The Season of Hope

It's that time of year, that special season, a time for hope and a time for optimism. The time when gifts are received that can raise your spirit. Yes, its time for off-season training!

Since I don't race cyclocross (although I probably should try it even though that would mean yet another bike), I've been off the bike for a several weeks now. Its time to get back to work and hit the gym for some off-season strength training in preparation for 2009. The hope and optimism I mentioned earlier runs rampant this time of year for me. I begin to think of the races of the next year and of course since it hasn't started, all things are possible. I enjoy the workouts in the gym. They are a nice change of pace for a few months. By February though, I'll be tired of being inside and ready to hit the road again. The work I do now indoors hopefully will set me up for a strong racing season. Last year was the first winter I did any work in the gym and I feel it really helped me get off to a great start to my best ever season this past year.

I also mentioned gifts that can raise your spirit. I'm not talking about a new pair of pedals, or a jersey, or a sexy new pair of carbon wheels. No, I'm talking about something just as hard to wait for as Christmas morning. It's the posting of the racing calendar for the upcoming year on the WSBA website. Once its posted the planning and goal setting can begin. I think about the races I enjoyed last year and the ones I might like to try. I begin to plan which days from work I'll need off and if I can rope any of my friends into joining me at some far away race. Okay, I also think about new pieces of equipment that will make those races and my training all the more enjoyable and memorable.

Lots to think about and hope for in this Season of Hope.

Happy Holidays!

My Favorite?

Which one of my bikes is my favorite? That's a really tough question. I have a Bushnell custom road bike that I have had for 17 years that fits like a pair of old blue jeans and that I race on and ride probably 75% of my miles on. I've got a slippery fast Trek Equinox TT bike that's a kick to ride, but being a TT bike, it doesn't get a whole lot of miles on it. Right now, I'm between mountain bikes, but although I usually have one, I don't really get all that attached to them or ride them very much.

I like all my bikes a lot, that's part of being a bike geek like me. But if I had to pick one favorite though, it would be the "ugly duck" of the flock. I put it together a couple of years ago to ride on the road early and late in the season when the weather is cruddy and the roads are sandy, wet, and slushy. Its heavy and slow, but when the temperature is in the 30s, less speed is a good thing because there is less wind chill. Its got fenders, a rack, and lights so its practical for wet weather and the shorter days of late fall and early spring. Its a 1985 Ritchey mountain bike that I got off of eBay for about $250. I added some drop bars and the proper stem to match my road bike position. Its long wheelbase and relaxed geometry make it nice and stable on slick roads and the fat tires help as well. Although its not my lightest, fastest, or flashiest bike, it is unquestionably the best suited to its respective task. As a bonus, I put flat pedals on it for the summer and use it for running errands around town which it does quite well. Is it my favorite? I don't know, but I'm awfully fond of it!

The Rally for Ed

Tyler Farrar (in the Garmin kit) visits with Rally For Ed participants


My wife and I joined several hundred cyclists of all types earlier today in Wenatchee for a ride to show support for the recently injured Dr. Edward Farrar and bicycle safety. Such a turnout is impressive as the organizers only had little more than a week to organize the event. The ride was a procession complete with police escort from the Wenatchee Omnium criterium course near the Convention Center up to Skyline Drive where Dr. Farrar's accident occurred and onto Central Washington Hospital where he is currenty recovering from his injuries. (For more on Dr. Farrar's accident and condition please visit: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/edfarrar)

A steady stream of cyclists takes to Wenatchee Avenue

The procession leaves downtown towards Skyline Drive

Coming off Skyline Drive towards the hospital, bikes as far as you can see

Following the ride, a rally was held at the hospital where supporters heard from a few of Dr. Farrar's friends and colleagues and his son, Tyler Farrar. Get well cards and wishes were also signed by the participants for Dr. Farrar.

Riders gather afterwards to show their support for Dr. Farrar


Signs of support and encouragement for Dr. Farrar

It was an amazing experience to be part of such an outpouring of support for the Farrar family and it really highlights what a special group of people the bicycling community is. Several teams from the Seattle area made the trip over the mountains with First Rate Mortgage, Carter Subaru, and Wines of Washington among others all having members present. Everyone present joined in a cheer of "Ed!" at the end of the event with the hope that he could hear it in his room.

