Modifing a Magicshine bottle cover

I will write a more detailed review on the light in general in the next couple of days, but none the less this light has lived up to its hype and allows me to train in the early morning hours without costing an arm and leg.

One issue I had with the battery design was how the battery attached to the frame. I does come with a neoprene sleeve that has an elastic belt to wrap around your frame to keep it in place. Initially I placed the battery in the bottle cage on the down tube. It was out of the way and for the most part stayed in place, but I wanted something more secure and waterproof.

Having no idea if the battery if I received was one of the newer batteries that are waterproof I wanted to error on the side of caution and wanted a more form fitting battery placement. I saw some batteries sold on ebay already placed in a bottle, but after just purchasing this light I wanted to keep some costs down. So I decided to place the battery in an existing bottle I had laying around.

So this morning I pushed the battery with the battery cover into the bottle. I left the battery cover on because it would provide some cushion and shock resistance and keep the battery in place as the battery itself wouldn't fit properly inside of the bottle. So with the battery in the bottle is was a very nice snug fit.

Next I broke out the dremel and cut the mouth piece off the bottle top and widened it to allow for the female connector to fit just right in the hole. Next I will glue the female connector to the bottle top to make the seal complete and keep it in place. I ran out of gorilla glue so I will pick up some later today to complete the project.

All in all it took about 10 minutes to this including taking some photos of the almost complete bottle.

Now that the season is over ...

... and I enjoy writing I figure I will start to review some products I use to pass on to other cyclists, what works, what doesnt and what is mediocre.

I may not be the absolute best reviewer but I will do my best, I put all of my gear through its paces. I commute to work year round through rain, sleet and snow if my son's school stays open.

I use all sorts of cold weather gear to make this possible, fleece lined, thermal, wind protection, waterproof, all sorts of gloves since I suffer from Raynaud's syndrome or disease but not to the point that my fingers turn blue, just discoloration.

The sweet isn't as sweet without the sour. . .

After a disappointing pinch flat ended my Stoney Creek TT less than two miles from the finish line needless to say I was rather upset, and didn't want my season to end on a sour note. Over the last nine months or so I have put in a lot of hard work and dealt with the ups and downs of racing but I believed that I could stretch the season out just a couple more weeks to include Deep Blue.

Part of me wanted to end the season, it was a long first season, 29 races, I thought I did decently well, I mean after all my goal going into March was just to get at least 10 mass starts to be able to upgrade to Cat 4 by next year. It seemed liked every other day my decision would change to do Deep Blue, yes one day, no the next. About a week before the race I found out we were going to have family come up Labor Day weekend, then with a last minute cancellation because of hurricane Earl I suddenly had a slim opening to be able to make the trek out to Delaware for a short TT.

A few days in advanced I was looking at the forecast, it was suppose to be a perfect day for racing, contrasting the May Deep Blue, with steady 25mph winds and gusts up to 40mph with a high of 55. Although the morning did start out a little chilly compared to previous in the week, once the sun rose the temps were right there with it, the wind did pick up some, I believe it was out of the West, but again nothing like May.

After getting registered and everything ready I went for my warm up, a 45 minute ride around the town, in and out of the wind, which the 100mm front wheel made a little interesting at times. I began to feel the affects of my leg openers the day before, not sure if it could be considered a leg opener when the entire two hour ride was just under zone 4. . . whoops but I was feeling good.

I get back to the car, change my helmet, shirt and head to the start line. I arrived as scheduled and was ready to go, now only if I don't have any mishaps, wheel rubbing, flat tires, etc. My time arrives, I get clipped in and await the signal. Every time trial I have done this year has been nice enough to have a person holding the bike up for the start, sometimes its the little things that matter, plus it takes one less worry out of starting, getting clipped in in a timely fashion.

I start off, a quick sprint then I am down on the aero bars, I start to settle into a good rhythm. I know the course fairly well and knew when to expect the bridges and turns so I kept an eye on the miles and when the turns were so I knew when to push harder at the end or when the suffering was almost done.

Being a Cat 3 I wasn't expecting to catch any of my 30 second riders in front of me, completely different compared a Cat 4 but I was pleasantly shocked when I was catching up to him right before the turn around. I was able to see him the distance well before hand but I really started closing in on the little descent at the turn around. After the turn, he sprints up the hill, part of me wanted to catch and pass him, but I kept in my zone, and raced my race. I eventually caught him, after feeling some strong gusts from the West approaching him I made sure I passed with plenty of room so there wouldn't be any surprises.

After that I just saw the miles start ticking down, just like I told Luis, after the turn around the race is over before you know it. I planned one last long effort just after the right hand turn back on Rt 9. I really started pushing here, heart rate was finally starting to rise and the pain was coming, I came to the last couple bends and just kept my head down and focused. I passed the finish line, pressed the stop button, I had no idea of my time, but my garmin said Course Complete, You win, in reference to my previous time on this course, which wasn't good at all so who knows where I sat overall.

I didn't get much of a cool down, in fact I basically went directly to the car, and got changed. I talked to Luis and Phil for a few moments before quickly leaving. In the past results always took their time at Deep Blue and not really thrilled with my performance other than happy I had no mechanical errors to blame it on I left thinking I didn't place too well.

After being on the road for about 15 minutes and almost on 95, I get a call from Luis who informs me I won, my time 24:45. Needless to say I was freaking thrilled, and big props for Luis staying for the results, I really appreciated it.

The sweet isn't as sweet without the sour. Not sure who first said that phrase, but I remember it from the the movie Vanilla Sky, and its odd how true it is. Without failure one may never know how to truly appreciate success. Its been a hell of a season, part of me is sad to see it end, but part of me is amazed at what I have accomplished personally. It wasn't all glory, there were plenty of disappointing moments but in the end it was a sweet finish.

what in the hell was i thinking .. .

. . . was going through my mind as I was rolling into the parking lot at Church Creek as I was thinking about tomorrow and going down to the flat lands of VA to do Stoney Creek.

I quickly packed up my gear and set it up so that I did not need to take anything inside except for my used bottles and kit, as we awaited the results. While packing Luis asked me if I was still doing Stoney Creek, I told it really depended on my results today even though I was mentally prepared to do it. He told me that if I go, he'll go, I replied I will do it out of spite just to put him in pain. Mean while Ryan Simpson returned from his time trial. He carpooled with some teammates I was parked next to and I mentioned to him earlier that morning about a shirt I saw once, shut up legs and how it applies to time trials, when he got back he said there should be one for Church Creek, shut up crotch.

To that detail, one can practice riding their TT bike for muscle adaptation, for both legs and lower back and trying to put down similar power as the road position. But there is a one hell of a difference between doing a 40k TT and a zone 2 /3 effort in that position, and then doing it again the next day.

After the excruciating long drive home because MD and their infinite amount of wisdom decided to close down two lanes of 50 before 495 causing a 5 - 7 mile parking lot, I finally made it home, almost 4 hours after starting my what was supposed to be a 2 hour drive. Floating on cloud nine from my results I was looking forward to Stoney Creek. My LG compression pants on, two huge ice blocks on my legs while sitting in traffic and making sure I was getting enough fluids I was on my way to recovery as quick as possible. Somewhere in my journey I received an e-mail from Tracy approving my upgrade to Cat 3. I was stoked, how much better could this weekend get.

Sunday morning came quick, way too quick. I set off around 5:45am for the long drive down to Petersburg. As the sun began to rise it was on it way to be an overcast morning, which was welcomed, keep the temps down and possibly winds as well. Luis arrived shortly after I did and we began to slowly get our stuff ready as we both anticipated a relatively short warm up to get the legs moving and heart pumping.

Around 9am we head out for our warm up, on Rt 40. It was great nice and quiet and in the shade, felt great. Until half way through as I we were getting ready to turn around I felt something on my throat, and then it stung me, just above my Adam's Apple. I grabbed my throat and ripped it off I had no idea what it was, I just threw it to the the ground. The next thing I knew my throat began burning, like hell. I have only been stung by bees before and this felt nothing like the pinch on one those. For a good 5 - 7 minutes it just kept burning. We pull over and Luis checks out my neck and sees a little swelling and blood obviously from where I pull the stinger off me, but the stinger was not stuck in my skin. He asked if I was allergic, I had no idea, but did say a good sign would be if I just drift off the road into the ditch to call 911.

We get back to the car a few minutes later than I anticipated. I forgot about the sting to change my jersey, helmet, glasses and put on my shoe covers. I arrive at the line a few minutes to spare. My 30 second man however was nowhere to be found so we wait for the minute and then I get ready to go.

Off I go, I settle down in the aero position quite quickly as there is a bit of a headwind on the way out. Shortly after that I settle into a good pace, watching my map and keeping an eye on the white line. I started keeping an eye on land marks and times to anticipate efforts for my return. Then I start passing riders, how many well not quite sure because, me being a Cat 3 I was the third person in the Cat 4s to go off behind the cat 5s. My estimates would have been 10 -15 in total.

I approach the turn around just over 28 minutes. Halfway there and I am on a sub hour pace, this was great, even better was the tail wind on the way back. My pace definitely picked up, HR finally started to rise after being quite low for the first half. I kept doing my thing. I came to the last kink in the road around 45 minutes in to it, next up was the one bridge that had some pot holes on it.

Buried in my own misery I am looking down my map and miss seeing the potholes. I hit one, dead on, hard enough that you know in the pit of your stomach that something is not right. A few seconds later pssssssssssssssssssss, my rear tire is flat. My race was over. my season ended the same it started, a flat in a time trial...

I was furious, I was doing really well, on course to set a personal best for a 40k, even better the day after what is suppose to be one of hardest in the area. I come to a slow stop, careful enough not to stop too quickly and have a chance of the bike falling from under me.

