In An Absurdly Perfect World

Let me start out by saying: Luck does not exist, you make your own luck, and being lucky never won anyone anything. (Have fun thinking about that one!)

Also: a quick alert: There will be a lot of pictures in this entry. Eye candy like woah, so be prepared.

Anyways, this entry is purely inspired by an unintentional all-nighter, excitement for the coming triathlon season, and obviously - the most important thing of all - looking fast (not necessarily being fast). What if you could put together the most epic and (just-so-happens-to-be) most epic-looking set-up out there? Yes, you would do it...pending resources and time, and getting good enough that you could rock it without looking like a complete fool. Just more motivation to get into the best shape I can.

Forever, my favorite colors have been Black and Orange...especially when it comes to athletic gear (black and orange isn't quite standard formal attire...yet). One might think this is from my Middle/High School colors at North Yarmouth Academy: the Panthers, but I have loved the colors from well before then.

So why the excitement about black and orange? It just so happened to work out that PBMC Triathlon Team has Black & Orange kits (1) that are awesome to say the least - and from first sight of them I was pumped (big understatement). Then, as a graduation gift to myself, I bought a pair of Oakley Jawbone sunglasses: customized as black and orange (2). The kit and shades are set in stone. Now the variables: bike, shoes.

(1)

(2)

I am currently riding a 2006 Trek Madone 5.2, and put aero bars on it for multisport races. Obviously having a TT bike would be a lot more optimal of a situation for triathlon...so I've been looking into potential machines. I have no idea what the summer/next year will consist of job-wise, but that's why we're talking hypothetically, right? Top choice (pending it being a great fit) is the 2011 Felt B12 (3), a killer ride. I mean a Speed Concept 9.9 ProjectOne would be sexy, but completely absurd (I suppose a picture can be put in anyways (4)).

(3)

(4)

The last bit is something my buddy Seth just showed me: the new Mizuno Wave Universe (5) racing flat. Note: I'm not sure how viable of a shoe this is as I have never tried it, but it is the lightest, slickest flat out there.

(5)

Put them all together and what do you get: Speechless.

My (Hopefully) Last Cat 5 Race: Bristol RR

I was very excited for this race. The previous weekend had been lackluster and I was irking for some real racing - primarily from myself, as I had been surrounded by strong athletes last weekend. So the only logical option was step up and stick it to it! My excitement for the race extended being needing to do well: this race was going to be 37 miles and with 2.5 times through some legitimate hills. 37 miles isn't "all that much" by standards of many other Categories, but it represents what one might start to see in the Cat 4 level, where I hope to be in my next cycling race.

I had a pretty solid week of training going into this race, with a track workout and a couple good OTB (off the bike) efforts running. I made a point to not taper for the race as it is not a multisport race and this mindset is critical to maintain focus on tri's. So I took Thursday fairly strong (after 2.5 hours on the trainer Wednesday) by swimming, then doing the Bristol course to a pretty hard 2.5-mile tempo, due to time limitations. Friday I took as an easy 7 miler, which felt insanely relaxed (too relaxed, in fact). The one good thing is that I finally got a good night's rest the night before a race. Two nights before, again, was pretty bad. I had an econ exam Friday and hadn't been to class for the second half of the semester (I know, I'm a bad person...but what can I say, I was busy training...). I got under 5 hours of sleep, but the test went fine and I was glad to be finished with exams!

Now for the fun stuff: race day! Woke up at about 7:45 in an effort to get as much sleep as I could manage without being late or screwing up the race day schedule. Got stuff together and made it to Bristol at 9:35 and check-in was closing at 9:40 (cut it close because I forgot to get gas Friday). Got situated and set out on a warm up, towards the finish line. Felt about as flat as I had felt relaxed Friday on my run - I knew it was too good. Chatted with Mike, Kevin, and Chris about planning for the race as we had a MASSIVE team (10 of ~30 total). Because the race was 2 laps and change, we figured keep the first lap steady but in control, and move if people moved.

