TT-Fest Race Recap

Just got back from the Deschuttes River Valley TT Fest.  Awesome Race, took first as a Cat 3 in all three races, and GC for the Cat 3's.  Finished 3rd overall, right behind Chris Swan and Seth Patla Cat 1/2 super studs!  Jim Fisher and Heather Paris put in a tremendous effort and took 2nd in the mixed tandem division!    What's next?  Estacada race 3 and the coburg ITT series of course..

Time Trial Fest Update

Took first in the cat 3's on the first stage. Stage 2.. Wind kicked up.. Some one said 40 mph gusts.. I believe it.. My 202's were catching air like an Americas cup vessel.. At 2 min slower than last year. But since all that really matters is the standings.. 1st in the Cat 3's and now 3rd overall.. Less than three hours till the big show on Bakeoven.. Fish and Heather my Pac-Power team mates and rommies here in Maupin are racing the tandem.. Rumor is that they have something special planned for this after-noon.. Watch out tandems are freeky fast, especially when the stoker has carries a whip!

Keeping it real, K-man out!

Pounding the Pedals at the TT-Fest!

Just finished Stage one of the BEST OBRA Time Trial event of the year aka the Deschutes TT-Fest. Stage one was a 40k on a course I know well, but wow was today a bruiser. It started off with a little hill climb, the maupin assent, nothing more than say 4-5 miles. Hard but not too bad.. The hill climb tapered off into what should be a relatively easy decent but today the devil was blowing and the side winds had me grabbing my aero bar ends for dear life as I tried to keep the bike on the straight and narrow.. Then it was a short decent before wrapping it around through some rollers, river crossing, and then 10 big ones back into the wind.. I think I tend to do better when the courses are hard.. Todays first race wasn't a course PR... But the starting times for stage II, 8.1 mile hill climb, will reveal todays damage.. Stay Tuned!

Jack Frost Race Results

Kenneth Philbrick: 1st in the Cat 3's  27:59

Mom (Cathey Philbrick):  1st in Masters Women 60+ 38:43

Dad   (David Philbrick):    11th in Masters Men 60+ 36:02

Jack Frost TT

Just back from the Jack Frost ITT.  I had a great race, the course felt fast this year, but I will have to wait and see the offical results..  Both my parents were bitten by the ITT bug this year.  Mom, took first, and dad had a great finish, racing against none other then RAO vetran Bill Nicolai.  No big supprise, the RAO family was out representing in style.  Had a great time talking with the Gapay's before the race.. Watchout, ULRA riders both Hugh and Angela are have been training /w the Tedder's and Team Hammer and are both looking freeky fast.

A few photo's of Hugh and Angela follow.. 

Best, Kenneth

Rocky Training

Mid-June I left the State for a slow trip to a cousin's wedding in Denver.  At one of the first stops along the way I explored parts of the 75 mile Coeur d'Alene bike path.  A rails-to-trails path, the Coeur d'Alene path is fairly tame with grades rarely exceeding 2-3%.  In-spite of this, I highly recommend the area as the view's and wildlife along the trail are quite magnificent.  On my first evening out, I saw moose, not once but twice, first in the lake adjacent to the path and then on the path itself.

After, Coeur d'Alene it was on to Montana, and then down to Yellowstone.  Cycling through Yellowstone and the Tetons was particularly special.  At Yellowstone, I did a number of training rides.  The two most notable were a 110 loop around the inner park and then a one-way trip from the lake area over to the Roosevelt camp.  Besides offering a dramatic backdrop one of the truly special things about cycling at Yellowstone was the chance to train consistently at higher elevations (6,000 - 9,000 ft).  While the higher elevations did make climbing a tad more difficult, cruising on the flats at elevation was awesome.  

