Vegas Baby!

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Ride

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

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

Bike review coming soon.

Race Report: Ladera Ranch

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

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

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

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

12th Place....

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

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

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

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

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

Lookout Mountain / Ward / and Hail

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Race Report: Mt Evans Hill Climb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'll be back next year.

Rocky Mountain High

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

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

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

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

Well see how it turns out.