2010 Redux & 2011 Goals

So I just finished reviewing my year and I ended up with about 300hrs. for the year. That's 6-7 hours a week if you add in a few strength workouts here and there. Don't ask me how this converts to miles because a lot of these hours were inside. Here's how my training year broke down:

Total hours: 330
Biggest month (August): 41hrs, 650mi
Longest ride (Shenandoah Mt. 100): 9hrs
Longest road ride: 105miles, 5.5hrs, 10k ft elevation gain
Fastest ride: Ring of Fire 3/31 - 29.1mph
Highest TSS: 86

The year had several highlights on and off the bike. First, of course, was the birth of my son Ethan! I also was able to fit a few bursts of fitness into the year which contributed to wins in the State TT (30-34), a win down at the River TT as well as an Elk Mtn TT, on the track at the last Ring of Fire, as well as a win on the mountain bike at Fontana. I entered the year without any major goals, like Nationals, since I wanted to fully enjoy the time with my son and not have to worry that my time off the bike was hurting a big goal. However I did want to win the State TT and having some success in local events, as well as across the event spectrum (road, track, TT, MTB) made things fun.

I'm refining my plans for 2011, but with the formation of Industry Nine Grassroots team there will be a new level of motivation and some great teammates to share success with. Tentative goals for 2011 will be:

• Repeat NC 30-34 TT championship
• Win a road race & cyclocross race
• Set PRs up Elk Mountain and at River TT
  

Happy New Year!

Race Report: NCCX Statesville

After opting not to race on Saturday due to a heavy workload (OK, actually because it was 35 degrees and sleeting), I headed to Statesville on Sunday to get my first real ride in after 7 days of working my tail off! The morning greeted me with my annoying phone alarm, a hot pot of coffee, grey skies, and snow flurries. Fortunately my heated leather seats, tights, wool socks, Mad Alchemy embrocation and a little Beastie Boys helped to warm the body, mind, and soul!

After greeting some friends I kitted up, warmed up on the trainer, then hit the course. It was grassy, soft, windy, and pretty smooth, but "torquey". I put on my extra tights, thermal jacket, and fleece-lined gloves to warm up in the sunny 35 degree weather. After about 45 minutes I was ready to go and actually starting to sweat - perfect! We lined up and abruptly started, which saw me in the second row and about 10 back in the field. As we looped through the first turns, one of the local Raleigh riders went down hard and a few riders plowed into him as I veered off course to narrowly miss poor Lucas' head! Little did I know this would foreshadow my own fate on the day. I bided my time and smoothly worked my way up to 5th position by halfway through the 10-lap, 60 minute race.

I was feeling good, but on the limit when I caught a stake through a turn, broke it off on my knee, and promptly proceeded to endo onto my head! I lay on the ground stunned and admiring the Carolina-blue sky for what seemed to by about 5 minutes (really 30s), before I finally got up. I straightened my handlebars, spun my wheels and slowly got back on the bike. Amazingly after a full minute, no one had passed me. After walking over the barriers due to the pain in my left knee I was caught by a Cannondale Factory rider (Alex) and decided to try to proceed, cautiously, on his wheel. After a lap I settled back into a rythym, and maintained my 7th place until the finish.

While I probably could've been top 5 without the crash, this is a reality of 'cross racing, especially when you're pushing your own physical limits. Fortunately, I didn't break anything and even got a few bucks for my placing - just enough to cover my entry and a coffee for the trip home.

I'll probably do one more cyclocross race in 2010, and then call it a season. And what a great one it's been! A few wins for me, a lot more for the team (including overall in our local biweekly series, another National Championship jersey, and not only on the road, but mountain bike, cyclocross, and track as well!

Thanks for reading, and a special thanks to our sponsors this year : Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

RACE REPORT: NCGP Elite Race

My favorite race of the year! Aside from being in my backyard, the course in Jackson Park seems to suite me and my roadie background. After my win in the 2/3 race here last year I received my Cat. 1 upgrade and looked forward to the UCI race in 2010.

After a 2nd-to-last row start, and a madhouse dash for the first left-hander it was 2 laps of fighting for position, avoiding crashing riders, and bumping and grinding before being able to settle in for the full 60 minute race around the fast track! We averaged over 25 mph for the first 2 laps, and I was settled into the 3rd group. As riders started to fall back I tried to work my way up to the 2nd group on the road, but was stuck in "no man's land" as the 2nd group joined the leading group to form a 15-strong front group that whipped around the course in the 60 degree sunshine. My mantra was "smooth and strong" as I tried to stay steady and work my way up. Our group of 5 took turns pulling, attacking, and some of us - crashing. I managed to stay upright all afternoon and even put in a last lap attack, but was pipped on the line for 18th as a Lees-Mcrae rider had slipped away a lap before - both riders had sat on our group as the other 3 made efforts late in the race.

My teammate Eric pulled out a solid 15th place for a UCI PR, and only 5 spots out of UCI points and a world ranking.

Check out a video of the first lap here: http://vimeo.com/17089216

You can see Eric pass Josh, but you'd have to wait another lap to see me!

Sunday: unfortunately I was called in to the hospital for 2 cases, so I missed my race . . . that's the life!

Race Report: Mars Hill CX

After a solid 5th place Saturday, my teammate Eric and I headed up I-26 for a short drive to Mars Hill College, where the cycling team was holding their inaugural cyclocross race. Eric told me that it was a short course, however what we found was one of the toughest courses of the year . . .

A small, but amped field lined up for a late (3:15PM) race that followed both collegiate and USAC races on the day. As "the gun" went off, Eric got the hole shot, followed by Paul Webb (who will be racing with us on the road next year) and then myself. Eric kept the pressure on, gapping Paul, and I followed one of his bobbles on the descent to begin my race-long pursuit of Eric. Eric tapped out steady laps, and consistently put about 5s a lap on me as he throttled it up the long climb which started after the start-finish. The course followed a grassy, off-camber climb that wound along a hill, before popping up a short run up and zig-zagging through a parking lot. The short respite was followed by a quick left-hand turn that wound (straight up!) through the woods before beginning a fun and circuitous descent back down toward the start-finish area. The course finished off with some more off-camber action before a series of 4 S-turns spat you out to a short 10 meter sprint to the finish.

Overall it was a successful day for the team, a fun course, and it was great to support a local collegiate team on an imaginative course! Thanks Mars Hill! Pictures courtesy of Christopher Graphics.

Day job + Scary Cross & Boone Cross Reports

So it looks like it's been almost a month since my last post! During the past month, my business partner went on maternity leave (which means I'm on call 24/7), my son started waking up at 3AM EVERY night (fortunately he's back to his normal schedule), recruited some new sponsors for the team next year, finished a tough block of V02 intervals, raced a few times, and completed a power test. It's been a tough month physically and mentally, but I'm starting to get back in a groove. It's a rough thing, doing the working 50-70 hours a week, not sleeping much, trying to be a good husband and father, help build a local team, and still train on top of it all!

I completed a power test yesterday up Elk Mountain, and despite a fairly mediocre amount of motivation, I pulled out my highest overall power output of the year, and a time just under 23 minutes - not bad considering I was on a heavy bike, carrying my seat pack, extra clothes and a bottle, and had a headwind! So even though the head's a little weak right now, the legs are strong.

On the results front I raced 2 weeks ago at Johnson City and up in Boone. I had a decent start at Johnson City, and even moved into 3 place for a time, before blowing pretty spectacularly and falling out of the top 10. I managed to get my "stuff" together and start to reel riders back in one by one until I pulled back to 7th. Unfortunately a poor last lap, getting bumped over the barriers, and leading out an uphill, headwind sprint put me into 8th on the day.

In between races the family headed to a Halloween Party (not ideal recovery), but we had a blast, and Ethan was a hit!
After waking up at 3AM, I almost bagged a trip to Boone to race for the day, but at the last minute decided to head up to one of my favorite stops on the cross circuit. I got a good warmup, but after the heat and effort the day before, I was feeling pretty "crispy" and decided to start a little less aggressively on such a tough course - due to the altitude and climbing. I actually had an OK start, but a massive crash derailed my efforts as I went over the bars and ended up in the grass of the course. Out of 50+ starters, I was about 46 on the first lap . . . so I just set my mind to pulling back riders each lap, and I actually felt stronger and stronger as the race went on. I pulled back somewhere around 25 guys, plus with those that dropped out, I ended up 16th on the day. OK, but disappointing when a top 10 was well within reach. Unfortunately my teammate Eric was BEHIND even me, but pulled into the top 10 at the end of the race.

