Tonight, I rushed out the door of Masi Global Domination HQ so that I could make it to the Fiesta Island training crit series. I raced the first one of the year about 3 weeks ago, at the start of Daylight Savings and managed to cling to the back of the front group for the entire 45 minutes. I left for Taiwan the following morning, so tonight was my first chance to get to another of the races. This is after 2 weeks of no riding and bad diet while in Taiwan and only a little riding since returning. So while I was gone getting fat, most of the riders tonight were here getting fit and fast!
The first lap was at a slightly "gentleman's pace"... but then things got fast, in a hurry. The weather tonight was cool, cloudy and pretty windy along the western, bay side of the course. I'm glad I was riding the prototype low profile Ritchey WCS Zeta wheels (a full review later) instead of my Spinergy Stealth PBO wheels with 50mm tall rims! My legs felt tired, but not terrible. I rode for an hour, almost, at lunch today to test the new wheels and get the shifting dialed back in since the new wheels changed the chainline a little bit- as did using a Shimano cassette with the SRAM Rival group.
For the first few laps, I was able to sit in and spin reasonably comfortably... reasonably. Then the pace began to pick up and the group got strung out more single file- which really just meant I was farther from the front and had fewer places in the group to hide from the wind. My legs never felt all that bad, really, but I felt tired- again, I think I might've gone a little too hard on my lunch ride.
As we rounded the wind-side of the course and back toward the front of the course, a big acceleration came at the front and the group strung way out again and I momentarily lost contact with the group when the rider in front of me decided to call it a night. I dug deep and ploughed into the wind to try to reach the tail of the moving group, but I got a massive cramp in my right side as I was making a little bit of progress. I tried to sit up a little and stretch it out, but it was not going away... but the group sure was. So, after 30 of the 45 minutes of the race, I threw in the towel and rode one last long lap to stretch the cramp out. The funny thing is that I rode around until the cramp was gone and finished the lap moving pretty quickly, solo, in the wind... go figure.
All in all, even though I was pretty disappointed to not finish this time, I was happy that my only issue was the cramp and that the legs felt strong enough to be in the race. Once the cramp was gone, the legs still felt strong enough to ride that last lap with good speed. So I am still making progress, or at least gaining it back after my trip to Taiwan. Hopefully this means I can keep the progress up as I get ready for a week in Minneapolis (5/18-5/22) shooting pictures for the next catalog. Would be nice to not be in total crap shape when I go there with my bike/s. Would be fun to try and hop into a track race while I am there.
Tonight, after the race and before my dinner (grilled salmon and a big salad), I weighed in at 206.6lbs. Not my goal of 205... but much closer than the 211lbs I weighed when I got back from Taiwan.
It's good to be back on the bike and not feeling too much like a fish with gloves on.
Tim
Showing posts with label Racing Rocks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Racing Rocks. Show all posts
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Bittersweet night...
Tonight is something of a bittersweet night for me; tonight is the opening night of our Tuesday night racing series here at our velodrome... and I'm not there racing.
I was kinda hoping to be there to race, even if I only finished one race in the B's or even the C's- just to complete the recovery since the crash. See, this month- the 29th- marks one year since the crash at the velodrome that changed my life. I am SO blessed to even be alive, let alone well enough to ride again and complain about not being able to ride as much as I would like. On 4/29 of 2008, I came close to never doing anything again and a lot closer to dieing than I hope I ever get again.
Instead of racing, I'm at home doing laundry and working on some of the projects that are behind and need to be worked on... which is a lot. I did not know that opening night was tonight until this past weekend, since the velodrome website had not been updated with the racing schedule until last week- a friend of mine told me that racing was starting tonight and totally caught me off guard. I was drifting around in my own world of belief that racing would not start for another week or so and that I still had time to get in a few training sessions on the track before the start of the season... but I was wrong.
Track racing, even though it nearly killed me, is still something that I love very deeply. It is my hope that I will get back on the track this year and finish what I started last year and retake my place among "the fast guys". I would like that a lot. What I fear, like many people who suffer a traumatic experience, is that I will get back on the track and be consumed by the fear of a repeat incident. I am reasonably confident that I can get back on the track and work through that initial jitteriness. I've crashed many times in the past and I've always managed to get back up and get back into my slot in the paceline... and I plan for this time to be no different... but only time will tell.
So, even though I am healthy again and riding as much as my schedule and life allows, I have not yet completed the cycle of my recovery... but it will hopefully be soon.
Tim
I was kinda hoping to be there to race, even if I only finished one race in the B's or even the C's- just to complete the recovery since the crash. See, this month- the 29th- marks one year since the crash at the velodrome that changed my life. I am SO blessed to even be alive, let alone well enough to ride again and complain about not being able to ride as much as I would like. On 4/29 of 2008, I came close to never doing anything again and a lot closer to dieing than I hope I ever get again.
Instead of racing, I'm at home doing laundry and working on some of the projects that are behind and need to be worked on... which is a lot. I did not know that opening night was tonight until this past weekend, since the velodrome website had not been updated with the racing schedule until last week- a friend of mine told me that racing was starting tonight and totally caught me off guard. I was drifting around in my own world of belief that racing would not start for another week or so and that I still had time to get in a few training sessions on the track before the start of the season... but I was wrong.
