Much Better

After fighting a cold for nearly three weeks, it's nice to feel back to normal.

Of course, sitting around and eating for a few weeks, plus the Thanksgiving holiday, I've managed to climb back to 189.6 pounds. Not good.

On the plus side, I've just begun to train a little more aggressively. Yesterday, I did a test on the computrainer to see how long I could hold various power levels. Shelli was kind enough to help out, adjusting the power levels and recording when I couldn't maintain the effort anymore.

• 300 watts - 3:02
  
• 350 watts - 1:52
  
• 400 watts - 1:12
  
• 450 watts - 0:59
  
• 500 watts - 0:43
  
• 550 watts - 0:33
  

I'm not judging these numbers at all. They are just a starting point for me. I didn't push to failure and I didn't watch the recovery to make sure I was fully recovered between each effort. I just did it as a starting point to see how I progress over the next few months.

Today, I went out for a two hour and forty minute ride, covering about 46 miles. It was cold, about 31 degrees when I started, so I was not expecting any record speeds. My power levels were right where I wanted: I recorded an average of 203 watts for two hours (215 normalized). Granted, it's not the best ever, but considering that I haven't been on the bike much for the last month, I'm more than happy with it!

Almost back to normal

I've spent the last two weeks fighting a bad cold. Well, "fighting" makes it sound more active. Really, I just sat on the couch as much as I could while eating constantly. I barely rode the bike or the trainer at all.

Today was my first attempt at a real ride. I did pretty well.

I rode about 30 miles. For the entire time, my heart rate was about 10 to 15 beats per minute higher than normal for any given power level, so I knew I was not quite back to full power.

I did two harder efforts: one of 7:30 at 250 watts and one of 2:30 at 330 watts. Both of them were pretty rough, but at least I could do them.

Of course, sitting around and eating for two weeks, I gained a pound and a half, and am up to 187.6. At least I'm starting to feel better enough to ride again!

Even colder

When I left for today's ride, it was 31 degrees, probably the coldest weather I've ridden in for a really long time. I went out for a relatively easy ride for about two hours. My legs were a bit stiff from the hard week and I just wanted to spin them out a little bit.

I was a little alarmed to spot a frozen puddle on the road. It made me pay just a little more attention to make sure I don't hit any ice!

Better than I expected

Today was my first RPM ride of the season. I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

For the last two weeks, I've been riding around 9 hours a week, up from 7. I've been spending some of those additional hours riding with the guys from work at lunch, and they like to attack and sprint a lot, so I'm working a lot harder than I would normally. Add in a night at the gym each week, and my legs have been a bit stiff. I wasn't expecting to do too well today.

It was a small group today, with just Todd and I. We did a course that I was not familiar with, that turned out to have a few pretty steep climbs in it (up to 8.9%).

I pushed pretty hard the first hour and averaged 243 watts. After that, I backed off a bit, and averaged 232 watts for 1:30. I forgot to look up my numbers from last year before I left this morning, so I didn't know if that was good or not.

It turned out to be very good. My numbers from the first few RPM classes last fall were in the 204 to 208 range. I'm a full 15% above that.

On the downside, my weight is still hovering around 186 :-(

A Classic in Reverse

Over the last twelve years, the ride from the Philly Art Museum to Betzwood Park has been a staple in riding. It's about 42 miles round trip, with a flat 4-mile section on West River Drive, a 5-mile hilly section through Manayunk, and then a 12-mile flat section on the Betzwood trail.

My first exposure to the course was when I was still skating. Small groups of 3 to 6 skaters would head out together. The downhills on the return were especially difficult, since racing skates do not have brakes. My biggest memory of that course was the day we did it as part of a skating century. Two laps from the Museum to Betzwood and two laps of West River for a total of 100 miles on skates. Ah, the good old days....

As a cyclist, that course is much easier. The hills through Manayunk, either up or down, are not that bad. They just give you a little more to work on during an otherwise flat course.

Yesterday, since I now live so close to Betzwood Park, I rode the course in reverse. It's a lot different!

The differences were more psychological. The long flat section on the Betzwood trail is now the beginning and end, not the middle. West River Drive is no longer the "almost home sprint." It's the turnaround section. It was weird seeing the Museum and thinking "just 21 miles to go!" not "I'm done!"

Most of all, I never realized how hard the hills in Manayunk could be. When you are only 6 miles out, they are not so bad. When you have 27 miles in your legs, it's another story. The little zig-zag hill going from Main Street up to Umbria is a lot harder.

It wasn't all that bad, though. On the way back, I didn't stop at home. I kept going out to Phoenixville, for a total of 52 miles in about 2 hours and fifty minutes. It was a fun ride that I'm sure I'll repeat in the future.

I was just happy that I felt better. I'd been fighting some kind of stomach thing the last few days and I didn't have any problems at all today.

A City Smurf goes to the Country

Saturday I did the suburban QCW ride that left from Betzwood park and went about 60 miles. Let me tell you, it's a lot different starting in Center City Philly and going 60 miles than starting near Valley Forge and going 60 miles.

First of all, there's a lot more country roads. Within about 15 minutes, we were passing stables and cow pastures.

Next, it gets real hilly real quick. I'm not much of a climber, especially since I'm still carrying a few extra points. I really struggled to keep up with the other four guys a few times. I figure that's a good thing, since now I'll work to keep up with them.

We had a few notable experiences. One was the seemingly endless, straight climb that we took at about 8 mph. It was only about a 6 minute climb or so, but felt like forever.

The other was going across the closed bridge around Evansburg State Park. We went a little off-road and were handing our bikes over the railing to each other. Talk about team building!

It was a really great ride and I'm looking forward to doing them through the winter. I do kinda miss that last 4-mile burn coming in West River Drive though...

A bit cooler

Today was the first time I've ridden below 50 degrees in quite a while. When I went out for my morning ride at 8AM, it was 48 degrees.

I was a little overdressed, with a long sleeve jersey (which is fleece lined) and tights over my normal cycling shorts. I could tell I was overdressed and could feel the extra heat the whole time. Combined with the cooler air, my heart rate was running high the whole ride.

It felt good to do a foundation ride. My average power for the day was a mere 156 watts (a out 16.7 mph average), doing 37 miles in 2 hours and 12 minutes.

It felt good to get out on a sunny day and do an easy ride like that. Over the course of the winter, this ride will grow to be 4 hours long.

