Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The Duke Train
Ryan called me to see if I wanted to join him and Andy McEgan for a ride. "Sure." Thirty minutes later, a veritable squadra of purple-and-gold glad greenhorns, including Ryan, Chris, Andy, Kyle, and Grant, were parked like Harleys at fatboys.
We headed out into the May-like warmth in search of some fast roads. I was only scheduled for a recovery ride, so I kept it tranquil and hopped wheels to keep the group.
Okay, it wasn't the "red train" of Cippolini, but after a few minutes of explaining how to execute a leadout, we gave it a go. The guys of the James Madison University cycling team riding like, well... a team; it was cool. For fun, I played tag along and spectated.
Having ridden with most of the guys, I had an idea of who was suited to early pacing and the flam rouge wind-up. Andy and Grant drove it from 5k out. Good, good. They pulled off on the upwind-side, further speeding up the momentum of the group. They stayed together and apexed the turn, and then, BAM, Ryan was on the front and out of the saddle. Then, ZING, there goes our man, we won the race.
Well, he did go early, but it was quite well executed for a first go. I explained afterward that it is worth it to have a guy sweep your sprinter's wheel and open a gap up when he jumps so that your train doesn't get poached. This sweep needs to sit up and NOT try to follow your sprinter in for 2nd but let a little space open up subtly. Then I imagined Stava, aka Ryan, trying this in a race and taking out half the field in gnarly pile up; and coated my statement the way parents might do by saying "that is only for big time races though."
Andy's cleat came loose so we all made for Mole Hill Bikes, and then I split for home.
Fun to see these guys learn and improve so quickly.
Until next time,
Jeremiah
Friday, March 10, 2006
Count Down to Take Off
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The season is almost here! In 14 days, I will be in Rincon, Puerto Rico racing some of the best. USAC just announced a new athlete incentive program to get us out of the comfort of our quality US series and earn some points for the cause. "Project 6 shooter," that is my name for it. The best 3 men and 3 women will earn the # of Olympic spots for the US effort. That is not to say those same athletes get spots on the team though. It would be damn cool to bring a 6-member USA Team to the Games instead of just three, eh??
So, training has been pretty normal, Hunter is cracking the whip and I wince when I open the Training Peaks.com training manager. It is a cool diary thing, check it... I had this mother scratcher workout to pull off on Wednesday. It involved two workouts: an a.m. Max 5-mins climb up Hopkins Gap, which I had to warm up for with some high end, and 20 power-accelerations from 10 mph to 80 rpm in the 53, 13 ouch. Seated. Then, that afternoon ( get this) another beast! He wanted me to warm up at 250 watts for 15+ minutes and then do four 10-mins at 390w Whoa.. and then do a 20-minute climb at 340w with burst to 400w! For those of you without a power meter, that is enough work to power a small city for the day..
Hunter's new book is really cool, I was reading it a bit. Check out the link on my front page. I thought I would already know most of what's covered in it, but it's is a well presented grouping just about power, so it picks up where a lot of books left off. I am sure there will be a sequel.
So, the next week I am going to chill here and enjoy the time at home with Erin before the first 4-week travel stint. We have Team camp in Solvang, CA., March 17; Puerto Rico, the next week; Curacoa, the week after that, and then back to California for The Sea Slaughter. Also, in local happenings is the Baltimore screening of Off Road to Athens at the Charles Theatre. You should check it out.
The first stretch should be fun and a lot of work, but I am ready to go.
See ya at the races.
Jeremiah Bishop
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Shamrock Invitational
What started as an idea Chris E. and I had to shake the bugs out with a hard race-simulating training session, turned out to take on a life of it's own.
As soon as I sent out the e-mails, Erin starting thinking of ways to make this training session into a race with more character than the running of the bulls.
Shortly after concocting our ideas for an Ireland spring-green theme, we set off for the Glenn's Fair Price store, which is a wacky costume shop here in town to buy cheap party junk.
We saw fake boobs that you can wear, but Erin wouldn't let me buy them. Then, we hit the mother load! Blimey we struck it rich! Eye, we found a veritable treasure trove of gold coins, green Marti gras beads and green leprechaun hats, a gold plated shamrock that's 3-inches tall “for the trophy†and some green and white ribbon! Erin also made participant medals with these huge green cookies that look like four leaf clovers, sweet!
In attendance were the hearty crew of: Dylan Johnson, winner of the Technical-Tricky-Leprechaun trophy where, like golf, lowest score earns the win for clearing the tricky parts of our lesson ride over to the mountain, and combined with the Super D beginning of our short course race; Chris Scott who won the cutters "trophy for best short cut:" Nick Waite who took the Short Track award; Chris Eatough, winner of the 7th mile prime; the lucky ladies, Erin and Allison, who drove over to watch and cheer us on like green clad cheerleaders; and me.
The Super D race started 1000ft above the twisty circuit atop the Homestead Trail. It was a gradual long downhill stretch with whoops and berms and rad turns. Dylan had a hold on the lead but Chris was hot on his tail. I was right there but toward the bottom's high-speed single track I was gaped. Dylan was flying! Nick got a little stuck behind Chris and lost contact with us. Chris had the early lead or so I thought. Then just as a thought I got to the front I saw Dylan ahead of us !??! Dylan had taken an accidental short cut and was out front. I got the win and Chris was second. The race was 5 laps of quick, world cup style throw down. We cut loose until we were spent. After our race we sat in the sun and talked out about our adventures and miss adventures.
We may not have had the UCI sanctioning but this was a lot more fun. And we didn't have to send all kinds of money to Switzerland!
We got our travel packs and jackets and loaded up for the 45-minute bike ride home.
Next March, look in your mailbox for the invitation!
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