You Did What On A Road Bike?

A while back I posted an amazing bike stunt video where the rider did some amazing stuff in the urban landscape. Here is a video that ups the level of difficulty.

Just Cause You Can.....

So I decided to do the Open at the July 3rd Independence Weekend Circuit Race. It had been raining all week before the race and there was rain in the area Saturday so I waited to the last minute to drive out and actually waited a little to long. I got there with just enough to to register, get kitted up, and drop off spare wheels before the start. I rolled to the start in the middle of roll call and then we were off. It was a small field for an open race, only about 30 starters. I had 5 other teammates in the race so it was looking good.

Bike Heaven also had a large representation so the race started with a Heaven attack that Richmond went with and was soon brought back. Rob Kane then went and I went with him but we were quickly brought back as well. I sat on to recover and soon felt better and found myself chasing another attack. I worked hard again and went a little to hard as I struggled to hang on to the field after we were brought back. I was happy to see Alec go on a break soon after and he was quickly joined by Brandon Zeeff of Heaven and Beau Edwards. It looked like a good break that could stay and I looked forward to sitting on while other teams chased. Unfortunately we came over the next roller and saw Alec had been dropped. We quickly started chasing and I did a really hard pull and then pulled back in but didn't get enough rest before pulling again and when Jason came around hard I tried to catch on the back but couldn't accelerate. I came off 35 minutes into a 75 minute race. I raced the remainder of the race alone but never came close to what was left of the field and ended up 21st.

I went back and looked at my power numbers and every time I recovered I immediately went hard again. The lesson learned was just because I have the power doesn't mean I need to use it immediately. I continue to try to figure out how to be patient when I race. It's so much harder then it sounds.....

Urban Assault

Last weekend Claudia and I did the Urban Assault race in Austin. Urban Assault is a race in which the competitors bike to various checkpoints where they have to complete "tasks". You do not have to complete the checkpoints in any particular order. The winner is the first person to complete all the checkpoints and return to the start. Claudia and I determined before the race that we were going to do this for fun so it wouldn't turn into a frustrated yelling match during the race leading to a prolonged awkward silence and battle of wills.

This year the start was at Festival Beach. The race was limited to 1500 riders who competed in 2 person teams as part of the men's, women's, coed, or family groups. Claudia and I completed a pre-race quiz so we were started in the first of 3 waves that went off in 5 minute intervals. The run to the bikes was chaotic but we found our bikes and took off to Metz Pool.

The first checkpoint involved jumping into the deep end of the pool, swimming half way across, grabbing 3 beach balls, and carrying them across the rest of the pool. Only one of us had to perform it so I jumped in and we were off. It all seemed very easy at this time. We rode to the next two checkpoints that were extremely close to each other. Bicycle Sport Shop and Jack & Adams Bikes. We went to Bicycle Sport Shop and completed the newspaper throw. I had to throw newspapers across a barrier while on my bike to Claudia who had to catch them in a box. Jack and Adams had the adult HotWheels course and the line was extremely long. We stood in line for a minute and then we decided to go on to another checkpoint that hopefully wasn't as busy and then hit Jack and Adams on the way back. We went to Daily Juice for the first of the mystery clues and then to the Paddle Boat dock but the line there was worse then it was at Jack and Adams. We decided to come back to this one also and headed north to Ozone Bikes. We worked out some communication on the way and things started to roll smoothly. At Ozone bikes we had to complete a puzzle of carpet pieces within ten minutes while people shot us with water guns. Thankfully Claudia figured it out and we were on to Peese Park for Human Polo. Here I carried Claudia on my back while she hit a ball with a large polo stick around a circle. Then we were off to REI for Human Bowling. Claudia lay down on a long skateboard and I had to push her down a slight incline to know down the bowling pins. We nailed it on our first try. Feeling confident we headed back to the Paddle Boat dock but the line was still long. We stood in line for about 45 minutes before starting the hardest challenge of the course. Claudia sat on a large inflatable duck and I had to push/tow her in Town Lake out to a floating alligator and back. It is amazing how hard it is to swim and push/pull this duck around. Feeling tired and hungry, we headed back to Jack and Adams. Thankfully there wasn't a line any more and we completed the adult hot wheels course complete with awesome power slides through the corners. This was the most fun task in my opinion. On the way back to the start finish we stopped at the Austin American Statesman to complete the second mystery stop and get our vampire teeth that we had to wear at the finish. The ride back to the finish was tough as we had been out there for about 3 hours and it was hot and humid. We arrived back, put our bikes on the rack and went through the water slide into some filthy water to finish. Thankfully one of the big sponsors is New Belgium Brewery who provided free beer at the finish. Love the liquid asprin!!

We finished at 3:23:06 which was 143 of 303 coed teams and 304 of 583 finishers. The best time was 1:17:12 by an all male team but we accomplished our goal of having a fantastic time together. I love being on the bike but nothing compares to sharing that love with the person I love the most. Hopefully, we will get a chance to complete this together again.

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Fredericksburg Road Race

I know it probably seems like I've been slacking on the racing this year but I actually did get out for the 3/4 race during my teams annual Fredericksburg road race. It's one of my favorite courses. Small winding roads that are rarely flat as they wind around the Texas hill country. This year it was particularly interesting in that the course included 3 low water crossings that were somewhat slick.

This was my first race with power and I started off strong but trying not to go to hard to early. The weather was definitely a factor. I traditionally have a hard time in the heat and it was in the low 90s with 60-70% humidity. The first of the two laps I probably did too much work bringing back a break and trying to make a good break happen. On the second lap I was still sitting up in the top 10 when my body started to rapidly shut down. I dealt with heat exhaustion last year and it took 3 plus weeks to recover. I started to feel the symptoms again and with State TT only two months away, I couldn't afford that time off again. I tried to dial it back and dump water on myself but the power didn't come back. I called it a day and pulled out of the race more then a little disappointed.

I'm on the left side of the road trying to get into the cooling

water shared by a local with a garden hose.

Post race notes were to focus more on food consumption and cooling to prevent my body from shutting down. I don't handle food well in races but I'm going to try a new mix in my bottles that a teammate suggested and see how that works. I also need to do less work. My numbers were very strong but that indicates more that I was doing to much work as opposed to really doing any damage. On a final note, the new bike was great but more on that later......

End of an Era

It all started in February of 2007, I purchased my first road frame on eBay.

This beautiful Cannondale Caad8 frame.

It then became my first road bike. Looking back now it's amazing to see what a shoddy build it was but I built it myself and thus begin my addiction.

It slowly morphed into different forms over the next 3 years as upgrades were made.

It took my on my first ever race, a two man TT at Tour de Gruene in the fall of 2007 and my first road race at Copperas Cove in January of 2008. Since then it has been in many races and a couple of crashes, earning it a nice dent on the top tube but it still kept going.

It's final form, having grown with me from a Cat 5 beginner to a Cat 3 racer. It will always have a special place in my heart but it's time for retirement.

It's frame set again, sitting around with an odd mixture of spare parts. Maybe someday it will be a full bike and feel the air rushing by as it flies along the roads. But for now rest, you have earned it and you will always be my bike and we will ride again.

Fixie Farewell

I've posted about my fixie in the past and what a great project. I loved the creativity and simplicity of building it. It truly is a great bike and I don't have any regrets about how the project turned out. However, I have never found a connection with the bike while riding it. I look forward to riding all my other bikes and feel this euphoria when I get on them, as if new possibilities are opening before me and I'm breaking away from all the stresses of the world. I have never had that with my fixie and because of that I have never beeb drawn to ride it. Now time has come to part ways. I've decided to sell my fixie and buy a new road bike frame (more on that later). It's sad if a bike leaves the home, even if I know its for the best. Farewell fixie, I hope you have a connection with you new owner and I appreciate the time we've had.

Mud, meet Power

So what do you do when you purchase two older wired SRMs (stone axes as my teammate calls them, virtually indestructible), a SRAM for the road bike and a entry level Amateur for the TT bike, but suddenly a teammate hooks you up with a FSA SRM? Well, I put the FSA on the road bike so I have the flexibility to run it compact or standard and moved the SRAM to the TT bike.

Now I have this Amateur SRM with no home.....

What's this? 46t and 38t chainrings showed up in the mail???

Now the solution seems obvious.....We have a cyclocross SRM!!!!

Bring on the mud!!!!

At first thought, putting an SRM on the cycloX bike seemed like overkill. B as I considered the situation, I use my cycloX bike for commuting throughout the year. This can mean in a given week anywhere from 30-70% of my miles can be on my cycloX bike. The ability to see my power numbers and better regulate the work I do on my commutes far outweighed the small amount I could resale the extra SRM for. So now I'm pimping with power on 3 bikes including the cycloX. I'm sure there will be more to come once cross season starts.