The down side: in the last month I've only lost a half pound. I'm hoping now that I live right next to the trail and I am settled into the new apartment, I can devote more time to training,

Here we go again

Early Spring 2009, I was just shy of 200 pounds and 28% body fat. I had a great summer, dropping to 173 pounds and 19% body fat. In just a few months I went from couch potato to holding my own on the bike.

Then I got divorced, took a new job, and hit the difficult final semesters of my MBA. I focused a lot on training for performance, but stopped watching what I was eating. I was still reasonably fast on the bike, but I went back up to 189 pounds and 23% body fat.

Over the last month, I've finished up my MBA, spent some easy time pedaling on the bike to relax a bit, and started planning for the next season. I've also managed to drop a couple pounds.

I want to get back into the mid-160's, with a body fat around 15%. My training plan is aimed at weight loss for the next six months as I build an aerobic foundation for the 2011 racing season. I've got my eye on a few races (some criteriums and some time trials) that coincide well with when I will hit peak fitness based on the training plan. I did a two-peak season, so I will have a cluster of races in the spring and another in the late summer.

Today, I'm at 186 pounds. I want to be at 174 (19% fat) by January 1 and at 165 (15% fat) by April 1. I realize those goals are not difficult, just about 3 pounds a month. If I can do better, then I will!

I know that all I need to do is watch my diet, keep the training volume up, and stay involved here and I should be able to drop the weight without much problem.

Starting the foundation

This weekend, I did three "foundation" workouts

From Friday to Sunday, I rode 122 miles:
Friday: 22 miles, 1:10, 170 watts avg
Saturday: 62 miles, 3:30, 168 watts avg
Sunday: 38 miles, 2:10, 180 watts avg

I've been trying to keep my cadence up, too. I got average cadences of about 98 RPM for each of the three rides. My general target is an average cadence above 95 RPM and an average heart rate between 135 and 140 BPM.

These rides are not exceptionally long. I've been doing 40 to 50 miles both days of the weekend all summer long, but the difference is the intensity. I've been doing much lower power and speed, starting to build up for next year.

I have to admit, I'm a bit sore from doing this much long mileage, but I know that if I can keep it up through the winter, I'll be much better for it in the spring. I need to start the low intensity, long mileage now so I can handle the higher intensities that come later.

Of course, I'm still in the Transition phase, so I'm not aiming for real high volume or anything. We just had a few nice days in a row, so I figured I'd enjoy some easy rides!

An Intentional Break

The last couple months, I've been struggling with my motivation a lot. Looking back over my training logs, I realized that I trained straight through from May 2009 until now. I've also been working hard mentally on my MBA since Sept 2008 and my new job since March.

In other words, I haven't had a physical and mental break in quite some time.

So, I decided to at least take a physical break for the next four weeks. To put it in periodization terms, it's Transition time. I'm done racing for the summer and I need a little break before I start training for next year. For the next four weeks, I'm only riding when it's nice out and I feel like riding. I'll ride as far as I feel like it and nothing more.

There's a big mental difference between meaning to ride and not riding and having no intention of riding and not riding.

In four weeks, I'll start training seriously for the 2011 racing season. I learned a lot this year and I'm looking forward to applying it this winter.

Not One of my Better Days

I knew today was going to be rough.

I felt pretty tired all week. I skipped my morning workouts on Tuesday and Thursday because I was just too tired. I didn't feel great at the gym Tuesday night and I felt pretty bad on the ride at lunch on Thursday. Then we went to see the midnight opening of Toy Story 3 on Thursday night. Last night, I fell asleep at about 7:30.

Warming up today, I didn't feel great. I could barely hold my target 260 to 270 watts, so I knew it was not going to be a record setting day. And it wasn't.

I finished with a time of 20:33 and an average of 250 watts. The time was a little high thanks to a strong head wind on the way back, but the lower power was all me.

On the plus side, my weight this morning is 183.2 pounds, down 2.8 pounds from my peak of 186 pounds just 3 weeks ago. If I keep this up at this pace, I should be around 171 pounds by Labor Day. I'm aiming for 170, so I might have to bump up the weight loss just a little bit to make it.

Long Time Trial: Day 1

After a bunch of logistical hassles this morning, I found myself running really, really late. I only had about 2 hours to fit in a workout, so I did what any sane person would do: A 40K time trial on my CompuTrainer.

I created a course that, in hindsight, was not a great design. It was mostly between 0.5% and 1.5% grade the entire time. Since most time trials are out-and-back, that kind of climbing rarely happens. As a result, my time was a bit slower than I would expect outside. My power, though, was not so bad.

I did the TT at a medium pace, pushing it a little bit, but mostly trying to get an idea of what kind of intensity I could hold. I didn't want to totally burn out and I was not out to kill anyone. I also wanted to gradually increase my average power as the time trial went on, meaning I woudl have to start kind of easy and build it up over time.

I finished the 40K in 1:11:57, an almost embarrassing time outside, but it was the power I was more interested in. My average power was 217 watts. It's hardly ground shaking, since my threshold is over 240 watts. Still, to hold that kind of power on a trainer while watching TV, it's not bad.

I'm hoping it will be nice next weekend so I can take a shot at this outdoors!

TT Day

It's that time again, time for the annual Amateur Time Trial. It's almost always held the day before the Pro race in Philly and varies in name each year.

The course varies a little too. This year, it started on West River Drive, right where it splits near the Art Museum. It ran out to about 100 yards short of the end barrier. The thing about that is that it eliminates the small hills at each end that usually make it a lot easier to get back up to speed.

It was really hot and humid this morning. At my 8:46 start time, I'd guess it was 83 or so. The light winds felt good at the start, not so good once I was on the road.

The short version is that I went out WAY too hard because I was more focused on speed than power. I should have been watching my power meter, not the speed. I was aiming for 25 mph and 270 watts. By focusing on the speed, not accounting for the head winds, I was hitting 290 to 300 watts on the way out. My power tap download later showed that I went over 400 watts a few times. NOT GOOD.

I lost a few seconds in the turnaround. I've practiced left hand turnarounds more times than I can remember. This was the first right hand turnaround in my entire life. It wasn't like I crashed or anything, but I took it really easy.

I was OK for the first few miles on the way back. Around Sweet Briar (1.2 miles to go), I knew I was in trouble. My power was dropping and I was going as hard as I could. My power was down to 250 watts and my heart rate was at 173 bpm. I'm usually only at 162 bpm , so I was working a lot harder than normal.

I held on as much as I could, but I know I lost a lot of time in the last mile. I crossed the line at just 22 mph and 220 watts. I can honestly say that I went as hard as I could, I just went too hard too early.

