Cat 5 in San Diego

2011-11-28T21:24:00.001-08:00

It's been a bit crazy lately, a job change (one that I'm very excited about) has meant that I've been more focused on work than riding. But a few weeks ago I managed to carve out some time a began to ride with purpose. I really want to upgrade this year, so time to focus.

To that end I've been doing the Sunday Great Western Ride with some of the Cyclo-Vets and Todd from Cal Pools / Dewalt. We've been concentrating on on the bike strength training which means a lot of turning a 53x15 gear at 50 rpm up 8% grades... not a lot of fun, but it definitely makes you stronger.

This past Sunday, Todd mixed it up a bit with a surprise ride up Kitchen Creek instead of the usual Great Western Loop. Kitchen Creek is a local climb up Laguna Mountain - it gains 2600' in just under 12 miles. Portions of it are pretty steep, but it averages about 4% over the entire distance. It's a great ride, tough, but with fantastic views and a closed road that begins in the sage desert and tops out in the pine forests. Awesome.

The group was meeting at the park n ride just off the 8 / Descanto exit around 10:00 Sunday morning. I decided to add a little "extra credit" and ride up from Rancho San Diego, doing the first leg of the Great Western and adding around 3000' of climbing and 50 miles to my daily total. It was a peaceful ride up, I tried to keep the effort low, realizing what lay ahead. I was also trying out some new nutrition products from Honey Stinger and Hammer Nutrition (seriously, I think I could live on the Honey Waffles alone...). I have to say that the Hammer Sustain really works!

The climb up Dehesa was nice, and on the trip up Japatul it got quite a bit warmer and windier. Just after "the wall" (never noticed the tin name plate before...) I caught up to a couple of the guys riding up from Alpine and joined them for the rest of the trip to the park n ride.

The rest of the riders were prepping their bikes when we rolled in. After some talk, and some begging for water off of Todd, we were ready to head out. We dropped down Old Hwy 80 towards Descanto and then began to climb to Pine Valley. A couple of guys pushed the pace a bit, so I sat in - I was already starting to feel it a bit in my legs. After riding through Pine Valley we regrouped at the I-8 overpass and then continued down Old Hwy 80, through the border check and on to Kitchen Creek Road (I forgot to turn on my Garmin - so no data on this portion of the trip). We regrouped at the driveway just past the overpass.

Todd suggested that if we hadn't already done so that we should treat the climb as a Time Trial, that way have gauge for future improvement. With nearly 5000' of elevation gain in my legs by this point, I thought I'd just play it by ear. A rider from the Cash Call team had passed shortly before we left as a group and as we hit the road he was a good 400-500m up ahead. I set a goal for trying to catch him, not that he knew we were racing, but...

We rode straight into a head wind. Not the way you want to start a climb like this, but we couldn't complain too much, It was Nov 26th and 70 degrees out... gotta love San Diego. The first few miles of Kitchen Creek are a series of fairly steep ramps. I tried to keep my heart rate below threshold, and spin an easier gear, it seemed to work and I slowly spun away from my fellow riders and chased after the local pro. I never really got that much closer, but I have to admit that I am almost too happy that I never really fell behind - I held my own on my one sided "race."

After cresting the initial climb you quickly drop down into a small valley, with a creek flowing through it, and the the climb starts in earnest. The road runs along the creek and after a mile or so, doubles back on itself. A small dirt path to the left of the security gate allows you access to the rest of the closed road as it winds upward and back into the headwind. It was shortly after this that I began to feel some soreness in my legs, I also was pushing hard through this section, maybe a bit too hard and began to exceed my threshold. I tried to back off but it was hard to slow my heart down. Eventually I calmed it down and was able to increase the pace a bit, but it definitely affected the rest of the trip up.

The views from this portion of the road are fantastic, looking to the left you could see all the way to the Pacific - it was actually that clear, to the right the Anza Borrego - fantastic. After topping this rise I once again drop down a hundred feet or so and climbed up through another security gate, just on the other side was an empty Border Patrol Jeep. As I passed by I hear some rustling in the sage on the edge of the road, some of the guys who passed by later said that they saw a couple of machine gun toting Border Patrol Agents emerging from the those same bushes.

