Santa Rosa Corporate Crit

This weekend is an off weekend due to the drunken debauchery known as sea otter. We actually have guys going down there on the team to partake in the drinking games. I on the other hand will be off to Santa Rosa by my lonesome (bike inside car). There will be a 4/5 and a 3/4 crit. I hope to have another stellar performance like last week. I really want the finish to be a breakaway, so I am going to be very aggressive in both races trying to establish a break. And if it comes down to it I will believe in myself to be able to solo towards the end if nobody ends up following an attack by me, unlike last weekend.

I am one to not waste money. By that I mean if I prereg for a race I will be damned if I don’t race. I drove down and everything was fine, no rain or traffic for that matter. As soon as I hit the davis area the clouds start to dump on me.
I get to the race early enough to watch the juniors and then the 5’s race, I am just hoping that the rain lets up…Ive signed up for two races.
Its now my turn to race, ive raced in the rain before but never during a crit. What an experience. Maybe its just me and my lack of that killer instinct right now but those guys were fearless or stupid. I think the latter. This one guy with a webcor jersey on would swing wide and zip through the bot dots, which about fifty percent of the time would lead to him fishtailing his back tire. I must say this made me uneasy during the race. I made one solid attack and had a group to work with for a few laps but the pack brought us back in. I figured this was going to be one big nasty field sprint in the rain…….as the race continues on so does the standing water from the rain. For the final sprint I was sitting about 14th or 16th. I don’t know for sure what happened as it was tough to see with all the rain but three guys went down in front of me. I ended up sliding out of the way and managed to keep my bike upright. I hung out a little bit after the race to see if it was going to clear up. After the 3’s race I ended up bailing, to risky to race in.

My TT bike = Romanian gymnast??????

Whoosssh….I feel my car slide to the left in the grandma lane on 395. I look in the rearview mirror a second later and start to see what appears to be a bicycle. It hits the ground and bounces up like a pogo stick. The gears in my brain start to turn, “blue….white…wait a minute those are the same colors as my TT bike.” One more flip with a spiral one eighty full tuck. “Oh shyte that is my bike. No Mr. car don’t run it over….its too pretty.” Miraculously a fellow UNR rider, the one and only Mr. Scott Leland comes to my aid and parks his car behind my baby to shelter it from the onslaught of evil gas guzzling cars. All and all it could have been a lot worse.
BDA
Powertap wheel destroyed……powertap hub “a ok”
One pedal eating alive………...Brightside pedals kept the frame from getting scratched.
Fork is gone……………………such a pretty fork
Small ding in the frame………..so sorry sweetie

Lesson learned car racks suck ass. My bikes will never see a rack again, unless it’s a girls rack then its ok.

Island View Crit Collegiate Mens A

After the morning 4/5 race I was ready to see what I could do in the Mens A race. I knew going into it that this was going to be the fastest crit I had partaken in. I certainly wasn’t wrong. I spent most of the race holding on to dear life at the back. Not the ideal spot to be, but that’s where I was. I was able to see when a rider in front of me was getting ready to crack, and move up past him. In this race we did 45 laps. Stanford and Cal Poly kept hitting attacks after attacks. For most of the race I was next to a Cal Poly guy who would signal an attack by whistling. I wanted to duct tape his mouth shut towards the end of the race. “shhhtttt”…..were strung out individually…..catch the attack group…..rest……shhhtttt another attack over and over again. I questioned whether or not I could stay in any longer. Fortunately for me I had a good group of teammates cheering me on along the race course. I managed to stay in and kept moving up as the race proceeded. I think it was 5 or 6 laps to go the Cal Tech guy I was following broke to the left….and for some odd reason my body reacted immediately to it. We both get out of the saddle and have at it. We did it we broke free of the group. Cal tech guy pulls to the side, I figure its my turn to take a pull….so I pull, 15-20secs goes by and I pull off for him to take over and sure as shit he sat up after he attacked. What a predicament I am now in. I have 4-5 laps left and I am off the front with a good size gap over the field. I figure the pack thought to themselves no worries he’s just a no-named Nevada guy. This is the moment that I lost my chances at this race. I am strong and I need to get that through my thick skull. I end up sitting up letting the pack catch me. In hindsight I should have TT’ed it to the end and let them learn what this Nevada guys name is! C’est la vie……there will be plenty more bike races for me to throw down in. All in all Nevada had a great weekend of racing in Santa Barbara.