Overall, a fun weekend of racing, even though it was the toughest weekend of the year physically, but even more mentally. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the last few races of the year! NCGP is next weekend!

The Fun Park CX Race Results

http://thefunpark.blogspot.com/

A Race Mens (top 20)
1 - Will Black (defending the backyard)
2 - Mike Stewart
3 - Josh Whitmore
4 - Eric Wondergem (I like to try and take out families on the trail...:))
5 - Chris Larsen
7 - Jacob Magahe (just happen to show up on a mountain...yea right)
8 - Chris Bennett (cupcake baker....CB)
8 - Eric Muehl
9 - Jimm McElory
10 - Chris Evory

RACE REPORT: MSG #3 & #4 - Domtar Park TN

After Eric's successful debut last month in Tennessee's MSG Cyclocross series (www.msgcross.com), Eric, myself, and next year's teammates Will Black, Jacob McGahey, and Matt Willing traveled to Kingsport for the races #3 & #4.


Saturday's race course was grassy, bumpy, tacky, but fast, and included some paved trails, a SWEET flyover, some side-hill turns, a telephone pole laying in the course, and some high barriers. No big hills, but a power-man's course that was made all the more so by the wind the preceded the cold front that was coming in. After a second row start and a lot of jockeying during the first lap, I was able to move into the main group after about 2 laps. Just as I did so, Will Black and Eric Wondergem attacked and headed up the "road". The rest of us (4: myself, Noah Niwinski, Eric Marslender, Justin Crawford) consolidated over the next couple of laps as we traded pulls and attacks but tended to be equally matched. I had fun with the course as the open nature suited my skillset, the flyover was just a blast, and the turns were challenging but manageable for me.

The last half of the race turned into a fairly standard cat and mouse with everyone putting in a dig but being brought back into the fold as we watched Eric and Will build their gap. With one lap to go Noah attacked and kept his gap to the finish. I struggled to keep the pace at this point as my gear housing had frayed and I was limited to only 3 gears during the race. I ended up 6th, well in the money and felt good considering I have just started my cyclocross build for the year.

2	Eric Wondergem	165681	Hup United/pf bikes	1
21	Will Black	58540	Inland Construction	2
13	Noah Metzler	230698	Team Globalbike	3
7	Justin Crawford	271187	Virginia Polytechnic University	4
8	Eric Marland	91085	Boone Velo	5
26	Christopher Larsen	70660	Team A.C.E.	6
4	Joshua Whitmore	38071	Team Globalbike	7
22	Mike Stewart	210874	MSG Cyclocross	8
25	Noah Niwinski	236341	Team Ville	9
11	Matthew Willing

Sunday's course was the same as Saturday's, but a little wet and less windy, which made it faster all around. That, combine with the addition of Eric Muehl (thankfully my teammate) and Nate Wyatt made the racing fast from the gun! We started halfway around the course so that it allowed more jockeying for position before the (sweet) flyover and more safety. Almost immediately the field strung out as Will Black, Nate, Eric Muehl, and Eric Wondergem hit the front. I ended up in the chase group for the second day as we chased the rest of the race. Fortunately after starting in about 10th I was able to steadily move up as my legs started to gather themselves beneath me. While I had less snap than I did on Saturday, I was smoother throughout the course and was able to make up time on the long, straights. Unfortunately I was losing time over the barriers and through the super-tight turns.

My position allowed me a front row seat to watch the front group battle it out, and I was able to pick off guys steadily through the race, until ending up in a group of 4 chasers. I eventually attacked the group of the flyover (which I love) and was able to put about 15s into the group. I maintained the gap all the way until about 1.5 laps to go when I clipped the barriers with my rear wheel and dropped my chain, causing me to lose about 10s and a lot of momentum. Noah Metzler (who beat me Saturday as well!) caught and passed me during this time and pushed me back into 6th . . . where I would finish for the second day in a row. However I felt that this was a "win" for me as the race was faster and more competitive and I definitely felt that I improved over Saturday's race. I need to keep working on the technical bits (and continue my training plan) and I know that not only will I get smoother, but I will get stronger as the season goes on - just like last year!

21	Will Black	58540	Inland Construction	1
30	Nathanael Wyatt	127000	Carolina Fatz pb Santa Cruz Bicycles	2
29	Eric Muehl	246666	Team A.C.E.	3
2	Eric Wondergem	165681	Hup United/pf bikes	4
13	Noah Metzler	230698	Team Globalbike	5
26	Christopher Larsen	70660	Team A.C.E.	6
22	Mike Stewart	210874	MSG Cyclocross	7
11	Matthew Willing	284687	Mars Hill College	8
7	Justin Crawford	271187	Virginia Polytechnic University	9
18	Gary Yates	142195	Unattached	10

Check out pictures here: www.bart.ifp3.com/

Thanks to all of our sponsors: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS

RACE REPORT: Ring of Fire Series

So the team ended the Ring of Fire in the best possible way: a win in the final race (me - FINALLY!) and a win in the series overall (Chris Emory)! It's funny how a small local race can draw such intense competition. It used to be training wheels, intervals before the race, and fun, now it's deep-dish wheels, full-teams, leadout trains, but still fun! Again, the goal this year was to win the overall competition for the team with consistent placings every 2 weeks and healthy competition for each race. We had some great battles with the other big local teams: Global Bike (with strongman Josh Whitmore), Chainheart (always bringing a big squad), Metro (coming out of the hills), and of course fast local riders like Jacob McGahey and other masters. Chris Emory was our go-to guy this year and he deserved the overall win. The rest of the team always pulled together on whatever night and helped the strongest rider go for the victory.

A big thanks to Velosports for putting this race on. We are truly lucky to have such a great local resource to use and it is a pillar in our cycling community!

Shenandoah Mountain 100 (Part 2)

So it's in the books! Last weekend marked my second big objective of the year - the Shenandoah 100 Mountain Bike Race. So after my week of tapering, eating, and driving I awoke in my lonely bed at the Hampton Inn at 4:45 to head to the start. I think this is the earliest I've ever gotten up for a race EVER! The weather was perfect on the day with sunrise at 6:45, temperature of about 50 on the start and a high of 77 and sunny. No breakfast this early, just coffee, energy drink, get dressed (all in the dark), pre-race jitters (maybe from all the caffeine), lose car key (in the dark), find key, eat banana on the start line, then at 6:30AM . . . GO! The race is fantastic for a lot of reasons: the first is the course. It is about 1/3 pavement (which we started on at 30mph), 1/3 dirt/double track, and 1/3 singletrack. This is deceiving in that you will be cruising at 25+mph on the road vs. sometimes 5mph on the singletrack, making the thirds disproportionate by time.

My goal was to get to the bottom of the 20 mile climb fairly conservatively (i.e. not going into the red zone before this point). Settling into my own pace, I rode the climbs at or below threshold and my mantra on the descents was "smooth and safe". Going to work on Tuesday was a bigger priority to me than trimming 10 minutes off of my time! I found myself with a group of about 10 riders that would separate and then regroup on the road portions. Unfortunately the lack of paceline experience was exceedingly evident with about 2 of us actually taking smooth, consistent pulls. At mile 45, after a sweet descent, I scheduled my first stop and aimed to fill up my 100oz Camelbak (the plan for the day was to drink 2!) and bottle with Perpetuem. This is when I got my taste of the event's second coolest aspect: the volunteers! One asked what I needed and instantly grabbed my Camelbak and filled it with water while another waited as I filled my bottle with powder from my drop-bag. I pounded a Honey Stinger gel (YUM!) as the second volunteer filled the bottle for me. Awesome! I jumped back on the bike and settled in with my road group to the base of the big climb. Legs were OK on the day, not fantastic, but I felt comfortable and my nutrition was perfect. As we rotated I noticed a rider from Staunton, VA and as I started to ask if he knew Andy Rhodes (an old teammate and friend), I rode up beside him and . . . ANDY RHODES! This was a nice surprise as we headed towards the biggest challenge on the day.

As Andy and I rotated smoothly in the paceline the others struggled to maintain a consistent pace. In hindsight this was due to fatigue as one-by-one we shed each of the others until it was down to Andy and I. We climbed together for most of the climb until I settled into my own rhythm and a heart rate of about 160bpm for the next 90 minutes or so! My motivation lay at the next rest area at 75 miles where I hid a Starbucks Doubleshot and some treats from my wife: 2 Oatmeal Cream Pies from the box she and Ethan gave me for the weekend! She and Ethan had gone to Virginia Beach for her annual Girls Weekend and Rock N Roll Half-Marathon. I hit the top of the climb and was well on my target of sub-9 hour pace (now shooting for sub-8:45)!

