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Well, I haven't been keeping up my blog much.  I ought to be tho, since I'm starting to be able to mix things up.  I'll give it a shot at catching up a bit from when I last wrote.  I'm definitely not writing as much because I'm trying to be wayyyy more political about what I write since it apparently offends people.  I also have been adding to these unpublished venting posts which will likely never see the light (darkness?) of the internet.  The big thing is that I'm trying to get along with a lot of people who have different, opinionated and seemingly habitual learned approaches to bike racing.  And I find myself disagreeing with that a lot, and it can sometimes come off quite sharply.  I want to be a good member of the community, however I am most definitely not sacrificing my philosophy on racing.

Anyways, I'll talk racing now and hope I don't offend too much.

Cherry Pie

That was a long breakaway I got into at mile 12 of a 75 mile race.  Probably good too because I was skipping numerous pulls and then got dropped badly from the break and then the peleton itself.  I can chalk up one DFL for the season, heh.  My fitness was not there yet.  That's for sure.  The team got a pretty good result with our 40+ year olds taking 2nd and 5th.

IVRR

Nasty weather/sun kinda day.  Break got away really early and nobody from our team got in it.  On the backstretch our team decided to paceline like we were going to catch it or something, but none of us really had the desire or fitness to accomplish such a thing.

I was moving backwards while climbing Michigan Hill.  On the 2nd to last lap I bridged up to a chase group and worked with them until I got dropped and rode in no-mans-land just to get caught by 2 guys at 200m.  Still got 13th and every other Portland rider from my team except Sherm who had a cold DNF'ed.

Santa Cruz

I had two wonderful rides thru Redwood forests and got to see the California Giant Strawberry Factory.

King's Valley

Got the beer prime for the 2nd year in a row this time in a solo attack.  I got chewed out for having a $7,000 bike with the squeakiest chain in the peleton.  The break got away and Casey got in it.  The pack was satisfied with going in borderline zone 1 levels so the break stuck.  I and a few others were bored out of our minds.

Walla Walla

ok, no, I'll write a full post about Walla Walla.  Look for that later.

I have actually been racing

This whole having lots of teammates thing is a big adjustment for me let me tell ya.  I have gone from receiving maybe two emails a week related to my team racing to perhaps an average of 5 per day.  I've gone from having no teammates racing with me at most races to racing with 9 or more other teammates at some races.

It's a little different.  People are a little different and I don't think I'm really known to have lots of charisma and bonding, yet I do have a lot of passion for racing and sometimes, perhaps often times find myself not having the same approach to training and racing as other people do.  However, I really hope to continue and experience a year on a big team to really have a good feel for what that is like.  And also to develop my social skills so that perhaps I become slightly more charismatic and able to get along with more people than not.  

For whatever reason, competition brings out a whole different side of me which is quite different from my otherwise quiet demeanor in most situations.  And I think that dichotomy throws off - perhaps puts off - some or perhaps a lot of people.  I've been writing on this blog for 4 years now, but I've been holding my tongue or rather not publishing a few critiquing blog posts and flustered emails.  I know I've been inspired by one of my favorite bike racing bloggers, PruDog who I would say is not one to hold back on his blog posts.  There's something about communicating on the internet that just leads to writing things you may never say in person to someone (or maybe I don't know him well enough).

So without further ado, race reports:

The Dirty #1

Oddly enough, I was feeling really good for this race.  Last year I was getting dropped in my first few races.  When all was said and done, I was not the most happiest joyful person in the world to learn that with 33% of the field being our team, our team's best result was 8th.  The next day I sent a very detailed email explaining what went wrong and what could be improved.  Some didn't like it, some did, most didn't, I really don't know, but I now am encouraged to not send emails like that.

Sequim/Mason Lake #1

Sequim's rain shadow just couldn't hold it for those last 2 laps.  HSP kicked everyone's butt.  They had also had at least 10 teammates, but got 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th.  Slightly better results, but with all due respect former pro's and very motivated racers.  I didn't do well in the field sprint because I still don't have the field sprinting technique down.

