Rest. Recover. Ride. Race.

Rest.

Recover.

Ride.

Race.

These are the 4 things that my weeks have, at leaset on the racing/training side of my life, have consisted of.  The Tour de Murrietta starts tomorrow with a 4+ mile TT that includes a 1 mile dirt climb to the finish.  Following the TT on Friday there is a Grand Prix (crit) on Saturday and then a Circuit Race on Sunday.  No longish road race this weekend.

This race is also an Omnium and based on points, not time.  This makes for a quite bit of change strategy wise.  You just can’t have a good TT and then ride defensively.  You need to try to score as many points in each race as possible (20 points for 1st, 19 for 2nd, 18 for 3rd and so on down to 20th).  This will also be my first race as a Cat 4.  My upgrade was approved last night and I’m looking forward to the next challenge and know I am going to have to race smarter & harder to stay near the top.

This will be my second stage race in as many weeks and I follow this weekend’s racing up with the San Dimas Stage race next Fri-Sun.  So the racing and training has been full on.  Pete has me in check having me do just enough “hard” stuff” to keep me sharp, but also been holding me back from crushing myself…. not always so easy on the coach’s side!  Sometimes I just get caught up in having too much fun riding my bike.

Tucson Bicycle Classic Race Report

Another week and another road trip… back to the desert!

Between work, everyday life, and scrambling around racing (to get my upgrade) it feels like my life has been going at mach 10 for the past month.  Last Thursday, after an easy morning spin, I hit the road, again, for Arizona.  This time i was rolling solo.  I headed for Tom’s again in Scottsdale for a night before heading to Tucson Friday morning for the opening stage of the Tucson Bicycle Classic.

Before heading to Tucson Tom and I got for an ez spin.  It was pretty cool and windy, which would be sign of things to come.  After the ride I headed for Tucson and when I rolled up at the site of the TT it was windy and warm.  I got in a good warm up and headed out to the start which was a 1.5 mile spin.

Time Trial – 3.2 miles – 8:48 – 1st in Category

I really didn’t know how approach such a short TT, I mean 3.2 miles doesn’t sound hard right?  WRONG.  I suffered.  I think this was harder than the 14 mile TT at Valley of the Sun.  The course was hard with some momentum killing rollers and by time I went off (2:43 pm) the wind was howling.  We had a solid headwind for most of the course that was gusting to 20 mph.  I crossed the line and was smashed and felt like I had a horrible ride.  My head just wasn’t in it and I could have gone harder.  Pre-riding the course would have been smart too so I would have had a better idea of what to expect and gauge my effort.  They posted the results later on Friday night and I was shocked that I had the fastest TT in my category by 22 seconds.  I also checked the other categories as I wanted to see how I would have faired in the categories that I hope to be racing in someday.  I would have been, 2nd in cat 4, 4th in cat 3, and 10th in cat 2.  This definitely lit a fire inside of me.  I really want to work on my TT.  In stage races like these the overall winner is often decided by the time trial.  i need to make it a weapon!  Time for me and Pete to get to work.

After the race I cooled down, checked into my hotel and then hit Wholefoods for dinner.

with a local IPA. SanTan Brewing Co. Hop Shock. I love cans…

Saturday morning I was up early to make it down to the Road Race.  My race started at 705am and it was cold, around 38 degrees.  Thankfully I got some good advice from local Hillary Biscay as to how brutal the cold would be and what to wear.

Road Race – 40 miles – 1st place

The race started pretty mellow and with the leaders jersey I was on the front rolling out from the start.  the course was pretty rad with a bunch of rollers, a long straight descent, and then a steady climb to the finish.  I raced much smarter this time around.  I sat in the entire first lap.  I didn’t have any plans to go to the front.  Heading into lap 2 i was second wheel and the guy ahead of me totally sat up so I was forced on the front. so i basically soft pedaled and nobody would come around. I threw in some minor surges over the rollers on the backside of the course, mostly just so somebody would come around and make me stop.

They eventually did and i sat in some more. On the LONG straight downhill i got on the front and controlled it and was basically soft pedaling. at the turn with 5 miles to go things started to heat up and i covered a couple attacks.