I get off the bike, take off the helmet glasses and eventually shoes and start the long walk back to car. This is depressing I was thinking to myself. All of the people I had passed were now passing me. After about 10 minutes of walking a gentleman in a van pulls over and asks if I want a ride. I told him he was a sight for sore eyes, although my legs were killing me, my feet were in pain from walking on hot asphalt, it was truly a blessing.

And this is where the religious reference from Saturday comes in to play, the gentleman that picked me up told me he was minister at two local churches and was on his way to his second church to give his second service that morning, and by chance he was running late. What are the odds, sure another motorist might have eventually stopped but this guy did. I regrettably didnt get his name to be able to send him a thank you, but I did shake his hand and tell him thank you as we got to the parking area.

I suppose there are some things I could have done differently to avoid the potholes on that bridge but hindsight is always 20/20 right, but at the moment it was out of my control. It wasnt a mechanical that was caused by a lack of oversight in prep for the race, just bad luck, we all have those days sometimes, and just like a friend once told me. . . sometimes your only reward is sore legs. . . and that was for damn sure.

I got to my car, my teammates convey their condolences but being pretty upset I pack the car and leave as soon as I can, mainly so I can beat any kind of traffic on 95 which is generally a crap shoot on a summer sunday afternoon.

After I got home and cleaned the car out I downloaded the data from the 705, extrapolated the data and based off current average speed and power, and distance from the finish line I would have bested my time the day prior by a good amount, oh well, wasnt mean to be. But I can tell you that those 22.7 miles I did race were extremely painful and raced just as a 40k. I suppose my luck had to run out sooner or later.

C'est la vie

pushing through tough times. . .

Time trails are a mental mind game, how hard one can push them self to limit and stay there. Ones ability to be able to perfectly execute their planned pace, 90% first half 110% second, etc. either way it also boils how well you can deal with racing against yourself.

I do a lot of solo riding, mainly because of the areas I like to ride, where I live and times I can get out and ride. I truly enjoy riding in groups as well, but I have also learned to be able to burry myself just as bad if not more going solo. I have been commuting to work by bike for the last 2 plus years, havent driven at all. In the mornings around 4am its nice and quiet, not many on the road, generally 15 - 20 cars will pass me on my 12 mile commute, the perfect time for training. And this is probably where I get some of my ability to do it decently at it. I am not the best, good, but just mediocre in the grand scheme of racing, I try to do well in my category but in the end I also measure myself for the categories I want do to well in.

The hardest thing about psyching ones self in a TT is believing in your ability to do well, ability to punish yourself, but unfortunately anything on your mind can also be a huge distraction as well.

Last Church Creek I was not in the best of shape, I did it mainly to support the team in a TTT effort, but figured what the hell. I signed up at the last minute after breaking two ribs at the Battle of Run the week prior with a crash on the gravel road. I did well considering my injuries, wished my power was higher, but hey dont well, the heat was definitely there and that could have hurt too. Either way I finished second, two seconds behind Kyle Pitman.

Now shortly after that I realized that Chruch Creek #2 and Stoney Creek were back to back on the same weekend, a double dose of suffering? Sure why the hell not. From the begining of June on I started training for my body to be able to put up with two all out efforts day after day and still preform well on the second day. I learned a lot about nutrition, hydration, recovery and all the other good stuff.

In this process on weekends I wasnt racing I would bury myself on Saturday on a hard course or loop, and repeat it again on Sunday. With some unfortunate or fortunate circumstances in road races I either found my self off the front or the back which was helpful in the mental game preparedness as well. I planned for this past weekend to be my second peak of the season, tapered and did everything right, but unfortunately not everything goes to plan.

The days leading up to the race, I submitted my upgrade to Cat 3, in hopes of receiving it I put off registration until the last minute, in fact almost forgot completely about Wednesday night., but I got in just in time, I assume third or forth last Cat 4. The legs were feeling great, power was there, and it was all coming together.

But alas on Friday I had some very upsetting news, personal, huge, and enough to throw you out of the game completely. Some teammates knew that I have been having some issues but they never thought it was going to hit me the day before my big peak but it did. At this point I didn't want to race at all, I wanted to be done with it, just throw in the towel. I am still debating if I should share the news or not, probably not, it is very personal.

Not being much of a religious person this weekend was very eye opening in many reasons, first when you find out news that is life changing, for the worse it is definitely going to affect your ability to focus. I had no idea how I was going to ride home, it was gut wrenching. But as I spent the afternoon with my son, I decided I needed to race this weekend, it will help me and hell who knows maybe everyone else will also have a bad day.

I continued to get the car ready Friday night so all I had to do was wake up walk the dog eat breakfast and go. All of that went according to plan. Got to the school with plenty of time, met up with teammates and had a good time. It helped take my mind off things a bit. Then I started warming up, on the road, out there looking at numbers my mind eventually started to wonder off think about the future, etc.

Came back to the car, got my things and headed down to the start. This time I incorporated the 5 or 6 miles down there into my warm up, also brought a small bag to leave at the park and ride for afterward with a gel, water bottle, and other things so I can start my recovery ASAP.

I head to the start get there wait for my turn and go off. I went out to hard, first 20 - 25 minutes my power was way to high, but oh well I was feeling good. I passed all of the Cat 4s, there was a break in riders then caught the Cat 5s. Not sure how many i passed it was a lot.

This time i was prepared for the bumpiness, there wasnt much wind, not sure if there was any at all but certain spots in the first half did feel like a little nagging headwind with a cross wind at the end.

A 10 mile, 12 miler, or 20k TT is just short enough for your to really just focus on putting yourself in pain. But in a 40k for me at least from minutes 25 - 45 my mind can wonder, especially like Chruch creek when there is no turn around. So I got very distracted and my my focus start falling off completely. Until the final right turn. I new this was on fresh pavement and could just really hammer away. I tried to refocus, head down staring at my garmin 705 map and looking at the white line. every few minutes i would peer up to see if i was getting close to another rider, and when i did moved over but other than that i just kept my head down looking at the computer. I think I saw the 5k sign, and thats it some math went on in my head, and it was looking good. Either I was am horrible at trying to calculate things or my mind was completely out of it but it did end up beating my previous time, but was it good enough.

I bested my last time by 23 seconds. I got my water and talked to many other riders who stopped to get some water too. After regaining my vision I head out for the long ride back to the car. I met up with an NCVC rider and was explaining the benefits of running the map function on the Garmin and he did seem interested, so I really enjoy passing that tidbit on to others, its not just an expensive power meter head unit, it can do maps too.

I get back to car, chat with teammates about how evidently my garmin is off and i get the wrong distance every time i do Church Creek. After waiting for the results to be posted I was astonished I was won the Cat 4s, with a time of 56:08. I was completely stoked and I had to hand it to God for helping me go out there and help me get through this tough time, even though it was an individual time trial I know he was there helping keep my eyes on the end.

Appalachia Visited, where its more fun getting to the race than the race

A teammate sent me info on this race back in July, when I was in my mid-summer slump, i mean break. Not really feeling it especially after a lack luster showing at Brownstown I sort of dismissed it and was looking at doing Tour of Millersburg instead, since it had a TT, crit and road race.

But the more and more I looked at the elevation, distance, etc. I began to see the light. This was designed for my type of riding style, long climbs, two of them, rollers in between and nearly 60 miles to boot.

Just a forewarning this is probably going to be long, how long not sure but here is an abbreviated cliff notes version

c/n

Started dead last, let them pull, got to the first major climb, caught the 3 leaders and descended past them. thought i would get caught, but they let me go. I was solo for the next 1:25, or pretty much the rest of the race. got caught on the last climb and passed by matthew phillips of haymarket. I caught and passed in the descent doing some crazy speeds, being a junior his gearing was limited and drafted me. I had nothing left the for the sprint finish, and got second.

Real Version:

Ever since I was a young adult entering the military I always wanted to learn from my elders, and be sponge trying to absorb as many life lessons as possible. This eventually has passed on to just about everything I do in my life. From my job, being a father, husband, and now a cyclist. Many people before me have gone the exact same route, or if not, very similar so why not take a minute pick their brain and listen to what they have to pass on that could possibly make your journey better, faster and smoother.

Ever since I joined the team I have tried to learn as much about cycling as possible through other team members and racers. This was especially key at training camp. I remember one evening during one of lecture sessions that Bill gave on climbing, and he mentioned being able to carry the power through for the descent, that has always stuck in my head, especially since I enjoy climbing so much. So if you can get a lead or catch people on a climb, why sacrifice all that work, continue to push and work harder as others generally rest.

Another lesson learned was reconning the course. This worked well for the last day of training camp as we rode out to the start Luis and I paid close attention to the very roads we would be finishing up the final ride on. I also had the chance to do this quite a few times during the season to drive over the course to get a feeling of what to expect, and oddly enough the ones I have done it on I seemed to do well at.

I also like a little function on my Garmin 705 that I have found to be very handy. The course display. David Millar of Garming / Transitions once said he favorite thing about the Garmin 705 was the ability to have the course displayed on his TT bars so he knew where he was going and knew all of the turns ahead of time. Ever since I was directed off course in a road race in PA, I have since mapped out the course on www.ridewithgps.com and then transfer the map on to my Garmin. It works great in time trials, or when you have been dropped by the pack and you need to know your way back to the car.

Onto today.

The course: 59 miles, 5000ft of climbing i think or close to it.
I am a planner, and if a race is 3.5 hours away I like to have as much of the details worked out as possible as early as I can. I had the car packed up last night, and my plan was to leave the house at 6am, get to course early enough to drive the 59 miles and see exactly what was in store for us. Driving the course it started pouring rain, and with the roads in WV and descents we were going to have to do this had the potential to be very dangerous. I made some notes talking to myself, noted when the climbs start, when they ended, lots of rollers, the feed zone, the gravel, to rough spots, etc. To me it was a valuable experience and it paid its dividends.

