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.