2010 Freedom Tour Criterium Results/Report

I pre-registered for the 35+ and the Pro-am for this criterium in Stirling New Jersey. The trip was supposed to include a teammate but those plans were changed last minute and I hit the road solo at about 5:00 Saturday afternoon. A friend of mine was hosting my layover in Cresskill, NJ. Haluk Sarci is the first [and last known] Turkish athlete to complete the Ironman in Hawaii, and repeatedly. The walls of his house were covered in photo finishes, medals, plaques, and enough honors to fill a museum. Haluk and his family took very good care of me. I don't usually sleep well the night before a 'big' event (one where I expect to do well) so I took an Advil PM before hitting the sack at 11:00.. I should have taken two. It took an hour to fall asleep and I was up at 6:45 to get ready for a 45 minute drive to Stirling. I got to town at about 8:30 and stopped at the market for some extra water, Powerade and my ritual can of Red Bull. Hunting for parking near the race course killed some time, and I settled on a completely empty parking lot on a residential street that was blocked by the booth containing the officials, the announcer and the camera- kind of like the street behind the Whaling City Cyclone. This parking lot was completely FULL by noon time. I signed in and got my numbers at 9:00 with 45-50 minutes to prepare for the start of the 35+. It was a hot day- already 90 degrees when we started racing. I made the mistake of thinking that one water bottle was enough for a 45 minute criterium. It was not. My water was all but gone with 5-6 laps to go, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.. Let me just tell you that in New Jersey, asking your opponents for water has about the same effect as asking them for the Crabby Patty secret formula. Stupid grins and laughter. Had I been racing in New England, my request for water would have been successful, that's for sure.. Again, I'm getting ahead of myself, but with 3 laps to go a couple of guys went up the road and everyone looked at me to chase for some reason and I was like, "Screw you- give me some water if you want me to work.."
In a nutshell, I felt GREAT today. The race started and I was immediately on the front, within the top ten guys for all but 2 or 3 laps of the entire race, and even then, not very far back.. I'm now in the habit of using my lighter Easton wheels (1480 grams isn't bad for alum clinchers- these are the wheels which originally came with my LOOK 486- tried and true..) INSTEAD of my G-D Powertap wheelset. I love the Bontrager RaceXLites to death , but they are absolute PIGS as far as their weight. As much as I love seeing good race data (the best kind) this race was a flat 0.9 mile rectangular criterium where I wanted an edge relative to acceleration especially out of the corners. Not that I was touching the brakes very much!- When you're racing in the top ten guys you can power through the corners while those behind you are often required to grab a handful of brakes and then sprint back up to speed. Race positioning 101, Murat gets a PASS.
So the race begins at 9:50 or so. We're racing 45 minutes, plus three laps. There were a few primes- all merchandise. I could care less for them.. The course was flat and fast. The finishing straight had a very slight rise after the final corner, and then a slight downhill to the line. Okay not exactly flat, but it may as well have been because it did not affect speeds too much. Two ends of the course are short- about 200-250 meters. A police radar was positioned just past the finish and I do not recall any laps where the speed was under 30 mph on this stretch. Had I looked up at it on the final sprint to the line, I would have expected to see 39-40 mph. At any rate, where was I?? Oh yes- feeling great. Nice light wheels, one water bottle, 70+ starters, 91 degrees and rising, lots of the same faces I raced against at Prospect Park last Saturday.. I went into this race with what I would rank as a nominal amount of training. You have all heard me pine about missing four consecutive weeks of training in late May and June. So indeed I have done some solid volume in July, but not one single structured interval, not one Wells Ave, Ninigret or Wompatuck, not one day of sprinting drills. All I have for high intensity is a few races- beginning with Attleboro, then a time trial in Scituate, then Prospect Park, then today.. Tuesday I did the Scituate time trial plus 3 more hours, 4 hours total. Wednesday I did 3-1/2 hours, rode down to Ninigret to a race that was cancelled due to thunderstorms, and then rode home in said thunderstorms, mostly tempo. Thursday I went out and did 2-1/2 hours easy. Friday I spun on the trainer for an hour. Saturday morning I did 3-1/2 hours extremely easy- like 125 watts average. I came into this morning feeling like I had a good balance of training stress and rest. Believing is 80% of the game and I was spot on for a change. The legs felt like they could not possibly get tired today. I was in the front, chasing attacks, bridging to attacks, following counter-attacks, attacking. Once or twice pulling the whole field along, which sounds stupid, and it certainly can be, but sometimes you need to show your teeth, show opponents that you are not a weakling, especially if most have never seen you before. It can pay dividends later.. except when... you're out of water with about 6 to go. Then they're happy to exploit weakness.. My mouth is dry. I have a shot glass or two swishing around in my bottle and I use it to wet my lips a few more times before the end. Three to go is announced and it really starts to get hot. And fast. People are taking chances. Faces I did not see all day, appear at the front, and it kind of annoys me because I have been dancing on the edge and having the wind blow my hair back for the past 45 minutes. I'm starting to feel fatigued, so fighting for position in the top ten becomes a little bit difficult. It gets physical. Two to go and we're strung out single file- it's starting to hurt, but it's a good hurt. One lap to go- bell is ringing. We're diving into corner one, then two. The back straightaway is insanely physical. Guys are taking crazy lines across the road to grab a wheel and not looking back. If you're not focused on this 110% you may as well sit up. We head into the 3rd turn, about 6-7 guys wide. I am on the right, about 15th rider from the front. Field is all together. There is a small curb comprised of little granite bricks cemented together. It's not very tall, but it's jagged enough to blow out a tire. I am riding the edge of these stones at 30mph, grazing them because everyone wants to take the final corner wide and fast. It's not far to the final corner. We string out to about 2-3 wide at this point. Another surge and I am positioned to take the turn within the top ten guys. I do not have an inside line though. Just as I am about to take the corner, riding on top of the guy to my left, I have this weird feeling, like maybe when my dad grabbed the steering wheel while teaching me to drive. Someone on my right had rode up into me just before the corner and locked his handlebars with mine, and the left horn of his brake lever was against the inside of my right wrist as we cornered at very high speed. I'm pulling left, he's pulling right, and I am imagining myself changing bandages for the next 3 weeks.. Then instinct takes over, I take my right hand off the handlabars and I lift my right wrist to release this tangle of arm/handlebar/brake lever. It has the effect of letting go of the rope in a tug of war. Whoever this rider was, he was slingshot out of the corner and down the side street while I completed my left hand turn with only my left hand on the bars. It was a split second hesitation of not pedaling right after I freed myself, but that's all it took for the front of the race to open up a gap on me. The finish is 400 meters away, but to keep in contact with this leadout train, I have no choice but to sprint, now. I get myself onto the tail of the action, which is already stringing out as the final selection is made, but the slight uphill turns into a slight downhill and I'm completely spun out. I attempt to shift but nothing happens. I punch it again and I get a gear which I can turn and I'm immediately on top of it. I pass about 3 or so guys who were torched before the line but 3 or so also passed me as I inevitably ran out of power. I ended up losing 5-6 places in the corner screwing around with tangled handlebars. It's a small miracle that I'm not in the hospital or covered with bandages. For all the success and good form of the past 50 minutes, the best I can manage is 15th, in what I consider to be a very highly ranked masters field. I set a realistic goal of top 10- I was expecting to finish in the money, and I almost did. If not for a little bit of bad luck, I would have had a clean entry into the final corner, with both hands on the bars and no hesitation. That's bike racing, eh?
On to the Pro race! At noon when it's probably about 95 degrees, but at least there was some wind. The field seemed to have about 100 guys in it, and the announcer was all giddy announcing this person and that person, Olympics this, Bissel that, Jackie Simes, GS Mengoni, an elite team from New Zealand.. all the things which might make a lesser rider want to shit his pants, the announcer was gushing. Immediately this 60 minute race is strung out single file. Your hero is tail gunning the first few laps, but slowly, surely, moving up. Every lap gaining a few positions. After about 30 minutes of very painful and fast racing, I have moved up through about 1/3 of the field. I'm hurting though- on the edge. I can really feel that last race in my legs. With extreme caution I'm metering out the effort so as not to waste a single watt. We're in the 44th minute, maybe it's lap 21 or 22.. two bikes in front of me look like they hit a patch of ice- these guys are sleeping on their right side tonight, that's for damn sure. This happens on my watch, right in front of me as I begin to lean. I'm prepared to bunny hop one of these guys, or one of their bikes, but they are sliding uncontrollably. It takes a split second to correctly predict their direction and pick a line, but not without grabbing two handfuls of brakes. I do not stop, but if I had to go much slower I may have had to put a foot down. I'm in the drops immediately, chasing an accelerating field. A few guys are tagged onto my wheel and for a second it looks like we can make it across.. so close. Then I come to my senses. I decide to go for a free lap. I'm the 2nd to arrive at the pit, and within 30 seconds another 10 people line up behind me. The announcer doesn't miss his opportunity to point out that since we were caught behind the crash, we were probably on the verge of being dropped anyway. Grrr. I was feeling fine and had every intention and ability to finish this one, dead last or otherwise. The field goes by and we all sprint to get back in the field before the first corner. I'm suddenly not feeling so good. Turn 2 goes by, the back straight has me cross-eyed. Turn 3 and 4 my teeth are clenched. (Indeed I had plenty of water this time) We're back on the finish straight and the announcer calls out that we're 48 minutes into our event. Twelve more minutes plus three laps, probably nine laps total. Speed is insane. I make it past the start finish and I'm all arms and legs, humping the bike to garner every last bit of speed. After turn one, I cut to the left side and wave everyone past me. Put a fork in me, I'm done. So close.. to.. the finish. That 1/2 lap of chasing after the crash took me deep into the red and no chance of recovering enough to hold the speed. From the sidewalk, I observed the last few laps of the race- some insane speeds. I watched the break of ten guys go past when the bell rang one to go, and they were blown apart completely when they arrived at the finish. The break didn't form until after I was popped- I bet it slowed down some right after I sat up. Such is bike racing I guess. I hate DNFs!
It was a long drive home. Well, it should have only taken 3 hours but the approach to the George Washington Bridge was such that I went 4 miles in the span of 2 hours. Then more delays on I-95 passing through Manhattan and the Bronx. My trip home took 6-1/2 hours. If I had any idea how fucked up the GW bridge traffic is, i would have gladly driven 1 hourt out of my way to take the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is how I got to Cresskill in the first place. Who expects to be in line for 2-1/2 hours to cross a bridge? $8 fucking dollars to cross the GW? Never again. As I said to others already, I would sooner drive a knitting needle through my eyeball and into my brain before crossing that pig of a bridge again.
I kind of went out of my way to make this a good report for you, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. Thanks for reading it if you got this far! Here's the results of the 35+ and Pros:

