Influence of Acetaminophen on Performance during Time Trial Cycling

Since this article is still in press and I'm one of the few people who can get it (hi Andrea!), I decided to do a brief overview of this study.

Influence of Acetaminophen on Performance during Time Trial Cycling
ALEXIS R. MAUGER, ANDREW M JONES, CRAIG A. WILLIAMS

n=13
10mi (16.1km) TT on CompuTrainer
two groups, double blind.
VO2peak = 65 ± 5 ml·kg-1·min-1, 13.6 ± 3hrs week-1 of training
took either 1.5g acetaminophen (ACT) or 1.5g (dextrose) placebo (PLA)

Setup:
3 tests over 3 weeks max. TT was separated by 7 days from VO2max test. TT's were separated by 2-7 days.
week 1: Vo2max test
week 2: TT
week 3: TT

Results:
Times:
ACT: 26 min 15 s ± 1 min 36 s
PLA: 26 min 45 s ± 2 min 2 s

Power:
ACT: 265 ± 12
PLA: 255 ± 15)

HR/Blood lactate:
ACT: (B[La] = 6.1 ± 2.9 mmol·L-1; HR = 87 ± 7 %max)
PLA: (B[La] = 5.1 ± 2.6 mmol·L-1; HR = 84 ± 9 %max)
No RPE or perceived pain differences.

Notes/Comments:
Power and BLa were both higher in the ACT group.
Subjects thought the ACT condition was "easier" despite no change in RPE or pain scores.

Authors also omitted data for each individual. This is annoying, as it would have been a simple chart that told us if PLA was first, ACT was first, and who did ACT (or PLA) first...or if someone could have done two ACT or two PLA trials.

Finally, I would have liked all participants to do a baseline TT test and then do a double blind with ACT/PLA to see if it improved their test. This would have been more useful and controlled than alternating between ACT/PLA, as some improvements are to be expected the second time on the computrainers as subjects were more familiar with indoor riding.

Teach for America results... Accepted? Rejected? Waitlisted?

A few people have emailed me asking why I didn't update my blog on Nov. 10th, which was D-day for the Teach for America decision.

The main reason is because I do not have a complete answer, yet. I received an email stating that the admissions committee recommended my acceptance to Teach for America, but I am placed on a waitlist due to a few uncertainties. There are less positions to fill this year across America due to the economic downturn. The email continues, saying that I will receive updates on January 21, March 8, and April 19.

March and April are really late. I will be interviewing for jobs as early as February, which means I have to decide whether to accept engineering offers or wait for TFA. Hopefully I will have that decision by January 21st.

What am I doing in the meantime? I am visiting a TFA-Milwaukee classroom. He is a friend-of-a-friend named Adam. Basically, my friend is in eastern NC for his second year in TFA. His friend, who apparently also went to UW-Madison, is teaching English in Milwaukee. I will observe his class for about 3hrs in the morning, and then possibly visit another TFA corps member who is teaching math at another, more urban, school.

I'm deciding if emailing TFA admissions with what I am doing would be beneficial or not. I am working hard to have a firm "yes" to my acceptance, but I do not want to sound overly-zealous for telling them that I visited a TFA classroom. I'll see what Adam things, and possibly email my recruiter.

I'll keep everyone updated. I really want this!

Teach for America. My final interview.

So my life is busy. It's difficult. But it's fun, in a weird sort of way.

Last month, I applied to Teach for America. It involved a 500 word letter of intent, a resume, and answering some basic questions. If you were accepted through round one (the recruiter said about 80% pass), you were granted a phone interview. You read two articles relating to the achievement gap and talk mostly about yourself. I've heard it's a pleasant experience. The final step is an all-day interview.

I was lucky. They passed my application right through to the third and final process, bypassing the phone interview. I was especially glad. I poured my heart into that letter of intent.

So here I am, 5 days until my all-day interview. I have to read and analyze a couple articles, then prepare a 5 minute lesson. The instructions are ambiguously detailed. 5 minutes; any grade level; any subject. There is a lot of between-the-lines interpretation on that one.

I've been toying with a few ideas, but shall keep quiet with them.

If I am accepted, why would I be a good teacher in schools that struggle to close the achievement gap?

Dedication. Perseverance. If cycling has taught me one thing, it's that success is achieved through excess. Excess is putting in more than the minimum and more than what is expected. Getting back up when you are down, trying harder, being more dedicated. Set high goals and work hard to achieve them. It's an athlete's dedication that will make him a strong, capable person. Combined with my propensity to lead and teach by example, I believe joining Teach for America would be the perfect place to utilize my skills.

With that being said, I would quit riding competitively and dedicate my life to a cause in which I truly believe: the educational achievement gap. America is only the 13th greatest nation in the world. Really, 13th? This is unacceptable. How do we improve it?

By far the best way is through education. If the trickle-down effect worked for anything, it would be through education. We've been failing our children for too long. First I present an article in 2002 on poor education marks for the US. Again in 2005. Have we learned? Well, here is another article from 2008. It's no surprise that America continues to slip down the ranks for the "greatest nation." An uneducated, and often unemployed, populace does not make for a great nation.

So as I prepare to do my day-long interview, I can't help but think about how nervous with anticipation I am. It is a life changing experience -- one that I hope will positively influence me in the same way I wish to influence my future students. Dedication. Perseverance. Success through excess.

Teach for America and a career, oh my...

Edit: This was unpublished as of 9/24/09. For some reason, it never went through. Sorry it is a little late.

September 24, 2009:
These past 2 weeks have been up and down. I had a career fair, in which I spent 10 hours over two days talking to recruiters for companies and giving them my resume.

I managed to land an interview at one company. In fact, it was the one where my girlfriend's dad and granddad both worked for decades. Sweet. The interview last Friday went really well, he was genuinely impressed. I got an email this Tuesday saying sorry, but they were going to pursue other applicants graduating in December because they don't know their economic outlook for May 2010, yet.

Bummer. I really wanted the job, but I suppose that it understandable. They will hopefully be at the career fair next year. Either way, I will be contacting them for an interview.

The up-side is that on Friday, I also had to turn in the Teach for America application.

Round 1: letter of intent, curriculum vitae, 20 questions (x10), some survey stuff, etc
Round 2: phone interview to learn more about the applicant, and see if they continue to...
Round 3: daylong, in-person interview, selected applicants participate in activities including a five-minute sample teaching lesson, group discussion, problem solving activity, and personal interview

I got an email a couple hours ago:




Congratulations! It is with pleasure that I invite you to Teach For America's interview day. We enjoyed learning about you in your application and would appreciate the opportunity to meet you in person. You have advanced directly to the final interview stage and will not be participating in a phone interview.

Upgrade!

Well, it happened. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but I will no longer be competitive in races.



That's right. I am officially category 2: packfill for the P/1/2 field. The good news is that I'm one step closer to my ultimate goal. I have one season to make it to cat1. I guess I should start riding my bike in the winter.

Previous winter training from Dec 1-Apr 9:

(click for better quality)

So I averaged 4-5hrs/wk, with 1 week completely off the bike, and 2 more weeks where I took 5-6 days off the bike. The only thing that saved my season was a 30hr week in Austin in January for Winter Break and a 25hr week in March for Spring Break. The following 2 weeks after spring break I took off because of tendinitis.

If I can consistently ride 10-12hrs/wk on my trainer this winter, I might actually be fast and make my goals: at the top for collegiate nationals and cat1 by the end of the year.

Will it happen?! Stay tuned...

