How are you spending your New Year's Eve?

Ushering in a new year.

1 hour 30 minutes on the trainer

22 minutes of Spin Ups

18 minutes of alternating ILT's

20 minutes of standing Tempo Climbing

12 minutes of alternating ILT's

5 minutes of Spin Ups

5 minutes of 100+ rpm cool-down

Nothing but fun.

Happy New Year.

Interim Ride

So, until a new bike arrives, a friend of mine is letting me use his Scott Addict. With my Dura Ace wheelset the bike runs about 15.7 pounds - with an Ultegra Kit.

I rode one of these about a year ago, and what I remembered about this bike - that it's a rocket uphill - was correct. It responds instantly to any acceleration. It's not as comfortable, or as stable, as the Giants, but definitely a better climber.

SDGE vs Giant

Wednesday's ride was going well until this...

This is what happens when a 9000 lb truck rolls over a carbon frame...

At least I wasn't on it.

Recovery

Well, 2 and a half weeks on from the Thanksgiving Day disaster - my ribs feel much better (still hurts like hell when I sneeze) - but my back is still quite sore. I was able to get back onto the bike a few days later and push on through.

Most of the folks who ride on Wednesday were out braving the rain at Cycling Camp San Diego's Anza Borrego climbing camp, so it was a solo ride for me. Since I was free to go at my own speed, I decided stop by Cosmos Coffee for an espresso and a pecan roll... I was planning on burning it off anyway! I rode up 94 and Skyline as usual, and then took a detour up Lawson to the dirt road. It always a fun ride, a little taste of cyclo-cross. After stopping at the grocery I made another detour up Honey Springs and then, on a whim, made a left on to Deerhorn Valley... quite nice. At then end of the day I bagged 83 miles, 3100 kilojoules of work, and 6000' climbing.

A couple of trainer workout were thrown in for good measure, and then big mileage was on the plate for today. Up through Torey Pines, Encinitas, Elfin Forest, Lake Hodges, and then a climb up to Ramona and back home: 85 miles, 2800 kilojoules, and 3900' of climbing.

A good week.

Ouch...

Went out to ride Noble Canyon Thanksgiving morning w/ the guys from Bicycle Warehouse. It's been a long time since I was on a mountain bike - a year and a half. And the last time I wound up with a amazing case of poison oak, got it everywhere... everywhere. So I figured a year and a half was enough time to rid myself of the bad karma and was ready to rip.



Apparently a year and a half is enough time for me to lose all of my "mad bikin' skillz" because I lasted all of 10 minutes. Kai rolled up on me on my hands and knees gasping for breath - Robb managed to get the aftermath on his video camera. Not pretty, a bruised hip and some broken ribs... and 10 miles to go.



great way to begin the season.

Bike Review: TCR Advanced SL

So, I've spent the last few months on Giant's new TCR Advanced SL. It's the latest incarnation of Giants top end road bike, the frame that Denis Menchov rode to victory in the 2009 Giro d'italia. Not too shabby.

I've logged about 2000 miles on it so far. I am pretty impressed. The frame is simply one of the most comfortable and responsive one's I've ever had the chance to ride. Giant set out to create one of the best "all around" race bikes out there, and I think they have succeeded. They've tried to create a bike that balances light weight, stiffness, and comfort.

One of the ways in which they manage to do this is to use their top end T-800 carbon (read Trek's OCLV2 Red, Felt's UHC-Nano, Scott's HMX Net, blah, blah, blah...)... boring stuff really. The main way they do this is by controlling the manufacturing process; from designing their own frames, to weaving their own carbon sheets, to building their own resins, to molding their own frames to building their own bikes. But, every bike company does this right? Wrong. Most farm it out to, well... Giant. This includes several European brands as well as some marquis US lines. They know how to build bikes.

As for the ride, the bike feels very stable; descending the twisting roads of Lyons Valley the over sized headtube and rectangular downtube kept the bike planted while carving the turns.

When the road turns up the bike is no slouch either, it takes whatever power you can muster and turns it into forward momentum. Grinding up Palomar in your 39 x 27 almost becomes a pleasure.

I rode it with my Cosmic SL's and even though these are not the smoothest of wheelsets, the bike was comfortable even on 6 or 7 hour training rides. On the last few Wednesday rides we've taken to "the dirt" and the bike was remarkably stable; swallowing rock, gravel, and dirt as if it was on good ole tarmac.

I was also able to test out the new Shimano Ultegra 6700 groupo. This was very impressive as well. The new hoods and brake/shift levers are much more comfortable than last year's. A wider, flatter mech body deserve much of the credit. The new shape of the brake lever is much appreciated as well. The front derailleur shifting is smoother, due to a stiffer cage and the new hollow chainrings. The shifting is also improved through use of heavier springs and a more "positive" action. A hearty "Ka-Chunk" greets each downshift... a nod to Campy and SRAM. Performance is on par with most aspects of the new SRAM groupos and in some instances exceeds them. But at this level, it seems that any conversation of the benefits of Shimano over SRAM over Campy de-volves into a beer fueled Chevy vs. Ford argument - at the end of the day everyone makes a great groupo.

All in all it my favorite bike so far. Hmm, now how am I going to scrape enough green together to pick one up of my own?

Training Again

It was a hectic week, trying to fit bike riding in between the demands of work and life. Some exciting news on the equipment front as Bell Sports is sending me out a new helmet, Lake is sending out some new shoes, and Easton a few sets of demo wheels to try out!

Speaking of equipment, I wanted to thank Demany from Smith Optics for the new pair of Parallels! They are some of the best sunglasses I've ever tried. They fit my face perfectly, without any of the gaps in coverage that some of my others have. Lens clarity is great, and they stick to my face when things "hot up." Very impressed.

As for the 2010 Giant TCR Advanced SL I've been riding, it very well may be the best all around bike I've ever ridden. More on that later.

I rode my first SDBC ride this Saturday with Jon from SDBC and Rashaun from Swamis'. It was good to mix it up and definitely interesting to ride with such a large group. A different type of riding than I have been doing as most of the Cyclovet group rides are more individual training oriented and the SDBC was more "race" like - not necessarily race pace, but in terms of placement. I think I'll try to add it every now and then, I'll be good practice.

Wednesday

A bad day today. We had a smaller group for today's ride, strong riders - but all going at an easy pace, enjoying what passes for fall in San Diego. Half of us took to "the dirt," up to the four corners. A good day up to this point. On the way back, just before we entered Mexican Canyon. Brit's tire exploded, knocking himself and Gary to the pavement. Gary was pretty dazed and bruised up; Brit wound up getting a ride in an ambulance. That makes four crashes this year, two ending with a trip to the hospital.

Off Season

Okay, I finally burned out a few weeks ago. I'd been training for my last race of the season... the Everest Challenge; 29000' of climbing over 180 miles and 2 days... a worthy goal; and was getting more and more exhausted.

