RayMan AKA "StingRay"

TTing + "Texting" = SLOW TIME

2009-06-18T08:58:00.001-07:00

Church Creek TT

As the picture shows, maybe if I wasn't texting I'd have done better with my TT time.

I started out feeling good. Legs felt great, HR was undercontrol, speed was good (27-28) for the first 10K. But then, my right hip and knee started bothering me and my speed dropped to the 25mph range, my HR was still in a good range. By 30K, my speed was dropping and I couldn't go any harder. Lance Lacy flashed past me and then Brian Sacawa. I unofficially finished with a sub 59min time.

The best part of the day was learning that the officials had not recorded me coming through the finish, and I officially DNF'd. How do you not see someone coming through solo?

I need to spend more time training on the TT bike.

Photo Courtesy of Amy Jones
http://amyjones.zenfolio.com/

SynFit ReCap: 35+ and Cat3

2009-04-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

I pre-registered for the Cat 3 and since I wasn't going to be able to do Dolan on Sunday, I decided to also do the Masters 35+.

35+

Not much to talk about since I really didn't do anything of note, other than to sit on the back and stay out of trouble. At some point in the race, I was able to move up and try to do some work. I went pretty hard on the back side and tried to work with GeorgeO, but when he needed me to pull through, I wasn't really feeling it and no one else was pulling through, so I just soft peddled. Towards the end of the race, I was in sitting on Nima's wheel and JoeJ was on my wheel. I heard Joe say "don't loose his wheel, he'll pull you to the front". Well, I should have listened to Joe, but Nima was skirting through some tight places and I wasn't willing to follow him. Race was smooth, fast but not super gut busting fast.

Cat3
I had plenty of time after the 35+ to repin my Cat3 # on and take a few slow laps. My legs were feeling OK, but the first lap was fast and I could definitely feel them. The overall race pace was a bit slower than the 35+, too many riders were slowing up through the turns causing a small yo-yo effect and there was a definite slow up once past the start finish line, where everyone would start fanning out across the entire course. A couple times later in the race, I tried to move up at this section carrying a lot of speed but would be cut off as riders fanned out. Not sure how many laps were left when I moved up on the back side, and drilled it once I got to the front. I only remember hearing the rider behind me say something to the effect "sit up, I'm not getting any draft". Might not be the correct words since I could barely hear him, but it sounded something like that. Looking at some of the race photos it might have been Cliff from BikeDr. (yeah, there's a bit of a size difference between us). I pushed hard for maybe a lap or two, and then Kyle Jones (ABRT) blasted past on my left with Mike May in tow. I tried to jump on Mike's wheel, but my legs were pretty spent and I really didn't have much left. I pulled over and let the pack go by. I was just able to stay on the back without popping. I tried moving up the last lap, but just didn't have a lot of power left.

From the back at Jeff Cup

2009-04-01T20:43:00.001-07:00

Photo Courtesy of Jim Wilson
http://images.jamesrwilson.com/

Brian Barnes and I were in the 35+, 125 rider field, 6 laps, 60 miles. This was going to be my longest road race.

Unfortunately, I was starting dead last. The first lap wasn’t too hard, but my HR was up pretty high which seems to happen when I’m not really warmed up . In the second lap a huge gap split the field and at first I was working with 2 others to bridge back up, but this one dude kept “sprinting” when it was his turn to pull through, not a real help when we were trying to work together. We were joined by about 8-10 more riders and this mini-group worked super hard for about half a lap to catch back to the front pack. F’ that really hurt. Probably the hardest I’ve ever had to work in a race. The rest of the race I just kept having to jump as folks faded off the back. I tried moving up but just couldn’t get anywhere near the front. I was spending way too much energy jumping around riders. Up until the 5th lap, my legs were feeling really good.

Going through the feed zone at the start of the 5th lap, I made a rookie mistake. I slowed up way too much to grab a bottle from Steve Anderson. By the time I got going, I had let a pretty big gap form since the front of the pack was really accelerating. Putting in a huge effort over the next minute, I was finally able to latch back onto the pack, but just before the right hander into the climb. This might have been the start of my downfall. After the big effort, the climb really hurt, and I was just able to stay in contact with back of the pack as more riders were popping.

On the 5th lap (second to last lap), I could feel my legs starting to cramp, especially when I stood up. Harry Fang, NCVC, came to the back to say hello, although he did say he was pretty hurting. (note: for someone that doesn't train a lot, he sure is strong. I'd hate to see what how strong he could get if he trained more.)

On the last lap, after making the right hand turn into the first climb, I let too much gap form coming out of the turn and tried to get back on the tail end, but my legs were really cramping up and my HR was through the roof. I just didn’t have any more power to accelerate so I just sat up and watched the pack pull away up the climb. I worked with an Evolution rider the rest of the way back but he was hurting more then I was and I think I wound up dropping him a couple miles from the finish. Not sure what happened to him, I just never looked back. When you’re tired, have no power and riding solo, that last 1KM sure took a long time to finish. And, damn it was slightly uphill, which you’d never know riding in the pack.

All in all, this was a really fun race.

Time to start picking up the intensity during the week.

Wintergreen Training Camp Summary

2009-03-26T13:04:00.001-07:00

Around 5:30 on Friday, I arrived at the Big House, AKA Animal House because there were something like 20 dudes staying in the 9 bedroom mansion. Pretty much everyone was laying around the living room, trying to recover from the 100+ ride and waiting for lasagna dinner.

By dinner time, Matty Parker was still MIA, and everyone was real concerned. Turns out he got dropped by the group and then got lost and wound up riding 126.3 miles (as he liked to clarify). So the big joke the next day was whether or not anyone was going to do the Matty ride.

I was in a smaller house over looking the ski slopes with Espn K ('sPen), Win (can't say his nickname or he'll get pissed) and Sandra, Shaw F (need to drink more water so I don't cramp up and lay on the road like a turtle), Bernie and Jeff (haven't figured out nicknames for them yet). This was a great house cuz it was a lot smaller and quieter.

Saturday's ride was planned to be the hardest: a total of 100 miles, one 4 mile climb with an elevation gain of about 1600 ft and then the long climb back up Wintergreen at the very end of th eday. We pretty much rode tempo the entire day except for a couple of section where the pace really picked up and of course on the climbs, where everyone rode at their own pace. My legs really didn't feel good on the 4 mile climb and my HR was skyrocketing at the beginning of the climb, so instead of trying to keep pace with anyone, I just rode my own tempo and kept my HR below threshold.

We rode through beautiful rolling terrain the rest of the afternoon, and then started up the false flat leading to the start of the Wintergreen climb. I really wasn't feeling that strong, and my back was really tightening up, so again, I just rode my own pace. Just before the Wintergreen entrance, I stood up and ripped the left crank right off the bottom bracket. I swerved to the shoulder and crashed over the front of the bike. Luckily I was only doing something like 8MPH, but it was pretty funny to stand up and see the crank still attached to my shoes flapping around as I tried to walk. I took the vehicle of shame back up the rest of the way to the top of Wintergreen. Not sure what was wrong, but the crank was f'd. Luckily I had brought two bikes with me.

My Suunto monitor recorded a total ride time over 6+hrs and an elevation gain of 8930 ft for the day.

On Sunday, our riding plans were shortened since we had to be checked out of the houses by 1pm. The plan was to ride along the BlueRidge Prkway overlooking the valley to the west. This was my favorite part of the trip, the scenary and road were awesome. In order to get back to our houses, we had to again do the long Wintergreen climb. This time, I didn't ripe my crank off.

End of an awesome two days of training.

Wintergreen Training Camp

2009-03-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Training camp started yesterday at Wintergreen, but I was stuck making end of quarter sales. Considering how crappy it would have been riding in rain, I'm kinda glad I wasn't able to get down for Day 1.

Today is Day 2 of camp, and I'm stuck in my office continuing end of quarter sales. Today, however, I'm bummed because I'm not there. It is beautiful outside, hardly a cloud in the sky. I'll miss the 100+ mile ride over countless mountains. I'm hoping to be able to get out of dodge sometime this afternoon.

I'll be able to do the 100+ mile rides tomorrow and Sunday. Oh, yes, and I'm really looking forward to a 100+ mile day and then have to climb 7 miles to the resort.

Should be a great weekend.

Hey Jesse: this is what Speed looks like

2009-03-09T18:28:00.001-07:00

Black on black is the new look of FAST. Darth Vader watch out.

Just got the new team bike over the weekend, Specialized Tarmac Pro SL with Dura Ace.

I stripped the DuraAce components off my old Trek and put them on the new frame. Although, I have Rolf Vigors on this speed machine for training, I'll use my Bontrager XXX wheels for races. No power meter or other cycling computer to weigh me down. I rebuilt the old Trek with the original Ultegra and I'll use this for crappy weather and training rides. Nothing like training on a bike that weighs close to 20 lbs.

On Sunday I took the new bike out for a maiden 80 mile ride and I felt great. Today I was down at HP. This beast is fast. (well maybe in my own mind).

After going through a computerized Retul bike fit at CycleLife, I'm feeling like this bike was custom built for me. I feel real strong and comfortable in my new bike position. I no longer feel any crampy-ness in my hips and my pedal stroke feels much more powerful and smoother.

Can't wait to see how we do in races.

Windy HP: redlining out the back

2009-02-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

Took a mini-break about two weeks ago in order to attend my companies National Sales Meeting in Phoenix. I did, however, get in one gym workout but it was pretty lame, probably shouldn't even consider it a workout. And, when I got back home, I started getting a sore throat and felt pretty weak for about 5 days. So, I went for about 12 days without doing any riding.

Last Thursday, I decided to head out for a ride. What was I thinking when I elected to head down to HP on one of the windiest days? Sitting in the draft was my main plan, get my legs spinning again was another plan. Not getting dropped in less than a minute was not part of the plan.

Seriously, my lungs felt like shit, my legs felt like shit, my HR was skyrocketing within secs. Windy days are not fun, and I couldn't find a draft to save my life. I was redlining just to stay with the pack, but couldn't keep this effort up without getting into the draft. When I did find the safety of the draft, I was practically riding in the gutter and the gusts were throwing me all over the place. At times I thought, I'd wind up in the grass. Not a lot of fun but definitely character building.

Went for a spin on Friday, legs felt better.

Rode solo for 3 hours out to Poolesville yesterday and legs felt better. Beautiful day, a bit windy out and back with the cross wind.

Holy Crap: I'm still alive

2009-02-04T20:04:00.001-08:00

Hey all
It's been a really long time since my last posting, not sure why. Maybe I just got burned out putting thoughts to words. Although, I'm glad it was burn out from posting and not the dreaded cycling burn out. Funny how every one talks about not riding too hard in the winter cuz you might burn out in the summer. Not sure what that is or means, but its never happened to me. I love to ride: slow, hard, whatever, as long as you're on the bike with the wind in your face.

Speaking of hard winter riding: I'm still waiting for the Thrasher ride to slow up in the winter. Not sure the seasoned vets like Ad and Paul know what taking it easy in the winter time means.

So what have I been up to?

I completely bonked on the last lap of the Giro di Coppi and limped my way to the finish. Completely sucked and not happy with my performance.

I finished the Masters race at the ING Criterium. Was pretty happy with not getting dropped, and realized I can hang with them.

I spent two weeks in Tuscany in Oct, and got really, really bad sciatica. At times I could barely walk the pain was so bad radiating down my leg. When I got home, an MRI showed two huge bulging discs impinging my spinal nerves. Spent the entire month of Nov getting decompression treatments everday. And, then most of Dec getting chiropractic manipulations. Didn't ride for Nov and half of Dec.

Around mid-Dec, I started riding again on the trainer and then around Xmas time started getting outside for mostly solo rides.

Back is feeling a lot better, and have a series of exercises I do x3 a day to build the core muscles.

Reston: attacking from the back

2008-06-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've always enjoyed doing the Reston Crit and this year didn't disappoint. Thanks to Evolution, the organizers, the road guards and JoeJ for another great day of racing.

I'm not sure how many Cat 4's started but there weren't that many when we finished. I must say I really think the Cat 4 races this year are really fast, much faster than last years. Seems like the mentality is to hammer the start of the race and drop as many riders as you can. This is a lot more fun, than sitting in a giant pack and then have a huge, cluster F pack sprint.

After suffering through the first 10 minutes of what seemed like a never ending sprint, I couldn't believe we still had 50 mins of racing. Riders were popping left and right every lap. My conditioning is coming back but I still wasn't sure what I'd have left at the end. My goal was to stay out of trouble, maintain contact with the lead pack, surf the back, and then attack with whatever I had left towards the end of the race.

Throughout the race, as riders popped off the back, I would sprint around them to get back into the slipstream. I would let small gaps form leading into turns 3, 4 and 5 so that I could roll through these turns without having to hit the brakes, which I would have to do if I was riding right on someone's wheel. A couple times, I misjudged and had to work pretty hard to get back into the slipstream after exiting turn #5. Towards the end of the race, the head wind coming out of turn #5 was picking up.

The pace stayed pretty high for about 40 minutes or so. With about 15 laps to go, the pace started slowing up along the start/finish stretch. I was waiting for attacks to occur with the slower pace, but no one was going. I wanted to let an attack go, and then counter attack when it was caught. Nothing happening. So with 11 or so to go, I attacked hard on the start/finish stretch and got maybe a 10 sec gap. I soloed for 2 laps and got caught. I sat back in to recover for a couple of laps. The pace stayed slow. With 4 laps to go, I attacked again on the start/finish stretch and got a good gap. It started drizzling and I was hoping that this would slow the pack down and allow me to stay away. But, unfortunately just before the bell lap, I got caught. But this time, I was completely spent, I really didn't have anything left so I drifted back and rolled in after the pack sprint.

Not sure where I placed. Felt a lot better than I did at the TdW, but still not in the form I had before the crash.

There were 4 crashes and I, fortunately, wasn't involved in any of them. The first one happened on the first turn of the first lap. WTF? The second and third occured after exiting turn #5. The cones leading into this turn definitely made the corner safer by preventing riders from dive bombing on the inside. Jose Nunez got caught up in one of these crashes, and it looked like he sustained a shoulder injury. I hope its not bad, he's a great guy to race against. The fourth crash occured on the stretch just before the start/finish line.

Delusions of Grandeur Smashed by the Harsh HOT Facts of Reality

2008-06-23T14:46:00.001-07:00

Before I go off about my view of the TdW, I want to send out some serious props to the organizers, JoeJ and all the volunteers that kept us safe. This was truly a great weekend of racing, I hope we'll be seeing this for many years to come.

I'd also like to congratulate Brigham Lumm for his first place in the GC in the Cat4 and Kevin Young for his first place in the Cat3 GC. Dudes, that's awesome.

I'd also like to say that some of you dudes (like Jorge, JoseN, KyleJ, SteveK, GregF, StephenW. LanceL) are getting super strong. What the F have you been doing the past month and a half to get so strong? Jorge, where the hell did you get the strength to stay away for 4 laps in the crit? Its a lot of fun racing with you all or I should really say "it was a lot of fun racing behind you this weekend".

Tour de Washington was to be my first weekend racing since the May 3rd Poolesville crash.

Since the crash, I'd been riding the training in the basement doing long intervals of 10, 15, 20 and 60 min intervals just about every day. As I got closer to getting back on the road, I started doing shorter, higher intensity efforts of 30 sec and 1 min. What I was to find out this weekend was that riding in the a 65F basement did not in any way prepare me for 95-100F outside temps.

The week before TdW I was able to get out on the road for the Thrasher ride. I could definitely feel that my legs were not responding like they would before the crash. Although, I only got back on the road for 4 rides before TdW, I was really looking forward to the weekend since I think these courses really suit my riding style.

