Silver and Bronze -- Log

Oh my..is it ever crappy out. Like 6C, windy and rainy. What a great time to write in my blog!!

It's been a great week other than the weather (which has been consistantly gross...little sun, cool and on the verge of rain. Even went for a short walk yesterday, it was sunny, and after 25mins it started raining!)

Been ramping up the intensity in my training, and starting to feel a bit more speedy..!

Monday did some intervals before the first Pursuit Nite at the track. Only one other person, Vinko, showed up to race the 4km Pursuit. (Thus the silver! ;)

My first pursuit of the year, it was a cool night, and i think i went off a little too hard..which wasn't helped by seeing Vinko take off like a rocket and gain 40m on me in the first lap or two...heh.. Was he trying to Kilo me?

Anyway, i lightened up the second and third laps, feeling some of that lovely build-up in the legs, and he continued to make significant groud. Crappity. Started pouring on the power after that, and his gains slowed significantly...managed to hold him off until about lap 9 or 10. When he passed, i managed to pick up speed (was ~39kph, got back up to 42kph.) Stayed 10-15m back from him the rest of the race, got a sluggish 6:04, but i know this will be improved significantly with better pacing, and perhaps by using aerobars and not doing intervals beforehand. ;)

That put me in second by default, but hey, i'll take it!

Also, on Wednesday i raced the Latoria course again. The B field was about the same with ~30 riders. We rode a lot faster this time round, overall.. Most of the race we could see the A's just ahead of us.

In the first half, i kept a close eye on the front of the pack..if there was going to be a break-away, i wanted to be in it!

There were a few attempts, and even one that looked pretty promising with about 6 of us, but alas, no dice. After chasing a few breaks (and often bridging in the process) i decided i'd just sit in more, since it was obvious the pack wouldn't let anyone get away.

Come the last lap, i knew i had to act to prevent the same thing from happening as last time (ie, getting swarmed and my position 6 bikes back becoming the 25th position back..!) So i dashed for the front.

Luckily, a few other guys decided to keep the pace up, so there was no swarm. Coming around the second-to-last corner i kept moving towards the front, where Lauren from Straight-Up was sitting. I'm not sure how, but i ended up on his wheel...and he offered to do pull a lead-out - sweeeet!

So i just sat on his wheel while he maintained a very strong pace. Come the final corner he pulled off and yelled GO! and so i punched it!

Which is really nothing remarkable, since i'm no sprinter.

I flew up the first part of the hill, in front of the whole pack - woohoo! The some dude whizzed by (not sure who yet) and i kept cranking... Final section of the climb to the line, and Chandler, also from the track, powered by and that left me happily in Third (now i've gotten 3rd on all the courses...heh..) Again, i need to learn how to gear for the final sprint...once more i was in too big a gear, and couldn't get on top of it, losing power (and no doubt looking epileptic.)

So yay me - silver and bronze!

In the gear hunt, i've gotten myself some new gloves (Specialized BG Comp, in the black) which are pretty comfy and well-designed. My eBay Ultegra SPD-SL pedals should be arriving next week, i'm very excited to try these things out!

In sad news, my MP3 player has gone missing...somewhere between here and the track.. So, looking for a new model, if anyone has suggestions.. Something between 1-4gb with a built-in USB port and that takes AA or AAA batteries.. Any recommendations?

As for today, will our hero get his hiney outside or on the rollers? Not looking too promising... Gotta take days off every now and then, right? Gotta rest from celebrating the Bunny Geebus yesterday!

The Logbook

* Fri (Apr 7) - Rest day!

* Sat - 2.5hr EM w/4x8m Climb Repeats, nice to visit the Ob, bumped into Sarah there and rode back and did the waterfront

* Sun - 2.75hr EM, w/Kevin, took a tumble flying around a corner as i realized my front tire had a leak and it slid out from under me! I noticed my bike felt odd earlier, but it felt like the rear..so i stopped and checked my rear wheel...it was fine... Lesson: check the front too! Got a nice bruise on my hip (which has healed!) and a small scrap on the elbow.

* Mon - 3x3m PI's, plus the above-mentioned Pursuit

* Tue - rest day

* Wed - race above, plus another 2hrs EM riding to-and-from the race

* Thu - 1.5hr EM, rode out to the track but it was rainy, rode home

* Fri - celebrated the Bunny Jeebus! Ate lots of vegan goodies and had brunch with friends..yum..

* Sat - a rest day, to recover from the Bunny Jeebus perhaps..? Or maybe some time on the rollers..? Only time will tell..

Will likely jump in with the BSide group tomorrow, got 200m's and Matched Sprints on Monday (weather permitting!), road race on Wed (Newton Heights!) and a big points race on Thu, woot!