All in all, it was a wonderful ride and gathering and my wife and I were so glad to be able to participate. We are sending our most positive thoughts and wishes to Dr. Farrar and the Farrar family.

Bibjeans?

When I started this blog, I said it may contain things unrelated to bike racing that happen to leak out of my brain. This is just such a post.

Every year as the weather cools, I'm forced back into wearing blue jeans. I'm blessed/cursed with very narrow hips which makes it difficult to keep my jeans up. A belt helps, but really needs to be uncomfortably tight to do the job. I could try to be cool and wear my pants halfway down my butt, although that looks stupid on a teenager and exceptionally stupid on someone more than twice that age like myself.

Drawing on my cycling experience, I think I have a solution. Nearly every cyclist who has ever tried bibshorts never wears anything else on the bike. They are very comfortable and totally eliminate the chance of a gap between your jersey and your shorts. This is the inspiration for Bibjeans. Imagine, no uncomfortable waistband or overtightened belt. Just as with cycling bibs the bib material could be mesh or some other lightweight material. It's true that you wouldn't be able to tuck in your shirt, but that's not cool anyway. Maybe a modular solution with shirts that attach to the jeans could allow those who feel the need to have a shirt that tucks in to do so.

It's a long off-season, who know what other bizarre ideas I'll come up with.

Vegas memories

It's been three weeks since I got back from Interbike and I thought I'd share some miscellaneous thoughts and observations from the few days in Vegas.

Most Unique Schwag:

The compression wear company Skins was giving away these distinctive pens with the tag line "Break records legally" to hype their products.

Favorite Interbike Tradition:

My friend Tom has a tattoo of the Columbus tubing dove logo on his calf and every year he heads to the Columbus booth in search of schwag. The reaction depends on the person staffing the booth. Some year's the person doesn't care at all, but this year the guy was really impressed and had to get a picture for the folks back home. As for Tom, he got a cycling cap out of the deal.

The Coolest Things I Saw at the Show:

The Blackburn Flea headlight and taillight are really, really cool. They are very small (weighing only 17 grams), recharge off of any "flashlight" battery, and are quite bright. They also have a runtime of 3 to 6 hours. I've been using them on my road bike for the last couple weeks and have been very impressed. They may not be the type of carbon fiber or unobtanium racing technology that usually grab headlines, but they work really well and are the kind of product that would be really useful for a commuter and anything that makes it easier for people to make more trips by bike is a good thing.

Now, back to the whiz-bang racing technology. Electronic Dura-Ace struck me as one of those technologies you didn't know you needed. I didn't get a chance to try it firsthand but watching a variety of folks try it on the trainer they had set up in the Shimano booth, I was impressed with the speed and accuracy of the shifts. The front derailleur also has a slick auto-trim feature to keep the chain from rubbing when at the extremes of the freewheel. As I am usually several generations behind the times (still using 9-speed Dura-Ace), it will probably be awhile before I indulge in this technology.

That's it for my impressions of Interbike. It was fun being in Vegas again, but as always, a couple days is enough!

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.

The season's dog days

This is an odd time of the cycling season for me. Now that all the main goals for the season are past, it's a little harder to maintain focus and a sense of purpose in my riding. My form is great. The weather is still fantastic. I feel stronger and faster than ever, but a little scattered on rides and even in races. I did a weeknight training race at Pacific Raceways this past Tuesday and although I was very strong, I ended up squandering that strength by doing too much work several times throughout the race. Without the attention to a race strategy that I might of had earlier in the season, I found myself drifting frequently to the front, pushing the pace or chasing inconsequential breaks. Late in the race my lack of focus resulted in poor positioning which left too much ground to make up on the final climb. A further symptom of this time of year for me was that I was not terribly disappointed with my lackluster effort. Earlier in the season, I would have been quite annoyed with myself.

To combat these late season blahs, I generally try to change things up a little. Overall, my training volume might remain the same, but I'll do some longer or more challenging rides during the week and fewer total rides. I might also look for some "fun ride" events to participate in for a change of pace. Last year, I took part in Ride 542, the Mount Baker hillclimb, for the first time. It's a great event for me to look forward to this time of year. It takes place in early September and has participants with all levels of abilities and types of motivations. For many, it is a race and they take it very seriously. For others, it is just a ride and the goal is merely to get to the top. As my motivation lies somewhere in between this time of year, this is the event for me. It is well run event and takes place on a highway closed to other traffic. For more information visit: http://www.norkarecreation.com/hcindex.html. If you like to ride in the mountains, check it out.

The Big Day

This past sunday was the 2008 Washington State Time Trial Championships in Tenino, Washington. I raced in the Masters C category and after a seventh place finish last year just a minute out of the medals, I had set my sights this season on bringing home some hardware. As with most of the other participants, my other main goal was to be under one hour for the 40 kilometer course. (I wish I had a nickel for everyone I overheard afterwards telling somebody, "My goal was to be under an hour.")

One of my friends had travelled to the race with me to be my "pit crew" and his help and support was very welcomed. After having nearly screwed up two TT starts this year (Wenatchee and MV omniums), I had prepared myself a schedule and checklist to guide my race morning preparations. It may have appeared a little OCD to have this itemized list of tasks starting more than three hours before my start time, but it worked like a dream. I arrived at the starting line on-time, relaxed, and focused.

We went and drove the course in the morning to refresh my memory and check for any changes to pavement, etc. in the last year. It seemed that the turn around was not in the same place as the previous year. Last year, it seemed that the general opinion was that the course was a little longer than 40k. This year, it was definitely shorter than 40k (probably more like 39.3k).

For my Eastern Washington trained body, the morning low-clouds, breeze, damp air, and temps in the 60s were a little chilly and I whined a little during warm-up about it, much to my pit crew's annoyance. Once I was on the trainer for a little while though, I got a little heat built up and felt much better about the day's conditions. Another of my friends arrived just before I finished my warm-up and joined my pit crew in supporting me.

I rolled to start line and received the usual comments about my tigerstripe skinsuit (all positive). I noticed that one of the riders I had really been hoping to better was a no show and while being sorry he wasn't there, recognized that his absence bettered my chances as he usually beats me. The clock counted down and soon I was on my way. I settled into a rhythm quickly and tried to make the best use of a slight tailwind while saving a little for the inevitable headwind on the way back. My screaming fans (both of them) drove out and got pictures of me and shouted encouragement at several points on the course. I was feeling great and clearly riding fast. I knew from my cyclocomputer that I was ahead of hour pace and I was having a solid day. A mile or so from the turnaround I caught my one-minute and two-minute men (more on that later). I was rocking!

Heading back, I kept pushing and telling myself I was on a great day. As the course turned to the west, I prepared myself for the expected headwind, but it wasn't to be found, or only in occasional puffs. I kept my pace high and kept driving towards the finish. At 20 miles in, it was clear I was going to be well under one hour. With a couple miles to go, the headwind finally appeared and I tried to use that little bit I had saved earlier for this purpose. At about a mile to go, the course turns onto a road that is of a chipseal that the Methow would be proud of. It is so slow. I was closing on my third rider at this point (who had started at least four minutes ahead of me) and tried hard to catch him. I ended up right on his tail at the finish line.

My timer showed a time of just over 57 minutes and I was psyched. I felt really good about my effort and was confident about my chance at medalling. My computer told me that the course was a little short, but I had still averaged well over 25 mph.

I rolled back to registration at the city park and waited for the results. And waited. And waited. Finally, they posted Cat 4 results which were a few classes before us, but would give me an indication of how my time might measure up. The Cat 4 winner was at 56:16 so it seemed I was in with a shout. We waited some more and finally decided to go get some lunch. We chatted about my effort and I still felt good and cautiously optimistic about my chances.

After lunch, we headed back to the park and the results were posted. I was sixth with a time of 57:01.7. What? I was a little shocked. Even allowing for the shorter course, that time would have been an easy medal last year. I looked closer and saw that two of the names ahead of me were my one-minute and two-minute men. That's not right, I caught them before the turn. I pleaded my case to the officials. They reviewed their notes and records, they reviewed the notes of the marshal who was working the turnaround. It appeared I had not caught those two riders who started just ahead of me and they stood by their results. I begrudgingly accepted it and we headed back to the car. My friends and I talked a little in the car about it and decided they had to have a finish video that would conclusively show what order we came across in. I went back and asked the official if that was the case. They said they had one and it had all been packed up but they would look at it and e-mail me. I went back to the car still sure of the riders I had seen when I passed them.

I got in the car and my friend showed me a couple pictures he took of riders on the second half of the course after the turnaround. The sequence of pictures seemed to clearly show that my minute man was still ahead of me at that point. We drove home and I began to accept that the results were accurate, but who the heck were the riders I passed? Once the results were posted online the day after race, it became clear. Of the five riders in my class who started in front of me, two were my one and two minute men who I never caught and the other three were three of the four slowest riders in my class. They started four, five, and six minutes ahead of me and I caught two of them before the turn and the other one right at the finish. The bigger irony is that the one I caught at the finish was the only one on a standard bike with no aero equipment at all.

I e-mailed the promoter and officials and apologized for being a hallucinating, whiny bike racer and thanked them for professionally listening to my questioning of their work. They both responded positively and thanked me saying that riders scrutinizing the results in a timely manner helps them make sure their work is accurate. They also sent me the finish line image showing my one minute and two minute men finishing ahead of me.



So then, for the record, I finished 6th of 18 riders in the Masters C field with a time of 57:01.7.

I was less than a minute behind the winner so you know what next year's goal is...................

Five days to go and ready to rock!

Just five more days until the 2008 Washington State Time Trial Championships and I am ready to go and fired up about my chances to achieve my goal of medalling in the Masters C field. Last night I averaged over 25 mph for a 15 mile training time trial on a slightly hillier course than the championships course in Tenino. I'm definitely feeling on form and riding fast. I've got a sexy and fast new Ritchey WCS deep section carbon front wheel to go with my rear disc so the bike is flying too.

These last few days before a targeted event for me are like waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus. I'm sure I'll be jumping out of my skin by Sunday morning. I'll do a couple of easy rides this week, try and get enough rest, and keep focusing on positive thoughts for this weekend's race. I'll let you know how it all works out.

Two weeks to go

Last time I wrote about my feelings about time trialling vs. road racing and said that if I could do only one it would be road racing. Despite that, I'm now two weeks away from, and very eagerly looking forward to, my biggest goal for the racing season. Last season, I finished 7th in the Masters C field at the Washington State TT Championships but found myself less than a minute out of the medals. During the off season, I set myself a goal of medalling at this year's TT championships. I spent time in the gym over the winter for the first time and have been working hard all year towards this goal. This season, I've been faster than ever in the time trials I've ridden, so it all seems to be working. I've got one more week of hard training and then I'll rest up for a few days and head for Tenino to see what I can do. It's the same course as last year so it will be easy to get a direct comparison to last year's effort. I'm sure I'm capable of going under an hour and if I do, I should be in good shape for my goal.

Two more weeks and hopefully I'll have to think of a new and improved goal. Stay tuned ............

The solo effort vs. the pack dynamic

I was chatting with a friend the other day and was telling him about how my weekend at the Methow Valley Tour had gone. I told him I'd had a good time trial but had been caught up in the crash in the road race and was therefore a little disappointed that I didn't get to find out how well I might have done without the crash. He replied, "That's why I like time trials, you're not relying on others to affect or not affect your chances." We talked a little more and it seemed that it wasn't only that he didn't like the idea of having his chances ruined by someone else's mistake, but he actually didn't enjoy figuring out the teamwork and tactics of the group.

It got me to thinking about what I enjoy in my racing. I enjoy time trialling, but largely because I'm pretty good at it and being a bike "geek", I enjoy all the specialized equipment and choices. Road racing is really what I enjoy though and for all those reasons that my friend didn't. I love trying to work and ride as a team. As a Cat 4, you don't see much of it and it's always rewarding when a few riders can manage to do it right and work together and achieve a good result. The tactical choices of racing in a group are a lot of fun to me as well. There is always that balance of watching out for yourself by conserving your energy vs. sharing in the work of the group which will benefit others while hoping that it will benefit yourself as well.

Time trialling is by definition a solitary pursuit. Even if you have friends or teammates at a given race, your race experience is unique to you. In a road race, there is a shared experience and a social element that is missing from the time trial. If something happens in a road race, or even outside of the race along the roadside, you and your teammates will all have a slightly different observation of it that will fuel the post-race discussions and memories. In a TT, you and your teammates may be many minutes apart on the road and other than the course characteristics or conditions, if you experience something unique or memorable during the ride, its yours alone and it won't mean much to your teammates who didn't experience it.

Because of the social element and shared experience of road racing, if I had to choose only one, I'd choose the pack dynamic over the solo effort.

Pro cycling seems blue

Watching the Tour de France this year I can't help but notice the proliferation of baby blue in the peloton. Milram, Gerolsteiner, AG2R, and now Columbia all feature large amounts of the color in their team kits. What really puzzles me is why Columbia would choose a color that is so close to Milram. If the purpose of the team kit is to be recognized and provide exposure to your sponsors, it would seem that being distinctive (within reason) would be a good goal for your design. It's important to have colors that are consistent with your sponsors image and corporate logos etc. but it seems to me that quite a few other colors would have fit that bill for Columbia and would have allowed their riders to stand out a little more clearly. Oh, well, at least the god awful bubble letter "High Road" logos are gone.

Cycling is a passion

I was originally going to write today about how I became a cyclist and a cycling fan. But my sport will receive another 30 seconds of attention by the mainstream media this week (if that) for the wrong reason. Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced the denial of Floyd Landis' appeal of his doping suspension and subsequent disqualification as the winner of the 2006 Tour de France. With this unfortunate attention on the sport, I thought I would write about why I am passionate about this sport. I still don't know what to believe about Floyd and it really doesn't matter to my passion for cycling. For me, cycling is primarily about my participation and only as a secondary matter about being a spectator sport that I enjoy watching.

My passion for cycling is at its most basic level all about sensations. The ease of movement on two wheels is an amazing experience to me. When I straddle my bike, push off and just roll along for those first few seconds of the ride is when the magic happens. Sure its rewarding to ride faster, farther, or whatever than I have before, but it is that effortless movement through space that is what captures the imagination from the day you first learn to ride a bike. Everything after that is just a refinement of technology and training. In those first few moments of a ride, the wildly imagininative child in me conceives of the limitless places I could go or races I could win. After those first moments, the magic subsides and the purpose of the ride occupies my mind, the errand I'm running, the training goals for the day, etc..

The more "advanced" sensations of cycling also fuel my passion. The sense of speed and the physical effort required to achieve it, the satisfaction of avoiding a trip in a car by using my bike to complete an errand, the sense of pride or disappointment from a successful or unsuccessful race all are part of what I feel as a cyclist on any given ride. Whether or not a pro rider is successful in his quest for victory somewhere and whether he competes "honorably" does not effect this personal relationship with cycling that is the very essence of why I love the sport.

As a spectator sport, I certainly would prefer that bicycle racing be as credible and believable as possible, but even my relationship to that part of cycling is fueled by feelings and emotions that are largely in the moment and unaffected by later scandal. I suppose racing as a Master or Category 4, I may be up against someone who is doping in some simple (or not so simple) way. I would expect at my low level of the sport that they are few and far between. In any case, at this level I would propose that doping by any of my competitors says more about them than it does about my sport.

At the highest level, most sports are at least in part entertainment for the spectator. For me a large portion of that "entertainment" are the emotions and feelings I have watching the event. In 2004, I was fortunate enough to travel to France with my wife to see a few of the Tour de France stages that year in person. I was quite unprepared for the wave of emotion that engulfed me when the first riders passed. As we walked a few kilometers up the road to Plateau de Beille, the fans along the road, the location, and general atmosphere conspired to give me a sense of excitement about being at the Tour, but it was still in a slightly calculated and detached way. It was kind of like the logical mind saying to me "You're at the Tour, not just watching it on TV as usual". As the helicopters and lead cars approached, nothing really changed, but when the breakaway riders rolled by, the emotional mind said to me "You really are at the tour, how about if you get wobbly in the knees and shed a tear or two!". Being the obedient sort I am (at least to my mind), I complied immediately. The interesting thing is that it wasn't a one off experience due to the newness of it all. Several days later in the Alps, after having seen a stage start in the interim, I had the exact same emotional response when the riders rolled by.

What does all this emotional, rubber kneed experience have to do with doping? Those experiences at the Tour were what I remember about the sport and that trip. Whether any of those riders have been subsequently proven to have cheated or not (and some of them have), does not rob me of those very personal and intense experiences and memories from those days. Bicycle racing needs to remain credible and honorable to ensure its continued existence. Its existence gives me another aspect of cycling to be passionate about, but it is certainly not the only one or the most important one.

For me my passion for cycling will always start in those first few moments with a sensation of easy movement on two wheels.

The 2008 racing season so far

On the whole, this racing season has been an enjoyable and satisfying one for me so far. I've competed in a couple of races that were new to me (Frozen Flatlands omnium, Wenatchee omnium) and raced the Methow Valley omnium for the second time. Going into the season, my plan was to use Flatlands and the Wenatchee omnium only as preparation for the Methow Valley omnium, but I enjoyed both of them so much, I think I'll target them a little more seriously next season.

The Frozen Flatlands omnium consists of a circuit race held at Spokane Raceway Park (a car road racing track) and a road race on the roads south of Cheney. The races took place the first weekend in April and coming so early in my season, my hopes were just to finish with the bunch. This proved to be no problem in the circuit race on Saturday, but the 5o mile long road race on Sunday was a little taller challenge. The road race had it all weather wise. We had wind, rain, and hail. It was definitely the harshest conditions I have raced in on the road. Around the midpoint of the race, the pack fractured into three main groups. I found myself in the third group. We set to chasing and were able to regain the second bunch which I suppose would be considered the main field. Shortly after this, we came to the last significant climb on the course which was maybe 12 miles or so from the finish. The group basically dissolved on the climb and the rollers following it and for the last 10 miles or so it was small groups of 2 or 3 heading for the finish. Riding in solo felt like I had been dropped and had failed in my goal to finish with the bunch, but I actually finished the road race in 25th out of 58 starters in the Cat 4/5 field. If there had been a true bunch, I would have been in it. At the time, I felt I had ridden strongly for the first race of the season and after seeing the results, I was quite pleased with my weekend's efforts.

The next race I competed in was a Tuesday night training race at Pacific Raceway in Kent. I raced in the Cat 4/5 field and to my surprise was able to manage a third place finish. This was my highest placing ever in a road race. With these early successes under my belt, I headed to Wenatchee.

I raced Masters C at the Wenatchee omnium and had a sense of quiet optimism for the weekend's racing. The time trial course was nearly flat and I expected to do well based on my strength as a time trialist. I managed to nearly screw up my start by being a little too relaxed during my warm-up and arrived at the start line only about 20 seconds before my start. The outbound trip went well and felt great due to a substantial tailwind. The trip back as you might guess was quite a bit tougher due to that wind. I had hoped to be well into the points for the TT an was a little deflated to find myself in tenth, the last points paying place. I noticed that eleventh was less than a second behind me and decided that my single point was better than if I was that guy in eleventh wondering all weekend where I lost eight tenths of a second.

The crit was later that afternoon and although I felt pretty recovered from the TT, I wasn't overly confident as it has been a long time since I've finished a crit. Since I don't have the opportunity to ride a lot of them, the speed is always a shock. I had a bad start when a rider a few places ahead of me had a difficult time clipping into his pedals. After that, it was chase, chase, chase in an effort to regain the main field. I never did get back and was pulled with about 5 minutes left in the race. From a fitness point of view, I felt good about my effort as I was able to hang in there for a long time, but results wise a dnf is a dnf.

The road race course filled me some trepidation as I approached the weekend as it features a very long and difficult climb. It would definitely be the hardest climb I had ever tackled in a road race. The saving grace about the course is that due to the difficulty of the climb, there really is no group from which you are dropped. As soon as the field starts up the climb, it just sort of detonates and breaks into small groups. I was able to stay somewhere around the middle of the field until the detonation occurred and then hold that relative place in the race as I fought my way up the climb at my own pace. I was definitely at my limit several times during the climb and really didn't have a sense of my placing by the time I reached the top. The descent off the top of Wenatchee Heights is like descending off the roof of the world (or at least North Central Washington). I managed to hook up with a couple of Cucina Fresca riders and we drove the pace all the way down the descent, occasionally catching and sometimes dropping other riders. Once back down by the Columbia and on the flat, tailwind endowed highway back to the finish our group had swollen to about six or seven riders. With only a couple miles to go, I began to feel that me and maybe one or two other riders were doing all the work and that the rest were just being towed in. I was trying to figure out how not to get outsprinted by these "passengers" when I looked over my shoulder on a rise while sitting second wheel and saw that we had opened a gap of about 150 meters. They were passengers because they were cooked. I let the guy pulling know it was time to go and we just kept pushing the pace all the way to the finish. I ended up 17th out of about 40 starters and felt really good about that result because I am not what I would consider a climber. For the weekend I managed to tie for 15th out of 35 in the Masters C field. I really enjoyed my weekend in Wenatchee and look forward to trying to improve next year.

Next up on my racing calendar was my home race, the Methow Valley Omnium. As the Masters field was all categories and I didn't feel the need to get killed by Cat 2s, I chose to race in the Cat 4/5 field. Again I felt very confident going into the time trial and expected to be well into the points, likely as high as top 5. Also again, my scatter brain took over and I rolled to the start without the proper focus. My tt helmet has a clear shield or visor on it which drops down over the eyes to make it more aero. Because I was wearing sunglasses on the trainer when I was warming up I didn't notice when I put my helmet on that the visor was flipped up out of the way. About a mile into my race I thought to myself something seems different. I realized that I was still wearing my sunglasses and that my visor was in its less than aero position. I had a few moments of indecision. Should I throw my glasses on the shoulder and hope I can find them after the race? Should I just leave the visor up? I tried pulling the visor down and luckily it cleared the glasses. Also luckily, it was a sunny day as the combination of the sunglasses and the tinted visor would have made things quite dark on a cloudy day. The rest of the tt went well although I felt I struggled more than I should have getting over the hills on the course. I'm sure the visor episode didn't cost me any significant time, but I was certainly annoyed with myself for allowing it to happen. My time was about 35 seconds faster than I had achieved the previous year so I felt good about that, but I managed only 8th which was a little lower than I had hoped for.

For the crit that afternoon in Twisp, I was determined to give it my all and try to get near the front early as a way to deal with the speed and yo-yoing that usually dooms my efforts in crits. I got a good start and stuck to my plan of trying to stay up near the front, but soon the inexorable slide down the field started for me. I lost contact with the bunch and realizing that burying myself to finish off the back in a non point paying 30-somethingth position didn't make a lot of sense with a long road race the next day. I eased up and just cooled down until I was pulled by the official.

For the road race, I had high hopes of finishing in the points. Earlier that week, a few of us local riders who were doing the race without the benefit of a team had met over beers to discuss our expectations of how the race would unfold and how we could best pool our talents and efforts to ensure some good results for the locals. The first two laps of the Chewuch Loop course passed well and we were all riding well and feeling quite confident. It all changed on the third lap of the scheduled four. Beginning the third lap, it was clear that riders were getting antsy and waiting for an invitable attack to occur. There was a little more crowding and a little higher pace up the hills and then ........the inevitable tangle of bikes and bodies hitting the pavement. I was on the opposite side of the field from the initial crash and thought I was going to get through when a rider came tumbling across in front of me. I got slowed down considerably before I hit him but still ended up going down and landing on my hip. I got up as quickly as possible and started chasing. The large number of riders in and behind the crash created a lead group of about 17 riders. According to other reports I've read, those 17 immediately started trying to drive open the gap. As one of my friends put it, for Cat 4/5 racers, the sound of a crash is like a starter's gun going off. This is in direct contrast to my experience last year in the Masters field at this race where after a couple of riders fell, the field sat up and waited for delayed riders to rejoin.

I never did see the main field again, but managed to drag myself in 19th place for the road race and finish the weekend in 21st position overall. As for the rest of the local contingent that had met at the pub to carefully discuss this race. They both went down hard in the crash and were unable to finish. Next year we'll try again and try to get it right. I felt pretty good about the weekend, but was certainly disappointed to have missed out on the opportunity for a good result in the road race.

That's for my race season to this point. The next big goal: The Washington State Time Trial Championships in Tenino on August 3rd.

Welcome to Speedbump's Dump

Recently, I've enjoyed reading some other folks' blogs regarding bike racing (especially in Washington State) and cycling and thought I'd take a stab at it. As I don't race more than about ten times a year, there won't be a lot of first person race reports, but probably just more general observations and thoughts on bike racing and cycling in general. I'm sure many totally unrelated posts will also leak out of my brain as well. Welcome to the Dump!

Speedbump