Today's my birthday! I had a bit of a change of plans and came back home last night rather than next Monday. Yesterday was surreal...I was driving for 15 hours straight! But best keep this story in order so I'll get to that.
After a couple of very relaxing days at the host house in Bend, I spent yet another day (last Thursday) watching TV, doing an easy course recon ride, eating and falling in love with my host family. By the end of my week in Bend I was more upset to leave than I've ever been leaving a host house...like almost lump-in-the-throat sad. Anyway, I previewed the 16.5 mile circuit that we would cover four times on Sunday's stage 4. The course consisted of rolling terrain and two notable short climbs. One a little less than half a mile long and not particularly steep, leading into the feed zone at the top, and the other slightly longer with some pretty steep sections and a flat stair-step in the middle. It looked like a fun loop and the word from past races what that this should shrink the field to a group of about 30 riders by the end of 4 laps.
Later in the evening, Daniel and Jason, a couple of CAT 4 Swami's arrived at the host house after their painfully long drive from San Diego. I explained the courses and we talked tactics over dinner before turning in for the night. I had a little difficulty getting to sleep...I was excited and a little nervous. The race was about to start and I'd pretty much put all of my eggs in this basket in terms of my season, training specifically for this race since the beginning of May.
Thankfully my start time for the stage 1 road race wasn't until 11:40am, so I was able to make sure I got a full 10 hours sleep in. Race morning is always a bit of a blur. Everything is so routine that I tend to go through the motions, my mind fixated on the race. The Tour was on, Cavendish dominated yet another sprint for his 4th stage win. I knew today should be anything but a sprint finish. Everything would come down to the final climb which would probably determine my overall GC too.
The profile for stage 1 was very simple, up (for about 2 miles), down (for about 15), flat, then up to the finish. As expected the race was relatively tame until the final climb. I knew I had good legs right from the start as I effortlessly picked my way from the rear of the peloton to the front on the first short climb immediately after the start. This set me up for a safe and comfortable ride downhill where I took the opportunity to take in more food and drink. As we hit the flats the expected early attacks started. I jumped across to the third or fourth attack of about 4 riders. I wanted to wake my legs back up after the long descent more than anything, but the move looked like it could have some potential. I took some easy pulls but realized it wasn't going anywhere so just sat up and let the catch happen. A small move of a couple riders eventually established itself but it was missing any riders from any of the three or so team which had a presence of more than 2 at the race. I knew if it came to it they would do the chasing. So I settled in to eat and drink more and HOPEFULLY stay out of trouble until the final climb. I say "HOPEFULLY" because well, I hoped but it's bike racing so shit happens and I'm Matthew Shackley and 2010 has been the unluckiest year of my life so shit did in fact happen, and it happened to me! For those of you who are just casual cycling fans and might not understand all the intricacies (although this one should pretty much just be common sense): occasionally a rider in the middle of the peloton will get a flat tire in the course of a race. The best and safest way to react to this is to put one hand up in the air (maybe yell "flat" just for the sake of everyone who's not looking up), slowly stop pedaling and SLOWLY drift to the back of the group where you will be greeted by the support car and a spare wheel. An incorrect response to this situation would be to put your hand up, immediately stop pedaling and brake with the hand still on the bars. This will do 2 things, braking with one hand on the bars will destabilize your bike and at best cause you to weave a little AND you will stop abruptly in the middle of the road. Not a problem if you are already at the back of the peloton, but when you are near the front, this will cause a lot of problems for people riding behind you, problems exasperated by a narrow road! Just when you thought you were in the CAT 2s and were thus safe from crashes caused by such stupidity...someone applied this latter maneuver, weaved slightly and came to an abrupt stop in the middle of a one lane road. Everyone behind reacted by slamming on their brakes and splaying out to either side of this rider. Everyone managed to keep it upright until a rider to my left slightly overreacted skipped a little and bumped me off the road. I had already been riding right on the edge so this pushed me into the gravel at the side of the road. I tried to correct myself the ground kind of just slid away from underneath me and I fell off. It wasn't a bad crash at all, it was so slow and stupid it was just frustrating. I'd slowed down enough that I didn't even get cut up, but sometimes that can be more dangerous as you land hard and break a bone. I was fine though. Got up and exchanged a word or two with the flatted rider as I remounted and chased off after the peloton. Thankfully, I had pooped up so quickly that I didn't have to chase for long. When I got back my heart was racing and I looked myself over for damage, gathering my composure, before moving back towards the front and settling back in. After all that drama the race went by rather smoothly. The break was caught and another 2 riders, who happened to be teammates jumped away still with some distance before the finishing climb. As we got closer to the finale I moved up to the front 10-15 riders, easier said than done on such a narrow road. When we hit the steep lower slopes the break was still up the road. I really revved up. I knew that all my work in training had come down to whether I could stay in the front selection of riders up this 5 mile climb. A skinny Andy Schleck-type rider jumped almost immediately with a huge acceleration and got a big gap. Three others started to jump across to him but were struggling with his pace. I thought this was it. Partly because I was so excited and partly because he had flown off the front with such speed that I thought he must be one hell of a climber. I flew past the 3 riders in the gap and onto his wheel, but he seemed to have slowed a little too much. I came around him and shouted, well grunted through gritted teeth, for him to "come on" (keep in mind that we're only a quarter mile into the climb at most at this point. I did a hard tempo that I knew would gap everyone. I felt him crack off after maybe 50 meters...SHIT! There was no way I could sustain this pace the whole way up and I didn't wanted to crack and get passed by the front selection as they sped by. I looked around saw the gap was about 150 meters and sat up. I dropped to a really low gear and spun my legs easy for 10 seconds, taking all the pressure of them and letting them rest for the inevitable sprint up the mountain. Then I picked up the pace again so I could get onto the group as it came past. They weren't going as fast as I'd expected so I was able to slot into 4 wheel easily. The big split had already happened and the group was down to about 40 riders, a lot of whom were holding on for their lives. Considering I'd just put in a big acceleration, I felt good and my confidence was boosted seeing everyone else look in such pain. There was a Metromint rider on the front setting tempo for his teammate who was 2nd wheel. Neither looked comfortable. 