Weekly Race Report

Tuesday night was weekly worlds. I felt good that night but couldn't get better than 5th in a field sprint for 5th place. More like a drag race from 5 miles out....felt like a tracker pull to me. It was a super fast night on the oval for the A group (29.8mph).
We had a pro bowler out bowling with all us amateur bowlers. I followed him about 15 minutes into the race when he took off. I dropped back to about 6th after being on his wheel. It was HR 160 to 200 in under a minute following him. I thought I was behind a motorcycle after about 1:20. Looking at my HR monitor post race I had to go 37mph then 32-34mph to stay with the breakaway group. He stood up and no one wanted to work. I should have just punched it but I looked at my HR of 195 and it scared me. I am taping over my HR from now on.

Louder got away again solo and all us amateur bowlers worked together to bring him back. I actually was at the front and someone got pissed because once I got to second position the guy in front of me picked it up and I limped back to the comfort of the draft. I was ready to do my 20 seconds of work at the front but this guy picked it up and I was toast.
It was all together coming down to the end but at about 8 minutes to go Louder got to the front again and took off up the track. Everyone was yelling but no one had energy? to follow him. I didn't want to ride around for 8 minutes at HR 200 so I stayed put. I was in perfect position right on his wheel when he jumped.
3 guys (Ryan Littlefield, Cameron Hoffman and Sean Hoover?) jumped and bridged up to Louder. The main field was hot the rest of the way in. Tough night when your final sprint is slower than a speed you reached earlier in the race just going with a move (36.8 final sprint). I felt like a punch drunk fighter who had gone 15 rounds by the end of this race. Good time though and great speed work.

Wed night was the DMV weekly race series.. I felt great for 30 minutes and was in the moves. This course is hard as you go up the "West Valley Wall" 25 times or so. After 30 minutes someone turned off the power going up the 45 foot steep hill. I had been working out in the mornings skating Short Track so it's just another workout. I have been surprised how good I actually feel because speedskating and cycling is like mixing oil and water for cycling. Last year I lost alot of fitness by November since the Weekly Worlds stop at the end of Sept. I rode around and only finished a lap down. It was funny just as I got dropped Vicky and Ryan Bedford pulled in the lot and them cheering me on kept me going. Ryan is training hard with the National Short Track team and doing RMR and DMV when he can.
No TT on Thursday. Felt better than last Thursday after doing the doubles of skating and bike racing at night. Skated friday and then the State TT was Saturday.

I signed up late for this as the thought of riding as fast as you can for 24.8 miles isn't super exciting to me. I've never been a great long TT guy but I am getting better.

I like the vibe at a Time Trial. People are friendlier and more layed back it seems to me. It's you against the clock and sort of pure. No hiding but it might as well be tennis as compared to RRs and Criteriums. It is like doing a different sport in a way but if you do stage races it's part of the deal. I'm not exactly the best stage racer but getting better.

It was a beautiful day Saturday and Elberta, UT is pretty. I wish I took more pics for this blog but I just type away and it's for me anyways. I'm going to try to take more pics of my travels. Anyways, State TT I was the 1st guy off in the Cat 3s. I didn't have speed on my bike but tried to keep my cadence at 100. I hadn't been on my TT bike in weeks and didn't have high hopes. I did want to shatter my time from two years ago and I did beat it by 1:35. I was hoping to get into the 56 minute range but no dice. I didn't really taper for this or prepare. Also, I just have regular wheels no disks. It was like an arms race out there with some of the equipment I saw. Enough excuses for now. One other thing I found out is that you should ride in the right side of the lane where the passenger side wheel travels. I was riding mostly to the right of the white line because I don't trust any of these Utah drivers. I hit some dirt a couple of times but the road was semi closed and anyone on it should know there were bikers. All my TTs at Salt Air I just hug the right side since I am always scared of getting hit from behind by some jackass going 80mph.
I got outta there pretty quick and rode the Alpine Loop on the way home. Went hiking on Sunday and have some great pics of that in the next post.

One last thing. My avg was 25.8482 mph. Check out this great calculator to figure out speed. Jessi Gordon had the fastest time and his speed was 28.6521 mph. Two years ago Richard Feldman lit up the 24.8 mile course with a mind boggling (for me) time of 48:34 and 30.6382 mph!