This was the last race for the Tour de Dung(eness) up in Sequim. Once again we were treated with great weather. It did seem a little colder than it was the weekend before but it wasn't raining and the sun was out. Chad, Shawn and myself arrived and got all set up and ready to go with about 20 min to spare on the trainers. My dad came up with the trailer so we had a nice place to change in. Your awesome dad. We lined up 10 min early to make sure we made the start. This week it was a different race official and we didn't actually start until 3 min after our start time of 9:50. Go figure. The plan this week was the same as it was last week. Get Chad to the front of the race at the end for a possible lead out. The race was ok and the slinky effect was in full force. Slow down, speed up, on the brakes, on the gas. Pretty standard operating procedure. It makes it a bit more stressful for sure. We again were doing 4 laps for a total of 48 miles. The last lap is when it started to liven up a bit. We had 4 guys last year move over to a different team. It was nice to see them again and weird to see them in different kits but good to race with them. One of them took off on a flyer about 3 miles into the last lap. I jumped and bridged up to him and we had a group of 4 that rotated through a couple times. We had a little gap but I didn't want to do any more work because I knew it wouldn't stick. So I sat up and we got caught. I was a little nervous because when I bridged up to the break I was pinging on my heart rate montitor 192 bpm. In the past when I get that high it is normally during a sprint finish. Thankfully I was able to recover once back in the group. I sat in for the rest of the lap until we were about 2 miles away from the finish. At that point it was difficult to move to the front. Chad was always near the front so he was in a good position. When I closed the break down and we got caught I went to the back of the pack. It took some time to get up near the front and then when I did everyone was real nervous and you could feel the pack and how tense everyone was. I was up on the left near the yellow line and usually that line will open up as the pack speeds up. However, the pack really wasn't speeding up much. I was beginning to get frustrated and then a opening showed itself and I just stood up and sprinted to the front. Once I got there I realized we had another half mile to go and I was already on the front pulling the pack. So I decided the hell with it and shifted to a higher gear and started to ramp it up. Chad was behind me directing me where to move to in case someone tried going around us. I moved over to the yellow line again to give us the best position for the right hand corner coming up. I wanted to atleast get us to the corner in a good spot then try and sprint out of the corner to spread the field out some more. Just as we approached I stood up to give it some more gas but the legs told me I was out of gas. I sat back down just as we entered the corner and several guys came by. I stood and pedaled in hopes of seeing where Chad was up at the front. It was close and Chad got 2nd place but was literally inches from getting the win. This was a huge turn around for both of us compared to last week. Way to go Chad.
Now on to the Pacific Raceways Series on Tuesday nights in the Cat 1, 2, 3 field. Chad and I decided to move up to this field to gain more experience and much more fitness. We are only category 4's but we hope to hang with the big guns to help us upgrade to 3's. Then down to Independence Valley Road Race on Saturday.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
First Race of the Season = FAIL
The title tells it all in 1 word. FAIL. Chad Sullivan and I headed over to my parents place Friday night which is over in Poulsbo about 3 miles from Hood Canal Bridge. This was to stay in the camper trailer and cut the wake up time Saturday morning by several hours. However, we didn't plan on it raining all night. The trailer is like a tin can when it rains so it echoed pretty good and neither of us slept much. We headed up to Sequim with the beautiful camper trailer in tow. The weather was horrible all the way up to Sequim and about 10 miles away it started to lighten up and a few minutes later the rain had almost stopped. This was pretty unbelievable. They say though that Sequim is in a little circle where it doesn't get a whole lot of rain. I have decided if I don't move to Eastern Washington for the weather then it will be Sequim. We arrived and guess what.
I love this place. Our race start was at 9:50 and we arrived around 7:45 so we had plenty of time to get all set up and get a good spot.
It was going to be Chad, myself, Jon C, Chris B, and Tim C racing. It was 9:45 and all the Cat 3's were lined up for their 9:45 start. We made our way over there and I decided to hit the porta potty one last time. Came back out and the whole area was empty and Chad was on the road telling me everyone had left? It was Chad, myself and Tim. It looked like Chris had taken off a few seconds before because we saw him down the road. Chad asked what time it was and I looked at my bike computer and it said 9:50:25. We didn't here any sort of announcement saying that the Cat 4 field was starting early or anything to that nature. We were told later that they left 3 minutes early. I checked 3 clocks after the race and all 3 were faster than my bike computer. So they could have left even earlier than that. I was really upset as you can imagine. Not only did I ruin my own race by not lining up 10 minutes early I also felt responsible for the other guys too. I am the Team Captain and this should not have happened but it did.
I hung on to Chad for a few miles and then felt like I was about to throw up so I slowed down. Chad chased the whole race. I came around for the first lap and was still dumbfounded. Tim C and I waited then decided to just soft pedal until the pack came by and we would jump back in the group. The race was super fast. We came by the start line the next lap and we were cruising at 30 mph. We hit that a few times around the 11 mile lap. I went to the front at one point and put in a big effort to help bring back a couple guys then went to the back for the rest of the race.
A VALUEABLE lesson was learned. Arrive 10 minutes early to every start because you never know if the race official is on bar time. Next week Tour de Dung #2 and you can bet we will be lined up 15 min early.
I love this place. Our race start was at 9:50 and we arrived around 7:45 so we had plenty of time to get all set up and get a good spot.