2 new HMB studies

My library at UW-Madison finally got me the copy of "Effect of HMB on the Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation (OBLA) and VO2 peak in Endurance Trained Athletes." Apparently, someone from UMass had to scan it and send it. Thanks to both parties for going through the hassle! I will also look over, "Effects of β-Hydroxy-β-Methylbutyrate (HMB) on Aerobic-Performance Components and Body Composition in College Students." This will hopefully be shorter than my last HMB post.

Effect of HMB on the Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation (OBLA) and VO2 peak in Endurance Trained Athletes:
Note: Basically, HMB is a metabolite of the Branch Chain Amino Acid called leucine.

Setup: 8 cyclists in a double-blind study. Averaged 34 years old, 163lbs, 5'10", 13% body fat, and 63ml/kg-min VO2max, category 2 and 3 cyclists. 2 week supplementation periods of 3g/day (HMB, Leucine LEU, or a control placebo CON) followed by 2 weeks with nothing. Repeat for a total of 3 periods, one for each substance. They measured OBLA defined as VO2 at 2mM blood lactate, VO2max, and time to VO2max. Subjects consumed 4 capsules, 3x/day =12 pills/day. Each had 250mg of the supplement, for a total of 3g/day.

Findings: After analysis, the authors found that peak VO2max was unaffected by HMB. Lactate accumulation peak was also unaffected. HMB did result in a greater time to reach VO2peak. VO2 at OBLA increased ~9% with HMB and LEU was 2.1%, and 8% higher lactate threshold. Blood glucose was significantly greater with HMB. Basically, BCAA may spare body proteins from catabolism, which may allow for greater training adaptations and more rapid rates of recovery.

Basically, HMB is found in leucine, which is a BCAA. Some studies showed that long-term BCAA supplementation can have positive effects on aerobic performance (eg, 40km TT, triathlon, reduced blood lactate in a wingate test). Other studies found BCAA did not increase VO2, LT, or maximal lactate. The difference are in the amount of BCAA given.

The author supposes that HMB could be the reason for the BCAA success (instead of just leucine, which has to be metabolized into HMB), and that higher dosages are required to see improvements. 3g of leucine didn't do anything. 3g of HMB did something.

Finally, practical applications are discussed. "Whether the increases in OBLA are great enough to influence performance is yet to be determined. Plasma glucose and FFA [free fatty acids], as well as RER [respiratory exchange rate] data, indicate that HMB supplementation did not influence substrate metabolism to any great extent. It is important to emphasize that this is the first study to investigate the effects of HMB in endurance athletes, and further research should be done to verify these findings as well as to elucidate the mechanisms of HMB."

Cost: I looked up how much this stuff costs. You can get it here for $21+shipping. At 3g/day, it will last you 10 days. That's approximately $2.50/day, $17.50/week, $70/month! Holy crap!!!

***Note***I didn't review the second one because I got tired. I will probably review it in the next couple days.

New personal best

I am TERRIBLE at testing with a power meter. Seriously, if it's not done in a race, I can't do it. Pushing myself to the limit is impossible...other people have to push me there. I guess that's why I'll never have to chance to go P-R-O :p

Anyways, I set 2 new PB's.
1min power: 650 watts. The first 30 seconds were at almost 800 watts, and the last 30 seconds were at only just above 400 watts. Horrible pacing, oops! 6.70w/kg
5sec power: 1290 watts. Mind you, this was after I did 5x2min hill repeats and 1x30sec sprint. I think I remember borrowing a power meter last year and hitting 1359 watts for 5 sec, which would put me at 20.28w/kg, but I can't find the file. So, this will have to do for now.

I haven't done a 5min or 60min test for about 5 months, so maybe I will do that next week after I finish with the Tour of Elk Grove.

Oh yeah, I weigh 67kg.


click for a better quality

Effects of [beta]-hydroxy-[beta]-methylbutyrate (HMB) on muscle damage after a prolonged run.

Initial disclaimer: I am a mechanical engineer, not a physiologist. Thus, I only claim to know how to read and interpret scientific literature and not specifically physiological or metabolic adaptations. Simply, I often know when to call on the B.S. meter, but not necessarily am I always correct or know the reasons. Thus, it is completely my opinion and has no professional merit. I could be wrong, I could be right, so please leave comments and your own opinions, especially if you know more than me.

I am going to take a look at the paper: Effects of [beta]-hydroxy-[beta]-methylbutyrate (HMB) on muscle damage after a prolonged run. A. E. KNITTER, L. PANTON, et al

The question is, is HMB helpful for an endurance athlete, such as a cyclist?

Here is what I interpreted, and my questions and concerns.

Set-up: Subjects (n=13) were paired according to their 2-mile run times and past running experience. Each pair was randomly assigned a treatment of either HMB (3 g/day, n=8) or a placebo (n=5). After 6 weeks of daily training and supplementation, all subjects participated in a prolonged run (20-km course).

HMB lessons Creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. "However, Kuipers (15) has noted that CPK activity does not necessarily reflect the amount of structural damage done to the muscle. Because plasma CPK responses after a similar bout of exercise may differ between individuals, some researchers have concluded that fiber damage is not necessarily reflected in proportional increases in CPK activity (15)."

Thus, did HMB simply reduce the your body's ability to produce CPK/LDH, or was there, literally, less muscle damage (this one is for an Ex. Phys.)? Secondly, isn't small muscle damage a big reason muscle is built in the first place? Thus, shouldn't muscle damage from exercise be appreciated, in the sense that it will make you stronger in the long-run? Or, will this allow the ability for someone to undergo MORE training with equal amounts of muscle damage compared to someone who does not supplement HMB? Is muscle damage even a limiter in endurance sport?

Also, "...both groups performed equally well in the prolonged run, the larger increases in enzyme activity in the placebo-supplemented group suggest that they sustained more muscle damage as a result of the run." Since they were on this supplement before the final long-run test, we can conclude that there was no performance increase due to HMB. The HMB did not make one faster.

The authors say, "HMB may help prevent muscle damage or help regenerate a damaged muscle more quickly, which is evident by less CPK leaking from the cell membrane."

However, the second conclusion stated by the authors is that, "the differences seen in CPK levels may be attributed to differences in lean body mass between the two groups due to gender. The placebo-supplemented group tended (P < style="font-weight: bold;">LDH response to exercise does not necessarily mean muscles were more or less damaged. In another study, no significant changes in LDH after a 45min downhill run were observed (Schwane et al.)(23). LDH changes may not even matter...

Authors conclusion: Dietary supplementation of 3.0 g HMBday in individuals undergoing intense endurance exercise resulted in decreased CPK and LDH responses after a prolonged run. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that HMB-supplemented subjects experienced less muscle damage or that the HMBsupplemented group could have sustained a similar amount of muscle damage as the placebo-supplemented group but recovered at a faster rate.

My conclusion: HMB may limit muscle damage due to weight-bearing exercise. It was not shown to increase performance in the final test of a long-run, but did show a lesser CPK/LDH response. Thus, as an endurance sport-based supplement, it may not be useful. Would I use it as a runner? Inconclusive. Would I use it as a cyclist? Not without further research. Up next, I will read two more papers on HMB. One will be for aerobic performance, and another will be specifically for cyclists (as soon as my library tracks the paper down for me).

Sources:
15. Kuipers H. Exercise-induced muscle damage. Int J Sports Med 15: 132–135, 1994.