I can't complain about the final results:
8 miles, 19:21, 24.9 mph, 256 watt average.

I also lost 1.6 pounds this week and hit all my training targets. (yeah, I didn't really taper for this event and it's a "3-week" on the training plan, so maybe I could have taken it easier this week to rest up for the race).

I'm off to a good start to hitting my goals this summer!

One year and counting

Yesterday marked one year since my return to cycling. OK, I guess it really marked me getting off my ass and trying to lose some weight, but cycling followed that pretty closely!

My target was to get from 198 pounds down to around 160. I made it down to 173, but then put about 10 pounds back on. I figure I need to re-dedicate myself a bit on the weight loss side. Even with the backslide, I'm still down 15 pounds from last year. If I can lose another 15 this year, I'd be thrilled.

My fitness targets were a little more vague. Using my West River Time Trial times as a gauge, last year I did one in 22:34. On Saturday, I did it in 20:16. My Maximal Latate Steady State started out at 185 watts. Now it's up to 240 watts. I'm definitely a lot fitter.

I've done a few crits. I definitely don't have the repeatable sprint that I used to have. I'm still working on that. I waffle back and forth whether I should put a higher priority on weight loss or racing speed. It's really hard to do both at the same time. Strangely, I find that my time trial workouts are probably better for weight loss than the high end crit workouts are.

My life is totally different. I'm divorced, live in a different place, traded in my car for a different one, ride a different bike, and have a different job. Looking back a year, I can barely recognize that life as being "me." I'm still getting used to all the new aspects of my life, but I think they will all be for the best in the long run.

By Labor Day 2010, I'm aiming to hit following goals:
Weight: 170 pounds
MLSS: 275 watts
West River Time Trial Time: 19:45
5 second Max Wattage: 1100 watts

Too much of a good thing

This week, I made a rookie training mistake: I did WAY too much intensity.

Last Saturday, I did the West River Time Trial
Sunday, I did the Lower Providence Crit (got dropped, but still had some serious power numbers).
Tuesday morning, field test on the Computrainer.
Tuesday at lunch, went riding with coworkers.
Tuesday night, gym.
Thursday morning, tempo workout, forgot to calibrate trainer to the resistance was WAY high.
Thursday night, Green Tree crit until it rained.
Saturday, West River Time Trial.

Did I mention that I'm working almost non-stop lately and have an hour+ commute to work each way?

When I got on the trainer this morning , I couldn't figure out why I felt like crap. I looked over my training log for the last week and it was suddenly really clear: I'm doing too much at high intensity. To make matters worse, I'm not eating right or resting in between, so my body never refuels and recovers from the effort.

I've got to say, with my frustrations at the crit last week and annoyances like this, I've seriously thought about moving my training back to "weight loss" mode for the next few months until I lost the weight I gained back and get to a decent racing weight. Between gaining weight and seeing less-than-ideal performances, I'm not so sure that trying to race and lose weight at the same time is such a good idea.

Like One isn't Enough

In case you haven't noticed, I have a lot of fun blogging. Now I get to do it at work, too.

My first post just went up this week. I doubt I'll mention it much here, but wanted to at least tell you all that it's out there!

Not So Bad for a Comeback Race

Today was my first pack race since April 2005. Ironically, that was the race that got me my upgrade to Cat 4. I hadn't ever raced in a pack as a Cat 4. I've done several time trials, but nothing in a group.

The Blueberry Circuit Race is 5 laps of a 6.3 mile course, for 31.5 miles of racing. It's almost completely flat and had just 4 corners (one of them pretty sharp).

All week, I've been bugging my teammates about "who wants to go in the breakaway with me?" Everyone said the same thing, "no breakaway ever succeeds in this race." I was determined to make one happen.

Luckily, my teammate Aaron started it. We were only about a mile or so into the race when he made a move. I waited for someone else to try to catch him, then jumped on his wheel. As we came out the next turn, there were six of us together.... and we had probably 50 yards on the group. We quickly formed a rotating paceline and kept the pace at 22 to 24 mph for the next 30 miles.

Back in the pack, the 20 other riders from QCW Cycling/breakawaybikes.com did everything they could to stop anyone from chasing us. They rode four across at a slow pace. They chased every breakaway attempt and messed with their rhythm. Basically, they did what good teammates did: keep the pack off us. I heard some rumblings that our pack got as much as five minutes ahead of the pack.

The six of us worked pretty smoothly together. With a mile left, we had a round of congratulations to each other for working together so well, exchanged a few pats on the back, then gunned it. I pulled alongside Aaron, tapped him to get his attention, and then took off with him on my wheel. My download showed us at 32.6 mph. Hardly a great sprint, but certainly hard to catch. I held the pace as long as I could, then moved off the front. Aaron shot past me going for the win.

About 10 feet back were three more riders. I got on their wheel, caught my breath for a second, then attacked again. Another rider countered and got in front of me. I was sure I had third when another rider flew by me and the rider in front of me to catch second.

I want to be upset about not seeing him coming and doing anything about it (I could have gotten on his wheel and caught the other guy for third), but I'm absolutely thrilled with a 4th place finish in an event of this caliber.

A few stats:
Distance: 31.5 miles
Finishing Time: 1:20:38
Avg Speed: 23.4 mph
Max Speed: 32.6 mph
Normalized Power: 256 watts
Max Power: 1057 watts

I know I was lucky to have a huge team presence this day and I was in the right place when the break happened. I didn't have any control over the team presence, but I did have control over my location in the pack.

Now I just have to live up to the results from today for the rest of the summer!

Lastly, my thoughts are with my teammates and fellow riders who crashed today, some of whom were seriously hurt.

Back in the Saddle Again

This week marked a major return to outdoor cycling for me. While I've been regularly riding the trainer all winter long, both at home and in the RPM classes, I have not been outside in quite a while. I had to look it up: my last ride outdoors was in November, when I did a 45 mile team ride. It had been almost a month before that since I had ridden outside then.

So I'm a little out of practice. I really wanted to get some mileage before the race next weekend.

This week, on Wednesday and Thursday, I went on a bike ride at lunch with a few guys from my new job. There are some decent roads for cycling and we did about 15 to 20 miles on both days. It also means I have to eat fast, so I'm not going for super-high-calorie meals at a sit down restaurant either. It's nice getting out at lunch. It definitely makes it easier to work on a nice day!

