, and it even happened on the weekend.
Saturday was the third Mason Lake. It was good to see a big field, and just about every team was there.
I was happy that my legs felt so much better then the preceding days. I was ready to get going.
The race started fast and stayed that way. I think everyone was just so happy to finally be racing in sun and on dry roads, that the last thing they wanted was let something of the front, basically, ending their race. It wasn’t for the lack of trying though; there were attacks the entire race. I tried multiple times myself, every lap. ¾ through the race I could tell that a lot of people had come to the conclusion that nothing was going to stick. This is a very dangerous line of thought, because I knew if this happened, people would relax, a bit too much, and before you know it something would just slip of the front, with nobody willing to chase. That’s exactly what happened, On lap 5 (of 6) three riders just rode off, and before you know it had a big gap. Chase groups would go, but by now everyone was attentive again, and these all go pulled back pretty quick. Lucky for us, we had a rider up there. But many of the big teams did not, but still nothing got organized.
The pack sprint for 4th, was ramping up a long way out. Since no team really decided to lead it out, it got a bit dangerous and hectic to say the least. I struggled to stay far enough up front, to be out of trouble, and had to constantly try and find gaps and wheels to get on.
I felt confident I could do pretty good in the sprint, especially if it started early and went long. I don’t have the best acceleration, but I can hold it a bit longer then most. I was in pretty good position with a mile to go. With 1k was moving up ok, maybe a bit too far back, but I wasn’t panicking yet.
With about 500m to go, the first stalled ride came back, forcing me to hit the brakes to get around him. Then right before the corner, two HB guys just basically stopped in the middle of the road. Only the two left most lanes were able to get around unhindered, I once again was forced to slow way down and get around on the right. Every time you have to hit your brakes like this you loose several spots. Damm, I could feel a slight panic washing over me. Coming around the corner I had to waste some of my sprint to catch back up, and then go again a few seconds later when it started for real…. I made up quite a few spots with 100m to go, and by the line I finished 7thin the sprint (10th overall)…
I’m not that disappointed, I felt fast and strong during the sprint, which is good. and I could have keep going another 50-100m at the same speed. It was definitely a wasted opportunity though; I should have been further forward and opened up my sprint a lot earlier, my fault… one of there days……

By Sequim on Sunday, I could tell I had a hard race in my legs already that weekend. I did ok, but I felt slightly off and not quite as fresh as I needed to be. I wasted a lot of energy early by helping with the chase of the main break that got away early on lap one.

After it came back (minus Stanko) I tried to make sure at least I or Kyle was in all the moves. Finally with 1 ½ lap to go Kyle gets of the front in a small move that sticks, and he takes a well deserved 2nd in the sprint.
With about 2 miles to go I do a last desperate attack to try and get of the front on the last hill. I get a small gap, but I have a HB rider on my wheel. I keep going for a bit and look back, he is still there, and HB has 8guys pulling the pack along. It was a long shoot as it was, and unless the rider with me starts working, and HB shuts down the chase I doomed for sure. I was kind of hoping for a disorganized pack, with no one wanting to chase, that was my only real hope. I’m not that strong, and I’m not close enough to the finish, so I decide so sit up and go for the pack sprint instead.
The sprint was a lot like Saturday, But I mange to position myself a bit further forward, so it’s not quite as dangerous (for me at least)… I really wanted to jump at 300, as it’s a slight down hill to the finish, and I want the long sprint. I’m on the yellow line, a few places back and have to wait until it takes of in front of me. I take 6th in this sprint (10th overall again)… slightly better..all the riders ahead of me in the sprint as fast strong guys… so I don’t feel bad, but I would like to have beaten one or two of them…

Mason Lake 2

That was a wet and cold race…..
So cold that I decided to pull out after lap three, I could no longer feel my fingers. I couldn't get any food out of my pockets or even grab my water bottle.

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve pulled out of a race mid way trough, so it was not an easy decision. The only other times I’ve voluntarily pulled out of a race was due to injury or in one case during criterium in an omnium, where with 10min to go I was at the back, really suffering and there was no way I could make it to the front.
Even in the conditions on Saturday, I had a hard time making that decision. I gave myself one way to not quit, if I was in a break with a chance for a high placing.
I immediately went to the front an attacked as hard as I could, over and over again, pulled the field around for a while… And wouldn’t you know it, getting my HR up from the 130’s to 175 really got me warmed up. By the end of the lap my fingers were starting to hurt, because the blood was coming back. It felt so good. I could grab food, eat, and drink with no problem… so what do you know?… I stayed in and finished the race…
My hands were better, but now my legs were a bit too tired…

Tree

There I was, riding down the tail, minding my own business, and out of nowhere this tree jumped at me.
The tree didn’t so much jump at me, more like actually just stood there, not moving at all… but it’s all relative.
The race had originally been scheduled for a much different course, with much less trees, and definitely less aggressive ones at that.
Well here I was, on the first lap mind you giving this perfectly healthy tree a perfect tackle, I guess should have known, that I didn’t really have a chance, me against the tree, there was no other outcome, then me being on the short end of the stick.

It all happened during the first lap of the 3ed race of the Seattle cross series on Sunday.
We all know the first lap is a bit hectic to say the least. On a right hand corner my front tire slipped for just a split second, changing my path just enough, sending me into the corner tighter then I wanted. There it was, and there was no avoiding it… damm!! my right collar bone took the hit, sending me cart wheeling into the bushes.
I got up, checked my bike, shoulder hurt bad, waited until the trail was clear and got back on my bike. Racing down the trail again I was slightly upset to why I had waited so long to get going, the racer in me was more angry about lossing time then beeing hurt. I came to a section that required me to pull on the handlebar, and I was quickly reminded of the encounter with the tree. I still keep going, but finally came to my senses as I plowed through the deep sand, pushing the heavy gear and trying maintainin my momentum, it hurt like the...... By the end of the sand pit I came to a slow stop and got off the bike, the race was over for today.

As I walked my bike down to the infield the shoulder pain was intensifying, and I knew I had made the right decision. Now I instead started worrying about having broken or torn something. This is not at all a good plan for the rest of the cross season.

After slowly loading the car I drove the emergency room. X-rays and the doctor confirmed that I hadn’t broken anything but had suffered a separated shoulder. I hadn’t completely torn my ligaments so that’s good… but it will definitely take a while to heal, It just hurts and even minor things are hard to do.

If it wasn’t cross, maybe I could be back racing in a few weeks… cross though is a bit tough on the shoulder with all the bumps and jarring, not to mention lifting the bike over barriers and shouldering the bike for the Knapp run-up… yeah… don’t think so.

I was getting over my cold, training was going good, I was feeling strong... this is always when you get injured...

I still slightly optimistic…we will see…

I now have a great opertunity to practise doing everything with my left hand..

Evergreen

For the First race of the Seattle series, the weather could not have been better.
After last weeks rain and mud, we now had to deal with dry grass and sandy corners.
After a pretty good start, I once again had a misshap, from where i spent the entire race trying to recover from.

On the first 180 turn of the race, we all quickly slowed to a crawl, what I didn't notice at the time, was that when the rider from behind ran into me, they actually ran into my skewer, partially opening it. A lap later my rear wheel came to a screeching halt as the wheel came out. Why i had closed it with the lever pointing backwards I don't know?... another thing to think about for cross.

I really didn't loose to much time, it was more the fact that I got passed by just about the entire field, as I figured out what was wrong, and got my wheel back in.
I spent a lot of time getting stuck behind and trying to get around riders.
The longer the race went, the faster I making up spots... road season fitness is helping a bit.
I eked out a top 10, so i am happy with that... one of these days it will all work out.

Cross is On

Cyclocross season just started again... why didn't anybody remind me how painful it is??

First Star-crossed in Redmond on Saturday..




Then after suffering from a mechanical, Rad GrandPrix on Sunday





cool sky.......

Track

After only racing on the track, twice the last few summers, this year I managed three...and was promptly upgraded, to a cat 3. So last Friday Kele and I both showed up to race.
There where enough riders there for two heats, and they split us up, so we wouldn't cooperate... and I who needed some help……..
Track you would think would be simple, since there is only one gear... but not quite so... now you have to spend all this time deciding what gear to run, depending on the race, other riders tactics, and ones own strengths. No matter what you do, you are invariably going to have the wrong gear, for at least part of the race.
First race I picked a slightly bigger gear then I was used to… turned out it was ok at speed, but accelerating was a bit harder, and my legs were just about shoot after that. Second race I went smaller to a 49x15… pretty small, but now I was better of with the small accelerations… but just could not go fast enough during the sprint for the line. (All in all though, I think a better gear for me)..

For the third race I should have gone up again. The race would be a lot more consistent in speed, no intermediate sprints or funny stuff…I ended up of the front a few times… and the high cadence I had to keep with that gear just wore me down… and I was caught. During the final sprint to the line I was feeling good, on a great wheel and between corner 3 and 4 I was flying over the top of the pack to the front. As we are about to exit the corner a rider pulls up, the rider on my inside who I’m passing reacts my going up, then the rookie as I am, I over react even more and even “stop” pedaling for a split second… I promptly settle down, but have now lost my wheel and inertia, so I back of and pull out of the sprint… what a rookie mistake… The riders wheel I was on ends up winning the sprint, I would like to think I would have been right up there, and not back practically coasting across the line.
Well I’m a rookie on the track, I didn’t go down… I will learn..
and I did win $10 in my second race… more then enough for a Blizzard, so really not a bad night after all.

Team Pursuit

This weekend I did my first team pursuit at the FSA challenge race at Marymoore.
It was also probably my shortest race ever, less then 5 min.
Considering that this was new to all of us, with only a few training sessions, never done more then 2 1/2 laps at full effort prior to this, it went pretty good.

I think all of us agreed that we could improve our time considerably.
We rode pretty conservatively, not quite knowing how to pace it... I think we all finished with plenty left in the tank.

We only missed 3ed by less than a second, and second by 4...

I'm tired

Too much racing in too few days....sure it was fun...
but I'm paying for it now..

Just too bad more people didn't show up for the Omnium in Bellingham...

I felt great all weekend, and even managed to take the crowd preem of $100+ in the crit..

I shared it with Brian V from Carter though, as we were working together good, trying to hold of the pack for the finish.
We didn't quite make it.
Getting caught at the last corner with 200m to go, I tried to sprint but faded to 10th...
It was a good effort though.

W in W

Off to the 3ed “W” stage race of the year.
First one was Walla Walla, in April…I haven’t updated the blog since…
Second was the State Stage race in Wenatchee and the third will be this weekend in Winthrop..

The first two did not go so well.

Walla Walla had a very big field with some very strong riders. Wind was a factor as well. For the first time in a while a was more then happy to just hang on, and that was hard enough.


I’ve like so many others, have been fighting colds and sickness all spring. I was, and am still trying to get over and recover from a virus. I could have picked it up on my India trip in late December, or maybe just as likely the Starbucks at JFK during my return trip,,, The virus has been leaving me weak and tried. I was having problem with my digestion system, I was not able to absorb enough nutrients… finally though after numerous tests and doctor visits, I am now on a daily viral suppressive medicine…and the last few weeks I have been feeling a lot better.

I still have a hard time recovering from efforts, and the trick now is to make sure I don’t overdue it and make sure I get enough rest. Better being over rested then over trained anytime.

Anyway Wenatchee was hot and windy. The Crit was harder then I liked. Muscle weakness and repeated high intensity efforts in a crit is not a good mix.

<
The long climb in the road race was very hot. Even before the second time over I was dead. Just pushing the pedals down at all was just barley possible. I don’t think I could have climbed any slower.


Even though I struggled at lot of the races this year, I really tried to enjoy the process instead… it’s not all about wining and just setting different goals. At a few races I have felt great, others not so much… but It’s all been “fun”…

One advantage with having a power meter on my bike is that I can quantify a big part of the symptoms. My power is down 5% across the board, from sprint to TT efforts. 5% does not seem like a lot… but I can assure you that it is quite noticeable.

So now I’m getting ready for the third W, the Methow Valley Stage race in Wintrop.
Hopefully can do a bit better this time.

But no matter what happens I will make sure I have a good time…

80'F

How nice was the 80’s on Saturday?..

After have been suffering from some kind of post sickness fatigue the last week or so, I finally began to feel a lot better on Friday.
Since the race on Saturday was only a 14 mile ride from home, and with a start time at early afternoon, it meant a possibility to catch up on some sleep, have a relaxing morning and then leisurely cruising over to Volunteer Park, doesn’t get much better then that..
And did I mention it was 80’… only my 3ed ride with out leg warmers all year, (the 2nd was on a short lunch ride Friday).
Dalai Lama is in town all week, and with a Baseball game also going on, it was nice being able to park the car for the entire weekend, avoiding all traffic.
I haven’t done this race since 2004. I think it was cancelled last year, and the other years it was later in the summer when I was usually gone in England for wind tunnel testing.
This would be my first criterium of the year, although I consider this a non-crit crit, because of its simple course…
One big round loop, It’s just like Seward Park, but twice as big. Flat section by the Start/ finish, long fast downhill followed by an uphill that you can coast up halfway (especially in the slip stream of the pack) before a sharp right turn into the last 200m. This is always easier then a flat multi corner course, where you have no downhill to ‘recover”. On the other hand, a solo move is definitely harder, you have to work up and down to maintain your lead.
The race it went ok. You could tell that it was the first crit of the year for a lot of people, both by the feeling I got in the corners, and the fatigue you could see set in after a few laps.


I tried a move or two, bridged up to a short lasting two man break ½ though.. but nothing would stay away. Well, Clayville did have about a 12 sec lead the last 10 laps, only to get caught at 200m. With 1lap to go I was a bit too far back, and going around the tower, I managed to loose a few more spots… I definitely wasn’t “aggressive enough”.. coming around the last corner I started to sprint, and once I realized I wasn’t gaining much on anybody, I rolled across in 14th .. Teufel was up there and took 6th I think.
After the race I had nice ride home in the gorgeous weather… if it would only last, but rain and cold was forecasted for Sunday.

I decided to do the early race Sunday, trying to avoid the rain that was surly on its way.
When I showed up I was surprised by the small fields in all the races. Tom, Alex and I lined up for the A race. I could definitely feel some fatigue from Saturday, and I noticed that I didn’t have much of any acceleration coming out of the corners, or trying to get of the front. Tom and Alex did a good job covering, or making sure no move got of the front. Halfway though, the rain came, but all throughout race it never really got worse then a light mist. With 2 1/2 laps to go, I got seriously cut of in corner two, I had to slam on my brakes, lift my right foot to avoiding the curb and lost 20 spots. Now I didn’t have much time to get back up front. Going up the back side on the last lap I had managed to get back up to 5th, but when the three front riders surged and opened up a gap ahead of the 4th placed rider, I was too fatigued to respond right away…. And that was that.

I came around the last corner 5th, and then got passed by Erik Anderson, before the line as he sprinted by me …. Oh well, It could have been worse... Alex was right behind me somewhere in the last corner, but was taken wide and came out of his pedal, luckily he didn’t go down, but it didn’t help his finishing order for sure.
Now it started raining, and I decided to skip the last race and ride home before I got too wet and cold, especially as I had forgot to bring my legwarmers and raincoat. By the time I got home it was raining pretty hard, and I was happy with my decision, but there was still a part of me that wanted to race.

Independence Valley

Ok, at some point I will have to mention that we raced in miserable rain, and I was wet and cold, but not yet….
Saturday the Sun was out once again, it was slightly cold, still a bit too cold for bare legs, but it was a close call.
A big field this week, over 70 riders, several pro’s were at hand for some training, 3 Bissell riders, Ian (BMC), Doug (Rock Racing) Mountain Biker Jason Sager, and plenty local strong guys from both Washington and Oregon. First time up the first hill we were steady, at 450W mind you… at least it was only 3min. Once on the back side, the pace slowed way down. A few miles later, attacks started going, right before the second hill Ian, Dan and Morgan get a gap, and it balloons pretty quick. I don’t think the fact that out chase wasn’t the best made much of a difference with those guys up there; the gap was going up no matter what. Chris flatted, so we didn’t help much with chase until he got back, then just as we were coming up to the climb he got DQ for crossing the centerline…
Second time up was probably just as fast, but ok. On the back side Kevin and I helped with the chase so did Joe Holmes, but that was it (Carter had already spent most of there guys)… what was the point…. We quickly realized that this was futile….Kevin attacked and went away solo. Campbell tried to bridge but never made it up there. By the top of the second climb Kevin came back.
Next time up the main hill was going to be decisive, we all knew it. I attacked and countered to many moves, and spent too much energy to try and get in a small group before the climb, nothing stayed for very long. Then as I momentarily drifted back to the 3ed row, Strangelove and someone gets of the front, and then Hone and Ian attack at the same time and are also “let go”. These four get a gap before anything else happens, just enough it turns out. Another split rolls of, but this one is chased down right before the corner. Then less than a mile before the hill Ian gets of again, but gets caught ¼ way up, got to be the worst place.
The surge happens right at the bottom, Doug, Omer all come flying around on my left. I try and surge but after all the attacking my legs are toast…halfway up I finally start to close in on a group of riders right in front, but I needed to stand and surge a lot more to catch the main group…5 sec late at the top, is just too much, that was that.
This was one of those moments you have to realize, when it happens, that the race is over unless you do something now. Put away all thoughts of pain and simply shift, stand, and do what ever you have to do, to catch back up. You have to be willing to suffer more then you ever have, ignore the logic and thoughts of being in control… this is the race, and if you want to be a part of it.. go.
I didn’t realize this, until it was too late, maybe it was denial, or maybe I was just too preoccupied with the pain right now, and not the race at hand.

The small break with Hone and Strangelove got absorbed on the way up, but made it over the top.
The race was now for 15th.. and some good training I guess. Shawn missed the split, not sure how, but was now trying to pull us all back.
An hour later we sprinted in for 15th, Campbell taking the Sprint. I had a go at it but, somehow found myself squeezed across the yellow line with 300m to go and sprinted from the back, with what it felt like two flat tires..

March racing with no rain

Total riding time actually drops quite a lot for me during racing season, and time in the car goes up accordingly. Saturday rides from the front door are numbered for a while. Stops at Pert’s after the ride, for a cup of coffee and lunch are going to suffer. Well, at least I now have good reason to stop for a DQ blizzard on the drive home.


The second Mason Lake was a bit more intense then the first week, a lot of teams showed up with full teams. The pace was always high, and I personally did a lot of work for the team, bringing back breaks. The final rider was caught at 1km, and we were barreling down for a pack sprint.
The finish was rather hazardous, riders moving up to the left of the yellow line, head and shoulder butting and wheels touching, all at 30mph. Coming around the last corner I was a bit too far back, but managed to squeeze in at 8th, closing in on the riders ahead, but still upright and alive.


Sunday morning came too early, lost an hour sleep to daylight saving. I had to make the first ferry out of Kingston to Sequim, since we and Carter were putting on the race.
After being in the follow car all morning, which is a pretty posh job actually, especially if the weather is bad, I got ready to race the afternoon race. It was actually quite a bit colder then the day before, but once again there was no rain. Quite a big field again, plenty strong teams. The pace was very fast the first two laps as usual, with attacks going continuously. Every team was trying to get their riders in the break, before they let it go. Half way through lap three a four man break went up the road. Attacks kept coming and bride attempts were still being made though, as several teams missed out, and others wanted to improve their odds. Jason was away in the four man break; Kyle and I were flying along in the 12 man chase group. Once we got together, the gap to the pack opened up, and a few laps later we had over a 3minuite lead. With one lap to go the attacks started again, most people wanted to break things up, hopefully get rid of a few of the more tired riders, and make the final surge to the line a bit smaller affair. This is when racing gets hard and fun. This is the part I enjoy the most, this is when you have to dig deep, and are motivated to do so. Over the next few miles our group split and came back together more times then I can remember. Finally, after Lang countered a move by me and his teammate Patrick, and before you know it he had just a big enough gap that it would take a very strong or combined effort to get up to. A few times he was close, and I thought we would close it down, but there were too many people sitting on, and the rest of us had no desire bringing them up for an easy sprint. Last year I was in the same position as Lang, but got caught within the last 200m, so I knew how had it was to stay out there, and how fast the gap can close down. Lang however is probably stronger than me, and he had a bigger gap going around that last corner.
Lang did a great effort and hung on for the win. I started my sprint too soon, and died a horrible death the last few seconds and got passed by two riders right before the line for 6th.

