Cycle U Road Team

2012-01-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

With ice on the roads and more coming its time to embrace the indoor trainer. David at the PI did a nice piece on indoor suffering so i'll play too.I just started using a product called trainerroad.com and really like it. It utilizes power from the powertap in a nice visual way and takes some of the boredom out. That said, it still hurts and they don't call it suffering for nothing. I'll include a couple of pics of the new setup in my house. I bought a new tv to covert the spare bedroom into a kids xbox room and suffer chamber for me.

Strava Widget to come. Working on embedding the Strava widget to track team rides on blogger.

2012-01-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

WINNING! Olympic View Road Race

2011-04-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here is the tale of winning provided to you by the winner Travis Biechele.

The alarm sounds at 5:00am and I am staring at rain hitting the skylight. I roll out of bed and realize that I am actually a little sore and bruised from a tetherball tournament at Gerardo’s son’s birthday party. Can’t have beers the night before a race, so what else do you do at a one year old’s birthday party. Sounds like a tough start, but look on the bright side; it will most likely be sunny in Sequim. Oh S##T, we are racing in Brady today. Well, grab some cheerios and get your bike on the car since you’re already late to pick up Gerardo. Mission accomplished and we are on our way to Brady. The weather teased us along the way, but we eventually arrived to a rainy Brady, home of the grange which doubles as one of the finest staging areas of the year. Lots of CycleU teammates there and hats off to everyone for the dedication you showed by racing in this foul weather. Looks like there are four of us racing Cat 4 including Brad, Chad, Erik, and myself.

We all threw our layers on, warmed up, and headed for the starting line which was filled with a sea yellow. Bikesale was out in numbers as expected since they organize the race. Looked like the field was between 70-100 riders and everyone was anxious to get the race started and bring the body temperature up. In the first lap we saw several solo or small group break attempts, mostly from Bikesale. With the wind and rain, it was clearly not a good day for break attempts and none of these ever got out of sight. The course is not terribly technical with the exception of a 180 degree corner with about 2K to go on a steep and wet decent (only one crash on this corner the entire race). Our strategy for the first lap was to stay near the front and spread things out on the decent and then hammer it at the bottom to try and split the field. Well, we gave it a good effort, but the main field swallowed us up.

The second lap was not terribly exciting, but I think it was important. Jason Cemanski, the phenom on the Apex team who has won 5 races in Cat5 and won Cat4 at Volunteer park, seemed to be getting bored and decided to initiate and chase several breaks. I was excited to see him continue to burn matches. Every time he did this, the Chad train would run him down. Not too many Chad trains in the Cat5s. We completed the second lap and I really felt like things would start happening at this point. Wrong. Same as the second lap, the Chad threw more coal in the firebox and continued to do the majority of the work out in the front. As a team, we were looking great. All four CycleU riders in the front 15-20 and then pssssssssssss followed by Erik’s hand in the air. Suck!!!!!! Down to three, but still looking strong. At this point, I thought the race would be determined by whoever ended up with good position after the final kicker. It wasn’t easy, but Chad and I were able to pass through a couple guys who were rocking side to side so violently, they took up half the lane. Brad got caught up in this and didn’t get the position for the final hairpin corner decent. Wasn’t sure where Chad was, but I assumed he was nearby. Don’t know how he does it, but Chad is almost never more than 5 wheels from the front. Definitely something I am trying to watch and learn. Anyway, one guy kills it up the hill and has about 150m gap on us, but I am in perfect position at 5th wheel in this chase. We hit the hairpin decent and I took a terrible line almost running into the guy who went wide. I kept it upright and had a lot of speed coming out of this which could have cost me the race. I found myself in the front of the chase group with 2K to go and had flashbacks of Sequim #1 where I led out the sprint with 4K to go and couldn’t ever get off the front and got outsprinted. This was not happening, so I sat up and got the peripheral vision set and started the sit up and swerve going. Finally someone got impatient and gunned it. Fortunately for me he picked the wrong side and I jumped it and he bridged me to the earlier solo break at the 200m sign and then the sprint was on. Crossed the line first and got a quick congrats from Chad who crossed the line in second place. How does a guy who pulls the field for half the race sprint for second place? I am definitely enjoying the win, but Chad pretty much killed this race.

Awesome job Cat4s and everyone else who got out there in terrible racing conditions and threw it down. Let’s keep taking names.

Travis B.

Tour de Dungeness # 2

2011-03-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

This was the last race for the Tour de Dung(eness) up in Sequim. Once again we were treated with great weather. It did seem a little colder than it was the weekend before but it wasn't raining and the sun was out. Chad, Shawn and myself arrived and got all set up and ready to go with about 20 min to spare on the trainers. My dad came up with the trailer so we had a nice place to change in. Your awesome dad. We lined up 10 min early to make sure we made the start. This week it was a different race official and we didn't actually start until 3 min after our start time of 9:50. Go figure. The plan this week was the same as it was last week. Get Chad to the front of the race at the end for a possible lead out. The race was ok and the slinky effect was in full force. Slow down, speed up, on the brakes, on the gas. Pretty standard operating procedure. It makes it a bit more stressful for sure. We again were doing 4 laps for a total of 48 miles. The last lap is when it started to liven up a bit. We had 4 guys last year move over to a different team. It was nice to see them again and weird to see them in different kits but good to race with them. One of them took off on a flyer about 3 miles into the last lap. I jumped and bridged up to him and we had a group of 4 that rotated through a couple times. We had a little gap but I didn't want to do any more work because I knew it wouldn't stick. So I sat up and we got caught. I was a little nervous because when I bridged up to the break I was pinging on my heart rate montitor 192 bpm. In the past when I get that high it is normally during a sprint finish. Thankfully I was able to recover once back in the group. I sat in for the rest of the lap until we were about 2 miles away from the finish. At that point it was difficult to move to the front. Chad was always near the front so he was in a good position. When I closed the break down and we got caught I went to the back of the pack. It took some time to get up near the front and then when I did everyone was real nervous and you could feel the pack and how tense everyone was. I was up on the left near the yellow line and usually that line will open up as the pack speeds up. However, the pack really wasn't speeding up much. I was beginning to get frustrated and then a opening showed itself and I just stood up and sprinted to the front. Once I got there I realized we had another half mile to go and I was already on the front pulling the pack. So I decided the hell with it and shifted to a higher gear and started to ramp it up. Chad was behind me directing me where to move to in case someone tried going around us. I moved over to the yellow line again to give us the best position for the right hand corner coming up. I wanted to atleast get us to the corner in a good spot then try and sprint out of the corner to spread the field out some more. Just as we approached I stood up to give it some more gas but the legs told me I was out of gas. I sat back down just as we entered the corner and several guys came by. I stood and pedaled in hopes of seeing where Chad was up at the front. It was close and Chad got 2nd place but was literally inches from getting the win. This was a huge turn around for both of us compared to last week. Way to go Chad.

Now on to the Pacific Raceways Series on Tuesday nights in the Cat 1, 2, 3 field. Chad and I decided to move up to this field to gain more experience and much more fitness. We hope to hang with the big guns in order to help us upgrade to 3's. Then down to Independence Valley Road Race on Saturday 3/26/11.

Its almost over and almost here

2011-02-08T10:40:00.001-08:00

The days of it getting dark at 5:00 pm are almost over. The long wet and cold training rides are about to pay off. The 2011 race season is almost here.

The road race team changed a little bit over the winter. We lost a couple guys to another team. Which happens I guess but it was a bummer to lose them. The benefit now is that we have some buddies on other teams which will help us in trying to initiate some break aways during races. We have also added a few very strong folks to the team so thats been good. Shawn Harrington and I will be back as Team Captains for the Cat 4 team and hopefully we will be able to get some guys upgraded to Category 3 to help assist our man Joel.

Our Team rides on Saturday's have been filled with alot of rain and a few technical issues. Here is Chad fixing his chain the first time it broke.

Come to find out he had a faulty Ultegra chain that had 13 broken links. Thankfully nobody got hurt when his chain broke and he was ok as well. A good lesson for all of us to make sure our bikes are ready before we head out.

Once again Custom Smoothie is helping the road team this year with all our smoothie needs. The Lean and Mean Lite HOT is probably the best thing EVER! If you haven't tried it you should.

My pants and shoe covers were black. I had to throw the shoe covers away after this ride. Pretty nasty.

The team is heading up to Sequim this Sunday to pre ride the race course in anticipation of the Tour de Dung #1 & #2 in March. Can't wait for the season to start. Its so close but so far away.

Brad Haley
Co-Captain Cat 4

2010-12-16T06:34:00.001-08:00

From the Dean...

Are you on track for a great 2011?

How do you decide what your goals are? How do you decide what to prioritize? How do you get more energy to tackle your goals once you set them? Do you want to get past what has stopped you in the past? Are you tired of getting dropped and not reaching your goals? If you answer yes to any of these, it is time for Advanced Focus and Motivation (AFM).

Turbo charge your focus for 2011 by choosing strong goals here are some fundamental questions everyone must ask:

#1. What worked and what didn't work this past year. What did I learn?
#2. Goals for next season. What is one or two steps higher than last year? Where can I put them where I will see them each day.
#3. What is my plan so I build on my strengths and get to next Spring as strong, focused and charged as possible.

Now as easy as these 3 steps are, how many of you have already answered them for 2011? This is where I can help. I have been developing my mental coaching skills for 20 years and can coach you to do the same and find out for yourself what reserves of focus, courage and discipline you have to make a big improvement in 2011.

I call it Advanced Focus and Motivation, AFM and it is one of my favorite things to coach, in fact I believe it is the most neglected aspect of training and the one that can make the biggest difference for any athlete. I have done it for Teams, Groups and many individuals with great success including Adrian Hegyvary and the Huskies beginning in 2004. I now want to share it with anyone wanting to improve their mental game and ramp up their rate of progress.

I am doing a free session January 8th at 4pm to kick off the new year at our West Seattle training center. Why? Because the more I teach it, the better I ingrain it for myself and I love to see everyone improving as fast as possible, no matter what your pursuit.

If you are willing to commit to making a change, even if only 1%, Email Me and I will hold a spot for you, Date: Saturday January 8th 4pm - 5pm at West Seattle. Open to the first 30 people.

Thanks for listening, now get a great plan together and go after it 2011 now!

Coach Craig

Chad Sullivan of Cycle U claims 2nd overall @ Pacific Raceways

2010-09-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief description of the last race of the season at Pacific Raceways told by Chad Sullivan.

Last night was a showdown between Dan Caputo and me (and my CycleU brothers) for 2nd place in the season standings. We went into last night separated by only two points. Rain was guaranteed although it did let up after the race started. With me were Brad, Shawn, Tims 1 and 2, John Wendl, and Gabe. Dale made a guest appearance but did not race. It was a short one, only 25 minutes, compared to an hour during the longest days of summer. They set up the finish on the flats/at the start line, instead of the top of the hill. Gabe blasted up the hill to a sizeable lead, but was caught and passed by Dan in a gutsy and impressive move. I thought Gabe had it, so I didn't chase. Tactical error #1. The team worked to shut down the breaks, but the hill almost always provides separation. Another break took the second prime which set up the finish sprint. Tim 1 helped pace me up the last hill and then surprisingly, Dan came around near the top of the hill to try to bridge to the riders about 20 yards ahead. I stayed on his wheel as we caught the frontrunners with 100 meters to go. I was in the perfect position to see him initiate his sprint. I passed him with about 50 yards to go and willed my legs to keep firing. It seemed the finish line would never come, and we both threw our bikes toward the line. I got him by about a wheel. I think he might have made a tactical mistake by "leading me out" but he may have had no choice. Letting the pack catch us, he might have missed out on the points and he sure didn't want Brad and CU leading me out. So it was a showdown that lived up to the billing. We each earned 5 points and CU finished the season in 2nd place in Cat 4/5. We had some fun after at the "awards ceremony". I got a certificate for my next season half off. I plan to race in the masters category, and/or help a new CU GC guy to the podium. From the first race, I had a blast out at PR and racing with you guys this year, both on and off the road. Thanks a lot for the support and camaraderie. I look forward to more racing with you guys at Cross and next season. See you at the team rides!