RR
I felt OK on the neutral roll out, but, man, soon as we made the left onto the loop, the pace picked up really fast. What a jolt to the system. About half way through the first lap, the heat was killing me and my mind was already saying "how are you going to finish? you've got more laps". The rest of the race I was in survival mode. I tried to conserve energy riding wheels, and bridging up when I sensed the rider in front starting to fade. A couple times I almost got dropped doing this, but I viewed these efforts as getting back into race shape. Lots of riders were popping as we crested the hills and couldn't sustain the effort as the pace picked up. With about 2 or 3 laps to go, I saw Kyle almost in front of me, and I yelled at him "Kyle, what the hell are you doing at the back?" The second to last lap I thought was really fast, and riders were popping off the back, and I wasn't sure if I had enough left for one more lap. On the last lap someone dropped a water bottle through one of the really fast sweeping right hand bends. It was rolling in the middle so I went left, but as I was getting close the bottle started rolling back into my path, and I had to bail into the grass and onto a driveway. By the time I got back on the road, the pack was long gone. I TT'd it the rest of the way. Came in 38th.

TT
Did the 20K TT is 31:38 for 19th. Earning me 3pts for the weekend. Waahoo.

Crit
I walked the course before the race, and the downhill right hander and the 120degree turn looked pretty nasty. I lined up in the front row, something I normally don't do. I decided since I was in the front, I was going to go as hard as I could from the gun and see how I faired going through those two turns solo. I jumped to about a 5 sec gap and eventhough I was solo, I didn't take either of the turns very well. I almost slide out on the 120 degree turn, and this definitely shock my confidence. I sat up a bit and the pack caught me. I drifted to the back and just rode the back, bridging up when gaps formed. The heat was getting to me, but I didn't feel as bad as I did on the RR. My legs felt good and strong, I just wasn't able to get my HR down. With 10 to go, I overcooked the 120 degree turn, my rear wheel slide out from under me and I almost crashed in the fence. By the time I got myself back together, the pack was about half way up the hill. For a second I was ready to bag it, but I dug deep and sprinted up the hill as hard as I could, when I rounded the corner the pack was about 5 secs ahead, and my mind just said stop. I was so fried. I dumped the rest of the water I had on my head, coasted the rest of the lap and pulled out. This is the first race, I've ever pulled myself out of.

Next race, RESTON.
I hope to redeem myself.

Back on the Road

2008-06-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Finally, my shoulder ligaments are stronger and my bike is fixed, so I hit the road today for the first solo ride since the Poolesville crash.

I went for a quick spin last week but the handling of my bike was a bit off, and when I got home I found a big crack in the fork. Pretty pissed at myself for not more thoroughly going over the bike for damage after the crash. I spent this week waiting for a new fork to arrive and then repair time. Finally got it back today.

Not sure how much riding the trainer everyday for 90+ mins doing 10, 15, 20 and 60 min intervals over the past month and a half actually helped cuz my legs felt like shit today. I tried spinning up Mass, and could barely keep my legs turning. Going up Anglers and GF Park was just as painful. I can normally speed up these climbs but being off the bike has really set me back.

I'm not feeling too optimistic about Tour de Washington next weekend. I have the next 4 days to get a good rythm going and get my legs back. OR, it's going to be the Tour de Pain.

Here' s to wishful thinking and regaining some form very quickly.

I'm still alive, shoulder ligaments healing

2008-06-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Update for all my faithful readers.

I can't believe how long its been since my last posting. Not much happening on the race scene since I'm still waiting for my torn AC shoulder ligaments to heal enough to get back on the bike. I saw the orthopedic last Tuesday, and he'd like me to wait two more weeks before getting back outside. This will be 6 weeks from the crash and ample time for the ligaments to get strong enough to sustain another fall (just in case I go down again. god forbid)

I've been riding the Tacx swing trainer in the basement everyday for 90+ mins. A typical workouts consists of 10min spin to warm up and then steadily increase the wattage for 5 mins, followed by a 5 min slow spin. I then do two 20min intervals as high a wattage as I can do without popping. (about 10 min recover in between intervals). Depending on how I feel, I'll usually do another 10 min interval of microburts: 15 sec full on, 45 sec recovery, 15 sec full on, 45 sec recovery..... Finally, I do a 10 min cool down.

We'll see what kind of shape I'm in when I get back on the road.

So, my first races back are slated for the Tour of Washington.

Post Crash Status and Diagnosis

2008-05-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

It's been 9 days since the crash.

I saw the orthopedic last Tuesday and the diagnosis is Grade1 shoulder separation (AC ligaments partially torn, maybe slight Grade 2). Nothing broken. He wants me to stay off the bike for a month to let it heal. Riding the trainer is OK as long as the shoulder doesn't hurt. I go back to see him the end of the month for a follow up visit.

I get more and more pain-free range of motion everyday and can sleep through the night without waking in pain. Just taking extra strength Tylenol to help me sleep through the night.

I get the stiches in my knee out tomorrow. May do it myself. Never any problems with the knee, although the muscles above the knee were pretty sore for a couple days after the crash.

I've been riding my trainer everyday since last Wed and doing leg weights every three days. I'm looking at this month as a build period before getting back outside. (almost as if it were January)

OK, now for the important stuff.

How's the bike?

The Easton carbon fiber handlebars were totaled. I cracked the downdrops on both sides.

Everything else looks to be OK, even the bomb-proof Rolf Vigor wheels were fine. Not even out of true.

Last but not least, SHOUT OUT TO MIKE BUTCHKO, THE BICYCLE PLACE, for mounting the new Bontrager XXX lite handlebars and tuning the racing machine back to super sonic speed.

Shit, I knew I forgot something. Maybe I hit my head too hard during the crash. The biggest Shout Out goes to Luis San Sebastian for saving my bike from the yard-sale vultures, and for putting some elbow grease into the stellar cleaning job. Last, but not least, AND for staying uppast 9:30pm as I got lost getting to his house. What should've been a 25min drive, took me over an hour. Fortunately, Luis helped guide me to his house and I was able to reclaim my bike.

Poolesville: Crash

2008-05-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick recap of the 40/50.

Not sure what the others, thought but the first lap was one of the hardest laps I've had to do. Might have been due to not getting a really good warm up. I almost popped a couple times, but stuck with it. Gravel section was pretty bad avoiding all the pot holes and water bottles. About 10 riders pulled off with flats. I also think a couple riders went down.

Second lap seemed to be much slower, although I'm not sure if this was because I was warmed up and legs were feeling better. Same conditions in the gravel section, lots of water bottles and flatting riders.

By the third lap, I was feeling really good, and was planning on moving up towards the front. On the downhill section just past the golf course, the pace really picked up to the lower 30s and then all of a sudden two riders, (Todd Gue and Spencer Beckett ??) in front of me are tangled up and going down. There are bikes and bodies bouncing in front of me. The world evolves in slow motion. I hit my brakes hoping to slow up enough to get around them. Unfortunately, there was no room as the bikes and bodies seemed to take up the entire width of the road. I really couldn't see any gaps to get through. As Todd bounced towards the gutter on the right side of the road, my only escape route was into the gutter. As I hit the one foot deep gutter, I barely missed riding over Todd's head and then hit the dirt embankment with my right knee and right shoulder. I cartwheeled a couple times before coming to a stop. Sitting in the grass, I tried to assess what damage I'd done. I had a huge gash on my right knee and my right shoulder was hurting. I checked for the tell tale signs of a broken collarbone. Fortunately, there was no bumps along the collarbone, but there was a painful bump in the area where the collarbone connects to the scapula. So, I'm sitting there kinda daized, and just trying to stay calm. And I see Luis San Sebastian, who was working as a rode guard. Thanks for taking care of my bike. I'll call ya to arrange to pick it up.

As I'm sitting in the grass, I look down and realize, I don't have my right shoe on. WTF? I lookover at the bike about 10 feet to my left and see my shoe with blacksock cover is still attached to the peddle. I also hope I'm not sitting in any poison ivy, fortunately I wasn't. I also look over to the right farther down the road, and there is another EMT truck sitting in the right hand lane just before the right hand turn, taking care of another downed rider. Turns out, he was on a flyer in the 4/5 race and solo crashed while trying to get some water. He was in pretty bad shape.

Anyway, the EMTs took me to ShadyGrove Hosp, I think I got there around 10:30ish and I didn't get discharged until around 1:30.

Damage

Knee wound: open to the knee cap. 1 internal suture, 4 external sutures
Shoulder; nothing broken, but possible Grade2 shoulder separation. I'll see my orthopedic early this week for official diagnosis and treatment plan.

Not sure how long I'll be off the bike, but I will be riding my trainer once the pain in my shoulder goes away.

Post Note Addition: I forgot to thank Manny and TonyG for asking if I was OK as they raced by.

Post Note Addition: Officially diagnosis: Grade 1 Shoulder separation will keep me on the trainer for at least a month.

Mr Cranky- pants Loves Racing in the Rain

2008-04-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

No more Mr Cranky-pants comments coming from my blog. After GBR called me Mr Cranky-pants, I'm starting a new leaf in my postings. From now on its all about the zen and harmony of the race, and about the yin and yang that occurs during the race. And, no more negativity. Yes, thats right, no more comments about sketchy riders and how dangerous the race was.

So, with this harmonious disclaimer, all I can say about Carl Dolan Masters 30/40 race is that "I love racing in the rain". What better way to conserve energy by taking a bath and being able to wash your bike at the same time. No worries about sweat stains since the rain just washes it away.

Here are some yin/yang observations

Racing in the rain is a lot of fun
During the heaviest rain in the beginning of the race, I could barely see with the rain blasting my face on the long sweeping, super fast section before the hill leading to the finish.
Rain made the race really slow, which prevented a lot of riders from getting dropped
Legs felt really good even without a warm up. Might have something to do with the slow pace. Only once did I really have to put in a hard effort to stay with the pack after the right hand turn into the super fast section.
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deleted
Just barely made it through the crash on the final hill. Really thought I was going down as I carved my way through the bouncing bikes and bouncing bodies. (final comment deleted)
My nickname for David Fuentes, is Great White Shark. He was riding in the back for most of the race, and at some point he worked his way to front and was gone before you knew it. Anyway, the reference to GWS is that he rides so smoothly and effortlessly and then explodes and is gone in a flash, just like a GWS.

Hope everyone that crashed in the 30/40 race and the Cat3/4 are OK.

Training Highlights

2008-04-21T12:21:00.001-07:00

Tuesday:
Randy and I did a TT workout along MacA, up Anglers, Falls Rd, Oaklyn, PersimmonTree. We did two loops. When you are not use to going all out for 20 mins, it hurts.

Wed Thrasher Hill Ride
Legs felt really good, and didn't really hurt on any of the climbs.

Thurs Hains Pt
Went to HP for the first time this spring, and felt really good. Worked the front and took some long pulls. Couple times had to put in some long pulls to bridge back up to front group. Didn't contest any sprints. I'm definitely going to try and get down there once a week since its a good compliment to the Thrasher ride. Legs and cardio felt really good. Will plan on pushing myself more the next time.

Mt Joy: do I even remember?

2008-04-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since the Cat 4 Mt Joy race, and I'll only post some comments and observations, nothing in great detail.

Course:

Looked like rain, but stayed dry throughout the race.
A bit windy, but not strong enough to make a difference.
Climbs were short and not very selective.
Some long, fast curvy sections leading into fast twisting uphill sections.
Long run out to the downhill finish.

Riders:

GBR taking a short romp through the fields and masterfully demonstrating his cross bike skills.
Getting to the front on a down hill section early in the race only to see GBR blast off my right, and I reacted catching his wheel on the climb. We worked together with an Artemis guy, but not good enough to stay away for more than half a lap.
Pace not too fast in the middle part of race.
Stayed in back, out of the wind for the middle part.
Wanted to move up to contest for the finish, but got caught behind another rider with an exploding rear tire and I almost slide into the guard rail. Worked my ass off to get back to the main pack leading into the sprint.
A jostling gaggle of riders on the left side leading into the sprint allowed me to sprint up the right side but got slowed up by popping riders. Started too far back to make a difference.
18th place

Walkersville and Tysons ReCap

2008-04-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

Walkersville 35+ Cat4/5

5th place (got pipped at the line by two All Americans: Ron Barry and Carlos Goncalves).

Worked my ass off the entire race. This race was a lot of fun.

My goal for the race was to sit in the first lap, see how the pace went, stay out of trouble and counter any attacks as soon as the bigger teams pulled in any attacks. The neutral role out was pretty uneventful and no one went down, the pace was also pretty slow. As we passed through the intersection that marked the start of the course, the pace was really slow, and I asked other riders if we started and they said yes. Fearing a typical Cat4 race, I picked up the speed to get to the front and then kept going. Steve Anderson (DC Velo) came up beside me and said "let's go" as he speed up. For the first half of the first lap, it was Steve, one other guy and myself in a three man rotation setting the pace. It felt good because it felt like racing and not a Cat4 yo-yo fest. The first lap continued to be a high pace as some others joined the pace setting.

Not sure when but Tom (don't know your team) attacked and was looking really strong. I think one other rider went with him but they didn't get too far ahead and the pack wasn't really interested in chasing them down so early in the race. I, for one, wanted them to sit out there and tire themselves out. The pack eventually caught them and at some point in the 2nd or 3rd lap (?) 3 guys got away (a Kelly rider, Manny, and a 3rd) and the pack never could really put in a concerted effort to catch them, plus I never thought they'd be able to stay away for the rest of the race. During the 4th lap, Kelly amassed their entire team at the front and set a not so slow/not so fast pace. I didn't realize one of their riders was in the break and that they were just slowing the pack down to give their rider a winning chance. I got to the front and started working with Lance Lacy and some other guys. When I realized we weren't really gaining any time on the break, I got back into the pack and rested for the final drag to the finish. Last year, I got totally boxed in during the run-in to the finish and this year I wanted to bury myself or at least try to get a break going so that I wouldn't get boxed in.

So, on the last lap, I moved up the pack on the outside and as I passed Tom, I said something like "come on". He got on my wheel and I moved towards the front, but once I got there I attacked. Tom, Eric Seidel (Bicycle Place) and I got a jump on the pack and as made the right hand turn up the steep short incline we developed a good gap on the pack. Eric is really strong but doesn't race a lot. He got the front and must have pulled for about a mile. He put in a huge effort. Tom was #2 and I was #3. I kept looking back and seeing we had a gap and kept yelling encouragement to keep the pace up. A guy bridged up to us and caught us on the little rollers about 1K from the finish. I was the only one of 3 that was able to jump on his wheel. I kept looking back and we still had a gap but we were still pretty far away. With about 500M the dude was fading and I looked back and saw we still had a gap. It was do or die, so I jumped as hard as I could and hoped I'd have enough to get me to the line in 3rd place. This seemed to be the longest stretch of road, and I forgot about the very slight rise just before the finish. I gave it my all, but Ron Barry flew past me with maybe 50' to go and then Carlos pipped by less than a wheel at the line.

I've never worked harder in a race and it felt good.

Tysons Cat 4

Completely different story.

Sketchy as hell and the rain didn't help. I got bumped outside the cones 4 times avoiding riders that couldn't hold a line, had to avoid a bouncing cone once cuz someone rode over it, and almost had my front wheel clipped 4 times. Yeah, typical Cat4 BS. I'm sick of it and the rest of the season I'll be registering for Masters 40+.

Finally met TerribleTerry and Bryan Burns (Haymarket)

My legs were a bit heavy from Walkersville so I sat in the back for most of the race, spun up the hill in my small ring and never felt tired. I could easily move up the climb when I wanted but would get bombadiered on the downhill section and would drift back to a safer zone near the back. The middle was just insane with riders just bouncing from one wheel to another.

