New wheels, bike.

Soon, I will be making a pretty sweet addition to the stable. Well, two additions.

First, my new race wheels will be coming on Tuesday, if Brown Santa/UPS keep their word. Next, and slightly more awesome, is the upcoming purchase of a Gary Fisher Paragon...which is, gasp, a mountain bike.

The good people at my LBS, Prairie Path Cycles, are going to give me a nice discount on the Paragon, simply because I'm a member of the club. Now, some people will say "Well yeah, of course they are, dumbass" to this. However, as many of you (all 4 of you) know, ABD is, as far as I know, almost entirely composed of road-riding, dirt-fearing types who do road races, crits, TTs, and God help them, triathlons.

So what does this mean? In my estimation, ABD should have little to no interest in my pursuit of off-road awesomeness. And through some associative property, they shouldn't really give a damn about giving me a discount on an MTB. As I'm not Sven Nys, Gilberto Simoni or some other big name taking up MTBing, they won't rake in any more money or gain much more sponsorship visibility by having me racing in the whatever-class MTB race in Cheeseville, WI this summer. Quite literally, I'll be substituting helping my teammates in some races to help myself. Not saying I'm an intergral part (not even a PDT member) of their successes, but a body to help work at the front is never a bad thing, and one less is never good.

Because of this, I'd like to say thanks to the good people at PPC for their support of me, the ABD club, and cycling in general. You guys rock.

Coming soon: a debacle in the glueing of tubular tires to carbon rims.

Race Report: Burnham Racing Super Crit

Pic 1: Sitting in, being lazy.
Pic 2: going too early, blowing up, kind of leading out a teammate, and still rolling through in third for the prime
Pic 3: not animating the race in the least
Pic 4: Refer to Nos. 1 and 3.

First race of the year. Didn't expect much, to be honest. Just wanted to roll out from the starting line and see how I felt when the pace got hot and heavy.

Turns out, I'm in better shape than I thought. I woke up this morning at 141lbs, which, to my knowledge, is the least I've weighed since sophomore year at U of I. And going by appearances, I still have plenty that I could lose.

So, while I'm in wicked 20min shape, and doing well in the weight class arena, I didn't know beforehand how the ol' legs were going to react to a couple dozen surges over the course of 75min of lovely crit racing.

Turns out, not too badly. Even found a pair and went for two (2) primes, and placed in the top 3 each time. Unfortunately, most primes don't pay three deep. However, this still gives me hope, in that I was actually in position to sprint for a non-break prime, and that I had legs to stand up and give it a go. And the best part is that while I got beaten, it wasn't by a huge margin, and I have sprinted a grand total of once, yes, once this year before this race. That occurring on a group ride with the IU boys, and going from 20 to 30mph in the little ring, for about 50m. So there is most definitely room for improvement, with raw power production, technique, and positioning on the bike.

The race ended with mixed feelings. I was forced off the road by someone who made the poor choice to stop sprinting, and then drift into me. Which is obviously something I'd like to avoid in race situations. The positive side to this is that I was actually in something resembling a decent position coming out of the last corner, and was ready to put up a decent sprint, riding into the draft and coming around guys who had gone too early on the quarter mile finishing drag.

Didn't work out this time, but there's always next race. Pictures coming soon.

F**k me and call me Sally. No more 'Toona.

Well, sort of.

The Tour de 'Toona is going to be a single day this year. And not only that, but a crit. Lame.

While crits have grown on me in recent (well, I've only been racing for two) years...err...times, my goal for the season was to wind it up at some sort of mountainous stage race this summer. Crush souls, go fast in an uphill manner, that sort of thing.

So, I'm looking to find some sort of replacement. Anyone knows of any sweet, sweet road races that feature one or several 5+ mile climbs, in the KY/PA/TN/NC/VA/WV region of the nation, let me know. I'm going to get pummeled this season, and I think it's only right that I get a chance to dish it right back, just once, to some locals out East.

Synopsis: find me a race with wicked mean climbs, out East.

Riding...Outside!

So, readers, a good thing has happened to me recently.

No, I'm not engaged.

No, I didn't win the lottery.

Nothing as nearly as cool as those two possibilities, but nice none the less.

You see, being a bit of a Nancy-boy when it comes to riding outside, I've been slacking in terms of my preparation for the upcoming season. I have pretty poor circulation in my feet, and despite various efforts to augment the situation through toe warmers, booties, chemical hand warmers and various combinations of the three, I've had trouble saving my feet from the discomfort of low blood flow and cold induced numbness. So, as of Saturday, I pretty much abandoned the idea of actually feeling good from the ankles down. Feet be damned, we'll worry about the consequences after the ride.

So, the last 5 rides I've been on have all been outside. That doubles my yearly total up to this point. Many people will find this pathetic, and I can't say I disagree with them. However, it seems that not all is lost. I've managed to trim a kilo of muscle and lard off by pudgy little body over the winter, and am coming into racing season within a pound of my lowest racing weight from all of last year. And I think I can stand to lose another 2, maybe 3kg this year. Crazy.

The biggest surprise, however, is my sustained wattage output. The few people that actually read this know that I have a decent w/kg ratio, and like most, I'm aiming to improve that every season. My first non-neighborhood test effort went down yesterday, into a headwind, north and west of town. "Spinning" 100rpm in the little ring, who knows what cog. Not only a personal best for this time of year, but an overall PR. And, even better, in my eyes, is my ability to ride tempo at a level that would have drained the batteries quickly last year.

In the end, it seems that all of those hours spent staring at a computer screen, churning away on the rollers, were not wasted. I've come to accept the indoor watts for what they are, and not worry too much about them. My goals for the season, after several good rides in the last 5 days, at least in terms of the numbers game, have been revised, and my racing focus might shift as my form builds...

...A few less 100km crits, a bit more climbing...

That Time of Year

This will be short and sweet:

It's now March. We've been given an early time change by the powers that be. There is enough light outside now to ride, safely, in a group until 7pm.

So, I need to ask the obvious question. Why the hell isn't it warm enough for me to ride my bike outside yet? We've had one (1) day over 40 degrees so far this entire year, during which 68 days have already expired. And THAT day, it rained on and off, the roads were covered in sand, and I pretty much destroyed a brand new pair of team shorts.

The weather needs to change, ASAP. 70 and sunny, please. With a side order of 5mph or less winds, thank you.