Summer Update

All right, here's a little update. I just got done with Austin trip #2. It was warming up still to the point where it was typically over 100 degrees every day. On the first Thursday, I headed down to the Driveway on a Thursday and found it quite hard. I didn't get any primes and didn't even break the top 20 in the sprint despite staying somewhat towards the front. Guess it wasn't forward enough.

The Garmin is showing 101 degrees in the bottom right on my ride out to the Driveway.

That weekend I had to go and be at this Formula 1 Expo at the Austin Convention Center, so I did a group ride on Saturday and then rode out in the neighborhood of the F1 track that's being built in Austin.

Setting up for the F1 Expo

The site of the Formula 1 Race still under construction (in the distance on the left).

And then I became sick. At my worst I was coughing up huge wads of flem. On Thursday I had had enough and went to an urgent car place and they prescribed me 3 different kinds of pills. I stayed at the hotel that day and the next and the pills seemed to be eliminating the flem, but also making me really dehydrated upon waking up each day. This whole week was a rest week anyways, so I didn't really miss any workouts. On Sunday though, I decided I was feeling good enough to race San Antonio again.

San Antonio

I now knew kind of what to expect this time around. It was even hotter than before, but I was feeling decent enough and wasn't coughing. The race began and I was trying to not go all out for breaks for at least the first 24 minutes. At the halfway point, the field became noticeably tired and I knew that it was time for the true sufferers to start their walk away from the field. At about 36 minutes a 3 person break with at least one guy from the winning break last time we were here was up the road. Some suffering now would probably pay off for getting a top spot at the finish.

Bridging up to the break

Photo Credit: Walston Photo

I attacked the field and was luckily joined by a really strong rider. Together we were able to bridge up to the break. There was a late prime that me and another guy went for. He outsprinted me, but we dropped a guy from our break, so it was 4 now. The field was a safe distance away and we were all working well together until some real slight cat and mouse began. On the final lap, I was the first to burn my matches and attacked on the backstretch. Jack & Adams and the guy I bridged up with countered and rode away. Same thing happened around the final corner, except the sprint was a little longer, but I got beat by about half a wheel.

The sprint for 3rd.

Photo Credit: Walston Photo

I was still quite happy to get 4th even though I was last place in the break. And then things started going downhill. My cough suddenly came back and was quite bad. I almost completely lost my voice and felt like I was drowning in my cough. It was sooo hot and I was sweating so hard. I was evaporating you could say. Luckily I had carpooled down with some University of Texas friends I had made and they were laughing at me for how badly I was dealing with the heat, but they were there for me. It actually wasn't so much the heat as it was the illness. I had stopped early on taking my medications because all I didn't get antibiotics, so it wasn't entirely necessary to take all those meds anyways.

Back in the Northwest

This time I have actually been having good communication with Athlete's Lounge and at the very least, I'll probably have my Cervelo R5 ready to go if not also the TT bike. Having these bikes will help for sure since I'll be doing the P12 race.

Ready for Cat 2

Ready. Set. Mt. Hood.

Got into PDX at midnight. Got into Athlete's Lounge the next day and my bikes are not available at all, all parts are still in the boxes. I call my teammate and travel buddy for the weekend, Todd Gallaher who then calls Klipper who then both proceed to lecture me on how much of an idiot I am for expecting two bikes to be ready within 3 days notice and no extra details provided. On top of that, Athlete's Lounge was completely slammed for the biggest triathlon weekend of the year busy assembling bikes even more expensive than my upcoming Cervelo R5. For a moment, it seemed that I would not be racing this weekend. However, the shop owner whipped out an amazing deal on a bike on the sales floor a 61cm Cervelo S1:



Sold! And for such a good deal I will not say on this blog. Combined with the pedals I had brought from my Felt which I left in Texas for my 2nd Austin business trip, it was ready to go with only adjustments to the seatpost height and saddle position. The rationale behind this rather sudden and unexpected new bike was that I really wanted to race and that the Felt is probably nearing the end of its usefulness - at times I have heard something rubbing hard during sprints that I don't think is the wheel.

So off me and Todd went to The Dalles and we managed to get in a nice ride that evening. The bike actually came with a compact crankset which at first I was concerned about, but later very very thankful for.

Friday

We raced out in the hills southeast of The Dalles. With all the clouds and gadgetry I still could not figure out if we were going to get rained on or be 2km away from the rain and was concerned for having forgetten my bibshorts at the hotel. Turns out it rained a little bit.

