San Ardo Road Race Report

From last years start.
Photo Credit: www.procyclingphotos.com/san_ardo/2008/men/

Saturday, August 22 found me punching holes in my jersey while sitting on my truck's tail gate in the small Salinas Valley town of San Ardo. I've always had a fondness for this race, maybe because it was the last race I raced back in the 80's when I gave up bicycle racing the first time. In the last 4 years I've been back a few times with this being my first race as a NorCal racer. The irony here is that I figured the drive to San Ardo would be quicker and closer, as it is a NorCal race, and I now live in the NorCal. What a surprise to find out that San Ardo is almost exactly the same distance from our home in the Napa Valley as it was to our previous home in the Antelope Valley of SoCal - around 230 miles away.

I decided to race the Masters' Cat 4/5 race and it was set to go off at 9:05. By 8:00 I was on my bike warming up by riding a part of the race course backwards. I like to get about an hour in for a warm-up and I prefer to ride my bike around the course whenever possible as opposed to attaching my bike to a static trainer. I ended up getting close to 12 miles in before the start of the 47 mile race. As usual, I've got a MapMyRide link and map at the end of this post.

San Ardo's course is a 23.5 mile loop around the farm land of the Salinas Valley. The race organizers always list the race as loops of 21 miles, but my Garmin has always shown each loop to be closer to 24 miles. The race is advertised as flat but it does have a couple of sprinter's hills embedded in the course, and it seemed that most of us dropped to our smaller chain ring on one of the first hills. My Garmin says we climbed a total of 1585 feet in the two laps of 47 miles that made up our race. MapMyRide shows a climb of 912 feet so I'm guessing the real climb data is somewhere between the two - my legs sure felt like the Garmin was the more correct of the two; started feeling some slight cramping in the finishing sprint.

After the usual words about the course from the race official, we were off. You start almost immediately going uphill but it is very gradual. The race starts in town right in front of the high school and heads across a bridge over the Salinas River. It gradually climbs past the feed stop and up the overpass for the crossing of the 101 freeway. 50 guys were listed as starting the race but the final results show several no shows. I looked around the peloton and it seemed like we had close to 50 guys. The pace at this point was pretty easy. I did my usual routine of staying near the front but not trying to stay so close that I had to do any work at the front. In any case, the speed was relaxing as all knew that we would have two laps for this race.

Just before 3 miles the first hill crests out and you level for just a short time and then start a 2nd hill. This one is steeper than the first and it is here that I saw and heard others dropping to their small chain ring, including myself. Compared to a true hill course, these two initial hills are no big deal but by the time you come around them a second time, the hill climbers are attacking and you're driving your bike over them in the big ring - it's good for getting your heart rate up and mine topped out at 175 bpm, which is pretty good as my max is right around 180-181 bpm. After mile 5 you hit the top and start a long decent of about 6 miles, with just a couple of rollers to add excitement as someone will always attack on them. With a course so devoid of hills, sorting can only happen on the big ring rollers and pretty much only on the 2nd lap. At around mile 11.5 you cross a bridge over the Salinas River again and start a gradual ascent that will last all the way to the starting or finishing area. Mile 13 brings another sprinter's hill and is a good spot for someone to make an attack. Lap one though, we went neutral as the Cat 3 leaders started passing our peloton, followed a couple of minutes later by their peloton. I was riding near the front so I missed the crash that occurred during the fracas of the two groups meeting each other. I heard it took several of our guys down but that all got back in the race - thankfully no one hurt. Staying near the front has its advantages in avoiding crashes. It is also helpful because in a flat race like this one, I can respond to any attack that takes place. The downside of staying near the front is that I tend to get over excited and end up pulling the peloton around which I did, way too much, in lap 2.

Lap 1 ends uneventfully, if you don't count the crash, and lap 2 starts with a bang. Immediately the climbers attack on the first 2 hills of the course. I'm still 180lbs+ so I really feel the exertion that's needed to stay with the leaders. As we crest the 2nd hill I'm still there, about 15th from the front. I take a quick look back and think I see most of the group, I couldn't tell if we shelled anybody off the back or not. At this point I rotated on to the front and nobody came around me so it would appear that I would be pulling the peloton for a bit. Actually, rather than work hard, I took this opportunity to just ride at my pace and recover from the hard exertion we had just put in cresting the first hills. After crossing the bridge a second time, guys had finally gotten tired of my 20mph cruise and came around me on the left. The pace immediately went up as we headed for the sprinters hill at mile 13. Boom - off they went and I stayed in my big ring as I jumped out of the saddle and started up the hill. We came over the top and I'm still sitting pretty at around 10th place or so. Somebody next to me asks if we dropped anybody on that surge - I take a quick look back but answer, "dunno." I still couldn't tell if we dropped anybody as the peloton seemed unchanged. This was a strong group of guys for a 4/5 race. We averaged over 22 mph with a top speed of 37 mph so we weren't lolly gagging on this course. Quite the contrary, there were a large number of surges to see if we could break the peloton into manageable groups - very tiring.

Somewhere around mile 40 or so, I stayed with a couple of flyer attempts but nothing too tough, just enough to wear you down a little. At about mile 42 the guys were content to just sit in at around 22 mph and it looked like it was going to be a mass sprint at the finish. Guys began to cheat up and around and crowd the front of the peloton but no one wanted to attack. I had felt a little cramping on the last sprinter's hill so I knew I wasn't in any condition to attack myself and was now a little concerned about my ability to sprint up the small hill, created by the freeway overpass, that marks the finish area. I tried to maintain my position at the front but I kept slipping gradually back to around 15th place as we moved through the town with only 1k to go or so to the finish. It was here something strange happened. We overtook the rear guard of the Cat 3s. Our peloton swallowed them up but rather than move over as the Cat 3s should have done, they increased speed and stayed in the front group of 15. If anything they started blocking our sprint group. I'm still not sure what exactly was going on but I did see one of the young Cat 3s turn completely around on his seat and scream at our guys. He started yelling, our guys started yelling back and it looked like we were in for a nasty crash as we were now only 500m from the finish. I took stock of this and said to myself, I'm not going to make the podium and a crash looks imminent, in point of fact, the cocky Cat 3 guy turned around again just as he hit a bump and almost went down - that was it for me, I backed off the speed and allowed myself to drift to the back of our group. I traded a top 10 or 15th placing for a 22nd place but in any case, it wouldn't be worth the crash if it occurred. Turns out it didn't so I dropped back for nothing. I did throw in the fastest sprint I still had left and made it pass a few guys. I was happy with the place as I felt I worked real hard in this race; staying at the front 90% of the time. Better yet, I had fun and that's pretty much what road racing is all about for me - and I stayed on the bike and off the ground. Check out the results at Velo Promo.

Final data: 46.73 miles in 2hr 06'47" for an average speed of 22.1 mph. Click on the map below for a MapMyRide view of the course.

Speed Interval Training

My next race is the San Ardo Road Race on Saturday, August 22. With such a big gap in my racing schedule caused by my relocation to Northern California, I've had a lot of time to work on my endurance and stamina. My workouts of late have been to get a couple of hill climbs (see Howell Mt. Road in my Hills of Napa series) in during the week, followed by long rides on either Saturday or Sunday or both (rides to Davis, Bodega Bay, etc.) So stamina is not an issue right now. What I really need, with a race just 3 weeks away, is sharpening or working on my speed. San Ardo is a pretty much flat course anyway and ends in a slightly uphill sprint. So now is the time to drop some of my threshold workouts/week and replace them with speed.

For the most part I follow Training Peaks workouts as I've been a paying member for several years now. I am also very much a student of Joe Friel and his workouts in both training Peaks and his "Training Bible." But this week I chose a workout from Chris Carmichael, as laid out in the August issue of Bicycle Magazine)see page 42 of that issue for a complete discussion. But here's how I completed the workouts in a nutshell:

Monday: Core Day (I do light weight lifting and stomach/lower back work

Tuesday: Interval Day (Descending Ladder) - 2' hard/2' recover, 1:30' hard/1:30'recover, 1:00' hard/1:00 recover, 45" hard/5 full minutes to recover between sets. I do this workout over my 21 mile circuit around Calistoga.

The above makes one set and after 5 mins. I do another, followed by one more, so I do three sets of the above. Coach Carmichael advises beginners to do only 1 set, intermediates 2, and advanced to do 3. I start each interval by going as hard as I think I can maintain for the full allotment of time for that interval. In other words, as I start the first 2' I ramp up to the highest power I can maintain and not lose power over the complete 2'.

Wednesday: recovery day - I do my usual 21 mile circuit around Calistoga but back off on speed and complete the 21 miles in around 1:07 or so.

