Monday, June 7, 2010
Good investment
This weekend I was able to get my first win of the year and as a Cat2. Thanks in no part to a good investment I made last week. I’m not talking about a seat tube motor but rather my new fit. Even with having some minor difficulties I was able to beat my best church creek time by around 30 seconds and would have easily broken the 53 min mark.
I was quite worried about being Chucks 30 second man. He claims not to be a good time trialist but I think this is the first time I have ever beat him and I consider myself a specialist. I was worried that while he does not consider himself good at time trialing, he could put in a good effort at the start and catch me. Then all he would have had to do is stay with me or just beat me out right. I had never thought about tactics in a TT before but I definitely when harder the first 5k than I would normally.
I was catching so much cross wind that my bars were twisting and by the 20k mark my right shifter was on the left side of my wheel when I looking down. I contemplated stopping but resorted to just trying to yank the bars back to center. I tried standing up and yanking on them and at one point I think I was even grabbing my fork and trying to twist them. I think I had just passed Greg Abbott when I was doing this and I’m sure if he was looking forward he must have been wondering what the hell I was doing.
Besides having the problem with my bars I think I rode really well. My legs did not feel that great when I was warming up but sometimes that is a good sign for me. This might sound weird but it is nice knowing that I have to have a good day to place well in the time trial. I really think it helped me push myself. Last year I found my self getting to cocky and watched as my times would go down each time. I don’t think it was due to losing fitness but rather not feeling as though I had to push myself as much.
There are still some guys that I would like to go up against. I know I won this church creek but I’m sure I will not win them all especially since there are a lot of people that have broken the 53 min mark and Josh Frick has the fastest time I can find at 50:55. I do think we might have had slower conditions on Saturday because Simon Walker is usually sub 53 and I just barely beat him. Hopefully as I get used to my new positions I can continue to get faster as well. I am definitely still hurting today and was not even sure if I was going to be able to race Ride Sally Ride, but that was taken care of by the officials.
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Can you say busy weekend?
Wow so I had bit of a busy weekend.
I started things off with a 4 hour fit session with Josh Frick at Cyclelife. I was completely surprised with how much we changed. Saddle down and forward, bars slammed and back, and shoulders in. The question is not if I am more aero, its if I will be able to hold it for 40k. I think I remember Josh saying "If it doesn't hurt at the end you are doing something wrong.". So I guess the test will be this Saturday.
Then on Saturday I went up to PA to do Fulton(not a real race) road race. This is not considered a real race because from what I understand no official will go near the promoter. To be honest I would not have gone if I notice it was him either. I know he had some big issues paying people, including me, last year. I did manage to get a check for my results at Euphrata last year.
When I get to the race I notice that there are only 20 to 30 riders in my field and it is not even worth upgrade points. So I said to myself " I guess results don't matter today". Well I mine as well make it pain full. I attacked at mile 3 of 50 and got a good gap solo, maybe around 30 seconds and stayed away for about 3 to 5 miles or so before a group of 3 bridged up. After one of the guys crashed himself out on the descent 3 more bridged up. This made the break 6 riders and from what some of the guys were saying, it was the 6 riders of the race. I tried several time to put in some digs but there was enough people skipping turns to stay rested and drag everyone up to me.
Because I am a jackass, I forgot my drink mix and was riding with only water. I do not do so well with only water and tend to cramp. Well Saturday was no different. I attacked on the last climb with around 3 miles to go and my left leg cramped up solid. As I watched 3 riders go by I was able to push through it and start chancing. I never caught them but I was able to hold off the other 2 that got popped on the climb and I was making good progress on catching the winning group. If you can count you would notice I got 4th, he paid cash that day so no worries there.
Sunday was what I would consider a good day. After spending the day with the girlfriends family at a state forest. We were celebrating not only memorial day but it also happened to be my 30th birthday. I talked her into going for a stroll in the woods. So as we are walking along through a very quiet and peaceful area I stopped and said something I don't remember because I was too nervous. But the general gist was that I asked her to marry me, luckily she said yes. I wanted to ask her my birthday but I was not going to pop the question in New Jersey.
Monday was spent in New Jersey racing Somerville. It was a nice crit with spectators close to most of the speed week races. I was joking around before the race after hearing the cat 3s get $50 premes that I was just going to preme hunt for the day. After 3 laps I put in a good effort wanting to start a break and found myself solo off the front with a good gap. Once I came around the start finish I heard the bell for a $50 preme plus merchandise so I figured I should just ride this out. I held off the peleton for the lap and picked up the preme. I settled into my threshold hoping someone would jump across. After another lap solo they rang the preme bell again but this time the pac was strung out and I really had to push it to hold them off, but I did and added another $20 to my pay out. I ended up with about 4 laps solo and merged back with the field. With 3 to go they rang the bell for another preme and I had just bridged to a break that quickly got shut down and ended up as first wheel. With about 500 or 600 meters to the line I put my head down and gassed it. I guess people didn't want to blow their wad before the finish and I opened up a huge gap easily taking the preme.
