Finally, the Season is Upon Us.

I'm quite happy now... it's racing season. The Virginia Cycling Association (formerly known as D42) kicked off the season with the first of two Snowball Crits yesterday. They have altered the categories a bit from last year; which I assume is from increased demand.

I did the Cat 3/4 race with quite a few teammates. It was windy, with a huge headwind coming down the Executive Dr. straightaway; I knew a break wouldn't have a chance in this race unless it was a big break. As seems to be the norm with the Snowball Crit, everybody flew down the start/finish stretch, while on the back straight of the course everybody sat up, causing swarm after swarm. I was very happy with my positioning throughout the race, despite the swarming, I was able to stay within striking distance at all times. A few guys tried to break away solo, or a couple at a time... but quickly found their efforts futile. Rick Young spent a little too much time at the front early on, he is flying for this time of year, and definately should've been there in the end. I kept myself out of the wind until the last lap, where I had to stick my nose into the breeze on the last headwind stretch (it was REALLY windy). The guy that won, shot hard out of the 2nd turn, opening a huge insurmountable gap. As the sprint started I lacked my explosiveness, but made up for it with a diesel-like effort to finish in 3rd. I'm satisfied with my result, it's early in the season, I just finished base mileage, and there were a lot of guys already flying. I'll be flying soon enough, I've learned to be very patient with my training this year.

Saturday I did the BikeBeat shop ride... a heavenly flat rout profile. It was a pretty good size group considering the windchill. Nevertheless, David Wilson was in hurt mode... although I hate to admit, soon enough just a handful of us were trading pulls... and it hurt.

congrats to Chris N. for the upgrade to Cat 3

End of Monasticism

Everywhere I went it was nothing but headwinds. I figured an out and back course would involve some sort of polarization; but I was wrong... there must have been some funky crosswinds today.

Anyways, today was my first interval session of the year. The end of the monastic base period! Although I did break the silence with one group ride, and briefly rode with some friends out at Wintergreen, I can now integrate back into group rides... especially races! The Snowball Crit #1 is this weekend, I should be up for it physically. Ah, back to the intervals. It was chilly this morning; during my first cruise interval I think my arms went numb at some point. It was just warm enough to not warrant the heavy stuff, but cool enough to be tough on the arms. The second and third intervals went well. I tried my best to keep the power (classified) consistent. I was happy to be finished after the third one. I had to get out to Elliston and Shawsville (almost Christiansburg) to do my intervals, to my knowledge, that's the closest quasi-flat stretch that suitable for 8 minute efforts ( i hate the trainer).

Thursday's 20 minute criss cross intervals will be fun. Maybe not. Nevertheless, it's a necessary evil. Throw weights into the equation, and it's going to be a long morning of workouts.

Anyways, I think that's all for now. Hello to the occasional group ride and the races.

"The Warm Pool is Closed Due to...

Accidental Defecation" That is the sign (printed and laminated) that greeted me as I signed into the YMCA this morning. Kinda disgusting, but pretty funny at the same time. At least it was the "Warm Pool" and not the Olympic pool. The "Warm Pool" is basically the kiddie pool, complete with the huge mushroom looking thing you see in water parks.

As for the workout, Mondays are now an optional recovery ride and the weights are now longer heavy... going back to the higher reps, lower sets. Nevertheless it snowed again last night, I figured a ride on the wet grimy roads would be counter productive (I'm trying to avoid getting sick). The low reps thing was cool, by the time I got past 10 reps today my muscles were cryin'. I guess all that matters is that I didn't quit, and I got everything done.

Tomorrow brings the first day of intervals this year. I'm excited. Although I must admit I am slightly hesitant, as I fear that I may have a little bit of a cold coming on. I've been lucky so far to keep illness at bay (especially compared to last year!). My resting HR has been high lately, although I am hoping it's a sleep related thing, and not a viral related bug.

Cruise intervals tomorrow, Zone 2 Wednesday, and criss cross intervals Thursday. Bring on the speed.

ice

Much like last Saturday, this Saturday brought snow into the valley. Fortunately the roads weren't as nasty as last week, save some bridges and very isolated areas. The big purple Lemond with fenders once again got the nod for the day... I love fenders on nasty days. The wheels (old Vector Comps) still have water in the rims from who knows how long ago. I weighed the bike after getting into work today... 27.5 pounds without bottles, but with some ice build up. That's quite a bit of heft right there.

The ride itself was pretty ordinary, although the occasional changeover to sleet kept my facial nerves occupied. It'll be cold tonight... I look forward to riding the Klein (hopefully) tomorrow.

max spin!

I actually got to enjoy the warm weather this morning. It was great... despite the 30 mph wind. Actually the wind worked to my advantage. Fridays are typically my "max spin effort days", meaning that I ride at a very high cadence for a period of 30-45 minutes; usually completed on my fixed gear. For 36 minutes I rode at an easy effort (although low cadence) straight into the wind. Fortunately the route is about as flat as it gets around here, so hills weren't too much of a problem or concern. While I hovered in the 35-90 rpm range heading out, I was able to maintain 120+ coming back, with long stretches of 140+ rpm. It was perhaps the best max spin session I've had this year... if not ever.

On a side note, I just about had my elbow clipped by a car going about 55 mph. Fortunately I was able to catch up to him at the light. I remained calm, and just let him now he almost hit me... and that perhaps he should refrain from cellular activity while riding. Once again, I must stress that I remained calm... no yelling, no cursing... I just wanted to let the driver know for his own good.

Other than that it's been a typical day. I've started rebuilding my time trial bike; I'm in no hurry at all, but it needs to be done eventually. Seat height and setback look to remain the same; although I've got a slightly longer stem to start out with and a different bar angle... we'll see what happens. As for TT'ing it, that's not going to be a focus this year. I still hope to put in some good results this season; however I am not anticipating any TT specific training. The Mill Mountain TT will be an aim for me (even though I don't like climbing)... it's a short (i.e. realistic) climb here in my own back yard; although I may have to go for a high placing at the Natural Bridge TT in April... we'll see.

Congrats to Ken for the upgrade to 3... hope to be there soon.

finished heavy lifting

I completed my heavy lifting this morning. Hopefully it will make a difference. I'm hoping anyways... I haven't really sprinted in a long time. Although I did do a sprint back in December while just doing light weights. The results at the time were promising, my max power output showed a10% improvement over the race season. I'd be happy with a 15% gain, but if it's 20... even better! We'll find out next weekend.

Boom Boom Boonen

base done

I'm done with Base mileage. The last week didn't go exactly as planned... part mother nature, part under the weather. I developed a little bit of a cold over the weekend, but nevertheless still pulled in a nice 3+ hours in the driving snow. Katie was hit with the cold bug a lot harder than me... probably due to her chosen profession of teaching. I have to admit, I'm pretty tired today... despite being a rest week, I feel far from rested... very tired.

The warmer weather has arrived just in time for the rest week, and sure enough it looks nasty and cold for this weekend (I have a couple longer rides planned for the weekend of course). Next week looks to be chilly, I begin some cruise intervals Tuesday, and some Criss Cross intervals Thursday, with plenty o' Zone 2 too.

Next weekend is also the first Snowball Criterium in Chesapeake. I won the first one last year (B race)... which was actually my first road race, and a great start to a full season. This year they've changed the categories a bit, and I'll be doing the 3/4 race. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity for a field sprint. After that it's the Sonny Hutchins Memorial Crit in Richmond, following Jeff Cup, I'm hoping to get an upgrade to Cat 3.

We'll see.

Winter.

Winter came back this week. Although I didn't truly get to enjoy the "balmy" winter we've had so far (it was still pretty chilly at 7am). Anyways, the Pacific jet stream is no longer dictating our weather. Welcome back winter. How much snow will you drop on us this weekend? I really wish you could have procrastinated just a bit so that I could get my 7-8 hours in on the bike this weekend! Hopefully I'll awake tomorrow morning to find the roads passable enough for my rain bike with fenders.

This week was... no... is cold. Wind chills in the teens didn't stop me from riding all week, but I sure as heck couldn't do it this morning! I just couldn't, and there was no wind on top of that! Oh well, Friday's are my max spin workouts... I'll just get a quick workout on the trainer tonight.

I'm beginning to get excited about race season... I have been for a while. There are moments I find myself with quite an adrenalin rush, just thinking about racing; more specifically the last 500 meters of a race. After all, it's my passion.

I forgot to mention

I made it into the news.

Homecoming

I've been patient. I've been isolated. I've deprived myself from riding with others. I've been focused entirely on maximizing the quality of my Base periods... a lot of solo rides in Zone 2. I decided to break the monotony yesterday with the JRVS Sunday morning ride in Williamsburg. I wanted to see how my body would react to intensity. Surprisingly, it handled the task pretty well, the power was there, at times the speed was there. Although I eventually fell off pace, I feel as though that was largely in part to some pretty big efforts I put in early on. No regrets.

In other news, Winter has returned. By Sunday I'll have somehwere between 17 & 20 hours on the bike... hopefully all outdoors; much of which will be below freezing. Joy. I am still motivated.

15 minutes!?

I rode my bike 15 minutes today. A far cry from the 2.5 hours I had scheduled in. My plan was simple... I didn't have to be at work until Noon, and registration for the Jefferson Cup opened at 9am. Assuming the race would fill up in less t han two hours (it did), my plan was to register and the ride.

At 9am on the dot, I began my resgistartion attempts, Bikereg's server was struggling to keep up with the demand of many others... except all of the categories had "closed" beside them. By 10am, Men's 35+ Cat 5, 50+, and Women 4 opened; finally around 10:30 everything else started opening. I got in; ableit a bit frustrating! By 11:30 the race was full! (a field limit of 100!). Long story short, I started my ride, shortly after starting I decided to end it.

After a very abridged amount of sleep the past few nights, I've been feeling a little run down. In addition I think I over stressed my knees Monday in the gym... they're not very happy, and quickly let me know yesterday. In sum, I figured I'd call it quits today and try to give the knees a break. Next up on the block is getting through this mental fatigue.

In other news, I spoke to Brain Sheetz last night... it turns out Nick, Matt, Jay, and Brain are reforming a new rock band. Good stuff, should be great stuff actually. It'll be interested seeing Matt as the frontman.