Thursday Commute

I commute in to work as much as i can to get the most time on the bike as i can and avoid the high costs at the gas pump. It was a nice ride in but the ride home was a stiff headwind out of the north that was blowing around 20+ mph. Gota love Kansas. It seems the spring is fighting with summer and the temps were very cool for my tast (the wind didn't help). Friday i am planning on taking the family to table rock for some lake time and a few hill intervals saturday.

WNWorlds Recovery

I skipped out on the WNWorlds ride tonight and spent some time with the family. Well i guess it was a god send because there just happened to be a crash in the group that took a couple of locals down with some minor scratchs/bruises and a dislocated shoulder.

TNTT St. Marks

The first Tuesday Night Time Trial in St. Marks. The weather was around 60 with a 10+mph ESE wind that kept it cool. The course is a West then East route with a few rollers (for kansas) in it. It was a nice quartering tail wind out but the return wasn't as fun. I put in a 21.58 but know i got smashed by Kent again. He's crazy fast on a TT bike. Average watts 309, not bad because i didn't feel that strong and figured it would be below the practice tt i did last week.

Bob got a kick butt Felt TT bike, has nice aero lines on it. Total ride time today is just at 3 hours with my commute in to work and then out to the tt course.

Monday Easy Ride?

Went out and tried to do some easy spinning but had to contest with a monster headwind for half of the ride... on the flip side the tailwind pushed me up to a 33mph! Nice spin workout at a high cadence. 198 average watt's is not a great recovery ride but it beats sitting on a trainer.

Ventures Crit

Local racers raced the Ventures Crit today in the March Madness Practice Race Series. Started off fast and had a few attacks to keep it spicey. After a few attacks, Kent Bradford (oz), Jay B (tulsawheelemen) and Rich H (rcrc) got a good gap and worked together to get a nice gap. Jay Hawkins from RCRC wanted to get a good work out in and attacked to try and keep the gap managable. He would attack and the oz team would get to the front and pull him back. Finally he attacked and brian pollan covered, they slowed and the group caught up with them then Jay attacked again and i covered and we got a sizeable gap. I worked with jay for around 25 min. to bridge the gap to the leaders (he had to slow down alot after his pulls to allow me to catch on and pull through). We finally caught them and i was fried. Our 5 man group stayed together till the last lap when Kent (oz) attacked and got a little gap but slowed due to the headwind. Jay B, Jay H, and Rich H. dropped the hammer, and i got pinched off from kent trying to catch there wheel so i lost contact for the sprint. In the end Jay B from TulsaWheelemen 1st, Rich H. (rcrc) 2nd, Jay H. (rcrc) 3rd, Kent B. (oz) 4th, and Me (oz) 5th. A lot of work and a great workout for a practice race.

Frisco Superdrome 3/22

I went to the superdrome in frisco to take the new commers class to track racing and do a few practice races. I am headed to Seatle Washington later this year and an X Oz racer Bret Seahorn said i should check out the track scene when i get there. I went to Frisco to get a head start so i will be able to actually race in seatle.

It was a lot of fun! The Superdrome has a circumference of 250 meters with banking of 44-degrees in the corners. The front and back straights are banked at “only” 17-degrees. 44 degrees is like staring at a wall when you walk up to it. The faster you go the greater the inertia that pushes you outward against the track surface. Also, the faster the you travel the more you will lean away from the track, which increases good tire contact. This outward force overcomes gravity that is pulling the rider down. As long as inertia is greater than the gravitational pull you will safely stay upright on the track. I think you could ride the minimum of 11mph and not slide down the track.

After the class we had a practice race and before you start everyone has to bunch up so as not to get an unfair advantage at the start. This is probably slowest you go, two guys in front of me slid down the track before we ever got started. After we bunched up the offical blows a wistle to let all the riders know its time to race. Track races are pretty short (8 laps on 250meters) and its goes fast from the gun. It is a great short interval workout and you race around 5 to 6 races a day. In all I raced around 6 races total for the day.

WNWorlds 3/19

I kept attacking off the front until a select group of Jay Blankenship (Tulsa Wheelman), Trey Harrison (Chamos Butter), Rich Hostert (RCRC) (tall big guy, nice draft!), and John Flesher (RCRC) joined to make the final selection. We road a lap and then I attacked again, nobody followed so I ended up getting sucked back into the 4 man group for the final and third lap. On the north side of the loop as after I took my pull Jay B attacked and Trey followed and I had enough to hang on to the wheel, the other two popped off. As it went south again Trey and Jay were taking big pulls and I was sitting on, so Jay (2nd wheel) let Trey get a gap to force me to work. I sat on and the other 2 that we dropped caught back on as Trey pulled away. I attacked again to try and keep Trey close and then the group worked together until the final turn to pull Trey back. The pace got faster and faster until it was Jay and I pulling to get Trey back, around the bridge Jay took off to bridge the gap (and made it to take the W from Trey) and I rolled in 3rd. Good workout for sure.. I was kicking 400+ watts for 45 second pulls with jay to catch trey for about 6 pulls at the end of the hour + effort.