I reg'ed got the bike ready as it started to rain on the start area, it took a lot of people by surprise but I knew it was coming. I took my time and got the bike to make sure everything was working properly, and then on my way to the start area.

As we lined up I noticed that there werent that many people there with their teams, a lot of individuals, in the past this usually means no one will let a break form. They will chase everything down, but it also means the pace can be higher as well because everyone wants the win. And sure enough after the whistle blew we set off at a pretty high pace. My stroll on the bike earlier wasnt enough to be considered warmed up by any means, and soon enough I found myself in the back. Not dropped off the back yet. . . but the last rider still with the group. But with slick roads and braking surfaces I was able to see how the field would play out. But I was comfortable doing my pace, I knew I needed to warm up and hell we had 59 miles to go, but some was insistent on hammering away, and I let them. I stayed in the draft, not once taking a single pull.

As the risers approached and we went over them I took them at a modest pace, Z3 for me, they werent long and some had some descents afterward that ground could be made up if there was a gap. But other insisted on sprinting up them. Of course these risers were before the first major climb which was about 7 miles long and over 1200ft of gain. Our group began shrinking rather quickly. I am not sure what mile or how long into the race we started the first climb but it was definitely a fitness selector. A grade similar to that of Mount Weather from Rt 50 up to the bridge, I just sat in. Floating between Z3 and 4 in power, I took my time, nothing to prove here, plenty of race left. But as we got further up the fewer were with us, maybe ten tops, with three or four of them being about 20 meters in front. I kept my eye on them watching to see if they would just pull away.

Well as they crested the top I knew the descent was going to be pretty technical, and luckly the rain had stopped and these roads were getting dry. Now this is a tough course, the toughest I have ever ridden, let alone raced. For a break to go off at about 1:20 into the race that could be up to 3 hours, the odds of that surviving were slim, especially with most Cat 4 racers fitness levels. I was hoping that maybe we could get a group of 5 of us to pull away. By that time we had a good gap on the rest of the field. Well I dropped two gears and accelerated to catch these guys so we could work together.

Now most of the time getting Cat 4s to work together in a break is about as useful as nailing jello to a tree, it just isnt going to happen, especially if some or most of them are riding unattached they just dont understand the concept of it yet. But as the events that unfolded right now I didnt think were ever going to happen. There is something to be said about being a great climber, hell always KOM points, but what good is that if we have so few hill top finishes, without being a better descender.

I am not sure how this happened, but it did and well I couldnt believe my eyes. As I accelerated up the front three or four guys, I just flew right by them. Not planning this one bit it just happened. This descent had some turns, a couple wet spots, similar to descending Blue Mountain or parts of Naked Mountain, nothing too crazy. I couldnt believe I just got as low as I could and pulled away. They never chased.

This descent was about 8 or 9 miles, it was fun, and going solo was even more so, no one to worry about screwing up you line, no one to brake for, for all the right reasons you. In disbelief I kept as low as I could doing what I do. I thought for sure any second now they would work to pull me back. But as we turned on to another road nothing. I knew I had some rollers coming up, there was nothing flat about this race by any means, you were either going up or down at any point. I kept my position low and just TT'ed, had lots of practice with last weekends unfortunate events, but none the less I have had plenty of time to perfect it.

Hill after hill I was take at a steady pace keeping mind what my friend Chuck Hutchenson had told me about breakaways. Dont kill the uphills, save it for the flats and descents, becuase the group will try to make up group sprinting up hills and have nothing left for the rest. Turns out he was pretty much correct.

I started passing dropped 1,2,3 riders, looking at my map for the up coming turns and every now and then peaking back. The final 20 miles or so were the hardest, probably some of the hardest miles I have ever ridden on a bike. The final climb peaked 7.6 miles from the finish, it was a shorter climb, only 3 or 4 miles of really climbing but there was a long nagging ascent to the climb.

I started getting tired, but still focused on my pace, the moto ref told me they were 1:15 back. I had no idea if that was closing or not because I never saw the moto ref before that point. But I kept going started the final climb at a good tempo. The as the pitch got higher I could see some riders bridging up to me. I just kept my pace, hoping they would blow up. Most did, but about 1.5 miles from the summit Matthew Phillips caught me and passed me like I was standing still. This kid was hauling, no one else though. He was gone before I knew it, but I also knew that he didnt take many risks descending, so if he doesnt gap me too much I had a shot at catching him.

Well the misery ended, by the time I got to the top I experienced something I had never had before, actual muscle cramping. My left hamstring and right calve were cramping some kind of bad. That made climbing even more fun, but I had to push through the pain and keep spinning. For the first time on that climb I dropped it into my 39 and had to spin. As the descent began I still had to keep pedaling as my legs would cramp if I didnt.

Now I have done some pretty stupid things on my bike before, most of which I wont admit in an open forum but some of the risks on the descent today definitely tops some of them. I left it all on the line. I had almost no gas left what so ever. I was exhausted, at this point I had been riding solo, strike that, racing solo for nearing one hour and fifteen minutes. My only saving grace was being able to descend like an angel from heaven. Climb like a bat out of hell and descend like an angel, the best of both worlds.

This descent was the most technical I had ever done before. It made the hairpins on 211 near Skyline Drive stroll in around the block. This had complex hairpains after hairpins, some banked, switching from being on the outside to the inside. Honestly it is pretty indescribable, but to me I had nothing to loose. I began catching Matthew, and eventually made the catch. As I rode by, he yelled something, I had no idea what it was.

After the descent we had about 2 miles or so before we finished, still some rollers. As we were going he was just sitting on my wheel and I couldnt figure out why. He then spins up to me and says he is limited by junior gearing. Well shit if I didnt pull on the descents third place, which was about 25 meters behind me at the start of the descent, no clue now, was going to catch us.

Well we made our final turn, and I was still hammering it making sure we didnt get caught, as I saw the 1K spray painted on the road, and began looking for the 200m sign, I thought to myself this is going to be longest 1k ever. I eventually saw the 200m, we got up to sprint, well attempted to. As soon as I tried anything like that my legs just cramped up and I had to sit back down, as Matthew edged me out in the final meters for first.

I am not mad, it would have been nice to win, but I feel by being out as long as I was that in of itself was an accomplishment to me. Being able to have the internal fortitude to keep pushing yourself even when you know that the odds of it lasting are slim to none.

Two weeks ago on a ride with Chuck I told him something I believe in. That if you push yourself and try as hard as you can, you will be rewarded, it has happened to me many of times in races, my best races are when I have to dig deep to really give it 100%. To which Chuck responded in a mellow tone, some times your only reward is sore legs. Oddly enough he is right. After last weekend when I was bumped, edged, pushed or what ever off the road and had to chase back the entire race, racing pretty much solo, and finishing 27th. I got nothing but a pair of sore legs. But today, heh today I got the points to upgrade to Cat 3.

Page Valley Road Race

I was coming into this race pretty excited. I have been planning for a late Summer peak for the Church Creek and Stoney Creek time trials. With this being the state championship road race I knew there was going to be quite a bit of competition there as well, and keeping an eye on pre-reg it filled up quickly towards the end with riders from all over the state.

A few days before the race I rode with a friend who made mention that the course isnt setup to be a climbers course, even though the elevation profile lends its self to show that, it is actually a very fast course. Although I didnt know what to expect with a bunch of Cat 4, there was obviously going to be a fitness selection the first couple times up the hills and with 90 riders registered it was surely going to be interesting.

I did note that Paul Low, same fellow that won Blacksburg Road Race was there and I was
interested in getting something to work with him since I know he is a powerhouse. So I made sure to talk to him along with Matt Davis as well. Evo had a few guys there, both Luis', Colin, Brian and myself, so I talked to them and let them know that I am feeling good and want to do well this race.

I was pretty familiar with the terrain as I do a ride out there that starts in Luray and works its way over to Stanley on some of these very same roads over to Tanner's Ridge Rd. and I knew the first few miles were going to be quick as they are relatively flat and with a tail wind the group could go fast, I let my teammates know that and hopefully the pace will be quick from the go.

For the warm up I take Luis over near Tanner's Ridge, forget the name of the road we were on but showed him the local slaughter road to go on when you need to be humbled. After a quick spin we head back to the start to line up. A few words from the town mayor and away we go.

A few turns to get on the course and pace stays relatively mellow. We make it to the first climb and I believe at the point Paul goes off the front, a few riders go with him, but we can keep him in our sites. Being Cat 4s no one wants a break to happen so the pace picks up. I am not too concerned because we still had 40+ miles of racing to go. As the group sprinted up these climbs they quickly wore themselves out and this is where the fitness selection began to happen.

Just past the finish line there was a slight descent to one final kicker, just quick enough to add some pain, and then a nice descent with sharp right hander. Now this is where I was able to catch back up to Paul and just coasted. I tried to do as little leading as possible as most of the competitive riders were all together, no sense in burning my self out if all they are going to do is just sit in.

As we go up the climb the second or third time, cant remember, a few riders go off the front again. The pack accelerates to try and catch them, this was the first of the two climbs i suppose, longer, aerobic effort so I am in my steady pace, riders start going up around me and i get boxed in on the right, still in the top 10 of the main group some a rider on my left gets closer and closer. At this point there is very little room for me. With some people tiring themselves out the rider in front of starts slowing, being boxed in I had nowhere to go. My front wheel goes off in what was probably the only stretch of road on the entire course that did not have a level shoulder, there was a couple inch drop in to gravel. I wasnt able to pop my wheel back on the road and fell to my left. Unfortunately I landed on another rider, Chris Larson of Synfit. I have heard of him from many teammates but never had the pleasure of meeting him and unfortunately it was under these circumstances. I was uninjured although my shoe was stuck in my wheel and I had to get out so I could stand up.

As soon as I do so, I noticed his chain with off, so I help put it back on as it was easier for me to do, and away he goes. I go to hop on my bike and try to pedal but alas my chain was off too. I put it back on away I go. The next few laps were a lesson of internal fortitude and how hard i can push myself. I caught up to Chris and we began to work together along the flat parts of the course, taking turns pulling but at one point I get side stitches and just cant keep pace. I have to slow down and he pulls away. I worked through the cramps and kept pushing away, I was able to take the hills at my pace, but I knew that wasnt going to be good enough with Paul most likely leading the race up them. So I also tried to make up as much ground on the descents as I could.

Every now and then I would catch a dropped rider and would try to work with them until they would have nothing left. The start of the last lap I could start seeing the wheel truck at almost every turn. I couldnt believe I could be catching on. I kept plugging away and trying to stay as low as possible and pedaling efficiently. It was getting closer and closer. At the start of the final climbs I start passing more and more dropped riders I was getting closer, but my time was running out. In the final 500 meters I caught the wheel truck and ref, and managed a 27th place finish.

Its funny a few days prior a friend told me sometime your only reward for a hard effort can be just a pair of sore legs, he was certainly true with that statement. I was shot at the end of that race, the heat, the effort, the dehydration, completely done. The ride back to the car was painful, but I never gave up and I kept pushing, thinking in the end this is one hell of a training ride, if you have the open road might as well use it right?

With my upgrade approved I will now resume blog entries. .

I wanted to hold off on blog entries until my upgrade was approved. The last month of racing has been quite exciting but painful in the same respect.

Blacksburg Omnium the road race

What the whole weekend was building up to.

With temperatures approaching 95F at the start at 12:15 this was surely going to be a race of attrition, even more so for the Cat 4s who dont usually race these distances, well majority of the cat 4 races i have done werent this far. But in preparation for other events i have been focusing on my maintaining power outages for up to 3 hours for events like this.

A lot of people thought this was going to be a 45 miles group ride followed by a 4 mile hill climb, I on the other hand had a different opinion. Everyone knew about the 4 mile climb at the end, but not many people were aware of the 3.5 - 4 mile climb that started around mile 7 or so and went up close to 600 ft. It wasnt a long steady climb versus lots of pitches some longer parts but rolling up wards and then a great descent.

And if the crit was going to be any indication of how the race was going to be, it was going to be who can hang on for the longest. The Cat 4 race was combined with the 50/60 guys making the field a good size, but also I had quite a few masters teammates in there and moved up to the front of the start to stay near them.

The whistle went off and away we were. The pace was quick, I know we had a tail wind but damn. Quite a few Cat 4s made their way to the front and started hammering. They just kept going aand the masters guys were going to let them do all of the work until the eliminated themselves.

Which was completely the case, one we start hitting the rollers it was like some one set a bomb off in the group, people were just falling off everywhere. By the time we finished the climb there were maybe 20 -25 of us and I just sat in. There was a 3 man break up the road, which I thought were masters guys but turns out in the end it was just two and one was a cat 4, who got second place.

By the second and third lap there were maybe 10 -15 of us, we kept the pace cordial there were some attacks to try and catch the break but then there were times going up the hills we just took our time. I spent some time up front just trying to keep the pace, there were a couple cat 4s who would try and hammer it which I knew many wanted to hurry up and get to the climb but at the risk of tiring themselves out.

As we me made the right to start the climb I hear "EVO" and go to grab a bottle, but it slipped out of my hands. I was so pissed. I felt how cold it was on my fingers and needed it badly. But i did have about a quarter of a bottle in reserve for just in case. Then as we made the left to really start the climb it was like who ever was in our group just kind of blew up. Just taking their time. There was a small break on the third lap with two cat 4s, one Paul Low I think went on the catch the previous cat 4 i the first break and won. but the other I caught quite quickly. The climb wasnt that bad as I suppose I didnt push my self too hard as I knew I wasnt going to catch the guys upfront once I saw all of the numbers being the 600 series (masters) there was no reason to kill myself. I passed 4 or so and one stayed with me until the final hair pin. I was sure glad to have my 28 that i bought from a teammate last month as I was able to just spin.

As I crested the top they decided to put the finish just after the crest so all i had to was roll down. After talking with the other finishers at the top I was third. Luckily Paul Low had some one up there with water and was very happy to share, many thanks as it was much appreciated.

After a few minutes of rest I headed back down, man what an amazing descent, really it made the whole climb worth it and topped off the weekend.

After waiting a couple hours for the results, I confirmed I was third in the road race. All in all it was an amazing weekend.

Blacksburg Omnium the TT

It would be a normal race weekend for me if I didnt have some sort of issue, just not possible.

Well after Tour of Washington County I went a head and got a 54t chainring as well as a 100mm deep front wheel. That way I could complete my TT rig to be as efficient as possible.

Having not tested any of it I suppose I should have at least once before a race then I would have made sure everything worked properly. The chainring went on no issues, and wasnt expecting. For a wheel you would expect the same. But after having the wheel for almost 3 weeks I never took it out and test rode it, so I never had to pump it up.

So as I was having a teammate help me inflate the tire with my crack pipe the valve extender came off. And the freaking valve is all the way in the carbon section and I couldnt get back on. We only managed to get 100 psi if that into the tubular. The whole time in warm up and in the race I was very mindful of hitting any rough spots in the road and staying clear of potholes and anything could potentially cause a flat.

After arriving at the course I decided to predrive to get an idea how hilly it was going to be. I knew it was going to be rolling but damn there were some longer climbs, some steep ones, but also some very fast downhill sections with some blind turns.

I warmed up in the vicinity of the school for about 35 minutes trying to have some good steady efforts going up hills and keeping the aero position. About 10 minutes before my start time I head to the car to get my aero helmet, shoe covers and change my jersey.

Pretty much the usual before the start, people eying everyones bike, a few compliments on mine as we all make nervous small talk. I knew I could do well in the TT it is one my strongest abilities, but with an epic road race the next day how hard did I want to go? Just enough to do well basically.

With a holding start, which is always much appreciated, I was off. I start going at a steady pace. 2 minutes in I pass my 30 second man, a few minutes later, minute man, then 1:30, then 2, and so on. One of the memorable parts of the TT were in the last mile when I heard the sound of some hissing. My first though was my tire, are you kidding I flatted, but as I kept going I looked up and saw a lady using a weed-eater and was quickly relieved.

After the finish I made my way back to the parking lot and chat with some of the masters teammates. Of course the usual TT'ers do well and then make jokes at the guys who arent as gifted as some. With a quick pack up and off to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.

Blacksburg Omnium the Crit

After signing up to race the 3/4 Lost River Classic Race, I decided against it. I was eyeing the Blacksburg Omnium very early in the season but wasnt paying attention to registration when it was. So when I saw it pop up on bikereg I made the decision the sign up and made the trek down to Blacksburg to try my hand.

With the heat still looming around it was only a few degrees cooler down there but the wind was noticeably stronger, it felt as if it was a hair dryer was blowing on you. After leaving basically at sunrise for the lonely drive down to VA Tech I arrive in just under 4 hours and start getting ready.

With heat like this I do prefer to warm up on the road, that way I dont sweat too much and dehydrate myself prematurely, plus its a good way to see the local area. So I got on the road and started warming up just doing passes on the road infront of the airport. After about 45 minutes i head back to the car to get a fresh bottle.

On the way up to the start a teammate DJ spots and calls me over to give me a few hints about the course, more importantly the uphill to the finish then the up hill that follows and pay attention to that, as everyone sprints up to the finish every lap and then burn themselves out for the continued false flat that wasnt too false.

As I make my way to the start i see exactly what he was talking about. After the whistle we go, it seemed to be balls to the wall. One thing i hate about crits that make me a horrible crit racer is the sudden pedal to the medal at the go. I was sitting mid pack but eventually dropped back even further as they kept the pace extremely high on the straights, but with the setup of turns on the parking lot it was easy to stay on by taking at speed versus the constant braking at every turn most did.

The crit was suppose to last 40 minutes, everynow and then I would look at my 705 and check the time, and it was by minute 18 that there only 10 - 12 of us left. It seemed what DJ said was true, everyone sprinted up to the start finish line and then got gassed on the left hander afterward.

Anyways it was pretty boring after that, it would be 2 or 3 laps hard, then a lap easy, i mean my heart rate was going back done to resting. I made it a point to never get up to the front and pull, I had no ambitions in trying to break or win, just survive and save some for the time trial.

On the last lap there were 7 of us, and at one point we must have been going about 10 - 12 mph waiting for some one to make a move, some one did, right before the the set of turns in the parking lot. I get on it trying to hang on to a wheel, but with having such a weak sprint i just try to rely on my conering to keep up. I did well as we approached the uphill to the start finish the two guys infront went for it and battled it out for 4th and 5th, the guy behind me was nowhere to be seen so I continued my way up for 6th not wasting too much effort as we still had a TT and road race to do.

After the race I got the car and started replacing fluids and changed into compression pants to try and aid in the recovery for the TT.

Feels good to get dropped

Unfortunately with my work schedule and family life it is hard for my to make almost any club ride during the week. They all occur near the city at an hour that I could theoretically get to but have family obligations that need to be met first and foremost. But lately after doing some searching around, a teammate referred me to the Haymarket ride on wednesday nights.

Now I am generally pretty picky about where I do my riding, I hate stopping every 5 - 10 minutes because of lights, and I hate running lights because of obvious reasons of getting hit or looking like another jackass to motorists who assume all cyclists think they can make up their own rules. Secondly I love riding out west, the terrain, the relative quietness and few road signs make it great for me. And lastly if I am going to do a group ride I want to be hurt instead of laying the hurt on other people. So I was searching for somewhere that had a good consistency of strong riders able to lay out some abuse.

My search was ended when I did my first Haymarket ride. It was about a month ago and I enjoyed just about every minute of it until the end when an unfortunate incident between myself an another rider sent me to the ground. I did not let that deter me from coming about again, if anything my race and training schedule have hampered that more than my recovery from my clumsiness on the bike.

Again last night I was able to make the trip, once on 66 it is a quick 20 minute trip from my place in Fair Lakes, which is quicker than a trip to Reston. The weather was great, the A group left a little later than usual and with a small group, 5 which became 6 later on. The pace starts out nicely with a warm up on to Hopewell Road then picks up from there for the first climb and descent into The Plains where we regrouped.

Now I am not the fastest guy, I feel that I can hold my own on most days, although lately I have been in a bit of a funk because a lot of factors outside of riding that have had an impact on my life. But for these guys to go out there and set a really nice hard pace and then drop me and I have to chase to catch on, I loved it. Digging deep almost in a TT mode trying to catch up feels great, the burning in my legs, the hills, the attacks all of it. I think I will be trying to make it out there more often the rest of the season.

Should i get off the bike and pick up the camera more often?

Well after a mediocre day at Brownstown Road Race I have been in sort of a funk lately and trying to keep things in perspective I decided to have my son do the kids race at the Reston Town Center Gran Prix.

He was stoked about it, he loves swimming, biking and running, and is only three and a half, the kid is a natural born triathlete, can swim already, ride his bike for over an hour without any breaks and run a 9:30 mile!

We arrived at the RTC during the Cat 3/4 race in time to register him and get him all psyched up for the race. Of course he wanted to do the longer race but my wife err on the side of caution since I wouldn't be riding with him, so it was the 200m race for him. Here is the link to gallery of his race.



I decided since he was going to be racing and none of the grandparents were able to make it was time to dust off my old photography equipment. Having just as much worth of photopgraphy gear as bike gear from my days of being a profession photographer shooting motorsports, I figured it was time to just jump back into and get some photos.

One thing I must say, I dont think a photographer ever really loses his eye, may lose some skill in panning a camera at 1/25 second, but I believe the natural ability to always point out a good photo will be there and they will just as critical of their work now if not more than before.

I took roughly 100 photos of the last half hour of the 3/4 race, either on the front straight or turn one. Havent picked up my photography equipment for actual shooting other than adjusting the fit of my TT bike. So please let me know what you think of these:

My first stage race

We went into the race weekend with a good amount of riders registered, probably the second most to NCVC and of course the pressure was on me from arriving on Saturday afternoon to do well in the road race, win the TT and then not sure what was expected of the crit but i sure hope it wasn't much.

I want to thank every one for putting so much faith into me and pushing me to push myself to do well. Honestly after the incidents I had over the last month or so getting back into racing was a little nerve racking first and took quite a bit of focus, but with the encouragement of the team and the help of Jeff Erler who let me take my line through the chicane I was able to bridge up to the NCVC riders off the front, on the third lap. Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep up with the two guys that caught us and kept going by, so that mean a lonely 2 plus laps out there by myself.

I knew Matias had a motor on him, from Tour of Tucker County, and I believe being an elite level triathlete, he can just go all day long. My only hope was that Nick or Matt would fall off and I would be able to clinch a podium spot. It seemed after every turn I would look back for the peleton and the drifted further and further away. I am sure some of this from NCVC and EVO trying to keep the pace under control but I think being able to set my own pace and take my own lines through the turns helped some as well. On the fifth lap I knew I had to go for broke and keep away. I had a good pace going, downing lots of water, ended up drinking all three bottles I brought with me because I knew I had to be well hydrated for the TT Sunday morning and any lack of hydration or nutrition would play an integral role in how well I recovered that night.

With the pace a good level, just hammering away, I saw the feed zone was empty so that meant I was on the last lap, just kept going try to carry as much speed through the turns as possible. Approaching the chicane I see an NCVC jersey, was it a lapped rider or could it be Matt who had fallen off? As I approached I saw that it was Matt, thinking to myself I could get third, I put my head down and kept going up the false flat. I think he tried to stay on my wheel but from the look in his eyes as I passed him it was if he was just hanging on to finish. Head down and arms on the bars I get aero for the straightaways and descents. On the wall I took it at my pace, comfortable but no sprint up, that way I didn't have to recover on the descent and could still build speed.

Passing the lap counter I was on my way back. I remember the advice from teammates and other racers about the finishing hills being steeper than what it looks like on paper, especially after a race in 90F+ with little to no shade the entire way. I kept my pace going, expecting to see the peleton right behind I look back as I headed up to the finish. With no one in sight I was just glad to finish.

Not knowing if I had truly gotten third I start looking for Nick or Matias to confirm that it was just them and Matt was the one that fell off. After hearing that I was relieved I got a podium spot as I knew I would hopefully do well in the TT.

After talking with Matias a bit after the race, he said he wasn't going to be able to make the TT or crit because of a prior obligation with the triathlon in downtown DC Sunday morning. With hearing this unexpected news that would put into second place if he were to drop out in the GC.

Honestly I was excited to hear that, I mean who wouldn't be, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. With my teammates hearing the news they were very excited for me and knew that I could a good job in the time trial. So after drinking my recovery drink, hydrating, I change into my compression pants and wait around for the official results, talking with some Matts of NCVC they were finally posted, third, 2:09.9 behind Nick and Matias. That's a lot of time to make up in a TT.

Owell an the way home I called my family and let them know the results and give them the run down, they were happy to hear it as they knew I was very nervous about getting back into racing after my incidents, but encouraged me to. It was a long drive home and lots of thinking about Sunday but before I knew it, I was there.

I made some dinner, drank lots of water and got the bike setup for the TT. I tried to get to bed early but it took some time for the TT start times to be posted, when they finally were I was off to bed.

Climbing to Jesus

This is spot is reserved for my race report of Tour of Tucker County.

A brief synopsis:

Went into the race with a lot of climbing in the month of a May to prepare me for the race, just under 50,000 ft total. Expected to do well but with recent injuries and an illness lurking I knew I wouldnt be 100%.

After a long ass drive out there on some fun roads, wish i still had my Lotus Elise, and getting a detoured about 45 minutes in the opposite direction we arrive with an hour left. Not much a of a chance for warm up just get the gear ready and sign in.

On the descent to the start line, we heard three blow outs. The start of the race was relatively calm and easy going until the first climb when I found out I couldnt shift into my 39 ring. After the first climb in the 53 I managed to drop from the group and use my shoe to guide my chain into the 39 and catch back up.

I shifted back up to the 53 for the descents which were quite fun but could have been taken at a much higher speeds without so many others on the road, but let caution prevail with safety. I was with the lead group at the base of the climb when I had to drop back some to get back into the 39, in the photos of the race you can see in the back of the group at the start of all the big hills because I didnt want to try doing this in a pack.

The final climb, it was tough, thought it would be longer, probably should have pushed myself harder but finished 7th. Watched teammates and friends finish then headed home thinking 7th doesnt get anything, turns out I won 20 bucks which Ian collected for me to pass on to some teammates, thanks man I appreciate it.

It's only a flesh wound. . . .

I was doing great actually, on the first first lap, until 7.8 miles in. I was moving up to pass some one on one of the stair step hills, he was a little slow going up the hills. And he moved over to the left to block me causing me to move and hit the guys wheel at my 11 o'clock. Our wheels rubbed and he got up and sprint leaving my wheel unbalanced causing me to go down.

I was in the top 10 at the point and went down when i got up, well recovered from sliding on the pavement I immediately got into the fetal position as the field was still coming up the little hill behind us and I was in the middle of road. I was more concerned about some one running in to the back of me as I had no time to make a dash for the grass.

I got up, did a quick assessment of my self, lots of blood, shin, knee, hips, fingers, arm and shoulder. I took my helmet off and saw the headband was broken. At this time the trailing moto ref said "it looks like you can try and catch back on". with my helmet band cracked i didnt want to risk it again.

I picked my bike up straightened my handle bars and shifters. tried to clip in and pedal and then off comes my rear derailler. luckily it was just the hanger that broke. Well now my bike is effed and I almost 4 miles from the car so I start the walk back.

The pickup caravan sees me and gives me a ride back. I get back and walking over to my car when the ambulance stops me and has me sit down so they can begin to clean me up. I was going to go over to the ambulance after I set everything in my car.

Upon further inspection my helmet was actually cracked in several places, but I was feeling ok enough to drive home after they cleaned my wounds. After being home for about 30 minutes or so I called my wife and asked her to take me to the ER to get checked out.

I wanted to be sure everything was ok, I mean after all Billy Mayes, and Natasha Richardson both died from head trauma and injuries sustained hours after the initial impact.

The ER doc orders a CT scan of me noggin to make sure there is no swelling going on inside and nothing ruptured. CT scan comes back fine. Then the ER techs properly clean all of my wounds, which did me scrubbing them with soap and water, after they were numbed first thank God.

Left the ER after being there for just under 2 hours, relatively quick i thought. When I finally got a chance to review the garmin data, the final recordings of speed at 32 - 31 - 0. I will try to take a screen shot of it this afternoon to post up on my blog site.

As far as current injuries, in the ER it was described as "entire left side covers in abrasions". My shin, knee, quad, hip, top part of my fore arm, bottom part near my elbow, bicep, shoulder, and small chunks of skin missing on my fingers at the bend of the first knuckle where my gloves stopped, along with a few scrapes on my scalp.

Incidently enough almost all of the abrasions occurred on scar tissue from a crash last September in a triathlon when I went to fast into a left turn and hit gravel at the apex and the bike slid out from under me.

I rode my bike to work this morning, felt fine, just a little sluggish after being off it all day yesterday. I am just glad that for crashing at that speed I really only came away with just flesh wounds, it could have been a lot worse.

-jeremy

Life in the pain cave. . .

Happy Mother's Day!

Out at Deep Blue:

Should'a: road tested my bike with the wheel on to find out the tire was rubbing the frame a bit and been more conscience about my warmup.

Could'a: Probably done better as I had 20 more watts in the ITT than the TTT but the TTT was 1:18 faster while I pulled the entire time.

Would'a: Do a TTT again, it is amazing how less it hurts having some one sit on your wheel.

Well a teammate got me interested in Deep Blue, at first I wasn't going to race it because of the long drive, short race to do solo but when he said he was on the fence I said I would do it and drive us if he was up to it. Well after some debate he said ok and so we reg'ed for it. Then the idea of a Team Time Trial popped into my head, never done one thought it would be neat, so I some how managed to talk him in to that as well.

Going to be honest here, I haven't ridden with Luke much before, maybe a few training rides here and there during the off season so we both had no idea how well we each handle our bikes. Him being a Cat 4 for about a season or so, he had more race experience than I and he has been doing well getting consistent results and will soon be a Cat 3. Me, only 11 races under my belt all this season, but I did have a slight advantage over him, I have ridden in 5 TTs before and did 6 triathlons and lots of training on my old TT /Tri rig last year so I knew the style of riding better after his rig was only built earlier this week. So with no practice at this other than a few words about how to start off and the turn around we reg for the TTT.

Well Saturday some wind so kindly decided to move into the area, and it was strong wind with even stronger gusts, lots of wind advisories with 20 - 25mph sustained winds and up to 40 mph gusts. Checking the weather at Port Penn, De. that winds were a steady 30mph on Saturday, and Sunday morning a low in the mid 40s which is half of what is was at Turkey Hill last week.

Well, Luke, Ryan and I arrive a little later than expected after making a pit stop to get some Micy D's and a few detours in downtown Baltimore and then getting confused the few miles trying to find the race, but we found our way and started to get things setup.

As I am warming up I suppose I didn't take it seriously enough or didnt have much time, only about 20 minutes if that I tried to spend as much of that in zone 2 as possible. With a few moments before my start time I switch out rear wheels for my wheel with the cover, and head over to the start line. My time comes and off I go...

Well a few moments into the race I hear something chirp, and then feel it in my frame. While concentrating on trying to keep my bike vertical during the cross winds and head straight with the wind pulling my helmet the chirping is getting really annoying. I knew exactly what it was, on these new fancy pants TT rigs with the rear wheel cutouts and the tolerances being so tight there isnt much room for any type of error. My error was having the limit screws for the rear wheel adjusted for a 20C Conti Supersonic tire I was running at Dismal Dash back in early March. I thought I adjusted the screws enough to compensate for the 23C tire I would be running on the work stand but with weight on the bike it did rub.

During the TT I was passed by my 30 second man a 1/3 of the way in, and kept him in my sight and then passed him back and he passed me back a couple times, we were mindful of no drafting kept our distance and rode on opposite sides of the lane. I noticed that he wasn't using the aero extensions at times and have a feeling this is why I was able to catch back up to him and pass him. After the race I in the cool down area I caught up to him and he said that his left extension came loose and couldn't steer the bike with it and with the winds he didn't want to take any chances.

I also caught up with Luke who started 1:30 behind me and he said it hurt like hell. Well I guess lesson learned this weekend, do shake down rides or ride your TT bike more often because his Vision integrated base / aero bar was not torqued down tight enough and at one point found his aero bars pointed downward and he had to pull them back up.

So with about an hour and half until our TTT we head to the car, chat with a few teammates, fix our bikes, and then sit in the car to stay warm. Luke said he felt his legs were shot and would do the TTT because he said he would and try his hardest to hold on. With a much better warm up this time we head off over to the start line. A quick check for tire clearance and its good to go, although Luke did say he hoped I doubled flatted on way over, we laughed and I said just hang on for the ride. I had no issues pulling the whole time as I wanted some redemption from my ITT.

As we started Luke got to my left to echelon his way out of the wind, which was really impossible because it was just so powerful yesterday. If anything I was more afraid of a gust blowing me into his line and causing issues, but Luke commented at the end that I was very stable and predictable except when the gusts blew us which were just insane. I tried to pace us based off of my powermeter and knowing his wattage so that we could plan for a negative split plus I didnt want to blow him off my wheel a quarter way into the race.

With a couple yells between each other to make sure he is doing ok we make our way to the turn around which was a little confusing as there was a car trying to pass at the same time. On the return trip back I did up the pace a little with the tail wind and Luke would move up on my right and I would push even harder because that meant he was still feeling well. There were a couple times with the last 1/3 of the race where I had to back off to not burn him off and keep things under control. With the last klick to go my HR was finally coming up to the right zone, drooling and snot pouring out of my nose I prayed there wasn't a photog at the end. In the last 200m I really tried to up the pace hoping he would stay on my wheel and he did a great job of it too.

After we crossed the line and started chatting he said he was glad is was over but had fun doing it as the pain was easier to deal with having a teammate suffering with you. He apologized for not being able to pull but was totally cool with me as I was able to use this as a ITT for myself. Turns out the time we had would have put me in second place in the Cat 4 ITT with 20 watts less average and sitting up / soft pedaling a couple times to not drop Luke. Oh well it put us in 7th place according the results on the USAC page which I am fine with.

Some lessons learned, need to re-cable the Dean and get it working perfectly as I want to do well at Church Creek and in the ITT at Tour of Washington County, also I need to get more riding on the TT rig as well to be able to climb, handle, and have my body adapt to the position better.

Tanner's Ridge to Skyline by jpevaang at Garmin Connect - Details

Tanner's Ridge to Skyline by jpevaang at Garmin Connect - Details

The road less taken . . .

When I first started planning my season the Wintergreen Hill Ascent TT was a top priority. In fact so much I tried to plan my one fitness peaks this season around the race. I researched the hell out of the race, looked up previous times and what won the Cat 4 last year, the elevation change, the grade, everything.

Well I also saw a Cat 3/4 race up in Lancaster County, PA that looked to be as challenging. I have done plenty of TTs and gone up plenty of hills, maybe not one of the steepest in the state but enough to compare, Howard's Lick Road in Lost River State Park, Tanner's Ridge Rd in Stanley, VA. With just receiving my Cat 4 upgrade (Thank you Tracy!) Thursday night and having faith in the upgrade I pre-registered for the Turkey Hill Country Classic for the 3/4 race to really see where I stand and it was longer, 92kilometers with three laps up Gamber's wall.

With the recent heat wave and the course which included three trips up Gamber's Wall on the last three laps this was really going to be a race of attrition. This was my first time racing in a field this size, completely sold out at 100 riders. So I had to be very conscience of my pack maneuvering and keep an eye out on things.

While warming up I saw PhillBilly and rode with him a bit as he explained the course to me and warned me that the sprint would start a few hundred meters too early and to ride their draft but basically race smart and stay in the pack.

With his advice I was off to the staging area, and the whistle goes off. Well I found myself in somewhat unfamiliar territory, dead effing last. I didnt have high aspirations as my goal was really to stick with the pack, but after the first couple laps the rolling hills and sprinting out of turns really started to wear on people. Honestly the first two laps I spent at the back didnt bother me too much I was doing a lot of coasting and moving up and down the back with the hills and with a race of almost 60 miles I had plenty of time to make my way to the front.

Well the third lap in I found myself in the top 10 and would often go off the front in a turn if I was able to get my line, I didnt attempt to attack as it was still too early but it was interesting to have the entire pack swarm you in a sprint after you hit a perfect apex and everyone else had to brake for the turn. After a while I think this really helped wear some people down as well with the hills, as some of the turns had hills right after them.

At some point a breakaway goes off the front, two from one team and their teammates were doing what they could to keep the pack from catching them, which ended up succeeding for the first six positions.

Of the nine laps that we had to do the last three included a section of road called Gamber's Wall which at first is very intimidating from the sound but after riding it I didnt think it was that bad, although I think it did separate the group some, but each of the three times we hit I was always in the top five up with the last being first. As we made our way to the descent from there I would do very well considering my size against the larger riders. With another set of rollers a head of us the pack is separated even more by a pack of motorcycles that so kindly decide to make their way on to the closed course. Well I was one of the few that made it through them and everyone else had to sprint to catch back up. On the final stretch the pace picked up and people were sprinting up the hills, I was right there with them. I was surprised honestly, exceeding my expectations.

With the last klick to go the sprinters start making their way up and just like phillbilly said they would start too early with the descent to the finish. I was able to position myself in the top 15 or so and keep with them. As they started to fade I would go around them and found myself on the outside of the pack and in the wind. With the last 200m I just went for it, I had no idea what my placing was but knew I did relatively well as we crossed the line.

After a quick spin cool down I make my way back to the staging area looking for Phil. I find him and he informs me that they have free ice cream, tea, hot dogs, etc. (it was like he came here for the t-shirt and food the bike race just so happen to be going on as well). I tell him how the race went and he was glad I was able to stay with the pack being my first Cat 4 race. We then go grab some ice cream and tea, I tell you what that first bite of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream was amazing after that race.

With a quick check of the results, which were posted insanely fast, literally within minutes of the finish, I placed 17th out of the 48 that they placed.

upgrade: reapplied for pending approval

No race report or stories until I receive word on my upgrade. . .

88 klicks of racing . . .

Well I had another interesting week that just ended. A strong build week, hectic week at work, awesome training on my loop setting a new fast time and some unfortunate news, all followed up by one kick ass Saturday racing.

With over 15 hours this week of training my are feeling a few recovery days coming up in anticipation of Wintergreen Ascent TT. On Thursday I had another opportunity to go take the day off and invited Chuck Hutch out for a ride on my training loop through Chantilly, Centreville and mainly through Clifton. Well that should be a separate story in and of itself but I ended up pulling him for about two hours until his legs felt good and my like garbage and him taking off the last twenty minutes. I tried to stay on his wheel as much as possible with him encouraging me to dig deep and this is where I needed to train, pushing the last few miles of a long ride. We did 51 miles in 2:20:27 with 21.9 mph average. We did run into Joe D. of Haymarket/Homevisit and Chuck introduced me to him as they joked I was competing in the Cat 5 world championships .

Which leads on the to unfortunate news. I a long with a teammate submitted for our upgrades Monday, with a very similar race resume, we both had nine, all the same races except for one which I did in a previous season. Well his was approved and mine was denied for lack of experience, although it wasn't mentioned I can only assume that was the reason because why else would a 5 to 4 upgrade be denied.

At first I bummed out, I am not going to lie, this is me being honest, as I was scheduled to race in the Farmersville Road Race this weekend as a Cat 4, a course that suited my riding style, hilling, very technical turns, and of course longer than a crit ;) . But as the saying goes when one door closes another opens, in this case two. I immediately got in contact with the race director and switched my entry to the later 11:35 Cat 5 race, he said no problem and did so.

This meant I got to sleep in an extra three hours before I had to make the trip to PA, sweet. But at looking at the confirmed riders page I saw the first race only had 34 riders in it. If figured if I drove up an hour earlier I could try to get into both races, would give me 11 total races, hopefully more than enough.

So off I went for the boring drive up there, and first time going solo to a race this season. I did have another teammate racing the first race and two in the second race and no real game plan except to have Lance do well in his race has it was his hometown.

I arrive, say hello to my teammates and register. The folks at registration were great, the understood my story and were more than happy to work with me. I was able to get into the early race as well for only four bucks more, not bad two races, 44k each for 40 something bucks. On top of that the weather was prefect up there, mid 60s, sunny, and a little breezy at the start but that died down by race time.

With no time to warm up and barely enough time to get kitted up make my way to the start area. There Luis finds myself and teammate Bob and tells us about the course, very technical turns and try keep away from the pack as there is a lot of braking, he also mentioned there was a guy who managed to get away but the course marshal directed him in the wrong way and he had to fight to come back.

Well off our race went, I could from the get go the turns were going to be interesting as the race started out with a tight right hand and then a left about a hundred meters down the road. Almost all of the turns were tight right handed turns, many in a chicane like fashion hitting the apex in one and setting yourself up the for the next was imperative to navigate this course correctly and efficiently. I start noticing after every turn I was gaping the group and they would have to sprint to catch back up or I would lighten up and the let them reel me in so I would burn myself out at the start of the race.

On the second lap I pickup the pace a bit and start hitting the turns even fast, and have a gap form of a few seconds. Well then there were more turns followed by a false flat into a head wind. I pick up my pace here and have a good lead on the pack, which for the most part is still together. Well I take the left turn and there is a course marshal a just down the road for the turn pointing for me to turn right, so I turn right. Before the first turn I could no longer see the lead car, it went off in the distance so I had to listen to the course marshal.

Well I know in the end is the riders the responsibility to know the course. Well it turns out I went off course. Over 4 tenths of a mile before I turned around and the trailing ref caught me and asked me what happened. I said the course marshal told me to turn. I can only imagine he thought I was one of the riders warming up on the course and wanted me out of the way as he could see the pack approaching the turn. At this point I didn't know what to think, should I case back, should I finish this lap and call it a race, should I just do a work out, I don't know.

I thought back to some advice or a story Chuck told me, it was about one his Cat 3 races. I think he said he got a flat, changed it, chased the group caught them and still won the race. I was thinking how bad ass would it be if I had a similar story, but in reality after being back almost a mile on a hilly course I didnt think even catching them was possible. I just start my time trial.

There were times where I was feeling like I could catch them, and there were times where I felt like I should sit up and just finish the race, I have my excuse I went off course. But I continued to bust my ass to try and catch the group. I started to see the trailing car at the start of the final lap. I picked my pace up and worked to get closer and closer, making up most of my time in the turns and keeping as aero as possible.

I caught up to the ref and let him know that I was the rider that went off course and I just caught back on. He was surprised he said thought I was done for. I worked my way though the group, trying to optimize my lines through the turns trying to get what little rest I could before the last mile which had some complex turns. I know in these I could get some distance and try and fight for a placing if only my legs had any energy left in them.

In the last kilo I was in the front, I was hitting my lines, and the last turn I hit it well, a sharp right turn, up hill and banked at the apex. Every one else took it wide and sprinted to catch up to me. At this point I get out of the saddle and into the drops and pick up my pace. With an up hill finish and the sprint to catch me the turn my goal was to wear them out before they could sprint for the finish.

Well there was one rider who was approaching on my left. He was a bigger guy making some massive power, his front wheel passed mine yet I kept pushing, I saw I was catching back up to him, I pushed until the line, gave it everything I could, missing first by what was probably just mere inches it felt like. Luis who watched the finish said had the race been a few more feet I would have taken it, oh well. I was just happy I was able to catch back on to the group and work my way up to contest the sprint, that part had me feeling the happiest, in a way my own personal victory.

The race was suppose to 26.95 miles, my first race was 27.77 miles, .82 mile handicap and still get second.

On to the second race, not as eventful. Lance helped me change out my number, and Luis was kind enough to give me some water out of his bottle as this race was suppose to start right after the finish. I told me story of the last race and all of the other racers in the second race just stared at me, they could tell I was exhausted and I told them I didnt have much left in me.

As the race started I stayed in the pack, infact at the back of it, just taking my own line through the turns as they slowed down I was able to keep with them. There were a couple surges but nothing too bad. I did end up making my way to the front a few times some how and again started to separate myself from them.

Most notably on the second lap shortly after the start of it, I had a good gap, then 6 riders bridged up to me, Lance being one of them. He encouraged up to work together to get it to last. We did, short pulls and sprinting up hills. At that point we pretty much shattered the pack as everyone attempted to sprint up to us, a few made it as I began to fall off. Two other guys and myself try to work together but some how in a downhill descent before the highway one of the guys goes off into the gravel. I am not sure how as he was behind me and not right on my wheel as I felt he was getting burnt out from the pace.

Soon enough the other guys fades as well and I am by myself. I have no clue where the rest of the field is, I know there at 6 guys in front of me. The next two laps again became a time trail. I get down and low and keep hammering. Every time I got out of the saddle my calves began to cramp and I could feel it in my quads as well.

I would look back every now and then for other riders, but no one, I was in no-mans land soloing between the break and pack. My only hope at this point was to hope some one would fade from the break away but with the race almost over I was happy with 7th.

In the last turn I was able to see 6th finishing and I just finished on my own. At my own pace, another great work out digging deep and earning another top 10 spot.

At the end I caught up with Lance who finished fifth and Bob, who dropped out because of cramping, I dont blame him as it was getting painful for myself. With a quick check of the official results I made my way home. 10 races so far this season, 11 total, hopefully enough experience to satisfy my requirement for my upgrade.

new title and a reason why

Ever since I started this blog, which was originally for family and friends to keep up with and know the excitement that can go on in a race, I try to pass the feeling of the race on through words as best as I can describe and offer a little peak into the world of racing when it is you and 49 others making your way around a small course at high speeds with only millimeters of lycra protecting your skin from hitting the ground in a descent, sprint etc.

In the course of my writings I have been carried away with some of my feelings about how others ride. I am confident in my ability to handle a bike well, even though I have ridden for only two years this May 1st I have ridden just under 18,000 miles this includes time riding in the city in rush hour traffic to riding Skyline Drive or at training camp in the hills of West Virginia. This also includes riding in all types of weather, as a year round bike commuter I havent driven to work since July 13th 2008 and only 5 times between and when I first started May 1st 2008. Snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, everything, I have ridden it all, the hottest day 102F and the coldest 0F.

I would like to apologize to my teammates, my team and our sponsors for any misrepresentation, ill publicity or any other negative attention I have brought to them. Yes this is the internet and I should feel free to write my feelings as I did toe the line and stand with an M16 after 9/11 to defend such freedoms but I also have the responsibility to everyone I race with to show them an equal respect as a cyclist.

I was recently told my upgrade to Cat 4 could have been denied because of a possibility that there were complaints lodged against me as a rider. I am not sure how true that is or if there is any weight that could be held to that statement, as others who I have raced with completed the same number of races as I have, to request and receive their upgrade in an extremely quick manner. If my racing style or my writing style has any affect I apologize for that as well. From now I will focus more on being more courteous and more sportsman like.

see you on the tarmac and keep the shiny side up.

-jeremy

It isn't a matter of if but a matter of when. . . that and people learn how to freaking corner

After yesterday I awoke with my legs feeling on empty, yesterday's pace really put a hurt in the legs and I tried anything I could to get them to recover some for a descent showing today, after we had an 8am Cat 5 race and the Cat 4/5 race at 2:15, our final Cat 5 race.

Luis arrives a few minutes late after having a random nose bleed and not getting it to stop. But after that we are on our way, it was chilly, mid 30s with surprisingly little wind. We arrive on time and start setting up and get registered.