Halfway up the climb to the finish I went to the front far left. There were 3 other guys side by side with me so we were basically taking up the whole road. nobody could come around. so i slowly started building my effort. just before the 1k to go mark at gave it all i had and attacked and got a really good gap and kept hammering. with about 400m to go i guy bridged up to me (turned out to be the 2nd place guy in the GC).

I sat up a bit because i knew the rest of the group was not going to catch us. He was sitting on my wheel, not trying to come around, so i recovered at bit. At 200m i went for it and rode him off my wheel for the win.  It’s definitely smartest I have raced to date and I was stoked get my first road race win.

Saturday night was mellow and I was planning on hitting Wholefoods for dinner, but was having a craving for beer and pizza.  Then, as fate would have it, I passed 1702 on my way to wholefoods.  I saw the beer sign, and after some quick yelp research I caved into my cravings.  46 taps… 15 IPA’s.  I kind of wished I wasn’t racing so I could have indulged some more.  After a HUGE slice of pizza, a couple of IPA’s I headed back to my hotel for the night.  I will be back!

My race on Sunday wasn’t until 1040 so I had plenty of time to pack up the truck for the drive home and get a nice, long 60 min warm up on the local roads.  I still had a 26 second lead in the GC so i just needed to race smart.

Circuit Race – 5 laps, 28 Miles – 5th Place

Right on the gun the third place guy, Drew, in the GC attacked.  He was definitely a strong rider and he did a lot of the work during saturdays road race with me on his wheel.  At first I was just going to let him go, but nobody was going to chase him down and he was just taking off.  So over first couple of miles of the race I had to put in a hard effort and ended up brining him back.  After we caught him it was pretty mellow for a while.

During the 3rd lap there was a 3 second time bonus at the start/finish. I was 3rd wheel as we approached the line and then got boxed in. I didn’t need the points but didn’t want to get caught up like i did. I banged some elbows and then got out of there, took 3rd in the sprint, and got to 1 second bonus. After that I decided to not get caught up anymore. The only thing that could cost me the GC at this point was a crash or mechanical. So I sat on or near the front the rest of the race and just rode my pace.  If anybody wanted to attack me they would have to come around.

One of the highlights of the race was having my own cheering section.  Linsey (post run, hanging out) and Hillary (running the same loop we were riding but in the opposite direction) were both out on the course and yelling for me every time I passed.  I am not sure what the other guys in the field thought but i thought it was awesome.

I had a plan that I was going to attack on the final lap on the hard, hilly section before the descnet but we got neutralized when the cat 2 men rolled up on our group. no worries. I just sat on the front during the entire descent and at the final turn let a couple guys go around and was 3rd wheel. I didn’t want to get into anything dicey so just rode my own line, finished 5th, same time as the group.

It was pretty uneventful race.  Nobody really attacked me or made any moves that would change things up in the GC.  I ended up winning the overall by 21 seconds.  So once again the TT is what won it for me.

After the race I rode straight to my truck to check my phone to see how Beth did in the Desert Triathlon.  I was stoked to find out that she had a solid race and finished 3rd. Fellow Champion Factory athlete Heather Jackson also had a killer race and was first overall for the women AND men!

James Adams, one of the athlete’s, I am coaching also got on the podium finishing 2nd in his AG.  It was a good race for him and I’m super happy with his progress and can’t wait to see what he does at IMCA in O’side in a few weeks.

So after getting home last night Beth and I hit fish house for dinner celebratory dinner and then I applied for my cat 4 upgrade.  I’m looking forward to my first race as a 4 this coming weekend at Tour de Murrietta.

Blood, Sweat, and Beers

Well this post is going to kind of get back to the roots and the “Blood, Sweat, & Beers” theme.  All three are covered in the post and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Where as last week was dominated by the kind of work done in datacenter and on my macbook this week was more about the kind of work done on two wheels.  Luckily I am ahead on both of my work projects and Beth was off of job #1 for the week so I was able to get in a pretty awesome week of training.

With all the racing the past couple of weekends and work travel it had been quite a while since I put in a real big week of training and that’s what I wanted to do.  ”Crash” week training has worked well for me in the past, and since I am only focusing on one sport now it makes it even easier and less taxing on the body to knock out a block of big training.  So with Stage races coming up the next 3 weekends I got to work last week and capped it off with another couple of crits on Sunday.