After this race I was ready for a break, these two races wore me down and I needed to rest.
Maybe it was the weekend, maybe it was the flu going around the office at work, or maybe it was a combination, but by Wednesday afternoon I was sick, real sick. Fever, headache, soar throat and body aches. I was out for two days. By Saturday I was feeling a bit better, but decided to stay home and rest one more, as I wasn’t over it yet (and by now Kele was also feeling it).

Sunday we both decided to show up and race Market Street, maybe we weren’t completely well, but we were rested. It was cold, but once again it was dry.
The race started fast again, lots of strong teams this year, and nobody wants to settle for the right break goes. I felt ok for the first lap and a half until I ran out of energy and my legs had no jump at all. I decided to be a bit more careful for a while, after having the flu for a few days; it really wasn’t a surprise that my energy level would drop of dramatically. Right then though, Flavio got of solo, and was soon joined by Hone. Not until a lap later, when another group bridged did the pack let it go. The break now had 7 riders, Clayville later bridged up solo, after a series of attacks and a great setup by Lang. They were now eight up there, and the gap went up to a few minuets.
Ongers once again proved too strong and jumped early to take the win with Hone right behind. Flavio ended up 5th. The pack sprinted for 9th , which somehow I took, more luck and timing then anything. I jumped right when the front rider swung of and the front hesitated, giving me just enough of gap to hold until the line.

Next week it’s Independence Valley, and I think we might run out of luck with the weather this time. This will be the first “hilly” race of the season, and we will see how that feels :)

Mason 1

First race of the season always brings a slight panic:, am I ready, is the bike ready..
I spent up until 10pm Friday night getting Kele's bike ready, and than managed to work some magic on my 5year old race bike, as my new tarmac isn't in for another 2weeks or so..
Even though I didn't manage to ride in the sun all week, and missed a few training days to jet lag, sickness and working on bike.. I was looking forward to the first race.



Garage has a strong team this year, even though we lost Nathan to the South East ( his climbing and stage racing will be missed). On Saturday no less the nine riders showed up, all relatively fit and ready. Even with two of our strongest missing, Robert and Flavio, I felt confident we could match any team out there.
The Race started right away, with the first break going within the first mile. Once it came back, the next break went right away, Chris got up there, I was about to join him, when I quickly glanced back, the pack was right on me, I decided to sit up and not risk bringing the whole thing back.. and that was it, by the start/finish they had 2 minuets. The rest of the race was a mix of attacking, chasing and rolling along at 14mph... several more groups got of during the following laps.
We ended up with two in the top 5 and several more finishing up there.
No one could match Shawn Ongers though.... good to see such a nice guy riding so strong and making the rest of us look slow.

New Delhi

Last Week I went on a delivery flight of a brand new 777-300ER to India Airlines. Me and and one other Boeing engineer got to fly to New Delhi for a 1 day vacation... The catch... we worked 22hours straight on the way over there, only slept 6 hours in 3 days..and did I mention the smog and the stomach bug, but I did have some excellent curry........

There was only 10 of us on the entire flight, and we got to spend lots of in the cockpit, so that was kind of cool. The computer we used to access the airplane speed, altitude, engine RPM, Fuel flow...etc broke down on us...so we had to manually record everything instead of saving it to a disk...this was one cause of the lack of sleep. We spend half a day around in New Delhi...mostly looking around, shopping for some Christmas gifts, and really trying to to get run over crossing the street...which was definitely a lot harder then anywhere else I've been.

Over North Pole


Looks New




Plenty of room to spread around




This thing Broke down


Traffic..

Kelly Creek, Series final

This was the last race of the Seattle metro series, and my final cross race of the season. I wanted to end of the cross season with a good result, and maybe move up in the overall standings. I was finally getting over the virus that seams to reoccur in the fall over the last two years. I started the cross season recovering from a broken rib and bruised hip, very rusty handing skills and tired legs. Each week they were all getting better. For this last race I wanted to give it myself a fighting chance, I cut out the weight room and the hours on the bike…and did shorter more intense workouts.
I got up Sunday, not the same blue skies as Saturday I was hoping for, but a grey overcast. As I made breakfast it started snowing out side…and by the time I was loading the car we had an inch. As I was driving south, the roads dried up, and by Bellevue there was no sign of any snow at all…maybe it won’t be so bad after all! I was starting to feel good about the weather…until I got of hwy 167, and headed up the hill to Bonny lake…snow was coming down hard up here… I was a bit worried that it would be very wet and muddy but after riding the course a few times during warm-up I realized that the opposite was true. The ground was frozen, and rock solid…and very bumpy. There was a slight dusting of snow on the ground, and rather cold..the thermal jacket I was wearing during warm-up felt nice.. hopefully the effort during the race would keep me warm without it.
I lined up in the second row, right behind Matt Hill. I clipped in right away…but Matt had problems which caused us to be swarmed pretty fast. We both went on the left side to move up as much as possible before squeezing though the wood pools and taking the right turn. I was still pretty far back, maybe 15th. I felt good and moved up a few spots as soon as I could. Half way the first lap on a small riser I’m just about to pass a rider on the right when he snaps his chain and blocks me completely, once I get going again, I’ve lost 5-6 spots. One thing after another!. Right after going down the hill I manage to just about re connect with a group of 6-7 riders ahead. I need to make up some ground now…so on the long starting straight I stand and surge past 5-6 riders… I manage to keep the gap for a while, but pretty soon they are on my heels as I try to and recover from the effort. It was an eventful first lap…and maybe I spent a bit too much energy too soon.

As I jump back on my bike after the run-up on lap two, I hear a crack..… my saddle tilted up. It’s still ridable but not that comfortable. I look at the lap sign, and there are still 6 laps to go. As long as it doesn’t get worse I can probably finish. As soon as I think this, I hear another crack and the saddle moves even more. Now I really have to careful to not jump back on too hard, but gently trying to remount the bike, stand when very bumpy. I can feel a lack of power in this position, and my lower back is starting to hurt. Riders soon pass me, one by one. Is it worth stooping and trying to fix the problem in the pit?... probably not, unless I had a spare seatpost and saddle set up , or a spare bike… I just have to be careful and hope for the best, there isn’t much hope in moving up any more as my back is getting worse, just try and not get caught…
I finally roll across the line in 9th…not as good as I had hoped, but not too bad considering…but I knew I had more in me.. that is cross, you have to be able overcome all kind of setbacks, and be prepared for anything.

During the nine cross races I did this season I had one rolled tire, two incidents with my rear brake and one seatpost issue, that really isn’t too bad. No bad crashes, no flats 20min away form the pit and no injuries worse then a few cuts and bruises.

I was really happy with the performance of the tubular setup, I really liked being able to run a lower tire pressure without having to worry about pinch flats. The bike in general worked real well. I can’t really think of anything I need to improve setup wise for next year, once I switch out the brake pads for the gripper red ones and run a larger range cassette. Maybe a single up front, but not sure if it is worth the hassle, and what would I really gain?..

Next year I will try and be more specific about my training for cross, and maybe I can improve some again

Fort Flagler

Fort Flagler did not go as good as I had hoped wanted… Everybody at work has been sick, some one also came back from Hong Kong with some kind of disease…hopefully it was not a strain of bird flue, or something worse.!!..I wasn't feeling good all last week…so I took it very easy, and on Friday I could feel something in my throat…but I did an hour on the trainer, with a few 1min efforts and my legs felt great (one advantage of resting). This week has probably been the lowest training volume week, in months. Since the first race was on Saturday, for once I did not do a 60 mile ride with the team the day before the race (that should help)…

Saturday though…I just never got comfortable, I felt behind all race ,,, there was hardly any time to "rest"..lots of loose technical corners and a big sand pit, big bush stuck in my rear derailleur.. Combined with a bad start……it didn’t turn out so good.. Last ¼ of the last lap, I slowed down making sure I wouldn’t get in the way of the front runners of the Elite race, who were battling it out for the top spots. … ended up 13th, not exactly what I had hoped for… I would like to move up to around 5th or so.. I feel like I should be able to, hopefully before the end of cross season.


Sundays course was a lot more open and very windy, but had a lot of corners, a short step section that you could ride up, but if you didn't quite make it… big trouble… to be safe I decided to get of and run (even though I cleared it fine several times during pre-riding the course).…don't think I actually lost much time there at all…and it was definitely more consistent.
My legs were surprisingly tired from the previous days effort, it’s been a few months since back to back race days.. and without specific training, and the fact that I’m going 100% the entire race really is noticeable. At least most everybody else were in the same boat.
The start was on long gravel section… I actually clipped in right away…but as we near the corner…I can feel my rear fishtailing around…and I think I might have a flat…the pit is right here so I want to make sure,..my hesitation caused everyone to pass me…sweet….now I'm probably 25th..I think riding the loose gravel and the fact that we were going for it. made it seem flat, I’m still trying to figure this tire pressure thing out… it always feels different going full speed, vs. just pre-riding the course … … I managed to pass a few right away…after a lap or so I'm right on the Cal-Giant guy, when some tape blows in and wraps around my cassette… can't shift and the gears are skipping… I stop at the bottom on the tail wind hill and rip it out(luckily it comes out easy)….but after an initial surge to make up some lost ground, I never get close to the Cal-Giant guy again… a lap later as I jump of my bike for the short run up,,, I somehow knock my rear brake past the rim and into the wheel.?????.... I stop and fix this and I get passed again….I surge again , but now I'm starting to feel the efforts. and actually get caught from behind… I finally manage to catch and pass them with ¼ lap to go… and ended up a disappointed 13th again.... …well at least I didn't get lapped by Russell..

I might not be getting the results I want, but who does?… I’m having fun though… and I’m already looking forward to next year.

criss-cross

Steilacoom seams like it always has sun and blue skies… I don’t think I have raced there in bad weather since the UCI race in 2002.. (wow that was a while ago) and that was before the advent of the Knapp run-up… back, then we actually even went down it once in a while…

The Steilacoom race went ok, after a few incidents in the first corner, where Matt Hill went down and the two riders in front of leaning on each other,.. the race started for real… there is plenty time and opportunity to gain/lose spots on this course, no need to go crazy 30 sec into the first lap. I was happy to see the inclusion of the long gravel path up the hill, I just which we could have continued all the way up and not go around the ruin. and back down to the run-up. The run-up sucks… but it sucks for everyone, and it actually helped me ,as I frequently gained ground going up…
My form and technique is starting to come around, maybe one day I can hang with all these mountain bikers.


Donida Farms was another great cross day… the sun was out when I left home, but I got a bit worried as the rain was coming down pretty good in Kirkland and Bellevue. It was a good course, actually seamed like it would be harder during the warm-up, but it flowed pretty good.. Nikos and I lined up, I was lucky to be in the second start row, right behind Matt Hill.. It wasn’t the smoothest start, and once again I had a bit of trouble getting my left cleat engaged…just the panic I guess. At least I missed the crash that happened right behind me, that delayed Nikos.
I felt better then any cross race so far this season, I was moving up constantly closing gaps to the groups ahead. I had too mishaps that slowed me down. The first incident happened about halfway though and although it didn’t take more then 10-20 sec to resolve, but I instantly lost 3spots. Our bike shorts this year for some reason include a draw string…(why I don’t know)…and somehow it came “untucked” and stuck on my seat rails, “what the!!!”… I had to slow down and slightly and rip it off, I didn’t want to try and dismount to find my self stuck to the bike.. It took me an entire lap to make it back up to where I was…damm, wasted energy.. could have been worse..

Nikos looking fast

The second incident was a bit more serious. I ran pretty low pressure to try and smooth some of the bumps out, and increase traction. Early on I would feel my tire briefly kind of roll of the rim for a second, during a few sharp corners, before it popped back on.. I decided to keep going and hope for the best. .However with a bit more then 1 ½ laps to go, turning sharplyin the grass , it rolled off completely and brought me to a skidding halt. Lucky for me the pits were close, and even better I actually have a pair of wheels in there. After a bit of panic and somewhat slow wheel change I got back on…now with a mission to catch back up to all the riders who had passed me during the wheel change…
The last lap was probably one of my fastest, as I managed to claw my self back up to 10th… didn’t quit manage to catch everybody… but considering, I was pretty happy with 10th….
Could have been a lot worse… Nikos finished 15th.. we are all improving.. maybe next week…

Kelly Creek.

I had completely expected the race to be wet and muddy, and after waking up Sunday morning it was really no surprise when it was raining. I’d got lucky on Saturday…and basically avoided all rain on my team ride, so a little today wasn’t a big deal… I just hoped it wouldn’t be too much mud, and heavy wet grass to negotiate. As I arrived at Kelly Creek it was a nice surprise to learn that not only wasn’t it raining, it had held of all day so far…it was actually kind of warm..(once you got going). I arrived a bit late but was able to pre-ride the course once before the 1:30 race. It was a good course… a bit bumpy maybe… but plenty of room to pass and not too technical… the racers would make it hard.. not the terrain… just how I like it.

I felt a lot better then last week, maybe it was because I skipped the weights and trainer ride on Thursday, due to the power outage..or maybe I just took it easer during my Saturday ride… It’s always a struggle to balance training for the next road season and racing cross. This year I have tried to cut down on the hours during the week, and stick to a shorter 60 mile loop on Saturday…. Hopefully it will work…and for some of the later races I might cut the Saturday ride to an hour or something.

I actually thought I had a pretty good position during the line up… but as we took of, someone bobbled right in front of me, causing me to miss my pedal, once I got clipped in, I was getting swarmed from all sides…and as we turned around the fence pole 200m later I was just about right at the back…only a few 45+ where behind me… I accelerated up on the side and managed to pass a few. When things settled down a bit (after the first lap panic)… I was probably already at least 20sec back. As I rounded the fence pole, I could see a group of 5-6 riders just cresting the little steep hill ahead, so close but still so far away. After a few laps I noticed that I was closing in on the riders ahead, as each lap the gap would be a little less…maybe not to the top 2-3 guys though… they were definitely going faster. I think maybe I was able to slow down less than a lot of guys up there.. but it’s funny how fatigue goes in waves…you can be feeling great one lap, pass a rider, to just stumble the next and just barley hold them of, if you just went a bit too hard, and then suddenly feel good and open the gap again...
I was hoping too make it into the top ten, but I think I wast just too far back at the start. The last lap and a half I was only a few seconds behind what turned out to me 10th… but just could not close it down… I tried to pick it up on the fast sections…but he matched me… I knew I had to get around him before the last twisty section to have a chance… but no…
If you cross the line are not completely wasted or winning you didn’t go hard enough..
This was definitely an improvement… hopefully I can do even better next week…maybe even get a good start.

Evergreen

Last weeks cross race at Evergreen high school


The weather was perfect... my starting position not too bad... my position after 1/2 lap not so good to say the least. The rusty cross handling skills...eh..need improvement...I need to stop turning like a roadie.

I had a good time though...painful to say the least... this week I will try to take it a bit easier on the weights..and see if my legs feel better...
I suspect the weather will be a bit different on Sunday... more like a northwest cross race you would expect.

October Ride....

Not too bad for a ride in October... so if I had to
complain it was the fact that it was a bit windy...

I was down in California for a few days (watching track nationals) and managed to go
for a few rides around Pales Verdes.

Can you say Mud...

If you were at the cross race Sunday in Snohomish… you know what I mean.



I lined up for my first cross race of the season, and my first race since I cracked a rib or two a few weeks ago…(they have healed pretty good… sneezing is no longer something I fear, and I have no problem going full speed…they still ache when I start breathing to fast… but you can’t sit around forever)


Last year this course was a mud fest… even though it rained all night and all day…there was no way it could be as bad as last year…right!… well it was… On the plus side it wasn’t as cold as last year, and there was no snow.

After a test lap, I had to change my cassette, it had been working ok on the trainer, the middle gears would slip when cranking down, luckily I actually had some spare wheels and took it’s cassette…but now all I had was a 23… and with all this mud I might need something lighter to avoid bogging down at 50rpm.

The field size wasn’t huge… but there were still plenty die hards, and some even looked excited to get to ride around in the mud..

The start was crazy as normal…everyone going for the hole shot, I took it a bit easy…figuring that it might be best to stay back a bit, and avoid the crashes,, and then pick off as many riders as possible during the next few laps. The first part of my plan worked…the second part.passing…a bit harder…

After 3 laps my legs were getting tired, I really needed something smaller then the 23…going up though the trees, it was thick and sticky, but surprisingly all ridable. As long as you keep your momentum going you could ride 95% of the course, only the barriers and step muddy hill required dismounting.

I wasn’t overly excited with my performance, but I finished 14th I think, didn’t crash once (so my ribs are still ok) and considering this was my first cross race in a while…on a technical course, not too shabby..

I will miss next weeks cross race, since I will be in LA… but Evergreen the following week should be good.... lets hope for a less muddy day though.

Cross

The 787 Flight test is delayed...a few months



The good news is that it will alow me to have a cross season.. the bad news is that I don't know what it will do to my road season next year..

Now, as long as I can get my ribs healed enouth for some jaring, I'm ready to go.. or soon will be.

Danmark Runt

Stage 6 finish of Tour of Denmark..
Mark Cavendish coming around Juan José Haedo at 50m.
Ok, so it's a bit blurry, we had to push our way to the front row at the barriers between two kids and their grandmothers..

4th of July

To celebrate 4th of July, there are bike races...well I guess we have races all the time...but this time we have a reason.

I got up early, actually earlier then if I was going to work, to make down to Burien in time for the Master A race... why I do there I'm not sure.
Last weekend I raced both the master A and the 1-2 race in Olympia...and I haven't learnt my lesson yet.

The Master A race is usually significantly shorter...but I always shorter...and not necessarily any easier... actually by looking at my power numbers the master A race is a lot harder, or more likely I'm tired and unable to produce the same power the second time around.

Last week I overshoot a corner on the last lap(and popped the tire of the rim) in the master A race and DNFed.. and then in the 1-2 race I crashed with 7 laps to go..still have a sore neck from that one...

Since last weekend actually only was a few days ago, my legs could really feel it...and the morning race was sluggish... I set my self up for a good finish though, sitting 3ed wheel with 1/2 lap to go, but as the front slowed slightly and before I had time to react, an attack came by on the left, I finally managed to get on, but the race was over as I was already eighth by the second to last corner...and that's were I finished eighth..... very disappointing...

The 1-2 race was only a few hours away...and this is where I really want a result (so I need to stop wearing myself out during the morning race)..My legs were definitely tired and I had to work harder early on then I should have had to... I managed to get up front and went with a few moves, chased down a small break with no Garage riders in, countered an attack or two.

Each required near 100% effort, each time it was getting harder, and a race in my legs already wasn't helping.
With 4 laps to go I had managed to get up to the top 10. Starting 3 to go I was 7-8th... however right before corner 3 It got tight as riders on both sides came in, somebody's bike part was hitting my front spokes..and I had to back of to avoid going down,,, instantly I lost 20 spots..and no matter how much I tried to move up the last 2 laps , it was over...and that was that...I was too far back now and simply rolled across the line.

Pete did a great Job and managed 3ed.....and for his effort he won a tire and two tubes... come on!...3ed.... I'm not in it for the money or prices... but this is getting a bit silly....( but at least it wasn't a microsoft product!!)