Stay Tuned...

...for a race report from the 2010 Freedom Tour in Stirling, New Jersey.

Scituate Reservoir Time Trial No 1

It's no secret that I can't time trial my way out of a wet paper bag.. and that I do not count climbing hills as one of my strengths. Therefore, what better way to improve than by doing a hilly time trial? The Scituate Reservoir course takes you on a roller coaster ride of about 14.3 miles. There are 5 notable hills, and if I had to guess, this course has about 900-1000 feet of elevation gain per lap. The longest hill is 1 mile, though only the first half is what you would rate as steep. The rest of the hills are about a kilometer or less, and more like punchy rollers than hills. I rode there with backpack because I wanted to wear my skinsuit. Other than that, I was pretty much cannibal with my heavy Powertap rear wheel, though I did at least use my light Easton front wheel. No aero bars or helmet, no disk or shoe covers. There were about 15 triathletes there and 2-3 road guys, including a totally cannibal A.B., with long frame pump, saddle bag and all. Said A.B smoked everyone, including the fastest triathlete with TT bike and disk wheel etc.. That's another story. I called it at the start and it was as predicted.
At any rate.. I was slotted in to go 2nd to last, with the winner of past weeks starting right behind me. Long story short: I had one of the best 1/2 way splits, and I paid a price for it. I went out a bit too fast. I sprinted over the first three climbs in my big ring.. My 30 second follower caught me in my 19th minute at about the 1/2 way point and put another 3 minutes into me by the finish. This is a pretty clear indication that I fell apart like a Chinese motorcycle once we made the turn onto Route 12 approaching the last 2 climbs.. Along the way- yeah I caught and passed about 6-7 people. My time of just a hair over 40:00 is probably good enough for 5th or 6th.. whatever. It was my first try and these guys have been doing this for the past 5-6 weeks. The real objective of this TT was to get some decent data on the power meter, and from the normalized power numbers it's evident that I should definitely stick to sprinting and criteriums, but in fairness, I am down about 3 kg and the power relative to weight is actually more impressive than it looks. Will I go back next week? Maybe I'll decide after the taste of puke dissipates. That was hard. I rode another 160 minutes afterwards for a nice solid 4 hour workout.
Here is a link to past results, tonight's will be up in a couple of days. I can tell you that tonight's winning time was in the neighborhood of 35:30. The time trial starts at 6:00 on Tuesdays and the meeting place is "crazy corners" in Scituate, intersection of route 14 and 102. Most people drive there- parking is ample. It's a great bunch of guys and gals and everyone made me feel very welcome. Try it!
Thanks for reading.

