Kent Park... Spring Opener Cancelled

Due to snowy conditions, this year's Iowa Spring Classic had to be cancelled. Looking at the start lists, it was going to be one great battle. The list, at least, is an education as to which Iowa riders were feeling their early season racing form.

Well, that puts the next Iowa Road race at April 19th, for a criterium in Dubuque. I have been planning a cycling trip south to the St. Louis area to make up for the cancellation of the April 4th/5th Des Moines Area races, so I don't completely have the winter blues.

The Cat 3 Hillsboro Roubaix is a 66 mile Road Race with registration nearing the 120 rider limit (most of the divisions are already on wait list). I am working on possibly staying the night and going to St. Louis the next day to race in the 'spring fling criterium'. These races will serve to help further my training and race experience. But, mostly, anticipating them has helped keep me motivated to train through the 'hit or miss' weather in Iowa during this time of year. Pictured is part of the cobble section leading up to the town of Hillsboro.

Ahh, but green & sunny days are coming. How nice it will be to ride until I am physically done, and no longer having to stop due to freezing extemities, limited daylight or the mental burn of a cloudy/windy day. . I logged 6 workouts this week, but 5 of them were indoors... dang, that is less than ideal. I suppose the guys 260 miles south of me in the St. Louis area will have a bit of an edge on me, in that respect.

Dirty Road Race #3

Well, first let me say that the 'lollipop' section of this course was extra sucky for the third installement of this race series. There was new gravel on portions, and much of the other gravel surfaces had been grated, so they were softer and required much more effort to navigate through.

Things didn't exactly go accordingly to plan for me today, with respect to sticking with the lead group... however, as far as early season training goes, I couldn't have been happier with how this race played out.

Everyone stuck together for the first 12 miles of mostly paved surface. But then, that 'twitchy' feeling became tangible, as the first turn onto the gravel approached. As soon as we hit the gravel, all hell broke lose. Not necessarily because of attacking riders, just simply because racing on gravel is ackward, at best, and creates a bit of chaos.

Of course, this was the first 'move' of the day, as the tempo and heart rates increased. I suffered through for a mile or two, as most of the group was intact, but then began to slip off the back. What? Well this is going to be a long race.

If I could just hang on until the road section (which wasn't for another 13 miles) I would be fine. But, on the other hand, what was going on? Soon, my answer emerged as my rear wheel locked up... it released and I pedalled some more, then locked up again. I looked down to see that my rear wheel had actually come off of the axel. Hilarious. The road was so bumpy that it jarred my wheel right off. (of course, I may be at fault for not being the most meticulous of pre-race mechanics).

Seriously, though, this race was bumpy, my triceps are even sore today from all of the effort needed to grind through those rocks and sand pits.

Well, that sort of put the nail in the coffin, as anytime you have an 'off the bike' mechanical during an attacking section of the race, things aren't looking good. I put the wheel back on, and continued. Ok, now for the training race I was looking for last weekend. Alone, and in chase mode.

Lot's of solo tempo, as I passed riders from time to time. I worked with them for a bit, but ultimately, I was strong, and more interested in seeing how close to the front of the race I could get on my own. This is the ultimate time trial effort and great training for future races.

I passed dominic moraniec, jimmy carrico, the robinson brothers... wait, hmm, I am not going to have that bad of a result after all. Then I passed Tracy Thompson with a flat tire. Ouch, that isn't looking good for the eastern Iowa riders. Skipping ahead, miraculously Tracy battled back up, and even passed me about 7 miles later.

Toward the latter parts of the race, I noticed that the follow car was behind me, and not coming around, and that there was a group of three riders back in my sights. I felt like I could catch them, so I pursued. Could this be the front of the race? Yes it was! Unbelievable.

My determination to catch back on, meant that I never really felt like I had time to feed, so I raced 2hours 40 minutes on 250 calories... Hmm, what does that mean... yes the bonk.

I believe bonking has a good training effect. It teaches your body to adapt to stressful situations. However, riding basically solo for 38 miles, against head winds, sand pits, loose gravel, hills, etc, made for a challenging day. I was exhausted.

