I Won One!

Hello,

        I haven't been the at all good about keeping up to date on this (or any other) blog for well on 2 years now.  However, it still exists and I find that I have things to share so I'm back at it.

        The 2013 season of bicycle racing has been up and running since early March for me.  I began my season of racing by traveling to Tucson, AZ for a weekend to participate in the first National Criterium Calendar (NCC) race of the season.  It was a bit of baptism by fire for my legs and lungs against the fastest men on two wheels in the country but I hung tough and finished in the top half (41st out of 120 starters).

        Back home in Denver, life goes on with 30 hours of work and 5 classes at Metro State University, leaving limited daylight hours for the truly fun part of life, riding bikes.  With limited time in mind and a continued desire to have successes in the very competitive Colorado racing scene I finally added some technology to my riding.  I now have a Garmin 500 which is tracking both HeartRate and Power output as well as the routes of rides and races through GPS.  I have also added structured coaching into my training and racing through Cycles Consulting ( https://sites.google.com/site/cyclesconsulting/ ).

Home again, home again, Jiggity Jig!

Hello peoples!

It has been a good while since I've gotten a post up for my loyal readers, all 12 of you :-). Apologies for the wait whilst I get settled back into life in Colorado.

I am home!

After long weeks in Mesa, Tucson, Phoenix, and Tempe I am finally back to life in Colorado.  I made the drive back up on Monday the February 21st, a long 14 hours behind the wheel to do the trip in one day.  Luckily I had a great copilot to help keep me going throughout the drive.  It was a good trip to accomplish some goals for my race season.  It was a great reminder of how great the city of Denver and state of Colorado is when compared to some other places people choose to live.  In fact it is nearly as warm and definitely as sunny in CO as in the desert.

I have done one race since my last entry.  There was a criterium  put on by the ASU cycling club that I did the Sunday before I left AZ.  It was a standard office park type crit in the ASU research park in south Tempe.  The course was pretty basic too, only two real turns, essentially a half moon shape.  Turn one about 200 meters after the start/finish, a sweeping 90 degree right.  Turn two was about 200 meters before the start/finish, a sweeping 90 degree right.  Between the two turns was a long, slow right hand bend.  There was no real elevation change around the circuit either.


Unfortunately the weather was not very "sunny Arizona" that day, in fact there was cloud cover and wind and rain all that weekend.  This created an excuse for most of the fair weather racers in Arizona to stay home and we only started with 25 guys for this race.  It did end up being a good cross section of some different teams and strong riders so there was a chance to play out some fun tactics.  I was the sole representative from the Rio Grande team, as all the other fellas from the team were already back up in Colorado.  


A few feigned attacks and little breakaway attempts were made in the first half of the 60 minute race but nothing stuck.  After about 35 minutes of racing there were a few hard attacks and a final selection was made in the small field.  7 guys, myself included, made a final breakaway group.  The group also included Eric Marcotte, the winningest racer in AZ, and pro John Parrish.  It came down to the final lap and Marcotte was leading out, I was second wheel behind him.  Marcotte is a major force in a sprint so nobody wanted to come around him and pull him to the finish.  He decided to stop pedaling and slow down so somebody would be forced to come around him.  Everyone else slowed down too and Marcotte was still first wheel, at which point he actually hit the brakes.  This was an aggressive and unpredictable thing to do and definitely caught me off guard.  As fast as my synapses could fire I grabbed a handful of brakes too but not before I was completely crossed over his wheel and sure I was going to crash.  Somehow, I managed to keep my machine upright and the rubber on the road.  It was a quick shuffle in the small group and we got back to the last lap to figure out the sprint.  Parrish won, Marcotte second, I came in fourth.


Ok,  I have more to say but if I don't stop here then I will never get this thing published.


I promise the next post will not take me a month!



Ride On y'all,


Drew

Bang, Pop, Whiz, Grind

Hi friends,

Its been a few days since I've thrown down an entry for y'all and it is time for a full race report.

This weekend past was my racing season's first stage race. A stage race being defined by multiple individual stages over multiple days in which a competitor must complete one day's stage to be eligible for the following stage.