Friday, I rode about 45 miles out to Valley Forge. It was really great to be out for a long ride, but I was hurting. My hands, shoulders, back, and crotch were not used to the vibrations from the road. They were somewhere between numb and sore after about 20 miles.

Saturday, I was a bit of a space cadet. For some reason I thought the West River Time Trials started this week, so I was up and on the drive at 6:30 to warm up. Only after I was there did I realize that it's not for two more weeks. Oops....

I warmed up and did a time trial anyway. It was less than idea conditions, being about 47 degrees, windy (about 18 mph winds), and foggy. Still, my average power was the best it's ever been (250 watts) and my time was not that bad (21:53, about 22.6 mph). If I can do that same power on a nicer day, it should be a really good time (I'd guess right around 20:00, 24.8 mph). By comparison, my all time best out there is 19:42. I just might be getting close!

Today I was running late and missed the VV ride. I decided instead to just do laps around the West River Drive. I did 6 of them, keeping each lap around 220 watts . The wind was pretty harsh, really making me work. I totaled about 50 miles for the day in 2:32:00.

So, in classic "Tom style", I barely ride for 6 months and then do 155 miles in 5 days and seemed to just get stronger each day.

Resetting Goals

I'm really sore from the gym yesterday and now my shoulder is pretty sore from getting the tattoo finished. The spot inside my armpit changed my personal definition of pain.

With the complaining done, hopefully this week will be my first step back losing weight and trying to burn off another ~14 pounds. This morning, I was at 181.6 pounds.

I want to be down around 168 by July. As a reward, once I get below 170 pounds I'll be getting my right leg tattooed so I don't look like I have one black sock on anymore. I may not get it done until fall so I don't mess with the racing season too much.

While we're talking goals, This summer I'd also like to reach:
15% body fat
300 watt functional threshold power
1100 watt 5-second sprint
sub-20 minute West River Time Trial

Round 2

Looking back at my weight loss journey, I realize that I really spent about 4 months both losing weight and gaining fitness, and then I spent the last several months gaining fitness (speed and power) but not losing weight anymore.

I think in order to lose the remaining weight, I'm going to have to treat it as a project, just like I did last time.

I've gained a couple pounds back in the last few weeks. My shoulder has been healing from the new tattoo, I've just finished my final projects for the semester for school, I've been preparing to start my new job, and now I've just had a minor surgery that will keep me off the bike for a week, just in time to go back for the last tattoo session on my shoulder next Sunday.

Once all that is over, I'm going to try the same routine I did last year:

Training

• Saturday and Sunday outdoors on the bike
• Tuesday and Thursday on the trainer in the morning
• Tuesday and Thursday at the gym in the evening

Diet

• Eat 4 to 5 meals a day
• Cut down on the fast food
• Cut down on soda

I've kind of let me diet go completely and I have barely been in the gym. I know that I will need to change them both. I'm hoping that the new job doesn't prevent that.

My weight is around 178 right now. I'd really like to be in the lower 160's by the end of the summer. Last year I lost 20 pounds in 4 months. If I can drop 16 pounds in 4 months this time around, I will be really happy.

I had planned on doing a lot of races this year. That hasn't changed. I still want to get into several crits and time trials. The competition will be great to keep my motivation up. In the long term, I have to remember that it's more important for me to be healthy and thinner than it is for me to be racing, though. I have to remember to make the weight loss a priority again.

Didn't win but don't care

After yesterday's ride, I was feeling really confident and had only one goal: an average power of 260 watts. I didn't care if I was in last place as long as I got that power. That also meant that I might have to sacrifice my first place finish in order to keep the pace high.

Right from the start, we were pushing the pace. It was Rob, Mike, and I pushing the pace. No, let me correct that: it was me pushing the pace with Rob and Mike drafting me. That's pretty much how it was for the first 40 minutes. Then Mike dropped off the group. For the next hour, it was just Rob drafting me.

A few times Rob took a pull, but my power was dropping in his draft, so I had to stay on the fron almost the whole time. Keeping my average power high, I didn't have a lot extra to drop Rob.

On the final climb, just 400 feet long but at 7.5%, Rob sprinted by me and beat me by about 18 seconds. I just maintained a steady pace into the finish, quite happy to see my average power: 263 watts, which I maintained for 1:43:46. We even beat the group in the other bank by about 3 minutes.

I've gotten a few questions from people about wattage and how that translates to speed. The short answer is: it doesn't directly, and that's why we use it. Power is an absolute measure of how much force I'm putting out on the bike. 250 watts could be 24 mph on flat road but only 10 mph on a sleep climb or 45 mph on a steep descent. All of this is ignoring wind, of course where 250 watts on flat road could be 28 mph with a tail wind and 21 mph into a head wind.

Below are examples on relatively flat roads from my training records last year:

• Blueberry Time Trial, Avg Speed: 23.08 mph, Avg Power 222 watts
• 42K on West River Drive: Avg Speed 23.4 mph, Avg Power 232 watts
  
• West River Drive Time Trial, Avg Speed 24 mph, Avg Power 241 watts
• One-way on West Rover Drive, Avg Speed 25.7 mph Avg Power 256 watts
• 5 minute power test, Avg Speed 26.4 mph, Avg Power 299 watts

There's also a bit of a difference between the Computrainer and riding outdoors. My Powertap usually reads 8 to 10% lower than the Computrainer, but sometimes it reads the same or higher. Whether that's actually a difference in accuracy/calibration or just a difference in the way the Powertap reads the trainer vs. the road, I don't know.

So what's next? Maybe I will hit 270 watts before I start serious speed work for the spring. I only have a couple more weeks, but it is a definite possibility.

A new thing for me: Patience

Today in RPM we rode the Iron Man Switzerland course, a 37.33 mile course with 4 major climbs (6% or steeper) and a lo-o-o-o-o-o-ong 10 mile flat stretch at the end. I've always done pretty well on this course, even though I'm not a great climber. I am a decent time trialist and can really move on that last flat part. I knew today was going to be tough riding with a really strong bank of riders.

In the first few miles, the group formed up: Kevin, Rob, Kacy, and me. With that group, the pace was going to be high. Kevin made a couple attacks. I immediately responded, making sure that he know I was watching and if he broke away, I was going with him. Mike, another strong rider on the team, quickly made it apparent that he was taking it easy today. I was kind of disappointed since he has beaten me a couple times and I'm always game for a rematch. As we move into the racing season, I'm betting that Mike and I will be working together in a lot of races. Our power levels are pretty close and he's a decent guy (if he reads this, he'll probably fall over from the shock that I said something nice. I gave him crap the whole ride for taking it easy today).

