PPM by 2010

Well, the first race is in the bag. I must I say I was a bit over-confident heading into this outing. All of the long rides and practice laps at the BOD were certainly excellent prep (and all those fell riders telling me I was fast helped a lot to boost my over-confidence as well), but in reality the decent speed I had on these outings certainly did not translate on to the course yesterday. Yes, the race was extremely humbling, and it was extremely fun; but the endurance was just not there for me yesterday for most of the race. I think there we ultimately several reasons for the missing "pop".

1. I did a hard century last weekend...this could not have helped my 40 year old legs
2. I went out too fast either for my fitness or for my lack of significant recovery with the century and the hard Weds BOD session
3. Maybe a bit too much pressure in my front tire as it slid out a lot on the harder packed stuff which contributed to my fall on the second lap
4. The fall on the first lap kind of freaked me out such that I sucked for most of that lap
5. Listed as 5, but in reality number 1 is my truly newbie status

I kind of knew I was not going to fair as well as I'd hoped when I saw the caliber of riders doing practice laps with me prior to the race. I tried to not let this distract me as I inspected what would be a really dusty course with a healthy bit of small climbs, dismounts, sand and pavement. I did get a some useful tips as I saw two guys go over the bars trying to ride through a small embankment, yes it looked perfectly rideable; but in practice it appeared that it was best to dismount and jump the thing. I did follow a more experienced rider pointing out line tips, etc. to another newbie like myself. This was useful because I picked up a bunch of ideas before the race that would serve me well.

Lineup time came and like a good rookie I showed up a bit late. This did not really matter as a bunch of the 65+ riders were called up from their results last year, and the starter randomly called up a bunch of riders based on the last number from their bibs. Unfortunately I was not one of the lucky ones... I was able to garner an outside spot that allowed me some room to pass at the start up the long slight hill on pavement. This start was excellent because it allowed everyone room to find their place before the technical stuff in the woods. At the start i quickly moved to the outside and powered by a bunch of riders. In hindsight I probably should have taken this a bit slower for the first race to allow myself the opportunity to pass later on throughout the race. As a result I was a bit high in standings; higher than my legs should have been I think. Anyway, I successfully bunny-hopped over a curb without slamming my rear rim and then entered the most technical part of the course. There was a 180 degree turn down into a very soft, off camber decent with a log crossing the path. I dismounted and hopped the log for each of my training laps which was what I did throughout the race. Of course with a downhill dismount there was a corresponding downhill mount without 90 degree turn onto a relatively tight bridge. I handled each of the dismounts and mounts ok through the race not really getting passed, but the elite guys all hopped or road over the log. Tip for next time for sure, ride the tree to save the time.

I seemed to hold things fairly well on this first lap, not getting passed I think. It was the second lap where things seemed to fall apart. After the technical section mentioned above, thee was a small pavement climb followed by a fast dirt road like section with crushed stone. The problem either for my handling or for my slightly too hard front tire was the seemingly lack of traction at speed. I slipped around a bit on the trial laps and on the first lap but on the second I may have been moving a bit faster because after making it down most of it I heard the terrible sound of my front tire losing grip and then just power sliding out from under me. I did not really fall rather than just crumple over the bike right into the tape barrier before a small bridge. The bars got entangled in the tape which created a problem when I was ready to get moving again, except the only way out of the mess was to just rip the tape off. Oh well! Once moving again I was definitely a bit freaked. This I think contributed to a bad two laps in the middle of the race...heck I even got passed by a guy on a hybrid! In fact, the hybrid guy didn't really help my motivation either...

But, for some reason on the last lap my legs really started to come back to me. I successfully bunny-hopped onto the technical section and made it through without incident. I even entered the dirt section where I fell noticeably faster than prior laps... I noticed this because I almost went sailing off the side of the side walk. Later in the lap I made it up to one lone rider who finally became my target to catch by the finish. I bridged the gap right before the last 180 degree turn onto the last 100 yards of pavement. So, with visions of Tyler Farrar in mind I gave it everything i had to pass the guy in a sprint. I still do not know if I won, but I was happy with the effort.

From Cross Race #1

Final on the day was 27th of 62 finishers. In the top half for sure, so that is something. Next goal will be a top 20 assuming a similar sized field. Hup Hup!