It was too much, that along with some drastic changes at work, threw the race out the window. So, I called it quits on 2009 and took some time off.

It was harder than I thought.

Seems like the guys out here really don't take time off, they simply train all year - and they seem always get stronger and stronger... so the group rides have been somewhat trying. Spinning small gears while everyone flies by in their 53's is a little hard on the ego. Fortunately (and by fortunately I mean unfortunately) work stepped in and demanded additional attention.

But 2010 beckons... base training begins Monday.

Vegas Baby!

It's been hot in San Diego, really hot. For those of you back east, every thing you've heard about San Diego weather is true. It's 55 degree winters and 75 degree sumers. Once you move here you acclimate very quickly, anything over 80 you are sweating non-stop, anything under 60 you are grabing the hoody and a hat - bloody odd for someone born in the midwest, but.... For the past month we've had several days north of 100...
absolutely miserable.

So to escape the heat what does one do? Fly out to Vegas! Ah yes... Vegas - the land of air conditioning, slot machines, and the yearly convention of bike lust... Interbike. Some good stuff this year...

One of the most exciting things coming out of Interbike this year was a new GPS computer from Garmin. The Garmin 500 is an ANT+ compatable cycle computer that stores Maping Data, Heart Rate, and can be paired with a PowerTap, ErgoMeter, or SRM.

Another amazing thing was the new Reynolds RZR wheelset 900 grams per pair, the ability to inflate your clincher tires to 200 PSI, Non-tensioned carbon spokes, a 180 lbs rider weight limit... all for only $6000.

One of the neatest thing was the number of pro rider bikes on display. Of course they had Contador's Trek Madone, Lance's TT bike, and Cancellara's Specialized. Cavendish's Scott was on display - very small, in fact all the pro bikes were pretty small... 50's and 52's. What was really noticeable about these bikes was the amount of wear and tear on these babies... I've seen 5 year old bikes that looked better than Manx Missile's here... pretty cool.

Cav's Scott Addict - 15 lbs of British Sprinting Fury!

New Ride

Managed to get my hands on a 2010 Giant TCR Adanced SL. 15.5 lbs w/ Shimano Ultegra.

I'm pretty excited about this one since I've been looking at purchasing one of these for a while. I've been impressed with my 2008 TCR, smooth, fast, and somewhat light... so I'm expecting a lot out of the SL... Dennis Menchov won the Giro on this frame after all...

Bike review coming soon.

Race Report: Ladera Ranch

So, I learned three very important things at last weekend's Ladera Ranch Grand Prix. Or, to be more pedantic, relearned three very important things.

1. No matter how slow you think the field is going, Do Not move to the front in order to "break up" the group. It's stupid and wastes energy; if you were the second coming of Jens Voight you would not be racing a Cat 5 race around an elementary school in Orange County.

2. Do not pull off the front of the field with 15 minutest go, and if you do do not go solo. Once again, it's a long race, and you have no teammates.

3. If you failed at your first attempt on a solo break, whatever you do, Don't Try it Again. Wait for the sprint.

12th Place....

After a few "lighter" weeks, post Mt Evans, this week's schedule included a significant increase in both miles and climbing feet.

Wednesday was the usual 75 miles and 5800' of the Cyclovet Ride. It was Rob's last day before heading up north to Law School, so Josh thought he'd give him a good send off by setting an insane pace up 94. Only Jack, Rob, and I were able to follow, with Jack and I falling off the back 3/4 of the way up.

I faired much better for the second half of the climb (Well, Rob and Josh turned back), hanging onto Jack's wheel and then powering away (Yes, that's called wheel sucking...). I've been feeling pretty strong, 20 min LT power hanging just south of 320 watts. The time in Colorado seems to have done me some good.

Thursday's ride was a little "me time" - a solo ride up Mt. Laguna. I love this ride, it has a nice lead in, some decent climbing, and light traffic. Last time I rode it there was snow on the ground, a bit warm for that today. The ride winds up the 79 and past Lake Cuyamaca. The fires moved through this area a few years ago, the forests still look a little worse for wear.

The ride tops out just over 6000', it's hard to find anything taller in San Diego County - our version of high alttitude training. It was a slow and steady day, plently of "This American Life" on the IPOD, and plenty of drink breaks... a good way to spend the day.

Lookout Mountain / Ward / and Hail

Heading out to Colorado didn't just mean struggling up Mt Evans for hours and hours. It was also an opportunity to re-ride some of my favorite rides along the Front Range.

Sunday, after the race, Steve, Cody, Adam and I went for a quick spin. After stopping for coffee at the Gallop Cafe (great place check them out next time you are in Denver) we looped through downtown, around Wash. Park, and then back to Green Mountain. After dropping Cody off at his place, Adam and I rode out to Red Rocks and hit some dirt over the grapevine - nothing like a little gravel on a road bike.

Monday, I headed out to Golden, home of Coors Beer (Pure Rocky Mountain Water my a$*), The School of Mines, and one of my favorite training climbs, Lookout Mountain. Lariat Loop Road climbs 1220 ft. in 4.7 miles. It twists and turns it's way up the east face of Lookout finishing up near Buffalo Bill's grave. Back a few years ago, we used it training repeats and fitness tests. You haven't lived until you've done 20 minute standing drills, or 3 minute ILT repeats. A good time up lookout is in the low 20's, pro times are in the 18's, Tom Danielson did it in just over 16... without pushing too hard, and after killing myself up Evans, I turned in a 24.

After a 94 degree afternoon, Monday evening brought in a huge storm, a temperature drop of 30 degrees, tornadoes, and the worst hail storm I had every seen. Welcome to Colorado!

Tuesday morning brought hail stones piled up like snow drifts. Pretty crazy, I headed up towards Boulder by way of Arvada and Westminster. The plan was to ride up to Ward, elevation 9450'. It was cold, but I figured after Monday's 90 degrees, the sun would break through and roast everything. I rode up the old Morgul Bismark route and into south Boulder. I worked my way through to the north side and pulled into one of my favorite coffee shops, Amante. A little bit of Italia in North Boulder; they even were opening up at 5 am for the live broadcast of Le Tour. A double espresso, a veg breggo, and out the door for the climb up Lee Hill. Just to the west of Boulder, Lee Hill is a steep climb up to a connector to Lefthand Canyon - one of Colorado's great climbs.

Lefthand Canyon is a steady, smooth climb through the pines and aspens. It's pretty long and has a very steep ramp up the last 2 to 3 miles into Ward. Ward is a "hippie wonderland", more so than even it's sister mountain town, Nederland. Dirt roads, empty buses, outhouses, real rural Colorado. I grabbed a couple of waters, chugged a root beer, and dove back down lefthand canyon. A bit cold on the way down, the 50 degree temperature, overcast skies, and my dressing as if it was 95 degrees made for a fairly chilly decent. Not fun.