When we hit the first climb, just 10 minutes in, I gunned it as hard as I could. I had a gap almost immediately and rode away from the rest of the group. Once I had about 200 feet, I slowed down to a comfortable pace. It was early and I didn't want to burn out early. Rob and Kacy caught me before the top of the climb. Kevin was off the back and losing ground fast. I drifted to the back of the pack and drafted Rob and Kacy.

We rode together pretty calmly until the next climb, when I made a move again. Once again, I got about 200 feet ahead, then matched or slightly exceeded their speed the rest of the way up the hill. When I reached the top, I had to make a decision. Did I think that I could hold off Rob and Kacy for another hour and twenty minutes? I decided not to take the risk. I held a decent pace on the descent, but didn't push too hard so they would have to work harder than I was if they wanted to catch me. Once they caught me, I drifted back into the draft and took it easy.

On the third and fourth climbs, I did the same: shoot away at the base of the climb, slow down at the top, and wait for them to catch me.

As we approached the 10-mile flat road, I started planning the rest of the race. I figured if I attacked, one of two things would happen:
Option 1: Rob would sprint after me, leaving Kacy behind. I'd have to either shake Rob off on the road or outsprint him at the line. Not knowing his fitness level, this was pretty risky. Rob is a track guy, so I'd rather not try to outsprint him at the finish.
Option 2: Rob would stay with Kacy. This was risky for me because I wasn't sure if I could hold them both off for 10 miles. If I cracked and they caught me, I may not have the energy left to stay with them.

I know Kacy is strong, but I didn't think she would be able to bring me back if I attacked.

My average power up to this point was pretty low, at 241 watts. Since I'd been hitting the 250's lately, I figured that meant that I still had a lot of energy to burn. It was time to throw down.

I jumped out of the saddle, accelerating from 22 to 27 mph. I stayed out of the saddle until I had ridden them both off my wheel. Rob wasn't countering. Crap. That meant I had to worry about burning out alone on the road. When my lead reached 100 feet, I sat back down, but kept the pace at about 23 to 24 mph.

For the next 10 miles, I had one mission: match or exceed Rob and Kacy's speed. As long as I could keep them a few hundred feet behind me, I would have some time to react if they started getting close. Once my lead reached 500 feet, I figured I was pretty safe, but I still kept an eye on them.

I was safely pulling away almost the entire time. At one point, it looked like they picked up the pace to about 25 mph and started pulling me back. I accelerated to 26 mph and held it until I had gained another hundred feet on them.

All the way to the finish line, I kept watching their speed and mine, paranoid that if I let my attention drift, they would catch me.

It never happened. By the time I hit the finish line, I had about a third of a mile (1760 feet) lead on them, which at that speed translated to 49 seconds.

By the time I hit the finish, my average power had increased to 254 watts. To increase my average power by that much that fast, I must have been doing about 280 to 290 watts for the last half hour or so. I was kind of surprised. It felt like I was working, but not nearly that hard.

The big surprise for me was how long I waited to make my move. It's not like me to be patient in a race. I always want to crush people right at the starting line, even though I know that I'm not strong enough to do it.

After the ride, my shoulder was pretty sore. I got a new tattoo started on my shoulder on Thursday and my bib shorts were digging into it quite a bit. Another day or two and it should be OK, but today and tomorrow's RPM rides will be a little less comfortable because of it.

I'm usually stronger the second day of RPM. Tomorrow I'm really hoping that I can hit a new record. I want to hit 260 watts for my average.

A nice number for a computer guy

256 holds a special significance in the computer world. It's the number of possibilities in one byte of information, it's a common multiple for memory, and it's just 2 to the 8th power.

It's also my average wattage today, 4 watts better than my previous best. I had no help at all. I was alone from the very start, leaving the bank of riders I was in right from the start, so I did 1:42:12 completely alone. I totally buried myself to do it.

My average wattage fluctuated between 255 and 257 watts for the last hour or so. I tried as hard as I could to keep my average in that range. I really wanted 256 for an average. The last 10 minutes, I could barely hang on. I couldn't really think straight, I couldn't see, and I couldn't speak. I was just pedaling as hard as I could. I kept a mental countdown running in my head as I watched my distance covered number. It was a 38.2 mile course. It was actually the same Stage 2 course we used for the Tour de Breakaway three weeks ago. It was a lot easier with people to draft. I was 5 minutes slower today than I was then but I worked a lot harder for it. I averaged 246 watts that day.

When I was done, the first thing I did was cough for about 10 minutes straight. Once my heart rate came down a little bit (from 178 BPM) and I could breathe again, I went over to the other bank to see how they did. I beat them by 3 minutes.

Awesome. That made my day.

I got back on the bike and kept cooling down. My legs were killing me, I kept coughing every few minutes, and my heart rate took forever to come down to my normal range. I didn't care. I had my best day ever on the trainer.

Let's look at a couple numbers. A "good" off season is one where your power increases by about 10%. This year, from October to the present, I've increased my power for these long courses from 205 watts to 256 watts. That's almost a 25% improvement. With the rapid rate of improvement I've seen, I'm wondering if I could hit 260 or 265 watts in the remaining RPM classes. It would be really great if I could. It would be an amazing foundation to start the serious speed work on in the spring.

Oh yeah, and sitting around with a cold all week and eating like crazy, I'm up a pound to 176.

One Sick Individual

I knew I was coming down with something last weekend when I struggled with my field test. By Tuesday, I was coughing enough that I only completed 1 1/2 of my scheduled 4 VO2max intervals. By Thursday, I was dizzy enough to go home from work early. I went home, took a couple sleeping pills to make sure I stayed unconscious, and went to bed. (At some point I posted some pictures to Facebook that night, but have no recollection of doing it!)

Friday I woke up and felt terrible, still coughing like crazy and had a hard time concentrating. I emailed my coworkers that I wouldn't be in and went back to bed for most of the day.

A smart person would have skipped riding today. I never claimed to be smart. I woke up and didn't feel too bad (after sleeping about 20 hours in the last day and a half) so I figured I'd go into the shop and do an easy ride.

As I was warming up, I could tell I was a little off. My body heat was WAY high and I was uncomfortably warm the entire time. I managed to stay with Todd and Jason for about the first 30 minutes, then I dropped off and rode the rest of the course alone. I stayed ahead of Andy and Kacy, who were about a mile behind me most of the time. Kacy has also been sick and been off the bike for about 3 weeks.