2010 Al Toefield Memorial Road Race 35+

Well I'm working again- this time for more money (per hour) as a consultant. Let's see how this goes. My life is a Dilbert cartoon or something, I swear.
Thought I would let you know. The drought of June is over as of four weeks ago. I went from a block of 0 miles in four weeks (in June) to completing 937 miles in the past 4 weeks. Also- my weight is down to 165! I'm happy about that.
Saturday I went to NY to drop the wife and kid off at JFK (Turkey for 6 weeks). I stayed in NY to race Al Toefield Memorial at Prospect Park. That was a total blast- completely full field of masters, including lots of local talent. On Friday I did 15 endurance/tempo laps around the park (51 miles) as an opener, having taken Wed and Thurs for rest. My sister literally lives 3 blocks away from the park so I rode there (on 4 hours sleep) and lined up to start at 6:30 Saturday morning. We were doing 10 laps of a 3.4 mile course. I cramped up! Halfway through the race I was nursing cramped legs. Felt good otherwise! The big ring hill was pretty easy for me, even though I was using the upstroke to save my quads from seizing up. Four guys were up the road from the gun. I thought they were long gone. I didn't realize it but we caught them, so the final sprint was for the win, not for 5th place. That's not really an excuse for my 15th place, it was a pleasant surprise actually because I thought I was around 20th. Quite frankly, with two two go I was falling apart like a Chinese motorcycle on the climb, and thinking "just get to the finish, you're lucky if you do".. What incorrect thinking!! Leg cramps do not instill confidence though.. so I do not blame myself too much. Final time up the hill, it was pretty mellow. Everyone was watching each other, with the finish only 3 miles away. I pulled myself together! Riding primarily on the left side of the field turned out to be my mistake because in the final kilometer I made it up into the top 20 guys, trying to pick the correct wheels.. when the leadout train suddenly swerved to the right to go around the last guy who took a pull. I was caught out on the left, behind traffic. Fortunately the cramps did not blunt my sprinting instincts because I found the holes I needed to keep pace with the leadout, but totally exposed in the final 400 meters, on the left side of the road. I made up some ground but faded/cramped in the last few meters, where two guys barely pipped me at the line. The prizes were 10 deep, and after the finish I reckoned I was in the top 20. In NY they rarely ever bother ranking anyone who finished after the money makers, so I approached the camera person- extremely friendly dude on a laptop reviewing the finishes, and he offered to tell me where I ended up. That's when I discovered that there was no break up the road. That sprint was for the win. We counted from the winner back and I was 15th guy across the line, out of a full field of 85. In hindsight, I regret not knowing that we caught the break, but the reality of my final lap was that I gave it everything! My heart rate was pounding at 194 after the finish line. Scared myself a little bit actually. The real regret I have is being caught out on the left side of the leadout when the action was on the right. What I learned from this race is that I was strong enough to finish top 10. Maybe the laps I did in the park Friday were a few too many. Maybe getting only 4 hours of sleep was a big factor in the cramping.. Who knows! I'm pleased with this result, much more so than my "also raced" result at the Attleboro Pro crit last week. Now that I recall it, I also cramped in the 30+ race which followed (at Attleboro). Why why why??? I left out the scariest part of Saturday's event- the crashes.. They were spectacular. Parts of the Prospect Park course are very fast- we were going 35+ mph without any doubt on the downhills, closer to 40 when we were strung out. One of the crashes was behind me. I heard but did not see them. Two crashes were ahead of me and it was like an explosion in the field. Bikes and bodies were being launched outward from the detonation- I swerved hard to avoid a bike or a person taking weird bounces towards me. Two other crashed were to my right- in my peripheral vision and very scary because we were cruising at the time.. I felt like hay in a needle stack- and very lucky (skillful?) to have avoided all those falls.
After the race I did 8 more laps of the park to collect myself and cool down, though it was getting very hot. Including my two warm-up laps, I did 20 all together, about 68 miles. Racing at Prospect Park is a lot of fun and it's very well organized. The only thing I do not approve of is that if you're not in the money, you're not ranked- not on Bikereg, not on USA Cycling, not even on Road-Results.com. I love that there is a waist high pile of backpacks at the start/finish area- it is a safer place to be than you would imagine. They have been racing here since the 80s at least. In fact the 2nd time I ever raced a bike was at Prospect Park, back in 1988 (I did my first ever road race in a snowstorm the day before, somewhere near Albany). On a cold April morning at 6:00 am I remember standing in line with my buddy Derek Larson outside a van, where Al Toefield himself (I think) was collecting entries and handing out numbers. A young George Hincapie won that race (combined juniors and cat 3-4s?) and Yours Truly got his doors blown off. Has it really been 23 years since my first bike race?
Thanks for reading.

Good Morning Flatbush!

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2010 Attleboro Criterium Results

For once I decided to do the Pro race first and it made a huge difference. Many of the 35+ participants did not survive the Pro race. I was tested so many times at this event, it hurt immeasurably to hang in there on some laps. I even managed to get off the front for a few with about 5-6 others. That put a lot of confidence in my legs and helped me survive to the ending. I pretty much sat up after hearing the bell lap and just rode tailgun to the finish, nothing left to contest the sprint for 10th place, with 9 up the road.. Team mate Alain snagged 3rd in the field sprint, 12th overall. I'm not in a bad place with form, all things considered. Thanks for reading.

The spell is broken

Recent career path changes have made it possible for me to ride whenever the fcuk I want. If you don't believe me just look at this week's volume: already 338 miles Mon thru Sat. The week before, I commuted to work for five days, logging 150 miles in my first week back from a four week drought of training. So far I'm pleased with my structural fitness relative to the time off. Today's 116 miler was completed with an average of 175 watts, in 6:15 for a relatively easy 18.5 mph average- I avoided putting myself into difficulty and did a proper endurance ride for a change, thanks to my buddy Eric who was with me, training for Ironman. His disciplined approach to riding 100 miles reigned me in and prevented an overuse injury, an incomplete workout and an early ride home for me. We rode side by side the whole time and chatted for hours about life- we hadn't seen eachother since 1989. Tomorrow I will rest but an active recovery ride with my boy Reis is not out of the question. Thanks.

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Update for my 2 readers..