Anyways, the race seemed like a hold-back-fest. Nobody wanted to play. On the only decent hill, the hillclimbers would always get a gap on the rest of the field and then proceed to let up allowing most people to catch back on. I was off the front probably too much. The final lap up the long false flat I couldn't stand it and attacked out with a Bob's rider. I pushed it hard up the hill hill and dropped Bob's, but probably should've waited for him. And then I was attempting a 10 mile solo break into the finish. It was windy and I thought that if I could make it to the downhills I could still have a chance against all the climbers who can't descend. Turns out I myself couldn't really descend as fast as I wanted which I speculate was due to a slight lack of eating. The peleton of about 40 caught me with about 2km to go. And then I had nothing for the final hillclimb finish and got gapped off the back at 17 seconds back.

I was pretty pissed that nobody else wanted to try to do a break in the 3s. Tactically at the time, that was the place to make a move for all people unsure of their climbing abilities. Yet out of who knows how many teams, I guess nobody else wanted to or perhaps they already had made up their mind that they were going to get beaten. But don't take my word for it, on the 3rd lap we were just mosying up the hill and someone from beside the road yelled at us "GROOOUUPPP RIIIDDEEE!!" He was so right, nobody except Garmin Kid, Bob's and me were trying to attack. People were having conversations in the field. The race was not hard at all.

Scenic Gorge TT

This race was just injury upon insult for me. I was doing somewhat ok in my race up to the Rowena Hills. I had passed one or two maybe even three guys and only had gotten passed by the ultimate winner. But then I got a flat about 2/3 of the way up the hill. Game over. I got a ride to the finish and got the worst actual finisher's time of 25 minutes back. GC fail.

As I got the flat, I set down my bike and started cheering on my other competitors as I waited for a ride. Then I saw a nice shady area to wait at and picked up my bike which then caught the 30mph wind with the disc and aero frame causing the downtube to slam into my leg giving it a nice looking bulge. Cherry on top!

Hood River Crit

Redemption time. A crit with hills is usually a crit I can rock and roll in. In this crit, Garmin kid really wanted to play from lap 3 and soloed away. I knew he would get it because the only team that may have been organized enough in the peleton to bring it back was Team Guinness - yes me alone bringing back that break slowly but surely over many laps but also dragging the rest of the field with me in the process. I seriously think that in the Cat 3 peleton I have tried to breakaway so many times (and been successful in half as many attempts) that the rest of the riders have an instinctual reaction to immediately chase down that break I get into. So I had to watch out and let Garmin kid ride away and hope for the best because I'm not going to chase down 1st just to get 30th.

Anywho, I don't remember much until the few final laps where I maintained a decent position and moved up on the final lap. This year the same thing happened where on the backstretch some people in the middle were on the front with the left sort of encroaching and the right side wide open. This time I punched in hard up the right and took as much of the final 3 turns as I could. Coming out of the final turn I sprinted with what I had left and managed to get 4th in the crit.

Photo credit: Dave Roth

Now there are a few things to mention about "bad style" in the above photo. First off is Jeff Gaeckle's bad style for getting a little too excited about getting 2nd place - a one handed wave or fist pump is probably more suitable than whatever Jeff had going on there. And yes he got 2nd, Garmin kid was 23 seconds ahead of him. And then after that is that weirdo Guinness rider wearing a little too much clothing. If you look closely, he is the only rider in the whole peleton with bib pants or even leg warmers on. Word from other riders was that he also has a knack for always wearing wool socks and always putting on his race numbers such that they inevitably tear off. But in my lame defense, I just came from Austin, Texas where the low temperature is 75 degrees!

Three Summits



Time for some real climbing! This year, I tried a different race strategy: not attacking from the gun. According to the senior Guinness Cycling Team race strategist on hand, Todd Gallaher, this race is always won on the final hill. Ok, so the course has 3 hillclimbs. The first isn't too bad at 2300 feet spread out over 13 miles, but there is a quite steep section for about 3 miles that a lot of people get dropped on. The next climb is 2000 feet over 7 miles. Definitely steeper and this will whittle out to close to the final selection of riders. The final climb is 2400 feet of climbing over 10 miles with a gradually increasing grade most of the way to the finish. Explosion avoidance is critical on the final hill.

For me the race didn't get very dramatic until after I had to hammer very hard by myself after taking at least a minute long nature break. I time trialed quite hard and was glad to have caught the slow field just before the steep section of hill 1. I made it over the top with the lead group and then descended carefully. Usually I descend very aggressively, but my brake pads were squeaking hard and the valve was making an unpleasant rim-whacking noise. Despite going somewhat easy on the downhill I still was first to the bottom.

