Get a clue

Listen to the trees, kola.

What would the trees say? "Don't ride during a wind advisory." Yesterday's ride was indeed a sufferfest. The only bright side was the fact that since I was prepared for riding in the wind, it didn't wreak havoc with me mentally. When I'm not prepared for the wind (which is most of the time) it really gets to me. At times I'm tempted to lay down in the middle of the road and let some military vehicle run me over and put me out of my misery (tongue is planted firmly in cheek). Even being mentally prepared for it, you still can't get too rosey an outlook when you're riding into a 20mph headwind.
Between Friday's higher intensity ride and yesterday's wind sufferfest my legs are a little sore. Couple the soreness with rainy conditions and I think that is a recipe for taking a day off the bike.Of course, since I am a total bike nut if the weather clears up then I may very well end up out on the bike afterall.

Change happens

Since learning of the Nat'l Championships in Mammoth I've started re-evaluating my immediate racing plans. The 12hr race was something new for me, and I was entering it mainly as a self test...to see what I was capable of. I have no illusions about my chances of being competitive in this race, I'm just to new at this type of event to do anything more than finish it (which was my only goal for the event anyway). Also, it was to be a an early season barometer of my chances of doing the E100. About 3 weeks after the 12 Hrs of Tsali is the NORBA race in Sugar Mtn, which is my first 'A' race of the year...a race I want to be competitive in.

So why do I mention all this? Because I am this [*] close to pulling the plug on the 12hr race. Since a 12hr race is a totally different animal than a XC race, I think with the events being so close together it would adversely affect my training for Sugar Mtn. After being on the bike for 12hrs I would be in no position to do any serious training for close to a week (maybe if I had more of those events under my belt it'd be different) after, and that would leave only 2 weeks to prep for Sugar Mtn.
Unless I discover a good reason to do the 12hr event then my mind is made up...I save myself for the NORBA event.

Speaking of training, yesterday I had one of the best days of training I've had in a long time. It was a good, hard, but productive session. I wish every day was like that. I hope I can get a decent day in today. We're under a wind advisory, so that doesn't bode well for getting out on the road. If I go it'll be a sufferfest, I can feel it. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, rain, rain so I might just have to suffer today.

Color me surprised

I've been very careful of how I list my racing goals for this season. I've stayed away from "getting first place" kinds of goals, instead opting for top 5 finishes, or depending on the race, getting on the podium. Don't get me wrong, I'm going out to win, but there are too many variables to simply state "My goal for X race is to win first place". You don't know who is going to line up next to you at the race, or if some sort of mechanical issue is gonna sideline you.

That said, I thought a good goal for my upcoming NORBA Nat'l, and the future FL State Championships, would be to get a good enough placing to qualify for the Nat'l Championships.

So, I went on the USA Cycling website to check to see what the qualifications were (this is where the surprised part comes in.), and see exactly where and when the Championship is held in case I could qualify this year. In my search I came across the list of current qualifiers, so I decided to check out the list to see how many people were already qualified. I'll go ahead and cut to the chase... I saw my name on that list of qualifiers! That's right, I'm qualified to go to this year's National Championships in Mammoth, California. How cool is that?!?! For the record, I qualified at my first ever race. A race, that by my current fitness standards was kinda lame...go figure.

Now I realize that this isn't a huge deal, not like I've qualified for the Olympics or nuttin'...but it just hit me the right way. For a guy who used to be too overweight to ever be good at any sports, let alone be qualified, is enough to get me kinda excited.

My day has been made, strike that, my week has been made.

Conspiracy nut

I don't know why I even bothered to look at this site, maybe it's morbid curiosity...but the raceclean site is a real piece of work. The loon who runs it seems to take great pride in accusing many high profile racers of doping.
His latest tirade against Team CSC would be disturbing if it wasn't so damned funny.
I bet that character has a foil hat collection. Gotta make sure his thoughts aren't read by "the man" or little green men.

Looking back

I was doing some spring type cleaning...I know, why am I wasting time on something like that when I could be out riding? It's a long story.

Anyway, during my cleaning I came across a journal with some ride entries dating back to 2002. Check out this excerpt:
5/16/02
Group ride today
There was a sponsored racer with us, and she set a blistering pace!
Met a nice couple, who were on the last group ride...David and Regina.(Note: I now ride with Dave and Regina on a regular basis)
Overall, it was a great ride except for a couple of spills. I maintained a great pace.