3rd wheel was a younger rider, probably my age but he was all over the place. The tempo was hurting him and he was sitting and standing and weaving all over the place...I got a little frustrated with him. all that unnecessary movement made it a bit of hassle to follow his wheel. A little less than a mile in the Metromint rider slowed and his teammate attacked. It was a weak attack. He didn't accelerate much and only held that acceleration for maybe 30 meters. He slowed drastically and the younger guy in front of me overtook him. I was a little surprised by how pained these 3 riders in front of me had looked at this tempo...I figured maybe everyone behind was hurting this much too. I waited another 100 meters in 2nd wheel and jumped hard across the road. I was still quite a way from the top but I figured I could hold a pace at least a little faster than what we were already doing. I accelerated hard and fast for around 50 meters and saw that there had been a response behind me but the group was strung out. I sat and they caught back on. The Metromint riders had disappeared and the group looked a little thinner. They left me to sit on the front. I took a few seconds to recover but I figured if they were gong to force me to set tempo then I wasn't going to make it an easy ride. I did a fats tempo, faster than we'd been doing before but not too fast that I wouldn't be able to respond to attacks. There were no attacks though. The tempo was too fast. I was in control. We were about 2 miles in when I swung off and settled back in 3rd wheel. The younger rider who had been in front of me had recovered a little and was 2nd wheel. After a couple hundred meters more he attacked. It wasn't particularly hard or long and I was straight onto him. He looked at me and sat up. I counter attacked. The rider behind me responded me and we sprinted up the mountain. By now we had passed one of the original breakaways but the other was still a little too far in front. When saw the response had come with me I sat up and slowed dramatically. I wasn't doing more tempo. It was obvious there were about 6 other riders who could respond immediately to my attacks and potentially animate the race themselves, the rest were holding on for their lives. The pace slowed as everyone started marking each other. The young rider tried again, but again his attack was weak. A strong looking guy countered and was covered quickly. A strong HotTubes development rider countered that. His attack was very fast and he held his acceleration for a little less than 100 meters. The young rider took a second to respond but when he did he was quickly on the wheel and I was right there behind him. I looked around and the three of us had a small gap (funny the damage 3 riders under the age of 20 could do). But when the HotTubes kid backed off the stronger rider who had attacked before him paced everyone else back across. The pace slowed. It slowed enough and the grade had eased so that I found myself with riders on either side of me for the first time on the climb. I didn't like the feeling of being boxed in. I was right. Another HotTubes kid launched up the side and the no one could follow the acceleration. I could have! But I couldn't get out. All of a sudden he had a big gap and looked dangerous. By the time I got out there was no point in chasing. He was too far. I had to hope that the speed of more attacks would help bring him back gradually. We reached the flat stairstep in the middle of the climb, about 2 miles from the finish at this point, and I joined in with the other 5 or so strong riders briefly setting a hard tempo trying to bring the HotTubes kid back. As we hit the final slopes of the climb. The young guy who I'd been marking most of the way up now attacked weakly and I countered. I was running out of matches and couldn't go very hard for long. The strong rider who attacked earlier jumped when I eased and it took everything I had to jumped on that train. The small group of 5-6 active riders including myself had a small gap on the rest of the group which looked to be very thin at this point and we were gaining on the HotTubes kid (the original breakaway rider was unfortunately out of sight). We rode tempo most of the rest of the way up allowing the rest of the group to get back on. Out of the front group only the young rider in front of me, the strong guy, the two HotTubes riders and myself (only 5 riders!) had attacked on the way up. Another strong guy attacked after the 1km to go mark diving into a right turn. I had expected the finish to be on top of climb on the main road. We were about 750 meters from the top and I was confused by the right turn but I jumped with the attack and followed in 4th wheel around the turn.We cam onto a long straight that was slightly downhill. I was still confused but thankful for the recovery after the attacks to prepare for the sprint to the finish. Unfortunately this slight downhill let everyone else recover too and by half way along the straight the 20-25 riders who had been dangling when the attacks were flying swamped forward and I found myself in the middle of a pack of what I estimated to be a little less than 20 at the time. A Hagens Berman rider who I hadn't seen at all on the climb shot up on my left and moved across in front of me too soon. It took all the handling skill I had to save myself from crashing but this also forced me to slow and drop to the back of the group. I was pissed. We rounded a wide left bend and the road pitched up into parking lot for the ski lift. We should have been 250-300 meters from the finish at this point but I still wasn't sure where it was. I moved out and shot up the outside. I found the Hagens riders and gave his handle bars a rough nudge with my hip then forced my way in front of him. Suddenly we took a hard right. The group swamped forward again. There was gravel in the road and I felt like I was in a sketchy crit more than a mountain top finish as we hit 2 more hard lefts and crossed the finish. The single original breakaway and the HutTubes kid had stayed away. I estimated that I was in the top 15 on the stage, top 20 at worst (I later found out that I must have been cross-eyed from the effort at the finish and that the front group was bigger than I thought and that I'd dropped to the back...I was 28th!...but still I crossed the line in the same time as 3rd place so I would be tied 4th on GC after time bonuses, 1:07 down on 1st, 0:58 on 2nd and just the 3 second time bonus separating me and 3rd place). Two things about this stage didn't play into my stengths:
1) the climb was too short and not consistently steep enough...if the climb had been longer I'm sure more attacks would have whittled the front group down to a selection of only the 8-10 strongest climbers. This would have also given us a chance to catch the 2 riders in front.
2) The finish was such bullshit...if the finish was on top of the climb in a straight line, the 5-6 strongest climbers would have led our group across the line and I would have been in the top 10 on the stage. The slight downhill allowed the weaker climbers to recover and move up for a higher placing on the stage. In addition the crit style finish with the gravel and the sketchy corners caused me to slow down and drop back because a) that was not advertised in the race bible and b) it was dangerous for a group of that size. In fact, Talansky, Howes and third rider crashed there in the finish of the Pro race. The third rider had to be taken away by helicopter! Alex Howes said: "I’m pretty frustrated by it, to tell you the truth. Why they need to make some bullshit little four-corner, through-the-parking-lot crap when they could finish on a perfectly good, straight road, I just do not understand." AND Ben Day said: "The thing is, there would have been an official there three hours before the stage finished. Who in their right mind didn’t think, ‘Oh, jeez, we should set up a U-turn here,’ and I know that’s the little finish that they’ve used the last couple of years, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize, ‘Hey that could be really dangerous a few meters before the finish, why don’t we finish the road in a straight line?’ Now I understand why you have lawsuits in this country, because somebody should pay." ...so I'm not the only one who thought it was a dumb finish. I wouldn't exactly call it "mountain top" either. It turned out to be a bit of joke after watching the showdown on the Tourmalet on Thursday.
