My First Big Race: Trackfest 05 -- Racing

Woohoo!! My first time in a 'big' race, with dozens of people watching...how exciting! (I must admit, i miss taking pictures...but didn't really have time to focus on that. Thanks to Brandon for snapping a few shots, several which are featured in my write-up.)

Sprint from the Miss'n'Out!

It was another nice, hot day...just under 30C i'd guess. It was a little on the windy side tho, which ended up being a fairly significant factor in the racing... I wasn't sure how i felt, from my effort on Thursday...i didn't feel dead, but i wasn't feeling too lively either.... Seems a constant theme that i never can tell, so i should just stop trying to guess!

The program had changed a little, i was expecting a Keirin in there, but it was ousted for a short Scratch race instead...i'd have rather done the Keirin's, short Scratches are my nemesis.....

Also, i'd planned to race in the 'A' category, but only four 'B's' signed-up, so several 'newer' A's transferred over...couldn't let those four guys keep the $400 in prizes to themselves!!

Onto the races for Rider #12!!

15 Lap Scratch (fyi: lap = 333m)

Feeling out the pack in the Points race.

I wasn't feeling too peppy when we started, and a little sluggish... There were several attacks, but nothing too significant..i mainly sat in with the pack, tho i seem to recall pulling an inordinate amount...... Final lap came waaaay too quickly, and i watched the four people ahead of me gain some distance, and fought off Bart for 5th place. (I swear i got it, i edged ahead of him, but he got the placing.)

So, 6th place in my first 'big' event! Not my type of race tho...i was just starting to get my engine running.... I think i need to do a hard warm-up before these events.

Next:

Chariot Race (one lap, all-out)

Not sure if i favor the shorter Scratch or a Chariot.... Due to my smaller gear preference, i can pick up speed quite quickly, but i'm not so great at maintaining it...

In this race, Marcus and Jeremy peeled off pretty quickly, and knowing the wind was gonna torch me, i did all i could to stick to their wheels....which is what i did! Resulted in a surprising 3rd place finish, yay me! Hit 58kph in this as well, my highest speed of the event.

Miss'n'Out

Track Racing is all about suffering. Who can suffer the most....

Ahhh..this is more my type of racing. A Miss'n'Out has a bell every two laps, and the last person over the line is eliminated until three remain, and then it's a sprint for the 1-2-3 placing.

Last year, i had one strategy for this race, which actually worked pretty well: stick to the red line. I'd ride one 'lane' up, right at the front, and just hold it....keep people from passing me, but not do too much more. I don't think i can't get away with this now tho, without getting floored later in the race.

This time i played around, some laps i was in the front, some laps i drafted.... People were quickly eliminated, tho it seemed to me i was a bit of a target and several blocks were attempted...who knows... ;) ...and with Marcus out of the race with a flat, i ended up in the final three with Jeremy and Sarah... I think i ended up pulling a bit too much earlier in the race, because when they took off, i basically waved good-bye! In addition, my rear wheel did something strange every time i really hit the pedals, which wigged me out...so i didn't pursue too hard.

That was another 3rd placement for me, yay!! I'm liking this racing thing!

Final event:

54 Lap Points Race

The view i prefer to leave people with, to crush and demoralize them. (When i can.)

Ahhh - my favorite event! Bell every six laps, and points awarded to the first four over the line... This typically favors sprinters, but i like to maintain a high pace, and keep it up after the sprints, which can often result in escaping the pack and making some decent ground...

I talked with Sarah beforehand, and we agreed to 'go long' together, and try to get away...we were going to wait until after the first bell lap, then maintain speed and break!

Come the bell lap, i was up near the front of the pack, so i believe i scored 1pt for a 4th. Sarah and i started a small break, but the rest of the pack quickly caught us, so we abandoned that for now, to try again later..

Next bell happened, and i was positioned kind of poorly, so didn't get any points, but thought that might be another good time to break.... Again, picked-up speed, had a few tag-a-longs, but the pack were onto us, and there was not much else to be done.

