In October I went to Cycle University to have a bike fit and fitness test for me on the bicycle. My knee problem was a bit concerning from the St Helens ride. I thought maybe my seat was too low or my shoes were no good. All things that can cause knee pain when cycling. I wanted to really get a bit more involved in cycling and just wasn't sure if I was physically strong enough to race. The technology they have to test you is pretty amazing. It reminds me of plugging the laptop into the motorcycle and adjusting the fuel and air mixture, throttle response etc. etc. They have similarities but instead you are the motor. They can tell you which leg is stronger, which one spins faster, your average power output, max power, heartrate and pretty much anything else you can think of. It was a difficult test that lasted around a hour but I learned alot and got my bike fitted for $125. My results were pretty good the coach told me. The first test was a 2.2 mile all out sprint. My max power output was 602 with a average of 280. I did that in 5 minutes. Then we did a 6.2 mile TT course. This was hard because trying to put out a certain amount of effort and hold it consistantly for 6.2 miles and finish strong is harder than I thought. I finished that in 18:17 minutes with a average wattage of 211. I wasn't really impressed with this and knew I could do better in the future. The next test was a all out 30 second burst. My max power output on this was 729 watts . Your average light bulb is 60 watts for a basic comparison. The way they get these figures is they hook your bike up to a bicycle trainer that plugs into a laptop that is directly in front of you with a cycler and all your readings. Pretty cool and if I could afford one at home
($1000) it would be alot of fun. I spoke to Toby the coach that worked me through this about there development road race team and he showed me a chart that showed where my averages would put me on the novice to pro list. Some of my tests showed me in the 3 category and my TT put me in the Cat 5. All in all a pretty good idea of where I was and come to find out my seat was like a 1" to low. I spoke to coach Ed a few times (who is in charge of the road team) leading up to my joining the team as well as attending there intro class. I decided I would like to give it a try. So I am now apart of the Cycle U Road Race team.
Cycle U puts on Friday night races where you get 7 guys or gals hooked up to there trainers and they have a projector shooting on the wall as you race against each other. It is beyond cool. This is the same TT 6.2 mile program/course I rode on back in Oct. Its now December and thought I would give one of these things a try and stack myself up against some others. Of course I get put in the front row. The 3 next to me are all racers and the guy next to me was real cool and immediately started talking it up. He said he has been racing for 3 years and asked if this was my first time and we talked about some other stuff but it was relaxing. We warmed up for 10 minutes or so and then we were off. I tried really hard not to blow myself up right in the beginning, however I tried I just couldn't. I was in 7th most of the first few minutes then I moved up to 6th and held that for a while but it was really hard to maintain and when I hit the wall at around 3 miles or so I was done. I was trying to gage how much power (watts) I could put out on average with out killing myself but I could never find a happy medium. There I was in dead last and hating it but I told myself before going in that I was going to get my ass kicked and not to expect anything. I finished with a average wattage of 240 and finished the race in 17:30. I improved pretty big time compared to Oct. So after I got home and realized that I was really happy with my performance. The magic number is 240 next race I do.
The team and I will start training in Jan. for the upcoming season so stay tuned.
Brad
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Question
Its been a while since I wrote on this thing. Alot has happened since Sept and my Mt St Helens ride. Where to start.
Well on my way down to Helens I had set up a meeting with my girlfriends dad to have a drink and ask him if he thought I was worthy enough to have his daughter in marriage. After a few drinks he said it was ok. : )
So the drive down to Helens was a bit of a relief after that. I mean I only had to crush the pedals for 114 miles and climb something like 8,000 feet. That was nothing compared to the nervouses of asking her dad. The plan I had was to ask her if we got on the cruise in November to Mexico. I wasn't sure what port I was going to ask her or how, I just new it was then I was going to do it. After the ride that week I went down to the Shane company (plug) to look at rings. Thankfully some information I gathered from a mutual friend was that she wanted to pick out her own ring if we ever got married. That bit of info was 2 years old or so but I thought it would still be the case. I walked in not knowing what I was going to get or how much to spend. They were really helpful and I found the one I wanted and got out of there. The salesman was really nice but his laugh was something you would see on a Saturday night skit. It was bad and got higher in pitch the harder he laughed. I left the ring down there knowing I would get to excited and want to give it to her. It wasn't to hard after the first week. I thought about it alot and hoped that we got on the cruise because that would be perfect.
See the plan was to surprise my parents and Glenn and Dana (god parents) who were going for the anniversaries and Dana's birthday. I thought this would keep Lindsay's mind busy so she didn't expect it. I mean we were in Mexico and just bought a house together in August so I am sure it floated around in her mind but the more of a surprise the better. We finally got confirmed about 2 weeks after we purchased our air tickets. Now I knew I had to seal the deal. There was no backing out now. We almost slipped a couple times hanging out with the folks and it was hard to continue to lie to them about it but hey, it was for a good reason!
November 15th we get up at 4 am and head to the airport. The family was already down there and the night before I was getting text's from Ma and Pa and I tried to schedule them to show up at the port late so we could get through the port and onboard before they saw us. I was standing in line getting our luggage checked in and I turned around and there they were. I was like oh sh*t Linds there they are, what do we do. Linds was like we are going to see them anyways and they might notice us standing here so lets just go over there. The looks on there faces after they realized I was standing there for a few seconds was pretty unforgettable. We had a good laugh for the rest of the loading process.
I had the ring in my back pack the whole time and had a few scares when I accidentally put the sun block in there and security asked to see it. I was freaking out a bit because I forgot I had it in there. I was like great there goes the surprise and I will have to get on a knee at the airport. The tried to hide the look of relief but it was close. Lindsay had the back pack a couple times to which made me a bit nervous. We enjoyed the first day at sea and the cruise was awesome. We stopped at Cabo and I asked her on a beach called Lovers Cove, go figure. I waited most of the day and we only had about 30 minutes left before we had to head out so I stalled as long as possible.
