My last go around at the "King" was a disaster.  3 laps and pulled.  So needless to say there were a little bit of nerves.

I got there really early, and set up shop near the ST3 guys.  The sun was out when I started my warm up, but by the time I was done it was cloudy and some of the fog I had driven through was creeping up.  I actually was cold.  Me cold!!!  My internal radiator is all over the map right now.  I was so cold that I raced in arm warmers and a base layer.  Doug stopped by, we shared a laugh, and told him to get in a solid warm up. 

After a bunch of soft pedaling it was time to take the course.  Typical Sunny King.  Wind in your face on the down hill, at your back on the uphill, and cutting across your nose into turn 1.  I was comforted by the fact that I had a teammate with me, and a good bunch of guys racing from Mellow Mushroom.  Doug and I never talked tactics, but we played it pretty well.

I was coming off a really bummer week.  I was actually off the bike for a couple days to my "mysterious" muscle issue on my right side.  Thankfully I have a great coach that has guided me well enough to not be affected by the missed days come race time.

Doug and I lined up on the front row, and we were off.  The field was low 20's.  Doug went straight to the tip of the spear and stayed consistently in the top 3 all day.  Knowing that I needed to be in a position to cover anything I set up shop, and stayed pretty much in 5th-8th place.  Again we did not discuss any tactics, but we had Doug in the top 3, and a Mellow Mushroom rider with him.  So I, along with another Mellow Mushroom rider, worked together to cover stuff, and let the top 3-4 go off the front at will and make others work to pull the field back up.  We set a pretty decent pace and started lapping riders.    There was a junior rider mixed in with this(Larry you know how this goes).  I have no problems with Junior riders, they have to cut there teeth somewhere, but when push comes to shove they do not need to be in our field.  He cut corners, rode bad lines, but was strong enough to be up in the top 10 all day long.  I know a 5 complaining about someone else's riding skills is like the pot calling the kettle black.  Coming into the final 3 we started to crank things up.  I was riding to protect the teams interest in the podium, and also riding to put myself in a spot to take one of those steps.  I marked the guy who won Dothan, when I should have marked the guy on the "Cutters" bike.  White jersey, black shorts, circa 1985 bike.  He came charging by with 2 to go, and I figured he would blow, but alas, he did not.  1 to go, and everyone is in the red.  My brain was racing, and I figured I would have enough room to roll if I just stayed in the top 5.  Made it through turn 1 and 2 fine, got my spot descending into 3.  All I can say, is that it is a racing deal.  If I wreck, I miss work, lose pay, and have to take out a mortgage to replace my bike.  The junior rider wrecks, all the cute girls sign his cast, mommy and daddy replace the bike, and he misses some homework.  Coming into 3 I had the line and I got my nose cut off by the junior rider.  I had to check up to avoid wiping out the pack which gapped us from the top 5.  I punched the gas and slightly recovered but in the end I rolled home in 7th.

From a team captain standpoint, I am very happy with our run.  Doug road strong and I MEAN STRONG coming home 3rd.  A podium and a top 10 from the little team from Pelham. 

Personally, I really felt good.  I chose the wrong guy to mark, missed the guy I should have paid attention to, and then got hung out to dry by the junior rider.  Moving forward, go into the last turn in the top 3.  Stay the heck away from junior riders, and do not judge a book by it's cover.

In the end though, it's still 7th, which is pretty cool.  Never in my life have I had 2 top 10's in a row.

3 weeks of training and focus, then off to Huntsville for the Criterium State Championships and Circuit race. 

GEEK OUT ON MY NUMBERS:
AVG POWER=333
MAX POWER=1105
AVG SPEED=23.9
MAX SPEED=32.7
TIME=29:31.08
DISTANCE=11.77

1 horse power is over 700 watts.  I put out 1 HP 17 times during the course of the race.

Mike

Herring, Simmonds, Garner

Mike Herring: Mike just tested at 260 watts for 20 minutes! Last year he tested at 205! I have told Mike that at his age, if he is not going down hill than we can call it a success, but Mike has not accepted that and is making great improvements!