Mason Lake was all right and I found myself sitting in more often than usual.  I'm still deciding whether that is a good or bad thing.  I'm leaning towards bad, I think PruDog would agree.  It came to a field sprint again and again I didn't do well.

Oh, an important thing to note - while Brant and I were up in Washington getting our asses handed to us by HSP, the rest of our Oregon contingent pulled out the W in the 123 race at the Dirty #2.  Guess they showed me who knew something about bike racing, or were they proving something after receiving that very detailed email?  One thing is for sure, Dean attacked a lot.

Sequim/Mason Lake #2

My girlfriend Laurel came up with me which was awfully nice of her.  I felt like I had a little bit of a governor on my upper end fitness, but I hung in there.  My crash avoidance skills were pretty good as 2 crashes happened right in front of me.  The first crash was on the 3rd lap and I was able to avoid that and catch on easily.  The 2nd crash was at 400 to go and somehow I ended up standing upright without a scratch on the new bike in the middle of maybe a dozen other riders on the ground.  I had to step over at least 3 people to get out of that.

Over at Mason Lake, I was prepared for the worst as the radar looked like about 3/4 of an inch of rain was about to dump on us as we started (it didn't).  I wore my rain jacket as my jersey which Bedford astutely noted for it's excellent parachute-like quality with my race numbers.  The amount of pros at the race had me sort of starstruck (I get giddy inside when Morgan Schmitt remembers my name).

My move of the race was at the end of lap 1 when I figured I might as well get this party started by doing a break and waiting for the inevitable pro bridging up to me.  Sure enough Steve Fisher came along with a HSP rider in tow, but then we were caught just before the first hill after corner 1.  I got dropped, but I caught back on.  I got dropped numerous other times that following lap and then I got dropped for good on lap 3.  I made it my goal to complete 5 laps without getting lapped by the Cat 3 breakaway group.

I'm still running through all the factors that caused this embarrassing situation.  I think it had less to do with the parachute-like outfit and my top candidates are not getting my new bike fit after it being built, not having my carbon wheels, having a spoke about to fall out of the front wheel I did have, too many blueberries for dinner the previous evening, and a sleep debt of approximately 1,000 hours over these past 4 years of racing.  But I'm just writing it off as a bad day like I had last year at Heiser Farms where I got lapped.  At Mason Lake I didn't get lapped by about 7 minutes when Rathe came by and did a victory salute consisting of making his race number as visible as possible from under his rain jacket.

done, publish, try to sleep, bye.

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.

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 rest, no get important things done, like my taxes, NO - write blog posts!!! Ugggh, being an ultra-competitive racer is HAAARRRDDD.

The Standards Have Been Set Low

Racing! Finally! And probably overdue. After a third week of a build and final week of weightlifting of the season, I went into it tired. And it showed.

Sequim

I have at times struggled logistically getting to races, but I nailed it for this race. I did all bike maintenance stuff the night before and packed everything before going to bed. And even before this, I had made breakfast for the weekend before leaving Portland. Then I got up and was driving by the time I had wanted to start driving. I got to the race 1 hour and 25 minutes early! I set up the bike and kitted up and even tried some relaxation and visualization exercise before the race with time to spare.

Then we started racing. I had had a plan to just watch things basically the first few laps and then try something lap 3. This strategy was going all fine and well until I tried a break on lap 3 and realized that I did not have enough sustained power output available. I was able to get clear fine, but staying away was a big problem. I got caught quickly. I also had a bit of a problem during the race in that my race food was clif bars which were way too clumpy to be effectively eaten and digested at the pace we were going.

