Cougar Mt Madness

Tonight’s commute home had a little added flavor! Char agreed to meet up at the Factoria Sbux for a little evening hill climbing. Char is new to the team so he was wearing his old teams kit, I think this was primary contributor to his cramping. After Montreux Char had to call it a night, I was on my own to finish off Zoo Hill and Lakemont. On the upper section of Cougar near the towers I had mountaineering memories flooding back. Every breath lit up by my headlamp, grinding uphill in silence, vision restricted to what my light illuminates.

Hopefully as the weather gets worse more (any) teammates come over and join the Thursday night PARTY!

Char cramping up on Montreux

My front wheel – a CX love story…

While this will be a brief SCX #2 race report I’d be remiss to not kick it off without a call out to my front wheel/tire. Just like dating hot women there are pros and cons to riding tubulars. In the first couple months of the road season I flatted 6 times racing on tubulars that has to be a record, and a serious con! I hung in there though, sleek, lightweight, ride like a dream, all pros! For Cross season I picked up a pair of older Zipp 404 tubulars, the promise of lightweight, no pinch flats, and low tire pressure turned me on. Let’s quickly flash back to Labor day. Half way into my fist warmup lap I started a sharp left hand turn that I didn’t finish. Halfway through I was rudely introduced to the ground, WTF I thought? Ah, rolled my front tire off the rim, sweet. After racing back to my car and jacking up the air pressure I started the race, I made it 1.5 laps before I again kissed the grass, rolled tubie – con! Flash forward to MFG#3 in North Bend. My tire and wheel have a new layer of glue holding them together. I made it through my warm up A-OK, I even made it .5 laps in the race before now for a third time in two races I was on the ground, I knew exactly why this time. I finished off that race (Cat4 35+) and the following Cat4 race on a pit clincher. The clincher got me to the finish line (pro) but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet on my tubulars. The amount of glue I used to secure my front tire this week left no doubt in my mind that it would hold. I have nothing funny to say, I really did use damn near a tube of glue.
SCX # 2 Steilacoom:

Cat4 35+

Chris and I were the only 9:15am Apex racers this week.  Chris raced the open Cat4 and I did the Cat4 35+. Chris is super fit but new to CX racing this year, I am less fit and also a newbie this year. This course was much more interesting then Mountain Meadows the week before. There were 2 short climbs that separated out fitness levels quickly. The top 24 riders from the previous SCX race were “called up” to the front. This is a big advantage in a Cross race because it can often be challenging to pass on the course. Rows were 8 across and several riders were absent, I was able to get a good spot in the 3rd row. I had an OK start probably hitting the turn onto the grass in 25th place or so.

Before the top of the first climb I had already started catching some of the slower Cat4′s, from here on it was hard to tell the “old guys” from the “kids”. I guess it didn’t really matter though, I tried to pass everyone in sight. As I would have guessed on the uphill sections I passed riders easily, more of a surprise however was the fact that I didn’t lose much ground on the technical sections and downhills. I felt much more confident then even the week before. On the 2nd climb of the second lap I was pinned behind a pack of riders 3 across, I managed to hop up onto the field above the “road” and pick off 4-5 riders. As I came by the Start/Finish line I heard the bell ringing, one lap to go. Damn, we were told 4-5 laps, longer the better for me. I went deep up the first hill catching a couple more guys in my field, on the 2nd climb things got spicy. I had 2 Motofish riders in my sights, I knew one of them had been finishing well in previous races and if I didn’t get him on the climb I wouldn’t get him at all. I channeled my inner GOAT and dropped the hammer, it hurt but I wanted these guys. As I approached I yelled “on your left” so naturally dude goes left to cut me off. Without missing a beat I went right, he didn’t like this and leaned into me pretty good, hmm, OK dude whatever. Once wasn’t enough for this fella though, he comes back into me again? I had already nosed ahead of him and he hooked his bars somewhere on my bike and down he went. This pumped me up even more and I made sure I went past his buddy hard as we crested the climb. There is a fair amount of contact in cyclocross but this guy was not playing fair. Anyway, I finished off the lap and the race without further incident.

