Time Trial Stuff

I’ve pretty much always convinced myself that my body type isn’t well suited for time trialing and that I don’t need to really train for it because I’ll never be any good at it.  In the past couple weeks I’ve stepped back and looked at what I’ve been saying… and it just doesn’t make any sense.  Regardless of what type of racing you’re doing — road races, crits, or time trials themselves — you need to be able to put out a sustained solo effort.

I will now be putting a fair amount of effort into TT training… I’ll try to be on my TT bike at least once a week (Yes, I got a really good deal on a used one and I figure, at the very least, it will help motivate me to train).  I’ll be regularly testing myself using the local 10mi course.  Yesterday I timed myself on the course (pretty much my first real ride on the bike)  and I did it in 26:38 — within 10 seconds of my fastest time last year.  I’m not particularly happy with the time but it could be a lot worse.  I think with some dedicated effort it will come down.

We’ll see what happens.

Race Report: Snelling RR Cat 3

Wow, this was a fast race.  It was really windy, so the course started out with a hard tailwind and winded back around with horrible crosswinds especially through the very bumpy section of the course.  The first lap was ok, I had some poor positioning at times that made me take more wind that I should have, but I hung on and felt like I would be ok.  I figured if I could survive the first lap then I should be able to at least hang on to the pack for the rest of the race.  Nope.  They really started ramping it up through the feedzone and by the time we hit the crosswind section I was really suffering.  I held on for as long as I could but eventually being guttered in the crosswind (it was strung out single file) was too much — my lungs just couldn’t take it.  I finished that lap, did one extra, and called it a day.

I don’t really know what was going on in the front of the race to make it so quick, but wow, it was fast.  I got ~50mi worth of training in and lots of intensity, so I figure it was a good day.

Hilly Ride

Yesterday I went for my first decent hilly ride since training camp.  For a “climber” of sorts, I really should do more of this.  My legs felt a bit stale after the race on Sunday, but it actually went pretty well.  I rode with two guys who I will be racing with this season — I’m glad because they’re both in really good shape and we seem to work well together.  The three of us kept the pace pretty high the entire time and gunned it a bit on some of the climbs.  They descend a lot faster than me but I’m working on it.

I totally forgot to mention that my girlfriend absolutely tore up her race this weekend.  I am so proud of her — she’s really an inspiration.  I usually end up more excited watching her race than racing myself… :o)

Race Report: Norlund Criterium 3/4

The course was smooth, fast, with pretty easy corners.  The rather large field size made it very difficult for me to advance. and there were lots of folks diving into the corners yelling ‘inside’ and such.  Two crashes (the first was very ugly and stopped the race for ~10 minutes) and the constant bumping made for a pretty intense race.  I usually feel pretty bad for the first 5 laps as my body gets adjusted to the situation… but I felt pretty lousy throughout this race.  I rolled in safely at the back of the pack after we restarted with 2 laps to go.  I’m not feeling very confident about my fitness, but at least I’m not off the back, right?

First Cat 3 Race

I finished up my first Cat 3 race today and I’m very happy with the result.  My goal was to finish with the pack and I did just that.  Nothing spectacular — I was pretty much sitting near the back the entire race.  After all of my training problems the past few months, this is a real confidence builder.  I was concerned that by upgrading I had gotten a little bit ahead of myself, but I’m pretty sure I’m in the right place now.

The race was a great learning experience — riders were much more aggressive (yet safer) in the corners and it pushed me to do the same.  I was concerned that my current level of fitness would be a problem because it was not an entirely flat course, but it didn’t seem to be.

That said, I was far from being competitive or comfortable at all.  I guess that means I need to do some more racing! (Perhaps some training would help too :o))

Big Changes

Things haven’t gone as planned. I lost every last bit of motivation to ride my bike for a few months. I am severely under-trained and not at all prepared to begin racing. I’ve also gained 5lbs. Despite having regained some enthusiasm, I still have not gotten myself back on the bike as much as I should have. At this point I just need to ease myself back into training and figure out once again why I love the sport so much. While the collegiate season is mostly out the window now, I hope to be back in shape to race competitively come Summer.

The positive: I decided to get my Cat 3 upgrade while the points were still valid. This means I have “achieved” one of my long term goals even though I am now in worse shape than before. I figure this is the sort of challenge that I need to get my training back in order.

I let some things that were really completely unrelated to cycling discourage me these past few months. Deep down I have a great love of the sport and have gotten more satisfaction and pride out of it than anything else I’ve done. It’s time to get back on the horse — let the racing begin!