We received word Saturday that the course would be changed racing to Middlebelt and back three times. Long story short, the water drained off the road and the original course was back on.
The course was wet and a little muddy. Everyone coming in looked like they had been in a cyclocross race.
My race went well. I felt no wind riding to Nankin but after the turn around it seemed like I was getting a good push. (Big Ray told me that it is actually slightly downhill on this section.) About four miles into the effort, my fancy new aero water bottle departed my bike. I felt something hit my leg then the bottle was jettisoned. My first thought was, "Can keep my time down with no water?" To make matters worse, I hadn't had a sip out of that bottle. After the second turn around I noticed some headwind. I struggled a little on this leg against the wind. I knew I just had to hang in there and keep my speed up because I was going to fly on the way back to the finish. After the last turn around I picked up the tailwind and proceeded downhill to Helms. My bike computer said 27.2 mph average by the time I was going under Telegraph Rd on the final stretch. I switched my computer back to elapsed time and I realized this number couldn't be correct. That speed would have me finishing around 55 minutes, I think and I was definitely going beyond that. Anyway, I hammered up to 400 watts to the finish and ended up with a 56:51 good for first in the cat 3's and sixth overall.
My normative power was 285 watts up 5 watts from the previous weeks effort. That small amount of added power doesn't account for the almost one minute off the earlier effort. The difference maker was the aero wheel I borrowed from Mike Sackett. He loaned me his Bontrager Aeolus. Thanks Mike!!
James "Bike Boy" Anderson had a rough go of it in his bid for a State title. He believes he was told to go "1 lap" but he understood that to mean one lap on the new course. When he got to the turn around there was no water and no turn around so he kept going. Eventually he became concerned that he missed and he turned before the official turn around. When he came in around :29 I knew something was messed up. We asked for and were granted another try so James went out a second time an hour and a half after his first effort. That effort yielded a 32:48. At the end of the day he was DQF'd. We learned a few more lessons through all of this.
My gentle sweet little girl, Abby, rode her first TT in wet muddy conditions and won! She is the champion!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Hines Report
I rode Hines Drive with the AAVC juniors today and can report massive flooding at Middlebelt that is completely covering the road. The river that runs adjacent to the road is overflowing its banks onto Hines. April Yerge rode through and the water was up to her bottom bracket. She also reported a rather large silver fish that was keeping pace just in front of her!
April spoke with the race director who informed her that the race will go on. The course and distance may be adjusted but the race will proceed nonetheless.
April spoke with the race director who informed her that the race will go on. The course and distance may be adjusted but the race will proceed nonetheless.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
40K Effort
After Jr. practice today I put in a 40K at Willow on the Black Widow. She was feeling frisky even though I dressed her in her SL's instead of aero wheels. We turned in a and 30:15 for the Willow TT distance of six laps on our way to a 57:46 for 40K . With some rest this week, the aero wheels and the adrenalin rush, I hope to see something better at the Wolverine. Fingers crossed!
Calling all Michigan racers!!
So it is looking like the month of July will see no racing in Michigan. There are several races in OH, IN and IL so let's take our show on the road. James and I are going to go down to Troy, OH to race the Troy Criterium on July 19. We are looking at the Chicago Criterium on July 27. If you have any other suggestions post them up in the comments section.
Calling all Michigan racers!!
So it is looking like the month of July will see no racing in Michigan. There are several races in OH, IN and IL so let's take our show on the road. James and I are going to go down to Troy, OH to race the Troy Criterium on July 19. We are looking at the Chicago Criterium on July 27. If you have any other suggestions post them up in the comments section.
Friday, June 20, 2008
The week in progress...
Tuesday night - crit practice was crash free! Our team continues to work on lead-outs with varied success. Who knew this tactic took so much work? It all looks good on paper and when you work on it in non-race situations but through in a little oxygen deprivation and race confusion and it gets difficult. Looking over the power file, I chased for 10 minutes at 350 watts. That's a first for me. 350 has been a 4-5 minute power in the past.
Wednesday - Kensington was my training ground this day. Poor form to go hard again after the effort at Runway the night before but it was my only opportunity to train on that course this week. Force is my weakness. It is my weakness not because I cannot produce significant force on the hills but because repeated efforts almost always leads to the dreaded muscle cramps. I put in 70 miles again over 13 laps and normalized 242 watts. This is down from my power the last time out but I think the previous night's workout beat me up pretty badly. My heart rate would not elevate much over 160 bpm.
