Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Cow TT #16
Saturday was the 9.1 mile Cow time trial. One mile into my warm up lap I knew this was going to hurt. I had one day off Friday after a hard six day block that included one interval session, two time trials and three hard group rides. Yeah, oops. So heading eastbound on the warm up lap was painful.
The actual race was even more painful. Going out it was a struggle to hold 23 and hitting 25 took way too much effort. That's when I shifted from singing songs to myself to talking to myself. That's never good! I felt a little better on the short southbound section knowing that once I turned right again it would be easy sailing. The ride back home was 28 mph easy. My overall average for the 9.1 was 25.1 (powertap measured). Again I'll say when I have a bad day but can still average 25, it's not really that bad of a day. I was just worn out.
That being said, this week is sort of a rest week with a 40k tt on the schedule for this Sunday in Ft Wayne, Indiana. Didn't ride Monday or Tuesday and Sunday's ride was just an hour on the tt bike at a moderate pace to get used to being aero for that long. I think that's what today's ride is going to bring.
The actual race was even more painful. Going out it was a struggle to hold 23 and hitting 25 took way too much effort. That's when I shifted from singing songs to myself to talking to myself. That's never good! I felt a little better on the short southbound section knowing that once I turned right again it would be easy sailing. The ride back home was 28 mph easy. My overall average for the 9.1 was 25.1 (powertap measured). Again I'll say when I have a bad day but can still average 25, it's not really that bad of a day. I was just worn out.
That being said, this week is sort of a rest week with a 40k tt on the schedule for this Sunday in Ft Wayne, Indiana. Didn't ride Monday or Tuesday and Sunday's ride was just an hour on the tt bike at a moderate pace to get used to being aero for that long. I think that's what today's ride is going to bring.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Speedy feet TT #15
I decided to race up north instead of down south today. I was in a hurry and had both of my dogs to make sure they didn't get overheated, resulting in a limited warm up...
Am I out of excuses for my 2nd place finish (out of 25 or so riders)? ha ha, I got beat by 0.5 mph average so my coming to a complete stop to avoid running over a goose is moot.
Anyway, I had my season best 15 minute power which was nice and averaged 25.0 but I don't remember how long the course was...maybe 7 miles or a little longer. I kept a lower cadence for some reason, like I didn't have the right gear. I was probably chugging 80 rpm or something. That was interesting and led to a slightly lower (but expected) heart rate average.
You have to expect the bad while racing on an open bike path with dogs, kids and geese.
Running TT tally:
6 time trials
4 wins
2 second places
Am I out of excuses for my 2nd place finish (out of 25 or so riders)? ha ha, I got beat by 0.5 mph average so my coming to a complete stop to avoid running over a goose is moot.
Anyway, I had my season best 15 minute power which was nice and averaged 25.0 but I don't remember how long the course was...maybe 7 miles or a little longer. I kept a lower cadence for some reason, like I didn't have the right gear. I was probably chugging 80 rpm or something. That was interesting and led to a slightly lower (but expected) heart rate average.
You have to expect the bad while racing on an open bike path with dogs, kids and geese.
Running TT tally:
6 time trials
4 wins
2 second places
Saturday, May 16, 2009
May's Colavita time trial #14
No thunderstorm!
This was the latest I've ever arrived at a time trial. My brain must not be working right as I usually am the first person there - today there were at least a dozen cars in the lot. My lack of brain is becoming disturbing. Being late, I was 19th to go off (out of around 50 riders).
The rain started to come down during my trainer warm-up, but by then it was getting time to pack up and head to the start house.
A guy on a sweet, brand new Fuji TT bike was just ahead of me. Good rabbit. Out on the road, there was a little head wind and I hit the turn around at 17 minutes passing four people in the process (including the Fuji). The return (shorter) trip had me about 12minutes40. Front side I averaged less than 23 but on the back side it was over 27 for a 24.5 average on the day. Certainly not my best effort and I was kind of pissed when I realized that I felt pretty decent within 10 minute of finishing. That means I didn't go hard enough.
The end result was good enough for first place in my division. Not that my division had a whole bunch of riders, but whatever. Finished 9th overall out of the 50.
The all-time record was broken today. 24:57! That's about 4 minutes faster than my best ever time.
This was the latest I've ever arrived at a time trial. My brain must not be working right as I usually am the first person there - today there were at least a dozen cars in the lot. My lack of brain is becoming disturbing. Being late, I was 19th to go off (out of around 50 riders).
The rain started to come down during my trainer warm-up, but by then it was getting time to pack up and head to the start house.
