Cyclocross Weekend

Since I've moved to fort worth my training has been a bit less than ideal. I'm still working on getting out on the new routes, finding safe places to ride in the dark. It has sort of caused the last part of the year to be a bit more mediocre than i had hoped. This year was not quite right from the beginning. I never really got in the gym, never really rode the fixed gear bike enough.

I know what to do to fix it, been lifting for a few months already. Now that the end of the season is here, i can finally rest. It feels good. Really good. After 3 days i'm already looking forward to getting back into it, and doing it better this year. I will, however, enjoy my short break.

One of my main goals for for 2010 are to put on some weight. I've decided that I just can't be competitive in texas @ 145. I'm going to try to maintain 155-160 next year. We'll see how the power/weight improves-worsens.

My stable of bikes is getting bigger. I believe we are losing our team bikes after being blessed for 2 years. I am very lucky to have been able to use the felt. For 2010 I believe that I will be on a new Kuota KULT.



I will be getting back into MTB racing after 4 years away. I've got access to SO many great trails. Sansom park is local, and a very good technical trail. I should have a Trek Top Fuel 9.8 by years end.



I can't thank my bike shop enough, Fort Worth Cycling and Fitness. I've been working there for 4months now and really like it. Great people, great boss, and support for racing, couldn't have asked for more. www.FWCYCLING.com !!

I did get to build up a new bike already though. I bought a CAAD9 cyclocross bike. Single ring, 11x28 in the back. Very fun bike and had a great time racing it, although I didn't do so hot. The goal was to go out and have fun, and I did do that.

I'll leave you with some cyclocross pics from this weekend:

i run sometimes too.

Got my first 5k in this year. 17:31, faster than last year with the same amount of training. Still looking to be about a minute faster than that by years end.

Got a touch of heat exhaustion moving my wife and daughter up a few weeks ago. I've gotten too used to the cool mornings here. Got down there for the move, did a 6mile tempo run, then straight into moving furniture and boxed for 5hours. That knocked me down for at least a week. Finally feeling stronger again, maybe race shape in another month?

Been mountain biking quite a bit. Hit up Boulder park in Dallas for about 3hrs. One of the funnest workouts i've ever done.

Probably doing a longer group ride tomorrow and then down to Joe Pool Lake on monday for a long ride on the mountain bike again. 3-3.5hrs of riding and 30-45min run afterwards. Long dirty-brick aka the LDB.

Pic is pre-move:

Summer update

Its been quiet on here for a while but for good reason. I haven't been racing. I took a break after the end of May. I did a crit up in San Antonio, the CNS felt a little tired although my power was ok. I ended up second behind Benz. Nice way to end the spring.



Right now I am running and cycling both. Still focused on cycling though.

I start a new job in Fort Worth at the beginning of July, I'll likely have to work every Saturday so I added the running in again so that I have more options for races on Sunday. Last year I actually saw a boost in my V02 Max power after I started running, so I know if Chann and I manage it well I won't lose anything on the bike. Looking to buy a MTB again soon too!

My goals for fall is to 1) win some multisport stuff, 2) get a podium or 2 on the road, 3)sub 17min 5k (was 17:45 last year) and 4)getting my MTB skills back enough to not embarrass myself too badly in the Cat1's.

Next race will probably be in July sometime, don't know what it'll be, either road, mtb or tri/du. Might even be a foot race we'll see.

Joe Martin Stage Race 2009

This is probably the 5th year I have done this race and I love it. It doesn't have as much real climbing as Gila or even Tour of AR, but there is some and Fayetteville is really beautiful.





My wife and daughter drove 6 hours up to Fort Worth where we would leave the little one, we hooked up with Colton and the next morning we drove another 6 to the race. Stage 1 started Thursday evening so we decided to get a late breakfast, and go for an easy 30-45 min spin that afternoon.

Stage 1: Hill Climb TT

The stage is only 2.5 miles with about 1.5 of that being an actual climb, much of it is flat to false flat. In my memory it always seems like a real climb until I am on the course, then I realize that it isn't as steep as I remember when I first did it as a cat4. I don't really have a good excuse to as why I wasn't top ten here. My legs felt ok, maybe a little stale from the lack of racing. I did 380w (5.7w/kg) for 9:16min, only good enough for 14th. Much of the top 20 were with in 1 second of each other, which eventually carried to the final GC.



I was mostly happy with the pacing, controlling the early parts to under 400w, but I think I should have opened it up a bit more in the middle and held on instead of waiting for the last 3min to hit it hard.