A quick bit about the course (visual provided below):

• Staging/Official Start: Just before 14 Mile mark
• Lap/Finish: 17 Mile Mark
• Solid 3 mile climb (14-17) then good descent, then constant climb (4-6), then FAST descent (50+MPH)

We set out from the staging and the pace was pedestrian. However, I felt like crap so I decided to sit in rather than take a relaxed spot out front with Mike at a pace that would actually help me warm up had I been feeling good. We hit the first section of hill and things remained very calm, but I felt pretty bad still. We passed the lap/finish (2 laps/34 miles to go) and cruised the downhill, which was when the pace definitely went into normal racing tempo. Coming into Egypt road (mile 4.25) there was some basic positioning going on, into the hill a U of Buffalo guy swung out left and blew his tire right in front of me. He started to slow and looked like he was coming right and I quickly yelled for him to just hold his line, which saved me from making a drastic maneuver. We hit the hill at a fair pace, and a Buffalo Velo guy led it out a bit. The bulk of the group was able to maintain contact for the first time around, or reattached shortly after the peak. Kevin, Mike, and Liam all looked real good up the hill the first time - I was working to hold on and would let a gap open up knowing I could seal it on the next flat/downhill safely.

We took the downhill fast, in the sense we didn't ride our brakes. When we were going about 50MPH I heard a flat pretty loud and it was Mike Hoffman's - not cool. Apparently it ripped a couple inch gash in his sidewall and he had a near-life threatening speed wobble, and his chain dropped at the same time. Luckily, by a lot of cleat dragging and well maintained control he came to a stop without crashing. Mike, who I believed to be a (or the) top contender was now sadly out of the race. I really wanted him in it to see what damage he could do. On the next set of hills everything started to split. By the time we hit the finish line (1 lap to go) there were about 10 of us remaining, including Liam, Kevin, and myself. We came into Egypt road fast and hit the hill much harder this time. Midway through it was down to 6 of us: Liam, Kevin, Overlook guy, White kit, Buffalo Velo, and myself. Went hit the hill hard enough that the Buffalo Velo guy started swerving and eventually bonked and toppled over towards the top. Only problem was, he nearly took Kevin and I out once and actually took out Liam. He fell perfectly into Liam's line and Liam didn't have a chance to react. He fell as well, but was uninjured. Sadly, Kevin and I were forced to keep going as the two others kept pushing. As we hit the crest it was Kevin, white kit, and me - with the Overlook guy about 15 meters back. We pushed and were able to finally drop the Overlook guy.

And then there were three. We kept in a paceline and were cruising pretty good - making sure to keep a strong pace and work together. Pulls started out fairly long, but shortened as we neared the staging area and got hit with some unfavorable weather. At about 4.5 miles from the finish, a crazy downpour came upon us - with pretty killer winds. It was nasty and wet, and made drafting almost worse than pulling. Before coming into the final turn ~2 miles from the finish, I took a pull and continually downshifted as I felt like I was running out of gas...not a good sign with so little to go. We moved along, more as an amoeba now, towards the finish and up the beginning hills. No one made a move and Kevin and I spoke briefly - he mentioned making a move to me as we were coming up to the "kill zone" that we had determined would be the time to make a move to seal the deal. It was the last kicker leading up to the false flat that was the finish. Once we hit the hill - I hit the gas hard, not having any idea if I'd blow up. I put in some real hard work and was nervous to see if anyone was with me (I couldn't hear anyone). After a good 20 seconds I checked back as I sat down to recover a bit and knew, to a fairly high certainty, that the race was mine. I had gotten a good 20 meters on Kevin and the other guy, who started to drop Kevin. I made sure to keep the pedal down and check my back often, as I did go very early (considering how toasted I felt) - especially if the other guy had planned to make a substantial counter on the false flat. When I was 150m out it was for sure I had won and I pushed it hard through the finish - winning by 12 seconds. Kevin took 3rd (1st for NYS Championships, I am Maine, 2nd place was CO) and Liam took 5th.

A nice bonus was the shwag! I got a new Lazer O2 Helmet, which lists for $110! So pumped about it. Wore it today (Monday on a 40 mile ride and love it, definitely a massive upgrade). Overall it was a great race and I liked that it was nearly 2 hours - felt more realistic and less like a sprint. Can't wait to get to 40+ mile races! So I'll be sending in a request to Cat up to 4's, as I now have 8 races - 5 of which are wins. I can't wait to get into some races where I can get my ass handed to me, looking forward to it (seriously!).

