Well, a couple days have passed, and I have had time to digest the result of my first race back. I can't say I am dissapointed in my performance, but I am a little frusterated with the final result.
Besides the fitness and speed you lose when away from racing, I feel that I also lost my head a little. I forgot exactly how to race. Despite certain people telling me, "look for the break" I still decided to sit back and hope things would come together. When I did take the chance to chase an attack, it was a complete waste as the whole group was on me instantly and in truth, the rider who attacked couldn't have gotten far anyways. Basically I wasted a lot of energy where I shouldn't have, and I saved a lot when I should have been chasing. In hindsight it seems so simple, but in the moment I remember being very frusterated and almost panicked with the situation. It's probably the first race I have been in that I wished I could have had another 20 miles!
Its funny because I was just going over race tactics with Lucy the other day, and it seemed to come to me so quickly and I felt I had an answer for every situation. I guess its easy to see from the outside, but when all the blood is in your legs, and your brain is working on the bare minimum of oxygen, you can't see quite as clear.
Its funny because the kid who won the time trial, and I had taken the leader jersey from, attacked me about 4 times in the first two laps. Each time I was forced to chase and due to my terrible positioning, I was almost always boxed in when he went. Each time I brought him back using a huge amount of energy. Then as thing calmed down and the dangerous break actually went I didn't seem to care. Then this kid comes back to me a lap later and explains that we need to do something to pull the break back. I agreed, and we both went to the front to work. After about 2 rotations the kid falls back into the group and leaves me to work. I realized later he was playing on my stupidity! Unfortunately for him, he was not able to follow when I did go, which knocked him completely out of the top 10, but the fact that he was able to manipulate me like that is something that still bothers me. Once again, my brain has to learn to race again!
I did realize that I love Hammer Heed drink mix while I was down here. Very little taste, but much better than plain water...I like!
The monday after the race, I went out for about 50 miles. The legs felt heavy and my motivation was a little low after the dissapointment from the day before. I got home just after noon and proceeded to sleep and eat.
Today I felt a little better and went out for a long ride. Rode out through Tucson mtn park and over gates pass, then through tucson and up to the top of Mt Lemmon. It ended up as a 112 mile day and I felt great at the end. Head held a little higher today, but its funny how even a small race like this can mess with your head.
I have two more days of long training down here before I head back to Boulder. We may stop in silver city on the way home to check out at least one of the major Gila climbs.
Thats it for now.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
March 20th Tucson Bike Classic Circuit Race
Well, today didn't exactly go as planned, but I did give it a good effort, just a bit late though.
At the end, I finished 3rd overall. Not exactly what I had hoped for but I guess its a good place to start. Now I got 4 more days of good training and then its back to Colorado.
Thanks everyone for all the support!
We had a 45 mile circuit race on tap, which bascially climbed up, and then came down for 8 laps. My goal was to mark the guy in second place for the first part of the race and see what happened. On the second lap, he attacked really hard and I was forced to respond. Noone seemed to care that he had gone, but as soon as I jumped, they were on me like white on rice. Twice I had to bridge gaps due to bad positioning and both times I knew I was making myself work more than I should. For the next lap I stayed glued to his wheel.
A break got away on the end of the 2nd lap, which I wasn't completely aware of. By lap 4, they had almost 2 minutes on the group. I went to the front and started rotating pulls, but noone really wanted to chase. The guy in second place took, probably 2 pulls and fell back into the pack.
As my frusteration mounted I figured I had to do something. On the 7th lap, I attacked and crushed the climb, one guy was able to get up to me, and proceeded to sit on my wheel. As we hit the downhill, he started to pull through a little, but his pace was weak. I figured this was the time to go all in, and I basically just Time Trialed for the next lap. We picked up 2 stragglers from the break, who also proceeded to sit on my wheel and not help! The final lap I would say I pulled 99.5 percent of the time, power on the climb was well over 400 watts and only dropped to about 390 for the downhill. I brought back some time, but nowhere near enough to hold the lead. All in all, I made my move way to late.
I have never been in a race where the riders in the top 10, who are only separated by maybe 30 seconds, have no desire to work??!! They were content to just let their GC hopes go down the drain. Maybe they were just that weak or already at their limit, but it was unbelievable. I made a bad assumption in thinking that they would care, so I waited to long to chase the break. I felt amazing, and had no doubt that I was the strongest rider in the race. Tactically, I made some errors though and it cost me.