TSB Graph

This is my Current TSB Graph from Training peaks. Check out the power 411 linnk for more info on how to read this graph.

In a nutt shell the red line is 7 days accumulated training stress that pushes the blue line 30 days of stress.

The Orange line is the recovery/rest and zero is the ideal "fresh" for race balance that you would like with a high blue line thingy... ya i know what im talk'n about, i think....

TT Position

After getting my butt handed to me by kent at the local tt. i asked him to drop by and check out the tt bike and my postion. I had alot of spacers in, so he gave me advice to drop all the spacers and get as low as i could, and move the seat forward for a better aero/fit on the frame.. Maybe i can improve my time next week?!? I also put a 10 speed chain on the tt bike so i can use my power tap to record the tt's. Should be fun!

I road to the St. Marks TT course an East-West course that is 9 miles long with a few little rollers in it, and did a pre TT with Daryn K. I did it in 23.03 at an averge wattage of 299 and speed of 24.2, there was a NorthEast wind so going out was nice but making the return trip wasn't. I averaged 311 Watts going out and only 292 Watts on the return, looks like i went out a little to hard?

Hell's Kitchen RR Arkansas

Bob Cummings (cat.4) and I drove to arkansas for an easy 60+ mile course ) a small riser and a few other little hills. I'm glad i could use brian's 27 cog. The hill was tough and the 3's ramped up it fast (in around 6 min's), i went cross eyed trying to stay with the lead group.. i got gapped every climb but killed myself to get back on, and did the first two laps.. the third lap i didn't have enough left in the tank to catch back up with the leaders .. i estimate a top 22 finish out of 60+.. not bad for a non climbing type..


bob did well and his field was 80+! they had a crash, and he did some lance armstrong cross to stay out of trouble

The pic's shows it took me 5.30 to climb at an average of a little over 350Watts, and its 0.9 miles long.

3/13-14

After two days of decent race efforts i debated going out for a spin after work but my back is sore so i decided to take the night off. The weather was awsome, and it kill's me to let a nice day go but after a day of rest my back feels much better. I need to start streaching the hammy's after riding to keep from getting a sore back.
I am going to go out and spin a little tonight and get ready for Hells Kitchen RR in Arkansas this weekend. Its going to be a killer race.

3/12 WNWorlds

With the time change being earlier the WNWorlds starts earlier, the weather is warm and very little wind. WNW is in ParkCity and is a 10mile loop that is for the most part flat, if there is a wind out of the north or south then there is a decent cross wind componenet to consider for breaking up the pack.

Trey Harrison (Chamo's Butt) 1st
Bob Cummings (0z) 2nd
Carl (0z) 3rd
Ryan Chrisler (0z) 4th
Stan Kolbec 5th (RCRC)
Trina 6th (RCRC)
(Jay B pealed off after the second lap)
Great results for oz... Trey took a flyer on the last half lap and the oz boys along with a few pulls from Stan kept Trey close. Bob bridged after the turn and I sat on Stan's wheel for his attempt. Ryan kept the pace moderate with stan but Bob and Trey stayed away. Letting Stan stay in front for the sprint I attacked after the bridge taking Ryan with me and Stan sat up after he couldn't catch on.

3/11 Tuesday Night Time Trial

Nice weather for the First Time Trial of the year for most @ Kechi Kansas. Wind 6mph out of the South West a nice and sunny 60 Degree day. After the first decent effort at 15K my lower back is killing me. Probably a lack of streaching and not riding the tt bike as much as i should.

Kent Bradford 20.21
Carl Garrison 20.36
Jeff Usher 20.44
Bryan Pollan 21.02
Bob Cummings 21.27
Tim Voegeli 21.28
David Wells 22.16
Randy Sommerfelt 22.36
Chrissy Usher 23.02
Rick Claiborne 23.53
Phil Voegeli 24.11
Dan Perry 24.19
Daryn Ketter 24.50
Josh Wade 25.45
Aliscia Pollan 28.21
Ron Wade 32.17