My Back Pages

Cannondale Specifications

2011-07-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

Page 108 of the attached PDF has the frame specs.

http://www.bikestationsarzana.com/site/?q=system/files/2010_CE_EN_FINAL.pdf

FS: 2009 Cannondale CAAD 9 CX Frame/Fork/Headset

2011-07-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

There is a dime sized area on the seat tube where the black paint has rubbed off. Otherwise the frame looks great. Only ridden from August-January last year. The BB is a BB30 style and I needed an insert for the outward bearings. I can include the insert with the sale.

It rides great and i am selling because I am upgrading to a custom bike.

$500

2010-06-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

Looks like the legs are putting up with running so right now it is alternation between running and swimming. I'll be able to ride again mid-July so then I'll do a 3 day rotation. You're going to see someone do cross in the fall purely for the love of it. aka, boy am I going to suck.

Life After Being a Competitive Athlete

2010-04-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

I began competitive athletics in 1977 when I started playing soccer. I was pretty good at soccer and went pretty far in terms of my skill set and performance. I played all year round and when I went to college, I played on the club team since there was no varsity soccer. After that I played as an adult until I was 27. So 17 years of soccer was pretty great and I loved every minute of it.

For cycling, my grandfather made dirt bikes out of used parts he collected and I always had a neat bike to ride and jump. I rode a Huffy Thunder Road and loved that bike. Basically your friends would ask if you wanted to ride bikes and it went from there. I had no idea about any sort of competitive cycling. I started delivering papers when I was around 13 and used a another store bought Huffy which was great. I convinced my parents to buy me a Schwinn Le Tour since touring was all the rage and I thought that would be fun. I rode that around but did not do any touring. When I went to college I bought my first road bike, a Trek steel racing bike. I rode that at night from Athens, GA to Commerce, GA on the highway (what was I thinking?)

In college back in 1986 I bought a mountain bike and began to mountain bike race. I had already been riding a road bike casually for about 4 years. I did this seriously until I had a bad experience at a race in 1990 and gave up for 3 years. Probably good since I finished my masters degree.

In 1993 I ran seriously for 3 years and loved that. I was also in my last 2 years of playing soccer. I was asked by some REI workmates to do the 24 of Cannan as a team. This was in 1995 and it was the year of the 6" deep mud. It was thrilling and got me back into the sport. From then until 2000 I slowly built up fitness and did centuries and some races. But after discovering cyclocross in 2000, I really got addicted and started training seriously. I bought a PowerTap in 2004 and after that it was very serious.

Now it is 2010 and physically my body is not responding and my health, while not poor, is not where it was even 6 months ago. Running is almost impossible with my leg issues and cycling has been difficult with other health problems. Weight gain has occured and I feel for the first time in my life, "unathletic". So 33 years of being an athlete has gone by. I have not given up, but I doubt I will ever consider myself competitive again. I sort of saddens me but I did a lot in this time and will probably find some sort of athletic level I can do, just not like before.

Some Perspective

2010-03-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

Probably no one knows that I have had a fairly serious medical condition since my late 20's that rears its ugly head every so often. It has not come back for the last 5 years but has been a problem for me since January this year. It is a nuisance in terms of daily life and makes riding a bike a problem. I have been on medicine since January and it has helped some but not all the way. Hopefully it will go away for awhile real soon.

I rode and raced a lot last year, more than I ever had in the past. With riding close to 8,000 miles and doing around 25 races I was ready to just about quit. It was really too much for me. In fact, I had gotten into a grind that a lot of guys relish and look forward to of planning training, racing, seeing progress or achieving goals, then beginning again in January. It becomes addiction and work. You immerse yourself in the sport so that most of your friends are bike people, most of your blogs and websites you visit are cycling related, and that sets you up for a big fall if something disrupts your little utopia. That's what happened to me. I find that cycling, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Meaning, if you are out of the bike game, there is always someone else to take your place, so you are not missed much and you find pretty quickly that you are not that important, or at least not as much as you thought. If your friends and contacts are mostly cyclists and you are not cycling, then you have set yourself up to fail.

That's what has happened to me. Since I cannot ride much and definitely can't race, I am not in the game. I think it saved me really. Cyclists are very good at ego and building themselves up to be something they are not. I thought it was a good idea to emulate how professionals do things in order to be a good amateur. But, somewhere you lose sight that you are just an amateur as the miles get larger and training time gets bigger. Your money spending and products, concepts and ideas you identify yourself with start identifying you instead of you identifying it. It is basically bike culture and it is not bad as long as you are in the game.

If you are out of the game for an extended period and you are reflective, you might find that you have become a "slave to the road" which to some is something to emulate. But honestly most of us are not professionals and becoming slaves to amateur racing is not healthy. It is not healthy in the sense that you can lose your perspective and lose yourself. For me it was easy to be the "teacher who rides to school and races bikes" since not many folks to that at my school. It is also easy to become the guy who races or the guy who does such and such miles each year. That's fine until you are not that guy. You get immediate gratification and positive feedback, which builds upon itself. You find that with cycling being your main passion, you don't have too many other passions and your identity gets lost. That is what happened to me. It is embarrassing and somewhat pathetic but I think it is also common. This is to say that I am excluding my family life in the conversation since I have done a good job balancing sport and family. But, some don't and it ends up in strained relationships, lost friendships and sometimes even divorce or trouble with the kids. I have seen that happen and guys just continue to race, with that being their positive feedback and identity. I definitely don't want to be that guy.

I also think biologically that cycling/sports can be just as addictive as drugs or fatty food. I think they both act on the pleasure centers of the brain and with cycling the more you ride and the more successful you feel, the more you want to do it and devote time/energy/expense to feeling that again. I think not all people respond this way, just like all people are not drug addicts or fat. I think I respond that way. I think I like they way it feels and want to feel that way again and hence the long cycle of identification with it. The only way to become normal is to understand it and break the cycle.

I think knowing this and expressing it helps me. It is a matter of finding other things to do and be passionate about. I love cooking and gardening as well and those are avenue to explore. I have also been told to maybe do some volunteer work or charity which might be good as well. When I get better I hope that my bike time will increase again but I have no interest in training or doing any sort of intervals right now. I do want to race cyclocross this fall but I also want to drink beer after and not chase points. I could very well start the season without being on a bike for 4 months. In the past 10 years that has not happened.

I think racing bikes or even serious riding is similar to the Red Queen philosophy that i teach in evolution and that came from Alice in Wonderland. Basically, in the Red Queen's world Alice and the Queen are racing but Alice notices that they never seem to be getting anywhere. The Queen states that that is the trick--you have to run faster just to stay on one place. To me, that is the nature of competitive cycling and the reason it dominates and sucks so many people into the grind. You get sick and loose a few weeks, it feels like you lost a year so you struggle to keep pace and feel forced to do so by ego, routine or even for amateurs by a contract. So you run faster to remain the same or get a little better as others do too and before you know it you don't feel as if you can fall behind or take a break because the game will pass you by.

This is a sport you can do life long. Pace yourself, don't take it too seriously, have fun and keep your perspective. Don't be like me, a recovering athletoholic. I am going to find my health and perspective although it might take awhile.

2009 Fuji Tahoe SL 29er For Sale

2010-03-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

I am going to call it new since I rode it once for an hour at Big Creek.

A 2009 17" (small) hardtail 29er with pictures and specs here: http://2009.fujibikes.com/Mountain/29er/Tahoe29SL.aspx

I am 5'7" and around 170lbs for perspective on size.

I have added some stuff to make it nicer and lighter.
Shimano Deore XT Cranks (170mm)
Time ATAC Roc pedals (not new but very nice)
Thompson Elite seatpost
Specialized Phenom 143 saddle
Thompson 100mm stem
Easton carbon monkeylite riser bar
Stans ZTR Arch tubeless wheels
Front tire Specialized Fast Trak 29x2.0
Rear tire Specialized The Captain 29x2.0

Stock components:
Sram x-9 drivetrain
Avid Juicy 7 disc brakes
Rock Shox Reba SL fork w/ Mission Control handlebar lock out
Frame is 56cm c-c sloping top tube
17" or 43cm seat tupe c-t

I also have the original Fuji stock wheelset that is not tubeless I can throw in for free.

Retailed for $1300 in December at Reality Bikes

Make offer.

bobkuhn3@netzero.com, PM or 404-735-5363

Winter Cyclcoross Series Polls

2010-02-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have a few polls regarding some ideas for the next winter series in January 2011. I know it is far away but if you like cyclcoross and get a chance, please vote. Thanks!

http://romewintercross.wordpress.com/

3-4 Day North Carolina Rides

2010-02-12T06:39:00.000-08:00

I am heading up to North Carolina from April 7 to the 10th. I am doing
3 road rides and 1 MTB ride. In the event that the MTB ride does not
happen, I will do 4 road rides.

Ride 1: Northern Hill Route-- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9046394
around 55 miles/6100ft total elevation--starts from Asheville

Ride 2: Asheville-Hot Springs-Asheville--
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nc/asheville/131125017169...

Ride 3: Turkey Pen MTB Ride-- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18060236
tough ride in Pisgah and climbs 16,000 ft

Ride 4: Rapha Continental Road Ride-- http://www.rapha.cc/french-broad-river
which is around 105 miles

MTB Replacement Ride-- Blue Ridge Parkway from Folk Art Center or Mt.
Mitchell and back (60 miles)

The MTB ride is very ambitious and I am not sure if it will happen but
I am all in for the road rides. These will be done at a pace of around
17mph and there will be a lunch stop on each of them. These are not
meant to really be training rides or races but Gentlemen's rides.
There will be good beer provided each day and good dinner spots too.

Let me know if you are interested. Probably hotel in Hendersonville.

Cutting Back

2010-02-11T05:03:00.000-08:00

In 2005 my kid was born and I took it easy in terms of riding because it was the no brainer right things to do. I raced cyclcoross in the fall and had one of my best years (although the competition was a bit less that year).

This past year I decided to go all hands to the pumps and see what I could do if I really trained hard. For a 43 year old with a family and job (albiet summer time off) I racked up large miles and lots of intervals, stayed true to my training plan and got really fit. I was dialed in by September, had two really good UCI races and proceeded to hold the form until December. In that time I won some races and challenged myself in the cat 1/2 category a couple times. Then, still feeling good, I did large miles through the holidays and raced 4 more cyclocross races in January.

Let's just say I can't do that again. I wanted to see what kind of time demands I would have in order to get to a level above what I had previously achieved. It was too demanding for me and my place in life. I try to balance 3 things: dad/spouse, work, play. Although I had no family or work issues, the riding ended up just like a job and it was easy to let the success hide that fact.

Since I don't get paid to work by riding my bike, and my career is demanding enough, I don't need a second job.

Riding your bike should be fun if you are an amateur who is above average at best. So, I am going to take 2 weeks off the bike completely and then focus this year on riding for fun. I like challenge so I am not giving up on competition, but the training aspect has to be cut back in order for me to not give up the sport in 3 years.

I'll probably get back to doing some group rides and longer rides. This summer I'll try to take it as it comes and not have a plan. My goal for the cyclocross season in the fall is to do every race, stay healthy, try not to get lapped, and have as much fun as possible without caring about points, etc. Sound too good to be true? I hope not.

2 Weeks Off

2010-02-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

I have not taken 2 weeks completely off riding since 2001. Wish me luck!

One Last Gasp

2010-01-31T17:13:00.000-08:00

Has it really been 6 months? I started doing cross specific stuff back in June to get ready for the early Starcrossed/Rad Racing races in September. Now in January my legs feel like it is finally time to hang up the cross bike. My fantastic wife and kid who never tell me no have vicariously gotten a lot of pleasure from cross as well this year but see it is time to take a break.

In May I emailed my long term coach John Verhuel for a nice summer/fall plan to take me up to nationals. I did a lot of intervals and some races last year to get ready for the cross season. In fact, the training block was really challenging in terms of balancing work/home/sport. There were many "two a day" days and some trainer work in my cramped little stockroom behind my classroom (next door classes would ask, "Is Kuhn using a shaver back there?" referring to the trainer buzz). My goal was to ramp up a training stress score of 100tss/day by September 1st and I came close getting to 98tss/day.

The fall was really stressful with work/life and trying to sell our house and move in this economy. In between all of that I was able to do two UCI races in Seattle while doing house deals over the phone. I came up pretty good with 1 top 10 and a top 20. Most people know I got punched in a race by Tim Butler (Sue Butler's husband) and I was also accused by an official at the race of threatening and putting my hands on him (the official). I tried to clear that up (because it was a lie or a case of mistaken identity) but it never got anywhere with USAcycling.
I also got to meet some great HUP NW guys like Zac Daab, Max Hullaway, Dave Roth and Bernard Georges and got to start next to Richard Feldman. Probably the coolest thing about the trip was racing at Rad with Mt. Ranier in the distance.

