TdF

2011 Mileage: 2,867

Yesterday was Tour de Frankenmuth. It was way too early of a morning with a 4:30am wake up to meet with Chris out at the shop to drive to the race together. We still got there with barely enough time to get registered, ready and warmed up. An 8:15am start is really early.

I lined up with the biggest field I've ever raced with in a road race, a full field of 71 Cat 4 racers. The course was three laps for 47 miles, all relatively flat but with a really strong headwind at a few points. I spent most of the first two laps sitting up near the front in the top ten riders. I wasn't sure how the race was going to go and with no other teammates in the race I didn't want to get left out if a break actually looked like it might succeed. This caused me to put myself in the wind at the front bringing back attacks a fair amount. I realized by the start of the third lap that it didn't seem like any breaks were really going to succeed so I went to the middle of the field to sit in for a bit and try to recover. Then with 5 miles to go I worked my way back up to the front to make sure I was up there for the finish and to go with any last ditch effort attacks that might try to go. There were a few attempts but again with the size of the field nothing could get far. The end of the course was a downhill followed by a quick climb and then a left turn to a long gradually downhill finishing stretch through town. The field had been a bit sloppy all day and I was willing to put my money on a crash and I didn't want to be a part of that. As we hit the downhill I went to the front and then was second wheel going up the climb. Not sure exactly where I was going through the left hand turn but it was definitely top 5. We came around the corner and everything opened up. The finishing stretch was actually a lot longer than I realized and a bit confusing with no banner going over the line, nobody actually knew where the line really was. I just went as hard as I could towards the crowd and actually heard the inevitable crash occur right behind me. I'm not sure how bad the crash was but it definitely didn't sound good. I ended up rolling across the finish in 4th.
Not the result I was really hoping for but I guess I really need to get accustomed to the fact that I can't win every race I enter, especially as I continue to upgrade. I managed to stay upright, get some more points towards my upgrade, and walk away with a little money so I guess I should call that a success. It was a well run event and the venue is awesome with a finish in downtown with a pretty big crowd gathered for it. I can definitely see how it drew such a big field to race.

Now it is time to bury myself in books for the next week with my CFA exam next Saturday and a lot of reading left to do between now and then.

ToW and another Waterford Wednesday

2011 mileage: 2,630
Last week started off on Monday with a challenge that Simonson and I have both been trying to accomplish for a while now, the weekday workday century. Started off with about 30 miles before work and then skipped out a couple hours early to put in the rest, mostly dirt roads and a lap at Pontiac Lake for my first singletrack of the year 85 miles in to the day. It was great to accomplish something I've been trying to do for a while, and 100 miles on the mountain bike combined with an 8 hour work day actually went by easier than I expected. The dirt roads out North of the shop seem to go on forever. It seemed to take the legs all week to recover but they did just in time for Tour of Washtenaw on Saturday.
Tour of Washtenaw:
Tour of Washtenaw was a 55 mile road race with about 28 miles of dirt roads. The fields were combined earlier in the week to be a 3/4 race so I knew that I was going to have my work cut out for me racing with the 3's. The race started off slow with everyone just jockeying for position to get ready for the first dirt section. When we hit the dirt the pace surged and every little attack seemed to get brought back in really quickly simply because of the pace of field. Also a couple teams had pretty big turnouts and there were enough teams represented that no one really managed to get away for long. The roads for the most part were a lot like Cone-Azalia, except more rolling hills. Riding those kind of roads in a pack also brought the pot holes a lot more in to play. Hitting one of those pot holes knocked one of my water bottles out of the cage which proved to be a bit of a factor later in the race. As the pace surged on these early dirt sections the group of about 50 starters was brought down to about 40. Then we hit a section of dirt roads that felt like riding through peanut butter an inch deep. At this point our group grew a bit smaller and the cramps began to set in. I'm not sure what exactly it is but I seem to cramp at just about every race, and being short a bottle I'm sure wasn't helping the situation. A few people attacked but the pace remained pretty high even though you could tell everyone was putting out a lot of effort to ride through the mud. I had to tell myself to fight through the cramps and stay on, knowing that if I fell off the back my race was over. As we rolled back on to the pavement the entire field that was still with us seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief and I think our pace actually slowed for a few minutes. We went through another wet dirt road section after that you could tell that the final group of about thirty was going to stay together until the finish. The pace ramped up as we hit the final stretch of pavement with about 3k to go and I sat in the middle of the group. The sprint finish at the end was uphill which really didn't suit my 200 pound frame but I still made a go of it and finished midpack in the remaining group. Considering I was cramping for the last twenty miles of the race I'll be happy with that. My teammate Ron saved me by sparing some water in the last ten miles. I finished in 2:29:12.4 covered from head to toe in mud, my legs were cramping like crazy, and I had a huge smile on my face.
My time put me in 14th in the 3/4 field and 5th in Cat 4. Good enough to win $25, not enough to cover my entry fee but my first ever cash winnings in a bike race. I think this is the last of the dirt road races until the fall but they were fun and this was definitely a good one to go out with. I hope that with all the ups and downs the promoters had with this one they still decide to come back next year.Waterford Wednesday:

