Merry Christmas

Well, winter and indoor training season is upon us and I've been back on my bike for about a month.  I did another round of power testing yesterday and it was up from a month ago but not by much.  This may be because I'm sick right now with a chest cold or it could just be because I'm slow.  Anyway, being sick sucks.  Christmas is tomorrow and I have to work but it shouldn't be too bad.  After work I'm going to have dinner with Sheree.  Next weekend is Stacey's wedding and then only one more week til my January Florida trip.  Then this winter should really begin to fly.

Morgantown MonsterCross APCXS #2 & #3

 

OK, I know my blog posts have been slow and infrequent this year and that's because that is how my riding has been.  I've been riding on a regular basis but real "training" has been at an all time low.  I think with all of my travel last fall and the CX season running late into the year it just didn't leave much time for an off season and recovery.  Now I'm riding slow but enjoying CX season.  I have some pretty big plans in the works for next season that I'll make known soon but until then I'm going to enjoy the rest of this season and off season on whatever fitness I have left.

 Anyway.  The weekend in Morgantown was a blast.  Good times with good friends.  I have never done one of J.R. Petsko's races before but I must say the course was a blast and organization was great. 

 I didn't really do very well.  I finished 11th on Saturday and 14th on Sunday.  I did, however have a really good time. 

Back to the Future

I really wanted to try something new this year.  Just doing races based on how much I enjoyed them in the past.  It seems too common that I have been doing races to meet some goal or criteria and not doing the races that are the fondest in my memory and I have done for a long time.  So.........on this note I'll be headed back to the Tour de Strongland road race tomorrow.  I really like this race.  It has the competition of a big race but a small race feel about it.  I can't wait. 

CX racing and Tour De Latonka

Last weekend was a busy one.  I started by driving 4.5 hours after work Friday  to get to Steve's In-law's house so I could use that as a staging point for the weekend's racing.
Saturday was the first CX race of the year.  It was super hot(95 degrees and sunny).  I ended up finishing 8th and Steve finished 7th.  Hanna finished 6th in the women's race.  Kirk was in the Super Master's race and finished in 15th place.  It was a good time and I felt good on most of the course.  It was really tough through the single track section and the sand pit.  Steve did really well in those sections.  I was disappointed by how much I faded in the second half of the race.  I guess I gotta start training again.

how I felt after each day of racing

Sunday was the Tour De Latonka and it was, once again, killer.  I felt really good for the first 5/6th of the race and was leading going into the final two mountain stages.  Then I bonked and would have crumbled and given up the lead but Skip waited for me and let me keep yellow.  It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again.  It seems like a really good way to kick start a cyclocross training program.  Hopefully I'll be stronger headed forward from here on out.

Church Creek 40K ITT #1

I'll keep this short and sweet since it's 2 weeks late anyway.  The drive to the race was uneventful.  Warmup went well but it was really hot.  This race is kind of unique in that you have to ride 5 miles from registration/warmup area to the start of the race.  I made it to the start line just a few minutes early and felt good at the start.  Very good, in fact.  I started out way too fast averaging over 30 MPH for the first 6 miles.  There was a tailwind during that period but it was still way too hard.  After that I settled down into a nice rhythm but the damage was already done.  At about the 10 mile mark I was really starting to feel the effects of my fast start and from the half way point I was just trying to hold on for an OK finish.  I ended up getting my second wind at around mile 22 and put in a nice push to the finish.  Final time was +-55:30 and good enough for second place.  Still in 1st place for the Mid Atlantic Time Trial Series but hopefully I can make a stronger showing at the next race. 

Carlisle 40k ITT- 6/19/11

I had big plans for this weekend.  I was planning on going to Pittsburgh to race at the track on Friday and then travel to Erie to race at Presque Isle on Sunday.  After a series of events that included: 1)most of my teammates going to Colorado and 2)I decided it just wasn't worth driving that far on my birthday weekend, I decided to stay close to home and race in Carlisle so I only had to drive 7 miles to the race start.  I made every mistake possible leading into this race:

1)Didn't ride the day before the race
2) Didn't ride 2 of 3 days prior to the race(Thursday and Saturday)
3) Drove 7 hours the day before the race and then sat around for 6 hours at a family reunion
4)Didn't drink enough the day before the race(start of dehydration)
5)Ate bad mayonnaise at the family reunion and got diarrhea (continued dehydration)
6) ran out of Breathe Right strips
7)Ate breakfast 2 hours before race start
8) Arrived at race start 1 hour early(instead of 2 hours early like normal)

The race was pretty uneventful.  The wind was blowing in an odd direction.  It usually blows from west to east providing a tailwind for the return leg of the race but it was blowing the opposite way this day making for a killer return. 
I ended up winning with a time of 55:10 but it is my worst time ever on this course.  I was able to get my 2011 Sub 1 hour t-shirt but that's about all. 