Boris Simmonds : I can't take credit for Boris because he is such a great athlete but I will detail him soon. I will say that he started this season as a cat 5 and just placed 7th in hardest local criterium and 3rd in the foothills road race in anniston as a cat 3. This kid is a phenom! More to come with details and numbers on Boris.

Garner : Mike is a machine! Cross is his life but he has somehow pulled out great results so far this road season. He follows the plan to a T and it shows. His improvements are unreal over the past year and Ill be sure to post them soon. Nice work for 6th at dothan and 7th in Anniston Mike!

I coach with cut and dry numbers. Power is what your doing...not what your trying to do and these guys are all on power and it shows! Check back for detailed stories of each of these guys roads to improvement!

I am going to start by saying that the winter training at D1 has certainly paid off for my athletes at leaditout.com.!

In the lower category races, Boris Simmonds and Kevin Pawlick, two athletes who participated in my winter program were very upset after the road race. It was a big field and they have not learned to move around well enough in the pack to show off their abilities, so they both ended up with a pack finish. The MSGP is done by time and everyone who finishes together gets the same scoring, so they were all tied...until the individual time trial! A time trial is a race against the clock and it really seperates the strong from the weak. I am proud to say that Kevin and Boris both ran amazing times and moved up into the top positions in the overall rankings. Coming into the last day they both needed to get the time bonuses and a great finish to overtake the leaders...and they did! Boris took the first time bonus with kevin right on his wheel and then Kevin took second place with Boris third in the final sprint to give Kevin the win and Boris 3rd in the overall! This was a 3/4 race, With Kevin being a 3 and Boris a brand new 4, I would say they both dominated!

As for the Pro 1,2,3, we brought 3. Me, Brian, and Justin. The friday night crit was very fast due to the wind which worked against the strongmen. As hard as we tried, we could not create a breakaway. Brian got three primes (prize laps) for 50 bucks each and drove the pace each time but it all seemed to come back together. I got one prime and tried for several breaks but nothing worked. With 4 to go I was sitting 6th wheel marking the winner, Matt Davis, and using my elbows and knees to push others off of his wheel. With one to go his teamate pulled off the front and left the last lap to us. It slowed to a crawling pace and I felt the whole pack creeping up on us. It's now or never...I jumped! I hit a few hard pedal strokes and cut Matt off in turn two and accelerated hard. I gapped the feild bad and Matt jumped hard behind me. Watching the video, you can see that I had a big gap on Matt and he a a huge gap on the rest of the riders. I pushed hard, ripped the corners, sprinted and gave it my all but Matt was able to catch my slipstream on the last turn, take a deep breath and come just around me for the win. I felt I did all I could and made the best decision to go but came up short for second. Brian finished 6th and Justin 10th. Great start!

The RR was very uneventful. We all knew that without aero equipment (TT bikes, helmets, wheels, suits) we could not compete in the Time trial, and with this being a stage race (by time) we had to create a breakaway to place well in the overall. The course was just too easy with no real climbs and no cross winds, we just couldn't do it. All three of us were represented in several moves but they all came back. The most promising move was Justin and Matt's teamate, former pro Russ Walker, which I think had a great chance to win. Herring worked hard and exhausted all of their guys to bring it back and had just given up, but Russ flatted leaving Justin on his own and he came back totally exhausted. It came to a field sprint and me and Brian managed 6th and 7th giving us the same time as the field, which was not what we wanted.

The TT went as expected...I ran the time trial of my life according to my power meter (448 watt avg for 6 minutes) and Brian close behind but without aero gear we were just slow. We both finished out of the top ten putting us 14th and 18th for the overall.  Bummer! Our plan now was to race the circuit with our heads on fire and hope we could create a breakaway and sneak into the overall. We had alot of guys to overtake...

