WTF?? I thought Summer was done!! It sure was hot this weekend!
After a week of pain, from my quads cramping all of the time, walking down hill, I decided to do something about it. I went for a run last Monday. Most of the people I spoke with said I need to do some cross training. So, I went for a noon time run. I ran about 3 miles and was pretty much spent. My legs were pumped and sore. The next day I was suffering with quad pain, hamstring pain and Achilles tendon soreness. So much for running. It wasn't till Friday that everything was starting to feel okay. I rode on Wednesday on the Hill ride, however we went out for a slow pace. I didn't have much chance to ride any other time this past week. Coppi was Saturday and I wasn't sure I had anything positive going for me.
Coppi... I arrived to see my teammates getting cooled down from the finish of the CAT4 race. Both of them said they cramped up and to save enough for the finish. It was damn hot. I was a bit worried that I would not have enough water, so I made sure I drank enough before the start. I filled up one of my bottles with some electrolytes (powerbar electrolytes. I was feeling pretty good through out the race, sipping often on my bottles. I even attacked and tried to ride away on the 2nd lap, though not pushing too hard as I had no one who decided to go with me. After a bit the pack caught me as I saw them gaining on me. Well, I fell back into the pack and rode on. I grabbed a water bottle from the feed zone as I didn't have the need to refresh till this lap. We rode up the hills and I was now feeling a bit queasy. My stomach wasn't feeling too good and everything seemed to close around my view. The pack picked up the pace on one hill, I started feel dizzy and fell back. I was thinking, should I chase back on??? The answer became apparent, as I started feeling the reflux action on my throat. I pulled over, thinking of passing out. Immediately I started to heave, (I remember telling some of the folks that I sometimes vomited after a major sprint to the finish). Well, happened again. I vomited another four times hoping someone would drive up. Of course the folks standing outside their houses didn't mind me heaving across the road from their yard. I waited about 10 minutes to see if I could stand without falling over. No one came!!! I decided to get back on the bike and ride. Another 10 miles to go. Well, I could make it. And I did. Slowly and surely I did, I was amazed, John from Coppi rode by me. I didn't really care at this point. All I did was to hope I could make it back. Of course, I was looking at the time and thinking that I had a Black Tie event to go to later with the wife and she would be pissed if I missed the car which was picking us up. Well, I made it back, missing the crash, refilling my bottles and leaving the scene. I did eventually get home in record time, showering and changing for the event. Damn, was it hot at the event that evening. We were outside under a tent and all I could think about was the sweat pouring down my back. We did get to go in to the performance later in the evening and I did eventually dry up a bit. However after the show ended we went back outside for the dessert. The car picked us back up about 11pm and we got back to our friends house only to continue the partying. Bottles of champagne and wine were continued to be served. Oh yeah... our children were still up playing video games and watching movies with each other. 2 AM rolled around, and my eyes were rolling back in to my head, I had to pry my kids away from their activities and then pull my wife away from our friends. Enough... time to go home. Sleep!
Well, we got up the next morning, fairly late, but early enough to make Church. It was a special day at Church as my youngest daughter was being presented her own bible. 11:30 rolled around and I had to depart from the Church gathering to get to Turkey Day race. I got on the Beltway only to find it backed up. Oh yeah.. all of those damn Redskins fans. I forgot. Oh crap...less than an hour to arrive before the race started. I crept along and arrived about 10 minutes before the race started, registered and had enough time to race up to the start line only to find out that I pinned my number on the wrong side. Yep.. I was the guy with my jersey off repining right before the start. I finished just in time when they blew the whistle. I pretty much sat in as much as I could as it seemed to me that no one would stay away. Immediate Mortgage did a good job of chasing down the breaks and I pretty much just stayed up within the first 15 riders. A few attacks, I chased a little bit, but for the most part I just hung in there. On the last lap the Immediate mortgage team did a great job lining up for the finish. I was one rider behind SuperDave. The train was off and running, unfortunately the guy I was behind didn't react hard enough and was distanced, I was hoping to have him lead me out, however he faltered and fell back more. The last 100 meters, I went around him trying to recoup the distance, however it was just too much and rolled in at 11th place, not enough to even contend to the sprint. Oh well.. Last race of the season, probably. Not too bad for staying up til 3 am for the night before. Next Sunday at the ING Capital Criterium, I think I'll pass on that as the night before, we have a late night family camping night celebration, so again, I won't be in a good form.
Clearly, the motto is correct: Don't train like me.
'cause you'll be suffering.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Page Valley RR.
What a tough course! Of course it didn't help that I rode hard on Saturday as well.
I was expecting more of a rolling course than one with two tough climbs.
Saturday, I decided to go out an do the 7 am DC Velo ride. We climbed Mass Ave. with a decent pace, and the pace on MacArthur and Clara Barton didn't seem too taxing. So, I decided it would be a good spin. I purposely didn't take many pulls on the front. We reached Anglers Inn, and the climb started out steadily, then faster. I was feeling really good and noticed that my heart rate was fairly low and if it did spike it dropped down quickly. I reached the top of Anglers with about 5 guys. You know the usual 50+ suspects (Ad Bax, Paul Middlestat). We descended down Great Falls and started back up. Paul seemed to be kicking up the pace constantly. I don't remember who he was chasing, however we were going pretty hard. Back down to Brickyard Road then up the steep hill. Wow.. I was not suffering a bit. Usually at Brickyard, I'm lagging, but on Saturday, I was going strong, only one back from the rider in front. We got back up to River Road and no one was waiting for us, so we all hammered to catch the other guys. We caught a group and passed them on Oaklyn, I rotated through several pulls up the hills and we met up with a faster group at the intersection at River Road. From then it was a fast pace through Potomac and then the final sprint on Democracy. Aziz gave the signal to follow him as he would try to lead me out. James Palo started the first leg, then Aziz, who got caught up in a bit of traffic, then I did my sprint. It felt good. I motored on home to recover after the ride. My legs were feeling good.
I relaxed watching some of the Olympic re-runs, then decided that I should do some house work before the family came home from their vacation. I was on my feet for most of the day. I had a late lunch because of the delay in my father in-law's schedule...We had a nice lunch in Bethesda. It was more like an early dinner as it was about 4 pm. I wasn't too hungry later that evening, however made some pasta at about 9pm, I watched more Olympic coverage til about 1am then went to bed. Oh yea, during the evening, I finally decided to change my chain, as it had been shifting a bit funky. You know you're never supposed to do things like that. I cleaned the cassettes and it didn't shift too well so I put some lube on the cassette and went out for a test ride. Well, it worked decently so I didn't decide to make anymore changes, except to clean the bike. It had definitely been some time since the last cleaning.
As you can see, these are not good habits to follow.
I awoke at 6:15 am, feeling a bit tired still. got packed and ready to go. I made my coffee and had a bowl of cereal. On my way. It was a very nice scenic drive for me and I left with plenty of time to spare. Of course, I passed the turn off of 340 and headed into Stanley, where I went to the gas station to fill up the car. I proceeded down the road looking for the sign, however never saw it. I kept going till I saw the next town and knew I drove too far and backtracked. Luckily I saw another cyclist heading towards the race so I just followed him till I got there. Still plenty of time and I warmed up a little bit and then the race started.
The first lap was slow and everyone seemed to be having fun chatting. I stayed up with the top 10 slots putting in little effort. We reached the first long hill and I found myself moving towards the second position and the guy in front of me was putting in a good brisk effort, he pulled off then I continued the pace from mid-way to the top. Well, I didn't feel too out of breath and it looked bright for me. Next hill came up soon afterward and that one again, I stayed up in the front several spots, dropping back a slight bit when others who had more power decided to pass me.