Then going up hill 2 Garmin kid goes again. I guess I convinced myself that I would just hold on and not attack with him since by the laws of physics and me being the tallest if not heaviest Cat 3 in the peleton I was disadvantaged on the hills. Nonetheless I stayed with the lead pack and then mosied along with the now 7 man pack and again descended with squeaky braking.

Immediately at the bottom the pack slowed down a ton. It was a very slow pace for me so I just started setting a pace off the front. It looked for a moment that Bob's was following me, but then I was solo. Going up the final hill is interesting because the first section is this long and straight section where you can see a long way up or back down the road. And whenever I looked back it always looked like the chase group was within striking distance. I wasn't even attacking all that hard, my heart rate said I was in low z4 at the time, but I was going steady.

But then Tim Smith bridged up to me and we started working. And then a Mellow Johnny's rider from St. Louis bridged up too. I really wanted a podium and resolved in my mind that I would fight for it. Just before the cut-off to the ski area, Mellow Johnny's attacked us and we let him ride away. I sort of worked with Tim, but with 500 to go I attacked and then rode on up to a 3rd place finish in the stage! Podium!



Well with that I am pretty confident in my decision to upgrade to Cat 2. Ever since Walla Walla where I finally had the fitness to perform, it seems that it has been easy enough for me to get a podium if not win as long as I don't do constant futile attacks most of the race. Or I can still do lots of attacks and stay away in places where people don't know I can stay away... like in FRESH Road Race in Texas. And honestly, it really seems silly to see that podium shot of the final stage with me, this monster of a biker securing a podium performance against the likes of true climber-type bodied racers. It's time for me to seek tougher bike racing.

And now I'm back in Texas for another 2 weeks. I'm planning on doing the San Antonio crit again and then will be flying back just in time for Baker City.

Don't Mess With Texas!

And now for some completely different weather.

For these past two weeks I've been down in Austin, TX on a business trip. And since it was a full two weeks, I needed to bring my bike to train and race. The first week, I was on a week-long break from riding and just drove around in my Jeep Patriot. The weather was hot! Well, to this northwesterner it was. But while driving around, I thought it was bearable and a non-issue inside the air-conditioned buildings.



It wasn't until I went for my first half hour ride on Sunday that I realized...

IT IS HOT!!!

On the next Monday I went on a wake-up-the-legs ride for 3 hours. I originally had thought I'd go to the office and do some work and then do some riding in the night, but I just went for a ride once my key card failed to grant me access. I had 3 waterbottles on me and had already drank an entire bottle during the 30 minute commute to the office. I started riding out some more and filled up my bottles at a gas station. And then I did the rest of my ride consuming all of the water before I got back to the hotel. Usually 2 big bottles is fine for a 3 hour ride up in Portland, but that would have been a disaster down here. Tuesday I got out to a late start and didn't do all of my intervals, but still managed to get a 9th place on a strava segment.

The Driveway

Thursday was time to race at The Driveway! This race was fun and rather serious for a weekly series. $300 five-deep finish, TEN primes and a new helmet for the most aggressive rider (the rider first across the line the most laps). 60 minutes total. I had been sort of hydrating while warming up, but not throughout the day, so when the race started in about 90 degree heat, I began to feel fatigued much more quickly. The race was hard. A big break of like 12 people got away on the first lap and then I tried to bridge with another guy, but just a little later the field came absolutely roaring past and caught the break in no time. During this whole race I was either in a small break riding super hard or in a motivated and organized chase group.

The highlight of my night was not the finish, not even a prime lap, but a plain old lap. I was on the front for some kind of reason and wasn't going too hard. The finish line was coming up in about 200m so I figured I might as well make a pull to get some aggressive rider points. Usually in Washington or Oregon, the pack would have just let this happen, but not down here! Someone laid down an attack and took that lap away from me! This was actually an awesome feeling because it meant that any time getting across the line first was something you better damn well have earned.

With 4 to go I had an opportunity to take a prime and laid down a sprint probably a little too hard for that late in the race and got the prime. I was exhausted after this effort and tried hard to get a decent sprint position, but the reigning Elite National Criterium Champion David Wenger and 20 other racers easily outsprinted me to the finish.