Thursday: Interval Day (pure speed) - I alternate between going full out (maximum speed and power) for 30" followed by 30" of recovery. I do 7 of these and then recover over 4 minutes to do the whole thing all over again. It would look like this in my workout journal:

7 X 30" (30" RI) X 2 (with 4' RI between sets)

Carmichael advises that beginners 2 sets of 5, intermediates 3 sets of 5, and advanced 2 sets of 7. Again, I do this over my 21 mile course.

Friday: recovery day (same as Wednesday)

Saturday: Long ride. I like 3 - 5 hours for this ride.

Sunday: Easy ride of around 1.5 - 2.5 hours.

This should get me peaked for San Ardo. I also have a couple of races right after, one just the next week; the Winters Road Race, so I hope to maintain my peak for this race too. The last race is the Henleyville Road Race and it is also the last race of the season (not counting Tour of Tucson in November which is kind of a special thing for me) held on September 19th, and it is a class B race for me so I'll start tailing off on intensity and working on endurance again to prepare for the 109 miles in Tucson.

Napa Valley Hills - Mt. Veeder (Dry Creek Side)

Looking down Dry Creek Road
Photo Credit: http://srcc.memberlodge.com

With my next race still 4 weeks away in August (San Ardo RR) it's time for more travelogues from my weekend long rides. Each day I put in about 21 miles around my town of Calistoga, Ca but the weekends are for the long rides, and I usually want this ride to be hilly.

This ride actually encompasses two climbs listed on Bruce DeBell's web page, "The Hills of Napa Valley" where he lists 17 climbs in the Napa Valley, from the most difficult to the easiest. Mt Veeder, Dry Creek side is #10 on his list and at the top of Dry Creek you do a short climb, Oakville Grade which is #16. This post is the second in my series called Napa Valley Hills - see my first hill, Mt. Howell Road here. And as usual, I've included a MapMyRide map at the bottom of this post; MapMyRide will give you all kinds of data, from Satellite views to full elevation, profile data.

To start this climb, I have to ride almost 25 miles to the town of Napa, located to the South of Calistoga. A long way to go perhaps for a single hill or two but 25 miles on the Silverado Trail is a great ride in itself. After I enter the town of Napa, I've got about 3 miles or so of traversing the town from East to West, and then I turn North onto Dry Creek Road for the start of the climb that will peak out 10 miles closer to Calistoga for my return trip on Ca-29, the road that links all the towns in the Napa Valley.

The climb itself is not that tough. About 4 miles long with over 700' of elevation gain. The road is very scenic however, and under a lot of shade - in short, it's a beautiful ride. The toughest pitch in my book was not even on this road but rather at the top of the road where you make a right turn onto Oakville Grade. This is my 2nd hill of the ride, and though short, a little over a mile, is relatively steep. MapMyRide shows an average of around 4% but I remember pitches of up to 8 - 10% during the short climb. Hang onto your bars when you crest this hill - the downhill is steep and somewhat technical but not too bad. I hit a speed of over 43 mph on the downhill and that's while I was sitting up and feathering the brakes as it was my first time on this road. This descent is Bruce's #1 toughest climb in the Napa Valley going the other way - I've got to check this hill out soon.

That's it for this training ride, around 54.5 miles. Check out the map link below:

Napa Valley Hills - Howell Mt. Road

A view from Howell Mt. Road
Photo Credit: http://wine.appellationamerica.com/images/appellations/features/Craig%20Howell%20web1.jpg

I did a great hill workout today climbing Howell Mt. Road right off the Silverado Trail. There are a lot of great hill workouts in the Napa Valley so I thought I would start a series describing the climbs after I've ridden them. A very good web resource is a page called "Hills of Napa Valley" where author Bruce DeBell lays out his 17 hill rides in the Napa Valley. Howell Mt. Road is #14 on Bruce's list. Bruce does give a very brief description of the ride but not a lot of location information, which could make the ride tough to find for an out of town roadie. I've provided a MapMyRide map that should get you the hill in no time.

You can find the start of this 4.2 mile climb right at the junction of the Silverado Trail just North of the town of St. Helena. St. Helena is located just South of Calistoga. Look for Howell Mt. Road 1.7 miles South of Deer Park Road. The climb is moderate but very scenic (see pic above.) My Garmin showed several pitches above 7% with a total elevation climb of over 1100 feet. I completed the climb, without working too hard, in exactly 23 minutes. This will be my baseline, and I'll now work on lowering that time in future rides. The road is narrow but traffic is very light. The road surface is fair to good. The descent down Deer Park Road is a lot of fun and was also used in stage 1 of the 2009 Tour of California.

Here's my MapMyRide map of the route:


Scroll down the map and click "view full" to open completely and be sure to check the elevation box to view a profile of the course. Pics from Steve's site show a somewhat scenic but very dry (and hot?) 11 mile course. They talk about two small hills but the elevation, as given by my MapMyRide estimate shows only 1 relatively small grinder type hill.

Here's the link for SportsBaseOnline to get information on the upcoming NCNCA Masters Championships.

SCNCA Masters Championship Results - Bakersfield, CA - Saturday, June 6, 2009

Here's the results from my category, the 50+ group.

You can read the "play by play" of the 50+ race as I called it here.

You can find all the results here: SCNCA Results Page.

SCNCA Masters Championships - Bakersfield, CA

Finally, I've got a race under my belt after having my head bounce off the road in Murrieta. The Southern California Masters' Championships took place in Bakersfield, Ca today and I raced the 50+ group. I took 18th place but I was inches behind a friend of mine who took 11th and I sure didn't see 6 guys between him and me so I'm not sure how they pick the places. The funny thing is, I could have won the damn thing. With about 200 m to go in the 31 mile race, I was right behind 5 guys that were spread out across the road lane. They were not sprinting hard, just cruising in the 24 mph range or so. I assumed that we were a chase group and that others were off the front and that's why they were moving relatively slowly but I looked out to the finish and saw no one - I was sitting in 6th place and I'm a strong sprinter! The only problem was that they were completely blocking the road. In frustration I yelled, "start sprinting or get out of my way!" Instead, they actually slowed down, which slowed me down. I started to look for a way out on the left...bad choice; a gap opened on the far right and a whole bunch of guys went screaming up that side. I was out of altitude and air speed. By the time I spooled up to top speed, really standing on my pedals and driving hard, I had to be content to travel on the groups wheel, leaving the 5 blockers back in the dust. But I'm happy. The last two weeks were very bad training weeks for me as I did a lot of traveling to NorCal and back, which left little time for training. I even gained 5lbs somehow, so I had low expectations going into this race. Now for the play by play - see the map of the course below as outlined by my GPS and MapMyRide...

Bakersfield is 1.5 hours from my home in the Antelope Valley so I was up at 4:15 am and out the door at 5:00. I hitched a ride with Randy, a fellow 50+ rider and the guy that took 11th place. We were the 3rd group on the line at 7:30. The Cat 5 guys were first, followed by the women 35+ group. As I type this into my computer, results have not been posted online. When they come in I'll update this blog with full results and a link to the Kern Wheelmen site that put on the event.

As I'm straddling my bike at the starting line and listening to the pre-race instructions I was gazing at the overcast skies and wondering what the chance of rain was for my event - turns out pretty darn good as a light rain started right after the whistle was blown. It was already cold enough for me to have my arm warmers on; not a usual event for Bakersfield in June. The whistle was blown and off we went. It seemed like about 40 guys or more in my race group of 50+ guys. We headed North up Granite Road at an easy pace. My Garmin was showing a steady 2% grade and nobody seemed in a hurry to "put the hammer down." Since I had been off my bike a lot in the last two weeks I decided to stay near the rear where I wouldn't be tempted to pull the peloton. We also had a 5-7 mph head wind and I wanted to protect myself from that as well. The course was reported to gain about 1500'of elevation over the single 31 mile loop, MapMyRide shows an elevation gain of 1358' - not bad.

We crested a slight rise at around mile 3 and our speed dramatically increased. There was some movement in the group but still no one took a flyer off the front. I was content to hang back and enjoy the 40 mph ride. The steady drizzle had me a little concerned as the road seemed slippery, judging by my back tire sliding out a little in a couple of places. The road was also a little rough and cattle guards make for an interesting diversion. At one point, a calf started to walk into the road right in front of the peloton. That caused a little excitement and the yells chased the calf back off the road and back into the weeds. The descent leveled out at around mile 6 and stayed level until mile 10. This was an area for some attacks but nothing really stuck. I never felt concern but I did have to get out of the saddle a few times and really pick up the pace to avoid any gaping between me and the leading group. I did notice the pace changes were enough to drop a few weaker riders and we haven't even hit the only hill on the course. It was around this time that my heart rate monitor failed. The damn thing had been acting up over the last couple of weeks. I kept assuming it was a battery problem but I'm on my 3rd battery now in 3 weeks so I'm thinking it is time for Bob to upgrade his Forerunner 205 to either a Forerunner 305 or an Edge - now to convince his wife of the great necessity of this device...

