Dirt

This past friday some of the crew from work and I had a chance to try out the SRAM XX 2x10 groupo. Amazing, absolutely amazing. I rode around Daley Ranch trying to keep up with Kyle, so was able to give it a good workout. Light, quick shifting (even while standing cranking uphill), and easy. Normally, I don't give SRAM alot of credit, but they knocked it out of the park on this one.

Week 7

Ah, weekly goals.... when's the next rest week?

Monday: Strength Training (Gym)

Tuesday: 3 hours (tempo intervals)

Wednesday: 6 hours (forced reps)

Thursday: 2 hours Strength

Friday: 3 hours (including trainer workout)

Saturday: 3 hours Big Ring low effort

Sunday:5 hours Strength (including trainer workout)

25 hours total

Holiday Week

I was able to get a few more days of riding in over the past week, toping out at just over 300 miles and 20 hours. Monday was a long ride up the coast through Oceanside / Vista and back through Rancho Santa Fe; Wednesday's east county ride; Thursday's Thanksgiving ride with the Swami's crew up the San Luis Rey course; Saturday's Swami's "A" ride; and Sunday a solo ride from Escondido to Ramona and back. Lots of climbing in really, really cold weather for San Diego. Temperatures in the 30's left me scrambling to find all my old Colorado gear.

I've put on a few pounds over the past month, but I'd be hard pressed to place the blame on too much Thanksgiving gorging... it more due to increased muscle mass from the big gear turning (at least that's what I'm telling myself). The climbing fitness is coming well and I seem to be on track for the early season races. This year the calendar seems to be filled with a few more Stage and Road races and I'm excited to try my hand (legs?) on some outside of California.

On the equipment front, Cody sent out a set of the EPC cycling kit last week. It's some of Pearl Izumi's premium gear and you can really tell the level of quality and construction from the first time you wear it. Really nice stuff.

Good Day

Sunday was my birthday; and like past years I once again set out on a big ride to celebrate. The extra hour of sleep from the ending of Daylight Savings Time helped a bit, plus it was already light by 6am. The goal was to head out to Rancho San Diego and meet up with the Sunday crew for a training ride up the Great Western. First was a quick stop in Linda Vista for an apple fritter - hey, it's my birthday right? No such luck, all out and not even 7am yet, so with empty stomach I headed east.

I made a quick coffee stop @ Cosmos Coffee in La Mesa, coming out just in time to see newly retired Kelly rider Neil Shirley heading out for a ride... here's wishing him good luck on his next adventure! On the way to the meeting place I ran into Phil and rode with him the rest of the way. I hadn't seen him in a while so it was great to get caught up again.

There was a pretty big group waiting at in Rancho San Diego for the start of the ride, Riders from the Cyclovets, Cal Pools/Dewalt, the USA National Team, and other assorted bike nuts all milled about and waited to Todd to pull them together. After a few comments and direction we pulled out and headed up Willow Glen to Dehesa.

The 5% grade of Dehesa signaled the first training interval: seating big gear climbing; which meant for me using my 53x14 @ about 55 rpm. Painful, but it felt good to get back to pushing big gears after spinning for most of the year. Over this interval Dehesa gains about 800' over 3.2 miles. After regrouping at the top, we started the second interval; Standing big gear 53x13. Smiley faces painted on the asphalt let you know when to stand or sit. This stretched for 4.6 miles and climbed an additional 1120'.

We regrouped and turned right on Lyons Valley and headed back to "Four Corners." Whenever the road tilted up we did Low Cadence ILT intervals. After the first two sets of standing intervals, switching to ILT's proved somewhat painful, but it'll pay off later. There's was another regroup at Four Corners. Instead of waiting to participate in "Anarchy" ( a series of race pace attacks and chases back to Rancho Santa Fe) Rigo, Don, Bobby and I rolled through and dropped down Skyline and Mexican Canyon. We hit the long drag to the flashing light sprint pretty hard and did a fair amount of work.

At the bottom Don and Bobby headed back up for "Extra Credit" while Rigo and I tried to find some water. At the 7-11 I ran into Mike (RAW rider and ultra distance rider extraordinaire) and Janel (USA National Team) and headed back up Mexican Canyon for some "Extra Credit." I was good to get caught up with Mike as well, sounds like he's gearing up for a solo assult on RAAM in a year or two - crazy stuff. We made a loop up Lyons Valley and back the way we came. Back in Rancho Santa Fe we hooked back up with Don and Bobby and headed back to Mission Hills.

