USADA and Lance Armstrong

Everyone has their own belief, theory and reason to support or hate Mr. Armstrong.  Did he dope or didn't he.  I don't know if he did it or not.  I do know it made for great entertainment watching him crush the tour every year, and he had a few good books.  He's stories helped get me out on a road bike, I was already rediscovering mountain biking a few years before he became big.

I also know that just about everyone else that was in contention for the tour wins during 'Lance's' time has since been busted for doping.  Which is an interesting aspect to this entire story.

 Anyway, instead of reading all the analysis from the folks trying to sell magazines, have a read through the actual letter Mr. Armstrong received from the US anti doping agency (USADA).  I bet they don't send these to just anyone.  Gad Zooks - Use or attempted use, possession, trafficking, administration or attempted administration, assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up, aggravating circumstances.  The letter also lays out similar charges against 4 other people, including team doctors and team director Johan Bruyneel.

What a mess.  Hopefully there will be some benefit to this, through change that improves the sport and protects it's participants from these activities.  Some how I think larger changes than just busting a few doctors and a racer are going to be required.

First/Early Season 2012

It was my plan at the beginning of 2012 to split my season into two blocks.  The first block was to be an early road racing season were I would hit all the big spring road races.  Then I would shut things down, enjoy some summer family time and riding and ramp it back up for cyclocross.  The early season events began with Boulder Roubaix and culminated with the Superior-Morgul Omnium.

At the beginning of the season I had big goals.  I’m a category 3 cyclocross racer so I wanted to raise the bar and upgrade on the road.  I wanted to drop another 5 pounds and increase my threshold power.  Sadly I was unsuccessful at all of those goals.  I did plenty of riding and I worked with a coach.  We tried to plan everything out but it just didn’t happen and to be clear, it wasn’t because I didn’t due the planned work.

In races were I had hoped to be worrying about upgrade points, I was just trying to score Colorado Road Cup points for the team; and I wasn’t even successful at that.  By the time I reached my planned peak for the Superior Omnium I was just hoping I could finish in the top 20.  While I had a lot of fun at each of the races, I certainly didn’t have a shining performance.  In the end, I did finish in 18^th in the omnium, accomplishing my last minute goal of a top 20 finish.

In the end my goals were not meet.  Where they too lofty?  Was everyone else just so much faster because of the warm spring?  I already weight less than I did in high school, my body just didn’t want to give up more, or at least I couldn’t seem to make it.  My threshold power didn’t improve much during the spring even though my aerobic engine was sufficient.  So I’ve made some changes going forward to see if I can improve things going into the second, and more important to me, part of the season.  I’ve returned to my-self coaching ways, they got me upgraded in cyclocross in the first place.  Since I’m calling the shots with my training again and I have time, I’ll be putting more effort in those longer intervals that will result in threshold power improvements.  I’ll also be paying close attention on trying to get a few more pounds off so I’m not throttled on the big stair run-ups like I was last year during cyclocross season.

I’ll be writing about my plans and how they’re coming along, stop back by if you’re interested.

Superior-Morgul Race Weekend – Road Race

Sunday morning was an early start.  I was up and moving at 4:30 am to drop my wife at the start of the Colfax Marathon.  Her big goal happened to be the same weekend as mine; I would recommend avoiding this situation to anyone thinking they can pull it off.  Once she was off, I drove over to Superior for the road race.  Of course I was a little early but that gave me time to stretch the legs and get everything set up.

My fear during this race is always the climbing.  I’m not a small guy and climbing has never been something I felt like I exceled at.  My plan was to try and start the climbs at or near the front the drift back if needed so that I didn’t lose the group at the top.  The race started with a neutral start as we rolled out to the base of the wall for our first climb to the finish where we would begin our 3 lap race.  Once we were out on McCaslin the motorcycle judge blew his whistle and gunned the motorcycle like we were about to take off or something.  I saw a few racers twitch like there were ready to sprint and I quickly yelled out “easy guy’s, that doesn’t mean go.”  Everyone had a laugh and we headed up the hill.