23. Schwane JA, Johnson SR, Vandenakker CB, and Armstrong RB. Delayed-onset muscular soreness and plasma CPK and LDH activities after downhill running. Med Sci Sports Exerc 15: 51–56, 1983.

Superweek: update/Racine

Long Course Update:
For the power junkies: I averaged 216 watts for the 75mi, over 3hrs 10min.

Normalized Power (NP): 268 watts.
Peak: 1329 in the final sprint
Peak 10s: 806w in the final sprint
Peak 5min and 10min power were both 300w.

Racine crit:
Racine was a crappy course. I told myself last year that I wouldn't do it again because the pot holes in the back section broke spokes, cause saddle sores, and jar you to the bone.

Apparently, I remembered this while registering, but not in practice. I drove over 2hrs to the race to find that I wasn't preregistered. UGH!

I raced anyway, since I was there. I didn't have any warmup and I didn't remember the course too well, so I wanted to pull the pack through the back stretch where the pothole was.

Well, I got a gap on accident, so I just went with it. For 3 laps I held 298watts and 25mph before getting caught by the peloton. At some point during the second lap, I had the crazy idea that I could just lap the field real fast and sit in for the rest of the race. Hah!

Anyway, apparently a few people were not ready for that "fast" of a pace right from the gun, so they dropped out within the first few laps. That was cool.

About 35min into the race it started to rain. I don't do brick corners with painted crosswalks on a crappy course in the rain. Suffering on the bike is fun. Suffering from a crash is not fun. So, I dropped out, too.

Good thing I did. Exactly one lap later there was a crash in the first turn. I didn't see it, but apparently someone wiped out on the white painted lines.

Superweek: Milwaukee road race (long course)!!!

Today's race hurt quite a bit. It turned out to be a 75mi road race on a surprisingly hilly course. It was a 17 lap race, with each lap 4.2mi long. The second climb hurt a lot because of a 1mi southward headwind before the hill (on Lincoln Memorial Dr. "LMD"). Oh yeah, I got a PowerTap yesterday, so now I get to play with power.



Of course, I had to do some stupid stuff like attack off the front. Thrice.

The first time was with 10 laps to go. Right after the feed zone was a downhill S-turn that, honestly, I was the best at descending. I would always open a gap, never hit my brakes, and wind up having to wait for everyone after turning on LMD. This time, I just went as hard as I could, and tried to hold 300 watts as long as I could. I would push to 400-450 on hills, 200ish on downhills, and 300 on flats. I lasted 5mi before getting caught. These numbers make an engineering major super happy. I love being a nerd :)

Many more breaks went and were reeled in within a couple miles.




Then, a 5 person break went off the front with 5 laps to go. Right then, our race was neutralized so the P/1/2 field could pass. It instantly got 2min on us. Ugh.

5 off the front.

No one was working to bring it back, so I attacked again into the descent, got a gap, and held it for 30s before another rider from Purdue bridged up to me. We worked together for a lap before getting caught with 3 to go. It was such a good move and now I was exhausted. Crap!

As soon as we were brought back in, another attack went off the front. Only one guy went, so after 2 minutes, the gap was closed as he died into the stiff headwind.

I knew this was my last chance. I only had 2 minutes to recover, but I had to go anyways. So I did. I attacked into the headwind and drilled it at 350 watts for 4 minutes before the Purdue guy bridged up to me again. We both laughed as he took over the front to share the work.

We then worked very hard to bring back the leaders. He would drag me up the hills and I would pull on the flats/headwind sections. With 1/2 lap to go, we caught the 4 guys ahead of us (the 5th was way off the front by now).

1 up the road, 6 of us in the chase.

We did one rotation before Purdue attacked. I went with, and only 2 guys from the break stuck with us.

1 up the road, 3 in the first chase (me), 3 in the second chase.

Going up the second hill, a DePaul rider made a smart attack and held it to the line. The 3 of us stopped working together with ~1km to go because we wanted to be fresh. Another rider from the back bridged up somehow, but later admitted he was dead.

1 up the road, 1 up the road in a chase, 6 in the second chase.

With 400m to go, Tony Carfang (IIT) made a solid attack that no one went with. I was sitting on the wheel of Purdue, who was sitting on the wheel of a Ski Utah rider. With 350m to go, Purdue jumped. I held his wheel as we tore past Tony at 200m to go.

With 150m to go, I jumped off Purdue wheel to the finish. We had a 1-on-1 sprint to the line. I threw my bike as hard as I possibly could over the line.

It was a photo finish. I won the sprint for 3rd place.


Courtesy John Wilke of peloton-pix.com. Check out his website; he does awesome work. Click on the picture for better detail.

Stats:
Distance: 74.7mi
Avg Speed: 23mph
Total Time: ~3hrs 15min
Avg wattage: ~200w
Energy/Calories: ~2700kJ/Calories

As soon as I get a cable for my powertap, I will download the data to show you my best 5s, 60s, 20/30/60min power, NP, and TSS (for anyone who understands what I just said).

Superweek: Tour of Holy Hill, Hartford, WI

I finally had a decent day on the bike. It seems like I should stop classifying myself as a sprinter and more of a sprinter-from-a-breakaway.

~48-50mi road race with rolling hills. A couple little ring climbs, with a slightly uphill (big ring) finish.

Breaks went and got pulled back. Finally, a threatening break left that had Jon Cook (Wheaton Franciscan) and Marc Howe (GearGrinder). Marc's won a lot of races in the 3's field this year, and took 2nd overall at America's Dairyland.

Wheaton was blocking, physically, on the front. Since someone already got pulled from the race, with no warning, for crossing the yellow line, it was impossible to bridge.

Finally, on a small climb, enough room opened up for an old friend of mine, Tony from IIT (now CU-Boulder) to try and bridge. He got 10 seconds and I took off to join him. No one chased us, and we worked together for about 5 minutes. Eventually, 3 more people bridged to help us out.

Unfortunately, Tony got popped when one of them attacked. That left 4 people in the break, 4 people in the chase (including me), and 27 in the field. The four of us worked together to bring back the break, and we were so close. At one point, we were only some 20 seconds back.

Everyone decided to stop working, so on the last lap, I attacked twice. I tried dropping everyone, and had some success in dropping 2 of the guys, but couldn't hold it.

1km to go: I pulled off my rotation and sat on the back.
500m to go: I sat 3rd wheel.
150m to go: I started my sprint
0m to go: no one near me :)

So, I took 5th overall. Why do I only do well in pretty hilly road races that are long and/or suffer-fests?

P.S. I'm sick of Superweek and after this year, I will never do it again.

Arlington Heights

I really, really like this course. It was technical and fun -- the shape of a figure 8, but less boring than most courses.

And, again, I sucked a lot. I will spare you the crappy story other than I'm not even tired from the race. I couldn't even sprint because everyone was blocking after bonking. wtf.

New tactic tomorrow in Bensenville, so I will report how I do.

Superweek schedule

I forgot to give out my July/StupidWeek schedule, so here it is:

Sat, July 11 Champaign, IL
Sun, July 12 Champaign, IL

Tue, July 14 Arlington Heights Criterium New Race! Arlington Heights, IL
Wed, July 15 Ray Basso Bensenville Criterium Bensenville, IL
Thu, July 16 - Daytime Lake Front Road Race (Short Course) Milwaukee, WI
Fri, July 17 Hammer Nutrition Tour of Holy Hill Hartford, WI

Sun, July 19 The NorthShore University HealthSystem Grand Prix Evanston, IL
Mon, July 20 Wheel&Sprocket Whitnall Park Road Race Hales Corners, WI

Wed, July 22 AltoLab Lake Front Road Race Milwaukee, WI
Thu, July 23 Racine.org Criterium Racine, WI

As you can see, I am off today (Monday). By "off," I mean "off the bike." It's a day for a lot of work -- I've been in the library for the past 5 hours studying for the LSAT. That is 2.5 months away.