Towards the top of Kitchen Creek the wheels started to come off for me, my heart rate dropped about 10 beats per minute and I felt like I had almost no energy. As I entered the pine forest that signaled that final mile or two of the climb I significantly slowed down. I ground through the find climb using every bit of my 39x28 and crested exhausted in just over 68 minutes. Not a fantastic time (I think the record is somewhere around 51 minutes) but one I'll take this early in the year especially considering the length of the ride up and that I'm carrying about 8 extra pounds (that's worth an extra 4 minutes over 1 hr right???).

After waiting for the rest of the group to arrive the trip back was mostly characterized by my just barely hanging on to the last guys wheel. A few of us took the I-8 short cut back to Alpine, and after saying good bye I dropped down Harbison Canyon and into Rancho San Diego - dreaming of a hot shower and some food, only to find my car battery was dead... good times :).

All in all it was a 97 mile trip with just over 8500' of climbing. Best ride yet of the season.

Commute, commute

2011-10-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

So... what have I been up up to? Well, a position chance at work has me up in beautiful Escondido, and has me commuting up there by bike. It seemed like a good idea at first, but it's become a bit much. The trip winds up being around 64 miles round trip and over 3700' of climbing... five days a week, plus weekend training rides is putting my weekly mileage around 400... too much.

There is something nice about riding after dark... dangerous, but nice.

2011-02-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

What passes for winter here in socal has hit with a vengeance today. Wind and Rain. I know it sounds silly, but it's getting harder and harder to make it out when the weather turns. 6 years of year round riding in the mountains of Colorado and my school years in the mid western blizzards of Iowa all for naught as 50 degree temperatures and intermittent rain finds me on the trainer.

The early morning hours brought rain and the possibility of snow up around Alpine, so I skipped the Wednesday ride. The skies cleared up around 10am saving me from my date of trainer based intervals and ILT's and I headed out to Mt. Soledad for some hill climbs. 6 hill repeats for 39 miles and 4900' of climbing. Towards the end, the skies opened up and drenched me on the ride back home.

On one of the descents, I came across the aftermath of a pretty serious car accident... right about the same place on Nautilus where someone pulled out in front of Jason a few weeks back... dangerous place.

On a racing note: Boulevard was two weeks ago - the best weather yet... 60 degrees and sunny. As I pulled up to the line I noticed that one of my friends, Chad was also racing the Cat 4's. After realizing that I was most likely the largest guy in the field (not a good sign), we headed out for 2 laps of the course. The course was the same as last year, triangular with half the course descending and half the course climbing. The descent was mostly smooth, the pack of 100 riders a little skittish, but for the most part controlled. At the bottom you take a hard right, and cross over the railroad tracks. As my front wheel went over the tracks I heard and felt a "KaChunk!" Was my tire was going flat?

The riders at the front put in a pretty hard acceleration and began to split up the group. Riders slid back through the peloton like they had dropped anchor. I was far enough back that I missed the move and then had to set a steady pace to pull back some of the riders. Tough, my size wasn't helping much.

As I turned onto Old Hwy 80, I came up behind Chad, he had been battling it out with the ones on the front. We joined a few other riders and began to pace line our way up the climb. As we took turns at the front I became more and more certain that my tire was going flat. I looked around for the follow car, but no luck, it had stopped earlier for another rider, it passed with the rider hanging out the rear window holding his bike. No wheel for me.

At the top, my tire went completely flat and I pulled out of the race... pretty bummed. As penance I rode back from the race, 60 miles. Might as well get something out of the race.

Monday

2011-01-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

A perfect day, 75 degrees and sunny. This morning I headed out to Rancho San Diego and set out to ride up Mt. Laguna. It would be a good time to work on some hill climbing and hopefully see a bit of snow. The first part of Dehesa Canyon Rd is pretty flat, until Harbison Canyon, then a hard right and it climbs 900' up to Japutal Road. It's a pretty steady climb, and is the first part of the Great Western loop. Went pretty slow, working on steady climbing - sub-tempo.

