Good Sportsmanship

Cinthia and I did the Tour de Tuscaloosa this past weekend. I do on want to descibe my criterium race, but that of the women. A very strong rider got away in the 2nd lap, which Cinthia tried to chase down for almost a half of a lap, but eventually she gave up and drifted back to the Peleton. So nothing really unusual. The rider was strong enough to stay away and the Peleton followed with no one really wanting to work. Then came the call for the first prim (75$). In the past Cinthia has learned not to go after prims because you burn matches and it could have an affect on your final placing. The women came around the final corner, Cinthia in great position, blew by everyone and took the prim. So what else do you do as a poor college student. About 6 minutes later the next prim (50$) was called. It was almost an identical picture. Good position and Cinthia blew by by a landslide. Immediately in the next lap another 50$ prim was called. The women come around the last corner and no one sprints. What is wrong? Didn‘t they understand that there is a prim? Were they waiting for Cinthia? The pack rolls over the finish line and the first rider gets it. So now it comes down to the final lap. Does Cinthia still have a match left? Same picture as before. The pack winds around the final corner. Cinthia comes flying on the outside. This time it is much closer, but again she won the sprint. I ask her afterwards about the 3rd prim and she tells me that she wanted someone else to win the prim because she didn‘t want to make any enemies. I did not know what to say.

Rock Hill Omnium - needs comment

RHO is April 2/3(a team paid race), and you can take a bite or the the whole sandwich. PLEASE RESPOND IN COMMENTS IF YOU ARE/ARE NOT RACING.

SAT - Winthrop Crit - Beautiful venue where you can see the whole course. We will have pop ups set up and coolers. Bring your own chairs. There are some trees! We will be racing all day:

8:45 - Cat 4/5 - 35+ - Patrick -----this is the first race.

4:00 - Cat 4 Women - Teenie and Brady - last race.

SAT NIGHT - At least Bird, Teenie and I are staying in Rock Hill and Bird will follow with the hotel. We will have dinner as a team. Of course, this is not required.

SUN - RHBC Classic RR - Everybody is on their own.......no team set up that day. We will race, collect the booty and leave.

8-9:10AM - Most everybody starts in staggered times.

10:40 - CAt 4 Women and Masters 50+ 4/5 - Teenie, Brady, Randall , Tom, Joe, Perry and me.

AGAIN, PLEASE LET US KNOW OF YOUR PLANS IN COMMENTS.

HOPE TO SEE YOU OUT!

TBC Conclusion....back home

We are back in Greenville and finished up in Tucson for the year. We will be back out for few days in May to get some remodeling started on our new place. We ended the season with a bang at the TBC Stage Race (see results in Race Results in this blog). Great race and big competition.

Teenie had some fun highlights, winning a 3 up Sprint for 2nd in the RR and Sprint Bonus Time in the Circuit Race. Let's say I finished and had a good time.

We are really glad to be back. We will miss SCTAC this week as I have a business commitment(yea, that's right, work!) and really we are both recovering from the hard 3 days at TBC. I know you guys will tear it up.

Catch Teenie and I for ride this week and/or a Starbucks.............we miss you guys.

Stay tuned for Rock Hill info later this week.

Tucson Bicycle Classic TT

Never give up accountability for yourself and always prepare perfectly for every race. I have believed and known this for years.

The last weeks, I failed to do both. I omitted a practice race effort at the TT course and let someone tell me what bike to ride(the course was unusual). We took our road bikes and it was disastrous. Twenty eight starters were in my 55+ Cat and 25 were on TT bikes. Four guys beat me that I handily wacked last month at Valley of the Sun. I got 17th.

Teenie held on for 3rd among Masters Women 45+/55+/65 which will likely be combined. However, her time was disappointing in comparison to CAT 4 Women.

On a good note, the 3 day Stage Race got off to a good start with really competitive fields. No less than 6-8 national level competitors in my group. Tracy Perez, the young woman who beat Linz at VOS, won the CAT 3 Women.

