Riding at Dusk

When I got off of work tonight I got home and had some stuff to do around the house and made dinner and then I was off to ride. Tonight was a planned light ride with nothing to hard. I've pushed it the past couple of mornings and I just wanted to take it easy. I also had a pretty good sized supper and if I had gone all out I probably would have had some stomach problems. I was surprised though that I finished my planned loop fairly fast even though I wasn't trying to. I did take the camera with me and here are some pics:

This was the first of about 20 deer I saw tonight. At one point I had 2 of them running down the trail right next to me. It was cool to feel like I was racing the deer.

Blatant Sponsor Plug

Action photo of the new XTR shifters

Picked up some new fox reflex gloves from the shop. They are pretty nice but I need to break in the thumb a bit. My thumbs must be long the rest of the fingers fit perfect but the thumbs are tight. It did get better as the ride went on.

Dusk. Still one of my favorite times to ride.

Not sure what tomorrow is going to bring as far as ride time goes. I'm going to play it by ear. See how I feel. Got some stuff to get done after work.

Harp

Early Morning Rides, Work and Rankings

Finally a bit of time for a quick post. Only had to work at the college today. 2 days in a row of leaving the house for work at 8 and getting home after 11:30 gets old fast. Those hours actually aren't to uncommon for a lot of the machocistic chefs like I used to be but it's hard for a guy trying to train to be a mediocre bike racer. Anyways I have still been have been able to get a little bit of time on the bike. Yesterday and today I got out around six am for some fast paced trips through wilderness park. I actually do like to ride at this time. I love being up and being out at dawn and dusk. I like the twilight feel of it as it's still dark but the light is creeping up or out. It's also nice cause I got the park all to myself.

I've really been digging riding my mountain bike lately too for some reason. Not that I don't always but with the new shifters and front der plus cutting an inch off each end of the handle bars the bike is running smooth. What I have also been thinking a lot about lately is how much I enjoy riding this particular mountain bike. The bike just seems to fit me and my riding style perfectly.

And for some reason in the last few days I have been really focused on training and what I need to do to get ready for the few races that I have left. I've been watching what I eat and have been getting my plan ready for what I need to accomplish in my upcoming holiday weekend of extended training time. I really wished I would have gotten my shit together and made arrangments so I could have gone to the Dakota 5-0 race this weekend. I think it is definetly going to be on the schedule next year.

I did see today on Nebraska Cycling news that they have the series rankings up for the psycowpath series. I'm sitting at 7th in my category. Not exactly where I want to be. I think that's another reason I've been so focused lately is I've only got two more chances to meet my main goal of the season.

A big congrats to my man Ryan though. He's sitting at number one in his category. Rob is also doing well sitting in second in his.

Other than that I need to go catch up on some reading.

Harp

1/2 Century Ride in Pics

The original plan for this morning was to get out to Branched Oak for 25 miles of Singletrack at a painful pace but it rained so I opted to ride the road bike to Branched Oak go around the lake and head back with a goal of 50 miles. The legs didn't have much in them but I made it through. Not the best average mph but I'll take what I can get. Here's the pics:

At the lake 20 miles in.
Lots of these around the lake
Keepin the legs movin
Rollin the Marin Team Camo
Sailboats on the lake.

Stopping to refill bottles at the Malcom General store. Population of the town is 419. I got a lot of strange looks

Fuel
Done. Goal of 50 accomplished

PCL Tuesday Night Crit

I finally made it out for the PCL Tuesday Night Crit that I've been wanting to try for a while. I needed to do this type of training. I need to get out with some other riders that are faster than me and try to keep up.

On the ride out to the spot where it goes down I saw a Midwest Wheelmasters rider and pushed to catch up with him. When I got there we started chatting and he showed me the .6 mile lap that they normally run. Another rider showed up and we got started running the laps. The plan was 10 laps at a time. I was able to keep up with them for 3 of the laps before getting dropped. After that it was just me riding alone and trying to catch back up. After a short while it went from trying to catch up to not getting lapped. Unfortunatly I ended up getting lapped on lap 10. The turns really killed me. I had no confidence hitting the turns at a high speed and they seemed to do it with ease. I also am not used to riding right next to and on the wheel of another rider so I wasn't getting the drafting benefits.

After the first set was done we took a very small amount of time to spin and recover and then it was off again. It was about the same as the first time. I kept up for 3 laps and then was dropped. I did feel a bit more confident on the turns and was feeling better. In the middle of the set 2 riders from team fire showed up and joined in for the finish.

At the start of the third set Troy stayed on my wheel and helped kind of coach me to where to sit and position myself in a group so that I can get a draft. I still feel very uncomfortable riding right next to other riders. I've gotten too used to mountain bike races where we are spread out on singletrack over a 5 mile course. When I did get myself into the right spot I did see feel the benefit of the draft. Again on this set I managed to hang on for only 3 laps before losing the group.