Back in Georgia I had a very good fall cross season with some wins and hard earned top 3's. I tried my hand at the A group and was in the top 5 both times. I made some new friends and new rivals and best of all rode some great courses. We had a lot of wet weather this fall/winter and racing in the mud is really fun and can change a course instantly. We also saw a change in the guard as Adam Jones handed the series off to a group of promoters. Adam has been a tireless worker for the cross scene here and having spent time with him at two nationals and his counter part Shey Linder at 3 nationals, they are two of the best. I was happy to see Daryl and Kim sawyer back on the bike and pushing their twins around the venues. They had a hell of a hard spring and to see them having fun was great. Of course the races were hard fought and my closest cross friend Brendan Sullivan and I drove to a few races together, only to compete with each other once we got there. There is no one I enjoy racing most than Brendan. He is truly a class act, very talented, and his toughness is unmatched. My favorite races with him were Dahlonega where I thought I had it won, only to have him come from the back row and catch me with two laps to go. The other was Savannah where we conspired to take a state jersey only to get foiled by about 5 seconds of undecisive racing and a very strong Eric Neely. Brendan's attack with 2 to go through the start finish is one I will remember forever.

In the end, Eric Neely was the warrior of the season doing most masters and A races each Sunday and I think Brady Rogers had the most heart. If anything, I was most consistent. I did not realize any championship or title but I had no injuries, stayed healthy, and rode as many races as I could as well as I could. This was my happiest cross season in 11 years.

The winter series was a short love affair that started in a make up race back in November when Brendan and went head to head in the mud. I liked the farm course and its circular orad in front of it, the fact that it was private property and that the promoters were so motivated. It evolved quickly into a neat 4 week winter series that had small attendance numbers but planted seeds for future years. next year I will help with promotion and try to grow it. We have lots of ideas and the fact that world's will now be in the US in 2012 allows us a few years to get it ready for those needing 4 more weeks before Louisville. If the GA cross series was my intensity, the winter series was shear joy. I gave equally hard efforts each week in mud, snow, ice and cold and it felt great. I can't thank everyone involved enough for their efforts.

We are about to see the fruits of our labor for the past 10 years in terms of cyclcoross in the US. Great things are going to happen in the next 5 years that will elevate the sport. There is no way I'll race another nationals or a world's until maybe I am a lot older, but I hope to go and scream a bit. There are rumors of a dedicated cross course in Atlanta, we have a full 10 race schedule next fall and then 4 races in January. Things are good. I will be starting my own tubular gluing business next summer and probably rent out wheel sets next fall for those who want to try tubulars (it will be cheap to rent and pretty cheap for gluing), so stay tuned if you are interested. I think I have the gluing art down pat.

Today I pushed it really hard knowing it would be the last race for awhile. The feeling of the right pressure of tubulars on mud, the cold air, and cowbells ringing reminded me that verything moves so fast. There is going to be a 3 week let down and then some riding. But June is only 6 months away and I'll have another excuse to get excited about cyclocross. Here is to 2010/2011!

Bring on the classics!

Rome Winter Cyclocross Series Race #2

2010-01-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

With rain the previous two days and temperatures in the 50's, the second race of the Rome winter series was destined for mud. David had added back the terraces and muddy 180 degree turn and some other treats on the moto-cross circut, but the moto-cross section was made of caking mud which made turning the wheels impossible. So with that section out, he ran the extended bottom course.

The turn out was much bigger this week and the A/B race had over 14 people. We had a visit from the Faster Mustache team and even had a fellow drive all the way up from Florida.

The A race was really fun with the course being one challenge and the Faster Mustache guys throwing down from the start. After about 3 laps I got a small lead over Eric Nicoletti but I hit a crevice in the wooden bridge which grabbed my front tire and threw me over. Once I regrouped he was off the front and by the end I was only able to come within 5 seconds or so.

The course was mostly grass and mud but David did also add in the paved quarter mile loop which made it even tougher. Looks like more free beer and more mud this Sunday. Hope to see some of you out there!

Rome Winter Cyclocross Series Race #1

2010-01-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

The cold only lasts the first 15 minutes, so basically it is all mental. At 11am in Eden Valley, site of the 2010 Rome, GA winter cyclocross series presented by Cycle Therapy, it was probably around 26 degrees with a wind chill of 17 degrees. The ground was frozen but the sun was shining. The pond was frozen over, but the heaters under the tent and in the RV were toasty.

The course included a short paved section, a short dirt steep run up the dam, lots of dirt track, some fields with chicanes, 3 dismounts and a nice section of whoops/bermed s curve to round it out. At first it was slow going because of the course but it loosened up over the hour to be a slushy mud in some places. I was using Challenge Fango 34's on box rims and they hooked up nicely.

Going for an hour in any condition is tough but you have to stay focused on the effort and course.

In the end, the soup was good and the race felty great. It is such a delight to still be racing cross in January.

I hope we have lots of like minded folks who want to get out of the base training rut, or who want to have a bunch of fun on a Sunday. Come on out, it is a cross celebration!

2009 Rome, Georgia Winter Series Prize List Sponsored By HUP United

2009-12-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

HUP United Southeast will sponsor additional prizes for the top 7 men and women finishers overall in the 4 race series. Cycle Therapy of Rome will offer a CASH PAYOUT for the top A/B Men/Woman/Overall placing!

***NEW: Southeasterncycling.com is sponsoring a $25 additional cash prize to the top woman in the series***

1st Place C Class Men:

Chris Milliman Photo print featured on Embrocation Magazine volumes 3 and 4. Winners will have a choice between the two. Options for other prints TBA.

2nd Place C Class Men:

Rapha Cap or Rapha Team Cap (choice)

3rd Place C Class Men:

Rouleur Magazine Issue 15 or Embrocation Magazine Cycling Journal Issues March or September 2009 (choice)

4th Place C Class Men:

Mad Alchemy Embrocation (their choice up to $20 value)

5th Place C Class Men

Mad Alchemy beer couzie or Start Stick (choice)

1st Place Masters Men:
Kuhn’s Winter Series Beer Survival Kit ($20 Value, Kuhn’s beer choice)

and...

THE TOP 3 SINGLE-SPEED SERIES FINISHERS WILL RECIEVE AN ENDLESS KICK ASS COG OF THEIR CHOICE, COURTESY OF THE ENDLESS BIKE COMPANY!

http://www.endlessbikes.com/

THE TOP JUNIOR RACER WILL WIN A 1 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO CYCLOCROSS MAGAZINE!

Additional prizes may be available by the 1st race so stay tuned.

“HUPcakes” will also be available at the races free of charge.

email Bob Kuhn at bobkuhn3@netzero.com with any questions

Come out and support Cycle Therapy's Winter Series and prepare to HUP it UP!

(HUPcake photo lifted from Chip Baker's Blog)

We Missed You at Our Party

2009-12-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

Today was a fun day because we got to race cyclocross for FREE in the mud, cold and rain on a farm with an owner who did not care that it was cold, rainy or muddy. Not many came out but we had fun regardless. Trey of Cycle Therapy in Rome, GA is holding a 4 race winter series at this same venue and I hope folks come out and support it.

I knew that MTB was out of the question because of the rain and a 3 hour road ride in the rain at 40 degrees and cold water spray did not sound appealing. A chance to get muddy and have a nice effort for 60 minutes sounded great.

The course was all taped off and had a heated tent port-o-john, power washer, etc. So there was no cutting corners. The course itself was shortened because Trey wanted to keep it close. The mud made it hard, and as the 60 minutes progressed the course deteriorated nicely. There was a short paved section, a nice run up a dam, 3 barrier sections, lots of terrain changes and off-cambers. I was able to crank out 12 laps in 60 minutes.

There were also lots of smiles and laughs. With the regular season behind, I felt liberated and wished others had come out to play. I know that the mentality is to stop after the last GA race and do some sort of base, but to be quite honest ATMO, base is for PROs not cat 3 superstars. I have no business doing base, just like I don't work hard enough to taper. One hour a week is not going to hurt your prep for road/mtb and it will do your soul some good to get out there and take on the challenge in the midst of January. Fuck the trainer, I'd rather get muddy.

Anyway, I am not judging, I'd like to see some other folks come out and have as much fun as we did today.

See if you can make it in January.

2009-10-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Mid-Year Stats

2009-07-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

Jan 09 to July 4 09

Hours: 244
Distance: 4034 miles
TSS Accumulated: 15, 000 points
KJ Expended: 174,202
CTL Change: +31
Races: 9

Some Upcoming Race Profiles

2009-07-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

GA Games RR

Looks pretty flat with a few rollers. I have never been to White, GA but if it is like Canton it is not totally flat.

Profile of One Lap:

I am doing the masters 35+ for 53 miles and I'll bet it will be pretty hard.

Race Course of One Lap:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ga/fairmount/548124273814962737"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Road Race Course&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/united-states/ga/fairmount"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Fairmount, Georgia&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Road Atlanta Circut Race

This looks like a great race but everyone says you either love it or hate it because of the surface and heat. It is pretty lumpy so I'll bet I will just try to hang on mid-pack.

Profile for One Lap:

Course Map

Harbins Road Race

I know this will really suck. It is going to take all I can just to not get totally dropped. The course is very hilly and will go for around 67 miles for the 40+ and these guys can fly.

Profile for One Lap:

Course Map

These are training rides for me so even if I just hang on I will get what I want from them. I have no intention of placing but maybe if I ride smart I can get in the top 20.

2009-07-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

I went to Chattanooga last weekend with the family and on Sunday did the Raccoon Mountain SERC MTB race. What a beautiful reservoir and trails. It must have been an engineering nightmare to build but it is really scenic and not far from the city. The race was smaller than I expected and there were only 13 40+ expert guys and with 10 minutes before the race the promoter decided to cut our lap count down to two. I was using it as a training race so I really wanted 3 hours but I guess with the nheat and the lap distances being 12 miles, he did not want to over-extend the geezers. Too bad, we were up for it.

The race started off nice on a long road section and I was maybe 5th into the woods. I soon backed off and rode at my own pace but around mile 2 my seat broke. so I had to compensate for this and try to get off and fix it every once and awhile. I lost major time and placings and by the middle of the lap I was hoping to just finish the race. I rolled into the start/finish and asked the promoter if I could fix my bike and finish. He said yes but I would have to be DQ'd for getting outside assistance. I was in last so it did not matter to me. I fixed the seat temporarily and did the seocnd lap much quicker than the first. In the end I finished 11th and he did not DQ me after all.

I have been trying to prepare for cross this fall and the volume and intervals are going well. By no means am I doing PRO numbers (like 25-30 hour/week) but more like 12 or 13 hours. I am actually going to try and do a few road races since MTB racing right now is boring me. I am going to do the GA Games RR and the Atlanta Road Course and Dacula RR as part of the Gwinnett Fest race week. These will be in 40+ and I will probably be mid-pack at best. These are training races so I will not peak for them, just race through.

Starcrossed is in mid-September so August will be spent mostly doing cross workouts and other things to prepare me for that.

2009-06-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

This week's plan:

Monday: 5x5(5) VO2 max in a 1.5 hour ride
Tuesday: 60-90 minutes w/ 30 tempo in there somewhere
Wednesday: 60 easy
Thursday: 3 hours endurance
Friday: 2 hours easy
Saturday: GTC TT effort (probably 60 minutes LT)
Sunday: 60 easy

11 hours total

NC Mountains Riding

2009-06-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

I went on vacation with the family up to Bat Cave for a week of hanging out for my father in law's 70th birthday. We went to Bat Cave since it was close to Lake Lure and Asheville. Lake Lure was pretty fun and Charlotte got to swim and ride a horse as well as climb 654 stairs up to the top of Chimney Rock.

I rode Sunday around Lake Lure and it was very challenging. Basically there are 3 rules of riding in western NC:

1. All climbs are 3 miles long
2. There are no flat or straight roads
3. If you want to go somewhere you have to climb a mountain

The road up to our cabin on Shumont Road was a brutal piece of work. It climbed from Rt 9 through some very nice woods and then into great open meadows. It was 3.6 miles UP.

From Rt 9 I climbed up to Old Fort Rd and rode on this for awhile. I missed my turn onto Cedar Creek and got lost. I flagged down a local who told me, "Well champ, the first thing you want to do is take a nice long drink because you have to climb that mountain over there." So, another 3 mile climb back to the missed turn (where I had stopped to pee earlier--Doh!)

The road back to the lake was nice but not as flat as I had hoped. Getting back to Rt 9 took me through Chimney Rock and Bat Cave before the 3 mile climb to Shumont and the 3.6 mile climb back to the house. Here is the map, sans getting lost and the climb back to the house. It was 50 miles total.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2863099

The other two rides were rides from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I rode from the Folk Art Center to the base of Mt. Mitchell on one day and the other day i rode from the French Broad (191) to Graveyard Fields. Both of these were about 50 miles and had a lot of tunnels and fast descents coming back. The climbs are pretty relentless and climbs over 10 miles are not my thing so I only averaged around 10mph. on those.

2009-05-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

2009-05-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

The new HUP United kits arrived a week ago and they are really white. They are also very hard to keep clean. I guess that is the price you pay for fashion.

I am getting a new cross build up plan for the summer since I will be doing the early Starcrossed in September. I have not been doing any specific training (besides races) above the threshold level since December so I gather I'll be spending a lot of time in VO2 max and above each week.

I have been getting some treatment for my back since the single-speed has taken a toll on it. Nothing serious but the SI joint needs a bit of rotation.

The GTC club championships are tomorrow and it looks like rain. That is good but bad as well since I won't get to recoed the power data. There are probably 5 racers that will go away and hopefully I can make the break this year.

After that race I am going to chill for a week up in the NC mountains and ride some of the parkway as well. I hope to ride from Craggy to Mt. Mitchell if the road is clear.

OUCH

2009-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Nice job Wild Bill!