The New Black

98 Giro

For Christmas I got the 98 Giro and Tour on DVD.
Before I started road cycling, I had always been a fan of Pantani. There was something I admired I guess, about the way he road. He was always seen as being and underdog for the big stage races, since he lacked the size for the flat stages and time trialing. He was an underdog and someone who would push himself to the limit in the mountains and always attacked as soon as the road went up. Pain was written all over his face, and as soon as the speed dropped he would stand and accelerate again, he would not give in .
Back in 98 I hadn’t yet touched a road bike, didn’t really follow cycling much except the occasional news I would hear from Eurosport. I remember seeing images of his climbing and attacking over and over again.. back then I was into rowing, where the more pain you could endure the faster you went, so how could you not admire a drive like Pantani had up those mountains….just hunker down and go!!!………..
As I was watching the first few stages this weekend I was surprised how I felt about the whole thing. There was a lack of enthusiasm to say the least. As the names of the rides attacking, and riding strong started to appear I realized that just about all of these rides have since been either ,caught, suspended or emitted using illegal doping products. Zulle was climbing like a motor cycle…yeah that didn’t feel right…he was new on the Festina team that year. Camenzind was attacking like crazy, Bartoli was flying…and Pantani… we all know he was on everything…it just didn’t feel like I was watching something real… I didn’t believe what I saw, gone was the feeling of admiration of pushing though the pain, fighting, hanging on for deer life.
Riders would shoot of in the last few miles of a stage and solo hold of the pack at 40mph..I just didn’t buy it.. I wasn’t sitting there cheering them on, sharing the pain they must be in..willing them to succeed.. Instead I was catching myself wondering what and how much they were on.
A few riders I haven’t heard any implications about were doing ok, a young Bettini was trying and trying to win a stage. Guerini ended up 3ed overall… But this was 1998, I don’t know how many riders really were clean.

Hopefully when I watch the 98 tour I will feel better… but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Fixed

I now know how much I like freewheeling, or just the fact that even a slight down hill can be so pleasurable.
Last wednesday I decided to go and do my second Wednesday track racing session ever (I went once at the end of last season.) . As a new track rider I’m racing in the cat 4 field, I might have more endurance then most of those guys, but this no coasting and only one gear thing is all new to me.
Ok, so I know I can’t spin, so I decided to go with a slightly larger gear (not that I would really know).. Kele told me that a 50x15 is pretty big.. and since spinning isn’t exactly my strength I decided to go with that. I should to be able to go fast, as long as I have time or a draft to accelerate in.
There were 27 riders in the race, pretty big for the track I thought…better try and stay up front.
My first race was a 8 lap snowball, where the 1st lap was worth 1point, 2nd lap two..etc..A riders jumped hard right of the bat…he can have that one… I waited patiently for a few laps.. finally on lap six I moved up front and attacked hard along turn 3 and 4… I took the 7points for that lap and just kept going.. and managed to stay away for the final lap also…hmmm, that wasn’t too bad! I couldn’t believe though how tired my legs were after that effort, it was only a 2mile race, and it definitely hurt a lot more than most 2 mile efforts I’ve done…and I didn’t even go really hard until the last 1 ½ lap…
The next race was a win and out.. if you win lap 10 you are done, else you keep going for another lap for 2n’d place, and then if you have anything left another for 3ed. I had no intention of doing more laps then I had to. I managed to get up front font lap nine, helped by the fact that two Zoka teammates were driving it at the front, as soon as the second riders died (slowed down) with exactly one lap to go, I went.. and once again I managed to stay away for the win..
The final race was a points race, and I managed to win three of the four sprints..and hopefully the overall.
It was a short night, but pretty intense, maybe I’ll try it again soon…

I really did need an 11......

A weekend full of up’s and down’s.
The Methow Valley stage race was a lot later this year and despite not conflicting with any major race in Oregon (as far as I know) the participation although twice of last year was still a bit low. The omnium format was modified from last year, making the TT a bit more important, and it was still possible to score points if out of the top 10. It’s a pretty good TT, it’s not often we do a 10mile TT on a rolling course. I tried to start out a bit slower, well aware that the return leg was considerably harder, steeper climbs and with a headwind. Morgan my 30second man caught me at mile 3 or so, as he went up the climbs considerable faster then me. As we went down the other side I caught back up, and was forced to ride of the optimum line (if there was one) to avoid the draft. At the turn around I was a sec behind… going back down and along the flat I lost a bit of ground… until the second to last climb where I went my pace and he went his… and he was gone… oh well…I’, starting to get more comfortable on the TT bike every time… I just need to ride it more… I should have the power to go fast, at least on the flats, maybe I’m just too dragy??
The crit was way too hard… not sure quite what happened… I just couldn’t keep accelerating anymore, and just died fast…every 40sec I was sprinting out of the corners at 850-950W…20min later I just couldn’t do it anymore… I needed to be further up where the surges out of the corners was less, but once you get behind.. it’s even harder to move up.
After a great nights sleep where my air mattress went flat, and I slept on hard wood floor.. I was ready for the road race…at least my back was straight.

The road race was changed, to basically one longer loop, instead of a circuit race we had last year. We did last years loop as part of this years stage in both directions. With all the head wind and an early 3man break up the road, most of the out leg was pretty easy, except for the HB guys pulling. The feed zone hill and the following side wind section was really the only selective section…. I was ready and felt good up over the top. A few small splits appeared but nothing much happened here, many of the HB guys who had been working in the head wind understandingly suffered and got gapped of. The break was close and had split, with Ongers continuing on his own. Morgan attacked on the right, I was on the left and missed it.. nobody went with him… he quickly caught Ongers and of they went. If this stayed away Tubbs would have to wind the sprint for 3ed to guarantee the overall win (depending on the tie breaker rule..) Tubbs and especially Stanko did a lot of work in the closing miles… but with the tail wind the pace was so high it was nearly impossible to close the gap. The last few miles where a bit nervous, with the average speed at nearly 40mph. I wanted to stay up front, figuring that at this speed there wouldn’t be too many people coming around in the sprint, and in case of a crash a 40mph…the front is the place to be. 1 mile to go I was 5th wheel.. then a Canadian rider (why is it always them)..comes way across the yellow line and up front causing some surges. 1km to go I’m not quite where I want to be, but I still have time… Lang surges on the right I manage to shuffle in 4th or 5th on Tubbs wheel, but as soon as I get there we hit the 200m mark…(way too soon, ) and as the front guys realize that the line is right there, the sprint is on… I just barley got in place and can’t manage to surge again… I’m pedaling my 53x12 as fast as I can on the downhill tailwind sprint, but I’m losing ground…and cross the line 10th (12th overall)..I really needed an 11…and or faster legs… I was definitely disappointed with my finish, I was in pretty good positioning and just didn’t have it in the end.. I was hoping to get one good result for the weekend…oh well. Campbell took the sprint with Tubbs in Second, Andrew in third… not sure who won the overall with Morgan and Tubbs tied on points.

Ravendale

One of the last road races, well not really but it feels like it, since crit season is just getting started. No more road races every Saturday and Sunday like in March and April…
This is my kind of race.. Maybe a bit too easy of a course, a few more times up the steep 20% climb would have benefited me… especially if it was hot.
Ian Mensher started out fast, and never really slowed down. As the race had barely started he took of with Hone, Campbell bridged up as he realized the danger seconds later. With HB, and Garage in the break the gap went up fast. Garage had just about the entire 1-2 team out for this race, only Neil (out with a broken arm), Jay (racing masters in his first race of the year), Robert and Derrick where missing.. that still left nine. Before we got to the climb. The break already had 45sec. HB was clearly a bit worried that Hone wouldn’t last and tried to bridge continuously, we covered every move, but in the end this resulted in a pretty fast pace and by mile 20 or so, we caught the break.


As we approached the smaller climb, after the sharp left turn, I sat on the front. As the climb started, Flavio and two other riders attacked, soon a few more went by with two garage riders, with three riders of the front, I slowed down ever so slightly and made sure a gap opened over the top. Over the next mile or so there was some reorganizing of the front…but now the winning move of the day was made, eight riders of the front. We where definitely happy with those odds since we had a really good climber/TT with Nathan and a just plain strong rider with Ian in the break.
Unfortunately the last few miles were a bit too easy it came down to a sprint, with WOW taking the win, and Ian coming in second. Nathan in his last road race before moving to Charleston walked away with 6th. The main pack was eventually sprinting for 8th.. with 1k to go I was right were I wanted to be.. then we got neutralized , there had been a crash in the masters field at about 800m. For some reason I thought the race was over and sat up, drifted back…but before I know it we started up again…ops… I made an effort to make my way back up to the front, but by 400m to go I was still too far out of it, and at mid pack it was a bit too sketchy…the front was about to make the final left turn into the sprint.. it was over.. I decided to sit this one out.. no point risking a crash.. for a mid pack finish…
Strangelove took the sprint, and has just about now sealed the deal on the Washington Cup I would guess, Pete came in 10th and Chris 11th.

Enumclaw

I can’t believe that was only my second stage race of the year,
Pretty big field this year, + most of the local pros, Health net, Priority Health, Jittery Joe’s . BMC, Rubicon, Kelley’s, Symetrics and full teams from Bob’s and HB… so this was going to be a hard race. The opening TT was windy and nobody expected fast times, but with the talent in attendance that didn’t hold true.
It was actually only my second TT of the year, and although my time wasn’t great, I was pretty happy with my performance, I paced my self reasonable well, not starting too hard, and finishing with nothing much left, the way it was supposed to be done. I didn’t let the wind get to me at all, and I felt reasonably in control the entire 6.3 miles. Ok, so I had to be a staggering 50sec faster to be in the omnium points, not this time. The big surprise, although Svein Tuft won, there were no other Symetrics riders in the top ten.

The weather was looking ok for the crit, the sun was out for most of the afternoon. During the Cat 3 race however we had out first showers. For the women’s race next, the roads were wet and slick. Kele managed to go down on the first corner of the first lap…but got up, and was ok, although slightly embarrassed. During that race the rain came was off and on, making a lot of the 1-2 to question the point of participating in an omnium crit, why risk it, with only a small chance of scoring points.
I lowered my tire pressure, drank my coffee and weighted the decision to wear legwarmers or not, sure it was cold enough, but even a small spill would probably tear the rather expensive clothing. In a wet crit like this, and with a strong field you know it will start fast, and stay that way until the end. I managed to line up on the very important front row. Well that’s were I lined up…after a number of “pro” line ups, were you simply ride from the front, turn around and back into the first row I somehow ended up in-between the 1-2-3 row…what the! Ok I’m fine with Svein doing this move, he was leading the GC, but the entire Symetrics team…yeah I don’t think so… who do you really think you are?... it got a little old when the 15th guy tried this move. The race started fast, but I managed to get up front early. Two laps in the rain started coming down hard, it was even hard to see, corner one was flooding and gaps were opening up all over the place. I was either taking the corners too easy, or not accelerating enough out of them, but I found my self struggling for any kind of draft. My legs felt unbelievably heavy and every acceleration was painful. Pretty soon I was struggling to hang on. A few laps later I was the last guy in the front group…and then I was off…I drifted back to the second, but I could tell even this would be hard. Two laps later I pulled out, 10guys in the front split that wasn’t coming back, another 10-15 in the second… which was going to be hard to hang in with legs like this… I didn’t see the point to keep going, and crashing for no reason.
I had a good start, never felt my tires slip, but clearly didn’t have it in my legs that evening, especially when I wasn’t riding aggressively enough in the corners… at least I was alive and I didn’t actually loose any time since it was an omnium.

The road race seamed interesting with new course planed, a new loop with long unprotected straights and a section of 11% grade…should be fun… well would have been fun. As we arrive Sunday morning the decision was made to revert back to the old course, but with the finish in a new location down town…not sure how I felt about that… 5 times up the climb sure is harder then 2, especially if you are trying to hold at a pace that is above your level. At least it was dry for the start of the race, and it mostly rained at the top and during the descent, for the later laps it moved down to the lower sections also.
The first climb is usually one of the hardest, at least for me, I’m not quite good enough to climb with the fast climbers, or powerful enough hang with the power riders going full boar on the initial slopes…
I started the climb pretty much up in the first 1/3, drifted back on the first two steep sections as the pace went sky high, moved up again on the “rolling” section in the middle, as much as I could without spending too much effort, that I would need for the last part of the climb. The front of the pack was still right there!, as we started the last part… before you know it though the pack is basically single file thru the feed zone and past the old finish line… I can see the lead car lights and a slight gap between the leaders and the front of my long long group. I didn’t panic, maybe I should have… by now the rain is coming down hard, and during the descent on 410 we are going over 45mph, and with the rain, spray form the tires ahead of me, I’m busy just staying alive, not realizing that a rather large group has gone of the front, with just about all the strong riders. When we turn of 410 we all realize that the race might be over, as we learn that the lead group contains 17 riders. Morgan Schmidt missed the split and spends the next two laps chasing hard… but to no avail. I wish I could have helped but I had enough problems getting over the climb without pulling the pack around. The second and third time over were the hardest, I few times I was going so hard my arms were going numb. Each lap we would loose a few riders. The last two laps were getting cold, but at least we climbed a lot more steady and at a doable pace. The points for the omnium went 15 deep for the road race. There were originally 17 in lead pack, but you know some must have flatted, dropped out or quit, so there was a pretty big chance there were some points on the line for us. The pack now contained about 17 riders, and maybe one or two had points from the previous stage, so you knew they would be going for it.
I wanted to have a go at it, as I usually sprint pretty well after a long road race, relatively anyway. Well I didn’t have a chance. As I move though the pack, getting ready for the right turn at the bottom of 410, I hear a load bang. I look around wondering if I or somebody else hit something lying on the road. A second later I realize I spoke on my back wheel and snapped, again. That is the third race in a row, with the same wheel. It’s time to get it totally rebuilt; I can’t have this happening anymore. The wheel is way out of true, but it still turns. Since there is only about a mile to go, I decide to ride it in and limp in and finish right behind the pack, no sprint for me.

PIR

With my transfer down to Renton for work, into the 787 certification and flight test group, I was already halfway to PIR…so why not. It would also allow me to miss the traffic jam on 405 going home.
After the last few races I had never quite recovered from my cold and tired legs, so I skipped last weekends activities over in Wenatchee…and instead took 3 days completely of the bike, followed by two easy recovery ride days. I finally did some hard efforts Saturday, and actually didn’t feel half bad. Monday night I did some climbing but Tuesday would be the first real hard efforts. The weather was perfect, actually record high temperatures in Seattle, but by 7pm it was nice.
The race it self went ok, Nathan got of early, and after trying to latch on or chase down any bridge attempts (which I could only cover half)…before you know it though a few more bridged up, and a 3-4 man chase group was half way across. Half way though the race I bridged up to O’Donnell and we then spent the next 30min in the middle somewhere, trying to catch up and hold of the pack at the same time. It was a good hard workout; with some sustained efforts…
At the best news was that I didn’t break any spokes in my rear wheel… so hopefully it will hold up during Enumclaw.

I didn't see much on the Prudog vs. PStache battle.... but I think I saw Prudog at the back...............

Longbranch

Another hard race… at least the winner would be worth the title…
It was a big field for a narrow course like this. The hills are step but short, with splits basically only happening right at the top as it flattens out. Once again I didn’t feel very good, but usually I get better, relatively, at the closing laps anyway. Not sure if that happened or not, maybe it was the rear ending I experienced on 405 Friday that left me with a sore neck and back, but most likely just the fact that I’m still fighting the remnants of the cold I got after Walla Walla.
The first beak went up the road early, as usual on this course, HB put their team on the front to chase it down. A few laps later a eight man break went up the road, with Kevin in it this time. Brian Hall, and Doug Davis got dropped, Brad flatted out and Gardner and Kevin got gapped, and before you know it they are down to 3 with two laps to go. Previous time up the hill I was too far back and new it, the split happened at the top and group got of the front and the only place splits ever happened. As the group I was in was chasing back on, riders touched and two went down hard, a WOW rider went down right in-front of me, and I ended up riding down into the ditch. I jump of, climb back up and takeoff, I glance back and notice a black jersey on the road…is that Neil?... it was, and he ended up being taken to Tacoma general hospital for the night, with a compound wrist break, but after x-rays his collar bone is ok but with lots of lacerations that required stitches. At this point I’m of the back, I’m trying to chase back on, but the downhill sections is just so much faster in a group. As I cross the bridge I shift down and my legs are done..I can’t see how I can climb this, after that effort. As I come around the corner I see the pack right there, they must have slowed for the climb…maybe, I have to get back on now! I shift down and put in another effort… and finally a few hundred feet after the left turn I make contact with the back, as we crest as start descending again, just in time. Two laps to go, the hill creates a split again, I dig deep and make the 8 or so man split, I pull though a few times but too many people are sitting on, and right before the feed hill the pack catches up. Another split happens here, at this point there are so many tired legs that splits happen all over the place. It all comes together a mile or so before the start/finish line. At this point we should have been neutralized; because we pass the women as they are sprinting for the line…not too good… it wouldn’t have changed our race at all. One lap to go., still with a three man break up the road. Campbell sensing that the hill would probably do him in this time, attacks a few times, finally gets of and hits the hill with a slight gap, but it’s not enough as we catch him half way up,, he looks done. Once again a split is happening up front, I dig even deeper this time, but I’m to far back and can’t get across. Six guys get off, 3 off us in the middle and then the pack behind. Lange does a lot of work, but we can’t close it, and right as we start the feed hill the pack catches up, as the front group splits, with Ian Tubbs, Kenny, Richter and Jake taking off I think. Jake takes fourth and Tubbs takes the sprint for fifth. There is a slight lull in the pace of the pack, and with a mile to go I attack, Mick comes with me…and for some reason he don’t want to pull me to the line…damm.. After a few hard pulls, the pack is upon us and we get swallowed within the last 200m. Chris Teufel takes the sprint for 8th I guess….well, at least we got one rider in the top 10.

After the race we find out the seriousness of Neil’s crash, not good. Luckily it wasn’t quite as bad as we first heard, but he still has a pretty bad arm break, and is getting a steel plate put in today.
Hopefully everything will turn out ok, but it’s amazing really, that it doesn’t happen more often..

On my ride today, I stopped by the Windermere cup Rowing race going on at UW. I rode down past the finish line; right by the water were all the crews were hanging out before returning back down the course.


As I was standing there I could hear the water splash against the boats, and all the so familiar sounds, the memories and urge to row came back stronger then it has since I left rowing years ago.
I rowed all four years at college, traveling all over, Philadelphia, Tennessee, San Diego, Boston and all over the mid west.

All that pain you go though in less then 6 minuets is amazing, nothing in cycling compares to the full body pain experience those last few strokes before the line.

This Sunday we have the State road race championships, with that gold medal being the ultimate goal. When I think back to how many State and regional gold medals I have from rowing, and how long ago that seems now, it's amazing... I will do my best to get that gold medal on Sunday, I will probably go though pain and self doubt...but I will push on.
In a few years it would probably collect dust in some box somewhere with the others. What will remain is the memories of teamwork, suffering and perseverance that got me there, the price is more then a medal, it's the road that got me there that really counts and what will last.

Was this Vance Creek?

That was harder then it should have been….. or am I just weak?
After being sick since Wednesday, and feeling ok on a short Saturday ride I decided to race Vance Creek. I figured even if my fitness might be down slightly, at least my legs would be rested. Maybe it was the nice weather, maybe it was the fact that most people did not race Saturday. I don’t know…but it looked like everybody decided to show up on Sunday. Nathan was out of town, Flavio and Jason decided to skip this one, and we still had seven riders in the 1-2 pack…and it looked like most other teams did to. There was even a few pro’s showing up, Doug O, Even Elken, Ian M, Richter and a miraculously healed Tyler Farrar (after a miss diagnosed broken knee cap a few weeks ago in Belgium). It started out ok…started.
The first two laps were fine, sure some splits happened on the climb… on lap two the pack split in half, and I had to dig pretty deep to make it to the front, after taking it a bit too easy during the climb, drifting too far back. A small break of three got of at some point, but I wasn’t worried yet. The wind was picking up, not good. As we entered the farm roads for the third time, a placed my self near the front. 50m before the hard right into the cross wind section, Tyler and Elken come flying around my left, straight to the front and hit the corner at full speed and continue to drill it, the entire pack is single file, hanging on for dear life. I’m on Herriot’s wheel, but a gap opens up in front of him, when he finally pulls of, I go by and try to close it down as much as I can, I look back and there are gaps everywhere.. a few pulls later and I have nothing left, the group is still 50 yards ahead of us… I swing of and now there is more help, 15-20 guys go by and I dig deep to jump on the back. Robert does a monster pull at the front, which got us closer but killed him, and I never see him again. Finally by the parking lot we catch back on. The pack is now probably ½ size, and there are only 3 garage guys left. I move up on the right but apparently not far enough. As we take the right turn back onto the main road, we get hit by the cross wind again. I’m mid pack, but it’s still too far in the rear as the front drills it, and we are all hugging the centerline, hanging on for dear life. Pete is two riders ahead of me, and finally he can’t hold it, and leaves a gap, the Rubicon riders directly head can’t and neither can I.. just like that 17riders get of.. Campbell tries to bridge, but doesn’t make it. It was all about positioning, well not all… but being even just 5 riders further up at the corner could have made a world of difference. Pete and Kevin do a lot of chasing, but a lot of guys are just sitting on… The race is basically over at this point. Two laps later as I surge to go up the steep section before the finish line, I brake a spoke and my rear wheel seizes up…..just what I need, not that it wasn’t hard enough already. This was the same wheel that broke in Walla Walla, and just got fixed, sweet…….. I get a new wheel from the car and chase for a few miles before I pull out at the parking lot… 1 1/2 short. Yeah , no point in going another 15 miles for 35th and dig myself a deeper whole to get well from..
I don’t even know how it all ended….
Sometimes it good to get reminded how hard racing can be, how hard you have to dig to stay on, how much pain you have to be willing to push though… it actually feels pretty good….(now and a then)
And I didn’t even get my DQ on the way home.

Walla Walla

Going into this weekends racing we had some great hopes for our main GC rider Nathan, who has been riding really strong lately. Personally I was hoping for some good results also, but I’m nowhere near good enough in TT’s to be a GC contender.
The new stage on Friday afternoon would definitely shake things up, and at least wear people down.
The new stage was all up or down. Initially I felt pretty bad but was just starting to feel better on the decent form the feed hill, when I spoke on my rear wheel suddenly decided to give out. The wheel change was a bit slow, but with some luck I should be able to catch on…10sec later I have to stop as the chain has somehow come of the rear derailleur pulleys.. damm… Once back I’m chasing in full TT mode, after a mile or so I take a right turn up the KOM hill… I can see the follow cars in the distance… I’m pushing nearly 400W up the entire climb…but as I crest the top, nothing…not even blown riders, nothing, no cars, nothing…This is where I start my 2hour solo break (of the back mind you)…I catch and pass a few rider on the next climb, but they are too blown to offer any help. I finish over 18min down, surprisingly 1min ahead of a group of riders I didn’t know existed ,sprinting in behind me…
Nathan ended up wining the stage, taking the sprint from a small group. Although this was great news, it turns out that the 4 fastest TT’ers where in the break also, so this could be hard weekend.

I left my TT bike in the hotel room for the TT, I decided to ride my road bike. There was no use killing my self and still be 18min down, so I used my road bike with power so I could ride within my limits and save myself for the 97mile RR in the afternoon. Hopefully Nathan could bust out a good TT and I would be ready to help him if necessary during the RR.

The RR wasn’t too exciting.. The neutral climb was actually neutral this year….
There were a few attacks, but nothing got of until the tail wind section on the last lap. The break of 6 contained 2 GC riders who were ahead of Nathan, so letting them go wouldn’t loose him anything, it was more up to the other teams if they wanted to defend their positions. We however decided to help chase it down, with HB and Bob’s. Maybe catching the break right at the base of the climb would help Nathan move ahead of the two riders in the break (if they spent too much energy, and he could gap them during the final accent). After pulling though a few miles I nearly blew completely on climb going into Waitsburg..I went back though the pack like a rock, but managed to hang on over the top. My hardest 30minuits of the weekend was that section, just miles before the final climb. I started the last climb a bit too far back, but actually climbed ok, had I started a bit further up, and saved some energy I might have managed a top 10… not that it meant anything for the overall, but it was nice to take something good personally out of the weekend. Nathan held on to his 5th, with now only the criterium left.

Somehow the rain stopped for our race…and after a while the roads actually dried up completely.


This sign was in the last corner of the crit...very appropiate

Two laps in realized that this would be a hard crit, my legs hurt. I had no power at all, and no matter what I did I my heart rate would not go up. Mid race I moved up to about 10th for a lap, and then when back just as fast. Feeling this bad, I decided to slowly move up, and hopefully time it ok, so I could be there for the finish. With a few laps to go, two riders get of the front. I somehow missed the two laps to go, and with one to go I was still a bit too far back… and that was that.. top 20maybe.. I needed another lap or two to give it a good effort.. oh well…...my HR average for the crit was below 160, a sure sign of fatigue..
Anyho, we survived and Nathan took 5th GC and Flavio 11h, and Garage 3ed in team GC….not too bad at all.

Kele won two stages during the weekend, missed the start for the TT, and ended up 4th overall… Nice when someone wins enough money for DQ on the way home………

TST

This weekend the main race was TST on Saturday, the forecast looked as expected.. 50% chance of rain and temperatures in the mid to high 40’s… not good by any means but sure a lot better then last year.
I don’t like bad weather just as much as anybody else, but it doesn’t stop me.. even if it had been the cold rain and snow like last year, I would have started.. but to all of our surprise, the sun was out (maybe a bit cold) but it tuned out to be one of the best weather TST in years.

The plan was pretty simple… don’t do much before the Anderson, and make sure nothing dangerous got away before that, so Nathan could save all his energy for the last critical 20 miles. The first hill out of Tahuya was hard, harder then it should have been… at the top a small split happened… two groups of about 8-9 riders of the front. Bob’s did a great job chasing them down., and we are together again. So far everything was going as planned, Flavio ,Chris and Robert were up front making sure nothing got of. A few miles before the sprint point Ian T takes of, a little later Brandon A attacks and I’m right up there so I go with him, we are joined by a Canadian. We have a pretty good gap right away, and immediately I realize that this is a mistake, I don’t want to burn any energy right now, not before the hill out of Seabeak anyway. As soon as Brandon announces he will not work, I should have sat up and faced the fact that this was domed endeavor. The Canadian however was pulling hard…and Ian was right there, if we could bridge without spending too much energy, we would have a pretty good represented break, so I decided to pull though, at 80% or so. Being in the break would allow my teammates to work even less, maybe enabling them to get over a few more of the hills and help Nathan towards the end. Now, 80 % in a break is a lot more then 40% in the pack… and I never felt great all day, and this was not helping. Normally maybe Ian would have sat up when he saw us coming, but he was going for the sprint prize and didn’t want any company. The gap was pretty big for a while, but it was too much effort. Right as we exited the loop at Seabeck, about 5 riders bridged and pushed the pace up the hill, not minuets later was the pack upon us…and now I was hurting… this hill, normally not too bad, really hurt,.. sweet.
Anderson came way too soon. At least we didn’t start it as crazy fast as previous years, but maybe that’s why I relaxed a bit too much and didn’t feel the urgency to get to the front, and by the top a small group of nine were of ..Nathan was one of them. The next 15miles all the way to the bottom of Dewatto, they were only 10-20sec ahead of the remaning pack, I thought for sure our group would catch them, but with our team doing no work, and HB happy with the odds up front, there wasn’t much organization at all).
Right before Dewatto, Strangelove bridges across, I don’t think anybody else wanted to spend that kind of energy that close to the final hill. The last ½ mile before the hill we actually slowed to a craw as everybody was saving up for the effort ahead and the lead group’s gap went up again.
As soon as we hit the climb Jamie came back like a rock, 1-2 riders from the front also got dropped… I felt great (relative) and pushed the pace as much as I could over the top. Cambell was right up front, he had sat on the back, since Holly, but it’s impressive how he always races smart enough to make the critical moves. From here on nothing much happened… I tried to attack once or twice in the closing miles, but it didn’t get any where in a hurry. We finally sprinted, and Cambell took it for 7th, and I had a bad sprint and took 5th, 11th overall. 11th isn’t a bad result at TST, but I never felt good, and I did a few mistakes, so I can’t help feel a bit anticlimactic about the whole experience…oh well… can’t always go the way you want, and this is how you learn.

Nathan was 4th, and was strong enough to win… any day now he is going to bust out big.

Weekend

Even though I actually raced once at Boat Street (Master A, which I only do now and then, because I don’t like giving my age away to all the young “kids” in the 1-2’s) I still feel like bit of a wuss for not racing the late race at Boat Street. Ok, so it did start raining during the 3’s, and yes people did crash. But…still I feel a bit annoyed with myself and a bit guilty… I didn’t even stick around to see it…instead I rode the 14miles home in the rain.

I’ve been riding pretty hard all week, so this week I will cut down the volume and keep some high intensity…and maybe, just maybe I’ll be ready for TST. All I can do is prepare the best I can, and hope it all works out. Sometimes races go great when you are feeling bad and some times they go terrible when you are feel like an all-star, so you never know.

During Saturdays ride, I came upon a middle age woman walking her bike along SR900, she had a serious flat with a 1” long screw firmly imbedded into her tire, no spares, pump or tool…+ even if she did it was pretty apparent she wouldn’t have known how to fix a flat. Since I know how much it sucks walking your bike for miles I stopped, patched here tire, fixed her flat and gave her a quick lesson how to…
I had to use a nice long valve tube that I had bought especially for my deep Rolf wheels…oh well …
Turns out that on Sunday with my winings for the race, it included one long valve tube to replace the one I gave up, and one extra for Karma… sweet….

Blowing drag

I haven’t updated this for a while… I can blame work for that one…
I’ve been spending all my time trying to calculate the drag caused by Jet impingement on the flaps of the 747-8. It’s been to the point where I nearly start dreaming about it… and I promise you I have plenty more desirable dreams then that.
There has been some racing the last few weeks. First there was Independence valley. Some good news and some bad news.

Bad/Good

Garage missed the break
Garage has an organized chase

Chris gets of the front
Chris misses the turn.

Rain
It’s warm

Nathan and I make the 5 man the spilt
Over the climb
We get caught by 8 riders

My 3man break gets caught
Nathan counters and gets away with 2 others

I crash
I get a new wheel and but I'm mostly ok

My carbon wheel is toast
No good news here………

Nathan gets dropped from his break on the last climb
Chris is in the chase that catches him

More rain
Chris takes 4th in the sprint( and 8th)
Nathan ends up 11th and I 13th



The following day I have to help put on the race in Sequim.. so no more racing… which maybe was good since I had a sore knee from the crash.. but I still wanted to race.

Did I mention I was busy with the “Blowing drag” at work……….damm


Last weekend we had the North shore Circuit race in Bellingham.
Turnout was a bit low… but still plenty of good riders. The highlights are of course Nathan second place and the fact that he got into the main break, and the rest of us could sit back and watch HB try to bring it back. The climbs were short, but chasing and making it over turned out to be a bit hard, as most of the HB riders were gone after 2-3 laps… and after that there was no organized chase at all. By the end the “pack” was down to 12 riders, 4 of them from my team. On the final lap, Lange and I got away on the backside climb, and was quickly joined by Tubbs a few minuets later. I lost the uphill sprint to Lange for 4th…and it still annoys me… Robert took the pack sprint for 7th in his first 1-2 race and Chris 8th…. Not bad for once.


Sunday it was back to helping out a Sequim… were Tom took of solo and stayed away the entire race.


And now back to the Blowing drag………….

Where is the dirt.

First they cancel Rainier Roubaix, a great spring classic, now the replacement race (the one without the gravel section) and strange name Rhonde Van Delphi is off to.
Rainer Roubaix was one of the races I looked forward to most. Sure the course was crazy, and there is some luck involved, but it was a race where strength and determination really play a big part of the final outcome. I like races were it isn’t necessarily the course that decides the result but the racers, so no 40min climbs please.. some might argue the gravel/mud and dirt was too selective…but this was no evil Ohop.. this was all actually with in reason…
Well maybe I won’t bee so beat up for Boat Street…

Nutshell

Weekend summary

The rain starts right before our race Saturday….

Despite better judgment I get in a 64 mile 2man break on Saturday
We get caught with a mile or so to go by Pete and Peterson
Emde still takes a very deserving win, and I roll in fourth with not much left
Blizzards on the way home

Kenny shows up with a new haircut
P-dog gets in a long break
Nathan does his thing by pulling the pack around for a long time…but gets no flats!
Tom gives me the evil eye..
We sprint into the back of a slow moving Masters pack

The rain stops right at the end of the race Sunday

At least it was warm.

The second Mason Lake was back to normal, well it wasn’t in the low 40’s but it rained.
The pineapple express is good for something… I was completely soaked the entire race, but never got cold.
The race started with Pruit attacking during the neutral rollout, I guess since Jonny wasn’t here somebody had to do it. Three guys rolled of the front, and a minute later Peterson, says” well I guess we should bring that back” and attacks. I and a few guys go with him, we catch up fast, and on the next incline (I don’t want to call it hill, I’ll save that for some later races) Peterson accelerates hard and four of us surge of the front. Right before the far corner a few more riders bridge up and before you know it we are motoring of the front. Looking back I realize I went too hard the first few miles, and it catches up with me pretty quick. By a lap or so I’m skipping a pull here and there to try and recover slightly, but we are going. Garage has three guys is this break, so that is good, but at this pace I’m not sure how much longer I can stay. .. As we start lap three I’m feeling better. As we get to the top of the “hill” on the highway, James flats, and as Nathan pulls of, Peterson accelerates and brings three guys with him(Emde, Teufel and Rodes) .. I look up from the back of the group and see the gap too late (+ I’m too tired)… it opens up slowly and then suddenly they are gone… nearly Four laps to go. The four of us work together another 1 ½ laps before Nathan drops of. Then next lap we get caught by 3 riders just storming by, and we start to chase really hard again.( now it really hurts). ½ lap later we catch Emde. And then 1/3 through lap 5, Ongers takes of .. and will eventually stay away for 4th… ½ lap to go we get caught by a big group of about ten riders….and this is the first time all day I can stop pulling hard and actually skip pulls and sit back a bit. During the last few miles s few riders slip of the front, and the rest of us are fighting for the remains. Jason attacks a few times during the last stretch, I make one last attempt to get of with about 2.5 miles but it gets brought back in a hurry. I finally manage to take fourth in the sprint, despite my tired legs and 11th overall.
This was the hardest race I’ve done in a long time, for the first hour my HR was 175 average….it’s the kind of race where you really start to think you haven’t trained enough, because it surely can’t be this hard on everyone else, right?...
Chris took a well deserved 2nd place.. he is going to kill this year.

Sequim on Sunday was organized and put on by my team and Petit Oil of Sequim. This year the race is back to the old 3 race series, which enables us (Garage) to at least ride one event each…there should be enough volunteers. After all the rain on Saturday the enthusiasm was slightly down when we were met by rain Sunday morning. Driving from the ferry in Kingston, we could see blue patches of sky; maybe the old rain shadow thing would work again today, time to sacrifice that chicken.
After helping out at the finish line with picking of the riders numbers for the morning races (I pretty much managed to pick the first and last rider of each group…everything else was a blur, yeah… I won’t be getting that job again) I got ready to race. I decided to not wear any leg warmers, only the second time all year (first was an hour ride on Wednesday)..it is always a nice feeling… and it just feels easier to pedal.
This race was completely different the Saturdays, well at least for me. The early break with Hone and Rodes went on lap one,. Peterson was once again honoring us with his presence, but today he was a marked rider, as soon as he flinched he had 10 riders on his wheel… he had no way of getting of… I nearly felt bad for him. By lap three of four they were getting close…and three more bridged up, the original two eventually came back. The last two laps we organized a chase, Peterson was working very hard, we had all of our riders chase (I know not smart, and would probably come back and haunt me). Recycled helped out with a few riders and eventually BRI. Nathan pulled for nearly ½ lap by himself, and put a big dent in the gap…(next time he needs to jump and bridge, we all know he is plenty strong enough). I think we finally caught the break with about 6miles to go. With Nikos sitting back and waiting for the finish I decided to try and break it up in the last few miles…. I briefly got in a 3, then four man group that lasted a few pulls each. As soon as we got caught I went again, no luck yet. I drifted back slightly, Ongers attacked and I jumped on his wheel…and right as we got caught I went again… this time they let me go. I had just over 2miles to the line. I got a gap as the pack sat up, then it nearly closed down, before I managed to claw it back open again. The headwind before the last corner was relentless.. As I go around the final right, and though 1k to go I still have a pretty good gap. ..at 500m I look under my arm..maybe…if I can just crest the hill right before the 200m mark…I can’t go any faster, but as the pack lines it up for the sprint, they close that last gap alarmingly fast and blow by me at about 180m to go.. I just hold my line and try not to get run over as riders pass me on both sides in full sprint mode…


I'm right at the back on the left (with right arm showing, wearing black arm warmers) getting blown by...oh yeah...what a feeling...


There is always next week….right?

Here we go

Strange, how most of us have been looking forward to race season for a while now, and when it’s right around the corner you still feel some reluctance for the inevitable. Maybe it’s the realization that time is running out for preparation, this is what all the cold wet rides were for, all the trainer time, all the sacrifices..it’s time to find out if it worked, if the mixture of trainer workouts and witch craft that we call a “plan” actually worked. It’s time to remind your self how much racing hurts.
There are no more coffee shop stops before the bonk…now you might be able to rumble though your jersey pockets with frozen wet fingers, while tiring to avoid the wet cold grit spray from the unfendered bike ahead of you, and try and find that one Gu that you hope for the sake of all that is good in the world, is still in there. Suck it down with the last splash of water and pray that it kicks in before the last hill or attack from the bastard who sat in the back the first five laps. It’s racing season.

Even with all the months since the last race, the night before is a scramble to get everything ready, Bike, wheels, team cloths, what gloves and how much ‘extra’ stuff do you bring in case the weather turns for the worse.

I didn’t get my race bike ready in time, so I was lucky to just be able to pull down my older race bike from the rack, grease the chain, inflate the tires and I was ready to go. Saturday morning was my first ride on a light, stiff bike since early October…wow, was it different.

The race it self went ok, no rain and warm…can’t complain there.
I did a hard trainer ride on Thursday, and Saturday morning despite taking Friday easy I woke up with very sore legs. 60 riders showed up, and it was a good race. We got our new Cat 2 in the main break(or he got him self in the break) of the day, but when it came back with 1 ½ lap to go, we missed out, partly due to fatigue and partly due to the fact that we as a team in whole were not all ready for the counter.
My legs are tired, even though I’ve done some great training this winter, nothing comes close to the intensity and willingness to go hard as in a race.

There is always next week.

Don't we have a race in two days?

If it's this bad tomorrow, I'm riding my mountain bike to work.. that has to at least shave an hour of the commute.

Advice?

I was asking Magnus for advice how to ride the Ohop,...but then I realized it was in two days, and I wouldn't make it.
(I'll save the secrets for Rainier Roubaix instead I guess)

Garage

Back in the Garage on the trainer catching up on the TV shows I missed during my Hiatus. Nice way to get the time to pass.
Well, maybe I was paying to much attention to the TV, I forgot my last 10min effort…

World Cup

Kele Murdin named to US team for Manchester Track World Cup.

Snow

How often do you wake up to this…in south England anyway?
I had planed a longer ride, but I quickly changed my mind after seeing this

Flats

The end of last week was back to the standard English weather… wet and windy.


Thursday was ok though, as it still was pretty mild. Friday although the rain stopped half way though my ride I had 3 flats and two slashed tires. Since I only had two tubes to start with, I got lucky when I found some patches in the bottom of my saddle bag. Thank god one of the earlier flats was just a regular puncture and not a big tear like the last two.
So after my final repair with a patched tube and tire in my rear , and a cliff bar rapper in the front trying to avoid the tube from bulging though I limped home, already ½ late for work .
I did end up with my highest average speed of the month though..

Saturday the weather was great. I was a bit tired from the previous week, but I had to take advantage of this. After replacing both tires and a tube, I set out a short ride.
An hour into it, about 30min from home I’m flying down a small lane, I hear a now very recognizable sound, of a tire going flat….great… oh well. I take the wheel of and find a big piece of flint, right in the center of the tread. Great another destroyed tire…but I can probably make it home….This is when I realized I have left all my spare tubes and patches at home…great.,this could be a long walk. I put the wheel back on and start the 10mile trip on the flat tire, after only about 50yards I see a farm shop… I might as well go in and see if they van help. maybe call a taxi worst case. Turns out one of the guys working is a tri-athlete and has a spare tube he gives me… now that is what I call luck… 99% of the rides I would have been out miles from anywhere, and even further from anybody with a spare tube. I thank him and head off on a very nervous ride back home, please no more flats…I’ve had enough already.

