Pimp my climb

Wow Sunday was an self asskicking of pretty epic proportions. I'm almost not sure where to begin. It's Wednesday and I'm still recovering although feeling much better today. We'll see how tonights TT goes. Now onto the story...

Starting Wednesday of last week I was riding a lot. Even after the CCTT, Lookout Mountain three times and the Deer Trail road race, I refueled, rehydrated and packed my singlespeed gear up for an epic ride Sunday. Still lightless, Marni took pity on me and awoke at 5am with me to drive me to the ride's starting point. Her pity was greatly appreciated as I was about to ride this route and this profile with one gear. I didn't need any less sleep and any more road miles in my legs.
Prepared for a dusk 'til dawn day in the saddle Marni, Turbo and I drove to the start as the sun was rising.I think the group was a bit surprised to see me show up on the singlespeed. There were seven of us counting me including two 29ers and a good mix of hardtails, softtails and full suspension. We began at White Ranch climbing up Belcher and Mustang at first light and descending down Longhorn. The riding pace was relaxed but not easy. The pack strung out and regrouped several times and I was happy to be riding solidly in the middle. A couple flats and clothing changes slowed our progress from early estimated times but it was a long day and the group rolled with all the punches.
Back at the parking lot the other guys resupplied from their trucks and I put on a bit more sunscreen. The stop wasn't too long and we rolled on towards the Fairmount trail, a dirt trail that led to Golden and our next trailhead, Chimney Gulch.Along the way we stopped to resupply our water and food. We also lost a rider who had to get home early so now the group numbered 6. The group strung out a bit on the way to Chimney Gulch with me spinning away at the back. When we got to Chimney Gulch though I regained third climber and worked my way up Chimney a bit at a time. Some walking and some climbing and a Starbucks doubleshot got me to the top. Chimney Gulch was basically climbing Lookout Mountain again but this time with singletrack and loose rocks. The view from the top really is worth it though and what lay ahead was worth it even more.
At the top of Lookout mountain and Chimney Gulch the group collected all it's members, ate some food and gummi worms and prepared to move on. From here we rolled to Apex, one of the highlights of the ride. Apex is wooded, techincal and fun as all hell, especially since we already earned the first downhill. I dropped into Apex 3rd wheel again behind the 29ers and smiled the whole way. The trail was narrow and tacky so you could really rail the turns and brake late. We climbed up Sluice Box to the top of another hill and then bombed another great descent to the Apex parking lot.
In the Apex parking lot one of the riders had dropped their Element (jealous!) and so it was waiting for us with delicious Gatorade. Two more riders decided this was the end of their day so while we reapplied the sunscreen and refueled again they packed up. From here there were 4 riders. 2 29ers, 2 hard tails and a total of 82 gears.

