3 and out

This weekend we had the Tour de Louisiane Stage Race in Covington, LA just north of where I live by about an hour. I hadn’t been training super much recently. I’ve been riding but nothing structured other than some group rides in the morning on the levee. So TDL is composed of a short 3 mile TT, an 80 mile road race and a 60 minute criterium. I was just going to do my best and see where it turned out.

So here are the results and some quick highlights:

TT
6:48 good enough for ~ 23rd

Road Race
12th pack time
I tried attacking a bunch on the first lap to try and get off and have a chance at the hot spot.
It stormed so hard during the race which made it super hard and really a good “real” road race.
On the 3rd lap I had a flat and had to chase back on
By finishing with the pack I moved from 23rd to 18th

Criterium
7 seconds separated 10th and 18th place.
Once again I attacked early and often to try to get a chance at the hot spot.
I timed the crit to attack at 23 min in assuming that the hot spot would be rang around the 26 min mark. I was off for a lap but got caught as the officials rang the hot spot lap.
I still managed to be the 4th person across the line for the hot spot. No time bonus but a decent result.
I had another flat after the hot spot.
In the final laps I was sitting in good position in the front and ended up attacking on the last lap with about 1k to go. I got caught with about 200meters to go to the line.
I ended up finishing 17th overall. I took Diego’s spot when he DNF’d

Again I had fun racing, I tried some stuff it didn’t work but at least I was noticed and felt somewhat accomplished. Oh and to finish off my 3 and out I rode my TT bike on Tuesday after TDL and had another flat.

3 flats, 3 races, and 3 and out!

Learning to Race

I’ve been racing for four seasons now (this one being my forth) on the road bike. I know that along the way I’ve learned a lot about training, riding, traveling and a lot about suffering. But somewhere along the line it seems like I’ve forgotten how to do something that inherently when I started four years ago was so simple. How to race.

My first season I raced a lot, and in the course of one year jumped from a 5 to a 3. Looking back some of my best memories were of that first year. I didn’t win, I’m still working on that one but I raced, raced a lot, and had fun doing it. Over the course of the following years things became more cloudy and complicated. Training got more structured; scientific. Racing became a game of calculation, don’t go too early the chances are too low, don’t go too late, you’ll get caught, who is willing to go, who is going to chase, how strong the chase will be…. In every race it was a matter of calculations. When I got a coach it seemed that it became more about number’s, sustained watts, max watts, time pedaling, etc. In the mix of this I lost what I had in my first year, racing.

This year has been rough! I’ve worked so hard and it feels like all I’m doing in some of these races is racing to hang on. Enough! For the Month of June I’ve decided to just race and have fun. I’m not doing any structured training (I’ll still be riding), and I’m not going to use a damn power meter!



With this in mind Saturday before the State Road Race Championships I went to the shop and took off the ERGOMO. It had been giving me some problems anyway and I needed to send it back to get checked out so I figured that this is a good time to get all of this done. Additionally, Marc at Bicycle World wanted me to try out some new chain lube. It’s called No. 5 and is supposed to last for 1,000 miles without needing to be re-oiled. So after cleaning my bike, removing the Ergomo, and doing all the other crap at the bike shop I was finally ready to go get some rest for Sunday.

I picked up Shave Dave at 4:00 AM so that we could drive up to Natchez which is about 3 hours away. Our race started at 9:00 (a 15 lap circuit race). Kate was kind enough to come drive so that we could sleep and she was also going to hand us bottles in the feed zone. It was going to be a hot day so we loaded up on water and I have to tell you the race started off really boring. Dan Bennett took off a little quick from the gun but didn’t make it 10 feet without someone being on his wheel. On the first lap I was told that a predominant team would work with me if I got off the front with anyone except this one rider who had beaten a teammate of theirs in the master’s race Saturday. So toward the end o the first lap I see a teammate of the guy I’m not supposed to get off with come to the front. I was guessing he was up there to cover attacks, etc. There was also a good mix of other riders at the front. So I attacked and thought that I might draw some people with me off of the front with me. Before I knew it the motor Ref came up and informed me I had 30 seconds. I was thinking “Well, I’ll hang out here for a bit and hope that someone bridges up.” The motor ref then tells me I have a minute then 2 minutes. My lead ballooned up to a maximum of 3 min. 30 sec. I ended up getting caught with 6 laps to go. I rode another two laps the first one trying to hang on and the second trying to catch back on. Then I pulled of and sat down. I usually don’t quit races but I couldn’t bear thinking of riding another 4 laps by myself.

I didn’t win the State Championship’s, I didn’t even finish, but I learned to race again and had a great time!

