WeeBIKE October Newsletter

2010 Portsmouth Criterium (Results Added)

I will refrain from boring you with the details of how I finished the Pro-1-2 Portsmouth Criterium on my first try, which i am pretty happy about. The only distinguishing moment of the race (other than the awesomeness of the speed we were doing the entire time) came on the last lap, when a rider decided to sit up going into the first corner, effectively splitting the top 25 from the bottom 30. Ugh.- this pissed more than few people off. What impeccable timing, such a coincidence! At any rate, it was a day of fantastic weather, cheering crowds, fast racing and good times with people who I care about. Great to see so many friends in Portsmouth enjoying themselves. I will be back next year!

This space will be populated with a riveting race report in a few days. I'm a little nervous about tomorrow's competition. The past few days have been short easy rides. Wednesday was a 2-1/2 hour ride to Point Judith- a hard one. Tuesday was a pleasure ride with my son on the bike path. Monday no riding at all.. Sunday beaucoup miles.. But back to the last few days.. I'm concerned a bit. After two days of rest, Wednesday's ride felt pretty decent. Thursday's ride was just an easy spin, but legs felt like I was thrusting a knife into my leg with every pedal stroke. Friday I did another easy one hour ride and again, legs felt highly fatigued. Today after we arrived at our hotel in Dover, I set out for an hour's spin to check and see how the legs felt. After warming up I hit some short choppy rollers and sprinted over them- finally the legs didn't feel like beef jerky. I was feeling some of the correct sensations, such as a rapid recovery after a brief Zone 5 effort. Still didn't feel like I could rip anyone's legs off, but the speed was there. Swimming in the hotel pool with my son a few hours ago, it occurred to me that we are ruled by our "sensations". I think our strength, speed and endurance are more stable than we think.. What changes radically depending upon fatigue, diet and rest, are the sensations we feel while on the nose of the saddle turning 6 watts per kg, single file on the back stretch of a Pro criterium during a $100 prime lap. That's where the dreaded "moment" we've been training for occurs. We either triumph over the bad sensations or they conquer us and hand us our hats for the dreaded early exit and ride of shame back to the car. Sometimes the sensations are good though, and sometimes it's when we least expect it. I've completed more Pro-Am criteriums this year than any before, so I've been to this rodeo before. I finished a very fast Fall River and Chris Thater, so tomorrow should pose no big problem. Pittsfield was an aberration- I had trained and raced for a combined 100+ miles the day before. Anyway, wish us luck tomorrow (7 year old Reis is pre-registered in the 10-12 race). It will please me immensely to finish top 20. I know it's within my power, but the sensations need to be good for the mind to believe it. Thanks for reading.
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I sold my soul to be here.. how 'bout you?

Okay that's a bit dramatic, but it's also a pretty damn good song to add to your winter playlist for those indoor workouts coming up in a few months.. For what it's worth, I had a good season of racing. More on that later. What is abundantly clear to me though, is that there was little more I can do, short of going to Arizona in February like a lot of the hot shots around here, to improve my 2010 results. I feel like I gave it everything I had to give.. even with the four week break in late May and June. (I had employment issues, buying a 2nd house issues, moving etc.. plate was too damn full to even think about riding) As a couple of racing associates correctly noted, being forced to take the time off was going to help me to reach a higher peak.
I'm glad because there are still a few key events coming up such as Portsmouth Criterium, Mayor's Cup and Jamestown Classic. I am planning to do whatever it takes to keep myself lean and mean for the above named races. That means riding every day, taking good care of myself, and watching my diet.
Here's some recent data: today's almost-epic 85 miler and a Summary of the past year's mileage, training time and peak watts. My watts have never been impressive to me, but now that I'm down to 155-156 range, they don't seem so bad.. Anyway, here you go. If I've done anything correctly this season, it's the past 10 weeks of volume, esp. July and August. Most of today's ride was with the big boys of ArcEnCiel Racing.