At the end, I finished 3rd overall. Not exactly what I had hoped for but I guess its a good place to start. Now I got 4 more days of good training and then its back to Colorado.
Thanks everyone for all the support!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
March 19th Tucson Bike Classic Road Race
Wow..where to begin..
Day started off fine, up at 6, coffee, oatmeal and an egg (seems to be a great breakfast for me) and then off to the race. The road race starts about 20 miles out of town in an area called Green Valley. Our group was set to roll out at 9:15 and we had four 20 miles laps on tap for a total of 80 miles. I was one second off the lead and the leader had his bright yellow jersey on so he was easy to keep track of.
Of course a break went on the first lap and I was in to position to join it. At the same time, half the riders in the group had my number taped to their handlebars as someone to watch, so I doubt I would have gotten away. I was content to sit in the group and do as little work as possible. I spent most of my time sitting right behind or beside the yellow jersey (the leader of the race). The first time through the feed zone, a couple of guys crashed right in front of me and my dad, who was handing me water, luckily it just slowed things down so I got an easy hand off and just simply dodged the bodies.
At this point, the gap to the leaders was around 2 minutes and unfortunately, myself, the yellow jersey and the guy 3rd in GC were all without teammates. Very few riders wanted to work, so a group of 6 of us ran a nice rotation for the next 12-15 miles. We got absolutely no help, and only took about 30 seconds off the lead group. At this point we sat up, and rolled through the feed zone for the second time. This was where things got a bit hectic, I missed my feed due to butter fingers....and I had half a bottle of water for the third lap. The break was up around 2 minutes again, and I had very little water to work with which meant I really couldn't help in the chase.
I took my chances and sat in for the third lap. Luckily the pace was high enough to keep the gap from increasing. Coming into the final feed, we nailed it, I chugged some go juice, and got to the front. A group of the fastest riders assembled at the front and started taking monster pulls. I buried myself over the rolling hills and we actually created a bit of our own gap. Within about 8 miles we pulled back the break away. There were numerous attacks that followed, most were neutralized immediately. I knew with the yellow line rule in effect, I needed to be right at the front for the final 3-4 miles leading into the finish. I sacrified a good draft, for a better position for the finish. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the line would receive time bonuses, which is what I was looking for.
The sprint opened up just before 200m to go and being a bit of a non-sprinter, I luckily had the right wheel and came around to finish either 2nd or 3rd (not sure with no official results yet). Either way the yellow jersey scored no bonus which should put me where I want to be. All in all, it was a great day. I really never had to ride over my head and I am extremely happy with the result.
Tomorrow is the final day which is a 5.6 mile circuit. We cover the course 8 times, for a total of roughly 45 miles. I'm sure it will be tough but I feel up to the challenge.
Looking for my first cat 2 win tomorrow!
Day started off fine, up at 6, coffee, oatmeal and an egg (seems to be a great breakfast for me) and then off to the race. The road race starts about 20 miles out of town in an area called Green Valley. Our group was set to roll out at 9:15 and we had four 20 miles laps on tap for a total of 80 miles. I was one second off the lead and the leader had his bright yellow jersey on so he was easy to keep track of.
Of course a break went on the first lap and I was in to position to join it. At the same time, half the riders in the group had my number taped to their handlebars as someone to watch, so I doubt I would have gotten away. I was content to sit in the group and do as little work as possible. I spent most of my time sitting right behind or beside the yellow jersey (the leader of the race). The first time through the feed zone, a couple of guys crashed right in front of me and my dad, who was handing me water, luckily it just slowed things down so I got an easy hand off and just simply dodged the bodies.
At this point, the gap to the leaders was around 2 minutes and unfortunately, myself, the yellow jersey and the guy 3rd in GC were all without teammates. Very few riders wanted to work, so a group of 6 of us ran a nice rotation for the next 12-15 miles. We got absolutely no help, and only took about 30 seconds off the lead group. At this point we sat up, and rolled through the feed zone for the second time. This was where things got a bit hectic, I missed my feed due to butter fingers....and I had half a bottle of water for the third lap. The break was up around 2 minutes again, and I had very little water to work with which meant I really couldn't help in the chase.