Wednesday held a trip up to Winterpark for some mountain biking with Adam and Stevie T. Adam hooked me up with a Pivot Mach 4 from the guys at Wheatridge Cyclery , THE bike shop in Colorado. Absolutely blown away by this bike. Light, climbs like a banshee, and decends quick enough to keep up with Adam's Specialized FSR Enduro.

After climbing over the pass we dropped into Winter Park. Adam wanted to scout out the course for the following weekend's race. We headed up the backside (near Fraiser) and crossed over to the resort. It was fantastic! I really like riding at Winter Park, and have had some great races up there. The 10,000 ft altitude is no picnic, but the views and the riding are awesome.

Race Report: Mt Evans Hill Climb

Ouch... I can't say that I'm all that happy with my performance at the Mt Evans Hill Climb in Colorado last weekend. While I hate to throw out an excuse, the altitude was just too much. When I first did this race a few years back I lived at 5280 feet and regularly rode at 8000 feet. I now live at 400 feet and max out around 3500 feet. Big difference.

I flew into Denver early Friday morning and made my way over to my friend Steve's apartment in Belmar to couch surf (Thanks, Burito!). I quickly threw my bike together and headed out for a spin through my old stomping grounds of Wheatridge and Arvada. I felt good, in fact better than I thought I would. My start time for Saturday morning was 8:30 am - so an early night was in store. Everything was a go.

After a quick ride up to Idaho Springs I changed into my MTCCSD kit and headed to the start line. The race is a gradual climb from the start; after a quick, relatively straight 6 mile lead in up Chicago Creek Road the road takes a hard left and then ramps up it's way to Echo Lake. Here, the peloton began to break apart; I set a steady pace for myself and began to pull back several of the riders that had pushed off the front. Most of us were riding in 1's or 2's. About 3 quarters of the way up to Echo Lake we began to pass a few riders that had pulled off to the side of the road, hands on their knees, relieving themselves of their pre-race breakfasts.

At Echo Lake the road flattens out and heads up to Mt. Evans Road. As we passed by the Feed Zone at the Park Gate I was already feeling the effects of the altitude - 10,700 feet. I almost never get headaches - and have never had a migraine - and yet I was absolutely certain that I was getting my first one.

The road winds it way up through the last of the pines, up some pretty steep and long ramps. Thanks to the guys ringing the cow bells! The trees thin out and finally give way to the rock and alpine grasses at about 11,700' - were the wind began to pick up and I began to seriously slow down. I could feel my muscles in my lower back, my shoulders, and my arms begin to cramp up, my breath seemed to be coming slower and slower, and my brain seemed unable to concentrate on nothing else than the 10' section of road right before me. In fact, I don't remember a whole lot about the race after this point.

The climb to Summit Lake @ 12,500' (you actually climb to about 13,000' and then drop down into the basin) was a blur of gasping, grunting, and grinding out the miles. The road is pretty buckled from the constant freezing and thawing of the ground underneath, so the riding was somewhat rough. Passing by the lake you have a fair amount of momentum from the short downhill, but then turn to the left and are confronted by an absolute monster of a climb, a series of 12 and 14% ramps for about a mile. Pain... pain... pain.

I actually thought about turning around at this point, my headache was about as bad as I've ever had, my back was done for, and I was just plum tired. I forced myself to think only one pedal stroke at a time and spun my 39 x 27.

I made it to the top, body cramping and head throbbing in 2:46. Not exactly what I was hoping for - I thought I might be able to turn a 2:15. At the top all I wanted to do was to collapse in a heap of self pitting and cramping muscles, but I forced myself to through on some warm clothes, gulp down some cliff bars, swing my leg back over my bike, and coast down the mountain. After losing a couple of thousand feet, I felt like new... WTF.

I'll be back next year.

Rocky Mountain High

So tomorrow morning I will be winging my way to Colorado. The Mt. Evans Hill Climb, my second "A" race for the season. I'm feeling pretty amped for this one... the training has been good, but I am a little nervous about the altitude. Not that you can really prepare for an elevation of 12,000+ (unless I wanted to move to Peru for the summer).

It's a pretty gradual climb, a steady 5 to 6% grade for most of the ride with some ramps of 10%+. The first section, from Idaho Springs to about 6 miles in, is a pretty quick and straight tempo ride; then, the road swings to the left and beings to climb in earnest up to Echo Lake. A short false flat follows and then the road turn to the right and climbs up past the ranger station. After another mile or two of climbing through the pines you pass through the treeline. As I remember, this is where I began to slow down last time - like moving through molasses - by moving through molasses I mean moving SLOWLY.

Next, you begin to work your way along the ridge towards Mt Evans. Lots of crosswinds and severe dropoffs - hundreds and hundreds of feet down - a little nerve wracking. A quick drop down to Summit Lake before a long switch back drag up to the finish @ the top.

Times to the top seem to vary from year to year, mostly due to weather conditions, so I don't have a time goal, but would like to finish somewhere respectable...

Well see how it turns out.

Results

So, this is what I woke up to today ( at 5am... I really am turning into my father...).

Cody had two planned 20 minute LT Time Trials today:

Your Workouts for Wednesday:

Threshold-
RideType: Bike
Planned duration: 3:00
Planned distance: 50.0 miles
PEAK WORKOUT: Warm-up + 2x20 min climbs (honey springs?) + Cool-down. Ride the first climb as a TT for best time (don't concern yourself with power so much, ride by feel and note avg power after climb, guessing around 315w), ride the second climb at 15% less power than first climb (this is roughly what power you would climb a 2+ hour climb at).you'll take about 20% off the first climb to roughly find Evans power considering altitude.


So with goal in hand I headed out on the ride - once again the weekly wednesday Cyclovet ride, about one week before I head out to Colorado. It was a full group today with some strong riders - Jamba Juice, Cyclovets, Dewalt, Swami's, and Janel from Webcor. After winding our way out to Spring Valley (or is it Rancho San Diego?) the group hit the climb up Campo Road towards Jamul. The big guys put in some effort and gaped the rest of us - fine, I wanted to do some good work on the TT and it's the second part up skyline truck trail that would allow me to do a full 20 min effort.

The first portion of skyline is about 5% grade. I set a fairly steady pace - I couldn't complete ignore the computer, but tried to go by feel as much as I could - using the others off the front as rabbits. The data for this section shows an average wattage of 336. There is a short fast decent - keeping the watts up while flying downhill is not my strong suit. After this section the climb continues at 7% for several miles. This second ramp is always painful, but I just focused on remaining as steady as I could - 327 watts. After a third short downhill it was another effort of 338 watts.

After dissecting the data on WKO and PowerAgent my 20 min LT looks like at least 320 watts! a vast improvement over my last testing. If I take out the downhill sections (you could argue that they are opportunities for recovery...) and replace them with more of the uphill portions my 20 minute effort is somewhere just north of 330 watts! That's some good power! If I had done Honey Springs as Cody had suggested I might have a better idea, but I think having some other riders to chase helped a bit. I might use the 320 number for Evans figuring that if I have anything left at the end I can always push hard then... beside I won't have the PowerTap for that race anyway - I'll need the much lighter DA's for that...

