I hate Illinois (Nazis)

Today was my Cat 3 debut in a road race, and lady luck was not on my side. I raced on the training rig (Cannondale) because my Scott is still being fixed from the accident. The C-dale is a nice bike, but doesn't hold a flame to the Scott in terms of weight, or lack-thereof, and components. I just feel faster on the Scott...it's hard to explain. I am also using a loaner helmet from a teammate; said helmet has a winter liner in it, so it is kind of hot.

Our race was 67 miles comprised of 3 laps through the O'fallon Illinois back roads. It was a moderately flat course, only a few short stiff climbs. The first lap was a bit sketchy on some of the descents in the shadier regions due to rainfall an hour before the race. At one point I had a rider from an Illinois team brake unnecessarily right in front of me on a wet downhill turn. Almost bit it...slid the back wheel out a bit, and startled the rider behind me, but all was well. The first lap came and went. More sketchiness courtesy of any Illinois-based team riders (too much to explain. Illinois sucks) resumed on the second lap.

At 35 miles in I was riding next to a teammate, into a headwind, and said "man, this would be a great place to launch an attack". No more than 10 seconds later I heard air seeping violently from my front wheel. Yep, a flat. On the windy stretch. I pulled over, started to remove the wheel and soon the wheel truck arrived. I grabbed my spare, threw it on, looked up, and no riders were in sight. Dammit. The wheel truck driver said "you know, you aren't supposed to draft on me, but I am not looking". I just said "no, go ahead" and decided to inflict some pain on myself. I didn't have a magnet on my replacement wheel, so I do not know how fast I was pushing, but my HR was around 93% every time I looked. A few minutes went by and I still did not see the pack, or the wheel truck for that matter. After about 10 minutes, I caught sight of the field coming out of a turn...this caused me to go harder, and it worked. I killed it trying to get back on the pack, and I actually did...a bit of a moral victory IMO.

Going into the third lap, I was still trying to recover, but was also near the front and trying to push the pace. Doesn't really help the recovery effort when pushing the pace. We were managing to string the field out some, and causing others to spend some energy. At 5 or 6 miles into the lap (about 50 into the race), we approached a short, stiff climb. A rider in front of me started to swing his rear wheel, and his derailuer caught on the quick-release of my front wheel. I think the contact scared the bejesus out of him, and he was kind of pissy, but eff him. Unfortunately, he opened up the quick-release (thankfully, other riders had mentioned that to me). I tried to reach down and close it while riding/climbing, but that was a recipe for disaster. To the pleasure of the pack, I pulled over to close the QR. When I looked up, the field had started to hammer again about 150 meters in front of me. Dammit. I tried to dig deep to get back on, but my legs weren't there. I more or less paced the field/wheel truck for about a mile. Once we reached some of the turns in the woods, I lost sight and motivation. My day was done.

I have mixed feelings about my results, but hey, I can only control so much. I was pretty proud of bridging back up after the flat tire, but the second incident kind of chaps my ass. I was a better climber than a lot of the guys today, and I had no reason to be where I was in the pack when I made contact with the guy in front of me...I should have been trying to attack on the hill. Oh well.

I really miss my nice bike.

Blogging is stupid.

And I am lazy. If you are astute, you probably noticed that I've at least updated my race results to the left of the screen. If you haven't noticed, well, you're a dummy. I'll recap the past two months (sorry, no pics - I am lazy), as this past week was quite, um, dynamic?

Tour of Hermann - Criterium and Road Race
This weekend was rainy and sucky.

The crit course had a giant hill.
On the 3rd or 4th lap me and another guy said sayonara to the rest of the field.
They never saw us again, and it became a two man race.
I was beat on the final sprint uphill (it was an uphill finish) but we put half a minute gap on the third place rider.

The road course was short (30 miles) but consisted of nice short, punishing hills. The very first mile of the race contained the largest hill. This dropped half of the field. Three riders broke away, me and two others tried to bridge up, but the field bridged up to us all. Wasted effort. Then, two riders attacked again. We never saw one of them again. Coming into the last mile, there were about 12 of us who picked up the pace. I placed 7th in the field sprint, 8th overall. I hate sprinting in rain. It took 3 days for my shoes to dry.