Today marks 29th day since my last training ride. Maybe 22nd, not sure. It was a Sunday. On the bright side, we will be going to MA next weekend so that Reis can go and "smoke everyone", as he puts it.
We are filling the pool and it's almost topped off. Liner has shrunk due to the fact that previous owners let it go empty for two seasons and it may be leaking some place. We also need a pump installed before it turns into a swamp, due to the fact that this house was a foreclosure and they probably sold the pump to put food on the table. Still we swam in it over the weekend after a nice shock treatment turned the water crystal clear. I have a cordless vacuum to keep the small amount of sediment on the bottom cleaned up. I guess we should just enjoy it as much as possible before it (the liner) fails completely. A new liner is $3000 installed. No me gusta.
Work? I don't want to talk about it, but rest assured that I have contingency plans which make certain that I land on my feet no matter what happens. Send me your positive thoughts. Let me say this.. when your livelihood is threatened, bike racing is about as significant as playing with your Xbox or PS3. In other words, you can live without it and not die. I mourn the hopes and plans that are dashed for me this season, but I also look forward to mounting a comeback and seeing what damage I can do at the end of summer. Cyclocross? Maybe it's time to upgrade my cross bike to something that weighs less than 25 pounds..
Thanks for reading.

Every day sort of feels like Sunday night lately, if you know what I mean.. Symptoms of an impending mid-life crisis? Is it time to begin using religion as an anti-depressant? I've refrained from this because an afterlife seems like a cowardly fabrication.. but life is not getting any easier, is it? It's either that or copious imbibing of spirits... Maybe I just need to ride my bike, train, and race as before.. It's been nine days and I feel like an infidel of the cycling gods. So I am religious after all.. Riding, training, racing.. is just how I pray. Amen.
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2010 Mystic Velo Criterium Results

Sorry this is all I had time to get..

It's time get crackalakin..

I have no training program and no list of "A" races, and so it's understandably hard to get motivated for training. The good things I have going for me are a solid base of fitness and 10 days of "rest" (no riding). How can I craft this opportunity into a successful June and July? Racing at Mystic today after 10 days off was not easy, but when is racing ever easy? Still it was encouraging to finish the crit strongly when it mattered. For what it's worth.. I was expecting to have great difficulty, but faith in myself is restored to some extent. The Pro race which followed the 35 race was too much for me- the loss of fitness seems to be primarily endurance- I was too fatigued to do more than 15 minutes of the pro race, but that was averaging some eye popping speeds for several consecutive laps. A lot of guys fell apart and quit. I'm optimistic about the many crits coming up this summer. The spring racing is officially over I think. It's a long season ahead of us.
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2010 Mystic Velo Criterium

It's going to be an interesting day of racing for me tomorrow. Success will be measured by the frequency with which I taste puke. When was the Blue Hills Classic? Two weeks ago? That was the last time I raced and since that day, I have ridden to work a couple of times. Today marks the 10th day that I have not touched the bike. If I go to Ninigret Park tomorrow and race, you will find me tail-gunning at the back of the field, probably with teeth clenched as I give it everything I have. Then afterwards, I'll probably do the pro race for good measure. The fatigue of home buying is so much more than I imagined (this time).. Anticipating the day we close and all of the thought, the fretting, the research, the money needed.. All of these things have made it impossible to have the time, the desire or the strength to train. Wish me luck tomorrow- it will hopefully be the beginning of my next three week build.
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Want to ruin everything?

If you’re interested in wasting/ruining months worth of physical training, lowering your performance at work, increasing your stress and blood pressure to unhealthy levels, or hanging on to your sanity by a thread while being thrown around emotionally like a red-headed step-child.. BUY SOME REAL ESTATE!!!

 

 

Waiting is Torture

We are at our wits end this week. The goal of making an offer to purchase a home, is to close the deal and get the keys, right?. We have been engaged in this process since February. Closing is supposed to happen Friday! BUT it's still not finalized or scheduled. We're dying 1000 deaths in anticipation. The amount of energy this requires is nothing short of immense.

Add to this the stress of selling millions of dollars of contracts- or I should say- the REQUIREMENT of making these sales- while my job hangs in the balance, and you have another ingredient necessary for a nervous breakdown. Contractors are in no hurry to make buying decisions, and again, the burden on me to continue performing while I wait, is impossibly difficult. Imagine a photo finish at Nationals, where you're required to start the next race while the officials decide if you're the winner. Concentration and focus escape me. Understandably I think..

Top it all off with the inability to train on the bike properly for the past couple of weeks due to the paralysis of waiting and it's clear that lighting my fuse is not a good idea right now.

All I need is one win at work and to close on this house and I can get back to feeling human again.
God help us.
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Reset Button

Okay last week was a bust for training- all I did was the Blue Hills RR, and poorly at that. I’m bike commuting this week, and already logged 108 miles in the past 40 hours. Now I think about tonight’s training race at Ninigret and seriously don’t feel like doing it. I hit it hard last night on the ride home, and this morning I can really feel the soreness in my legs. I will probably drive home tonight, skip Ninigret, and resume training tomorrow after work. Sterling RR is this weekend- a race I’ve never tried. I’ll go if the mood strikes, but would prefer to keep my money and do a couple of longish training rides instead. One other option is to go to NYC for a couple of crits, but Saturday’s has a 6:30 start time- Prospect Park. Sunday is the Tour de Parc in Wantagh- a race I did last year with Alain- load of fun on a great course which apparently used to be used for Masters Nationals.

In case you thought it couldn’t be done, I just installed my rear license plate to my new Land Cruiser using VELCRO around the entire perimeter. Previous owner did a horrific job of removing his plate- he ripped it off and effectively destroyed the left hand plate boss- there’s now a gaping hole. The right hand boss has the bolt snapped off in there. I started out by hanging the plate temporarily using speaker wire. Now [with Velcro] it’s so secure I don’t think I can ever remove it without slitting between the Velcro with a sharp knife. I’m going to press my luck and leave the front one off- I’ll keep it in the car. So far so good- my 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser has not disappointed me. The A/C blows ice cold and the suspension is as smooth as a Cadillac. There’s an aftermarket radio and really hokey aftermarket speakers in the doors. They will all be replaced with OEM replacements. I already found the original radio on Ebay- it plays cassettes and CDs. The speakers will be a little tougher to find. I also need to figure out how to drop the spare tire which is clamped underneath the vehicle. There’s a port where you’re supposed to insert a crank and screw it until it descends to the floor. I have a feeling it’s all frozen up same as my previous Toyota pick-up. I ended up cutting away the rusted mechanism with a sawz-all. I’d really rather not have a 275-70R16 wheel in the back of my new truck though. Now that I own this monster, commuting to work by bike is a lot more cost-effective. I think the 60 mile round trip will cost me four gallons of gas. That’s $12 a day! Thanks for reading.

