Fisk Knob Time Trial

So, those of you on SLC have already read my race report, but today sucked. Winds were strong out of the east and temperatures were cold...like low 30s. Did not make for a wonderful day of time trialing.

There were quite a lot of people there that I knew. Tony, Mr. Wieczorek, Zach McBride, Taylor Birmann and Taylor's Dad. I jumped on the trainer earlier than normal, just to stay warm. Then McBride and Birmann went to pre-ride the course, I decided too as well. I met up with them while they were on their way back. As I turned around to catch up with them, I hit a wall of wind. That is when I knew it would not be a good day of racing. Tony and his Dad had been on their trainers this whole time and seemed ready to go. We all wanted to improve our time from last year. I was the only one who wouldnt make that goal.

Before long it was time to head to the start and by before long, I mean it came up quicker than I thought it would, so I had to rush to get everything set to race. In the rushing, I realized I forgot to put my heart rate monitor on. I had that realization as Zach McBride was taking off down the hill, 30 seconds before my start. Needless to say, I rode without it. Despite the wind, I really like this course. It's somewhat technical with two 180-degree turns, and four other 90-degree turns. It also has some nice rolling roads.

For the most part the course was dry, no ice and no big holes. The volenteers need a little work though. They assumed the riders knew where they were going and did not bother to direct them. Not such a problem, but I assume it messed a few people up. Also, the workers at the first and last corner need a LOT of work. They let a car go as I was approaching the first turn. This caused me to swing wide to avoid hitting it. On my way back, the same people were standing in the middle of the intersection, in the middle of my line. One of them was a Sherriff. I ended up yelling at them to move and came within inches of running over the officer and one of the volenteers....and still ended up on the shoulder.

When I got to the top of the knob, trying hard to keep the bike moving, I knew I knew I had not put in a great time. I felt strong on the way out, but not so much on the way back. Mentally I was pushing as hard as I could, but physically my legs would not respond. My final time was 45:33 a 22.9mph average which was 2 seconds slower than last year.

Despite my poor time, it was good enough for me to grab 2nd in the Men's 20-24 catagory. I actually beat Steven Howard from Bissell, who is a Cat I/II.

I hope to put in a good time at Willow, to show that I really am a decent time trialist haha.

MSU Road Race

FIRST RACE OF THE SEASON!!!!!

...and I finished dead last.

Today I woke up to my dogs fighting, I tried to break them up which resulted in my hand getting bit. With a bit of commotion we broke up the fight and put them in their crates. After that whole scene, I went to the kitchen and made me a sandwich, got a bananna and some sweetbread. After I ate I printed off the directions to the race, which was held in Mason, kitted up, packed the car and headed north on US-127.

After I registered and pinned my first bib number of the season, I warmed up and waited for staging. The course was boring for the most part. It was a flat 4.4 miles loop in the country with strong cross winds. The catch...1 mile of the loop was on a dirt/gravel road with some rough parts.

The race started at the beginning of the dirt section. Time across it, we went pretty easy, but once we hit pavement again, the pasce picked up. A few people tried to put in some attacks, untill one got away. It was three riders from Purdue, Marion, and somewhere else. Once the gap got up to one minute, we started pulling it back to make it easier to maintain. When we hit the dirt section again, I put in an attack hoping that the group would follow me to bring the gap down, but they didnt so I sat up. Once we hit the tarmac, the real chase started, we got them to about 25 seconds, which is where we wanted it. Then one Wisconsin rider decided to pull the breakaway back in, which encouraged more attacks.

On the next lap, number four of seven, we went into the dirt section prettty fast. So fast in fact, that I flatted. I was near the front, so I did my best to keep the bike upright while I waited for a dry(er) section of road to change my front wheel. I considered waiting for the real road before changing my wheel, hindsight I should have. Anyone that rides Speedplay pedals knows that dirt and snow in the cleats is a night mare. It took my a mile of hitting my shoes to dislodge all the dirt and clip in. By that point, I could not get back to the peloton. I chased for about 5 miles, got close...about 15 seconds off the back. Then my body shut down. I had chased so hard I could not get the the back of the group.