So by plugging in the 320watts we get the following goals:

2+ HR TT: 272watts
Evans goal: 256 watts

Hmmm... wonder if I can tell the difference between a "perceived effort" of 256 watts or 265 watts...

On the way home we did the usual series of sprints and I tried to break away at the top of the Campo Road sprint and soloed up Bancroft, but was caught by Josh and Janel... I'll take that.

Another good omen is that I hit some new maximal power numbers.

Peak Power: 1288 watts
Peak Power 5 sec: 1227 watts
Peak Power 20 min: 320 watts

And my threshold power looks like it's now 307 watts, broke the 300 barrier - that's good - and on track.

Beans and Burritos: Vol. 3

Clairemont is not exactly San Diego's most exciting neighborhood - it's one half retirement town and one half "wrong side of the tracks"; but living on the north side of town has it's advantages... proximity to the ocean, easy access to Mt. Soledad, a quick ride to the PCH. It also is close to one of my favorite coffee stops... Cafe 976... The food isn't terribly good... neither is the coffee... and the service even less so... But, the scenery... that's another matter. Pacific Beach is only about 4 miles from my place up in Clairemont. Sitting on the corner of Feldspar and Cass, Cafe 976 has one of the most amazing outdoor patios in San Diego.



Cafe 976 has an extensive menu - breakfast, lunch - and serves up San Diego's own Cafe Moto Coffee. It's a convenient place to stop by for a pre-ride espresso and Trieste ( scrambled eggs, sun dried tomatoes, feta, and potatos - or potatoes if you prefer). Like I said if you are looking for epicurean delights this isn't the place, but if you are looking for a place to waste away the afternoon with a Cup O' Joe and the Union Trib's crossword you could do much worse.





Rebecca's Coffee House in South Park is another matter. If you are lucky enough, or obsessed enough (yours truly), to arrive at Rebecca's before 7am you will be just in time to grab some of the first batch of her freshly baked scones. Your ready haven't had a scone until you've had one of these. In fact, I'd dare say that after having one of these, you'll never be satisfied with anyone else's.



The one picture to the right is an apple cinnamon. Approximately 3000 calories of gastronomic goodness. I'm pretty certain that all 3000 calories are from fat, and not the good kind, but you have to live every now and then. Oh, by the way... they also come with a side of homemade preserves.

If you get there late, it's well worth your time to wait the 40 minutes for the next batch, call in late to work... and get a second for your boss, after one taste they'll understand.

Wheewww...

Last week... a bit much. Long, long hard miles. Tuesday was a series of 3 minute progressive VO2 max intervals. The results were good: 280, 310,325, 354, and 376 watt efforts up Torrey Pines. Wednesday was the Cyclovet's Highline ride, on which Gary showed us a detour up the dirt fire roads, very cool! I logged in over 6 hours. Thursday, was to be a solo ride up the Great Western, but I ran into Josh (Swami's) and Rob (Cyclovet's) and had some well appreciated company. I did put in several 10 minute efforts of 281, 338, 312, and 285 watts with 4 minutes rest between. I felt pretty strong pulling up to the house after another 6.5 hour day. Friday on the other hand... I couldn't even pull myself up on the bike for a slow recovery ride. Saturday was another 4 hour ride, and Sunday a painful 6 hours in the saddle... all told nearly 28 hours and 370 miles. Uff Da!

All this as the final prep for the Mount Evans Hill Climb(http://www.bicyclerace.com/index.php). It runs from Idaho Spring, Co ( Ev. 7555'), 27 miles to the top of Mt. Evans (Ev. 14130'). It climbs a total of 6915' up the highest paved road in North America. Coming up from sea level it's going to be nothing but pain. I did this race a few years back, and I remember my body all but shutting down by the time I hit treeline, there's just not enough oxygen. Should be fun.

Congrats to C-Dog on the killer race this weekend! http://www.codywaite.blogspot.com/ That's one race series I really miss.

The Major Taylor kit came in this weekend, as well as the new EPC Jerseys - and it's a good thing, there's not much left holding my old kit together.

The Major Taylor kit is fantastic, cool retro look with really good attention to detail from the folks at Champion. Jerseys, bibs, vest, and jacket - designed by the founder of the club - good stuff

The EPC gear is completely "off the hook", Cody and Pearl Izumi hooked us up with their best... their Pro Octane line up - it's doesn't get better than this. I don't think I've ever worn anything so good at moving the sweat away or so good at keeping your core temperature level. If you're in the market for some new cycling clothing, be certain to take a gander at Pearl Izumi.

Watch out for this guy... a good showing in stage 6 and then wins stage 7 in the Dauphine. David is ready for a big Tour De France. 'bout time, maybe the French will have something to crow about.

After last week's "rest" I was chomping at the bit to really push it this week. Monday was a short 1 hour ride to loosen the legs up and was followed by yesterday's painfest. Cody had set up a training day which included not just 1 x 10-20 minute interval, not only 2 x 10-20 minute intervals, nor even only 3 x 10-20 minute intervals, but a full 4 x 10-20 minute intervals. The goal was to hit between 84-94% of LT power and LT HR for the duration and take not more than 5 minutes of rest between each effort.

While he wanted me to try to find a climbing route on with to torture myself, this is Southern California, not Colorado, and there are limited opportunities for 20 minute + climbs; at least ones that I can get to before work. So, Fiesta Island was once again the ride of choice.

The Intervals broke down like this:

1. 20:05 min, 277 watts avg; 161 HR avg 93% LTpw
2.19:00 min, 282 watts avg; 172 HR avg 95% LTpw
3. 20:00 min, 279 watts avg; 172 HR avg 94% LTpw
4. 12:30 min, 234 watts avg; 158 HR avg 79% LTpw

And it looks like this:

Oops, interval 4 didn't go to well - lost all power, but it was still a valuable workout.

Today was the Cyclovet's Ride, no Arnie, but the Vets were out in force as well as a bunch of the Adams Avenue guys and the Jamba Juice crew. A long, slow ride out to Campo Road and then the charge up to Lyons Valley Road. A poorly time stop light split two of us off the front and made us rabbits for the rest of the group... so we made the most of it; a two up time trail. We got caught just before the junction by a group of three.

The second, longer section was a steady climb to Four Corners. Some effort, but not full out 29 minutes @ 288 watts. The ride back included a few sprints after the drop down Mexican Canyon, maxing out @ 1152 watts and 1178 watts. Those numbers have to get bigger.

Today was another ride on which we had a rider go down in a significant accident. This time the rider only cut up his hand somewhat and bruised his back (against a power pole), the time before a bruised and battered hip as well as another hand, the time before that a couple of fracture vertebrae, a punctured lung, and recovery complications due to pneumonia - not good. Descending quick is good for races, not so good for training rides.

