A Ten on Two Wheels

Working the Night Away

2010-07-31T06:31:00.006-04:00

I'm sitting at work right now staring at monitors and computer screens. You can only watch cycling.tv clips so much in the early A.M. hours before your vision starts to blur and your eyes look increasingly blood shot in the mirror. That's not to say that I'm not working hard, I just get my tasks done and then work on mindlessness (while paying attention to my patients of course).

Work brought me back into reality with no more vacation days to spare on week long stage races. It is almost a relief after the 5.5 months of racing behind me along with the night shifts training my stuporous, sleepless work binges every week. I love both work and racing thankfully and I am grateful to have a fun and challenging job.

This time of the year has turned into a transitional phase in life for many reasons. I'm moving into a house, down the road from my apartment, with two guys and a puppy. Juanita is moving to Kentucky for graduate school and I need a break to be social and hang out with friends around town. All of this has been pretty chaotic, but a welcome change (besides Juanita leaving) from the training, racing, working routine I've been perfecting since December. I feel more and more like a "normal" person every day. Though I don't know that most people feel sore after running for ten minutes. I guess that's something to work on for the next couple of months, along with my sick, shin busting mountain biking skills.

The Happenings

2010-07-12T11:27:00.006-04:00

I recently talked to an old friend here in MI that suggested I keep up with the blog posts to at least talk about all of my experiences racing this year. I know I have at least one reader, so why not?

I've been spiraling down hill both physically and mentally lately. I had a great time racing and getting experience at the Mt Hood Cycling Classic and at Nationals, but both experiences were far from what I hoped coming off of La Vuelta de Bisbee 7th overall and then finishing the Tour of the Gila after a few issues. A crash took me right out of any GC hopes at the first stage of MT Hood and fatigue overshadowed nationals. I don't want to make too many excuses, but working full-time night shifts while trying to squeeze in as many stage races as possible hasn't been the best option for getting results. Before Redlands I worked a night shift until 7am, left AZ at 8am to drive 8 hours into California, staying up for around 30 hours before racing the prologue the next morning. Mt hood was about the same. I worked until 7am, drove to phoenix, flew to Portland, then raced a rainy prologue 4 hours later. Experience wise however, I never thought I would get a decent result in a big race let alone race these NRC stage races.

Last July I was settling into Flagstaff, AZ after finishing up college. I didn't even start racing until August and I was just fishing for results to upgrade to category 1 (the level that the pros race at). Cycling couldn't have gone better since then until about mid-season this year when fatigue from insomnia, loads of training, travel and racing caught up with me.

That's where Michigan comes in. I came back to see my family, friends and fit in a NRC criterium as the icing on the cake. It's been great relaxing with people I haven't seen from a year to six months ago. Plus a few days of training on the roads I first started riding on 3 years ago has been refreshing.

The crit in Grand Rapids was fun because my family in the area came out to watch along with my brother and parents. I felt pretty good fitness wise even after working early in the week and a bunch of intervals/intensity. Everything was in place until my second water bottle bounced out on the first lap after hitting a pothole full-force. This is a race-limiting anomaly in 90 degree weather and I was frustrated as all hell.

Regardless, I was down to one bottle and feeling good, so I jumped around the side of the field with 3 others to try and get in a breakaway. We rode around only for a lap or two and I slowed down with them because they were solely going for the primes (the intermediate sprint prizes); they had no interest in working to stay away. This was for the better as I realized I was down to half a water bottle already with about 70 minutes left in the race.

I ended up sitting in the back to middle of the small field trying to conserve energy while taking small sips from the bottle. Tail-gunning isn't always advisable in big fields, over technical courses or in strong winds, but in this case it was a matter of pedaling smoothly around all the corners. Forty minutes in, my bottle was gone and chills took over. The 90 degree, humid air hit me and dropping out of the race sounded better every lap. But I thought I could maybe sit on, cool off temperature wise and make a move at the end of the race.

Once I saw 7 to go on the lap card, I decided to ignore the chills and make a chase. There was a small breakaway gone and I figured I could get into a group to catch up with them since I will rarely sprint well against the fast-twitch guys. I attacked the field and three or four guys came with me. Unfortunately, at least one was a sprinter from a top team. He didn't want to help catch the break even his team wasn't represented up front. That would be his mistake as one of the riders from the break away stayed away by himself to take the win. I stayed on the front for that lap and then tried to ride away on the second lap again. It didn't work and another few riders went for it. We ended in a bunch sprint behind the solo winner. It was a great race and I was more excited than anything to drink a coke following the race. My bottle cages aren't the best and next time I'm going to bring a third bottle in my jersey. Checking out my average heart rate following the race, I was shocked to see the highest number I've ever seen. The race was relatively low-key in the field so I'm guessing the heat and dehydration brought this out.

Speaking of the heat, there couldn't be a better week to have people over to swim. I'm having a mellow little pool party at my house this afternoon and evening to catch up with everyone before heading home Wednesday. I'll work four more night shifts and then it's off to Bend, OR for the BMC Cascades Cycling Classic. We'll see if this relaxing has paid off.

Reflections, Racing the End of the Season Away & Results

2009-10-08T13:34:00.017-04:00

I finally have a break to sit down and be bored. Though just as boredom set in, I began to think about how I still don't know my new town of Flagstaff, AZ. I'm in the hospital clique and I'm slightly into the road cycling clique, though I haven't actually ridden with the group in about two months. Racing takes a toll on social life from the large scheme of getting to know a new place and meeting people to the micro level of giving Juanita (my girlfriend) the time and affection she deserves.

I recently read a ROAD article discussing when a cyclist should quit. It talks about trying to devote the amount of time into cycling that the professionals do all the while maintaining as much of a job and social life as possible. Most everyone reading this knows exactly what we're talking about. At a certain point, the author of the article says that it might be better to quit cycling at the high level to salvage other parts of life. This is absurd. I prefer his other suggestion of winding it down in the fall, which is inevitable, and focusing on the neglected parts of life. Many top cyclists, believe it or not, race professionally and work. Look at Michigan's own Tim Finkel who recently moved up to the Gary Fisher 29er Crew to come away 15th at the World Solo 24 Hour Championships this year.

Back to my thoughts on the neglected parts of life. Just as I was trying to dazzle Juanita, she left for a work trip. I have a week off from riding and I'm not working until tomorrow (my regular three 12 hour shifts). This is where that thing I talked about above, Boredom, prevails. It's been a while, approximately four years since I've sat around lazily with no school papers to work on. I'm not going to lie, it is quite nice for a change.

One thing I'm doing is looking into the Flagstaff Biking Organization to see if I can join in on the fun. We will see where that goes. I'd love to see more kids riding road bikes. With a youth mountain biking program in place, the template is set. I won't go too far into this little vision, but I think I might try to give back to this seemingly vein and selfish pursuit of becoming a professional cyclist, by infusing the dream into young ones. It could be a full-circle result. Plus continued support of the youth is exactly what's missing from curative health care, i.e. my job as a nurse. I see the kids to good health and then our short relationship (usually mentor-like and supportive in nature) abruptly ends as they go home. Just a warning, I'm not too great at following through with things all of the time...I need to work on giving more than taking now that school is no longer an excuse.

These are my most recent thoughts. I could talk more about the sacrifices we all go through during the season and the years devoted to our chosen lifestyle. Moving out here and not having too many friends in Flagstaff would be a starter, but I don't feel sorry for myself one iota. I love the adventure and sacrifice. These risks are meant to be taken. You have to put everything into it at first to see some eventual gains.

And now to the gains. I hate to talk about myself, really, but I need to put my results somewhere. Just in case you are a new reader in search of an up-and-coming climber (in the future) for your cycling team, here are my notable results from this year. In addition, I submitted my Category 1 request yesterday with the points required. To make sure it is known, I recently joined a great team called Bicycle Haus Racing (Scottsdale, AZ). From an outsiders perspective, the brothas appear to make up a little shaven legged family from the cat 5's to the cat 1's. The highlights of my 2008-2009 resume are as follows:

Pro 1/2 & Collegiate “A” Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC)

University of Wisconsin Criterium A (pro1/2) 4/19/09 75 minutes 2/45

New Mexico State Road Race Championships 8/22/09 70 miles 2/23

Bernalillo Time Trial Series #4 Albuquerque, NM TT 8/23/09 9miles 3/77
(77 total starters)

CBR CA State Criterium Championships 9/6/2009 9/50

Everest Challenge Stage Race CA/NV State Climbing Championships 9/12-9/13 2009

Stage 1 -102 miles 3/25
Stage 2 -82 miles 3/25

Overall 3rd Place

Mount Charleston Hill Climb (mass start) 9/19/09 17miles 2/17
[Neil Shirley (Kelly Benefit Strategies) 1st, Tinker Juarez (MonaVie Cannondale) 3rd]

Interbike: USA Crits Finals Pro/1 (2 invite) 9/24/09 60 kilometers 28/45

Mount Graham Hill Climb (mass start)- Arizona State Hill Climbing Championships 9/27/09 20 miles
3rd overall finisher
1st Cat 2
(Pro1/2 riders split into age groups or however they signed up)

Tour de Scottsdale Pro1/2 10/4/09 73 miles 2/47

Notes: 1. 2009 Mid West Collegiate Cycling Conference Ranked 15 (individual nationals qualification)
2. I'm working on a full results page

Who ordered eggs?

2009-07-22T23:30:00.014-04:00

Commuting to work has been prosperous the last week and a half. For every day of walking or riding, employees of the Flagstaff Medical Center get a $5 food voucher. I've been living large in the cafeteria with my Odwalla bars and stir frys.

Energized to get home and ride, I began to question the clouds as I pedaled in my floppy dress shoes. Monsoon season is upon us here in Arizona, bringing short periods of rain with intermittent to long bouts of sunshine. That's the glass half-full attitude I took while getting dressed for my ride.

Drafting cars in the stop and start traffic on my way through downtown, I headed towards highway 180 which leads to Snowbowl road, and eventually, the Grand Canyon. To give you a little context, Snowbowl road wraps around the west side of Humphrey's peak in switchbacks that rise precisely a few thousand feet in a few miles. Hitting the smooth shoulder pavement of 180, large raindrops began to smack me. These drops fell at a slow rate barely getting me wet. The sky was at first tentative about the whole rain thing. But the rays of sun began to quickly disappear as lightening struck all around the forest. I had a gut feeling to keep going. The bad weather was moving over me, away from the mountains.

Jamming to Thievery Corporation's "Sweet Tides" song, I felt un-worldly as I ascended the gradual hills of highway 180 towards the base of Snowbowl Road. The rain began to soak through my kit and the sky transitioned to a dark gray, adding to that "yea, I'm a hardcore athlete" feeling that we often get before realizing we are just not thinking like a normal person. Putting my rear flashing light onto my jersey pocket, I simultaneously felt something hit my back and ooze. I quickly examined my hand to find egg shell and some yoke dripping from my palm. Looking to the road, I saw a tan Ford Ranger tailgating a mini-van as the driver appeared to be escaping the scene of a crime. This person had to have the intellect of a second grader. Why throw an egg at a cyclist in a misty thunderstorm, speed away before seeing his reaction, and make it look like your running away from him. This person and his egg launcher resembled middle school kids throwing snowballs at cars and then running away, except these clowns were in the car and I was the vulnerable, pedaling one. Were my shaven legs and spandex getup that intimidating?

I hope these people seek help and learn to take out their frustrations in a more productive way. At least ding-dong-ditch someone's house and see their reaction. I did of course throw up my arms like I won a race but with only one finger showing from each hand, I couldn't help myself. But if I could go back I would have simply waved; kill 'em with kindness, right? I wasn't even mad, I actually felt more epic. Is that crazy or what? That's the kind of normalcy I question in myself and other like-minded athletes. Riding through a thunderstorm and getting egged shouldn't make a person happy. I guess nothing can ruin your day when your doing what you love.

Flagstaff Arizona where the Javelina Rome

2009-07-22T00:43:00.002-04:00

You likely already know that I moved, but in case you missed the memo, I now live in Flagstaff, Arizona with my lovely girlfriend Juanita. Keeping up with blogging has been hard in the past few months with graduation, heavy racing and the move, but I finally feel settled and may be able to put some time into this. Well at least after my nursing board exam that is. The NCLEX as it is called is currently dwelling on my shoulders and controlling my mind. When I begin to study for it, however, my mind focuses on cycling and I forget the importance of it. Why is this? I began studying after dinner tonight and just couldn't stop thinking about riding (I needed another hour of riding to complete the day's time) so I jumped on the mountain bike and went for a spin in a canyon nearby.

A new buddy from work introduced me to the trail on Sunday. We were subject to ospreys perched in the pines and we were swarmed by gnats in a small cave we explored. I was taken aback by the beauty of the place as I noticed trees growing sideways out of the canyon's wall. Brad told me that he had collectively spent over a year in this canyon as a child; at that point in his life he preferred nature to the BS of his school-aged compatriots.

Trying to recreate the experience this evening, I ended up missing the turn in the trail and riding through the ponderosa pines to find small boulders, rocks and tree stumps covering the forest's floor. Jumping off the bike after almost endo-ing over a tree stump and the rock that succeeded it, I decided to head towards where I thought the trail continued. I saw it and ended up riding the rest smoothly. My ride ended with the sun setting over the mountains and I was reminded why I wanted to move out here again--beauty and peace of mind.

Sleepless Night

2009-05-19T06:22:00.002-04:00

Now that I have more time on my hands, it seems more appropriate to be checking out all of the blogs and writing a bit myself. I didn't sleep well at all last night, probably because I stopped riding a day or two ago and have been doing nothing but resting. Darrell mandated a week off of the bike...say what? No really, it is a transition week in my plan right now since I peaked out for nationals. Darrell's words echo in my sleep deprived brain, "It is a long season my young friend and you have to think long term, beyond this year." Darrell's words of wisdom do make sense. If I want to perform all the way until and through track nationals (which I am thinking about racing without being at a velodrome for two months), I need this break both psychologically and physiologically.

I would like to do it all and feel that I'm not making much progress, with a 61/130 in the collegiate national road race and a 32/100 at the criterium, but I must remember that I'm fairly new to the sport. Development takes time and it is pretty exciting to be racing national events during my second season of dedicated training. Sometimes some reflection can go a long way when worrying about results. I have many years of racing left in my legs and if the progress continues as it has been, I should have no problem developing further.

We'll see if I can make it a week. With the time off driving me stir crazy, I might have to race both Thursday and Saturday. Either way, I'm visiting my family on the west coast of Michigan this weekend. It might be my last chance before moving to Arizona.

Twitter & Collegiate Nationals

2009-05-12T12:45:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a while thanks to school ending, interviewing for a job and training, but I am now chilling out for two months before heading to Flagstaff, AZ for a nursing job.

For starters, be sure to check out twitter at http://twitter.com/cjaten.

Also, check out my first ever VeloNews photo at http://velonews.com/photo/91840. I've gone from a small legged climber to a larger legged criterium racer, at least that's what it looks like. I'm going to have to do some work on my power to weight ratio before heading out to Flagstaff!

I can't wait to get back to Michigan to race with everyone and to start working out at the track. See you all soon.

Denny's Free Breakfast & Living with a Recovered Mind

2009-02-03T08:08:00.005-05:00

There's nothing like starting your morning off with a Denny's grand slam breakfast (less the $1.80 for coffee) at 6am. Brendan, Cory Dubrish, Nick Boswell and Sean Murphy (my roommates) got up at 5:45am to head to Denny's and I couldn't fall asleep. I laid in bed, tossing and turning, thinking about how I probably wouldn't fall back asleep since I got up at 5:45 both Saturday and Sunday for clinical and thinking about the fact that Cory would wake me up unintentionally when they all returned. Staring at the ceiling, I saw a line of light beam through the window as Cory's car rolled down the drive towards a table of free grand slams. Then I thought, "What the hell, I gotta live a little," and I began speeding down Catherine street with a half frozen windshield.

The best part of all of this is that I'm starting to feel like a normal person at the beginning of my fourth day off of the bike. It's funny thinking back to how cloudy my mind was and how lazy I became at the end of my last base month. After three weeks of 15-20 hour riding weeks on top of nursing school, I was baked. Throw in family, friends and time with Juanita (my girlfriend) and you're looking at no free time and a lot of "I wish I had energy to do this..." moments.

This time off is critical. Darrell Anderson (my fantastic coach) and I had a long talk last night to figure out what I need to do to fully recover and how my schedule is going to work out with the coming UofM Cycling Team training camp in Helen, Georgia. We've figured out an extra few days of rest before the camp will make for the most benefit considering we will probably ride 20-30 hours with some being race time in Kentucky at the end of the camp.

And, thinking about my goals for the coming season, I've put some thought into not doing as much track sprint work as I did last summer, but instead incorporating some longer, pursuit intervals. With time trial intervals on the road and pursuit intervals (track time trial) intervals on the track, I will be training my strengths. Limiting my time spent training sprints will ensure I have a foundation to sprint from, but will more importantly allow my time trial abilities blossom to the next level. Anyone have any other ideas?

Finally a Moment of Respite

2009-01-28T23:17:00.004-05:00

Where did all of the days go? This last month flew by with the start of school and the second month of base training. I feel caught up with school and now that its a rest and recovery week, I feel even better on the bike.

Thinking back to the last season, I felt overtrained twice by this time of the year with a six day a week riding schedule. This year I have felt unstoppable with the diet modifications, less frequent weight training and a greater understanding of training methodology. If you guys are looking for a nutritional plan, again, I recommend the Paleo Diet for Athletes. I also hear that the Primal diet, part of the broader primal blueprint, is a good diet that includes more saturated fats and a more holistic approach. Check it out at http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ (thanks to Nick Bayma who pointed it out).

There is much to be excited about right now in the local cycling world. One thing to be psyched up about is the Bloomer Park International Velodrome and its summer schedule of events. A USA Cycling madison camp will be held at our local track in addition to other events like the Three Day where teams will be coming in from across the country over the Fourth of July holiday; be sure to mark your calendars.

I'm also stoked to be joining the Essex Brass Cycling Team out of Troy, Michigan. Many of you already know this, but I thought I would share the news. We are going to have our first get-together this weekend to meet everyone and to get ready for the season.

With the new team comes a new bike. I'm awaiting the arrival of a Scott Addict R2 Frame. It is ridiculously light and looks pretty sexy I might add. It will be my first bike with an integrated seat mast. This could be a bad thing since I always Merckx my saddle (if you don't know what I'm referring to, check out "A Sunday in Hell" where you can see Eddy Merckx adjusting his saddle and handlebars every other minute before Paris-Roubaix). This isn't a good practice so the limitations of the integrated seat mast may prove useful.

And arguably more exciting than all of this, I will be graduating in May and figuring out where I want to live and work as a nurse. I'm starting to look around now that my resume is dialed in. I'm thinking about heading out to the Boulder or Denver area to find work and cycling. If all goes as planned, I will be able to race most of the season in the Midwest and then move or stay around here. We'll see what the job hunt brings.

Keep up the good work training (if you are)!

Speaking of training, I have to confess real quick that I looked like a huge sketch-ball at the Forest City Velodrome in London, Ontario last weekend. I made the drive with Terry Palmer, Tom Elias and Brent DeRosario. My second time up on the track, I hit the corner too slow and ended up slipping down the track tearing my shorts and butt cheek. Ahh, nothing like the familiar feel of road rash sticking to your pant leg all week. My one crash of the season is now out of the way...

Back to the Winter Mess

2009-01-11T23:25:00.003-05:00

My first day back from Florida was a bit depressing. It was disappointing to not see the sun rising over the ocean every morning while sipping some java. The winter temperatures were quite a shock too. But now I'm back at it.

Alan Antonuk, Tom Elias, Brendan, Nick and I made fools of ourselves yesterday. We went out in the winter snow storm to ride the dirt roads with our mountain bikes at about 1:30pm. It was wild. Sliding around every pedal stroke, trying to stay in some car's tire path while slipping on the ice beneath the inches of snow was an experience. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Afterward, while showing Tom around Ann Arbor, I think I heard Brendan repeat himself saying, "This is my favorite day of college." He apparently did some group work in the morning, road his bike in the snowy mess for two hours, cross-country skied for another hour or two, ate Chipotle with us and then partied with us. I would have liked trying to ski, but I don't have skis right now. I decided to finish up the long ride by spinning for another two hours while watching Overcoming (a cycling movie about Team CSC).

The evening finished with a Chamois Army Fort (CAF) get together. For those of you who don't know, a chamois is the padded part at the bottom of cycling shorts. I don't know who named our house the CAF though. We had a number of friends over to carbo-load a bit while not talking about cycling too much, but you know how that goes; Cycling was talked about just as much as usual. A few other guys besides Tom were supposed to make it out from the east side of the state, but the closed freeways changed their plans. Next time we will all party together!

Meeting Some Local Legends

2008-12-27T14:11:00.009-05:00

Waking up at the crack of dawn this morning, I was stoked to get out on the roads for one of my last Florida training rides. Just finishing a banana at 7:30am, I saw the big pack of riders soft pedal by the condo, and I knew I had to scramble. I snapped my shoes tight while rushing out the door to jump on the bike, I even forgot to bring the pump and spare tube (luck was on my side today).

