Coming Attractions

Hey all, so its been a while since my last posting and lots has happened. But unfortunately I've got some exams on the near horizon so, expect the blog to maintain silence till Saturday. But for a quick preview of the coming attractions..

The OSU / UO - Team ride aka previewing the race course
The first A-Team TT practice.
First TT of the Season - aka Jack Frost..

Stay Tuned..

Cherry Pie Race Report

Cherry pie, huge fields, lots of friendly faces, a little wind, and smattering of climbing. Going in I expected the fields were going to be big but what I hadn’t expected was the strong collegiate turnout. Yeah, at least in the cat IV field it was almost a pre-season collegiate race, with almost everyone making a strong showing, Idaho, Whitman, UO, and Montana. I have to say it was quite sad to have a race so close to home and still be outnumbered by riders from MONTANA let alone the 20+ riders from Whitman.

On to the racing, going into the race Erik and I had a plan, ride near the front, hide from the wind for the first lap, and then on lap two around the time we reached the hills light things up as best we could. With just two of us covering breaks wasn’t really going to be much of an option and anyway with the wind the success rate here looked rather questionable at best. With a shout of “Go”, the group rolled out. For the first lap the group more or less just chilled. At some point our pace dipped down pathetically nearing 17mph, a few attacks were launched but nothing stuck. The only real point of interest was during the brief section of climbing on the first lap a rider dressed all in black, launched an attack over the yellow line up the climb. While I’m not sure an official saw it the pack wasn’t exactly too impressed.

Being a two lap circuit race, the second lap was undoubtedly going to be a little more interesting. Entering the second lap, an attack was launched first by the rider dressed all in back and then a few moments later by a UO rider. Since we were heading back into the wind, the pack again waved them both off. After a few miles, still heading into the wind, the UO rider was sucked back up. The wheel car eventually bridged up to support the lone rider out on a breakaway. With about a ¾ a mile separating us, Erik and I organized the front of the cat IV field into a pace line to pull back the pesky breakaway, after a few minutes at a higher tempo everyone was back together again. At the base of the hills the field surged as a few of the teams with truly big flatland riders launched themselves. Then heading up the first climb there was a crash. Go figure, crashing at 13 mph riding up hill. Cresting the climb the field split and regrouped numerous times as riders attacked on the decent and into the final climb. Cresting and descending the final climb the lead group had shrunk down to maybe 20 or so riders. At this point all that remained was a tail wind sprint, with no team making an effort to up the pace the field was locked into position. Then at with about two miles to go things got jumpy, and about a mile out a rider near the back went down hard. Being in front, Erik went on to a top 10 finish, way to go Erik! Being right behind the pavement bound rider I cruised in right behind the lead group.

In further news, it looks like the 2006 Cat IV Cherry Pie Road race most likely will truly go down as a training race, as the entire field was disqualified.. See below, IMO the crash caused the centerline violation..

Hi all,

Due to camera problems, results from Cherry Pie will not be posted until late Monday at the earliest. Assistance will be needed to place the entire field.

Also, the category 4 field was DQ'd for violating the 200 meter mark.
Results for the category 4 field will not be posted at all.

I'm sure details will follow from Candi Murray or another official.
Please don't email me about this because I have no additional details
- I'm just the messenger.

Thanks,
Cheryl

Typing from the Freezer..

Ok, so it’s not that cold, UNLESS your sitting up at the RAO Finish aka Timberline with George where according to the weather women it’s currently 4oF. Yeah, thank goodness I’m down here in tropical Corvallis, OR where it is a balmy 25oF. So riding down here this week has been mixed, Monday was a rest day, and Tuesday I got into the gym and lifted and then hit the rollers for an hour and a half. Then Wednesday, back when the weather was just peachy and took the extended Kings Valley loop down to Monmouth and them came back north via Albany road which worked out to a little over 3 hrs. The weather was sweet and the ride was sweeter. Thursday, exams took crazy precedence over training, then the world changed, as it got cold and Friday, I road around and just chilled with some of the team, yeah chilled.

Spinning it on the Sunny side, Surf's Up.

Holly Smokes Batman, this last weekend the weather was just AWESOME! I never thought I'd be shouting the praise of high pressure, but this last weekend it worked wonders. A high pressure region came in, blanked Oregon, resulting in weather more characteristic of late Spring then early February. Unfortunately in the it's too good to be true department, it is February and the weather women are saying that we might get snow in the valley this next week, just in time for Cherry Pie. But, enough about all that, so what sort of wicked training runs went down this last weekend?