Sweet. This is the most fun I've ever had over summer break.

Logical reasoning is not reasonably logical.

Day 2: Tour de Champaign; Champaign, IL

Here's a quick and easy race report. Because, really, who wants to read a cat3 race report if he didn't do well?

27mph. Fast, but easy. Caught behind 2 people who almost crashed out in the final sprint. 2 man break stuck. 8th in the field sprint, so still in the money.

Good news is that I felt great all day. Bad news is that I didn't win. Lame sauce.

Day 1: Tour de Champaign; Champaign, IL

After not raining all day on the drive down, champaign decided to open
its skies. Luckily, it stopped right before my race. Unluckily, it was
still super-wet.

But, I gave the race a try. Bad idea. There were at least 3 crashes in
the first 20 min. Every turn has a ton of paint for crosswalks, and
many metal sewer grates. To make matters worse, I just noticed that my
tires are officially too worn down, and a metal bead is showing
underneith.

Wet concrete+wet paint on street+meyal sewer grates+metal
tires=disaster.

My back end was sliding in every turn. After a bunch of people crashed
in front of me and behind me, I decided to call it quits. I don't need
to lose any more skin.

Ryan Law, ex-teammate and the guy I drove down with, crashed himself
out on a metal sewer grate. He snapped his $200+ carbon bars. Ouch.

So there it was, the most unexciting race report ever. That's ok, I'll
kick ass for day 2.

Sent from my iPhone

Downer Ave, 6/27 and Carl Zach classic, 6/28

The reason I'm combining these is because I gave up on the series 5 minutes into the Downer's Ave crit. There isn't much to report when you give up.

The reason is that I had to make up an 8 point deficit even to make 3rd place in the overall. Honestly, I could do it. When I took over 2nd place, I made up 8 points in 2 crits. I could easily make up another 8, and I was excited to do so.

Downer Ave:
Downer's started and I now have the most painful saddle sores (you're welcome..I know you wanted to know!) Probably the only thing more painful were my legs. My leg cramps from yesterday were still there. It left me with quite the paradox. Sit down to put down less force so that my legs don't hurt (ow my ass), or stand up so my ass doesn't hurt (ow my legs).

The first 3 laps averaged some 29mph. After that, it slowed down a little, but not much. It was also a sketch fest. There were a couple crashes and enough new people to make the race EXACTLY like a Superweek race. Who the hell likes to do sketchy superweek races? Not me.

On top of this, they were throwing away tons of primes -- like $350 worth, plus free messages. The course had a copious amount of pot holes, cracks, and tar. Why is Downers so popular?

So, 5 laps in, I decided that this was a retarded race. I spent the whole 50 minutes wishing I had pulled out the lap before. I didn't try for the sprint, but only to stay near the front. I think I finished 15th of like 50+ people. Mike (CA Pools) finished like 5 ahead of me, and the series was officially over.

----------------------------

Carl Zach Cycling Classic:
Since I didn't care about this race, except to finish, I went for primes. I picked up $50, and that was pretty much the story of the whole race. There weren't that many people (maybe 27?), so it was a pretty easy race. 3 crashes happened and all were because of retarded reasons.

The first one, someone locked his brakes and slid out. The next one, Adam McClurg (sp?) from LAPT attacked a corner and took himself out. A 3rd one was when someone got pinched in a straight section, 20m after a turn, and went over the bars. I ran over a full water bottle in one of them, but kept myself upright.

There was a sprint, but I mostly stayed out of it. I think I was top 15, definitely not top 10. The organizers missed my name/number, but I missed the protest period. Granted, that sent me to 5th in the overall (by 3 points), but I could care less. What is the difference between 4th and 5th, when they only give prizes to top 3? So, I won't fightt it.

Anyways, that was a fun series. It was run MUCH better than StupidWeek. Every race was on time, results were always posted within 10-15min, and the courses were nice. There were also, on average, at least 3 less crashes every race. Although not completely the fault of superweek, their crappy courses encourage some crashes.

I will probably have one more post about the Tour of America's Dairyland before I take a week off. After that, it's on to superweek.

Greenbush Road Race, 6/26

Today was a tragedy. After being tied for 2nd place and knowing this course well, I thought I would have a chance to at least hold onto a slim lead.

But I failed.

I feel like Valverde from last year's Tour de France, where he lost all his hopes of GC or podium on one stage after getting caught behind a field split.

Today's road race was the exact same one as collegiate season in April. It has a couple decent hills, with the finishing 9% grade hill that has a 4% top, lasting a solid 1-2 minutes. A 6 person break went up the field with every team represented (except, of course, me). Marc Howe of GearGrinder who was sitting in 4th place, and Jon Cook who was in 5th place, were both in it. Since there was no one available to chase, it escaped.

Mike of CA Pools and I were stuck in the pack. Since we were tied, we kept attacking each other. It reminded me of the 2007 TdF where Contador and Levi would endlessly attack Rasmussen on the mountain stage. He would launch an attack, it would get pulled back; then, I would launch an attack and I would eventually get pulled back. Now repeat the process. For 45 miles.

After that, we were both dead. We slaughtered the field in the process. Only 21 people finished the race. Mad props to Brian Krueger, a GDVC rider doing his first cat 3 road race, for putting in some hard efforts at the front of the field.

With 15mi to go, the real attacks stopped. Anyone who tried to attack from that point wasn't able to do it hard enough. They wound up just pulling the field for 15 seconds before quitting. Mike and Joe (Verizon Wireless) tried pulling in the break, but it was far too late. No one else could help, including me, because we were just too tired.

Coming up to the final hill, my legs cramped really bad. Marc of GearGrinder took 1st, Jon Cook of Wheaton took 4th, Mike Gatz of CA Pools took 10th, and I only took 14th. Since road races are worth double points (40 points for 20 riders), I completely lost 2nd place...and 3rd place, and BARELY have 4th place.

DAMN IT!

Here are the standings for the overall:

1. Dave Paquette Team Wheaton Franciscan..181
2. Marc Howe Team GEARGRINDER..............137
3. Mike Gatz CA Pools.........................................125
4. James Pradun Great Dane Velo Club............117
5. Jonathan Cook Team Wheaton Franciscan..116
6. Scott Rosenfield Nova Cycle Sport................107

Since only 2 crits are left (20 points for top 20 riders), I may not even take 3rd place overall. What a way to ruin my season. Forget upgrading to cat 2 this year.

Sheboygan crit, 6/25

Sorry for the incorrect day on yesterday's post. I don't even know what day of the week it is, anymore.

Sheboygan was a sweet location. Unfortunately, it was a pretty crappy course. A 4-corner crit with pretty bumpy/torn up roads...the second worse one of the series. Turn for was super narrow with a slight shoulder that had a 1" lip leading into it. The shoulder quickly curved back into the street, meaning you had to get over before hitting the curb that was directly in front of you. This made it a problem while getting squeezed every few laps.

Either way, it turned out to be a good race. There were no crashes again ("crash" 3's are losing the "crash"!!!), which was nice.

