Chain Free

Time to pick it up

2012-01-24T13:50:00.001-05:00

Damn, I never got around to my year-in-review cross post. Hmm, maybe I'll work on that. But the short version is that I'm already looking to racing cross next year, just a blast out there.

The Build has begun. As the weeks have progressively turned up the dial, coach sent me the plan for this week. One particular day ended with his comment, "This is gonna be a brutal day here..." Gotta love that for inspiration!

I'm really focused on doing most of my threshold work on the TT bike this year. It makes for some serious suffering. But I figure if I can do it on the TT bike, that carries over well to the road bike. You just can't switch that around no matter what anybody thinks. I'm not sure if it was the intensity from cross, but somehow I managed to hang onto more fitness than I thought during base. Did some testing and right now I'm pretty much where I left off when I was firing on all cylinders during road season in 2011. Building watts start getting harder and harder as you reach that high end. We shall see.

Right knee has been acting up a little which is strange since it has never hurt before. I'm hoping it's just one of the aches and pains from getting older. Getting reacquainted with the rollers now.

Oh, picked up a front 808 Firecrest Tubular. Wow, just holding that wheel makes you excited to see how fast that wheel spins.

Busy, Fun weekend

2011-11-21T14:14:00.001-05:00

It was a busy weekend for the Warner family. We started off Saturday by driving out to the 540 Cyclocross at Vint Hill in Virgina. Emir and I each raced. Me the 35+ open, and Emir the Junior race. It was a low key, grass roots affair..just getting more experience with this cross thing. Here are some vids:The post race meal at Wegman's was awesome, love that place. On Sunday, we headed up to the Rockburn Cross Race in Maryland. This is a big, well run event. It was a beautiful day, actually fairly warm in the mid-60's. We again raced the 35+ open and Emir the Junior race. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this cross thing. The improvements are slow, but it really is a ton of fun. Maybe even more so afterward when we get to hang with the crowd and enjoy a few beers. I was really proud of Emir though. I think it was his best race, yet. He hung tough throughout the entire race. Now maybe we'll even get him doing some actual training!More vids:A few pics:

If it's not fun, why do it?

2011-10-04T16:19:00.000-04:00

This was a bumper sticker I noticed on the way to work this morning. Who would have guessed it was a Ben & Jerry's bumper sticker? I thought that would be a good theme for this post since this is really about Cross. So, two races under my belt (Tacchino & Winchester). Two really great races. Two very fun experiences. I'm beginning to understand the draw here. I'm not going overboard, just enjoying the newness of it all. I'm not going into full blown race reports, well, quite honestly there's nothing to write about other than being humbled. So, I'll just toss out some things that have stood out to me in a random analysis.

1. At first I thought I'd just go out there "ride" around the course during the race, but I'll admit, when that gun goes off I'm REALLY trying hard. I just don't like sucking.
2. I hate off-camber turns. Maybe one day I'll love them, but not anytime soon.
3. You can definitely blow yourself up out there no matter what place you are in. It's a great workout. It's fun trying to catch and pass folks. I like how mini races develop within the race. For me right now, I'm just racing against whatever group I find myself in. It sure ain't at the front.
4. KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED ON MUDDY COURSES! Damn, I nearly had to stop at Winchester b/c a piece of mud from a wheel in front of me flew straight to the back of mouth nearly choking me. How come nobody told me this?! Mouth open...bad

5. Riding in thick, soupy mud is tiring...nuff said.
6. These promoters that have washing stations are money! I feel spoiled.
7. Cross photographers rock. Just tons of great pics.
8. I'm 0-2 with doing a race wipe-out free. Hopefully that tide will change but I'm guessing it will only get worse.
9. I'm digging take the cross bike out and working on skills over and over and over....
10. Don't think you can do a one lap warmup 15 mins before the start of the race. You might miss the start...stupid.
11. Looking forward to November when Emir and I can get out there together without being pressed for time.
12. Being a Master 3 is a great spot to be in; which is key when you are juggling other priorities in the day. There's about a 5 hour window in time there you can choose from for scheduling purposes.
13. These MABRA promoters really know how to put together a cross race.
14. Oh, when you eat it on a corner once during the race, you'd think you'd be mindful of that corner the next time. Nope. Ate it again in the exact same spot.

That's about it. I'm getting back in the gym a few times a week now which is a refreshing change. Even banging out some good runs to mix it up. Cross training and Cross racing go together nicely. I'm going to try and jump into a few more races in October until Emir's soccer is over on Nov 6. Then I hope I can do a lot more racing in November and December. Maybe I'll have my own bike by then!

Here's a few pics (thanks Jor & Nic!):
My fan club:

MUD!!!!

Running a barrier:

Post Race Tacchino...I'm spent:

This thing called Cyclocross

2011-09-09T12:32:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Emir and I attended THE Cyclocross clinic at Rosaryville State Park. This wasn't just your everyday clinic. It was organized by a great group of knowledgeable coaches (Fulcrum Coaching (Dan Tille & Rusty Williford), JVB Coaching- Chris Mayhew) along with some other talented cyclocross riders, namely, Jeremy Powers - arguably one of the best Pros in the US.

Well let me tell you, this was a real eye opener and an incredible learning experience! We started at 9 a.m. and went until 5 p.m. We didn't know what to expect. Hell, I don't even own a cross bike. Custer let me borrow his (Thx!). We had just bought Emir his bike the previous weekend. Chris Richardson at Bike Doctor-Waldorf really took care of us and got him fitted on it. The level of service and experience of the staff there is top notch...so lucky to be sponsored by them. Regardless, we were pumped to begin this adventure.

I knew cross was going to be a different animal than racing on the road, but I had no idea it would be so dramatic. After the formalities were over, we set out with the beginner group to learn how to re-mount. HOLY bejuses! I must have practiced jumping on that bike a hundred times. There's definitely a right way and WRONG way to do this. It's NOT nearly as easy as it looks, especially when you try to do it with a little bit of speed. Emir and I had a good chuckle when we got home and compared our saddle bruises and butt chafing! Too funny.

Then we covered dismounts and jumping barriers. Again, not so bad until you start adding some speed. Then it gets real interesting. I learned more in those first few hours than I ever thought possible. We got some great technique pointers throughout the day which will help us immensely as we practice on our own. The one standout thought that came to mind pretty quick is that cross WILL humble you. Peter Nicoll put together a great video. He shared it here:Somewhere in there, he captured me taking a fall...lol! As I mentioned in a note to Rusty, when you take a fall in cross, you pick yourself up, dust off and laugh about it. On the road, you just cry. I like cross already. I think I fell more than Emir. He kept making fun of me and pretending that he didn't know me after I fell, lol. But, I do have to pay him back now since I got a short clip of him going down (I was just about to start filming him. He's going to kill me for posting up!) I got a few good action shots of Emir.

Here's a few more shots during a Q&A with Jeremy:

AND NOW THE MONEY SHOT WITH JEREMY POWERS!

I really can't thank Rusty enough for squeezing us in. It was such a blast learning something new and being able to share the experience with Emir. We had some good bonding moments - lots of laughs together. But most important, we got a taste of what this sport is about. A whole lotta respect for it and a yearning to give it go this fall. It will be a fun adventure.Oh, one more video in from Bill Schieken of In the Crosshairs (cxhairs.com)some of his pics: HEREBruce Buckley also shared some amazing photographs:HERE

RIP Mike Fawell

2011-08-30T17:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I noticed a very sad, shocking message via FB. Mike Fawell passed away after a bike on car collision on Thursday evening I believe. I noticed the messages about the incident on Friday from the VA listserve. Although the incident sounded horrendous, I prematurely thought he would pull through since he was at the hospital from what I could infer from the emails. As I understand now, it appears the severe head trauma was just too much to overcome.

I’ll be honest, this news was a dramatic jolt. Although I’m not a close friend to Mike, I did consider him a great competitor after being in numerous races against him this year. He was a serious powerhouse…always a threat to win a race. Above all else, he was a gracious competitor, a gentleman in an otherwise cut your heart out sport. I had mad respect for his talents on the bike. His presence will be greatly missed.

My heart hurts just thinking about what his family must be going through. I read his wife’s message on Caring bridge and really teared up upon reading her note. It’s scary shit and it makes you evaluate what’s important in life. But I also know you can’t live your life looking through the rearview mirror.

That said, I’m making a pledge to myself. I’m not going to ride like an a-hole roadie. I’m not passing judgment on who was at fault or wasting time trying to figure out how it happened. The only thing I can control are my decisions. I love to ride my bike. I don’t want to become a victim. No matter if I’m alone or with a group, I’m going to obey the laws of the road and stay alert, for my safety as well as the others that I’m riding with. I’ve seen WAY too many close calls. It’s just not worth it. I’m fine with letting others ride like idiots. I just won’t ride with them. I’ll do my own thing.

RIP Mike. You won’t be forgotten.

Post Update 10-14-2011I just read what appears to be a description of the accident HERE.I have a lot of thoughts going on in my head about this one. Not necessarily about the court proceeding and fine, but more related to the accident itself. Lots of what if's. It got me thinking about a ride not too long ago during a morning ride. A thunderstorm came thundering through about 11 am. I just happened to be riding my commuter bike with a rear light. I thought, "Wow, lucky me. I should turn this light on since the visibility is getting tough." I have to say, I was really glad to have that light. I've now mounted rear lights on all my bikes. You just never know! I'm still a firm believer that most cycling accidents result from not being seen. Maybe I should always carry a front light. It has me thinking about safety. Check out Ridebright

I'm kicking my ass!

2011-06-26T21:21:00.008-04:00

On tap for the weekend was the 40k Church Creek Time Trial Saturday and Reston 123 Crit on Sunday.

This video pretty much sums up how Church Creek went and felt:

Stephen Robinson continued his streak of pummeling me. Yep, 2nd place for moi in the 35+. But hey, it is fun to know that guy is going to show up every time bringing the pain. It keeps pushing me to try and improve. Thanks ABRT for promoting!

NOW, on to an interesting topic, RULES. After having raced triathlon for several years before coming to cycling, I've always been very conscious of drafting. But after my TT on Saturday, I realized that I wasn't really sure what the drafting rules are per USAC. Here's what happened. I catch the guy (different division) who started 30 seconds before me about ~8-9 miles in, just about that point where you are headed into the wind for what seems like forever. This guy decides to ride right off my left side for several miles. He would randomly pull up alongside me on the left, not passing, just sitting there. His bike was making this god awful annoying noise. He passes me back right before the final turn. So, this whole episode led me to read the rules, and yes, jackass, if you read this, you should have been penalized as you were cheating. I hope you feel good about your effort. Man, you were an annoyance.

3E6. Rider Conduct.
(a) On an out-and-back course, riders shall stay to the right of the centerline at all times [disqualification].
(b) No rider shall take pace behind another rider closer than 25 meters (80 feet) ahead or 2 meters (7 feet) to the side. [A rider who is observed taking pace shall receive a time penalty as specified in Table 2]. A rider may also be disqualified for extended and/or repeated pacing.
(c) No two riders may ride abreast other than when attempting to pass and such attempts shall not be maintained beyond a distance of 500 meters. An attempt to pass may be repeated an unlimited number of times but each time a challenging rider fails in his attempt, he shall drop back to 25 meters behind the challenged rider before renewing his attempt.

Oh, yeah, some 46 yr old dude went 50:39 and DESTROYED everyone. Wow, he only was like a minute behind DC Velo's wicked fast 4 man team. Things that make you go, hmmm.

Haig came over for dinner on Saturday. Igda and Emir whipped up an awesome Bosnian meal, Cevapcici & Burek!!!! So fattening, yet so delicious.

On to Reston Sunday:

With the toilet repaired, Emir's bedroom door fixed and furniture re-arranged between bedrooms, we headed out for the afternoon race.

This is a pretty sweet race. I've only done it twice, but I have to say, it is a killer venue and it's close! Evolution always runs a first class event. This race takes A LOT of volunteers for sure. Thanks Evolution!

start:

Not much to report really. An early move got away with some firepower...that may be an understatement. XO and DC Velo played havoc at the front of the field [which they should and is expected].
I like this overhead vid:

Reston Crit overhead shot from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

Much of the rest of the field appeared comfortable with racing for scraps after that for the next 70 minutes. Umm, that's about it. Igda shot a good video of Russ Langley inching out the win.

Reston Crit 123 Finish 2011 from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

SWEET, just read Gilbert won the Belgium jersey!!!! Wow, Tim Rugg took 3rd at Elite Nats. Congrats, Tim!

SOOO many things going on here

2011-06-22T16:28:00.001-04:00

I was perusing Jim Wilson's excellent photographs from the Williamsport Crit on Sunday. I found this one to be extremely interesting prior to the start...brilliant photography

Why? Why Not?!

2011-06-20T17:30:00.011-04:00

It's Monday. I survived.

Writing those two sentences nearly took the final amount of energy I have at the moment but I will try to dig deep here and write more (this turned out way longer than anticipated). I competed in the 1/2/3 Tour of Washington County this weekend. This is hands down the best stage race in our area. To do well, you need to bring your A game, be consistent and use your bullets wisely where it will have the most impact. As in all stage races, there's a heavy emphasis on the timed events. They can make or break you. Oh, and the field was STACKED with talent. What? around 90 fast dudes entered. Yikes!

Oh yeah, the promoter wanted to make sure we had plenty of pre stage race excitement by hosting an unbelievably cool Twilight Criterium starting at 8:15 p.m. on Friday. Without really thinking it through, I thought, "Hell, yeah!" I've never done a twilight crit - this will be awesome. The timeline begins (YES, I know this is overkill but I wasn't sure how to organize my thoughts so I just started typing).

FRIDAY:
11:30 am- Igda, Emir and I load up and start the drive to Hagerstown.

2:30 pm- Check into Holiday Inn Express and I try to get a nap in, somewhat successful

5:15 pm- Start heading over so we can watch the Bike Doctor fellas in the 3/4 race at 6 pm. Sobe TAKES the win from the break! Totally pumped to see that.

8:15 pm- Our race kicks off. I don't know, maybe 50 riders. A really cool course right in downtown Hagerstown. Joe Jefferson was keeping the crowd informed and adding to the excitement with his play by play. I will be honest though, I was a touch nervous that were no barriers set up on the main drag. I just had visions of someone walking across the street and taking out the field, but that never happened so I guess it was unwarranted. My plan was to chill as much as possible (if you can really do that when the average speed of the race is 27+mph) and just try to get in the money (top 15). It was an incredible experience as the daylight slowly subsided about 1/3 of the way through the race. The gradual darkening of the course added a whole new element to the sensations of the race. It was wicked cool. Although it felt like everything was a blur, you could really feel the energy from the crowd lining the start/finish stretch. It was motivating for sure. After maintaining good position during the race, I made sure I was positioned well going into the final 2 laps where the pace really ratcheted up. Unfortunately, my plans got derailed with a pile-up at the very front of field at the final corner. Somehow I managed to brake and slide/skid hard enough to avoid endoing over the top of a few riders on the ground, but that ended my chances. It looked like everyone walked away which was good. Eh, it happens. Just a bit bummed to go 75 mins with little to show for the effort. But no regrets for sure. When Igda asked me what the highlight of the weekend was, I told her, "I think I'd have to say the Twilight crit." That was cool.
Short Clip of Race:

FINISH:

10:30 pm- Make it back to the hotel after stopping for the greatest recovery dinner you can have, Taco Bell.

11:00 pm- Off to sleep...er, maybe not. Of all times to have insomnia! I don't know if it was the adrenaline from the race or the nervousness about getting up at 6:30 a.m. for the prologue and road race the next day. What the heck did I get myself into?! I think I finally got to sleep at about 2 a.m., geez.

SATURDAY:

6:30 a.m.- Ugh, wakeup. I wanted to stay in bed. We grabbed a light breakfast at the hotel, packed up the car and headed over to the Prologue.

8:49 a.m.- PROLOGUE start time. I rolled around for about 25 mins beforehand just to get the blood flowing. This is a pretty violent effort since it's only 4.5 miles with a few hills. It's just flat out going to hurt the entire time. But I was hoping the legs were ready for pain. Well, I let it rip the best I could for a time of 10:51 placing me 18th for the event. Ok, not a bad start.
Finish Video:

9:30 a.m.- 12:15 p.m.- I really wasn't sure what to do with myself. I tried to lay down in the car for a quick nap, but that wasn't happening. We went to the Subway at a nearby gas station for an early lunch. Otherwise, just chilled with Igda & Emir.

1:00 p.m.- Road Race! 63 miles. Man, it got a little steamy and hot by start time. I loaded up the bottles with some extra electrolytes. I'll be honest, with the amount of racing already in the legs, I knew I had to play it conservative. I cramped bad last year on the last lap and lost a good chunk of time so I was hoping to avoid that. There was definitely an interesting dynamic to the field this year. A) It was larger B) There were two significantly strong non-Mabra (GPOA & Happy Tooth) teams present and they DEFINITELY added intensity to the race. Folks were trying to get off the front all day...and some did for sure. But I don't think it was ever the mix the big teams all liked, so it would be pulled back by the one not represented. I do remember GPOA just hammering with like 3 or 4 guys, lining out the field for a good while at one point about a 1/3 of the way into the race. I must admit, it's pretty cool to witness a team working so well to bring back a move. Maybe it was the green uniforms that stood out, but those guys appeared to be everywhere. There were a couple of larger groups that split off, but they never really got any traction. I did make a couple of blunders in the race. The first being that I whiffed two bottle feeds from Emir. We were using these bottles Emir scored from UHC and those things were like trying to grab an ice cube, just slippery as hell. Custer did share a bottle of 100 degree water on lap 9 with me after he saw me miss the feed. The other blunder was chundering the high speed corner going into the lap. Geez, a big gap was going and I came flying down that hill a bit hot passing a few riders that didn't seem interested in closing the gap, ok, a lot hot. My back wheel slipped for a second causing me to alter my line, but I couldn't really brake. I thought for sure I was going into the ditch. Somehow I saved it and then did the honorable thing and quickly closed the gap. That sure got the adrenaline going. I sort of figured on about the 7th lap of 10, it was going to be a mad dash to line starting at the hill on the homestretch. The finish was a bit anti-climatic for me. I'll be honest, I sort of wanted that anyhow. I needed to save as much as possible for the TT the next day. I "thought" just making sure I finished in the field was good enough as they would give "same time". Well, that was a mistake on my part. It appeared they gave everyone their exact times by the second. So, I lost a handful of precious seconds for the mental lapse. Okay, now off to try and RECOVER!
123 Road Race Finish:

5:00 pm- Back at hotel and my savior wife gives me a short massage on the legs before dinner. We headed over to a great little Sushi place around 6:30.

8:30 pm- We heard there was a Bike Doctor team meeting at the pool plus Emir wanted to go swim. I didn't realize that Sobe had a cooler full of good beer! Yep, stayed until about 10 pm hoping a few beers would help me sleep! Sobe, I think I owe you a few beers.

10:00 pm- I begged Igda for a leg rub. She saved me. My legs felt better. Bedtime...a bit better sleep.

SUNDAY:
6:00 am- wake up call!!!! OUCH! Load up and drive 20 mins to TT. I was sitting 15th on GC going into the TT.

7:31 am- 10 mile TIME TRIAL start
I hopped on the bike and rolled around for about 25 mins, just trying to get the engine warmed up without taxing the legs. I guess I felt about as good as could be expected. I knew this would be more of a mental challenge than anything. It turns out that I had a relatively average performance (23:13, 25th for the TT). If I could have gone harder, I would have I guess. You gotta move on. This pushed me back to 19th on GC going into the Crit. I think about 40 seconds separated 10th through 20th. Every second REALLY does count! Side note: TOTALLY bummed for my teammate Scott Giles. He was sitting 5th on GC and flatted during TT. That was a horrible message to get.

10:00 am- Grab some breakfast at the hotel and lay down for about an hour. Still can't really sleep. Body and mind just won't relax.

12:00 pm- Head out to grab lunch and mosey over to the crit race down at Williamsport.

3:00 pm- 30 mile Criterium Race. FINAL leg in this journey. I had no wild ambitions for the race. I just HAD to finish this sucker! Last year, I suffered like a rented mule at this event...dropped halfway through. No lie, I was nervous. It looked like a large number of guys mailed in the TT to stay a bit fresher. Well, through a lot of self talk throughout the race, I did finish, 31st. I couldn't feel my legs afterward, but it was an exhilarating feeling to wrap this up! My GC placing held at 19th. Hey, I'm happy with that. It's a little consolation that the prize money went down to 20th...just about paid for my race registration.
Some Crit Video + finish:

TofWC Final Criterium 2011 from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

Crit Start:

[just in- pics from Nic and Jor from the crit- thanks!]

Pain Face:

A good field pic:

In hindsight, there's no doubt the twilight crit hurt my GC aspirations. I think there were only like 6 guys in the top 20 that also raced the Friday crit. But, I'm ok with that. This weekend was about pushing the envelope, doing something crazy, and above all else having fun. No regrets. Thanks Joe Jefferson and AVC for an amazing weekend! Emir, Igda and Leo- you are the BEST supporters!

I'll try to round up some vids and photos to enhance the post this week.

Benchmarks

2011-06-16T13:37:00.001-04:00

Ugg, a little behind here, but I thought I'd jot down some stuff in my head. Last Saturday was the Air Force Clarendon Cup Criterium. You can read some more stuff about it at our team blog (see link over on the right). Back in 2009 at this race, my first year into cycling, I was a newly minted Category 4 rider ready to jump into the masters field. I think it was 35+ at that time. Well, I got completely and utterly shelled during that race. I was dropped after about 8 laps when my little group got split away from the field. It was the first time I ever thought about faking a mechanical so I could drop out...just prayed for a flat tire or something! I'll never forget that day.

