Off to Colorado Again!

Got the car packed up and I'm heading out to CO to ride up some mountains and passes or whatever is available (meaning no snow...not sure what thats lookin like out there now). I will probably try Lefthand Canyon tomorrow morning. I've never ridden there but heard its a nice way to get in a 20+ mile climb on the road bike. It's kind of sad how I get excited at the thought of this much punishment huh? Haha!

After riding Tranquility Park last week, I discovered that in about one months time I've knocked off roughly 3 1/2 minutes off average lap times (over 3 laps distance). That is some huge motivation!

Race Report?

I didn't expect to have one this week, but yesterday around noon I got an email from Nebraska Cycling News about a race at Branched Oak Lake Park by Lincoln at 6:30! and only $5 entry! I left work at 5 and blasted down there with Bandit riding shotgun. I signed the entry form at 6:23...cutting it kinda close (had to drive slower than usual, there were way more county mounties out on the highway than I would like to have seen). Ran back to the car zipped the number plate to the bike and sprinted a 1/4 mile to the start line...not what I would call a spectacular warm up...but whatever it was a fun race and only 5 bucks! I rode towards the other riders waiting for me, and as soon as I turned my bike around (on the front row of course) I hear "Go!". Damn!

Now I expected this to be similar in length to a Buck Hill race...it was about 20 minutes longer. CAT 2 racers did three laps in this park area which was very beautiful...but absolutley the most horrible terrain for a full rigid bike, haha! It was insane! On some of the downhills I told myself to stop wimpering and just hold on and pin it! I tried but my arms were jackhammering hard for about 50% of the race (mainly the grassy double track like fields - it felt like they planted soft balls every 6 inches). Everytime I would try to swtich out of the big ring to the middle, my thumb would rattle fast enough to double click me to the small...every time!

Other than the wrong choice of bike, the course was actually kinda neat - different from what I'm used to, and some parts of the course through the woods would come out with some cool views of the lake. If I had a 3 or 4 inch full suspension bike I would have had a lot more fun. I'll come back...on a different setup ;)

Race Report: Buck Hill and MNMBS - Tree vs Shoulder

Before I get to the title of the post, I will start with Buck Hill.

I arrived at Buck Hill at 5:40 after a 5 1/2 hour road trip from Omaha. I did NOT have the fork on the bike yet so there was a bit of scrambling before the start (Thanks John for pickin up the fork and getting me registered while I assembled my bike in the parking lot, haha!). 6pm: 30 minutes before the race start I get the bike together, number plate on, and head out for a quick warm-up. The first time on a full rigid bike was interesting...and not too bad! I entered the Advanced class (4 laps) and got off to a great start.

My legs needed a good lap and a half to loosen up but I was feeling good. I kept a steady pace throughout with a few hard efforts to test out some climbing power - which turns out I'm still lacking. I did hold back efforts slightly in laps 3 and 4 to keep some in reserve for Saturdays MNMBS race, but it was hard because I really love these Thursday night races! ...and I was really excited to finally do well at the first MNMBS race...finally!

Just kidding. The race was horrible as usual. Don't get me wrong, the event itself is awesome! Always a great turnout and the MN series volunteers do a spectacular job! I just never get along with this trail and there are always excuses every year, one day I'll learn..rgiht? ...the 4 lap race at Buck a day earlier was not the best idea - or I should've held back more...nutrition was not my usual...the thunderstorms that broke up start times...I've had some trouble in the heat lately and 80 degrees and sunny after a few hours worth of HEAVY downpour did not help. Then I also hit a tree just after completing a pass and nearly went down - although, I did hit it hard enough to warrant a quick stop on the trail to make sure there were no dislocations.

I was just rattled and all over the place. That was at the beginning of lap 2...for the rest of the race I had to just ride around. My shoulder was not immobile, but hurt enough to let me know that carbon rigid forks are not the hot ticket after a tree altercation. My legs felt weak throughout the race - not like the previous couple races where I felt better and faster as the race went on. Oh well, I guess...it is what it is.

Sunday I picked up some new..."parts" ;) ...more on that later. Then helped John complete his badass NRS and we went out for a lap around Murphy. This was an excellent recovery ride. I'm feeling this weekend today though. I need to get some more task specific workouts in...and longer endurance times. Hope everyone else had a good weekend of riding or racing!!

Big Days Coming!

Tomorrow making the drive to Minneapolis...again...to race at Buck Hill tomorrow night and hit Salem Hills in Inver Grove Heights, MN for the first 2010 MNMBS race!

Going full rigid on the Orbea for this round of racing. Picking up the carbon fork tomorrow afternoon! I just gotta try it...save weight save weight!

Last Weekend - Hillside

Last weekend I packed up the car and drove to Minneapolis. I love passing by the Ritchey Bros auction lots! Theres is one south of the twin cities about 100 miles or so. The lots are so gigantic to hold all those huge tractors and construction equipment! I don't know, that stuff is just so COOL!