I was...

a. 2nd in the short track
b. 6th in the night time TT
c. 2nd in the state champ race
d. Crushed in the woods by Bill
e. all of the above

This one hurt.

Klein Pinnacle

2009-05-13T11:36:00.001-07:00

2009-05-07T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well, another school year is almost over. Crazy how it flies. My daughter will be 4 in June and this will probably be my last summer where she is in school. It should be a lot of fun for the next few years having her at home over the summer (can you say water slide?).

So I am going to try and make the most of this last Pre-K year by training for some peak events. I am targeting Cross Nationals again in Bend, Oregon and I have already bought my ticket. I am also fulfilling my "dream race" fix by going to Starcrossed in Seattle in September. I am also going to try and hit the NC UCI races since I have never done them.

My spring peak is coming up next week for SSUSA and GA SS Championships. I am nowhere in peak form but they sort of sprung the date on us so I'll have to make the best of what fitness I have right now and then ramp up over the summer. I think I can win the 40+ title but it will be very hard to do so. I may take a crack at some of the GwinnettFest races as well but only for training.

My coach, John Verheul, is making me a nice summer plan to get ready for cross a bit earlier. Hopefully I can train like last year and really improve over the summer. I am also revamping my cross bike a bit with new brakes, handlebars and stem. I am going to try a wider bar this time and see how that works.

I may be putting the MTB away for the summer in a few weeks if it is not needed for the training. I really like the MTB and the races have been fun so far.

Power wise I am doing pretty good but I have stalled out around 75tss/d since my weekday time is limited. My ftp is around 300w and over the summer I hope to get to around 95tss/d by September and a threshold of at least 315w and lower my weight to 170lbs.

All of this is contingent on the family so it is better to remain flexible.

GSC #3: Ft Yargo

2009-04-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Ft. Yargo is a nice place to ride any time of year and I really like racing there as well. It is mostly single-track with some nice climbs and now a section dubbed "The Monster Mile". The gas line decent/climb was taken out and the Monster Mile added. This section was a thrill to race with many bmx style whoops and some gnarly steep climbs.

I was upgraded to the expert/cat 1 for this season and have been racing them on the single-speed. The competition is fierce and most of the guys have been around long enough to get reputations. Mix in a few just-turned-40 racers and it is pretty intense. Lately Shane Schreihart (sic) and Jason Childre have been 1 and 2. Shane hurt his back and did not race much this race while Jason went on to win.

The start of the race was fast and I think I got the hole shot but was passed by about 4 guys after the road got flat. I spun out for awhile and then was in around 5th going into the woods. On a set of whoops my bike bag came off and went into the read wheel causing me to slow down to fix it, losing about 4 places. Once I had it fixed I managed to pass Jeff Clayton and tow around Steve Rideway for about a lap. Steve decided to leave me behind and Jeff Caught me at the feed on lap 2.

I wanted to make top 10 but I was passed on lap 2 by Joe Dunlop and now I had no idea where I stood. The Monster Mile was tough on me and I took it easy through there not wanting to break a collarbone. I made up ground each lap on the climbs and tight stuff. But not enough since Childre beat me by 11 minutes! Shit!

Lap 3 hurt me and I was struggling for awhile but rallied a bit when I caught Joe near the end and held it to the finish. I was 8th which sounds good but 11 minutes behind is not that great. Especially with the SS state champs coming up. But...I was the only single-speed racer in this class and with that said, it was one course where the single-speed choice was not a good one. there was no where to go on the flats since I could not kick it into a big ring and I was already spinning over 100 rpm in a 34x17. I don't think I could have gotten up the hills in a 34x16 but for the flats it owuld have been helpful.

Still, 32 miles in each race is getting easier and I feel good in the races but just don't have the firepower to get into the top 3.

Next up will be SSUSA/GA SS Champs in May.

I have had some fast women pass me in races and Sunday it was Jamie Dinkins who was absolutely blazing by me. She is pretty good looking too if that matters.

2009-04-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

Things have been hectic around here with 2 trials in 2 months which leaves me with the munchkin for 2 weeks alone. The accumulation of work, her and life is pretty stressful and i am not sure how my mom did it all those years with 2 kids.

Anyway, I raced the East Macon MTB race in the Cat 1/Expert division and placed 4th which I was happy with. I gave it full throttle for 3 hours and I was pretty tired for a week after. After Jay's training camp I did a MTB TT the next weekend and my TSB was -38 when I did it. I posted the second fastest time overall and won the single-speed class.

Shey announced about 3 weeks ago that the 2009 singles speed state champs would be May 16-17 so I am very excited about it but I will not be on form like last year. Although I want to win it again, I think Shane has the best shot because he is really rolling right now having won two expert level MTB races.

I have been working in lots of threshold and sweet-spot intervals and I am pretty happy with my new FTP level. It increased about 10 watts but I need to slim down a bit for the benefit. I did a couple of sprints in a ride last weekend and my 12 second power was around 850 watts so I was happy with that although I lost the sprints.

My goal is to slowly raise my CTL and FTP through August. I would like to get it around 100tss/d by the weekend of Starcrossed in Seattle. But that is a long way off.

Spring Break

2009-04-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

Jay Halgat put together a nice 4 day ride "camp" and I was able to make 3 of the 4. We started with the GTC Classic Ronde van Appalachee where we rode for around 60 miles, climbed a number of bergs and had a few gravel roads as well. We had 3 sprints and two of them were at the top of climbs. The group was around 20 I think and it was a,lot of fun on a nice sunny spring day. I got the ride start wrong and had to drive ahead and meet everyone which made me inelligible for the sprints but I did them anyway. On the first one we hit the gravel/dirt road leading up to the small hill climb and I punched it but my legs had no memory of last December when I sprinted last so by the time we got to the hill I was toast.

On Monday we did a longer ride which went from Monroe to the Oconee National Forest in Greene County and back. It was around 87 miles and it was very windy (20 mph) and colder than the day before. We took it slow and rolled in at 5 hours exactly.

Tuesday we did the Bethlehem-Madison route but it was so windy in places that at the store stop we decided to cut it short to Rutledge and tack through the wind. We ended up with 4 hours and around 70 miles.

On Wednesday after grading for awhile, I tried to go out and spin easy. My legs were pretty tired and needed a rest.

It is Friday and I have not ridden for 2 days but should go MTB tomorrow for a couple of hours.

It was fun doing those miles and hanging out with friends but I would not want to be a pro and have to do it everyday.

I am gearing up for May 16-17 which is single-speed USA and the GA State Single-speed championships. If I can keep the training stress up until then, this may be a peak event.

Ride Cluster Analysis and Matches

2009-03-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

I was fooling around with some ride power cluster analysis and compared the "Dan's Macabre" Sunday ride which is usually fast and difficult for me to finish with the lead group. It covers some rolling terrain in Gwinnett/Barrow/Walton Counties.

In comparing the group ride with my own solo effort on the same course, the effects of the group ride are pretty obvious. My solo effort showed a lot of Low Force/Low Cadence (II) from me having to grind up hills. My power was above threshold a lot of the time and with the group we are going faster so I am clustering in the High Force/High Cadence (I) area as it is a bit harder to keep up and I have to turn big gears fast.

The other thing that is obvious is that I am spending much more time at higher power (>350w) in the group ride because it is a hard ride. My solo effort allows me to pace myself and not react to others driving the pace. My TSS for the group ride is around 220 and the solo was 200.

The second quadrant analysis is of a solo ride I do often from my house. It is a 55 mile ride from home to roswell and back. There are lots of hills and I am pretty bushed by the end. My TSS for this ride is around 191. I was surprised to see so much Low Force/Low Cadence power since I was solo and I was impressed by the amount of hill grinding I am doing over threshold in the High Force/Low Cadence quad. Basically I suck on hills.

The last neat graph shows a match burn graph plotting my 30 sec rolling average power versus time and elevating my power values to the 4th power to accentuate my efforts. It is pretty clear that this is a hard ride for me and that I burn a lot of matches on this one. My maximum aerobic power (MAP) is around 380w (2.0 on the graph) so it is easy to tell my matches.

2009-03-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

GCS #1: East Macon

2009-03-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

What a great day outside and a great race. I raced the 40+ Expert (Cat 1) race on the single-speed and the field was stacked with very good racers. Shane and I were the only two SS guys in an otherwise geared field and today the 34x17 was a magic gear.

I was gapped at the start through the awesome bmx track and had to fight back up. I was a little concerned about 5 laps (30.5 miles) in the expert class but went for it the whole race. My first lap was ok and I got caught up behind some gearies on the small but very steep, rooty and twisty climb near the start. I was able to pass some and had a nice crash passing someone. At laps end I had no idea where I was in the standings but I felt very good so I kept putting it on. Shane had about 3 minutes on me at this point.

The second lap was a lot like the first and I was able to pick off more guys and move up. I have to say that today most of the 20+ experts would not yield properly so I could pass. I have a bad rep for coming up on people and not warning them but today I gave a lot of warnings and twice I hit the ground because guys would not move an inch. I don't want guys pulling over, just move over a bit.

The third lap was my best and I put on full gas because Jeff Clayton (SS state champ on a geared bike) was about 30 seconds behind and closing. The course was 1/3 flat, 1/3 twisty/sandy, and 1/3 climbing and the last third each lap I was able to put a little time on him. I was so focused on him that I did not know that the guy in front of me about 10 seconds off was in 3rd place. Doh!

The fourth lap I began to hurt. Legs were getting tight but I was able to climb well and at the start of the fifth lap I had maybe a minute on Jeff. The fifth lap I began to really get tight and had to just hold on. The climbs were now very hard and the flat stuff I was railing an hour ago I was creeping on now. The flat stuff between climbs was irritating and I wanted the climbs to start. As we got to the sandbox and infield Jeff was in sight but I had to keep on some pressure to hold him off and I think I did by about 20 seconds.

I predicted Shane would win and he did. I asked him how hard it was and he said that it wasn't. Thirty miles to him is just a warm up considering the ultra stuff he does. I am very happy for him to win on the SS in a very tough greared expert class. Hats off.

I came in 4th and I doubt I would have caught the guy in front for 3rd. I am very happy as I type and drink my Orval.

GTC Training Camp

2009-03-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

A nice 4 days of mellow group rides starting April 4.

April 4th - Ronde van de Appalachee - 77km The GTC version of the Ronde with bergs and sprints.

April 5th - Flat Ride 3 - 93km at 10:00am-- Flatter than Keira Knightley.

April 6th - Oconee Forest 115km- at 10:00am --Pretty long ride with few store stops.

April 7th - Bethlehem - Good Hope = 88km at 10:00am --Pretty flat ride with the option to go long to Madison or pick up some worms in Good Hope and go fishing.

Should be a fun time.

I Guess I'm Just Getting Old, or Just a Pussy

2009-03-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

I love mountain bike cross-country racing. A nice 20-30 mile race is all I need. But, the trend these past years is about making incredibly long and difficult courses to see who can nad-up and finish them, and yes, someone will win.

The list is long, Dirt, Sweat and gears, SSUSA, Cohutta 100, Mt. Mitchell MTB, Fool's Gold, etc. These are ultra-hard endurance races and they must be popular because people sign up and do them, tell tales, drink beer. There are also the 6 and 12 hour races. As if less distance/time is for pussies.

I long for the days when XC races were simple events ridden over mountains in digestible distances that did not lean toward the adrenaline junkie ultra crowd who pushes it to see when and where their body will fail, just so they can spin yarns over cool beer later.

Give me nice XC races and I am happy. Also, while you are at it, throw in some short track as well.

Personally, I have no desire to race past 3 hours on a bike. After that it feels like work, and work sucks unless I am getting paid, and even then it sucks a lot too.

I guess I am a pussy.

Riding in the Rain

2009-03-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today I rode from my house to upper Roswell for 3 hours in the rain. I used my fenders (SKS Race Blades) and they were fantastic. I also tried a cross trick and used latex gloves under my light, full-fingered gloves and this worked ok for cross but on a long rainy road ride they got too wet from sweat.

The temperature was in the 40's and pretty much no wind. The route is rolling with some nice steep climbs. I like the route and this summer I can easily add 10-20 miles and make it a nice 4 hour ride.

I was pretty much the only idiot out there but I did manage to scare off a family of deer as I illegally rode through Island Ford National Park. I saw a 4 pointer and some does.

My Performance jacket bought for me as a present back in 1990 still works perfectly 19 years later, as do my Performance booties.

Anyway, here is the route...

Brookhaven-Roswell
Find more Bike Rides in Atlanta, Georgia

Snake TT #3

2009-03-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

The finale of the 2009 Snake Gap TT was really fun. The weather could not have been better and I tried to hyper-hydrate a day before and eat right and it payed off. I was pretty groggy on the bus ride to the start and thought I might fall asleep. After lining up with a hand full of guys from Dedicated Athlete I was hoping to maybe keep up with Shane Schreihart because he was looking for breaking the time record. He was running a 34x19 and I had a 34x20 and after the start be blasted off and I new he would have a great ride. I did not keep up and as I saw him go out of sight I settled into my own rhythm.

This time the first 17 miles were a shock to the system for about 20 minutes and after I fell over, I seemed to recover and began riding stronger. The hardest part of the first 17 miles for me are the sustained climbs. Throw in the small baby-head rocks and roots and it is a chellenge. I tried to bomb down the forest road decent to make time and the gravel surface made me use my brakes more than I wanted. The flattish wooded section that followed went quickly and the next uphill climb, smoothly.

