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.