Now 2 years later and I'm back for some redemption. I think it's safe to say that I've improved a lot between now and then. Not only physically, but mentally and skill wise as well.

In short, the race was really fun and tough. I made the moves necessary to get myself in contention with the contenders roughly a 1/3 of the way into the race. It was great to have a teammate in the move. Sure, in hindsight we should have played this out differently, but it is what is. I finished 9th, and as strange as it sounds, I felt really, really good about it. This was a big benchmark for me to compare where I was at just 2 years ago.

Here's some video of the race Igda shot:

Igda, Emi & I had a great brunch afterward while we got to watch the 123 race and then the Men's Pro Race.

Post Race with teammate Scott:

With Igda:

Brunch:

Pro Race spectating:

A GREAT shot of Emi with Hilton Clarke from UHC (the winner):

We're heading up to Hagerstown, MD for the Tour of Washington County tomorrow. LOTS of racing on tap for the weekend!!!!

Anatomy of a bike spill...

2011-06-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

At RSR during the 123 race, I went down through the apex of the second to last corner going into the bell lap. Thankfully, I came away unscathed. I just happened to be a few bikes behind from where it all started with no escape hatch. I think one of the NCVC guy's was pretty beat up, so I hope he heals up. Custer shared some photos from Ed who was road guarding at the time.

Let's face it, crashes in bike racing are inevitable. It happens...and it usually happens in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it's through no fault of yours, sometimes it is your fault. You can bitch and moan about it as much as you want, but it won't do any good. Unless it's something idiotic a rider did to cause the crash, you just have to move on and put it behind you. It's just one race. Oh, if you did cause someone to crash, have the cajones to apologize afterward. Yeah, it doesn't fix things but it goes a long way to forgiveness. We all make mistakes. Oh, and don't be a d-bag if a rider apologizes. Karma is a bitch in this sport.

It's the omnipresent danger during a race that creates the unwritten code for bicycle racers. Racers must trust each other to ride safe. You can't race if you have the fear of crashing. You'll be even more of a danger to other riders.

That said, here's an interesting sequence with a few comments on the photos.
Happy Field:

Oh, No!

RSR- Do Work!

2011-06-06T11:40:00.002-04:00

So, Ride Sally Ride was this past Saturday. Good to see former teammates AND beautiful weather! I was wrapping up a good block of training and I knew this course would be good for some hard, fast miles. The plan was to tear myself up in the 35+ and then hit the 123 for miles. I pulled out my "Do Work" shirt for motivation.

Coined by Rob Dyrdek and his personal body guard Christopher "Big Black" Boykins...man I miss that show.

Thanks Whole Wheeler's! Good day!

This just in, some video of the 35+ race shot by former teammate. Thanks BAS!

Ride Sally Ride M35+ C1234 from Patriot on Vimeo.

Sometimes in Bike Racing things are hard to explain...

2011-05-24T22:43:00.003-04:00

I'm completely starting out backward here because I want to try and capture my thoughts and emotions on a subject that few may never have the opportunity to comprehend.

This past weekend I raced the Bank of America Wilmington Grand Prix 2/3 Omnium Stage Race. This is a prestigious event on the calendar and the City of Wilmington along with the promoter go above and beyond to pull this off in spectacular style and flare. As my friend Pete Custer said, "If there was a day to have a good day, THIS was it!" If you want to read a full Bike Doctor team report, you can check this out now: TeamBikeDoctorBlog I'll be sharing more things throughout the week as I have time.

What I'm going to try and describe right now is the emotions that you feel when you have a glorious bike racing experience. I know I won't do it justice b/c I'm doing it in bits and pieces as I have time so bear with me here.

We all race on a team. We all want to see OUR team win. Nobody remembers second on, right? Most of us train a lot with very good friends that race on other teams. At least I hope so because cycling IS a social sport. You're missing out on so much if you stay huddled up in your own "team" surroundings. You can stop reading now if that's you because nothing else I write here will make any sense.

Sure, come race day we are all competitors, but there is a ton of time spent putting in grueling rides in some crazy weather conditions, often times with our cycling friends which aren't necessarily our current teammates. It is during these times that you develop a common bond...a fondness for the suffering...a respect for the athletes you train with. Seeing friends and training partners succeed is fulfilling. It makes you proud. Heck, in a strange way their success makes you feel good even if they aren't on the same team or in the same damn race.

I came to bike racing late in life. I absolutely fell in love with it. My first team was Whole Wheel Velo. I raced with WWVC for the first two years. A great group of fellas. This is where I met Pete Custer, another former WWVC alumnus. Pete was always incredibly insightful and helpful with a maturity well beyond his age. I picked his brain often and still do to this day! Hell, I liked Pete so much and thought so highly of him, I offered him a job at my company when we needed an IT guy. It's worked out wonderful.

I've found in athletics that you can get a pretty good gauge on someones character fairly quick. Are they patient? Are they honest? How do they handle stress? How driven are they? Do they go out of their way to help others? Are they selfish? Are they a good teammate? Do they get along with other teammates? Do teammates respect him/her? Etc. Sure, having Pete around the office probably isn't the most productive thing. Somehow every conversation always ends with some tangent related to cycling, lol.

So where is all this going? Not sure, but I wanted to share a bit of background. During the Wilmington Road Race on Sunday, Pete and I shared an experience together that very few bike racers will ever be able to understand. We raced smart and both had the same intuitions for when it was time to make our moves throughout the race. The funny thing is we never even talked to each about race strategy. Obviously, we are on separate teams, but still, sometimes a wink or a casual conversation before or during the race is appropriate, especially since I didn't have teammates in the race.

When the initial break of 10 got away, as noted on the Bike Doctor blog, I was really jazzed to see Pete in the move. When we stretched the gap to the field and everyone was working hard, I started to believe this was THE winning move. When I sensed the break crumbling and mentioned to Pete that we needed to go, he knew it, too.

It has taken a little bit of time, but I think I'm just now beginning to grasp what bike racing is all about. It's not winning. It's not losing. It's the thrill of trying to "make" the race. Now I know that is a pretty vague statement b/c it can take shape in so many forms. No two races are alike. I once heard, "it's the racers that make that race." It's so true. We either choose to make the race exciting, challenging, memorable, or we don't. And as all bike racers understand, there's never a right or wrong move. Racing is unpredictable. Maybe that's why it's addictive to me?

Now fast forward to our initial attack being pulled back by our fellow breakaway companions. There was no script. Pete and I were the only one's ready to put everything on the line. All or nothing. Maybe that's what separates the winners from the losers? I don't know. But both of us realized on our own without any spoken word that we had to TRY.

I'm going to quote my teammate Jim here because he summed it up best:
"take a good lesson from Pete's tactics...if you want it...sometimes you need to grab it, shake it, make it submit and call you uncle....winning from the front is a tactic straight from the page of the Prefontaine playbook. Well done!"

Once we made our final get away, it was deja vu. Here we are, just the two of us doing what we've done hundreds of times in training trying to put the hurt on each other. The strange situation was that we now shared a common bond - we were running from a peleton of 80 really strong riders trying to catch us. We needed our collective strength to make this happen. More than a few folks commented that they didn't know we were still out there. That my friends is a demonstration of bike race tactics. It was all part of the plan. We KNEW the field would slowly reel in the break once they were in sight. There would be a pause. I was betting that most of the field had no idea how many riders were in the break anyway. I think the only one's that knew for sure there were still riders up the road were Nicholas and DJ since Pete C wasn't there.

Now let me tell you. Neither of us had a meter, but I can tell you with certainty, we put every fiber of muscle into the pedals those last 6-7 miles. It was surreal. We were LIVING something you only see on TV during a pro race. Full motorcycle escorts on wide open roads and highways. I remember rolling through a huge intersection. Cars were halted. There we are - two jackass cyclist's furiously pedaling alone with slobber running out of our mouths. I can't imagine what folks were thinking at the sight of that!!

I can't describe the feeling when I caught the first glimpse of the city's skyline. What an adrenaline rush! I KNEW we had to be close. I had forgot to start my Garmin so I thought it was 4 or 5 miles short. I was right. When we made the turn onto Market St, I swear that gradual uphill felt like Mt. Everest. Custer started drilling it. I was like damn, "ENJOY IT!" I knew we weren't going to be caught. The last time I saw the field was about 20 miles before that.

Now this is an interesting part. Some won't understand, some may. Now don't get me wrong. I would have loved to win this race. But that's not what this whole experience was about for me. It was the thrill of pulling off something spectacular. Taking first was obsolete to me at this point. This was a rare occasion for me to take great pride in seeing someone that I care more about off the bike have something special to cherish forever. Let's get one thing straight, I wasn't gifting anything here. No deals were made. Custer rode like a champion. Plus, I've sprinted with him a thousand times and don't think I've ever beat him!!! Now if it had been someone else I was with, different story.

I know this is weird, but to see him raise his arms and cross the line meant more to me than any bike race I've ever won. This was a rare occasion where I had the ability to help him succeed. It meant more than words can describe. I guess if I had a little brother, this is what it would feel like watch him spread his wings and do his thing.

I'm also really happy to see the North-Tek-Aria team doing so well this year. Nicholas and I have a great past together as well, so there's nothing more exciting than to see them having fun and getting results. Mad respect to those guys for doing things the way they are right now.

Now that the sappiness is over, here are some great pics (Thanks Jor!!!):
Approaching the finish-

Getting closer:

Victory salute coming!

And there you have it!

The Field for leftovers

Me getting on Podium

Happy Podium

Full Podium

More to come, but that's it for the sappiness.

Lessons

2011-04-20T14:22:00.000-04:00

A little late but thought I'd recap this weekend. It started with the Chantilly Crit M35+ race. Man, the weather was a bit ridiculous, low 50's, super windy with off and on rain, sometimes pretty darn hard. I really appreciate the EVO guys and officials for sticking it out. That's one long, hard day of putting on a race.

Team Bike Doctor had me and our two Brian's (Rist & Sjoberg) towing the line. I haven't seen results, and to be honest, since my warmup was pretty short I wasn't sure how many or who was in the race. I'm not sure what it is, but I generally do pretty well in the nastier conditions and the legs felt pretty good. So, what happens? I decide to test the legs midway into lap 1 with an attack and low and behold just drive the heck out of that move for the rest of the race. Thank heavens Andy Cicero/HPC was as committed as I was. He worked hard as well. The problem was we had Nima with us. Well, I guess that played as expected as he sat on the rest of the race and took the sprint. LESSON LEARNED! But, hey, I ended up third so not all was lost although I felt sort of bad since I know my teammates in the field did a great job disrupting the chase. I kinda planned to do the 1/2/3 for training, but I was cooked so we headed to buy lunch with the race winnings at Anita's Mexican Restaurant...it was pretty darn good.

The field chasing with teammates sitting 3rd & 4th wheel:

Getting the move going:

Here's a short clip (My photographer was in the car most of the race...lol):

Chantilly 35+ from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

On Sunday, I raced the Dolan Circuit Race. First up was the 35+. I have a love/hate relationship with this race. Mainly because of the course, but I suppose in ideal conditions (not so windy) this race would break up and the guys looking to get away would. It's just so easy to sit in. DC Velo does a bang up job putting it on though...very much appreciated. Our team was really active throughout. I'm not sure of exactly when he got away, but our Scott Giles put in a HUGE effort to stay off the front with an ABRT rider for a long time. I tried to do my best to disrupt the chases, but Kelly really jacked it up on the last lap. I had crap for position after the final turn and only mustered an 11th. But, I absolutely loved seeing Scott stay so committed to that move. He raced his guts out. That to me often is better than winning.

a few Jim Wilson Pics. He take amazing photos!

Scott killing it!

I felt kinda bad for this guy. He put a big effort in only to have me sitting second wheel and not pull through.

Getting a little ride up to Scott's move early in the race

The second race later in the day was the 1/2/3. I think Rugg summed it up best by describing it as one massive group ride. Some good miles for me, but that's about it. Really pumped for my buddy Pete Custer to take 2nd! Way to go!

Not sure what I did to make lady luck upset with me

2011-04-11T15:36:00.001-04:00

Well, lady luck wasn’t on my side on Sunday. We had near perfect conditions, mid-upper 50s, just a beautiful day. Brian and I did some recon on Saturday where we rode from the Feedzone to the final climb up Stage Rd, hitting some of the infamous spots such as Becker Rd and Meetinghouse on the way…getting a feel for the gravel/dirt sectors. Overall the course isn’t really a “climbers” course per say. They are too short. Just lots of punchy, short power climbs. Now that it isn't to say it doesn't help being on the lighter side.

A few pics of the countryside & a shot of Meetinghouse road:

Positioning wasn’t too difficult. You could move around as needed. So, we rolled the first ~5 miles pretty casual as a group of 4 just gently rolled off the front the pack. From the sounds of the chatter between a lot of the riders, it was pretty clear that many of these guys race against each other in this area often. Nobody seemed concerned by the early controlling break. I had planned on just staying invisible and holding my cards close to my chest until later in the race. There really wasn’t any reason to do any unnecessary work with only two of us in the race. Passing through the covered bridge and then onto the first gravel section was fairly uneventful. There were little efforts here and there on some of the rollers as we approached Juniper Swamp.

I probably wasn’t positioned as well as I should have been coming into the Juniper Swamp climb, but once we hit it, I just gradually starting accelerating making sure I’d get to the top 10-15 riders by the crest where I was pretty sure a gap would open to the field. It did, but it was early and the surge eventually slowed to where groups behind could catch on. I just remember lots of flat, downhills and a few 3-4% gradual sections until we made a left on Joe Bean Rd at ~mile 23. The Joe Bean climb is the longest climb and it’s on paved road. It ramps up pretty steep for a bit and then just stair steps up for a good 5-6 min all out effort. I was positioned well in the top 15. Some dudes on the front really jacked this hard. I looked back about 2/3’s up and there was a nice gap opening to the field behind. I’d say the pretenders got shelled here. There’s a pretty big descent that follows and the folks in this move didn’t seem like they wanted to really go all in just yet so I just surfed wheels and was back to conserving energy. I didn’t really look back too often to take note of the damage, but the field was definitely whittling down slowly but surely.

The next big test was at Carney Cassidy Road at ~32 miles (a new addition to the course). Brian and I drove the first 40 miles of the course and to be honest, we were a little nervous about this section being a hot spot for moves to go. It’s pretty much all loose gravel. It starts out steep and then stair steps up for quite a bit. I had good position in the top 15 going in and began clawing my way up. It was during this climb where I started to have the realization that this was going to be a GOOD day. It felt like some guys were getting fatigued and I was starting to have good sensations in the legs, having no problems keeping with the leaders pushing the pace. Again, I think there were about 10-15 of us that separated from the field, but again a downhill came and not everyone was committed so folks could catch back on that were relatively close.

We eventually hit a short paved section after dive bombing some pretty rough pot hole ridden gravel and then right as we entered the next gravel section I felt something funny. My rear tire felt flat. I kept looking down saying, “No, it can’t be a flat?!” Yep, it was a flat. Raised the arm and pulled over to the left. I appreciate whoever the guy was that told me to get to right so the wheel van would stop for me (they won’t stop if you are on the left). So, I watch our group go by….then about 25 seconds later a group of 20-30 riders in our field go by…oh, looky, a car. He stops and I let him know my rear is flat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m TOTALLY thankful that I even got a wheel and this volunteer was there to help, but I swear it took about 2-3 minutes to get the wheel on and going. He REALLY wanted to do it for me which I obliged at first, but then I just had to say, “I’m sorry, let me do this.” He gave me a push and I began my solo time trial. I knew I’d probably never see the front of the field again, but I told myself before the race that I would never quit, no matter what. Really not much left to say, I just buried myself for the next 25 miles or so to the finish. There were riders all over the place, some from the prior 3 races and some from mine, so I’d just pick a target and ride as hard as I could to catch them…blow by them onto the next target. I think I caught a glimpse of the wheel car on Meetinghouse, but it was way off in the distance. Ended up rolling in alone for 44th place, 6 mins behind the winner.

On Meeting House in chase mode:

No regrets on the day. It’s racing. Shit happens. When I went to change the tire this morning before work, I found a nice chunk of jaded rock in the tire, so it wouldn’t have mattered if I went tubular or clincher, 23 or 25. I left it all out there and had a wonderful day. Made even better when finding out Brian had a very solid day with an 11th place finish. I’ll be back for sure! There's just nothing that compares to it. You definitely need to be fit to do well, but as in all races, a little luck can go a long way too.

Congrats to a former teammate Andrew Shelby for taking second in the Cat 4 race! Exciting to see. Also, thank you Pete and Nicholas for the feedzone assistance! Glad we could repay you during your race.

BATTENKILL

2011-04-07T16:24:00.000-04:00

Heading up tomorrow morning:

Stay tuned: CLICK HERE for race site

"If Only"

2011-04-05T15:34:00.000-04:00

I read the other day that the two saddest words for a cyclist are "If Only". So funny and often times very true. You sit around long after the race and hear countless stories which usually start with those two words. I've fallen into that trap numerous times...I think it's just part of racing. There is ALWAYS something or many things that unfold during a race where hindsight is 20/20. But the bottom line is that if I could have done it, I would have, no bullshitting around.

I raced 1/2/3 Morgantown RR this past Saturday with my teammate Brian Rist. What a crazy day! It started when we hit a pretty good snow storm crossing over the Maryland pass into WV. We plowed on as I repeatedly kept checking the weather radar. When we hit Morgantown, it was pretty clear, sweet. And then ~30 mins before the start of our race it starts snowing/sleeting...geez.

Gotta give the promoter and officials huge props! They postponed the race 30mins and guess what? The precip mellowed to a light rain and we were ready to race! I totally misjudged my clothing options and went with wearing my Gore jacket. Garmin showed that it was 37 at the start and got up to mid 50s at one point. Holy hell that got HOT and I couldn't take it off b/c my number was pinned to it.

Here are the cliff notes of the race. ~30-35 starters. Course is fast for the first 20 miles and the field stayed in tact. We hit the first most significant climb and the field exploded. I dug DEEP and made it over the top with the front ~8-9 riders just on the last wheel. I was pretty cross-eyed, but it didn't seem like there were more than that. The move had 2 teams well represented, XO (Rugg/Langley) & some strong riders from Pittsburgh. They just RIPPED it to the next climb and stayed on the gas which was shortly thereafter. Damn, I needed a bit more recovery. I got gapped at the steep part on the last 1/3 of that climb. I was maxed out and tried to manage the damage. Rolled the next ~8 miles solo and when I was near the top of the following climb I saw a chase group coming so I mellowed out and hooked up with them. THEN I raced like a complete pansy...end of story...

I think this is where I'm about to get caught by the chase at the top of the climb.

But I DID have fun after it was all said and done. Super fun course! Really needed this race in prep for next weekend at Battenkill.

Black Hills Circuit Race M1/2/3 Race Video

2011-03-24T11:25:00.001-04:00

HUGE shout out to Brian S (WWVC) for shooting this great video!

Black Hills M123 3/19/2011 from Patriot on Vimeo.

The View from the sidelines

2011-03-21T18:29:00.001-04:00

Saturday our team promoted the Black Hills Circuit Race. First race of the year for a lot of folks. I bagged any attempt to race since I really wanted to focus on helping our lead Promoter, Robb Hampton, pull this baby off without a hitch. Robb & Brian Rist (& wife Jenn) worked a lot of the behind scenes magic. All I had to do was show up at 6:30 a.m., sweep the course and spend the day trying to keep the course safe...well, it was sorta fun to watch the suffering as well. We were also really happy to hear all the positive feedback from all of the racers! We definitely have some ideas on how to improve a few things.

In a strange way, it's kinda nice to just work the race all the day. You get to catch up with lots of folks you haven't seen in awhile and actually have a conversation. I also had a front row seat to watch ALL of the races. I really enjoyed it.

Off the top of my head:

Here's my top 10 award list:

1. Umm, Josh Frick simply riding away from the 35+ field. (Kevin Cross you get a nod here for being the only one to ride with him for 2 laps)
2. Ahem, the Kenda pro dude riding like a rocket.
3. Evan Fader sticking it out with Kenda dude for lots of laps before fading, but I have to give the guy credit, you could see the pain in his face, but he still kept pumping the pedals and managed to hang onto the third chase group. Man, that was a show of determination and guts.
4. The two NCVC riders in Chase 1 finished really strong...great riding.
5. My training partner, Pete Custer, had a great ride for being sick most of the week...so much for sitting in, eh! And glad we didn't have to call the EMTs at the finish line!
6. NO CRASHES THE ENTIRE DAY! AWESOME!
7. In the 3/4 race, it was great to see 3 guys lay it on the line for a successful breakaway. Way to work together and make it happen Tony, Paul & Evan. Exciting to watch.
8. The Women's race was exciting...lots of action at the front, attacks/counters. The gal that won put a huge gap on the field on the last lap..impressive.
9. TRASH- I hardly had to pick up any!!! Thank you to all for keeping the park clean.
10. My wife for saving us working registration with her friend Tatyana! We would have been in deep doodoo without their help.

