Webster Crit

I ventured out for my 2nd crit of the year. I don't count Tuesdays as races, they are just riding around with friends. I debated which race to enter 3/4 or the 4/5. Opted for 4/5 for easier life scheduling purposes. Turns out that was the better choice. The 3/4 race has several crashes. The 4/5 had none. Also was told by a guy who did both that the 4/5 race faster. Not by much but it was faster. Found that interesting. Not verified by anyone else but what I was told.

Lining up I had the usually prerace nerves. Those never go away. I actually yawned on the start line while waiting for Buddy to fire his starters pistol. Once were gong I settled in and rider by rider I found myself at the rear of the field. The pack wasn't surging too bad so I just settled in there rather then fight it out to stay at the front. Also the pace wasn't that hard so I was able to move when I wanted too. After half way I moved up to the top third of the pack. They called a prime and no one was goig so I took a flyer with a half lap to go. That hurt. I gave it all I had, which isn't a lot, and kept going. A few riders were strung out single file behind me. Including my teammate who was on to what I was going for. He just missed out on the prime, but I give him credit for sitting the chaser's wheel and then making a run at it. I think he waited a bit too long to sprint for the prime.

After a few laps at the back I got back near the front. With 3 to go the pace slowed again and I noticed some teammates were very near the front. So I took another flier. This one garnered a bit of sponsorship time because I lead the pack around the 4th turn and across the start/finish line. After that I was spent and rolled around the back of the pack and finsihed nearly last in the pack.

Overall I was pleased with how things went. I hadn't raced a true race since Memorial day. And only the 3rd time this year. Tour of StL Sunday race was the other. My knee issues are getting better and as of this evening I don't have any knee pain so that is another bonus for me. I was able to make a few hard efforts in a small attempt to help my teammates so that was good enough for me.

Dirt crits start Thursday and I can't wait for these to start!

I'm a PRO

This past spring while many cyclist were out logging miles and entering early season races I was at my desk studying for a P.E. exam. Well it paid off. I'm a professional engineer now. So is Sara. That was great day of news around here.

To celebrate I road home from work today. A few coworkers were concerned about my decision given the heat. I had three bottles for the ride home and I drank plenty of water all day long. It wasn't as hot as I expected when I headed out the door. Yeah it was warm, but not unbearable. I was covered in sweat, but I had Craft pro-cool base layer on and that thing really did the trick. Not a paid product endorsement statement, but everything I have that is Craft has exceeded my expectations. The only time I was burning up was when I got stopped at stop lights and had to wait in traffic with no shade next to running engines. Once I got going again it felt like I was sitting in the A/C.

Off road crit practice

This was week was round two of commuting to work. Another awesome ride home Thursday and sweet ride to work Friday morning. The ride home was pretty uneventful, which was good. I took a slightly different route home to avoid being on Clayton Road as long and also avoided a busy road near my house. The new route was a little longer, had more hills, but was much better with respect to vehicle traffic and my safety. The hills were close to my house. Good for the end of the ride. I can use some more hill practice anyway. Made it home and enjoyed a nice cold beer in the back yard while watching my daughter play in the yard.

Friday at 5 AM I rolled out of the driveway with blinky light, white blinking light and my night mountain bike riding light. I was immedately greated by hills. Thanks to some new stop signs at the bottom of the hills I pretty much had to stop at the bottom of every one. It could be argued that I don't need to stop at stop signs in a neighborhood at 5AM, but I prefer to play it safe.

Close to work I passed the government records center on Page. The sweet smell of fresh baked doughnuts could not be ignored there so I stopped at a bakery and gave the guy $0.70 for a fresh glazed doughnut. I told him I didn't need a bag I was eating it now. They guy laughed and told he was building up an old road frame someone gave him. He wished me luck on the rest of my commute and I was out the door. So it was great way to start the day, nice 30 miles and a fresh doughnut.

Tuesday I made it out for a another Tuesday Worlds. Maybe it is me but seems like there have been several crashes this year for no reason other than in attention. This week was no different. Going up the hill along the barriers two ICCC riders touched bars. Not sure who really was at fault but it involved larger and more senior rider and a junior rider. Well the larger rider ended up leaning into the junior after they bumped and being that he had 2x's the body mass of the junior it meant the kid went down. My teammate was riding behind the kid, and me behind my teammate. Needless to say the kid is laid out on the ground and my teammate runs into and over him and goes down. Next up my turn. At this point I have a couple of choices. Look the brakes and stop and pray no one hits me. Swerve left and take down a bunch of innocent folks. Swerve right and blast a metal barrier. I took a different approach which should not be tried by any true roadie and is better left to those with some off road ability. I ended up slowing down some and while the kid is laying on the ground I pull up the front wheel and roll right over his lower legs. Sort of like riding a log on a mountain bike. Pull up on the bars, then shift they weight around and pull of the rear as it hits the logs or in this case, the kids legs. Miracle of miracles it work. I made it over the kid and the proceed to ride between a gap the metal barriers so I don't have to ride over my teammate who had by this point tumbled over the kid and next in line for me to ride over. They guy behind me locked his brakes and did a sideways dirt slide. So in the end two guys went down and two more of us were involved but kiss the ground. I took a few laps to help the kid out and make sure everyone was okay. It was pretty cool to see several other folks all stop and offer help and make sure everyone is okay. Biking karma I guess. Eventually jumped back in and sat in the middle of the pack. Towards the end I jumped on Claw's wheel and got a decent tow towards the front and I was close enough to the front I felt compelled to make some attempt to sprint. I can't sprint really so I was more like a small surge.

Fitness is slowly coming back around. Tossing in some runs one or two times a week so I can be prepared for cross season.

Grant Trail and Farm

Saturday we did a family ride on the Grants Trail from the newly opened Kirkwood parking area at Big Bend and I-farty far. We got there early-ish. Sara had her shify mountain bike with 26" cross tires and I had the cross bike with the trailer. Getting started we took it easy because Grants Trail has a ton of traffic. Walkers, kids on bikes, beach cruisers, roller bladers, and runners. The pretty cool thing is that at all the major roads they have stop signals that serve no purpose other than to stop cars and allow Grants Trail users to cross the road. As we got closer to the south end of the trail near Grants Lodge there were less people and Sara picked up the pace. She had the biggest gear she could get cranking full on. I was drafting her with the trailer. At one point we had a girl on a road bike drafting the trailer for several miles. When we turned around she kicked back up to full tilt. I was hold her wheel for everything I had. It was a interval that far exceeded anything I have had at Tuesday Worlds race this year. I was pretty impressive really. Yeah I'm pulling a trailer, but she is dropping the hammer while keeping her heart rate below 150 bpm. She kept it up until we went back by Grants Park where there were more people again. I was relieved the trail got crowded because I wouldn't of been able to sustain a full 8 miles of that pace.

So we made an out and back run on Grants Trail. Went back to the car, put on some street shoes and road 2 miles back to Grants Farm which was now open. I enjoyed the ride and it saved me $11 for parking at Grants Farm. We boarded the tram to the farm where we did the usual feed the goats, checked out the turtles and birds. Of course we sat down for a few cold beers. How sweet is that? Go ride with some intervals throw in followed by cold free beer. I'm hooked and plan to go back a few more times this summer before the Inbev folks close the place down in an attempt to squeeze all possible pennies (or euros) out of AB because they WAAAY overpaid for it.

My First Commute

This week was a big week for me biking wise. For the first time I commuted to work on a bicycle. I am not a bicyle commuter. Yeah, I know it is a couple weeks past bike to work week. But two working parents and a little one at home mean you sometimes have to put the family before you desire to ride. I can say that after this week I am hooked on commuting to work. Two things struck me after doing this. First, it was really enjoyable to get a ride in while going to and from work. Second, I was amazed that the most of my traffic concerns occurred near my house and not near my work.

It is just shy of 30 miles from home to work by bike. Little too far to do the round trip time wise so I drove to work Thursday and then road home in the evening. Friday AM I road to work and then drove home. The ride home took 1 hr 45 mins. Not too bad considering I was still learning the route and I pulled off just about any time a car came up behind me on the busy roads. The ride Friday morning was pretty good and had no major issues. I was 5 minutes faster which I think was because of traffic and I knew where I was going a little better. It will note I obeyed all traffic laws and came to a full stop at intersections. Don't want to get ticket in Frontenac.

Of course having my bike sitting at my desk all day encouraged questions of all sorts. The most popular were: how much does that bike weigh, do you ride the MS150, how far is the ride, and of course the expected how much did that bike cost.

I'll be back for sure. I may even stop at the doughnut shop I passed on my was to work Friday morning. Those fresh baked pastries smelled oh so good an hour into my ride because to be honest I ride a lot so I can that kind of stuff with no guilt.

How not to train

This weekend marks about 4 weeks since I have been back into a more traditional training and racing plan. One thing I can recommend is not waiting until the of April to start increasing your mileage and also to start racing. Sunday I road over to the race in Wildwood. Provided a decent warm up. I was able to get out for some good riding Friday and Saturday which worried me for Sunday. It was actually pretty enjoyable to ride to the race. I felt okay until the race started. The course had a few turns, but the quick hills did me in. About half way Boz rolled up and said, "Good news, we are at the back." I was riding in the same spot I had been for the first part of the race. Unfortunately a couple folks dropped off each lap and then it was my turn. After a few more laps I was done. It was a great race and fun venue. Hope the race comes back next year.

I think it is safe to say that waiting until the end of April to up your mileage and also start doing intervals/racing isn't the best way to get ready for the early summer racing. It was a bummer to get dropped, but Sunday's race wasn't a cake walk. A lot of folks got shelled. I'm still targeting late summer to shine at some crits and then roll that into cyclocross season.

After the race Sara and I rolled out with me towing the trailer. Did another 20 miles around the bike paths of Wildwood and Rockwood Reservation. The climb out of Rockwood took some effort pulling 50 lbs behind me.

Slow Ride.....Take It Easy

Friday we out for a nice and easy 42 mile ride. Some of you are familar with the phrase drinking for two. Well I was riding hills for three. To keep Sara's heart rate down I would help push her up the hills. Does that count for a double the elevation gain? The ride took a little longer than our normal but it still wasn't too bad all things considered.

To make myself feel better I went out to the KATY on Saturday and I TT'd past some freds while pulling the trailer. Actually, didn't really blow by anyone but I did run over three snakes. One black and two green. We took our time and rode from Weldon Springs to Augusta for lunch and then rode back. Lot of folks out enjoying the trail which was pretty cool to see. I would say about 50% had helmets. One girl was riding her bike with training wheels and had her helmet hanging on her handle bars. Dad riding next to her with no helmet. On the return trip I saw that same bike with training wheels and helmet still dangling off the handlebars parked randomly on the trail with no one around. I did a bit of a double take and didn't see anyone around. That was a little creepy.