Again, sat in the next few laps, i kept working the paceline, keeping the intensity high. Come the bell lap, i was at the front of the line, and so hammered, and got those sweet 5pts to myself, yip!! I kept pedaling, and suddenly Marcus was with me, and the pack was several bike lengths back.... He says 'wanna go?' and i'm like 'hell yeah!'

So we do. =)

Matt yells out "Challenge him!!" - yeah right, if i had massive legs like you!

From there, Marcus and i averaged a 40kph pace, and the pack stayed less than a half-lap away for about 20 laps, but then they started to slow down....unfortunately not before the race was over, so we didn't catch them...if only we had a few more laps....

Marcus is a stronger rider than me, so the first bell on our break i didn't bother contesting him at all. He'd done some good hard pulls, and positioned himself to take the harder (read: windy) ones as well.

Second bell on the fly, i gave it up as well. I felt like i was maintaining a high pace, and prolly didn't have too much more juice in me. As seen in the photo, Matt came out and yelled 'contest him!!'

Next bell, i decided i'd give it a go...came around the corner, got out of the saddle and tried to pick up the pace! I held him off to the line, but he got it. Crap.

Last lap, he bolted right by the bell, and i had no chance... In retrospect however, i see now that i *should* be trying harder for these... Letting him do a little more pulling, and trying to grab the points. (In last Thursday's race, i might have done a fair bit better, and even had a chance, since Dave was riding a considerably bigger gear, and if i made a little jump near the line, i might have had a chance..)

My main concern was that the pack behind us would catch us....but that doesn't really make sense, since we're attacking, picking up speed, then settling back into our previous pace. I guess i'm afraid that i won't be able to maintain that pace after an attack, but hey - that's bike racing!! I will try to be more adventurous in the future...good lesson learned.

So..i challenge him!

Oh, and so i came in 2nd place in the Points race, which felt pretty darn good. =)

What a great day, and such great people to race with. The A's really put out, and were amazing to watch. I'm actually glad i ended up riding with the B's, because i don't think i would have had it in me to even ride with these guys. (Maybe last Thu...)

Looking forward to checking out the Bastion Square Crit tomorrow as well, got some friends to cheer on. =)

Here's a zoom and crop from the
'Challenge him' photo..
..the words haven't hit my brain yet..haha

And the final image of the day, Brandon caught Marcus and i as we're breaking away, and you can see the shadows of the other riders:

Can Endurance Runners Be Vegetarians? -- Article

Below is a pretty good article on veggie athletes, click the link for the full article, or below are a few excerpts. Nice to see that lack of 'protein combining' myth, and have them spell out that getting 15% of your calories from protein is quite easy.

Science of Sport: Can Endurance Runners Be Vegetarians?

Many meat-eating athletes wonder whether a switch to a vegetarian diet might provide a performance boost, and there are logical reasons for such thinking. First, vegetarian diets tend to be high-carbohydrate regimens, which should lead to optimal glycogen storage in muscles. At the lofty intensities required for high-level training and serious competition, carbohydrate is the primary source of energy; when muscle-carbohydrate (glycogen) levels are too low, athletes experience fatigue and tend to perform poorly (1). Thus, a vegetarian diet may function as an "insurance policy" against insipid intramuscular carbohydrate storage andunderachievement in races.

In addition, it is possible that vegetarian eating might enhance the recovery process following tough workouts and competitions. The reasoning goes this way: High-intensity or prolonged effort generates increased levels of "free radicals" within an athlete's body, potentially enhancing the breakdown of cell membranes, including the membranes which wrap around muscle cells (2). An athlete's own physiological systems can synthesize antioxidant enzymes to stem this free-radical onslaught, but an additional line of defense is provided via the consumption of antioxidant nutrients. Vegetarian diets revolve around fruits, vegetables, and whole grains - the kinds of food which are high in antioxidants. Thus, vegetarian eating may do a better job of protecting muscle cells during hard training, compared with dietary plans which are more biased toward meats.