We climbed up over Heritage Square and tackled the next section of our day. A giant loop involving Red Rocks, Matthew Winters, Green Mountain and the Hogback. We started by dropping into Red Rocks and climbing up to the upper Morrison slide loop. I was feeling like a rock star and began to lead the climbs for a while. Red rocks came and went surprisingly fast for being on the bike for hours already and I was happy that 99% of it was rideable on the Monocog. We even got a comment from a couple hikers that we did the loop really quickly which made me laugh. No stopping in the parking lot this time and we pressed up the horribly steep climb on Matthew Winters. Here I dropped to the back as I could ride it all but I had to stand. I was getting a bit sick of my rear tire spinning and had to tackle the steepest section in shifts. After I got past that though I was able to climb the rest. Looking out over where we'd been and where we were headed was still an awesome sight.
The group took a quick rest but the clouds were moving in so we decided to get moving quickly. We descended down Zorro, one of my favorite new trails and popped out right at the Rooney road trailhead for Green Mountain. With clouds moving in we climbed up and around Green Mountain from the far North side on a loose technical climb. This was hard and I was a ways back from the group for a while. By the end of the climb I had regrouped and climbed back on board the train of the others. We ate some more food quickly and dropped all the way back down Green Mountain and along the rollers on the bottom as it began to rain on us. Even on the singlespeed I could keep up pretty good and we all really enjoyed this section. By the time we got back to the Rooney trailhead though one of the other riders was having issues with his knees.
He was going to ride up the road and meet us further ahead while we tackled going up Zorro this time. I felt great and could hang right on Stephen's rear wheel all the way up. The 3 remaining riders soldiered over Zorro and the Hogback, down to the road, up to the final top of Matthew Winters and finally back down to the road leading to Morrison. We even picked our fourth rider back up again and the foursome rolled into Morrison to debate our next move and refuel at the gas station.
At the gas station it was clear that things were starting to unravel for a couple riders. We refueled with candy, chips, water and gatorade. I also cleaned and relubed my chain as it was sounding unhappy with me for the majority of the last big loop.
I had another DoubleShot among my smattering of delicious calorie ladden gas station food. I ate the two Payday's and stuffed the rest in my pack, determined to keep riding until daylight stopped me. Our next stop was intimidating, Mount Falcon. The foursome pushed onword on the road out of Morrison but all the miles and climbing had taken the toll on another rider.
At the trailhead for Mt.Falcon another rider turned back for Morrison to go grab a table and a beer and wait for our finish. Three of us pushed up the 2000 foot climb. The beginning was hard. It was loose and I climbed and walked as traction allowed. We lost another rider to a flat tire and he fixed it and turned back to town. Along the climb, my friend Jim caught Stephen and I on his 4 hour afternoon loop. He rode with me for a while but when it got loose again near the top he chased up to Stephen and they waited for me. The climb up Falcon was hard and I rode as much as I could. The legs were strong but the traction in the loose stuff was frustrating when I stood to climb. I've got to get a better rear tire. I finally made it to the top, just as the clouds got darker. I ate a Clif bar while Jim took a few pictures with my camera.
We rolled back out quickly, hoping to ride a couple more hours without being stormed on too badly. Stephen, Jim and I set a fast pace up the remaining trail out of Mt.Falcon and Stephen led us the back way to Lair of the Bear and Bear Creek.
Bear Creek was another one of the highlights of the ride for me. Almost a dozen hours in with only 1 gear I chased 2 very strong riders up and down and through the forrest. Tight, tacky, and tree lined trails weaved through an area I'd never been. It was fast and I was still very much enjoying the ride. It was the 5 fastest miles of singletrack we'd ridden all day and we finally popped out on another road that dropped into Morrison. Jim bade us farewell and rode back another direction to his car at Red Rocks. Stephen and I descended a few more miles back into Morrison. The sun was setting but the rain stayed away for the most part and when we rolled into town his computer said 71 miles and 10,5xx vertical feet. No matter what the distance and elevation I had been out for 13 hours and still felt pretty darn good.

Marni brought me a change of clothes and the final four riders along with Marni and Stephen's wife all had dinner together. We all looked beat but the food tasted great. As I drove home in the dark past all the trails we'd covered I was satisfied with the ride. Someday I think I'll do it again. Maybe with gears though. Maybe...

Recovery

In the aftermath of last week's two hundred and eighty something miles, I'm tired. Actually I was tired yesterday. Today I'm recovering. Yesterday I didn't touch my bike other than my commute. Today I rode easily at lunch and probably easy tonight if it doesn't rain. I don't know if I'll be ready to race tomorrow night or not but we'll find out. I felt infinitely better this morning after going to bed early last night.

Inventory goes like this: Legs lack a little snap, my right big toe isn't totally unnumb yet, my forearms are sore and my right hip muscle on the inside is still a little weak. Other than that I feel pretty good. Assuming the recovery is complete tomorrow, I will race Wed, Saturday and Sunday and begin another rest week Monday morning including 4 days off the bike while we're in California. I haven't taken 4 days off the bike in a long time. I'm going to enjoy it though because the week after we get back from California is scheduled to be a 400 mile monster.

Thank you sir, may I have another (climb)?

6am to 7pm. Pretty much every trail in JeffCo. 71 miles. Somewhere over 10,500 vertical feet. Singlespeed.