When I got to the sag for the second 17 I felt a lot better than last time. Last time I actually pulled out my phone to call it a day but this time I was more than ready for the last part. I had made it there in 1:30 compared to 1:46 last time. My PR for the last 17 miles was 2:00 so I really wanted to make a 3:30 for the whole race.

Bascially the last 17 miles is a tough uphill climb with roots and a couple of steep switchbacks. Here I got bogged down behind some geared riders who were doing their best but I could not pass them there. Eventually I got by and tried once again to make up ground on the decent. Midway through there is a forest road that is a long gradual climb and at the top you know it is 8 miles to go and the bullshit starts. Actually it is really only 6 to go because the last 2 miles are straight downhill.

The climb up to the ridge is a walk for me. I walked faster this time and less than before and tried to ride everything until I had to put a foot down. The geared guys were riding it in the granny and I almost was able to keep up walking. At the top the bullshit starts. By bullshit I mean the time-eating endless rock gardens. You see the rock sizes increasing and they go from baby-heads to soccer ball sized and then washing machine sized in places. It is bullshit. But, I know this so this time I vowed to ride everything until I had to dab a foot and reset. On the single speed it is particularly hard because of the loss of momentum. Once you are going slow and hit a rock the wrong way, or spin out, you have to reset. Also, there are some steep downhills from the ride and back up in the first part and those steep downhills are nail biters.

Once you get to the photographers you know that there is only about 3 miles to go and the rock field is almost over. I had my watch timer set to countdown every 20 minutes so i could drink . At the last climb to the radio tower (which marks the trail's end and the downhill begins) I knew I was at 3:20 and would have to really bomb the paved downhill.

I aero-tucked as best as you can on a MTB and sprinted the best you can on a single-speed and in the end posted a 3:29.22. I shaved off around 17 minutes from last time in February.

Getting back to the finish area Shane rode a 3:10 and my other friend Eric Nicoletti rode a 3:18 which is pretty amazing. Both shaved over 20 minutes off from January.

I ended up 4th for the race and 6th overall in the 34 mile single-speed. I broke my 17 mile PR but 6 minutes but my record for the 17 mile TT fell to a fast guy who did around a 1:56.

On the way home I stopped at the outlet store for a moment and getting back on the highway I hit a 5 mile back up from a single car fatality(?) and sat on the highway for 1 hour and 15 minutes. It pretty much sucked but after seeing the car in the accident I understood why life-flight was needed. I really hope the person made it.

After I got home the telling sign is taking a shower and feeling all the scratches come alive as the water hits. The next eye-opener is this morning when most of my muscles were sore and it felt like I had been hit with a back of rocks. I guess I did around 70km of Paris-Roubaix cobbles back in 2004 and while the sensations are diffrent, these rocks come close to the same feeling.

Lastly, in February I had a hard time with cramping and eating. I bought a "Bento Box" which is a small (wallet sized) bag to keep my food and Gu in. It fits on the top tube. I also used a 70oz Camelbak. I am not thrilled to use a Camelbak but they help tremendously. The Bento Box worked great as well. I think my rule of thumb will be I will use them in races over 30 miles and for the Camelbak, any race over 85 degrees that is longer than 3 laps. I rerely get handups so having it on demand is pretty nice. They do get hot and you sort of feel like a dork though.

Persuit of the "Hour of Power"

2009-02-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

In many power training circles you hear about the "Hour of Power" which originated with cyclist Bill Black. Basically, on a trainer go at 90% of your threshold power for 60 minutes and in every minute do 15 seconds or so of increased power. Do this for an hour and you end up with basically the same numbers as an hour of threshold without the mind-numbness. You can do it outside too but the terrain has to be pretty flat to get the full effect.

I want to tackle this at some point and with minimal time to ride today, I set up the trainer in my classroom and worked out inbetween classes. However, I only had 40 minutes so I did "20 minutes of power" to experiment. After a 10 minute warm-up, I held 260w for 20 minutes and then at 45 seconds I surged up to 300w to the minute mark. I was surprised how hard this was and I will have to ease into doing 60 minutes at once. My tsb is pretty negative right now (-11) so that might contribute.

It us a really neat idea and breaks up the monotony as well as providing a nice intense workout if you have little time. If you want to see a better account and a graph, head over to Alex Simmons's blog and check out what he did for the full hour.

Bob's Mellow Macabre

2009-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and warm and today it was still beautiful but very windy and cold. So, why not go for a ride? I was sitting in the parking lot of the normal Sunday ride prepared to battle to make it to Jack Pittman and then ride in on my own when 9:58 came and no one was there. The ride was going to be pretty hard solo in this wind (18 mph and 25 mph gusts), so I went anyway. I decided that my Nebraska friends would tisk tisk me for starting with the wind and having a head wind on the way home so I planned to cut out the two major climbs and hold true to my maximum allowable ride time for today which was 3 hours. My assumption was a fast first half and a brutal second half.

I was correct in my assumption, going out to the half way point I averaged 20.4 mph. It was a nice trip and I enjoyed the fast ride trying to just go with it and not use too much power. I averaged 202w (normalized power 230w) to Campton and then someone turned on the fan.

I never, ever use an Ipod while riding but I brought it today to distract me from the wind on the way back and it did a nice job for awhile. The wind was pretty relentless across the flat fields and there were plenty of lean-ins as the wind blew me sideways. At times I felt as if I was going backwards.

My power for the second half was 238w (normalized power 268w) and my speed was only 16.8 mph. In terms of work, I did 925kj on the way out and 1206kj on the way back. I decided to take Bold Springs to the Belmont shortcut over to June Ivey and then do the dirt road that we used to do on this ride until late. It took out 4 miles and in hindsight it did not matter because I ended up back at the parking lot with enough time left that doing either Stock or Jack Pittman or both, I still would have been close.

I was pretty hammered after it was done and I only rode 50 miles. My complete ride stats are: 50 miles in 2:43; average power 221; normalized power (based on what it felt like because of terrain) was 250w; speed 18.5mph; work, 2132 kj, cadence 84rpm!, training stress was 200 which is 20 points lower than when I have done this ride as a group.

Second half shuffle playlist:

15 steps: Radiohead
Whistle for the Choir: Fratellis
Distant Sun: Crowded House
China: Red Rockers
John, I'm Only Dancing: David Bowie
Where you Going Northern?: Game Theory
Canary in a Coalmine: The Police
5.15: The Who
Jungle Boogie: Kool and the Gang
Cecilia: Simon and Garfunkel
Thousand Miles From Nowhere: Dwight Yoakam
The Modern World: The Jam
West Coast: Coconut Records
Upside Down: Jack Johnson
A Few Minutes of Silence: Paul Westerberg
Electrolite: R.E.M
Accidentally in Love: Counting Crows
She's Gone: Hall and Oats
Girls Talk: Dave Edmunds
Wierd Fishes: Radiohead
Every Word Means No: Let's Active
Picture Book: The Kinks
Sweet Jane: The Velvet Underground
Magic Man: Heart
Church on White: Stephen Malkmus

Snake TT

2009-02-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

The Snake TT ATMO is one of the best races around. First of all it is a point-to-point so you have to be shuttled to the start, secondly it is run over a multi-access trail that is really a hiking trail so it is not groomed at all, thirdly it is very, very well run, and lastly over 300 racers each time come together for a very competitive but no-bullshit good time. There is not posturing or ego tripping like in a lot of road races.

Last year I did the 17 mile race and put in a good time, winning the overall. The 34 mile race seemed a bit out of my wheel-house but I wanted to give it a shot. Like last year I chose the single-speed bike and went with a 34x20 gear. I was hoping to start with Shane Shreihart and Robert Kranz but I ended up in the group behind them. They both put in great times and it would have been fun to try and keep up with them.

My race started out in coinfusion since i was one of about 10 who took a wrong turn and burned around 6-10 minutes by the time we got back on course. After that it was about playing catch up. The first 17 miles is muddier and has very little rocks. I liked it but I don't believe it is easier than the last 17 miles. It took me about 20 minutes longer than I had planned and I was pretty beat at the mid-point. I knew what the last 17 miles were like and tried to turn out a good split and ended up just 2 minutes shy of my record from last year. I thin without the missed turn and trying to catch up i could have come in 15 minutes earlier. I ended up with a 3:45 ride time which was good enough for 6th.

http://houstonstudiosphotography.zenfolio.com/p1069855829/e1057ea13

My impressions of the whole 34 miles are as follows:

--very tough on the single-speed, probably my toughest experience on it.
--Lots of climbing in the first 17 miles but nothing like the 3 miles of mostly unrideable (for me) rock fields that cover the ridge towards the end of the race. On the single-speed I had to walk more than I wanted to. These were boulders not really rocks and they look cool but after a few miles get on my nerves.
--be one of the first to start. Passing folks was a real problem and it got frustrating, not because people were at fault, it was just that they got in the way.
--I ended up with 35 ounces I did not drink. That was a mistake. I found it hard to eat on the course and while drinking was no problem, I still did not drink enough.
--the 40+mph paved downhill at the end is great payback.

I hope that a lot of other folks will try this series. It is "real" mountain biking and with it being a timed trial it is a great event to start with.

2009-01-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

I rode at Yargo yesterday in between dentist appointments and did 2 laps, one SS, on geared. I have to say that I am pretty even on them. The geared bike feels faster but it is heavier. My laps times are about 5 minutes off last summer's and I am still about 10 lbs heavier than I'd like to be (who isn't)?

I have not done 3 hours on the SS yet and maybe Saturday will be the day.

GO STEELERS!

2009-01-23T12:26:00.000-08:00

Getting sick is no fun and it looks like my plans for the Southern X are going to get cancelled which is really dissapointing. The "neck check" is always a good rule to follow and once it moves into the chest it is usually game over for racing. I will give it until tomorrow morning to decide but right now it is looking grim.

Geared MTB

2009-01-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

I finally built up my old 1990 7 speed Klein with gears and have ridden it twice. I can't seem to use the gears properly after all the SS riding. I end up finding the 2:1 and leaving it there! I read Andy Applegate's blog about his nice new bike and was a bit envious. My Klein is cobbled together but still rides pretty nice.

The Southern X is going to be painful since I have a nice head cold. But, since Cesar Grajales is racing I will just simply enjoy it as a nice 3.5 hour group ride in the mountains. I am really looking forward to the Snake TT and see what I can do for 34 miles on the SS.

I sure hope this does not go sinus infection...

2009-01-14T18:53:00.001-08:00

Building up the 19 year old 7-speed mtb is a pain in the ass.

MTB Build and Gardening

2009-01-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

I am not a very good mechanic and I usually pay someone to build bikes for me when the time comes. But I can do a few things myself. I have gotten better at gluing tubulars, setting up tubless tires, and the little things. I cannot do head sets or bottom brackets, and I don't have a torque wrench although the new Park wrench is tempting me.

I have been trying to expidite the rebuilding of my 1990 Klein Pinnacle back to a geared bike. It is a 7 speed so I thought finding parts would be very challenging. I am surprised to find more out there than I thought although choice is pretty limited. I have the original crankset/bottom bracket but with new bearings. The 1" Rockshox Judy XC is pretty old but still works great. Some of the new stuff includes a Thompson stem, Easton carbon riser bar, Thompson seatpost, WTB saddle, Suguino chainrings, new SRAM X-7 rear derallieur, a SRAM 7-speed cassette with spacer, new Bontranger Mustang tubless wheel set that I found for a very low price, SRAM 8 speed chain, and some cool original Shimano rapid fire 7 speed shifters. I already had the Shimano XT brakes with Swisstop pads. The front derallieur is a Shimano LX pulled off my wife's bike.

It will be fun to ride a geared bike again but I still prefer the single-speed. I like the geared bike for the N Georgia terrain and the SS for most of the races.

------
I also really like gardening. I am not very good but my family was pretty good at it when I was growing up. Of course in Western Pennsylvania you could grow almost anything in that soil. Farmer G has provided a lot of good insight and I have a few books on raised bed urban gardening that I used (Cubed Foot Gardener and Square Foot Gardener) but the best source is Walter Reeves's website.

This year I am growing Bluberries, Garlic (Farmer G's varieties), tomatoes (roma and cherry), bell peppers, carrots,cucumbers, squash, herbs, onions, and lettuce in the spring. I am using my grow lights to start them indoors and then transplant them later. I have a nice 6x8 foot raised bed that is about 12" deep and I'll have various large pots to grow things like some of the herbs, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes.

Last year was my first year and I started really late so this year should be better and it is a good way to get my daughter involved like my family got me involved.

Farmer G has so much he has to give it away, I am hoping to only use stuff from the garden as I need it and avoid the store. Should be fun!

Dan's Macabre Ride #1

2009-01-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

Like most of the US, cold and windy but at least here it was dry. Always a hard ride for me, I try just not to get dropped. With some mercy today I managed not too but left alone I would have.

Here is a stat comparison from the last 4 Macabres I have done. Last Jan and this Jan are almost identical.

2009-01-08T18:33:00.001-08:00

Did my yearly January FTP test and dropped about 10 watts from December. That's not too bad and to be expected. I am rebuilding my 7-speed mtb and hopefully it will be ready for Southern X. If not I'll use the cross bike.