May to June Infections

Last December Race Across Oregon plans were hatched.  The crew was rounded up and the wheels were set in motion for another greater race.  Mid-may hot in the middle of stage racing season, I raced the first 3 stages of the mount hood stage race.  As a whole the race seemed successful, a fitness builder, all in preparation for RAO, but on returning to Corvallis I was almost immediately hit with a respiratory infection.   Out for two weeks, it was slim, mucus, hacking.  On the third week I started to feel better, began to slowly bring things back online.  The legs felt atrophied, power was down but not out.  Then a week later, the infection was back, and this time lasted until early mid-june.  Back again on the bike, I started to ramp back up.   For the first few weeks I was winded climbing over the freeway and the local training-ride-race had me hacking up residual lung scum at every sprint point.

The first major fitness test came at the watermelon double, a fast, easy, and fun double century located right here in the Willamette Valley.  I took off strong, and the first, 60 miles were easy as pie.  But then it got harder, and harder.  I finished with a respectable time but was physically exhausted to a much greater extent then one could be and still be a finishing contender at RAO.  Seeing the writing on the wall, and after consulting the crew, I withdrew from the 2008 RAO.  After, three years of racing RAO, once solo, and twice on two person teams, the one thing I know for sure is to that going into RAO, there needs to be no reservations, no doubt, no question, and this year given the unfortunate mid-season illness I wasn't sure I could make it up Bakeoven much less past the reservation dogs under my own power..

Afternoon on the TT Bike

Solvang The Video

I'm still planning a big update.. But in the meantime here is a little video I shot on the final day of the Solvang training camp.
Since I filmed.. The riders in the video are all cycling friends from Seattle.. 

Cycling Awareness Video

Spring Break Training Camp Preview

Quick Weekend Update!

 So this one will be brief.  A few weeks back, my official road racing season started with the cherry pie road race.  Going into the cherry pie, I had no real race specific goals except an interest to work hard as the pie was nothing more then an early season opportunity to mix it up and work at race intensity.  As a whole the race went well, with my legs reduced to rubber by the end of the race.  The week after the pie, the OBRA time trial season kicked off with the Jack Frost TT.  This year the Jack Frost was a family affair, with my racing in the Cat-3's and my Mom racing in Masters Women 60 plus.  I ended up bringing in a 6th place finish with 28:09 min:sec finish, which all things considered wasn't too shabby. My Mom cleaned up in the 60+ field with a 2nd place finish. Go Mom!

Todays Training:  

- Light Tempo Kings Valley ~ 3 hrs 

Recovery: Yogurt + Mango + Peach

Next Scheduled Road Race:  Oregon State / UO Road Race  

Equipment Review - Reynolds Stratus DV Clincher

Let Levi Ride - Sign the online petition today!

Saturday Kings Valley, Sunday Cherry Pie

Going into this weekend, I had thought that Saturday was going to be the big training day and that Sunday was going to be at best a wash. To maximize my Saturday workout with the Beavers, I showed up to our weekly weekend ride on the bike with the power cranks. Riding the power cranks indoors is one thing, riding them on the rollers takes it up a notch, but showing up to a OSU team ride on them is something completely different all together.. Saturdays plan was Kings Valley, the short loop. King's Valley isn't anything to crazy, but slapping dose of power cranks on top of it was all I could take.

Sunday, Today, I had expected to spend most of the day volunteering at the Cherry Pie. However, just after a brief trip through flagger school, I ran into a fellow OSU Beaver cyclist who was racing in the morning and willing to fill my flagger duties in the afternoon, freeing me to race the Cat-3 afternoon race. Woohoo. I ended up finishing just off the back of the main field, after working very hard for all but the first quarter of the race to keep one of the teams climbers in the ideal position for the final climb of the day..

Here are a few post race pictures:

Video Gear Review: Time Trial Helmets

Weekend Training..

Saturday - Road the Cherry Pie Course with Some Beavers, Cat-2 Friends, and a bunch from Pacific Power - Blue Skies.  The plan for the day was to link up at the Bean.. Spin down to the course, ride a lap or two and then head back in to Corvallis.  The first half of the ride was fairly social... Half way through the first lap we did a few sprints.. Nothing major.  Then about half way into the whole fun that is the cherry pie course we split into a few groups.  Up front there was group of cat-2's, Cat-3's and me.  The pace was upped again, breathing increased in tempo.  Finishing the loop we turned to head back up and over the saddle to return to C-Town.  Climbing the Saddle, Dan, and Sean (Who's signed to a pro development team) attacked.  Moving into draft position it was all I could do to just hang on.  Then at the base of climb, the world tilted up.. I slid off the back.. 

Sunday - Helped a friend with her bike fit.  Then put an 2 hours in a little later in the evening on the rollers.. Nothing to fancy.  

Only an hour, but it was hard

Some days its not about the length.. It's all about the pain.. Today was one of those days.. Cool for the morning ride into the University.. Then wow did it pour all the way home. Back at the hacienda it was taco dinner and then an hour on the power cranks.. Before it was back to the oh-my-god-its -hard-chemistry.. Today the plan was to turn on the gas, tempo time...

Power Cranks and Rollers..

Work at the university is breathing down my neck like fire from a dragon. Its hard to find time to train right now. But thats the great thing about power-cranks. An hour-plus on the power cranks can easily feel like much more..

Todays Game: A hour plus power cranking on the rollers,
Movie: Tour of Cali on DVD
Recovery: Dinner (Chicken, Squash, Brussel Sprouts (Tasty!), Role, and Salad)

Going All the Way: Race Across Oregon

All right I'm Excited! So far training this winter has been mixed. But I just can't shake the vision from my mind. Flying up bake-oven, cresting Ochoco, and bombing down through the Indian reservation with a pack of wild dogs chasing from behind. The holidays saw some classic roller miles and a interspersed with a few cool days outside. Winter quarter hit. Between classes, research, exams, teaching, and eating.. There is not too much time for anything else.. But thinking back to last year.. I'm ahead of where I was then, and last year come July I was in the best form ever. For 2008 the team is coming back and were going solo.

Since 2005 things have changed. In 2005 we were rookies, to be honest, in Ultra each race is its own beast and confidence can be a curse. However, with a solos at RAO and The 508, two man teams at RAO twice, and Fireweed once, and three Ring of Fires. The team has been around the block a few times and consumed a our fair share of liquid nutrition shakes..

Its official, Friday the entry went in the mail. The crew is fired up. Solo-Team Pacific Power aka "Team Tartan" will be returning to the race where legends are made... Solo - Race Across Oregon...

Today's training, foundation, rebuilt the road bikes bottom bracket: Re-fitted the power cranks and cruised with Levi at the 2007 Tour of Cali for a little over an hour on the rollers.. Recovery: Why Recovery Hammer Whey of course..

Winter Roller Training

2007: Deschutes Time Trial Festival

Stage 1: 26 Miles (2,200 ft of climbing)

Rider Health: Serious Head Cold

The first stage was a rolling course with about 2,200 ft of elevation change. All things considered I felt ok for the first few miles of the TT and road through much of the Cat 4 field. But on reaching the summit of the climb 3.5 miles into the race, my head cold was catching up with me and my legs felt dead. The mucus began to flow. A little over half way into the course I was passed by my 30 second man. I ended up finishing 2nd, 45 seconds down on first.

Stage 2: 8 mile hill climb.

Felt absolutely terrible after the first stage and thought about abandoning all together then and their. But, knew that wasn't really an option, so road back to the hotel and passed out. With an hour to go till the hill climb, got up and downed some Orange Juice. And set out to do my warm-up. The 8-mile hill climb was buffeted by a serious side wind, and between the wind, and my ever flowing mucus, the 8 miles felt eternal. In the end I lost another 45 seconds on first with another 2nd place.

Stage 3: ~50 mile out and back fun fest.

Thankfully while my cold had sapped my high end some how I still had some level of tempo left burning inside. At the turn around I had put close to 5 min into the rider who was riding in first for the 4's, and on crossing the line (2:01:47) I had the the cat 4 GC.

More Race Results

Back From the FC:508!

returned back to the Northwest on Monday from the FC:508. I'm going to be posting a huge post race write-up pictures and all. But until then, here's the inside scoop..

Road super strong averaging over 18 mph, till a little post baker, 400 miles. Just as the sun started to creep up over the horizon, riding in 4th place my stomach turned big time. I then found myself on the side of the road with nearly everything I'd eaten the last few hours pouring out of my mouth. I slept for ~25 min, vomited again. At this point the crew asked if I wanted to go on, on the surface I didn't, I said out loud, "I don't think I can make it." Then, I had my vision. No, it wasn't spiritual, we all have heroes/mentors, and one of mine is the RAO Race Promoter George Thomas. In my mind, George appeared like a vision from star wars standing in the middle of the desert. In my vision, George told me "I was on day four of RAAM, everyone puked, and that if I quite I would forever be branded a PUSSY, the one thing ultra cyclists don't do is DNF. DNFing is a curse, do it once and you will do it again and again." With that I knew there was once choice, I consulted the crew, but the decision had already been made. I needed to be in 29 palms on my bike!

Pedaling On!
At this point my goals changed, I was no longer mentally racing, I was just going to get my body to the finish line doing what ever I had too. Over the last 108 miles I barely ate anything consuming just a few shots of raspberry hammer gel as stomach couldn't handle anything else. Riding on a total bonk, I slipped to 7th place, finishing with a time of approximately 32hrs 30 min. My goal had been a top 3 and a sub 30 hr time, but crossing the line none of that mattered.. I was a official FC:508 finisher, FC rookie no more.

Yes, with out the stomach issues the race would have ended very differently. But in the end, it all comes back to why I ride ultra's in the first place. I choose to ride ultra's not because they are easy but because they are hard. Finishing under severer difficulty only makes crossing the line in the end all the sweeter.

It's Tartan Time!

- Science Section - Dino Soft Tissue Found!

With races at the 508 using totems instead of numbers team tartan thought long and hard, conducted aerodynamic, psychological, and physiological testing, consulted with the experts and only then was the totem decided upon. If team tartan does one thing we race to perfection and in the case of the 508 racing to perfection means having the perfect totem!

With that the "Titanium Triceratops " was chosen the totem du jour for the 2006 508. But why was Titanium Triceratops chosen? Could it be its initials TT? Could it be for Time Trial? Possibly Team Tartan? Could it be due to Kenneth's childhood love for the dino's? Possibly that Kenneth rides a bicycle made of that oh so light material called titanium? Or possibly was it for those three points that will pierce the competition as team tartan rides past, rider up front, party wagon in back, blaring that disco beat that just goes thump, thump, at a cadence of 95. On the other hand, was it for some completely different reason?

In the spirit of the triceratops there is no way I could let the very recent discovery of "Soft connective tissue" from a T. Rex escape the science section. Yes that’s right 70 million year old un-fossilized T Rex connective tissue. For more info, I'd encourage you to head over to National Geographic.

Could it be chance that an earth shattering dino find happened on the eve of this years 508? The Titanium triceratops doesn't believe in fate but at this point things do look mighty sweet..

It's Tartan Time!

The Count Down Has Commenced..

With the508 only a few days away, its time to talk race strategy. In the most recent email from Chris Kostman, (Chief Adventure Officer, Totemizer, and Race Director), it was announced that one of this years racers had created a google earth map of the race; I'd encourage all of you to take a look as its quite nifty. Anyway I digress, last night after getting my internet running, my crew chief and I went over the race, planning every thing, pee spots included. Obviously, most of our analysis is tartan specific but with the limited space that the blog will allow I thought I'd share a few of our findings with you all.

- Tighter Support = Victory Points

Yes, the 508 is a well, a tad long, but with 88 solo racers those who lead will succeed. With 88 solo entries support crew shoulder space will be limited. And with this it will be critical to maintain an early position in the fore front of the race? What you say? Well the answer is actually quite simple, 88 entries = 88 support crews, with the average mini van being 15.5 feet in length, then if every support crew were to park end to end the 508 support line would stretch a little over 1/4 a mile! Thus, races who lead will have tighter support then races who follow and closer support = victory points.

- Power the Climbs

We (Team Tartan) debated if we should share this "Tartan Secret", but then we decided, it was so obvious to pass over it would be ridiculous. When faced with a climb the correct tactic is to power up and over it. Why you ask? Well the logic is actually quite simple. If you assumed that the competition will ride the steep stuff at say 10 mph then if you ride up hill at 11 or 12 mph you would be riding 1 to 2 miles father per hour then the competition. While 1 to 2 miles per hour might now sound like a lot its worth calculating how much faster one must ride the flats or descending to gain the same relative distance. To put a equal time on a rider doing 20 on the flats one needs to do 24 mph, and for a rider descending at 40 mph one needs to do a whopping 48 mph. With air resistance going up by the cube of the speed it only becomes obvious he who climbs the fastest will win. But how hard should the rider go? Well, that is a personal variable for every racer but with descents of equal distance on average following most climbs, one can defiantly breath hard as following every climb is a decent and every decent offers time for recovery.

It’s Tartan Time!

Supplementing - Antioxidant Vitamins

This quarter I'm taking a course in "Evidence Based" sports medicine of lower extremities and while flipping through the course text, I found a chapter with almost instant appeal chapter 27 "Performance-Enhancing Supplements". Seeing that title, I immediately flipped back and digested it.

I won't go into everything I found, but I will share one very cool piece of knowledge. A new tartan secret, magic of Vitamin C.

The last paragraph on Vitamin C was quite interesting, particularly in the light of my upcoming 508 adventure..

"Also, vitamin C may provide immunologic benefits to endurance athletes. Daily supplementation with vitamin C 1 to 3 weeks before participating in a marathon or ultra marathon has been shown to decrease the incidence of post race upper respiratory tract infection by as much as 33%"

Orthopaedic Knowledge Update - Sports Medicine 3 page 339
ISBN 0-89203-332-0

Product Review: FSA - SLK Compact Mega EXO

I was hardly an early adopter of the FSA carbon cranks. Prior to purchasing my cranks I asked numerous people how they liked their cranks? Were they as stiff as the hype claimed? Eventually I too joined the party, purchasing the FSA - SLK Compact Mega EXO. The thought was the compact cranks (34/50) larger range would be better suited to ultra distance racing then traditional cranks(53/39). Many reviews one reads online often are written by people with limited exposure to products. I too must admit I've a limited exposure to the FSA cranks, I've been off and on them since 2005, I trained for RAO on these cranks, road a PAC tour, RAO camps, raced RAO solo, trained for the two man RAO, and now have trained for FC on them, ala I've logged thousands of miles on them.

First the good: The external bearing design of the cranks bottom bracket significantly reduces the total weight of the crank set and bottom bracket over traditional BB + crank set designs. But this feature is not unique to the FSA cranks; most all crank set manufactures (Shimao, Campy, etc.), have joined the external bearing bandwagon and are offering a weight saving crank sets featuring this design. As to the increased stiffness of this BB design, I'm sure the BB is stiffer, but to be honest I don't notice any real difference between it and my traditional cranks. So for practical value the FSA Crank Set stiffness is HYPE. The final good point for the FSA Cranks is they cost less then some, and are made out of swanky lighter weight carbon fiber, like the campy ones, unlike the alloy shimano ones.

The Slightly Bad: The FSA bottom bracket/crank set combination is prone to creaking. Yes, tightening the BB can help, but in general the crank set/bb design likes to talk while you pedal. Other friends who have been on FSA cranks have also experienced this wonder...

The Very Bad: The carbon/alloy bolt bindings can break. I haven't experienced this but I've witnessed this first hand at a race. Last year while riding for OSU, a women racer on our team had her FSA cranks catastrophically fail when the alloy threading connections carbon/alloy bonding failed and broke off. I also heard through the grape vine that a similar failure occurred at one of the 2006 RAO race camps.

Continuing in the very bad category is the general fixing bolt design for how the cranks are connected. Like all crank sets of this general design the crank axle is bonded to the drive side crank set spider thus removing the need for crank set fixing bolts from the drive side placing them only on the non-drive side. Now the problem with the FSA cranks that I've experienced multiple times, is that the crank fixing bolt un-threads while riding loosing up the crank set while riding. This year this has happened at least twice in the last few months out on the road, once climbing timberline at "RAO Llama camp", and once a few weeks ago I was 20 miles from home and my crank arm just sorta fell off. Is it just me who is experiencing this? Are my cranks cursed? No I don't think so, over Labor Day weekend I was up in Seattle training, and while riding with the Ti-Cycle racing team and one of the cat 3 riders had the same exact failure. Talking with Jay, he said he had attempted to have his cranks "Fixed" by sending them back to FSA and that he was now on his second set, which they had promised fixed/addressed the problem. But obviously they were incorrect as it was still was occurring.

It's worth noting an example of a superior fastening design. The shimano external BB crank set fastens the non-drive side crank arm through pinch bolts instead of a traditional crank bolt. The pinch bolts run perpendicular to the axis of rotation for the crank arm thus making it impossible to unscrew the bolts while riding.

My Review: FSA - SLK Compact Mega EXO = F-Suck-A,

Crankset itself (Two Thumbs Down) Compact Gearing ( Two Thumbs Up).

Ring of Fire - 2006 - The Inside Scoop

As part of my prep for the 508, I raced in the second annual "Ring of Fire", 12/24 hr time trial. I choose the 12 hr entry, as the 12 hr race would be long enough to warm up and a few intervals while still keeping the distance and the time in consistent with my weekly training loads and goals. On to the Fire..

The ring of fire like all real TT's started with the count down, 5, 4, 3, muscles strain, 2, 1, go! George released, and the heart rate shot up. The stated goal was to log some race training for the 508, try out some "Tartan Secrets", and have an excuse to drink 8+ cans of ensure, but a race is also just that race and one always wants to do well too..

Like all RAO events, the 2006 Ring of Fire, drew some of the biggest names in ultra. With ultra vetrans, Chris Hopkinson (RAAM Rookie of the Year), Ben Larson (Fireweed & RAO Team Records), John Spurgeon (Mr Fixxed), John Henry Maurice (Fellow 2006 FC competitor), Hugh Gapay (2006 RAO Rookie of the Year), and Urs Koenig (RAAM, Cascade 1200KM record holder), making up just some of the highly impressive field. In the ROF format, the 24 hr riders went first, followed by those of us taking the 12 hr. My start time, 7:11 AM put me dead last and meant that I had until 7:11 PM to log my miles.

Back to the Race.. With George's release I was off, Chris Hopkinson my 1 minute man, decked in a HOT PINK skin suit was already fadeing into the distance. UGH.. I knew Chris was going to be fast, but shezz, with no warm up he was already motoring away. At that point I reminded myself that this was a training race, and NOT a "A", event so it was more important to practice my 508 pace, nutrition, and avoid injury, then to spank Chris on the 12 hr.

By the top of the climb leading out of Maupin, both Chris and I had passed our 1 and 2 minute man, and I'd actually narrowed the gap between Chris and myself ever so slightly. But then the road turned down, and Chris disappeared. I wouldn't see Chris again till the end of the "Big Show".

Once over Maupin the 12 hr course took us over down through Tye Valley and then out on some new roads to Wemmic and from Wemmic it was up the hill that's called Mt. Hood, and back to Maupin over some of the "Classic" RAO course.

