moving, movement, bike parts to move.

Today's post topic involves movement.

I'm moving into my own apartment today. It's over on East Johnson Street near Teh Gehling and Claire, as well as near my brother's house.

In moving, I have found some bike things that I was unaware were still in my possession. I'll post a list here in a few hours and if you want to buy or trade for them, let a fella know.

Training has been difficult the last week. After my cold, I still had a hard time getting into the swing of riding again. I'd ride for an hour and a half and just feel spent. I couldn't put out any effort, or maintain any sort of speed. It wasn't until this week that I felt even remotely close to where I was at Eau Claire. I did 1.5 road hours Monday, 2.5 Tuesday, and 2 on the MTB Wednesday. While I wasn't climbing as strongly, I could ride at tempo pretty comfortably.

Today (Thursday) the weather sucks, with a chilly rain. I'll be packing and moving until the clouds pack up and move along, each in our respective ways.


This blog is about bike racing, but I'm thinking about bringing back the other blog I used to maintain while in school: the one about words.

Last week a poem happened to me while biking, between two single-letter roads, between two four-letter towns. It was the sort of bike ride that is done to ride away from something more than toward something.

Ars Graffitica

topping out and getting le sick

I don't get sick much, but when I do, I make it count. Last year I went without a cold the entire year. The year before that I only got sick once and had bronchitis so badly I was at the doctor every four days and missed the entire collegiate MTB season.

Last Monday (the 13th) I went on a two hour road ride and was just flying without even trying. The day before that I was jamming at Jim's and absolutely killing it and didn't even feel tired. I was starting to plateau in my training and needed some time off. However, I didn't recognize that I was starting to overtrain so the next morning I woke up with a nasty headcold. My throat was sore, sinuses clogged, and I even had a headache, which is quite uncommon for me.

The past week was spent in full-on recovery mode. I sat on my butt any time I wasn't at work. And even when I was at work I was chugging water. The winning combination went like this: Emergen-C every morning, tons of water during the day, sittging in bed or in front of the computer in warm clothing while at home, and getting ten hours of sleep each night.

On Sunday I turned 24. This year has been very challenging and full of change, and I wouldn't have guessed I'd be here if you'd asked me on my 23rd birthday. Racing (and being competative) at the top of cat.2 is something I never thought I could do even if I had the opportunity, so I'm really glad I've had the chance to do that.


At the beginning of this season I made a list of goals for the year:
-Pay off student loans. (On schedule to finish paying them by year end)
-Buy a car (Done in February)
-5 top-5 finishes (So far 3. 4th at Rhinelander, 2nd at Eau Claire, 1st in Super-D at Mt. Morris)
-Win the Subaru Cup (I didn't win it, but I learned I can throw down with the top Comp Racers)
-Move out in September. (I'm moving into my new place August 1st)

I'm going to add some goals for the second half of the season, as I've checked off a few of my current goals.
-Win a comp race.
-Learn to race cyclo-cross and complete three races.

more training, more thinking about cross

So I have some fun stuff coming up in the next month:

Dealer show.
birthday.
new apartment.
new commuting bike.
maybe a cyclocross bike.

But for now: it's time for serious mileage. I'm not racing for a month, so Wednesday I did some hill intervals on Burke road in the rain and cold. It made me feel like it was Spring again. Thursday I rode Jim's, and then I took Friday off. My legs were tired, but not "OH GOD GIVE ME A DAY OFF" kind of tired.

Saturday I did two hours of intervals on the road. These were long intervals with moderate recovery in-between. It felt good, and in the tailwinds I could cruise at 32 mph without much effort. Gotta love it when the wind is on your side. On Sunday I did two burner laps at Jim's, and had to call it a night for lack of light.

Tomorrow: three hours on the road. Then Tuesday off.

I move August 1st. I'm pretty stoked on the prospect of living alone for the first time in my life. Alone, as in no roommates or parents. I also have little to no furniture for my house, so it's time to go to Ikea.

and I figure if I'm going to get a cross bike I might as well wait for the Y10 stuff to come out. That means I have an EP to burn on a commuter...

Back in the top ten

http://www.wors.org/results/results.php?year=2009&type=s&cat=comp&code=o

racing to train, new goals, and cyclocross

Did I just say cyclocross? Yeah, maybe.

First things first, recovery rides rule. I spun for twenty minutes yesterday and then did a bike fit with Gehling on my MTB, and it made my legs feel great. Normally the day after races my legs hurt when walking up stairs, but not yesterday.

So Tuesday I did 2:45 at a moderate pace on the road bike. Here's my route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2984124

Legs felt good, lungs felt good (no congestion as I'd experienced earlier in the season), head felt good. I just cruised. Tomorrow I think I'll either ride Jim's (if the weather is good) or do sprints on Burke road (if it's raining).

I think I need to set a few goals for the rest of the season. I don't know if Chequamegon is going to be a goal race, since it's my first time riding it, but perhaps. I'd like to do well at Sheboygan and perhaps one more race before that. Any suggestions?

Finally, cyclo-cross. Yeah, cold weather, mud, short races, beers, and... running. That's my one concern. Running makes me tired, and I don't like dismounting the bike. I'd rather jump stuff. I'll have to see how busy the shop is when cross season starts and how easy or difficul tit would be to get into it. And I should talk to coach Whalen about it.

putting it together

At Iola I had to re-learn how I race: when to push, when to recover, etc.

At Rhinelander I had to learn how to push at the start without blowing up.

At Mt. Morris I had to learn ym nutrition and how to race in the heat. But I did learn I had it in the singletrack.

At Eau Calire, this past weekend, I put it all together and took 2nd in my age group, and 6th overall.

At the start, I picked my position and didn't get pushed around in the start chute. When Don yelled "GO" I jumped, got clipped in fast and hopped on somebody's wheel. I drafted in fourth wheel on the long dirt road leadout and kept my breathing under control. There was a small hill before the singletrack and I drilled it to get off the front and try for the holeshot to the singletrack. Unfortunately, I slid sideways and eventual winner Scott Golomski got past.

I kept on it until we hit the stone switchbacks, and got a gap in the second section of singletrack.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I jammed out in the singletrack and really enjoyed myself. I'd pass everyone I could in the open by hammering hard and then catch the next group in the singletrack and have to sit in for a bit. Once it opened up again, I'd open it up and pull more people in.

A few moments of note: Jennifer Whitedog dropping the shit out of me on a technical descent. That woman can kill it!

Some kid in my age category who I caught on lap two absolutely broke when I passed him. He started crying and yelling about how much his stomach hurt. I told the next spectators I saw to check in on him.

On my last lap I cleared the Mr. Hyde rock garden and pulled around one more Comp rider.

The best part of it? I didn't totally bury myself to do what I did. It's time to keep training with one thing in mind:

Scott finished more then 3.5 minutes ahead of me.