Sunday Cross

Sunday I went out to the Boulder CX#2 to help my buddy Taylor who was racing the Men's Open division. After a ride around the old Morgul-Bismark loop for myself I headed back to the race. Changed a flat for him before the race, and got his wheels in the pit just as they took off. Taylor got a crappy starting position which left him about 30th/50 riders coming up the first climb. 3 laps later his was sitting 7 and looking good. I was also feeding him. Let me say that when he wants water he means water, not some type of electrolyte mix. Needless to say I found some water within about 5 minutes to accomodate the request, and drank the mix myself. For most of the race Taylor was working with a TIAA-Cref rider, but that guy eventually blew with about 5 to go. Taylor ended up closing the gap to 5th place, and made a move on the next to last lap to solidify 5th place. Before the race, I thought top 10 would be a great result considering the field, so we were both pumped about 5th. Super strong ride, considering his shitty starting position. If he was on the front row he might have had a shot at the podium. It was good motivation for him and me, as I'll be pitting for him when the US Grand Prix comes to Boulder Nov. 4th & 5th. The results are here, and he even got his name and result in VeloNews. While that may not seem big to you, I think it's the Cat's Meow.

Gage Carter Dugan

I am the pround uncle of this little guy. Gordon and Gage after his arrival

What to do now?

After Salida, I got my upgrade to Cat 3 and had planned on racing the Fed Center but, bad weather, vaction with little training, and a bunch of canceled races lead me to end my season early. Overall I had a great season. I reached and surpassed every cycling goal I had set at the end of the season. Now it is time for some golf, and easy rides.

Salida Omnium

TT - I sandbagged the TT to save my energy for the road race, since my best finish in a TT this year was 20th. This turned out to be a big mistake as only 38 guys registered. I cruised in at 36th place, while Andrei took 11th and Ty 16th. If I had tried, I think I could have broke the top 10 considering the field.

RR - Disaster - I was feeling great, got to the park early had some time to shoot the shit with a few of my buddies and then got ready to roll. Just as we are getting ready to rollout. My back wheel goes flat (WTF). This was the first time I hadn't brought a extra wheel, so I felt guilty asking for a change that wasn't mine, before the race even started. So I hurried back to the hotel, changed wheels and the then did a TT effort to catch the pack before the neutral rollout ended. I ended up being about 1 min off before they hit the first climb. I started picking guys off, but realized I wasn't catching the front group, and I wasn't racing for 20th so I bagged it, hoping to be super fresh for the crit on Sunday. At this point I was pretty bummed how my weekend had gone.

Crit - Before the race Gregg and I had a chat about going together with about 3 laps to go. Here is his account of the situation. With our plan, I spent the first part of the race hanging in the top 10-15. HART had the #1 rider overall so their team (7 strong) were controlling the pace and chasing down everything trying to keep their boy in the pack. About 20 min in I got off the front with 4 others, but were quickly reeled in by HART who then sat up, bunching the pack again. At this point I was hurting so I drifted back to recover, then with 5 laps to go started working my way back up. No one was wanting to drive the pace because HART was chasing everything down, and they were content to cruise at 17mph. With 2 laps to go, things picked up and we were single file going into the false flat uphill (5 blocks long) when a HART rider pulled through and sat up. No one came around so the front group bunched again. Not wanting to wait for a sprint, and tired of the same shit every lap, I moved up on the outside and attacked about 20 meters out on the first of 2 corners before the finish. I was hurting, but figured so was everyone else. I caught everyone off guard, and they weren't able to react through the corners. When I got through the 2nd corner, I went as hard as I could go for 30 seconds and then looked back to decide whether to sit up or continue. To my surprise I already had 50 meters. Apparently everyone hesitated not wanting to be the one to chase. Having 6 corners in the next .4 mile stretch was a big help. I was able to recover, while maintaining a high speed and the pack couldn't organize a chase. Coming up the false flat for the last time I buried myself, took the last corner a little too fast (back tire skipped twice) and held off a fast chasing duo by about 20 meters for the win. This totally made my weekend. I was more pumped about winning here than Hugo. Still can't believe I was able to hold if solo for a lap in a crit.

Unfortunately, I wasn't any help for BAT, but Andrei
and Ty came through big time and both looked really strong
during the RR.

Where Have I Been?

Good question - I'll try to catch up with a barrage of posts. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Sometimes I Wake-up Grumpy

Sometimes I let her sleep.

