Christmas, New Years, and the first race of the year

It has been a while since I have updated everyone but now that the season has started in earnest I have committed to blogging more often about racing and life in general. Lets start with life in general. Big news is that my lovely wife is pregnant with our first child (not sure if it is a boy or girl yet). Here is the most recent picture of Kelsey's belly.


We were in Philly for Christmas and New Years and had the chance to see family and friends. We had the chance to meet up with a few newly engaged friends and share the news that Kelsey is pregnant, all very good things. The bad news is that pretty much everyone in the house became ill with some version of the flu and it put me out of commission for a few days. I had a bike in Philly and was doing some training, although the rides weren't that long due to the intense cold. Due to the illness, I missed our yearly New Years get together with my roommates from college. Ironically enough, the first day that I started to feel good was my first day back at work. The other bad part of my illness was that my training regressed by at least a week. I was starting to build the miles and incorporate a little bit of intensity into my workouts so it was pretty frustrating to feel like I was back to where I was at the beginning of December.



So when January began I knew I still had a month before I was going to race. I also knew that I had to travel for work twice which makes being consistent with my training very difficult. It normally takes me about a month of hard training to get into good shape so January was looking to be pretty difficult. The good news is that I found out at a team meeting that 2 new teammates were going to be racing in my category so I won't be racing on my own too much more. I had the chance to meet my new teammates (Andy and Saul) and ride with them once before our first planned race. Training had been progressing pretty well as I have been riding around 25 miles on most week nights and then combining that with 60-70 mile rides with more intensity on weekends. Our first race was scheduled for knights ferry road race and after riding with Andy it was apparent that he was stronger and the better option for a high finish at this race.


The knights ferry road race is 59 miles long, mostly flat, with an out and back layout. We would ride over 2 laps of the course and finish on the top of the only hill on the course. I drove out with Andy and Chris, two new teammates, as our races were starting close together. We arrived early and warmed up with plenty of time to spare. My race only had about 30 riders in it so I knew it was going to be easy to move forward in the field, something that normally I am not very good at and in bigger fields can cause problems at the finish of the race. More on this later. A photo of the finishing hill below.


Our race started off fairly quickly, with a few half-hearted attacks early in the race and the whole field sprinting over the finishing hill and out of the turnaround. The pace stayed variable with accelerations thru the remainder of the first lap. I had started the race towards the front of the field and was shuffled to the back of the field once I was comfortable that no breaks were going to get away. I made a habit of moving up in the field when we approached the turnarounds as it does get a little bit bunched going into the corner and you can get caught having to sprint to catch the rest of the field if you are too far back in the pack.

The pace slowed significantly on the second lap as everyone settled in for the last 30 miles of the race. Andy and I spent time on the front of the field controlling the pace and everyone was happy to sit in and prepare for the finale. With 5 miles to go the field was swarming as everyone wanted to be near the front but not actually on the front of the field. I was getting shuffled back and as the old adage goes, "if you aren't moving up in the field, you are moving back." With 2 km to go I was now stuck at the back of the field and I had no options to move up as our lane was jammed with everyone holding their position. Andy was positioned well in the top five but I knew I wouldn't be able to help him with the finish, I was too far back in the field. As we hit the final hill up to the finish line the field began to explode as people were moving up and some moving backwards very quickly. I waited as long as possible before making my move on the steepest part, I even had to hit the brakes at point as one rider was slowing and I was accelerating up the hill. At the finish line I knew I had passed some of the field but thought that I was still around 15th at the finish line. Results posted below (look under category 4)

Knights Ferry results

Andy finished 7th as he ran out of gas in the last 200 meters of the race and I had clawed my way back to 11th place. I was happy with the finish and the result, it is still too early in the season to be worried about my finishing place but it is something to build on. This was a long race and it felt good to have something left in the tank for the finish. I also wanted to show you my new shoes below and the inscription on the inside of the collar of our new jerseys (a few pictures above).



Possibly another race next weekend, weather permitting.

Winter of my discontent

Some of you may not know this but I strongly dislike riding the trainer. The trainer is essentially a resistance wheel that you clamp your bike onto and it simulates the resistance of riding outdoors. The benefit of a trainer is that you can ride indoors and avoid poor weather but the drawbacks are many. The bike is clamped and therefore it doesn't feel very real because the bike never moves when you pedal. The resistance wheel is a poor replicator of actual riding as it is constant and outdoor rides are anything but constant. Lastly and most importantly trainer rides are boring and don't offer any of the escape that I so enjoy on outdoor rides. As you may noticed I have recently purchased lights for my bike in order that I won't have to ride indoors on weekdays, instead I can still ride after work with the lights attached to the bike (as a side note, I tend to stick to roads that are well lit on my night rides, just to be on the safe side).

The downfalls of riding at night are the lack of light and of course, the cold. We have had a particularly cold spell here in Northern California and although it hasn't stopped me from riding, it certainly has shaken my resolve to ride. I won't lie in saying that riding in the cold can be miserable and my last two rides have been particularly unbearable. I rode on Thursday evening for about 25 miles and I can admit that I was frozen by the time I got back (my bike computer said the average temperature was 42 degrees). It took a hot shower to thaw my extremities. As bad as that was, Saturday mornings ride was much worse. I had plans to go for a very long ride and left early (7:30) to take advantage of all of the light. As it was, the temperature was 34 degrees when I started to ride and despite having the warmest of my clothing on, it was certainly not enough. After an hour, I needed to stop as I was having trouble feeling my arms and they were starting to fail in supporting my upper body. I was at the point where I had gone past numb and the cold was starting to get painful. I stopped at a gas station, drank a hot chocolate, and tried to warm up. This was mostly futile and I knew I needed to turn around. I headed back and can admit that it started to warm up but the only thing that actually made a difference was that I started to ride harder in order to try and raise my heart rate and core temperature. Upon my return, a hot shower was the only remedy and I have vowed to learn that on weekends I will wait for it to warm up prior to riding.

I learned my lesson today and this morning Kelsey and I went up to napa to try a bakery that we had heard about it was delicious. It is called Bouchon Bakery and they make wonderful croissants, pastries, and sweets and after we got back I made the trek up Mt. Diablo for the first time in months. As a side note, the tour of California will be finishing on Diablo in May in what is being billed as the queen stage of the race (the queen stage is the biggest and toughest stage of the race). I rode to the junction as there was cloud cover further up and I wasn't looking to ride on wet roads any further. It was a good effort and I plan on starting to pick up the intensity from this point further.




I have included this photo to show all of the items that I carry/wear on a winter ride. From bottom to top - shoes, socks, shoe covers, knee warmers, bib shorts, undershirt, jersey, arm warmers, thermal vest, heart rate strap, food, pump, earphones(so I can listen to my books on tape), cycling computer, sandwich bag for phone, helmet, cycling cap, sunglasses, keys, gloves, water bottles. Depending on the length of ride I will carry 1 or 2 water bottles, 1 is always full of water and the second with a drink mix (contains salt, sugar and some flavoring). I will usually try to carry some food, mostly granola bars or gels of some sort. It takes me about 15 minutes to get fully dressed and ready to ride. Considering that it takes me about 5 minutes to get ready in the morning, the process of getting ready for a ride can seem like an eternity.



I took this picture on my way down Diablo. It is starting to turn green around here and is starting to look like what I always imagine Ireland looks like.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Rain

It rained over the weekend. Not that it bothered me as I don't hate the rain like some people in California who have been spoiled by sunshine their whole lives. I actually enjoy rainy days as most people stay indoors so those of us willing to venture out get to enjoy the world by ourselves. This past weekend it rained pretty heavy for the first time since May and 8 of us went for a long bike ride in spite of it.

To be honest, I was looking forward to riding in the rain as I just purchased some winter riding gear but I wasn't looking to have go for a 5 hour ride. I also had committed to completing a Strava ride challenge. I may have mentioned this before but Strava is "fitness facebook". I upload my rides to the website using a Garmin cycling computer and they rank segments of the ride based on time versus others that have ridden the same segments. Strava will also sponsor challenges to ride a certain amount of miles over a specified time period. This past weekend was a challenge to ride at least 79 miles in one ride.

We had set out on the ride at 7:30AM and it was lightly raining. After about 10 miles it started to rain in earnest and soon enough we were all fairly soaked. As a side note, I am pretty certain that their is no such thing as "water-proof" in cycling clothing. If it rains, you will eventually get wet. It stopped raining for just over 1 hour and then as we headed back it picked up again and didn't stop until we got back. The last hour was pretty miserable as we were all starting to get cold and just wanted to get rid of the road grime and warm up.


Just before my shower I took this picture and adjusted the color with Instagram. Below is a picture of a bicycle I found on a different blog, I think it looks pretty awesome.


I am currently in Washington state visiting with family and when I get back I will have to clean up the bike from the rain and continue fixing my backup bike to take back to PA.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Night riding

Just thought I would share a photo I took from my ride yesterday evening. It isn't the most clear picture but it is a palm tree lit with Christmas lights.

I also wanted to keep everyone informed of my training. I logged over 100 miles over the weekend and have continued my night rides on week nights. The plan is to continue this for the next few weeks and then to gradually build intensity into my rides. I won't race in January but I will most likely start in February with a few races to speed up my fitness level.

A quick story from my ride this weekends ride. While near the top of Patterson pass a teammate of mine ran over some glass on the road and instantly flatted. He pulled over to fix the flat but was having trouble finding puncture in the tire or tube. After a few more minutes we looked over at his bike to discover that the other tire was flat and that he had mistakenly thought the flat was on the front and not the rear tire. After a quick switch we put the front tire back together and had a new tube in the rear. Needless to say he was embarrassed from the mistake but it allowed for a nice break in the middle of the climb

A few photos from recent rides

I have started my training for next year in earnest and just in time as the race schedule was just released. I took a few photos on my ride Sunday and yesterday and wanted everyone to see. I have also just started my darkness rides and have added lights to make sure I am seen at night.

More end of year stats and an opinion

What do the following numbers represent:

199

231,004

3,242

They represent the total number of hours, vertical feet, and miles I have ridden this season.  During this year I have joined strava as a way to track my rides and fitness.  Plus, it is a great way to see what rides my teammates and competitors are doing as well.  I still plan on adding more miles this year as I start training for next season with long slow rides.  In an effort to keep these long base mile rides interesting I have decided to start listening to books on tape.  I joined audible.com and just purchased Destiny of the Republic, a book about James Garfield, the 20th president of the US.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to express my opinion of the Lance Armstrong doping case.  Although Lance has yet to admit to doping during his career, the evidence is now overwhelming to point to the fact that he and his team all used performance enhancing drugs on their way to winning 7 Tour de France titles.  About a year ago I read a book called Lance Armstrongs War which detailed his 6th Tour de France win and the overwhelming feeling I got from the book was that he was as competitive an athlete as has ever lived, always looking for an enemy and ruthlessly dispatching each one.

His desire to win was legendary and I do believe that he had the ability to win a Tour de France without the use of EPO and other drugs, how many tours can never be proven.  I also am of the opinion that most if not all of the grand tour contenders during this era all doped so nobody is clean and deserving of the Tour de France wins.  So what should anyone believe of the pro cycling going forward.  I am of the belief that some will always try to cheat to win and that they will be caught over time trying to do this.  The statistics seem to show that almost all cheats are out of the pro peloton and that there is a new generation of cyclists who are sick of being labeled as cheats and want to win cleanly.  

I am interested to see where the Lance case will go in the coming months but it seems like he will have all of his wins stricken from the record and will most likely be pushed out of his involvement with Livestrong as well.  Unless he comes clean he will most likely never be accepted in the athletics community again (when was the last time anyone heard Barry bonds mentioned).

2 weeks of gluttony + Yosemite

Yes, I have officially labeled my off-season "2 weeks of gluttony".  I have enjoyed not going on any rides for the last two weeks and I have enjoyed eating (and drinking) whatever I can get my hands on.  I have gained weight and better yet I have finished my weeks off the bike with the desire to start training again.  The plan for the rest of the off season is long slow rides with some climbing at a very slow pace mixed in.  The goal is to build a really strong endurance base so that I can have more strength at the end of races next year.

I also wanted update everyone on my newest bike.  I bought the frame in August and proceeded to buy the components to piece together the rest of the bike.  By the end of August I had went to a bike fitting to get the best position for me on the bike and then used this info to build the bike.  After a month of riding the bike as I had built it and adjusting a few shifting issues, I can now report that the bike is awesome and ready to race.

Now a few pictures from Kelsey and my trip to Yosemite National Park.  Enjoy.