river TT etc....

Ok...So I had to post this file because it is a pretty good example of TT pacing and a decent time. I did the 20KM course in 25:01...which is my 2nd fastest time on this course. Avg power was 347. Good for a flatTT for me. Notice the HR curve continues to go up all the way to the finish...and the power in the 2nd half is close to or better than the first half split...even though the 2nd half is slightly downhill. I might have sprinted a little too hard out of the turnaround though.

The cool thing is that I went off 2nd and Cara 3rd. We did our individual rides, then we immediately hopped on the tandem and did another 20 Km TT. I had about 5 min recovery between TTs...but cara only had about a minute and a half! Talk about pain....but we went well...putting in a 25:17....so I think I had the 1st AND 2nd fastest times of the night :) Cara said she felt like she had no power and was not happy with either ride....but I didn't notice too much on the tandem...in fact I was surprised we were able to go so fast in our 2nd event.

The big news of the day is that I committed to going to the Master's Road World Championships in Austria this August. This is something I have been thinking about for years....but I have finally decided to do it. It is no secret that one of my lifetime goals is to win a world championship....even if it is Masters. Could this be the year? If everything goes perfectly with preparation, training, recovery, nutrition etc I might have a shot...but certainly a lot could go wrong between now and then.

I PROMISE I'll get to a report on my Boise / Wobble Naught training trip soon!

a2

Dahlonega

With a 5 mile hill climb saturday morning, a tough circuit race saturday afternoon and one of the most difficult 90 mile road courses anywhere on sunday this race was quite the weekend outing. I felt great during the TT and was really happy with my time (18:13)...but was only fast enough for 4th! I was a bit bummed about that until I found out how good the guys were who beat me and after seeing my power numbers. The 352 watt average power you see above is closer to my best (and expected ) output for this type of event. This puts me at about 5.27 watts/Kg...acceptable.

The circuit race was on a difficult course with a nasty steep little climb and plenty of rollers. The field was strong and it was hot. Since I won this event last year all eyes were on me and I could not do ANYTHING without being covered....kind of frustrating, but of course that didn't stop me from trying. On the last of 3 laps 2 guys did sneak up the raod and the field was content to let them go. After the last real climb it made sense for me to work for my only teammate Reid who certainly has a faster sprint than me. I tried to help keep it together on the run-in then got the heck out of the way for the fast/narrow downhill sprint. Reid looked good and was right at the front, poised to win the field sprint...then all of a sudden there was a bike and dirt flying through the air. As I passed at 30mph I saw it was Reid......I crossed the line and rode back to him. At first I thought he was seriously injured....but amazingly he came out with just a few cuts and bruises. He had been forced into the curb in full sprint.

Sunday was the killer 90 + mile 3 Gap road race. We were to do 2 laps of the 3 Gap loop then continue up to finish at the top of Woody's Gap. That meant 7 big climbs with vitually no flat roads between. I love this course...it is one of the best I have ever raced on. Since I knew that the field was not going to let me go anywhere today I had a little fun and attacked right from the start and continued attacking until I finally got away with 2 other guys just a few miles in. Dumb idea I know, but I was just having fun...and really thinking more about training for nationals. I thought if we had a little breathing room when we got to the rockpile (the start of the Woody's climb) we had a shot of staying away for a while. No....they didn't want to let us get anywhere so we were caught at about mile 9 or 10. The first time up Woody's was a nice fast tempo...not too hard...but hard enough. The guys at the front really gassed it for the last KM though and it was hard for a bit. Down the descent on the way to Wolfpen I tried attacking again...usually at times when I was hoping to catch the groupo off guard...still no luck. Wolfpen is fairly steep, but I was comfortable and went over the top about 10th position. The guys rode HARD down the Wolfpen descent....WAY faster than last year. For some reason I was very comfortable descending today and had no trouble staying with the leaders. We bottomed out and hit the Neal's climb immediately. I looked back and there was a huge gap behind...we had the field down to about 20 guys. I told Reid this and we drove it up the first half of the climb to keep the split. It worked. By the time we let some other guys take over there was nothing is sight behind. Cool. I was tired, but feeling more and more confident. I knew I would not win this race, but a top 5 was very possible.

We hit the long descent and again were flying. I felt my chain jam and backpedaled to clear it then cranked forward out of a turn. I felt it twist and snap. Next thing I knew I was grabbing the brakes as the chain was whipping my ankles and the rear wheel was intermittantly locking up at 40MPH. I got the bike stopped, but that was it: Game Over. I caught a ride back to the top of the climb and coased back down to the feed zone. I fixed the chain by taking out the twisted links and put in a new connector. I got back on the bike and rode the course backward until I met up with Reid who had gotten dropped on the 2nd time up Woody's. We rode back together and watched the guys come up past the Rockpile for the last time, then watched as the Women came by at the start of their race.

I sat in the hot parking lot near the start for hours waiting for the women to return after their finish. It turns out that there was a serious motorcycle wreck on the Neal's descent and they had to stop all the afternoon races for almost an hour! It turned into quite a long day. I was pretty dissappointed in not getting to finish the road race....but I raced HARD for about half the race, and was able to ride almost the full distance. there is always another race.

Information Overlaod!

Ok...so I did a bunch of great training alone and with teammate Ryan Gamm, then was scheduled to go to Boise Idaho to spend 3 days learning the Wobble-Naught fit system and Dartfish/EMG pedaling analysis tools. I drove down to the Greenville airport that tuesday and was told that my flights were all delayed and I could not get there at all until the next day. Great....after scrambing and spending way too much time on the phone, I got everything rescheduled for the following sun-thurs. I went home and put in another bunch of killer training days and headed out west Sunday evening.

I just returned last night and let me tell you my head is spinning. I have SOOOOOO much information bouncing around in there it is going to take a few days to sort it all out. I can say that I learned more in 3 days than I have in the last couple of years about pedaling a bicycle....this is exciting. I ordered my laser (think Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies) and hope to start offering bike fits within the next couple of weeks.

I was scheduled to go to the Nature Valley Stage Race in Minnesota next week, but gave up my spot to another teammate. Part of this is because I am a little burned out on travel right now and with my big gaol races quickly approaching I need to stay focused and fresh...and the other part is that I want to start setting up my space to do fits and analysis.

Tonight we head down to Dahlonega GA to race an omnium that consists of a hillclimb TT, a circuit race and an awesome road race that does 2 laps of the famous 3 Gap loop. I figure the road race sunday will be the closest thing to the Natioanl Championship road race that I will get to do, so we will see how it goes.

Remember Form = Fitness + Freshness

I know I am fresh after not riding much this week, we will see what the fitness is like tomorrow.

OK ...expect some long detailed posts next week about Wobble-Naught and my experiences out in Boise as well as (hopefully) a good report from the weekend races.

a2