Here's my top 10 list of naughtiness (there's always a few bad apples, but the vast majority of us racers were crazy polite and very patient with this being our first event, so thanks for that):

1. Just because you are at race doesn't mean cyclist don't have to obey the laws of the road...cough, don't ride against traffic.
2. Please don't ever ride ON the course during a race.
3. While you are warming up, DON'T swarm cars driving through the park. Your warmup won't be interrupted if you have to slow down.
4. When a road guard instructs you on the traffic flow, please don't think you deserve "special" treatment and it doesn't apply to you.
5. When someone at registration asks for your license, don't behave like a child and toss your card at them. Hand it over politely..it's a thankless job and you may as well be slapping them in the face by doing this.
6. Show up with your license. It REALLY makes things much easier. Don't expect everyone to know who you are and you are above having to show your license.
7. Remember, results are managed by the officials, not the promoter. Don't get feisty with the folks at registration b/c your results aren't posted. They have no control over this NOR the results (if they are wrong)
8. Don't make snide comments around the promoters as to why they are doing things the way they are. You have your chance to do it your way when you put on YOUR race.
9. Whoever swiped the 1/2/3 results off the score table at the end of the day, shame on you. You earned the douchebag award.
10. there is no ten.

Looking forward to Jeff Cup now. Thanks to all for showing up to race!

PSA: Be careful out there

2011-03-18T13:30:00.000-04:00

Every year about this time the same scenario plays out in downtown DC.

1. Spring time = out of towner's coming into the city in droves. Also coinciding with the millions of people coming to view the Cherry Blossoms.
2. Out of towner's driving erratically b/c they don't know where they are going. They stop for no reason. Don't use turn signals b/c they don't know where they are going. Drivers trying to read their GPS devices or talking on the phone.
3. Taxi drivers hungry for a buck and will do crazy shit to pick up a fare.
4. Fare seekers opening up cab doors without a care in the world.
5. Frustrated local drivers mad about the increase in traffic....great, not like drivers need more fuel for the fire around here.
6. Wondering tourists not paying attention to anything around them while walking around the city.
7. The fair weather cyclists being awoken.
8. Out of town tour bus drivers who aren't familiar with the city.

What does this all this mean? IT MEANS BE EXTRA VIGILANT (CAREFUL AND DEFENSIVE) OVER THE NEXT 3-4 WEEKS WHILE RIDING IN THE CITY. Every year it hits me. Today it just happened to be during my commute into the city. The tell tale signs for me were:

1. Park personnel putting up signage at Hain's Point for the Cherry Blossom parking.
2. The countless tour bus drivers either parked along Hain's Point or driving aimlessly around the loop spewing exhaust fumes.
3. The two Freds who thought I wanted to race them at Hain's Point when I casually rolled by them doing like 180 watts for my recovery day mellow spin to work.
4. A taxi driver who thought it was ok to just swerve into the bike line to pick up passengers along 15th street. He couldn't understand why I was so pissed at him. And to the lady who was about to open the door to get in right in front of me...I confess, I yelled a few profanities.
5. I had my closest call to date for getting doored.
6. Driver nearly took me out while crossing K & Vermont. He was turning left coming the opposite way and obviously was in a HUGE hurry.

Needless to say, I was just happy to get to work in one piece. It's just a busy time of year around here and I hope folks get the message. Be careful out there!!! Things will return to normal in about 30 days.

4 day block

2011-03-08T14:02:00.000-05:00

A few charts tell the story...lots of good tempo and threshold work.

time to rest...

Faith in humanity and the end of a good block

2011-03-07T17:48:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy few weeks for sure. A few weeks ago while commuting home on Friday, I had an unfortunate event occur...yep, a bike commuter crash. I cracked the top tube of my Specialized SL carbon frame, bike frame destroyed. Without going into all the details since it's hard to explain, I'll just say that riding on the trails is dangerous. My accident occurred down by the airport where the trails merge near Crystal City. Fellow commuter came out of nowhere merging on. Luckily, we just barely avoided a head on collision, but I still went down after clipping his mtb handlebars. I thought everything was fine until I saw the cracked top tube...I cried inside. I loved that frame. It made it through 2 years of racing, yet, gets taken out and shot during an easy commute home...sad. BUT, the gentleman involved offered to help me cover the cost of replacement. I'll be honest, I was astonished. I never really lost my cool during the whole ordeal b/c I think I was mostly distraught over the frame. Neither of us were critically injured, I just had some scrapes and nicks. I gave him my card and said to email me if he was serious. I then proceeded to go 3 mph home on a nearly cracked in half top tube. So, Saturday I get an email from him. He feels terrible about the accident. We go back and forth and agree on a figure. Next thing I know on Monday morning a money order shows for twice as much as I expected, yet it will cover the cost for me to get a new frame, not exactly a true replacement, but good enough. Frankly, I was shocked, thankful and relieved by this. There are good people out there who are true to their word...faith in humanity restored.

Thankfully, teammate Brian is able to help me get my PCs off my training bike and get some regular cranks on it so I could hit a hard final week of training before some recovery. The plan was to take THUR thru SUN to get some good rides in.

Teammate Sunny met me THUR for one of the Haymarket loops. 70 miles, some gravel, 5k of climbing and wind. It was a great start to my mini-camp. Hit almost 3 hrs on FRI with some teammates, not too crazy, worked on some sprints. Then headed up to Frederick on SAT for a team ride. We had a shitty start to the ride when Brian got taken down by a car 10 mins into the ride. Out of towner decided to abruptly make a left turn on a 2 lane one-way street from the right lane. I was in the back of the bunch and watched the whole thing unfold in horror. Thankfully, Brian is ok, but his front wheel was taco'd and his bike un-rideable...needless to say he had a big headache. So, we get Brian in the police car and he gets take back to his car, the group pushes on. LOTS of climbing for sure. Legs came around and I was putting in some good work. I think we ended up with a little over 4 hours and then ended up eating some awesome Mexican food with Margies. SUN was a pretty free day. If I felt good, I'd do something hard. If not, I'd ride recovery for a few hours. Once I hopped on the rollers, everything came to life. Knocked out a hard 60min tempo effort at 325w avg after warmup and called it a day. Things are coming together. Getting amped about the team and our chances to do really well this year. Now I just hope my race frame comes in soon so I don't have to ride this boat anchor! It's looking more and more like Jeff Cup will be my first race...Battenkill is nearing.

Bam

2011-02-23T17:03:00.001-05:00

Heard this before?

Yeah, it's what was ringing in my head after this morning's workout. You KNOW racing season is approaching when the "white hot" stuff starts to show up on the plan. You just never know what to expect. In the back of your mind you have some preconceived notion of what "would" be great, but in reality you just have no idea what's going to happen when the real intensity starts to get thrown into the mix.

Woke up early, had a few cups of coffee and tried to mentally prepare myself for some suffering. Hitting the rollers on the TT bike with 4x 3min all out efforts with a few SubSupers thrown in after that. For some reason, I thought the plan read 3x 3min efforts but then I noticed the "4" this morning..whoops. A little unusual for me, but the first one felt pretty solid..then the next..then the next...then the finale. I cracked a bit halfway through the last one, but stuck it out. I definitely was seeing some stars after it. Ended up with a 430w cumulative avg which is good and a bit scary. Good by way of numbers, scary that I now know what I need to build off of. Plan on some endurance riding the next few days and then a few good longish rides over the weekend. Should be fun.

Good weekend

2011-02-22T16:33:00.000-05:00

It's no secret I'm a big fan of knocking workouts out inside. When I picked up the e-motion rollers back in 2008, my entire outlook changed. I fell in love with the dynamics of being able to squeeze productive hours training inside regardless of the weather. I'll admit, I rarely ride just to ride. I try to have a purpose and goal every time I get on the back. Some say you miss out on the joy of "just" riding. Don't get me wrong, during my transition time from year to year, I do "just" ride, but once the beginning of the year hits, every ride has a purpose. Plus, I like knocking my workouts out in the morning when all possible so I can enjoy the day and not stress about what I need to do after work.

So, although it was relatively nice out on Saturday (relatively is used lightly since there were like 40mph wind gusts out), with a threshold workout on tap on the TT bike, I decided to stay inside. No cars to worry about..no stop lights to worry about...no hiding.

Coach calls them "LT Subs" 4x 8mins at threshold 100%, then drop immediately to 4+mins at sub threshold 95%. This was a new format and I liked it. Cumulative average for all 4 was 343w's...right where I needed to be on the TT bike. I won't lie, the first one felt like DEATH, I just couldn't get breathing right or mentally find a rhythm. Legs were still a little cooked from Thursday. Then things turned around and got better and better each time.

Surprisingly, I wasn't too wrecked afterward and that left me with some good confidence to hit the tough workout on tap for Sunday. So, on Sunday I ventured over to my secret training spot and fired up the engines for some more pain.

The main villain for Sunday was 4x2min all out seated hill reps, followed by a quick set of seated enhanced accelerations and then a 20min tempo set. The route I use is really lumpy. I found one decent climb that would work for the hill reps. It's just HARD to find a true climb around here (well, close to Alexandria) over 2mins. So, after pile driving myself through the hill reps and the rest of the workout, I was pretty cooked. The numbers were good so I was happy to head home and finish up some home improvement projects to keep the wife pleased. It's weird how I'm always in a better mood after having a good workout.

The Condor of Varsseveld

2011-02-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

I had no idea that was Robert Gesink's nickname...bad ass! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gesink)

Gesink won me over as a fan during the 2009 Tour of France. I remember watching the stage (5) where he got caught up in a crash pretty early in the race. He freaking finished the stage with a broken hand at the age of 22. Sure, he ended up having to drop out of the race that year due to the injury, but that demonstrated some serious guts and hardness...I've been a fan ever since.

Although I'm not a huge fan of Rabobank, I always find myself rooting for him. I hope he's coming of age. He has some great years ahead of him at the ripe old age of 24. I was very happy to see him take the GC at Tour of Oman. Damn, not sure if it's a blessing or a curse to have Eddy Mercx tip you as a future Tour winner...I hope he's right. This guy is a class act and one of the bright stars for years to come. I just hope he learns how to TT better!

Numbers

2011-02-18T13:23:00.001-05:00

I had a little time today to play with some numbers. I don't believe they tell me anything I don't already know, but hey, I've got them so why not play around with it. Today, I was just curious to compare my 2010 Jan to my 2011 Jan. No big ephiphany or anything, just more or less curious.

Last year in Jan, I had ballparked FTP at 325w. In 2011, we're looking at a pretty comfortable 350w (I'll keep weight a secret for now ;-)) I still have some slight discrepancy in power between TT bike and road bike, but I'm spending much more time on the TT bike than last year. I guess anything would be an improvement over zero last year.

After I wrapped up my charts, I noticed a few odd things. First, in 2010 I had a huge spike in Endurance zone. I went back to those files and realized that my meter was sent back to service for a week or two and I had a lot of manual entries the first few weeks. So, that sort of blew me out of the water in order to get a good analysis. Second, in 2011 I missed about 4-5 days of training due to sickness. Also, in 2011 I feel like I've been doing more commuting, especially on the powercranks. It skews the numbers a bit in the lower zones. But it is what it is.

Here's the 2010 vs 2011 training zone buckets.
2011:

2010:

The few things that jumped out to me were- is that it appears I logged a relatively substantial % of training time in the Endurance zone. Tempo/TH would probably have been close had I not been sick. Active Recovery % is lower in 2011 most likely due to a higher frequency of time on the rollers vs 2010.

Here is the power distribution charts from same time period:
2011

2010:

Strange to see the huge spike ~200w in 2010, most likely due to manual entries since I try to estimate TSS by plugging in some average power #'s. Definitely think I upped the time spent at Tempo, Ultratempo & Subthreshold in 2011. LT work started kicking in right at the end of Jan in 2011.

And this post wouldn't be complete without a PMC chart:

So, if you can figure out what all this nonsense means, you'll know how fit or unfit I am right now. I do really enjoy being able to compare "programs" year over year. Ken is methodical and progressive in his training approach. Some things have varied a little bit, but by and large, it has been a very similar program through the winter. I'm starting to get excited for race season, especially Battenkill! Well, that may be an understatement.

On the training front

2010-12-20T13:28:00.000-05:00

Many folks outside of the cycling world don't quite understand that in order to prepare for the NEXT year of bicycle racing the preparation for it begins several months in advance. A common term associated with this is "base training". The common analogy I like to use is that you wouldn't start building the biggest, baddest, sturdiest home without first laying a foundation built to last forever. So that in a nutshell is what's going on with me.

I've continued with Ken for coaching services. I believe in his plan and I really enjoy working with him. The plan was to kick back up in October with the strength work and base building routine...getting miles in. One interesting thing about sticking with the same coach from year to year is that I get to see the improvements year over year at specifics points now. The philosophy, plan and approach is consistent, so gauging where I am at now compared to last year is pretty motivating.

The one big change going into this off-season was the addition of Powercranks (PC's). Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time riding my bike setup with the Powercranks. My time hasn't been focused exclusively on riding the PC's either. I'm still sprinkling in rides on the regular cranks (lots of force work) along with time on the Time Trial bike. It's a good mix to keep things fresh. I know there are many naysayers out there regarding the use of PC's, but from a personal perspective, I have never felt as strong on the bike at this point in the year as ever before. Is it due to the influence of the PC's? I don't know. But to this day, I've yet to meet anyone that trains with them that isn't FAST. Time will tell, but so far so good.

I recently picked up a Kindle and ordered a book titled, "The Rider" by Tim Krabbe. It's awesome! If you are racer, you HAVE to read this book. It's beautifully written and filled with wonderful monologues throughout the book. They really hit home. Highly entertaining. I couldn't stop reading it.

We're gearing up for the Christmas holiday at the homestead. Hope I don't put on 10 pounds! Damn, it sure goes on faster than it comes off.

The Frenchman to the Rescue & CC TT

2010-08-22T21:35:00.014-04:00

This little guy rocked it on SAT:

But back to the Frenchman. We have this gentleman on the team, Francois Bru. He caught the cycling bug last year. He's the most energetic, organized, good-natured, hard-working and analytical rider I've ever known, and he LOVES time trials. It has been fun hanging out with Francois and his wife Valerie after some TT's earlier this year.

I've been giving Francois some grief lately - telling him to just relax and have fun with it. Well, thank god he didn't decide to change his ways this SAT! I pull what I think is my skinsuit out of my bag and it's actually just my long sleeve jersey. WTF! I look at Harrell and don't even bother asking him if he has an extra kit...like I'd fit in a small. Now Custer isn't giving up his YAH kit! (BTW- huge breakthrough performance by Custer!) What the hell am I going to do? Who the hell brings extra kits to a time trial?

WAIT! There is Francois. "Hey, Francois! You don't by chance have an extra kit do you?" I didn't really expect a yes, but in Francois fashion he responds with his french accent, "Of course, I bring extra of everything!" He tosses me his bib shorts and jersey. I'm now ready to roll! Whoosh...that was close. I'm not exactly sure what I would have done otherwise. The VALUE OF TEAMMATES showing up for races!

I really appreciate ABRT for putting on this TT, but man, this course has my number. I just haven't figured out how to attack it. I've been on death's door my first 3 attempts about 8k from the line. Not good! There's just no easy day on that course, regardless of how flat it is. Thankfully, I held it together enough to win the MABRA Cat 3 TT Championship which I'm happy about. This win was just icing on the cake after Millersburg.

And then we hit the most insane traffic ever on the way home...wow, that was a really long day of travel for ~55min of racing. Well worth it though.

Oh, yeah. As if one 40k TT isn't enough, we decided to go down to the VA Champs on SUN earlier this week. More on that one later...

Tour de Millersburg 2010 Road Race part II

2010-08-18T14:47:00.018-04:00

Here we are, about to embark on the great adventure for all of the marbles, GC victory. Mother nature came out swinging, too, with a little added verocity...rain. Beautiful!

I won't lie here. It's a pretty damn cool feeling to wear the Yellow jersey and get a call up before the start of the race. As expected, this pretty much puts a target on your back, but it's an exhilarating feeling. You definitely have a certain sense of added motivation and pride to back up the fact that you are the leader of the race. I got a tiny taste of what it must feel like for a pro in a big stage race. Ok, that's an exaggeration. But today, I got my opportunity to *pretend* for a few hours I was "El Patron" of the peleton (tongue-in-cheek). And I had some soldiers ready to watch my back.

The road course is fast for sure. For the most part, the roads are wicked smooth with one small exception. I had no idea how fast we were going or avg speed of the race since my meter stopped working beforehand, but getting away was going to be hard.

I think it was on the first lap (17 miles) as the peleton was cruising along, I may have mentioned to Drew Armstrong (NCVC) as everyone appeared to be following the yellow line rule that it's always a strange feeling to have the whole road. It just doesn't feel natural. It took a good 10 miles or so before the field started making use of it in earnest.

I had a very basic strategy for the race:
A. STAY SAFE
B. Conserve - I had plenty of horses at my beckon call to do the dirty work if needed
C. Leave nothing to chance. Absolutely must beat the guys sitting 2, 3 & 4.
D. None of the guys top 5 in GC must be allowed to get away. We'd let others go. Other teams had to do the work to bring back moves.

Honestly, the first two loops were pretty uneventful. Yes, it was raining but I didn't think it was all that bad. Heck, I never even would have known if it had stopped because the water spray from wheels was never ending. I kept having to spit and remind myself to keep my damn mouth shut.

I was tucked in behind or very near my main Lieutenant, Nicholas, for most of the first two laps. I'd just roll with ebbs and flows of the bunch, never panicking if position was lost or trying to move up irrationally. There were attacks here or there but everyone was still way too fresh. It was like a pack of wolves chasing after rabbits. I had a constant eye searching for the contenders, but as I quickly assessed early on, so did my teammates. Damn, so much as a sneeze by a GC guy quickly garnered attention from the team. They were doing so well that it was almost bad for me. It was too easy to just unplug. I had to keep telling myself to pay attention. Good problems though.

It wasn't until the third and final loop where the race was going to provide some exciting drama. And holy sh!t was it a spectacle to behold.

Here's what I remember. It all happened SO fast but I do have a few vivid memories etched in my mind. I was near the front, maybe top 10-15. The speed was high and we were rounding a small curve in the road. I hear some commotion to my right. Like a dog, my sixth sense is acutely aroused. Then BLAMO! I "think" Nicholas was just slightly ahead of me on my right. I recall his bike being taken out from under him and all I see are his legs parallel in the air. SOMEHOW, I managed to barely miss him on the right and then a dude right in front of me just slides out for no apparent reason (he was in front of the freaking wreck for heaven's sake). I feel like I'm walking a tightrope at this point. I felt something slam into my left ankle as I go by but I'm able to hold it together. Holy crap! I think I was the very last rider to make it through before the HUGE pileup started. Jason Hall (Coppi) said he was right on my wheel, and sadly, he didn't fair so well, cracked frame and banged knees. I quickly integrated with the leaders but I did take one quick glance back and noticed what appeared to be a MOUND of riders in the road. CRAZY!

After I reintegrated, I was trying to assess who was there. In a strange twist, nobody really attacked right after the episode. I think everyone was still in a bit of awe at the enormity of it all. It was like everyone took a big deep breath and thanked the big man above. It wouldn't last for long.

After a brief period, I saw Andrew. As we rolled along together, I said to him, "Ok, Nicholas is out, so you are my guy." Andrew gave me the nod, enough said. I had total faith in him. I parked myself near the front and took inventory. Meurig (QCW sitting 2nd) present, Jameson (C3 sitting 3rd) not present, Wareham (Thru-it-all sitting 4th)present. Ok. Back to protecting GC.

I see a DVR rider up the road. I notice Ben Reynolds and Drew Armstrong attack along with a few other guys all of which aren't a threat to me on GC. Cool. I let Andrew know to let it go. And then out of nowhere I see Rusty charging up the left side. Down in the drops...fire in his eyes. I start yelling at him, "Rusty, let it go, let it go!" about 4 times before he stops foaming at the mouth and sits up. Only until after the race did I find out that Rusty had managed to catch back on after slaughtering himself to reattach. Awesome! I was very happy to see him.

So, the break now has 5 riders and is gradually stretching it out...5s..10s...20s. They are still in sight for most of the final lap, but it quickly becomes evident that the GC guys aren't going to help bring it back. It wasn't until afterward that I found out that Meurig had a teammate up the road, too. A somewhat ideal situation for me. At one point, I even mentioned to a guy who was asking me who was up there that I was happy with the break. If they didn't have a guy in it, his team needed to bring it back.

We hit the final stretch of road into town and a few riders tried to put in some big solo efforts but it was too late. As we were coming up the last gradual incline before hitting the flat/downhill descent into town, the next explosion occurred.

I'm not sure what precisely happened since I was hugging the yellow line, but all of the sudden there is a big pileup about 8 riders from the front right in the middle. I swerve off into the other lane and jump hard to reach the 6-7 riders up front. I see Andrew dropping off the back of that bunch to help me. As I'm storming up I start screaming, "GO, ANDREW, GO!" as loud as I can. The adrenaline was rushing through my veins. This was the last straw. It was on.

Andrew figured it out quick. We came up on the small group, came around and he just started unleashing hell. Kevin (DVR) had snuck on his wheel so I was sitting third wheel. After pulling all out for about 1.5 miles, Andrew takes the hard right hand downhill corner first. He's giving it everything he has left. As we get close to the traffic circle chicane, Andrew pulls off. I notice Kevin letting up and sliding left. I have no idea who is behind me and I never looked back to find out at any point.

I put in a seated surge right before the chicane coming through first. I took the turn rather gingerly, but I absolutely didn't want to slide out here of all places! After I knew I was through, I jumped out of the saddle and gave it everything I had. I remember Custer telling me that he tries to "break" his bike when he sprints. Well, that's exactly what I was trying to do. Those last ~250 meter felt like an eternity. I made it to the line and didn't see anyone come around...whew! 6th place, and most important, the GC win! (I've got some video I will add later)

VIDEO (catches the start and then finish with break of 5 then the field (what's left):

Tour de Millersburg Road Race 2010 Start-Finish from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

A huge rush of emotions hit me at that point. I was totally gassed from the effort but I felt on top of the world. It's amazing how quickly you can go from total fatigue to feeling like you haven't even raced when you win. The TEAM did it!