I felt like the race pace was pretty high but as long as I could survive the climbs the rest of the course was not overly difficult.  It wasn’t long before I was having a difficult time with my pre-race plan.  The group would swell-up on Marshal road before the climbs and I couldn’t move forward.  I was starting the climbs at the back of the pack.  At that point I knew I didn’t have much room for error and I would absolutely have to give everything to stay with the group as I couldn’t drift back.  I would have to suffer, and suffer I did!  Every time I went up the wall and hump 2 (the hills I did in the TT) I was faster than the personal records I set during the TT (except for the last time up the wall).  The road race went over the same ground as the time trial and twice we did it faster than my TT, I know a group is faster than a lone rider but we were over a minute faster!

On our second to last time up the wall through the finish line the back of the group was struggling, including me.  As we hit the top gaps were forming and I had two teammates back with me.  I knew if we didn’t catch that group quickly we’d never see them again.  I turned myself cross-eyed to close the gap and managed to close the gap.  Unfortunately I was right near the bottom of the last hump climb and I couldn’t keep the pace going up the hill.  So I set my own pace and hoped for the best, one of my teammates did manage to bridge and stay with the lead group so I guess the effort was worth it.  I never caught them again but a small chase formed to help reach the finish.  I can’t say that I helped the chase group much other than to try and keep myself in a good position.

In the end we finished a couple of minutes down on the folks in the lead group.  The last climb up the wall to the finish was everything I had.  After a full weekend of racing I was done.  I ended up 33^rd, finishing in 1:56.  That’s a couple of minutes faster than when I did the race a few years ago and that year the winning time was 1:59.  It was a hard race and in the end I learned I can climb better than I think I can.

I'm still pulling my final thoughts together on this race weekend as well as some future plans so look for that post in the coming days.

Superior-Morgul Race Weekend – Criterium

Our criterium race was early in the morning on Saturday, sadly as I awoke I could hear to gentle pitter patter of rain on the window.  It tapered off and I quietly hoped we were done with the wet stuff as the course would likely be dry if it stopped now.  I got geared up and headed over to the race.  When I got there the road was dry and the temperature was cool.  Perfect, I got in a few practice laps between the races before heading back to the car to get in my final warm-up on a stationary trainer.  As I was riding the trainer it started to sprinkle again, then it picked up into a full on rain.  So sad, I’ve never done a road race in the rain much less a fast paced criterium with a couple of high speed corners.  For the most part the rain stopped before the race but the streets had rivers running on them and at the bottom of the hill with a fast left hand corner, there were lakes.

I lined up on the front and figured it would be safer to be on the front at least the first couple of laps to make sure everyone made it around the wet corners.  After someone nearly crashed into me during a practice lap taking a corner stupidly, I knew things might get interesting.  I tried to be patent on the front and not go too hard but after a few laps the pace went up and I ducked back in the group for a nice little road spray shower from the other bikes.  Things were progressing nicely until there was a prime announced for additional omnium points and the group took off like they were fired from a gun.  I was left struggling to hang onto the tail end of a splintering group and finally got gapped off.  The legs just didn’t have a response to that acceleration.

I begin looking for other riders to work with and came across the current omnium race leader in my category, perfect, a free ride.  He had beaten me in the TT by almost two minutes so I knew he’d be strong.  Fortunately he’s technical skills in the corners were not very good and I could easily pass and on the fast turns, gapping him.  He would bridge up and I would hold on for dear life.  We were stuck in this mode for far too many laps.

As the laps ticked down our group had swelled to about 5 and we still had not been lapped.  We had just been given the 2 to go sign and were getting ready for our bell lap when the motorcycle marshal came buy in the final 100M to the finish line.  We kept going but were caught about 10 feet from the finish line by the sprinting finishers.  Suddenly our race was over, personally I wanted to finish on the lead lap but after all that chasing in the cold and wet, I was ready to be done.

Unfortunately the officials thought I was with the lead group and placed me in 3^rd for the race.  Now, I’d really like to finish on the podium in a road race someday but this was not the day.  Once I caught the error I let the officials know and they set out to figure out what had happened.  Unfortunately this didn’t happen until later in the day because immediately after the race I had to go warm-up, I was wet and cold and not hanging around to find out the placing of a lapped rider.  Anyway, they ended up giving me 15^th for the crit.  I was pretty happy to have safely negotiated and finished my first wet criterium.  Now the legs would really have to recover before the long hard road race.

