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!