2011 PA State ITT

Podium Pic

The weather was kinda iffy on the drive to the race.  Half of the time I wasn't sure if it was raining or if it was just really dense fog.  Upon arriving at the race venue the fog had lifted but the sky still looked like it might rain at any minute.
I felt good during my warm-up but from about 3 minutes into the race I could tell something wasn't right.  I wasn't able to put out the power that I was normally able to and I my legs just felt heavy.  At that point I made a decision to abandon my power meter readings and just ride as hard as I could and try to hold on for a good finish.  The course was fast and flat.  There were no real turns to speak of.  At one point on the way out to the turn around point I was passed really closely by a large truck and it blew me off of the road and into the berm.  I had to use my CX skills to keep pedaling and look for a low point in the lip to hop back onto the road surface.
After alot of suffering I finally thought I was close to the finish and then the organizers decided to make the course longer than advertised to make it just a little more painful.  It ended up being over half of a mile longer than it was supposed to be.  I hurt so much after the race that even cooling down was difficult.  I was very excited about the win (and my mini medal)

results

2011 Philadelphia Amature TT

This was a short painful 8 mile time trial along the Schuylkill River.  There was little wind and the weather was warm and sunny but not hot.  It was a great day for the event.  My Dad was with me at this race which doesn't happen very often so that was nice.  I ended up winning Cat 3 with a time of 17:05 @ 28.4mph.  The best part was that my power output is really where it needs to be with the State ITT coming up next week.

C-130 Hercules Time Trial

 Riding out of a C-130 Hercules sounds cool.  It should be easy enough, right?  Well it is certain that the rear ramps on these cargo planes were not designed for bicycles.  Every rider who entered the airplane while I was waiting in line said exactly the same thing, "is this thing safe for bicycle wheels?" 


 The ramp started descending at a nice grade and then around the midpoint the angle became really sharp and caused most of the riders to have visions of taco'd wheels.  The Officials were giving instructions to all of the riders to just take one pedal stroke off of the airplane and then coast until you are completely on the ground.

 The first 7/10ths of a mile was a very technical and only about 6 feet wide.  Add to that the tail/cross wind leading from the Air Force museum to the highway and it was a very sketchy start @ 30mph.
  As soon as I got to the highway I turned into the headwind.  The course was all head/cross wind from there until the turnaround.  It was all completely flat so shifting was at a minimum.  It was kinda like a trainer ride with turns added. 
  After the turnaround it was super fast.  I managed to hit 35.5mph at one point with the gusty tailwind.  I was keeping a pretty good pace and starting to make my last ditch effort to the finish when all of a sudden the finish tent came into view(0.8 miles too early). 
  I must say I really enjoyed the 22mile TT format.  The last 3 miles of a 40K TT are just too much, IMHO, so I think we should just stick with this;)

t

 After the race we hit the museum while waiting for the results.  As you can see here Team Ag3r was realy "flying" on this day.

 Finally came news that results were going to be awhile and medals for all but the juniors did not arrive on time.  With this news in hand we decided to head home and await for finishing news via email.  I ended up winning the Cat 3 race by over 2 minutes and took the lead in the Mid Atlantic Time Trial Series (MATTS).

  Pictures of the finishing medal will follow when it arrives.

2011 Dismal Dash #1

Unlike any of the past years' races this year the Dismal Dash was warm, sunny, and lacking any significant amount of wind.  This was my first race of 2011 and this year I decided to change up my warm-up routine a little bit so I lengthened it to 30 minutes and made it a little harder than before.  My hope was that this would better prepare my legs for the destruction that they were about to experience.
I started the race easier than normal to try to ease my way into it.  All seemed to be going well with a slight head/cross wind for the first 4 miles.  That was great because it meant that the last 4 miles was a tail wind and at that point I was dieing and was readily accepting any help available.
The nicer weather(and possibly me being a bit stronger this year) allowed me to cut 3 minutes off of my time from last year and finish in 3rd place in the Cat1/2/3 and 3rd Overall.

(I was number 278, 2 additional times were added to this list bumping me into third place)

Not all sunshine and happiness

So I'm in FL again visiting my parents and avoiding winter.  I've been enjoying my time away and the weather has been really nice.  Until today.  Today was unseasonably cold and wet.  Today I rode for two and a half hours in 58 degrees and rain.  The Weather Channel said it was going to get nice it just never did.  Oh well, at least I was able to get outside for a couple of hours.  The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny for the rest of my trip so one day of cool and wet isn't so bad.  Only 30 days until my first TT on 2011, I can't wait!

