I'm running for NCNCA Treasurer

I've decided to try to get into cycling politics at the local level and am running for NCNCA Treasurer for 2010. Click here for my candidate statement.

Win or lose though, I plan to be more involved with the NCNCA.

As for the off season, I'm enjoying it so far. I'm getting caught up on things at work & at home while doing a little running, a few M2 Revolution spin classes & some of the Low Key Hill Climbs to keep from getting too out of shape.

Training Weeks September 7 - October 3, 2009

I've been slacking on the training blog. I know blogging is dead, but I do this so I can look back after a good/bad race and try and figure out what I did right/wrong.

It's the off season anyway, so I'm not doing anything too long, but still a few hard efforts when I feel like it.

Mon 9/7 - Giro di DF - rode downtown & warmed up about 1 hr. Started slow, moved up, got in a couple moves, 1 solo break for about 2 laps, won a $25 Sports Basement prime, then couldn't get away after that. Seemed like every time I tried to move up some 200 lb guy would try to drive me into a curb. I decided a t-shirt & $20 was not worth a potential hospital visit, so I sat up. Watched the rest of the races & rode home.

Tue 9/8 - Park run 7 miles in about 50 min. Longest run of the year. I was lucky that Brian, Molly & George decided not to do tempo or I would have died.

Wed 9/9 - Spin class - 45 min

Thu - 9/10 - 1 hr polo field ride

Fri 9/11 - can't remember

Sat 9/12 - Lead bike for 3 XC running races. Great workout riding through the sand, soft grass, over the log & up the hill 9 times. Linda Somers Smith (now 48!) beat all the open women and ran faster than all but 3 of the 149 masters (40+) men!!

Sunday 9/13 - easy 45 min ride

Monday 9/14 - 45 min spin class

Tue 9/15 - GGP eve ride 75 min

Wed 9/16 - 45 min spin class

Thu 9/17 - 35 min lunch run + 1 hr eve polo field ride

Fri - 9/18 - 45 min spin class (last spin class for a while)

Sat - 9/19 - easy 75 min city ride with Greg & Nick

Sun 9/20 - Fremont Peak HC - New race. E 1/2, E3, 35+ 1/2/3 all races together, about 30 of us. Stayed together for the 1st 4 miles, then it blew up. I was 1st in 40:02. Try for sub 40 next year.

Mon 9/21 - Lunch run - 35 min

Tue 9/22 - GGP eve ride (hard! - thanks Noe) 75 min

Wed 9/23 - Off

Thu 9/24 - Not really anything

Fri 9/25 - rested

Sat 9/26 - easy 1 hr park ride

Sun 9/27 - easy 1 hr park ride

Mon 9/28 - Lunch run with Patti - 48 min (6.5 miles)

Tue 9/29 - GGP eve ride - hard - just because - 75 min

Wed 9/30 - Lunch run with John & Mark - 35 min

Thu 10/1 - Lunch run with Patti - 5 mi - 35 min with stop to see the bottom of the 2nd @ AT&T park.

Fri 10/2 - Lunch run - 25 min + easy eve ride 45 min

Sat 10/3 - LKHC #1 - Montebello - Drove down with Greg. Warmed up around 30 min. Rode 25:59 for 6 sec PR. The only data I have is from my HRM. Average for the climb was 161 bpm with a max of 177. I don't know what that is is watts or kilojoules.

Also, have to include a link to the You Tube video Karin did of our cat Bou.

Training Week August 31 - September 6, 2009

Monday - Lunch run with Patti - about 4.8 miles in 36 min

Tuesday - Modified GG Pars sprints course - due to Outside Lands clean-up, we had to add about 200M to our usual loop. Still hard as ever though. 1:30 riding.

Wednesday - 45 min spin class

Thursday - 25 min lunch run, 1 hr eve ride

Friday - 45 min spin class

Saturday - easy 30 min ride

Sunday - 1:30 park ride (sunday streets). Added a few hard 1 min intervals.

Weekly totals: 1 hr running, 4:30 riding, 1:30 spin class - 7 Hrs total.

Training Week August 24 - 30

Getting caught up on the training logs.

Monday - came back from Utah exhausted

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - 25 min run (1st run of the year!)

Thursday - 35 min run, 45 min easy ride

Friday - Off (warm in SF)

Saturday - 3 Hr ride to Stinson & back on 1 with Brain & Joe - some moderate efforts on the hills

Sunday - 25 min run - ran a 400 on the track in 75 (now just need to do 4 of those in a row by December)

Weekly totals: 1:15 running, 3:45 riding, 5:00 total

Tour of Utah Part II

Time to get caught up on the training/racing blog.