Down the first part of the course, the pace really picked up. The first half of the course was the recovery section and pace was decently fast. I was in good position coming back up to the long hill. This time I was swallowed up my the pack deciding to go at a much faster pace as a couple of guys attacked the field. That put the hurt into me and I was feeling that I was putting out about 95-100%. The problem was that I found myself towards the back of the pack up the second climb. Several racers picked up their feed and I was caught behind them trying to pass them to bridge back to the pack. We got back to the leaders on the front side downhill section. Time to recover again. It seemed like the pace was not picking up. Obviously riders were sensing that there were several of us, who might not be recovering as quickly.
Third time around on the hills, attacks kept up. This time, however, the attack happened on the bottom of the rise before the hill got steeper. I decided not to put out too much effort as I didn't want to run out of juice for the next climb. I found myself at the back of the pack as apparently many had already dropped. The starts and hesitations on being in the back caused me to suffer. I made it over the top and I definitely wasn't feeling good. The next climb, I was in the middle towards the back of the pack and again, feed zone attack. I tried to react, however my legs wouldn't give me anything, so I backed off. That's when the rubberband broke. I was gapped enough before reaching the top and my heart rate wasn't subsiding. My head wasn't into it and I let the pack go. A couple of riders passed me on the decent and pretty much sat up. That's when Art Brown (who was racing the 123 event), caught me and passed me. I thought, well if he can keep up his pace then I can possible do it to and catch the pack again. I put my head down and started my time trial after Art. I was averaging over 27.5 mph and gaining on him. Well that was till the hills started approaching, my speed dropped and he went out of my sight. Here comes the hill climbs again. My legs were definitely feeling tired, I felt like I had bonked. So, I just took it easy up the hills, some one had yelled that I was 5 minutes behind. That definitely didn't help. So I dropped it another notch down and slowly pedaled up the last hill to the finish line. Over the hill I just looked for the place I was supposed to turn off and go to the parking lot. I stopped and asked for directions with one road guard and then trudged my way back. Another hilly road race which I didn't finish. Oh well, you have to know your limits.
Lessons taught, but probably not going to ever learn:
Don't ride hard the day before a taxing long race. (you can do a short crit and race another race the next day) So you have to wonder how these guys in the Tour de France do it (day after day).
Don't change your bike parts/positioning the day before the race (though nothing happened to me), however it's always bad luck.
Don't stay up too late before a race.
If you've exerted yourself and you know you have to rest, just rest! Don't do all of these other things on your feet.
Eat appropriately before a race.
Oh yeah.. take a day off of riding and rest. I've been riding to work every day this past week and thought I was going to take Friday or Saturday off. I didn't.
So, Today, I'm resting. :)
I hate DNF's.
I was expecting more of a rolling course than one with two tough climbs.
Saturday, I decided to go out an do the 7 am DC Velo ride. We climbed Mass Ave. with a decent pace, and the pace on MacArthur and Clara Barton didn't seem too taxing. So, I decided it would be a good spin. I purposely didn't take many pulls on the front. We reached Anglers Inn, and the climb started out steadily, then faster. I was feeling really good and noticed that my heart rate was fairly low and if it did spike it dropped down quickly. I reached the top of Anglers with about 5 guys. You know the usual 50+ suspects (Ad Bax, Paul Middlestat). We descended down Great Falls and started back up. Paul seemed to be kicking up the pace constantly. I don't remember who he was chasing, however we were going pretty hard. Back down to Brickyard Road then up the steep hill. Wow.. I was not suffering a bit. Usually at Brickyard, I'm lagging, but on Saturday, I was going strong, only one back from the rider in front. We got back up to River Road and no one was waiting for us, so we all hammered to catch the other guys. We caught a group and passed them on Oaklyn, I rotated through several pulls up the hills and we met up with a faster group at the intersection at River Road. From then it was a fast pace through Potomac and then the final sprint on Democracy. Aziz gave the signal to follow him as he would try to lead me out. James Palo started the first leg, then Aziz, who got caught up in a bit of traffic, then I did my sprint. It felt good. I motored on home to recover after the ride. My legs were feeling good.
I relaxed watching some of the Olympic re-runs, then decided that I should do some house work before the family came home from their vacation. I was on my feet for most of the day. I had a late lunch because of the delay in my father in-law's schedule...We had a nice lunch in Bethesda. It was more like an early dinner as it was about 4 pm. I wasn't too hungry later that evening, however made some pasta at about 9pm, I watched more Olympic coverage til about 1am then went to bed. Oh yea, during the evening, I finally decided to change my chain, as it had been shifting a bit funky. You know you're never supposed to do things like that. I cleaned the cassettes and it didn't shift too well so I put some lube on the cassette and went out for a test ride. Well, it worked decently so I didn't decide to make anymore changes, except to clean the bike. It had definitely been some time since the last cleaning.
As you can see, these are not good habits to follow.
I awoke at 6:15 am, feeling a bit tired still. got packed and ready to go. I made my coffee and had a bowl of cereal. On my way. It was a very nice scenic drive for me and I left with plenty of time to spare. Of course, I passed the turn off of 340 and headed into Stanley, where I went to the gas station to fill up the car. I proceeded down the road looking for the sign, however never saw it. I kept going till I saw the next town and knew I drove too far and backtracked. Luckily I saw another cyclist heading towards the race so I just followed him till I got there. Still plenty of time and I warmed up a little bit and then the race started.
The first lap was slow and everyone seemed to be having fun chatting. I stayed up with the top 10 slots putting in little effort. We reached the first long hill and I found myself moving towards the second position and the guy in front of me was putting in a good brisk effort, he pulled off then I continued the pace from mid-way to the top. Well, I didn't feel too out of breath and it looked bright for me. Next hill came up soon afterward and that one again, I stayed up in the front several spots, dropping back a slight bit when others who had more power decided to pass me.
Down the first part of the course, the pace really picked up. The first half of the course was the recovery section and pace was decently fast. I was in good position coming back up to the long hill. This time I was swallowed up my the pack deciding to go at a much faster pace as a couple of guys attacked the field. That put the hurt into me and I was feeling that I was putting out about 95-100%. The problem was that I found myself towards the back of the pack up the second climb. Several racers picked up their feed and I was caught behind them trying to pass them to bridge back to the pack. We got back to the leaders on the front side downhill section. Time to recover again. It seemed like the pace was not picking up. Obviously riders were sensing that there were several of us, who might not be recovering as quickly.
Third time around on the hills, attacks kept up. This time, however, the attack happened on the bottom of the rise before the hill got steeper. I decided not to put out too much effort as I didn't want to run out of juice for the next climb. I found myself at the back of the pack as apparently many had already dropped. The starts and hesitations on being in the back caused me to suffer. I made it over the top and I definitely wasn't feeling good. The next climb, I was in the middle towards the back of the pack and again, feed zone attack. I tried to react, however my legs wouldn't give me anything, so I backed off. That's when the rubberband broke. I was gapped enough before reaching the top and my heart rate wasn't subsiding. My head wasn't into it and I let the pack go. A couple of riders passed me on the decent and pretty much sat up. That's when Art Brown (who was racing the 123 event), caught me and passed me. I thought, well if he can keep up his pace then I can possible do it to and catch the pack again. I put my head down and started my time trial after Art. I was averaging over 27.5 mph and gaining on him. Well that was till the hills started approaching, my speed dropped and he went out of my sight. Here comes the hill climbs again. My legs were definitely feeling tired, I felt like I had bonked. So, I just took it easy up the hills, some one had yelled that I was 5 minutes behind. That definitely didn't help. So I dropped it another notch down and slowly pedaled up the last hill to the finish line. Over the hill I just looked for the place I was supposed to turn off and go to the parking lot. I stopped and asked for directions with one road guard and then trudged my way back. Another hilly road race which I didn't finish. Oh well, you have to know your limits.