I can't express my gratitude enough to the team for standing behind me the entire event. It was an extremely special race and I will cherish the memories forever.

After getting cleaned up, we all headed over to Wayne's for beer, wings and coffee. I was buying whatever the heck the gang wanted to eat or drink. A small thank you for all the hard work.

We also donated the left over winnings ($100) to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Final Results posted HERE

I definitely plan on having the Yellow Jersey professionally mounted and framed. I'm gonna put that sucker in the pain cave for future motivation. And THANK YOU KENNETH LUNDGREN for guiding me this year. Your planning, guidance and constant reminders that I'd be ready to put together a storybook performance was brilliant.

I would also be in complete remiss if I didn't pay special thanks to my wife and her little brother for the incredible fan support and assistance throughout the weekend! I'm incredibly lucky to have her unyielding support!

Tour de Millersburg 2010

2010-08-16T17:07:00.010-04:00

About midway through the season, Ken and I talked and we decided that Tour de Millersburg was getting a big old bulls eye on my race calendar. The one thing I really enjoy in being coached by Ken is the periodization we go through during the year. Going out and trying (thinking) you can win every race you enter just isn't realistic. You can't have great form all year long. It leads to massive burnout and the inability to attain a true peak in fitness. I've put total faith in the plan from day 1 (October 1) and followed my marching orders. I KNEW I was going to be on some special form for this race.

I did the race last year and had a blast. But this isn't just a race; IT'S AN EVENT! The entire community goes above and beyond to support the race and racer's. Really, I've never been a part of something like it. A smattering of emails between teammates and my coach throughout the week had me fired up to pull off something special.

Saturday morning was the first event. A hair under 10 mile Time Trial. I REALLY wanted to win this. I wanted that Yellow Jersey. I knew there was some stiff competition and it was going to take a near perfect ride to pull this off. I got in a perfect warmup. Got to the line ready to roll...er..sort of fumbled the start (see video below- good lesson on how NOT to start) but once I got rolling, the power was there and after about 5 mins I knew this was going to be a special ride. I just kept it pegged until the turnaround. Looked down at the time and knew I was faster than last year. I hammered the return and just emptied the tank the last two minutes. 20:15. Ended up 2nd. Close, but I needed that damn jersey and I wanted it bad.

Millersburg TT start from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

The crit started at 12:30 so we had a little downtime to chill out. It was fun hanging out with teammates and friends, just shooting the bull. The team got together and we hashed out a strategy. I need to make special mention here because the entire weekend wouldn't have resulted in the outcome it did without the devoted and motivated support from my teammate's; Nicholas, Rusty, Joe, Chris and Andrew. Everyone played their designated role to perfection to assist me with my GC aspirations. In a competitive stage race, it takes a team to win the GC. To be real though, you need to throw in a little bit of luck, too.

I get a callup for the crit so I get to stage right on the front. I wanted no part of being anywhere but the front for the first few laps with 97 guys towing the line. Right from the whistle I go hard. First through turn 1 and just stay on it. Crap, I'm actually off the front a few meters but the legs felt great so I went with it. I wanted to be safe for a bit longer. I scared my teammates a bit there, sorry about that! And then I hit a hiccup (see luck above). I flatted on lap 3, but thankfully, I was right next to the wheelpit. Jumped in, got the wheel changed and the ref told me I can go back in where I was at in the field. Cool. He told me I could jump back in at the front. Got going, grabbed Nicholas' wheel and pretty much stayed tucked in at the front the rest of the race. Nicholas was doing great work keeping me up there. I just kept repeating to myself every time we went up the climbing portion that I was going to murder this section on the last lap. Andrew was riding super strong as well. He'd make guest appearances here and there. A C3 rider snuck off the front and ended up getting about a 30s gap. Impressive.

With ~5 to go the attacks started. I saw Kevin (DVR) go with another guy, but I thought it was a little too far out. Kevin is strong as a bull and I didn't know who the other rider was that was with him, but the field started chomping at the bit. It was brought back after a few laps and then two others went. Hmmm, I still didn't think it had legs since they did get a gap but it wasn't growing. I reattached to Nicholas' wheel with 2 to go. Nicholas roared up the climb on the backside passing the two off the front. I looked back and saw the field strung out and that we had a small gap. I yelled at Nicholas, "We got a gap..GO,GO,GO." Nicholas just slammed it down the backside, through the S/F and through turn 1 and 2. I knew I had two guys on my wheel that I had to get rid of on the climb. I jumped right after the soft left turn leading to the uphill. Out of the saddle, all out effort. My lungs and legs were about to explode. I just told myself to get the hell to the top of the hill without anyone else. As I neared the top, I looked back and saw I had gapped them, and they were looking back for the field. I knew I had them at that point. BUT, wait, the C3 rider was now in sight! He was going backwards at the top of the climb. But once I hit the downhill I realized there was no catching him at this speed. I hit the final turn hard, looked back and was able to coast in for 2nd. Hats off to the C3 rider. Great ride. But most importantly, I now had the YELLOW JERSEY! The winner of the TT took 5th so I had a small 4pt GC lead on him with a few other guys not far behind. The RR was going to be a battle for sure.

Nicholas' charge with 2 to go was a PERFECT setup for me. I needed it to be fast and hard before I went. For him to get the separation from the field was unbelievable. And as far as teammates supporting a GC rider, Rusty did something very cagey. When he saw me flat, he drifted back in the field thinking he could help me move up when I got back in. Thankfully, I didn't have to start at the back, but it pretty much destroyed his race because the accordion effect was just insane at the back of the field. Extremely smart racing though. It's the little things and details that all add up throughout a stage race that make a difference.
Here's the video Igda shot:

Millersburg Crit 3/4 2010 from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

And here are video's Ben Reynolds (focusedcycling.com) took with his badass helmet cam:

2010 Tour of Millersburg Criterium Cat 3/4 Part 1 from Ben Reynolds on Vimeo.

2010 Tour of Millersburg Criterium Cat 3/4 Part 2 from Ben Reynolds on Vimeo.

We had a fun dinner at Wayne's (highly recommend this place..thanks Grayson for the tip) with Jenn Rist, Igda and Emi. I even had a few beers just to relax. We got to bed rather early, but honestly, I didn't sleep all that great and woke up at 5:00 a.m. Oh well. I was amped to get this Road Race going.

Oh boy, what's this? As I went out to put the bikes on the car, it started raining. Great! Well, sort of. Seriously, I race way better in cooler weather. I suffer in the heat. The nastier the better but not necessarily with 90+ guys who haven't had any results so far and all think they can win the road race. Yikes!

I didn't really get much of a warm-up in, but the legs felt super good. I'd use the first 5-10 miles of the race to warm-up. We all wrote the numbers of the GC threats on our arms. All I needed to do was stay out of trouble and let the fellas mark any threatening moves. I could sense everyone was excited and motivated to work as a team. I casually mentioned to a few other rider's that weren't a threat in overtaking me on GC that we wouldn't chase a break as long as it didn't have any of the top 5 GC riders. All I needed to focus on was beating the top 5 guys sitting on GC to the line in order to secure the overall.

stay tuned for RR report. I'll just say now that it was a wild adventure for sure...

TDF is on the horizon...can't wait to see it play out

2010-07-01T08:42:00.001-04:00

Great clip of rider interviews:
What do you love about the Tour?

Race weekend recap

2010-05-18T16:59:00.006-04:00

No results, but a FUN weekend of racing for me.

Poolesville was a first for me and I really enjoyed it. I grew up having a long gravel driveway at the homestead so the gravel section didn’t really freak me out. Strangely, it brought back a lot of memories of riding my little bike during my youth. My brother’s and I used to have skid contests in the pea gravel circle which went around in front of our house. We’d measure whose skid was the longest. Lots of memories.

The day just wasn’t my day. I never felt absolutely horrible, but I never felt great either. I was due for some rest and it just so happened that the preceding week fell in line for that to happen. I was either going to feel superb or I was going to be a bit flat. Well, flat it was.

So, I pretty much just worked enough to stay with the chasing group, but I just couldn’t do more to help with the number of guy’s working to bring the break back. In a strange way, I felt pretty bad about my lack of enthusiasm to help, but it just wasn’t happening for me. I managed to stay upright and finish the race with a lackluster 19th placing. Afterward, I was a little down, but on reflection it was still a fun day to be out racing. This is supposed to be fun after all.

There was one hair raising moment during our last or second to last time through the gravel section when some guy (not a racer) was riding his bike down the gravel section. I was on the front in right tire track and Matt Braughler was on the front in the left tire track. We both started yelling at the guy to get off the road, Matt more so since he was barreling toward. I think he got over just in time, but holy cow that could have been horrendous. I remember us looking at each afterward and exchanging a few comments like, “What the f—k was that?!!!”

I was a little surprised to feel pretty good when I woke up Sunday. Igda and Leo were going to travel down with me to Leonardtown Maryland for the 35+ crit race at 12:15. This was a great race (with the exception of some kids or adults that decided it would be great to put tacks down on the course throughout the day.) There were some awful crashes caused by this it appears. A real shame that tarnished this event.

The hosting town and setting was pretty much ideal, a downtown setting with a lot of charm. Plenty of room for roaming around and viewing the race with café’s lining the start/finish straight. An MC giving blow by blow details on each race with loudspeakers mounted on the electrical poles around the town square. The weather was perfect, too.

I made sure to get in a good warm up before this one as this is pretty technical course and I’m sure everyone knew it would be fast from the get go. The legs felt alive today, unlike before Poolseville, so I was hoping for some redemption. It was great to see Harrell lining up with me as well. Really, it’s just way more fun to have teammates in the race.

I got lined up right at the front. Had a perfect clip in at the gun and was positioned perfectly going in to turn 1 when blamo…a ride punctured (see tack note above) and slid out. The poor fellow in front of me endoed right over his bike and landed right on his head. Somehow I managed to grab a handful of brakes and veer off the road without going down. Not good. The Kelly rider went down hard. I motioned to the moto ref to get someone down here. You just never know with head injuries. Thankfully, everyone walked away ok.

So, roll around to the S/F line and now I’m at the very back for the restart which was about 10-15mins afterward. The plan now became to move up as fast as possible without using huge matches to do it. Well, that is pretty much what I did for the first 7 laps. Being out of the top 10-15 riders going through the first turn sort of sucked. It was always a hard dig to stay in contact. Our race ended up being shortened a bit and we were told to pay close attention to the lap counter. After that, I just settled in. In typical crit fashion, there were plenty of attacks, hard pulls, regrouping, etc. The field was being whittled down slowly but surely. Nobody was getting much room off the front, but you could sense the chases were getting a little slower to respond over time. I guess I was doing a pretty good job of just staying invisible. I knew I’d have one good hard move in me, so I was just trying to find the right moment.
The challenging turn 1- 120 degree right after a short downhill:

At 3 to go, there was a prime. I just moved up a bit b/c I thought there would be lull after this. At 2 to go, the pace stayed hot through turn 1 naturally, but everyone fanned out after the little rise. Something clicked and I decided to attack. I looked back after 15 secs and I was solo with a pretty healthy gap. I just tried to drill it as hard as I could and pray I could hold it to the line. SO CLOSE. I got caught just after the final corner with about 100m to go. Just rolled in after I was caught...exhausted. It was pretty exhilarating laying it all out there. Just came up a little short this time. It was nice to hear a few rider's compliment me on the move afterward. Adding some excitement to the race is sometimes more fun than the result. I have no regrets. I guess sometimes you can’t be afraid to lose in order to win.
Yep, I'm in pain (Thanks again Jenn for taking and sharing these photos):

Bunny Hop Criterium

2010-05-03T15:22:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, was the Bunny Hop criterium race. I chundered the finish but it was a fun race. Jim took 5th which was awesome. A teammate shot some great video of the race.

2010 Bunny Hop M1234 35+ - full from Brian on Vimeo.

Murad Road Race

2010-05-03T15:12:00.003-04:00

In lieu of a race report, I thought I'd post a few videos which partially sums up our road race on Saturday for entertainment purposes...

Although it was unfortunate that our horse at one point had a rider on it before it decided it didn't really care for about 60 guys riding in a pack by it. I'm glad the rider was ok. Strange day indeed...

Spring racing continues

2010-04-20T16:39:00.010-04:00

Welp, it's been a busy last few weekends. No time to really recap all of the races, but it's been a lot fun. Our team is coming together and we're starting to race really well together.

As always, Igda has been a trooper going to the races with me. It's actually pretty boring for her in between races, but I'm really glad she comes along for the support. Leo's made a few trips, too. Oh, yeah, my Cat 3 upgrade just come through yesterday. It means I can keep racing with faster and faster dudes.

Here's some pics and a short video of the finish from Tyson's. I was pretty happy with the 8th place here:

Tyson Corner M35+ Finish from Brian on Vimeo.

Igda's good friend, Sumita came to hang out and watch her first cycling race.

This past weekend I had two races on Saturday at Chantilly Crit. Finished 11th in M35+ race which was super fast, hard and fun.
Last 3 laps video:

M1234 35+ RGS Title - last 3 laps from Brian on Vimeo.

The afternoon race was the M35+ 3/4. Our team executed perfectly the entire race. Since I had a teammate up the road my job was pretty easy, just mark wheels. It worked out and I ended third while my teammate secured 2nd out of the two man break.

Video of the last 3 laps crossing start/finish:

RGS Title cat 34 35+, last 3 laps from Brian on Vimeo.

Teammate taking 2nd:

Coming to the line for 3rd:

On Sunday, I raced a crit up in Columbia MD. Fun to be out racing, but not a fan of the course. Finished a luckluster 17th, but my teammate took 5th, so a good day for the team!
photos courtesy of Jim Wilson. He takes incredible race photos and generously shares them(thank you!)

First Road Race of the season

2010-03-30T11:27:00.006-04:00

This past Sunday was the "real" kickoff to the 2010 racing season starting with the Jefferson Cup Road Race in Charlottesville, VA. The race carries with it a tremendous reputation in our little mid-atlantic cycling world. It's what some refer to as a "monument" event. A spring classic.

Winning bike races is tough, regardless of your category. Victories are few and far between for many cyclists. When you do win, there's nothing sweeter.

Well, I won my race on Sunday at Jeff Cup! An unbelievable feeling! I raced the Masters 35+ which started on at 2:30 p.m. on a chilly, wet day. Igda and Leo made the trip with me which made it even more special. She's put up with a lot of crap due to my training, so it was great to have her with me to celebrate.

I won't bore you with all of the gory details so I'll just give you the highlights. I jumped hard up the little climb on lap 4 to bridge up to a Dave Kirkpatrick (GamJams) and just stayed on the gas. 3 guys bridged up, Stephen Robinson (Coppi), Michael Runnals (JVS/Casey) and another guy who didn't last long with us. That's all she wrote. Four strong riders completely dedicated to sticking the break and an un-organized peleton in crappy weather...game over.

When we made the final turn, the Dave K took a hard pull. I took a good pull and then Stephen pulled through. I jumped on his wheel and was a little worried with Michael right on my wheel. He was riding really strong. Side note: Michael and I went 1-2 last year in the cat 5 race. He beat me! We didn't realize it until after the race when we were chatting. Stephen generously sacrificed his chance of winning by setting a solid pace from 1k to 200m. Right after the 200m sign I could see the finish tent. What the hell? Let’s do this!!! I jumped from Stephen’s wheel and went. Michael couldn’t close the gap or come around me. THE WIN!

Really exhilarating to say the least! Igda missed the finish to boot!

Congrats and thanks for working hard to everyone in the break! It's rare to get everyone in a break fully committed.

My prizes (coveted chocolate bunny, engrave cup and a medal):

Amazing way to start the year. Hopefully, I didn't use up all of my positive racing karma at the first road race of the year!

Igda's big surprise b-day party

2010-02-16T12:20:00.004-05:00

With the help from a few of Igda's great friend's planning the big surprise b-day at Landini Bros in Old Town, we had a great time. Igda was completely caught off-guard and surprised. It was a ton of fun!

Unusually Large Snowstorm...

2010-02-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Unusually Large Snowstorm

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Yowza - Another crazy storm

2010-02-08T09:02:00.004-05:00

I figured I'd share the story with some photos. All is well. Just a quite weekend at home enjoying being snowed in.

Stella & Ry would be proud- I made some Jambalaya Saturday:

Think like a Bumblebee, Train like a horse

2010-01-21T16:34:00.004-05:00

“Think like a Bumblebee, Train like a horse.”

I wrote this post on our team site, but thought I'd add it here:

I was digging through some un-packed boxes last night and I ran across Joel Friel’s Triathlete Training Bible. I haven’t looked at the book in 2-3 years. As I opened it up and started jumping around the sections, I couldn’t put it down. I found lots of good nuggets in there I had completely forgotten about. So simple really. Not sure why I always try to make things more complicated.

It’s sort of funny, over the years I feel like I’ve been a pretty good “student” in learning as much as I could about the science and art in regards to training for endurance sports. There’s so much information out there. Some good, some not so much. But really, I’m no judge. I think I’ve come to the conclusion that as much “science” is out there on how to train to improve, there’s still a variety (the art) of ways to skin the cat. But, all that aside, if you had to boil it down to very simple recipe to success, keeping in mind this quote may help get you there.

I’ll try to paraphrase the meaning:

NASA scientists were bewildered at how a Bumblebee can fly? Small wings for a seemingly oversized body, nowhere close to being aerodynamic. This MUST require a study to figure this out! Hypotheses were drafted. Tests conducted. Conclusions were reached. A Bumblebee can’t fly!!! But nobody told the Bumblebee!!! It just keeps flying without any knowledge it’s not supposed to be able to fly.

Then comes along the race horse. Race horses don’t think for themselves when they train. They follow a periodized training regiment much like we do. Everything is managed under the utmost care down to the food they eat, how long they train and the intensity at which they train. Applied training science at its best. They know no better. Sure they get excited when race day arrives because they understand it’s their freedom to run. They don’t look at the other horse’s quads and care how big they are or how fit the other horses look.

What does this mean to me? Well, if I think like a Bumblebee, I will be able to achieve anything my mind believes. I don’t really care or need to hear if others doubt my ability. No preconceptions on what is achievable, no matter how absurd it sounds when I set a goal. The only thing holding me back is my belief in myself.

If I train like a horse, I’m sticking to the plan. NO second guessing. NO tossing the plan aside when things aren’t going as expected. If I’m consistent and progressively getting stronger, there’s no need to jump ahead. It may provide a short term boost but at the expense of the long term goal(s). When I get to the starting line of a race, I need to put the bad energy aside and instill faith in myself that I’ve done everything right in training. I’m just as or more prepared than anyone else. Remain patient, follow the plan, don’t worry about daily power numbers, it’s the big picture that counts.

Love it.

Jan Excercise of the month

2010-01-11T17:24:00.003-05:00

Swiss Ball Rollouts-

Coach has me do these a bunch. I've got a vid clip demo. I do mix it up a little and walk the ball out with my hands. It's also a great shoulder, tricep workout, too. I have one of those ab roller wheels at home which is really good but this seems to be a little tougher.

Demonstration: Click Here

On the training front...

2010-01-06T17:48:00.006-05:00

Super glad 2009 is behind me! It was a crazy year. Not really worth re-hashing in its entirety, but I'm motivated to improve myself in all facets of life. I ain't getting any younger that's for sure.

On the training front, things are going really well. I've been following coach's orders to a tee. Knocked out 3 very consistent months of foundation work which included getting back to the gym for strength work. It has been enjoyable and a refreshing change. From a muscular standpoint, the legs are almost as strong as ever. Endurance hasn't really been a limiter for me so I've been really focused on building muscle power. I feel I'm learning how to train like a cyclist and the improvements are showing.

I'm still incorporating a bunch of commuting into my routine. The cold weather hasn't fazed me, yet. I'm actually starting to enjoy it!

I ran some charts the other day and here's where things stand right now. Short term power has increased fairly dramatically. Building a strong base of endurance and tempo riding getting ready for the threshold work later in the month. Really confident I will be able to push past some plateaus I hit last year.

Power Distribution Nov 2009:

Power Distribution Dec 2009:

Mean Maximal Power Oct-Dec 2008 vs 2009:

Performance Manager Chart Oct-Dec 2009:

The Storm...

2009-12-21T12:17:00.011-05:00

Crazy weekend! We had about 18" of snow in about 24 hours. I haven't seen a snow storm like that in a long time. It always brings back fond chilhood memories of life on the farm. Building snow forts, pulling the old chevy hood behind the tractor around the driveway, making a snow jump ramp on the hill in the backyard, great snowball wars...what fun!!!

Here's a few pics of the weekend:

Cleaning the car off mid day Saturday:

Off to buy a snow shovel with no success!

Back yard!

Not exactly your St Bernard!

Nice, toasty fire:

Dad's gift basket..perfect timing!

Leo the ham:

Igda & I made it out Sat night to her friend's house for dinner:

Igda busy making sweets for coworkers!!

On the training front...

2009-12-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

Everything is on track. I had a nice little recovery week last week. Backed off a smidge and finally got my TSB to “0”. CTL didn’t drop too much since I still did some endurance riding. I just kick started the next 3 week block. I’m just beginning to ramp into some solid tempo work.

In hindsight, I’m really glad I hired Ken to coach me. He has me on a very well thought out plan for progressively building a good solid aerobic base. It’s a disciplined approach and it definitely takes putting faith into the long term plan. His feedback so far been great. He has me working on some muscle power intervals often enough, that along with the basic fitness improvements, I’m feeling stronger day by day. It’s taking some serious patience from not wanting to go out and bang out the threshold stuff, but that’s ok. Time will tell, but I’m thinking this good revist in establishing a strong foundation will help me push far higher when the time is right. We shall see…

We have a nice team ride scheduled for Saturday so that should be fun to catch up with everyone. There’s some great guys that will be focusing on the Masters races along with myself. It’s just important to get out with them in order to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Any result we can put together in a Masters field around here will feel like winning a championship. Crazy tough competition. But I guess that’s what will make it fun.