This was the Valley of the Sun stage race and had 3 stages. Friday was the Individual Time Trial where it is a rider and bike VS the clock. Saturday was the Road Race stage of 90 miles in which the battle is against the distance, the tactics, nutrition and hydration, and 84 other racers that want to win. Finally, Sunday was the Criterium stage, a criterium being a short and fast course which is raced by laps.

My team and I headed up Thursday afternoon from our Tucson training camp to get settled in to the hotel in Phoenix for the race. Because of the nature of the Phoenix metroplex none of the races were particularly centralized and required 45 minutes or more of drive time to get to which made a schedule important. The weekend's schedule was executed well and there was no stress about time or preparedness which was great.

Friday's Time Trial went well for me. I did the race without any of the prescribed aerodynamic gear because I don't have any with me on my trip. I was still able to maintain a relatively competitive time in relation to the leaders. It took me 32:45 to go 14.2 miles so about 27.5 mph (Dad hows my math) and I maintained a heart rate average of 180 beats per minute, it hurt so good.

On Saturday my teammate Adam and I lined up for our 90 mile road race. Adam was in 8th place on the overall after the time trial so our plan was for me to race more aggressively and he race more conservatively. Plans change.
Here is the tale of this entry's title.

Our 90 mile course brought us around a 16 mile loop 5.5 times and over 6 climbs total. Because of the wind direction we had a fast tailwind up the climb and that added speed which ended up being added danger. The second time up the climb, just as we crested the steep pitch, two guys got tangled up and crashed right in the middle of the whole field. The domino effect ensued and I was ensnared. A guy's bike flew right in front of me and I had no where to go but down, to the asphalt, at 25 miles per hour, in spandex. Using trampoline trained tuck and roll skills I missed hitting my head and took the force with my right side back, hip, shin, and ankle. I must have rolled too because there are some wounds on my left side also. Unfortunately my teammate Adam was caught in the carnage too and his impact happened mostly on his knee. It looked like I went through a cheese grater and his knee got chunked by an ice cream scoop, yummy.
Bang.
After seeing that our bodies and bikes were still mostly ridable we began the hard chase to catch back on with the main field (the guys that don't crash keep racing and do not slow down). It took about 10 miles of hard chasing to catch back on and we picked up stragglers from the wreck the whole way. By the time we made contact back with the main field there were about 15 guys that had chased back on. "Ok, reset button Adam" I said, "That never happened, the race starts now." Boy did I speak too soon. Not 10 minutes later I hit a nasty pothole in the road and got a flat front tire.
Pop.
There is a wheel service car that follows the race and I had a new wheel on fairly quickly. Again though there is no pause button or time outs if something goes wrong, the race keeps rolling. This time there was nobody with me to assist in the chase so I set my sights on the field and got the job done by myself. I was lucky to catch back on just before the steep pitch of the climb on which there was still a fast tailwind. Just as we crested the steep bit again there was a bad bump of bikes and a crash, in the same exact place as before. This time I was in a position of higher maneuverability and only just avoided hitting the deck again. Some poor bastard's bike went flying in front of me and I ran it over.
Whiz.
The danger, now having mostly worked itself out, became the tactics. There was a breakaway of 5 guys about 2 minutes up the road and the main peloton was certainly not chasing hard enough to catch them. With about 30 miles left to race two, then two more guys broke away from the main field. I recognized the savvy in this move and jumped across the 25 second gap to form a group of three and we three chased down and formed up with the first two. There was now a cohesion among us, so as to go fast enough to catch the 5 riders still up the road. First two of the 5 original breakaway riders were caught but quickly fell back, not able to maintain pace. With about 10 miles left in the race our group of 5 caught the other three and now we were 8. At this point we were ahead of the main field by about 90 seconds. There was again a temporary truce between the 8 to make sure we stayed away. However, when we made it to the bottom of the climb for the last time with about 3 miles left in the race all bets were off and it was every man for himself. My self had already been asked a lot of that day and the fatigue had set in. Unfortunately, I was not able to maintain pace with most and I finshed the day out by beating one of the 8 and placing 7th on the day. It wasn't until after I finished and made it back to my team van that I realized the crash, 70 miles ago had knocked my brake caliper loose and the brake pad had been rubbing the whole rest of the race.
Grind.
Because of our substantial time gap over the field I moved up from 30th place to 9th place overall and now just had to get a decent result in Sunday's criterium.

