Oahu Ride

Check out these pics from my ride out of Honolulu today. I rode out counterclockwise out of Honolulu to the Marine Corps Base at Kano' he Bay.

Seattle-Portland-San Diego-Honolulu

Away

Blogs thrive when they are meticulously maintained and updated. That must mean mine is dying. I sit down to write and I just can't make anything happen. Sorry. I haven't ridden my bike in a week. James has made it onto the hotel bike a couple of times.

Jean and the kids got into town on Saturday which coincided with "Seattle Hempfest 2008". All I can say is, wow. Throngs of shirtless tattooed lovers of hemp. They scared the kids a little but seemed pretty harmless. The sad thing to me was how they were using the plight of the disabled to further their cause. It was all too obvious that the vast majority of these folks were stoners. They walked by the disabled in their wheel chairs hauling their bong pipes not even batting an eye. Medical marijuana appears to be a lame and inconsiderate way to pry open a door to legalization. Now, I am not one to make a big deal out of such things. If we want legal marijuana is it all that different from legalized alcohol? But to trot these poor folks out and run over them in an obviously insincere ploy at a sympathetic legislative response is just reprehensible. 'Nuff said.

On Sunday we attended Mars Hill Church in Ballard. This church and it's planting network have become pretty visible in the circles I travel. It is sort of a grunge church if that makes any sense. The music was led by a band that had us sing a lot of material they have written and recorded. The worship pastor preached for at least an hour and it was great! We were challenged to address idols in our lives and deal with it right then and there. I loved it and need it.

One of my favorites

A favorite of mine

Last Crit Practice

AAVC crit practice continues until the end of the month for most but not for me. I leave on a long trip Thursday that will take me away from the "D" until after Labor Day. It seems like my season has come to an end. God willing, I'll make a descent showing at the PH races but it will be tough considering the interruption in my training and the field composition at that event.

The last crit practice is always a solemn thing for me as it marks not only the end of the road season but the end of summer. My season was marked by training interruptions and didn't flower liked I hoped it would. That's okay though. My team had a good year and it has been crash free so far.

We raced the usual short races with one long 20K race. Some of the usual suspects were absent making the field a little more tame this night. Regardless, my power file shows I raced hard. I noticed that my right handlebar drop felt like it was flexing some. I didn't think much about it until the last race when I mentioned to anyone who wanted to hear that I thought my handle bar was broken. It wasn't obviously broken just more flex than I was used to. The end of that race saw me laying down a 1200 + watt sprint. On the warm down lap I commented again and James Knight said, " Oh yeah, that's broken." I unwrapped the bar tape and found a crack at about two inches below the shifter. It wasn't until today that I contemplated my fate had that bar come apart at 33 mph on the final sprint!

On another note, I broke down Ada's performance a little more after Saris sent me a new downloader, (I sheared the top off the old one). I produced 292 watts for 50 minutes in M45+ race at 174 bpm average. After recovering for a couple of hours, I was only able to produce 250 watts with the same average HR. Let me tell you, a cat 3 race looks a whole lot different at 250 watts than it does at my usual 280-290! I was working hard to not get dropped.

Hines Park TT

We were greeted by one of the coldest days of the summer when we awoke at 5:00 am Sunday for the Hines Park TT. James, Maria, Abby and myself loaded the bikes and hit the road at 530 am for the ritual stop at Starbucks before driving to Nankin Mills for the race.

Almost immediately after arriving, the wind began to stir which is a bad omen at 630 am. That would be the main feature of the race this day. Steady winds blowing out of the northwest yielding a tailwind for half the course and a headwind for the other half. This begs the question; does this result in a faster course, a slower course or null effect? I somehow remember a fragment of my college days that say drag doesn't increase linearly with an increase in speed. Dr. Speed, can you help? If I am right, this day's conditions result in a slower course but I will defer to those who have the letters before and after their name.

Maria helped me get the kids ready so that I was able to get a reasonable warm up in. James and Abby both got off without a hitch. James turned in a 31:34 which is a new personal best. Abby turned in a 46:?? cutting a minute off her 20K from earlier in the year.

After multiple trips to the bathroom, I hit the road at 8:54 am. Riding downwind was a hoot as my speed was over 30 mph for much of the time. Then the turn around and the inevitable slowdown. My power looked good holding steady at 300 watts and the average speed steadily fell. I watched it drift down rapidly into the 28 mph range then it slowed and began to settle in the 27 mph range. It clicked down slowly from there. I knew it was going to be a good time but I was loosing hope that I would equal last years Hines time of 27:14. The wind was pretty strong and I sensed the rider who could best get out of the wind was the one who had the best chance. I hunkered down as low as I could go and suffered on.

There wasn't a lot left as I saw the finish coming into view but I dialed it up to 500 watts and proceeded to blow myself up. When I crossed the line I was just happy it was over. It hurt a lot this time around. The last few miles I was thinking about the team TT coming up and that I really didn't want to do it.

No one noticed my time so I rode back to my car to get some recovery going. Giff came over with the run down on everything. He asked, "What time do you think you got?" I said, "27:30". "Wrong, 27:03," said Giff. So I won right? Nope. Third place. A 27:03 nabbed a third place in a cat 3 20K! My time from last year won by 30 seconds. This time I missed second place by a whopping 15/100's of a second and first by four! It is too bad we don't have announcers like Phil and Paul who could showcase this kind of competition. No one there realized the battle royal that was raging for this race. Pretty cool really. The winner, Steve Andriese took 4th overall with the second place finisher Jimi Minnema in 6th and myself in 7th. Considering the overall winner was Graham Howard, a pro from Bissel, I would say the cat 3's were outrageously fast this day.

My TTT partner John Burrows was working hard at recovery along with me. I was trying everything in box of tricks to get myself together in the hour and fifteen minutes I had between races. It didn't look too good until right before the start. When we rolled up I felt like I was ready to race and as we flew downwind I realized I was feeling better than I did in the first go. We battled the wind but the elements and tired old legs did us in as we crossed the line at 28:04 good for 4th place. Dybo and Kroske whooped us pretty good for 3rd. I came at Scott like a "spider monkey" but he fought me off this time! Dybo isn't afraid of monkeys apparently.