Ride stats:
9.04 miles
1hr 2min 32 sec (ride time)
8.6mph (avg speed)

I've come a long way since then. I would've been around 300lbs or so at that time, and I thought that 9mph was an awesome pace. 120lbs later and I feel like I'm dragging an anchor if I go slower than 11mph. It'll be interesting to see where I'm at a year from now.

Grandiose

I've been keeping up with the Tour de Georgia, and they've had those cool climbs...Brasstown Bald, and Burnt Mountain. We have "10 Mile Hill". That's one of the bummers of living in a relatively flat place... no climbs with cool names.
I rode for an hour today and logged a measly 300 or so feet of accumulated climbing. That is just wrong. Nevertheless, it was a good ride. I did some LT threshold intervals, which made for a good hard effort. The leg is still bothering me some, and I think it's gonna take some time for it to heal totally. Fortunately, it doesn't hurt any worse after riding. I am prepared though, that if this keeps lagging on and perhaps does start hurting more after a ride, that I might have to pull the plug on the 12Hrs of Tsali. That way I could get some recovery time in and then be prepared for the Sugar Mtn NORBA event. We'll see how these next couple of weeks go.

Back to the Tour de Georgia...
As expected, Danielson won the Brasstown Bald stage. The big news is that Floyd Landis hung with Danielson during that stage and went on to win the event today. I called that one right, too bad I don't get nuttin' for it.


Big props to Landis though. Tour of California, Paris-Nice, now the Tour de Georgia...Floyd's the man! Here's hoping this great form continues on to the Tour de France.

Back on track...slowly but surely

Friday I got back out for some saddle time, and while my leg still bothers me some, I was able to put in a real good effort...at least till I had to battle a headwind. The first 30 minutes I time trialed it and I did pretty good. I think I matched or even beat a personal best. In the 30 minutes I reached 10.5 miles with an average speed of 21mph. I'm hoping to get back out on Sunday, as May 20th is fast approaching.

I wish I didn't have previous plans today, as I'd love to be on site for today's stage of the Tour de Georgia. Today is the main stage of the event...the famous Brasstown Bald climb.

I'm back!

After 3 days of no riding I was anxious to get the legs spinning again. There was still a twinge of soreness there, so I kept it low key and rode the mtn bike with the usual suspects on the Thursday ride. I've given it some thought, and I think that I twisted my knee instead of tweaking a muscle. I remember during a mtn bike ride last week that I went down, and I was trying to get the one foot that was still clipped in, loose, and I think I used a bit too much gusto in trying get my foot out and twisted my knee.
The good news about today's ride that while I still am feeling the pain in my knee, its just a minor nuisance. I'm gonna give the road a go tomorrow afternoon. Gotta ramp the training back up.

I see that Floyd Landis was the man in the TT at the Tour de Georgia. But Tom Danielson (who won last year's TdG) is only a few seconds behind, and Saturday's stage...the famous Brasstown Bald climb is tailor made to Danielson's strengths. It's where he won the event last year. Can he do it again?
I like Danielson, but I gotta go with Floyd. He's been having a phenomenal year so far. I'd like to see him keep it up.


I think this is all the damage I can do for now. Need. Sleep.

A good day for Discovery Channel

Lance Armstrong must be proud right now. Wunderkid Yaraslov Popovych laid some serious smack down in the final moments of stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia, and took the stage win. After almost 115 miles of racing he had the reserves to throw down...damn, that's some mad cycling skillz right there!


If I didn't have some previous plans, it would've been cool to see some of the action live.

Stockpiling

It's a month before the 12Hrs of Tsali, and I've begun rounding up/ordering the supplies I'll need for this suffer fest.


Elete water (electrolyte add in)
Water bottles (I'll be filling them with Perpetuem - main fuel source for the race)
New jersey and bib shorts
Extra Camelbak reservoir
Spare chain
Extra shifter cables
Inner tubes
Back up battery for my light
Reflector/tail light for bike or Camelbak
Clothing (This is some top secret stuff- I've been sworn to secrecy over it. If I told you, I'd have to kill you!)