Thanksgiving short recap

2009-11-30T17:21:00.000-05:00

Igda, Leo and I had a really great Thanksgiving weekend at home. We cooked a great meal. Did a bunch of stuff around the house which we’ve been procrastinating. I got some riding in, but otherwise we just spent a whole lotta time together which was cool.

In one of the more playful (not really for me) times, Igda had a good chuckle at my expense. I have never realized that I like to talk out loud to myself when I’m in the middle of figuring something out. Well, that turned out to be some electrical work I had on tap for Saturday. I was going to start replacing old painted over switches and wall circuits in some of the rooms. I made my trip to Home Depot for all the supplies I *thought* I needed, put my apron on and headed upstairs to get to work. Oh, yeah, I triple checked to make sure the right circuits were turned off first. The short version of the story goes like this as Igda listened in from the other bedroom:

Me: Hhhhhmmmmmmmmmm.

Me (a minute later): Hhhmmm, that’s weird.

Me (another minute later): What the hell is this?

Me (another minute later): Why are there more wires than plug-ins?

Me (another minute later): How come I don’t have the right one?

Me (another minute later): God dammit, what the F—k! (sorry Mom & Dad)

In the matter of 5 minutes, I went from a can do attitude to completely frustrated! 7 hours later and one more trip to Home Depot I was finally done. Geez.

Training...

2009-11-10T17:12:00.002-05:00

Coach was sending me some feedback on how I am progressing with The Plan. He said something that rang so true, "This time, it’s almost a gray zone, we keep pushing forward through the mist, never recovered, never worn down…"

That's exactly how I feel right now...staying patient...sticking to the structure. Body and mind are responding well so far.

Commuting...

2009-11-05T16:07:00.002-05:00

Well, it’s a been about 3 weeks now since I’ve been bike commuting pretty much every day. I’ve learned a few valuable items:

The first item is gear. While commuting about 2 months ago during a pretty good rain, a guy pulled up next to me with what looked to be a great waterproof backpack. I asked him how he liked it and noted the brand. After doing some research, I finally located it. It can be found here: http://www.summithut.com/products/rkv-reykjavik/.

It’s made by Pacific Outdoors. These folks know WET. It’s a waterproof material and the zippers are welded so no water gets in. Absolutely no water has penetrated so far. I feel completely safe carrying my laptop in it during a downpour. I opted for the Reykjavik. It’s about the perfect size for carrying what I need on a daily basis. My laptop is 14”, but you may need the next size up if you are carrying anything bigger. It has lots of pockets for storing stuff. Most importantly, it has an upper chest strap and a lower belly strap which can be adjusted. It has some nice, vented padding on the back, too. When I wear this, I hardly know it’s on.

The second item is weather. Wow, it’s been pretty darn nice lately. I know it will end at some point but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. But, I’ve come to the realization that you CAN’T let weather serve as an excuse to be lazy and take the easy way out. Rain, no problem. Just pedal your ass off to work or home for 45 minutes and it’s over. I’ve collected enough various articles of clothing to get me through just about anything. Now ice and snow will require something special. Still not sure how I’m going to handle that one.

The third item is training. So far this has worked out well. It generally takes me ~30 mins to get to HP. That’s my warm-up. Then I usually bang out the workout for the day and commute easy home. So simple and the time savings I’ve added to my life has been great.

Excercise of the month

2009-10-27T11:54:00.004-04:00

Wow, I've never done this exercise before, but coach throws this little diddy into the mix and it is way tougher than I thought it would. It really hurts when this is thrown into a core workout superset. Here it is...The Squat Thrust (Burpee to others)

Description: For Squat Thrusts, squat down to the ground, bending your knees and not your back. Kick your feet back so you’re in push-up position, then bring your feet underneath you and stand up quickly, then go right back down for rep #2…

Demonstration: Click Here

the weekend recap

2009-10-25T22:50:00.001-04:00

Igda and I chilled at home Fri night. My Saturday turned into a bust. I had only planned on going to the office for a few hours in the morning, but then all hell broke loose with a client that needed docs prepped and in NYC by Sat night for trial. Argh. I ended up getting home about 4 p.m. and then just hopped on the rollers for a couple of hours watching football.

Igda and I ran some errands in the morning. We are becoming big spenders at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Geez, stop the madness! I then proceeded to take about 3 hours hanging curtain rods and drapes...yippee. It was fairly funny when one of the drapes was about 6 inches shorter than others. Hmmm, the Chinese are slacking with their quality control. By the way, is anything actually made in the USA anymore?

Finally, around 4 p.m. I struck out to explore Alexandria. I ended up going down to Mt Vernon and otherwise just cruising around for a little over 2 hours. Got some good work in. Sticking to the plan. Not planning on shredding myself just, yet. I think I have a little recovery week this week but I'll still be commuting. That's a wrap.

This makes me laugh everytime I watch it...

2009-10-23T22:00:00.001-04:00

The Update

2009-10-19T17:27:00.007-04:00

Wow, it’s been a busy month at the homestead. Igda and I moved into our new place in Alexandria on Sept. 30. We still haven’t unpacked everything but we are pretty well settled in. We are very happy with the home. I’ve been dusting off some of my home improvement books and taking a whack at a few repairs/upgrades. Nothing big, more or less replacing certain things we don’t like. Thank God Home Depot is so close. I’ve made many a runs there in the last few weeks.

I had forgotten how the seemingly easy home improvement projects can morph into a day(s) long projects. Nothing goes as planned. When you dive in, you’re bound to uncover something you hadn’t planned on seeing. Fun stuff. One of coolest things we did was have a flatscreen TV mounted over the fireplace in the living room this past weekend. Had to pay a guy to do that one but it turned out great.

I’m also loving the location as my bike commute is nearly perfect. After fumbling around for a few days trying out different routes to get to DC, I finally nailed it. Perfect commute which takes me about 45 minutes to get to the office from home. I also can add time and miles as I please by hitting Hains Point as much as I want since I pass by it each way. Sweet. Somehow I managed to put in close to 200 miles last week. I finally had to succumb to sending my training wheel with the Powertap back to Saris last week. I just couldn't get that thing to work right. So hopefully I'll get that back next week. Workouts just aren't the same. I like knowing and seeing whether I'm improving or not. No lies.

Onto my cycling. I hired a coach which I’m really stoked about, Kenneth Lundgren (www.eliteendurance.com). I’ve read a lot of his stuff on PE and was always impressed with his knowledge and approach. He’s out of New Jersey, but with the advent of the internet, he’s always a click away. There were a several key items which led me to him:
1) Experience
2) A successful bike racer in his own right
3) A plan for using commuting as training
4) New, fresh ideas to provide motivation for me
5) Tracks ALL workouts in wko. All I need to do is upload files daily. Perfect.
6) Accountability- For me this is huge. It keeps me ON plan and focused. I missed this last year by not having a coach.
7) Having a plan for peaking and building to that end.

So far, so good. Ken has me doing unique excercises in the gym which I think will help me push to another level. Right now we’re doing a prep phase and will be starting the foundation work in a couple of weeks time. I took a nice amount of time off the bike, but the fitness is coming back quicker than I expected. So with a little patience and consistent hard work, I’m really looking forward to 2010 race season. I’ve got my sights set on 2-3 peak races, but things may change over the next few months. Who knows?

Tradition...Kansas Basketball

2009-10-02T13:58:00.002-04:00

Nothing bigger in Kansas than KU Basketball. A great clip worth sharing...

40 down, 40+ to go I hope

2009-09-23T14:27:00.005-04:00

I went to KC this past weekend to celebrate my 40th birthday with my family and twin brother, Syd. It was a blast. I'll get some photos up soon. Syd's wife, Kim, hosted an amazing surprise b-day party for Syd. Needless to say, he was surprised by the party as well as my appearance. I'm so fortunate to be have a wonderful, loving family.

My Mom sent me a photograph for my b-day. The picture tells it all with the challenge of raising twins (take note of the destroyed room and my lookout to see if anyone is watching):

And to make it all that much better, my Mom sent this photo to my Grandmother at the time with a note on the back:

Not in her note but worth mentioning is the fact that my parents had to bolt all of the furniture down to the walls to keep us from causing more havoc.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

2009-09-01T15:30:00.001-04:00

If you haven’t seen this documentary, yet, it is absolutely stunning and thought provoking. We watched it last night. I found it hilarious that Henry Waxman didn’t even know the drinking age in the US (he actually had to ask his advisor during the interview if it was 18 or 21….HELLO, this was filmed in 2008). Without intentionally meaning to, I found it a nice supporting argument I like to make that our Politicians are completely oblivious to what is actually going on in the world.

Here’s the synopsis:

The documentary examines the steroid use of the director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, Mark and Mike Bell (wrestler), who all grew up idolizing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sylvester Stallone, and also features professional athletes, medical experts, fitness center members, and US Congressmen talking about the issue of anabolic steroids.

Beyond the basic issue of anabolic steroid use, Bigger, Stronger, Faster examines the lack of consistency in how America views drugs, cheating, and the lengths people go to achieve success.

The film looks beyond the steroid issue to such topics as Tiger Woods' laser eye correction to 20/15 vision, professional musicians use of anxiety reducing drugs, or athletes' dependence on cortisone shots, which are a legal steroid. It also takes a skeptical examination on claims to the health risks of steroids and is highly critical of the legal health supplement industry.

Finally...we have a ratified contract

2009-08-31T17:42:00.001-04:00

Geez, that took some patience but the deal is done. Barring any unforeseen calamities (home inspection and appraisal) it looks good to close on Sept. 29. We’re very excited. Now the fun begins!

Here are some photos:

Home buying saga continues

2009-08-30T21:40:00.000-04:00

Well, we don't have an "official" contract, yet. We signed all of the formal contracts on Saturday and submitted to the Seller. Our understanding is that there was a death in the family, so the seller hasn't responded. They did take the house off the market, so that counts for something. But still. We need this thing closed to get the rest of the show moving. It looks like closing will be Sept 29.

Igda and I had a pretty relaxing weekend. We really just took it easy and hung out. Watched "Gran Torino" with Clint Eastwood and "17 Again" (very funny movie actually). I didn't touch the bike. BUT I did put new cleats and my new Spiuk shoes if that counts for anything.

The new diet starts tomorrow!!!! This is part 1 of my plan for taking it up a notch in 2010. I'm really interested to see how low I can go and still feel strong.

Locked out!

2009-08-23T20:46:00.001-04:00

What a day! Igda and I head out the door to begin our day of home searching and we lock ourselves out of the house. Yes, very stupid AND expensive! I look at her. She looks at me. I realize we're in deep doo-doo without even asking. So I ask anyway - just to confirm what I already know. Locked out! Thank god I had my phone with me. Googled a locksmith and he arrived in about 20 mins and took another 5 mins to open the door. I wrote a check for $208 and we were off for the day.

A little bummed. Someone put an offer on a house we really liked. I'm wondering if this little tax credit situation isn't creating some artificial demand? It will be interesting to see what housing does after Dec 1.

The home search

2009-08-21T12:03:00.001-04:00

Igda and I are going to be really busy the next few weeks looking for a home to buy. It’s only been a week so far and we are already somewhat tired of it. But the show must go on. We’re going to be looking around DC this weekend. We found a townhome this week in Alexandria which we really liked and it appeared to be priced fairly.

So, I have no idea what the heck I’m going to do with the remainder of my cycling season. Honestly, I’m finding it a bit hard to get motivated to do the hard stuff right now. Who knows? Things may change.

Millersburg Recap

2009-08-17T15:37:00.007-04:00

Igda and I had a nice weekend. She's a trooper for going to these races with me and putting up with my mood swings along the way. She's always very supportive.

Millersburg is a quiet little town about 25 miles north of Harrisburg. It's about a 3 hour drive from home.

Here are some pics:

Pre-Race:

Pretty Sunrise on Sunday:

Start of the Road Race:

I'm sort of tuckered out for a full on race recap, so I'll keep it brief. I placed 3rd in the TT. Good to know I can still TT well without really focusing on it the last month or so. Room for improvement for sure. Hats off to my teammate Michael for destroying everyone and taking 1st. I made a little money to pay for gas.

A few clips from Igda's friend Sam:

The Crit race followed the TT a few hours later. A hard, fun course which was really selective. My teammate, Tom, got me where I needed to be coming off the final climb toward the front, but I just did a poor job holding my position down the descent. I was upset with myself afterward since I knew this was a crucial spot before the race even started. You just don't get second chances in bike racing. I guess it was a small victory to finish the select group. I picked up a few more GC points.

The Road Race. Honestly, the course just wasn't selective enough. As a team, we tried to be active and attack the race, but it just didn't pan out for one reason or another. We got our moneys worth, though. Again, I'm thinking my "survival instinct" took over toward the finish and I just didn't have the gumption to fight for the right position leading up to the turn into the finish which was more important than the final sprint for a top 10. Finished 22nd. Just out of GC points for the race. I ended up 12th in the GC for stage race. Maybe by next year I'll grow a set of balls and make sure my disability and health insurance premiums are in force beforehand.

Bottom line: A wonderful race weekend. The town and volunteers REALLY go out of their way to put this event on. Hopefully this race will continue to grow because it's a must do event.

Millersburg 3/4 Criterium Video

2009-08-17T07:38:00.003-04:00

Igda went with me to the Tour de Millersburg this past weekend. A super fun, organized stage race in a great little town up in PA. I'll write more later but for now I'm posting up a video from the Saturday afternoon criterium race. It was a really tough, fast race. My teammate, Tom, flatted during the time trial in the morning. He had some pent up frustration to get out and was just crushing it...and many in the field. Which was also good for our team since we didn't want a break going.

**The first 2/3 of video is shot coming down a sweeping descent which led to two more quick turns into the finish. This descent came AFTER a ~1/3 mile climb which shelled guys when we blazed up it 18 times.

Tour de Millersburg 3/4 criterium 08/15/2009 from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

Some Pics

2009-08-12T16:27:00.009-04:00

Here's some pics Igda's good friend, Sam - Check our her photos HERE, shot:
Coming to the line:

A Win!

The Podium:

My first Podium kiss:

My second Podium kiss:

Our Baltimore trip (a little late in posting):

540 Cat 4 race...tons of fun

2009-08-10T07:38:00.005-04:00

I'm posting up video now, but I will add my other thoughts at some point today. In short, fun course (18 laps/22 miles). I got some great guys to be in a break with. Everyone worked hard and well together. I was lucky enough to get the win at the end. Igda got a little excited at the end and forgot she had the camera in her hand. Too funny

540 Cat 4 Race from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

OK, I have a few minutes to jot down some more thoughts. I planned on doing the 4 race and the 4 35+ race back to back. For the 4 race, I really wanted to race hard. Attack until I couldn't anymore. I started the race hard and realized after a few laps, I'd need to just keep hitting that little hill really hard to wear some folks down and hopefully get some guys off the front with me. The course is fast, so it really is the only place to get some separation. I told Grayson (Bikerack) that I was going hard after the prime lap. But nobody really went for it, so I waited until the next time at the hill and punched it again. With Grayson on my wheel and two young NCVC's coming as well, I thought this was it. Everyone jumped in full bore and did a great job working it. It didn't hurt that Bikerack and NCVC had quite a few guys in the field to disrupt the chase. They did a good job of it. I'd guess the field gave up with about 5 or 6 to go and we rolled pretty steady. I just waited patiently on the last lap and had enough pop in the legs to take the sprint. It's always a blast trying to stick a break.

My teammate Brian got some vid of the finish (check out Emi in the background- awesome!)

540 Cycling Crit Series #3, Cat 4 from Brian on Vimeo.

For the 35+ 4 race, I just decided to use it as good sprint practice and go for the primes. I got two of them and Grayson got one. I won a few RoadID gift certificates. I ended up 6th in the end. I just got too lazy at the end and had poor positioning. Thanks 540 for putting this on. It was well run and a nice course.

Real Madrid rocks

2009-08-09T20:57:00.008-04:00

Just a quick update. Igda, Emi and I went to the DC United vs Real Madrid soccer game this afternoon. It was really cool. Umm, yeah, the skill level of the Real Madrid player's is pretty incredible. It's amazing to watch them pass, dribble and work together. Mad SKILZ! Oh, I spray painted Emi's head! Awesome!

Here's some quick photo's. We had some pretty sweet seats. All 3 RM goals were at our end. Just a bit sad Christiano only played the first half:

Lancaster TT- a nice change in weather

2009-08-09T19:08:00.000-04:00

Tour of Lancaster Time Trial Start/Finish from Peter Warner on Vimeo.

Lancaster weekend photos & vids

2009-08-03T19:53:00.014-04:00

Here's a grab bag of photos:

Road Race:

Scenes from around the area:

Time Trial:

Crit Race:

Here are some short video clips:

Tour of Lancaster weekend recap

2009-08-03T14:43:00.007-04:00

I really enjoyed this stage race. I went into it without any real expectations since this was my first 3 /4 race. Over the last 2 weeks or so, I haven’t felt all that great. Legs were just flat and I’ve been trying to get over some sort of chest congestion.

I pronounced to Igda, Emi, and of course Leo, that this weekend was all about "Team Warner". They were both great supporters during the weekend. Maybe not so much Leo, but he did manage to put smiles on our faces even though he drove us all nuts barking at everything and everybody. We joked a bunch about when Team Warner was being grumpy or unsupportive at times. It kept us all in check...well, mainly me since I was grumpy a few times. Emi and Igda were awesome during the road race. Emi handed me a bottle on Lap 4 just like a pro. Just glad I didn't rip his arm off. They had to endure sitting for 2 hours next to a horse paddock that wreaked of manure. Igda got lots of pics and video I hope to put this week.

We had a fun drive home playing all sorts of child games like 20 questions and some strange rhyming game Emi devised. Lots of laughs.

Full Results HERE

Road Race:

Since I hadn’t previewed the course, the plan was to sit in and get familiar with the course. VERY early in Lap 1, I see Tom jump up to Lance (BikeRack) and they go off to bridge up to a few other guys. The course is winding with enough up and downs that if you got more than 30-45 seconds up the road you were out of sight. The field was very lackadaisical about this early move. Honestly, there really wasn’t much “blocking” that needed to be done on this first lap. The field was content to just toodle along. At the beginning of lap 2, I made my way to front and spoke to the NCVC guy who I knew had a guy in the break as well. There were a few guys starting to put in some efforts, but between him and I mixing in the rotations it was going nowhere. We even commented to each other that it looked like the field was super lazy today. Cool. After the climb, I just got on the front for a couple of miles spinning a high cadence making it look like I was working but in reality I was only pushing about 250w’s. I didn’t really want to give it away that I was blocking just yet.

On lap 3, CCV/Ironhill team started to ramp up a chase. I just stayed in the mix and sat on everything. Pretty uneventful. Toward the end of lap 3, the Shirks team added all of their guys to the front and started to chase pretty hard. By now, the gap was over 2 minutes and they were getting nervous. I kept working my through the rotation and giving some half hearted pull throughs. I think they finally figured out what I was doing, so I was content to sit 4th wheel and just let the 3 Shirks guys do all of the work. I stopped pulling through and just sat there. Nobody behind me wanted to give them a hand. On lap 4 at the climb, a Shirk’s guy and a CCV/Ironhill blasted up the climb. I figured letting them go would all but shut down the chase, which it did. The Shirk’s team started blocking now. Lap 5 was pretty much a snoozer with lots of solo attacks. Nothing organized was going.

I ended up 14th. A tad disappointed I didn’t go a bit earlier with a few guys on the uphill slog to the finish, but really it would only have been a handful of places gained.

TT:

Posted 23:49 which tied for fourth place. I was very happy with how I felt. This was the best I’ve felt on the bike in about 3 weeks. The legs were good. I was mentally focused, pushing hard. I felt great. My luck ran out a bit a little over half-way through when the storm ripped through. In the last 3 miles, it really was raining hard and a pretty stiff crosswind was now blowing. I just kept grinding away. All in all, I was happy with the result. It helped pay for some gas.

Crit:

Tom calculated out that I was around 8th on GC going into the crit. Fortunately, though, Tom was sitting #1 on GC with a couple of guys neck and neck. When you have a teammate with a shot at winning or podium, it’s time to sacrifice. The plan was for me to try and keep the pace high enough with 5 to go that no attacks would go, especially with any of the top GC guys in it. My race nearly ended on lap 2 when a guy wildly swung into me for no reason. Thankfully, I had room to swing wide, but it put me at the back of the field. I later found out that this guy crashed out 2/3’s through the race. Otherwise, the course was pretty fun. I guess my only regret is not working harder to bring the break back sooner. Little did we know that there was one guy within spitting distance if he won. With 6 to go, I jumped to the front and started working. Honestly, I was suffering a bit, but I was going to do my best. I just tried to keeping pushing it. Lacy pulled through hard for a couple of laps and I had to drop back a bit to recover. With 2 to go, I drove back up to the front for one last dig and dropped off the front just after 1 to go. I wish I had some more in the tank, but it was all I could muster. I saw Tom was second wheel right behind the Shirk's guy we were marking pulling now on the front. I was pretty much toast. I slotted back in toward the back of the field and got to view the carnage that took place on the final sprint. I was just glad to see Tom get through it. I rolled in for 28th.

I ended up 13th on GC. Congrats, Tom! Helluva race. It was a great time.