2010 Blue Hills Classic

You know how some guys in New England give you "negative draft"? Such is my race report on Blue Hills. It won't be long before you ask yourself what you're doing here when there are so many more engaging race reports to read..
Let's begin with excuses: it was a highly stressful week, what with the house we're buying, shopping for a new car, career challenges, and no training whatsoever for six days straight.. Needless to say, my head was fixatedupon upon simply surviving and finishing when I lined up Sunday morning. A slow leak in my front 404 required me to take a wheel before starting. Somehow I forgot to take a short sleeve jersey, but was glad to have grabbed a long sleeve one in case it was needed. I got a little warm while racing, but it wasn't too bad.
Fast forward to the final lap (first 5 laps I just sat-in and tried to judge how I felt after 6 days off the bike) bottom of the hill I started looking for opportunities to move up, and did. 1/4 way up the whole field swung right abd the door opened for me to get right to the front, which I did, but not without a nice push from some wise guy who is presumed to have a low opinion of one who sits in all day and moves up with 1k2go. Okay I get it. I'm up there hoping to help Alain or Matt or Adam, that is all. Long story short, I went to the front for 15 seconds, burned the one match I had and shut it down the last 1/4 mile, to finish almost DFL.
Now there's 2 minutes you're never going to see again. Sorry about that.
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Does it bother you to miss workouts?

Two days straight for me. Yesterday was a rest day so I didn't mind so much, but today?! it makes my skin crawl to miss a scheduled workout. Oh well.. tomorrow I'll double down and maybe ride to Ninigret again.. Life requirements have shifted- I'm deeply engaged in some cost estimates to renovate three Providence high schools- 30 science labs total. My bid is due tomorrow and the process has really worn me out together with the major efforts in between to try to close some huge sales of previous bids. The weather is partly to blame too. We're a one car family at the moment and with the not-so-great weather, I've had to drive to work, or else I'd already have 112 miles this week! Fine and dandy- I don't want to be too wound up for Sunday's Blue Hills Classic! Just saying, I hate when life gets in the way of training.. Some quality volume and rest these next three days will prepare me nicely for Sunday morning. .

Do you know why 6 is afraid of 7 ?

The answer is below..
No racing for Murat this weekend, not even any real crazy hard training- I did enough of that Mon thru Fri.. and it appears I've logged 305 miles this week in 17-1/2 hours overall. Not that I didn't want to race TP and Quabbin, I did.. but I really need to bring my A game to the start line of any hilly road race, and this week's volume put me at about a C or D for form, and I'm not that interested in racing myself into the ground and off the back, not to mention driving 2 hours each way and paying $30 a pop for the privilege. I'll save that kind of commitment for the road races that I care about- like Blue Hills. Now if TP and Quabbin were flat criteriums, I probably would have found a way to be there. The risk/reward ratio is a lot more favorable.. You can bang your head against a wall "training your weaknesses" but as a friend recently shared with me on FB:
"Don't let what you cannot do, interfere with what you can do." -John Wooden
That's good advice, IMHO.
the answer to the riddle, per our 6 year old son Reis: "because seven 'ate' nine". He told that one out of the blue today while we were driving home from IKEA. Thanks for reading.

Ninigret No 2

It's not that I won it or anything, so I won't bore you with a race report. The interesting story is that I rode my bike down to the race, then I raced, then I attached my headlight and rode home. 86+ miles in about 4:14. I've done this ride before, and it has always paid dividends the following week. I got home in the pitch black- about 9:15. Previous attempts to do this ride ended up with severe cramping both during the race and on the ride home. Yesterday I did a little better- one calf cramped a tiny bit for a moment and that's it. Added to my two bike commutes to work on Monday and Tuesday, I already have 200 miles in 3 days. Today is a rest day- hopefully a bike path bike ride with my son if anything at all. Racewise- I tend to hold back a bit when I know I need to ride home afterwards. Feeling a little fresh at the end of the crit, I easily took my place in the lead out train and got 3rd in the field sprint. The usual suspects had broken away and had a big gap. Nice big field last night also included G-Diddy in his 1st ever [Wed night] Ninigret Crit. Didn't see him after the start as I think he was tail-gunning at the back, enjoying himself. That's what it's all about. Interestingly, my first 60 minutes riding into the wind down to he race was my CP60 for the day, racing was actually easier than the ride down. Nice tailwind on the way home was thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for reading.

Bike Racers in the Boston Marathon

I know of two people in there today: J Alain Ferry and Ken Abrams. So far, so good.

2010 Rick Newhouse Criterium Kid's Race

Watch how fast these kids go past the camera!

Solobreak Wins Rick Newhouse Criterium

And he did it Solo- (he can't sprint his way out of a wet paper bag).
You heard it here first. www.Solobreak.blogspot.com

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2010 Rick Newhouse Criterium Results

Sorry to exclude the Women's and Juniors races, but we needed to get going! I'd like to salute the ArcenCiel team for their hard work and for successfully managing a first class event, per usual. Hat tip to Dave Potter and Dave Foley for taking the 35+ win and the 45+ win, respectively. Gratitude to Randy and Todd for burying themselves at the front on the final lap of the 35s- wish I could have done you proud in the field sprint. And to everyone who raced in today's miserable weather (especially the kids)- I salute you as well for not being a weenie.

Year To Date PMC 2009 and 2010

These charts give you an indication of training load. (top one is 2010, bottom one is 2009) The blue line is CTL- Chronic Training Load- a running average of TSS for the past 42 days. The pink line is ATL- Acute Training load- a running average of TSS for the past 7 days. The yellow line is TSB- Training Stress balance.

I know that some have a low opinion of this data, primarily because it doesnt account for the fatigue caused by life requirements, work, stress, wife, kids, mortgage, weightlifting, running if any, etc.. It's strictly bike induced stress that's given here. Anyway, it looks like in 2009 I didn't really begin to pour on the volume until April.

The PMC chart at the bottom shows you more of 2009- (thru June) I left the cursor one what I consider to be my peak of 2009. The high peak ATL (pink) that is shown indicates the day that I rode down to Ninigret, raced, and then rode home.

At any rate, I really like looking at these charts and getting a good idea of how much "work" is being accomplished (another word which is unpopular for some of you) especially when you can pinpoint your better performances and see the stress levels where you were successful.

I do not consider myself a maven on these matters- I'm learning more every day. I definitely consider myself a fanatik of analyzing the numbers though. it's like a hobby within a hobby.