Regardless I was pleased with my effort. I had done everything I could and I was climbing very well. I gulped down 2 Pepsis at the finish and rode the 7 miles back downhill to the start area. Again, more routine. Tights, protein, back to the host house for pasta and more protein, legs up then bed. The TT would be important seeing as there were 23 riders on the same time (2 guys in the top 28 finishers had gotten 15 second penalties for crossing the centerline during the race).
For those of you that don't know me: I am a 19-year-old road racer (I do some CX mountain biking at the collegiate level). I was born in Northampton, England (and am an English citizen) but I have been raised in Las Vegas, Nevada (I currently live just off campus at USC in Los Angeles). I played soccer from a very young age and picked up cycling at 13 to improve my fitness. I began racing at 15, fell in love, and am now a CAT 2.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Cascade Road Trip Day 6
Again, not much to say about today. I'm relaxing as much as possible, trying to save all of my energy for racing.
Slept in again then spent all morning eating (I feel carbo-overloaded at this point!) and watching House reruns on a channel that was literally showing just random old House episodes all day. After lunch I got the TT bike ready and rolled out from the host house to the TT course a couple miles away. The course is 7 miles out and back, climbing 1000 feet on the way out, descending the way back, more or less straight. The climb is definitely a big ring climb and it'll be important to go all out over the first 7 miles because after the turnaround the race will come down to who has the biggest gear (I'm hoping 56/11 will help me) and who has the balls to go down this rather bumpy road in excess of 40mph in aero bars.
Then the usual..dinner (pasta). Then the not so usual...toasting marshmallows over an open campfire in the back yard. Now bed.
Last day of rest/prep tomorrow!
Slept in again then spent all morning eating (I feel carbo-overloaded at this point!) and watching House reruns on a channel that was literally showing just random old House episodes all day. After lunch I got the TT bike ready and rolled out from the host house to the TT course a couple miles away. The course is 7 miles out and back, climbing 1000 feet on the way out, descending the way back, more or less straight. The climb is definitely a big ring climb and it'll be important to go all out over the first 7 miles because after the turnaround the race will come down to who has the biggest gear (I'm hoping 56/11 will help me) and who has the balls to go down this rather bumpy road in excess of 40mph in aero bars.
Then the usual..dinner (pasta). Then the not so usual...toasting marshmallows over an open campfire in the back yard. Now bed.
Last day of rest/prep tomorrow!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Cascade Road Trip Day 5
Today I took things relatively easy, still recovering from all the driving to get here. My day wasn't too eventful so there's not much to write about.
I slept in a little then spent the rest of the morning making breakfast (and making a quick supermarket run because there's no coffee in this house!!) and watching the long Tour coverage...a little upset that Phil and Paul wouldn't stop raving about the great ride Carlos Barredo did; this is the same guy that attacked Rui Costa with a wheel after a stage a week or so ago...he shouldn't even still be in the Tour de France.
After the Tour I had a quick lunch and headed out to preview the road race course for Friday's stage. This is supposedly the stage which usually determines the GC for this race so it was important that I get a good feel for the road and get a good ride in on the finishing climb to gauge exactly what a will and will not be able to do there. I don't want to give too much away (as if anyone will actually be reading this) but from driving the first 5 miles and the last 30 I got the sense that the course features a significant amount of rolling terrain. The finishing climb which looks as long as 20 miles on the course profile is not as severe as I expected, but rather consists of a series of long rollers for the lower 13+ miles before a long flat straight leading into the last 5 or so miles where the grades pick up and the road stair-steps to the ski lifts at Mt Bachelor. On all I personally didn't think the climb looked like it would be all that decisive for a field of strong CAT 2 climbers (except for a particularly steep section of about 1km). I think the key will be to come onto the first stair-step with the front group which should then stick together to the line (I think the winner could come from a selection of 10-15 riders). This means that while this stage will be important in determining the contenders, the following day's TT (which I will preview tomorrow) will probably determine the podium.
After driving around and viewing the course, I parked where the 2nd feed zone will be and rode the last 20 miles of the race to the finish and back. In all a 2 hour spin with some short intervals thrown in to keep my legs loose but fresh. Speaking of the legs, they didn't feel 100% today but I think once I am fully recovered from the drive and the flogging I gave myself on Sunday I should be ready to fight for a high overall GC placing come the weekend.
In the evening, my amazingly gracious hosts made dinner (lasagna, salad and garlic bread). They are an amazing family. The parents, Bryan and Lura are both runners (both having completely multiple 50km ultramarathons), their daughter, Kiera (who cooked dinner), is apparently also a very talented runner and the their son, Blaze, has a talent for ceramics, working with a local artist on a charity project. They are extremely outdoorsy, easy-going people and I am loving their company and hospitality so far. After dinner we sat down to watch a documentary about a 132 mile ultramarathon through Death Valley, held every year in the peak on the summer in July...the winner ran in under 25 hours! It made me think...once this cycling thing is all over (and hopefully we're talking a long time from now after a successful career) I'd like to try something like that, something that makes everyone else marvel at what the human body is capable of when enough mental strength is applied.
Better get to bed...going to bank another 10 hours and enjoy another relaxing day tomorrow.
I slept in a little then spent the rest of the morning making breakfast (and making a quick supermarket run because there's no coffee in this house!!) and watching the long Tour coverage...a little upset that Phil and Paul wouldn't stop raving about the great ride Carlos Barredo did; this is the same guy that attacked Rui Costa with a wheel after a stage a week or so ago...he shouldn't even still be in the Tour de France.
After the Tour I had a quick lunch and headed out to preview the road race course for Friday's stage. This is supposedly the stage which usually determines the GC for this race so it was important that I get a good feel for the road and get a good ride in on the finishing climb to gauge exactly what a will and will not be able to do there. I don't want to give too much away (as if anyone will actually be reading this) but from driving the first 5 miles and the last 30 I got the sense that the course features a significant amount of rolling terrain. The finishing climb which looks as long as 20 miles on the course profile is not as severe as I expected, but rather consists of a series of long rollers for the lower 13+ miles before a long flat straight leading into the last 5 or so miles where the grades pick up and the road stair-steps to the ski lifts at Mt Bachelor. On all I personally didn't think the climb looked like it would be all that decisive for a field of strong CAT 2 climbers (except for a particularly steep section of about 1km). I think the key will be to come onto the first stair-step with the front group which should then stick together to the line (I think the winner could come from a selection of 10-15 riders). This means that while this stage will be important in determining the contenders, the following day's TT (which I will preview tomorrow) will probably determine the podium.
