CSU Group ride

Today I woke up ate a really good breakfast and stretched for about 40 minutes before heading out to partake in the CSU group ride. We headed south towards "Windsor Wall" and then beyond. Not completely sure where it was that we had all gone but it was a good ride. Averaged around 21 mhp for about 3.5 hours, then split off from the group and headed to to the Masonville loop. Three of us were rolling turns at around 28mhp with a wicked head wind. Then, did some uphill sprints that pretty much hurt oh so good. Ended the ride with a total time of 4.5 hrs and 80 miles...not too bad. easily could have done 100 miles if we weren't planning on riding for another 5 hrs tomorrow.

Joining the Rio ride to warm up and then possibly going our own way to get some more intensity built in.

Struggling

So this week hasn't been the most productive training week. I mean it hasn't been bad but it has been a struggle. Its my easy week so as long as I am semi-productive it doesn't really matter. With my training plan I have been lifting (painful, but have been seeing/feeling the results). The weather sucks right now. The days that I have been able to ride my bike it has been so windy that it is nearly impossible to ride outside.

I did interval training on the oval (in the center of Colorado State University's campus) because the buildings sheltered the road from the wind. With slowly working more intensity into my training things have been getting harder. Recovery Has been taking longer due to my muscles being shocked.

This weekend I plan to get some good riding in. There are two group rides that I am planning to attend and hopefully will have a quality workout.

Well back to reality and studying.

Change of Pace with training

After putting some quality time in on my bike I thought it was about time to change some things up. This past week I noticed that my lungs were giving out before my legs and heart (not very technical) so after talking with my Friend Erick Carlson (also teammate for CSU and possibly Velox cycles) we planned a camping trip at Lake Agnus, Cameron Pass, Colorado. The deal was that we would pack in enough gear for the weekend, dig a snow cave, and then climb the crags. The crags usually are only climbed in the warmer months due to snow and ice. They are basically cliff like mountains.

We hiked in Saturday morning (packs weighing around 60lbs.) 1.5 hr hike, dug our snow cave (2.5hrs), then scouted the route that we were going to take in attempt the summit the crags.

The Snow cave was pretty intense. If you have never dug one or slept in one I will admit that it isn't for the average person. The Cave was about 7ft*9ft*4.5ft. The temperature in the cave was above freezing all night even though the outside temperature was around zero.

Sunday we made our way to the base of the crags. Already sitting at almost 12,000ft (on The lake) we were looking at another easy 1,000 feet of climbing.


The climbing was intense. This is where the cross training took place. Being high in altitude and pushing your body to do things that shock it (breathing at high elevation while doing work). It was physically challenging as well as mentally. You had to rely on the person on the other end of the rope. One slip and you could easily fall and not stop till you either hit a rock on the way down or the lake itself at the base.

This weekend was a good change of pace. I was able to clear my head, think about what I have to do in the next couple of months, as well as let me know what stresses my body is able to stand (pushing through the pain threshold barrier is a constant struggle).

Back to business with Monday's 8AM classes.

Sum up of the last two months

A combination of deciding last minute to race at Cyclocross Nationals, finals, and winter break have led to no time for postings.

Cyclocross Nationals: Left on a Friday from Fort Collins, Co to head to Kansas City, KS. The trip was supposed to take 9 hrs or something along that time frame. Reality was different. Stuck in a blizzard, spinning my car on the highway and being stuck in Hayes, KS for the night made the trip take over 15 plus hrs. The trip there was epic but not as epic as the race conditions. The weather was in the teens, snow and ice covered the course. If it wasn't ice then it was the classic wagon ruts that tried to do you in. The Men's Collegic field had over 180 riders, largest race I have been a part of. Started fast like it should, the first turn I got stuck in a pile up. Once un-tangled I got back into the top 50 or so. When I finally got settled into the race and began catching the front riders I had a mechanical. Basically, I was stuck in one gear (wasn't the best gear). In the end it came out to be a good learning experience.


Home (Pennsylvania): Finally getting back in PA took a while. Once home I wasn't really sure what to think. It had been 6 months since I was last there. The holidays turned out to be good as always. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather. Cycling back in PA was a challenge. First, the weather was around 5 degrees everyday, there was no one to ride with, and people just don't like bikers. I think within the first 15 minutes of getting on my bike I got honked at twice and almost run off the road once. When it came to cycling it was pretty much nonexistent.

I traveled back to Fort Collin's two weeks early. The first week I had planned to relax and get some quality time on my bike before heading south to Tucson, Az. for the week of training. On the way back I had stopped in Iowa had some good fun and met some really nice people.

The First week back in FoCo was fairly warm (30-40 degrees) so I was able to get some good long rides in. I did a couple 60 miles rides, and a Century. The century was the worst I have ever done. It was flat with a head wind for basically the second part of the ride. I did it solo (also why it was the worst).

Tucson: I had never been to Arizona so it was interesting seeing the different style of living it was compared to my past. The Riding was amazing. We arrived on a Monday (we relaxed, ate food, got situated and planned out the week).
The room situation was alright, I slept on the floor because I am too nice. The bikes were stashed in a corner of the room and everything else took place on the other side. We really didn't do much in the room because we were on our bikes almost the whole time (that was the point of the trip!)

Tuesday, we rode up to the Observatory with a group of guys we met who were fully supported so that made things easy. The climb up was amazing. There were views every where, the weather was in the upper 60's.