Aug 9 DC United vs Real Madrid...woo-hoo

2009-07-23T13:16:00.004-04:00

We bought 3 tickets so we can take Emi to see his favorite soccer player, Christiano Ronaldo, who now plays for Real Madrid. It will be a blast. Emi won't stop talking about it. Here's a little sample of Ronaldo's skills: Click Here

National Aquarium Baltimore

2009-07-20T16:02:00.000-04:00

Igda and I took Emi up to Baltimore to see the National Aquarium on Sunday. I’ve never been so it was a treat for me as well. We had a great time. We caught the Dolphin show and went to the 4-D theatre movie theatre. A fun trip.

Giro di Coppi race report

2009-07-20T16:00:00.003-04:00

Saturday was the Giro di Coppi road race (4 ~12.5 mile loops) put on by the Squadra Coppi cycling team. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the low 80’s, sunny and little humidity. The Coppi team put on a really great race at a nice venue.

Igda and Emi made the trip with me. It was great having them there. We passed the feedzone every loop where we could get water bottles as needed. Emi and Igda were great. Very pro in their water bottle hand offs! And, yes, Gus. You caught me totally off guard when I had to work my way back up to the front on the first climb and you said “You didn’t want or need the bottle!”

Photos courtesy of Linc Brookes

Unfortunately, leading up to the race, I caught the sore throat/headache/cold bug on Thursday that Igda had all week. Now on Monday, it feels as if it has moved to my chest. I tried to pound as much Alka-Seltzer cold medicine I could through Saturday morning to keep it at bay, but never really got rid of it. Oh well, it wasn’t going to stop me from going out and giving my best. I did suffer from a case of cotton/dry mouth for much of the race regardless of how much water I was drinking. I felt pretty good during the race, but I definitely think it may have affected my top end a bit.

Giro Di Coppi
Find more Bike Rides in Barnesville , Maryland
The race. We had a good crew: Grissom, Gould, Dineen, Flanagan and myself. We decided beforehand to try and whittle down the field as much as possible. Be active on the front and if a good move went, one of us would surely be there. Really not much to report. Maybe I’m just tired from playing it over in my head. There were a handful of guys riding really strong, but I think we just kept cancelling out each other’s efforts as the race wore on. There were many moves by 1 or 2 guys, but none really carried the 4-6 guys needed to really push a break on that course.

On the final loop, there were some solo attacks. I was near or at the front for much of this lap. Pitching in where needed but otherwise trying to stay mindful of energy reserves. An ABRT rider got about 10 seconds up the road, but his lead wasn’t growing after that, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Right after we made the final turn on Barnesville road, I asked Gus how he was doing? He gave me a nod. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he grabbed my wheel. Cool. I was hoping I could repay Gus for the work he did for me at TofW. Plus, I thought the little kicker at the end may suit him well for the sprint.

About that time, a BBC rider opened up a gap on the lackadaisical field. I will admit, there were a couple of seconds where I thought about going hard after him right then when I noticed the field really letting up, but I didn’t do a good job of getting some landmarks for where we were at in relation to the finish. His gap kept growing. Gus actually came off my wheel and started pulling the field a bit just to get things going. As we hit the feedzone, the gap was probably 10-15 seconds. With Gus back on my wheel I found myself sitting 2^nd wheel behind an NCVC guy. For about 5 seconds, I thought the NCVC guy was ramping things up before the downhill, but he quickly pulled off. So, what to do?

I decided to go for the all or nothing move and hope I could get Gus to the bottom of the finishing climb without getting rolled by the chase group. Mistake #1. I went too hard a bit early. I should have waited until we hit the gradual climb before it flattens out before the finish hill. I highly doubt anyone was going to come around me on the downhill portion. In reviewing the power file, I had a big (~800w) 20 sec dig right before the downhill which put the speed at about 32mph going into the first rise. Once the speed started to drop, it appears I put in about 40 seconds at 700w’s to just slightly before the finish hill. We handily caught the solo rider, but in hindsight I think I could have backed off slightly and held the lead-out much further without A) losing Gus from my wheel B) actually getting Gus in a better position to launch with gas still in his tank. I should have been more cognizant of the course and distances. For this to work, I really needed to get Gus farther up the finish hill where his jump and climbing ability would have created more of an impact. Oh well, it was an all or nothing move for us. I’d honestly rather try it versus sitting in the bunch waiting for others to make the first move. I guess I blinked first as everyone else didn’t really want to chase. It was a good lesson for me. I like being the lead out guy. I think with time, it may be something that I could do well at for the team.

A little bummed, but power meter dropped about 15 mins during the race so my numbers are suspect. I need to figure out why my PT is dropping when I’m not pedaling! I think it may have something to do with the new harness I got after I broke it at TofW.

Nick in town

2009-07-15T15:07:00.001-04:00

My nephew, Nick, is in town for a few days visiting a college friend. It was great to see him over lunch today. Man, I remember when I was changing his diaper. Kids grow up too quick!

Dawg Day's Crits

2009-07-13T15:01:00.003-04:00

After regrouping in the evening once I got home from Hagerstown, I settled in to get to the bike fixed up. I washed it good and inspected it for any cracks and visual damage. Nothing found. It appears the brunt of the force fell onto my right foot/pedal and the rear skewer. I got the shifters/bar straightened and wrapped the bars as well as a novice can do. Both wheels are out of true (can anyone help me with getting these trued back up?). This is getting expensive! The rear skewer was bent so it took a little MacGyver work to get it out of the wheel. I pulled the cracked carbon Keo right pedal off and thankfully I have the same pedals on the TT bike, so I swapped it out. I was really nervous since I couldn’t get the damn thing off for about 10 minutes. I almost gave up, but finally managed enough torque to get it off. Threw on the 808’s and the shifting seemed to be fine. It was a midnight before I wrapped it all up and I was ready for bed.

I did have thoughts about bagging the M35 race at 11:30, but I finally convinced myself that I needed to get back on the horse and get some work in. This weekend was all about riding hard and getting some race fitness back. If I completed all the races, that would make it 3 crits in less than 24 hours. I was a little bruised up, but not that bad really. Heck, not many chances come along where you can line up with the likes of Chuck, Ramon, SuperDave, etc, etc.

I spotted Joe in the lot and said hello. I was really glad he was there. It’s a little nerve rattling when you are entering these M35 races solo. I didn’t really have any expectations. Joe gave me a little advice and suggested I try to work on staying at the front of the group and get some work. See how it feels. That’s pretty much what I did.

I don’t know how many starters there were, but I’d guess ~25-30. Although the course wasn’t selective, it quickly became apparent that the attacks were. In a small, powerful field there really is nowhere to hide. Two guys shot off the front right away, Warno & Hoover I believe. Somehow, I found myself up toward the front and began marking attacks. My legs felt pretty good. It seemed pretty strung out for much of the time. My peak 30s (676w), 1min (594) & 2min (492) all came within the first 2 minutes of the race. Yowza.

It was sort of weird. I found myself a few times chasing down attacks. Getting on the wheel and then pulling through. BUT, I started to notice a trend. When it was only me marking an attack, they’d sit up and I ended being in no man’s land. It occurred a couple of other times with various riders throughout the race. I will admit that it was sort of a highlight of mine to have the opportunity to chase behind Chuck a few times. Thinking back, I think it was good lesson. If you attack, and the make-up of the fellow guys isn’t to your pleasing, shut it down quickly because the other attacks will be going right away. There were a few times where I went, got caught and then viscous attacks came on. I was hurting to hold on after redlining already. This has got be an art form to get it right. Very cool to experience it, although it was very painful.

Maybe ignorance is bliss. I was trying not to be bashful. I felt like I did a good job of being active in the race. I got to the front at times and tried to help keep the pace up. Everything got a little foggy about 2/3’s through, but somehow I ended up with another a guy off the front of the field. I think by now there were about 6 guys up in THE break. THE 6 guys you’d expect to be there of course. I just ask the guy to do short, hard pulls and see what happens. Eventually another ~3-5 guys joined us. We got a little sporadic and the small field finally came back. On the bell lap, I found myself toward the front. I turned to look for Joe on the backstretch and he hollered to get on his wheel. I did for a bit, but when riders started peeling off the front I had to go around the outside. I eventually got back on his wheel after the final roundabout and threw down an “on fumes” sprint. Bo was crushing it and opened up a pretty large gap.

I now know why I was completely spent during the 4 race after a one hour break.

1st 10mins of race my power was 349avg/413np. 1st 20mins 355ap/403np. 1st 30mins 336ap/384np. Entire race= 319ap/365np. Ouch

Overall, I had a great time. It was a blast. It was like a noon HP ride on steroids. It was nice to actually finish one of these M35 races after my forays at Bikejam and Clarendon Cup.

Oh, yeah, the 4 race. Honestly, I knew I was pretty wiped out, so I pretty much chilled at the back and just tried to stay out of trouble. It was fun to watch Flanagan attacking off the front. At one point, I decided to give it go. I attacked to bridge up to him, but I was totally gassed once I caught him. I brought one pretty strong ABRT guy with me, so I thought maybe he would start working with him. It didn’t work out.

I did get to witness some amazing bunny hop skills by Flanagan though. Since I was in the back, I saw the whole thing play out. I guess we were about 35 mins into the race and just after first turn, Flanagan got sandwiched onto the curb by a guy. The guy came over way to quick off his line and Flanagan had nowhere to go. It just happened to be at a parking lot entrance so he was able to hop right, but he was heading straight for the ensuing curb at 25mph+. Astonishingly, he managed to bunny hop the curb, but his rear wheel still caught the 8” curb pretty hard. He didn’t blow his tire, but at this point he was in the grass. I slowed and Michael started rolling down the sidewalk, but then his rear tire blew. I hollered to him if he wanted my wheel. This race was classified as a road race, so there wasn’t a wheel pit or free lap. He was riding well and I wanted to see him continue. We hollered at the moto ref if it was ok that I give him my wheel. Looking back, I should have just stopped and gave him my wheel. It was legal. Michael said, “no, no. Go on.” But really, I know he said that so he didn’t ruin my race. He didn’t realize how shot I was. So, I used what was left in my tank and put in a minute at like 650 watts to catch back up to the field. It was kind of funny. I think I startled the moto ref as I came by him to the back of the field. I think he had written me off. That was all she wrote. Finished with the field.

Legs are definitely a bit sore today but in a good way. I accomplished what I set out to do for the weekend and had fun. It was also good to end the weekend on a high note versus not racing after a crash.

Hagerstown Crit cat 4

2009-07-11T21:35:00.005-04:00

Short version:

Preface- just got home. Showered and pounded 2 French martini's. I used to be a big martini guy and now I know why...senses are a little tingly.

Race Goal: just ride freaking hard to get some fitness back. If I place well, so be it.

The race was set for 60 mins. An enormous storm ripped through right as we are lined up to start. Official decides to postpone start for 30 mins. Good call. It rained HARD for about 20 minutes. Flanagan and I sat in the car and shot the sh!t. Rain stops and we are called to the line right away. I hit the porto-loo instead of going for an ez lap as everyone else...real motive was to get back to the line so I could be on the front.
Photos courtesy of Jim Wilson:

Race starts and I just made sure I was in top 5 or drilling it at the front for the first 30 mins or so. There were roughly 45 guys starting and the race finally whittled down to ~15 or so finishers, so I like to think I helped shorten a few folks day. Turn 2 proved fatal for lots of guys since folks were sliding out on it all race. I just made sure to keep things safe and wheels up.

With 2 to go, the pace became absurdly slow on that lap. I decided what the hell right before the bell lap. I attacked hard from the back and shot off the front right coming across S/F with nobody on my wheel. As I approached turn 2, somehow a car had snuck on the course and was sitting right at the intersection of turn 3 which is a short hop right after turn 2. I was like, "uh, oh!" I slowed up as the driver was getting yelled at and was doing some move forward/brake yo-yo. I was able to sneak right behind the bumper through the turn. I don't know why, but my first thought was, "I don't think it's fair to keep attacking since I could hear the field yelling all sorts of stuff behind me and if that car hadn’t moved, very few were getting through." I probably had 4-5 seconds at that point. What did I do? I let up going down to turn 4. Why? I don't know, but I guess I thought it was the gentlemanly thing to do. I seriously didn't think the field would get through, but I guess the car got out of the way at the last moment for them. So, a few riders finally catch back on right after turn 4, one of which is really drilling it. I think, "ok, I'll just see what I have left for a sprint." Right after the chicane, I'm hugging the right curb (MAYBE a foot off of it) a couple of wheels back from what I recall when, WHAMO! A guy decides to sprint past between me and the curb. WHY? I don't know. There was no way there was space for that move. We had the whole road. Well, right as I hear on your right, then bam. Front handlebars go sideways and I'm flying across the ground. Take out the guy next me as well. Great!

Bike's all jack upped and my shifters now look they went through a war. I think I can get it fixed tonight for Dawg days. I hope. I have some road rash in almost the identical spots as I got at TofW. Sweet. Tegaderms patches are plentiful at the household.

A couple guys who were behind and witnessed the whole thing came by afterward and said they couldn't believe what they just saw. One said he was behind me and doesn’t know how his pedal missed my head. The guy, Andrew, did come back to apologize. It was big of him. Was I pissed, sure. Did I yell at him, no. What do I think? Folks make bad decisions all the time. Am I perfect, no. I’m sure he will be harder on himself more than anything else I could have said. I just hope he learns from it. It’s just a race. We all have jobs and families to attend to. Thankfully, everyone walked away.

The quick positives of the day. Flanagan and I bought a case of Rockstar sugar free energy cans for $20 while we were leaving. The volunteers were stuck with a bunch of it after the event and were offering a great deal! And, since Flanagan and I rode up together, it was good to shoot the breeze about life.

5 year Anniversary

2009-07-10T14:44:00.000-04:00

Today is a big day! Igda and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary. Woo-hoo! Here’s to many great years to come!

Also, I know it may sound a little weird as an anniversary present, but I arranged for her 12 year old brother to come visit for 3 weeks beginning next Thursday. We love having Emi with us so we are both looking forward to having him here with us, especially Igda.

Heading up to Hagerstown tomorrow for a crit race in the afternoon and then I’m hoping to do two races on Sunday in Darnesville, MD. I’m trying to get my racing legs back after some time off the bike.

Vacation!

2009-06-30T12:19:00.000-04:00

Igda and I are heading out now for some R&R up at Deep Creek Maryland through Sunday. I’m looking forward to it! Happy 4^th!

Not a good sign

2009-06-26T10:57:00.004-04:00

I dropped my bike off at Conte's on Monday to get the rear wheel trued along with a few other items fixed from my spill during the crit race. The wrench called me and asked me what the heck happened and that I needed a new rear tire? When he was removing the tire he noticed the bead had separated from the tire. I'm not sure if this was the cause of my slide out or not, but it's certainly not a good confidence booster for running Pro 3's. Here's the pic of the tire:

Work has been going berzerk this week. I haven't ridden all week. I may end up working all weekend so I can go on vacation next week. Grrr. Who knows? I may try to get to the RTC if nothing more to help a teammate.

Tour of Washington County (TofW) weekend

2009-06-22T14:30:00.001-04:00

I will readily admit, I was pretty excited about my chances of doing really well at TofW. I think a stage race format suits me fairly well especially since this race was going to be based on time and it included an individual time trial.

During the week leading up to the race, we had some interesting discussions within the team. Like most teams, we started the process of identifying our roles, laying out strategy and establishing a battle plan for the weekend.

I’m going to regress for a bit here, but one of the primary reasons I joined WWVC was that the underlying philosophy of our racing strategy generally always puts an emphasis on team over individual accomplishments. Plus, I really liked the guys I had met and enjoyed racing with them. There’s one interesting dynamic to racing as a team which I hadn’t really given much thought to before TofW. It involves putting ego and ambitions aside to view the big picture for what we want to accomplish. I tend to think that many people and teams place a big emphasis on personal results. Heck, the way things are setup for upgrading, it basically drives this home. No fault of anyone really, but the system doesn’t always reward those team members who day in and day sacrifice themselves so others get the glory. It takes a lot for someone to risk blowing up during a race in order to set the chess pieces in place for a possible victory for the team at the line. Quite honestly, I don’t see this all that much. But the teams that do well always appear to sacrifice. Similar to DC Velo at RSR where I think 3 or 4 guys came in DFL. Those guys gave it their all to keep the pace hot and heavy. Personal results didn’t matter. You won’t see that in the results, but if you are watching someone sacrifice like that in a race it’s so cool to see. It’s motivation to do well. It commands total respect. Maybe even more than actually watching the finishing sprint. You don’t see a lot of books or literature tailored to this unselfish attribute. It’s generally all about how “you” can win.

Well to make a long story short, I believe we grew as a team throughout our preparation and racing at TofW. Sure, it took us a bit to get there, but in the end, all of the discussion eventually led back to the interest of the team. It was healthy for us. Everyone laid out their expectations and what they were willing to sacrifice to put the team first. That’s all that mattered.

For the first time, I was designated as the “main effort” to win GC. I’ll admit, I was a little nervous going in. There’s a bit more weight to carry when you know everyone is sacrificing so you can do well. I knew I had the fitness to do well. I just needed to command the confidence within myself to do it.

Saturday’s Road Race:

I have to give General Gus a lot of credit. He called how this race was going to go down to a tee. He did an admirable job making sure it happened as well. We expected the field to whittle down with about 15-20 guys going to the line. We had a good idea BikeRack had similar ambitions. My only interest was making sure nobody got any time gaps other than finishing time bonuses. I was pretty confident I could take back any time bonuses plus some during the time trial. My main objective was to make sure I finished with the lead group and not spend any energy unnecessarily. With Gus, Chris and Ryan all contributing at the front, I really didn’t have anything to worry about. A break wasn’t going to get away. As planned, I rolled across the line 7th in the RR, losing a few seconds + some time bonuses to the top 3. No biggie. Race #1 over and we’re positioned right where we wanted to be. My legs felt really good afterward.

Sunday morning TT:

I slept like crap. I could not stop thinking about the TT. I’ll admit, knowing when it’s your time to shine puts a little more weight on the mind. I tried to stay positive and focus on what I know I can do versus worrying about the competition. I knew there were a couple guys who can ride a TT well, but I just needed to focus on what I could control.

When I started my warm-up, I knew it was a good day. My legs were fine. I worked on mentally pumping myself beforehand. No pressure. This was just another training day. Do what you know you can do. Heck, before I knew it, I was lined up and getting ready to go.

I knew going out was going to be faster with the wind so I dialed it back a bit, but still pushed pretty hard up the rollers. I wasn’t sure how bad the wind would be coming back and I didn’t want to risk a blow up since that would be more costly than trying to make early time with the wind.

My estimate to the turnaround:
Duration: 14:09
Work: 271 kJ
TSS: 21.7 (intensity factor 0.959)
Norm Power: 331
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 6.241 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 833 319 watts
Cadence: 36 118 101 rpm
Speed: 10.3 39.5 26.4 mph

Turnaround to finish:
Duration: 13:26
Work: 267 kJ
TSS: 21.4 (intensity factor 0.978)
Norm Power: 337
VI: 1.02
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 5.825 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 716 331 watts
Cadence: 62 116 97 rpm
Speed: 11.4 36.7 26.0 mph

My last minute and a half was right at 400w avg, so I think I may have left a little out there, but all in all it was a good effort and I was pleased with it. The finish came a little quicker than I expected. I forgot the finish line was before the start. Finishing time: 27:34. Good enough for first, and more importantly, I took some big time on the primary GC threats. After a little warm down, I was happy to feel like my legs were in good shape. Race #2 over and I’m exactly where I planned to be.

Sunday Noon Crit:

ONE WORD – “DRAMA”!!! And it was all totally self-induced!

I had a pretty good idea after speaking with the other top GC guys that I was most likely in the lead. By exactly how much was a little unknown until about ~10-15 minutes before the start of the crit. When I finally had a chance to sneak a peek, I saw that Stu (ABRT) was in second and he was going to have to get every time bonus and win the crit to beat me. It was a pretty good feeling but I knew I still needed to be attentive throughout the race.

Maybe it was a sign of foreshadowing, but as I was setting up at the WWVC tent, the older gentleman living at the house came out and we chatted. He told me about 5 times as he pointed to the last corner, “There were a lot of wrecks last year at the corner.” Yeah, Yeah, I get it. Gus also repeated *warnings* about that damn corner and recounted the Bracken finish last year. Little did I know then that the WWVC curse was waiting to rear its ugly head.

The plan was pretty simple as Gus and I chatted. Stay near the front the entire race. Stay out of trouble! Cool. No problem. I didn’t need to contest any of the bonus points throughout so I bowed out of the BikeRack rampage for those. I was happy to see them gobbling them up. Kudos to Tim Brown for his aggressive racing and win. I could see Stu was working hard to grab those as well, so props to you to Stu.

Gus did a great job of keeping me on the ledge as we rolled by each other during the race. “Stay cool. You’re right where you need to be, etc.” He even chastised me for even thinking about bridging up to a small group. All in all, I pretty much made the race as boring for myself as possible. At least that’s what it felt like. I never really got too concerned since the pace was fairly tame. Gus and Chris did a great job at the beginning to help set the tempo of the race.

Great, the final lap. All I need to do is cross the line. I believe I was sitting around 5th wheel or so going into the last corner. And then the unthinkable happened. I slid out. As you’d expect, it all happened so fast that I don’t remember exactly how it played out. I’d been pretty happy taking that corner a little wide and on the outside for 27 times. I remember feeling like I was ready to push down on the pedal to accelerate and then whamo. I’m on the ground. It actually felt like my rear wheel slid out. One NCVC guy behind me pretty much fell on top of me. I spoke to him afterward and naturally apologized. He came through unscathed which was good. The thoughts and emotions running through my mind at that point were pretty much indescribable. It was a mix of “this isn’t really happening” and “F—k, get on your bike and get across that line!” Unbelievable. I tried jumping on the bike but the chain was all twisted so I had to get that back on. The rear wheel was out of true, but it finally started rolling. Those final last yards felt like an eternity. I was embarrassed, sad and absolutely ripping myself up for the stupidity. I let the team down. I let myself down. It was about the worst I’d ever felt in a sporting competition.

