Back in Ft. Davis and riding in El Paso

After skipping the "Hammerfest" last year to go to Utah's Tour of the Depot (and having to deal with snow!) we went back down to South West Texas for another edition of the 'highest' TXBRA race of the year - held at 5000-6800ft.

Friday evening spin with Bicycles Outback ;-)

Long-time promoter David Ham handed the race over to Holland Racing recently and Andrew changed the format up a bit, making it a 11mile TT up to the Observatory, a afternoon road race and another road race Sunday (that was the plan at least).

The P/1/2 race was a bit slim with only 19 guys, but still it hurt enough going up to McDonald Observatory in the TT. Pacing yourself was the key here, as it was just man/woman vs. time. I was lucky to have some guys in front of me to keep me motivated in ~40min of uphill-tt-mode. It was enough to win but just by 5seconds as Kiwi Ryan Wills (THSJ) rode a perfect TT, too and Kiwi Logan Hutchings (THSJ) took 3rd 1:30 back.

TrainingPeaks File here

This made for a fun road race in the afternoon since it was basically me vs. 4 THSJ boys but all I had to do was just to follow Wills and watch out who's going and who's not. Phil (SS) took off early with another THSJ guy and Troy Dunton so that worked perfect. Everyone just rode steady Tempo up the hill and it didn't really shake up much. We were maybe 10-15guys coming over the first pass. From there it was pretty negative racing since nobody would ride and the only time I had to jump was when Logs or Ryan went. Once we made the turn-around to go back towards Ft. Davis the air got a bit "sticky" and you could feel the smoke actually. Phil still had 3minutes or so but was no GC threat. A few other guys were dangling in between. There was one major climb, maybe 1.5-2K long and I went all-out up it and only Wills and Mario Arroyave were on my wheel. We started riding, but Wills wouldn't pull through. Just Mario and me. I didn't had to ride since I was leading but what should I do? Sit up and wait so the group re-groups and Wills has 2 teammates to work me over and let Phil get gain more and more time and take over GC? OR ride it with Mario and Wills and make sure we stay in sight of the leaders on the road but risk getting jumped by Wills and if he just gains 5seconds on me I shuffle down to 2nd GC. I decided for the latter, rode hard with Mario and Wills was sitting on for the majority. He tried jumping me probably 3-5times on the flats / rollers and Mario got dropped. I was able to respond every time, though. Once we got some guys who were in no-man's land he still refused to work (don't blame him, though) and that gave Logan and a few others time to catch us on the descent. THSJ attacked left and right - even on the downhills but I felt good and was able to respond. "Heartbreak Hill" - our finish line - was close so we all just sprinted for 3rd place and I just made sure I finish ahead of Wills, which I did. So all good for the day.

Unfortunately the wildfires in the area got worse as the weekend went on and the officials had to call the final stage on Sunday (73miles) which was a major bummer. The smoke was just too dangerous and all Emergency vehicles/sherriff's in the area where busy dealing with evacuating the Davis Mountain Resort etc. With the race canceled, there was no stage 3 and I ended up winning. Never had that happen before to walk away with a GC without racing the last day/stage. Kind of weird. I sure wish we could have raced and get in another 3 1/2hrs of hard work on the bike in before heading further West to New Mexico.

fires in the distance

Friday evening fire/smoke looking from Prude Ranch West

I drove to El Paso in the morning to get out of the already thin smoky air and ended up riding there for a few hours there. It's been a while (6years) that I rode a bike in ELP but it was actually not too bad at all. TransMountain Rd into the Franklin Mountain State Park is the place to go for some climbing and I did a loop from the East to the West over the 5280ft Pass back down towards I-10 (10-13min of descending at 30-40mph!) and the Valley and then back to town via HW85/Paisano Dr along the Rio Grande. That was actually quite interesting. You can throw a rock to Mexico from the sidewalk. There's some high fencing everywhere and every 1/2mile a border patrol car. People (on the other side) are hanging out at the river, listening to music (loud) and kids are playing in the Rio Grande river. There's a small road (Anapra Rd) which actually crosses the Rio Grande and you can ride your bike over and you're pretty much in Mexico. I stopped by the "Camino Real" - a historic site/point which settlers/travelers used back in the 16-19th century to cross from the Gulf of Mexico towards the Pacific or just to settle in the (now) New Mexico area since it was the lowest (elevation) of crossing the Rockies to go West.

riding up Transmountain Rd East to West

view from above, looking South

view for the 10minute descent heading down to I-10

Rio Grande looking from Tejas to Mexico

view to Mexico right from HW 85

Active Recovery Day - Installing Garage Door Openers

I found two long afternoons over the last weekend to do some project around the house I had on my to-do-list for a long time: installing a garage door opener. The house didn't come with one but to my luck the majority of the wiring was already in place behind the drywall and over the ceiling. So the only thing missing was the actual opener, some brackets to install it, and a few switches/buttons to hook it up. I felt like I did a 6hr ride after being on my feet for hours. It was worth it, though. The wife sure likes it. Just pushing buttons now!

Step 1: Chamberlain Belt Drive which was on sale at LOWE's

Step 2: garage pre-install, aluminum door with standard spring for manual opening/closing

Step 3: lots of assembling to do!

Step 4: Chamberlain uses a standard 1/8" track chain lock to hold the belt drive together. Who would have thought?

Step 5: install wall bracket for front end of belt guide

Step 6: support for door bracket

Step 7: door bracket installed

Step 8: You can have a helper...or just use the ladder + cooler to position the opener!

Step 9: ceiling mounts installed, angled/custom metal brackets added, opener hangs!

Step 10: just he wiring left now

Step 11: installing wall mount for opener /light switch

Step 12: safety sensors need wiring + installation on door tracks

Step 13: installed and connected, just need to hide the wires and for "cleaner" look

Step 14: angled L-shaped extension installed, this will give the "lift" to the door

Step 15: that was the easiest part...outside door keypad for remote entry

Step 16: The American Dream! push-to-open

Step 17: done!

 

yet another Walburg Classic & Pace Bend Road Race

Historically, the Walburg Classic and Pace Bend Road Race in the Austin area have been the season opener for road racing in Texas. Deep fields in the Pro/1 race with a good bunch of riders from Texas and out-of-state make for a challenging weekend in late February. Besides a smaller “training” race in Dallas the other weekend, it’s also the first time we get to race together as a team in the new season.

Walburg, a small rural town just 45 min North of Austin, has some unique characteristics when it comes to bike racing. The town supports the event year after year and the race is held on open farm land where the winds are usually 20+mph and make for a very hard race – in the P/1′s as well as the Cat 5 race. Riders getting dropped in the “gutter” or simply lose contact to the peloton because of the strong cross winds. None of the this year, though as the big American flag was not moving an inch when I rolled into town at 7am (why do we have to race so early?). It would make for a fast race I thought, and more tactical than usual as the wind usually made a natural selection of its own by the time the P/1 peloton completed 3 laps of a rolling 24 mile circuit.