Climbing up hood, I briefly got to talk to the 'Legend' John Henry Maurice, John's going to also be racing at the 508, and from what I saw, John's going to be a rider to watch for at this years 508.

Bouncing over the hills leading back into Maupin, I moved into 2nd place, in the 12 hr Race. Then it was around the back side of the Maupin night loop before heading in to the ROF pit for the first check in. Time: On the day loop 110 miles ~6 hours

After grabbing a cliff bar, ensure, and some water it was off to begin looping. I estimated that in 6 hours I could do around 4-5 laps. A wind had begun to pour down over the Maupin climb, and climbing out I realized that it would be more likely somewhere around 3-4 laps.. UGH. Once over the rise, it was down the other side where the wind and then around the 40+K TT course. Motoring around the course a head wind seemed to pour in from all angles and it wasn't until the final 7 or so miles of the 27 mile loop that a tail wind developed.

In the end I made three full laps, and on my fourth and final lap made it 21 miles before my time expired.

Final: Results 2nd 211.8 miles average speed 17.65 mph (~4 miles shy of first)

Ring of Fire 12/24 HR

At the end of RAO, Team Tartan was asked, what was next? Well, silly questions have obvious answers, with the obvious answer being Ring of Fire 12/24. But unlike last years Fireweed and this years RAO, Team Tartan, won't be entering as a two man. Instead Team Tartans has a much bigger goal, simply to sweep the medals in both solo categories.

Team Tartan Extrodinar, Ben Larson, will be tackling the solo-24 hr. Our pre-race voodoo suggest, that while ROF isn't a RAAM qualifier, Ben might ride more then enough miles to qualify. Think you can out pedal Ben? My guess is not in this life time, but unless your at the 24hr you will never know for sure.

Team Tartan "16% Fatty" Philbrick has his own goals in laying some sweet prep down on the 12 hr "Sprint Distance" for the upcoming 508. Philbrick's plans are to use ROF as a training race. So, if one of us were to fall in our quest for dual gold it would most likely be me cause unlike Ben, these legs will not have seen even the faintest taper going into ROF. ..

Think you got the stuff to send us packing at ROF? We'd honestly like to see you try. Cause, Rain or Shine, Ring of Fire is Tartan Time!

RAO News From Ben..

Here's a quick note I wanted to share with all of you. I just finished tallying up a spreadsheet of exchange points, times, and temperatures for this year's race. I figure this will be great for future reference. I also was curious to see how we varied our pull lengths with respect to temperature and terrain and how it affected our riding. Kenneth and I will need to get together on that one more later. For now, though, here is the amazing piece of info: in totaling up our pull times I found we spent the same amount of time on the bike! 14.5 hrs each! There was one point where I don't have the exact times (Bakeoven) so I guessed best I could there. I also don't have ride times going up Timberline where we blew everything apart. I'm glad no one was recording there but the times have to be about even there as well. The time difference overall was perhaps a 5 minute spread. This is incredible given we had pulls as short as 7 minutes on Fossil (shorter on Timberline) and as long as 72-90 minutes around Monument. If someone can tell me how we did this, let me know. I'm pretty much floored. You guys all rock! I'm working on a race report and putting together this statistics spreadsheet. I'll send it along as soon as it's finished. Don't hold your breath though - there's a lot to write. Anyway, I was super excited about this tidbit and wanted to share it right away.

- Ben Larson

Oregon State Time Trial Championships, - RESULTS!

The Oregon State Time Trial Championships went down today and more importantly both Kenneth and his MOM were there in their respective catagories for a Total Tartan Smack Down! Yes, thats right, Kenneth Got his TT groove on and drove the Lethal Wepon, Co-Motion, in for another nice finish, powering in with a sub hour 41km time, and grabbing a first place finish. There was a slight 30 second timming difference between what team philbrick time the TT at and what the offical recordered but regardless of which pipe you smoke Kenneth pounded down a sub hour 41KM TT.

