Switch

So as you may have noticed, I have had a serious bout of the blahs. Not really interested in doing anything; much less training. And it has shown in my TT times. Redlight dropped me a line today saying essentially that he had caught the blahs as well. The good news for me is that I seem to be coming out of them.

So today I tried a little different warm up for the TT. I had Anne's truck so I was able to get a little more relaxed warm up. I didn't have to worry about my backpack or any of the other issues you have when you don't have a comfy car as your base. The end result is that I got a better warm up. It wasn't perfect though. I wasn't able to get my heart rate to nearly the level I had hoped. Additionally, while getting my handle bars put back into the right spot, I manage to fall off the bike while clipped in and gouged a couple canyons into the back of my right calf. The bike grease and the sweat combined in the wound to produce an angry, bloody cut that screamed at me. This was most likely a positive in that it provided a little anger to my ride.

When I launched, the wind was howling. The good news is that the rain had not come on in force; just a couple of "spritzings" along the course. The wind was so rough that in spots I would look up to find myself blown clear across the road and heading for the ditch. As luck would have it, the gale was in my face on the big climb. I was nearly in my lightest gear (2 up) on a climb that can easily be done in the big ring. Did I say the wind was howling?

The typically fast part of the course was relegated to medium gears and hard work downhill. When I got to the turn around, I had only been passed by the old guy. As I made my way out of the turn around I saw no less than 8 or 9 guys bearing down on me. They were coming so hard that I could feel the heat of the laser sights planted between my shoulders. Yet another reason to go HARD. I went so hard that only two of these dudes got me and that was about 2 miles from the finish.

In the end, I scored a nice 27:39? or so. I was pleased given the viciousness of the wind. I had to go immediately so Redlight was on his own. As I rolled out of the parking lot, in came the rain. Buckets of rain. Rain and cold like what I rode in last week. Speaking to Redlight, he described ride conditions very similar to mine from last week. He just didn't have the hail. I think he froze his tail off. I think he said his time was about 10 seconds faster than mine. I'm not sure how much time the rain cost him but I am pleased that my time is more in step with where I should have finished.

Either way, another great CCTT. I love this racing WAY better than the rec rides.

Are you kidding me???

This can't be right. What race would he do? In May? Screw LA, what about Danielson? Maybe he's coming back for a rematch with our very own Roodlicht.

SI.com - More Sports - Danielson�wins Tour de Georgia; Lance fifth - Sunday April 24, 2005 10:22PM: "Armstrong announced his retirement last Monday, hinting that the Tour de Georgia could be his last race in the United States. However, team officials said he probably will add another American race to his training schedule in May, most likely in Colorado."

Quite Time

While waiting for Roodlicht to finish his masterpiece on Wednesday, I spent some time chatting with the race organinizer, Beth Wrenn Estes. She is the president of the ACA and we should feel lucky to have her. At first I was eves dropping on her conversations with fellow ACA race organizers. They spent a lot of time talking about this great course and that great course; what they were going to do out this government agency etc, etc. Bottom line is that they are really into putting on exciting and fun races.

I told her about my "racing" experiences, or lack thereof. She pointed me to a series of 4 seminars that they are putting on at the Colorado Speedway with the goal being to help riders learn how to ride critieriums, in pelotons, sprints and all of the skills that you will need to race. Its only $30 to do this.

This conversation starting me pondering what I want to do on the bike. Right now, I am considering working solely on racing and blowing off "rec rides". This means no Triple but yes to the Bob Cook. For some reason, the Triple has lost its appeal. Maybe that is because I exercised the '03 deamon in '04. Maybe its, as Fab pointed out, I fall into the hyper competitive slot and they don't have a clock on the rec rides.

Eitherway, this is what is rolling around in my mind; plus how I might ride a little more aggressively at the CCTT. Thoughts, comments???

Off to the land of the ice and snow

Thanks to the kind folks Channel 7, we are able to look into the future of Denver's weather for a full seven days. Nevermind the fact that the weather casters have no clue what will happen in the next 6 hours, we are all comforted by this far reaching forecast.

It was their predictions that led Redlight and I to be concerned/excited about the prospects of today's TT at Cherry Creek. With Mike Nelson calling for a repeat blizzard, it looked like we might be riding in the crap again. The good news is that bad weather keeps the fast woosies home and allows my fat ass to scoop a few podium points.

On the drive in this morning I thought that maybe the forecast had been accurate. The skies were ugly and spitting rain. But, by the time I rolled out for lunch, I saw some blue and the temp was climbing. But, then again, who knows. I still have 3:30 until my start and anything can happen between then and now. The good news is that I think I might just be able to do better than last week.....At least if I don't, I'm gonna quit this miserable sport for good and take up something cool like knitting.