Ada Criterium

Not a great day out for me for a couple of reasons. First, when my legs were working my head wasn't and when my legs quite working, well, you can guess the rest.

I took sixth in the master's 45+ after burning match after match either trying to chase or form my own break. Neither happened. The flyer stayed away and I was left to my own devices on the last lap. I was all goofed up and shot to the front instead of doing what I have learned to do in crit practice. Stay five riders back, within striking range and follow the wheels to the sprint. The first rider will be toast and I could allow the others to lead me out. Instead, I went for a gap on the last lap resulting in a splendid lead-out for the rest of the field. Like I said, not a great day out. In retrospect, I should have shelved the whole thing and saved my matches for the cat 3 race which was more like a cat 1-2 field. It was very, very fast. It could have been perception on my part due to tired legs and one hard race already under my belt but it seemed like the pace just wouldn't slacken. It finally let up a little, (my heart rate dipped to 165 bpm), then away we went again. When I realized the pace was never going to slow and allow me the sort of natural push to the front I dialed it up to make my way to the front. As soon as I did this my legs cramped so badly I couldn't turn the pedals over. There wasn't a choice to be made. I was completely toasted. My legs no longer worked as a means to pedal a bike. I rolled though the judge's stand and retired.

The 1-2 race was a thrill to watch as usual. The Bell's beer tent made for a nice area to socialize. Overall, I have to say, I love this venue. I only wish more people would come out and give this beautiful sport a look. Men and women are absolutely giving their all to compete. I love being there as a spectator every bit as much as a bike racer.

We are looking forward to next year.

Troy Classic

Because of the dearth of Michigan racing this month, we made the decision to venture into Ohio to see how it is done in the land of the nut. Troy is one of Dayton's bedroom communities located about ten miles north. The race course is situated right in center of town featuring multiple turns. The last turn before the finish is on a traffic circle that orbits the city's water fountain. It was a very cool setting with amazingly smooth pavement. No potholes but there was some hot tar that had to be negotiated.

James and Abby rode the junior race at noon. Abby won and James took third. It was already smokin' hot by the time they hit the course. James crashed on the tar his last time by the fountain on his way to the sprint. He looked very, very good against two very fast racers his own age. It's a shame he went down because he was seriously in the hunt for a win.

The cat 3's & 4's went off around 2pm. By then it was even hotter. We lined up myself, Giff, Steve and Craig in a 50-60 rider field. From the whistle I hammered for the first lap shooting to the front by the first turn. I get some kind of primal thrill out of this. There have been so many races when I go out easy and some dude throws down the hammer and I am sort of taken aback by it. Nerves are frayed at the beginning of the race and you don't know what to expect and that initial attack leaves me feeling out of control. Jumping out there and doing it to everyone else gives me some kind of psychological boost. It must look crazy but I think it helps clear my head.

The race is sort of blur to me now. I stayed at the front trying like heck to get away. It was tough though. There were a few opportunities but nothing would stick. Not knowing most of those OH racers didn't help either. I was in a good position to take an opportunistic prime at about the midpoint. I was sitting about five riders back and no one was jumping. It wasn't my first choice but I decided I should take a shot and just keep going. I missed the prime by a wheel but got a gap. One rider followed but again, nothing.

One of the riders who always seemed to be at the front was this rider from "Mortgage Cycle". At least that was what was written on his rear. He had the physique of a bike racer but he lacked the all important ability to not run into stuff. On one occasion, he came out of the traffic circle and very nearly clipped the curb with me on his wheel. Close one. Later, he did something very similar at another corner, again, with me on his wheel. This time he apologized. These close calls didn't impact my race they only reminded me how close I was to a really spectacular crash with stretchers and ambulances, etc.. His third gaff cost me the race. I was in the groove feeling great and heading into the last half of the last one mile lap three wheels back. When I have a great chance at a win I can feel it. I don't know what it is but I can just feel it. Maybe it is fifty minutes of evaluating the field,my legs, reserves, position, etc., and just knowing I have a great chance. Well, Mortgage Cycle was right in front of me, again, and he had a problem making a right hander just before the traffic circle and the finishing straight. This ended up forcing me toward the barricade on the outside of the turn. It looked like I was going to crash. Brakes, swerve, riders go by and my great chance has just turned to dust. I don't know how many went by but there had to be at least ten riders in front of me now and I had just lost five to ten mph. The only thing I could do was to jump as hard as I could and try and take back as much as possible. I risked it going through the traffic circle by keeping the speed up then hit the sprint. I recorded 1214 watts max power and crossed the line in fourth place. At the time, I had no idea how I did. I was so gassed it took half a lap to catch my breath. When the results came out I was fairly pleased.

Giff was right behind me in seventh (?). For much of the race Giff was up front trying to do the same thing as me so we were sort of tag-teaming. He would go for the break and I would block then we would switch up. Craig took a crack at it also. The average speed was around 26mph for the entire race making an escape difficult with so few team mates in the field.

We stayed for the 1/2/3 race which was awesome. It was 50 laps or around 55 miles in 90F heat. Chris and Tony signed up for the race. Tony finished with the pack and Chris cracked the top 15!

Not Feeling it...again

We came home Sunday night after the MS150 and attempted to turn the water back on in the house. When we did, the valve froze. Sunday night and the first valve after water enters the house from the city freezes up. Not good. Call the plumber, call the city, pray a little and by 1100pm we had water again and a $230 bill.

I was up by 0400am to fly a full day. The flight attendant asked how I was doing around 2pm and I told her I was wide awake but it was artificial. That night I got to bed at midnight then up early to get BB to his annual physical by 850 am. Basically, I was cooked. In spite of this I went to crit practice and got shredded. It was just plain ugly. So, I rested yesterday and went out to Willow for some work with one of my athletes today in the heat. Geez it was hot. My watch said 92F but it didn't feel a degree over 95F.

I rode 3 x 15's and felt pretty good in spite of the heat. My power file looked pretty good so I think I am back. Tomorrow it is back to work so I am off to bed now.

2008 Mid-Michigan MS-150

Sixteen years ago Jean was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and for the last seven years we have been involved with the MS-150 fund raiser. For the first few years Jean did the fund raising and I did the riding. She stayed home and I went off for a weekend of bikes and dorm rooms. A few years back we decided to do this mid-Michigan ride together, in a sense. She does volunteer work and I do the riding. We stay in air conditioned hotel rooms and enjoy some time away just the two of us, well, the two of us alone in a crowd of 600-800 bike riders.

So, again this year, we began our trip in Fenton at the gala Holiday Inn Express. We once again dined next door at Lucky's. From here we ventured into uncharted territory and went to see "Hancock" at the local theater. Pretty funny movie if you haven't seen it. We both gave it two thumbs up. From there, over to Cold Stone then back to the room to prepare the equipment for the next day.

I left the hotel at 630am for the ride out location about five miles from the hotel. First thing after waking up I called up the radar on my Blackberry and to my horror saw a huge area of rain that was moving towards the route. This highly motivated me to get it in gear and head for East Lansing.

I was one of the first riders out at 650am. After passing a few riders I was out in front and all alone. This is nice since you don't have to endure as much from drivers frustrated by the delays the riders cause. I had to recycle coffee at the second rest stop and ran into Kevin there. (Kevin is the rider who is paralyzed on one side of his body.) The stop was min time and I was back on the road in five minutes.

After a couple of turns I looked back and saw a rider gaining on me. "No way", I said to myself. I had been riding a steady 250 watts which isn't hammer, hammer effort but a steady zone 3. How could this dude catch me? He must have been killing it to close me down.

Getting caught by a strong rider is all good since there is the possibility that we could share the riding effort and get to the dorm all that much quicker. I asked him if he wanted to ride together and he said, "Sure." We hit it and rode through off and on rain the rest of the way to East Lansing making it in before all other riders. Yes, I can honestly say we "won" the MS150! Well, stage 1 at least.

This guy was so darn strong I lobbied for two days to get him on our race team. I nick-named him "The Rocket" and believe me it is a fitting one.

Jean worked the rider check in at the dorm while I cleaned the bike and got us set up at the hotel. After Jean got off work, we melted into this incredible bed at the Marriott. I stay at Marriott hotels all the time but this bed was crazy, insane comfortable. I fell into a deep sleep that left me drowsy for about an hour after I stumbled back into consciousness.

Next up, we went back to the dorm and enjoyed mediocre food and a wonderful presentation by folks who have had to deal with an diagnosis of MS. While the program was great, I found the conduct of some of my fellow riders disturbing. MS is serious business but it isn't important enough for many to even lower their voices in conversation. There was an air of callousness and insensitivity that made me wonder if the only thing these people were here for was a bike ride. I suppose many were but come on, at least pretend you care about the cause.

Next day, I met up with the Rocket and we smoked the course for 100 miles. We averaged 21.6 mph. It was incredible, crazy and windy. On the face of it, it looked like we would have lots of tailwind but the straight distance from E. Lansing to Fenton is only about 50 miles. We milked 100 out of it so that means a whole lot of zigging and zagging. We rode against a direct 25 mph crosswind for what seemed like half the day. You just couldn't find a wind break no matter what you did. When it seemed like you were there the wind would gust and power output would spike to over 300 watts. Going downwind was just a riot though as we would average over 30 mph.

Overall, the trip was awesome and I look forward to next year. If you don't do these rides consider joining me next year. I promise a challenge and a cause to celebrate.

Best Training Ride of the Year

Yes it's true, I am going to write about a training ride. Not just any training ride but the best of the year. I rolled out last night to get in 3 x 15 LT's. I spent the day rolling paint in the basement and really didn't feel much like riding. That is, until I actually got myself out on the road.

I spun to a subdivision around here that is a perfect 2.5 mile circle with two stop signs that I can almost always blow without any cars in view. After a few warm up intervals I hit the first 15 minute interval. My target power of 285 seemed incredibly easy. I said to myself, "Don't get excited Darrell...it always starts like this. Be patient, you'll feel terrible within five minutes guaranteed." Well five minutes came and I felt very fresh like I was in zone 2. Hmmm. Heart rate is at 166 bpm, speed is around 25 mph, that means I must be doing something here, right? I decided that legs that felt this good had to be put to better use than 3 x 15's so I decided I would do 4 x 15's. But isn't that selling good legs short? No, let there be 3 x 20's because I can shorten the ride by 5 minutes and get home before dark. Yes, 3 x 20's it is.

As I cranked along, doubt kept creeping into my mind, "Easy so far but your power will probably fall off by the last interval and you'll be hurting like a dog." Not so. My power held rock steady at 285 watts and I rode home a content bike racer.

I lost a lot of form when I went on those two trips early in the season. My power certainly faded but I do believe things are coming back now. Old legs, sleepless nights and global travel form a toxic mix for the bike racer.
For those of you in the EKH fan club, look who took her down at the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia! Way to go Kacey!! Must have been a hot one.

Important Safety Tip!!!

Hey all, make sure you check out Josh Tarrant's blog and the loss of his pinky finger. Be careful out there!!

Wolverine TT Report

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Vanderkitten Strikes Again

I know I shouldn't hang out with these people but what can I say??? I'm a fan.

Memorial Day Weekend - Frankenmuth/Gaslight

Note to self...remember to use your 11/23 cassette next year at Frankenmuth. Note to self...work harder at your position in those big field crits.

I write these things so that the first thing I see next year as I re-read this post in prep for those races are these little pearls of wisdom.