Brendan and I went up to Camp Merril and did the Cooper-Hightower-Winding Stair Gap 25 mile route. It was tough on cross bikes and in the rain. The mud really put a damper on any speed.

Cyclocrossworld.com has a number of good sales right now.

Southern X Race Route

2009-01-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

Can you say 13 mile climb?

Southern X Race
Find more Bike Rides in Ellijay, Georgia

Upcoming Races I Want to Do

2008-12-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

2008-12-23T05:22:00.000-08:00

I have not taken 2 weeks off the bike in a few years. Should be refreshing.

Nats and the Past 6 Months

2008-12-19T14:03:00.000-08:00

Nationals was a very fun time and you never stop learning. Last year it was muddy but the course was flat. This year it was less muddy as the week went on but the climb to the run-up made things difficult and the downhill gave little recovery since it was very slippery.

I was pretty happy with my placings (23rd, 45th and 20th) and my easiest race was the last one which was the single-speed. The hardest race was the first one which was B's.

Leading up to nationals I had an injury to my calf which had me off the bike for 4 days. I then got a cold that week and won a race the Sunday before nats. I had a sinus infection from the cold and was on antibiotics all through nationals. So, all things considered I managed well.

I tried to really train hard this summer and fall with 2 peaks in mind, the first was the GA single-speed MTB championships in August and then the second was cross nationals. Looking at my PMC below I had the highest training stress I have ever managed. I had a very good summer of riding but should have taken some days off. I think I went something like 6 weeks without a rest day off the bike. The training stress was managable since I could take naps and get good rest.

The MTB races I did this year were great fun. I missed racing MTB since the 90's and I enjoyed the single-speed challenge on top of that. I was able to raise my FTP up to what it normally is around cross season to about 300-315w. My results were pretty good and I managed a few wins on the MTB. I fell short at the ss championships getting 3rd in the XC.

Going into cross season I felt great and in practice was going very well. The training stress was beginning to pay off a bit and throughout the season my CTL fell as it should but remained pretty high overall. Coming into nationals i had a CTL of about 70 which is pretty decent for December.

Now I can relax a little and get ready for the Snake Gap TT and Southern Cross in January.

Heading Off To Nationals

2008-12-09T18:54:00.001-08:00

Z-Pack and all. See you on the other side.

Intervals

2008-12-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

John Verheul had me doing these today...

8x45 sec (1m rec)-- 3 sets done on my normal interval hill in Roswell in a 1:45 minute ride. I tried to keep the avg interval power above 400w and was able to do that. By the last 4 I was in the 39x25 struggling.

I do love intervals. Very achievable goals.

2008-12-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Today I did some 30-second sub-max intervals and 4 sprints. The sub-max intervals are all out hard for 30 seconds and it is harder than it sounds. Back on the 11th of November I did the same workout and had good legs. My intervals went something like this...

1st--725 w avg, 2nd-680w avg, 3rd-605w avg and 4th-635w avg or 661w avg overall

Today after 4 days off last week for injury and light riding over the weekend I was wondering what they would feel like and what numbers I would get. Besides the first one, they all felt really hard.

1st-715w avg, 2nd-678w avg, 3rd-630w avg, and 4th-615w avg or 660w avg overall

On 11/11 I was at a CTL of 75 and my TSB was 11 and today my CTL was 70 and my TSB was 28.

So while I did not get much better, it does not appear I lost much at least for my 30 second max power. My sprint power was 904w avg for 12 seconds compared to a 901w on 11/11 so same thing there although I did do a nice 962 avg on 11/23.

I feel a bit rusty but hopefully I can maintain for another week and make sure no more parts fall off.

Reasessment

2008-11-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

Since I got injured last weekend I had to reassess my strategy going into nationals. I started September around a 90 tss/d CTL which is really good for me. Last weekend I was at 80 tss/d which is really good for that late in the year. Now after almost a week of taking it easy, I am around 70 tss/d which is still OK and my TSB is very positive at around 20 which is really at peaking levels. If I can get to nationals in 1 piece, my plan should take me into it at around 71-72 tss/d which is still pretty good. This is when I thank myself for all the hard work I did over the summer.

It will be beneficial to taper because I am slated to do 3 races at nationals. I really can't wait and next weekend's race in Dallas, GA will tell me where I am and if I can even compete. Hopefully my injury will be healed and at least allow me to get through 4, 45-minute races.

I'll probably take 2-3 weeks easy after nationals and if I can I will do the Jan 3rd Snake TT. I have the Southern Cross on Jan 24th too.

2008-11-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

Rode for a decent hour today and then had a massage to work out the knots. I am skipping the race Sunday. But I still think I'll, be 100% by Friday. Wow, that's optimistic for me.

2008-11-27T05:22:00.000-08:00

It is bad to kick your own ass. So I will take a lot of time off and see if I can heal up. I'll skip this weekend's cross race and make a decision by next Friday to whether I'll go to nationals. I still believe I could have a great performance there if healthy.

I still can't ride for more than 15 minutes but probably that will get better, sooner than my running will come back.

It was mentioned to me that I may have "compartmental syndrome" in the calves. It is not the first time I have heard that.

2008-11-25T16:59:00.000-08:00

It is not looking good. I can't ride at the moment let alone run. On the bright side there are 3 weeks until nationals. On the dark side, there are only 3 weeks until nationals.

GACX 6: State Champs

2008-11-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

First off, congratulations to Brady. I am not sure why but he is often overlooked as having won now 3 state championships in cross. He was very motivated to win yesterday and has a great ability to step up when it counts. Daryl and Shey rode great races with no mistakes.

I had a lot of people telling me that I would win the championship yesterday and that I was the favotite. In 9 years this was my best shot because Tony was absent and by my testing Saturday and the previous Sunday, my power numbers had never been better.

I had two strategic plans. First was to make the race as hard as possible from the start. The start was almost identical to Glouchester in terms of the uphill and I knew there I was able to go really fast there from lap to lap. So I tried to blast off from the beginning. The second plan was to stop working if plan 1 failed and beat everyone in the sprint or a last lap attack. My max sprint power Saturday was 1240w and my 12 second average was 880w. So I felt like if it came down to a sprint that I would be competitive.

My check time was on the third lap. I tried numerous attacks to soften up folks and get away but by the third lap Shey, Daryl and Brady were more than able to stay on my wheel. So, at that point I decided to stop working and let them dictate the pace. When I let others come to the front the pace slowed a bit and I was able to recover.

On the 4th lap going into the sand, Shey and Daryl were in front of me having ridden 3/4 of the way across. We were all back together as we started coming off the sand and they were going very slow. So I did the stupidest thing possible.

What is the weakest part of my "game"---running. Does anyone ever actually win a cross race by running away from anyone? No. So when I decided to sprint out of the sand and pass both of them I must have been seriously mentally impaired. Immediately my troublesome calf pulled and I was out of the race. Thirty seconds later I was bewildered in why, how I would do something that stupid. Especially since by the end, all 3 of the guys were together going into the sprint. Smart Bob would have just let them dictate the pace and follow plan B. Smart Bob was not racing yesterday.

Shey did the right thing by leading out. Usually in cross the person who leads out wins and he only lost by a foot. Daryl could have won it too since the margin of victory was not huge. Brady is just a 2 foot better sprinter who hardly ever came to the front.

There are really no excuses to be made. The table was set for all 4 of us and I really had fun battling 3 guys I know well and I am glad all made the podium.

Now the plan is to try and heal up for nationals and take out my frustrations there.

2008-11-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

I resisted Facebook for a long time. But because of a potential HS reunion I am on it. It is weird.

Today and yesterday I rode easy and today I discovered that sliding/crunching sound on Sunday during the race was my tire separating from the rim. So, I removed the tire and re-glued. Hopefully it will hang on Sunday!

Georgia teachers got together (retirees mostly) to combat a ruling that the increase in the pension for teachers should be approved each month. Teachers won and I wish we would get excited about more than retirement. Being in a non-union state has its good and bad points.

Tonight I had pancakes for dinner at the request of my daughter. It was strange and I had to make coffee. Now at 8:30 I feel like getting ready for work.

2008-11-18T15:29:00.001-08:00

These tend to be difficult but fun as well since I do them on a hill and get to go up and down 16 times. I try to maintain around 425-450 watts average for each but it gets harder as the intervals stack up. These are 45 second intervals and are supposed to be "hard" or "very hard". They are not hard at first but the last 4 are very hard.

But, they have gotten easier and last year I was only able to push around 400watts for the same repetitions. I think the SS MTB stuff has had a lot to do with it, building leg strength.

I also did some 30 second all out intervals last week (4 of them) and it was the first time I puked in my mouth a little. I was warned that could happen. I had a 650-750 watt average for these which is not great but the best I can do.

My sprint wattage was down a bit last week but I was able to average around 850w for 15 seconds and max out around 1200w for 1 sec. Still, not too great but the best I can do.

The good thing is that I have seen an upward progression over the last 3 years and since I do these at the same place each year, it is a good comparison.

GCX 5: Blairsville

2008-11-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

Blairsville is a new venue in the GA mountains which was mostly deep soggy grass and climbing. It was the kind of course that was relentless without much recovery. There was a nice run-up, a small sand pit, and many climbs. The finish line was also uphill and even the downhill sections were up hill.

On pre-ride I did not like the course because I was having a hard time with rhythm and gearing. I found a few spots where I had to remember to pre-set my gearing and to not be afraid to drop down into the 39 ring here and there.

The race went well and I was out in front from the start and was able to extend a lead over the 45 minutes to finish first. Shey Linder really came on strong in the last 2 laps and took 2nd with Daryl Sawyer 3rd.

It was very cold (28 with wind chill) and the tops of the mountains had frost making the turning leaves look very unique. I was hoping that there would be more mud because it rained the night before but the course drained really well.

I flatted out a Challenge Griffo and tried to use Stan's sealant and so far it is holding well.

My request for the series is that they do podiums 20 minutes after the race ends. Everywhere else in the US they do this. Dedicate one person to ushering the riders to a tent or something after the race, get the protest period finished, take pictures and award prizes. Waiting until 12:45pm is too long. Maybe its just me...(probably).

Nice!!!

2008-11-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

GACX 4: Rome

2008-11-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

This was a new venue, right in the heart of town, held at a park that consisted of a levee and flood plain. The course was mostly flat with a few trips up the levee which I had to climb in the 39x27. Since I was recovering from an injured hamstring, I was lucky that there was only 1 short running section since I could ride everything else.

The grass was pretty thick but short and it initially sapped your speed. But after the pre-ride and folks on the course it was packed down pretty good and flowed well.

I was not able to "open up" yesterday and get my legs ready because of daddy duty and I felt it today, lacking the needed acceleration and punch. I led the race after about 2 laps and was on the front until the last 100 meters. My plan was to shed riders if possible in the numerous turns and punch it right before the levee climb, but i found that my punch was not that great today and by the last 2 laps I knew I was not going to ride Daryl off my wheel. I also knew we would battle for position up the last climb and that would probably dictate who got a shot at the line. Otherwise I felt really good and would have probably ridden better if I would have prepared yesterday.

Coming into the finish Daryl was in front of me and led out (which in cross usually means you win). The grass on the right to pass him was very bumpy and my chain was skipping everywhere and I was not able to bring it home. I guess he beat me by about 1/2 a bike length. He rode a smart race and I did not, except for I knew I was not, but wanted the effort to be hard enough to shed riders.

Walter rode the course then decided it was too risky for him and said he was going home. Ironically, in the same place where Daryl said someone would crash, Daryl crashed yelling something like "I'm the one!".

The best was hearing Europe's "The Final Countdown" going up the run up. Horrible cheese that made me laugh through the effort.

2008-11-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

Consulting with shaman, miracle workers, healers, magic 8 ball, and gypsies.

Hope springs eternal.

2008-11-06T16:40:00.000-08:00

Any kind of sport includes injuries. I have never participated in a sport that has injured me more than cross. I played soccer for 25 years without serious injury and regular cycling not so much either. I guess it is the running my 42 year old legs don't like. This time it is a pesky hamstring injury I had back in 2004 that has cropped up again.

I look doubtful for Rome this weekend and hopefully I can resume racing in 2 weeks. With my goals being nationals I would rather skip races now than then.

2008-11-04T06:14:00.001-08:00

Have I mentioned my admiration for Nys?

H.M.A.T?

International Horse Park Cyclocross

2008-11-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

I have always loved racing cross at the GIHP. The courses are somewhat wide open and my main disadvantage, pavement, is non-existent there. This year the promoters (Sorella Cycling) decided to celebrate Halloween by adding in a taped off spiderweb maze into the course. This consisted of a clockwise series of turns to the middle of the web and back out again going counter-clockwise. It was strange at first but after awhile I really liked it.

The course had 3 dismount sections with two of those being barriers and the other a forced uphill dismount over a log. The other difficult place was a rideable steep hill that got progressively harder each lap. I thought the uphill grass section after the hill was very hard too.

There were actually call-ups in the race with the first 8 riders being called to the front row. Besides Gloucester (which had 18 call-ups!) it has been awhile since I was at least second row. But, I lined up behind the series leader so at least I had that going for me. I had to whip Daryl after the start to go faster and once we were into the web I suppose there was a big group. The hill caused some seperation and by lap 2 we were 4 or 5 as a group.

