Goal

Knowing I’m relatively far behind in my training goals I wanted to gauge my fitness in the first half of the race and see where it goes from there. I don’t have plans on placing well until mid-season so I wasn’t concerned with doing well yesterday in a practice race, I just wanted to try one of every kind of move and start getting my race legs back.

Race

Some restless juniors and a few unfamiliar riders started launching attacks just after the pack got up to speed, so to get my legs primed I did intervals for the first 15 minutes of the race, covering every move and then recovering. At one point six or seven riders cleared the group – I bridged the short gap immediately, pulled through once, but by then our slight gap turned into nothing and we got absorbed.

Having gotten my predetermined efforts in I kind of chilled out in the middle of the pack for a while, though I don’t recommend usually doing this during crits for too long: it’s very easy to get lazy and get stuck in the middle, you end up working more in the long run by having to jump through corners harder over time, not to mention the efforts needed to get back to the front. I watched Josh work like a dog to trying to reel in the small break off the front, but a CVC guy was blocked successfully long enough to keep it clear through the finish. I rolled in along with Anthony without contesting the sprint.

Next Time

I’ll contest the sprint next time, letting the early attacks go and get setup for when it counts just to see what I have in terms of early season sprint power.

For sale is a 2006 Campagnolo Eurus Wheelset ridden from January through May 2008. They have approximately ~2,500 miles on them and are in excellent condition, including good braking surface. No crashes. Includes mounted Michelin P2Rs/tubes with about 1/4 of their life left. As seen below.

$600 or best offer.

Free delivery within San Francisco. Pickup or shipping available (for actual shipping costs, professionally packed by bike shop).

Contact me by email: jeff[at]threestarchina.com

Goals

See how the ankles hold up. Starting to feel a bit better, but kind of flat after a training-free week.

Course

Billed as a beginner friendly course, didn’t have a whole lot of surprises. Wood chips. Long windy but easily navigable grass section (power sucking, but still fairly fast). Barriers to short run up. Long hard pack and pavement section littered with some loose rocks and gravel. A few tight turns. Log barriers.

Race

Got a much better start this time and with the wide open hard pack homestretch I was able to move up into 10th or so. However, the leaders got a good gap and stayed away. Passed and got passed here and there on the first lap, Hank passed me and stayed away about halfway into the first lap. The next three laps were about the same, rode hard, took all the obstacles fast and smoothly, passed and got passed. I guess I netted about five spots down from my start and ended up 15th/23. Not great, but I think I rode well, especially with hurt ankles.

Summary

October 6th through October 12th, 2008. Ankles hurting a lot after too much cyclocross practice and racing. Need to ice them and take it easy.

Monday-Thursday

Nothing. Took the bus, iced the ankles. Thursday did a very brief ride.

Friday

Commuted.

Saturday

LARPD #2

Sunday

Rode out to the Presidio to watch the Blue Angels.

Goals

See if I could improve my start. Though, ankles were hurting majorly so no particular ambitions.

Course

Night and day difference between the course yesterday and today in Sacramento. Long dry course with very few technical turns.

Long wide open start with barriers a few hundred yards in. Long pavement section leading to a small dirt climb (enough to put the hurt on the bigger guys). Through a gully to a long hard pack section and up a loose dirt hill for some uphill barriers. Down onto more hard pack with a few wide open turns and back to the finish.

Race

Again a poor start, but focused on picking off as many as I could through the start. After the barriers I dragged Hank up through the pavement section and we got through the little climb in a decent position. Hank got away after the uphill barriers since with my hurt ankles I couldn’t take them very fast. Still, thought I held onto 10th or so for the next 2 laps. Got passed by two guys 3/4 of the way into the final lap.

Rode harder today on the fast open hard pack course (suited for a roadie/crit racer), but turns out I was further back than I thought in the start and several riders opened a big gap that I couldn’t see through the turns later on. Hank was able to close it early on, but with my ankles hurting on the barriers I lost big chunks of time. Ended up 21st/33.

