First race and Sunday long ride

Well now that I have done my first race and gained valuable experience, I am looking forward to the rest of the season. The first half of the race went well as I was fighting in the pack for position and sprinting out of the turns with the best of them. As the race went on and the lack of oxygen in my muscles began to affect my stellar first half performance, I fell back on the long start finigh straight. Once I had lost the pack, the head wind, and of course the debilitating lactate acid in my quads, allowed the pack to pull away bit by bit over the last few laps. I magaged to keep pushing as hard as I could and managed to pass two riders who fell off the main pack later in the race. I am looking forward to improving my performances as the season continues.

Now on to today's ride. A nice three hour ride where it snowed and sleeted for at least half of the ride, and I returned home looking like I had just finished mountain biking. Half of the salt and cinders used to defrost the PA roads for the last month were sprayed all over my bike and body. On a cool note I managed to ride for an hour with a group of Cat 2 riders I saw on the ride and asked if I could ride with them for awhile.

Upgraded from D to A tonight

I finally applied for my A upgrade tonight and got it within five min. of submitting it, pleasent. I'm a little nervous but excited to see if my winter training has paid off at NAVY this weekend. Should be fun...

Great Saturday Ride / Random Snow Pictures

Goals:::Fun Event

Yes, I'm lame... I'm the last to post my goals for this year.
Yes, they're lame goals, but they are realistic goals as well.

I'm not going to sugar coat it. I havn't been riding... at all. A deadly mix of procrastination, heavy course load coupled with fact I need strait A's to maintain graduating with Magna (maybe even Summa) Cum Laude honors, and foul weather. No excuses.. I know...

Anyways, I think I've missed my training deadlines to compete in the opening ECCC races. I'm not going to go, waste my money, and embarass myself. I am going to start today and set a goal to be physically ready for the Philly Phlyer.

So here it goes:

1. Ass(ets) in the saddle: I have plenty of movies to get in at least a 45minute spin in the basement nearly every day for a month.

2. Run: Best way to build up the cardio and lose weight. And to train for the Tough Mudder Run...

3. Lift: I will be applying to multiple police agencies in the upcoming months... I need to pass their physical fitness standards.

4. Complete a full ECCC Crit race (Cat D) without getting pulled! (Set your goals low, then you won't be as dissappointed)

5. Make it to the Philly Phlyer, Princeton/Stevens Races, Bucknell, Army, and possibly Dartmouth.

6. Be in shape to compete in the Tough Mudder Race May 2nd.

This brings me to my "Fun Event" Would anyone like to go to do this Tough Mudder Race with me. It looks insanely fun. Tough, but fun. And it would be a break from cycling before Nationals.

7 mile run through trees, water, obstacles, fire, and mud. AND>>>Live Music, Free t-shirt, and (root)Beer afterwards!

I guess I'm making it my ultimate goal. I know I won't do well, but for me, the challenge of getting in enough shape to run a 7 mile race will be a victory all in itself.

Ok. Run outside today and TNR tomorrow (weather pending). LET'S GO!!!

Tour of Qatar

I've had way to much fun following the Tour of Qatar over the last week. I've streamed some of the races live or watched parts on youtube. Check out this amazaing sprint by the Liquigas rider Francesco Chicchi on the final stage of the event.

Just advance it to 8:25 into the clip to see the final sprint, crazy stuff!

the tree and farm race is ON!

Yes, indeed. Saturday, tomorrow, February 13, 2010, marks the inaugural tree and farm race.

For an interactive, more detailed map, click here.

But, of course, the route had to be modified somewhat to accommodate the snow...which means the non-road sections have been eliminated. :-(

Hincapie disapproves...


...but what are you gonna do.

START TIME: 9:30 am, Saturday, February 13, 2010.

START PLACE: Southhampton Township Park. (See map for details. Start location indicated by green dot. Easy access from the freeway--take the Walnut Bottom Road exit. For those interested, I'll probably be rolling from my house around 9:00 am. If you'd rather meet here that's fine.)

