Nothing too exciting

I found out today that I have to work the next two nights when I thought I had them off. Litttle bit of a bummer so when I got home I was in a bit of a bad mood and it looked like it was going to rain which wasn't helping so I went ahead and made dinner and wasn't sure what was going to happen as far as training went. All I knew was that I needed to do something or I was going to be real anxious the rest of the week since I got to work more than I thought and it really screwed up my plans.

After I finished eating the sun was peaking through the clouds so I grabbed the mountain bike and headed out to wilderness park for a quick "race pace" ride through the park. I felt great again on the bike and had a good ride but wildnerness is just to flat and I like to climb so the ride gets a bit boring but I'm not going to complain too much. I'll take whatever time I can get in the woods after all of the rain we've had this year that has forced me to spend most my time on the road. I was surprised by the fact that I didn't see any other cyclist in the park. I figured with a nice night that wasn't to hot and humid there would be a lot of people in the park. The only people I saw was a few shaggy haired high school kids that I came across on a section of the park that doesn't get used much smoking pot.

I did take out the camera tonight. I've been reading this blog some lately and she is talking about here video skills so I thought I would see how mine were. Nothing too exciting. It is a bit tough with my camera since I have to hold it in a weird position to hold the button down while I ride.

The rail trail home.

Coming in at dusk.

The honey comb look of the Stinger kit.

Got to go get ready for work and my early morning training ride.

Harp

I didn't realize that it's been a week already since my last post. Been a strange busy week and I've kind of been out of sorts with a lot of stuff going on.

I have been getting in some good training time and most of it has been in the dirt. I really needed to spend more time on singletrack. I haven't really had a chance to get to far from home so wilderness park has been the only option. Last night I went out for a quick 1.5 hour session and felt great. I wish I could figure out why I felt so good so that I can replicate it for my races but I guess I've still got to figure that out. The only problem was when I left I forgot to bring some nutrition with me. I mean you think I would remember as I'm leaving in a honey stinger kit. Towards the end of the ride I was starting to fade a bit and a gel would have come in handy.



I was up early today to train before I had to go to work which I prefer so then when I get off work I can just hang with the family. After we finished eating dinner my son took off with a Friend down the street and my daughter wanted to go for a ride so I decided it was time to introduce her to singletrack in the woods. Wilderness park has a section of it that is totally flat and not used very often so I thought it would be a perfect place to take her out to. She was excited when I told her where we were going to go and thought it was pretty cool when her bike was up on top of the car with mine. It was funny when I told her that riding her mountain bike in the woods was what it was made for she thought I was joking.



When we got to the trail head and headed out she was a little nervous cause she was afraid a snake was going to get her but once we started riding she forgot about that and had a good time. For me I thought it was super cool to be riding with my daughter on some singletrack. It was the perfect way to get some father-daughter time in.

Alexis out in front going through the woods. She actually went surprising fast. Scared the hell out of me. Unfortunately it's the only picture I got before my battery died.

I feel like I'm just rambling a bit with this post so I'm going to stop before it gets worse.

Harp

Cornhusker State Games Race Report

The cornhusker state games race was one that I had looked at as a bigger race for me for the season since last year it was my first race and I ended up getting a flat tire on the first lap and wasn't prepared and had no way to change it and ended up with a dnf and not even completing one lap.

I was real antsy at the start line and was putting a lot of pressure on myself to finish strong and have a good race especially since it was on what I consider to be my home course at Branched Oak lake. The race started with a long flat section of grass along the lake before we got into the single track. When the gun went off I had a good start and was right up with the leaders from the expert category when we hit the singletrack everyone got bunched up and there was a big train of us going through the course. We were running the course the opposite way that they normally do used so it practically seemed like a different course. I stayed up with the expert leaders for about 3/4 the way through the first lap and that's when the problems started. I started having stomach issues again. I think this time it was due to the heat. I wasn't hydrating very well and it was humid with a temp of about 92 degrees. As I progressed along I slowed down some and lost the leaders. I was going through stages of dry heaving for about the first 2 miles of the second lap and was really slowing down. I crashed towards the end of the second and I got caught by a couple of people by the end of the second lap that I wouldn't catch again. That crash I think really got to me more than I thought it did.

Towards the end of the second I really was taking in a lot of fluids and was feeling a bit better and was able to able to pull a couple people back and really progressed pretty well around the course for the final lap. I was closing down on some more people but ran out of space and time and finished the race. I felt pretty strong coming across the line which is pretty common for me the problem I have is always in the beginning or middle of a race I feel like crap and by the end it's to late for me to catch anybody.