Saturday Training Ride

I decided to bag the crit in Ft. Morgan since there are no upgrade points available and instead do a long training ride. The 100+ degree temps forcasted for Denver, saw me Ty, and Taylor leaving my house at 6am (ouch)to try and beat the heat. Taylor was our tour guide today, and from the start was all business. We did 71 miles in 4:04 w/ 4400ft of climbing

Avgs: speed 17.8 mph, hr 147, power 172

Max: speed 53 mph, hr 178, power 1117

total work: 2407 kj

Looking forward to more of the same tommorrow.

Oh Yeah - It sucks when your AC freezes and it is 101 out.

Andy Finch/Sara Kay Memorial Crit

Andrei and I, along with 45 other nut jobs braved the fierce
condtions for 50 minutes of pain on Sunday. (Temp was 59 and poured rain the whole race) I could have used a snorkel the first couple of laps. Felt like someone was holding a water hose in my face. After I settled in, tried my hand at getting off the front with a few other guys. We would get about 5-8 guys off the front but only about half would work or pull through. After my second attempt I went back to the pack and Andrei had a go which helped keep the pace high. I was able to recover during this point and when he was caught I attacked again over the top of
the climb to keep popping guys off. I never made an all out effort
to go solo, just to gap the field with the hope a few guys would
bridge and we could get going. After this attack no one bridged so I
sat up. That left us with 2 laps to go. Starting the last lap over the hill one of the guys I had been in an earlier break with attacked and got a good gap. I waited to see if anyone else was going to go, not wanting to drag the whole group up to his wheel. Finally Greg (Spike Cycling Team) jumped so I worked with him to bridge. The three of us ended up getting caught on the last straightaway, but had done our damage to the field because only 1 guy was able to counter before the last corner and climb. I ended up getting 4th. Greg got me by half a wheel for 3rd. The Winner got off the front after about 2 laps, and soloed home. I never knew he was gone until somebody said something with 3 laps to go, as I spent the first couple laps towards the back. I was really happy with race, being able to get off the front 4 different times and still finish strong on the climb. It was good to see Andrei at the front putting the hurt on as well and finish strong in 18th. We are now tied for 3rd place for the Best Team Competition and only 23 points out of first.

Proctor Cycling Classic

Last weekend I headed back to Illinois to visit my bro and get a race in. I did the Proctor Cycling Classic Road Race which also happened to be the Illinois State Championship. I was excited to race back home, just to see how it compared to Colorado.

picture

The course was challenging with several rolling hills, but a little short for the 4s if you ask me, only 32 miles. My plan was to sit in the first lap then hammer the last 5 miles (several steep climbs) as I thought it would split apart leaving ~15 guys. 32 miles wouldn't be long enough to make endurance a factor or be a advantage for me. Race started off as planned, basically a group ride. No real attacks, and no one driving the pace, big suprise. Waited for the last 3 climbs and I went to the front and picked the pace up. Got a good gap over the first climb and hoped some guys would bridge, instead 1 guy dragged everyone up to me at which time, I gave the flick of the elbow to pull through with no reaction, so I sat up, and so did everyone else. On the next climb did the same thing, got everything strung out, and finally turned around and told the guy to pull through, to which he replied, I can't. So basically they wouldn't let me go, but wouldn't work either. At this point we only had 2 miles left and I couldn't recover in time for the sprint, so came through in 8th place. Team Mack won with XXX taking 2nd or 3rd. Big results for 2 teams that had over 5 guys each who didn't attack, help ride tempo, or do anything proactive. Do I sound a little bitter? I guess they did win, but we should have all just hung out telling stories for an hour, then got on our bikes and sprinted for the town sign. What a waste of a cool course. If I come back next year, I'll definately be bringing some teamates.

Differences between Ill and CO - Colorado is more agressive, faster, and teams play more of a role in the race. Competition is a lot tougher in CO. CO Courses are a lot longer, usually 50-65 miles. ILL climbs are bumps in the road in CO. While 30 guys did finish with the main pack, if this same race had happened in CO the whole race would have stayed together. Field size was only 70 guys.

Similarities - 4s race negatively in both states. Bike handeling skills basically the same.