The final damage for Sunday's ride was 101 miles with over 7000' of climbing. A great way to spend your brithday.

Early Signs

This past Saturday I went up to ride with the big dogs on the Swami's A ride. I got spit out the back on dump hill, but still got some quality work in. One encouraging sign was that even with the lack of much effective or pain free riding I managed to maintain 319 watts for 20 minutes. That's my high LT from last season... hopefully a omen of good things to come. Now, if I could only maintain 400 watts for 20 minutes... and drop 30 pounds...

Bee's Knees

I've been having major issues with my knees. Years of team sports in high school and club sports in college left me with a torn ACL in my right knee, a torn MCL in my left, and a fair amount of my meniscus missing in both.

I had been training pretty hard for a two day stage race up in Bishop, lots of climbing, but two days before I was to leave my left knee popped out of joint... not as bad as in the past, and not as bad as last winter... but still enough to keep me from going.

I took that as a sign to keep off the bike for a while, so I spent the next three weeks staying away.

When I got back on, the knee pain returned. Slowly at first, but by this Monday I was really wondering if I might have to give cycling up. Today I went for a slow, easy ride up the coast and on the way back everything "clicked" into place. Earlier, the weekend before the Bishop race, our rep from WTB had sent us some new saddles to try out. I had been having a love / hate relationship with my current Fizik saddle (I had decided that even though it was one of the most uncomfortable saddles I had ever used - there was no way I was going to be defeated by a saddle) and was willing to try out something else. I bolted it on, keeping it at the same angle as my previous perch, and went for a ride. And there was the mistake. I have always set my saddles up slightly nose high and so set this one up the same way.

So on the ride back, I dropped the nose a few degrees and the pain disappeared! Who would have thunk? I guess rotating my hips forward also changed the way the pedaling forces go through my knees. I'll know for certain over the next few weeks.

Week One: Training Program 10.18 - 10.25

Monday: 2 hr Gym Workout

Tuesday: 2.5 hr w/ Spin Ups & ILTs

Wednesday: 5 hr Climbing @ low zone 1-2

Thursday: 2 hr Gym Workout; 1 hour on trainer

Friday: 2.25 hr low intensity zone 1-2

Saturday: 2.5 hr w/ Spin Ups & ILTs

Sunday: 1 hr x-train

Total: 17.5 hrs

Blue Trolley

I really piled on the miles this week. With the Everest Challenge and the Steamboat Stage Race coming up I'm looking at back to back racing with some long stages and even more daunting elevation gains. So with that in mind I did a 135 mile/10,000'+ day on Tuesday, a 76 mile / 5600'+ day on Wednesday, and a 106 mile/3000' day today; that made for a 28 hr week with 388.86 miles and 21,000' of climbing.

The goal this Sunday was to ride up to Fallbrook and back - with a stop at Pedro's Tacos for a Bean, Rice, and Potato Burrito. I haven't had one in years... a worthy goal. Sunday morning was fairly quiet, but by late morning the roads were filled the usual SUV and Harley craziness. Not fun.

Long days

17 hours of riding over the past two days... 206 miles... 10,709 kilojoules... 16,000'+ of climbing.

Tuesday was an epic day, I left the house at 6am and rode up though Escondido, grabbed a espresso and roll @ the Blue Mug, a couple of Bananas and a Granny Smith at a fruit stand and climbed up Valley Center Road towards... well, Valley Center. I dropped down Cole Grade and on a whim began to climb up Nate Harrison Grade... so steep. They are doing some road work on it, large trucks rumbled past, kicking up plumes of beige dust. At the top they were busy laying asphalt and so I had to turn around and slide back down the mountain.

I headed back up 76 and after Lake Henshaw took a right and climbed up Mesa Grande to Santa Ysabel. I hugged the white line and dropped down to Ramona and headed back home via Scripps Ranch. The new asphalt on Kearny Mesa Drive was well welcomed. 134 miles and some cramping legs. By the way, if you haven't tried DZNuts... run out and grab a tube now.