The circuit was an easy course but the wind was high and in one section it was a cross wind which provides no draft and a chance to hurt the other riders. Brian took advantage of it! On the third lap of five the pace got high and the group started to split. I made a risky move and attacked over the yellow line to try to bust it up but got caught by the motorcycle ref and he told me to move to the back for 30 seconds. The problem was that the whole pack was splattered and I had to watch 4 groups of 10 or more pass me and I had to sit on the back of the dropped groups in time out. I did my time...then started bridging groups. When I finally got to the front group, there were 10 or more off the front. I looked around and did not see Brian or any other of the strongmen. "Go with the next attack" is what I told myself and no other than Russ Walker attacked hard to make it to the break. I had to go and averaged 618 watts for 34 seconds to bridge! I closed on Russ but he sat up, not wanting to take me to his teamate, Matt, so I did the rest. I made the bridge and me and Russ both went right to the front to make sure it stuck. Me Brian, and Russ were the only ones working out of 8 and after a lap, we lost several riders, including Russ and were coming into the final miles. Brian was dead set on putting time on the pack so we could both move up in the overall so he drove the front for the last two miles. Just trying to hang onto brians pace was tough but he did an amazing job and put 40 plus seconds on the field. Plenty of time to move us both up in the overall. I held on for 4th and of course Brian finished last of the break with his all out effort for time over the field. We were estatic about our accomplished break away and putting so much time on the others to move us both up in the overall! We finished 5th and 7th in the overall! Very strong work and results versus other teams of 6 to 10 riders and us with only 3. Great weekend for team Infinity/donohoo auto of Brimingham!

Brian has a great write up on http://toonecycling.wordpress.com/ and make sure to watch the videos of the race on the link above under videos/race videos!

Boris Simmonds upgraded to category 4 and demolished his feild in the Dothan criterium!

Kevin Pawlick led his teamate Justin Bynum to the victory in the category 2/3 feild in Dothan!

Mike Garner had his first top 10 with a 6th place finish in an impressive category 5 feild in Dothan!

Can't say enough how proud I am for these guys! More to come!

Just wanted to update everyone on our progress here at leaditout.com. We had a great winter training series at D1 Sports Birmingham and we have already had great success this year!

Boris simmonds won the category 5 state championship road race at the tour de tuscaloosa. He is our new state champion!

Kevin Pawlick won the category 3 criterium at the tour de tuscaloosa with an amazing last lap flyer!

Pat Allison took 6th place in the pro 1,2 criterium and 8th in the road race!

We did three months of winter training at D1 sports. We started with tempo, went to threshold, then onto anearobic. I dont believe anearobic training effected these numbers much but we had some big improvements. I will only speak of our best improvement. He was our best because of his age. There were certainly better numbers from beginners and younger clients. But Tony Robbins, a 50+ year old  duathlete that has been training and racing for 20 plus years came to me with one goal...get faster on the bike. He is a world class runner but cannot seem to compete at a national level because his bike splits are so slow. This winter Tony dedicated his time and effort to 2 days a week on the bike with the rest running. Tony came on late but after a testing and a few months of work, he and I both believe he is going to make a huge name for himself this year. Tony tested in late december at 235 watts threshold power. After two month of work with me at D1 tony tested again. 275 watts was the average! One of the crazy things was his threshold heart rate. His first test, at max intesity, he was only able to avg 140 bpm. But his final test he avg'd 150. What does this mean? He can now ride at 10 beats higher at the same percieved feel. Which mean the output at 150bpm two months ago is now, which he could not hold for more than 5 monutes, is now the output that he can sustain for an hour or more. He can now ride at the same percieved "feel" for over an hour at the same output the he could only sustain for a few minutes. 

Break down : Tony can now avg 35 more watts over an hour after just two months.

Tony can save energy is he does a little less than that, resulting in a faster run.

Tony is faster!

The Final egghead numbers : (based on charmicheal) At 160 lbs pushing 4% more wattage over 40k can yeild a 2 minute and 24 second benefit. Tony increase to 275 watts, which is a 15% increase in his hour power, resulting in a staggering 9+ minute subtraction to his 40k time. Now when Tony races...he can count on more than a 9 minute subtraction from his former times on the bike alone, putting him right up there with the best in the nation! Lets see what he can do after a few more months!

Congrats Tony on a very hard earned improvement and im honored to say I had a slight hand in it.  

The other clients are young and have improved way more than Tony but I think it is mostly because they are new to the sport. More numbers to come...

