Bloomer XC - 2008

I got my first race of the season out of the way on Sunday, the Bloomer Park Cross Country race. I had a bad feeling going into it, basically because I knew it was going to hurt. My strategy for this race was to bury it at the start and ride with the leaders until I couldn't anymore. It's a hard way to go, but I usually get better results with this method.

I lined up in the second row, behind some Sport 19-29 guys. At the whistle, the two guys in front of me went out really fast, and I went right with them. The course starts out through some fields and wide open trail before it goes to singletrack. This year, the sledding hill was not part of the course, so there weren't any trail features to string the pack out before we hit the singletrack. I found out later that somebody locked up his brakes in the field section (!?!?) and that did spread the group out a little as people were trying to avoid him. I did wonder at the time why no one was coming around me; I'm not usually that fast at the start.

Anyway, it didn't take me too long before I realized that I'd probably gone out too hard. It was pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to keep up with the first two 20 year-olds. I kept my position through the first section of singletrack, which had a decent little climb, but I started dropping back after that.

From then on, I just kept plugging away (and hoping for a mechanical to put me out of my misery). I felt pretty bad for most of the race, but I rode OK. My technical skills have definitely improved. Last year, there were some sections of this trail that tripped me up, but I didn't have any real problems this year. I did crash once on my last lap. My front tire just washed out in a sandy corner and down I went.

From about the halfway point until the end, I was basically riding with just one other guy. I wasn't sure if he was in my age group or not, but I decided to assume that he was to make sure I kept going hard enough. He was a little quicker on the tight singletrack, but I was faster on the climbs and open sections, so we kept switching positions. As we were heading back to the cricket field for the finish, I put in a last gasp effort and dropped him. (I talked to him after the race, and, no, he wasn't in my age group.)

I ended up finishing 4th out of 11. I was really shocked by the result. For as bad as I felt during the race, I expected my result to be a lot worse. That being said, I wasn't very close to the 3rd place rider; I was almost 6 minutes back! There was a decent gap behind me, another 3 minutes or so to the 5th place guy. I suppose it was a good race, given my current fitness and that it was only my 4th time out on a trail this year.

(Photo from John O's blog.)

Training Post-Baby

This week is a rest week for me. Usually, by Thursday, I'm feeling pretty rested, but it's not the case this week. I really thought I'd be able to sleep a little more than I have. The baby, of course, is part of the reason I'm not sleeping, but Sarah takes care of so much of the night duty during the week, I can't say that that's really the reason.

I've generally been able to make time to ride or do some other exercise at night and on the weekends. It's meant a few later nights than I'd like, but I've been able to do it. What's been getting at me lately is also practicing my trumpet. A friend of mine at work set up a gig and assumed that I would be able to play. He's really counting on me to show up (and play halfway decently), so I feel like I can't let him down. So, I've got to keep practicing for another week and a half. Once that's over, things should get a little easier.

I've done just a little riding so far this week. I went out for about an hour last night on my 'cross bike to Waterford Oaks and rode on some of the trails. They're not too technical, but, on a 'cross bike, they're pretty fun. It would be a good place for a 'cross specific workout once Fall rolls around.

Up A Notch

I wound up kicking things up a notch in my training this weekend. Friday night, I went on a ~3 hour mountain bike ride with Brad. We didn't push too hard, but my legs were dead by the end. He lives at the top of a long steep hill, which would be bad enough, but the dirt road was badly washboarded, so you couldn't keep any momentum. It ended up being a brutal way to end the ride. It's good for me to follow Brad around on the trails too. He's much smoother on the singletrack than I am.

I just did a pretty easy ~1 hour ride on Saturday to keep the legs loose.

Sunday night I started hockey with the new group. These guys were definitely a notch (or two) better than my Winter group. Basically, the group consisted of the better players from my Winter group, plus a bunch more that were as good or better. We had 4 guys on the bench, and we went hard the whole time. It will definitely be a good group for me to skate with.

Maiden Voyage

Yesterday I took my new (tubeless) wheels out for their maiden voyage on the trails. I guess I was sort of expecting to feel a huge difference from the tubed setup, but I didn't really. Maybe I would have noticed it if I'd already been riding the trails a lot and then switched, as it was, this was also my first trail ride of the year. Everything went off smoothly though, I ran the tires at 25 psi, and I hadn't lost any pressure by the end of the ride. Grip was probably better than with the tubed setup (where I ran higher pressures). I didn't notice rolling resistance being especially low, but I might have if I could have made a better back-to-back comparison.

Anyway, for a first ride on the trail, I actually felt really good. The first few minutes weren't great, but I got comfortable pretty fast. I think working on all of the balance stuff over the Winter really helped. I rode all of PLRA without having to dab, which I think is pretty good for a first ride.

By the end of the ride, I did feel like the rear tire was a little squirmy. I think I will try bumping up the rear tire pressure just a few psi and see if that takes care of the problem.

It looks like I'll be playing hockey a little more this Spring. The group I played with this Winter had our last skate on Sunday night. On Tuesday, a guy from the group emailed me to see if I wanted to play with a group this Spring. Since my racing schedule is pretty light this Spring, I decided to go ahead and do it. So, hockey resumes for me this Sunday night again.

Rhino Pacing

I ended up going out to the track last night for the club road workout. I hadn't originally planned to do it; they were predicting heavy rain earlier in the day. It turned out that the storm blew North of us, and since I'll be watching the baby tonight and tomorrow night, I figured that this was my chance to get out and ride.

We had a big turnout, maybe 30 people or so. This was the second week at the track, but the weather was miserable last week so only a handful of people showed up. Lots of new faces too.

We spent the first part of the night just working on getting comfortable riding in the group. My group riding skills could still use some work, but I'm definitely getting better at this. Then we spent the last hour basically riding tempo around the track. A few of the stronger riders (or those who thought they were strong) rotated up front and the rest of us just sat in behind them (thus, "Rhino pacing"). I felt pretty good doing this until the last 10 minutes or so. Not too bad considering how long I'd been sick.

While riding in line, I had the thought that this kind of riding is probably why the better 'cross racers usually come from the road side rather than the mountain side (Simon Burney makes this statement, but doesn't explain it, in his book, Cyclocross). Even though you definitely have some hard bursts in a 'cross race, the effort is generally fairly steady. So, it's more similar to the road rather than the trail. Maybe this is something I need to think about in terms of training as 'cross season gets closer?

I'm not sure how the rest of the week will go for me. Sarah is going to go to the rink for a while tonight and tomorrow night, so I'll be watching the baby (so, no riding outside). Friday is open, but the weather forecast doesn't look good for Friday (or the rest of the weekend). The last race of the Rhino Spring Training series is Saturday, I'd like to do the B race, but Sarah is supposed to be at the rink at the same time; I could do the C race, but I don't know if it's worth it. Sunday is the first mountain bike race of the year; I'd like to do this also, but I still haven't ridden on the trail yet this year, so maybe it's not such a hot idea.

Riding Again

I'm 95% over my cold now, and I actually started riding again on Friday. The weather was pretty crummy on Friday, so I rode the trainer. I mainly worked on pedaling technique drills. The first few minutes were a big shock to the system, but I felt OK by the end.

Saturday morning, I went over to the track to watch some of the spring training races my club puts on. It was nice to see some of the guys, and the "B" race in particular was pretty entertaining to watch. We had 3 Rhinos in a 5-man break, and somehow managed to finish 3,4, and 5. That's how it goes I guess. Saturday was really nice in terms of weather, but it was almost dark by the time I was ready to ride, so it was back on the trainer again.

Yesterday, I rode outside around noon. I did the route from my house through Pontiac Lake State Park to Indian Springs and back. I ran into a couple guys from the mountain bike team at PLRA, so I stopped and talked for a few minutes. They said that the trail was muddy, but not too bad. If we get decent weather this week, it should be OK for the race next weekend. (I'm going back and forth about doing that race, it will really depend on how this week goes.) I ran into some more guys from the club at Indian Springs, but they were on the bike path and I was on the road going the other way, so we didn't talk. Anyway, it was a good ride.

I played hockey again last night, next week is our last skate. Since I hadn't played in 2 weeks, it took me a while to get going, but I felt like I played OK. I was on the same team with the best player in our group. After watching him a bit, I realized that the main difference between him and the rest of us is that all of his fundamentals are better. He's a better skater, stickhandler, passer, shooter, etc. than the rest of us, and when you put that all together, he's a much better player than the rest of us.

Training Reset

I went back to work yesterday. It was definitely a shock to the system; I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day. I'm feeling much better now, but I'm still a little sick. I took a nap for about an hour when I got home, and I got to bed at a pretty decent time last night. I feel like I'm really close to getting rid of this cold now.

I'm going to have to figure out what to do with my training; I've missed about 2 weeks with this cold and the baby. My original plan called for a rest week next week and then moving on to the Build phase. I'm definitely not ready for that right now, so I'll probably start over at Base 3 and see how that ripples down to my races.

