CTS !

Again, no posts for a long time. Things have been astonishingly busy since the last post and of course the first thing to go is the blog. Since July I have done a few 100 mile mtb races, an xc race on the tandem with Cara and a few other endurance events....but the BIG news is that I am now coaching with Carmichael Training Systems. This is a big move for me and I am very excited about it. I am just finishing up my fist week at the office and so far things have been going great......

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hometown racin'

Sorry , no posts for a while...but that doesn't mean I have not been up to anything! After Fitchburg I had a nice run of events right close to home. It was great not to have to travel for a few weeks. First up was the Hot Doggett 100 ride which for my $$ is about the best century course in the southeast.

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After that was the French Broad Classic omnium weekend. I was able to pull off a personal best TT on friday evening. With 24:32 for the 20KM rolling course I was really pleased. I have been trying to beat my previous PB time for almost 9 years! The conditions were great and I was motivated....it came together for the fastest time of the night. The next morning was a new road race...only 40 miles but tons of climbing. It was a blast, but I didn't climb particularly well and my place reflected that. The sunday crit was a tough one as well. I was hoping to get $Rich$ into the winning move...but he crashed and dislocated his shoulder....but still got back in and finished...

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Next up was the Off Road Assault on Mt Mitchell (ORAMM). This is my home town course on the trails I train on all the time....and I was hoping for a great result. I rode well for the first couple hours, then we hit the 60 minute curtis creek road climb and I suffered. I felt a little better on the following climbs ...but I lost too much time. I pushed it a little too hard on the final climb and suffered some calf and adductor cramps for it....but I finished ok. I was 5th in the open men category and 8th overall....not bad, but I can't say I was pleased with my performance.

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Next up was the Wilderness 101....but that is another post.

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washed up

Yup...that is me. At least as far as national elite level road cycling is concerned. Of course I already knew this and have for about a year, but the Fitchburg Stage race last weekend served as confirmation...but let's back up a bit:

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After our tandem road race at nats we had a couple days to preview the TT course. It was really quite a difficult course with lots of up and down and exposed to the wind the whole time. The pic above is the file from my individual TT. I put in a solid ride...at least I thought I did with an average of 336 watts (340 NP)...which is ok considering the huge speed fluctuations. This was only good enough for 9th in my age group! Oh well...I guess I can't complain as I really have not been focusing on TTs at all this year and have only been on my TT bike a few times ...which is different than the last 10 years.

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After my TT I had about 2 hours to recover for our tandem TT. The wind picked up throughout the day but we still managed a really great ride on the big bike...for 31:01..... 16 seconds faster than my individual ride.....to win the mixed elite tandem TT title.

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After that the fun began: I had to pack and hit the road to drive up to Fitchburg Mass. I had about 21 hours to drive 16+ hours and be at my TT start. I drove about 8 hours, slept for about 4 and drove the rest of the way thursday morning. I pulled into the parking lot about 45 minutes before my start time. I got the bike out , kitted up, warmed up for about 5 minutes (literally)...and headed to the start ramp. I breathed a sigh of relief that I had made it, but sitting on the start ramp in the cold rain, looking down the road I realized that I had no idea what I was in for on this course. Usually I am over prepared for TTs...I know the course and have ridden it...but this course: no idea. It actually turned out ok and I was surprised I was able to put in a decent ride considering my travels. I think I ended up 50-something out of 170+ riders....but things went steadily down hill from there.

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Stage 2 is the circuit race. 75 miles, 25 laps around a 3 mile course with a nasty hill. I started hard and got harder, but I was ok....until my speed sensor on my fork slipped into my spokes about 8 laps in. With the fear of breaking a spoke, I stopped to fix it....and that was essentially the end of my race. I rode hard after and was lapped at just about the half way point. Unfortunately it had just started pouring rain as the field caught me at the base of the climb. Attacks were going and I was out the back again before I even had a chance to blink. Oh well...I kept hammering on and finished well inside the time cut...albeit a bit dejected.

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The road race was even worse. I was dropped early ...it seems you need to be able to do 500 watts for several minutes to stay on in these races anymore...which I cannot do. So again I was OTB...but this time I ended up in a big group of 30 or more riders. We rode a nice fast pace and it was actually a pretty good day. I set the pace up the steep part of the climbs for our group most laps and after a while we realized that the time cut was not going to be an issue. We were lapped by the field with just about 8 miles to go which worked out perfectly.