After that people had to leave and I needed to think about getting home to. I headed out with the group chatting and getting to know some the other riders. We took a long way back to town heading through some cool new develepments. When we got into town I peeled off and headed home. I didn't check how many miles I did but I did put in 2 of the best hours training that I've had in a long time. Again I think that I need to keep doing more training rides like this. I really think I acomplished a lot tonight and it did more for me than flat rides on my mountain bike through wilderness. This gets me into a higher heartrate and I really push it harder to keep up with other people than I do when I'm out by myself. But I do love to be in the woods and of course after saying all of this I'm hoping to get my mountain bike back tomorrow and check out the new components and see how they work. My legs are pretty sore after last nights core workout and tonights efforts a light spin on the mtb will be perfect.

Must go for some recovery of sitting on the couch.

Harp

Ride with Lex & a core workout

My original plan for today was to get up early before work and get a good hour of intervals in but that didn't happen. I ended up getting to bed late and I woke up about 20 minutes before my alarm went off and told myself there was no way I was going to be worth anything on the bike if I went out and would just be disapointed so I reset the alarm and was back to sleep. As I went through my training plan for the week I decieded it wouldn't be a bad idea to take it easy today and just spend some time hanging with the kids. They go back to school on wed. and we had the open house tonight. After that was done we got home and my wife started dinner and my daughter Alexis and I headed out for a ride. We only rode a little bit but they are always some of my favorites. It's nice to head out and listen to her talk about any and everything. I had to take my road bike since my mtb is at the shop getting the new bling put on it. I need to get a cruiser bike for these casual rides with the kids. I always feel like it's a bit overkill when I go out on my race bikes. We have these at the shop and if there are any left after the season I might have to pick one up to help clear the inventory. And they are super comfy.

When everything was done tonight I did do my core workout routine with some adjustments. I haven't done a core workout for about 2 months + and at the last race I started to have some of the back and side pains that I wasn't having when I kept the core muscles in check. Plus I've been feeling heavy and pudgy lately. I think some of it is my fear of losing all the progress I've made. The core workout really kicked my ass and I'm going to feel it in the morning. I need to make sure that I get these workouts in at least 3 times a week. I always feel better when I'm getting them done.

Tomorrow the plan is to head out on the road bike to the pcl tuesday night crits and enter the pain cave for a while. The guys that do these are some serious roadies with some definate speed. I'm just going to go and see how long I can stay with them. It's really gonna hurt but in that "good" way that we all know about. It will be interesting.

Harp

Tranquility Race Pics

Thanks again to Rob & RJ for getting some shots and the help during the race.

Not looking fast on the fast descents.

Dropping a bottle at the end of a lap

All photos coutesy of Rob.

Tranquility Tire Tantrum-Race Report

Today was the fifth race in the Nebraksa Psycowpath series and it was a race where I wasn't quite sure how I would do. I've talked some about how I just haven't felt very good this week. When I got up this morning I felt better than I did in the previous couple days but still not the best. My goal for this race was to focus on my nutrition and make some changes so that I could get through a race without dry heaving or feel like I'm going to almost the whole time I race. I also wanted to work on my pre race warm up routine.

So my new race day diet that I tried today was a breakfast sandwich and some coffee( I could never go without my coffee). About 4 hours before the race was an energy bar. 2 Hours before was a sobe energy drink and a bag of energy chews and then a gel 1 hour before the start.

I rode to Omaha with Rob who was racing the beginner race so I ended up getting to the park very early for my race which I really like. I never felt rushed and was able to take any lap with Millhouse and Ryan so that I could see the course since I've never been there before. And then shortly before my race started I went out and followed T6 team mate Robbwho was racing the 3 hour race. Following him at a good race pace was really helpful in my warming up process. I probably ended up stopping my warm up a bit early. Next time I may try to keep going until a bit closer to my race

When the race started I felt good going down a long service road before hitting the dusty singletrack. I only stayed with the leaders for about the first mile and then I just felt like I lost a bit of something and some of the leaders pulled away from me. As I continued to go through the first lap I found myself alone on the course and I think this hurt me a bit in the end cause i think I slowed down a bit during that time. I did continue to hydrate very well which was another goal. Towards the end of the lap I was back up with a couple of guys that had passed me earlier and was starting to feel a lot better. At the cross finish line I got a rolling bottle change with the help of Rob and his son RJ. Big Thanks guys.

I felt good going into the second lap and was riding pretty good and everything was flowing. I got into the lead of a group of guys and we set a great pace through a very tight long section in the trees of the track. As we continued through we ended breaking up on the climb towards the end of the lap.

As the third lap started I started to have a bit of a stomach twinge and was worried that my issues were starting up later than I'm used to but it never really became anything major but never went away either. I think now that I probably needed to take a gel and it would have helped me in the end.

On the last lap I was still good and was on the hunt for a couple of rabbits. I needed to see someone in front of me to really make myself push through the end. I found a couple of guys and started to work on catching them. I flowed through the course pretty well and was catching and passing people. I'm not sure if they were in my category or not but I didn't really care either. About a mile and half from the finish I saw way up in the distance a rider that I knew was in my category and set to work on catching him. As I hit the final set of climbs I did start to feel like I was losing some of my power and kept pushing to catch the rider but after I made up some ground on the climbs and with a large descending seciton right at the end of the race which doesn't play into my strengths I could not catch him but I did finish the race feeling ok and having accomplished what I set out to do and straighten out my nutrition plan.