...

Protein is another concern for vegetarians, since plant foods can be considerably lower in protein, compared with meat. Research indicates that endurance athletes probably need to take in approximately 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day - and that strength athletes might need as much 1.4 to 1.8 grams per kilogram daily. While such intakes might seem rather expansive, they are actually fairly easy to meet when athletes - including vegetarians and meat-eaters - simply keep their protein intakes at around 15 percent of total calories (14). As Dr. David Nieman points out in an excellent review article (15), even totally vegan athletes can enjoy optimal protein intake by emphasizing the consumption of protein-rich plant foods, including legumes (beans and peas), nuts, seeds, and whole-grain products.

...

So what is the bottom line about vegetarian eating and athletic performance? As Dr. Nieman points out, the available evidence indicates that a vegetarian diet has neither a demonstrably positive nor significantly negative effect on physical capacity. Although vegetarian diets are definitely "endurance-athletes' diets," in the sense that they are high in carbohydrate, usually adequate in protein, and low in fat, it is possible for meat-eaters to consume just as much carbohydrate as vegetarians do; when this happens, meat-lovers and vegetarians perform in similar fashion during endurance activities. There has been some concern that vegetarian female athletes are at increased risk for menstrual dysfunction, but Nieman indicates that low energy intake, not vegetarian eating per se, is the actual culprit in this area. Finally, vegetarian athletes do not seem to be at higher risk for impaired nutrient status, either in terms of protein or various minerals. As Dr. Nieman concludes, "…a varied and well-planned vegetarian diet is compatible with successful athletic endeavor."

Go Loooooong!! -- Log

Wowwee - had the best race night EVAR tonite!

It was quite hot (29C, it's been under 20C for the most part), and tho i felt a little dehydrated, my body did very strange and fast things... Also only the second time this year i went without knee warmers, and didn't wear a base layer under my jersey. (Nice hairy chest for all to enjoy..haha)

One big thing that was different was my gearing. I went up a few inches, but used a smaller chainring in the front, so instead of my regular 48x15 i was riding a 46x14. The nice thing about the smaller ring is that it spins more than a larger one with the same gearing. Turns out this really worked to my benefit.

Tonite was the shared race with the Victoria Cycling League, so a few roadies showed up as well. Talked with Kevin before, who didn't race unfortunately (and missed my success!!) and asked if i should try to make a break earlier or later in the race..i usually feel like i should go earlier, since i tend to run outta juice later on....but he said wait.

So i did. First bell, i just sat in. A few guys made a break, but i didn't want to chase, too early in the race....we'd get 'em. Third bell we were working hard to catch 'em, and when the bell rang, i was at the front of the pack...so i just held it...got the 4th place point since there were three in the break ahead.

Matt had been away working on his bike, and had recently jumped in... At this point he got on the front and picked-up speed, and after a couple laps bridged us with the first break-away (valiant effort!!) This is when i noticed my heart rate -- it was through the roof!! I was surging along at 190bpm!! Stampede in my chest, look out!

Keep in mind until tonite, the highest i'd ever seen it on the bike was 192, and 196 while sprinting on foot....so there i was, motoring along at 190bpm.....pretty crazy! It barely dropped below 184 after this...very strange for me, but very good. (My breathing was fairly heavy, but legs felt very good.)

Back to the race, there was another small break, and then El Presidante (Chris A) went off the front...no one pursued, and a few guys in the group said 'let him catch us!' I wasn't too concerned, tho i think it's a little weird to do this..! I just sat in for a few more laps...bell rang, guys motored around me, i stuck to the tail, and as they all slowed after the sprint, i maintained my pace and noodled ahead. (Haven't we seen this before....?)

I'm about a third of a lap ahead of the pack, and look back, and there's big Dave McLeod (Organic Athlete) catching up to me, with the rest of the pack still a ways behind him... WOOHOO! Perfect time for a break!!

