After my rag on Pete, it's time to move blog software and finish the migration, so here goes.

Now over here: http://www.cycleanywhere.com/wordpress

Here I am watching my manly man UFC unleashed on SpikeTV... and then.. hey look, a bike shop commercial, hey it's Spokes. Woah.. wait a second, is that Pete Custer?! Woah.. did he just head tilt and give that smile?!??? I need to see if he'll teach me to head tilt like that the next time we line up to race!

First.. the important stuff - the new ride all done - SRAM Force, Kinlin XR270's with a PT Pro rear and a swapped seat post for the zero setback Thomson Elite. She weighs in at 16.99 lbs as pictured:



After a month of no racing, it was great to be back in the peloton again yesterday. For two reasons, really.

First, my legs had been dead ALL week. I hit a really bad patch in my training starting Monday and just couldn't get out of the slump. Totally frustrated with the response from my legs, I took an unscheduled day off on Friday before racing on Saturday. Another rest day today and back at it tomorrow.

Second, my Cat 3 upgrade came through last month so this weekend was my first racing in the 3's and 1/2/3's. That being said, I didn't go in with any crazy ambitions this weekend. Our team was putting on the races and sitting at a corner all day as a road guard doesn't lend itself to warming up well. Fortunately, we had a great turn out of volunteers for the racing so I did end up getting to double the racing and do both the 3' and the 1/2/3 race.

I pack finished both races but had a BLAST racing this weekend. The course was wide open and crazy fast. The 1/2/3 race averaged right under 29 mph for the 30 miles we raced - and other than really a stretch of about 10 minutes or so when I pushed through the "wow, i didn't get a good warm up in," I felt good.

The best part? I could really feel it in my leg coming back about half way into the 1/2/3 race. Those sensations that you get when you know the legs will do what you want them to do. That bodes well for the week of training coming up rolling into Church Creek TT this weekend. Rockin!

So with that, I head into a stretch of racing from now until August, minus - I think - only two weekends while I'll be up in the Adirondacks.

Shout out to the team - WWVC - for all involved in the race yesterday for making it a great event, both from helping out the guys as well as being a racer in the event.

And a special shout out to my wife who trucked my kids out there with me yesterday to help the team. It' great to have someone by my side that can take an interest in my hobby/obsession and spend a day getting sun burned for the team! My wife rocks!

Ride safe!
VW

There's a post I made about two weeks ago now. It describes the "Tom V Car" incident up on the W&OD that happened on 2 May. I've still got the post on the blog site but it's hidden for now. I'll unlock it in another two weeks or so when the insurance crud is all done.

The good news is, the insurance crud is working itself out. Losses of the Tom V Car incident were:
Felt F55 (toast)
Velocity Aerohead PTap Pro wheelset
Giro Atmos Helmet
Skin

The Felt F55 will be replaced next week with a Blue RC8. SRAM Force build.

(the picture is the SRAM Red)

The Velocity Aeroheads are being replaced by Kinlin XR270's (same powertap hub). I seriously debated going to Zipp 404's. I just couldn't break the bank that way right now.

The helmet was replaced with a Giro Atmos (all black - which matches the team kit WAY more).

Skin... well.. I can say my leg itches like mad right now as the skin replaces itself.

So, all that... With parts I scrounged and a couple extra ordered, I was able to rebuild my Roubaix and have been riding the snot out of her again. Man, did I miss that bike. The Felt was a nice aggressive and stiff frame. The Roubaix is way higher on the front end with an enormous head tube. But, wow... it transfers power WAY better at the bottom bracket and - for those that wonder - YES, you can feel the difference between an aluminum frame with carbon forks/stays and a full carbon frame. That Roubaix feels like the Cadillac of road bikes.

No racing this month, just training. I'm concentrating on threshold level pacing on the TT bike on Mondays. Tuesdays are my night to thrash the legs with the fellas. Friday's are my night for threshold training on the road bike. Tonight was 3x20's and felt okay. It wasn't anything to scream about, but it was good. I rolled 18 hours last week. I'll roll 18½ hrs this week. Shoulda been 19, but I pulled the plug on my recovery spin a little early last night.

I'm stoked about the racing coming up though. Whole Wheel will put on Ride Sally Ride on the 6th of June. The following week I see how the TT training is going at Church Creek. After that, Tour of Washington County and the last weekend of June will be Smithfield Time Trial down toward VA Beach. Maybe even squeeze in Reston GP on Sunday. Really, you could race every weekend through August - but not sure the wife would dig it.