Lessons taught, but probably not going to ever learn:
Don't ride hard the day before a taxing long race. (you can do a short crit and race another race the next day) So you have to wonder how these guys in the Tour de France do it (day after day).
Don't change your bike parts/positioning the day before the race (though nothing happened to me), however it's always bad luck.
Don't stay up too late before a race.
If you've exerted yourself and you know you have to rest, just rest! Don't do all of these other things on your feet.
Eat appropriately before a race.
Oh yeah.. take a day off of riding and rest. I've been riding to work every day this past week and thought I was going to take Friday or Saturday off. I didn't.
So, Today, I'm resting. :)
I hate DNF's.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Vacation and Pain.
I took a week off from Thursday, Aug 7th through Wednesday, Aug.14th. I was really starting to need it. I've been riding a decent amount this year, however most of it comes from commuting (9 miles each way to and from work), sometimes catching the Hill ride on Tuesday and maybe riding on Wednesday at Greenbelt races.
I arrived in Seattle, WA and spent the evening at dinner with the family and my wife's friend at an Ethiopian restaurant. Afterward we enjoyed a couple glasses of wine with my wife and her friend on the roof of her apartment building. What a nice sight of the city, harbor and background mountains.
We left the next morning for Spokane, WA, where we stayed at a beautiful hotel, called The Davenport Hotel. Our children enjoyed a nice swim at the pool, had a nice dinner. My wife and I, had a nice seafood dinner at a local restaurant, Anthony's, which overlooked the Spokane Falls. It was really relaxing. The Davenport Hotel really did a good job of pampering us.
The next morning, we had a long and late breakfast, mainly delayed because of the hotel's restaurant became overloaded by a wedding party. We were comp'ed for the breakfast, which was really nice of them. We headed on our way to Glacier National Park.
The drive was lengthy, however beautiful. Mountains, lakes, rivers were all welcomed scenery. We actually passed a forest fire which was consuming a mountain range. Pretty wild, as we could see the smoke from several miles away. The fire was peaking over the mountain top. As we wound our way around the mountain range, we saw the fire spread over about 20 different areas on the range. It was pretty sad to see this happening, however I heard on the radio later that week that it was started by lightening. Nature's way of rejuvenating the forest. We approached Glacier National Park from the West Entrance and saw that they had a fire a few years back as part the forest was pretty gray/brown from far away.
We arrived at for dinner at Lake McDonald Lodge, a beautiful, historic, hunting lodge. The main entrance area included a huge fireplace (used originally for cooking the meals for the guests, many trophy display pieces of local game including bear, elk, moose, eagles, and a polar bear pelt. Dinner was typical of a US National Park service hotel. It doesn't typically match the atmosphere. My wife and I typically stay at nice hotels (Historic Hotels of America), and typically choose a very restaurant to eat at. So, when you're at the US National Park hotels, you're stuck with whatever the hotel offers as there is limited choices in the park. This was the case at Zion National Park and at the Grand Canyon, though Zion Lodge was probably the best out of all of the restaurants we visited this past year.
We went on a hike on Avalanche Trail to the Cedars. It was a nice stroll uphill next to beautiful river from Avalanche Lake. See link for the e-hike. My daughter recently had a wart on the bottom of her middle toe, which my wife had the dermatologist try to burn off with liquid nitrogen, which didn't work too well even after two tries, then another doctor used some type of acid. The last treatment was done a few days before I arrived in Seattle. So to say the least, she was having a bit of pain on the hike. I carried her back down the hike, only to find that my quads were cramping badly. It was really weird. In the beginning of the summer, I was at the beach, playing around and doing these long strides with my knees bent. I thought I had pulled a muscle in my quad. I had to go out and buy some icy hot to give me relief. I'm thinking it may have been a major cramp as well. I think I'm in decent shape and I don't think the hike should have really tired me. I just checked the internet to see that I probably need to do some cross training. See here: http://www.cptips.com/muspain.htm The next day I had the same problem coming down from the hike on Logan Pass. The hike up was no issue but the downhill walk killed me. I was walking slower than a 90 year old. I had to walk backwards or sidewards while coming down. My quads were constantly cramping and my shins also felt sore (shin splints). So there is definitely something physically wrong with my muscles and training. If anyone had the same experience, let me know, what you did to alleviate this issue.
The hike to the hidden lake at Logan Pass was amazing! We hiked over snow fields, even though it the middle of the summer. We saw lots of Columbian ground squirrels (which look a bit like prairie dogs). From the top we saw a few mountain goats down in a rocky field near a lake in the valley. Other than that we didn't see many other animals.
We traveled from the West side to the East side of Glacier National Park. Then, I left heading back to Seattle to catch my plane home. My family continued the opposite way towards the Teton's and Yellowstone.
I had a nice time, however the next time, I'll probably want to do some camping, so that I see more wildlife, also I'd probably want to do more rugged hiking, though I don't know if my legs will be able to take it. Fishing is something else I really want to do. A few hours fly fishing and or lake fishing would be really relaxing and fun. I know that my family had done some camping already so the hotel stays were probably was a good break for them.
Well, I took the red-eye home and went straight to work. I was pretty tired as I didn't get much sleep on the plane because of this little girl screaming and crying the whole way. I ended up leaving work for the Greenbelt training race. I didn't know how my fitness would be as I've been eating well and enjoying my wine while watching the Olympics. Luckily for me, my fitness hasn't left after a week off. Good! I finished I think 7th, however for the second time, they didn't get my placing. It doesn't really matter, as it's just a training event.
I rode to work on Thursday and took Friday off. Today, I did the Highway to Heaven hill climb. I saw the Gamjam post by Nick Bax on his strategy, however don't know if that really would help anyone except for him. He's a guy who can climb and attack on the a climb. My rides with him every once in a while on Brickyard or Mountaingate is proof enough that not to many can do what he does on the hills. So I rode the hill time trial blind. On the start, I hammered it, thinking that by the second part of the hill, I could recover and keep a good pace up that part. Not the case, as I should have known better, from my climbs. I die if I go too hard on the bottom. In the case of Mountaingate, if I pace myself up, I can be ready for an attack or can attack and make it to the top and recover after that. Well in today's case, the second part of the climb killed me. I dropped from about 14 mph, from the bottom part, down to about 8 mph. Even if the pitch was not as tough as the start, I was blown. It really hurt and I was happy when I reached the third part. I shifted into my big ring and hammered away as Nick has said. Only to find out that I wasn't hammering away to a flat finish. The last 200 meters was another steeper pitch which wasn't ready for as again, I abused myself and blew up. I could barely pedal finishing up at a crawl. I waited for the results and Ad Bax, told me that I was at the top of the list. I was pretty amazed and couldn't believe it as I thought it wasn't a great performance. Unfortunately about 10 minutes later, the ref. said that there a protest. Yep...Karl Connelly from Kelly Benefit had been placed up top. I thought he had probably done well as he was in his long sleeve skin suit and looked like he could climb. I know that I'm not a great climber except for short sprints up, so I couldn't believe that I would win my category. Oh,yeah... I was wheezing and coughing at the end and still am coughing now (8 hours later). Weird, it feels like I have water in my lungs. The thing is that others were coughing like I was including Nick. Hopefully I feel better this evening. I'll probably have a couple glasses of wine to give me some relief. Just like last night, I had a few with friends and stayed up till about 2am watching the Olympics. Yep, Michael Phelps is amazing. Looks like my training regiment includes grapes (wine). Apparently there's a study about grapes(Resveratrol) about how it may enhance performance. I guess I'm a good test subject without really trying... hehe.