Teenie will start the 40 mile RR tomorrow with CAT4 Women and whole field will be about 45 strong. The 65+/70+ males will race with us and they will add about 20 riders to our 26 finishers for a field of nearly 50. The older guys have a half dozen national level competitors as well.

Like VOS last month, this is a big time race!

We'll let you know what happens!

Train hard......RHO is 2 weeks away.

Category Upgrades....

Upgrade congratulations to Emily (3), Brian (4), and Ray (4).....

Blythewood Cobblestone Classic

Day 1 - Prologue - Race #12

I arrive at the venue at 7:45. It’s a cool clear morning, beautiful spring weather. I complete registration, double check the Cervelo TT bike to make sure everything is working right, and am on my way to check out the course by 8:30. The race organizers advertised the TT course as “Eddy Merckx style with minimal advantage for using a TT bike.” I know who Eddy Merckx is, but I have absolutely no idea what invoking his name in reference to the layout of a course means. I am very comfortable cornering and climbing on my TT bike so I decide to use it. I do a warm up lap around the course, taking it easy, checking out the turns, thinking about how I will race it. I am around the course in less than 10 minutes. This is going to be short and painful! I head to the start line and take my place in the cue. As the other riders take off, my heart rate starts to rise in anticipation. I watch the other riders start. The guy in front of me is wearing a UNC Tarheels kit. I wonder if I will be able to catch him. He’s away...my turn. I move up to the start line. A race volunteer grabs my seat post and steadies the bike. I get myself situated and wait for the countdown. 15 seconds. 10 seconds. 5...4...3..2..1...GO!

I stand and stomp on the pedals, spinning up to speed quickly before I drop down into the seat and aero bars. I run through the gears as the bike gathers speed. I’m charging downhill at thirty miles an hour before I know it....then 35....I just barely hit 40 before I start up and over a little rise and then I’m hard on the brakes scrubbing speed for the 90 degree off camber left. I stand and sprint out of the turn then settle back into the aero bars for the winding rolling road ahead. My heart rate is pegged at the redline. I am looking up the road trying to catch a glimpse of that Tarheel. I finally see him coming back the other way. I make it to the turnaround, brake hard, and compete the 180 degree turn. As I sprint back up to speed I wonder if I am slow or Mr. Tarheel is just really fast. Thoughts of the other riders fade to the back of my mind as the present reality of this sustained effort becomes all consuming. My field of vision narrows, my lungs burn, my legs spin, my heart beats 3 times a second and that is all I know. A hard right turn, then a sweeping left, then another hard right, and I am sprinting up the hill. There is the finish line. 6 minutes 22 seconds. I left it all on the course. I am toast.

Later in the day, I would learn that I came in second...to the Tarheel...at least is wasn’t a Blue Devil.

Day 1 - Criterium - Race #13

After the prologue I make my way back to my car and collapse into a chair. I have a little over an hour before the start of the crit. Cat 5’s really get the raw end of the deal on the start times. I close my eyes and wonder how my body will respond to racing a crit an hour after an all out effort. There is only one way to find out. I grab my road bike and head out. The course is fast. The only tricky spot is an off camber downhill left turn that looks more formidable than it really is.

Standing on the start line at the crit, I look around. I don’t recognize anyone except Papa who is on the microphone delivering the pre race speech reminding us to “keep your skin on” and “pay attention”. The race starts. We go out fast. A few guys take turns driving the pace right out of the gate. I hang towards the middle of the pack. I plan to avoid doing any work and show up at the front when it matters. The laps roll by. I feel comfortable with the pace, but my legs feel a little sluggish. I wonder if I will have the kick I need for the sprint. 6 laps to go. No one is attacking. 5 laps to go. I size up the riders around me. Everyone towards the back of the pack seems to be struggling to hang on. 4 laps to go. I am sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack. The riders up front are all taking turns pulling. I don’t know who to mark. 3 laps to go. I move up to the front third of the pack. 2 laps to go. I am near the front on the right when someone launches an attack off the left. The pack shifts to the left and chases and before I realize it, I am back on the back. Bell lap! I am desperately trying to move up, but I can’t find a wheel to take me to the front. I come out of the last turn in the back third of the pack. I see a wheel moving up and follow. He runs out of momentum so I go around him and latch onto another then another and I am sitting on a train of three riders in matching black kits. This looks good. Wait! There is a rider off the front and they aren’t closing. The sprint opens up. All hell breaks loose. Chaos. The black kit riders fan out in a V like a gaggle of geese heading south for the winter. They box me in and I am forced to wait on a gap to open towards the middle. I launch my sprint. I come to the line within inches of two other riders. The guy who went off the front stays away. I end up in fourth. I should be happy with fourth but I know that I could have won if it had played out differently.