Dead Dog Classic

2 weekends ago I did the Dead Dog Stage Race. I was really excited and my form seemed to be great as well. So I headed up to Laramie, Wy on Friday and spent most of the night with Jeremy and Andrei trying to get my bike set up. In preparation of the TT on Sunday, I had a full TT cockpit set up on my road bike with cables, shifters and all, so I could get the best result possible. When putting my road handlebars back on I frayed my rear derailer cable hence the 3 hours it took us to get it shifting properly. Anyway I was pretty amped the next morning. We had a good breakfast at the Chuckwagon restaurant. I was so nervous before the race that an older gentlemen sitting behind me in the booth at the restaurant said if I didn't' stop shaking, he was going to spill his coffee and food all over himself. That gave Jeremy and Andrei a good laugh. The first disappointment was that the race course had to be changed do to a forrest fire, so the 7 mile climb was out and the course ended up being flat with 2 large rollers each way. Jeremy and Andrei went immediately to the front and started picking up the pace. This strung out the pack, but none of the other teams were really helping to keep the pace high. I sat in about 20th place. Eventually Jeremy got up with a group of 12 or so guys and Andrei and Matt put the brakes on opening up a nice gap. I then rolled up just to say high and helped block. As soon as I did this, I started getting yelled at to close the gap and stop blocking, boo whooo. Had one rider yell at me with the commment, "oh, they are really going to get away." If he didn't think they were, then why did he come around me and start chasing? This is why racing 4s sucks. Everybody races so negatively. No breaks get established, no one will work, etc. We were just trying to get some action going. Otherwise it is always the same - speed up, brake, speed up, brake, crash, attack through feed zone, brake, crash, field sprint. I personally get tired of this and want to make the race hard, so there isn't 50 guys left at the end. Anyway, Matt, Jeremy, and Andrei all got dropped and I was left alone with 10 miles to go so I had not choice but to sit in. About 3 miles out I was thinking I had good enough legs to win. I positioned myself on the yellow line sheltered from the crosswind. This side had been surging all race when there was an acceleration. I was sitting 3rd wheel behind Brent who got 2nd at Hugo the week before. Usually someone jumps with about 1k to go and things split up allowing you to move around. Not this time everyone held tight until 300m and then a guy on the outside jumped, but the guy in front of Brent never reacted, boxing us in. Never even had space to sprint so ended up 15th. This sat the tone for the rest of the weekend. It was basically going to come down to the TT, because we had 30 guys with the same time. The crit the next morning was uneventful as suspected. All my teamates got dropped again, so I spent a lap hammering the pace to try to drop even more guys so that there weren't as many to contend with at the TT. My legs were cooked after this and could only manage 13th in the sprint. I ended up 20th in the TT, which I was happy with, since it was my best TT placing all year. I ended up 16th on GC because 4 of the guys that beat me in the TT got dropped in the crit, so I guess keeping the pace high helped. Overall a frustrating weekend.

Amazing advances made in eye care: Dr. Taylor

My best friend getting some press.

Eye Care

Arms to the Sky

Saturday was the Hugo Road Race which my team Swift Cycling puts on. The Cat 4s had a 90 rider field limit which filled up by preregistration the week before. There were a total of 579 racers with 512 finishers. I had an awesome 2 weeks of training prior to this race which had me feeling confident and my legs feeling strong. Chaz, Jeremy, and Matt lined up with me for the race. We had to start on the last row, because we were late to the start line due to our volunteer responsibilites. With no warm-up, we headed out and spent the next 18 miles trying to weave our way to the front. I was only able to get up to about 50th before the first turn. After the turn, things strung out a bit and I was able to move up a little further. At this point guys were starting to open gaps from the crosswind and rollers and there was a lot of heavy breathing, so I decided I better move up quick. I saw Matt move into the wind and head for the front, so I jumped on his wheel and we went all the way to the front, then drifted left and slowed down to enjoy the draft. This is where our team finally got back together and hung out until the 2nd turn. After the second turn (now with a left right cross/headwind) the pace picked up a bit as a few riders got off the front through the feed zone. I had drifted back again so Matt pulled Chaz and I back up to the top 10. From here I settled into the pack about 20th, while Matt, Chaz, and Jeremy patrolled the front. Chaz and Jeremy got in some short breaks while Matt blocked. Once Chaz got caught he drifted back and told me to make sure I was in the to 20 going into the last turn as all hell would break loose. Sure enough it did. We now had a cross/tailwind and the pace was crazy 30+ for the last 8 miles. The pack instantly split with me sitting on the back of the main group of 30 riders. Eventually 20 more got back on. Chaz came by and I got on his wheel, then Jeremy came on my right so I jumped on his wheel , and this is where I spent the next 7 miles. Chaz was right next to me giving me the distance as my odometer stopped working and I wasn't familiar with the finish. 5 miles, 4 miles, Move up, 3 miles, etc. With about 2 miles to go the pace picked up again and Jeremy started moving me up. We were sitting about 25th, when he started to hammer and I just sat on his wheel as we kept moving up. We were about 1k out when there was an acceleration on the left and things started to split up. At that point Jeremy went all out to get me to the front, with about 500 meters I yelled for him to move left as he detonated, and I was now sitting 4th. A CPT rider jumped at this point and got a good 15 meter gap so I started to close It but came next to another guy so I sat back down to see if he was going to go or not, because I didn't want him to jump on my wheel. One look at him and I knew he was cooked so I started again. The last guy in front of me saw me coming, but couldn't accelerate, and at that point I knew I was going to win. I came by him and had a couple bike lengths and time to throw my arms up and get my first win. Finishing time of 2:39:36 for 64 miles with and avg speed of just over 24mph if my math is correct. Matt finished 11th, Chaz 16th, and Jeremy 48th. The results moved our team into 3rd place for the Best All Around Team Competition. I can't thank my teammates enough. It was great to finally see all the hard work pay off. I also wanted to thank my coach Mark Legg for helping me get to this point. Next up is the Dead Dog Classic this weekend and the team is now really motivated which is nice. Unfortunately we will only have 4 of us instead of the 7 we were expecting. I'm just excited to finally work together as a team and actually race.

