Rest, rest, and more rest

It turns out that sometimes you just have to. I took some time to analyze my stellar SDSR weekend and actually do some minor research on cycling. Up till now, I practiced the Eddy Mercx school of training: "Ride lots." ... with "lots" being a realtive term. I suppose it is more accuately "lots given available time after working and taking care of family responsibilities." Just like Eddy did with Axel, I'm sure.

Anyhow, I digress. My curiosity got the best of me and I did some reading. In my searching, I came across a couple articles on overtraining. Could that be my problem? Always tired and lethargic? Check. Trouble sleeping? Check. Feeling of no power? Check. Poor recovery? Check.

It turns out that even though I wasn't riding Mercxesque hours, I was overdoing it a bit on intensity. Between not having actually "trained" for the last eight years and not being 24 anymore, my body revolted against the workload. So, I took last week VERY easy. Only 4 days on the bike, no rides longer than two hours, and minimal intensity. We'll see how the body responds. I'm sleeping well, no longer lethargic, and itching to ride. Hopefully the rain holds off so I can hit the road tomorrow after work. I love daylight savings.

The great big SDSR Turd

Well, that sure was craptastic.

I was looking forward to San Dimas. I had it targeted on my calendar. I thought I had prepared well for it. Usually, I can climb. I sucked.

Let's start with the time trial. The week before, my team went up for a little recon on the hill. I posted a time of 14:15 from the gate to the finish. Add a mintue to that for the stretch from the start to the gate, and I could have conceivably finished with a time right around 15 minutes. That would have put me in a solid top 20 spot heading into a road race made for riders like me.

On race day, I got a good warm up - not that it was too difficult given the 90 degree weather that greeted us as start time neared. I got to the line a minute or so prior to my start time ready to go. When I got the word to ride, I took off fast. Maybe a bit too fast. Halfway up the climb, right after catching my 30 second guy, I could feel my legs and lungs start to complain. Not long after, the nuclear bomb exploded. Women and children ran. DEFCON 4 was reached. Threat level orange. Bicycle speed decreased. Severely. I struggled up the climb for a finish of 16:24. Bleh. The email from our team's sponsor that asked "What happened to you today?" didn't help to ease the pain.

So, after the stellar performance Friday, all we had left to do was go for stage wins in the road race and crit. I hooked up with Mark before the race and discussed possible taking a go of it and trying to turn the race into something other than a 80 man field sprint. It was a great idea. Would have worked too, if my legs weren't heavier than they were the day before. The race hurt way more than it should have. I led out our guy for the green jersey in the first hot spot, and it took me the entire lap to recover after. I sat in for a couple laps, and then tried to pull our KOM hope up the climb to get some points. That effor did me in. I sucked wind the rest of the race until the final climb, when A-bomb #2 for the weekend hit. I rolled in a minute after the leaders.

Sunday was more of the same. Legs felt great at the start - at least better than they rightly should have given the performance of the prior two days. Then, in the first points sprint of the day, some guy clips a pedal and takes me down with him. I came down awkward on my shoulder, which was sore the rest of the race. After getting pushed back in, it was hard to get out of the saddle. That relegated me to just riding around in circles for the rest of the day. At least we had Tommy roll home second to a way-too-fast-for-a-seventeen-year-old Justin Williams. So the weekend wasn't a total waste for the team. Just for me.

Thus, I came home, took a huge dump, named it SDSR, flushed it, and started to get ready for Indio in 2 weeks. So much for this weekend.

Sometimes the stars don't align

My employer has now blocked blogger.com, which makes my posting a much more difficult thing. When I was bored at work, it was easy to post. When I get home, the last thing I want to do is stare at a computer screen some more. Anyhow, Sunday was crit day.

I thought that a crit with only 65 guys and all the big names up in Merced would be easy. Turns out I was wrong. With only 65 guys, there's no place to hide when you need a rest. Did the 100k CBR crit in Dominquez Hills. 69 laps. 276 corners. I was solo this weekend with the rest of my team up in Merced, as I couldn't get the hall pass from the wife. For the first half of the race, I Bettini'd it - just sat in the back and rested. A sizable break went and got almost 30 seconds on us, but we eventually reeled them back in.

Once they came back, I knew the attacks would come fast and furious, so I made my way to the front. And come they did. I went with a couple of them, only to have them promptly reeled back. As soon as any attack was brought back, a counter would go. After one of the weak moves I was in was pulled back, a group of ten with Ben Brooks of the Navigators rolled off the front, never to be seen again - that is, until they came around and lapped us.

