This is just a quick update to let people(me) know that I have updated my bike garage. I added the time trial bike I purchased last month. Click the bike garage link on the right to check it out
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Saturday, March 21, 2009
2009 Hell's Kitchen Road Race (14th out of 60+: CAT 5)
Well I've been meaning to update for a while but I've been waiting for the results for Hell's Kitchen to be released. I'm bothered by what was posted as the results. You can check them at the bottom of this entry:
I'm fairly sure that I got 14th place out of over 60 CAT 5 riders. I was definitely one of the stronger riders in the race and overall I did well. I could have placed better if I had attacked harder on the Hell's Kitchen climb and stayed with the lead group. I was the first rider in after the leaders, and there weren't any other riders strong enough to help me bridge the gap. I had a couple guys on my wheel but I dropped them the last couple miles to the finish line.
The race was cooooold starting out. I think the temperature was 42 with the high being about 48 by the time I finished. I didn't really warm up much at all, but honestly I don't think it hurt me at all. The race seemed really easy and laid back, I just wasn't prepared for the hard pace we pushed going up the final climb. The sudden hard effort is the most I've put out in the last year since I haven't had a chance for hard training rides this early in the season and I was off the bike so much last fall due to my broken collar bone.
Anywho, the race was a blast and I'm really looking forward to my next race on the 29th. I'm expecting to win the race and finally CAT up, but I don't want to gloat too much in case I fail miserably. :P
Here is the church which held the registration. Where is everyone?
Oh everyone is standing in line at the porta potties.
I wore the kit I wrecked in last fall.
Here is my bike pre-race.
Some guy I pulled the last mile tried to challenge me to a sprint at the end. It was actually kind of fun :P
Chad Payne and Chris Rost were at the race too, but I didn't stick around very long after the race to see how they did. Chris got somewhere in the upper 20s in the CAT 5s, and Chad Payne got 9th in the CAT 4s. I know Chad is doing the Dogwood Road Race on the 28th instead of the North West Arkansas Spring Classic on the 29th. I'd really like someone to go with on the 29th, but as of right now it looks like I'll be going solo.
Anyway that's it for now.
View the full race results here:
http://usacycling.org/results/?permit=2009-256
I'm fairly sure that I got 14th place out of over 60 CAT 5 riders. I was definitely one of the stronger riders in the race and overall I did well. I could have placed better if I had attacked harder on the Hell's Kitchen climb and stayed with the lead group. I was the first rider in after the leaders, and there weren't any other riders strong enough to help me bridge the gap. I had a couple guys on my wheel but I dropped them the last couple miles to the finish line.
The race was cooooold starting out. I think the temperature was 42 with the high being about 48 by the time I finished. I didn't really warm up much at all, but honestly I don't think it hurt me at all. The race seemed really easy and laid back, I just wasn't prepared for the hard pace we pushed going up the final climb. The sudden hard effort is the most I've put out in the last year since I haven't had a chance for hard training rides this early in the season and I was off the bike so much last fall due to my broken collar bone.
Anywho, the race was a blast and I'm really looking forward to my next race on the 29th. I'm expecting to win the race and finally CAT up, but I don't want to gloat too much in case I fail miserably. :P
Chad Payne and Chris Rost were at the race too, but I didn't stick around very long after the race to see how they did. Chris got somewhere in the upper 20s in the CAT 5s, and Chad Payne got 9th in the CAT 4s. I know Chad is doing the Dogwood Road Race on the 28th instead of the North West Arkansas Spring Classic on the 29th. I'd really like someone to go with on the 29th, but as of right now it looks like I'll be going solo.
Anyway that's it for now.
View the full race results here:
http://usacycling.org/results/?permit=2009-256
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Big update today
The season is nearly in full swing and I've been really busy lately. I've been riding like a maniac compared to my riding level to get in shape for my first race. This season my first race is the Hell's Kitchen race in Hogeye, Arkansas. The race is TOMORROW!
