The Stage Race

So this weekend is kinda the first stage race I’ll be doing as a 3 where I won’t be working for someone (only have done one other stage as a 3, but was working for a teammate). I’m anxious about it, but at the same time a bit nervous, as the road race Sunday is quite the monster at 91 miles. Of course this in no way compares to the Cat 1, 2 race which is 114 miles, but it’ll still be tough. I guess the only plan of action I can truly follow is to stay hydrated, make sure to eat some, and stick in the pack not doing any work. If I can manage to survive the entire race, I’ll stand a good chance at the state championship as well as a really good overall finish in the stage, granted I do well in the TT and don’t get dropped in the Criterium on Saturday.

And the Shout Outs Go To…

Stephen Dean and Star Bridges for the weekend. Stephen pulled a nice 3 lap break at the end of his race (solo), but got caught on the line by one person. He ended up with a well deserved second place and was pretty dang happy. Star stayed up front (and on the front) for most of his race, trying to go off on a couple breaks and such, and came home with 6th place I believe. My weekend was eh, with my Sunday crit ending with me being caught behind a nasty crash (get well soon Adam from Harbin!), and not finishing. Yesterday was a bit better, with me still only pulling off 29th out of a 80ish field. I still have a ways to go to being pretty competitive in this 2/3 game.

No Posts

Because nothing has been going on. This has been one of the most uneventful weeks ever! I rode every day this week, lost some data from Tuesday and Wednesday by not downloading it right, and….I guess that’s it. On a side note, there’s a drug check going on here near the highway. There’s a big sign on the side of the highway right before the exit ramp that says “Drug Check 1 Mile” or something similar. They’ve arrested a lot people in two days from this! Obviously as soon as you get off the highway and round the curve there’s a caravan of local authorities there to greet you. Yesterday the towing guy said they had impounded 31 cars on the first day, and I heard yesterday was more profitable. Sorry rednecks, no meth for you this week!

Nothin Doin

Ya, so there isn't much to say about today's race. There was a break; I chased and caught; we got caught. There was another break; they stayed away; I worked way too hard up front to try and bring it back; I got pwned at the end. Nuff said.

Ride to Work Week

So I rode my bike to work yesterday, as this week is “National Ride Your Bike to Work Week”. Had a nice cool ride in the morning, and it only took me 13 minutes to get there. On the way home I took the scenic route which took about 25 minutes, dropped off my gear bag, and completed another 5 miles at recovery pace. I had a good ride, but the pollen is still kicking my butt. I don’t know if allergies are tied into your feelings and emotions, but it seems like I get depressed with allergy seasons come around for some reason. I have no reason to be, and it’s not bad. I think it could be described as feeling tired or groggy all the time. In other news, I think my little man Aaron found his feet yesterday. He would stare at them and kick them around, then smile and go to the other foot. He did this the whole time we were at Blimpie’s eating dinner. That’s about it for now, as nothing exciting has happened lately. I’ll try and post Sunday night after my race for something a bit more worth reading.

Random Ramblings

So yesterday was a nasty race. I guess coming off my injury AND a full recovery week didn’t help, but my power was really off, as obviously the SRM doesn’t lie. I averaged 262 watts for the race, but felt like it was 330, lol. The wind was crazy! I ended up getting 9th place, which doesn’t disappoint me, but obviously a little higher would have been nice. A break went with 2 laps to go and they got us. A little Kudzu kid was one of the people in the break, and a reality bikes guy was the other, I believe. All in all, we started with 50ish people and ended up with 20ish, so I guess I did okay. Sorry for the random ramblings, but I can’t think of much to write about the race. This next weekend I’ll be in John’s Creek for another criterium. I don’t know if my previous crashes were subliminally hurting me, but I kinda let myself gap a bit in the sharper turns yesterday, which is totally unlike me. I was able to close the gaps, but wasted a bit too much energy probably in doing so. Regardless of anything, racing in the 3’s is more tactile than the 4’s, but it doesn’t seem too much harder. Yesterday was a testament to how hard it can be at times, with us dropping so many people, but I’m gonna go back to a previous statement of mine pulled from Ben Jaques-Maynes. I’ve prepared myself, and days like yesterday don’t upset me because I did my best. I feel my time is coming later in the season, and I can’t wait!