My goal coming into the race was top 10, I finished 8th. For my second CX race I am really pleased with the result. I should get a call up next week, this will help with early positioning.

My front tire stayed on the whole race! Major pro! I ran 35psi and had very little slippage. I was SO excited that I left my damn wheel at the race! It was on the side of my car when I was getting changed, totally forgot about it until I got home to clean it off. Love story over? Nah, this is a happy PG rated report. I quickly called Cemanski who was racing later in the day. After some work on his part my wheel was found slumming it in some other teams pit. She will be coming home to me Tuesday night.

MFG #3 - SCCA/Starbucks GP - North Bend 10/2/2011

Cyclocross!

I am a million posts behind but I'm going to try to keep up on Cross updates.

My total CX experience consists of racing Lake Sammamish in 2010 and 1 lap of the Labor day season opener this year. I only made it 1.5 laps due to rolling my front tubular tire off the wheel. My fitness is pretty solid right now but I have zero off road skills, game on!

The plan was to race Cat4 35+ @ 9:30am and the open Cat4 @ 10:20am, back to back baby! I drove out to North Bend and arrived in plenty of time to register and take a couple warmup laps before the first race. I have been adding more running into my workouts lately, this and a hard-ish team ride the day before left my legs feeling just OK. At the start I was nervous but ready to go. I was starting from the 3rd row and had some work to do to improve my position. I started off OK, probably 30th back or so in a field of 90 going into the first turn. After a short uphill section on gravel there's a sharp right hander, as I hit the apex of the corner I found myself on the ground, dammit! Rolled my front tire off again.  I picked myself up and hurried back to find the neutral wheel tent. Thanks FSA for being out there supporting these races! The rest of the race was uneventful, I picked people off and built a little confidence on the course.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1840326

I had just a few minutes between races to race back to my car, adjust my brakes, swap my race numbers, get in a gel and water, and finally shoot back over to the start. I arrived at the start line 2 minutes before we started. My start wasn't fantastic, I got pushed out to the right down the opening stretch and again was 40 or so riders back entering the first turn. Over the next couple laps as riders tired I made pass after pass on the straightaways. Once I moved up to about 20th it was apparent that the guys in  front of me were generally far superior technically. Over the last couple laps I passed a few riders but for the most part I would pull riders in on the flats and get dropped in the turns and technical sections. I was at the tail of a chase group of 6-7 riders starting the last lap. Try as I might I just didn't have the legs to get past this group. I took a small amount of pride in piping a guy at the finish but was disappointed I couldn't have picked off a few more riders. Overall I finished 16th out of a field of 90. Hard to get real excited about 16th but for my 2nd CX race ever and 1st this year I'll take it!

http://app.strava.com/rides/1840328

2011 Elkhorn Classic

2011 Elkhorn Classic

When I first read about Elkhorn over the Winter I knew right away that this was a race I really wanted to do. Big miles with lots of climbing in an amazing location. I was still really excited last week leading into the race but my expectations for a good result were extremely low after getting dropped on the final day of the Capital stage race. My plan was to have a great time, hammer the TT, survive the Crit, and help Travis as much as possible. Travis and I along with Jason Cemanski left Seattle around 4:00PM Thursday and arrived in Baker City at 10:30PM after stopping for a great steak dinner in Pendleton, OR. Cemanski had three other teammates racing that were staying in the same motel (Knights Inn), we agreed to meet up for breakfast and get in a spin before getting ready for our 2:00PM race start. After breakfast Friday we took the TT bikes out to check out the TT course. We ended up taking the wrong route but got in a good “easy” spin.

Stage 1: The Oregon Trail Road Race

71.6 miles with 3,055’ of elevation gain. The weather was beautiful, warm enough to race w/o any thermal gear but not too hot. The fields were down 40 percent this year so organizers mixed the cat 4/5 with the masters 4/5 but would score us separately. One of Cemanski’s teammates Bill was racing Masters 4/5 and we all agreed ahead of time to race together as much as possible.

