The stars of Interbike Day 2

Let me start by giving credit to my friends Phil and Tom for the photos taken at Interbike this year. Phil has never been to Interbike (or Vegas for that matter) and has been snapping pictures like crazy. Tom is a jaded veteran of the bike industry who snaps pictures more selectively.

A big part of the attraction of Interbike is a chance to meet the stars of our sport, chat a little with them, and maybe get an autograph. Here's a sampling of the celebs in attendence on day 2 of the show:

Eddy Merckx

Lance Armstrong

Bobby Julich

A pair of Phils (Liggett on the right)

George Hincapie

Tomorrow is our final day at Interbike and will be primarily a last dash for schwag before getting on the plane and heading home.

Interbike - Day 1

We started our Wednesday at 4:45 am in Seattle and finished it after midnight in Vegas. Along the way, we walked the aisles at Interbike looking for the latest and greatest, searching out free schwag, and celebrated a friend's "birthday" at dinner.

We got to the show just after lunch and spent the afternoon walking the show floor getting the lay of the land. In the weeks leading up to Interbike, bike shops receive many postcards and such inviting them to "bring this postcard to our booth for a free.........". Some of these are usually for entries in some sort of product drawing. One of them this year was for a free cable guide and an entry into a drawing for a dirt jumping stem from Dirty Dog. We dropped off the card at the booth and the rep advised us to be sure and come back for the drawing at 4pm because only a couple people had attended the drawing the previous year so the odds should be in our favor (something hard to find in Vegas).

The appointed hour arrived, and sure enough, turnout for the drawing was low. In fact, we were the only shop there. That is an easy drawing to win. Thanks to Dirty Dog for the stem and the tip on the easy to win drawing.

The coolest thing we saw on day one was actually only a prototype and not actually a product available on the market yet. Jet Lites is working on a midweight heated glove that has a small rechargeable battery that sits on the gauntlet of the glove. It looks like it would be great for winter riding or even, depending on the final battery location, XC skiing.

The highlight of our evening was dinner with my friends and a "birthday" celebration for one of them. Tom's friend Chad joined us for dinner and being a spontaneous type he snuck off and told the waitstaff it was Tom's birthday (which was actually in May). We were all quite surprised and amused when the waiter appeared with a cupcake with a candle on a plate with chocolate covered strawberries and Chad stood up and broke into a moving rendition of Happy Birthday. It was a great way to start our evening on the town.

It's time to head off to the show now for day two. I'll let you know what we find.

That's a wrap

Well, the "competitive" cycling season for 2008 is done for me. I finished up last Monday with the last of this year's local time trials. The rest of the season will be spent riding to keep the winter pounds at bay until the snow comes, then I'll take a short break then head to the gym and start working towards next season.

All in all, I'm very pleased with my 2008 racing season. I certainly rode at least as well if not better than I ever have before. It was great to go to races and always be riding with a feeling of being competitive rather than just fighting to finish with the bunch. I didn't always achieve my goals in each event, but 2008 had plenty of pleasant surprises and a few personal bests as well.

Some of my fondest experiences now, looking back, were also some of the most unpleasant at the time. Racing through cold and hailstorms in Cheney in April at the Frozen Flatlands road race was nasty at the time, but my form at the time was beginning to show that the rest of the season might be a lot of fun and hold some pleasant surprises like my best ever 3rd place finish at a Pacific Raceways training race a few weeks later.

The Washington State Omnium Championships in Wenatchee in May featured a road course that I never would have gone near in my earlier years as a racer. The long, steep climb was a beast, but I rode my own pace, and chased on the descent and flats to the finish and ended up finishing pretty well. I'm definitely excited about trying this event again next year and trying to improve on my result from this year.

The State Time Trial Championships in Tenino in August yielded a personal best and a first time ever under one hour for 40k for me. And although I failed to achieve my goal of medalling, I had a great day on the bike and rode really well. I am waiting with great interest to see where next year's State TT will be held as I have high expectations for next year.

Ride 542, the Mount Baker Hillclimb, rounded off the big events for the season in early September and was held in even more perfect weather than last year. As last year, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and managed to knock off 20 or so seconds of last year's time. I'll be back next year, hopefully with a few friends along for the ride.

The other positive memories of the racing season are too numerous to detail but involve group training rides, friends made along the way, and the simple joy of rolling along on two wheels. Next up is one of my other yearly activities, my annual trip to Interbike in Las Vegas. Three days with friends surrounded by all the latest and greatest the bike industry has to offer. A great way for a bike geek like me to wrap up the season.

Racing up the Mount Baker Highway

Yesterday was another absolutely perfect day to have a bike race up the Mount Baker Highway to Artist's Point. This was fortuitous because yesterday also happened to be the day of the 2008 Ride 542 which is a bike race/ride up SR 542 to the aforementioned Artist's Point. I did this event for the first time last year and after having a very enjoyable day (and posting a time of 1:45:23 for the 24.5 mile/4300 ft. gain course), I didn't think there could ever be conditions more perfect than the sunny and warm day we had then. I was wrong. This year was even a little warmer.

Last year being my first time, I approached the race somewhat conservatively and didn't fight too hard to stay with a pack over the first "flat" 14 miles of the course. This tactic, I reasoned, would leave me with more energy for the steep remaining 10.5 miles to the finish. With nothing to compare to, after all was said and done, it seemed to work well and I was happy with my time.

This year, now that I knew the course, I decided I would be more aggressive early and try and hang with a pack. The competitive division consists of a around 250 entrants and ranges in abilities from riders like Ian McKissick and Ned Overend down (way, way down) to riders like me and beyond. Given this wide range of rider talent, the field tends to break into several packs almost immediately with countless smaller groups trailing behind those.

The first 14 miles of the course gains only about 1000 feet so being in a pack can help save some time. There are a couple of short climbs of about 6% in this section so it does cost some energy to try and hang with a pack that climbs quicker than you normally would. I hung in there on these early climbs and managed to avoid a crash caused by a touch of wheels that took down four riders and arrived at the base of the"real climb" feeling pretty good and in a group of about 15 riders. I sat on the group for another mile or so and finally eased off the back before I popped off. I felt strong on the climb and with about three miles to go, appeared to be a couple minutes ahead of last year's pace. I grabbed a bottle at the last aid station and settled in for the last couple miles.

This last bit contains the steepest sections of the ride and as you pass through 5000 feet the earlier efforts begin to take their toll. By this point, I was passing many of the recreational divison riders who had started an hour earlier than me. One of these impressive souls was pulling his child in a trailer. When I passed him, his child was wailing louder than my legs, but my wife reported that when the trailer passed her viewing point near the finish, all was quiet. As for my legs, they wailed all the way to the finish and left me trembling for several minutes after as well. Despite my fading pace over the last couple miles, I managed to better my time from last year by around 20 seconds or so. It was a fantastic ride again and I will definitely be back next year.

The dog days are over

In my last post, I wrote about my waning motivation during the Dog Days of the season (evidently this lack of motivation applies to blog posts as well!). Well, tomorrow is Ride 542, the Mount Baker hillclimb, and I am as fired up as I was in June. Last night, I went for a ride after work and after about ten minutes of riding, the enthusiasm had returned. I felt great the entire ride and am really looking forward to tomorrow's effort. I'll be trying to better my time from last year (1:45:23) and I think I've got a really good shot at it. My wife and her family are even going to make a day of it and come out to cheer all the riders on. I'll let you know how it all turns out.