We're rolling a great team into the summer racing. It's gonna be fun to race with these guys at some awesome venues for the rest of the season.

Bed a bit early tonight. 6:15am roll out from the house in the morning for 5 hrs on the bike.

Ride hard, ride lots, ride safe!
VW

First, I have to give a shout to Rich with the Red Rose Races or All That is Good races, or whatever he is calling himself this year. The event was run very well with the only glitch being an excruciatingly long wait for the TT results on Sunday.

I rode this race last year with Westwood Velo in the 3/4, but was no where near prepared like I was this year. I definitely enjoyed it much more this year.

Pete and I rode up Friday, and boy were we glad for that. The road race course was way different than last year and pre-riding the course was a huge advantage as I watched a number of guys slide out in the unswept corners with some serious gravel.

Road Race:
The road race started off like normal, neutral and I rolled out about mid-pack. Moving up took forever with the yellow line rule and by the time I did, a Bike Rack guy was off the front solo. We let it sit there for almost a whole lap before another Bike Rack guy moved out of the pack and up to him. With a well established break of about 15-20 seconds and the only full team (6-7 riders) represented, time to get into that break and make it stick.

I launched 4-5 times, but was marked immediately by Bike Rack guys dragging the pack up to me if I got any gap at all. A couple other folks did the same and those moves were also marked. That insured one thing - the break wasn't going to stick. I'm convinced that had the Bike Rack guys let 2-3 riders out of the pack one at a time, the break would have stuck. But, their insistence on keeping the break to only their riders only kept the pace of the pack just a little bit too fast, so as we cruised through the S/F of lap 2, the break was over. One guy did get up to the break eventually, but it only lasted about 3 miles with the two of them.

Bike Rack attempted to keep the pace up with half a lap to go and into the technical finish, but it just didn't happen. The pack collapsed on them a number of times through the technical sections inside 2km to go, and pretty much how you came out of the S-turn @ 300 meters out was pretty much how you finished. I was 12th, and settled in to watch the other races.

TT:
Pete and I drove over the TT course Sat afternoon and then rode the technical portions on the TT bikes. It made a huge difference knowing where we could take turns in/out of the aerobars and knowing what was coming. But at the end of the day, I blew the TT. I held back WAY too much and left too much in the tank. I was close to 50 watts off my goal power for the TT, and ~30something seconds too slow to take the win. On the other hand, my TT position and with full aero equipment gave me a 30 second faster time than last year at almost 40 watts less average power than I put out last year. Lesson learned, and now to train TT pacing going into the TT season of the summer. 3rd in the TT was simply not good enough.

Crit:
Knowing I had too much left in the tank, and watching the chaos in the tight crit course of the Cat 4's, I made a decision early to get out in front. 2½ laps into the race, I attacked. Absolutely no one went. I spent the next 12 laps off the front alone. One rider bridged across and worked with me for a lap, but it was too little too late, the chase was inside 10 seconds and closing fast.

I settled into the pack and held a top 20 position in the pack getting some recovery. Came through two laps to go and started to move into a position to launch again. Moving into turn two, chaos ensued in front. Photos tell the tale, as Rider A dropped chain (how in the good Lord's name you'd have to change chain rings in that course is WAY beyond me). I saw Rider B swept from his left to right in a completely different line than the rest of the pack - apparently to avoid Rider A now coming to a stop in the turn. Rider C (Rider A's teammate) goes down, even though wheels never touched. Rider D lays it down and Rider ME runs straight into Rider D now on the ground.

I got up, dusted off, checked gear and did a lap and a half solo to not be the DNF of the day. Even with that I still wasn't DFL either. I was DFL-1

GC:
Points from Road Race and TT put me in contention for GC, and finishing the crit (even DFL-1) kept me as the last paid out GC contender at 8th.

The Good
- The road race course itself ROCKED.
- The TT position is good on the bike.
- Raced with some great guys and got to know a bunch more. Look forward to racing with a bunch of these guys more in the future.

The Bad
- Blew my pacing plan
- Rode too conservatively in the road race and TT

The Ugly
- First crash in 2 years in a race.

And with that, no racing until June. On the training plan for May is a quasi-Build phase. After letting up a little bit this week, I'll focus specifically on threshold training on the TT bike, at threshold. None of this 91% SST stuff. 100% threshold efforts. I must fix my suffering in position on the TT bike.