I took my chances and sat in for the third lap. Luckily the pace was high enough to keep the gap from increasing. Coming into the final feed, we nailed it, I chugged some go juice, and got to the front. A group of the fastest riders assembled at the front and started taking monster pulls. I buried myself over the rolling hills and we actually created a bit of our own gap. Within about 8 miles we pulled back the break away. There were numerous attacks that followed, most were neutralized immediately. I knew with the yellow line rule in effect, I needed to be right at the front for the final 3-4 miles leading into the finish. I sacrified a good draft, for a better position for the finish. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the line would receive time bonuses, which is what I was looking for.
The sprint opened up just before 200m to go and being a bit of a non-sprinter, I luckily had the right wheel and came around to finish either 2nd or 3rd (not sure with no official results yet). Either way the yellow jersey scored no bonus which should put me where I want to be. All in all, it was a great day. I really never had to ride over my head and I am extremely happy with the result.
The race bike
Looking for my first cat 2 win tomorrow!
Friday, March 18, 2011
March 18th, Prologue day!
Today started out well! Up at 7, followed by coffee, oatmeal and an egg. I then geared up and headed out for an easy ride around 9 am. I did an easy loop south of tucson, just turning on whatever road looked the best. I was shooting for an easy hour with just a couple efforts and I got just that. Legs felt great!
From there it was more oatmeal, lots and lots of water, compressions socks and rest. I laid down to take a nap, which of course didn't happen, but at least I got to rest my legs. Around noon it was time to get the bike and gear ready. This really meant standing it up, looking it over and nodding...yup, its ready
From here it was time to get the gear ready....Yup...all ready
Signed in at 2:30, began my warmup at 3:30 did a few good efforts, felt good. It was insanely hot...about 85.
Rode up the the start around 4: 20 and found myself standing in line for 10 minutes. Pretty sure my heart rate was down around 50 when I rolled of the ramp. This made for a rather slow and painful start but I still gave it everything I had. Passed my 30 second guy after the first climb, and then buried myself on the final climb. Pretty sure I damaged a lung I was breathing so hard, but after a few minutes of dry heaving I was able to regain my vision and begin riding back for a cooldown.
So after waiting and waiting, I find that I ended up 2nd place, by a single second!! This is good and bad. Good because now I won't be quite as marked tomorrow which is really good since I have no teammates. Bad, because, damn I wanted to win that prologue!
Tomorrow is the 80 mile road race. Time bonuses at the end could make the difference. I'm hoping for good legs! For now I am compressing the legs and eating.
Stay tuned..
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March 17th
Today was not the ideal day by any means. Should have been an easy day to open up the legs, it ended up being much longer than I wanted due to a communication problem between myself and my Dad. In the end it was my own fault and my legs paid for it. I did however keep my average power under 200 watts so I figure that even if it was a bit long, at least I wasn't over taxing them.
Tested out the road race course, which seems to be fairly simple. Long false flat/climb heading up towards the finish, and then just a bunch of rolling terrain. As long as I don't have a horrible day, or do anything stupid, I should be able to hang on.
After eating and resting, we drove out to ride the 3.2 mile prologue course and test the time trial equiptment. The course is much hard than I expected, with a couple rather steep climbs. I couldn't believe how much climbing they fit into 3.2 miles. All in all I expect to do well, but I will have to endure a great amount of pain.
Tomorrow morning I will spin the legs out lightly for an hour or so, then eat and rest till its time to start warming up. I go off at 4:37:30 so I got lots of time to sit and dwell about it :)
For now, I'm sitting here compressing the legs and eating rice and a veggie stirfry that my dad cooked up. No pictures from today but hopefully some from tomorrow.
Tested out the road race course, which seems to be fairly simple. Long false flat/climb heading up towards the finish, and then just a bunch of rolling terrain. As long as I don't have a horrible day, or do anything stupid, I should be able to hang on.
After eating and resting, we drove out to ride the 3.2 mile prologue course and test the time trial equiptment. The course is much hard than I expected, with a couple rather steep climbs. I couldn't believe how much climbing they fit into 3.2 miles. All in all I expect to do well, but I will have to endure a great amount of pain.