The next section is a rolling climb past Loveland Reservoir up Japatul Road followed by a series of lazy switchbacks and "the wall" ; a steep 10%+ climb - always hurts, never fun. To complete the Great Western Loop one turn right at Lyons Valley, but continuing up Japatul sends you back to the north, under I-8, and past Descanso.

The real meat and potatoes of the ride came after the left turn on to Pine Creek Road, just before Pine Valley. Pine Creek skirts the lower section of the infamous Nobel Canyon, crosses Pine Creek and turns into Deer Park Road. Scrub and Live Oak line the road as it follow the creek and begins the steep climb up Mt. Laguna. Really, really steep. It climbs about 2000' over 8 miles, but has a bit of up and down, so is really more like 2200' total. The total elevation gain isn't the entire story as the climb comes in chunks, sections of 15%, 17%, 22%, even 24% pepper the lower sections. The terrain moves from Oak lined creek bed, to desert sage, to fire scorched pine. It tops out around 5500' where it connects with Sunrise Highway. Towards the top a bit of snow was hiding in the shade at the base some of the trees, rocks...

Right on Sunrise takes you up over 6000' and to the Mt. Laguna Lodge for a root beer and some peanuts - and if you are lucky, a brief lecture on any variety of topics from the owner. The drop back down to Pine Valley is a quick ride, most of the corners are sweeping. From the top you can see to ocean. At the bottom, a right turn takes you through Pine Valley and then sends you to retrace your route back under I-8 and to the Lyons Valley / Japatul intersection.

A left turn and a short descent puts you back on the Great Western loop. It's a long drag over rolling hills that takes you up to the "four corners", instead of heading up skyline I stuck to Lyons Valley and dropped down, well Lyons Valley. A quick run down Mexican Canyon and back into Rancho San Diego.

90 miles

8795'

6 hrs 10 min

Wednesday

2011-01-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Morning meeting and then an afternoon ride. Headed out to Point Loma to ride the tide pools. 10 climbs alternating gearing and seated / standing. Started out calm and warm and ended windy and cool. Knowingly made the mistake of having a burrito and coke on the way home and had to climb out of mission valley with a full stomach... think I'd learn.

2011

2011-01-01T15:35:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! I rang the new year in last night by being in bed by 9pm... man, I'm really getting old. This morning was nice, not too many folks out and about at 7am. Did run across some of the aftermath of last night's festivities. Looked like one new year's eve reveler managed to rear end a parked car at the apartment complex up the street, then that car rear ended another... and the car another... they must not have stayed around admiring their handy work... 2011 is not going to start off well for a few.

I met up with the Chili's crew for the Saturday ride, pretty light turn out, but Marlo from Ranchos and Mike from Jamba were both there... good to see them. The route was the usual, Morena up through the UTC, down to Sorrento Valley, up Carrol Canyon and then the Top Gun back to Kearny Mesa. All in all about 36 miles. The ride is pretty fast up with uphill sprints at the top of La Jolla Colony and Carrol Canyon; and a flat high speed sprint at the end Kearny Villa Road. Felt strong on most of the sections, getting better at being in the right place at the right time....

After rolling back into Kearny Mesa I went back out for some extra credit and linked up a loop out through Lakeside, up Hwy 67, and back down Scripps Poway Parkway. All in all it was about 81 miles with 4500' of climbing.

Dirt

2010-12-19T10:03:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-29T10:40:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-09T08:30:00.001-08:00

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

2010-10-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

2010-06-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-13T22:57:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-08T20:31:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-10T21:28:00.001-07:00

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?

2010-04-04T18:16:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-27T05:56:00.001-07:00

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!!!!

2010-03-20T19:50:00.001-07:00

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

Saturday Ride

2010-03-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-19T22:02:00.001-07:00

Tour of Murrieta: Day Three

2010-03-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-02-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-03T20:55:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-01-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

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.

How are you spending your New Year's Eve?

2009-12-31T20:24:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-08T03:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-30T18:27:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-08-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-31T19:36:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-06-10T15:51:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-05-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-15T20:08:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-05-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

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

Rest Week... Stress Week

2009-05-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

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 ?

2009-04-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

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:

2009-04-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-04-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

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.