Good Friday Road Race

I had much higher expectations for myself than what came out today. Recently i've seen my numbers on the spin bike increase from the increased training load and z4 intervals so I thought I would be in great shape today. Nope!
I started towards the back of the pack and spent a good portion of the first lap trying to move up. Got somewhere near the top 1/3 but at the expense of my legs. The second half of the lap had a strong wind which kept riders away from the yellow line. I saw this as an opportunity to move up. Adding the extra power while taking on the wind did wonders to my legs.
Going into the second lap I dropped off the back as the peloton got strung out (I fell back some positions by this point). The people ahead of me started to fall off as well. I managed to work with a guy that I worked with at Terra Cotta, Greg, and we got back on. All of this was in vain as the same strung out peloton with people dropping off ahead of me happened again. Greg and I were too tired to be able to move up when we first got back on, and again we were both off the back. We tried to chase hard during the third of five laps. We had the peloton max 200m away up until we got back to Trinity road. The wind again did wonders and pulled us further away. As we started the fourth lap we saw that they were gone so we gave up hope. I finished the fourth lap and called it a day.

Things to take from this:
1. Start near the front!
2. Don't sacrifice yourself in the wind in order to gain better position that early in race. Not worth it.
3. No pain no gain. Make sure you do the work to stay on the pack, if you drop off you will be doing more work.

I'll be skipping Calabogie as my funds are looking a little low until I start work again, but ill be racing Bronte and P2A over the next two weekends.

Results: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130329-230911-gfresults.htm
Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/290344220

Steaming Nostril Race Report

Sunday, March 24 was when it all went down. Cold but sunny, and a nice little wind that came from the north. Just to meant to be a fun race for me to get back into the mix of things, and relearn what its like to suffer after a long winter. The race started and ended in Elmira, had a 6km section of rail trail from hell (that we rode out and then coming back in) and then the rest of the 68km route was mainly gravel road.

The rail trail was tough! We hit it just over 1km in. It was mostly covered in snow and ice that made it hard to keep your bike under you let alone in a straight line!  It also zapped all energy you had trying to keep the pace up, especially where the snow had melted from the sun and you were forced to ride the soggy gravel trail. I nearly blew up trying not to lose everyone in this section. Maybe I didn’t have the right tire pressure, or not warmed up enough but I lost most of the main guys here.

Once we got out of the rail trail it was a long time on mainly flat gravel roads. Here I worked really hard to catch someone to make it easier and take turns cutting the wind. As the race continued our group grew as people were popped off of the lead group. I didn’t mind it as it gave me more time to rest after the rail trail extravaganza.

With about 5km to go to the ride back in to the rail trail my legs were feeling the effects of a hard fought ride, and a long road section into the wind. Might not have helped that I couldn’t get my meaty gloves into my jersey pocket to grab my gel. With the help of fellow CoachChris.ca/TedVelikonja rider Jeff Landry, I was able and motivated to stay with the group at least until the rail trail. The pace picked up a bit here and some of the riders started to drop off. The group was maybe cut in half by the time we hit the rail trail.

This time through it was even worse. More snow melted and less hard pack which was easier to ride on. A lot of sluggish, soggy rail trail that you had to grind through. The mud built up on my crank set and I had no access to my bottom chain ring. The only way I could think of describing it was that it felt like you were riding up a 12% grade, but mentally tougher because you could tell the ground was flat. I pushed through knowing the finish line was on the other side.

Overall finished 44^th, and 6^th in my age group. Was 4^th going into the rail trail section but feeling the effects of a bad start, the legs were quitting on me. Maybe some food would have helped, but it definitely felt like an accomplishment finishing. One of the hardest finishes I think I have ever done, and it was great to sit around after and talk with everyone about how bad the rail trail section was. It made you feel better that you didn’t suffer alone!

Racing resumes this Friday for the Good Friday RR. Second weekend of 4 weekends straight of racing goodness!

Results: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130324-214531-snresults.htm

Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288516926

Hopefully Pics to come if I find any, but heres this gem someone made:

Its Been A While

I have been super busy this term with my school work and my training schedule, and haven't found much time to sit down and update. Quick update on the knee: its definitely a problem with the nerve near the groin. I can feel some discomfort with a really tucked in position. Im going to work on stretching it, and slowly work on bringing my position back down. But for now it translates to no slammed stem. Bike looks slow :(
For training I was able to head out to the forest city velodrome to complete track 1 with the McMaster cycling club. FCV is always great place to go if you get the chance. It definitely beats riding on the trainer.
I have got outside a few times to make sure I will have some bike handling skills come time for the Paris to Ancaster, but definitely not out as much as I would like. Most of my rides are done during spin classes at the school. Great for motivation, and it keeps it fun. All I need is a heart rate monitor and I can still do my scheduled workouts, while having a million times more fun that if I did it on a trainer.

I will leave you guys with a pic from the velodrome. Ps race schedule is updated!! With races starting at the end of the month I will be posting much more frequently.