Wednesday, April 30, 2008
We are having another girl!
Bre, Kate, and I went to the doctor this week for Bre's ultrasound. Everything looked great and its a girl. Kate is so excited! I didn't care if it was a girl or boy but what is nice about having another girl is that we already have a ton of girl clothing that will be the right seasons for the size (or so Bre tells me).
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
East Canyon
It was a great day. You may not know it by looking at the results so let me explain. In each of the last 2 races I finished with the unsettling thought that I could have gone harder, I could have attacked a few more times, I had enough to dig at a critical time in the race but didn't. It is an unsettling feeling, no, it sucks! So, I planned to finish the East Canyon Road Race having nothing else I could have done. Here's how it went down:
From the start my team was on the front, setting pace for the 4 or so miles to the first climb. I set the pace up the first section of the climb, about 6%, it then kicks up to about 8 or 9%. I think this is where Aaron from FFKR attacked solo. In any case, no one chased him and for the next 15-20 miles he was out of sight. There were a few attacks, all brought back in short order. I even attacked with Todd my teamate. At about 20-25 miles into the race it was becoming clear that the pack would be content to stay together until the final climb at about 8 miles to the finish and just race that last section, but I wanted to race for 64 miles not 8. I went to the front and put in a fairly easy pace. I look back to find that I had rode off the front by about 20 meters. I figured that if no one wanted to follow the fairly easy pace I was setting that I wasn't willing to stay in the pack. I downshifted and took off in a violent attack. I didn't know how far ahead Aaron was but I was determined to bridge solo to him and make this a race. After a few rises, I could see the lone leader and powered to close the remaining gap. I think Aaron may have been surprised to see me and initially I didn't think his heart was in our new 2 man break so I gave each pull serious effort so he would know that this was THE break of the race. After a few minutes, Aaron came through in ernest and said, "Alright, lets give them somthing to think about". The course is out and back so after we went through the turn around at about 32 miles we were heading back toward the chasing pack. I think we had about a minute on the pack at the turn around and drove it up to about a minute and a half. I learned after the race that the peleton put together a 15 or so man paceline to try to bring us back and that look some serious effort by the pack. We were in a head wind for the last 10-15 miles before the final climb at 8 miles to the finish. This wind began to slowly bring down our advantage but with the climb coming, and hoping that my teamates were blocking for me, Aaron and I kept pouring it on. We got on the final climb and I was able to continue to work with Aaron until about a mile or 2 from the summitt when I came unhitched. Aaron rode away and I tried to settle into the pace I could maintain and kept at it. About halfway to the summitt a pack of 3 riders flew by me and I had no chance of catching on. They eventually caught Aaron at the summitt and he was able to stay with them to the finish for 4th place. I caught on to another group of riders from the splintered peleton, summitted and raced down the decent. We could see the group ahead of us but few in my pack of 7 or so had anything left to work in a pace line and close the gap. I had one teamate with me and he led me to the 1 km climb to the finish line. Two of us had a sprint left in our legs and went. That is a brutal finishing climb to the line. The other rider in my group beat me to the line and I finished 15th overall.
In thinking about it after, I would much rather risk it all on a big attack, bridging a large gap to a leader solo, giving it all in a 2 man break for about 35-40 miles of a 64 mile race, and then get caught by a 15 man paceline that may not have caught us if the wind was just a hair different or the teamates in the pack put more energy into blocking. The wind and the blocking teamates were out of my control but I know that I couldn't have put anything else into my effort or decisions so it was a great day. Much better than sitting the the pack drafting for 56 miles and then racing the last 8.