Speeding up to the group half a kilometer up the road, I was happy to see lots of local Fat Cat cycle shop riders and a few other fast local riders. I enjoy the cycling community here in South Florida, some of the familiar faces brightened the morning. Getting used to the flow of the pack, approaching a little hill, I squinted to see a Texas Roadhouse rider charging ahead with a Fat Cat rider. I was moving up the left side of the pack at that point, trying to find a friend that was supposed to be on the ride, and I decided to keep on going. I sprinted once I was in the open and settled into a tucked position until getting to the two riders. I looked at the Texas Roadhouse rider and recognized him as Chad Burdzilauskas, the stellar rider that got third in the Ann Arbor Priority Health Classic professional race. I couldn't believe it. The first thing I said was, "Hey aren't you the guy who won the Ann Arbor race?" I had forgotten he got third, so close.

After cranking for a bit, I dropped back to recover and to try to stay in some sort of regimented ride. Plus, my cable housing kept holding onto my cable in my shifter, sometimes limiting my ability to shift. After we settled in to a soft pedal through Palm Beach, I started talking to Chad and the other TR rider; I unfortunately can not remember his name after the ride (my bad memory never fails me). He too was cranking big gears during the ride. Both of the Texas Roadhouse riders were great guys with good insight on cycling and the culture of the Palm Beach area.

As we eventually turned around, after a large pack of mostly Z Motion riders past us, we headed across the Intercoastal to grab some coffee at a Starbucks in West Palm Beach. As I looked around at the other guys and ladies in the group, I saw a number of elite riders and a local pro from Toshiba-Santo named Todd Sanders. We started talking after he recognized the South Lyon name; he grew up in Westland, Mi. It sounded as if he raced all over as a professional for a number of years and has now settled into the Toshiba team. He began to talk about his wife and it turns out she too is a professional racer. Kristin Sanders was on Aaron's Professional Cycling and is now going to ride for a different team. The couple even made it to our very own pair of Priority Health Classic Races; an inspirational duo.

After riding with this group and hearing about the great riding they get in around here, I may have to look into a nursing job in the Jupiter/Palm Beach/Fort Lauderdale area. I love the Caribbean spirit mixed with Latin overtones that this area brings about. A little off-season surfing wouldn't bother me either. Its something different when your pack gets passed, on two occasions, by Porsches speeding down the left lane. Yesterday a guy in a Ferrari even waved to me after a U.S. mail van almost took me out. Vacation is coming to an end all too fast.

Training the Flat Roads of South Florida

2008-12-21T11:08:00.010-05:00

It has been some time since my last post. The last week of school tied with the lack of wireless at my parents' place in Florida has made for difficult blogging. I'm back though, sipping on a nice frothy cappuccino at a local cafe.

This week has been one of my biggest training weeks to date. I feel unstoppable on long rides, pushing onward, onward and onward. With a mix of a few time trial intervals and some fast cadence drills, the time seems to roll by, despite there being only one road worth training on. I ride up and down a road called A1A. The only hills this route provides are the many bridges that connect the peninsula and mainland of south Florida.

Approaching one of the bridges, on the way into Fort Lauderdale, a 65 year old, ex-Maple Leaf Cycling Club rider, charged up the bridge at over 23 miles/hour. I held onto his wheel just fine, but was amazed at his horse like engine. After meeting up with him halfway through the ride, I knew I was stuck with him when he told me in French-accented, choppy English, " I ride with you." This is after I told him I had two to three more hours of riding.

He eventually told me that he feels as though he has gotten stronger after every year of riding. He used to race and it showed. I found out that he lives in Quebec for half of the year and he basques in the sun, on his bike of course, the rest of the year, averaging 250 miles per week. After I told him he should race at least some time trials, his wisdom spoke, "I have nothing to prove." I sensed he used to dominate the Canadian and Midwest circuit. He may have even been professional; he didn't tell me either way.

All I can tell you is that this guy does some crazy stuff on the bike. At one light, he smoothly rode up on to the sidewalk while maintaining speed and then continued downward to spin through the red light. I didn't follow him in fear that my luck would run out. I had been stopped earlier in the ride by a police officer who thankfully only gave me a written warning. He rationalized, "It's close to Christmas, I'll be nice this time. But don't mess around because I'll get you the next time!" I spun by the little district yesterday and waved as I saw him get out of his cop-mobile. He smiled and waved back; a new friend with the dark side.

I seem to run into interesting people on almost every ride. I ended up riding with an elite south Florida team called Z Motion yesterday and being invited to their post ride all-inclusive buffet afterwards. We ate at a little canopied, open to the air, restaurant bordering the picturesque Inter-coastal waterfront near Fort Lauderdale. Eggs, bagels, fresh fruit, juice and coffee were all offered for post-ride snack. They were impressed by my riding and thought I was a local rider they knew. They said I ride like a squirrel up and down the pack, making choppy moves when I want to tear it up. I asked them if it was a bad riding style or shady, but they thought I rode well and that it is just a riding style. They are a great and fast bunch of guys who annually contribute massively to the multiple sclerosis rides.

This ride wasn't a good winter training ride, the race rather was more of what Joe Friel would describe as a "Christmas Star Group Ride." I burnt a lot of matches and ended up feeling wasted after the long training week. I looked at my power file to see many spurts of over 500 watts as well as an average at the higher end of a lively tempo ride. I won't be riding with this group much through the rest of the week to keep my training regimented. It did feel great to jump in and out of a peloton for a couple hours though.

I'm enjoying myself now just thinking about the hard work of the week. I'm resting up for the coming week of training and actually looking forward to the eventual return to the cold riding of Michigan's dirt roads with the roommates.

Winter Wonderland and the Paleo Diet's Effect

2008-12-06T20:28:00.004-05:00

Brendan and I have been talking about riding mountain bikes on dirt roads for half a year now. It seemed the cool thing to talk about back in the spring when people started bragging about their training methods and all of the other talk we cyclists often submit ourselves to. I had never done it, but I wanted to try. I wanted to feel epic. Getting away from the trainer and rollers was my goal for the coming season as soon as I heard of this so-called snow riding.

I woke up at 10am to whiteness. At first it was a bit of a shock. I started to doubt the logic in riding outdoors, but I quickly brushed those more reserved thoughts away when I though about how fun it would be to slide around in the snow for an afternoon. I was going to give it a try.

We ended up meeting up with Alan Antonuk, on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, before heading to the dirt roads. Convincing him to come along was easy. I don't know him all that well, but he seems to be down for crazy stuff. He even brought along some wisdom in the form of concern for cars sliding into us. It seemed like a valid concern, but if you are safe and aware, why worry about those things we can not control? We started the ride with safety and good faith in mind.

As we pedaled down Wagner, the three of us weaved in and out of tire tracks on the pavement, trying not to slip on the deeper, more ominous sections of snow. Using good mountain bike skills, we rode under control. As a truck began to pass us, Alan slowed and veered off towards the shoulder. He found more of a rutted out dirt shoulder than expected and steered away from it. The snowy incline with the wrong shift of weight threw him from his bike as he tried to get back up onto the pavement. He slid across the snow glazed pavement as Brendan and I began to skid from our coasting speed. We slid across the road to a stop almost hitting Alan just as the truck actually passed us. What a start to the ride.

We ended up getting the hang of it. Brendan was the only one to actually keep his bike up. As we attacked the first hill, in a route similar to the "dirt hammer", I took a drink thinking how easy it was to keep my bike upright. My tire caught some deep snow on the right of the road, and I leaned left to steer. My bike followed nature's physics and shot out from underneath me just as Alan's did. It slid about 5 feet into the snow pile lining the shoulder as I slid a bit further. I got up, smacked the snow off of my legs and grabbed my bike. I realized the importance of slow adjustments in steering. I unfortunately did the same thing about five minutes later before learning the lesson, the hards way, for the second time.

Our ride was beautiful despite the falls and wetness from the paved roads that penetrated our gloves and booties. I was amazed that the many layers of clothing provided warmth for the close-to three hours that we were out in the harsh conditions. The ice crusties on my eyebrows made the ride feel even more epic. There's nothing like riding through the desolate, white cornfields on the mostly car-less roads, with snow flurries cutting across the sky in the cross-winds. Ahh, a new way of training.

As a sub note on nutrition, my breakfast consisted of five eggs (mostly egg whites) and a baked potato. To top this off two hours later, I ate a banana as we left for the ride. During the ride, I drank a bottle of Gatorade with a little protein powder. This combination of food worked perfectly. I felt strong the whole time. The paleo diet has been working well for me now that I'm tailoring it to my needs and tastes; we'll see as the training load increases in the base period.

Contrary to the Paleo Diet-- Try Paula's Sandwich Recipe!

2008-12-03T18:46:00.003-05:00

Just Kidding- Brendan Benson's Suggestion

30 Minute TT and Nutrition

2008-11-26T10:53:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it is finally that time again. I'm waiting on the couch, with a full stomach, for the slow ticking away of another two hours before I ride the first 30 minute time trial of this training season. The bike is running smoothly, with a freshly lubed chain. It felt good on the trainer yesterday. I'll be riding this TT inside this time around in order to set up this month's power zones for training.

Preparing for this TT, questions of proper nutrition came to mind. I recently read Joe Friel's and Dr. Loren Cordain's book entitled, "The Paleo Diet for Athletes." The authors advocate eliminating such things as dairy, wheat based products and meats loaded with saturated fats. Wait a minute, dairy and wheat products out of the diet? Where will you get your calcium? Many other sources of food contain calcium and reading about dairy's effects on insulin after consumption, I am confident dairy is not necessarily a "good" food.

The main sources of carbohydrate in this nutritional regime are fresh vegetables and fruits. In addition, good fats supplement some of the energy burned during exercise, in the form of certain oils and nuts. And most diet-changing, at least for me, has been the consumption of nearly 1g/lb of protein. The minimum protein requirement for my diet is well over 112 g of protein per day when using the authors' protein recommendations.

The only downside to all of this, that is besides excessive flatus to begin with, is the need to run up to the grocery store 2-3 times per week. Its been difficult dialing in the amount of vegetables and fruits that are necessary to fulfill my often endless hunger. We'll see how well this diet works when the 4-5 hour rides roll around. I hope I don't have to resort back to pounds of pasta a week.

Summing up my nutritional plan, I've been eating more meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and certain oils, than I ever have in my life. Chicken, fish, egg whites, zucchinis, tomatoes, walnuts, olive oil, bananas and apples are the new staples of my diet. Essentially, this is a nutritional experiment. I'll write about how this works out over the next few weeks.

Pre-TT Breakfast:

Eggs= 200 calories (3 egg white=60, 2 whole eggs=140)
¼ C walnuts= 200 calories
2 C apple sauce = 200 calories
2 banana = 180 calories

& Don't forget ESPRESSO

______________________________________________________________

1200-Its now within an hour of my ride, and I almost belched up some apple sauce. Note to self, don't east so much food before a short time trial. I guess I over compensated with the fruits and protein since I left out grains...

What To Do?

2008-09-19T23:02:00.006-04:00

Only one week into the off season, I'm pacing around my house. What to do. After nursing clinical rotations today, I attempted to take a nap. Sounds of house-mates stomping around with their bags and mountain bikes deterred this effort. I couldn't help but wish I was leaving town for the collegiate mountain bike race in Kentucky. But I know better.