At mile 10 the race went vertical - that just sounds good. It really was a much easier course than either Boulevard or the UCLA road course at the Devil's Punch Bowl (see my earlier posts on these races.)The climb was about 5 miles long and switched back and forth up Round Mountain Road. I moved to the back of the group just to keep an eye on everybody as no one was attacking off the front. I really didn't know the course and kept thinking that it must get a lot harder near the top and that's why no one was attacking. With my heart rate monitor out I had to go on feel and my feel was telling me that I was working hard but that I had a lot left if I needed it. Still, guys kept dropping off in front of me and I continually moved up the peloton by attrition. We crested at mile 15 and the real fun stuff started. The descent was about a minus 6% grade with a lot of switchbacks - in short, a technical descent. To make matters more interesting, the rain kept falling and all the riders were fighting the wheel spray from other racers as well. Normally I'm a guy that loves to bomb the descent but I'm still pretty sheepish from my crash so I kept my speed at around 40 mph at the top end and rode pretty loose down the hill as far as my placement next to other riders. As we leveled off at mile 20 I stomped on the pedals and closed the gap with the lead racers. I was feeling so frisky that I even went to the front and took a few pulls. At one time, I ended up with a group of three, 20 m off the front. Had we taken off at that point I think we would have kept the gap and beaten the peloton. At around mile 27 the road began to go up at an easy 1-2% grade. I positioned myself in the top ten and stayed there with less than a quarter of mile to go. Now go back to the top of this post and read how I could have placed in the top 5. But that's bike racing and I sure love it.

Final numbers: 18th out of 40? 30.9 mile loop with 1358' of elevation gain. Average speed of 22.8 mph. 2,128 estimated calories burned. Oh, and the rain completely stopped and the sun came out right after we crossed the finish line - just another beautiful day in Bakersfield, California.

SCNCA Road Race Championships

The Golden Empire Classic and SCNCA Road Race Championships are coming up on Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7th in Bakersfield, California. I would like to race in both.

Silly me. My last post discussed racing up North in San Jose on May 25th and that this would be my first race back after my accident. Well, I forgot that is the birthday weekend of my youngest child Jade. She'll be turning 8, and though I'm a fanatic when it comes to bicycles, I certainly know what's more important between the two events. So scratch San Jose to Livermore and bring on Bakersfield.

Saturday, June 6th is the Masters' Championships. At the time of this writing, the Kern Wheelmen site has not put up a profile or race map. I did find a race description on their site and created a MapMyRide map, which can be checked out below. Their site does promise a video of the complete course to arrive on May 1st - so I'll look for that. The course is 31 miles and I plan to enter the Men 50+ group that goes off at 7:30am. We only do 1 lap but the course looks challenging, with one good hill and a few rollers tossed in.

On Sunday, June 7th, we have the Elite Championships on the same course. I would like to enter the Men 45+ 3/4/5 group going off at 7:15am. Again it's only 1 lap of 31 miles. Now I've got to talk my family into staying in Bakersfield for a couple of days. No disrespect intended toward the City of Bakersfield, but that might be my hardest sale for the weekend.

Mark Reynolds San Luis Rey Road Cycling Classic

Here I sit in room 214 at Littlerock High School waiting, more patiently than my students, for the bell to ring at 12:13. It's only 11:13 and my kids finished their State mandated STAR testing over an hour ago - just another hour of baby sitting on my side, and another hour (might as well be 100 hours)of socializing on their side. I thought I would put the time to good use (at least use)and post on the next upcoming race on my schedule. I'm still on the fence for this race but I really need to get back in the saddle and put a race behind me after my accident. My wife has to leave race day for Calistoga so my attendance in the race is "up in the air."

The race is for Sunday, May 3rd, and is in honor of Mark Reynolds. Mark was killed by a mountain lion while mountain biking in SoCal.

The race is an 11.6 mile loop (my MapMyRide says around 11.3)with a fair amount of climbing to separate out the riders. I believe I will compete with the Masters 45+ to take advantage of the more experienced racers - didn't help me at Murrieta but let's hope my accident was a fluke.

Here's my MapMyRide with profile:

Napa Valley - Bicycling Paradise

I'm pretty recovered from my bike race injuries but continued headaches made me drop my April lineup of races - the headaches are now over and I'm looking forward to May. Something new has popped up though. My wife is the new school superintendent of the Calistoga Joint Union School District in the beautiful Napa Valley of Northern California. She officially starts July 1st but we recently spent 5 days in Calistoga, and yours truly got a chance to do a couple of rides there. So I thought I would dedicate this post as a travelogue of sorts on the two rides of hundreds that exist in this cool place. Hell, Levi Leipheimer left Montana to look for the best place to train as a pro-rider and found Santa Rosa (right next door to Calistoga)and never left. He's been there 12 years and I believe he has been quoted as saying it is one of the best places to ride in the U.S. I have to agree. In one hour you can ride through redwoods, hit the Pacific Ocean, ride great hills and valleys. So here's a couple of rides that I mapped on MapMyRide.com.

Photo Credit to: Travel4California.Com

The Silverado Trail from Calistoga to Yountville:

Around 40 miles total in this out and back route right down the center of the Napa Valley. It's a fairly flat ride through the vineyards with pretty vistas on all sides of the road. The traffic is fairly heavy but there are wide bike lanes on both sides of the Silverado Trail. I was not alone on this Sunday morning ride as many, many, other roadies were out and about. Here's the link via MayMyride:



You've got options in this ride. You can continue past Yountville and travel down to the city of Napa and come back. You can make it a loop ride by using highway 29, etc. All in all, a 5 star ride.

Photo Credit: © 2007 Solage Hotels & Resorts

Pope Valley Loop:

The 2nd ride, which I did on a Monday morning was perfect. I decided to check out the climbs and ride a big part of the 2009 Tour of California, Stage 1 route (by the way, the Silverado Trail route is also a part of the TOC.) Stage 1 brought the riders from California's Central Valley (the town of Winters) over the mountains and down into the Napa Valley. I rode it backwards, leaving Calistoga, riding up over the hills to the Pope Valley and then deviated from the TOC route because of lack of time, and made it a great loop. Check it out in MapMyRide:



This ride, another 5 star, had almost zero traffic once I cleared off of the Silverado Trail. The climb up to the town of Angwin was tough but harder yet, was the descent down to the Pope Valley. Definitely a technical descent. Later, talking to locals, I was told to use Ink Grade Road which has a better descent. It looks good on the map and I can't wait to get back to Calistoga to give it a try.

I should have a race in May, though the coming move to NorCal may make racing problamatic in the short term. I for sure will have races in late summer, as NorCal has a lot more road races than SoCal. I'm going to write off crits, as I don't want my daughters to see me lying in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm again.

When you come to the Napa Valley for the wine, make sure you look me up and I'll hook you up with all the rides the Valley has to offer!

Back in the Saddle Again

With my Colnago C40 still in the bicycle shop waiting for my new fork to arrive, I finally felt good enough to go for a short ride on my Felt time trial bike. The Colnago is sitting in the Trek Bicycle Superstore in San Diego after my crash in the Tour de Murrieta circuit race, in Murrieta, California (see previous post.) It seemed to come off the 30 mph end over end accident fairly well, if you can call having to drop over 6 bills "coming off fairly well." The carbon fiber, aero handlebars are toast, the stem had the mounting screws that hold the handlebars sheared off, and the fork is suspect, though we haven't looked for steerer tube damage yet - just seems the sensible thing to do, as the fork is completely carbon fiber. It was a Look fork that I'm replacing with a slightly heavier Colnago fork that is also carbon fiber but has an alloy steerer tube and should be stronger for when I repeat the accident in the future. The left shifter is suspect but seems okay right now, will know more when I get the bike put back together.

The big story here is my Giro Monza helmet. Without question it saved my life. When the numnut sprinted up on my left and hooked my handlebars with his, he was driving at full speed. My handlebars were immediately pushed hard to the right causing my front wheel to follow and the bike literally tipped straight over and drove me into the pavement head first. I took the impact on the left side of my helmet and was immediately knocked out for several minutes by the impact. The helmet sustained fatal injuries, cracked in more than 3 places - see pics below.

I now have a lot of faith in Giro and have replaced my dead Monza with a new Giro, Ionos model.