We start to give'r for a few laps, and soon we're in a very solid position 1/2 a lap ahead of the pack...and this is where we stay for the rest of the race, and six bells. It was pretty amazing, just the two of us....and i've never ridden that fast or hard for so long..!!

I didn't try to get any 1st place finishes from Dave, he was doing more of the work (got him to do full lap pulls on occasion, since i was running out of juice..he's a monster!)

Speedy Vinko was the only guy to catch us, and held in for the last two bells. Again, i didn't try to contest them for the points...i could hang in, but didn't have the lungs for much more than that.

Near the end i had a really neat experience.. I'd been pushing this mad pace, with my HR waaay up... We'd slowed down a little, and i started to recover a bit.. My HR was still around 184, but suddenly the breathing was much easier.... Dunno what that means, but it was a pretty nice experience after dragging my lungs behind me for ~15 minutes.

For those last two bells we stayed our 1/2 lap ahead of our pursuers (they were down to three after Vinko left 'em), and that was pretty much it!

I came in 4th, with 18pts i believe. Dave got 1st of course, and i believe Vinko got 2nd, with Chris and his 20pts (from lapping) in 3rd. Definitely my best performance so far, and a well-earned placing. (This goes out to the Victoria Cycling League points system as well!)

I felt surprisingly fine afterwards...not knowing how i'd feel after that type of effort. At home an hour later, i felt a little woozy, but it's cleared-up now.

In the race i hit a top speed of 56.5kph again, that was prolly my one sprint for a point.. Max HR is new for me - i hit 198bpm for the first time. My average HR for the 36 minute race (72laps = 24km) was 184bpm...pretty amazing since in previous races i rarely get above 180bpm *period*. Average speed was ~40kph, another record for me.

Now, let's hope i still have something left in the legs for the weekend races..!

The last week was a good training week for me:

* Fri: 3hr FM ride w/Andy
* Sat: started w/Burnside group, broke off with a bunch of trackies, did over 3hrs, quite fast!
* Sun: 2hr RR w/Sarah
* Mon: sprint nite at the track, got a 13.77 in the 200m, no new high speed...
* Tue: 2hr FM ride w/Andy
* Wed: total rest day (no gym)

Tomorrow i'm gonna check out Andy's race course with him (for an upcoming triathlon), will do one lap easy, to scout it out, second lap i'll just draft him as he goes his race pace, and third lap discuss strategies with him....if i can devise any..! (Go like hell!) So that'll basically be a RR for me. (15km per lap i believe.)

Sat is race day, Sun i'll prolly go for an easy spin.. Monday i'm moving, and Tuesday i'll prolly head out with Andy for another 3hr FM ride, or maybe bump it up a little and do EM.

That's all i can think of for now, keep those legs spinning. =)

Tasty Water Bottles -- Bike Parts

Woohoo! Finally, non-#4 bottles can be found in the city!!

Over at North Park Bicycles (no website, they're at North Park and Quadra, just out of downtown), they've got these BBB bottles made from #5 plastic, which is food grade and doesn't leach. My buddy Kim has been using them for a few weeks now and says they've been fantastic.

$5 each, they're nicely squishy, and hold 600ml, coming in blue, smoke, white and clear. (I got the blue and smoke..) Here's a page with all the info.

I'll let you know how they are once i've used 'em. If you go in, tell them Dave recommended them...i've got a pile of people going in, and it'll be kinda funny if everyone says i sent 'em. ;)

Ep. III: Revenge of the Shish -- Log

Another week of adventures gone by!

Nothing too exciting to report... Took last Friday off, Sat & Sun were Burnside rides (pretty fast actually), Monday was Pursuit Night at the track, just did Team pursuits. Tuesday went to the track and did my CTS (Carmichael Training Systems) Field Test.

Basically, it's two 8min efforts at my 'maximum sustainable intensity', and this gives me a heartrate to base my training program on. I was a little tired, so my results are a prolly a little on the low side, but i'll do this again in a month to keep it accurate. I was pretty beat afterwards tho, i really worked it...hammering each stroke for 8mins.