A guy on a sweet, brand new Fuji TT bike was just ahead of me. Good rabbit. Out on the road, there was a little head wind and I hit the turn around at 17 minutes passing four people in the process (including the Fuji). The return (shorter) trip had me about 12minutes40. Front side I averaged less than 23 but on the back side it was over 27 for a 24.5 average on the day. Certainly not my best effort and I was kind of pissed when I realized that I felt pretty decent within 10 minute of finishing. That means I didn't go hard enough.
The end result was good enough for first place in my division. Not that my division had a whole bunch of riders, but whatever. Finished 9th overall out of the 50.
The all-time record was broken today. 24:57! That's about 4 minutes faster than my best ever time.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Update
Well I didn't race Tuesday even though it was a nice evening. Since I didn't work in Cincinnati, I felt no need to drive 1.5 hours each way for a 10 miler. I opted for one of the crappiest rides I've ever had instead. Almost literally. At the one hour mark (and 30 minutes from home), my stomach was in serious jeopardy. Luckily, I was able to hoof it home in time.
Wednesday's race was a washout (for me at least). I was at a client's office at 4 getting ready to leave when a nice thunderstorm hit Troy. So I worked more. Around 6 when I got home, the weather was actually decent. Crap. No riding Wednesday.
No riding Thursday. Enough said. Not a good day.
Today was nice enough and I had a spare hour to hit the time trial bike for a warm up for tomorrow's TT in Greenville. Basically, it was another "getting to know you" ride on the Specialized working on keeping my knees in and chin down. Due to the wind from the south, my north ride up Peters Pike was a steady 30-32mph.
The TT bike is cleaned up and ready to roll. Tomorrow is looking thunderstormy though but I have the season series to worry about so I'm racing rain or shine.
In exciting news (to me only), I'm going to get my Trek out of storage and get it ready for crit season. It's never seen a race and hasn't seen the road in anger in over two years. It needs new shifters (9 speed to 10 conversion) and some bar tape. I have a cassette, chain and powertap mounting kit, so it's going to be a low cost upgrade.
Wednesday's race was a washout (for me at least). I was at a client's office at 4 getting ready to leave when a nice thunderstorm hit Troy. So I worked more. Around 6 when I got home, the weather was actually decent. Crap. No riding Wednesday.
No riding Thursday. Enough said. Not a good day.
Today was nice enough and I had a spare hour to hit the time trial bike for a warm up for tomorrow's TT in Greenville. Basically, it was another "getting to know you" ride on the Specialized working on keeping my knees in and chin down. Due to the wind from the south, my north ride up Peters Pike was a steady 30-32mph.
The TT bike is cleaned up and ready to roll. Tomorrow is looking thunderstormy though but I have the season series to worry about so I'm racing rain or shine.
In exciting news (to me only), I'm going to get my Trek out of storage and get it ready for crit season. It's never seen a race and hasn't seen the road in anger in over two years. It needs new shifters (9 speed to 10 conversion) and some bar tape. I have a cassette, chain and powertap mounting kit, so it's going to be a low cost upgrade.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Lucky race #13 Germantown
...lasted 12 minutes. 1/4 mile of downhill followed by 1/4 mile of uphill. The downhill featured a turn that I could not manage and got gapped. Ended up getting pulled after 7 laps out of 25.
Probably missing Cleve's tomorrow because I'm not going to be in Cincinnati.
Blue Streak is Wednesday and the Colavita TT is Saturday so I can get some racing in.
Probably missing Cleve's tomorrow because I'm not going to be in Cincinnati.
Blue Streak is Wednesday and the Colavita TT is Saturday so I can get some racing in.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
crap nutz crap yay!
CRAP:
After Sunday's race I developed a slight cough. I just thought it was the normal cough after a hard effort but it turned into a scratchy throat. Felt better for Monday's ride, but by Tuesday morning I could hardly drag my ass to West Chester.
NUTZ:
I finally made the call at 5pm to ditch the time trial and go home. One less race but I didn't want to push it since I felt like garbage to begin with.
CRAP:
Felt sick all day Wednesday and today. It felt cold in the house so I thought it was cold outside until I had to make a short road trip. It was warm so I had to ride at least a little.
YAY:
With ideal conditions for my time trial test, I felt that was the best thing to do today since I would be on and off the bike in less than an hour and the hard effort would only take 13 minutes or less. So I meandered my way down to Dog Leg and Jackson feeling pretty descent and trying to maintain form. As the picture at the top of my blog shows, I need to work on pulling my chin down a touch and was working on bringing my knees in.
Time for the interval. Up Dog Leg, right on Old Springfield, Left on Peters (had to kind of slow down for a knucklehead driver that sat too long at the stop), right on Evanston stopping just before my subdivision.
5.768 miles in 12:22 which by my powertap showed a 28.0 average. First time I've done a test at 28! Last year my best was 27.6 under similar conditions.