I ended up riding the last two laps solo. I finished about three minutes behind the group...in last place. Had I not flatted, I would have been fine. I was holding up great in the group and felt fine.

Tomorrow is the Fisk Knob Time Trial in Grand Rapids. I will head over there in the morning, my start time is 1:06pm. Tony and Mr. Wizcorek will be there as well. Hopfully all three of us can put in some nice times.

Windy Day

I would like to start this post by thanking Jamie Smith. I went to his blog this morning and checked out his latest post about music that gets stuck in his head. One of the songs on there was Istanbul (not constantinople) by We Might be Giants. Jamie said it was pretty catchy...and yes it is. The song has been stuck in my head since 8am, it is now 9:33pm.

Anyways....After class today I went to eat lunch, then I prepped the bike and kitted up for a 2 hour ride. I was headed to Saline to Darrell's house, then back here to campus. Having two races this weekend, MSU Road Race on Saturday and Fisk Knob TT on Sunday I left my road bike at home last weekend, and brought my TT bike up here for the week to test my new position.

On my way to Darrell's I was completely in a headwind. The wind was out of the southwest at 15-16mph, and Saline is convinently located southwest of EMU. I started out down Packard, turned left on Platt up to Ellsworth where I turned right. Rode down past the airport to Maple, took a left twords Saline. Made a few more turns and ended up at Ds house. The whole time I was only doing 16-17mph because of the wind.

Once at Darrell's, I went inside and talked to BB and his mother, refilled my bottle and looked through a VeloNews magazine while i waited for Darrell to finish getting ready. Once he was ready we took off into Saline. Darrell has some fun riding through little neighborhoods, so I just stuck to his wheel because I had no idea where we were going, all I know is we made a lot of turns. It wasn't so bad on the way back, Darrell was on a rest day and we had the wind to our back.

We made out way to Scio Church Road into downtown AA via 7th street. We topped out at 41mph on 7th by drafting off a Jeep. I kept my distance being on the TT bike. We made it to to top of sunrise hill(?) and flew down it into Wheeler Park. From there we rode up by the U of M hospital onto the Huron River Bike Path. When we got up to Dixboro Road, I headed back to campus while D turned around.

When I got back there were 4 other people in my room working on homework, so I sat on the ground with my laptop because Karl was using my desk. Now I am talking to people online considering going to sleep, even though I dont have class untill 2pm tomorrow. I will probably do an early morning ride tomorrow.

Start Times

Fisk Knob start times are out. My minute man is Steven Howard, a Cat1/2 with Priority Health. My 30 second mad is none other than Zach McBride. I am being chased by Chris Lett at 30 seconds, and Kip Miller at one minute.

Its Christmas in Spring

SOMETIMES I HATE MICHIGAN!!! I HATE SNOW!!!

Weird Wednesday

So today was interesting, starting with waking up at 6:30 because my Mom drove here. I rode with her to the airport where she had a flight to catch. I took the van back to campus because my brother Eric from Seattle flew in yesterday and took my Element.

Durring Anatomy and Physiology I thought I was going to get carpal tunnel from all the writing. We were scrambling to write down our review so we knew what was going to be on the upcomming exams. I admit it is difficult when the professer gives up four seconds to write down a word that take ten seconds to say.

On my way back to my dorm, I heard someone on a loud speaker. But I was too hungry to check it out. While at lunch my roomate met up with me, sat down and said "We have upwards of seventy-five cans of Vault in our room." Yes the energy drink. Apparently they were giving out the pop by the cases, I guess thats what the loud speaker was for.

When we finished eating, we went to the room to count. In our original count we ended up with eighty-two. But as we realized we cannot count, we ended up with less. So if someone is really bored and wants to count, I would be glad to know how many are in the picture.

After the can extraveganza there was a small mid-day party here in room 2 Downing. There were about eight or nine people in here, three of us blairing music from our computers. We all hung out for a while. As people left, I kitted up to go ride. Before I headed out, I had been talking to someone online that I wont mention here, but I left for my ride pretty upset.

It is rare that I open up and get personal on my blog. But one of the reasons I ride, and I assume it is the same for a lot of people, is to ride my pain and fears away. The bike is one of three places I feel at peace. I can just let everything go. I can let my feelings and emotions run. I use riding to think, get perspective, rationalize, and let anger out. I also use my bike to rip legs off in competition...which is always fun!

Well today on my ride, I rode to Saline via Michigan Ave...stupid idea, lots of traffic. Then I ended up at Runway Plaza on State Rd....another stupid idea, no shoulder. From there it was back to Ypsi down Ellsworth....not so bad. The thing about these roads are that I KNOW they are dangerous, but I was so upset I just didnt care. Needless to say I wont do that again. But at the time I didn't care that I was nearly run off the road by a semi truck.

But it was somewhere down Packard that I had let my emotion go and was feeling a lot better. So I am sorry if I scared a few people today by riding those very dangerous roads. Won't happen again.

In other news, I had ordered some bike name stickers from Victory Circle Graphix, and they arrived today. I put one on my Look, this weekend I am going to put one on my Giant and my TT helmet, leaving me eight for other bikes. They are glossy, so my flash reflected no matter what I tried, and it was too dark without it. But I am sure Doug can find something to complain about. haha.

Sunday Ride

Ok, so I know its Wednesday, and I have another post comming in like 10 minutes, but I thought I would mention my ride on Sunday.

So I woke up and because we were suppose to ride outside with the Juniors and do skill drills, I kitted up and rode over to Great Lakes Cycling and Fitness on the west side of Ann Arbor. I met up with Mark Lovejoy and we headed out to meet up with the AAVC ride because no Juniors showed up.

On our way we met up with the Vermulans, who were running a bit late. Mark and I turned around and rode back to the parking lot to find Alexy all dressed up for the weather and ready to ride. We all headed out to Zeeb, down to HRD, then back via Maple(?)

After Alexy got picked up, Mark and I rode down Liberty to a circuit we are going to use for a top secret mission. That mission will be discussed at a further date...not really that secret.

Then I headed back to campus after around three hours of riding in the cold.

Sorry this post was really dry. I typed up a really nice long one yesterday but I lost internet as I went to post.

That evening I met up with some of the Junior Development group and we discussed training plans and options for the Juniors this season.

Spring Meeting

After the beautiful da we had yesterday that involved a short hour and a half light ride, I got some rest for the South Lyon Cycle Team spring team meeting.

Most of the team met up in South Lyon at the South Lyon Hotel. A few guys couldn't make it due to work, travel or they were like Doug and just forgot. I mean come on Doug, you signed up that you were going to come, and didnt show up. Anyways....after we had pizza and talked about the team guidelines, we had a raffle and some people got some free stuff including socks, bottles, and musette bags.

Once that was over, we passed out clothing and those of us that were new got our mug...I mean profile shots taken for the website. (Thanks Eric for taking over website duties) After we snapped a few pictures, we got suited up and met in the parking lot for the team ride. A few guys like Craig, Darrell and Stephen went home, but there were a good number of us that stayed to ride.

We stopped by the bike shop that sponsors us on our way out of town. We took a picture of the team members on the ride in front of the South Lyon Cycle sign. From there it was off to Kensington. The ride was led by Rob Iser, who is a strong rider. A few of us were feeling the pain early on in the ride, but it settled down for a while. While at Kensington we tried to murder each other on the hills. I had already done 3 hard rides in 4 days, this making it 4 hard rides in 5 days, I was in pain way early on, and finished near the back on all the climbs, odd for someone that considers themself a climber.

On the ride back, I sat behind John and Eric most of the time, the wind was at our back so we flew along pretty nicely. Once we got back to the parking lot, we sat around and talked for a while. Then we packed up and left.

It was fun to meet the team and ride with them. Hopefully the next time we ride, I will be in better form and show that I belong on the team. Its going to be a fun season!

Here is a video Joe shot at Kensington.

