General Info

This makes two weeks I've been back on the bike after a short break, and I'm feeling pretty good. The legs are turning over nicely, and with that I plan to make a good second half of the season.

I did my first "chunk ride" yesterday. I guess this ride can be any number of things, but I basically went out and killed it up every climb I came to. I already new how long they were and set a wattage based on length. Some were at 110% some at 115%. Mixing up power levels with distances and recover times really shocked the body. The best part about it all is the last climb up to the apartment. Its only about a 3 min climb, but its steep. 8% and better. It has several twists in it to be no longer than it is, and just makes you want to keep cranking it out. I suppose I'll be doing more of these in time. I had about 20 min total above FTP for the ride. A good 'chunk' of what I need for a week. ha

Crossroads is coming up next week. I'll be racing statesville friday and harrisburg on saturday. Last year these races seemed incredibly hard, and I suspect this year wont be any different. A good number of the guys I'll be racing against were in Reidsville this past weekend. And with an 8th place finish there, I feel pretty good. This would be a great place to get a win, and really boost the confidence. I look forward to this series of races every year.

Have a safe weekend traveling, good luck in the races, and take care!

Tour of Reidsville

Yesterday was the tour of reidsville. I was a little nervous about it to be honest. I had had almost two weeks off the bike without any serious training, and the last race (Roanoke ID3 crit) hadn't went so well. It was the first time they'd had this race, so I hoping for a smaller group to ease back into racing again.

The course was a standard 4 corner crit. Turn one had some really nice brick in it, not slick at all. The other three were wide and not to tight.

Temperature was around 96 degressF, which is really hot for me. We had about 25 or 30 guys on the start. As soon as we started, guys started breaking off the front to try and stay away. None succeeded, but what they did do was ensure a fast pace. There were a couple points along the way the up-chuck feeling came in. It stayed like this for the first 30 min of the 40 min race. The last 10 min was pretty much soft pedaling with the ones of us that were left fighting to stay off the front. The last lap 2 or 3 guys jumped and got a gap. They finished top 3. Another two jumped and got 4th and 5th. While the rest of us sprinted out of the last turn. I ended up around 8th or 9th. Not to bad considering the time off the bike and the down in my fitness I've been seeing.

I would like to take a minute and say that I lost my composure a couple times yesterday. One guy thought he was the grouppo police and informed me that I should pass in the straightaways. I proceeded to tell him that we had 4 corners I could use too. Which lead into a much deeper discussion. One I wont go into. I shouldn't have let this get to me. It was inappropriate. There was also another guy that hit my handlebars in the sprint cause he thought he was Mark Cavendish...I also lost it on this guy. Shouldn't have done that. He was just trying for the sprint. No harm. I'll try to work on my kindness in a race from now on.

Well a few of the new things I've been trying have been helping with fitness. My legs felt great yesterday, not enough to win, but well enough that I think I can make a good go at the last part of the season. That will help leading into cross as well.

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Next races will be the Crossroads. Can't wait.

Tour update...and more

Well it seems as though Sastre has set the media off. I can't disagree with anything he said, but the media are protecting their own kind for sure. One thing can't be disputed though, Sastre is a gentleman. Something the peloton doesn't see a lot of these days. When I look at him on the bike and listen to what he has to say, I imagine that's how Coppi would've been. Sastre isn't going to win the tour, and if it hadn't been structured as it was last year he probably wouldn't have won then. He's no time trialist, but a climber for sure. With all the Cavendishs, Armstrongs, crying garmin team, etc, Sastre stands out as a man amongst men.

Short of dying or a crash, Contador has the tour. His improved TTing skills have pretty much secured that. Armstrong says he's back next year. I look for him to rival Contador once he gets another year of racing under his belt. Not in the mountains, but as a tactition overall.

On to other news. After reading everyone's race reports I suddenly feel like everyone has flown by me racing wise. Now that the wedding is over and work is kind of settling in, I hope to get better training in. Maybe its all mental...who knows. I think its more everyone ramped up for the summer and I plateaued this summer with all the extra stuff going on in life. Now that things have smoothed out, its getting easier to focus on training.

Sounds like some of the Rogues teammates are doing well in some races. Brian won two races in a row, and Webb a good 5th place. Good job guys.

The legs are coming around nicely. I'm hoping to be 100+% when crossroads starts the second weekend in August. I'll start to see next week if that's going to happen. Maybe even this weekend in Reidsville.

Take care!

2 weeks? really?!

Has it really been 2 weeks since I posted last? Wow. Its been an action packed two weeks though. Got married on the 11th to a wonderful young lady. I had a bunch of my friends in for the wedding and had a great time with them. Thanks guys for making the trip. Headed out for a cruise the day after the wedding. That gave me a full 7 days off the bike. I haven't had that in over a years time.

I feel rested up and ready to train again. I'm going to try to hit some intervals this evening when I get home from work. I really missed the bike by the end of the week. I didn't think I'd miss it that much.

MattP also mentioned a trip to Belgium next summer. Not sure how well I'll do in the races, but it sounds like we'd have a good time. Too, it gives new goals to aim towards. The trip is still up in the air right now, but hopefully we'll get to head over.

Cross season is coming...looking forward to that.

I've got a few new training ideas and racing ideas, none to reveal at this moment though. I'm going to experiment and see if they work. No need to embarrass myself if I don't have to.

I'll be racing in Reidsville this Saturday. Looking forward to that.

Thanks for reading!

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.