...I've been racing on my measly Cervelo S1 with my Ksyriums all the races... UNTIL Saturday when I'll be bringing out my R5 and my American Classic carbon 58s to IVRR.
You all are about to get CLOBBERED.
Now who wants to give me a carpool up there?
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Just racing around
Dirty Circles (last week):
Rode out there. Got there 2 hours before race. Sat outside and got very cold. Warmed up in Byron's car. Lining up. Shivering.
Race time! Cold! Only 20mph. Cold! Bored. Gap on the right. Attack! Caught. Attack again! Caught again. Hot spot coming up. Go way too early, but Byron is right behind me and he gets 2nd! Colby goes solo! Chase! Chase some more! Dead after final corner. Avoided nasty crash. Success?
Heiser Farms
Zipcar it down there. Dirt and poop all over course. Gravel/dirt 1k from finish. Potholes everywhere. Follow Soraz for futile attack. Slip and nearly fall on corner. Dropped. Zone 2. Low zone 2. Too low. Contemplating being 'that guy' who complains about shitty course after getting shitty result. Getting lapped! Try to hang on. Dropped again. Probably my first DFL ever. Wait no! Once at a midnight greenlake race in February I was 3rd and DFL.
Hmm, I have a Zipcar and I'm low on Dave's Killer Bread. Sidetrip to Dave's Killer Breadquarters in Milwaukie. 9 loafs and 5 Sin-Dawgs. Back at Zipcar spot and unloaded with 2 minutes to spare.
Dirty Circles:
Ride out there again. Run into Justin & Jen who are also riding out there. Blue skies! Quaint farms. Munch down half a sin-dawg during the ride. RAIN! Blue skies! Alpacas. Run into Christina and Jeff! At the race.
Figured out why it's called dirty circles: cause you get your bike super dirty riding around in the sand parking lot. Lining up for race. Right behind Beardsley and Boursaw. Fall down while standing still. Can't clip out. Embarrassing. Goal for race: pack finish.
HPC going from the gun. I'm feeling good, not attacking. Watching a veloce rider guide Rosenberg around. Rosenberg's got a train for the hot spot. Get behind Rosenberg. Fend off Bedford for Rosenberg's wheel. Sprint with Rosenberg for 3rd? in hot spot.
Back in pack. Boursaw unleashes it into a break. Almost chase down break, but Bedford and Porcella are both there. No sense in dragging pack. Pack finish is my goal. Chase break gets away. Slinky-ing peleton. Time to go. Bridge up to Liberles and a junior. Culpepper tries to stay on. Culpepper and junior done. Liberles and I catch an Evolution and veloce rider. I think to myself I ought to know these guy's names, but I don't. Pack is close. Another HPC rider bridges up. Doing best attempts at echeloning. Can't catch chase break, but ahead of peleton for finish. Cat and Mouse. Peeps looking at each other at 180. Time to go. Drag HPCer behind me, 2nd from 2nd chase break. Success!
Update Update!
My hot spot sprint points helped bump me up into the top 10 (10th place)! Super stoked! Success indeed.
Rode out there. Got there 2 hours before race. Sat outside and got very cold. Warmed up in Byron's car. Lining up. Shivering.
Race time! Cold! Only 20mph. Cold! Bored. Gap on the right. Attack! Caught. Attack again! Caught again. Hot spot coming up. Go way too early, but Byron is right behind me and he gets 2nd! Colby goes solo! Chase! Chase some more! Dead after final corner. Avoided nasty crash. Success?
Heiser Farms
Zipcar it down there. Dirt and poop all over course. Gravel/dirt 1k from finish. Potholes everywhere. Follow Soraz for futile attack. Slip and nearly fall on corner. Dropped. Zone 2. Low zone 2. Too low. Contemplating being 'that guy' who complains about shitty course after getting shitty result. Getting lapped! Try to hang on. Dropped again. Probably my first DFL ever. Wait no! Once at a midnight greenlake race in February I was 3rd and DFL.
Hmm, I have a Zipcar and I'm low on Dave's Killer Bread. Sidetrip to Dave's Killer Breadquarters in Milwaukie. 9 loafs and 5 Sin-Dawgs. Back at Zipcar spot and unloaded with 2 minutes to spare.
Dirty Circles:
Ride out there again. Run into Justin & Jen who are also riding out there. Blue skies! Quaint farms. Munch down half a sin-dawg during the ride. RAIN! Blue skies! Alpacas. Run into Christina and Jeff! At the race.
Figured out why it's called dirty circles: cause you get your bike super dirty riding around in the sand parking lot. Lining up for race. Right behind Beardsley and Boursaw. Fall down while standing still. Can't clip out. Embarrassing. Goal for race: pack finish.
HPC going from the gun. I'm feeling good, not attacking. Watching a veloce rider guide Rosenberg around. Rosenberg's got a train for the hot spot. Get behind Rosenberg. Fend off Bedford for Rosenberg's wheel. Sprint with Rosenberg for 3rd? in hot spot.
