A Bump In The Road

Last week, June 4th through the 11th, was quite frustrating for me.  There is a race coming up on June 25 call the Hilly Billy Roubaix.  This race is 70 miles on some of roughest, dirtiest, gnarliest, roads northern WV and southwest PA has to offer.  It's so rough that it's suggested that you leave your road racing bike at home and instead bring your cyclocross bike to the race instead (a cyclocross bike is a road bike set up and designed to be ridden on roads and terrain just like this).  And it just so happens that I just got a cyclocross bike, actually it's a "team hand-me-down" as I'm the third person on the team to be using it, but it is a nice bike nonetheless.

I was stoked to be able to do this race with this bike, so on June 4th I took it out for a 50 mile training ride on the harshest roads I could find around where I live.  And I sure did find some good ones too.  I was having a blast, out in the middle of who-knows-where on these beautiful dirt/gravel roads, with a little pavement here and there getting to other dirt roads.

At twenty-five miles into my ride, I was going down a hill in the Bethany, WV area when I hit a bump in the road.  Not a pothole where you "fall" down into it, but a bump, where you "pop" up over it.  Well I hit that bump and it sent a painful jolt right up my spine that settled in my lower lumber area.  Ohhhh that crazy hurt.  And I had twenty-five miles to get back home.  Needless to say, my dirt road excursion was over.  I had to find the smoothest, shortest route to soft pedal home.

The following Monday I was in my chiropractor's office and could barely get on and off his table.  My midline was nice and straight until it got to by bellybutton where it took an angle to the left.  I was way out of alignment.  I was at his office three times to get this fixed and was stretching and laying on bags of ice in the evenings.  And to add insult to the injury, I didn't even look at my bike let alone ride it.  It was a loooong week.

But yesterday, the 13th, my last visit to the chiropractor, was all good news.  I was feeling great, he didn't find any mis-alignments, and he gave me the "all-clear" to get back on my bike and start training again.  He figured that I was starting to have alignment issues prior to that Saturday ride, and that bump was the straw that broke the... rider's back.

So now I'm back at it, had a great, hard ride today where my legs felt great but my lungs felt like they were two sizes too small, but they'll come around.  And now I'm looking forward to the party that is... the Hilly Billy.

Racing to Dizzying Heights - Tour of Tucker County

Every 4th of July weekend in the mid/late 90's, I used to go camping/cycling with my friends Mark Hess, Ron Lutz, Dan Chew, and Warren Delraso at the Horseshoe Campground in Tucker County, WV.  I've grown to love that area and have some great memories from those days.  So when I found out about a race on May 28, 2011 in that exact same area where I used to camp with my buds, I just had to do it.

The Tour of Tucker County is billed as "Voted as one of the Top 10 Hardest Race Courses in America by VeloNews Magazine".  Knowing the area, I can see how it was voted as such.  The course distance for my race group was 35 miles, and while the finish line was at the top of a mountain on Sugarlands Road, the start line was near the bottom.  That mountain road is so long and steep, that as we rolled down the mountain to the start line, several rider's tires went flat from their rims getting so hot from braking and heating the air in their tires.  The air expanded and didn't have anywhere to go and... pshhhhhhhhh, flat.  Pretty amazing.

Our race started around 12:30, and for the first six miles the course was gently rolling and we stayed together as a group.  At the six mile mark we rode into a small village called St. George and that's where the fireworks started.  St. George is at the base of a loooong climb, gradual in some spots, and steeper in others.  As we started the climb the attacks came fast and hard.  The tempo was strong but I was managing to somewhat stay with it.  In fact, surprisingly I was feeling pretty good as a "non-climber" going up this climb with the group.  But a few minutes into this climb I started getting into trouble.  I have a condition with my inner ears where they hold fluid, or something like that, and sometimes when I climb very hard and there's a lot of pressure, I get very dizzy (I constantly have ringing in my ears too).  So going up this climb this hard made me dizzier and dizzier.  I got to the point where a good bit of my effort was going towards just keeping upright and not falling over.  I caught myself riding off the road a few times and into the gravel berm of the road.  This went on for what seemed like forever, but really just a few minutes.  I eased up to try to alleviate the pressure.  My inner ears finally drained, or whatever they needed to do, and the dizziness went away and I was back to normal, though I lost a fair amount of time.  Fortunately, the top of this climb was coming soon, and then it was all downhill to the base of the final climb, and that's one thing I can do very well... go downhill fast.  I knew that once I hit the decent, it was a freefall at 40+ MPH and I would catch some riders.  Sure enough, a little into the decent, I caught one guy, but just as we were going into a corner he panicked and locked his brakes up... and he crashed hard, but luckily for him into the grass beside the road (See the guy in the green shorts beside me in the pic? It was him.).