You know I thought the Ipod printing off the registrations was neat that we had yesterday and thought we did a great job of hosting the event but man I really have to give it up to DC Velo, these guys put on a top notch program. The course was marked excellently, with 1km, 500m, 300m, 200m, 100m and i think 50m signs up the hill. Also they had every single little manhole spray painted with arrows leading up to them so you knew where they were. They had a tent with breakfast, for all racers, coffee, bagels, nutella, cream cheese, the works. Superb jobs guys.

With the wind staying calm I decided to put the deep section wheels on as I didnt have to worry about the wind as much today. I then get on the trainer for about 15 minutes just to get the blood flowing my legs were still feeling relatively numb and my HR was low, a sign that I could be exhausted, which I knew I was feeling from the moment I woke up. While on the trainer he I yelled over to Luis, 9 and 10, all we have to do is stay up right, he said yup, but I would love to get another top 5. Honestly I was thinking the same thing, it would pretty sweet but I knew there were some fresh legs and being a circuit race it wasnt suiting my long course style.

As we go to line up I caught up with a Matt from NCVC, I have talked with him at previous races and he said he has read the blog. I was joking with him how I just wanted to sit in and not do anything he kind of laughed it off as other times I have said that I always went off the front. Well the whistle was blown and the race was off. Luis attacked right off the line, I lead out the group keeping a cautious pace as I wasnt sure what Luis had in mind. We made our way around the course and as I was pushing on the pedals it seemed like my heart didnt want to respond, hard to describe but just wasnt feeling it.

As we rounded the course we came to the downhill part, again people part of the title learn how to corner, watch some freaking F1 races, rally car, ALMS, speed world challange, rolex, anything besides NASCRAP learn how to hit an apex of a turn.

So I was leading the race at this point, I had no problems as I was told that some people dont like to take this turn at speed or take it at the wrong angle. Well jesus people it doesnt take much rocket science for you to follow the man in front (me) who is obviously taking the turn the fastest as any one in our race. It honestly seemed like I was putting a gap into the field every time I took this turn and people would have to sprint to catch back up to me, no issues I was honestly wasnt trying anything today I just dont like wasting energy and time.

On the third lap I think it was, Matt Davis from NCVC goes off the front, the same guy that won yesterdays Chantilly crit, and he rides solo for a few laps until our teammate Lance decided to bridge up to him. We kept them in our sights for most of the race but Luis and I along with a couple other NCVC guys kept the field under control and letting them stay out there. There would be a few attempts but they would all get reeled back in within a lap.

So it comes down to the final lap, approaching the start of the lap my legs werent feeling it, every lap we had to do the climb they just werent putting out like they usually do and the entire field would pass me on the up hill as I would just take my time, although its kind of funny how I made my way back to front at the end of every lap for the turn.

Well the pace definitely picked up the last lap it felt like, we pretty much knew that Lance and Matt were away for the race and there was one other guy in a light blue jersey who tried to go off but couldnt last and we caught right before the turn.
At the start of the hill I watched Luis climb up the hill and make his way all the way up to third then all of the sudden I heard a crash. Well as I crested the hill I saw the silver seven laying on the ground and I could tell it was Luis' bike I got up there to see him laying on the ground. I put my bike on the curb, get his bike, and the other guys, as the medic and plenty of others had already surrounded the two laying on the ground.

After moving the bikes I make my way over there and Luis was getting checked out by the medic after saying his hit his head, and he wanted to be cautious not to move any more. He retained all of his feeling and we help him on his feet. We gather the bike and make our way back to the car slowly.

What I had heard from witnesses was this racer was spent and pretty much slammed his wheel in to Luis' rear triangle taking him out. Luis said all the sudden he felt only his front wheel on the ground and knew this wasnt going to be good so he just fell with it.

Upon inspection of his gear, the bike appeared to be ok except for scuffed saddle and brake lever. His helmet did its job and took most of the impact and busting, he did get some road rash on his arms, collar bone and I think he said hip.

As the old adage goes, it isn't a matter of if but a matter of when in racing. We hung around for the awards to see Lance get his second place trophy and then headed home shortly after. What a weekend, now just to submit my request for an upgrade which hopefully gets approved in time for Farmersville this weekend.

You get out what you put in. . .

What a week... with two days off work; I met Chuck Hutch, and we did an awesome ride, set a new high hour FTP and was able to get in some nice hill repeats before work on Wednesday, all of which you can read about in previous postings. With all that done I took it easy Thursday on the way to work and Z3 on the way home, same with Friday except I had some leg openers planned for the afternoon.

Well Friday morning after getting to work my boss told me I needed to go to another site to go work on some servers. Well not only was it software but hardware, we ended up having to move quite a few severs and equipment around, not my idea of taking it easy but oh well. I am trying to find words to describe the ride home but am coming up short. The wind we have this weekend came in Friday afternoon, and I was headed southwest, well the wind was blowing from the southwest, it was a head wind the entire 18 miles home. There were times I had to check my wheels to see if a brake was rubbing or if i had a flat, it was horrible.

After getting home using more energy than I had planned my legs were actually exhausted. With a combination of hard riding all week and that ride this was definitely going to be a C weekend for me, just survive and be safe.

When the alarm went off this morning I hopped out of bed and did the routine, pretty much everything was ready just had to take it down to the car. My wife then told me she felt like she was having another kidney stone. This would be her 8th one, and third in the last 12 months. I asked if she wanted to go to the hospital but she declined saying we can go after the race if need be. Although she did tell me she wasnt going to be able to make the race because the pain was pretty damn bad. I was a little sad because this being a local race I wanted to see her and Christian there at the finish line, but I knew she was in a terrible amount of pain.

I arrive at the course at 6:30 so I can help setup and volunteer as our team was hosting this race. I helped with the setup and the first hour or so of registration, holly cow I never realized how hectic it is. I generally always try to make it to the table with everything ready but for some that doesnt seem to be a priority for most and the line grew very quickly as we had to wait for people to unscrew themselves.

After that I made it over to the car to start my warm up, planned on doing close to an hour or so but only managed 25 minutes after deciding to swap wheels and use my aluminum wheels with the Conti Supersonic tyres, mainly because of the wind and the deep section wheels being prone to getting blown around.

At the start it was Evo all up front, since we were hosting out title sponsor paid for our entry and we had 15 Evo riders in the cat 5 field, that was almost a third of the field right there, NCVC had a big presence along with WWVC with Nick Taylor. We've been keeping an eye on him lately as he has proven to always be there at the end.

We didnt have a real strategy in this race except to do well and with the wind and past experiences racing into the the wind no one really wants to do much work, everyone wants to sit in. This happened last week at Walkersville and odds were it was going to happen again today. I kept that in mind and let all of my teammates know that.

From the bell, horn, or whistle whatever the hell it was we were off. Luis off the front like a bat out of hell, he was saying he wanted to do well and he was certainly putting himself in a position to for that. One thing about this course, it is short, .85 miles and dead flat, 14ft of elevation gain per lap, this didnt suit our body style as most bigger guys can produce more raw watts than us which matter in this type of race. Also being so flat and short it is very rare for a breakaway to stick on this course especially in the Cat 5 since no one wants to work together.

Shortly after Luis took off I was up front, a little freaked out by the people riding next to me and not being able to judge their handling skills especially in turns I wanted to get the hell away from them. On the second lap I think, I cant remember I took off and caught up to Luis and passed him, he was exhausted after his lap. I spent the next 6 or so laps riding by myself, setting my own pace and taking my own lines at speeds I was comfortable with.

I was then caught by two NCVC guys and Luis who bridged the gap as well. The two NCVC guys and myself worked to keep the breakaway alive and I kept Luis in the back so he didnt have to tire himself in case he need to sprint. At one point one of the NCVC riders let a gap form from the lead and we had to sprint to catch back up, he was toast, used everything he had. From that point on we knew we had to work together for this to last. Later I was told it was Matt Davis who we riding with, the dude was a freaking power house. On the back straight with the tail wind he was crushing almost dropping us and then we would rotate every 20 seconds or so, Some how I usually ended up pulling down the front straight into the wind, never really getting a chance to recover.

As hard as I would try to take my lines through the turns Matt would always seem to be in front and I would have to slow down or not be able to hit the apex. Again it is crucial to always hit the apex people learn how to corner / turn what ever the hell you want to call it, read about how race car drivers drive. Time and energy can be saved in the turns it is crucial. After a couple close calls with Kristopher it came down to the last few laps.

My legs were burning with every pull but I knew if I didnt bust my ass out there and put in a good effort it would be all for naught. I used the same mindset at Walkersville last week, if you give it your all you will get results, it may take time and it may not be first or hell even top 10 but if you truly give it everything you have it will pay off. With that in mind we kept the breakaway alive.

In to the last turn Matt in front goes off and I standup to go after him trying to give Luis some sort of a lead out but he was gone before I knew it. Luis came around me and sprinted to catch him almost at the line but no dice he got second and I rolled across in third.

I was very satisfied with the result, and even happier that our breakaway lasted on a course we were told odds are it wont, I love being able to prove the normal wrong. Right now my legs are killing me and fatigued but that is all apart of the game.

With a quick look at the roster for Carl Dolan tomorrow it appears that there will be a lot of fresh legs and the forecast looks to be just as windy as today, should make for an interesting showing. With no real ambitions for tomorrow except to stay upright as my final weekend as a Cat 5 closes. I just hope my legs get in the car with me tomorrow.

Congrats Luis on your second place, I am glad you were able to hang in there as I was about to fall off myself.

Heather, I hope feel better and thank you for watching Christian this morning as you guys continue to put up with my obsession. Love you guys.