With 3 to go, I easily moved up the climb on the left side and then went hard near the start finish and didn't let up until well past turn #1. I think 3-4 others came with me, but I'm not sure what kind of gap we had. On the downhill section we weren't working well together and we got caught just before the turn leading into the climb. I got boxed in on the inside and lost a lot of momemtum going through the turn. Had to work hard to get the speed back up by then I was towards the back again. Too many sketchy riders and my spidey sense was telling me a big crash was going to happen. Too many guys not holding their line as they bounced from wheel to wheel. I was in the back going into the last turn and was able to sprint up to mid field by the finish line without much effort. Came in 26th.

Tysons Cat 3/4

Although, I felt fine during the Cat 4 race, it was afterwards when I cooled down, standing around in my wet gear, that I realized how F'in miserable it was. I had an hour after the Cat 4 race before my second race in the 3/4. It was during this time that I began to shiver and realized I had dry jerseys and arm warmers in the car but no dry leggings or shorts. I was so cold, I couldn't get my mind around doing another race, so I got out of the wet stuff and watched the 3/4.

Jeff Cup: Stuck behind the Cat4 Trolls (as Kyle would say)

2008-03-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

So, if I ever see 125 Cat4s signed up for a race, I'm going to load by bike back in the car and go home. Or, maybe I won't even leave the house. I'll consider the entree fee a contribution to the organizers. This is pretty much my assessment of the Cat4 Jeff Cup race.

I guess I can sum the race up in two words "f'in scary".

I really hate big Cat4 fields because most of the time no one wants to work and everyone wants to just sit in for the sprint. There were maybe 15 different riders that did any work at the front. And as Kyle says a whole bunch of "Cat4 Trolls" just getting in the way.

Its like watching a bunch of little kids play soccer. The ball goes one direction and all the little f'ers go chasing it, the ball goes another direction and then they all chase it in the new direction. On and on this continues. This is what a Cat4 race is like. The pack rides along real slow, someone tries to break and everyone picks up speed to chase them. The breakers are soon caught and the chasers stop going hard. And everyone slows back up to a walking pace. Then someone tries to break again, and the pack picks the speed up to chase them down. Once again the breaker is caught and the chasers stop working. On and on it goes.

I don't know, but is this racing? If it is why don't we just make these races one lap?

Enough ranting: I suck and I'm taking my 41st place to the grave.

Here's my view of the Race:

I tried a couple times to make something happen but my legs never felt good. Too much stop and go throughout the race and I could never get into a rhythm. The only time my legs felt good was maybe the last 2 miles when the pace finally picked up to race speed and I had to do a sustained effort but I was too far back to make it to the front to contend.

You know it sucks when you have to break going up hill. I think I need new brakes after wasting them on these sections. Who ever heard of having to brake on climbs? Every F'in climb the pack was spread from curb-curb and no room to get around riders. I tried to stay near the curb and away from the middle and a couple times I had aholes trying to squeek through the 2" I had on the curb-side.

The fast downhill sections were scary as shit. Too many riders just having no clue how to ride. And a couple riders seriously need to have their bikes checked out by a mechanic. I'd usually have a bunch of riders dive bomb past me on these sections only to have them get in my way on the uphill sections.

A very disappointing race.

So, with this being said, I'm quitting racing and going to train full time for the next Pilates competition. I think this might be a safer activity.

Ready to Fly

2008-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Had a great week of training with some strong efforts on Monday and Tuesday. In fact, Tuesday was pretty brutal since I was really trying to push the pace and force myself to have to actively recover after hard efforts.

Took Wednesday off completely. No easy spinning, no basement trainer ride. My body was telling me to get some rest.

Yesterday, I wound up doing x3 1omin L2/3 intervals on the trainer, some high cadence spinning (120+ RPMs) and some really easy tempo. Good a great sweat going.

Today, the Thrasher Ride was a pretty good tempo, nothing earth shattering, but we did pick up the pace towards the end of Clara Barton. Legs felt really good. Left calf strain is finally working itself out, but still feel it. Have no idea how I strained it, but its been nagging me for the past couple of weeks.

Tomorrow, I'll go for a solo, easy spin ride for maybe an hour or two. Nothing but spinning.

If my legs felt like they did at UMd PresCup, watch out on Sunday at JeffCup, I'll be flying.

Training the Day After UMPresCrit

2008-03-18T19:26:00.001-07:00

After the elation of the UM Pres Cup race wore off, I realized it was Sunday and time to get back on the bike for an intense hill interval workout. So, I headed out for my normal weekend solo hammerfest: Mass, MacArthur, Anglers, GF Park and Mnt Gate.

Heading north on MacArthur was brutal. It was kinda depressing hammering into the 20-30MPH headwind and only doing 20-22 MPH.

I went hard up Anglers in my big ring and really tried to keep the pace high for the entire climb.

I rested heading down into GFPark and continued to do 5 repeats up and down GF Park in my big ring, probably in my 52x15 or 52x14. I really wanted to work on a very low cadence and a really heavy gear. My times weren't great but I got the strength training I was looking for. My last repeat was in my small ring and really light gear and I just spun as high as I could, about 110-125 until I got the the top.

An Army of One: A UM Pres Crit Recap

2008-03-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Leading up to the U Md Pres Cup race, I was a bit nervous about the weather forecast. All week the stupid weather folks were saying how stormy and rainy Saturday was going to be. I had visions of racing in a complete downpour and I was dreading the fast right hand turn before the finish. I kept envisioning riders sliding on their sides through that turn.

I checked the forecast Friday night and our accurate forecasters were now calling for a beautiful sunny Saturday. No longer would I have to worry about sliding on my ass through that turn.

Let's cut to the chase: I WON the Cat4 race. I was totally psyched that all my hard winter training paid off. What a great way to start the 2008 season.

Before going on, I need to offer thanks to the following people:

All those that do the Thrasher Daily Race Ride (Ad, Paul, Randy, Jay, Bill, Steve, Simon, JamesW) for the hard rides that have gotten me into shape.
The entire 12 man Rt1 Velo squad for wearing ear plugs during the race and totally ignoring Mike Esmonde's frantic commands to get off the front and quick pulling everyone around.
My Mom and Dad for giving me the genetics to have an incredibly powerful sprint (sic) (insider note: my sprint really sucks, but don't tell anyone)
BJ Basham's words of wisdom for the race.
and to me for not listening to the little gremlins in my head that wanted me to attack on every lap and every time the pace slowed up.

In all honesty, this race was a lot of fun and I really hope the rest of the races this season are this much fun regardless of how I finish. Of course, I'd like to do as well for every race, but I'm realistic.

really love this course; its very challenging with the short steep climb, the technical chicane and the fast run up to the finish. I like the fact that the race usually breaks up within the first couple of laps and that only strong riders survive. There really is no place to hide. My only concern, as I believe is everyone's, is the first half of the first lap. For the past couple of years, the very first turn has been the scene of crashes and I didn't want to become part of that scene this year. My plan was to get a good starting position and gun it from the start, get through the first turn in the front quarter of the pack, and remain up front, ready to counter any jumps. I wanted to be in position to be able to stay with the front group and not get caught out of position like I did last year. I just remember suffering the entire race last year in the first chase group with BryanV, ShannonM and 3 others.

My plan worked well. I stayed on the tail end of the front group and bridged up when ever my spidey sense alerted me to someone about to drop off the pace. I jumped around a bunch of riders at different times in order to remain in contact. I sat on wheels and stayed out of the wind as best I could in order to conserve energy. I really didn't see a need to blast up to the front 5 positions since I really didn't want to do too much work in the early part of the race. This is a pretty long race, and I knew folks would start to suffer towards the end of the race. Plus, my legs were feeling really good and if I had to do a big bridge up, I had the power to do it.

For the first 20 minutes the pace was pretty fast and there were only 13 of us remaining after dropping 2/3 of the field. Our group consisted of 6 Rt1 riders, 2 from UMd, 2 from a team with black/ yellow/red, 2 from All American and ME. Sometime during the race, a UMd guy and an All American guy were off the front about 15 secs. I was tempted to bridge up to them but really didn't think they'd be able to stay up there for another 30 minutes, plus Rt1 had 6 riders and I certainly wasn't going to help them bring the attackers in. In all honesty, I wanted those two to ride solo for many laps so they'd have no energy for the finish. I'm not sure who did the work to pull them back in but we eventually did. Mostly like it was Rt 1, kudos to them.

The main thing I remember about mid point in the race, was the Rt1 guys sitting on the front, pulling everyone around at a constant tempo and Mike Esmonde frantically screaming at them to get off the front and stop pulling. On one lap I remember coming up the hill, seeing a bunch of lapped riders ahead, and hearing Mike instruct the two Rt1 guys on the front to gun it and the Rt 1 guys behind them to sit up. I thought this was a good tactic but very cheeky. Fortunately, none of the Rt1 guys listened to Mike.

Coming past the start/finish line I saw that we had about 13 or 14 laps to go, and the pace was starting to slow up. I really wanted to go hard but kept myself in check. With 10 to go, the pace was still slow and riders in the front were really getting edging looking over their shoulders waiting for attacks. I really wanted to go but kept myself in check. So it went for the next couple of laps: slow pace, everyone waiting for attacks. I finally couldn't take it anymore and with about 8 laps to go, I went as hard as I could down the start/finish stretch and continued pulling hard for about two laps. Not wanting to completely kill myself and have nothing for the finish, I started looking over my shoulder for the next guy to pull through. He never did, so I just sat up, pulled to the far side and let everyone go through. I jumped back in line for the next couple of laps and got ready for the finish.

On the bell lap, one of the Rt1 guys (Charles) went hard through the tricky turns after the start/finish and I got on his wheel. We got up to the front and I sat on his wheel through the gradual right hand bend before the hill. Just before the base of the climb I attacked and went as hard as I could. I continued to accelerate through the climb and even harder through the chicane and the downhill section. For once I took the right hand turn real tight and exploded on the exit. I sprinted with all I had towards the finish. I kept hearing gremlins in my head saying "ride like you stole it". About midway to the finish line, I couldn't get into the right gear and thought I'd blown it, but I kept going. My head was down and my legs were pumping with everything I had left. I looked up and saw the finish line. I crossed it about a wheel length ahead of a Rt1 guy (Bringham). Since I wasn't sure if I'd won, and I was so tired, I didn't even raise my arms in the triumphant winners pose. I just coasted down the street trying to catch my breath.

Even if I'd not won, this was a really fun race. Not the usually bullshit so typical of Cat 4 races. All the riders, respected each other, and no one did anything stupid.

Again, kudos to the Rt1 team for having 6 guys in the final selection. I look forward to many more races with you guys this season.

Photos courtesy of the Kyle Jones Collection.

First Race of Season: U Md President's Crit

2008-03-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Really looking forward to the U Md President Crit this Saturday because it's a great course, extremely selective and only the strong survive. So what have I been doing to get ready for the efforts required to stay up front?

Of course, everyday is race day when you do the Thrasher Ride, especially the Wed Hill Ride.

I've also been doing a lot of hill intervals on the weekends during the past month: Mass, Anglers, GF Park and Mnt Gate. This past weekend I rode on Saturday for an hour in the rain and then another hour freezing my skinny ass riding up and down GF Park. I wound up only doing 7 hill repeats up GF Park before packing it in for the day. Going up was good since I was able to warm up, but I froze my ass off coming down every time.

(Weight Note: just to piss off a few of my readers such as Jesse, Brian and Kyle: I'm down to a consistent 130lbs without dieting).

I headed back to GF Park this past Sunday for the last major workout before tapering for the race. I wound up doing Mass, Anglers, 11 interval up/down GF Park and finally MntGate. Some of the GF Park intervals were all out efforts the entire length, some were all out efforts for just the lower steep section, some were one leg drills, some were high cadence/easy gear, some were low cadence/big gear, and some were a serious of 15 sec full on/15 sec easy spin the whole way up.

I'm really liking these hill interval workouts, but here's something weird: I generate much higher average wattage using my left leg one-leg-only drills for the entire way up GF Park then I do using both legs. However, wattage shouldn't be the only measurement to consider. Time and speed are more important, and fortunately, my times/speeds are much faster using both legs.

So this week, I've been tapering, and taking it easy on Thrasher Race Days.

Learning to take Recovery Days

2008-03-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

After Monday's ride I was pretty tired and my legs really felt the effort. Not sure if I really planned going hard on Monday, but maybe subconsciously I did since I knew I wasn't going to be able to ride on Tuesday. Not riding Tuesday was actually a very good learning experience, because it allowed me to get a good recovery for the weekly Thrasher Sufferfest known as the Wed Hill Ride.

I was well rested heading into the Hill Ride and was planning on testing my legs out to see what kind of sustained climbing efforts I could do. I didn't want to hold back, I was planning on going all out.

The pace leading to MntGate was not too bad and I was able to keep my HR at a low level. As I rounded the turn in first position, I stayed in my big ring and picked the pace up a bit as we started the climb. Shortly after, I stood up to keep the tempo high but not so high that I would blow up. No one came around and I decided to go harder. As we neared the top, I sat up a bit and spun the rest of the way. I stayed out solo for the next roller, but started to feel like if I stayed at the front pushing the pace, I'd pop later in the ride, so I slowed up and let the others come through. I sat in through the rest of the Potomac neighborhood, although, I think I might have taken one more hard pull up one of the rollers.

I sat in along MacA allowing my HR to fall back down. As we started the climb, I moved to the front and led group up. I again kept the pace high and stayed in my big ring. I stood and increased the tempo. I lead through the first roller, and then let Randy pull through so I could sit on his wheel. Towards the top, I pushed the tempo again and led over the top and down into the GFPark.

Coming up out of the Park, I accelerated up through the steep section and then jumped back onto the train as they pulled through. I sat in the rest of the way out of GFPark.

I was able to get a good recovery coming down Anglers, and we kept the pace high along MacA as we sped towards Brickyard.

I sat in leading up to Brickyard, but went hard in my big ring as we entered the steep section. My legs felt good, but man, I die when I crest and it takes about 5 secs to just let my legs cool off and I can catch my breath again. This is usually the spot that I sometimes allow too much gap cresting the top and then get dropped. Today, I felt really good as Randy and I kept going.

The rest of the ride, I tried to conserve energy and push the pace when I needed.

This was a really good ride, and I'm really happy with my conditioning at this point in time.

EZ Monday Thrasher Ride

2008-03-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

For those that are brave enough to do the daily lunchtime Thrasher Ride, and there are only a handful of you brave ones out there, today was the typical EPIC EZ ride. It's a Monday and usually an EZ day, but hey, we're all old school, which means "what's an EZ day?".

Here's the email I sent to Randy earlier in the day.

Not sure I can make it out today. It's a bit too warm, and sunny. Not sure I can handle riding in weather that's not in the 30F range.

only joking. I'm looking for an EZ recovery ride. Went pretty hard this weekend.

Sat: did 15 intervals of 4-7min in length (Mass, MacA, Anglers, GFPark). 10 of these were up GFPark.

Sun: BP shop ride
Legs are fried.

Well, here's a compilation of emails I sent out after the ride.

Great ride today. My early morning intentions were to go EZ today, but with the lack of winter wear, temps in the low 60's and with the warm wind in my face, my legs felt good and EZ was no longer in my vocabulary. I took some long hard pulls along Bradley and through Potomac.I felt good and my legs felt great.

That was until we got onto Clara Barton and our efforts dramatically increased. Each pull started hurting more each time. And then as Joe popped up one of the inclines......Jay took off and developed a good gap that wasn't shrinking.

