The Big Trip So Far and the First Race of the Season
Sorry for the bulk post. The classy Embassy Suites Hotel we were staying at in Albuquerque wanted $10 a day for internet, ha! You can get free internet at a Holiday Inn. Someone please explain this one to me.
The trip out of the deep freeze has been wonderful, busy and rewarding. The trip started with a seven day stay in Albuquerque to train with the Cycling Center Team. The weather was a bit cold in the beginning with around 45 degree highs but quickly warmed up into the 60's. With warm air finally in the face, the forth week of base was long and relaxing.
One of the highlights of the stay was a citywide group ride organized in support of the Veloport Project that wants to bring indoor track cycling to NM along with an already completed BMX track and a closed loop road course. The project is in the final stages of funding and if all goes well will be completed in 2008!
The ride consisted of the two pro teams, Navigators and Lipton, along with the Cycling Center picking up the community at the Balloon Museum and then going on a nice hour long loop. The ride went as planed and the community was riding alongside the pros for most of the ride. They all seemed to really enjoy it, and best part of all was the overall acceptance of the community as not a single motorist honked at the group of over 200 rolling through lights waving as if in a parade. Velonews was there to mark the occasion, see Albuquerque Group Ride Article.
The day before I left for Arizona, the Cycling Center Team took a trip to the top of Sandia Peak with the intention of snowshoeing for four hours at 10,500 feet. I had never been snowshoeing before, but have been itching to get out in the wilderness for about a month. I was literally on cloud-nine tromping around in the snow on the top of the peak for the day. Snowshoeing is addicting as I now want to get a pair when I get back to Colorado. Think of it as hiking without trails, so you can literally point to where you want to go and just set out for it. The shoes were capable of going up, down, and through anything because of the nice cramp-on style spikes on the bottom of the shoes.
Scott Tietzel and I on top of an old cabin at the top of the peak.
We all had a little too good of time doing some Extreme Snowshoeing, i.e. jumping off or sliding down any hill, or cliff we came across.
The only casualty of the day...my jeans.
Lesson Learned: When jumping off cliffs with snowshoes on, beware of spikes on bottom!
After my adventures in NM, the trip continued on to Phoenix, AZ, where it only rains in the winter. Arriving on Thursday, I set out to do a little ride with the extra power of about 50 watts with the lower elevation. Too bad the altitude EPO only lasts a couple of days, but it is always a super human good time. Kind of makes you feel like you could win a stage in the Tour!
As if all the training in NM along with the 4 hour high altitude snowshoe, all without a rest day, was not enough, I went on to pack the weekend with the local Phoenix group ride on Saturday and then race on Sunday. The race was the McDowell Mountain Circuit Race, where the Cat 2 Men had the opportunity to race a total of 2:15 with both a Cat 2 race and a Pro,1,2 race.
I started off by riding the 45min Cat 2 race. The pace was good and not too taxing, with the race coming down to a field sprint out of the last corner 300m from the finish. Unfortunately I ended up first out of the corner since the four that were in front of me pulled off on the long hill up to the corner. Thus I was left with no option but to start the sprint and hope for the best. I ended up leading out two other guys who came around me by the finish leaving me in third. Overall not to shabby for the first race of the year.
Results of Cat 2 Race, where for some reason I am listed as second...could I get some more prize money?
So with that performance, I was for some reason feeling pretty good after all the volume, travel, and altitude in the past week. My coach and I decided that the second race of an hour and a half with the pros was a good idea and I should just sit in with the pack. The race was faster but manageable up until about 45 min left where a nice storm rolled in complete with rain and an almost constant headwind. The pack immediately exploded with about half the field of 55 dropping out by the end. I ended up time-trialling the rest of the race about a minute off the back of the field. For some reason I get very motivated in the rain, and didn't really mind trying to catch the field as I could never put in that kind of effort out training by myself. It is also somewhat rewarding to go rolling by other racers who have been shot out the back of the field later in the race and have obviously just thrown in the towel.
Result of Pro,1,2 Race
In conclusion the last two weeks have been some of the best early season training and racing I have ever put in and the change in pace has been mostly relaxing. The rest of the week will be in preparation for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race this weekend. I am going for a top five so we will see how it turns out. Until then I am watching and hoping that the snow in Colorado will stop by the time I get back on Monday but right now it looks like there will be a welcome back snow on Tuesday. When is it going to stop? I want spring!
The trip out of the deep freeze has been wonderful, busy and rewarding. The trip started with a seven day stay in Albuquerque to train with the Cycling Center Team. The weather was a bit cold in the beginning with around 45 degree highs but quickly warmed up into the 60's. With warm air finally in the face, the forth week of base was long and relaxing.
One of the highlights of the stay was a citywide group ride organized in support of the Veloport Project that wants to bring indoor track cycling to NM along with an already completed BMX track and a closed loop road course. The project is in the final stages of funding and if all goes well will be completed in 2008!
The ride consisted of the two pro teams, Navigators and Lipton, along with the Cycling Center picking up the community at the Balloon Museum and then going on a nice hour long loop. The ride went as planed and the community was riding alongside the pros for most of the ride. They all seemed to really enjoy it, and best part of all was the overall acceptance of the community as not a single motorist honked at the group of over 200 rolling through lights waving as if in a parade. Velonews was there to mark the occasion, see Albuquerque Group Ride Article.
The day before I left for Arizona, the Cycling Center Team took a trip to the top of Sandia Peak with the intention of snowshoeing for four hours at 10,500 feet. I had never been snowshoeing before, but have been itching to get out in the wilderness for about a month. I was literally on cloud-nine tromping around in the snow on the top of the peak for the day. Snowshoeing is addicting as I now want to get a pair when I get back to Colorado. Think of it as hiking without trails, so you can literally point to where you want to go and just set out for it. The shoes were capable of going up, down, and through anything because of the nice cramp-on style spikes on the bottom of the shoes.
Scott Tietzel and I on top of an old cabin at the top of the peak.
We all had a little too good of time doing some Extreme Snowshoeing, i.e. jumping off or sliding down any hill, or cliff we came across.
The only casualty of the day...my jeans.
Lesson Learned: When jumping off cliffs with snowshoes on, beware of spikes on bottom!
After my adventures in NM, the trip continued on to Phoenix, AZ, where it only rains in the winter. Arriving on Thursday, I set out to do a little ride with the extra power of about 50 watts with the lower elevation. Too bad the altitude EPO only lasts a couple of days, but it is always a super human good time. Kind of makes you feel like you could win a stage in the Tour!
As if all the training in NM along with the 4 hour high altitude snowshoe, all without a rest day, was not enough, I went on to pack the weekend with the local Phoenix group ride on Saturday and then race on Sunday. The race was the McDowell Mountain Circuit Race, where the Cat 2 Men had the opportunity to race a total of 2:15 with both a Cat 2 race and a Pro,1,2 race.
I started off by riding the 45min Cat 2 race. The pace was good and not too taxing, with the race coming down to a field sprint out of the last corner 300m from the finish. Unfortunately I ended up first out of the corner since the four that were in front of me pulled off on the long hill up to the corner. Thus I was left with no option but to start the sprint and hope for the best. I ended up leading out two other guys who came around me by the finish leaving me in third. Overall not to shabby for the first race of the year.
Results of Cat 2 Race, where for some reason I am listed as second...could I get some more prize money?
So with that performance, I was for some reason feeling pretty good after all the volume, travel, and altitude in the past week. My coach and I decided that the second race of an hour and a half with the pros was a good idea and I should just sit in with the pack. The race was faster but manageable up until about 45 min left where a nice storm rolled in complete with rain and an almost constant headwind. The pack immediately exploded with about half the field of 55 dropping out by the end. I ended up time-trialling the rest of the race about a minute off the back of the field. For some reason I get very motivated in the rain, and didn't really mind trying to catch the field as I could never put in that kind of effort out training by myself. It is also somewhat rewarding to go rolling by other racers who have been shot out the back of the field later in the race and have obviously just thrown in the towel.
Result of Pro,1,2 Race
In conclusion the last two weeks have been some of the best early season training and racing I have ever put in and the change in pace has been mostly relaxing. The rest of the week will be in preparation for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race this weekend. I am going for a top five so we will see how it turns out. Until then I am watching and hoping that the snow in Colorado will stop by the time I get back on Monday but right now it looks like there will be a welcome back snow on Tuesday. When is it going to stop? I want spring!