It's been a trying few days and no chance to ride my bike:(

It is now Thursday evening and I haven't ridden my bike since Tuesday.  No big deal except it that riding my bike is my major mechanism for relieving stress and I've had plenty of it in the past two days.
On Tuesday night I stayed at my brother's house because Wednesday morning I was supposed to take him to the oral surgeon to have 6 teeth removed.  His appointment was canceled because there was a major ice storm and the office didn't have electricity.  I came home and was making the most of a mostly wasted day.  I went to get a shower so I could get ready and go out to eat when I heard a pounding at the door.  I ignored it and a few seconds later there it was again.  I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel and that is when I heard the yelling, "Mt. Holly Springs Police! Come to the door!"  I heard the yelling as I exited the bathroom to the sight of a policeman standing at the bottom of the steps with a tazer pointed at my face. 
He asked me(half naked and surprised) for my ID and told me that someone had called the police because they saw my door hanging open and hadn't noticed anyone around for the previous couple days.  So...........long story short I got it straightened out and I was headed back to the shower. 
I get back into the shower and turn the nob, no water.  I get out and try the sink, no water there either.  At this point I panic because I know that there is water running somewhere and I don't yet know where that is.  Turns out that a fitting in the basement had blown off and water was being pumped directly in from the well into my basement.  After looking for a shutoff valve for several minutes, while the basement flooded further, I flipped the breaker switch to turn off the pump in the well.  I stopped the water but the basement was a disaster. 
Let the clean up begin!  Lots of wet/dry vacuuming, a dehumidifier and a couple fans will do the trick. 
Thursday morning I called Roto Rooter at 8am to see how long it would take to get someone out to my house.  They made the appointment from 1-3pm and told me there was no way I could make an appointment for later in the day.  I was there waiting at 1pm and I was still waiting at 3pm.  At 3:15 I called told the Roto Rooter Dispatcher that I hadn't even heard from anyone yet and she told me she'd get right on it and my house would be next on the list and that she would personally call me and let me know when that was going be and who would be coming.  An hour later she called back and told me they were a 30 minutes away.  An hour after that the guy finally showed up and was here for about 3 minutes before he told me he didn't have the parts and had to run to Home Depot to get them.  When he arrived back it took a whole 15 minutes to do the repair and allow the glue to dry and I now have running water again!  Hooray!
$420 and 25 hours later and other than some slightly damp carpet and a disaster of a house things are back to normal:(
BTW, if anyone needs to borrow a nice new wet/dry vac just let me know.
*(none of my bikes were injured or in any way harmed by the aforementioned events)

Pond Skating

I got to go ice skating and play some pond hockey today after work.  Cross training can be exciting:)  Still can't wait for warm weather and racing!

Flat tires in Florida

I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining, because I'm not trying to, but the roads in FL have so much garbage lying alongside of them.  It's crazy!  I've gotten 3 flat tires in the 10 days that I've been here.  One of them was from a finishing nail straight through my tire.  The other two were just from random crap poking holes in my tires.  I only got one flat tire on the road all of 2010. 

I've taken action and now I have Continental Gatorskin tires on the way and I'll be replacing the tire liners also just to be safe.  We'll see in February if any of these new safeguards work.

Tour de Cape 5k

 Although I'm not a runner by any means I was really disappointed in my effort at the Carlisle YMCA 5k TurkeyTrot on Thanksgiving so i made it a goal to do this race to atone for my effort.
The morning temperature was cool but sunny, about 48 degrees when my sister, Lisa, and I left for the run.  The temperature did go up very much before it was time to run so it was still a bit chilly when we started.  The first mile felt like it went by quickly but it ended up taking 6:58 because of all of the start of the race pack I had to struggle to get though.  As we continued on the course we had another half mile to the turn around and then it was back along the same route plus another 0.2 miles to the finish.  Once I made the turn around I realized that the wind had been at my back and was now smacking me squarely in the face.  The sun was also in my face now which made no difference in my time but was really annoying.  I ended up passing a few people on the return trip and I didn't get passed by anyone.  I was sprinting with one other kid at the end but after I had used him for pacing for the last mile I decided it would be bad form to pass him on the line so I let him go.  Probably meant more to him anyway.

Lisa ended up finishing 2nd in the 20-24 year age group!

I ended up 1st place 25-29(age group), 13th place overall and didn't get beat by any girls.  I was kinda disappointed in my time(21:28) but I've only been running once a week since Thanksgiving so it wasn't too bad.
Race Splits:
Mile 1: 6:58
Mile 2: 7:00(13.38)
Mile 3.2: 7:50(21:28)
Placing at turnaround: 18th place
Finish place: 13th place

New Year's Day 2011!

It was a nice day to get out for the first ride of 2011 with temps in the mid 40s, sun and not much wind.  It was also my first ride outside in over 7 weeks.  It was just nice to get out and go for a ride with my dad who has been here for a month freezing.  Luckily during this ride he was kept warm by sporting my shiny, new Ag3r team winter jacket.