Doing what I can...

Hi All,
I'm more then halfway through with my 12-day work stint! A couple of things I've realized from this. 1) Working everyday really isn't all that hard. As a matter of fact, I'd work far more days if it wouldn't cost me losing an employee. 2) With daylight savings time, it's possible to work everyday and still train, although it's difficult to log some serious miles.

My current training schedule during this work period has been to ride every other day for 90-minutes, moderate-to-hard intensity, attacking every hill I come across on a 30-mile loop I've designed for myself. My goal is to just keep the level of fitness I've achieved after my bout with the back injury and bronchitis I suffered over most of December and January. Throw crashing at the Tour of Murrieta in on top of that, and my performance at the upcoming Omnium stage race will be questionable.

Although the Omnium was originally an "A" race for me, I have to give it a little less priority in the grand scheme of things now, and just hope for the best. My plan, (now that I'm not racing crits anymore), is to kill it in the TT and RR, and accumulate enough points in those two events to place high overall without even racing the crit. We'll see!

More importantly, my focus as shifted to the Devil's Punchbowl RR on April 18th, and the San Luis Rey RR on May 3rd. I'm not sure I'll be in top form for Punchbowl, but should be by San Luis. As soon as the Omnium is over it's back to logging some seriously long miles in the saddle with large amounts of climbing and interval work.

I still have yet to race a TT this season, which makes the Omnium's TT even that much more iffy! There's times when I wished I would of skipped the Bulldog RR, and instead opted to race the Santiago Canyon TT just to have a TT in my legs, but trade my only top ten road finish this year, I THINK NOT!!!

We'll that's bout it for now. Until next time...

Training Week

Training Week -- 03/16 - 03/22

Mon: 0
Tue: 2hrs
Wed: 0
Thu: 3.0hrs; moderate-to-hard rode, Valley Center, Bonsall
Fri: 2.0hrs;
Sat: 1.25hrs; light-to-moderate spin out to PCH and back
Sun: 0

Total: 8.25hrs

Training Week

Training Week -- 03/09 - 03/15

Mon: 0
Tue: 2hrs; easy spin along coast
Wed: 2hrs; TT bike,light-to-moderate, followed by core w/o
Thu: 0
Fri: 2.5 hrs; easy spin along coast
Sat: 25 mins; Tour of Murrieta Grand Prix, CRASH!!!
Sun: 1.5hrs, light-to-moderate ride around San Marcos

Total: 8.5hrs

It was bound to happen...

Hi All. Well as the title states, it was bound to happen, crashing that is. Woke up early Saturday morning, 5am, and was on the road to Murrieta by 6. Our race time was 8:50am, and we had a great turn out for the two-day stage race, about nine or ten of us in both events. The plan was for another teammate and I to try and get some attacks in and just see what happens since we didn't have our sprinters with us. The whistle was blown, and off we went. I was curious to see how the legs were going to handle the first crit of the season. As expected the first ten minutes hurt a lot.

I never start out strong right out of the gate. The pace seemed extremely high and never let up. About fifteen minutes in to the race me legs began to finally settle in and at that point I knew finishing wasn't going to be a problem, but the high pace never ceased which never allowed me to get up front, let alone, attack. As usual there was a crash entering turn two, which ended up being the sketchiest turn on the course. The crash took place in front of me, but I was able to get around. Disaster adverted. At least for a few minutes.

After exiting turn four (the final turn before the start/finish line), the road went from two lanes to four, but then was reduced to three lanes because of the race announcer's booth and the cones in front of it. A couple of times I used this opportunity to stay wide on the outside and pick up a few spots, but then found myself battling to get back in the pack before I reached the cones. After doing this two times, I decided this wasn't smart and stayed in the pack through the coned section.

A couple of laps later, there I was, sitting in the middle of the pack as we entered that section. The next thing I knew I see a cone flying through the air, followed by that terrible metallic crunching and people screaming. I saw the crash taking place to the right of me, and watched it domino its way to the right towards me. I cut hard right bumping the rider next to me hard, but was unable to get around the rider who went down in front of me. Lock em up, and over I go! At that point, all I could think about was trying to save my new frame. I held fast to the bars, tucked left and hit the pavement. I ended up laying on my back, with my bike above me. From there my next thought was more bikes heading my way! I curled up and waited. Nothing. I looked up and saw the race had gotten around us. Here come the people to grab our bikes and us off the road.

Ended up with some minor scrapes on my hip, shoulder, and leg, but a pretty deep cut which bled profusely on my pinky finger. Courtesy of someone's sprocket! Needless to say, nothing broken, and was even able to get out today on the bike for 90 minutes pain free (yes, I skipped the final stage of the Tour of Murrieta)! What did I take away from this incident you ask? NO MORE CRITS!!! I said I wasn't racing them anymore, but didn't follow through on that, and look where it got me. The risk/reward just isn't great enough. I really don't enjoy them, hell even if I won, it would pale in comparison to winning a road race, time trial, or hill climb. Those are my passion, and honestly the only types of racing I have a chance of winning. Be safe out there you all:) Until next time...

Anxious...

I have an itch that I really need to scratch! I'm itchin to race this weekend. My fitness still isn't where it needs to be to place high, especially in a crit, but I plan on using this weekend's racing (Tour of Murrieta) to absolutely bury myself. I haven't been doing a lot of high-intensity training lately, I've been focusing more on re-building my base, and getting my legs back in the hills. This Saturday's crit should prove to be painful. Sunday's circuit race won't be much different given the short distance (39 miles). Pain with a side of pain please:) Report to follow. Until next time...

Training Week

Training Week -- 03/02 - 03/08

Mon: 1.75hr; easy spin to coast and back
Tue: 0
Wed: 2.5hrs; San Elijo/Twin Oaks hill repeats (3x3)
Thu: 0
Fri: 3hrs; moderate ride out to PCH and back in via Del Dios
Sat: 3.75hrs; SDBC "A" ride + race clinic + hill sprints
Sun: 4.25hrs; moderate to hard hill work. Valley Center, Bonsall, Fallbrook

Total: 15.25hrs

It's Monday morning and I'm feeling really tired. I think between the time change (I'm not complaining), and the hard work over the weekend, I'm ready to start tapering back this week for the next race this weekend. A two-day stage race, The Tour of Murrieta. I've never raced this one, but am looking forward to it. The first day is basically a crit, followed Sunday by a 39-mile circuit race. I won't be doing my usual recovery ride today, I noticed my cassette had some play in it on yesterday's ride, and it turned out to be something internal within the hub. But I did take tomorrow off for my b-day, and will be sure to log some easy miles then! Until next time...

Gotta Love This!!!

Ryder Hesjedal :: Haleakala Attempt from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

Training Week

Training Week -- 2/23 - 03/01

Mon: 0
Tue: 2hrs; easy spin around Carlsbad/SM
Wed: 2.5hrs; San Elijo/Twin Oaks hill repeats (3x3)
Thu: 0
Fri: 3hrs; easy spin down PCH
Sat: 1.25hrs; Bulldog Road Race
Sun: 5.5hrs; Palomar Mtn.

Total: 14.25hrs