Watts and W/Kg

I had been a bit reluctant to post up the results of the power tests I did last week because I had all these numbers and no comparision for them other than the Power Profile chart Andy Coggan drew up.


This is where my numbers fall on that chart.


The chart is nice but didn't tell me much about where I stack up against other racers in the CP4 classification. Craig, from US Para, emailed me back this morning and said that my endurance numbers look good but I need to be pushing about about 4.5 W/Kg in order to be competitve on the road internationally. I also need to be at that level to begin to have enough motor for the Pursuit. So in terms of numbers, I need to take my 20 minute power from 255 Watts to 280 Watts or a 10% increase by the time Nationals roll around in July. My 5 second and 1 minute power numbers aren't so rosy, Craig said I should be pushing an extra 2-3 W per Kg to have the speed I'll need on the track. I have a feeling that 5 second power is going to be the hardest for me to push up. I think that raising my 1 minute power will be the direct result of hard, intense racing coupled with a proper peak, whether or not it approaches 620W (10 W/Kg) this season or in some future season remains to be seen.

Mr. Scott

This blog is a letter going out to Christopher Scott:

Mr. Scott,
You are fast! 8 Paracyling gold medals over 4 games in the CP4 classification, World Championships, you have represented Australia well. I feel you have represented everyone with Cerebral Palsy well. Your world record in the 3km Individual Pursuit stands at 3:32.958; I have nothing but respect for your ability to ride a bicycle.
I know I'm just some skinny kid from South Carolina and you have never heard of me. At this point, I've done nothing noteworthy. I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that I'm here and I will be chasing you. I am not going to make any grand claims about beating you, but I will try my hardest. I have heard that you may be retiring soon, but I hope you continue competing long enough that I can race against you. I would like the opportunity to see how I match up against the best. Know this; when it's cold, when it's raining, when the miles are long, when my legs ache and my lungs burn, the thought of catching you will be one of the thoughts that drives me on.
Respectfully,
Aaron Jacob Trent


Christopher Scott in Beijing

It's working!

I hadn't pushed the head unit far enough into the cradle. It took a solid push to get it in the cradle. Ok, 4 daysof headache solved by a little push. I'm feeling much beter now.

The People You Will Meet

This is a funny story that is somewhat related to bikes and mostly just about the incredibly small size of the world.
The story starts back in August or September at the beginning of the semester and right before the Paralympic Games. I'm sitting in a computer lab at school reading Ron William's (2 time Paralympian) blog when the girl next to me says, "how do you know Ron Williams?" So I told her that we met at Para-Nationals. Taylor and I talked for a while and ran into each other in the lab throughout the semester.
Fast Forward to Saturday, a few new faces on the ride and 2 of them were a couple (Cleve and Jackie) that recently moved to Columbia. Yesterday, Taylor wrote on my facebook wall and told me that I rode with her sister and brother-in-law.

It is just really crazy how small this bicycle world is. You meet someone at a race in Denver, and you ride with someone they know in Columbia. Oh yeah, and there's rumor that Cleve is a Cat(really little number) so there's another Cat(really little number) around town to rip my legs off, sweet!

The Next Day Sucks!

When your longest ride is in December the next day can be rough. Like mine was! 2 hours 15 minutes on the Mountain Bike. My legs did not want to turn the cranks over at all. I will be happy to see tomorrow's rest day. Power testing begins Tuesday!

When your longest ride of the year happens in December

75 miles, 55 with a group. Not too crazy, but there was one fast section. It was fun, but it was the longest ride I have done this year, so I did not wake up this morning to ride because I was tired. I'm getting ready to head to Harbisson to ride the dirt.

Don't Go Shopping

I was Christmas shopping in one of the mid-level department stored last night and wandered past the fragrance counter. I asked the fragrance counter attendant if I could smell some of the offerings and I particularly liked this stuff...


Naturally, I started the bike math when I looked at the price tag. I can buy enough bike stuff with that much money to convince me to not buy it. I was temporarily lost in a world where I had the disposable income to buy nicer stuff, but I snapped back to reality. The thought of the spring races, tearing up the boards at the ADT Velodrome in July,

and racing in Sevilla, Spain during the Vuelta a Espana; yes, that's worth way more than smelly stuff.

Broke Spoke

Yup, 76 degrees and I finally got outside for a ride this week. Warm up, and proceed to start my little gear sprintervals (67 gear inches). Finished the first with 153 rpm, a good start for sure. I was on track to break my flatland RPM PR (157). I felt a wobble, checked it out. I had a broken spoke on the rear non-drivetrain side. I limped home. The end.

Then and Now

I was looking through some old pictures and ran across this.


That was Feb, 2006, about 3 years ago and at least one lifetime in the past. As is evidenced, I was going through a bit of a "fabulous" stage. It was fun, met a variety of people, stayed up until the small hours on the weekend, and got to wear clothes that were a kick to wear out.


And now.
That was taken in June at Para Nationals.
So 3 years later I never really go sleep later than 12, and 10 or 11 is pretty common. I don't buy clothes so it's hard to put together an interesting ensemble or have anywhere to wear it if I do. I get to travel, and meet cool people. And I get my picture taken by sickeningly amazing photogs.

I think it's funny how different things are.

Untitled

Cycle Center has a rental PowerTap that I'm going to use to get some baseline numbers. Craig wants to see 5 second, 1 minute, and 20 minute power. He acknowledged that it is winter, which is a relief for me. I know my top end is not what it was back in July, but he said he has enough data to estimate summer power from winter power, cool. So I just need to finish my last exam and rock out the power tests. My last exam is Saturday so I should have the new toy early next week.

I Need to Borrow a Power Meter

It's exam week, ugh. But I have good news and it has nothing to do with saving money on car insurance.

I have been in contact with the Coach and Director of the Paracycling team and talked to him about moving to COS next summer. He knows about me wanting to race Pursuit, which means he reads my blog (scary, what if I say something stupid) or someone told him (the more likely scenario). He said they may be opening up the residency program at the OTC and I could be a candidate, but he wants to see numbers. What I need is to get some numbers and send them his way. I'm not optimistic that I will be producing anything spectacular in December, but I want to get him something so he knows that I'm serious about doing this and want my name on that list. I'll be doing some lab testing in the future, but I can get some power files if I can access a Power Meter.

So, if anyone that reads this has a PM they would like to lend me for a few hours or a weekend, please let me know!

Thanks.

Why the Individual Pursuit is My Focus for 2009

By this time it is pretty well established that I am planning to move to Colorado Springs after I graduate to be near the Paracycling program, the OTC, the 7-eleven Velodrome, and Colorado Mountains. I've given some consideration to which of the 3 qualifying events I want to make my focus and I have settled on the Individual Pursuit. The following is my rationalization for choosing to make the Individual Pursuit my focus at next years Para Nationals; not that I need to rationalize it to anyone else. I do have to rationalize to myself since I have that habit of overthinking just about everything.

The Team Sprint and Road Races are not qualifying events so that leaves the 3 Time Trials.

Kilo: One Kilometer on the Track, the Kilo is a really long standing start sprint. The Kilo is a bit of an odd event stuck somewhere between sprints and endurance events, and it doesn't have the greatest crossover to longer races. I'm not exactly known for my massive sprint and I like enduro races.

Road Time Trial: Yes, being able to TT is very valuable but it does not appeal to me as a primary discipline.