Hollenbeck's Spring Classic RR

This was what I call going into a race at 80%. I knew I was going to be pretty sore and tired coming out of the Duathlon from the day before, but my hopes were still high. I wanted to race to the best of my ability on that day, regardless of how I was feeling going into it. I was only able to really fall asleep at 12:30, despite going into bed at 11:15, and woke up just after 6:00AM to get things set and prep to leave at 7:15 for the 2+ hour drive to Virgil, NY. We got to Virgil a bit before 9:30, much time to spare before the 10:15 start time. We got our numbers and had some time to spare. I did a really brief warm up to check out the uphill finish. About halfway up my legs felt shot so I rode down and did some light spinning on flats.

There's the course. Some decent hills, with one real kicker just after a long slight hill up to mile 16, and a legitimate uphill finish.

The Race: Like most other races, this one went out real easy. The first thing I noticed was a large contingency of Ommegeng/Syracuse Bicycle members who were holding out the front line. I sat in as best I could without losing too much contact with the front of the pack because it was clear they were going to make moves. As we hit a very quick uphill the leaders tested the pack a little by picking it up swiftly. It didn't drop anyone besides those were were noticeably unprepared for racing. Next we hit a decent climb at 5.5 miles in, this one was much more serious as it was the first real effort of the race. Normally, I'd come out of the hill up at the front and comfortable, but about halfway through I was already looking to where the peak was. I made it up the first hill, and knew it wasn't going to get any better - the feeling I had when I went up the finish hill warming up. So I made sure to conserve as best as I could. The next set up was a slight uphill, with a quick downhill recovery, then a steeper and longer hill (miles 6-10.5). Coming up the first part, the leaders started pushing pretty solidly - as would be expected. There were less than ten guys who got a bit of a gap at this point, 2 were slightly off the lead pack by 15-20m and the rest of us were around 30m back. Kevin and I were at the front of this group. We saw that another hill was upcoming and knew we had to get back before it if we wanted to be in the race - because they were not going to let up at all on the second hill. I was feeling pretty fried working these hills, which was a major letdown as I was excited to be in a race with a team who was working it pretty good and I wanted to be in it to step it up - but the duathlon beat me up pretty good. Kevin made the push to reattached and I figured I'd might as well go with. Once we caught the two who were 15m or so back, Kevin started to slow up and had it not been a teammate I would have stayed tucked in. Without receiving a signal I jumped in front of him and pulled with what I had at that time to reattach. Luckily my efforts did not go in vain. After the race Kevin told me had I not jumped in for that pull he didn't think he would have been able to reattach and maintain.

That pull made me taste the red zone a little, not something I've ever had until about 1 mile to go in a bike race. I knew had I kept crushing myself I would've blown up. The next climb was immediately after my pull and once we hit it, I was struggling. I worked to not lose too much contact, and there were more than 5 of us who got dropped back. At the pretty consistent downhill we worked to make contact - and got damn close: about 3 seconds (45m) coming out of a turn. Only two of us (myself and a CNYC guy) had put in significant work, and we could've gotten back in it had 2-3 of the other guys made the effort. We started to drift and lost the leaders. I continued to keep the tempo up and didn't realize I dropped the others, so I sat up and waited so I could conserve. The group eventually grew to 12 (I only thought it was 6 during the race but I just checked the results: http://flcycling.org/?page_id=2101). But I took a few pulls, and the CNYC guy did nearly all the work. We took it somewhat comfortably, but I was pretty tired and just wanted to have enough gas to move up the finish hill. Things were pretty uninterested here on out - besides that kicker I mentioned at 16...not fun. We came into the turn towards the finish and cruised into the hill. The CNYC guy jumped and I let him go: not only did he deserve it, but I didn't know how little I had in the tank and didn't want to blow up halfway up the hill. The next guy went - from SU (Cat4) - and I stuck somewhat close to him, less than a meter off his back wheel. The hill kicked up but I still had no idea where the finish was, then, when I finally saw it, the line was 20m away. I started to reel him in and with about 10m to go, put in a hard effort to (with a high guarantee) nip him at the line - I was too sore to try to bury anyone. I got him by less than half a wheel length to secure 12th place (2nd in the chase group), but knew I had it for sure

