Fastest time yet…

So, today was the last TT in the EUgene TT series. The wind was crazy! I didn’t start off on a good note, leaving my front wheel at home…but I got it and was back in time to have a short warm up. I started out, knowing here would be a horrible headwind on the first long stretch. I hit the first stretch hard…maybe a little too hard, and relalized that I forgot to pop a goo right before I started (as I usually do). I then continued to have a mental argument with myself as to whether or not I should get out of my bars to pop one. I eventually decided that if I didn’t pop one, subconciously I would think that I didn’t have enough energy, and wouldn’t do as well. So I made sure to keep tempo and popped one. I dropped back into my bars only to start choking on the coagulating gooness in my throat. I dropped into my drops this time and sanagged a drink of water. Then I was on my way.

The head wind was horrible. I was averaging about 3 km/h slower than I wanted to be. Sometimes 5. It was frustrating, but I knew I couldn’t push too hard into the wind or else I’d blow up. When I got to the final corner I was about 2 minutes slower than the time I usually am when I get to that corner. AHHH!!! But! What do you know…eve straight on headwind becomes a very strong tail wind going the opposite way. THank goodness! I hauled myself to the finish, never going under 40 km/h. By the finish I was at 48. I crossed at 38:23. My fastest time yet, and also missing the women’s course record since 2006 by 2 seconds.  (That record was set earlier this year by a Cat 1 woman).

I’m just excited to think that I’m doing this well without the aero equipment…just think of what I could do with a little help from a disc and aero helmet!

All in all…a pretty good weekend

Well, Friday Chris, Ivar, Will and I headed up to Portland to stay the night at Will’s house. We woke up the next morning, bright and early, thanks to Chris’ early race time, and headed up to Ranier (about 1 1/2 hour drive). We arrived and Chris raced in the morning. It was a good race, and a nice day. Chris ended up finishing 8th and Kennett (who drove up with Tony) finished 5. Will, Ivar and I all raced in the afternoon.

I came up to the starting line, feeling pretty good…but also feeling like something was off. ..just one of those days. So, we were almost ready to start, I look down and I see the tire bead of my tire bulging out of the rim! Luckily for me, Chris was standing nearby talking to some fellow racers, and I was able to switch front wheels with him.

We started the race. I felt really good. The first part was slow, but a WA girl attacked and we picked up the pace. I was happily riding along with 3 WA girls on the same team who seemed pretty strong and like they had some team tactics going. I was happy to be included in their group. We rolled along (literally…this course was full of rollers). Anyway, I was in the top 4 girls on the way up the big hill, and suddenly it was rather hard. I couldnt’ tell if I was just getting tired or what…and then I felt the pavement on my rim. A FLAT! NOOOO!!! I was just about to crest the hill with the front of the field…I hopped off my bike and got ready for the wheel change. It didn’t go smoothly at all, the tire being too large to fit between my breaks, and we finally had to cram the thing in there. I headed up the road hard, but I knew there was no way to catch them. Also, the back wheel felt squirrly, my gears weren’t shifting right, and so I knew I wouldn’t be finishing this race. I caught up with a girl off the back and told her to grab onto my wheel. I pulled her hard to the finish line where I pulled off and she kept on going for another lap. Such is racing, I guess. But, I’m glad that I met the WA girls because they might come in handy for next week’s race in Enumclaw.

Today was the first Albany Criterium. We stayed at Ivar’s place the night before in Corvallis, which was extremely helpful because it shortened the drive quite a bit. We headed over to Corvallis for Ivar to race first. It went pretty well for everyone (including Ivar, Tony, Derek and Sam). Derek and Sam placed 2nd and 3rd in a pack sprint. Excellent job and a good showing for life Cycle.

My race was dumb. It was the slowest race I have ever raced in my life. There were 13 girls in the field, and not a single one–except for 1 or 2 would pull. I was in the front probably 90% of the time. Now, just because I was in the front, doesn’t mean I was doing a lot of work. I decided that since no one else would pull I would just soft pedal. At one point, I did almost an entire lap at 19 km/h. SLOW! Anyway, I succeeded in winning 1 prime and winning the race in a pack sprint. It was my first ever all out sprint in a race and it felt awesome. I also did the little thrust thing at the end, which I actually think won me the race.

Chris and Kennett both ended up doing well and putting up a good fight in the Pro 1/2 field. Chris got 10th.

So, good weekend….overall. Next week: Enumclaw

More Pain

Well, I’ve had 1 more week of TT experience.  Tonight my goal was to try to average 38 km/h or around 24 mph.  (My computer is in km).  Anyway, this was my goal because last week I was beat for first by a girl that got 38.43 on the TT.  AH!  Anyway, I tried to average that…and it didn’t happen.  Well, it did for part of the course, but with an incredibly strong crosswind/headwind on both the long straight away parts of the course, I averaged 36.0 km/h…which still isn’t bad.  I beat my last time by around 15 seconds…so we’ll see where that gets me in the results.  Overall, I am happy with beating my last time especially since the wind was a lot worse…overall I think I put out a lot more watts and effort.  I still need to get down the timing of amping it up at the end…because I think I can go harder for longer towards the last part of the course.  Next time…which is the last time of the series It’s going to be an all out sprint from the little white house clear down the road.  That way I can’t say to myself that I didn’t start going all out soon enough.  Let’s just hope I don’t blow.

Last weekend was filled with cooking, water bottles and feed zones.  I fed for Chris and Zteam during Mt Hood Classic.  It was hot and tiring being out in the sun all day, and I certainly didn’t envy the boys riding.  Christian ended up placing 49 in the GC, and the other two guys finished…and that’s pretty awesome, considering 60 guys didn’t finish the stage race.  The majority of them dropped out on the 101 mile road race on Saturday going from 400 – 6,000 ft with a total of 11,000 feet of climbing in between.  They went from 400 ft 95 degree weather to Mt Hood where it was 6,000 feet and 10 feet of snow on the side of the road.  Pretty crazy if you ask me.  Anyway, everything went pretty well overall and I had the fun experience of doing crazy feed handoffs.  It was a lot of fun.

This coming weekend will includ the Rehearsal Road Race and the Albany Criterium.  I am hoping for results that will gain me the upgrade points that I need.  Wish me luck!

TT Madness

Well, the local Eugene TT’s have begun…and it’s awesome.  Last week was the first one, and also my first time EVER on aero bars and my first time EVER doing a solo TT.  It went well.  The aerobars were a bit scary at first.  Chris and I rode around the course once we registered to warm up and give me a chance to experiment a little bit.

We started…Chris went 30 seconds before me.  He’s fast.  By the time I started, I couldn’t even see him up ahead.  So much for using him as my rabbit.

I started…slowly.  I was in too high of gear and had a hard time getting started…with a little push from the official I was off.  I stayed out of my aerobars for the first stretch because of an extremely strong cross-wind.  Once I got on the back stretch, it was a strong headwind, and I dropped down.  A little shaky at first…but I got more comfortable as time went.

I had no idea how fast to go or how many watts to push…not that I could tell anyway, seeing as how I don’t have a power meter…but I just went at the pace that I thought I “could push a little more if I wanted to.”.  The last stretch was a tail wind and I came flying in.  It felt really good.  I had to get out of my bars for the corners…which slowed me down a bit…but something to work on.  Overall, i did well and placed 1st at 42:13 for 15.2 miles.

This week I went and did it again with Chi-an.  It was a lot of fun.  This time, feeling quite a bit more comfortable in the bars…and with a few things to work on like cornering and when to pick up the pace and push and all that good stuff, I started out with a bang.  THis time I had a little quirk when I started because the guy was holding my wheel at an angle, and when I started I almost crashed.  haha But i caught it and sped off.  Overall I held about 2 mph faster than last time….I think…haha

Coming into the last stretch there was a semi-strong head wind.  I was not prepared for this…and it was frustrating not to be able to hold the speed I had gone the rest of the time.   No matter though….I passed 2 people…and only got passed by 1 guy…better than last time.  My ending time (by my computer) was 39:53.  I shaved quite a bit of time off…and that time will hopefully place me at first once again.

I’m liking this TT business…and think that I want to continue to train hard on this portion of cycling….it feels good to be out there on your own just ripping your own legs off.

Table Rock

Well, I guess you could say this race was your average race experience.  Kennett, Mike and I drove up in my car…after I implimented a “no-gas, no bannana policy”.  The drive up there was uneventful, except for a small maneuvering epidosde on my part after a semi decided to almost run us off the road.  (and except for Kennett’s early morning whining).

We arrive with plenty of time to spare and I got changed.  Chris met us up there after driving from Klamath.  We had a pretty good crew up there, with myself, Kennett, Mike, Luke, David H. and Andrew.  The women were the last to start.  I meandered over to watch the Women 1/2/3’s leave…and realized that they were starting all women together.  So, earlier than I thought, I was on the road racing.

The race went pretty well.  The first long climb was easier than I thought…but also longer than I thought.  The Cat 1/2’s hit it hard the whole way up and a small group of us dropped back a little.  Another small group dropped off the back of us also, so I felt pretty good in the position I was in.  The rest of the race was fast and fun.  Small rollers, and a little kicker 1/2 way through.  I was a bit confused on who I was vying against for position, so I just rode hard.  The last hill is a doozy and kicks up hard at the very end (around 200 meter mark).  I went hard, and blew up…but was still able to finish 3rd.

It was a good experience…except for a few harsh words to the girl who kept running me off the road.  She ended up pulling out ahead of me…I expect some ultra competition between her and I in the future. 

Kennett got 2nd with a lead break off the front, and Chris got 4th after breaking off of the chase group on the last hill.

David H got 5th in the Cat 4 men…and showed off an awesome strong finish!

Everyone else did well.

This next weekend won’t entail any racing, but hopefully some good hard training…and hopefully a much needed massage.

Figuring it all out…

Today I had a major break through. I went out on my ride today with the goal of experimentation while climbing. My goal was to try different gears, try standing at times when I normally wouldn’t stand (which is most of the time), etc, etc.

Well, I went to fox hollow, which is not a steep climb, but a steady one. So, first I tried pushing a higher gear than I usually do.  Usually when I start a climb, I almost immediately go down to my easiest gear and just spin and spin and spin.  Well, guess what? I made it all the way to the top in record speed in this new gear. Since I was pushing a higher gear the whole time, I was able to get up the hill faster, keep my momentum, and also it was easier for me to stand some of the time anyway.

So, my break through is this….I think that I haven’t been able to keep up on the climbs because I immediately gear down to my easiest gear and start spinning too early. This forces my aerobic system to shoot clear high and I start to be out of breath. This time up the hill, I engaged my muscles more BEFORE I was completely out of breath, enabling me to keep going longer and not getting all light headed and tingly (yes…this is why I struggle with hills).

I’m excited, and I know there is still a lot more experimentation to be done.  There is a fine line between pushing too hard of a gear and all that stuff…but for the mean while…I was so incredibly excited when I got to the top of Fox in record time that I just wanted to dance….I didn’t, mind you, because I was already accelerating at 35 MPH down McBeth.  That’s just as good as dancing if you ask me.