Individual Pursuit: 3 Kilometers of pure pain, but it's over in less than 4 minutes. That sounds about perfect to me. The best Pursuiters are Road Racers that do specific pursuit work leading up to big events because the best way to pursuit is build a big huge aerobic engine and tune it up with some big power for a race. With IP I can train and race on the road until I head to Colo Springs where I can touch up my 4 minute power and start learning to pace myself. The base I will have built will lend itself to the road TT and having a lot of 4 minute power may result in a decent Kilo time. Besides my love for the Velodrome the Pursuit is a race I can train for on the road while the specific preparation will have some overlap to my other events. Is it spring yet?

Ravenous

I put in about 2h 40m with Casey and I am now ridiculously hungry. I haven't been in the saddle for that long since early September, but it was a fun ride. It wasn't so cold this AM and the sun was brightly shining. The Hopkins countryside was even a little scenic, but I like farms.
Now I have to go to my last day of school this semester!

Good Morning

I met Casey on the fort bright and early yesterday for about 90 minutes of cruising. Despite the 40 degree temperature and winds gusting over 20mph only my fingers and toes felt the cold. It was a good ride. Morning rides are not messed up by the losing battle with daylight and it's really nice to have a training partner when it's cold. I had to go to bed early Sunday night to get up at 6 on Monday, but that's good for me. Another nice thing about morning training is that I know I don't have to train again so I can focus on other things. Also, I could train again if I felt like it.

In other news, I might be getting a head cold, so I'm going to rest up and get better.

Meduim Durometer Man

I went for a 2 hour ride with Clayton today. It was a little on the cool side, not cold enough for me to earn "hardman" points, but cool enough to register on the durometer scale.
The early part of the ride was a talking pace with some force on the pedals. We opened things up a bit on the return part of the trip and I saw some glimmers of speed out of my legs. It was a good ride. I'll have a lot of free time over the next week and I'm looking forward to putting a few more road miles in the legs. The spring racing is less than 3 months away and it's time to think about sustaining some effort.

Squats and Shoes

4 sets of 5 reps @ 155lbs.

Ancillary work:
GHRs
Reverse Hypers @ 70lbs

I felt pretty good with the weight today. One slightly shaky rep in the 4th set, but that's because I got loose in the hole.


I went to Cycle Center and got some mountain bike shoes. I raced yesterday and have been riding on platform pedals and tennis shoes and my shins have paid the price. It will be AWESOME to have a full pedal stroke on the MTB!

V

Today, I raced a mountain bike for the very first time and I had quite a lot of fun doing it. It was a 2 lap, 11.6 mile event and I was racing the beginner class (Cat5). Since I've never raced in the woods before and didn't really know what I was doing I just wanted to go along for the ride, no expectations, no nerves. Racing without nerves (at least until I was on the line) is the way to go and I have to figure out how to do this on the road. Rebecca yelled "go" and we were off. My first two pedal strokes were weak but I was in the lead by my 4th stroke. I wanted the holeshot because the bridge a few hundred meters after the start line was slick. I hit the singletrack first and rode cautiously fast-ish. The trail was covered in leaves after the week's rain and wind, it was cold, and I wasn't all that interested in crashing since I was leading. One of my competitors was better at riding technical trails and was catching me in the "hard" section. I proceeded to take a wrong turn, and when I looked back he was going the other way. I turned around and thanked the cycling gods when the trail opened up and was conducive to fast riding. I rode like mad to catch him and finally did about 10 or 15 minutes after he passed me. I was content to ride behind him and recover for about a half mile. I made the pass and just rode my race. On lap 2 I almost took the same blasted wrong turn, but I stopped and made sure I was going the wrong way. There were some times during that lap where I wanted to slow down since I was pretty sure I had a good lead, but it was a race so I made sure to keep pressure on the pedals. Crossing the line first was an amazing feeling and I raised my arms in celebration. Then I put my finger to my lips in a "shhh" sign (stolen from soccer) because it's about time I silence those internal gremlins questioning if I can win a bike race.
My winnings were $40 worth of gift cards to Cycle Center, my first actual win, and the title of "Sandbagger", guess I'll race the next category up when I do another MTB race.

Trainer

Just a short 20 minutes on the RTD (Roman Torture Device). Trying to dial in my new Fizik Arione saddle. Hoping it works out. The nose is more narrow than the Specialized Alias I was on, so that's nice.
I know I'll be riding it more over the winter so I need to get used to it.

I Feel Slow

I went out Friday on the Road bike and tried to turn the 42-12 (94.5 gear inches) and realized that I am feeling really sluggish right about now. No real intensity has taken it's toll on my speed. That and the fact that it takes about 28mph to turn 100rpm on that gear. It's a lot more gear than I'm used to riding, but I need the strength. This time of year isn't about speed anyways, but it sucks to feel slow.

I went mountain biking today and snapped another chain! This is getting old because I don't really think these legs are putting out Chris Hoy amounts of power(+2000 watts). These quads and hamstrings are only so big, you know.
Fixed this one and I rode out. The guys I rode with had much more techincal proficiency than I do so it was a struggle to keep up. I was fine fitness wise, I rode with them easily in the wide-open smooth areas. It's just that I have not learned the art of flow. It was a good ride. It suits me to ride with people better than myself because I know I have to adapt or die, and I'm real competitive. That's how I best improve on the road, and it seems to work on the trails.

Exciting News

I was inviting to the Paracycling Winter Camp in Chula Vista next month. This one is a team camp, a step above the developmental camp I was at in September. So US Para knows who I am and wants me at their camp. Awesome! But I won't be going because I have finals that week. Hopefully I'll get an invite to the spring or summer camp.

Aggression

I was feeling hyped up and ticked off about something yesterday, not really sure what it was. Maybe it was the rain, it was dreary all day so grabbed the mountain bike and headed to the fort. The trails on the fort are flatish with a lot of sand and pine straw. The addition of rain made them slick and fun.
I rode hard for about 50 minutes and hit the sand a few times. I finished up covered in wet sand and felt much better.

Rain riding is perfect of fat tire knobbies.

2009 Has Begun

The training for the '09 season has started. My weekend training was eventful. I went to Harbison Forest to do some mountain biking Sunday. The sun was shining, the temperature pleasant, a perfect day to ride. I proceeded to break my chain 3 or 4 miles from the trail-head. SWEET, I got to walk the bike back to my car. I got home and decided a road ride was in order since my mtb ride was cut short. I ended up riding 2 hours. All but the last 2 miles were done in the 42/14. I have bent my 52 so I will be in the 42 until I replace the chainring. I'm riding the single gear to build some leg strength over the hills.
I also did some spin outs. I hit 162 rpms which makes for a new cadence pr and maxed my speed at 35.6 on that drill.
After my ride I had to split some firewood for the wood stove. Count it as core strength and power?

Monday:
Rowing warmup.

Deadlift
3 reps
4 sets
200lbs
Limited by grip strength here.

Ancillary:
GHRs
Reverse Hypers 60lbs

Squat

3 sets.
7 reps.
145lbs.

Warmup was 3:30 on the C2 at 200 avg watts.
Ancillary work was Reverse Hypers and GHRs

Lessons Learned from Running

I realized something over the weekend. When I run I venture into the pain cave with reckless abandon. I'm not afraid of hurting myself because I know I can handle the pain and keep turning my feet over. I seem to be much more timid on the bike when I train solo or consider attacking a group ride or race. I have some self doubts that pop up and ask if I can really go that hard. I think the difference comes from experience; despite never doing any run specific training and only dabbling in races, I have always loved to run. Over the years I have become aware that I can push through the pain and not blow myself up, and when I run I like to run fast (for me, I'm not very fast). Mentally training myself to push hard on the bike for longer at higher effort will be a major priority in building up to and through next year's campaign.