As I descended for close to 10 miles, the rear of my bike started to feel unusually sloppy. I thought a bolt or something may have dislodged, but as I headed toward mile 88 and the last aid station I realized I had a slow leak in my rear tire. Unbeknownst to me, this was due to a slice in my sidewall. However I used a CO2 cartridge and went on my merry way. Unfortunately the next descent put paid to my luck and started to open the cut further. Another CO2 caused the sidewall to blow, which led to a 15 minute tire booting (thank God for duct tape), and hand pumping. This led to a pinch flat on the second to last descent, which culminated in a catch by Andy who threw me his CO2 - THANKS ANDY!! This got me to the finish on a flat rear tire, but an intact rim. Unfortunately the 25 minutes of repairs, cold legs, etc. crushed my pacing and I blew past the 9 hour mark . . .



9:14 and 96 (my number) out of 539. Not bad, considering I had a shot at top 50 until I blew out that sidewall . . . Full results are here: http://shenandoahmountaintouring.blogspot.com/2010/09/preliminary-sm100-overall-results.html

While the last hour of the event wasn't perfect, it was an experience unlike any of the other hundreds of races I've done. The experience amazing. The feeling painful and euphoric, all at once, and the final best part of the race - the after party and beer! While it wasn't Highland, it was Dogfish Head, one of my early favorites, and uniting with old friends bonded but such an experience is something that I highly recommend, although I'm hesitant to say whether I will return to this event again . . . although I can already hear those Oatmeal Cream Pies and Dogfish Heads calling my name.

Thanks to my sponsors: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager (the Top Fuel was AWESOME!), Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

Shenandoah 100 Part 1: Planning, Riding, Eating

A big race is a funny thing - it's not the race that is everything, it's the experience of setting the goal, developing the training plan, executing, and finally preparing and completing the event itself. You have to utilize planning, tactics, psychology, nutrition, talent, and finally pure guts. The whole experience from beginning to end is what makes a big event special. The past two years I've gone to the Masters National Championships and walked away with a podium place and top 10 last year. With the arrival of my son, Ethan, this year a 2 week trip to Europe a week before Nationals, and the likelihood of my preparation being as seamless as last year, I decided to focus on the State TT Championships (which I won for my age group), cyclocross and some mountain bike events. After discussing options with my coach, Andy Applegate, I decided to race the Shenandoah 100 outside of Harrisonburg, VA. I like events that are close to my family so that I can spend time with them and still quench my competitive desire.

So with the above in mind I set my plan in place to begin after our trip to Europe in July. I came home and began doing blocks of 3-6 hour rides on the road and mountain bike (highly unusual for a guy that typical trains a maximum of 10 hours a week)! I steadily built up to a century on the road while interspersing the volume with steady state and threshold intervals to prepare me for an estimated 9 hours on the bike and 13,000' of climbing. This would also give me a solid base before turning to the intensity of cross training. All of this lead me to the Blue Ridge Breakaway 2 weeks ago. Since then it's been a combination of tapering and some racing to sharpen the glad so to speak.

This past week was lots of rest, the Ring of Fire Wednesday night, and finally Carb Loading. As most that are familiar with me know, I don't eat a lot of carbohydrates (relatively speaking), so this is a big deal for me! Over the course of the last three days I've been striving to eat somewhere on the order of 700g of carbohydrates. Do a little math - you'll see that this is quite an uncomfortable endeavor! So since Wednesday night my diet has been: recovery shake, burrito, brownie w/ ice cream, granola w/ soy milk and dried cranberries, orange juice, bagel w/ jam, sports drink, flatbread pizza, Fanta soda!, smoothie, graham crackers, rice/chicken/veggies, rice pudding, oatmeal, orange juice, recovery shake, apple/quinoa wrap, chocolate covered pretzels, sweet potato chips, coconut juice, frappacino, trout, rice, bread, grilled veggies, peach/cranberry cobbler, ice cream, cobbler, yogurt, sport drink, recovery shake, wrap, sweet potato chips, bread w/ honey, banana chips, chocolate covered raisins, coconut milk, fig/raspberry bars, then to top it off, pork, rice, zucchini, onions, and succatash that my grandmother made, topped off by homemade oatmeal raisin cookies from Chris Eatough's wife! Seriously I'm very happy that I don't eat like this all the time. I'm looking forward to getting back to my normal diet!

So, it's been a solid two months of training, and I'm sitting in the hotel getting ready to watch a movie and chill after a great dinner and day spent with my grandparents. So good luck to everyone out there tomorrow and a special batch for Andy Applegate, Kris Kjellquist, Jon Seibold, Doug Milliken, and anyone else out there that I know, but don't know is here!

LIVESTRONG Philly (kind of)

Many of you already know that I chose not to drive to Philadelphia this weekend. A long and stressful week at work compounded by not being at home with my family on a weekend, and not being on call for almost 2 months, aided my decision. That and the thought of 22 hours of driving sandwiching 100+ miles of riding in 2 days sealed the deal . . . so instead I felt that it was only right to ride 100 miles this weekend for those that donated in honor of my mother.

To this end, I chose the Blue Ridge Breakaway ride. I figured that this would be a challenge and ideal preparation for the Shenandoah 100 in two weeks time. The ride started off with 50 miles of rolling terrain followed by a climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and then another 30 miles along the final stretch of the Parkway itself. So basically a 50 mile 'warmup' followed by 40 miles and over 5600' of climbing, followed by a 15 mile descent back to Lake Junaleska. Quite a challenging course, and an excellent event put on by Nancy!

Everything started out well for the first half of the ride, and as we hit the climb on 215 to the BRP my legs felt awesome. The group went from 40 to 2 very quickly, and myself and a rider, Baker, from Boone set a nice tempo to the top. This is when the RAIN started. Hard, cold, blinding rain. The rain intensified until we descended to the final climb of the day, when it gradually picked back up. Halfway up the climb, Baker throttled it down a bit, but I had to keep going, just to stay warm (aided by a trash bag shoved up my jersey!). The 80 degree temperatures had plummeted to the 60s and my legs and body weren't thrilled. This is when the SAG vehicle informed me that the Parkway was "being shut down" and I needed to "get in the car". Since he was driving a truck, I kept going. At the top the volunteers at the aid station waved and offered me drinks, so I figured I was fine. Descending into Maggie Valley was harrowing and once I hit the bottom I was welcomed by standing water of 3-4 inches on the road and waves of water from the passing vehicles. You read that correctly: waves. I watched the water slosh out of the holes on top of my shoes and pinched my face together to prevent the spray from blinding me as I drove on as fast as I could. The only thing slowing me were: the cracks in the pavement, stoplights, cars and trucks cutting me off, and the water itself. Never has once been so happy to see Granny's Chicken Shack and the finish banner!

I treated myself with a Coke and BBQ sandwich before I hightailed it home! A great training ride and an epic one at that in the books . . . thanks to all the volunteers out there braving the rain yesterday, it was a great event!

P.S. It's not too late to donate to LIVESTRONG in my mother's honor: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=330113&supId=229913356

RACE REPORT: Fontana Dam Jam

So after my not so illustrious return to racing after a month off (including a bought with heat exhaustion, and 2 weeks in Europe), I decided on a whim to do my first mountain bike race in 14 years last weekend. Since I signed up for the Shenandoah 100 next month, I thought that this would be a good test to see how my body would react to a shorter effort. Being a cat 2 mountain biker, I wanted to see how I could perform and try to get an upgrade to the 1/Expert level.

My friend Rob gave me some advice before the race and suggested that I start conservatively. After the gun went off I followed wheels until the first technical singletrack section where I ended up slipping into the lead before being overtaken during the technical descent. I decided to hang with the Northstar rider, but got a little antsy once the second road climb began. As I cruised into the lead I rocketed over the top of the climb, only to realize that I missed the turn back onto the trail! After realizing what I had done, I turned around and headed back up the climb to the woods. 4 minutes later I was back in the race and thinking about how I was going to explain this to my friends that were watching.

Going into the second lap I decided to give it everything that I had on the second lap and see if I could get back near the front of the race. Coming into the 3rd lap a rider said, "keep it up, you're about 2 minutes behind the leader!". Woah! I thought that maybe I had a chance! I went as hard as I could into the last lap up the early climb, and kept pushing down the descent into the second (dirt) climb. I saw the leader halfway up the climb and focused on staying smooth and conserving a little bit of energy before I caught the leader. I overtook him going through a technical section and went hard to gap him up the same climb that I went off course! I finished about a minute ahead, and thankfully didn't have to use any of those excuses that I thought up as I picked my way back through the field . . .

Celebrating with a Highland brew!

Thanks to: Highland Brewing (who's beer I enjoyed after the race), Trek & Bontrager (the Top Fuel rocked!), Liberty Bikes (great pre/post race support), Rudy Project (lid & shades), Honey Stinger (fuel), Swiftwick (check out the sweet recovery socks!), PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

Results:

* XC-2 (30-39) 11:09:22 AM 22.50 miles
1 676 LARSEN CHRIS ALE P/H HIGHLAND BREWING
2 670 EDWARDS CHAD NORTHSTAR BICYLES
3 648 PELTZER CARL SKELETON CREW
4 674 SCHMIESING DAN TVB
5 675 VARNER JEFF MOCK ORANGE RACING
6 665 RICE CLINT
7 607 CARMICHAEL LEE
8 677 DUNWOODY LADD
9 672 HENSLEY MIKE CYCLE THERAPY
10 609 NOISETTE BRENT

Applegate's pull on the Stars & Stripes!

From Andy Applegate:

Hi Everyone,

I don't usually send out mass emails, but we are in the midst of our big goal race trip of the season, so I thought I would send an email with what we are up to. Our (my and Cara's) big race goals of the season revolve around the tandems this year. First up is the Master's national road race championships in Louisville KY this week. We just completed the Elite mixed tandem time trial event yesterday and were able to win by just 2 seconds! It is very hot here in Louisville with temperatures around 100 degrees and high humidity... it was tough to get in a fast ride and we are happy to have won the title again.

Tomorrow is the big tandem championship road race. After winning in 2007 and 2008 we were beaten into 2nd last year and while we are out for redemption tomorrow it is going to be a tough / hot race.

After that we head out to Leadville to do the world famous Leadville 100 race.... on.... you guessed it, a tandem. This is going to be a big challenge and a long day.

I have seen some of you here in Louisville and will see a few more of you out in Leadville.... I look forward to it. While I am on the road for the next week and a half, I have plenty of time to talk and email... so let me know if you need anything and keep me updated on your workouts!

Andy Applegate
Carmichael Training Systems

Help me fight cancer!

For the second year I will be doing Livestrong Philadelphia in honor of my mother. She was diagnosed with fallopian tube cancer last May and is working through a round of chemotherapy now. She was just in Asheville for a visit and it was a treat to spend so much time with her and see her with my son, Ethan! I hope that with your support we can surpass last year's fundraising of over $9000, and reach our team goal of $50,000! I'm teaming up with my good friend Arch, who's sister and sister-in-law have both battled cancer as well as team Vision. With your help hopefully can can provide the much needed funds to continue to drive research into treatments to help those that are fighting everday with this devastating disease.



Please go here: http://philly2010.livestrong.org/chlarsen, and give what you can - every dollar helps!


Thank you, and God bless.

- Chris, Jessica, and Ethan

Race Report: WNC Grand Prix

After a month off from racing, I returned with a local event, and the weekend started with some positive TV coverage for the team on the local TV station - WLOS 13: http://www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wlos_vid_2633.shtml It's important to note that the proceeds from the weekend's events are used for disadvantaged youth in the Asheville area. The team is always looking to help out good causes, and this surely is one of them!

The races started with a Hill climb Friday night, which produce another win for Team ACE/Highland with Andy Applegate showing his time-trialing prowess ahead of the National Championships! While the event itself isn't super-exciting, the result was!

Saturday, the racing continued with a criterium around Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain. Chris Emory picks up the commentary:

Andrew, Chris Larsen and I (Chris Emory) toed the line with some familiar elite racers from all over the Southeast. The short circuit was very difficult with a 120 degree turn immediately leading into a steep uphill. You could count on a lot of pain every lap as riders attacked this gut wrenching short climb.

At the gun Larsen was out in front of the field, obviously feeling well coming off his Emory training plan which involves staying off the bike and getting into the beer (not helped out by our excellent sponsor!). The field reacted swiftly and failed attacks and surges marked the day but kept the pace punishingly high forcing several racers to drop out of the race. I felt horrible from the beginning; my stomach immediately knotted and gradually got worse throughout the day. Likely as a result of the previous day’s food poisoning… Note to self: don’t trust seafood from a backyard BBQ.

I was able to hang in with the leaders as I felt somewhere between unpleasant and tolerable. The large teams protected the top 5 spots in the field and anywhere behind 15 riders back you would find yourself continuously chasing back into the group. Larsen was caught out in one of these unfortunate adventures as the group split into two. His small group chased back to the group but was gapped immediately afterward as a crash split the field again. Andrew, went down in the 120 degree bender and had to chase back on, bleeding in the process.

I was able to get up front with less than 3 to go fighting for every position at every turn. I remained on the front with 1 and a half to go and unfortunately decided not to respond to a single attack by an unknown rider up the hill who was going after the "gambler’s prime" with one lap to go. Nobody wanted to chase this guy; they were all just watching the main contenders. Sitting second wheel Idecided to keep the pace high so that attacks on the backside didn’t leave me in poor position, but as I rounded the corner no one from the big teams pulled through; I knew I had made a mistake. Hoping to catch a train, I was in the worst position - out in front and unable to see the hornets’ nest behind me. Everyone was on the rivet and unwilling to do any work. About 100 meters before the final turn I was swarmed on both sides as riders attacked, putting me behind the lead group; then came the kamikaze kids who I let through the turn in front of me to keep my skin. I was able to outsprint two riders at the finish to end up twelfth on the day. Larsen was tailed off, but never lapped and won the sprint for "best of the rest" taking home a sweet grill set!

The team started the weekend stronger than we finished, but not a failure given the conditions. I’m done with the rabies shots and looking forward to the impending birth of my son.

Thanks to: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

RACE REPORT: Bristol

Courtesy of Eric Muehl:

I came into this weekend with halfway decent legs. I put in a pretty heavy workload during the week. The road race had a small field, maybe 25 guys and it was getting hotter by the minute. The first lap was nice and low key for the most part. The pace wasn't too high and people weren't chomping at the bit to launch attacks. There were a few unsuccessful moves during the first lap, but it wasn't until the last few miles of that lap that two riders slipped off the front. They had a pretty good gap going but there wasn't a hurry to reel them back in so early in the race. Then two more riders slipped away and created a decent gap quickly. A train forced the leaders to stop so we had to wait and let them regain their gap before we could continue. After that we carried on at the same pace and by about half way through the lap I took the lead to try and reel the riders up the road back in. I cut the gap by 20 seconds within a few miles and I kept riding hard to bring them in for an entire lap. A few miles after I got to the back and started recovering the course marshal came through and gave us the time splits which had jumped up to over 2 minutes. So the two groups of two became one strong group of four and they were killing it. The field started to get organized half way through the third lap and everyone was rotating and working together. Eventually people stopped working and the chase was held up again. Thomas launched a few good attacks and had some daylight for a good bit, but the field managed to chase him down. By the time we got stated on the fourth lap I was starting to feel the damage done to my legs. Someone lifted the pace through the feed zone and I had to chase for thirty seconds to catch back on. I made it up the next climb just fine, but the next climb was a little longer and a little steeper and I couldn't match the accelerations. I was left chasing on the descent and got back on before we hit the headwind section. By the time we hit the second to last tough climb we had caught one of the dropped riders from the break away and again I lost ground. I had a long downhill, slightly rolling stretch of road to catch back on. I got to within 200 meters of the group, but this was right before I hit the last of the climbs. I lost all the ground I had made up and was left chasing hard to get back however I was unable to. Luckily Thomas was able to stay in it and get 7th overall!
The day of the crit was even hotter than the day before and the race didn't start until 3. I was a bit doubtful that I would be doing anything other than hanging off the back struggling to match accelerations. For the first 15 laps that was the case, but I settled in to a rhythm and started feeling comfortable. A couple attacks early on maintained decent gaps and the last one got pulled back in with about 30 laps to go. Andrew spent most of the race marking all the attacks and keeping the field together. A couple laps later whilst coming through the last corner, a Metro rider rode right into the back of another rider and immediately started yelling at him. Everyone regrouped on the next lap and as we approached the start/finish the pace slowed. Three riders jumped off the front and I saw there was no reaction from the field so I jumped the gap to them and there was still no reaction. One rider tagged along with me so we had a strong five man group and a decent gap that was growing fast. We all kept working together and we had started lapping riders, however people stopped rotating with about 8 to go. I stayed at the front driving the pace and three riders attacked on before the third turn. I was able to stay with them, but coming into the last turn, the rider sitting third wheel slid out and disrupted the sprint a little. I probably started sprinting with 300 meters to go and I was able to hold on for third overall. I certainly wasn't expecting that to happen. Not a bad weekend for the team and I'm planning on better results at French Broad.