Wednesday i went to the gym at 7:30am if you can believe it...Brando was busy Tues evening..bleh.. I sorta liked working out that early, but i felt rather tired most of the day, and sleepy in the evening. I need that extra hr of sleep...

Wed afternoon helped organize the Ethics Co-op / Buying Collective pick-up, and got my foods....including 4kg of quinoa and 4 boxes of Clif bars - woot! (I helped start this, and also designed and programmed the website...it's pretty cool, totally automated!)

And then tonite was track night! A BBQ (oh yay says the vegan) was planned for tonite, so the races were SHORT! I raced a total of 17 laps..!!

First up was an unknown distance scratch race...and it turned out it was 11 laps!

Lotsa people out tonite, and i ended up positioned at the very back of the pack..it was really weird being there! Since there were so many people, it took about 5 laps before i actually saw the front of the line..hilarious! By then, three guys had broken off the front in an attack... (When they broke, i was probably about 1/3rd of a lap behind them, due to the length! So no chance of me catching them..) I just sat in, several of us broke off from the rest....and then the bell rang!! I just held in with the sprint, and came in 6th. Not too bad!

Next up were the Keirins, seven of us lined up... Vinko ended up at the front behind the pacer, followed by Sarah, followed by me. I got virtually no draft..haha..

The speed picked up, and the pacer pulled off, and Vinko kept the pace up. Charles pulled up beside me and alongside Vinko...one lap to go...i just tried holding on, pedaling like a madman! They kept inching away from me, but i kept on spinning, best i could.... In the end two other guys caught me at the line, denying me the final round, but it was good to hang in!

Turns out i hit 59kph - new top speed for me!! I'm riding a 48x15, so that means i hit close to 160rpm....i was humming! I'm gonna see if i can borrow a 46 tooth ring, and ride in a 46x14...a couple inches more might be good at higher speeds.

After that were the finals, which were quite exciting to watch! Dave McLeod (Organic Athlete) and Matt were both flying at mad speeds, i think this is the first time i've seen Matt seriously challenged in a sprint! (Tho Vinko keeps him honest!) Matt pulled the win, but not by much. Great racing to watch anyhow! (In the previous race, Chad made an amazing effort to try and catch Matt, who launched off after the bike pulled off. By the time they hit the line, Chad made up about four bike lengths...damn these guys are strong!)

The night ended with the BBQ, i brought some quinoa (in tin foil) and added a veggie burger, and warmed it all up. I'm probably the first person ever to barbeque quinoa. =)

It was nice to hang out and chat with everyone, hopefully we'll do this again!

The rest of my week is pretty straight-forward..ride ride ride! I'm gonna try and stick to the Carmichael plan more, like spending more time in the appropriate HR ranges...i haven't been doing this so much, since i've been doing group rides and hill repeats.. I'm definitely getting stronger tho, so i'm doing something right!

So long for now, and keep the rubber on the ground!

Anagrams!

There's an anagram finder out there, here's what i found:

Vegetarian
* I vent a rage
* Eat in grave
* Irate vegan (my fave)

Vegetarians
* Vegan satire
* Vegans are it
* Eat vegans sir

Vegan Bicycling
* bagel Vic, gin NYC
* I've began cycling
* vein bag cycling (haha)
* clingy vice bang
* ban giving cycle
* cleaving big NYC
* by cave clinging
* calving by genic
* vega bin cycling (advertisement for Vega?)
* big vane cycling
* gang be civil, NYC

Dave Noisy
* invade soy (hahahaha!)
* Dave in soy
* aid envoys
* adios envy
* avoids yen
* aids envoy (ouch!!)
* avid yes no
* diva yes no
* ye son avid
* veiny soda (blech..)
* i envy soda
* Davy Noise
* end soya iv
* I vend soy

Vegan Trackie
* a tick avenger
* greek vatican
* i vacant greek
* given tar cake (yum..)
* vintage creak
* eking cave art
* negative rack
* Keegan rat Vic (Heather's cat is called Keegan!)
* Agent Vic Rake

Okay, that's enough..haha....