Randy, Ad, Paul and I slowly got organized and started pulling him back but we really weren't gaining any ground. On the last downhill section before the flat run to the turn off Clara Barton, I was sitting second wheel behind Ad and we were probably a good 400 meters behind Jay. I was thinking about all the times I sat on Ad's wheel and let him pull me around and I said "I think I need to pull my weight today and pull us back to Jay". As I passed Ad, I said "I'm going to pull as hard as I can for as long as I can". And, I put in a major effort to pull us back to Jay. Although it felt like a 2 minute effort at 30+MPH, in realty it was only about 20 secs at L11 (yes, like Spinal Tap, I have an L11). I think we got to a hundred feet of Jay before I popped. I really wanted to pull all the way, but I was at my limit, and there was an ever so slight rise in the road, and my mind said "time to shut down". I went for as long as I could and as hard as I could. I pulled over and with a flick of the elbow, Randy, Ad and Paul went past me. I had nothing left and I didn't even think about trying to jump back on their line. So I watched them catch Jay and pass him like he was standing still.

As they say, I left it all out on the road.

As I was noodling along, Joe caught up to me and then we merged with Brian, who had skipped CB thinking it would take too long, just as we turned onto Goldsboro. Brian was pretty surprised that we had done Clara Barton and caught up to him. I pulled really hard after the Mass light, and we were just coming up the last rise before River when the light turned green. I just didn't have a lot left to try and jump to make the light. Plus, my legs were fried.

Wed Hill Ride: I get the dummy award

2008-02-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

In attendance for the Wed Thrasher Hill Ride were Ad, Paul, Randy, Simon, Jay, Bill, James, Josh, George and James. (hope I didnt' forget anyone). It was a big group with plenty of climbing firepower.

My legs felt kinda funny because I put on a new saddle last night, and I positioned the seat a tiny bit farther back and a tiny bit higher than my previous position. I'm talking mm's but these kind of changes can have big effects on body and leg angulation. The position felt good last night when I rode the trainer. I was able to get a better extension but still allow for my heel to drop a bit as I pulled through the bottom of the peddle stroke. My only concern was that my upper body felt a little too stretched out.

I took a couple spins on my street before heading out to meet the group just to make sure I didn't need to make any adjustments. There is nothing worse than changing something on your bike and then pulling a muscle or ligament. My only concern was still being too stretched out, but I could live with it for one ride. At least I was not feeling anything terribly wrong in my legs.

I met the group along Bradley, and we headed out towards MacArthur. We picked the pace up about a mile before making the right onto Mnt Gate. No one really attacked hard, and we went up as a group. I sat on Simon's wheel up MG, and was breathing pretty hard as we crested. The pace was hard but not killer through the Potomac neighborhood and I was able to get my breathing back under control. It also helped just sitting on Simon's wheel.

As we approached Anglers, Josh took off, and I think Jay was on his wheel. No one else went with them. About half way up the lower steep section, Simon picked his pace up as he passed George and Ad. Since neither reacted, I jumped hard to get on Simon's wheel and stayed on his wheel just before the short steep section about half way up. By this time Jay had popped off Josh's wheel, and we passed him. Simon pulled over to let me through, but I was just hanging on for dear life and followed his wheel as he pulled to the left. He juked back to the right when I didn't pull through and he picked his cadence up and was gone it a flash. I popped, sat up, caught my breath with just enough time to jump back on the group of Randy, Paul, Ad, Jay, Bill and George. I stayed with them the rest of the way up Anglers, down into the Park and out of the Park. Towards the bottom of Anglers, someone hit it hard as we got back onto flat section and the pace was pretty high as we headed towards Brickyard.

Brickyard was all out. I crested with Ad and I think Jay or Randy, while the others were just behind us. The ride through Potomac hurt as my legs were pretty tired and my lungs were screaming. Not sure if it was the cold temps, but I found it very hard to get deep breaths.

The rest of the ride was a blur as we went up Eggert, and then eventually up Goldsboro.

I'm still concerned about my saddle position, and I might take one more ride before making some slight changes: slide the seat forward just a tad to start.

You must be asking now "why do I get the dummy award"? Because I thought I could go with Simon up Anglers. That dude is on a different planet when it comes to climbing. (and on the flats)

My new super hero: Jesse

2008-02-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

Jesse is my new favorite super hero rider.

Anyone that says he doesn't ride during the week, and then comes out for training races, only to win is a hero in my book.

Well, maybe he's the super hero of the training race world. Let's see what Super Jesse has in store when the races really count.

A Hilly Weekend

2008-02-26T13:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday
With the Fri overnight weather forecasted for rain and temps below freezing, I bailed on the idea of doing the 7am and the 10am ride. I've seen too many sketchy slides on black ice to warrant an early morning ride. So, I headed out about mid day with a plan on doing 4-8min intervals on the flats and hills. I did an interval up MassAve, two intervals along MacArthur, one up Anglers, 6 intervals up GFPark, and a finally interval up MntGate. While doing the GFPark intervals, I worked on maintaining a steady cadence, some intervals I used the big ring and cadence around 75, and other times the small ring with a cadence 95+. All in all it was a good tempo workout.

Sunday
My legs were pretty sore from the day before. I got to the BP Shop ride as they were coming down Goldsboro before River Rd. I moved my way to the front for Mass climb and went hard towards the bottom to midway and sat up. KevinY and Russ were coming up on the left side, so I jumped on Russ's wheel. The pace was not blistering but pretty good. We crested and made the right onto Sangamore. The paceline picked up along Sangamore but as we made the right onto MacArthur a bunch of stopped cars slowed us up and gaps were created as the line slipped through the cars. The gaps widen as the front riders really stepped on the gas and didn't let up. I had to jump around at least 3 big gaps as riders were popping. By the time we made the left onto ClaraBarton, there were maybe 20 riders. The pace along CB was pretty high, but not blistering and I was trying to sit in and recover from the effort along MacA. About 15 riders made the right hand turn towards Mnt Gate. Gaps formed through the turns in the neighborhood, and I got caught going too slow through one of them and that was all it took to say goodbye. I took my time the rest of the way to Anglers with KevinY. We went up Anglers together at a good clip.

The rest of the ride, my legs were hurting from Sat's intervals.

Great weekend of riding.

4 Hard Days

2008-02-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

The past four days I've gone hard.

On Sunday I did the BP Shop A Ride from Mass to GF Park, once out of the Park I sat up and let the A group go since I wanted to do some solo TT work. I eventually road up on Yoav near Kentsdale, and decided to ride with him out towards Poolesville. We kept a good steady tempo going and talked the entire time. At one point along Piney Meeting we almost got run off the road by some Asshole. I'm not really sure why cars feel the need to slam on their brakes after passing cyclists, but its happening a lot lately and time is only running out before someone locally gets hit and hurt badly. Should we start packing heat when we ride for protection?

On Monday, I did the usually Thrasher Ride. I had all intentions of going easy but with temps in the mid/upper 50's, and not having to wear the normal cold weather gear, my legs felt great and I felt like going hard. So I did.

On Tuesday, we went hard again.

On Weds, of course we went hard, its Hill Day. MntGate, Anglers, GF Park, Brickyard, Eggert, Goldsboro. But after going hard the previous days, I definitely started feeling the lack of snap in my legs. I normally go too hard early in the ride, and wind up popping someplace along the way. So, I stayed conservative throughout the ride, and was able to stay with the group the entire way, although at times, my legs were definitely screaming.

Today, was finally a recovery ride as I surfed the end of our group and took maybe 2-3 pulls the entire ride. I could definitely feel fatigue in my legs when I had to put in any kind of effort.

My TSB is -15 and my body is definitely telling me its time for some recovery rides. I don't think we'll be able to ride outside tomorrow, and we'll have to wait to see about this weekend.

Skyline with a Speeder

2008-02-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I changed my normal routine and went to Skyline with Kyle Jones (Evolution). I've been doing a lot of high intensity miles lately that are relatively short in duration, usually 1-2 hours, and I really wanted to do some long climbs. So, when I read that Kyle was heading to Skyline, I decided to join him. Although, I was pretty apprehensive since he's been doing a lot of long base miles this winter and I really didn't want to ride hard.

We met at the base before the Ranger Station gate and headed out towards Front Royal for a 1o minute warm up before heading up Skyline. The day was chilly but not too cold and not too windy. It was a perfect day for doing long climbs. The first mile or so we kept a pretty easy tempo and talked the entire way. My legs were not really warmed up and they were feeling a bit heavy. We made a pit stop at Dickey Ridge and then continued on our way. My legs started loosening up and on the next climb, I picked the tempo up a tad but didn't want to go too hard. I was able to keep my HR below 155 the entire day. We got to Hogsback in just about 2 hours, and after a short rest for liquids and food, we headed back to the car. Amazing that it only took us an hour to get back down to the car. Kyle was flying down the descents while I was a bit more cautious since there were a ton of peebles on the road and I was feeling kinda sketchy.

The 3 hour ride was excellent. Good steady tempo with not a lot of intensity.

On the way back we stopped at Linden Vineyards. I wanted to buy a case of wine and show Kyle the place so he could take his wife.

After departing the Vineyard, Kyle headed off towards Rt66 and was gone in a flash. I was taking my time since there were a lot of cops around. As I neared Manassas, I saw a car pulled over and realized it was Kyle. He didn't look too happy, so I called his cell phone to cheer him up.

3 hrs of riding Skyline
Wine Tasting at Linden
Seeing Kyle pulled over for speeding.
Priceless

Weekend of Long Rides and Gail Force Winds

2008-02-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Saturday

Was about 15 sec late getting to the intersection of River and Goldsboro. The 7am ride was just going across River Rd as I was coming over the hill on River. Ugh. Even though I wasn't really warmed up yet, I had to put in a big effort to latch onto the tail end before they turned up Mass. My HR was higher than I wanted, but I was able to keep pace as we headed up Mass. Going down Sangamore was fast and as we turned on the MacArthur the pace kicked up super fast for the next mile. Being at the back I could see lots of gaps forming, and the group starting to splinter. Randy was leading one of the splinter groups, but no one was pulling through. I made my way up to help out, but my legs still weren't completely warmed up and we weren't able to bridge back up to the front group. Our groupetto of about 15 riders rolled along CB at a steady pace, but no where near what the front group was doing. We went up Anglers pretty hard, but went pretty slow down into the park. We kept a good steady pace coming out of the park.

I went with a large group of DC Velo riders out towards Poolesville, but only a handful of us kept going to Sugarloaf (Jason, Ryan, Shannon, Nick, Steve from Coppi, and TomH). We kept a pretty calm tempo on the way out, and my legs never felt like they loosened up at this pace. As we got close to Sugarloaf, TomH took off and Shannon pursued. Nick then took off and I sat on his wheel as we went up and down the rollers before the big climb. My legs felt really heavy and my HR was up there as I got to the base of Sugarloaf. I tried keeping pace with Jason but my legs felt like cement, so I rode at my own pace.

On the way back, Nick wasn't feeling too good, and started bonking big time as we neared the turn onto River. I remember riding past him and he looked so pale, almost like a ghost. I think I'll re-name him Agent Casper.

The 10am ride was coming through and a couple (Jason, Shannon, Tom) of us latched on. The pace was much faster and required a lot more high intensity efforts, and my legs started feeling a lot better. Although I could feel some signs of cramping especially when standing.

Total for the day was about 90 miles.

Sunday
Since the weather dudes were saying how crappy it was going to be on Sunday morning, I decided to imbibe in a lot of wine during our Sat evening dinner party. I woke up Sunday around 11am and felt like crap, not really hung over, but feeling really tired. After getting all the usually feline feeding chores done, I started thinking about heading out for a solo L2 ride.

Around 1:30, I headed down to Haines Pt via MacArthur, and Georgetown. Since I was riding with a tail wind I really couldn't feel how gusty it was, but once I got past G'town and along the path next to the Potomac, I started feeling the gusts coming from the side. It was F'ing windy and at one point as I about to go under one of the underpasses, a gust of wind catapulted me into the guard railing. Fortunately, I had slowed down before this happened, but not enough to prevent my crash. I bent the crap out of my handlebars, but was able to twist them back into alignment. Small paint scratch on the front fork, but you really can't see it. After this, I was pretty cautious as I faught the gusts to HP.

Once at HP, the MD/DC side was super fast with a tailwind but as soon as you started going through the corner near the Awakening the wind was no longer a tail wind, and you were fighting for your life to stay upright. I've never felt winds this strong but it provided great tension training. I think I averaged only about 14-15 MPH on the VA side without going into red zone. I definitely could have pushed harder if I wanted. I only did three laps, before staring my way home.

Now I was riding into a roaring headwind along the Potomac and a couple times had to stop to allow some of the gusts to subside. As I got to G'town, I thought going up the bike path would be less windy than MacArthur and decided to take the path. It was like a wind tunnel, and I crept along at a modest 15-17 MPH.

All in all, the Sunday ride was 2.5 hours at an easy pace.
Just what I needed.

7am and 10am: Felt good

2008-02-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Did the 7am and 10am ride today and felt pretty good but need to increase my training intensity. Over the coming weeks, I'll be doing more intervals on GFPark, Angler and Mnt Gate. And, work on changing the pace: ie accelerations.

Lots of black ice on the 7am ride was making me nervous. Couple riders went down. Lots of stupid drivers out there today. Legs felt good.

Wasn't going to do the 10am, but decided to go to the end of Tuckerman. Felt good, so stayed with the group to Travilah Store, but had to pee really bad so I stopped. Headed over to River and headed north to meet the group as they were coming south. I turned around and road back with the group along River. Legs still felt good, had a bit of snap left without any signs of cramping.

OK, here are some power #s
(NOTE: this is only for Adam, since he's only a "dude cyclist" these days, and not the feared Cat1 of yesterday. Rumor has it he got downgraded to Cat2 for this season.)

All other competitors please skip 0ver this vital information.

Ride Time: 4hr:14min
1704 kJ
TSS 251.8
NP 163 (entire ride)

7am
681 kJ
TSS 105
NP 173

10am
651 kJ
TSS 99
NP 174

NOTE: keep in mind that these #s will seem low to most riders that weigh 200+ (like Kyle), but I only weigh 110 lbs, and have a huge power/wgt ratio.

Now, this is some great science

2008-01-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

In the current issue of Wine Spectator.

"Red wines made from Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Shiraz make for potent bacteria killers, according to recent research."

"Not all varieties were found to be helpful, but those that were did not destroy useful probiotic bacteria, such as those that aid in digestion"

"the drier the wines, the higher the acidity and levels of polyphenols"

"These polyphenols are believed to be the main compounds responsible for killing the pathogens"

WWJVD: After today, I'd tell him to go F'himself

2008-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks, other bloggers have posted their comments on "what would Jen Voight Do (WWJVD?) when questioned about how hard to train, where to train, in what conditions to train in... etc.

Well, after today's ride in the rain, in 40F temps, I'd tell JV to go F' himself. Today's ride was the coldest, harshest conditions I've ever experienced. I'd take dry temps below 20F any day after riding for an hour in the rain. Plus, JV gets paid big bucks for riding in all conditions. What do I get?

OK, granted I was not dressed for rain since our esteemed weatherchannel.com wasn't calling for ran until after 2pm today. So, I dressed for dry temps in the 40's. I don't know if I would've been warmer in my winter windx jacket, kick ass Assos winter tights and winter lobster claw gloves. But, I'm sure it didn't help wearing knee warmers, bibs, long sleeve jersey, wind vest, wind breaker and two pairs of cotton gloves. Dry temps in the 40's I would have been perfectly protected and ventilated. But, with the downpour we rode in today, I was an igloo.

After the ride I sent out the following email to my fellow riders; Randy, Paul and Harry.

"Ok, now that I'm thawed out and can use my fingers again. Why is it that we road today in 40F and rain? Oh, yeah, that's right our motto is "What would Jens Voight do?" Well, here's what I have to say about that "F... Jens, he's get paid big bucks to ride"

But, I should have really read a previous email from a couple weeks ago, I had sent out to the Thrasher riders;

"We don't take any performance enhancement substances."