I was glad to be done. Kevin ended up 3rd, which is excellent considering it was in a 4/5 race. I'm glad I had a hand in getting him back up to that lead pack, it was pretty rewarding knowing that even though my race was quite lackluster, I helped a teammate get to a good finish. I hadn't experienced this before (I tried to make some moves with Jensen at the PSU Crit, but we weren't organized enough). I'm really looking forward to the absolutely massive UR contingent @ Bristol this coming Saturday! Currently 11 of 18 confirmed riders are with UR!

Flower City Duathlon: First Multisport of 2011, First Race as PBMC Team Member

I've already mentioned that I will be racing for PBM Coaching this season. However, it feels so much more official now that I have the uniform, which is badass. Not only does it have a solid design, but I am a huge fan of orange and black. While I don't really feel like I am in race shape - I am definitely aware that I am at a level of fitness that I am content with. But if you know my mindset: the word "content" is merely a stepping stone to something like "ecstatic" or "amped". What has surprised me is that even though I'm 12+ lbs over race weight, I have been rather comfortable hitting 7:00/mi pace on runs of any distance (even 13 miles) and my cycling is continuing to improve quite a bit - I averaged 22.3MPH on a 20 mile ride that was a very comfortable tempo. That is something that I've never really done much of before, but know it's a good sign this early in the year.

The Kit.

The greatest difficulty I have been having is remaining disciplined and focused in my own training. I feel this is purely a matter of having had no structure whatsoever to my training for well over a year and wanting to take my competition to the next level, but not knowing fully how to do it. I had a long period of mental lapse, which hurt my fitness quite a bit, but really hurt me in that my weight jumped from:

• January 30: 160
• March 5: 145
• March 15: 156
• March 24: 152
• April 11: 163
• April 23: 157
• April 29: 162

Now, that's a frightening fluctuation in weight. Athletically, sure, it sucks - but it is horrible to jump weight around like that for general health. So, in order to 1) be smart and 2) be fit, I need to slowly get back to where I belong at below 150. I have always felt smoother, stronger, and overall better when I am down at that range. I've been reading Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan, which is a great resource and has an excellent focus on proper planning for optimizing training. The timing of meals is something I know was beneficial, but this book has shed some great light on it for me.

Above written April 28,2011

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April 30, 2011: Post Race.

So, for the race: The Flower City Duathlon, Rochester, NY. 5K/20mi/5K (actual distances: 3.20mi/20.06mi/2.80mi). Two nights before I could not sleep at all, I slept a total of about three hours and just could not get comfortable. This resulted in me eating 250g of chocolate bars and just overall feeling like junk.I made sure to get in bed as early as I could while still actually being able to fall asleep. I got to bed around 9:15PM, giving me 8 hours sleep - which is quite good for a 5:15AM wake up time. At 6:00 I brought my bike over to transition and got a great spot (the TA is about 1K from where I live), then came back and walked over at 6:35. I arrived at 6:45, and got everything together. Met up with Mike Hoffman, a good friend of mine, and got situated then did a 1.5mi warm up. The area wasn't optimal for a bike warm up so we stuck to the run.

(Badass pic of Mike Hoffman and I at the start...and the only time I looked any bit good in the race! Although Mike was quite solid throughout.)