Island Vista Crit

Started the morning off with a 4/5 race. The confidence was up extremely high for this race, nothing could take that away from me today. After that romp around cold springs last week nothing could stop me this weekend. I was all by my lonesome in the land of surfer dudes and chicks in ugg boots. I felt like I did the morning I raced cherry pie and won….honestly. I got to try out a teammates tubular wheels for this race. What a difference 180psi makes. When I would get out of the saddle I didn’t feel the tires rolling over on them. Usually my tires feel squishy, not today!
The field was made up of 73 riders on a course that is in the shape of a D. The course is by far the best criterium course I have ever had the pleasure to race on. It was as flat as a pancake with next to perfect pavement. I’ve been racing with guys that are either pros ones or twos for most of the season now, and let me tell you it is definitely a wake up call to race a 4/5, with 73 people in it.
I pre-rode the course early in the morning looking for my lines, which direction the wind was blowing, what line would shelter me from it. I selected the outside line for the corners. During the race everyone would cut to the inside as much as possible, slowing the group down in to a slinky type of movement. I would dive into the outside of the corner, never letting up on my pedaling and would fly by about 12-15 people. I think I scared a few because I would ride through that corner past people just inches from tapping bars with them. If there was room to fit a bike, I was there. For the most part I found it easy to move in the pack.
About 10 laps to go I decide to see if I cant start a break. I am sitting about 20 back coming into the last corner before the straight away. I punch it into the corner yelling “left attack” I was hoping a group would follow with me. I am now off the front with the accelerator pegged. I look down to see which guy is going to take the next pull, and much to my surprise nobody followed me. I look back and see that the group is content on having me off the front. I then get out of the saddle and hit it again. The group then decided to chase me. I spent four laps off the front trying to stay away but the pack wasn’t going to have their race spoiled by some redneck from Nevada. I was caught with six laps to go.
I decided to sit in towards the front and rest up for the pack sprint. Sounds scary. I moved myself back to the outside to wind up the legs for my final burst of power. I ended up getting bumped to the side where the curb protrudes out into the course. I let off the pedals for a sec to avoid going into the curb. In the process I got stuck behind the guy who pushed me out. Kind of sucks getting stuck behind a guy who has no shot at the sprint but needs to be in the front.
I ended up being boxed in for the final sprint. I cam in about 15-20th. I was disappointed with this race at first but then looking at it I did really well. Chalk another race into the experience book. Now I was ready to see what would happen in the Collegiate Men’s A race.

UNR Road Race

4/1/07 Mens Collegiate A Road Race out at red rock 80miles of fun in the wind. I had fun in the begining, I would go to the front and take a pull just so I could remember what it was like to be up front again. I felt special (short bus special), Max Jenkins from giant/cal strawberries and myself would take turns. Long story short there were attacks after attacks, I hung in as long as I could but it was too much for me. I ended up riding in with Mel Maalouf which was great I needed a tow in. I just didnt bring enough food. Mel had a lot of good advice to give me.......I am all ears.


Entire workout (184 watts):
Duration: 4:22:43
Work: 2888 kJ
TSS: 359 (intensity factor 0.907)
Norm Power: 227
VI: 1.23
Distance: 79.509 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1537 184 watts
Heart rate: 3 244 162 bpm
Cadence: 29 141 85 rpm
Speed: 0 126.4 18.2 mph
Pace 0:28 0:00 3:18 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 387 85 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 920 185 lb-in