Thursday - BB really wanted to do the AAVC group ride. I didn't. Soooooo tired. We spent the afternoon in the Wayne State University area touring the Detroit Historical Museum while Jean did up the DIA. I am on vacation this week so we thought it would be nice to do some vacation type stuff locally. We met up with the group at Forsythe Middle School in AA. Thankfully, Rich wanted to lead the boys on some pace-lining work which meant no hammer-hammer. We took it easy riding to Chelsea. My heart rate was steady at 100-110 bpm which was good. Coming back down Dexter-Chelsea, Blaire cranked it up and we all followed. That was fun after the long ride at such low effort. Alexey and James dove up the pace on Joy Rd. along with Steven Christy then again on Zeeb. Once we hit HRD again, our pace line went a little anaerobic until we hit Foster hitting speeds close to 30 mph steady. This is always fun. There is nothing like flying along at those speeds in a group that can sustain.
I know what you're thinking...riveting! What do you want for nothing?
On the news front, I will be passing on Rockford. It was a hard decision but the 330pm start forced the issue. I had to choose which race was more important. If the TT were first that would have allowed me to do the crit. As it is, racing hard at 330pm then driving home, reloading and heading out to Hines early on Sunday would have certainly taken away from my season goal to ride :57. As it is, I have no idea what I am capable of at this point. BB and I will be at Willow tomorrow and I will attempt a 40K then. It will be without the aid of my brand new Ritchey Carbon wheels. I broke the front wheel at Allen Park last Saturday. This was the 4th time the wheel had been ridden. The tire didn't lose pressure and the wheel is hardly out of true. With all this, Ritchey wants $350 + shipping for the repair! Just a word to all of you out there, Ritchey wheels are cheap but they are obviously fragile and it seems Ritchey is not ready to acknowledge this. Buyer beware. I will probably have them do the repair but the wheels will be restricted to TT use...what a shame. I am going to apply for a Zipp sponsorship in the Fall. If that goes through perhaps I can get some 404's for next season and sell the Ritchey's.
Wednesday - Kensington was my training ground this day. Poor form to go hard again after the effort at Runway the night before but it was my only opportunity to train on that course this week. Force is my weakness. It is my weakness not because I cannot produce significant force on the hills but because repeated efforts almost always leads to the dreaded muscle cramps. I put in 70 miles again over 13 laps and normalized 242 watts. This is down from my power the last time out but I think the previous night's workout beat me up pretty badly. My heart rate would not elevate much over 160 bpm.
Thursday - BB really wanted to do the AAVC group ride. I didn't. Soooooo tired. We spent the afternoon in the Wayne State University area touring the Detroit Historical Museum while Jean did up the DIA. I am on vacation this week so we thought it would be nice to do some vacation type stuff locally. We met up with the group at Forsythe Middle School in AA. Thankfully, Rich wanted to lead the boys on some pace-lining work which meant no hammer-hammer. We took it easy riding to Chelsea. My heart rate was steady at 100-110 bpm which was good. Coming back down Dexter-Chelsea, Blaire cranked it up and we all followed. That was fun after the long ride at such low effort. Alexey and James dove up the pace on Joy Rd. along with Steven Christy then again on Zeeb. Once we hit HRD again, our pace line went a little anaerobic until we hit Foster hitting speeds close to 30 mph steady. This is always fun. There is nothing like flying along at those speeds in a group that can sustain.
I know what you're thinking...riveting! What do you want for nothing?
On the news front, I will be passing on Rockford. It was a hard decision but the 330pm start forced the issue. I had to choose which race was more important. If the TT were first that would have allowed me to do the crit. As it is, racing hard at 330pm then driving home, reloading and heading out to Hines early on Sunday would have certainly taken away from my season goal to ride :57. As it is, I have no idea what I am capable of at this point. BB and I will be at Willow tomorrow and I will attempt a 40K then. It will be without the aid of my brand new Ritchey Carbon wheels. I broke the front wheel at Allen Park last Saturday. This was the 4th time the wheel had been ridden. The tire didn't lose pressure and the wheel is hardly out of true. With all this, Ritchey wants $350 + shipping for the repair! Just a word to all of you out there, Ritchey wheels are cheap but they are obviously fragile and it seems Ritchey is not ready to acknowledge this. Buyer beware. I will probably have them do the repair but the wheels will be restricted to TT use...what a shame. I am going to apply for a Zipp sponsorship in the Fall. If that goes through perhaps I can get some 404's for next season and sell the Ritchey's.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Video
James and I hope to get some video up of Allen Park today. Bear with us as we fight for some time to get that done.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Weekend Summary
My blog has become an addendum to BikeBoy's. He covers all our happenings, includes pictures and does it all with superior quality.