It was also pretty fast for a cat3 field. We averaged 27mph for the 50min crit, and I averaged 85% of my max HR...far too flat and fast for a breakaway to stick. The race was pretty uneventful other than a few attacks. It was a typical midwest crit.



The cool part is that I was now only 4 points away from 2nd place (Mike Gatz of CA Pools). No doubt, I stuck on his wheel in the last 5 laps. And those 5 laps were HARD. The announcer gave away 3 primes on 4 to go, 3 to go, 2 to go. They were big for the series -- $100, $70, $40.

Coming into the final turn, miraculously no one crashed. It was a long, 350m sprint from the corner and Mike was sitting 15th wheel -- not where we needed to be. But my goal wasn't the win in this race...though looking back, it should have been. I got up, sprinted around a rider in front of me who died, and took 10th place. Mike got 14th place.

This gave me the 4 points I needed! Since we both now have 103 points, and I had a better placing this race, I took over 2nd place! With a 60mi road race and 2 more crits, I have to be on guard to defend and extend my lead.

Fond du Lac crit, 6/23?

I'm on the road, so this will be a short update.

FdL was, thus far, the crappiest course of the series. It was better
than almost all of the Superweek, which says a lot about that series.

I was interviewed by a local reporter, which was cool. You always have
to be vague and careful about wht you say; being misquoted would sucks.

Only some 35ish people showed up to our race. It was a short, 0.6 mi
course with tar-filled cracks everywhere. It doesn't help that I'm now
battling some saddle sores.

The race was slow, but after yeserday's epic race, I was hurting a
lot. It was hot, and luckily everyone else wanted to go slower. A 4
person break went off, and it was the only break to succeed in any
crit this series.

In the final lap, I forced way to the front. Mike Gatz from CA pools
tries to attack with 1/2 lap to go and blew up, givinge the chance to
make up 3 spots on him. I got 5th in the field sprint, 9th overall
again. It put me to within 4 points of 2nd place in the overall...sweet.

The race was only 25.3mph. My average heart rate was low at 83% of my
max, despite feeling like a hard race. The good news is that I was in
the money, closer to 2nd in the overall, and recovered for Thursday 's
race.

I'll post again tomorrow from the road.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 5, Fon du Lac Road Race, 6/23

I've officially concluded that I do really well in races that are complete suffer fests. My first example of this was during the first hot day of the year in the Midwest, 85 degrees (mind you, it was low 70s leading until this day) during the 80 mile Regionals road race. I got into an 80mi breakaway, the first 35mi with 2 other people, the next 15mi by myself, the next 15mi with 5 others, and the last 15mi by myself. I had run out of water in the last 20 miles. I suffered in the 1/2/3 field, and got 6th place. That was officially the hardest race of my life.

Today was the second hardest day of my life. 95 degrees, no clouds, 60% humidity, and a 60mi road race.

To top it off, I was the only person in the field who did a 60mi breakaway. Right from the gun, a 6 man break went off the front. There were too many people with no one wanting to work, and we eventually dropped a Wheaton Franciscan rider, sending Wheaton into a hard chase. Wheaton has a guy (David/Sarge) leading the overall. After we were caught, Sarge and his teammate, along with 3 other guys, made a solid break.

I was spent and couldn't chase right away. Two guys, including a Beans & Barley rider, were trying to chase them back, while I sat 4th wheel. Accidentally, the Beans guy got a 20m gap on the field while doing a hard pull. I jumped hard, told him to hold my wheel, and drilled it for 45 seconds as hard as I could. It was up a hill, and as we crested the top, I looked back to find the peloton some 15 seconds back. Beans and I worked together for 10 minutes before eventually being joined by CA Poools and GearGrinder. The 4 of us worked together for another 10 minutes, then the Beans guy sat on for the rest of the race.

The lead group dropped 1 guy, who went backwards as we passed him. They then dropped another guy "Orange guy", who joined our 4 person break, making it a solid 5. He didn't want to work much, either, but insisted that he was going to go for the sprint. Bad move, but he looked tired enough that we could drop him.

Nonetheless, we continued going hard until 1.5mi to go when we all started playing cat and mouse games, averaging about 12mph. We finally just asked the Beans rider to just pull until the last turn at whatever pace he felt like -- because even 16-17mph is better than 12.


After the final turn, there was 300m slightly uphill, then 200m downhill to the tailwind finish. Beans led, followed by CA Pools, then me, then Orange Guy, then GearGrinder. With 520m to go, GearGrinder attacked. CA Pools chased (with me on his wheel) for 15 seconds before catching GG's wheel. GG went hard another 15s before blowing up. By now, we were about 300m from the line. CA Pools drilled it, hoping to drop me on the include -- which he almost did.

But, he didn't. I wasn't sure I could come around him, but with 200m to go, I thought that if I just got a wheel in front of him he would stop sprinting.

At 100m to go, I jumped and got half a bike length on him. As I predicted, he stopped sprinting and we rolled into the finish. I got 4th place.


60mi breakaway!

Road races are worth double points, so I moved from 7th to 3rd in the overall. CA Pools, Mike Gatz, was ahead of me by 9 points, so now he is only ahead by 7 points.

Stage results:
1. Ted Hanes (unattached)
2. David Paquette (Wheaton Franciscan)
3. Jon Cook (Wheaton Franciscan)
4. James Pradun (GDVC)
5. Mike Gatz (CA Pools)
6. Marc Howe (GearGrinder)
7. Doug Bailey (unattached)
8. Mike Jenich (Beans & Barley)

Overall (Series Points):
David Paquette (130)
Mike Gatz (87)
James Pradun (80)
Nathan Longley (66)
Jon Cook (62)
Marc Howe (59)

Day 4, Manitowoc, WI 6/21

I was pissed off after driving by myself for 2.5hrs and getting caught in a 35mi detour that had a detour-from-the-detour. Checked in, dressed, warmed up, got on the starting line.

23 people. Lame. A 0.6mi flat square with 23 people and no one who wanted to go fast. It was like track racing with a final sprint that was ~175m long. Damn, I should do good in this race!

No more slacking off in the final lap. No more starting the final lap in 5th position, losing 10 spots in the last 2 turns, then failing to try with my sprint. This time, I'm going to stay up front, be aggressive to hold my line, then sprint as hard as I can. I want to repeat last year at superweek -- hit 99-100% of my max HR in the finish and kick some ass! Lets do it!

So the race was remarkably boring and slow. We averaged 26.5mph, but it was super easy. Other than 1 or 2 laps, I stayed in the top 5 the whole race. A couple attacks, a solo break that almost sticks, and my hamstring is hurting...the same one I pulled last year while sprinting in SuperWeek. Whatever, suck it up and race.

3 to go and Wheaton Franciscan is at the front, drilling it for the main guy (David, aka Sarge) who is leading the series. I'm on David's wheel. Perfect.

1 lap to go and I'm sitting in 6th wheel, Dave is in 4th wheel. Still perfect positioning for the 175m sprint.

1/2 lap and 2 turns to go and the crunch is on. People force themselves to the front. It's 9 wide on the back stretch. I hold a decent wheel.

1 turn to go, I lost 10 positions. I start my half-assed sprint and don't even try. 11th place...out of 22. One out of the money. Guess who won? Sarge won. Ugh.

What. The. Hell.

I've pretty much given myself an ultimatum. Start trying or quit bike racing. I don't care if I win or not, but if I'm not even going to try, why the hell should I even race?


Max heart rate, 92%, average of 83%. This was a "tempo" ride...

I adjusted my cleats and saddle so my hamstring hurts less. From now on, I will stop being a pansy. I will race my bike like I used to.