Next week, vegan cycling Haiku's!

Race Night - Sprints! -- Log

Ahhh..my specialty...not!

Last night featured sprinting events, which now kick my ass. (In the B category, i found i had more kick than a lot of guys, but now i get thoroughly stomped!! A lotta strong riders..wooo!)

First up was a short (15 lap) scratch race, lots of attacks, hung in with the pack but didn't have enough pepper for the end, might have placed in the top 10, not sure...

Next up was the Chariot race, a 1 lap all-out sprint..haha.. Mike and someone else (forget..) got off ahead of me, and i managed to stay within a couple meters of Mike's wheel to the line....but Chuck and someone else flew past me at the end (all 15 seconds later of it!), knocking me out of contention (only four would go onto the finals) which is fine by me...haha..

Notable mention: hit my new TOP SPEED in that race, at 56.5kph. Gotta get that in a 200m now..

Final race of the night was what might be the most brutal race in track.....a Win'n'Out. It's like a Miss'n'Out, except the first person over the line is out (thus winning) - if you go for a win, and don't get it....you're fubared.

I knew i wasn't going to get a respectable placing, so i just hung in with the front pack, and kept the pace high, keeping an eye open for weaknesses...

Five bells (and riders) had gone, and it was me, Ryan, Sarah and Chad in contention... The bell goes, and Ryan pulls ahead, dropping me like a sack of wet potatoes..i believe Chad pursues. Then, out of the blue on the final stretch, Andre comes tearing by, 'taking' the lap! That bastard!! We all looked at each other, wondering where in hell he came from! (Turns out he'd been lapped, and was just messing with us...bastard!! We all rode 2 extra laps because of him..)

Ryan keeps the pace up, and remains ahead of me...Sarah is sitting on my wheel, and i believe Chad had dropped off at this point, he later said he was pushing too big of a gear to maintain this intensity. 48x14 i believe...big gear for this kinda race!

Ryan handily wins the next lap and it's me and Sarah...she's pulling as we hit the bell...she goes uptrack to draft, and i hit the gas there, sprinting away!! This is as good a time as any to try out this strategy...! Also, i never know what Sarah has left in her tank, so i didn't want to risk it....turns out she was outta steam, and so i was clean when i hit the line...which landed me in 7th - woohoo! No league points, but another excellent experience on the track.

Big up to all my fellow racers - great night. =)

Road Bike is Back! -- Log

Yay! Got a call yesterday (Tuesday), my rim came in, and the wheel was built - kick ass!! Rushed over to the bike shop, and they gave me a great deal. Plopped a new tube and tire on, and rode it to the gym...feels nice and solid! Can't wait to get out on the road in some sprints, see how stiff it is. (I asked them to make it nice and toight...toight like a toigah!)

Been a pretty good week since last Thursday:

Fri - evening at the track, practiced some jumps, hit my new top speed of 55.5kph. Gotta get that higher tho..

Sat - went back to the Observatory on mountain bike, did 5 repeats, around 8mins each. Felt pretty good.

Mon - sprint nite at the track, got a 13.71 in the 200m, my fastest of the year. Still wanna get that below 12.....prolly won't do that until June. Hills seem to be paying off tho.

Tue - More Ob repeats w/Andy on the MTB, only did 4, but really nailed my legs, all under 8min. Gym in the evening, felt really good considering i missed last week, maintained most of my strength, yay!

I'm really excited to have my road bike back tho....seriously missed that thing! Gotta get out for some long rides! I also finally took my fenders off!! (They've been on it since i got the bike nearly four years ago!) I gotta leave 'em on since i also communte on it....but now i got these amazing clip-on fenders that work like a charm. Yippee!