After driving around and viewing the course, I parked where the 2nd feed zone will be and rode the last 20 miles of the race to the finish and back. In all a 2 hour spin with some short intervals thrown in to keep my legs loose but fresh. Speaking of the legs, they didn't feel 100% today but I think once I am fully recovered from the drive and the flogging I gave myself on Sunday I should be ready to fight for a high overall GC placing come the weekend.
In the evening, my amazingly gracious hosts made dinner (lasagna, salad and garlic bread). They are an amazing family. The parents, Bryan and Lura are both runners (both having completely multiple 50km ultramarathons), their daughter, Kiera (who cooked dinner), is apparently also a very talented runner and the their son, Blaze, has a talent for ceramics, working with a local artist on a charity project. They are extremely outdoorsy, easy-going people and I am loving their company and hospitality so far. After dinner we sat down to watch a documentary about a 132 mile ultramarathon through Death Valley, held every year in the peak on the summer in July...the winner ran in under 25 hours! It made me think...once this cycling thing is all over (and hopefully we're talking a long time from now after a successful career) I'd like to try something like that, something that makes everyone else marvel at what the human body is capable of when enough mental strength is applied.
Better get to bed...going to bank another 10 hours and enjoy another relaxing day tomorrow.
Update...
My friend Max would like me to note that while I was in Weed I didn't have internet access so I had to ask him to log in to my trainingpeaks and send my training plan to me. He says that he is therefore "the Johan to my Lance." Thanks Max
Monday, July 19, 2010
Cascade Road Trip Days 1-4
I finally made it to Bend Oregon! After weeks of planning and four days of driving I am sat on the couch in an amazingly beautiful host house, typing this as I still marvel at the views outside. It’s been a long four days getting here and I’m definitely a little drained from the drive, but thankfully the Cascade Classic doesn’t start until Friday (today’s Monday) so I have some time for a little R&R before it all gets under way. Anyway, here’s a not-so-quick summary of how the road trip has gone up until now:
Day 1
Originally the plan was to leave Vegas as early as possible on Friday morning in order to make the 7-hour drive to Pismo Beach in central California and be able to fit in a quick hour spin in the evening when I got there. But as usual things didn’t go perfectly to plan…being the type of person who likes to make a plan and stick to it, it was frustrating to have to adjust before my trip even officially got under way. I’d left a few bike-related things a little late and it wasn’t until Thursday night that I figured out, I couldn’t get a new set of clinchers that I’d bought onto the wheels I was planning to use for training and crit racing throughout my trip. I had to call in to NuVision Cyclery to get them muscled on before I left town. Unfortunately, NuVision doesn’t open to 10am. So Friday morning I got my things together, watched the Tour de France stage and packed the car before heading out with my brother and his friend Paul, who’s house we were going to stay at in Pismo Beach, in tow. After stopping at the bike shop I stopped at my friends house to pick up a 11-25 cassette for the TT at Cascade (which is 7 miles out, climbing approximately 1000 feet, and 7 fast miles back…hence the 11-25 as opposed to a 12-26). From there the drive was rather uneventful…just long. We avoided passing through LA during Friday rush-hour traffic by taking a back road from Barstow towards Bakersfield before turning off and heading west to Santa Maria and then up the coast to Pismo. Fortunately we arrived with enough time for me to get my ride in, so after unloading the essentials, I hopped on my bike and headed north to San Luis Obispo. Like I said, I like planning ahead then sticking to my plans so I already had directions for a 25+ mile route written down and ready to go. My prescribed training for the day was just a short hour to loosen up my legs after the drive for a small crit I was planning on doing in Northern California the following day. However, this route dragged my ride out slightly longer than I expected and it ended up being more like an hour and 40 minutes. The route was beautiful though, maybe my favorite short ride ever. For those familiar with SLO: once I reached the southern outskirts of town, I turned onto Los Osos Valley Rd and headed west. From there I turned onto Prefumo Canyon road. This is a small climb up from basically sea level to about 1900 feet . The road is narrow and quiet and it is a relatively short climb so it is steep near the top. After climbing through the trees for a few miles, I came to the more barren upper slopes where I could see clearly across the SLO valley to the east, illuminated by the setting sun. As seems to be the norm in that area, there was a dense marine layer coming off the coast and it enveloped the top of the climb. It was beautiful to ride up into the clouds see the white mist blowing over the rolling plains of the summit. Over the top the road became slightly rougher and there was a steep downgrade. Then abruptly, crossing a cattle guard, it turned to a single lane dirt road. I knew this was coming and it wasn’t particularly dangerous…just a about a mile long and easily rideable when approached cautiously. Crossing another cattle guard, I was now on the paved See Canyon Rd heading back in a southeasterly direction. This descent seem longer than the Prefumo Canyon climb, but equally as picturesque. It spit me out near Avila Beach and in a few short miles alongside the 101, I was back in Pismo. Like I said this was one of, if not the coolest short ride that I’ve done. I would highly recommend it. After I got back, cleaned up and ate I was pretty beat from my long day on the move so I called it a night and headed to bed.