The first couple miles were neutral as we rode out of town, it was pretty cool starting in town vs. the middle of nowhere. Travis was off the front a couple times early but never got too far away. The first Cat5 climb came at mile 23, I started near the front and faded back to the middle/rear of the peloton, I wanted to conserve as much energy as possible. Shortly after the climb the calls came out for a pee break, I didn’t really need to go but I figured I should since everyone else was. By the time I finished up most of the group was riding again and several of us had to put in a solid 2 minute effort to catch back on. Getting dropped on a pee break would seriously suck! The next 20 miles cruised past w/o incident, then we hit the Cat3 climb and things blew up. The climb was 2.9 miles and gained almost 800’, I tried not to panic when a few riders started pulling away. After the first 5 minutes I started to get into a groove and began pulling riders back. I slowly moved past Travis and Bill, I was now pulling a few riders along behind me. Cemanski was doing the same a few meters in front of me, I put in a big effort and soon we were a group of 10. Our grupetto was roughly 30 seconds behind the leading group of 8-10 at the top of the climb. We closed in a bit on the descent and quickly reeled the leaders back in within a few miles. After a hard chase I was elated to hear Travis and Bill had rejoined the group. Over the next couple climbs we dropped a few riders but the 4 of us were still together. The final rollers that led into the final climb were brutal for me, they never seemed to end. I was really digging deep to hang on, I didn’t want to get gapped off after all the work I had already put in. Somewhere on the final climb a Master came across the road at a wild angle and slammed into Travis’s front wheel. Travis kept his bike upright but his bars were knocked sideways and he had a damaged front spoke. Travis was able to finish the stage but this cost him over 3 minutes on the lead group. A young Second Ascent kid soloed off on the final climb, our chase group was 1:05 down to him at the top of the final rise. Over the final 3 miles we cut his lead to 30 seconds, but there was no coordinated effort to chase him down. Our group was now 15, Cemanski and I were both scared to mix it up in a sprint with several of the remaining guys, it was surprising how many poor bike handlers there were. With 1K to go Cemanski agreed to try to lead me out, at 200M he swung left across the yellow line, we had a clear shot to the finish. I would love to see video of the sprint, before we hit the line both of us cramped up and were yelping, I went around Cemanski too early and didn’t (couldn’t) pull past him before the line. We finished 1-2 in the sprint though, 2-3 for the stage. 

GPS Data 

Cool Video of stage 1

Results

Stage 2: The Pleasant Valley Time Trial

11.3 miles with 260’ of elevation gain. It was a cool overcast morning, perfect for hammering a TT! 

The TT was an out and back with an addition mile added past the start line so we finished in town. The first 5 miles were slightly uphill and into the wind, I wanted to be careful not to blow up on the way out. Travis and Cemanski both out TT me so I really wanted to take 3^rd and not let Cemanski who was starting right behind me pass me on the course. Mission accomplished! Cemanski almost got me but I held him off. Travis won the TT in 25:30, Cemanski was 2^nd with 25:36, I took 3^rd with 26:00, 4^th place was a further 41 seconds behind me @ 26:41. Podium sweep = sweet. Cemanski took over as race leader, I was 2^nd 24 seconds back.

GPS Data  (I didn't stop it till .3 miles past the finish)

Results

Stage 3: The Gold Rush Criterium

40 minutes on a 6 corner flat course.

This was really the race that wasn’t. by the end of the TT in the morning the rain had started and we figured the crit would be canceled, our start time was 2:30PM. Around 2:00PM we jumped on the course to check it out and get a warm up in. Main St. has a lot of river rock in it so it was clear that if it was wet there would be problems. Well, it was wet. The rain started picking up at the start line while we were getting instructions from the race official. I got a good spot on the front line and was able to clip in quickly as we started, I was able to get a good position near the front. I gave up some ground early so I could keep an outside line thru the corners, it was already getting slick. In the first corner of the 3rd lap there was a pile up of 6 riders. As I passed by the kid who won the first stage was screaming that he lost his teeth, bad news! We were neutral (sort of) for the next couple laps before the crit was officially cancelled. Goal achieved, I survived the crit.

