Had my last class of first semester here at UNI in graduate school. I tell you, it went by extremely fast. I had originally thought it would have gone slow with no swimming. Life keeps you busy as I am trying to work 2 jobs, study and ride my bike, but it is all going and is fun!
Speaking of biking, first rest week of the season this week as I have had a good 3 weeks of base training before and some good weight training! It has been pretty cold here in the Cedar Valley and very windy to really get any long rides done, but luckily these temperatures fell during my rest week! Next week I will be starting my Base 2 training and incorporating some longer and more intense tempo and muscle force building rides.
Next year, I will be joining the ranks of VeloSportIowa Cycling Team. This team is based out of Davenport, but we will have riders from all over. Have known these guys for a few years and all have given me great advice and help towards training and being a better bike racer. Logistics are still falling into place, but we have a great schedule together and looking forward to some big time races!
2011 Race Team:
Jeff Bradley
Paul Deninger
Lou Waugaman
Chad Bishop
TJ Tollakson
Carson Christen
Also please to announce some great sponsors coming on board for next season!
Trek Bikes
American Equity Insurance (Thanks Wendy!)
Oakley (Thanks Rob V!)
Velocity Wheels (Personal Sponsorship)
Dunn Bros Coffee (Yum!)
Pharrels Extreme Bodyshapping
More to come...!
Just the suspense of what a great team we will have next season is giving me the motivation to ride, ride, ride and work hard!
Now I have about a month off before classes resume again. Looking to put in some great miles and work.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
JingleCross
Been forever since I updated, sorry!
Did the second two days of Jingle cross this weekend. My 3rd and 4th cyclocross races ever. I won and got 2nd in the first two I did this season, but as with Memorial Day weekend racing, I knew it was going to be much harder. Finished in the top half both days, but I tell ya, I need some serious work on technical riding skills. Nothing some mountain biking won't take care of.
The one thing with cyclocross, is that I have been hooked. It is a different kind of racing, but lots of fun. Next season, I am going to get into it, with proper training and racing more than a few times. Really a fun time! Was awesome to see Amanda Miller win two of three, she is going to be on fire for HTC Columbia this next season.
My first Thanksgiving Break in 8 years was pretty awesome, no swimming or early morning practices, now I see what I missed! Only two weeks until finals and another first. A winter break of almost a month. With swimming, I would have about 3 days off for a break, and at Luther we started a J-Term class January 3rd.
Did the second two days of Jingle cross this weekend. My 3rd and 4th cyclocross races ever. I won and got 2nd in the first two I did this season, but as with Memorial Day weekend racing, I knew it was going to be much harder. Finished in the top half both days, but I tell ya, I need some serious work on technical riding skills. Nothing some mountain biking won't take care of.
The one thing with cyclocross, is that I have been hooked. It is a different kind of racing, but lots of fun. Next season, I am going to get into it, with proper training and racing more than a few times. Really a fun time! Was awesome to see Amanda Miller win two of three, she is going to be on fire for HTC Columbia this next season.
My first Thanksgiving Break in 8 years was pretty awesome, no swimming or early morning practices, now I see what I missed! Only two weeks until finals and another first. A winter break of almost a month. With swimming, I would have about 3 days off for a break, and at Luther we started a J-Term class January 3rd.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Long-Overdue Update!
Hey blogger world!
Sitting here taking some time to update my life. While racing has been over since the state road race, I have taken some time off the bike to get into my graduate program here at UNI. It is going pretty well, I only have two tests the whole semester, but 3x15 page papers or so. Pretty much as though I am writing my senior paper all over again. This if fine with me as I get to choose the topics to research! My class schedule is as follows:
Adv. Exercise Physiology
Topics in Strength and Conditioning
Sport Psychology
Lab Instrumentation
Each class has its set of work to be done, but each also ties in with one another, and makes it better than four differing classes at a liberal arts school such as Luther. I do miss Luther though, and it has been tough not having a swim team for support. It has also been hard to be away from my family and friends in Decorah. But enough of the negatives, there aren't many!
I came to UNI with the idea of creating a cycling club in order to race next spring in the NCCCC conference. Well a few weeks have passed and I am pleased to announce the UNI Cycling Club. We are going to have a racing faction, but also have ideas/plans to increase bicycle advocacy around Cedar Falls. This will include "Share the Road" stuff, Bike Garages, Bike Lanes and trying to reduce the number of cars on the roads driving less than 5 miles to places! Will keep updates on here and the cycling website! Stay tuned, and if anyone is interested in sponsorship, please contact me!
Cycling has been hit or miss, and I took a week off the bike last week for a post-season break. Now I have my cyclocross bike built up and will be starting to ride my gravels and such with the gang here and do some cross racing. Never have done it, but I am looking forward to it! Have watched Jingle Cross a few times in the past. Here is bike: pretty cheap frame (Scattante) with better than average components (105).
Also since my last post, I did end up getting a new car towards the end of summer. Thank you to my Dad for locating such a great deal! This Saturn LW300 had only 66,000 miles on it, for being a 2002. Looked brand new on outside, and when you looked under the hood, it was as though it had never been driven. We are thinking it was a professors car, who didn't end up driving to campus or an older couple who didn't drive much! Has worked amazing so far. No 4x4, but much better gas mileage and still the storage for my bikes!
I will hopefully update a little bit more now that I have my classes under way and will be riding more for fitness than nose-saddle training as during the summer! Pictures of bikes and friends!
Hope all is well!
Sitting here taking some time to update my life. While racing has been over since the state road race, I have taken some time off the bike to get into my graduate program here at UNI. It is going pretty well, I only have two tests the whole semester, but 3x15 page papers or so. Pretty much as though I am writing my senior paper all over again. This if fine with me as I get to choose the topics to research! My class schedule is as follows:
Adv. Exercise Physiology
Topics in Strength and Conditioning
Sport Psychology
Lab Instrumentation
Each class has its set of work to be done, but each also ties in with one another, and makes it better than four differing classes at a liberal arts school such as Luther. I do miss Luther though, and it has been tough not having a swim team for support. It has also been hard to be away from my family and friends in Decorah. But enough of the negatives, there aren't many!
I came to UNI with the idea of creating a cycling club in order to race next spring in the NCCCC conference. Well a few weeks have passed and I am pleased to announce the UNI Cycling Club. We are going to have a racing faction, but also have ideas/plans to increase bicycle advocacy around Cedar Falls. This will include "Share the Road" stuff, Bike Garages, Bike Lanes and trying to reduce the number of cars on the roads driving less than 5 miles to places! Will keep updates on here and the cycling website! Stay tuned, and if anyone is interested in sponsorship, please contact me!
Cycling has been hit or miss, and I took a week off the bike last week for a post-season break. Now I have my cyclocross bike built up and will be starting to ride my gravels and such with the gang here and do some cross racing. Never have done it, but I am looking forward to it! Have watched Jingle Cross a few times in the past. Here is bike: pretty cheap frame (Scattante) with better than average components (105).
Also since my last post, I did end up getting a new car towards the end of summer. Thank you to my Dad for locating such a great deal! This Saturn LW300 had only 66,000 miles on it, for being a 2002. Looked brand new on outside, and when you looked under the hood, it was as though it had never been driven. We are thinking it was a professors car, who didn't end up driving to campus or an older couple who didn't drive much! Has worked amazing so far. No 4x4, but much better gas mileage and still the storage for my bikes!
I will hopefully update a little bit more now that I have my classes under way and will be riding more for fitness than nose-saddle training as during the summer! Pictures of bikes and friends!
