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Originally uploaded by djneight.
Yours truly #652. Making it happen.
My total bike mileage for the year is nearing 1000 miles. While it is highly unlikely that I will hit my goal I think the 962.46 miles I have done so far have been quality miles which have improved my general fitness level dramatically. Let me say that a different way. My fitness level has improved to the point that I can race and hang with the peloton without risk of droppage. This is a huge improvement over last year. As the cyclocross season nears I know I can get better placings than last year and the year before. I know most of the courses and have a good feeling about this year. I am going to really, really focus on strength and cadence. I have changed my riding style this year and the improvement in speed is awesome. In years past I would always concentrate on spinning for months, usually from January to May. Then start hitting the big ring as the crit season got underway. This year I did a lot of spinning and then started hitting the intervals hard in the last 3 weeks. At least once a week I go for it hard. I mean so hard that it hurts, bad. What does this do? It forces your body to recover quickly. Repeated hard stress is good when you’re ready for it. Now I can crush the big ring and maintain a smooth stroke. On Sunday I did the usual ride with my club. Nearly home I decided to take on Godde Hill Road. While not the longest or steepest climb it puts the hurt on after riding over 30 miles in the heat. Last year I never would have attempted this. But now I am back. I can feel it. The fitness is here. There are only a few more crits for me this year and then it is ‘cross season. I can’t wait!
Some guys from a local shop like to “race” around in Lancaster/Palmdale on Monday and Wednesday nights. It is a great workout, almost too fast for my liking. Today I hung on to the pace for a whole 8 minutes instead of the usual 1 1/2 laps! Just kidding! No really, the pace can get brutal. Plus Mr. Wind always blows in your face right when the road rises up a little bit which just adds to the pain. However, all of this torture is paying off. I was able to hang in the race last weekend. See the previous post for details. The tired old cliche still rings true – no pain, no gain.
I survived the Bicycle John’s Glendale Grand Prix yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, the course or organizing crew had nothing to do with survival rates, it was the racing in general. I am not sure why but the number of crashes in SoCal races seems to be higher than in NorCal. I raced from 1996 to 1999 in over 100 races and I saw my fair share of crashes and was involved in a bad finish line pile up myself. However, yesterday I witnessed 2 crashes and saw the aftermath of another. I saw one in the cat 5’s the other in my race, the cat 4’s, and the carnage of the women’s 3/4. Both men’s stacks happened while the peloton was going straight. Close quarters racing is dicey but still, it isn’t that hard to ride straight. It is a given that inexperience and fatigue can cause accidents but staying upright and out of trouble appears to be a struggle down here. Ok, enough of that! The course layout suited me just right. Nice and flat! Racing uphill is my weakness so the superflatness of this course was great. The start of the race was uneventful and smooth. The pace was good for the first 3 to 4 laps. Each turn of the course allowed for wide side by side flow which was awesome. No need to touch the brakes, just roll with it! Only a few times did the pace pick up due to a few flyers off the front. There were a lot of primes. At one point I think there were 3 in a row. That caused the field to string out for about 1/2 a lap. A small group got away and gained about 15 seconds on the peloton. I saw that one of the PAA riders was sitting on the front while his teammate and the break got further away. Fortunately for me and the rest of the peloton another PAA rider proceded to lead the peloton to the break. I saw a gap forming as we got close and only one guy was moving to seal the deal so I shifted up a gear and followed him up and when he got done I went around him and dragged the peloton up and killed the break. This big effort hurt but I recovered quickly and settled back into the field. Once we got 3 to go the pace slowed slightly in anticipation for the finale. With 2 to go the pace predictably picked up. I started looking for the riders that were organizing and gaining position. On the last lap a huge hole opened up going into turn 1 so I moved right up to the front riders and held me position to turn 3. I was looking for the organization but still it was getting hairy between turns 3 and 4. A line was going on the outside and one up the inside. I jumped on a wheel and the guy took a dive to get in line on the inside. I went with him and he couldn’t get into the pace line, others were already cranking hard and coming out of the line towards us. This kept me out and that was about it. I tried to find another line to go with but by then the sprint was on and there was no chance of moving up so I did the smart thing and stayed clear and out of trouble. This was the first criterium I have finished in a long time. It feels great to finally have some fitness again. 45 minutes was the time of the race, plus it was HOT! Next time I will try the Masters category and see how that goes. My new bike perfomed flawlessly. See you at the races!
I just updated the mileage tracker for this year. I have a long way to go and a short time to get there. We as a family have done so much lately it has cut into riding time seriously. Now we have a bunch of time to relax and get started on some delayed projects around the house. For mileage I need to get up to averaging 160-ish per week. That will really keep me in good shape and take me right into the cyclocross season.