When the results for the race where posted I ended up finishing in fourth. One of the guys who passed me when I crashed was the third place finisher. This was the best ending results I've had so far this season but I still felt I could have done better. I did get some things out of the race. It really showed me I need to get more time in on my mountain bike(hopefully the rain stops). I was not very good at picking my lines and on the descents which has always been a problem. I was also slow going through a real tight twisty section of the course towards the end. I also really need to change my training I think so that I'm getting more work in on the top end of my speed and heartrate instead of just logging huge miles on the road. I need to get used to going at my max for longer periods of time without cracking. During the race my legs felt good but I always was having trouble with my oxygen intake.

In the end the best thing about the race for me is that it was a good time and my family was there to spend it with me. It was nice to have my wife be proud of me when I finished towards the front end and my kids had the best time out of anybody getting to play and swim in the lake for a couple of hours.

The worst part of the whole day is after the race I had some plans of getting some stuff done around the house since I was home by 1:30. We were able to get out and eat and go pick up some stuff we needed but as we were doing that I started to get a migraine that only got worse as the day went on. It ended up being one of the worst migraines I've ever had and I spent the rest of the day in bed and wasting one of my precious days with no work.

At least I feel much better today and can get on with things. No riding for me today since I got to work both jobs probably get back to my new training plan on Tuesday.

the kids playing in the lake having a blast

Crossing the finish line

I would also like to throw out a congrats to Ryan and Justin who I beleive finished in Second and Third respectively in the beginner race. Nice Job guys.

Harp

Honey & Gear

When I got home from work tonight I was glad to see a box with a honey stinger logo on the side in my office. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the quick response time. I finished the sponsorship deal on Tuesday and got my order today. Inside the box I had my team kit(which looks even cooler than the pictures), Apple Cinnamon Bars, Peanut Butter 'n Honey Bars, Ginsting Gels and a box of Fruit Smoothie Energy chews. I'm glad to see this stuff made it today since I have the race tomorrow morning. Speaking of the race I better get to bed and try to get some sleep. I always seem to be a bit restless the nights before a race.

Harp

T-Storms and Even more Bike Lust

The original plan for this week was to take it easy and get a chance to do a little pre riding of the race course this week since it is under a 20 minute drive from my house. Thunderstorms 2 days in a row left me with no chance of riding the course. It looks like it's supposed to rain all weekend. The race this weekend will probably still go since it is the state games and they usually don't cancel. I'm not really looking forward to a sloppy course on Sunday. Some people do well on muddy courses but with my style of riding I don't think it suits me well. We'll just have to see.

As you can tell from my last post I'm starting to see some pics of the 09 Marin bikes due out soon. Also in the last post I put up a link to the new road bike I want. I will probably do more road racing next year in between some of the long waits in the mountain bike season and I need to get a bike that has a little more race geometry to it. I came accross the picture and the video of the 09 Stelvio and it looks awesome. I am going to have to get my cheeks on one next season.

The 09 Stelvio Prototype

Check out the video

Since it stormed here today I was stuck riding the trainer. I in no way miss riding that thing but it serves it's purposes and I got a chance to get some good intervals in and the legs felt awesome after warming up for about 20 minutes. Good workout to end the training for the week on. Actually it was the only real training I did this week. The next 2 days I have to work a lot so I probably won't ride again until sunday at the race.



Now I got to get to bed to continue my prep for the big (at least for me) race this weekend and get some sleep.



Harp

Bike Lusting

I have major bike lust issues. My wife is starting to go crazy with me always talking about the next bike I "need". I was doing pretty good only really thinking about "needing" a couple of bikes. The first one being this and then after that would be this.

That was until about 5 minutes ago when I was on my lunch break and cruising the Internet and came across this article and saw the partial picture of the one of Marin's new 2009 bikes. It's the Team CXR Hardtail. I don't have any more info other than this article but it looks sweet and they are saying it is their ultra lightweight race hardtail. All I can say is: SWEET and I need one. I hope my wife doesn't read this or I'm dead.

Harp

Still Tired

For some reason this week I've just been exhausted and just can't seem to get out of this funk that I'm in. I haven't ridden my bike since my bailout ride Monday morning other than a few coasting rides with my daughter. I've been trying to get some extra sleep and just rest as much as I can to try to be ready for the race this weekend. Tomorrow I have to get out for some kind of ride after work. Even if it's a short one but I feel I need to get out and open up the legs a little bit since Friday and Saturday are pretty busy for me and some ride time will be tough.

Not much for a post tonight. I'm going to bed.

Harp