Riding, Injuries, and Riding Again!

I suppose that one would think that I would write in here more if I was injured.

My time off, however, led to my immersing myself in college life instead. Taking two weeks off the bike was difficult, but necessary.

I had/have post tibial tendinitis which made it unbearable for me to walk for a few days. I took off four days and then rode again, which wasn't enough of a rest for it. So of course, it flared back up and there was no more walking for me for a few days.

I took off two weeks, and then got back to riding nice and easy. All systems go, for now. The ankle still feels a little funny, but it isn't hurting. I'll take that for now.

I rode hard, real hard, on monday at the pedal power group ride. It was one of my favorite rides in the area, the Portland Hills ride. I really enjoy how challenging it is and it whooped my ass. I fought back this time though, and stayed with the lead group out on the ride. My legs had felt crummy all day, but they worked somehow.

Tuesday was another story. I went out with Rory and all I could do was stay on his wheel. Towards the end of the ride I could barely force myself to latch on after red lights. It sucked.

It's wednesday now and I'm still exhausted. Hopefully I can get out for a medium length easy ride tomorrow. I'm hoping to get out and ride a little on friday (maybe skip class for this) and then on saturday and possibly sunday.

I have a huge exam on monday and a big presentation on tuesday so I'm trying my best to ride a little but stay on top of the work that piles up at the end of the year.

That's all for now.

In other news: I think I'm joining a team for the summer. Sweet!

Racing and Training Status

Last weekend, I raced the plainville 4/5 and 3/4 crit since it was supposed to rain on sunday and I didn't want to race in the rain even though I love the bethel course.

I started to see glimpses of form in the 4/5 race. I got into breaks for the first time, even though they didn't succeed. I had the strength and confidence to attack, bridge, etc. That's worth a lot. I finished the race in 10th but had an absolute blast.

The 3/4 crit was a disaster. I was so cooked from all the efforts in the 4/5 race that I just managed to stick around in the 3/4 race. Highlight of the race was when someone pushed me into a curb and and I managed to stay up after my tired bounced off. I was pretty proud of myself.

I've been building all this week. It's been the hardest week I've ever had on a bike and my body seems to be reacting well to it. I was really tired on friday and I couldn't sleep well, so I decided to skip the plainville race on saturday even though I paid for it. It was all worth it though.

Here's a writeup from the 3/4 bethel race on the 5th of april:

Skipped plainville yesterday to race bethel's 3/4 crit with fresh legs today. It was a good idea. Even after a night of 'college style carb loading', my legs felt great.

Got out there today, and rode real aggressive. Got yelled at a few times to hold my line, a few times it was my fault other times I was just responding to people who were being swervy. Whatever, it's bike racing if you freak out every single time someone moves a little you should pick another sport.

The first 10 or so laps were wicked fast with us averaging around 27 or so mph. I rode near the front and tried to get in a break or two even though I knew I wasn't strong enough to be in a break. Sometimes you just gotta push yourself.

I saw 4 guys jump up and gun it off the front, 3 guys tried to organize a chase group and I latched on up over the hill and gunned it as one of the 3 chasers started to give up. I managed to catch up to the break and we tried to organize ourselves and stay off, but it was short lived. I thought it was going to be a winning break since the team representation was good, and people looked strong, but it was the final race in the series so teams were trying to work for their leader. The break was quickly reeled in.

Recovered quickly after that. My biggest mistake was positioning right after the hill, I didn't recover well because I couldn't hide since I always hit the hill at the spot where I'd be in the wind for the downhill section. Made for a good workout though.

I stuck around at the front of the pack even when I was redlining, to good effect.

On the last lap I worked hard on the inside semi-shielded from the wind and got towards the front. All of a sudden, I see CDR right to my side. I let him pass and then latched on, and it's like moses parting the red sea. I move up about 10-20 spots within the field on cdr's wheel.

I find a gap and jump, cdr went up the right (i think). I went to the left. So much for following his wheel. I slam it, and cross the line in 11th out of I forget how many starters.

Last 24 secs, I averaged 707 watts with the jump at 1004. I was a little cooked when I sprinted, but I learned a lot this race and am getting much better about my positioning.

I also had the song 'Jumper' by 'Third Eye blind' stuck in my head for the entire race and I'd start humming or singing it while I was recovering/coasting. I think people thought I was insane. Haha.

Race stats:
Placing: 11 of ??
AP: 215
NP: 265
Speed: 25.6 mph.

Now back to studying for a physucks exam. Egad...

Bethel Race Finish

I'm on the left about 14 seconds into the video. Notice how I stopped sprinting with a second to go. Rookie mistake...

What an awesome spring break!

This has been the best spring break ever, and is also in the running for the best break ever.

I raced at princeton the first weekend, and then went to virginia beach. Hung out with my cousins there for a week and had a blast. We had two awesome bonfires. See, that's how good it was!

I went home for a few days, and spent friday night visiting friends at philly. It was incredible to see them. We had a great night on the town. Then, I headed back to wes on saturday to race the 3/4 race at bethel.