Climbing and Climbing

A bit of climbing over the past couple of days.

Wednesday was the usual ride up Highline Truck Trail. The length of the climb worked out well for a 20 minute TT test - although there were two downhill sections on which I had a hard time maintaining my wattage goals. In the end I hit an average of 317 watts - 5 more than my flat TT test 2 weeks before. I figure that my actual average wattage might have been a few watts higher if not for the downhills, but can't count what I can't prove. The 317 watt effort pushed my functional 60 min LT to 297... still not at my goal, but moving steadily towards it.




The ride also gave me a chance to pick Arnie's brain on some questions I've had regarding the relationship of Power to Torque, proper gearing for Mt. Evans and the Everest Challenge, and TT records up Torrey Pines... Floyd climbed it in what???!!!





Congrats to both Don and Josh for their rides @ the California State TT Championships!





On Thursday's plate was another healthy portion of climbing by way of north county's Palomar Mountain. Palomar is never easy, and with the previous day's 6000 feet of climbing complete with some race pace / post threshold riding it was slow going.





After turning up South Grade road it was time to work on 4 x 10 minute intervals. I didn't take it too hard, but it was stinging none the less. It was a little bit easier to climb in a harder gear, so I kept the cadence lower (actually, it was what Cody had set as a plan for today). It's a long, long climb - an so you just have to settle in to a good pace and watch the mile signs pass. By the top I was thirsty and planed to stop by the store for a drink, no such luck - still closed. I spun past Mother's Kitchen and headed up to the observatory. After some quick pictures, some luke warm water from their drinking fountain, I turned around an heading back to Mother's... still closed. What time is it anyway? So, I drove down East Grade. The climb back up East Grade should have been easier than the climb up South Grade, it's longer though not as steep, but the miles in the legs and the dry throat really hurt. I basically crept up the climb, just trying to keep the legs turning.

At the top I stopped by Mother's for the third time, finally! I grabbed a root beer and ran into Jack who had just finished climbing south grade - he's heading out to Mt. Evans as well. He's a climbing king (Looks a bit like Marco Pantani as well) and says he's be riding a compact with a 13-28. Sounds like a plan.

By the end of the day I had logged over 10,000 of climbing. Good practice for Everest.

By the Power of Greyskull....

A long, long week behind me. A missed endurance ride last Sunday meant moving it to later in the week and thus driving my weekly mileage to over 300. The added length along with over 20,000 ft of climbing made for a painful Monday morning - and intervals tomorrow... only makes you stronger, right?

Last week's intensity did allow me to retest my LT Power ratings. The chart to the left works well for calculating out your Power Training Zones. Basically, you do a 20 minute TT on either a flat or slightly uphill course - frankly I find it much easier to hit a higher Average Power on an incline. 93% of your Average Power for this test is a good measure of your LT for a 60 minute TT. The section titled "sweet spot" is what you can pedal in for hours - good stuff. These results come from the Wednesday ride up Highline Truck Trail; not a dedicated TT attempt. So, this week one's in order. The big news is that in the past 4 weeks I have increased my LT by 9 watts. So, with the loss of (or maybe in spite of) nearly 10 lbs, the training gets a gold star. We'll see about an updated LT this week.

New Shoes and Torrey Pines

On Saturday morning, I took a quick spin up the
coast to stretch out the legs. Low gears and even lower effort. A quick coffee up in Encinitas, turn around and a lazy return ride to work. At the base of Torrey Pines I decided to give it a go and push it up the 1.47 miles from park to flashing lights. To the right are the results...

Avg Watts: 383
Avg HR: 180
Time: 6:15

Not exactly flying, but the good news is that its 31 seconds faster, and 23 watts greater than the test I did in March. Faster, Stronger, and 5 pounds Lighter: actually the biggest factor is that I'm riding Smarter. By watching my power output I can manage my energy, keeping my effort consistent. Pretty cool stuff. Now, that being said - watching all that data too closely can make you second guess your efforts, backing off an effort when you should be going for broke. As Robert, a cat 2 racer for Cyclovets put it, when the race goes up the road you either go with the race or you don't - what your power meter says really doesn't matter - you gotta be in it to win it.



I'm also trying out a new pair of shoes - the Continental Attack and Force tires. These Bavarian Beauties are front and rear wheel specific. The front sports a 22mm volume and a claimed weight of 190 grams (no, I haven't and won't weigh them); and yes you do notice the smaller size.

The rear is slightly beefier at 24mm and 210 grams. Overall impressions, granted I've only been riding them for a week, are pretty good. The front corners amazingly well even though the smaller profile did give me pause; and the rear seems to handle the massive amounts of power I'm able to lay down :)

For full disclosure, I have to say I did flat today, but I'm pretty sure the metal sliver I rolled over would have punctured pretty much anything short of a Jeep tire. After pulling out the offending foreign object the tire was as good as new (well five days short of "as new...") .

Well see how they stand up after a few 100 miles.

Beans and Burritos: Vol 2

Azucar

Fridays tend to be a slower day for me. Cody typically schedules an easy ride - a "Coast and Cappuccino" ride.

This Friday I took it even easier and headed out to Ocean Beach, actually it was more of an excuse to swing by one of my favorite coffee shops, Azucar.

Azucar is at the head of Newport Avenue, Ocean Beach's main drag. It specializes in Cuban pastries and coffees. Everything from cakes to cookies to scones to flat press sandwiches - good stuff.

Of course I chose my usual - a double espresso. For a little fuel I grabbed a tomato / egg / and cheese quiche - very tasty... for you meat eaters out there they make a version with ham.

Pick out one of their outside tables, grab the Union Tribune, and drive into the crossword - a prefect break for a lazy Friday morning ride.

I've tried some of their pastries, but haven't tried their Flan de Queso, Cinco Leches, or Turron de Havana, but those are just excuses to go back.

After wasting a half hour or so pretending to be a Euro Pro, ride down to the beach to check out the surf before heading up to Cabrillo for some climbing intervals.

Life's good in San Diego!

http://www.iloveazucar.com/

Recovery

Coming off of such a horrible training weekend, I entered this week with a little bit of trepidation. Was I sick? Was I over training? Was I just plateauing? I took Monday off after another sub-par day on Sunday, and entered Tuesday's schedule looking an interval session straight in the face.

Tuesday:

Fiesta Island, smooth, flat, and plenty of wind. 4x10 minute efforts at 95-102% of LT Threshold. I pushed the first one pretty hard to see if everything was working. Seemed good. I settled down for the remaining intervals - and was pretty happy that they were consistent. The big thing was that all the efforts were right at 96% of LT. Might be time for another LT test!