From the start my team was on the front, setting pace for the 4 or so miles to the first climb. I set the pace up the first section of the climb, about 6%, it then kicks up to about 8 or 9%. I think this is where Aaron from FFKR attacked solo. In any case, no one chased him and for the next 15-20 miles he was out of sight. There were a few attacks, all brought back in short order. I even attacked with Todd my teamate. At about 20-25 miles into the race it was becoming clear that the pack would be content to stay together until the final climb at about 8 miles to the finish and just race that last section, but I wanted to race for 64 miles not 8. I went to the front and put in a fairly easy pace. I look back to find that I had rode off the front by about 20 meters. I figured that if no one wanted to follow the fairly easy pace I was setting that I wasn't willing to stay in the pack. I downshifted and took off in a violent attack. I didn't know how far ahead Aaron was but I was determined to bridge solo to him and make this a race. After a few rises, I could see the lone leader and powered to close the remaining gap. I think Aaron may have been surprised to see me and initially I didn't think his heart was in our new 2 man break so I gave each pull serious effort so he would know that this was THE break of the race. After a few minutes, Aaron came through in ernest and said, "Alright, lets give them somthing to think about". The course is out and back so after we went through the turn around at about 32 miles we were heading back toward the chasing pack. I think we had about a minute on the pack at the turn around and drove it up to about a minute and a half. I learned after the race that the peleton put together a 15 or so man paceline to try to bring us back and that look some serious effort by the pack. We were in a head wind for the last 10-15 miles before the final climb at 8 miles to the finish. This wind began to slowly bring down our advantage but with the climb coming, and hoping that my teamates were blocking for me, Aaron and I kept pouring it on. We got on the final climb and I was able to continue to work with Aaron until about a mile or 2 from the summitt when I came unhitched. Aaron rode away and I tried to settle into the pace I could maintain and kept at it. About halfway to the summitt a pack of 3 riders flew by me and I had no chance of catching on. They eventually caught Aaron at the summitt and he was able to stay with them to the finish for 4th place. I caught on to another group of riders from the splintered peleton, summitted and raced down the decent. We could see the group ahead of us but few in my pack of 7 or so had anything left to work in a pace line and close the gap. I had one teamate with me and he led me to the 1 km climb to the finish line. Two of us had a sprint left in our legs and went. That is a brutal finishing climb to the line. The other rider in my group beat me to the line and I finished 15th overall.
In thinking about it after, I would much rather risk it all on a big attack, bridging a large gap to a leader solo, giving it all in a 2 man break for about 35-40 miles of a 64 mile race, and then get caught by a 15 man paceline that may not have caught us if the wind was just a hair different or the teamates in the pack put more energy into blocking. The wind and the blocking teamates were out of my control but I know that I couldn't have put anything else into my effort or decisions so it was a great day. Much better than sitting the the pack drafting for 56 miles and then racing the last 8.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Triple Valley Stage Race, Tax Day Circuit Race
Two weeks ago was the stage race. It was made up of a 62 mile flat road race, an 8 mile time trial, and a 32 mile circuit race. Eventhough I was in around 20 attacks in the road race, nothing survived and we all reached the finish line for a bunch sprint on a very narrow road. I ended up 10th. I was not looking forward to the TT as I do not own a TT bike, disc wheel, or aero helmet like the rest of my competitors but I was determined to see what I could do. There was one climb in the course that would be my only advantage. As I got the bottom of the clomb, the guy who started 20 seconds behind me was now right behind me. On the climb I was able to distance him and ended up beating him by 45 seconds over all. I took 13th in the TT and was now 11th overall going into the circuit race. The course for the circuit race was a 5 mile lap that we would do 7 times. There was a climb on the back side. From the 3rd lap we were drilling up the climb and shelling folks off the back. By the last lap there were about 12 riders left. My teamate was 1st the GC going into that race so I went ot the front to lead him out for the final sprint which was down hill. I began the sprint out, went into the fian straight 1000km from the finish, looked back and found I had gapped my teamate and the field by 20 meters. I sat up rejoined and took my sprint with the pack finishing 7th overall. Come to find that my teamate, who is 17 and required to use junior gears, had spun his highest gear out trying to stay with me. Anyway, that perfomance ranked me the 10th place cat 3 rider in the state.
Tax day was last weekend and it is a 60 mile circuit race with a 5-6 mile lap that has a big climb for about 2km of each lap. This is also the lony race where the cat 3s ride with the pro 1s and 2s. Riding against the 1s and 2s was difficult to say the least. From the first lap they were attacking and attacking. They hit the first climb and drilled it. Actually, they drilled it every lap up that climb. I held for about 4 laps and on the next lap fell off and never re-entered the pack. I soloed the last 2 laps and finished 18th place. I was happy with the placing. It kept me in the 10th place in the state rankings.
Tomorrow is East Canyon Road Race. 60 mile out and back with one decisive climb at about 7 miles to the finish. Should be fun...
Tax day was last weekend and it is a 60 mile circuit race with a 5-6 mile lap that has a big climb for about 2km of each lap. This is also the lony race where the cat 3s ride with the pro 1s and 2s. Riding against the 1s and 2s was difficult to say the least. From the first lap they were attacking and attacking. They hit the first climb and drilled it. Actually, they drilled it every lap up that climb. I held for about 4 laps and on the next lap fell off and never re-entered the pack. I soloed the last 2 laps and finished 18th place. I was happy with the placing. It kept me in the 10th place in the state rankings.
Tomorrow is East Canyon Road Race. 60 mile out and back with one decisive climb at about 7 miles to the finish. Should be fun...
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