Since my last post, I have been rather busy training and racing. I completed the Giro del Cielo. I only did the first two stages as I couldn't get the car for Sundays Road Race. My TT went so so, I wasn't expecting anything great. I finished the 4.6 mile uphill course in the 19min range, which was very subpar on teh day. The crit went ok as well, I didn't have a good position and got stuck behind some cat 5s who kept braking through each turn causing huge gaps to open. Being a very short criterium course, this made it very hard to close gaps. This caused me to get pulled about halfway through the race. I wasn't happy w/ that and went home frustated, but determined to better the following weekend.
The following weekend, which was this past weekend I race twice. First on Saturday at the Cadence Cup in Brooklyn then again on Sunday for the Freedom Tour crit. Saturday went much better than my last outing in Brooklyn. Despite not eating or drinking enough, I was able to contest both green jersey sprints. Both times I just missed the points as I had jumped to early and got beat at the line. From that I learned that I need to time my jump better and find a better wheel to follow in the sprint. After those two sprints, I was pretty gassed and finished in the field for the race. I was happy w/ how my race went, as I learned that my sprint has improved enough to contest the sprint in a very tough race. Sunday's criterium went relatively well, first goal was to not get pulled like the previous week. Next goal was to try to contest a top ten. The race went pretty smoothly, I was able to stay up front always in the top 20-30 riders. I cornered well as each I either kept my position or gained a spot or two. I made a tactical mistake by not carrying water for the crit. By the last lap I was quickly running out of gas, w/ no way to refuel. Sprint time came, I just didn't have the gas to sprint and finished mid pack.
All in all, this weekend was clear improvement from last week and my collegiate stint this past spring. Form feels good, and I have some new toys on the way(sans powertap and rollers). I have plenty of races left this month before I wrap it up for the season at Denville. I will be racing again this weekend, will be working on the correcting the mistakes I've made so I can finally contest the sprint at the end of a race.
Here are some pics from this past weekend.....
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/9066083_KDDRH#603615740_nvVWJ
http://teamorganicnyc.org/gallery_090725.html
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Updates and other ramblings
So, its been a while since my last post. The last post was about my prep for the State TT, well sadly I was unable to attend due to a family situation that arose the night before. Nonetheless my teammates at Montclair represented well with two riders taking wins in their respective age groups. For June I was scheduled to race a few times at the watermelon crit and prospect park. That did not happen either due to not getting paid at work for a month, so instead I focused my efforts on my training. I basically spent the entire month of June training with my teammates most days of the week. The majority of the guys on my team are masters 35+ and higher, with our coach being a 45+ racer. The benefit of this is that our Tuesday night training race turns into a balls to the wall hammerfest and our Saturday ride into a 15mile free for all. In one month I figured why my collegiate season this year went less than stellar: lack of discipline in training(school work and beer are blame). As a cat.4 my teammates expect a little more from me than most of new members, so naturally I was to improve my fitness and race awareness during my training.
Now that July is here, I finally got paid which I can race again. My first race back was last Saturday at Prospect Park. The turn out was pretty good, with almost 20 additional racers showing up the day of for the cat.4 field. The race wasn't superfast, but their was a breakaway attempt on everylap. This made for constant speed changes on a course that can take its toll after 8 laps of racing. I got myself into the last breakaway, as their was about a lap and half to go. They were already out there for a lap and had a 30second gap on the field. I figured if this was going to be the one to stick, I better try to get into it. I bridged the gap to breakaway, but it seems that move caused a panick or something in the pack as we got caught on the last lap at the top of the hill. I burned a big match to bridge the breakaway, and didn't have much gas to sprint in the end. A few riders at the end of the race told me if had used that effort to bridge the breakaway in the sprint I would have had top 5, but oh well that;s bike racing.
Next on tap for me is the Giro del Cielo in sussex county, I can't climb as well I used to but at the least it will help my fitness for the remaining races on my schedule.
Now that July is here, I finally got paid which I can race again. My first race back was last Saturday at Prospect Park. The turn out was pretty good, with almost 20 additional racers showing up the day of for the cat.4 field. The race wasn't superfast, but their was a breakaway attempt on everylap. This made for constant speed changes on a course that can take its toll after 8 laps of racing. I got myself into the last breakaway, as their was about a lap and half to go. They were already out there for a lap and had a 30second gap on the field. I figured if this was going to be the one to stick, I better try to get into it. I bridged the gap to breakaway, but it seems that move caused a panick or something in the pack as we got caught on the last lap at the top of the hill. I burned a big match to bridge the breakaway, and didn't have much gas to sprint in the end. A few riders at the end of the race told me if had used that effort to bridge the breakaway in the sprint I would have had top 5, but oh well that;s bike racing.
Next on tap for me is the Giro del Cielo in sussex county, I can't climb as well I used to but at the least it will help my fitness for the remaining races on my schedule.
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