What No Bike?

So 07 is in the books. Man, what a fun year. I finished the season with a 6th at the Parker Crit.......Mission Acomplished. I was hoping to finish the season with some points, and I've been flirting with the elusive top 6 for the last couple of races. Finally the last race of the year, I was able to sneak a point! Holy wow, I was able to meet all my goals for the year. Now its on to Transition........Hmm, first order of business, NO BIKE FOR A WEEK! Well almost a week, Saturday I am doing a Big Ass Mountain Ride Part II. So, NO BIKE UNTIL SATURDAY! So I let the air out of my tires, and brought my pumps to work. Yeah, take that see who's smart here!, as much as my bike is taunting me, Im not going to give in.

So Monday was day one with no bike. I was planning of going to Yoga at the gym, but my work schedule, and empty fridge prevented me from making the class on time. I opted to do some upper body weights. Now I remember the pain from last year when I started lifting after the season was over. So I went extremely light with the weights, and did some high reps. OUCH! Damn my shit is sore today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amazing, racing bikes all summer and Im totally out of shape. And again, the dudes a the gym were laughing at the little guy with the girly weights, or maybe it was my purple tights.

GO FIGURE

I've had a Cat 4 girls sprint all year, and ironically last night I think I may have upgraded to a Cat 3 girls sprint. Recorded my highest power of the year in the 20 sec, High Speed Sprints I was doing. It wasn't a fluke either, I almost repeated that power in the last sprint. Watch out Girls! HA.

Time for Transition

Yep, its here , the last work out of the year. We'll not that any of my workouts have been much of workouts lately, but I think I'll give it one last effort tonight, and do em all.......hmmmm
Next up, Parker Criterium.....Last road event of the year. Wow, where did this season go? I can still remember riding out to Carter Lake with the guys, and freeeeeezing my ars off, like it was yesterday. And those Stazio Training Crits.....oh good times! We'll what a season its been, I think one of the highlights of my season was sharing a bed with Kenny at Dead Dog. Buddy, you gotta shave your back if you wanna spoon again. HAhahaha! Oooooo, I gots a feeling next year is gonna be fun! But first, I think there are some fun, long, coffee shop tour, sprint for the town limit sign, laugh your ass off rides in my future. Hey, anyone wanna ride bikes? I got no more intervals, i got no more intervals, i got no more intervals.........at least for now.

IM GONNA MISS THIS GUY!

Casey at Niwot! Just a good guy!

WARDROBE MALFUNCTION?

I swear these shorts are lined with Kevlar, I went down twice this season and walked away with minor abrasions. I just need to learn how to keep the rubber side down.

TV TIME?

Its a race!

....and Im winning!

In the big leagues, team directors will send riders off the front at the start of a race with no ambition of winning the race. The sole purpose is to get their sponsors TV Time.

At the Copper Mountain Criterium, I was getting my sponsor some TV time, unfortunately there was no TV, and it appears I didn't get very far off the front, and the only person that told me to do it was the little voice in my head. I could have sworn I was wearing a race radio, because he kept saying, YOU CAN DO IT. That little director often gets me in trouble when I listen to him.

I LOVE FREE STUFF!

I received a free lap in Sundays Niwot Criterium, unfortunately it was not exactly free. The price was one pair of bike shorts, a nice hip pointer, and a gouge in my right elbow.
About 15 minutes into the SM3's race the heavens opened up on us, but i'll get to that.

