Soccer Showdown - Iowa City Race Weekend

 

These kids might not look tough; but playing soccer with them
could severely upset your cycling career.

One of the benefits of partaking in the 'lifestyle of a roadie' is that you will be in great shape, generally speaking; not just on the bike.  This can be a problem, however, if you push your body too hard while participating in sports that aren't cycling specific.

So, over Easter, I involved myself in a friendly game of soccer with my relatives. We had a couple of 7 year olds, some middle schoolers, a teen-ager... I guess one of the players was only about 5.  In other words... it was game time!  Similar to my approach to cycling, I went full throttle, trying to be everywhere all at once... starting, stopping, turning, twisting, kicking, etc. 



I ended up getting my butt kicked after throwing down
against today's youth.



Towards the end of this viscious contest of wills, my toes began to ache, so I took my shoes off to reveal blood on each sock from the blisters.  Really?  I kept going sans shoes, as we were down by a point with only a few minutes left before one of my opponent's bed time.   I was covered in sweat by the end of the game. My team didn't end up winning, but I reminded everyone that 'Crazy Uncle Chad doesn't mess around'.

Monday arrives and my legs are in pain... I couldn't even lift them without feeling a stinging soreness.  It baffles me that there are so many muscles in the leg that apparently are unused during the pedal stroke.  Needless to say Monday was a rest day.

Tuesday morning... still sore... crap!  This caused a mild form of depression.  I was thinking about doing Monika's Time Trial in Lone Tree later that day... no way.  I really wasn't even sure about doing the Tuesday Night Ride...  I reluctantly suited up and went on my way.  The first incline re-inforced the fact that my legs were not in good form.  The parts that ached were not even relevant to the pedal stroke, but were still robbing efficiency from my effort while making me feel miseable.


I wasn't thrilled to be feeling that sore at Tuesday's training ride...
a group of five ended up doing a tailwind ride from Lone Tree.

Wednesday... still sore.  Ridiculous.  Ok, maybe backyard soccer is off the table for the rest of the season. 

IOWA CITY WEEKEND
Not sure what to expect this week, but happy to have a chance to race again.  Last year's Iowa City Race weekend went very poorly for me, despite being in great form.  I flipped over my handlebars and hit my head on the wall at the base of the hill... I was a Cat 3 then, so this will be a whole new experience.

The American Equity Elite Racing team will be there in full force, not to mention lots of other Iowa racer including guys from Zealous Racing and Mercy Specialized.   The Pro 1,2 race draws some tough out-of-state competition. Rumor has it that Steve Tilford, Brian Jensen, and Bill Stolte will be driving up from Kansas, as well as strong riders from Kentucky Flyers Cycling/Texas Roadhouse & Bianchi/Grand Performance(Minnesota).  Should be a great weekend of racing.

2011 Iowa Cup Announced!

Thankfully, this is NOT the 'Iowa Cup'.

Alas, my training has found direction as the 2011 Iowa Cup race competition has been announced... great!  Thanks to Zealous Racing for putting their efforts to organize this series. From their site:

"In its 6 years of existence, the Iowa Cup competition has really become a part of the fabric of Iowa Cycling. It’s the best points system we have to truly recognize the best road racers in the state in each category."

Hmm, I wonder who the best road racers in Iowa are this year? Which team is going to rise above the rest in the elite team competition? (Last Year's Results)

Here is the schedule:

Iowa City Road Race – 4/30/2011
Old Capitol Criterium – 5/1/2011
Squaw Creek Park Circuit Race – 5/7/2011
Zealous Spring Road Race – 5/14/2011
Iowa State Fair Criterium – 5/15/2011
Snake Alley Criterium – 5/28/2011
Melon City Criterium – 5/29/2011
Rose Festival Criterium - 6/17/2011
Rose Festival Road Race - 6/18/2011
Bicycle, Blues, and BBQ Criterium (State) – 7/9/2011
Bicycle, Blues, and BBQ Road Race – 7/10/2011
Iowa State Road Race Championships - 8/6/2011
East Village Criterium - 8/13/2011

Yeah, I hit it pretty hard to start the 2011 racing season... you may have been thinking "this guy is going to burn out before Memorial Day"... Well, I started to feel that all of the racing/training I did over the winter and early spring may have actually been 'too much', as I was struggling a bit to find motivation.