Cascadia Crit Series from Shawn Harrington

2010-06-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

Check on Shawn Harrington's blog for the Cascadia Crit Series.

http://racer0.blogspot.com/

My First Race!!

2010-06-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is from a new road team member Gabriel Holmes who recently joined the road team. Welcome to the team and great job!

My first race at PR last night was a whole lot of fun. I think most of the night I was alternating between holding on for dear life and thinking "this is no problem." Even after everybody's advice about where to be in the field, it seemed like I ended up rubber banding from the front to the back and side to side most of the night. I think there was only one brief point in the whole race where I was actually riding in the middle. Somewhere close to the end, I actually found myself at the very front right after the bleachers. The series of thoughts that went through my head were "Holy Crap, there's nobody in front of me." "Hmmm, the wind up here sucks." "Oh man, I am running out of gas. What do I do? Guess I'll pull off a little."
Then it started to rain. We had been doing flat ccw but they changed us to do the escape route. I slowed down a bit since I was a little sketchy about where we were supposed to go. I figured that I would just follow everybody else. I ended up near the back though. Coming down the hill, there were a lot of guys putting on the brakes and I felt like I was going through an obstacle course of hoses. Then coming up the hill, I tried to pick a wheel to suck but guys were running out of gas left and right. Everybody started to get strung out.
The last lap, I was way in the back and got dropped but sprinted at the end and almost made it to the back of the lead group. All in all, I ended up finishing and not crashing so I was pretty pleased with myself.
Next race, I might try to focus on trying to position myself instead of ending up wherever fate decided. There was one point where I looked over and saw a bunch of CycleU guys a little in front of me all the way over on the right side when I was on the left. I thought, "Ok, how the hell do I get over there?"
I want to say thanks to all the CycleU team members at PR last night. Everybody was really helpful. I'll try to remember everybody's name and face, but there were a lot of people there. I might be asking some of you your names again. If I call you by the wrong name in the future, I apologize. Also, thanks to all the advice on the message board.

Cycle U had 9 teammates at Pacific Raceways Tuesday night 6/08. Way to go!

Find more at Facebook

2010-06-07T17:19:00.001-07:00

More team news and good banter on Facebook. Check it out for more up-to-date info, search Cycle University Road Team and become a fan!

2010-05-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Some great results to Cycle U athletes and coaches recently. Congrats to Mark Taylor for 3rd at Enumclaw in the 4's. Coach Sam Johnson won the Elite Cat. 1-2 overall (just like the week before).

Olympic View Road Race

2010-04-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Cat 4 race report from Brad Haley.

My alarm went off at 4 am. Yup 4 am. I got my stuff together and met up with Travis, Tim3 and Tina at Renton park and ride. We all piled into Travis' Land cruiser and off we were. The news had been warning everyone about the work they are doing on I-5 south so we thought it better to leave early. We arrived at a gas station to get some coffee and apparently this little stop was the place to be. Tim3 mixed it up with the locals that were in line. My normal coffee of choice is a double tall non-fat vanilla latte. Cost here in the city is almost $4, I think $3.90 to be exact. Coffee at this little window at the gas station was $2.87! Must be the small overhead for that price difference but I suspect its the reality of living in the city.

We arrived to some light rain and for some reason I couldn't get warm enough. Travis was the same and we layered up thinking it was 30 degrees out. I had hand warmers, toe warmers, 3 undershirts, my vest, leg warmers and two sets of arm warmers. That is alot of clothing. We were racing 54 miles of a 18 mile loop. Shawn and Tina did some recon on the course last weekend and came back with its a mix of Mason Lake and Tour de Dung in Sequim, rolling hills and mostly flat with chip seal. This course was alot of fun. The first lap was pretty chill until we got to the 90 degree downhill right turn. I moved up on the inside of the turn as everyone fanned out to the left to carry momentum into the right. After that it was a quick left, right then over a bridge then you were 3k from the finish line. This is where we had a group of 20 or 30 that split the group up. We probably could have completely stayed away but the guys at the front sat up a bit and the rest of the peleton caught back on. Which was ok because we were moving pretty good and it took alot of effort to catch back on. I think it was Matt from Recycled Cycles that took off the front on the next lap and stayed away for a bit. Its fun to get away for a bit until the pain sets in and then its not so much fun especially by yourself. We gobbled him up just before the biggest climb on the course. I was telling Shawn that we need to hold a "drinking and racing or racing and eating clinic". You really had to keep your focus because several guys were very swervy when drinking or trying to dig out some food. I am not the best rider by any means but I think I can do those things fairly well. Mark Taylor from SCCA/Starbucks was behind Shawn and I and told us after the race he thought this little conversation was pretty funny. Shawn and I were chatting it up and Shawn was crackin jokes when you hear the horrible sound of air seaping out of someones tire. We both looked at each other and Shawn said "you got a flat". I then looked at him and said, "no, you got a flat". Then at that moment Shawn disappeared to the back. Poor guy, two road races in a row. He was able to get a neutral wheel though and still finished. Good job. It was down to Travis and I. Several teams had big numbers like Recycled Cycles, Cucina Fresca, Bikesale.com, and Firstrate Morgage. We left the pace making to those teams and just hung on as long as possible. Travis did really well and we stayed close for most of the race. Once we got to the last climb which is about 2 miles from the finish the pace increased. I think this is where Travis said he went to the back of the group. I stayed close to the front for the downhill 90 degree right turn and moved up some more spots on the inside. Then I really hit the gas and so did Bikesale.com as they had 3 guys at the front setting the pace for the finish. As we got to the 1k to go sign I positioned myself behind a real fast guy, Phil Spencer of Lenova. I knew he would be a good wheel to follow. When we got to 200 meters I was out of the saddle sprinting but had to sit down because guys were moving to the left and not holding there line. I got back up out of the saddle and was able to come across the line in 6th place. Travis was able to finish with the pack. Bikesale.com had the numbers and controlled the race when it counted and won. That is how its done and congrats to them. Good job to our Cat 5 team with Tim3 finishing in the top 10 and Rhae finishing in the top 5 for the Womens Cat 1,2,3 race. Heal up fast Mario and we hope to see you back on the bike soon!!

Stay tuned for Walla Walla...

Frozen Flatlands Omnium 2010

2010-04-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

The hardest day, and a most frustrating day.

Time Trial
The weather report leading into this race looked terrible. High winds, cold temps (low 30s), and a good chance of snow. I came prepared for blizzard-like conditions in the time trial. With that mental preparation the conditions didn't seem too bad when I pulled into the staging area. The temperature was 30 degrees and the wind was blowing at 20mph, with gusts up to 35mph. I don't know what the wind chill was, but at least the sun was out. Remembering my college days at Gonzaga, this just seemed like a typical spring day in Spokane.

Needless to say the time trial was a challenge. The distance was longer than most TTs at 12.4 miles (out and back). The way out was into a major headwind and crosswind. It was a battle to keep the bike straight and keep some kind of rhythm going. I probably traveled 8 miles on that leg with all the weaving I did on the road. Looking at my computer was depressing, since I was only going about 16-18mph. After the turnaround the wind was a big help, and I was able to get the speed over 30mph. I actually started to get warm because there was no air to push through--it was like riding on a trainer. About a mile before the finish I passed my 30 second man, Nate B. from L 'ecole (who put in an impressive ride with no TT gear). Finished 14th, which later became 13th due to a disqualification.

Saturday Road Race
We didn't have long to rest before the road race, only about three hours. Sitting in my car resting I watched the weather deteriorate outside. By the time we were about to start, it started to hail. I rushed back to my car to get my jacket and hat. While we waited for the neutral rollout, guys were already suffering from the cold.

The road race was 48 miles and the wind was certainly going to play a factor, I just wasn't sure how. Once we started racing there were a couple surges but the pace stayed fairly slow. I think guys were tired from the morning effort and didn't want to go crazy in the first few miles a long race. At last someone grew impatient and attacked up the road. Everyone looked at him thinking "have a nice day" and within a couple minutes he was out of sight. I was looking for a chance to breakaway, and I thought now was a good opportunity. 5 miles into a 48 mile race? Why not? I attacked hard from about fourth wheel, looked back, and had the pack on my wheel. I sat up and let things settle. Surprisingly nobody wanted to be at the front so I started moving from left to right in the lane to see if the guys would stay on me. After a couple weaves I looked back and had a gap of about 25 feet. I turned around, put my head down and took off.

In a few miles I caught the early attacker, Joshua from Northern Rockies. We turned to the east and got a big help from the tailwind, building a 2-3min gap on the field. On the rises we could look back and see some other riders trying to bridge up. One was getting fairly close so we slowed to let him catch us. This turned out to be Steve from WSU, who is very strong and ended up winning the whole omnium. The three of us turned south into the head/crosswind and unfortunately we were in the open fields and there were no trees to protect us. We got a pretty good rotation going but had to use massive amounts of energy because of the wind. At one point I turned around and saw the demoralizing sight of the pack gaining ground. Eventually we were swallowed up just before the turn to the west.

Now the wind was coming from the left and everyone was trying to find shelter. I was tired from my early effort and worked to get in an echelon to recover. This was hard to do because everyone else was in the gutter thinking the same thing. The merciless wind was taking a toll on the peloton as one by one riders dropped off the back. One of those turned out to be Joshua from the breakaway. I was almost popped myself and had to dig deep to stay with the lead group. Not only was the wind pushing us all over the road, the hail would occasionally come down just to add to the sufferfest.

Eventually we made it back into the trees and the wind calmed down. The pack had dwindled to about thirty riders at this point. I could tell everyone was gassed as the pace became ridiculously slow. I recall looking at my computer and seeing 11mph! A great time to attack, if I hadn't of blown myself early in the race. But everyone was blown too so we all braced for a final climb referred to in the race flier as the "wall." Once to the climb I had recovered sufficiently and made it over without losing too much ground. I found out later a bunch of guys fell off the back on that climb.

The last turn was to the north, and we were in the trees and protected from the wind. Guys were pushing the pace and I was doing my best to hold on. I was running on empty because I had only brought enough food for a two hour race. But with the wind, the race took about 2:45 and I was a little bonked at the end. The constant accelerations further shrank the lead group to about a dozen. No one got away and we geared up for the sprint finish. I had one more bullet to use. Sitting about fifth wheel I moved right to open up my sprint...only to get blocked by three riders from the Masters C field slowly cruising into the finish (we had been passing these guys all afternoon). Swerving around these riders I tried to sprint again, but had nothing left. I finished 11th.

Sunday Road Race
The profile of this 25 mile race was flat, but the wind again would be a factor. The only event of note early in the race was when Phil from Lenovo flatted about five miles into the race, probably costing him a spot on the GC podium.

The last ten miles of the race headed south into a strong headwind. The pace was slow because everyone was tired from racing the day before. The road was narrow and it was hard to move up. A couple times I had to take some risks riding on the shoulder to get back to the front. At 1k to go, a couple riders went off the front. That would be short lived as no one could get away into the headwind. At 250m to go I was in a great position--on the centerline with riders to my right blocking the wind. Then suddenly a rider from behind jumps over the centerline, passes me, and moves back over the centerline into my front wheel. I don't know what the heck he was thinking, and I can't post what I was thinking. When his rear derailler went into my wheel I heard the horrible sound of a carbon wheel being chopped up. While regaining control of my bike I realized my front wheel was toast. I steered over to the left hand shoulder to inspect the damage. The wheel had a bunch of broken spokes, the true was off, and it wouldn't spin. So I hoisted the bike onto my shoulder and ran across the finish line in 39th place. I somehow managed to beat a dozen or so riders who must have been dropped from the group.

