well last weekend was the UNC crit up in Greeley and it went pretty well. Again, my problem was placement on the last lap, and that I worked too much during the race. My pack skills are getting to be really good, i just work too hard during the race. Like my friend dave says, i need to be greedier during the race. I finished 8th, which isn't bad at all, but i would've liked to have done much better. I was also saving myself because later on in the day was the 1,2,3 crit and i wanted to do well in that one with some pro riders to get a feel for that group. Unfortunately i found out i had to work later on that day so i wasn't going to have time to ride a 75 minute crit, go home and shower, and make it to work on time. =( oh well. More important than my finish was how i felt during the race, and knowing that i was never farther back than 10th place is very important for crit racing, and if i can just bump my fitness up another 5%, i can start winning races instead of just having a ton of top 10 finishes.
this past week was spring break, and i didn't get to ride at all, which is kind of scary for me. I'm gonna ramp up my efforts this week and race crazy hard next weekend to get back into the swing of things. maybe a week off will serve me well as i've been training and racing hard up until now, and my peak race isn't until the first weekend in july.
In other news, even though i just got my team kit from Team Evergreen, I'm applying for a spot on the Waste Management team, which is the feeder team for Jelly Belly, which means that i'd be racing for a team which could place me on a pro team in a couple of years if i work hard enough. Pretty exciting stuff, but i'm going for the hope for the best and expect the worst attitude towards getting on that team. I'm willing to work hard to race fast, but i just don't know if i'm fast enough yet to race on a team like that. Here's hoping! That's about it. Gotta ride lots this week and get my legs back.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
century and a rest day
so since i couldn't make it to durango this weekend to race there, i decided to try to put in some pretty serious miles this weekend. Yesterday i headed out with several guys from the CU team for a century. the weather wasn't too favorable when we started, around 35 degrees, but it warmed up to around 45-50 during the ride, which was nice. The "course" took us on all roads that i've ridden on before, which is something i'll have to make changes to the next time i want to do a long ride. we rode north to lyons, then east and north to carter lake, through berthoud (where we stopped for some amazing carrot cake), back into town on county line road, then scott (my roommate) and i continued on to finish off the 105 miles with a lap of the koppenburg circuit.
today i wanted to ride, but didn't sleep much last night, so i napped and hung around the apartment instead. This week i'm gonna put in some hard hours (intervals and otherwise), and try to race at least 2 races next weekend so i can feel like i've deserved the whole of spring break off the bike. yikes! just the notion of not being able to ride for a whole week scares me. maybe i'll go for a little ride while i'm home some afternoon, or i'll hit up the stationary at one of the hotels in vegas some morning just to keep the legs moving. stupid snow...
today i wanted to ride, but didn't sleep much last night, so i napped and hung around the apartment instead. This week i'm gonna put in some hard hours (intervals and otherwise), and try to race at least 2 races next weekend so i can feel like i've deserved the whole of spring break off the bike. yikes! just the notion of not being able to ride for a whole week scares me. maybe i'll go for a little ride while i'm home some afternoon, or i'll hit up the stationary at one of the hotels in vegas some morning just to keep the legs moving. stupid snow...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
first cat 3 race... success
so another race weekend come and gone. This weekend was a big deal though, since i just got my cat 3 upgrade not too long ago and i knew i was going to be testing my legs against much bigger, faster, more skilled guys now. saturday's race was a difficult uphill/downhill/curvy time trial in bear creek lake park in morrison. the course was about 9.5 mi long and we pre-rode it on friday afternoon so we would know what to expect. last year i placed 3rd in this time trial (probably due the the fact that by this time last year i was almost at my fitness peak... no good) so i had some confidence going into it. i was the first to register on saturday morning, so i had to be the first one off on the course. little did i know that this was going be a very difficult time trial without somebody to follow and without a power meter. i went off, and got caught by herron about 7 miles into the course, then stayed close behind him (because at that point i could gage how hard to go), and finished about 38 seconds behind him, which was good enough for another 6th place finish. not bad.
sunday's race was a criterium in denver's city park. the course was tough, with 3 roundabouts, and one hard right hand turn coming out of a left hand turn that was a different experience every time i went around it. sometimes sketchy, sometimes really smooth, always fast. The b's race was early in the morning, but luckily the weather had warmed up a little bit, so by the time i was racing it was about 45 degrees. i decided to race with fingerless gloves, which turned out to be a HORRIBLE plan because my hands went numb about 10 minutes into the race, and i ended up squirming on the ground in pain after the race while my hands were gaining feeling again. seriously some of the most pain i've ever been in in my whole life. anyways the race went well, with only one crash in the middle of the race from someone unclipping from their pedal to chase down an attack. i ended up finishing 13th due to a fast and hard last lap and me having trouble moving up during the final lap from all of the hard corners and crazy roundabouts. after that i went and got some lunch and hung around for a while, then the 3's race started at around 230. the average speed during the b race was about 22 mph, and the average speed during the 3's race was about 25mph. a 3 mph increase over the course of 45 minutes is hard, especially with all of the attacking that was going on in that race and the constant acceleration involved. with about 2 to go i worked my way up the field from the back to somewhere near the front, then there was a huge acceleration out of the last corner and i moved back a couple spots to finish somewhere around 15th place. not bad for my first 3's race.
i'm not going to durango for the collegiate race that's going on down there because i have job orientation at the cheesecake factory this weekend, and it's going to be an expensive trip. i've also been racing really hard and it's still early in the season so i could use a week off to put on some more base mileage and work some more on technique. here are some pictures from this weekend.
warming up and talking with chris stockburger (former Toyota-United Pro) about some strategy
flying up towards the finish line
chasing andy down
3rd of 3 roundabouts
sunday's race was a criterium in denver's city park. the course was tough, with 3 roundabouts, and one hard right hand turn coming out of a left hand turn that was a different experience every time i went around it. sometimes sketchy, sometimes really smooth, always fast. The b's race was early in the morning, but luckily the weather had warmed up a little bit, so by the time i was racing it was about 45 degrees. i decided to race with fingerless gloves, which turned out to be a HORRIBLE plan because my hands went numb about 10 minutes into the race, and i ended up squirming on the ground in pain after the race while my hands were gaining feeling again. seriously some of the most pain i've ever been in in my whole life. anyways the race went well, with only one crash in the middle of the race from someone unclipping from their pedal to chase down an attack. i ended up finishing 13th due to a fast and hard last lap and me having trouble moving up during the final lap from all of the hard corners and crazy roundabouts. after that i went and got some lunch and hung around for a while, then the 3's race started at around 230. the average speed during the b race was about 22 mph, and the average speed during the 3's race was about 25mph. a 3 mph increase over the course of 45 minutes is hard, especially with all of the attacking that was going on in that race and the constant acceleration involved. with about 2 to go i worked my way up the field from the back to somewhere near the front, then there was a huge acceleration out of the last corner and i moved back a couple spots to finish somewhere around 15th place. not bad for my first 3's race.
i'm not going to durango for the collegiate race that's going on down there because i have job orientation at the cheesecake factory this weekend, and it's going to be an expensive trip. i've also been racing really hard and it's still early in the season so i could use a week off to put on some more base mileage and work some more on technique. here are some pictures from this weekend.
warming up and talking with chris stockburger (former Toyota-United Pro) about some strategy
flying up towards the finish line
chasing andy down
3rd of 3 roundaboutsWednesday, March 5, 2008
here we go!
So racing season officially kicked off this past weekend with the collegiate race in New Mexico. After a 9 hour ride in the Jeep (ass) Commander, we got into the Super 8 motel and checked in. Since it was already almost 11 and we had to be up by 7 to race in the morning, i just hit the hay.
We woke up at around 730 on saturday morning to head over to the time trial. We had to ride through our little truck stop town a little ways to registration, which was a complete joke with like 300 people inside a small coffee shop trying to pay and find out start times and all kinds of nonsense. After that, we rode down to the start, and were followed with the team cars that brought trainers and all kinds of stuff. Since we couldn't get our start times at the coffee shop, we all just kind of milled around the starting area until they brought out the start times. Mine was at 12:21:30pm, so i hung around for a half hour or so until11:20ish because i wanted to get at least a 1hr warmup after sitting in the cars for so long the night before. After my warmup, i headed down to the start line and waited until i was up, then i was off! Right away the course was fairly flat, and headed slightly uphill after that. Before the top of that slight uphill, i had already almost caught my :30 man, and i caught him at the crest of the hill. I shifted into my 55x11 and shot down this sweeping downhill right hand turn, topping out near 45mph, then came to the bottom of the hill and started going uphill. I didn't want to shift down into the small ring because i've been having some shifting problems, so i went into my 55x23 and hammered up the uphill part, and just after the top of that hill, i caught my 1:00 man, and could see the turnaround and my 1:30 man just taking the corner. After flying around the turnaround, i started hammering back towards the finish line with my only intent to catch my 1:30 man. he was fast, and knew i was on his tail so he was giving it all he had to stay away, but i overtook him on the last climb, and flew back down to the start line back in the 55x11 going about 40mph on flat road. After finishing, i knew i had to have done well after catching 3 people, and i ended up getting 6th place.
After the TT, i had a little while to cool down and hang around before the TTT. Our start time for the TTT was something like 1:45pm, so i started to warm up again at around 1. We started out pretty strong, each of us taking good pulls. my team was Alex Hauger, Steven Herzfeld, Herron Kennedy, and myself. The order was Herron, Me, Steven, Alex. we all climbed the first hill well, and kept taking constant pulls. There was another CU team in front of us, and when we got to the turnaround, we could see that they were well inside of the 2 minutes they had on us from the start, so we all made it our goal to catch them. After the turnaround, it took at least 2 minutes before we saw the team which was behind us, meaning that we were more than 4 minutes in front of them. On the way back to the finish line, Herron was in front of me and all of a sudden he yelled "CRASH!!" and i looked around him and John, one of the CU riders had crashed going about 30mph when he crossed up wheels from a wind gust. We steered around them and continued on, knowing that if we stopped to help, we'd just be more in the way for the team behind us. We finished the course a little shaken up both from the crash and from having to dodge a few extraneous people on the course and an oncoming team, but still managed to place 1st.
The next day was crit day. Saturday's weather was in the mid 70's all day, and sunday was somewhere in the mid to high 40's. I started where i usually start, on the outside in the front, and from the start was on the front right away. The first couple of laps went slowly as everyone was getting their footing and getting used to the course. After a few laps and a few attacks off the front by Peter O'Donnell, i decided i needed to do my share of the work, and on the uphill, tailwind part of the course, i made a huge effort to try to get away from the pack. I kept driving without looking back, and soon enough, when i did look back, i had pulled 3 riders away from the pack with me. It was me, Conor, and 2 guys from CC. We held off the pack for 20 minutes on the course, and after picking up a few more guys who bridged from the pack, Conor got 1st, i got 4th, and we all got some pretty good prime points for being in the front for so long.
getting ready for the TTT
before the TT
killing the break
driving on the front
We woke up at around 730 on saturday morning to head over to the time trial. We had to ride through our little truck stop town a little ways to registration, which was a complete joke with like 300 people inside a small coffee shop trying to pay and find out start times and all kinds of nonsense. After that, we rode down to the start, and were followed with the team cars that brought trainers and all kinds of stuff. Since we couldn't get our start times at the coffee shop, we all just kind of milled around the starting area until they brought out the start times. Mine was at 12:21:30pm, so i hung around for a half hour or so until11:20ish because i wanted to get at least a 1hr warmup after sitting in the cars for so long the night before. After my warmup, i headed down to the start line and waited until i was up, then i was off! Right away the course was fairly flat, and headed slightly uphill after that. Before the top of that slight uphill, i had already almost caught my :30 man, and i caught him at the crest of the hill. I shifted into my 55x11 and shot down this sweeping downhill right hand turn, topping out near 45mph, then came to the bottom of the hill and started going uphill. I didn't want to shift down into the small ring because i've been having some shifting problems, so i went into my 55x23 and hammered up the uphill part, and just after the top of that hill, i caught my 1:00 man, and could see the turnaround and my 1:30 man just taking the corner. After flying around the turnaround, i started hammering back towards the finish line with my only intent to catch my 1:30 man. he was fast, and knew i was on his tail so he was giving it all he had to stay away, but i overtook him on the last climb, and flew back down to the start line back in the 55x11 going about 40mph on flat road. After finishing, i knew i had to have done well after catching 3 people, and i ended up getting 6th place.
After the TT, i had a little while to cool down and hang around before the TTT. Our start time for the TTT was something like 1:45pm, so i started to warm up again at around 1. We started out pretty strong, each of us taking good pulls. my team was Alex Hauger, Steven Herzfeld, Herron Kennedy, and myself. The order was Herron, Me, Steven, Alex. we all climbed the first hill well, and kept taking constant pulls. There was another CU team in front of us, and when we got to the turnaround, we could see that they were well inside of the 2 minutes they had on us from the start, so we all made it our goal to catch them. After the turnaround, it took at least 2 minutes before we saw the team which was behind us, meaning that we were more than 4 minutes in front of them. On the way back to the finish line, Herron was in front of me and all of a sudden he yelled "CRASH!!" and i looked around him and John, one of the CU riders had crashed going about 30mph when he crossed up wheels from a wind gust. We steered around them and continued on, knowing that if we stopped to help, we'd just be more in the way for the team behind us. We finished the course a little shaken up both from the crash and from having to dodge a few extraneous people on the course and an oncoming team, but still managed to place 1st.
The next day was crit day. Saturday's weather was in the mid 70's all day, and sunday was somewhere in the mid to high 40's. I started where i usually start, on the outside in the front, and from the start was on the front right away. The first couple of laps went slowly as everyone was getting their footing and getting used to the course. After a few laps and a few attacks off the front by Peter O'Donnell, i decided i needed to do my share of the work, and on the uphill, tailwind part of the course, i made a huge effort to try to get away from the pack. I kept driving without looking back, and soon enough, when i did look back, i had pulled 3 riders away from the pack with me. It was me, Conor, and 2 guys from CC. We held off the pack for 20 minutes on the course, and after picking up a few more guys who bridged from the pack, Conor got 1st, i got 4th, and we all got some pretty good prime points for being in the front for so long.
getting ready for the TTT
before the TT
killing the break
driving on the frontall in all a great race weekend with some great results. hopefully i can do just as well this weekend, and i'm going to be racing my first cat 3 race on sunday afternoon, so we'll see how that goes.
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