Track racing, even though it nearly killed me, is still something that I love very deeply. It is my hope that I will get back on the track this year and finish what I started last year and retake my place among "the fast guys". I would like that a lot. What I fear, like many people who suffer a traumatic experience, is that I will get back on the track and be consumed by the fear of a repeat incident. I am reasonably confident that I can get back on the track and work through that initial jitteriness. I've crashed many times in the past and I've always managed to get back up and get back into my slot in the paceline... and I plan for this time to be no different... but only time will tell.
So, even though I am healthy again and riding as much as my schedule and life allows, I have not yet completed the cycle of my recovery... but it will hopefully be soon.
Tim
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Rollers
The thing with riding rollers is that there is absolutely nowhere to hide any imperfections in the way you ride. It's kinda like standing naked in front of a full length mirror with really harsh lighting.
It's been about a year and a half since I've ridden on rollers. Mostly because I've been too lazy to go get a replacement belt for my old rollers and I've been doing lots of ILT (Isolated Leg Training) exercises on my stationary trainer. ILT's are really great for improving your hip flexor muscle strength- which really increases your power at the top of your pedal stroke, which is great for improving your climbing power. So I've been doing lots of riding on my stationary trainer with fluid resistance unit. The only real negative to stationary trainer workouts is that you don't improve your pedal stroke or overall fluidity and you can even dig yourself a hole with your technique.
Yesterday I finally cracked and got roller'ed-up again. So last night I got out and rode the rollers for nearly an hour, for the first time in about 18 months +/-. For those who don't know from experience, riding rollers is close to a 1.5:1 ratio- an hour on the rollers is like an hour and a half on the road (or so). I was happy that I hadn't forgotten how to ride rollers and that the form wasn't all that bad. I did manage to get out of the saddle and ride without riding off the drums, as well as being able to drink from my bottle, wipe my sweat off with my towel and change position on the bike. I didn't go full bore in my seated sprints, but I did get the legs going at a good turn of speed.
The bad news is that I found that it has been too long since I spent time on my rollers. I was riding my fixed gear, which also highlights your pedal stroke deficiencies, and at speed I was bouncing enough to make me worry about riding off the drums. I didn't, but I had to pay attention. The one time I did ride off the drums, I was wiping my face with my towel and had my eyes closed and couldn't see that I was drifting across the drums. Fortunately, I just rolled off on to the frame and then caught myself on the fence next to me. But, it does mean that I have to work on my form again... so it's good that I am on the rollers now.
And, that 50+ minutes on the rollers had me "sweating like a redneck at a spelling bee". Afterwards, my bathroom scale claimed that I weighed a mere 198! That's even lower than the 199 I saw a few weeks ago for the first time in about 10 years. The weight is coming off, the legs are feeling good and the power is coming back. April 1st is the beginning of Tuesday Night Racing here at the San Diego Velodrome... and I'm trying to bring the heat this year. I was pretty far off the pace last year, so I'm hoping this year is better because I'm hunting for medals at the State Masters track championships in the Kilo, Sprint and Team Sprint (maybe).
Ok, time to get a few things done here and then it's off to the gym. Then I need to write some new copy for the catalog- I had to change a few things from what I wrote earlier.
Enjoy your day!
Tim
It's been about a year and a half since I've ridden on rollers. Mostly because I've been too lazy to go get a replacement belt for my old rollers and I've been doing lots of ILT (Isolated Leg Training) exercises on my stationary trainer. ILT's are really great for improving your hip flexor muscle strength- which really increases your power at the top of your pedal stroke, which is great for improving your climbing power. So I've been doing lots of riding on my stationary trainer with fluid resistance unit. The only real negative to stationary trainer workouts is that you don't improve your pedal stroke or overall fluidity and you can even dig yourself a hole with your technique.
Yesterday I finally cracked and got roller'ed-up again. So last night I got out and rode the rollers for nearly an hour, for the first time in about 18 months +/-. For those who don't know from experience, riding rollers is close to a 1.5:1 ratio- an hour on the rollers is like an hour and a half on the road (or so). I was happy that I hadn't forgotten how to ride rollers and that the form wasn't all that bad. I did manage to get out of the saddle and ride without riding off the drums, as well as being able to drink from my bottle, wipe my sweat off with my towel and change position on the bike. I didn't go full bore in my seated sprints, but I did get the legs going at a good turn of speed.
The bad news is that I found that it has been too long since I spent time on my rollers. I was riding my fixed gear, which also highlights your pedal stroke deficiencies, and at speed I was bouncing enough to make me worry about riding off the drums. I didn't, but I had to pay attention. The one time I did ride off the drums, I was wiping my face with my towel and had my eyes closed and couldn't see that I was drifting across the drums. Fortunately, I just rolled off on to the frame and then caught myself on the fence next to me. But, it does mean that I have to work on my form again... so it's good that I am on the rollers now.
And, that 50+ minutes on the rollers had me "sweating like a redneck at a spelling bee". Afterwards, my bathroom scale claimed that I weighed a mere 198! That's even lower than the 199 I saw a few weeks ago for the first time in about 10 years. The weight is coming off, the legs are feeling good and the power is coming back. April 1st is the beginning of Tuesday Night Racing here at the San Diego Velodrome... and I'm trying to bring the heat this year. I was pretty far off the pace last year, so I'm hoping this year is better because I'm hunting for medals at the State Masters track championships in the Kilo, Sprint and Team Sprint (maybe).
Ok, time to get a few things done here and then it's off to the gym. Then I need to write some new copy for the catalog- I had to change a few things from what I wrote earlier.
Enjoy your day!
Tim
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