Incredibly frustrating to be a great position for the finishing sprint only to have my front wheel chopped up. Unfortunately I don't know who the rider was because it happened so fast. The officials tried to find him after the race but never did.

IVRR 2010

2010-03-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a report from Cat 4 racer Jed Barden

IVRR Report

When I got to the course I barely recognized it because the sky was sunny and clear. This was quite a change from a year ago, when we had to cope with pouring rain and snow. This race marked my first full year as a road racer, as IVRR 2009 was my first road race. That first race was a short one for me. I was spit out the back on the first climb and struggled over the the ensuing flat section with help from teammates. After Mark T. dropped me on the second climb, it started to snow. The descent was harrowing, since I was blinded by the falling snow and was starting to freeze up as the snow accumulated on my shoulders and quads. Then my rear tire flatted on the descent. I had long since fallen behind out follow car and had no support. After about ten minutes the Cat 4 women's race rolled through, and their follow car picked me up. I must have been quite the sad sight on the side of the road.

In the year since I have learned a few things about road racing. Minor things such as training, eating, and wearing proper clothing. I looked at IVRR 2010 as somewhat of a redemption race - and as a progress check to see how far I've come over the last twelve months. My teammates in cat 4 were Shawn H., Brad H., and John W. This was John's first race as a cat 4. The start of our race was delayed for 15 minutes due to finish-line crashes in the morning races. Race organizer Eric encouraged us to race aggressively (i.e. not wait for a bunch sprint) so we could go home in our own car instead of an ambulance.

The race had an odd start. During the neutral roll out the lead car suddenly slammed on its brakes and did a U turn. This was rather confusing for our group as we watched the lead car drive back towards the parking lot. What happened I don't know but the lead car eventually came back to take us around the course. When we started racing, the pace up to the first climb was slow. The first time seeing the climb sends a shiver down your spine because you round a corner and then see the road go up, up into the trees and you cannot see the top. I managed to get in the front part of the pack over the climb, and just concerned myself with following wheels and not using too much energy. Unfortunately Shawn and John got caught up behind some slower riders on the climb and became separated from the front group. Then, in his efforts to catch back up after the first climb Shawn's brand new Specialized Roubaix tire flatted.

The pace on the flats after the first climb was pretty hot, and teammate Brad came up and took a monster pull that strung everyone out. We had a large group of about 30-35 at the second climb. This climb was a lot smaller than what I remembered. There wasn't really any opportunity to get separation. A very fast descent though, with speeds approaching 50mph. Back on the flats, Brad must have been feeling good because he bridged up to a couple riders who had a gap of 10-15 seconds. With the first climb of the second lap upcoming, I was looking forward to getting some separation and paring down what was still a big group of riders.

However, one cannot force a separation from mid-pack. To attack a climb, the first order of business is to be in a position where you can attack. At the base of the climb I was about 20th wheel, which boxed me in behind slower riders. It wasn't until halfway up the climb that I broke out, charged to the front, and opened up the gaps. But the climb isn't long enough, and with the fast descent, most of the guys who were gapped off caught back on. Near the crest of the climb, we passed the breakaway (Brad included) in TdF fashion, where the strong climbers pass the completely blown breakaway riders as if they are standing still.

I cursed my poor positioning and resigned myself to more pack riding. Our lead group of about 25 went over the second climb without any significant developments. The pace was not that high and a motivated rider could have attacked and gotten away. Too bad Brad used up his big attack on the first lap. At about 5k to go, guys were fighting for position mid-pack and a crash on the right side of the road took out 5-8 riders. Fortunately I was on the yellow line side and avoided that nasty pile up. When we passed 1k to go, I was surprised because my computer said we had only gone 38 miles (the race flyer said our race was 41 miles). Instead of being at the front where I should have been I was trapped in the back third of our now smaller pack. Things got really sketchy with guys swerving and I became more concerned with staying upright then sprinting for the line. I never did get a sprint out and finished 14th out of 17 in our group, and out of 50 riders who started the race.

Great race in the cat 5. We had three Cycle U riders in the top 10:
2nd - Tim(3) W.
5th - Chad S.
10th - Greg S.

Pacific Raceway's Cycling Season Opener

2010-03-24T12:34:00.001-07:00

Several of the teammates were a bit disappointed in how we performed at the first two races of the season at Tour de Dung-eness as a team. We talked and talked about how we can do better, but you just never know how it will turn out until you are actually in the moment.
Last year we did pretty well at PR towards the end of the season. We consistently had a Cycle U team member on the podium for several races in a row. This is where I found that I could sprint. The "plan" for the evening was to have a few guys try and get off the front. That is virtually impossible when they run the flat course at PR but it does create a higher pace which is good. Tim2 and Shawn took several monster pulls at the front and got away a few times for a couple minutes before the pack gobbled them up. After that we as a team stayed together for the most part and just sat in the pack and stayed out of trouble. The last lap came around and I stuck to the back of John Wendle's wheel and the blue train started to form. Tim2 started out at the front pulling hard then Travis came around and took his turn going around turn 9 on the outside of the pack. The plan was to take the pack on the outside of Turn 9 as everyone always dives to the inside of that corner and we can carry a little bit more speed on the outside and move right up the front. Travis was still pulling when Shawn came out of nowhere and went straight to the front and took over for Travis. Shawn took huge pulls and to this point we had the front of the race controlled with nobody able to get by. I was still stuck to John's wheel. He had a SCCA/Starbucks guy and an unattached racer in between him and Shawn at the front. Shawn finished his pull and then the sprint started a little earlier than I expected. The unattached guy took off and then the SCCA/Starbucks guy took off. I stayed on John's wheel and he began his sprint to stay with them. I stayed in the saddle for about 15 seconds more then took off around John. I probably waited to long but they took off pretty early and I thought they would blow up before the line. As I came around John the unattached was on my left and Brian/SCCA was to the right. I went by the unattached and moved over to get in Brian's slipstream. Brian is a pretty big guy compared to me so I was just getting into his draft when he took a peek behind him and saw me coming and moved to the left to break the draft. That was it as we came across the line. I slapped him on the back and told him that was the winning move and I took 2nd. The team did great and the lead out from John was great with him getting 4th place. It’s like being a proud parent almost. Everyone on the team had a job to do and everyone accomplished it well. Shawn, Tim2 and Travis did alot of work at the front through out the race and then were still there at the end to put in a serious effort. I am a bit disappointed I missed Brian's wheel to stay in his draft but lesson learned and 2nd is ok for now.

Brad
Co-Captain Cat 4

Mason Lake Road Race # 2

2010-03-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a report from -Greg Snyder-. Our Category 5 Captain.

I went out to Mason Lake for my first race of the season which turned out to be a good day. The Masters C/D race was starting at 9:40 so I had to get up at 5:30 to make it out the door by 6:15 to make the drive down to Mason Lake in time to register and get warmed up. Had a quick bowl of cereal and headed out the door
The drive down was good and the weather was cold but dry and clear.
I got down there just before 8 am and registered for the Masters race figuring it would be a little safer and maybe a bit smaller than the previous week. Got a 30 minute warm up on the trainer, had some water and 1/2 of my PBJ and it was time to race.
No teammates today as most of them had done Sequim on Saturday so it was just me in a group of 46 starters. There were a few First Rate Mortgage guys, a couple of Byrne and some team from Olympia who had about 5 guys and a few other scattered teams. The first lap was typical except that about 1/3 of the way in a FRM rider went off the front and a Wines rider soon went after him. The Wines guy came back to the group after a couple of miles saying he couldn't hang because the other guy was too strong. I used the first lap to try and see how easy it was to move through the group and preview the course since I hadn't done it yet. I was able to move up fairly easily and decided it would be best to sit in and see how things played out. I certainly didn't want to get my nose out in the wind too much without anyone working with me.
As we passed through for the first lap the FRM guy had 30 seconds on the pack which I figured would not last. During the second lap one of the stronger riders from Old Town tried to bridge up, but ended up coming back to the pack which was good. He is a strong rider who usually finishes well so I was trying to keep close to him especially as we got to the end.
I worked with a couple of guys on the 2nd and third laps on the front to chase down the breakaway rider and once I could see him and was confident we would get him decided to sit in and not waste anymore energy. I was feeling strong though and was feeling like it was going to be good result for me as long as I stayed up front.
As we got about 2/3 of the way through the last lap we caught the breakaway rider and I concentrated on staying in the front 5 to 10 riders. When we got to the 1k everything sped up as it usually does and tried to come up on the left side for better position and was sitting about 6th or 7th wheel at the 200 meter sign. Then everyone went and I was in the same position, but between two riders and couldn't get around, but just before the end those two riders separated and I was able to shoot through for 6th. I think if I had 50 more meters I might have been able to get into the top three as I wasn't spun out and was feeling strong.
So I am pleased with my result - it was my best so far, but I'm not satisfied.

Greg Snyder

Tour de Dung Race 1 Category 5

2010-03-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a race report from the Category 5 "Even bib number" race from John Wendle.

Since there were 81 CAT5 men they decided to split the field vs. limit it to 50 riders like the flyer said. Probably a good idea given how many crashes we had at Mason last week with 85 racers. Unfortunately the even number CAT5’s had to wait until the odd number riders were completely finished and off course so we had about a 2 hour delay to our start which made for a long day—10 ½ hours door to door for a race just over an hour and a half! They also didn’t get this info out until most of us had completed our warmup and slammed some gels 5-10 mins before the start. I had some time to kill so Tina and I cheered on all the Cycle U riders in the CAT4 and odd number CAT5 race. The women’s CAT4 race was also split so Tina also had a delayed start time. Travis rolled in after the first lap unfortunately having tangled with another rider and going down. He didn’t look too beaten up and his spirits were pretty good all things considered.

The CAT5 even numbered riders finally got started around noon with 33 riders. I guess there are more odd numbered CAT5’s as they had 48 starters. I must say this small group made the race much more enjoyable than Mason last weekend. The pack was pretty well controlled and it was always easy to move up in the pack if you wanted to. The course also sets up much better than Mason with wide shoulders and fairly straight, flat sections so the accordion effect is minimal. We had one crash on the 2nd lap. Two riders came together in front of me and both went down. I just waited to see which way the bikes and bodies were going to go and gently steered around them. This created a little bit of a gap that I had to close down which was actually surprisingly difficult because of the wind. With such a small group that was a bit aggravated by having to wait the pace was pretty high and there were frequent accelerations. Not really all out attacks but sudden accelerations, maybe trying to force a selection but more likely people just being aggressive since it was only a 3 lap race vs the CAT4’s that did 4. Or maybe it was just because we’d been sitting around all day and just wanted to get finished and home to our families!
Since the group was small and it was easy to move up I spent most of the first 2 laps near the back to avoid the stress and risk of fighting for wheels to stay near the front. It nearly cost me on the 2nd lap as a small gap opened up a ways in front of me on the small climb on Woodcock road. The leading group accelerated hard at the top of the climb and beyond trying to force a selection and a few of us had to work really hard to get back on. I basically had to a do a finishing sprint to get back on and certainly burned at least one match doing it. L I would have been really disappointed to be dropped there though. While it can be less stressful to be at the back of a small group like that it’s probably not worth it due to the risk of getting dropped from an attack like that. Things were pretty calm leading into that so I thought the risk was low but it goes to show you never know when the front is going to attack and you need to be close to it. As usual things really started picking up on the last lap. I knew from last year that with only 1K from the turn onto Kitchen Dick road to the finish it gets a bit crowed and crazy before the 200M sign so I wanted to be at least in the first 10 riders before the turn. BikeSale had 5 strong riders that were forming a lead out train. I sat in on that but they were hanging back a bit just before the turn and I was afraid to be too far back so I moved past them into 3rd or 4th wheel just before the turn. Somehow I found myself 2nd wheel next to another guy, both of us fighting to get behind the leader who was pushing all the wind. I was getting a partial draft but not full. I didn’t want to move back at that point so close to the end so I made the best of it. 2 guys went flying by on the right just before the 200M sign and I decided to chase in fear that they’d check out and win. Unfortunately they both blew up at about 100M to go and I found myself leading. With 100M to go and no one to draft off of I had no choice but to just go as hard as I could. Then, somewhere between 50-100M to go, that patient 5 rider BikeSale lead out train timed it perfectly and came flying past with a couple other riders in there as well so I ended up 8th at the line just behind them. I’m not sure I would have faired any better had I hung out behind them into the final sprint but maybe next time I’ll try that. I’ve had races where the final 200M seems to go by in a blink of an eye but when you’re leading with 100M to go it takes forever!

