Now it is a family affair

Bree did her first racing in eight years! She looked awesome, and was able to stay with the other fit racer women (and a couple of men) in her group at Monday night beginner racing. Emy and I were so proud to see her out there mixing it up.

Here she is in the warm up paceline - red jersey, second from right

Here she is getting lectured on how the race went
and how to improve, by Phil, the local top official.
She was told she "looked like she knew what she was doing", which she does!

FSA Grand Prix was huge, and the 'Cross Bike is on its way

I had a blast at the FSA Grand Prix, our biggest national-level track event at Marymoor of the season. One of my major motivators for upgrading to a Cat 3 this season on the track was just so I could participate. And then, the organizers were kind enough to include separate Cat 3 racing on Friday night, so I wasn't forced to "just hang in there" with the Cat 1,2's, although, I was looking forward to the challenge. Friday morning I did the 4 km pursuit. This is a time trial event, where typically you are started on the opposite side of the track from another rider, and you "chase" each other (pusuit) in addition to trying to get a fast time for 4 km, which is 10 laps at Marymoor. Unfortunately for me, I was in the first heat. Doubly unfortunate, my pursuit-ee pointed out he was registered for the Master's 3k pursuit, not the 4k. Since ti was just about start time, they said I would be going by myself. Ugh! There goes my carrot!

I got to the start block after a couple of times around the warm up circle. They had announced earlier that we were to get a demo of the electronic beeping gizmo so we knew when to start. I was held for the start, ready to go, but relaxed as the beeper starting counting down "beep...beep...beep...beep...Bong!" I didn't move, and the holder didn't let go, but the shocked look on the official's face, as he said "That's your start!" was priceless. I started pedaling at full gusto, about 5 seconds late, yelling, "You said we would get a demo!!!" I made it through turn one, and then they fired the gun twice to tell me the race was over. So, I had to return to the start for another go. Not a false start for me, but now my legs were feeling a bit of lactic acid after the burst. Anyway, I got a clean start, and was grunting it as best I could (but not full gas, since I still had ten laps to go)

(I think my arms look pumped)

I managed to keep the tempo pretty even for the full ten laps. First lap was at around 28 mph with the middle eight around 27.5 and the final back up to 28 mph.

(Daddy needs a fancy pointy helmet, says Emy)

My time was 1 second under my goal of 5:30, with a 5:29. My time actually stuck on top of the leader board through the next heat, with two other Cat 3's, but was shortly thereafter dropped and dropped. Ultimately, I was in 3rd from last, with the fastest time of 4:47 set by last year's collegiate national champion in the pursuit. He would have gotten a lap and a half past me if we had been in a heat together. Clearly I have some work to do!

Friday night I was still feeling tired from the pursuit, even though it was a paltry ten laps, but had a great time in the events.

In the first race, a 10 lap scratch race, my teammate Mark was sacrificing himself with an attack with two laps to go, me on his wheel. The hope was to launch me for a solo bridge to a lone breakaway, whom I would pass, and take the win. All this was moot, though, with a heinous crash in the middle fo the pack that took out three riders. In the end they were OK, and able to get off the track under their own power. My scars throbbed in sympathy when I heard the all-too-familiar sound of bikes hitting bikes and flesh hitting the track. Now comes the crazy part. The officials decided to start us "where we left off" which meant the solo rider was to start with 5 seconds advantage, with the pack following. We were supposed to do a neutral lap, maintaining this gap, until we got back around to the start line, where the race would continue with two laps to go. Well, the solo rider had been dying out there, slowing down considerably, but with the ten minute break of the crash, he was fresh, and was able to stay away easily. Many of us were bummed by the result, but we couldn't fault the winner.

The second race was an unknown distance race, which ended up at 7 laps. I was moving up rapidly on the 6th lap, only to be cut off by some young man who was riding dangerously, cutting people off, and generally freaking us out. It was a bummer, since I think I could have done well, but I ended up with nothing. Neither did Mr Cut-us-off, either, of course, since he sucked. Annoying!

The last race was to be a 5x5 points race, but given that it was already 10:45 PM, they shortened it to 4x5. The race was over in a flash, and while I was active, I didn't manage to score any points. Note to self - if the field size is around 30 riders, it is really hard to make up the full distance from the back of the pack to the front during a sprint. This tactic normally works when the field is around 20, but I would keep making it up to about 5-10th position, outside the points.

But, hey, I didn't go down, and I had fun. I got home at 12:02 AM, completely spent. I had planned on the 1 km time trial (2.5 laps, a.k.a. the "Kilo") the next day, but was just too tired to even consider it. Too bad too, the lap times I was pulling in training, about 1:15, would have netted me a decent placing (not in the money, but just outside it).

Cross Bike is Coming!
I ordered a 2009 Redline Conquest Pro last week. It should be here and built by sometime next week. I can't wait!

Recovered

I am back! I had to work hard to restrain myself over the past couple of weeks and not race. I skipped a Wednesday night, Friday night, and the Redmond Derby Days criterium in order to let my head and skin recover. I'm not completely healed, mind you, with still a bit of jaw discomfort, and my teeth are slowly coming back to normal, plus some of my road rash was pretty deep. But, I managed two hard training rides on the weekend without any symptoms that I was overdoing it, so I showed up for Master's racing on Wednesday, and tonight I will race with the cat 3's, two weeks after the crash.

Speaking of those training rides, they were real kickers. The Climb4Cancer Time Trial up Zoo Hill is in a couple of weeks (register if you haven't yet - it's only 2 miles!), and I want to trounce my time last year, 14:17. So, I rode to the base of Zoo Hill (starts near the Cougar Mountain Zoo) and did three repeats of Zoo Hill -> Lakemont Blvd -> Newport -> Zoo Hill. My first time up was 14:20, with two full water bottles, etc, and I was keeping the heart rate at 160 or less, so that bodes well for the TT. The next two repeats were 15:15 and 15:49. I then finished the ride with a loop around Lake Sammamish. That was last Saturday. On Sunday, since I was missing the Derby Days crit, I did a two hour sprint ride. I did a warm up, and then two sets of 10x15 second sprints. Each sprint exceeded 32 mph, which I owe to the track racing - the first set was even into a headwind! I really felt strong the whole weekend.

I took is off on Monday, and then did an easy 20 miles on Tuesday, with two short sprints. Wednesday night was the big return to the track. I got in a break in the 10 lap scratch race with a woman who has joined the Master's field a couple of times this season. We worked really well together, and only just got passed by about 6 riders in the final straight. I really thought we were going to stick it out to the end. But, it was a great effort.

Then, in the chariot race (one lap from a held start, in heats of 4-6 riders), which I have always thought was not my event (see an earlier post), I was sprinting with the top two guys in my heat, just not able to come around them. I didn't feel so bad, since one of the guys was Woody Cox, a former Master's World Champion, who excels at this kind of thing (plus each of his thighs equals both of mine together), and was happy I was right along side him in the sprint! Getting third put me in the consolation heat, where I still did well (for me) and narrowly missed another 3rd place (which would have been 9th overall in the chariot races).

my teammate Mark took this shot before the points race
- can you tell I am happy to be racing again?

The last race was a 6x5 points race, and shortly after the first sprint (where I got 3 points) I found myself in a break of three, chasing the aforementioned Woody and Mike Burdo who were a break further up the track. My break of three included my companion from the scratch race, plus another strong rider from the Benaroya Research team - I think they are all cat 2 or better riders on the road. We worked really well and stayed away from the pack for the rest of the race. The Benaroya guy (Pat Gray) was ripping our legs off every time he was at the front of the break, and had no trouble out-sprinting me for points on each sprint lap, but I was really enjoying myself being "on the rivet" for the remaining ~23 laps. Eventually Woody dropped back, and joined our break. Of course, he outsprinted me for the finish, but still, it was a great effort and shows my sprinting legs are still improving.

Tonight I am going to try new gearing. Up until now I have been using a 50x15 (50 teeth on the front chainring, and 15 on the rear cog), which amounts to 90 gear inches. I'm going to step it up to 49x14 for tonight and see how it goes. That pushes it to around 95 gear inches. For the layperson, this means it will be harder to pedal at a given speed, but assuming I am strong enough, it will mean I can ultimately hit a higher top speed before my legs are spinning out of control.

Overall, our team is doing super well - we've got three more additions to the regular track racers, including two of our top road riders (Travis and Jason), which means all of our road cat 2's are racing the track. I think we are going to be able to top the team standings by the end of the season!

Ouch. Friday Night Track Racing (7/4/2008)

I was doing well! Really well. Bree and Emy got to cheer for me, and got some of the nearby crowd cheering for me too. Emy had fun in the Kiddie Kilo:

I'm ready Bilko! I'm ready!

And I had fun in the cat 3's too. I got 7th in the 10-lap scratch race, and then in the 2-lap heat I actually managed a 2nd place, which meant I would get to compete in the 5th-8th place final for the 2-lap races. Except for some surprising bumping (mostly on my part, trying to move around the two guys in front of me to sprint) with Brian who started sprinting behind me and happened to be even with me as we were both trying to pass - I was happy with my result. I managed 2nd in the final, which meant 6th place in the 2-lap race.

Then, in the 5x5 points race, I sat in for the first sprint, and attacked two laps after the first sprint, and stayed away solo for 2.5 laps to get the 5 points for 1st in that sprint. I saved enough energy to make sure I could just rejoin the group when they caught me (not long after the line). We were then rolling around, racing, and I sat out another sprint, biding my time, when my teammate Mark attacked! I was just thinking I should move near the front to block when I felt movement at my right side, and saw the guy in front of me start to crash. A split second later, I too went head over heels, and all was dark while I heard the officials fire the gun three times and yell that the race was neutralized.

The next thing I recall was Bree walking me to my chair in the infield, despite my protests that I was "fine!" And then I have about 15 minutes missing from my life forever. Apparently people were asking me how I was doing, but I said, "I don't know what you are talking about!" Luckily, I had the onsite medic checking me out, and Bree defending my mental state to the well-wishers ("He's got a concussion.") When I came to, it was dark outside, and the 1,2's were doing their final race. The medic was checking my pupils, and shortly thereafter some paramedics arrived and asked more questions. They were satisfied that I was mentally back to my self, and Emy challenged me to recall all the names of her classmates (luckily I was interrupted by someone else after I started struggling with names following Ruby and Hannah). Bree got us all loaded up, and we drove home.

I didn't sleep too well that night, partly because I think my brain didn't want me to go sub/un-conscious. I'm doing a lot better, but here's some gory photos for your pleasure (or, don't look, if it's not your pleasure):

There is a lot of road rash under there

My face bore the brunt of the impact,
after my helmet and sunglasses absorbed the worst of it

both elbows are pretty awful

the loss of skin between the knuckles actually hurts the worst

my chin has a strange pattern, even after two days

face all cleaned up after a day has passed - it doesn't look that bad!

as of today, a black eye is brewing

There's more, but most of it is upper body. I've got a good chunk of skin missing from my right hip, but this pic isn't work safe.

I'm taking a day or two off work to try and heal up - I'm not nice to look at, and I hurt all over.

But don't worry - I should be ready to race again by this coming Friday night! I just need some new handlebar tape, and a new helmet.