As I lay in bed that night. I pick up Chris Carchael’s “The Time Crunched Cyclist” I jump ahead to a chapter about race tactics and skim through it. The last thing I read before I drift off into sleep is “When it’s time to burn matches, do it with confidence and conviction....don’t be afraid to light your last match.”

Day 2 - The Circuit Race - Race #14

I get to the race venue early. I take my carbon rims off of my TT bike and mount them on my road bike. I change out the brake pads, change the cassette, adjust the derailleur and finish my coffee. I am in the lead for the omnium, but my head is not in the right place this morning. This is a hilly course. I am not a climber. I feel tired. Maybe its not a good idea to race four weekends in a row. Why am I coughing so much this morning? I take a lap around the course to warm up. The course is very technical. Six laps of twists and turns with a big hill in the middle. It’s a course that is begging for a breakaway. I will try to be in it.

The race starts smoothly, a hard left, another, a roundabout, a little rise, down the big hill, through another hard left. We pass a big pothole in the road just before a little roller and a couple of ninety degree turns. I think about what a great place that would be to attack. We go through a few more turns and we are on the hill for the first time. I make it to the top still in the pack, but I am pegged out. We make the hard right that leads into a big downhill sweeping left and onto the final straight to the line. I am still anaerobic when we cross the line. This is not a good course for me.

As the laps roll by, the hill takes a progressively harder toll on me. I pop off the back of the lead pack and chase them all the way to the line. There is no way that I am going to be able to contest a sprint with a strong climber on that home stretch. I hope for someone to attack, a breakaway is my only shot at a decent finish. On the fourth lap we top the hill. I am still off the back when I roll through the line. Papa is shouting “Two Laps to Go”. I am worried. This does not look good for me. Something has to change.

We top the hill on the 5th lap. I stay with the group this time, but I am so far into the red zone that there is no way I will have any kick or a sprint. As we cross the line, Papa yells “Two Laps to Go!” What??? This is the final lap!!! We make it through two turns before a moto official pulls up and yells “Final Lap!!!” Everyone in the peleton relays the message and we are all back on the right page. We speed down the big hill, I move up towards the front. I think about my odds. If someone was going to attack they would have done it by now. I need a head start on that hill.

Option 1: Sit in the pack and finish somewhere in the middle or worse...off the back.
Option 2: Launch an attack and most likely go down in flames, but maybe...just maybe...take home a win.
I like Option 2. “Don’t be afraid to light your last match.”

I see the pothole ahead on the left. A rider takes a pull at the front and moves off to the left tight to the pothole. I change gears and spin up into his slipstream, reaching him just as we pass the pothole. I jump and sprint up to thirty four miles and hour. I am 100 yards up the road before they know what happened. I approach the hard right, braking hard and then letting go and coasting though the turn. I sneak a glance over my right shoulder. No one is with me. No one is coming. I power through the left, standing and sprinting out of it. I round another hard left and sneak another look. The front of peleton is animated now. They are chasing. I drop into a TT position and ignore what’s going on behind me. My consciousness seems to slip backwards as if I am looking out of a tunnel. I am aware of myself and the road and my pain. The competition has been reduced to the role of chasing. Rolling, and winding, spinning and hurting, I stay off the front. I power through an uphill right. The Corner Marshall yells something at me as I pass. I can’t hear her. I glance over my shoulder. The peleton isn’t gaining ground, only a few more turns and then the hill. I round a downhill right, then a big sweeping left bend. One more turn, a downhill right. I take it too fast. My back wheel feels like it almost comes loose, but I stay up. I think I am going to stay away.