All in all a good race, great weather and as always, some good learning as well. On the plus side this was my final race needed to upgrade to CAT4. I have submitted my upgrade request so hopefully next time I’ll be able ride with all the other CAT4 guys. I’ll have to recalibrate my expectations given the strength and depth of that field!
-John Wendle-

Mason Lake, Men's Cat 4

2010-03-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

Mason Lake Road Race, Men's Cat 4

Mason is a 48 mi road race with some rollers but no major climbs. It occurs the day after a 10 mile time trial so my, and many others, legs show up a little stressed. It is known for wind and sketchy road conditions. Today it was dry. but the road was worse than I remember last year. The road shoulder is frequently crumbling away, there is some chip seal, gravel and sometimes moss.

Shawn, Jon and I signed up for 4's, we had quite a few people in 5's, Tina was in women's, and Joel in Men's 3's. I haven't been riding well in the TT's so was a little concerned about a first race in a 4 only field (last year raced quite a few 4/5 combined).

Dave, organizer, gave the same annual speech about not being the Mason World Championship but apparently no one listened because we rounded the first corner hauling some serious tail. The first lap was pretty brisk and felt much faster than the numbers below. Probably just a case of being the first event of the year and cornering at full on effort. I was about 20 riders back from the front and had issues moving up any closer than 15th. It wasn't a big disappointed because there was some wind to deal with and the yellow line rule kept it pretty packed (4 wide).
The course fits a rouleur ... the race cruxes are the two sharper corners that both had a slight climb coming out, if you got gapped it was going to require some serious effort to catch back on the group due to wind and whip action. I was happy coming out of the last corner in lap 3 because I knew I had two more efforts in my legs and also felt comfortable with my lines to stay off any brakes.
Lap 4 the pace slowed when we turned back into the wind. I am sure the guys at the front were wearing down and nobody wanted to spend the effort to help tow everyone to the line. 2nd half of the lap it picked up and with about 5K to go I hear ambulance sirens. We go neutral, ambulances go by and the marshal says to roll neutral until we pass the crash up the road. I think most were welcoming the break and I was thinking all hell is going to break loose once we pass the crash. As we approach the scene, I see Andrew from CycleU sitting on the roadside getting medical attention. It didn't look good but Brad was there to support him and I was sympathizing thinking of the times I have hit the pavement. I could see the frustration on his face and was just hoping he was okay. As planned, the hammer went down and everyone was back on the gas. Not 30 seconds later I heard that clatter and cursing that can only be a crash up front, several guys are down and all over the road, I go left and find a small gap but lost speed. We are about 1.5k out and its every man for himself to get to the line. I think the front riders got away clean but I thought I might make top 20. Ended up 26th but happy to make it home alive.
I believe Andrew has a pretty badly hurt hand, Randy also went down but suffered mostly kit and bike damage . Sounds like 5's was pretty ugly. Joel pulled a good result in 3's but was hoping for even better.
Looking forward to Sequim/Tour de Dung

Team party shots. Looking Good!

2010-03-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

2010 here comes the BLUE!

2010-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

This year Cycle University Road Race Team is much stronger than it was last year. We have grown a bit but I think the core have also gotten much stronger with a year under everyone's belt. All the new guys that have joined the team are serious about racing and they all have strong qualities. Our stongest guy on the team Rolly took a job in the Bay area so that kinda hurts having him leave the team like that for a job? Na we are glad he has a job and I am sure he will be kicking some arse down there in San Fran and he will be joining us on the weekends when he is in town. I am a Co-Captain of the team along with Shawn Harrington and Greg Snyder. We have been able to structure the team a bit more this year and Cycle U has really been 100% behind all of our ideas and are really supporting us so its going to be a awesome season.

My training this year has been much more consistent with Ed Ewing as my coach and doing InCycle at the West Seattle Cycle U. I really believe that the last half of last year I was much more fit and competitive because I had a coach. The season is almost upon us with the Frostbike Time Trial on 2/28. Then we hit the Sequim, Tour de Dung Series and Mason Lake Series in March.

Yesterday was our first real team ride at race pace. The goal was to get warmed up after 15-20 miles and then hammer it the last 20 miles or so. Of course the rain came and we were all soaked and muddy but it was alot of fun. The burn in the legs was welcomed with open arms.

We will post as much as we can with the team's adventures in conquering the Cat 4 and Cat 5 local race scene.

Brad Haley
Co-Captain Cat 4

Winter training ride

2009-12-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Enjoyed a very chilly ride with Rolly on Saturday and I have come to the realization that riding outdoors in any form of dry weather is better than riding the trainer.
Rest of the team was in a clinic but I wanted miles so opt'd out.

Rode the North end of Lake Washington and its been several months since I have been on the upper lake. The full lake route would make a great winter base ride. Kind of funny how I find myself wanting to create some new, obscure training route when the lake route has some great stuff. Great coffee shops, not much traffic in the winter, great scenery, no drive time. Have to do the full lake next weekend.

Now if I could just find some trainer love

2009 Frostbite TT

2009-02-23T15:12:00.000-08:00

Ushering in a new year the first event is the Frostbite Time trial in Everett. Flat, 9 miles along a river road, weather was rainy but not dramatic.

CycleU had a ballpark of 10 team members there and several people from the friday night race training whether from CycleU or others (date conflict with Chilly Hilly didn't help). Thanks to Lang for getting a great tent spot right in front of the start line. Made for easy prep based for ones start time and nice watching everyone take off from the line.

This was my first ITT but I think the friday nights at CycleU were a major help! Pacing/time/distance from the indoor course to this course was pretty similar. There was still some guess work for me but I can typically hold around 272 watts on friday nights with a standard road setup (shorter course). I tried my TT setup one night and averaged a little over 250 but I seemed to be really fighting the machine .... so some question about what I should target as an average wattage (plus just came off a break and posted better wattage last thursday than normal).
End result, I think I went as good as could be expected. In a do-over I think I could have gone a little harder on the first half (it was uphill) and suffered it in to the finish with the same 2nd half effort. I think I will also try to lower my clip-on bars/stem even moreso; I have about 1/4" of spacer left and I will try to drop to see if I can get more aero without losing too many watts. The flat course made tapering out the power pretty easy and I thought the event was run nicely:

overall
time 24:29 (unofficially from my PT interval)
avg power 273 watts
speed 22.6 mph

1st half
time 13:15 'ish
avg power 276 watts
speed 21.0 mph

2nd half (downhill, lite wind aid)
time 11:15'ish
avg power 269 watts
speed 24.4 mph

I am no gift to TT's but had a great time and look forward to Icebreaker. Parting thoughts:

Even though I thought I had packed perfectly the night before it was still pretty hectic getting dressed with no chair. I could have also used some more water and stretched better. I switched out my trainer skewer while TT prepping my road bike which made no sense when I got there to warm-up

I now know the difference in sound between Adrian passing me and a 747 at lift-off. Adrian makes a whew,whew,whew noise and is somewhat more quiet. When you read the start sheet and see Adrian a minute behind you and some other really fit tri guy posing as a Cat 4/5 ... know you will be passed by some folks. Some will pass you in the first km :)

Nice work by Alex T (former content provider here), and Coach Adrian and Lang!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

2008-10-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

On the eve of the Cycle U Team meeting (which is tonight I believe), I wanted to make a final post to this blog.

I returned to racing in '08 thanks to the supreme organization, motivation and humor of the Cycle U staff, from the Dean Craig Undem to Toby, Kristi, Heather, Dan and that paragon of serious contemplation, Coach Ed Ewing.

Fondest memory? Hanging out with the large group that made the trek to Wenatchee for the Omnium. Followed closely by the metronome-like regularity of the Tuesday am ride crowd - props to Evan B, Sabrina H and Bill S.

I have heard it said and believe it, that Cycle U considers itself proud when students matriculate on to other teams. Imagine my excitement when my new team indicated that it wanted to create an ongoing relationship with the U - sweet!

So for all you wily veterans and nubile rookies, heading in tonight for your words of wisdom and counsel, I wish you the best and will look for your wheels come Spring. Listen to the coaches, ride hard and bring some W's to the squad in '09!

Alex T, Nelson J and I look forward to living the dream at www.thumbprintracing.org.

Cheers

Ryan

ps - anyone want to buy a pair of ripped Cycle U bibshorts, size L? No extra charge for the stripe.

Bye Bye Bottecchia (always ride new gear)

2008-09-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Riding in to work today, leisurely, I turned onto Wall street downtown and began to apply a little power in order to make it up the slight incline and through the intersection.

I was rewarded with a strange sensation and the bike shifting gears. It felt really strange. I was convinced a wheel or something had broken. Tried to triage it from the saddle while rolling along.

Then, wisely, I dismounted and tried to figure out what was up....

SNAP!

I've now broken two bikes in my life - and both in the same spot! The former was a pedigreed Trek purchased through a local shop. It had a happy ending as I got into my Litespeed as a result.

In this case the frame was given to me and its provenance is unknown. I have relied on it heavily as primary commuter/rain bike for two years now and had just spun hard with the new team yesterday around Mercer Island.

I'm getting to a moral here - and that is life is too short to trust gear you can't have 100% confidence in. The way to get that confidence is to buy it NEW or if used via a reputable shop who put their reputation on the line. I realize this is contradictory to the Trek story but I'm only riding bikes I buy new from now on.

Discuss.

Crystal Mtn Pain-fest

2008-08-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

The rumours are true. We actually paid $28 each for the privilege of riding our bicycles one way up 6.2 miles at 1,600 ft elevation gain in 90+ degree heat. Ideally at a faster speed than everyone else. Are we messed up or what?

Some of us who shall remain nameless [Evan B] paid for this privilege, drove to the start, kitted up and then missed the start time, but still had to ride back up to get to our cars and drive away.

Nelson and I shrewdly analyzed last years results for this uphill TT and the data was incontravertable: Master C's times were signifcantly slower than Cat 4's. http://www.wsbaracing.com/results.asp So for two old men with dreams of glory and medals, the smart move was to ride Masters. But as they say in the stock market, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

We joined Doug B in master ranks and started in order - more or less alphabetically. Which was very good as I would have been demoralized if Nelson passed me, even though I know he should be faster at 156lbs versus my 170lbs and 3 year old bike with borrowed front wheel [see Gig Harbor race]. Poor Doug went first and had few 'rabbits' to catch other than slower 'D's.

