SWBKRUN MENTOR GROUP - OPEN (Page 21)

Quick Tour of America's Dairyland Update.  We raced on a flat rectangular Criterium Course yesterday.  Racing was tough because a lot of "weekend warriors" came back to racing yesterday.  These are the guys that race 2 or 3 days on each weekend but skip the middle of the week, which happened to be 3 of the hardest days this year.  These fresh legs back in the Peloton really pushed up the speeds (27+ yesterday) and the attacks during the race.  I rode smart and although I seem to have lost some of my sprinting legs due to fatigue, finished 20th out of about 100 starters.  

I made up a little ground on one guy in front of me, but will need some help to get back on the podium.  I am 15 points off the podium in a solid 4th.  The one unlucky day out of the points on Wed has really come back to hurt me in this chase.  Those 13- 17 points that I would have gotten for a top 10-15 finish in that race would have me right in the hunt.  Don't want to wish ill luck on any competitor, but we still have 2 days of racing left and I plan on riding and finishing hard.  

If anybody has seen my sprint, I would like it back.  With another Crit today, I could use it ........    

Morning All!

My race was not what I hoped it would be.  I was 12' slower than year ago and all due to the bike.  My swim and run times were within 1-2" of year ago which is a little eerie.  As has been the case most of the Spring and Summer, the skies opened up, the wind started howling and sheets of rain started coming down before the Olympic waves even started to go off.  I had to wait for nearly an hour in my wetsuit standing on the beach freezing in 60F temps.  Even though my time is the same, the swim went a little better (no panic at the onset), but I took the bike much more cautiously.  It's a very hilly, technical course and I didn't use the descents to my advantage for the fear of falling.  The run is my strength and it went pretty well.  I could have given it a little more gas so I need to keep that in mind for next time.  Fourth in my new AG (50+ are tough fast old birds!) whereas I was first last year.  Such is life.  I need to shake it off and keep going.

 The big sad part is my JOULE is dead.  When I got to T1 the screen was steamed and the unit wouldn't work.  When I got home, I took it off the bike and it was full of H20.  Tried putting it in a bag of rice, but nothing!

Suzy,

Definitely shake it off and think about what you learned from the race.    Your competitors probably did not do a big day 4 or 5 days before racing (but you never know).    Which bike did you use?   

Minnow, Nice work and remember all this if for one goal in September!  Call Saris on the Joule, as you already know, they have the best customer service in the business.  Won't surprise me a bit if they don't just send you a new one.  If you don't get anywhere, let me know because one of the guys on my team works for CycleOps. 

Race update through Saturday night.  We raced the Downer Ave Crit in Milwaukee, which is a very famous bike race that has been going on for 20+ years on a triangle course in a very trendy/urban/granola area by the lake.  I raced smart and sprinted better and finished 20th in a field of about 120.  Gained a few more points on the guy in front of me and should be about 10 points off the podium going into today.  We race 20 blocks from my house today, and I am feeling pretty good, but with it being the last day it's time to be a little more aggressive today on roads that I know.   

(Downer ToAD 2013.jpg)

Sending positive vibes if it's not too late!

The Pizza Man used to be Paul and my favorite pizza place when we lived in MKE.  It closed though, right?

Suzy, way to power through.  Valid point - this is all training for Moo, right?  Stay Strong!

Dino - hope it went well!  Been loving the updates!

power on and off here - over 102 degrees - this stinks.  80+ miles, with 9500+ feet of climbing yesterday, 12 miles ran this morning.  Nap time!

Great work Dino, love the photo's, bit like following the TdF!

Just looked at your logs Suzy, that photo of you getting ready for the bike makes me cringe, I hate riding in the rain, we had rain at Noosa last year and riders were coming off all over the place including Macca. It makes you much slower. Good experience though.

Your training's going great Linda, really looking forward to Lake Tahoe, I think a few Australians have got that race in their sights as a destination race. I know you don't do indoor rides but I found that getting on the trainer on the hottest days this Summer helped. Some mornings I felt like I was going to melt outside! The other thing I did was cycle round the nicer bits of town in the evening after work, just doing laps of well lit low speed areas.

The old dark cave burnt down a few years ago.  This is the new location that they hope to have open in a couple of weeks.  Awesome food!  

Final update - I finished off the podium in 4th by 12 points in the overall.  Raced literally 20 blocks down the street from my house today.  Had decent legs but was a marked man by 2 of the guys in front of me.  So I had a choice to make, either ride in the pack all day and finish in 4th, or take a flyer to see if I could make something happen.  That is easier in concept than in practice after 9 straight days of racing, but take a flyer I did.  Broke from about 15 riders back with about 10 to go and got away.  Was able to hold off the charging Peloton for 4 full laps.  It was nice to hear the announcers spitting out my name while explaining to my hometown crowd what I was trying to accomplish.  I ended winning 3 primes (which are prize laps in bike racing) while off the front of $40 cash, a pair of $200 pair of cycling shoes, and a $20 gift card to a local restaurant.  

Got caught with 5+ to go and was able to hang in the front group for a little recovery and ended up 28th in the end.  I got some other riders attention today with that move and I learned a lot in the last 10 days.  Hope to have all the numbers crunched and have a race report of some sort posted later this week.  

Thanks for following along.  Now it becomes time for some Cyclocross training........ season starts in 9 weeks! 

(Tosa ToAD 2013.jpg)

Dino great job! I loved reading your updates you gave me real motivation last week.

Suzy congrats on finishing. It sounds like you had similar conditions as my first tri.

Dino, you are

ALL ABOUT AWESOME!!!!

For realz!! I've loved the updates all along. Congratulations!!!

Probably my only RR of the year.....

Once again thanks for all the MG Love.  As we all know when you are wallpapering your "Hurt locker," it is always good to know others are watching how you are dealing with the suffering! 

Who's watching the Tour? thoughts?

I'm finding it hard to get enthused.  hoping the time trial tonight changes that.

Me too!  I told my husband we needed to visit there one day!  Tonight isn't bad either.