"We get strong cuz we train hard.

We train in all weather conditions.

We train all year round.

We don't take vacations because this would ruin our fitness.
You'll never hear us say it's "too cold" or "too wet" or "there's snow on the ground".
We train because we can."

OK, I'll take my skirt off now and I won't complain again of being cold and wet

Good Weekend of Tempo

2008-01-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

Sat 7am Ride.
For once, I was up early and ready for the 7am ride, although getting up at 5:15am is way too early. Since I was really early, I rode Mass twice and then caught the ride coming down Sangamore. Clara Barton wasn't too bad, but once we got back onto MacArthur Agent Hulk (AKA Agent PromoNight Party Guy) and Josh set a pretty wicked pace of 27-18 MPH before we started up Anglers. Lots of folks were commenting on the up tempo set before the climb. Any how, I just missed the main group breaking away about halfway up Anglers and I was in a the second group of about 5 riders. I was thinking about trying to bridge up, but I'm not really ready yet this time of year to but in major efforts. Our little group stayed together going down GF Park, and we were maybe 15 seconds behind the lead group. We stayed together almost the entire way out of the park, I was trying to maintain a constant output. I attacked near the VFW Bldg, and went hard up the last section coming out of the park and was first. The rest of the ride was at a good tempo.

Sun (Missed the BP Shop Ride)
My nephew, Jess, was down from NJ for for hockey games on Sat and Sun. I got up at 6:50 to go to his 7am game at Rockville. Got there around 7:25. Game was about halfway through. Got to see Jess score a goal (althought, puck never completely crossed the goal line, I was right behind the goal, and had the perfect view).
I was finally able to get out on the road about 1pm. My plan was to do some 4-8m intervals at threshold, but was undecided about going to HP or GF Park. I decided on GF Park since its closer and I can get some good hill intervals in. My plan was to the following intervals: up Mass Ave, two intervals on MacArthur, up Anglers and then several intervlas up GF Park. The intervals along MacArthur hurt since these were into a stiff headwind. I also saw a bunch of teams out riding south of MacArthur. And, I think I saw Jessie on his new bike. I wound up doing 5 intervals on GF Park and two intervals on Mnt Gate. I did these in my small ring and tried spinning as high a cadence as I could. My speed wasn't as high as I know I can go, but because I was spinning, they really hurt.

On the way home, I stopped at the gym for a quick core workout.

Where's Randy?

2008-01-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Did the Thrasher ride today, sans Randy. Where were you today?

It was a pretty large group, maybe about 12 riders. Shout out to some local talent that braved the cold and joined us; Greg Vadas and the Wrob. Good to see you guys on the ride.

I lost track of time cleaning up and re-0rganizing my basement this morning and almost missed the ride. At 12:17, I quickly changed into my cold weather gear, which includes my bad-ass Assos winter tights, and I was out the door by 12:29. I headed straight out Burning Tree and a right on to Bradley until I saw the group coming the other way.

The ride was pretty tame along Bradley, although Harry took his obligatory hard pull and upped the pace as we neared Seven Locks. My legs were feeling really good after taking a rest day on Sunday so I set a good tempo up the short steep section on Kentsdale. The rest of the ride was at a good tempo through Potomac and along Oaklyn. I went hard on the last uphill before Falls Rd and then kept tempo until the stop sign. Legs felt really good.

I was pretty tapped out along Clara Barton, just never felt like I was getting a good recovery after my pull. I drafted in the back for the last section before making our left hand turn to get back on to MacArthur. My legs were just feeling pretty heavy, and hard to turn them over.

Greg Vadas and I did another lap, although at a slower pace, and we also made a trip down and up GF Park.

Even though the temps were in the 20's, if you wear the right stuff, it's not that cold.

A Rare Day Off

2008-01-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

I took a rare day off the bike on Sunday and went hiking with Justina and friends at Sky Meadows State Park (VA). And, of course, we stopped off at some of the regional wineries for some tastings.

Sky Meadows State Park

After parking, we were standing around, the wind was howling and with the temps in the 20's, it was really cold. I was all bundled up in my down parka and kept warm.

We took the North Ridge Trail up and to the right from the parking area. The hike up through the meadow was steep, and exposed to the wind. After about 5 minutes I was heating up and took my parka off. Key to winter hiking is modulating your body temp so that you dont' start sweating. Getting wet is your enemy. I was able to stay warm just by hiking up this steeper section. In about 20 minutes, we stopped at these benches for a quick group photo.

We continued hiking along the North Ridge Trail up and down through the woods for another maybe 1.5 miles. We connected onto the South Ridge Trail for our return trip, which was mostly downhill. What a great place to hike, and if you love running trails, this would be a great place to run.

Fox Meadow Winery

After our hike, we headed to Fox Meadow Winery and tasted their wines. Lots of fun tasting and eating cheese and crackers over our favorite bottle. Wines were good. There was a loud, drunk group of 50+ers, and they were really annoying.

I took this pic from their balcony patio.

Linden Vineyards
"Linden Vineyards is a reflection of this… simple, tranquil, and thoughtful. Linden is a place where people can taste and learn about wines, and engage in conversation in a quiet, beautiful setting."

Our last stop was Linden Vineyards, one of our favorites. They have the best view and some of the best wines. We have many older vintages dating back to the early 90's in our cellar. And, we've always been impressed with their tasting room, wines and overall ambiance. Unfortunately, we've not been their in a while, and they've posted some rules, which I'm really glad they did in order to maintain the small, quaint, relaxing atmosphere. Not sure how many of you have gone to wineries for a tasting and there are huge bus loads, lots of noisy drunks. Not a lot of fun.

I'm really glad they've posted these rules in order to maintain the "zen like" atmosphere:
What we do not do at Linden:

In order to keep Linden small, focused, peaceful and in harmony with farming and our community, we have limited activities that are commonly associated with other wineries. I hope that you understand and respect our reasons for this. We are unable to accommodate:

any groups larger than six people
limousines or buses
parties (weddings, birthdays, showers)

In keeping with our “quiet and calm” philosophy, beginning in 2008, on the weekends, our deck and grounds will only be available to members of our case club. We would be happy to recommend other neighboring wineries that have an open policy on their deck and grounds.

Turning 45

2008-01-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

Today is my BDay. Happy BDay to me. Hurray for me. I turned 45. Shit, seems like yesterday I was in my 20's living large backpacking throughout Europe. I really need to convert my old 35mm slides to digital so I can post them.

It was really cool seeing all the snow today.

My wife cooked a great Italian dinner and my friend, Bob came over. We had a great time, and Bob gave us a slide show of his Croatia and Greece sailing trips.

Enough life stuff, what have I been doing training wise?

Yesterday, the Hill Ride kicked my ass. I felt good until about half way coming out of GF Park. My legs just never loosened up and I finally popped trying to stay with the group led by NickB and Simon. I still had a lot of fatigue in my legs after my heavy leg workout on Monday. I'm hoping all these winter leg workouts improve my strength later in the season, because right now, I really feel the after affects for up to 3 days, and they sure make my legs feel heavy when I ride.

Today: I went to the gym, rode the trainer and then a high rep/med weight leg workout.

Trainer:
10 min warmup
5 min @ 205W
4 min easy spin
5 min interval (2min @ 315W, 3 min @ 205)
5 min easy spin
5 min interval (1min @ 425W, 1 min @ 325, 3 min @ 245)
3 min easy spin

Legs Extensions
2x 30 reps @ 50 lbs
2x 25 reps @ 70 lbs

Leg Curls
2x 30 reps @ 40lbs
2x 25 reps @ 60 lbs

Leg Presses
30 reps @ 170lbs
25 reps @ 210lbs
20 reps @ 250 lbs

What I was

2008-01-12T19:31:00.001-08:00

This is was taken during a company awards trip to Jamaica in 2004. Definitely before I started cycling. I probably weighed about 148.

133

2008-01-12T19:03:00.000-08:00

I've not been on a scale in a couple of weeks and I was thinking I'd be about 138. But tonight, after awesome sushi, a couple small bottles of sake, a bath drinking prosecco, I jumped on the scale and I was 133. I'm pretty psyched since I've not really started working the diet yet. You know watching what you you eat. So far, I've been eating cake/cookies and drinking wine or Gin N Tonics every night.

I was shooting for 130 for the season, which is what I raced at last year, but now I'm thinking I could go sub 130. Although probably not as low as 125.

So, there's no excuse for not doing MntGate tomorrow.

10AM Ride: Am I hallucinating?

2008-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

I was going to do the 7am ride this morning but when my alarm went off at 6am, my head went back to sleep until 8am. Change in plans, looks like I'm doing the 10am ride.

Got the cats fed, got some food in me, got dressed and out of the house by 9:45. I started riding towards the corner of Old Georgetown and Tuckerman. Reverse the route until the 10am ride comes through. Around 10:15 a group of 15 riders comes by and I'm thinking this is the 10am ride, but didn't see the usually riders, so I kept going. Eventually, about 40 riders decked out in team kits (Harley, Rt1, Artemis, etc) comes through and I circle around and get in the pack along Beech Drive.

I'm feeling good, but this was to be short lived. The pace wasn't too bad along Tuckerman, but towards the end I was working too hard on the downhill sections, and I wasn't getting any recovery time. My heart was high and not coming down. By the time we turned onto Glen, I was feeling my legs. At this point a major break in the pack had occurred and the usually suspects up front were hammering it (Harley boys, Russ, NickB etc). All of a sudden there were now three groups, I wound up in the third group with a whole squad of Rt1 boys. We tried chasing down BryanV and a couple others along Esworthy, but we just didn't have enough firepower. My legs were also screaming at this point, and my HR was super high. After making the left onto Rt28 (?, at the top of Esworthy), we came upon Ad, who had some kind of mechanical, and a couple others helping Ad out. NickB had also turned around to help his old man out. NickB went hard, BryanV and Ad jumped on his wheel, Rt1 boys just let them go. I was late to react and stayed with the Rt1 boys. Cliff, another Rt1 guy and I were able to bridge up to BryanV, Ad, and some others before the left turn onto River Rd. There were maybe about 10 of us at this point, I was really tired and my legs were really feeling it. I think the rest of the way along River Rd was pretty much a blur, not sure if I started hallucinating, but I sure was hurting. I was basically in survival mode. At some pt, I was sitting #2 and #1 wanted me to pull through, and I didn't even have enough energy to say "I'm gassed, and I can't pull through". I just needed to try and recovery some energy. Eventually I did, and was able to take some pulls. BryanV and Ad pushed a really hard pace and at some pt they got a big gap on us and were eventually out of sight. I got to find out what Artemis is feeding their team. We eventually picked MikeEsmonde up along RiverRd after he dropped out of the front pack. His comment was "this is the hardest 10am ride I've been on".

The ride along Glen and Tuckerman was hard, and my legs were super spent.

Friday Day Off

2008-01-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Took the day off from riding today.
Spent some time this evening figuring out how to add a music widget onto my blog. So, let me know if you like listening to music while reading my blog.
I now need to figure out how I can create my own play lists from my iTunes library files. I've got some killer tunes.

HP

2008-01-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

Went down to Haines Pt instead of Randy's ride today for a change of pace. Wanted to get some longer intervals in and thought this would also be a good assessment of my conditioning. I was really happy with my strength and cardio. Never felt winded and my legs felt great. I tried staying in the front and was able to stay with the front group leading into the sprint on most laps. On one lap I started my sprint well before the first yellow sign and was able to maintain my speed to the second yellow sign. All in all, I was really pleased with my conditioning.

Flying Zebra

2008-01-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

What a day makes. Its amazing how only two days ago my legs felt like shit. Every pedaling rotation was painful, and I couldn't generate any power. I couldn't sustain any power, and I just felt like cement.

Well, today I would say the complete opposite was true. I felt like I had no chain. Not sure if it was the 60 weather or not having to wear winter clothes, but my legs felt great. I had good power and was able to sustain it.

A week ago, I told Randy that if it's in the 60's, I would wear my Zebra TT suit. I wore it today, and man, it's amazing how much faster you go. I felt like I was going 2-3 MPH faster than normal. Turning over the pedals felt effortless.

So, if you think you saw a zebra on the road today, that was me.

Solo Training Weekend

2008-01-06T16:28:00.001-08:00

Saturday: Late getting to the 10am ride, so I did it solo. Pretty painful when you know the normal speeds and you look down at your speed and see its about 5 MPH slower. But I guess I'm getting a better workout. My legs felt like cement, and they never really loosened up. Not sure if it was the cold or wearing winter leggings or what.

Sunday: with the rain overnight, I made an executive decision to wait for better weather in the afternoon. I headed down to Haines Pt to do 4 x 5-6min intervals at L4/L5. I'm finding holding a constant output difficult. When I get into a rhythm I can keep my speed constant but my power starts dropping off. It takes a lot of concentration to keep the power sort-of constant without big fluctuations. I'm either hammering too much power and then the power fades and then I hammer again to bring it back up. After these intervals, I did a couple of 10 min L3 intervals. Sure glad I waited to the afternoon to ride. What a beautiful day.

Almost forgot about my incident with the TonyHawk wannabes near the Awakening. I'm in the middle of my third interval and I'm busting a nut to stay in a zone. I'm rounding the bend and there are two retards trying to do tricks in the middle of the road. I'm yelling at them to get out of the road, and they couldn't hear me or I was coming on them too fast. Neither moved out of the way, so I flew in between them with a few choice Dick Cheney expressions. When I came around again, I was hoping they were still there and would say something to me. I was ready to drop the gloves. F'in a-holes.

On the home front. After our neighbors abandoned their cat when they moved out over a year ago, we took him in. He's pretty much an outdoor cat, but sleeps in my office at night. He goes crazy if we don't let him out during the day, so he pretty much comes and goes through my office window whenever he wants. About three months ago, he got into a fight and the puncture wounds developed some really bad infections. His face was all inflammed. He spent three days at the vets while his absesses drained. Our bill was about $700. A week ago he got into another scrap, and we had to take him back to the vets for the same treatments. And, another $700 bill. Man, at this rate, I'll never be able to buy a new bike.

Fixed Gear Training on a 10 spd

2008-01-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Great ride today. About 10 minutes into the ride, my rear dr wasn't shifting so I pulled over to tighten it up. After some adjustments, I realized the cable had broken up in the break hoods. I tied it around the knobby thing on the front tube and continued on my way. Unfortunately, I was stuck in my 12 for the rest of the ride. Since we went pretty slow it wasn't too bad. Sure felt like I was lifting weights.

I complimented the ride with my new post-ride meal: two huge pieces of cake. Yes, I was flying around on a sugar buzz the rest of the day.

Cycling can be really dangerous

2008-01-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

I frequently read Google's Wattage group and typically see the same folks posting messages. I'm not sure why I decided to go into Wattage Member Blogs today, maybe I wanted to check out other winter training regimes. I came upon this one, and it kinda disturbed me and made me really think about life, how fragile it can be and how we should embrace life as if each day is our last day. Life can be so precious.

The first one listed was "Alex's Cycle Blog - A journal covering my cycling exploits, training, racing and learnings, with a focus on training and racing with a power meter. More recently, I have been writing about my rehab from a serious injury." He responds to a lot of topics on the Wattage group, and is pretty knowledgeable about training with power. I started screening through his posting to learn more about his injury and if it were cycling related. And, here's what happened. Not sure what the lesson is, but we should all be more carefully out on the road. I totally cringe when I see my fellow cyclists run red lights, blast through stop signs, etc. I'm not sure how I'd react to an injury like this, but its really refreshing to read Alex's positive postings and to see that this is not derailing his cycling ambition.

Gettin’ Fat / What Happened?

http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html

"As I entered the car park, all was normal – quiet. I checked the traffic left and right on Fraters Ave. And Riverside Dr. and nothing was about. I’m usually pretty careful at this point as there are a number of potential hazards (speed humps, gravel, glass etc) on what looks a pretty straight little piece of road. I did nothing different today. I have been through here dozens and dozens of times over many years. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a boomgate, closed across the entrance to the car park appears right in front of me, and I mean with only a fraction of a second to spare. Crunch.

I hit it flush at speed, no time for braking or avoidance manoeuvres. The left leg, just below the knee took the full force and this impact caused all the damage. I wasn’t actually sure what part of my leg had broken at the time, I found out later in hospital: a fractured tibial plateau (the upper bulge section of the shin bone or tibia) – pretty well smashed into lots of fragments, a fractured fibula, a severed posterior tibial artery and severe damage to tissue and capiliaries of lower leg, leading to compartment syndrome and operations to graft in a new artery and a knee to ankle fasciotomy on both sides of my lower leg to deal with the severe nature of the inflammation. Multiple operations and many weeks of treatment later, the complications could not be resolved, too much flesh had died (almost all the lower leg muscle tissue bar the upper calf muscle) resulting in the need to amputate the now non-viable lower leg."

I'm totally LAME

2007-12-31T19:54:00.001-08:00

So it's 10:53pm on New Year's Eve, and I'm ready for bed. Justina and I went for sushi and sake for dinner. When we got home, we fed the cats and I fell asleep for maybe an hour. How lame is that? I remember when I use to stay out all night long drinking. But then again, I wasn't riding back then.

Here's to the end of 2007 and best wishes for great 2008. I wish everyone the best.

Good Weekend of Riding

2007-12-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

Fri Thrasher Ride was really hard. I really didn't have much left after the hard pace along ClaraBarton, and I pretty much sat in and hung on the back for the last quarter of CB. My legs really hurt when I got home.

Sat slept in until 10:30 and it felt great. Got up, fed the cats, and hung out til Justina got back from her workout at the gym. Around 12:30, I started getting ready for a good long ride and planned on doing intervals at Haines Pt. I wanted to see how hard I could push going up Mass, but after the Fri Thrasher ride, my legs were pretty fatigued, so I just cruised up in L5. I did 10 min intervals along MacA at about L4. I did one easy lap around HP, and then set my ergomo on intervals and started my first 2o min. About 5 min into the intervals I passed Agent Hulk, 15lbs heavier after his vacation and cruising at a leisurely pace. I told him I was doing a 20 min interval and he asked to sit in. I tried to push as hard as I could, but I definitely learned that if I pushed too hard, I would eventually have a power loss and would need to try and recovery, but still trying to push. With about 3 min to go, Nick passed me and I sat on his wheel until the last min, during which I tried to go as hard as I could. We then did a couple of laps at an endurance pace until we came upon Jose and Michelle. This was Jose's first day on the back after getting hit by a taxi and breaking his collarbone. I'm sure he'll be back in form by the start of the season.

Sun Shop Ride. Really late getting out of the house. Skipped Mass and caught the ride just as they were getting on MacA. Rode really hard along Clara Barton trying to stay with the Fungster. Pretty much killed myself, so I skipped Mnt Gate. Road down into the Park and really hard coming out of the top of the Park. Tried to stay on Adam's wheel the rest of the ride. Went with a small group down RockCreek for the extra 10. My legs were really feeling it, and I tried to push the last section on Ross as hard as I could until I finally popped. When I got home, I was completely spent, and slept with my cats watching TV most of the afternoon.

Ever try googling yourself?

2007-12-26T13:42:00.001-08:00

I've never heard of this computer game before, but then again I've never played computer games.

I am legend.

http://raymanzone.us.ubi.com/games.php

"In Raymans world, there once lived sweet little cute rabbits that were constantly victimised by more ferocious animals. One day, they disappeared from the Earths surface, secretly planning their massive invasion. Armed with enormous war machines, they have now returned to enslave Raymans world and get their final revenge!"

"These poor little creatures have become deceitful, uncontrollable and completely psychotic. Our hero and his friends have been kidnapped by these diabolical rodents and have become their slaves. Like a gladiator, Rayman must endure a series of trials for their amusement. But will he manage to gain enough popularity to save his world and his friends from this veritable Invasion of the Rabbids?"

Holy Crap!!! I even have a huge fansite: http://raymanzone.us.ubi.com/fansites.php

Weekly Training Update: 5 miles is not a training ride

2007-12-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

Monday: Do you know what it's like chasing Cat 1s,2s into a headwind? F'in hurts. Lungs are bursting, legs are screaming, HR is through the roof. Wait, I'm not even warmed up yet. Not fun. Especially when you know the speeds they are doing are 3-5 MPH faster. You slowly see them gain distance on the downhill rollers. You hope you can claw your way back on the uphill sections, where you normally go hard, but then you realize you have no energy left to push uphill. And, they quickly gain distance. Your last hope are the traffic lights. So you dig and bury yourself.

Was about 15 sec late hooking up with the ride, but putting out 300+W for a couple mins trying to catch them was just about killing me. I prayed for red lights to slow them up. I almost caught them as they crossed Seven Locks but the light turned red as I neared the intersection, and I did something I never do, I ran it (but I looked both ways). Harry slowed up for me but once I was on his wheel, he floored it and I wasn't really recovering sitting on his wheel, I was barely hanging on. I had nothing left to stay with the group as they went up the steep climb on Kentsdale. I normally hammer up this without a problem but after putting in a big effort for the last 10min, I was already in the red. I slowly watched them ride off in the distance as I tried to get my breathing under control. The rest of the ride was a solo recovery effort until I came upon Harry repairing his flat. I did the good team thing and stopped to help him.

Tuesday: Couldn't make it out, so I did about 1.5 hours on the trainer. About 10 1min intervals all out was really hard. I could hardly breath the last 15 secs, and my legs felt like they were going to fall off me. After these intervals, I tried doing some longer intervals but my legs were trashed.

Wednesday: Of course the Hill Ride. After the intervals the night before, I really didn't have a lot of energy to maintain the pace on the climbs, so I rode with Randy coming out of the GF Park. We skipped Brickyard, and did a half-assed attempt at riding up MntGate again, as we waited the guys to come down Mnt Gate. The rest of the ride was just an attempt to sit on wheels.

Thursday: Unlike Monday, I was on time and I met the group along Bradley. Unfortunately, I flatted early in the ride. F'in glass. Repaired the flat and took a route that would connect me back up with the ride someplace along MacArthur. So for about 15mins I tried holding a L4 output until I met up with the gang just before Brickyard. Reversed direction and jumped on their wheels. The rest of the way along MacArthur was a pretty strong pace, and I was just holding on after pushing L4 for 15min. My legs were starting to really burn and my turn in the front really hurt.

This was my second flat in less than a week, so tonight, I put my industrial strength wheels on and pray I don't get anymore flats. The problem is they weigh a ton and I always feel like I'm riding with a parachute on when I use them. So, I guess this will be great strength training. I better not get any more flats with them.

120+ miles on Saturday?

2007-12-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

Great ride on Saturday to Sugarloaf with a great group. I think most of us wanted to get a really big ride in before we got hit by the storm of the century. At least all the dopey weather folks were making it out to be a HUGE storm.

In attendance were DC Velo (Mark Sommers, Ken Young, Agent Mulder "AKA Agent Hulk", Shannon "I don't give a crap that all my Landon friends are going to Ivy League schools, I'm going where I want to." NCVC (Jason Meidhoff and Alex Butterfield). Brian Butts (harley). Larsten (unattached). I hope I didn't forget anyone. There were a bunch of really strong riders, but we stayed at a pretty slow tempo (L2) on our way out to Sugarloaf. But the tempo picked up a couple times as the young kids were trying to test us older guys. I rode up Sugarloaf with Ken at a pretty decent tempo as everyone else was content to take their time and spin. My legs were burning by the time we got to the first set of parking lots but we kept going until we got to the Port-a-johns at the top. If Ken had changed his pace, I'm not sure I could've stayed with him. Just a slight increase would have really put me over the edge. And, I'm not sure if I could've tried passing him.

The ride back was spirited with sections of fast riding. A couple times, the kids went hard and tried to escape, but we were diligent and never let them get to far away. I also learned never to slow up when you attack, because you'll need to have some speed going when you get caught. I almost got dropped at one point after jumping pretty hard and then slowing up. When the train went past at 30+mph and I'm doing in the low 20's, they were gone before I knew and had to work super hard to get back on the end. Fortunately, Shannon and Jason slowed up enough for me to catch their wheel and the three of us were able to catch back up.

Toward the end of the ride, Ken and I dropped the group (more like they just let us go) along Tuckerman and we went pretty hard until we got to Old G'town. It really felt good to let the legs open up.

Well as the title says "120+ miles on Saturday?" comes from hearing Agent Hulk claim he was going to ride 120 miles today before leaving for vacation. He wanted to get a really tough ride in so he could recover during his vacation. On the way back from Sugarloaf, he was complaining about how tired his legs were, and I said "you know, if you want to ride 120 miles today, you'll need to do another loop to Sugarloaf".

As Agent Hulk says "Muscle GRRR"

2007-12-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

Worked from my office today and had lots of conference calls talking about lots of issues. What a headache. So, by late in the afternoon I really needed a break and I started watching trance music videos on YouTube while answering emails and writing reports. That shit is the bomb and totally calmed me down.

Was going to ride the basement trainer and do some long L3/L4 intervals, but decided to go the gym with Justina. Rode the stupid stationary for 30 min (5min warm up and then 25min at 295W), thank god for cranking electronic/dance music on the iPod. Man, that shit hurts trying to hold that output for 25min. You feel the blood pump into your legs and your mind starts f'in with you saying "you can't hold it". So you concentrate, listen to the cranking tunes, shut the world out and just keep the legs turning. Before you know it, there is a puddle of sweat on the floor and your 25 min interval is over.

I just can't hold this sustained power output on the road. I'm either cranking out 400+W going up rollers, and then sub 100W on the downhill. I should really concentrate when I'm riding solo to try and hold a set output.

Afterwards, I did 6 sets of leg extensions (maxing out at 130lbsx8reps), 5 sets of leg curls (maxing out at 90lbsx8reps), 2 sets of hack squats (measly 145 lbs, back felt like it was being compressed), and 7 sets of leg presses (maxing out at 350lbsx5reps).

These winter workouts are definitely different from what I did last year, so I hope it helps come start of race season. Last winter, I didn't do as much leg work and I certainly didn't do 20-25min L4/L5 workouts. I'm trying to do a lot more long intervals to build my cardio foundation.

Hump Day

2007-12-12T14:18:00.001-08:00

Can't believe its Weds already. Yeah, hump day. Work is kicking my ass. Didn't get to sleep last night until 3am, working on a business plan. That's the dilemma we sales reps have this time of year when you work for a public company. "bring in every last dollar you can before the end of the year".

So lets recap this weeks training.

Monday: rode outside about 25 miles, not too hard, not too easy. Recovery ride. Went to gym and did a really heavy leg workout.

Tuesday: rode the trainer for 45 minutes at L2/L3. Went to Raku for dinner with Justina and ran into Johan outside Barnes and Noble. Good to see a fellow cyclist in their everyday lives.

Wednesday: did the Hill Ride, super hard today. We let Jay (Artemis) pull us up Angler, GF Park and Brickyard. Don't think I could've tried any attacks today. Strained a muscle in my back going up Brickyard.

Can't wait to watch WEC tonight. Should be a great card. Those of you reading my blog that don't watch mixed martial arts fighting should watch Vs. tonight. You'll see some of the most exciting action in the world.

When its Crappy Out, Ride the Trainer

2007-12-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, another crappy day, so I slept in late today. Might as well take advantage of days like this to sleep in since once the weather gets nicer I won't be able to sleep in.

Almost suited up to ride outside but decided to ride the trainer instead. My plan was to do some 20min intervals at 175-200W, some 30 sec intervals 400+W, some 30sec intervals where the first 15 secs were around 350W and then 15 secs 400+W, some longer intervals of 1min at 275W. With lots of recovery between each intervals. I think I wound up riding about 2 hours.

I'm really looking forward to getting outside again.

Finally Some Riding Weather that Doesn't Include Wet Rain

2007-12-08T14:58:00.001-08:00

What a crappy week this has been for training outside. I can't even remember what days I was able to get outside. Normally, I'd be able to look up my rides in Cycling Peaks, but my ergomo download cable finally broke last weekend, and I've not been able to download my power files. I think I was able to ride on Tuesday. I know I went to the gym on Monday and Thursday night and rode the stationary for 40 min at L3 and then did a heavy leg workout. I walked to Bethesda for dinner with Justina the night of the snow storm (well, not that I'd call it a storm).

So, this week has not been a great week for training, but I really needed a week like this to recovery. I was really tired during my rides last Sat and Sun, and really couldn't generate or sustain any power. My legs felt sluggish and heavy. I guess I needed this week to recovery.

Today, I slept in since I didn't want to ride on wet, cold roads. Good thing I waited til the afternoon because the sun was out and it was 45F. Road down to Haines Pt for some L3/L4 long intervals. My first one was mid L3 for 20 min and the second one was mid L4 for 20 min. On the way home I tried to push a high tempo along MacArthur. My legs were pretty tired by the end of the 2.5 hr ride.

At the corner of Sangamore and MacArthur I ran into two of the young bucks from the DC Velo squad: Shannon and Agent Mulder. They said they'd been riding for a couple hours, but I'm not sure since their bikes were awfully clean and they didn't seem to be sweating. I'd put money on it that they had their parents drop them off at that corner and they just hang out the rest of the day telling everyone how many miles they rode. Slackers.

Mark Your Calenders for Dec 12th: WEC

2007-12-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

MMA fight fans, mark your calender for WEC's Dec 12th Championship tripleheader live on Vs. For those of you that enjoy watching the lighter weight fighters, you'll see some of the baddest dudes around.

Urijah Faber vs Jeff Curan
Paulo Filho vs Chael Sonnen
Doug Marshall vs Ariel Gandulla
Jens Pulver vs Cub Swanson
John Alessio vs Todd Moore
Alex Karalexis vs Ed Ratcliff
Bryan Baker vs Eric Schambari

Cross Training: No riding, No weights

2007-12-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

Wed is normally the brutal Hill Ride, but with the snow on the roads there would be no riding outside today. So, my plan was to either hit the trainer in the basement while watching TV or go to the gym and do another heavy leg workout. I was starting to look forward to doing some long L3 intervals on the trainer since I find it really hard to maintain a constant power output with all the rollers in the area. I'm either cruising up hills in L6 or coasting downhill in L1.

Instead, Justina and I walked 3 miles into Bethesda to meet a friend for drinks and dinner at Black's. Its been a while since I walked a long distance in the snow and this was absolutely the most beautiful walk. It wasn't too cold since we kept up a pretty brisk pace. And, it really didn't take that long to get there, maybe 45 min?

After a couple of glasses of wine, oysters, gumbo, french fries, and an unbelievable chocolate cake dessert, we headed back home. Funny how the return trip always seems faster. It was a bit colder, but once we got going it wasn't too bad.

I can't wait for the next big snow storm.

EZ Ride turns into the Ride from Antartica

2007-12-01T19:41:00.001-08:00

So today's ride was supposed to be an easy recovery ride after a long week of hard rides and heavy legs. My plan was to hook up with the 7am ride and just sit in. I was running a bit late getting out of the house and thought I'd be able to catch the ride near Anglers. When I got to Anglers just before 8AM, there was no one in sight, so I headed off towards Democracy via Falls. I get to the corner of Sorrell and Democracy and start back tracking the route. I wound up doing a couple laps up and down Sorrell, still no ride. I'm thinking, man, they must be flying today and I've completely missed them or they are going really slow. Finally a dozen or DC Velo riders come along and I hook up with them. At this point, I'm completely freezing and I can't get warm. We ride the rest of the way back to Beech Drive at a very easy pace, and my hands are killing me. I'm usually pretty warm during rides, and the cold usually doesn't affect me, but today was a completely different story. I was freezing. My fingers were still tingling 8 hours after the ride. I need to get new gloves and winter tights.