Superior-Morgul Race Weekend – Time Trial

This past weekend was the pinnacle of my planned spring road race campaign, the Superior-Morgul Omnium.  Three days of road racing near my house on roads I am very familiar with.  Friday evening was a roughly 6.5 mile time trial (TT – race against the clock), Saturday was a 45 minute criterium and Sunday was a 49 mile road race over the famed Morgul-Bismark loop.  If you have a look at the Strava widget on the right side of the blog you can see the maps and all the details on each of these races.

Since these races were a goal of mine, I had specifically targeted my training in an effort to be at my best.  Leading up to these races I tapered off my training to rest up for the races ensuring I would survive the weekend and be as fast as possible.  For me, resting is always harder than just riding, it gives you time to think about all the things you could have done differently and doubt yourself.  I tried to push that all out of my mind because right before the race it’s too late; doing anything different is only going to cause more harm than good.  The week before the races I backed off the number of intervals and took a few days off the bike the week before the race.  I got in some short openers on Wednesday and Thursday to make sure the body was ready for the TT Friday evening.

I arrived at the Time Trial race early to get my number and check out how the TT was being run and ensure I got in a good warm up.  I only do a TT about once a year so I wanted to refresh my memory on these things.  I don’t have a time trial bike, or deep dish carbon aero wheels, or a pointy helmet, or clip on aero bars; I was going to do the time trial retro, meaning no extra aerodynamic enhancements other than what you find on a standard everyday road bike.  I knew it would be a disadvantage and I’d lose time but my legs were going to have to do the work.

My concern for the race was pacing, there are too pretty big hills (the wall and so called hump 2) connected by a flat section and I knew if I went too hard on the hills I’d lose even more time on the flats as I fought to recover.  So I decided to using my heavier, 32 spoke Powertap wheel to help gauge my effort.  My plan was to be a little under my threshold power or coasting on the descents, at or near threshold on the flats and above on the steep part of the climbs.

I got in a good warmup and went down to the start house.  We got to start out of the official US Pro Challenge Time Trial start house, which was kind of cool.  I stuck to the plan during the race and the legs felt pretty good, I set a new personal record going up the Wall in 5:49 as well as the second hump in 3:17.  In the end I finished the TT in 18:42, finishing in 18^th of 28.  At first I was a little disappointed but after looking through the results most people were within +/- 20 seconds and I set two personal records up those hills, what more could I ask for?  I set out to recover and get ready for the Criterium that was to be held about 12 hours after my TT.  During cyclocross season my second race of the weekend was typically my best; hopefully this weekend would be same.

Deer Trail Road Race - 2012

I’ve done this race a couple of times over the past couple of years.  Each year it’s typically my first road race of the season.  I’ve had good results and not so good results but I am almost always in the top 20.  This year was obviously not my first road race and I was hopeful I could influence how the race turned out.  My team had a number of good riders signed up for the race and with that strength I felt like we would be able to accomplish something.  Nigel had won the race last year and I felt like he could likely out sprint most of the field, Michael is a great climber and Matt and myself I would describe as all-rounders.

Driving into Deer Trail was like returning to the scene of a nightmare I had had a few weeks prior.  Nothing has changed in that town.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice little town but all I do is drive out there to suffer.  Our early morning start had a cool morning breeze and temperature in the upper 40’s to low 50’s.  There was a last minute change to the course that morning because of a bridge issue which confused things but ultimately the race is just two straight roads with rolling hills.  The only technical obstacles are multiple 180 degree turn arounds, which can play havoc on a larger group.  The field size was on the small size, only about 40 guys.

Heading out of town for the start of the race things were pretty mellow.  The motorcycle judges did a fantastic job keeping a couple of loose dogs out of the group.  I have to admit they expertly put their motorcycles between us and the dogs keeping things safe.  I know they don’t hear this enough but thanks, I’m glad you were there!  Not too long after the dogs were behind us, a couple of riders were starting to get the itch and wanted to jump out.  We were going into the wind and they didn’t get anywhere but they were determined and I was happy to sit on their wheel.  If they were strong enough to go I’d go with them so the rest of my team could sit on.  But nothing really happened.  This went on as we hit the first turn around and started heading back.  As we turned left onto the main out and back route the wind became a cross wind.

