NJ Rte 29 35k ITT

Sunday was a supremely nice day for a TT. It started really early (@3:45am) for the 3 hour drive to NJ. I was the driver for the first part of the trip but I had my sister, Lisa, take over the driving for the last 30 minutes so I could catch a power nap. We were at the race with plenty of time for me to spend goofing off beforehand because Steve's start time was an hour before mine. This worked out nicely because I was able to spend some time talking to Skip R. about his RR DQ from the day before.

Steve got his required looooooong warm up completed with plenty of time to spare and then commenced to crush the dreams of many of the Cat4s who showed up at the race.

I started off fast but I was able to limit my first few minutes and avoided spiking my power output to try and save something for end of the race. I ended up setting new high points for power and beat my time from last year at this event. This shows me that things are well on track for the race in Erie (at least that's what I think it means)

I ended up 1st Cat3 and 2nd Overall. I really got destroyed by the guy who one:) Oh well, better luck next time.

Dismal Dash 2010

Steve and I went to Suffolk, VA today to do the Dismal Dash 40k ITT. It was my first race with a power meter so I was looking forward to seeing if it would help or hinder me. It was an eye opening experience to say the least.
Steve went off first (on his brand new TT bike which will not have it's official unveiling until the Presque Isle TT in April). He was set to start over 1 hour ahead of me so I didn't even have to start getting ready until he took off. He was lucky to ride earlier because the conditions got worse as the day went on. He made it to the finish just as I was lining up for my start.
I started as usual trying not to go out too hard at the beginning to avoid blowing up before the finish. The Power Meter(PM) really helped here so that I limited my power output during the first few minutes of the event. There was a head wind on the way out to the turn around so my goal was to hammer the first half of the course and then try to limp home for the return trip with the wind at my back. With the help of my PM I did just that but I ended up hammering the first half just a little too hard which caused me to limp just a little too much on the return trip. I ended up having a full on asthma attack at the 35 minute mark, just after the turn around. After the asthma attack was subsiding just a bit the inside of my thighs started to get that twinge. You know the one I'm talking about, the one right on the verge of cramping. I was able to spin lightly for a few minutes and it eventually passed. I ended up wheezing the whole way through the finish line until I could get my inhaler.

Steve ended up finishing 5th in his first race as a Cat4 only two days after his upgrade and even more impressive is that he was riding a bike that he has only had since early this week.
I ended up finishing 5th overall and 2nd Cat2. Not too bad for the first race of the season. I can tell I definitely need to get some linger TT rides in outside now that we have some nice weather. I could really feel it on the return trip (the asthma and cramping problems didn't help too much either). I'm really looking forward to dissecting my performance looking at the power file later tonight.

Race for Humanity Road Race

I did my first road race of the season today (part of it anyway). It was scheduled for 68 miles but I only made it 7.5. This is the point that I wrecked while going downhill at somewhere close to 30mph. I'm kinda messed up as is my bike. Tomorrow is a planned day off the bike for a trip to Busch Gardens Tampa but I promise I'll be back riding on Monday. The good news is I was hanging in pretty well in the men's combined Pro/1/2/3 field before my crash. This is odd for me since usually during road races I attack off the back soon after the race begins. So I did manage to fine some encouragement in this mess.

AG3R Winter training camp in Florida

So I guess it's just me but that's still the name I'm gonna stick with. I got here yesterday evening and didn't do anything but go to sleep. Today was spent eating pancakes (all you can eat from IHOP), shopping for a new car (to make it easier to get me and my gear to and from races) and going for a short ride in the warm and sunny weather that Southern Florida has to offer.

Do it now!

Get on your bike and ride!

Thankful for 2009, looking forward to 2010

Cycling is a never ending pursuit. After my last round of power testing (highest power yet) I was still disappointed because I thought I could have/should have done better. This led me realize that, now more than ever, it's all about the journey and not the destination. Even though we're always dreaming of bigger and better there is so much to be thankful for right now.

2009 was a great journey:
some of the moments that stick in my mind
Tour de Latonka
52:37 40k ITT
4th place ITT in VA with food poisoning
1st place ITT in PA
Riding a 40k ITT at the oval in a torrential downpour
doing an MTB race the next day and beating Dirty Mike in an off road race for the first time ever
my best time ever in Ironcross
riding to Ohio with Steve and JohnieB for a cross race in Akron
All of the great/cold/muddy times had with team mates at cross races this fall
Winning the Tour of Lancaster TT
The list could go on, it was a great year for racing and spending time with teammates, new and old

Plans are already underway to make 2010 the best year yet and I can't wait.