I'm taking two weeks off in preparation for the preparation phase of training. As a result of rest, I felt obligated to do something related to biking this evening. For the first time, I watched " A Sunday in Hell." I was taken aback by the raw footage and classical, diminished toned music surrounding this film of suffering. I've been inspired again.

Fleeting thoughts of this season are overtaken by goals and dreams of the coming season and beyond. I seem to have unlimited ideas. Let's just hope all of this preoccupied energy and thinking feeds the few races coming in the mountain bike and cylcocross season. The off-season truly is short.

Troy & Pancake Race

2008-07-30T18:47:00.007-04:00

These past two weeks have flown by. I ended up racing in Ohio and Indiana while camping with a few of the teammates (John Zaccone & Alex Keomany). We raced the pro1/2/3 category together which was exciting since I usually race in category three. I have a good sense of what it takes to be competitive in the pro1/2/3 field. It's hard, but it's a hell of a fun time suffering.

At the Troy classic, I ended up falling to the back of the field about an hour into the criterium. I felt chills spread through my body and I knew I was about to bonk. I decided to slam a bunch of gu gels with caffeine. Man, those things work. As the three leaders caught our chase group, the pace slowed and I began to recover. The caffeine seemed to jack my legs back to form. Sitting about 5th wheel, I noticed in my peripheral vision that a rider jumped up the left side. I jumped too and we soon formed a gap. We worked hard for about two laps before running into Ray Dybowski. At this point, the two got confused and I just kept charging along in time trial position. I soloed for about 2-3 laps and eventually found a group of three riders. Two of us continued to pull hard. Looking down at my power meter, I was shocked because my once close to bonked out legs were now pumping out the watts. We must have been doing well because we soon caught the main chase group which put us in the sprint for up to 4th place in the race. When the sprint came, rounding the roundabout for the last time, my time trialled legs failed and I rolled through the line for 13th place. I was ecstatic because it was one of my first pro1/2/3 races and I ended up racing well with the Texas Roadhouse guys and some other larger teams of hammerheads.

Pancake wasn't as intense, but it was challenging. I missed breaks during the road race and spent most of my time up front blocking for John Zaccone and chasing down breaks. There were only a few of us in the field working during the last few laps. Tome Burke and myself slaved away at the front for a lap and a half to chase down a little break. We kept complaining about the riders sitting in. Some guys that didn't have any guys in the breaks still sat in the draft. After the sprint, I was stoked to hear John got third. It was the first time I felt like I sacrificed for a teammate.

After a few smores and good times back at the camp site, it was time for the Sunday morning time trial. I was disappointed at my 19th place finish at the back of the field sprint considering I worked at the front for most of the 72 mile race. This was fuel for the fire. I made a few quick adjustments to the "Black Widow" time trial bike (which I was fortunate to be able to use since it is Darrell's), slurped down a few caffeine gel shots and threw my gear on. I time trialled around the course for a 4th place finish of 29 minutes flat.

I was happy to get some GC points, but John was our GC man after his 3rd and then his 6th place time trial. We went into the criterium prepared to get John to the front at the end or to allow him the chance to break away. I would have worked for John, but I saw my chance in a break away. I ended up sprinting away from the field with Tom Burke right before the turns in the criterium course. I didn't realize at the time that there were three guys already out in a breakaway. Tom and I took turns pulling and ended up establishing a half a lap gap on the field. Right before the sprint, we shook hands and smiled. We didn't like the situation in the field and we did something about it. It was a satisfying feeling. As we sprinted, I couldn't match Tom's jump and I rolled through behind him. I need to work on the right gearing before sprints! You would think the track would help me sprint, but it hasn't shown yet.

South Lyon ended up taking the overall team victory for the Pancake Stage race with John in 5th place, myself in 8th place and Alex in 15th place overall. What a weekend. I have a feeling I will remember the good times camping with the guys for a long time.

Tactical Error for Nas-Track #3 Race [VIDEO]

2008-07-12T17:11:00.002-04:00

NAS-Track Race 3 Madison Sprint from Nick on Vimeo.

I wish I could say I did as well as last weekend during Friday's Nas-Track Madison race, but I just didn't have it in me. The Gatorade wasn't seeping out of me in florescent colors like all of the athletes on the commercials. What did I do wrong during the second to last lap?

Even though I felt like crap--some sort of graevard shift hangover--I still should have come around Cody in the neon jersey. I forgot that it was the second to last lap. If I would have played it smart, after catching Cody, I would have kept going to set Brendan up for a lead in the sprint. I made moves like this during the Three day making for a rewarding experience. Last night was just humbling. I was reminded that our bodies don't always work like we would like them to and that sometimes you actually need to think in racing; lesson learned.

Wheel of Fortune

2008-07-08T18:31:00.006-04:00

It's been a while. I love typing up entries, but I seem to forget about the blog when work (yes, full time work Doug), riding and some social events consume my daylight. Or, on worse occasions, work even consumes the lack of light during the evening hours (i.e. the last two nights).

Much has happened over the past month. Lots of track racing and a few road races have been the highlights. One of the oddest things that happened, however, occurred when Zack, Cat and I car pooled up to Rockford. Let me preface the story by saying I now have an interest in physics.

As we we sped west on 96, Zack suddenly pulled over informing me that my wheel gracefully rolled off of the roof, bounced down the free way and hopped over the front of a car moving at 80 mph, all while maintaining an upright roll. I was slightly perturbed but couldn't help but crack a smile. 'Are you serious?' 'Why my wheel?' Maybe it was bad karma for showing up 45 minutes late to the Best Buy in Jackson where we had planned to meet.

We reversed down the side of the freeway in the Honda element to the sound of the decreasing pitch of barring horns. When we decided to jump out and cross the freeway, I held little hope of finding the wheel. At that point, actually, I just wanted to get to Rockford to race; what's another casualty to cycling, I spend most my money repairing and maintaining my bikes as it is. Of course I didn't know about the broken wheel to come during the International Three Day Race-Day 1...

Zack and I marched down the side of the freeway in staggered lines in attempts to scan everything. It looked as if we were scanning the fields of a war torn land with military precision. After passing Zack, I looked back to see the small speck of a car a mile up the road. In a last hope effort, I veered deeper into the weeds. Waist high thorns tore into my hairless legs adding variety to the scatter of little cuts brought about by my aggressive pre-race shaving. An image of fit, bare-cycling legs with bubbly red lesions popped into my head as I quickly remembered the shape of the poison ivy leaf. Before I could go any further into the brush, I thankfully saw Cat waiving to Zack and I knew it was all over.

After spinning the perfectly true, $150 neuvation wheel, I named it my lucky wheel. It turned out to maintain an upright spin through Rockford just as it did on the freeway. It carried me up the little hill in a break away of four. It even spun underneath my jump around the last corner, providing me with a second place finish. Next time we'll play it smart and not lead out the sprint.

If only my front track wheel still spun true. It looks like it will represent the international three day as a memento in my room.

Track Racing

2008-06-03T15:27:00.003-04:00

I've been at the track twice since Saturday and I've fallen in love. Man oh man. I don't really have anything else to write about, so check this video out:

I won't be able to race Sunday with the team. This is my only sad news for the week. Though, Sunday will be a great day as Myles (my brother) graduates.

The Mesh of Nursing and Cycling: Wait I have to Grow Up?

2008-05-21T12:45:00.008-04:00

It feels great knowing that I finally enjoy what I'm going to school for. I've never felt comfortable knowing that I'd be a nurse. Clinical classes have been full of anxiety and points of near comfort, but never pure joy. Last night, or yesterday for my confused body, was one long moment of realization. Let me tell you, I'm happy to be working as a nurse (extern) this summer. Serving one little child made nursing school all worth it in a matter of twelve hours, changing my perspective of nursing.

I just came off my midnight shift and a three hour nap making for a bit of slap happiness. Yesterday I was dreading going in for a midnight shift. How was I going to survive and get enough rest for the Tour of Leelanau? I can't believe nursing is messing with my training... These are the thoughts that percolated from my nervous gut into my sometimes closed-minded brain, if that makes sense, yesterday at 6pm as I prepared to head to work underneath the dark, cloudy sky. One of my roommates and his girlfriend laughed with me as I talked about feeling like an adult and how much it sucks. Work, the feel of actual responsibility.

But I feel complete now. I feel like an adult. I feel like I have a purpose. I've had cycling for the past three or four months, which has been a glass half full, since I'm always optimistic, but I haven't been fully invested in nursing. The other half of the glass that has now been filled to the brim, after feeling the emotions of caring for a complete stranger in the wee hours of the night, has seemed to, for the moment, intensified my passion for cycling and all parts of life.

Enough of the mooshy stuff, right?

Now for cycling. The Tour of Kennsington was a good race with lots of stiff competition. I truly enjoyed the race and was glad to see Mattison Brady dominate the sprint just as he did throughout the collegiate season (we will miss him next year on the UofM team). I don't want to go in depth into the actual race, but I do want to talk about some ideas. There are a couple mistakes I've learned from:

Don't mess with your saddle height without riding hard or long on it as you would in a race. And eat long enough before hand. During the race, parts of my thighs cramped up like never before. My muscles were recruited in a new way since I had never trained with my saddle elevated to that level. Two days ago, before doing three time trial intervals, I lowered my seatpost by about two inches. I felt like a million bucks as I pumped out the watts while watching Lance Armstrong destroy one of the 1999 Tour De France Time Trials. My bike fit felt good for the first time in a month or so. I need to control my near obsessive compulsive fit changes.

With the eating, my food was not fully digested before the race. As we sleep, our bodies starve with no food input. This means, before an early race, you need to actually eat long enough before a race to digest the food for your muscles to restore the muscle glycogen that may have burned off through the night (at least, that is my understanding). Since my food was not digested before the race, making for a full stomach, I had trouble eating which made it difficult to replace the partly depleted muscle glycogen levels that would normally be full at the start of a race.

These are just two ideas that I came up with after reflection. They are not excuses; I'm more or less thinking out loud in order to learn from my mistakes. This way I'll be more prepared for the Tour de Leelanau.

As a side note, I can't wait to line up with BMC and other professional riders surrounding me at the TDL. South Lyon will be racing with a professional mountain biker, Mike Simonson, to add to the excitement. He will be lining up with us to test his legs on skinny tires.

That's all for now.

Journal Article

2008-05-08T22:56:00.003-04:00

I started this blog intending to talk about more than just cycling, but I haven't done that yet. Well, here it is. This semester, when I wasn't on the trainer or doing homework, I was writing up my research findings from last summer in India. I ended up editing it over and over again in order to finally have it published in the University of Michigan Undergraduate Research Forum journal. Here is the link if you would like to check it out: http://www.umich.edu/~umforum/UMURF%20complete%204-15-08.pdf.

If you would like more on India, check out my blog entries from last summer. The link to it is on the side bar.