I drifted back to find a good draft but soon found myself behind a few strong riders that were making their way forward.  So I stayed with them.  When they got to the front, the real pressure on the field started and by the time we reached the second 180, four of them had a clear gap and the riders behind were totally unorganized and shattered.  The group of four was made up of my teammate Matt and 3 other riders, all from different teams.  I would have to argue that Matt was our strongest rider, so when I saw him go with 3 others, I wanted to give him the chance.

Nigel, Michael and I were in the shattered remains in the group and fortunately we were close enough we could all start working together to ensure we all made it into the first case group.  We were successful and all of us knew we didn’t want this group to pull Matt back.  So we started blocking at the front.  I tried to keep it in good taste, I wasn’t just getting in the way.  People could pull through but when they did Nigel and I would sit on their wheel until they tired and made it more difficult for other riders to come around.  If no one came around, I’d set a false tempo.  Michael tried to make a bridging move up to Matt but ended up getting caught in no man’s land and never made it.

Towards the end of the race my legs were getting pretty tired from chasing everything down.  Someone made a hard effort up one of the last steep hills and shot me right out the back.  Nigel and Michael stayed in the group.  I chased with a few other dropped racers but my influence on the race was over.

In the end, Matt was dropped from the group but we had given him enough time to hold onto 4^th.  Nigel, our sprinter for the day, took the group for 5^th.  Michael was 15^th and I out sprinted my chase companion for 19^th.  In the end I felt pretty good about the race, the team had dictated how the race would unfold.  We showed our team strength and got two guys in the top 5 and four of us in the top 20.  This race is proof that riding with teammates can be incredibly beneficial even in lower category races.

Mead Roubaix

This was my second adventure at a dirt road, road race. I have to tell you, racing in a pack on a dirt road with people I don’t know the skill level of is a little scary. Especially since after pre-riding and seeing how much more challenging the road surface was compared to Boulder Roubaix a few weeks earlier. There were no terribly difficult obstacles but the soft, dare I say sand, was going to make the difference. This race wasn’t really important so the goal was to be safe and see what I could do. Safety suggested that I stay near the front, particularly on the dirt sections so that I stayed out of trouble.

Things seemed wrong almost from the start of the race. Even on the opening part of the race I felt like I was going backwards. I simply couldn’t maintain my position and found myself drifting to the back. When we hit the first dirt section I was in the back third. But the group managed to stay on track. The motor cycle judge was a little over zealous with the “yellow line rule”, I understand racing right but he was whistling at everything and we were stuck racing on a third of a crappy road. Great, thanks dude.

Once on through the first dirt section and onto the pavement, I followed a teammate to the front of the group. We rolled up just before what I would say was the worst section of the race, sandy and rough. So I stayed on the front and tried to see how the race would do under pressure. I was expecting someone to come around at anytime but they didn’t. So I slowed and slowed and no one came around. Then they came flying around before the hill. I slowly worked my way towards the back of the group and then I found myself grasping to tail end of a splintering pack. I ended up getting split off. I did manage to find a former teammate, Todd, in my little chase group.

 Todd and I have raced a lot of cyclocross together so I felt total comfortable on his wheel. I pretty much felt like I knew how he would ride in the sand and dirt and I knew I could trust him. We worked really well together trying to bridge back up. We had the lead group in our view but never caught up. We chased for two and a half laps, picking up stragglers and dropping them, seeing some crash wreckage go by. In the end we raced to the finish and had a little one on one sprint out. We were both pretty tired so maybe sprint isn’t the right word but we went for it finishing within a wheel length of each other for 14th and 15th. I like to think my bike throw at the end made the difference, but whatever; it was fun to have a good hard ride with a friend.

 Lap 1: hiding in the back.

Lap 2: After a strong pull from Todd we were trying to bridge back up.

Lap 3: Trying to finish strong and pick off a few more riders.

The song I sing when I ride

I raced Mead Roubaix this past weekend but haven't gotten a chance to write up my story. This week is stupid busy but I'll try to get to it soon.

Until then enjoy a fun video.

An Open Letter to Wives

This was written by Grizzly Adam on his blog grizzlyadam.net. It is so well written, and true, that I wanted to post it here.

"To the wives of mountain bikers; from the delusional, dirty, oft-distracted men you married.