Left Side of Helmet

Note double crack on either side of helmet front

Note crack through yellow safety decal

Tour de Murrieta - Crashed Out Bigtime

Masters 45/55+ Crit Field, photo by Maya Grove

Well the Tour de Murrieta should be one forgettable race weekend. And would be too, if I didn't have a face that looks like hamburger and a bike with a broken handlebar and stem. I should have known that my DNF in Saturday's crit was my omen to leave this race alone. One ambulance ride later (my first) where I heard the EMT radioing ahead the following: "we've got a 52 year old male with multiple lacs, abrasions, possible head and lower back trauma..." I've included a picture below, look at your own risk.

First the crit. I awoke Saturday morning with bad lower back spasms. The bed in our San Diego apartment is definitely 2nd string and has been known to cause this problem before. I usually sleep on a single mattress on the floor as the floor keeps the mattress firm. In any case, I didn't use the single bed and woke up with my lower back feeling very unstable, no pain yet, it just didn't feel right. Any of you that get lower back problems would know what I'm talking about. Your back just feels funny and that it could go at anytime. My race wasn't till 12:20 or so, the Masters 45+ so I tried light stretching and other lower back exercises but it just got worse during the morning.

Photo by Maya Grove

By 12:20 it was pretty sore and only sitting on my bike (go figure) or laying flat on my back helps. Strange how sitting on my bike generates no pain what so ever, but sitting on a chair causes me all kinds of problems. Well, sitting on a bike is one thing, generating a lot of speed and power while on the bike is another. The combined Masters 45/55+ race with a full field took off like they really had a fire to get to. Lap after lap my computer was showing 25-26 mph and faster. I just didn't have the speed or snap to stay with the group so at time 22' of this 45' crit I started to drift to the back and then I pulled out. I was pretty upset with myself, as I've never pulled out of a race before. I would like to give my lower back the complete blame but I think the real truth is I just haven't trained right for a crit. I'm in very good shape riding longer road race distances and have been tearing up my club rides but crits require a lot of power and are very much anaerobic events - looking at my training journal from two years ago, when I competed successfully in many crits, shows a lot of anaerobic training; which is something I haven't been doing too much of at late.

The next day, the Tour de Murrieta circuit race; I was looking forward to this race, really a giant crit competed on a 3.5 mile section of road. The Masters 45/55+ were combined again making it a very large group, especially with the center line rule in affect. It seemed like more than 100 riders lined up for this event and I heard grumblings on how they should have divided the field for this race - I couldn't agree more, there just wasn't a lot of room on the course for a field this large. This age group usually provides much experience to road racing but the field was so big that moving up and through the peloton was almost impossible and I personally witnessed one crash and personally avoided several other "crash possibilities." I was riding well but was finding it hard to get out of the middle of the peloton. I stayed usually on the center line area which allowed me to jump left if the group got a little too frisky. Each time we would come out of a turn on the back of the course, an area where there was no center line on the street, we would use this area to gain position - I used this strategy too. The motor behind us, would roar up and motion us to get back to the right side of the road but another right hand turn was ahead and most of us stayed left to navigate this tough turn.

My accident occurred at the back of lap 8 of this 11 lap course. I have very little recollection of what happened. I remember seeing the Pro women ahead again, as we had passed them on turn 3 earlier in the race. I knew that the women would have to go neutral as our large field started passing them on the left. Our race had been very fast with lap times around 8'30" and the race announcer yelling how fast our group was to the crowd. I guess having Thurlow Rodgers out front of our peloton was really helping to drive the group. I made a mental note that we might slow down as we passed the women - poor note. I should have remembered that the first time we went by them many guys took off like scalded cats to use the confusion of the two groups to their advantage. I can't say that's what happened as we were getting set up to pass the women, I just don't remember much. I do remember some guy coming out of nowhere and slamming into my front wheel and the left side of my handlebars. He came in so fast that I didn't even have much time to register what was going on. I do remember a shocked look on his face and someone yelling out a warning but it was too late for me. The impact ripped the handle bars right out of my hands and pitched me into the street. I do remember the bike computer showing between 27-30 mph at impact but I remember little else. The EMT said I was out for a couple of minutes and that when I came around I kept asking the same question over and over. I do remember waking up on my back and seeing 3 or 4 faces hovering over me. One was a woman that was mopping my face with a towel and I heard her say that she was slowing the blood flow - slowing the blood flow??? I remember thinking, "I'm not sure where I'm at but slowing the blood flow does not sound so good." I may have said what I was thinking because someone said, "you really rung your bell, the ambulance is on the way." I tried to raise my head and that resulted in a lot of hands pushing me back down and I also realized they had put on a C-collar. They placed me on a board and lifted me into the ambulance. I was still pretty confused and it took me several minutes to figure out where I was at and what was going on.

I arrived at the hospital where they cut a lot of my clothes off and got me ready for the CAT scanner. Well the cat scan was negative for skull fractures, neck and lower back fractures. They cleaned up my abrasions and actually found a pinto bean size rock stuck inside one of my left knee abrasions. My helmet is cracked in several places and my bike has a broken stem. The bike seems to have taken the least amount of damage - thank god. I do remember asking about my bike as they were loading me into the ambulance. I also remember saying something like, "take care of my bike as it is worth more than I am."

I do want to thank the EMT, Ethan. Seemed like a great guy. Also the staff at Inland Valley Medical Center in the town of Wildomar. They all treated me well for the full day I spent in their trauma center. My wife is saying the usual things wife say after one of these - "can't you just ride your bike for fun?" Don't know about that, just know I've got three weeks to get ready for the San Diego Omnium.

Photo by Maya Grove

Upcoming Races - Tour de Murrieta/San Diego Omnium

Time to get a March post in and I've got 2nd period prep at Littlerock High School and nothing to do - so let's get the post in. Hope my Principal and School Superintendent aren't reading my blog...but why would they?

This week has been a tough training week. Monday was my usual core work via crunches and lower back work coupled with weight lifting but Tuesday was 40mph winds and sub 50 temps. The sub-50 temps are not a problem but the sustained 40mph with gusts to 60mph were a bit problamatic. To hide from the wind, I decided to climb over Godde hill hoping it would block the wind. Note - if the wind is out of the SW (which it was) Godde hill does not block the wind. Instead, you're climbing an 8% grade with 40-60mph winds blowing right in your face. At one time, my bike computer showed a speed of 2.8mph! I was barely making headway up the hill. The friggen wind even started blowing small rocks at me. I put my head down to protect my face and heard/felt the rocks bouncing off my helmet. Not sand mind you but gravel sized stones. The Antelope Valley is a unique place to train. Wednesday I rushed home from work only to find sustained winds at 40mph with gusts to 60mph and a driving rain tossed into the mix. That's it. I'm a fanatic but I've got my limits. I put my truck in the garage and finally did my overdue oil change. Thursday (yesterday) the winds were only 30mph with gusts to 40mph - I was able to put in 24 miles - yea. Today is Friday and I'm hoping to get a quick hour ride in. The wind was only 15mph at 0630 when I left for work. Should only be about 20-30mph this afternoon. Looking forward to a 4 hour ride on Saturday with the L & 20th boys. But what does this have to do with the upcoming races - nothing.

My next race is next week and it is a two day affair, March 14 and 15th. It is the Tour de Murrieta in the town of Murrieta, California. It's about 60 minutes north of our San Diego apartment and is a two day stage race. Go to Socalcycling and click the link for the Tour and you'll get all the entry info you need to register for the race. I entered the Masters 45+ race and am looking forward to Saturday's criterium. This will be my first crit of the year and I'm anxious to see how I do. In the past I was more of a crit racer. My larger build and power were perfect for this type of race. But now I'm down to 177 lbs (friends are worried that I'm taking diet lessons from Lindsey Lohan)and actually leading attacks up hills instead of hanging on. In any case, I don't think my power has diminished with my lost body fat so we'll see how I do. The crit is 45 minutes and it is just a 4 corner course around down town Murrieta. Crits are dangerous so I've entered the masters race instead of the elite 4 race. I'll be up against Cat 1 to 4s but their superior road handling skills over the young cat 4s makes it a necessity. The road race should be interesting as it really is a circuit race of 3.5 mile laps around the city - kind of a giant crit. Here's the course as estimated by my MapMyRide link.



Now here's to hoping it does not rain next weekend.

My next race falls in April and it is the San Diego Omnium which is put on by my racing club, the San Diego Cyclo-Vets. Click the link for the San Diego Omnium and you'll get to the Cyclo-Vets website and info for both the race and registration.

