It feels like wherever I race, I am always outnumbered; whether it be in collegiate against Marian with their team of 12 riders, or racing locally in STL against dogfish, and today doing a 10 man race with 3 guys being from the Areo Cat pro team. It is hard to explain the disadvantage of being out numbered in a bike race cycling is a unique sport. A team can launch attack with one rider, forcing me to chase that rider while another rider sits in my draft staying fresh, then launching another attack once I catch their first rider that attacked. This can go on for a long time, and even the strongest of riders can be cracked.
Today's race was a pretty rare occasion, there was a pretty decent prize list on the flier. Maybe it was the rain, and cold weather the Georgia racing scene isn't used to. Only 10 riders showed up for the pro race, 3 of them being from the Areo cat team; I only knew one Emile Abraham. One looked like he was straight from columbia; I doubt he spoke english. The race started pretty slowly, I followed some attacks, and made some pretty big bridge efforts. Maybe I showed my cards to the race too early, but my legs were the best they have been all year.
After a while Areo Cat started pulling some weird moves, I would follow one of their riders attacks. Get away for a lap or two only to be chased down by the other two areo cat riders. Eventually, after this happened 4 or 5 times, they let 2 riders go up the road. I followed an attack by one of areo cat riders, only to be chased down by the areo cat team again. Emile must have noticed I was hurting a bit, so he launched an attack, and no one responded. I made a move in a spot I thought I could bridge up to him, but it didn't work, and I got counter attacked by one of the other areo cat riders.
So long story short, 4 guys up the road; 2 areo cat. I got 5th, I'm really getting tired of this lazy team tactic racing. I have been a quiet guy so far this year, but I was by far the fastest guy in the race today period end of story.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Forest Park crit
After some depressing forecasts for sunday, it was pretty awesome to wake up to 70 degrees and sunshine. The forest park crit is a very cool venue, I have many fond memories of it after winning this race 3 years ago.
Our game plan was to have some of the other riders on the team cover the early moves, and leave me watching for the right combination of riders in a break then jump across to it. Well, plans seldom go according to plan, the winning break of 3 countered an attack I made.
Later, I rode off with a group of 3, and we team time trailed it for the last 40 minutes. On the last lap the nuvo rider in our break launched an attack, and ripped it for half a lap. I was in his draft right away, he gapped austin allison, and tim norris by a few meters. Which gave me the perfect oppurtunity to counter attack when he sat up, and get away solo for 4th. Tim Norris my teammate for collegiate got 5th, so there is definitely some good vibes leading into the last few weekends of the collegite season.
Looking forward, spring break starts on friday. I'm going to be headed to georgia with the Gateway Harley/mesa cycles race team for some racing, and a big week of training on the bike.
Our game plan was to have some of the other riders on the team cover the early moves, and leave me watching for the right combination of riders in a break then jump across to it. Well, plans seldom go according to plan, the winning break of 3 countered an attack I made.
Later, I rode off with a group of 3, and we team time trailed it for the last 40 minutes. On the last lap the nuvo rider in our break launched an attack, and ripped it for half a lap. I was in his draft right away, he gapped austin allison, and tim norris by a few meters. Which gave me the perfect oppurtunity to counter attack when he sat up, and get away solo for 4th. Tim Norris my teammate for collegiate got 5th, so there is definitely some good vibes leading into the last few weekends of the collegite season.
Looking forward, spring break starts on friday. I'm going to be headed to georgia with the Gateway Harley/mesa cycles race team for some racing, and a big week of training on the bike.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
A step in the right direction
We did a ITT and a TT this morning at missouri university. The TT went surprisngly well, even though I only got 10th my form is slowly improving. It was a rolling course with no shelter from a strong cross wind, so your form really shows. Last year I would have been disappointed, but considering we have an average of 10 legit pro riders lining up everyweekend at our conference races; I will not complain.
This year, I have been holding back a fair bit in training. I made the mistake of coming on too strong in the early season last year. I feel like I am on pace to be going really fast at nationals, and then still be able to do well in the big money races this summer.
The Team TT was absolutey phenominal, we have a great group of guys this year. Not sure on the results, but we rode really strong. If we keep working together, and get our rythem down better. We can get a medal at nationals in this event.
Next weekend I will be headed to Texas for a stage race thanks to my usac team Mesa cycles/Gateway Harley. I am very grateful to be able to get some good race miles in; with some sunshine hopefully.
This year, I have been holding back a fair bit in training. I made the mistake of coming on too strong in the early season last year. I feel like I am on pace to be going really fast at nationals, and then still be able to do well in the big money races this summer.
The Team TT was absolutey phenominal, we have a great group of guys this year. Not sure on the results, but we rode really strong. If we keep working together, and get our rythem down better. We can get a medal at nationals in this event.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Ohio State/Missouri University
There isn't a whole lot to say about the ohio state race weekend. It was rainy with tempatures in the 40s. I got sick early the week, so I hadn't actually touched since tuesday. The race was pretty typical of races I've done so far this year, I felt super flat and empty inside the first lap, I settled into a second chase group of 8 riders and just rode tempo with them for the 2nd lap.