The race started out at a good pace, not too fast, but my legs could not find a groove. There were 4 of us up front (in the under 40 group) and at around 2.25 one guy made a bit of a move and Mike went with him. I was feeling strained already and decided to hold back just a little to save for the bike and second run. I was also confident in my T1 to gain back some time. They finished at 18:30 and I came through in a fairly weak 18:43 (5:51/mi). 5:51 should be a pretty comfortable pace and something I should be able to tempo hard (but not race) for 10K. I had a good transition, 0:49 and four of us left T1 together. Mike and I took off pretty well on the bike, flipping the lead a couple time and moving along. Had a quick chat being pumped about rolling as the top 2, which was pretty sweet. Then bad things started to happen. At about mile 5, on a small (and this course is flat) hill I felt my calf start to twitch - early signs of a cramp. I ate properly coming into the race and was confused as to why I was already getting signs of cramps. I kept rolling, but Mike started to get away from me. I kept hold of him as best as I could without forcing cramps, but he was able to get a full minute on me on the bike. At mile 16 I threw up a little in my mouth and was burping for the following 5 minutes, which threw off whatever I did have going for me. Also, I was passed by 3 people on the ride - 2 from the U40 age group and one guy who was 45 and started 3:00 after the U40 field. He absolutely demolished the bike (fastest leg by 2:00). I finished with a 54:36 (22.0MPH), 38 second slower than my comfortable tempo ride on Tuesday. Coming into T2 as I was pulling my left shoe off, my hips and hamstrings cramped simultaneously: luckily I was able to somewhat quell this by standing up and stretching (slight downhill helped me out). I had an okay dismount - struggling to not force more cramps - and went into T2. My fingers were a bit numb as it was still low-mid 40's, and I had the worst time trying to get my helmet off which was pretty frustrating. T2 was in 0:37, and I got out on the road again and was 20 seconds behind 5th place and 30+ seconds behind 4th. At this point the wheels were falling off and I was just focused on keeping my turnover and heel striking so I wouldn't cause the calves to fully lock up (typically I'm midfoot, especially in racing). I just focused on the back in front of me and caught 5th place in about 1.3mi, he stuck with me until about mile 2 when I put on a surge to drop him. He started to hold but then I opened a gap. This single surge was the only time I felt like I was moving during the entirety of the race, and it was only 30 seconds or so. I tried to reel in Mike as much as I could, but nothing was working for me and I only gained 6 seconds on him in the run, whereas I can normally drop 30+ seconds like nothing. I finished the 2.80 mile run in an abomination of 17:30 (6:15/mi). Total time: 1:32:14 for 5th place (3rd in M20-24), 0:25 behind Mike (4th place) and 4:03 behind the leader.

Now, after the race I have two options: be disappointed because I had a pretty bad race overall or learn from this. First lesson: I need to train properly for tri's and du's, recently the whole of my focus has been on cycling, which has paid off in recent races. However, this has left running on the back burner and I haven't done a single real workout since December. Workouts begin next week and so do bricks! Second lesson: SLEEP is extremely important. I felt pretty uncomfortable during the entire race today and the race was a constant grind, from the gun. Third lesson: Get fit - both physically and nutritionally. These go hand in hand and I am working toward this, effective really yesterday (Friday).

The good thing about losing a race: it highlights areas of improvement and lets you know there is a lot of work to be done. Considering how horrible I felt throughout the entire race, it went quite well. I'm definitely going to talk to Kurt about the next steps to take, but it will definitely include work towards triathlon - not bike racing. I have a road race tomorrow morning (which will be interesting) and a race next Saturday. After that the UR Cycling season is over. However, next week's bike race will simply be a hard effort at the end of the week and I won't be specifically training for the race itself.

TriForGlory32: TriForGlory (thirty) 2.0

New Logo, same old blog! I had to do some overhaul of the blog and just resulted in ditching TriForGlory. Luckily I was able to save all the old posts so nothing was lost.

Welcome to TriForGlory32.blogspot.com!

ECCC Championships: TTT, Road Race, Crit

My first (and, sadly, last) collegiate race weekend - well at least as an undergrad - was at Penn State this past weekend. It also was my first Criterium and Team Time Trial! Being Class D has its perks and its downfalls. The major downfall is early ass races: now this wouldn't be so bad in warmer climates - but in the northeast is usually wet and cold. Saturday we had the TTT @ 8:45AM, which was followed by the Road Race @ 10:10AM. Both races were at the Black Moshannon State Park, definitely the most awesome cycling area to which I have been!