This is another stage race carried over 3 days, March 3 - 5. A time trial on Friday, a road race on Saturday, followed by a crit on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to this race because I will actually have team mates in the Masters 35+, Cat 4/5 race. Both Jon and Vince for sure and probably Chad and Dave - Team tactics! I haven't decided if I'll do the full omnium as I would have to do the time trial on Friday. this would require a day off from work (back to the Principal and Superintendent again)and getting on my time trial bike that has hung neglected on my garage wall all winter. In fact my wife actually suggested I sell my felt - gasp! So I really do need to do this time trial and put my butt back on the felt's saddle.

The only fly in the ointment is the road race. It is conducted back at the Boulevard Road Race course and what fun that is. The course is modified somewhat from Boulevard's course but here's my MapMyRide on Boulevard from when I raced there in February.



This course is so brutal. Vince is a true climber but from what he's told me, he never does well here and I'm sure it's mental for him. I find I just try not to think too much about this course and the suffering that is about to come. Heck, I'm 3 lbs lighter than in February so maybe I'll stay with the front pack of climbers - here's hoping - it would be a first for me on this course. Look at my Boulevard posting and you'll see I got dropped twice on this course. The downhill part is perfect for my sprinting and bike handling skills, which is only good enough to get me back to the front climbers so they can drop me again. Note - goal for this race; stay with the climbers (try not to think that they only weight 155 lbs soaking wet).

Here's to a good bunch of races. Better get back to work before 3rd period shows up. I can never get over how peaceful it is in my classroom when there are no kids - the amount of work you can get done...

UCLA Road Race - Hill of Suffering

2-14-09

28th out of 75, my best showing on this hill of suffering and my 2nd race as a San Diego Cyclo-Vet racer. I believe I was the only San Diego Cyclo-Vet that ventured this far North but this race is right in my backyard as I live only 30 minutes away in the city of Lancaster. This course is tough. There are not a lot of courses where you can be waiting at the starting line with a heart rate in the 90s and a minute later, right after the start of the race, your heart rate is at 155.

As I said in an earlier posting, I entered the UCLA road race as a Cat 4, where they had a Cat 4/5 group in this race. This allowed me to only do two laps of 12.5 miles each instead of 3 or 4 laps. Look at the profile below and you'll see what I mean about this course - it immediately goes vertical.

The morning started very cool, with temperatures in the high 20s F. The Cat 4/5 race was at 9:15 and the temps had warmed up to a balmy 36F, and at least most of the ice on the road was gone. I got signed in, race number pinned on at around 8:30 and I started riding up and down Pallet Creek road to get my heart rate up and blood flowing. I always enjoy reading the sign posted on both both sides of Pallet Creek road - San Andreas Fault - a reminder that we are riding on the junction of the Pacific and North American Plate.

I finished my warm-up and headed for the starting line which was forming at the junction of Pallet Creek Road and Longview Road. I showed up at 9:10 and already 50 guys or more were lined up. The race field ended up full, as all 75 riders showed up for the race. We listened to the usual pre-race stuff and at about 9:25 or so, the whistled was blown and we were off. We made the immediate left turn onto Longview Road and within 200m we were heading up a 3% grade. I was sitting back in 50th plus place wondering how I was going to move up with the field stretched from center line on the left to the curb on the right. As I was pondering this thought, several riders, in front of me, nearly collided and shouts were exchanged. One guy behind me yelled, "F...ing settle down, this is a long F...ing climb." I couldn't agree more; we're heading up this hill at 12mph and guys almost go down fighting for position - not an unusual problem in a combined Cat 4/5 field.

The problem of moving up was solved about a half mile later. At around mile 1.5 my Garmin started showing 10 to 13% grade - ouch. I've never checked the percent error of my device but my legs, heart and lungs were telling me the Garmin wasn't far off on the grade. Other evidence was that riders all around me started going "backward" with the result that I found myself in the top half of this race. I'm still big for a cyclist at 180lbs but what a difference 15lbs makes as the last time I did this course I was at 195lbs and one of the guys going backwards. Just past mile 2 the grade eased up to only 7-9% and I could look ahead and see the sign pointing right for the right turn onto Juniper Hills Road. You always think the climb is going to end at Juniper Hills Road but the right turn gives you only a slight reprieve from the climb as you enter a false flat. After the tough climb on Longview, Juniper appears flat but you are actually climbing a 2-4% grade until you reach mile 4. Now the field began to stretch out with all 75 racers seeming to suffer alone - no main peloton in evidence and no chase group working together. Finally at mile 4 I crested the course and started down. There are a couple of big-ring rollers before you hit the true descent but you are so happy to be off the main grade that you just plow through the rollers. My heart rate at the top of the grade was hitting 173bmp so I was looking forward to the down grade to recover. I started working with a group of about 10 or so racers on the down side. We were hitting speeds in the mid 40s and my Garmin shows that I hit a top speed of 47mph. A bit of a head wind was slowing the descent and this group of 10 was not working very well together so I often found myself on my own bombing down the grade.

The 5 mile descent ends at mile 9 and the hard right turn onto Fort Tejon Road and back into climbing. This climb is not too tough as it is about 3 miles of 3-4% grade as you head back to another right turn which will place you once again on Longview Road and the eventual start/finish point. A few of us, tried to get the group to cooperate and make the 3 miles a little easier but only a couple of us would pull and we ended up leaving the wheel suckers behind as we started up Longview Road and the main climb again. Shortly after passing Pallet Creek Road, I ran into rider 157 (I was rider 106). Rider 157 (I'll get his name after I see the posted results) was a newly minted Cat 5 on his first ever race. As we were suffering once again on the main climb we had time to talk a bit and I remarked how he picked one of the toughest courses in SoCal for his first race. We actually worked well together, the 20 something "newbie" and the 52 year old "old timer". Drafting is pretty pointless on the 7-10% grades we were dealing with but just having someone else right in front of you struggling up the hill really helps focus your concentration. We crested the course, once again on Juniper Hills Road, and started working together down the grade. We passed several riders and within a couple of miles of the end of the grade passed rider 104 who immediately jumped on board for the rest of the descent. As we made the right turn onto Fort Tejon Road I set up a 3 man pace line, but only two of us were working it. I could not get 104 to help out and do his share of the pulling. He looked to be in his 30s and no stranger to racing. After a couple of miles of just me and the young Cat 5 doing all the work I turned around and said to 104, "pull through." He kept saying that we caught up with him and he didn't see any reason to pull through and help. This continued for another couple of miles and I could see the writing on the wall - this wheel sucker was going to let us do all the work and then come around us and take 20 something place. Normally, this wouldn't bother me as 20th something place is not exactly the top 10. But it was the kids first race and I wanted to see him finish ahead of both of us old timers. The kid already figured this out too and asked me to work together and drop the wheel sucker. So the kid and me attacked, jumping out of the saddle and going hell bent up the 4% grade - damn if the wheel sucker was able to stick with us, though I probably shouldn't have been surprised with all the recovery time we gave him. So okay, that strategy didn't work. With only 2 miles to go I tried another one - I told the kid to attack and I would block. So off the kid went and 104 tried to go with him but he had my 180lb butt in his way. This annoyed him and he went on a long diatribe of how he had been in many races and never won any of them and we were not competing for the top spot in this race. I told him I agreed with him but I wanted to see the kid beat both of us because he had worked so hard up to this point. Number 104 was not impressed and went wide around me in hot pursuit of 157, who had made a 30m gap on 104 and myself. I wish I could tell you that 157 made it to the line before 104 but alas, 104 caught and went around him with just meters to spare - hey, that's bicycle racing and good lesson learned by the new Cat 5.

The final numbers: 28th place out of 75 (73 finished), the race was 24.95 miles long, 2,897' of climbing, and I burned 1827 calories. It took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes to finish the course. In two months or so I'm back for the Devil's Punch Bowl Road Race held on this very same course. The Punch Bowl variant is a little longer and slightly easier, with the extra length giving you a little more recovery time. Two months to drop down to 175lbs and about 60 more seconds off my climb - it's the little things in racing that excite me!

Boulevard Road Race – Rain, Hail, Snow…Snow?

(photo from velonews)

Saturday, Feb 7, 2009
One of Southern California's most demanding amateur road race courses is behind me, and what a race it was. A powerful storm system entered California on Friday and stayed around on Saturday to make this a truly epic race. The Cat 4 race went off at 9:31 am, and before it was over we battled standing water, rain, hail and within 15 minutes of our finish – snow. Temperatures were hovering around 36 degrees as we started the 44 mile race (my Garmin says it was 42.11 miles). As I sat eating my after race cheese burger in one of the cafés close to the start, I felt nothing but pity for the groups lining up to start their race in a driving snow storm. For sure, the Pro 1/2 race, Masters 30, and 45 were on the course during the falling snow.

