Time Trial!

Some thoughts:

Jesus that was awful.

Nothing like 25 miles of hills and wind to really get you in a good mood.

It was so windy that in the crosswind coming downhill right after the turnaround, I wanted to shift up two gears because I was spinning out - but I couldn't, because I thought if I took one hand off my aero bars, I would get blown over.

Plus, of course, the wind got worse on the way back, when we had to ride dead into it.

Maresh won, but he should have upgraded. Like, a year ago. He beat Pav, albeit by three seconds. He should be in the 3s. Though I'm sure Pav would rip his legs off in a road race.

Matt Landen's TT setup is crazy aero. And with those new Blackwell wheels (80mm rear rim), he's even faster than he used to be.

Lando is selling his Hed 3s and I want to buy them. The problem is, I have no use for them whatsoever. I do so few time trials I really can't justify the expense. If I had a whole TT bike, I could see it, but that's a few years off. Right now, I'm flat freakin' broke and I really shouldn't drop a grand on a wheelset I won't use enough.

Dropping a grand on a wheelset I will use a lot, however, is another story. I'm looking for a new wheelset; I'm tired of the Rovals. Tell your friends.

Wednesday night ride

Went on the Wednesday night last night. It was completely controlled, beginning to end, by Kaos guys. On the way out, Aaron the Mountain Biker just took a flyer after the warmup and we never saw him again. That kid is stupid fast.

So we put together a little chase group and set out after him. It was Dave Rogers, Matt Farnam, Joe Savoie, and me. Our pace was in the 30s until we started into the wind, when it dropped to a measly 27. Got a great rotation going, everybody was looking strong and smooth. Still, we never caught Aaron, and there he was at the turnaround, waiting for us.

On the way back, we worked with the scant tailwind and tried to keep most of the group together. Scott Tarry joined in the fun, as did another dude from Elkhorn Valley I have seen everywhere but never met. I almost answered Dave's attack on the Wall, and stuck with him until the very top. I'm still not very good at carrying my momentum over the top - gotta work on that this year.

All in all, a great ride. I was really excited to be back with the group, and even more excited that I stuck with Dave and Matt all the way to the turnaround. Dave said I was looking good, too. Which just means I'm good at hiding it when I'm in pain. I guess that's good.

Quick aside: As I was typing this, I found a picture of Tom Zirbel's bike from his Gila crash.

Damn.

Also, Bike Masters is doing a double metric century to Harlan, IA on Sunday. I'm doing it. Anybody else want to? I'm looking at you, Mr. Munson.

Time Trial Work!

I looked just like this. But even cooler.

I haven't been on TT bars outside in God knows how long, so I figured I should get in some practice before the race this weekend. I'm glad I did, because I was afraid to tackle even the simplest of turns. But after 2 hrs of low intensity riding, I'm an old pro. Well, more like I can hold a line and turn corners reasonably well now. I'm trying to get some last-minute aero help, too, in the form of a TT helmet from Rich Pearson and hopefully a skinsuit and booties. If I can't get a skinsuit, I don't really care. I'm just trying to do better than last year - a sad, slow 1:11.

I was making this smile/grimace face all day today.

I headed out from my house, got in a good warmup on the smaller climbs around my neighborhood, then headed off down the bike path toward Fort. I planned on doing some repeats around Raven Oaks, then calling it quits because I'm doing the Bike Masters Wednesday night.

I overdid it.

I did Raven Oaks, hit that big monster hill, then went back up the "scenic route," which is almost as hard. Screaming descent though, and much more fun than the white-knuckle descent down the bigger hill. I thought about going home after a few more climbs. I decided not to, and instead headed off to do Hummel Park a few times. I did two trips up each side - but after I took the summit the last time at a blistering 9 mph pace, I didn't want to do that anymore. So I lit out yonder to Fort Calhoun.

While I enjoyed the tailwind on the way out, I didn't realize how punishing it would be on the way back. I took the Omaha Trace over to 72nd, then took 60th back to Raven Oaks and headed home. All the way back on the Trace, I averaged a heady 14/15 mph. It was miserable. On the other hand, I feel like it was a good day. I drank a lot, A LOT, and I actually ate some solid food for once. It definitely helped. On the other hand, I am wiped out. And I'm going to scout the possible Ralston crit course tomorrow morning with my dad, if anyone wants to go. Then the Wednesday night ride... my high-volume week is going well.

Let's hope it pays off the way I want it to.

I been tagged

And not like that. Anyway, Bryan tagged me. I would link to him, but I am pretty much certain that everyone who reads this also reads his blog. And probably more often than this one. So I have to list seven things about me, in no particular order:

1. When I grow up, I want to be Tim de Waele. He's a cycling photographer who takes amazing shots like these. He may not be the most famous cycling photographer, but he is the best.

2. I was in Academic Decathlon in high school. It consumed my life. It was about 20 hours a week outside of school, which is more than I ever spend on a bike. But it paid off - we ended up second place nationally. I was the state champion in astronomy. I kid you not.

3. I've never had a pet. Not a real one, anyway; we've had a few fish. I'm not sure why we never had pets, but I've never felt like I'm missing anything.

4. Cycling is the only sport I have ever been remotely good at. I am terrible at basketball, I couldn't even name all the positions in football, and I am barely passable at soccer. But I can talk about cycling so much it will bore you to tears.

5. I just bought some new aero bars. It brought the total balance in my checking account to 35 dollars. That's all the money I have.