Wednesday was the weekly Cyclovet ride, with the two headed cycling monster of Arnie and Floyd - I was hoping for a slower day... Don, Jay, and I managed to get away on the first climb up to Jamul. We worked well together, I put in an effort towards the end of the climb and crested the climb solo. As I pulled into the stop, I looked over my shoulder and the two headed monster was just pulling in... barely made it.

One the second climb I struggled to stay with the two headed monster and Josh, but dropped back at the top and couldn't tag back on, although it looked like they slowed up for me. I dangled back about 20 meters and by the later portion Arnie/Floyd had gaped Josh as well. By the third section I was feeling the day before and struggled the rest of the way.

On the descent of Mexican Canyon the monster passed by like a freight train, and barreled by everyone, except for Don who latched on to a UPS truck's draft and and carried the speed through the sprint...Chapeau!

Week One

This week training for the Everest Challenge begins in earnest:

Monday: Trainer workout 1A

Tuesday: 85 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing @ 69-94% of LT

Wednesday: 75 miles with 5600 feet of climbing w/ 4 x 5 minute intervals @ > 4000' per hour

Thursday: Trainer workout 1B

Friday: 15 miles recovery ride

Saturday: 45 miles endurance ride @ 69-83% LT

Sunday: 50 miles endurance climbing 5 X 10 minute intervals @ >3000' per hour

285 miles with 26,000' of climbing

ouch...

Tuesday

Long day today.... Escondido to Lake Wohlford to Mt. Palomar South Grade... down and back up East Grade to Cole Grade and back to Escondido.

82 miles

9944' climbing

6:56 hrs.

Long Day

Progress

Finally, I'm feeling a bit better. For the past few weeks I've been somewhat exhausted. Not certain exactly what it was, but I felt slow, sore, and generally lethargic.

Last Saturday I participated in a last minute race in Chula Vista - part of the International Friendship Games - at the Olympic Training Center. A pretty cool race - teams and riders from both north and south of the border competed. They closed down about 1.2 km of road and made an out and back course with about 160' of climbing per lap. It was much harder than I thought. I averaged over 320 watts for the 45 minute race and was pretty knackered by the end.

It was just what I needed.

Tuesday I did the morning sprint workout at Fiesta Island - need much more work in this area and then Wednesday did the Cyclovet ride. Climbing has been much easier as of late; as has any type of tempo riding. So my efforts going forward will be some sprint drills and anaerobic efforts.

I've committed to the Everest Challenge this year - more for the experience; I have no illusions about winning the California HC championship... can dream though.

San Luis Rey

So, SLR didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. It was my first race as a 4 and the field was twice as big as my previous racing forays. Two laps in we were still 40 riders strong. If I learned one thing at this race it is to not hang out at the back of the group. Moving up on the climbs was all but impossible with the centerline rule in effect.

On the third lap a rider ran into me from behind... We both hit the ground, I thought he was the one worse for wear, but he managed to climb back on and scamper away. I, on the other hand, wound up walking my bike back up the hill, at least until my leg seized up.

The tally for the day: one broken handlebar, two out of true wheels, one deeply bruised thigh, one bleeding calf, and one defeated bike racer.

Finally, a Californian

I've been feeling pretty tired over the past few weeks. Legs are heavy, heart rate running a bit low, etc... Kind of a drag.

It's spring in San Diego which means wind and rain. So, I've found myself giving up riding in the rain and instead doing drills on the trainer. My Colorado friends wound be so proud...

When I lived in Colorado, there were two long periods where I completely avoided driving a car. This meant long cycling commutes for work from north Arvada to Park Meadows (52 miles) and later Arvada to Aurora (46 miles) in all weather - rain, snow, ice... I remember some winter commutes that would be so icy that the derailleurs and cables would freeze solid and you would have to limp home with one usable gear. It was a source of pride for me to commute in by bike while some of my co-workers would have to "take a snow day" since the roads were too dangerous to drive. Most weeks consisted of over 200 commute miles followed by 80 mile fun rides on my days off. Exhausting.

Last Wednesday, as it rained, I jumped on the trainer instead of heading out on the Wednesday ride. Yeah, I felt guilty - even after 3 hours of ILTs and standing intervals - it's just not the same.

A month or so ago we opened a new location in Encinitas, and I've started to commute off and on. It's about 44 miles round trip... but, what a 44 miles! The route I've been taking includes the Rose Canyon bike path, Torey Pines, and the coast ride on 101 up through Swami's. It is absolutely gorgeous. At night, I leave just as the sun is going down, and hit Solana Beach just as the sun sets.