When we got back we saw my parents out by the pool having some drinks. Again we weren't sure what to do by decided to just go over there and show them. My mom started crying and was obviously pretty happy along with everyone else. The rest of the cruise was great. We got some champaign and wine delivered from our friends and my parents sent us a dozen roses. I work for Holland America Line and I couldn't be happier with the way things went. Everyone should go on a cruise and should go with Holland. All those other companies are just pretenders. haha.
So that gets you caught up on that. I am getting married. Weird to say that and call her my Fiance... Lindsay and I had some fun with that.
Well on my way down to Helens I had set up a meeting with my girlfriends dad to have a drink and ask him if he thought I was worthy enough to have his daughter in marriage. After a few drinks he said it was ok. : )
So the drive down to Helens was a bit of a relief after that. I mean I only had to crush the pedals for 114 miles and climb something like 8,000 feet. That was nothing compared to the nervouses of asking her dad. The plan I had was to ask her if we got on the cruise in November to Mexico. I wasn't sure what port I was going to ask her or how, I just new it was then I was going to do it. After the ride that week I went down to the Shane company (plug) to look at rings. Thankfully some information I gathered from a mutual friend was that she wanted to pick out her own ring if we ever got married. That bit of info was 2 years old or so but I thought it would still be the case. I walked in not knowing what I was going to get or how much to spend. They were really helpful and I found the one I wanted and got out of there. The salesman was really nice but his laugh was something you would see on a Saturday night skit. It was bad and got higher in pitch the harder he laughed. I left the ring down there knowing I would get to excited and want to give it to her. It wasn't to hard after the first week. I thought about it alot and hoped that we got on the cruise because that would be perfect.
See the plan was to surprise my parents and Glenn and Dana (god parents) who were going for the anniversaries and Dana's birthday. I thought this would keep Lindsay's mind busy so she didn't expect it. I mean we were in Mexico and just bought a house together in August so I am sure it floated around in her mind but the more of a surprise the better. We finally got confirmed about 2 weeks after we purchased our air tickets. Now I knew I had to seal the deal. There was no backing out now. We almost slipped a couple times hanging out with the folks and it was hard to continue to lie to them about it but hey, it was for a good reason!
November 15th we get up at 4 am and head to the airport. The family was already down there and the night before I was getting text's from Ma and Pa and I tried to schedule them to show up at the port late so we could get through the port and onboard before they saw us. I was standing in line getting our luggage checked in and I turned around and there they were. I was like oh sh*t Linds there they are, what do we do. Linds was like we are going to see them anyways and they might notice us standing here so lets just go over there. The looks on there faces after they realized I was standing there for a few seconds was pretty unforgettable. We had a good laugh for the rest of the loading process.
I had the ring in my back pack the whole time and had a few scares when I accidentally put the sun block in there and security asked to see it. I was freaking out a bit because I forgot I had it in there. I was like great there goes the surprise and I will have to get on a knee at the airport. The tried to hide the look of relief but it was close. Lindsay had the back pack a couple times to which made me a bit nervous. We enjoyed the first day at sea and the cruise was awesome. We stopped at Cabo and I asked her on a beach called Lovers Cove, go figure. I waited most of the day and we only had about 30 minutes left before we had to head out so I stalled as long as possible.
When we got back we saw my parents out by the pool having some drinks. Again we weren't sure what to do by decided to just go over there and show them. My mom started crying and was obviously pretty happy along with everyone else. The rest of the cruise was great. We got some champaign and wine delivered from our friends and my parents sent us a dozen roses. I work for Holland America Line and I couldn't be happier with the way things went. Everyone should go on a cruise and should go with Holland. All those other companies are just pretenders. haha.
So that gets you caught up on that. I am getting married. Weird to say that and call her my Fiance... Lindsay and I had some fun with that.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Glorious Mt St. Helens bicycle ride!
I am alive! The ride up to Mt St. Helens was by far the hardest, best and funnest ride I have done yet. However during my 40 miles of non stop climbing I wasn't saying how fun I thought it was, I was saying what the world have I done to myself. I virtually had no training when I signed on to do this. Longest ride was in July and in Aug I think I did a 30 mile ride with several small rides. Then I decide, oh this would be great to do a 114 mile race 2 weeks to the event. Anyways lesson learned and not being able to walk on Sunday night would attribute to not training. I have never been up to Mt St. Helens before so this was a great experience. Next time I would like to drive up there and spend a day of it and take a bunch of pictures. Here is the information on the Windy Ridge lookout where we stopped to head back down the Mt.
Windy Ridge is one of the best places to get an overview of the area devastated by the 1980 eruption. The landscape is littered with sand and gray rocks from that event. Deposits of the debris avalanche are visible to the west. These include the lower parts of The Spillover, where the debris avalanche traveled up over Johnston Ridge and into the South Coldwater area. The blast stripped most of the vegetation and some soil from many of the older bedrock surfaces, revealing to geologists and visitors previously hidden chapters in the geologic history of the area. Rockfalls from the crater walls stir up ash clouds that curl over the edges of the crater rim, especially in late summer. A faint bluish-white volcanic gas plume is often visible rising from the Lava Dome, and sometimes fumaroles or clusters of fumaroles can be seen there.
