Steamboat Springs Stage Race - Day 1

Today's ITT prologue is in the books. We wedged our way into our skinsuits and got it on for 4.5 miles of mad love. We'll, truth be told, I wedged my way into my skinsuit and you could of fit another person in Dan's.

Anyway, the course starts out with 1.0 mile of false flats and then a 0.5 climb. This is followed by a long technical descent, a short hill, more technical descending, and then a punchy climb at the end.

Here's Pale Power getting out his climbing sticks during warmups. Sexy for sure!

Well, I have to say it was some of the hardest twelve minutes of my life. Dare I say harder than cross? Nah, it wasn't that bad. Here are the results. I'm 1:04 back and Dan's 2:13 back.

Tomorrow's race is six laps on the same course in the reverse direction. The climbers will be putting the hurt on and time gaps should be pretty big.

Huggs and kisses from Steamboat!

My First Time....

So I saddled up Wednesday night for my first 'official' individual time trial ever. I say 'official' because just about every road race and mountain bike race I've ever done has essentially ended up being an individual TT. :)

I was able to avoid the typical pre-race anxiety and associated restroom visits since I convinced myself that this was truly just for fun and training myself back into shape after my 6 week stint in crutches this winter. I suited up in my new long sleeve Capo skinsuit and last year's BSV shoe covers... which made me feel fast as hell (at least until I heard 'go' from the ACA starter)

Unlike many of the more disciplined BSV road team, I was rolling through the effort without the added weight/benefit of a power meter, heart rate monitor, computer, etc. Good old rate of perceived exertion (RPE) was all I had, and I think I held it somewhere between 7.5 to 8 out of 10 for the run from Lyons to Boulder.

I was a little bit out of my element with no barriers, mud, off camber turns, other riders, etc to deal with. The funny thing about TTs is you basically just pedal... and pedal... and pedal. Once I cleared the first climb and started to settle in a little on the flats it became painfully obvious how much nicer it would have been to have aero bars to stretch out on. I also quickly realized I have no experience guaging an effort out on the open road... the continual on/off of cyclocross and mountain biking is where I play most, so the whole steady eddy in a bigger gear was frankly just weird to try and settle in to.

Nonetheless, because I had nobody behind me for 5 or more minutes I managed to avoid getting caught. Because of that, I was able to operate under the wild misconception that maybe I was moving along pretty fast. Long story short... I most definitely was not! Turns out I should have had a large green shell on my back, because the guy pictured below could have given me a run for my money...

I ended up confused at the finish and stopped at the first set of orange cones roughly 100 feet from the actual finish. Pretty funny... probably cost me all of 15 seconds and absolutely nothing in terms of my overall poor placement. I looked back at the clock and the reality hit that I was a helluva lot slower than I hoped I would be.

I got to watch a chunk of BSV'ers layin' it down on my ride home back to Lyons... Eric, Jason, Rob, Lee and others were all gettin' it done with pointy helmets, aero bars and fancy wheels.

Lessons learned:

1. I think I can go quite a bit harder next time without blowing up, but I need the carrot of riders a bit faster than me in front so I've got somebody to chase.

2. I will break out the heart rate monitor next time for added visual motivation to go harder

3. Even though I'm built similar to Dave Zabriskie, I don't think I'll ever TT like him. (Maybe if I grew a mustache again there'd be a chance... hmmm)

4. I think I pretty much suck at time trials!

Giddyup,
Dan

Rabbit Mountain TT

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Rabbit Mountain TT
The Rabbit Mountain TT didn't go as well as I would have liked but I still manged to do well. This was my first hard effort in about 10 days after being sick the prior week. I've ridden the course many times and even managed a personal best of 17:59 without aero equipment a week and a half before the race so I was optimistic about beating that time. But, once the race started I felt awful. I had to fight the urge to call it quits throughout the race. I'm glad I did because I managed to get 4th (18:17). For some reason, I started the race in my small chain ring and could never get into the big ring which would have really helped for the first half of the race. Lately, I've been a total space cadet at the starts-including tonight at the boulder TT series when I showed up 40 seconds late for the start despite getting there with plenty of time. Anyway, at least failing to get in the big chain gave me the advantage of fresh legs at the end climb where I passed two riders who started the climb well ahead of me. The Rabbit mountain TT is a fun course which will make you pay at the end if you overdo your effort before the final climb.
Ho
Posted by Ho at 8:41 PM

The Springs

the crew of killaz gettin' tha game face on.