It was an interesting day since I couldn't spin over 90 RPM for the life of me. My aerobic system just wasn't cooperating. I tended to stay about 85 RPM, making my leg muscle do a little more work than normal.

I finished the course with a stunning average of 242 watts. That's a decent wattage for any day, let alone one where I don't really remember much of it because I still don't have a lot of focus. Once I was done, I was coughing really badly and all my teammates were giving me loads of grief for not staying in bed.

They're right. I probably should have stayed in bed all day, since now I'm coughing even more and can have that "warm" feeling that usually means I have a fever.

I need to be better for next weekend. After waiting for months, I finally decided to get my next tattoo: it will be the same style as much current one and will be on my right shoulder/upper arm. I called Mony the other day and made the appointment. I don't want to be coughing while he's working!

So now, maybe 18 more hours of sleep and I'll be ready to ride tomorrow ;-)

ADDENDUM: Uhhh..... huh. Wow. I just downloaded my power meter information. I was messing around while I was warming up and tried to do a couple sprints. I just spotted a number I've never seen before: 5 seconds at 1015 watts, with an instantaneous maximum of 1096 watts. I don't know how the hell I did that kind of power, but the numbers are there (and I thought I saw it on screen, but it could have been a delusion). My target for March 1 was 1000 watts for 5 seconds, so I guess I need to increase the goal a little.

Not a fluke

Sometimes you have a really good day on the bike and you wonder if it was just one day.

Today's RPM was the Iron Man Switzerland course, a pretty painful 37-mile course with 3 climbs between 6.6 and 7.7%, each one about 5 minutes long. Ouch.

Four of us gunned it from the beginning. It was Matt, Pete, Ted, and I. We were pushing the pace pretty hard. Pete dropped off after about a half hour. It's his first season with the team and still building his strength, but he's doing pretty well so far.

On the first climb, Ted and I gunned it a little, dropping Matt. We joked about dropping him, but we slowed down a bit and he got back on. On the first major climb, Matt and I dropped Ted. By the summit, we had over 1000 feet on him. On the descent and flat after, I found something: Matt didn't mind drafting but wouldn't help pull. I debated for a second: could I drag Matt along and still keep Ted off? Ted is a great time trialist and could probably pull me back. So I waited. I slowed to to about 17 mph so Ted could catch back on (he was doing a out 21 mph).

Once he was back on, the three of us worked pretty hard together. Ted called out the rotation, making sure each of us took a pull. We stayed together over the next couple climbs and descents. We just had the 6 miles of flat road until the finish.

With about five miles to go, I was just finishing my 2-minute pull. I was debating how long to wait before making a move and this seemed like a good time. Besides, a song I really liked came on my iPod just then. So I gunned it, hitting about 750 watts. I jumped out of the saddle and gritted my teeth. I watched as I pulled away from Matt, as he slipped out of my draft. Ted shot past him and was on me pretty quickly. After a minute I slowed down a touch and Ted took over. We kept the pace pretty high. I was doing about 300 watts when I was pulling and about 220 in Ted' draft.

I took a really long pull the last couple miles. I wanted to get my average wattage up. It was at 251 watts and I really wanted to get it up to meet or beat my old record. I ran out of road.... Ted sprinted by me in the last half mile and I just rode in at the same speed. I finished with an average of 252 watts, tying my record from last week. Matt came in about a minute behind us (I think, I was pretty beat and not paying much attention).

I was thrilled. To push myself so hard in the TT test yesterday and still deliver this kind of performance today was more than I could hope for. Especially since I'm still coughing and feel a little run down.

This week I'll be doing VO2max intervals and threshold intervals, so I'll probably be a little more tired by next weekend. Hopefully my body adjusts to the new higher intensity!

Starting to sound like a broken record

I wasn't really thinking about it and forgot to sign up in advance for the RPM class this week. With some 40" of snow this week, not too many people are riding outside and the class filled up pretty quickly.

Since I was going to be riding the trainer at home, I dug through my courses to find something kind of punishing but still kind of fun. I decided on my old favorite: The Carmichael Training Systems Field Test.

Years ago, when I was still skating, I worked with a great coach at Carmichael Training Systems named Josh Seldman. I always look back fondly on the days when he was my coach. He really got some great results out of me. One of the methods that he (and CTS) used was a test every 8 weeks or so to test my fitness: a 3 mile time trial. It could be done outdoors or on my CompuTrainer. It's long enough to get some good data from and ideally I would do two of them to see how well I could maintain the speed on the second one.

Today I did one, but oh what a one I did.

I warmed up really well. I wasn't feeling great since I was out late last night and have a bit of a cough coming on. I debated doing it at all, but a couple of hard efforts in the warmup felt OK so I decided to go for it.

Time trials are always hard. A 3-mile one is so short that you have to go really really hard in order to do well. From the power numbers I've been seeing lately, I was guessing that I would be able to average about 300 watts or so. That's a lot of power and was going to take a major effort.

I hit the Start button on the trainer, watched the countdown, then gave it everything I had. I was amazed at how quickly I zoned out. I was pedaling a steady 90 to 95 RPM, my head slightly moving side to side with each pedal stroke, and my breathing labored but controlled. I don't remember much of the time trial really, other than looking over to see 2.96 miles on the computer. I was almost done. 2.97....2.98... 2.99... 3.00. Whew! Done!

I cooled down, then started messing with the laptop and realized that the CompuTrainer software hadn't recorded the effort. I hate that software when it does that. At least I remembered my time and average power.

I rebooted the laptop to get to Mac OS, opened my training log, and went to enter my time and power in the log with all my past tests.... what the hell? No, that can't be right... oh my God, it is. It's a new record.

Today I did 3 miles in 7:11.7 at an average 315 watts and 25.01 mph. I was just excited that it was over 25 mph. My previous best on the trainer, set in November 2004, was 7:15.8 (I didn't track my power back then).

I used to fight for weeks to take off a fraction of a second from my 3 field test times. I sliced off 4 seconds. To give you an idea, 4 seconds at that speed means that if I'd done this on the open road, I'd have beaten the old record by 150 feet.

I'm really excited.... and now I'm going to go lay down. That was hard!

Oh, and I'm still 175 pounds.

One easy day and one record breaking day

Yesterday's RPM was pretty easy. We got about a foot of snow overnight the day before, so it was a little smaller group than usual. We didn't go that hard, with Todd, Glenn, and I rolling along at a moderate pace. Todd got a flat about an hour in and Glenn decided to try and drop me. He hit 27 mph on a 2% climb. I clawed my way back onto his wheel. He tried it again. I pulled him back again. I was not letting him get away.

