NC State Cycling Weekend Day 3

Yesterday was my first race as a collegiate road cyclist and marked the first race of the ACC Cycling season since Saturdays race was canceled. We woke up at 5:45AM and packed up our stuff to put in the vans since we'd be leaving for home right from the race. A quick breakfast including bagels, scrambled eggs, and orange juice provided by our awesome host's, the McDonell's started the morning off right. Breakfast was followed by a short half our ride to the high school where the race was being hosted. When we arrived it was 27 degrees out, pretty chilly to racing bicycles and even worse to sit outside all day, instead most of the day was spent sitting in our 12 person passenger van sleeping/trying to conserve energy for our races later in the day.

The race scene at 7AM, unloading bikes!

The rides!

The Mens Collegiate A field and the Pro 1, 2, 3 races were up first with 8 and 9 laps respectively. The course was a seven mile loop that consisted of rolling hills, four right turns, and LOTS and I mean LOTS of potholes. Because of the snow from the previous day, the races were delayed 30 minutes and the fields were combined and shortened to 7 laps for both races.

The race course

The Pro 1, 2, 3 field; full of Hokie Alum's racing in VT Cycling Kits

A very boring video that I shot while watching the A race, timing the breakaway

The course lap average was about 20 minutes; we watched the first few laps and spent the rest of the morning relaxing in the van, attempting to stay warm (attempting because it was rather unsuccesful). As the day progressed other fields raced, Men's A place fairly well overall with our two riders placing high. We had three women ride in the B field, all enjoyed their first collegiate races. Around 11:30 we ran to Harris Teeter and grabbed some much needed energy and then headed back to catch the end of the fields before my race, the Men's Collegiate C.

Relaxing after races and enjoying the sun while it lasted

Around 2:30 I began preparing for my race, checking tire pressure, pinning numbers onto my jersey, and getting suited up for what was sure to be a cold race as the sun set. The seven of us racing men's c went for a warm-up to prepare our muscles for the hour of agony soon to come.

The men's collegiate field was pretty large with about 50 rides from divisions 1 and 2 of the ACC. Appalachian State, Duke, The Naval Academy, N.C. State, UNCW, W&M, and a bunch of others were all well represented. With the sound of a whistle we were off. I had great positioning on the line and was maybe the 10th person around the first turn and rode in the top 15-20 for the first lap-lap-1/2 before I popped on a significant incline ("popped"-meaning I was gased, and fell back) catching the main field once more before I finally went off the back at the end of the second lap. I found a few other tech riders who were also off the back and we quickly made a paceline picking off stragglers from the peloton one-by-one. When we came across the finish line to begin our 4th and final lap the race official blew his whistle signaling we were done. Bummer!!! First collegiate race and only finished 3 of 4 laps. I was happy to see however that the finish pack was only about 1o-15 riders deep, the rest had either wrecked, taken themselves out of the race, or been pulled.

Power Data from the Race, ouch!

Garmin Connect Data from the race

Race Results went up today, I finished 36th out of 45 total that finished, 54 total in the field at the start.

Click to make it bigger

Overall the race was an excellent experience allowing me to gauge my fitness level compared to my teammates as well as other members of my conference. I have a lot of work to do, especially in regards to high-intensity interval training focusing on anarobic efforts. It was a long weekend but I learned a ton and I'm excited for next weekends three races, including a prologue (short time trial), road race, and criterium, at Wake Forest.

After grabbing an awesome dinner at Armadillo in down town Chapel Hill we began the long 3.5 hour drive home, finally arriving around 10:30.

Late Night Arrival

The best part of the day was coming home to Michelle and my homemade chocolate covered strawberries for Valentines day!

Yum!

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NC State Cycling Weekend Day 1 and Day 2

This weekend marks the beginning of the collegiate cycling season. To kick things off the team headed down to NC for a weekend of road racing. Seeing as this is my first weekend racing with the team I wanted to make sure I was prepared and had everything I needed, so I laid it all out on my bed and went down the checklist to make sure it was all there.

All of this fit in a pretty tiny bag

Next on the list to get ready for the weekend was cleaning the bike, which was in desperate need of some TLC. I even bought new Fizik bar tape but decided not to redo my bars just yet since I figured the roads would be wet with the recent snow.

Nice and clean

The team met in the commuter lot, loaded all 24 bikes in the cargo van and headed on our way toward Chapel Hill, NC. The van ride was a good time giving everyone an opportunity to meet new people and get to know one another before a very long spring season. I tried to snag some pictures of the van but they came out pretty blurry (I did figure out today though that my phone has an image stabilization feature that I didn't have on, so maybe they'll improve in the future).

Hopefully better pictures in the future!

After a quick but very cramped three-hour drive we arrived in Chapel Hill at our host house, the family of a team alumni. They were nice enough to host all 26 of us for the weekend and even had enough beds/inflatable mattresses/couches so that no one had to sleep on the floor. I counted 10 air mattresses.


