I Can Do This....

After the I found that riding could be fun again, I decided to throw myself into the fire. The following Thursday I had the day off so I did my first Driveway crit. The Driveway is a weeknight crit that is held at a local race track and has grown into one of the biggest weeknight crits in the nation. I did the 3/4 race and it easily had 50+ starters. It was hot (100+ degrees) and it was hard from the beginning. I was quickly finding that my recovery wasn't very good but I was hanging on. Then a crash through a corner created a large gap from the field and from that point it was a solo ride. I finished but that was about all I could say for that race. At the same time it felt good to race again.

The following Tuesday I did the local monthly TT put on by All Sports Timing. This is the second one of these I've done and it was blisteringly hot this time. My Garmin recorded a temperature of 104. I'd still been tinkering with my position some so I tried to focus on pacing and good form on the bike and not push to hard in the heat. The result was a decent ride but it was a little slower then normal.

Finally, I played with my road bike position this past weekend after a very strong TT training ride and then decided to do the University Oaks crit Sunday since I was going up to San Antonio for work anyways. I did the 3/4 since it was the first race and quickly went on a break that didn't stay out long due to the strong head wind on the finishing drag. I got back in the field and recovered (haven't done that in a while) was able to attack and go on a second break and then get back into the field after I was reeled in and recovered again (who is this guy?) and finally covered a move by one of the other teams and worked the front of the race for 3 laps leading into the 2nd to last lap. Finally at that point I was cooked and thankfully a teammate attacked and I pulled out of the way and finished behind the field on the last lap. It was the best I've felt in over a year and was very encouraging. I felt no pressure and it was great just racing for fun. Now I'll see if I can keep building this form for State TTs that are coming in about a month.

Yup, I'm pulling a face...

Back On The Bike

I haven't posted but to be honest I haven't been riding. Recently my wife and I had an opportunity to make a dream come true and went to Peru for a couple of weeks. It was an amazing trip and I managed to keep fitness by hiking at altitude including a 4 day hike on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. It was an absolutely amazing experience and it also meant almost 4 weeks off the bike. I didn't even sit on one for the longest period since I started riding about 5 years ago.

Today was my first time back on the bike and I did the local Dam Loop which is almost a 60 mile loop from the house. I started off and quickly found myself in the hurt locker and riding sucked once again just like when I left. It had turned into almost a necessary evil that allowed me to race which also kinda sucked in a way. Then, I had an epiphany. I've been reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and it is the story of a people in Mexico who are tremendous distance runners and the journey to finding joy in ultra long distance running. As I sat on the bike I begin to question why riding has to hurt and suck and I decided it doesn't. Now you may say that its not that simple to decide that, reality is still reality. However, I decided to separate my mind from the pain in the legs and think on the beauty of my scenery and the many things I've been blessed with including the experiences of our recent trip. All of a sudden I was free from the hurt locker and riding was fun again. It was incredibly freeing. I've been riding so long and trying to continually move up the ranks that I've forgotten that riding can be fun and only thought about "workouts" and "getting stronger". If I didn't feel the pain I told myself I wasn't working hard enough and I believe was focusing so much on the pain that I was actually holding myself back. I would be lying if I said that at the end of a long ride after time off I wasn't tired and sore but it was a good ride for the first ride in 4 weeks and the first "free" ride in I don't know how long. It's good to be back on the bike and free.

Balance

I thought this was the year that cycling and racing would return to normal. I was mistaken..... Everything that has changed at the end of last year; a new city, a new commute, our first house, and a renewed effort to make family the first priority; has completely shaken my cycling routines. It's still hard to find time and energy to train. The racing has been limited but also led to a lot of feelings unfulfilled potential since it wasn't backed by good training. What makes it worse is I now live in the best cycling city in Texas that also has some of the best racing thanks to the Driveway which could be the top weekday crit in the nation. The temptation of cycling is constantly there.

All this has created an inner struggle. I'm not under any misconception that cycling is or ever will be anything more than a hobby that allows me to stay healthy. At the same time, I love riding and racing and have a competitive and slightly obsessive personality. I've loved the time I've had for things outside cycling but the lack of cycling compared to what it could be has grown to the point of frustration verging on very mild depression at times. Thankfully, I have a very understanding and supportive wife and I'm confident that I will find a balance of cycling that I'm at peace with and fits my life. I just don't know what it looks like or when it will happen.

Urban Street Mountain Bike Race

I'm not a mountain biker and honestly, it really doesn't intrigue me that much. Still, I really enjoyed this video of an urban race in Chile. Check it out.......

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.