As the races were so close together and Kevin, Chris, and I were doing our first TTT the plan was to use it as a solid effort warm up, but by no means to go balls out and hurt our chances in the RR. The real plan was to beat RIT, by whatever margin. It was a 9.5 mile course, with two pretty long, but not too steep, climbs. We hit it from the start at a solid tempo, but definitely not too taxing of a pace. We only needed two finishers - which would allow for the eventual drop of one of our three. Surprisingly, in an extremely short time, we caught the team that started before us - the starts were separated by 30 seconds. Sadly RIT was starting after us so we wouldn't have a good gauge of how far ahead/behind they might be. We came up the first climb at an okay clip and then hit the downhill. Chris took a massive pull for nearly the entire downhill section, which ended up being his last pull. Coming to a bit of a flat, we crossed a bridge and hit another uphill. We started to drop Chris and decided we should let him bridge back so he could give us another pull - but he was pretty toast from his massive pull and the climbs (he's a real solid sprinter, but Kevin and I are much more of climbers) - and we dropped him when we hit the next incline. From here on out Kevin and I took pulls at a solid tempo, neither of us caring to really push the pace. We finished feeling good about the fact that we were so smooth for having only practiced TTT once before. Later we realized we were only 6 seconds behind the winner (Bucknell) and about 2 minutes ahead of any other teams. So had we not waited up for Chris that first time, or actually treated it like somewhat of a race, we likely would have had the win. Oh well, it was fun and a good experience. Oh yeah...and we beat RIT by about 3 minutes.

Now, for the REAL event, 21.5 mile Road Race. Two Category 5 climbs, and one (AWESOME) Category 2 climb! I was pretty excited for this race, as I am a big fan of big hills (aka mountains). The race was split between D1 and D2 - for school sizes, as the road conditions were slick at best and there were some very intense descents with hard turns. And, frankly, D's are not nearly skilled enough to be trusted in a pack of 60+ on such a course. So the race went out, immediately into one of the smaller climbs, at a pretty conservative pace. Once we got a mile or so in people started to actually bike, and some of the guys who didn't ride all season were probably getting strung out already - poor souls. Lots of hills to go solo. We came to the first descent, which seemed to last forever - and at mid-30's MPH that's a long distance. Once we got to the next climb Kevin said, "Oh wow, we get to use our legs again". I was spinning a little during the downhill without actually accelerating, just to keep my legs moving. The second climb broke up the pack some - but mainly strung out some of the riders, many of whom were able to reattach on the following downhill as riding along was very beneficial in our race as no one was crushing the downhills and being alone you had more freedom to cruise. The third climb, as we expected, provided the separation of the field that was purely inevitable. About two-thirds up the climb, Kevin started to work the pace a little - but still within his comfort zone. Many people responded, but only a Lehigh guy and myself pushed the front with Kevin. We came down the next descent still the three of us having a noticeable lead. It was really foggy and we didn't have good visibility. So the hard left leading into the Cat 2 climb came as a surprise, despite knowing it was going to come eventually. I was pulling at this point and barely slowed enough to make it through the turn - I went probably an inch onto the gravel, but only did so because I could use it and the pavement-gravel transition was smooth. Had it been a drop off I could've cut harder to stay on the pavement. However, I heard a wheel lock up and bounce behind me and I turned around just in time to see Kevin go straight into the guard rail and flip over it! While I was still watching in concern/shock I saw he was already on his feet, thank god! He definitely was going to be a little way back, but appeared to be well collected. Apparently he dropped his chain and shifted his handlebars - both pretty quick fixes. And he was 300-400 yards back, on his bike, and hauling ass to get back with myself and the Lehigh guy. I was pretty sure Kevin would be able to make a good effort and catch up, so I made sure to go as slow as possible. Every pull I took, I slowed the pace down. And sometimes I went to take a pull and very slowly decreased my speed so the Lehigh guy didn't notice. Eventually he started taking pulls as he may have thought that I was going to get dropped. But he signaled for me to pull, and I flat out said, "Dude, my teammate crashed and I want him back up here. So I'm not going to put in any work, go ahead and do what you please." So he pulled for a while, but didn't make any moves whatsoever. Shortly, Kevin caught back up - but was toast - as it was over a mile of him kicking it in pretty hard just to get back to us. I pulled for a little while to ensure Kevin some additional recovery. He came up by my side and I told him to tuck his ass in and recover. He didn't come up to take a pull though. He told me to go ahead and surge, that I'd cleanly have the win if I made a good move. I told him I was waiting for him to recover, but he insisted. So I jumped and put in a good 15 seconds of work, gaining 20m or so. Sat back down and kept the tempo up until I couldn't see Kevin and the Lehigh guy anymore as they were lost in the fog. At this point I was pretty sure I had the race in the bag, but made sure not to take it for granted. I continued to ride steadily and comfortable to and though the climb. At this point I started passing an absurd amount of riders from the D1 race, pretty surprisingly just blowing past them. Once I crested the peak - that was about 4.5 miles into my solo break. I just cruised the downhill, enjoying that I had the pace car tracing out my line for me. I hit 45.2MPH somewhere along the way, which is moving along quite good, but was comfortable every bit of the descent. Finally I came around to the last turn - a hard left about 600m from the finish. And figured I'd kick it in and enjoy putting in a solid finish. I cruised home easily to victory by a margin of 70 seconds, over my teammate Kevin, who recovered from his crash and surge - and dropped the Lehigh guy by one minute! Well done by him, for sure. Chris had a good race overall, especially consider climbing is not his forte, finishing 11th.