Day 2
The following day I took the chance to sleep in a little and get a full 10 hours of sleep…it’s always nice to be able to put a few extra hours of sleep in the bank (I remember reading in Velonews or another cycling magazine about a year or so ago that sleep is very much like money in a bank; consistently going without one’s daily required amount of sleep can lead to sleep debt and hamper performance and the only way to recover from this is to sleep more than one’s required amount). The race I was doing that day didn’t start until 4:25 and was only about two and a half hours away so I was in no hurry. I ate breakfast, packed up my things, said goodbye to my brother, who I won’t see again until August, and hit the road. I took my time, stopping in Starbucks in SLO…and another in a small town further north…and took some pictures along the way. Still, I arrived in Watsonville for the crit with almost 3 hours to spare. I went through my normal pre-race routine: register, bathroom, pin number, eat/drink, kit up, bathroom…then went on a longer than usual warm up spin seeing that I had some extra time. It was a good feeling to be back to racing although I hadn’t really been away all that long (I last raced at Manhattan Beach at the end of June). The ambiance was a little different that in Southern California; the fields were smaller and instead of seeing Swami’s, Rancho’s, NOW MS, SoCal Velo, etc. the scene was dominated by Cal Giant Strawberries and Webcor. I took the start line for my race not having seen the course but expecting a smooth to fair 5-turn 0.8 mile course like the flyer promised. I started near the front and planned on sitting in the first 10 or so riders, biding my time and seeing how the race played out. That was until we hit turn 1. There was a huge wash for sprinkler water that seemed like a deep valley right before the turn which threw my off balance and dropped me back a few places as I compensated by breaking through the turn. I’d expected some bumps and I was only running about 110 psi but that was a little ridiculous. One bad turn I could handle but if turn 1 was bad, turn 2 was meant for a mountain bike course. Not only was it slightly off camber but it featured a deep and wide pothole right along the line one would normally take through such a corner as well as another drainage wash containing another huge pothole on the way out of the turn. I freaked out. I’ve never been the most comfortable crit rider and since a crash in February which left me with 18 stitches in my face, I’ve struggled to regain what little confidence I did have before. I got gapped on turn 2 which displeased someone behind me. But I didn’t really care. I had way bigger fish to fry in less than a week in Bend. Would Andy Schleck risk throwing away his Tour de France in a small crit he was using as a warm-up race? I think not. Turn 3 was smooth, 4 was slightly off camber, and 5 was a little rough but nothing as bad as 1 and 2. There was an uphill drag to the finish after turn 5 and I figured I might as well get a good workout out of the situation and drifted to the very back content to tailgun. I’m in potentially the best form of my short career right now so I didn’t struggle with the elastic effect of riding at the back of the peloton. Rather I was content to let allow 5-10 meter gaps open on the first two turns and then push myself to chase and catch back on over the rest of the course. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who found the ride unpleasant. I moved up in line a couple spots as riders who couldn’t hold the pace or didn’t want to take the risks got dropped and pulled out. I felt comfortable. I was working hard but I wasn’t in any danger of getting dropped. I’m not really sure what happened next. A surge, an attack at the front which caused a reaction maybe. Whatever it was, the two riders in front of me who were clearly not too comfortable with the course themselves began to get gapped. I decided to stay behind them because I didn’t want to cause any trouble with my constant yo-yoing. This was a mistake, as before I knew what was going on a big gap opened and when I did finally decide to come around the gap was too big and they just quit. I rode a few more laps in a futile chase effort. I would take one step forward on the safer parts of the course but two steps back on the sketchier parts. In the end, they were out of sight. I rode some more laps and in danger of being pulled for being a half-lap behind, I pulled myself and called it a day. I was extremely frustrated. Of course I knew I hadn’t been dropped due to some lack in form but the doubts still crept into my mind “I’ve been working so hard and all I get is a DNF? Why do I even bother? Should I just give up on this sport all together?” Obviously that last one was only fleeting, and rash. I spun back to the car, mentally recovered and set off for Waterford (near Modesto) another two and a half hours away. The route took me along some farm roads and I stopped to take more pictures and get a dozen or so peaches from a farm (by “get” I mean “gather” rather than “buy”…but who plants peach trees next to a road with no fence or any form of protection?). I arrived in Waterford at another friend’s house. It was nice to have some company after a bit of a stressful day. We chatted about cycling (she’s a big fan and has a frame with autographs from Levi Leipheimer, Cechu Rubiera, Jani Brakjovic, Steve Morabito, Chris Horner, Dimitry Muravyev and some kid named Matthew Shackley…no joke) and I caught the end of the Tour coverage for the day. She marveled at how much skinner I was since she last saw me back in March and tried to fix this, feeding me sloppy joes and French fries for dinner. Honestly though, I was just grateful not to have to worry about cooking for myself after another long day and jumped right into my first sloppy joe experience. Again I was exhausted so I called it a night and crashed out.
Day 3
I got up earlier on Sunday because I knew I had a very long day ahead. I would drive 5 hours from Waterford to Weed (near Mt Shasta and the Oregon border), then do a 5 hour endurance ride. I caught the end of the Tour coverage while making/eating breakfast, packed up my things and was out the door at 8. It was another rather flat, uneventful drive until I reached Shatsa Lake. I can’t really put it into words but it is really beautiful there (I’ll put up some of the photos I took). If you get the chance it seems like it would be a great place to visit…I bet the mountain biking is amazing around there! In fact that whole area is amazing. It seems you can see Mt Shasta from about 75 miles in any direction. It really is breathtaking and the small town of Weed is right at the foot of it. I checked into the Motel 6 in Weed, grabbed lunch at Subway then kitted up for my ride. My prescribed training for the day was 5 and a half hours on rolling terrain with three 30 minute efforts below my threshold. Typically, I had already planned out a route. It wasn’t what I would describe as “rolling,” rather “mountainous” seems a better adjective. Immediately I was surprised and a little annoyed that I’d never heard anyone talk about coming to ride up there (everyone seems stuck Southern California this, Southern California that!). It is unbelievable! Again it’s difficult to find the words and I will put up some pictures of where I rode. It only took me about 10 minutes to spin away from the hotel to the foot of the mountains and from then I was climbing for over the next hour. I’m not entirely sure what the peak elevation of that climb was or even how much it climbed in total but it was long and steep…I would guess 7-8% average at the least and upwards of 11% in parts. The views were amazing though and as I climbed the road narrowed to a single quiet lane where I barely saw another soul. On top of that I was flying! I couldn’t help myself but do my 30 minutes of work slightly above the prescribed level, closer to my threshold and I was climbing fast, faster than I’ve ever climbed before. After the disappointment and doubting of the previous day, it was nice to see that I had that ability and boosted my confidence for what I might be able to do at Cascade. After a long narrow descent I was on another climb. Not as long but even steeper. Some of the sections of this were surely close to 15%, but still I powered up. As I reached the top and the end of another 30 minute effort I was extremely thirsty. One thing I hadn’t planned on was the lack of water along the route…except of course for the countless streams and rivers flowing with snowmelt. As the ride went on and I continued to suffer without water I began to contemplate risking bacteria just to get a drink…of course I knew I couldn’t take the risk sinking any hope I had of a high placing in Cascade in one of those streams, so I soldiered on. I suffered down toward the end of the ride with dehydration and just general soreness in my legs from all the effort from the hard climbs. Eventually I crested the last major hill and descended into a small farming community where I was able to find a drink from someone’s sprinklers. I spun back to Weed to the Motel 6. I stepped in my room and lay down on the bed. I was exhausted but I had done what I had to do. I had pushed myself as hard as I could in a final preparation for Cascade and I would now be able to taper for the race knowing I had done everything possible to be in the best shape possible. In all, the ride climbed 7700 feet (which I think is a conservative estimate; mapmyride is always a little stingy when it comes to counting elevation change, another program might suggest closer to 8500 feet) and had taken me 4 hours and 45 minutes. 45 minutes short of my prescribed training for the day, but given all the climbing, I’m sure that was forgivable. I rewarded myself with a pizza from a local pizza restaurant down the street from my hotel (not only was the hard training done with, but so was the hard dieting), went back to the room to eat where I settled in to watch a movie and relax. Yet another long day in the books (in all 3 days of driving and I still wasn’t in Oregon), for that matter the hardest yet! I crashed, planning another welcome sleep in before heading off to Bend in the morning.