--
ERIC MUEHL

Heat Exhaustion, the 'easy' way to lose a few pounds

Well, after my final preparations in the local TT, buying a cooling vest, and a base layer drinking system, I did my best to avoid using all of my 'advantages' during the NC State TT on June 26! After checking the forecast and seeing that it would be 80 degrees I figured that I could get away with a half of a water bottle and minimal pre-cooling.

This strategy worked well for about 1/2 of the race as I was right on my goal pace. Unfortunately I paid heavily during the second half . . . Long story short I managed to place top 10 overall and still take 1st in my age group: 30-34 Men. However I probably lost 2 minutes during the last half of the race and was fairly disappointed with my performance. Lesson learned!

But that wasn't the end of it. My dehydration from the race caused stomach cramps and compounded into a case of heat exhaustion. Fortunately I'm now recovered and no worse for wear except for watching a ton of World Cup while I was on the couch, and losing 5 lbs at one point. I've regained most of this, just in time for our trip to Europe. Look for Jess and I next Tuesday and Wednesday at Le Tour!

Happy 4th of July, and thanks to all of our sponsors:

Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

Race Report: River TT & Final Preparations

Thursday was another win for ACE p/b Highland Brewing. While it was a small turnout, I came with big motivation to prepare for the NC State TT next weekend. While my racing has been tempered a bit this year (due to my wonderful son!) I decided to focus on the state TT as an alternate to Nationals.


Training:
I developed a 2 month training plan to move from a road racing focus to a time trial focus. This has included more time on the TT bike (of course), as well as intervals starting at VO2 duration increasing to TT duration. I actually did the TT course twice on Thursday to simulate next weekend's effort. This weekend was more intervals as well as an hour behind the motor on the TT bike - hot and hard!

Preparation:
I've been trying to refine my warmup and pre-race ritual (nutrition, hydration, cooling, etc.) in anticipation of next weekend's weather. I've been testing cooling vests, drinking systems, etc. I was actually so cold before I got out of the car Thursday night that I was shivering! Added to this is a more brief warmup (about 30 minutes instead of 60) and a special blend of motivational music!

Race Time:
Since I was young I've used visualization and mantras before and during my events, especially time trials. Thursday was no exception, and I like those that help to remind me to keep a steady effort, keep my aero position tight, and maintain the fastest line. Once you've hit the start line, these things are most important.

All of the above combined helped me to take close to 2 seconds per kilometer off of my time in April, for a PR of 26:32. 2% increase in power, 2% increase in speed, and 2% decrease in time. When you really think about how hard we work for small improvements, this puts it into perspective! 2% = 35 seconds. It just goes to show how all of the little things add up, and I've always been under the impression that the little things matter. 1% here and 1% there soon turn into real differences! Wish me luck next weekend as I try to convert these into another win for the team (and our sponsors that make it possible!).

Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

Local Racing and The Diamondback

It's been a while since I've been home, not on call, and not having to travel to a race. Last weekend was pretty sweet with the Town Mountain Hillclimb, and this weekend was the Mountain Sports Festival at Carrier Park in Asheville. It was pretty sweet to be able to race just 1.5mi from my house Friday night, and to ride to the Wheel Ride for Food yesterday!

Friday night was basically a version of the Ring of Fire races at Carrier Park, where instead of a points race format over 60 laps, it was a 50 lap scratch race or 'winner takes all'. Team ACE was out under threatening skies with 4 teammates - Andy Applegate (coming off a strong finish in the mountain bike race just an hour earlier!), Andrew Erskine, Chris Emory, and myself. The goal was to attack from the gun and get a move up the road with at least 2 riders in it. After Andy set a strong pace for several laps, Chris Emory and I started to exchange attacks which led to a break forming as the field began to shred. The move consolidated as Andrew Erskine bridged across and provided us with a couple of 'worker bees' and a fresh rider to sit in for the sprint. By about the 20 lap mark we lapped the field which put us in position to begin attacking again after Andy set pace for several laps. The danger man was Josh Whitmore from Globalbike who is a powerful rider from Sylva. After I softened the field with an attack, Chris, Andrew and Andy all countered and made it up the road again! I followed wheels until getting into a chase group. With about 10 laps to go we lapped the field as well, which put 3 of us +2 laps! After several strong laps behind Andy (did I mention that he's a time trial machine?) I unleashed the leadout for Chris Emory and Andrew 2 laps out. Josh chased and gave Chris and Andrew a free ride to the finish as Andrew overtook Josh and then Chris as well for 1, 2, and 4th (myself) on the night!

Saturday wasn't a race, but a charity ride benefiting Asheville's Meals on Wheels. Thanks to friends and family I hit my goal of raising $250. Andy Applegate, with his wife Cara (on the tandem!) and I set of at 8:30AM for almost 70 miles through some beautiful roads north of Asheville. About 3.5hrs later we rolled across the line, tired and happy! While is wasn't a race it was a fun event for a great cause.

Thanks to all of my supporters for the event, as well as our sponsors!

Sunday was a little bit of family time, and a ride that I've been looking forward to for a while now called "The Diamondback": 226A from Marion to Little Switzerland, NC:I rode up, and Jess drove and she and Ethan met me at the top for lunch. The awesome thing about living in Asheville is that you have a lot of rides like this up to the Parkway that let you climb for miles, much like you lived out West, but with more roads! The road surface is excellent, the weather mild, and traffic is low - I saw maybe 6 cars and about 20 motorcycles in the hour climb. As you can see, the reward was worth the climb:
I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend and thank you to all those who have devoted themselves to service to our country over the years.

Priorities and PRs

Last night marked the 2010 Town Mountain Hillclimb in Asheville. I first did this event 2 years ago, and missed it last year when I went to McMinnville to race. Ever since the TT up Wintergreen a few weeks ago, I have not been my best. Lots of travel, a trip to Philly, some long days at work, and the race last weekend has really taken it out of me. While my family comes first in life, my career is a close 2nd since this enables our family to live the life we do and enables the 3rd priority in my life - cycling - to feature as it does! Unfortunately I missed the time trial on Thursday night due to a late case, and my schedule has now precluded me attending the Assault on Mount Mitchell on Monday . . . c'est la vie.
The great thing about being on a solid team is that you don't have to be at your best every race to have great results. So even with a "bad" couple of weeks for me, we still pulled out 3 wins in 2 weeks! Yesterday culminated this as Andy Applegate won his 2nd race in less than a week!
Personally I had a solid ride after a challenging week outside of racing. I was a little nervous that I would even make the event, since I had a 1PM surgery and thought it might run a bit late. Fortunately the stars aligned and I was able to get home, warm up and make it to the start around 6PM. I pulled my mental focus together and decided to focus on keeping a steady, conservative pace to start the first steep section. My plan was to then maintain my heart rate until I hit the last section and start to punch it again. I felt good and drove my heart rate up steadily from 175bpm to eventually 187 at the finish. I looked down and saw 19:45 - not great, then I remembered that I started my timer 30s early . . . sweet! I took 35s off my PR! While I didn't win, Andy did, I set a PR, and the rain held off long enough for me to get back to the car.

Full results are here: http://www.ashevillewomenscycling.com/TMHC/2010TMHCResults.html

Check out Christopher Graphics: http://paulchristopher.smugmug.com/Sports/Bicycle

And a big thank you to all of our sponsors!

RACE REPORT: High Country Tour du Life

The weekend brought a race that I've been looking forward to for a while - the High Country Tour du Life. Andrew Stackhouse is a promoter that moved from Texas to Boone and has started to put on some great events in that area. This race has awesome courses (http://tourdulife.com/courses), with a TT up Beech Mountain, a hilly road race west of Boone, and a criterium in downtown Newland to finish it all on Sunday. I decided to make a weekend out of it with the family, team and friends, and rented a condo on top of Beech Mountain with our friends the Hamblens. It was a full 'house' with 2 kids, dog, and 1 pregnant lady! Also there was a case of Highland beer to fit in there!