Tempo

Babysitting this weekend while my boss' wife runs the USA Triathlon Long Course Nats in Vegas. Long Course is half-ironman distance, but can't be called half-ironman due to politics.
Training time has been limited but I put in a run today. Just tempo around the grass soccer fields. Goal HR was 175 which would fall into the "Sweet Spot" for my run training, but I averaged 173. The HRM did a good job keeping me honest and not letting my pace fall off.

Duration was 25:30

Cross Country

Today was supposed to be a rest day after yesterday's thrashing since my hamstring felt like death. But I walked into Strictly Running to ask about races and they said there was an open Cross Country race tonight. How could I resist? I have never run CX or a 5k so it was a 2 birds/one stone evening.
The result was 20:43 and good enough for 4th overall/2nd AG. I felt like it was a little slow, but then I always set high expectations for myself.
HR data:
Avg: 181
Max: 192

200m Repeats

Monday's workout was:

10 round of: 5 pullups, 10 lunges with 2 15# dumbells.
My pullups suck really bad right now which is why I had to sub a few jumping pullups halfway through.

Tuesday:

200m x 16:

All repeats were between 32 and 35 seconds but 2. #13 was a 35.7 and #7 was sub 30 because I was chasing a master's 200/400 specialist. Cool guy, much faster than me over the short distances.

Spastic

For whatever reason I am having spacticity issues. It's a common issue among those with Cerebral Palsy, but mine is usually predictable. Fatigue, nerves, and the cold usually set it off but none of the above are present.
My left hand wants to ball up into a death grip without my consent and it is not making me terribly happy. I wish I knew why so I could fix it but this time seems to be entirely random and involuntary. I've got my hand flat on the table but my fingers are still twitching and trying to curl up.

Word of advice to anyone reading this: Don't get CP, it will frustrate you.

Kona

Ironman World Champs in Hawaii take place today! It is a fascinating race, and I am always impressed at how fast those guys and girls can ride 112 miles.

Larry Rosa is photographing this weekend and I will link to some of his pictures because his work is absolutely phenomenal. He was the photog for 2008 Para-cycling nationals and I felt like a pro after seeing the pictures he took.

Run Aaron Run

It felt so good to lace up the flats and hit the road. I ran for 25 minutes on part of the Snowman loop. I'm feeling much better on foot than I did at the end of last season, and I had fun.

Diddly Squat

I kicked off the off-season training with Squats today. I stayed light with 135lbs for 5 sets of 3. My weak link is my left leg and my back, surprise surprise. Then I did some Single Leg Press.

It's time to get strong.

3 days

I haven't touched a bicycle in 3 days and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'll ride when I get the bug. I will do some other stuff too, I'm sure. A little bit of running to get back to my roots and I'll meet up with the barbell as well. I love Deadlifting and Squatting because the progress is always readily apparent. It's right there in kilos or pounds. If the number is bigger than last week you made progress. It's so controllable. Not so on the bike, I guess it's a different sort of progress. Ehh, the solid , indisputible, you made progress will be nice for a change of pace.

Life at the OTC: Part 2: Velodromes, Mountains, and Saying Goodbye

Picking up on Thursday Evening:
I was happy with my TT performance and I was giddy with excitement about getting on the Velodrome. I woke up Friday and I was more or less bouncing off the walls. We were only about a mile from the velodrome (!) so we rode our bikes to the track. They didn't let us ride track bikes since our track orientation was really short and the tandems were going to have freewheels and brakes. They cut us loose and I spent the first 3 laps timidly picking my way around the track on the pole line because the banking, at 33 degrees, was intimidating. As I picked up speed my inhibitions faded away and I started riding higher and used more of the track. Greta was training that day and pulled me around for a while. She took me up to the rail and dropped to the bottom of the track. That was fun. Then me, Matt, and Andy did some paceline work using the turns to peel off, Team Pursuit style. I had fun on the Velodrome, word is that my smile became progressivly larger the more times I lapped the track.

After lunch we rode up to Gold Camp Rd for some hill repeats. Those hurt a lot, but the view from the top was pretty spectacular. We were close to 1000ft higher than Colo Springs(6000ft) and could see the entire city and the plains beyond.

Saturday was day of truth. A timed 3k Pursuit foillowed by a timed Kilo. We used our road bikes but we were supposed to start in the gear we would ride the whole time. I started off well but put far too much juice into the first 3 laps and spent the last 6 trying to minimize my losses. My time ended up missing the Emerging Standard by less than 2 seconds. Even with my terrible pacing schedule I was in pain, 9 laps around 7-eleven is a long time. I expected to do better in the Pursuit than the Kilo so I had no expectations going into the Kilo effort. The result was me making the Emerging Standard with time to spare and the second fastest time of the day, and a nasty nasty hacking cough. I will be interested in seeing if I continue to be better at the Kilo as I progress or if I will gravitate towards Pursuit as my size would suggest.

I went a little crazy with the cookies and desserts that evening since the camp was over and my season was on the brink. Our meeting that night was a lot of fun, lots of jokes flew around the room. We watched some videos from the Beijing Paralympics at the Velodrome. It was fun and sad because we all knew we were leaving the next day to return to the real world.

The things I took away from this camp have a lot to do with my future in bike racing. I know that my goal is to qualify for Para-Cycling Worlds in 2009 and to live in Colorado Springs so I can be near the program and the Velodrome. After riding a better Kilo than Pursuit I am not as likely to try to box myself into one riding style or strength, and I think that I may turn my focus to track racing once I have access to a Velodrome. I can still race and train on the road, but US Para already has a CP4 (my disability class) rider who focuses on road. I think I can distinguish myself from Mike by being the CP4 track rider on the team.

Next season looks like this right now. Greenville Training Series, Walnut Grove, Rock Hill Omnium, Athens Twilight, any TTs I can find, graduate from college, and live in Colo Springs for 3-4 weeks leading up to track and road nationals which should serve as World Champ qualifiers. London sits off in the distance but it is always sitting in the back of my mind.

Addicted

Today I "won" the title of South Carolina U23 Time Trial State Champion. I was the only entrant in my age group so first was mine for crossing the line. I went 1:08:25 for 40k, not that fast. It was my first 40k and the course wasn't hard, but it wasn't a fast stretch of road. It's good to have a baseline of where I am to know wwhere I need to go.

My legs are sore right now, haha.

This winning thing is fun, I think I could get used to it. And with that I am closing out my season and hanging up the road bike. If I want to ride I'll grab the cruiser tandem of a mountain bike for the next few weeks. I'll start with base in November and do a bunch of Sweet Spot. We'll see if the hype about SST is true when racing starts next year.

My Better

I like it.

Life at the Olympic Training Center

Before I say anything, I have to say this.

I LOVE the Velodrome!

I am still in awe of everything I experienced this past week. For 6 days I lived in a facility that has been home to the greatest athletes this country has produced and they let little Aaron Trent come play for a week.

There were people on regular bikes (CP, amp, Spinal Cord Injury), Tandems with Visually Impaired Stokers and sighted pilots including a Cat1 out of Knoxville, and the wheelchair crew were on handcycles.

Then there was the staff that made our camp run smoothly save for the punctuallity of our rides, haha. Pam was the camp organizer, Ian works for USA Handcycling, Rick and Scott coached, Vanessa was plain awesome and drove the van and various other things, Ron helped and took meticulous notes, and Good Looking Johnny G was our wrench and he helped out with everything. All of the staff was great and I want to thank them for doing their thing!

Tuesday: Started at 3AM so I could catch my flight. When I got to the OTC I got my key and my cafeteria card (freakin sweet!) and built up my bike for a shakedown ride. This was my first experience with handcyclists and on our ride they were drafting me at 27 mph! I have so much resprect for the power those jokers than produce with their arms.