Back in pack. Boursaw unleashes it into a break. Almost chase down break, but Bedford and Porcella are both there. No sense in dragging pack. Pack finish is my goal. Chase break gets away. Slinky-ing peleton. Time to go. Bridge up to Liberles and a junior. Culpepper tries to stay on. Culpepper and junior done. Liberles and I catch an Evolution and veloce rider. I think to myself I ought to know these guy's names, but I don't. Pack is close. Another HPC rider bridges up. Doing best attempts at echeloning. Can't catch chase break, but ahead of peleton for finish. Cat and Mouse. Peeps looking at each other at 180. Time to go. Drag HPCer behind me, 2nd from 2nd chase break. Success!
Update Update!
My hot spot sprint points helped bump me up into the top 10 (10th place)! Super stoked! Success indeed.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Racing Has Begun
Fast! That was fast. I held on until the last lap and then was dropped after a almost-crash-acceleration. I managed to do a few attacks off the front, but the problem was after those attacks I settled into the back of the pack as opposed to close to the front.
Overall it was a great training race and I was very happy to see people I hadn't seen since August! Man it's been a while. For the record, Tim Smith wants to clarify that his team didn't extend me a pity-invite rather it was a you-would-be-a-great-addition-to-our-team invite. In last-minute logistics fashion I borrowed a friend's car (thanks again Elizabeth!) and drove on up in nice weather. And then I drove back with the reigning Track Team Pursuit and Track Omnium Nation Champion Zac Kovalcik who showed me an awesome eatery in Olympia.
It feels so great to be involved in bike racing where all kinds of people come together for the sake of friendly competition. Although I'm getting dropped I'm confident that I'll be able to compete later in the year, hopefully by Walla Walla. On a more lame note, I had a mini-breakdown in my training regime and my coach has instructed me to stop weightlifting so I have enough time to
Couchsurfing in Austin
I've been debating about whether to make a whole new blog specifically about my travels, but instead I'm opting to post my couchsurfing blog post experience over here. So, without further ado...
Austin!
Oh how I love Austin. The sun! The bike rides! The frontage roads! The music! The gregarious people! The warmth! Oh it is so great. It was so great. I am going to try to get down there for a week every winter from now on. Well, there were a lot of reasons why I went on this trip. Firstly, to sell my bicycle that I left down there. Secondly, to escape to warm weather and sun. Thirdly, to get away from work while I transition jobs. And Fourthly, because although I hadn't realized it at the time, I needed to get out and do something exciting.
Prior to this trip, I had decided to give www.couchsurfing.org a try while in Austin. For those of you who do not know, couchsurfing is a concept where strangers act either as hosts and promote their abode's couch or sometimes even spare bedroom as available for other strangers acting as couchsurfers who surf from couch to couch while traveling. Although some thought it may be kind of awkward, I thought it was an idea worth trying, but I had no idea how incredibly awesome it would all turn out in the end.
Couch #1: Nick's Couch
...or should I say the cats' bed? Although I have stayed at random people's houses before in traveling to races and such, I hadn't done this couchsurfing thing before. Unfortunately, the owning couple of the house was off on vacation in the Virgin Islands (I guess paradise is relative for everyone). However, their housemate Nick was in town. I was quite surprised that although I had no references on the couchsurfing website, Nick simply left the keys for me that evening since he was working while I was arrving. The house was fantastic and undoubtedly had to be occupied by awesome people. Nick is a far more interesting man than I despite being about the same age. He works at a sausage food cart and has a pdx-ex-pat-now-living-in-Austin girlfriend. So he was out of the house more often than not.
But that was fine by me. The first day I car2go'ed out to the office and was at long last reunited with my Felt F75. And I realized that I had also taken the wheel/cadence sensor and watter bottle cages which I then promptly purchased over at Bicycle Sport Shop. The location of the couch was very close to the edge of town, so it made for an excellent home base for bike rides. During the four days I stayed there, I rode approximately 200 miles. I rode most of the way to Bastrop twice and just relaxed or pumped iron the rest of the time. It was such a great experience and although I didn't spend all the time with my housemate and didn't get to meet the owners, it was overall awesome altogether.
Couch #2: Aaron's Mini-Frat House
Only it was more awesome than a frat house in that two women and two men lived in the four bedroom house of awesomeness. I first met Aaron as we went to Winger's which is of course where all the cool UT college kids go. And it seemed like Aaron knew everyone there, ok maybe he didn't know 20% of the people there, but definitely everyone else. Aaron is at any given point in time doing something really cool. And this summer his coolness is going to be taken to higher levels as he participates in the Texas 4000. But in the meantime, he's going to school or hosting his Texas 4000 teammates over for some backyard firepit sessions.
I got the pleasure of going on a ride on the Lost Creek loop with Aaron where he proceeded to get his workout on. He recorded a "somewhat high" heart rate of 188 on the loop which required more zone 4 than I had planned in order to keep up. He is a naturally strong rider and that was enjoyable to see. Although I got sucked into doing some contract work that required me to miss some of the firepitting, Aaron was always welcoming and always smiles. Although he'll probably crush it on the biking part of the Texas 4000, he could probably use some additional help getting to his fundraising target, so click here to give him some money.