Super Hottness Simpkins Aero Brakes

These brakes are supposed to save between 3-5 watts as opposed to regular brakes. I don't know if they do but they sure look cool and work well.

Training, all mixxed up

I've been trying some new things with my indoor trainer season this year. (the indoor trainer season started earlier than normal due to my shoulder injury) For the last week or so I've had a rough time completing my workouts at the prescribed wattage output. Then today after another workout in which I was unable to meet the correct power I set out to figure out why. Then I found it was a very simple problem with my math. When I was figuring out the power output for my steady state intervals I figured out my workout range 10 watts too high. Now 10 watts isn't much but it changes the workout completely. Hopefully now things can get back on track. I was just working too hard during the intervals and not allowing myself enough time to recover before the next hard set.

Rethinking winter training

I guess it's not winter yet but since I hurt my shoulder I've been advised to stay inside and ride on the trainer (and I have for the last month).
Now, if you know me and talk to me then it is inevitable that the subject of "bikes" comes up often. I often talk about bikes and about the fact that I spend alot of time riding and training. Yet it seems like even though I talk with friends often about training theory all of the time I rarely ever talk with them about specific intervals they do, when they do them and how long they rest between them. I haven't had many of these particular conversations until lately with Dirty Mike. Once I started my winter training early this year he asked me "What workouts do you do on the trainer?" I told him about the one workout I do everyday, all winter, for the last 3 seasons. Then he asked "Why? I've never heard of anyone doing anything like that."
"Because I read about it in an article about it once. I think it was in Bicycling Magazine," I said.

Then I started my quest to find out where I had read it and why I did it. I reread much of what I have read in the past and some new things. I even bought Carmichael's new book. What I found was what I had thought originally. I was essentially doing steady state intervals at lactate threshold-LT (as described in just about everything Carmichael writes) which are effective for raising LT but not much good for increasing max power. I found that even though this method of training was pretty good for increasing TT power it probably isn't ideal. So now the difficult part begins. What should I be doing instead?

2010 Specialized S-Works shoes

Long story short, I love these shoes. I had a pair of the S-works shoes a few years ago and didn't like them very much because although they were comfortable they made my feet fall asleep and I switched back to my trusty Shimano shoes fairly quickly. I think part of the reason I like these new shoes is because they are supremely comfortable like the old ones but they are more adjustable because of the 2 ratchet devices on the shoes this year. Also, these shoes are extremely light. You might say, "who cares if the shoes are light?" Well, in a world were people are willing to spend upwards of $1500 to save that much weight in a set of wheels it actually makes these shoes seem like a bargain. It's no wonder these shoes are showing up all over the pro peleton with some pros even defying their teams shoe contracts to wear them.
Pros:
1:Supremely comfortable
2:Super light weight (450 grams for the pair vs 650 grams for my old Shimano shoes)
3:Very secure ratcheting mechanism and much easier to adjust on the fly than traditional straps or Velcro. (the 2010 model features a ratchet that blows everything else out of the water)
4:These shoes look much better in person than the pictures show (much to my delight because I thought they were ugly from all of the photos I had seen)

Cons:
1:None so far:)

My Halloween Socks

I can't believe it's Halloween, I've got these socks and I'm have to work so I can't do a cyclocross race with them. This is ridiculous!

I did my T-max interval testing this afternoon and wore these socks to celebrate. Then I went to Taco Bell to get my free black taco (like trick or treating for kids of all ages)

Final race weekend of 2009

2 days, 4 races, 8 hours driving, unlimited amounts of fun!

Saturday's race was a mud fest. It was cold and wet and muddy. I decided to do the cat. 4 race and 3/4 race. The cat. 4 race came first. I started out well and got off to a pretty good start but then, of course, I had an asthma attack three quarters of a lap into the race. From there it was all I could do to hang on til the finish. I ended up 8th finishing just behind Dirty Mike. It was good enough to score some nice socks, a Camelbak bottle, a bike light and some candy:)
Next came the 3/4 race and I couldn't get clipped in at the start. I ended up just riding it out and finished 27th. My lungs felt awful and I wanted to quit but I gutted it out.