The plan was simple: get into any break which looks promising and in case it really comes down to a field sprint – rather unlikely on this course – be ready to lead out Chad and Jason who can do well in that long false flat uphill drag to the finish line. Besides those two sprinters, we had Mat, Jay, and myself in the race. Before I got serious about moving up and seeing the front of the race I had a little “moment” where I looked down and saw that my rear wheel was not sitting 100% straight in the frame. Almost rubbing my tubular on the chainstay. I thought: “No, not now!”. I had Mat check it while he rode behind me and he just said, “yeah, it’s close.” Not wanting to risk any mechanical failure down the road, I decided to use a lull moment in the peloton (we were only going 17-18mph) to ride to the front of the field, just to abruptly stop on the right side in a driveway. I checked my rear wheel, aligned quickly straight, hopped back on my steed and carried on…chasing the field for 30-45 seconds but they weren’t going fast and Jay was sitting at the back of the field “watching” me, making sure someone is there to help in case I need it. That got my heart rate up a bit and I put in a nice effort. I was warmed-up now. Sure enough, a bit after the last right turn towards the S/F line (about 8 miles out) some of the “serious” attacks came and the 2nd one I jumped with ended up being “the move” of the day. Elbowz Racing, who seemed to have a dozen (ok, only 10) guys in the race were there with 2004 Olympian Heath Blackgrove and Joseph Schmalz, then Austin’s Dave Wenger, David Arteaga from Dallas, and myself. And we just started rotating. Everyone. Pushing down the pedals, not saying much, trying to stay away from a field which was slowly, slowly disappearing in our rear. We were going fast. No wind meant we were able to take longer pulls, maintaining 27 mph for most of the ride. It sure felt fast. I knew I had to pace myself if I wanted to stay where I was, since I know my form is not nowhere near to my top that time of the year. 80 mile road races are rough on me in mid-February. I started to be more conservative and just rolled through rather than really pull. Heath and Joseph were riding super strong, so did Wenger. I thought that my teammates might push a bit in the field because for a while we were hovering at just 40 seconds ahead of the peloton and I knew that we had a better chance of winning with our two sprinters Chad & Jason in the field. It was a tough call..you want to have 1 out of 5 or roll the dice and have the whole field sprint for it and hope your sprinters “take care” of it. Turns out we kept gaining and gaining on the field and – as I expected – Heath + Joseph took matters in their own hand and simply rode away from Dave Wenger, me & David. I couldn’t jump, that “snap” wasn’t there – yet. I rode the last 3 miles together with David all the way to the finish while Dave was able to sneak away and rolled in 3rd. I was next over the line for 4th place and the field came in just a minute later. Jason & Chad went a little bit early in the sprint for the lower places and probably were not as motivated sprinting for a 6th place rather than a win and finished in the main field. Overall, we came away with a hard-fought 4th place and I sure was tired after that one. From the years I’ve done Walburg (6 or 7 times) this was one of the harder ones – maybe not in the field, but being in the break for 50 miles sure was a “rough day at the office”. But it was enjoyable at the same time and our race time was the fastest I remember – 2hrs 46min for the 72 miles. Note: Youngster Jacob White ended up 6th after winning the field sprint in the Cat 2 race.

Walburg P/1 break-away (photo: Michael Harris)

Sunday’s Pace Bend Road Race has been traditionally a “sprinters paradise”: a rolling, 6 mile loop on super smooth roads in a beautiful Park just off Lake Travis West of Austin. The “climbs” are more hills and don’t last more than 10-15 seconds when you go up them in your big ring. So, unless you’re totally out of shape (which Cat 1 racers usually are not) it’s hard to get dropped on that course. That makes for some interesting race dynamics as the teams with sprinters (i.e. Elbowz: Marcotte, Super Squadra: Wikoff, our Tulsa Tough: Chad & Jason, and others) are hoping for a field sprint and the rest of the peloton is trying to “shake things up”. Mat and Jay took turns early in the race to “animate” things a bit and Mat made it into the most promising break of the day while Jason, Chad, and myself rode within our limits in the field, conserving energy and waiting for the last two laps which were going to be  faster/harder than the previous 13. Team Elbowz was throwing everything for a field sprint  so they rode their race, on the front, controlling things and slowly reeling in the break of 3 or 4 guys. Mat came back from that move with 3 laps to go and I could sense this is going to be nail biter…the remaining break of 3 had 50 seconds with 1 lap/6 miles to go but Elbowz was riding solid tempo on the front, stringing out the field single-file. Chad and Jason were siting 20-25th wheel while I “surfed” behind the blue & white train of Elbowz right next to Chann McRae who decided it was time to do a bike race again. With 3 miles to go we could see the remains of the break. I was working a bit harder but was still in control of things. The little “stinger” hill with 1 mile to go was going to be a decisive place I thought and I figured I’ll give it a try because A) I could derail the blue & white lead-out train and B) maybe draw out a few strong “finisseurs”  for the last kilometer or so. When I looked back 10 seconds later I saw Chann was on my wheel but we had no real gap and Marcotte still had two guys left “to burn” before we entered the final right turn to the finish. As I had hoped, Jason & Chad made the small split, too and while I was slowly going backwards both of them came around me and Chad settled into 3rd or 4th wheel. That’s all I saw. Nobody behind me but a dozen guys ahead of me in the last 200 meters. Chad came close, but not close enough and ended up 3rd. After 80 miles of racing and a few hard laps at the end we got on the podium…just two steps short.  Jason Waddell rolled in 10th and me 13th. Still, we raced our bikes today and everyone did their share of the work and we can’t complain to walk away with a 3rd and 4th place in the first big race weekend here in Texas. 8 month of racing yet to come!