Northern Indiana Fat and Skinny Tire Festival

2008-05-07T11:31:00.005-04:00

Eric Hinderager, John Rigdon and I ended up racing this weekend at the Northern Indiana Fat and Skinny Tire Festival. Here's the report I wrote for the team Sunday night:

Grabbing a good position at the start line, I looked to my left to see our very own John Rigdon lined up next to Steven/Sven Howard and Mackenzie Woodring. My nerves began to waver. I had a feeling it would be a tough race.

At the start, I followed John's wheel as he crept towards the front of the pack. Charging through the cross winds, an echelon quickly formed. The empty corn fields provided no relief. Riders could be seen leaning sideways as gusts of wind blew them across the length of the road; it looked like we were riding with a bunch of sketch-balls. I stopped riding up the left side of the road when I realized it wasn't safe.

As Steven went for a little solo into the wind, John followed. He took to the wind but was soon slowed. After the rest of us joined them, John made his way back into the mid-pack, salvaging some shelter from the 30+ mph cross-wind gusts. Another gust blew a couple of riders towards John, forcing him off the road into a ditch. John found himself lying in the grass. He got back up and began chasing. The winds proved too powerful for a successful time trial effort.

I too had bad luck. I was disappointed shortly after John's mountain bike adventure by a blown front tire. I slowed and looked to the guys in the follow car. Since I didn't have spare wheels (rookie mistake) they told me to throw my bike in the back. Inside, I found Mackenzie with a long face; she faced the same issue. We found out ten minutes later that the wheels were supposed to be used for neutral support...I at least got to ride a good couple of hours with Mackenzie since we couldn't re-join the race. I learned a lot about her adventures as a professional for Colavita/Sutter Home.

Meanwhile, Eric raced away in the pack. Eric tore up the field with the main pack for part of the race as a breakaway of two went off the front. He eventually fell off from the main pack but worked with a chase group. He ended up crossing the line 14th, representing for South Lyon as John and I watched in our warm clothes. He missed the money by one place. Eric looked great out there.

John peer-pressured Eric and I to stay for today's criterium. The weather changed drastically for the better. A Sunny, blue sky made up for yesterday's wind. We raced a four corner crit covering around about a half mile. Two of the corners consisted of a slight rise onto a bridge with a quick down slope onto the other side of the road. This made for some interesting positioning at the start of the race.

The ford GT pace car set a quick pace. The bridged corners funneled the pack into mostly single file lines, making it difficult to move up. Eric and John lost position at the start. They were forced to suffer through slinky like pace changes as the strung out peloton singled up through the corners. They eventually abandoned.

Lucky initial positioning seemed to help me. I battled in the front third of the pack for most of the race. I bridged a few gaps, but spent most of the time resting in riders' drafts. Chris Uberti, again, tore up the field. He launched a little break, taking a couple primes in the process.

After we regrouped, riders continued to attack. The pack was unrelentless as rider after rider jumped. The shorter than usual crit seemed to encourage aggression.

Into the second to last lap, I got out of the saddle trying to rip up the right side. I only got about halfway up the main pack before jutting back into the draft over one of the bridge corners. As we neared the last straight away, people began to sprint. I jumped around into different riders' drafts but didn't have a chance since I wasn't even in the top ten into the sprint. I crossed the line for 18th place.

Over all, it was a successful weekend in Indiana. We had a great time both racing and hanging out. Hopefully the season will bring plenty of more fun team moments, especially as we get together for Kensington.

Sacrifices Before Indiana

2008-05-02T23:36:00.005-04:00

Enough of solely writing about racing, it gets old. What about life? Cycling isn't separate from life, why should I describe it as such. It is very much enmeshed with every aspect of life. What the heck, I will dare to say that it sometimes dictates life.

I just left a party that had two huge groups of friends. All of my marching band friends and another group of other high school friends are gathered together listening to music and carb loading with sweet ales. But trying to break away in the world of cycling seems to require sacrifices. Sure I could have savored the heaviness of an IPA in the breezy summer's night, but I did not and am not. There is a race to be ridden.

I planned to race Cone-Azalia on Sunday, but something about the rainy weather, the dirt roads and the inability to go to church (if I can wake up that is) changed my itinerary. I would love to race with the rest of the South Lyon and UofM guys, but the cat 1/2/3 road race in northern Indiana sounds much better. It seems that I need all of the experience with the big dogs before heading to Leland at the end of May. Hopefully I'll stick with the pack and mark the breaks tomorrow; something I know will be nearly impossible at the Tour of Leelanau. I'll be attempting to merely hang in the pack up there.

Sleep is calling me. Eric (Hinderager) and I are leaving Ann Arbor at 10am to head to the road race. I can't wait to be out there, as usual. The sacrifice of missing laughs and beers will all be worth it once we're out on two wheels again.

A Willow Time Trial Recap

2008-04-29T14:45:00.014-04:00

Now that I have time, I for some reason haven't felt like posting. Sitting around has been my M.O. lately. This is what it must be like to be a pro. Without full-time work until May 12th, I've just been relaxing and training. The polar-opposite activities seem to balance out perfectly.

I should have written about the Willow Time Trial on Saturday, but I was too stoked after the race to sit still. All of the caffeine on top of the residual rush from passing riders and speeding along the time trial track, hunched over the "Black Widow" time trial bike, kept me going full speed, the whole night. That would be my mistake, but I will save you from my bad bar story.

All of the South Lyon Cycle category three riders went back to back. It was nice lining up with the other guys soon to follow. I started the race just as I had planned. I sprinted up to full speed and tucked into my aerodynamic position. Looking down at the power tap, I was pumped to read 30mph. It seemed that I cruised near this speed for a long period of time until the time trial track turned into the head wind. I was sad to see my speed knocked down to around 23mph at times.

Approaching the last lap, I heard the swooshing sound of a disk wheel creeping past me. Was someone really passing me after I had already past a few riders? Gary Deangelis rode by me and, in my mind, transformed into a giant dangling carrot. I heard my parents yell twenty five minutes as Jean Anderson hollered "last lap." Digging deeper into my energy reserves, I realized I should have pushed a little harder earlier in the race.

Around the last head wind section, I saw the line of cones forming the finishing chute. I powered into it trying to gain the last bit of advantage over other riders. My heart sank as I realized I wouldn't be able to pass the slower rider in front of me. I didn't know what to do and got out of my aero position. Dodging outside of the cones, I wondered if I would be disqualified finishing outside of the chute. To be sure of a finish, I swept back into the chute and slowed, almost ramming the slower rider as we crossed the line. What a disappointment.

As the results were tallied, I was ecstatic to see that David Morrissey took the big win. I followed around 14 seconds behind in second place or 14th overall when compared to the cat 1/2s and two crazy fast cat 4 riders. The young and shockingly fast Tony Wieczorek got third and Eric Hinderager secured fourth. The other South Lyon guys, John Burrows, Zach Maino and Dominick Zaccone, took the 6th, 7th and 8th places respectively. To complete the report, Gary Deangelis placed third in the Cat 1/2 field and Rob Iser followed, earning 6th place. What a day for South Lyon Cycle.

At the end of the day, we all wondered what Darrell would have done. We will see later in the season for the State Time Trial Championship. I will have to give his hot Time Trial bike back to him and figure something else out; by the way, thanks Darrell!

Back to relaxing for me.

Welcome To the A Category

2008-04-23T14:31:00.008-04:00

With an average of 27 mph, the 75 minute Regionals criterium was not a joke. This race was fast and furious. The course seemed to eat right through people's tubes as I heard the sharp hiss of a wheel flatting on each lap. Gouges highlighted in florescent chalk could be seen the length of the straight aways. This didn't stop any of us from riding over them. The fast pace mixed with the angled ride across them seemed to protect some of our tubes. As one person flatted, he threw his hand up, directing people around him. One rider between me and the rider escaping the peloton swerved into me, locking his bike to mine by the handlebars. As I held my position, he untangled and turned his front wheel into my front wheel, slicing two of my spokes with his skewer. It was my turn to throw a hand up.

After being pushed back in to the peloton, I was back at it. Most laps I marked Bennet vanderGenugten's wheel. I had seen his mean potential to propel unstoppable break aways. But he was also hanging back. The little breaks that went were futile. Eventually, I too caught one of the gouges in the road. My hand went up for a second time. I ran over to the wheel pit hoping there was at least one more wheel for me to use since I already saw Cory Dubrish grab three wheels from our stash. There was one last back wheel.

As the last lap came, I knew I was in good position. I was the second wheel at the front of the pack. Crossing the start/finish line, adrenaline rushed over my body as the masses of people lining the street cheered. The lead rider peeled off of the front leaving me in the wind and unprepared. I had planned on being in the top five for the last lap but I never planned on being the lead rider. I was caught 0ff guard--I jumped.

Pedaling only about 20 feet off of the front of the peloton, I looked back to see many guys chasing. What the heck was I doing. I ended up slowing down on the hill as I approached the second to last corner. The pack swarmed me and I jumped again to stay with the front half. I ended up getting past a few people but sprinting in the pack to a 23rd place out of 60 riders. Cory Dubrish came out of no where and sprinted for a 4th place. The winner was an old South Lyon Cycle rider, Chris Uberti, who is now with Turin Elite Pro-Development team. What a race.
(check the results page to see other UofM riders' results )

The Weekend's Plan

2008-04-11T11:24:00.008-04:00

With the hard training efforts tapering down into the weekend, I'm excited to get back into the pack. The UofM team will be racing a Criterium at Ohio State tomorrow. With a host of fast category A men and women, we have a shot at sending some riders to Nationals this year. This is quite an opportunity considering we haven't always been able to do this in years previous.

In the B field, I hope we continue to use team tactics to earn more high placings. We are working well together and should get results with more B racers in the field this weekend. That is, I'm assuming we will have more guys since we only had three last weekend.

Sunday will bring a new experience. I plan to race in the Ann Arbor Velo Club (AAVC) Spring Training series A race. Last week I raced with a couple of other South Lyon Cycle riders in the B field. I took third in the field sprint to get 7th in the race. The break away took the first four places. Next time I will be sure to chase the break when it happens.

My goal for Sunday is to at least stay with the A pack which consists of category 1-3 racers, for those of you who don't know the racing category hierarchy. The South Lyon guys have been finishing strong thus far in the spring races, with Doug Gatto nabbing a tenth in the B field, Darrell Anderson an eighth , John Rigdon a seventh, Rob Iser a fourth and Vince Roberge snatching a second and third in the Waterford and Ann Arbor Races respectively. I don't know Vince well, but it seems that the South Lyon team will miss him now that he is back in Belgium racing with the Johan Bruyneel Cycling Academy. He seems to be living the American cyclist's dream.

Let's go Blue, let's get to Nationals!

More Pictures from Saturday

2008-04-09T19:24:00.004-04:00

Team Work

2008-04-09T07:59:00.006-04:00

Before reading my entry below, I must note that Nick Boswell helped me a great deal at the Marian race. I learned what team work is all about. I did not realize it during the race, but I found out that Nick stayed at the front of the pack and chased down other racers trying to pick up the pace or sprint up to me. He responded to attack after attack and used energy he could have saved for the sprint finish. I could not have ridden the way I did without him.