After the 1st 3 stages we had almost a rest day since we only had a 9.2 mile TT and that didn't start until around 7PM. After we all slept in and had breakfast the team went for an easy coffee ride with our hosts with Marijke on her bike and Alex as lead moto. The rest of the day was spent relaxing until it was time to head out to the Miller Motorsports Park. It was a very warm day, in the high 90's, but we had a nice shaded warm-up area (though none of us had trainers, so we warmed up by riding around the parking lot). The course started with an out and back around the perimeter of the race track, then finished on the track, which was a lot of fun with the constant turning. It kind of made me forget about the pain. Here are the Zteam and selected other results from the TT:

Position	Bib	Name	Team	Time		Gap	Penalty
1.	35	ZIRBEL Tom	BPC	.17'00"	900
2.	5	MCKISSICK Ian	BMC	.17'14"	900	14"
3.	2	BOOKWALTER Brent	BMC	.17'19"	000	19"	1"
4.	36	VENNELL Jeremy	BPC	.17'22"	500	22"
5.	19	ZABRISKIE David	GRM	.17'23"	300	23"
6.	34	JACQUES-MAYNES Ben	BPC	.17'29"	300	29"
30.	56	LANDIS Floyd	OCM	.18'06"	600	1'06"
33.	32	MACH Paul	BPC	.18'10"	000	1'10"
34.	181	ENGLISH Nathaniel	ZTM	.18'11"	500	1'11"
38.	186	WINGERT James	ZTM	.18'17"	300	1'17"
101.	183	LAUE Justin	ZTM	.19'01"	300	2'01"
102.	188	PHIPPS Christopher	ZTM	.19'02"	600	2'02"
106.	185	OWENS Vincent	ZTM	.19'04"	700	...
130.	182	BARBERI Stefano	ZTM	.19'28"	600	2'28"
131.	184	RAMSEY Daniel	ZTM	.19'30"	400	2'30"	1"

Pretty good rides for Nate & Jim. The rest of us did OK, and Daniel didn't have a TT bike, so not bad for him either.

Getting back late from the TT stage followed by the queen stage the next morning was sure to be the toughest part of this race. The queen stage started in Park City with 2 neutral laps around town, then is was off to Snowbird with a few climbs along the way. Oh, and it was about 95 degrees out, so I started with 4 bottles, 2 frozen.

The first obstacle was an unrated climb just a few miles in that was made much harder than it should have been by the attacking off the front. There was a crosswind from the right and I found myself about 120 riders back in the left hand gutter, occasionally having to go around cars that were pulled over to that side of the road to let the race go by. After the climb, we had a lot of fast descending, so it was much easier to stay with the group, and it was pretty mellow until we hit the first HC climb about 50 miles into the stage. The pack really blew up on this climb, and a group of about 35 (maybe they were 2 groups totaling 35) got off the front with Nate in there and I was in the next group of about 20, which grew to about 50 after the descent and we also had Justin and Stefano in there. The descent was long and fairly technical. It was a bit scary seeing it for the first time at race speed, but I got through it and was safely in the pack when we got to the fast gradual descents on the wide roads. Next problem was that I was running low on fluids with about 1/2 a bottle left. I was waiting for our team car to come by, but when it finally did, it was going about 50mph, so no fluids for the 3 of us for a while.

On the next climb, the small Cat3 Traverse Ridge in Draper, David Clinger charged a bit ahead of our group (I think he had some fans there). I was really dying of thirst when a fan on the side of the road gave me a Coke. That really hit the spot! I had about half of it then gave the rest to Paul Mach because it looked like he needed it. After that I was feeling pretty good and got another bottle from neutral support that was enough to get me to the base of the final HC climb to the finish at Snowbird.

As we started the climb I saw what was some guy handing out neutral water, but as I grabbed the bottle I realized it was Daniel who had dropped out on the first climb and hopped in the team car. I guess he had had enough. Too bad since I think he would have done well in the crit.

Going up the final climb, there were several fans with water, which really helped, and the temp started to cool dawn a bit too as we climbed. Justin and I traded leading our group, which disintegrated after a few miles, mostly because the guys just didn't care if they were 40th, 50th or whatever place, they just wanted to make the time cut. I was feeling better on this climb than I imagined I would considering the heat and the length of the stage, (2 of my weak points), and finished feeling really strong, crossing the line in 43rd and moving up to 63rd in GC.

With the long stages over, and only a 90 min crit remaining, we could really relax and enjoy our saturday night. For the first time all week I had a few beers (they were the 3.2% Utah variety) , and spent the evening shooting pool back at the Rossi house with Hunter, Nate & Jim.