FRESH

Friday I carpooled 250 miles with a guy I met through the txbra forums to Jacksonville, Texas where we stayed in a hotel. And then it was time for the FRESH Road Race and fresh was a feeling I had not been having lately it seemed. The course was your typical race around a lake. 18 mile laps and the 3s got to do 4 laps. The organizer was pretty sweet and had managed to secure enough prizes to make it a prime lap each lap. It started out with some attacks and early breaks. I tried to bridge up to the break to get a prime the first lap, but was 3rd. But I had gapped the field, so our break worked for a while and eventually got caught. It was a field sprint for the next prime and I think I got 2nd or 3rd again. After this, a break got away and was hanging out there. Just after the biggest hill of the course which was flat by northwest standards I bridged up to the break.

I was drinking quite a bit of fluids on the ride and packed four water bottles of which 3 had powder. There was also neutral water which I took advantage of on laps 3 and 4. I drank half of the neutral water and poured the rest on my back since it was starting to warm up into the 80s already at 11am. By the end of the race I had drank all of the water in my 4 bottles and also the equivalent of about 1 neutral water bottle.

The three of us were holding on and again I got 2nd in the prime sprint. At this point we had dropped the other breakmate, so the two of us starting working. It seemed like I was taking longer pulls than my breakmate, but I had to make the break work. By the time we had about 6 miles to go the pack was nowhere in sight and we were still cooperating. I had made the decision in my mind to try to solo and waited until a slight incline about 3 miles to go and put in an attack. My breakmate couldn't keep up and was soon far out of sight. Not knowing how far back the peleton was, I kept pushing hard until about 500m when I eased up and poster finished! 2nd place was 46 seconds back and the field was 2 minutes back! For this feat I won some cash and the strange, but quite useful prize of a foam-fitting pillow.

Again, it would be nice to have a pic of the finish.

San Antone

And then we drove all 250 or so miles back to Austin. The next day I drove myself down to San Antonio for the crit. This was an all right course. Kind of wide, but not very wide. Corner 1 was more than 90 degress and then it went into a slight uphill. The road bended to the right and then was slightly downhill into another bend which was almost a corner and a final corner onto the straightaway which was about 350m to the finish.

Since the course seemed lacking of dangerous corners and had decent pavement, I decided to ride on my American Classic 58s which was the first time I used carbon wheels in a crit. It actually felt incredible as those wheels always do. But in the corners it was just so smooth such that at one point I was riding a bit too close to another wheel in front of me with about 2 inches maximum to spare, yet at the same time I felt completely in control of my bike and the line I was taking. We didn't rub wheels at all, but this did scare off another rider who observed this happen. At least it wasn't as close as the encounter David Wenger had in Athens.

Photo Credit: Walston Photo

It had to have been in the high 80s when the race started and was warming up still. I had 3 bottles on me and probably should have drank more often. The pace seemed slightly less intense than the driveway, but was still hard. Breaks were happening and then getting reeled back in and then one stuck which I didn't get into which was a mistake because I knew the guy getting into that was strong. Eventually I got myself into a chase break which was working hard to bridge. We could see that we were closing in on a break ahead of us, but we had 5 to go. With 3 to go, we were nearly within striking distance. With 2 to go I put in a hard effort and was able to bridge with one guy from the chase break. Final lap I started winding up already on the backstretch and then kept going hard on the straightaway and took 3rd from this break. However, there were 6 other riders in another break up the road, so I ended up 9th. It also became clear that my front wheel got a flat, so perhaps that hindered my sprint a bit.

The week of Mt. Hood

And then I went back to my car and proceeded to sweat off unprecedented amounts of water. Then it was out to get some fajitas and drive back. Monday was an easy ride and then Tuesday I tried to beat Kristian House's (a former British National Champ who was doing some winter training in Austin) KOM of Lost Creek on Strava. The best I could manage was a minute behind... on a 1.1 mile climb. It's just unreal what the pros can do. Another highlight was that I glued on my first tubular all by myself. It was hard and I ripped the skin off my right thumb three times in the process.



And I'm finishing off this blog post while on the plane to PDX. The plane was delayed so I'm probably going to get home at about 1am tonight which isn't good for my sleep, but hopefully that foam fitting pillow will make things better. Tomorrow I go to Athlete's Lounge to hopefully pick up both of my new bikes. All the parts have been sourced and it's just a matter of whether the mechanics can work some magic since the parts didn't all get there until this Sunday. But things are in motion and the bikes will be ready soon. I'll be sure to have a whole post just about these bikes. As for Hood, I'm going for GC in what will probably be my last race as a 3. And then I fly back to Austin on Monday to work another 2 weeks and will fly back to Portland just in time for Baker city. I'm dreaming and trying to secure a winter-time job through my company in Austin and a summertime job up in Portland - I hope I'll be that lucky.