The Michigan B squad used a similar team tactic at our home circuit race two weekends ago. Mattison Brady attacked a number of times and eventually got away up one hill. Nick, Mike Bartlett and I stayed back and made sure no one sprinted up to him. I have a feeling he would have won with or without our help; he is as strong as an ox.

It turns out bike racing does involve the team.

Is the New Bike Helping Me that Much?

2008-04-08T22:36:00.008-04:00

Something about listening to John Coltrane and other jazz artists puts me in the mood to write. I was studying for one of my finals, but my mind began to wander. The ridiculously hard ride today adds to the ease at which my mind wanders, I usually don't feel so content sitting here doing nothing. Today I rode four fifteen minute lactate threshold intervals. I don't know how to explain them simply. My effort was just above my time trial effort meaning it is a hard effort. With three minutes in between each interval, I doubted my abilities to hold through another one. As I began to feel the pain build up in my legs, I would look at my reflection in the t.v. and smile at myself. I heard smiling during an effort psychologically takes some of the pain away. It did a little bit. I also thought back to Saturday when I rode a similar effort in a race.

The Marian race began in a warming sun for the first time in the collegiate season. Rolling up to the line late, after cruising around one of the parking lots, my stomach reminded me of some hidden nervousness. My tired legs from the long week of training contributed to this feeling adding no confidence. I saw a few of the guys watching and smiled trying to hide the nervousness that seems to build up each week before the race. Was I going to crash for a third time this season or was I going to waste my legs taking the wind in the front of the peloton, draining my energy for the final lap? Negativity dominated my conscious.

I looked down at my handle bars and was reminded that I was trying something new on race day; never a good thing to do. I did not have my power meter or heart rate monitor with me. With the heavy power tap wheel gone, I wondered if I would reap any reward for the few hundred gram advantage that the lighter wheels brought. One positive thought did surface. No technology would tell me how hard I would be working. I would be able to ride hard and truly listen to my body.

As the whistle blew, I took off speeding around the right side of the pack, battling for position. I was in the third position into the first turn. We wound around little streets of Marian College's campus, taking the shallow right curve carefully, coasting into the left hair pin turn. One rider almost knocked me down as he cut me off through the corner. Rounding into a straight away, I jumped out of my saddle as we neared the next left hand turn. I heard riders yelling "right side" as I accelerated past the pack to the right side of the road, taking the corner at a higher speed. I looked back after a few seconds to see riders chasing.

I let the effort go and let the pack catch back up to me. I felt like I wasted energy. "What am I doing," I began to ask myself. I knew I needed to save my legs in the pack for the end of the race.

As we made the next lap, the right hand curve came faster and I heard metal scrape against the pavement. I glanced under my right armpit to see the rider behind me, on the ground, sliding to the outside of the road. I had not even noticed that the three of us had established separation from the pack. Now it was only me and the rider in lead position. As I accelerated past him, I looked at him and demanded "Let's go."

I began to hammer around the corner as he paced behind me. We were ripping around corners at around 30mph trying to extend our pack separation. I looked back to see the pack chasing and thought that we would never make it. But we hammered hard.

We continued for many laps. He would pull in front for a while and when I felt rested or the speed to be to slow, I pulled out in front of him and took the lead. Every time we passed the start/finish line, other Michigan riders hollered the time gap we had on the peleton. I heard "Fifteen seconds," almost every lap.

At one point, the rider who crashed (after recovering on his free lap) took off beside us and joined the break away. As we passed a group of spectators, people yelled "You can't do that," and "Don't cheat, get out of the break." I felt bad for the guy, maybe he was in the break. The officials pulled him out of it as we passed the start/finish on the next lap. (see the picture to the left)

It had been about 20 minutes since we established separation. The rider infront of me started pulling at a slower speed and I feared we would be caught. Rounding the hairpin turn, I hammered our speed back up to where it originally was. I saw that he could not hang on and I instantaneously made the decision to keep going on without him. I wondered if it would be a mistake.

This time rounding the corner, I heard some of the Michigan guys at the start/finish yell, "Fifteen seconds." Was I slowing down? I began to worry that I may be caught. I took the corner extra wide and kept pedaling through it. My legs did not rest one bit. It felt as though I was in the middle of a never ending Lactate Threshold interval, like the intervals I talked about above.

Eventually it came down to three laps left. I heard the announcer say something like "he is devastating the field" and "look at the style of the rider." His comments pumped me up. Looking through the turn just past the announcer's booth, I kept catching a glimpse of Brendan Benson. He told me each time "Dig deep, you got it, fifteen seconds." I believed in his words and began to believe in myself.

As the last lap came, I began to feel a sense of relief mixed in with an exhilarating chill from the hypoglycemic state my body was in. The hard effort was depleting all of my sugar (energy) stores. One official hollered, "Take this lap easy."

I did. There was no way I was going to crash on the last lap. As I pedaled into the final straight away, I saw the big Michigan flag waving through the air. I sat up and felt a large smile take control of my face as I heard cheering and the announcer yelling something. A feeling of ecstasy over took my body as I rolled across the line. I finally did it.

Pittsburgh Race Weekend

2008-03-23T22:04:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I was going to write a blog titled “The Curse of the Crash.” Thinking on it, I decided against it on a superstitious hunch that it may negatively influence today’s race. I luckily accomplished two of my goals for the steel city showdown criterium. I’ll get to them in a bit.

Two crashes in a row can sure mess with your psychy. I already had a bad feeling about the road race yesterday morning. Something about the cold brings hatred to my body. I’m not made for riding in the cold, let alone racing.

The road race had 1,000 feet of climbing each of four, nine mile laps. As we crested the first two climbs, voices spread through the pack speaking of the sudden curve in the road to come. I was already sick of crashing from last week meaning I was prepared to do anything to stay up on my bike.

Nearing the curve in the road, I told people around me to take it easy. Anticipating a crash, as if I created it with my thoughts, two cyclists locked their back wheels into a skid turned horizontal onto the pavement. I reacted by slamming my breaks as much as possible, veering in an upright skid towards the right of the road. I ran over one racer’s front wheel, continuing on my path off of the road. Shifting my weight over the back of my bike, with my butt hanging behind the saddle, mud sucked up my wheels as I attempted to come to a stop with my thick gloved hands fumbling to re-grip the breaks. I slid to the left to dodge a ravine of mud that would have taken me further down the hill towards trees. Looking at my path, the woods suddenly seemed like a viable option as they passed by me. A pole protected by a bail of hay lie square in my line. I leaned to tackle the bail of hay, avoiding the painful looking rod of steel. Flying off the bike, I found my self in a puddle of mud.

All within the ten seconds it took to run over a bike, mountain bike off of the road, and dive into a puddle of mud, I jumped up with my stead and mounted it like a cyclocross racer. Simultaneously glancing at my frame, with its bottles still in their cages, I was pumped to begin chasing after the stragglers of the pack with a mud coated right side; how hardcore looking. It appeared that I painlessly evaded having a “DNF” (Did Not Finish) placed next to my name on the results. Punching the pedals, I felt every revolution of my front wheel as it rolled against the pavement like pre-historic square wheel. It was a flat. My race was over because of another crash.

Today, in Downton Pittsburgh, with the sun shining on the beautiful Easter morning, there was no way I was going to crash a third race in a row. After warming up, I stripped down to my shorts with knee warmers and my short-sleeved jersey. I felt weightless without the thick neoprene booties covering my shoes and without a thick thermal jacket covering my core. The cold brought a welcome chill to my bare arms and calves, exhilarating me. I felt more alive than I did at yesterday’s start.

After rolling up to the line first, we were off. The pace was fast and I managed to get into third position right away. It felt good to sit behind a wheel, and save energy like I did so well last summer.

The course was a quick one mile square with two, old steel bridges accounting for most of the distance. Each bridge had a small rise with a symmetric downhill on their back side. The turns were equally attractive allowing for large sweeping arcs. I was able to peddle through all of the corners, saving lots of energy.

Nearing the end of the bell lap, which indicates a prime (a sprint lap where points or prizes are awarded), Mattison (a fellow UofM cyclist) jumped for a long sprint. I stayed with the pack in a seated position. I did not have as good of position as I did in the beginning. I was fine with the circumstances since I had a different plan.

After the pack re-formed, slowing as it crested the second bridge towards the start/finish line, I jumped. No one followed me and a large gap opened up. For some reason, I did not expect a gap to form; I was a bit caught off guard by my move, what was I to do?

Tucking into my drops, I looked at my computer to see 30mph. Pedaling by the crowd, with the Michigan flag waving through the air, I felt a rush I had not felt since sprinting last summer. I pedaled around the next corner maintaining the fast pace. It felt like a time trial. As I began to hammer up the next bridge, I looked back to see the pack leaning through the corner. Sitting up, I gave up on my chances of staying out. I veered to the right side of road to wait for the pack. The pace seemed too high to maintain.

I did not keep my position up front as we took to the last lap, I had a mental lapse. I need to race smarter and keep my position. This seems to be the recurring theme from the criteriums I did last summer. I ended up finishing towards the back of the pack in more of a fast string of pedaling than a sprint. I need more sprint work.

Soft pedaling around the course, I felt great. I was up in the front pulling at times and I broke away. It was something new. My day was made.

Reflecting on the race, I now know that I need to bust out my break away for a little longer. I need to trust in myself and my abilities to recover in the pack once caught. It was a foreign feeling being out in front and I gave myself up early to save energy. Looking back at my power file, I realized I could have at sustained that effort for at least another three minutes or so. Next time I won’t be caught off guard by the break away, I will be prepared to sustain the effort longer.

This is the essence of these early races. I may have the fitness, but I don’t have the skills. I will learn many lessons from each race to come, building up my skills and confidence.

Georgia on My Mind

2008-03-12T22:14:00.007-04:00

It has been a while. I never feel like making quick posts. After I spend time writing one, I usually make sure it makes sense in an almost obsessive compulsive manner. This one, however, is quick.

The last time I posted, I was looking forward to racing in Columbus and training in Georgia. On our way down to Ohio, or should I say, our slippery crawl to Ohio, it was evident that we wouldn't be able to race. Ice and snow quickly disappointed all of us. Lucky for us, we still were warmly taken in by one of our new rider's mother for a pre-race, now pre-drive, feast. We gorged ourselves before getting back on the road.

Our disappointment was soon forgotten when we reached Georgia. The first day had to be around 45 degrees and sunny. What a change from Michigan weather. We were on the road within hours of arriving to go for a nice and easy ride.

Someone neglected to tell me that Brendan Benson, aka Brendinno and Brendagio, defines an easy ride as averaging around 15 mph up a 30 minute mountain pass climb. With his new race horse, a Scott Addict R1, underneath him, he tore up our group of four climbers. I tried to keep up until my sleepy legs gave up the higher pace. I somehow made it to the top shortly after the three faster climbers.