 

After dinner Travis and I along with the Apex guys drove out to Dooley mountain to check out the summit finish of Sunday’s stage. 8 miles of climbing to finish a 101 mile stage, ouch. I took some solace in the fact that the pitch wasn't that bad, 4.3% on average with the steepest sections near the start and at 4.5 miles. We headed back to town and had a fantastic dinner at Barley Brown's Brew Pub. The rain had stopped and we were treated to watching the Men's Cat3 and 1/2 races. 

Stage 4: Dooley Mountain Road Race

100.5 miles with 6,635' of climbing.Six rated climbs, 2 Cat5's, 3 Cat3's, and a Cat1. It was a bit chilly warming up before the race, I started with arm warmers but no other thermal gear.

Our neutral rollout was a couple miles, as soon as it ended Travis took off. This is becoming Travis's MO to open his legs up early. A few guys freaked out and started to chase but Travis stayed away for several miles before sitting up. Cemanski and I were both concerned about the guys 3rd and 4th in the GC, they could climb well. One guy (#411) had talked a little trash at the crit the night before, he wasn't thrilled that he was out sprinted in the 1st RR and beat by all three of us in the TT. The other guy Paul was a total wildcard, this was his first bike race! We all came to really like him and were super impressed by his climbing. I was really just hoping to make it to the final climb with the peloton and have a crack at defending my 2nd GC position. I had 5 rated climbs to contend with 1st though!

About 14 miles in I was at the front with a team Oregon rider, we each took a little pull and then slid off. At least I tried to get off the front, I looked down and I was doing 16mph (into a modest wind) and the two of us had gapped the field a bit. Right away I thought, hey, if I can get a head start on the first short Cat5 I might as well take it. We worked together at an 80% effort for the next 3 miles and hit the climb with a small gap on the field. Travis and Jason in an attempt to make 411 work chased up to us and took 411 by surprise, this forced him to pull the field up to us. Half way up the climb 411 pulled up to me huffing and puffing hard, Travis's move clearly worked. 10 miles later we started the hardest of the cat3's, 3.2 miles, 4.4% grade. The pace was hard but none of the better climbers were trying to hurt the field. Despite this, at the top of the climb 15 minutes later the peloton was halved. The second Cat3 was a lot of work but the pace was slightly softer than the previous Cat3. Next up was a Cat5 that was fast but a non event. The Final Cat3 came up a couple miles after the previous Cat5. The pace was up and there was a lot of huffing and puffing in the field. Maybe a 3rd of the way up Travis took over pace making. It was perfect, fast but not so fast he dropped us. This kept 411 in check until near the end of the climb when he soloed off. Cemanski started to chase but I told him not to, 411 was not going to solo the next 30 miles on his own before the final climb.

As I mentioned before the 4/5's were racing with the Masters 4/5's. Before the second Cat3 a breakaway formed that contained 4 Masters and 1 Cat4. the Cat4 got spit out the back pretty early so there was no pressure on the 4/5's to chase. I was in favor of double pacelining to real the break back and help Bill out but there was no interest from the 4/5's outside our group. For the most part Bill and 2-3 other Masters drilled it for the next 30 miles, at times we were north of 30mph on the flats (we had a helping wind), it was work to just sit in. Travis had been protecting me all day and helped pull me along during this stretch.

Dooley Mountain:

92.5 miles in we hit the final climb. 411 went right to the front and was drilling it. I started to lose his wheel after a few minutes, Cemanski and Carsten from Second Ascent came around me. Carsten was only about 80 seconds down to me in the GC. I was able to dig deep and pull back up to 411's group. The road swung left, I was hurting to hold on, then I hear a bad sound and see Cemanski's chain hit the ground right in front of me. I couldn't believe his bad luck. Before the next switchback I was gapped, 411, Paul, and a Master were pulling away slowly, SHIT! Bill was on my wheel when I started feeling better, I unzipped the jersey to get the nice white trash look going and picked up the pace. I started reeling Carsten back in, this fueled my fire. I tried to attack Carsten when I went past but he had some fight in him and held on. For the next few miles it was just the two of us, he tried to pull a couple times but it was short lived, I did 90% of the pace making. Up the road I saw Paul pass 411 and the Master he was dragging along. I only had 41 seconds on 411 and 56 seconds on Paul. About this time Travis starts yelling encouragement to me from an SUV, WTF? I was pumped up but confused, turns out he felt so bad about Cemanski (#1 GC) sitting on the side of the road that he handed him his bike! Pretty fricking amazing, after helping drag our asses 92 miles with 5K of climbing he gives up his bike, wow. I dropped Carsten with a few miles to go and was flying solo. I have to say it's the closest to a Tour de France type experience I have had racing all year. I went deep the last few miles and finished as strong as I could. There is a festival with free beer and pizza at the top, very cool. not 15 seconds after I finished Cemanski comes flying in. He almost caught me after his earlier disaster. I finished 3rd on the stage but dropped from 2nd to 4th GC. I had a great climb up Dooley, 13.0mph average was faster then all the previous shorter climbs that day. Next year my power will be up and my weight will be down!