I hadn't been back in a while so it was nice to see some friends, one of which I haven't seen since 2005! Always fun to catch up! I rode Murphy - Hanrehan Saturday evening. Its been over a year since I've ridden that course and its really fun - so fast! After that I arrived at a friends house in Lakeville to a healthy slab of ribs from the bbq. I missed it, but I guess it was fun to watch the amount of ingredients going into the whole thing. Good times.

Sunday I raced Hillside Park in Elk River. I, like many others, opted for the Advanced class over the Rec class...which means 2+ laps at race pace! I've never done that before at Hillside. Well...apparently...4 1/2 - 5 hours of sleep is NOT enough and when talking about hydrating up to the race...that doesn't mean drink as much coffee as possible. I struggled. I jumped out to a great start down the road and into the single track, but I hit a wall only about 30 minutes into the race and started thinking about cutting back to only a one lap Rec race. Luckily, I filled my Camelback to the top, because I just started taking in the fluids like crazy and stepped back my effort level for a bit. I was coming to the finish of lap one and had to make a choice. I kept the hammer down and went into lap two thinking this was stupid - but it was a non-points preseason race, so what the heck right??

I'm glad I did. I nearly emptied my Camelback by mid lap two but I had started to come back alive. I ended up passing a couple riders towards the end and I was feeling alright...beat, but not passing out. In the end I was happy with two laps plus the prologue in 1hr 38mins. Great great training race! I'm still feeling it today. Probably some easy riding on the road for today and tomorrow.

First Minnesota series race on Saturday!

Rain rain go away...come again some...no just go away!!

This is crap! Its so cold and rainy! I was sick all last week so I was really looking forward to getting in some healthy rides! I even had to pull out the trainer on monday to et some time in. One hour 'recovery' ride with some core work after since I hadn't ridden since Wednesday. Thursday through Sunday was MISERABLE inside on the couch with a cold...only awake long enough for work basically.

Yesterday I took the Orbea out on the road since it was not quite raining. Went up and down a lot of hills...I had to get some good efforts in because it was COLD!! Not exactly the way I want to work out coming off a cold illness thing, but I had to get out and ride. An hour and a half riding, but it took a good 25 to 30 minutes before I felt like the ride was even worth it!

Today...its even colder AND raining. I'm gonna have to retire to the gym and get some work in there tonight. I don't want to push it outdoors...maybe some time on the trainer but now I'm spoiled and one hour on that feels like five!

I'm undecided about this weekend...yeah its in 3 days...well 2 days I guess...I'd love to race Nathrop but I'm not sure about the weather. Colorado has been getting slammed with bad white stuff. On the other hand, a good 3 hour ride at some trail in Minneapolis Saturday morning, betting the Preakness Stakes, live racing at Canterbury Park, and a pre season race Sunday at Hillside Park sounds appealing too ;)

Platte River Race Cancelled

Got word this evening that the race at Platte River State Park tomorrow is cancelled. I got lucky...this whole week I've been battling a bad cold. Now I can nurse myself back to health and prepare for the race next weekend...most likely in Nathrop.

I need better sleeping habits when training...something I've always had some trouble with.

Race Report: Psycowpath #2 Swanson River City Shootout

First race in Nebraska and it was a blast! Right away I gotta say that Roxzanne and Ryan Feagan and all the volunteers did an awesome job putting this together. It was really fun and easy going. Plus FREE series t-shirts and FREE burgers after for the racers!

They sent us around through a grassy field before getting into the singletrack which was just long enough for the group to spread out a little. Sitting at the start I noticed a huge mass of CAT 2 riders. At last minute upon request Roxy split us into two groups Cat 2 Open and Cat 2 35+....that was really nice because we didn't have to battle with others on the course that we were not racing against.

At the start I settled into about mid pack trying not to kill my legs...I wish I would have pushed a bit harder...two riders in front of me was one that couldnt keep the pace he started at and held three of us up long enough for the lead group to disappear. It was very hard to pass. Finally after the guy behind me got pretty antsy, and vocal, the guy gave us just enough room to smoke past him and try to catch that pack.

This course really played into my current strengths...fairly tight and twisty with some good sprinting into hard braking/drifting turns...smooth is fast ;) Being able to apply some skills from auto racing, I was able to keep a lot of momentum through the course. I caught a few guys as the race went on, but I never could quite get to the lead group. In hindsight I woulda/coulda/shoulda used more effort through out the race, I laid back a little too mcuch thinking I would need to save my legs. The timing system they used showed the lap splits which was really cool. Out of 3 laps, my third was fastest...one full minute faster than my second lap and really couldve been even faster. I just didn't want to blow up like I did in Fruita. Its OK, lotsa racin left this year.

This was such a solid race though. No mistakes, no acrobatics...this is the kind of race I really needed now. This kind of momentum will work great for training motivation - 10th out of 26 in CAT 2 Open and 15th overall out of 59 I think.

Next weekend is another Psycowpath series race at Platte River State Park. They've got a pretty sweet loop out there...with one sandy climb thats sorta like quicksand. Much more climbing per lap overall too...although that currently is NOT my strong suit...it should be fun!