I am on the hill standing, climbing with all that I have to give. There is a short reprieve in the middle.. I sit for a moment and look back. They are close and closing. I refocus. I stand and pour myself back into it. I am pedaling squares before I reach the top, my heart rate is higher than I have seen it go in years. I am making the right turn at the top when the first rider catches me. He is a kid. I see his braces. I hate him. I try to grab his wheel but I can’t. Another rider passes me, and then another, then several. I manage to get into the slipstream and suck wind. I didn’t know that I could hurt myself this deeply. I feel others around me without seeing them. When the sprint opens up I stand and kick as hard as I can, running on nothing but instinct and willpower, I come to the line somewhere in the top ten....I think....can’t be sure....the pain is unbelievable. I drop into my little ring and spin and try to breathe. Someone asks “Did you stay away?” I can’t talk yet so I shake my head. “That’s too bad man, that was a bold move.” I smile and wheeze “Thanks.” The guy had just payed me the greatest compliment I could have hoped for.

I limp my way back to my car and fall over in the grass. I prop my head on a water bottle and wait to feel somewhat normal again. I look up at the sky and smile. I know that I left it all on the course. I went deeper than I have ever gone. I didn’t win the race, but it doesn’t matter. I lit my last match fearlessly.

I gather myself, put on some dry clothes, and walk down to the registration area. The race results are posted. I came in 6th place. Nice. As I stand there, a guy walks up and posts the omnium results. My name is at the top. I can’t believe it. I look again. It sinks in. I won.

News from AZ

We are winding down our stay in AZ and it has been great. We hit Madera Canyon for 70 miles on Saturday with Greenville's Dave Lowe. Thirty seven miles out into the wind and uphill and 33 back at 24.4 mph.......crazy ride.

The Tucson Bike Classic is Friday/Sat/Sun. It is a true stage race. Teenie will be racing Open Women 45+.....a neat deal for her. I face a stellar field of about 28 in the 55+ Masters.

We fly back on the 21st.

Great news is we are buying a house out here and already planning a winter camp for 2012. You can not believe how much fun and different the riding is here.

Most of you know, I am coming home facing back surgery. It will happen in April after my last race of the season, Rock Hill. While this will put me out for the racing season, G is going to help me with my come back and I hope to be stronger than ever. I should be riding easy on the street by summer.

Recovery will be my total focus for a while but I hope to be back supporting the TEAM soon. We have great leadership that will pick up in my absence. I know this season is going to be another super year.

Hope to see ya soon and race with you at Rock Hill!!

Big Ray takes 1st at Blythewood Omnium

How about a shout out to Big Ray for his win at the Blythewood omnium.  He needed one race to upgrade, and upgrade in style is what he did...... 2nd/4th/6th ....  a great performance....

THE WALL

The Snicker's Bar Marathon in Albany, GA humbled this athlete as it painfully brought me to my knees. I now know why that at most marathons every finisher gets a medal, it is so well deserved. I respect every mile of the 26.2 course as it can chew up and spit out the best of athletes on any given day.

My first goal was to get to the start line healthy, which I did, but at the sacrifice of not hitting some of the longer runs. Better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained at the start line I was once told. Well, no problems there I thought! Cross training with swimming and cycling in no way replaces the impact and use of those much needed running muscles. But, I was there, at the start, mentally and physically ready to race.

My second goal was to finish the race, and my third, to Boston Qualify.

The cannon fired, and we were off, about 800 marathoners prowling the streets of Albany accompanied by on and off rain showers. I felt great as I moderated my pace, took the most direct lines around corners, and pretended to draft off of tall lanky fit dudes. I knew about "the wall" at mile 20 that most marathoners hit and I had practiced and visualized prior to the race literally stepping over the wall or crashing thru the wall. Mile 20 came and went and I still felt great, right on Boston pace. However, I didn't realize, that a new construction project had been started without any notice, and at mile 23, I ran smack into the Great Wall of Albany.