All in all I took home 3 of the 4 premes worth $120 plus a Tee shirt fit for an overweight spectator and a water bottle. I thought for sure at one of the oldest races in America the merchandise would have at least been a 19 mm tubular from 1970. I finished somewhere in the 60's but took home more money the most of the guys in the top ten. And I think I was the only one from the cat2 race that was asked to sigh autographs after the race. I had a small group of kid that started shouting my number every time I went by because of my time soloing off the front. After the race on the cool down they started yelling and asked if I would sing an autograph for them. I felt kinda cool to be honest.
So I guess it was a great weakened. And hopefully I can get my first W this weekend at church creek. I know I will need to be having a good day to beat some of those guys that are registered.
I started things off with a 4 hour fit session with Josh Frick at Cyclelife. I was completely surprised with how much we changed. Saddle down and forward, bars slammed and back, and shoulders in. The question is not if I am more aero, its if I will be able to hold it for 40k. I think I remember Josh saying "If it doesn't hurt at the end you are doing something wrong.". So I guess the test will be this Saturday.
Then on Saturday I went up to PA to do Fulton(not a real race) road race. This is not considered a real race because from what I understand no official will go near the promoter. To be honest I would not have gone if I notice it was him either. I know he had some big issues paying people, including me, last year. I did manage to get a check for my results at Euphrata last year.
When I get to the race I notice that there are only 20 to 30 riders in my field and it is not even worth upgrade points. So I said to myself " I guess results don't matter today". Well I mine as well make it pain full. I attacked at mile 3 of 50 and got a good gap solo, maybe around 30 seconds and stayed away for about 3 to 5 miles or so before a group of 3 bridged up. After one of the guys crashed himself out on the descent 3 more bridged up. This made the break 6 riders and from what some of the guys were saying, it was the 6 riders of the race. I tried several time to put in some digs but there was enough people skipping turns to stay rested and drag everyone up to me.
Because I am a jackass, I forgot my drink mix and was riding with only water. I do not do so well with only water and tend to cramp. Well Saturday was no different. I attacked on the last climb with around 3 miles to go and my left leg cramped up solid. As I watched 3 riders go by I was able to push through it and start chancing. I never caught them but I was able to hold off the other 2 that got popped on the climb and I was making good progress on catching the winning group. If you can count you would notice I got 4th, he paid cash that day so no worries there.
Sunday was what I would consider a good day. After spending the day with the girlfriends family at a state forest. We were celebrating not only memorial day but it also happened to be my 30th birthday. I talked her into going for a stroll in the woods. So as we are walking along through a very quiet and peaceful area I stopped and said something I don't remember because I was too nervous. But the general gist was that I asked her to marry me, luckily she said yes. I wanted to ask her my birthday but I was not going to pop the question in New Jersey.
Monday was spent in New Jersey racing Somerville. It was a nice crit with spectators close to most of the speed week races. I was joking around before the race after hearing the cat 3s get $50 premes that I was just going to preme hunt for the day. After 3 laps I put in a good effort wanting to start a break and found myself solo off the front with a good gap. Once I came around the start finish I heard the bell for a $50 preme plus merchandise so I figured I should just ride this out. I held off the peleton for the lap and picked up the preme. I settled into my threshold hoping someone would jump across. After another lap solo they rang the preme bell again but this time the pac was strung out and I really had to push it to hold them off, but I did and added another $20 to my pay out. I ended up with about 4 laps solo and merged back with the field. With 3 to go they rang the bell for another preme and I had just bridged to a break that quickly got shut down and ended up as first wheel. With about 500 or 600 meters to the line I put my head down and gassed it. I guess people didn't want to blow their wad before the finish and I opened up a huge gap easily taking the preme.
All in all I took home 3 of the 4 premes worth $120 plus a Tee shirt fit for an overweight spectator and a water bottle. I thought for sure at one of the oldest races in America the merchandise would have at least been a 19 mm tubular from 1970. I finished somewhere in the 60's but took home more money the most of the guys in the top ten. And I think I was the only one from the cat2 race that was asked to sigh autographs after the race. I had a small group of kid that started shouting my number every time I went by because of my time soloing off the front. After the race on the cool down they started yelling and asked if I would sing an autograph for them. I felt kinda cool to be honest.
So I guess it was a great weakened. And hopefully I can get my first W this weekend at church creek. I know I will need to be having a good day to beat some of those guys that are registered.
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