Sunday, October 29, 2006

More CXin

Leading up to today, weather has kept me off the bike for the past three days.
So today was the Indy CX race at Brookeside Park. This is a tough course w/ lots of grass, lots of pavement and a stair run up i.e.: it’s a tough course. It was brutal too. I worked super hard. Our race was 45min + one lap. My HR was through the roof the whole time, I couldn’t get recovered, though I was able to find a rhythm, that rhythm was just right around where my lungs were on fire. Add onto it this chest cold that I’ve been fighting for about a week and a half and I was beat. I coughed for probably about 5 minutes straight, spitting up a bunch of phlegmy crap after I finished. I ended up 6th in my race, which isn’t too bad against all the Ohio guys and considering how bad I felt afterwards. I’ll take it.
Lindsay won her race and got a sweet schwag bag for winning. She got a jacket, a hat and some other stuff. Good for her.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Rain

Past two days (Thursday and Friday) have been wash outs.
Back to Wednesday though. We went out to ride cross bikes for about 2 hours. We deviated from our original plan to checkout some trials off of Fairfax rd out by Lake Monroe that we had never been on. Well, as it turns out one of our party had been on these trail before and it turned into a "oh, I used to ride here all the time, I know exactly where these go" situation. Well, it turns out "used to ride here all the time" was probably about 20 years ago and we ended up riding about 50yrds down a several different trails, then turning around because they don’t’ go anywhere anymore. Finally we get out of this little trial system and back to the road, but then we turn off of Fairfax onto some gravel drive that he "used to ride all the time and knows exactly where it goes." We climb this huge gravel hill and it basically leads to a woods w/ no trails in it one way, a big "Posted No Trespassing" gate the other way and a farm house (w/ dogs) the other. SO we take the farm house route, great. The dogs go crazy and I’m waiting for the owner to be woken up and get his shotgun (luckily he doesn’t). So we haul ass across his huge opened grass field to try to find an outlet to the road, but there isn’t one. We end up hiking the bikes through the woods (not on trail, we’re blazing here) looking for the gravel road we started on. We did find it eventually, but not before hearing gunshots off in the distance (not something you want to hear lost in a woods in BFE @ the beginning of hunting season). We got to the gravel road, got to Fairfax and rode back in. We covered about 25miles, but a lot on road (my cx bike is not set up to climb on the road) and the rest total junk off road miles. Oh well, it’s bound to happen sometimes. For the record though, I hate "exploring" on rides. I’m a course rider. I like pre-lain courses that I can just ride, on road or MTB. I don’t want to have to do the exploring, I want to do the riding. I don’t even really like the first time I do a new road ride. I like knowing where I am, how long I have left, when I’m going to be where, etc. That’s just my style. Peeps in Muncie always gave em crap for always doing the same rides, but that’s just how I train. I suppose this is the time of year to have that stuff happen though.
So, like I said, today it raining again, and it looks like it’ll be a no ride day. These mornings I have been working on my other bikes. My MTB has been in about as many pieces as it can be since the 24 hour (Oct. 1), so I’m getting it ready to be put back together. All the parts are cleaned and ready to be re0installed, but I need to overhaul the suspension linkage and overhaul the hubs before it’s RTR. Whatever, I probably won’t ride it until Jan or Feb, realistically.
Weather pending, there’s an event tonight (Friday) of Scary Stories in a local park Lindsay and I may go check out. This could be cool ,depending on who the story teller is. It says "not recommended for children," so that part seems promising.
CX Sunday is Brookeside Cross in Indy this weekend. I think I’m going to race the "B’s" race, as 1) I already have "B" points from the OH UCI race, 2) B is 45min ("A" is 60min) and 3) I can race "B" at the IN ST CX Champs and have a shot of winning. I may be able to do okay in A’s, but okay as pack-filler, I can’t win. That’s the plan.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Past few cold days

Past few have been cold, and I’ve had a cold; go figure.
Monday it was hovering around freezing and cloudy, so I took the day 100% off of workout and drank tea/OJ to try to get better and recover from CX Sunday. It was probably a good idea.
Today (Tues) I rode road. I haven’t been on my road bike for about a week and a half (riding CX), so it was a nice change. Road bikes ride so much better than cross bikes. It felt effortless. I road about 33 miles (Bottom Rd loop). It was 32* when I left and *38 when I got back. Cold, but whatever, I made it.
Tomorrow we’re going to ride long CX. We’re scheduled to hit some big gravel hills, whewww!
I am referring to Sunday’s now and CX Sunday, as I am racing CX damn near every weekend in the near future. I think I’m racing something like 5 Sunday’s in a row. Pretty sweet "off season" huh?

Sunday, October 22, 2006

It's been a few (I was sick)

It’s been a little long, but I was sick for a couple days.
Since I last posted, we (RS Tim Cote and I) went on a good cx ride Wed. We went out a piece of single track that leads to some "country-ish" roads that lead to some gravel roads that leads to a gravel climb. This climb is on a road called Gross rd. Good name for a nasty climb. Basically you turn off of a gravel rd onto Gross, which is gravel too and climbs the entire road until you get Old SR 446. Gross becomes paved about halfway up, but is still climbing. It’s a toughie.
Then Thursday I went out alone and rode the Clear Creek trail in the rain. It was pretty miserable. It was cold and rainy, but I wanted to get a race simulation in, which meant riding the whole CCT (~11 miles) keeping my heart rate over 170. I had a bit of a tailwind on the way out ( I think) and couldn’t get the HR up, but kept in there on the way in. It was a decent workout, but I was cold and soaked.
Friday I was 100% sick. I felt bad all week, sore body and iffy stomach, etc, but Friday was the day. I was messing around before work because I didn’t feel up to a ride in the cold. I started to not feel good and went upstairs to lie down. Then I threw up. I called into work and stayed in bed all day.
I went to work Saturday and worked all day (9-6). I felt okay, but just okay. And tired, like wore out.
Then today was the opened for the Bloomington Underground Cylocross Series (http://www.truesport.com/Bike/2006/flyers/bloomingtoncross.html); and I felt like, well, not good. So I went to the race, and there was a nearly record turnout. These are the races where it’s show and go. No one knows the course until we get there. No entry fee. No prizes/awards. Just grass-roots racing. It’s all good fun. However, they are very competitive. Jean-Luc Serreire, Michael Feske, Ryan Shannahan, Issac Neff, there’s fast people there. We rode to the course, and I rode awesome. Two days off and one of full bed rest does a body good. I got 5th, which is my best B-Town result and I was beat by people that, barring something going wrong on there part, I can’t beat on my best day. SO I was happy. I beat some people I didn’t expect to beat. I rode really good; I was on fire.
I have been drinking plenty of OJ, taking at least one multivitamin, and drinking green or black tea everyday to get my systems up. Hopefully I shake this clod (or whatever it is) by tomorrow or so I can "train." ( the quotes note that my weekly hours are so low that I shouldn’t consider what I’m doing trianing.)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The CX

Went to Cinci for the UCI cyclocross race this past Sunday (10/15). My first CX of the season. The UCI is the Unione Cycliste Internationale, which is based in France and is the governing body for bike racing world wide. They’re the people who put on the Tour De France, etc. so this was a big production.
We picked up a friend on Columbus (IN) to go w/ us and it took us inly about 2:15 or so to get there, so we there really early because I was expecting it to take us closer to 3hrs. No biggy though, we just registered and hung out. Andy (dude from Columbus) and I rode a couple laps of the course to check it out before we races which led me to one conclusion: this was gonna hurt. It was a tough course. A lot of pedaling and some technical stuff too. It had some long open "fast" sections of riding and then a bunch of really tight 180* switchbacks where you basically had to slow to just above a stop for the corner, then hammer back out of it. Tough. Plus it had a volley court section to ride through, which was (to my surprise) totally rideable. You just had to carry speed into it and shift your weight back (so to not stick you f wheel into it and go over your bars, which apparently some people did)(being a MTBer sometimes pays off big). Anywho we ended racing 5 laps of this joy and I ended up 25th out of 48 or so. I expected to place better than that, but whatever. In the last two laps, I bridged to a 3 man group (which was a 4 man w/ my latching on) from which one guy just rode off the front of and nobody had it in him to chase him down, one guy got shelled off the back and me another dude had the uphill grass sprint to the line, which I took. So I was happy to have had the "umph" at the end. Not that sprinting to 25th is anything to brag about, but, again, whatever.
47min:09sec
5 laps/11.1miles
av hr-180bpm
mx hr-190 bpm
speed: av 14.2/mx 20.8
Yesterday (Monday) I ran 3.5 and felt like crap. I don’t claim to be a runner, but I had a side stitch forming about 10 minutes in and would have walked if I hadn’t known that it’d be over soon.
Today (tues) it is hella wet from raining all day yesterday and spitting rain right now. I think I’ll take the day off and get a few thing done I’ve been meaning to do, namely vacuum the floor(s) and clean up some bike parts.
Tomorrow we’re riding CX.
This weekend is the first of the 5 race Bloomington Underground cross series races. Should be fun…getting one’s butt kicked by Ryan Shanahan, Jean-Luc Serriere, Issac Neff, et all. Phweww. I heard Matt Battin’s not racing this years B-Town UG CX, so the goal for me (Cat III/Expert) should be to not get lapped at all! We shall see.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Dude wheres my coat?