I ended up finishing 8th out of 16 riders. I'm not overly excited about the end results but I did feel like I had a good race and with the rough week I've had and the way I've felt I'm happy with finishing in the middle and not at the end.

Congrats to Ryan on his 2nd place finish in the beginner open category.

That's about all I got for now. I'm going to go watch more of the Olympics and continue my recovery plan of sitting on the couch to get ready for my recovery spin through wilderness park in the morning.

Harp

A bad ride and XTR

I went out today for my first ride since Sunday and it has me a bit scared for the race this weekend. I felt like shit and had a horrible ride. I just didn't have any power when I tried to up the pace and could not keep it up for very long. I kept telling myself since it's 2 days out from a race I don't need to do any heavy riding but I hoped it would be better after having 3 days off the bike. Of course I have had a couple real late nights working and am a bit tired.

On another note I picked up my race bike from the shop and there was no big problems and it is tuned and ready to race. Next week it gets a couple of upgrades put on it in the form of new Shimano XTR Shifters and Front Derailleur. It was tempting to get them on today since they came in yesterday but Paul the mechanic and I both thought that it wouldn't be best to run new components for the first time during a race. I've almost got the bike upgraded with all the parts I wanted. The next is a new crankset which I'm eyeing a couple of different options but they are going to be pricey and I have to work off what I've already bought before I get more.

Now I need to go start getting some of my stuff together and organized for Saturday since I've got another day of double duty tomorrow and am not going to have time to get it ready after work and then get to bed and try to get my body in shape to race in 2 days.

Harp

Racing Soon

My next race is only 5 days away and I'm feeling out of shape and unprepared. I think that I've been burning the candle at both ends for a bit too long now and its catching up with me. It seems like it's always a late night at the links and then a super early morning the next day to train before I go back to work at the school and then repeat. I mean I don't work both jobs everyday but it seems like the days I'm not at the work in the pm I got something to do and not resting.

Ok enough of me whining. Sometimes I feel like that's all I do on here is whine. The plan to try to prepare myself to get ready for my race this weekend is a different one than I've done in the past. The plan is to not hardly ride. This week I'm not going to get up and train in the early am before work and I'm just going to try and get some extra rest so that I can get out of this funk by Sat. I will go out for some light intervals on Thursday and Friday when I don't have to work both jobs.

I'm also a bit stressed about my bike. As I rode it this week the rear wheel felt loose. Hopefully it's just some loose spokes and it's an easy fix and we can move on but I didn't exactly like the puzzled look that Paul the mechanic at the shop had on his face when he gave it a quick look. He's going to try and get it taken care of in the next couple of days while I'm working. Hopefully I don't get the call saying that there is a problem and I'm going to need a new wheel.

As I continue to realize that in a month and a half the race season for me will be over I think about next season and what races I'm going to race. I've been following some people and some of the news on some of the longer more endurance type races like Laramie and Leadville. I think that style of format would suit me pretty well. I have the mind set where I need a beginning and end goal instead of trying to play the mental game with myself that happens in most endurance races where you just do as many laps as you can in a certain number of hours. I think that Laramie will definetly be on the schedule for next year. Of course I need to do a bit of research with a couple of the local guys that raced it this year to see what they thought.

That's about all I got for now. I need to go get on with my rest plan for the week and get to bed.

Harp

Post Work Training Ride

Anyone up for a training ride through wilderness after work on Firday? Let me know. One week to race and I'm feeling antsy.

Harp

Still Trying to Catch Up

Finally got in a ride today. I didn't feel as good as I thought I would since I haven't ridden in 2 days but a mediocre ride is better than no ride.

Way far behind on work since I've had a busy couple days working at the Links. Got to get some stuff done for the school and then hit the bed for another early and busy day tomorrow.

Bad post I know hopefully I got some better stuff to talk about soon when I have time to write it.

Harp

Just trying to catch up

Lately it seems like I've been getting my assed kicked by all the stuff I have going on. The past 3 days have been doubled up with the jobs and I've only been home long enough to sleep train a little and then off again. Today however was a day to just relax and spend some time with the family.

We decided to head out to Branched Oak lake today. The kids get to swim and I get to ride. I got in 3 good laps and was totally diggin time on the trails at the lake. Really good for training with lots of nice climbs and then the chances for me to work on my descending skills which still totally suck.

The heat today though was a killer with the heat index of 105. I do feel that I handle the heat pretty well and if I am smart enough to hydrate properly hot race conditions would be in my favor with all the heat training I've had spending 12+ hours a day in kitchens averaging a 100 degrees.

When I went out on my ride today I did get a chance to try out a new product that we are thinking about stocking at the shop. I used the dznuts chamois cream. Yeah something really nice to talk about on my blog but hey it's something almost all of us use or should use and can really make you a lot more comfortable especially when it 100 degrees out. With this being my first ride using I did think that it worked well and will keep using it to see how it works in the long haul.

lube em or lose em

Well that's about all the time I can spend on posting I got to get some work done for the school since I'm already way behind and we are only in our 3rd week of the summer term.

Harp