In full disclosure, it's not a completely accurate assessment of fitness since there was a SW wind at 9mph, but I've gone slower with more wind. But I will take it. I didn't wear my heart rate strap, but my power was where it should be for that type of effort. But also under full disclosure, I wore my normal helmet and normal kit with no shoe covers.
No riding tomorrow (work all day), but the Germantown race is Saturday. Looks to be another rough one.
After Sunday's race I developed a slight cough. I just thought it was the normal cough after a hard effort but it turned into a scratchy throat. Felt better for Monday's ride, but by Tuesday morning I could hardly drag my ass to West Chester.
NUTZ:
I finally made the call at 5pm to ditch the time trial and go home. One less race but I didn't want to push it since I felt like garbage to begin with.
CRAP:
Felt sick all day Wednesday and today. It felt cold in the house so I thought it was cold outside until I had to make a short road trip. It was warm so I had to ride at least a little.
YAY:
With ideal conditions for my time trial test, I felt that was the best thing to do today since I would be on and off the bike in less than an hour and the hard effort would only take 13 minutes or less. So I meandered my way down to Dog Leg and Jackson feeling pretty descent and trying to maintain form. As the picture at the top of my blog shows, I need to work on pulling my chin down a touch and was working on bringing my knees in.
Time for the interval. Up Dog Leg, right on Old Springfield, Left on Peters (had to kind of slow down for a knucklehead driver that sat too long at the stop), right on Evanston stopping just before my subdivision.
5.768 miles in 12:22 which by my powertap showed a 28.0 average. First time I've done a test at 28! Last year my best was 27.6 under similar conditions.
In full disclosure, it's not a completely accurate assessment of fitness since there was a SW wind at 9mph, but I've gone slower with more wind. But I will take it. I didn't wear my heart rate strap, but my power was where it should be for that type of effort. But also under full disclosure, I wore my normal helmet and normal kit with no shoe covers.
No riding tomorrow (work all day), but the Germantown race is Saturday. Looks to be another rough one.
Monday, May 4, 2009
#12 Spring Valley
9. something miles laps, 5 laps with one climb to the finish. Not steep, but long (for Ohio)
There were only about 25 cat 4's and all fields were a little low. Not sure if there were other races going on today elsewhere or what. It was a nice day, but the forecast of rain may have kept people away.
We caught the cat 3's near the end of the first lap. It's not like we were riding all that fast though. Up the first climb and surprise I got dropped and couldn't catch back. Traded pulls with two other guys (Glen from 7hills and Rick from a team I didn't recognize) for the next two laps. Being nice, we decided to regroup at the top of the climb each time (because they would have dusted me up it). I reciprocated by doing as much pulling as I could on the flats to get my TT workout in. At the start of lap four the cat 5's caught us and we sat at the back of their pack for a few miles. Someone attacked and popped Rick off the back. Near the end of the fourth lap, which was the last lap for the cat 5's Glen and I slowed down a bit to let them finish. Glen was done by the end of that lap anyway, so I pulled most of the lap number five. Other than cramping, I felt ok so it wasn't a problem to pull so much.
In a show of gratitude and respect, Glen told me since I was pulling him around, he wouldn't pass me up the hill just to finish ahead of me. It's not that we were in a break battling for first place, but I still appreciated the respect. So he coasted up the hill and I rode in for 21st place.
I finished and I wasn't last. Small victory in what is turning out to be a very hard year.
Tuesday looks to be a nice day, so I'll be heading down for the Cleve's TT unless something comes up.
There were only about 25 cat 4's and all fields were a little low. Not sure if there were other races going on today elsewhere or what. It was a nice day, but the forecast of rain may have kept people away.
We caught the cat 3's near the end of the first lap. It's not like we were riding all that fast though. Up the first climb and surprise I got dropped and couldn't catch back. Traded pulls with two other guys (Glen from 7hills and Rick from a team I didn't recognize) for the next two laps. Being nice, we decided to regroup at the top of the climb each time (because they would have dusted me up it). I reciprocated by doing as much pulling as I could on the flats to get my TT workout in. At the start of lap four the cat 5's caught us and we sat at the back of their pack for a few miles. Someone attacked and popped Rick off the back. Near the end of the fourth lap, which was the last lap for the cat 5's Glen and I slowed down a bit to let them finish. Glen was done by the end of that lap anyway, so I pulled most of the lap number five. Other than cramping, I felt ok so it wasn't a problem to pull so much.
In a show of gratitude and respect, Glen told me since I was pulling him around, he wouldn't pass me up the hill just to finish ahead of me. It's not that we were in a break battling for first place, but I still appreciated the respect. So he coasted up the hill and I rode in for 21st place.
I finished and I wasn't last. Small victory in what is turning out to be a very hard year.
Tuesday looks to be a nice day, so I'll be heading down for the Cleve's TT unless something comes up.
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