Wednesday: Skills and drills in the parking lot were pretty basic, but I picked up a few things about cornering and bumping. Our afternoon ride was out and back on a rolling highway. I drafted a handbike at +35mph down a hill on the way back.

Thursday: Morning time trial on the air force academy. Our camp coach, Rick, told us it was 10k and undulating. It was a lot closer to 13k and it was all uphill out and all downhill back. Not exactly 10k or undulating. I was dying on the way out and kept watching my speed. I was wondering why 16-17mph hurt so bad and I was wondering where on earth the turn around was. Finally, on the horizon I saw the white OTC van that signified the turn. I started on the way back and was absolutely hauling tail. It was all downhill! That's why the first half hurt so bad. I was running hard trying to make up for lost time and came into the home stretch and buried myself to the line. Ouch! The times and times per kilometer were posted at the camp meeting after dinner. My time/km was markedly better than I did at Nationals in June and I am knocking on the door of making the national standard so I was very happy with my effort. The National Team standard is based on the average per km time of the 6th place finisher in each category over the past 4 years of major races (Worlds and Paralympics); the Elite Standard is based on the bronze medal times. Hitting the national standard is the key to getting on the Paralympic Team and is my biggest goal for 2009.

Our evening ride was skills in the grass outside the Velodrome. We started off with bump drills and I was paired with Greta since she came out to ride with us. She rode right into me with a shoulder and I learned real quick how to shoulder back. I fell over a few times while trackstanding. Matt and Andy did the bump thing together. I haven't talked about them here but we hung out a lot and got the nickname of "the three stooges". We were the only people on regular bikes, there were 7 tandems, and 10 handcycles, so the 3 of us rode together a lot. I'll look forward to seeing and racing with them in the future.

It's late and I need to study, I'll write more later.

Vista Crit

I rolled up at 6:30AM to help set up. One of Scott's buddies had a bike I could borrow. Sweet! I would be racing after all. I was racing with the big scary Cat3's in the 3/4 race. We went off and I decided to play tail gunner because the brakes on Robert's bike are opposite of mine; I have the front brake on the right side and everyone else has their rear brake on the right side. 5 or 6 laps in we came around turn 3 about 30mph and I grabbed a handful of rear brake. Rear tires lock up very quickly and like to loose traction so I went sliding through the turn. I kept the bike upright, but I decided that this race wasn't important enough to risk crashing and pulled out.
The 2/3 race was very exciting to watch. Props to Sammy and Derek for their efforts.
The P/1/2 race was not quite as exciting but I got to ride in the pace car. That was fun! Jay Charels did pretty well in that race.
After the racing I helped tear down. It was quite a long day, haha.

I'm packing and doing laundry and I fly out tomorrow.

SST

I was recently introduced to the idea of Sweet Spot Training and the logic seems solid. I don't know if I'm doing it right yet.

Today's ride was about an hour on the TT bike, this whole sunset at 7:25 thing really cuts into ride time. I went out without a HRM or a power meter. I don't own a Power Meter and I think a sugar momma or adopted uncle is in order. Anyways, I was riding on Perceived Exertion and was solidly in zone 3 area, the SST range. I did a few gravity aided spin-outs and hit 148 and 144rpm, not bad for the TT bike. I felt pretty good the weather was gorgeous. This weekend is going to be fun; I'm participating in the Mud Run, helping at the Vista Crits Sunday.

That Was Unexpected

I got an email yesterday explaining that a few of my teammates are leaving the team next year to pursue another team project.  The rumors were true, I suppose.  I think the move is supposed to take effect next year.  I guess it doesn't make too much difference, the last races of the year are upon us and the season is coming to a close.  

The Vista Crits are Sunday, I'll the helping unless someone lets me borrow a bike.  

I leave for the OTC in a week.

I Think

I think I am ready to see this season come to a close.  It's been that full gamut of adjectives you could use to describe something like a racing season.  I will have a very clear focus going into 2009, but it's getting close to being time to focus on relaxing.  I'm sick of looking at the weather and seeing "high of 94 with 71% humidity".  All I have left is the Vista Crit next Sunday if I can snag a bike to ride, camp at the OTC (the reason my bike will be absent), and the state Time Trial on the 4th of Oct.  The weather in CS is to die for, the high is slated to be 72 when I arrive next Tuesday.

I'm just tired.  I think I failed to take a long enough break from killing myself along the way.  That will be something to schedule in for next season.

I'm not Sayin'

Yesterday's trainer ride was as follows. Spin for a while. 4x1 minutes single leg, alternating between legs, 2 minutes rest between sets. Since my hams and hip flexors were sufficiently angry I only did 2x5 minutes in my biggest gear, the 50-12.
I have to preface this next part by saying that I was on the trainer, there was no wind resistance, trainer resistance is not the same as rolling resistance, I was not on a fixed gear bike, and any other caveat you can think of for riding the trainer.
I wanted to see how long it would take me to ride 3km on my second 5 minute big gear effort. I rolled over that mark in 4:07. Now, I'm not sayin', I'm just saying.

Silly Season

It is upon us.  In the pro ranks you have teams dissolving, riders switching teams, new sponsors, bike manus switching teams, lots of juicy gossip for us crazy bike fans to talk about.

There is, apparently, a local silly season as well.  The future of my current team seems to be unknown.  I can't go into detail because I don't know a lot and I don't feel like turning the rumor wheel.  So who will I be riding for next year?  I could potentially race unattached, but I think I would prefer to ride with a team.  

In any case I feel I should increase my stock so I could prove to be a valuable asset to whatever team I ride for, or to get picked up by by a team if I'm riding unattached.  

Here's a question.  Weight?  I'm up a few pounds from my season low of 131 to 133-135.  I was pretty gaunt but I didn't feel like eating, something to do with heat and probably mild burnout.  I will gain weight some as my mileage decreases during early base, but I am pretty good at controling it through diet (it's easy if you know what you are doing and have discipline).  I could maintain or I could break 140 for the first time in my life.  The added weight and power would help in TTs (my ticket onto the Paralympic Team), crits, the flatish races around the region, and my fantasies of being a Pursuit Racer.  Maintaining weight goes along with my fantasies of being a climber, but there are no hilly races in this area.  I guess climbing is just the romantic side of cycling.  The logical path is to gain weight as my aggregate gain will be higher.  And I'm just rambling by now.  I just need to come out of the offseason strong and ready to get stronger as the season moves along.

All Antsy

I have some sort of of massive desire to race.  They cancelled the races in Augusta because of the Hurricane, but she bypassed us altogether.  I want to race, I want to feel that competitive animal.  It's been a month since I last felt like that.  I didn't have that feeling at the State RR, I just wanted to hit the line and stop.  I did have that feeling in Elberton, which I did not blog about.  It was a 60 miler in near 100* weather, 2 man break stuck, I launched with 800m and overcooked the last corner, cyclocrossed through the grass, and finished 11th.  So I missed my first podium and my first upgrade points.  I had the pit bull feeling that day and I liked it, I want to feel it again!  I'd be up for a Du, a Tri, or a 5k if it started in the next hour.  

In other news, I am sick.  I have a head cold and a running nose.  I didn't train today because of it.  

Yesterday sucked hard, it was 95* and I couldn't sweat.  I was probably dehydrated.

The season is so close to being over.  I'm sad and happy.  The next thing I do will be the Training Camp at the OTC, it's 2 weeks away.  Then I have the state Time Trial, and I'm considering the G'Ville Crits.  I don't know if I want to do them or not.  Then it's over.  I'll go into base mode.  I'll have a somewhat more normal life, but I still intend to ride.  I didn't ride for 5 months last offseason and it cost me a lot.  I want to hit the Spring Series rolling, and I want to be white hot by the time Athens rolls around.