I normally use Hammer HEED for my hydrating needs, but I decided that since I'll be living on Perpetuem and it is a little sweet, I wanted to have some plain tasting water. Elete is pretty much tasteless unless you use a bunch of it. I got a spare bottle to test with prior to the race. I don't want to take anything untried going into that race.

Lounge Lizard

I've been off the bike now for two days, trying to let that muscle in my leg get better. Today I'm still feeling a slight twinge down there, but it is definitely getting better. While I am absolutely itching to get back out on the bike, I might throw in the towel for today. I'd rather sacrifice an extra day of riding than really hurt the muscle and spend a week or more off the bike. These...challenges really do test me. *Sigh


On an unrelated note, I've been getting visitors from some very exotice places like Australia, New Zealand, England, Montgomery AL... I'd certainly like to hear from some of the folks that are taking the time to read my ramblings. Drop me a line in the comment section.

I'm outta here.

Shaved legs, Euros, and peaches

Today the Tour De Georgia begins. For anyone that is interested, Velonews will be having live internet coverage starting at 11:30am Eastern time.

Best of luck to all the racers, keep it rubber side down.

Test driving and some rest

My leg was still a little sore today, so I decided to hold off on any riding today. It'll be an intense week, so I'd rather sacrifice a day in hopes of getting some solid training in later in the week. I got a call from the LBS, telling me they'd built up the bikes for me to test.


First up was the TCR2 ( I was actually interested in the TCR 1, but for purposes of trying out the ride, the lower spec'd TCR 2 would work fine.).
The bike felt good. It was responsive and pretty comfortable over rough road. The higher priced TCR1 would make a great bike, with it's nicer Ultegra and Dura-Ace component package.



Next up was the TCR C3. This is Giant's lowest priced carbon TCR model. Shimano 105 is standard with this bike, and that was the reason I was kinda leaning towards the TCR1. I'm a firm believer in a good component spec.

After spending some time on this bike I can see why carbon is the in thing. The overall feel of the bike was similar to its aluminum cousin, as they share the same geometry. That's where the similarities end though. While the aluminum TCR 1 was a light, responsive bike I was not prepared for how...zippy the carbon TCR3 would be. In addition to being considerably more responsive than the TCR1, the carbon really took the edge of the small bumps/cracks/holes in the pavement.
What is the verdict? I am gonna go with the carbon TCR. The Shimano 105 might not last as long and/or work as crisply as the Ultegra/Dura Ace, but the ride of the carbon is awfully hard to pass up. That said, I might change my mind before it comes down to plopping some Benjamins on the bike. Ya never know...for now though, the TCR C3 has the nod.

Easter spin

I hope everyone is having a nice Easter Sunday...gettin' to do whatever you want.

After pissing off a muscle in my leg the other day it was good to get out on the bike today...it also helped work off some of that Easter brunch (thank God days like this don't come around very often!). Other than doing some LT intervals I kept it low key to keep from making that muscle worse. I probably should've stayed off the bike, but after that pig out session this morning I couldn't bring myself to just do nothin'.

This coming week will be good, I'm looking forward to it. I'll be restarting Build 2...I'm anxious to get back into my training routine, full force. I'll also be test riding those two road bikes. W00t!

Droppin' the D-bomb

I was just over at Trek-VW racer Tristan Schouten's blog and he's stirred up a hornets nest [Edit- the posts on this topic have been removed by Schouten] over possible doping at the Sea Otter. In his blog he commented on seeing numerous pro racers using asthma inhalers moments before the race started. He even went so far as to name a couple names. I did some reading on asthma inhalers as a ergogenic aid, and there seems to be some debate over the usefulness of such products as an ergogenic aid.
Now I don't know the finer points of doping, but I am 110% against doping in sports. If you can't win using your natural, God given abilities then you need to take up a different sport...like croquet or something.

That said, Tristan's accusatory words, not having any real proof one way or another, sounded like sour grapes. He said he wasn't calling anyone a doper, but by him even bringing it up he was accusing them of doping. Are those guys dopers? Possibly. I hope not. I have great respect for their skills and I'd hate to see it come to light that they are in fact shameless doping cheats.
In today's society you have to be VERY careful about making accusations. If you make an accusation and you end up being right, then you're the hero...but if you make an accusation and you're wrong, then you've damaged (possibly irreparably damaged) the reputation of that person.