Allen Park Crit
We spent most of the day with the crew at the race. Our whole family came with James, Abby and myself racing. Maria is on crutches and Jean was selling baked goods to raise funds for MS.
James and Alexey dazzled us with an entertaining junior race. They had a plan, executed it and lapped the 15-18 field. It really boiled down to two breaks. James sprung Alexey who formed up with Rudy Peterson. Later, James got away with a Maple Leaf rider. The problem for James was his breakaway partner had no interest in working with him. He sat on his wheel the whole time. James slowed then attacked but he just couldn't shake him. It was a good learning experience for him. He'll see this kid again and I think the the wheel sucking will make a re-appearance. I hope Aldo hears about this so he can straighten him out. If he makes that move too much, he can forget about anyone working with him in the future. He'll either reform or sit in the pack.
James got pipped at the line for 4th place. Alexey out sprinted Rudy for first. Overall, I thought they worked well together and got results.
I raced the 45+ and cat 3. I managed to get in a four man break in the 45+ that stayed away. We lapped most of the field except for a break that included two of my team mates. They entered their bell lap just as we hit the finishing straight. Our alliance held until the last lap when Terry Bandstra attacked. I jumped onto his wheel but he let up. From that point on I was on the front and I just let up. No one wanted to go so I was content to slow the pace and wait. It seemed that things were really lining up because I felt fresh and I would take the inside line on the last turn. The turn came and went and I jumped into the sprint and won! It is always a gas to win a race, even a practice race so this was nice.
The 35+ race came next so I laid down and drank fluids until I had to go to the "Honey Bucket". (No small feat by the way. It took considerable effort to get enough fluids down to make that happen.) The cat 3 race was fast and furious as every race has been this year. There were a few breaks but nothing has stuck this year with regard to criteriums. I was off for a lap or two with Chris Aten, a Maple Leaf and one other dude. We got reeled in pretty quickly. I wasn't very confident that I would be able to finish well. I have sort of a bad track record when doing two crits especially when the first one was a cooker. The second race usually ends up in some fabulous muscle cramps. I was cramping at the end but only when I stood up, so, I didn't jump or sprint. My goal was to help with the lead out. We couldn't get together so I grabbed Eric Hinderager and led him to the finish. It was a very long lead out for my tired legs but I gave him every last bit in the tank. It was good enough to get him around the last turn to the finish in 2nd place. It was at this point that an adjacent rider had his foot come out of his pedal and swerve disrupting Eric's sprint. He ended up taking 5th but after looking at the video, things might have looked different if the pedal thing didn't happen. Oh well, that's bike racing. Our team fared well with Giff finishing 7th and Chris in 10th. That means we had two riders in the money!
Allen Park Crit
We spent most of the day with the crew at the race. Our whole family came with James, Abby and myself racing. Maria is on crutches and Jean was selling baked goods to raise funds for MS.
James and Alexey dazzled us with an entertaining junior race. They had a plan, executed it and lapped the 15-18 field. It really boiled down to two breaks. James sprung Alexey who formed up with Rudy Peterson. Later, James got away with a Maple Leaf rider. The problem for James was his breakaway partner had no interest in working with him. He sat on his wheel the whole time. James slowed then attacked but he just couldn't shake him. It was a good learning experience for him. He'll see this kid again and I think the the wheel sucking will make a re-appearance. I hope Aldo hears about this so he can straighten him out. If he makes that move too much, he can forget about anyone working with him in the future. He'll either reform or sit in the pack.
James got pipped at the line for 4th place. Alexey out sprinted Rudy for first. Overall, I thought they worked well together and got results.
I raced the 45+ and cat 3. I managed to get in a four man break in the 45+ that stayed away. We lapped most of the field except for a break that included two of my team mates. They entered their bell lap just as we hit the finishing straight. Our alliance held until the last lap when Terry Bandstra attacked. I jumped onto his wheel but he let up. From that point on I was on the front and I just let up. No one wanted to go so I was content to slow the pace and wait. It seemed that things were really lining up because I felt fresh and I would take the inside line on the last turn. The turn came and went and I jumped into the sprint and won! It is always a gas to win a race, even a practice race so this was nice.
The 35+ race came next so I laid down and drank fluids until I had to go to the "Honey Bucket". (No small feat by the way. It took considerable effort to get enough fluids down to make that happen.) The cat 3 race was fast and furious as every race has been this year. There were a few breaks but nothing has stuck this year with regard to criteriums. I was off for a lap or two with Chris Aten, a Maple Leaf and one other dude. We got reeled in pretty quickly. I wasn't very confident that I would be able to finish well. I have sort of a bad track record when doing two crits especially when the first one was a cooker. The second race usually ends up in some fabulous muscle cramps. I was cramping at the end but only when I stood up, so, I didn't jump or sprint. My goal was to help with the lead out. We couldn't get together so I grabbed Eric Hinderager and led him to the finish. It was a very long lead out for my tired legs but I gave him every last bit in the tank. It was good enough to get him around the last turn to the finish in 2nd place. It was at this point that an adjacent rider had his foot come out of his pedal and swerve disrupting Eric's sprint. He ended up taking 5th but after looking at the video, things might have looked different if the pedal thing didn't happen. Oh well, that's bike racing. Our team fared well with Giff finishing 7th and Chris in 10th. That means we had two riders in the money!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Bikes
I have always loved riding my bike. When I was a kid my parents bought me a Western Flyer with a big banana seat and one speed. That bike was sweet! On one occasion, we had every kid in the neighborhood take part in a mass start race from one end of our street to the other. It was my good fortune to make an early move that worked and Brian Oddy and I were off to the 1-2 finish. When we were clear we looked back and the entire field went down in a massive pile-up. Just as we were sneaking a peak, my brother, I kid you not, rode over the pile of boys and bikes!! It is true! He didn't go down but simply rode over the pile like it was a hill. At the bottom of the pile lay Brian Owens whose family had moved to our city from Kentucky. He didn't believe in wearing shirts, shoes or socks. Helmets weren't even invented yet. Brian Oddy and I rode back after our sprint to witness Brian Owens' older brother tearing bikes away from the pile and pulled out his bloody little brother from the choicest spot. It was a sorry sight but he was okay. Some road rash here and there along with a bruise or two.
My family moved to Grosse Ile when I was entering 5th grade. We moved to a street that was a short dead end and unpaved. In our old neighborhood, we had kids everywhere but not so in the new digs. Instead of big mass start races, I turned to touring and bike jumping. I jumped everything I could. We had ditches so that was a natural choice. It was tough because you had to use a driveway to get enough speed up to make it. Directly across the street from us was a house with a concrete wall on the house side of the ditch. Eventually, I summoned up the courage to make an attempt. Grosse Ile was nice for riding around. I remember loading up an army backpack with a bag of potato chips and riding from my house to the airport at the end of the island.
As I became a teenager, the Western Flyer was replaced by an oversized Schwinn 10 speed. It was way too big for me but I loved it all the same. I rode it everywhere. It was my car. My friends and I would venture off the island and ride to Dearborn or Metro airport. Crazy. My parents didn't have a clue where I was.
Once I got my drivers license bikes moved to the back burner. It wasn't until I went to work for Ford that I had opportunity to rent bikes in cool cities and tear around checking things out. I rented a bike in Seattle and rode everywhere. I took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and rode all over. On another trip, I rode from Washington National Airport to Mt. Vernon and back.
My wife bought me a comfort bike when I as in my late 30's. I had about 1800 miles on that bike when she bought me my first road bike a Trek 2200. That bike served me well until I broke the chain, ripped the rear deraillure off and cracked the drop-out. I'll never forget how bad it felt to not have a bike. It was a month or so when I was trying to get some love from Trek and trying to convince my wife that I should get a new bike. She gave me her blessing eventually and I bought a Litespeed Solano which became my first race bike.
These are thoughts that were going through my head today as I put in 70 miles at Kensington. The first 50 miles were so much fun. Temperature was right where I like it. Warm to hot and humid. I felt terrific and the miles were just melting away. My goal was to ride hard to prepare for Maillot Juane road race. Last year I cramped on that course so I wanted to do some training on similar terrain. From mile 50 to mile 70 the fun evaporated and it became a suffer-fest. On the last climb of the last lap I cramped! Talk about great timing. It was a good one too. My right hammy and quad went simultaneously. My normalized power was 262 watts over three hours and twenty five minutes giving me an average of 20.3 mph. The park road that goes by the neutral zone is all blocked off so I rode the course to the round-about, turned around and re-joined the course. It took 13 laps to get to 69 miles so it was 13 times up Snot Hill. I hate that thing. It is by far the worst that course has to offer. If anyone wants to join me week after next let me know. Except for rest weeks, I plan on doing this mileage or more every week between now and MJ.
