Monday, March 24, 2008

Catch up time

This weekend, I went to the Perry Welcome Center to see who was going to show up for a group ride. Chip was there when I arrived, then John, & Tom arrived. We were getting ready to leave when Shane showed up. I told everyone else I'd wait for Shane & catch up to them. Shane was saying he wanted to do 130 miles to get ready for the Bike Ride Across Florida. I told him I couldn't go that far, but I'd ride with him until we got to a point where he wanted to go farther. We left & proceeded to try to catch the other guys. We ended up catching them on Hayneville Hill, once we got to the top, the other guys changed the route we were going to ride. They didn't want to ride down Pitts Rd, because of the hills. I told them, that was fine with me & I would catch up to Shane & wait for them at the turn they said. I then put it in the big ring & caught up to Shane & rode a bit further with him. He was headed to Hawkinsville, but we were headed to Unadilla. I got to the intersection & waited for the others to arrive. We headed down Klondike towards Pitts Rd, I had gotten a gap from the others, so when I got to the intersection, I had to wait for the others. Chip & I decided to ride our pace & we waited for the others once we got to Unadilla. After leaving the store, Chip & I headed out on our own. Once we hit Elko Rd, we put it in the big ring & started hammering it. I pulled most of the way, my legs were feeling good. Once we hit the final climb, I kept a steady pace, but seemed that it was a bit much for Chip. He dropped back, but I thought he would catch up at the top of the climb. Once I saw that he wasn't catching up, I put it in the big ring & hammered down the last downhill. I figured that if he was going to catch me, I would at least make him work for it. I hit the intersection at the parkway extension & saw that Chip was a bit behind me, I waited for him & he asked me what I've been doing to get better. I told him that it was due to doing the Peach Peloton rides, & other workouts I had been doing over the winter. I also told him that losing about 20 lbs. didn't hurt eaither. Today was hill repeats. The wind outside was brutal, it was out of the NW @ 16 mph with gusts. I drove to the Perry Welcome Center to ride out the Perry Parkway to use Hayneville Hill for my workout. I wanted to keep a consistent pace up the hill on each climb. I am happy to say that I succeeded in doing that. I kept it between 14.5 -16 mph each time up the hill. I did 4 climbs & thought about doing one more before common sense kicked in & told me that I had a headwind to ride into in order to get back to my car. The wind was a pain, but I suffered & managed to get back to the car. All in all a good workout, my climbing seems to be getting better. Stay tuned for more.....

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Perry-Roubaix Race Report

Well, the first mass start races for this season are in the books. On Saturday was the circuit race. It was a short course with a couple of small climbs. The class I was in was scheduled for 15 laps of the course, which they said would be 21 miles. The pace was fast from the beginning. The pack was staying together & the pace was comfortable for me. A couple of times other riders tried getting away, but the pack chased down each & every attempt. I even tried my hand at getting away with another rider. One of the Aaron riders said he was going to try a break on the back side of the course & wanted to know if anyone would go with him. I said I would give it a go & one other rider said the same. He went up the right side of the pack with both of us in tow, but we really didn't get much of a gap before we were caught. The pace was high enough not to allow anyone much of a gap. We stayed together until the last turn, I was in a good position for a top ten finish, but coming out of the final corner, I was cut off & had to let up a bit & finished 13th out of 31 riders. I was quite pleased with being able to stay with the pack the entire race. The workouts Mike has me doing are helping for sure. On Sunday was the road race. I know the course well, but it's not really my forte. There is just too much climbing on it. The first climb up Elko Rd was a bit fast for me but I managed to catch the pack on Gilbert, just as I got back on, someone up front must have attacked, because the pack picked up the pace. My legs started to cramp up & I knew that if I tried to catch the break, I'd never finish. I just settled into a fast pace that was comfortable for me to finish the race. The dirt section of the course was packed pretty good, so I was able to keep a good pace on it. Each time up Elko Rd hurt a bit more than before. I was able to catch up to a couple of other riders from my class & we rode together for the rest of the second lap. On the third lap, I thought I wasn't going to be able to get up the climbs, but I just dug deep & gave it my best, knowing I could recover a bit on the back side of the course. I rode with another rider who came up from Florida for the race & we worked well together. We both decided that we were going to finish the race, no matter what. On the finaly lap, he got a gap on me going up Elko, but I just kept a steady pace for me. I even managed to pass another rider from the other Competitive class. I kept up a steady pace on the dirt & gave it all I had on the back part of the course. I managed to finish 29th & made the finish list. I'm just happy that I finished 4 laps of that course. All in all it was a fun weekend of racing & now it's time to get ready for my next races. Stay tuned for more.....

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Getting ready for Perry-Roubaix

I've been getting ready for the races this weekend in Perry. I did my intervals on Monday & it was hard as usual. On Tuesday I did the Ride to the Capitol & we put a hard effort on the way back. On Wednesday I was just cruising & ran into my friend Rob, who is back from being deployed. We just cruised around & caught up on things. Today was mock sprints. I did my 12 sets of them & then met some other cycling friends of mine & just rode easy with them. I'm looking foward to this weekend of racing. I'm going out there & giving it all I have. I'm borrowing a set of Kyrsium SL wheels for the races from my friend Will. I used these wheels on my ride today. I might not want to return them. This is one nice set of wheels. I'm probably going to take tomorrow off & have the bike checked out by Charles just to make sure things are working great for this weekend. Stay tuned for race reports this weekend........

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Ride to the Capitol

Today was the Ride to the Capitol to let legislators know that cycling is an alternative mode of trasnportation worthy of more funding. We all met at Epic Bikes in McDonough. There were about 30 of us doing the ride. We left the shop with a police escort. We had one patrol car in the lead, one following, & 2 motorcycle officers blocking the intersections for us. We had one lane of Jonesboro Rd all to ourselves. That was probably the coolest thing I've ever had done for me while riding my bike. I know what the pros feel like when they get it done for them. We met the McDonough mayor at city hall & he rode with us for about a mile. He then got into a vehicle & rode in it until we arrived at the Marta station. The route was nothing but rollers with a few good climbs. We pretty much rode together the way to the capitol. We had one rider who kept getting flats till he changed wheels. The only other incident we had was one rider was trying to help another up the hill & lost his balance & fell. Everything turned out alright & we made it to the capitol, hooking up with another group from different parts of the city. We listened to the speakers, ate lunch & then got ready to head back. We started back towards the Marta station, & Mike was feeling really froggy. It was a sprint fest between each set of stoplights. My legs were hurting seeing as they weren't warmed up that much at the time. We were doing about 27 mph trying to catch up to him. We got to the station & decided what the plan going back would be. It was if you couldn't hang with the fast group, the truck was there to pick you up if needed. We headed out back to the shop & the pace was much faster than on the way there. I tried keeping up with Mike & was doing good until he decided to let the group go by & catch up from behind. I caught the back of the group, but by then Mike was off the front with another rider. We all grouped together & tried to catch him, with not much luck. We just settled into a good rhythym & rode on our own. We made it back to the shop & we really had a good ride. It was a good time & great company.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Perry-Roubaix recon ride

Yesterday I went & rode the road race route & circuit race route for the Perry-Roubaix races this coming weekend. I rode with Eddie & several of the guys from the Security Bank cycling team from Macon. We did 2 laps of the road race course & I did one lap of the circuit race route. My legs were a bit sore the first time up Elko Rd, due to not being properly warmed up. We found out that Firetower Rd is packed down good as of right now. I'm hoping it stays that way all week. You can ride pretty much anywhere on the dirt as of now. I felt better going up Elko Rd on the second lap, & the Security Bank guys were kind enough to wait for me. I told them that they should go & do what they needed to do & I'd be fine. I was going to check out the circuit race route while they went & checked out the time trial route. The circuit race course is different from last year. The only problem I noticed was the turn from the parkway back onto Limerock Rd. There is an island & the turn seems pretty tight to me. We'll just have to see how things go on race day. Today I did my interval workout. Mike had me do the last 2 intervals in a 53 x 12 & boy was that a workout. Legs actually felt pretty good during the ride though. Tomorrow is the Ride to the Capitol. I'm looking foward to this. There should be lots of cyclists to show the politicians that cycling is a great alternative means of transportation & more money should be spent on bike lanes & things to make cities more bicycle friendly. I'll have a report about it either tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. I'm also scheduled for a power threshold test before the ride. Tim said that would be a good warm-up before the ride. I don't know what to expect, so I really won't be surprised or dissapointed. It's going to be a starting point & we'll see how the season goes & if I get stronger as it goes on. Stay tuned for more.....

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Great day for a ride.

Today was a beautifulday for a ride. It was about 70 degrees with not much wind. I was scheduled to do mock sprints today. I did 12 sets of them & my legs were a bit sore, this is only the second time I've done this workout. After doing the mock sprints, I decided to go for a longer ride. I was doing the loop I've ridden with my friend Eddie, & the wind was not much of a factor. I hit the Larry Walker Parkway & put it in the big ring. My legs were a bit sore at the start of this, but after a few minutes, they felt great. I kept it in the big ring the entire parkway, even going up the climbs. My legs were feeling good & I kept it in the big ring the rest of the way home. I rode through Perry & then hit Lake Joy Rd. I just kept a steady pace down the entire road. I ended up doing 35.5 miles with an average speed of 20.1 mph. I'm planning on pre riding the race courses for Perry this weekend, the weather doesn't look all that great, but I should be out there. I'll let everyone know what happened.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Two weeks to Perry-Roubaix

In about 2 weeks my first race weekend will be here. It's just south of me & I know the course quite well. I've ridden it several times over the years. I'm in the preperation mode & getting ready to do some climbing practice to get ready for it. I raced this course last year, but the category I was in only did 3 laps. This year we are doing 4 laps for a total of 50 miles. I'm planning on doing the race distance on Saturday. The past several days, I've been doing workouts that Mike from Epic Bikes has told me to do. Mostly it's been designed to build up my speed. I've done several workouts that involve some type of intervals. This is the workouts I did last week & will be doing. On Monday it was intervals, 5 minutes hard, 5 minutes easy. I did 5 sets of that. On Tuedsay it's a pyramid workout, 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy, 2 mins hard, 2 easy & so on until you get to 5 minutes, then work your way back down to 1 minute. On Wednesday, it's an easy ride, keeping it in the small ring. Thursday is an off day & Friday is mock sprints. You ride in the drops & raise your butt out of the saddle for 15 seconds, do this 12 times. Last week I was quite sore from the workouts, but this week I'm feeling a bit better now. I'm looking forward to the races in two weeks. I hope I do well.