Going into the weekend I'd been feel a little knee/leg buzz. After the RAO 2004 debacle, I'm sensitive to it and really try and listen to my body. So with that in mind this weekend I opted to skip the Beaver hammer sessions and just do my own thing. Saturday, with the awesome weather I thought it would be fun to try some new routes so I threw the bike in the back of the Jetta, zipped out to Newport, and hit the road from there. Not sure if I should go north or south, I opted for the northern route and headed up along the highway towards Lincoln city. Bouncing off of Lincoln city, stopping off a lighthouse, the ride ended up being ~60 miles, nothing too big but riding on the coast is fun. The only real bummer was traffic. Heading north the traffic just got worse and worse in hind sight it makes since the blasted Casinos are all up north. But the traffic also had a welcome upside, can you say “beach Jeep hotties”, I can!

On getting back, I spent some quality time on the foam roller, ate a pizza, and started fiddling with the bike shoes. I'd first started fiddling with my shoes back in November. Having been on the cleats since a little before RAO the cleats were starting to show there age. My attempt to unscrew the cleat bolts from the shoes was an utter failure the cleat bolts had sized. The end result of this was after a little over a year my Sidi's had become disposable and it was time to order new shoes. But what to do in the mean time? Well, after placing the order for the new shoes, I suddenly remembered the old pair I had in the back of the closet. I figured I could use the old ones till the new shoes showed up. The old shoes definitely didn’t feel as good, but they worked, after the new shoes showed up I decided to stay on the old ones through the bad weather, for there was no reason to prematurely destroy the new ones. Well with the knee buzz it was time to switch back.

Sunday, I had a meeting with my master’s advisor scheduled for 4:00 so there was a pre-sunset constraint on the ride. I hit the road right around 11:00. Initially I had thought I might ride the Alsea falls loop, hitting the metropolis of Philomath I paused briefly to adjust my saddle height and in the process snapped my seat post bolt! SHIT! DAM! The ride plans changed then and there. Back to my apartment all out of the saddle, 1.5 cheese sandwiches and new seat post bolt and I was back on the road. This time on hitting Philomath, I wasn’t sure I’d have time for the Alsea loop so I opted for the king valley loop. The idea was that if time started to become scarce this route had multiple options for an early exit. I should have known that with the great weather there would be no turning back. On getting to the first turn off spot, I said no way, on the second spot, I didn’t even contemplate it and soon I was in Monmouth. I briefly headed back north on 99, then there was a brief back track on the standard KV loop, up and over the saddle and back to the cycling crib with 10 minutes to spare. I chugged a Hammer Pro-Whey Recovery Smoothie, grabbed my data, and was off to my meeting. Later, in the evening for further recovery I spent some quality time with the Compex Sport. The newly shimmed shoes felt like butter. Daily mileage 80 on the nose.

Plans for Monday? - Recovery day, there will be some foam rollering, possibly a little time in the weight room, maybe a brief stint in the hot tub, and lots of time with the books.

Laters, It’s Tartan Time

Super bowl Sunday!

Super bowl Sunday has to be one of my favorite days to ride. What better time to be on the road then when everyone is home for the blasted game. Rumor was Sunday was going to be nice so the Alsea Falls loop had been called. Departing from the Bean a little after 10:30 we pace lined out to the base of the climb up 34 to the Mary’s cut off. Today's crew was slightly more select, ok much more select then the normal club rides and with that I was left to cling to the back of the group holding on for dear life as we climbed up the first climb of the day, ~1,200ft. I snapped off just shy of the summit. After a brief pause so one of the guys could tighten a loose water bottle cage, it was down to Alsea. Fish launched himself down the decent like there were naked podium girls awaiting in Alsea. I tucked, spun the cranks a little, tucked some more and then was on and passed Fish’s wheel. Fish grabbed my wheel and then the two of us launched a little breakaway down to Alsea. Once in Alsea it was a left up into the Lobster Valley. Heading into the Lobster valley the road starts out with a very gradual climb which in the end becomes rather beastly. Again I popped off the back, now for the record, I think I’m riding quite strong it’s just humbling to train with cat 2’s. I didn’t end up catching back on till we were back down on Belfountain. From Belfountain it was back in on the good ole NWTTS course and then home. By the end the intensity had relegated my legs to their own unique land of pain.

Getting back in it was time for another hammer pro whey smoothie this time I used a recipe I found on the Nancy’s Yogurt web site, it was ok but not great. Hammer Pro Whey, Yogurt, Cinnamon, Banana, Orange, blend till smooth, and enjoy.

Hello February

YAHOO! I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but February is starting out quite nicely... The rain dare I say, has been holding off which is good I guess cause I was beginning to think I was going to need a propeller for my bike. Ok so on to training. This last week was a little crazy, ala the silence on the blog front.. But between studying for exams, and well studying for exams, I did managed to log a few hrs..

Last week
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: ~45 min on the rollers
Wednesday: ~1 another hr on the rollers hmm...
Thursday: ~1 hr on the rollers & lifted
Friday: 1.5 hrs on the TT bike outside then 2 hrs on the rollers.
Saturday: Ok so it has rained this month.. Went out to kick it with the team a little, and wow the weather was just down right miserable.. After 1.5 hrs came back in and did another 1.5 on the rollers.