Group Ride

So yesterday around 5:15pm I slid the bike in my car and drove over to Barton Dam. It was time for the first real group ride of the season. Darrell, James, James, DMO, Chris, Greg, Rich, Eric and me headed out down Huron River Drive to Dexter to Dexter Town Hall Road to North T. Then we turned around and headed back.

On our way to Dexter, Bike Boy lost a bottle, and Darrell stopped to retrieve it. As we were slowing down to wait, "A Ten" got a flat. Darrell remained with him and helped him repair it. The rest of us rode up to Zeeb and back while we waited for them. From then on, it was pretty low key for mechanicals.

Near the end of HRD is where the attacks started comming. This was SUPPOSE to be an easy ride, but as we all know, that never happens. Once we got through Dexter and out into the country, more attacks and higher paces were being thrown out there. Ive been a little behind in training, so it hurt a lot. At one point i was sitting third behind Eric and Greg, I turned around to see who was on my wheel, and everyone else has sat up, so I did too and let the other two battle it out.

The ride back was pretty light. There was one last sprint between James Knight and myself to the Dexter tunnel, but after that we all let up. I rode next to Rich most of the way back, telling stories of racing and crashing. We did our best to avoid the craters that are on HRD, its seriously worse than d'Arenberg forest....ok not really.

When we got to that second and last steeper little climb on HRD, my quads had had it and called it quits. I had to sit up and watch everyone just continue down the road without me. I rode the last 4-5 miles nice a light, around 17-19mph. When I got back to the parking lot, most of the guys had gotten the bikes in the cars and were changing. I loaded up my bike, changed into my thermal jacket and ate a Clif Bar. "A Ten" (yes im trying to make the nickname stick, we have BB, Ace, and Pothole. Now we have "A Ten") asked me for a ride, and I gave him one back to his appt.

Sitting here, my quads are just exausted. It is a really nice day out, so I might go do a light ride. Tomorrow I have the spring SLC team meeting. New uniforms and a group ride. Hopefully I wil feel better tomorrow. I will have my camera so there will be pictures from the team meeting. Later!

Picture

Here you go Doug. This is me going for my ride today.

Bad Day

Comment War

Everyone go to Bike Boy's website and leave a comment with everyone else on the post titled "update". We are trying to reach 100!

Nothing to Report

Sitting here in my drom after spending the weekend at home. I went home because it was my freinds birthday, and Cat was performing at the MSBOA Band Festival.

Came back last night and woke up this morning to discover our ride was cancelled.

Brother from Houghton is going to be here tomorrow with his wife and the family is going out for dinner.

School tomorrow. Only a month and a half left.

New uniforms in, possible team party this weekend.

Belgian Training Ride

Ok, so around 2:30 I decided it wasnt really raining, nor was it going to rain bery hard. So I kitted up, jumped on the bike and headed outside. As I sit here, wringing water out of clothing, stuffing newspaper in my shoes to dry them out and hanging jerseys and shorts where they can dry, I decided...

Hands down...GREATEST TRAINING RIDE EVER!

There was something about the strong winds and the rain that just felt awesome to ride in. I got in a few intevals as I powered down the Huron River Bike Trail and some of the Ann Arbor streets to Barton Park and back. I was over 20mph pretty much the whole time, with exeptions to sharp corners and intersections. I even got up to 31mph.

All in all it was an awesome training ride. I am really psyched now to race. I was kinda getting down about racing....but not anymore.

On a different note: On my way back to Eastern, I saw a young couple embraced tightly kissing each other with a look of pure joy in their eyes. It was when I rode a few feet farther I discovered why. On the guys truck, taped to the cab were four poasterboards that read "Will" "you" "marry" "me?" I thought it was really cool.

Monday ride

Well i was about to gear up and head outside, because the temps were in the high 40s, low 50s. But as I sat down at my computer after lunch, i pulled up the weather, and the rain front was just hitting Chelsea. i was intending on riding to Dexter and back, but i will wait and see what time it is when the rain is done(though after the front passes, its going to be cold.) But i will probably end up on the trainer again today.