#168

not. 2nd in state champs, 3rd, 5th, 10th, plus a bunch of other stuff. might get a discretionary upgrade, but i think I need to hone my winning before I upgrade. i think that with my late success this year, I can be much better in the Spring. if I win some things early in 2010, maybe that will be proof that I shoudl up to cat 3. as of now, I will not upgrade

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#167

State Champ Crit - 2nd
Philipsburg Crit - 3rd
Basking Ridge - 5th

so clearly my best 3 results of the season where the last 2 weekends of the season. why is that? i have no idea. felt good, and tried new strategy - go early, like 5-600m to go, use an obstacle(hill, corner, etc) to jump as hard as possible to get a gap. try to hold it to the line and let the sprinter deal with trying to close it. obviously it works, I went from pack fill to 2 podiums and a 5th just by avoiding the bunch sprint.

2 course notes:
- Philipsburg, its a long, long way from the last corner to the line into a a headwind. prob 5-600m. not sure I had a choice, but could not hold sprint from the corner to the line
- basking ridge, got boxed a little bit at the base of the hill on the bell lap. needed first 1/3 - 1/2 of the hill to get free and go. I need to be first/second wheel into the 90 at base of hill. also, i may have telegraphed my jump with a small hesitation. need to check gearing as I prob could have used a slightly bigger gear. my jump was not as violent and successful as the state champs. word is that I got 30ft up the hill, but had guys on my wheel right after the final corner.

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#166

I'm the guy getting nipped at the line by the other guy who knows how to sprint....at 37mph it was no more than 2-4ft.

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#165

work has been crazy so I have not posted. 2 weeks ago I did not train at all. last week I did 3 light days. yesterday rode the state crit champs: took 2nd in cat 4 !

day started early with a drive to marlton, weather started iffy, ended up hot and sunny.
Cat 35+
Bog field, first 2/3's of the race I rode upfront(top15). no work from me. felt like a group rise not state champs(we still avg'd 27mph for the race). usually finish, got squirrely shoulder bumping I lost positions, pack fill

Cat 4
5 hours of waiting, then the race. I had tried to organize the team, but its really no use. rode easy the whole race, nothing going on here today. on the bell lap, 1/3 into it, I'm sitting 3rd wheel. someone makes an attack and I easily get his wheel. rode that wheel comfortably until the hill. I was in a big gear and just slammed into into an attack. I gave it 100% up that hill(back wheel skipping, need to work on thatt), charged over the crest out of saddle screeaming into the 90 degree left on my own. straightend up and began the TT for the reamining 300m. I was really killing it but felt great. never faded, never felt like I was losing steam. I was pushing a pretty big gear doing about 37mph on the flat. 10ft from the finish I get nipped. lost by 1 wheel length. I heard him coming but I was flat out and thought he wouldn't catch me before the line. I was wrong. I was so lose I could tste it, but never eased up. no win hindsight, maybe a teamate watching the race could have given me a heads up on the guy closing with 20m to go, adrenaline would have done the trick. or, if I was more experienced, a quick glance under the arm to look. I was so shocked that I was not being swallowed up, I sort of lost composure to have a look around. My teamates said after taht I jumped on teh hill just as the pack slowed to start jockeying. it was lucky that I was in front, was not aware of the slowling and just went. somtimes you get lucky with these things. they said I opened up 20m and was off the front into the 90. what happened was 2 guys working together as leadout pulled close to me and the 2nd guy was the one who came around. his teamate was 3. nice play on their part. at the end of the day I was pleased at my power to get the gap on the hill, and my ability to hold it. I did not fade back, those 2 teamates caught me. there is a diff. so close to getting the champ, but 2nd is not first. but at teh same time, I know I am fit and can handle the bike, so this is some validation on the season. I still can't bunch sprint, so maybe this the "winning" technique for me. I will try it again next week, albeit on a much more technical course

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#164

did 2 races yesterday in Stirling. was a flat, square crit. turns 1-2 you could pedal through, 3 was too narrow, 4 was bad pavement

9:15am 35+
greg had asked me to ride in support of Mark who was leading the maxxis cup by 1 point. I;ve never been asked to actually contribute during a race. my actual role was TBD, but the basic idea was to keep it fast at the end. this race was hard. 30 laps, 27miles. avg speed was 27. I am used to a race speed of 23-24. very few breaks. you really had to ride the corners very well to maintain speed. as usual, I get stronger as the race progresses. I had my moment early on where i felt like I couldn't hang on, but with 2 to go, I was giving the instruction to drill it. I took the front and dragged the peloton for 1 to 1.5laps at which point I was cooked. a teamate yelled for me to jump on when train came around but I was cooked. we took 2 and 5th after our protected rider flatted on teh final corner. anyway, I feel like I was there when I was needed to be and contributed.

