MSG#3 continued....

For part one go HERE.

Since I'm not stealing pictures anymore...or trying to quit anyway, here's a link to my new favorite pic. I like it so much I might buy it and make a poster out of it...not really, but I like it. It says pain and anger all in one.

http://www.bart.ifp3.com/#/gallery/09-msg-series-3/09msg3-286/

In addition to what I posted Saturday night about the race, I'd like to say that I really came to like the new wheelset/tire combo that I got for the cross bike. After the first race of the season I wasn't liking them so much because they were slow on a dry course, but in a mudfest and wet grass I couldn't imagine anything better. The Williams Cyclocross wheelset rolled great, had great braking ability, and were stiff. The Challenge Grifo 34's as big as they might be, handled the dirt/mud/grass/wet/offcamber/flat/whatever the course had to throw at them. I would highly recommend these tires for any kind of conditions that weren't dry. For dry 32's would be better, or better yet a file tread.

Thanks for reading!

MSG#3

Today was the third race of the MSG cyclocross series. The weather was wet, and mildly warm. The TCRC guys did a great job throwing together a great course that had plenty of obstacles for everyone. They had a short run up, what seemed like a 100yard run through sand, barriers, and plenty of off camber riding that ended up not being rideable. Overall another great course.



As for the race. I was really nervous this morning, and even on the start line, but luckily that went away as soon as we stared out. I had a good start. In the first lap I think every rider in the field hit the deck at least once if not twice. My opportunity to eat some dirt came when a Lees Mcrae rider crossed up in front of me and we T-boned. This wreck caused a chain reaction with the other 8 riders behind us. I think all of us were picking our bikes up off the ground and trying to get going again. After that things mellowed out and pretty much stayed the same. I wound up finishing in at 6th (that was the last place I heard the announcer call). Our field was small though, maybe 12 or 14 guys? Anyway the size of the field didn't bother me too bad. What got me was finishing about 4 minutes down on the winner. I just have to go faster.



The legs feel great. I can tell a big difference between the first race and this one, and if this...should I call it a test peak?...works I hope to see some more improvements. I feel as good or better as I did last Jan and Feb.

I found a good ride for some long weekend rides. I have the option of 50 miles w/2500ft of climbing, 60 miles w/4000ft of climbing, or 70 w/5000ft of climbing. Why am I even mentioning this ride you ask? Say you have plenty of rides you can easily beat these numbers? Each of these rides include a 5.5 mile section of dirt road, with 2.5 miles of it being uphill with parts reaching up to 8% grade. I'm not a big fan of climbing, but this ride has me excited. Maybe I'll actually start to enjoy climbing....

That's it for now. I'm not going to NC next weekend, but I may drive up to tech for some night cross there. Lets wait and see what the weather is like. If it rains, I don't know that I could say no.

Thanks for reading!

What season is it?

Just as I finished a post about winter being here, the weather does a 180 and turns into mid-low 60's. I wont complain though. With the warm weather I took the bike off the trainer and headed outside. I just wish it would either be winter or summer.

Training. Haven't talked about it in a few weeks. I'm still on my plan to peak in 12 weeks, and I'm now 6 weeks in. I've started adding some intensity in, and its feeling pretty good. I can tell it would've been nice to have had more sub-threshold work before starting some intensity. I'll look at that before the start of next road season. I'm also learning about how much I didn't know, and probably still don't, about myself and my training.

Cross. I have my second race of the season this coming weekend. To be honest I'm not expecting much more than my first race. Waiting a month between races is not a good idea. While all the other guys have been out racing their bikes I've been deer hunting, helping work on a house, and setting on the couch. As of right now I'll be racing almost every weekend between now and Dec 12. Hopefully that'll help me ramp my fitness back up and test this 12 week plan I've mustered up. One could say race into shape.

Also with the trainer riding I have some major crow to eat. Last winter I went through a big spell of how and why I thought I should have a trainer FTP and a road FTP. I was wrong, and realize what an idiot I looked like posting a 345watt FTP. The truth is I believed it though, and it caused me to really get down on myself this past summer and ask questions like "why can't I do 6x4min intervals at 400watts each". Well I wasn't that strong. In reality my FTP is around 320watts. That's both on the trainer and off. At one point I think they were different but along the way I guess I adapted to the trainer and became able to reproduce my power from the road. As depressing as it was to finally realize this, it'll definitely help me make more headway in my training. And definitely help from over training. Have I mentioned I hate crow?

That's all for now. Remember Power is Power no matter how bad you don't want to admit it.

Now twitting...or is it tweeting?

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Mr. Winter is here

In the last week we've seen the weather go from around 60 to below 30. That means its officially fall. This week the temp is supposed to head back up to around 60 for a few days and then fall back down.

All this cold weather has me on the trainer 100% of the time (save a few and far between weekend rides outside). For some reason I've never had much getting on the trainer for intervals or longer rides. I'll admit 4 hours is the longest I've ever stayed on the trainer, but 3 hours is the normal long ride for weekends when I don't get outside.

How to pass time on the trainer you ask? Movies, and lots of them. I have Flanders, Roubaix, Het Volk, Giro, the Tour, and a couple more to keep me occupied. That's right, I listen to Phil Liggets voice so much during the winter, I come into the spring races with a British accent....ok that's a lie.

This year I'm thinking of a few new videos. The one my buddy MattP has me wanting to watch is "A Sunday in Hell". Its about the 1976 Paris Roubaix. I've only read about the movie and watched a clip or two from youtube, and I think its worth the purchase. Maybe I'll look at getting another year of the Tour of Flanders as well.

Speaking of Flanders, I'm getting pretty excited about the trip to Belgium this coming summer. It'll be my first time overseas. I've been doing a little research on Belgium, and I've found it has two things that are of high interest to me. The first and obvious one is cycling. The second would be the production of steel in the southern part of the country. Working at a coke plant, click here for more info on what coke is, it seems like if I spoke Flemish or French I would fit right in. Maybe SunCoke will put a plant in southern Belgium and I can move there for work.

Next cross race on the 31st. I'm adding a bit of intensity into my training, so hopefully the next race will go a bit better than the last.

Take care!

Wild, Wonderful Weekend

Friday I drove up to Charleston, WV to meet up with a friend, Brent, and then head towards Snow Shoe ski resort. I got to Charleston and the weather was pretty nasty. Raining hard, and a little chilly, so we decided to leave on saturday morning.

After some breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel, we made our way up to the resort. As we were climbing the mountain the temp on the truck display kept dropping. Once at the top of the mountain the temperature was around 40degreesF. That probably wouldn't have been so bad but there was a heavy fog on, which in turn caused it to feel like it was 20degrees outside. We wimped out and decided to work on Brent's bike a bit, and to stroll around the village at Snowshoe via bikes. That was all the riding we got in Saturday.

Sunday we got up early and headed towards the lower part of the slopes called silvercreek. We left out there and finally hit some singletrack. I had heard how technical the trails are there, but didn't expect them to be like they were. Pretty crazy, but fun. We road for a couple hours and then headed back as we had to be out of the room.

Another trip to snowshoe next summer will be in order. I suspect they'll start making snow in the next couple weeks. It was certainly cold enough for it on Saturday.

It was nice to get out on the mountain bike again. No promises, but I hope to tie in several mountain bike races next year. I'm thinking a few AMBC's and maybe some Nationals. April and May are slow months for me on road racing because of the distance to all the races during that time frame. I'm not sure why but every year during that time the races seem to be 5+ hours away.

Take Care!