Interval 1: AvgWatt: 322, AvgHR 177, AvgW/Kg 4.2, AvgSpd 23.9

Interval 2: AvgWatt: 296, AvgHR 176, AvgW/Kg 3.8, AvgSpd 23.4

Interval 3: AvgWatt: 302, AvgHR 179, AvgW/Kg 3.9, AvgSpd 23.4

Interval 4: AvgWatt: 297, AvgHR 178, AvgW/Kg 3.9, AvgSpd 23.

Later, I did a short TT effort up Mt. Soledad. This is quickly becoming my daily Lunch Time ride - short, somewhat steep (6%), and close by. A fast 1 mile run down Garnet, dodging potholes and freeway bound drivers, then a hard right onto Soledad Mt. Road. The clock starts here doesn't stop until the lights @ the intersection with La Jolla Scenic Dr. It's 2.9 miles long and 650' tall; that makes it pretty close to the Lookout Mountain route in Golden, Co - my old training grounds.

Soledad: AvgWatt: 333, AvgHR 169, AvgW/Kg 4.3, AvgSpd 13.24 Time: 12:36

So, some solid training on Tuesday, even though I wasn't feeling 100%.

Wednesday:

The Cyclovet Wednesday Ride. Turn out for this ride has been growing and growing. This week's ride had members from Swamis, Adam Avenue GS, Slow Step, Cyclovets, solo riders, as well as a few semi pro and pro "ringers." My game plan for this ride was to keep it slow and steady. For the past few weeks I've been trying to tackle the ride up Highline Truck Trail by riding steady tempo at or just under LT. It may seem counter-intuitive, but putting in less effort on the climb has made the trip up much quicker. I guess I'm more of a Jan Ullrich than a Marco Pantani.

So, this meant staying back when the group accelerated on the beginning slopes of Highline; keeping the effort around 290 watts. It saves the power until later in the climb (when the road ramps up to 8-9%). It also gives me a few quick flats and downhill sections to recover.

After connecting with the first group I put in a bit more of an effort, gaped the front, and soloed towards the 4 corners. I was caught by the group on the decent (I was going over 45, but...). The rest of the ride I tried to put in solid efforts and concentrate on building strength.

Thursday

I hadn't done one of my favorite rides in quite a while, Mt. Helix, and so headed out to La Mesa for some Climbing Intervals -5 x 10 minute intervals at 90% of LT. Helix is a forgotten gem of San Diego cycling. It has ramps of 15-16% as it winds it's way up to the summit amphitheater; good climbing!

Oh yeah, and the views are too bad either.

I was "feeling it" a little today so the first effort stung a little. The second was done with a little more smoothness. On the third I flatted, and no CO2. Pump kinda worked, but on the decent the tube went flat again. I limped home without doing any more intervals, but pushed it a bit up into Linda Vista.

Some stretching and using the foam roller and I'll be good as new. So far a good week of training.

Interesting...

Interesting that Tom Boonen is blaming his Cocaine Problem on his Drinking Problem...

Rest Week... Stress Week

This week was a quiet week, a few days off and relatively light training on the bike. So by Wednesday I was ready to grab my lunch pail and go to work. For the Cyclovets ride I took the bottom half of the ride at a fairly steady pace. After the stop at Jamul I pushed it fairly hard up Highline Truck Trail: 269 watts avg for 37 minutes. Felt pretty good. Another lighter day on Thursday and off again for Friday. Saturday's effort was to be a group ride with the Swami's B & L ride - strong riders and quick pace.

I rode up to Solana Beach from Clairemont to loosen up and add some miles. My legs felt pretty tight so I spun low gears up to the Java Depot for my caffeine fix. By the 8:15 roll out it was already a fairly large group and more joined on the way towards San Elijo. On the short climb up Levante I knew something was not right, I was working Way to hard... Before even hitting the climb up to San Elijo I slid off the back, legs cramping. Lungs were working, but I had no power at all. I pulled back a few riders in Elfin Forest and we worked together into Escondido.

There was no way that I could keep up with the group on the return ride so I headed out towards the Wild Animal Park and the climbs out east of Escondido, a mistake. Within the first few miles I was creeping along, anything above 150 watts made it feel like someone was shoving knives into my quads. I crawl back home with 84 miles in my legs but wound up sleeping the rest of the day. Today I only managed 20 slow, easy miles - still sore.

So, I added the Everest Challenge to my schedule (if my legs recover)... a 2 day stage race in the Sierras. Stage 1 features 15,465' of climbing over 102 miles; Stage 2 features 13,570' of climbing in 65 miles - pure pain. Over 29,000 feet, not too shabby. This with the Mt Evans Hill Climb should make my season complete. Now if I could only lose 20 pounds without loosing any power I'd be in business.

At least I have a Secret Weapon in my assault on the west's hardest hill climbs, actually a pair of secret weapons:

Shimano makes some killer wheels; they're not always the first name you think of when drooling over bike bling, but the new Dura Ace 7850's are nothing short of amazing. These are hand built, use angular contact bearings, titanium freehub body, and a carbon/alloy rim. 1380 grams of mountain climbing goodness.

And even at 1380 grams they track true, brake quickly, and handle riders much bigger than my 170 pounds. These are definitely worth a look and I'd put them up against any of Mavic's Kysrium or Easton's EC line ups. I think they even have an Ultegra version coming out now.

Beans and Burritos: Vol. One

Pappalecco





As far as food goes I have two passions; espresso and burritos!


In SoCal The Burrito Rules. Forget your Baltimore Crab Cakes, forget your Philly Cheesesteak, forget your Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, in SoCal it's all about the Burrito - well, and Fish Tacos. And coffee? Man-o-man, there are some really good places who know how to draw the perfect shot with amazing crema. And if you can find both in the same place - Jackpot. Luckily, San Diego has both in spades! Part of this blog is going to detail my quest for both.


After Saturday's race I was winding my way through downtown, licking my wounds. I needed a little breakfast - That will make it better! Nearing Little Italy, I remembered Cody mentioning something about a coffee shop he used to go to when living in San Diego. Couldn't find that one, but did come across one sitting a few blocks to the east of India Street. Pappalecco, a little bit of Pisa in downtown San Diego.


Trusting in my fellow man I left my bike leaning against a planter and headed in. I ordered my usual drink, a double espresso. It seems a little early in the morning for gelato so I take a look into the pastry case. Let's see... Panini Caprese; tomatoes, basil, mozzarella... looks good; I'll take one of those as well.


I sat at one of the outdoor tables, next to an old man - complete with his 9am cigar. Even if it's California I can't complain - somehow it fits, it makes Pappalecco even more authentic.


And, as it turns out, Pappalecco is about as Italian as San Diego gets. It's owned by two bothers from Pisa and tries to stay true in both food and culture. Italian Pop music flow out of the speakers (It's an acquired taste - one I haven't fully acquired) and the flat screen is showing images of Miliano and Roma. It seems like they have a lot of locals and regulars here. Familiar greetings, drinks being made before the orders have been placed. All good signs.


The espresso is perfect, not too bitter, not too weak, the crema.. good stuff. I'm feeling much better. The Panini is tasty as well, good favors. It goes well with the coffee. Not too much, just enough to fill the hunger. It was well worth the stop. Next time I'll have to try the Gelatto.

Barrio Logan Criterum

As I've said before "I hate criteruims" and today's race was no exception. The course was a bit sketchy, which made the other riders a bit sketchy, which made me a bit sketchy, which all together made the whole race Way Sketchy.

I rode to the race from Clairemont, starting around 5 am, and made it to Barrio Logan just in time to grab the 49th race number! Lucked out since they were only letting 50 race. Getting there early let me warm up on the course for twenty minutes or so. The race was setup as a figure eight; the upper section surrounding an elementary school, the bottom section surrounding auto junkyards and new construction. Broken pavement, gravel, and dirt made it seem like a race more suited for a mountain bike.

The race began as soon as the Police finished towing the illegally parked cars from the course. The course's main features were rutted and gravel filled straight-a-ways, tight 90 degree corners, and a fairly long and steep uphill section a few turns before the finish. The first 15 minutes were pretty similar, sprinting out the corners and slowly moving forward in the pack. The pace settled down, but there were several riders that continually tried to pass on the inside of corners, squeeze each other out, not hold their lines... sketchfest.

With about 7 laps to go I put a pretty hard dig on the uphill to put a little sense of urgency into the race and wound up gaping the front by 40 or 50 meters. I looked back and saw no one following me, I had hoped to start a little break, and so sat up and waited for the pack. In retrospect I should have kept going, but...

With 5 laps to go things got really gnarly. The pace had picked up and we were stretched out single file for the better part of half a lap. Someone hit my rear wheel and threw my bike to the side, somehow I remained upright. With 3 laps to go two riders didn't hold their line and almost ran me into the curb; I only kept my self from crashing by slamming on the brakes and had to sprint back on. With one lap to go I moved up to 3rd position on the climb and tried to ready for the sprint. On the back stretch I looked down at my computer and saw my Heart Rate was pegged at 194, not to good, need to get some recovery before the uphill sprint.

Into the last run up the climb, two riders touched wheels and took out several riders right in front of me. I had to come to a complete stop and watched the race steam up the hill without me. I soft pedaled to the finish. Not the results I had hoped for, but just happy to make it out without touching the floor.

Swine Flu ?

Been feeling a little under the weather for the past few days - no appetite, no strength or endurance; enough so that I skipped the Dana Point Gran Prix - and no celebratory mocha @ JC Beans either! Still, I managed to get some riding in, long slow. Felt better today and so headed out to Fiesta Island for some interval work.

The goal was 4 10 minute efforts at 95-102% LTHR with 3-5 minutes recovery between. The breakdown went down like this:

• Interval 1: AvgHR: 170; AvgPW:304; AvgCad 97; AvgW/Kg 3.87
• Interval 2: AvgHR: 170: AvgPW:270; AvgCad 98; AvgW/Kg 3.44
• Interval 3: AvgHR: 167: AvgPW:274; AvgCad 80; AvgW/Kg 3.49
• Interval 4: AvgHR: 176: AvgPW:293; AvgCad 86; AvgW/kg 3.73

Man, a little slacking in the middle! Finished strong at the end... The good thing is that my weight is dropping and my power is increasing - I'm not sure if that's how it's supposed to work, but who's complaining. Need to crank it up a notch for Mt Evans.

At lunch I took a quick trip up Mt. Soledad; a bit of sharp headwind and some soreness from the morning ride ensured a slower time, but still posted a sub-13min effort and an average Power of 322 watts. I'll try an "official" TT up it next week.

Tomorrow is the Wednesday Cyclovets ride out to east county, 75 miles+ and 5800' of climbing. Good Times.

New Toy

After waiting nearly 7 month my new toys finally arrived via slow boat from France. A set of Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL's with a PowerTap SL Hub. Sexy, Sexy!!!

I've been using a PowerTap Elite for the past few months and I'm more than convinced that if you are serious about training and racing you need some sort of power meter be it Ergomo, SRM, iBike... the PowerTap is the simplest and most portable option out there.

I gave them a shakedown cruise this Sunday, a 5 hour trek through the winding roads of Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch. They are fast! The hub does add some weight, but the aero rims do seem to "hold their speed" longer, and when they are wound up they motor right along. Under heavy torque - standing climbs and the like - the rear wheel does flex somewhat, but the front tracks true on fast descents. Recently, I had the chance to ride another deep vee wheel, a Reynolds DV66 an amazing wheel, stiff, very fast- the Carbones differ in that they ride a bit more smoothly that and they are 16mm less deep. All in all not too shabby and worth the wait. Well see how they do in the next Crit.

Status

One of the good things about last weekend's Time Trial, actually the only good thing, was that I was able to get some useful data; namely my Lactic Threshold Power and my Lactic Threshold Heart Rate.

I already had a pretty good idea of where my Heart Rate Threshold sits... somewhere north of 180bpm and south of 188bpm. It's a little high for my age, something that at first glance might seem to be a reason for congratulations, but - I won't go into it here - really isn't. The Time Trial pegged it at 184, right where it should be.

As for the Power portion of the equation, you take the average power output for a 20 minute Time Trial - in this case 303watts and multiply it by 93% - which kicks out a Threshold Power @ LT of 282watts. My "Lactate Threshold Zone" becomes 256 - 296. Stay within this bracket and I'm loving life, outside of it and it's not a pretty sight. This is a little below a test I did a month earlier, but I'll chalk it up to the change to a more aggressive TT position on the bike. Dividing the Power @ LT by my weight give me approximately 3.7 watts/kg.

So three numbers to remember: 184 bpm, 282 watts, and 3.7 watts/kg.

Not exactly Lance Armstrong territory - we'll see where we end up at the end of the month.

Race Report Part Three:

Sunday was the Crit, 40 minutes in a Mira Mesa office park. Instead of driving to the race I decided to ride in and use the miles as my warm up - almost a costly mistake as I took a few wrong turns - huh, maybe I can justify purchasing a Garmin after all...

As I mentioned before I usually hate crits, 90 degree turns tend to make the racing tense and sketchy - or maybe it just makes me tense and sketchy. This course was more to my liking, more oval than rectangle, with the only 90 corner at the top of a 50' rise. Not knowing how I would react after 2 days of racing I rolled up to the start and sat on the back for the first few laps.

Feeling better than I expected, and probably filled with more than a little nervous energy, I hit the uphill a little hard about 5 laps in and gaped the front. Looking back I thought I might see one or two riders on my wheel that I could work with... no one. So, I was stuck out there all by myself with absolutely no chance to stay away. After a lap another rider bridged up to me, but then sprinted past and took my place dangling off the front. I sat up and rejoined the group, slinking to the back and trying to recover from the effort.