I then broke my seat. I thought it was the seatpost and told the others I was probably done, but after the dimount section, since I did not get a seatpost in my rear, I figures I would ride it until it broke. It turns out my seat brok on the rail with the rear rail firmly in the seatpost. So, I decided to try and go for a win. On the penultimate lap I accellerated out of the web into a long grassy section and had a slight gap. I tried to build on this but Daryl sawyer and Brady Rodgers were right with me. On the last lap I put in 2 more attacks and was able to get a 20 second gap or so. I was able to hold onto this for the win. Daryl and Brady sprinted for second with Daryl crossig first. I was surprised that Brady did so well after spending the night/morning partying at Cleve Blackwell's bachelor party. But, he was there the whole time threatening as usual.

Since I got 9th in the first race and then skipped the second, I am no threat for the title. I just want to keep getting stronger for nationals. But with 6 straight weeks of races it is going to be hard not to get toasted. I have a nice plan in place by someone I trust so I think I'll be OK.

Next up is Rome, GA and the nasty dam section.

(ALL photos by Trish Albert/Southeasterncycling.com and eventually paid for by ME)

SS Cyclocross On The Cheap

2008-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that the easiest way to quickly add the SS CX race is to just simply lock out the rear derailleur to the cog you want. Shey Linder has a nice video on how to do this and all it takes on a Shimano rear derailleur is an additional shift cable that you can cut and re-use each week. In the video an additional barrel adjuster is needed because of the derailleur choice--that is not needed for a road Shimano derailleur.

The basic idea is to take the front and rear cables off the bike and center the chain over the cassette cog you want to use. Then re string the new shift cable through the barrel adjuster so that the cable stop hits the end of the adjuster and the free cable end goes through the lock nut. Now you can tighten it up and use the barrel adjuster to get your chain line correct. It takes (in theory) about 5 minutes. If you really want to get it set up specifically, you can dedicate a wheel with your cog and use spacers to mimic the cassette position.

In terms of gearing, I am going to only use the rings on my bike (46/39) and try to get a good combination with those. From what I have read, I think a 39x17 is a good one to experiment with. That is a 2.3:1 ratio and my next best choice would be a 46x21 (2.2:1 ratio). But, the advantage to using the 39 ring is that you can use the 46 as a chain deflector along with the plastic chain keeper on the inside.

Of course it will all depend on the course, but the advantage to using this system is...

1. You have a nice selection of gears and you don't have to spend a lot of money.
2. It is quick.
3. You are using your regular cross bike so you are comfortable on it.

Drawbacks...

1. You are using a full cassette (weight). But, no more weight than a normal CX bike.
2. You have to re-string your cables each week to get back to geared. But, if you mark them with a sharpie, it should take just a few minutes.

2008-10-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks have been about recovering from Gloucester and then building up some training stress. It has been hard with the day getting shorter but I did a long 3 hour ride last Sunday which helped and have managed to get in my intervals as well. Tuesday I did 6 sprints and then 45 minutes of tempo. Yesterday was cross practice which was basically 30 minutes around VO2 max and today was 45 minutes of threshold. Tomorrow I'll do 45 minutes more tempo, Saturday I will "open up" with 5 minutes threshold, 2x2 minutes VO2 max and 3 sprints. Sunday we will do a 45 minute race simulation but I will try to get in 2 hours of riding including that.

My CTL is pretty good right now but down about 11 tss/d since the single-speed championships. I am planning to try the single-speed CX division next race as well as the masters. I think I'll either go with a 39x17 or a 46x19 for the gearing. Ideally I'd like to space out a rear wheel for that race so all I have to do is lock out the rear derallieur and go. For now I guess I'll just keep the cassette all together.

I ordered 2 new Challenge Grifos and hope to have them glued by Conyers. I am really enjoying gluing tires and getting them to run right. I was scared to do it for awhile but now it seems easier.

Here are soome late pictures from Gloucester...

Gloucester 2008

2008-10-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

First off, big thanks to my HUP United teammates who treated me like an elite racer on my trip. They were wonderful hosts and my experience in the races were overshadowed by their generosity.

Gloucester is a big stage and even though the weather was unseasonally warm (60's/70's during the day) and the course was fast and dry, the racing was intense. My experience began on a good footing Friday when Delta did not charge me for my bike and then put me into first class. Pierre Vanden Borre picked me up at the airport and we hung out in his studio in the South end(?) neighborhood of Boston as I rebuilt my bike.

The next day after a pastry stop, we headed up to Glooucester. The town is very scenic and beautiful, projecting out into Gloucester bay, full of sail boats and the occasional bouy call. The venue was right on the water and the parking lot was packed. The course started at the bottom of a paved hill and then went into a primarily grassy course with segments of crushed gravel, sand and the 2 barrier run-up. The sand pit gave me fits as I watched others ride it. They began roto-tilling it between races.

Our race staged at 1pm and we had over 100 racers. there were about 18 call-ups which sucked because it meant I would start even further back. Yasushi and Pierre told me about a hole that opens up on the right going up the hill that takes a little longer to get to but puts you in a great position once the road ends. At the gun I must have made up 15 spots here alone. There were a lot of knuckleheads on the first lap. Once you left the pavement it was dirt and this caused a lot of dust which caused the knuckleheads going to fast to crash. I think there were 3 crashes in the first 3rd of the course but I stayed out of the way. As the laps went on I felt very good and began picking folks off. My goal was the top 20 and I tried to hammer it up that paved hill every lap. I was outsprinted ot the line by another guy but was happy with 18th. I think everyone was actually given a placing because one rider was DQ'd for unsportsmanlike sprinting.

We hung around and watched the PRO race and it was impressive. Jesse Anthony was racing on a broken wrist and it did not seem to stop him much. Tim Johnson and Ryan Trebon eventually got separation and then Trebon lowered the boom to win the race.

I stayed with Yashsuhi and his girlfriend Meg in Cambridge right near the Harvard campus and square. It is a wonderful area and they were great hosts. I ventured out to Harvard Square to look around and eat and it reminded me of Georgetown in DC. The next day he dropped me off at Scott Rosenthal's place in Jamacia Plain. He and his wife Hillary had a very nice 1900's house and we stashed the stuff and went up to the race.

Race two had an additional obstacle which was a new run-up mowed into a hill directly up from the harbor. It was steep and loose dirt but nothing out of the ordinary from our races in the SE. During the race I employed the same tactics to move up but it seemed that after getting to 16th the fitness of the riders were better so i swapped back and forth with a few racers until the last lap. Near the beer garden on a dirt hill I dropped my chain and lost around 10 seconds. Four racers passed me and I was able to catch up to 3 of them on the hill to the finish. The sprint was a 18 second duration and they had better finishing speed than me. Taking 21st was not too bad though and with all of the call-ups I was pretty happy.

The next day Scott and I took an easy conversational ride through Jamacia Plain, Brookline, New ton and over near Boston College. We stopped for pastry and coffee on the way back and then I had to break down the bike and head home.

What a great trip and I was first class on the way home too. If I can somehow swing it, I would love to go back next year. It was also great to meet 20 or so teammates at the race and they were all very nice guys.

Now I have a 2 week hiatus until Conyers and I am pumped for that.

Gloucester Course Description

2008-10-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

From the race bible...

This is one of the biggest, oldest CX races in the country by far and one that if you had a wish list it should be on it.

Besides the 125 field limit, here is the course description and picture...
The course is approximately 3k in length with a goal of 7 minute lap times. Some areas of the course will change from Saturday to Sunday.

The course is the classic Gloucester course. Going in a clockwise direction when viewed from the air, the Start/Finish is on pavement slightly uphill for approximately 300 meters, turns into hard packed dirt and goes in a northerly direction. Continuing north, the course turns slightly right onto hard-packed dirt and grass. After a windy grass section, the course turns on to the Lucy B Davis Pathway.

This is straight hard packed dirt and runs south along the coast.After a grass section with several turns and a slight downhill, the course's sole barriers sit in the middle of an 'S' turn. The approach to the barriers is such that bunny hopping is difficult. Directly after the hurdles, riders first encounter the equipment pit. After the pit, a sharp right turn brings riders into the grassy outfield of the ball park which is slightly off-camber. A ride slightly uphill onto rough grass then swoops down into the picnic table area and then turns right onto a pathway and then a fast dirt road descent to a loop on the grassy southern part of the park.

Riders then encounter the sand pit where they traverse its full length, make a 180 turn back into the sandpit. after a short loop on grass, riders are lucky enough to encounter the sand pit a third and finaltime. Finally, riders encounter off-camber rough grass, a chicane, and a ride down the first base line where they are dumped back onto the main road for the finish.

4 Crashes and 1 Flat

2008-10-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

This has not been my week. Hit by a car on Friday, rolled a tubular in warm up today and then in the race crashed 4 times in corners and then rolled the other tubular and eventually it flatted. I suppose I finished last.

On the bright side, all the crashes were on grass and I felt pretty strong in the race. I also was in 2nd or 3rd position on every crash and managed to battle back each time except the last. I had caught Brady Rogers who was in 2nd, only to have my last crash and then the flat.

Hopefully I can glue up my new tires before leaving Friday!

Opening Up

2008-10-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

The day before a race is the best time to get your legs ready for the following day's race. Just giving the legs a taste is all that is needed. I like to do a 1 hour workout with a 15 warm up and 15 cool down, 2 sprints at 15 seconds, 1 block of 5 minutes at threshold power, and 2x2(3) minute VO2 max efforts. This opens up all the systems and is just enough to leave the legs feeling fresh.

Last year and this year I am training through all the GA cross races to get to nationals. I have found that how you feel on your opening up day is not indicative to how you will do the next day. I have had some pretty terrible feeling opening up days, only to do well in the race.

I do my opening up on Peachtree Road (gasp) between Dresden and Ashford Dunwoody. It is a long straight section and I can do the 2 and 5 minute intervals there no problem. My sprints are done on N. Peachtree just beyond the Gypsum factory.

Today I was able to average 884w and 945w for the 2 sprints and max out at around 1274w. The threshold was a nice 293w average (ftp around 310w) and the VO2 max efforts were around 333w which is low in the zone.

Here is a screen capture of the intervals...

2008-09-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

Time flies. The first CX race is a week away and the excitement builds. Hopefully everyone will be able to attend with the gas shortage.

This week and last week have been filled with CX workouts and intereval sessions. Last week I did 40 minutes of threshold Tuesday, CX practice Wednesday, VO2 max Friday and CX workout Sunday which made for a stressful week. This week since there was no Wednesday CX practice, I did 45 minute threshold Tuesday, 60 tempo Wednesday, and I will do 25 VO2 max today and then CX on Sunday.

I don;t want to overlook Dahlonega but Gloucester is really on my mind. It is the 1oth aniversary and with Armstrong saying he will be there, the crowds should be huge.

2008-09-21T11:20:00.001-07:00

Cross practice at Little Mulberry was well attended with at least 20 riders. We did a nice 30 minute race that included a fierce 30 second run-up section. The rest of the course was grass. I felt pretty good and was happy to be able to hang with Shey Linder as long as I could. Jeff Welp and Dan Coy were also riding well. Folks are starting to get their cross legs/lungs and being able to last longer at a high level.

My Tufo tubular clinchers are getting old and I ordered a back up pair of Tufo Flexus tires today. I really want a pair of the Challenge tubular XS dry tires with the file tread interior and side knobs. It would be great for a course like Yargo.

GO STEELERS!!!

2008-09-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

Nationals registration was fun and I was able to get in each race within the top 10. At Gloucester I will be 32nd so around 4 rows back.

I have been doing the weekly cross practices on Sundays and Wednesdays and both are very different. I think they primarily work the VO2 max area and I am also adding in sprints and more VO2 max on Fridays. Today I did 3 sprints (1 standing start which was not very good, a rolling 12 mph start which was very good and a standing start in the 39 which was better than #1 but still not very pretty to watch). I was able to hit 1254w for the 2nd sprint and hold it at 880w for 17 seconds which is not bad for me.

I then did a small pyramid of 3-4-5-4-3 VO2 max intervals. I did the first 3 with complete recovery rest intervals as 3(4)-4(5) and then did incomplete recovery for the last 3, 5(4)-4(3)-3(2). These had an average wattage around 333w which is right in the area I wanted. The efforts felt good and recovery was fine. This was in a ride that lasted around 1:45 and gave me 117 tss.

Here are the intervals...

Sunday looks nice with a run-up and a 30 minute race effort. Then only 2 more weeks to GA CX #1 in Dahlonega. The fair is in town next Wednesday so I may substitue something else instead of CX practice.

Nationals Waiting Game

2008-09-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

Things to do waiting to register for nationals at 1am...

Eat snack
Stretch
Watch Pittsburgh beat Cleveland
Grade 34 papers
Update blog

Hope I get a good spot.

2008-09-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today we had a cross practice at Little Mulberry Park near Auburn, GA. It is a very nice park and we work out on the cross country running course with almost all grass and a little dirt.

We did 2x15 intervals today and it was hot, but otherwise nice. We had a nice group of masters racers who know what they are doing and are competitive. The intervals hurt a bit considering it is only my 3rd CX effort this year. I find that I am lacking leg speed and I am still sitting a lot, even out of corners where I should be standing. This is left over from MTBing and I'll start doing some speed work this week to help with that. The efforts were hard for me and I feel behind last year so far. I recovered better today though and both intervals were even in terms of effort.

