| 2007 april |
| Tuesday, May 1, 2007 shitluck It's taken two days for me to sit down and write about Madera. Saturday I warmed-up good and proper and went out and rode a technically perfect time trial good for fifth place, less than a minute down from the leader. Saturday afternoon I covered all attacks in the crit and got in a two man break and won the first prime good for 5 seconds, which I ended up needing because the guy in sixth place on GC won the crit and would have been one second ahead of me had I not won the prime. I sat in for the rest of the crit and easily finished with the pack. Sunday morning we finally get the results and I'm on cloud nine thinking I got at least ten upgrade points in the bag if I finish with the front group. The road race starts and I start getting that tingly feeling that I am the strongest one out there and there is a good chance to move up in the standings and even win the whole deal if I rode aggressively enough to fry the others. It's been two years since I felt that in a race and every time I won. Ten miles later I'm standing at the side of the road with a cut tire. Poof. Gone. Everything I for which I sacrificed so much gone in the blink of an eye. You could probably hear my scream "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" all the back in Stockton. Oh well, as they say, that's racing. So now it's a long build to districts and the Cal Cup starting the end of July, at which time I will strike back with great anger and vengeance. I will not be denied. Friday, April 27, 2007 pre-ride and pasta Got to beautiful Madera around three o'clock, checked into the hotel and then pre-rode the tt course. There was a bit of wind out there that prolly won't be there in the morning. I push off at 10:28. The first half of the course is really fast but the second half starts with a long false flat that will decide who went out too hard and who has the muscular endurance to stick it. I thought for a minute about maybe pushing a big gear at that point but I think I will go with my plan to turn a high rpm from start to finish. If the weather holds the road race could be decided by who likes the heat and who drinks the most. I loaded up on ravioli and bread for dinner, should be good to go. Until tomorrow. Thursday, April 26, 2007 the calm before the storm Tonight was 90 minutes at a nice even endurance pace. I keep thinking about the first two minutes of Saturday"s time trial over and over and every time my heart rate increases and my senses sharpen. Get on top of the gear, don't sprint, settle in, find the sweet spot, run the voodoo down. I'm going out at 26+ and if I crack so be it. I'll try to get online Saturday night with an update. Ciao, for now. Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Indian Hill Love it, hate it, gotta go there. Climbed that bitch in a 53x14 at 14mph thank you very much. Steak and mushrooms for dinner tonight, and ice cream, don't forget the ice cream. Thought about it every time I pointed my whip toward Auburn Folsom. Good night. Tuesday, April 24, 2007 RiverRide Ready as I'm gonna be. I played at the front of the RiverRide no problem. I put out 335 watts for 25 minutes, the effort that buried me at Copperopolis is now easy. The best news of the night is that Katie made the front group and rode very strong. Time to retest her threshold. It's exciting to see someone with so much passion for the sport blossoming before my eyes. Rock on sista! Sunday, April 22, 2007 cardaic Started in Winters and did an out and back on 128 over the Cardiac climb. Did two 12 minute efforts out of the saddle at an easy pace. It felt good. Tomorrow is another day off to get ready for Madera. Saturday, April 21, 2007 RiverRide plus I went with everything until I cracked. Luckily the riders I eventually could go with were cat 2 or higher. And, when I got in breaks I worked as not to piss anyone off. Next Sunday I won't care about the feelings of the other racers, especially if they have teammates. Friday, April 20, 2007 day of rest So yesterday was really hard piled on to the previous two days of training. I did four intervals of 5, 4, 3, and 3 minutes with five minutes rest between. Each interval was progressively harder. The progression of wattage was 315, 323, 336 and 347. I was with within 3 watts of hitting all of the prescribed intensities which are based on my VO2 max of 375. All of these numbers I have learned to figure out on my own using CyclingPeaks software in addition to doing extensive field testing. This workout was done on my time trial bike in nuking wind. Pretty cool. I expect to be flying on Tuesday and ready to race next weekend. Tomorrow is the RiverRide and I plan to patrol the front and cover everything without using too much energy. Easier said than done, but this is how I will have to ride the road race at Madera as I have no teammates. I will have to go with everything that moves then do less than my share of work. Thursday, April 19, 2007 intervals Ouch, I'm torched! Good night. Wednesday, April 18, 2007 sfr Up up up to Newcastle for some big gear hill repeats. Yawn. I got down into the 14 for the final two-thirds of the last climb. The high point of the trip was the scenery. The view across the valley to Mt. Diablo was awesome. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's final tt work. Four VO2 max intervals and some race pace. Tuesday, April 17, 2007 part two South RiverRide in nukin wind. Bridged to Matt Obregon and put in a good 3-4 minute dig. Got gapped out in the subway and hesitated thinking the guys I was with would pull it back. Pop pop pop. Note to self: Quit hesitating. It was fun to be out there again. Can't wait til next week. Oh yeah, Russell was out there, great to see him on a bike!!! Tuesday, April 17, 2007 part one I got out on the tt-bike for a little tempo work this morning. I've definitely reached my goal of going 22-23mph at 80% effort. We won't know until race day what will happen over the course of ten miles. I have put down 500 miles over 28 hours on the tt-bike since training began back on October 22. I don't think I could have been any more committed. I'm feeling like I gave 100% so whatever happens next Saturday will be my potential realized at this moment in time. Monday, April 16, 2007 elbow time I did my Monday recovery ride on the tt-bike. The position still feels great. I always worry after a couple of weeks away. I have a few more workouts planned for that bike between now and Madera. Dare I count the days? I think not. Sunday, April 15, 2007 wind, wind Just the facts ma'am. Three and a half hours in 20-30mph gusting wind. To Beale and back on the bike trail with a headwind in both directions. Average watts 197. Average speed 16.8. Argh. Saturday, April 14, 2007 rain, rain It was nukin rain at RiverRide time so we waited to go out in the late afternoon. I feel pretty good, two hours at 220 watts ain't nothing to sneeze at, but it felt like I was pedaling through molasses. A few jumps at the end of the ride hopefully cured that. I had a big yummy pasta dinner to recover and prepare for tomorrow's four hour ride in the wind. Friday, April 13, 2007 I'm back The dark cloud finally lifted yesterday