Hangin Tough

I know that I may not be the next ultra-pro. I also see young guys that are starting earlier than I did and some of who have much more talent than I. However, the one thing I do like about this sport is that if you’re dedicated and smart it will take you a long ways. Over the course of the years I have developed something that I see many of the younger guys missing – toughness. I’m not just talking about the ability to push hard when it hurts in a race; I’m talking the toughness you have o have off of the bike. One of our Cat 3’s here in NOLA is amazing on paper. He’s had a rough time this year coming off of a stellar season last year and being herald as the next youth rider to watch. Adjusting to Cat 3 riding here is hard. Most races are 123 and everyone is pushing just as hard as you are. My first year as a 3 I think I finish only maybe 2-3 races with the group and rest of the time was off the back. Not quitting and not loosing your mental strength is important. Even to this day when I enter a race – I believe I have a chance of winning or doing well. Sometimes well might be defined as finishing and making a time cut. I however have been fortunate to never enter a race with the expectations of failure.

This past weekend I needed the mental toughness as I traveled to Tulsa to complete the Tulsa Tough Criteriums. Needing a riding companion for the long trip up there and not being able to get anyone from here to go I found Murphy who went the entire trip with me and shared his insight of philosophy, and laws of life.

Trip to Tulsa

Tuesday
Check Engine Light comes on in the car – I make an appointment to take the car in to get an oil change and get the car checked out (it’s probably just a filter)

Wednesday
5:00PM - Go to Wednesday at the square to see some long lost friends (lost since racing season beganJ
6:00PM - Go to Loews to get some LocTite for Darrel to put my spoke in my wheel and true it (this is the wheel that I broke the spoke on in Arkansas)
9:00PM - Go to Wal-Mart to get some pipe cleaners and acetone (also to fix the wheel)

Thursday
6:00AM - Get up early to swap cars with the parents & take mine into the shop
8:00AM - Go to the shop to drop off the supplies to Darrel then go to NAPA to get some different type of LockTite
9:00AM - At work – the one that pays
4:00PM - Get a call from the auto place … news … cracked transmission, and a half ass job on the repair from when it was in the shop a month ago and a blown fuse
4:30PM - Call Insurance
5:00PM - Pick up car at auto place
6:00PM - Drop car off at dealership that performs faulty work!!! (not my idea)
6:30PM - Pick up Wheel that Katie picked up from the shop for me earlier in the day!
7:00PM - Drop off mom and go pack her car
9:00PM - Glue Tubular
11:00PM - Go to bed

Friday
7:00AM - Get up Drive to Westbank
8:00AM - Get at Enterprise to rent a car for the trip
8:45AM - Leave for Tulsa in rental car
7:30PM - Arrive in Tulsa and get ready to race
8:30PM - RACE
8:15PM - Get caught behind crash and dropped
10:30PM - Eat Dinner with team
12:30PM - Get to Chad’s house and crash soon after

Saturday
9:00AM - Wake up and Eat
3:00PM - Begin Warm-up
4:00PM - Ride to Course
5:05PM - RACE – finish with main group (First finish of the year with this quality of field)
9:00PM - Eat Dinner with Team and go out to awesome cycling bar “SOUND PONY”

Sunday
1:00AM - Get back to the host house – SLEEP
10:00 AM - Wake up and Eat! – Homemade French Toast
12:30PM - Warm Up
2:15PM - RACE
2:35PM - Get Dropped on Killer hill and pulled from race
2:40PM - Make it around to the top of the hill again and get a complementary beer from the Sound Pony Race Party!!!
3:30PM - Leave to go home

Monday
2:30AM - Get back to NOLA
8:00AM - Return Rental Car
9:00AM - Back at Work

Tuesday Night World Champion

LAST NIGHT I WON THE TUESDAY NIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. I DIDN'T FEEL GREAT COMING OFF OF A LONG WEEKEND BUT WITH A GREAT LEAD OUT FROM THE PRIOR TUESDAY NIGHT WORLD CHAMPION DAN BENNET I EASILY CAME AROUND MARK TO TAKE THE SPRINT OUT OF THE DAYS BREAKAWAY OF 5. THANKS DAN!

Host Housing

The first two days at the Tour of Arkansas we stayed with the Parker's who were so nice, and pleasant. Even better is they had an awesome little boy named Brooks!!! I bet he grows up to be a bike racer. Below are some pictures of there gorgeous house at the top of the mountain in town!

The Back Yard Was HUGE. I wish we would have had time to go swimming :)

The view off of the front porch .... true southern style.

I wasn't even halfway out in there front yard when I took this picture; its all just expansive.