As I got to the bottom of the mountain I caught up to a group of people, as I figured I would, and rode right through them and continued on, feeling pretty good.  And then came the last, grueling climb of the race.  Five miles straight up to the finish line.  It was sooo hard, but from somewhere I got a second wind of sorts and I actually caught a few more riders going up the climb and dropped them.  And then there was one last rider in my crosshairs but he wasn't going to let me take him.  He kicked it up and made it a race to the line.  I couldn't match his acceleration and started to cramp up, even down to my toes.  He got the better of me by thirty seconds in the end.

When the dust from this race settled, I wound up in 15th place.  I believe that with the way I was feeling physically, I could have done a little better if it wasn't for my dizzy spell, though as a non-climber I didn't have any grand illusions of a podium finish in this race.  Overall I had a good race and a great time!  (And a "very nice job" to my team mate Kirk Morrison for his 8th place finish in his group at the race!)

At the top of the mountain at the finish line

Thanks for the support!

My 2010 racing season finished up a few weeks ago with a win at the West Virginia State Time Trial Championships, and with it came the ups and downs that a season can bring, especially with it being my first year back to racing after a few years "off" from the sport. For a brief review of my season, one can go back through my posts. I hope I made it fun and worthwhile to read. I'll continue to document my training as I go into the off-season now, as I work towards a more successful 2011 season.

I'll be trying some new workouts/training programs, much different than what I've done in the past, in part to see if it'll make a difference, and also to keep me fresh as doing the same-old same-old can wear a person down mentally.

I would also like to thank those who are behind me with their support in sponsorship:

• My team's sponsors:
  Agr International
  Butler Health System
  Pro Bikes
  TMR Roofing
  GNC (Moraine Pointe Plaza - Butler, PA)
  Bearing Consultants
• Others who have helped me along the way:
  Oxygen4Energy
  Pure Endurance
  Clean Bottle
  Magura Direct (Uvex products)
  John Gamble (supplements)

Much appreciated for the gracious support!

2010 West Virginia TT Championships - (Season ending on a good note)

Back in the mid to late 90's, I used to go camping/road riding with a group of friends in the Parsons/St. George area of West Virginia, an area I grew to love a lot. And getting there was one of my all-time favorite roads, Route 72. So about three months or so ago, when I learned about the 16 mile West Virginia State Time Trial Championships being held on Route 72, just north of St. George in Rowlesburg, I wanted to do the race very badly.

The race was this past Saturday, September 18, and for about two months leading up to the race, all I did was train for it. I didn't go out for "rides", but instead each time on the bike had a purpose, a reason, whether it was intervals, hill repeats, or a recovery ride. And each ride was done on the time trial bike as I put my bike away until after the race.

I arrived at the race with plenty of time to casually get registered, get changed, and get warmed up. There was no rushing or running around. The race started at noon and my start time was at 12:18. At 12:15 I got into the line to await my turn. At 12:17 I was at the start line being held and ready to go. At 12:18 I was off, all my training and trial-n-error over the past two months were now for this very moment.

I shifted into a slightly uncomfortable big gear and turned my legs as quickly as I could. I got into a nice tempo and was flying. I was feeling great. For the first eight miles of the race I was averaging 27.6 MPH. Not too bad. The turn around point in the race was on a little hill that put a good hurt in the legs, but it also meant that you weren't flying at speed into the turn which was nice, no hard breaking required. As I rounded the orange cone at the turn around for the eight miles back to the finish line, I was able to regain top speed quickly.