Can you really get WIND BURN cycling?

2007-11-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

The supposed EZ Friday ride, turned out to be a hammer-fest. Present were Randy, Paul, Simon, Jay, Harry and myself. I really didn't want to go hard today, but that's the problem riding in a group of really strong riders. There is always at least one that wants to go hard or at least one that can turn it on and make everyone suffer.

I guess the only way to do an easy ride is to go SOLO.

Anyway, I just want everyone to know that I'm OK. I just got back from the emergency room, where I received treatment for WIND BURN. The ER team is going to write up a case study since they were completely amazed that one could get such a severe case of WIND BURN from riding a bicycle. They also replenished my electrolytes via IV and put me on oxygen. Now, if they'd only have hopped me up on some pain killers, I'd be ready for the weekend hammer-fest.

PS: only joking about the ER story but it sure makes great copy.
PSS: my legs are killing me right now

Weights and F'in Stationary Bike

2007-11-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

Wasn't able to get outside today, but went to the gym with Justina. My plan was to ride 2x20m intervals at Zone 3 on the stationary bike and then a heavy leg workout.

I really hate riding the bikes at the gym. I'm not sure why, but my knees always hurt and I'm deathly afraid of causing any knee strain that will nag me when I'm actually riding outside.

I warmed up for 10m at Zone1, and then increased my power to mid Zone 3 range for my first 20m interval. The one thing about riding a stationary is that its a lot easier to maintain consistent power output, which is extremely difficult to achieve outside. Outside you are always fighting the wind, the hills, and its real difficult to maintain a consistent output. So 20m at Zone3 was definitely starting to hurt. I could definitely feeling the blood flowing through my legs, and I was sweating like a pig.

I rested for about 3m and then started my 2nd 20m interval, but Justina was getting ready to leave, so I was only able to do a 10m interval but I increased the power output to the higher end of Zone3.

I completed my workout doing legs: single and double leg extensions, single and double legged curls and then leg presses.

Todays' Hill Ride

2007-11-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

Today's ride was pretty hard. My legs felt pretty tired after going hard everyday since Saturday and I really wasn't able to push them without thinking I'd pop. So, I stayed within myself, and didn't try to max out. This turned out to be good training in terms of holding back. I normally try to blast up the hills but find myself popping towards the end of the ride.

There were some heavy hitters today but fortunately for the rest of us they really didn't hammer too hard.

I'm getting better at climbing and learning the fine balance of not pushing too heavy a gear and not spinning too light of a gear. I'm working more and more to try pushing heavy gears and spinning light gears to determine what works best for me. Its amazing when you get it right how effortless it feels.

Great ride today.

Wed Hill Ride led by a Mutineer

2007-11-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

If you didn't do this ride, you missed a great ride.

Randy's morning email stated he wanted to do the regular ride instead of the usual Wed Hill Ride. But, as always the case with folks from the other side of the pond, Ad Bax led a mutiny and completely caused chaos within the peleton as we reached Newbridge. Normally we turn right, but Ad and his rebel rousing Hill climbers stayed straight. The rest of the group followed us but quickly turned around to head up Newbridge when they learned that those going straight would be doing the Hill Ride. So, we splintered into two groups today: Climbers and "Slackers" (I think I remember hearing Ad mention this term). The climbers consisted of the lead Mutineer Ad, his all-world son Nick, Paul, Jay, Bill and myself (and someone that normally is in the A.Fenty entourage).

We continued on Bradley and made a left on Persimmon Tree, and a right onto MacArthur, and was thus able to continue on the normal 5+ Hill Climb route. Making the right onto Mnt Gate, I was in the front and Ad kept egging me on to attack. About half way up, I attacked with Nick. He pulled through and I was able to stay on his wheel to the top. For the first time in a long time, my legs actually felt really good, and my cardio felt OK. Fortunately for me, Nick didn't keep the hammer down as we rolled through the neighborhood. The others caught us someplace in the rollers, and the 6 of us flew down Brickyard. We kept a pretty good tempo up Anglers, and down the park. Coming out the park, the tempo was still pretty good and no one was really attacking.

Now this is where it gets funny. We're all in a line coming up the stretch before the VWF and I'm thinking "OK my legs feel good, my breathing is under control, this is normally where Nick attacks. I'm going to show him and beat him to the punch". Well, Nick is pulling us and I'm sitting I think #2 letting him pull and hopefully getting tired. I think to me myself "Now is my time to attack", so I attack hard to the right shoulder. I'm giving all I have, almost popping a nut in the process and pooping in my shorts, and off on the left side I hear a freight train coming and it's Nick in full flight, legs spinning a hundred miles an hour. Needless to say, all I could do at this point was start laughing as he left me in the dust. I think I was laughing because it reminded me the one thing about cycling, and that is 'no matter how strong you think you are, or how good you are feeling at a particular moment, there is always someone riding right next to you that will kick your ass'. And I laughed the rest of the way up to the VWF.

The rest of the ride was fun. Nick and Jay got away coming over Brickyard. I stayed with Ad and Bill through the neighborhood, but Ad sneakily got a jump on Bill and myself as we made the left onto MacA. Ad was chasing down Nick and Jay, and I was sitting on Bill's wheel as he chased down Ad. I'm thinking this is great, Ad is busting a nut to catch Nick and Jay, and Bill is busting a nut to catch Ad. What am I doing? I'm just sitting in, doing no work almost the entire way along MacA before we turned up Eggert.

I'm telling you this was one of the best rides I've done in a long time. Probably because I'm getting my legs back after vacation and feel like I can test my boundries of endurance. During the past week or so, I've just been hanging on by a thread, just waiting for the rubber band to break. Today, I felt really good.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope everyone that reads my blog puts on at least 15 lbs during this holiday weekend.

Yin and Yang

2007-11-20T20:50:00.000-08:00

Here are two completely opposite activities I enjoy watching when I'm not riding my bike. I love going to the ballet, and I love watching MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting. There is nothing better then watching people dance as if they were tied to strings completely defying gravity. And, watching two guys try to kick the crap out of each other. You just have to be able to appreciate athletes performing at their best, whether they are dancers or fighters.

Better weekend of training

2007-11-19T12:27:00.000-08:00

Legs are starting to feel better after vacation in early October. The past couple of weeks, they've felt like lead, and my cardio wasn't up to speed either.

10AM Saturday Ride; Along Beech a Park Police lady yelled at us from the opposite side of the road to form a single line. Not many of the good did, so she turned around and tailed us. No one stopped for one of the stop signs, so she pulled about half the group over. A couple guys started arguing with her and it delayed us about 5 minutes. By the time we got to the end of Tuckerman, there were only 5 of us and we rode at a good tempo the rest of the ride. My legs felt pretty heavy throughout the ride, and I really wasn't recovering too quickly after a hard exertion. Although, my legs started feeling like they were opening up towards the end of the ride.

8:30am Bicycle Place Shop Ride. Wasn't too sure if we were going to be able to ride today, since the forecast was calling for showers mid morning. This turned out to be a false alarm and we almost had the sun come out. Clara Barton was pretty hard because I was either pulling hard or my legs still aren't ready for hard exertions yet. By the time we got to MacA, I was ready to turn left and skip Mnt Gate, but when I say BryanV turn right with the Mnt Gate group, there was no one I was going to skip it. I stayed in contact with the group as they crested MntGate and sat in through the neighborhood. At the bottom of Anglers, I was feeling pretty good, and started a hard acceleration, but got completely bogged down by a slower rider on the right, and had to come to a stop. Loosing all my momentum, I had to put in a really hard effort to re-engage the lead group. Unfortunately, my legs aren't back to full strength, and I bonked about half way up. The rest of the ride, I sat in and tried to conserve my energy.

Towards the end of the ride, Bryan and Super Dave got a big gap and I bridged up to them just before an 6-8 person crash occured. Thank god to my spidey sense. Bryan, SuperDave and I took good pulls down Beech and we went pretty hard along Ross. By the last roller on Ross, my legs were toast.

Great Sunday ride

Riding in the Wind and Rain

2007-11-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

Training Log Update;
Rode 45 miles in the wind and rain today. Temps weren't too bad, if you were a penguin. Didn't see any other riders out there.

Did some brutal intervals (5 x 7min @ VM, 5 x 3m @ AC). Legs are really burning but I'm heading to gym for a big dose of weights.

Winter Weight Training

2007-11-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

With lots of rainy weather in the forecast, I'm planning on a heavy dose of weight training over the next week with some L2 tempo workouts on the trainer. I'll focus primarily on doing heavy leg workouts, and some lighter weight upper body work to keep toned. Sorry, no specifics on the exact workouts I'll be doing just in case some of my competitors happen to read my blog. Don't want to give away my training secrets.

Back in the day, yeah that's what all the old timers say when they refer to their youth, I use to weight train all year round. I'd do four day rotations: Day 1 chest/back, Day 2 biceps/tripceps, Day 3 shoulders/legs and Day 4 would be a rest day. I did weights for strength and wasn't too concerned about putting lots of bulk on, not that I could. In '90 I entered a bench press competition, and was able to press 275 in the 132 lb class. I don't think I could press 132 lbs today. I trained primarily for hockey, which was my sport for most of my life. Well, at least from about age 5 to about 10 years ago.

I've always enjoyed being physically active. And have definitely found racing the hardest, most competitive sport I've ever competed in.

Ugly Weather means training in the basement

2007-11-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

Forecast for the weekend is rain and more rain, so it's looks like it'll be a weekend of basement training. A couple weeks ago, I rode the trainer, and it took a long time to get motivated. So, I'm hoping it won't take as much time this weekend.

I'll probably do a lot of 5-8 minute intervals at threshold. Maintaining a steady power output is so much easier on a trainer than outside. Need to continue building my cardio engine.

Will also go to the gym tomorrow and do lots of leg weights: extensions, curls, leg press, dead lifts. Workout will include my 15 min core workout. Or I might do the Sat morning pilates class. Need to get my core back in strength after the slack off over vacation.

Maybe Sunday will bring good weather and I'll be able to get outside.

Back from Tuscany

2007-10-24T15:03:00.001-07:00

After 16 days of doing nothing but eating and drinking a lot in Tuscany, I'm back. Actually, I returned on the 16th. I put on 10 lbs and I'm back to my normal steady state weight of 140. I spent most of the race season at 130.

I did the Thrasher Hill ride the next day after my return, and boy was I hurting. I can't believe how quickly you loose fitness/form. My legs hurt, my lungs hurt, my chest hurt, my neck hurt, my triceps hurt. My whole body just hurt. I completely popped half way up Anglers and just struggled to keep my legs turning the rest of the ride.

On Saturday I did the 10am ride and I felt much better then on Wed., but no where close to how I felt during the summer. I had no snap and my legs felt pretty heavy after high intensity.

On Sunday I did the Bicycle Place Shop "A" ride. Legs are starting to feel a lot better, but still need to work on the cardio.

So what's my plan for the rest of the fall and winter?

Keep the extra 10 lbs on, enjoy eating whatever I want.
Train through the winter at a heavier weight than my race weight.
Get my legs and cardio back into semi-good shape over the next couple of weeks.
Build a really strong cardio engine through the end of Dec.
Spend Jan and Feb cutting weight and start doing high-intensity workouts.

Fall Training Starts with Recovery and Getting Fat

2007-09-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

After a long race season starting with winter training and then 34 races from early March to mid Sept, I am finally taking a break from riding and training. This Saturday, Justina and I will be heading to Tuscany for two weeks vacation. This will be our fifth year staying at Villa Fontelunga (www.villafontelunga.com) and we will also be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary.

We fell in love with this region of Tuscany and really look forward to our return. It's very relaxing and we usually only go to our favorite towns: Sienna, Montepulciano, Montalcino, Cortona, Pienza, Orvieto. Maybe this year we'll visit some places we've not been to before. We also look forward to eating and drinking great food and wine.

I won't be riding at all except for an occasional ride on rusty old mountain bikes or the stationary bike at the gym. I plan on eating/drinking a lot of great Italian food/wine so I'll be returning fat and out of shape. The best way to start fall/winter training.

Murad: Waste of Time

2007-09-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

The Cat4 Murad RR sucked. What a waste of time. There were too many riders taking up too much space, not riding hard enough and no way to get around anyone. The pack would speed up going downhill and totally bunch up going up the rollers with no room to get around anyone. Event on the flatter sections, the pack stayed totally bunched up from centerline to curb. Officials weren't enforcing the center line rule and lots of riders would pass up the left side on the sections of road that didn't have a yellow line. A huge crash collected about 25 riders after the final turn due to extremely poor course management by the officials. An ambulance was parked in the left hand lane. They should have red flagged us along River Rd until the ambulance was cleared or at least neutralized us until we cleared the ambulance.

Anyway, he's a race summary.

Bryan Vaughn, Artemis, went down in the first turn after completing the first lap. I was in the back and was thinking about slowing up to help him back to the field since he was trying to win the BAR. When I saw Mike May drift back, I decided they had enough fire power to bridge back up and decided not to help.

The course was not selective at all, and the pace was never too fast. I rode in the back with the motorcycle guy and two other guys for the entire race. We pretty much talked the whole race. The erratic riders, and there were many of them, made me really nervous so I never ventured to the front. I was planning on trying to move up later in the race.

I sat on my teammate, Conor, wheel for the first couple of laps and he was looking good, but then all of a sudden he started loosing contact, let a gap form, got his nose in the wind and that was the kiss of death for him. I had to jump around him to stay in contact with the group. Actually had to make a couple jumps around riders as they started slipping off the back.

The final lap picked up a bit but wasn't too terrible fast, never felt like "oh my god, I'm going to die". Rounding the final corner the motorcycle alerted us in the back that there was an ambulance on the left side of the road attending to a Cat5 crash. I don't think the riders in the front were alerted to the ambulance, because as flew around the corner and started fanning out across the road, they had to bunch back up in order to get around the ambulance. About 15-20 riders down, but a group of about 15-20 riders got through clean with a big gap. This final K was probably the hardest part of the entire race. The wind dramatically picked up and even in a draft it was hard to keep pace. I sprinted around two riders, and just beat out another rider at the line. Yeah, how stupid was that, sprinting for 30th place? I have no idea where I finished.

All I know is I'm really sick of Cat 4 races. They are such a joke, too dangerous. Next year I'm only doing Masters races.

After the race, Fabrizio from ABRT got punched by someone from Coppi. How stupid is that?

Saturday Cramp Ride

2007-08-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

So how many other riders went out today and cramped up?

Man, this was the first ride this summer that I really started cramping up. Not sure if it was the heat, lack of recent high intensity rides, not enough water, or I just rode really hard.

Friday's Hard Hot Ride

2007-08-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

I did the Thrasher ride today with almost all BPVC members; Phil and Kevin Young, Harry Fang, Conor O'Brien. Also in attendance were DC Velo riders: Agent Mulder, back from kicking ass in Europe, and James. We were also joined by a rider that's been coming out lately, but I don't know his name. I'll refer to him as Big Red (he's really big and wears a red jersey).

We rode the typical route: Bradley, Kentsdale, Newbridge, River, Persimmon, Oaklyn, Falls. But today, we went down into the Park. We went hard along the Oaklyn rollers and I went really hard up the last hill before making the left on Falls. I think my lungs were about to burst. Coming out of the park, I sat on Harry's wheel. And for a "I'm only a sprinter", he set a pretty good pace. I was just waiting for him to slow up a bit but he never did.