Tomorrow morning I will spin the legs out lightly for an hour or so, then eat and rest till its time to start warming up. I go off at 4:37:30 so I got lots of time to sit and dwell about it :)
For now, I'm sitting here compressing the legs and eating rice and a veggie stirfry that my dad cooked up. No pictures from today but hopefully some from tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
March 16th first day in Tucson
Well since I last updated, a lot has happened. Sunday I did a couple hours easy after I realized my legs were toast. Monday was a 4.5 hour climbing ride that included Leehill, Super Jamestown, backside of leehill, and then a double climb of super flagstaff to finish things off. Legs were shredded but it felt good.
Tuesday morning I taught my usual indoor cycling class, and then worked with my last three clients before hitting the road for Tucson. We had clear sailing, minus a whole bunch of construction that appeared to be mostly a bunch of random cone in the road to slow traffic. Of the probably, 15 to 20 different construction zones, I think we saw one that actually had "men at work". We also witnessed a semi-truck that had run into a bridge, it was on fire and there were probably about 30 emergency vehicles there just watching it burn.
This morning was coffee, and a tortilla with peanut butter before hitting the road. Now I know probably the best thing to do right now would be to rest, but I just can't waste any days in the sun. I told myself that I would do my best to keep my riding under 300 watts and focus on endurance and just have fun. Well it was amazing! At 9 am it was already closet to 80 degrees and I was smiling from ear to ear. I did a very controlled, scenic ride up Mt Lemmon. My good deed for the day was giving a random guy one of my precious CO2 cartridges so he could get home. Legs felt great, and the only thing holding me back was my hydration. I don't remember the last time I ran out of water! Its funny how riding in Colorado all winter you take for granted the fact that you can ride for 80 miles on 2 water bottles. Even in the CompuTrainer room, I am a quick jaunt away from the water fountain.
I went through about 6 bottles of water and one red bull, and still pulled into the hotel pretty dehydrated. Put in about 800 liquid calories of recovery and now here I sit with my legs up and the AC cranking.
Tomorrow will be very easy. I most likely drive out and preride one lap of each course. From there it is rest, recovery and dialing in the TT bike. Caley Fretz was kind enough to lend me a set of Easton aero wheels to help me in the time trial. Beyond that, its time for the legs to do the talking. My start time on friday will be 4:37:30 pm. This means a nice easy 90-120 minute ride in the morning, food, nap, and then a long warmup prior to my start. Its only 3.2 miles and I'm looking to make my mark from day 1.
Here is the website for the race http://www.tucsonbicycleclassic.com/index.html
Pics from todays ride.
More to come soon.
Tuesday morning I taught my usual indoor cycling class, and then worked with my last three clients before hitting the road for Tucson. We had clear sailing, minus a whole bunch of construction that appeared to be mostly a bunch of random cone in the road to slow traffic. Of the probably, 15 to 20 different construction zones, I think we saw one that actually had "men at work". We also witnessed a semi-truck that had run into a bridge, it was on fire and there were probably about 30 emergency vehicles there just watching it burn.
This morning was coffee, and a tortilla with peanut butter before hitting the road. Now I know probably the best thing to do right now would be to rest, but I just can't waste any days in the sun. I told myself that I would do my best to keep my riding under 300 watts and focus on endurance and just have fun. Well it was amazing! At 9 am it was already closet to 80 degrees and I was smiling from ear to ear. I did a very controlled, scenic ride up Mt Lemmon. My good deed for the day was giving a random guy one of my precious CO2 cartridges so he could get home. Legs felt great, and the only thing holding me back was my hydration. I don't remember the last time I ran out of water! Its funny how riding in Colorado all winter you take for granted the fact that you can ride for 80 miles on 2 water bottles. Even in the CompuTrainer room, I am a quick jaunt away from the water fountain.
I went through about 6 bottles of water and one red bull, and still pulled into the hotel pretty dehydrated. Put in about 800 liquid calories of recovery and now here I sit with my legs up and the AC cranking.
Tomorrow will be very easy. I most likely drive out and preride one lap of each course. From there it is rest, recovery and dialing in the TT bike. Caley Fretz was kind enough to lend me a set of Easton aero wheels to help me in the time trial. Beyond that, its time for the legs to do the talking. My start time on friday will be 4:37:30 pm. This means a nice easy 90-120 minute ride in the morning, food, nap, and then a long warmup prior to my start. Its only 3.2 miles and I'm looking to make my mark from day 1.