An update on Mike Garners progress. Mike has put in tons of hours to get ready for cross season. It was a slow start but hes really making some huge improvements now that the season is here. Each race is better than the previous, and I dont see him slowing down! These are his 5 and 20 minute power numbers from the season.

                      20 minute power              5 minute power
Brookside #1           209                                217
Tuscaloosa              213                                270
Brookside #2           228                                278
Louisville                 247                                285
Anniston                  268!!!!                            320!!!!!

Can you say... "PEAK" !

This is written by a client of mine. Briefly, Mikes threshold power went from 220 to 290 with a weight loss of close to 15 lbs. He not only finished his first, but placed 8th in the Huntsville Criterium in his first "peak". He has had a rough start to the cyclocross season but the hard work and discipline is starting to pay off.

(written by Mike)
Miles and miles and hours upon hours of training in the sun, in the dark, in the rain, in the heat can only take you so far. At some point you have to step into the blast furnace of racing, if that's what you are training for, to get your final lessons. My lessons the last couple of races have been hard ones. There have been no race reports. Nothing needed written about how bad they had been. The crashes, bad tire and pressure selections were one thing, being hurt in Tuscaloosa last weekend was another. I was depressed when I left. I honestly thought I had broken my ankle.

As the week wore on I blew through multiple ankle braces trying to find one that would fit in a cycling shoe and I could pedal with. I really doubted I would be able to ride. My heart wanted to, but my mind and body were in a different spot. The highlight, seeing veins in the top of my foot. It meant the swelling was going down. Honestly, there were conversations about shutting my season down, resting and healing my foot, and getting ready for spring. The cool part was that Pat left it up to me, no pressure, 100% support for whatever I decided to do. My choice was simple, race cross, through the pain. He sent me a motivational video, a Versus commercial that I love. I went in search for more and found one that made my legs tingle.

The voice says, "You have momentum at your back. Fear and doubt are thundering like a freight train straight at you." That summed my feelings up this week. I felt like I was on the verge of failing.

Today, thankfully, after returning Todd's trainer, Herring forgot mine. It forced me to ride the Masters 35+ race as a warm up. I set the course up, NO WAY, my ankle was going to hold up. So I taped my shoe and the brace and I was going to go down swinging. I could tell Carissa was not thrilled with my choice, but I did not know what to do.

So as I lined up, I cracked jokes, laughed, and let it all go. It was a weird feeling. I watched the pack thunder away, and waited for the 45+, SS, and Women to run me down. I ran my race prep program on the Garmin and tried to match it while doing a race. I had fun. I laughed. I talked to people. I think the crazy thing was that I learned what I could do, and not do on the bike. My pressures were too high. Stopped and fixed those. My cable stretched a little, and I adjusted the barrel adjuster. Honestly, for that hour I had a blast. I was not in it for points, or pride, or anything. I was just riding it because I love cyclocross. I finished up(DFL), rode over to the tent and waited for the 4 race.

I already decided this week that this is my last year running 4's. I have enough starts to CAT up and I am honestly done. I want to get up later, get to the race later, and I miss racing with my teammates. I lined up at the back. I might have actually been so far back that I was with the juniors. Same deal, laughing, cracking jokes, no worries. They said go, I found my pedal, and a switch flipped. We thundered down the long stretch into a 90 degree turn, hard on the gas, past the baseball fields, into the infield(find your footing), full on sprint onto the paved part, off into the grass, and it dropped down into the sand. I was moving forward, not backwards. I made it in one piece to the large sand pit, and ran it pretty well. We came out the other side in a wad, and I was one of the first back on my bike. I nailed the gas and I am not sure how I did what I did, but I passed everyone in that group like a nano-second before we hit the second sand pit. I trucked through that I and I just started picking people off 1 at a time. I hurt like a mother, but it was insanely fun. I picked up more people on the back. I was really comfortable in the turns and my Bontrager CXO's were like velcro. We got up to the cemetery and I gobble up more. As we came down the hill I heard and explosion and it was one of the leaders rear wheels letting go. Quick 90 degree turn, run up, hard into the gas again. I was really having fun. I was racing and not just rolling around trying with all my might to hang on. I got hooked up with Travis Lewis from Bici, we are about the same skill level on a bike. Early on I would get him, then he would get me back. He would distance me on the runs, and I would hammer to him on the flats. 2 races ago, we crashed(not intentionally) into each other at least 3 times. Both of us ran the same tires. Every turn, crash. It sucked. I told him after the race today that it was a lot of fun racing with him and not crashing with him. We made a good tandem. We caught a lot of people. On the last lap I just could not hang with him on the runs. I could feel my foot swelling in my shoe, but I kept digging. I made the last turn for home. My lungs were seared, my foot was throbbing, but man I had fun.