So Freaking Proud!

My little brother just graduated from Boot Camp and is now a Marine! I don't think it's possible to be more proud.
Get Some Mark!

That Little Twinge

The Paralympic Team is in Beijing and prepping to race. The Opening Ceremony is Friday. I'm just a little sad because I want to be with them. I know I haven't earned it yet, but it serves as good motivation.

Tuesday Night Worlds

The weather was beautiful!  It was 80 degrees and I was happy.  We rolled out for 45+2 since the sun is setting earlier.  I was feeling good (much better than Saturday) and because of my performance Saturday I was feeling feisty.  I saw a move go up the road with Jay and Toby and I thought it would behoove me to get in on it.  I took my pull and looked at my computer; 13 minutes, I was ready to settle in for 35 minutes of serious pain but it was not to be.  We were pulled back after a lap.  Then a little counter move went and Jay jumped after it.  I settled in to recover and that's the difference between a Cat1 an my little Cat4 butt.  I did some pulling and chased a few breaks, but my heroics aren't all that epic yet, I didn't go in any more breaks.  
We got around to the last lap and I tried my little move from the top of the backstretch (1000-1200m if it sticks).  I was caught 50m past turn 4.  

Augusta RR this weekend.

Labor Day Weekend Part 4: The Hincapie After-Party

So after racing Saturday, riding Sunday, and watching the Pro Race for several hours it was time to party.  Hah, I wasn't too sure if I would get there and curl up in a corner to sleep or hang out.  I also haven't been out and mingling in over a year, so I didn't know if I could talk to anyone after 10PM.  Fortunately, my people skills remain somewhat intact and I talked to a cute girl about her endurance horse racing.  I had no idea you could put a HRM on a horse, but hers has a max heart rate of 260bpm, wow.  Other than talking to girls I met George Hincapie and thought about talking to Dave Zabriskie but the poor guy looked like he had more than drained himself during the 2 races.  I noticed that Allen Lim (the physiologist for Garmin-Chipotle) was at the party and I wanted to meet him since I'm a nerd and think his work is terribly interesting.  He was sitting next to DZ when I said hello, and he asked if I realized he was sitting next to DZ.  I did, and I wasn't trying to snub him.  I just didn't want to be the annoying fan to the guy that looked like a zombie.  Allen is a cool guy, and it was nice meeting him, and he has such a cool job.  Why did I choose Economics as a major?  We rolled out before 11 and it felt like it was 2am, I'm an old person.  
This weekend was absolutely amazing!  Big shout out to Rick and Gail for putting me up.  Good luck to John in his first Ironman.  And congratulations to all the locals that raced so well this weekend.

Labor Day Weekend Part 3: The Pro Race

After 3 hours in the saddle we were all ready to clean up and eat, so showers were had and we ate some burritos.  Tasty.  Downtown Greenville was HOT and a little crowded, I was excited to see a crowd gather for a bike race in SC!  Garmin-Chipotle was well represented in the race with 14 riders, one of whom won the National Champ Time Trial the day before.  Big shout out to Dave Zabriskie on that victory.  I also need to apologize, but that's for "Part 4".  The hometown hero was also racing, George Hincapie has become a local legend in Greenville since he lives there.  
Those guys are fast.  Wow, is all I can say.  
I saw Casey and Rob while I was sitting on the sidewalk, that was cool.  She's really fast, I'm kinda jealous.
I had to climb a tree to get a good view of the finish, but it was worth it.  I saw Tyler Hamilton of Rock Racing with a national title at the age of 37!  The year of the old athlete?  Garmin had 3 riders in the final break of 5 and managed 2nd.  I have to admit being a little surprised they didn't take the jersey.

Labor Day Weekend Part 2: Ceasar's Head

Sunday was shaping up to be a long day with a 7:30am start to the festivities (meaning my non-morning person self was away at 6am).  A group of 30 rolled out of Furman U. towards Ceasar's Head including Rick, Gail, Jim, and John Lockwood who will be doing his first Ironman next weekend in Wisconsin.  It's 22 rolling-to-lightly-hilly miles from Furman to Ceasar's and we were moving at a leisurely pace.  It was no problem for me because I was still feeling the race from the day before.
I came to realize that a really really hate partial zip jerseys.  I was wear a 3/4 zip and was taking a leak at the base of Ceasar's Head.  That requires the jersey to come over my head so i can get my bib straps pulled down.  My helmet had to come off as well.  The group had become strung out and was regrouping as I was trying to pull my jersey onto my sweaty, sticky body.  It's a tight fit, and as I'm wriggling around the group up and leaves.  I was 200 meters back already so I tried to catch up, then I realized we were going up a mountain and I would have to ride at my pace to survive.  Ceasar's Head is 6.2 miles from top to bottom, it doesn't mess around.  I have no idea how long it took me but I loved it!  It hurt, but there is something about climbing, real climbing, that I eat up.  The return trip was on the painful side; my quads were feeling all sorts of beaten to a pulp, and Greenville isn't flat.  We were going to ride up Paris Mountain, but having rode 57 miles by the time Furman arrived made the decision to skip Paris an easy one.  

I love climbing.

Labor Day Weekend Part 1: State Champ Road Race

I did enough this weekend to warrant a whole bunch of separate entries, so here's the first.

I got to Greenville Friday without too much trouble, I had Jim's kids with me but Caroline was well behaved.  I got to Rick and Gail's place and went for a little spin on the trainer to loosen up.  Dinner was pasta and chicken.  I settled in for some Tour of Ireland action before turning in.  Cavendish won the stage going away, again.  Amazing, but his bitterness over the Olympic Madison is off-putting.  I ended up in bed about 10:30 and didn't have to be up 'till 7!  I loved not waking up at 5am for a race.  I was a bundle of nerves trying to go to sleep, I have no idea why I get so freaked out the night before a race.  I wish I would just fall asleep.
So they sent us off at 11 and it was hot and humid.  We did 3 laps of the 15 mile course for 45 miles. I just sat in the middle of the field for most of the race which was a little packed with 60-70 riders starting.  A few flyers went, but nothing serious.  I started working my way forward early in the last lap and made it to about 10th before getting swarmed and failing to hold my spot.  I wasn't feeling very good the whole race so I didn't put up a fight.  I just sat there rolling along.  The final stretch was pure mayhem.  2 separate crashes claimed a number of riders and I rolled in 23rd and disappointed.  I sucked that day.  

Casey Gail finished 2nd/1st SC in the W1/2/3 race.
Rodney, Phillip Hare, Rob K, and Eric Cash raced the 4s with me.  
Lad Lumpkin finished 2nd/1st SC in the 35-39 race and Jay Charles was 6th/2nd SC.
Don finished 10th in the 50+ race.
Anna from the Sippy Cups (City of Forest Acres Jr Team) was 10th in the W4 race.
A whole bunch of local guys started the 1/2/3 race, but it was brutal.
Other local people raced, but I can remember the particulars.

Nap

I just woke up from an afternoon nap and I feel great. I was watching the 2006 Liege Baston Liege and I zonked out hard. I still don't know who won that race.