Kramer

Today I felt like Cosmo Kramer. My rental car has this nifty feature where is shows you how many miles you have left on your current tank. Today I pulled into the gas station having spent the last few minuets showing 1 mile to go and 1/2 mile rolling down the hill into the gas station. Maybe I wasn’t quite as brave as Kramer when he took Jerry’s “new” Saab for a test ride from the dealer and kept going on the freeway… But I really felt like I used that tank of gas to it’s fullest.

Back In England

After two weeks in England I finally got some blue skies.
Riding here in the south of England is very good... muddy when wet, a bit tight around a few lanes with traffic, but all in all very nice.









and just what you want to see on your way home.....



If they weather stays good I'll get some excellent riding in... and at least we don't have snow here yet.

ops....

This could get a bit drafty.

Power?

For once there was actually more power in my legs then the power lines during my ride saturday..

Tempo Time

After a week of snow and Ice… it will be nice to finally get outside this weekend. The last few rides have been on the trainer in the garage. This year I’ve signed up for the blockbuster version of Netflix… hopefully this will make it easier to stay out there and not get of and into the warmth of the house. Although I kind of like it cold, I hate sitting on a trainer and dripping sweat, I need a nice cool breeze to keep me going. I ridden less these last three months then I have in years. Once you get over the panic of saying that, I actually think it has helped me, and I think I am stronger for it now, especially with the virus I have been suffering of since July. Now I just need to get back into the routine of things and stop complaining about the rain and cold and ride to work..

Scuba?

I've got a ride planned for tonight... too bad if it rains. I can't control
the weather, so why should I let it ruin my evening..
I was trying to think of an outside activity where the rain wouldn't effect me...if I really was in to Scuba diving....hmmm Sun would still be nicer though, it tends to get a bit dark down there. I haven’t
been scuba diving in years and not sure if I could do this activity
without dying anymore and that is a requirement I have. The bike has
fenders and a light so how bad could it be…a few hours tops, piece of cake and I don't have to worry about any sharks or running out of air.

Real cross

Sundays cross race at Valley view middle school in Snohomish was a real NW cross experience.
The afternoon races, were on a by now well worn course and the mud was deep and sticky.
Thankfully the rain and hail let up for the start of my race. The start was fast as everyone wanted to get to the single track section first. As soon as we came of the track and on the off-camber grass section riders were going down like bowling pins. I managed to stay upright and avoid the falling riders.
The entire course was full of slippery grass and mud, and it was only a matter of time before going down or losing traction and sliding out of control.
My race however ended early because of another reason, my seat came loose and the nose tilted up by 45’…


I rode one lap like this… but as I passed the finish line for the second time, I pulled out; the prospect of another 6 laps in this position wasn’t too appealing. It was frustrating to have to pull out with a mechanical like that, clearly avoidable if I had just been more careful adjusting the seat that morning.
Maybe next time.

Grooving

Finally I was starting to feel a bit better... and what better way to find how much, then to race.
I started right at the back and slowly moved up, not as much as I wanted to, but I was happy to be feeling so much better and got in a pretty good groove, so much better in fact that during the race I remember thinking how much fun this was.
I still have lots of room to improve, the legs were still felt weak before the race, and I still need to get my pinched nerve thing figured out.




The one thing that is clear from the photo is that I’m definitely not leading the race and need a hair cut sooner then later.
After the race I plugged in my mp3 played and was grooving to 80's tunes all the way home...

Crosstober fest

Since Sundays race was only literally 2 miles from home, I had to go.
The cross course at St Edwards was a bit mountain bikeish... which at full speed turned out to be bit more technical then I could handle right now. A few years ago when I first raced cross, I had just come from mtb racing and the more technical courses were easily my strength... well not now...maybe I'm finally a roadie..
I lined up at the back so I wouldn't get in the way too much..and hopefully if capable work my way up. Well at least I was consistent... I pretty much stayed in the back the entire race...well I probably passed 6-7 people, that’s it.
It was really my first "hard" ride since the Bremerton crit early September... and I could definitely feel it.
After the race the sun finally came out, nice. I stuck around too watch the team relay race. The WOW team had an interesting costume... a shower!! (apparently a few corners were a bit hard to see).

Kriss Kross

Last night I did my first Kore Kross practice at Marymoor.
It feels a bit strange to go to a big organized workout like that, but I guess it’s really no different then Seward park but for cross. If nothing else it makes you go out and do something, and after just one night I have probably got off and on my bike more times then I would en entire cross season. I rode my cross bike down to Marymoor, 15 miles on a cross bike with low inflated tires… yeah it wasn’t quite as efficient as a road bike. Two eMurdincy’s later, where I managed to snap my brand new chain and have my seat tilt way no far backwards it was time to head home.
I avoided any blood, at least my own… so the night was a success. Maybe now I will be ready to race Sunday.

Supersonic

Supersonic, but grounded and locked behind a chain link fence...just like my legs this time of year.

Back on the bike

I finally went for a lunch ride… it’s probably been since before race season.
I’ve been completely of the bike for nearly 2 weeks, it was nice to finally ride again. It was a short ride, down to the ocean and back up the stair step road from Mukilteo… I went pretty hard and it felt better then in months…maybe this rest thing was a good idea.

The hard part will be getting ready for cross racing… time for some short intense workouts.

No Feeding?

Apparently this maneuver turned out to be illegal, despite the nearly 80'F weather... that's not natural for a Cross race.

Early

This dosen't happen much... could be the first time. Kele and I show up for the team ride, and we are the first ones there. No Garage riders in sight.....

Nice Ride

Do you think they spent too much money on the Car and bikes?...maybe the matching cloths put them over the top... a bike rack might be a good idea.



Hopefully the bikes won't fly out when they hit the speed bumps down the road.

I was feeling pretty good before the uphill TT on Saturday, well rested and pretty strong actually. It was the first time doing it with a power, so everything should go great….wrong. I started right at my target power, actually had to hold back to not overdue it on the first step section. 8min in, my power dropped, and I couldn’t get it up, unless standing and really going into the red zone. Soon after this I got passed by my 30sec guy, not good. I tried to focus on being smooth, not to panic, just go as fast as I could. I got passed by my 1min rider…great… and I still had 1 ½ to go. I finally crossed the line with a time that was my slowest since my first year as a Cat4… oh well….I went as hard as I could… that all I can do…It’s been a long season, and my legs decided to give out slightly earlier this year.. oh well. My teammates placed 2 and 3ed… just enough for us to tie for 1st in the team BARR competition.

Now you would thing that after such a great performance on Saturday, maybe I should take it easy on Sunday….yeah, I probably should…. The last two year I have done the master A race in the morning and then the 1-2 in the afternoon. I wasn’t going to let Saturdays disappointment change that, + I know that even though I might not be quite as strong as I want, I’m better then that. I end up leaving home at 10am…the race starts at 11:10am… the ride there takes about 1:05 going pretty fast… maybe a bit too much of a warm up. The race worked out ok, Flavio got in a few good breaks, that should have stayed away, I try and counter a few times when they come back.. It ends up a “pack” sprint in the end, I manage to get a pretty good position and end up 4th, the race is a lot different without Kenny there.

Now it’s time for lunch.. As I’m sitting outside at the table at Perts waiting for Kele to show up, Andy Hampsten (88 giro winner and 92 Alpe d’Huez stage winner) rolls up with his brother and some friends… now I just happen to have my camera with me… they walk inside but decide it’s too busy and ride of again before I manage to get a clear shoot…


So just imagine this picture with less snow, and without the ski goggles.

(http://www.hampsten.com/Company/meetus.html#)

The second race went ok… Our only goal going in, was to make sure Jason kept his lead in the season series. Each lap was worth $5, but with the bigger picture of the season series as our goal I resisted all temptations to go for any sprints. Our only job was really to make sure Ronnie never got in a break that might stay away, which was very unlikely, and to try and help Jason stay at the front, especially for the last lap. I don’t think I’ve ever raced Seward that conservative, either had Jason.

It worked out ok, Jason got 4th and increased his lead over Ronnie to 5points.

Good and bad

It’s been a while since I went for a team ride round the lake and out May Valley. Although it required getting up a 7am on Saturday, it was worth it. As usual I was a bit late leaving home, not enough requiring the “Murdin time trial” the 16miles to Leshi, but late enough that I wouldn’t have time to enjoy a cup of coffee once getting there. I hadn’t really planned on going for a longer ride, maybe just the south end and back across I-90, I did have a race planned for Sunday. Somehow I ended going east and by the time I got home had 80+ miles…it amazing how quick the miles add up when you go for a team ride, especially when it’s 32miles to the meeting place and back home.
It was a nice day for a ride though, and I really didn’t mind it a bit
.
The race in Woodland turned out to be harder then expected. Although flat for the first 55miles, the wind was a factor. After a flurry of attacks and blazing speeds small group get of pretty fast. After recovering slightly I make my way up front to try and help the chase. Although flat right now, the finish line is atop of a brutal climb. If I could help Nathan (or the pack in this case) get there as close as possible to the break, he would have a got chance of placing. I pull though a few times into the headwind. Considering how I’ve been feeling the last few weeks, probably a bit too hard. As we make a turn a crosswind section I get shot to the back, and after hanging on for dear life and jumping around a few rides leaving gaps I’m at my limit.
A few miles later not quite recovered yet, and in another crosswind I get gapped of right as we turn into a tailwind.….before you know it the pack flying down the road away from me….yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have worked quite so hard at the front.. I get in a small group for the rest of the race and continue at a pretty hard pace.. good steady hard effort.
Nathan takes top 10, the break of five stayed away…
Although not the best race of mine, I’m actually pretty happy with the effort I put out, 2:30 hours 260W average… I’m starting to come around and I’m feeling better and stronger everyday… although at the top of the climb at the steepest point I was going 6mph at 50rpm… yeah at that point I was dead

Still Summer

Summer is still hanging in there, which it should since it still only mid august. The forecast for this weekend is the mid 90’s… yeah it’s going to be hot. My legs are starting to feel better, but will it be enough. I’m looking forward to a nice easy ride on Saturday around the lake with the team, and then a new race on Sunday

Team time trial

On Sunday we had the state team time trial, four man teams, 32miles and
flat. This year the added challenge was the 3 sections of gravel that was left
after some kind of road work. There was talk of changing the course, shorter, adding some climbs and descents...all which would make the essential part of a team time trial less a factor, smooth, synchronized and steady team.
In the end, the flat road with gravel was kept, which I preferred, but
it turned out to be our downfall, as one of our teammates ends up
flatting, only 6 miles into the race. The rule is that you have to
finish with at least 3 people and that it's the third rider across the
line that stops the time.
After the flat, we just had to keep going. We now all had to take longer
pulls into the wind, with less rest in-between. We still had 26miles to
go!... oh this was going to be fun!!!!
I was now riding with two of the fastest guys in the state, which is
good news, but it also meant that I was due for some pain and suffering.
Our pace-line was going smooth. Our team training had paid of, and there
was never any gaps or surging causing any problems. Pretty fast though I was taking shorter pulls. I wanted to try and keep the pace high when I was at the front, but to do this I could only stay there for a short while, before drifting back and making sure I got on. Nathan and Flavio did a great job. Luckily for us Flavio was having a good day after suffering form food poison all week. Up until a few miles into the race he didn't know how he was going to respond. And Nathan is always strong. After battling fatigue the last few weeks, I was pretty happy with my
performance, not quite up to par, and clearly the weaker link, but I
managed to dig deep and hang in there, focus and push though the pain.
Stopping wasn't an option, it was a team event, and there was no way I
could let myself drop of, it simply wasn't an option. All I could do was
suffer and get though it.In the end though it was not quite enough, as we ended up losing by less then 1sec a kilometer. 40sec back from the winners. An extra riders
would most likely made all the difference. Oh well... what can you do.. we did the best we could with what we had.

Tired legs

Legs are strange…what is up with them being so tired and sluggish…with the rest of me still feeling ok.
Ever since the State TT and the road race the following day in the 105’F+ heat…I’ve been really hurting.
Any effort more then a 20-30 seconds causes pain/fatigue that shouldn’t be there before at least 7-8-9 minute repeated full efforts. Strange how one day I feel fine and then the next..
All this should obviously conclude me to rest, really rest… but it’s hard to … there is always a little race to do… Seward..”ah, it’s just Seward…I’ll sit in most of the time”—yeah that never happens… sitting in is a waist of time and just boring. Or the LWV Circuits races … “they are short and flat…no problem”.. well that isn’t always true…but if they are, they are fast instead.
This weekend I did the new Gig Harbour race.. I can only remember one other race when I lined up with such heavy and tired legs, and that was day 5 in a stage race, after weeks of hard racing…
I managed ok, but I had hardly any acceleration and really suffered the multiple times up the short climb.
Between the climbs I did ok, but felt like I had bags of sand tied to my legs every time I tried to surge or close a gap.
Well now it’s time to recover.. after track last night, where I also was really sluggish, but managed to win a few races and move up to Wednesdays (track goal completed)..I can afford, and need some rest before the two races this weekend. The final circuit race on Saturday, should be a good opener for the State team time trial on Sunday…
I feel like going out and riding hard…there is still plenty to train for… but even though my mind is ready I have to pay attention to my body… can’t have one lagging behind..

Track

Just what I needed, another thing to spend my time/money on. I’ve been slightly intrigued by track for a while, but have managed to pretty much stay away. I like small hills and rollers, this is where I feel like my strengths are, and the track has none of these. It’s pretty much flat, so ok there is a banking, but nobody launches an attack up it, it’s used to pull up from a pace line or recover. Ok, so you do attack down the “hill”… but that is nowhere close to my strength. Kele has really got in to the track the last year or so, so maybe I should give it a try. If I can race on Wednesdays, it shouldn’t be too bad… far enough away from the weekend, and maybe I can use it as a short intense workout, because god knows there is a lot of sitting around.
Going to a track event always reminds me of back in college when I used to run stadiums, and the track and field sprinters were working out on the track. Here I would be running/jumping up and down the stairs and I’d see the sprinters every ten minuets or so, do a 50 yard dash, 10 sec high knees or jump a few hurdles, the rest of the time whey would walk back and forth with a strange stride or stretch. After an hour or so of this they would retire to get ultrasound or what ever else happened in the training room under the stadium. Sure they were training for a different sport, but it just looked too easy…come on.. there has to be willpower and a pain barrier, something to push though and overcome, something that would build character.
Thank god track racing on a bike is actually more like the 800m, 1600m running events…lots of willpower and pain, but with a lot more tactics and pace changes.
Since I am new to the track I have to start on Monday nights, to get used to idea and not kill anybody important. I was surprisingly nervous before my first event, 8laps with a point available every 2 laps. Once we got started and avoided the near crash right in front of me on the first lap, it went fine.
Two things I noticed right away, 1: you are never in the right gear, to heavy for riding, but too light once the sprints start, 2: everything kind of happens slow, and you have to start the sprint earlier, because it takes a bit longer to accelerate.
Since I was there to get used to riding and racing a track bike, I didn’t necessary want to solo of the front just to try and win, so after each sprint I would sit up and get back in the pack. After one attack though I had such a big gap, and there was only 3 ½ laps to go, I thought I might as well go for it. With a lap to go I had a pretty big lead, and might have eased up slightly + I was getting tired. As I was coming onto the final straight two riders were apparently closing in very fast, a lot faster then I would have thought. On the road I don’t think this would have happened the same way, another thing I have to pay attention to…anyway, I held on and won by ½ a wheel… I still don’t think I slowed down that much!
But I’m still alive and I’ll give it another try next week.

Heat

During the last two months I’ve been in three countries, both side of the Atlantic and I still can’t get away from the heat. I think it all got to me this weekend, two races in over 100’F weather, with nowhere close to having enough water in either, is enough to get anyone a bit tired of it all. Ever since Mt Hood in early June has the heat been following me around. Not that I mind the heat that much, it’s so much better then the alternative, especially when it is accompanied with s lots of daylight.
I’m just happy I don’t live in Phoenix, or somewhere else where it actually gets like this all summer, and 100’F is considerd a cool day. I’m sure I’ll change my mind in a few months, I’ll be asking for some heat in March-May… but for now I guess I’ll just have to live with it

Goodwood.& Eelmore

I showed up to the Goodwood circuit race on Tuesday night for some much needed intensity. It’s a race much like SIR, completely flat, but about 3 times as long and we more curves.
The field was pretty small (70 total, maybe), maybe it was due to the World Cup England-Sweden game that night.
It was nice night, no rain, a bit windy, well really windy. As normal in mid week training races the pace started fast, and never slowed down. Right of the bat I get into a four man break, that lasts until about a lap later when 12 or so more guys bridge up.
Attack after attack goes off, we pull through and bring them all back. More annoying is that when some of us continuously pull though, others keep attacking and breaking up the chase. I’m at 100% just about the entire hour and a half. The pace is so high, and the attacks and splits so frequent that there is hardly ever any breathing room. No if I could just do this every week, I would get strong. With about 4 laps to go I can tell that some riders are getting tired, as the pace drops slightly between attacking. There are a lot of really fast riders, but maybe they don’t all have the endurance to keep it up much longer.
At some point 4 riders slip of the front, and which them working together without attacking each other they mange to stay away. With a lap to go 2 more guys slip of, I’m sure they come back as I sit on the strongest rider, and wait for the sprint. Well riders I’m sitting is either bluffing, just got really tired, because he does nothing to get it back, he sits second wheel the last mile or so… well I guess we are sprinting for 7th. My group is now probably nine riders big, with several guys sitting on the last few laps.
I consider starting my sprint early, but hold back because of the strong wind, and the fact that I have no clue how these guys can sprint. My misstake though, when the sprint starts I’m in fourth position, and end up forth…closing in but to late… oh well 10th for the night not too bad. It’s been a few weeks since I’d done any intensity like this, and it went ok.
Wednesday night I find another race( Eelmore). This course is only 5miles from the hotel…sweet… I ride there and back. This course is considerably shorter and even flatter.
This event is much smaller and only about 25 riders line up in the E-2 category.
I race a bit smarter, and don’t waste too much energy early. Once again though, a few riders split of the front in the tail wind section. I’m not used to racing against complete unknowns, it’s hard not knowing who can stay away and who you know will come back.
With two laps two go, a attack my group and bridge up to a group of 6, with still 3 more of the front. I manage 4th in the windy sprint again….
After two days of long full out efforts and wind… I’m tired… it was fun to race again… but it sure is different then just riding around the country side.

The next weekend I try to find a regular road race, but everyone I can find the fields are long filed… oh well, next time I’ll have to sign up a few weeks in advance.

Summer in England

Farnham

The day after Mt Hood I was of to England.
It took a week to recover from the last few weeks of racing and get over the cold I had at MT Hood, and it got worse before it got better....

I've been riding everyday, mostly easy rides, to get me back into the swing, of things. The first few days I really had the heavy leg feeling, I struggled on all the rollers.
After a week of easy riding, 30-40 miles a time, I took a day of compleatly. The next day I was really supprised how good I felt, my body had clealy needed some rest to recover and get over the final cold.
I went for a 40 mile rolling ride, pushing hard the entire time...it felt good, I had some acceleration and I could keep the speed up over the rollers and small hills....it felt great.

I've been working second shift the entire time so far, so no mid week racing, wich was actually probably good for me. Next week though I've manged to switch...Tuseday I'm of to Goodwood, and hopefully race Sean Yates...I'm already looking forward to it. Wednesday a local crit series.... too bad I can't find a good road race, it looks like they suffer from the same thing we do back in Seattle...Crit summer. Well there is a 5 day stage race that starts friday...maybe if I could sneak into that...I could probably do the friday TT, and then race both saturday and Sunday, before simply skipping the last two stages.
Well back to work...