Tour of STL - Crit and Circuit Race
The crit was flat, took place down on MLK/Delmar...north of Washington Ave. It was windy. Flat courses don't play in my favor. There was a bad crash in which a rider face planted at about 25mph. Not good. The meatwagon came for him (but he's all better now). The last lap was completely sketchy. I was far back coming out of the last turn, but salvaged a 7th place finish on the sprint.

The circuit race was at Carondelet - but the whole park, not the crit-loop we do on tuesday nights (half of the park). Todd and Lori witnessed nothing special. It was windy, I rode off the front too much. I popped on the last turn of the last lap. 17th. Suck.

Sylvan Springs Criterium.
I entered the 4/5 and the 3/4.
4/5 was first.
All was well, kind of a small field. One dude from Columbia kept trying to ride away from the pack, but we always caught him. He was killing himself for nothing. I really liked this course, as there was a decent climb (big-ring climb) as well as a fast descent with a sharp turn. I sat back and watched others work. At the beginning of the last lap, I moved into position and was out front on the descent. As we took the sharp turned, I laid down the hammer. This carried my momentum up part of the climb...a few other riders positioned in front of me for the remainder of the climb. The last turn was 150 meters from the finish. I was about 5th place coming out of the turn and started my sprint. I won by a wheel-length. My first 'real' crit win. I was so happy that I dropped an f-bomb as I crossed the finish.

3/4
this was more of a test for me. I had three other teammates in the race, all of which had not raced yet that day. Long story short, my fitness was there, but I sat up on the final sprint (was watching for a teammate to win). Placed 26th. Meh.


O'fallon Gold Cup - Criterium
Entered the 4s race.
The course was hilly...start/finish was on a hill, followed by a descent into another hill on a sharp turn, then another slight descent with a sharp hill. Wasn't too bad if you could take the turns right. I was riding near the front when my teammates spectating started to yell at me to stop riding near the front. Two laps later, a pileup happened near the riders I'd been with. I was able to avoid everything. One rider decided to break away...he slowly started to pull away from everyone each lap, probably because a single rider can negotiate turns better than a pack. I was pissed b/c I had joked about pulling something like this. He ended up winning. I didn't race with the best tactics...took 3rd in the sprint, 4th overall. If I would have started my sprint just a bit sooner, I would have placed 2nd. Could have, would have, should have. The guy who took third (was also the guy who went down hard at the Tour of STL - this was his comeback race) beat me by a wheel-length.

Rolla Hellbender - Road Race
This was the longest road race for me to date at 70 miles. It consisted of two 35 mile laps which were comprised of rolling hills and one leg-busting climb. The first lap was really relaxed, even on the nasty climb. Most everyone stayed together, there were no significant attacks...it was just like a big group ride. I saw armadillo roadkill. The beginning of the 2nd lap is where the fun began. At the feed zone (where you can have people hand you fresh bottles) a few started an attack that was kind of weak, but a few miles later, probably 38 miles in, a rider put on a hard attack. Since this rider had a bunch of teammates, many of us thought he was baiting us to chase, only to have another teammate attack once we wore ourselves down a little (see, bike racing has tactics!). This apparently wasn't the plan for them at all. After we lost sight of the breakaway, a few of us said "uh, are we going to catch him?" and the pace was picked up. Even one of the breakaway guys teammates was helping in the paceline to reel him back. What a fool. Well, we never saw him again. Approaching the massive climb for the second time was the equalizer for our race. There was a group of 6 guys who made it up first...I was not one of them. Me and about 5 others were close together, but fading. I kept at it and made it to the top of the climb with one rider on my tail. My legs really hurt, and I was about to get dropped. I stood to sprint to try to catch the 6 riders, but didn't seem to gain any ground. I noticed that a rider had caught me, so instead of pulling him back to the 6, I stood and sprinted again, and rode him off my wheel, and got back in with the lead group. I was very relieved, because getting dropped is embarrassing, especially when the training rides I did over the winter were longer and tougher than this course.