At first I thought I’d blown the GC lead. The ever level headed Gus began talking me off the ledge. Once he spoke to the officials, they said that under the Stage Race rules I was scored as the “same time” as the pack. Holy crap. Talk about running the gauntlet of emotions!

In the end, I held on to win the GC over Stu (13 seconds back). Damn, what a day. I never want to go through that again.

Gus, Chris & Ryan – Thank you all for your hard work and towing the line! Gus, you were a phenomenal DS and congrats on your 8th GC place. Chris, you were a rock out there and I enjoyed our time together. Ryan, it meant a lot to me that you braved through the Saturday race and didn’t give up. Having you there for support is what counted. Forgive me for the dramatic ending, but I wouldn’t be at the top without you guys. Thanks again!

The difference in cornering between 1/2/3's & 4's

2009-06-18T12:57:00.004-04:00

check this out - differences in skill level when cornering in a pack

Sample shot of Cat 1/2/3's cornering:

And now...the way Cat 4's corner as a group:

Notice the huge differences in CROSS WHEELS and the general level of relaxation.

Stuffed Pasta

2009-06-14T18:48:00.003-04:00

Dang, Igda is becoming quite the Chef. Stuffed pasta shells with all sorts of yummy things for dinner tonight.

I know the reason why it's called "The Race of Truth"

2009-06-13T19:56:00.007-04:00

photo courtesy of Amy Jones

Well, the Church Creek TT didn't go quite as I planned. I was happy to take first place in the Cat 4's (by 1 second..yikes..way too close), but I just didn't have the mental focus I needed during the second half to put together a strong time. Legs were fine. At the halfway point, I was on track for ~55 minute time. Second half, not so good. I stopped the clock at 57:23.

I won't be pleased until I go 54-55 min on that course. So, I guess that only means I'll be back in the fall. The good news is that I know now what I need to do to hit those times. And it isn't all about power. I'm not sure where I heard the term mental FTP, but that's really what the 40k is all about.

Thanks ABRT for putting this event on.

here's the bike all dolled up Friday night

RSR update

2009-06-09T22:19:00.004-04:00

Igda finally downloaded her photos from her photo camera and she had this little gem recorded which she forgot about. I wasn't hallucinating as bad as I thought. The official was ringing the crap out of that bell which I thought was the prime, but he didn't get on the loudspeaker until after I had already past. I don't feel like a complete idiot now...well maybe just a little. I'm just tired of reading about all these 4's who are whining about their placing in this first race. I can't tell but I probably had 8-10 seconds on the field. I wasn't about to kill myself for a prime.

Church Creek TT course

2009-06-09T16:19:00.002-04:00

I'm going over to Cambridge Maryland on Saturday to do my first ever 40k time trial event. I'm looking forward to see what I can do there. I honestly don't know but I'd be thrilled with something in the 54-55 minute range. At the very least, I'll set a benchmark to improve upon. Here's the course (flat & fast..if the wind doesn't rear its ugly head):

Church Creek TT
Find more Bike Rides in Church Creek, Maryland

Ride Sally Ride show time

2009-06-08T15:05:00.007-04:00

This was my first chance to get a sneak peak at what goes on behind the scenes at a bike race. Everything was totally dialed in and smooth. RP did an excellent job lining everything and everybody up. Dave and Gus also provided excellent communication and organization. We had a ton of volunteers so nothing went unmanned throughout the day. Impressive! I also really enjoyed meeting more teammates and shooting the breeze throughout the day. It was a long day, but very rewarding.

**I must throw in here that my wife, Igda, was a huge help the entire day. Somehow I suckered her into coming...and she actually did. Once I got her up to speed on the registration process, she just took over. Between her, Peggy and Roger, everything was covered. Since there were enough chef's already in the kitchen, it gave me time to just generally goof off. Well, not really, but it was a huge benefit to have her there. Thanks for the support, babe!

Personally, I was a little caught out by the number of incidents throughout some of the races. It's always unfortunate to see/hear about a wreck during a race. The first thoughts are always, "I hope everyone is ok!" Fortunately, although there were some very serious incidents, it appears non were life threatening. For those that may be reading this, word is that the young Mr King that was seriously injured during the cat 4 race is going to be ok. It sounds like he has a strong fighting spirit and we hope to see him back on the bike soon. Very good news! I'm sure this won't have any effect on future races, but I really do hope racers in the upper categories that were racing on Saturday realize that we all need to look out for each other regardless of team or affiliation. There's no reason for us to take unnecessary risks. Be consistent and predictable!

Here's my race report for the Cat 4 race:
Hmm, what to say? First 4 only race. A lot of 4’s still ride like 5’s. Not sure why people love to overlap wheels. Such is life.

Now for a little more detail. Although I’d been up early and was standing for most of the time before the race, my legs felt amazingly well during warm-up…really well. Darn, no excuses there.

The overriding goal of the race for the team was to get some practice working together, maintain an offensive presence the entire race and get a good workout. We divided up: Gould/Callahan, Pheister/Dineen, Warner/Flanagan, Sharpe volunteered to tailgun. Each duo would take turns rotating, either attacking or bridging to anything up the road. A move shouldn’t be up the road without one of us in it and most likely will/should be initiated by one of us.

(NOTE: In hindsight, one thing we didn’t discuss was how to win the race. Yes, we had some other objectives which were more important to future races, but I’ve given some thought about this. On many crit courses, a 4 race will come down to a sprint. We should have a plan for this. Heck, it could probably be the same plan for every race. The Big Red Train will rear its head soon I’m sure. We’ll get that worked out.)

Although we all lined up at the back, it wasn’t all that difficult to get up front. We planned on taking the first 5 laps pretty easy anyhow. Everyone did a great job getting up front and being on the offensive. I love the fact that our red uniforms stand out. It makes finding people super easy. Although I will admit, there are about 4 of us that are close to the same size, and in the heat of the battle, I wasn’t sure who was who at times.

Things were going well until the bad wreck at turn 2 with about ~21 to go. I was just in front of it and I know exactly why it happened because for the first time in my racing I yelled at the guy who was about to cause chaos. I was near the outside coming out of the turn and this rider one up in front of me on the inside decides to just slide/push/wtf his way over to the outside for no apparent reason. I was seeing this all play out. He was pinching the guy to my left into me and me into the guy on the outside who was close to the curb. I just blurted out “HEY!!!” REALLY loud. It wasn’t “hold your line” which would have made more sense, but it appeared to be effective because the rider stopped coming over, saving a bunch of us from disaster. It just didn’t save everyone. The damage had been done by the guy’s initial move as I’m sure he caused others behind to lose control. Then I heard the crashing noise from behind. On the next lap, I saw Adam was caught up in it but was up and walking.
photos courtesy of Jim Wilson

Then things got a little weird. I will admit, I thought they were going to neutralize once I saw the ambulance. But we did still have half the road open after turn 2, and it wasn’t a problem getting through that turn especially now that everyone should have known by now not go too wide. Ok, race keeps going. What to do? Keep racing.

I see Gould throw out a good attack. He’s caught but he’s pushing hard enough to keep it single file with about 8 guys strung out behind him. Go time. I came up the right side from about 10-12 deep and hit the gas as I approached the front. I had a good head of steam. I didn’t look back for some time because I knew nobody was going to be able to match that move. They’d have to try to reel me back. Once I got off, I just tried to keep it pegged for as long as I could. I will gladly admit that I had some serious “tunnel vision” going on. I was working hard and focused. I completely missed the IMPORTANT, unexpected change to the race lap counter as I passed the start/finish line with what I believe was a healthy gap. I remember hearing the bell ringing and seeing 17 on the lap counter, but I just figured it was a prime lap since we hadn’t had one. There was lots of yelling, but it wasn’t registering. Now that I’ve had time to replay it in my head, I do sort of remember someone saying 1 to go, but I figured that person doesn’t understand what a prime lap is. How did we go from 17 to 1?

I just kept my head down pushing a slightly above threshold effort. Before turn 3, I looked back and the entire pack was definitely gaining on me. I thought, wow, they really want this prime. After turn 3, I decided I wasn’t going to burn my entire matchbook sprinting for the prime, so I started to sit up. I also figured that this would be a good opportunity for one of the others to attack. I’ll get back in and get recovered so I can go again later. Then I noticed everyone sitting up after the finish line just a little too casual, like the race was over or something. Wait, it was! I totally missed that the officials decided to shorten the race. Ok, I will admit. Initially, I was a pretty upset. Pretty sure I could have kept the lead. But honestly, once it sunk in, I was a little more upset with myself for not paying attention. Things like this do happen and you have to learn to deal with it. It was an important lesson.

1st part of Race:
Duration: 23:45
Work: 444 kJ
TSS: 41.4 (intensity factor 1.023)
Norm Power: 353
VI: 1.13
Distance: 10.539 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1052 311 watts
Cadence: 31 141 96 rpm
Speed: 5.8 34.4 26.7 mph

Attack:
Duration: 3:27
Work: 86 kJ
TSS: 9.6 (intensity factor 1.291)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Distance: 1.55 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1052 414 watts
Cadence: 52 124 100 rpm
Speed: 22 32.6 27.0 mph

It was sort of funny. When we finally started our cool down, we headed down to turn 2 where the road was blocked off. Flanagan and I discussed doing a 20 min threshold effort, but then they were calling us back. Crazy! But cool by me. We ride back to the start- get lined up and we’re off. The officials put 10 laps up and it is game on.

I gradually worked back up toward the front just trying to get my legs back to feeling normal. I still felt pretty good. I don’t know if it was Flanagan or Callahan that put in a good aggressive move. Then Dan put in a nice acceleration and had a small group off the front. With 3 to go, I was comfortable in the top 10 and stayed there.
photo courtesy of Jim Wilson

With 1 to go I saw Flanagan coming hard up the right side at the start/finish line out of the corner of my eye and made a bee line to get on his wheel before the 1st turn. After the turn, I yelled to him, “Michael, I’m on your wheel!” He kept the gas on through turn 2 and midway up the back stretch. I never did look behind me but knew things were probably strung out. In hindsight, it would have been perfect if someone from our team was on my wheel. I could tell Flanagan was losing a little steam so I had to make a decision…either go for it and see what happens and/or most likely carry the entire field to the finish. Maybe one of our guys is close enough to seal the deal if I can’t. I was worried I’d get swarmed at Turn 3 and get boxed in. My initial mistake was probably thinking that turn 3 was closer than it was. I probably should have turned to cheerleader and barked encouragement to Flanagan to get us through turn 3. I’m not so sure others were too inclined to take over the lead. He still had the pace pretty high. I peeled off Michael’s wheel hard to the left and just went for it. I knew I was in trouble shortly after turn 3 when I saw a few riders coming by on my right. I just tried to push all the way to the finish on the inside which netted fifth. Ah, well. It was fun racing aggressively with the guys. I also enjoyed that I was able to do my first race with Flanagan. Who knew he was going to give me a good lead out! It's good to see Flanagan have the fire back. It was his first race since winning the Turkey Day 3/4 race at the end of last year. Another 3-4 weeks of training and that guy is going to be ready to destroy it. Thanks, Michael! I’ll need to repay that in the future.

Race Restart:
Duration: 13:44
Work: 264 kJ
TSS: 25 (intensity factor 1.045)
Norm Power: 361
VI: 1.13
Distance: 6.235 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1135 320 watts
Cadence: 40 141 94 rpm
Speed: 10.4 34.5 27.2 mph

Finishing move:
Duration: 0:37
Work: 26 kJ
TSS: 4.3 (intensity factor 2.068)
Norm Power: n/a
Distance: 0.316 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1135 703 watts
Cadence: 90 116 108 rpm
Speed: 27.8 31.7 30.8 mph

Running from the Guillotine

2009-06-01T12:36:00.003-04:00

Race: Clarendon Cup M35+
Result: Collapsed Lung & DNF (pulled on lap ~lap 15)
Cost Per Lap: $40 entry / 15 laps of 40 completed = $2.67/lap…sweet

All freakin’ week I’m pumped up to really suffer during this race, but c’mon Warner, starting nearly dead last didn’t quite get things started off on the right foot and it definitely wasn’t part of the plan. Yep, even after ALL of the warnings from the team about not being in the porto-john 15 minutes beforehand, I managed to screw this up.

Just to relieve any morning stress I went ahead and picked up my race number Friday evening. This gave me plenty of time to get to the race venue and get in a solid 45 minute warm-up. When I arrived, the course was already blocked off so I jumped out there and started hitting laps. I TRIED to mentally mark the sketchy areas in the road, but honestly there were so many that I switched to just trying to mentally mark the particular sections of the course I needed to really stay alert during. They did use some temporary asphalt filler on the really bad spots which was nice. I hit the turns at speed during warm-up and felt pretty darn comfortable. After I gained enough confidence in my ability to roll through the corners fast, I hit out off the course to get in a few more prolonged efforts to really get the blood pumping. My legs felt pretty darn good. Unfortunately, my PT on my Open Pro wheel is on the fritz so I didn’t have power during the race. Not that it really matters in the race, but it would have been nice to see the number afterward. I wasn’t about to throw on my 808 PT on this course.

It was just a little before 8 a.m. when the race director announced that staging would begin at 8:05. Cool. I’ll jump into the porto-john. I roll around on the course to the staging area and low and behold EVERYONE is ALREADY there. WTF. It’s not even 8:05 and I’m already last into the staging area for the 8:15 start. Great. I’m not making this mistake again! In technical crits, the first part of the race is really about getting staged as close to the front as possible. Screw the last 10 minutes of the warm-up. Getting staged correctly is more important in these fast races. They start announcing the call-ups and for some reason I’m not called up. I’m totally bewildered ;- ). The race doesn’t actually go until about 8:20.

I was a little nervous my “Custer warm-up as if my life depends on it” routine was all for not. I was mentally preparing myself to just start passing as many people as possible from the gun until I was about to puke. The gun went off. I clicked in flawlessly and I was sprinting to the first turn passing as many riders as I could. I just focused on being as aggressive as I could without endangering myself or anyone else. I was amazed at how many folks I was passing through a couple of the turns, especially the last one into the finishing stretch. I was easily moving 4-6 spots up every lap on that turn. I felt totally comfortable and rarely even had to touch the brakes. I kept my eyes focused through the turns which I think really helped…good advice guys! My warm-up seemed spot on as my legs were good from the get go unlike BikeJam.

Honestly, I lost total recognition of what lap we were on after number one. I was deep in the pain cave. I felt like I was doing Tabata intervals for the first 15 minutes. Interestingly enough, my lungs felt more on fire than my legs.

I knew the race would eventually whittle down to 20-25 guys. That meant I needed to pass about 50-60 guys to get where I needed to be to make the right side of the split. Well, I didn’t make it. I don’t know which lap it was, but the splits happened and I was now in a group of about 15 riders. Unlike BikeJam, I decided to try and stay at the front of this group and do as much work at the front as possible. I also wanted to get as much practice moving around the group as possible. I realized it was all about getting the workout in at this point since I knew my time out on the course was going to be limited. We made it 15 laps (~23 minutes) before the official gave the cut-throat signal and blew the whistle. Game over. I pulled off course with the others in my group.

Seriously, once I stopped, I realized my lungs were about to incinerate. I was like what the heck? I coughed up phlegm over the course of the next few hours. Interesting. I didn’t feel like I had any chest congestion before the race but now I do. It did make me feel better to know I gave it 100%. I did hit that point in the race where I considered throwing in the towel from the pain, but I’m happy I pushed through it. I gained a TON of confidence in my ability to handle my bike through a technical course. In some ways, I felt like a leaped to another level in that regard. That was the first really “technical” crit I’ve done. I also feel like I’ve reached the point where I can generate some repeated out of the saddle sprinting and feel comfortable doing it.

The winner, Pete Cannell, put in an impressive performance to say the least.

Here’s a link to some cool video of the race:
M35+ race

BikeJam - M35+ Race...welcome to fast racing

2009-05-17T20:37:00.005-04:00

Wow! What a race!? I just upgraded to Cat 4 and decided to step up and race with some big boys. I wrote down some of the highlights.

Here are just a few of the many things I learned today:

1) If you're in a race and there's enough big hitter's in the race to have call-ups, you'd better be ready from the gun.
2) If you start hearing things like, "Navigators Pro Team", "Olympics", "National Champion", "Champion of this or that"- you'd better be REALLY ready from the gun.
3) If the whole team (Kelly) gets called to the front with a stacked team- well, sh!t. It's just gonna hurt really bad. Hang on!
4) A cat 5 warm-up strategy doesn't work when you line up with 1,2,3's.

Things I already know but painfully forgot:

1) If you get unlucky and end up at the back of the field start, get your ass off the back ASAP no matter what your legs are telling you. Hauling ass in a pack, cross-eyed from the effort level is very cool. Lots of interesting conversations go on in your head. But when a few guys crack scattered about in the field, gaps explode instantly. Ticket punched no matter how fit you are if you're in the back.
2) See #1

Things I'm happy about:
1) Stuck it out and didn't quit.
2) I felt like I was getting stronger after about 7 laps
3) Power- I'm sure I set some records, but my PT suddenly stopped working Saturday, so I didn't use it.
4) Definitely built some mental toughness from this little excercise
5) Had a good training day on Saturday. I am happy to be able to race hard on Sunday. GREAT workout!

Seriously, this was one damn fast race. I thought I was doing well slowly moving up during the first 2 laps, but when the pace started furious, I just thought it would settle down and I'd be able to get up without burning my matchbook. NOT SO! I think on lap 3 or 4, the field split as fast as you can snap your fingers. Folks popping all over the place. Dang!

Group 1 (insanely fast dudes)

Group 2

Group 3

It was really weird. With I believe 6 to go, they rang a prime and said to our group, "Last Lap for you guys- free Bontrager tire". We definitely picked up the pace, but not crazy fast until after the final turn. Well, as we are sprinting to the line, we run into the group ahead of us. Huh?! I remember hearing the announcer say, "Well, maybe that wasn't such a good idea." I think I sprinted for 3rd or 4th out of our group. I don't know. It sort of caused a little chaos because nobody knew what to do. Some guys tried to keep going, but I think they eventually pulled everyone except like 8-10 guys who finished. So I guess I'd call that a DNF. BUT, MAN WAS IT FUN!!!

BIG News

2009-05-15T12:12:00.000-04:00

Well, the official USAT rankings were published for 2008. I was pretty happy to make All-American in the 35-39 Age Group. It’s not really something to brag about, but I will admit, it is nice to see the hard work I put in last year paid off. Congrats to the rest of the crew I train with, too. There were quite a few us on the list.

The second bit of news is that my Cat 4 upgrade came through. Yippee! I’m pretty stoked about this since it enables me the flexibility to enter more races since I can race the Master 35+ races. I’m also looking forward to stepping up the competition level.

I’m racing the 35+ at BikeJam up in Baltimore on Sunday. It looks to be a really wet day.

Tour de Ephrata 2009

2009-04-27T11:41:00.014-04:00

Tour de Ephrata 4/5 category
Results

I headed up with Tom around noon on Friday so we could run a few loops of the road course that afternoon. Now that was time well spent! It’s a really fun course with a nice mix of terrain and somewhat technical turns/s-turns. Riders sitting mid to rear in the pack were going to get hurt at the tricky sections due to the accordion effect. On Friday, the wind was fairly stiff, but on Saturday the wind was hardly noticeable. The element of wind would definitely have a major impact on this course.

After the recon, Tom and I discussed the various spots to get away. One was at the small climb. If that failed, the second spot was before the little bridge with a technical chicane followed by a short power climb roughly 1.75 miles from the finish. There was one more sharp s-turn a little less than a 1/2 mile before the finish which definitely favors a solo rider or the front riders. I’d imagine that if you’re not in the top 10 going into that turn, you won’t be in the top 10 by the finish.

I had a good plan throughout the week to get me to the line feeling fresh. It worked. My legs felt great for the entire weekend. Honestly, I had put a little pressure on myself. There was no reason why I shouldn’t try to dominate the 4/5 race and win. I really wanted to be active in every race. Make guys hurt, take some chances, ALWAYS stay at the front and go for it.

Road Race (Saturday morning):

I wiggled up to the front within the first 3-4 miles and stayed there. With the yellow line rule and lack of a shoulder, it was hard to move around. BUT, once you got the front (top 10) it was SO easy to stay there.

During the first loop, I just tried to inflict as much pain on the pack as possible by hitting the technical sections pretty darn hard. If you were on the back, it would not be fun. Going up the main climb, a guy drops his chain midway up while sitting relatively close to the front. I think he eventually fell over and took out a bunch of guys. I hit it to the top of the climb and carried it hard another mile or two. I’d guess the pack was cut by a 1/2 after that.

Fast forward coming into the climb on loop two. I made the mistake of getting stuck about 3 rows back going into the climb. Guy’s Racing dude (Calvin) attacked with the help of his teammate at the front. Between the yellow line rule and the front riders collapsing, I couldn’t get to the front until about 2/3 of the way up and proceeded to take off in chase. The tip of the pack caught me after the downhill, but I picked it up after the hard left turn and pulled another two guys off the front with me. We got to within ~5 seconds to Calvin, before the pack caught us. I decided to buy more time. I felt confident I could close the gap after the bridge where I would attack.

Tactical Error #1- I let a rider bridge the small gap up to Calvin when we almost pulled him back. Tactical Error #2- I didn’t see the move as a threat.