On the final lap I found myself at the back of the pack after fumbling around trying to eat my 3rd clif bar. Not good. I was trying to move up a little bit and was really going to get up there after that final riser. Unfortunately, some people decided to crash themselves in front of me which I could not avoid getting caught up in based on my current position. I was able to slow down enough to slow-motion crash-speed, hit a few bodies with the front wheel, began a brief launch up in the air and then landed on who knows who with my neck. I got up, had to take off my helmet because it was now covering my face and then proceeded to assesses the damage. All body parts still intact and not even scraped up, nice. Spin the rear carbon wheel.. it's true! Spin the front carbon wheel, it's also true!!! YESS!!!! Best crash ever!

Although I didn't get a chance to contest the sprint I was relieved that there wasn't any pressure at this point so I happily pedaled my way in z2 and even did my own sprint from 200m. Then it was another logistical whirlwind - chugging chocolate almond milk, getting packed, driving to Oak Table, chugging some more chocolate almond milk, eating an entire apple pancake at Oak Table in about 15 minutes, speeding my way all the way to Winslow with 10 minutes to spare before the 2:55 ferry! This view never gets old:

Ate dinner with my good friend Randy over at Wild Ginger, drove back to Tacoma, watched "No Stings Attached" with my sister and her quirky housemate and getting to bed later than I should at about 11:15.

Mason Lake

If you were told that there was this 60 mile bike race around this lake called Mason Lake where you get about 3 seconds of a nice view of it per lap, where 98% of the time it is cold, rainy, hailing, there are about 6 total spectators cheering you on, no prizes for anybody, no beer at the end, no food, it costs $30, and the sprint is notorious for being a crashfest, what kind of moron would want to do that? Well bike racers, that's who! This classic event is where the Cat 5s come to prove that they are the next Lance Armstrong - shitty conditions be damned - and the rest of us to get our racing on. And this year the race did not disappoint.

It started out cold and somewhat windy. Only about 50 people from all afternoon fields showed up, so we all got jumbled into one large group, cat 12s, 3s, masters and a few women too. It started out with attack after attack until finally 7 people got away for good on the 2nd lap of 5. I was feeling cooked and tried at one point to bridge up to the 7 and ended up getting about 30 meters closer before I became so tired that I drifted to the back. At this point, I was just trying to get my workout on. I missed a chase break on lap 4 and by then there was snow on the ground. When the final sprint for 15th place came around, I was done, stuck behind a wheel that was drifting back hard and ended up thank-God-we're-done pedaling through the finish.

Above is a picture summarizing Mason Lake. There is some snow on the windshield wipers, yet it is sunny at the moment. Got my spare wheels, got out of my cold and wet clothes, sped my way back to Tacoma, got 2 hot-n-ready pizzas, ate 2 slices, showered, ate another slice, got driven to the train station, barely finished assembling my bike for the train as it rolled up, and then ate 7 more slices of pizza on the train.

Post-weekend thoughts

I am tired. So tired. I did not have the resources available to get into the breaks this weekend. However, I view this weekend as quite positive, perhaps also due to the fact that I'm beginning to read this book Karly gave me for Christmas:

And after reading this book, I'm already putting some of the strategies to use. An interesting passage was that it said that ultra-competitive people expect success so much that they'll rate there successful achievements with lower rates of satisfaction than otherwise happy people rate some of their failures. So you could say I've had some good opportunities to reframe things this week for the good. And honestly a lot of good did happen. I was quite happy to have raced finally.

Racing is different in so many ways from just riding around. To put things in perspective, I have spent more time in HR Z4 this week than the prevous 4 weeks combined and more time in z5 these past two days than my entire training season-to-date. Ok, so in Lehman terms this week my heart was beating at a rate between 160 beats per minute and 174 beats per minute (Z4) for 3 hours and 6 minutes - 2:10 in just these past two races. Even though I didn't get a shot at winning, I realized that just by racing I was pushing myself harder than I ever had on all these solo rides. This was a huge eye-opener to me in that competition seems to drive people to achieve better results than just people working without such conflict. Just look at the HR Zone profile from Mason Lake (z1 - z5 left to right), I just can't get this kind of a workout by myself:

Ok, rest week coming up, need to sleep.