Holy crap it got cold. It’s been freezing or just below the past two nights. That means right around freezing @ ride time. I’m not used to that. It’s quite the shock to the system. I rode yesterday what has come to be the normal Thursday ride hitting 4 hills for hill work. I about froze in general and especially on downs. The weatherbug said 32* when I left and 34* when I got back. Man.
Today I wanted to ride road, but it was 34* and the wind was supposed to be 25-35 mph and I wanted no part of that. It’s windy, but I don’t think it’s THAT windy yet. Anywho, I rode my CX bike out to the end of the Clear Creek Trail and back. Just a little 50 or so minute jaunt to keep warm. It’s not very long, but to go ride your CX bike ~15 miles on non paved stuff is awesome.
I am going to my first CX race of the year (well, of the season, I race cross in January and February of this year) Sunday in Ohio. It should be a big race and a lot of work because these Ohio guys love their cross. Our joke is: while we’re riding trainers all winter to train for summer road/MTB racing, they’re riding trainers all summer to train for winter cross racing. Eh, it’s all good fun.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

In the books

Another Hilly 100 is gone. Josh and I were extremely busy the whole time. I figured up with my hours at the bike shop Friday I worked around 32 hours over the weekend. We were busy w/ repairs pretty much non stop. My hands are sore at this point from wrenching and installing tons of tires. It’s fun though and a good change of pace (although that change of pace is much faster than normal). The weather was great for the Hilly and everyone seemed to be in good spirits and having a good time. I lost my voice some Saturday night form talking almost non-stop the entire weekend. I got to ride Sunday, but Josh forgot his shoes so I rode w/ Big Zach (http://zachruble.blogspot.com/) from Muncie. It was his second lap of the 50 mile Sunday route, so he was 50miles up on me from the start. He is a pro triathlete, so 100 milers are nothing to him. But 100 milers w/ B-Town hi8lls are another story. He was totally worked over and drafted my wheel 100% of the ride. I dropped him on the hills and waited for him at the top, then pulled him to the next hill. I wanted him to stay on my wheel incase he totally bonked out I could help him out. This was my plan until the last hill (Water Tower), on which I planned to totally stick it to him, as it’s only about 3 miles from the finish. He tried tooth-and-nail to hang on, but had nothing left in the tank. He admitted I totally worked him over and that he needs to be pounded like that more often. Good Hilly all around.
Monday: off after the BUSY weekend.
Tuesday: rode the cross bike out Wapahani Park via the Clear Creek cinder trail and busted 5 laps around the lake. About 1hr 15min. Nice little work out of the CX.
Today (Wed): RS and I rode CX bikes on a nice 1hr 15 (~21mile) ride on gravel roads and trials. It was a good loop and started raining a little toward the end , which is fine on CX bikes. This loop, however, has a big descent on it w/ no climb up to it to speak of. So next week we’re going to go out and do the loop opposite the way we did today to climb this gravel road which should be pretty challenging. I was along descent,, so it should be a borderline grueling climb!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

The Hilly is upon me

Probably won’t post for few days since I have to work the Hilly 100 the next few days.
First things first, I got out for a nice 25 or so miler today on the road bike, which I have not had my butt on since last Thursday. Riding MTB and then the CX bike made me actually want to ride my road bike, it was nice. I hit a road I’ve never been on before (Lawson rd) that is basically a climb between two roads I am on anyway, just a different way to get to one from the other. It’s a nice road that has several turns throughout the climb. I’m going to make it part of my 4 hill route.
This weekend in B-Town is the Lotus World Music Festival which draws thousands of people and musicians form all over the world, Hilly 100, which draws 5,000 cyclists and some running race. It is going to be a total mad house in this town this weekend. I hope to get out after we’re done w/ Hilly (~10pm) and check out some of the Lotus music. It was a lot of fun last year. It’s real expensive to get in, but it’s all over downtown and you can see/hear pretty much everything w/ out actually going into the gated areas. Also hope to ride Sunday’s Hi8lly route after we’re done working, around noon.
We shall see…