The rest of the ride was kind of a blur. Not sure if it was the heat, lack of recent high intensity rides, trying to keep up with Kevin, trying to drop Conor, trying to make the sprinter Harry work on the hills, or just plain hard ride today. But, it felt great.

Grocery List of a Fellow Rider

2007-08-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what your fellow riders have on their grocery
lists or what they buy when they go grocery shopping?

Well, tonight I had the distinct pleasure of running into my evil-twin,
Scooter (AKA WWM?) at the Bethesda River Rd Whole Foods. Based on his
shopping cart items, I'm not really sure why he was there. As everyone
knows, you buy really nutritional stuff at WFs. Ya know, like all
kinds of really organic sh..t, the stuff you won't find at Giant or
Safeway.

Here's what I observed in his cart: gallon of chocolate swirl ice
cream, big bag of potato chips, chocolate chip cookies and cheese
puffs. I think there might have been some veggies, but I'm not sure
since I was blinded by all the other nutritional items.

Okay, okay, I'm only joking. But the funny thing is we both had a
cooked roasted chicken in our carts. Maybe we are twins?

RayMan

What was I thinking? Lessons learned

2007-08-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

WTF? What was I thinking? I would be shortly be OTB.

I've been riding with some really strong riders this summer, and I've learned a lot from them and gotten stronger in the process. Although, I still need to work on being "patient" and heeding PM's winning strategy of "manipulate whoever I'm with into doing more work".

So, on a recent Wed Hill Ride, I planned to practice this concept of "patience". The ride is usually a suffer-fest since all the riders are really strong climbers and it consists of 5 good climbs; Mnt Gate, Anglers, GFPark, Brickyard and Eggert. Note: I don't count Goldsboro since we usually do this at sub-warp speed.

Should have listened to Jay's advice during yesterday's ride: "sitting on your wheel will require great patience".

For about 85% of the ride, I sat in and didn't go hard on any of the climbs. I felt strong on Mnt Gate, Anglers, and GF Park, but my right hip was bothering me a bit. I've been having problems with it lately, and it's probably related to my back issues. After coming down Anglers, Jay goes screaming past everyone carrying a lot of momentum onto the flat section. Ad says "I'm not chasing him, he's on my team". So the three of us up front looked at each other and let him go. I was really tempted to go after him but kept hearing "be patient" ringing in my head. Then, I think, George goes hard on the left side followed by young Russ and then I jump on Russ's wheel. As we caught Jay about half way to Brickyard, we slowed up and that's when the evil gremlins started yelling in my ear (or maybe it was Paul whispering behind me) "don't slow up, go as hard as you can and you'll get a break away going". So I jumped hard and I felt really good, legs felt strong, HR under control. Not sure what kind of gap I had rounding the left on Brickyard, but about half way to the steep section I couldn't shift into my small ring and lost a bunch of momentum. Just about this time, the gremlins came back in my head yelling "sucker..., you should have listened to Jay". Next thing I know, the train led by Paul went storming past me and all I could do was watch as Paul hammered up the steep section putting everyone in his wake in deep trouble. I was OTB and hurting. I couldn't get any RPMs going and slowly drifted off the back.

So much for "being patient". I guess its not really that smart to attack before the steepest climb on the ride. But, the more I do this, the stronger I'll get and then one day, I'll be strong enough to stay away.

RayMan

"You look 20 lbs heavier"

2007-08-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

One of my kind team mates thought I looked 20 lbs heavier in my TT suit.

Here are my witty responses .....

"Just trying my best to look like Kemal."
"The horizontal stripes add weight."
"Unlike Clinton, I WAS inhaling (deeply) the moment the pic was taken."
"I was practicing my yoga belly breathing."
"I was blotted from too much salt in my pasta from the previous night's dinner."
"I started upper body weight training again."
"I swear Mike sold me Optygen"
"the lighting was really bad"
"Yeah, but look at those guns"
"do you know how much effort it takes to do a track stand in your aero bars"
"I'm getting an earlier start adding my winter training weight back on."
"Maybe Nutella and FlufferNutter sandwiches aren't the best training
lunches."

Yours truly,
the ever svelte
RayMan
"I'm not eating for a week"

Glutony at the T de Christiana

2007-08-16T20:06:00.001-07:00

OK, all I can say is one word "glutony" and this one word will set the
tone of the Zimmerman story.

After the RR on Saturday, and after eating subs with Kevin and Phil at
Subway, and then after riding the TT course, we went back to our Best
Western hotel rooms in Intercourse, Pa. I spent the rest of the
afternoon, relaxing in my comfortable closet sized room flipping
between the Busch NASCAR race at Watkins Glen and reruns of the "the
Hills" on MTV. By about 4pm I was getting real hungry and not sure I
could make it to our 7pm dinner reservation without getting something
to eat.

I headed across the street to Zimmerman's, the local grocery store.
Funny sign on the door read "NO photos allowed, please leave your
camera in the car". Not sure what I was getting my self into with a
sign like that.

As I entered the store, I didn't know what I wanted, but I soon
realized that entering a small town grocery store with an empty
stomach was not a good idea. Everything looked good, and I would
shortly have an overflowing basket if I wasn't careful. So, I limited
myself to wholesome foods and became very selective by weighing the
caloric content of my selection. Throwing caution to the wind and
letting my stomach dictate the selection process, my basket was soon
filled with the following: one yogurt, 4 bananas, bag of organic
cheese puff balls, salted almonds, trail mix called Sweet Temptation,
gummi bears, veggie chips and a bag of wheat hamburger rolls (of
course these would be for breakfast) and two gatoraids.

I get to the counter, realizing I don't have enough cash, and ask "do
you take credit card?" Well, yes, of course they do. Just because
we're in Amish country doesn't mean the area doesn't offer the modern
day conveniences like credit card machines. I gladly paid less than $30
for my bounty of food and quickly head back to the closet.

I lay down on the bed and spread my loot around me, quickly opening
each and every container. I eat the yogurt first, have a banana, and
then dive into the veggie chips, Sweet Temptation, Cheese puffs and
salted almonds.

I think at some point Phil calls to remind me about the 7PM dinner
reservation and that we should plan on leaving around 6:30pm. In my
food coma, all I could do was grunt in agreement.

So, this is the story of Zimmermans.

Lesson: never go food shopping when you're hungry, cuz you never know
what you'll come home with.

RayMan

Recap Tour de Christiana "AKA tour d pain"

2007-08-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Leading up to the TdC, I wasn't sure which race I was going to do: Cat 4 or 40+. In the past couple of 40+ races, I've placed better and felt more comfortable than how I've done in this season's worth of Cat 4 races. I finally decided to do the Cat4 race with my teammate Kevin Young (17 yr super strong rider) and also because the times for the Cat 4 race would me to get home Sunday mid-late afternoon.

Bottom line, this was the hardest weekend of racing I've had all season.

Saturday

40 mile RR. Four laps on a 10mile loop with a big climb, super fast downhill (50+ mph) each lap. The final 1/2 mile or so was an steep uphill that flattened out just before the finish. With about 90 riders starting the race, I knew the field would quickly thin out in the first climb. Since I didn't know the course or what the climbs would be like I didn't want to waste any energy in the front. So, I did my usual sit in the back, bridge up when any gaps formed and stay in front of the motorcycle guy. In lap two, I had to take a pee and tried going while staying pace with the pack, but just couldn't make it work. After trying about 4 times, I finally gave up and tried not to think about it the rest of the race. Each time I'd drift back about 5-10 sec and have to race back to get back in the pack. What a waste of energy.

The pace was never totally out of control, not on the flats, nor the climbs. But, it amazed me how many riders sounded like they were ready to pop during the climb or during the faster false flat sections where we would be cruising along at 27-30 mph.

Leading into the last turn I was in the back, and the pack slowed up a lot as the climb to the finish started. The motorcycle guy told us we could take the lane, and I took full advantage of this since this opportunity to move quickly up the left side up to the front group of 5-6 riders that had just started to accelerate. I was able to stay with this group but as the road flattened out I realized I was not in my big ring and the time it took to get into it, I was quickly getting passed by a couple riders heading into the finish. I finished 11th. Should have done better but was in the wrong gear heading into the finish line.

Sunday AM

10 mile TT, some rollers and a false flat that was hard and then a real fast flat section to the finish. Kinda bummed cuz 30 seconds separated my 25th place from 5th place. Although, I'm not sure how much faster I could have gone. I averaged just about 25MPH and was doing just about 29-30MPH the last mile or so. I guess I could have tried hammering more through the false flat but didn't want to blow up and have nothing left in the end.

I remember the last couple of miles passing a bunch of Amish families walking on the side of the
road. And I was thinking to myself that the Amish were looking at me and thinking "what is that? Why is that dufous in a zebra suit working so hard riding his bike with his tongue hanging out. He should be spending all that energy doing something constructive like mowing the grass, painting the fences, cutting the corn fields, feeding the animals." I remember going past these families grunting for as much air as I could get, had my mouth wide open. I was in such pain it just didn't hurt anymore.

Sunday afternoon

16 mile crit (13 laps), one steep climb per lap, and some really technical downhill sections with real tight turns through the town. During the warm up laps, I was getting real nervous about the technicality of the course and the # of very tight turns. Tight turns at high speed and Cat 4 races do not mix. Spidy sense was starting to come alive. Awesome course but one of the hardest crits I've done all season. Sitting towards the back made the race really hard not so much of the yo-yo affect, but more so because I had to do a lot of bridging as riders started popping.

And, Steven Black was relentless. I think he attacked the hill on every lap, at least it seemed like the announcer was calling his name everytime we went past the finish line. Man, that 16 yr old is strong.

As usually, I attacked about 2 laps too earlier. With 4 laps to go, I was able to move up to the front on the climb and since my legs felt really good, I floored it for a lap or so. Man it felt good just rolling through the turns and keeping my speed pretty constant throughout the entire turn. I'm not sure if Eric Davila and I got a gap or not, but as we came up to the climb with 2 laps to go, my legs weren't feeling so good. I was barely able to hang on for the next lap and was able to finish 23.

So the way I looked at it, my effort helped Kevin Young win the race and clinch his top spot for the GC. All in all it was a great weekend of racing. I had a really good time meeting and talking with Sean Ross' parents.

PA Dutch County Stage Race

2007-07-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

OK, first I'd like to say that this was a really fun weekend of racing
and hanging out with Luis "Mr TT". We have lots of stories to tell: like shopping at WalMart Super Center, getting lost for an hour trying to find the Olive Garden, taking a
detour through the seedy parts of Lancaster, getting pissed at the
smokers in restaurants, Luis walking into the wrong room at the
Holiday Inn. Many more to tell, but you'll have to wait cuz I have
some great news to tell.

Now onto the serious stuff of race reporting. This report will
concentrate on Sunday's Clay TT, part of the PA Dutch County Stage
Race. The Stage race consisted of a 50 mile RR on Sat, 7.8 mile TT on Sunday, and a 25 mile Crit Sunday afternoon. I'll submit a second post detailing the RR and the Crit.

I would like everyone to remember how well Luis did at Church Creek, I
think he won the Cat 4, and oh yes, I've included his previous post
thanking everyone for their congratulations on his win.

After the RR yesterday, Luis and I scooped out the 7.8 mile TT course.
We're getting ready and we both said we were going to ride it really
slow. I was futsing around getting my jersey on, my helmet on, my
cycling shoes on, lathering up my legs with greasy shit, and Luis is
just circling around the parking lot waiting for me. He's got his
running shoes on (not sure where his cycling shoes were), he doesn't
have a helmet on, but he has a bright red Bicycle Place t-shirt. Yes,
Luis is the ultimate professional. I say "Luis, where's your helmet?"
And he says "I thought we were going slow?"

So we head out on our reconnaissance mission, max speed about 10 MPH
(Cannibal pace). About 500M into the ride, I'm seeing stars, cuz I'm
totalling bonking from the RR. And I say "Luis, I'm seeing stars, not
sure if I'm going to make it" Luis says "suck it up". But, being the
trooper that I am, I dig deep and keep the 10 MPH pace going. Actually
looking straight ahead helped out a lot.

The course wasn't too bad, but I think it's kind of hard to really
know what you'd do during an all out TT effort, when you're only going
10 MPH. There were rollers, one steep hill that flattened out towards
the top, a screaming downhill onto a long flat, and then a
semi-rolling down/flat section to the finish. After the recon mission,
we didn't think the course was going to be too hard. And we were
psyched about laying some really fast times.

Over dinner, Luis and I were comparing notes on our TT gear.

Luis' Bike: $10K Cervelo, fully custom TT bike, fancy TT disc wheels,
aero bars. I've knicknamed it "the Blade" cuz it looks super fast, and
I'm getting pretty psyched out that he's going to kick my ass.
Ray's Bike: Trek Madone SL 5200, non-disc Rolf wheels, clip-on TT
bars. Yeah, its what I ride everyday for training and racing.

Luis' Attire: LG aero helmet, super tight skin suit, and the latest
technology in skin socks.
Ray's Attire: Giro Atmos helmet with 26 vent holes, Bicycle Place
jersey and shorts, old technology sock covers.

Also, lets not forget Luis "has been training for TT since last Nov."

So, we're getting warmed up before the TT race and I'm taking mental
notes of how fast Luis looks in his space age, latest technology stuff
and I'm thinking he's really going to kick my ass.

I role up to the TT start with about 4 seconds before my start time.
(Note to self: always coordinate your watch with their clock). I
didn't even have time to reset my Ergomo. I pulled up to the start and
the clock said "9:25:54", my start time was 9:26. Nothing like perfect
timing.

I start off pretty hard, my legs felt really good. I caught the rider
that started 30 secs in front of me in about the first 2 miles (turns
out it was a chick, although, I can't really read anything it that)
and then caught the next guy on the big climb. Once I got onto the
last 4 miles, the head wind was killing me, I was working as hard as I
could. I quickly looked at my Ergomo, which I was able to mount with
my clip-on TT bars, and saw my speeds, and I'm thinking "shit, Luis's
going to be flying along this section on his "Blade".

The 1 KM sign never looked so good, and I started sprinting with about
300M to go. I was really spent and my first thought was I don't do
enough TT workouts.

After downloading my Ergomo, I was able to determine that my time was
18:38. I felt pretty good about it, but heard that some guys in full
aero stuff had times of just over 17 minutes.

I'm thinking Luis "ChurchHill Champ" is going to be in this range and
I'm really depressed.

Luis finally finishes his TT, and he's says his time was about 20+
minutes.

Now I'm really happy, cuz I beat his time.

.... But, I'll let Luis tell his side of the story, its a duzzi. All,
I know is I finished faster regardless of what kind of story he'll
tell us about.

(Note: Luis told me I could gloat all I wanted and to not hold any
punches on my race report. But, you'll die laughing when Luis tells us
all what really happened. Just a hint, as Mike always says "if you
don't know the way, don't lead")

Hey Everybody!

Let me begin by thanking everyone for their kind comments regarding
this weekend's race. When I first started to read your comments, I
was a bit perplexed, because when I left Church Creek on Saturday
afternoon, I picked up my silver medal and left quite happy with my
time of 56:35. I was shocked to hear your comments about my being the
winner when I thought I'd actually come in second place. After
checking the official results online, I saw that I got first place
and that my time was actually a 56:05.

For those that are interested, here is a quick recap of Church Creek.
1. I did wear a DC Velo skin suit (thanks Aziz) and am eagerly
awaiting the BPVC skinsuit arrival
2. I began preparing for Saturday's race last November focused on it
throughout the winter and spring
3. Took Josh Fricke's advice and had a Red Bull just prior to
starting out
4. Kept by heartrate two to three beats below threshold for 55 out of
56 minutes.
5. Looking forward to Boonsboro and collecting my $100 from Mike

Thanks again for all of your support.

Luis