Day 3, Giro d'Grafton, 6/20

I retract part of my previous post. The finishing accident was not caused by one of the brothers.

I love Grafton. I got 6th here last year, in my 3rd cat3 race ever. I knew how to win it. Today was relatively uneventful, though. Some attacks, some chasing, and a sprint to the finish. I doubt a breakaway will stick in this field, especially since it didn't stick at Blue Mounds.

Anyways, two laps to go was called and things heated up real fast. Come around again and didn't hear a bell. I didn't realize it at the time, but I chalked that up to being in the zone and focused on what I was doing. But, I later came to realize, it was the announcer's fault.

Average speed for the last lap was about 28mph and I was sitting really well in the field. Coming into the final turn, the guy in front of me apparently blew his load sprinting to get near the front because he never stood up to sprint. Shit. I got around him, started sprinting, held a wheel and was sitting around 5th (I think). 20m to go and the announcer screams "ONE LAP TO GO!" WHAT?! That was the sprint! I sat up, thinking I blew it. A bunch of people passed me and I got 9th place...only to realize that the announcer screwed up.

Sigh. I would probably have been top 5, but I don't think I would have won it. For some reason, I haven't been going hard at the end of the race when I really need to. I'm just being a pansy and not suffering. Max heart rate was only 93%...sigh. Major props to Chris Arndt for winning that one.

Overall, it was a slow race. 25mph, averaged 86% of my max HR, 86+ degree temperatures.

The good news is that there were no Padilla brothers, and nobody crashed. Not a huge coincidence...

Day 2, Waterloo Criterium 6/19/09

WHAT A SHITTY RACE.

Two Guatemalan (?) brothers showed up to our cat3 race and took 1st and 2nd. That's totally cool if they deserved it...but one of them definitely didn't.

The course would have been great. It was a fun crit course with a small hill that had narrow pavement, then a fast left-right-left "S" turn that ended in a 400m sprint.

I was feeling good, so I went for a tire prime, but lost it after sprinting too early into a headwind. I misjudged that one...oops.

About 30 minutes into the race, I was sitting 4-wide on the far left side of the course, with 3 others to my right. Lets call me rider #4, the guy on my right #3, then #2, then #1 on the far right. Two riders came in flying on my left side (call them #5 and #6), with clearly not enough room, as the road quickly narrowed. The #5 guy directly to my left (IS Corp) started to bounce back and forth between the guy #6 on the far left and me. My bars got tangled between #3 and #5 and I caught air somehow. #6 peeled off to the left and hit the brakes in order to avoid the inevitable crash. Just then, #5 went with him, except OVER the bars. I somehow managed to stay up...somehow. Here is the aftermath of IS Corp #5. Ouch...I hope you're feeling alright and don't blame me for that one :(


I wonder where I got this from?

On the final lap, one of the brothers did something absolutely retarded. Before the "S" turn, he was sitting about 20th back -- too far to win the race. So, he sprinted into the turn while about 5 guys were already going through it in a normal apex fashion, basically dive-bombing it. He cut off a bunch of guys and forced a couple off the road. One guy hit the outside curb so hard that he flew over the bars and THROUGH two trees that were only separated by some 5 feet. Totally could have been paralyzed from that.

He did win the race in a close sprint. But, after putting his hands in the air, he swerved to one side, stuffing a rider into the metal fences...AFTER the finish line. The guy went down hard, landing on his shoulder, and sending him to the hospital with a broken collarbone. TWO CRASHES in less than 1/4 of a lap! WTF.





Average speed 26.3mph, I didn't sprint to a 9th place. I'm too pissed to talk about anything else, so here are some pictures I took from the P/1/2/3 women. Click on any picture to make it larger.

ToAD, Day 1: Blue Mounds Road Race

It was a tough day, but not my hardest on the bike. Luckily, it was only a 44mi road race, which is was nothing compared to some of the 70-80mi road races during collegiate season. The 70mi road race was collegiate nationals in Colorado, so the climbing was brutal.

No doubt, the climbing here was brutal. There were 4 distinguished climbs:

1. Town climb onto County Road F (12%, 0.7mi)
2. Pinnacle Rd (13%, 0.6mi)
3. Blue Mounds (7-12% up and down, 3.7mi) -- the bad part is a solid 1.2mi
4. Mounds Park (14%, 0.8mi) -- Only done on the last lap, RIGHT after Blue Mounds, 4.5 straight miles of climbing!

This race had ~40 people, of which 28 finished. It was neutral through the Town Climb onto F (climb 1). All attacks right after neutral were too early and since it was followed by a 1.5mi descent, nothing happened. Everyone went hard up Pinnacle (climb 2), which shed a couple guys, but most people made it over. A couple 1-2 person breakaways formed, but there were enough of us who knew the course, so we never bothered to chase them. 1-2 guys will NOT survive on a course like this.

Blue Mounds (3) was terrible and a few people under estimated it's length. A couple strong guys knew it, so they hung back a little bit. The strong guys who didn't wound up cracking and falling back into the group.

But, it was definitely hard enough to split the field in half. 21 guys made it over together, and the rest of the group was off on their own. 10-12 guys abandoned on that climb. I hit 97% of my max HR and my stomach turned to stone. Eating was difficult after that.


Click for bigger image

The climb into town hurt (1) like hell, but everyone's legs hurt at that point, so we all stuck together. The people who didn't know the course realized its difficulty, so they went easy.

Pinnacle (2) was a huge attack that split the 21 guys in half again. I got caught up in the back, as a few masters riders had slipped into our field and didn't give it their all, creating a gap. WTF? When we got over Pinnacle, we all worked together to catch back onto the group.

Click for picture of me (I'm in orange)

Then came the final climb up Blue Mounds (3), followed by Mounds Park (4). I paced myself up Blue Mounds, a little too easy. I only hit 92% of my max HR, thinking I would slowly pick off the riders who cracked. Unfortunately, only a couple did. I made it to the top, hammered up Mounds Park with another rider, and then out sprinted him for 15th place. I only hit 92% of my max on that one, too, and 95% in the sprint.

Shit, I should have gone harder on the climbs the second time around. Oh well, I was still in the points! 15th place, 28 finishers, ~40 starters.

Stats:
44.15mi
20.3mph average (including an 8 mile (!!) neutral start)
81% average HR
4000ft of climbing

Standings (top 20):

David Paquette	40
Jacques Cartier	38
Julio Padilla Miranda	36
Curtis Bice	34
Waylon Janowiak	32
Al Urbanski	30
Mike Gratz	28
Jonathan Cook	26
Darrell Kohli	24
Chad Bishop	22
Garret McAllister	20
Marc Howe Team	18
William Champion	16
David Moyer	14
James Pradun	12
Henry Loud	10
Nicholas Frye	8
Justin Dyszelski	6
Daniel Penner	4
Chris Arndt	2

In the cat4's, Dave Ziehr from UW-Madison got 2nd.

In the P/1/2/3 women, Devon Haskell got 2nd.

In the Pro/1/2 field, Matt "Flip" Busche won by like 2 minutes over 2 Kelley Benefit Strategies riders. Frank Pipp (Bissel) was 4th, Guy East and Ryan Baumann (Trek-Livestrong) were 5th and 9th, respectively.


Matt Busche


Guy East


Steve Scholzen

Tour of America's Dairyland, Day 0

Good news! I will do daily updates to my blog during the Tour of America's Dairyland. Exactly what is ToAD?