My family moved to Grosse Ile when I was entering 5th grade. We moved to a street that was a short dead end and unpaved. In our old neighborhood, we had kids everywhere but not so in the new digs. Instead of big mass start races, I turned to touring and bike jumping. I jumped everything I could. We had ditches so that was a natural choice. It was tough because you had to use a driveway to get enough speed up to make it. Directly across the street from us was a house with a concrete wall on the house side of the ditch. Eventually, I summoned up the courage to make an attempt. Grosse Ile was nice for riding around. I remember loading up an army backpack with a bag of potato chips and riding from my house to the airport at the end of the island.
As I became a teenager, the Western Flyer was replaced by an oversized Schwinn 10 speed. It was way too big for me but I loved it all the same. I rode it everywhere. It was my car. My friends and I would venture off the island and ride to Dearborn or Metro airport. Crazy. My parents didn't have a clue where I was.
Once I got my drivers license bikes moved to the back burner. It wasn't until I went to work for Ford that I had opportunity to rent bikes in cool cities and tear around checking things out. I rented a bike in Seattle and rode everywhere. I took a ferry to Bainbridge Island and rode all over. On another trip, I rode from Washington National Airport to Mt. Vernon and back.
My wife bought me a comfort bike when I as in my late 30's. I had about 1800 miles on that bike when she bought me my first road bike a Trek 2200. That bike served me well until I broke the chain, ripped the rear deraillure off and cracked the drop-out. I'll never forget how bad it felt to not have a bike. It was a month or so when I was trying to get some love from Trek and trying to convince my wife that I should get a new bike. She gave me her blessing eventually and I bought a Litespeed Solano which became my first race bike.
These are thoughts that were going through my head today as I put in 70 miles at Kensington. The first 50 miles were so much fun. Temperature was right where I like it. Warm to hot and humid. I felt terrific and the miles were just melting away. My goal was to ride hard to prepare for Maillot Juane road race. Last year I cramped on that course so I wanted to do some training on similar terrain. From mile 50 to mile 70 the fun evaporated and it became a suffer-fest. On the last climb of the last lap I cramped! Talk about great timing. It was a good one too. My right hammy and quad went simultaneously. My normalized power was 262 watts over three hours and twenty five minutes giving me an average of 20.3 mph. The park road that goes by the neutral zone is all blocked off so I rode the course to the round-about, turned around and re-joined the course. It took 13 laps to get to 69 miles so it was 13 times up Snot Hill. I hate that thing. It is by far the worst that course has to offer. If anyone wants to join me week after next let me know. Except for rest weeks, I plan on doing this mileage or more every week between now and MJ.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
What's Happening
I rode the MS150 over the weekend with Giff, Zach & Bikeboy. With extra miles due to a wrong turn, we ended Saturday's ride after 110 miles. BB worked his tail off riding in zone 3 for most of the day. We had the powertap on him set to average with our goal of keeping him under 120 watts. We finished the day with him at 123 watts average but this ended up being 144 watts normative meaning he really did a zone 3 century. No wonder he didn't want to get out of bed the next day! The second day we chose to do the 75 mile course to which BB gave his enthusiastic approval.
Last Friday I rolled the Black Widow out for 3 x 20's and man was it nasty. I felt like I was wrestling the bike the whole time. My power output was not good and my shoulders hurt. Yesterday I took the sled out again to do 4 x 15's and was very pleased to see my power more stable and my heart rate significantly lower at my assigned power. It was actually kind of fun as I felt much more like a part of the bike instead of an opponent. My plan is to continue to ride the Widow at least 2-3 times per week to get it all dialed in. One season goal I have is to ride the Wolverine 40K in 57 minutes or lower. It will be very hard to do this but I am more confident today than I was after Friday's workout that it could happen. Heck, after Friday I was beginning to doubt I could slip under 60 minutes.
Last Friday I rolled the Black Widow out for 3 x 20's and man was it nasty. I felt like I was wrestling the bike the whole time. My power output was not good and my shoulders hurt. Yesterday I took the sled out again to do 4 x 15's and was very pleased to see my power more stable and my heart rate significantly lower at my assigned power. It was actually kind of fun as I felt much more like a part of the bike instead of an opponent. My plan is to continue to ride the Widow at least 2-3 times per week to get it all dialed in. One season goal I have is to ride the Wolverine 40K in 57 minutes or lower. It will be very hard to do this but I am more confident today than I was after Friday's workout that it could happen. Heck, after Friday I was beginning to doubt I could slip under 60 minutes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