Brief Update

So, it's been a while since I've updated this blog. "Real life" has been very busy. I went to the hospital late Sunday night with my wife, and on Monday afternoon, our daughter was born. It's been wonderful so far, but very tiring. I'm still a little sick (due, in large part, to not sleeping anywhere close to enough) and I haven't thought much about riding.


I go back to work later next week, so maybe I'll be able to start re-establishing what is normal, and try to figure out how to fit cycling in with that. In the meantime, I'm trying to get healthy and I'm honing my diaper changing technique.

Tire Lab

So, I'm still a little sick. I was feeling better yesterday and got on the trainer for about an hour for an easy ride; I think maybe that was a mistake. I felt worse this morning. So, I took things pretty easy today; even though I'm feeling better now, I decided not to ride at all. I did get out and shovel a little bit though... I can't believe it snowed again!

What I've spent most of the past couple days working on is getting my tires sealed up with the Stans Notubes system. I bought some new wheels from Stans: ZTR Olympic rims and Hope Pro II hubs. I'm using my Kenda Nevegal tires from last year. There are better race tires out there, but the Nevegal is a good tire, and, as it turns out, I think it was smart to start out with Stans on a used tire. I'm just using the yellow tape and sealant... no special rimstrip.

The first step in setting the tire up is to inflate it with just soapy water to help things seal. I spent about half an hour trying to figure this out with the first tire. This is where using a used tire helps, since the bead is already basically the right shape. The devil is in the details here; watching the video on Stans website really helped. I eventually got it (with a floor pump)... it was pretty cool when it finally sealed, you could hear the soap bubbles snapping and the tire actually held air for a little while. (Like I said, technique matters, I inflated the second tire on my first try.)

The next step is to add the Stans sealant and shake it around to seal any pinholes and around the bead. Again, used tires help here because most of the pinholes have already opened up. This is where Kenda's are a pain though, because their beads are notoriously hard to seal. It took me about two days to get them sealed, but I think I've got it now. Both tires held their air overnight last night, and the "soap test" doesn't show any foam. The picture below shows a soaped up tire during the sealing process, you can see the foam from a bead leak on the lower left.

I'll probably take the tires out for a little spin on the road before I hit the trail, but I expect everything to stay sealed up now. I was also originally concerned about the tires blowing off the rim on a tubeless setup, but now that I've worked with it a little, I feel pretty confident that the tire will stay on the rim.

Setback

It looks like I'll suffer a little setback in training this week. I woke up this morning (actually, in the middle of the night) with a pretty bad sore throat. We'll see how it plays out, but I expect I'll get more sick before I get better. So, I'll try to follow my usual plan of sleeping a lot and not working out until I get better. It's hard on the ego, but I think I get better faster that way. (I also need to get feeling better before the baby comes!)

I don't even have to look back at my training log to know what happened. I strung together too many days of not sleeping enough, having stressful days at work, and following my training plan as-written. I can do that for a while, but eventually, my body decides it's time for some enforced rest.

Training Volume

Sunday was a good day for training volume. I went to the group ride at Indian Springs and rode for about 2.5 hours. It's normally a pretty boring loop, but if you've got 10 people or so to ride with, the time passes pretty fast. We kept the pace very relaxed... 15mph or so.

I played hockey again on Sunday night. I was much sharper this week than I was last week, but I ended up playing more defense than I'd prefer. I got my lone goal of the night on defense though... a piddly slapshot from the point that stayed on the ice and somehow found its way in. Only three more skates left and we're done for the season.

Base 2 Test

After sleeping in until 10am this morning (!), I did my LT field test on the trainer. It was a very good effort today, and I ended up averaging 256W. That's a nice improvement over the 243W I did last month, and, in fact, it's a new personal best!

So, the training has definitely gone well over the Winter. I still expect to be a little slow for the first few races of the season, but my focus is really on races in the Summer and Fall.

I've also gained a few pounds since last year, so my power to weight ratio isn't changing much, but absolute power is still heading up. For the races around here, I think that's just fine. I'm going to post more on that some other time though.

Riding Outside!

I've actually been riding outside for the past couple of days! It's still fairly cold (especially on a bike), but bearable if you're bundled up. The roads are mostly snow free; just a little bit on some of the rarely-frequented back roads. The worst of it was actually dodging all the potholes that have sprung up over the winter. Anyway, it's been nice to get outside.

The Sunday Skate

I played hockey again Sunday night. I had missed the week before, and I could really tell last night. My skating and puck-handling weren't very good at first and my decision-making process was slow all night. I blew a couple beautiful chances in front of the net... hopefully next week will be better. Just about all of our "high-energy" players were there though, so the game was (relatively) fast the whole night, which is always good.