I rolled up to the starting line at 9:25 wearing my San Diego Cyclo-Vets Kit for the first time. As all 61 riders arrived at the starting line, one of them moved over to me and said hi. He noticed my racing kit as he was wearing the same thing. Chad Holcomb had also entered the Cat 4 race, so the Cyclo-Vets had a team of two in the race. I never did see another Cyclo-Vet rider but missed the start of the Masters 45 race so I don’t know if we were the only club members or not. We exchanged the usual pre-race conversation and talked about how challenging the course was going to be – was it. I’ve included the course (see at end of this post)and profile downloaded from my Garmin to mapmyride.com.

The race started with a rolling neutral start for about 100m and off we went to the short climb over Live Oak Springs Road. This leads to a bombing descent down HWY 94. The water covered street tended to focus all of our attention on the descent. This descent covered about 7 miles, starting from mile 2 to mile 9. I certainly did not have any problems staying with the Peloton on the descent. There were no attacks at all, as all riders knew what was coming up in miles 10 through 21.

The race really took off at mile 10 at the right turn onto La Posta Road and an immediate 3 – 6% climb. At around mile 12, and just before a slight reprieve in the climb, the 61 member peloton split and at least 20 riders dropped off the back. I was definitely working hard and glanced at my heart rate monitor and saw 173 bpm! My maximum heart rate is only around 181 bpm and my lactate threshold is 161 bpm, so I knew I was operating at close to red line. The climb continued with a 4% climb up to mile 14 and I was still hanging on by the skin of my teeth as we crested a small hill and had a short descent. I tried to relax as much as possible and saw that my heart rate had dropped back into the high 150s. But this short descent was long on short. As we got to the right turn at the junction with I-80 we were at the bottom of the real climb. My heart rate was soaring again as I struggled to stay at the back of the peloton. To add to my problems, my new chain started skipping badly on my year old cassette. I kept searching for a gear to stop the skipping as it was throwing off my concentration needed for the climb. At mile 16 I cracked…I just couldn’t maintain the pace and began to drop off with about 10 other racers. It’s always a lonely feeling to go OTB, especially when the following motorcycle speeds up and goes around the newly formed chase group. Now it was every man for himself as we struggled up the remaining 5 miles of climbing. Some where around mile 21, I passed the Pro Women 1-3 racers, who had started 10 minutes ahead of our race. At this point, I caught up with racer 210 (I was 231) and racer 245 caught up with both of us.

After the short pitch climb over Live Oak Springs Road we had the bombing descent again down HWY 94. At 180lbs, I’m definitely in my element when descending. I put everything I had into the descent and rider 210 and 245 joined in for a fast 40 mph, 3 man rotating pace line. We kept this up for mile after mile, until I noticed that 245 didn’t come up during his turn in the pace line. I asked if he was okay and he said he was feeling the strain of the high intensity riding we were doing. I said let’s slow down the rotation, so we took turns pulling for 20 seconds allowing the rear riders a little more rest. It worked, at around mile 28 we turned a corner and saw a large group of riders 200 meters ahead…it was our peloton! The three of us felt renewed and within minutes we were back into the race, members of the peloton again. At about mile 30, while I was marveling at how we had rejoined the peloton and thinking how strange it was going to be to go OTB twice in a race, Chad Holcomb showed up beside me. He was back too. He had dropped off before me at mile 12 and said he worked hard with a 6 man group to also regain the peloton. Unfortunately for Chad though, the climbing had started all over again and once again another group went off the back, Chad included. It was at about the exact point that they went off in the first lap. I gritted my teeth and said I’m going to try to stay with the group as we made the turn at the I-80 junction - mile 16 all over again. And the same thing happened; another group of 10 or so, me included went OTB (I love being consistent). And once again, I got to watch the motorcycle go around me. This time, number 245 stayed ahead of me but number 210 dropped quickly behind me. Every man for himself again as I time trialed up the remaining 5 miles of the course. At around mile 39 the rain turned into hail, bouncing off my arms and bike. I thought at least I only had a few more miles to go in the hail before the end of the race, little did I know how lucky I was as the snow would follow the hail minutes after I finished the race.

I crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 6 mins, and 37 seconds. My Garmin showed the race was 42.11 miles long (67.8 km) and that I had climbed 3,928 feet (1197 m), burning 2,982 calories in the process. I had taken 34th place, and later found that Chad Holcomb was not too far behind me, taking 41st place. Rider number 245, who finished ahead of me, thanked me profusely for pulling him back into the race. I congratulated him on his finish and rolled on through the rain to the staging point and warm clothes. All in all I was pleased with my performance. Three years ago and 10 lbs heavier, I completed the same course in 2:25; so I definitely improved – thank you Cyclo-Vets Saturday training riders and the L & 20th group in the Antelope Valley for all the rides that make tough races like this possible for me.

See complete results at Socalcycling.com.

West Coast Racing

While the Mid-West and East Coast is probably still in a deep freeze, California is already starting their racing season. I've got two races coming up, Boulevard Road Race about an hour East of San Diego on Saturday, Febuary 7, and UCLA Road Race held on the Devil's Punch Bowl course, right in my Antelope Valley back yard.

Neither race is my kind of course being a hill climbers delight. At a 180lbs, I don't actually "Dance on my Pedals" when climbing out of the saddle. I set up both races as level C and B respectively (following Joe Friel's method for catogorizing races based on importance, with A races the important ones) and use them for fun and training purposes. Though I'm a Masters 50+, I've elected to enter the Boulevard RR as an Elite 4. Now why would I do this? The elite IV's will be predominately younger guys but age is really not a factor in this 2 lap, 44 mile race. There is no category for Masters 50 just Masters 35+ or 45+. If I put myself in either one of these cats, I would have to complete 3 laps on this hill course or 67 miles, and I'm just not ready for this length at this time of the year. Also, I put myself in with 45+ guys that are Cat 1, 2, and 3s. I'm a lowly Cat 4 and my ego just doesn't need the hurt this time of year. One can argue that the Elite 4s are not as skilled and there is more of a chance for accidents - true. And if this was a crit I would avoid them and do Masters. The road race gives me a bit more room to stay out of harm's way. What I really need to worry about is the climbing. The last 11 miles of the 22 mile lap is all uphill with at least two 4-4.5% climbs. I did this course years ago when I raced in the San Diego Omnium. I weighed around a 195lbs at the time and was OTB by the end of the first lap. I'm looking forward to seeing how the lighter, new me will do. Below is a graphic showing the profile of the course.


The UCLA Road Race on Feb. 14 is also problamatic for non-climbers. I've also raced this course years ago and got to go OTB in this one too. Heck, take a little time reading other racer blogs and you'll find comments like, "this is my least favorite course of the season" without looking too hard. It's a pretty course, nestled up against the San Gabriel Mountains at the Northern edge of the Mojave Desert, like it is - it is just hard. But it is 20 miles from my home in Lancaster, and I've actually trained on this course. The course is 12.4 miles per lap, with 1500' of elevation gained in each lap.

Which category did I enter for this race? I'm pretty sure I entered the Mens' 4/5 race. Again, I had the option to enter Masters 45+ but they've got 4 laps or 49.6 miles to race. More importantly, they've got 6000' to climb. I've got only 2 laps or 24.8 miles and 3000' of elevation to worry about - only 3000'! It's not hard to see by my comments that I'm still a sprinter at heart. Hell, the leg speed is not what it used to be but it still sounds good to say, "I'm a sprinter not a climber" when I'm having those interesting conversations with other racers that have become vertically challenged.

Here's the profile for the course: Note the 5% to 7% parts of the course.

Weekly Training

I usually get a training question every once in awhile from one of my 6 readers of this blog so here is an example of how I train.

Having been a track & Field coach as well as a cross-country coach at the high school level for 20 years, I have a pretty good background in coaching theory for endurance athletes. On top of that, I'm a big believer in Joe Friel and his training diary books for cyclists and triathletes. I also use TrainingPeaks.com for a workout guide as well as my training journal. As a 52 year old roadie and racer, I use 3 week blocks as the basis for my training. Two weeks hard and one week recovery. Younger racers would use 4 week blocks, with the last week also a recovery week.