3:30pm 4/5
I had gone home, eaten, did a little ride around the park, then came back. the 4/5 was typical. but with a lot of "attacks". I say "attacks" because some guy would flyoff the front 50m, hang there, then come back. this happened alot. Navigators were making alot of noise like they had a plan. they did have 8 guys, but the attacks and blocking were a bit silly. at the line they shortened the race from 25 to 20 laps so it was about 18miles. half way through it was slow. I came to the front to quicken things up and tried my best to organize 3-4 other to help. I got some halfhearted help, for a few laps, then it was back to the usual. the thing I hate about 4/5 is the crappy bike handling. I got knocked into 2x, once into my front wheel. in the 35+ i never got touched and it was a much faster race. you just can't trust the 4/5's. lots of sketchy nonsense like guys diving to the inside where there is no line, etc. anyway, I was 2nd wheel with 2 to go, and felt good. on the backstretch of the bell I was wide ride next to the curb with guys in front and left. guys in front start soft pedaling, meanwhile the swarm comes up the left. I was boxed in while a dozen riders came by me. hard into the 90 left of turn 3, now things are strung out over 50m. the 3rd leg is too short to make up distance and turn 4 was crappy pavement. I knew my day was over. I hung on for 15th or so. its a shame because i had ridden a smart race and just got caught out on the backstretch. I prob could have made top 10 if I had taken risks around turn 4, but with my season so far, hitting the deck was not worth the risk.

BTW, this was my first day on the bike since June 27. I will get stronger and stronger this month and be ready fo state crit.

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#163

needed a hard workout so did 3x15's. rode hard at 168-170. was definately a bit fatigued compared to when I did this same workout last week. had no trouble finishing with good power, but things were not as effortless as last week. at the same time, it was also not a survival thing easier. felt good.

thinking about Sunday's Crit. 35+ is first race. never done a 35+ with fresh legs. gonna ride at the front and hope to join a break. its a maxxis points race so Liberty, Mambo will need to be in a break for it to succeed. really need to keep eyes open on this one. I did not want to sit in and sprint at end. need to try something new

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#162

still have the headcold, but sloooowly getting better, stuffy nose, mucuos deep in sinuses. however training feels good despite stuffy nose. sprained ankly badly over weekend at beach. thought is was broken for 24hrs. getting better. can ride with it. priority now: kick cold, give ankle a bit of time, heal shoulders, heal ribs, race in 4 days.

getting antsy to race soem crits. sunday I will do 2 of them, not back-back, but same day same course

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#161

its amazing to me that I was doing 15min intervals at nearly my vo2max yesterday. one it says that my FT is higher than it has been, but man, I have one hell of a cold. got up today at 6am because i kept coughing and my nose is producing more mucous then you would think possible. its a head cold. no other symptoms. feels horrible. so like I said, why was I able to perform so well yesterday when I had the same cold? also, the last 3-5mins at 180 or so felt like a 7 out of 10. in hindsight, I wish that I had gone all-out the last 2 mins to see what would happen around 183-185. maybe another day...

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#160

you just never know. I'm coughing and phlegmy and running nose.. so I do 3x15's today and rode comfortably at 172 pretty much the whole time. "time trialed" the last 2-3mins of the last set at 178-181. finished and it was almost like I could go again right away. maybe It was just inspired by watching the TDF on Tivo. but today was the best day in awhile, despite having a whopping cold.

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#159

3 nights in Vegas, nuff said. brought back a prety good cold/cough. 110 degrees, dry heat. not sure where the cold came from. shoulder/ribs feel better. will race next week

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#158

did 3x15 hard intervals today. did the 15's at an avg of 168-170, with real quality time at 170. felt strong. no struggles, just good solid work, no power fade. ribs/back starting to feel better. wished I'd I'd been able to ride Wed night after feeling this strong.

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#157

did 60mins with HR between 150-155. felt fine even after very hard workout the day before. still some pain when taking deep breathes

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#156

did 4 sets of 8 mins with 2up/2down. Ups avg'd 170-175HR, down was 165-168avg. fitness felt great. no prob with cardio or legs. felt some stiff pains in back from injuries. things are getting better, but riding without pain is always best.

I really think that I am trained for very hard work for an hour. eg a fast hard crit. Big hills and slow races will do me in. I am going to have to find a way to manipulate the crits to my fitness. eg, co-opt others into breaking or at least working.

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#155

got on the spinner today. rode moderate for 55 mins. average HR of 155. felt very good in terms of strength and energy. seated I felt fine. standing I have to be careful not to put much pressure on my right side. of all things, there is a knot or something by my right shoulder blade. this causes some pain. bottom line is that if felt good to workout, but there is some pain and discomfort. I am used to the shoulder pain as I have dislo'd my shoulders a bunch of times. the chest/back pain simply comes from busted ribs. there is no requirement to remain immobile, and no rehab for ribs. it just takes some time. my shoulder muscles are tight, like the way you would probably feel some aches and pains after a car accident. very deep breathing, which causes my chest cavity to expand to a max, does cause some pain.

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#154

56 miles felt great. no work, no effort, no issues. things ramped up as expected a few miles from the end. yellow line rule made positioning tough, but got where I needed to be. maybe to 3rd wheel a bit early, as the swarm was behind me with no gap. ignored my plan to go at 500m, waited, mass sprint. guys down in front of me, i hit them, dislocated shoulder and 2 fractured ribs. what an f'ing waste.

the race was so pitifully slow that everyone was together at the end. cat 4 sucks

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