I spent some time this weekend working on my bikes. I'm just going through everything, making sure bolts are tight, parts aren't worn, etc. My fork came back from Push Industries. I haven't had a chance to ride it yet (or even put it back on the bike), but I'll be interested to see how it feels.

I've got some races coming up pretty soon. The Rhinos host a spring training (road race) series that I'll probably do (pending arrival of the baby), which starts March 29. Then, the first mountain bike race I had planned for the year (Pontiac Lake TT) is April 13. Given the winter we've had, I'm not convinced that the trail will be ready by the 13th though.

I'm not really going to be primed for any of these races; I'll be starting my Base 3 phase next week. I'll basically just treat the races as hard workouts; they're a good opportunity to remind the body what a race effort feels like after the off-season. I'll also get a chance to see what kind of shape my competitors are in. ;)

Trainer Burnout

I did some long trainer rides earlier this week. About an hour and 45 minutes both Tuesday and Wednesday. I was going to try to ride outside this weekend, but they're predicting a snowstorm for Saturday, so I'll likely be inside then too. My trainer rides this week were good rides, particularly my tempo ride on Wednesday, but I decided I couldn't take another trainer ride tonight.

So, I went out for a little run instead. It ended up being just OK. The roads were still a little snowy and icy; I decided to walk up one road that was completely ice-covered. It had been about 3 weeks since I'd run last time, so it was a little rough. Anyway, it was better than the trainer.

POTATOES Update

I haven't posted much about the 2008 POTATOES challenge that me, my dad and my uncle are doing this year. We keep a log of trainer mileage on Google Docs; this year's "route" goes from Pentwater, MI to Murfreesboro, TN. I finally updated the spreadsheet with most of my February mileage tonight.

It looks like the field in the POTATOES challenge has been shattered! We're spread across 3 states! My uncle is still in Michigan... maybe he had a mechanical? Dad is crushing the field, he's just crossed into Kentucky. Looks like my detour to Rhode Island cost me, as I'm now floundering around in the middle, not quite to Indianapolis.

I don't think I'll be able to catch Dad. In fact, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to Mufreesboro by the end of the month... I've still got 360 miles to go.

No Ride

I went out to Stony Creek this morning for the ride. Yeah, it was a little cold, and yeah, we got some snow last night, but I figured the roads would be clear... I was wrong. Driving over, the roads weren't too bad (except in my neighborhood, of course), but the park roads were all snow covered. I decided that a ride would end badly, so I headed back home. I ran into Curt out there; he was thinking basically the same thing as me.

Anyway, I rode the trainer at home for a couple hours. Not too fun, but racing starts in a little over a month, so what can you do?

Working Base 2

“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
- Vince Lombardi

Definitely a busy week for me this past week. I've been working a little late most days, so I haven't had time to do much else besides the usual eat-sleep-train. It's been a good training week though. I'm feeling good on the bike and strong off the bike.

Before my ride on Wednesday, I discovered that the saddle on my trainer bike was a little low. I was playing with my saddle tilt a few weeks ago, so maybe I effectively lowered the saddle when I dropped the nose a little. Anyway, it felt much better in the correct position.

There's a group that rides the road out at Stony Creek on Saturday mornings; I'll probably join them unless the weather is just terrible. I need to start riding outside, but the weather just hasn't cooperated much this winter. Sometimes the pace of this ride gets a little too high, but it should be cold enough tomorrow that the group won't be feeling too frisky.

Rhode Island Pictures

(Very) random pictures from Rhode Island...

The Weekenders

We made it back from Rhode Island yesterday; still just two of us, so it was a success. Sarah's teams did well at the competition. Both of the teams she coaches took 2nd place in their division. The other teams from the club took 2nd and 5th. In general, the teams did better than expected.

I took about a 2 hour nap yesterday afternoon when I got home. Being around the kids and parents and skating for so long wiped me out! (My 30 minute nap after work today also turned into a 2 hour nap!)

We finally had good numbers again at hockey last night. It had been about 3 weeks with only 1 or 2 guys on the bench; last night we had 5. As a result, the pace stayed pretty high until the last 10 minutes or so. The guy that runs the skate had a little extra money left over, so he got everyone jerseys. They're nice quality jerseys, but I'm not sure what I think about the color.

On Saturday morning, I ran the stairs in the hotel for a while. It was a pretty decent little workout; There ended up being 7 flights of stairs if you went all the way down to the basement. My calves have been sore ever since though. Hopefully, they'll get feeling better tomorrow.