The other thing you need to know before reading my weekly workouts is that I base my training on 400-450 hours per year. I would like to ride more but my job as a high school science teacher and father of a 7 year old keeps me pretty busy. I'm lucky to get a 1 to 1.5 hour ride in after work before it gets dark. The 400-450 hours does allow me to stay in the top 5% of my club rides and usually has me competitive in Master's and Cat IV Elite races - which means the top 20% of the race when my legs are good and peloton fodder the other times. But I'm rarely OTB unless I've picked a pretty nasty hill oriented road race. I'm really meant to be a crit racer, with my 180lb, ex body-building body but at my age I don't want to risk a career ending crash that can be more frequent in a crit style race. Okay, enough said, here's my last 3 weeks:

Week 1 (Build 1)
Monday: 5 X 6' intervals, 2' RI. Done at threshold and above (164 bpm). Great day, 70 deg., light wind. (taken right from my journal) Total miles: 21 Time: 1hr-3'

Tuesday: Sprintervals. After warm-up do 3 x 15-20 seconds all out (1-minute recovery) followed immediately by 5 minutes to heart rate 5b zone. Take 8 minutes of recovery and then repeat this 2 more times. 95-110 rpm. Total miles: 27 Time: 1hr-27'

Wednesday: Recovery ride - light on the pedals. Great weather - 63 degrees, no wind. Total miles: 17 Time: 1 hr

Thursday: New Record up Godde: 11:19. Good hammer ride - perfect day, 68 degrees, light santa ana winds. Did repeats up a local hill. Total miles: 15 miles Time: 54'

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Cyclo-Vets ride - did well. Stayed in top 5 at all race simulation points. Weather was perfect. Total miles: 47 Time: 2 hr-34'

Sunday: Recovery ride (zone 1/2, bit of 3) Total miles: 45 Time: 2 hr-36'

Total for the Week: Miles - 170 Time - 9 hr - 33'

Week 2
Monday: Rest Day (should have done "core work" with weights.)

Tuesday: Hill anaerobic endurance + Threshhold. On a 4-6% hill do 4-5 x 3 minutes to the heart rate 5b zone (3-minute recoveries). Stay seated on each. 60-70 rpm. Then ride 20 minutes in the heart rate 4-5a zones on a mostly flat course. Did 5 X 3' on 90th between K and L. Total miles: 20 Time: 1hr-7'

Wednesday: Recovery ride. Total miles: 23 Time: 1hr-16'

Thursday: On a course with long & short hills. Do long climbs in the saddle. Attack short hills. By the end 10% or more of time should have been in the 4-5b zones. Work hard on climbs. 11:36 up Godde; did Godde twice (again, local hill) Total miles: 13 Time: 50'

Friday: Light tempo ride (zone 3). Total miles: 23 Time: 1hr-17'

Saturday: Roger and me hammering to Rosamond. Held speeds of 27mph on South 90th. Total miles: 52 Time: 2hr-43'

Sunday: Recovery ride. Total Miles: 39 Time: 2hr-12'

Total Miles: 171 Total Time: 9hr-27'

Week 3 [came down w/ a cold - went extra easy this week]
Monday: Rest Day (again, usually do wt. lifting on this day)

Tuesday: Easy ride. Total miles: 19 Time: 1hr-6'

Wednesday: Day Off

Thursday: Light tempo. Total miles: 21 Time: 1hr - 9'

Friday: Easy ride. Total miles: 21 Time: 1hr - 7'

Saturday: Group ride w/ L & 20th gang. Total miles: 66 Time: 3hr - 32'

Sunday: Recovery ride. Total miles: 21 Time: 1hr - 8'

Total Miles: 146 Time: 8hr - 2' (usually do less time, around 5-7 hours)

New Bicycle Club for 2009

It's official. I am now a member of the San Diego Cyclo-Vets Bicycle Club. I have been spending just about every other weekend in San Diego since my wife and oldest daughter moved down here for work and school respectfully. We can't sell our house in the Antelope Valley in this terrible economy and I couldn't switch jobs so we have had two residences starting last July. It's not a great situation but it is always better to make "lemonade out of lemons" so I enjoy riding in San Diego's weather as much as possible.

In my attempt to learn routes in the San Diego Area, I started hooking up with a couple of local bicycle clubs. The first group I tried was the Swami's. I still love their hard Saturday training ride up to Escondido and back but it was a pain to get to their starting point on the coast. The Cyclo-Vets also have a great Saturday ride that starts out of the parking lot of "The Coffee Bean" located at Mission Valley Mall right off of Camino de la Reina. Their starting location is just 6 miles from our apartment, which is located just North of Qualcomm Stadium. I can get to the starting point of Saturday's ride by bicycle. I drop down the bike path that starts at the South end of Murphy Canyon Road and ends at the North end of Qualcomm's parking lot. From here I exit the parking lot at the SouthEast end onto Rancho Mission Road, take a quick right on Ward Road and another quick right on Camino del rio North and just keep going West until Camino del rio North becomes Camino de la Reina. I stay on Camino de la Reina until I get to the Mission Valley Mall and The Coffee Bean on my left.

The Saturday ride leaves at 8:30 am and has several variants; see the Cyclo-Vets website for further information regarding this ride. I always ride the Torrey Pines loop. It is the longest of the options and composed of a very spirited group of riders that travel at race pace at various points of the ride. There are at least three regrouping points for this ride to allow more sedate riders a chance to ride with the group again. The Cyclo-Vet's website does not give a "play by play" of the route but I've made a map of the route by using my garmin and MapMyRide site. It is not complete in that I show the end on Aero and West Canyon Rd but that is where I jump off and head to our apartment. Other riders branch off around this point too. There are a lot of ways to get back to the Mission Valley Mall from this point. You could go back to the Mall by using the bike path North of Qualcomm as described above or take Balboa Ave back down to Moreno and back track your way to the Mall. I get about 47 miles in from my apartment to the Mall and back to my apartment.

It Never Rains in SoCal...it Snows!

I was just looking at my total mileage for 2008 and it is at a respectable 4,542 miles as of Christmas Day. Not bad since I really didn't start training until mid-June. And last week I actually had to take a couple of days off the bike due to, of all things, snow!

Now snow in the Socal might seem unusual, and it is for most of Southern California but we live in the high desert, 60 miles and a mountain range North of Los Angeles. At around 2500 to 3000 feet in elevation here in the Mojave Desert towns of Lancaster and Palmdale, collectively known as the Antelope Valley, we get snowfall every few years or so and by Mid-West standards is pretty anemic. But this snowfall was around 10" plus and that's enough to paralyze any area in Southern California. The snow actually stayed around for a few days. It started falling Wednesday morning on 12/17 and stopped Wednesday night. I was back on the bike on Friday but the roads were pretty sloppy and I still haven't cleaned up my bike yet.I Got good rides in Saturday to yesterday, Christmas Eve, but today on Christmas Day it's raining and blowing wind at around 40mph - makes riding a bit tough. Time for the trainer and my weight lifting workout just to keep my wife's opinion of me as a "fanatic" in tact.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Tour of Tucson

Saturday, November 22, 2008

I wake-up in a Tucson hotel room at 3:30 am and realize I probably have strep throat, if the burning pain surrounding my tonsils and my hot forehead mean anything. But I did not drag my wife, and youngest daughter on a 7 hour road trip just to pack it up and head home back to Lancaster, California. Besides, I didn't get to race at all in 2008, for various lame reasons, and I started training in earnest for this event in mid June - so the race had to go on and I'm in it.

This is the 26th El Tour De Tucson, or just El Tour. It covers 109 miles around the perimeter of Tucson. Over 8000 riders can show up for the event with up to 5000 of them riding the 109 mile version of the race. A certain group is in this event to win, another group is trying to make "platinum, gold, silver and bronze"; which are set times to finish created by the organizers of the event. Last year was my first El Tour and I missed platinum by 1 minute and 44 seconds. I needed to break 5 hours and missed it by the amount of time it took me to pee and also to fill up one of my water bottles (two separate events). I still averaged nearly 22 mph for the race but to miss platinum by such a slim margin...you just don't realize what that extra 9 miles does for this "century ride". In any case, I'm back in 2008 to break 5 hours and take my platinum designation and medal.

But now I'm sick and I'm going to have to pull off an exhausting day's ride. Last year I made the mistake of arriving at the starting line too late - 5:00 am for the 7:00 am start. This put me at the very back of the gold group, within 20m of the rear of gold. I spent the first half of the race working my way past the hundreds of riders that were between me and the first platinum rider. So my strategy this year was to get up early (hence my 3:30 wake-up time) and get to the start by no later than 4 to 4:30. And damn, it worked. I arrive just after 4:00 to find myself only 20m behind the platinum line - now I only have 2.5 hours of sitting in the cold street before I can start the race. This is made much easier though, if you enjoy people watching. I watch the hundreds and then thousands of other riders showing up and lining up mostly behind me. Finally the PA system comes to life and invigorating music begins to play. El Tour is one cool event and I'm glad, illness or no illness, that I'm sticking it out. Check out El Tour's web site.