Then after a busy couple days with Kate & Andrew's wedding shower and a going away party for Kate my next race was upon me before I knew it. It was barely drizzling when I left my house to ride to the race (it's less than 10 miles away) but by the time the race started it was really coming down and I was already soaked. I chose to do the B race (4/5) to try and earn some points toward my upgrade to Cat 3, so that would put me racing an hour and a half plus two laps. I think they shortened the race a bit but nobody was really complaining about that. I mostly sat in near the front, front five taking just a couple turns at the front, until they rang the bell for the first prime (for those of you that don't know, a prime is like a mid race sprint for a prize). I took off and went hard for the entire lap and ended up easily winning the first prime with a large gap. There was still about 70 minutes of racing left though so I had no desire to stay out so I sat up and coasted for a lap until the field caught back up to me. There were always a couple attacks here and there but never anything that couldn't get reeled back in. When the bell was rung for the second prime I went to the front and pulled back the break that was just ahead and then controlled the pace until half way through the lap when I jumped from off the front. One guy managed to stay with me for a bit but I still had a solid gap to win prime number 2. Again the group stayed together with little attacks here and there but nothing that couldn't be handled, unfortunately mostly by me at this point. Then came the bell for the last lap. I was once again at the front when we hit this point and I hit the small hill (if you can call it that) about 1/4 way in to the lap a little hard but nothing crazy and as I was pedaling down the other side I realized the only guy still with me was the same guy with me at the last prime. I told him if he wanted to go with me then he had to do some work. He didn't pull through so I went side to side across the course attacking him until once again it was me rolling my way across the finish alone. First time I really won anything of any significance at a bike race so it was really nice. $61, a $25 gas card, a growler of Kuhnhenn's beer, a cycling cap and a water bottle. The 8 upgrade points are great too. I'm sure the wins won't come like this when I get that upgrade (which will hopefully be soon) so I need to savor them while I can. That's why I have such a big smile on my face.Sorry for the long rambling entry since I was way behind on posting so thanks if you actually managed to read all of that. Now I need to knock out a couple long mileage days and then next on the agenda is Tour de Frankenmuth in just over a week.

Approved!

2011 Mileage: 2,309
Recovery from Cone was basically nonexistent with no real day off the bike due to commuting and a couple mornings waking up late so I had to push the pace to make sure I was at the shop in time to open. Then my day off on Wednesday was full of yard work and mowing the lawn. After all that the legs were feeling a bit sluggish and even though I was planning on heading over to Waterford to do the local Wednesday night crit I had it in my head that I was going to do the B (4,5) race and just take it easy. That is the race that I am supposed to be doing anyways based on my current category, but not exactly the group that I feel like I should be riding in on a good day for me. Well I rode over to the course and it took about 30 seconds for my team to convince me to do the A (1,2,3) race. I'm glad I did because it was a great learning experience riding at that level and I had no problem at all riding in (and even a few times at the front of) the field. There was a break of 4 guys that finished about 1/2 a lap up on the field and on the last lap the field got a bit squirrely and I had to rub elbows a few times to make sure I was protecting myself but I finished in the front 1/2 of the 50 guys riding there so I'm happy with that, not sure exactly what place since they only post the top 15 to USAC. The goal was a field finish and I accomplished that. There was a pretty bad crash right in front of me just before the finish but I managed to avoid it so the whole day went by without any real incidents. Not bad for my first ever crit. 50 miles on the day and a hard 90 minutes of racing, followed by some Kuhnhenn's in the parking lot after the race and a few more beers with the team at The Woodshop after that.

