It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Racemas! -- Log

Oh boy! Just a few more days, and track season begins!!!

This upcoming Monday starts with 200m's and Matched Sprints, and then bunch racing on Thu - woohoo! Again, i have almost zero intensity/speed in my legs, so the first few weeks will *hurt*, but hey, that's racing!

You can see the nifty printable schedule i designed on the website. (Look for the PDF.) In similar news, the MyVega.com re-design is nearly finished! This was a nice project, as they weren't holding back (gotta budget for most of the non-profit sites i work on) - so there's some pretty nifty coding in there. I didn't design it, but i basically made it work as a webpage. Fun stuff!

Okay, so thats off-bike; on-bike the last week was a bit of a disappointment -- i was totally wiped out from a cold/flu on Wed & Thu, and am still a bit affected while writing this. Luckily i got back on the bike on the weekend. Should be back to 100% very soon. I don't think it has hurt my training too much...i'm on a light week now anyway.

I'd felt it lingering for about a week prior, including during my first road race of the year!

**Race time!**

It was a week last Saturday, on the Latoria course, B group, around 30 riders. It's the most 'flat' of the local weekly crits, tho the finish line is on a decent little climb (light climb, flat, then semi-steep to the line). From there, you go downhill and around a gradual corner, then three more with flats in-between before you're climbing again.

Lotsa people showed up for this, nice to see a bunch of faces i haven't seen for a while. The teams are all looking pretty sharp as well. I'm the only guy in green of course. ;)

The race wasn't too eventful, i (accidently) took a flier on or around the third lap. I noticed that everyone takes the corners rather slowly...so i got to the front of the pack on the descent, and then blew through the corners, maintaining speed. I look back, and there's no one there! The pack is about 75m back, with no-one chasing.

Crap.

This could have been fun if someone else tagged on, but alas... I maintained a steady but totally sustainable pace, and after another lap the field caught up to me. (I don't have it in me to do something like this right now...again, i've been doing hills and muscle-building: not intensity! There'll be plenty of time for that....)

After that i mainly sat-in. Joined a few break attempts, and tried to initiate a few as well, but again, every time i'd do a strong pull and pull off, the guy behind me wouldn't continue the effort.. (This *is* a bike race, right??) I've been talking with some riders, hopefully we'll make things a little more exciting in the upcoming months..hehe..

So, the last lap hits us (it was a moderately long race, 1:27 and 20 laps) and on the descent i bolt up near the front. As we round the corner, the ENTIRE PACK swarms (pretty much all 30 starters were still there!) and suddenly i was back behind ~25 people....crap! Operation Swarmer..!

As we cruised along the final flat/straight stretch, i worked my way up a few positions, but didn't make any significant gains.

Then we hit the final corner, and the beginning of the climb to the line. Things start to spread out and i apply power to the pedals.

CRACK!

There's a loud noise to my right, and i see a few riders going down.....bad for them...good for me. As riders slow down, i maneuver outside of the chaos and hammer it! I fly by most of the pack, and by the time i hit the line 100m later, i see only five other bikes ahead of me - woohoo!! I'm pretty happy with my output at the end. Had i the forsight to get myself into a better position at the front, i'm certain i would have been a few positions higher. Ahh well - now i know for next time. ;)

The Victoria Cycling League has also thrown together a fantastic website, check it out for results and pics (none with me so far! The one race i was in got no attention!)

That's all the excitement, here what i had in store the last few weeks:

Sun (Mar 12th) - very nice day, did 6x6min MT up the Wallace hill..it's not as nice as the Observatory. Did some benches..this hasn't been much of a priority..heh..

Mon - rest day!

Tue - 2.5hr EM w/6x6min MT at the Ob. Felt sold. Also hit the gym, managed to do 13 and 14 reps at 90lbs on my single-legged stepups...! That's a PB..!

Wed - 1hr EM

Thu - 2hr EM w/45m Tempo, lovin' the tempo riding too. Hit the gym as well.

Fri - A day of rest.

Sat - 2.5hr EM w/55m Tempo.

Sun - Race day! Got in 4hrs and 120km by the end of it all. Note to self: Long Tempo before a race not a great idea.

Mon - Some rest, so i heard.

Tue - 2hr EM w/65m T - rawked it! Gym in the evening...didn't feel very good by the end of it..

Wed thru Fri - Was very sick on Wed & Thu, barely did anything. Friday felt markedly better. (I believe this is the first gym session i skipped all year since i started in October..!)

Sat - 2hr EM w/Kevin, a steady ride, didn't want to push it.

Sun - 3hr EM w/Kevin, same thing, skipped the last Sunday race, i certainly wasn't up for it. Thanks for putting up with Mr Slow, Kevin!

Mon - Rest is Best!

Tue - 1.5hr RR - recovery ride! It actually took some motivation to get myself out there...i look at a RR as a bit of a waste of time esp. with my time off the last few days...but i did it anyway, since that's what's on my schedule..!

Intensity picks up with SteadyState rides this week...and then it's back to the track! Yip!

I'll prolly be updating this thing much more frequently then, as i'll have some more spare time and lots to post.

Keep on rollin'!!