Day 4
I awoke the next morning refreshed from another long sleep, not particularly sore considering my exploits of the previous day and excited that I had only three and a half hours of driving to get to Bend (it even sounds absurd as I type it but it would be the first time in 3 days that I’d driven less than 5 hours). The reason I had originally chosen Weed as a place to stop and spend the night was it is the last town along Interstate 5 before the turn-off onto the smaller 97 to Bend. This road is a single lane in each direction and the speed limit varies from 55-65mph. That in addition to it being a relatively prominent trucking route meant that what in terms of distance was a relatively short drive, took quite a while. Having said that, it was beautifully scenic. I wouldn’t say I’m sick of seeing pine trees, but the novelty definitely wore off along the course of this drive. Long straight road with nothing but evergreens on either side…a big change from the barren desert I’m used to seeing on my typical Vegas to LA to Vegas jaunts. For what was the shortest drive in 4 days, it did seem to drag on a bit and I stopped for coffee twice along the way. But eventually I did reach Bend and saw why so many people have raved to my about its beauty. With Mt Bachelor (which I will get to know more personally on Friday’s stage) to the west and surrounded my countless rolling hills covered in green it is much different that what I’m used to. On top of that, the host house, that I was lucky enough to be put in contact with by my teammates who came to this race last year, is stunning. It’s located on what seems to be an exclusive hill with other large homes with a virtually unobstructed view of the mountains to the west. It is well out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the town…not that downtown Bend is all that hustly and bustly. I was hungry and didn’t want to intrude on my hosts seeing as only their children were home (I don’t think I’d be completely comfortable with some strange man lounging around my house no matter how accommodating I was) , so I dropped my things and headed back into downtown Bend. It is incredibly quaint, the type of place my mom would love. As my first day of tapering, today is a rest day completely without bike riding so I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and stroll a mile or so along the main drag, stopping at a small Soba Noddle Café for lunch and then at yet another coffee shop. I felt completely relaxed and at ease for the first time in quite a while. I have absolutely nothing else to do today but relax and take in the beauty of this place.
And that brings me to right now. It’s 7:40 and still light out. I suspect the sun doesn’t set for another hour or so here. I suppose it’s time to put dinner together: wheat pasta and sauce, which is probably going to be the main staple of my diet for the remained of this week. Tomorrow I’m planning to go preview the road race course for Friday, at least the last climb, apparently the most definitive part of the entire stage race. I might go see the finish to the Pro race too (which starts tomorrow and runs throughout the week). Surely Wednesday and Thursday will consist of relaxation, getting my bikes ready and surveying the TT and circuit race course (either by car or bike). All in all, I’m in for a relaxing few days, and they’re well needed after that epic drive! Then just FYI: it’s onto Eugene, OR (a couple hours away) to visit an old high school friend, celebrate my birthday, and get in some R&R following the race; then I’ heading back south via Waterford (planning on racing the Copper Town Square CR in Copperopolis, CA on the 31st) and perhaps Laguna Beach (so I can race the CBR crit in LA on the 1st); then home and before I know it back to miserable old University of South Central…better enjoy this freedom while it lasts!
Now I just have to figure out how to get on the internet…
Day 1
Originally the plan was to leave Vegas as early as possible on Friday morning in order to make the 7-hour drive to Pismo Beach in central California and be able to fit in a quick hour spin in the evening when I got there. But as usual things didn’t go perfectly to plan…being the type of person who likes to make a plan and stick to it, it was frustrating to have to adjust before my trip even officially got under way. I’d left a few bike-related things a little late and it wasn’t until Thursday night that I figured out, I couldn’t get a new set of clinchers that I’d bought onto the wheels I was planning to use for training and crit racing throughout my trip. I had to call in to NuVision Cyclery to get them muscled on before I left town. Unfortunately, NuVision doesn’t open to 10am. So Friday morning I got my things together, watched the Tour de France stage and packed the car before heading out with my brother and his friend Paul, who’s house we were going to stay at in Pismo Beach, in tow. After stopping at the bike shop I stopped at my friends house to pick up a 11-25 cassette for the TT at Cascade (which is 7 miles out, climbing approximately 1000 feet, and 7 fast miles back…hence the 11-25 as opposed to a 12-26). From there the drive was rather uneventful…just long. We avoided passing through LA during Friday rush-hour traffic by taking a back road from Barstow towards Bakersfield before turning off and heading west to Santa Maria and then up the coast to Pismo. Fortunately we arrived with enough time for me to get my ride in, so after unloading the essentials, I hopped on my bike and headed north to San Luis Obispo. Like I said, I like planning ahead then sticking to my plans so I already had directions for a 25+ mile route written down and ready to go. My prescribed training for the day was just a short hour to loosen up my legs after the drive for a small crit I was planning on doing in Northern California the following day. However, this route dragged my ride out slightly longer than I expected and it ended up being more like an hour and 40 minutes. The route was beautiful though, maybe my favorite short ride ever. For those familiar with SLO: once I reached the southern outskirts of town, I turned onto Los Osos Valley Rd and headed west. From there I turned onto Prefumo Canyon road. This is a small climb up from basically sea level to about 1900 feet . The road is narrow and quiet and it is a relatively short climb so it is steep near the top. After climbing through the trees for a few miles, I came to the more barren upper slopes where I could see clearly across the SLO valley to the east, illuminated by the setting sun. As seems to be the norm in that area, there was a dense marine layer coming off the coast and it enveloped the top of the climb. It was beautiful to ride up into the clouds see the white mist blowing over the rolling plains of the summit. Over the top the road became slightly rougher and there was a steep downgrade. Then abruptly, crossing a cattle guard, it turned to a single lane dirt road. I knew this was coming and it wasn’t particularly dangerous…just a about a mile long and easily rideable when approached cautiously. Crossing another cattle guard, I was now on the paved See Canyon Rd heading back in a southeasterly direction. This descent seem longer than the Prefumo Canyon climb, but equally as picturesque. It spit me out near Avila Beach and in a few short miles alongside the 101, I was back in Pismo. Like I said this was one of, if not the coolest short ride that I’ve done. I would highly recommend it. After I got back, cleaned up and ate I was pretty beat from my long day on the move so I called it a night and headed to bed.
Day 2
The following day I took the chance to sleep in a little and get a full 10 hours of sleep…it’s always nice to be able to put a few extra hours of sleep in the bank (I remember reading in Velonews or another cycling magazine about a year or so ago that sleep is very much like money in a bank; consistently going without one’s daily required amount of sleep can lead to sleep debt and hamper performance and the only way to recover from this is to sleep more than one’s required amount). The race I was doing that day didn’t start until 4:25 and was only about two and a half hours away so I was in no hurry. I ate breakfast, packed up my things, said goodbye to my brother, who I won’t see again until August, and hit the road. I took my time, stopping in Starbucks in SLO…and another in a small town further north…and took some pictures along the way. Still, I arrived in Watsonville for the crit with almost 3 hours to spare. I went through my normal pre-race routine: register, bathroom, pin number, eat/drink, kit up, bathroom…then went on a longer than usual warm up spin seeing that I had some extra time. It was a good feeling to be back to racing although I hadn’t really been away all that long (I last raced at Manhattan Beach at the end of June). The ambiance was a little different that in Southern California; the fields were smaller and instead of seeing Swami’s, Rancho’s, NOW MS, SoCal Velo, etc. the scene was dominated by Cal Giant Strawberries and Webcor. I took the start line for my race not having seen the course but expecting a smooth to fair 5-turn 0.8 mile course like the flyer promised. I started near the front and planned on sitting in the first 10 or so riders, biding my time and seeing how the race played out. That was until we hit turn 1. There was a huge wash for sprinkler water that seemed like a deep valley right before the turn which threw my off balance and dropped me back a few places as I compensated by breaking through the turn. I’d expected some bumps and I was only running about 110 psi but that was a little ridiculous. One bad turn I could handle but if turn 1 was bad, turn 2 was meant for a mountain bike course. Not only was it slightly off camber but it featured a deep and wide pothole right along the line one would normally take through such a corner as well as another drainage wash containing another huge pothole on the way out of the turn. I freaked out. I’ve never been the most comfortable crit rider and since a crash in February which left me with 18 stitches in my face, I’ve struggled to regain what little confidence I did have before. I got gapped on turn 2 which displeased someone behind me. But I didn’t really care. I had way bigger fish to fry in less than a week in Bend. Would Andy Schleck risk throwing away his Tour de France in a small crit he was using as a warm-up race? I think not. Turn 3 was smooth, 4 was slightly off camber, and 5 was a little rough but nothing as bad as 1 and 2. There was an uphill drag to the finish after turn 5 and I figured I might as well get a good workout out of the situation and drifted to the very back content to tailgun. I’m in potentially the best form of my short career right now so I didn’t struggle with the elastic effect of riding at the back of the peloton. Rather I was content to let allow 5-10 meter gaps open on the first two turns and then push myself to chase and catch back on over the rest of the course. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who found the ride unpleasant. I moved up in line a couple spots as riders who couldn’t hold the pace or didn’t want to take the risks got dropped and pulled out. I felt comfortable. I was working hard but I wasn’t in any danger of getting dropped. I’m not really sure what happened next. A surge, an attack at the front which caused a reaction maybe. Whatever it was, the two riders in front of me who were clearly not too comfortable with the course themselves began to get gapped. I decided to stay behind them because I didn’t want to cause any trouble with my constant yo-yoing. This was a mistake, as before I knew what was going on a big gap opened and when I did finally decide to come around the gap was too big and they just quit. I rode a few more laps in a futile chase effort. I would take one step forward on the safer parts of the course but two steps back on the sketchier parts. In the end, they were out of sight. I rode some more laps and in danger of being pulled for being a half-lap behind, I pulled myself and called it a day. I was extremely frustrated. Of course I knew I hadn’t been dropped due to some lack in form but the doubts still crept into my mind “I’ve been working so hard and all I get is a DNF? Why do I even bother? Should I just give up on this sport all together?” Obviously that last one was only fleeting, and rash. I spun back to the car, mentally recovered and set off for Waterford (near Modesto) another two and a half hours away. The route took me along some farm roads and I stopped to take more pictures and get a dozen or so peaches from a farm (by “get” I mean “gather” rather than “buy”…but who plants peach trees next to a road with no fence or any form of protection?). I arrived in Waterford at another friend’s house. It was nice to have some company after a bit of a stressful day. We chatted about cycling (she’s a big fan and has a frame with autographs from Levi Leipheimer, Cechu Rubiera, Jani Brakjovic, Steve Morabito, Chris Horner, Dimitry Muravyev and some kid named Matthew Shackley…no joke) and I caught the end of the Tour coverage for the day. She marveled at how much skinner I was since she last saw me back in March and tried to fix this, feeding me sloppy joes and French fries for dinner. Honestly though, I was just grateful not to have to worry about cooking for myself after another long day and jumped right into my first sloppy joe experience. Again I was exhausted so I called it a night and crashed out.