Now for the exciting race: my first Criterium ever. I was nervous for this race in the sense that I really didn't know how it worked except for off-hand accounts. I had never seen, nor been to, a crit before. So I was both very excited and a bit nervous. I had a lot on my side in that I had two solid teammates with me, some great tight riding work (Portland Velo Club rides, specifically the sprint at the end of the Saturday ride), and was sitting on a win from the day before against pretty much the same field. The course: 30min race, 1K, 6 turn (L,L,L,R,L,L), pretty flat, only one decent straightaway on the start/finish. Turn 1-2 was a little down-up, 2-3 was false flat, 3&4 were a tight S-turn, 4-5 was flat, 5-6 flat, then the slight downhill straightaway 6-1.

The Race: I wanted good position to start the race, so I made sure to get on the front line. I screwed this up when I didn't get my clip completely in, but only lost a few spots. I wanted to be 100% sure I would be within the top 10 the entirety of the race, regardless of pulls it required me to take. I settled in a lot better than I expected to. I took quite a lot of pulls during the race, but I never left my comfort zone - so I figured I'd have the gas to put a real strong effort in late race. I totaled 8-10 laps of pulling, which is WAYY too much had I been in any other race besides D's. The race moved along smoothly - a good chunk of the field got dropped due more to lack of comfort in tight quarters/cornering than actual skill. There were two primes: both of which the Army guy won, neither of which I worked for (although I made him work for the second one just to mess with him). There were no real solid attacks in the crit, but once or twice a few of us got 15m or so off the front and nothing came of it. Slowly the laps ticked away and despite pulling a lot, I was still feeling fresh with 10 to go and started thinking about when to make a move. I didn't want to do anything too early, so around 6 to go I started calling to Chris Jensen (my teammate) to come up and talk to me. I told him I wanted him up in the top 5 as I wanted to 1) give him good sprint position and 2) maybe break away with him. A couple of the guys in the race kept swinging in front of me just before turn 1, which ruined my attacking plan with 2 or 3 laps to go: I wanted to go HARD into and through turn 2, stand sprinting into 3, and take 3 & 4 extremely tight and hard. Then bust my ass to hold it. However, due to people jumping in front of me I had to resort to making my move on the last lap. Hamilton and RISD jumped in front of me going into the last lap, but I made a good turn on 1 and set myself up for 2. The typical line was to blow outside coming out of 2 to set up for 3. I noted this and cut hard into 2 (getting very tight on the wheel ahead/next to me) and just cranked out of the turn. This won me a solid inside position coming into 3, which I took at an uncomfortably fast and tough angle - this resulted in me going onto the 2-foot concrete gutter that separated pavement from curb. But was still in control. I settled and set up for 4. When I got through turn 4 I looked back and saw that I had a comfortable 20m+ lead. I kept the throttle down and comfortably had the win! Best part was, that despite getting pushed back on the later laps - Chris came out in third, thanks to his solid sprinting skills. Army took second - not surprising as he was notably strong in the field.

