It’s pointless

Well, “It” isn’t pointless – I was last night!

Last week, I raced okay, had fun and placed really well in 3 out of 4 races.  Last night, I’d love to tell you I slayed it, but that was not the truth.

Chariot

Normally an event I am good at, I got a good start but didn’t have anything once I got to the back straight.  I really can’t explain it other than I probably would have won in Frisco… I just didn’t have the POW to roll 323ish meters super hard.  In a race that lasts under 30 seconds, there’s no time to regroup and get back into things.  Once I realized I was out of the points…. I just finished.  Maybe 5th?

Win and In

I don’t generally like this event much.  Of the 9 events at the track on a weekly basis, it is my last favorite (maybe because I’ve had ZERO success in this event.  Well, the streak of suckdom continued last night.  I made a couple moves that could have worked out.  I was a little opportunistic early – tried to create opportunity late, but in a 15 lap race with sprints every 3 laps – it’s a fast race no doubt.

8-Mile

I am proud of this one.  In previous 8-mile attempts – I have fallen apart with about 6 laps to go.  I’m happy to say when the bell rang with one lap to go I was in a great position to attack for the win.  I did just that…. unfortunately, 5 other guys were still there and they had more gas than I did.  At least I didn’t go down without a fight!  I got hooked pretty hard in the sprint, took a guided tour of the apron but didn’t stack or lose any spokes in my Naten sponsored wheels.  The more impressive thing is I made it through the incident without a single word of profanity.  It could have been the nearly instantaneous apology from the guy who did it?  I don’t know – it worked out alright.

So… a tie for third in the omnium last week… no points this week.  I’m more impressed and happier about my performance this week.  Bike racing is a funny sport like that.  Welp, time to get back on my bike and get to work… as everybody now calls me Commuter Dude – I must commute and I have not done that this week.  Looking forward to the ride!

Race Report

So I haven’t posted one in a while.  Not because I haven’t raced, but because any number of things have gotten in the way.  I enjoy writing them, but at the same time – it doesn’t always work out.

Last night … the weather was threatening.  I wasn’t even sure if it was going to happen.  I had a new set of wheels that Naten had delivered, prep’d and hooked me up with.  I was eager to try them out.  I was excited to race, but the weather – it weighs heavily on me.  In the long run, the temp rose back up to about 85 and at least that in humidity.  It was MOIST!

A lesson in counting…

8 Lap Scratch

In this event, I typically wind the speed up because I hate slow scratch races.  This one, I decided to be smart and play my hand in the field sprint.  I’m still not 110% sure we didn’t ride a 7 lap scratch – but hey – we finished one lap after the bell!  With – what I thought to be three laps to go, Wayne attacked over the top.  Fighting everything in me to chase him, I let others do the work.  Good idea!  We come out of 4 and I see the lap counter say “2″.  Sweet, I like where I am.  I never looked at the lap counter again, it’s typically static for at least the distance of the home straight.  As we pass the bell – it rings?  Time to sprint?  Okay… I got 4th in the sprint.  I was pleased.

Miss-n-Out

I used to utterly and completely hate this event.  As of recent, I’ve had reasonable success.  Not sure how or why, but I’m enjoying it.  Last night was good.  I started off like I do… rolling tempo.  Letting a few “low hanging bits of fruit” get dropped off the back of the field.  Being completely team-less, aggressive and a little outspoken, i’m also noticed.  People do try to drop/pass me here and there.  I enjoy the challenge.  Wayne came through for 2 laps of solid pull.  I was loving that, I got to take a break.  I then had to go back to the front as the mustache men weren’t about to help me.  I knew we had 4 people… but as Wayne was popped … they rang the bell.  Mind you, I had just taken a 2 lap pull.  I was at my redline and I tried to sprint – no gas.  3rd.  Not bad!

Madison

I rode the maddy with a new partner.  He’s been off the bike for a bit, it was our first time.  We did OK, we were getting things together at the end.  I think if it had been 40 laps, a few more exchanges, we would have pulled things together a bit.  We missed 3rd by 2 points, won in the final sprint – so that was good.  The last 10 laps were intense and left me REALLY smoked.