Stage 2: RR #1 110miles

We rolled out under clouds and cool rain, not ideal, but it quickly cleared and we had a pretty nice race. Thank goodness I now have the time to put in solid miles every week, after 75miles my legs felt very fresh. Brant Speed and I had a go on Mt. Gaylor, we caught a small break on the way up and then we attracted a few more from the pack, but before we got to the top most of the pack was back on. The run back into town was acutally pretty fast, lots of attempts that eventually led to Metro/VW countering solo and finishing about 20s ahead of us in the lead pack. Last year I lacked the miles in my legs, so much so that when we reached the last hilly miles I was cooked, this year I was able to sprint (if you can call it that) and finish in the top 20 fairly easily.

Because of a few people getting popped toward the end I moved up to 12th in GC

Stage 3: RR #2 96miles

We rolled out under cloudy skies again but no rain. My legs felt great and I was thinking if there was a break I would definitely try to get into it. When a break goes it usually happens after the steep climb as there is a couple miles of false flat after that and it can get pretty hard. I marked a few breaks but didn't commit as none of them really got that far. By the last lap it became obvious that it was going to finish together unless someone was able to get away at the very end again. I was still feeling pretty fresh so I fought to stay in the top 15 for the last 10miles. I saw a break go that had Carrey in it and a couple of other riders. I jumped off of the front, bridged up to the rider in the back. I took a deep breath and was going to get ready to rotate when I realized that the rider I latched onto had lost the wheel in front of him on a hill and I wasn't able to jump again to the group in front.

The group stayed away and at that point my goal was to finish with the group without any time gaps but also (and this is the trickey part) not get into a crash on the decent to the finish. There is usually a crash, and we are doing 40mph+ so its not my favorite finish. There was some bumping and sketchiness at the end but all stayed up and I finish unscathed.

Stage 4: 60min Criterium

This course has been a thorn in my side as long as I've done this race. The hill on the start/finish is very punchy and I'm the complete opposite of that. It is hard for me to stay in the pack when you have to jam it hard on every lap. Thankfully my legs felt great going into the final stage and I was able to stay in the top 15 the whole race. I figured staying with the front I was going to at least get 13th GC, if not move up into the top 10 as the splits were still very close. With a half lap to go a rider when down, took out Fawely, and opened a large gap on the rest of the field. A couple of riders made the split by the very end of the lap but the rest of us were given a 6sec split. Wolhrobie made it across and his GC time ended up the same as mine. Since they go to the last stage to break ties he moved into 13th and me into 14th. Also, the rider that caused the wreck, went down and didn't finish but was allowed to use the "3k" rule and he was put back into our group, further moving riders down.





I'm fairly happy with the result, I would have liked more climbing and/or more stages. Hopefully Tour of Arkansas will be back next year and maybe I can finally make it back to Gila.

Party Big aka Fiesta Grande

I wasn't sure I was even going to race this one. Tuesday that week I woke up congested and a sore throat. So I went out for a 1 hour easy spin that evening. Wednesday was even worse, I was achey too. I had my daughter after work so I put here in the trailer and tried to do an easy 1.5hrs, although its hard to do anything real easy with that much of a wind catcher in windy Corpus Christi. Thursday I felt a bit better and for whatever reason I decided to pull the trigger and race.

Friday evening had a 10mile technical TT on Fort Sam Houston. The course was not really closed and only about half the intersections were guarded. It was a bit scary barreling full speed through intersections with cars waiting at the stop signs. I think the fact that traffic laws are much more strictly enforced on military installations had a lot to do with making it out alive.

I have my TT position dialed in. I'm not happy with how high my front end is right now, but the hip angle is perfect I think. This was the first effort where my power was good, my legs felt strong and at the end I wasn't cramping. Usually my glutes are hurting so bad by the end, but this time I felt like I had just got off of my road bike. I think I will measure my hip angle and then move the front end down a little, and adjusting the saddle to keep the angles the same. Power output was good for me in the TT position: ~23min @ 330w+.



Saturday afternoon we came back for a crit. The goal here was to get Colton or I into the break. We covered everything and Colton was able to get into the 12man split. I tried getting across with a few riders but was trying to be careful not to pull a large chunk of the field up. I knew c-money has a good sprint and could finish it off better than I could. He ended up 4th!



Sunday was a hilly circuit race and I was not feeling great, the lack of mileage in my legs this week was evident towards the end. I wanted to respond to some late attacks, and I did but didn't really have the horse power to make anything stick. The field was all together on the last lap except for Serrano up the road solo, Colton took off with 2miles to go, about a half mile later Robbinette attacked and caught Colton. They worked to gether and Colton was able to hold onto third with the pack storming behind by just a few seconds.

New Front end

So I have been tinkering around with my TT set up. Got a set of oval carbon armrests and the stem that holds pads and extensions. I also was able to get a smokin' deal on some zipp vuka extensions with the shifter bosses built in for $40!