All in all - I absolutely love my first cycling race weekend. And now I really really want to do a stage race, especially if there is an ITT! The duathlon/triathlon season is now in session, but I hope to still get a few bike races in as they have been so enjoyable! Great job to Kevin Howard and Chris Jensen - going into races knowing your teammates are ready to kill it is a huge help and a massive boost to being comfortable and confident. And thanks to Drew Scoles and Ian Byrd for making sure I didn't get too worried about the minor details of races when it was most important to be confident and patient.

MIA: In more ways than one.

It's been about one month since I last updated, and I was trying to keep it at 1-2 updates per week. A few weeks ago I started to come down with a little something, and instead of just taking it easy and recovering (water, sleep, etc), which I did, I added on a great deal of mental lapse and apathy that led to a rough(er) week than it would have been. On the bright side, I'm back at it and feeling great again (physically and - more importantly - mentally!). That week also showed me how critical proper nutrition and diet are to good performance. In response to my poor decisions nutritionally, I decided to buy the book Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan. So far (~60 pages) it's a great tool and I just want to get all the way through it so I can utilize the knowledge from it as a whole. However, it has been great as a read and reference (i.e. after my 50 mile ride today, it was good to see what exactly I should do to replenish my fuel stores).

Back to that last week of March: Thursday I came down with 'something' - I wasn't throwing up or miserable, but my body completely tanked it. I literally struggled on an 8:30 pace 2 mile run Friday. That made it very clear that I should bail on the cycling races last weekend (last weekend of Spring Giros...kinda bummed as I threw $30 for 2 races instead of 8. Oh well, health is more important...I suppose). It took a bit to recover from that, but the runs the next week resulted in total leg cramping. Then I got frustrated and had some additional mental lapse. I finally got myself fully back together about 2 weeks ago, losing a good nearly month of quality training. I recovered enough to feel mediocre going into a race last weekend: Bloomfield, NY. Cat 5 (29 and under) Road Race, 22.5 miles (2x11.25mi loop). Mostly rolling hills, but these were nothing compared to the snow and 40MPH winds...which sucked, to put it bluntly (and truthfully). The weather was ugly and not enough people came out to the race, so the two Cat 5 groups raced together, but were scored separately.

Going into the race I felt in far worse overall fitness than I was 3 weeks before at that first Giros weekend. However, I tried to put thoughts of this behind me and focus on the fact that I should be excited to race - not disappointed in my own faults and poor preparation. I didn't have the comfort I normally do at higher effort levels. For what hills there were I could seriously feel the 12 pounds I had gained. Normally I can cruise up a hill with a good rise of the heart rate, which falls pretty quick so long as no one tries to move hard out of the hill. But that day, I was struggling up the hills (rare) and my legs weren't coming back under me (more rare). I sat in most of the first lap, and was fine staying in the lead pack. On the second lap I tried to get my body back into the zone to feel speed, by taking a couple pulls and testing the field on some hills. But this was to no avail. Normally it would shake out the legs and get my confidence rolling, but at Bloomfield it actually cut me down. Nevertheless, I put in all I could as we came down to a field sprint finish. People sprinted out of the corner up the last hill, which was a fairly steep and short one about 800m from the finish. I went, hard, and as I crested the hill felt completely crushed. There were two guys (1 was in the 30+, 1 in my group) off the front by 25m, then myself and another 30+ guy who was just ahead of me, then my teammate, Kevin Howard. We were met with 45MPH crosswinds and snow. At this point myself and the guy with me were trying to battle the winds more than each other (especially as we knew fighting for position would not affect our placings). I pushed really hard but nothing wanted to go. We gained on the two leaders, but only closed the gap to about 1 second, or a good 10+ meters. I finished seconds in the 29 and under category. I was pleased with the result, considering my weight gain and fitness - but there was no reason I shouldn't have won if I were in the shape I was in March. The winner (and of the 29 and under race) was a strong rider, but I had beat him in both Giros that I raced.

Needless to say, I'm now back on track and working hard. ECCC (Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference) Championships were this weekend. Expect a race report mid-week. Races: TTT, RR, Crit.