GPS Data

Results

GC results

Elkhorn is an amazing race! I would encourage everyone to consider it for next year. This was my 6th stage race of the season and by far my favorite.

Between Cemanski, Travis and I we picked up 6 of 9 possible podium spots (no podium for the crit) including a sweep of the TT, not too shabby.

If you made it this far you must be a hard core cycling nerd, or retarded, or both.

Final note: One of my goals was to get some upgrade points this weekend. I succeeded by picking up 9 ORBA points, bad news is USA Cycling won't accept them, total BS!

Nice!

Weekly Riding Stats

Ravensdale Road Race 2011

Today was my 20th bicycle race since March 6th and sadly this is my 1st blog entry. Come to think of it I'm behind at least 2 ironman races, 2 70.3 IM races, and a bunch of other crap. I'll get caught up on that soon I'm sure :-)

Anyway, today's race!

Last week at Vance Creek we enjoyed dry sunny conditions, the same could not be said for today. The Cat4 race didn't start until 11:09, it was great to be able to sleep in a bit and "enjoy" slightly warmer weather then the morning starters. Today we were racing 5 laps at about 9 miles per lap. Pretty standard stuff, nothing really significant about today's course, one little hill and a couple small rollers but that's about it. At either the end of the first or second lap there was a crash in a corner, I was a couple wheels back and managed to swing wide to avoid it. I had to chase a bit to catch back on to the pack but it wasn't too serious. The rain and wet roads were awful, today was a day to stay on your toes. On the third lap I was about 4-5 rows from the front when I saw my teammate Travis off the front with 2 other riders, Jed and Jason. Jason has won nearly every race he's entered this year, Jed is very strong, and Travis is a beast. I knew if the pack didn't close them down soon that this was a breakaway that would stick, they had some serious horsepower. At the beginning of the 4th lap I moved up to my teammate Chad who was near the front. He was sitting behind 4/5 Byrne (another team) riders who were working at the front to bring the break back. I respect that they were trying but either they didn't have the legs or the heart to really do much. The race official gave us a 1 minute to the break time check around this time, I knew the worst Cycle U (my team) would finish today was 3rd, the break was going to stick. One final note on the break. Bikesale is a team that had 11 riders in the field and they made absolutely no effort to pull the breakaway back. I was truly embarrassed for them, not to even try was pathetic.

Back to me, it is my blog after all, even if I only update it once a year! Since I had Travis up the road I was able to just sit in the pack and take up space till the end. At the start of the final lap I moved back up near the front with Chad. Chad is fantastic at moving through the pack, I stayed stuck to his wheel the rest of the lap. Inside the last mile Chad was in the lead up the final hill, he was setting a strong pace and I was sucking his wheel, thanks Chad! With a few hundred meters to go riders started coming up on both sides. I was able to jump behind Paul from Recycled Cycles and actually catch my breath a little. Somewhere inside 200M a couple guys launched hard up the side, I was slow to react but I slid left and hammered it. I was able to get by Paul and a couple others but I ran out of road before I could run down the two guys who broke early. I rolled in 3rd behind these guys finishing 6th overall. All things considered I'm pretty happy with 6th. Last week at Vance Creek I finished 4 seconds off the winner but rolled in 26th and was very disappointed.



Recap:
6th place out of 72 starters + Travis took 2nd place = great day for Cycle U in the 4's.