Omnium Report: Stage 3 Criterium

I rode over to Sunday's criterium in Mira Mesa fairly early. The plan was to get in a coffee and the Sunday paper before the race. It also gave me a chance to watch the Masters and the Women's race. The course was the same as last year, three sweeping turns and one 90 degree with a manhole cover right in the best line.

Two riders tried a break halfway through the race and I tried to bridge up to them, but they let off the gas before I could catch and the group came together. A poor position in the final lap meant a long sprint for a 12th place finish.

I dropped 2 places in the GC to finish 6th overall.

Omnium Report: Stage 2 Road Race

The Omnium Road Race follows the same course as the Boulevard Road Race, big descent followed by a big ascent. A 7:20am start time meant a 5 am wake up call and on the road towards Campo. I grabbed a bottle of that magical elixir - Chocolate Milk from the 7 Eleven and headed east. After puling into the Acorn Casino parking lot, I set the bike up in the trainer with the full intentions of warming up for a good 45 minutes or so. Didn't quite work out that way. Some mechanical work on the derailleurs, a squirt of WD40 on the chain (the experiment is rolling along swimmingly), and went to grab my cycle computer... missing. A frantic search of the car turned up nothing. Crap, oh well, guess I'll be doing this one by feel. My water bottle was empty, and as I started up the hill to the convenience store I noticed that the Cat 5's were already receiving the race briefing. Guest I'll be doing this one without water as well.

So with no warm up, no water, and no computer I started the race. A rider from Nevada got off the first on the first descent - freezing cold. Never saw him go, didn't even hear about it until the climb back up to the start. No one really wanted to chase, so the pace for lap 1 was pretty slow. I stayed to the rear for most of the race, letting everyone else do most of the work. SDBC and Moment Cycle had several riders in the group so they had the burden. I was able to stay with the group - something I've had an issue with on the course - for the first lap. The rider off the front had about 3 minutes on us.

After the climb and through the rollers the pack whittled down to about 15 riders. The second descent was a bit sketchy and I found myself sprinting for a few wheels. The Moment guys were calling out directions (commands?) to the group to maintain rotating pace lines - they were either ignored or unheard. I was just hoping to hold on for a top 15 finish, just something slightly better than last year.

On the second climb I was falling off the back, the group had grown a bit on the descent. The gap to the Nevada rider began to shrink - that's in no small part by his flatting. When we caught him, his teammate made a good dig and began to split the group up. For the rest of the climb to Hwy 80 I dangled off the back.

When we hit Hwy 80 I made sure I was close the front, expecting a big push... it never happened. Instead the group set a steady pace. After telling the riders on the front to either speed up or move over two of the Moment Cycles guys pulled up, side by each, and set pace. After they wore themselves out, two riders slid off the front and then a Swami's rider took off as well. Another 4 riders followed them and left me hanging on to another group of 4, Eric from SDBC, a rider from Jamba Juice, a rider from Descenders, and another unattached. We clawed back the group of 4, with me doing the final pull. Then I sat in and tried to recover. As we moved farther up towards the finish the group seemed to slow somewhat. I put in a big effort up the right side of the group, expecting to pull some of the stronger guys with me.

When I turned around no one was there, leaving me with visions of being caught by the line. I pushed on, catching the Swami's rider and almost the rider after. I had nothing left, but was able to stay away.

4th place in 2:05

4th place in the GC going into Sunday's Crit

Omnium Report: Stage 1 Time Trial

So, the first stage of the 3 day Cyclo-Vet Omnium was an 8.2 mile Time Trial around Fiesta Island. More or less flat, but some wind. It's a course that I've done several times, including last year. Eric loaned me his Felt TT bike - amazingly fast bike in the right hands... mine are not the right hands. Still, it definitely helped me set a faster time.

After a fairly long warm up, I headed out to the start gate. I tried to keep the power fairly even for the first lap, Arnie had recommended keeping the effort at tamer for the first lap and then ramp it up for the second.

I must admit that I never felt terribly comfortable on the bike -not helped in anyway shape or form by a wonky seat clamp. First lap went... okay, 10:20 by my count. On the second lap I was passed by the only rider to do so, Marlo - as she started her 1st lap, absolutely flying...