My first goal is to get to a comfort point in time for Gloucester. I know that will be a hard weekend and that being so early, I may not be 100% going in. But, I am optimistic and with more practices I will become more comfortable.

2008-09-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

Michael Barry (PRO cyclist) has been writing columns in the NY Times on a number of cycling topics. Today he had a piece on Lance Armstrong's return to cycling. While I don't really care about Armstrong's return, unless he decides to ride Flanders, Roubaix or any of the other spring classics, I did like some of what he said about Armtrong's addiction to the sport. I think at times all cyclists can relate.

He tells of Armstrong's Michelin atlas full of highlighted training routes and how he would search for new roads to try. He also related experiences about pro cyclists and their need to race (which I cannot identify with since I am not a PRO). But at the end of his piece he wrote this...

On a bike, riding alone, in the environment I feel at peace and can escape. Pushing myself in training to attain new levels, I feel the rhythm of the pedal stroke, the spinning wheels, my breath beneath the ticking chain. My mind is focused as there is clarity making me content.

I think if you take out the cycling references you could apply this quote to all sports and why some people are active in sports their whole life. I think that it provides focus, security, and selfish alone time with a positive outcome. Of course there are always folks who take it too far and rely on it like a drug, but for most people I think the quote rings true, especially if you replace "training" with "riding, running, swimming or any other sport.

2008-09-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was on the CX bike for the 2nd time and it was rough. My legs had no interest in going hard because of the effort last weekend. But it was fun to be on the bike again and I put myself about 3 weeks behind last year in terms of skills and changes of pace.

I tried out my new tubular Ksyriums with Dugast tires and I am not sure about them yet. The tires feel different than the Tufos and the wheels roll very stiff which I'll need to get used to. I think my pressure was a bit high on the tires also (45 psi).

Going easy this week is hard to do since I want to get ready for CX and with 3 weeks until the 1st race there is still a lot to catch up on. I am looking forward to Sunday's workout and to the heat breaking a little.

Next week I start phase 2 which is back to dedicated intervals. My CTL is at 86 tss/d which is drop from 90 before the SS champs. My TSB is still positive but in the next few weeks I have to promise myself not to look at that stuff too much.

GA Single-Speed Champs Results

2008-09-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

Photo: Grant Blankenship

A very fun weekend and big thanks to Shey and his family, Adam Jones, OMBA and John Johnson for putting on and running a smooth event.

Even though there was no prize for it, I wanted to win the omnium by doing the TT, STXC and XC races. Also, since all of the aforementioned folks worked hard and devoted time to a weekend of racing, it was important to me to support them by racing both days.

The TT was a 3.5 mile mini-lap with one steep hill and the cool BMX track at the beginning. It was the coolest temperature of the weekend and I railed it doing a 16.43, deciding to use a 34x17 gear. The effort felt good and I wanted to have something left for the STXC which was in the nasty Macon heat at 3:00pm.

The STXC was an open field and I threw on a 34x16 gear for this race and that worked well for me. I ate some dirt in the first corner, crashing on a root and worked my way back up front by the end of the first lap. The STXC course was mostly grass, flat and fast with the BMX course and a nice sand pit as well. We did around 30 minutes and maybe 5 laps(?). After the first lap I was pretty much solo and after I was left wondering what I would have left for the XC race.

The XC field was much more competitive from when I won my SS title 1.5 years ago and the course was tougher as well. Besides the steep hill in the first 2 miles, the last 2 miles were a series of rough climbs, and the whole course had a lot of sand and sandy, sun exposed slopes which radiated the heat back at you.

From the gun I tried to make the pace hard and get separation and soon after the hole shot there were 3-4 of us away.
I prevented another rider from getting up the hill first since I wanted to dictate the pace and by the end of the first lap the heat and pace hammered me. The rider with me (Stephen Ridgeway, winner GSC sport class overall) pulled away on a hill and soon I had to back off and try to get my core temperature back down.

Soon another racer (John Clayton, runner up in GSC expert class overall) passed me followed by another racer. On the second lap I was baked and felt horrible. Coming through the feed and start/finish I got some ice water dousing and going back into the woods on the third lap Shey looked at me in a way that made me feel like the podium was lost. I decided to screw the last lap, dropped my Camelbak and with no fluids, TT the last lap as hard as possible to make the podium.

That is exactly whatI did. I flew around the course in a 32.57 lap time, passing the 3rd placed racer with about 2 miles to go and hammered it all the way to the end. I was pretty upset at myself on that second lap for the mismanagement of the first lap and feeling sorry for myself so I had nothing to lose and they would not know I was trying to make it back.

Besides a comeback in the Marietta CX race a few years ago, this was the hardest I have raced on a bike all out and I was happy with 3rd. The top 2 guys were very strong and I was outclassed. My lap times were ~ 33, 35, 33 and I think I was only 3 minutes down off the lead.

(Last 3 photos by Carl Mesta)

So, the MTB campaign is over with these results...

Snake Gap 17 Mile TT: 1st (course SS record)
2 Ways in 1 Day TT: 1st (course SS record)
Flat Rock GSC Race: 1st
Ft. Yargo GSC Race: 2nd
Ft. Yargo Dirty Spokes 12 hour Relay: 4th
Heritage Park GSC Race: 4th
Clemson SERC Race: 2nd
Macon GSC Race (expert on SS): 5th
GA SS Championships: TT 1st, STXC 1st, XC 3rd

So long MTB...

Georgia Single Speed Champs and Beyond

2008-09-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend will be the GA Single Speed MTB Championship with a time trial and short track on Saturday and the XC races on Sunday. The venue is in Macon, GA and from the looks of the profile, it is very hilly and has left some interpretation to what gear should be used.

I placed this on the calendar as a peak race and I would like to defend my win from last year. Peaking for a single-speed race is kind of a mystery. Since single-speed racing employs mostly a neuromuscular system with short bursts of high power, it can be hard to emulate that in training very often. With 3 events of various lengths and times that system will be really taxed so I tried to taper so I was really fresh. This means I have lost some CTL and my tsb has gotten progressively positive to a point where hopefully the harshness of Saturday will not compromise Sunday. I believe in doing all 3 races and don't see why one would not unless time is an issue.

The downside I guess is that my CTL will have dropped after the omnium, then I will take a rest week and get ready for cyclcoross. I plan on doing the Gloucester, MA UCI race in October to it is unknown what condition I will be in for that. But my second peak is for December so I hope to train through the cross season with no real expectations and put in a good showing at nationals. I'd also like to try the SS cross category some this fall if possible.

I will skip the Savannah, GA race leaving me with 2 weeks of not racing cross. Hopefully that will allow me to ramp up my training a bit for the rest of the fall.

Impressive Performances in MTB

2008-08-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have never met or raced against Thomas Turner PRO (Outspokin) but I do like to admire him from afar. It seems that no matter the length or intensity of the race he is always a contender. Even after a bad crash and shoulder injury this summer he came back strong for the national MTB championships and now in the Fool's Gold 100 MTB endurance race, placing second to Jerimiah Bishop. In the local MTB series he is somewhat without peer and even in takling a stab last year at cyclocross he showed he can win races and place high in the series. He is also a douoble GA single-speed champion in the open category and set the course SS record last year at Ft. Yargo. I look for him to tri-peat this year.

Greg Turner (no relation) is also a massive talent. A local/regional legend, whose name invokes groans from others in his race, shows year after year he can win a various distances and disciplines. He has used his abilities to win cyclocross, road and MTB races on a consistant basis in the masters category. He is also a GA SS champion in the marathon and just placed 1st on the SS in the Fool's Gold. It would be wonderful to see the Turners battle in the SS championship.

Jason Chapman and I first crossed paths in cyclocross and he was racing only on a single-speed cross bike and dominated the B race series. In fact, most all he races is either single-speed or fixed gear. He is the fixed gear SS MTB champion in Georgia and when he races I am always amazed at his speeds and his gearing on the SS MTB.

Shey Linder organized the SS championshups in GA, is a co-promoter of the GA CX series, Pro MTB racer and likes a lot of endurance distances races. He is quiet and reserved but on the bike I would say not laid back. He is very competitive and if he is not winning, he is placing very high. Besides his racing, his training and judgement about a lot of cycling related issues is invaluable. Because of his leadership and skill he is one person to definately have on your team.

Shane Schreihart races expert MTB and endurance MTB mostly on a SS bike. He takes on all comers in the expert division on the SS and seems to not care what gear(s) you use, just that it is a bike and it rolls. His high placings on the SS bike against fellow geared riders is impressive. He is also very mentally tough as displayed in a 12 hour MTB race (Dirty Spokes) last spring where he did 12 hours on the SS.

"Markie Mark" Stewart is another MTB racer who after performing at a hig level for years, picks and chooses his races now and many of them are distance endurance races. He has a great tactical sense and is also great at pacing. But, (like Shane) his mental toughness really impresses me also. I have never seen him give up and he always seems to maintain a positive attitude in ther midst of suffering.

There are lots of other folks who might make your list, and probably a few I have left out here (no offense). These are just a few that have stood out to me this year.

2008-08-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Went to Ft. Yargo State Park today to ride the fine MTB trails. I wanted to do a good 3 laps (31 miles) to build up some stress. The trail had been blown clear and it was a great ride. Torre Smitherman and Theron Colucci met me there and we rode together and also did our own thing. I think all of us are going to give the SS champs a shot.

Cross practice actually starts next Sunday (!) but I am not sure if I'll go to the first one since it tends to be more mellow. I need to keep up my TSS/CTL until a week before the SS Champs. I usually get 100 TSS with the pre-ride and cross practice but the first few practices are more oriented towards skills. We'll see.

I'd like to check out East Macon Park in 2 weeks as well.

2008-08-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

School has begun with new students staring at me wondering what the year will bring. I took the liberty to ride a lot this summer and I have committed to coaching soccer next spring and summer school next summer.

With the SS champs only 3 weeks away my weekly hours will decrease by 3 or 4 and my CTL may drop a bit. The plan is to get it as high as possible before that race weekend, peak at around +20 and then salvage what I can for cross. With the Gloucester race in mid-October I should be pretty fresh but I have a bunch of traning all fall to get to nationals. Probably will not care about results for the GA CX series and try to just use them as a means to an end.

Brendan Sullivan is pretty much winning at will these days and his passion is cross so either he will burn up with all this racing (not likely) or he will enter the CX season ready to destroy. I just hope he can keep it cranked up until December. I really think he can get on the podium in December if he show a little restraint, does some longer A races this fall and maybe goes to 2-3 UCI races. Either way he is very talented and has come a long, long way in 2 years.

Grearing for the SS champs is going to be interesting. I have heard that a 2:1 might be too hard. I won't get to pre-ride so I will probably take 2 wheels. I may elect to try and push a 34x16 for the TT depending on how long it is.

The intervals in the picture below were 45 second intervals at or above 400w. I did 2 sets of 8. They look hard but on a good hill they are not really unbearable. I find the extended VO2 max intervals like a 5x5, 8x3 or 10x2 at around 330w to be much harder to do and I really have to take it easy the day before if I want to complete them, especially in the mid-day heat. I like the threshold intervals these days because compared to the VO2 max intervals they are pretty mellow. After the SS champs I will have to work on leg speed and sprints since I am not doing that stuff right now. I assume I will be doing some sort of microburst workouts at some point or maybe pyramids and they usually bring my lunch up in my throat. Very hard.

2008-08-05T17:05:00.001-07:00

GSC #8 Pig Trail MTB Race

2008-08-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

The last GCS MTB race of the year and my first foray into the expert class on my single-speed. I used the 34x16 since the course was flat but some new hilly sections were added days before the race. I divided the course in thirds mentally. The first third was flat and ended on an uphill where a water station was (two cups poured on my head each lap), the second third consisted of the hilly bits and the last third was mainly flat. The heat was nasty and the heat index was 105 but it was the same for everyone.

I elected to go with a 70oz bladder frozen into slush for the first 3 laps and then I went to a water bottle when that was dry. I had no support team so I actually had to stop and get my drinks on the last lap.

I went out hard with the lead group on the first lap and hung in there no problem until 2/3 into the lap. I backed off knowing we had 4 total laps (30 miles) and I was hoping they went out too hard. The SS gearing was nice for the course and I did not have too much trouble holding on to them but I could tell there was no way to keep that up for 2.5 hours.

I had a crash at the end of the first lap and the local hero Monty got by me and I thought I would catch him but he was gunning for 4th and I did not see him again.

The rest of the race was great. I went at my own forced pace and had a lot of fun. I ended up 5th which was a nice result I think.

The GCS series is nice but honestly I prefer the SERC courses. I did not get to do Raccoon Mtn and I'll try that this winter.

Next up is the GA SS Champs also in Macon but on a harder course.

2008-07-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today was my first flat on my tubless MTB wheels. The Big Creek trails have gotten progessively rockier with baby-head rocks that really throw you around. One of them actually pierced the middle portion of my tire and even Stan's could not seal the pea-sized hole that was left behind. I also got thrown into a nice sticker bush while grinding through a rocky section. One rock flipped up from my front wheel and landed on the top of my foot/shin and kept bouncing between me and the frame for a couple of pedal strokes, sort of like juggling a soccer ball.

I remember the winter and Big Creek being really nice. Now the lack of rain and hard use has made it very challenging.