I rolled over to the tent and Carissa and the kids were excited. "Do you know where you finished?" My guess was top 15 or 20. No clue. They told me I was in the top 10. It has been 4 years since I was in the top 10. Truth of the matter, it was 10th, but I felt like I won.

Sometimes you gotta let it all go, in order to get it all back.

The versus video if you want to see it (top left):

http://leaditout.com/multimedia/insprirationalvideos.html

I continue to see people training themselves to quit. What I mean is that instead of timed intervals, or picking out a start and finish line, they simply go “hard” until they are ready to give up. They make the decision when to quit after the effort has begun. Think about a race. In competition, I have yet to have the luxury of deciding when to stop the effort, and if I do, I lose. Mental toughness plays one of the biggest roles in a sport like this one. Chris Carmichael says mental toughness is what he looks for first and foremost in a champion. So stop training yourself to be mentally weak. You race like you train. When you train to quit, you will quit in a race as well.

We seem to forget that cycling is actually an endurance sport. The confusion is that in midst of this sport, there are explosive efforts as well. When you think about an explosive effort, you think “hard”, but in all actuality, these short intense efforts are easy and usually fun, so we love to do them. Sure your legs might burn a little and you might breath a little heavy; but what about 10-20 minute threshold efforts, or 4-8 minute anaerobic efforts. What about riding easy until every ounce of energy you have is gone and your knees, back, neck, and hands feel like they are going to explode. We don’t do these efforts because they actually are “hard”. They are hard mentally as well as physically and we simply choose not to do them, and tell ourselves it’s because we need to be able to go “hard” with the group tomorrow. we need to wake up...and stop training to be a quitters.

Lastly, we need to know the difference in an actual endurance ride and a long ride. Just because you ride long, it does not mean your training endurance. There are physiological benefits to riding at an endurance effort for long periods of time. What we have to learn is what an endurance effort actually is. I can ride for 5 hours, and only train my anaerobic system. I just simply push really hard and then coast, push hard, and then coast. Our heart rates monitors have gotten us in trouble as well, because our hearts don’t respond quick enough to match our actual efforts. If I keep my efforts short enough, I can actually achieve this 5 hour sprint workout, and still keep my heart rate in my “endurance zone”. This is basically how I see the majority of people riding. When they hit a little hill, they crush it, then coast down, then crush another, then coast down, and soft pedal all the flats. This is simply teaching yourself to quit. This is not an endurance ride, and it is doing nothing for your aerobic capacity. What about picking a long route, grinding out a gear, telling yourself you wont let this pressure off your pedals until the planned route is complete, and not giving up! Then, when your dog tired, pick out a sign 250 meters away, and sprint as hard as you can through the sign! We have to learn to judge our efforts, and be able to recognize the difference in an aerobic and anaerobic effort, based on feel. If you cannot feel it, there is another solution. Get a coach that can show you how.