Somehow, a few riders ended up catching back up, so there were maybe 8 of us in a paceline. With about 4 miles to go, when I was on the front of the paceline, a rider attacked. Strong. I was waiting to see if anyone followed him, so I could hop on their wheel, but no one did. I was really pissed because I knew I could have caught him had I gone right when he did, then the both of us would have ridden away from the group. Could have, would have, should have. That bastard took second. So, with a group of 7 or so riders left, we all started to jockey for position. I would pick up the pace when pulling in the paceline in an effort to tire some of the weaker riders (forcing them to keep my pace when it was their turn to pull). Once we were 1000 meters from the finish, we started to see signs (counting down every 200 meters). There was one left turn before the final 400 meters; I was in 5th taking the turn. Again, I started my sprint a little too late. I blew past everyone except for one rider. I would have caught him big time if there was another 50 meters. Oh well. 2nd in the sprint, 4th overall.


So, that is about it. I have consistently been winning crits on tuesday, and usually been winning the primes (field sprint mid race). Because of these results, I was upgraded to a Category 3 rider last week. Boom. I didn't expect this to happen so soon...especially by mid-May. At best, I thought I would get there by September. I feel like my endurance has degraded (though it probably hasn't), but my sprint form is coming around (though it probably hasn't).

Oh, and the doozy. Last week while riding in Chesterfield I was hit by a car. Boo-ya! He was exiting the highway and turning right, and I was coming over the overpass. He failed to yield, and blew threw the yield, into my lane and into me. My front wheel was pulled from my bike. My head hit his car, then I flew over the bars. No worries, the side of my head and my back/shoulder broke my fall. My helmet has about 5 or 6 cracks where the impact caused the foam to do it's job and save my head. It did. There is significant damage to the front of my bike...the fork was damaged as the wheel was pulled, and the front brake mount/carbon is fubar. The pedals, shifters, rear deraileur and saddle also show signs of damage. My gangster white DMTs? Scuffed with nice tire marks. I denied medical attention, because I am dumb like that, but the next day I missed out on a fun day of work and was instructed to go to the ER. Turns out I have a "Concussion and Brain Injury" and "Neck Strain". This was excellent timing too, as I am now on vacation for 2 weeks. I really hope the insurance company quickly compensates me, as a carbon fiber bike that was hit by a 2500 pound car is definitely fatigued and it's strength has been compromised.

I hate West County.

Kicking my own ass

Sunday (4/5) was our team sponsored race, and it did not go well for our team. The turn out was great, everyone gave us great compliments, but as far as racing goes we kind of smelled. The best class we had that day was our 3/4s in which we took a 2nd and had another top 10 finisher. I was planning on racing this class, but instead opted for the 4/5s as I was one of the stronger riders in this field.

A little background information - Friday (4/3) I rode a hard 36 miles and Saturday (4/4) I rode 65 hard miles with two Cat 2s. Saturday night I got 5 or so hours of sleep, and was up by 5am to help with race setup.

Now that is out of the way.

This whole race was sketchy for the 4/5s. The course was very flat, but had very minor chicanes which threw off everyones lines. Plus, no one in our race really pushed that hard to string everyone out, so it was hectic fitting the entire peloton through each minor bend in the road. At the start, I was about mid-pack and was planning on hanging out for a while to conserve energy. This didn't last too long. Within 10 minutes, I was in the top 10. On occasion, a few riders would take off from the front, but they were reeled back in within a few laps. Towards the end of the race, a rider managed to get about 1/3 of a lap up on everyone. He was hurting. At the 4 lap countdown his teammates came to the front of the pack and formed a wall, then started to slow down. Good tactics, but this pissed a few people off (including myself) and was probably done a few laps too soon. Some of us managed to get around them and made an effort to catch the lone rider. By the beginning of the 2nd to last lap, I was leading two other riders in a small break, trying to catch the lead guy. One of the riders behind me wanted to work to catch, but the other rider was being a bitch and screwed it all up (he wouldn't take his turn pulling). Before long, we were reeled back in by the peloton, but we were only 20 yards or so behind the lead, who was fading. At the start of the last lap I began jockeying for my position in the sprint. We came through the last chicane, about 1200 meters out, and it happened.