I arrived in Seattle, WA and spent the evening at dinner with the family and my wife's friend at an Ethiopian restaurant. Afterward we enjoyed a couple glasses of wine with my wife and her friend on the roof of her apartment building. What a nice sight of the city, harbor and background mountains.
We left the next morning for Spokane, WA, where we stayed at a beautiful hotel, called The Davenport Hotel. Our children enjoyed a nice swim at the pool, had a nice dinner. My wife and I, had a nice seafood dinner at a local restaurant, Anthony's, which overlooked the Spokane Falls. It was really relaxing. The Davenport Hotel really did a good job of pampering us.
The next morning, we had a long and late breakfast, mainly delayed because of the hotel's restaurant became overloaded by a wedding party. We were comp'ed for the breakfast, which was really nice of them. We headed on our way to Glacier National Park.
The drive was lengthy, however beautiful. Mountains, lakes, rivers were all welcomed scenery. We actually passed a forest fire which was consuming a mountain range. Pretty wild, as we could see the smoke from several miles away. The fire was peaking over the mountain top. As we wound our way around the mountain range, we saw the fire spread over about 20 different areas on the range. It was pretty sad to see this happening, however I heard on the radio later that week that it was started by lightening. Nature's way of rejuvenating the forest. We approached Glacier National Park from the West Entrance and saw that they had a fire a few years back as part the forest was pretty gray/brown from far away.
We arrived at for dinner at Lake McDonald Lodge, a beautiful, historic, hunting lodge. The main entrance area included a huge fireplace (used originally for cooking the meals for the guests, many trophy display pieces of local game including bear, elk, moose, eagles, and a polar bear pelt. Dinner was typical of a US National Park service hotel. It doesn't typically match the atmosphere. My wife and I typically stay at nice hotels (Historic Hotels of America), and typically choose a very restaurant to eat at. So, when you're at the US National Park hotels, you're stuck with whatever the hotel offers as there is limited choices in the park. This was the case at Zion National Park and at the Grand Canyon, though Zion Lodge was probably the best out of all of the restaurants we visited this past year.
We went on a hike on Avalanche Trail to the Cedars. It was a nice stroll uphill next to beautiful river from Avalanche Lake. See link for the e-hike. My daughter recently had a wart on the bottom of her middle toe, which my wife had the dermatologist try to burn off with liquid nitrogen, which didn't work too well even after two tries, then another doctor used some type of acid. The last treatment was done a few days before I arrived in Seattle. So to say the least, she was having a bit of pain on the hike. I carried her back down the hike, only to find that my quads were cramping badly. It was really weird. In the beginning of the summer, I was at the beach, playing around and doing these long strides with my knees bent. I thought I had pulled a muscle in my quad. I had to go out and buy some icy hot to give me relief. I'm thinking it may have been a major cramp as well. I think I'm in decent shape and I don't think the hike should have really tired me. I just checked the internet to see that I probably need to do some cross training. See here: http://www.cptips.com/muspain.htm The next day I had the same problem coming down from the hike on Logan Pass. The hike up was no issue but the downhill walk killed me. I was walking slower than a 90 year old. I had to walk backwards or sidewards while coming down. My quads were constantly cramping and my shins also felt sore (shin splints). So there is definitely something physically wrong with my muscles and training. If anyone had the same experience, let me know, what you did to alleviate this issue.
The hike to the hidden lake at Logan Pass was amazing! We hiked over snow fields, even though it the middle of the summer. We saw lots of Columbian ground squirrels (which look a bit like prairie dogs). From the top we saw a few mountain goats down in a rocky field near a lake in the valley. Other than that we didn't see many other animals.
We traveled from the West side to the East side of Glacier National Park. Then, I left heading back to Seattle to catch my plane home. My family continued the opposite way towards the Teton's and Yellowstone.
I had a nice time, however the next time, I'll probably want to do some camping, so that I see more wildlife, also I'd probably want to do more rugged hiking, though I don't know if my legs will be able to take it. Fishing is something else I really want to do. A few hours fly fishing and or lake fishing would be really relaxing and fun. I know that my family had done some camping already so the hotel stays were probably was a good break for them.
Well, I took the red-eye home and went straight to work. I was pretty tired as I didn't get much sleep on the plane because of this little girl screaming and crying the whole way. I ended up leaving work for the Greenbelt training race. I didn't know how my fitness would be as I've been eating well and enjoying my wine while watching the Olympics. Luckily for me, my fitness hasn't left after a week off. Good! I finished I think 7th, however for the second time, they didn't get my placing. It doesn't really matter, as it's just a training event.
I rode to work on Thursday and took Friday off. Today, I did the Highway to Heaven hill climb. I saw the Gamjam post by Nick Bax on his strategy, however don't know if that really would help anyone except for him. He's a guy who can climb and attack on the a climb. My rides with him every once in a while on Brickyard or Mountaingate is proof enough that not to many can do what he does on the hills. So I rode the hill time trial blind. On the start, I hammered it, thinking that by the second part of the hill, I could recover and keep a good pace up that part. Not the case, as I should have known better, from my climbs. I die if I go too hard on the bottom. In the case of Mountaingate, if I pace myself up, I can be ready for an attack or can attack and make it to the top and recover after that. Well in today's case, the second part of the climb killed me. I dropped from about 14 mph, from the bottom part, down to about 8 mph. Even if the pitch was not as tough as the start, I was blown. It really hurt and I was happy when I reached the third part. I shifted into my big ring and hammered away as Nick has said. Only to find out that I wasn't hammering away to a flat finish. The last 200 meters was another steeper pitch which wasn't ready for as again, I abused myself and blew up. I could barely pedal finishing up at a crawl. I waited for the results and Ad Bax, told me that I was at the top of the list. I was pretty amazed and couldn't believe it as I thought it wasn't a great performance. Unfortunately about 10 minutes later, the ref. said that there a protest. Yep...Karl Connelly from Kelly Benefit had been placed up top. I thought he had probably done well as he was in his long sleeve skin suit and looked like he could climb. I know that I'm not a great climber except for short sprints up, so I couldn't believe that I would win my category. Oh,yeah... I was wheezing and coughing at the end and still am coughing now (8 hours later). Weird, it feels like I have water in my lungs. The thing is that others were coughing like I was including Nick. Hopefully I feel better this evening. I'll probably have a couple glasses of wine to give me some relief. Just like last night, I had a few with friends and stayed up till about 2am watching the Olympics. Yep, Michael Phelps is amazing. Looks like my training regiment includes grapes (wine). Apparently there's a study about grapes(Resveratrol) about how it may enhance performance. I guess I'm a good test subject without really trying... hehe.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Too many training like me..
Doubling up seems to be the big thing this Bunny Hop or Hunny Bop. Doing it in 95+ degree weather is nuts. Why do we do this? Just because we like to suffer. Does it make you stronger, faster, better? For some... it's just normal and keeps them in shape. For those guys it's just another easy training ride. For guys like me, it's called stupidity.
I arrived about 1/2 an hour before the 123 race and registered for that race as I thought it would be a nice workout and I could gauge my how my fitness has increased. I hadn't been able to finish a pro 123 race this year, well I've only done Reston this year and ran out of gas fairly early on. So, this one would be a good test. Well, I hung in there however there wasn't too much I could do, I couldn't react to any hard attacks, recovery definitely too too long, the heat was definitely getting to me. I was getting chills, my fingers were cramping, I was getting too hot and couldn't cool down. Unfortunately the water in my bottle was hot and didn't do much to cool me, either by drinking or by pouring it over my neck and back. I just wanted to finish upright, which I did. No sprinting for me, I just rolled in through the finish 35th. I was satisfied with my performance and quickly got to the car and drank a half liter of Gatorade quickly. Wanting to cool down quickly I turned on the AC and drove to my office locker room to take a shower. It took about 40 minutes getting there. During the drive, I started to feel my ass tightening up and seizing up. Oh crap, I didn't take time to cool down and spin.
I took a cold shower and cooled down a bit. It felt good, however my ass was in pain.
I tried to stretch out a bit but it didn't work well. I looked at my watch and had to head back to the race. I arrived to loosen up a little bit before the race. I was pretty amazed that my ass was feeling better but a bit sore. Well, I was thinking that the 30/40+ race was going to be lightly attended, however it looked like everyone in the 123's decided to double up. Sh*t another 123 race. Sure enough, it was pretty fast, I even bridged up to a break, however that effort pretty much took everything out of me and I had a hard time recovering. I was breathing really laboriously and feeling like dropping out. I hung for about 5 more laps, then finally with 5 laps to go, my head wasn't into the race so I just pulled up and out. No reason for me to sprint as I don't think I could. With 3 laps to go, I was on the sidelines watching the pack explode. Well, I guess people were feeling just as badly as I did, however they had it in their head to finish and not give up.
Chalk this up as a learning experience. Bunny Hop is always HOT! If you want to give a good effort on placing, then commit to only one race, unless you are just that strong. (or if the weather is much cooler). Bottom line don't train like me.
Where's my massage when I need it??!!
I arrived about 1/2 an hour before the 123 race and registered for that race as I thought it would be a nice workout and I could gauge my how my fitness has increased. I hadn't been able to finish a pro 123 race this year, well I've only done Reston this year and ran out of gas fairly early on. So, this one would be a good test. Well, I hung in there however there wasn't too much I could do, I couldn't react to any hard attacks, recovery definitely too too long, the heat was definitely getting to me. I was getting chills, my fingers were cramping, I was getting too hot and couldn't cool down. Unfortunately the water in my bottle was hot and didn't do much to cool me, either by drinking or by pouring it over my neck and back. I just wanted to finish upright, which I did. No sprinting for me, I just rolled in through the finish 35th. I was satisfied with my performance and quickly got to the car and drank a half liter of Gatorade quickly. Wanting to cool down quickly I turned on the AC and drove to my office locker room to take a shower. It took about 40 minutes getting there. During the drive, I started to feel my ass tightening up and seizing up. Oh crap, I didn't take time to cool down and spin.
I took a cold shower and cooled down a bit. It felt good, however my ass was in pain.
I tried to stretch out a bit but it didn't work well. I looked at my watch and had to head back to the race. I arrived to loosen up a little bit before the race. I was pretty amazed that my ass was feeling better but a bit sore. Well, I was thinking that the 30/40+ race was going to be lightly attended, however it looked like everyone in the 123's decided to double up. Sh*t another 123 race. Sure enough, it was pretty fast, I even bridged up to a break, however that effort pretty much took everything out of me and I had a hard time recovering. I was breathing really laboriously and feeling like dropping out. I hung for about 5 more laps, then finally with 5 laps to go, my head wasn't into the race so I just pulled up and out. No reason for me to sprint as I don't think I could. With 3 laps to go, I was on the sidelines watching the pack explode. Well, I guess people were feeling just as badly as I did, however they had it in their head to finish and not give up.
Chalk this up as a learning experience. Bunny Hop is always HOT! If you want to give a good effort on placing, then commit to only one race, unless you are just that strong. (or if the weather is much cooler). Bottom line don't train like me.
Where's my massage when I need it??!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
What gives today???Tri group ride Tuesday night in Arlington, VA and my ride home.
This evening I left work around 6:40pm. One of my co-worker said watch out for the weirdos out there. I chuckled and said I would. After only going two blocks away, I had guy who decided to walk in the middle of the road not watching where he was going, I had to brake and swerve at the last second. Then a car behind me decides to tail me very closely. What's the deal tonight?
Ahead I saw a bunch of riders in a group. I was pretty amazed and joined up with the bunch of riders going out towards Military Road. This was a pretty decent size group. First of all I was amazed that they got an Arlington police officer directing traffic to allow them to cross Washington Blvd at North Quincy Street. Nice....As I approached the back of the pack, I noticed a few with tri-bars. Then more and more. I noticed a few local racing jerseys and noticed many were wearing DC Tri Club jerseys. They were all having a very social ride chatting. I started riding past many of them on the road and all of a sudden someone swerves almost taking me out. I swerved over the yellow line, luckily no cars were coming. A block later another guy swerves as well and almost takes out another rider. Then another guy breaks wide and almost takes me out. What the hell? I have nothing against Triathletes, however these guys definitely couldn't ride smoothly in a pack. There are a few Triathletes who I have ridden with and I definitely trust, Mayor Adrian Fenty is one of them. A guy who rides the "goon" ride, well he was very dangerous in the beginning a few years ago, crashing on a curve. I think that taught him. He's a very strong rider, however I still don't totally trust his handling. I don't know what it is however Tri riders don't ride the same way as road racers. When a road racer decides to make a move towards the side, I usually can anticipate it. When the tri guy does it, it seems unexpected. I don't know why it's different. It could be that the road guy has more acceleration where the tri guy just goes sideways or backwards, I don't know. However, one thing it does teach me is to stay away from those tri guys.
Well, on I go, making the turn on to Military Road and I lose them from my sight when I look back. I'm cruising down the 2nd hill on Military going about 40 miles an hour, two girls are starting to walk across the road, I yell out to them. One girl stops, the other continues to dance across, I slammed on the brakes narrowly missing her as she is looking she's doing jumping jacks. Fricken weirdo! I could have made some major damage here going that speed, luckily, I didn't have an accident. I then pass a recreational rider without a helmet and yelled to him to get a helmet. I get to where Military merges with North Glebe Road and I merge on going with some good speed downhill. The car on North Glebe Road who was behind me gains on me and then follow me too close for comfort especially with the off camber turns. I just keep my pace and make sure I keep the rubber in contact with the road. Luckily, the lady driver gets caught at the light before Chain Bridge. I follow an SUV over the bridge then down to the left turn at Arizona Avenue. The light is green and the SUV doesn't turn. (It's the only way to go as Clara Barton Parkway is one way North, South of Arizona Ave. The light turns Red. Then it goes green. The driver still stays there and cars behind me are honking, (I noticed that the driver plates are from Florida), that must be the answer. Finally, they turn, and I of course can't seem to clip into my pedals. I finally get them on and cruise up the street and into the neighborhood street. The a guy who is walking his dog in the middle of the street decides to let his dog move into the intersection and doesn't tighten or retract the 25 foot leash. I slow down thinking the dog's going to run across. The guy not only doesn't stop and pull back he continues to walk. Luckily the dog had more intelligence than his owner and stops. I ride by. I did ride by a few riders today without helmets and pointed at my helmet and yelled out, where's your helmet? Wear a helmet it will protect you.
