Nature Valley Grand Prix

NVGP. starts tomorrow with a Time Trial. The finish line is at the top a of a mile long 14% grade twister climb. It is a regular training spot for local nutbags like myself. It will be very cool to see the pros rocket up it. Kristin Armstrong is back again this year I am really excited to see her race again. Last year she beat the crap out of everyone..... then went and won gold medal. I hope more of the Cervelo Test Team come this year. She was essentially on her own last year.

It will also be fun to see some of the local heavy hitters tangle with someone their own size. We have a local woman road racer that is unbeatable with local talent. On one hand it's cool to see a racer of that level on a regular basis. On the other hand it has a dampening effect on the women's racing scene. I mean why bother with Teresa out there. She is a great racer and on the few occasions I've spoken to her, quite pleasant. I imagine being a local celeb could be annoying as hell some times.

We have a rider in our club who I am sure could take on anyone in town and beat them. But she won't because she to afraid to tangle with Teresa.

Anyway enough local racing scene soap opera stuff.

This week is a recovery week so rest and easy rides for me. Good thing I am baked... : ) On saturday the last of my hard rides in the microcycle I had no legs at all, and a huge head wind coming home....hahaha.

I'll post some NVGP pix tomorrow

CU

Bread and Butter

Some of the usual suspects lined up for a saturday ride

I haven't posted much lately due to the a lack of exciting or post worthy activites. I haven't races in a while I am just pugging away at my training and feeling pretty good really. I went out with the guy's ( all of them regularly faster than me) and faired pretty well. I even got in a break with one of the better sprinters of the group and held my own.. not bad for little ol' me.

On a personal note.... It's interesting that this little experiment of mine has gone on long enough. People are beginning to accept me in my new role. I don't mean approve of it I mean they have changed their assumption of who I am. A sign of this changing role is, on several occasions recently people have been coming to me for help or guidance. Whooa?

I have been a ride leader for the beginner ride for the club /team this year and I am really enjoying it. It is very gratifying to offer to others some of the care and patience that I've received from my mentors on the team. I am a big believer in pay it forward. It's an opportunity to show my gratitude by giving and listening.

Gotta keep on truckin.

erik's spring cup.

So I went and did it... a mountain bike race that is, and it was a really cool experience. The race was the Erik's Spring Cup. It was about 10 miles of dirt single track with only one obstacle. The whole race took about 48 minutes. I came in 4th in my age group and 48 out of 125 overall.

By far this is the highest I have ever finished in anything. At least I'm in the top half! A first for me. All kidding aside this was a pretty big win for me yesterday.

I would have done better but I wrecked twice. I did a full superman on one of them. It cost me 20 or 30 spots in my wave that I had to work my way back through... all that traffic took time and cost me overall positions. Note to self try not to wreck..

I am defiantly going to do one of these again.

Busy bee

Training and work have been very full for the last couple weeks. I wont bore you with work flotsam but I will bore you with training babbling.

Me finishing The durand road race with a birchwood racer

One reader has teased me that my photo's and movies tend to feature peoples butts.. here ya go. As we all know the reality is in cycling you spend a fair bit of time with other peoples butts in your face.

So the durand road race was good. I did as usual coming in toward the back. There are several circumstances that are keeping me from being too bumbed out. Most Importantly I am still in a base period of training and nowhere near ready to race. I knew that going in and so looked on the race as an opportunity to get some training in and have some fun. mission accomplished.

I am on a new training plan and it includes weight lifting and plyometric drills. so I have been consistently sore for the past few weeks. I am having moments on the bike that are really encouraging, but they are fleeting. Hopefully as I near the preparatory and racing periods these occurrences of good performance will be more consistent.

The team is having one hell of a spring and is getting podiums in about every race we're in. Unbelievable. Keep in mind we're all beginners and in cat 5 but, but compared to last year when I was nearly alone out there and getting slaughtered. It's a night and day change.

I am hope to finish a race this year in the lead group. I am reluctant to say getting on the podium this year. We've come a long way from two years ago for sure but keeping it real is important. Goal #1 is start finishing races in the front. We'll worry about where in the front we end up, once we're there.

Thanks to my team mates, The Big Kahuna, and Mo for all their support!

Seasons first race one win for the team!

The first race of the year was Tuesday and a teammate won. It was a cat 5 win as we are all beginners but a win is a win. So everyone is really excited for the durand road race this weekend. I just hope the weather holds. The early season races can be cold and rainy. I am feeling pretty good. I can tell I'm not anywhere near a peak but that's how it goes.

I am starting to feel some confidence creeping into my cycling and feeling mentally stronger than I have this time of year in past years. I have been riding relatively strong with my teammates and on my solo training rides.

I think I am finally starting to develop some usable leg strength. I am finding I can ride temporarily in a little bigger gear letting my cardio recover a bit. It's not there yet by any means but it's a tool that I didn't have last year.

I have been thinking about strategy for the race on saturday. I think I ride with more confidence. Ride closer to the front and risk being on the front a little bit. I always ride very very conservatively which holds me toward the back and in a poor position to stay with the pile when it accelerates. I wish I was going to have some teammates in my race but they will all be in the 4-5 race. I am staying in the 5 only race. If I stop getting dropped in the 5 races I'll consider the 4-5.

As you can tell the race nerves are starting up somewhat. I really do need to work on not beating my self up mentally too much in the days leading into a race. Always something to work on.

next entry: Durand Road Race Highlights!

Durand Road Race

So it's one week from the first race of the year. The venerated Durand Road Race. Last years addition was the first race of my life. Re-reading last years full on panic attack makes for entertaining reading. I am going in to this more as a training ride than a race I'm too worried about outcome. I am in a base training time period and not really prepared to race. I am looking forward to racing course for the second time. having done it once I'm a bit more mentally prepared which is comforting. I am going to mimic my preparation prior to birke. That was as prepared for any event as I have ever been. Which mean a very restful week next week. I've been riding everyday this week though not really long efforts and not a lot of really hard efforts. It will be interesting to see how I respond to racing when really rested.

In other news. One of my team mates thinks I pedal wrong so he used my camera to film my pedaling just sure I would see the error of my ways.. Looks like regular pedaling to me..What do you think?

on the road.

I'm off to Durand Wisconsin. I had a terrible ride yesterday so my hopes for an above average performance took a good knock. Lucky for me I have been a poor predictor of outcome so who knows.

I still have a few hours to get my head on straight. Better get to work on that.

Next post I'll have a report from the field.

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