Fayetteville Stage Race

The Fayetteville Stage Race has been my nemesis. It consist of a road stage on Saturday morning, a short rolling TT Saturday afternoon and then another road race Sunday morning. It should be a good race for me since I TT well but it has always had my number. The first year I did it I had a bad TT on the short rolling course and then broke a spoke on the 3rd stage and DNF. I missed the following year and then last year the Saturday road race was epic. It started out fogging and in the upper 50s/low 60s about a quarter of the way through I double flatted and was chasing after that. Then a cold front hit and the winds picked up, it started raining and hailing, and the temperature dropped into the 40s. By the end of the race I was down and almost hypothermic. I did the TT and finished 10th but my body was wrecked so I went home and DNF'd again.

This year I was determined to finish. Saturday started with a 68 mile road race. It was a fairly smooth race but was fast as we finished in 3 hours flat. The last hour of the race I could feel cramps coming on and in the finishing sprint my legs completely locked up and I barely made it over the finish line but had a group finish. I spent the rest of the day trying to hydrate and get my body ready for the TT.

I started off on the TT which was the first race on the Kestrel but it felt extremely hard and I was definitely slow. Quickly my 30 second guy caught me, then another guy, and another guy. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get any speed and figured it was the cramps from the morning. I finally rolled in a miserable 4 1/2 minutes behind the winner. Getting back to the car I realized my rear wheel has slipped in the drop outs and was rubbing on the brake the entire TT. It was frustrating to have more bad luck but encouraging to know at least I didn't suck that bad.

Sunday was a 65 mile road race and it was brutally fast from the start. It was also windy and the field was quickly strung out and guys were dropping out after the 1st of 4 laps. Half way through the 2nd lap I couldn't stay with it any more and came off. I managed to find 3 other guys and even though we were slow the second half of the race we still managed to finish in 3 hours. I was happy to finish even if it was 40th out of about 65 riders. I have finally finished Fayetteville and maybe next year everything will finally fall in place.

Goings On....

So there hasn't been much to report on the racing front but its not because I haven't been, uh, going to races. A week ago I was coming off the worst allergies I have had this year right before Lago Vista. It was the 20th anniversary of the race so they ran it backwards which meant you went up the steep side and down the gentle side. Unfortunately it was a weird/bad day that culminated in the first asthma attack I have had in 4 years and pulling out after just 2 laps. My next race experience was at the Cronometro TT which is a prep TT for Fayetteville. It was a comedy of errors that included missing my start time and learning to always race prep your bike to make sure its ready before you go to the race.

In spite of all this I have had good sessions on the trainer and I've been staying busy. After about a year with SRM and no complaints whatsoever, I started looking at other options. The new TT bike I have has a BB30 bottom bracket that I was using adapters on to run the SRM but it didn't feel like it was working as smoothly as I would like. Also, I want to buy a new road bike frame next year but the frame I want won't work my version of the SRM. This presented 2 options, upgrade to wireless SRMs (very expensive, both initial cost and maintenance but it's the gold standard for power meters) or the wireless Quarq Cinqo (half the cost, easier and cheaper to maintain, and developing an excellent reputation). I went with the Quarq Cinqo because of the price, the ability to use it as a true BB30 but still have the flexibility to switch cheaply in the future, and ease of maintenance. I also went back to a Garmin Edge 500 for the computer versus the old SRM PCV. The Garmin doesn't have as big a display as the SRM but it provides a lot more functionality, a more customizable display, and easier interface so it has been nice having it back.

Quarq Cinqo (sorry for the bad iPhone photos)

My other project was taming the insanity that was the garage. There were plastic tubs and a chaos of bike parts and tools. Any activity meant moving stuff around to get to what I needed and lots of searching for the tools amidst the mess. I finally went out and decided to try my hand at some DIY garage organization. I bought some lumber and built a shelf/work bench along with some peg board and organized my bike area. It worked out well and opened up a large area around the bikes so that I can now easily get on the trainer or set up the bike stand and work on the bikes without moving anything or taking the car out of the garage.

All this stuff now fits in such a small area and its so easy to find!!!

NAHBS Austin 2011

So the North American Handmade Bike Show was in Austin this year. I have seen the coverage of this event in years past and practically drooled over the pictures so when I found out it was going to be in Austin this year I was ecstatic. It was the closest thing I have experienced that embodies the "kid in a candy store" feeling.

Here are some of my favorites from the show. A link to all my photos (I'm not a great photographer so it is what it is) is here.

Meeting the legend himself, Dario Pegoretti

The coolest cycling shoes I have ever seen.....

My ultimate Ti bike, a Moots...

My dream road bike, a Pegoretti Responsorium

Vanilla cyclocross..... drool.....

Vanilla track bike

Vanilla single speed cyclocross....

Boo Bikes carbon and bamboo cyclocross bike