Not to be missed from the medals, Cathey Philbrick, in her first 20 KM trial, no make that first bike race ever! Kicked the gears big time and drove in a steller finish taking a very strong third place, bring home a BRONZE, which I might add looks very much like gold..

Resuts:
Kenneth Philbrick 1st Place Cat IV Men 40KM
offical 59 min 6 sec, our unoffical timing 58 min 36 sec

Cathey Philbrick, 3rd Place Masters Women (55-59) 20 KM
offical: 39 min 4 sec

It's Tartan Time!

Training Update

Kellie said do an easy hour, but with the car parked 40 miles away, there wasn't much choice but do two. So I just cruised in with a tail wind. Picked up a flat tire on the way in. Nothing too macho with the State TT this weekend. Planning on doing some stretching this evening and possibly snagging a massage tomorrow.

Coaching

Until now, I've never really worked with a coach. Going into RAO 2005 I tried to set something up only to find my to be coach was no longer accepting clients. So I did what I always had done self coached, I set goals, planned milestone events, and then sort of filled in the gaps. In the end it all worked out, but I know it could have been better, and there were a few moments when I wondered what exactly I should be doing.

With the 508 now firmly on the horizon and with my secret personal goals for the race, I felt I needed to change my approach to raise my performance to the next level, by bringing in some outside consultation, motivation, and expertise. Without further ado, Team Tartan, er the Titanium Triceratops, is pleased to announce that Lance may have Carmichael but I've got Kellie Moylan from RPMCoaching, ready or not here I come!

It’s Tartan Time!

Tartan Secrets

Before the 2006 RAO, Fantabulous RAO Race Promoter Terri Gooch asked me to share a Team Tartan Training Secret. Going into RAO I was mum, as going into any A+ race its best to be humble. But with the 2006 RAO now in the record books I think I can share one, yes one of the tartan training secrets.

Commuting to Work

Many ride to work, but most don't do it glued in the aero position. Going into the 2006 RAO, Team Tartan was sweating it big time, as always the there were big guns lining up for the 2006 RAO in all categories, ours included. To do well we knew we would need to bring back some of the 2005 race mojo and race to perfection. In Tartan lingo, racing perfectly means doing everything in ones arsenal to propel the team forwards: Training, recovering perfectly, using the most optimal equipment, and recruiting the best dam crew period. We knew to have the race we wanted I would need to be able to ride to the ends of the earth and back while tucked tight in the aero position. With that goal in mind, in the weeks leading up to RAO, I began commutating the 80 miles (Keizer->Corvallis and back) glued in aero bars on my lethal weapon, a Co-Motion TT bike. Did it pay off? Well, at RAO I road the Co-Motion TT bike over 2/3 the time, including the entire climb up monument.

Now before I forget, back to my commute. Until today I could honestly say I had never hit a small fuzzy animal, but today while commuting in to school that all came to an abrupt end. As the tragedy would un-roll, I was pedaling down the bike path about to merge on to highway 20 heading out towards Corvallis; with the wind at my back I was flying. Then the bushes to my right began to move, and then this gray streak of fuzzy fluffiness came darting out. It tried to run the gauntlet between my front and rear wheel under the spinning crank arms of death. But alas, what ever it was didn't make it, my rear wheel went thump, then crunch, as my fat ass distributed over a 120 PSI rear tire bore down. Almost immediately after the crunch there was a shrill cry and then glancing back the once darting grey mass was static.

It's Tartan Time!

Training Update

Tuesday

- Did a chill ride back from Corvallis to Salem, motored into a slight headwind. ~2 Hours, Hooked up with the Scott’s cycle evening ride, and kicked it for another 2 hours at TT pace.. So all and all 4+ hours and a little lactic acid..

Today (Wednesday)

Keizer->Corvallis-> Keizer Nothing to hard just light tempo.. ~80 miles ~4 hrs..

Chilling..

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