Hope all is well!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Graduate School
Well I am less than 5 days away from starting my Master of Arts in Exercise Physiology from the University of Northern Iowa. I am quite excited to say the least, it is going to be a big change from 2,500 students and 6 months of swimming at Luther, to 14,000 students with no swimming and trying to manage 2 jobs. Picked up my books the other day, and only have two so far, totaling less than $150, not bad for grad school!!! My schedule is pretty nice with class on Monday from 1-2, 5-7:30 and Wed/Fri 1-2, Tuesday and Thursday will be 9:30 to 2. I will be taking a Sport Psychology class, Advanced Exercise Physiology, a seminar in Strength and Conditioning and a Statistical Analysis class. Hopefully they will be pretty interesting and I can bring previous experience with Brian Solberg and Eric Baack from Luther to the class and pass with a good grade! Will keep everyone informed as to the class load and how the first days go!
Still working at Peppers Sports Bar and Grill, and it has starting to get busier now that students are returning. A fun job to say the least, get to sit there and watch sporting events on tv while meeting new people and serving great food! I have been pretty good and haven't eaten to much food, usually sticking to the soup and salad combo! I am also now working at Europa Cycle and Ski in Cedar Falls. This place is awesome! I really enjoyed working at Halls in Cedar Rapids, and Europa is just as good. A bit larger store, and they deal with cross-country skiing as well. It is nice to have Will Greenwood working also, as he is up for school.
As stated, I have been hired as an endurance coach for Zoom Performance coaching out of Des Moines. This is a path that I may want to pursue as a potential career field and I am ready to get moving. Rather than just a "coaching" service, Zoom offers sports performance testing such as VO2, Body Comp, Nutritional Analysis to go along with swimming, cycling, running coaching. I will be receiving my USA Swimming and USA Cycling coaching certifications in the upcoming weeks to increase my knowledge. Triathlons intrigue me, and many say I could be very good at them, coming from a strong swimming/cycling background, but the whole running part scares me :)
Cycling has been pretty chill as of late, I am not going to be able to race any more on the road this year with my school/work schedule and making rent payments more important. I am getting a cross bike together, so hopefully will race a bit of that. Never have done it before, so show up early and watch me in the Cat 4 races :)
As I have stated, it is going to be the weirdest feeling in the world to not be swimming this fall. For the past decade plus, I have been up at 5:30am for practice, and then practice til 5pm after a day of school. This sport kept me in great shape and met a lot of people. I am very interested to see what my life can be without it, but I know I will miss it when I go and watch the Norse swim! I really look forward to riding the gravels around Cedar Falls and cross country skiing if we get the snow. Will keep these endevours posted as the school year progresses!
Good luck to those racing in Des Moines.
Carson
Still working at Peppers Sports Bar and Grill, and it has starting to get busier now that students are returning. A fun job to say the least, get to sit there and watch sporting events on tv while meeting new people and serving great food! I have been pretty good and haven't eaten to much food, usually sticking to the soup and salad combo! I am also now working at Europa Cycle and Ski in Cedar Falls. This place is awesome! I really enjoyed working at Halls in Cedar Rapids, and Europa is just as good. A bit larger store, and they deal with cross-country skiing as well. It is nice to have Will Greenwood working also, as he is up for school.
As stated, I have been hired as an endurance coach for Zoom Performance coaching out of Des Moines. This is a path that I may want to pursue as a potential career field and I am ready to get moving. Rather than just a "coaching" service, Zoom offers sports performance testing such as VO2, Body Comp, Nutritional Analysis to go along with swimming, cycling, running coaching. I will be receiving my USA Swimming and USA Cycling coaching certifications in the upcoming weeks to increase my knowledge. Triathlons intrigue me, and many say I could be very good at them, coming from a strong swimming/cycling background, but the whole running part scares me :)
Cycling has been pretty chill as of late, I am not going to be able to race any more on the road this year with my school/work schedule and making rent payments more important. I am getting a cross bike together, so hopefully will race a bit of that. Never have done it before, so show up early and watch me in the Cat 4 races :)
As I have stated, it is going to be the weirdest feeling in the world to not be swimming this fall. For the past decade plus, I have been up at 5:30am for practice, and then practice til 5pm after a day of school. This sport kept me in great shape and met a lot of people. I am very interested to see what my life can be without it, but I know I will miss it when I go and watch the Norse swim! I really look forward to riding the gravels around Cedar Falls and cross country skiing if we get the snow. Will keep these endevours posted as the school year progresses!