The rest of my week looks like:

Thu - race nite at the track, it's Sprint Night! That means a Chariot, Miss'n'Out, Keirin and Scratch (if time)

Fri - recovery ride w/Andy

Sat - hopefully a good hard long ride with Kim & Kevin

Sun - might join up with the Burnside group, it's been a while! They might be going faster than i want tho, so prolly will drop off.

Mon - Pursuit nite at the track

Tue - More Ob repeats, gym in the eve

I'm also considering entering into the Bastion Square crit... I'd prolly do alright in the Cat4 race...but do i really want to risk life and limb with that nasty corner? heh...

Race Night! -- Log

Ahh..another Thursday, which means another race night at the track!

It started with a 25 lap scratch race, nothing too exciting happened for me, i don't even recall many of the details! Hung in with the group, *might* have been lapped in the final few..not sure. Came in a healthy 6th. Felt pretty good, haven't run for a while, so the legs were pretty fresh.

Next up was a 42 lap points race... These are often funny ones: sometimes someone bolts off the front at the very beginning, other times we just stick together.. Tonite was the latter, and so off the top i just set a decent pace, not too hard, and slowly rolled off the front.. Within' a lap or so, i had about a third of a lap lead. No one in the pack seemed too concerned about it, pretty funny feeling being out there all alone!

So, i just hung out there ahead of the peloton! Come the fifth lap (bell/points lap every six) Mike busted off from the group and quickly caught up to me, and we both booked it for the lap! He ended up a hair in front of me, when we got to the line, but neither of us were really trying, and i'm sure he'd have it if we were, his sprint training seems to have done its job!

I'd like to mention that this is a fairly momentus experience for me - first completely 'earned' point in an A Points race! And fair strategy employment at that...

The pack quickly caught us, but since they'd all just sprinted as well, i was feeling pretty good and noodled off the front again...and put myself in the same position!

I seem to spend a lot of time in races fighting the wind solo...at least this time i was off the front for a change. =)

So i repeated my tactic, but couldn't quite hold them off for the second bell, and i believe Matt and Vinko sped by me, leaving me happily with two points for third.

By then, i'd was fairly spent..i'd basically pulled solo for most of the past 12 laps. I caught on with the bunch, and then Kevin took off! I tried to pursue, but the gap between us grew and grew..

Talking to him after the race, he said he'd slowed down the pack while i was out and about..nice guy. =)

He also said he was looking back, but i was too close to the pack to wait for, and he'd lose his advantage...so i'm glad he kept going...which is what he did. Stayed a good 1/2 lap ahead of the rest of the pack for the rest of the race, well done, as it got him 1st place, by one point!

I hung in with the pack...made a few small attacks and attempts to get ahead, but no one was playing along...and there's no way i could pull off another solo run.

Come the last few laps, i was running out of gas, and ended up at the back of the pack, digging.. Kevin (and two others that'd been lapped) were in hot pursuit! Luckily, they didn't catch until after the bell had rung, which means i didn't lose 20 points for being lapped. Woot!

So that left me with 5 hard-earned points, and that plopped me in 5th place for my first fairly solid placement in a race. I'm pretty happy with myself. =)

I'd also heard something pretty funny afterwards - when i was up in front of the pack, several of the guys kept saying 'come on! Let's get him!' but no one actually pursued... I guess that'll be the last time that happens...hehe

Not sure what i'll do next race... Maybe sit-in and break off the front later in the race? Seemed to work very well for Kevin.. Just don't know if i've got what it takes to pull that off yet..i seem to have more energy at the beginning of a race. Things seem promising tho!

This week has been a fairly good training week so far. The only thing i did since Sat was ride with Andy on Tuesday - we went to the Observatory and did hill repeats. I did five, just over 8mins each time, low cadence efforts. Felt fantastic!

You may recall i blew the rim on my road bike on Saturday...turns out the new rim is coming from Montreal, so it won't be ready until next week. So i'm on my old mountain bike for now..

