Holy wheelset batman!

My new wheelset is just amazing. I wish I could be objective here by having controlled test environments but I cannot; there are so many variables at play. I can just say WOW!

I put the wheels together after I received my favorite tires - Continental Ultra Race kevlar - on Wednesday evening. My first ride on the new wheels was a totally relaxed commute to work of 3.5 miles each direction. I admit I did not feel much difference uphill. But downhill, wow, I can't believe how smooth these wheels were, and how FAST! These things just zipped down the hill without any effort. I'm talking a 1/2 mile downhill here, where I usually play around and try to see how fast I can go. I reached 35 mph without even realizing it; this is the number I typically attempt really hard to reach. Promising...

Saturday comes and I go to race at Chalk Creek, which is 25 miles of uphill rollers, a turnaround, followed by 25 miles of the same rollers downhill. During my warmup I play around with a few hills and again am amazed of the downhill ease and speed. I stand and accelerate up a little hill in town and start thinking "hmmm, maybe there is something to these wheels uphills".

As the race goes on I find myself working pretty hard to stick with the lead pack. They put up a ridiculous uphill pace as usual - probably still a bunch of sandbaggers but I digress - and I am able to stick with it until the turnaround. On the way down our team really starts working. I cover attacks which takes some stiff accelerations. I stick around during significant uphill accelerations, and by the end of the race I realize I actually have to reduce my effort during such uphill accelerations by the pack because I am accellerating too fast and end up having to slow down. I also realize the flat sections were just handled instead of fighting to hang in there.

How much of this is training? I donno, probably some. How much is just due to these killer wheels? I donno but I am pretty confident it is a significant amount. That's something else: confidence. I have gained confidence I won't just suffer through flats and downhills. WOW!

Here are some facts / variables to consider:
- 260 grams is the weight difference between my Bontrager Race Lite wheels @ 1660 grams and Williams Cycling System 19 wheels at 1430 grams.
- Tires on the Bontrager wheels are Hutchinson Fusion Comp rated at 210 grams. Tires on the Williams wheels are Continental Ultra Race kevlar rated at 220 grams.
- Tubes on the Bontrager wheels may be Forte Ultra light at approximately 70 grams or no-name cheapos at 107 + grams. Tubes on the Willams wheels are Forte Ultra light.
- I had never raced Chalk Creek although I have ridden it 4-6 times. I was in much better shape than I have ever been for this race.
- I had not raced in over a month. I trained significantly in the time period between races.

what a race!

How can I be excited about an 11th place finish at Chalk Creek? Let me list the reasons:

1. Our team got 5th place.
2. I did my job. My duty was to help the team leader and I did. I covered some attacks during the last 24 miles, but most importantly the last 1/2 to 1 mile I believe I hurt some of the pack and set a fast enough pace to avoid last minute attacks. I led my team leader to the last 1k of the race.
3. I stuck with the lead pack. That is quite an accomplishment for me. Much easier said than done; those guys were tough as hell on the way up and down.
4. Our team executed the plan extremely well. I am quite proud of the whole team; everyone was willing to do their part for the team leader. Jerry kicked some serious ass setting tempo and Adam was able to be patient and let the race happen around him.
5. The race was simply a lot of fun.
6. It was great to have a cheering section. As boring as it has to be it's fun to get to the end and have people be there that care.
7. It was an impressive team showing. 14ish people wearing the same team kit in the same group had to make an impact.

On a more somber note, I hope the person that crashed behind my back wheel is ok. I doubt I had anything to do with it; from what I was told he accelerated and looked away just as the pace slowed, although still in the mid 20mph I am guessing. Sounded like it hurt badly though. Shitty deal.

Turns out there was no need for the jitters. It was awesome, and, additionally gave me confidence for the upcoming two crazy ass races of 170 and 206 miles.

Why the nerves?

The Chalk creek road race is in 12 hours. I am nearly in a panic, why?

Maybe because I haven't raced for over a month? Maybe because I have high expectations? Is it the hype of the team? Is it the new wheels? WTF??

I walked my dog an hour ago telling myself: I can do it. I will do fine. I can do it. I can do it.

Maybe criteriums are good to stay sharp and reduce the racing cobwebs.

Death ride: Check!

It is done. It wasn't easy, it wasn't anywhere near "as easy as" last week's 3 canyons effort even thought the numbers seemed to be right. Again, depending who you believe, the elevation gain was either 13,8xx, 17,714, or 19,928 feet. All of which are significantly more than last week's effort.

But, we made it. A shitload of climbing later we have our exclusive 'Five pass finisher' jerseys! I conquered it, I am happy with it, I don't need to do it again. My buddy is already talking about doing it again. Freak.

I ended up leaving the now-named Super Death Monkey early in the day. I didn't mean to, I just thought the top of the first climb was imminent so I stepped it up a few notches. I was wrong, soooo wrong about the top of the climb, but by then I was a ways away. I waited at the bottom of the first descent but he never caught up.

As many people as there were it was an individual effort for the majority of the day. A few people fit my tempo a few times during the day, which allowed for some good conversations if the oxygen allowed for it.

Here's what my day looked like: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6258865 or http://connect.garmin.com/activity/359884.

This one is checked off the list.

In preparation for Death...ride

Our last training ride before the Death Ride was held yesterday during what turned out to be a gorgeous cycling day. I had to wake up entirely too early to meet in Salt Lake at 6:00 but I have to admit it was nice to beat the heat for the two of three major climbs of the day.

I am thankful I was...um...how would I say...suggested to do this one last ride on Sunday even though I had just done a 95 mile ride Friday. The biggest reason: Ride statistics show that we actually climbed as much as the Death Ride in 30 less miles and 2 less climbs. That means we worked harder yesterday than we're going to Saturday. That is good. That is really good for physical and more importantly mental conditioning.

Comparing the elevation chart on yesterday's ride at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6182144 vs the Death Ride at http://deathride.com/elemap.html you can see we climbed for longer durations, which translates less breaks between climbs, which translates to less recovery time, which means it was tougher. Work with me here.

Now to get ready for a 1200+ mile road trip...