On another note, with my mother-in-law in town last weekend, she hosted me and the family to a nice lunch at Lansdown Arms. Pretty good food with marginal service. The coolest thing was the art located just out the front door of the place.

Below is a picture of Mary giving it a go. What do you think?

RED Letter Day

What a great start to the CCTT, '05 style. The short version is that I totally sucked, Redlight had a personal best.

Since our start times are about an hour apart, I got to the course early to get checked in and begin the warm up process. This was a little strange in that my support vehicle consisted of the backpack that I rode over with. But soon enough, Redlight rolled in with his 'burb and I was working to get the heart rate up.

Three pees coupled with a ridiculous level of nervousness, it was time for me to line up. As I sized up the competition, I asked the guy who starts right after me, "Are you fast?" Stunned by my question he replied,"Ugh, no not really." To this I couldn't help but say, "Well, I guess I'm gonna feel really bad if you pass me?" He was not really amuzed.

The race had a strong head wind from the east which put this in your face as you start and at the turn around at the back end of the course. It also meant that you had a nice tailwind on the home stretch.

After suffering like a dog, I put up a pathetic 28:15. I can only guess it was the lack of recent training and the 400 gallons of booze I felt complied to drink last Saturday night. I think I will join AA.

As for Redlight, the good fortune of our start times meant I was able to cheer his start and finish. I would like to think that contributed to his personal best 25:45.

As part of cheering, I was able to snap a couple photos of dude's start.





I was too busy screaming at the final straight to take any pictures. But trust me, dude was hammering. I knew going in the Redlight was gonna throw down a good time. But 25:45 with the wind was a really impressive ride. I wonder if he made it into the points?

Now, when you have set your personal best on this wicked course, you are allow to sport a wicked look. To wit, I submit the following for consideration:



Dude went so fast it sucked the hair out of his lid!

Well done my brother. But now I have a time that I can improve on while you have already done the best possible. No where but down hill for you Bro.

Snail Dik

Bring on the opposition

Four hours from now:

I will have a heart rate nearing 190 bpm and will be going faster than you (Redlight excepted).

I will have a song in my head, most likely "The Game" by Jurassic 5.

My neck will hurt from strain brought on by the weird angle imposed by TT positioning.

For the same reason, my butt wont even be on the seat and therefore not in any pain.

There will be sweat pouring out of me.

I will be pissed because the 65 year old just passed me.

I will be at the base of the one hill wondering if it is faster to stand or stay aero.

I will have a stripe of black staining the back of my jersey from all the water on the course.

You will be getting fat.

Snail Dik

Similar Experiences

As a few know, I had the pleasant experience of being stuck in LA when the cold winds of a snow storm blew into Denver. It started with a 5:30 am wakeup call from Anne where, I quote, "Greg, you've got a problem." Indeed, I have only been sleeping for 3 hours, my head hurts, I'm hung over and there is no way in hell that the skateboard that I drive is gonna navigate the ten feet of snow that Denver got.

So, after a couple hours of fanagling, shuttling from Burbank to LAX, I was on my way to Phoenix. I figured, closer to home and I could get back to Denver before Thursday (which is when the counter agent said she could get me there from Burbank). This is a photo of me in the Supershuttle on the way to LAX.



It looks startlingly like Hincapie on the pave of Northern France, but I assure you, this is me.

So, I have finally made it home. My fat ass is sufficiently covered in lard which is perfect for tomorrow's start to the CCTT. At least the sun will be shining and the temp will be pushing 70 degrees. Rock on brothers. I can hardly wait for the PAIN.

The one good thing is I can take out all of my weekend frustrations on the pedals.

Snail Dik

pavé

The other day Roodlicht and I got into a discussion about pavé and just what it is. We all know that several sections of pavé are included in this weekend's Paris-Rubaix race. In fact, the trophy for winning this race is a piece of pavé.

Being our resident euro, Redlight informed me that this stuff is brutal to ride. Your bike bounces all over the place, it slides, you puncture, its gritty. Apparently Redlight has ridden quite a bit of pavé when he lived in Belgium and a long section was right out his front door.

I dug up a photo from the net of one section from the Paris-Rubaix race.



Yikes. How would you like to go full bore over this? Can you imagine a full ride on this junk?

Supposedly the discovery Channel team has a new bike with a suspension system to even out the pounding. What is even more curious is that I read they might not even ride Paris-Rubaix this weekend. Something about the toll it might take on the team. Now that would be a drag.