Tour of Turkey- Rifat Caliskan's family presents

I have been following the results all week with mild interest, but today I caught a photo in the article by Cycling News which made my heart skip a beat. The jersey for best climber was awarded to Remi Pauriol by the family of Rifat Caliskan, who was at one time, Turkey's answer to Eddy Merckx. Rifat was a personal friend of our family. He raced with my father in the late 60s and when I was in Turkey back in 1989 as a very promising junior, he guided my training that summer to the podium of a big criterium [points] race in Corum. I finished 2nd to that year's elite Turkish National Road Champion, with junior gearing. I smoked every junior there of course, making me the virtual winner of my age group. I also snagged 10th in the road race the day prior. Little did I know at the time that my lithe 145 pound frame had just achieved the very peak of it's bike racing career. Life requirements and family misfortune made it a downhill journey from there on.. So I digress. The name Rifat Caliskan reminds me of so many things though. Rifat passed away recently, not too long after my father was taken from us by lung cancer.
Above, André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) took a hard-fought victory in stage five.

Rémi Pauriol was awarded the red jersey of best climber by the family of Rifat Caliskan, the famous Turkish cyclist from the 1970s who passed away five months ago.

Ninigret No 1

Looking at the weather prediction for this weekend, it was apparent that racing enjoyment would be curbed quite a bit on Saturday, making it all the more attractive to go to Ninigret last night. The same tired script played out of course, with all the big engines detaching themselves and surfing the field for an hour- Gary A- Tobi S- Billy Y- Billy M- Adam S- Randy R- Todd B (hope I didn’t miss anyone) they duked it out for the win (I think Tobi got it) while us mere mortals in the field worked it as a training race should be worked. I went for a prime at one point and got outgunned by a tall dude who I think is a junior (?) Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t quit because it was a 2 place prime (Nice six pack of Narragansett Lager- Ninigret has the best primes!) I almost tossed my cookies after that sprint, and had to really dig deeeeep to stay attached to the field- something made a lot harder by the many folks who were dropping out and jumping back in every other lap. I was getting gapped and it was even more painful to go around the bodies that were being spit out the back. This was a windy edition of Ninigret for sure. At 5 to go I had pulled myself together in the sprinter’s lounge and started moving up. By the time we heard the bell, I was 5^th wheel. On the back stretch I was 3^rd wheel. We had barely hit the final left hand curve and I became impatient and started my sprint 333 yards from the line. My leadouts were cooked and it was time to either GO or be swarmed and end up fighting for a wheel or a clear path. Field sprinting for 8^th place? Meh... It’s a training race. Why not practice some sprints? I wasn’t exactly sprinting from the back of the field.. The correct thing to do would have been to hug the right hand curb, but that’s not what I did- stupid me- I left a lane open on my right side and [correctly] held my line to the finish. Tall junior rider and someone in Cox uniform passed me on the right. 3^rd in the field sprint- I’ll take it. It was an excellent workout. The bad news is that when I got back to the car, my wife was in the driver’s seat while my son was kicking a soccer ball around. I put the bike up on the car, yelled at Reis to get in the car and jumped in the passenger side- I was cold. What do you think we left leaning against the car as we drove off? A Bontrager Race-X-Lite front wheel. We do not recall running it over, but it sure as hell didn’t make it into the car. I’m hoping a good Samaritan saw us drive off and is holding the wheel for me. It matches my Powertap wheel and I really want to get it back. Has a blackwall Conti 4000s tire on it and a Polar magnet on the spoke. Thanks for reading.

Heeding the call of nature

No I’m not referring to growing a tail, or taking a wiz, or laying some cable or seeing a man about a horse. (What ?) it’s just that lately, my body is telling me to sleep lots. Maybe I’m “tireder” than I realize what with the racing I did Sat and Sunday and the supposed rest I was supposed to be getting last week and what did I do- I commuted to work almost every day, making for another 200+ mile week. Physically I feel great. Monday after work I took out a TT bike that is on loan to me and tried it for size. That was a 40 minute ride to Goddard Park and back- I did a lot of stopping and adjusting. The bike’s not for me.. Yesterday, I had the benefit of knocking off from work early and you would think that a 3-4 hour ride would follow, but for whatever reason, I really “did not feel like it”. Instead, I took a two hour afternoon power nap- and slept more deeply than I have in months. It was hard to snap out of it, but I got up feeling very fresh. Let me also point out that I have gone to bed at 9:30 for the past two nights.. It’s normal, right? To have days where you don’t feel like riding your bike? This morning was another case of the blues maybe. I got up at 5:00 am, all stoked about riding to work and back.. then I see that it’s 39 degrees outside. This makes me feel less than inspired, so after horking down a bowl of Mini Wheats, I went back to bed for another hour. Signals I’m getting from the body seem to indicate that this extra rest will make my next build period all the more effective. My weight is steady. My HR as I’m just sitting around is in the low 50s. No infections or allergies are bothering me. I guess this is what it’s like to really get some rest? Finally bought a new strap for my Polar HRM yesterday. Was worried that it wouldn’t work as I use the old 720i, but it took the signal in a heartbeat (that’s a pun).. REI told me to bring it back if it didn’t work, no questions asked. Got a nice 20% discount on it too, for being an REI member. Now we can start to look at my “decoupling”, whatever that means. Hopefully this strap feeds a signal to the Powertap too.. Ninigret tonight? I’d have to cancel a 7:00 appt with a contractor at the new house, and leave work early in order to be there. Should I let this well-rested-fresh-ness go to waste? Let’s see what kind of mood strikes.

For those who wondered, my performance at Myles Standish was the pits, but the data I gained from my peak hour was excellent- better than I expected. It’s nice to have something positive come from a day which, on the surface, appears unsuccessful.

TTYL.