I decided to do a modified 'aero or die' set up. I didn't 100% commit to the 'A or D' set up, but I thought this looked a little more aero, but who knows.

The base bar is a 130g Oval concepts mountain bike bar. I turned the vision brake levers so that they were on the same plane as the bar. Underneath the tape I added some cable guides to give it a better shape and make it easier to hold on to.

This weekend will be my first race on it, its kind of a technical course so i'm not sure that this is the best way to test it out.

Fort Davis 2009

Coming off of a good weekend of racing, i was especially looking forward to racing Hammerfest. Its one of the few races I get to do that has some real climbs on it, although none of them are super long, sustained climbs, its pretty close.

My coach, Chann McRae , had my peak starting the week before this race and like clockwork, it showed up. My power at FTP jumped ~15w in about a week and my weight has stayed pretty constant at about 147lbs (68kg).




After an 8hr drive from Corpus, Kevin, Colton and I, rolled into Fort Davis around 3pm on Friday. We unloaded and headed out to do some openers and maybe some light climbing. There is a 10min climb behind an RV park that I like to do, its not a road that many know about I suspect and there is a "No bicycles" warning at the base of it.



I was getting good signals from my legs and was pretty confident about getting a decent result this weekend. There was only a few things that could throw a wrench in the weekend: 1. We were racing a separate P/1 category from the '2' category but racing at the same time, which completely confuses the race tactics 2. There are a handful of Pros in town that normally are not there.

Stage 1: This year the first stage was the Hill Climb RR. An early move of really strong riders got away in the first few miles and hit the base of the climb with a really big gap. Not sure why the peloton thought it was ok to let these guys go but we did. Vargas, Frost and Dille were gone and finished a couple of minutes ahead of the first climbers in the Peloton.




Once we got near the base of Mt. Locke the pace picked up and I moved into the top 10 on the protected side and was feeling good. John Coppin and I set tempo on the lower slopes, we had a tail wind so being at the front seemed like a smart move. Once we turned and the wind became a factor I drifted back and sat in the top 5. The pack quickly whittled down to about 10-11. Pat McCarty (Ouch Maxxis) and Heath Blackgrove attacked after a few minutes of climbing and I didn't respond, thinking that if I climbed my pace it would end up being faster. There were some other attacks but I kept my own tempo and was able to drop most of the group. Chris Wherry attacked and got a gap that I almost closed at the finish 3miles later. At about half way up, a Ten-speed drive rider and Stefan attacked and got a small gap, i caught them as the course leveled off and we rode hard to keep the gap on the rest of the field. I was able to pass them on the final incline and hold of the field. I finished 7th on the stage and 4th out of the main group.

Stage 2: The TT was held in the afternoon and the winds kicked up to a steady 40mph+ there were reported gusts to 60mph. I thought that they might cancel the stage but no luck there. My TT was ok, but not great. I averaged ~17mph for the first 9miles and 40mph+ for the final 7miles. My time put me mid-pack of the P12's. After the first day I was sitting 14th GC.



Stage 3: The final RR was a 72mile RR. The first 35miles were flat and then you start hitting the climbs. The race was hard for the first hour or so as people tried to get away, but nothing was going to stick. The field would split and rejoin in the crosswinds. Once we hit the first climb, 'Bear Mtn.', the tempo started to pick up. San Jose kept the pace most of the last half to keep Vargas in the lead and to keep the attacks down. McCarty attacked a few times but was reeled in each time. I just stayed near the front making sure to stay out of trouble and be ready to respond to any hard surges. By the time we hit the finals decent and run into the finish we had 15 guys left in the group with a few dangling off of the back. I finished 9th on the stage and 13th GC.




All in All i'm happy with the weekend. Chann has the ability to make sure you are fit and efficient all season but also that you are peaking right when you want to be. Even though my results here weren't as good as 2007, my power was up, almost 10%. It took more power this year to hang with the leaders, the fields are getting deeper and the top guys that are here have national level experience.

If I can start focusing on my time trialing I can improve my overall results. However I am happy with 2 top tens.

This week

So this is just a couple of cool things that happened this week.

Belterra:

New course, and it was sweet. Two big climbs, lots of wind and 72min long. I felt great, in fact I set some PR numbers during this race. I missed the winning moves however, little less hp and and a little more patients would have put me on the podium I think.

Stats: 72min 307w average and 354w Normalized
60min 320w average and 362w Normalized
weight: 66.8 kg.



I'm bumping my new FTP from 330w to 350w. 360 seems too high and based on the V.I. I think that a lower number is more repeatable. The good news is that puts me over the 5w/kg mark for the first time, 5.24w/kg to be specific. Life is good when the peaks starts!

