#14 Ohio State TT Groveport

Well, this was the one I waited all year for. Love/hate the course and it's a great challenge. The question early on was should I register age group or category. Last year I did age group so I opted for category this time (raced category in 2006).

In 2006, the year I was doing my best time trials, I had a 23.9 average.
In 2007, I was up to 24.0
This time around I averaged 24.5, shaving around 40 seconds off last year's time.

Official time was 57:57, power tap reading 57:52. That didn't matter as the place ahead of me beat me by almost two minutes. I ended up 4th in my category out of 11. Had I raced age group, I would have finished in second and would have earned a shiny silver medal to go with the collection. Out of the near 100 racers, I was about 40th. Some really good riders out today with Paul Martin in the 49 minute range setting a new course record. Quite a few people were in the 52-53 minute range.

Although disappointed with my choosing of category, I was quite happy with my time and power output. I am worried about the power loss over the second half of the course. We had a tail wind, so my return trip was faster by 2mph but my power average was 25 less.

Now it's a shift of gears with my choice of 3 criteriums this weekend. I'm leaning toward Hyde Park Saturday. STUPIDLY, it's already an expensive race for the time - 30 minutes for $25. What yanks my chain is a $10 day of race fee tacked on. I hate preregistration due to the weather and my lifestyle. I don't know what the heck is going to happen to me by Saturday. For all I know I may end up in Brazil or something.

Speaking of the Colavita tt...#13

I did good though the results don't reflect it. I ended up with my best time ever on a perfect conditioned day. Didn't break 30 minutes, but I was close (I had 30:03, "official" time was 30:05) which knocked 20 seconds off my previous best from last May. 24.0 average.

I'll take it.

Nutz

10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound sack. State Championship is this Sunday and I'm not prepared.

Since race #13, the Colavita time trial last Saturday, I've ridden only twice. Saturday night was camping and didn't get home until very late Sunday night. Monday (my birthday) I was able to sneak in 38 miles (I turned 38) and had to immediately leave for a memorial service for a friend of mine. Tuesday I got out for an hour on the tt bike and that's been it. Yesterday was the ceremonial groundbreaking of my wife's clinic so no riding once again as I wasn't home all day. Today, it was up and out early to a client's office and now I'm home watching a contractor fix my ceiling. Good lord willing, they'll be out of here in enough time to hit the road. Friday looks to be a long day work wise, but I hope to try to get a couple hours in late. Ride to the ride, ride the ride, ride home type of thing.

Calgon take me away.......

#12 - Speedy Feet time trial

2nd win of the year in the 12th race. 24.8 mph average.

Ok, so I was the only person with a combination of a skinsuit, aero helmet, shoe covers and a time trial bike, but oh well.

The course was a little longer than last month as it was increased to a full 10k. 14 riders of varying ability showed up. I wasn't really concerned about the competition or their lack of aero gear, as I'm trying to get ready for the state TT next weekend. I'm only concerned about how I could do. Luckily, there were no issues with my ride through the bike path, though other riders did have some issues. It's a scary ride with a course that isn't closed. The turn around did suck as it was on probably the narrowest part of the path. I had to come to a complete stop to turn my bike around on the 5' wide piece of pavement. Gravel on both sides prevented a smooth turn around and I had to unclip as well.

The cool thing is that my cycling peaks software keeps track of 15 minute intervals as a standard. Last night's race was 15 minutes and one second. In that time I had an all time high 15 minute power average (in the 14 months of having a power meter). It was one watt higher than my previous best! HA

Strawberry festival bike tour

I've not done this tour since I was about 14, but I ride parts of the route quite a bit as I can hop on it within 10 miles of home. Well, the route was changed. Five of my teammates and me took to the roads and quickly found some oddities...

Problem #1 - If you change the route, take black paint and paint over the old road markers!

Half of the team goes one way, half the other at one point. Yeah, I know we didn't preview the map. Never done that, never been an issue. Like I'm going to remember some obscure right turn 15 miles in?

Problem #2 - Don't put the turn markers that close to the intersection!

I understand the importance of placing markers close to the intersections if is dangerous, but it makes no sense to have them close when you're just making a right turn in the middle of nowhere.

