Great Weekend!

So this weekend was the "Atlanta Crit Series". I'm still racing as a category 3 cyclist because my request to upgrade a month or so ago was rejected at the time. It's a long story, but this weekend was good enough to definitely push me into being able to cat up.

Friday was the first of the series, with us being thrown in the pit with the masters racers. I attacked off the front later in the race for some reason by myself. Fortunately, another guy name Tyler from Pacesetters thought it'd be a good idea, and he had a teammate bring him up to me soon afterwards. We were quickly joined by another guy and established our break to finish the field off three deep. I ended up third!

Saturday saw us racing a great course in Marietta, GA that is used in the Georgia Games weekend. Saturday AM was a decent race for me, in that I got 9th overall, but bad in that I missed the break-away of 5 guys and was left in the unmotivated pack to sprint for the 3 money spots left.

Saturday Evening was at the same course, and I was much better off here, getting in a two man break with another guy from Mellow Mushroom who was really strong. For some idiotic reason I decided to let the pain win this time and dropped off our break to drift back to the pack. My break-mate had another plan, and he solo'd for the victory. I did end up attacking a little early towards the end, though, and came away with 5th place.

Yesterday was the best of the weekend, with me getting in another break with 5 other guys mid-way through the race. I stuck it this time, learning my lesson from the day before, and came out with 2nd on the day! I had my favorite podium mate with me, and the whole weekend was a great success!

Crits!

So this weekend I'm doing the Atlanta Crit series over in Marietta, Georgia. So far I've done three crits with a third place, ninth place, and fifth place finish. Not to bad so far, but the fifth would have been a second or first if I would have dug a little deeper to stay in the break. You live and you learn I guess!

The Epic

So what is an epic? I guess it's what you make it. To some people, an epic may be a 12 hour ride/race. To me, it was my 6 hour 125 mile ride yesterday. I've never ridden that far all at once, and it was definitely an experience. I was even more surprised that my first real cramps didn't come till 5 hours and 45 minutes, and they only lasted about 30 seconds! All in all, it was a very good ride, and I got to ride with Caesar Grajales from Rock Racing who is super nice and talked to me about different stuff, and Phil Southernland from Team Type 1 who is equally as nice and gave me more words of wisdom. Here's the numbers:

Time on bike: 6:02:59
Distance: 124.06 miles
Calories Burned: 4041
Average Power: 188
Normalized Power: 240!

Back on the Horse

So I took 3 days off the bike and today was my first day back. I had a really good ride, averaging about 200 watts for 2 hours for a nice, easy, casual, ect...ride. This weekend I'm staying local for some longer miles and some hard riding. I don't race again till Labor Day weekend when I have 4 crits around Marietta, GA. I'll keep ya posted!

Grant Park and the Late Nighter

So Grant Park could be taken either way. I got 5th, which brought with it some payout (but less than 6th Saturday?) and some more category points (1 more for 19 total). A break went at the right time and two guys got some serious time on the field. A few of us went off the front to chase and dropped the field, but were caught within a few laps. As soon as we were caught, I attacked again to hopefully wear out some people who had struggled to stay in the pack that just chased us down. For once, my attack worked! Six of us got off the front and spelled “ball game” for the pack, holding our “chase break” for the remainder of the race. Once again, my crap sprint yielded me 5th place as I stated above, but I’m not really disappointed. My normalized power for 46 minutes was 325 watts, which is decent considering this was more or less a “climbers” crit. The only regret I have is that I worked too much, as three or four of us worked very hard in the chase group to…well…chase. The one in the group that got the last podium spot was the guy who did absolutely nothing in the group. He sat at the back the entire time and sucked wheel. Not really a big deal, as I’m convinced had he worked he would have been shelled off the group. I got an insight to who some tough riders are in the 3’s, as my break-mates who worked were all very strong. Next race isn’t until Labor Day weekend, so time to recover and get some longer rides in!

I almost forgot about the “Late Nighter” part of the title. Nothing major here, just the little guy having an upset stomach till pretty late last night and keeping us up. Once he started to settle down he was laying next to me in the bed. He would rub his little night pants and then rub my hair. He did this for about 5 minutes till he finally passed out. Then my wife took him to his crib and all was well.

A Bit of Frustration

I feel that for this time of the year, I'm leaps and bounds ahead of what I could have ever expected. Through support from family, team, coach, and the big guy upstairs, I've made it this far into the season with no major injury. I do, however, feel that I need to work quite a bit on my "pack smarts". This is the cause of my frustration. I did a race today that lasted right at 3 hours, and my normalized power was 273 watts. For a number that high, I would have expected a podium finish. I got sixth. I'm not disappointed that I got sixth, as I feel good about anything in the money. I seem to have a problem staying in the pack and not working. I'm the only cat 3 on my team that races regularly, so I'm always alone in races. I tell myself every race when a break goes that another team will bring it back, but I still end up chasing it for some reason. Regardless, today came down to a pack sprint where I had the podium, but due to my sub-par 975 watt sprint I slipped to 6th. Tomorrow is Grant Park!

Another Good Weekend

I’ll throw down a little more for you guys this time, as I haven’t been posting much. I’m trying to condense my life down to God, family, work, and riding. I find it particularly hard to fit the God part in, as most of us do in our busy lives. I carry my bible with me on weekend racing trips, but rarely read it. I do always thank God for helping me to make it through a weekend without crashing, even if I don’t do well. I feel that even though my parents were very athletic at my age, my cycling abilities aren’t quite as “genetic” as some other people I know. I work hard, but the big guy watches out for me and gives me the talent and alertness I need to be successful. Lord knows I’ve prayed during a race many times to stop cramping and I did. The family part is complicated too. I have a little son now who’s 5 months and 1 week old. He’s probably the cutest and coolest little guy you could ever meet. I’ve always hated living the wife for a weekend of racing, but now I have two people to miss. When I’m home I’m riding the trainer much more often in order to be able to watch him while my wife works around the house, or just so I can talk to my wife about stuff and still get my training in. Riding is the same, lol. I train during the week and race on the weekend. Not much more to say.

This weekend was the Elberton GA Cup. The 4 guys dominated the state TTT championship by 2 minutes 53 seconds. I won the 3/4 criterium in a 3-man break later that day, and Eddiue Hsu got 4th in the 35+ cat 4/5 crit. Later that day I got 9th in the 3 crit. I got 12/13th or something in the road race, while Gary Papka got 5th I think, and Star Bridges won the 4/5 35+. A good weekend for the team. This weekend I’m racing at 5pm in Atlanta at Grant Park. It’s a nasty little criterium/circuit race with a good kick every lap. If I don’t update before then, I’ll do so Monday probably.