Mat Ankney Pace Bend break-away (photo: J.A. Hicks)

Chad Cagle (center) finishing 3rd in tight Pace Bend sprint finish (photo: Lee McDaniel)

Frost Yer Fanny Du at Texas Motor Speedway

Coming off a solid off-season which also included a bit of running I decided to take Jack Weiss invitation to do the Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon February 19th. Like the name implies, it was a chilly 40 something degrees on race day but - comparing to the conditions back in November when I won the Duathlon hosted at Texas Motor Speedway - there was almost zero wind on Sunday morning.

The race was also the USAT SWM Region's Championship so the entry list featured a few more heavy hitters (obviously, great runners!) and I knew it would be tough to try to "repeat" on that course. Run #1 (2miles) was painful as usual and I just tried to pace myself and follow a good "draft" around the inner track of Texas Motor Speedway. I thought I was about a minute behind entering T1 and felt somewhat comfortable getting on the bike, which was going to be my 2nd ride on it. Big thanks to Austin Tri-Cyclist which is my bike sponsor for this year with some sweet Cervelo gear. Since there was barely any wind I felt fast and kept catching and passing guys who started ahead of me, including the 40+ wave athletes who started 2min ahead my age group (30+). The only thing I "kind of forgot" was the fact that the young guns (29 and under) started 2min behind us. So coming first into T2 I was just a little bit worried about a strong runner, Patrick Schuster, who came into T2 just 30seconds later than me. Little did I know that he actually started 2minutes ahead of me and was no threat for the Overall. SO I thought: "Oh sh#%, that guy is going to run me down"! My legs felt jello and my feet were cold & numb I could barely feel them hitting the tarmac with every step. It was painful. Somehow I managed to hold him off and came in at 1:00:45 which was more than 2minutes faster than back in November at Brenda's Du. Turns out, it wasn't enough to actually win the Overall as two guys (William Huffman and Michael Wilkinson) who started 2minutes behind me did MUCH faster runs (10:03 vs. my two equal 11:52 splits). Pretty amazing. While I still got my AG win it was a bit of a bummer to miss out on the USAT Regional Championships by less than 40seconds in an hour event.

Again, special thanks to Jack Weiss of Iron Head Productions for a great race and Austin Tri-Cyclist for equipping this roadie with the fastest TT rig out there - Cervelo's P4!

 The P4 claims fastest bike of the day! weird number placement, I know. I make fun of it, too...

a bit pre-mature celebration here, since the "young guns" who started 2min behind me got me by 40seconds in the Overall. Lesson learned.

Master Cross Worlds Wrap

Well, that was fun. I've raced my (road) bike in snow before and also sub-freezing temps. But Louisville, Kentucky on Friday the 13th a few days ago was different. Different in that we had frozen ground after that predicted cold-front blew in and dropped temps to the high teens Thursday to Friday night.

So lucky for me and Justin (other rider from TX doing the 30-34 race) we didn't need to worry about getting muddy bikes (since we only brought one CX bike up here)...because all the mud-sections were 90% frozen! Problem is how you ride that stuff. Warming up at 27degree outside temperature (with the wind chill close to single digits) I knew this will be a tough one - coming from sunny & fast terrain. Riding on the grassy section was okay but you had to ride on the very outside just mm from the course-tape to avoid having to ride in the frozen ruts which developed over night (see picture below). The 35-39 AG heats Friday morning were quite "entertaining" as a lot of (experienced) riders hit the deck a few times while making their way over the worst parts of the course. De-icing of the flyover was in full swing when their race was supposed to start at 9am.