Fortunately, only one guy (Rich Wince-Rasmussen's Death Squad) was close enough to take advantage of my energy deficit, as he passed me with about 2 miles to go.

-Dirty Road Race #3 Results-
I ended up in 6th place overall and the 2nd of 6 cat 3 riders. Put a big 'X' on category 3 rider Jerome Rewerts' back, as he won the event, and actually had about a 2 minute gap on teammates Lane Anderson and Chad Vandelune. If that isn't a sign of a strong rider, I don't know what is, as this was a tough race, and he beat out some good cat 1/2 riders as well as fellow cat 3's. Not sure how, but Tracy Thompson of Bikes 2 You ended up finishing second, which speaks volumes about his fitness and racing determination.

This event really felt like a cyclocross race. Remind me to find some gravel roads to train on this fall, as it would make great training for cyclocross.

Having said that, thankfully, the rest of the race season is on the road. I have lots of momentum this season, that will make me a force to be wreckened with, especially within the Cat 3 field. Kent Park is next week, and is the unofficial start of the 2009 Road Racing Season... Bring it On.

Gravel, Road Kill & Sandtraps... Dirty RR #2

My 2009 Road Racing season got under way Saturday, March 14th in Mitchellville, Iowa at the 50 mile Dirty Road Race. This was a training race of sorts that was conducted on 30 miles of gravel and 20 miles of county road over two 25 mile laps. There weren't any corner marshalls, cheering fans or podiums, but there was plenty of spray paint, attacking dogs/cats, road kill and pot holes.

My choice to ride my Madone was questioned at the starting line... yeah, I wasn't to sure about that either... what do you use to ride on gravel anyway. (Actually, I have never raced on gravel before, unless you count a few drunken mishaps on RAGBRAI). I had hard case tires on, at least, to maybe add puncture resistance against the rocks.

There were about 24 riders at the start. I was anxious to get on the gravel, and see what the situation would be, but I had to wait quite awhile as the first part of the course was road. Then, the moment arrived, Gravel...

LOLLIPOP SECTION

Clever phrase I heard at a point during the race..."maybe we should take that right turn to cut out the Lollipop Section"... I didn't get it at first but soon, I understood the joke... A part of the course that really SUCKS.

Riding on gravel was stressful. Everyone had shifty lines, tires that were spinning out and it was jarring. (Paris Roubaix?). The trick was to just 'pedal through it', but that took a few miles to figure out. A couple people seemed better at it than others, and the group broke apart a bit.

On some parts of the gravel, if you road all the way to one side, the sand created a 'trap' that caused you to sink in. I know of at least one rider that ended up in the ditch, and I can say I almost did on several occasions until I got the feel for the road surfaces.

About 3/4 of the way into the first lap, the gravel turned upward and Paul Denninger of Zoom Performance executed a mild acceleration. I was caught in my big chain ring, and too apprehensive to risk dropping my chain, but managed to hang on to that tempo. When the hill finally let up the race was broken up very definatively.

After the damage had taken its ulitmate toll over the next several miles, the strongest riders of the day emerged.. today that turned out to be Paul Deninger, Tracy Thompson (B2U), Ryan Elsbernd (All Nine Yards) and myself. (Jimmy Carrico joined us later in the race, but unfortunately, he had equipment troubles earlier, cut back on the course and ran into us, so he was a sort of 'lapped rider'. Having said that, he is strong as ever, especially when the road turns upward. )

Looking at the results, the chase group that emerged in the second half of the race seemed to then consist of four All Nine yards riders. Paul was very vocal throughout the race, almost like our team coach. He didn't mind telling us his moves or his tactics, and kept our pace dialed in to just the right tempo to maintain the gap.

Our only real challenge at this point was not to over exert ourselves, as it seemed that we had a large enough of a gap, so the pace was very comfortable. And with comfortable tempo comes the sandbagging...

MERSA

Still not sure what that is, but Tater claims that he had recently been in the hospital with this disease. I thought he said MENSA, and was wondering what having a high IQ had to do with not being able to train. Well, apparently a saddle sore had turned deadly, and he had been going to the hospital on a daily basis to get re-bandaged. He mentioned that at one point the gauze was so far up into his body that it made contact with his testicles. Well, that was pretty gross, but possibly could explain why he was slow to respond to some of the accelerations.

BACK TO THE RACE
Paul informed us that we were going to stay together into the big gravel hill section, then he was going to accelerate and 'see who shakes out'.

So the hill and the acceleration came and it 'shook out' all but three riders... Paul, Tracy and myself. Of course, Ryan was still in pursuit, so Paul instruced that we 'lose the All Nine Yards guy'.. tactically that did make sense.

Now comes the familiar part of the race when the breakaway group, once partners, has to eventually start to plot against each other. Hmm, I am riding with Tater and Paul Deninger, well respected and established Cat 1/2 riders.

Then Paul made his final announcment... For very understandable (and spiritual) reasons, he was going to go ahead and attempt to win this race, whereas in the past, he would have been content to use this as a pure training event, and pull me and Tracy, for a head to head sprint to the finish. This meant he wasn't going to pull for the remainder of the race.

Ok... so that means either I get off of my bike and start walking to get Paul to use some energy, or I pull and hope that Tracy's MERSA starts to flare up again.

I was cool with third place, so I just dialed in a nice tempo that would keep our gap from the chasing riders, but not too much in case I was strong enough to pull for the last 4 miles and still sprint to a win.. you never know.

So, as he said he would, Paul accelerated around me at the last uphill section. I hung on almost to the top of the first gradient, but then started slipping, as Tracy realized he would have to come around me. He hopped on Paul's wheel as I pushed myself to stay in contact.

The finish line was in sight, as they had about 50 yards on me. I was beginning to accelerate and make up ground as the two were trying to out smart each other for the win. Nah, I didn't have enough ground to catch up, and watched as Tracy stole the win from Paul at the line.

Good race, thanks to the organizers to provide some training opportunities in March. I imagine the 3rd one (this Sunday), will be very well attended. If the participants of the first race and this one all show up for #3... watch out, because some of the best riders in Iowa will be going head to head as a sort of last 'tune-up' for the unofficial start of the Spring 2009 Racing season, that following week in Kent Park.

The Iowa Cup gets kicked in the Nuts

Ouch! The first races of the 2009 Iowa Cup are cancelled (altoona and big creek RR's), that's going to leave a mark on my racing calendar as I was planning a race weekend in Des Moines, complete with hotel accomodations on Saturday night. Does anybody know what the 'unforeseen circumstances' were that caused those events to be cancelled? Just curious, but thanks to the organizers for their past efforts, I really do appreciate the opportunity to race in Iowa.

Well, I scoured the internet to see if I could find an option... Perhaps the Illinois Cup is worthy of a quick glance... Yes, the Hillsoboro Roubaix Spring Classic in Illinois is scheduled for April 4th, maybe I will go. It has actual cobbled roadways, challenging climbs, a 66 mile Cat 3 route, a respectable prize list and a really long 4 hour drive each way to add to the accomplishment.

If anyone else knows of any thing closer, let me know. Maybe we should organize some sort of informal training race in eastern Iowa for that weekend? Maybe at Scott County Park? Probably too late.

Speaking of training races. Going to the Dirty RR #2 this weekend near Des Moines. A very talented field entered the last weekend's race, so this should be very good experience. Training races are fun, because the main goal is to advance your season's fitness, winning or doing well is just an added bonus. But if you 'won' by sitting on wheels all day, you won't have gotten the most benefit, these races are meant to take chances, leaving nothing behind.

madness in March

I was definately grouchy this weekend. The weather for Saturday's Dirty Road race sort of seemed to indicate that it might be a sign to skip that one. It is a 10 hour commitment (with travel, racing, prep, etc.) to enter this training opportunity, so I opted to stay home, which again made me very irritable, because I was counting on that mileage. I miss the Prairie Rude Days that were held in Cedar Rapids, I would have easily driven up for that, even with the rain/cold.

The results, however, were educational, and provide some early indicators as to which players are planning on being active for the 2009 season.