Frankenmuth was a blast this year. We are still feeling out this field not knowing what is coming next. This year we lined up Zach, Joe, DMO, John Burrows, Scott, Tony and myself. As at every race this year, I liked our team and our chances. This course is 62 miles and pancake flat. The only real feature is the wind as it sweeps across the farm fields.

I had a pre race dilemma whether or not to use my carbon wheels or my powertap. Performance over data. I chose performance and I am glad I did because I found my powertap wheel flattened when I came back to the car. If I would have used it I would have flatted fo' sho'!!

From the start two super strong mountain bikers flew off the front and stayed away for quite some time. They both seemed very strong and were very active most of the race. After that first flurry of activity things settled down. Attacks started coming again on the second lap, I think. It all sort of blurs together but I think it was on the second lap when a couple of little acts of aggression led to a break. I was involved in at least one that looked very promising to me. We six strong riders working together and I thought it had possibilities. Now that I think about it, this may have been the third lap, whatever. Anyway, the field would have none of it and the composition of the break wasn't good enough to overcome their chase.

Before I go any farther I want to honor Joe L.. He admits his endurance is lacking at this point in the season. In spite of this he performed a role on our team that was very helpful for us. He went to the front and attacked over and over again drawing strong riders out of the field and elevating the pace and weakening the field. I love his work ethic and his teamwork. He could hang out in the pack and finish the race but he chooses to be a player and use what he has to impact the race for our team! All I can say is, thank you Joe! As we were racing along at this point I mentioned to one of my team mates that Joe is our MVP in my book to that point in the race. It is hard to order someone to attack knowing they will be burning matches that could help them to a better placing. No one needs to ask Joe. He filled the same role at Gaslight on Monday. That is how you race my friends.

Anyway, there really isn't much more to it. Just like last year the decisive move came on the last lap in the last 10 miles. Jimmy Minema surprised us when he rolled off the front and stayed away. We knew he was strong but we had no idea how strong he was. We went to the front and started working to bring him in. Zach, DMO, myself, Lupe Martinez and a couple of other strong riders working together failed to bring him back. Had I known what I know now, I NEVER, would have let that move go unchallenged. He was all by his lonesome out there after riding 52 miles weathering countless attacks. He must have been struggling, right? One must must also give much credit to his Bissel team mates from Florida Shawn Hebb and Joe Hess. While Jimmy was off the front, his team mates were right there working to obstruct out chase. Even so, our chase should have been more effective. There were moments when I stepped up the pace to something more but I ended up gapping my fellow chasers. I think we all had the mentality that we wouldn't catch the Jimmy so we were looking to preserve some gas for our own attempt at second place.

In the process of chasing we managed to gap the main field. I didn't know this until the end of the race due to our preoccupation with the chase. Kroske was back in that field and he later said we opened up a small gap that they just couldn't close.

On the small hill just before the turn onto the final sprint, I was passed by a few riders. My bad. The finishing straight is downhill and looonnnggg. I was winding out and couldn't even get out of the saddle I was spinning so fast. I was overtaking riders and one, in desperation I think, tried to run me out of road. I yelled at him and motored on. I could see I was gaining on the fourth place rider, one of the Florida Bissel boys. Throwing the bike at the line I missed him by a wheel length taking fifth and $50 for our team.

The speed on the finish was just insane. The second place rider recorded 42 mph on his computer. My computer was in the car. Because I spun out I cursed myself for not putting my 11/23 on for the race. I still think that is a very important move for next year but I was shocked later on when tuning my derailluer to find I couldn't shift down to my 12!! No wonder I spun out so bad.

Somewhere on lap 3 Zach rode up to me and said he didn't think he could hang in there. He not only hung on by he was in the chase at the end and finished 12th!

DMO came to the front just when we needed him. The pack slowed to a crawl on the last lap like it was a track race. He came up and drove the field! He finished just in front of Zach in 11th place. Great job! Tony was up there also driving and attacking to keep the things under control. Scott was suffering with some kind of flu or something but he hung in there. John worked his tail off also but ended up dropped. Overall, I couldn't be prouder of our team. Two of the top four spots were taken by the Florida Bissel boys who really surprised us. Between them, they have an endurance man in Jimmy, a sprinter in Shawn an all arounder in Joe. Pretty formidable but who knew?

Gaslight

After taking Sunday off to enjoy Abby's baptism, we were back on the road Monday with the whole family to enjoy the Tour de Gaslight criterium. I gotta tell you this is an awesome venue with lots of eateries, bars and coffee houses surrounding the course. The major features for the day would be the wind, the field size and the combo 3/4 effect. The wind was just howling out of the northwest making position very important everywhere on the course. I found it very difficult to get myself positioned well early on. Early attacks went off without any response because I was buried behind numerous riders. It was getting frustrating until I realized there was an area of the course that offered a chance to move up on every lap. The wind blew from the left on this stretch and there was a pinch in the course that caused the field to move to the left side of the road. That meant I could move up every lap with a nice wind block. The only problem was that this gave me a difficult line turning onto the finishing straight. If riders overcooked the corner or got forced to the gutter it forced me to slow. If that didn't happen I was in great position because I still had a wind break. I promised myself that I would use this to my advantage if I could on the last few laps.

My team road very aggressively as Joe was mixing it up and even won a prime as did Tony. The Florida Bissel boys were there again as was Larry Warbasse fresh from racing in Belgium. He had at least 2 team mates in Andrew and Taylor. BTW, has Taylor grown or what? Joe was commenting that his rear end is at eye level when riding his wheel.

Anyway, this wasn't a particularly hard race physically but it was a bit of a mental exercise. You had to think about position all the time and the sketchiness was pretty bad. Potty Mouth was there but I only saw him once. He cuts an imposing figure in his pink skin suit. I don't think he recognized me this year thankfully. There were two crashes that I know of one of which happened just after I moved up about 30 places in my favorite spot. I had to wonder if I might have been caught up in that mess had I not made that move.