We took it easy all the way to the finish line. I tried to make a move with 2 miles to go, but Glenn shot by me and beat me by about 20 seconds. Did I mention he's a Cat 2 rider? I'd fully expect him to smoke me :-)

Today was another story. We had a really strong group, with Tyler, Charlie, Mike, Ted, and I from QCW and a few new guys who I didn't get to meet.

Very quickly, Charlie, Tyler, and Mike were off the front. Ted and I, along with one new guy named Rob, formed the chase pack. About 30 minutes or so in, Mike dropped back from the lead group to our group. We had a pretty solid rotation. It felt like Ted and I were doing most of the work, but Rob and Mike were definitely contributing as well. We had a pretty good rhythm going and Ted and I worked really well together.

The last half mile of this course is a really brutal climb, reaching 7.9%. Just before it, Mike took off and quickly had 150 feet on us. I tried to bring him back had him down to 70 feet, but I just couldn't bring him back. When the course flattened out right before the finish, Ted came by me and I couldn't hold on to him. In the end, Mike beat me by 15 seconds and Ted beat me by 8 seconds. My finish time was 1:39:52.

The really great surprise was my average wattage: 252 watts. That was my best average wattage for any RPM class (ever, including when I was racing before I got fat). My previous best on this course was 242 watts in early January. I've never held that kind of wattage in my life. Based on that and some other analysis I've seen on the PowerTap lately, I'd guess my functional threshold is somewhere around 275 watts, something I never imagined I'd see when I started my quest to lose weight last May (hard to believe that was 8 1/2 months ago).

With just 8 weeks to go until the start of racing season, I'll be doing more threshold and VO2 max work now, so now I get to find out how my body handles the higher intensity. I'll be spending a lot of time working in the 330 watt range.... my legs are aching already...

Stage 3: Hanging on for dear life

Today was the hill stage: 3 major climbs ranging from 4% to 11.5%, each one about 4 to 5 miles in length, followed by a descent and then the next climb.

My strategy today was to hang on and try to survive. Luckily, the group I was with worked together for the first 29 of today's 31 miles. With just under 2 miles to go, the Shankopotamus made a move. He took off like a rocket, leaving all of us in his wake. Darren and Harper came in a little behind him, then me, then Melanie, then Kevin and then John.

It was a brutal day and much of it was a blur. My legs hurt quite a bit and I'm planning to take it as easy as I can tonight and get an easy recovery ride in the morning to help my legs heal up.

This week I'm going to get back in the gym to help get my weight loss moving again. Today's stage reminded me of how much I really need to burn off that last 8 to 10 pounds before racing season really kicks into high gear.

Thanks to Joe Wentzell and all the folks who made this great event happen!

Stage 2: That's more like it

Today I felt a lot better. I felt good when I woke up, I felt good warming up, and I felt good in the race.

My strategy was simple. I knew that in the bank of 8 trainers, we'd probably break into two groups. My goal was to stay with the stronger group as long as possible (knowing they would probably drop me at some point) and hopefully I'd be able to stay ahead of the second group.

The course was pretty flat, with only up to a 3.5% climb. It had a lot of shallow climbs that led to a long descent. It totaled 38.2 miles.

The pack started FAST, averaging almost 22 mph for the first hour. As the clock ticked over, I saw my average for the first hour was 250 watts. I was really happy. Charlie Z was awesome about making sure we constantly rotated, with each of us taking 30 second pulls. Just as we neared the top of the major climb, the group surged and I was off the back. I had about a 2 mile lead over the second group and I as facing 16 miles alone.

As I watched the faster group's lead grow, I fought to keep my lead over the next group steady. My average wattage dropped a little bit, but it was still going strong. I held about 242 watts the remainder of the time I was alone.

I hit the finish line about 7 minutes behind the leading group and still 2 miles over the next group. My strategy worked.

My average wattage was 246 watts, a tie for my best ever, but the time was 1:47:05. My previous record at that power was 10 minutes shorter.

It was enough to move me from 17th to 12th in the overall standings.

Tomorrow will be ugly. It has climbs as steep as 11% and I am not a great climber. There are a couple great climbers in the group, so my sights will be picking off a few non-climbers so I can move into the top 10. I'll need to make up about 6 minutes to pull that off...

Stage 1: TT

The Tour de Breakaway started today, a 3-day CompuTrainer stage race.

It isn't off to a good start for me, mostly because I was stupid. I went out every night this week and drank when I should have been home riding the bike (easy with a few sprints and threshold efforts, just to sharpen up for the race). I probably shouldn't have used my time trial bike for this race, but I really wanted to try. Finally, I started WAY too hard. Two minutes in, I was averaging 400 watts. For the next 14 minutes, I hemorrhaged time and power. I finished with an average of 275 watts in 16:47. It's certainly not bad, but it's not as good as I wanted.

The only highlight was what my friend & teammate Kacy told me. Her major goal was to beat me. Kacy is an amazing cyclist and to hear that from her really made my day. She met her goal, and finished in 16:34.

Here's a quick video of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaAtdr-5ua8

Time to Hammer Down

Starting tomorrow, I'll be racing on the Computrainer for 3 days in a row. It will be my first "stage race", and more importantly, the first race I've done since 2007 where I thought maybe I could see some decent results. I did a couple races last year, but with the fitness I had, I didn't expect anything more than doing well against myself. This time, I can actually put up a little bit of a fight.

I know, it's not a crit or anything, but it's a reason to go harder than I've gone in a long time for 3 days in a row.

For more info on the event: http://www.bikereg.com/events/Register.asp?EventID=9937

The event is being put on by our awesome sponsors, Breakaway Bikes: http://breakawaybikes.com/

Test Week

Training the week before a major race is always dicey. It's too late to make any changes, it's too late to lose weight, it probably even too late to change any equipment. So you really hope like crazy that you do well.

I think the last 7 days represented the best cycling performance of my entire life.

On Tuesday, I took a stab at the CompuTrainer 10K time trial course. My previous best time was 16:24 at 281 watts. This time, I did it in 15:54 at 303 watts. My best 10K TT ever.

On Wednesday, I did a couple sprints to see what I had. I hit a 5 second max of 980 watts. My previous best was 945 watts. During that 5 seconds, I hit a max of 1009 watts. My previous max was 998 watts. My best 5 second and instantaneous max ever.

