Our adopted budgie checking out the camera:
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Berkeley Hills 2009
Arg. I started this race feeling like garbage again. Legs moved OK but my head was full of snot once again. I can't wait for summer so everything will just go and die. I wasn't having any problems sticking with the pack and started to think I actually had a chance when a crash separated me from the field. I turned around to check on my teammate who also went down and he told me to go for it. I tried, but my bike was skipping gears. I stopped and tried to straighten the wheel, but it turned out my derailleur hanger was bent. Unfortunately, this was at the top of the course, so I had to chase back on with a two minute gap.
I nailed the descent (why can I go faster on my own?) and drilled it down Camino Pablo, where I could finally see the field and all of the minor attacks rolling off the front. Head down, I cranked away. Finally, I got to a line of cars and used the draft to get myself back on. Now I was tired.
The last time up the main climb, I thought I should mitigate the damage and just go hard. That was a mistake - I should have gone all out. What's to lose? Anyway, finished up 20th or so of 60. I feel really good about getting back on with a flat/downhill TT (at <135 lbs, I don't go all that fast on the flats) but am disappointed with my mental performance where it really counted. Lessons learned.
For a change of pace, I think I'll do the Sonoma 100 km mountain bike race this weekend. I've been surprised at my ability to recover recently, so hopefully it won't impact Mt Hamilton.
I nailed the descent (why can I go faster on my own?) and drilled it down Camino Pablo, where I could finally see the field and all of the minor attacks rolling off the front. Head down, I cranked away. Finally, I got to a line of cars and used the draft to get myself back on. Now I was tired.
The last time up the main climb, I thought I should mitigate the damage and just go hard. That was a mistake - I should have gone all out. What's to lose? Anyway, finished up 20th or so of 60. I feel really good about getting back on with a flat/downhill TT (at <135 lbs, I don't go all that fast on the flats) but am disappointed with my mental performance where it really counted. Lessons learned.
For a change of pace, I think I'll do the Sonoma 100 km mountain bike race this weekend. I've been surprised at my ability to recover recently, so hopefully it won't impact Mt Hamilton.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wente RR, 2009
I had to miss this race last year due to injury, and was really looking forward to a large-field tough race. Mark, Eliot and Bernhard provided some really valuable pre-race recon as I had no idea what to expect. I decided to remove all the distractions I could from my race: I raced with a simple bike computer and don't think I looked at it once. I also tried my new wheels - after racing on open pros and powertaps for so long, my 2 lbs lighter bike seemed like a brand new ride.
I lined up congested (allergies?) and feeling generally lousy (they need more lazy afternoon start times for us recovering mountain bikers,) but luckily it wasn't too hard up the climb the first two times. Brad was extremely active at the front while I basically sat in trying to clear the snot out of my head. On the fourth time up, a break of twelve had made it up the road, so Grant from Pen Velo and I drilled it on the climb and caught them by the finish. My head was finally clearing so I started to think about doing something beyond just finishing.
The last lap was aggressive and fast, and another Pen Velo guy made it up the road and away while the moto ref neutralized what was left of the field. Oh well, racing for 2nd now. I made my way near the front coming up to the turn up the climb and hit it hard when we made the turn, first chasing down a few riders, then making a newbie mistake by sprinting for the first tent I saw. Luckily, I didn't let up too much and kept going when I realized it wasn't the finish- and that sprint put me well off the front, or so I thought. I turned the corner for the real finish and saw one other guy from my field that I couldn't catch, nor had I seen him roll off the front, for third place. Still working on that race awareness.
Here's a picture of my bike in race garb:
I have to say gluing your tires on is a unique experience. The wheels are pretty nice, but I think I might need to drill out a bit more for the valve stems.
This weekend in Berkeley Hills, then I think I'm going to do the So No Mas 100 because I haven't had enough instant weight loss this year. And I haven't ridden my MTB in over a month, so I figure 8 hours in one shot should make up for that.
I lined up congested (allergies?) and feeling generally lousy (they need more lazy afternoon start times for us recovering mountain bikers,) but luckily it wasn't too hard up the climb the first two times. Brad was extremely active at the front while I basically sat in trying to clear the snot out of my head. On the fourth time up, a break of twelve had made it up the road, so Grant from Pen Velo and I drilled it on the climb and caught them by the finish. My head was finally clearing so I started to think about doing something beyond just finishing.
The last lap was aggressive and fast, and another Pen Velo guy made it up the road and away while the moto ref neutralized what was left of the field. Oh well, racing for 2nd now. I made my way near the front coming up to the turn up the climb and hit it hard when we made the turn, first chasing down a few riders, then making a newbie mistake by sprinting for the first tent I saw. Luckily, I didn't let up too much and kept going when I realized it wasn't the finish- and that sprint put me well off the front, or so I thought. I turned the corner for the real finish and saw one other guy from my field that I couldn't catch, nor had I seen him roll off the front, for third place. Still working on that race awareness.
Here's a picture of my bike in race garb:
I have to say gluing your tires on is a unique experience. The wheels are pretty nice, but I think I might need to drill out a bit more for the valve stems.
This weekend in Berkeley Hills, then I think I'm going to do the So No Mas 100 because I haven't had enough instant weight loss this year. And I haven't ridden my MTB in over a month, so I figure 8 hours in one shot should make up for that.
Copperopolis 2009
Arg. This race is hard. Someday I'll do it right. This time I forgot to eat. I was on the bike for four hours and only drank one bottle and had 2 gels. That's somewhere around 300 calories, or what I should be consuming per hour.
The race started somewhat fast on the climb, but it's the rough lead-in that gets me. I fell back to the back of the pack and hung in for three laps of crappy pavement. The weather was good at least. My teammate went up the road for two solid laps; he's going to have a great season of Master's racing. By the fourth lap, I was barely hanging on in the crosswind section and actually got dropped on the climb. That's how gone I was. I rolled in for ~25th, glad to have finished. My old man back thanked me for stopping.
The race started somewhat fast on the climb, but it's the rough lead-in that gets me. I fell back to the back of the pack and hung in for three laps of crappy pavement. The weather was good at least. My teammate went up the road for two solid laps; he's going to have a great season of Master's racing. By the fourth lap, I was barely hanging on in the crosswind section and actually got dropped on the climb. That's how gone I was. I rolled in for ~25th, glad to have finished. My old man back thanked me for stopping.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Sonora races 2009
A few weekends ago I did a double header up in Sonora. Ward's ferry was up first. Classic rough velopromo pavement mixed with a punchy climbs, this course had everything except a flat road. I was loving it until my front tire went flat at 38mph. I rolled safely to a stop, got a tube from a teammate and a pump from Robert and was back on my way, only 35 minutes after flatting. I pulled out, sadly.
The next day was Warnerville, a new race for the Norcal calendar, featuring some gently rolling terrain, a 1 mile rough dirt section and the winds from hell. At the starting line, we were under a wind advisory, and it only picked up from there. The field split in the dirt when someone lost control, and unfortunately I got caught behind the split. I chased like crazy, dragging around the winner from Ward's ferry, so the pack wasn't going to let me get anywhere near them. During the fourth lap, my hips started to hurt (I'm old, I guess) so I had to back off a bit from the pace. I ended up 8th out of 18 or so, which is pretty good for me in a flat race. I felt absolutely destroyed and couldn't even eat all of my burrito on the way home. Good stuff.
Due to work, I've done a drop-dead taper for Copperopolis this weekend. It's a C race for me - meaning I just want to survive and am not planning on peaking for it. A bunch of heavy hitters from the international and domestic scene will be racing the P12 race, so it should make for some entertaining racing from someone's point of view.
In other news, we're keeping Kang in an aquarium right now. He doesn't like it, but we think he ate something that's not agreeing with him and the vet recommended this treatment. He's already looking more chipper, but looks really strange pecking at the plastic and in general seems confused. Birds are expensive: his vet bills have totaled over $400 just for diagnostic work (blood, stool samples) so if you're eyeing a parakeet as a cheap pet, think more about getting a cat or something. The upfront cost may be low for a bird, but vet care is really pricey (although talented if you go to the right people.)
The next day was Warnerville, a new race for the Norcal calendar, featuring some gently rolling terrain, a 1 mile rough dirt section and the winds from hell. At the starting line, we were under a wind advisory, and it only picked up from there. The field split in the dirt when someone lost control, and unfortunately I got caught behind the split. I chased like crazy, dragging around the winner from Ward's ferry, so the pack wasn't going to let me get anywhere near them. During the fourth lap, my hips started to hurt (I'm old, I guess) so I had to back off a bit from the pace. I ended up 8th out of 18 or so, which is pretty good for me in a flat race. I felt absolutely destroyed and couldn't even eat all of my burrito on the way home. Good stuff.
Due to work, I've done a drop-dead taper for Copperopolis this weekend. It's a C race for me - meaning I just want to survive and am not planning on peaking for it. A bunch of heavy hitters from the international and domestic scene will be racing the P12 race, so it should make for some entertaining racing from someone's point of view.
In other news, we're keeping Kang in an aquarium right now. He doesn't like it, but we think he ate something that's not agreeing with him and the vet recommended this treatment. He's already looking more chipper, but looks really strange pecking at the plastic and in general seems confused. Birds are expensive: his vet bills have totaled over $400 just for diagnostic work (blood, stool samples) so if you're eyeing a parakeet as a cheap pet, think more about getting a cat or something. The upfront cost may be low for a bird, but vet care is really pricey (although talented if you go to the right people.)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Orosi 2009
Orosi is a tough, beautiful race. I haven't really put the training time in to do 90 mile races yet. I knew going in that this would hurt, but the scenery and course make up for the pain. We staged with only 8 guys, a result of some big race down south and the challenging terrain.
The first lap was pretty mellow; we set up a good tempo up the main climb and stopped for a nature break on the way down, and didn't get passed by the E4 pack until the smooth highway, which was a lot later than last year. Some attacks went off right after feed zone, and I zoned out and kind of followed, never in much difficulty, but got left in no man's land, which is where I stayed until the turn back onto Boyd when I got caught by some chasers. My brakes a-squealin' I kept up with my two companions on the fast descent, now chasing the three up the road.
On the last climb, we swept up one of the guys off the front, and dropped one of the guys that had caught me on the highway section, so we were racing for third. My companion asked me to take it easy on him on the climbs, so we could work together on the flatish sections of the course. I sat up and towed him in most of the way, enjoying a few minutes of draft on the highway. I actually felt pretty good, aside from hunger and a sore back. I rolled away from him ( he said he wouldn't contest a sprint anyway) on the approach to the finish and took third. For my longest ride by 20 miles and first race this year, I'm pretty happy with that result even though it means next to nothing for upgrade points.
The first lap was pretty mellow; we set up a good tempo up the main climb and stopped for a nature break on the way down, and didn't get passed by the E4 pack until the smooth highway, which was a lot later than last year. Some attacks went off right after feed zone, and I zoned out and kind of followed, never in much difficulty, but got left in no man's land, which is where I stayed until the turn back onto Boyd when I got caught by some chasers. My brakes a-squealin' I kept up with my two companions on the fast descent, now chasing the three up the road.
On the last climb, we swept up one of the guys off the front, and dropped one of the guys that had caught me on the highway section, so we were racing for third. My companion asked me to take it easy on him on the climbs, so we could work together on the flatish sections of the course. I sat up and towed him in most of the way, enjoying a few minutes of draft on the highway. I actually felt pretty good, aside from hunger and a sore back. I rolled away from him ( he said he wouldn't contest a sprint anyway) on the approach to the finish and took third. For my longest ride by 20 miles and first race this year, I'm pretty happy with that result even though it means next to nothing for upgrade points.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
SoCal
I really needed a break from science for a couple of days, so I took a trip to Southern California to visit old friends from college. I awoke on Thursday feeling under the weather from allergies, and having the day off, I decided to just sleep in and do a ride locally before heading to Los Angeles. The drive was uneventful and boring as ever. It actually made a great race drive preview, as I passed towns like Madera and Coalinga. I crashed at Chris and Lydia's place, after dining on some really great pasta. Their cats seem to like playing on me, but eventually I got to sleep.