After the race I didn't really think the numbers were right so I went out and did the SRM calibration found here: SRM Calibration

After all the calculations I came out less than 1% off.



Dave @ ISM Saddles hooked me up with a couple of new seats. The peloton was just released and I snagged a white one and I also got the 'Road' version with a new all-white cover that isn't out yet. I think they are moving in the right direction for sure, the seats feel awesome once you set them up right and get used to the new shape. Racing in the drops feels like riding on the tops on a traditional saddle. If you are worried about numbness and 'male specific health issues', these are the saddles to get.





Just got my other SRM back from Colorado springs, new battery, new slope and I'm ready to hit Fort Davis and either Gila or Joe Martin.

Our team just picked up a sweet sponsorship from Rudy Project, we will all be wearing their helmets and Sunglasses. As a team we ordered the Actyum and I ordered the Freeon and Ekynox Sx.



Lastly, I just got another big shipment from Powerbar . They sent me some more clothing, food and I ordered a bunch of bottles. I don't know how I go through so many, I think I started the season (jan of this year) with ~50 new bottles and I'm down to 10.

A couple of cycling DIY projects

DIY Thule Bike Carrier/Bike stand:

Problem: I needed a good bike stand that I could take to races, but did'nt want to buy another stand and I didn't want to have to pack yet another thing in my truck before a race.

Now that most bikes come in tube shapes that you cannot clamp in a standard Park bike stand (like the one I have at home)
Instead of buying a separate repair stand just to travel to races with that work with carbon framed bikes like this:I decided to try to make an adjustable bracket that would fit on my hitch rack.
The bracket it adjustable and is made from aluminum angle and strap, all the hardware is stainless and the nuts are stainless nylon nuts. The hinge uses a large stainless through bolt and nylon nut to adjust tension so when you lay the bracket down it stays in place.

DIY Custom Chain Keeper:

The next project I wanted to do was make a really nice chain watcher. I am from the school of thought that with properly adjusted drive train you will never need one. I've dropped my chain maybe 1 time in the last year, but the one time I did, i destroyed the SRM bottom bracket sensor that I had just bought, so I had to buy a second one for $75, ouch!

Most chain keepers on the market are plastic and ugly,

and I didn't want to mount one of those. I had seen some custom made ones on a few protour bikes and thought that I could make one similar to those pretty easy.

Here is a couple of examples from Allesandro Ballan's and Ivan Basso's bikes just before for Paris-Roubaix:Here is my version made from 1/8" solid brass rod:

Making the keeper was pretty easy. I just bent the rod into the shape I wanted with a hammer and a vise/anvil. Then i progressively flattened the top 1/3 so that it could easily be bolted onto the front of the braze-on hanger. I replaced the stock derailleur bolt with a longer stainless one, added a stainless washer also. Its a little more tricky to set up the front shifting now as you have to set the position of the derailleur and the keeper at the same time. You can add some tension to the bolt and move the keeper, then cinch everything down.

I need to test it to see of the brass is strong enough to handle a dropped chain, if not i'll make another out of 1/8" stainless rod.

Lago Vista 1 & 2

I was really looking forward to this race weekend. The course is very good: stair step climbing and false flats for half the circuit and descending for the other half.

We hit 50+mph on the decent every lap, but the only real scary part of this race is that it is held in kind of a country-wooded area with lots of wildlife. Last year 2 p1/2's were hit on the fast decent by deer crossing the road. Thankfully there was no high-speed 'frogger' during our race.

The race went about as expected, hard single file, and guttered all the way up the back side. Lots of attacks. A couple of pro's got of early and we never saw them again, i think they finished about 2 minutes ahead of the pack by the end of the race. For the life of my I could not get a move off the front to stick. We had a few serious tries but it was destined to come down to a field sprint.

The pack of 140 finished with about 50, I ended up 25th on the downhill sprint.

Day 2:

I noticed saturday night that my right hip flexor was pretty sore, likely from all the climbing. by morning it was pretty tender.

Kelly Benefits Pro team showed up for day 2 and showed us how you are supposed to race this course. They were in every break and had 3 of 5 in the final move, going 1,2 and 4. Texas did manage to get Rothe into 3rd to save our dignity.

My day didn't go as well. Each time up the back side it was hard, admittedly not as hard as day1 based off my power data, but each lap made my hip flexor hurt more and more. At one point about 2 hours in the pain was getting pretty sharp. I'm sure i could have finished but was more worried about straining something and missing time training. So, after about 50miles I bailed. I know it was a logical reason, but it never feels any better. I always feel like a tool when I DNF, I don't like the feeling at all.

Back on the bike Tuesday doing intervals, the hip felt 100%.

Next race will be a small crit on the 15th up in S/A.