Pictures and trip report coming...

Va Va Vrooom!

Friday I was feeling better and the more I rode, the better I felt. I started out with a lunch ride around the lake where I proceded to get rained and hailed on. The singlespeed rolled on undaunted and Jim picked me up after work for some repeats up Lookout Mountain. The rain and snow on the Foothills canceled our White Ranch plans.
I was reasonably happy to see the pillars again after seeing them yesterday and it felt good to ride the single instead of the road bike.
Jim was happy to ride outside instead of just on the trainer. It was cloudy but not overly cold and spirits were high. Others lacked our enthusiasm as the parking beneath the climb was deserted, totally different from Thursday night.
Got to keep the self portrait tradition going! We ended up riding Lookout twice, both times just under 30 minutes at a steady pace. My single was honestly geared almost perfectly for the pace of the climb. When we got to the car after the second repeat it was almost dark so we packed it up and headed home. My legs were feeling awesome and Marni had some Chipotle waiting for me at home so I ate and relaxed before getting to sleep for the race in the morning.
Saturday I woke up at 5am and got ready for the Deer Trail road race. It was a little bit of a drive down I-70 so I ate some Eggo waffles quickly and loaded the car up with all my crap. Marni was sleeping in and a DoubleShot kept me awake driving out to the plains. I had put the bike in the trunk instead of on the roof in case of rain. I suppose that was smart thinking for my half asleep mind.
The weather was a bit sketchy in the direction of the race but I hoped for the best. I felt good and wanted a good hard effort, not a crashfest in the rain. Had it been 10 minutes away maybe I would have bagged it but I preregistered and it was a full field so I drove on. My iPod and I rocked out for the hour drive east of Denver to the rocking metropolis (ha!) of Deer Trail.
I arrived early and checked in just as the skys opened up. Just about everyone huddled in their cars for the next hour and a half while it rained, snowed, sleeted and any other form of cold spring precipitation you can think of.
My clothing plan went from arm and knee warmers to everything I had in my bag. 10 minutes from the start time I pedaled down to the center of town to start the race. Not really a warm up but I didn't want to soak outside for an hour on the trainer. Besides it took me most of the 10 minutes before the start to wash and scrape the sand out of my Speedplays so that I could actually clip in and out.

When the race finally got underway my strategy was all washed out. I was nervous about the rain and soaking wet roads, course change, and not being able to get out of my pedals. I hung out at the very back of the field while we rode the first section with a tailwind. The pace picked up halfway and the back of the field yo-yo'd like crazy. It sucked but I was nervous about everyone else in the rain so I stayed put. As we got to the first turnaround the back of the field almost got totally split off the main bunch and I was with 10 riders or so who lost contact with everyone else. Determined not to be finished already I moved to the front of the group and told everyone to get on and work. A couple guys had the gas to pull so we rotated and pulled everyone back on quickly. At this point I was fed up with the back and began to move up on the inside of the road.

It takes a long time to go from the back to the front on narrow roads but with some aggressive riding and patience I made my way to the front. We were pedaling into a stiff headwind now but the front was unaware of how hard the back was working to stay in contact. My original plan now coming together, I began to push the pace and finally recruited some other teams to do the same. If I couldn't split the field, I was going to make everyone use some energy to stay in contact. After pushing hard up the road for a while the teams up front started to sit up. Despite taking a lot of pulls I felt good and saw my chance. As we approached a hill I made a really hard jump and put a couple hundred feet on the field in an instant. I was gassed but had a gap and kept the hammer down. Sure enough one rider came up. Then another. Then a group of 4 including 3 from Feedback. Our group of 7 formed up and finally we had a break that had a chance to succeed. The break made it back to town still in the lead and around the turnaround away from town without incident. The pack on the other hand chased us into town and there was a crash at the turnaround. The chase was on and unfortunately for our breakaway, there was a monster tailwind. We were pushing 37mph and the leaders were gaining on us. The race was all over the road now and the pace stayed high almost all the way to the turnaround. One by one groups bridged back up to the lead peleton. This was everyone's chance because once we headed back into the headwind, anyone not on board was pretty much finished.