Zoom into the pic for the BEER PONG rules!
Couch #3: Ulf's
Ulf is the culmination of Austin hipness and technology. He lives in a meticulously organized apartment in quite possibly the most hip neighborhood in Austin. Although he is known to party from time-to-time, it was mid February which meant there was serious work needed in order for him to prepare properly for SXSW. Ulf is the type of person that could not simply just skim through a music guide of bands that were given a good review - no he reviews all 3,000+ bands in alphabetical order himself. Ulf has made a custom database that records every single band's relevant SXSW information - their bio, SXSW website, Myspace website, his own classification of genre and whether they make the cut of bands he may actually see. Since I was out and about, he was pleased that he could still be a good host and make good progress on his listening to at least 2-3 songs of every band. On Thursday night he was still in the E's, by Friday night he was working through the "Fat" artists like "Fat Pimp" from Dallas or "Fatima Al Qadiri" from NYC, and by my departure Saturday morning he was in the G's.
Austin!
Oh how I love Austin. The sun! The bike rides! The frontage roads! The music! The gregarious people! The warmth! Oh it is so great. It was so great. I am going to try to get down there for a week every winter from now on. Well, there were a lot of reasons why I went on this trip. Firstly, to sell my bicycle that I left down there. Secondly, to escape to warm weather and sun. Thirdly, to get away from work while I transition jobs. And Fourthly, because although I hadn't realized it at the time, I needed to get out and do something exciting.
Prior to this trip, I had decided to give www.couchsurfing.org a try while in Austin. For those of you who do not know, couchsurfing is a concept where strangers act either as hosts and promote their abode's couch or sometimes even spare bedroom as available for other strangers acting as couchsurfers who surf from couch to couch while traveling. Although some thought it may be kind of awkward, I thought it was an idea worth trying, but I had no idea how incredibly awesome it would all turn out in the end.
Couch #1: Nick's Couch
...or should I say the cats' bed? Although I have stayed at random people's houses before in traveling to races and such, I hadn't done this couchsurfing thing before. Unfortunately, the owning couple of the house was off on vacation in the Virgin Islands (I guess paradise is relative for everyone). However, their housemate Nick was in town. I was quite surprised that although I had no references on the couchsurfing website, Nick simply left the keys for me that evening since he was working while I was arrving. The house was fantastic and undoubtedly had to be occupied by awesome people. Nick is a far more interesting man than I despite being about the same age. He works at a sausage food cart and has a pdx-ex-pat-now-living-in-Austin girlfriend. So he was out of the house more often than not.
But that was fine by me. The first day I car2go'ed out to the office and was at long last reunited with my Felt F75. And I realized that I had also taken the wheel/cadence sensor and watter bottle cages which I then promptly purchased over at Bicycle Sport Shop. The location of the couch was very close to the edge of town, so it made for an excellent home base for bike rides. During the four days I stayed there, I rode approximately 200 miles. I rode most of the way to Bastrop twice and just relaxed or pumped iron the rest of the time. It was such a great experience and although I didn't spend all the time with my housemate and didn't get to meet the owners, it was overall awesome altogether.
Couch #2: Aaron's Mini-Frat House
Only it was more awesome than a frat house in that two women and two men lived in the four bedroom house of awesomeness. I first met Aaron as we went to Winger's which is of course where all the cool UT college kids go. And it seemed like Aaron knew everyone there, ok maybe he didn't know 20% of the people there, but definitely everyone else. Aaron is at any given point in time doing something really cool. And this summer his coolness is going to be taken to higher levels as he participates in the Texas 4000. But in the meantime, he's going to school or hosting his Texas 4000 teammates over for some backyard firepit sessions.
I got the pleasure of going on a ride on the Lost Creek loop with Aaron where he proceeded to get his workout on. He recorded a "somewhat high" heart rate of 188 on the loop which required more zone 4 than I had planned in order to keep up. He is a naturally strong rider and that was enjoyable to see. Although I got sucked into doing some contract work that required me to miss some of the firepitting, Aaron was always welcoming and always smiles. Although he'll probably crush it on the biking part of the Texas 4000, he could probably use some additional help getting to his fundraising target, so click here to give him some money.
Zoom into the pic for the BEER PONG rules!
Couch #3: Ulf's
Ulf is the culmination of Austin hipness and technology. He lives in a meticulously organized apartment in quite possibly the most hip neighborhood in Austin. Although he is known to party from time-to-time, it was mid February which meant there was serious work needed in order for him to prepare properly for SXSW. Ulf is the type of person that could not simply just skim through a music guide of bands that were given a good review - no he reviews all 3,000+ bands in alphabetical order himself. Ulf has made a custom database that records every single band's relevant SXSW information - their bio, SXSW website, Myspace website, his own classification of genre and whether they make the cut of bands he may actually see. Since I was out and about, he was pleased that he could still be a good host and make good progress on his listening to at least 2-3 songs of every band. On Thursday night he was still in the E's, by Friday night he was working through the "Fat" artists like "Fat Pimp" from Dallas or "Fatima Al Qadiri" from NYC, and by my departure Saturday morning he was in the G's.
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