On the 3rd and final lap things got interisting we caught a few riders including my teammate nicko. This gave us even numbers against marian 2 vs 2, we immediately took the offense on them even though it wasn't for the win. Nick and I took turn launching attacks forcing them to chase. Even though it wasn't for the win it was fun to throw some punches, and get nicko up the road to secure some extra nationals qualifying points.
The crit on sunday got cancelled due to a freak snowstorm, I was pretty bummed about that. In 3 weekends of racing there has only been one crit. It has become my speciality over the past few years, and I am training hard for another medal at nationals in that event.
Today was a really cool course, pretty rolling with a good steep climb towards the end of the lap; we did 2 laps of 35 miles. I threw some punches early, and followed some moves by marian. Some of the better moves of the day was, one with myself and adam leibo, then it was 3 marian guys and myself. Probably my favorite was we got a group of 8 or 9 with 5 marian guys in it, and what do they do? Have all there guys sitting on the back of the group not doing anything. I like most of the guys on their team, but it is really frustrating sometimes to race against. I missed the real move up the big climb (I don't think my watts went below 500 up the whole climb), I got in a second group of 5 guys. I think there was 8 guys up the road, so best case scenerio I could get 9th.
Nope, not going to happen. I race to win, and if I can't i'll save it till tomorrow, which there is an ITT followed by a TTT. I am really hoping to have good legs, and can replicate the power I have been putting out in training.
On the 3rd and final lap things got interisting we caught a few riders including my teammate nicko. This gave us even numbers against marian 2 vs 2, we immediately took the offense on them even though it wasn't for the win. Nick and I took turn launching attacks forcing them to chase. Even though it wasn't for the win it was fun to throw some punches, and get nicko up the road to secure some extra nationals qualifying points.
The crit on sunday got cancelled due to a freak snowstorm, I was pretty bummed about that. In 3 weekends of racing there has only been one crit. It has become my speciality over the past few years, and I am training hard for another medal at nationals in that event.
Today was a really cool course, pretty rolling with a good steep climb towards the end of the lap; we did 2 laps of 35 miles. I threw some punches early, and followed some moves by marian. Some of the better moves of the day was, one with myself and adam leibo, then it was 3 marian guys and myself. Probably my favorite was we got a group of 8 or 9 with 5 marian guys in it, and what do they do? Have all there guys sitting on the back of the group not doing anything. I like most of the guys on their team, but it is really frustrating sometimes to race against. I missed the real move up the big climb (I don't think my watts went below 500 up the whole climb), I got in a second group of 5 guys. I think there was 8 guys up the road, so best case scenerio I could get 9th.
Nope, not going to happen. I race to win, and if I can't i'll save it till tomorrow, which there is an ITT followed by a TTT. I am really hoping to have good legs, and can replicate the power I have been putting out in training.
So far this season, and looking foreward.
The season if you look at it results wise has been pretty subpar. A few weeks ago, I went with the mesa cycles/gateway harley u25 team down to texas to do some lactic threshold testing with Kevin Livingston. We did the same test last year, so the results would have a lot more meaning; from comparing this years to last.
The test itself consists of starting out at a low power wattage, 140 or so. Then every 3 minutes the wattage is upped by 20 watts, and blood is drawn to see how much lactic acid it contains. It ends when the lactic acid in your legs begins to spike.
My test last year was pretty sub par, my threshold last year was 270 watts at 77 kilos. This years was much better, I got my weight down to 71 kilos, and my threshold was about 310 watts. So, basically for those who don't really understand the whole watts per kilo idea, in lamens terms it means a lighter car with more horse power. I have been doing some 20 minutes intervals with an average of 350 watts, so my threshold form is definitely coming around.
After another 2 week of phenominal training, I headed with my collegiate team lindenwood university to columbia kentucky for our start off race of the year. Last year I won the first two races back to back, so I was pretty confident would do well. My best result of the weekend came on sunday with a 5th in the crit.
Disappointment is an understatement, our team got dominated by marian cycling (the national team champs from last year). Today we have a 70 mile road race in columbia kentucky, I'll do a write up on that and last weekends racing at ohio state.
The test itself consists of starting out at a low power wattage, 140 or so. Then every 3 minutes the wattage is upped by 20 watts, and blood is drawn to see how much lactic acid it contains. It ends when the lactic acid in your legs begins to spike.
My test last year was pretty sub par, my threshold last year was 270 watts at 77 kilos. This years was much better, I got my weight down to 71 kilos, and my threshold was about 310 watts. So, basically for those who don't really understand the whole watts per kilo idea, in lamens terms it means a lighter car with more horse power. I have been doing some 20 minutes intervals with an average of 350 watts, so my threshold form is definitely coming around.
After another 2 week of phenominal training, I headed with my collegiate team lindenwood university to columbia kentucky for our start off race of the year. Last year I won the first two races back to back, so I was pretty confident would do well. My best result of the weekend came on sunday with a 5th in the crit.
Disappointment is an understatement, our team got dominated by marian cycling (the national team champs from last year). Today we have a 70 mile road race in columbia kentucky, I'll do a write up on that and last weekends racing at ohio state.
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