Here we go again!

When I got home from the Atlanta Circuit Race yesterday I rode the stationary guillotine again for two hours. In all honesty, I don’t even remember what my average wattage was. I think it was in the neighborhood of 215 or something, but who cares, lol. After riding, I took a look at the upcoming race schedule, and am pretty anxious about what’s coming up. If I looked at everything right, I have about 5-6 weekends of straight racing coming up, starting this Sunday in Roswell. Next Sunday is Cumming, then John’s Creek the next Sunday. The next week is the Tour of Atlanta (unless of course the GA Cup lives up to expectations and cancels it.), followed by something the next weekend which I can’t remember at the moment. Maybe I’ll get me some points out of some of this!

TDG 08'

This weekend I'm helping out at the Tour de Georgia. Today was the Brasstown stage, and it was pretty amazing! Siutsu (spelling) from High Road took the yellow from Trent Lowe, but both riders were amazingly strong in running off on Levi Leipheimer! Tomorrow should be pretty exciting!

Mental Fitness

So I rode the trainer tonight. A lot of people think I'm crazy when I tell them that I love my trainer, but that's because they just don't get it. When you're on the road, it's nothing to hit an interval at about 70-75% of your lactate threshold and hold it there for, say, 30 minutes. You have scenery, companions in some cases, did I mention scenery, and other things that help the time pass quite nicely. When you're on the trainer, it's just you and whatever Tyler Perry movie your wife decided to watch for the night. Basically trainer time for longer sustained intervals = suffering. I know that you're thinking "Well I can suffer just as good up a long climb when I'm out as I can when on the trainer." I'm gonna have to call your bluff there, as I know for a fact that even the worst climbs seem shorter, as far as a timed interval goes, than a long effort on the stationary guillotine. Dare I say that riding my trainer once every week or two is what helps me past those suffering times in races? I mean, If I can last 30 minutes at 100% FTP on the trainer in silence, it should be that much easier when in the peloton racing, where your mind has things to concentrate on such as moving up in the pack, watching for breaks, checking for teammates, ect. That's just my $.02, and that won't buy anything these days! Oh, and looks like my blog has finally hit 1000 hits! Thanks for reading!

Rest Time!

Yes is the answer if your question is “Is this what comes after mountain time?”. I rode with two teammates over in the gaps known to locals as “Turners Corner” because of where we park to ride them. Saturday was my ride with teammates, and it was a tough one. We hit the first lap around the gaps very hard, basically racing up each one. When we started our second lap, I was already feeling the effects of the first halfway through the lap. I was cramping, tired, an…..oh wait, I BONKED! Yes friends, it was one of those days. I would get intermittent bursts of energy that lasted for about 2-3 minutes, but would quickly cramp up again or just get tired. Maybe doing this in training will help it not to happen so much in racing.

Sunday, which was yesterday of course, I went back up to the gaps with an ex-teammate to tackle the gaps again at a bit friendlier pace, and for less time (about 40 miles instead of 75). I still felt the acid in my legs when we started out, but I had a great ride with no cramping, and climbed at a good high endurance pace/low V02 pace for most of the climbs. The day before was all threshold pace, so I can understand why I couldn’t last for the full 5 hours. Yesterday’s 2 hour ride up there was just the kind of rehab I needed. Today is rest time, and I look forward to it 100%!

Mountain Time!

So tomorrow I'm gonna hit up some mountains. Now I know some of you flat landers don't know how to appreciate a good mountain, but there's nuthin better than a dang ole' big un that takes ye a good 20 minutes ta climb. Sorry, but I felt the need to get all southern on you for a second. I'm not the best climber in the world, but am working on it. One day I might even be able to stick with the big, er little, boys. Ya, I know, never gonna happen. I can dream, can't I?

Why do I even bother?

Why do I bother to make videos and video blogs when I don’t upload them? I made a cell phone video blog Sunday, but never uploaded it. I have a video of me doing my FTP test, but didn’t upload it. I have a blog from Perry, but didn’t upload it. I’m worthless. On a lighter note, I don’t have another race until the Roswell Crit May 4th. It’s in Roswell in case you didn’t pick up on that. I have a 3/4 race around lunch time, and then race again w/ the 2/3 deal at 3ish. I’m sure the 2/3 is gonna hurt, but at least it’ll be fun!

Which breaks the monotany of which?

Interesting question, I guess. So at this time of year, does the trainer get you inside away from the rednecks and "hey you fag" guys on the road, or does the road get you off the trainer? I thought when this time of year came I'd be all about me some road riding and getting outside, but now with the baby here, it seems that spending time with Hope has required I sometimes just hit the trainer at night. Last night I didn't finish riding until 10:30pm, and I have a two hour ride to do tonight that needs to wait until Hope and I go out on our first "post baby" date. Tomorrow I'm 99% sure I'm good to go for an outside ride, but that brings me to another issue I've encountered this season. I can't find anyone to ride with any more! I occasionally find someone willing to tag on my wheel for a couple hours, but most of the time no one wants to ride with someone who will be doing intervals at some point or another. I guess it's just part of the territory that goes along with trying to stick to a training plan. If anything, it makes me appreciate those group rides more!