For the rest of the race I tried to sit in the pack and allow everyone else to do the work. Each lap pretty much mirrored the one before: pace picking up on the slight rise into turn one, a quick downhill run into turn 2, hiding in the pack and fighting for position as we motored into the backstretch headwind and turn 3, and braking and climbing through turn number 4. With about 5 laps to go the pace picked up and a few riders tried to get off the front. Everything came together as we all prepared for the sprint.

I'd been pretty smug about drafting off of everyone and playing it safe after my ill advised break a way attempt, but now found myself corralled in by the other riders. As we made it to the bottom of the rise into the last turn I'd resigned myself to a mid pack finish. A small gap open up to the outside and I sprinted for it. I came out of the last turn wide and sprinting out of the saddle. I kept my head down and legs spinning. Crossing the line I was spent, after dissecting the race data (Side note: if you don't already have a PowerTap, SRM, Ergomo, etc... get one! Forget getting a new bike, frame, or wheelset - those can wait!) I looks like I was pushing 33.2 mph and 1078 watts on the line. Good enough for 5th place. Considering I went into the last turn somewhere around 20th and didn't take advantage of any sort of lead out, I'll take it.

All in all I finished the Omnium in 10th place. Something to build on!

Race Report Part Two: Improvement?

Saturday was the road race a 22 mile circuit starting at the Golden Acorn Casino and winding through the mountains near Campo, Ca. The 5's were scheduled to start at 7:20 in the morning. The early start combined with a 50 minute drive from San Diego and my general tendency to worry about being late meant a 4:30 wake up time.

It was 35 degrees at the start... 2 years removed from the cold of Colorado has made me very, very weak... anything below 60 makes it amazingly easy to convince myself that it's a day for the trainer and a DVD of the 1998 Tour De France. Leg warmers, Polypro base layers, and EPC jacket was the kit for the day. The first 10 miles was a fairly fast, twisting 1500' decent. A quite a few of the riders had started the race without gloves, I have no idea how they did it... even with gloves my hands felt like lobster claws by the time we made the turn at the railroad tracks and begin to reclaim our lost elevation.

No one really attacked, they just picked up the pace. Within the first mile I was grateful for my choice of the Dura Ace 1380's over the PowerTap DT Swiss combo - a choice which allowed me to catch back on to the lead group after getting gaped 2 miles from the finish of the first lap. No power data to analyse, but a better race result. By the end of lap one over half of the field had been dropped.

Lap number two was practically toasty! It followed the same script, the pace was ratcheted up notch by notch and riders simply slid off the back. At the turn onto Old Hwy 80 three groups formed and I found myself in the third. One of the guys from Moment Cycle Sport was doing a ton of the work, and no one else was really pulling through to help him. Occasionally one of his teammates would take up the lead. Eventually, I moved up to give him a break and found myself setting the tempo for the last mile. About 200 feet from the line the two hangers on sprinted past leaving me to pull through in 15Th place - what a sucker.

All in all I was pretty happy with the results. 15th on the stage and 6 points to the Omnium placing me in 20th place - considering the poor TT showing not too shabby.

Race Report: Never take a knife to a gun fight

This past weekend was the Cyclovets Omnium. Three days of racing consisting of a Time Trial, a Road Race, and a Crit. An omnium is kind of like a mini stage race, but you aren't required to race all three days; instead you can, say race the TT and the Crit, but miss the Road Race... or you can race the Road Race and the Crit and skip the TT, or you can... you get the idea. Your placing in each race is worth a set amount of points. At the end of the three days the points are totaled and the winners given the spoils. In the world of Cat 5 racing the spoils consist of plastic medals.



The first race, Friday's, was the Time Trial, 2 laps around the World Famous Fiesta Island Loop - each lap 4.1 miles of nearly pancake flat Mission Bay property - your only obstacles a brisk early morning head wind and the occasional drunken fisherman - a time trialer's paradise.



I'd raced the Fiesta Island Time Trial Series a month before and was properly schooled by skin suited greyhounds riding full on professional cycling machines; the type of bikes that put Lance Armstrong's $10,000 time trial rig to shame. Where anyone that kind of money to throw at this sport blows my mind. So I came ready for battle this time with a set of clip on aero bars and my saddle thrust as far forward as I could stand.



I rode to the start from my house to warm out, bringing my total time riding with aero bars to a nice round 1 hour - surely enough time to master the more aggressive riding position and razor sharp handling my new bars gave my bike. I pulled into the queue for the start and waited for my countdown.



Within the first 4 miles I had already lost 1 minute to the leaders... Of course, at the time I did not know that; I thought I was doing pretty good - only occasionally hitting my elbows with my knees, not weaving to badly from one side of the road to the other. The Powertap was reading a fairly steady 300 watts and my heart rate was holding steady just under threshold @ 184 - right on track. 6 miles in I heard the tell tale whoosh, whoosh of a tri spoke wheel. The rider effortlessly passed me by, a Porsche to my snowplow - him: full TT bike with front tri spoke wheel, rear disc, and aero helmet - me: road bike, clip on aero bars, road helmet, and my 3.5 pound powertap rear wheel. I snuck a quick look at his number 412, I was 408. Doing, the math (30 sec starts, 412-408=4, etc...) I'd lost 2 minutes on this rider... it did not look to good. At the end of the day I finished in 21st place, in just under 21 minutes, 2:38 down to the leaders.

Actually, I felt pretty good. I rode within myself, concentrated on steady power, stayed within my limits. I was just pushing too much air.

Don't get me wrong, "a good workman never blames his tools", but... I probably should invest in a TT bike.

The Begining

So, here we go... a blog. I never expected to write one, much less even thought about who would even be interested in reading it. Mostly, I'm hoping it will keep me focused on my training and serve as motivation to take my cycling more seriously.



This season I decided to kick things up a notch and hire a coach. For the past few years I've tried to set up my own training program - a kind of Frankenstein marriage between Joel Friel and Chris Carmichael - which I religiously adhered to for a week or two at best. The program usually consisted of copious amounts of base miles, fueled by scones and lattes from the local coffee shop. Needless to say, once race day came I was spit out the back



This year I contacted my old Coloradan friend and X-Terra Pro, Cody Waite. He put together a killer program tailored to strengthen my weaknesses and enhance my, well... strengths (a little awkward wording). I you have been thinking about hiring a coach and have been hemming and hawing; stop hemming and hawing and pony up the cash... It's beyond worth it. Now a little shameless plug about coaches - make sure get one who practices what they preach. That's one of the things I like about Cody, he's out there competing - personally putting his coaching philosophy to the test day in and day out. Alright, free advertising over.



This year I threw together a mix of road races (very few), time trials (even fewer), time trials (even fewer yet), and crits (tons, this is southern California after all...). By the way, I hate crits (I'm actually pretty good at them) and love hill climbs (I absolutely suck at them). Work has invaded life and so I haven't hit all my races, but have kept up on the training.



So wish me luck, and there it is; the first post.