Mt Hood

Well my previous mentioned plan worked a bit too good.
This weekend at Mt Hood, the last big (and biggest) race for me before I head of to England for a month ended early. I wasn't feeling too good on Monday and Tuesday.. but Hey I might get better. The first day we only had a 3 mile TT, hey I can do that, no problem. I started ok, but ran out of energy about 2min too early and slugged my way up the last hill. My body was aching and I had a fever...well I get a day of rest and tomorrows stage shouldn't be so bad.
Well it was worse then it looked. My legs were empty all day, I swear I had a dragging hub, brake or both. Something was not right.
I stayed in mostly but was working way too hard, it just didn't feel right.
If that wasn't enough, with about 5k to go as we came down the hill and made the sharp right turn my back wheel just about went out from under me...sweet... I had a slow leak and I was down low and fishtailing around the corners...the fact that it was a tubular saved me… the last few K were fast and curvy…if I stopped for a new wheel I knew I would never gat back on and loose time, so I kept my weight forward and buried my self to stay on the best I could. Finally at 1k I lost contact as the pack speed up for the sprint…I lost 15sec, which considering wasn’t that bad…. But I worked way too hard to do it, I was dead.
That evening and especially next morning I wasn’t feeling good at all, my fever was flaring up and I was feeling weak. If I could get by the first two stages, the third would be very different, 94miles and 9000ft of climbing. It was raining, but not too cold.
First lap started ok, but right before the KOM my legs gave out, suddenly I had nothing…it was a weird feeling. It was close enough to the top though, so I got back on as soon as we started to descend.
Next lap, my legs went earlier…I moved up front with about ½ mile before the right turn to the copper spur, then in an instant as the grade changed slightly I went straight back though the pack, by the time we actually made the turn I only had 2 riders behind me.. My legs felt like jelly, I had nothing… I was going as hard as I could and my HR would not go over 160…yeah I was in trouble. As I crossed the top, I knew I could probably catch back on, but what for?, I would only get dropped earlier next lap…and I really wasn’t feeling good. I pulled the plug and stepped of. It was a harder decision then it might seam. In all my years of racing I have never quit a race, never. But this time it would be stupid to continue.
The rest of the weekend went kind of slow, sure if was fun to watch the crit and try and help my teammates and friends in the feed zone…but it was hard not being out there.
Monday, and I’m sicker then I’ve been in a long time, so it was probably good I didn’t keep pushing it.
I’m off in a few hours, I’ll bring my bike and slowly get back into riding and racing… the summer is here and by no means am I done…

Panic City

Work has been panic the last few days... getting ready for a wind tunnel test is a nightmare, especially the last few days before.
Plus it dosn't help that I'm of to Moab in a few hours, then when I get back, one day of work before MT Hood. The day after Hood I'm of to England for a month...maybe then it will settle down a bit...it better.
I raced SIR this week.(I still call it SIR although it has now changed names to PIR...but to me that is Portland).. My leggs were tired..but I wanted to have a go anyway. It was a small pack, how many times have I said that this year?
Nathan was agressive early, as well as Hone, but that is normal. At the end I managed to roll of the front break and hold on for the win, thats been a while and it felt good. To tell the truth, I might have "rolled" of, but after that there wasn't much rolling involved. It was a perfect situation were nathan was back in the break and everybody was looking at each other way too long... I was pretty sure nathan could beat them all pretty easy going up the slight hill for the finish...so this way we got 1st and 2nd.
I had planned to race Seward this week also, but as Kele and I opened the garage to leave it was raining hard...neither of us felt like spending the evening wet and cold...and to tell the truch we had way too much to do.
It's still hard to let go, you have this nagging feling that you are missing something good...

My plan

My goal of wearing my self out is working to perfection…ahh, what beauty when a well executed plan comes together. I’ve just about done every race this season, with the knowledge that I would be gone for the entire month of June. The plan was to race hard all spring, finish it all of with hopefully surviving Mt Hood and then of to England for a month of work, and easy rides through the county side.
This year I have been a lot better of resting during the week and therefore doing better on the weekends, when it really counts. The last two weeks though have been hard. Wenatchee, yeah that climb is a bit too long for me, Enumclaw…well I should have done better there…but after being 29th after the first two stages there was no point of being conservative and finish maybe in the low 20’s… no I threw caution to the wind and tried to bridge up to a three man break up the road. The fellow bridging rider and I never made it, we got close , but then suddenly as we came around corner they were gone…strange!
We got caught 1/3 the way up the climb, It took everything I had to hang on…but that was all my matches as they say. Next lap as soon as the road was thinking about going up I was of..just like that. I hung in there and finally after riding the reminder of the race solo finished 7min or so behind the main group..
The three man break we nearly caught was joined by another three and stayed away… oh well…maybe next time.
So back to my original plan… SIR and Seward this week…I still have something left in those legs.

Oh yeah...

Yeah... and I do this for fun.... what was I thinking........














Last weekend was another stage race....they are starting to blur together..
The highlights of the weekend was my team mates (Nathan) 3top ten placings and a 9th overall. A very strong ride to get 5th in the road race, hanging with the fastest climbers around...very impressive..
Red10's win in the cat 3 crit was very nice to. Finally, after killing us all winter, he has most likely started a winning spree that could go on for a very long time..

Longbranch

I've been saying all year that this is the good course for me...
The climbs are step but not long…I believe I have the power to get over these shorter climbs with the best.
A false flat after the climb to get separation, and finally a slight uphill sprint. Sunday’s field was considerably smaller then Saturday, maybe it was the rain that scared people of. All morning the rain was pouring down and it didn’t look good for us. 10 min before it was still raining, it wasn’t until 5min in, heading up the long gentle climb that we noticed blue skies ahead…and the rest of the race was all in sunshine…how did we get so lucky.
Early on lap two a break went up the road, not all that dangerous… but as Kenny attacked, to bridge followed my Emde I knew I had to go. If those two got up there, there would be nobody back here to chase… Kenny was going hard in full TT mode, when Emde and I finally managed to latch on a few hundred feet later we had a big gap back to the pack. As we started up the hill Kenny went hard but Emde and I stayed on. As we climbed the rest at a reasonable tempo, I was surprised at the crest when suddenly the bunch of riders countered our move. I managed to accelerate and hang on, Emde went back to the back group though. We were now seven riders. As we neared the top of the false flat Kenny attacks from the back and eventually bridges up to the front break. BRI and First rate now had riders in the break, and the ones in our group made it clear that they were passenger from here on… Axley had two riders (three when Emde caught back on ½ lap later) ,Tony from Broadmark and I were the only ones chasing.
During the following few laps we eventually caught and dropped most of the breakaway except Kenny who kept going. Axley did a good job chasing, making sure nothing else went of the front..
It came down to a 7 person sprint for 2nd… I did ok and ended up 3ed overall. I’ve noticed a slight drop in sprint speed this year… that is something I will have to work on…
But I was very happy, walking away with a medal, one better the last year, for the second day in a row.
I’ve now done this race the last three years, 5th the first, then 4th last year and 3ed this year… if this continues. …
This would have been a great weekend if it wasn’t for the fact that I lost my SRM head unit. This is a rather expensive piece of equipment. I took it of my bike for the drive home(so I wouldn’t loose it)…yeah that worked great…oh well… my theory at this point is that I put it on the roof of the car as I was lifting the bike up on the rack…and left it there.

Next weekend is the third “W” of the year, and it’s the hardest one. This year we have had stage races in Walla Walla, Winthrop and now Wenatchee. Wenatchee is the state stage race championship…a very important race, but sadly way too hard for me, climbs that last 30min….yeah not my cup of tea against good climbers… but I’ll sure do my best

One better

This weekend we had both the senior and master state championship road races.
On Saturday the 86mile now well known Elma course, and on Sunday for us older (how can that be me.?... I don’t how that happened… I was just 24 the other day). I think having sporting careers in several sports takes time… when I was younger it was soccer, then in high school, Under water rugby. In college I spent 4 years training twice a day, rowing, traveling all over the country. When that suddenly ended at graduation, I took up mountain biking for a few years during grad school…. So by the time I started road riding I was already older then most retired pros… I guess that’s how… it still amazes me though…Masters…no that can’t be right…oh well it could be worse...

Saturday a big field showed up to a sunny although slightly cold day. Although some of the regions strong riders were out of town, there was still plenty of talent present. I don’t know how many times I’ve done this course before, but it’s getting up there…this time though it played out like no other. Maybe it was the head wind on the climb, lack of a long cross wind section, …for some reason at basically stayed together the entire race, no breaks got more then 10-15sec…not one.

Lap 3 and on I expected something to go on the climb, well at least splits, so I got to the front to make sure I wouldn’t miss it… apart for some smaller splits, that eventually came back… …There were some unfortunate crashes, not big ones, but the injuries were a lot worse then expected. One rider broke a collarbone and ribs as he went down by himself. Another rider had a compound fracture to his ankle as he clipped out to avoid a crash…very very unlucky. … On the farm road with 2 to go, I had a front flat, as I looked back I couldn’t even see the wheel car, as it was still behind the split…I finally get a new wheel as two of my teammates catch up, they had caught on right before the crash, and then got gapped off again…but it was nice having them here now to help me chase back on.

Neil and Flavio pull though a few pacing me back up.
A few miles later I reintegrate with the pack, a bit tired but still feeling very good.
As we approach the farm road again, we gat stopped for about 5min to let an ambulance pass with a crash victim. This is weird, only 7miles to go, 30-40 riders left and here we all sit chatting…finish line at the top of the climb…. All the strong riders are still here, we have 5guys left…this will be interesting..
Valley keeps the pace up on the rollers before the feed zone. Is anybody brave enough to go for it? Nikos gives it a try, doesn’t get too fat though. This is a good finish for me…slight uphill finish, not too long…I know the final move must go 100m or so before the sharp right turn at the top over the “wall”. After getting squeezed out though the feed zone with 1km to go, I maneuver around the left, I know I’m too far back, so I have to get into the wind to move up front. Nathan is sitting 30feet or so in front of the pack; this could be a good move…if the pack waits too long…maybe.
I can feel the jump about to happen and I anticipate it and go, hard, over the wall, we pass Nathan who is on the inside ,I can sense two riders right next to me, Morgan and Ian…both trying to find a better gear as the road flattens out. Only three rides ahead of me…Kenny and Campbell are too far away…but I’m inching closer to Morgan……..the line comes to soon…4th..
Nathan holds on for 10th, Jason 12th…
One better then last year…

Track

Track racing… I don’t know about that.. I like freewheeling too much.
Since I live pretty close the velodrome I thought I might give it a try this year. Not that I really need something else fill up my time with, but I thought it might be a good rest day activity. Now I’m pretty sure I’ll find out really quick that there is plenty of very high intensity followed by a lot of sitting around.
Anyway, I took the required track class a few years ago, and haven’t been on a track bike since. The last two Thursdays, in avoiding Seward park, and what I know will be too much intensity before the weekend I have been going to the beginners track training session. I hard part I noticed right away isn’t going fast, but slowing down… Once I’ve done my sprint of closed the gap to the rider in front, the hard part is not overrunning them, everything has to be planned ahead.. hopefully this won’t cause to many issues.
I don’t know when I will actually get out there and race…maybe once before I head of to England for June, otherwise I will have to wait all the way to July.

SIR

I haven’t raced at the Pacific raceways(SIR) in a while, so I thought I’d give it a try on Tuesday.
I was still really tired from last weekend, still need to catch up on my sleep and rest my legs.
The weather was great, good course that tuned out to me my favorite direction and still plenty of time to rest up for the weekend…why wouldn’t I?
Since I moved up north, the drive down there is a major hassle, I have to get though the worst traffic clog of the region, taking anywhere from 1h to 1:30h at best. I used to live 20min away, and it was a standard Tuesday night ride, now it involves planning and dedication.
I got there late and didn’t have tome for a warm up, except roll around for 5min…well the first lap would take care of that. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I went hard the first two laps, a bit too hard maybe..I just wanted to get it going and make sure people were hurting in the back. It’s a bit different basically doing a road race in an hour. It plays out like the first hour of an aggressive road race with a final sprint before you know it…fun fun.
I stayed up front all race and made sure I got in all the front splits that looked even remotely dangerous. Pruit was really aggressive and probably started most of those…
My legs were not feeling especially good all, heavy and very slow, I didn’t have much of acceleration and I could swear that my back wheel was rubbing, I actually had to check twice…it was just too heavy. I guess this why I probably should have rested…oh well…as long as I rest the remainder of the week I’ll be ok….. I hope. I wanted to try and help my teammate Patrick to get some points and told him to stay on my wheel and do no work the last two laps. I tried to stay smooth and glued on Richter’s wheel.
½ lap to go I had to accelerate though a gap and lost Patrick. I was certain he could get back up, there was still plenty time, especially going down the S-curves. As we were exciting the bottom turn, Patrick come flying by and goes to the front, hmmm, not the best idea with ¼ to go…He keeps going and now I know he’s not going to make it and switch plans to go for it myself…maybe next time…don’t panic, stay focused and follow wheels. The finish line is about 200m on a false flat after cresting the small hill. You can’t afford to loose any positions going up, but it’s a bit too early to start sprinting. Just as we are about to crest, I’m still on Richter’s wheel, the sprint starts, two riders get a slight jump on the right and manage to stay ahead all the way to the line. I finish fourth,,, a bit disappointed… I should have done better…I just waited a bit too long , and my legs were just a bit too heavy to accelerate on that kind of finish..
Maybe next time I won’t go so hard in the beginning.
It was a fun night, I haven’t done that course in nearly 2 years… I forgot how much fun it can be.

Still at it...

Winthrop

Another stage race. I raced in Walla Walla last weekend, and this weekend I'm in another small Washington town, this one squeezed in a mountain valley. One thing I like about bike racing is all the places you travel, if it wasn't for racing I would never visit small towns like this. When I first started racing back in Kansas, I always loved heading to small towns, which often combined a city celebration of some kind with either a mountain bike race or a criterium.
Although maybe I don't do much sightseeing or lounging around that fully immersing into the town would require, oh well

This was a new race this year, unfortunately the turnout was very low. The low turnout I believe was a combination of weeks of back to back racing, the two stage races the previous weekend.. and the local racing that could be enjoyed without having to do the 4.5 hour drive both ways, and get back home 10pm or later Sunday night. Too bad though because it tuned out to be some great racing with nice weather.

We started with a 10mile TT. It was a good rolling course with some hard hills, well in a TT after going full speed they were hard. I felt better and more comfortable on my TT bike then I have in a while, so that was good news. I still would like to be a bit faster. don't we all though. I managed to mentally stay pretty focused throughout.. still room for some killer instinct though, that I believe I had when I first started and have somehow lost. Time trials are determined so much by attitude and focus and less by strength and aerodynamics. Nathan took 3ed.. with an excellent TT, Jason and I were in the top 10.

The Crit in Twisp was a windy one, with dust everywhere. The biggest trouble of the night as trying to find some coffee, as all the stores closed at 3pm, we finally found a bakery/coffee shop with a London trained pastry maker, although tempted, I resisted to get anything before the race.
The small field and blustery wind made this an extremely hard crit, the first 25min were just about as hard as any crit I've ever done gaps opened up everywhere, every lap it seamed like I had to jump around riders to get across the pack. Jason got in the winning break pretty early and ended up 5th. For pride more then anything I jumped with two corners to go, but could not make it hold and got passed by two rides right at the line for 10th. Next time maybe this will be for the win I can't sprint with the best, so this is my best chance.
That night we were treated to a dinner at Kevin Ruf's dad house were we staying. We were very happy to see food, as we stumbled in with soar legs.

The road the following morning race was on a rolling loop that we would do six times.
It was a good course, but once again the small field make it impossible to hide. The fireworks started early and by the 3ed lap the main break was established, 6rides from 3teams. Jason and Nathan both made it. I missed out as I hesitated, why I don't know, for a second. I didn't was to pull the other riders up, so I sat on an rivalry rider and wouldn't pull though for the next few miles. Nikos and I than started to roll though, but not really helping the chase. I was hoping we would stay kind of close, and then at the opportune moment try and bridge acrossÂ…. It never really appeared.
The next few laps I tried to analyze the situation, two of the riders in this group where ahead of me in the overall standing. I need to beat them at the finish. I was feeling great and noticed that just about all the other riders looked like they were suffering a bit. With slightly more then one lap to go I went hard up the first hill, settled down slightly to look were everybody was. I saw that I had a gap and the riders were all strung out with big gaps, so I surged again and took of. Half way though the last lap I passed Nathan who was riding with a front flat. I though about stopping and giving him my front but we were essentially on the same points after the two first stages, and stopping would only result in loosing the lead I had on the group behind me. I was going flat out. I came screaming down though town for the last time, started up the last hill with about 1mile to go, I didn't let up until I was at 100m to go. I crossed the line for what tuned out to be 6th place. 5 min later Nikos came in taking the sprint for 6th,perfect, he had been able to sit on while the other had tried to chase me down; this is one way teammates help in a individual sport like cycling.
Jason ended up 5th overall, I was 7th, Nikos 8th, Nathan who had started the weekend so good was unlucky again, and ended up 11th in the RR and overall

Walla Walla

Anybody thirsty....


At the top of the climb during the first "hot" climb all year, 65miles into a 98 mile race.... yeah some water would be nice.

oh well

oh my god my legs are tired...what did I do....and I will not repeat my mistake.
I was actually feeling ok before the race on Saturday... but then on lap one I just imploded....couldn't believe that I could feel this bad so early in...
I really though I was going to get dropped, and quitting crossed my mind several times... what is the point if I feel this bad with 65 miles to go?...
But I've never quit a race..and I couldn't start now.
I decided to race more consevative, and hung in there. I was actually starting to feel better a few laps later, but I still had no acceleration at all.
Half way through the second to last lap a spoke in my back wheel broke and I came to a skidding stop as the wheel seized up... If I had been feeling great, or been in the lead group I would have been upset, but as it was.. oh well.
The problem was that I was stuck out in nowhere, 6 miles from the parking lot, a long walk in bike shoes...so there I was for an hour before I got a ride back...and I was starting to get really cold.... oh well, next week is what counts.

1st Seward Park.

Why do I always go too hard at Seward, no matter how tired I am, or how good my intention is to take it easy. Last night the Thursday night criterium series had it’s kick of, and with great weather that we are starting to get used to, maybe a bit too much.
I got of work hurried home, had something to eat and rode the 20 miles down there, a bit too fast as I didn’t realize that my watch was 15min too fast.
Tuesday and Wednesday had been pretty hard training and my legs were tired, and the weekend racing is going to be hard, so in the back of my mind I had decided not to kill myself. Well those thoughts pretty much stayed at the back. Lap two I decide to pick the pace up and the following few laps, I’m doing my best to wear some people out. Pretty soon a group of 6 riders have a gap, by now I’m a bit tired and have to struggle to stay on the split I created… yeah that wasn’t so smart..
A lap or so later it’s all back together… now my common sense kicks in and I decide to chill out for a few laps, as we still have at least 25 to go. At the first preem 3 riders get of, and quickly have 30sec on us… one by one though they come back as the new local pro Todd Herriot relentlessly pushes the pace.
I ended up in a chase group of four, that just barley stayed away to the finish. My teammate rolled of the front with just a few hundred meters to go, while the other rides were watching me, just perfect.
As we got to the final sprint, I tried to jump a bit early and take 3ed, but got passed just before the line. Still 2nd and 4th, pretty good team result. Now what ever happened to taking it easy…
I rode the 20 miles back home in the dark…slow.

Rest day

Some times you can't wait to get on your bike and go for a hard ride, sometimes you just want to do nothing. Today is one of those.
Ahh, to put my legs up, rest and do nothing, maybe if I'm feeling energetic I'll watch some TV...maybe not.
Last week I decided it was time for some hard training, no races on the weekend ahead so no need to be fresh. Really what i learnt most from this week is what not do to do if I had a race. I was more tired Sunday than the last two weeks when I raced both Saturday and Sunday.
Maybe I'm extra sore today because I took my new bike out yesterday, 80miles on a ever so slightly different position has made me hurt all over...
It didn't help that team mates keept pushing the pace over the hills...thanks...
As long as I rest now, I should be stronger beacuse of all this...