First thing first. Thanks. We ask a lot from you. You have been our crew at races, our nutritional experts, our sponsors, and our sounding boards. We know that such things were not always high on your list of Things-I-Want-To-Do-When-I-Get-Married, but nevertheless, here you are. Your understanding and support means the world to us. The only thing better than crossing the finish-line of a long-anticipated race is seeing you (and the kids!) at that finish-line. Thank you.

We men are strange creatures. Our intuitive instincts demand that we conquer the world around us. For thousands of years men have engaged in dominant behavior; we farm, hunt, build, and when that isn’t adequate, we make war. War is in our very nature. Our paradigm of the world is clouded with the fog of war.

Part of that warrior mentality is an innate desire to provide for ourselves, and our families. Until about 70 years ago doing so was fairly straightforward. If we needed food, we killed an animal or worked a farm. If we needed a house, we built one. Luxury and comfort were far subordinate to survival. Life was difficult, but fulfilling.

Modernity changed everything.

Today we are trapped behind desks. Food comes from well-lit grocery stores, heat comes from a thermostat, and our homes are more advanced and comfortable than any human dwelling in history. That need to conquer and provide has been replaced, warped. Instead of providing the essentials of survival with our hands, we perform menial tasks in an office, and are given a paycheck that simply buys needed supplies. This is hardly a bad thing, but it is a remarkably different (and new) method of earning a living. Life is soft, and not always fulfilling.

Our culture has changed. But our warrior gene has not.

And that is why we race our bikes.

We need something to conquer. We need adrenaline and uncertainty and risk. We need rivalry. We need to know that if we had to, we could physically conquer the world; that we could be the alpha male. And so we race our bikes. And in doing so, ward off enemies, and the effects of age, disease, and mid-life crisis. We are more emotionally stable, physically healthy, and culturally engaged because we race our bikes. Our introverted nature is reversed, forcing us to socialize amicably (once the race is over) rather than constantly spar with one another in the perpetual and destructive rut that has defined manhood since the very beginning. Despite its primal foundations, bike racing has turned men into sophisticates, capable of respectable, normal lives. We have beat our swords into wheelsets.

You know this is true. You know that we are better men because of the bicycle. We are distracted by carbon-fiber instead of secretaries. Our “poker-nights” are spent in yurts or on singletrack. Our mid-life crisis is an expensive bike, rather than a sports car, hair plugs, and a DUI. Our legs are the envy of women everywhere.

We know that sometimes we become overly focused on our fitness, our bikes, and our races. We know that you know that we’d much rather be training than be at your second-cousins’ dress rehearsal of Death of a Salesman. And we know that bikes and races and carbon soled shoes add up. Maybe you are right that that money would be better spent on new carpet, a car repair, or food for the kids.

But consider the alternative.

If we didn’t race, we’d be overweight and diabetic. We’d be ornery. We’d complain about our station in life more than we already do. Our legs would be hairy, pasty, and ambiguously defined. Instead of a $5,000 bike in the garage, there’d be a $450,000 Mercedes SLR McClaren.

If we didn’t race our bikes, we’d be forced to repress our warrior ancestry. An explosion would be imminent. One day you’d wake up wondering how your husband, pudgy and pasty, turned up in a high-roller casino suite in Las Vegas with 3 call-girls and a kilo of cocaine; the FBI, DEA, ATF, and mafia shilos chasing him.

Indeed, when you consider the alternatives, it is you who owes us your gratitude.

Bike racing has kept us out of jail.

You’re welcome."

Fed Center Circuit Race

I believe I had a bit of a mental break through during this race. I’m always nervous before a road race; the reason for my nervousness is the proximity to other racers during the race. Mountain biking and cyclocross, for most part, do not have the peloton feel. This race was pretty complicated with 17 turns every lap, each lap being 4 miles and the race lasting 6 laps. That’s a lot of turns.

When the race started out, I went right to the front to get through the first couple of turns. I figured if someone was going to do something stupid it would be early when they were excited. Turns out the first and only crash I saw was during lap two. Silly actually, on a short climb a rider rubbed wheels with the guy that stood up in front of him. Typically when a rider stands up his back wheel moves back, I guess that guy didn’t know that. He went down on the slower part of the hill. I was two riders back and pinned up against the median. His back wheel went into the gutter where I was, and me and the guy in front of me just rode over his back wheel and kept trucking. I heard later everyone made it back into the group, including the rider that fell.