I enjoyed catching 5 guys - very motivating to see people on the road and inch your way up to them - and keeping one's tongue in check - no smart remarks as they will very likely be passing you by some other day. Nelson passed 4 men.

Before starting I wondered about mix-up juice v. water, small bottle v. big etc etc. In the end I took two bottles to be sure I was hydrated for warmup. Then just emptied one and carried onepart-full with water. Really glad I did as I drank 4-5 times, and doused the head 3 times. Heard some guys bemoaning their choice to go bottle-less later.

Favorite part had to be passing the guy in full aero bike/bars/helmet on the UPHILL TIME TRIAL.

Finished 9th in old men. 28:35, :15 slower than Nelson who was 7th. We'd have been 5th and 6th if we'd had the courage to join Alex in 4's.

Super hospitality by the Alpine Inn afterwards, green buns nothwithstanding. The Rainer was cold and refreshing and the team kept the bottomless water and lemonade flowing all afternoon.

See more - including my special facial hair preparation on Alex's own blog: http://dessat.blogspot.com/2008/08/crystal-mountain-hill-climb.html

Cougar Moutain Climb for Cancer, Take 3

2008-08-13T09:37:00.001-07:00

Background & Training
Like Alex and Sabrina have already said, it was a great showing by Cycle U! We made a rainy slog up that hill, and everyone was better for it at the top.

Regarding training, I'd been preparing for this event for around eight weeks. I didn't have a plan per se, but revived the Tu/Tr morning (6a sharp @ the Husky) hill repeat ride that Ryan and Nelson had started in preparation for Wenatchee back in April. There was a consistent group of 3-4 Cycle U'ers, and each day we chose either Interlaken to Volunteer Park, Madrona, or Queen Anne via 3rd Ave from the North. We would do between 4 and 6 repeats, grab coffee, and go to work. On most of the workouts I did as much as I could in the big ring. I think this contributed to my climbing ability more than anything.

In addition to twice-weekly repeats, I continued my daily 15 mile RT commute, and threw in a few crits and medium-distance weekend rides for good measure. I also had the chance to ride the Zoo climb about 6 times this year; 4 of those rides were with the power meter I purchased a few months ago. I have a barely-functional understanding of training with power, but I was able to look at those 4 rides and have a reasonable idea of the power I could sustain on the climb (~400W for 14 minutes). This turned out to be invaluable: I started the TT feeling great, and riding at what I thought was a sustainable pace. I checked the power meter, saw that I was over 600W (a level I could not maintain for long), and backed off to my target wattage.

My other major training component was weight loss. I raced Wenatchee at around 210lb, and it was a lonely, painful trek up that 9 mile climb in the RR. At the Cougar TT I weighed in at 185lbs (204 with bike). I didn't have a power meter at Wenatchee, but I don't think there was an appreciable drop in power output. And I'm not much of a weight weenie when it comes to bike components, but 25lbs of body mass had a huge impact on uphill performance.

Results

The Emo Part
All donations for the race go straight to charity. This year, it's the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Things hit particularly close to home for me and my family: 4 years ago my younger sister Katie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It was a long, hard fight, and she won. The operations and chemo made the possibility of her having children uncertain. On Saturday, when I was pouring my guts into that climb, Katie was in labor. She gave birth to Iris Tagan Wood - a healthy little girl - at 10:45a that morning, just a few minutes after I finished. To say that I was riding for my sister would be an understatement.

Cougar Mt. TT, another perspective...

2008-08-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

(From L to R: Tina (tri-team), Sabrina Hirsch, Evan Brown)
This is my first season racing and this was my 4th Time Trial. I chose the Cougar Mountain TT as a target event a couple months ago and since then have been riding the group Tuesday/Thursday hill climb rides meeting at 6am (Husky Stadium). While it was not always easy to get my behind out of bed at 5am twice a week to face some of Seattle's toughest inner-city climbs, the noticeable increase in my ability kept me going.
In addition to weekly training I had been riding out to Cougar Mountain a few times to repeat the climb. Despite a crash two weeks ago, descending The Coug, where I broke my bike and face, I still managed to place 5th among the women with a time of 17:34.
Which brings me to my next point, I would love to see more ladies out there! Tina, from the tri team attended and finished very strongly, and it was such a pleasure to see another girl representing Cycle U. If it means me heading women only rides I am game, anyone interested email me, sabrinahirsch@gmail.com.

Cycle U at Cougar mountain TT

2008-08-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

We had great showing at the Cougar mountain TT. It is 1000 feet climb Time Trial to support Seattle Cancer Care Society.

Evan captured 8th place overall beating many guys in higher categories. Hopefully we'll see his report on training for this.
Congratulations, Evan!

Mas Fotos de la TTT Competición!

2008-07-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

2008 TTT Champs

Podium, baby!

2008-07-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

Headline news, Cycle-U road team got 3rd place in Washington Team Time Trial championships.
Pictures are here

W.W.J.D.

2008-07-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

Jens Voigt had a great quote in the tour the other day. He said a German coach once gave him some wise advice: "If you try to win, you might lose, but if you never try to win, you've lost for sure".

This was our mantra for the Cycle U road team effort on Saturday's Skagit Valley Flats race. Making his first comeback since the horrific crash of Wenatchee (see pic of broken bike), Nelson J. was ready to roll and make a hard effort. We carpooled with Alex T. who already has roughly 30 formal races under his belt this year and possibly close to 60 days racing if you count every little PIR, Seward event etc.

We got an early start and arrived before check-in or the course was even marked. We found the staging area and decided to warm up on the course, a 5+ mile loop with a decent headwind and a little hillock to climb on one corner but ostensibly flat. We were to do 5 laps.

I wanted to change strategy a little from prior races. Rather than the tried and true "conserve at all costs, go hard at the end" idea, I wanted to try to recreate the magic of Boatstreet, get a little group together and try to stay away from the pack at least for a while, ideally for the duration.

Things got weird quick. First it was awfully cold, relatively speaking. Nary a bare arm to be found in the field - and majority wore knee warmers. As the 4's rolled out, neutrally behind pace car, things were fine, and guys began sorting themselves out in the first 1K of racing. Then the unexpected - the pace car takes a wrong turn! We followed him, then he slowed down and asked someone for directions. Then the ref pulled up and said 'turn it around boys'. So we did, creating an unstable mix of a packed field, a yellow line rule, and in my view - all the faster guys who had been jockeying for the front, now in the back of the pack.

What would Jens do? He would get back to the front however possible. It took about a lap and a half to worm back to the front 20 guys. At one point I rode up the dirt shoulder on the inside to do it. Realized once we were back up there that there was a lone rider about 45 seconds off the front. He apparantly stayed on course while the rest of us foolishly followed the pace car. I figured he'd be neutralized by the ref but obviously not as he stayed away and won the race.

Pack was very skittish, worst I've seen in a while. Lots of brakes touched and ripple effect cause locked tires and smoking rubber! Quite a few near misses with guys not holding lines - overlap was an especially bad idea at this race.

With 3 laps to go, I tried to implement my plan of taking off, but with a few other riders. So I tried the upfront approach and asked a few people who were in the top 20 to come along - and told them when I'd be going. Sbux, Jack's, Byrne and a Cycle Therapy guy. All seemed reasonably open and agreeable, so I made my move on turn 2 and went, I had a gap but no participants! Stuck with it to the next turn, but when I saw how close the pack was I sat up.

Then I saw Nelson for first time, and he moved up to the front and got a little daylight. I tried to block for a little bit. When group caught him, I went again but again to no avail.

Then Alex appeared looking strong and started to do some rotations for a bit, reeled in a solo flyer too. When it was all back together, I went ahead and threw caution to the wind and tried to go again. Still nothing.

Now its bell lap. Where did the time go. We're jostling a little for position. Ryan 6th or so, Alex just behind at maybe 10th. Just before final turn, 4th position violently flats - bam! We carry on. Surge just before the corner, corner, then sprints wind up. Pretty much a cluster fudge finish, so I back off a little, Alex got boxed in. Nelson finished in main pack.

So we were thrilled to all finish wheel side down, not placing is tough, but I certainly felt more tired than last two races where I just tried to sit in and conserve for sprint finish.

We looked good with a teammate in front 5 literally entire race - need to work out a little more of the communication on the bike so we know when to block v. rotate.

Lesson learned: I think sometimes its valuable to race a strategy for the strategies sake. I had to remind myself it was OK to attack because I stated to myself that a placing wasn't a priority on this race, but the mind wants you to jettison that thinking and just play it cool. I also learned guys will probably tell you all kinds of things, and let you dangle off the front on your own. Like love, true breaks are likely more about coincidence than overt planning.

Cheerio.

Derby Day's Crashapalooza

2008-07-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Kenton B., Evan 'Rabid Dog' B. and I met up at the Redmond Derby Day's Crit Saturday 7/12/08.

Fast flat course, oversold to 75+ willing but only partially-abled men who took to the line, some prematurely it seems, to race 35 minutes.

Race officials almost DQ'd some folks who ignored an order to hold until course was opened up for line-up. When we saw guys starting to squat the line, I encouraged our group to' giter done' and get out there. As it turns out, the ref let the guys who listened move to the front.

We wanted to push the pace early, and then settle in. Kenton did this in spades, leading the pack through turn 1 and alternating lead pace-setting through first couple three laps. He was a motor! At one point the promoter called out "Cycle University doing strong work at the front of the bike race".

When they called the first prime, I broke my own pre-race plan by covering the flyer who went off the front - wanting to be like Craig E., who does that kind of thing effortlessly. Alas I'm not him and I burned way too many matches trying to cover him, which I only just barely did by turn 4, and then narrowly pip him on the line. Sheesh - all that work, but it turns out for one of the most unique prizes ever - a case of heart-smart "Corazones" Jalapeno corn chips. School lunches are set for the next year for my kids.

My colleague in this endeavor and I weren't interested in trying to stay away so we didn't. I was thrilled to see Kenton come charging back by for the next few laps.

I think there had been a couple crashes to this point, but fairly far back in the pack, so Kenton and I were largely unmolested. But then a crash happened right after turn 1, when somehow a Starbucks/SCCA rider ended up over - he was behind Kenton and in front of me. I thought for sure I was riding into/over his shiny red bike but somehow I was able to get around him. Kenton/rest of the leaders looked a little like 'whoa!?!' but we carried on. To the credit of the racers/spectators/organizers, all crashes were sorted out before a lap was completed, so while I was in front group all day - we never came upon a scene where we had to take care to avoid folks.

A few more laps go by, then again, just after turn 1, that distinctive sounds of thud and scrape as expensive parts and dreams of glory go the way of the Do Do bird. Our intrepid Kenton fell victim to this particular pile-up, photographed by Amara B. here: http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1795dd.htm He's in that pile somewhere.

As to when he'll next jump into a 4/5 race, Kenton had this to say:
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1827dd.htm [Edited out]. As the promoters blended all the master's together, it made some guys go 4/5 - many won't again I suspect.

And our new sensation Evan B. earned his new nickname by literally rinsing his guts out to stay in the pack, avoid the crashes and finish the race. http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1763dd.htm

Lessons learned: if you want to win - conserve at all costs. Going for the prime was stupid. Podium guys rode smart, never in top 4-5 during the race, they sat and they waited. Acceleration really happens at start of bell lap, and just builds to a crescendo heading into turn 4. I put it in the 53x11 just before turn 4, tried to guesstimate where 250 meters out was and then gave it all - alas not enough. Second place rider was in a crash and got back in the race - chapeau!

Enough criteriums already. Looking forward to Skagit circuit race next weekend and some pure climbing.

PS - Coach Ed looked good in 3's race but didnt stay for finish.