The weekend started out with Chris Emory and myself making the trip up to Beech Mountain for the TT Friday night. The course went up the 'easy' side of the mountain, and the course looked good, steady, and the weather was perfect in the low 70s. I was the 2nd to start and after a solid warm-up I started conservatively in an effort not to repeat my performance of 2 weeks ago where I went out too hard during the Wintergreen Hill climb in Charlottesville. My pacing was almost perfect, but with a quicker climb than expected I actually took it out too easy. This in addition to the altitude pushed my effort into a 15th place - good enough for some overall points for the Omnium, but not a great result. Chris had a similar ride (in more ways than one) and came in just a few second behind in 16th. Results: http://tourdulife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Beech-TT1.pdf We joined our friends for a dinner on top of the mountain at over 5000ft!

After a nice evening Saturday greeted us with great weather and a very hilly course, with narrow, twisty roads. The course was one of the best I've ever done, unfortunately my performance wasn't! However this is when it's good to have a team. Chris Emory and I were joined by Andy Applegate, Andrew Erskine, and Jason Spouse. We agreed that since we didn't have anyone very high up in the overall we would let the other teams control the race and try to get riders in the moves throughout the day. While we missed a move by a solitary rider, the rest of the team maintained our positions in the field early on and Andrew Erskine helping to control the field early on. Andy went on some early attacks, but ultimately headed back to the field to let the course separate the men from the boys so to speak. With the overall contenders watching each other after the first hilly loop, Andy Applegate launched an attack on the flat, back portion of the course. He quickly gained time and increased his lead to over 2 minutes! While he was chased by a single rider the field couldn't get organized and left Andy to consolidate his lead. With 90 seconds going into the final climb he easily hung on for the win - the team's biggest of the year! Chris Emory had a superb finish for 8th while I faded after a chase effort and finished at the tail of the main field. The team now had Chris in 9th overall and an impressive win that took down some of the regions biggest teams!

Sunday the goal was to advance Chris up the overall and try to get a solid placing on the day as well. The weather was in the 70s, with a good chance of rain (which fortunately never materialized!). The course started flat, had 3 corners, and a large sweeping turn into a fast downhill that was preceded by a sharp 50 meter climb. The raced started fast with John Hamblen of Mountain Khakis, Sean Weddell of Team Metro, and John Patterson of Carolina Masters going from the gun. Chris and I stayed near the front of the field and followed moves while trying to conserve energy up the climb. With about 5 laps remaining in the 25 lap race, I sensed an opportunity as Chris Harkey of the Subaru-Gary Fisher team attacked up the climb. 2 laps later Chris Emory attacked as I let a gap open up the climb. Chris gave an awesome effort to bridge and ultimately stay away for 5th on the day. His placing moved him up to 7th overall, while I ended up with a safe field finish. Our goal for the day was accomplished, but of course it would have been nice to have a slightly higher overall placing.

So 1st in the road race, 5th in the crit, 8th in the road race, and 7th overall. Not bad for a little team from Asheville sponsored by a local beer company! Speaking of which, the beer from Highland made for popular prime prizes during the crit on Sunday, and it was made known that the local Lowes Foods carried it as well. Trek got another win on their bikes, and we heard a lot of great comments about our Swiftwick socks. Thanks as always to all of our sponsors who make it possible:

Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

USA Crit series, speedweek-Spartanburg

From Andrew Erskine:

I headed to Spartanburg to race the Pro,1 criterium as part of the USA crit Speeweek series. When I arrived I managed to catch the end of both the Masters and the cat 2/3 race. Thomas Smith had managed to lap the field in the Masters race along with one other rider, and took a dominant 2^nd place. Chris Emory made a great move in the final lap of the 2/3 race to move from about 30^th place to a 6^th place overall,l in one lap, how I don’t know, but I need to figure out his secret!!!

After the pro women, the sun began to set and the Pro men feild took the line for the start of 70 fun laps. I got to the line and had a mid pack start, not bad, not great!! The way speedweek had unfolded there was a battle being played out between United Healthcare, and Bahati Foundation, with Team Type 1 also in the mix with Mountain kahkis. This made the race hard and fast from the gun. The first few laps brought the inevitable screach of brakes and that crashing metal sound as the barriers came into play, once the field was strung out the race began in earnest. I felt good, legs were good, but given the dynamic of the race, moving up or around in the field was a challenge. United Healthcare and Bahati took turns in attacking and the others chasing, which pretty much meant the race was constantly an attack and counter attack and kept the speed consistently high, this was pretty much the story of the evening. After a few more crashes and few close calls for me, the field had thinned down to those that would finish the evenings race. I sat comfortably in mid pack until about the last 15 laps. As the pace picked up, no breaks had stuck and everyone started to organize for a fast finish, I decided to make one big move to try to get a little closer to the front to contest, I managed to get up there pretty well but as I did a big attack from Asheville local Jonny Clarke was made to disrupt the Bahati train, and I was engulfed while trying to recover. I tucked in for the final laps, stayed safe and finished with the main field, with United Healthcare taking the evening and spoiling the Bahati plans.

All in all a fun and fast evening, I enjoy these crits, they are blazing fast from the gun, and lend themselves to my style of riding, a lucky break or well timed move could have gotten me closer for the finale, but I was happy to feel good, ride well and represent. Good to see some of our local pros making an impact on the week, with Luca Damiani consistently placing all week. The guys at Globalbike also having a good presence. Feeling good for the Festival of Speed Keirin this weekend in Atlanata, hopefully some good results to come.

Thanks to all of our great sponsors for making it possible.

Andrew Erskine

Lance Armstrong becomes part-owner in Honey Stinger

If you don't like my endorsement, maybe you'll like his:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/04/news/lance-armstrong-becomes-part-owner-in-honey-stinger_113493

Pistachio Diet?

A couple of good articles:

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=8055

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=8172&status=True&catname=Latest%20News

2nds and Seconds

This week brought plenty of racing in the form of two local events (Ring of Fire and the River TT) as well as another event (Iron Gate TT in Mebane, NC). After a solid weekend of training last week I had a couple of rest days before racing at the track on Wednesday.

The team rocked it Wednesday. The plan was for me to 'take it easy' and sit in, in preparation for the TT the next night however I eneded up taking some points and then being in a break with Thomas for 10+ laps. After being a little scatter-brained two weeks ago we were able to pull it together and put two of our guys, Thomas and myself, into the top 3. Unfortunately those were the bottom 2 positions as Luca Damiani beat me in the last sprint to take the win. A little secret: Nick from Metro cut me off from the apron on one of the sprints to take points which would have put me in the lead . . . oh well, it's a TRAINING RACE! Either way, it was fun, the team rode well, and it was good training. Jess and I stopped at Lucky Otter afterward (as usual) to finish off a nice evening.

Thursday was the first River TT of the year in Asheville. Unfortunately when I was registering I found out that the course had been arbitrarily lengthened this year, by about 400m!?? Not the best thing to tell racers that have been doing this course for nearly a decade. Either way, a TT is a TT, so I did my usual 30 minute TT warmup and in the process realized that my plan of 'taking it easy' Wednesday didn't work out, and I was about to pay for it with one of my worst performances on the river. My fatigue led me to break my position several times and I couldn't produce the power in my tight position like I normally do. Either way, my 4th place and the associated effort was good training and gave me a benchmark to go off of for the real race on Saturday.

Our son, Ethan, is now 6 weeks old and Jess had a trip to her parents' place planned so we decided to visit our good friends, Pete and Kristy Cannell in Mebane for the weekend and introduce them. Of course we decided to multi-task and I did a time trial on Saturday around a local winery there. While Pete said he wouldn't recommend the wine, he did recommend the race, so I registered and planned on the race on Saturday. I wasn't super-fresh going into it, but as I warmed up, I liked the course, the weather was perfect (mid 70s, partly sunny), although there were sustained 15+mph winds (not ideal for holding my ultra-low TT position!). I went off 3rd and despite the hills and wind I was able to pace myself well while maintaining the best power during a time trial that I've done aside from the National Championships last year. My effort was good enough for 2nd place and I missed out on the top-spot to Ken Johnson, a formidable albeit toothless opponent. The rest of the weekend consisted of good friends, food, and wine and some well-deserved rest. Tomorrow it's back to the 'real world'. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as well!

Full results here: tricyclists.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/all_men1.pdf

Best Twinkie Ever!

Being on call last weekend, I decided to hit out with my teammate Eric Muehl for a ride I've been wanting to do for a long time: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/340321 (Garmin pooped the bed that day, so I couldn't upload the file . . .). It's been on my mind ever since I read this Bicycling article by Justin England.

