Pro Race and "After Party"

Still in full recovery, not doing a thing, lazier than ever, can't seem to drag my butt of the couch mode. I am heading to Greenville, SC in the morning to watch the US Pro National Championship Road Race. I have passes to get into the Hincapie VIP tent for the race and the Hincapie headquaters for their after party Sunday night. Our club gets 2 passes each year and I got first dibs on them this year. Good times! I have several photos from past Tours de Georgia that I hope to get autographed. Especially the one posted here previously of me and George Hincapie. I am such a cycling groupie. My training will resume next week. I gave my coach the heads up that I might not be up to it Monday, after the late night, but Tuesday I'll have to get back to the grind and start the off season work.

Post season

With my last race of the season behind me, I went for a leisurely ride yesterday. Just an hour of easy spinning with a friend/team mate. I got word from my coach today that I should take it easy this week and get ready to start post season, off the bike, training next week. I am kind of looking forward to the change of pace. Weight training, yoga, core work and plyometrics will be some of the things I'll be focusing on. I know this type of training can be just as challenging as on the bike training, but I will welcome the challenge. Change is always good in a training program. It keeps it fresh and shocks the system, a good thing.

Bikes, bodies and bottles

Friday I went out on my time trial bike just to run through the gears and make sure everything was functioning as it should. I was only out for about 40 minutes. I didn’t go too hard, just easy to moderate spinning. When I got home, I washed the road bike I’d be racing Saturday morning. After putting the race wheel set on and lubing all the components, I loaded the bike in the Element and got my gear together.
Saturday morning I was up for breakfast by 5:00 a.m. My race was scheduled to start at 8:20 a.m. I had to drive about an hour, check in at registration and hoped to warm up at least 30-40 minutes. This meant I’d need to leave by 6:30 or 6:45 a.m. Of course, I was late getting on the road, but, as seems to happen more times than not, the race was not starting on time and was about 20 minutes behind schedule. No complaint from me as I needed the extra time. I checked in got my bib numbers and quickly pinned them on my jersey and got ready. I warmed up a little, but hoped that the neutral start would also serve as a warm up. This would be about 2 miles of riding before the race official gave us the okay to start racing. I talked with 3 other riders who were representing our club/team. I had raced with 2 of these guys before. I knew what to expect from these 2 and hoped we could work together throughout the race. There were 52 pre-registered for this race and several had signed up this morning. This was a huge field, the largest I’d ever been a part of.
A CAT 4 race can take many forms. It can be just beyond a CAT 5 race some days, rival a CAT 3 race others and fall anywhere in between most of the time. Today’s race started at a moderate pace. I was able to warm up before the accelerations started, as they always do. But, like a CAT 5 race, there was WAY too much go and stop. Riders would speed up and slow for no apparent reason. JUST GO ALREADY!
The conditions were great Saturday morning. The temperature was mid to high 70’s, no wind and dry. There had been storms at home during the night, but Oak Ridge had not been hit by them. I was glad of this because there are a couple of fast, curvy descents on this course.
The first lap (1 of 2 - 24 mile loops) was good. One hazard we had not expected was that the county had dug a ditch across the road on Thursday. They filled it back in, but poorly. There was a definite dip in the road that could jar you pretty good. One team member in the Masters 50+ race broke his seat post at this point. Our group had no problems crossing it either lap. There were 1 or 2 attempted breaks off the front, but they were shut down very quickly without much effort. I managed to stay at the front of the group on all the climbs. I never fell back further than about 10-15 riders from the front. I was feeling very good. 2/3 of the way through the first lap, on a right turn in a slight descent, the group pulled one of those go and stop moves and I had to hit my brakes pretty hard to avoid slamming into my team mate. My rear tire locked up and I slid sideways for a split second. I released the brake and managed to straighten up correct. My other mishap was road kill. The group parted and I swerved right to miss a dead opossum. I ran over the front feet. “I hope his claws were facing down” was my comment to the rider next to me. I sure didn’t want a opossum induced puncture. The second lap was a little faster. Again, there were a couple of attempts to get away off the front. They didn’t get far before being brought back into the group. This was really a bit of a surprise because there were 2 or 3 teams in the race with 6-8 riders each. I’d have thought they would have had a better strategy since this was the TN State Road Race Championship. The climbs were more intense this time around as the pace was increasing. The lead riders tried to get a gap on each climb, but had no luck. I was still feeling really strong and was sure I could hang with the front of the group till the end of the race. I was on my team mate’s wheel up until about 3 or 4k to go. I lost his wheel to another rider somehow. I was pushed out and ended up on the left side of the lane right on the double yellow line. No worries, I still had good positioning in the field. Once we went under the 1k to go banner the pace kicked. It was on and about to be over. The finish line was soon in sight when chaos ensued and the horrendous, familiar, dreaded sound that no rider wants to hear or be in close proximity to became all too real. CRASH!!! NASTY CRASH, right in front of me. (looked much like the attached picture) “Oh, S*@T!!! I’m going down!” was all that was going through my head. I jerked the bars to the left only to see this massive pile of bikes, bodies and bottles sliding across the center line. I corrected and swerved to the right. There was a bike summer saluting in the air about 6 feet in the air. I pedaled harder and somehow, made it through the carnage unscathed. The field sprint was on. I tucked low and hammered with all I had. The crash had opened the sprint up for some and hindered others. I was in the latter. I pulled past 2 riders and was gaining on a 3rd when he looked over his shoulder, saw me nearing and found a little more bite in his stride. He crossed the line 6 inches in front of me. I was glad to be over the line, surprised I had actually been in the sprint and relieved I had not been involved in the crash. My team mate had seized the opportunity he’d been given and crossed the line in second place. I finished 13th. I was VERY happy with that result. I have progressively gotten better results this season and hope this trend will continue as I stick to my training throughout the rest of the year and into next season. The crash had left one rider with a broken collar bone, one with stitches in his arm, lots of road rash and one trashed bike frame.
I drove home shortly after the race for a 2.5 hour rest before driving back for the evening time trial. Once again, the event was behind schedule by ½ an hour, then 45 minutes and finally an hour. I was supposed to start at 6:02:30 p.m. I finally rolled off the starting line around 7:03 p.m. The route was rolling terrain on a closed course. I had gotten in 30 minutes on the trainer and another 15 on the road before lining up to start. My legs were still fatigued from the road race and I couldn’t quite get my breathing down. The course was 8.24 miles (according to my GPS). I finished 16th with a time of 20:39 at an average speed of 23.9 mph. Not a great time, but respectable.
Sunday, doing absolutely NOTHING, just recovering and watching movies with the family.