During the rest of the race the group kind of started to gel and figured out the corners. Near the end of the race people were taking the corners faster and safer. Still slowing down more than they needed, which afforded me an easy way to move up. In the end we had a pack of about 25 riders racing down to the finish. I had just made a big effort to pull back in a guy off the front hoping one of my stronger teammates would benefit. (The guy that was off the front managed to hold on for the win but finished with the exact same time as the pack, so it was close.) As we raced down the finishing stretch I snuck my way up and finished right in the lead group for 14th. My teammates captured 4th and 9th as well as 24th and 25th.

Overall, I accomplished my goal of finishing near the front but more importantly I became a little more confident in the pack after having to negotiate that complicated course. Within an hour or so of our race the wind moved in and the rain began, culminating with some spring snow that evening. It was a great race to squeeze in before the storm.

Edit: 4/17/12
Found some photos of the race on www.sportifimages.com, Dean these babies are so good you made me look good out there!

Boulder Roubaix

I raced the Boulder Roubaix this past weekend. It's been a while since I've done much road racing. This one was looking like my kind of race, 60% dirt road and 40% pavement. The race was phenomenal, if they move it from this location they'd be stupid. The past couple of years its moved around and this is by far a truly awesome, beautiful, humbling and fun coarse. (yes, it's hard).

I lined up with the SM4/35+, there were about 100+ starters. Which reminds me of my cyclocross days a few years ago. The scariest part of this race was lining up with that many people, not knowing their skill levels. I kept up near the front and didn't really run into any problems until coming back in to the start finish line for our second lap. It's a hard section with a number of short punchy climbs. The pace was high and I was just holding on when the guy in front of me decided he needed to look at his back wheel and not pedal. I guess he was done or though he had a flat tire or, I don't know. If I would have pulled out and around him I would have taken out a number of racers coming up quickly. I yelled at him to pedal but I had to wait to get around him and try and jump back on the group. In the end I got gaped off.

I started picking up stragglers and we quickly formed a group. A group that worked reasonable well together. We kept the lead group in sight, a few minutes ahead and tried to chase back on. There were a few strong riders in our chase group and when they let the group work, we were flying. Otherwise they would pull too hard, tire out the weaker riders and ultimately slow the entire group. Before long on our second lap we were picking up racers from the category before us (SM4). They jumped in but they were totally spent and further disrupted our chase. I know they just wanted to get to the finish line but they shouldn't have been in there and at the very least they should of stayed in the back.

Coming into the finishing stretch I though I could out smart my fellow chase pack, but I out smarted myself and totally misjudged the finishing straight. Ended up at the back of the group on the line. We only finished a few minutes off the lead pack.

I have to tell you, I haven't raced in the 35/4's on the road much but it seams to me they are FLYING this year. At roubaix the top 25 finished faster than the winner of the SM4 open group (traditionally the 18-34 year olds). I don't know if its the great spring weather or what but I'm impressed; I hope it's all the great coaching available around here. I have a great base fitness and I feel things are getting better but for now I'm just hoping I can finish in the lead pack even though I had dreams of upgrading this year.

A couple of photos of me chasing back on for the finishing straight, I caught the 5 guys not in the photo only to promptly drop myself.


Here's a movie of the pro's racing a little later in the day.

Hello Friends

It's been a while I know, and for that I'm sorry. It feels like life has been a circle of daily events: get kids ready for school, get them off to school, go to work, come home, help with homework, get kids ready for bed, go to bed. Hopefully getting a workout in there. It hasn't felt like I was going anywhere and all my energy has been going into just trying to keep up.

This endless circle of events has made it difficult to write anything interesting, not that my previous posts were all that interesting. I'm going to try and turn that around by posting more, not necessarily by making them more interesting. Well, maybe it'll be interesting to some of you.

Talk to you soon.

"Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches"

Belgian Trappist

In the primary, it's taking off!

Fun Stuff I Found this Weekend

My wife says "I've heard you say all those things"


This one is just amazing. Specatcular video.

More Surfing Videos

I am a cyclist

my blog
by: nofinishline