Coming down to the last three laps I commented to Chris that we had to fight for position for the remainder of the race. We could not let ourselves get swarmed at any point or we might not get back to a competitive position in time. I was focusing so hard to make this happen. It was very hard with the level of competition and the field size. Every one of those 70 riders wanted to be in the first 5 places on the last lap and it was a battle royal to see who would be there. If you were not in that position coming to the the last turn to kite, you could just forget it. The big field would slow and you were out...period. I made it to the last lap holding near the front about 5-10 back. The Bissel boys jumped way early for me. I watched Larry Warbasse launch into a sprint right in front of me with at least 300 meters to go. I had no choice but to do the same. If I didn't get to that turn in a good position I was cooked. Well, I got gapped pretty good by the first 4 riders but held on for 5th place. I got a chance to look back with about 50 meters to go and I felt confident enough to ease off the sprint. Saying I was gassed would be and underestimate. If the race wasn't very hard the 300m sprint was a killer.

Doug Gatto lined up with us and held on to the end in a very fast race. He recorded an average speed of 26.11mph.

Kensington Festival of Pain

Doug subtly made mention of Kensington in a comment which I interpret as a gentle reminder to post up a recap.

I flew in from Dallas the night before and put the finishing touches on James' excellent pack job. We awoke at 4 am to dine on pancakes. Then, the bikes go on top of the car and off we go to Starbucks then the park. We arrived pretty early and parked right by the toilets. After helping move some picnic tables around we unpacked and got geared up. By the time I got James set up my warm up time was gone so it would have to happen on the first lap.

It was fortunate for me that the first lap was really, really slow. It couldn't have worked out better. I was warm and feeling strong. That is until around mile 30 when I had a stabbing pain in my right calf muscle. The riding wasn't particularly hard yet and after only 30 miles I didn't think I could be cramping. As the miles slipped by the pain kept coming back then migrating and manifesting as that unmistakable pain I know so well. This one took me by complete surprise. I suspected they might become a problem but not until much later in the race. I was able to race and jump still but then the death blow came. Around the 40 mile mark after exiting the neutral zone I flatted. At the time I was beginning to think the field might split and I desperately wanted to stay with the front group. I pulled off and Dominic rolled up with my spare wheel. As soon as I got off the bike my quads cramped. Dominic said he would pace me back to the group so I jumped on his bumper and off we went. We were just flying right up until I hit Snot Hill and the wheels came off the whole operation. I began to cramp horribly and by the time I got to the top of the hill I was audibly groaning in pain. I think it was Brian Adams who jumped up and pushed me the last few feet to the top of the hill. If it weren't for him I might have quit right there but I recovered some on the downhill and the next hill by the finish is fairly gentle so I felt better and decided to continue hoping I might catch a break and ride with some dropped riders or get back on because of a boat trailer or something stopping the field. This wasn't going to be the case.

When I approached the neutral zone I kept an eye out for the field so I could measure the time gap. They passed me going the other way and I started counting as I went through. It was roughly a two minute gap. The next lap the gap was roughly the same or slightly longer. I wasn't getting any closer. By the 8th lap, (second to last), I was giving some thought to retiring at the finish so I could watch the sprint finish. I passed up some women and felt pretty good then came Snot Hill and more cramps. The women just walked by me. That was just demoralizing. I rode to the top of the finish hill logged my time for the eighth lap and quit one lap shy of finishing the race.

I rode through more pain than I ever have before and today, (Tuesday), my quads still hurt. There must have been some serious tearing incurred by riding through the cramps. So, my old nemesis is back and it is back to the drawing board to try and learn what I need to do in the future to prevent this. In this case I think there were a number of factors as opposed to a single one. Cramping can be caused by dehydration, over-hydration, electrolyte deficiency, deficient training or perhaps an issue with ATP production.

Thankfully this isn't my full time job! I'll have another go at it this weekend. I've had bad races before and surely will again.

Another Tiesto Fan

If you read Bicycling mag last month you were introduced to Liz Hatch of Vanderkitten Racing. It's always good to see the ladies getting props for their racing exploits. Anyway, I think Chris Aten ought to make a bold move and call her up because she likes D.J. Tiesto especially when she is training hard! No Led Zeppelin for these kids. Whadyasay Chris? It's Perry Como, Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby for me. Nothing like ripping up a lung to the smokey tones of one of these cats!

I feel like a former cyclist

After the big trip I settled in for a great week of training. It was peak week 2 so I only had two days of intensity. I felt fantastic each time I got on the bike. The two days of intensity were both at Kensington. Using the power meter I rode up the hills between 400 and 500 watts. The second day was with James and he really has it going on when it comes to those hills. It took a 600 watt extended effort to finally shake him off my wheel! On the first hill he just blew by me and I had to ask him to let up until I could get a warm up. I ended up spending around 30 minutes over 400 watts all told. We only trained for a couple of hours but I was pretty much leveled. I was bumming about the bad recovery thinking about the amount of time I would have to ride above 400 at the ToKV compared to this training ride then I did the math and realized the race would be done at around 40 minutes. It will hurt for sure but it shouldn't be much worse than that last hard day.

This week I am in Dallas doing a Gulfstream recurrent training session. Hotel stationary bikes, too much restaurant food, lousy sleep, etc.. I feel totally disconnected from cycling.

Last Leg

I am sitting aboard a Northwest 757 that is just beginning its descent from altitude into Detroit Metro Airport. What a week it has been! My first circumnavigation of the globe! I feel so Magellan. God willing, I will be with my beloved Mrs. Anderson and her brood within the next two hours! Yeeha! All in all the trip went well. We had a great crew and we laughed a lot which always helps with the fatigue and stress.

This kind of travel just blows away any routine in life and it is then that you fully realize how much we depend on routine. Things like getting up in the same time zone at the same time with the sun in the same basic place at the same time of the day are truly necessary for one's health. There is still a lot of suffering I'll have to go through. Chances are I'll have trouble sleeping for the next few days which may further mess up my training. I have this week to train on my bike then next week I travel to Dallas, TX for a week of Gulfstream training. I'll spend that time on the stationary bike at the DFW Marriott. I think there is little doubt that this is going to affect my performance at Kensington. There really isn't much I can do about things other than grin and bear it.

Honolulu At Last!

We left Australia about 4pm for the nine hour and twenty five minute flight to Honolulu and the end of our working trip. We had to steer around a couple of rain showers shortly after takeoff which brought a bump or two but then smoothness for about seven hours.

Let me say this about Melbourne...it is straight awesome. The city is relatively new even compared to American cities.They keep there town spotless. There are people everywhere walking and biking and they are so incredibly friendly. I saw a dozen or more fully kitted riders heading out of the city to train. This is a place where I could easily live.

So we flew overhead Sydney then out over the Pacific to Fiji where we made a slight left hand turn to fly a direct line to Honolulu. We managed to cover the distance in about nine hours eighteen minutes which is a good time for that leg which can easily take 11 hours.

The tradition in Hawaii is to receive their brand of hospitality upon arrival. Our handler gave us all lei's and offered us drinks. This isn't the kind of treatment we get anywhere else in the world. We sat there for a couple of hours before driving off to our hotel at 7am or so. (We landed at 530am on the same day we took off.) The ladies at Air Service Hawaii are the best!! Thanks!

I slept for a bit and I am typing this on my Blackberry at Waikiki Beach. Before giving me grief about my job keep in mind that I have now crossed 18 time zones in less than one week. I feel pretty debilitated and about all I feel like doing is sitting here and veg out.


My fellow pilots just joined me and I think we will hunt up some dinner. Bye for now.

Out of India

Wow, what an experience. India is truly a world away from anything I have ever experienced. There are no words that could adequately explain the situation there. I stayed in my hotel room while my colleagues toured the city. They borrowed my camera and shot this picture.

After we got off the airplane we had to drive around the airport and it was just crazy. A one lane road that was shared between our van all other opposite bound vehicles and numerous dogs. It was just crazy.

The next day we we arose at 3:30am to make the trek back to the airport. The airport situation there is just horrific. Airline passengers spend an average of 4 hours getting through security and bureaucracy. We were not going to have to do that but it still took over an hour to make it through.

The south Indian people have an interesting way of bobbing their head to the side when they speak. It serves as a sort of punctuation mark on their speech and at times it is a stand alone communication device. We have all been working on our version of it but it is truly unique. As we moved through the airport we noticed a bobble head doll that we just had to have. The day before I was telling the crew about a Yahoo story I had read about Iron Maiden's tour jet. The lead singer is also the pilot and he has this bobble head statue that sits up on the glareshield judging landings by the degree of head bobble. It was agreed that we needed to work on some similar sort of device. This little doll now serves that purpose on our airplane. I call him Rageev.

We are now in Australia after a 10 hour flight. It is fall here. The winds were blowing with temps in the high 40's which is quite a change from our last stop. Driving through the city to the hotel city workers could be seen powerwashing the sidewalks. What a difference.

Chris Aten is one of my athletes and he always likes to hear DJ Tiesto when he tests. I went down for a coffee today and saw this little curry shop across the street. Lunch was found. As I walked out, behold I saw this poster advertising a concert tonight! I should go for Chris but I won't because I hate Tiesto. Chris knows this and never gets offended but I like Chris and out of respect for him I though I would post this pic.

Next Leg

We left Turkey yesterday and flew east two time zones. The place where I am now smells like soiled baby diapers roasting in a 300 degree oven.

Here's a pic snapped during engine start-up in Istanbul. It was a slow go getting out of there. Once airborne we flew across Turkey and into Syria. Syria, Lebanon and Israel have some coast line and green space. Other than this, the Middle East is some of the most lifeless desert I have ever seen. Lebanon seemed especially nice with snow capped mountains and lots of vegetation. Syria was not so nice. Jordan was even worse and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Oman were all desolate. Oman looked a lot like some of Arizona with much more mountain and canyon.

The UAE was flat and dry. There was this cool island development near Dubai. You can see this thing on Google Earth pretty clearly.

Below you can see us on final approach to ???.
















I managed a workout today and darn near died. The ergometer I rode had some issues with calibration. That combined with a general state of fatigue combined for a very nasty effort. I suffered for an hour and called it quits. This travel stuff is like chemo. It is a long slow death. What saves you is that the trip ends before too much damage is done. Don't laugh it's true.

Istanbul

Hi all. I am not biking over here. I am almost totally sedentary. Thanks to all who have chimed in with their advice and I agree with the consensus. I think there is little to be gained with long slow distance training. There is a killer health club here at my hotel but, alas, I am completely drained and it is the last day of my rest week. Therefore, I will make every effort to get a tough workout in on Tuesday.

Due to my limited intellectual capabilities I just now realized I have no hope of doing Cone Azalia. My flight arrives home that morning after flying all night home from Honolulu. So, before I have turned a single pedal in anger I am firmly established in last place in the points standing. My only comfort is my team mates are 1, 2 & 3!

Today I had the very great privilege of touring one of the oldest churches in all of Christendom. St. Sophia, or Hagia Sophia as it is also called, was built in the 6th century, (I think), by the emporer Justinian. There were older churches that stood at this same sight but they were destoyed. There are some ruins credited to Theodosius and legend has it that Constantine built the first church there in the fourth century.
We took a taxi from the hotel to the entrance. I paid the driver while the other two pilots and flight attendant exited the cab. They were immediately greeted by a very energetic Turkish carpet salesman. He very quickly singled out our flight attendant for his attempt to tour guide us to his carpet shop. We saw it coming but she didn't. We tried to separate her but the longer she allowed him to shower her with tour guidance the more he was inclined to feel she owed it to him to come to his shop.

The Blue Mosque is across the street facing St. Sophia. He suggested we go there first because it was about to close so we were time limited whereas St. Sophia was open all day. Oh, and guess where his carpet shop is? You guessed it, right next to the Blue Mosque.