This road race is always crazy hard because of all the climbing. Since the pros showed up for the big money in the criterium, they did the road race as well. I am not a climber compared to the better pro climbers, so my plan was to work for my teamate Brian, who wanted a high placing in the overall standings. The plan from the start was for me to be in the early break and survive the first huge climb, so that when over the top I could maybe help Brian until the final climb. No easy task. In the first 12 minutes of a 60 mile race, I averaged 180 bpm and 370 watts! I tried, and tried, and tried to make it into the break, and finally after a huge chase effort...I made it. I was with 3 other pro riders and decided to drive it with them to make sure it stuck. After the first steep climb another group bridged to us. We couldn't get a good rotation, so after a few slipped off, we got caught by the main feild. Three riders were off the front and on the next pretty good climb, some of the big dogs went for the chase. When we reached the bottom I realized that several super strong climbers were up the road, so I decided I needed to get there. I took off and two top climbers rode my wheel about halfway to the break. Thanks to Dan Holt from Team Type 1 making the second half of the bridge, we made the junction. I was now in the break with all the top climbers, which is weird because that break doesn't usually form until after the first huge climb. We hit sand mountain and those guys lit it up! I immediately popped! I pushed about 400 watts for over 12 minutes, but still couldn't hold a wheel! I was now in no mans land and stayed there up and over the top. I kept them in site across the long flat section before the drop down, but when I reached the bottom, they were out of site. I sat up and  let a Hincapie rider catch and worked with him for a minute. He then saw a few teamates of his trying to bridge up so we waited. When they reached us I refused to work with them because that put too many riders in front of Brian. A few miles later, I looked back and saw Brian coming strong with another one of their teamates. We all waited and then had a good rotation until the final climb. I killed myself trying to put as much time on the field for Brian before we reached the final climb. Brian attacked the bottom and dropped all but one rider from out group, and then beat that riders at the top. I kept cramps in my inner thighs the entire last climb but managed to hold off most of the field. I think I finished 17th or so and Brian came in for 10th. This gave Brian 7th overall in the omnium, which was a great finish considering the players. Epic weekend! Looking forward to the Pensicola Stage race in late September! Race data : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110179348

So the River Gorge omnium has traditionally been focused on the road race. This year was different. Lynskey Bikes threw tons of money at the criterium, and when you throw tons of money, you better believe the pros are coming. The start list included a slew of pro riders from Kenda 5 hour energy , Real Cyclist, Team Type 1, Hincapie Devo, Trek Livestrong along with the 40 other category 1,2 riders. The course was interesting. The wind direction seemed to push against us on the flats and the backside was sheltered, so It was an easier race to sit in, but on the front or off the front was a huge challenge, which usually spells field sprint and sometimes carnage! I had a great start and worked into a few breaks early. I am feeling more and more confident racing with pros, so I was very active. When I found myself in a break, I would drive it, letting them know that I was serious about being there. Nothing seemed to work. I made a few breaks attempts, bridged to a few others but all for naught. The highlight of my race came super late. There were 10 laps to go and a break was off the front. We came across the start finish line and they were ringing a preme lap. Preme laps are basically small races for money or merchandise inside the main race. They usually save the best premes for last and the previous ones had been huge. 200 dollars, sram groups, etc...So at the same time I needed to bridge across to the breakaway, they rang the preme. "Why not"? I took off to make the bridge and nobody came with me. I went as hard as I possibly could for a whole lap and actually had the thought "give up, and quit the race" but I kept digging, made the junction, and won the preme. I still had no idea what I had won, but I was now in a great position to win the race. That break stayed out for three more laps, but got caught. When the feild caught us, I knew I had to sit in for a second to get ready for the sprint, so I sank back. Sinking back too far is trouble and I know better. With 7 to go in turn 4, a rider inside of me slid out. His wheel came into mine and sent me on the bull ride of my life. My rear tire bounce around over and over. My thoughts "lean into him, your fine" "mayday mayday" "I'm gonna slide out, wait...I'm gonna flip...wait...I'm gonna hit the curb...wait...I'm good?!?!?.......I saved it! Somehow I stayed on the bull, but had bounced around so hard my front tire came out from the rim. As I sprinted to catch back on, I could hear the "tsss...tss...tss...tss" of the tire rubbing the brakes. I knew something was wrong and as I pulled into the pits, my wheel blew up. I was under the free lap rule, so at that point, my race was over. I took a cool down lap, then found my crew. The first thing my brother said was "You freakin' won those zipps dude!" I said "what?". He informed me that the preme lap I had won was the biggest preme of the night. Zipp 404's! I walked away a happy man! Race Data : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110179369

This race was one of the best races of the season. The venue was awsome and the competition was pretty fierce. I got a text from a team mate telling me that the grant park crit was this weekend so I decided “why not”. It was a one day crit on Sunday, so for some reason I took it very lightly. I did not pre-register and decided to get a good training ride in on Saturday to get ready for River Gorge this upcoming weekend. We rode a good three hours with some hard efforts so I was not planning on being my best for the race, thinking it was a smaller venue. Boy was I wrong!