On another note, I finally got my Cat 4 upgrade today. This means I'll be racing Cat 4 at Tour of Washtenaw on May 14th. That's next up on the race calendar, a 55 mile road race with over half dirt roads.

Cone-Azalia

2011 Mileage: 2,183

Cone-Azalia is a road race that is about half dirt roads and half paved roads that aren't much better than the dirt. The attrition rate for this race is usually about 50%, meaning about half the people who start don't finish, mostly due to flat tires from the massive pot holes and sharp gravel covering the dirt portion of the course. It rained a fair amount last week and even a bit on Sunday morning so the first dirt section was still pretty wet and the potholes were all full of water but the rain stopped before race time and it was a pretty comfortable overcast day in the high 50's.

My Cat 5 to Cat 4 upgrade got denied earlier this week so I had something to prove going out and racing Cat 5 again. I was just hoping I could prove it having put in over 200 miles during the week leading up to the race, mostly commuting. The legs felt good though despite the fairly long week.

The race starts heading out and over a set of railroad tracks and on to the worst section of dirt roads within the first mile. I had decided up front that on the first lap I just wanted to lead through this section to avoid being ridden in to a pothole and flatting, but I wasn't really going to push the pace, and then on the second lap I would probably try and break away here. Things didn't work out that way. I went to the front early and was leading as we went over the railroad tracks and on to the dirt. Water bottles were everywhere and guys from the earlier fields were walking there bikes back to the start. It was pure carnage. I snaked my way through the potholes at a comfortable pace and then after about a quarter of a mile I looked back and realized without much effort I had a good gap. I decided to just go for it and drilled it and by the time I reached the end of the first dirt road I had a really good gap. I'm not great at judging time on a gap but I knew I was going good. I pushed hard for the entire first lap and by the end of the lap any kind of cat 5 field that may have been left was out of sight. From there I rode my own race, going hard but trying hard to avoid any potholes and the mechanicals that could come with them. It worked out great for me and I was able to easily cross the line in first with a gap of over 4 minutes on second place and what was left of a field. That was quite a bit of time to put on the field in only a 30 mile race, especially riding alone all day so I was pretty happy with the result. Also I hope it proved that I am strong enough and really do deserve an upgrade.I felt pretty bad that I made Tim, Kate and Andrew hang out for over an hour to watch me stand on the podium, especially since my "prize" was a bottle opener. Oh well.
I'm really not looking forward to cleaning the bike. There is a thick layer of white mud coating the entire back/bottom of the bike.Now it's time to try and figure out how to recover quickly while still putting in over 40 miles a day commuting. Next up is Waterford Worlds on this Wednesday Night.

The Best Of The Worst

2011 Mileage: 1,899

So I was going on to USA Cycling to apply for an upgrade and saw this as my national ranking. I've never been #1 in the country for anything before, even if it is just Cat 5.

Today was a much needed day off after commuting in snow, hail, rain and sleet the last couple days. The legs have felt sluggish and that all too familiar twinge has been in my right knee. Hopefully yoga and a day out of the saddle was all I really needed.
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Paris to Ancaster

2011 Mileage: 1,818
P2A is one seriously crazy race. I was expecting something like Barry-Roubaix (a really fast dirt road race). What I got was more like Iceman on a CX bike. A little bit of everything, pavement, dirt and gravel roads, singletrack mtb trails, grass fields, and mud chutes full of what seemed like riding through a 6 inch deep layer of mashed potatoes/peanut butter. I've never witnessed so many crashes in one race before. The weather also didn't help things with a mix of snow, rain and sleet coming and going throughout the race and winds gusting up to 50mph.