Time Trial Week

So my SRM finally came, and it’s definitely a bit more complicated than I had originally thought it would be. The system itself isn’t all that hard to figure out. The installation is what is killing me, making me want to beat my time trial bike into submission because the power sensor had no place to mount. I ended up rigging a nice mixture of cateye fork space, electrical tape, and left-over continental tubular tire glue to get it to sit where I wanted. I’m 80% sure the road bike will be a breeze now, as It took me about 3 hours just to get the time trial bike right, and I know much more about mounting the power sensor now.

For the ride yesterday I felt it quite stupid, but also quite proper, that my first ride on the time trial bike with the SRM should be with the disc. It was just a recovery day for me, so I figured there wouldn’t be anything going on to damage the disc. It’s amazing how much faster the disc is. This week has kinda been “ride the time trial bike” week for me as I’ve been on it every day but Tuesday and today. Wednesday I did some 20 minute intervals at about 80% of my normal time trial pace, and was only about 45 seconds off my best split time from last season. This was with only the time trial bike and skinsuit, as I left my tt helmet and disc at home. I think this season I should definitely be able to break the 24 minute mark in the time trial series. My best time last year was 24 flat.

They're Just Too Hard!

That’s exactly what it is. Matt, in all his wisdom, tells me to stop doing these “Stupid Race Rides” we have on Tuesday nights. He doesn’t call them stupid because of the company I keep in said rides, because in my opinion, some of Northeast Georgias greatest guys to ride with show up. He calls them stupid because of the work involved in said rides. After a weekend of racing where crits and road races tear your legs off, we have these “friendly little “Terrible Tuesday Throwdown” rides that are basically a “What then!” ride to see who the last man standing is. In an effort to let me continue doing these rides, Matt told me to hang on to the group not doing work, and I still average 245 watts for the ride! If at any time were NOT doing hard rides during the week were important, this is it. I’m kind of at that crucial point of the season where overtraining could easily happen if I’m not careful. Mind you I will soon be competing in the bi-weekly Habersham Bicycles Time Trial Series where I’ll be going all out for around 24 minutes, I still think these Tuesday rides should be more calm. Now if I could only convince the other 30 or so guys that show up…

Ah Nah

So me and Hope were kept up all night by little man, better known as Aaron. My grandparents let him sleep all day yesterday because they “didn’t want to disturb him”, so me and the wife had to suffer. The other grandparents are keeping him today, and we told them to PLEASE not let him sleep after his first feeding. I guess that’s about it. I just figured I’d throw out a non-cycling post for a change.

My First Cat 3 Weekend

Sounds like the title to a classic children's book. I started the morning in a nice, steady rain. I don't think the rain let up at all for the entire duration of my run out and back. On the way out my chain kept jumping either due to poor adjustment, or to the fact that it was soaking wet. I also went a little too hard in the wrong places, but still felt pretty decent overall. I came out of the TT sitting in 13th place overall. The road race was no different from the TT in that it rained for the full 2.5 hours we were on the road. It was my job to protect my teammate in this race, and I did my best. I ended up getting dropped the final time up the climb near the end of the lap, but Andy, my teammate, did his job and finished with the pack. The criterium was probably the most interesting part of the weekend. It was beautiful and warm for the race, and it was pretty fast. We averaged 27 mph for the 46 minutes that we were on the course. I didn't start out the best and got pushed to the back, but was able to move up near the end for 13th, while Andy got 11th. On a side note for the rest of my team. Stan White tore up the TT and got a very respectable 16th I believe as Eddie Hsu got 17th right behind him. Star finished well in the road race. The entire team worked well in the crit, with Reilly bringing home 5th in the 35 under crit. This next weekend I'll be in Greenville on Saturday at the good ole' Donaldson Center. If I get lucky and do well enough to place up top, I'll come back Sunday, but only if I get payout (yeah right). Till next time!

Wet and Nasty

That's what it's gonna be for my first two races as a Cat 3! The forecast for tomorrow is rain, rain, and rain. I'm taking extra stuff just so I can towel off and go get some food. I don't have much more to say about it.

Oh Crap!

So this morning was like any other. I got up early due to the little guy waking me up. I then came to work and things were slow due to the rain. At lunch I went home to eat and then to the bike shop to say hello on the way back to work. I get back to work and take care of the rest of my day’s “fun”. When I come out of work, I don’t notice my bike on my roof any more, and think “Didn’t I have it up there when I came back to work”. I get over there, and the only thing left is a fork, due to my lock being on there! I guess that’s ballgame for me. I just lost about 4-5k in bike crap, and my car insurance won’t cover my bike being stolen even though it was on the car locked! It was fun while it lasted, I guess…