It’s finally nice again in Chicago. Warm weather, sunny skies, and lake paths filled with people, bikes, and roller blades. It makes going outside so much easier.
Anyways, hit up a Laketrail TT this morning with Tim Daugherty. This wasn’t as pure of a TT as last year as I had the help of Tim pulling every now and then. Got a good hard effort in, clocked at 43:15, 2 seconds off my best time last year, which sounds like I’m just about where I was hoping to be at this time. I didn’t feel great or really even good at any point until the last 5 minutes of the ride, so I’m thinking next weeks time should absolutely dip below the 43 minute mark and probably even lower.
Tim, Kuikman, and I also suited up with radios on an evening ride last night. Felt very P-R-O. They should work very well on the Chicago-Bloomington ride (which we’re still trying to figure out the official name of). I also threw new tires on the machine, rode in my new kit, and actually configured a cyclometer that works on my bike (cateye > polar). Now its just a matter of getting rid of those leg hairs that are oh so cumbersome to cyclists and I’ll actually feel like a real rider again.
Anyways, some more hard efforts Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and then a few days off as I’m starting a ‘crash cycle’ per Joe Friel’s book ‘The Cyclist Training Bible’, basically in an effort to prepare myself in the event I do go down to the Joe Martin Stage Race in early May. The training is pretty much go super hard for two weeks straight and then recover for a week. Repeat the process and you should see some decent gains in performance.
Anyways, looking forward to being active outside this week! So nice out.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Kenosha Velosport Criterium
I was bored today, so I decided to race.
Kenosha's only about an hour north of Chicago and traffic was pretty light so getting their and back was no big deal. The bigger deal was that I had worked absolutely zero intensity workouts in up to this point. Its been two months of base mileage and riding as much as I can without ever going into the red. Also, this was my first race back since the Elk Grove crash, so I guess if there were any skeletons left in the closet, I'd shake them out today as I rode the exact same bike setup and wore the exact same outfit (still with blood stains on it) as I did back on that rainy August afternoon.
Anyways, I remembered racing being harder. I don't think I ever hit the red zone save for the sprint, and I was rarely ever even uncomfortable. I sat in the whole race as I was the only xXx guy in the race and there were several other more full teams intact, so pulling just never really made sense. Several breaks went off and I was waiting for one with the right composition to go before I bridged (one with someone from each of the major teams represented). Quickly, every break was reeled back in. However, one guy got off the front and it seemed like all the other teams just quit trying to pull him back. His lead kept stretching and stretching out and before you knew it, he was gone. Just one of those helpless feelings, but again, this was really just a workout for me not an attempt to win.
The last lap came, I swooped up near the front, passed 5 or so guys at the line and placed 7th. Best finish I suppose I've ever had in a P/1/2 race. Pretty happy with it considering I hadn't really put in any effort-based rides in this year. Maybe I'm just better without training (see results early last year).
I felt good today, but then again, I've felt great all Spring. I don't think I've ever been as good as I am right now in mid-March and thats saying something as I used to peak around now for Little 500 preparations. Maybe its me being fresh, maybe I'm just way better after having a full Chicago racing season under my belt. Probably the latter.
This season's going to be a little different being as that I want to be healthy and alive for my Wedding and Honeymoon in July and August. That means no road racing those months. I'm going to focus on track all year and focus on a few road races this Spring. in addition I'm going to do some touring rides. In June I'm eyeing the TOMRV ride with a group of friends as well as a Chicago-Bloomington one day ride with Tim Daugherty and Matt Kuikman (235.4 miles). In addition we're piece-mealing a group of guys together to participate in the Indana Coast 2 Coast 2 day tag-team stage race on August 1st which should be a blast. So a lot of safe riding on the schedule.
Anyways, here's my full tentative cycling schedule for the year (always over-ambitious). Again, less racing, more touring. Also, there will be track racing every Thursday or Friday.
3/21 Kenosha Velosport Criterium
4/17 Leland-Kermesse?
4/24 Little 500 Alumni Race (that's right)
5/6-5/9 Joe Martin Stage Race
5/15 Larue-Denzer Larue? or Monsters of the Midway?
6/6 Spring Prairie Road Race?
6/12-6/13 TOMRV
6/26 Chicago-Bloomington 2010
7/31-8/1 Indiana Coast 2 Coast Stage Race
Kenosha's only about an hour north of Chicago and traffic was pretty light so getting their and back was no big deal. The bigger deal was that I had worked absolutely zero intensity workouts in up to this point. Its been two months of base mileage and riding as much as I can without ever going into the red. Also, this was my first race back since the Elk Grove crash, so I guess if there were any skeletons left in the closet, I'd shake them out today as I rode the exact same bike setup and wore the exact same outfit (still with blood stains on it) as I did back on that rainy August afternoon.
Anyways, I remembered racing being harder. I don't think I ever hit the red zone save for the sprint, and I was rarely ever even uncomfortable. I sat in the whole race as I was the only xXx guy in the race and there were several other more full teams intact, so pulling just never really made sense. Several breaks went off and I was waiting for one with the right composition to go before I bridged (one with someone from each of the major teams represented). Quickly, every break was reeled back in. However, one guy got off the front and it seemed like all the other teams just quit trying to pull him back. His lead kept stretching and stretching out and before you knew it, he was gone. Just one of those helpless feelings, but again, this was really just a workout for me not an attempt to win.
The last lap came, I swooped up near the front, passed 5 or so guys at the line and placed 7th. Best finish I suppose I've ever had in a P/1/2 race. Pretty happy with it considering I hadn't really put in any effort-based rides in this year. Maybe I'm just better without training (see results early last year).
I felt good today, but then again, I've felt great all Spring. I don't think I've ever been as good as I am right now in mid-March and thats saying something as I used to peak around now for Little 500 preparations. Maybe its me being fresh, maybe I'm just way better after having a full Chicago racing season under my belt. Probably the latter.
This season's going to be a little different being as that I want to be healthy and alive for my Wedding and Honeymoon in July and August. That means no road racing those months. I'm going to focus on track all year and focus on a few road races this Spring. in addition I'm going to do some touring rides. In June I'm eyeing the TOMRV ride with a group of friends as well as a Chicago-Bloomington one day ride with Tim Daugherty and Matt Kuikman (235.4 miles). In addition we're piece-mealing a group of guys together to participate in the Indana Coast 2 Coast 2 day tag-team stage race on August 1st which should be a blast. So a lot of safe riding on the schedule.
Anyways, here's my full tentative cycling schedule for the year (always over-ambitious). Again, less racing, more touring. Also, there will be track racing every Thursday or Friday.
3/21 Kenosha Velosport Criterium
4/17 Leland-Kermesse?
4/24 Little 500 Alumni Race (that's right)
5/6-5/9 Joe Martin Stage Race
5/15 Larue-Denzer Larue? or Monsters of the Midway?
6/6 Spring Prairie Road Race?
6/12-6/13 TOMRV
6/26 Chicago-Bloomington 2010
7/31-8/1 Indiana Coast 2 Coast Stage Race
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