Chase groups formed and were again routinely brought back. Eventually a group of eight that did not include me - again - got a good gap and also lapped us. That made a total of eighteen riders a lap up on the rest of the field, which was quickly dwindling from attrition. Seeing as paid places only went 10 deep and there were not enough laps left to get another group around (as if anyone would let it once the 18 reintegrated), I decided to just go for any preems that came up.

In the first 25 laps of the race, we must have had 5 preems. In the last 25 laps - when that was all that was left for me - there was one. And now I am the proud owner of a tub of Clif Shot recovery drink. Two and a half hours of crit racing and I come home with recovery drink. Poetic justic, I suppose.

This weekend is off for us, and the San Dimas Stage Race is the weekend after. I can't wait for that one - climbing and a day off work to race. Double bonus for me!

Fast!

Yeah, it's been a while. Between work and life, the old, fat, and slow blog has taken back stage. Such is life.

Anyhow, today was the Long Beach Circuit Race, which finished prior to the real pro's racing the last stage of the Tour of California. In my time on the bike, I've been in a lot of bike races - this was one of the fastest. We went fast from the gun and only slowed down when we were neutralized so we didn't catch the 3s on their finish.

A couple stupid crashes nonwithstanding, it was a pretty quiet race. Attacks here and there, weak attempts to block (us included) here and there, and a field sprint at the finish. The sprint was a bit out of control, but nobody crashed. I butted my way into the Successful Living train coming out of the last corner, only to see trains come up either side of us, and push us back. I incorrectly though being in the middle of 6 guys paid to ride would prevent such events. Oh well.

Then all heck broke loose. First, a flat along the left side pushed the group to the right. Then a broken spoke to the left pushed us even further right. I saw an opening right past broken spoke guy and jumped into it. So did a 5 star fish rider and a Successful Living rider, however. Being half a wheel ahead of me, they cut over to the left, forcing me to do the same. I grazed the bars of a guy who had sat up (who had words for me after - listen, dude, if it weren't for me punching it, we would have hit bar to bar at 35 and both would have gone down, so chill - don't sit up in a sprint) and found a teammate in full sprint. Sitting on his wheel pulled me up into the top 20. Unfortunatley, they paid only to 15th. So, after 90 minutes and 42 miles, I came away with nothing but a fast day in the saddle.

When it was all said and done, Emile Abraham from Priority Health won, after unsuccessfully trying to crash about half the field.

Such is local bike racing. On to next week!

Just cause I haven't in a while

I haven't posted a ride from my trusty Garmin in a while, so here's today's ride. Wasn't wearing the HR strap, so that data is missing. Enjoy.

Anna Nicole

So, Anna Nicole Smith died. Honestly, I don't know why I'm even posting about it. I don't know why anyone even cares. I guess it's a commentary on our society that it's a big deal when someone like this (insert your own opinion) dies.

What did she do in life? Well, she posed for Playboy. She was the poster-child for gold digging by marrying and 80-something billionaire in her twenties. She starred in a reality show. She was high/drunk/trashed/etc. on TV many times. And for this, she was famous and rich. I guess my point (if any) is: next time you see a cop, firefighter, or teacher, think of their annual income versus someone like Anna Nicole, and then thank them for what they do.

"Wanna do it? Good luck, man."

I don't think I'd mess with Laraque. Check out how he invites the fight... about 45 seconds into the vid.

Woo hoo!

Finally, after 9 years of getting fat... a result! Rolled home with a nice 3rd place finish yesterday.

After starting the race riding slower than I can ever remember racing (nobody wanted to work in the brutal wind), I finally found myself in a five man break that managed to stay off for the third of three laps. Thanks to some great work by a teammate disrupting chases, interferring in pace lines, and being a general nuisance to the main field, we in the break were set for the final climb to the finish.

At this point, I was pretty cooked. I had initiated the break and was solo for a good half lap before I caught the one guy up the road and was joined by a couple guys who had bridged. At the base of the climb, we managed to shed one of our companions, while watching another ride away from the group. Nobody was willing to chase the guy riding away. He won.

That left three of us battling it out for second. To make a long story short, I beat one guy and one beat me in the sprint for second. Not a bad day overall, and a nice result to begin the year.

Before I go, one man's opinion of Sven Nijs: