Lance's Breakout

Lots of good racing at the Dawg Days circuit this weekend. I was witness to great racing all day. In particular, the Master's race and the 3 race were showcase to great performances by great dudes.

Warno pretty much trounced the field in the Master's race. Chip Hoover went with him, and despite having raced a billion times the day before, he had nil slack in his work rate. He takes after the cycling stories of old - he drove in the break knowing he needed to conserve to stick, and drove until he blew up. To cap off the ride, he joined the chase group and stuck it to them on the last lap. He tried to launch on the back half of the course, then managed to stick SuperDave's wheel in the sprint and NEARLY come around at the line. That is hustle.

In the 3 race, Lance "All-The-Ladies-Want-Me" Lacy tried and tried and tried to get away until he finally did. All race the spectators (myself included) sat around watching Lance and Tim Brown whip themselves into the wind, and we were all sort of yawning about it. Then the laps came down. Ramon was driving around the course to see how the break was working around the whole circuit. You know he was into it! People started migrating from the parking lot field to the median strip to get closer and start offering little words of encouragement. THEN the field started to shut the gap down.

I figured they were done for and went back to Joe Jefferson's tent to catch some shade. With two laps to go and a field boring down on the two-man break, Joe and I exchanged our expectations - big field sprint with some ugliness which would require many band-aids. I told him that I WANTED to see Lance stick it, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. No way with the gap tumbling down like that. I wanted to see it the same way I wanted to see Ullrich get another yellow jersey - but I knew it wouldn't happen.

One to go. Field absolutely foaming at the mouth - but they were spread out. I figured they were confident they would catch the break on that tailwind backstretch.

You would not believe how loud the place got with so few people as the bike race entered the finishing stretch. The sleepy line of spectators who had been napping in the shade and too busy digging for snacks to mind all the races were all on their feet, SCREAMING for Lance. He put a gap on his breakaway partner and was holding off the field like a classic TdF stage. People were jumping and high-fiving each other all over the place. Even the bike-race-spouses who didn't know all of the personalities in MABRA knew they had seen a really really brave race pulled off -- and it was even cooler if you knew who had just made it happen.

congrats, Lance. Not only did you finally get your win (and a good one at that), but more impressively, you made a boring circuit race JUMP!

no no no

well that sucked. I blew 5 hours of my life to do a greenbelt race and my body conked again. I don't remember how many laps I lasted...maybe 4...there was an all-of-the-sudden thing and then I HAD to get off the bike. Limped back to the car and fell asleep. I remember the cute girl with the puzzle bike telling me to go to the doctor and me drinking water to convince her that I was okay (which I later was heaving on because I didn't want to drink water). I drove home with the heat blasting.

The race looked fun, too bad I'm a busted bag of cow shit disease. I need to figure out a way to get better, because that damn night race is in a few days.

Not So Much

Today I cracked about 5 miles into my tuesday-nighter. The Powertap showed solid numbers, but it felt all wrong. I couldn't stamp the pedals like I wanted. I wasn't breathing hard, but my diaphragm was ripping from effort. I could ride at threshold nicely, but had nothing for jumps.

Then, the lights went out.

I couldn't pedal any more, and I had that deep-sorrow-feeling. By the time I was nearly back to my car, I was shivering uncontrollably. I went to lay down in the back of my wagon with my kit, long pants, and jacket on - plus a towel wrapped around my head - and I was still cool. When I finally had someone to "escort" me home, the thermo on the dash read 91 F.

My body better light up by thursday.

Layin' it down in Annandale

If anyone wants to hit a fast ride, I'm going to do my usual Tuesday-nighter @ full gas. I'm not sayin' I'm going to crack skulls, I'm just sayin'.

All systems seem go for Iron Hill. If anyone from D20 goes up to spectate, give me a friendly push, I'll need it! After this weekend I'm going to tweak my bike fit - possibly lowering my saddle height and changing the setback. I'll probably swap my carbon hbars out for my trusty old alum's...try something a bit wider with a deeper drop. Something about riding a crit with Josh Frick makes you feel like a sail off an 1800's Dutch Sloop.

Hopefully I'll get to ride the Nature's Path 15 mile TT in Midlothian -- good distance for me, and I'll get to play with my TT stuff!

Awesome Lazy Day

I burned off my hangover in front of the T.V. today. There was a great TdF stage, an AMAZING Men's final @ Wimbledon (Roddick owns), and then some televised ITU races!

Ate a steak, slept, fixed my rear derailleur. Sunday has been a success.

T-Minus to Iron Hill

My favorite race of the year - the Iron Hill Twilight Crit - is in a week. I've just put in my last few helpings of consecutive hard rides, garnished with some recovery miles and quality sleep. I am aiming to do well at this event (and by do well I mean FINISH), so all there is left to do is rest the legs for a few days and support my body's recovery systems (by eating and sleeping). Prep time is over. I can't get any faster this week by doing hard rides, I can't cut any weight, I can't get ANOTHER new drivetrain.

Last year I lasted about 40 minutes or so -- I was too far back and jumped across too many field splits...it is a lot like jumping from log to log as you are drifting downriver to a waterfall. It ended poorly when my Toupe saddle toupe'd my junx on turn 4...resulting in massive nausea and cramping everywhere (along with a distinctly painful ringing sensation in the ol' barracks).

In a nutshell, next Saturday will be real proof to myself whether or not I am still improving athletically. This is my 3rd year on the bike and I hope to god I am still capable of getting even faster.

Equipment Lessons from Reston Town Center Criterium

Camelbak Podium Bottle (insulated):

I bought two of these to replace my cytomax-stained polar insulated bottles, mostly because they look cool, and I need something that looks cool to keep my water cold.

Bottom line: bad for a crit. You can't get water out fast enough for the 10 seconds you have to splash water in your mouth.


Michelin P3R :

Man, I love these tires. Super confident-feeling. @ 181 lbs, I ran the max recommended (116 psi...k, maybe I pinned it @ just a hair under 120, but most gauges are inaccurate).

I didn't do/try any nutritional pre-game. No, wait. I ate a shitload of oreos for breakfast, then a bottle of perpetuem on the drive over to Reston. Then a clif kidz bar. No Red Bawlz, no coffee, just water and heed on the bike. OH. The HEED. I did a 2 scoop bottle and it tasted like syrup by the bottom. Hence my need for rapid water delivery. From now on, 1-scoop in a crit :)