I'm riding up Del Carlia Parkway, the cars were zooming by without giving me much clearance. WTF? There are two lanes and they need to pass me in my lane? Now, Westmoreland Circle, the drivers are looking at me on Mass Ave. however one was still moving forward, I thought he might just run into me. He finally stopped and I shook my head as I have the right of way, but I'm just a cyclist and he's got a car.
Now on Western Avenue, I have this FedEx driver who seems to be in a rush. He accelerates hard at every light, I'm going pretty hard, he gets blocked in behind a car turning left, then passes me a few blocks later. I catch up as he's caught in slow traffic, my lane is clear and I keep thinking that he's going to move into my lane and take me out as he probably can't see me in his mirror I am almost up to his sliding door. Luckily he saw me from before and never came into my lane. I finally get home safely. Wow.. it was one of these crazy nights! I've never seen it as dangerous as tonight. Was it a full moon? What was the deal tonight????
Well tomorrow, I'll be driving in. Of course, I'll try to drive from Arlington to Greenbelt, hopefully the traffic will be light in the evening so I can make the race in time.
Ahead I saw a bunch of riders in a group. I was pretty amazed and joined up with the bunch of riders going out towards Military Road. This was a pretty decent size group. First of all I was amazed that they got an Arlington police officer directing traffic to allow them to cross Washington Blvd at North Quincy Street. Nice....As I approached the back of the pack, I noticed a few with tri-bars. Then more and more. I noticed a few local racing jerseys and noticed many were wearing DC Tri Club jerseys. They were all having a very social ride chatting. I started riding past many of them on the road and all of a sudden someone swerves almost taking me out. I swerved over the yellow line, luckily no cars were coming. A block later another guy swerves as well and almost takes out another rider. Then another guy breaks wide and almost takes me out. What the hell? I have nothing against Triathletes, however these guys definitely couldn't ride smoothly in a pack. There are a few Triathletes who I have ridden with and I definitely trust, Mayor Adrian Fenty is one of them. A guy who rides the "goon" ride, well he was very dangerous in the beginning a few years ago, crashing on a curve. I think that taught him. He's a very strong rider, however I still don't totally trust his handling. I don't know what it is however Tri riders don't ride the same way as road racers. When a road racer decides to make a move towards the side, I usually can anticipate it. When the tri guy does it, it seems unexpected. I don't know why it's different. It could be that the road guy has more acceleration where the tri guy just goes sideways or backwards, I don't know. However, one thing it does teach me is to stay away from those tri guys.
Well, on I go, making the turn on to Military Road and I lose them from my sight when I look back. I'm cruising down the 2nd hill on Military going about 40 miles an hour, two girls are starting to walk across the road, I yell out to them. One girl stops, the other continues to dance across, I slammed on the brakes narrowly missing her as she is looking she's doing jumping jacks. Fricken weirdo! I could have made some major damage here going that speed, luckily, I didn't have an accident. I then pass a recreational rider without a helmet and yelled to him to get a helmet. I get to where Military merges with North Glebe Road and I merge on going with some good speed downhill. The car on North Glebe Road who was behind me gains on me and then follow me too close for comfort especially with the off camber turns. I just keep my pace and make sure I keep the rubber in contact with the road. Luckily, the lady driver gets caught at the light before Chain Bridge. I follow an SUV over the bridge then down to the left turn at Arizona Avenue. The light is green and the SUV doesn't turn. (It's the only way to go as Clara Barton Parkway is one way North, South of Arizona Ave. The light turns Red. Then it goes green. The driver still stays there and cars behind me are honking, (I noticed that the driver plates are from Florida), that must be the answer. Finally, they turn, and I of course can't seem to clip into my pedals. I finally get them on and cruise up the street and into the neighborhood street. The a guy who is walking his dog in the middle of the street decides to let his dog move into the intersection and doesn't tighten or retract the 25 foot leash. I slow down thinking the dog's going to run across. The guy not only doesn't stop and pull back he continues to walk. Luckily the dog had more intelligence than his owner and stops. I ride by. I did ride by a few riders today without helmets and pointed at my helmet and yelled out, where's your helmet? Wear a helmet it will protect you.
I'm riding up Del Carlia Parkway, the cars were zooming by without giving me much clearance. WTF? There are two lanes and they need to pass me in my lane? Now, Westmoreland Circle, the drivers are looking at me on Mass Ave. however one was still moving forward, I thought he might just run into me. He finally stopped and I shook my head as I have the right of way, but I'm just a cyclist and he's got a car.
Now on Western Avenue, I have this FedEx driver who seems to be in a rush. He accelerates hard at every light, I'm going pretty hard, he gets blocked in behind a car turning left, then passes me a few blocks later. I catch up as he's caught in slow traffic, my lane is clear and I keep thinking that he's going to move into my lane and take me out as he probably can't see me in his mirror I am almost up to his sliding door. Luckily he saw me from before and never came into my lane. I finally get home safely. Wow.. it was one of these crazy nights! I've never seen it as dangerous as tonight. Was it a full moon? What was the deal tonight????
Well tomorrow, I'll be driving in. Of course, I'll try to drive from Arlington to Greenbelt, hopefully the traffic will be light in the evening so I can make the race in time.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Great sportsmanship!
I was recently introduced to this blog:
http://everydayathleteblog.com
There's a great story about Chris Horner of Astana.
http://everydayathleteblog.com/2008/07/12/chris-horner-gives-fallen-rider-and-bike-a-2k-ride-to-the-finish/
There aren't enough articles published on the sportsmanship of cycling. However this one is excellent!
http://everydayathleteblog.com
There's a great story about Chris Horner of Astana.
http://everydayathleteblog.com/2008/07/12/chris-horner-gives-fallen-rider-and-bike-a-2k-ride-to-the-finish/
There aren't enough articles published on the sportsmanship of cycling. However this one is excellent!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Highs and lows.
Let's start off with the highs:
I purchased a pair of used Shimano Dura Ace 7800 Pedals recently as it was a deal too good to pass up. I was originally thinking of buying some Look Keo Carbons, however, I wasn't going to buy anything till my old 14 year old or more. These things were produced before the first Shimano SPD road pedals. A few years ago the pedals actually spun off the spindle during a crash in Frederick. Recently, that pedal was feeling pretty tight and wasn't spinning much. So great! I mounted the Shimano cleats and felt that the new pedals definitely more efficient than my old pedals. It could be that my cleats were getting worn there was a bit of play in them.
I raced with them last Sunday at Williamsport and performed fairly well. Sunday night and Monday, my calf was in serious pain. I don't know if it was from my calves cramping up on the final sprint climb on Saturday's road race or whether it was from the new positioning of the cleat. So I played with the positioning all week.
Last week on Thursday, I finally got the right size of Shimano R300's. Everyone keeps raving about these. I have the older R215's in silver. They've been really great shoes for me after the first break in period. During the break in period, I kept getting cramps in my feet and I had to ride with the velcro closures fairly loosely. They finally broke in after about a month and they've been work horses ever since. (3 years ago) This year they have been starting to show wear and things look like they will start to fall apart by the end of this season. So, I broke down and bought them. I'll give store a plug even though I race for The Bicycle Place, as the Bicycle Place didn't carry that model. Race Place in Columbia, MD, was one of the only shop in the area which carries the shoes. I couldn't find a place in DC, VA or in Montgomery County which carried the shoes. Race Pace actually had a great inventory of the shoe, so if any of you want a pair, you can find them there. I had them custom fitted there. The soles were heated and fitted. Then the shoes were heated, and then the vacuum process. Wow..it was pretty amazing about the power of the suction on the plastic sleeve. Apparently the plastic sleeve, which was really thin, was really strong. The vacuum fit was pretty cool as the it feels like someone wraps their hands all around your feel and squeezes pretty hard. The custom fit was complete. I noticed as I rode with the shoe the next day that there was almost too much space in the toe box area. (height wise, width wise was fine) I'm wondering if I should not have custom fitted the insole and let it break in instead as it would probably been tighter. The one thing I can tell you is that the shoe feels like it's been broken in immediately and there was no cramping.