You gotta love the drama that goes on in the cycling world, don't ya?

Capping off a stellar week

I found the perfect way to cap off an otherwise lousy biking week...

I tweaked a muscle in the back of my leg, right below my knee. It doesn't hurt bad or anything, but I'm gonna give it some time to heal. I'd rather take the time off now then make it worse and end up with several days worth of down time.

I am SO done

That's what my legs felt like after today's ride. Those messed up weeks affected me more than I thought. Today's ride kicked my ass. I'm mad at myself for letting my training get so screwed up. Even though there were some things that happened that were out of my control, I could've shoehorned some saddle time in.
I'm even going so far as to restart Build 2 on Monday. This week I'm just gonna get some more long rides in and try and get my endurance back on track before starting high intensity stuff. I tried some LT threshold intervals today, and after the first one my legs said in so many words "Oh, hell no!"

I'll get there though.

On a more positive note...
I'm looking VERY hard at a road bike. I've pondered, and ruled out a couple brands already (for various reasons).
The LBS is building up one of these for me to test ride.

They're also building a TCR Composite 3

I'm partial to the TCR1, due to the better components selection. The TCR has mostly Ultegra, while the TCR composite is made up of Shimano 105.
If I do prefer the ride of the aluminum TCR, the shop is gonna order a Cannondale R1000 for me to try as well.

Moving on

It's been 4 days since the race, and I'd like to say I'm still basking in what is my most satisfying race to date, but there's no rest for the weary. I have 2 important races over the next 2 months, so training resumed the day after the race.

Despite a good performance at the race, and faster and faster times, my training has been in a slump for the 3 or so weeks prior to the race. It was a case of life getting in the way. Why do I mention that? I got back out on the road on Monday to continue my training for my upcoming events...and it's been so long since I've gotten some quality/high intensity rides that between Mon and Wednesday's rides it has left my legs a little lifeless. I noticed it the most on the group mtb ride today. Between now and my next race I've got to be super strict on my training so I can be totally prepared come May 20th.

The final results were put up from the race, and I beat 2nd place by just over 3 minutes. I'm very very pleased with how the race turned out. Now I just have to step it up a notch for the rest of the season.

UWF Fat Tire Challenge- Race Report

The first race of the season took what seemed like a long time to arrive. April 9th was finally here, and it was time to see if my training was taking me in the right direction. I labeled this as a C priority race, as I intended to maintain my training volume/intensity and I'd use the race as a measure of my race fitness.


The day started early...too early. I had to be up at 5am, on the road by 6, to be at the venue and ready to race by 8am. It's something to be able to see the sunrise in your mirror. I'm of the opinion that if God had wanted man to see the sunrise he would've made it later in the day.


Upon my arrival at the University campus I got registered, suited up, and got some warm-up time in. The call-up for the beginner class was announced and a total of 60 people lined up for the 10 mile race. The race organizers chose to have a mass start instead of sending the racers out by age group, which I thought was a mistake, but they didn't ask my opinion.


The horn sounded and...mass chaos ensued, or at least that's what it felt like. In the above picture I'm the second one on the left(next to the guy in the yellow jersey) and the kid (whom I'm going to refer to as "beanpole" from here on out) who was my nemesis is on the far right.

I got an assy start. There was a quarter mile or so run to the singletrack, and because of my lousy start I got into the singletrack in 7th position overall. That was NOT what I had in mind. My pre-race plan was to be in the top 3 going into the singletrack, so I could get ahead of any impending crashes due to an early bottleneck at a bridge. So, I don't get a good position and the crash that I knew would occur happens. Upon entering the singletrack, the trail descends down to a creek. About halfway down to the creek there is a nice size log pile. It's not a huge obstacle, but trying to navigate it at speed is a recipe for disaster. There are detours on both sides of the pile, but yet one guy decides to go over it. As he goes over it, another rider is going around it and gets funneled right into Mr Log Crossing. Log Crossing guy ends up on the losing end. Fortunately for me I watch as it happens, and am not involved in the wreck. All I see is legs and assholes as log crossing guy goes over his handlebars.