After a nice talk with my coach regarding my recent racing strategies, err I thing the term that was used was "stupid racing", I was making a serious effort to play smarter than in the last couple of races and maintaining position from 2nd to 5th wheel, rather than pulling the field around. This was a very technical course with 7 corners, two of which were greater than 90 degrees. I found out quickly that any position beyond 5th was too much work coming out of the corners so I decided make the effort and stay at the front, where it was still fast, but a much smoother and even pace. Sprinting 7 times a lap out of the corners is absolutely no fun, and can lead to brain damage due to lack of oxygen, and lactic acid buildup, and I can not afford to lose any more brain cells as you all might know. So, there we were, making circles, the pace was high, but not hold your puke back high, and all of a sudden the sky opened up. The first couple laps were a little interesting. Going from dry pavement one second to soaked asphalt the next required some creative cornering. In other words, hold on we going for a ride. Wheels slide even when you are cautious, manhole covers are like ice, even the striping on the pavement is slicker than @#$%. This combination with a pack of guys that are not afraid to take chance is a recipe for disaster. But, I was extremely surprised when the group throttled the racing back to reasonably fast, with brief periods of cautious. Well, that is until about 4 laps into the down pour when through the 2nd corner I lost traction in my front wheel. I had taken the same line through that corner the previous 3 laps with only a slight slip on the first just after the rain started. I had even backed it off more than the previous laps, as it was getting very slick. After sliding to a stop, I picked up the pieces, counted my fingers and toes, and checked for broken bones. Nope, nothing broken, shorts are shredded on the right hip, and the road rash isnt too bad. Hmm, elbow, ahh, there's a problem, a dime size hole spewing the red stuff, not so bad Ive had worse as a kid. The corner marshal held my bike I slipped the chain back on and I spun through the gears, and all was fine. I was standing there bleeding, sore, and pissed, thinking "man I was having a great ride". Then all of a sudden out of nowhere I had a moment of clarity, ok, lets not sugar coat it, I pulled my head out of my ass. I had to get back to the start, I had a free lap to use. I jumped on my bike and rode the gutter edge of the course backwards to the start, just hoping I would make it back in time to not go down a lap. The whole way back to the start, I was thinking, Im still in this thing. I got to the start finish, rolling by the Cheif Referee, showing my blood soaked elbow, and with no questions he just pointed to the pit area, and gave a encouraging "get to the pit". The guy in the pit asked if the bike was OK, we spun the gears again, and I was good to go. A quick clip in and a push when the lead moto passed and I was back in business. SWEEEEEET, right back where I was before I went down. RACE ON!
Now, the guys in the front hadnt changed, what had changed was that I had crashed, and I think they smelled, or could see blood. The next couple of laps there were quite a few attacks at the front where I was sitting, and it was quite an effort to maintain position. Another thing that had changed was the field, we were a 10 man break, wayyyy off the front of the main field. Apparently there were 7 crashes during the rain, which had now stopped and the field had been shredded. I had no idea we had pulled off like that, until during one lap I heard the announcer shout "this field has been blown to pieces". Well, cool, and next lap what do you know, as we hit the front straight towards the figure 8 portion of the course, where you can see the back straight, there was the main part of the field, a whole 1/2 a lap down. The pace however didnt let down, there were a number of attacks in our break, but it held together. With 3 laps to go I found myself in the familiar position of pulling the break. So I attempted to ease back and allow a couple guys by, but the guys in the break had other ideas, and jumped me. I lost 8 positions, and with 2 laps to go on this type of course, that was too much. The last 2 laps were super fast, and there was absolutely no where, or break in the pace to make up my lost ground. I ended up 8th in the sprint. Damn, but hey I finally broke the top ten in the 3's, and again I learned a lot about racing. Man life is good, my ars is sore, but life is good.

To Attack, or Not to Attack, that is the Question.

Dillon Crit, I spent the race, attacking, and covering breaks. I went into the final turns 5th wheel, to get squeezed by an "Inside Guy" that took me to the outside curb. One tap of the brakes and from 5th to 11th. That's racing.

So today was the Copper Mtn Crit, this was probably one of the best courses I have raced ever. Power climb, through 10' wide Pave up the Village, the heart of Copper Village, and a screaming 11T descent. Again, I probably spent too much time at the front. I lauched a couple of attacks, and tried to bridge to a little break, then saved the rest of the bullets. With just over 2 laps to go, my team mate Jared pulled through at the front I hopped his wheel and rode him to the base of the climb, where I pulled through and started drilling it. I was hoping to keep it strung out to the finish, so the big guys didnt have the chance to wined it up from behind, unfortunately I died with about 2/3's of a lap to go. That turned out to be a little to far from the finish for JRAD. Hey we went big, its better than not trying. I'd much rather make a race of it than sit around for a sprint finish. Now we know, and next time we attack the field just a little later. I'm still learning what my limits are, and that was a great test today.
By the way, you know you got great teammates when a guy gives you his prime for throwing it on the line. OOOO man this is just starting to get fun. I cant wait till next weekend!

Shuffling the Deck

I guess I just needed a change. Is it the right thing to do, is it to soon, is it to late, should I, shouldn't I, why am I really doing this, is it a mistake, should I have done it sooner, should I do it later? I HATE CHANGE. Its some scary stuff. The unknown, and the future is something we have absolutely no control over and I hate not having control over something. Hey, I work on the control thing daily, and I know I don't have control over almost everything, but its still scary stuff. I can just take care of my end and the rest will fall into place the way it is supposed to, like it or not.

Whats the change? Nothing big, I just changed coaches................but, my gut tells me there are some bigger changes around the corner.