It's an 11 day series of 10 races. Here is the schedule and a short blurb on them:

June 18th: Blue Mounds, WI - I ride this area all the time. 44mi, the biggest hills in Wisconsin, and a 18-20% grade climb at the finish...after doing a 7min climb at 7-9%...twice. 100% guarantee that there will be a breakaway in some form. There won't be a peloton at the finish of this race. I'll be happy to break top 10...with the hopes of making top 15. Jon Cook will win this race. http://www.peloton-pix.com/ <--scroll down to the first video to see a preview.

June 19th: Waterloo, WI - Technical with a small leg-breaking hill in the course. Similar to the state crit championships, this one is sure to end in either a crash or a fast sprint.

June 20th: Grafton, WI - Grafton is SWEET. In my 3rd cat3 race ever, I took 6th place in a field sprint. Truly my style of course, and I hope I can win it this year.

June 21st: Manitowoc, WI - A short flat square that will end in a field sprint or a crash. Hopefully the former.

June 22nd: Rest Day

June 23rd: Fond du Lac, WI - 60mi road race through a 10.5mi/lap rolling terrain. The biggest hill is about 50 feet high. Should come down to a nice field sprint.

June 24th: Fond du Lac, WI - 60min crit in a super short, flat, 4 course crit. It's clockwise, which probably means there will be a few crashes. Cat3's don't know how to turn right.

June 25th: Sheboygan, WI - Another crit, medium-length, clockwise. Another sprint finish, for sure.

June 26th: Greenbush, WI - Almost identical to the UW-Milwaukee collegiate road race. A couple short, steep kickers with an uphill finish. Not my style of course, but it's super-fast. Will there be a break? Probably not. But, this probably has the second best possibility (outside of Blue Mounds).

June 27th: Milwaukee, WI - Downer's Ave, borrowed from Superweek. I crashed here last year on the first lap on the straightaway because some buffoon went down and took out the whole field. Here is the only picture I will have of myself in cyclingnews.



June 28th: Waukesha, WI - I don't remember this, but it was in SuperWeek last year. Should be another fast one coming down to a sprint.

Look for the updates starting tomorrow!

WI state criterium championships, 6/13/09

I made the mistake on Friday. 1.5hrs of recovery riding with 5x30sec intervals in the mix. The problem is that this was my first sprint workout.

Background:
You see, I've always been a sprinter. I've always been naturally good at it. As a change for this season, I followed the advice to, "train your weaknesses, race your strengths." So I did lots of tempo, threshold, and long aerobic intervals. I limited my anaerobic and VO2max efforts to the ones that naturally occurred in the early-season collegiate races. Not a bad idea. This amounted to about 2-10min of anaerobic work per week, and 30min of VO2max per week..depending on how hard the races were, the work I did, and if I was racing at all.

I then reduced my VO2max/"build" phase from 4 to 2 weeks. I completely eliminated anaerobic work and sprint workouts, hoping that racing would get me into enough shape.

Last week, while still pushing far over-reaching, I managed to crank out an impressive 60sec power. Great news since I haven't been working my anaerobic capacity at all.

On to the race:
A 60min crit with a small kicker that lasted about 20 seconds. I felt awesome the whole race. I could go with all hard efforts; I kept up with everyone up the short hill and when everyone slowed down, I was able to keep going and push forward over the hill.

The down side: those Friday intervals hurt, a lot. In the end, my sprint was just "average" with the stronger cat3 riders. The upside: I can be stronger getting into position for the sprint.

Anyways, I got stuck behind someone who didn't jump coming out of the corner. I came around him and then got guttered during the sprint. Oh well, my taper is going perfectly for the Tour of America's Dairyland. That's the important one.

Pictures:
I also inherited a Nikon DSLR, so I started dabbling in photography. Here is my album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jpradun/

WI state road race championship, 6/7/09

Today was a great race through Spring Prairie, WI. Great, but not worth the $32 for preregistration...

Anyways, fFor the cat3's, it was a 65mi race with 6.5mi long laps, plus a neutral rollout. The course was slightly rolling, so a big ring was used the whole way -- except for the feature climb. The short, 1min long, steep hill that went creeped its way to 14% at the top, followed by a 100-150m jaunt (false flat?) to the finish line. Including neutral roll-out, we had to do this hill 11 times. Ow.

Needless to say, I decided last week that this road race would just be training for my Tour of America's Dairyland (TOAD) peak. My fat ass thinks sprinting is way more fun than steep, hilltop finishes.

I sat in the top 10 the whole race while attack after attack happened. I found myself, at lap 6, in a strong break. With a strong chance of sticking it out, the 6 man break was slowly reduced to 3 of us, then back up to about 50 of us as we were caught. No one wanted to work by the time we were down to 3...including me.

So, back we went. XXX was off the front all day (65mi breakaway at RR state champs? hah). It was funny until the last lap when Luke (chicagobikeracing) went off the front with another guy. Everyone in the field looked at each other like they had just heard a duck's quack echo or something because there were a mass of confusing stares over who the hell was going to chase. The general concensus was to just shoot for 3rd place.

Me? I was just happy I made it over that damn hill more than once. I cramped up really bad (in 4 different places on my legs, wtf?) on the last lap so could only pull out a 12th in the "field sprint" for 14th overall.

Crit championship next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nationals Pictures!

The final stretch before the start/finish line. 2nd pre-ride day.


Kitting up, making sure the numbers are on right.


Sunset from my hotel room.


D2 crit, early breakaway.


Post-race 3hr ride.




The lurking mountain.


Base of the climb.


AWESOME!


This is where they dropped me and put on 30sec almost instantly.

ciao!

Day 5 - Collegiate nationals criterium

75 minutes of extremely fast racing with about 120 people left no time for just about anything.

The course this year was better than last, so I am told. Apparently, turn 1 had been fixed, which wasn't saying much. It was still very bumpy and the road narrowed from 3 lanes to one before opening back up to 2 lanes, then 4 lanes.

It was a long course, about 0.9mi/lap AND HOLY SHIT IT WAS FAST.

We averaged about 29.5mph for the race. After a hard 70mi road race the day before, plus being at 5000ft, this was pretty much torture on my legs. Luckily, I held on.

It started out with a 5 lap sprint, ended in a 5 lap sprint and only 2 laps were below 26mph. My sprint was a "whopping" 35mph -- which is ultra slow. Good enough to pass a couple people, but not good enough to win if I were at the front. The reason is because I hit 35mph four different times in the race. I hit 33mph another 12 times. No breakaways stuck..the closest one was with 5 laps to go, before Univ. of Vermont quickly pulled it back and set up their sprinter.

What goes through your mind when you are at the front and think that it would be fun to drive the pace to a nearly 30mph average?

Anyways, I was far too tired and sore during the race to move up very much. In the end, I think we dropped some 35 or so people. I finished 57th, right behind Kip Spaude from Lindsey Wilson and Adam Leibovitz (took 3rd in the RR) from Marian College. Dallas finished 27th, Jon Cook dropped out. Frye couldn't start because we were only allowed 3 starting spots.

After that, a bunch of us went on a group ride. 3 cat3s, 2 cat 2s, the rest cat1, plus 2 guys I don't know. 3 Purdue, 3 Michigan, 1 IIT, 1 CU-Boulder, 2 guys I didn't know (locals?), and me. We went up some massive 11mi climb that topped out at 8000ft. A local said was nearly exact to the Pyrenees. Sweet!

I'll post a ton of pictures in the next day or two.