Good luck to those racing in Des Moines.
Carson
Sunday, August 8, 2010
State Road Race
Saturday marked my key race for the year. That 108 miles Iowa State Road Race Championships in West Branch, Iowa. There is something that intrigues me about that length of a race, especially around the midwest. I really enjoy it, as I believe it takes a sort of mentality, strength to do well rather than always doing well in 50-65mile road races.
Thought the weather was going to be nice when Bethany and I started our drive after a great breakfast at home and a stop at Starbucks on the way. Got registered and number pinned on with about 45 minutes to spare and just relaxed as no warmup was needed for a race of that distance. Lined up for the start with the other 45-50 riders but didn't see a lot of firepower that is usually present in the Cat 1,2 fields. Brian Eppen, Jerrod Osterloh, Lane Anderson, Paul Deninger, Lou Waugaman, Jeff Bradley were all not in attendance. I thought to myself this could be a good thing or make for a very boring race. Our Mercy-Specialized team was well represented with Jeff Barnes, Adam Price, Ryan Nenninger, Mattius Perret, John Olney, Brendan Keeley, and myself.
As soon as we got out of West Branch for the first lap, the skies opened up into a steady rain that would still with our peloton for the first 85 miles of this race. While this made the race hit a different mental game of slogging it out for 4.5 hours in the rain even harder, it was fun to say the least. The pace was pretty chill with only a couple attacks, but the one we were looking for got away, with Ryan and Clark Preibe getting away. This was the move of the day, with none of the other moves able to stick. At one point, we heard 4.5 minutes up the road for the break, but then all of a sudden heard Ryan had fallen off the pace. Clark's gap at it's highest was 6 minutes, he took it out that far by himself. We started to rotate on the front, and sure enough we caught Ryan. The next couple time gaps were surprising, 4 minutes, 2:45 and then 1:30 all within the span of a half lap. As we went through West Branch for the last time, we saw Clark up the road. After the race, he said he bonked so hard core he actually had to wave down the pace car for food. (Congrats to Clark for the great try).
The last lap really didn't get to heated, and the three hills on the course never made much of a difference. The wind was out of the south, and started to pick up a little bit neutralizing any attacks going of the front. Turning back West towards West Branch, I was sitting 4th wheel, and trying to mark attacks and keep Brendan and Jeff out of the wind. With about 4 miles to go, I hit the gas trying to get a half/hearted gap or see what was up, but this was marked and I was on the front. All of a sudden, an attack went up the left hand side with Ryan French and Will Greenwood. I was on the front and knew it was my job to bring it back, I was able to get to Will, but Ryan had a good gap.
All of a sudden Jeff made a soft attack(??) or so it seemed he just motored his way off the front, I was able to back off the gas and wait for the surge. It came and I got into the drafts with about 1.5 miles to go. This is where it got kinda hectic, on the last half lap, the official said we had the whole road from about 1 mile to go, but I don't think the whole peloton got a hold of this. Coming up to the finish, everyone seemed to want the right hand side of the road. As I was sprinting I saw Jeff cross the finish line for the WIN!!!!
I came across in 10th place, Brendan Kealey just behind, who ended up getting 5th in the Cat 3's. It was awesome to see Jeff get the win. Adam, Mattius, Ryan, Brendan, Jeff and I did a pretty good job when we needed to and got the result!
It was 9 minutes slower than last years race, maybe because of the rain or lack of horsepower in the field, but none the less, it was a fun race! Good to have a field of 50 guys. Always makes me leave wanting more races of that distance! Good job to everyone until next time.
