Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Update

Not that it means anything to anyone but myself but in reviewing the rules based on one of the time trials that I've done, I should have actually been awarded first place due to an age related snafu. Regulations from the promoter state that the age group category is based on your age as of 12-31-09, putting the guy in front of me in the 40-49 group.

So that's three wins, one second place in time trials and a whole bunch of crap in road races.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Cow TT #10 Gettysburg #11

May as well combine these two into one post because it's going to be a short one.

As of Friday afternoon, I thought I was going to have to jet to Michigan for the weekend knocking me out of two races. With only about an hour to ride, I took the specialized out for a hard 12 minute interval. Averaged 27 something.

Then I found out I wasn't going to Michigan...

The Cow TT on Saturday was rough with only one small section of pure tailwind. The rest was either cross or head which made for some hard riding. Though my average wasn't great, it was good enough for 2nd on the day. For those keeping track, it's two wins and two 2nd's in 4 tt's this year. Good ego stroke.

Ego stroke gone because...
On to Sunday's Gettysburg road race. 14 mile laps with loads of head wind. I got dropped 3 miles (3, yes three) into it as the field was strung out and I just couldn't hang. Rode the next 25 miles by myself and called it a day. I wanted to call it a day after the first lap, but I forced myself into another loop. No way could I force myself into a third. Four straight days of hard riding put the screws to me.

Next up is Spring Valley, hosted by One Call Now (my team).

Monday, April 20, 2009

Vandervorts corner road race #9

Probably shouldn't even bother.

Each time up the first riser there was small attacks that lasted past the right hand turn and into the left hand bend through the first overpass. I died the third time that happened. After blowing up, I lost interest and with my legs being jelly I called it a day after 3 laps.

My old bike got in a wreck. Luckily, I was not the person riding it.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Colavita TT April #8

Saturday's race had absolutely perfect conditions for the time trial. Warm and relatively windless. Over 70 people were in attendance and I was 20th to go. I think the slight breeze became a little wind as people who rode late were telling me about it where it was relatively non existent on my ride.

It's a nice feeling hitting the turn around at less than 16 minutes, especially with a slight tail wind for the shorter ride home. My overall time (power tap measured) was 29:08, seven seconds off my all time best that I had last year. Not bad considering I'm much more out of shape than last year. My average was right around 25. The time was good enough for 2nd place in my division. My new position and new front wheel are carrying me through the lack of fitness.

Tomorrow is Vandervort's corner and another butt kicking in what looks like a rainy race. Luckily, it's not a technical course, but if it's windy AND rainy, it's going to suck.

Sushi night tonight!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Deer Creek #7

Another day, another race. Of the three times I rode this week, every ride was a race. Sunday at Hueston Woods, Wednesday at Blue Streak and Saturday at Deer Creek. A metric assload of riders were there, and I foolishly thought I could hide out in the group. Nope, 10 miles: someone attacks, I get my season high 20 second power AND get dropped. Rode the next two laps with a couple of other guys and the final lap by myself. 48 miles in 2:24 with a headwind both ways (it felt like).

Three rides this week...
Last place
First place
Last place

This bodes well for the time trial Saturday but does not look good for the road race on Sunday.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Blue streak April #6

Wednesday evening met the 43 of us with a stiff wind out of the west. That's both good and bad as the time trial starts off heading west (bad), but has the longest section heading East (good), but finishes heading back west (suckatrash).

I arrived early in what is not a shock to anyone and registered 10th with start time of 6:05 with the 30 second interval for riders. Didn't really warm up too great as I forgot my trainer and pedaled circles around the salt filled parking lot praying I wouldn't blow a tire. There's no holder at blue streak so it's necessary for the sake of saving seconds to be able to clip in quick. Luckily, I did. The start into the wind sucked. Highest one minute power a minute out of the gate. Passed my 30 second guy even before the first right turn. Of the 9 people that started ahead of me I passed 6 overall. Felt decent on the back stretch, not killing power but having a decent speed due to the tail wind.

The end result was that I was 0.3mph off of my speed the only other time I rode this tt and I was in shape then. My average was 24.4 that put me first in my age group and 6th overall. Really I was 8th fastest but two people ahead of me were on HPV's (so they don't count). Out of 43 people, I'll take 8th.

On a HUGE bummer note, I found out that Master's Nationals time trial is only going to be 16 miles!? I'm not wasting the time, money and energy for that. It's a $60 race fee and a 3 hour drive, plus hotel.

Who knows where it will be next year, but oh well.

Next up: Saturday at Deer Creek. Time to get my ass handed to me (again).

Monday, April 6, 2009

Hueston Woods road race #5

First road race of the year. Conditions were absolutely perfect. Decent sized field of what I'm guessing to be north of 30 riders. So what went wrong? Damn near everything. On the finish line hill on the first lap I had a mechanical (chain jumping) and that blew any momentum I could have had. After then getting dropped, I nearly made my way back to the field and as luck would have it someone attacked JUST as I approached. Field strung out and that was all she wrote. I spent the next 1.5 hours time trialling. I finished the race in 1:58 for the 38 rolling miles and checking the powertap of a team mate who finished with the field, he finished in 1:53.

In talking with another team mate after the race, I commented on my chain and said that the chain was jumping in my favorite cog for the last few days...he asked how many miles I had on it and then my head turned into a jackass. I have around 20,000 miles on this cassette. It's the original from when I bought the Orca. Time to place an order.

Anyway, that race was a complete disappointment. I understand that I'm not a lightweight climber (hill top finish, three climbs per lap), but I thought I should have done better. The good news is that I have two more races this week (weather permitting) to redeem myself.


Do I look dead or what?