We had a great big crew head down to the springs this weekend. The racing was intense, and a good tune-up for the gila. Best of all, we had one of the worlds best photographers and soigneurs, Marty Caivano, along for the ride. She's the one responsible for all the great photo's you see here, post race massage, and general good time.

Saturday AM saw some of us wake up and go through the agony that is a hilly Time Trial. After a night of not sleeping and hacking up a lung from being sick all week, I was not in a happy place as I wriggled into my skinsuit. However, the bright sunshine and some punk rock brought me out of the coma. the race was about 12 miles, and the start took me over a few steep hills. Nothing like laboring the TT bike at 10 miles an hour, getting passed by my minute-man, my 2-minute-man, my 3-minute-man, etc. The uphill effort was rewarded with a sweet, long downhill... topping out at 45mph. nice. I took it easy across the flat section, and then took it easier on the uphill finish, rocking out a 37minute time. I think Jeremy went 31 minutes, and my 9-minute-man just nipped me at the line. No worries, though, as we cooled down by riding back to the car and got to focusing on the real fun of the weekend...

...the downtown crit. We rolled onto the course and checked out the scene; a pretty straightforward course with a fast downhill sweeper, a steep uphill, and a couple of long straights separated by a 180 degree u-turn.

First up was the 4/5 crit, with a suprise showing by Steve Capstick and Dave 'Killa' Kilmoyer. Also in the mix was Mike Dancel and Ryan Lewandowski. Of note, Dancel whipped up on the youngsters earlier in the AM during the collegiate races.

Mike bringin' the heat

Steve "these are limited-edition Oakley's, so you betta recognize" Capstick

Overall, the 4/5's looked mean out on the course as Jeremy, Stuart, Jose, Kevin, Isaac, and myself warmed up. Once their race cleared out, we headed to the start line... it's business time, and we were all wearing our business socks. We clip in, light the fires and burn the tires. Stuart is rockin his first crit, and is up front checking out the lay of the land.

Stuart Love in Blue Sky, head to toe.

The pace picks up quickly, and I put my head down to stay in contention. I try to stay near the front to keep Jeremy, Kevin, and Isaac out of the wind, but I quickly realize that the "3/4" category is cat 3 with cat 4's getting spit out the back.

Rob and Jeremy showing the peloton how to grow sideburns.

My head is down as I blaze up the sides of the pack on the downhills and into the headwind, trying to maintain contact.

Kevin surveys his fiefdom.

Rob getting drawn-and-quartered by Kevin and his tyrannical regime

Eventually, I see the 5 laps to go sign, and the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, the light is coming from a freight-train bearing down on me, carrying a full load of lactic acid waiting to drown me. I lose contact on the headwind section and take a deep breath as I sprint for all I am worth to regroup. I make it to the field on the downhill, only to explode on the climb. I look up on the finishing stretch with 2 to go and see the race leaving me. I keep my head down and am relegated by the fact that without any saps in my way on the corners I can finally test out my new wheels.

Hammer is down, even if i have already been hammered.

So, I roll across the finish line without any fanfare or hoopla, but I am spent and it feels good. The crew is hanging out and it turns out Kevin rocked 3rd, Jeremy 5th, and Isaac hunted the pack on the last few laps like a wolf in the hen-house, so all is well.

Back to the hotel for showers, then it's off to Dancel's pad for some BBQ and beers. The feast was totally worthy... complete with chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.

We sleep like the dead Saturday night, and warm up like zombies on our trainers in hurricane force winds on Sunday AM. The race starts neutral down a long hill and past a gnarly crash in the pro-field. Stuart, Kevin, Isaac, Lee, Jeremy, Kyle and I sit near the front for the first half a lap until the climb. Stuart pulls the ripcord. I follow suit. I ride 30 miles on my own in the wind, savoring my enervit and gatorade. On the final lap I wait for Stuart to catch back up and we put in a hard effort on the final climbs. We punk a couple of fools coming into the finish hill, and Stuart lays down a sick lead-out for DFL. I come around him and we sprint it out, even though Jeremy is back at the car fully changed and waiting to go get mexican food for lunch. Thankfully someone stuck around to watch us--Marty and Jose are on hand for moral support.

All in all, a good weekend of getting humbled by the competition. Gotta keep it together for a few more weeks, get healthy, and turn it on for the gila.

Haystack TTT

A couple photos of the Cat3 train!