I actually got to stay in Brooks' room. With the excepting of one of his electronic games coming on in the middle of the night on the first night it was way cool. It even had my name above the bed ... well sort of! Evidently he decided to rearrange things. SO from now on I'm considering going by "RBOOS"
AND yes, they had a basketball goal in their driveway and in tribute to our very own HORNETS who are in the second round of the playoffs I figured I would go slam it for the home team!!!

90 miles of pain

Today, I decided to train. To ride my bike even though I didn't want to and the only thing I could still think about was being time cut yesterday. I met Zach at the foot of Mount Magazine the 9 mile climb that the race would go up later. We were riding it for training. He had been resting all week and wanted to make a hard go of the climb; I just wanted to get it done. He dropped me in the first 2 miles which were the steepest. As I was climbing the Cat 3 race caught me. I was expecting to see D'go in the front group. D'go is a small guy who is coming up through the ranks in NOLA fast! While living under sea level he is about the closets thing that New Orleans will ever have of a climber. Well he wasn't in the first group or the second. Finally I saw him coming up to me. I figured that I didn't want to be shown up by a 17 year old Cat 3 so I decided to pick it up. When the gradient would lessen I would shift to my big ring and take off shifting back down when it got steep. I was sure he was going to catch me. For a while I would scoot away on the less steep stuff only to see him coming back on the steeper stuff. With about 10k to go I was able to shift into my big ring and stay there for the most part of the remaining ascent. At the top I saw Zach who said he hadn't finished that long ago :), and Andres the director of our Developmental Team. After a quick chat the "Old Man" rolled up to us after winning the masters race. Zach, the "Old Man" and I all started to descend. It was good practice to be riding with these two as they both are experienced in descending. Once at the bottom Zach turned to climb the mountain again. The Old Man and I continued back to the feed zone to feed the elite guys. We were keeping a good pace because we had 40 minutes before the peleton was expected to come through he feed zone and we were about 10 miles away with about a 20 mph head wind!!! I was trying to pull as long as possible to save the Old Man's legs for the Crit the next day. When he did pull he almost dropped me on some of the hills --- STRONG Old Man was more like it! We made it to the feed zone in time and saw the break coming - a Mercy guy was in it! It was Alex. I would learn later that he was in the break for about 90 miles with Karl Menzies and some other pro. At dinner he said it was 90 miles of pain. Regardless, he did an awesome job. They ended up getting caught on the climb but Menzies still managed to get a top 20. The day was done. I went back to my host house and got ready for the 10 hour drive back to NOLA.

ToA - I thought the hard part was done

Going into the Tour of Arkansas it was really hard to convince myself that I would be making it past the first day. Well, I did. That really only meant that I made it over to the next day to suffer - I was actually really happy. The next day had about half as much climbing at a little over 5,000 feet and was a mountain top finish up the dreaded NEBO! My goal, to make it over the first 3 mile climb up Petit Jean with the group and recover on the flat sections ahead. We would cross Petit Jean again but it would be only 30 miles from the finish the second time. We start and after a short neutral roll out the attack started coming. I was feeling fine. We were rolling between 30 and 35 on the way to the first climb and I was not on the rivet at all. We hit the climb and I started close to the front maybe in the top 20 (Brice Jones, our Director for the weekend, told me to start in the top 5 but have you ever tried to get up to the top 5 in a pro race....yeah). I made it up the first little pitch but then they just started going faster!!! I fell off of the back along with a couple other guys. After the descent we ended up with a group of about 8 of us that were fighting to make the time cut. We all made it to the second time up Petit Jean together and started climbing. Spear Chucker fell off slightly before the climb and the BMC guy I was with yesterday fell off at the very bottom. I lost contact with the group about halfway up and continued to climb as fast and steady as a rock can. The group of 5 summited about 600 meters in front of me. I came across maybe 60 to 90 seconds back. I was kinda expecting to see them at the top of the ridge but they were no where in sight. I started chasing to try and get back in but to no avail. I ended up TTing the next 30 miles solo to the final climb. As I met the foot of the climb spray painted on the ground there were the words "WELCOME TO KNEE BLOW!" Yeah this climb is the most difficult climb I have ever done (it was a bit easier than the time I did it back in 2006). The gradient reach upward to 25% with most of it being around 18% for a little over 2 miles straight up. I missed the time cut by 10 minutes. I was hurt, not just physically mentally and emotionally. To pour everything into 30 miles to be time cut by 10 min. The group of 5 in front of me made the time cut. I don't know their margin but they had about 8 minutes on me at the feed zone about 15 miles from NEBO so who knows. Tomorrow, I would get to feed the race, and watch a race that I should be in.