Wells Ave No 1

I usually do not wait until April to do my first Wells Ave, but hey I'm glad I missed it last week! 15 people crashed and 5-6 were taken to the hospital. The A field was fit and strong today, it made for some good racing. I wasn't really put into much difficulty the whole race, except for the first 8-10 minutes. Anticipating a bell lap, I went clear on lap 3 or maybe 4. The gap was ginormous because of the tailwind on the back straight. As I am rounding the corner and expecting to claim my prime, a turbo-charged J. Spinelli went past me like a hurricane. Alone. I was in no-man's land for one full lap after that. He became a dot up the road and I spied a good sized group approaching from behind. Skip, Tobi, Thad, Ward.. Among others- they were going very hot and left me in their vapor trail. This was a mistake on my part. I should have shut it down and recovered right after JS passed me. Instead I kept grinding it out.m but the primary reason for going to Wells Ave today was to race HARD and get a solid chunk of CP60 data. That's what I was thinking about while wasting myself for a few laps there. Yesterday's poor performance from Myles Standish made me determined to go and do some work at Wells. So back to racing- the early break in pursuit of JS went through me, never to be seen again until they lapped the field (boy, when I fall apart in a race, it's effin serious- legs simply "no va"). So I ended up jumping back in the largish field. I did some work at the front and logged some beaucoup watts for a few laps. A field prime is announced and I'm up there ready to pounce, but its neutralized. Next lap- almost the same thing happened- but people were hesitating. I came up the right hand gutter from 2nd wheel to what I thought was an easy win. I did not expect to be challenged and that's why a CB guy took it from me in the last 20 meters, fair and square. I salute the guy.. But what's with the smarky attitude and looks from certain young blow-hards in the field afterwards? Indeed I was both gassed and pissed so I was heard shouting "what the FUCK are you looking at" on the back stretch. Not proud. Apologies for getting emotional about a stupid prime. This made me determined though.. 4 laps to go the bell rings one last time (surprisingly) and it's 2 places. Teammate Adam S is giving me a textbook leadout.. Until a log jam of cars going 20 mph impedes us. Neutralized. We pass the finish and the bell rings again. I'm at the very front and in control of my fatigue. I swing wide after the corner. Couple of JS's teammates light it up right after the corner, hard. I jump on to take 3rd wheel. For having a lousy day yesterday at Myles Standish and missing the break and losing two previous primes, it was nice to win that last one. Glad to have had a safe race- I shut it down on the last lap- what is the point of sprinting in a field populated by 14 guys who lapped you?
I must say- the switch to 172mm cranks was definitely correct. It "feels" like I can accelerate much more successfully, both on yesterday's climb and in today's sprints. Thanks for reading.
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Beaucoup volume

The verdict is still out whether I should regularly do this bike commute, which.. at 27 miles each way, totals 216 miles between Monday evening and Friday morning. Tack on any training rides or race mileage from Saturday and Sunday.. and I can have 300 mile weeks all summer long. I need to figure out how to manage this effectively and make sure I am not adding unintended fatigue. Sometime in May I expect to begin working from home 1-2 days a week and that will change the program quite a bit. In April I need to really pour on the volume if I am expecting to properly let the spring unwind in May. I didn’t crack 1000 miles in April 2009, but it appears this will happen before April 20^th this year. To wit I already have 288 miles and it’s only the 8^th. It’s also a rest week and I am skipping Ninigret tonight even though I know it will be epic with the warm toasty weather outside. My commutes this week are in the 2 watt/kg range, and I’m enjoying the hell out of taking my time and noticing all the things there are to notice on a 27 mile journey. So it’s active rest for me all week.. until Saturday.. when I expect to be doing something special- might be a field test, might be some racing in MA, or a combination of both. It’s time to hit the reset button and go into a new build period using an accurate new FTP. I want to do some time trials. How many choices are there in our area? Thanks for reading.

 

Revelations

On Sunday I took an early morning 3-1/2 hour ride and my legs were really fried from the crit racing at Chris Hinds on Saturday. Even so, I was able to average 19.5 mph and 195w- the ideal Tempo ride I guess.. It didn't occur to me that I forgot my pump until after I got home- a scary thought considering the bald/flat spot on my rear tire from all the wind trainer workouts.
Checking Chris Hinds Crit results at www.road-results.com I notice that out of the 51 finishers:
10 are Cat 1
19 are Cat 2
11 are Cat 3
2 are Cat 4
9 are Cat "?"
Cool. That's a lotsa cat 1s!
Funny thing too- I showed up for the race without renewing my license! Almost drove home to take care of it too- then I was informed I could do it right at the race by filling out a USAC form- sweet! What a relief that was..
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Wells Ave Criterium April 4, 2010

The was a bad crash Sunday and the end of this very nice video shows some of the aftermath of it. I heard that 4-6 people were hospitalized. I hope everyone if going to be okay. If anyone knows who went down, please let us know.

Wells Ave Easter 2010 from pkl_limavady on Vimeo.

Teammate Matt K. won the crit, and the halfway prime, and he also won the field sprint at Chris Hinds for 7th. Nice work.

2010 Chris Hinds Criterium Results

Sorry I could not get a shot of the 45+ event, but I will tell you that Dave Kellogg won it. The result at the very bottom is the 35+ race. If anyone has the overall mileage for the Pro race and the 35+ race, please let me know. I raced data free in favor of fast race wheels, but I still want to know my mileage/speed if anyone has it please. Thanks.

Reflections of a successful winter

Success? Relative to what? Well.. I used to be one of those guys who didn’t touch the bike until April or May, and who would go to the old Lincoln Criterium in June/July and get dropped every three laps, jump back in and try again.. until finally after 3-4 weeks of this, I could hang in there and finish the A race, sometimes on the heels of the top ten guys sprinting for the win. Things are different now. I race cross 5-7 times a winter. I ride 3-6 hours almost every weekend, all winter long. I build a 1000 mile base by the end of February. I use a powermeter and know pretty well where I stand on any given day.. and yes a lot of it is still “by feel”. The data does more to verify how I’m feeling than dictate how I should be feeling.

This past Saturday with Gewilli and those hills will stand as a ride that I consider critical- one that pays big dividends later on. A TSS of 300 calls for a rest day this early in the season- I was not interested in repeating the effort on Sunday. I did a one hour spin indoors, barely turning the pedals. Instead of resting on Monday, I rested Sunday, and moved up Tuesday’s workout by one day, which consisted of six intervals of 3:00 at FT +10%. This was a hot workout, but didn’t cause much fatigue, so I poured it on again Tuesday night, doing 1:00 FT efforts at 90 rpm separated by 1:00 Endurance efforts at 110 rpm (repeat 20 times, with 10:00 rest in the middle). This gave me some fatigue, but I felt like I could do more at the end of this ride. Wednesday- REST- no riding whatsoever. Yesterday I took the bike to work. Scheduled myself to do a couple of 15:00 FT efforts, but this is “easier” to do indoors (mentally, indoors is harder). I was able to eek out one of my intervals on the bike path, but the occasional slowing down and stopping related to traffic and mud and water took away from it a bit. Still, a solid effort.. and I was flying- slight tailwind. Once off the bike path, there is no possible way to ride hard for more than a minute without stopping or dodging traffic, so I just made the most of it- decided to make this ride home something special. I was feeling exceptional. Looking back on the power distribution chart, it’s evident that more than ½ the ride was spent over FT, ½ under. And overall, 15 minutes of coasting- that’s a lot of zeroes factored into the averages. This fast ride home pleases me.

