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!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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...
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...
Friday, January 29, 2010
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
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
Thursday, January 28, 2010
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/
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/
Sunday, January 24, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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.
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.
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