The weird thing was trying to get an optimal position on the cleat. I felt that I wasn't getting as much power as used to. So I tried moving the cleat backwards, it still didn't feel right and I pulled it forward again.
Well, the bad (lows) things started to happen. On Saturday, I did the 7am DCVelo ride. I was thinking I was riding fine, as I doing my rotation on Clara Barton... Then came the Anglers climb. Boom... I faltered about 1/4 of the way up. Many passed me and I couldn't keep the pace. So I just spun up at my own pace, went 1/2 way down Great Falls and came backup. Well, I was feeling okay through the rest of the ride, I even got towards the front when the big guns started their train down Democracy Lane. I jumped in and waited for the sprint. It was going pretty fast and when the sprint came, I had no power. I felt pretty unstable and couldn't do anything except spin. Of course, Professor Greg Vadas gave me a few words about keeping on a line.
Well on to doing the extra 10. A small group of us rode down to Rock Creek Nature Center. I was feeling pretty good so I picked up the pace up the hill. After the crest I continued to ride with some effort. I rounded one of the right hand curves, and it got tighter and I leaned the bike over a bit more to handle the turn, and WHAM! I went down on my right side, slaming my head on the ground then sliding and fliping over to my left side before I came to a stop. I saw my bike in my corner of my eye bouncing around and the riders behind me almost crashed into me. Luckily they avoided me. Damn the ground was damp and the air was humid. I should have known better and slowed it a bit. Well, I de-virginized my shoes! Nice scrape on the carbon fiber and side of the show and I found the buckle on the ground as well. My brake hoods on my Shimano Dura Ace shifters were pretty dented and scraped. My new white and red gloves were torn and blackened from the asphalt. My Assos bibs came out okay, with just a small hole torn in it. My jersey was just a bit roughed up, but no holes. My helmet is cracked. One lens of the Tifosi glasses popped out, and luckily I saw it laying in the road and put it in my pocket. Amazingly no one ran over it and no scratches were on it, after inspecting it at home. What else, oh yeah, my handlebar tape was ripped up and I didn't notice it but my derailleur got scraped up, hopefully it's not bent or the drop outs. It doesn't quite shift so smoothly. F*ck! (I found out that today during the Reston Race) What else?? Oh yeah... bodily injuries. I actually came out alright. The biggest thing is the big raspberry on my hip, my elbow had a some scrapes and scratches, my wrist got a couple of scrapes, my shoulder blades has a couple of rubs, and luckily no bleeding, my right shoulder has a small rub, my left hip has a little bit of light scrapes and I have one small scrape just above my butt. So all in all, I'm in good shape, luckily (or unluckily) it was a bit wet. My neck is a bit sore from the whiplash sidewards, and the back is a bit sore too. I jumped into the shower, scrubbed my scrapes to get out the ground in dirt and pebbles and then put on the Doctor's Choice Advance Wound Care self adhering pads (for burns, scalds, Abrasions) (Luckily a few weeks ago I saw these on sale for 1/2 price off at the local Giant.) These things are kind of like Tegaderm, however it's a bit thicker and has a bit of cooling effect and provides a bit of moisture. I found these types of treatments work much better than gauze pads or other treatments which allow scabs. Scabs start itching and cracking causing more damage. This method allows healing just like a scab, except it's soft and the skin underneath the pad heals very softly.
I went to get my hair cut later, needing that badly, then went to The Bicycle Place to speak with the owner Mike. I got some bar tape and asked him about cleat positioning. He fit me immediately and we are trying the cleat as far back as possible. Mike's always got sound advice. We lowered my seat post and made sure the positioning of the knee was in the right place. I said I would give it a try. It felt a little different as I was a bit lower than my original position.
I was a bit tired and whacked from the crash, so I took the rest of the day resting. I didn't even try out riding the bike.
Sunday, On to Reston. 40+ race was fast, faster than I thought it would be. I loved the course, the cones on the turn towards the uphill was a really smart thing to do. No one would take chance short cutting the corner and causing issues. We could roll through the turn doubled up and everyone held true to the line. There were several breakaways, some which lasted longer than others. With about 6 laps to go I was thinking the last break would hold. It looked like several riders were blocking, so I took a hard attack and hammered trying to bridge the lead pack of 8 or so. I caught them and looked back and the others were not close by. However the group slowed for some reason. Well, great, I bridged and no reward, I was pretty tapped. We got caught about another 15-20 seconds. Well with 4 laps to go I was just trying to recover and to keep my position. The last lap, which I wasn't too sure it was, I was passed by about 4 riders on the 3rd to last corner and unfortunately I wasn't aggressive enough to move forward and ended up 8th.
Not to happy about my result, I decided to stick around and do the Cat123 race. I watched the other races and had a pesto pasta lunch. It was tasty, however, I think I would have been better off with some protein. It was also full of olive oil. Anyway, after standing around in the heat all day, I decided to take a short rest in my car in the parking lot. I cheered on my teammates in the CAT4 race. Then warmed up for the CAT123 race. We got the call up and then off we went. Frickin fast start. We were basically sprinting the whole time. It felt like someone was attacking constantly. I hung in there for a while then the body started taking it's toll. I can't remember when I dropped out, however I couldn't get enough oxygen to refresh my muscles and I was tapped. I started getting stomach cramps after I stopped. I think it could have been that I drank too much water earlier and that the pasta was too oily. The one thing it proved today is that I still need to improve my speed work, which I am definitely lacking this year. I am amazed to see that Ramon and Super Dave continue to perform well in these races, even after doing the 30/40+ races before hand. Unfortunately.. the bad thing is they will always be in my age category!
The Harley guys are pretty incredible.. Russ Langely put on an incredible race today. Dave Fuentes is just a hammer, the guy always performs. Anyway, I don't know any Harley guys who can't put a hurting on me.
Thanks to Team Evolution for continuing on this great tradition. I liked this course even better than the course two years ago. The pavement is nice and smooth and we could corner with lots of speed. It was fun, however hard it was. Best of all there were minimal crashes, a few in the Cat 4 race, which is expected and one in the CAT123 race.
Last comment... Funny thing I heard today: From a young lady at the wheel pit "Oh, I just met Lance Lacy, what a nice guy... he's so HOT!!" Lance, you definitely have a fan club!"
Picture credit: Phil Young
I purchased a pair of used Shimano Dura Ace 7800 Pedals recently as it was a deal too good to pass up. I was originally thinking of buying some Look Keo Carbons, however, I wasn't going to buy anything till my old 14 year old or more. These things were produced before the first Shimano SPD road pedals. A few years ago the pedals actually spun off the spindle during a crash in Frederick. Recently, that pedal was feeling pretty tight and wasn't spinning much. So great! I mounted the Shimano cleats and felt that the new pedals definitely more efficient than my old pedals. It could be that my cleats were getting worn there was a bit of play in them.
I raced with them last Sunday at Williamsport and performed fairly well. Sunday night and Monday, my calf was in serious pain. I don't know if it was from my calves cramping up on the final sprint climb on Saturday's road race or whether it was from the new positioning of the cleat. So I played with the positioning all week.