Pacific Raceway, Cat 4/5 Criterium, 7/1/08

2008-07-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

Made my 3rd trip down to Pacific Raceway for the Cat 4/5 race (only my 2nd time to race since the last trip I declared a wash-out after seeing a drenched track). I have only been on my bike once in the last 2 weeks; wife is out of town traveling and I am covering the home front and kids solo. Sometimes fresh legs works in your favor and sometimes not so much so I had a real wait and see attitude.
Weather was great, probably mid 70's with no wind .... basically perfect. The course is the flat track with the two dragstrips and wide loops which is my favorite. Craig, CycleU team coach was there and several team mates who I had not met before. Sorry I missed getting everyone's name in memory but seemed like everyone enjoyed the race.

So about the race, typical warm up, brought no water which is really fine with me for a 50 min race. True to form I forgot to clear or interval my powertap so I need to clean out the warm up data. Typical scramble up to the line and there were approximately 60 riders from a variety of teams. Not sure but we may have been racing with Cat 3/4/5 together again. First lap starts out with no neutral roll out so by turn 1 the pace is clipping along pretty good, I work to get in the front 10 riders. Lap 2, not alot of action but different individuals are cruising up to the front to put the hammer down. At the long back stretch it gets strung out single file but it still is pretty unorganized and no one is making any serious moves. I am sticking in middle/front of the pack just grabbing wheels trying not to fall back.
Prem lap comes up and you can feel the pace pick up. I didn't join in the sprint, mainly out of self doubt (that match burning thing) and I was also out of position at about 20th coming out of the last turn. Gotta remember to either organize with the team or grab a better wheel for that bottom turn. Everyone sits up after the line and the peloton rolls on.
Somewhere in the next couple of laps was another prem but I missed the bell so don't really know what happened. It must have not been that serious of an effort because I really wondered what happened to the 2nd prem when they called out 2 laps to go.
2 laps is called and I move up to 10th'ish because the pack is sounding way too healthy. Lots of chatter, no one looks winded at all, and groups are starting to talk tactics. Pace picks up but you can sense people are loading up for the last lap.
Last lap, in the front 1/3 going into the 1st of the two turns. A WA Wines guy makes a move coming out of turn one against the wall and I follow his wheel. We quickly move up to front 15'ish going into the bottom turn. Rounding out the back of that turn I move to the outside edge of the last right hander afraid of getting caught against the barrier. I am feeling really good and decide to dive into the sprint, I fly around some people that are pulling out but am still just holding position against riders that are better organized on the inside. Just can't find a wheel to follow and I don't have a sprint from the last corner all the way to the line. I think I finished somewhere around 15th which is respectable for me.
Lessons learned:
I have finally figured out how to take the 2nd corner without reducing speed. I am sure other racers behind me appreciate this but my quads really enjoyed not having to pound as hard coming out of that corner. I sat in the front part of the pack the entire ride. No pulls at the front, no hanging on the outside in the wind, less accelarations required out of the corners, no slinky effect from pack surges ...that was a huge effort saver .... somewhat boring but it made a monsterous difference in how strong i finished.
I should have went for one of the prems. I had the legs to contest either one of the two prems or the finish but that would have required some planning on my own or in a team effort. I could have focused on one of the prems but I wanted to finish strong ... finishing any stronger would require moving up to top 5 in the last corner or some team tactics .... both a good idea.
End of the last lap I averaged 32mph, 457 watt avg, with a max of 750 watts. I think I was in 50x12 in the home stretch and that was too much gear with not enough cadence. I think I could hit more speed with less gear/more cadence. I obviously thought differently going into the turn but I either need to test this in training or try different next time.

Overall,
Great nice for racing and riding in the middle of the pack made the race much easier. I told the guys we must have rode slow but they said we averaged 25 for the 50 minutes ... they call that pedal efficiency right? I think I graduated from raw newbie to pack fill and will work on making that jump to contesting for something. I would also like to get some team tactics going, my cornering is good enough now I could lead out for someone which would be fun. I'll also work on getting some pics to liven up these long post.
Again, sorry I didn't get everyone's name and please chime in with your experience.

Repeat After Me

2008-07-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Tuesday/Thursday morning hill madness continued today, with Evan B, Ryan D, Sabrina H, Chris O and Bill S meeting at the Husky at 6a sharp to ride repeats. In Ryan's words, "It don't wait, so don't be late...", and we rolled promptly at six.

We headed through the Arboretum to LWB and up Madrona. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. Then up. Then down. If you're dizzy, that's six times, and we've got proof here:

Full GPS track is up at http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6130411

Thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great morning! Oh yeah, Chris showed up and rode hard with a fever. There went the last excuse in my book. Very nice, Chris.

The next ride is Thursday (7/3), 6a at the Husky. We'll ride up Queen Anne via 3rd Ave W from Nickerson. It will hurt so good.

Des Moines Master's Crit

2008-06-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

I was thrilled to have my entire family along for the ride down to sunny Des Moines, WA today for the crit. A beautiful waterside town, not many spectators there but good parking and lots of amenities close at hand.

Very hot, but since we did Wenatchee in the heat, it wasn't to disruptive for prep. Stuck with lots of HEED and Endurolytes. Many guys used trainers but I stuck to the road for warm up. Bike Huggers were there mixing smoothies with a smart pair of Surly Big Dummy bikes (or whatever they are called), with the Free Radical extension kit, boy I covet one of those. On my right at the start is big Vern of the nation's largest loose-leaf tea distributor. We talked conspiracy and subterfuge as the start bell sounded.

A great course, hard but fair, great lines in the corners with not too much junk to watch out for. No wrecks. Could smell the salty breeze on the faster backstretch, and then just salty sweat on that graham cracker of a long ascent to start/finish line.

Cuc!na had clear numbers, I think Vern said he counted 8 or 9 guys. We know Tom Donohue and he has been winning a lot lately, and they have been making it look easy, so I think many of the teams did well to keep a couple fellas up front all day, when a Cuc!na would go, he'd kinda get left alone because you knew once reeled back they'd send another one.

Just a whole lot of different teams working well at the front. Consequently it was a little boring as the pack just stayed together the whole time. A BI guy jumped real hard at the start of the graham cracker, maybe half way through. He looked real good moving up and through S/F line. But then he let of the gas after turn 1 and shut it down. He must have thought I made a cheeky remark because he words for me later.

Anyway - around and around we went. I never heard the primes get called, and never saw a chance to get a little group going so with a couple laps left it was clearly going to be a sprint finish. Great. I watched the masters D race and was surprised to see how long the winner waited until he sprinted on his breakaway of 3. Your body wanted to sprint the minute you were through turn 4 and really this was way too soon. I noticed a little sign, a motel or something that marked when the D guy sprinted and tried to make note of it during the race as a reference point for the crux acceleration.

So on final lap, still all together but folks are jumpy, I worked hard to maintain position in each turn of final lap, trying to stay 4-6 places up, once we're through turn 4, you have to attend a little to the traffic buttons, and then go -sort of at maybe 75% power? I got a little boxed in at this point, curb on the right, Vern? in front and someone on the left. So I came in way inside and tried to give it all for what was left. Had a funny thought, that maybe I'd get the benefit of the doubt being so much closer to the refs, nah they had that dang camera. Way to go Vern you madman!

All in all a fun race - don't let anyone say masters arent fast. I was pretty wiped out after only 15 miles of racing. We averaged nearly 24 mph. Did the 4's really do the same distance? Their finish times seem WAY faster than ours...

TNT Night at Marymoor Velodrome

2008-06-27T16:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I went for Thursday Night Training session for new rider at Marymoor velodrome.
There is nothing better than riding in pace-line without breaks on fixed gear bike! From Cycle-U crowd, Peter was there too.

As with road race, you have to watch for opening gaps in front of you. Single line can go pretty fast. I had rented bike ($5), no cycle computer. But I would guess, speed in pace line was 26-30 mph. Gap was about 150 meters, after guy in front of me pulled out. I’ve tried to chase the pace line for 3.5 laps (~mile), but could not make last 50 meters and gave up.

Afterwards we did one lap time trial from the standing start. Unlike regular TT you are in the same one gear (I’m guessing 46x16 for rental), so first few revolutions are hard. And afterwards it’s pretty much anaerobic effort for a lap, which is 400 meters. My time was about 34 seconds, which is quite slow.

Anyway, TNT is highly recommended. Instructors are friendly and track is fun. Next Stop is Monday night at Velodrome.

Track is fun!

ALEX WINS WINTHROP RR!!

2008-06-16T16:17:00.001-07:00

Cycle University men's road team captain Alex T. won the mens 4/5 road race yesterday!

More details available at:

http://dessat.blogspot.com/2008/06/methow-valley-tour-stage-race-winthrop.html

Way to go Alex!!!!

Glenwood RR

2008-06-11T01:03:00.000-07:00

Kitsap County,
Port Orchard,
Wa 2008-
Masters Championship

This was a great course, smooth roads. 3000 feet and 56 miles of rolling hills and rural. I met Gary Hocking, Eric Jeppesen, Alex Telitsine, and Jim Petersen there. The race started late and Jim had to leave to watch his kids at soccer, without getting on the course. Alex joined the Master's C and us geezers joined the Master's D.

My Garmin showed that we finished in about 2:25 minutes averaging 22.5 mph. Same as Gary's reading. If I did not skillfully round a turn my heartrate would torture me at 190. I thought I would explode, but Gary and I managed to stay in the middle of the group the whole way. I lost sight of Eric, I don't know when.... because I was in my own little world. We passed Alex unbeknowst to me and I heard Gary shout, "Go Alex", Gary said we just passed him. We passed him again and he told me he dropped his chain and was just doing the loops now. Gary and I would frequently move up past each other, and the other cyclists were composed....anyone could be aggressive, but not squirrely. I was very vocal if need be in a pleasant way with others as they might be with me. I did not feel as vigilante as I would be in a Cat 4/5 race. At the end we were going downhill at 28 to 30 mph followed by a massive sprint uphill to the finish on a 11 to 14% grade which we had passed 3 times before...and I had shifted gears so well before...but the final climb I missed my gear and did not finish as well as I could, it was that quick. Gary, who was only a few feet in front of me finished 17th. The difference of getting your gears right .

Last year I said I would not do RR's anymore, following a terrible crash. However, I have come out of my timidness some...being picky about which RR's I will do.

Carnation TT #2, 2008

2008-06-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

We have good showing of CU team at this wet and cruel hilly time trial.

The course goes up steep Tolt Hill Road, followed by screaming descent to the flat section on Fall City-Redmond road, until gradual uphill on Ames Lake road. Afterward, it is descent again with some short hills, until road turns back to the carnation.

Overall it was about 1,000 feet climb over 14.5 miles.

Everyone put good effort.

Mark got 2nd in M21
Evan was 15 in M21-39, breaking 40 minutes mark
Derek was 23rd in the same group.
Jeff was 19 in M40-49
Mark got 10th in M50+
Sabrina got 4th in W21-39

I’ve got 14th in 21/39. My goal of the day was to break 40 minutes. I’ve started 15 seconds behind the clock, but fortunately was able to reach my goal.
Results can be found here.

More info on Carnation TT series is at Footworks cycles web site

Brad Lewis Memorial Crit

2008-06-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

[Older race report being filed now for posterity...]

[Picture credits: P. Brookshire]

We started out with a lengthy rollout and warmup due to the crash in the final sprint of the Mens 5s which required an ambulance to evacuate a rider from the scene. Incidentally, Matt H. of Cucina, who won the 4/5s initial race at Pacific Raceways had won 3 of 4 primes and likely would have won that race but for the crash. Another great reason to take the upgrade class with Cycle U – so you can avoid that kind of thing.