6. My favorite actor is Peter Sellers.

7. I wish I still lived in Santa Barbara.

Now you know everything there is to know about me. Exciting, isn't it? I would tag someone else with this, but I don't know anyone on blogger who isn't Bryan, so... that doesn't really work.

Now it's off to study. I have an Anthro final tomorrow and then my semester is over.

I survived. That's good enough for now.

I have never been put into such pain on a bicycle in my life. One lap into the Old Cap crit, my lungs were seared. Two laps in, I was convinced I was going to throw up. Five laps in, my whole face went numb. And nine laps in, I got pulled.

That’s an average of about two hours of driving for each lap completed. Not quite what I expected.

Then again, nothing that weekend was what I expected. Originally, my plan was to borrow my aunt’s minivan for the weekend, do the road race and crit, and make it a nice leisurely drive home.

In the end, I couldn’t make it out for the road race because my aunt needed her car. I ended up taking my uncle’s car. It’s a Benz. An S500 AMG, to be precise. With over 400 horsepower. And it costs a hundred thousand dollars.

And he just gave me the keys and told me to be careful.

So I threw my bike in the back and hit the road at 7:30. Google Maps says the drive from Lincoln Park in Chicago to Erik’s house should be four and a half hours. I hopped in the car, got on the 88 Tollway, and set the cruise control at 90. I didn’t slow down until I got to the Quad Cities, and that was just for gas. I rolled up at 11, well before my predicted arrival time. It was awesome.

What was not awesome was the crit the next day. I was completely not prepared for the difficulty of the course or the fitness of the other riders. The intensity of that race from the gun was like a punch in the face. I just kept getting dropped by one guy after another. It wasn’t just physically painful, it fucked with my mind as well.

I was under the impression that the line up at the start was based on registration order. Apparently, Bryan and I were totally wrong here. Everyone lined up as they pleased. Bryan and I lined up in the second row on the right side. What we should have done was elbow our way over to the front row on the left side, because realistically, that race was over in 30 seconds. Once that front group got away, they stayed away. On the very first downhill bit, Kevin Murray from Team FIRE went down and I just about ran over his head. I was overly cautious going through that corner every time after that, because I’ll be damned if I’m going to repeat last summer and bust my arm early in the season. But my start wasn’t the problem.

I have a pretty good cold going on, and it definitely affected me more than I thought it would. My chest is all congested and I have a cough, so it was pretty hard to draw air after a few laps. But that wasn’t the problem either.

The problem is, I’m fat as hell, and totally out of shape. There are a few reasons for this. One, it’s been a really hard semester. A lot more work than I thought it would be, and less sleep than ever before. And secondofly, there are no hills in Chicago. Wind? Tons of it. Bring it on. Tough, cracked roads? I am now an expert. But hills? There are no hills in this state. You have to go to Wisconsin to find some of those, and they aren’t even very good.

Most importantly, though, I’m just pretty lazy. I don’t ride enough, and I don’t make enough time for it. I don’t get on the trainer because I hate it, but if I want to school Bryan like I could last year, I’ve got to get on it. In the 5s, I could do what I did last year and not even own a bike until April, then train for a while and win a bunch of races. I learned in this, my first 4s race, that this new category is a whole different animal. I’ve got to get my ass in gear. Otherwise Bryan will get too cocky.

He should be cocky, though, because he did a great job this weekend. Racing smart to a 5^th place (in the money!) finish in the RR, then hanging in the second group to 10^th in the 4s and 14^th overall in the combined race. I figure pretty much no one who reads this has not raced it, so you guys know how bitchingly hard that course is.

And my new friend Syd made the women’s race her bitch. It was ridiculous. She kept smiling. Smiling. For a point of reference here, I grimaced from the starting gun until I got pulled, my face a mask of agony. Then I almost threw up. Smiling. Jesus.

Many thanks to everyone who helped me survive this race, including Bryan’s friends Erik and Natalie, who let me sleep in their beautiful home, even though they didn’t even know me. And to Bryan, for making sure Kaos still had a strong showing in Iowa in spite of me. Also for finding me a place to stay, and for being a good sport when I browbeat him into signing up for the road race…and then when I didn’t show up. Thanks to Pav for making a sweet 3s race and completely dominating the aggressive rider category. And talking to me. I didn’t even know Pav liked me until Sunday.

And for all of you, for actually reading this godawful post. You deserve some sort of medal. Though I won’t be giving you one.

I am exhausted.

I've been up since 8:15am on Tuesday and I haven't slept at all. It is a miracle that I still somehow functioning. Though I did just sleepwalk through my investigative piece that's due today. We were supposed to work on it this whole semester. I did mine in two days.

This paper is not very good. Not only that, it's pretty bad. And this is the only time I have ever turned in a paper of which I am embarrassed. It's probably a C+ paper and I know it.

Thankfully I've already written of the grade I'm getting in this class. The rest are As, so I'll be okay with a B(-) in there.

I'm getting intensely excited for this race. Unbelievably excited. Every time I think about it or I watch something cycling-related on the computer, my heart rate skyrockets. That could be the 36mg of Concerta coursing through my veins, but I don't think so. It's just pure, unadulterated adrenaline.

Too bad I'm slow. But I'm not going to let that get in my way. I'm going to kick as much ass as I can this weekend and see what happens.

Oh, and if I somehow feel great and ride well, I think I might do Joe Martin. Just thinking about it right now.