Wednesday, June 30, 2010

More Pics (of dirt)

A few from DINO French Lick: (thanks Matt Link)

(at finish/loop split, eyes on the line)

(I think this is taken right before or after the previous one)

(I think this is on the the finishing "chute")

MMSF RR Pics

Pics from John Bennett(Ryan on the lonely road to victory)

(me on the front)


(me second wheel)

(on a climb, not sure which one)

(climbing)

Sunday, June 27, 2010

End of the Road

Season that is.
The Morgan Monroe State Forest Road Race (MMSFRR) was Sunday and marked what effectively is the end of my road racing season. I will still do time trials, MTB racing and maybe the odd RR that pops up, but nothing else on the schedule.
I had several good races, none particularly bad, but no wins either.A few 2nds and 3rds that were close, but no W's.
I fully intended to win the MMSFRR. The race organizer turned the pre-race planning into a cluster coitus of no support, no police on the course and no sanctioning body. All the confusion left our team w/ just two players, down from four.
On lap 1 (of 4, a hilly 14mile loop w/ a 2mile climb at the end) my other team mate took off up the road. I immediately went to the front of the group to shut down any organization from the field to chase him down. It wasn't exactly what we had planned, but a win for the team's a win. So as he got up the road, I stayed back and chased down every single move that went to make sure 1) he wasn't caught and 2) his gap could grow as much as possible. It turns out chasing down move after move is probably even more work than being off the front, where you can get a good hard (but steady) rhythm going and motor. Hard, but steady. In the field it's hard, but a bunch of hard bursts, no real rhythm at all. Anywho, my blocking (and Ryan's strength) worked well and he got ~4-5minutes on the field and won. I had ambitions of breaking on the last lap and taking second, but I had done too much work and was dead at the end. Our last ascent of the 2mile climb, I was in survival mode, not race mode. I think I crossed the line 8th, but was rewarded by Ryan form his winnings w/ cash for my efforts (which I DO NOT expect, but appreciate).
Overall, it was a hot, hard day. I rode well and we got team win, so good day.
And as I mentioned I'm basically done road racing, so I'll keep "maintenance training" through July, then start thinking about cyclocross. I'm going to have to take a week or so off in a few weeks though; I need a break before CX training/season begins. But the State TT and National TT races are coming up too, so I have to balance all that.
This weekend is MTB racing at Muskatatuck Park in North Vernon. Saturday is STXC (Short Track Cross Country), and Sunday is regular XC. If I can swing getting out of work Sat, I'll do STXC and I'll do Sunday regardless.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Pics from the Lick

I scored a few pics from the French Lick MTB race. Taken by the trail builder, Alex Stewart.

(not sure where or when this one is, but I'm sure it's me because I can see my number plate)

(this I'm not 100% sure is me, but I think so)

(this is earlier on because I can see one other guy just behind me and we had him dropped ~halfway through the first lap [I'm sitting third in this pic {in the orange}])

Friday, June 18, 2010

Weekend stuffs

I happened across this photo of (one of the) Olsen twins and thought only 1 thing when I saw it:

Maybe they're triplets and Sam Kinison was separated from them at birth!?!
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This weekend was the DINO MTB race at the French Lick Resort trail down south. I rode the trails here a few weeks ago, so I had some rough idea of what to expect, however monsoon rain.storms the night before had me (and everyone) worried about ultra-nasty muddy conditions. It was muddy in places, but overall I would rate the trail condition as not too bad to perfect. The shift in conditions form wet starting to bone dry after a couple of hours was wreaking havoc on drive trains and a lot of people (myself included) were having shifting/chain suck/general chain issues (being wet in the beginning, your chain would loose lubrication, then becoming dry dust and crap would get kicked up into your [now non-lubricated] chain making it cease operation.)
The race started in a cyclocross fashion, w/ a taped off, dead flat drag on a field (actually it was a golf driving range). I thought a few thing about this: 1)Sweet! A CX start, I'm good at that. 2) I AM good at CX starts, but I don't know if I'm in "CX shape" right now and 3) who cares? JFR.
I got a good start and entered the trail 4th. I sat 4th for most of the 1st lap, but capitalized on a bobble made by 3rd and moved into his spot. The guy in 1st was out of sight and once we hit the climbs, I moved into 2nd and tried to pursue 1st; he was long gone though. I traded off 2nd and 3rd another time or two due to chain problems of my own, but was able to lay it down on the climbs and finish a strong 2nd.
It was a good hard race.
Today (Sunday) Lindsay and I went up to my parent's for a Family Reunion of my Mother's side. Plus it was Father's day and good excuse to hang w/ my old man. I got up early and busted out a quick EZ hour spin to get the kinks out from yesterday, then we headed north. It was nice to see everyone, but especially my dad, my mom my brother and his wife (who is7months pregnant).
Good times.
This weekend if the Morgan Monroe Forest road race. I've been looking forward to this for awhile now. I'm pretty well prepared and I'm going pretty good right now in general. We'll see how it shakes out.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

40k (got my shirt)