Back on the Road

So after my nice little “spill” the other day, I’m heading back out this weekend to a circuit race Sunday. I have an even more important ride tomorrow, though. This is in all honesty one of my most important of the year, as sponsor and very close friend Joe Elam from Habersham Bicycles ( www.habershambicycles.com ) is the man behind the curtain of this ride. The “adventure” in question is the LAP Century, which is the Lula Assembly of Praise Century. This thing gets bigger every year, with last year bringing about 300ish people if I remember right. This ride is for the best cause of all, which is helping to further God’s kingdom by all funds going towards the church. The ride has some great scenery with very well organized SAG’s, and has many different length options from 20 miles to 103 I believe. Go to Joe’s link above and click on the LAP link there to find out more about it. Maybe some of my readers will come on over and give this ride a try. Oh, and btw, the shirts this year are pretty sweet too (good job Danny)!

I got nothing

Yep, that crash yesterday took it outta me. I had some Vo2 planned for tonight, but just couldn't get anything outta the legs. I really hope I'm feeling better for the race this weekend, but if not, It'll just be a good training race, lol.

It puts the peroxide on it's skin

And man does it burn! I got some nasty road rash yesterday in the first of two races I was in. The first was a Category 3/4 Criterium that was a little “sketchy” from the get-go. I stayed up front for pretty much the whole race, and felt great! With three laps to go I was sitting about seventh or eighth wheel. With two laps to go, a couple of guys in front of me got together on the second to last turn and just kind of “filtered” into me. I hit the ground pretty hard, and at a nice fast pace. A guy I’ve been racing with since I started broke his nose and lost a tooth (Hope you’re doing better, Nick!). My rear wheel is bent possibly beyond repair, and my frame got scratched pretty bad, so it may be cracked. As for the rash, I dug a really nice place out of my left knee, which I guess is what took the most of the impact (explains the soreness, lol). I have a nice length of rash down my left shin, as well as some on my right shin and right elbow. It really was one of those wrecks where I should have broken a bone or something, but I came out with just rash! As soon as I stood up to grab my bike, some guy starts yelling at me that the crash was my fault, but he didn’t see the guy in front of me come next to me and take me down, so I yelled back, lol. I kept my cool in word choice due to the large tent of kiddy cyclists, but we both quickly calmed when I told him that and we apologized to each other (gotta love that adrenaline).

The second race was a 2/3 race, and I kinda felt doomed when I lined up. I wouldn’t say that I “idolize” category 2 racers, but most of these guys race with the pros on a regular, and a lot of them hang in there! I just felt that if anything, the race would definitely hurt, and I was right! I think my average wattage for the 3/4 race was in the neighborhood of 245 watts, when the 2/3 race was in the neighborhood of 270-275 watts! We averaged about 26.5 in the 3/4 race, and almost 27.5 in the 2/3! There was ANOTHER crash that I was involved in during this race, but it was unavoidable, and I went down in more of a stumbling fashion than a crashing one. It was about a 30-40 guy pile up right past the start/finish on one of the first laps. It’s really hard to stop a bike that’s going about 35/40 mph! I headed to the wheel pit for a lap and then hopped back in with about 20-30 other guys. I ended up finishing in the pack, as my mentality was to use this for training, and I didn’t feel like I would stand a chance in the sprint. Thank God I made it through the weekend with just a little rash, and also that this is a recovery week anyways!

It hit the wallet...

So Hope and I were sitting in the living room last night, Hope on the couch and I on my trainer for a short recovery ride, and we were looking at our current finances. A person’s financial situation is a private thing, and I don’t plan on telling how much either of us make, but we are both very blessed to make enough to have a nice house, nice vehicles, and other things. While Hope was doing the checkbook, the main idea was to see how much racing has been costing us by driving my car and hers. The numbers may amaze you, as they did me when she told me. If I have two relatively close races, which would to me be defined as driving 2-3 hours total each weekend day, Our weekly gas costs run in the neighborhood of 160 dollars for Hope’s car, but a respectable 200 dollars for mine! Now I’m no genius, but that would indicate that we are spending in upwards of almost 800 dollars a month just to drive! We both had a serious talk about what to do, and it seems that right now we’re just going to sit it out and see how things go with me driving her car around on the weekends, since I’m the one putting in serious mileage. If nothing’s going, I’m going to start riding my bicycle to work at least 2 days a week to offset some more costs. If that doesn’t work, I really don’t know what to do. We can’t afford to get me another car, nor can we afford to operate my car at that cost. I guess the next step would be asking for a raise at work, which right now is out of the question with how slow the residential building industry is. This gas deal is really hitting us all in the wallet!