Race at Swede hall

After a week of being sick I was a bit nervous for the weekends racing. Well I did ride once last week, Thursday and after 35min of tempo riding my legs suddenly lost all power…I eased of for a few minuets and continues my ride home. I took Friday of also, although I had initially planned a short ride to test my legs, but by the time I got home I decided it was better to rest.

Saturdays race was new course, which is always fun. When we arrive we lean that there are “two” hills on each lap…oh…I have to be careful… My goal was to hang is as long as possible, and don’t do anything crazy…to last to the end. I told myself that the goal of the race was to last as long as possible, and that getting dropped would be ok, if that was the best I could do. Deep down I know, that if I finish in anything but at least the main pack would be disappointed. No matter how sick or tired I am, I can’t relinquish the fact that I need to finish. Setting a team mate up for a good result would be perfectly ok, If I could make a difference to help somebody finish high up in the results that would be an acceptable goal. For our team to have a good chance, it would either be get a rider up in the break, or once our sprinter got over the last climb help get the pace up and take him to the front.
80 miles with 8 climbs… well I’d better start carefully and see how I feel. First climb came only a few miles into the race… it was fast, but not too bad I was ok… on the descent I somehow managed to drift to the back..(on a new decent and my first ride since September on my carbon rims).. when I suddenly realize that I’ve been here before…two years ago we had our training camp here…once I realize this, I remember the descent and the fact that there were no sharp hidden corners… and I’m a lot more comfortable and bomb down the rest.
A few brakes go up the road, Nathan is in a few but nothing wants to stay. I somehow get in a move or two…not on purpose really I just happen to be in the right spot and instinct takes over.
Second time up the big hill, I drift all the way back…ops…that’s not good, we have long way to go. I get over the shorter climb ok. Third time up I’m nervous, I make sure I start the climb right up front…. I do fine..and crest mid pack or so.. five riders are of the front as this point, but with the way I’m feeling I’m happy to fight it out for 6th. Going onto the final lap my legs are like jelly…I’m sure I’m not going to make it. I push those thoughts out as I start the climb in 5th wheel. I concentrate and try to relax, half way up a small group of six riders have a slight gap, I look up and decide that this could be it, I put everything aside, shift a gear and stand up, I surge up to the group and proceed in leading them over the top…I look back we have slight gap. Now being more comfortable on the descent I hit the front and go down it as fast as I can.
I’m slightly shocked…how did I do that?…go from being sure I wasn’t going to make it, to leading the split over top. Your worst enemy id self doubt. Nobody really wants to keep pushing it, we slow down . A little while later our group swells as most people catch back on. Pete is here, if he can just get over the last climb coming up in 10miles or so, we have a great chance of taking out the sprint.
Going into the climb I’m too far back, but my biggest misstate was I wasn’t committed to a plan. I told Pete I’d wait for him at the top, in doing this I hesitated slightly and let 12 rides or so get a gap at the top. I think I could have got up to them at the crest, but I hesitated because I didn’t want to get too far ahead of Pete… he would need all the help he could get to get back on. Over the top we (7 of us) are only a few seconds back… I drift to the back and look for Pete…halfway down there is no sign of him…I look ahead…the group ahead isn’t getting closer…They are going flat out to keep us from catching. We have a rival sprinter in our group and they don’t want to let him back on. The next five miles we are going as hard as we can, but just can’t close the gap. Only 4 of us are actively chasing, some more then others…with two miles to go I realize that it’s not going to happen… I attack to tray and shake some of the guys just sitting on. Finally we sprint in for 17th, I get passed by two riders and end up 19th.
I’m a bit frustrated at myself, I made a big mistake by not committing to either wait, or make sure I got with the front group….getting stuck in the middle was no use to anybody. Turns our Pete was cramping and me staying back to help pull him up probably wouldn’t have worked anyway…. This is why a clear plan is so important, or if I would have know early in the climb that Pete was cramping and there was no chance for him, maybe, just maybe I could have made it.

More early season racing

Another weekend a two more races.
This is the best spring for racing since I moved to Seattle in 2000.
It’s unheard of to race the entire Mason lake series without once getting rained on. I don’t even think I’ve made it without seeing snow. Saturday was a pretty good race, I tried with all my might to get in a break… but to no avail… 3 of our riders got gapped by a crash with 3 laps to go. With only two of us left and the fact that we already done more then our share at the front made it so much harder. When the break finally went I was exactly at the right spot, but made the conscious decision not to go with that attack. Obviously I made the wrong choice, how could I have known, all I knew was that my legs knew very well that they didn’t want to go. A few miles later a two man bridge attempt took of, once again I was right there, but not ready. One rider made it, so they were now three up the road….and they all just happened to be some of the best time trailers around… we were now fighting for 4th… I managed to take 5th in the pack sprint, finishing 8th for the day and 4th in the series.

Sunday, a new day and new race…The sun was out and it was probably the best weather I’ve ridden in since last fall. It was borderline but I decided to race with no legwarmers. The first ride in months without something over your knees, that always a great feeling, finally summer is here!..(well maybe not quite yet).
An early break got of. Too early to commit our team to chase quite yet. When we did start chasing our team did a great job, with several rides sacrificing their chances to give me a better chance.
On the final lap there is only one rider left of the front, and just like yesterday it’s down to a pack sprint for 2nd… After all that work from my teammates I mess it up slightly by being too far back when the sprint starts… I still manage 10th, but can only image what could have happened if I’d been a bit more aggressive the last mile…. The team rode a lot better then I managed to finish it of, oh well. We did a good job in chasing the break back, but we had some communication problems as we couldn’t reach each other to organize a solid combined effort….for once race radios would really have helped.

A weekend with great weather and two top 10’s… I can’t be greedy…

Sucess

On Saturday my cycling team and I personally had a very successful race.
Our goal was to be aggressive and always have somebody up the road, if not we would chase immediately. It started of with Jason going of the front, during the first lap. Now this was domed from the start, solo was no way to ride the 72 miles…but we were hoping for a few riders to bridge up, for some reason this never happened. As soon as he was back Nathan our new rider gets of with Ian Tubs. This had a lot better chance of working. Although two riders would still l have a hard time succeeding at this point. I spent next 30-40 min at the front, trying to slow the pack down, disrupt the chase enough to allow the gap to grow. I would jump on the back of a few bridging attempts and allow me to get pulled up to Nathan if they succeeded, but never actually pulled through myself. Despite all this it was all together with about 2 laps to go. Over the next few miles our team did a great job in attacking and staying close to the front. With about 16 miles to go, Jason goes with an acceleration of the front, it really doesn’t go anywhere. I’m right up front and right as it is caught I launch an attack up the next roller. I instantly get a gap….thankfully after a few minuets I’m joined by one of the strongest riders in the field; I jump on as he comes by.
As we pass the finish line with one lap to go, we have less than a 200m lead. Every time James pulls though I’m digging deep to get back on, every time I pull though I digging deeper to keep the speed up. To stay away with one lap to go, you can’t save anything, its full speed or don’t even try. A few miles later we have a follow car and we are told we have a minute lead. At the far corner we find out there is a chase group of six riders at 30 seconds. The pack might slow up, there is sometimes a hesitation, who is going to pull, who is going to take the responsibility to lead their sprinter out, this is what makes it possible for a few riders to stay of the front, the pack going slow. With a chase group of 6 riders there would be no such thing, all these riders unless teammates of James and I would be working flat out to catch us. After 65miles of racing we could only hope that they were just as tired or more so then James and I… to tell the truth if they were any more tired then I, they wouldn’t be a threat at all. I was digging deep pushing through the pain as much as possible. With 2 miles to go as I pulled of the front, expecting James to come around for his turn, he accelerated slightly…. It wasn’t that much, but enough to cause a gap that I couldn’t close. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but now after working so hard for so long it was too much. If I wanted to at least finish second I now had to really push though to finish ahead of the chasing group. There were only a few small hills left…if I could just make it over those, then at 1km to go there was a downhill where I should be able to keep my gap. James wasn’t that far ahead… I could always see him up there…but now I was more worried what was coming up from behind. As I got to 300m I was starting to feel a lot safer, but this last part was on a slight uphill, which normal is barely noticeable, but now…it a mountain. Finally as I reached the last 100m I felt safe, I could see the group behind, coming around the last corner at about 300m…. It was a nice feeling…finally, the pain and effort was worth it.

The last few miles I fought the urge to lessen the pain and let up, but something kept me going.
Maybe it was the realization that anything but my best effort, no matter how it turned out would be a lot worse then the physical pain, knowing that I let of would haunt me a lot longer then anything my body could come up with. I can’t control who is fast, who wins, who is lucky all I can do I my best with what I have at the moment…and take it as far as I can.
After, I can go back and analyze why or why not it worked, and try and change next time.
I ended up second…which is a really good result for me, but what could I do to get first next time.

First race of 2006

The first race this season happened on Saturday. It’s as 12mile loop around a lake, mostly flat but with some short hills. Usually these first few races of the season draw a very big crowd.
There are several groups of people who show up for there races.
1:Riders who have been training gradually all winter and are ready to get going with a new season.
2: People who have been training for a later peak and have no expectations..
3 The few who have been doing hard intervals all February targeting these March races… “might as well peak for something I have a chance at”. These riders usually last until mid to late April when the rest of the field catches up. This is how we like to label all the riders who do good… secretly we hope they will all burn out and fade away… but sometimes these riders just are group 1’s and are simply just very well prepared.
4: And then there is the group that sits in the back trying to get into shape after spending all winter skiing.
It’s an interesting mix. During the race even though the peloton can he huge, only a limited few actually stray away from there early positions in the pack. The fit generally stay up front, attacking and getting a race going, the big majority will sit behind and maybe once and a while hit the front of follow something, the unfit or late starters in or off the back. There are a few exceptions, a certain Broadmark rider no matter what kind of shape he is in will continuously attack and shoot of the front more times than you can count. No matter what you think about this tactic you have to admire his ability to recover and go again. And more then not he makes the break and either finishes the race in the front group or in the right at the back.

So the first race started in the best conditions I’ve ridden in all year…sunny and relatively warm…high 40’s…low 50’s I guess. It was only my second ride on by race bike since October… and it sure felt different. I tried to line up close to the front, but showed up a bit late, but after some maneuvering snuck in at mid pack or so. Historically the first race usually ends up in an early break staying away, so I wanted at least give my self a chance of getting in it.
Only 3 rides including I from our team showed up, there were several good reasons for this low turnout. However this did make it very hard to get a rider in each early break. I managed to get up front pretty quick and went with as many of the early flurry of attacks I could, that seamed likely or at least looked like they had the possibility of staying away. Our team with only three riders could not afford to having to chase a break with most of the other teams represented, it would have worn us down and make it just that much harder to get in the next break, and if we missed that one we would have to do it all over again. I was most likely a bit to eager and should have showed a bit more constraint…did I really have to bridge to all those groups… ¾ though the first lap I jumped across to Ian Tubs and Rob Campbell, here were to riders from the two strongest teams… I though I’d better get up there quick before it goes too far. Once I bridge I immediately start working hard, and quickly realize that Rob is just sitting on…Ian and I keep at it though…soon we are joined by a few more riders, Rob still does nothing… He was waiting for one more teammate before committing to this break…Recycled get a rider up there, BRI, Broadmark now has two, soon Dan Harm and Mike Hone also join up, although Mike never leaves the back as he is hanging on for dear life, getting pulled up by Dan Harm just about killed him by the looks of it. A mile or so later Rob has his teammate as Derrick and Ian McKissick of Recycled join us. We are now 13 in the break. By now I’m a bit too tired; this was a hard first lap…5more to go…ohhhh.
As we turn out on the main road and up the hill attacks start going, Rob who is rested gets of in one with a Recycled, Broadmark…and the gap is growing fast….oh oh… now(next day) I realize my misstate, but at the time and tried to bridge, when I was 3/4 there I look back, everybody is on my wheel, I’m cooked so I swing of, now I do the rookie mistake and mess up getting back on. Derrick is the last guy…no wait it’s Hone….wait Hone is dropped…and before I know it I’m gapped off, going up the little riser….just like that I’m off….I can’t believe it…how did that happen?... I shouldn’t have worked so hard earlier, I guess it’s just the excitement of the first race. I should have let the four guys go, if I wasn’t on it right away, somebody else probably would have tried to close it, and if not fighting for 5th is better then nothing…. Oh well next time…I can tell I haven’t raced since last fall. As son as I was back in the field Jason took of and was joined by a Andrew(WOW)… the duo never managed to bridge but go close for a while and stayed away for a lap. As we passed the finish line the brake and 2min, then next lap 4, 5 it was over.. we were not strong enough to bring it back ourselves and no one else seamed willing. Since there was nothing to lose at this point I stayed aggressive and tried to get of the front or chase down moves. good training. With a few miles to go I got away with five riders, we worked good and basically went flat out. At 1 k to go the pack was getting closer though. I pulled though for the last time coming down the last hill, I was a bit worried that I would nor be stuck in front, but the two WOW riders came around. At 400m the pack was probably not more then 3 sec back, at 300 I had to go to have any chance of making it before getting caught…at 200m Justin Morgan came of my wheel and took of….I was left in my own misery. Those last 200m were pure pain, during the last 50m I had to stand up and sit down 3 times just to keep moving….
I finished just in head off Matt Quann, and the rest of the pack…. That was cutting it close.
13th overall… could/should have been better….but that’s why it’s a training race.
Next week it will most likely come down to a pack sprint, unless the “right” riders with points get in the break.

Warm weather at last....

What a difference a few days can make. Friday it was 32’F for my entire ride, and snowing.. Sunday there was blue skies and 50’F..now this is a nice day for February.
I had to work all Saturday, so on Sunday I was definitely ready for a longer ride.
I tried out a new route… headed east at first thru some small villages and then cut south down and around Petworth… I don’t know if it was the weather or the new roads but it was brilliant. My legs though were a bit worn down from the previous week..
I leave on Friday and will not touch my bike until earliest Tuesday next week…so I decided to push thou this last few days…maybe not the smartest thing…but as long as I don’t get sick, or push too hard.
Sunday afternoon I took a nap, or tired….my plan was to try and get some rest before watching the 11:30pm kickoff time for the Superbowl. I don’t watch much football anymore, but when your home team reached the final…I’ll give it a go.
At halftime around 1:30am I Seattle was down 3 to 7, and I didn’t have much desire to sit though the entire halftime show, so I went to bed. I didn’t want to waste the entire next day, I had planned to at least get a short ride in.

burrrr....ahhhhh

It’s cold. Today’s ride was at 32’F and when I stopped out I realized it was actually snowing…oh well…beats the rain they have back in Seattle. Lucky for me the ride starts with a gradual uphill for the first 18min…so plenty time to warm up.
I was feeling great, nice and warm, my only concern was how long I could make it before my toes started getting cold…1 hour later I new I would be miserable.
I had an 3hours ride planed…and the last hour was pretty cold, not just my feet but fingers to…but by them home was in sight…only 60 minuets, 45, 30…20(and 15 if I push it) I kept telling myself . Other problems included a broken stay on my front fender, but I decided to ignore that one…hopefully it won’t break of and jam into the wheel….
My water bottle started getting “slushy”.. and would freeze. I tried to shake it around and melt the mouth piece with my breath, that only worked twice…and then just as I was loosing the feeling in my toes (60min) from home the entire bottle tuned solid.
Even with the cold and icy snow cutting into my face it was a pretty good ride…Hey, I got out on my bike, in daylight..and no rain…..that’s a lot better then most this time of year.

Nipping at the bud

So I’m still in England…although it is pretty nice here..it’s been long enough…I’m ready to go home….well that won’t happen for another two weeks….
Wednesday I came down with a soar throat… I took Thursday of and rested…it did the trick and I was able no “nip it at the bud” as Kele would say… although I wasn’t feeling great on Thursday..by late afternoon I was feeling a lot better. Just to be careful I only did a short easy ride on Friday. Saturday I did some exploring and added a new loop to my set…and not s bad one either. The week or so it was been nice and dry, finally able to get back from a ride without a bike and chain covered in mud “Brilliant”… the downside to the dry weather in the mid 30’s temperatures…and very cold winds.
This week I didn’t get al the riding our hours in I wanted…but when a cold comes around you have to be able to back of and take it easy…a little time of now is better the getting sick and missing much more.

Jolly Old

So I’m not in Seattle anymore…well it’s just temporally, although some times it feels a lot longer.…I’m staying in a cabin in Tilford, a small Village in the south of England.
I’m here for work. We use the wind tunnel here as it is actually cheaper them going to a similar in the USA, if there was one… well there is one but it’s too expensive.
The flight over was ok, ok the movies were terrible, to tell the truth I can’t remember when the selection was so bad… there was only one movie I could consider wasting time on…so I ended up reading and sleeping more then normal.
At customs in London I got stopped and strip searched…well no not really they just wanted to know what I had in my bike bag..”a bike” I said and off I was.
Wednesday and Thursday I had to work 12 hours… so I only managed to get on the trainer for a little bit…it was probably good for me anyway. Finally on Friday I managed to get out for a 3hour ride…and I even missed all the rain.
Riding in England is a mixed blessing… on one hands the roads are great, they meander through the country side, hills everywhere….but on the other they are really narrow and have no shoulder what so ever… so you have to continuously watch out for cars around each bend…. The best rides involve riding on the country lanes and this means being lost most of the time… oh well, eventually you come across something that looks familiar.

Winter

It’s officially Winter in Seattle in my book… I don’t know what the definition officially is…but when I have to delay my morning ride two days in a row because of Snow and then Ice…that’s a good sign.
Thursday afternoon the snow started…but In Seattle each neighborhood seams to have different weather and precipitation… so once I was halfway home there was no snow. Friday morning I rode to work… at first there was nothing. and then as I got north by about 7miles I ran into snow. The last few miles riding though 2 inch snow were a bit heavy. Not that it really bugs me…but my bike had fenders, and with such a tight fit they were clogging up and really dragging, snow was spraying from the front fender onto my feet. I had thick slush covering my feet, clogged brakes, ice and snow in the drive chain….it was starting to become a bit more that just annoying. Friday evening riding home would be a bit more precarious, the temperature had dropped below freezing….. ice was very possible. I made it home safe though. Saturday We delayed our ride a few hours to avoid snow and ice…no point in risking it this time of year…although we did finally end up riding back home in the dark… it will be nice after Dec 21st when the days get longer again.
Sunday, there was no snow….but our driveway was covered in ice. We didn’t have to ride that far today, so delaying and sleeping a bit extra didn’t require too much arm twisting.
There is still some snow left on the ground a full 3days after the snow storm…so maybe this is what winter is in Seattle

10days

10days of the bike sounded like an eternity… well it wasn’t too bad…and once you got used to having some free time you started to wonder how you fit it in at all.
I went back home to Sweden to visit my family, and to attend my grandfather’s funeral, so understandingly riding wasn’t really on my mind…
Although the trip was for a sad occasion it has some bright spots. It was really nice to connect with the family and relatives, many which I hardly ever get to meet anymore.
On the way home we spent a day in Copenhagen… (my sister now lives there)… it was nice to walk around and have a look at a town I haven’t been in too much since High school. Although Kele dragged me into every kitchen, home decorating, nick-nack store we passed within our line of sight… the only thing we didn’t do was knock on people’s homes to have a look…although I don’t think we were to far from it.
Other then that we drank a bunch of coffee and walked a lot… which was actually nice.
The following day we had a few hours before we had to leave for the airport, so my sister rounded up some bike and we rode though town on some old city bikes. A lot, if not most people who live down town Copenhagen travel by bike…so at all times there were hundreds of commuters riding around… a lot different then around here, were the 99% of the people who ride do it for recreation and not as a transport.
You would see old ladies going to the grocery store, students going to school and everything else in between…and even “good” looking girls in neat clothes that I could never even imagine would get out of their Lexus here in the US…. All the bikes where very practical and have both fenders and lights.
Maybe this would be possible in the US, but people would have to live closer to work and the cities would need more dedicated and separate bike lanes (with there own traffic lights)… before people become comfortable enough to venture out among the cars.

November........

The weekend comes and goes so quick. Kele left Saturday morning to race some track in Vancouver (Canada).. The track they have up there although small and has a very bumpy wooden tack is inside…which is very nice for this part of the country. I’ve been thinking about racing track next summer… but I’m not sure I can spin my legs fast enough. Every time I go the track here in Seattle I’m amazed how fast and slow it seams at the same time. Accelerations are so much slower that on the road…sprints and finishes seams to go slow one rider relative to the other, but the actual speed , and to everyone watching screaming fast. This one gear only thing…. Hm, I don’t know… and in reality it’s not just one gear, there is a whole science in picking the right gear for the race…
Maybe next year…………..
I stayed home and prepared for a wet weekend…
Saturday tuned out to be nice, some wet road but no rain really… We did the usual loop, I ended up with the standard 87miles, not too bad… but I did end up going a bit hard at times. I’ve always justified going hard this time of year as being ok if it only happens once a week or so, and only for a few minuets at a time. And since I wasn’t racing cross this weekend I had a bit more energy to spend… but to tell the truth… it wore me out bad… thank god I got to stop for coffee, an Italian sub and my favorite a cream cheese brownie before I rode the last hour home… This has turned into my regular meal on Saturday at the end of my ride, so much so that I just have to walk into the coffee shop and they know what I want…
Sunday I got to ride 3hours in the rain… well as I was just about getting home the sun came out… oh well that was plenty for this time of the year…no reason to push it yet!!!.

This nest week and a half I will be of my bike completely…which actually might be good for me… There are certain things that are much more important then training and racing… I’m going home for a family funeral…My grand father past away last week. It was some hard news to hear.. and being so far away didn’t do anything to help. My grandfather was always a source of motivation…a tough guy, strong and a hard worker… definitely had to work a lot harder and struggle more than I will probably ever realize. He probably had to walk barefoot though the snow uphill to get to work in the woods…14hours a day…
I will miss him.

miss again...

ha ha... missed the rain again..
Last night Kele rode down to the computrainer "factory" at about 4:30... she got dumped on soo bad... She actually called me to bring some extra clothes for her ride back. Expecting the worst I headed out at 5:30 or so... the rain had stopped and I didn't have a drop hit be the entire night......I'm not even sure if it every really rained or if she just was a wimp and every little drip was a huge deal to her... oh well
Same thing this morning..riding to work it was perfect, not until I had actually stopped to go inside did I feel some rain... couldn't have been any better timing... not earlier to get me soaked but just late enough so I would fell lucky and be in a good mood all-day about how perfect I managed to interpret the 3 weather reports I watched on the various TV channels this morning.. I'm just that good.
Now... I'm starting to get a little worried about the ride home tonight... but maybe I should just trust my luck... there is nothing I can do about it anyway...It's not like I'm going to hang around at work ,until the rain moves away.. And getting home a bit wet isn't too bad anyway.
My legs are a bit tires though, just spent the last 2h walking around the 747, 767 and 777 in the factory checking out the various high lift designs. It's amazing how specialized you get riding your bike all the time...any thing else and you get soar... just ask Kele

Weather

Why is it that nice weather always happens during the week while at work?
Right now it looks just perfect outside. This Saturday it was rainy and cold the entire day...It's not just that either... Why is there only daylight during working hours?.. Couldn't we have it dark during the day... I don't need all that sun... this is a perfect time for some rain... Doesn't have to wait until 5pm.. when I'm heading home..
Well I shouldn't complain too much, If I recall, Sunday was nice, very nice.
But today I get to ride in the dark going home, and then get on the trainer in the Garage.. sweet... maybe I should have tried to get out for a ride during lunch...
At least i get to ride, that what i really care about...and riding in the dark has a special feeling all by it self...

Trail riding

Last night we did our now customary computrainer ride at the computrainer "factory"..
I get home from work and have a cup of coffee and some toast to get me though the evening...well I had some cereal and a banana as well,but who's counting.
It had been raining hard all day, but I got very lucky as the rain stopped just in time...and I missed it completely. It's about a 40min ride there...unless in my case where I ended up with a rider right on my wheel. Now this shouldn't make me go any harder, and it wasn't that I was trying to "compete" with this guy on a dark trail with wet leaves, fallen branches and pot holes... no it was something else...
He got right up on me...only a few feet back... it was actually pretty good, his headlight added to mine and helped light up the trail. The problem was that his speed was too much like mine... I guess he didn't want to pass me... since there was no real point if we were going about the same speed...I didn't want to slow down just for him to get around me, but on the other hand I didn't want to be in the way. So I just went hard the entire time... probably a bit harder then I should. ad I felt compelled to keep going this speed... it's like being in a pace line... you don't let a gap open in front of you.. it's your responsibility to keep the pace...
finally as I arrived to my destination I get to pull of (with a good reason)... nice... Of course now I had an 1h workout on the trainer to do...hmm...and then back home... maybe I should have just faked a flat....

1st trainer workout

So last night was the first trainer workout of the season...
First I had to ride the 1h home from work in pouring rain...then we both got on the trainers..after some coffee (and left over Halloween candy) of course. It really wasn't that bad... we kept it short and sweep with some specific drills such as one legged pedaling and high cadence... and you know what, it was over before you realized it... oh if they only all were like that..

this morning I rode back up to work... it was actually very nice.. no rain, and the later it got the lighter it got to... so much better then the other way around during the evening rides.

Cross race

So this weekend We (my wife and I) both did a cross race. It's only the second of the season for me and Kele's first. Now why would you put your self through something like that. It's hard, fast, technical and it hurts...a lot. There are great potentials for both injury and humiliation... and did I mention that it's really hard. The reason I always come back to is the fact that racing is supposed to be fun..ans cross although all the above is fun (maybe not as you struggle up the loose gravel climb desperately trying to figure which brake is rubbing or why both tires seams to intermittently go flat when no one else is looking)…but it is. It also reminds you how hard you can and have to work. Road racing can sometimes lull you into thinking that you are supper strong and the best rider out there, when in fact you just were lucky to attack or counter at the right second and get in the break of the front. In road racing you sometimes can get away with doing nothing the entire race, just sprint in the end, placing and getting a big head because you beat all these riders…. Well this does not happen in cross… if you want to do good you gave to work hard the entire time…really work hard.
Now hopefully technique has something to do with it, or else I’m one of the weakest riders out there.
Since it was my first race in the series I lined up at the back, (no prior points).
As the race started in the usual panic I took it slightly easier… I didn’t feel the same desperation apparently to elbow my way up the first climb…I’ll just pick them of one by one I thought. During the initial scramble onto the gravel climb I felt somebody’s front wheel on my back… a few second later I hear a big crash behind me..opps…well it wasn’t my fault and I was just lucky I didn’t go down as well. The race was a bit longer then anticipated, usually theses last about an hour, this was looking like 1 :15 or so.. The problem was I started ok, I did actually pass a riders or two a lap for the first few… at points during the initial laps I could see good riders right in front of me… well at 30min my forward progress was halted, at 45min and after a minor tumble in the deep leaves I was going backwards, at 55 min I was looking for mechanicals that would explain my progress… at 60.. I was trying to figure out what happened to my legs and did I really need them ..because they sure weren’t doing much for me… this is when I started to tell my self that this is fun and builds character… it would be too easy to quite or slow down… no…just keep going and go as fast as you can…everybody else is hurting just as bad, they are just going faster today…not next time….
Right as my character was getting stronger (at the top end of the course) 1:10h into the race I hear a pssssssss psssss and just like that my back tire goes flat and my race is over. I made it eight laps and all I had left was slightly more then one… I’m just about as far away as possible from the pit …
I’m a bit disappointed… but at least I didn’t flat leading the race…that would have been so much worse…
Kele by the way also flatted on her last lap… (in third)… but was close enough that she made down to the finish still in 5th…

Last Stage Race

Well it didn't rain this year.... and I guess I can't complain about the heat.... The first stage went Ok, the TT was lengthened from 10 to 15 miles on Friday...sweet... i went as hard as I could, the only problem is that it's too slow........ well I just proved to my self exactly how fast I am... 14th....... stage 2 was a criterium... new course, and by far the easiest ever...Completely flat and very smooth pavement, only two corners, that you could pedal through. I attacked on the first lap, it was just going to slow and I wanted to get it started. Mid race I bridged up to a 3man break, it was now represented by the four biggest teams....this has surly got to work... somehow it came back two laps later........ ended up back trying to lead our sprinter out for the finish... put in a good 3/4 lap pull at 30mph until about 1/2 lap to go, and then had to struggle to get back on the back not to lose any time... our sprinter got cut of in the last corner by two riders cutting the inside...just missed top 10 after being on the eventual winners wheel up until then....

One more

One more stage race of the season...
Racing has been done for a few weeks now, but one last race remaining this weekend.
This last 2day stage race is always complicated..... there hasn't been any racing and therefore no
motivation to go hard for weeks...and then this... Nobody I know trains for it, but we all still want to do good. This means it will be painful, especially the 15mile TT.
I've done this race now for the last 5years, since I started this road race thing... so even if
it means a 6h drive on friday afternoon/night and then the same coming back Sunday after the road race.....it's worth it...well thats what I tell my self.
The first two years I did it the weather was perfect, and despite the last 2years of rain...I always think of it as being nice.... if it rains again this year I might have to update my view.

Last year all I had to do was finish in the pack for the crit and I would have been 8th on GC... well the rain changed that and I got dropped with 2 laps to go.... (maybe if I had trained for it...)..

The season isn't quite over after this weekend... on tuseday I fly to Bermuda for a series of short races... more on that later.

Season end getting close

Well a bunch of racing these last few weeks...but now the end is in sight.
A few weeks ago, people were tired of racing, But now once the reality hits, that what is ahead is trainer ides and rain...maybe a few more races would be nice.
So in a effort to squeeze some more out of the season I even did a up hill TT on Saturday....Now I don't consider myself very good at these, or liking them...so why.
I've done this one the last 4 years..and it's always nice to have benchmark to look at, and hopefully it gets better.
On Sunday I got 2 crits in, with the ride there and back it was over 105miles...now that is getting your monies worth.... threre is one more crit this weekend, and then a stage race in two weeks...that is it until march.... unless I do cross.........hmm,,,maybe I should.

Thursday night

So it's Thursday night again...time for the local crit...a 70mile excursion during the working day..
21miles to get there, usually in a mad ruch (running late after work)..racing hard for an hour and then limping home with darkness setting.
It's one of the weeks highlights I guess, one day when it;s easy to get a long ride in...
It's just a bit too close and hard before the weekends races...but it's hard to resist...even if you swear by you r mothers grave not to attack or chase anything down too early..(never works),,,the race course is just hard enough that there is nowhere to hide...oh well...
this is why I train I guess........time to go...or I'll have to TT down there again.

August racing

Well it's summer and hot, crit season....
Last night it was 93'F when I left for my ride down to the weeknight crit....
It went ok I guess, got some points in through out the race, but got swalloed right at the end..
This weekend all I have is a crit, seams like it's been a while since I nice good long road race...
I'm stating to get the miles back up, after beeing away for work a few weeks, I'm trying to rebuild my base for the late season...and maybe a few cross races if I feel like it.

racing

Well, it's race season...for real that is...
last weekend wasn't a great sucess. The TT went terrible...finished 38th...the wind was changing as a weather front was moving through....thats the only excuse I have...except that I'm slow...but That can't be true.
The RR was cancelled after 30miles into the 95mile race...lightning and thunder was striking nearby as we crested the 2mile climb. The official did the right thing and stopped the race...bur it still felt wrong...all that driving for a TT and Crit..... And I was feeling so good during the RR...
well...next week I guess.....

rain

oh yeah... 3 1/2 h in pouring rain...thats racing...
only the real races show up and finish something like that...thats why I like that kind of racing...quiting never ever even enters my mind....no way.
Once you quit a race once...you will quit again and again and sone you will pull out for any small excuse.

other then that it went ok... My legs were really sore from the previuous week of training. I make an consious decision though to stay in the front...this skill is just as important as climbing or sprinting and once you feel good....you have the skills to be where you need to be.

Rain

The weather has been so good the last few weeks, so it's hard getting out after work to train in the rain.
The winter/rain bike has been put away, well at least metaphorically... and it needs a new drive chain.
So I guess it's the race bike with a clip on fender... it works pretty good I guess...at least for a while..... Well it's time to head home.... sprints today. Just a few so to not wear out the legs for this weekend.

back on track

Well it's back on the trainer..I finally think I'm over my cold...
Going to do some Lt work tonight...well see how it goes seeing i'm fatigued from this weekend still...and after today probably not much more hard this week...this weeknd I have 2 races, both over 80miles.

Work is going ok...just need more time to rest... thats the life we choose though...can't have everything.

Another weekend

Another weekend are two more races.... Two races in two days...Each one more then 3hours....it's pretty hard for this early in the season. Saturdays road race was fast, lap two(of six) dropped plenty riders of the back...I hung in there and made some attacks late in the race...Soloed (mostly involuntary) of the front for a mile or so starting the last lap...why is it That my attacks don't bring anybody else with me, to share the load...I was countering an attack by a teammate and suddenly I was of the front by myself...I went at it for a few minutes....but it was coming back for a field sprint...so I sat up and received as much as possible....It was panic...No team took responsibility of leading it out, maybe they couldn't....But it got scary and tight, wheels touching, swearing and speed...Not a good mix... I eked out a 10th,,,not what I had hopped for but at least I was alive and considering such a dangerous finish with 80guys all going for it...not too bad. Actually what was dangerous was the photographer leaning out that I hit going 30..right after the line .man I jammed my shoulder and neck pretty hard... My team mate took 4thm and with a 3ed last week he is in second overall going into the last one next week. Sunday I was still pretty tired,,,, but hey everybody else should be to, right. it was 3 1/2 hours of pain...intermixed with agony...lap 2 of 10 the field split in the side wind, only two guys from my team made it, me and one other guy.... the rest of the race we were so outnumbered it wasn't even funny.... we took 10th and 11th....I was so exhausted... Well the plan is that two days of hard racing will make me stronger, if I rest...which now is really important... I'm just about over my cold...so it that goes away I should be ready to go... I hope.

Race season has started....
4th, and an 8th to my name so far...
The road race were I was most active and felt the best, and where I should have placed I finished in the pack behind a last lap break away of 10 riders.... though constant attacking we got a rider in it...should have been me....but that’s what team work is all about...some times it just doesn’t work out the way you expect and that’s ok... we took 3ed which is pretty good.
What was actually better was the fact that we were in every break... so there was no way we could have missed it...we rode really aggressive... especially considering some of my team mates early season form isn't quite up to par.
After the race though I wasn't feeling good...I was starting to get a cold earlier that week...just about avoided it I thought. but the effort brought it back.... I woke up Sunday feeling bad...but still did the TT, (not smart)...so this week I've been nursing a cold. I can feel myself getting over it but still have a runny nose and stuffed up head etc...

two road races this weekend...a good way to get used to stage races..you have to be able to race even when you are tired....be smart and make the efforts count.

So race season has started...well just about..
I raced Saturday on a small training race...Thought I'd better get it in before the rain comes next week.
The real racing starts Saturday with a road race and Sunday with a TT.
I just finished putting the TT bike together last night...Cutting it kind of close...I'm going to
ride it tonight for a while and see how it feels.

Last week I was doing Vo2 interval's, now I'm back doing LT stuff at 300W...so It shouldn't be too bad....
Tomorrow I will be trying to do some climbing below my LT..it's always hard to know how hard
to go on a climb...Especially in the dark when you can't see your HR monitor...oh well

ahhhh... riding in the cold again...but it so beats the rain.
33-38' on my ride to work this morning..should be nice heading home though.
I had tired legs this morning...after riding home I'll do some core workout and call it quits...
I have a hard evening planned tomorrow...well I will try and make it reasonable hard..and not race and do "MY" thing...it's just too easy to get carried away.

Training in the Rain...

Well actually is was nice last night...I just think I needed rain to give me an excuse not to train...
I did a hill workout using vary big gears...ow,, my legs hurt...by the end I was in my 39-25 and barley moving...

This week we have a mini training camp...rain is in the schedule...how fun..
I need to get a new mud flap on my rain bike...it fell of the other week and I was hoping to get by
without one this season, but the other day I got so much grieve from my team mates... wimps...

Moving

Moving.

I’ve missed a few days…panic at work and getting everything ready at home to move this weekend…..
Luckily it’s my rest week.. (how much rest I’m getting is another story though)
Did a workout on the computrainer on Tuesday…
I tried a new workout. involving Lactate Balance point…or what ever….basically you need a device to check you blood lactate which I’ll probably do at some point…but once you know this you ride a power level just below…too not fatigue your muscles and gradually increase the effort over the next few weeks…..increasing your lactate tolerance …. Why not…can’t hurt me right?...
Anyway I had rested completely on Monday so I felt really good. legs were not as heavy as usual and it went pretty good. The last hill I tried to peg the watts at 350 just for fun…which is my goal for this year to maintain for a about 15min repeated effort… well I might not be quite ready fro that yet… but without the 40min of hard effort that I just did…maybe not an completely unrealistic goal…..

I’m planning on getting back on the trainer tonight…just the standard trainer and doing 2x20min LT work again…but we get the keys to our new place at 5:30pm… so well see how much gets done…
The weekend is shoot anyway…don’t have any riding planned…I whish but I have to move I guess

Outside…..
Last nights training went pretty good…no problem… I think that even after only two of these LT intervals
I’m feeling a lot more comfortable…you body gets used to the effort/pain level.

I rode the 21 miles to work this morning in 27’F weather…but it was actually pretty nice…ok so my toes got cold and I got a flat….I put these liners in my tire to try and avoid flats and they end up cutting the tire…great…
Anyho…it wasn’t a bad ride..the sun was coming up and the shy was blue, no rain…so how can that be bad.

I just wish I could sleep in a day…but tomorrow I have to get and go early if I want the real long ride..+ by the afternoon there are talking about rain/snow….

Work is getting busy…I like it but I just wish I could do less….I got the talk today that overtime is fully ok…!!!...oh yeah what they meant was “You need to work overtime”.
But right now I’m ready to go home…soon….the advantage of riding home is that when you get there you already have the days training done….. but that on the other hand leaves more time like packing and getting ready for the move next weekend…ahhh.the working bikers life…

At least it’s Friday.

Hunker down

Training is still going on… last night thou I got to the gym and I’d forgot my shorts at home…haven’t had much luck lately with my planned training. It might have worked out for the best though…my legs were still sore from the leg press on Monday. I went home and got on the trainer for 1.5 h. Every 5min I did a 20 sec seated sprint…man was that hard… this time of year your legs are not used to that….has it really been that long since cross season?
Today it’s back on the trainer and another 2x20min lactate threshold intervals…. Then on Friday I’m finally getting back outside…it’s amazing how quick you miss the wind in your face (even though its around freezing). On Fridays I usually ride up to work, 21mile one way trip… not too bad.. and enough to make it worth while.

Weekend is coming up and I have a 7h ride planned for Saturday…with lunch in the middle somewhere…as long as it doesn’t snow and rain it shouldn’t be to bad…last Saturday I did 6h..so this will be a slight step up before next weeks rest week….ahhh sounds good right now.

Well last night didn't go quite as planned...The computrainer failed on me...must have blown a fuse oe something....well used the standard trainer and went with HR instead...
Not the most fun workout, especially doing ot for the first time this year...it was a struggle.
I managed to get though it ok...and it was actually nice not having to peg a Watt number, it took some pressure of...no big brother.

My legs were sore and hurt more then they should have...

back to the gym today and then a trainer ride afterwards...but the only scheduled events today are 4 short full power bursts...how bad can that be...we'll find out I guess.

More equipment purchases going on for next season... it all adds up pretty quick...
I finally ordered 3 stems for my TT bike...so I can switch back and forth until I find the right one.....

I think I now have everything I need for next year…except those damm tubs that keep blowing

lactate training...already?

Another fun day planned on the trainer...two hours with 2x20min lactate threshold training..
it might be to early and too hard for this kind of training...that’s the general consensus though.
This year I'm on a new "plan", it consists of power traning..and to slowly build up your
power at threshold...so although the "lactate" sounds bad it's all parts of a build up.
Today’s goal isn't too bad...maintain 295-300W for the 20min efforts...I’ve done higher before
so this shouldn't be too bad...a good steeping stone (I hope).

New blog