Nationals Day 3 and 4

Day 3 just involved studying, checking in, and a short ride on teh 2nd half of the course.

Day 4 was the 70mi road race with a couple pros, 1s, 2s, and 3s. The "neutral" rollout wasn't very neutral. It was a sprint right from the start and lots of fighting for position and wheels. 2 miles after the rollout ended, the first crash of the day happened right in front of Frye and me. The road narrowed, people got squeezed, and went down in front of me. The two of us slammed on our brakes and forced ourselves around it, so we didn't go down!

The first hill was about 2 min long and didn't shell anyone. The second one was 9.5mi into the race and extremely difficult. It was about 5min long and kicked up to 14% at the end...and everyone went hard the whole way up. Most of us got dropped, I hit 98% of my max HR and held it for almost a minute. When I got to the top, someone pulled over and started throwing up on the side of the road. I almost joined him.

There were 4 groups after that, and I was in the 3rd. It took us another 30mi to catch the 2nd group...right during the feed. We turned into the 30+mph headwind and there was an attack...and that was the end of most of us.

We had a group of 20 that took it almost to the finish. We slowed to about 12mph at mile 55 and someone would attack and he would get past. This happened 4 times before I attacked with another guy. We held it for about 6-7mi before getting caught on an uphill when the group finally decided to work together.

And off the back I went. There were only 3 of us left, and we took it to the finish line. I won the sprint of the 3 of them, and finished 75th.

Dallas got 41st, I got 75th, Frye was told not to head to the finish line because the next race was starting? He still got to finish. Jon Cook had a bad day, an asthma attack, and dropped after about 15min into the race.

We're going out to dinner, so I'll post pictures later.

Nationals: travels (day 1 & 2 of 6) -- LOTS of pics!

Tuesday 5/5/09:

Kelley Hess, Jon Cook, and I headed to Colorado after classes. Hit up a coffee shop and started our 14hr trek to Fort Collins, home of Colorado State University.

After driving for some 9+hrs (10ish after stops), we finally stopped in Kearney, Nebraska. Home of the...well, who the hell knows what Nebraska is good for. Anyways, we passed out for 5hrs, showered real fast and left for the second leg of the trip.

The most noteable thing in Nebraska?

Wednesday 5/6/09:
Luckily, we only had to travel 5hrs today. We left around 9am CST and got here at 1:30pm MST after stopping for lunch at Chipotle. We did see one of the craziest things. 10 seconds before we hit where 80 and 25 crossed, we looked across our lane and a semi-trailer had flipped over. There was smoke everywhere and the tires on the truck were still moving. Some people slammed on their brakes and went to help the drive. Holy crap! It was ultra windy, so he probably took the turn too fast, caught a burst of wind, and blew him over. That was nuts.

A hill! Oh wait, this is Wyoming. Whatever.

I see mountains!!!

We got the the hotel in Ft. Collins, checked in, pulled up the road route, and then drove to the Hilton -- the official hotel for collegiate nationals. We can't afford it, so we just drove there so we could ride our bikes to the course.

And, that we did. We rode the 1mi or whatever it was and hit up the first half of the course. It's hilly. Like, really hilly. Two guys from UC-Davis caught up to us and rode for a little bit. One of them was no other than Adam Switters, who rode for Rock Racing for 2 years before going back to school. Apparently, he has a teammate from Bissell (Paul Mach) who is suppose to be stronger. Those are just 2 of the pros racing this weekend.

There were 2 fast downhills, and it was a breeze hitting 45mph without pedaling or trying. Cook says the downhills will be closer to 55-60mph during the race. One of them has a 60 degree turn at the bottom. AWESOME.

Anyways, even during warmup I am suffering. We're at 6100+ feet, and I can really feel the altitude. I think my heart rate at one point was at 95% of my max during the warmup. During the race...this will suck. We ended the ride after 1.5hrs so as not to induce too much fatigue.

Tomorrow we will preview the 2nd half of the course. In the mean time, I will work on drowning myself with 2 gallons of water. It's too easy to become dehydrated here.

Peace!

Day 6 - Blue Ridge Mountains, Day 7

OW. BRRR. OW. That's pretty much it for Blue Ridge Mountains.

After driving about an hour to get to the base of the first (of 3) climbs, we unloaded into F-ing cold weather. It was around 35 degrees at the start. Much of the first climb is in shadows, and elevation changes from 2200 to 5800ft.



I went up and down the first 2 climbs. I started up the 3rd, but was too tired and didn't want to kill myself any more than I already was. I turned back around and headed home. It still wound up being a 4hr ride, and I went further than last year despite being (arguably) more tired.

I raced up the first part with Brian Stoveken, hammering it the whole time. We descended, and started up the 2nd climb. We were sort of confused because there was no food/water/support at the top like there was last year...and was promised this year. Oh well, carry on.

2 minutes after we start climbing the second portion, the Pain Train is in sights behind us. Brian delayed the inevitible, while I gladly sat up and waited. We eventually caught Brian. I kept up for awhile and decided to take it easy, so I sat up after about 7 minutes of climbing.

I got to the top about 5min after the pain train, and by the time I was ready to go again, they had a 2min head start down an 8mi descent. So, I bombed it as hard as I could, catching them right at the bottom of the 3rd climb. That's basically when I called it quits.

Day 7 I went on a nice recovery ride. Well, it was nice for the first 20 minutes. Then, my knee started to really bother me. I turned around after 30min and cruised at 10mph back home. It REALLY hurt by the end. Shit... After that, we goofed around, lit a fire, and hung out.



Oh yeah, I have a confession: I walked the climb back to the cabin. My first time ever walking a hill. Ugh. With that being said, I sat out the next 2 weeks with tendonitis.


Flying my RC helicopter.

Oliver (photographer) was amazed, haha.

Since that concludes my spring break, I now get to start blogging about collegiate season. Look forward in the next couple days for me to go over some awesome races!


On the way to Cherohala, yesterday.

Day 5 - Cherohala

Just as a reminder, all of my pictures are click-able to blow them up.





Sorry for so many delays, but I'm trying! I've been ultra busy with school.

Cherohala was just as epic as last year. I started with the Freshie Pain Train, led by a few cat1s. It was mellow 30mi ride to the base of the climb, after which we stopped for a pee and food break, then hammered up the top.



I took a long video with my new video camera, so I will try to get some of that uploaded, soon.

It wound up being ~1hr to 1hr 15min climb from 1997ft to 5400ft over 13 miles. All but a few minutes were solo because I had gotten dropped by most people, and a couple fell back behind me.



The whole team regrouped at the top to take a team photo. We dressed for the extremely cold descent -- putting on rain jackets, 3 long sleeved jerseys, leg warmers and tights, neoprene booties, and winter gloves. I went down the slope with our German exchange student, Hendrik. We averaged 42mph for the 13mi, with a max speed of 48mph. Now if only I could do that on the flats...



We regrouped at the bottom and stripped back down to shorts and arm warmers and continued to finish our ride. It was our century day, so we headed towards Stecoah Gap, which topped out at 3155ft and averaged ~9% gradient for 2.5 miles. It was a long drag -- about 5mi of 2-3% gradient before kicking up. We went home and finished at 95mi, so I rode around for 5mi to make it the full 100mi. Awesome.

Afterwards, Hendrik and I joined a couple people to do a cold bath on the legs in the 40 degree water.


You have no idea.


Hendrik knows how cold it is.


Dip #2 of 3. It doesn't get any better until you're completely numb.