On top of being my 21st birthday, we decided to ride three mountain passes (60 miles) the next day. We call it three gaps. The sun shone brighter and warmer than Sunday, graciously allowing us to wear our warm weather clothing without knee warmers and jackets. We all sported the new, glaring blue jerseys.

On the first climb, it was apparent that we would be racing again. The group of climbers broke off from the bigger guys. We started with six. As we rotated at the front, we averaged up this steeper climb at around 15mph. A few guys dropped off and only it was only Mike "mountain biker" Bartlett, Brendagio and I. I was feeling awesome. I was thinking, "yea, it is my birthday and I'm with these cool cats on the big climb." Then they jumped, sprinting away.

I did not give up. My legs had some hidden watts. I saw the two slow around the next hairpin turn. I picked up my cadence and slowly reeled them in. We were back together. Just as I felt good, they danced on their peddles a second time. I too jumped, but it was a quick up and down for me. I let the two duke it out for the last 50 feet. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good. I felt like a climber. To end the day, a couple of bros on the team handed me my first legal beer as we waited in the parking lot for the other groups to roll in. The sun has never shown so brightly.

As the days went on, we rode in worse weather. Our century probably averaged around 3o degrees in the first few hours. We climbed six different mountain passes, riding over 13,000 vertical feet, on the route titled the six gap century. I gave up racing to the top and focused on making it through the day. We all did.

With no snow, the drive back to Ann Arbor wasn't as eventful as the first trek. I rode Sunday to finish the week off at 22 hours of training. If only I could train that much every week...

I will get a post out about last weekend's race when time is on my side. Just know that I got my season's mechanical and crash out of the way all in two days. A new bike may be on the horizon. Thank God new bones aren't needed.

Mother Nature better Restrain Herself on Saturday

2008-02-20T22:39:00.009-05:00

The anticipation is worse. I can taste the first race. I finished my studying for tomorrow's exam and my bike is wired up with new cables and housing; I'm ready for Saturday. I have nothing to write about except for my excitement. It has been a while since I've felt the draft of a pack tearing around corners in a criterium.

I remember being anxious before my first race two years ago. I was nervous not knowing the way of the pack. It was around 32 degrees with a mix of rain and snow. Worse yet for my virginal experience, bodies were hitting the floor. Around the second lap, I heard the most unnatural, torturous sound of aluminum, carbon fiber, steel and titanium attempting to mix. I swerved around one collegiate athlete on the wet, bloody, pavement.

I heard voices spreading through the peloton. Regrouped, we rode around the loop at a neutral pace. The first time we passed the downed cyclist, I saw people crowded around him holding his neck. Halfway through the course, an ambulance sped around us. Passing the rider again, we gawked as the EMS worker put a neck brace around the athletes bloodied neck. Maybe I should have ignored the incident, but I couldn't. My uncensored eyes quickly presented the idea that road racing may not be as safe as mountain biking. As a result, while riding the neutral laps around the course, I formed a firm understanding of what I was getting myself into. I was exposed to one of the inevitable aspects of racing: the crash.

I used to be fearful of crashes, but now I don't think about them. I ride smart and look above for some help. People have said that bike racers are superstitious. I never saw it until I realized I was forming a pre-race ritual. As we wait at the start line, I grab the necklaces that were given to me while in India, one being whats left of a crucifix, and I say a quick prayer. I'm not a very religious person, but I do believe. As with racing, my faith grows in certain circumstances.

Enough of this personal stuff. Just know that I'm ready to ride. My legs feel fresh and I have a good feeling about this collegiate race opener. However it turns out, I will be happy to be back in a pack.

Back on the Bike with Power

2008-02-12T23:20:00.008-05:00

I should be getting ready to ride right now, but when I remembered that I had not posted for a couple weeks, I decided to take a little break and fill everyone in. A lot has happened with school, training and testing with Darrell (buddy & coach). Not to mention, I made a little investment for my bike riding sanity.

After a rest and recovery week that began with the tapering off of a cold and the beginning of the flu, I was happy to get back on the bike last week. I didn't know how long it would take for my body to eradicate the bug that dominated my system. But I got rid of it fast. I began by slowly riding to see if could handle it. After a day of two of improved health, I was sick of of easy spinning. It was time to head over to Darrell's house to do a graduated exercise test.

This test involves starting off at a low level of power, holding it for a minute and then increasing it in increments of about 40 watts until you can't hold the pace any longer. You pretty much ride your legs off by the end of it. Considering I recovered from a feverish flu a few days prior to the test, I was pretty satisfied with my improvements.

To complete the round of testing, I went back to Darrell's the next evening after a 12 hour day of psychiatric clinical rotations. The 30 minute time trial test is a more accurate way of measuring gains when comparing its data to baseline tests. I sadly only added around 10 watts of power averaging at about 263 watts. This seemingly insignificant improvement is alright. I could make excuses, but I won't. With more training at higher intensities, more power gains will come.

Last weekend, to avoid another string of sick days from overtraining, I added a powertap power meter to my arsenal. This is a device that sits in the hub of your bike wheel to directly measure your power output. This allows for more precise training from day to day. With this little computer recording every second of my rides, I will be able to catch trends that may be indicative of too much bodily stress or, put differently, the beginning of overtraining.

Here's the quick and dirty explanation of overtraining:

When your body can't recover from the accumulated stresses of training and life in a given training block, overtraining occurs. Your body can no longer adapt with the level of rest that is usually sufficient. Any further riding is maladaptive, pushing you further into an overtrained state. This can cripple your season by weakening your legs and lowering your immune system's response to antigens. I experienced this by somehow getting a cold, followed by the flu, all while taking multivitamins, sleeping eight hours a night and constantly washing my hands; in other words, these sick spells shouldn't have hit me under normal conditions. With extra time off, you can avoid this depressing state and get back on your bike sooner than expected without losing much fitness.

Besides avoiding overtraining, the powertap lets me shift my training focus from heart rate zones to power zones. Power zones directly correlate with one's fitness. Conversely, one's Heart rate is all encompassing; it tells the story of one's condition on top of his/her fitness. Heart rate can be an issue in this way since it varies with caffeine, stress and the accumulation of physiologic stress from training.

Enough of this boring talk for now.

Nothing else is going on except for the busiest part of the semester...(that's why I haven't posted in a while). Expect more exciting news around February 23rd when I give a race report from OSU's race. The rest of the week will be spent in Helen, Georgia for the UofM training camp. The little German town will work out perfectly since I'll be turning 21--what a perfect recovery drink.

Time to ride.

The Anticipation

2008-01-31T20:31:00.000-05:00

Never again am I going to take my good health for granted. Within a day of my cold vanishing, flu like symptoms smashed me down, reminding me that I am only human. It is a shame being restrained from riding when my legs feel fully rested.

Many things led to this. After all, we amateur cyclists aren't professionals with our days planned around training and recovering. School, work, training and good times all contributed to this sickness.

I have come to the realization that there is not point in worrying about how long it will take to get better. I have been sleeping at least eight hours a night, taking a multivitamin, eating lots of calories, taking medications, drinking lots of water and trying to rest. It is now out of my hands.

Here are my planned cycling events for February:

This weekend- GET RID OF THIS VIRUS
February 23rd- OSU Hosted Road Race
February 24th-March 4th UofM Spring Break Training in Georgia

Cold Weather Exercise Physiology

2008-01-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

A friend on the UofM bike team just sent me an article that proved all of my cold weather training beliefs wrong. Check out the New York Times Article here. My comfort levels, however, have not changed. The trainer will still be my favorite make-shift road until I'm down in northern Georgia for spring break.

A bit of a Bummer

2008-01-18T10:30:00.000-05:00

I have to admit it, I am a bit bummed out that I am sick and overtrained. I think the overtrained state might have actually brought on this small head cold. But at least they came at the same time. I would rather fight off a cold with rest than train through a cold. I now have hard evidence that I need to take a little time off the bike on the long weekend.

Its sometimes hard to know what brings on overtraining. It seems that it would always have to do with hard training rides, but there are more factors that play into it. I wonder if the combination of riding too hard, weight training too often and living a normal college life summoned up this depressing state. Maybe late night dancing/partying with UofM cycling buddies, sweat draining Bakrim Yoga and a twelve hour day of hospital rotations weren't good activities for recovery, but they happened. This might just be a personal lesson--I can't do it all and train six days a week.

On a positive note, this is a great time for me to catch up on the life that I sometimes neglect for cycling.
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In case you guys haven't seen it, checkout the article about Slipstream on espn.com. They were on the front page of the web site yesterday!

Bonking during Bikram Yoga

2008-01-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

Hot yoga baby!

Earlier today I went to the Bikram Yoga Ann Arbor studio with a friend from nursing school. I've always been interested in yoga, especially after going to India, but I've never gotten around to doing it. Let me tell you, this is not a recovery type yoga.

The first mistake: I went into the place after riding some time trial intervals and lifting weights. I thought that it would be a great chance to stretch with lots of pretty ladies around. You know, the typical guy in a yoga class scenario (unless you are a time-tried yogi), but it was different to say the least.

Walking into the main room, I was hit by a wall of 120 degree Fahrenheit air with 60 percent humidity. It felt more hot and humid than it felt walking out of the Mumbai International Airport when I first smelled the hot, monsoon-season breeze in India. Lying down into the starting position, the sweat began to steadily drip.

We began doing poses, or Assaas, by standing on one straight leg and pulling our legs back while leaning forward. I'll be blunt, it was hard as hell on my tired, worked legs. From there, I started slurping down water.

Sitting down, the stretching on the mats would have been refreshing had I kept hydrated, but I was on the path to being the first ever person to bonk while doing yoga. I kept taking breaks by lying down in the "Homeostatic position" while others manipulated their bodies into seemingly in-human Asanas.

Trying to regain my wits, the sound of my elevated hear rate beat as my head lie against the once mat turned pool of sweat. My breathing didn't even seem to soothe my body with sweet oxygen, the air was too thick and steamy. Trying different Asanas, I could only hold them for a couple of seconds until I felt out of energy and breath again.

Lying down for the umpteenth time, I began to feel chills take over my fluid-less body. I grabbed my bottle of water to save myself, but found one last gulp of warm water.

I barely hung in to the end of the 90 minute session. I actually got up at one point, feeling that the chills may make me pass out, but the yogi master sat me down and told me to stay, lecturing that I needed more self-control and that I would be happy if I completed the mind-body-spirit experience. I almost plowed her down in front of the class while justifying my case, but she saved the situation by tossing me a water bottle. It helped a great deal, driving me to the end.

Do yoga to stretch, but bring water if its Bikram yoga! Check out the studio at BikramYogaAnnArbor.com. Enjoy the sweat fest if you dive in.

For Fun: Any Advice on My Pedaling?