The day on Sunday started a little frantically when I realized my bike was more damaged than I had originally assessed. The bolts that hold on the derailluer hangar had been stripped out. Luckily because of knowing the right people in the right places I was able to borrow the hangar off of someone else's bike and make mine ridable again. The race itself was not particularly exciting as far as crits go. Everything stayed grouped together throughout the race and everyone stayed upright (All the sketchballs had already crashed themselves out). I positioned myself perfectly for the field sprint. We came around the final corner with 400 meters to go and I was sitting 3rd wheel. The all out drag race started with about 300 meters to go and I was able to pull out a 3rd place finish. It was my best field sprint yet and I have to give myself credit for mixing it up with those guys as I am not built to be a sprinter.
The race overall stayed the same and I ended up 9th for the General Classification. If there had been a Red Jersey for this race I think I earned it.

Now I am back in Mesa, AZ at a gorgeous McHome with a huge TV, my Xbox, a fridge full of food and a Valentine's gift from my girl. There is some funky looking Duoderm healing my wounds and a good book at my bedside. Happy boy here.

Talk at you soon.
Ride on people,
Drew

P.S. I'm not sure if the picture will show up as I an typing this on my phone but it should have a shot of my back wound.

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The Planets Align... Again

Hiya peoples,

Already it is Wednesday evening here at team training camp and tomorrow is our day to head up to Phoenix in preparation for this weekends' Valley of the Sun stage race.  The race is 3 days and 3 stages, just right for this early in the season.  Friday is the Time Trial, a 14 mile pain tunnel that will hopefully take a little less than 30 minutes to complete.  Saturday is the Road Race stage, a 90 mile battle of fitness and tactical power.  Sunday is the Criterium stage, 60 minutes of fast and fun around 8 city blocks.

The team is rolling out at 11 am tomorrow and making the journey from Tucson northway to Phoenix.  About 80% of the way up we will be right next to the road race course for Saturday and will stop to ride.  After long and hard days Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, we had a shorter and easy 2.5 hour spin day today.  Tomorrow is going to be short on time and miles but have a few good "opener" efforts of high intensity so as to remind the legs and lungs of their capabilities.  After about 90 minutes of riding we will pile back into the team van and head the rest of the way to get checked and settled into our hotel for the weekend of racing.

It will be a great weekend.

In other news...

Not to get too far ahead of myself with a full schedule of road racing planned for 2011 but I am already ultra excited about the 2011/2012 Cyclocross season.  Today I accepted a gracious invitation to join the Gates Carbon Drive singlespeed cyclocross team!  The team is directed by a friend Carlos Casali and after running through some of the details of this well put together team he invited me to fill one of the few remaining slots on the squad.  It looked like I might have done some guest riding with them this past season but it didn't quite work out.  I was still super thrilled to get to hang out with all the guys on the team and now I will get to be teammates with them!  The real cherry on top for me is that I will once again get to be on a team with my good friend Garrett Davis.  He and I have been teammates on the road for the past two seasons until I was presented with the opportunity to ride for Rio Grande this year.  One of my few hesitations in moving across was leaving such a good friend.  Of course, him being a good friend, he was excited to hear about my opportunity with Rio and encouraged me on my way.
Thats what good friends are for, right?

I'm off to get my beauty sleep.

Ride on friends,

Drew

No Gas Station Necessary

Hi Friends,

I am relaxing in the rental house that Team Rio Grande has for this week at our training camp in Tucson, AZ.  I headed down here after the criterium in Mesa, AZ yesterday.

Sunday's Crit:

We raced at the "Firebird International Raceway" in south Mesa, it is an auto race course.  I have never had the chance to race my bike on a car race course before and it was a ton of fun.  There are a few tracks at the complex and we were on the short track which was about eight tenths of a mile around.  There were two straightaways, a short front straight and a long back straight.  The Start/Finish was on the front straight and the course went; left then right "S" turn, 45 degree right, 90 degree left, 120 degree left, back straight, 90 left, right then left "S" turn, front straight, repeat.  There was a field of about 60 guys at the start of the race on a warm and sunny day.  It took a few laps to warm up my tires but once I got them up to temperature my Specialized was going around corners like a slot car, on rails BRRRRAP!  There were 3 big teams represented and none of them were willing to let a breakaway get up the road.  We spent our 75 minute race pretty much all in one big group but going at a pretty fast pace.  I am feeling good about my level of fitness against these Arizona guys who have had the nice weather to be on a steady training plan since October. They just don't seem all that fast.  I did make one little tactical blunder on the last lap that lost me a few positions and ended up 13th on the day.  It was a good mistake to make and remind me the correct way for next time.

Flash forward to today in Tucson at team camp:

We rolled out in the team van today with all seven fellas and our team director Scott Glasscock driving.  We drove from our house on the far east of town to the west side where we started riding, this was mostly to avoid having to ride through the traffic of the sprawl.  The ride was straight west of town to the base of Kitt Peak and the 12 mile, 3500 foot elevation gain climb up to the top.  It was again a sunny and warm day in AZ and the jerseys were coming unzipped on the way up.  We had the team van meet us at the top for snacks and clothes for the descent.  It is amazing how great it is to have a car rolling along with a long training ride like today's.  No stopping to fill up bottles or get more food, just drop back to the van and have it passed out the window to you.  I had another very fun descent on my bike, it goes so fast!  I saw 56 miles an hour going downhill today.  By the time we got back to the western edge of town we had been riding for 5 hours and 45 minutes and we piled back into the the van for a shuttle ride back to the house.  I jumped in the pool when we got back, it was cold, bracingly cold.  Then I ate food, a whole lot of food.

The rest of this week is at the house in Tucson here.  On Friday I am headed back up to Phoenix for the first day of the 3 day Valley of the Sun stage race.

Have a great evening all!

Ride On,
Drew

Drew Raced Bikes!

Hello readers,

This Saturday is winding down after a full day of bike racing.  Shrek 3 is on T.V. and I have a belly full of bacon, avocado, spinach, and mushroom pizza.

I finally got to put my Specialized SL3 Pro to work today.  It was my first race day of racing for the 2011 season and I had a blast.  I actually got to race twice!  Nine times out of ten all three categories of Pros, Cat. 1's and Cat. 2's race all combined in one race.  Today, however, the race organizers ran a separate race just for the Cat 2's.  That race had about 40 entrants, including myself and friend John Salskov (the "v" is silent).  John is who helped me find a place to live for my extended stay here in AZ and I really like riding and racing with him because we are so evenly matched.  The 2's race was 45 minutes long on a course of approximately 1.5 miles in length.  We lined up to do 12 laps of racing on a nice day, not too hot but a bit windy.  The course was pretty fast with only two 90 degree turns around one circuit and some bends and twists to make up the difference.

There were a few good attempts at breakaways, two of the most promising were ones I made it into.  The first one had all three big teams represented and me making up the fourth.  It was looking promising until the rider from the biggest and strongest team got a flat tire just as we entered one of the two 90 degree turns.  It was not a slow leak either, his tire completely blew off of his tubular wheel and it was a good bit of bike handling for him to keep his machine upright.  The move then quickly was brought back because the big team was left out.  The second move I was hoping for and made it into was again with four guys and again having the teams represented.  The second time we just found ourselves unevenly matched and a couple of the guys just did not have the legs to roll as fast as needed to stay away.  Any lack in cohesion out of a four man group like that means its pretty well and doomed.

This brought us down to the last lap of the race and the whole field was all together.  I positioned myself well in the top five positions so as to be able to respond to any hard moves as we approached the finish.  With about 1200 meters left in the race everyone was looking around for someone else to make a move for them to follow.  This meant that by the time we were at 1K to go the pack was lined out five wide across the whole road.  With a little too much confidence and a lacking in patience because it was my first race of the season I was the one to make the first move.  I used my ability for a instant and intense acceleration and was able to get a good 10 or 12 seconds on the field which was now chasing hard.  Unfortunately, my fitness is not yet at a place where I can follow through on the acceleration with a hard enough pace to make it an entire kilometer without an organized and hard chasing pack.  I stayed out front for a good 700 meters, though it was a steady climb back up my cassette as my legs asked for easier and easier gears.  When the more patient of my competitors came past with 300 meters to go I had already emptied my tank and was swept up in the sprint for a 12th place finish.  As Jens Voigt says "If you try 100 times it maybe works 10 times but if you never try it never works, guaranteed." I did however come across the line first for one of the mid race prize laps and brought home a case of PBR!  It was a good confidence builder and great tactical reminder race and I had a blast.

The second race was the usual combined Pro/Cat. 1/Cat. 2 race and had about 60 guys at the start line, including a fair number of guys who like me had raced with the 2's earlier.  That race was less exciting because about 10 minutes into this 75 minute race a strong breakaway of 8 guys rolled away from the field and was working together much better than the main group.  There were a couple attempts at a chase group and I got in one of those and chased another one down.  I raced the second time with a "race harder not smarter" attitude after it was obvious I would not be racing for the win.  This maybe seems counter intuitive but I am at these early season races to gain strength and fitness so a good self flogging session is appropriate.  It was hard.  I thought about quiting more than once.  I did some really great work.  I had fun pushing my body to the razor edge of its capabilities.  There is a lovely satisfaction  in making it to the final lap of the race and going to the front to have 50 guys lined out single file behind and you know they are hurting, otherwise there wouldn't be gaps opening!  Good times.

In all, it was 120 minutes of solid work and a great day on the bike and I must say, the bike is really nice. It was like the bike was on rails going through corners and when you stand on the pedals not one ounce of power is lost.  At the same time the force from the cracks and bumps in the road disappear somewhere in the gorgeous carbon frame.  I almost have a good enough relationship with this new bike for it to tell me its name, I can't wait to find out.   : )

Tomorrow is a pancake flat criterium on an old car race track.  I only get to race once tomorrow in the Pro/1/2 field so I plan on making it count. Strength, smarts, and PATIENCE!!

Ride on readers, Ride on.

-DC

Dodge, dip, duck, dive, dodge

Hello reader,

Hurray rest day!

All the cool kids say it is just as important to have great rest and recovery days as it is to have hard and intense training days and since I'm trying my darndest to be one of the cool kids...

Yesterday, however, was a hard and intense workout.  I began from my Mesa apartment at 1:30 in the afternoon and had a 70 mile route picked out which included a loop on the road race course for the upcoming Valley of the Sun stage race. The wind was coming out of the northwest, so when I began my journey, headed south and east, I was cruising right along at 30 miles an hour.  This wasn't completely lost on me, so even when it was time for higher power intervals I did not thrash myself too hard, in the beginning.  As I headed further through and eventually out of civilization it became clear that the elements, not the intervals, would be the true challenge of the ride.

As transcribed from the video commentary, 

"It really speaks to the ingenuity and obscenity of humanity that they have created a civilization out here, this is ridiculous." 

It's too bad my telephone doesn't have a better video camera on it because it really was a sight to behold. The tumbleweeds were traveling in herds of tens and twenties and whipping across the road at tumbling speeds.  Only because I had an interval workout planned already did it come in handy to, on more than one occasion, have to go all out to sprint away from a T-boning tumbleweed.  Also, thank goodness I didn't go out too hard when I had a tailwind because the wind could not have been any more in my face for the entire ride back.  Even when I got back into the sprawl, the weeds were after me.  I was stopped at a light, and to the delight of the people in the 4Runner next to me, had to lift my bike completely off the ground to let a little ankle biter weed tumble underneath me.  Hence putting to use the 5 rules of dodgeball.

Then I was back into "civilization" and never more than a stone's throw from a Starbuck's, Applebees, or  Pep Boys.  Stripmall, after stripmall, after stripmall, after McMansion.

How I miss the city and the -10 degrees already.

Read on readers, read on.

-DC