I had looked down/back for a split second to check my position, and when I looked up, I was heading straight for the curb/grass at a good clip. There was nothing I could to except close my eyes: I flipped over the bars, hit the mud/pedestrian path next to the road, rolled once and slid to a stop. It happened really fast. Luckily I was not injured too badly, just a bruised ego. My bike was ok too, minus a misaligned brake/shift lever. This must have looked spectacular because I had a few people tell me what it looked like...I flipped, and my bike did multiple flips.

So in the end: DNF.

I am disappointed about my performance, and my embarrassing mishap, but am happy I did not break any bones or any bike parts - though my neck is still really sore. The fatigue was the biggest factor in this incident. I was wore out, on little sleep/food for the day. Now I know how not to prepare for race day.

Again, it could have been worse. A teammate of mine broke his collar bone in the pro/1/2 race and is out for 6 weeks. There were also a few other crashes, one involving a hemophiliac with road rash, another involving a finger-bone sticking through some skin. Ewww.

Oh well - the next race is in two weeks (not counting tuesday practice crits). I should have my SRAM stuff (Red Grouppo and wheels) by then. Christmas in April!!!!

Kickin' ass and chewing gum..

And it appears I'm all out of gum.

I'll keep it short but sweet b/c blogging really takes it out of me. I've come to realize I'm not the blogging type. Words is dumb.

The race was a criterium at Forest Park...kind of gave me an unfair advantage since I live 2 miles from the park (if that) and I prepared for this race by riding the course a few times and thinking about how the race may unfold. Then again, a lot of local racers live near the park, so I guess it isn't such an advantage. It was only 4's racing today - not a mixed category - so I was feeling pretty confident. Most of the usual faces were there, but today was the first time I have raced against many of them since hanging up fast food and a social life to become a better bike racer.

We started pretty normal for a local crit...moderate pace for the first lap and a half before people started attacking. I was in the top 1/3 for the first 7 or 8 minutes (our race was 35 minutes + 5 laps). Around the 11th minute, I started to become more concerned with my position but was equally concerned about burning wasted energy. Luckily, there were some large men in my race - large enough for me to draft hard. I spent minutes 11-17 riding VERY light. Around the 20th minute a prime was had (1 lap sprint for a prize - usually money, but for us it was a Cannondale t-shirt) and this started to turn things up a bit. Of course, there was a sprint for the prime, but the pace continued to pick up. I found myself in the top 5 from here on out - sometimes off the front, which meant I would soft-pedal it until I was engulfed by the peloton, then I'd climb back up to the front. It was very late in the race when I realized that I felt really fresh, and that others were starting to get gassed.



"Maybe I could get top 5" is what I started to tell myself.



With 5 laps to go, things continued at a good clip. A few riders tried to pick up the pace, but no one helped with the effort, including me. I rode off one poor guy's wheel for 2 laps, then moved on past. With two laps to go the stronger riders started to make attacks. Unfortunately, their attacks weren't too strong (for me at least) but they did help spread everyone out single-file. I sat about 6 riders back until the last lap. We crossed the start-finish, and three guys in front of me started to push - they seemed fresh. As we came around the first turn and into the second (where we had the tailwind) I started to bark orders. I kind of lied and said "we're starting to gap them - keep going" - and they did. We weren't gapping anyone, but started to once the pace was picked up. It was at this point of the course that we entered a bit of an S-turn before the final 90 degree turn, and I had moved up to second. The guy ahead of me was pushing really hard, but I was right on him. The final turn came at the top of a slight incline - it was on this incline that he started to slow, and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to use him anymore, so I said to myself "eff it - I'm going now". And I did. Out of the saddle sprint through the last turn....into the 350 meters to the finish. Oh, 200 meters is a long sprint - for pros. So I went early, but I really don't have a strong sprint. I just wanted to get up to a good speed in order to sit low and spin, which is what I did. I was leading until the final 100 meters, and a rider slowly started to pass me on the left. Part of me didn't realize how close I was to winning...the other part of me said "AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!". That part was my legs. They burned.