Second lap was very painful, finished a bit faster in the 9's. Total time was 20:07, good for 12th pace and 5 points.

Pie?

Well, the plan for today , was to head up to Julian for a bit of Easter apple pie. I've lived off and on in San Diego for nearly 6 years and have never had a piece of Julian Apple Pie... it's a bit of an on going joke.

The goal was to take the Great Western's Japatul Road up to I-8, drop down to the 79 and climb up through Cuyamaca to Julian. Traffic was pretty light early in the morning, still after the long climb up the Japatul Valley I decided to take Pine Creek Road instead of the 79 - it would be much quieter and quite a bit steeper. It's a fantastic climb with for all intents mirrors the Noble Canyon MTB route up Mt. Laguna. It climbs via a single lane asphalt road through tree filled creek beds, 20 degree exposed switchback grades, rolling meadows, and a pine forest top. You get a little of everything San Diego County has to offer. The total climb from bottom to top was about 1600' in just under 7 miles.

After reaching the top of Pine Creek Road I turned left and headed toward Lake Cuyamaca on the Sunrise Highway. The wind was absolutely howling, the ride back was not fun. Every so often a wind gust would hit me and toss me towards the edge of the road. Later, heading into the wind, I crept along at a miserable 9 miles and hour.

As I came to the end of the Sunrise Highway and met Hwy 79 I gave up on my Apple Pie Dreams and headed back past the Lake and into Cuyamaca. Traffic had increased considerably since the morning, and not being terribly religious myself, I was unaware that Easter is a holiday which, much like St. Patrick's Day or the 4th of July , is celebrated by drinking large amounts of alcohol, jumping into your RV, and trying to run over cyclists. On my 10 mile decent on Hwy 79 I was nearly hit 3 times and was the recipient of several "birds." Apparently the Holy Spirit had warned them of the impending quake and they were all rushing home to secure their Easter Eggs - and I was in their way.

I was still descending Japatul Valley Road when the quake hit, although I can't say I felt it. The wind was buffeting me around so much that I couldn't tell a tremor from a gust.

Ride Stats:

Time: 7:21

Work: 3660 KJ

Norm Power: 195

Distance: 94.8 miles

Elevation Gain: 8034 ft

Still no Apple Pie.

Good Week

I pushed it pretty hard this week and managed to increase the hours and the miles. Wednesday was the usual ride with the Cyclovets in east county. Friday was a series of trips up Mt. Soledad. Saturday was another ride with the "vets." Sunday was a circuit around San Diego County.

19hrs 23min

262 miles

14,600' climbing

Friday: Five sides of Soledad

Yesterday was a slow climbing day up the local hill. 5 times up and down Mt. Soledad. Two and a half hours, really easy pace. It was another amazing day in San Diego.

Mmmmm!!!!

We may have a new favorite..... review coming soon. Lucha Libre Taco Shop.

Saturday Ride

This morning I was able to meet up with some of the Cyclo-Vets and join their Saturday Morning Ride. They meet down in Mission Valley @ the Coffee Bean around 8:30. The route is the same as the Chilli's Ride, but the stronger riders (or just those of us who trick ourselves into thinking we're strong) add a brisk climb up Torrey Pines for good measure. Since it can be a bit harder (In my opinion) I usually ride with this group, plus if Arnie's there I can pick his brain.

I rode to the start a bit early and downed an espresso and was able to read the UT before the group started to line up. If the weather's good (read, no chance of rain) there's usually a pretty good size group, today was sunny and clear, so there were nearly 60 at the start. We ride out past Fashion Valley to Morena Blvd picking up speed as we approach Santa Fe and Rose Canyon. Phil was putting in some work at the front, when Don joined him the group lined up behind and pinned it towards the Rose Creek bike path. There's a brief rise before we enter the bike path and Phil pushed hard up it, Don followed and I struggled to keep his wheel.

We regroup at the top of La Jolla Colony Drive, near Doyle Park, but it is a sprint to the top, and a painful one at that. Phil is obviously feeling strong and led all the way.

At the park the group splits into 3 groups, each with a slightly different route catering to their specific training needs, so a much smaller group of us rode out to do the Torey Pines climb. We headed through the UCSD medical complex and down into Sorrento Valley. After a hard effort climbing back out of Sorrento Valley and dropping into Carmel Valley we headed west towards the coast.