GPS data:
http://app.strava.com/rides/529110

Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonconnell/sets/72157626546701639/

Lewis and Clark Ultra race report.

May 29th 2010
Garmin File
Photo's from the race

Drove down to Battle Ground Friday night, between traffic and an accident it was a four hour drive. The race started at 6:30am, we arrived at the start about 10 after 6:00 just in time to catch the pre race briefing. My official start time was 6:37am. I had 20 minutes to get dressed and get my bike ready. At the last minute I decided to put on a windstopper jacket, I’m glad I did it stayed on for the next 9 hours. Racers started 30 seconds apart beginning at 6:30, at 6:37 I was off.

The first 3 miles are flat and being aero was nice, I passed a couple people that started ahead of me. Right at 3 miles you run into an 18% grade hill, oh hello nasty hill, I’ll see you again another 5 times on the short course. There were a couple 600’ climbs in the next 27 miles before we dropped down into the Columbia Gorge at mile 30. The rain was falling heavily for much of the first few hours. It was nice catching occasional glimpses of the river, Beacon Rock, and the Bonneville dam. At roughly 50 miles we headed north through the town of Carson. The next 15 miles was a gradual climb gaining a little over a thousand feet. The roads were quiet for the most part now that I was out of the gorge. Anessa and Hunter had stopped for breakfast earlier so I was on my own for about an hour and a half. One of the relay teams swapped riders around the 60 mile point and the fresh rider bombed past me, this was a low point. The gradual uphill that never seemed to end was weighing on me, getting rained on and working reasonably hard but only making 16 miles per hour.
In typical “Jason style” I briefly read the route description and knew there was a “big climb” around mile 70 but that was about it. Little did I know I was climbing a damn mountain pass, Old man pass to be exact. My biggest worry doing this race was cramps, prior to 2008 they had never been a problem but the last couple years they had struck at various running races. I am by no means a climber so I didn’t have to swallow much pride to take it easy on the climb. My 39/28 gearing worked well but I was still out of the saddle a fair bit. Time Station #2 was on top of the pass at over 3,100’. It was great to see Anessa and Hunter at the summit, I had a few orange slices at the time station and started the descent. The ride down Old Man pass was wet, wild, windy, and dangerous due to limited visibility at high speeds (49+mph).
(Picking this report back up on 10/2/10, I’m a total slacker)
The final check in station was in Cougar and went by w/o incident. At this point I had not seen another rider for probably an hour. I made my only big mistake around mile 120 in the town of Yacolt, I missed a right hand turn and ended up doing a 5 mile detour (check out the Garmin file). Once back on track I was feeling great and finished the 140 mile big loop strong. When I rolled into the high school check point the volunteers were chatting away and seemed a little surprised I was checking in. I used the rest room and chatted with Hunter and Anessa for a bit before starting the short loop(s). I had no idea where I was in relation to the other riders but I was enjoying be out there competing.

After 4 short loops I was ready to call it a day, there was less than 30 minutes left and I knew I couldn’t complete another full 10 mile lap. I was urged on by a volunteer to try to squeeze in a few last miles, and figured that was probably the thing to do. Anessa and Hunter were great when I asked them to follow me out on the course in about 20 minutes. I made it to mile 6 in 11:59 so I pulled over and waited for Anessa to pick me up. I reported my 6 miles back at the high school and then headed back to the hotel. Once the results were posted later I was shocked that I took 2nd place despite the extra 5 miles. I felt even better when I found out the guy who beat me is a pretty hardcore CAT3 racer who was intent on winning this race. His race report is here.
Not bad for a fat guy who bought his first road bike 10 months before this race.
Notes:
Food:
Breakfast consisted of a Starbucks sausage and egg breakfast sandwich, a chocolate old fashion doughnut, a small Super Food, and a Starbucks energy drink.
On the course I consumed:
• 3 King size and 1 regular snickers bar
• 8oz of Hammer gel
• 2 32oz red Powerade’s + 8 scoops of Carbo Pro
• 1 Almond Joy
• 2 Banana’s and ½ an Orange

What I will do different next year:
• No TT bike, road bike with semi aero wheels and clip-on bars.
• Don’t get lost!