The goal today was climbing, and we got it, with about 7k total feet in about 3 hours! The ride started with a steady climb up Elk Mountain, then we dropped down Ox Creek and headed to Barnardsville and Dillingham. This is when I started to look for a spot to get water. Unfortunately Sunday's aren't a great time to be looking for open stores in rural WNC! I figured I'd just get by until we saw a BP just before we started our ascent to the BRP. I wanted a drink and an oatmeal cream pie (kind of a tradition when I climb up to the Parkway). No luck on this front, but when I asked the clerk if he had any, he just pointed to a basket of Twinkies and Ding Dongs and said 'we got those'. I said 'oh well', he said 'They're FREE', we said 'THANK YOU' as we shoved a couple into our pockets. OK, so Twinkies aren't Paleo, but seriously how can you refuse one of these for free on a Sunday. I think it may have been a sign from God telling me to take one, so I did OK?

However I worked on my delayed gratification and decided to wait until Craggy Gardens (the top of our climb) before I indulged in the heavenly cakey goodness. The climb started benignly enough with a steady, paved false flat, and then the road abruptly ended and turned to rocky service road, before turning into a tree-strewn, gated-off steep portion. It seemed fun enough, until about 45 minutes later when we were STILL CLIMBING. It wasn't the grade, or even the length, but the fact that you just had to grind it out on the rocky, dirt surface for such an extended period of time. I can tell you that the reward at the top was worth it though . . .

Best Twinkie Ever

Eric and I dropped back down to Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed home for beers and some good food with friends in front of Paris Roubaix as we watch Fabulous crush all comers. I hope you got to enjoy a great ride and the storming performance as well!

Honey Stinger Organic Chews Review

GOOD TO CHEW ON:

I've been using these for over a year now as part of my pre-ride/race ritual. Honey Stinger gels have been a staple in my jersey pocket for years due to their taste and honey-based nutrition, so it was natural that I try these. While some other products have 'slicker' packaging, I like the ease with which you can open the pouch on or off the bike (I used to open other products before I put them in my jersey). If HS could make the packaging easy to open, but more of a tube, I think these would be perfect. These are awesome on the start line when it's hard to choke down a gel, or throughout a long ride when it's nice to chew on something but you don't want to fill your stomach with a fiber-filled bar. I typically eat these while I'm getting dressed, at a stop during the ride, or on the start line instead of a gel now. I like to rotate the flavors so they don't get stale on my palate and I've found all to be quite agreeable.

My wife loves to eat these while she runs, and many would agree that she's more discerning than me! I would definitely recommend these.

http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/HNY100/

RACE REPORT: Boone-Roubaix

Whew! Hard race for sure! Felt good, not super-fresh, but solid. Good pre-race nutrition and on-bike as well, eating a Honey Stinger Protein Bar for breakfast, then using Honey Stinger Gels each hour during the race. The bike was equipped with the new Bontrager Aeolus 6.5 wheels (tubular), which performed flawlessly! 50+ riders lined up with Mountain Khakis, Pro-shop, Cannondale, and UHC all with 3+ man teams. It was just Emory and I for ACE-Highland Brewing. The course was comprised of small loop-big loop-small loop x 2. It started with a relatively flat section, then a gradual climb before a decent and then built speed into the first "pave" sector with large chunks of gravel! This was the first section where the field started to splinter as riders flatted left and right and I tried to avoid losing teeth as chunks of rock flew by my head! The course then rolled quickly into the first uphill dirt climb, followed by a paved climb. The backside of the course had a long paved climb followed by a steep dirt section that blew the race to pieces!

I got popped on first big lap up the first major dirt climb, mainly because I was too far back leading into it, but was able to chase back on relatively quickly. The group was shattered from about 50 to less than 20 at this point only 30 minutes into the race! We settled into a nice pace until the uphill paved/dirt section where I stupidly at at the top of the paved portion (this is where good course knowledge would be handy as I would then have avoided throwing up on myself as my heart rate hit close to 190bpm within 1 minute after eating!). It was at this point that I was left alone to chase back on, but was quickly caught by Chris Emory as well as a group of a few more that were able to catch back on again. In a race like this, course knowledge, equipment, fueling, and fitness are ALL key!

Heading into the final lap, Mountain Khakis controlled the front with Hamblen setting pace, Neil attacking, and Hekman seeming to wait, looking strong. A group of 3 went up the road, but was mis-directed off course, which was unfortunate for them. It was at this point, the second time up the big dirt/paved climb going into the big loop that my legs started to cramp from the effort necessary to climb a 15% dirt climb I had to pull back into my own rhythm. I joined a group of 6, including Chris Emory that paced ourselves through the last lap together. We could see the action up ahead (in the distance) led by Hekman taking the win. After Chris' earlier attacks softened the group a bit, I was able to win the (halfhearted) sprint from our group for 10th. Chris rolled in for 15th on the day.

Check out Carolina Cycling News report here: http://carolinacyclingnews.com/2010/04/05/boone-roubaix-an-instant-classic/

Overall, I was pleased with our performance. As usual, it's hard going up against pro-caliber teams, but we put in a decent showing with both our men in the top 15. I plan on doing this race again next year, but would go into it about 5 lbs lighter and fresh, instead of in the middle of a training block!

1 Mark Hekman Winston-Salem, NC Team Mtn Khakis fueled by
2 Pascal Bussieres Quebec, QC Team Spirit/Cannondale pb
3 Spencer Gaddy Team Ion - United Healthcare
4 Jon Hamblen Winston Salem, NC Mountain Khakis - Fueled by
5 Pete Custer Alexandria, VA Your Ad Here p/b Bicycle Pro
6 travis livermon winterville, NC Champion System / Cannondale
7 Thomas Ziermann Wilmington, NC Window Gang Cycling Team
8 Edward Adamy Southern Pines, NC Carolina bicycle company
9 Brad Perley Kennebunk, ME Lees-McRae College
10 Christopher Larsen Asheville, NC

Full results here: http://booneroubaix.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/BR-p123M1.pdf

As always, thanks to all of our sponsors - check them out: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

New Honey Stinger Protein Bar Review

Check it out: http://www.backcountry.com/outdoorgear/Honey-Stinger-Protein-Bar-15-Pack/HON0010M.html

Personally, I'm always searching for ways to optimize my training as well as nutrition. The Honey Stinger Protein bars have helped to fill a void in my nutrition 'arsenal'. After years of eating energy bars on and off the bike, these bars provide a tasty, healthy alternative as they are sweetened with honey and have a lower glycemic index than bars with less protein and fat. These are my new pre-race meal (usually with a banana) about 3 hours before a long ride. I used this formula without fail for every long ride or race I completed last year and eliminated the GI issues that seemed to accompany other options. Now with the new smaller size, I have a great option for a snack in the afternoon or a pre-ride meal when I want to keep my blood sugar stable (devastatingly tasty with a cup of coffee!) . Even my picky wife has now made these her choice over Clif's Mojo bars. An added bonus, for my fellow Primal eaters is that they do not contain grains.

True story: I actually ate one of these DURING my son's delivery. My wife asked, "did you just eat something with peanut butter" . . . why yes I did!

Enjoy!

Elk Mountain TT #1 & Red Cross Charity Ride

So Thursday was the first TT up Elk Mountain Rd. benefiting Asheville City Schools. I was pretty excited about this event, as was the rest of the team and we had 3 of our riders there with Jason and Andrew out with work commitments, and Eric on the mend. We got lucky with the weather as well as the rain blew in then right out for the start of the race! I came into the race pretty fresh, but with a lack of sleep due to my little boy and his sleeping patterns! I got a fairly early start, and my goal was to go under 23 minutes - my PR for the climb (from the bridge) with better form. Race day, there was a nice tailwind and with the extra motivation from being in a race (and having Chris Emory chasing me!) I was able to shave 75 seconds off my best time, and allowing about 45 seconds for the shortened course, about 30 seconds. Not a super-high power output for me (about 320W), but based on my current fitness my pacing was solid and put me in 4th place behind Cameron Cogburn (with a superb 19:08!), Andy Applegate (21:26), and an impressive returning Adam Ray (21:43). Chris slotted into 5th to stack 3 of our guys into the top 5. Check out the results, and more pictures here: http://www.abrc.net/events/index.htm

In lieu of racing this weekend, the team took part in a Red Cross Charity Ride - Please donate here if you can: http://american.redcross.org/site/TR?px=8163330&fr_id=1246&pg=personal

We had just about the whole team out and all but me completed the full 100 miles, while I cut off about 20 miles to get home for childcare duties! It was a great event and a special thanks goes out to Marios, Alan, and the team for organizing this event! Afterward I had a superb Seven Sisters Abbey Ale from Highland. Refreshing!