That wreck puts me in 6th position. We pass over the bridge without incident. About 75ft past the bridge the course makes a hard right up a steep, sandy rise. On my pre-ride it was almost too sandy to ride and so I was prepared to run up it, but as I clear the bridge and make my turn towards that section of trail I see people riding up it. The fella in front of me stalls out on the climb and because I'm able to ride up it I'm now in 5th position. Over the next few hundred yards I pass 3rd and 4th. "Beanpole" has been leading from the start. I've not yet seen Beanpole, but I'm on the wheel of 2nd place. Like Beanpole, the 2nd place rider is a kid (16-18yrs old). He's a fairly strong rider, but shifting problems give me the opportunity to scoot around him. So, after a couple miles I'm in 2nd place overall. It'd be a bit longer before I'd discover that Beanpole was a teen, but I knew for sure that I was leading my age class, so I felt pretty good.

I finally catch up to Bean and except for getting stalled in some sand, I stick on his wheel. On the flats he was damn fast, but I was stronger on the climbs. When he could get some speed up, he'd get 4 or 5 bike lengths ahead of me, and when the trail started climbing I'd reel him in, almost to the point of clipping his back tire. Due to his speed on the flats I was hesitant to try a pass as I wasn't sure I could make it stick. That line of thinking would lead to my one big mistake in the race.

I played this cat-n-mouse game with beanpole for quite a while. We enter Greenbriar and it is all climbing. Bean is suffering on this section of trail and I'm practically recovering on it. Several times I have to ease off to keep from rubbing his tire. At the top of Greenbriar I decide to make my move. As we exit the trail the course crosses a powerline break which gives me plenty of room for a pass. The next section of singletrack is appropriately labeled "The Chute". It's all downhill and fast. Throughout all of this I've felt really good, legs have been strong. At the end of the Chute there is another short section of a powerline break to navigate before crossing the creek and making the end run.



This is where things took a turn from my plan. I overcooked the turn onto the bridge and missed the line onto the bridge. As a result I had to actually stop and get my bike on the bridge. Beanpole was right there to get ahead of me. I'm back on my bike in seconds, but it felt like I had stopped for a picnic lunch. In a cruel twist, the steepest, nastiest climb of the entire race is heading back up the trail after exiting the bridge. Being the better climber, I am back on Bean's wheel. Because he's so fast on the flat stuff I realize that this climb is my only shot to get out front. We're coming up on that same logpile that caused so much grief earlier, and I am going to take him as soon as I get past that obstacle. What I didn't notice was that I was already overtaking him and when I went to move to his left, my front tire clipped his back wheel and..can you guess the punchline? Over I went. Not hard mind you, but the damage was done.
Before I could get up and get some momentum Bean was on his terrain and kicking it into overdrive for the finish.
I gave it all I had left, and in the end I finished a mere 6 seconds behind Bean. That is something I'm quite proud of, considering that I have about 20yrs, 6 or so inches of height, and 45 or 50lbs on Bean.

Now, back to the mistake I alluded to. As the race went on it became clear that I was the stronger rider. My mistake was in not passing Bean earlier in the race. If I would've passed him before we got to Greenbriar, I have no doubt I could've gapped him on that climbing section. He more than likely would've caught up on the fast stuff, but I would've been in a better position to stick with him on the final run to the finish line. That's race strategy, and it's a mistake I won't make again.

That said, I'm extremely happy with my performance. My battle with Bean for that fastest overall spot was just for bragging rights. No prizes were awarded for it, and no mention was made of it during the award ceremony. I saw I had an opportunity to have the fastest time of all the racers in my wave, and by God I was gonna shoot for it even if it was just for bragging rights.

At this stage I don't know how far off my closest class competitor was to me, but I hope to find that out in another day or so.

As far as a fitness test, that was a success too. I look to be on track with my training, as is. I will make one adjustment, and that is to work more on my top end power (sprinting, etc). I'll never be able to match someone like Bean in a flat out sprint, but if I can minimize the damage and keep the gap in check then I'll be pleased with my sprinting ability.

Course distance: 9.95 miles
Race time: 51:18

I'm hoping someone got a picture or two of me out on the trail. If and when I find out I'll add the pic.

V is for Victory

Call me Agent V.

I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, but the race went extremely well. The weather was perfect, the course was FAST, and it all came together for me. Chalk up one in the W column.