The group that remained at the turnaround was much smaller. I was gassed from the breakaway so I sat in and refueled for the final section of the race. We passed through town as a bunch and I was still at the back. As we headed out onto the final out and back I got gapped off the back. I recovered as quickly as I could and time trialed back towards the main group over the rollers. I almost caught on by the turn around but attacks had gone out and the main bunch was strung out all over the road. When i hit the turn around the wind was brutal and I was finished. I sat up and pedaled to the finish easily. 63 miles was a good long race with the wind and hills.

Some might have been disappointed to lose contact at the end but I'm pretty pleased with the effort. On tired legs I was able to make one of the decisive moves of the race and put a lot of people out. Now I just need to get comfortable enough to stay up front from the start and stop this hanging in the back stuff. Plus I got a nasty weather road race under my belt. Tire spray in the face for 3 hours isn't exactly fun but it makes for a good picture.

Wishy washy

So I thought this weekend was going to be a lot of fun. Now I'm wavering with the weather. Last night I hit the road bike for 50 something miles and 3000 feet of climbing in the 75 degree weather. I felt like garbage for the first hour but a couple gels gave me some energy. I was riding with a full commute backpack which was another 20 pounds awkwardly on my back. My goal was to ride at recovery pace but mentally challenge myself without water (initally), food of choice and the heavy load. You might think I'm a moron for doing something like that but there are times in long rides and races when I think it helps. I might drop my Ensure, run out of water or have a rack break. The only way to handle it is to improvise and deal with it. 99% of my rides are done with ideal food, water, and equipment so a ride like this gives me a chance to mentally get used to things not being the way I want them, especially when I'm already tired from racing Wednesday and working all day. Anyway my route was meandering. I rode down south to Golden via Arvada and 82nd street. I passed White Ranch on hwy 93 and then turned up Lookout mountain. I felt relatively good at this point and steadily climbed the hill at an easy pace. I passed a few bikers and a few passed me. The top came in less than half an hour anyway which pleased me considering the extra load and energy level I was willing to put out. At the top I bought a couple muffins and some water. I ate them as I rode home, this time following the most direct route from White Ranch to my house to get an accurate distance (15miles BTW).After the ride I intended to wash up the singlespeed so I could ride tonight with Jim after work at White Ranch. Instead the forcast called for rain and snow(!) so I just relubed the chain and rode into work this morning in the rain. I think it's drying now so perhaps my evening ride is still on although I'm on the fence about riding to the trail per my usual routine. Perhaps I'll wuss out and drive, giving up the chance to "race darkness home like a man". Or perhaps a Viking as Dicky would say.

Saturday is the Deer Trail road race which will be 61 miles of hilly fun. The forcast is calling for "Spring Classic" like conditions according to the race director. The race is a bit far away which I'm a little apprehensive about but I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there. Saturday night we're having a little party at our house with Marni's teacher friends which is always a good time.

Then Sunday morning I've been invited to join the 75+ mile 12,500+ vertical foot Piper's Monster Ride looping together White Ranch, the Fairmount Trail, Chimney Gulch, Apex, Red Rocks, Dakota Ridge, Green Mountain, Mt. Falcon, and Lair o' the Bear. At least the weather is supposed to improve back to the 70's by then. As usual I will be riding to the start from my house so that means a 4:45am leaving time, the only bummer of the ride. It's so early I will have to mount my flasher and perhaps use my Performance points to buy an LED light as I haven't built mine yet. I'm wondering how tired I will be for the ride but my 180 mile weekend a few weeks ago went well so with proper fuel this one should go well too. Here's the course and elevation profile of a good part of Sunday's ride. Now I have to decide to put the Fuel together or take the singlespeed...

CCTT#3 Report

Who is that huge dork in the picture? That'd be me after last night's race. A smiling face though in comparison to the head down sufferfest of last week. I still felt like I was going to be sick at the end but that passed pretty quickly with reflection on a good ride. I dropped further down the leadboard a bit but not by as big a margin. Last night was good enough for 10th place in the Cat 4's, 25.26 mph or 24:56. Not as fast as my first time still but pretty good considering the wind I had on course. The first race was definitely warm and calm while last night was cold enough for knee and arm warmers plus a pretty decent head wind and cross wind for what seemed like all of the course. I did catch a little tailwind in the final 2.5 miles and it felt great to spin it up to 31-33mph and just hold it there.

In other news, I apparently bruised my right hamstring in yesterday's (stupid) mountain bike crash during lunch. Nothing like missing the handlebar on a little jump you've done 100 times and ending up on your butt to make you feel stupid. No real damage to bike or rider done other than the bruise. Today is going to be a busy day at work with a contractor coming in to plumb some air and water lines for a new piece of equipment in the lab. It's my project and I hope it goes well otherwise I'll be stuck staying late to watch over them tonight. If all goes well I plan to ride at lunch and after work. It's time for some more training and then the Deer Trail road race on Saturday. The field is already full at 90 people so it's going to be interesting. Also the batteries on the digital camera are finally charged again for those oh so fun while riding shots!

Grumpy

I'm not in a very cheery mood this morning. It's a Rage Against the Machine morning if you know what I mean. Good old Zack screaming into the mike. I'm not totally sure why. Probably a combination of the crappy weather the past two days and less than nomral riding due to weather, a doctors appointment and other things. Tonight is Cherry Creek again though and I'm looking forward to racing and seeing my friends. It's sunny and warming now so I hope it warms up a lot before tonight. It would be great to ditch the warmers this week. At least I've been on the single speed for the riding I have got in this week. I'm going to take it out at lunch and see if Colorado Hills is dry.

Epics

Epics and stories to tell your grandchildren start with a crazy idea and two willing fools. So has it that this epic came about the same way. The idea is a double trip around the White Rim trail, once each direction, including the ride to and from town via Potash...in one day. Stefan_G from MTBR suggested a double White Rim to another poster, I said it sounded like fun if you rode from town and Adam agreed to join me. Another thread was started for clarity's sake by Dave Harris and all of a sudden we have an epic ride planned for November. What gear do I need? Will it be supported or unsupported? Am I crazy? Who knows. There's a lot of time to figure that out. Want to come along? Discussion is currently taking place here on MTBR.

Time passes quickly

Today's freezing rain gave me a little time to catch up on my blog. I rode a bit after work on the singlespeed and had a muddy good time on the roads around the lake. It was great fun and worth the clean up, making me forget that the snow and rain canceled tonight's planned group ride with the Feedback boys. More importantly Leadville is now 109 days away and it's time to start planning around it. I'm going to do a 3 week taper for Leadville this year since I've definitely got the base for it. Maybe a month and a half more of this road racing and TT stuff and then into mountain bikes full on. The rough schedule looks like this:
4/24 - Dear Trail RR Sat/MTB Ride Sunday
5/1 - Pillar to Post Saturday/Rabbit Mtn TT/TTT Sunday
5/8 - REST/Out of town
5/15 - Buena Vista Super Weekend (Ride to BV Friday, Ride BV Century Saturday)
5/22 - Mountain Bike Super Weekend
5/29 - Important rest week!
6/5 - Lots of road riding, State TT on Saturday
6/12 - Rest week/WP Doubleheader on the weekend
6/19 - Big Mountain Week (E100 12hr Solo or Leadville Recon)
6/26 - Lots of road miles
7/3 - Firecracker 50 Single Speed Tuesday/Winter Park #3 Saturday
7/10 - Very important rest week
7/17 - EPIC Week/WP #4 (Probably ride to WP on Friday)
7/24, 7/31, 8/7 - Taper to Leadville

It's a lot of volume and a good amount of intensity. The big rest weeks in there are going to be crucial. Will I break 9 hours at Leadville? Will I even finish? Only time will tell. All I know is that I'm enjoying the journey.

Boulder Beer Road Race

Crash 4's anyone? Seriously I enjoy the workout and intensity of road racing, I even enjoy some strategy. But man I have to say, I'm glad my goal is not to become a road racer with all the luck required to stay on your bike sometimes.