The details aren’t exciting but during the week I logged a lot of miles, a hard TT sesh with pete on the trainers, hit crossfit 4 times, and then on Friday Beth and I headed to Palm Springs for Scott & Molly’s wedding… and of course knocked out some training while we were there.

pre-wedding campfire photo.

On Saturday, before the wedding, we knocked out a long ride with Ben, Becky, and three guys from Ben’s team.  The ride was hard with over 5,000 ft. of climbing and the guys from Ben’s team were pushing the pace on the climbs, on the rollers, and on the flats.  It was basically like racing, which was great for training, but was keeping me on the rivet all day.

After the big week of training (and the partying the night before) this ride smashed.  I was more than happy to roll back in to the smoke tree ranch and pass out.

A couple of hours after the ride we walked over to the ceremony.  It was awesome…. stoked for Scott & Molly.  As weddings go everybody was in “rare form” at the reception.

Sunday morning we were up relatively early.  Beth headed out for a long run with the girls and I packed up and headed to the Dare to Race Grad Prix (crit) in Ontario to race.  I had two more crits on the schedule and i was really looking forward to finishing up a hard week of training with some good racing.  I got there early, picked up my numbers, and got on the trainer.

My first race was the 30+ 4/5 race with a sold out field.  The first 20 minutes of the race were pretty mellow.  I covered some attacks, jumped on some wheels to try to get a way but nothing was sticking.  With 5 to go the pace picked up and 3/4 of the way through the lap a guy who I was with in the winning break last week made a move.  I jumped on his wheel, and another guy jumped on mine.  We started to get a gap when the guy on front waived me through on his right.  As I was pulling through on the right he looked over this right shoulder to see if we had a gap the swerved into me.  He hit me hard and I think he clipped my bars, not 100% sure.  All i know is the next thing I knew was tumbling on the ground and wound up facing the rest of field.  I put my hands in the air so everyone would see me and fortunately nobody hit me.

I was tangled in my bike and in shock.  I untangled myself and knew I needed to finish to get credit for the race.  I was still thinking clearly so this was a good sign.  If figured the second race of the day wasn’t going to happen so I had to rally, get myself back on my bike, and hope I was not going to get pulled.  As I was riding I started assessing the damage.  I was streaming blood from my mouth, and my skinsuit was was ripped to shreds (both butt cheeks, right shoulder, and right sleeve, both my gloves were shredded as well).  I was just hoping I didn’t lose any teeth and my bones & bike weren’t broken.  I tt’d the last 4 laps and rode straight through the chase group, but couldn’t make my way back to the pack.

I ended up finishing the race… in 57th, but that counts.  I rode straight to the med tent and the pain got worse.  They scrubbed all my wounds thoroughly.  It sucked at the time, but couldn’t be more thankful now.  The bleeding from my mouth was from my lip.  When I hit the ground I bit my lip and it was split wide open.  I had a good feeling I needed stitches.  While in the med tent the guy that took me out came over and apologized and I came to find out he caused another crash in the race.  I wasn’t bitter… yeah it sucked… a lot, but it’s bike racing.  Stupid crashed happen.  You know that when you sign up and get on the start line.  It could have been worse… a lot worse.

skinsuit. post race.

So after getting cleaned up i hit the road for home still trying to decide of I should go get stitches.  Kerri told me to text her a photo of my lip (she’s nurse) and when I did she immediately replied and said I needed stitches so I headed straight to the ER before going home.  I ended up sitting in the ER for a bit and then getting 4 stitches in my lip… the road rash was/is way worse.

the lip. post stitches.

pre shower.

post shower.  the worst part is under the towel.  trust me.

so my sunday didn’t go as planned, but I’ll be ok.  I wokeup  Monday morning and was shockingly not too sore.  Yeah the road rash sucks, but it will heal.  Luckily my bike is better off than me.  I took it to Velo Hangar Monday afternoon and Gordon checked it out.  Not a scratch.  Pretty amazing.

I can’t thank my wife & friends enough for all the texts, calls, and emails asking if I was okay and giving me advice.  I will still be racing this coming weekend in Tucson and looking forward to it.  Unitl then I will continue to nurse my wounds…