I listen to Robbie Ventura speak on the PA system. This year's tour is dedicated to the one time pro cyclist who placed 1st in the both the 2001 and 2002 El Tour. And now it's time to start. The platinum riders head out first and after about a minute my group at the front of the gold section begin to move. This has been a point of contention for many El Tour riders, as the race starts when the organizers say it does and the clock is ticking even if you are still stuck in traffic hundreds of meters behind the finish line. The event is very well organized and executed and all participants wear a timing chip on their left ankle so it is hard to believe they can't set up the computer timing system to start all racers when they actually cross the starting line - but what do I know?

Anyway, I'm into the first right turn before I know it and all riders are standing on their pedals and going hard for position. I'm minutes into this race and I'm already at 30 mph with a heart rate jumping into the 160s. Water bottles are skipping around the road ahead of us and everybody is jockeying for position. Even at 30 mph I have riders flying past me on the left and right and all riders are spread out on the street from curb to curb. Once again I realize that this is no fun ride but a ride that's going to take my full concentration from start to finish. As an experienced road racer I'm used to my competitors having certain skills on the bike. As a Master's racer, I can count on those skills but here you have skills all over the map and a single rider crash can take down an extremely large field. Also, in regular road races I'm used to the group taking it easy the first few kilometers, I can't remember a single road race where we leave at maximum speed with zero warm-up...part of El Tour's charm.

Map of the course

Around mile 7 or so, my Garmin tells me I'm averaging 25 mph. The first river crossing is coming up and the group begins to slow down dramatically. I'm just about to jump off my bike and run it across the quarter mile dry creek bed when many of the fans yell, "it's hard, you can ride it." So I make the mistake and attempt to ride through the sand bed. It is harder than last year but riders in front of me are mushing out and falling down. I leap off my bike and jam up a guy riding on my tail. I give my apologies and pick up my bike, cycle cross style and start running. Last year I was pretty cavalier about the crossing as I just walked my bike through the creek bed but I did miss platinum by less than two minutes so this year I'm running.

I climb out of the creek bed and mount my bike and aim it down the road. I look far out front and see just a thin line of riders as far as I can see. What I don't see is the motorcycle escort for the lead group and the lead chase group. So it is off at 25 mph again as I move up on one rider after another, resting behind certain riders to recover a little in their draft. If I think about it, I can feel my sore throat, and a little thought intrudes; I'm going to really pay for this after the race is over.
(see picture of 1st crossing above, taken in 2005 by johnmirandaphoto.com)

I'm over 40 miles in now. I've hit speeds over 40 mph in the rollers, I've passed many riders and have come across my first platinum riders. I'm in a section of the tour, before the second river crossing, where there is a long down hill section. I'm just crusing with a pack of around 40 riders. You really need to be patient in El Tour and I have not. I know that I may have pushed myself a little too hard with over 60 miles still to go. I'm thinking this over when I hear something behind me. I look over my left shoulder and see a mixed tandem just blowing past the field on the outside. Most riders are just watching them fly by but I realize it's my ticket to the lead chase group. With the tandem still 10m behind me, I punch my campy shifters and begin to spool up my cranks and jump to over 35 mph which is just perfect for jumping on the back of the tandem. One other guy figures out that a tandem train is something you don't want to miss and he jumps on too. We ride this train for many miles, just blowing past scores of rider. This mix tandem is fast, the male captain and his female stoker are in full concentration at nearly 40 mph, with me and one other guy hanging on for all we got. Finally the road begins to level out and my garmin announces a 2% grade - that's it for the tandem. I feel like the 3rd stage of a rocket as I detach from the tandem and bridge up to a large group and then I see a magical thing; a motorcyle with flashing lights! I've reached the main chase group for El Tour. I know it can't be the front guys who will finish the tour in the low 4 hours but my garmin is telling me I'm at a pace to finish in around 4:30 so I know I'm sitting in with the platinum guys and I'm sitting pretty...but then the second river crossing comes up.

I still can't do it. How do you go 5 hours and not pee? This year, I put my 100 oz. camel pack on my back so I don't have to waste time filling up a water bottle. The two water bottles I'm carrying on my bike are full of a complex carbohydrate drink so I don't need to worry about fuel. But drinking a large percentage of my camel pack means I got a full bladder and damn, I have to stop again. A lot of guys are just peeing off the side of the dirt trail in full site of spectators and riders. Hell, I still have trouble peeing in a stall if just one guy is in the rest room with me let alone a few thousand people running and milling about. I stop at the porta potties, located within 60m of the end of the dry creek bed, lay down my bike and run for the first empty one. I resist the urge to time my urination but I know the seconds, and the chase group, are moving on. I finally finish and grab my bike and make it to the solid road surface. I grab a small banana piece from a volunteer and shove it down my throat and take off.

I'm now on the short but steep climb on Snyder. I stand on my pedals and push hard, passing rider after rider but I realize I've lost a lot of ground, as I can't see the motorcyles anymore. I notice the photographer on my right, just as I sit down and spool up my RPMs. I hear his digital camera firing like a machine gun, you can see one of his pictures at the top of this post. Near the top of the climb one of the spectators yells out encouragement. He tells us that we are all in the platinum group, my garmin agrees with him but it also shows that I'm real close to 5 hours now and I still have a long way to go.

I start running out of large groups to bridge up to. My style is to grab onto a big group, rest in their draft and then take a flyer, basically an attack in a typical road race, and I bridge up to the next group. Unfortunately, the next group is about a quarter of a mile up the road but two other guys jump on my wheel and we work together until we've caught the group. This group is too slow so off we go until we literally run out of people to chase. Hell, I still don't see a motorcycle but I also don't see any big groups ahead. This is troubling as we now have to work by ourselves. We're at mile 70 and the three of us are working hard. The wind is blowing about 10 mph and it seems to always be a right or left quarter head wind. We pass many stragglers and at around mile 80 I start feeling the first flickers of danger in my quads, a tightness whenever I stand on the pedals. We have now picked up another rider or two but one of them cramps hard and drops away. I know we are working too hard and I look back and spot a group of 20 strong cyclist working well together and coming up quickly behind us. I tell the other two to slow down and jump into this group. This is perfect. The group is young and strong. I'm probably the oldest guy by 10 years (this would make me feel pretty good but I know there are a lot of guys older than me in the lead group and they are so far out in front I can't even see them). This group has leaders and we start a very effective rotating pace line. We pass many groups and soon we have maybe 40 riders in our group. This breaks the effectiveness of the group down as wheel suckers begin to take there toll. I've pulled at the front many times now and realize I'm paying a price. I start to look with envy at the guys in the back who have avoided riding "at the front".

Around mile 95 we latch onto the main chase group again! The motorcycle with its beautiful blue and red lights are flashing. I remark to one of the original two guys that struggled with me for miles that all we have to do is hang with this group and we're in. My garmin now tells me we are on a 4:50 pace and I start having platinum dreams...and then it happens. The group does a surge and I spool up to match it and a blinding cramp travels down my left thigh. I immediately straighten this leg to work out the cramp when my right leg cramps too. I try to twist my foot out of my Look pedals but my feet might as well have been in a vice. My legs are cramping so bad I can't put out enough torque to get the pedals to release. Shit, it takes only a few ounces of pressure to normally release my foot from the pedals and I can't do it. My speed drops from 23 mph to 17 and I'm going backwards as far as my group is concerned. One of the two guys slows for a second and looks at me without saying anything but I can see that he wants to know what I'm doing. I say one word, "cramp". He acknowledges this with a head shake and scurries up the road to avoid being dropped by the pack. Finally the end of my group flows by and I'm officially OTB.

It is one of the most horrible feelings in bike racing, and the most lonely. I look behind me and can't see a single rider. I look down at my garmin and see I'm at mile 101 - so close. The next 8 miles are a nightmare. My legs are cramping so bad that I can barely maintain 15 mph and yet nobody is passing me. I come across a couple of riders that have flat tires and I think how bad they must feel to have come so close to breaking 5 hours...and I remember I'm one of them. Somehow I make it through the city and within a mile of the finish, a traffic cop doesn't see me and opens the intersection to traffic, forcing me to stop. This is real bad as my cramping legs don't want to hold me up, I need to keep moving. He apologises to me and says he just didn't see me. I lose two minutes waiting for the light to turn green.

I cross the finish line in 5 hours, 13 minutes and 26 seconds. I take 493 place out of over 3600 riders. My average pace is 20.7 mph. The announcer actually calls out my name and city. My wife and daughter perk up at my name and see me cross the line - the benefit of being shelled off the back and coming in alone. Here is the link for the results: El Tour Unofficial Results 2008

I limp over to my wife, the only thing keeping me up is my bike. Quite a change from last year when I finished strong but still over 5 hours. I realize that I didn't put in enough long miles before the tour. I put in a lot of intensity which would have been great for a typical 60 mile road race. And once again, my first thought right after the girl took off my timing chip was, never again. But within 30 minutes I was telling my wife that next year...