...And we're back! Lauren and I drove down to Eugene to see Rob and Misha last week; he looks incredible for all that's happened. His spirits are high and they're being very proactive about his recovery. Still a very long road back to square one but they'll get there I'm sure of it. When we stopped in, the first thing Rob did was show Lauren and myself our bicycles he had in production. Our forks were nearly completed, my stem was ready for paint and my frame was nearly there. Lauren's was next in the queue and all of the beautiful tubing was prepped and ready for assembly. We were both so taken back by just how generous and kind Rob is, his body is broken and he's on ridiculous medications but first things first, lets look at your bikes I'm building. Rob, if you're reading this, take all the time in the world to finish our bikes, we'll be here :)
This last week of training has been low as far as volume, but the intensity is high. I was riding my TT bike in preparation for the OBRA TT Championships, and trying to get more comfortable with riding in a very uncomfortable position. I'm sure my position needs some help but it's better than before and I feel a little more powerful. I would like one win this year after all the training I feel I've put in. I've got 5 chances between the TT and the Eugene Celebration Stage Race, rest assured I'll be giving everything I've got.
Motivation has been tough this past week or so getting back onto the bike. I know my Cat 2 upgrade will elude me and coming to terms with that, yet again, is a large pill to swallow. I have been putting in the time to train and prepare for the end or season racing and I'm elated to have this new team to ride with. Rob, Adam and Lee are awesome guys, very supportive and good people. Once we make the move to Salem in the coming months perhaps we can ride a little together.
If you haven't noticed the global warming in your area, it's freaking hot here. I tried to make a swamp cooler with a wet towel over the fan but I don't think it worked, because now it feels like our apartment is in the deep south. We're almost out of San Pellegrino which means we'll be stuck with just water. I had to eat yogurt in the middle of the day because it was the only thing cold except for ketchup and Yumm sauce to eat in the fridge. Our cat sleeps all day and doesn't want to play with her feather on a string. I've been forced to stay inside and watch TV with our new Google Chromecast thingy and we only have one flavor of ice cream. My life is atrocious, difficult, stressful and hard....did I mention difficult...?
The night before my TT, I realized my bike needed a tune up, good thing it was 10:00 PM. Finally going to bed grumpy (which is never a good thing) I look ahead to the next day. Start time for my TT was 11:57:00 AM. We arrive to Starbucks promptly on time for a very healthy breakfast and coffee. On the TT bike I need a long warmup to get my legs stretched and comfortable so we arrive to Peoria, OR right on schedule, unload the trainer, check in and start warming up.
Up to this point, I have competed in two individual time trials this year. The first one, my rear wheel slipped and rubbed against my frame 10 meters from the start, I had to get off my bike fix it and continue racing, I took 4th missing the podium by 6 seconds. During my second ITT, my rear derailleur housing got caught outside it's stop only giving me half of my gears. I finished 36th, 1:42 off the leader. This time I wasn't going to have anything out of my control happen. I got a good warmup, changed out my wheels, secured them, checked all my gears got to the line a minute before my start time. Now it was up to me to race my bike.
This last week of training has been low as far as volume, but the intensity is high. I was riding my TT bike in preparation for the OBRA TT Championships, and trying to get more comfortable with riding in a very uncomfortable position. I'm sure my position needs some help but it's better than before and I feel a little more powerful. I would like one win this year after all the training I feel I've put in. I've got 5 chances between the TT and the Eugene Celebration Stage Race, rest assured I'll be giving everything I've got.
Motivation has been tough this past week or so getting back onto the bike. I know my Cat 2 upgrade will elude me and coming to terms with that, yet again, is a large pill to swallow. I have been putting in the time to train and prepare for the end or season racing and I'm elated to have this new team to ride with. Rob, Adam and Lee are awesome guys, very supportive and good people. Once we make the move to Salem in the coming months perhaps we can ride a little together.
If you haven't noticed the global warming in your area, it's freaking hot here. I tried to make a swamp cooler with a wet towel over the fan but I don't think it worked, because now it feels like our apartment is in the deep south. We're almost out of San Pellegrino which means we'll be stuck with just water. I had to eat yogurt in the middle of the day because it was the only thing cold except for ketchup and Yumm sauce to eat in the fridge. Our cat sleeps all day and doesn't want to play with her feather on a string. I've been forced to stay inside and watch TV with our new Google Chromecast thingy and we only have one flavor of ice cream. My life is atrocious, difficult, stressful and hard....did I mention difficult...?
The night before my TT, I realized my bike needed a tune up, good thing it was 10:00 PM. Finally going to bed grumpy (which is never a good thing) I look ahead to the next day. Start time for my TT was 11:57:00 AM. We arrive to Starbucks promptly on time for a very healthy breakfast and coffee. On the TT bike I need a long warmup to get my legs stretched and comfortable so we arrive to Peoria, OR right on schedule, unload the trainer, check in and start warming up.
Up to this point, I have competed in two individual time trials this year. The first one, my rear wheel slipped and rubbed against my frame 10 meters from the start, I had to get off my bike fix it and continue racing, I took 4th missing the podium by 6 seconds. During my second ITT, my rear derailleur housing got caught outside it's stop only giving me half of my gears. I finished 36th, 1:42 off the leader. This time I wasn't going to have anything out of my control happen. I got a good warmup, changed out my wheels, secured them, checked all my gears got to the line a minute before my start time. Now it was up to me to race my bike.
This course is flat, fast and windy... today came with an extra helping of wind. Starting with a very strong tailwind I knew I should ride somewhat conservatively on the way out but not too much as I would lose time on the headwind coming home. I reached the turnaround 3 minutes up on my projected time and figured that would be enough to limit my loss. Apparently I was wrong in accounting for how strong that damn wind was. At several points I was leaning my bike so hard into the wind just to stay in somewhat of a straight line. "Riding the wind" is always a little scary but I was determined not to give in to all the pain and not listen to what my body was telling me. Instead I chose to throw up a little in my mouth, suffer some more and do more battle with this stupid headwind. I crossed the line in 59:19, not by any means my PR on the course and nowhere near the 54 min I was hoping for.
Immediately after crossing the finish line my entire left leg cramps and I can hardly pedal my bike. Lauren helps me come to a stop, unclip and lay on the ground for a bit. Eventually I hobble back to the car, I change out of my sweaty skinsuit and we make our way to see the results. My teammate Adam raced the Eddie Category, he took 3rd. Lee, raced the Pro 1/2 category, he took 3rd. I raced the Men's 3 Category, I took 3rd. Looks like English Cycles kept it on the podium once again. That extra helping of wind slowed down nearly all the times of the riders, even the winner of the Pro 1/2's was not quite as fast as he normally is (and believe me he's beastly fast).
Mission accomplished, I got myself on the podium this year. It was great satisfaction to have earned myself a medal and know I'm not just pretending to race bikes but I do it fairly well. I'm only 27 and I've still got time to upgrade. Given everything that's gone on for this to be my comeback season 3rd place is pretty darn good and I'm happy with that. My teammates are amazing and supportive, our team captain Rob is tremendous, we have the greatest sogineur in the peloton and most importantly we're having fun.
Immediately after crossing the finish line my entire left leg cramps and I can hardly pedal my bike. Lauren helps me come to a stop, unclip and lay on the ground for a bit. Eventually I hobble back to the car, I change out of my sweaty skinsuit and we make our way to see the results. My teammate Adam raced the Eddie Category, he took 3rd. Lee, raced the Pro 1/2 category, he took 3rd. I raced the Men's 3 Category, I took 3rd. Looks like English Cycles kept it on the podium once again. That extra helping of wind slowed down nearly all the times of the riders, even the winner of the Pro 1/2's was not quite as fast as he normally is (and believe me he's beastly fast).
Mission accomplished, I got myself on the podium this year. It was great satisfaction to have earned myself a medal and know I'm not just pretending to race bikes but I do it fairly well. I'm only 27 and I've still got time to upgrade. Given everything that's gone on for this to be my comeback season 3rd place is pretty darn good and I'm happy with that. My teammates are amazing and supportive, our team captain Rob is tremendous, we have the greatest sogineur in the peloton and most importantly we're having fun.
In light of recent events, I thought it would be cool to add a certain level of professionalism to our team by having some shirts made with our English Cycles logo on them. Keeping with Rob's ethos of local, american made and sustainable and wanting something more than a screen printed t-shirt. I found some American Apparel polo shirts to have embroidered (thanks mom and dad for doing the embroidery). Our team is classy and it's the small attention to detail that makes the difference. Rob if you're reading this, check your mailbox in the next few days yours is on it's way.
That evening, we met up with our best friend Audrey (she married us by the way) for a picnic dinner in Grant Park listening to the Portland Symphony play a free concert. Definitely a perfect way to wrap up an awesome day (also we're ridiculously euro pro right now). So there you have it, race completed, mission accomplished and now I continue to get in some training to maintain my fitness and do the Eugene Celebration Stage Race this upcoming weekend. This will mark the end of the road season for 2014. After that Lauren and I are planning a few more backpacking, climbing, canoeing trips and I'll be sure to post about those so check back often.
I wanted to thank you all who continue to check out my blog, looks like I've had nearly 5,000 visitors this year! Holy moly I didn't expect this thing to gain some traction, I hope you'll continue to follow my adventures and my pursuit of glory on the bicycle. I wonder if we can't reach 10,000 visitors by the end of the year... Thanks again to all of you who read this, it's great inspiration and motivation for me to continue this blog and keep training so you'll have more useless stories to read.
Until next time.
Cheers,
-Andrew-
I wanted to thank you all who continue to check out my blog, looks like I've had nearly 5,000 visitors this year! Holy moly I didn't expect this thing to gain some traction, I hope you'll continue to follow my adventures and my pursuit of glory on the bicycle. I wonder if we can't reach 10,000 visitors by the end of the year... Thanks again to all of you who read this, it's great inspiration and motivation for me to continue this blog and keep training so you'll have more useless stories to read.
Until next time.
Cheers,
-Andrew-