The Future of US Para-Sport

The future is likely to be wounded veterans out of the wars in the middle east.  I'm not sure that the Cerebral Palsy classifications will see a large influx, but the amp, SCI, and maybe the Visually Impared classes could see a large increase in participation over the next few years.  Programs such as the Wounded Warrior Project are encouraging disabled veterans to get active and involved in sport and life.  I think it would serve US-Para well to encourage these types of programs, and I think they are.  An influx of veterans into the program could have significant impact on the visibility of Para-Sport in this country, visibility that is desperatly needed.  Heck, I've had Cerebral Palsy since I was 4 months old and didn't know about the Paralympic Team until I was 21.  It's not widely enough supported because it's not widely known about.  Take a country like Australia, population: 20.5 million, they won 10 golds in Cycling at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.  We, the US, has a population 15 times that of Australia and we came away with  3 golds.  The difference is that Australia's Para-athletes are very visible and well supported.  More visibility and support here in the US could go a long way in returning us to the top tier in Para-sport.

One More Day

Tomorrow is the last day of the Olympics, so I will be able to get back to my regularly scheduled sleep program.  Of course, the Paralympic Games start in 2 weeks and I will be following cycling and T&F closely.  It won't be on TV, but it will be broadcast online.  I'll provide links as it draws closer.  

The Athletes Village

Just imagine you are living in the Athlete's Village for 2 weeks.  You will be surrounded by 11,196 of the finest physical specimans on the planet, bodies and minds honed to the razor's edge of the demands of being elite athletes.  Now imagine that 4,746 of them are women.  Yeah, it's phenomenal to think about.  Those women aren't gym bunnies, they are competitors, the Triathletes are actually racing and the T&F athletes and Marathoners are running.  I would feel like I was in heaven!  

I Totally Picked the Wrong Disability

Cerebral Palsy is just not as cool as some of the other disabilities.  Seriously, why would you ever use someone with CP in a commercial or rags to riches story when you have perfectly good amputees and SCIs rolling around!?  CP just doesn't make for good TV.  CP4s usually don't look that disabled, so you have to pan the camera close in to the fingers that are curled up and look funny and bent out of shape in extension.  It really isn't as sweet as having a carbon fibre arm or leg, because you just say "My leg is carbon fibre."  Then everyone goes "oooh".  You can totally build one in the shape of an aero fairing, I'm green with envy.  I spend all this money on carbon bike parts and the LC2s one up all of us with carbon legs, pfft.  I'm not sure if LC1s are as cool as LC2s from a TV standpoint, but they still get this neat little arm/claw thing that a camera picks up pretty easily.  On top of that, they are the fastest category in Para-cycling; so not fair.  CP4 tends to be the third fastest single bike category behind LC1 and 2, a pure reeep-off (in the spirit of Bela Karoli).
Then you have the hand-cyclist.  They look all swole with their broad shoulders, lady killer guns, and low slung chariots.  And then they break their cranks.  Tell me this is not a great "made for TV story";  "Yeah, I was going to win, then I broke my cranks, WITH MY ARMS!"  WHAT, who does that?  I don't break cranks with my legs.
So clearly, I need to pick a new disability.  It's all the doctor's fault.  They didn't have to prescribe medicine I would end up being allergic to.  I'll even makes suggestions.
1)  They could have just chopped my arm off, that way I'd be faster.  
2)  They could have chopped off a leg; this is probably my pick.  I'd get into laying up carbon so I could make totally killer new legs.  I'd do one that was super aero and one shaped like a Lord of the Rings Sword, I'd call it "the dagger".
3)They could have just broken my knee caps or something so I could be a handcyclist.  I'd get way more girls because I would knock them dead with my guns.

PS: This is a humor piece, please read it that way.

Having fun on Tuesday

The Tuesday Crit was modified due to a section of our backstretch being ripped up (what's up with that?). So we had to come up with something to do. A certain individual decided to lead a group down Bluff Road. Well, this sends up 2 huge red flags. Riding Bluff Rd is a death wish during the week, and that individual is the most miserable person to ride with; ego, bad attitude, big mouth, miserable. Tom Sunday was going to stick around with his Junior team and whoever wanted to stay. So it was Tom, me, and 3 other guys along with the Juniors. We were going to be doing the loop with 180 degree turns on the 1 mile course.
The first race was a warm up lap with 5 hard laps. We went out of the gate with conviction and traded pulls among the masters (myself included). It was hard, we jumped out of the turns and did a lot of work in the small group. I was 4th or 5th wheel on the home stretch and jumped from a good ways out. Tom came charging hard at the line but I got him by a tire width, it was close.
Race 2: Tom was pulling into the home stretch and I was 3rd wheel (2 of the guys had dropped off). I got a good jump and took that one.
Race 3: Tom got a huge gap and I tried to pull him back, but blew myself up.

I saw a max HR of 196, haha.
Max Cadence was 151, not bad, but I want to get that up.

It was a painful day, but it was amazing! I fell in love with my bike again today! It feels so good to ride well and be able to go fast.

2 for Sundays

Since I am self coaching I've been reading the Friel Book on training and looking at my "limiters", those things that limit one's racing abilities.  I'm pretty sure that my biggest limiters are force production and speed.  Speed as in sprinting, spinning is a strength, but I suck at producing raw speed.  Honestly, I do not see myself winning races with a crank-snapping sprint.  Force Production is an area of hope for me.  I think that improving this weakness will provide the biggest racing gains for me from a fitness standpoint.  I can put up some decent numbers in the Deadlift in the gym so I need to translate that into power on the bike.  
Enter Today:  My early workout was 4x6 minute big gear intervals.  I put the bike into the 50-12 and slugged away until time was up.  Didn't feel much at all in the heart or lungs, but my legs were protesting.  This was day 3 in the new aero setup (yes, a compact on a TT bike) and I feel like I'm adapting well and beginning to reach a point were I can comfortablty produce power.
My late workout was in the gym.  I was doing Front Squats and going by feel with weight since i haven't lifted in over 3 months.  115lbs was good for the legs but it killed my wrists so I moved down to 95.  I'm not sure if I'll feel it in my legs in the morning but my wrists and shoulders are pretty tender right now.  
So force production:  The big gear teaches the muscles to push a big gear, eventually I want to be able to spin bigger gears and go faster.  There is nothing like big barbell lifts to teach the muscles and the Nervous System to operate against big loads, now I just have to translate it to the pedals.

Tinkering

I've been getting out on the TT bike recently as I have set the State Champ Time Trial on Oct 4th as my priority race for the rest of the year.  I've been a little frustrated because I didn't feel I was getting the full advantages that the aero bars should produce so I started to tinker.  Now, I've been intrigued by the skinny elbow, high hands, body forward position since I saw Levi Leipheimer use it last year.  
2007 Tour de France: Stage 19

2008 Tour of California

Notice how close the elbows are and how his face is near his hands.  His hands are high enough to close the gap  that would exist in his chest cavity.
In contrast, Fabian Cancellara rides with wider elbows, and keeps his hands very low.

2007 TdF Prologue


These positions do work for the specific riders but they have vastly different builds as is evidenced by the pictures.  Fabian is 6'1" and weighs 180lbs; Levi is 5'7" and weighs 140lbs.  Levi is benefiting from aero, Fabi is benefiting from power.  As a side note, Fabian won the Olympic Gold, Levi won bronze.
I don't make much power, I'm working with one good leg and one smaller, less powerful leg.  I need all the aero help I can get.  I started looking at my bike and pondered how I could get more aero.  The first thing I did was to slam the elbow pads as narrow as they would go.  Then I angled the whole bar up a little so my hands would be higher.

Previous set-up with flat to slightly downturned bars.


I went out to Hopkins to ride the new set-up and found that I REALLY liked how aero I was.  I literally felt like I was cheating the wind.  I was very unstable, but a slight outward shift of the left elbow pad fixed this.  The odd bend in my elbow necessitated this.  After I got the position correct I was able to freaking motor.  I am looking forward to training in this position and taking it out to the State Champ TT.  If I ride the 40k, we'll see how I stack up against the other U23s.  If I ride 20k I'll be gunning for a qualification time for next years Paralympic World Champs.

