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...