The most important being LOTOJA in September.
High Uintas Classic is my second A race of the season. I feel ready because I am more fit than I have ever been, I have been doing decent in other races, I strictly followed a training regimen (as if I can do it any other way), and I have a crapload of training time and miles in. 3851 riding miles and 312 exercise hours since November when I started this training plan.
Tonight I rode my favorite Layton Ridge route with my bike in race condition. My Williams 19s surprised me again as they roll extremely well downhill due to their ceramic bearings. The wheels are quick and nimble as well, ready to pounce uphill or during a sprint. My bike is one pound lighter with those wheels and I am starting to think it rolls better downhill than with my Williams 38s (because of the PowerTap non-ceramic bearings); trust me it makes a difference.
I rode without my usual Camelbak, without spare tube or CO2, with only one water bottle, totally race-like. It was liberating actually. It's going to be good.
The weather is even going to cooperate. Unbelievable.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
2 millimeters
A bolt broke off on my bike's seat post last week, causing the seat to slide down and causing me to ride my bike like a low rider. I temporarily repaired the seat post and adjusted it to what I thought was 69.5 centimeters - the height I was fitted at.
I immediately felt like the bike was a bit high but I thought it was just in my head. I re-measured the height and it looked good.
The very next ride my right knee starts feeling weird in a knee-injury-relapse kind of way. I rode for 3 hours Saturday and it started feeling weird also. After 2 of those 3 hours I decide to stop, lower my seat 2 millimeters, and see if it improves. Pain gone. Problem solved. 2 millimeters. I am *that* picky.
I immediately felt like the bike was a bit high but I thought it was just in my head. I re-measured the height and it looked good.
The very next ride my right knee starts feeling weird in a knee-injury-relapse kind of way. I rode for 3 hours Saturday and it started feeling weird also. After 2 of those 3 hours I decide to stop, lower my seat 2 millimeters, and see if it improves. Pain gone. Problem solved. 2 millimeters. I am *that* picky.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Bear Lake 2010
This is my third year racing the Bear Lake classic and most definitely my best yet.
Saturday's road race was enjoyable for me because I was part of the action and trying to cause trouble up front. This year I was strong enough to mess with the Cat 4 group by attacking a few times and stretching the group to make them catch us. In contrast last year was spent hanging in the pack pretty much bored, and the first year I got dropped in the rollers partially due to a front wheel problems.
This year our team was in the action most of the day. Liam took off on an early breakaway, I took off in the early and late rollers, and we drove the pack during the last couple miles. Great workout.
Unfortunately the results are no good: a 20th place finish. Same finish time as the winner, part of the 45 racers that finished together. I don't know what can be done to split this group at Bear Lake. I don't know it can be done in Cat 4.
Sunday was the team time trial where Adam, Brent, Jerry, Ryan, and I earned a second place for the Cat 4-5 group by finishing 50 miles in 1:57. It was a tough pace, I felt strong during the event, and ended up being the third wheel at the finish after Jerry and Brent dropped off. I couldn't keep Adam's wheel in the last mile so I had a one mile individual time trial.
My endurance has arrived. Legs felt good after the weekend. My training is paying off, now let's get some results.
Saturday's road race was enjoyable for me because I was part of the action and trying to cause trouble up front. This year I was strong enough to mess with the Cat 4 group by attacking a few times and stretching the group to make them catch us. In contrast last year was spent hanging in the pack pretty much bored, and the first year I got dropped in the rollers partially due to a front wheel problems.
This year our team was in the action most of the day. Liam took off on an early breakaway, I took off in the early and late rollers, and we drove the pack during the last couple miles. Great workout.
Unfortunately the results are no good: a 20th place finish. Same finish time as the winner, part of the 45 racers that finished together. I don't know what can be done to split this group at Bear Lake. I don't know it can be done in Cat 4.
Sunday was the team time trial where Adam, Brent, Jerry, Ryan, and I earned a second place for the Cat 4-5 group by finishing 50 miles in 1:57. It was a tough pace, I felt strong during the event, and ended up being the third wheel at the finish after Jerry and Brent dropped off. I couldn't keep Adam's wheel in the last mile so I had a one mile individual time trial.
My endurance has arrived. Legs felt good after the weekend. My training is paying off, now let's get some results.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
East Canyon road race 2010
Two years ago I began my racing career at this East Canyon road race. It was ugly. I got dropped at the first climb and never caught up.
Being my usual self - motivated by failure - I decided to get redemption the next year. That didn't work out as I injured my knee just before the event.
This year I put it all on the line. This was redemption, a true test of my training regimen, and a team cohesion exercise.
First, the team. I cannot express enough appreciation for the willingness, intent, and effort that was put forth by my team mates. It was amazing. It was amazing to the point that dozens of racers told us how impressive the team work and effort was, including someone telling me during the race, people coming up to us at the finish line, and people stopping by at the parking lot after the race. During the race someone recognized and mentioned how well protected I was and how great of a job the team was doing at protecting me. I wanted to tell him how proud and lucky I was but I had to keep the race face on. I smerked and said yes. One of my teammates actually recorded video of this event while in the pack so we will get to see what this team looked like from the inside. Way cool.
It is well worth mentioning how many of those people - adversaries might I add - were thoroughly impressed by Ryan. Most if not all the people that congratulated our team had to single out Ryan, and deservedly so, the man is a machine. He worked his heart out for me today. I absolutely do not mean to diminish the effort of Brent, Rogers, and the others, but Ryan was the star today.
My final thought regarding the team is that we have reached a significant milestone: We set out to create a team based on team work, training hard as a team, and working together as a team. We have reached this goal and possibly surpassed people's expectations of the team cohesion level possible for recreational racers. Today was a spectacular display of it. Tour of the Depot was another excellent display in Cat5 as well.
Second, my training regimen. 23 weeks ago I started to use Joe Friel's Annual Training Plan based on his Training Bible. It actually said the optimal time before the first A-priority race is 23 weeks. Apparently I started just in time on November 16th, 2009. I followed the training plan as closely as I could, spent 240 hours and 2800 miles training for my first A-priority race, and landed myself the team a 6th place out of likely 50 competitors.
On the good side I achieved a top 10 which is part of my season goals. I also finished with the lead pack. I also improved tremendously in the last two years.
But really, I am disappointed in myself for not winning, and a good portion of that disappointment is the feeling that I let my team down. All I had to do was finish strong. My race was really a 1/2 mile climb at the very finish. I failed to keep up with the last acceleration. Plain and simple.
What about redemption? Yeah, I got redemption. That doesn't really play a part in this anymore. I expected to do well and I did. Two years ago I had no idea what I was doing or what I was getting into but by now I have a pretty good idea where I fit in the racing pecking order.
So here we go, suggestions for improvement:
Being my usual self - motivated by failure - I decided to get redemption the next year. That didn't work out as I injured my knee just before the event.
This year I put it all on the line. This was redemption, a true test of my training regimen, and a team cohesion exercise.
First, the team. I cannot express enough appreciation for the willingness, intent, and effort that was put forth by my team mates. It was amazing. It was amazing to the point that dozens of racers told us how impressive the team work and effort was, including someone telling me during the race, people coming up to us at the finish line, and people stopping by at the parking lot after the race. During the race someone recognized and mentioned how well protected I was and how great of a job the team was doing at protecting me. I wanted to tell him how proud and lucky I was but I had to keep the race face on. I smerked and said yes. One of my teammates actually recorded video of this event while in the pack so we will get to see what this team looked like from the inside. Way cool.
It is well worth mentioning how many of those people - adversaries might I add - were thoroughly impressed by Ryan. Most if not all the people that congratulated our team had to single out Ryan, and deservedly so, the man is a machine. He worked his heart out for me today. I absolutely do not mean to diminish the effort of Brent, Rogers, and the others, but Ryan was the star today.
My final thought regarding the team is that we have reached a significant milestone: We set out to create a team based on team work, training hard as a team, and working together as a team. We have reached this goal and possibly surpassed people's expectations of the team cohesion level possible for recreational racers. Today was a spectacular display of it. Tour of the Depot was another excellent display in Cat5 as well.
Second, my training regimen. 23 weeks ago I started to use Joe Friel's Annual Training Plan based on his Training Bible. It actually said the optimal time before the first A-priority race is 23 weeks. Apparently I started just in time on November 16th, 2009. I followed the training plan as closely as I could, spent 240 hours and 2800 miles training for my first A-priority race, and landed myself the team a 6th place out of likely 50 competitors.
On the good side I achieved a top 10 which is part of my season goals. I also finished with the lead pack. I also improved tremendously in the last two years.
But really, I am disappointed in myself for not winning, and a good portion of that disappointment is the feeling that I let my team down. All I had to do was finish strong. My race was really a 1/2 mile climb at the very finish. I failed to keep up with the last acceleration. Plain and simple.
What about redemption? Yeah, I got redemption. That doesn't really play a part in this anymore. I expected to do well and I did. Two years ago I had no idea what I was doing or what I was getting into but by now I have a pretty good idea where I fit in the racing pecking order.
So here we go, suggestions for improvement:
- Increase aggression during a race. Make the move rather than wait for someone else to make a move. Suffer to make them suffer, not the other way around. I showed I can do this at Tax Day Circuit Race, it felt extremely good to do it, and I need to do it more. I should have taken the lead after Ryan at the base of the climb, stepped up the pace, and never looked back.
- Increase intelligence during a race. Having the team up front was great, thrilling, and safe, but being second or third wheel doesn't shield the wind as well as being surrounded by riders while inside the pack. I am quite confident I worked less overall today than if other teams were pushing the pace by stringing out the pack, yo-yoing, or going on attacks all the time. Something to think about regardless.
- Be extremely careful with the race week workouts. I may have deeply hurt my muscles by performing a long duration and long intensity workout Thursday before the race. I was trying to make up for not working out enough during the week so I rode over 2 hours and included a 30 minute muscular endurance threshold workout, aka all-out effort.
Monday, April 12, 2010
2010 Tour of the Depot
First race of the year. C-priority race (range of A-B-C). Goal: Help Wardy. Goal 2: training at race intensity. Goal 1 result: Wardy said there wasn't much I could do to help. Goal 2 result: Success.
I raced this event last year. That was my first stage race ever, and my first time trial race ever. Last year's time trial was a learning experience and I lost 4 minutes on the rest of the pack which immediately took me out of contention. This year the results don't look much better at first: 3:38 behind the leader. BUT! But the leader is a TT freak. He is ahead of second place by 45 seconds. He likes to solo LOTOJA for nine hours. Freak. Really nice guy actually, but freak nonetheless.
This year's time trial put me in 28th place out of 43. Still out of contention, but I improved over last year by one minute on a 9 mile event. I wanted to shave two minutes but I only made up one.
Tonight I finally looked closely at my data from this event. I improved tremendously over last year. First I matched my personal best 10 minute (CP10) power measure. This means I have reached my best 10 minute time from last June in April which is promising. I improved my average power over the whole event by 47 watts (I know Garmin shows 44 watts but I believe PowerTap numbers) while in a lower heart rate (average 183 this year and 187 last year). My power was much more consistent this year; I held my power above lactate threshold nearly the whole time. My power to weight ratio for the whole event: 4.03 watts/kg. Nice.
One area of improvement is obvious if you're paying attention: why did my heart rate average drop from last year? A lower heart rate means I am not pushing as hard as I was last year. If I push my body further it raises my heart rate, if I push my body further I generate more power. If I had pushed to 187bpm or higher maybe I would have gotten another 30 seconds.
As far as the other two events over the weekend: I did pretty much as well as last year. Not terrible, but definitely not podium or even top 10.
I raced this event last year. That was my first stage race ever, and my first time trial race ever. Last year's time trial was a learning experience and I lost 4 minutes on the rest of the pack which immediately took me out of contention. This year the results don't look much better at first: 3:38 behind the leader. BUT! But the leader is a TT freak. He is ahead of second place by 45 seconds. He likes to solo LOTOJA for nine hours. Freak. Really nice guy actually, but freak nonetheless.
This year's time trial put me in 28th place out of 43. Still out of contention, but I improved over last year by one minute on a 9 mile event. I wanted to shave two minutes but I only made up one.
Tonight I finally looked closely at my data from this event. I improved tremendously over last year. First I matched my personal best 10 minute (CP10) power measure. This means I have reached my best 10 minute time from last June in April which is promising. I improved my average power over the whole event by 47 watts (I know Garmin shows 44 watts but I believe PowerTap numbers) while in a lower heart rate (average 183 this year and 187 last year). My power was much more consistent this year; I held my power above lactate threshold nearly the whole time. My power to weight ratio for the whole event: 4.03 watts/kg. Nice.
One area of improvement is obvious if you're paying attention: why did my heart rate average drop from last year? A lower heart rate means I am not pushing as hard as I was last year. If I push my body further it raises my heart rate, if I push my body further I generate more power. If I had pushed to 187bpm or higher maybe I would have gotten another 30 seconds.
As far as the other two events over the weekend: I did pretty much as well as last year. Not terrible, but definitely not podium or even top 10.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Dark times
This is a difficult time period.
I managed to piss off an entire cycling team who I am supposed to have most of my fun times with, piss off a good cycling buddy, piss off a co-worker who I work with daily and I think of as a friend, piss off my boss which is one of the people I respect most in all my professional career, and blow up at my woman on numerous occasions.
I am in a funk. I truly don't know what I am doing differently or wrong. I obviously need to change something. I could use a "reset relationships" button.
I managed to piss off an entire cycling team who I am supposed to have most of my fun times with, piss off a good cycling buddy, piss off a co-worker who I work with daily and I think of as a friend, piss off my boss which is one of the people I respect most in all my professional career, and blow up at my woman on numerous occasions.
I am in a funk. I truly don't know what I am doing differently or wrong. I obviously need to change something. I could use a "reset relationships" button.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
2010 Olympics
Vanessa, Audra, and I took a month away from what is known as life to enjoy the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, BC. By far the most memorable portion is the country unity. GO Canada GO was on vivid display on buildings, cars, people, streets, television, SkyTrain, buses, dogs, and all types of objects. I cannot explain the feeling that brought to me. I am Canadian again. I *want* to be Canadian for the rest of my existence.
There is so much to remember. So much to write down. I already let one month go by and lost some of that feeling. Man you should have been there. 3 hockey games, speed skating, ski cross, snowboard parallel slalom, hours of taking in the vibe on the train, in the city, in the restaurants, even hiking with the dog or training on the bike. The vibe was everywhere, and an excellent one.
We - mostly Audra - took literally thousands of pictures. Here are some quick favorites.
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