Accepted

My application for the Training Camp at the Olympic Training Center was approved today!  Now I just need to get permission to be gone from my professors.

At Least it Happened in a Training Race.

I was telling Pam about flatting out at the Gwinnett Race and her reply was, "At least it happened in a training race".  Interesting point of view, really.  I had not considered yet that ALL of my able-bodied races are training races.  The only races on the calender that should be really important to me are Paralympic Qualifiers, Nationals, and International races, when I am at that level.  The local races I am doing are a means to an end, a way to get faster, learn tactics, and learn my strengths and weaknesses. 

Dirt Dog

I went mountain biking today.  It was a great ride and a nice change of pace, I was thrilled to be able to train while doing something very different.  The break from the heat was very nice.  Getting motivated to ride when it's perpetually 95 degrees can be a slight challenge after a while.  I have no intentions of loathing my bike with over 2 months of good racing left.  So I do what I can to stay fresh and I know I only have 2-3 weeks of the nasty heat before things begin to cool off a bit.  

That was quite a tangent.  Hooray for having fun on a bike!

Gwinnett Road Race

I woke up at 5 this morning, yesterday morning by the time this is posted, so I could meet Rodney for the 3 hour drive to Ga.  I ended up driving his Audi S4 for a few hours; that is a sweet ride!  We set off with high hopes and matching spirits.  We discussed the fact that every race has some tragedy and we speculated that our minor detour was the tragedy of the day.  We arrived and registered with plenty of time and got ready to race.  

This was my first race as a Cat4, but the fields were split 4/5 35+ and 4/5 34-.  Rodney and I did not race together since he is over 35 and I am 22.  The race got under way and I was working on getting warmed up.  We went down a screaming 50mph descent into a series of nice hills, real hills.  By the end of the first 7 mile lap my legs were beginning to get warmed up and find a rythme.  The pace was faster than the Cat5 Road Races I have done this year, it wasn't really easy, which was nice.  I felt like I was actually working.  10 miles into the race I hit a large rock with my front wheel at nearly 40mph.  I thought my tire would flat and then I thought I got lucky, so I kept pedaling.  Then the handling strated to get sketchy and I knew I had a flat.  I slowed and signaled to the wheel truck.  They gave me a neutral wheel and I chased furiously but it was not enough.  

I earned a big fat DNF in my first race as a 4.  It was my second DNF in 4 races, neither of which was a fitness problem.  It just sucks to travel to a race you are prepared for only to find yourself out due to some uncontrolable circumstance.  That's racing.  

Rodney was crashed in the last 400 meters of the race.  It was a pretty quiet ride home, neither of us felt like talking much.

I'm racing a 60 mile Road Race next weekend.  

BMW Crit

36 minutes
15 miles
25mph average speed
Cat4/5

The course was super technical with a strong headwind on a few stretches.  The short story is that I got my butt kicked.  I hung on and that's about it.  My strong suit is surely not technical crit courses, this one averaged 5-6 hard accelerations on each 0.9 mile lap.  I didn't have the legs for priems and I didn't have the legs for the sprint.  I just kinda rolled in.
One last note:  Diving corners is not cool.  It's going on my do not do list.

I want to go to the OTC!

I got an email from Ian Lawless, head of US Hand Cycling and Promoter of the Paralympic Nationals, last week.  He told me about a developmental camp at the OTC in September and said he thought I'd be a good candidate.  I looked at the dates and they conflict with school, so I didn't think anything of it.  I got an email from the camp director, Pam, on Tuesday that said I should send in the app, yada yada, and she told me to call if I had questions.  So I did, I called her and told her I had school and stuff.  We ended up talking for forever about racing and training; she talked about winning Paralympic gold medals and World Champs and training and she told me about the camp.  And now I want to go!  It's not a long camp, only about 5 days, but we'll be on our bikes twice a day and we would have time on the velodrome!  I've been dying to get on the track because I think I would love the pursuit.  So now I have to see if I can work around being out of school for half a week.  

Tuesday Crit

I thought about extending my little break but I decided to get my butt out to the Crit tonight.  I'm glad I did.  I showed up a little late due to work and jumped in with 35 minutes to go.  The pace wasn't terrible, but the heat was stiffling.  
I got the legs up to speed and ended up on Mike's wheel with a gap on the field.  A break of 4 was up the road and I launched off Mike's wheel to get to them.  I think I almost exploded my lungs on that effort and it felt good, I haven't been under that type of duress in quite some time.  We got pulled back.
On the last lap one guy launched off the front right after turn one.  I jumped to follow and was looking for Rodney but I found Franscisco.  He said "go", I said "get on my wheel".  I put in a hard effort for 6-700 meters and cut him loose a little over 30mph with a huge gap on the field.  The rumor I hear is that he hung on for the last half lap and pulled out the win.  I got spit out the back but I considered it "mission accomplished".
BMW Crit Thursday.

I felt silly

I walked into Summit Cycles earlier today just to chat.  There was this tall skinny guy standing at the counter buying a Giro aero helmet and I asked if he did Tris or Time Trials, and he said he did both along with a bit of racing.  After mentioning that he'd seen me at the Tuesday crit I asked what his name was.  Turns out he was Jay Charles.  I think I acted like I just met a celebrity for a second.  This guy is a local Cat1 racer that is very fast.  He's one of those guys you watch at the races and want to be like when you grow up.  It was pretty cool to finally meet him.

Currently

I've given up on going back and detailing the last month of my riding.  The Cliff Notes version looks like this:
1)  I bought some new Speedplay Pedals, they seem very secure.  It is comforting after my crash which resulted from pulling my foot out of a pedal.
2) I raced the NC State Champ Road Race a week after returning from Dever.  I worked way too much and ended up finishing 20th of 30.
3) I raced the BMW Crit on the BMW test track in Greer.  The field was mixed Cat4/5.  I got a pack finish.
4) I rode Paris again.  I have an official time of 12:37
5) I had fun on a lot of group rides.  I won a hill sprint at the end of one of the Wednesday Summit Rides.
6) I raced the Crit at the Piedmont Triad Onmuim.  I was sitting top 20 with 6 laps to go when I got chaught behind a crash and earned a big fat DNF.
7) I raced the Road Race the next day.  It was super easy, but I didn't get into position and ended up finishing 32/58.
8) I ordered a Heart Rate Monitor, we'll see how it affects my training.
9) I sat on the trainer on the Time Trial bike last night.  I'm going to have to get used to it because I'm going to spend a lot of time on the thing this winter.  The HRM should help since I can geek out over data.

Climbing Paris

I went Greenville after recovering from my ride in the heat.  My purpose was to return the race wheels to Rick, but I was more excited about climbing Paris Mountain.  Paris is this nasty little kicker that covers 2.2 miles from the bottom to the summit and gains around 1000 feet of elevation.  I finished in under 13 minutes and I had fun in the masochistic spirit of the word.

The long ride

After returning from Denver on Saturday I called my friend Kevin to see if he wanted to ride on Monday.  The temperature was 95 when we left and peaked at over 100.  I was planning to ride 50 or so miles at an easy/moderate pace; Kevin decided to ride 70 miles.  The last 15 miles were very hard for me, the heat was really messing with my body.  I finished and spent some time trying to get myself rehydrated, no small task after almost 4 hours in the sun.

The Aftermath

I know this is late in coming but I think I might go on a blog spree this evening to catch up with what has been happening in my life.

