- live, work and race to your full potential
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Birmingham
Hanging at the Ramada Pelham. The pro race isn't until 3 this afternoon so I have some time to kill this morning. Actually about to go watch some ofthe amateurs come through to getin the racing mindset. Oak Mountain State Park is actually a beautiful place and we have some nice weather this weekend. Warm, but nice. The trails are really fun, and fast. It should make for some close, aggressive racing on the opening laps. Outside of the state park, a famous car track and one mall I dont think there is much to do in Birmingham. At least thegrocery store has a huge selection of iced tea.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
TX
Finishing up a catch up day here at work after spending the long weekend in TX for Kath's wedding. The wedding was really nice and spending time with the people I care about most made it an even greater weekend. I was able to borrow Matt's bike for a ride Saturday morning, but nothing too serious. That means I need to hit it pretty hard tonight. Just sanitized my desk and washed my hands, hopefully not too late. Beth and 2 of my co-workers are all sick and I leave for Bump&Grind in 3 days...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Riding
Last week was a good block of endurance riding, finished off by a big one Sunday. Things have been BUSY otherwise: a very fun b-day dinner for Beth Friday, planning for Kathleens wedding in Tx this weekend!!, travel plans for bump& grind, busy days at work, etc... I've been doing an ok job of shutting things down in the evening and relaxing.
We'll see how much energy is in the tank for some race pace efforts on the mountain bike this evening. Although close to a lot of neighborhoods, Aliso & Wood Canyons is actually a good place to get away from all the busyness of the world in the evening. Training on the road bike is sometimes tough right after work with the noise of the traffic not allowing me to tune out mentally like I can on the mtn bike... time to ride...
On camp pendleton
Beaches near Encinitas
view from Torrey Pines climb
snack in Del Mar
cruising back on san onofre trail
4,000 calories in the end!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wildflower
Here's a little report by Beth on her experience at the Wildflower Triathlon on May 3rd. It has to be one of the largest triathlons (if not the largest) in the world. Beth's 5yr age group in the Olympic Distance race had 230 women!! She finished a very awesome 8th place, which I am really proud of. If you're good at searching results you can see the details here - http://wf09.bazumedia.com/event/WILDFLWR2009
There’s something to be said about gathering all of your tri geek friends in the middle of nowhere and setting up camp as you prepare to race one of the toughest courses in the region. This was a new concept for me….camping before a race? What!?! Are you crazy? What if I don’t sleep? My nutrition the day before will be all wrong. Cold nights and cold showers? Thousands (and I mean thousands, literally) of triathletes all freaking out together the night before and day of the race? No thanks.
Let’s just say I was going in to this with hesitation. I actually booked a hotel for both nights in case I decided to back out of the camping situation and then of course, ‘pulled a Beth’ by forgetting to cancel my reservation (much to Dana’s disappointment). Oops! But to my surprise, Wildflower turned out to be the most fun and most organized race I have ever done. I had such a good time that I didn’t want to leave Sunday afternoon after I finished a grueling olympic distance tri that beat up my legs and left me feeling like I never trained a day this year.
First of all, the Orange County Triathlon Club knows how to do Wildflower right. Stan and his wife, Nancy, arrive at the lake a full 4 days before the weekend to reserve what I think is the prime camping location. We had lake views and were situated right along the running trail, as well as 2 minutes from the boat shuttle which takes you and your bike and gear to the race start. Yes, I took a boat to the start of my race – where else do you get to do that? The club also had a pot luck dinner for everyone Friday night which made me very happy. I couldn’t have possibly survived all weekend on PB & J’s.
Most of my friends raced the half-ironman on Saturday (crazy people). So I had a great time just chillin and watching people suffer. I thought this would make me more anxious about my race on Sunday, but it didn’t. I had so much fun hanging out enjoying the perfect weather. I think I was comforted knowing that my race was half the distance of their race. I was, however, extremely jealous that evening when they were finished and were all enjoying multiple beers as stories were exchanged from their loooong day.
Before I knew it, it was time to turn in to my tent and try to sleep a decent amount before I would be diving in to the lake the next morning. I didn’t sleep quite as well as the previous night. The sounds of people drinking & laughing around a camp fire about 10 feet from my tent was not the quiet nature sounds I had hoped for, but surprisingly, I wasn’t annoyed. I knew that I would have done the exact same thing if I had raced that day.
I got up the next day, made my usual oatmeal and hot tea, rode the boat across the lake, set up transition, and waited for my wave to start. Race morning went so smoothly. The race, however, did not feel so smooth, but when I was out there grinding up the hills on my bike I tried to stay present in the moment and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I ended up finishing with a great result – 8th place in my age group. Overall, I was happy with my performance, but more importantly I was so grateful for such a wonderful weekend spent away from the city and smog, and doing what I love to do.
Let’s just say I was going in to this with hesitation. I actually booked a hotel for both nights in case I decided to back out of the camping situation and then of course, ‘pulled a Beth’ by forgetting to cancel my reservation (much to Dana’s disappointment). Oops! But to my surprise, Wildflower turned out to be the most fun and most organized race I have ever done. I had such a good time that I didn’t want to leave Sunday afternoon after I finished a grueling olympic distance tri that beat up my legs and left me feeling like I never trained a day this year.
First of all, the Orange County Triathlon Club knows how to do Wildflower right. Stan and his wife, Nancy, arrive at the lake a full 4 days before the weekend to reserve what I think is the prime camping location. We had lake views and were situated right along the running trail, as well as 2 minutes from the boat shuttle which takes you and your bike and gear to the race start. Yes, I took a boat to the start of my race – where else do you get to do that? The club also had a pot luck dinner for everyone Friday night which made me very happy. I couldn’t have possibly survived all weekend on PB & J’s.
Most of my friends raced the half-ironman on Saturday (crazy people). So I had a great time just chillin and watching people suffer. I thought this would make me more anxious about my race on Sunday, but it didn’t. I had so much fun hanging out enjoying the perfect weather. I think I was comforted knowing that my race was half the distance of their race. I was, however, extremely jealous that evening when they were finished and were all enjoying multiple beers as stories were exchanged from their loooong day.
Before I knew it, it was time to turn in to my tent and try to sleep a decent amount before I would be diving in to the lake the next morning. I didn’t sleep quite as well as the previous night. The sounds of people drinking & laughing around a camp fire about 10 feet from my tent was not the quiet nature sounds I had hoped for, but surprisingly, I wasn’t annoyed. I knew that I would have done the exact same thing if I had raced that day.
I got up the next day, made my usual oatmeal and hot tea, rode the boat across the lake, set up transition, and waited for my wave to start. Race morning went so smoothly. The race, however, did not feel so smooth, but when I was out there grinding up the hills on my bike I tried to stay present in the moment and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I ended up finishing with a great result – 8th place in my age group. Overall, I was happy with my performance, but more importantly I was so grateful for such a wonderful weekend spent away from the city and smog, and doing what I love to do.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
8-5 5-8
Just enjoying some normal days lately. Looking forward to a lot of riding this week, without much intensity. My routine for the next 3 days is work 8-5 and ride 5-8. Then a couple long ones on the weekend and my endurance should be back to where it was a couple months ago before hiting all the spring races.
Besides a few more hours on the bike this week things are getting busy with a b-day party for Beth on Friday, Kathleens wedding in Tx next week, and trip to Alabama (still to be planned) the week after.
Saturday Beth and I had a good time going to the farmers market and then riding up PCH to Bolsa Chica and back. Weather has been typical this time of year with overcast mornings turnng warm and sunny inland, but overcast at the beaches all day. Riding in Aliso this evening will be interesting, most of the trails are in the warm sun but the top ridge will be in the cool, breezy marine layer.
Anyone selling a nice bike travel case?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Rest Week
This week has been flying by. It's a rest week training wise which started with an awesome say Sunday. Sleeping in, riding to the beach for lunch, and getting things done around the house in the afternoon is much better than working the day after a hard race. It's also been a nice week to do some normal things like go out for cinco de mayo, and get try to get caught up on some things at work.
Tomorrow morning I even head for my motorcycle test at the DMV - wich me luck!
When i first looked up what the test consists of I thought it was a joke. Then I saw a couple forum posts where people were complaining about how hard it is. Maybe I should be glad we have the test to keep these guys off the road. If only the driving test could involve safely passing cyclists.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Idyllwild Challenge
I almost don't want to spread the word on this one because it is such a cool race just the way it is. A bunch of mountain bikers getting together for an EPIC 30 mile course in the mountains. As a race it's pretty opposite of the World Cup that was going down in Europe, but the Idyllwild Challenge is well organized, there are great facilities, and the races are very competitive, with some significant prize money for the pro field. The weather was really cool and cloudy with a threat of rain in the morning, but turned into another beautiful SoCal day by the time we were halfway into the race. The pro field was about 25 riders strong and there was a sweet $1,000 waiting for the winner.
The initial pace was quick, and the group strung out pretty fast considering the race was going to be longer and harder than your typical 3 lap cross country race. About 20min into the race it was Sid Taberly showing his strength and getting a gap for the first KOM prize. After that I was able to re-group with Sid, Manny Prado, and Aaron Olson on some gradual fire road climbing sections. Manny was flying and led the way through the first really technical section. It's by far my favorite part of the course with super fun, twisty single track through the trees with a couple really cool sections rolling over some huge boulders.
From there the real climbing begins with a grind up a VERY technical single track. Of course the legs aren't quite as fresh since this section is over an hour into the race. But I was able to stay focused and ride all but 1 section of the climb. Sid found it a good place to pull away from me and Manny and once we came back out onto a fire road where you could actually see a minute or two ahead he wasn't even in sight. After a weird section through what I think was a park and a residential street, Manny and I hit the last main climb together. It starts as a typical fire road climb, switch backs a couple times, and then turns to pavement... because it gets too steep for cars to go up if it were dirt. I don't know how long the section really is but it seems like a mile. And at this point we've raced for about 2hrs and climbed about 5,000ft. Manny attacked right at the steep part, I was already at my limit and had to let him go.
Once over the top it's about 30min to the finish if you're really flying. That's what I tried to do in hopes of somehow catching Manny. It was hard to have much concentration at this point as my body and brain started running really low on energy. Still I rode the smoothest I could for about 20min and next thing I know there was Manny around a bend. I put my head down on a couple pedaling sections and slowly reeled him in. He led the last few technical downhill sections at full speed and I attacked as we hit the flat pavement about 1/4 mile from the finish. Manny was glued to my wheel and then attacked himself. He got the gap and I did everything I could to respond but was was only able to hold it even. My legs were cramping, and my mind was too, causing a bad mis-shift which dropped my chain and any chance of bringing him back as we hit the last couple hundred yards of single track before the finish.
In the end it was an AWESOME race and we finished around 5min faster than last year, which was a very fast race itself. Sid took the win in about 2:25 with Manny 1:30 back and myself and 30 seconds back. Aaron Olson and Sean Donovan rounded out the top 5. Beginner and sport racers were finishing a shorter lap around the same time and the stories started flowing. It's a hard enough race that everyone feels good about finishing it, and the vibe at the finish is a very good one - hard to describe - but very good.
Now it's time for a very welcome week of rest.
The initial pace was quick, and the group strung out pretty fast considering the race was going to be longer and harder than your typical 3 lap cross country race. About 20min into the race it was Sid Taberly showing his strength and getting a gap for the first KOM prize. After that I was able to re-group with Sid, Manny Prado, and Aaron Olson on some gradual fire road climbing sections. Manny was flying and led the way through the first really technical section. It's by far my favorite part of the course with super fun, twisty single track through the trees with a couple really cool sections rolling over some huge boulders.
From there the real climbing begins with a grind up a VERY technical single track. Of course the legs aren't quite as fresh since this section is over an hour into the race. But I was able to stay focused and ride all but 1 section of the climb. Sid found it a good place to pull away from me and Manny and once we came back out onto a fire road where you could actually see a minute or two ahead he wasn't even in sight. After a weird section through what I think was a park and a residential street, Manny and I hit the last main climb together. It starts as a typical fire road climb, switch backs a couple times, and then turns to pavement... because it gets too steep for cars to go up if it were dirt. I don't know how long the section really is but it seems like a mile. And at this point we've raced for about 2hrs and climbed about 5,000ft. Manny attacked right at the steep part, I was already at my limit and had to let him go.
Once over the top it's about 30min to the finish if you're really flying. That's what I tried to do in hopes of somehow catching Manny. It was hard to have much concentration at this point as my body and brain started running really low on energy. Still I rode the smoothest I could for about 20min and next thing I know there was Manny around a bend. I put my head down on a couple pedaling sections and slowly reeled him in. He led the last few technical downhill sections at full speed and I attacked as we hit the flat pavement about 1/4 mile from the finish. Manny was glued to my wheel and then attacked himself. He got the gap and I did everything I could to respond but was was only able to hold it even. My legs were cramping, and my mind was too, causing a bad mis-shift which dropped my chain and any chance of bringing him back as we hit the last couple hundred yards of single track before the finish.
In the end it was an AWESOME race and we finished around 5min faster than last year, which was a very fast race itself. Sid took the win in about 2:25 with Manny 1:30 back and myself and 30 seconds back. Aaron Olson and Sean Donovan rounded out the top 5. Beginner and sport racers were finishing a shorter lap around the same time and the stories started flowing. It's a hard enough race that everyone feels good about finishing it, and the vibe at the finish is a very good one - hard to describe - but very good.
Now it's time for a very welcome week of rest.
Friday, May 1, 2009
real life
A week in the life of a pro mountain biker... in my case things have been pretty busy at the office and 9 hour days are a LOT longer than 8 when you're trying to ride or rest properly. I still did a pretty good job at both, just not 100 percent.
Right now it's 3:30 friday and I finally finished a big project that had me working through lunch. Pretty far from my original plan of driving up to Idyllwild at noon for a pre-ride and camp out before tomorrow's race.
I knew for a couple days now that it was time for plan B - driving up at 6 tomorrow morning. In the meantime I also now have an ear ache which is really weird, but I think eating, resting, and sleeping at home this evening will be good for me. Time to finish a couple things up and go for a quick spin so I'll be fresh for tomorrow's big effort...
Right now it's 3:30 friday and I finally finished a big project that had me working through lunch. Pretty far from my original plan of driving up to Idyllwild at noon for a pre-ride and camp out before tomorrow's race.
I knew for a couple days now that it was time for plan B - driving up at 6 tomorrow morning. In the meantime I also now have an ear ache which is really weird, but I think eating, resting, and sleeping at home this evening will be good for me. Time to finish a couple things up and go for a quick spin so I'll be fresh for tomorrow's big effort...
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