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.