Mentally Screwing Myself

I feel so used and dirty. I swear if I can figure out how to stay out of my own way, I might be dangerous on the bike someday. This weekend it was back to racing after a little break, and man it was fun again. Saturday, I rolled the Fed Center Circut Race, nice technical course, with a gradual climb on the back side. I felt descent, but didn't quite have the race snap in the legs. It was a good day getting back into things. Sunday was the Bannock St. Criterium, I had never raced this course, and everyone I talked to said it was a blast. Well, man it was a blast, 8turn figure 8 crit in down town Denver. It took a couple of laps to warm up, then the legs felt really good, spent the day sitting in the top 10, unfortunately 5 guys got off the front right from the gun, we reeled in 3, but the other two managed to get out of sight, game over when that happens. There was absolutely no cooperation going on in the field. At one point there was a break of 4 guys that got off the front, a team had a guy in the break, and was blocking for them. I managed to get around the rolling roadblock, and bridge up to the break. That pissed off the guys blocking for their team mate, and decided to chase me down and in doing so towed the field up to the break. Why do you chase down a single rider bridging up to a break, and in essence chase down your own guy? I attempted a leadout for Lance, for a Tokyo Joes prime, but he got nipped at the line. I managed a 2up prime later in the race. With four laps to go It seemed like a good time go get the pace up so there wouldn't be a mass sprint for 3rd (there were still 2 guys off the front and they weren't going to be caught). I towed the field around for 3/4's of a lap, and no one would pull through. So frustrated I sat up, and sat up hard. However by doing so I decreased my pace enough that about 30 guys rolled around me to the left. Why did I do that? I could have been sitting very nicely for the finish, instead I had to work my way back up into position the final 3 laps, and with 3 to go the guys weren't exactly going to slow down for me. I managed to work my way up to 19th for the finish. A lot of work during the race to mentally blow it in the end. I guess I needed to do that so I wouldn't make that mistake in the future. Looks like there are more lessons to be learned, cool.

ACA Members please read and do whats right for you:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/acawatchdog

CRASHES happen.

Crashes happen, its part of racing, and going hard. If you ride smart and are aware of whats going on around you, they are often avoidable. However poor judgement will put you into a situation with possibility of negative outcome. This was the case last night when I found my self sitting mid pack in a local training ride. I had decided to go out and get an hour in on the bike, by sitting in, on this ride which takes place on a 2.5 mile circuit. This ride has been fairly safe all year with only a couple minor incidents, usually solo crashes due to operator error. Last night was different. Over the last couple of weeks more and more people have been showing up for the ride, bringing out some people who need to work on their bike handling skills, and overall fitness. Sometimes when people are riding at there limit and their judgement is out the window which may have been case last night. It was extremely windy, and riding in the wind means working harder. As the peloton turned into the cross wind last night, the guys not in the eschelon began to get thrown into the gutter, someone panicked and which caused the group to swerve to the right, into the wind. I was on the right side of the group attempting to bring forth a second eschelon when the group swerve occurred. Someone went down to the left of us and the guy directly in front of me completely locked up his brakes. I rode directly into him and down I went. Luckily I came out of it with very very minor road rash on my elbow, and a nice baseball sized hip pointer, but no rash there. Amazing! My bike ended up with a bent derailleur hanger, and two out of true wheels. My helmet has a nice ding in the top. Its ironic that just the previous lap I had thought to my self, that I shouldn't be so far back in the pack. I never ride back there for just that reason. Initially, after the crash I was pretty pissed, but I kept my cool, just rode off, and headed back home.

Now that I have cooled down and the soreness has set in, I can reflect on what happened. I made one critical error. I was in the wrong place. I never ride in the rear with the gear because I know that's where the majority of these types of events occur. I was lazy, and my poor judgement put me in a precarious position. I cannot blame anyone else but myself for my crash.
The guys that went down causing the swerve, and resultant pile up were just out there trying to get better at doing what they love to do, and that's race bikes. This stuff happens no worries.
Skin and bones heal, bikes can be fixed, and most importantly no one died. So, it was a good day. See you out there Thursday.

Thought for today:

May the road always lead where you need to be.

American Cycling Association in Turmoil?

Last night Jon Tarkington resigned from the Executive Committee of the ACA.
Today this website surfaced: http://acawatchdog.com/, on Teton Fourm
http://www.tetoncycling.com/forum/display_message.asp?mid=27198
It makes for some very interesting reading. I am new to racing in Colorado, but
it seems like there is something wrong here, I dont know what it is but thats just what my gut tells me. I dont know much about the history of the ACA the BRAC and the USCF, but being a paying member of both the ACA and USCF I know I would like some answers.

~Balance~

This is a term I don't know well.

Noun
Singular balance
Plural countable and uncountable; balances
balance (countable and uncountable; plural balances)
1A pair of scales.
2(uncountable) Equilibrium in movement.
3(uncountable) Support for both viewpoints, 4substances etc or neither; neutrality.
A list accounting for the debits on one side, and for the credits on the other.

Typically I am either totally on or totally off. Cycling is addictive, its like a drug. If you allow it to get a hold of you, it can run your life, own you, cause you to focus all of your attention to it.

So here is a test that is often used to help diagnose alcoholism:

The CAGE Test One of the oldest and most popular screening tools for alcohol abuse is the CAGE test, which is a short, four-question test that diagnoses alcohol problems over a lifetime.

C - Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
A- Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
G - Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
E - Eye opener: Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?

Because denial usually accompanies alcohol abuse problems, the CAGE test, like most alcohol screening tests, asks questions about problems associated with drinking rather than the amount of alcohol consumed. Two "yes" answers to the CAGE test indicates problems with alcohol.

Now if we replace Drinking with Cycling where do I stand.

C - Have you ever felt you should cut down on your cycling? - YES

A- Have people annoyed you by criticizing your cycling? - YES

G - Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your cycling? - YES

E - Eye opener: Have you ever had a recovery ride first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of soreness? - YES

I could have answered no to all of these, but then I wouldn't be honest with you or myself when I said there isn't a problem.

So now what? Identify what is truly important? Get back to doing this for fun? Its time for a reality check.

Some my say, oh your burnt out, or you've cracked. We'll I'm not sure that's the case. I have a good live, and cycling is definitely a part of it, but how big of a part of it does it have to be? Is it starting to run my life? Am I making poor decisions in other areas of life when I focus all of my energy towards cycling? These are some of the questions I have been asking myself these past couple of days.

Conciousness, and Awareness are two key aspects of being.

Happy 4th of July!

One of my single friends, and he's looking for a date, any takers?

RACE FUEL

Just after the second climb in last weekends Dead Dog Road Race, this dude pulls out this bag of gummy worms. I almost blew my water through my nose, I thought that was one of the funniest things Ive seen in the middle of a brutal race. Ive used sharkies which are similar in texture, but far from the worm in nutritional value. What do you use as race fuel?

PowerIntervals
Goal: To increase power output during short intense efforts. How to do it: This workout can be performed on an indoor trainer because of the controlled environment allowing for a better comparison from one session to another. It can also be performed on a relatively flat section of road. The gearing should be moderate, but pedal cadence must be high (110 or higher). Take one minute to build up to the desired training zone, then maintain this intensity for the remaining interval. It will be during the last two minutes of each interval that will develop your maximum aerobic capacity. If you have to, shift into a lighter gear to maintain the cadence, but don't let the intensity of the interval drop. With a high cadence, your heart rate will remain extremely high and you will train your body's ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles. Recovery between intervals is easy spinning. If you are training with power, the prescribed range might be large. The goal of the workout is to produce the highest average power you can for the interval set. Power average might vary depending on length and number of intervals. Among the athletes who use this interval session are Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie. Since the addition of this workout to Lance and George's training programs, CTS has seen them further develop their extraordinary ability to attack on steep hills late in races when everyone else is gasping for air. ~Taken from CTS Performance Manual - Cycling Appendix.~

Now I dont know about all that goop about Lance and George, but I do know those suckers HURT like a MOFO. For all you non CTS peeps out there these are aka VO2MAX plus some. I was scheduled for a brick of these leg pleasers on Wednesday and Thursday. Wed's block consisted of 7x3min with 3min recoveries, and Thurs's consisted of 7x2min with 2min recoveries. Nothing like holding the puke back for 3mins I must say. These are the hardest intervals I do all year, and they pop up on the ol training schedule every once and a while. Every time they do I spend the day dreading the minute I am to hop on the bike and start them. I swear I go totally mental. (worse than usual that is) I know they work, and are an integral part of training, but they just hurt so bad. I did a couple bricks of these just before the season started in March and came out of the gate flying (which was the plan). So I sucked it up and propped the ol bike up on the trainer in the garage and set out on the road of happy destiny. Yep, trainer session in June, wow I must be totally insane, but this is the most consistent way to train with this type of interval. I had some crazy looks from the people in my complex who walked by the open garage with the El Loco on the bike inside, sweating like a fool. I think the best part of these are the periods of mild body tremors during the last 10seconds of the interval where you power begins to drop, and you are using every ounce of energy you have to keep it up. Good times, now that's why I race bikes.

I Got Girl'd

Besides the race, there was another contest going on this weekend.

"Who Provides the Worst Draft" World Championships

(who's the shortest)

The reigning women's world champ had enough of beating up on the girls, and decided to test her skills in men's category, where I had currently reigned. As you can see it was close, but I ended up second.

And no, the purple shoes didn't help. Renee's just to tough. Looks like it might be time to retire them from action. (BTW I stole the pick from Renee's blog)