I stayed at my Uncle's place in Centralia on Sat night prior to the ride on Sunday. Got up and left at 5:30 am and arrived at the parking area in Packwood at 7am. The start line opened at 7am and closed at 8am. It was pretty chilly out (50 f) and by the time I got the bike ready and myself sorted with all my food and all the little stuff it was 7:30. Of course I started all alone so that was tough to start out by myself with out a group to ride in and pace with. I was able to get up to a group of 7 riders about 2 miles down the road and latched onto them for the next 10 + miles. Then we took a turn and the fun began. These hills would range from the lowest gear on your bike sitting down to out of the saddle standing up. Very seldom was there a chance to shift up to go a little faster but when you were able to it felt like you were going down hill. It was a nice feeling but a false one at the same time. This went on for 40+ miles. It was never ending. I paced myself pretty good throughout the first half of the day. I would get passed as we would start the hill by a couple guys then end up passing them halfway up as there steam shut off. As we came out of the woods and got more in the open air we came around a bend of nice green trees to see the effects of the eruption. Trees all laid out everywhere and the area wide open looking like it was logged a few years ago. It was a pretty amazing site. Getting that close to the Mt was pretty cool and was a great experience. There were some down hills on the way up but were just rolling hills that turned into more hills.
Now the fun part of cruising down. This was so much fun. I think my top speed was in the 40 mph range. Of course wearing tights and a bike shirt going down at that speed would be fairly painful but everyone I was around rode really well. I began to pass several people on the downhill sections so I suspected the motorcycle racing was paying off in this avenue of the ride. Which gave me alot of confidence. Not to much but enough to know that both sports worked well together. Once we got to the bottom we still had 30 miles to go in order to hit the 114 miles. At this point I had been riding alone for a while. My left knee was begin to really bother me. My whole goal was to finish in the silver medal range which was by 3pm. Gold guys finished by 2pm which I will shoot for next year. Coming down the stretch I was getting worried I wasn't going to make it. I had a 15 miles to go in 30 minutes and I didn't think it was going to happen, especially riding, "all byyyy myyyself (singing the tune)". I kept looking back in hopes of a group of a couple of riders to tag along with. Then I saw them coming, it was a huge relief because everytime I looked back they kept getting closer and closer. I moved over to let them by so I could jump on at the end of the line and have them tow me to the finish but man there must have been 20+ riders in the group. So 6 hours 52 minutes and I got a hat and a silver medal. I went and set the bike down got a hotdog, chips and a beer and laid down. I don't like hotdogs much but it sure did taste good...
The fastest time of the ride was 5 hours 55 minutes. My goal next year is to finish in gold!
I wish summer was longer than 2 months here.
Windy Ridge is one of the best places to get an overview of the area devastated by the 1980 eruption. The landscape is littered with sand and gray rocks from that event. Deposits of the debris avalanche are visible to the west. These include the lower parts of The Spillover, where the debris avalanche traveled up over Johnston Ridge and into the South Coldwater area. The blast stripped most of the vegetation and some soil from many of the older bedrock surfaces, revealing to geologists and visitors previously hidden chapters in the geologic history of the area. Rockfalls from the crater walls stir up ash clouds that curl over the edges of the crater rim, especially in late summer. A faint bluish-white volcanic gas plume is often visible rising from the Lava Dome, and sometimes fumaroles or clusters of fumaroles can be seen there.
I stayed at my Uncle's place in Centralia on Sat night prior to the ride on Sunday. Got up and left at 5:30 am and arrived at the parking area in Packwood at 7am. The start line opened at 7am and closed at 8am. It was pretty chilly out (50 f) and by the time I got the bike ready and myself sorted with all my food and all the little stuff it was 7:30. Of course I started all alone so that was tough to start out by myself with out a group to ride in and pace with. I was able to get up to a group of 7 riders about 2 miles down the road and latched onto them for the next 10 + miles. Then we took a turn and the fun began. These hills would range from the lowest gear on your bike sitting down to out of the saddle standing up. Very seldom was there a chance to shift up to go a little faster but when you were able to it felt like you were going down hill. It was a nice feeling but a false one at the same time. This went on for 40+ miles. It was never ending. I paced myself pretty good throughout the first half of the day. I would get passed as we would start the hill by a couple guys then end up passing them halfway up as there steam shut off. As we came out of the woods and got more in the open air we came around a bend of nice green trees to see the effects of the eruption. Trees all laid out everywhere and the area wide open looking like it was logged a few years ago. It was a pretty amazing site. Getting that close to the Mt was pretty cool and was a great experience. There were some down hills on the way up but were just rolling hills that turned into more hills.
Now the fun part of cruising down. This was so much fun. I think my top speed was in the 40 mph range. Of course wearing tights and a bike shirt going down at that speed would be fairly painful but everyone I was around rode really well. I began to pass several people on the downhill sections so I suspected the motorcycle racing was paying off in this avenue of the ride. Which gave me alot of confidence. Not to much but enough to know that both sports worked well together. Once we got to the bottom we still had 30 miles to go in order to hit the 114 miles. At this point I had been riding alone for a while. My left knee was begin to really bother me. My whole goal was to finish in the silver medal range which was by 3pm. Gold guys finished by 2pm which I will shoot for next year. Coming down the stretch I was getting worried I wasn't going to make it. I had a 15 miles to go in 30 minutes and I didn't think it was going to happen, especially riding, "all byyyy myyyself (singing the tune)". I kept looking back in hopes of a group of a couple of riders to tag along with. Then I saw them coming, it was a huge relief because everytime I looked back they kept getting closer and closer. I moved over to let them by so I could jump on at the end of the line and have them tow me to the finish but man there must have been 20+ riders in the group. So 6 hours 52 minutes and I got a hat and a silver medal. I went and set the bike down got a hotdog, chips and a beer and laid down. I don't like hotdogs much but it sure did taste good...
The fastest time of the ride was 5 hours 55 minutes. My goal next year is to finish in gold!
I wish summer was longer than 2 months here.
Friday, September 5, 2008
2 Wheel addiction
Its been a while since I wrote in my blog and thought I should give everyone a update as to what's been going on, could be a bit long. First thing is my longtime girlfriend Lindsay and I have purchased a home in Burien about 10 miles outside of Seattle. That has been alot of work to get moved. Plus, I like to cram some additional things in there for fun, 6 hour endurance race and a 114 mile bicycle race this Sunday up to Mt St Helen's.