First cyclocross race.

Goals

Finish, stay upright, stay smooth on the barriers and run ups.

Course

Doyle park: barriers followed by a mix of a long windy grass section wrapping around trees with a lot of loose debris. Rain the previous night made it very slippery and slow. Long pavement section (bike path/sidewalk) back on to grass. Barriers then pavement and down into a creek bed with a short muddy run-up, just about unrideable though later races were riding it. Back onto some grass and behind the playground again down into the creek bed, another run up and back behind the playground with an unrideable sand section. Back onto grass and a wood chip mound just before the finish.

Race

I got a poor start, despite reading all the advice on getting a good start. Fortunately starting further back kept me out of the huge pileup in the first corner. Snuck around the tangle of bikes and headed out on my way judging my position to be about 8th or 9th. Several laps in I started to get complacent and confused as I passed a few here and there but got passed by others (some singlespeeds Bs that went off just behind us, including Hank and Ryan). The race ended before I knew it and I definitely could have gone harder on the last lap. Cyclocross races seem like they last forever when you are out there, but 30 minutes (Men’s Cs) is a very short time and it’s over very quickly. Result: 10th/24.

Rode fairly well in my first race, though I have some work to do in the pacing and handling departments. The windy turns on the loose leaves and grass were really slow. I finished with a lot left in the tank which means I could have definitely gone harder. My barriers, dis/mounts, and run-ups were all very smooth though, attributed to the hours of practice.

Summary

September 29th through October 5th, 2008. Transition to cyclocross. Horrible homework week and tests looming.

Monday

Cyclocross practice.

Tuesday

Nothing.

Wednesday

Cyclocross practice.

Thursday

Cyclocross practice.

Friday

Nothing.

Saturday

CXSR #1

Sunday

Sacramento CX #2

Summary

Monday September 22nd through Sunday September 28th, 2008. Excited about the new ‘cross bike and done with road for the season.

Monday

Off, sore from doing a million run-ups and feeling kind of run down (no pun).

Tuesday-Friday

Officially something wrong, not quite sick, but serious fatigue. Stayed home for the middle of the week. Friday started to feel better and went out for a little over an hour and a half and did a billion dismounts/remounts at the polo fields plus some trails and a couple of run-ups. Finally nailed about a dozen solid remounts stutter step free. Later, Timmay’s birthday party!

Saturday

Bailed on Mt. Tam. Planned to ride to watch Lion of Fairfax, instead rode to Fairfax and hung out with Caitl and Michael briefly before riding back. Total almost 4 hours of road riding in hot and cold.

Sunday

Stayed up too late stressing out about school project, slept in some and worked more on the project, no riding.

Summary

Disappointing final crit of the season, but showed that I’m completely toast. Time for some rest. Monday September 15th through Sunday September 21st, 2008.

Monday-Thursday

Nothing much, just some commuting and rest. Lazy.

Friday

No riding, but did go to the final Friday Night Track racing and cheered for Ashley who kicked butt.

Saturday

New Bike Day! Picked up my ‘cross bike, 2009 Redline Conquest Pro. Went to visit family in Marin so couldn’t christen it quite yet.

Sunday

Took the ‘cross bike out for a spin. Spent about an hour and a half in the park riding the trails and doing drills with Hank after meeting up with him. Later rode the ‘cross bike to Seth’s parents in Belvedere.

Summary

Monday September 8th through Sunday September 14th, 2008. Winding down the season, only things left to do but rest before final races.

Monday

Off.

Tuesday

Commute.

Wednesday

Commute.

Thursday

Commute.

Friday

Commute.

Saturday

Off.

Sunday

San Francisco Twilight. Hardly a race for me. Got a bad start in the back of the pack and Fusion immediately launched attack after attack on the super fast course. I spent 10 laps or so leap-frogging stragglers just out of reach of the pack before finally losing it and getting whistled off after 15 minutes.