Good Sam Jam 2010 by christopherjlee at Garmin Connect - Details

Just under 100 miles on the day with over 6000 feet gained. We did this a lot faster than the Denver Century...probably because we spent a lot less time at the aid stations. We also averaged well over 30 mph the whole way down from Allenspark to Lyons.

It was unfortunate that we were not able to do the original route up to Ward via Left Hand and then down to Lyons via Peak to Peak and Route 7. Regardless, the climb up route 7 was a lot better than I thought, eery much like Left Hand without the final Wall to Ward.

A little tight this morning, mostly my lower back...although nothing like after the Denver Ctry. Hopefully the fatigue will not hang around all week as Saturday is my first Cross Race at Xilinx...the first of the season in Boulder. This will probably be my first of many races, maybe one per week for awhile. After next week will be heading to Summit County to do a race in Frisco and to visit my parents course. The week after that is a race in Interlocken and then the following week at the Louisville Rec Center...my training grounds!


The season is finally here after an entire summer of training! Bring it on!

U.S. gran prix of cyclocross from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo.

Had my first training with the team today. The session was taught by Brandon...holy cow there is a lot to learn! We started with the basics of course...like dismounting both with the foot on the outside and the inside (into a stride where the right foot goes on the inside between the left foot on the pedal. We then moved onto more advanced stuff like shouldering the bike and picking up the bike like a suitcase...all interesting and new. I have been practicing the dismount most of the summer which helped but i never really knew how to correctly pick up the bike and certainly did not know how to shoulder the bike correctly where the right hand holds the handlebars after hefting the thing with the right hand on the downtube while still moving. Honestly I felt confident with most of the dismount stuff but really struggled with the shouldering and the proper method to get the bike off the shoulder and on the ground without dropping a chain. Man, this is so different than anything I have ever done... My HR was pegged doing these drills up and down a soccer field. Unbelievable. We also did mounts of course which were hard and then culminated with starts and then work with the cross props barriers. I am definitely glad to have had a some instruction before just jumping in without knowing anything. Can't wait to try this in a race without more practice of course. There is another drill session next week (north boulder about 20 minutes from the house by car and 40 by bike) and then after that there is a fast group that practices by the house on the local cross course (where i did my short track race this spring). So, one more week of drill and then fast race laps trying not to get lapped! Sounds like a plan.

The ride up Lee Hill was as tough as it seemed from riding down it last week. It is a lot longer than Old Stage overall and Lee’s first pitch is definitely as steep as the steepest part of OS. Overall climbed fairly well up Lee, kept the pace fairly consistent most of the way up. Never had to stand much to keep things moving, just a steady incline.

After landing back on Left Hand I could definitely feel a little bit of fatigue in the legs…took about a mile or so to shake out the lactic. After a few miles finally hit Lick Skillet. At the start these is a little sign that warns of a “narrow, steep”dirt road. I was a bit worried about the traction as I had my 700x23 road wheels on the bike. However, these proved no problem on the fairly packed dirt road. The incline seemed fine for a bit right up until the one and only real switch back. At this point the road just became ridiculous. I was starting to think that it was not my day as I had to take a couple of breaks on the way up as well as some traversing back and forth…even with the 34 little ring coupled with the 32cog. What I latter discovered is that this road is the “the steepest county road in the United States” according to Wikipedia. It climbs just under a 1000 feet in a mile and a half for an average grade of 15% for over a mile…and all this on dirt road. So, after finding this out after getting home I felt a lot better.

Overall this was my hardest ride to date and it was just at 43 miles! Finishing, I returned home feeling like I had run 15+ miles in the heat…really just tired and whipped. I wonder if this had to do with my choice of calories for the ride other than the climbing of course. I gave Hammer Perpetuam a try using one of the single use packets. Based on my current weight I needed to do about 8 table spoons of mix for one bottle. Mixed it up and I was off. I definitely like the convenience of just sipping from a bottle rather than sucking down a gel, however I did notice that my stomach was a bit ugly during parts of the ride and then after the ride I was definitely uncomfortable for a few hours. So, I am thinking that the gels work better for me at this point. I do still need to try coach Keith’s method of a NUUN tablet coupled with Carbo Load (sp.) in a bottle. I do know that the tablets work great along with gels, so we will see if his mix is better than the Hammer Stuff.