They were even nice enough to cook us an incredible lasagna dinner and HOMEMADE Ice cream cake!!! We all went to bed around 10, to get up early for a long day of racing. When we went to bed this was the current weather for Chapel Hill, NC from Weather.com

Weather from Last night around 10PM

I awoke this morning early to this:

Waking up to snow when you're a kid is like "SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY!" today waking up to snow excited to race was huge bummer. We went to bed last night with it snowing but were optimistic that even with a light dusting we would be able to race. Not the case. We quickly heard from a team member who's also works for ACC Cycling that the race had been canceled.

To say the least we were all disappointed. We all grabbed breakfast and Sat around watching TV waiting for the snow to melt.



It funny what happens when you have 20ish cyclist confined to a house below is what ensued.

Everyone decided to measure wingspan vs. height and see if your wingspan was greater than or less than your height. We decided enough snow had melted to go out for a ride so we unloaded the van and suited up to brace ourselves for the elements.

Bikes unloaded

Getting ready to ride

The team went out for various length, myself and a few others turned around at 45 minutes and headed back. Below is the race data from the PowerTap and the Garmin.

At the turn around

Only the data from the ride back because I forgot to push start

Power from today's ride

Last but not least we received a small portion of our clothing order and since I was at the first race I got one of the two jersey's I ordered.


More tomorrow and hopefully a real race report!

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Errands such and the Like

Another Monday, another beginning to a very long week, one less week until I graduate; you may even go as far as to call it Manic.

Blacksburg continues to be slammed with winter weather which I don't mind too much until I need to get my car out to run errands and get to TriAdventure practice, and then it becomes a real pain. I decided to make the best of the situation (deciding not to dig my car out) and hopped on my bike. The main roads were pretty descent and the first stop on the list was the bank to deposit some moolah.

Quality Parking at BOA

Bundled Up for the elements, and rocking my sweet neon Brooks

Next it was across the street to my realtor to collect some moolah, funny cause it usually works the other way but I'm not complaining. After that it was time to head to Blacksburg High School to run on the track for TriAdventure practice.

Garmin data from running errands around town, 5 mile warm-up for my run

The only problem is that when I got to the track, which they're usually pretty good about clearing off (apparently, I've only run once there once this winter, last week, and it was cleared then) it looked like this:

Blacksburg High School Track

Wishing I had my Yaktrax

We decided to run on the road and after about 5 minutes of no sidewalks and running in a group of inexperienced runners, I decided I was better running at the track so I detoured a bit and ran back to the track to complete my 2.5 miles, wishing I had thought to bring my Yaktrax.


All of these pics are with the Blackberry, as I still haven't purchased a "tough" p&s, they came out pretty well though for a camera phone.

After practice it was a cold and miserable ride home as the sweat that I had built up running made for an almost unbearable ride on the bike.


A quick dethaw in the shower and I was off to the weekly cycling team meeting, where we talked about the upcoming race weekend at N.C. State, but not before picking up my well earned dinner at Moes.

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1st Week TriAdventure Recap

After a long week I finally had an opportunity to sit down (write my blog) and relax and allow my body to recover. February started out well with trying to stay in shape and exercise daily. Monday I had the opportunity to do Gentle Flow Yoga in the morning and hopped on the trainer for an hour that night, Tuesday was an off day and spent doing school work. Wednesday was my first day of Hot Yoga which was a world of difference from Gentle Flow, instead of a warm room Hot Yoga is set at 104 degrees and the duration is 1:15 instead of 1:00. I really enjoyed the workout and planned on going back for more today until I received an email saying today's class had been canceled due to inclement weather. Thursday was running with the TriAdventure group and while it was nice to get out and have structured workout I didn't really gain much or even feel that I was pushing hard, then again it was the first week and the course is aimed at beginners. Garmin Connect Activity Data for Thursdays nights track workout.

Thursday Nights Track Workout

Today was nice because classes (which I don't have) were canceled and almost everyone choose to stay cooped up in their dorms. One advantage of classes being canceled was that I had the opportunity to ride with 2 other guys on the Tech Cycling Team . We did the SpinInervals Hill workout DVD which was straight out of the 90's but still pretty tough and provided for some good entertainment.

We set up camp in the 2nd floor lounge of their dorm and went to work. Now more important than riding and getting back on the bike, was the amount of dedication it took to carry all of my stuff (trainer, shoes, water bottles, towel, nutrition, and my bike which I didn't want to get even more dirty so I shouldered it the entire way) over to their dorm and then rode.

Braving the Elements with the Madone Shouldered

Doing Work! Myself, Andy Reagan, and Jacob Aber

Power Data from tonights ride!

Hoping to get some more quality training in before our first race next weekend at N.C. State.

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Feb⋅ru⋅ar⋅y - [feb-roo-er-ee, feb-yoo‑]

I always thought that February was spelled awkwardly.

