Race Recap and yo-yo land defined

Today we headed up to Roanoke for one of the ID3 crits. Last year they had a nice venue of cat4 racing. This year its a 3/4 omnium, and proved to be a bit tougher. Here's how it went:

On the start line I was in the very front. Whistle blows and I miss my clip, second try I get it, and thing that's no big deal. I lost a little position from the start and then got caught in yo-yo land(see below for definition). So I try to start moving up, and normally the pace goes up and down which helps with recovery, but it was full on the whole time. People were falling off right and left from the get-go, and I was in the "red". Just to throw a few numbers out I stayed in the race for 12 min, my norm power was 350watts...which wasn't a big deal until this next part..., I hit 1000+ watts for 5+ seconds at a time more than 8 times(this is what I call yo-yo land).

I could've stayed in a little longer than what I did, but I new I was getting worked. It was an humbling experience (someone gave me that phrase earlier today). Can't say much other than a little better start would've helped, but I just didn't have the legs to hang with the guys that were on/off the front. I'm setting here hoping they're ready to upgrade a cat (talking about the 3's cating to 2's).

Other than that, the legs felt great. haha, I know that sounds crazy, but I probably felt better than I have at any race since March. I just didn't have what I needed for this race. I'll remember this though, and see what happens next year.

Getting married in one week. Can't wait. I'm going to try to get some solid training in this week since I'll be on a boat for a week after the wedding.

Legs are feeling good, and I think the second half of the summer will be a good one for the bike and as Ashley and I "officially" start our lives together.

Hope everyone had a good 4th....thanks for reading and take care!

My Tour Picks

This seems to be a popular thing at the moment, so why not give it a go?

Yellow
1. Lance
2. Contador
3. Evans

Why Lance? This years tour is going to be more about mental toughness than anything. No bad days allowed. I think Lance has the maturity and will have good enough legs (12th at the Giro shows he could be coming in just right for the tour). Maybe I'm just American, but I feel Contador will have a bad day with all the pressure and thus loose it.

Green
1. Cav
2. Farrar
3. Freire

The only upset to this would be if Boonen gets to come. Which I hope he does. Maybe cocaine isn't so good...but this is going to be the best tour that's happened in a long long time....and yes, maybe ever. It would be a shame for Boonen not to be a part of it.

Dotted
1. Schlek
2. Sastre
3. Schlek

This one is kind of up in the air, but I felt like I had to throw the Schlek's and Sastre in there somewhere...I really don't feel it'll end this way.

With the course and people racing this years tour, it will without a doubt be the best tour I've ever seen, and arguably the best ever.

Roanoke on Saturday. Good luck to anyone racing this weekend, have a safe trip and ride.

Race recap Sunday.

A few days off and training

Feeling a little blown this past week, I took Fri thru Sunday off. While I was off I looked back at my training calender and updated my results file that I keep to make it easy for reference. And what I found was pretty interesting. Note this information may not apply to everyone, but seems to be the key to any success I might have.

I noticed that from March 8 to April 26 I had a lot of issues. Most of them out of my control such as getting sick, getting a new job, working on wedding stuff, etc. The one big thing that I could've controlled was that I didn't race. Not a single road race, crit, or even TT. I did the same thing the year before (only it was actually a little longer), and noticed a big drop in performance.

Well this year I haven't lost that much performance physically, but what I did loose was my focus. Sure I was going out and busting out some 8 min intervals and 4 min intervals, but I wasn't focusing on the intervals. No I'm not going to turn into Mr. Philosophical on you, but without focus your basically pedaling without a chain. I was just going through the motions of training, and racing (once I started back after the draught). I thought I wasn't training hard enough so I put in more time...well that was good for weighing myself down with fatigue, but not much of anything else.

Now that things are leveling out in general, I'm feeling more on track with trying to up my performance. My training feels good, I feel good, and I want to win again. Will I win? Who knows. I feel like I have the legs, and if I make smart choices while racing I'll be in good shape. I feel success in a race goes as follows 20% physical, 30% mental, and 50% is making the right choices. Which means I need to get smarter with racing. And I feel that's coming along nicely with the regained focus.

As for my training. I've swapped up some intervals and added 6x2min @ 120%FTP and 3x5min @ 110%FTP for the weeks that I race. That's 27 min above my FTP, and I should be able to get a good 15min above it during even one race. (Remember the goal is to have 30-40min above FTP per week). During the weeks I don't race, I'll continue with my 4x4min's and 3x8min's. I think this will help me stay a little fresher.

I'll be heading up to Roanoke on Saturday for a crit in the ID3 races. It should be a good race.

Take care!

2nd half of the season

I've listed some races to do for the second half of the road season. I'm not sure I'll do them all, but most likely I'll do a great number of them. Most of them are crits, which I perform better in and enjoy more than RR. All are pretty close, and shouldn't cost a great deal to go to either.

The goal is to get 8 points. I said at one point I wouldn't upgrade with top 10 finishes, and I'm hoping I wont have to take backwater on that. My training and focus will be on getting every little point I can get. If I have eight, one point races, I'll be perfectly happy with that. Another win would make me pretty happy too though. I can't lie about that.

And finally all this should lead into cross season. I hope to do well in the CX3 field this winter. I oh so love racing in the cold. Maybe it's because its' agonistic.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.

Ace Speedway

We headed down to Ace Speedway in North Carolina yesterday for a couple races. The course is a flat (slight banking in the turns, but not much) race car track for amateur racers. Luckily they've been letting cyclist come on Tuesday nights for 20 years now. 20 years...wow.

The first race was a 4/5 field of 50+ people. That's a big group. Everything started surprisingly fast. The field split and I ended up jumping to the front part. I looked around and thought the other half were going to catch us, but they didn't. We dwindled down to a group of 6 guys including myself and Brian, and after a few laps we caught the field. Sprinted in for the finish and ended up 4th. Brian wasn't aware of the lap board, but still made it in for 5th. A few more points for upgrade.

The second race went pretty well. I felt good to have just finished one. I tried to just set in and not see any wind at all. Halfway through a couple guys crossed wheels in front and went down. I came to a complete stop to keep from running over one of the guys, and then chased to get back on. The rest of the race was a blur. The pace got high and I waited too late to move up for the finish. Brian did well though, possibly another top 10? I should've been farther ahead. I just didn't play the tactics well.

A few more points earned for my Cat3 upgrade. 8 to go now. Hopefully with a handful of races after the wedding in July I'll be able to get enough. I think so.

By the way, the cross bike feels sweet. I'm looking forward to putting it on some dirt.

Take care.

Century, excitement, and a wedding

So the Blacksburg Cycling Classic was canceled this past weekend, and I thought what better way to pound the crap out of my legs than to do the Walker Mountain Century Ride. The short of it is I can't handle racing that long, and even though it was a "ride" any time someone is recording your finish time it turns in to a...well, swift ride. I held together pretty well and up the first 20 min climb without any trouble. I actually enjoyed the climb. Then we hit the back 40 miles and this was basically a 40 mile climb to me. The wind was horrible. Anyway, at about 3.5-4 hours in I was blown. I would've gotten in a sayg wagon if there had been one. But I limped back into Wytheville at a very VERY slow pace. I just haven't trained for any kind of riding/racing of this distance. It was a fun ride and what surprises me is I felt relatively recovered the next day. Maybe I'll do some more 100 miler rides.

I started putting new cables, handlebars, stem, and saddle on my cross bike today. I can't wait for cross season. I don't know how it'll go, but I'll be as ready for it as I can be. Cross is addictive....maybe Boonen should try it instead of cocaine.

The wedding is in less than 3 weeks....wow. It seems like I just took the big one knee dive yesterday. I can't wait though. We went today to get the certificate and I tried to talk Ashley into going ahead and getting married at the court house..........but that wasn't happening.

Tomorrow I'm heading down for a double header at Ace Speedway. Steady effort crits...my thing. Two top 10's would be nice.....a win would be even better. Update after I get back.

Take care and enjoy the beautiful weather.