Getting ready for the 6 hour endurance race consisted of a complete bike tear down and rebuild. Earlier in the year Jake Frame and myself had a frame from one of the other bikes extended to allow more fuel. Buell is a unique bike with the fuel in the frame rather than on a standard motorcycle. The capacity is down a bit with it being in the frame so we were able to customize it a little to get us some additional capacity for racing endurance. Jake picked up Jeff Wieand's stock XB9R racebike and brought it over to the house and we began the week long process of getting it ready. We took the bike to Adrenaline Freaks track day there at Pacific Raceways on Friday to get the bike sorted out and let Jake ride a Buell for the first time. With it being a stock motor he was still pretty impressed with it and loved the way it handled in the corners. We had some issues we had to work out through out the day but was able to get it all sorted and ready to go. Jake also has a 190 horsepower Honda Fireblade 1000RR that he had at the track as well. I have never rode a Japanese Inline 4 cyclinder above 600cc's. I told Jake several times that I didn't want to ride it because I was scared of it. What do they say about peer pressure and never give in to it? Well Jake came in after running a few laps and rode up to the pit and said get your stuff on, your riding this beast, then proceeded to take off to the track again. He came back around a few minutes later and there I was with all my gear on! I wanted to ride it but man was I nervous. I got on and got the pre flight debriefing and off I was. As soon as I got on the straight away I opened it up and man o man that was weird, the power delivery was scary fast. I still flogged it though coming out of corners, short shifting it like it was the Buell. After a couple laps I was getting more and more comfortable on it and was able to get it up to 10,500 rpm which equates to about 165 mph on the front straight. I came in and the professional photographer that was there gave me some sh$t about riding it like a girl, Jake joined in on the fun too. I felt pretty good about how I rode it. I didn't care what anyone said. I just rode a super fast bike for the first time in my life and was able to ride the bike back in one piece. Don't get me wrong the Buell is fast but only has 115 horsepower.
The race on Sunday started out bad as it was raining and we were late getting our tire changed so we started 2 laps down. Jake went out for the first stint on the bike and lap after lap he got faster and faster. At the 30 minute mark it was pouring down rain and Jake was still out there. Now the normal tank on the Buell is 3.6 gallons and on a standard motorcycle (Honda, Suzuki, etc) is 4.8 gallons. The custom frame we had made probably got us to the 4.0+ gallon mark. At the 40 minute mark Jake had moved us up to 6th place out of 11 teams. We kept expecting him to come in for fuel as most of the teams now had already made a fuel stop but he stayed out there. At the hour mark we heard on the corner worker radio that the Buell was having problems. Jake was coming down pit lane with the bike still running so he was running out of gas on the back side of the track but was able to get it back to the pits. We filled it up and Pete Ross (another Buell racer) jumped on board and took off. Talk about getting good gas mileage, Jake went a hour with out pitting and that put us up to 5th place and then Pete moved us up to 4th place before he came back in 10 minutes later with motor problems. It was a downer for sure for the motor to break like that. Especially with all the time and effort everyone put in to get us up to 4th place overall. We did finish 3rd in the heavyweight division and got a trophy. That was the good thing and we were able to bring something back to Downtown Harley Davidson Buell who spent the money to get us to race and who really put in the effort to support us.
In between all of this crazyness of moving, yard work, taking trailer loads of garbage, and building a endurance bike I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for a 114 mile race/ride up to Mt. St. Helens. I haven't been training to seriously since the STP (Seattle to Portland) but have been riding a few times a week and on the weekends. In between moving and getting the bike built I have been squeezing in some bicycle rides so hopefully I will be ok for this ride on Sunday. It has over 7500 ft of climbing and you have a time limit of 10 hours to complete. I am pretty confident I should be able to finish under the time limit but you always have that doubt of your body crackin on ya.
Take care and until next time.
Brad
P.S. Big thanks to Downtown Harley Davidson Buell for all the support and getting behind our racing effort. Check them out at http://www.downtownhd.com/
To get more information about us racing click on bikes, racing.
Getting ready for the 6 hour endurance race consisted of a complete bike tear down and rebuild. Earlier in the year Jake Frame and myself had a frame from one of the other bikes extended to allow more fuel. Buell is a unique bike with the fuel in the frame rather than on a standard motorcycle. The capacity is down a bit with it being in the frame so we were able to customize it a little to get us some additional capacity for racing endurance. Jake picked up Jeff Wieand's stock XB9R racebike and brought it over to the house and we began the week long process of getting it ready. We took the bike to Adrenaline Freaks track day there at Pacific Raceways on Friday to get the bike sorted out and let Jake ride a Buell for the first time. With it being a stock motor he was still pretty impressed with it and loved the way it handled in the corners. We had some issues we had to work out through out the day but was able to get it all sorted and ready to go. Jake also has a 190 horsepower Honda Fireblade 1000RR that he had at the track as well. I have never rode a Japanese Inline 4 cyclinder above 600cc's. I told Jake several times that I didn't want to ride it because I was scared of it. What do they say about peer pressure and never give in to it? Well Jake came in after running a few laps and rode up to the pit and said get your stuff on, your riding this beast, then proceeded to take off to the track again. He came back around a few minutes later and there I was with all my gear on! I wanted to ride it but man was I nervous. I got on and got the pre flight debriefing and off I was. As soon as I got on the straight away I opened it up and man o man that was weird, the power delivery was scary fast. I still flogged it though coming out of corners, short shifting it like it was the Buell. After a couple laps I was getting more and more comfortable on it and was able to get it up to 10,500 rpm which equates to about 165 mph on the front straight. I came in and the professional photographer that was there gave me some sh$t about riding it like a girl, Jake joined in on the fun too. I felt pretty good about how I rode it. I didn't care what anyone said. I just rode a super fast bike for the first time in my life and was able to ride the bike back in one piece. Don't get me wrong the Buell is fast but only has 115 horsepower.