The course is a .6KM loop starting on Boat street heading clockwise to Pacifc (turn 1) east to Brooklyn (turn 2), downhill and then right on Boat street again (turn 3), turns 1 and 3 are tighter than 90 degrees, off-camber, incorporate big grade change and include many road hazards (potholes and traffic dots).

The USCF ref encouraged everyone to be friendly and thoughtful of one another in corners. He wanted NO bike throws for primes and reminded us that the race would not be won in the first 10 minutes. This is supposed to be fun after all. So we took off and while the lap one pace was decent, things sped up after we could get a feel for the turns at speed. You had to ride hard up around turn 1, uphill to turn 2, recover on descent and the sweep turn 3, and then nail it as early as possible out of that turn to keep the elastic intact. This was a combination fitness test, but also finesse test between technical cornering and road hazards at speed.

A few flyers took off early but were reassimilated into the pack due to strong riding from some Oberto juniors and Jason with Alki/Rubicon. After 20 mins or so, big bad Carl H. (think Jan Ullrich) from Recycled went for the first prime of the day. A pound of coffee he had personally delivered from their team sponsor Lighthouse coffee. He took it, and as we rolled through I saw Clayton (Sbux) come charging through and grabbed his wheel. He had soloed a bit earlier so he was clearly strong and feeling his oats. This is the same guy who took first at Mason Lake #2 when Alex got second – but I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time.

I recall intentionally not pulling through after Clayton because it felt too soon in the race, I had my own plans to try a flyer with my cousin Nelson. Clayton respectfully disagreed. Then a blur of blue Carl H(RC) and Craig (Axa) came by and our little break formed. Next thing I knew we had three-four of us together and a little gap. I told Clayton I’d work now and encouraged them all to take short hard pulls, keep our eyes on the final prize and ignore the primes. We split somewhere like 17 minutes to go, probably way too early but our group worked well and the guys rode hard, fair and safe. Craig intimated that his teammates worked to block the pack for us.

With 3-4 laps left, Clayton bridged back to us and made a strong move to open the bell lap. I figured he was the wheel to watch, but the move was really to drive it through turn 2 and lead into that widowmaker of turn 3 because once you swept hard through that there wasn’t really enough real estate left to make a difference – we exited that turn in the order we finished. Craig knew this and was off like a shot heading into turn 2. Chapeau.

It was nice to see the three protagonists of the break settle the podium, but Clayton did a lot to put the pack into difficulty – I was glad to learn that his 4th place means he’s now a 3 and no longer our problem :-).

The ref aggressively pulled riders who weren’t in contact with the bunch – a shame, but probably a big reason why we had no crashes.

4’s get merchandise in lieu of cash. So if you see me sporting some killer socks, now you know.

ps- Cycle U world headquarters had not yet received their order of fine Hincapie 2008 racing togs so I wore my FC Barcelona cycle kit because it contains many of the same letter as Cycle U.

Wenatchee Omnium

2008-06-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

As we are a development team; it occurred to me on my ride in today that some of you might care to know what preparations and details occurred before and during this weekend’s race. So delete this now if you don’t care to read about the build up and blow by blow. It’s long.

I’m styling this something like the excellent blog Martin Criminale maintains on his training. Areas you like are his, mistakes or errors are mine.

Pre Race Days
Nelson (my cousin), Evan and I started training for this race just after Brad Lewis (boat street) crit in April. We focused on the hill part of the road race because we like climbing and thought that’s were we could have some fun. With 6 kids between us, time is short, so we did two weeks of Tue/Thur morning early rides before work where we did roughly 1 hour extra work, primarily hill repeats. We did Interlaken drive up to Volunteer park 4 times and call it a day. We also discovered 3rd Ave West on Queen Anne hill as a nice route which we did instead. We’d do the climbs 4 times.

We all continued to commute to work by bike during the weeks leading up to the race. 3 weeks prior to race we did our best training ride to date. We rode from Cycle U World HQ North to Woodinville, East side of Lake Sammamish and up Cougar Mtn as hard as we could. Nelson won that day and we finished with 62 miles and 4,000+ft climbed.
2 weeks prior to race we rode a shorter ride than we wished, due to family schedules so we did Cycle U to Mercer Island and back – hard pace. Only 35 miles. Then with 1 week to go we took it easy. I rode a spinner from Cycle U to Seward and back. Commuted all week, many days in small ring only including Friday before the race.

Race Days
We loaded up LATE Friday (don’t ask) and arrived in Wenatchee at 11:30PM wired on red bull, Frappacinos and the August 4th, 1974 Grateful Dead show from East Hampton NY. We checked in to Red Lion wearing wigs and headbands. I, Bjorn Borg, Nelson as John McEnroe. The country folk in town for the softball tournament, and the locals in the bar for Latino night thought we were ‘odd’. But the race organizers, overwhelmed by more than twice the turnout than they had planned for were still downstairs key whacking data and laughed their heads off.

Dinner for me that night was pasta with alfredo sauce. Lots of water during the day, the caffeine on the road and a beer before bed. We got 5.5 hours of sleep (thank you freight train). Ate oatmeal, juice, coffee and bacon in the café that morning and headed to TT start. Nelson and I each had two ‘endurolyte’ tablets by Hammer which are electrolyte replacement supplements. Essentially salt tablets.

We warmed up on the road instead of trainers and oogled all the people with aero bars, helmets, shoes, bikes, etc. We had none of that, nor had we ever done or trained for a TT before. It showed! Steve H went early along with Gary H and Doug, then Evan, Alex, Nelson and I was last. Oh I did do one thing different than the others, I used a ‘breathe right’ strip on my nose because I’ve seen the pros do it and figured that was my affordable nod to TT’ing. Having teammate report on the conditions was great – really useful advice on how to ride out (at 80-90% due to tailwind), to treat the turnaround as a finish line once you see it – charge hard, make the turn and then go 100% for the last half all were helpful.

Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels 39x21)
Pre ride snack – powerbar and hammer gel (gel just before start)
Bottles- one bottle with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added
Cycle U cap under helmet.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 35-45mins road riding at 60-75% effort

Steve H wins the moral victory with at 24’12 at his young age. I was 20th.

We wondered how much time we might have gained had we used any aero gear at all. Alex regretted using his disc wheel in retrospect as it made it hard for him to control the machine on the road. Peter A. with BI, 43 yrs young scored 4th place overall. David S. with Second Ascent is a TT master and won the mens 4’s with a sub 22’ time. He killed it. Craig E., the overall winner, used clip on bars only.

Ok so now what? Nelson and I aren’t used to having gobs of free time so we spent it by going to lunch at McGlinns with Alex who won the lunch race by consuming soup, and a jumbo burger. I had burger and Nelson chicken sandwich. We all drank Arnold Palmer’s and lots of water. Since we were downtown, we decided it would be good to walk the crit course – so we did in the bright sun at the hottest part of the day with full bellies. Wise. We broke out of our lethargy by opting to setup the Cycle U tent in prime grassy spot at start/finish line. Sweet! Then back to hotel for naps.

Woke at 3pm or so and drank more fluid, had two more endurolyte tablets and packed for the race. Ate another powerbar and drove to the course. More sunscreen. Warmed up by riding around the blocks adjacent to the course. Brought chairs, cooler and video camera to the tent and joined up with the other teammates. Everything was delayed.

The MO for every race was blistering start, immediate pack disintegration, huge amount of pulled riders and finishers numbering typically less than 20. During warmup I got separated from Alex and Nelson. I saw riders queuing to get to the start of the 4’s and so dropped my warmup and tried to find a way to ‘cheat’ into the front line. Every fiber in me said that you had to be at the front – even if you had to be a jerk about it. So when they let us on I cut through neutral support and snuck my spot on the front. In hindsight I would have called Nelson and Alex up there.

So were off. Echoing Ken’s comments, this is like a back alley fistfight to hold your position. In my opinion you burn some matches and put your nose in the wind any time necessary to move up. Happiness for me is 4th,5th,6th position back. The course was brutal. Imagine a set of badly maintained railroad tracks bifurcating the 100ft climb halfway, and you are hitting them at 28mph. Zoikes! Tried to bunny hop them but the back wheel felt squirrely upon landing so that seemed like a bad idea. Guys fought for the 12 inch wide ‘clean’ line over them.

Ok, so on start of 4th lap, just after turn 1 we do the ‘descent’ part of the rectangle. Some youngin’ from Café Appasionatto and I start to lean into each other. Those of you who do Craig’s class know this is no big deal. You stay relaxed, keep your bike under you and life is good. Since this is my retelling, I’ll claim it was his fault that we both hit the deck. Because I’m up front I naturally worry about getting run over and go fetal position. Right side of body/bike take the brunt. Dust settles and I tell the guy there is a free lap so just go back to start/finish. I think my bike is hosed as the brake lever is torqued in, chain off etc. I take off helmet, pick up glasses and start to walk back to the tent thinking I’m done, and how that really sucks. But as I’m walking I’m finding my body is not that bad. I decide if the mechanic can fix me up, I’ll get back in. Remember to check if you have a water bottle though before getting back into the race. I didn’t, and proceeded to race another 20 mins in 100 degrees with no bottle.

Some of you have heard the snot story but it bears repeating. When you are so cotton-mouthed you can’t see straight, and the guy in front of your snorts his nose out, you are grateful for the evaporative cooling impact the snot has on your face. You relish it, you mentally thank him and wish him to continue. You almost reach your tongue out but [edited out].

So the rest of that race was a suffer-fest, but ultimately we’re all racing bikes because we all want to suffer on some level, so you go into your reptilian mind and just try to stay on that wheel in front of you. So the final sprint. Tactically, position is critical here. I’ve seen it now in each big race I’ve been in this year. Your position in the group (not first or second), and your ability to take the line you want is crucial. Going into the final turn, I was happy with my position, but picked a bad line – trying to cut tighter inside. A rider in front who started to my left was able to effectively ‘close the door’ on me on the turn, at that point you go for your crux power move and I think we largely stayed in same order in which we exited turn 4.

By the way –its incredibly motivating to hear teammates shouting encouragement from the sideline. Most guys don’t get this – so thanks to you all for that. I finished 6th. Morgan C. (Sbux) who came in 2nd on the RR got cut, along with 70% of the field, so its not bad to be cut – it happens to many very strong people.

Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels, 39x21)
Pre ride snack – powerbar and hammer gel (gel just before start)
Bottles- one bottle with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added – missed it most of the race.
Cycle U cap under helmet.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 30mins road riding at 60% effort

Dinnner was at an Italian place with Evan, Nelson, Alex, and Steve – we laughed hard! I had lasagna and salad and two draft beers. Evan B had a first aid kit and I used his bandages for my various road rash. Did you want those back?

Back at the hotel Nelson helped me to straighten my bent derailleur hanger from the crash. We watch “Species”. Slept about 8 hrs, only on left side, other hurts too much. Breakfast was oatmeal, coffee and potatoes (Alex’s suggestion). Drank a bottle with HEED/Endurolyte before the race, ate a pbj sandwich. Carried two gels and two HEED/Endurolyte bottles and power bar. We warmed up on the short side, maybe 30 mins worth.

We started out with massive tailwind, Nelson and I stayed in the front 15-20 guys. Juniors massed at the front and rode well. Course had us riding the TT course, doing the 180 degree turnaround and then riding into the wind before the climb pitched up. I yelled to the front 20 or so guys to chill during the turnaround so everyone got around clean – don’t think we had anyone with any problems. But during the in-the-wind part, noone wanted to work. Nelson (?!?!) was feeling good and wanted to avoid trouble so he went to the front and took over. Couple guys helped out but clearly the big teams were not exhibiting any leadership.