As for me, I would love to take a run on pavé for one reason; to say that I have done it. Bob Roll recommend riding all of the pavé sections of Paris-Rubaix, just not all at once. Maybe someday.

Snail Dik

More Speculation

As rabid fans, it is always intriguing to speculate on what is going on with the "titans" of our sport. That being said, SI has an article today laying out the reasons that LA may bail on Pro Cycling after the Tour. In fact they reference a quote from Gazzetta.

SI.com - More Sports - Armstrong: Retirement is a possibility after Tour de France - Thursday April 7, 2005 1:10PM: "'Four more months and it's over ...,' the 33-year-old was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport."

Personally, I think if he does, Bob Roll might just kick his butt. Roll went on to a 10 year career on the Mountain bike Circuit. But then again, LA doesn't need the dough and Bobke did. The bigger question will be if OLN will still cover cycling once LA bails. If I were running the cycling section of OLN, I might be working hard on ways to make the sport more than just LA coverage. Get people interested in the other American riders; something to root for when LA is gone.

Drive By, Body Pierce

With such glorious weather and the daylight savings demons working to make longer days, I had to take a run at Monarch tonight. In so doing, I knew that I would be battling the white minivans in low light conditions.

With the blessing of my lovely wife, I launched at a little after 6 pm. What follows is the download from my watch. You will notice that lap two is timed from the stop sign at Saddle Ranch.


Lap Time Lap Time HR Max Avg Min Dist min/mile
1.0:01:17.3 0:01:17.3 150 148 128 117 0.3 6:44
2.0:59:56.3 0:58:39.0 176 182 174 144 19.7 4:47
3.1:01:03.5 0:01:07.2 148 173 162 148 0.3 5:25

Yeah baby.

So what's with the title? Our friend Beck was singing this song in my head as I ticked on the X1's.

Jib better start riding harder or he will never catch me.

Snail Dik

Who the heck is Jib???

Positively brilliant ride today. Me, Redlight and Jib (more on the new name later) tore into a 48 mile blast up to Cherry Creek this afternoon. It’s April 2 and we were granted a day of 65 degrees with a lot of wind. Aaaah, Spring time in the Rockies.

With so many miles ridden it is easy to get callous towards a meaningless early season ride. You might ask, “What is so special about miles 10,243 to 10,290?” To this I answer that there is uniqueness to each ride. Something that you can’t predict or even anticipate occurring usually does.

Today was no exception. It started like any other; Peacocks on the porch bitching about why they were going to suck today. “I’ve ridden hard the past 4 days and am gonna be terrible today” “I didn’t get any sleep” blah blah blah. In true Peacock fashion, Redlight’s wife witnessed it all.

Off we rode. The wind sucked and required more effort that I wanted to give. Along the way, Jib informed us that he had just received sponsorship from Hagen Daaz. Something about being a poster child for off-season blah and a need to fill oneself with lactose based carbs.

After dodging pissed Chevy drivers, wicked intersections and the usual spate of hateful minivan pilots, we rolled into the glorious track that is Cherry Creek. I’m not sure what happen to Jib at this point, but Redlight and I took to the aero-bars with the intent of crushing our legs across the TT course. With the head wind, this really, really hurt.

While I kept Redlight in sight, he clearly was stronger today. Even though I made a wrong turn, I think Redlight was 30 seconds faster across the course. More important were the improvements that we both made in dealing with the turn around. For those unfamiliar, the CCTT route turns around in a parking lot on the north end of the reservoir. No big deal except for the variable radius of the turn and the concern for sand somewhere in the turn around. Bottom line, you are not comfortable going full on in this weird turn.

At the end of the ride Redlight and I both did our obligatory turns of coughing our lungs out. I think that Jib was mildly amused. Seems that the aero position and self hatred produced a pace that Jib couldn’t hold for the whole course.

On the ride home we kept a very, very slow pace. It was somewhere on Dayton Drive while hiding from the wind that I realized that Jib’s ridiculously huge frame cuts all of the negative wind effects for those on his wheel. Dude is so big that he is like a sail on the Nina, Pinta or the Santa Maria; he is a Jib. As such, I hereby christen the old Hammerson the new Jib. I hope that you all enjoy his draft as much as I.

So the net of it all was an awesome 48 miles at 18.4 average pace. And while this may only be one little ride, I am left with the burning in my legs and the endorphins in my veins screaming that this was the greatest ride of all time. That is, until next time.

Snail Dik to you my friend.