I am going to enter the 40+ expert race Sunday on my single-speed and try to use a 34x16 gearing. I also might try a Camel-bak hydration system since I have no one to give me a hand up. I don't really like them but it is going to be very hot and I'd rather look kind of silly than overheat. I hope the gearing is appropriate.

Only 5 weeks to the ss championships and my first peak. But, I am really excited about cross this year so it is hard to not overlook the SS champs.

School starts back again Monday so gone will be my free time and back to balancing everything. I am looking forward to school though since I always get to start fresh with a new batch of kids.

Someone was doing a photo shoot at Big Creek this morning with a bunch of kids. I wonder what that was for?

Going Tubless for CX With Stan's

2008-07-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

First off, if you have the money just buy/use a tubular wheel set and tubular tires. It is the best option. Secondly, you can also but Stan's CX wheel set up which is a 29er MTB rim that is designed for tubless tires and Stan's system.

That said, the cheapest alternative to tubular tires is taking an old clincher wheel set and converting it over to tubless using Stan's cyclocross system. What follows is by no means the only way to do this but it worked for me.

1. Call Stan's and ask them if your wheel set will work with the system. I have a Sun ME14A wheel set that I won a few years ago and use as a back up set.
2. Take a drill with a 3/8" bit and drill out the inside valve hole. Sand it down to remove burrs.
3. One of the challenges for this and many other rims is that in order for it to seal the center of the rim has to be built up so that the Stan's rubber tire liner set up right under the clincher bead lock. What I did was take electrical tape and go around the center of the rim twice. Then I took TWO Velox rim strips and went around with those. Finally I took the Stan's rubber rim strip and installed it.
4. I went around the rim bead with a plastic tire lever and made sure the Stan's rubber rim strip was seated right up against the bead lock on both sides of the rim, all the way around.
5. I am using the Maxxis Raze tire to start with so I installed the tire and inflated it to 10 psi to make sure it held air.
6. I deflated the tire and hung the wheel from the post on my workstand (valve up). I then removed on side of the tire about 12" on the bottom, exposing the inside of the tire.
7. I shook the Stan's sealant and poured 2 Stan's cup fulls into the exposed part of the tire. I then rotated the tire around so that the sealant moved to an area where the tire was already set on both sides. Then I use my tire lever to install the tire I had exposed.
8. I inflated the tire to 50 psi and then meticulously grabbed the wheel in both hand and moved it back and forth (like a fan) revolving the tire so that the sealant was distributed.
9. I do not use soap to check the seal, I use Windex. I sprayed the Windex all around the tire/rim interface and looked for bubbles. If I saw some I placed the wheel with the bubbles at the bottom and then shook the wheel again to coat that area (Stan's website has some great video to show how this is done).
10. I then set up 2 buckets and rested each wheel sideways horizontal on a bucket for 5-10 minutes and after that inverted them.

All of this took about 2 hours. The wheels are holding fine and we will see what happens overnight. I am not using them as race wheels, only as back ups or training wheels. I am very interested to compare them to my tubular wheels.

I think this is the wave of the future but more so as UST/Tubless wheels are made more and more for cross just like MTB. I use a Bontrager tubless wheel set for MTB with Stan's sealant and have never looked back.

Tubulars are nice and feel nice but they are expensive. Stan's and tubless systems are made for the masses and I expect more and more people to give it a try.

Stan's has a nice cross wheel set for cheap and will be coming out with their own "raven" tire soon. Hutchison has a UST/tubless tire already for cross. Probably the biggest advantage to doing what I did is that you use wheels you have already and you can switch tires easily.

90 Realized

2008-07-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

So I met my goal set way back in January of getting to a CTL of 90. Now what? Since CTL is based on a rolling average (basically like saying I am doing a 90 tss/day average), it will only fall from August 11th or so down to December. Simply put it takes a lot of time to raise your CTL. Like any average it gets harder to raise the ceiling as you go if you are not consistantly scoring above the average value.

Normally it is said that if you have a CTL of 70 or below you won't need to taper for a peak event. But at 90 tss/d or close to that I would taper if I were going to peak. The risk of tapering in September is that you loose CTL in your taper and for the cross season that might mean initial decreased performance. But, that is why you do specific workouts designed to maintain a certain level and focus on your weaknesses (for which I have many).

The last sub-eight hour week I had was back in April. The only "rest" period was during my vacation in June where I was still able to do some tempo stuff. So, using TSS instead of the traditional 3 weeks on/1 week off periodization got easier as I went. Plus, if you look at my average intensity factor for that period (May-July), it is only about .75 (out of 1, with 1 being TT intensity).

It is easy to see how the pros ramp up so quickly when they are doing 4 or 5 hours a day and racing in between.

A CTL of 100 tss/day would probably have taken me another 2 months. Once intervals start CTL will go down so I would have had to start building much earlier and since I work that is not possible.

An Open Letter to All Things Hymenoptera

2008-07-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Queen of the bees and wasps,

I surrender. I have had 6 stings in 6 weeks, three on the face while riding my bike. I don't know what I did to you but please stop stinging me! Is it the honey I eat in the morning? I can switch to maple syrup. Let me know (nicely).

Sincerely,

Bob

2008-07-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a 27 mile route from my house that has a few nice climbs and usually gives me 89 tss in 1.5 hours. Low traffic except for crossing Roswell Road and anyone who does the group rides in this area will be familiar with the roads. The best time to ride is between 9:30 and 11am when everyone is at work.

Hilly Brookhaven-Chastain
Find more Bike Rides in Atlanta, Georgia

Tubeless With Stan's

2008-07-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

I am going to make an adventure of it and try the new Stan's cyclocross rim strips out on a spare Sun ME14A rim set in order to run them tubless. The setup looks pretty easy and the price is good as two Maxxis Raze tires are $60 and the Stan's setup is also $60. That is about the cost of one Dugast tubular tire.

I have had great success with the MTB setup and there are nice instructions on how to do the same for cyclocross tires here.

Most folks I know would love to go tubless but don't want to buy a new wheel set, special tires, or don't want the glue mess. I'll try it out and update later.

I can't wait for a cheaper road system for tubless and it should be forthcoming.

2008-07-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today on Dan's "Macabre" ride I got dropped again right after a big hill called Jack Pittman when Jeff Welp attacked. When he attacked I was in the shit already. So I tried to get back to them and only succeeded because they took pity on me and sat up. I guess it was my handlebar position which confused them to whether I was working hard to chase or not (I was on the hoods). There was a county line sign right after I caught them and I sprinted for it because I was glad it was over and because I was mad I got dropped.

Here is the power file selection that shows I was working at threshold chasing back and normalized power shows that I was a little above threshold (the dotted line is my threshold power line).

This ride is pretty hard for me (obviously) and harder now than it was back in February where I actually pulled a lot, did not get dropped, and sprinted 2 or 3 times.

Here is the zone by zone power distribution:

2008-07-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

One of the best features of WKO+ is the "fast find" feature. In the ride graph you can search your effort for a self-specified power range. Besides the food poisoning last Saturday night I was surprised to get dropped on the Sunday ride. I was curious since I had done 5x5 VO2 max and 6x3 VO2 max efforts the Tuesday and Thursday before the ride, whether I had over extended in that range and was just very tired when those efforts came up in the fast ride.

What I found going back is that I had burned 13 matches of efforts between 30 to 2 minutes where the power average ranged between 318w and 450w.

Also, in looking at the power distribution graph I was 13 minutes total in VO2 max and 16 minutes above that.

While the ride might normally be in my wheelhouse, I would suspect that if I were to do a ride like this later in the week it might be better to adjust my intervals earlier so I can put in a better performance.

The Drive for 90

2008-07-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

I had a goal to try and achieve 90 CTL by August 4th. Why? I would like to come into the SS championships with a high CTL so I can taper a week and have a positive TSB for the race weekend September 6+7. I'll shoot for +20 TSB for that weekend and pay for it later in cross season. My original goal was to try and get 100 CTL but that won't happen.

It has been very difficult to get to 90 CTL being an average athlete. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. With cross season beginning at the end of October I am hoping I can salvage some CTL for that, focusing again on December.

Here is a shot of my PMC for the summer so far:

and a shot of my time/distance so far...

Using TSS has been a different experience and I can't say I have missed "rest weeks" but it is a gamble. It has been a neat experiment and those guys who do it all the time have my respect.

Yesterday I got completely dropped on the Dan's Macabre ride and it sucked. I don't think I have gotten dropped on that ride before. It especially hurt getting crushed on the hill before Stock Rd. Hopefully the chart above had nothing to do with that. Maybe things will be different this weekend.

I liked the sequel to Hellboy a lot. I collected comics when I was a teen and I would certainly have subscribed to Hellboy back then. But with the web today you can see some of them online here. The movie is different from the comic but it is really fun and humerous. Even my wife liked it without me having to pay dues and see Sex in the City (never).

I would suggest avoiding any mussel dish at mexican style taquerias in Virginia/Highlands.

2008-07-09T10:15:00.001-07:00

My wife told me 2 weeks ago that she thinks I should race cross this fall if I want to and to not say I am going to stop unless I really want to. Probably the biggest inhibitor to racing some races will be gas prices. Without knowing the schedule yet I don't know how many races might be affected. But, I assume that when my daughter turns 4 next year she will be playing sports of her own and I will be focusing more on that (car-pool, practices, etc.).

Anyway, no one cares really except me so moving on...

I am going to try and do one of my "dream races" this fall. The HUP guys in New England are going to host a get together for the USGP of Gloucester and I have booked my flight. It was a hard choice between that and Star-Crossed in Seattle but New England won out.

This year's cross season will be interesting in a lot of ways. First, the GA SS championships are right in the middle of the prime cross build-up month of September. So, how do you work both? I think you prepare for cross but try and do a weekly SS ride/race to keep sharp. I doubt that muscular endurance will drop too much unless one focuses only on cross in that time period.
Secondly, with the excellence of Brendan Sullivan this year it will be interesting to see where he races. If he goes A race, it leaves the door open for a few masters 35+ guys. Maybe that would encourage Tony to go with him. One can dream. I have the same dilemma as always: masters is first, A race is last, tennis happens during the A race so I will have to do the masters, get in my car and race home so my wife can play tennis. It is a balancing act.

I will probably go all-in and race elite masters 1/2/3 in Gloucester. Of course, that is if I can even register. Registration is as competitive as nationals and starts smack in the middle of the SS champs race day. Doh!

Sometimes I get the feeling that cross is like Dungeons and Dragons. It is a little obsession that means very little to anyone but your little circle and anyone else looking in realizes that you take it way too seriously. What would be the equivalent of a dice pouch in cross? (Yes I played, cast your judgement).

Bethlehem-Athens

2008-07-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

The yearly pilgrimage to Athens to ride the Finley Street cobbles went off without any problems. It was about 3.5 hours in the saddle and 65 miles of nice roads. Once in Athens, we rode down Milledge and took a left onto Broad and then a right up Finley's steep cobbled climb (really the only one I know of around here). It is not very long but as you can see in the picture to the left, there are some pretty nice looking stones. Thinking back to walking that street when I was a student at UGA I would have not realized the appeal until Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

The group eventually broke up around Tallassee Rd and riding from there to Statham, over the reservoir was pretty tough.

All in all a really nice time and I can't wait to do it again.

2008-07-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how cool it is outside, but I can believe how little it has rained. The 3rd driest June on record and we are down 7" at this point.

I am looking forward to the GTC Athens ride Friday and no matter what Mike says I have 74 and 81 miles in the last 2 editions I did, not 62 miles. That is fine with me! I proposed twice up the cobbled Finley St. so we will see who bites. It is a great ride all around and I hope the weather is nice.

No Raccoon MTN but there is Bethlehem-Madison

2008-06-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

Got a call from the baby-sitter last night at 11pm saying she will be leaving town Saturday instead of Monday so there went the highly anticipated Raccoon Mountain MTB race and my debut riding the SS in the expert class.

So, I decided to take out my frustration by doing 78 miles today from Bethlehem, GA to Madison, GA and back. I made a wrong turn so I added some extra miles onto a 74 mile course. It is primarily flat with some nice rollers periodically, the tough stretch along "Confederate St." leading to Rutledge, GA and then the hard hills through Hard Labor State Park. There seemed to always be a headwind today and even though there were a thousand clouds in the sky, not one had the decency to cover up the sun. The route is all pretty exposed to the heat takes its toll and by the end I was pretty fried.

I covered the 78 miles at a nice 20.7 mph clip and my average power was a meager 206w (226w NP). So, about 3:50 in terms of ride time. I got stung by 2 bees which goes back to the debate on wearing underlayers in the summer. One drawback is that a bee/wasp can hit your underlayer and then get caught between it and your skin. It is my 3rd sting this week.

Knowing jury duty is looming I tried to get in a big riding week and I succeeded with 14 hours and 237 miles.

At about mile 75 I stopped at "The Store" near Monroe, GA. Four ancient dickheads who always seem to be sitting out front and always with something to say started going on to me about how my bike should have a license plate. It was a clear provocation, but they obviously underestimated how big of an asshole usually I am (just ask anyone) so I agreed with them and said that roads are for cars and I am only fortunate enough to share it with them. Those douchebags had nothing more to say but I am sure they are still sitting there going on about cornholing and such. I hate that place.

Bethlehem-Madison
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