Sunday's race started fine. Marni slept in so I donned my race clothes and my bookbag and rode to the start. The morning was brisk but not cold and I felt just fine. I arrived and checked in quickly while talking to some friends. By the time I dumped my bookbag in a friend's car I had ditched the ear, arm and knee warmers. Wanting a better start than last week I headed to the line early. I was warmed up from my ride over but standing around for the start was definitely not ideal. It didn't really matter though and by the time our huge group went off I was more than ready to start racing. The first couple laps were uneventful other than being told at the start there was no yellow line rule and being told at the first turnaround that there was. Ummm make up your mind people. I took a flyer on the 2nd lap at the top of a climb but it was half hearted and the field brought me back pretty quick. I sat in a recovered quickly. I was feeling good and ready to try again when we had crash number 1 of the day. I don't know what happened but I was stopped behind it and had to chase hard to get back to the field. After chasing half the course (climb, descent, climb) I caught the bunch right at the start/finish turnaround. Since I was already sitting at the back I took the opportunity to get a few calories in and had half a bottle of Ensure Plus. I also had Gatorade in one water bottle this week which worked well.

I sat in the field and recovered from my chase and by the start penultimate lap I was feeling good. I began to move up and was able to do so relatively easily on the climbs. I was sitting near the front from that point on until the final descent on the final lap. It had been getting a bit crazy with our 90 person group passing two smaller breakaways from other classes and a huge group from another class. Someone decided to attack down the descent and the field ratcheted up to 50mph or so. Slingshotting back up the climb after the descent people began to move up and some on the outside of the double yellow. Our motorcycle pacer freaked out and started honking and pointing for them to get back and just generally raising the tension level in the peleton. That was all it took and a couple riders went down near the front of the bunch. This second crash was mayhem and splintered a lot of the field. I was gapped of the lead bunch and ahead of a bunch of other riders. Completely unmotivated I spun towards the line until I saw my friend Andy pulling hard behind me. I waited until he was close and gave his small group a 33mph pull to the finish line. The race was a bummer for him and his VC teammates but nonetheless a good workout for me. Total mileage for the race was 45 hilly miles at 24mph average. After we finished we rode back to the med tent to check on another VC rider who went down hard in the last crash. His helmet was toast and his bike took a beating but he was otherwise okay.

After making sure he was okay, I grabbed my stuff and headed for home still feeling great and wishing I got a chance to put a hard effort in up to the line. On the way home I passed a girl who was waving to me in a familiar helmet. It took me a second to realize it was Marni and I flipped around to meet her. She was out riding to find me on her new bike so we rode together home enjoying the beautiful weather. I'm jealous of her shiny new road bike, Harold the Phantom, and it's 10 speed ultegra STIs. My STI's have seen better days and I'm on the lookout for an affordable replacement pair. All and all another workout and road race in the books. I'm definitely looking forward to mountain bike racing season where at least if I crash it's my own fault.

Pictorial Friday

Some of the pictures are a bit dark but hey, you'll live. I figure pictures are better than my rambling sometimes.

Holy crap! I cleaned my entire drivetrain last night. Who knew you could pedal without that crunching sound?
Sailboat on Cherry Creek Reservoir
In the starthouse, 25 minutes of pain here we come.
Clipped in today!
Race against the dying of the light.
Do you really need a description of how I was feeling?
Michelle finishing with a smile
Erik and Michelle finished
Random competitor
Random competitor

CCTT #2 Report

Yesterday's race went better than race #1 in all respects but one. Let's get that out of the way now. Somehow I lost 30 seconds to finish in 8th place in the Cat 4's, 25:10 (25.03mph).

Despite the slower time, I am pleased with how everything went. I got there early, warmed up fully, ate and drank on time, and gave the time trial 100% effort compared to what felt like 98% last week. Wanting to puke at the end this week was not a problem. I haven't uploaded the pictures from Marni's camera but I'm sure my face is one of pain. I also was *much* more relaxed in the start house and had a proper clipped in start.