UNR Collegiate Campus Crit

3/31/07 Collegiate Mens A


Race:
Duration: 16:23
Work: 224 kJ
TSS: 35.5 (intensity factor 1.144)
Norm Power: 286
VI: 1.25
Distance: 6.297 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 948 229 watts
Heart rate: 85 227 182 bpm
Cadence: 30 141 89 rpm
Speed: 0 35.8 23.2 mph
Pace 1:41 0:00 2:35 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 453 74 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 906 219 lb-in

UNR Campus Crit 4/5

On 3/31 I did the cat 4/5 UNR campus crit. I was pretty excited to be in a race of my level. The best part about it was I felt super smooth. When ever I wanted a wheel it was mine for the taking. I felt very strong. 20mins into the race I was sitting 7 or 8 back and the person in front of me drove me right into a pothole. At the last second he eracticly jerks to the side to avoid it. From what I have learned you just dont do big abrupt moves like that......so it goes I stayed stright and went into the pothole to earn a flat. Didnt have any wheels in the pit so there goes my chance at glory for the day.......oh well next saturday is the island view crit.


Race:
Duration: 15:32
Work: 231 kJ
TSS: 35.5 (intensity factor 1.177)
Norm Power: 294
VI: 1.17
Distance: 5.663 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 967 251 watts
Heart rate: 124 199 183 bpm
Cadence: 30 141 91 rpm
Speed: 0 38.6 21.9 mph
Pace 1:33 0:00 2:44 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 513 87 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1069 236 lb-in

Berekeley Crit

On 3/25 I did the Berkeley Crit. Thats right I said crit...this coming from the person who pulled himself cause he didnt want to hurt his knee......but come on its a crit I just have to check it out.

Needless to say I lasted about 6 laps of 70.

Race:
Duration: 5:45
Work: 80 kJ
TSS: 16.5 (intensity factor 1.334)
Norm Power: 333
VI: 1.39
Distance: 1.771 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 871 241 watts
Heart rate: 132 205 169 bpm
Cadence: 29 120 80 rpm
Speed: 2.3 31.9 19.0 mph
Pace 1:53 26:06 3:10 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 418 84 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 860 234 lb-in

Berkeley Road Race

On 3/24/07 I did the Berkeley Collegiate RR. My knee was still bugging me after my Cold Springs TT so I ended up pulling myself after the two of six laps. They call it the McEwan Climb....I was mustering a cadance to the drum of 50 up that road. That was just too much on my knee, theres no need to hurt myself.....lots of racing ahead.


Race:
Duration: 1:05:16
Work: 835 kJ
TSS: 113.2 (intensity factor 1.021)
Norm Power: 255
VI: 1.2
Distance: 17.844 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 889 214 watts
Heart rate: 136 195 179 bpm
Cadence: 31 141 79 rpm
Speed: 0 52.6 16.4 mph
Pace 1:08 0:00 3:40 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 543 144 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 920 250 lb-in

Cold Springs TT

Well I would say I have been neglecting my blog page. I did the Cold Springs TT on 3/18/07 with me seat way to high....the next few days I paid for that mistake.

My TT time:
Duration: 16:18
Work: 285 kJ
TSS: 38.7 (intensity factor 1.196)
Norm Power: 299
VI: 1.02
Distance: 6.784 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 718 292 watts
Heart rate: 131 188 183 bpm
Cadence: 32 124 89 rpm
Speed: 0 34.4 24.9 mph
Pace 1:45 0:00 2:25 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 334 79 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 1190 280 lb-in

Windy day in cold springs

Well I have to say its nice to race the wheelmen events again. It has been tough to tell if I am getting better due to the fact that I am racing with the mens A's in the collegiate series. The goal for the night was to hold my power at 300.....almost achieved that.



Race:
Duration: 15:29
Work: 277 kJ
TSS: 38.1 (intensity factor 1.216)
Norm Power: 304
VI: 1.02
Distance: 6.787 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 139 630 299 watts
Heart rate: 115 185 181 bpm
Cadence: 32 124 95 rpm
Speed: 0 39.6 26.3 mph
Pace 1:31 0:00 2:17 min/mi
Hub Torque: 30 458 79 lb-in
Crank Torque: 121 1133 268 lb-in