Day 3
I got up earlier on Sunday because I knew I had a very long day ahead. I would drive 5 hours from Waterford to Weed (near Mt Shasta and the Oregon border), then do a 5 hour endurance ride. I caught the end of the Tour coverage while making/eating breakfast, packed up my things and was out the door at 8. It was another rather flat, uneventful drive until I reached Shatsa Lake. I can’t really put it into words but it is really beautiful there (I’ll put up some of the photos I took). If you get the chance it seems like it would be a great place to visit…I bet the mountain biking is amazing around there! In fact that whole area is amazing. It seems you can see Mt Shasta from about 75 miles in any direction. It really is breathtaking and the small town of Weed is right at the foot of it. I checked into the Motel 6 in Weed, grabbed lunch at Subway then kitted up for my ride. My prescribed training for the day was 5 and a half hours on rolling terrain with three 30 minute efforts below my threshold. Typically, I had already planned out a route. It wasn’t what I would describe as “rolling,” rather “mountainous” seems a better adjective. Immediately I was surprised and a little annoyed that I’d never heard anyone talk about coming to ride up there (everyone seems stuck Southern California this, Southern California that!). It is unbelievable! Again it’s difficult to find the words and I will put up some pictures of where I rode. It only took me about 10 minutes to spin away from the hotel to the foot of the mountains and from then I was climbing for over the next hour. I’m not entirely sure what the peak elevation of that climb was or even how much it climbed in total but it was long and steep…I would guess 7-8% average at the least and upwards of 11% in parts. The views were amazing though and as I climbed the road narrowed to a single quiet lane where I barely saw another soul. On top of that I was flying! I couldn’t help myself but do my 30 minutes of work slightly above the prescribed level, closer to my threshold and I was climbing fast, faster than I’ve ever climbed before. After the disappointment and doubting of the previous day, it was nice to see that I had that ability and boosted my confidence for what I might be able to do at Cascade. After a long narrow descent I was on another climb. Not as long but even steeper. Some of the sections of this were surely close to 15%, but still I powered up. As I reached the top and the end of another 30 minute effort I was extremely thirsty. One thing I hadn’t planned on was the lack of water along the route…except of course for the countless streams and rivers flowing with snowmelt. As the ride went on and I continued to suffer without water I began to contemplate risking bacteria just to get a drink…of course I knew I couldn’t take the risk sinking any hope I had of a high placing in Cascade in one of those streams, so I soldiered on. I suffered down toward the end of the ride with dehydration and just general soreness in my legs from all the effort from the hard climbs. Eventually I crested the last major hill and descended into a small farming community where I was able to find a drink from someone’s sprinklers. I spun back to Weed to the Motel 6. I stepped in my room and lay down on the bed. I was exhausted but I had done what I had to do. I had pushed myself as hard as I could in a final preparation for Cascade and I would now be able to taper for the race knowing I had done everything possible to be in the best shape possible. In all, the ride climbed 7700 feet (which I think is a conservative estimate; mapmyride is always a little stingy when it comes to counting elevation change, another program might suggest closer to 8500 feet) and had taken me 4 hours and 45 minutes. 45 minutes short of my prescribed training for the day, but given all the climbing, I’m sure that was forgivable. I rewarded myself with a pizza from a local pizza restaurant down the street from my hotel (not only was the hard training done with, but so was the hard dieting), went back to the room to eat where I settled in to watch a movie and relax. Yet another long day in the books (in all 3 days of driving and I still wasn’t in Oregon), for that matter the hardest yet! I crashed, planning another welcome sleep in before heading off to Bend in the morning.
Day 4
I awoke the next morning refreshed from another long sleep, not particularly sore considering my exploits of the previous day and excited that I had only three and a half hours of driving to get to Bend (it even sounds absurd as I type it but it would be the first time in 3 days that I’d driven less than 5 hours). The reason I had originally chosen Weed as a place to stop and spend the night was it is the last town along Interstate 5 before the turn-off onto the smaller 97 to Bend. This road is a single lane in each direction and the speed limit varies from 55-65mph. That in addition to it being a relatively prominent trucking route meant that what in terms of distance was a relatively short drive, took quite a while. Having said that, it was beautifully scenic. I wouldn’t say I’m sick of seeing pine trees, but the novelty definitely wore off along the course of this drive. Long straight road with nothing but evergreens on either side…a big change from the barren desert I’m used to seeing on my typical Vegas to LA to Vegas jaunts. For what was the shortest drive in 4 days, it did seem to drag on a bit and I stopped for coffee twice along the way. But eventually I did reach Bend and saw why so many people have raved to my about its beauty. With Mt Bachelor (which I will get to know more personally on Friday’s stage) to the west and surrounded my countless rolling hills covered in green it is much different that what I’m used to. On top of that, the host house, that I was lucky enough to be put in contact with by my teammates who came to this race last year, is stunning. It’s located on what seems to be an exclusive hill with other large homes with a virtually unobstructed view of the mountains to the west. It is well out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the town…not that downtown Bend is all that hustly and bustly. I was hungry and didn’t want to intrude on my hosts seeing as only their children were home (I don’t think I’d be completely comfortable with some strange man lounging around my house no matter how accommodating I was) , so I dropped my things and headed back into downtown Bend. It is incredibly quaint, the type of place my mom would love. As my first day of tapering, today is a rest day completely without bike riding so I took the opportunity to stretch my legs and stroll a mile or so along the main drag, stopping at a small Soba Noddle Café for lunch and then at yet another coffee shop. I felt completely relaxed and at ease for the first time in quite a while. I have absolutely nothing else to do today but relax and take in the beauty of this place.
And that brings me to right now. It’s 7:40 and still light out. I suspect the sun doesn’t set for another hour or so here. I suppose it’s time to put dinner together: wheat pasta and sauce, which is probably going to be the main staple of my diet for the remained of this week. Tomorrow I’m planning to go preview the road race course for Friday, at least the last climb, apparently the most definitive part of the entire stage race. I might go see the finish to the Pro race too (which starts tomorrow and runs throughout the week). Surely Wednesday and Thursday will consist of relaxation, getting my bikes ready and surveying the TT and circuit race course (either by car or bike). All in all, I’m in for a relaxing few days, and they’re well needed after that epic drive! Then just FYI: it’s onto Eugene, OR (a couple hours away) to visit an old high school friend, celebrate my birthday, and get in some R&R following the race; then I’ heading back south via Waterford (planning on racing the Copper Town Square CR in Copperopolis, CA on the 31st) and perhaps Laguna Beach (so I can race the CBR crit in LA on the 1st); then home and before I know it back to miserable old University of South Central…better enjoy this freedom while it lasts!
Now I just have to figure out how to get on the internet…
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