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

CX

It was supposed to be storming this a.m., but it wasn’t. Good, due to running yesterday, I decided that if it was raining today it’d be another day off for me, though I wanted to ride my cx bike.
And so I did. I rode out the Clear Creek trail (B-town’s rail-trail which is largely cinder [perfect for cx riding]) to Wapahani park and busted 3 laps around the lake, then back. It was all just a little over an hour and no hard effort, but who needs that right now? I wanted an easier ride w/ no climbing, so the CCT is about the only way to ride outside flat around here. It actually is a really nice day so far; almost 70* and sunny.
I finally slept good last night. It’s been about a week since I’ve had good solid sleep. And after the weekend and being sore from running I needed it. Thank you Mr. Sandman.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

24

Too much happens in a 24-hour race to tell in a blog post, so I’ll hit the needed points. I arrived at Winnona Lake around 10:30 and my team was already there w/ the tent seat up, etc. I unloaded my crap, set up my sweet folding pick0a0nick table and we hit the pre-race meeting. We decided I would ride first and the other really strong guy would be our anchor since he has done these events before and would likely be faster than me at night. Our day laps were about the same, but his night laps DID turn out faster, so it was good strategy. We decided to all go out and do 2 laps to start, then back off to one each as it got dark.
The start is san "enduro start" where your bike has to unrideable at the start. You have to either have a wheel off or your seat and then it’s a running start. I took off my front wheel and went to the start box. I got to my bike, got my wheel on and off I went. Yada, yada, I got us in the lead and got to know the course somewhat (crucial for having to do night laps).
My next lap was a single and it was around 6pm or so. I had to have light on my bike (per rules after 5:30), but I didn’t need it, I was another day lap, basically. But it had cut loose storming while my relay tag was out, about 20 min before I had to go. This made the course very muddy and very hard to ride. This was sign of things to come…
My next lap was around 11:00pm. This was my first it me ever night riding. I was a little nervous, but I had studied the course well enough during the light, that I was confident. Danny P was there doing the solo 6 hour event, but brought his light w/ him and didn’t use it, so I took it. It is a huge pimpin Light & Motion HID light (nicest one available) and it absolutely saved me. It was like riding in the day almost. This thing is sweet. I had no problems riding at night and turned in a sub-hour lap, which is a) pretty fast for a night lap b) pretty fast for the wet conditions and c) pretty fast for my first time ever night riding. The things got worse…
My next lap(s) was a two-sy. Two laps, at night. I think it was around 3-3:30 am and I had slept about ½ hour or so. By this time the dirt was sticky, wet heavy clay-like mud. It would build up everywhere there was open space on your bike and make it nearly impossible to ride. It was rough. I made it through the first of the two in just over 1-hour and went out for another. The course was getting worse. This lap was ssslllooowww; about 1hour 20min or so. I had to do a lot of walking and I about bonked at one point. Luckily I knew where the aid station was (unmanned at about 5-5:30 am) and I stopped and drank some Gatorade and ate a few cookies to get some sugar in me. I really didn’t want a bonk on top of the miserable conditions and it being dark. I got back on my bike and crawled through this lap to have my rear derailer hanger break k off right at the end. So I had to run my bike to the transition to tag off, but I was done riding. Even if I wanted to go back out I couldn’t due to broken bike issues. OS I got in my car and slept for about an hour or so. Well needed sleep.
As it turns out I would have had to go back out around 11am if I could have, but our anchor Jeff took my lap and we won the 24-hour 4-man team race! We won it. The lead I got us in the first two laps we never lost. We started first and finished first.
Overall, I’m glad I did it. During it I was miserable and cursing myself for doing it and the weather for making it terrible, but now I’m glad I have done it. I feel stronger for having done it (that which doesn’t kill us…). If I hadn’t had a team I 100% would have quit, but I couldn’t let them down, so I stuck it out. I’m sure every one there wanted to quit, but those of us who stuck it out are stronger for it.
I didn’t work out Monday after driving home Sunday afternoon, so tired I was road hazard. Deserved day off for recovery.
Today I ran 3.5. It was storming and I wanted to ride CX, but I ran instead due to rain. 3.5 miles 29minutes. Seems okay for my first "long" run of the year (and my second run of the year).
Hilly 10 this weekend. Work, work, work. No rest for the, well, no rest for me anyway.
Entry fee for DINO 24-hour race: $110/person ($440/ 4-man team).
Prize for winning race that cost $440/team: 4 medals. That is larceny.