Last week on Thursday, I finally got the right size of Shimano R300's. Everyone keeps raving about these. I have the older R215's in silver. They've been really great shoes for me after the first break in period. During the break in period, I kept getting cramps in my feet and I had to ride with the velcro closures fairly loosely. They finally broke in after about a month and they've been work horses ever since. (3 years ago) This year they have been starting to show wear and things look like they will start to fall apart by the end of this season. So, I broke down and bought them. I'll give store a plug even though I race for The Bicycle Place, as the Bicycle Place didn't carry that model. Race Place in Columbia, MD, was one of the only shop in the area which carries the shoes. I couldn't find a place in DC, VA or in Montgomery County which carried the shoes. Race Pace actually had a great inventory of the shoe, so if any of you want a pair, you can find them there. I had them custom fitted there. The soles were heated and fitted. Then the shoes were heated, and then the vacuum process. Wow..it was pretty amazing about the power of the suction on the plastic sleeve. Apparently the plastic sleeve, which was really thin, was really strong. The vacuum fit was pretty cool as the it feels like someone wraps their hands all around your feel and squeezes pretty hard. The custom fit was complete. I noticed as I rode with the shoe the next day that there was almost too much space in the toe box area. (height wise, width wise was fine) I'm wondering if I should not have custom fitted the insole and let it break in instead as it would probably been tighter. The one thing I can tell you is that the shoe feels like it's been broken in immediately and there was no cramping.
The weird thing was trying to get an optimal position on the cleat. I felt that I wasn't getting as much power as used to. So I tried moving the cleat backwards, it still didn't feel right and I pulled it forward again.
Well, the bad (lows) things started to happen. On Saturday, I did the 7am DCVelo ride. I was thinking I was riding fine, as I doing my rotation on Clara Barton... Then came the Anglers climb. Boom... I faltered about 1/4 of the way up. Many passed me and I couldn't keep the pace. So I just spun up at my own pace, went 1/2 way down Great Falls and came backup. Well, I was feeling okay through the rest of the ride, I even got towards the front when the big guns started their train down Democracy Lane. I jumped in and waited for the sprint. It was going pretty fast and when the sprint came, I had no power. I felt pretty unstable and couldn't do anything except spin. Of course, Professor Greg Vadas gave me a few words about keeping on a line.
Well on to doing the extra 10. A small group of us rode down to Rock Creek Nature Center. I was feeling pretty good so I picked up the pace up the hill. After the crest I continued to ride with some effort. I rounded one of the right hand curves, and it got tighter and I leaned the bike over a bit more to handle the turn, and WHAM! I went down on my right side, slaming my head on the ground then sliding and fliping over to my left side before I came to a stop. I saw my bike in my corner of my eye bouncing around and the riders behind me almost crashed into me. Luckily they avoided me. Damn the ground was damp and the air was humid. I should have known better and slowed it a bit. Well, I de-virginized my shoes! Nice scrape on the carbon fiber and side of the show and I found the buckle on the ground as well. My brake hoods on my Shimano Dura Ace shifters were pretty dented and scraped. My new white and red gloves were torn and blackened from the asphalt. My Assos bibs came out okay, with just a small hole torn in it. My jersey was just a bit roughed up, but no holes. My helmet is cracked. One lens of the Tifosi glasses popped out, and luckily I saw it laying in the road and put it in my pocket. Amazingly no one ran over it and no scratches were on it, after inspecting it at home. What else, oh yeah, my handlebar tape was ripped up and I didn't notice it but my derailleur got scraped up, hopefully it's not bent or the drop outs. It doesn't quite shift so smoothly. F*ck! (I found out that today during the Reston Race) What else?? Oh yeah... bodily injuries. I actually came out alright. The biggest thing is the big raspberry on my hip, my elbow had a some scrapes and scratches, my wrist got a couple of scrapes, my shoulder blades has a couple of rubs, and luckily no bleeding, my right shoulder has a small rub, my left hip has a little bit of light scrapes and I have one small scrape just above my butt. So all in all, I'm in good shape, luckily (or unluckily) it was a bit wet. My neck is a bit sore from the whiplash sidewards, and the back is a bit sore too. I jumped into the shower, scrubbed my scrapes to get out the ground in dirt and pebbles and then put on the Doctor's Choice Advance Wound Care self adhering pads (for burns, scalds, Abrasions) (Luckily a few weeks ago I saw these on sale for 1/2 price off at the local Giant.) These things are kind of like Tegaderm, however it's a bit thicker and has a bit of cooling effect and provides a bit of moisture. I found these types of treatments work much better than gauze pads or other treatments which allow scabs. Scabs start itching and cracking causing more damage. This method allows healing just like a scab, except it's soft and the skin underneath the pad heals very softly.
I went to get my hair cut later, needing that badly, then went to The Bicycle Place to speak with the owner Mike. I got some bar tape and asked him about cleat positioning. He fit me immediately and we are trying the cleat as far back as possible. Mike's always got sound advice. We lowered my seat post and made sure the positioning of the knee was in the right place. I said I would give it a try. It felt a little different as I was a bit lower than my original position.
I was a bit tired and whacked from the crash, so I took the rest of the day resting. I didn't even try out riding the bike.
Sunday, On to Reston. 40+ race was fast, faster than I thought it would be. I loved the course, the cones on the turn towards the uphill was a really smart thing to do. No one would take chance short cutting the corner and causing issues. We could roll through the turn doubled up and everyone held true to the line. There were several breakaways, some which lasted longer than others. With about 6 laps to go I was thinking the last break would hold. It looked like several riders were blocking, so I took a hard attack and hammered trying to bridge the lead pack of 8 or so. I caught them and looked back and the others were not close by. However the group slowed for some reason. Well, great, I bridged and no reward, I was pretty tapped. We got caught about another 15-20 seconds. Well with 4 laps to go I was just trying to recover and to keep my position. The last lap, which I wasn't too sure it was, I was passed by about 4 riders on the 3rd to last corner and unfortunately I wasn't aggressive enough to move forward and ended up 8th.
Not to happy about my result, I decided to stick around and do the Cat123 race. I watched the other races and had a pesto pasta lunch. It was tasty, however, I think I would have been better off with some protein. It was also full of olive oil. Anyway, after standing around in the heat all day, I decided to take a short rest in my car in the parking lot. I cheered on my teammates in the CAT4 race. Then warmed up for the CAT123 race. We got the call up and then off we went. Frickin fast start. We were basically sprinting the whole time. It felt like someone was attacking constantly. I hung in there for a while then the body started taking it's toll. I can't remember when I dropped out, however I couldn't get enough oxygen to refresh my muscles and I was tapped. I started getting stomach cramps after I stopped. I think it could have been that I drank too much water earlier and that the pasta was too oily. The one thing it proved today is that I still need to improve my speed work, which I am definitely lacking this year. I am amazed to see that Ramon and Super Dave continue to perform well in these races, even after doing the 30/40+ races before hand. Unfortunately.. the bad thing is they will always be in my age category!
The Harley guys are pretty incredible.. Russ Langely put on an incredible race today. Dave Fuentes is just a hammer, the guy always performs. Anyway, I don't know any Harley guys who can't put a hurting on me.
Thanks to Team Evolution for continuing on this great tradition. I liked this course even better than the course two years ago. The pavement is nice and smooth and we could corner with lots of speed. It was fun, however hard it was. Best of all there were minimal crashes, a few in the Cat 4 race, which is expected and one in the CAT123 race.
Last comment... Funny thing I heard today: From a young lady at the wheel pit "Oh, I just met Lance Lacy, what a nice guy... he's so HOT!!" Lance, you definitely have a fan club!"
Picture credit: Phil Young
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