My body literally shut down after holding an 8:22 pace for 23 miles. I reeled as my quads, calfs, and feet went into full lockdown cramp mode. Things were cramping that I didn't know could cramp. I hobbled to the side of the road attempting to entertain the idea of 'stretching it out'. Ha! It was far too late. I cursed the marathon! I prayed to God to carry me to the finish line! I swore up and down I would never do this again, how stupid of me! My last 3 miles were roughly 14min, 17min, and 14min. pace as my body went into shock and I could not run without cramping severely. I was forced to walk, a very cold, wet walk of shame as runners trudged by my broken body. They may as well have been trampling on my very inner soul. I was disheartened. So close, yet so far away. I could physically not go any faster! I was in a very foul mood as the miles slowly trickled down. Eventually, I could see the finish line, and in a meager attempt, trotted across. I could have cried. I had visualized myself crossing the line, throwing my arms up victoriously, blowing kisses to the crowd and looking up and smiling at the finishing clock time of 3:40. But, not now. My teeth were gritted in pain as I crossed, humbled to 4 hours, 1 minute.

I was mentally and physically drained after the race. I gave absolutely 120% and left everything on the course. I fell to my knees in a true dramatic fashion and thought I was going to pass out. After closing my eyes and regaining some composure a gentleman helped me to the side and gave me some cool yellow gatorade to drink. I sat there waiting for my friend to finish, watching all the runners come through the chute, vowing I would never do THIS again. THIS was too hard, too much!

The silver finishing towel that a volunteer hugged

around me shimmered in the rain. The green finishers medal dangling around my neck felt cold pressed to my chest. I could not move, frozen with cramped muscles and fixated on that finish line. 18 weeks of training and THIS is the result?

I wouldn't trade THIS for the world. I left every drop of me on the course, no regrets.......for I am now a marathoner which I think is pretty damn cool.

Final Race for 2011 Greenville Training Series

The day started out with downpours and wind advisory conditions. I was sitting in 1st for the omnium and if I did not show there was a good possibility I would lose it. So out the door I went. Cinthia and Statton showed up as well.

The plan was I would sit on Stratton's wheel as much as possible. Stratton lead the peleton out and I was second wheel. Stratton kept a decent tempo just to keep everyone from being lazy and too fresh of legs trying to protect me. I got word that Cinthia was out due to a flat 2 miles in.

The Second lap Monica attacked on back side by golf course. I took the jump to Bridge up to her and Stratton was in the bridge as well. We were all back together. So before third lap Erin and i decided to work together and jump on golf course hill on 3rd lap. I went up and told Stratton our plan and for her to stall pack when we attacked.

We are now going on third lap and Stratton is in front. We make the turn and a few riders start passing on downhill. Erin took jump on golf course hill and I was on her wheel. Three others came with us. At this point the temp had dropped from 59 to 47 degrees and rain was hitting us so hard i thought it was sleeting. We started rotating thru and Stratton was doing a great job holding the peleton back. We came around for forth lap and Papa said 1 lap to go!! Music to my ears that he shortened our race. From there the charge was on. We picked up the pace. After golf course hill we were down to 3: Erin, Monica, and myself. We crossed the railroad tracks and at that point I knew I had the omnium wrapped up and I was just ready to be done. Erin stood up about half mile out and on to the win. I knew Monica was sitting on my wheel but at that point I didn't care I just wanted to get to finish line as soon as possible and get in warm/dry clothes. Naturally she came around and went for second, but at the end of the day my teammates helped me to win my first Greenville training series.

Upgrade for Headstrong's Emily Wood

After a stellar 2010 season, Emily Wood has decided to upgrade to a cat 3! Emily placed consistently throughout 2010 and began 2011 with similar results while racing in open women's fields, being undaunted by the higher catergory riders. As a Cat 3 rider, she will be able to do Cat 123 races, which are common, and the occasional Cat3/4 race, so this is an excellent cat to be in! I think this is the reason some riders stay 3's!

Congratulations Emily!