Phil, Don, Steve and I turned left towards Black's Beach and began the climb up Torrey Pines, passing a rider from Moment Cyclesport spinning up the hill doing ILT's! (A better man than I...). Phil ready was pushing the pace, a bit harder than I wished, and frankly a bit harder than I could do, so half way up I dropped off the back. Phil set the pace all the way up until Steve and Don attacked. Man, everyone is amazingly strong already this season... better get to work! At the top Steve said he averaged 348 watts up the climb, and at 148 lbs. that's a fair amount. Chapeau!

The other guys decided to make it a short day so that left Phil and I to drop back down into Sorrento Valley and climb up Carrol Canyon. We kept the pace slow and had a good talk all the way past Miramar and into Kearney Mesa. Phil's a treasure trove of race and training information, as well as being the California State TT Champion and an all-around good guy. It was a good ride back.

In Kearney Mesa, Phil turned back and headed out to Ramona for a few more climbing miles, while I headed out to Point Loma to do some hill repeats on Cabrillo Monument. After another quick espresso stop I climbed up to the naval base, paid my $3 and dropped down Cabrillo Road and did 9 repeats up the 7%, 340' grade - meant to do 10 but miss counted. By number 8 I was ready to go home.

All in all it was a great day.

6:08 hrs

88.6 miles

5900' climbing

HRavg: 130bmp

Murrieta Circuit Race Photos

Tour of Murrieta: Day Three

Day three came a bit early, the first morning of daylight savings time meant a mighty cold start as well - 35 degrees. After a pre-race espresso (unfortunately, from Starbucks) I made my way to the race. I gave the course a quick ride to warm up, debated about how much clothing to wear, and then lined up at the start. The race was a 3.5 mile rectangular circuit, a slightly rolling downhill straight followed by a hard right to a false flat; another right with a short, steep uphill that led to some climbing rollers; another right led back into town and to a series of streets that stair-stepped back to the start.

The first couple of the 10 laps were pretty fast, each becoming faster until the 3rd which was the fastest of the race @ 25 mph. I found myself sitting at the back of the group following wheels, I just wanted to finish the race without crashing, so wound up doing more work than I should have. It was a hard race for me, way out of shape for sure.

On the last lap, five riders tried to enter one of the final turns at the same time, one of their tires blew off the rim and took out 10 guys. The field split and I pulled in at 19Th place.

One more down.

Tour of Murrieta: Day Two

Day two of the Tour of Murrieta was an "L"-shaped criterium around the Murrieta Library and School. Turns five and six transitioned from asphalt to brick and then back to asphalt again and proved to be somewhat slick. The corners were relatively wide and with the exceptions of a few poorly placed manholes the course was pretty safe. And even through most of the race the guys were riding pretty smooth, no diving into the inside of corners, everyone holding their line, nobody doing anything too dangerous.

From the gun it was pretty fast, in fact for the first half the guys were all flying, absolutely flying. Four laps in I was gasping for air. Things settled down a bit until five laps to go, the pace picked up and the group strung out. I started to move up with three laps to go, taking corner 4 wide and fast and slinging up through the group. With one lap to go I ran through the turn full out and sped up the inside.

The sound of carbon meeting pavement happen just to the right and a few riders up from me as a couple of racers hit the deck. The guys next to me tried to avoid the crash and swung right into me. Somehow we both stayed up, the riders in front of the crash all sprinted away, while us behind tried to miss the carnage.

The group was strung out to the line with myself soft pedaling in 15th place.

Some Data for the race:

Max HR: 198 bpm

Avg HR: 183 bpm

Max Speed: 33 mph

Avg Speed: 25 mph

Avg Cad: 85 rpm

Tour of Murrieta: Day One

Friday morning was the first day of the Tour of Murrieta, which wound up being a 20K Time Trial around Fiesta Island, go figure. Start time was 7:02 for me - fourth one off, so I arrived by 6:15 am to grab my number and get warmed up.

I pulled out my trainer, my I-Pod and proceeded to spin out the legs. I'd be riding the Time Trial without the benefit of a proper TT bike, or even aero bars, so really wasn't looking for a fast time.

After my knee injury I didn't want to push too hard, the strength isn't there, plus the time off the bike has slowed my fitness somewhat. No sense in overextending myself, just get some training in before the Omnium.

