two weekends. two races each.

So last weekend was the Bear Lake Classic in Northern Utah. It was a race I've never done before, in fact I had never even been to Bear Lake. I traveled up on Friday in my dad's Eurovan, which happens to be the best road trip car ever. It is also as comfortable to sleep in as most hotel rooms which makes it pretty convenient. On Friday I did a fairly typical pre-race routine, which is 3x3 min of very controlled intensity and another 3-5 accelerations. I felt good all around and was really starting to feel comfortable sprinting on a bike.

The road race was a pretty long one, 104 miles, which equated to two laps around the lake. It was fairly flat, save for some punchy, rolling hills on the backside. The first lap was more or less a parade. A break went off the front early all of the bigger teams in our field were represented. Somewhere near the end of the lap one of the riders from one of the teams shot out the back of the break. Once we caught him, the race was on. With three guys up the road still myself and a handful of the stronger riders in the field organized up front and drove the pace at close to 30 mph for 45 minutes. It didn't take long to reel the break in. Immediately the attacks started flying. I was feeling super aggressive that day and had attacked a number of times while the pace was high but never was able to get much of a separation. I settled in for another half an hour while we rode through the rolling section of the course. People seemed to ready for attacks there, but as soon as it was over, i was ready. i pounced another bunch of times with limited success before finally another rider got away and i bridged up to him. he was on one of the big teams so his crew did a good job of squandering any big pushes to catch us. The next 15 miles were super tough, into the wind and just a couple of guys hammering it out to stay away from the masses. It was close but we did stay away. I drove the break a little too much and got outsprinted by the passengers for 3rd. In hindsight I should have attacked them at the end but it didn't occur to me at the time. i've only been doing this a few months but the learning curve is steep.

the second day i was asked to be part of our pro/1/2 team time trial. my other teammates included a former pro who raced for US postal and festina not long ago, another National caliber time trialist and two other super talented young guns. and me racing on a borrowed time trial bike. I didn't know what to expect of a TTT but it didn't take long to figure out that pure agony was the name of the game. everyone took short turns at the front killing themselves and tucked back in to almost recover and do it again.... for 50 miles. i think it was the hardest race i've ever done, skis or bike, whatever. it was HARD. i was going so hard that i couldn't take a drink from my waterbottle or eat any of the gels that i brought. in the end it was worth it because we won, only by 9 seconds after an hour and forty minutes of crushing ourselves. i think it worked out to be a 31.25 mph average. HARD. REALLY HARD.

This weekend was a classic SLC criterium called the Sugarhouse Crit. Its super fast and easy to sit in, which is not good for me. I like to hammer at the front and drop everyone i can. that is just not possible at sugarhouse without a team, and i am without team for atleast a couple more weeks until i get another upgrade. So it was a 50 minute race. i spent the first 25 minutes chasing down attacks on my own. it wasn't long before i was getting tired, the average pace was 28 mph, so chasing off the front of that took its toll. I tried a few moves on my own but couldn't get anyone to pull through to keep it rolling. for the last 10 minutes i sat in and tried to set myself up for a sprint. on the last lap i found myself on the front, which was bad. I soft pedaled for half of the lap hoping someone would pass me but it didn't happen until the last mile. I tried to stay in around 5th wheel but got swarmed and had to sprint from close to 20th (~60 person field) i found an open lane and was coming up hot but the door closed before i could ride through it, finishing somewhere between 5-10. i was a little disappointed to let an opportunity like that slip by but thats how it goes on a fast flat course with no teammates. i did what i could. next time i will sit in until the last possible second.

Yesterday was the a different kind of crit. one with hills and a fast technical downhill. the field was a bit smaller, being memorial day weekend and a sunday in utah, but many of the top riders did show up. another 50 minute race, i attacked early and often. it wasn't long before it was a 4 man group. i felt comfortable attacking on the climb as everyone had to work to stay on. I didn't want anyone getting a jump on me at the end with fresh legs. Earlier in the week I dialed the downhill in and found a way down that i didn't have to brake. I didn't ride that line until the last lap. I attacked going up the hill and got a few feet of separation but sent it on the downhill and pulled out a good sized gap that no one could follow. that was that and i won. i was psyched. our team managed a win in the men's 4s, mens 3s, men 1/2 and men masters 45+. it was a good one for us.

i'm not sure whether or not i'll race next weekend. i'm going to go up to a big national level race in Oregon called the Mt Hood Classic. It will be a 4 day stage race: 90 mile road race, 40k time trial, 90 mile road race, criterium. If things go well it will be my last race before joining my team in the pro/1/2 field. i'm pretty excited about that.

More Racing and Some Not Racing.

Well not too much has been going on the past two weeks. Lots of riding and one race in pouring rain, but other than that not much happening.

Two weekends ago was the Antelope Island Classic Road Race. Antelope Island is an island on the Great Salt Lake. We started on the causeway and rode out across the long landbridge to the island and completed 6 or 7 laps on a 6 mile circuit and finished on a 9 mile out and back (18 total). The weather was not ideal. It was raining as hard as I've ever seen it rain in Salt Lake and the wind never stops on Antelope Island.

The first race in a new category for me, I didn't really know who the strong guys were. I just rode at the front and watched for moves. I chased down a lot of breaks that were a little unnecessary but thats how it is when you don't know anyone. The course was very punchy and so the pace was also. I had no problem pushing the pace on the uphills but with an 18 mile, ultra flat finish stretch there was no incentive to try to leave the group. I sat tight and kept my nose out of the wind. As we approached the finish 5 of us broke of the front by a small margin. The last 500m was a steep uphill and I sat back hoping to pounce right before the line. I wound up on the back of what I thought was a good wheel to follow but he faded just as another rider jumped. I missed the move by a second or two and ended up 5th several inches out of 1st. Sprints on a bike are still a little hit and miss for me, but it gets better every week.

That day and also the week before I felt a little flat. I wasn't recovering as well as usual and I didn't have my normal edge during the race, especially at the end. Looking back on what I had done for the four weeks prior, there had been no rest. Four weekends of racing, 7 individual events and weekly hours hovering around 20. I just needed a rest.

On that note I decided to skip this weekends Salt Lake Downtown Criterium. I just wanted a low pressure recovery week to unwind a bit. I took a few days off last week and a couple more days easy. This past weekend I put some big rides in, 4.5 hrs on Saturday and 5.5 hrs yesterday, in preparation for next weekend's Bear Lake Classic, a 102 Mile Road Race on Saturday. Sunday is a team time trial, 5 man team, 50 miles long. It should be a hard weekend and I want to be ready. The week after next, Memorial Day weekend, is a criterium at a popular park in Salt Lake City on Saturday and a very tough circuit race in Park City on Sunday.

Lots of riding to come and so much more racing as well.

My community service has been delayed a bit in PC right now by a Swine Flu outbreak. The schools closed down for a week but are supposed to open anyday. The sooner the better, I've got some kids to hang out with before school ends in June.