Where did I lose the time? It seemed to be on the backstretch because my watch was showing a similar split to last time at the turnaround. It was much colder this week and I had my arm warmers on and probably could have used the knee warmers. I didn't notice any wind but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. It was also a rest week so even though I feel good perhaps I am slightly slower. All in all I'm still happy with the race and it's another speed session in the books. Man I'm really going to be strong come MTB racing season!

Beautiful Tuesday

Today was beautiful here in Colorado. They predicted a rain and snow storm but all we got was a 20 degree drop in temperatures and some more wind. I took advantage of the nice weather and took a late lunch break to ride with Dave Nice. He came up from his place in Denver and we cruised around Colorado Hills, me on the Monocog and him on his 29er fixie. I think in some ways we're opposites (see bike clothing and saddle choices) but also have a lot of things in common. I had a great time talking with him during the ride. It was over all too soon and I had to go back to work.

Dave left me with a great bottle of whiskey from the distillery where he works, Stranahan's. I'm excited to have a glass tonight after dinner and try it out. Much different from my college days, I really enjoy a drink now and then of something with a story behind it. Marni and I mostly drink wine now because of that and I really appreciate the work that goes into both real wine and a handcrafted small batch whiskey like Stranahan's.

While riding we talked about a lot of things, among them riding to Buena Vista, Colorado to do the Buena Vista Century on May 20th. Scott and some other friends of mine are going to ride it and I invited Dave to come along and ride up to Buena Vista with me the day before. Marni is even going to do the ride and is deciding between the 40 and 50 mile options! Thanks for the great ride today, let's do it again!

Tonight I'm going to relax and continue to enjoy my rest week. Tomorrow night I'll be racing at Cherry Creek and then again on Sunday for the Boulder Beer Road Race. It's basically right out my front door and includes some good hill climbing so it should be fun and good training. Next week I'll be training with Feedback Sports cycling team and deciding if I want to join their team before the Deer Trail Road Race on April 29th. I have a few friends who ride for Feedback on both the road and mountain bike teams so it may end up being a really good fit.

Rest Week Monday

Today I'm back at work following my eventful weekend, first the Boulder Larimer road race Saturday (post below) and then more practice on the Cherry Creek course yesterday. Marni, Scott and I all rode from Scott's house and did 3 race pace sessions on course. Marni did her longest ride ever at 23 miles and one of her fastest ones too. Even better she didn't want to kill me and wants to do it again!Scott picked the start, the middle on both sides of the turnaround and the finish for our race pace sessions. I substituted the hill to the turnaround for the 2nd session because apparently I hate myself. I'm sorry but entering that hill at 30mph, climbing the first half at 21 mph and doing everything in your power to get over the top and accelerate from 13mph *back* to 30mph is just hateful. It better at least make me stronger this Wednesday. On the plus side I felt fine in my new slightly lower position. I'm currently at 15cm saddle to aerobar pad drop. Now I need to stretch it out a bit futher and see if I can get up to Boulder to buy a Louis Garneau Rocket helmet. I'll look like a huge dork but if I can buy 15 seconds for under $200 I'm sure as hell going to do it.
Today my legs are pretty shot so I'm glad the rest week is starting. My lunch ride today was easy and mostly involved going to the post office to send out our taxes. Work is incredibly busy so hopefully I can get a bit caught up this week with my reduced riding volume.

The coming weeks are going to involve a lot more racing and high intensity training. I'm hoping to throw a couple more epic distance rides in there as well to maintain my long distance fitness. The first Winter Park race is now 2 months away and I'm really motivated to be in race shape. Leadville is also fast approching and I'm looking forward to some on course training in June or July.