Here is the website for the race http://www.tucsonbicycleclassic.com/index.html
More to come soon.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Saturday March 12th
So the final week of intense training leading up to Tucson is almost finished. Two more days left to put the fininshing touches on my fitness.
After a week of destroying me legs on all the local Boulder climbs, I took to the computrainer room for our monthly 10k Time Trial series. Although I felt terrible the whole time, I was able to put down a personal best 402 watts over the course. We had an amazing turnout with many people laying down their own best times. Following the Time Trial, a group of us hit the road to add a few more miles to the legs. Fueled by these amazing little spinach and egg calzones that Lindsay whipped up, I pulled Lucy Conklin (watch for this name in the future) and Dave Costa around the boulder roads. Both amazing riders and amazing people! Only about a 3 hour day, but very productive.
Sunday will bring another 5 hours of climbing around boulder and possible up towards Fort Collins. Monday will be back in the computrainer room for the final power workout. From there, it is rest and recovery rides.
It feels great to put the pressure on myself to perform. My confidence is definitely higher than it has been in years and I am going in with the goal of winning. The people around me are amazing! My family, friends, my girlfriend Lindsay as well as my co-workers and clients have all played a huge part in getting me to this point. Thank you so much to everyone.
Top of Super Jamestown Canyon March 10th...repping CAC!!
More to come soon..
After a week of destroying me legs on all the local Boulder climbs, I took to the computrainer room for our monthly 10k Time Trial series. Although I felt terrible the whole time, I was able to put down a personal best 402 watts over the course. We had an amazing turnout with many people laying down their own best times. Following the Time Trial, a group of us hit the road to add a few more miles to the legs. Fueled by these amazing little spinach and egg calzones that Lindsay whipped up, I pulled Lucy Conklin (watch for this name in the future) and Dave Costa around the boulder roads. Both amazing riders and amazing people! Only about a 3 hour day, but very productive.
Sunday will bring another 5 hours of climbing around boulder and possible up towards Fort Collins. Monday will be back in the computrainer room for the final power workout. From there, it is rest and recovery rides.
It feels great to put the pressure on myself to perform. My confidence is definitely higher than it has been in years and I am going in with the goal of winning. The people around me are amazing! My family, friends, my girlfriend Lindsay as well as my co-workers and clients have all played a huge part in getting me to this point. Thank you so much to everyone.
More to come soon..
Thursday, March 10, 2011
First Blog
Well, I have never blogged before, and probably for good reason. I can't imagine anyone caring much about what I have to say much less what I have to write. Maybe it is more for me to release my thoughts for myself, or for anyone who cares to listen.
Just like everyone other person who has lived 27 years, I have a story of how I got where I am today. I will save that for another time. This blogspace will serve more as a way to track my training and progression as I make my return to competitive cycling. I say that as if I was once "something" in the world of cycling, which is not exactly the case.
My life has taken many twists and turns since I exited my last college classroom in 2007. My last competitive cycling race was august of 2007 and I did not compete again until August of 2010 when I took part in the Colorado State road championships soon followed by the Steamboat stage race. I complete these on two months of very intense training which allowed me to simply hang on and make up part of the peleton.
This year I plan to put together my first full season of racing since 2007. After what I would consider a fairly solid winter of training, I will be competing in my first goal of the season, the Tucson Bike Classic. I will continue to update this blog with my training leading up to it as well as day to day during the race. Following the race I will remain in Tucson for a week and train in the sun.
More to come soon...
Just like everyone other person who has lived 27 years, I have a story of how I got where I am today. I will save that for another time. This blogspace will serve more as a way to track my training and progression as I make my return to competitive cycling. I say that as if I was once "something" in the world of cycling, which is not exactly the case.
My life has taken many twists and turns since I exited my last college classroom in 2007. My last competitive cycling race was august of 2007 and I did not compete again until August of 2010 when I took part in the Colorado State road championships soon followed by the Steamboat stage race. I complete these on two months of very intense training which allowed me to simply hang on and make up part of the peleton.
This year I plan to put together my first full season of racing since 2007. After what I would consider a fairly solid winter of training, I will be competing in my first goal of the season, the Tucson Bike Classic. I will continue to update this blog with my training leading up to it as well as day to day during the race. Following the race I will remain in Tucson for a week and train in the sun.
More to come soon...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)