if i dont attack look what happens

since that hill normally destroys me, sjbc tuesday night crits, i normally attack and go all out for the first 5 laps, this week i decided to see what would happen if i didn't attack. holy crap, i lasted 12 of 14 laps and if i didn't have to put on the president's hat and speak to someone in the fricking wind, who knows might have lasted the full 14 laps.

next week...

putting on a bike race is tough, try doing two

after six months of planning and worrying about if I had forgotten anything the Mt Hamilton Classic and Memorial Day Criterium happened with great success. The sheer amount of support that I received both from volunteers and sponsors was beyond my wildest hopes. Sure there is registration and results items to be fixed, but now that I know all the aspects on putting this weekend on, I'll be better prepared for 2009.

next year we are thinking about adding a 3rd event and creating a points event, it will be fun...

first race in the books

i slept just fine, had a good breakfast, did everything that i normally did before an event. got to the event with plenty of time to walk the course and cheer on our cat 4s. set up the trainer, started to warm up during the last bit of the 4s race and the w4 races. hydrated and gel-ed up i was ready to race. 5 laps to go i start moving towards the start line, only to hear, we'll be placing the ladies under neutral while the ambulance takes care of the fallen cyclist. so back to the car i go for warm clothing. with not knowing an exact amount of time, i do micro laps in a parking lot.

10 minutes go by and i start to see guys of my race on the course, well by now I'm starting to get a bit dizzy. a few laps around and they were ready to get things going.

finally its my turn to race. all i want to do is clip in. let me clip in and ill worry about gaining ground later. first lap came around and i assume i must have been last when michael announced me and "pulling up the rear jonathan from sjbc". i get back to mid-back of the pack for now, where todd is starting to get closer, i know im not moving up, maybe he's coming back to see how im doing. i ride up to him then get in front of him to bring him back up to the middle. but he tells me that its not his day, i move back to stay near the guys i know when all of a sudden that noise you dread is getting louder, the mad dash to brake. from 30 to 0 in a matter of seconds, as i roll by the start/finish line there is a pile up. this one is gonna take a while to clean up.

after 20 minutes or so we are back on to ride 7 laps. first 1/2 lap was ok then the pace quickly shot up, i was pushing 500+ watts to stay on reaching 650 and 31 mph in the saddle in the last lap, to finish 62nd/100, but upright and ready for more.

a few more months of training and by memorial day i should be back to do multiple races in a day.

then there was outside

decided to test the legs, the bike, the mental game of it all by riding two days before I took a long ride with the Saturday gang.

getting the helmet out of the car was the sure sign that this was real. after so many days riding on the trainer and going absolutely no where it sure felt good when we turned out of the parking lot and headed down towards central expressway. the goal of the two days was to get that lung butter up and boy was it coming out.

saturday's ride - i wanted to be on the bike for as long as i could. decided to ride from my house to the saturday ride, that would get me warmed up and ready to roll. i over estimated the time it would take to get there, so i had to ride around the neighborhood to stay warm. by the time the ride leaders said let's go, i had 13 miles logged.

riding to gilroy was a lot of fun, tailwind, pushing us along with folks attacking and i had a blast chasing them down, by the time i got to the gilroy golf course, i was pushing close to 42 miles. as we started heading north we all got a taste of what we will be riding in for the next 20 miles, fierce headwind. i was immediately dropped, and rode alone for 18 miles. at one point the wind was pushing me sideways, and riding down the cinnabar hill, i was pedaling as hard as i could and only getting 29mph. eventually i made it home, logged 73 miles and 4:36hrs on the bike. it was total bliss.

sunday rode 33 miles and tuesday another 27 miles.

conclusion: flat roads are fun, hills its a sufferfest, though with after work ride team mates, steven and john, they will get me ready for may-sept ncnca races.

retiring the trainer

208 miles in february and another 49 in january all on the trainer in either the garage, driveway or in the back yard. enough. i'm ready to ride outside.

2 sessions, 33 miles

did my 50 minutes on the trainer before my sports therapy appointment totaling 18 miles. my appointment is with vertical empowerment which offers active release techniques (ART), its extremely helpful in relaxing tight muscles and removing knots but it is also the most intense 30 minutes one can have, yea it hurts, but my rationale is that the injury hurt first, so its got to take some measurable amount of pain to make it feel better.

after the treatment, I could already feel an increase range of motion, i'm back in 7 days for more. this was my 12th appointment so i knew what i was getting myself into. i drove into los gatos in search of a good espresso and a bite to eat. afterwards i was still feeling motivated to ride, so i drove home got back on the bike and rode for another 45 minutes = 15 miles. now im tired, but that's the most amount of miles in a day in a long long time. tomorrow i think ill go for 37.

firsts for 2008

preparing drinks for the trainer workout, getting to wear the new kit, clipping in, spinning past 20 mph and of course applying butt balm to the shammy.

good first workout: 20 miles in 62 minutes, with an average of 19.3mph and a 84 cadence.