Boulder Larimer Road Race

Okay so I'm not really a road racer but I wanted a long hard workout and this race seemed to perfectly fit the bill. Before I disect it more than needed, let me just say that I had a great time and will be looking forward to doing a few more road races. I'm not so sure about crits still but road races, yes!
On to the story. I decided Friday afternoon to do the race, finding out about it only a few hours earlier from a friend. After work I ran home, swapped a few parts from the TT bike to my road bike and went for a little ride south of the lake. I felt great and the bike worked fine so we loaded up the car that night. Marni and I woke up early and headed out to the race in rainy, windy weather. The reports said the foothills had already got the worst of it and it was passing though so I figured the race would still be fine. I got to the race and warmed up and before I knew it the 90+ strong group of cat 4s were rolling out. I started the race mid pack and it didn't take me long to get the hang of moving up the group. A few 1 or 2 man breaks tried to get away but it was calm and the group was huge. There was no way a 1 or 2 man break was getting away. I moved up front during laps 2 and 3 of the 5 lap, 55 mile race. I felt good but really had a hard time eating how I wanted in such a big pack. I managed to get down 2 gels and some water thoughout the race which for me is less than ideal. As the race pressed on a few more people had a go at breaking away including myself. However no one came with on the breakaways. It's a shame because I think a 10 person break might have escaped from the pack. My solo break made it up the road a ways at 32mph but with no one to share the work with the group caught me a couple minutes later. At least I was happy to give it a shot and my legs felt pretty strong. I do have to say that the accelerations out of every corner and the short dirt/washboard section did take a bit out of me as I haven't done any of that kind of work in training. I was able to hang on just fine but I think a fast group ride once a week would go a long way towards improving my ability in that respect.

During the race it was fun talking to the other riders and I even got a couple complements on my 20 year old ride. The fresh powdercoat really does look nice. The race progressed and during lap 4 I remained in the front, coming through the start/finish line in the first 5 riders for the final lap. I knew that this lap would get difficult with a lot of the riders wanting to kick the pace up before the finish. The first half of the lap went fine despite a slight bobble on my part crossing up a wheel and braking a bit too hard. Sorry about that other racers. No harm was done though and the pace kept picking up. I ended up shuffled to the inside of the pack going down the fastest descent and as it turned up to the hill following I made my big mistake of the day. A rider in front of me flatted or blew up and stopped in front of me. I got slowed way down and the pack gapped me along with some other riders. I chased as hard as I could but missed getting back on and that was the end of it. I rode as hard as I could to the finish but there was no catching the group. I was disappointed to finish off the lead bunch and not get another shot at a breakaway but lesson learned. At least I accomplished the hard workout I set out to do, gained some experience and had a lot of fun in the race.

Better than expected

It's not often that you exceed expectations, or at least for me. I tend to set rather impossible goals for myself and often that leaves me coming up short. I suppose sometimes it results in great things. Wednesday night I did my first race and time trial of the year in 24:40. That was a 25.54 mph average and good enough to place 5th in the Cat 4's. I knew that I would finish in less than 30 minutes and hoped to be closer to 25 minutes but I didn't really dream I could crack the top 5 and go under 25 minutes. I have put in next to zero speedwork this winter and only have about 100 miles acclimating to the time trial bike, all in 5 days time.
The race and evening was great fun. Marni and I got there with plenty of time and I ran through my full 55 minute warm up. Marni was great helping me prepare and taking care of my extra clothes, water and equipment so I didn't have to worry about it. I didn't feel great as it's week 3 of the current build phase but I didn't feel terrible either. Erik, Michelle, Scott, Dan, Derrick, Jim and other friends were there which made it a lot of fun. My start was terrible but in retrospect I think that's my fault. I didn't get to the line early enough and was really rushed trying to get the holder to hold me, clear my computer and get clipped in (which I didn't). That's worth a few seconds in the future. During the race I felt pretty good and passed a lot of people. I think I can go a little harder in the opening few miles next time. All my preriding of the course paid off though as I didn't look at anything other than my speed on the computer and my watch at the turn around and finish. I had the course memorized really well.
This coming Wednesday is smack in the middle of a rest week so I'm really excited to race again. I'm going to tweek a few things on my position over the weekend and if the weather is as beautiful as this week I'm going to give the 23 minute barrier a run for it's money. For now it's one more weekend of hard training but this time I'll be satisfied knowing that all the hours and miles I've put in over the past 6 months have started to pay off.