We formulated a plan to have her tour the mosque then we would offer a tip to this guy and walk away when she came out and there was always a chance he would give up on her while she was in there. Well, the rains started to pour so now every would be tour guide became an umbrella salesman shouting, "Umbrella, umbrella, umbrella...," at the top of their lungs. Our guy came over to me and I told him I was fine. He took offense to this and said, "What is wrong with you people!"

I found shelter under a portion of the mosque with one of the other pilots away from out guide. When Jan finally came out he came right at here. We tried to tip him away and he became even more offended and said he didn't want out money but that we should go to his shop and look at carpet. I don't need carpet. My wife buys a carpet a week from Meijers which comes from China. I already have exotic Chinese carpet in my house and, now, into my garage as the indoor carpet is replaced.

When we finally got free we had a splendid time touring this magnificent, historic cathedral.

CAKE - The Distance

This song just makes me want to go fast! It disappeared from youtube for a while so enjoy its reappearance.

A Coaching Scenario

Your athlete must go on a business trip that will, literally, take him around the World taking off from his home to the east and return from the west. The day his trip leaves he will be just finishing up his rest and recovery for build phase 2. The following week is Peak 1 then Peak 2 then Race and at the end of that week he will be racing his first A-race of the season. He is a 45 year old cat 3 racer and a pilot crewing a flight. He will fly on the airlines to a join up with a trip. His schedule looks like this:

Friday - Airline travel 7 time zones leaving at 540pm from his home base.
Saturday - Arrive at first destination at 2pm in that time zone. Arrival at his hotel at 4pm.
He will be staying at a hotel with decent exercise equipment.
Sunday - Athlete has this day free but would like to do some sight seeing.
Monday - 3:00 am wakeup call for a 5:30 am departure to fly 7 hours and at least 4 more time zones. He should arrive at his hotel by 6pm that evening. His hotel has decent exercise equipment.
Tuesday - He has an off day scheduled.
Wednesday - 5:00 am wake up for an 8:00am take off to fly 10 hours to the next destination. Arrival there should be at 6pm. The hotel here has good equipment.
Thursday - Off day.
Friday - Fly 10 more hours leaving at 6pm and arriving on Friday at 8am. (Int'l date line)
Saturday - Fly home on the airlines leaving at 6pm arriving at his home around 12pm the next afternoon.

Considering the wear and tear on his body from all the travel, his location in the annual training plan how would you coach your athlete to maximum performance for his upcoming A-race? (BTW let me just say "thanks" in advance! ~ d)

Crusin'

This is my rest and recovery week for build 2 and I am loving it. I rode 3 hours yesterday and 3 hours today front-loading hours in anticipation of my long trip that begins Friday. Today I felt so incredible after all the stress of build.


It was warm but not too warm and the wind wasn't a factor at all. The only complaint might be the presence of swarms of these little bugs that got stuck inside my helmet. This is the kind of day I have been waiting for since last October.

STS #4 Recap

A beautiful day for the last training race before the official season start and it was for sure the best race day of the season weather-wise. James raced and I helped coach the C-race today. Sarah Uhl, (I was going to hyperlink to a website for more info on Sarah but I couldn't settle on one...look her up yerself), was our guest coach so we were able to just hang out and help where needed. James and Alexey absolutely tore it up jumping the field and forming a break that ended up lapping them. They both looked very strong indeed. James took third and Alexey was either fifth or six. They continue to draw ooh's and ah's from folks as they watch these little guys reek havoc on the adults they race with.

As soon as the C's were done I had to run back to Saline to pick up some gear for a rider, then back to Runway, then take James to church, pick up Abby then return to Runway. So, to race the A's today I had to miss church. This wasn't my plan but by the time James was finished Pastor Chuck was into his second sermon point. Jean met me at the entrance of the church for the trade off. She wasn't pleased and she was justified. I royally screwed up everything.

Abby and I hurried back to Runway so I could get some kind of warm up in. If we had a team meeting, I wasn't able to make it.

We had a big field today. I lined up at the very back and the field was 7-8 deep filling the road. I am guessing we 50-60 riders. The field was a good one with riders from the Bissell team joining the fray. I also noticed that dude with the Hooters team who won James' suffer-face contest last year. ( Check that...it might have been Rigdon who took that prize.) Ben Renkama was there along with Bart Carlson and several other Coasties. The Wolverines were very well represented with Danny Klein, Big Ray, Tim Finkel, Kroske and a host of others.

Describing the first half of these crits is getting pretty boring. By now you are getting the picture I think. It was fast, fast, fast then a couple of breaks go, they get caught, the pace slows and a serious attack succeeds. I managed to get into a couple of these little skirmishes that went nowhere. Matches were needlessly burned but I had a lot of confidence that I could recover and go again. My chance came with about 30 minutes left. A Bissell rider had gone off on a flyer. Meanwhile, the pace slowed and I thought, "Shoot, I might as well take a shot here." So that's what I did. I jumped and rode off the front. Now, I have done this a few times in the last two seasons when riding this field but it doesn't seem to be appealing to anybody because no one will ride across to me. I can't blame them. Why should they risk missing a break with known strong riders to join up with me. After I jumped I just rode a shade harder than FTP. No powermeter today but I suspect I was pulling 300-320 watts. Enough to maintain my gap but probably not enough to make it 30 minutes. After nearly 1K off the front Ray Dybowski rode across to me and no one followed. I want to tell you, I feel like Rodney Dangerfield sometimes in that field. "Aw shoot, don't worry about those two. Ray can't make it with that guy. We'll reel them in." When I saw Ray I looked over and said, "C'mon Big Ray, LET'S GO!" And that's what we did. You see, I think Big Ray knew something the others didn't because he and I were in the most hideously painful, (for me that is), break at Ada last year. I think Ray calculated that this might be an opportunity and he capitalized on it guessing the field wouldn't feel threatened.