Tempo

I didn’t hurl.  That’s about all I can say.  My game plan fell apart, I fell apart, it sucked.  I finished in the field.  Sometimes that is all you can hope for!

Thanks to Wayne for help in the M-n-O.  Someday all my cylinders will fire on the same night.  One more week of racing before a little break.  Get in some riding, some good training and I’ll be back to finish off August and September.  Maybe we can get a cool dry evening?  NOT!

How I met “Commuter Dude”

A lot of set up here… Commuter Dude is a guy on the local NBC news station.  He takes calls and emails from people about about traffic and commuting issues and tries to get people to fix them.  His segments are a lot of fun and typically lead to somebody benefiting in some way.  A good thing in this negative, broke as a joke world we live in.

Well – about 2-3 weeks ago, Commuter Dude was told by a local county “Sorry man, we don’t have any more money.  We cant fix things just because you show up on the scene.  He interviewed the guy, it as a nice exchange – but it basically said “Your screwed.”

Well, on my way to work (on my bike) I was thinking about this and I came up with my latest thing – one day a week.  One day a week to change the world (or at least Atlanta traffic!)  Here is my theory – and I know I am idealistic, dreaming and asking a metric ass-ton on this one – but – *IF* everybody in the Atlanta area (or any municipality) committed to taking SOME FORM of alternative transportation to work just ONE DAY a week…. what would happen?  Let me list a few things that come to my mind:

Whatever group of people did this would:

• Spend 20% less money on gas.
• Pollute 20% less than they were before.
• Have 20% more variety in their commuting life
• Perhaps exercise more
• Use 20% less oil commuting

One day – 20%!

So… I decided to do a Jerry McGuire and email Commuter Dude my bike commuting manifesto.  Keeping in mind, I don’t commute every day, but I try to at least once a week!  (Currently sitting at about 1.25/week for the season).  I rambled and ranted and didn’t really expect to ever hear from him…

Just a few short days later I got an email saying “It takes you 45 minutes to drive and it takes you 50 minutes to ride? Wanna race? “  Now … we aren’t really comparing apples to apples here.  45 minutes is my “school time” commute, and that is real.  School is out so traffic is better… but my commute is 48:30-54:00 depending on my horsepower and the number of lights I have to stop at.  I’m sure he can beat me – but that’s not the point, we must support my manifesto!

I agree, we talk about it a bit and plan it out…

There are TONS of clips on the cutting room floor.  There are a lot of things I said that didn’t make it, but what did – was pretty cool.  I’m not a tree hugging, birkenstock wearing, nalgene carrying (well, I do that) hippy from Boulder – but as I get older talk to my tree hugging hippy friend from Boulder, I look at the world I live in falling apart, filling up with trash on the side of the road, more and more code red days – things like this mean more to me.  Cycling …. being on 2 wheels and enjoying the freedom it provides me – priceless!

Here’s the video:  http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=129084653001

“Hey there biking boy”

Those were some unexpected yet welcome words I heard on my way into the office today – more on that later!

As many of you know, this weekend marked event I had pinned my 2010 ‘season’ on.  The Peachtree Road Race.  ‘The Peachtree’ as most call it is the worlds largest 10k race. Over 50,000 people run it every year.  They only sell 55,000 numbers – which are often times a challenge to get.  Two years ago, I did it for the first time in 1:99.xx , last year, 1:05.xx and walked away saying “I can do this in under one hour!  I want to do that!  I will next year. ”

I started training in January, giving up a lot of time on the bike for running.  I spent a lot of time on treadmills, trails and roads – doing something that I hate – but oddly enjoy at times.  I can’t figure that out.  Who knows – i’m not always that normal.

July 4th, 2010 – the stage is set, I’m in good shape.  I feel good, the temperature is not too hot and we are good to go.  We get there, use one of the 100+ porta johns and all is well.  It’s time to start lining up and I “might have to go” again.  UGH!  The lines are HUGE, i’m nervous and don’t want to lose my friends as I’m hoping Roger can help me pace myself.  I figure “I can make it!”

