Nice

Nice evening for a race. Nice pace - over 25mph for 30 minutes. Nice workout too.

So last time we were on the race track I felt I didn't get enough of a workout. This time I made sure to take off out the front for a little while to get my heart pumping. Nice little attack; it felt good and I kept a good pace in front of the pack for almost a full lap. Next time will be better.

At 24ish minutes elapsed I get ready for the next attack. I asked Stephen H if he was ready; I'd lead him out. I work my way up front, and by the time I'm ready we hear the '3 laps to go' notice, and the bastards just take off. They just go. The pack easily gains 3mph. Damn kids. Lesson learned: Don't wait until the 3 laps to go notice. And make sure you have enough juice to last more than four laps ahead of the pack. It can happen.

Really, it was great fun. I said it before and I'll say it again: it is a RUSH. Try it.

butt ugly

Ever seen a vehicle uglier than an AMC Pacer? I did today, it is called a Jeep Rallye. Yes, with an 'e' to make it seem french or some other idiotic reason. Amazingly enough AMC == Chrysler == Jeep. So sad. The saddest thing: This vehicle has no chance of ever succeeding in a rally. I doubt it would ever be allowed.

Ok, it's really a Jeep Compass Rallye edition. Yuck. My most sincere apologies to anyone that would stand up for this vehicle.

Road racing through the eyes of an old man

I'm at the age where pro racers have retired, or at least are about to, and this is my first year racing a bicycle. What am I doing?

It seems like the natural evolution for a slightly - ok, a little more than slightly - competitive person. I rode mountain bikes for years, I ended up on a road bike, I ended up doing a few centuries, I ended up spending a lot of time on a bicycle, and I ended up racing. Logical.

So the competitive part is annoyed about the whole Category 5 racer group just staying in Category 5 instead of moving on to Category 4 as they should. I guess it's called sandbagging: where people rather beat up on less experienced people instead of get beaten by people that more closely match their experience level. Sucks for me. Sucks for all the people trying to size themselves up to like-experienced people. Sandbaggers have plenty of reasons for doing this. I don't care.

I joined a race team and have recently completed my fourth road race, all in a 5 week span. I have done a few criteriums too, so I'm up to a total of six racing events this season. Most of the racers are pretty cool, the venues are way cool, the workout is unmatched, and the experiences have been quite interesting. Experience wise I have been spending time learning about how I rank in the Category 5 group and how I rank in my team, which gives me an idea of how much training is necessary to be a contender. I really feel I should not consider winning anything during my first racing season, but, well, I want to, and my team is always hyped up on winning, whether or not it is realistic.

I thought I could climb well. I am learning the majority of the Category 5 racers can outclimb me, and that really annoys me.

This season is dedicated to some tough events: Death ride and Lotoja. After this season maybe I'll revisit my goals for cycling. Until then step it up - I need to see how well I can really do, a team kinda depends on me, and I am not getting any younger. Ride often, ride hard, and make time for social rides.

I should be independently wealthy by now. I wouldn't have to balance work and play. Yeah, unrealistic expectations at a very young age. Those we called 'dreams' at one point.

Improving at criteriums, I think

So last week's criterium was good. I should have written a note about it; I wanted to, I thought about it, I had the title of 'Muuuuuch better', but I never did.

Last week's race was inside the RMR race track so I'm guessing it resembled actual track racing. It was a fast constant pace and it was a completely different feel than my first race. I felt good at the end. Interestingly enough I didn't feel I got that much out of it, maybe people launch attacks to get a better workout rather than to try to win.

This week a sh**load of our team showed up - 7 or 8 of us raced on the outside perimiter of the track. I feel better about the few turns I got in before my front tire went flat at the end of the second lap. $10 for two laps, pretty sad.

Lessons learned: I stuck to my line quite well. I think last week's pace and consistency helped greatly. I am glad I stayed upright as my tire folded through the hairpin turn.

The elevation game

I get fired up for what sounds like a massive training ride Sunday. My buddy tells me he wants to climb Big cottonwood canyon and Suncrest, a total of 10,000 feet of climbing he says. Wow, 10,000 feet! That's a lot. I bring my Garmin eTrex Vista cause I like to see a bunch of useless stats; elevation being one of my favorites.

At the top of Big Cottonwood canyon we're registering around 4,500 feet of climbing from his house near I-15. I guess that makes sense, we may be 1/2 of the way through our day.

End of the day: 6553 feet on the GPS. Upload to MotionBased, a Garmin web site, it shows 8787 feet (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5575238). They have this blurb about barometric pressure elevation that may be more accurate than other sources, buuuut can also be less accurate, so they have this service that adjusts elevations based on database data for gps coordinates. This ride is now adjusted to 10,268 feet (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5575267). Now I have 3 significantly different numbers, which one is true?

Many times since I started riding with a GPS have people told me my elevation is wrong; their numbers differ significantly to mine. Very interesting.

I gotta say, this ride was great fun. 10,000 feet or not, it was a beautiful day with great company. Makes one feel they may actually enjoy the Death Ride.