Final result - 2nd out of maybe 35 or 40. This earned me a whopping $30 dollar payout AND this is the first time that Big Shark has written me a check, which felt odd.

What also felt odd is not freezing my jewels off. I love not having to dress like this to race (note the annoying booties):

I done raced some pedalbikes today.

Today was the official start of my racing season, as well as the second week of the 2009 NASCAR Season. The good news: I have teammates to race with, which is almost necessary when trying to employ any sort of tactics. The bad news: The temperature at the start of the race was 27 degrees (Fahrenheit), so not many teammates showed up. Even if more came out, it really doesn't help me much because I am a Cat 4...don't think there are any others on my team, well, there may be, but I haven't met them yet.

The races were broken into the following: Pro/1/2/3, 3/4, 5s under 40, 5s over 40. The only major difference in the heats were distances. Pro/1/2/3 did 62 miles, everyone else a mere 31. This all took place in the back roads of Columbia, Missouri, which are pretty flat but possess wicked strong crosswinds. Since I am a Cat 4, I ended up in the 3/4 race. Even though this was my first race as a 4, and I was racing 3s, I felt pretty good. I told myself on the drive out this morning that I'd consider a top 10 placing a success.

While warming up with the few teammates who were present, I was informed that I'd have someone to race with in my heat. Said teammate (Alex) is a Cat 3, but he'd just downgraded from a 2 because he hadn't been racing for the past few years. The more the merrier.

Our race started pretty tame. I had some issues clipping in one of my pedals because I was wearing cold-weather booties; this placed me in the last two-thirds of the field of 79 riders. I hid out here and rode the draft for 4 or 5 miles until people starting to make attacks; this gave me an opportunity to move up some spots. The last thing I wanted to happen was have a rider bite it and take down a bunch of other riders - this has happened to me before.

Things went on...a few attacks here, a few there. Alex was concerned that a good attack which resulted in a breakaway of 5 or more riders *could* hold out, so at about 10 miles in we each made efforts not to breakaway, but more to reel in/slow down the lead groups. This worked every time. There were a few times where we were in a good break of 7 or 8, but no one would keep the echelon going for more than a few minutes, and it wasn't too smooth when it was going. I also realized that in more competitive categories, people lie and try to mess with your head by barking orders. Simple things too, like someone yelling "GO! GO! GO!" when a really poor attack occurs. Silly.

Nothing really exciting happened until the last 7 miles. Alex says to me "how is your sprint? I can win this race, but I really don't want to". I said "It's okay...I still have some leg left". He was right about winning the race - the guy is strong, and will probably dominate 3s this year. And here, he was offering me a lead-out. We rode on some more, and at about 4 miles to go, I got on his wheel and would not let go. The pace increased with 3k to go, and at about this time, some guy rode me off Alex's wheel. Panic had set in because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back on. With 1k to go, Alex opened it up. He was off the front, and I was *supposed* to be on his wheel, but I wasn't. Two other guys tried to use his lead-out, but failed. He was truckin'. This caused others to start going; three 'Tiburon Grande' riders made a move, and I jumped on their last riders wheel and started to go. At this point, we were still about 600 meters from the finish. The 'Tiburon Grande' rider off the front pulled off, then yelled something - the other two tiburons kept going, but I couldn't hold on. I was forced to back off, hoping to get another small burst in the last 150 meters - this didn't happen; I started to see riders pass as they were hitting their peak. Moral of the story? Don't start your sprint too early. We had the right idea, but it happened too soon.

Final result - 15th out of 79. Not too bad, but I lost more spots at the end than I'd anticipated. I was 5.043 seconds off the leader. Even though I wasn't in the top 10, I am pretty happy with my results. I was the 3rd place Cat 4, and I finished ahead of a long list of other respectable 3s.

It begins...