Chris and I rode up highway 39 with the intention of hooking up to highway 2, taking that back to Pasadena. Overall, I think that would have been a fairly long ride and would have rivalled many of the big climbs in Bishop for elevation gain in one shot. I really wish I had brought a camera on this ride. The road snakes in and out of steep canyons that have been scarred and reborn from fires, and best of all, it's closed to traffic due to poor conditions at the top. We did encounter a few Caltrans trucks bombing down the hill, but they were few and far between. The climb starts in the desert and slowly transitions to pine forest, finally dumping you into high alpine territory. We started passing snow above Crystal lake. At some point, a snow blower had come along to clean up the huge drifts, but the steepness of the hillsides must have made that difficult. Finally, near the top, we were stopped by a huge drift that even Caltrans couldn't handle. We had to scrap our plans and did the Glendora Mountain Road loop instead, making for an equally good ride. I did get to witness some kids getting busted for pot before heading back down the hill.
The next day I rode with Jim and his tri buddies. OK, I think aerobars are dorky, but the company was worth breaking some important rules (actually, some of the TT bikes there made me drool.) We hammered around San Diego for about four hours. Got to hang out with Tony and some of his friends and really experience a M3 on one exit ramp before heading out for a midnight ride in one of San Diego's many canyons. That was eye-opening for me. Here in the Bay Area, it's impossible to go night riding without breaking some kind of law (on trails) and they use radar guns on the trails to ticket speeders. I've never heard of such a thing, and I think it really indicates something's wrong with the type of people that congregate here, which I guess includes me now.
Monday I had an epic drive in front of me, so after fixing my AC, I hit the road. I got in an hour on the bike up Old San Marcos in Santa Barbara before arriving home at 1 am, ready for work the next day. All in all, a very satisfying trip. This weekend is Orosi, the first RR for the year for me, and I hope all this rain riding and long rides pay some dividends.
Chris and I rode up highway 39 with the intention of hooking up to highway 2, taking that back to Pasadena. Overall, I think that would have been a fairly long ride and would have rivalled many of the big climbs in Bishop for elevation gain in one shot. I really wish I had brought a camera on this ride. The road snakes in and out of steep canyons that have been scarred and reborn from fires, and best of all, it's closed to traffic due to poor conditions at the top. We did encounter a few Caltrans trucks bombing down the hill, but they were few and far between. The climb starts in the desert and slowly transitions to pine forest, finally dumping you into high alpine territory. We started passing snow above Crystal lake. At some point, a snow blower had come along to clean up the huge drifts, but the steepness of the hillsides must have made that difficult. Finally, near the top, we were stopped by a huge drift that even Caltrans couldn't handle. We had to scrap our plans and did the Glendora Mountain Road loop instead, making for an equally good ride. I did get to witness some kids getting busted for pot before heading back down the hill.
The next day I rode with Jim and his tri buddies. OK, I think aerobars are dorky, but the company was worth breaking some important rules (actually, some of the TT bikes there made me drool.) We hammered around San Diego for about four hours. Got to hang out with Tony and some of his friends and really experience a M3 on one exit ramp before heading out for a midnight ride in one of San Diego's many canyons. That was eye-opening for me. Here in the Bay Area, it's impossible to go night riding without breaking some kind of law (on trails) and they use radar guns on the trails to ticket speeders. I've never heard of such a thing, and I think it really indicates something's wrong with the type of people that congregate here, which I guess includes me now.
Monday I had an epic drive in front of me, so after fixing my AC, I hit the road. I got in an hour on the bike up Old San Marcos in Santa Barbara before arriving home at 1 am, ready for work the next day. All in all, a very satisfying trip. This weekend is Orosi, the first RR for the year for me, and I hope all this rain riding and long rides pay some dividends.
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