The Aftermath:
Once I had finished my Time Trial and returned to the staging area I had a most unique emotional experience.  I really cannot describe it because it was such a mix of feelings.  I was upset that I did not ride faster, I was happy that all the pressure I had put on myself was gone, I was mad at the altitude (weird, I know), and I did not want to talk to anyone at all.  I begrudgingly made a few phone calls, but I had no desire to be social.  
I went back to the hotel and went to my room to take a nap and a shower.  I felt much better after waking up and went to the hotel lobby to chat with the other racers.  I had not realized it before, but several of the men rode the race of their lives.  In a few cases the stellar efforts were not enough to make the Beijing Team.  The good news is that the US Para Cycling Team looks to have some very very strong riders to take to the various international competitions in 2009 and beyond.  Strong placings will be the key to securing more spots for the 2012 London Paralympics.  There are also a few young, strong riders that should make the team in the next year or 2;  I am hoping to be among them.
The awards dinner that evening was enjoyable, I got to see my friend Greta Neimanas receive her Nation Champion Jersey and Medal.  Greta had told me about and encouraged me to go to the Trials, and I'm very happy I did.  I spoke with the coach of the Para team and asked him what I should do to prepare for next year's race and my goal of being on the team.  What he told me was very simple but has really stuck with me.  He said, "Go home and be a bike racer."  He also told me to go to the team training camp in December.  The instructions to "go home and be a bike racer" have been influential on how I lived my life since I returned home.
The return trip would have been uneventful until Delta decided to charge me $150 to bring my bike home.  

The Result

I got to Denver Thursday evening and checked into my hotel.  I went to the riders meeting and met the other racers.  I put my bike together and took it for a test ride before getting dinner at Chipotle.

I woke up race morning at 3:45 and tried to fall asleep.  I got out of bed at 5:45 and got breakfast and rolled my bike outside to a very chilly 50 degree morning.  My bike was loaded into the box truck and the vans pulled away.  I was left behind.  I finally got a ride after 7AM and realized I would not get to pre-ride the course.  
I grabbed my bike and started making preparations to race.  I took my leisure since I did not start until 9:26:30 AM.  I found  a trainer and started my warm-up an hour before race time, pretty much perfect.  I got in a great warm-up and traded some trash talk with one of the Visually Impared riders on a tandem in good fun.
I rolled to the line for my start time and when the holder was keep me upright and I was in the pedals my left leg started shaking.  One symptom of Cerebral Palsy is spasticty and when I get nervous my leg shakes.  So I'm shaking in my pedal when I get the "go" signal and as soon as I started my leg was ok.  
I rolled up to speed on the first stretch and was having to keep myself from going too fast.  The course turned nasty after that.  I took the first sharp turn and was faced with the first hill.  It was short and it was steep and it killed the momentum I had.  By the top I was starting to feel the burning in my lungs.  My legs were fine, but my lungs were on FIRE.  I was feeling the effects of the thin air.  After the hill I came to a long section of S cueves and rode through them pretty fast.  I rode through some very tight turns and started the return trip.  My legs were still feeling good and my lungs were still burning.  I was not accelerating up the hills or out of the turns well at all, but I was able to hold a lot of speed in the flat, straight sections.  I came to the last sharp turn directly into a steep hill.  It was very painful to ride up but the finish was close.  I rode hard to the line but I looked at the clock and knew it was not enough.  My time was 21.52 which was an average speed of 23.4mph.  

I will write about the post-race happenings at a later time.

Quick Update

I am running around and packing everything up so I can leave in the morning.  Allow me to rewind a bit.  I am healing up very nicely.  I have been out on my bike several times since my crash and I feel like I will be racing at 100%.  After I visit the chiropractor this afternoon everything should be just about perfect.  
I am going to be gone for 3 days and my packing list is already 2 miles long.  The amount of junk I have to lug around is phenomenal.  It's not the big stuff that concerns me, as I know I won't forget the bike.  It's the little things like the pump adapter for the disc (race) wheel, contact solution, socks, and other easily overlooked items that can grind a trip to a halt if forgotten.  That's why I made the list, and that's why the list is as long as my leg, which is not all that short.  
I finished all my errands for the trip other than the chiro.  I dropped by the bike shop to pick up some odds and ends, and swung by the bank to get some cash, and picked up my new car since my old one died last week.
Back to packing.

Forced to Put Things into Perspective

I crashed last night.  The short story goes like this:
I was on the Elon ride and we were in a rotating paceline (see the video) on our way to the first sprint point.  



My good friend Kevin decided he was going to break free of the group about half a mile out.  I was behind him, saw his move, and stayed glued to his wheel.  No one else responded and he/we had a gap on the field.  I decided to go for the sprint from 150 meters out.  I stood up out of the saddle and pulled my left foot out of the pedal on the 3rd stroke.  I went down on my left side.  The last thought that crossed my mind before contact was, "do not let go of the bars until contact or you'll break a collar bone."  The resultant injuries are scrapes on my left knee, right shin, left elbow, right elbow, my lower and upper back, and my bottom.  My left shoulder is bruised and I have some tightness in both shoulders.  My helmet is destroyed and I think my shoes are unuseable.  I ripped up a brand new Palmetto Velo Sports jersey and shorts.  Palmetto Velo is the local team I race with.  In spite of all that I seem to be ok and I will be doing an easy ride tonight to see how my legs feel.  

I've thought a lot about my trip to Denver, and I am still very excited to race there.  Before my crash I was getting nervous about the race, but I am very calm now.  I know that I have rode hard and done everything that I needed to do to prepare for this race.  There is no reason to fret about it.  Worrying will only mess me up, I am just thankful now that I will be able to race next week.  While my goal is still to win, I will be happy as long as go out there and ride as hard as I can.

Pictures:
This helmet is destroyed but it kept me from dying or becoming further disabled!


A picture of the left side of my body.


This is my left knee.

First Ride on the New Wheels

I went out this morning to put in my training ride before work. I was dying to ride the new wheels, so waiting until after work was not an option. Bluff road is not a fun place to be at 7:45 AM. There are a lot of very impatient drivers out at that time such as the semi that moved into my lane and nearly hit me. I rode into the grass to avoid becoming a bloody mess on the side of the road. Other than traffic, my intervals were good. 8 minutes in the biggest gear on the bike, it felt like a gym workout. I knocked out 4 of those before I had to get ready for work.
The wheels are great! The roll so fast when they are at speed, and being able to go faster without pedaling harder is a very nice little bonus. The wheels sound cool, too.

Tomorrow's ride will be the Summit Ride after work and I am planning on taking my road bike since it works better in groups and on the hills. Rick Kattouf is supposed to be coming down for the ride, I am really looking forward to riding with him.

Early Morning

I was up this morning at 5:45 so I could meet Jim for a 6:30 ride that started a little after 7.  The weather was gorgeous and traffic was light.  I was doing 10km intervals and the first one was strange.  It hurt in the beginning but by the end I felt like I had gone too slow.  I was having computer issues so I do not have an exact average for my intervals.  I need to get this sorted out.  The second was faster; by my estimate it was 24 something mph, not too terrible.  I had to rush in and clean up so I could make it to my little brother's graduation.  Total distance was about 35 miles.  It was a much better ride than I had yesterday when I could not produce any power.
After the graduation ceremony I went to Cycle Center so Rebecka could refit me on the Time Trial bike.  She was dialing my position in so I could get more aero and produce more power.  We had a long talk about racing and traveling, it was a good conversation.  
I talked to Rick Kattouf today.  I will be going up to Greenville on Monday to pick up a set of race wheels; a rear disc and a HED60 deep dish front.
I have a nice 3 hour ride planned for tomorrow that I am really looking forward to.