I felt pretty relaxed as I rolled up to the start, that was until I realized that I was about 3 minutes late - number 511 was rolling out and I was 504. So I wound up being DFL. Hmmm, not a good start.

Wednesday

A bit of bad luck on the Wednesday Ride. Lyons Valley Road was a bit slick coming down from the store break. A couple of temporary "Creek" crossings were forded on the descent. Tammy, Jay, and Janel had pulled off the front and were dropping pretty fast - some training for when Janel heads out to Belgium for some Euro racing.

I was following a ways behind, I'm not the greatest descender and both Janel and Jay are pros. As I came around the last corner I found Janel sitting in the middle of the road, Tammy pulled off to the side, and Jay in the ditch - on her back with her bike lying on top of her. Apparently, Janel's tire washed out on the wet center line and hit the ground bruising her shoulder and hip, Jay missed her by flying into the ditch - breaking her pinkie and smacking her head enough to get a concussion.

That makes three crashes on that section in the past year.

Weak link in the chain...

On the final climb at last week's race I pushed a little too hard and felt some sharp pain in my right knee. Not so much that I pulled up, but enough that I knew that I'd be paying for it the next day. On, Sunday it felt pretty tight, and sore enough that I skipped Sunday's Red Trolley Race - one that I felt pretty strong about.

The first part of last week was filled with some lighter efforts and even the short ride I did this morning brought a little pain. However, I was my Left knee that gave out at work today... I simply turned around to answer a question and pop went my knee.

So, as I write this my left knee has been on ice as I watch Apollo Ono on the short track... At least after two surgeries there's not much left inside the joint to tear.

Broken ribs, a destroyed bike, and now a bum knee... not a good way to begin the year.

Race Report: Boulevard

I wasn't able to ride last year's blizzard edition of the Boulevard Road Race. So, I really, really wanted to do it this year. A quick business trip to Nevada over the last few days as well as somewhat sporadic training, added a few hiccups to my fitness, so going into the race I had somewhat limited, cautious aspirations.

The weather reports all week pointed to a similar forecast as last year, heavy rain with a chance for snow over 4000'. The weather didn't disappoint. The skies opened up Saturday morning, the farther east - the heavier the rain. It was 50 degrees at the start and the rain had dropped to just a drizzle. As I always do, I overdressed a bit; tights, leg & arm warmers, thermal base layer, UA Coldgear shirt, bibs, jersey, helmet liner, cap, double socks and booties, almost double gloved it as well and as it was I needed every bit of it. The game plan was to just do enough work to stay towards the front, but avoid working too hard - hmmm, "the best laid plans...."

The race consists (at least for me) of two 22 mile laps each having around 2000' of climbing. It begins with a series of progressively rising rollers. My plan to start near the front instantly paid off as within the first couple of miles there was a crash just behind me as the group tried to avoid a puddle. Of course in light of the increasingly heavier rain, attempts at puddle avoidance may have been somewhat pointless. After this slight climb the route turns to the west and drops nearly 2000'; rivers of mud and gravel criss-crossing the road. Between the rooster tails of water coming off of bike tires and the winter monsoon falling from the sky I had all the hydration I needed - and my clothes had become absolutely saturated.

Finally, after 9 miles of descending, we took a hard right, crossed the rail road tracks and started climbing - and started to warm up. A few riders tried to go off the front, but were reeled in by the time we hit highway 80. I found myself redlining as the pace ratcheted up and had to slow down a bit, loosing contact with the lead group.

A few of us tried to form a chase group, and pace line back to the leaders, but it kept breaking up. After cresting the climb and heading out for lap number 2 I found myself leap frogging stragglers, until teaming up with Erik from SDBC. We cut the gap to the sharp end of the race to about 200m just before they began the long drop to the rail road tracks for the second time. Erik and I shared the work as we plummeted down through the rain and mud, expecting to see the group around every corner, no such luck.

We picked off a few riders as we climbed back out, but my legs began to feel heavier and heavier. The rain and effort was draining me. I told Erik to go and not wait as I continued to grind out the miles. A rider from Moment Cycles came up from behind and I latched on and tried to match his effort - we caught another Cat 4 rider who jumped in as well (not sure if that's how it's supposed to go). As he let a gap open I was able to jump around and then move to the front and did a mile uphill pull to the finish line. I pulled away from the others a bit towards the end; felt a little bad as the guy from Moment had help me with a long pull earlier in the climb, but I guess I had around 100m on the group by the line.