In the coming days I'll have a full write up on the race, complete with pictures. For now though, me needs rest...I'm tired.

Race day

It's 5:23am and I've already been up 23 minutes. It's too early for this sh*t. As soon as I finish my breakfast and get dressed I'll be outta here. *Yawn.

Tomorrow is the big day

Tomorrow is it, the first race of the season. I'm happy to report that I have all my ducks in a row and I'm ready to head out early. I took the bike in for a re-adjustment of the rear derailleur, and it was once again gunked up in that rear section of cable housing. It happened after only a few rides. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to switch to a sealed system, like the Avid Flak Jacket.

Time to head to bed. I need some serious sleep...5am is gonna come quickly.

2 more days to go

Not too much to tell, other than I'm workin' on getting my daily saddle time in. I was due for 3 days off the bike and I have two more days I can take, so I'm thinking that I'll go ahead and take Friday and Saturday off. This way I'm still sticking to my schedule, but I'm giving my legs a chance to be fresh come Sunday.
If I ride at all over the next couple of days, it'll be Friday when I do it.

T-Minus 5 and counting

I got some time in yesterday on the mtn bike. I included some Power jumps, to work on my explosive power for sprints and stuff. I can already see that I want to make some more gains in the power department. I think I'm gonna step up the weight routine. I'm capable of producing some pretty good power, but I think it could be a bit better. I was surprised at how cooked I was yesterday, after Sunday's marathon race pre-ride session. I kept a good pace, but my legs were really feeling a lack of love.

I can't get over how dry and dusty it is out on the trails. Here in Florida we have a problem with sand, but throw in a lack of rain and the sand really becomes nasty.
Speaking of dry and dusty. The dry conditions were/are the one downside of the course for the upcoming race. I haven't ridden in such dry conditions since the Tom Brown stop on the Florida State Series. I'd like to think we'll get a little (emphasis on "little") rain on Friday evening or Sat morning....pack things down a bit. That might be asking too much though.
Check how dirty my legs were after Sunday's ride...

Pay no attention to the goofy tan thing going on.

Today will be a rest day, gonna need it after yesterday's lackluster ride.

Seven days and counting

Next Sunday is my first race of the season, and I must say that I'm quite excited about it. This is an early season fitness test, so I'm anxious to see how my training is working out.
Today I rode the race course so I could make sure I was familiar with the layout as the trails there can be confusing at times. I started riding at 9:30am and left for home at 2:30pm, with over 2hrs of actual riding time. I managed to get two laps in, and I'm now confident in my knowledge of the course layout. I hope that it is a bit cooler next Sunday. It was in the mid 80's today. I'll be racing early in the day, but the cooler the better.

Ride totals:
2hrs 17 min
23 miles
25mph max

Now for a couple of pics.

Part of the crew I rode with this morning. The guy in the center is Cal, he's like from another world...super fast.

Some wildlife seen on today's ride. For those with an inquiring mind, it is a Gopher Tortoise.

I've decided to keep my schedule "as is". This will be a R&R week with 3 days off the bike and 5.5hrs of riding. I'm gonna make it a nice mix of road riding and mtn bike. I think I'm gonna work on power this week....do some sprints and stuff in preparation for the race.

Big day of riding

Today I'm gonna be putting in some serious miles on the mtn bike. I'm heading over to P'cola to ride the race course. I'll probably be putting in 3 or so hrs of riding, which I need after the stinky week of riding I had, or didn't have.

I see myself getting stronger/faster, but it still is hard to not obsess over missing valuable training time. I almost feel like lost days set me back, despite the improvements I've been seeing. Right now I'm torn between re-doing this past week's training schedule or just letting next week's planned routine move forward.

A big surprise

There was a big group ride today out on the road, and we had a surprise guest. It was none other than Lance Armstrong. For being retired, he's as fast as ever, although a couple of us were able to keep up with him for a time. Speaking of retirement, he said that he might come back in a year or so and again compete in the Tour, "just to prove that I can win anytime I want, AND not need any f**king drugs are doping to do it!"

It was fun riding with him, right up till he dropped the hammer on us. The sonofabitch even gave us "the look" too!

Here's the one pic that someone got from the ride.



For those that may still be reading this, and have not realized that I'm full of sh*t....April Fools!