Do the Stanky Legg

I'll make it short and sweet

Saturday - rode MTB for 3 hours. When we departed from our cars, it was 12 degrees. Fahrenheit. The first 20 minutes really, really sucks because your hands are so numb that you cannot feel the bars. Then your hands start to ache really bad - this is because they are thawing out. Then your hands hurt again - this is because you had a death grip on the bars when they were numb, too numb to notice that you had a death grip on the bars because your hand are numb, too numb to notice that you had a death grip on the...okay, you get it. The temperature peaked at a balmy 22 degrees that morning, which was actually quite comfortable (seriously) we starting moving/putting off heat.

Saturday night - went out for the 9th anniversary of a friend's 21st birthday. I drank Maker's Mark and Ginger Ale, followed by a platoon of PBRs. Also (probably) came off like a total ass while hitting on said friend's girlfriends younger sister. She was a runner who graduated from WUSTL. Lesson learned: Whiskey makes me more abrasive than usual. Also, it makes me drive like Mario Andretti.



Sunday - hated life. Watched the conclusion of the Tour Down Under. Lance finished 29th. I find his comeback awkward - he is riding for Astana, and wears their kit, but wears HIS Livestrong helmet/shoes/bike, so he sticks out. I understand that he is promoting cancer awareness, but it looks kind of odd. Oh well, more power to him. No Tom Boonen nor Mark Cavendish, and quite a few others did not participate either. Not bad though - it is a reminder that nice weather is right around the corner, as is the local racing season.

Sunday night - hated life less. A friend sent me a link to the video below




Do the Stanky Legg.

This made me think 'retard', so I typed 'retard dancing' and "Retard Mosh Pit" came up in the results. Instant classic, but cruel. You can search for that one on your own.

And finally - new Cannibal Corpse album 'drops' on February 3rd. Just don't throw money up on stage, or George Fisher will get angry (NSFW - language!!!!)

The errand I hate the most...

Is going to GNC. Every time I go to my nearest mall/GNC, I almost always come to blows with the sales person. They are always trying to sell you crap, and it is so scripted. My normal purchases do not stray from the following: Whey Protein, Glutamine, Creatine (on occasion) and Fish Oil. To be completely honest, I usually use Hammer Nutrition products because I like them and they are more cycling-centric. Plus, they seem to have less proprietary ingredients in their products - and they give you free stuff with your orders. I like free.

So, in the past, the GNC salesman - we'll call him Isaac - has tried to sell me this Protein/Glutamine mix thingy that costs more than twice as much as a tub of whey with 6x as many servings. I usually tell him "No, this will work for me", but at times have been forced to lie with lines like "My coach told me this is all I need", implying that the sales person was giving me advice to use a product, but had no idea why I needed supplements in the first place. I've also used the "I have a supplement sponsor - this is just going to get me through" line, but have yet to use the "This is what my boyfriend told me to buy" line.

Anyways, they constantly try to sell you garbage. Today was no different.

I entered the store and made a bee line for the L-Glutamine 1 lb jug. Then I made a mistake; I started to eye the EAS Myoplex display, which led to Isaac pitching me a load of BS. I cut the conversation short by saying "No, that is OK - I have plenty of protein". Then, as I was checking out, he damn near forced me to take some Papaya Extract. I took them, said "yeah, I may think about these..." and then he quickly pointed to the display within arms reach. "It's only $2.99" he said. I hesitated, then thought $2.99 was a small price to pay to get him off my ass, and he would be satisfied that he suckered me in to spending more money.

But it doesn't stop there.

As usual, I was asked about a Gold Card. I once owned one of these, but NEVER used it. I explained to him that "I never use it once I sign up, it's okay". He insisted that I buy one and explained that the price of the membership would be $6 after my 20% discount. I really don't know, or care, how this all worked, so I replied with "How much would the Gold Card be if I didn't purchase the Papaya Extract?". "$7 and change" he said. I was able to weasel my way out of this one by telling him "I'll sign up when I need to make a big purchase, then the 20% will save me more money". This is true, but chances are I will never go back to that GNC again, if any. I need to start ordering from Hammer again.

The funniest part about this whole ordeal is that the guy looks like a competitive eater/video gamer. He is the last person I would take nutritional advice from. I liken this to getting a tattoo from someone with a bunch of prison tattoos.