Saturday was the classic long RPM class. We did the Waimea Waimea course, which is essentially a 38-mile out-and-back course with a fast descent in the beginning, a long climb in the middle, and a mean climb at the end. I was in a strong 3-man breakaway. One guy dropped off from the group and another had to stop so he could open the store, leaving me alone. I had to push the pace alone for the last 45 minutes. I ended up beating the strongest rider in the other bay by just 12 seconds.

Today was the real clincher. We did another 38 mile course, Windach. It's a rolling undulating course with no major climbs or descents, but a couple long 0.6% climbs or 0.6% descents. I gunned it from the start, trying to see what I could do. I rode 38 miles alone. I watched the guys behind me closely, but held them to about a 3300 foot lead for almost the entire day. In the end, I averaged 246 watts, a new all time best for me.

I'm as ready as I've ever been for a race. Next weekend is the 120K Tour de Breakaway, which is a 3-day CompuTrainer race that we are doing as a fundraiser for our Juniors team. I may not be under 170 pounds for my 36th birthday like I wanted (I'm still 173) but at least my power output is the best it's ever been!

Second verse, same as the first verse. Only harder.

Yesterday's RPM class was pretty rough. It was the Richter course, which has a nasty 45-minute climb in the beginning and a long descent with a few sneaky climbs mixed in. I took off in an early breakaway with Bill. He dropped me on a long descent about half way through the course, so I and finished second in my group (alone), with a pretty strong finishing time of 1:31:15 and an average of 232 watts.

I was really excited with it since the last time I did that course just four weeks ago, I averaged 216 watts. That's a huge improvement for that amount of time. I'm kicking myself for not having the finishing time from the last one for comparison.

I went home.... and managed to slide downhill all day. By early afternoon my legs were aching like crazy. By early evening, I had a bad headache. About 7:30, I was violently ill and spent the next two hours lying on my bathroom floor.

I crawled into bed and passed out at some point. Then at 6:30 this morning my alarm went off. I forgot I had signed up for RPM again today. I debated staying in bed but I figured I may as well get up and go.

I didn't feel too bad eating breakfast and driving into the city. I got there and felt this sense of dread as I looked some of the other guys in the class. Joe Wentzell, Ted Slack, Keith Robinson, and Glenn Krotik. All people who could smoke me any day of the week and twice on Sunday. And today is Sunday.

It started with Glenn taking off with Ted and me hot on his heels. Joe seemed to be taking it easy. For about a half hour, it was Glenn, Ted, and me pushing the pace. I tried taking a couple pulls, but with those two around I was definitely the weakest in the group. We put a mile or so between us and Joe. Then Ted got a flat tire. He was out for a few minutes fixing it, then got back on and started chasing.

With just Glenn and I, I was worried. I figured Glenn would drop me any time he wanted. After about 20 minutes, he got a flat. He was out for several minutes, then got back on and started chasing. I wasn't long before he was in a group with Ted and Keith. Now I was alone in the lead with Joe Wentzell chasing me. I had about a half mile lead. I didn't think I could hold him off forever but I was not going to give up easily. I was at about 22 miles and it was a 37.33 mile course. I figured if I could hold him off until I had 10 miles to go (27.33 miles completed), I'd be happy. I carefully watched his speed and kept mine as close as I could.

I saw that my average power so far was 238 watts. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could put in enough effort to increase that to 245 for the whole ride. It would mean riding at 270 watts or so for the remainder of the ride. I wasn't sure I had that much left in me and if I cracked, I probably wouldn't recover but I figured it would be worth the gamble. Besides, there's no shame in losing to Joe if I failed.

I started to notice a pattern. I pulled away from Joe on every hill. He pulled back some distance on every descent. There was a lot of descending to go, then an 8-mile flat stretch to finish. This is not good. To add to it, I was running low on fluids and kept thinking about getting off the bike grabbing a drink out of my bag.

I passed the 27.33 mark and still hadn't been caught. I thought maybe if I could get to 30 miles without being caught, I'd be happy. Then I passed the 30 mile mark without Joe catching me. At one point, Joe got within 400 feet. I really thought he had me.... then I started to pull away again.

When we hit the final flat section, I settled into a rhythm, I had 1400 feet on Joe and 3 miles on the chase group (who was on the long descent and gaining fast). All I had to do was not crack. I still wanted 245 watts average and had about 242 watts so far. It was going to be close.

Once my lead over Joe hit a half mile, I hopped off the bike, ran over to my bag, and grabbed another water bottle and got back on. I lost about 800 feet of my lead.

Then Joe sat up and started cooling down. It was just me.

With only a half mile to go, the computer ticked from 244 to 245 watts. I had it. And that's not all I had. I still had a 2-mile lead on the chase group. I had the average power I wanted (which was 13 watts higher than yesterday) and I won the group. I couldn't believe it.

Even considering the two flat tires of my competition, holding 245 watts for 1:46:25 is a really good performance.

It's hard to believe that 16 hours ago I was laying on the floor barely able to get up!

Where the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks Did that Come From?!?!

I took it really easy over Christmas. So easy that I gained back 1.6 pounds. I guess laying around and eating cookies, chips, and dip will do that. I only took a break from my laying around to drink with a few friends. I closed the bars two nights that I was home, so my body clock is a little messed up.

When I got back, I found that I had a touch of a cold. When I got back on the trainer on Wednesday, I was out of breath at only 150 watts. My heart was racing and I felt like crap. Thursday wasn't much better. I was easily winded and felt like crap the whole time. I went to the RPM class this morning with pretty low expectations.

As I was warming up, I was happy. My heart wasn't racing like it was the other day, but I still didn't feel great.

The groups formed pretty quickly. There was a 4-man breakaway that formed in the first mile, with the others scattered around. The breakaway group was moving and had some really strong riders, including Todd, Nace, and Javier. In some respects, the middle hour was kind of boring. Just the four of us working together to really keep the pace up.

At the end, we finished pretty much together. I attacked at the finish and took it by a couple seconds, but I don't think the other guys really cared.

I couldn't believe my average power: 224 watts. I was really happy with that, considering I wasn't even sure that I'd crack 200.

In the coming weeks, I'll need to focus a little better. I need to be on the trainer consistently to get my sprint power back up and back in the gym to get my weight down. Right now, I'm seriously looking forward to my next crit, which will probably be the Philly 2-Day in early April.

My legs are killing me. I'm going to go soak them for a while in hot water.