Nice day despite the forecast

I got back from my ride about an hour and a half ago. Great ride, despite the forecast. They missed it AGAIN. I felt a few faint sprinkles on the way out but that's about it. It was blazin' hot. I did a new workout today, sprint intervals till ya puke, I think they are called. If not, they should be. I did 5 sets of 1 minute all out sprint efforts followed by 5 minutes of recovery. Complete recovery, because these were HARD one minute efforts. I literally thought I'd puke on the last 2. The 5 minutes between went by like a flash while the 1 minute of work seemed to last a lifetime. No complaints, mind you, that's what the workout is intended to do, push you to your limit, catch your breath and do it again x 5. I had a nice tail wind going out, but a relentless head wind coming back. I was out for an hour and 7 minutes. It seemed a lot longer. I spun the pedals easy on the cool down back to the house. Chocolate milk for a recovery drink and a turkey BLT 30 minutes later. Now I am sitting with my legs elevated, typing this and having a cup of freshly ground and brewed hazelnut coffee, ahhhh.

A bump in the road

No ride today, worked later than usual and I got home around 7:30, no time to get out on the bike. I may try and get in 2 rides or 1 two hour ride tomorrow. I'll have to see how I feel. I have to get it done early though. I have dinner reservations at 7:30 tomorrow night, 15th wedding anniversary.

Race prep

Monday I went out for a group ride to get in a little speed work. I got what I was looking for. This ride has really gotten fast this year. We averaged about 24-27 mph at most times, hitting 30 and 31 on some flat stretches of road. It was actually MORE than I wanted. I don't want to go too hard this week. I have to taper my work by week's end to be fresh for Saturday's road race and time trial. I did not feel 100% on the ride. I did shorter pulls on the front than usual. I kept thinking to myself, "ride smart now to ride strong later".
Today I almost didn't get out the door for my training. Just one of those lazy days I guess. I finally got in gear and went for a 1 hour ride concentrating on high cadence spin ups. I did 10 of these with plenty of recovery between. I felt much better today. The hour was over very quickly. I was glad I got out and did the work. Despite the forecast, I didn't see any rain, just cloudy skies and a little wind. The rest of the week I have about an hour a day to ride. Wednesday and Thursday are specific workouts. Friday is just a run through of my pre-race warm up then home to put the legs up. Race day will be here before I know it. Rest, ride, relax and eat right. Easy, right?

Reconnaissance mission

Saturday I rode the TN State Road Race course with a team mate and a few other riders. It is going to be a challenging course at race pace. We did the 24 mile loop twice, just as we will in the race this weekend. I took a while to warm up, but felt pretty good after about ½ of the first lap. I’ll definitely get in a good, long warm up on Saturday before the race. The first 2 hills should be okay. I think the group will likely stay together for the first lap. Once we get onto a stretch of busy highway there are 3 more rolling climbs that could prove to be significant. They kind of catch you off guard. There are rumble strips cut into the road right on the white line at the right of the lane. I had the misfortune to get into this section and it about jarred my teeth out. One of my water bottles came out of the cage and I ran over it with my rear wheel. I lost about ½ of the water which cause me to go very sparingly on my water intake for the rest of the ride. I was sooo thirsty by the end of the ride. And famished I might add. It was just my team mate and I at the end of the final lap. Everyone else had dropped off or taken a shorter route back to the cars. I made lots of mental notes about the course, what might happen at certain points and where I need to be more attentive to the group and their reactions to the terrain. I hope I am ready and can do well in the race. I hope to get in 1 or 2 hard efforts early this week, then taper off to light spinning by the week’s end. Wish me luck!

Catching up

I am really behind on posting updates. I am not going to try and catch up. I’ll just say I have gotten a few training rides in, but nothing to “write” home about. I have done a couple of the easiest recovery rides of my life. I checked the ego at the door as I rolled out the bike and took it super easy. I have had no energy to speak of lately. My hard efforts have been mediocre at best. Training is all about performance gains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4. I have not felt any gains in the last several rides. I’d be an easy target on the bike right now. I have to snap out of this quickly. I am going to recon the TN State Road Race course tomorrow morning. The race is only a week away. Hopefully I can also get lots of rest this weekend. More later.

Great tempo ride

Tuesday
Today was Tempo day. I had 30-40 minutes of warm up and cool down with 60 minutes of tempo riding sandwiched in between. I did this in the National Park heading up a gradual grade. Just before getting into the Park I was buzzed by a car from Georgia. It passed me at about 18 inches away. I pulled into the parking lot where the car had gone. I rolled up to the driver, who was out of the car now. He and his family were about to go tubing on the river. I told him it was a state law in TN to allow 3 feet when passing a cyclist. He said “what cyclist?” “Me” I replied. He asked where he passed me. He, in fact, had not even seen me. His kids admitted that they had seen me and that their dad had passed me very closely. Upon the kids, (teenagers) confirming what I’d said, he was very apologetic. I was very nice and told him I was not mad, just suggesting he pays closer attention in the future. I told him and his family to have fun and be careful as I clipped in and rolled away. I felt really strong and averaged over 200 watts for an hour and 13 minutes with an average speed of 20.6 mph. There was a storm blowing in and I was trying to get finished and out of the Park before I got caught in a downpour. I passed a fellow team member. He got on my wheel and sat on for 3 or 4 miles. We chatted a bit before I broke off to head back. I made it out of the Park before the storm, but the rain started about a mile later. As the rain got stronger, I pulled into a carwash stall and waited. The rain got harder, and then it slacked up. I called my wife and she agreed to come pick me up. As I was waiting, the rain almost stopped. It was just a drizzle, so I decided to head on home. I called my wife again and she told me to stay put because the storm was heading my way and it was pouring there. She was right. It was only a few minutes before the bottom dropped out and the rain fell in sheets. I was freezing from the drop in temperature, the wind and the fact I was soaked in sweat. I could not wait to get into a steaming hot shower. It’s the little things, ya know… My legs were definitely feeling fatigued after this ride. The rain is supposed to be around for the next day or so. At least that’s what the weather says today. We’ll see.

Test, rest, recover

Monday
Today was an easy recovery ride, just an hour and a half of light spinning. I got in most of the light stuff then hooked up with the normal Monday group. They passed me going in the opposite direction so I turned to give chase. They were cooking pretty well when I passed them. I poured all I had into the pedals for several miles. I had them in sight, but could not make the bridge. I backed off and went at my own pace. I knew they stopped about mid way on the ride. I might catch them there. NOT. They had already pulled out when I got to the midpoint of their ride. The slower riders were still there so I decided to continue my “recovery” ride and put in a few more miles with them. I sat in until my turn at the front rolled around. I got up to about 22 mph and held it there for several miles. I got lots of comments when I pulled off. (“great pace, nice pull, you’re killing me”, etc.) I did one more pull before I peeled off for home. I didn’t go too hard, so I still felt fresh and like I had a good recovery ride after all.

Sunday
I did NOTHING Sunday. I did yard work after running errands Saturday, after the LT test. I was dead by the time I finished Saturday night and didn’t feel like doing a thing Sunday, so I didn’t. It’s that simple.

Saturday
Today was the LT test. I’d spent the week recovering, not doing any hard efforts and resting when possible. I headed out around 10 am Saturday morning and was feeling pretty good. I was ready to get this behind me and see what kind of gains I may have made over the past few weeks. That’s about as good as this day got. Once I finished my 30 minute warm up, I didn’t really feel warmed up. I did an additional 10 minutes before starting the 15 minute all out set. I was at the base of the same climb where I’d done this test initially. There was no rain this time, but it was very hot. I was already pouring sweat. I started the climb and pushed hard on the pedals from the start. I was maintaining a high wattage output for about 10 of the 15 minutes. I felt myself starting to fade and was struggling to keep the power high. It seemed like the harder I tried, the more the watts dropped. At 13 minutes I was toast. I stopped the lap on my power meter and turned to descend the hill. It was not a great descent. I could not put out any more effort. I was completely empty. I’d left everything on that hill and hoped I’d get home in a reasonable amount of time. I stopped for a sports drink and rested a few minutes at a local store. I pedaled easy all the way home and the dreaded hill on my road just slayed me! I didn’t think I did well at all today. That was later confirmed. I didn’t do as badly as I’d initially thought, but I made no significant gains in my LT. I also got confirmation that the blood donation on Monday may have been a contributing factor in my less than desired results.

Friday
Today was just an easy day. I was out to run through all my power zones to prepare for the LT test on Saturday. I had done the work and was on the way home when an old fart in a Ford pickup pulling a rusty horse trailer decided he could not wait and pulled right out in front of me. I grabbed both brake levers and almost came to a complete stop. He never checked up. He continued in my lane of travel. He was going pretty slowly and I continued on my course. I was beside him when he decided he was going to take a right turn. I had to take the turn with him and he still nearly ran me into the curb. I was right next to his open window and yelled, “Hey buddy, watch what the hell you’re doing!” His head jerked around and revealed his dumb founded face. He continued to turn and made another right into a vacant lot. He continued across the lot, pulled back onto the road and turned left, the way I had come from. Why in the world did this man not just turn left in the first place instead of taking 2 right turns and nearly taking me out TWICE? People are idiots. I still cannot figure out what he was thinking. I just shook it off, and continued home thankful that I had not been hit.