With about four or five miles to go, somewhere around there, I noticed myself starting to slow down, and with that I started to panic. See, I wanted a podium spot very bad. I mean I worked my butt off for the last two months for it, and when I started going slower, that began bad thoughts creeping into my head. I was starting to convince myself that I wasn't going to make it, "Your too slow, you went out too fast and now paying for it...", etc. And the funny thing is that the more I thought about it, the slower I was going. Funny how that works. AND... just as all that was going on, my helmet strap came unbuckled, or so I thought. I reached up to re-buckle it and found that it was still buckled, but the strap itself came out of the buckle, so there was nothing I could do about it during the race. So I was having melt-down mind games and was getting slapped in the face by my helmet strap. Things were starting to really suck. But then I had another thought, "You gotta get your mind right boy!" With that, I stopped pedaling for a brief moment, took a real deep breath, put my head down, and started bringing my cadence up and with that my tempo and speed. 23, 24, 25, 26, 26.5 MPH. I got it back to where it should be and then concentrated on my breathing. Short, deep, powerful breaths. I lost a lot of valuable time but wasn't thinking about that at that moment. With the finish line now in sight, I put everything I had into it. I crossed the line at 33 MPH. At that point I had no idea if I made the podium, and it wasn't until around one hour after my finish I learned that not only did I make the podium, but I won! First Place! I beat the 2nd place guy by twenty-four seconds. Wow, I was shocked. Even with my "panic attack" and my helmet strap beating on my cheek distracting me, I made it. That felt so very good. With such an up-n-down season I had this year, it was nice to finish out with this win.

8/20/10 15 mile Time Trial

Trying out my "aero" helmet, which has been in a closet for 13 years

Another Friday night, another time trial in the can. This event was 15 miles, the same distance as the very first time trial I competed in earlier this year. But the result was very different. In the last 15 mile event I finished in 19th place. This time, I finished in 4th place, shaving off a big chunk of time. But in that first one I was a different rider too. I was much more nervous, which I am sure contributed to a quickly tiring upper body and starting out waaay too fast and burning myself up. This time around I was more confident and relaxed, and felt a lot better. The only thing I wish I could have done differently in this race was to get to my chiropractor the day before. I am happy with my result but my back was hurtin' like the dickens... again. When I get an adjustment before an event, I am typically pain free, but when I don't, my back quickly flares up and the pain works its way down the back of my right leg, and I have to just ride with it to the finish line. I think if I had been able to get to the doc, I could have had a better time, but I'm not complaining.

Now I only have two races left for my season. The first one is the West Virginia State Time Trial Championships, which I'm not eligible to win the title, but I can still "win" the event on September 18, and the Pennsylvania State Team Time Trial Championships in Erie on September 25. I am very excited about the latter as I will be competing WITH my teammates as we pedal our hearts out for the state gold.

Team Cervelo as they crush a team time trial

We don't want anything less because, according to my teammate Brian Hopkins, "Silver is just stupid." So we're either going for the gold or "die trying". Between now and then all my training is geared towards these two events. Looking forward to it!

2010 Smith Dairy Milk Race

Yesterday, August 15, was one of my all time favorite races, the Smith Dairy Milk Race in Orrville, OH, the home of Smuckers. It's a great 10 mile loop that's gently rolling with only one hill that's not real long or steep but can be made hard by attacking it hard and hurting your competitors every lap.  We had around thirty people in our race and accompanying me was my teammate Mark Briercheck.

At 10:05 the race started and we rolled off for the 40 mile battle, or four laps around the course. The first lap went well as nobody really attacked the group until the hill about 7 miles into the 10 mile loop. To my knowledge no one was dropped on the first lap.

On the second lap I really started to notice, "Man, it is HOT and muggy," as sweat was really starting to run down my face and leave streaks on my glasses. The pace picked up on this lap but Mark and I were right there in it.