Thought the weather was going to be nice when Bethany and I started our drive after a great breakfast at home and a stop at Starbucks on the way. Got registered and number pinned on with about 45 minutes to spare and just relaxed as no warmup was needed for a race of that distance. Lined up for the start with the other 45-50 riders but didn't see a lot of firepower that is usually present in the Cat 1,2 fields. Brian Eppen, Jerrod Osterloh, Lane Anderson, Paul Deninger, Lou Waugaman, Jeff Bradley were all not in attendance. I thought to myself this could be a good thing or make for a very boring race. Our Mercy-Specialized team was well represented with Jeff Barnes, Adam Price, Ryan Nenninger, Mattius Perret, John Olney, Brendan Keeley, and myself.
As soon as we got out of West Branch for the first lap, the skies opened up into a steady rain that would still with our peloton for the first 85 miles of this race. While this made the race hit a different mental game of slogging it out for 4.5 hours in the rain even harder, it was fun to say the least. The pace was pretty chill with only a couple attacks, but the one we were looking for got away, with Ryan and Clark Preibe getting away. This was the move of the day, with none of the other moves able to stick. At one point, we heard 4.5 minutes up the road for the break, but then all of a sudden heard Ryan had fallen off the pace. Clark's gap at it's highest was 6 minutes, he took it out that far by himself. We started to rotate on the front, and sure enough we caught Ryan. The next couple time gaps were surprising, 4 minutes, 2:45 and then 1:30 all within the span of a half lap. As we went through West Branch for the last time, we saw Clark up the road. After the race, he said he bonked so hard core he actually had to wave down the pace car for food. (Congrats to Clark for the great try).
The last lap really didn't get to heated, and the three hills on the course never made much of a difference. The wind was out of the south, and started to pick up a little bit neutralizing any attacks going of the front. Turning back West towards West Branch, I was sitting 4th wheel, and trying to mark attacks and keep Brendan and Jeff out of the wind. With about 4 miles to go, I hit the gas trying to get a half/hearted gap or see what was up, but this was marked and I was on the front. All of a sudden, an attack went up the left hand side with Ryan French and Will Greenwood. I was on the front and knew it was my job to bring it back, I was able to get to Will, but Ryan had a good gap.
All of a sudden Jeff made a soft attack(??) or so it seemed he just motored his way off the front, I was able to back off the gas and wait for the surge. It came and I got into the drafts with about 1.5 miles to go. This is where it got kinda hectic, on the last half lap, the official said we had the whole road from about 1 mile to go, but I don't think the whole peloton got a hold of this. Coming up to the finish, everyone seemed to want the right hand side of the road. As I was sprinting I saw Jeff cross the finish line for the WIN!!!!
I came across in 10th place, Brendan Kealey just behind, who ended up getting 5th in the Cat 3's. It was awesome to see Jeff get the win. Adam, Mattius, Ryan, Brendan, Jeff and I did a pretty good job when we needed to and got the result!
It was 9 minutes slower than last years race, maybe because of the rain or lack of horsepower in the field, but none the less, it was a fun race! Good to have a field of 50 guys. Always makes me leave wanting more races of that distance! Good job to everyone until next time.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Whats happening?
Hey friends/family/followers!
Not to much to report on, as no racing has really occurred since Clear Lake. Just been working at Peppers and just finished a very successful rest week on the bike last week. I have never been much for rest weeks, as I feel like I can't eat stuff I want and when on the bike, always wanna go harder than I should. It was a good week though as I said, with the whole ride style of "go out, do your work and go home". Each day I still had a purpose to be on the road, either with some shorter LT or VO2 stuff, but as soon as I was done, it was home and off the legs or work. This made for a great week of watching the TDF.
Now this week, I start my final couple weeks of preparation for the State RR/ State TT. For the first time today, I tried motor pacing. From minute one, I am hooked and hope to do it quite a bit. I was nervous for myself and my motorpacer (girlfriend Bethany) as we had never done anything like this. I could tell she was very scared, as she didn't wanna crash herself or me, but man did she do an incredible job! We have some kinks to work out with accelerations/hills/decents and stuff but had a great time at 28-30mph! It was fun cruising down the road at these speeds, when usually a race type situation is the only time such speeds would happen. Coming from behind the scooter, and sprinting was the best part, seeing 30+ mph sprints into headwinds.