But, as I thought about it, all that really seems to be going on is a combination of poor weather and lack of racing opportunities.  Last year I had the Scott County Park Road Race (DICE CYCLING) and Eagle Point Criterium (Dubuque Cycling) to round out my April preparations.   To make the 'slump' even more significant, the Iowa City Race Weekend was moved back a week creating an even bigger gap with respect to my calendar.  I am 'itching' to help put together a brand new racing opportunity for Iowa competitors, so maybe I will remember that April could be a good month to target a 2012 bike racing event.

So, no real mystery... racing is the 'fuel' that drives my training.  Without it, I still train, just feel 'odd' while doing it.  The 2011 Iowa Cup will provide me with the direction I was seeking... thanks! I needed that.

The Expectation of balancing nitrogen and creme eggs

Expectations can be the cause of many mental health problems including stress, anxiety, and depression.  Basically, if you set expectations for a person, event, or situation that don't ultimately pan out, this can create a mildly traumatic emotional response.   Adjusting your expectations can be a great way to improve the quality of your life.  Think about it... if you place really high expectations on yourself (i.e. to win a race), and then don't realize your goal, you will be upset.  However, if your expectation was to simply have a great time, get in some good fitness, and race to your potential; you will have a great chance of meeting your expectation, and subsequently realizing a rewarding outcome.

This concept is used a lot in couples therapy.   Partners who adjust their expectations of the other, often realize a new found release from much of the tension they had been experiencing.  Expect less and recieve more...

Ok, this has been the worst week of training I've had all year.   An unexpected household emergency (no hot water!) threw my schedule into a tail spin.   I am going to use a technique many competitive cyclists use... I am going to call this a rest week.  This is the only way to alleviate my concern that my season is heading in the wrong direction. A rest week implies that I am purposefully allowing my body to recover; maximizing the training effect of several hard weeks of racing/training.

I will have to say, the Tour of Hermann Road Race left me completely wasted, and I needed some rest... maybe all is well.  I attempted one of my indoor Time Trial tests yesterday, however and couldn't complete the effort... Ok, I need a little more than this rest week excuse... Ah hah!  Nitrogen Balance.  I am theorizing that my inadvertant lapse in training this week has taken my body out of it's harmonic chemical balance; due to the fact that I didn't consume as much protein and other key nutrients.

I have been using MaxMuscle's ARM (Anabolic Recovery Matrix) after most of my workouts.  But when I don't work out, I tend not to stick to my nutrition/supplementation plan... MaxMuscle ARM helps support protien synthesis and nitrogen retention.  Ok, so hopefully that helps explain my flat workout yesterday.  I need to make sure that I don't let up on my nutrition plan on days when I don't workout.

Speaking of nutrition, does anyone else have a problem controlling their urge to eat those Cadbury Creme Eggs?  I actually feel like some sort of crack addict whenever I drive by Walgreen's (my drug dealer's house).  Easter is always a rough time for me with respect to my addiction. 

Fortunately, eating just one of those things knocks me on my butt.  I choked down a second one once, it wasn't pretty, and I felt like a slug.  Sometimes I buy two, just to see if I can force my way through, but always end up stopping after one.  Crap, writing this is triggering my cravings... nope... must resist.

Tour of Hermann - Notes to My Future Self

Saturday's Criterium included a very steep incline through a picturesque wine vineyard overlooking Hermann. 

Often times I re-read past reports prior to the subsequent year's event... well, to that end I am going to write my future-self a note...

"Dude, whatever your do, make sure you bring a 25 tooth cog to the 2012 race...come on man, don't kid yourself, you might be able to turn that 23t around for awhile, but you will need that extra gear... no, I don't care how much stronger you think you are, bring a 25t cassette... seriously."

Hopefully you can gather from that message to my future self that this race had a lot of hills.  It was everything I hoped it to be and more... a truly great race weekend. 

STAGE ONE - TIME TRIAL

After spending a delightful night in the very historic town of Hermann at the Vinchester Inn... I headed over to the Time Trial course Saturday morning.  It was a 14 mile long out and back course.. that is all that I knew.  As my fellow teammates came in, however, I began to get a feel for the situation.  Apparently, it was very hilly. Lou came in looking strong but had some technical issues, so wasn't happy with his result. JJ Bailey also seemed not to be that happy with his performance.  Paul, however, seemed to have had a good ride, despite getting caught behind a car during his effort with a time of 32:15.