I have a small collection of these beauties now. Which is AWESOME!!!!!
Today I made my first attempt of the year at the IRS Monrovia 40k Time Trial.
I had a good race, but kind of expected a bad one; I had a few things go wrong early on and was fearful that it would be a sign of things to come.
These TT's start early, first rider off at 7:30, so to get there, get warmed up, etc. you have to get up early. When I got there and got signed in I went to mix my EFS drink mix into my bottle, but I accidentally mixed my Ultragen recovery mix into the bottle. A mistake I've never made before, but no big deal. Next I went to put my bike in the trainer to warm up, and my tire was flat on my trainer wheel (not my race wheel). I had to fix the flat just to get my bike on trainer to warm up; lame. These two occurrences left me a little worried that something was going to go wrong.
But all went well.
The winds were less favorable going out, but made for a slight negative split (the best way to have to race w/ a wind [head out/tail back]). The humidity we're experiencing made it all kinds of muggy, even at ~8am, but I bested my previous time by 9seconds for a new best of 54min39sec. That's 27.2mph for those who care. Once I hit the rhythm I felt really good.
I got home and got quite a few chores done, then watched bike racing on TV. It's amazing to me the effects of a hard 40k race. It usually basically lays me out for the rest of the day. It's weird because it's less than an hour of riding, but it's so hard.
Anywho, I plan to race MTB this weekend at French Lick. Hopefully it stays dry. Though I find myself caring about MTB racing a little less every year, so if the rains continue, I could see myself just skipping it in favour of a long road ride. We'll see...

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

DINO BCSP MTB RR

Brown County State Park Mountain Bike Race Report (and other stuffs):

This past Sunday was the DINO MTB race at BCSP. This marked the first time I've toe'd a dirt line (w/ 26" wheels) in ~10months and the third time I've ridden my MTb at all this year. Needless to say, while my fitness is very good, my MTB skillz are not-so-much.
The good part is that the BCSP MTB course start on ~1mile BRUTAL road climb; perfect. I got into the front group on the paved start and we quickly whittled the field to 4 riders and had a significant gap by the time we hit the dirt. I rolled onto the trail in third and held that position for the whole first lap. Some exchanges were made in front of me, and one guy took off of the front and I was unable to respond because I was behind someone. I eventually moved to second on the second lap, but the first placed rider had checked out. During the third lap I was re-overtaken for second and moved into third; still pretty good, but forth was breathing down my neck. I drop him on climbs and gap him on pedaling sections, but on descents he was catching me w/ ease. On the final climb I went berserker to gap him, which I did, but turning onto the finishing trail, I ran into traffic and crashed while trying to pass. During my remount I was passed and moved into 4th, which is where I finished. It was a good day and a good race. I rode hard and finished (pretty) well. (I don' have a pic from the race, but I did snap this pic of a fat B-town cop on a segway)

This weekend I'm racing against the clock for 40k in Monrovia. I'm hopeful I can best my PR from last year. The 40k is a tricky effort though: it's easy to go too hard, and it's easy to not go hard enough. It's all about the sweet spot; "not blowing but still going" (I just made that up BTW). Anywho, I'm looking forward to it.
Training is going very good in general. I need a day on the TT bike leading into this weekend because I've not been on it in a couple of weeks. I plan to bust out some intervals on the TT, and hopefully be ready to suffer like the proverbial dog. Should be fun!

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Looong weekend.


With it being Memorial Day, I had a big 2 day weekend. Plus Sat the 29th was my birthday, so we had a lot going on over the past few days.
Friday night Lindsay took me "anywhere I wanted to go" for dinner to "celebrate" my having been born 32 years earlier. We went to Sushi Bar and got a bunch of sushi rolls. I've had plenty of sushi, but never really been to a sushi restaurant. It was good. Really good. We got ice cream at Brusters afterwords, and of course it was awesome.
Saturday (may actual bday) I worked all day, but had a few surprises throughout the day (I try to keep my b-day on the DL because I'm not into the hoopla of having a big deal made out of it), but facebook blew it for me. R.Semba got me a killer blueberry tart about the time little emily showed up w/ a bag of strawberries and gave me a few to put on my tart. And she got me a New Zealand apple at my request.
Saturday night Lindsay and I got some steaks at the store and I grilled them for us. Great dinner.
Sunday my parents were coming down for the afternoon, but me and a friend had planned a ride to scout the Hoosier Man Triathlon bike course. We drove down to the lake, did 1 lap easy-ish to see/feel the course, then one lap hard to get a feel for it at race pace. It was a good hard ride and a hot day. I rode back up into town once we were done and got in over 3hrs on the bike. Nice!
My parents arrived shortly after I got back, so we did some shopping while awaiting for Lindsay to get back in town from the MTB race she was doing. We hit TJ Max because I needed some underwear and Shoe Carnival because I needed some new sandals (the ones I have I have had for probably 6-7 years) . Once we got back and got Lindsay we went to Lennies and had an awesome dinner. It was a good time.
(you all still w/ me? I feel like this is getting long)


(Lindsay at the Fairfax Beach at Lake Monroe)

Monday (Memorial Day) Lindsay and I went down to ride the MTB trails at the French Lick Resort and Casino. There's a race there in a few weeks and I figured this would be a good time to get down and ride the trails/course to be at least a little familiar w/ it. It's a really good/really cool trail system. And a really cool area. There were some spots that were super muddy, but otherwise it's a great trail w/ some good climbing and nice flowing descents.
On the way back into town Lindsay and I stopped off at the Farifax beach at Lake Monroe. I haven't been there since I was a little kid, so it was kind of cool. It' is a total white trash hangout, but still kind of cool to have a "beach" ~10minutes (by car) from our house. We hung there for a little while, then came home which put an end to our epic weekend.
So while I would normally be doing the Tuesday night TT, I stacked a couple of hard days this weekend, and I have some more hard stuff before racing (mtb) this weekend, so I skipped the TT and did an easy hour.
So let's hope I don't embarrass myself too much racing MTB this weekend. I felt like I was riding pretty good toward the end of my French Lick ride, so wish me luck!!