As always, thanks to all of our sponsors - check them out: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

GTS Reports - another win for Eric!

Last weekend saw the birth of my son, so my racing was tempered a bit. However Eric was out there stomping on the 3s once again in search of the overall GTS title and upgrade points! Check out his progress:

The last weekend of the training series has just ended, and with good results. Saturday was at river falls and the only thing that made the course troubling was the narrow road that made it difficult to move up through the field. The 1k long climb to the finish wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. It started like all the others, an attack or two per lap with everyone eager to chase them down immediately. So I stayed near the front and just got into someone's slip stream and follow them with minimal effort. But after seeing that no one was going to let anything get away, I drifted back to about mid-pack. And unbeknown to me, a rider got away off the front and had his team blocking quite well. By the time I heard about him, he had over a minute on us. So I spent the next couple laps fighting to the front to get that gap down. By the time I got there he was something like 1:20 ahead. I got it back down to 40 seconds within a lap and it stayed there until the last lap. We had him in sight as we started out final ascent towards the finish. I got antsy and took off about half way up and had a good gap, but I hit my limit and couldn't keep my pace high enough to stay away, and a small group was able to catch me. I got 10th, but it was a good gauge for me to see where my fitness is. Oh well there's always tomorrow to make up for it.

Sunday is here and it's the last race of the series. I've had good performances here the previous two weekends and I was planning on doing the same. Right from the gun I went off and tried to get myself into another break away. But the bullseye was really big on my back today. I attacked 4 or 5 times on the first lap with no results. I'd look back and the field would be strung out behind me or a couple of people would go with me and then not pull through. It was really frustrating and it went on for four laps! I tried everything, attacking on the climbs counter-attacking an attack that just got reeled back in, everything and still nothing. In the last mile of the 4th lap a group of about 7 riders finally got off the front with about a 20 second gap. I saw my chance and gassed it, I took one rider with me and we caught the group quickly. I yelled for everyone to hit it and that we had a good gap. However there was a problem, only about three of us seemed to know what we were doing. Nobody else was pulling through and we were caught shortly after the start of the next lap. So I sat up and just soft pedaled at the front for the next few miles. The Hincapie riders were attacking as much as me and I was trying to get off the front with one of them since they seemed strong enough to make it work. Coming into the headwind on the 5th lap a Hincapie rider surged a little and no one reacted, so I put in a good effort and only two riders chased me this time. I had one of the Hincapie riders and my break away buddy from the first race there with me. We had a decent gap and when I flicked my elbow to have the next guy take a pull, he said he didn't have anything. So I just put my head down and drove on, opening the gap up even more. Eventually he and the Barley's rider started doing pulls and I was finally able to recover a little. We only had a couple more laps to go and stay away, but after all the work I did earlier, I wasn't sure if my legs would have enough in them to make it the rest of the way. We worked together perfectly and the course marshal informed us before the last lap that we had 40 seconds on a chase group of 6. By the last lap with about 2 or 3 miles to go he informed us that we had 1:40 on them! They must have stopped working together or maybe they all just got tired. The head wind really picked up during the last 3 laps. With about 2 miles to go, I was sitting third wheel, and the rider I was drafting must have gotten blown over a little by the wind because my front wheel managed to just catch his derailleur. One of my spokes snapped instantly and it was just jingle-jangling around making all sorts of racket. I didn't have the presence of mind to open my brakes up, so the rim was rubbing them really bad. I thought I was just getting tired. But I managed to make it to the finish line uncontested for another big break away victory. Now I get to upgrade and do the same amount of work for the team chasing down breakaways instead of being in them.

Thanks to all our 2010 sponsors: Highland Brewing, Trek & Bontrager, Liberty Bikes, Rudy Project, PML Pathology, Mosaic Realty, Honey Stinger, Swiftwick, Carmichael Training Systems, Dr. Steve Miller DDS, Crossfit Brevard, Joe Lilly Photography, and Affordable Home Inspections.

See us online at: www.ashevillecyclingelite.com

RACE REPORT: GTS Cat. 3

From the desk of Eric Muehl (Eric's our 'develepmental' Cat. 3, who's a Cat. 1 badass 'cross racer, in search of upgrade points this early-season):

Well, it's February 20th already and that means it's time for me to get some racing done. The race at Donaldson center is the first road race I've done in two years! The weather has left my training a little on the soft side so I went in with a pretty open mind, not expecting anything great. During the drive down and while warming up I had both Chris' giving me advice on how to race and where to attack and all that cool stuff. Telling me to sit in and that if my nose see's any wind in the first hour, I'm doing too much work. Well the race went off without any problems. I spent the first two laps getting used to riding with lots of people inches away from me on all sides. A few people rolled off the front and managed to get a decent gap, but since this was a 50 mile race, no one jumped at the opportunity to reel them in. With about a mile to go in the 2nd lap I moved to the front and put in a big seated effort thinking I was going to tow the entire field with me to bring back those three guys up the road. When I got within 50 meters of the three I sat up and noticed that only one rider came along. So we got to the others and we all worked together well for three laps. I was doing slightly longer pulls than everyone else because I really wanted the break to be successful. I figured it'd be better to get 5th than to run the risk of being pack fodder in a group sprint. Well somehow the peloton caught back up to us and got to within maybe 50 feet or so with about a mile to go before the start of the 6th lap. So myself and a couple other riders kept the pace high to maintain what little gap we had and on the small hill before the 1k sign I drilled it and took three guys with me. We had opened up the gap a little bit. About a mile into the 6th lap we hit the slightly steep short climb, I upped the pace on it and I heard one of the guys yell " we dropped em". So from then on, it was just myself and a Barley's rider working together. I was probably doing 60% of the work but the other rider was still strong enough to keep the pace high. We were averaging somewhere around 25 mph and had opened up a huge gap. By the time we got to the last 1k, all we could see were two chasers about 30 seconds back. I cruised to victory in my first race of the season and I really had to work for it. I got sick that night and combined with being pretty dehydrated, I was unable to race Sunday. So off to a pretty good start this year.

One week later and my sickness from last weekend really hampered my ability to get any decent training in. So I wasn't expecting much Saturday at Fork Shoals. I tried making a couple aggressive moves early on but I was a very marked man. If I made a move, there was 15 other guys right there on my wheel. So I settled in to the peloton for the next couple laps. There were tons of attacks and each one of them was met with an instant reaction from the group, everyone was really aggressive. I got tired of all the bs going on at the front and so I got to the very front on the last lap and controlled everything. Only a ffew people tried attacking and I was able to reel them in quickly with little energy wasted. I let two guys take off with about 3 miles to go and No one else went with them. On the last two little kicker climbs leading to the uphill finish I buried myself, hoping that I would really break the field up. I softened them up a little, but in the end my legs were only good enough for a top 20 or so finish in the sprint.

After a mediocre day for me Saturday, I wasn't sure what my legs were going to be good for. And after the move I pulled last weekend here I thought for sure I'd have a huge bulls eye on my back. Maybe it was the different kit or maybe most forgot me. There was a strong and steady 15mph head wind on the back stretch and finishing straight. I decided to go right from the gun and I managed to get a good 30 second gap or so with two other riders. They both dropped off pretty quickly so I was left to fight the wind by myself for the next lap and a half. There was a bad crash in the 1/2 field so there was a fire truck and ambulance blocking most of the road. They neutralized the race there and I fell back into the peloton to get a little recovery. As we came to the last section before we hit the head wind, I was upfront and three guys put in an attack. I have come to find that no one will respond to aatacks if I'm at the front. So I let them get a decent gap going into the climb and figured that I'd attack on the climb, bridge to them and we'd have a sizeable gap to work with. My legs were starting to feel pretty good, so I went all out and took one or two guys with me. We had a good gap and by the time we crested the hill, there was a group of about 10 other riders that had gapped the rest of the group.
So we had 15 strong, smart riders working perfectly. We had no problem opening up a huge lead on the rest of the group. No one sat in or tried attacking until the last 3 miles. At that point there was only three of us that continued to rotate. I ended up getting stuck out front for a good minute or so with no one pulling through. Then a rider put in an attack. I got in about 10th wheel and sat in with 1k to go. I started moving up and with about 200m to go, I let it fly. Only three riders were able to come around me, I was able to hold everyone else off for a solid 4th place. I've really been surprising myself lately as well as building a reputation for being one of the strongest most aggressive riders in the area. I can't wait to be in shape.