Well, the time to beat was about 31:22 (around 26.3 mph average).  I had yet to ride my TT bike outside this year, and was rolling on a brand new Gray Wheel set and Bontrager Race X-Lite handlebar configuration that I had yet to familiarize myself with, but otherwise felt fairly confident.  Unfortunately, I wasn't sure that I could get shifted back up from my small ring, so I 'big-ringed' the whole event to be safe... note to future-self..."Please, please, please, don't be an idiot in 2012... make sure to shift to the small ring for some of those steeper inclines...seriously, that was poor judgement"

When it was all said and done I finished 13th overall, as my clock indicated I had a time of 32:49.  So, me and Paul had some points toward the omnium stage race, with plenty of opporunity for the rest of the team to get on the board, and/or help us advance higher during one of the next two stages.

STAGE TWO - CRITERIUM

I was really optimistic when I saw the layout of the criterium course, later that same day...  A steep incline and no real technical areas to slow me down.  Yeah, the descent was super-fast (my max was about 47mph without pedalling) but it was straight with plenty of time before the turn.  In fact, I was so gung-ho about this race that I actually attacked the group right before the descent to win a points prime early in the race.



American Equity Team Mates Lou Waugaman and Paul Deninger putting the hammer down up 'Stone Hill'

I am pretty strong on inclines, however, some of the guys down here are quite simply stronger.  I was briefly in a three man lead group with Nick Coil of Mercy Cycling who won this Crit in 2011.  He accelerated up the hill, and looked back to see my reaction... I could tell he was the stronger man at that moment.

I also need to mention that it was hot... So, the nature of the course and hot conditions caused the field to shatter into many smaller groups.  I simply rode at my limit, trying to minimize my losses once I lost contact with the leading riders. I finished 13th overall and snagged 4 more points (5 including my field prime) as the race awarded points for the first 16 places at each event.  Everyone in our team finished the event, which was a great accomplishment, as 13 of the 36 Cat 1,2 starters weren't quite able to complete all 19 laps.

STAGE THREE -

Note to future self..."Ok, what were you thinking last year?  Three water bottles?  Really.  It was 92 degrees over a very hilly 90 mile course that took over 4.5 hours to complete.  PACK AS MUCH FLUID AS POSSIBLE THIS YEAR."

This was another challenging course that had more hills than any race I have ever entered.  I truly enjoy this kind of race, as it was a strong man's course... unfortunately, I wasn't the strongest rider that day... but I still enjoyed the ability to be competitive at this level.

I couldn't believe how hilly the course was (oh, I already said that).  There was a hill at the start of the second lap that was so steep, it seemed more like a wall than a road.  I guess they don't get much snow in Hermann, because cars would slide right down this thing and into the Missouri River if it ever iced up.

Early within the first lap, I enjoyed watching teammate Paul Deninger launch up the road and get into a break.  Later Lou was able to sneak up the road as well, into a more select chase group.  Hmm, things are looking good for American Equity at this point.  I went towards the front and was enjoying the concept of 'blocking'.  I have never had a reason to do this before, so I was intrigued by what it felt like to purposefully try and slow the race down so your teammates can get a bigger gap.

Later,David Carpenter launched an attack, and I got on his wheel for a free ride up the road.  Unfortunately, we passed Paul on the way, and after we got up to Lou's group, he mentioned that they weren't working together... so this break wasn't going to stick. JJ Bailey was still in the mix and we rotated through  a few times to try and close the gap a little bit, so that our team could still have a shot of one of the four paying spots.

After the start of the second lap, there was that very steep hill, followed by another one just a bit down the road.  (A one-two punch of sorts).  I managed to hang on, as did teammate Carson Christen.  It seemed though, that we were the only two left on our team after that point, which changed the dynamics of things.  Now the idea was to let the course take it's toll on the field, and allow race attrition to dictate the finishing order.

Approaching the third lap, I began to cramp severely.  I was out of water and praying that our teammates would give us a hand-up at the last feed zone... Yes! JJ and Paul hooked us up.  I drank that bottle instantaneously and then began focusing on making it up that steep wall-like incline.  Believe it or not, I was slightly concerned that I might have to get off my bike and walk.  Nope, I hung on, and began to realize that my 23 tooth gear was no longer my friend... I could just barely turn it over. 

Crap, there was another hill just down the road, and almost as steep.  I couldn't turn that gear over, my legs were too weak after 62 miles over this hillacious course.  Fortunately, there was carnage all over the place, with many guys behind me or DNF'd, and a handful of guys that I would later pass as they popped.  Slowly but surely, the field disappeared from my view.
I basically road most of the last lap solo.  Everything ached and I was severely dehydrated.  Luckily, there was some neutral water on the course, and I was able to keep a pretty good tempo to finish the race in the 16th position (just within the points cut-off).  The two pre-race favorites (Nick Coil and Andrew Coe) were actually amongst the guys I met on the road, and subsequently road away from .They ended up being the last of the finishers in the 21st/22nd positions, while 17 guys posted DNF's, mainly due to attrition... a testament to how grueling this race was.  Carson had a great day and finished 13th.

I finished 11th out of about 32 guys in the Cat 1,2 omnium and managed to get points all three days... so a relatively successful weekend.  Only 14 guys were 'still standing' by the time it was all said and done, with respect to the stage race results.  Everyone on the team seemed to take something positive away from the experience, and I enjoyed racing with them.  I was also happy to race with fellow Iowa guys from Mercy-Specialized.  They brought a strong team, which included Matias Perret who finished 7th in the omnium (awesome).  Look for that guy to be dominant all season.

Tour of Hermann Results

2011 Hillsboro Roubaix...Droppin' It Like It Was Hot

All things considered, I had a rewarding experience at the 2011 edition of the Hillsboro Roubaix Spring Classic. I'm a fairly new Cat 2 racer, so I was still a little apprehensive lining up for only my second Pro 1,2 race at this level. 115 competitors towed the line to endure 87 windy miles across a course that included lots of twists and turns.

The Pro 1,2 field winding down a descent as riders struggle to hang on.

The wind was the main factor to consider in this race.  With such a large field of strong riders, it was a challenge to stay with the group during the many cross-wind sections, where drafting wasn't as effective.  I loaded up my water bottles with EnduroMax.  This is a product by Max Muscle that I have been using to maintain my strength throughout longer training/racing efforts and it seems to be really working.
 

The Pro 1,2 peleton was still fairly intact about midway through the race

There were quite a few crashes and mechanical issues throughout this race.  Position was so important to those that wanted to survive to see the end of the event, so everyone was very focused on staying tightly bunched together and as close to the front as possible.  Of course, if 115 skilled Pro 1,2 racers are all trying to be at the sweet spot of the peleton (about 1/3 of the way back), then something's gotta give... we all can't be there.  I imagine this was the case in all the races, as the ambulance was busy throughout the day taking people to the hospital. 

I was struggling to find the motivation to fight for position, which made my race exceptionally challenging. Yes, I did get dropped... actually quite a few times. A lot of times it had to do with getting caught behind a crash, but a few times the accelerations became too overwhelming, especially as fatigue became a factor later in the race. I am racing in the big leagues now, as became apparent with the unrelenting strength of this field. 

I am happy to report however, that I managed to reconnect with the main field several times and was still in the coveted 'selection' of about 30 riders with only about half a lap left to race. 


The Pro 1,2 field had whittled down to a 30 rider chase pack at about the 70th mile of the race.  Teammates Jeff Bradley, Paul Deninger, Vince De Jong and myself are still amongst the survivors at this point.

  

Here I am riding with what's left of the main field with only about 17 miles left to race.

I don't remember exactly what the situation was, but at some point after this photo, the field left me behind... and I wouldn't be able to catch them.  Teammates Paul Deninger and Vince De Jong popped off soon after.  We started a rotation of sorts, and even picked up fellow Iowan Brian West just a few miles later.


The main field as it races up the final hill through town, with only about a 1 mile to go. 
Teammate Jeff Bradely is sitting in about the 7th position.

 


Remarkably, I was still riding strong towards the end of the race,
so ended up leaving our 'Iowan Chase Group' behind, rolling up the final hill solo.

 


Paul Deninger seems like he had a 'rewarding' day as well, as he and Brian West
 head up the final hill through town just a bit behind me.


I am actually somewhat satisfied with the 2011 Hillsboro Roubaix Results.  I finished 38th out of 115 very talented and experienced regional Pro 1,2 level riders.  Sure, it wasn't pretty... actually it was downright ugly.  I know what needed to be done to get a better placing, and I wasn't mentally capable of doing it. I bought a book called "Sports Psychology for Cyclists" in an effort to remedy this situation.  I can say, however that I gained a huge amount of experience and fitness, as this was an intense workout.

American Equity teammate Jeff Bradley had the best finish of the day at 18th.  Unfortunately, Lou Waugaman had a mechanical issue early in the race and had to drop out.  This is too bad, because I know he was set to easily make the final selection, if not the winning break.  Teammate JJ Bailey got caught behind a crash, so he had to ride most of the race solo. Paul finished behind me, with Vince De Jong (who was riding strong in the field until right up until the end) finished in about the 44th position, a couple minutes back from where I ended up.  All in all, it was great to ride with the team, and experience midwest racing at it's finest. I am positive and encouraged about the outlook of my 2011 racing season.