From Dictionary.com

Feb⋅ru⋅ar⋅y–noun, plural -ar⋅ies. the second month of the year, ordinarily containing 28 days, but containing 29 days in leap years. Abbreviation: Feb.

Also see: motivation to work my ass off!

Today marked a new month and with it comes incentive to train and train hard. There are exactly 12 days not including today until my first Collegiate Cycling Road Race at N.C. State. Not only that but today also marks 55 days until my first Triathlon, the Smithfield Sprint. Tonight was our weekly cycling team meeting and I found motivation after to come home and hop on the trainer. The tires in the bike were really low, magnifying how long I had been off the bike and how much the next hour was going to hurt.

My pain station

After checking the bike out and giving it a once over I hopped on and went to work, a 15 minute warm-up, followed by 45 minutes at endurance power 140-150 Watts and a 15 minute cool down. It didn't feel nearly as bad as I thought it would; I felt pretty good afterward, always a plus!

The rides Power Data

I hope to keep riding daily unless we have Triathlon training in which case I'll have to substitute or make up saddle time, right now just getting on a bike is an accomplishment.

Lastly for all of those out there who have decided February is the month for you to get in shape (Jeff) and plan on hitting the gym, be careful you may just find yourself in the E.R. according to this article.

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Weekend Wrap Up!

I'm not sure whether I was counting sheep or flying in the clouds when I was abruptly awoken at 3:40AM Sunday morning to the sound of....drip....drip....drip. I sat up to figure out what the source of the dripping sound was only to find out that my roof was leaking right over my bed.

The source

In hind sight this was probably the best of possible places as it woke me up and allowed me to fix / improve the situation as opposed to dripping on my laptop all night or on something else. After quickly pulling my mattress off my bed I went to work finding anything and everything in my apartment capable of holding water and minimizing damage. Plastic Tupperware, trashcans, and even a cooler were used to catch melting snow from my roof; paper towels were placed in each to minimize the noise of the Chinese water torture dripping.

Everything but the kitchen sink
(thought about it)

My mattress was moved to the center of my living room and after trying to minimize damage as much as possible I returned to counting sheep.

Not a bad picture almost 4AM if I say so myself

And yes if you're curious I did pick up my camera at 3:51 AM and took pictures of the entire event as it unfolded. The pictures are more for my records in case my rental company tries to pull some "Water damage from the ceiling b.s." and also to illustrate my story.

Sleeping in late was well justified and the rest of my day was spent at the formula shop trying to finish my seat mold.

The exciting part of my day came around 6PM when it was time for my first Triathlon training practice, which happened to be swimming at the aquatics center. It's not that I'm a terrible swimmer....It's more like I'm a rock that you throw in a pool and I sink. In all reality it wasn't really that terrible. Our group of 10-15 adults were divided in 3 lanes and allowed to swim back and forth while the coaches observed us and put us in our respective experience lanes. I wound up in the middle, the first lane could either barely swim or took them about twice as long to go a length as it did for me to make a lap. After only 20 minutes of swimming I was pretty beat but decided to one more 50m to feel good about the night. Coach Kelly told me to try connecting my 50's into a 100m but I couldn't seem to find the energy after 10-12 laps. I did enjoy myself though and really look forward to more structured workouts with our respective lanes coming up.

Other than that not too much really happened in the burg, other than 12" of snow!

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How to use Yaktrax!

Blacksburg, VA sits at 2,080' according to Wikipedia and is perfectly situated for winter storms and incliment weather. Last weekend while I was home I picked up a pair of Pro Yakrax, the higher of the two models offered by Yaktrax, a company based out of Seattle, WA who promises "Confidence on Packed Snow and Ice." The Pro model are described as "for more active winter enthusiasts" compared to their lower-end Walker model. Follow them on Yatrax Twitter!

I figured that since I bought them it wouldn't snow for the rest of the season and I would never have a chance to try them out with my likely move to Florida this summer. I'm glad I was wrong though because early week rumors of snow were running rampant and I was hopeful I'd have an opprotunity to try them out.

The warning issued by the national weather service is below:


10-14" inches is perfectly adequate to try out my new Yaktrax and once the snow began falling it was only a matter of time.

After grabbing an excellent brunch at Gillies it was time to head off to the shop for an afternoon of work. I decided I'd take a few photos of this exciting moment and document it.

1. Pretty self explanatory, buy Yaktrax! (I bought mine at EMS, who I'm ticked off at right now because they went on sale 3 days after I bought them!)


2. Remove from box


3. Identify which end of the Yaktrax says Toes, that part goes on the front of your shoes / boots.


4. Pull the back over your heel and fasten velcro strap, and enjoy the comfort of traction without big bulky boot! (Shown on my shop work boots though!)



Safely descending stairs!


5. Go out in the snow and play without worry!



More to come on them as I use them more / run in them!

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