I tell ya, this TDF has been fun to watch and tomorrows stage up the Tourmelet is gonna be epic! Go ANDY! I think Alberto was very thoughtful with his apology and its good to see that they are friends!
On the other hand, how about Ivan Stevic at the Tour of Quingi Lake. Wasn't this guy banned for doping for 2 years, now he comes back and shows the bird when winning? Or how about Floyd Landis wearing a Hanes T-Shirt for his TT at Cascade! Now ABC is thinking of doing a story on Floyd, I think they should tell him to get a life and move on.
This weekend is Nordic Fest in Decorah. I have been involved with this every year of my life, with family and friends living there, and having grown up in Decorah. It is a great time with food and activities. My grandpa has run the "Rock Throw" for 20+ years. A cool event, Women thrown a 50lb rock, (sub) 150 men thrown 50, 150-200lb men throw 75lb and 200+ throw a 100lb rock! Looking forward to reacquainting with friends from Luther and getting some good food!
Not to much to report on, as no racing has really occurred since Clear Lake. Just been working at Peppers and just finished a very successful rest week on the bike last week. I have never been much for rest weeks, as I feel like I can't eat stuff I want and when on the bike, always wanna go harder than I should. It was a good week though as I said, with the whole ride style of "go out, do your work and go home". Each day I still had a purpose to be on the road, either with some shorter LT or VO2 stuff, but as soon as I was done, it was home and off the legs or work. This made for a great week of watching the TDF.
Now this week, I start my final couple weeks of preparation for the State RR/ State TT. For the first time today, I tried motor pacing. From minute one, I am hooked and hope to do it quite a bit. I was nervous for myself and my motorpacer (girlfriend Bethany) as we had never done anything like this. I could tell she was very scared, as she didn't wanna crash herself or me, but man did she do an incredible job! We have some kinks to work out with accelerations/hills/decents and stuff but had a great time at 28-30mph! It was fun cruising down the road at these speeds, when usually a race type situation is the only time such speeds would happen. Coming from behind the scooter, and sprinting was the best part, seeing 30+ mph sprints into headwinds.
I tell ya, this TDF has been fun to watch and tomorrows stage up the Tourmelet is gonna be epic! Go ANDY! I think Alberto was very thoughtful with his apology and its good to see that they are friends!
On the other hand, how about Ivan Stevic at the Tour of Quingi Lake. Wasn't this guy banned for doping for 2 years, now he comes back and shows the bird when winning? Or how about Floyd Landis wearing a Hanes T-Shirt for his TT at Cascade! Now ABC is thinking of doing a story on Floyd, I think they should tell him to get a life and move on.
This weekend is Nordic Fest in Decorah. I have been involved with this every year of my life, with family and friends living there, and having grown up in Decorah. It is a great time with food and activities. My grandpa has run the "Rock Throw" for 20+ years. A cool event, Women thrown a 50lb rock, (sub) 150 men thrown 50, 150-200lb men throw 75lb and 200+ throw a 100lb rock! Looking forward to reacquainting with friends from Luther and getting some good food!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Clear Lake Road Race
Well Saturday was Megan and Eric Thorsen's wedding in Des Moines. I went down on Thursday night and did the Elkhart TT series presented by Zealous Racing. A greatly run event, and it put back in my mind how hard a TT felt. I hadn't done one in 2 years or so.
Friday and Saturday I did rides with Lou Waugaman, as he showed me the routes around Des Moines. Friday was nice as we had Reed R, and a couple other guys I forgot names (sorry!) join us on their TT bikes. Did a loop around Saylorville Lake. Friday night, Bethany, Doug and I stayed at the Staybridge Suites in WDM, went to Olive Garden and enjoyed the evening. Saturday, Lou and I rode downtown to the farmers market, which is huge! I couldn't believe it, and I had a great breakfast burrito and coffee. Rode back to my hotel and then got ready for the wedding. A great wedding and reception at Des Moines CC.
Sunday, I was up bright and early for the drive to Clear Lake. Arrived with plenty of time to get number pinned, coffee and bagel down for the 80 mile RR. Mercy had a great showing for the race and overall, the race was great sized!
Started off neutral for the first 3 miles then the speed kicked up as attack were thrown off. Unfortunately we missed the break that contained Zealous, Velosport and Clark Preibe. This was a dangerous break, and can't believe we missed it. Adam Price and I decided to try and keep the break in check and went right to the front to ride tempo. We rode a two man rotation for about 10 miles, before being joined by Lee Venticher(B2U). We then spent the next 10 miles rotating before Speedfix came to help. After a while, we got help from more B2U guys and single riders and the break never got more than 2 minutes. Even though 2 minutes doesn't seem like that much, we didn't bring the gap down fast at all, and a 20-25mile all out chase in the tailwind section by Duey/Rock/Moritz only neutralized the break with about 8 miles to go. I paid for my 40 miles of tempo riding on the front when I was dispatched from the lead group in the crosswind section with 6 laps to go. Rolled in off the back, disappointing....but what can I expect from working and expending energy.
Zealous did a very smart race, by having a guy in the break and took a back seat, having Lane Anderson win in the finale.
One thing I am finding this year, is the large jump from a Cat 3- Cat 2. I never had a problem being off the bike from Sept-Feb for swimming and then being competitive, but this year, I am about 2 months behind many of the regional pro riders. Even though I have trained harder/longer volume than I ever had before. I am not eligible to swim collegiate anymore, so will start riding in the fall/winter and come out stronger next spring. Next up is probably a couple Superweek races and then State RR in August.
Friday and Saturday I did rides with Lou Waugaman, as he showed me the routes around Des Moines. Friday was nice as we had Reed R, and a couple other guys I forgot names (sorry!) join us on their TT bikes. Did a loop around Saylorville Lake. Friday night, Bethany, Doug and I stayed at the Staybridge Suites in WDM, went to Olive Garden and enjoyed the evening. Saturday, Lou and I rode downtown to the farmers market, which is huge! I couldn't believe it, and I had a great breakfast burrito and coffee. Rode back to my hotel and then got ready for the wedding. A great wedding and reception at Des Moines CC.
Sunday, I was up bright and early for the drive to Clear Lake. Arrived with plenty of time to get number pinned, coffee and bagel down for the 80 mile RR. Mercy had a great showing for the race and overall, the race was great sized!
Started off neutral for the first 3 miles then the speed kicked up as attack were thrown off. Unfortunately we missed the break that contained Zealous, Velosport and Clark Preibe. This was a dangerous break, and can't believe we missed it. Adam Price and I decided to try and keep the break in check and went right to the front to ride tempo. We rode a two man rotation for about 10 miles, before being joined by Lee Venticher(B2U). We then spent the next 10 miles rotating before Speedfix came to help. After a while, we got help from more B2U guys and single riders and the break never got more than 2 minutes. Even though 2 minutes doesn't seem like that much, we didn't bring the gap down fast at all, and a 20-25mile all out chase in the tailwind section by Duey/Rock/Moritz only neutralized the break with about 8 miles to go. I paid for my 40 miles of tempo riding on the front when I was dispatched from the lead group in the crosswind section with 6 laps to go. Rolled in off the back, disappointing....but what can I expect from working and expending energy.
Zealous did a very smart race, by having a guy in the break and took a back seat, having Lane Anderson win in the finale.
One thing I am finding this year, is the large jump from a Cat 3- Cat 2. I never had a problem being off the bike from Sept-Feb for swimming and then being competitive, but this year, I am about 2 months behind many of the regional pro riders. Even though I have trained harder/longer volume than I ever had before. I am not eligible to swim collegiate anymore, so will start riding in the fall/winter and come out stronger next spring. Next up is probably a couple Superweek races and then State RR in August.
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