We mainly did climbing base miles (if thats possible). Mt. Lemon is now my favorite ride. You are able to climb for 20+ miles with no down hills. Erick Carlson and myself did Mt. Lemon twice in one day. The first time up was paced nicely around 10mph (moving along), and the second ride up we were averaging a little over 13mph (the last two miles really hurt).

I met up with my friend Tiffany, who I went to H. school with and haven't seen since. We had dinner, drank some wine (Aaron picked it out) and caught up on somethings. Overall a good surprise.

Friday, The last day of riding we got word about a group ride the makes all other group rides seem quite amateur. Known as the "Shoot-out" there were an excess of 250 riders. It started as an easy roll-out and turned into a full-out race. I made the lead pack (all pros) till half way up the climb when they turned it up. I was able to get into a chase group where all of the riders were CAT2's but me. We chased for about 40 minutes before catching the leader group again. Then it ended in town with all of us getting pulled over by cops and warned about taking up the road (how couldn't we...there were over 50 guys in this part of the group).

Erick and Myself then drove straight Through to get back in Fort Collins around 2am Sunday morning.

Now, I am back in my routine of class, riding and trying to have fun.

It's been a while...

Conference Finals came and went. I didn't do as well as I had wanted to do this past year, but with out training or riding my bike at all from last season's Durango race (2006 5th severe concussion) till this past August I can't complain. I figured out somethings about my riding style, lack of training, and gained some valuable experience. So far since conference finals I have over 600 miles on my road bike, a training plan, some goals (both short and long term), and an idea about how important cycling is in my life.

Things to look forward to:
-Tuscon training Camp (January)
-Road Season (March)
-Summer in FoCo with many local races
-Possibly Snake Alley (End of May)
-Summer of races (May through August)
-Travel back east for a month of MTB/Road races
-MTB Nationals M. Snow, NC (June/July)
-Possibly my final Collegic MTB season (August)
-Senior year of College
-Possibly last season of Collegic Road Season (March)
-Look for a team before graduation and having to become an actual person in society

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to happen with my level of cycling and where I want it to reach. Hopefully after this up and coming road season I will be able to move up both in road and MTB.

Two weekends ago I did my first cross race...look for pics and details soon.

Estes ride

So, this past weekend the plan was to do a century and then make it back to Fort Collins and grab some drinks and play games all night. I had a rough night Friday and Caley and I basically weren't motivated to leave around 9am when we planned to so by the time we actually left it was 1030am. Megan, Jamie, Caley, and myself head off. Seriously within 18miles we had stopped 3 times. All minor fixes, but it wasn't looking good.

The Day started out cold so the usual layers were packed on. It was probably within 30minutes of leaving the day changed to be amazing. All the layers came off and the sun shone. We headed to Masonville, through Glenn Haven to Estes, CO. There was a head wind basically the whole way up 34 and through Glenn Haven.

We took the route via Carter Lake which on this day probably was the prettiest I have ever seen it. There were no cars around, sun shinning and of course we were riding. This ride was a much needed relaxer. I realized that just going out for rides with your friends and just enjoying everything around you and forgetting all the things that often overwhelm your everyday life is very important.
Jamie was hilarious the night after our ride. We ended up playing games until we decided that we needed ice cream which meant that we rode our bike to the store. On the way back Jamie crashed (not bad) right outside of her house...Caley and I some how ate a whole pizza between us, some chile, and apple pie with ice cream. It was a good time. Pending on the weather next weekend I might do another long ride but flat to start my long slow base.

This upcoming week, starting Monday November 1st, is the start of my training year. Base miles begin Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of every week is going to be cross and weight training, and Wednesday/Friday will ba base miles as well. I have decided that I will be taking riding more serious when it comes to training. The past season (MTB 2007) I didn't train at all.

Till next time, enjoy, be safe, and always live life to its fullest.

Peach.

Century

Two weeks ago MTB season ended for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to nationals so I decided to look ahead to next season. Since then I have for the most part taken some down time from riding. I got my new ride (Specialized tarmac expert w/ rival) its not my E5 s-works but it isn't anything to complain about.

November 5th marks the beginning of my training for road. I haven't been riding very long and this is in reality the first time that I am doing a training plan. We will see how it goes.

So this weekend I was supposed to go to veloswap in Denver, Co, but instead decided to do my first century. In the past I have come close but never completed one. Two other people went with me. Rachel (CSU teammate, and her friend).
The weather this weekend was crazy. When we left in the morning it was cloud covered, slightly chilly, and by the afternoon it was sunny blue skies. The only problem with the weather and this ride was inconsistency. There were times where you were riding and hit this wall of cold air, and when I mean cold it was about 20 degrees colder. Then, the climbs. Seriously, I haven't seen this long of climbs ever. We did this one climb and it had to of taken us 45minutes, and that was at about 10mph+.


Leaving Fort Collins (the bagel place) at 9am the adventure started. My headed to Masonville via the dams, then to Estes Park. Once at Estes we headed to Boulder Co. We stopped twice along the way to refill bottles and stretch. It was funny on some of the descents people in cars would ride behind us and see how fast we were going. This one guy in a truck stuck his head out the window and using his fingers showed us the speed (45mph, that was 5 over the speed limit). He seemed pretty stoked.





Overall, I would say that this was one of the most intense rides I have done. The only problem with this ride is that fact that it isn't a looped ride. We ended up in Boulder where the guy I rode withs father gave us a ride back to Fort Collins.