Friday morning courtesy of Tim Harris Visuals

I had a descent start in my race and was in the middle of the "pack" of 30ish guys when we hit the dirt. The first few ruts took out a few guys and I found myself quickly somewhere 10-15 positions behind the leader by the time we hit the first ice-ride-through and a sweeping left turn. Not ideal but at least I managed to handle my bike 'til then. For me, I spent too much time dodging icy ruts which were still peanut-butter-like mud the day before. It was awful. Amazing how the leaders rode over that stuff. I had descent legs and was gaining ground and passed a handful of guys on the flats but either was lacking the skillz (?) to ride over the frozen ruts without crashing. I fell once but besides a twisted shifter-lever I was good to go 3 seconds later. Halfway through the race I realized that running the worst part of ice by the flyover was much quicker (and safer) than riding it. But I paid for that a minute later when I wasn't able to ride up the run-up anymore simply because my legs were on fire from running all-out for 10-15seconds. So off the bike again for that little kicker close to the finish.

well...

the Belgie (right) who won already in 2010 won again

After 5 laps and 52minutes of racing I rolled in 15th, nothing stellar and I was hoping for more. But all considered, I can be happy with it. I had good legs, and the bike & rubber worked 100% well. I just lacked that special skill you need in Cyclocross to be at the very front. I lost approximately 70seconds every lap to the Belgie who ended up winning. On a 3.1K lap that's quite a bit in cyclocross.

Again, special THANKS to Sol and Eric at Austin Bikes, Doug Looney of SCOTT, Sean Lambert of ROL Wheels, and Ian, Justin, Paul & Cath at Bicycles Outback for the sponsorship and support this week. Now it's time to shift the focus back on the road and the 2012 season lying ahead. Some old and new things for the coming year and I am excited. Stay tuned for updates.

done!

Master Cross Worlds Day 1 & 2

I'm out here in Louisville, KY for 3days after I pulled the trigger and registered for my first ever Master's race - the 2012 UCI Master Cyclocross Worlds. I thought I'd never do a Master's race and probably retire before doing some local 40+ race in Texas but since UCI Master's includes 30-year-old's like me I might as well, right? Steve Tilford put it nice when he said to me re: entering my 1st Master's race: "It happens to the best of us." He's right. But he's a so much better CX racer, too ;-)

Wednesday evening forecast: winter!

Anyways, Texas CX races don't compare to what you see up here in the Midwest right now on the Kentucky/Indiana border. It's muddy-messy. It's Thursday afternoon and so far I've ridden 30minutes on the course yesterday (when it was raining), then this morning the Bicycle Outback guys and I rode out on the road for an hour or so and tomorrow is already the 30-34 Men's Final. Comparing to most other age-groups, our "kiddie" group has no "seeding heats" (to determine starting order) since we only got ~35 guys racing so I drew start # 17 out of the bag. 3rd row, on the outside - not great but I also could have drawn # 32 and be OTB.

It snowed during the qualifying heats this early afternoon. We rode at 9am and it was 49F. Now it's 3pm and barely 30F. Forecast is more snow tonight and high teens as a low. Will be an interesting day/race tomorrow. The last (and only) time I did a cyclocross race with rain & mud was probably around 1996 back home in Heidenau, near Dresden. My ride? A old Diamant steel-frame with "maybe" 14-gears. But it had tubulars at least!

Wednesday, 1:30pm: first & last time this rig is so clean...

We're trying to stay warm here and luckily I packed enough clothes for the few days in the cold. Just needed to buy some super-warm and waterproof for the race-site which is a mix of mud, water and just overall a messy place. But that's cross and everyone has to deal with it here. The only thing I didn't bring is a spare/pit-bike and if the mud will be similar tomorrow then those 4 laps will be gnarly without pitting. But oh well, let's see what happens. A lot can happen in 45minutes. The reigning 30-34 World Champ from Belgium is racing tomorrow but besides him and me, that race is pretty much a copy of the US Master Nationals last weekend in "warm"  Madison with 99% US riders lined up. Brad Cole raced well there in 5th and he'll be lining up tomorrow, too. I think the cost of coming over to the US, bringing bikes, extra wheels, renting cars, hotels and stuff is just too expensive for more Europeans coming over here. Oh, and there are a few other Texans up here who can do very well: Jimmie Vaughn, Paul "5 races in a row" Bonds, and Ian & Catherine Moore from Waco. There are more, but I already forgot. Looks like more Texans here than at Nationals a week ago.

photo taken by Trudi, with Steve riding on rideable part yesterday. Now it's all mud.