Problem #3 - Rest stop

The first rest stop was great. The second rest stop (just over Horse shoe bend road) for the 62 milers was the first rest stop (I assume) for the 39 milers. Most of the food was gone save for some PB&J fixin's. I paid $17 so I can eat my weight in cookies, dammit. So I ate my own Hammer Gel. Completely disappointing when you want a cookie or four. Bike tours are really the only time I inhale cookies. COOKIES

Problem #4 - Route back

Holy Crap, the busiest day of the year in the town of Troy and cyclists of all abilities are forced onto the main road to the festival. Bumper to bumper traffic for the last mile. We had to ride single file between the cars and the curb at 5mph or less to get back to the school. The woman in front of me apologized to me for being a "wimp" where it came to riding in this situation. I told her not to worry about it and she was doing great. If you're not used to riding in traffic, I could see how it would be scary. From the looks of some of the riders, I don't think they spend much time on their bikes, let alone riding them on the street. BAD ROUTE ENDING

Ride irk #1 - A couple of yahoos thought it would be fun to draft us for the final 15 miles. Normally, I would be a complete pecker head in this situation, go into time trial mode and ride away. Well, wearing my team kit, with our main sponsor and team management riding with me, I kept my mouth and legs to myself. Then one pecker gave us the "thanks for the draft" comment. Fuck you.

Start to first rest stop (with about 5 miles of easy riding to get around the 'traffic')
Time 1:26
Miles 25.44
Watts 188
Norm 218
MPH 17.8
HR AVE 147

First to Second rest stop
Time 53:28
Miles 18.87
Watts 177
Norm 208
MPH 20.0
HR AVE 157

Second rest stop to end
Time 59:21
Miles 19.28
Watts 172
Norm 195
MPH 19.6
HR AVE 160

harumph

A no group group ride last night into the wind. No one showed up so I left at 5:55 for a battle royale with the wind.
A rain soaked parade ride today. Rode to the parade, in the parade and back home in the rain. My shoes will not be dry by tomorrow.
Tomorrow better make up for this. Supposed to be sunny and 91 for the bike tour. Better be!

I need to post more pictures to pretty this thing up

Here is my old Fuji that I no longer have. Never wrecked. I wonder who on Team Dayton owns it now? The only things I still own off this bike are the pedals (now on the Transition) and the SLR saddle (which is gathering dust)


Above is the other Fuji had



Giant TCR - destroyed those wheels in two wrecks. So much for "bombproof".

Boredom leads to math

Being 9pm and tired of working for the day, I thought it would be fun (!?) to figure out how many miles my Orca has. The first ride was on August 20th, 2004 and in that time I've put 13,799 miles on it. That may not seem like that much, but in that time frame I have also had:

2 Fuji's that I was obligated to race in 2005 and 2006 (no longer have either)
1 Giant TCR (no longer own)
1 Trek 5200
1 Orbea TT bike (in pieces waiting to sell it off)
1 Specialized TT bike

The Orca has undergone several changes over the years:
1. New dérailleur hanger. Bent in training ride wreck
2. Replaced FSA K-wing (expensive) bars with aluminum (cheap) ones. Broke the K-wings in a race crash in 2007 when I endo'd over Todd Frye who wrecked in front of me.
3. Replaced stock carbon seat post with Thomson Elite post. Stock post was frozen and had to be professionally removed.
4. Many saddle changes
5. Rear Kysrium Elite replaced with American Classic Sprint 350 w/Power tap sl
6. replaced computer with Power Tap
7. New cabling, bottom bracket, bar tape, brake pads, tires, tubes and chains
8. New cassette to go with the new wheel

I think that's it. I've calculated a bunch of times to the best of my ability how much money I have wrapped up in this bike. It's not pretty. I still love riding it and I intend to ride it until it dies on me.


In 103 "career" races over the past 3.5 years, I have won $77.50. Not bad considering I spent about $25,000 in bikes, mileage, fees, hotels and food to make that happen. Sheesh.

Random coffee shop thoughts

With Americano in hand, err well, sitting on the table, I have nothing better to do than type random bullcrap at Boston Stoker for the next 45 minutes while I wait for a client to get in his office.

1. I really want an 808 front wheel. Clincher please. Not that it will make me any faster or better, but it will make my bike look cooler.

2. Weight loss. I would like to make my ass, my tt bike and my Orca lighter. I'm trying to dip back into the "high 150's" for the first time in 4 years. Currently, I'm doing nothing to make my bikes lighter. An 808 front will make the tt bike heavier, but moving the Alps front to the Orca will make it a couple of insignificant grams lighter.

3. Today looks to be a sweet day. Too bad I'm working for the bulk of it. The plan is to definitely ride tonight. If I can't get out earlier for some tt work, I'll just "ride to the ride", ride the ride and ride home.

4. Yesterday's 60 minute power was my best since I bought the powertap (April 2007) by 10 watts. FTP is almost at a respectable level. I wish I would have a power meter in 2006 when I was time trialling much faster than I am now. Soon, I need to get a couple of friends to drive behind me and video a 15 minute interval. Videoing form on the trainer is one thing, but it's more accurate representation when you're on the road.