Well, we threw the hammer down and it was go-time. Before long we reeled in the flyer so now there were three. The riding was excruciatingly painful. After pulling too long once, I yelled as I had to give it all I had to hold the wheel of the guy in front of me. I heard some time gaps yelled out and I wasn't impressed with what I was hearing then silence. We held out all the way down to 2 laps to go. Somewhere in here an Essex Brass rider rode across to us and just kept going. I think it was Bruce Rivera. Anyway, no way I could hold his wheel as I was fading fast. I got back with Ray and we worked together to try and stay away. The field was closing fast and I knew it was going to be close. The entire last lap I was huffing and puffing the same way I do when collapsing on the graduated exercise test. The Essex Brass rider stayed away, the Bissell rider took second, Ray got third and I took fourth. We made it but by a hair's breath. It was close. The field sprint missed me by feet. I'll take it though.

Now 4th place in a training race isn't much to get excited about but finishing in front of a very strong field like that does give me a sense of accomplishment and if nothing else, perhaps others will take a chance on me in the future.

I didn't get a chance to hear about our team's work back in the field. If anyone can post up a comment on the race from that perspective it would be nice. My guess is the SLC boys were doing their best to gum-up the works back there.

Tmax

it,s Saturday night and tomorrow will be the final workout in Build 2. Friday afternoon I wandered back into O2 depravation mode with 8 Tmax intervals. It was very hard but very gratifying. I lost count and wasn't sure if I had 1 or 2 more to finish. So, I added up the total time I should have ridden to that point. We'll see when I get to read the file.

We did some TT work out at Willow this morning with the AAVC junior team. James looked very good. I predict a sub-34 minute time for him. I rode my new TT bike around trying to get the feel for it. It's getting better but still feels a bit foreign to me.

Tomorrow's final STS looks to be epic with perfect weather and decent form.

Fading to Grey

One of my goals in build phase is to make it to 8 Tmax intervals. I inched ever closer by finishing seven last night. It wasn't easy after rep #3 but I was able to hold my target power output through all the intervals. I had at least one more in me I think but I'll save that for another effort. By the time I got to the last 30 seconds on each interval I started to do that "huff and puff" thing we do when we are going for a max effort.

Today I am sitting in Louisville. The Master's Nationals are going to be held here this summer so yesterday I drove to Cycler's Cafe to see if anyone knew anything about the courses. The road course is going to be through a hilly metro park near Lexington and Grinstead.

The crit will be downtown and the TT starts from some casino over in Indiana.

Bad Weather

Build 2 week 2 came to a close today. The weekend racing was disrupted by winter's resurgence. Yesterday we had temps in the 30's and rain all day. This morning I woke up to snow. That notwithstanding, I went to Runway Plaza to coach the C's and was amazed to see 10 or so hardy soles ready to mix it up! Pretty impressive really. These guys area all new to racing but I think they are fully hooked after three weeks or racing. The wind was pretty nasty but the snow made judging wind direction very easy.

I gave serious thought to racing the A's but I didn't make it back from church in time. The field was chopped up pretty badly. The winning break got off with Big Ray, Tim Finkel, Pete Shilling and Larry Warbasse. Ray did what he does and just motored off the front with a couple of laps to go. My money was on Peter Shilling to win the sprint but Ray forced the issue.

After, we had a junior practice with a great young rider who came all the way from Grand Rapids to ride with us. That's commitment.

Waterford #2 A-Race Finish

Better late than never!

waiting

Here's a post from my Blackberry. BB and I are sitting in my car waiting for his youth group posse to arrive. 16 minutes late so far.

Last night called for 4 fifteen minute zone 4 intervals. I got the first one and collapsed and had to stop the workout. I was so completely wasted. I tried so hard to listen to the coach and not the athlete. I knew the right thing to do was to stop. Today I am still feeling off and elected to take a rest day instead of driving myself deeper into this nasty fatigue I am experiencing. I need more sleep than I have been getting. I think getting up Monday @ 230am and going to bed at 1130pm that night tool more out of me than I first thought.

Waterford #2

This was our first foray into the racing at the Waterford Raceway. This is a race course for cars but it serves us well as bike racing venue.

James went first and raced like a banshee in the C-racing. He was in the hunt as they headed for the sprint. Unfortunately he was crashed out a couple of hundred meters from the finish. When I realized he didn't make it to the finish I scanned the course for him found him in the grass. When we got to him he was sitting up struggling to breath. I made him lay back down to recover from the trauma. After a few more minutes he was able to breath easily again and get up. Zach brought in the camera and interviewed him. I think he has that on his blog if you haven't checked it out yet.

My race was an hour and thirty minutes plus 2 laps. Danny Klein flew off the front from the whistle. I couldn't believe it. We had a ton of racing and we were already flying. I rung up 330 watts for the first five minutes. That is zone 5 for me meaning I had about 6-7 minutes before things were going to start blowing up. Thankfully, my power requirement dropped down to 280 watts for the next five minutes which was manageable. Joe told me to hang onto Ben Renkema which sounded like a good idea but for how long? Look, this was a long race and there were a lot of turns and acts of aggression but in the end, none of the breaks were successful and it all came down to a field sprint. My legs felt great and I had a decent sprint left. Vince Roberge led me up to the front and I launched from several riders back. I didn't have any chance against the class of the field but I moved up some and finished in eighth place. Our own John Rigdon took 7th.

Overall, it took 281 watts of normative power and I averaged 161 beats per minute for one hour and thirty seven minutes. Phew! It hurt but I finished feeling fairly strong. I wish I had more time to write about the race but I just ran out of time. I hope to get some video up of the finish tomorrow.

A Total Failure

So I am determined to get to work fund raising for the MS150 today. I send out an email to over 100 people only to have the whole thing barf up on me. Outlook shows that the message never went out. Meanwhile, others contacted me to tell me they got up to 15 copies of the same message over 15 minutes! Geez, what can you do? Now I don't know who all got the 15 messages and who got none. Just $100 more and I can ride.