Hi All! Well, it's official, after four years of racing, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 70+ races, I finally earned my first win! All that preparation for last month's Death Valley Stage Race paid off. I placed first in my category, and third overall. I wish I could say my category had more racers (four), but the other three racers put up a good fight, which makes the win that much sweeter. Unfortunately, due to my lack of understanding, and to be honest, ignorance, I do not have enough points to upgrade to Cat 3. If I understand it correctly now, due to the small field size, not many points were awarded, 3-points for my first place finish. USA Cycling requires 20-points in a 12-month period to upgrade from Cat 4 to Cat 3, or 20 mass starts, (mass start = 75 rider field). This is why a rider such as myself, who doesn't race crits, has such a difficult time upgrading. I don't race enough races in a season to upgrade based on starts, and the races I do compete in with a 75+ rider field, (ie...Boulevard, San Luis Rey, etc), are extremely difficult to place high in because of the field size. So what's a rider suppose to do? Well, I'm going to begin by doing my best to be in top form earlier next season, so I have a better chance of placing high in the early season road races. That coupled with entering the big climbing events such as the Death Valley race, Everest Challenge, etc, should give me enough points to upgrade. Hope you're all doing well out there! Until next time...
Hi All! Well today I competed in the Santiago Canyon Time Trial. This is still one of my favorite events of the year, at least as time trials go. Since I haven't been on my TT bike since April, I decided to just run the course on my road bike. It's not the worst decision to make, since there is quite a bit of climbing on the course, but if you're really concerned about running the fastest possible time, a TT bike is needed. Needless to say, I entered the Cat 4 category, and my only goal of the day was to break 30-minutes for the 11-mile run up Santiago Canyon Road. I managed to pull out a 29:10, which was good enough for 3rd place, and a bronze medal. Funny story about the medal. In the four years I've raced this event, I've never stayed around for the awards ceremony. I've finished in the top five a handful of times, and came close to winning once. Today as usual, I packed the car up and walked over to check the results. My wife, goddaughter, friend, and I, stayed for the awards ceremony, and watched as all the categories were called, and the medals were given out. We noticed the 4/5 category wasn't mentioned, I told my wife they probably did that category first. No big deal, I said...let's go get lunch! As we walked away, my friend decided to hang back and ask. Sure enough they did do the 4/5 awards first, and they gave out medals to the top three finishers. THE BRONZE!!! Makes me wonder how many medals I left behind at this event! Today's race officially marked the end of my season! Now it's riding to just keep a decent base, keep the weight down, and enjoy the scenery. Then, December will be all about base miles and endurance. January the intensity will work its way back in to the program, all in hopes to be fit, fast, and ready for Boulevard, the tradiitonal first race of the new season! Tomorrow's plan...not sure yet, but at least three good hours in the saddle. Hope all is well, until next time...
Hi All! How's it going? Sorry, nothing new and exciting to report in this post. Work has been going well, slow, but going. The riding has been about the same as well. I'm still waiting for the results of the Death Valley Stage Race! I really don't know what's taking the promoter so long to post the results of a field of thirty riders total! Ahhhhh! This last weekend was good. Saturday morning I loaded the bike in the car, planning on riding home from Mission Bay Park, where the wife and I went down to watch our good friend compete in a Cross Country meet for Palomar College. It was the first time I've ever watched a running meet, and it really was an exciting event! Running, in my opinion, has to be the "purest" of all aports out there. Think about it...all that's required are a shorts and a pair of shoes! Maybe it's just due to the fact that I compete in an endurance sport myself, but I really appreciated watching the runners laying it out there that day. Sunday, I met a good training partner of mine, Mark, doown in Rancho San Diego, and we hit the hills and rode the Great Western Loop. Great day of riding...42 miles, 3800ft of climbing, and 1500 calories. The legs felt better then ever, another sign that all the hard training Bailey had me doing to get ready for the DV Stage Race, is still paying off even a month later! This coming Saturday, I'll be racing in the Santiago Canyon Time Trial. This WILL be my last race of the season! I don't mean to sound like I'm tired of competing, I'm actually getting more excited and anxious as the week goes by, and can't wait to pin on another number and lay it all out there! Don't worry, I'll have the race results the same day! LOL! Hope all is well! Until next time...
Hi All! How's it going out there? Good here. Well, to sum everything up...I'm still waiting the results of my race out in Death Valley! The training, or I really should say, riding, is still happening. I've just been staying on the bike to keep a level of fitness, definitely not to prepare for any events, or try and keep the high level of fitness I achieved late in the season. In fact, none of my rides have been much over a couple of hours at a time. November 13th, I do plan on racing in one more event for the year, the Santiago Canyon TT. Tradionally, I've almost always finished off my season with this event, and usually have actually kept the trraining up so I'd be ready for at least a top five finish, but this year, after all the high intensity, disciplined training Bailey had me doing in order to prepare for my last couple of races, I'm just not that motivated to really keep pushing for this TT, in fact, I wouldn't even be racing it if it wasn't for the fact my wife and goddaughter were making the trip up north to watch me hurt myself! Yesterday, I made the trip up to Camp Pendleton to watch the "Storm the Beach" cyclocross race, sponspored this year by none other then Bailey Bikes! The field was stacked to say the least! Chris Horner, Sid Taberlay, Brent Prenzlow, and the Bailey boys to name a few. It was some great racing action, kind of predictable as far as the results were concerned, (Horner 1st, Taberlay 2nd, Prenzlow 3rd, Behrens 4th, and Bailey 5th), but still a great place to go watch some cross action! Hope all is well out there, here are some photos, and I'll talk to you soon! Until next time...
Hi All! How's life? Things have been good here. For all the readers (reader! LOL!) of my blog, you'll know I competed in the Death Valley Stage Race last weekend. I've been waiting to post a race report, (along with pictures and videos), until I receive the official results, and unfortunately, I'm still waiting for them! I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll reframe from providing any information on the event, but I will say, what an incredible race! I'll definitely be back for more, and plan on keeping my focus next year strictly on RR's, and include more "climbing" focused events such as the Death Valley races, Everest Challenge, etc. Stage 2 of the race was last Sunday, and I haven't ridden my bike until today, this Sunday. Don't worry, I planned to do that, just to give myself a physical and mental break from all the training in preparation for the Death Valley event. It's been a nice break this last week, but I'll tell you, my life's routine really gets out of whack when I disrupt it with something like taking the bike completely out of it. It really has made me realize just how much of an integral part of my life the bike is! Kind of scary!!! As I mentioned, I did get back out on the road today for a little over two hours, with no real purpose, other then just riding. That's probably what the rest of this month will be in the way of riding for me. Wherever, whenever, and with whoever, just go with what life allows me in the way of riding right now. My priorities right now are family, cafe, new business, bike. Pretty much in that order. Wish I had more to tell you, and I promise I'll provide the race report as soon as it's in stone. Hope all is well! Until next time...