Sunday started with a trip to Duncan Donuts on the race to the Raccoon Twp. for another 2 race day. The weather was significantly better than on Saturday and less muddy so I decided to run my Kenda small block 8 cross tires. It was a huge mistake. Once the corners started to get muddy and ripped up the mud completely filled the tread on my tires and turned them into slicks. Slowly making my way through I ended up finishing in 3rd just behind Steve (he had a great race) too bad we couldn't quite catch the leader.
In the 3/4 race Henry, Steve and I decided to just ride at the back of the pack and parade around the course together and heckle the hecklers. It was a great way to show support and end the season.


I almost forgot to mention something. It turns out that the reason I was having problems getting clipped in all weekend was that one of the clips had broken off of my right pedal making it only have 2 engagement points instead of four:(

Ironcross VII weekend

Ironcross lite was a complete bust. It started well enough and I was mid pack and felt fine for the first lap and a half. Then a disaster occurred. Todd S. had just passed me heading into the single track section of the course and then the guy infront of him came to a screeching halt right before a large log that we were all going to attempt to bunny hop. (At this point I would like to point out that I had bunny hopped the log successfully on the first lap) Todd had to just about stop and so did I. With no momentum I had no chance of clearing the log but tried anyway. I ended up doing a spectacular somersault and landing on my left shoulder. End of race, much pain, bad sensations. I decided the best idea would be to go home ice my shoulder and take an anti-inflammatory.

Day 2: Ironcross VII
I decided to go harder than it was possible for me to maintain so I could make it cleanly though the traditional cyclocross course and get into a good strong group for the first road section of the course. Although this was a good idea and allowed me to sit in on some sections but also forced me to work harder than I was comfortable on the hills and kicked off an asthma attack that lasted roughly the first 55 minutes of the race. Eventually I fell into a good rhythm where I was not pushing too hard or going too easy. I lost some time in the single track sections but not too much. I was in front of some people that always beat me so I knew I must be having a good day. It took Betsy Shogren until mile 53 to pass me. That was a great place for her to pass because it was right before a pretty technical downhill section and I was able to follow her line which I'm sure saved me a ton of time. The course went on like it always does. It was a perfect fall day. Cold in the morning but cool and sunny during the race. I ended up finishing in 4:43:08, in 71th place overall and 39 in Male >40. More importantly I averaged 0.6 MPH and 18 minutes and 5 seconds faster than I was last year.

Steve came over for the race and he has plenty of his own stories to tell. We're already making plans for next season including a better/faster way to spread our stories. More details will be coming over the winter months. Let me leave you with one thought: CORE everyday!

Dream bike

Dream bike

Dream bike with SRM!

At least for now. I'm sure something better will come along before too long.

Ohio/Pittsburgh Cross weekend

Friday night Steve, JohnnyBrison and I went to Ohio to Duane's house to for the Cross race on Saturday. Steve did a great job and had a great race finishing 3rd in the "C" race. As soon as his race ended the skies let loose a downpour that lasted my whole race. Soon after starting the rain made everything super slick. After raining for a while the course became ride-able again and didn't even get muddy and slippery. There was one lightning bolt 25 minutes into the race and it was over that fast. I ended up finishing 10th but I felt good and think I could have done better if it had gone on.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed to Pittsburgh for the Month of Mud race. A slight miscalculation had us arriving there about 4.5 hours before our race. There were 6 of us. Henry, Mike, Richy, Ray, Steve and I. I was told it had been raining there for 2 days prior to the race so the course instantly turned to mud when the first pre-riding began. The course got further ripped up during the elite race. Our race began in a slight drizzle the stopped just after the race start but the damage was already done. The course was all but unrideable. It was more like stopping at each corner and then seeing how fast you could spring to the next one. I think everyone in the race managed to have a spectacular crash at some point. I ended up finishing 8th on the day through a battle of attrition and being a superior runner.

Overall it was a great weekend. I got lots of bruises and scratches and my shoulder is killing me. I can't wait for Ironcross weekend to do it all over again. I have an MRI on Friday to check my shoulder the I landed on while warming up for Saturday's race but assuming it comes back OK I'll be back asap.

Labor Day weekend, 7springs 24 hour race, and I'm working

Once again it's a beautiful Labor Day weekend and the 7springs race is going on and of course I'm working all weekend. The only time I was able to make it to this race it was raining and 40* (as seen above). Last year I had the weekend off and I went to the State ITT race instead (that was dumb of me)