Painful, but it ended soon – once we turned up Joe Hill road it was lights out. Following Craig’s advice, we let the other sharks set the pace up the hill. Things exploded fairly quickly, I had been a little nervous about my cassette selection. It was an easy selection because I only have one cassette, 11x21, but I was in the 20 early and you always like to keep that last gear in reserve and never use it. Uh-oh. So Craig E (Ava), Morgan C (Sbux) Nelson and I pull away from the carnage. Here is a great tip when climbing a hill in a race, if you want to put other riders out and mess with their minds, talk. Craig was waxing rhapsodically about the sun, the view, the trees, the pleasant scents etc etc ad nauseum. Us? We were panting. I tried to encourage the group to work together but knew I was the weakest, my lame attempt at a pull was met with well-meaning looks from the others, but when Craig saw down the hairpin how close the pack was, he decided it was time for some real separation of church and state. He motored and only Morgan could follow. Just in case you didn't think this was a small world, it turns out Morgan and I both went to the same small high-school in Albuquerque, NM.

OK, now I’m by my lonesome. I decide to climb at my own pace (like I have any choice?) and mull over whether its better to try to catch Morgan and work with him or let up and work with whatever size group is likely just behind me. Getting to the Church was great b/c it felt like a real KOM with crowds, neutral water support etc. But then you turn left and keep climbing. This was where Steve H’s reconnaissance riding paid huge dividends, we had some idea what to expect. I took the neutral water but just sipped it, sprayed self and discarded bottle preferring to stick with my food bottles. No group yet. Kept riding. Took a caffeine gel as I sensed the descent coming on and it was going to be a time for strong work if we’d any hope of reeling at least Morgan in – it was clear to me Craig was unstoppable.

Finally a voice from behind says ‘you might as well wait for us as were going to catch you’. Right. Friendly wave and then three lads join up. They look at my kit and say “oh, your teammate just crashed hard on the descent and went into a ditch..” !!!!!!! Whoa! The Clash: Should I stay or should I go-go? I figured that unless he (Nelson) was carted off in an ambulance, he’d be more pissed if I stopped than continuing on, so at least the trip wasn’t completely in vain. So we agree to work together to try to catch Morgan. Part way down the descent the official car slows us down and says that the 5’s leader is right behind us and we have to go neutral…this was nearly impossible to parse out from the wind and noise descending at that speed. So we soft pedal and he passes us, and they make us stay neutral for another 2-3 miles. Meanwhile, another rider joins us, although he’s mistaken for a 5 due to his number.

Tactics again. Our chemistry had been great with equal pulls among the 4 of us running into the finish. Adding the extra man was problematic, when your turn comes to pull, you HOLD the speed, you don’t accelerate. He consistently accelerated which made it really hard. And the gamesmanship started about 2 miles to go. Pulls got missed, these guys were conserving for the sprint. I should have faded to back and refused to pull through, but we were nervous in part that we’d get caught. So then when that rider pulls up the final climb before the dip before the hill sprint, my God but he goes strong, I can’t stay on his wheel. I SHOULD have been last in line, and let the others worry about whatever gap he was opening on that hill. The sprint wound up at about 750 meters to go, train pulls around the flyer who clearly gave his all to get to that point and was cooked. I could only muster enough to get around him but not the others. We caught Morgan essentially right at the finish line – courageous solo ride by him. Craig had finished 5 minutes earlier. I managed 6th (but lost 3rd).

Bike – normal road bike (Litespeed, Dura-Ace, Real Design wheels 39x21) [wished it was 39x25]
Pre ride snack – pbj, HEED bottle and hammer gel (gel just before start and after climb). Post ride 2 beers and pbj.
Bottles- two bottles with 2 scoops of HEED, and 2 endurolyte capsules added to each – sip of neutral water
Headband under helmet for sweat.
SPF 50 sunscreen
Warmup: 35-45mins road riding at 60-75% effort

So then came the worry about Nelson. He got dropped off by some good Samaritans about 30 minutes after the finish. Bike is toast – his story to tell. Damn shame as we could have had a 1-2 punch in the final straight which had been our pre-race plan.

Observations:
Positioning is always key.
Lots of rest and good nutrition is key.
Visualization is huge.
Eat before you are hungry and drink before you are thirsty.
Beware TMI (too much information): this is a data-heavy world, I’m probably speaking heretically but you have to feel good on your bike, your body will tell you a lot. Less is more. Craig E. rides a bike with no computer.

My best to all…

Mutual of Enumclaw Omnium Report

2008-06-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Short version:
It was a great event. The TT course was mostly smooth with three high-speed turns; the crit had eight (eight!) slippery (slippery!) turns; and the road race was a rainy, dirty, gritty mess. I loved it. All of the events (Cat 5, at least) started precisely on time, and results were posted quickly. I've put every Cycle U photo I could find from the WheelsInFocus.com photog in a Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42598252@N00/sets/72157605420930611/ The picture of Ken on the climb is priceless.

Long version:

Preamble
I committed the cardinal sin of changing components the night before the race. Specifically, I switched from Shimano SPD-SL pedals to Speedplay. I spent some time in front of the house practicing clip-in to the new platform. Just as I was wrapping up, I made a slow turn into gravel I didn't see, and took a nice hard spill onto my left hip. Thankfully I wasn't pregnant. It hurt like hell and tore my pretty red saddle (which matches my red bar tape, and is therefore completely absurd), but the bike and bibs were fine.

Time Trial
The drive to Enumclaw was about an hour. There wasn't much on the radio, and I recommend against listening to Carl Kasell if you're trying to get pumped for a TT. Registration at the hotel took less than 10 minutes, and it was off to the fairgrounds to warm up. I've got a trainer and a good playlist, but no real plan or method for riding a warmup. I've heard people say that short TT's require a longer warmup, so I rode for about 45 minutes. Unlike Wenatchee, there was a holder at the start line. I always appreciate that. I had chosen 53x23 as my starting gear. It was a bit much, and I got off to a slow start but picked up quickly. I elected to go without HR and instead committed to ride the entire TT on the verge of vomiting. I tried to sprint the last 100m, and it wasn't happening. I left everything on the course (except breakfast) and that felt good. I think the biggest takeaway from this TT is that I really need to get 1) aerobars, 2) an aero helmet and 3) faster.

Criterium
The course was flat, but it had eight corners. Probably the last thing you would want in an eight-corner crit is rain. So it rained. It started a few hours before the race, picked up with about an hour to go, and was very lightly drizzling at the start line. The pack was pretty thin with less than 30 riders, and I was able to secure a coveted spot wedged tightly between two others at the front. I stuck to my plan to get out with the lead group immediately. I was somewhere in the top 10 going into the 6th corner of the first lap when someone took a bad line over a wet manhole cover and slid out. This split the pack into a lead group of 9 or 10 guys, and a chase group of 7 or 8. I was in the chase group for the next few laps when another guy slid out, taking one or two more with him. Knowing that bad things happen in 3's, I decided that I would finish solo rather than duke it out (or slide it out, as it were) for 18th place.

The 4's race also had a few crashes. Ken almost got knocked down by a kid who slid out, then decided to pick up his bike and run it across the road without looking; Alex put in a solid effort in the chase group. I'd really like to hear Kenton's account of the Master's C/D race. He rocked and rolled to a 7th place finish, bringing glory to the Cycle U colors. Nice work, Kenton!

Road Race
I didn't pre-ride or drive the course. I went on Ken's report, the GPS elevation numbers, and Alex's advice to be at the front for the climb. Jeff and I started the neutral rollout together somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was chilly, but warmed up quickly. Immediately at the end of neutral rollout, the top two GC contenders kicked it into high gear and tried to go off the front. The pack reeled them in quickly, and I ended up on the second man's wheel. The pace stayed between 25 and 30mph until the base, and I stuck to the plan of being at the front for the climb. It was a relatively short but grueling climb, and the pack had broken up. 4 of us re-grouped at the top and formed a great echelon in chase of the lead pack. We caught them (or so I thought, until the results were posted and it was apparent that we had actually caught the chase group, and the 7 leaders were really minutes ahead of us, likely trading tips on how to sandbag in the Cat 5's. Hah!) on the rainy downhill, and the twelve of us worked together fairly and efficiently to complete the first lap and begin the second and final climb. The group split on the climb. A few of us regrouped at the top, but they weren't interested in either working together or pushing the pace, so I did my best impersonation of me riding a TT, and pedaled until I felt like puking.

The Feel-Good Takeaway
I learned a few things from this event, and the road race in particular: As much as I really enjoy cycling, I @#$#@!%^ love racing. In the chase group in the road race, it was rainy, dirty and gritty. The echelon rotated at high speed for miles, inches from the next guy's wheel, eating the spray from his tire, all with the same objective. I don't know that anyone said a word the whole time. But at the end of the race, we all regrouped in our dirty kits and reveled in the camaraderie. That was definitely the payoff for me.

The Practical Takeaway
Aerobars and an aero helmet are your friend in a TT. I need to get them. I'm also becoming curious about/interested in a power meter for training and racing. I'd appreciate anyone's advice on the practicality of a Cat 5 using power versus HR, etc.

Bottom Line
Cycling is fun, racing is funner, and cycling/racing with the very cool guys and girls on the Cycle U team is funnest.

First entry

2008-06-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

Since people are posting reports of Cycle-U Road Team experience, here is better place to share your experience about victories, losses, pain and suffering :-)

Alex

Pacific Raceway, 5/20/08

2008-05-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed my first race outing of '08 on the flat track course at Pacific Raceway. I want to thank Ken for all his help in making a hole for me in the bunch when I couldn't find one on my own :). Ken had a nice finish while I was a little to gas'ed coming out of the last turn to provide any excitement. Ken does a good job of summarizing the race which I have dropped in below. I hope we can get some decent weather for a return to the flats on the 6/10

So PR was phenomenal tonight, with a strong showing from CycleU with Travis and I. I was definitely glad to see some CU livery show up out there, so thanks to Travis.

Good news: the rain stayed away. Bad news: the wind didn't. I had us clocked heading west doing about 18-20 mph. Heading east (slight downhill) we were cooking along at anywhere from 29-34, depending on whether we were chasing or if someone had a head of steam built up.

Interesting race in that it was a 'point per lap' race, so that meant a lot of sprints over the 50 min duration into the wind down the final stretch. At the end of the race I had a total of 20 miles.

Travis was a champion in his first race this season, he took quite a few turns at the front (and I mean the very front) on the tougher (westbound) legs. We both felt pretty good at the end of the race, but with only two of us, probably wasn't much chance to make any tactics work. It seemed like we were at or near the front on most of the laps. Field tonight was (guesstimate) about 60-70 riders (Travis?). Couldn't really make anything happen in terms of taking sprints away. Managed to finish one lap 4th-ish, one 6th, and pretty happy with my overall finish, but had a really tough time against some much stronger sprinters.

Big lesson learned tonight seemed to be that in a windy situation, good positioning while you're NOT fighting the wind is key. On the eastern (downwind) laps, if Travis and I stayed near the front, we really had no trouble staying there on the upwind laps. It was very tough for anyone to move up while fighting the wind, everyone really wanted to tuck in and stay in the line to avoid killing themselves outside the draft. Other big lesson learned for me was that the watts started to really pile up in the big sweeping (wind neutral) turns, and you really had to hang on and cash in a little there or you were going to lose some of that position that you'd worked so hard for on the downwind laps. Even though that hurt at times, it was totally worth it in the long run.

Well, as the weather cooperates, hope to see you all out there. Lots of PR races left this season, and it's a really great place to race.

http://www.buduracing.com/pdf/courses%20for%202008.pdf