AZ State TTT Championship: Report

3:40 AM. Wake up call. Mom drove me over to Jeff's house, where we packed all my equipment into his car. We started the drive down to Arizona City at 5:00. We made a stop in middle-of-nowhere Casa Grande for a bathroom break. At 6:15, we entered the quaint town of Arizona City, finding our fellow DNA Cycles teammates quite quickly. We warmed up on the trainers and got set-up aerowise. Jake was the only one of us without a TT bike, but Brian M loaned him some Zipp 404s.

Before the start of the race, we were informed that the race would be 30km instead of 40km. Guess why...........flooding.

Our start was at 7:22. The rotation was Stephen, me, Jake, and Jeff. We rolled out of the starting tent into a crosswind. We got the paceline going quite well, taking 30-60 second pulls and pulling off to the left. We held 23 until the turn-around. Jeff, who was very sick, took his last pull 10km into the race, leaving the three of us juniors. From then to the turn-around, we shortened our pulls. We made the 180 and passed the Trisport team. Now with a tailwind, we were hauling at 27-30. I started feeling weaker and weaker. Before the race, I had thought that Jake would be the weak link (because he was riding Eddy Merckx style), but now I was riding right on the rivet. As my pulls began to decrease in length, Stephen really took command. I think I clocked him taking a 1:30 long pull. Unbelievable. I was suffering very very much. Just pulling through felt like death. But the distance ticked down well enough, and soon we had 5k to go. I started trying to increase the length of my pulls. Stephen seemed to lead out the last kilometer. I came around with 500m to go and gave it all I had. I blew up with 200m to go and resorted to following the draft into the finish. Jake and Stephen drag raced it to the end, as I clung like a leech. Finally, it was over.

The time was 43:32, and the speed was 25.7. We got 7th in the open category out of 15. We did very well, and I thank the Lord for the resolve he gave me to keep on plugging away. I want to thank Mom for driving me to Jeff's house at 4:20 in the morning. I also want to thank the Team for really helping me out. The ride to the race and back, the tent, the support, and the long pulls that Jake, Stephen, and Jeff took gave me more strength. THANK YOU DNA CYCLES RACING!!!

AZ State TTT Preview

The world is against us. Sickness and lack of aerodynamic equipment are bearing down on our 4 man team. It is nothing but fuel for the fire.
The Spirit is willing, as is the body. So I will venture deep down into the pain cave tomorrow. A 40 kilometer journey. But I can't do it alone. So who will go into the pain cave with me?

The Importance of Being Earnest

Since soccer isn't happening this fall and I've always enjoyed theater, I figured I'd try out for the school play "The Importance of Being Earnest".
I managed to score the role of Jack, which is a pretty good role. We are set for October 1-2 performances. It should be pretty good.

Small Update

School has really taken it out of me. Generally everyday starts with a ride at 5AM, then school at 7:45, and drama at 3:30 going to 5:30. That is my day. Quite a long day, and now my school is giving me more homework. The upside is that we are totally digital- every student got a macbook.
Look for an in-school blog post sometime soon.

Here it goes again

I am ready for 2010-2011. Junior year is upon us...

Some Epic Rides

There's been a lot of good riding going around lately. Here some notable reports:

7/26- Brumbys Ride
This ride is an all-you-can eat hammer fest. Generally Cat 2s and 3s show up, and the riders who dominate are the ones that climb well. We went up the short side of Usery (about 2 miles@3%), where Dad was drilling it. I made the select group of Dad, Darin (teammate), a BikeHaus dude, and a WebOp dude. I lasted until my turn to pull came. I pulled and then blew up. I managed to catch the group at the bottom of the descent as Dad flatted and decided to ride the opposite direction and catch us. We went fast down the fairly flat section of Bush highway (as flat as it gets), and then slogged up the vicious slopes of Kong hill (.5 miles@8-9%). Three Bike Haus dudes led the charge. A guy in front of me got popped. I bridged up to the leading three, and we left everyone else behind. I tried to drag race everyone to the top, but faded with about 20m to go. Still, I had given them a run for their money. We went through Las Sendas, and Darin, Jill, and I branched off from the group to meet up with Dad and David, who were doing Hawes hill (.3 miles@9%) repeats. We did some as well. On the first one, I felt good, riding at 500w for the last 30seconds. I was slower on the second one, and had to stop on the third one. My head was throbbing, and I felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down on the side of the road for a while, and finally got back on the bike. It was a fatigue-headache.
Very epic ride.

7/27- EOP
Vicious Canyon Lake/Apache Trail ride all the way to the end of the pavement. Much climbing over 60 miles. It was Dad, Don, Greg, Ryan, and I. Usually I was first over the climbs, but Dad and Don left me behind on the downhills. I felt very good, and didn't fade over the last half of the ride.

7/30- 10 Minute Intervals
This was a ride that I will remember for a long time. It was my greatest interval workout. It was pouring rain, on Usery Pass. It was quite miserable, until I started hammering, and I realized that the rain made things feel better. It wasn't hot any more. I took off my shades, and just ground it out. It was so pure. The pain was hardly there, and I was riding about 10 watts higher than I had expected. Probably the hardest interval was the first. I felt like I was getting stronger after each one. After each interval, I would would say to myself "JEEZ, I have to do ANOTHER one!" It wasn't going to end. After the fifth one, I knew I had to head home, because we were getting ready for a road trip. I think I could have done 2-3 more. This ride was also the first one featuring my right cleat's pedal wedge to fix my asymmetrical legs. I highly recommend the wedge.

8/2- Brumbys
Another showdown. I drove the pace on Usery, kind of getting trigger happy and not letting anyone else pull through. It felt super good, and I sprinted to the top. On Bush, I followed a move by Camden Reedy (Cat 2 for WebOp). It HURT. Near the end, I was just dying to stay on his wheel, but we were out of sight. We made it to the bottom of Kong, where I popped off. I just managed to hold off the peleton at the top. It was super cool (but it hurt a lot).


Those are the tales I have. Hopefully more great rides to come!