It was going to be Chad, myself, Jon C, Chris B, and Tim C racing. It was 9:45 and all the Cat 3's were lined up for their 9:45 start. We made our way over there and I decided to hit the porta potty one last time. Came back out and the whole area was empty and Chad was on the road telling me everyone had left? It was Chad, myself and Tim. It looked like Chris had taken off a few seconds before because we saw him down the road. Chad asked what time it was and I looked at my bike computer and it said 9:50:25. We didn't here any sort of announcement saying that the Cat 4 field was starting early or anything to that nature. We were told later that they left 3 minutes early. I checked 3 clocks after the race and all 3 were faster than my bike computer. So they could have left even earlier than that. I was really upset as you can imagine. Not only did I ruin my own race by not lining up 10 minutes early I also felt responsible for the other guys too. I am the Team Captain and this should not have happened but it did.
I hung on to Chad for a few miles and then felt like I was about to throw up so I slowed down. Chad chased the whole race. I came around for the first lap and was still dumbfounded. Tim C and I waited then decided to just soft pedal until the pack came by and we would jump back in the group. The race was super fast. We came by the start line the next lap and we were cruising at 30 mph. We hit that a few times around the 11 mile lap. I went to the front at one point and put in a big effort to help bring back a couple guys then went to the back for the rest of the race.
A VALUEABLE lesson was learned. Arrive 10 minutes early to every start because you never know if the race official is on bar time. Next week Tour de Dung #2 and you can bet we will be lined up 15 min early.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The long wet & grey winter
As you can see I changed my background to the way I feel its been since Oct. Rain. I guess it hasn't been so bad but these months really drag on and really make me dislike living on this side of the mountains. I would much prefer a snowy winter with sunshine and a nice hot summer. Instead of 40 degree weather and rain for 6 months. What can you do?
It is almost time to start the 2011 race season. A few things have really changed for my training. I started teaching InCycle @ West Seattle Cycle University. I teach back to back classes on Thursday nights which allows me to be on the bike for about 2.5 hours. If you don't know InCycle is the best indoor cycling program out there. Here are some highlights you won't find at any other indoor cycling class.
-Proven training program tailored to any level by wattage
-Coaches live for you every class
-Environment of motivation
-Accountability
-Inspiration and education in every class
Better than a Spinning Class because:
-Your bike - Your Fit - Wattage - Cycling Coaches - Video - Bike Shop - Experts - Inspirational environment - Repair - Education - Trackable Progress - Fun
You can get more information at,
www.cycleu.com
The road race team changed a little bit over the winter. We lost a couple guys to another team. Which happens I guess but it was a bummer to lose them. The benefit now is that we have some buddies on other teams which will help us in trying to initiate some break away's during races. We have also added a few folks to the team so thats been good. Shawn Harrington and I will be back as Team Captains for the Cat 4 team and hopefully we will be able to get some guys upgraded to Category 3 to help out our man Joel.
Our Team rides on Saturday's have been filled with alot of rain and a few technical issues. Here is Chad fixing his chain the first time it broke.
Come to find out he had a faulty Ultegra chain that had 13 broken links. Thankfully nobody got hurt when his chain broke.
Once again Custom Smoothie is helping the road team this year with all our smoothie needs. The Lean and Mean Lite HOT is probably the best thing EVER! If you haven't tried it you should.
My pants and shoe covers were black. I had to throw the shoe covers away after this ride. Pretty nasty.
The team is heading up to Sequim this Sunday to pre ride the race course in anticipation of the Tour de Dung #1 & #2 in March. Can't wait for the season to start. Its so close but so far away.
It is almost time to start the 2011 race season. A few things have really changed for my training. I started teaching InCycle @ West Seattle Cycle University. I teach back to back classes on Thursday nights which allows me to be on the bike for about 2.5 hours. If you don't know InCycle is the best indoor cycling program out there. Here are some highlights you won't find at any other indoor cycling class.
-Proven training program tailored to any level by wattage
-Coaches live for you every class
-Environment of motivation
-Accountability
-Inspiration and education in every class
Better than a Spinning Class because:
-Your bike - Your Fit - Wattage - Cycling Coaches - Video - Bike Shop - Experts - Inspirational environment - Repair - Education - Trackable Progress - Fun
You can get more information at,
www.cycleu.com
The road race team changed a little bit over the winter. We lost a couple guys to another team. Which happens I guess but it was a bummer to lose them. The benefit now is that we have some buddies on other teams which will help us in trying to initiate some break away's during races. We have also added a few folks to the team so thats been good. Shawn Harrington and I will be back as Team Captains for the Cat 4 team and hopefully we will be able to get some guys upgraded to Category 3 to help out our man Joel.
Our Team rides on Saturday's have been filled with alot of rain and a few technical issues. Here is Chad fixing his chain the first time it broke.
Come to find out he had a faulty Ultegra chain that had 13 broken links. Thankfully nobody got hurt when his chain broke.
Once again Custom Smoothie is helping the road team this year with all our smoothie needs. The Lean and Mean Lite HOT is probably the best thing EVER! If you haven't tried it you should.
My pants and shoe covers were black. I had to throw the shoe covers away after this ride. Pretty nasty.
The team is heading up to Sequim this Sunday to pre ride the race course in anticipation of the Tour de Dung #1 & #2 in March. Can't wait for the season to start. Its so close but so far away.
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