The third lap got even a little harder and the sweat was really pouring now. I heard someone behind me say, "Someone's really sweating up there. It's hitting me."  Haha... he was probably talking about me. I was making sure to drink heavily to replace what I was losing. Still, Mark and I were looking good and feeling fresh.

Fourth and final lap, the pace was all over the place. We would speed up dramatically and after a little bit we'd slow back down, waiting to see who would make the next attack. Guys were starting to get weary and tired and mistakes were starting to be made with two one-man crashes throughout the lap. When we got to the "big" hill we charged up it and my left hamstring started cramping. Ow! But I got to the top and rode through it. I noticed a few other guys shaking and rubbing their legs, trying to get their cramps out too.

About one kilometer or so to the finish I was right at the front of the group, behind one or two guys, and we were going S-L-O-W. No one wanted to go first only to get caught and passed. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Briercheck flew past all of us looking like he was going for a solo win. Well, that perked everyone up and at that point we were off to the races!

Okay, so here we go. But the problem was that the guys I was behind didn't jump as quickly and they were leaving a gap, and riders were starting to pass us on the outside, to the left. I was looking everywhere for a hole I could get through to pass these guys. Arrrrgh! Nothing! And then one guy started to fade and drifted just a little to the left, but just enough for me to squeak by on the inside on the edge of the road.

I got around him and then a few more holes started appearing. I passed other riders, dodging around them, but nowhere near where I needed to be for a "in the money" result. I tried to muster all the violence I could conger up, but it just wasn't enough. And at the same time the inner muscles of my left thigh were on fire with cramps. Crossed the finish line... 12th place.  Eh, I'll take it. Guess I have no choice. Next time I'll be sure to be on Briercheck's wheel having him lead me out. If I had done that here, I'm SURE I would have been... in the money.

On another note... today, the day after, my inner thighs and upper body are pretty sore. It was a good battle.

Working on the Time Trial

So it's been a while since my last post about the July 2nd, 15 mile time trial I competed in, and since then I have raced in two more time trials, both at the same location as the July 2, time trial.

The first time trial I did following the July 2, event was a 25 mile race on July 30. Now, this was only my second time trial since 1997, and my first attempt at a time trial at this distance. The goal for most cyclists at the 25 mile distance is to do it under one hour. That's a pretty good deal and shows some fitness if that can be accomplished. So, with that goal in mind, I would have been happy with a time of 59:59:99... under 1:00:00.

The start of this race felt much more different than the previous 15 mile race. I was much more relaxed, not nearly as nervous, and just generally feeling very good about myself.  The clock ticked down to my start time... and I was off. Man I felt much better than last time. Comfortable, relaxed, fast. I just got a good tempo and pedal cadence and just ticked off the laps. Last lap, gave it all I had left and crossed the line... 57:09. Whoa! What?! Like I said, I was going to be happy with one second under an hour, but about three minutes? And that was without the fancy time trial wheels or helmet. Nice. Everything just clicked that night for me. No nerves making me tense and uneasy. Good fresh, strong legs keeping the cadence high. It really was all good that night. The time of 57:09 put me in 5th place. What a good night.

The next time trial race was on August 6, with a distance of 10 miles, and again on the same course as the previous two. This one felt a little different for me, again. I was relaxed and confident as I was before the 25 mile race, but my legs felt a bit more tired. And again the clocked ticked down... and I hit the course. In a time trial you have to pace yourself, not going too hard early and blow yourself up, but not too slow and lose a lot of time. This is something I am still working on and learning. This evening I probably went out of the gates too fast. I was going very good on the first half of the race, perhaps too good, but as I was closing in on the last few laps my legs were starting to tire out on me and my average speed was slowly going down. I finished with a decent time of 23:16 for 10.2 miles, which put me in 10th place, but I believe I could have done better. But hey... that's what these Friday night races are for. They're training races (well, to me they are) to help me become a better time trialist for the bigger weekend races.

The next and last Friday night race is on August 20. I'll be quicker this time to post the race report.