At the end of the day it was a top 20 finish on a hard, hard day. Considering my lack of fitness for the past week or two and staying in the land of air conditioning, second hand smoke, and fried foods (Vegas) for a few days; I'd say it was an okay finish. At least I know what I need to do for the Omnium.

Vegas 2

So, with three days to go before Boulevard, I'm in Vegas on business. No really, it's actually business, a training seminar. So three days of air conditioning and tons of hotel cawfee... not necessarily a recipe for bicycle race performance. You could call it tapering i guess...

Boulevard looks like it's going to be the same as last year, cold and rainy, maybe even snowy again. Should be epic.

Congrats goes to Don, Josh, and Jason's rides up in Santa Barbara last weekend at the Poor College Kid's RR.

Major props to Janel riding for the US National Team at the Tour of Qatar!

Another good day of training. After two weeks of bad weather, the turn out for the ride was significantly larger. A few of our winter hibernating regulars pulled themselves out of their caves and a few newbies showed up. The legs felt strong, I spun some smaller gears at a higher cadence, and felt pretty good. The ride back was a bit tough, Mexican Canyon hurt a bit, the sprint up Campo to La Mesa even more so - but hurt in a good way.

Side note: both Arnie and Josh have upgraded to Di2... where's my Di2?

Climbing Drills

Today's workout was a series of hill repeats out on Point Loma. Ten trips up the Cabrillo climb, 318 feet of climbing over .8 miles with an average grade of 7.7%. Here how it broke down:

Climb 1: Seated 39/23

Climb 2: Standing 39/21

Climb 3: ILT right leg 39/27

Climb 4: ILT left leg 39/27

Climb 5: Standing 39/23

Climb 6: Seated 39/25

Climb 7: Standing 39/25

Climb 8: Seated 39/25

Climb 9: ILT right leg 39/27

Climb 10: ILT left leg 39/27

The last 2 intervals really hurt. Standing felt quite a bit better than the seated intervals.

Good work.

The rain finally let up. To be precise, it let up at 7:10 this morning... just in time to meet the 8 folks that showed up for the ride. Our usual route was under water, so we worked our way around fashion valley and then took a detour through Clairemont.

Through attrition, we were left with 4 of us to tackle the inside of Torrey Pines, felt relatively strong and gave it a go spinning the 39/21. After Sorrento Valley and the lead into Top Gun I split off and went up Pomerado and climbed up to the 67.

For as little training as I have been doing, I'm feeling pretty good.

Winters here

After last week's 70 degree temperature, the drop into the 50's today was a bit of a kick in the nads. Only 5 of us were up to the challenge of a wet, cold Wednesday ride, and somewhere we lost one on the run up 94. The climb up was a bit painful; the legs felt pretty heavy.

Don's been absolutely flying lately, Jason was there, Marlo as well, leaving me the weak link. Hmmm.... time to do work.

The ride home from was peppered with spits of rain. Still, the roughest day in SD is better than the best back east.

Good Quiz:

http://blog.fritesenmayo.com/

Saturday

Another good day today. Legs did feel pretty heavy, so took it slow. Up the coast to Solana Beach for a quick espresso before work. Tons of cyclist out, and out early this morning. Pretty cool to see. Bagged around 28 miles.

A scheduling change at work meant I had the afternoon off as well, so I headed out east for a ride up Laguna. I took the route up Pine / Deer Creek Road. Steep. Adding 3300' and 38 hard miles to the day.

Good Training

Today I met up with the Chili's ride and rode with them up to Doyle Elementary, then jumped in with the Cyclo-Vets. We did the normal loop, up Torrey Pines. Torrey felt pretty good. Then we did the Top Gun route. I made a pretty strong effort to get away before the climb out of Carrol Canyon... but the group came back up to me, then I just tried to hang on.

Janel, Paul, and Don got away on the Top Gun section, and Arnie, Chad, and I tried to bring them back. No luck.

After dropping back into Mission Valley Janel, Paul, and I headed out for a climb up Mt. Soledad.

Fantastic views atop Soledad. Crystal clear from Orange County to TJ. 70 degrees in January... why live anywhere else.