Bickel's Roller Race

Dominic Moraniec & Mike McCain rollin' @ Bickel's

I rounded out my indoor winter training campaign with a final roller race at Bickel's Cycling & Fitness in Burlington on Saturday.  This store has everything you can think of related to sports and fitness.  They also provided a great set-up that included a buffet with energy drinks/fruits, a virtual training demo, and a full-length mirror so that we could stare at ourselves while we competed...

"80% of success is showing up"... I really do believe this...  as there are always plenty of 'reasons' not to participate in any given event (too far to drive, not in shape, hard course, too competitive, no pay-out, bad weather, etc.).  I believe that people should give themselves credit for overcoming excuses and participating in events (racing, social, work-related, etc) that they might have had some reservations about attending. 

I ended up with a 5:06.8 for my final Roller Race. That was a solid effort and my best time of the year... perfect way to transition to Spring Training, as my focus will now shift to getting prepared for more sustained efforts.

USA CYCLING RANKING
Ok, I will admit that I am currently a bit obsessed with the USA Cycling national ranking system.  I am starting to appreciate the value in acquiring credentials and believe that a respectable national rank can  facilitate some of my future race related goals.  I have noticed that the Individual Time Trial discipline seems especially available to me.  I have a nice head start thanks to the indoor racing I have already done.  Unfortunately, indoor TT's only count for up to 5 points, where as a state TT counts for up to 60, stage race prologues are 10 points, and a national track TT can give you 135 points...  there doesn't seem to be a National Cat 2 Time Trial Championship.
A FLYING TT
Yeah, the ranking system isn't an exact science and I am really not sure how it works.  For example what the heck is a flying TT?  Apparently I have entered in several of them... no one told me it was a 'flying' TT... afterwards somebody said something to the effect of "Geez Bishop you were really 'flying' out there"... but I sure that isn't what the name is referring to.  Regardless, both count for points, as well as Track events.

The guy who ended up 3rd in the nation for 2010 (Cat 2) only entered one qualifying race (national track TT in California) and recieved 135 points... That was actually 2nd out of 29 Cat 1,2,3,4,5's, and even the 29th guy got 16 points... Keeping that in mind, the 19 points I have earned so far in 2011 really are noteworthy.   Also, keeping that in mind,  maybe I should find a track and race on it...  the Iowa State Track Championships are in Wisconsin... maybe... ok probably not. 

Now time to start facing the chilly Iowa roads...   I will be dreaming about heading down to the 'Winter Training Capital'... Tucson Arizona next month... but until then, let's get out and enjoy living the lifestyle.