WRONG!  1/2 mile into a 10k, I have to pee so bad I cant see straight.  I’ve got this one hour goal looming over my head.  I don’t want to risk it at the porta-pottys – that might not work out!  Might take too long – so I “lumberjacking” as Derek would call it and find some bushes.  Mind you – there are about 250,000 people lining 6.2 miles of road way – so finding a bush with some privacy is not easy – but I think I did ok.

Mile one – 9:37 w/pee stop – okay

Mile two – 18:37 – still doing pretty good – all is well

Mile three – the hill has started – 28:00, the fade has begun.

Mile four – the hill has beaten me down.  My memory of the course is not what it should be.  There are new hills that weren’t there last year.  I’m DYING!  My HR is higher than it ever has been on a run.  38 something – memory loss is kicking in, math at 170 bpm is NOT going well.  I’m fearing I am going to miss my goal.

Mile 5 – I know I have 12 minutes, exactly to run 1.2 miles.  I know I *CAN* do it – but I know I’m getting slower and the hills keep getting longer.  I push.  I push.  I push.

We make the left turn onto the final road and I am at 178 bpm.  (I normally run at 155-165.  I’m trying to run faster, but I’m falling apart.  I have to walk, but only for 5 step.  I start running again and get to the photo booth.  SWEET – we must almost be done – no – it seems like an eternity.  I’m calculating in my head and freaking out.  I don’t remember the clock time, I cant remember how to stop my stop watch – I run through the thing and look down and …. maybe I did it.  I don’t know.  I’m all worked into lather,  I cant see straight – I can’t think,  I’m txting Sarah and she is worried.  I ahve to pee but she wants me to go see a medic – but that’s a long way away… if I fall over, they will come running.  Better stay in line!  Wow…. it took me over 15 minutes to feel better …   I am still wondering if I achieved my goal.  I didn’t stop my watch – I don’t have a time… That’s ok… they have electronic toe-tags!  They will tell me!  Maybe I did it – I can live with that (for now!)

I get home – no results… no results… I’m impatient, but trying to be patient.  The results are posted … but NOT MINE!  I’m so upset.  I try to rationalize – I try to chill – but I cant.  All that – and they didn’t get my time!  Are you kidding me?  I contact the organizers… then I realize – there might be a bigger issue than missing MY time.  No numbers between 10,000 and 10,999 have times!  Is it possible that I am the only one in that range that ran and … They didn’t get my time?  This gives me a ray of hope!  Maybe… Maybe!  I’ve convinced myself – even if I was at 1:00.10… I stopped to pee, that time will get me under the line… and if I never see an official time, I will say “I did it.” but I know that come January – I will be trying to break an hour again.

At 11:30 last night – I decide to check the results one more time….

I DID IT!

I shared some of this mental insanity on Facebook along the way.  It was hard to deal with, but I tried.  THIS is the blog post I’ve been waiting one year to post!  This is the monkey leaving my back.  Thanks to everybody who supported me along the way.  Mostly Sarah.  She has had to listen to me obsess about this stupid run over and over.  My plan, my training, my this, my that, my shoes, my socks, my monkey butt…. even my nipples!  (This isn’t the first blog to mention them…. running is not friendly to your womenly man bits!) Thank you, Sarah!

I know, my time is not world class.  I know, it’s not even fast.  But – you know – I achieved what I wanted to and that feels good!

Today, even though I wasn’t prepared to ride to work (I hadn’t pre-stocked the office w/clothes – so I have to carry everything) I just wanted to ride my bike.  I threw my sore legs over the bike and rode on in.  It wasn’t fast.  I didn’t feel good.  I hurt on the hills – and I smiled all the way.  The air was cool on my freshly buzzed head.  I was back to “my world”.  I know I’ve ridden many times this year – but I always sort of felt like “maybe you should be running”.  Today – I felt like I should be riding.  I walked through the door and security guard said “Hey biking boy!”    A perfect ending/start!

At this point, it’s time to sort out what event I want to focus on.  I’d like to do a century this year, maybe even the 6 gap.  Not sure.  I think my best bet is to ride my bike, run if I feel like it and focus on fitness and weight loss again.  I’d like to end 2010 much lighter than I am now!