I have to say, I've been getting really forgetful lately.
-I forgot my bike computer (srm head unit) in philly when I went to virginia, and my dad had to mail it to me.
- I forgot my bike trainer in VA beach and after 200 miles on the road, I had to turn around to go get it.
- I forgot my pajamas at a friends place in philly.

Whoops...

A little prequel to the race report: I'm a CAT 4. The categories go 5->4->3->2->1->Pro.

Cliff notes: 3/4 race at bethel. My 3rd race as a 4. Burned a match early in the race and decided to take it a little easy after that. Started cramping towards the end, but still got 14th of 70 (Official said that at the start). I was a little squirrely (wind was pushing me around) and guys in front of me kept swerving to avoid potholes. I felt bad for whoever was behind me though.

Longer version:

Had an interesting drive to the start. I was thinking about how this was my 3rd race as a 4 and I hadn't really trained over break (whoops). Saw a cop car out of the corner of my eye and slowed down a hair, the guy who had just convinced me to slow down a little (because he was flying) got pulled over. Sucka!

Got to the start sans warmup and lined up. Found myself next to CDR, which was a good thing since I wanted to say hi to him.

Off we went. The first few laps, I tried to do a better job of drafting than I did in my last race and succeeded. I found myself moving up on the climb and then realized that I was at the front of the pack, where I didn't want to be since I wanted to hide and move up later. Of course, this was after I bridged up to a small break. It got caught about 5 seconds after that, so pack into hiding I went.

At one point I ended up rubbing the tire in front of me, whoops...
People were still shuffling around a bit, especially in the windy back stretch and trying to shift over to the other side as the wind direction changed. I had to move around to compensate, hence a little squirrely. Bleh, stupid.

There were a couple of breaks up the road, but everyone was confused about it. CDR launched off the front to chase down one of them and I followed suit.

There was a point where I was considering dropping out since my lungs had started to hurt, so I just backed off and took the hill seated a few times and that knocked out the stupid notion from my head. I had to back off again since my calves started to cramp again. I really need to figure that out...

5 laps to go, wait really? I started to drift back a little as people swarmed and went into the wind. I followed them up. Moved up till the top 25 or so, by the start of the last lap and continued to try to move up without spending too much time in the wind.

I heard someone go down to the behind to the right, so I moved into the slightly more open right side of the lead up to the hill and gunned it when I had a bit of an opening.

I had to take the long way home to avoid getting boxed in. I crossed the far side of the finish line in 14th. I'll take it.

All in all it was a good race, once I get this calf cramping issue solved I should be able to up the ante a bit.

Weather was beautiful, I finished safely, so all is well. I think the guy who crashed was fine since he landed in the grass.

Suffolk Race: Cancelled?

Who cancels a bike race because of rain?

A little ridiculous methinks.

Best part is that the weather was pretty damn great in the morning. A little bit of a drizzle in the early afternoon, if even. Pathetic decision by the race promoters.

As a result, my plans have changed a bit. I'm leaving VA Beach tomorrow or monday, and I'll race in NJ on tuesday, then head back to CT on saturday and race at Bethel on sunday. It should be awesome.

A friend told me that I should put a little more about life on this blog, so I think I might start doing that.

I am currently in VA Beach hanging out at my cousins place. Tonight, we are throwing down. It should be wonderful.

The End.

Little bit of a race report from Princeton

I didn't really post much of a race report from Princeton since I was just concentrating on not cramping. This is what I wrote to a friend and I'll repost it here as a bit of a report and add things here and there. Here goes!

The course: Half a mile, with a short hill that was steep enough to hurt after many laps at speed. I was hitting the hill at 700-800 watts every single lap, that's probably why I cramped up. I should have taken it seated. Live and learn.

Race Report (ish):

The first race wasn't terribly exciting. I couldn't get the draft for some reason and was fighting hard to stay with the main group. I got dropped, and possibly lapped, but I still finished 10 of 30.

The race had a bit of a hill on it which started to wear down on me after repeatedly hitting down on it at speed. I started to cramp on my calves ... Read Moredue to my stupidity (lack of sufficient hydration, electrolytes, etc), so my race was basically trying to do whatever I could to not make it cramp. So that was that. Just taking turns at speed and trying to get a draft (and failing) and trying to stick it out. Legs locked up after the sprint.

I tried to take a few mins to make the cramps go away and then lined up for the second race. Didn't really help much, and I pulled out of the race after my leg started to lock up again.

I wanted to race at rutgers on sunday, but that didn't happen since my legs felt like crap.

Riding again

My calf seems to be behaving itself now.

I hit the trainer for an hour on tuesday for some SST intervals. Wednesday I went for a slow 30 mile ride, and threw in some hard efforts during/after the ride to get some work in.

Today, I think I'm going to do some more SST on the trainer for an hour or so.

Tomorrow, a fast group ride in the morning at 7:30 if I feel up to it, or more trainer work. Ride is weather dependent. Or I'll ride the trainer in the rain outside to get my body used to it.

Saturday, I'm going to race, rain or shine. I'm ready for it.

Lets Rock!