FRICTION BURN

Compounding the madness, out of nowhere my rollers have begun dragging on the ground when I ride them. Unfortunately I didn't notice this saturday, and just thought that the reason I couldn't get my bike up to my usual cadence/mph was because I was over training. So, I spun for 30 minutes and called it quits... baffled, bewildered...

I hopped on sunday, and decided to try again, this time I noticed the problem and propped up the rollers, thinking I had fixed it. Nope, after the ride there were two long black marks(under each roller) where they were rubbing on the carpet. Actually, I was glad to discover this, because again, I couldn't get my bike up to the same speed as previous workouts.

That's all for now, I believe I will have a special guest blogger submit my next post, stay tuned.

Iowa State Roller 2009 Championship Series

FROSTBUSTER ROLLER RACE - MARCH 1st, 2009
There it is, the result we have all been hoping for... top of the Cat 1,2,3 podium (standing next to Shawn Loomis and Bryan Moritz) at the final race of the 2009 indoor cycling season...
I definately had a great day, breaking not only my Personal Record, but successfully posting the fastest time ever on this Kreitler Roller Set-up, therefore, a State Record (sort of, since official State Records don't technically exist). Below is a list of noteworthy accomplishments...
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1)Old Personal Record = 5:17.5
-New Personal Record = 5:01.4

2)Previous State Record = 5:03.7 (Shawn Loomis, 2/24/08)
-New State Record = 5:01.4 (Chad Bishop, 3/1/09)

3)Previous Fastest Cat 3 Time (Tony Kisch, 3/11/07) = 5:08.7
-New Fastest Cat 3 Time (Chad Bishop, 3/1/09) = 5:01.4

4)Silver Medal, Cat 3 Iowa Road Race Championship Series
---------
It was definately a great day for racing indoors, as the cold outside was bitter and only for the mileage obsessed road junkies (no offense). It didn't seem possible to win the Gold medal in the Cat 3 race series because the current leader had too large of a lead, however I was hoping to possibly win that day's race overall.

This aspiration was soon dismissed as Shawn Loomis posted a new state record time of 5:01.5. On the other hand, everyone was posting blazing fast times compared to their previous efforts, so I kept my mind open.

Lee Venteicher advised me to just peg it up to a sub 5 minute pace, and 'go all or nothing' because I could definately beat Shawn's time. This is where the real battle began. This is a contest where the mind matters just as much as the physical conditioning. Could I convince myself that Lee was right? Can I conquer self doubt and win this race?

Keeping an open mind, I tried to remove all negative thoughts, and remind myself how well my winter training has been going, and the sacrifice I had made over the last 3 months to prepare for the 2009 season.

I started the race just like any other, with respect to my cadence and gearing. The difference would be how long I could hold it. I overshot my initial power burst a bit, as I noticed I was pacing a 4:45 time... um, easy there tough guy.

I dialed it back to 4:59, and waited for the pain to build... Hmm, not too bad as Greg Harper advised me that I was .5 miles in. I let my cadence slip a bit, but Greg demanded I pull it back up. I wanted to mentally argue but decided just to succumb to his demands knowing I couldn't let up if I wanted to beat Shawn's result.

I had some sort of flicker that 'I can do this' as the 1 mile mark passed. Unfortunately, the peak of discomfort really doesn't rear it's ugly head until the final stretch. My time fell to around 5:03, which still would have been such a great result. I tried to talk myself into 'settling' for this.
The crowd that was gathering, having noticed that I was close to breaking the record, wouldn't allow it, however, as cheers of encouragement could be overheard.

I actually shifted to a harder gear, sensing I could bring back those seconds. I did... my time was back in the 5:01 range. The last seconds of the race brought me to complete and utter muscle failure. I began to let up, feeling that I had just missed shawn's time of 5:01.5...

Nope, I beat him by one tenth of a second... nice.

That sort of makes it all worth it. The real goal of winter racing for me, however is a way of structuring my training for the spring road racing season. But, for now, I will just enjoy a rewarding result. Thanks for reading... It should be an interesting year of racing.