Indeed winter could have gone a lot more terribly or incorrectly, or unlucky or injurious than it has. I feel pretty fortunate to have emerged from the past six months injury free, at a good fighting weight, and in competitive form. It didn’t just happen, it wasn’t all luck. I was executing a plan, not exactly doing it “by feel” all the time.. because for a lazy phuc like me, if I did everything by feel, I’d have slept-in until noon every Saturday and every Sunday for the past 6 months.

Tomorrow will be a good test to see if all systems are go, but again it’s all relative. April 3^rd is not the time to call out the defining moment of your entire season, so I go into tomorrow with one expectation- to have fun. If I caulk up a top 10, I’ll be immensely happy, but not devastated if I’m tail-gunning all day. My “A” races are still more than two months away. Thanks for reading.

Does Normalized CP60 = Functional Threshold?

Saturday I rode for four hours- the first and last hour were by myself, the middle two hours were with Gewilli and Chris Burke. On the surface, the ride does not indicate anything impressive. Average speed of 16.8 mph and average watts of 171. It is easy to achieve these numbers on flat roads, by myself. But the Variability Index (VI) is 1.28 which indicates a lot of climbing. The TSS for the entire ride is 300 which is the highest I have done in one day, YTD. The data which matters the most to me though, is the small inset showing the CP60 (peak 60 minutes of average watts). The average is 191 watts, but the normalized average is 250, which is the current FT setting I'm using is WKO Peaks software. We were not going at race pace or turning ourselves inside out completely (for the most part), but we were not exactly slacking either.
FT means different things to different people. I use the number as a target during my longer intervals (those of 15-20 minute duration). Some workouts require me to go "FT+10%" and knowing this number comes in handy. But as a trusted source points out, my heart rate indicates that the FT I am currently using indoors may be too high. Some of this is because of the fatigue of a long day at work, some of it is because of overheating while indoors, or lack of a fresh supply of oxygen (I'm in a basement with no windows) and some of it is 'cardiac drift'.. I'm not completely convinced yet that I should aim lower during these workouts, but I'm thinking about it. The "VI" of a windtraner workout is typically exactly "1.0", which means that it's a constant steady grind- nothing like a ride in the rolling hills. If my Peak Normalized CP60 is achieved on a ride with lots of big hills, then translating that to a windtrainer workout needs to be given some consideration. At the end of the day, what needs to be evaluated is whether using a slightly lower [FT] target is going to force the same level of adaptation as a slightly higher one. Two back to back 15 minute FT intervals are supposed to be hard. The 2nd interval is supposed to show a little bit of weakness relative to the 1st one. I look at it this way.. training should be harder than racing. If I'm trying to condition myself to be a successful contributor to a breakaway that forms with 5 laps to go in a crit, it makes no sense to do a 15 minute interval at anything less than FT [or more]. If I'm trying to condition myself for a 10k time trial, it makes no sense to do a 15 minute interval at anything less than FT [or more]. One thing is for sure though.. using only a HRM can lead you into the weeds relative to the effort you're putting into an interval. The information is important, but by itself it can mislead.
Thanks for reading.

NBX tracks

We live only a mile from Goddard Park. All the ruts from our cross wheels are still there, four months later. We ride there together. This is the last weekend where cars are blocked from entering the inner part of the park. The gates open April 1st and we'll have to ride somewhere else.
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Success breeds success

I'm fatigued. Tuesday night I did a very hard workout. Wednesday night I completed my income tax returns. I was up until 1:00 but it had to get done. Now I just have to file it.. So no workout Wednesday at all- that sucks.. So tired. It was another long day Thursday. I fretted a bit about the workout that needed to get done, and it wasn't until 9:30 pm that I could finally claim some time to myself and head to the basement. Intervals lasting more than 15 minutes are a real challenge for me- I either have ADD or my legs are built for all-or-nothing contractions, not these carefully metered, just below threshold efforts- which drive me completely insane- and this weakness which I'm working on also explains why I often get into the winning break but fall apart when it matters most. Here's the workout:
20:00 WU
5:00 FT
5:00 RI
15:00 FT
10:00 RI
15:00 FT
10:00 CD
It's true that I set my computer to display average watts and I try to hold a certain target wattage for the duration. The first 5 min are a shock to the system, really intended to get your juices flowing for the real efforts. The 1st 15 minute effort blows, but it blows mainly because all I can think is "I can't do this again!".. I get through it no problem, and my heart rate tops out at about 174. Surprisingly, after 10 minutes of recovery I'm rearing to go again! Of course 60 seconds into it I'm thinking twice.. I'm resisting the urge to look at the time elapsed. I'm counting the letters on a cardboard box, over and over again. I'm closing my eyes. I'm trying to apply force to the upstroke to balance leg fatigue. I'm looking at the time every 20 seconds and I can't stop imagining how good it will feel to stop. In the end, my heart rate is 183 and I average only 7 watts less than the 1st 15 minute effort. Wiped.. I am actually light-headed after I stop.. Like I could black out and fall to the floor, but the feeling passes.. And after 1 minute my pulse is down to 158. After 2 min its down to 130. It sounds cliche but success in training translates into success in racing. So why not be happy about pushing through a hard workout which you typically suck at? If I can do it in the basement, I can also do it on the road. So you see, we're training body and mind here, as it should be. Thanks for reading.

YTD Performance Management Charts- a comparison

One thing that immediately stands out about the winter of 2009 is that I did seven consecutive weekends of 3-4+ hour rides, and then took a big break. What happened is that we went to San Diego for a one week getaway. We went to Legoland, Wild Animal Kingdom, we drove up and over the mountains to Borrego Springs, we saw two stages of the Tour of California.. While we were there we went to the Carlsbad YMCA for swimming and Spinning classes.. So I got a much needed break after so much volume in Jan/Feb. Things resumed as before in March..
In 2010 things are a little bit different. I have been stingier with my weekends, relative to doing back to back long rides.. then I get severely ill right after my trip to NYC for the Toy Fair. This knocked me on my ass until early March, when food poisoning put me behind some more as well. Now I am playing a slow and steady game of catch-up.. and as of this date, I seem to have a level of CTL (chronic training load) which is par with 2009.
As I explained to Solobreak recently, my training volume is still only about 75-80 hours for the year.. maybe 90 hours by the end of March.. so endurance fitness is not exactly where I want it to be. It's not in the toilet, but it needs work. Thanks for reading.

The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that is even worse.