Louisville and City Park

I basically imploded at the Louisville crit. 95+ temp took its toll. I had no problem hanging with pack but got chest pains about 20 minutes in. It felt like my respiratory tract was on fire so I pulled the plug hoping to get some rest for city park. I hate DNFing but thought it would be best. Next day I felt much better at city park. This is a very technical course with several turns and 2 turns and 4 round abouts. I started off well, but on the second lap I was sitting about 25 when two guys in front of my got tangled and almost went down forcing me to slam on the breaks and that was it. The first group of 20 were gone. I then spent the next 10 minutes working with 4 others to get back, but 2 of the guys didn't know how to do a rotating paceline. Pretty frustrating. We then had 4 more join us and I thought we would get back. We got the gap down to 10 seconds, but this GS boulder would pull through and block then you pass him and he would cut you off in the corners. Total tool. The gap got back up to 25 seconds so I had a go solo as the group I was with wasn't going to get back. I got it down to 15 seconds after a lap and half, but wasn't going to be able to catch on without blowing up, so I sat up let the group catch me and sat on the back until last lap. Typical last lap - I was sitting 9th going into the last 2 turn around, watch guy in front of me (gs boulder) touch wheels trying to cut corner (big suprise) and go down, next round about watched another guy go down taking the corner to fast and then another guys just fell over, but I don't know why. I ended up taking the field sprint again for 23rd. Even though the result isn't good, I felt like I was getting my legs back.

Rocky MTN Omnium

My parents came out for this weekend while I was trying to find my legs. It was a little rough considering I had taken off 16 days from being sick and our trip to Italy. I ended up 22nd in 8 mile time trial 1:26 off the winner. I was pretty happy with this considering I didn't have a TT bike or aero bars and it was only my 5th day back on the bike. The Circuit race next day wasn't as fun. It was a 1.2 mile circuit where I ended up 29th after getting dropped on the 1/2 mile (200 ft elevation gain) climb after about 3 laps. I had no legs and the 90+ temp was brutal. The last crit was in downtown Golden and probably the funnest race so far this year. My result again was 29th, but the course was awesome with 8 turns. There was probably about 1000 spectators which was pretty cool. I held on for about half the race then rolled solo for about 5 laps, and then waited for a group of 7 to catch me and basically waited for the field sprint which I took. Overall not bad considering how long I had been off the bike. Wish I could have pulled a better result while my parents were in town.

More Pics

The Past 30

Well it has been awhile since I posted, so I'll try to catch up. 1st Cori and I had a wonderful trip to Italy. No special occasion just a trip we've been wanting to take. Started in Venice and spent 2 days then on to Bologna/Forli. In Forli we caught a stage of the Giro d'Italia. From Bologna we took the train to Florence and spent 3 full days. On the fourth day we rented a car and drove down to Montalcino where Brunello wines are made. We then spent 2 days in Milan before finally coming back. Florence was by far our favorite. The food, wine, gelato and atmosphere were uncomparable. Cori's favorite part was a private cooking class she took in Florence, mine was probably the food and wine in Florence.

Just Got Home

I'll update more in the next coming week. Cori and I just got back from spending 10 days in Italy. Great time, but glad to be back.

Before

After

VO2 Max 2nd Test

I had my 2nd VO2 max test today. Can't say that I was motivated at all, and my legs weren't feeling the freshest either after Deer Trail on Saturday. After a Dexa scan, and getting stuck 5 times (ouch!) to get a line in so they could draw lactate levels I was on my way. Highlights of my results from all Test:

Dropped my body fat percentage 3.3 points since February 21st. Weight dropped from 162 to 156.

Increased My VO2 max from 52.2 to 59.3

Max HR dropped from 186 to 181, which most likely reflects that I wasn't rested enough.

Should have Lactate back in 2 weeks.