The race started up with me lining up later than I should have once again, I lined up with one of the few guys I knew there, Adam Naish from RBS. Our plan was to work together and shoot around the outside and try to get around as many people as we could at the start to work our way up to the group we should really be riding with. Things definitely didn't go as planned. The guy right in front of me had no sense of urgency and by the time he bothered clipping in to his bike Adam was already gone. I jumped out to the left side of the field and gave chase as best as I could. I made up some ground and could see him about thirty riders as we entered the rail trail section shortly after the start. Once we funneled down to the rail trail there wasn't reall anywhere to pass with bushes and a hill up on the right and the same but going down to a river on the left. I chose the left and looking back on it I'm pretty lucky I didn't slide down and end my race right there. I caught up to Adam and at this point things were starting to split in to groups. We were at the front of our group and the next was only a couple hundred meters ahead so I jumped on it to try and catch them. That was the last I would see Adam all day. I was still feeling pretty good and working my way through the crowd and then we hit a loose gravel climb that unfortunately everyone just ahead of me was off their bikes and running so I was forced to do the same. I made the mistake of not downshifting before I hopped off and was unable to jump back on midway up as the grade came down so I had to run the whole climb and definitely pegged my heart rate. I looked down and saw I was only about 8 miles in. Uh oh. After that it was a lot of sitting in and moving back and forth from one group to the next. I managed to get in behind a couple guys on a tandem for one of the longer dirt road sections which was awesome since they were really motoring. In the flats and paved sections I was struggling a bit and I would sometimes lose the group I was with or get caught by a group from behind. The wind also had a big impact on things so if you fell off the back of a group with the headwind it was really tough to get back on. In the singletrack and mud chutes there were a lot of instances where I was the only guy actually riding them and I would catch and pass people. The mtb handling skills definitely helped and I was surprised at how much time I could make up in the short singletrack sections. The mud chutes were absolutely crazy and I've never ridden anything like them before. I just remember reading a Belgian cx comment about how if a rut looks like it is going to swallow your wheel then let it because it is probably the best line and that is why it looks that way. That was true for the entire race until the very last mud chute. Everybody was off and running and I was riding until the first giant puddle/rut swallowed my wheel and spit me out. There was a rock at the far side of the rut and I went flying straight over my bars landing in the thick peanut buttery mess that was six inches deep. For the rest of the race I felt like my hands were slipping off the bars from all the mud on my gloves and hoods (my bike was stuck in the mud by my bars after the crash). It was a quick recovery and I was back on and running in no time and actually didn't lose any spots because of it. In the next singletrack section I watched another rider do the same thing as me but moving quicker and with another guy right on his wheel. My brakes were pretty much out of commission at this point thanks to all the mud so I literally had to reach out and hug a tree to stop from joining the pileup. The race ended with a big climb with the finish line right after. I was pretty much alone by the time we reached this point with no one that could pass me and no one that I could really catch, which is probably a good thing since I cramped on the final climb and just spun my way across the finish line. I finished a muddy mess (both me and my bike) but with a big smile on my face. I haven't even checked my bike yet to see what is broken but I'm sure something is after a day like that.

I finished in 2:05:35, good enough for 92nd out of 1188 finishers (which gets me a preferred start at the front of the field if I go back next year) and 21st out of 107 in my age group. I was about 20 minutes off the winner. I'm not really sure how to feel about the end result since I know I rode hard and didn't know the course at all and I was pretty pleased with how the race went, but I look at my place and don't feel that great about it. I just know I had a great time on my bike and in the end I guess that is why I do this.

After the race Linz and I gave Mike and Adam a lift back to their car which they left at the start line. We had all three bikes up on the roof along with Mike and Adam's wheels. I checked to make sure the bikes were secure before we took off but neglected the wheels. Cruising down the 403 at 75 mph we heard a strange noise and then all of a sudden I saw a wheel flying through the air in my rear view mirror. We hit the next turn around and decided to ignore the sign that it was for police only to head back and retrieve the wheel. We cruised back and found it rather quickly sitting perfectly upright in the cattails in the median. I didn't get the final scoop on whether or not it came out of true at all but there was no visible damage on it at all. It's always an adventure when Simonson and I end up in the same car.

Now it is time for a big mileage week in attempt to shed some pounds before the season really gets here. I stepped on a scale for the first time since NYE this weekend and I'm definitely not at the weight I'd like to be racing at. Next on the race schedule I think will be Cone Azalia, another road race with a few dirt sections thrown in.

And on another note, why am I still commuting through inches of accumulated snow? It's the middle of April already. I'm tired of this weather. Pic below was around 9AM this morning on the Polly Ann Trail.

Getting There...

2011 Mileage:1752

It is finally warming up (I guess that's a very relative statement) and the bicycle commuting has resumed as Linz and I have returned to being a one car family. I rolled for 65 yesterday along with working a ten hour day. I think a work day century might happen in the near future, that could be a fun challenge. But first I need to get through Paris to Ancaster this Sunday. 65k on dirt roads sounds like a great way to spend any day if you ask me.
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