during my VO2 max intervals. I don't know if I caught a bug or just fried myself into intestinal distress but let's just say I lost a few pounds of water weight between Saturday's disaster and Wednesday. I did manage to get in my sprint work on Tuesday, though there were no personal bests, just doing the work. It should be pretty smooth form here to Madera. I'm looking to take some frustration out on the RiverRide tomorrow. Monday, April 9, 2007 recovery day 77 watts, 12.5 mph, one hour. How about another quote? This time a paradox... "She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all." Bob Dylan Here is the DNF list from the Tour of Flanders Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Predictor-Lotto Roy Sentjens (Bel) Predictor-Lotto Markus Eichler (Ger) Unibet.com Jimmy Casper (Fra) Unibet.com Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC Kasper Klostergård (Den) Team CSC Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC José Joaquín Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne Eric Berthou (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne Florent Brard (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne Vicente Reynes (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne Andoni Aranaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi Unai Uribarri (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi Iban Mayoz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi Andoni Lafuente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi Iban Iriondo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir Luciano Pagliarini (Bra) Saunier Duval-Prodir Ángel Gómez Gómez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir Raúl Alarcón (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir Stéphane Poulhiès (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance Loyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r Prévoyance Renaud Dion (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Cofidis Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis Mathieu Heijboer (Ned) Cofidis Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Crédit Agricole Julian Dean (NZl) Crédit Agricole Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Française Des Jeux Fabien Patanchon (Fra) Française Des Jeux Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner Oscar Gatto (Ita) Gerolsteiner Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner Bert Grabsch (Ger) T-Mobile Servais Knaven (Ned) T-Mobile Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) T-Mobile Roger Hammond (GBr) T-Mobile Roberto Petito (Ita) Liquigas Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Milram Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukr) Milram Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Astana Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana Benoît Joachim (Lux) Astana Pavel Padrnos (Cze) Discovery Channel Steve Cummings (GBr) Discovery Channel Antonio Cruz (USA) Discovery Channel Niko Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen Johan Coenen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner Robert Wagner (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt Daniel Musiol (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) Wiesenhof-Felt Felix Odebrecht (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems Ilya Chernetsky (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems Nikolai Trussov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems Anton Mindlin (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems Kenny Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano Christian Müller (Ger) Skil-Shimano Christoph Meschenmoser (Ger) Skil-Shimano David Deroo (Fra) Skil-Shimano Sunday, April 8, 2007 more tempo, ouch Three hours with an hour at 230 watts followed with 45 minutes at 246. I just stuck it in a big gear and grinded it out at 85 rpm and an average speed of 21mph. I'll concentrate on getting a good spin on for the next couple of days. I am wrecked from this last week. So here's an appropriate quote... "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot Saturday, April 7, 2007 Copperopolis Well, well, well. It didn't go so good. I started the first climb at the front and lead the group to the steep part and then faded and caught on to the back over the top. I started the second climb at the front and faded faster getting gapped and chasing back on. On the third climb I tried to get to the front to no avail. I started fading at the feed zone, got gapped and abandoned. I was toast. Riding two 1-3/4 laps alone would have dug me into a hole that I might not get out of, so back down the hill to my car I went. No hamburgers for me tonight. The good news is I pushed 340 watts for 20 minutes, about how much I will need to smoke the time trial at Madera in three weeks. Friday, April 6, 2007 recovery ride Work was really tough today and it was great to get out for an easy one hour spin. Average speed 14 mph. I'm as ready as I'm gonna be for tomorrow. To finish with the front group would be nice but this is a really hard race for me, a kinda love hate thing I suppose. Thursday, April 5, 2007 more big gear hill repeats Up up up to Indian Hill for some sfr fun in the sun. My average speed has increased 3 mph since I first started this workout back in January. I'm looking forward to Copperopolis on Saturday. I feel much more prepared than last year and if I can make the final selection then anything goes. I've noticed that the long rides with the last hour near threshold have given my an advantage over the guys that don't have the time for that much torture. I'll carry lots of food and pray for a decent hand-up in the neutral feed. Ciao, for now. Wednesday, April 4, 2007 crispy critter After way too many hours on my feet and yesterday's epic I was in much need of an easy spin so it was up the bike trail for 90 minutes with one hour at a steady endurance pace. Tuesday, April 3, 2007 dancin' with the Devil It's Tuesday and that means going deep. We headed over to Mt. Diablo for some uninterupted climbing and to test Katie's Functional Threshold Power (FTP). We started at the North Gate and went all the way to the top and then descended to the Junction and on down to the South Gate, then turned around and climbed back to the Junction and then headed back down to the car.. It turns out to be a 3 and a half hour ride. Next time I'll go all the way to the top both times for a solid four hours. Monday, April 2, 2007 last day of Super Sale, yawn Thirteen hours on my feet today was not my idea of a recovery day but we all gotta do our part to maintain the lifestyle no? I managed to go wire to wire on this year's sale without coming unhinged and I think I made it through with good legs for the first time. Last night's ride was really good. I did a twenty-three minute effort on the tt-bike with a high cadence and felt like I was really motating. 230 watts, 23 mph, 105 cadence, with the heart rate at 75% of max. For the first time I believe I can go 26.5 mph for 22 and a half minutes. It's gonna be tough but I believe it can be done. A proper warm-up will be key. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |