We Came, We Saw, Hunter Dominated

Just now getting to a point where I can write about last weekend's Mississippi Grand prix.  I've been traveling all week in the Northeastern US where it's been unusually warm and dry, just like here in the south.  They're just now starting to see green and the dogwoods are in bloom, so it was a bonus for me to get to see them twice in one spring.

The trip started out a little rough, with a storage bay door coming open as we were leaving town and dumping some of our race wheels out onto Cantrell Rd.  We didn't discover what had happened until we were about two miles away and after an exhaustive search we never found them.  One set of wheels belonged to Wes, a pair of Zipp 404s estimated at over $3k with tires, cassette and padded case.  The other was a $1k wheel belonging to Hunter and Evan.  Kris French decided to post on FB that we had lost the wheels in hopes someone had found them and would turn them into a local bike shop.  10 minutes after the FB post, we received a call from Community Cyclist that a guy found them and noticed they looked expensive so drove into the closest bike shop and turned them in.  We managed to pick them up with enough time to get underway and have time for Kris and Wes to start their race that evening.  A huge thank you goes out to the Community Cyclist crew and the guy that was nice enough to turn them in... we owe you all a beer.

No sooner had we begun rolling than we realized there wasn't any water in the storage tank and we hadn't picked up the clean sheets for the beds.  So Hunter's wife Dustin met us out on Dixon Rd with the clean sheets as we filled up with water at the local gas station.  So now it's time to leave, again, and we get the bus pinned in by some other cars and it takes us another 20 minutes to back the bus out of the tight parking lot.  Ugh... we discover that it's actually Friday the 13th and everything begins to make sense.

We make it to Fridays race with just enough time to get Kris and Wes signed up and roll up to the line just a few minutes before the gun goes off.   That was a stressful way to begin the weekend so we're really hoping for better things on Saturday and Sunday.

Hunter and I raced the masters race (3 stages) as the only two OKC Velo guys.  The 55 mile rolling road race started off well as I made an early attack just to get things going and warm up a little.  I was quickly reeled back in and then went with another attack and we managed to establish a small gap and hold it for a few miles before being caught on the one steep'ish hill on the course.  About 3/4 away around the course, which we were doing two laps of, Hunter rolls up the road with two guys.  It wasn't an attack per se, but the three of them had a 10 second gap before anyone realized what had happened and once Hunter saw this, he put the power down and they quickly established a nice lead on the field.  The three teams now represented in this break all went to the front to insure any chase efforts would be controlled and discouraged.  Hunters group managed to stay away after some aggressive chasing and Hunter ended up winning the stage by 3 minutes after he attacked his breakaway companions in the closing few miles of the race. The field was whittled down from 35 to 8 of us after all the hard chasing and I ended up 5th in the sprint and 8th overall on the stage.   Hunter is now in the GC lead with a margin that gives him some cushion leading into the afternoon's Time Trial.

We all prepped for our 3 mile TT that wouldn't start until about 6:30 for most of us on the bus.  Hunter rode strongly and ended up 3rd on the stage and I ended up 16th after riding my road bike, Eddy Merckx style.  I dropped two places in the GC after losing some time to all the guys on their TT bikes. I really wasn't too worried about my placing at this point, I knew there was no way I was going to get a top TT placing on my road bike, but I did manage to limit my GC losses and most of the guys ahead of me only beat me by a few seconds, which gave me some confidence heading into the final stage on Sunday.

Sunday's circuit race was a short one of about 30 miles with a strong wind blowing.  The finish was on top of the only significant hill which was good for me since I am starting to feel strong again.  Hunter and I had some work to do knowing we he was going to be attacked all race long by the two teams representing 2nd and 3rd overall.  There wasn't a lot of strategy involved, we didn't have to attack, but we did have to cover every little move that went off the front.  The race went 4 laps on this course and after two, there was a hot spot sprint at the finish line for small time bonuses.  Hunter went hard leading out the bonus sprint and I followed along with Donald Davis and Ed Novak.  After we crossed the line, we had a decent gap on the field and decided to keep the effort going.  Our gap was slowly growing but since the team of the second place rider wasn't represented in the break, they chased hard to pull us back, which they did a couple of miles later.  It's now groupo compacto for the remainder of the race.  Everyone realized they weren't getting up the road without Hunter and I so the attacks eased up a little as everyone was beginning to consider the finish.

Hunter took the final sprint without any real trouble and I managed 4th on the day.  Hunter won the overall by a large margin and I was back up to 9th on GC.  It was a good weekend and was fun having only two of us do so much damage to the bigger teams in our race.  Kris and Wes both rode well and finished in the top 20 of the P,1,2 event and Evan also had a great race finishing 4th overall after an incredible Time Trial which saw him only a couple of seconds slower than his dad on Saturday.  Look for Evan to dominate the Joe Martin Cat 4 race, he is gaining strength and confidence... a deadly combination for anyone in the East clan.

The Truth Hurts

Thursday night kicked off the Two Rivers Time Trial series, put on by the venerable Beland family.  I think this is the third year they've organized this series but only the first time I've raced in it. Peter Beland, whether he intended to or not, guilted me into racing last night.  I never raced last year or the year before and as soon as I saw him at a local group ride Tuesday night, I knew what I was in store for... "are you racing the time trial Thursday night?"... "uh, well, maybe, you see, uh, it all depends on my coach, you know, he's very particular about my workouts, and well, uh, he might not want me doing this, but I'll check and let you know."  Of course Shaun, my coach, was perfectly happy to have me go out and pummel my legs in a time trial.  Any chance he gets to dose out a little more pain, well, let's just say he is convinced it'll make me stronger.  Sometimes I beg to differ.  But I digress.

Time trials are commonly referred to as the Race of Truth, primarily because there's no drafting and feeding off others in a pack.  It's just you and your bike, riding as fast as you can.  Almost always the strongest person wins.  I've never been a big fan of time trials, namely because, a) I'm not good at them, and b) I'm not good at them. I don't have a time trial bike and so there is no way I can win, not that a TT bike would change that outcome, but still, I don't have a TT bike. I reluctantly committed to racing and doing it on my normal road bike without an aero helmet, skinsuit or fancy wheels. You know, Eddy Merckx style. Just me and my trusty Jolly Roger against the wind, all alone.

I was very careful about my warm-up given the crushing workouts I had the two nights before.  I took my time and slowly built up my HR and speed so I wouldn't start building up metabolic waste and creating a situation where when it was time to start, I was already hurting.  The time was quickly approaching for me to set off and I can see my heart rate climbing with pre-race anxiety.  I know this is going to hurt, and just knowing that sends my HR through the ceiling.  I should be used to that feeling by now, but its just one of those things that happens to me.  I don't think it really affects my race performance, but it's a little weird looking down and my heart is beating fast enough to propel me at 20 mph if I was actually pedaling.

I roll up to the line where Fred Beland expertly grabs my seatpost and holds me steady while I clip in and get ready to start.  The count starts... 10 seconds, 5,4,3,2, Go.  No fan fare, just me getting up to speed.  We had a moderate tail/crosswind heading out on this flat 6.4 mile course so I knew I needed to conserve a little in order to stay on top of my gear on the way back.  I managed my HR around 174 bpm with a few jumps up to 177 when I needed to get my speed back up.  I came to the end of the course where there is a small loop to navigate in order to make the return trip.  The right hand turn came up so quickly, I missed it and went backwards only to see my 30 second man coming straight at me.  He was a little confused, which would normally amuse me, but since the lactic acid was starting to build up, I was not in a humorous mood.  So I continued back into the wind and was fairly happy with how the legs were feeling considering the week I've had.

Shaun has been laying on the intensity lately and not letting up.  I've trained really hard this week and so was a little worried the legs would shut down on me completely with this kind of extended effort.  Fortunately they didn't, although they weren't feeling great, they were still working.  As I made my way back to the finish line, I started to build up a little speed knowing I had only a few minutes to go.  Finished fairly strong and rolled up to a gaggle of friends watching everyone else finish. We swapped a few stories before everyone began riding back to their cars and homes.

My time of 15:23 was not too bad considering I was on a normal road bike.  That made for an average speed of around 25 mph so I was fairly happy.  I started the ride home enjoying a nice conversation with Chrissy Fox and dodging gnats.  I said adieu to Chrissy and joined up with Jim Gilliam and Kenny Massa.  We start up Overlook hill when Kenny rides up to tell me my rear brake is rubbing.  Hmm, really?  Yep, it's definitely rubbing.  I reach back to adjust it and sure enough, it gets easier to pedal.  Once home, I take a look and the brake was rubbing again.  The main mounting bolt had come loose and the brake kept moving over and hitting my rim.  So it turns out I raced with my brakes on.  Great.  Oh well, not sure how much quicker I may have gone, maybe 20 seconds or a little more, but nothing to get my panties in a wad about.  At least it makes for a more interesting story.  Now it's time to start working on excuses for not racing next week... got some good ones forming now.

Happy Easter!!

NWA Spring Classic

Race number 4 for 2012 is in the history books.  The Northwest Arkansas Spring Classic, held in and around Prairie Grove, Arkansas just west of Fayetteville, is a 49 mile road race on a 24 mile rectangular loop.  The loop has a few rolling hills and one short punchy little hill about 6 miles from the finish line.  It's not a very difficult course with the exception that the wind was blowing pretty hard out of the south, which made the long run in to the finish line a little more challenging.

Saturday morning arrived after an awesome Friday evening out on the town. I experienced The Whitewater Tavern for the first time, which is hard to believe considering I grew up here and the Tavern is something of a gritty, long lived,  iconic dive hangout.  It wasn't the best preparation for Sundays race, but to be honest, I do enjoy living outside of my life as an aging amateur cyclist.  Cycling is such a self absorbed sport that it can gobble you up if you're not careful.  And while I love the feeling of being fit, competing and living this lifestyle, I also enjoy having a balanced life, which for me is about putting myself in close proximity to great people and if lucky enough, enjoying an incredible meal with them.

Saturday morning arrives as beautiful a day as there ever has been and Hunter and I go out for a short ride which included some leg opener intervals. Finished up the ride feeling good and it was time to get packed and start loading up the bus.  We're starting to get this Rockstar bus figured out. It doesn't take long to get rolling now that everyone knows what has to be done to pack and make sure we're ready to go.  The usual suspects were on the bus for this race including Kris French who was absent for Hell's Kitchen when he was racing La Vuelta a Mexico with a bunch of pros that have raced in the big tours in Europe.  And since we're on this subject, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate Kris on finishing the grueling 8 day stage race.  We've all come to expect Kris to win a bunch of the local and regional races and while we're all impressed with his ability to roll across the line in first place, I would have to say I was much more impressed with the fact he finished this international event with no awards or accolades of any type.  I know for certain la Vuelta was a tough race for him.  His preparation was not ideal and in fact, he didn't even know he was going to race the event until about two weeks before it started when a combine team called him to see if he could join them.  So for Kris, this had to have been intimidating knowing it would most likely be the single hardest thing he's ever done.  And from talking to him afterwards, at least from a cycling perspective, it was.  Kris hung on every day to finish in the middle of the group or just make the time cut by the slightest margin in the big mountain stages.  I can tell you from experience, it's not easy to keep pedaling hard when you've been dropped.  Bicycle racers live by the notion that if you're not in the pack or in front of it riding away, you're not actually racing anymore.  Your mind sees this as a great opportunity to convince you to quit and take a much needed siesta.  So for Kris to summon the mental and emotional strength to fight every day for eight days when he could have easily called it quits, that's a huge victory in my mind.  I really do believe that participating in difficult sports provides us with a good opportunity to reveal our true character.  Not that any one event should define us, hell, we've all failed and performed well below what we know we're capable of.  We've given up, had bad attitudes and raced lazy... but every so often, we're faced with a challenge and given an opportunity to show how gritty a survivor we really are, and this Mexican race was Kris'.  He passed with flying colors in my book. So congratulations Kris, great work.

Back to our little race on Sunday.  After arriving and setting up camp behind the school/staging area for the race, we made dinner and had a relaxing evening watching a movie and getting bikes ready for the next day's race.  The next morning arrived after a decent nights sleep and we began our ritual of breakfast, greeting friends and teammates and then getting geared up to race.  The day started off warm and promised to get much warmer, which was just fine with me.  It was also destined to be yet another windy race with the wind blowing out of the south between 15-20 mph.

It's amazing how quickly two hours can go by when you're prepping for a race.  I looked at the clock and realized I had only an hour to get dressed and begin my warm-up, which I had intended to be a brisk one knowing the start was going to be pretty fast.  However, by the time I threw my leg over the bike, I was quickly running out of time with only 30 minutes left to turn the pedals before the gun went off.

Photo courtesy of Buster's girlfriend

Jay Hawkins, Buster Brown, Me, Peter "Dark Lord" Erdoes

And the gun did go off (well, actually someone yelled "GO") with a large'ish group of close to 50 masters leaving the school parking lot and rolling out to the neutral start.  No sooner had the race gone live than the first attacks started going off the front.  One innocuous little break eased up the road and Jay Hawkins and I chased it down in an attempt to keep the group together for a little while longer.  We quickly reached the two guys that had rode away and settled in on their wheels to wait for the peloton to come around us.  The main group never arrived and I started hearing guys yelling "go, go, go!"  I looked back and we had a group of 7 (two of us from OKC Velo.) with a small gap from the main field.  The break started rolling and Jay and I looked at each other knowing this wasn't part of plan but also feeling that burning desire to ride and hope we can stay away. But, we had a team plan and this group wasn't going to work.  Jay and I rolled through softly a few times knowing we would get caught and not much later, the group arrived.

The raced progressed as usual with another small break getting up the road, also with an OKC guy, namely Gil Summy.  Gil sat in on the break for almost 20 miles until the field brought them back.  And no sooner than Gil's break was caught than more attacks started launching one after another into the stiff headwind.  We finished the fist 24 mile loop and had just started the second when I realized I had made a big tactical error.  I should have been sitting in the top 5 guys when we hit the big crosswind section, but instead, I was caught sleeping about 20 back in the pack when Jay Hawkins attacks and takes two teammates (Peter Erdoes and Les Akins) with him, along with Peter Beland (BMC Walmart) and a few snapple guys.  Tyson Foods wasn't represented in the break so I fully expected them to bring the break back.

However, the break starts to make some headway in spite of Tyson's chase efforts.  When the break hit the big tailwind section they disappeared up the road.  I'm now thinking this could stick and with the guys we had in the break, we were sure to win if they could stay away.  Ex National Champion and OKC teammate extraordinaire, Buster Brown, proceeded to control the peloton along with a few of the other OKC guys in the field.  I let them do the work until we finished the tailwind section then I moved to the front and stayed there covering attacks and chase efforts for the remainder of the race.  Since Tyson Foods wasn't represented and now the Snapple guys were dropped from the break, Tyson did most of the chasing (along with lone Snapple man Steve Auchterlow) and attacking once we hit the last time up the big headwind road.  Bruce Dunn put in a hard effort up the steep hill along with one of his teammates, I sat on his wheel thinking we had surely peeled more guys off the pack, which we had, but once we got to the top, Bruce sat up, no doubt frustrated he wasn't getting much help, and this allowed everyone to catch back on, but more importantly, it gave the break a fighting chance to stay away.  So far, so good.  Our break is still up the road although we can see them and they're getting a little closer after Tyson and Snapple start working again to bring them back.

We begin closing in on the finish and once we could see the 5k to go sign, it was clear the break was going to stay away.  It was now time to start thinking about the field sprint and like the master of disaster he is, Buster, all the while resting and simultaneously trash talking to everyone in the field, and two of our other teammates, go to the front and string out the field in the lead-up to the sprint.  I positioned myself about 5 riders back with 1k to go knowing I had just enough left in the legs to do a 200 meter sprint into the 20 mph headwind.  A couple of guys launched their sprint too far out and had no choice but to go with them... I caught Bruce Dunn's wheel until he sat up and was then on my own chasing the 3 guys in front of me.  I rolled across third in the field sprint and 8th on the day.

Since the break finished just in front of us, we quickly rolled up to Peter, Jay and Les and got the scoop on how their group finished up.  Les Akins won overall with Peter 2nd and Jay 4th.  Peter Beland (BMC Walmart) was 3rd out of the lead group.  The Pirates rode perfectly today and we ended up with the result we wanted.  Meanwhile, Hunter was back to his cramping ways and had a serious hammy lock-up around mile 46 in the Pro 1,2 race.  His race was over, as it should have been, at that point.  The damage of continuing to race on for another 26 miles to the finish would have set him back another week in his training, so he did the smart thing and bowed out.  I'm sure there were some guys happy to see him gone but Hunter was not too pleased.  Kris, still exhausted from racing in Mexico and reeling from Montezuma's revenge, had a non-typical pack finish.  Evan, our 15 year old master of the "Pro Look" finished somewhere just outside of 10th place in the Cat 4 race.  He was arguably out of his element with a windy course and no difficult climbs.  It was still an excellent result and yet another race completed to add to his experience portfolio.

We packed up the bus after splitting our prize money and proceeded to get underway.  I had been so busy being social and getting the bus ready, I never managed to get in a shower before we departed.  So I decided to work on my newest skill set.... shower taking in a moving motor home.  It's not as sexy as learning the art of numchucks, but it does require a high level of strength and stamina to take a shower inside a bus turning left and right navigating small town roads.  I managed not to"crash" inside the shower and came out somewhat cleaner than I went in...Win!

While none of us ended up with the personal results we wanted on Sunday, it was still another fantastic weekend spent with great friends and doing something we really love.  Oh, and my bike tan is coming along nicely for those of you wondering, and I know some of you have been... and so is my fitness.  Now I get to relax for a day before the intervals start up again on Tuesday.