For those not interested in the full 54.5 miles, several bailout points back to Shippensburg are available (consult the map for your favorite).

Saturday's gonna be a cold one. Wear your warm gloves!

...

TURN-BY-TURN CUE SHEET

(I suggest copying, pasting, and formatting to your liking...then zip-tying to your top tube or retaining in your back pocket for easy on-the-bike reference. I'll have a few extra day-of, but it'd be better if you printed your own. And please stare at the map a while so as to get a sense of where this thing is going down.)

START at the park.
South on Neil (1.1)
L on Cleversburg (0.2)
L on White House (0.2)
R on Walnut Dale (2.3)
R on Mountain Estates/Strohm (0.4)
R on Chestnut Grove (0.8)
R on Gutshall (1.3)
turns into Furnace Hollow (1.4)
R on Mountain View (1.9)
R on Pine (0.7)
L on Quarry Hill (1.2)
R (still Quarry Hill; 0.4)
L (still Quarry Hill; 0.9)
turns into Springfield (1.0)
R on Big Spring (3.0)
L on Fairfield/533 (2.3)
R on Bulls Head (2.7)
L on Steelstown (0.2)
R on Whiskey Run (3.6)
R on Mountain (0.2)
L on Pine Knob (0.5)
L on Woods (1.0)
R on Mountain (1.1)
L on Oak Bend (1.0)
turns into Gobbler Knob (0.8)
L on Bridgewater (1.7)
R on Gameland (0.7)
R on Mountain (1.1)
L on Zion (1.6)
L on Peebles (1.7)
L on 641 (0.1)
R on Covered Bridge (0.9)
R on E Creek (1.8)
R on 696 (0.2)
L on W Creek (1.6)
L on Burnt Mill (2.1)
L on Maclay's Mill (1.1)
L on Middle Spring (0.5)
cross 696...
turns into Gephart (1.4)
L on Mud Level (1.5)
R on Duncan (1.4)
L on Newville/533 (0.1)
R on Foltz (1.0)
turns into Kline (1.5)
R on Walnut Bottom/174 (1.0)
L on Goodhart (0.9)
L on High (0.6)
FINISH AT MPH SIGN!

It's Official

Well, I got my racing license in the mail so now I am officially psyched to race. I am sure I am not the only one who is ready to get their competition on. Only two and a half weeks until Navy which I am down for participating in. Now if only I could get some training rides in outside instead of on the trainer. On the plus side I am getting in some good upper body workouts shoveling the driveway repeatedly. Even Lance does some upper body conditioning in the off season so I think it will only benefit my cycling performance.

Superb Snow Ride

I did a solid 1hr 45min ride today. I didn't get out the last two days due to the snow and I was in no mood to ride the trainer today. I felt really really good on the second part of the ride putting in some nice efforts. Like normal, I have some cool cell pictures of the roads and my ice covered bike. I'll put those up later today or tomorrow.

I've enjoyed reading everyone's goals and I think some people still need to share---- maybe? Mike, Cody, Kevin?

Go SAINTS!!!

Only 3 Riders Brave the Snow...

Well, it was a good TNR today. Brad, Chop, and I were the only ones to show up for a snowy ride. Due to time constraints we decided to have a short and pretty hard workout... The goal was the negative split 3 laps, which we did, and was quite fun. Too bad we didn't have a photographer (Jon) to take some snow pics.

february

If anyone is feeling down, depressed, disinterested, or discontent about the weather (and riding in this weather) I'd like to remind you of this:


Get excited. Spring is coming. And the more you ride now the more you'll enjoy your riding when it's warm.

And you've all got those awesome new jackets to wear. Which is awesome.

Yup. Awesome.

(For those that haven't picked up their jackets yet--Jimmy, Chris T. (who else?)--I've got them in my basement and they're not doing any good there. Come get yours and put it to use!)