The club group rides have started back up and the ride on Tuesday was a total blast. Everything started pretty tame at first, and going home we were going to have a tail wind all the way back, but the wind shifted on us suddenly. I don't remember looking down at the speed, but we must have been pacing around 30 when the "wind" felt like it stopped, and then suddenly slapped us in the face with a cold, strong headwind.
A few minutes after the wind shifted, only three of us were keeping pace when we got pelted in the face with heavy rain. I was cold when we pulled into the parking lot but I actually had a lot of fun coming back in like that. I'm not sure if we got hit by any, but driving home I drove through some pea-sized hail.
Oh yeah, I GOT A NEW BIKE! I finally bought a Time Trial bike. So far, I really like the thing, but it's going to take some training and seat time to get used to it. The seat tube angle is a different so you use a slightly different muscle group which is hard to explain. Basically, you feel the same burn in a place where you're not used to feeling it. I don't want to release any details about the bike onto my blog yet(not like anyone reads it other than me) because I don't have a wheelset for the bike yet. I don't really want to take pictures, nor create a bike profile in my bike garage for the bike until it's complete. That means getting at least a rear wheel and some pedals.
Speaking of wheels, the rear wheel on my race bike failed on me. I'm riding on a pair of Neuvation Aero4 wheels right now. I was a little bothered that the wheel failed me so close to my first race and I was worried about getting another wheel before this weekend. HOWEVER, Neuvation has amazing support and they shipped me a wheel as soon as they got my email. I've already had the wheel a couple days and it's ready to go.
I also had a problem with my left 105 brifter. I wasn't planning on upgrading the shifters on my race bike yet, but all the local shop had in stock was an Ultegra brifter. Oh and I put on a new Dura Ace chain. I just finished cleaning my bike a few minutes before I sat down type all this out and right now the bike looks really sleek. :)
I'm a little uneasy going into a race with three brand new parts on the bike, but I think everything will be fine. I'll post an update when I get back from the race tomorrow.
The club group rides have started back up and the ride on Tuesday was a total blast. Everything started pretty tame at first, and going home we were going to have a tail wind all the way back, but the wind shifted on us suddenly. I don't remember looking down at the speed, but we must have been pacing around 30 when the "wind" felt like it stopped, and then suddenly slapped us in the face with a cold, strong headwind.
A few minutes after the wind shifted, only three of us were keeping pace when we got pelted in the face with heavy rain. I was cold when we pulled into the parking lot but I actually had a lot of fun coming back in like that. I'm not sure if we got hit by any, but driving home I drove through some pea-sized hail.
Oh yeah, I GOT A NEW BIKE! I finally bought a Time Trial bike. So far, I really like the thing, but it's going to take some training and seat time to get used to it. The seat tube angle is a different so you use a slightly different muscle group which is hard to explain. Basically, you feel the same burn in a place where you're not used to feeling it. I don't want to release any details about the bike onto my blog yet(not like anyone reads it other than me) because I don't have a wheelset for the bike yet. I don't really want to take pictures, nor create a bike profile in my bike garage for the bike until it's complete. That means getting at least a rear wheel and some pedals.
Speaking of wheels, the rear wheel on my race bike failed on me. I'm riding on a pair of Neuvation Aero4 wheels right now. I was a little bothered that the wheel failed me so close to my first race and I was worried about getting another wheel before this weekend. HOWEVER, Neuvation has amazing support and they shipped me a wheel as soon as they got my email. I've already had the wheel a couple days and it's ready to go.
I also had a problem with my left 105 brifter. I wasn't planning on upgrading the shifters on my race bike yet, but all the local shop had in stock was an Ultegra brifter. Oh and I put on a new Dura Ace chain. I just finished cleaning my bike a few minutes before I sat down type all this out and right now the bike looks really sleek. :)
I'm a little uneasy going into a race with three brand new parts on the bike, but I think everything will be fine. I'll post an update when I get back from the race tomorrow.
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