The race on Sunday started out bad as it was raining and we were late getting our tire changed so we started 2 laps down. Jake went out for the first stint on the bike and lap after lap he got faster and faster. At the 30 minute mark it was pouring down rain and Jake was still out there. Now the normal tank on the Buell is 3.6 gallons and on a standard motorcycle (Honda, Suzuki, etc) is 4.8 gallons. The custom frame we had made probably got us to the 4.0+ gallon mark. At the 40 minute mark Jake had moved us up to 6th place out of 11 teams. We kept expecting him to come in for fuel as most of the teams now had already made a fuel stop but he stayed out there. At the hour mark we heard on the corner worker radio that the Buell was having problems. Jake was coming down pit lane with the bike still running so he was running out of gas on the back side of the track but was able to get it back to the pits. We filled it up and Pete Ross (another Buell racer) jumped on board and took off. Talk about getting good gas mileage, Jake went a hour with out pitting and that put us up to 5th place and then Pete moved us up to 4th place before he came back in 10 minutes later with motor problems. It was a downer for sure for the motor to break like that. Especially with all the time and effort everyone put in to get us up to 4th place overall. We did finish 3rd in the heavyweight division and got a trophy. That was the good thing and we were able to bring something back to Downtown Harley Davidson Buell who spent the money to get us to race and who really put in the effort to support us.
In between all of this crazyness of moving, yard work, taking trailer loads of garbage, and building a endurance bike I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for a 114 mile race/ride up to Mt. St. Helens. I haven't been training to seriously since the STP (Seattle to Portland) but have been riding a few times a week and on the weekends. In between moving and getting the bike built I have been squeezing in some bicycle rides so hopefully I will be ok for this ride on Sunday. It has over 7500 ft of climbing and you have a time limit of 10 hours to complete. I am pretty confident I should be able to finish under the time limit but you always have that doubt of your body crackin on ya.
Take care and until next time.
Brad
P.S. Big thanks to Downtown Harley Davidson Buell for all the support and getting behind our racing effort. Check them out at http://www.downtownhd.com/
To get more information about us racing click on bikes, racing.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Training for the STP 2008 and the ride!!
Well this isn't motorcycle racing but it does have to do with 2 wheels, a motor (my legs), and a good time. For the last couple years my dad and I have been talking alot about doing the famous Seattle to Portland bicycle ride. This was the year and we almost didn't make the cut since it sold out this year. We both registered and 3 days later the ride sold out, 10,000 strong. Our goal was to do the ride in 1 day, a total of 204 miles. We started really training for the ride in May and accomplished a big goal we both have had by doing our first century (100 miles). We both are very active on our bicycles and ride 3-4 days week and then usually on the weekends too. In the past we have done long rides of 50 and 60 miles but never pushed it to the 100 mile mark. The ride we did to reach this was with a group of guys and gals from Cascade Bicycle Club the same club here in the Seattle area that puts on the STP and has done so for 25 plus years. This was also our first ride with a group so there was alot to learn from riding in a group and pacelining. Of course the route we took was pretty grueling with close to 6,000 feet of elevation gain that took us from Port Orchard all the way through Seabeck, Tahuya and back around to Port Orchard. I can't forget about the couple 8-10% grade hills that we had to endure, six hours and 45 minutes later we arrived back at Port Orchard. At about the 70 mile mark dad and I got dropped by the group we were riding with and it was up to us to get back to the finish. We knew our way around, so we found our way back but when we first arrived we were short on our mileage. The goal was to get 100 miles so we rode our bikes around the area until it hit 100. Sounds kinda crazy to do that but what can I say. So after we made this ride in May everyone was telling us that we should have no problem doing the STP in 1 day. This was inspiring and gave us additional motivation. The next big ride was a 85 miles, starting in Woodinville going to North Bend and up to Snoqualmie falls, which was a beautiful ride. We didn't have much problems on this ride and was able to finish with no problems and enjoy a beer at the Red Hook brewery. We maintained our training in June and at the end of the month we decided to ride down to my Aunt and Uncles place which is in Centralia and very close to the STP route. This would give us a great idea as to what the first 100 miles were going to be like. We printed off que sheets (maps) from the STP from last year and set off about 8am on Saturday June 28th from the my place in Seattle. For the most part we got out of Seattle with no problems and made our way down. We spent some time getting lost but it wasn't to bad. The heat was a major issue as the farther south we got the hotter it got. Once we arrived in Centralia it was close to 100 degrees out and we were getting pretty drained. Uncle Craig came and met us on the side of the road on his Harley and gave us a bike escort through the town which was pretty cool. I was expecting to reach Centralia around 12 or 1 however we didn't get in until 3pm and was pretty beat up afterwards. This really put doubt in our minds on what we could do in 1 day on the STP.