The crit didn't start until 2PM, so Sunday was another relaxing morning and a big breakfast. Nate, Jim, Vince and I rode over to the crit course. I got a flat on the way, but we still arrived about 20 minutes before the start, so plenty of time to sign in. We were told at the start of the crit that as long as we lasted 30 minutes without falling too far back we would get a prorated time and be included in the GC results. Jim, Vince and I stayed near the back for the first 30 minutes until Jim pulled the plug & fell back. A few other riders did the same shortly thereafter, but I hung on for another 25 minutes. Being on the back though, the constant accelerations were getting to me and I finally let too big a gap open up and couldn't close it. I rode solo for another 3 laps in TT mode until the official mercifully held up the red paddle and I was pulled and awarded 99th place in the crit and 64th in GC with a total time of 13:14.25. (more than I normally train in a week)

Training week totals: 13:14.25 racing, ~ 2 hours warming up and easy riding - 15:14 weekly total.

Many thanks to Alex and Marijke Rossi who hosted us, to Hunter the DS of Zteam and to Lorachristine for all her organizing and follow car support.

Also, thanks to my wonderful wife Karin who was still here when I got home and hadn't changed the locks. This excessive bike racing is real tough on a marriage. =-)

Racing Week August 17 - 23, 2009 - Utah part 1

Tour of Utah Week, the big race I've been anticipating & dreading for many weeks.

Monday - woke up at 6AM, out the door by 6:30, picked up Jim Wingert in Davis around 8AM & drove to SLC. Arrived at the Prologue course around 7:30 PM and rode the course a few times.

30 min ride, then went to the Rossi house where we'd be staying for the week.

Tuesday - while the rest of the guys went for a ride, I tuned up my bikes and rested, trying to get over the lingering symptoms of my cold. I thought my prologue would be around 6:45, but when I arrived at the course around 5:45 I discovered that my start time was 6:17. I didn't get much of a warm-up, so a 2.8 mile race was a real shock to the system, that and the altitude. I thought I rode pretty well, coming in at 6:57, when the best riders were only about 40-45 seconds faster. Turns out a lot of riders finished in that 45 seconds and my time was only 132nd best. I knew it was going to be a long week. (about 45 min total riding)

Wednesday - First real road race Ogden to Salt Lake, with 2 Cat 1 climbs in between. This race didn't start off super fast. I thought it was odd seeing Zabriskie spending most of the early race in the back 10 with guys like me, but he knew how to move up when he needed to. I didn't have too much problem staying with the pack on the 1st Cat 1 climb or the following descent, but was not positioned too well when the 2nd climb started and too far back when the gaps started opening up. I rode with a few guys on the following descent, but ended up on my own over the last 10 miles and finished solo in 89th with no one within over a minute of me on either side. I finished 89th and moved up to 89th in GC. (3:31:13 stage time)

Thursday - Mt. Nebo. - 60 miles flat followed by a 20 mile HC climb. As soon as the neutral ended we were going full gas due south for miles & miles. Problem was the wind from the east. Guys at the front were trying to break away & Rock & the other teams were chasing everything down, so back in the last 25 spots where I was, it was just pedal as hard as you can with your head down, trying to ride on an inch of road and hope the pack would eventually slow down. At 1 point there was a crash about 20 riders up that I was able to avoid, but after hitting the brakes I saw a large gap open up. I chased as hard as I could for about 2 minutes, then was about to give up thinking my race was over when a small chase pack with Ben Jacques Maynes & Floyd Landis went by. I was able to get back on this group and get a ride back to the safety of the peloton. A little while later a break was established and we made a turn into the wind, so it became a lot easier to sit in and wait for the climb. When the climb came, I was again in a bad position near the back of the field, but that didn't matter too much. This was a 90 minute, do it at your pace climb. I went hard, but held back a bit since I didn't want to blow up. I again finished solo, this time in 71st and moved up to 74th in GC. (3:17:34 stage time)

When we returned to the Rossi house they had prepared an incredible pasta dinner for the team and we surprised them with how quickly we ate everything. One thing about this trip was that I was eating a lot more than normal.

Training Week August 10 - 16, 2009

Way late on this one, but not too much to report.

Monday - 45 min spin class

Tuesday - Usual GG Park sprints - 1:30 total ride

Woke up wednesday with a sore throat & feeling sick

Wednesday - easy 30 min on spin bike

Thursday - 1:30 at polo fields with some tempo

Friday - easy 30 min on spin bike

Saturday - Alpine Dam ride - started with BF group, then rode with Dyrwal, he was making me hurt pretty bad - 3:30 total ride

Sunday - easy park ride - saw Irish Greg & rode with him foe a while - 2:00 total ride

Weekly totals: 8:30 riding, 1:45 spinning, 10:15 total.