2008-01-12T09:58:00.000-05:00

When I was bored the other day I thought, "I always do these little pedaling drills. I think my pedaling is improving, but what does it look like?" I like to watch the pros pedaling to see what their pedaling looks like because I know they take advantage of the full circular stroke. Now I'm looking at mine to see how it compares.

If anyone has any advice, give me a comment of what you think I should do differently. I know it is ridiculous and a little hard to critique a pedal stroke from a video clip, but I thought I would put it up there just for fun.

By the way, don't watch the whole thing! You will be bored and wonder why you are wasting your time. I didn't know how to edit the length of it on the computer.

More exciting blogs to come!

El Grillo

2008-01-08T08:59:00.000-05:00

Ahh, back to the trainer. I hate to think that I can't ride outside anymore, especially with the heavy weeks starting to build again, but it is true. To take some of the pre-ride dread out of hard trainer rides, I've been pumping myself up by watching race clips. One of the guys that always seems to give me the push I need to hop on the saddle is El Grillo or Paulo Bettini.

Some of you may think he is a doper after his bold boycott of the UCI's anti-doping pledge, but nonetheless, he's one hell of a rider. Maybe his salary really was on the line. We will never know.

Check out one of my favorite El Grillo mix tapes, Euro style of course (please excuse the poor video quality) :

Did someone say breaking away up hills to techno?

Rest Day Two

2007-12-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

After a little over two weeks of training in the warmth of Florida's sun, it is finally time to come home to the slush of Michigan's roads. It has been tough riding hard for the first time since last summer, but it felt good pushing myself again. Resting and recovering will be a nice transition into the next semester and block of training.

Just in case you guys thought I only trained down here, think again. During my two rest days, the stars somehow aligned and produced the smoothest and biggest waves of the last two weeks. The cold fronts came right when I hoped they would, bringing their corresponding swells.

Rest Day Two

It was a shock waking early on the rest day to my dad hollering, "The waves are the biggest that I've ever seen down here. We are going to the market but will be back soon." My brother and I rolled around in our beds with an added nervous anticipation. Would they be too big to surf? Is this the day of the holiday that we look forward to sharing every time we're down here? We took to the beach by foot to check out the beach break.

As we crested the hill that usually blocks the view of the ocean, the offshore wind swept up sand and salty air from behind us, attempting to coat our skin. At first glance, our morning's questions were left unanswered as the ocean and sun teamed up to reflect blinding rays of orangish-yellow. Squinting, our pupil's constricted allowing us to see the choppy and restrained ocean turned mad into clean sets of near-overhead waves. The masses of water seemed to barrel over, rolling down the line from left to right, forming picturesque wave-faces normally reserved for the west coast.

Myles and I quickly felt the adrenaline born excitement that seems to flow between us when we share moments like this. We sat down for a second and stared out at the ocean and its larger than normal creations. Myles poked fun at me asking, "Can you handle this with your riding plan?" With the confidence of an older brother, in part to hide some of my more tentative thoughts, I answered"Of course I can my brotha, its a rest day after all."

Once out there, after paddling into a number of smaller waves, I let the tides take me down the beach towards the crowd of locals taking on larger walls of water. I saw one mountain-like wave come towards me, but I left it untouched as it lifted me up in the ocean and then set me back down. From behind it, I watched the force of raw nature in awe as one surfer took to it without delay, making it his own. As the offshore winds blew a mist of water from the lip of this monster, the artist of a surfer carved hard into it and launched himself into the air, grabbing the rail of his board to pull a huge aerial. He landed further down the wave and I lost sight of him.

Seeing another large set of waves coming, I finally decided to go for one thinking 'screw it!' With the board underneath my body, I threw my arms through the water, digging with my cupped hands. As I looked back, the wave perked up into a steep wall of water beginning to foam at the breaking lip. Leaning my body down the face of the wave, I kicked as hard as I could and felt the power of the wave pick me up, this time with me on it. I pushed off of my arms and simultaneously jumped to my crouched feet, grabbing the right rail. Tearing through and down the face of the wave, I saw the part ahead of me curl over as I realized it was about to close out or, in other words, fully break. A feeling of ecstasy rushed through me as I tried to make the wave my own. And within the same second, it was over. The wave overpowered me, pushing me to its depths to tumble in its turbulent afterthought.

Eventually paddling back to where Myles was waiting for waves, I sat up on my board to join him in reminiscing about the waves we caught and tried to catch. Surrounded by locals who were also taking advantage of the wintery swell, the sun slowly passed over top of us as we surfed through the rest of the day. After catching a few more waves, I packed the board up in anticipation for the next day's training ride. The beating I received was what I hoped for; that part of my trip was satisfied. Being pounded by a wave may not make your legs sore, but it will sure thrash you when it forgets to let you up for air.

The People we Meet on the Road

2007-12-28T14:18:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up at 7:10 and was out the door at 8:40 ready to hammer out a four hour ride at the upper end of my zone two. Just a few miles past my parents' condo, I ran into Barry, this 40-50ish year old rider that I rode with for a bit yesterday.
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To quickly give you some context, the route I have been riding for the past 9 or so days, and the only route safe enough to ride even with the white-capped folks swerving and cutting people off, is a highway called A1A or Ocean Boulevard. This state road runs along the Atlantic ocean connecting many of the main beaches of South Florida. At first it was an unfamiliar rush for the winter to be off of the trainer and outside, but riding back and forth on the same state road for hours upon hours and days upon days gets old; you get the picture.

As you can imagine, I see many of the same cyclists daily. Some of the people I try to avoid because of sketchy riding, but it was comforting to see Barry at the start of the long day. We rode for a while, probably an hour, with him out in front at times and me just off and to the right of his wheel taking the wind.
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At one point when we rode side by side, he said, "You have the body of a cyclist." I said thanks, a little flattered, continuing to tell him that I plan to go as far as I can go on this two wheeled machine. "Just don't get burnt out," he responded as an old wise cyclist often does. "When I was a few years older than you, I raced professionally," he aired with a non-shalant voice.

"Wow, that is so cool, what team did you ride for," I rattled off almost before he could finish. "I rode for the Coors Light team that also was sponsored by ???? [Exon maybe]. You may not know some of the riders that I rode with, but one was Chris Carmichael. Later on I rode against Lemond too, when he was a junior. I saw him on his way up as he saw me on my way down. I stopped when I was 27 because I wasn't going to be selected for a European team since I was getting older and just getting my legs." he stated.

"Huh, that is great man, did you race in Europe at all?" drilling him with another question. "Yea I did a few races. I excelled in the hills. I weighed about 140 at that time. You look like you would do well in the hills. What do you weigh, 135?" he asked. Answering with a bit of disbelief of his raw accuracy, "Yea, 137 the last time I checked. I don't really know what type of riding I'm good at yet. This season should tell me," I rambled out trying to somehow compare myself to the ex-pro masked by an older, businessman like body.

"Yea, racing for the few years that I did was fun. I didn't have any money, but I had all of the gear I needed. I didn't care about the money. At 28, I went back to law school. And now look at what divorces will do to ya," he professed, laughing as he visibly eyed his body up and down. I laughed and gasped in disbelief as we pedaled onward into the sea sprung head-wind.

He told me his name was something like Barry Stetna. I don't know how to spell his last name, but if anyone has heard of him or knows of him, write me back. I'd like to figure out who this cool old dude is (by the way, if it comforts you, I don't think 40-50 years is an old age).

Now sitting with some espresso, I'm pleased that the day went better than I expected considering the repeated route of Florida. With an added 77 miles under my legs, I can only hope that I make it through the rest of the short but full training week. I never imagined the mental and physical strength that goes into serious cycling--hopefully these attributes will come with time.

Welcome to My Blog

2007-12-27T16:23:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends,

I finally decided to start blogging. I worked on one constantly during the summer, but it was mostly formal writing for my research trip to India. Now is the time for fun journal writing.

I hope you enjoy my little blips on cycling, school and life in general. This may give you some insight into my daily life and what I enjoy doing. Thank you for checking it out.

If you are interested in reading about my experiences in India, check out the mblog. Here's part of it:

To Vijayawada with the Race Car Driver

Every time I have gotten the chance to travel to one of the cities in the area, I have taken it. Wandering around aimlessly and people-watching has been one of my favorite pass-time activities here. The city truly expresses the beauty of Indian culture.

After starting the Chevy turbo SUV, Kumar reached across the seats and opened up the door. I hopped in ready to go to Vijayawada. Crossing through the gate, honking to the security guard, Kumar revved the engine and began to accelerate. I asked him if he had any music, and he flipped on a Telugu, techno sounding song with a persistently strong beat. Shifting up a gear and continuing to honk his horn, he passed auto after auto, approaching 90 km/hr. The horn seemed to be an important indicator used excessively to notify the slower bike, motorcycle, or auto rickshaw that he was passing him. He constantly switched lanes, not even fully driving in either lane at times. As he glided into the right lane, we saw a truck approaching us. Kumar quickly flashed his brights on and off and accelerated through the gap between it and the auto to get into the open left lane. I felt as though I was in a chase scene from a movie.

With planes of dried grasses and soil ending in mountain like hills, with the Indian music pumping out the bass, with the many little bikes, autos, and motorcycles, with the fast driving and passing, with the little thatched huts on the side of the road, with the cows crossing in front of us, and with the sun setting over the hills, I realized, ‘Wow, I am in India.’ My body reacted to the rush I felt in seeing and hearing new things as a chill spread through me, leaving goosebumps as a result. The natural high was unreal. Moving my head to the beat of the music, I looked at Kumar. As he met eyes with me, he bluntly stated, “My talent is driving.” Chuckling, I returned my attention to the road to continue to absorb the rush as it flew at me.

Out of the little city, Mangalagiri, we began to speed through a rural village with tall green leafed trees hanging over the road to make a natural arch. Many more thatched huts now lined the road with men and women sitting, standing, and bartering for goods. In our seemingly different world of the air conditioned car, I’m sure we rushed by in a blur, too fast for these locals to notice; the Autobahn like road seemed to suck us through the area.

Looking to the other side of the approaching dam, I could see the dormant volcano more closely; the view of the temple that rested on the side of it became crisper. The large blue building seemed more intriguing than before. I decided I was going to visit it on a later date. Pulling out my camera, I wanted to capture the beauty of the sun setting over the Krishna River. Kumar noticed it and kindly pulled over while flipping the emergency lights on. I didn’t expect him to stop and it made the experience all the better.

Gazing out from the middle of the dam, the sun spewed its orange pinkish glow to the clouds that engulfed it. It still shed enough light on the little green islands and boats fishing in the river, to see them. Kumar pointed to the island in front of us and said “Buffalo. They swim back and forth.” Still trapped in the euphoria manifested by each of my overloaded senses, I could only reply with: “This is beautiful.” I felt like an explorer discovering an unknown land that he spent months searching for. For me, it was a discovery seeing a different part of the world. It was something I had dreamt about since I was a child...

Check the pictures out: Pics of India