STP
I was still determined coming into the STP to do it in 1 day and dad was a bit more unsure it seemed. However every time I asked him he held his head up and said, "yup, I still plan on 1 day". I loaded up during the week with tons of water and was getting some high carb smoothies from Custom Smoothie down the street from my work in Fremont. The shop is owned by twin sisters who are extremely athletic and compete in body competitions, so they really know there stuff. Mom gave us a ride to the start line at 4:30 am. As dad and I rolled up to the start line I started getting like lock jaw and the jitters. Which is normally reserved for me before the start of a motorcycle race on the Buell, so getting the jitters and butterflies made it that much more exciting. We rolled through the start line and made our way along Lake Washington. It was really nice out and Mt. Rainer was beautiful. For the most part the first few hours were pretty non eventful. We made our way through the pack of riders and was able to get hooked on to a couple good pacelines that were cruising around 22 mph. We left the Vegas style food stop at REI in Kent with a couple bananna's and ready to take on the rest of the day. As we got into Spanaway I noticed several riders with bandages on there knees and elbows. Obviously they had crashed and I had to admire that they were all fixed up and continueing on, props to them and Cascade Bicycle Club for all the support. Thankfully we didn't see any crashes or weren't involved in any. There were a few hair raising moments as a paceline of about 20 riders pass you on the left but for the most part everyone rode fairly well. Probably the best paceline we hooked up with was about 35 miles outside of Centralia. There was 10 or 11 of us and we all took turns at the front and worked really well together. We ended up dropping everyone except for one guy on a single fixed speed bike. Very cool bike and we trucked the rest of the way into Centralia cruising along at about 22-25 mph. We arrived into Centralia around 10:00 am (5 hours of riding) which was a 1.5 hours faster than dad and I did it a few weeks prior. We met with my Aunt and Uncle and refilled our water bottles and refueled with a bananna and apple. By this time the heat was beginning to irritate us a little bit but nothing compared to later on in the ride. We took off and stopped at about the 130 mile mark and was pretty beat from the heat. I ended up passing out under a tree in the grass for about 10 minutes, which felt great. We refilled the water bottles again and set off. Just as we were getting close to Longview Bridge dad was beginning to fall behind a little bit due to his knee hurting. Both of my knees are good and I have never had any problems with either one of them but they did go through cycles of one hurting then the other. Dad has had a bad knee for a long time so it was great that he made it this far with out too much pain. Going over the Longview bridge was something else. I waited for dad once I came under a over pass in Oregon and we took a break for a minute and discussed the next option. His knee was really starting to hurt him so the decision was for me to go ahead and he will see me at the finish line. The last 50 miles were the worst by far. It was hot, my arse was really hurting, my shoulders were hurting and both my knees would hurt at different times. Then the fact that I didn't have anyone to paceline with was also tough. I was working all on my own and everyone i passed was moving along much slower than I was. I did hook up with a couple guys that passed me and I sat up out of the seat and was able to catch up to them and tag along. My turn at the front to pull the train and man I was exhausted but held it for a couple miles then broke off. I stopped at a gas station and got a coke, some more water and ate. I felt much better and had about 25 miles to go. Of course the last 25 were the longest ever. Everytime I ate something or drank something it just didn't taste good. I had a good variety of things to eat but at that point your taste buds want nothing to do with any of it. My goal was to finish this thing within 11 hours. I kept looking down at my computer and I was getting close. Then I get into Portland with 7 other riders and we ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere which normally wouldn't have been an issue but after sitting in the saddle and 90 degree heat for the better of 10+ hours I could see how we might miss the correct street. The finish line was fantastic as they had people waving you into this little lane lined with people cheering and a guy on the mic welcoming us to the finish. It was a real treat.
The better part was to see dad come in only 30 minutes behind me. I immediately ran over (walked gingerly, but felt like I was running) to him and gave him a big hug. It was a great moment. I came accross the finish line at 10 hours and 55 minutes and burned nearly 9,000 calories.
Big thanks to my Aunt and Uncle for the use of there hot tub, pool, and the great food.
Thanks also to my mom and Lindsay for picking us up at the finish line and enjoying a finish line beer with us.
Until the next big biycycle ride.
STP
I was still determined coming into the STP to do it in 1 day and dad was a bit more unsure it seemed. However every time I asked him he held his head up and said, "yup, I still plan on 1 day". I loaded up during the week with tons of water and was getting some high carb smoothies from Custom Smoothie down the street from my work in Fremont. The shop is owned by twin sisters who are extremely athletic and compete in body competitions, so they really know there stuff. Mom gave us a ride to the start line at 4:30 am. As dad and I rolled up to the start line I started getting like lock jaw and the jitters. Which is normally reserved for me before the start of a motorcycle race on the Buell, so getting the jitters and butterflies made it that much more exciting. We rolled through the start line and made our way along Lake Washington. It was really nice out and Mt. Rainer was beautiful. For the most part the first few hours were pretty non eventful. We made our way through the pack of riders and was able to get hooked on to a couple good pacelines that were cruising around 22 mph. We left the Vegas style food stop at REI in Kent with a couple bananna's and ready to take on the rest of the day. As we got into Spanaway I noticed several riders with bandages on there knees and elbows. Obviously they had crashed and I had to admire that they were all fixed up and continueing on, props to them and Cascade Bicycle Club for all the support. Thankfully we didn't see any crashes or weren't involved in any. There were a few hair raising moments as a paceline of about 20 riders pass you on the left but for the most part everyone rode fairly well. Probably the best paceline we hooked up with was about 35 miles outside of Centralia. There was 10 or 11 of us and we all took turns at the front and worked really well together. We ended up dropping everyone except for one guy on a single fixed speed bike. Very cool bike and we trucked the rest of the way into Centralia cruising along at about 22-25 mph. We arrived into Centralia around 10:00 am (5 hours of riding) which was a 1.5 hours faster than dad and I did it a few weeks prior. We met with my Aunt and Uncle and refilled our water bottles and refueled with a bananna and apple. By this time the heat was beginning to irritate us a little bit but nothing compared to later on in the ride. We took off and stopped at about the 130 mile mark and was pretty beat from the heat. I ended up passing out under a tree in the grass for about 10 minutes, which felt great. We refilled the water bottles again and set off. Just as we were getting close to Longview Bridge dad was beginning to fall behind a little bit due to his knee hurting. Both of my knees are good and I have never had any problems with either one of them but they did go through cycles of one hurting then the other. Dad has had a bad knee for a long time so it was great that he made it this far with out too much pain. Going over the Longview bridge was something else. I waited for dad once I came under a over pass in Oregon and we took a break for a minute and discussed the next option. His knee was really starting to hurt him so the decision was for me to go ahead and he will see me at the finish line. The last 50 miles were the worst by far. It was hot, my arse was really hurting, my shoulders were hurting and both my knees would hurt at different times. Then the fact that I didn't have anyone to paceline with was also tough. I was working all on my own and everyone i passed was moving along much slower than I was. I did hook up with a couple guys that passed me and I sat up out of the seat and was able to catch up to them and tag along. My turn at the front to pull the train and man I was exhausted but held it for a couple miles then broke off. I stopped at a gas station and got a coke, some more water and ate. I felt much better and had about 25 miles to go. Of course the last 25 were the longest ever. Everytime I ate something or drank something it just didn't taste good. I had a good variety of things to eat but at that point your taste buds want nothing to do with any of it. My goal was to finish this thing within 11 hours. I kept looking down at my computer and I was getting close. Then I get into Portland with 7 other riders and we ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere which normally wouldn't have been an issue but after sitting in the saddle and 90 degree heat for the better of 10+ hours I could see how we might miss the correct street. The finish line was fantastic as they had people waving you into this little lane lined with people cheering and a guy on the mic welcoming us to the finish. It was a real treat.
The better part was to see dad come in only 30 minutes behind me. I immediately ran over (walked gingerly, but felt like I was running) to him and gave him a big hug. It was a great moment. I came accross the finish line at 10 hours and 55 minutes and burned nearly 9,000 calories.
Big thanks to my Aunt and Uncle for the use of there hot tub, pool, and the great food.
Thanks also to my mom and Lindsay for picking us up at the finish line and enjoying a finish line beer with us.
Until the next big biycycle ride.
Monday, June 16, 2008
DHD/Buell Racing/Pushrod Racing Round 3
I must say I am very happy to write this journal today. I feel like I have had this black cloud over my head for a year or so now and at the end of yesterday it finally moved on. I feel sorry for the next person that gets it. Bad luck after bad luck it seemed. However all is back to normal again with me and the bike. The pit dog, Harley had a bit of a rough week though as he had a cancerous tumor removed from his neck. All is back to normal with him too! Ok lets talk racing.
Saturday Practice:
Jeff (Team Manager) was there with the big black Downtown H-D Buell truck so we had a nice place to pit. Got everything set up and went out for practice. Took it slow for a few laps to get the motor back in shape and came in after 4 laps to check things over. That black cloud hadn't left yet though. We had a leaky gasket. So lowered the motor down a bit in the frame, pulled the head off put a new gasket on and buttoned it back up. My day was over. We stayed and made sure it was all sorted for Sunday and then headed out.
Sunday Races:
Middle Weight GP Twins:
I went out and did 4 laps at a time in practice and kept coming in to verify everything was working ok. All good to go and the weather was beautiful. No sign of a black cloud anywhere.
I was on the 3rd row for the start and I believe there were 5 rows or so. There was some serious butterflies making there way through my body. Light goes out and of course I get the worse start imaginable. The mistake I made was not keeping the RPM's high enough when I let the clutch out and the bike bogged down and everyone went by. I was pretty close to being in last place. I had alot of work to do. I must of been in 14th place or so entering turn 1. I made my way through a couple people on the first lap and just kept plugging away. After the halfway point the rear tire started to slide alot. This slowed me down a bit and my quest to a better finishing position. Last lap and I was starting to catch the guy in front of me who I had been chasing for a few laps. I closed the gap coming into the last corner before start finish but pushed the front tire to much and ended up running over the curb on the exit of the corner and wasn't close enough for a draft pass at the finish line. The bike and I came home in 7th place and although it was a rough start I was happy with that since it was really my first full race since 2006.
Open GP Twins:
I wasn't going to race this class since it is all Ducati 1098's and a few Ducati 999's. However Buell Motorcycles pay's in this class and there were only 7 people entered. I figured I would play the odds that I could atleast come home in 5th place which is the last paying position for racing a Buell. My start was much better and I hung with the leaders for the first part of the lap before we hit the back straight and the Ducati's could stretch there 180 horsepower legs. I did count them up before they left me sniffing there race gas and there were only 3 bikes in front of me. I was sure I had the count right which would have placed me in 4th place. I put my head down and ran some fast and consistant laps and at the halfway point I took a look back behind me to see nobody around. I took my time the rest of the race and conserved the tires for the next race and came home in 4th place.
Formula Thunder:
Jeff Wieand (Team Manager and Downtown H-D/Buell employee) also known as Penguin (Still waiting on the story behind that one) was planning on racing his Buell XB9R. It has been 3 years since he has raced his Buell so it was going to be alot of fun to have him back on the track. We would have 3 Buell's total on the grid, which is the most we have had since we first started racing Buell's with Downtown H-D/Buell in 2004. Pete Ross #32 turned his street bike into a race bike with similar modifications that I have on mine and he a very fast rider. It is kinda ironic looking back at when we started. Jesse Grantham was also there with his daughter who was apart of the race team back in 2004 to cheer us on. Lining up on the grid we had 3 rows of bikes with 3 Buell's, a real cool Moto Guzzi, a couple Ducati's and my good buddy Joshua on his very fast SV650 Superbike. These were the main players I was worried about. This start was good in my book and I was 2nd going into turn 1 but Joshua came by around the outside of turn 2 to take the lead. It took me a couple laps to get around one of the Ducati's and by the time I got around him Joshua had built up a nice 2 second lead. I focused on putting in consistant laps and hoped he would make a small mistake to allow me to get closer. Lap 7 and the gap had come down a little bit and I was able to close in on the brakes going into turn 3. The gap I closed was too much and I ran wide. The draft I got from him kinda pulled deeper into the corner than I thought and that is what caused my small mistake. It took me another lap to get close again. He held the gap for a few laps and then I was able to get real close and as we went by start finish for the white flag lap I could see Jeff on his Buell. I pulled out and went to the inside of turn 2 for the pass as we both flew by Jeff. I was able to hold my tight line in turn 2 but this made my drive out of the corner not that great and Joshua was able to get back by me on the brakes on the outside of turn 3. This was it I only had a few more corners to try and get back by him and most of the corners are tough passing in. The drive out of the last corner was real good and I was able to tuck right in his draft but I made another mistake that cost me the win. Joshua held a perfect line on the outside of the front straight and when going through the chute right before the checkered flag that placed him on the inside of the track. I was on the outside of the straight and when I pulled out of the draft that placed me on the inside and I couldn't get by him in time to make the short chute right before the flag and had to roll off the throttle and get back behind him but ran out of time and missed first place by half a bike length. I was happy to finish in 2nd and have a really fun race with my old sparring partner. Next time hopefully I can get him at the line.
Thanks to everyone that showed up and all the support I have got from family and friends. Brett Newkirk's help at the house with putting the motor back together has been huge in getting me back out there. Downtown Harley Davidson & Buell have been fantastic and now I feel I have the old bike back that took me to several wins in '05 and '06 and will be able to really show them what I can do.
Brad
#428
www.pushrodracing.com
Until next time... 8/10
Saturday Practice:
Jeff (Team Manager) was there with the big black Downtown H-D Buell truck so we had a nice place to pit. Got everything set up and went out for practice. Took it slow for a few laps to get the motor back in shape and came in after 4 laps to check things over. That black cloud hadn't left yet though. We had a leaky gasket. So lowered the motor down a bit in the frame, pulled the head off put a new gasket on and buttoned it back up. My day was over. We stayed and made sure it was all sorted for Sunday and then headed out.
Sunday Races:
Middle Weight GP Twins:
I went out and did 4 laps at a time in practice and kept coming in to verify everything was working ok. All good to go and the weather was beautiful. No sign of a black cloud anywhere.
I was on the 3rd row for the start and I believe there were 5 rows or so. There was some serious butterflies making there way through my body. Light goes out and of course I get the worse start imaginable. The mistake I made was not keeping the RPM's high enough when I let the clutch out and the bike bogged down and everyone went by. I was pretty close to being in last place. I had alot of work to do. I must of been in 14th place or so entering turn 1. I made my way through a couple people on the first lap and just kept plugging away. After the halfway point the rear tire started to slide alot. This slowed me down a bit and my quest to a better finishing position. Last lap and I was starting to catch the guy in front of me who I had been chasing for a few laps. I closed the gap coming into the last corner before start finish but pushed the front tire to much and ended up running over the curb on the exit of the corner and wasn't close enough for a draft pass at the finish line. The bike and I came home in 7th place and although it was a rough start I was happy with that since it was really my first full race since 2006.
Open GP Twins:
I wasn't going to race this class since it is all Ducati 1098's and a few Ducati 999's. However Buell Motorcycles pay's in this class and there were only 7 people entered. I figured I would play the odds that I could atleast come home in 5th place which is the last paying position for racing a Buell. My start was much better and I hung with the leaders for the first part of the lap before we hit the back straight and the Ducati's could stretch there 180 horsepower legs. I did count them up before they left me sniffing there race gas and there were only 3 bikes in front of me. I was sure I had the count right which would have placed me in 4th place. I put my head down and ran some fast and consistant laps and at the halfway point I took a look back behind me to see nobody around. I took my time the rest of the race and conserved the tires for the next race and came home in 4th place.
Formula Thunder:
Jeff Wieand (Team Manager and Downtown H-D/Buell employee) also known as Penguin (Still waiting on the story behind that one) was planning on racing his Buell XB9R. It has been 3 years since he has raced his Buell so it was going to be alot of fun to have him back on the track. We would have 3 Buell's total on the grid, which is the most we have had since we first started racing Buell's with Downtown H-D/Buell in 2004. Pete Ross #32 turned his street bike into a race bike with similar modifications that I have on mine and he a very fast rider. It is kinda ironic looking back at when we started. Jesse Grantham was also there with his daughter who was apart of the race team back in 2004 to cheer us on. Lining up on the grid we had 3 rows of bikes with 3 Buell's, a real cool Moto Guzzi, a couple Ducati's and my good buddy Joshua on his very fast SV650 Superbike. These were the main players I was worried about. This start was good in my book and I was 2nd going into turn 1 but Joshua came by around the outside of turn 2 to take the lead. It took me a couple laps to get around one of the Ducati's and by the time I got around him Joshua had built up a nice 2 second lead. I focused on putting in consistant laps and hoped he would make a small mistake to allow me to get closer. Lap 7 and the gap had come down a little bit and I was able to close in on the brakes going into turn 3. The gap I closed was too much and I ran wide. The draft I got from him kinda pulled deeper into the corner than I thought and that is what caused my small mistake. It took me another lap to get close again. He held the gap for a few laps and then I was able to get real close and as we went by start finish for the white flag lap I could see Jeff on his Buell. I pulled out and went to the inside of turn 2 for the pass as we both flew by Jeff. I was able to hold my tight line in turn 2 but this made my drive out of the corner not that great and Joshua was able to get back by me on the brakes on the outside of turn 3. This was it I only had a few more corners to try and get back by him and most of the corners are tough passing in. The drive out of the last corner was real good and I was able to tuck right in his draft but I made another mistake that cost me the win. Joshua held a perfect line on the outside of the front straight and when going through the chute right before the checkered flag that placed him on the inside of the track. I was on the outside of the straight and when I pulled out of the draft that placed me on the inside and I couldn't get by him in time to make the short chute right before the flag and had to roll off the throttle and get back behind him but ran out of time and missed first place by half a bike length. I was happy to finish in 2nd and have a really fun race with my old sparring partner. Next time hopefully I can get him at the line.
Thanks to everyone that showed up and all the support I have got from family and friends. Brett Newkirk's help at the house with putting the motor back together has been huge in getting me back out there. Downtown Harley Davidson & Buell have been fantastic and now I feel I have the old bike back that took me to several wins in '05 and '06 and will be able to really show them what I can do.
Brad
#428
www.pushrodracing.com
Until next time... 8/10
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