5. I am not doing Master's Nationals. My bike is highly illegal and I don't have the desire to make it legal or throw clip ons on the Orca for one race. Instead, I'm putting my eggs in the State TT basket as well as the Independent Nationals, both of which my bike is completely legal for.

6. A bike race just wrapped up in Italy and I understand it was a good one. Good thing Americans don't care. We like our sports boring as hell. That being said, the Wings can wrap it up tonight! As I typed that, a guy next to me started talking about the Cincinnati Reds. GROAN

7. I do not like American football, baseball or basketball. Too much stoppage of play.

8. I need more coffee.

9. Our team was invited back to the Strawberry Festival parade, so I will miss the time trial. I haven't been on that course for almost two years now. We should be on television again. Good show for our sponsors. Maybe they will mention Hellard Design? Maybe not.

10. I will do the Strawberry Festival tour on Sunday. 62 miles of roads I typically ride on, but this time there will be snacks, as opposed to the usual crap I carry in my back pocket.

11. I now have more coffee.

12(!). Client called to reschedule for tomorrow. I get to work for another client out of my house today. That means I get to ride twice today!

when 24 mph for a 40k

is just good enough for 12th place, you rode against some hard men. The winner beat me by 11 minutes. I can't do math, but I think that's pretty damn fast.

''Keep your helmet hard''

I was yelled this today on my ride by some teen girl, who was riding of course, without a helmet. To many rebuttals came to mind:

'Keep your trash white'

'You're lowering my property value' (as I was less than one mile from home)

etc.

But all I said was an unenthusiastic "yeah".

With the weather looking bad down south via satellite, I skipped the training crit and rode my TT bike instead for some fun. Fun being intervals.

***
As I'm typing this, I am reminded on why I freaking hate living in a subdivision. Door to door sales! This time it was a kid selling coupons. On the farm I lived on for 10 years prior to moving here, NO ONE came to my door. That's the way I like it. Leave me alone! It wouldn't be so bad if my dogs didn't go ballistic at the sound of a doorbell.
***

Now that my train of thought is long gone...Oh, now I remember. I was going to launch into a diatribe about helmet usage. In the last 4 years I've had 3 concussions and 6 bike wrecks. You won't see me without one. Do what you want, but I'm wearing a lid and keeping it hard.

Productivity

Looking over my mileage spreadsheet, I rode more miles this week than any week since June of 2005. That week I had 3 road races and a criterium. Just one race this week (training crit), and I even took a day off Thursday. The week finished out with a 3:15 ride over flats and some rollers. I didn't go out with the intention of riding real hard until I passed by Mitch an hour in. As soon as we started riding together my wattage got a little higher. Tried to ride to Yellow Springs, but the only road that we knew to get there was closed, just past Donnelsville. Oops.

Next Sunday is my first 40k of the year in Ft Wayne. I haven't done that long of a time trial since last year's state (about 38k). What that means is that I have to get a couple of rides in on the TT bike this week for some long intervals of hurt. Haven't been on that bike since the time trial last week. There are only four weeks left until 'state', time to put out some effort and put in some quality time on that bike. The Indiana State time trial is on this same course in late July. Maybe by then I'll have my new front wheel...probably won't have it by Ohio championships.

A little more like it

I spent most of the afternoon checking accuweather.com and seeing the rain getting ready to hit any time. Then, for two whole seconds around 4:50, actual sunlight came in my window and prompted me to quit being lazy. I figured there would be at least Craig and Dobo to ride with at PECO, so I headed that way for about a 45 minute warm up via Tipp-Elizabeth, cow hill and the other hill on Rudy right before 571. After a year, I still don't know the names. I assume the "cow hill" is the hill where there are the cows in the field. That one seems obvious to me.

Anyway, I rode for almost exactly hour with the group and even though I sat on the back for nearly the whole time, I felt pretty good. Life got in the way yesterday and I couldn't ride so it was a rest day I guess. Much needed after the Monday Tuesday Wednesday drop fest.

1:00 (and 9 seconds)
192 w
240 norm
21.5 mph (including time watching a dérailleur repair)
Peak one minute power was the highest since I've been back from Peru so that's good.

Overall it was 2:05 of riding on a day where I almost pussed out and got none. 39.6 miles for a 19.3 average. Tomorrow looks to be nice and I'll have some time for an afternoon ride prior to the big game.

If I had

If I had a dime for every time I've been dropped in the last three days, I would have a shit load of dimes. Twice on Monday, 4 times at the Tuesday crit and twice last night.

Note to self: It's not smart to do a full sprint workout prior to a group ride.
Note to self 2: It's not smart to do the Wednesday ride while still getting dropped on Mondays.
Note to self 3: I will not get dropped Friday! (and no, I won't be riding solo Friday) har har

A tale of two rides...