Which is actually not too bad, since i'm really focusing on these hill repeats.... It's funny to note that i don't have a big ring on it, so i'm riding a 32 tooth cog...and so i've got basically three gears to use while riding on the road, and doing these repeats! If it were any less steep, i wouldn't have a big enough gear..heh.. VEGAN POWER! ;)

I'll prolly take tomorrow off (tho helping with the track in the evening), and do more Ob repeats on Saturday. Sunday, i'm planning on hitting the Goose (local trail system) out to the Sooke Potholes, for a nice 100km round-trip adventure..just ride out and back. Need to do some cardio work, and this'd be perfect for it. Kevin might come along as well.

Then it's sprints on Monday, more hills Tuesday, racing Thursday, etc.. Hopefully the wheel will be built before that weekend, they said they'd do it as soon as it arrives.

I guess i gotta fit some runs in there too.. Sucks, because i'm enjoying riding so much! If i'm gonna go out, i wanna go on the bike!

Ahh well... I'll keep you posted. ;)

Carl Lewis on Veganism - Veganism

Wow, this is pretty neat. I've seen it written, but i've not seen the man himself.

In the following video, Carl Lewis says that his best athletic performance came when he was vegan:

--> www.vegsource.com/articles2/tofu123.htm

Very cool.

crack - POP! - shhhhhhhh - foomp -- Log

Heard that this Saturday..

Was out riding up Munns Rd, doing some hills with Kevin and Kim, started to decend and then there was a loud pop, and my rear wheel seized-up...going ~30kph...on a steep decent....i basically slid across the road, out behind the saddle MTB-style, aiming for a soft patch of grass in the ditch to land in.

Came to a solid stop...no worse for the wear myself. My old (3+yr) Mavic Open Pro finally died tho! I knew it was gonna happen soon, just hoping it'd be a while longer tho. Of course. =)

Over a foot of the rim just peeled off..much like aluminium foil!

Hitched a ride to the nearest payphone, and thankfully my friend Heather came out and picked me up from Millstream. I don't think i could have been much farther from town..haha

I'm getting Fairfield Bikes to rebuild my wheel..getting a silver Open Pro reattached to my Veloce hub, hopefully it'll be ready for the weekend. Getting them to build it nice and stiff..need power-transfer more than comfort! (It had been feeling mushy for the last 6mos or so..)

In the meantime, i've dusted off my old Asama MTB, and will putter around town with it, including some hills tomorrow...make the best of a bikeless situation!

The last week was pretty normal, went out for a couple hrs on Tuesday w/Andy, gym that night. Wed went for a run with Heather. Thursday was the combined Victoria Cycling League race of the month, where a bunch of the local roadies come out and raced with us the track.

It was a good race, felt like i had my legs back. Nice to see a bunch of the guys from the Burnside ride (haven't been out for a while!)

72 lap Points race, i believe there was one lap where i got a 4th, but it wasn't recorded, so it's not official. I hung in with the pack for most of the race, but fell off with about 14 laps to go...maybe i shouldn't run on Wednesdays! Once back in the pack, hung in for a 9th place finish overall. According to the points total, i'm currently tied for 4th place in the track league..not too bad after four races, my first year in! Hope to slowly nudge that up over the year...it's pretty stiff competition tho!

I took it easy on Friday in anticipation of the hillwork on Saturday..where i had my experience with a broken rim 1hr into the ride. I used Sunday to get my Asama road-worthy. (Tube had a slow leak, brakepads worn out, etc..) Also went bouncing around for a bit, doing some trials. (The Asama is totally rigid, i used to do a fair bit of trials several years ago.)

I was looking forward to sprints at the track tonite, but it's been raining all day, and i'm not sure if it'll dry up in time...or stop raining even...

Back to it tomorrow tho, gonna do some Observatory repeats with Andy, plus probably hit the gym in the evening with Brandon. Mebbe a light run on Wed, track racing Thur, and so-on. =)

Have a great week!