The Spinners team had like 6-7 guys still in the pack and they acted like they wanted to chase, but never really did. I watched the 2 riders stretch the lead to around 20-30 seconds. At one point, I lost sight. Tactical Error #3- I should have got the pack excited and started closing the gap getting the front guys involved in bringing it back. Just doing more cheerleading would have probably done it. Maybe not.

Right before the bridge chicane, I attacked with everything I had from about 6 back going up the right fringe. I flew through the tight 4 turns and punched it hard up the power climb after that for about 30 secs before looking back. Nice, gap is big enough that the pack isn’t catching me. Now, chase down these two!

Here's a cool photo of the 1/2/3 race at the bridge chicane with ~1.75 miles to go:

I blew by the rider that had bridged before the final turn. But Calvin was still ~ 8 seconds ahead going into the last ½ mile. Regrettably, I just ran out of real estate to close the gap finishing 5 seconds behind and 8 seconds ahead of the pack. Props to Calvin though. He executed his plan and his team did just enough to help him to stay away. I spoke to him afterward and he said he realized that he needed to drop his companion in that last mile and half if he had any hope of winning.

Power #’s:
Road Race:
Duration: 1:03:28
Work: 1034 kJ
TSS: 100.3 (intensity factor 0.974)
Norm Power: 336
VI: 1.24
Distance: 25.499 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1038 272 watts
Cadence: 34 141 94 rpm
Speed: 2.9 39.3 24.1 mph

Tom and I chilled out and watched the rest of the races that afternoon. After the 1/2/3 race ended, we headed over to the TT course to do some recon. VERY GLAD we did! Great idea, Tom. We pulled the TT bikes out and we rode the flats and practiced taking the turns at speed staying aero. We even practiced the one foot down start. Uh, we drove the climb. It didn’t look too bad from the car!

Pain Mountain Time Trial (Sunday 7:50 a.m.)-

Tom offered up a lot of good insight in prep for this event. I can’t thank him enough. In theory, the plan was fairly simple for me. Hold 325-330w avg (comfortably hard) through the first 4 miles. Keep cadence high (95-105). Start to pick up to the 340w (Hard) range when the climbing starts and carry as much speed as possible through the rollers until I get to the climb. Once at the climb, let it rip and keep the pedals turning. Well, that’s essentially what I did. The only thing I think I would have done a bit different is not hit that first climb quite so hard. For almost 2 minutes I averaged 441w, but for the following 1.75 minute gradual uphill section I was around 325w before a good solid push to the end. Finish time: 24:29. Good enough to win my category. Power wasn’t super great for that duration, but I think there’s something really deceptive about that course. It’s not a course you’re going to set power records on. I think the residual fatigue from the RR really catches up to you when you hit that last mile and half climb.

Photos courtesy of Linc BrookesOn the flat before the real climb started (immediately before the intersection of Forest and Cocalico roads)

I also was pleasantly surprised to see how my time stacked up to the 3’s and 4’s. I think it would have been good enough for 7th in ¾ race and 3rd in the 4 race. Since I’m a little on the bigger side, I think that bodes well for me in future courses which won’t have crazy climbs at the end.

I would also add that this TT course is probably the only course where I actually felt like I didn’t leave anything out there. That last mile and half really hurts. I can’t imagine what it would feel like if you went out too hard in the first 4 miles and had to suffer up that beast.

Pain Mt TT:
Duration: 24:24
Work: 492 kJ
TSS: 41.5 (intensity factor 1.01)
Norm Power: 348
VI: 1.04
Distance: 8.007 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 686 336 watts
Cadence: 38 124 97 rpm
Speed: 2.9 36 19.7 mph

1st 4miles to turn up climb:
Duration: 9:09
Work: 180 kJ
TSS: 14.3 (intensity factor 0.968)
Norm Power: 334
VI: 1.02
Distance: 4.015 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 686 328 watts
Cadence: 38 118 104 rpm
Speed: 2.9 33.8 26.3 mph

Middle Section (Interestingly, I was able to sneak in a little bit of recovery here and there on this section at the backside of a few of the rollers):
Duration: 7:01
Work: 135 kJ
TSS: 10.9 (intensity factor 0.964)
Norm Power: 333
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 2.446 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 605 321 watts
Cadence: 68 124 102 rpm
Speed: 11.4 36 20.9 mph

Final Climb to Finish:
Duration: 8:04
Work: 175 kJ
TSS: 16 (intensity factor 1.092)
Norm Power: 377
VI: 1.04
Distance: 1.482 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 147 661 362 watts
Cadence: 58 118 84 rpm
Speed: 6.2 21.3 11.0 mph

Crit Race (Sunday, 11:15 a.m.):

I managed to get in a 25-30 minute warm-up prior to the race and the legs felt pretty good. I caught up with Calvin during warm-up and we chatted a bit. TT results hadn’t been posted, but I had a strong feeling I was first. Calvin said he was around 25:40 in the TT. Somehow, he got some information that he was second at the TT so that meant this crit was for all the marbles between him and me.

I decided to stick to my plan by being active, stay at the front and make the race as hard as possible for guys wanting to sit in. I really didn’t want to win by sitting in. Plus, I think overall that I race better when I’m pushing it. I don’t know. I think it gets my adrenaline flowing. I loved this course. You could fly through the corners as long as you were on the front. After a couple of laps in, I just started hitting it. Without too much effort, I was off the front for 4-5 laps solo. After that, I just stayed within the top 3 or 4 coming to the front to punch it hard through some of the technical sections where I knew the accordion effect would be the greatest. About 2/3 through the race, I noticed Calvin was just sitting on my wheel with the field well strung out.

Here's the shot with 1 to go:

My thought process was this. With two to go, I was going to up the pace again and see if Calvin would stick on my wheel. If he did, I was hoping the two of us could rotate a few pulls and have the finish come down to just us two with the field well behind. Coming down the stretch with one to go, we had a good enough gap on the field to go mano-e-mano, but he wasn’t about to pull through and do any work. For some reason, I just kept stomping on it. I thought he was going to try and jump after turn two, but he didn’t. I hit it pretty hard to come barreling through turn 3. He jumped right before turn 4 and gapped me. I should have known better. I couldn’t close it down that fast finish stretch and ended up second.

Tactical error: I was talking to Tom after the race wondering what I could have done different. He brought up a good point. I should have let the field catch back on and tried to get someone between my wheel and his. If we could have got mixed up in the front of the pack, I think I could have gotten away. Either mark Calvin if he goes, or go when/if he was boxed in. Oh well, good learning experience overall. I’m actually glad Calvin was there to make it exciting. We exchanged pleasantries afterward. Good guy and I hope to see him do well in the future.

Power #’s:
Ephrata Crit:
Duration: 25:37
Work: 485 kJ
TSS: 46.3 (intensity factor 1.041)
Norm Power: 359
VI: 1.14
Distance: 10.683 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1143 316 watts
Cadence: 53 141 99 rpm
Speed: 6.5 33.1 25.1 mph

So, that’s a wrap. I finished 2nd in the GC. I got some great racing in. Gained some valuable experience and had a great time traveling with Tom. I definitely look forward to doing this race again next year. Fun weekend!

Syn-Fit & Dolan races

2009-04-21T15:01:00.003-04:00

Wow. Crazy weekend. It was great to meet more of the crew at the races. Obviously, I don't really have a lot to add about the SynFit M35 4/5 race, other than one little story. An ABRT guy parked next to me at Dolan and I had just finished putting the WWVC kit on. He got out of the car and said, "So, how many of you guys are racing the 4/5?" I laughed and said, "Just two." We got to talking and he said he was 4th at Synfit 35 4/5. He thought our team tactics were played out extremely well to get our guy the win.

As far as my other races went, I was fairly pleased. My final positioning for the Synfit 5 and Dolan 4/5 were pretty crappy. I guess I'm a little lucky I can make up for my inferior tactical skills with some decent legs, but I can't get away with that forever. The other interesting thing I learned this weekend is that my perception of what I think happened can be far different from someone else. For instance, at SynFit, I thought I came through the final turn top 6-10. Nope, Chris G told me I was like 15+. I thought I crossed line in 2nd. Nope, result said 3rd. I thought I managed to squeak all the way up to around 4 or 5th at Dolan. Nope, Dave broke the news, 6th. I guess recounting cycling races is fair game for a little embellishment from time to time. Sort of like the 14 pound Bass I caught fishing when I was Fifteen. I think it was really 8 at the time, but it has grown throughout the years.

Although I was bummed not to have my 808 PT for the SynFit 35 4/5 due to Zipp rim strip tape puncturing through at several spoke holes, I'm really happy to find this landmine now versus during the Ephrata race next weekend. I went to Conte's on the way home and they said they had never seen that happen and warrantied the rim tape. I don't know. I'm going to keep a close eye on that. May switch to a cloth based rim tape.

I seriously can't wait to upgrade, but from the sounds of it the 4's aren't much better. I witnessed some unbelievably crappy bike handling skills this weekend. Dan took some of the brunt from one of the events. And what's up with all of the stupid f-ing morons who shout from the back all sorts of crap like, "Why are you slowing? Come on, Let's go". "Hold your line! (as they know what a line is)" Please tell me this isn't as pervasive in the 3 or 4's?

Really the highlight of the weekend was working a race as a team. So few teams really get it, but those that do, can really wreck havoc on a race. It was very enjoyable. Since I don't have time to tell you myself how it went down, I'm pasting up a report from Rich on the team who won the race. Way to close, Rich!

Rich's Rpt (Syn-Fit 35+ 4/5):

Today was one great day to be a Whole Wheeler. Gus, Peter, Tom and I did more than win this race, Whole Wheel dominated every aspect of it.

The four of us talked before the race, I think Gus, Tom and Peter had been talking cause all I heard was "Rich, how's your sprint?". I said "good", so Gus told me "your job is to do no work, when the time comes, Tom will come and get you and you will sprint." OK ? Tom was more specific, he said to look for him with 8 laps to go.

So I spent most of the race stretching even Chris Hall's definition of "no work", Tom went off the front with 11 laps to go and stayed there for four laps, winning the Prime in the process. I got a little nervous since I had "8 laps" warning in my head. I talked to Peter who started moving us up to the front. The peleton brought Tom back with 7 to go, but he was on the wrong side, so I stuck to Pete. With 5 to go I saw Tom again, up front, but again on the wrong side. Finally with four to go, I found Tom's wheel and let Pete know we were back on plan.

With four laps to go we were lined up. Gus, Pete, Tom then me. With three to go, Gus pulled the train out of the station right on the front. Tucked in behind Peter and Tom, I wasn't feeling it, but I noticed fewer and fewer guys around me. Gus nailed it for 3/4 of a lap and dropped off, Pete took over with one to go and really started turning the screws. A Colavita racer had snuck into our train behind Peter, in front of Tom, but once Peter started dishing out the hurt, he could not hang, but Pete kept going. Tom and I had to call out to get him to let up a bit. Tom pulled around and got on Peter's wheel screaming "go, go!".

I had serious doubts about my ability to hold onto these two guys, but it was clear we could win if we could hold it together. Peter drilled it from the start/finish line for half a lap and Tom took over to continue to hard pace. Just before the last turn I looked back, and we had a 10 meter gap on the peleton. We rounded the last corner and Tom gave it a last couple turns and shouted "go, go" right as I kicked it. It was all adrenalin and anaerobic pain from there until the finish. I was terrified of blowing the great leadout and set new :03 -
:15 wattage records (I didn't really have to jump, since no one was on my wheel)

I am proud of our team, in awe of the abilities of my teammates and feeling very guilty about being the guy who actually won, since I think I did the least amount of work. Tom and Peter probably could have gone top ten all on there own, but sacrificed their own results to guarantee a Whole Wheel result. that is what is so great about being a Whole Wheeler. It really was a thing of beauty to have a set strategy and execute better than we could have expected. I'm psyched to get Peter upgraded to CAT 4 so we can start working it on a regular basis.

If we are doing race results and "domestique" points this year, I nominate Gus, Peter and Tom for this one.

Found my Team

2009-04-13T15:45:00.000-04:00

I’m pretty excited about joining up with the Whole Wheel Velo Club cycling team. It’s a smaller team with a lot of strong riders and great team camaraderie, which suits me well. Everyone I’ve met so far has been great. I’m looking forward to expanding my knowledge about bike racing and helping the team be successful this year. Although it’s great to do well yourself, I’m pretty sure I’ll get a lot of satisfaction doing my part whether it be going for a win or helping a teammate win a bike race. It’s been awhile since I’ve played a team sport, so that in and of itself is pretty exciting for me. I’ve got my first races this weekend wearing the team kit. Pretty stoked.

Flanders and misc thoughts

2009-04-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

I parked myself in front of the TV to watch Tour of Flanders on VS yesterday along with a six pack to compliment the fun weekend. I love watching those one day races where everyone is putting it on the line. It was also cool to see the team tactics of Quickstep. I’m starting to gain a little more appreciation of tactics as I watch these races - now that I’m doing some racing myself. Devolder’s final attack was brilliant. Quickstep owned that race.

As I was driving home from Walkersville, I was randomly throwing out thoughts to Igda. Something hit me and it had to do with racing triathlons (and I guess Duathlon as well) vs bike racing. I’m not sure I’ll be able to describe precisely my meaning here, but I’ll give it shot. Essentially, why I’m drawn to both sports right now.

In triathlon, it’s really a race against yourself. What I mean by that is this. It begins with your training. You swim, bike and run a lot. After countless laps in the pool, you have a pretty good idea within a few minutes of what you’ll be to do at a given distance/race. If you train with power on the bike, you also build a pretty firm idea of the effort level/pacing strategy for a given distance and still be able to throw in a solid run afterward. The run becomes sort of a mystery during the race because if you have screwed up on the other two or nutrition becomes an issue, the run can either be miserable or totally dialed in. Again, pacing and knowing your abilities is key. In every event, there’s a target to shoot for which results in the overall time. Everyone gets to it in a variety ways, i.e. everyone has their strong event. Some are lucky enough to really excel in all three, but most have their one or two go to plays during a race which can make the race unfold in variety of ways. Setting skill aside (especially the swim), the winner is generally the one with highest Lactate Threshold. They can simply go harder and faster than everyone else for an extended period of time without blowing up. I know I’ve put this in pretty simplistic terms which doesn’t really give the time needed to excel in triathlon justice, but that’s not my real point. Stepping away from triathlon for a bit has enabled me to see more clearly why I do like the sport and got hooked on it in the first place.

I can’t count the times I’ve studied the previous results for a race. You build a very firm idea of what you’ll need to achieve in each leg to put yourself in contention, whether it be Age Group or Overall. Goals are set during training and before the race. It’s mano-e-mano. When you toe the line, there’s nowhere to hide. Just good old fashioned hard work and the will to push yourself extremely hard. It’s very Darwinian. The weak are left behind and the strong survive. I like this about the sport. Of course, this can also be said of cycling. It just takes longer for the weeding out process to work its way out.

In cycling, one sport to focus one. And honestly, it’s really not that complicated to train for especially when you don’t have to make 5:30 a.m. swims and log a bunch of running in throughout the week. The main reason I put tris on the backburner this year was to free up some of my time, both at home and work. I’m hoping to make things as simple as possible. Plus, I really like riding and it’s probably my best event out of the three. In my limited time racing bikes, it has become evident that personal tactics and team tactics play a huge role in the outcome of race. I like that. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a team sport. Although I’m not on a team, yet, I can imagine that the drive to push yourself to support a team member or just flat out punishing yourself to your job for the team can be extremely fulfilling whether you win or lose. Again, I like that added dimension. Right now, I’m really just focused on building bike fitness. I enjoy seeing how hard I can push myself. Plus, I think I realized early on that in a cat 5 race, you’re not really helping yourself become a stronger cyclist by sitting in the pack. Granted, when I do upgrade, I’m sure there will be races where sitting in will be a struggle at times. But to me, I think I’d rather save the money and go noodle around on my own. Bottom line, it’s just fun to be on the bike a lot right now. I also enjoy lining up at the starting line wondering, “ok, how’s this race going to go down?” It’s always evolving and fluid somewhat unlike a triathlon unless some unknown shows up. I will admit, I’m looking forward to doing some TT’s this year. That will be a new experience since I don’t have to throw a swim in front of it or worry about running afterward!

Tysons Crit Cat 5

2009-04-05T13:23:00.005-04:00

The plan today was to get in a hard 30 minute above threshold workout. I wanted to see how the legs would respond after yesterday. So, that means attacking...attacking, until I can't anymore. The temperature was perfect. I love that course. NCVC puts on a solid race.

It was good to finally meet Grayson (Bikerack) at the end of the first loop. I just started doing work the second time up the finish climb. Not much really to report. I spent about 14 minutes total off the front in two different stretches (28min race). I tried to save a little bit for the end, but just didn't have any pop left in the legs for the sprint. I took 5th.

I was pleased with the effort. I'm looking forward to getting on the TT bike a few times this week.

Race:
Duration: 28:11
Work: 519 kJ
TSS: 61.7 (intensity factor 1.146)
Norm Power: 384
VI: 1.25
Distance: 11.158 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 928 307 watts
Cadence: 44 141 92 rpm
Speed: 6.5 37.4 23.8 mph
Pace 1:36 9:12 2:32 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 392 94 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 958 288 lb-in

Igda made me an awesome brunch when I got home. I think I need to pick up the mileage. She's getting to be a pretty darn good chef.

Almost forgot. I stayed and watched the 3 race and some of the 4. That guy who soloed for the win in the 3 race was a freakin beast. Impressive display.

Tour of Walkersville 2009… Never underestimate the laziness of the Pack

2009-04-04T21:00:00.013-04:00

Before I forget about all of the pain and excitement of the day, I thought I would do a quick brain dump before dinner. Lots of stuff rattling around in my head after today.

Igda and Leo joined me today on the Walkersville trip. It’s just too bad the race course is so far from the school parking lot and registration. Igda and Leo just ended up goofing around and they witnessed zero of the race. Leo did make a new girlfriend, Zoe, today. He wouldn’t stop talking about her the whole way home.

Nice Pic of a Huge USA Flag at Full Mast (yep, it was windy and the gusts were certainly a kick in the pants from time to time).

Me in my horrific looking kit. Igda made fun of me the whole way home.

On to the race (4 loops - 10 miles per loops/ rolling terrain). M35+ 4/5 – ABRT had things very well organized. Goal: 2nd bike race. Work my ass off and build some fitness.

Lap 1: A yawner. Warm-up lap.

Lap 2: WTF…I decide to attack into the wind on DeVilbiss just before the rollers. Nobody’s playing. Very shortly after drifting back I go off the front again. One guy comes (Coppi). Better, but I was hoping for 5-6 guys wanting to work a break. Begin the drift back. A little foggy here, but I remember just sort of hanging off the front when Tom (WWVC) comes up pretty hard. He’s got some juice. I decide to try and reel him in since I was still slightly off the front. I wasn’t totally committed to catch up to Tom until I saw Coppi and a DCVelo (??) on my wheel.

Photos courtesy of Amy Jones Ok, 4 is better than 2. Decent representation, but honestly, I didn’t really look to see who all the big teams in the race were. Game on.

We were working pretty well together at first. Everyone was working hard. I could see Tom was very strong. Coppi was pulling hard. DCVelo eventually had to start missing pulls, but in his defense, he was the smallest rider in the bunch and the wind was punishing. I think Moto Ref said 40 second lead going into Lap 3. It sounded like the field was splitting up since he said a chase group was ~35 seconds.

Lap 3: Toward the end of lap 2, our break’s rhythm started getting really screwed up. Pulls started being missed by Coppi & DCVelo. Ok, I’m new and all to bike racing but this started making it really difficult to maintain rhythm when you have to keep looking back wondering if someone is pulling through or not. A lot of wasted energy closing down gaps. About halfway through lap 3, Tom and I dropped Coppi & DCVelo. We slowed and had time to chat about what next? Tom had the perfect plan (especially now in hindsight!), but I was just too stupid to follow it. We had to slow. We needed Coppi & DcVelo as long as they could hold on. At the end of the Devilbiss stair steps, we would hit it hard and go by ourselves. We just kept rolling. Not sure about time split, but it had come down to ~20 seconds.

Lap 4: We grind away into the wind on Devilbiss. The Chase is about 7-10 seconds behind us as we approach the point where Tom mentioned to drop the hammer. I remember saying to Tom, “Well, it looks like we’ll be caught.” Stupid me, I rationalize that there’s no way we are going to hold off the pack until the end, so I decide to sit up and join the chase group. HUGE MISTAKE! Little did I know, but Tom had two WWVC teammates doing a brilliant job riding tempo and blocking ALL THE WAY TO THE FINISH. I would estimate that the group that caught us consisted of about 20-25 riders at the most. One rider bridged up to Tom, but I was stuck mid-pack when he went. I’m kicking myself for not at least attempting to bridge back up to Tom. I'm not sure I would have made it, but I regret not trying. Live and Learn. As for my finish, I just decided to launch off the front at about 400m and just grind it to the line. Yep, I was rolled by the pack, putting me at 16th on the day. Heck of a fun day! I’m very happy with the power #’s as the building continues. Everything is on track.

Winners in front of the chase at about ~8-10 seconds I think (Tom held on for 2nd and I witnessed lesson on how to attack the break at the right moment):

Pack finish:

Gus (WWVC) said the best line afterward when I was talking to their team after the race, “Never underestimate the laziness of the pack.” Hat’s off to the WWVC team and Tom for a stellar performance and actually racing with a strategy. They definitely peaked my interest if/when I make the commitment to bike racing in the next few months.

I just ran across this news video coverage: Tour of Walkersville