Pre-drop and post drop. Dropped right at the 12.5 mile mark

All was going great until I took a right hand turn on to Dayton Brandt and got nailed by the wind. Everyone pulled around me and I couldn't latch back on. It felt like someone snuck a 20 pound weight in my back pocket. The weight fell off on 571, then was put back on for the Pisgah rollers. How did that happen? Anyway, it ended up being good time trial practice (as most rides I do tend to be)

The first half with tailwinds:
12.5 mi
33:28
22.4 mph
218 w
251 norm
155 hr ave

1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minute and 10 minute wattage highs were all started at the 12.5 mile mark

The second half with head winds (mostly by myself as the group waited for me then dropped me again...crap)
12.3 mi
37:41
19.8 mph
237 w
256 norm
170 hr ave

Then being the complete idiot, I forgot to hit my recovery drink and woke up to unhappy legs. That should make for a fun crit tonight!

***

Where are the races this weekend??? Mid-Ohio is rescheduled for this Saturday. I was going to do it until I realized that the race is at 5 or 6 in the evening. This would interfere with my watching of the Red Wings/Pens game 1. Priorities, man. I can't find ANYTHING else closer. There are some races in north west Indiana but that's it. Nutz

TT TT TT TT TT

How can I buy 2 mph more between now and June 22nd? That's the question. My answer is to keep time trialling. Between now and the state championship there are several more time trials of varying length. The state is right around 22.5 miles so on June 1st I'm heading to Ft Wayne, Indiana for a flat 40k challenge. June 7th is the Strawberry Festival time trial. June 10th is another Speedy-Feet TT, and hopefully the flood will be gone so we can race the whole course. June 14th is another Colavita TT. QCW also hosts a 10 mile time trial every Tuesday. I doubt I'll be driving an hour and a half one way to race 10 miles, but if I find myself in Cincinnati on a Tuesday, I'll hit it up. Once I move to Cincinnati (WHENEVER THAT MAY BE!), I intend to be a fixture there. Unfortunately, there is only one more Monrovia time trial prior to the state, but it is the day before! Not going to do that one. I may hit up the June 29th edition though as I need to keep up the time trialling to prepare for the "Independent Nationals" on August 9th.

#10 Speedy Feet 5.67 mile time trial

Due to flooding, the course was only 5.67 miles. It was free so who am I to argue? Racing on a bike path wasn't as bad as I anticipated, but since it was a nice day out there were other people "rec riding" on the path. Swerving around them was kind of fun. The only hectic part was passing another rider on a blind uphill curve on a 10' wide path.

I ended up 1st overall with a time of 13:46 and a speed of 24.71 mph. I forgot to turn on my powertap (it shut off right before I started) until 45 seconds into the race. For the duration, it showed 290 watts average.

http://www.speedy-feet.com/results/May_MRTTT.htm

Link to results above...

First win of 2008.

#9 Colavita time trial May edition

May 10th was the debut of my new time trial bike. I wasn't sure going in how it was going to go due to: a) being off the bike while on vacation b) being sick for the last week and c) losing 7 pounds due to "b" in the last week.

While I didn't podium (4th place), the effort felt ok. Power was better than I would have though considering the circumstance (272 average). Finished with a time of 31:12, with an average of 23.3 mph. Overall, that's considered a success in my book.

Tonight there is another TT at Eastwood Park. No idea how long it is or how safe it's going to be (it's on a bike path!?!), but that's going to be better for me than driving to Harveysburg for the training criterium. I need to get as many time trials in before the state championship on June 22nd and really get comfortable with the bike.

Dropped is what you get when you ride sick

Due to this intestinal thing I have going on right now, I've lost 6 pounds since Saturday night and can't keep food down. For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to do a hard group ride last night. After 8 days off the bike in Peru and not being able to ride much over the weekend because of my stomach, I still thought it was a good idea. I rode the 8 miles to the start point for a warm up then stayed at the back of the group for as much of the ride as I could (about 18 of the 24 miles). Turned away early and rode home for a 2 hour ride of 36 miles or so. Sunday, all I could do was 15 miles and Saturday all I could handle was 30 minutes on the trainer due to cramping, etc. I won't go into what "etc." means at this time.

The stomach is still in knots and it's debatable whether or not if I will eat today. Then again, the first Tuesday criterium is tonight in Harveysburg, and I plan to be there.

Stupid is as stupid does and usually stupid gets dropped.

The hardest thing I've ever done...

A 4 day, 45km hike through the Andes mountains to Machu Piccu, Peru.


It's also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.