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I hung in the crit until about 17 laps top go (out of 55)....and I was happy with that as I knew I would get a pro rated time and make the final GC. I was certain I would be lantern rouge, but I missed that by just one place and a few minutes :)

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Post race Scottie Weiss and I hit the road and drove all the way back to his place in VA. I slept for 4 or 5 hours then drove the rest of the way home. I am still pretty tired from the travel.

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So I had an inauspicious final NRC pro stage race....and it will most likely be the last big pro level national race I do....time to realize that I just can't compete with those guys anymore. That is ok though...I have had a good run over the last nearly 20 years of racing and there are plenty of other races to do!

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tandem road race smack down

Unfortunately we were on the receiving end of said smack down.
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Well...... the Shogrun's finally pulled the stars and stripes away from us with a a strong chase down and a well timed jump at just 200 meters to go on the uphill finish.
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The race actually ended up being very tactical and even slow for much of the time. With 3 bikes in with a shot at the win, there was a lot of attacking and covering, riding slow and attacking again. The Eppens seemed to be strongest on the short climbs, but were not keen to keep the pace high...and in fact worked to keep things together and slow. We put in many attacks only to be covered every time. We were frustrated at every attempt, but we knew if we let it come to a 3 or 4 bike sprint we were only getting 2nd or 3rd.....so we kept trying.
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Finally at the top of the steepest hill with just over a lap to go we tried again and got a small gap. It was ON and we put in 100% to try to stay clear. We held our slim advantage through most of the lap, but on the steep hill again the Shogruns were closing. Coming into the final climb they had just made contact and for us the only thing to do was to try and go fast enough that they couldn't come around.....apparently we couldn't. At 200 meters they came around with a strong move and we had nothing left to respond. They posted a well earned victory just a few seconds ahead of us.
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Our consolation prize was that they bought us a nice dinner :)
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Well played Betsy and Gunnar!
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cycling extravagaaaaaaanza

sunday, sunday, sunday. not to be missed: the throw down of the year......dreams will be crushed and feelings will be hurt. The tandem national championship road race in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Seriously though this is going to be a great race. We have won it the last 2 years, but Betsy and Gunnar Shogrun have plans to end that streak. Also coming into play will be the mtb tandem superstar team of the midwest the Eppens. Should be an exciting race to watch .....

catchin up

Soooooo....the weekend after the mohican 100 I headed over to a great little race in TN called the Disc Burner. This was a 12 or 6 hour race in a really nice park. After my last couple weeks' adventures there was no way I was going to do a solo 12 hour effort, so I opted for the solo 6. I felt great. I rode well and won finishing quite a bit ahead of 2nd place. Here are my lap times:
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1- 45:05 (includes Lemans start and I didn't get to pre-ride the course)
2-42:01
3-42:40
4-42:44
5-43:18
6-44:51
7-47:01 ( I held back a bit on this one on purpose so I could do the last lap faster)
8-46:44
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I was pleased with the effort. I can highly recommend this race for anyone interesed next year...I hope to do the 12 hour next time.
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The day after this Cara and I did the fletcher flyer full century on the tandem. We rode HARD...lots of attacking and stayed with the lead group until we had to stop for fluids with just 18 miles to go....I was pretty much smoked at that point anyway.
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The following weekend I took off...no racing, no traveling , just 2 solid 5 hour training days...sweet.
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That brings us to this past weekend. The Cowbell Marathon at fischer farms in Davidson NC. 50+ miles...6 laps of an 8. something mile course and a 5 or 6 mile run-in from town at the start. In a word: HOT. I think the temperature was near 100 degrees and the humidity was right there around the same number. I made the lead group on the run-in to the course....then was pretty much on my own. I passed a couple riders on lap 2 or 3, but after that there was no one close ahead or behind. I was fine with the heat until the last lap and a half. Knowing I was not moving up or back I rode pretty easy the last lap to avoid cramping or worse. I ended up 6th.
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I felt ok when I finished, but about 15 -20 minutes later heat exhaustion hit me HARD. I felt horrible and sick. It took me forever to get packed up (sorry Ddub!). I lost my voice and my hearing ?! Very strange but as I started to feel bad all of a sudden I lost about 50% of my hearing...like I had water in my ears...weird. I wasn't too bad off, but I had never had that happen before. I was cured on the drive home by blasting cool air conditioning in my face the whole way.
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At this point my legs are fine, but I still think I am recovering from the heat thing...at least the temps here in the moutains are nice 80s.
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Next up: tandem nats and Fitchburg!!!
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The Mark Hekman Podcast Interview !

Ladies and gentleman...the moment you have all been waiting for! : a podcast interview with the legendary Mark Hekman....an absolute must listen!

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http://www.velosportsperformancecenter.com/downloads/velosports7.mp3