With those extreme conditions the roadie in me is be pretty "unexcited" but still I'm looking forward to race and go all out. I'll try to post some update tomorrow after the race and hopefully some more muddy pics. 

Thursday, 3pm: 2 laps in...

Wednesday, 2pm: 30minutes on the course and my tights are "done"

Ian found a sweet spot inside the our downtown Hyatt to wash bikes. Hot water, too! 

Thursday, 12pm. there was grass 2 days ago...

Thursday, 1pm: trying to stay warm while heats are going on. Notice: it's snowing

Special THANKS to Sol & Eric at Austin Bikes, Doug Looney of SCOTT, Sean Lambert of ROL Wheels, and Ian at Bicycles Outback for the sponsorship & support this week.

Tulsa & Ft. Worth Cyclocross Weekend

I went up to DFW last Friday for another fun weekend of CX racing. First, up on I-35 to OKC to pick up former MSU-teammate Greg and then we headed to Broken Arrow, OK for the Ruts 'N Guts Cross race. It's just South of Tulsa and held on a very cool course around a park/church. For the 60minutes we climbed nearly 1000ft - quite a bit for a CX race. It was good seeing some of my Tulsa Tough teammates and catch up. The prize $$$ for this race was big, all of the 20 guys who raced walked away with some change. Joe Schmalz rode away from everyone to claim the $1K first place prize. The never-tired-of-racing Steve Tilford ran 3rd and I was happy to crack the Top10 in 8th place. On-the-road teammate Mat Ankney had to ride really fast so I don't catch him :-)

Nice little video by the promoters of the Tulsa CX Race:

After a long day of racing and driving I made it for the 2nd day of racing in Ft. Worth at Trinity Park. The course was for sure not a "true" cyclocross-specific course but still we had to race our bikes pretty hard to finish where we finished...Paul Bonds was yet again on another level and after riding with him for 30minutes at the front he simply dropped me and I rode the last 3 or 4 laps alone to come in 2nd place. Ouch, that hurt! It's amazing to see guys like Bonds or Tilford kick some major butt and drop guys who are 10-20 years younger like flies.

The only real challenging part of Sunday's CX course in Ft. Worth:

Tour de Gruene TT's

The last 2 years I missed out on Tour de Gruene because of trips to New Zealand for Tour of Southland and last year to India. So going back to New Braunfels this year was really good. A new ITT with an uphill finish on Canyon Lake Dam was very interesting, and made for a challenging TT. Ian Stanford from HED came down again and after a 3rd place last year he got his win this year with a 19second advantage over my ride for the 16mile TT. The traffic on the course, an awards-ceremony which took way too long (think 2hrs) and a lack of a (previously guaranteed) shuttle service back to the start left a few people unhappy that day - understandably. Luckily I had a ride with some friends but I felt bad for the folks who didn't had friends or family out there and had to ride 16miles back to S/F on their race wheels, when it was nearly dark and getting cold.

Sunday was the 2-person TT - something my athlete Wes Jerman and I have been focusing on. He's a good time trialist, won the Cat 3 State TT and final stage of Tulsa Tough this year. Our "combo" was definitely able to win but in a time trial everything must go right so you can come in first. Warm-up, nutrition, equipment, course, etc..But it all well and according to plan and we were on the right track the whole race. The only challenging part was the wind and slight rain on the back in coming towards Gruene and with the 1080/Super9 - combo I felt the crosswind a bit but we could still go full throttle down HW 306.

Out time just around 58:50 was not record-setting but still a good 2 1/2minutes ahead of second place (Pincus/ Bentley). Fun weekend down in New Braunfels. And I didn't even use the Wurstfest tickets I got from the race and found a week later in my bag. I wonder if they're valid next year?

photo: John Buntz

it was worth waiting close to 2hrs for awards...

Local Austin Crit Series Driveway on Vimeo

LiveStrong Ride

85miles through the Hill Country last weekend at the LiveStrong Challenge Ride here in Austin. Great time of the year to ride out to Wimberley, towards Blanco and back up to Drippin' Springs. Not much "racing" going on this year since only ~20 of us did the long route and LA & friends took the "short-cut" for 65miles. Last long ride of the season in the books.