When I finally decided to check out the start list for the race, I got a little nervous. Pros! Team Type 1 had Ty Magner, Joey Rosscoff, and Dan Holt. Real Cyclist Had Cesar Grajales, Frank Travieso, and Oscar Clark. Mountain Kackis had four riders as well as Kenda 5-hour Energy. Not to mention the other 50 Category 1,2 riders on the list. Around 70 riders started the race, but only 30 or so finished.

I got a good warm up on the rollers and went to the start line about 15 minutes early to ensure a good starting position. I fired off and was 5th position around turn one. From there I mixed into about every break attemp for the first 10 minutes of the race. At one point I thought “weve still got 50 minutes of racing left, I might not make it”. I cooled down for a minute and let several promising moves go up the road, knowing that if I had any chance at this race I would have to use my head.

About halfway into the race, they rang a preme lap and the big dogs took off. Ty Magner, Joey Roscoff, Frank Travieso, Oscar Clark, and a Mountain Kackis rider went for the preme and decided they werent coming back! So on the backside I took off to bridge. I took me a full lap but I made it. I stayed at my max heart rate (200bpm) for about 30 seconds. I was gassed when I got there and decided not to work. Why would I work with 5 pros? Bad decision I think. A little lack of confidence and some burning legs made the decisions for me. We got caught with 3 laps to go and as they sky fell out, three others from the big teams took off.

Looking back, I think I could have went again, but I’m not sure. There were only about 30 riders still in the race so I went to the back and chilled for a minute, hoping we might could catch and I could win it in a field sprint. We couldn’t reel them in, so on the backside again, I took a flyer. I sprinted away on the downhill and went into the “Allison tuck”. I pulled away from the field and went through the downhill wet turn a little recklessly but came out on fire. I started my sprint there with about 1 k to go and a quick glance back at the field assured me that they had no chance to catch me. As I turned the last corner into the finishing strait, I saw the leading three riders playing games. I tried my best to reach them, but came up short as they started their sprint. I was done! I checked again for the field and had put a huge gap on them, so I simply sat up and rolled across the line for forth.

Considering the competition, I feel as though this was one of my best races of the season and I am looking forward to River Gorge this weekend.

I'm not sure if it was the heat, the terrain, the 13 mile time trial to start off the weekend, or the fact that I planned to not feel well this weekend, but ... I did not feel well this weekend.

When you train with periodization, you expect to go through peaks and valleys. The peaks correspond with the A races of your season. This does not mean a rider will go from winning races to being dropped. It is not that big of a swing, but you do feel the fatigue when you ride a peak out for too long. This can be a problem for athletes who have not planned out a season based on periodization. Many will start riding in January, gain some early fitness, race great in March and April and then begin seeing their performances go downhill. Many athletes are fresh from the winter, gain some top-end fitness in the early months, and then cannot sustain this fitness for much more than a month or so. As one’s body begins to accumulate more fatigue, fitness goes south as well.

I planned to peak in April, then again in late June for Nationals. I decided to ride this fitness out through the Presbyterian Criterium in Charlotte on July 30th. It worked like a charm but left me with low batteries this weekend in Oxford. I still had a pretty good weekend, but I knew I wasn’t in peak fitness. I ran a great TT, but it took a lot out of me. It was a hilly 13 mile course, and I rode it at the top of threshold to finish 6th.

The road race wasn’t very interesting. After a few unsuccessful attacks, Mike Olheiser put in a dig that almost splattered the field on flat ground. I was about mid-pack. As everyone caught back up, the front slowed down. I simply kept the gas on and rode away. Isaiah from Herring Gas stayed on my wheel, and we established a 30 second gap very quickly. As we hit the hills on lap one, Isaiah and I were trying to keep it steady, which makes the climbs very slow. Just before the top, I looked back and saw Mike coming across the gap with Matt Davis on his wheel. The field behind was exploded! Isaiah and I had to dig deep to join the freight train coming through. Soon it was a four man rotation. On lap two, Mike pulled the same move and destroyed our group of four. He ended up putting several minutes on us before the finish. We rode two more laps. I cramped on the final climb and rolled in for forth. I spent the next 3 to 4 hours chugging electrolyte tabs and squirting mustard packets into my mouth, trying to nurse the cramps.

The next day was the craziest criterium course ever. They somehow figured out how to cram 11 turns and a steep climb into a 1.4 mile course. It was carnage from the start. The field was blown, and the race was over in the first 2 laps. Chris, a rider from Team Snapple, went hard for two straight laps and created some splits. Then Olheiser decided to push the pace a little, and soon I was the only one on his wheel. Matt Davis made the junction soon after. I didn’t feel strong, and I knew I could not swap licks with those two guys today. I just played the selfish sprinter game, refusing to work. They both threatened to return to the pack, "to hit the reset button," which I simply agreed to. However, they kept pushing even with me there. We lapped the field and several of the groups twice. Eventually they started attacking me, one after another, until they lost me. Matt attacked and I sat up. I was waiting on Mike to go, but he didn't. He simply waited for Matt to get a good gap. Then he attacked. He gapped me and rode up to Matt, who was waiting for him, and they rode off together. I did what I thought I had to do to win, and they did they same. Their hand held up. I rode the last 5 laps solo for a third place finish. I finished 3rd overall in the omnium.

I want to give props to Jim Brock. This was his first race back, and he had a great weekend. I was concerned about how technical nature of the criterium course, but his years of experience kicked in. He had a very impressive sprint to win the field. There was one rider off the front, so he ended up 2nd. He also ran a very impressive time trial and finished 3rd in the road race. This gave him 2nd place overall in the omnium. Jim has had a hard fought comeback both mentally and physically. He has pushed through and is ready to make some noise in Bend, OR at Nationals!

Let me start by saying that this is one of the biggest criteriums in the nation. There were more than 40,000 spectators and $60,000 on the line for the finish as well as prime laps. So as far as money goes, this IS the biggest criterium in the nation.  I started the race in the back again. This is becoming a recurring theme for me in these big races. I think the race for a good starting position is about as tough as the race itself, and with 20 or more riders called to the front, it gets pretty difficult. Maybe subconsciously my warm up timing is more important to me than my starting position. This is an eight turn dumbbell shaped loop, with two right turns and 6 lefts. The strait aways pass each other, which is crazy when a breakaway is off the front because the breakaway riders go right by you in the opposite direction. I lost a bottle after hitting a pothole in turn 4 just before the first strait away. It popped out and fell between my calf and crank arm. So I stopped pedaling in a failed attempt to recover it, which left me scrambling to hang on to the last wheel of the line. There were 137 starters and I was sitting 137th. I didn't panic, but three bottles would have been nice instead of two considering the heat that night and my problem with cramps. In the back of the group you get the YOYO effect. Basically the front keeps a steady 30mph through the turns and straits.  When you are in the back, it bunches up and gets slow in the turns, which means to catch up on the straits you have to accelerate to 35-40mph. This for most riders is a dead sprint! I knew this would happen over and over until my race was over if I didn't move up.  After the 40mph sprint through the straits, I would simply keep digging as the pack came back to bunch up, and see how many people I could pass before slamming the breaks and finding a good line through the turns. I feel like I almost wrecked at least once a lap. By the 30 minute mark, I moved up behind the front bubble. I think I made up the term bubble, referring to the large circle shaped group in the front of the race. There is usually a short line of attacking riders or a lead out just in front of this bubble, and a very long line of struggling riders behind it, simply trying to hang on. The bubble is a comfortable spot. You cannot participate in the race behind it but getting in front of it is a challenge. You have to either squeeze past it in the gutter and hope you don't get pinched out or move around it at 40 mph when it gets lined up. I chose the gutter route and made it. Now we are down to business. It's not easy in the front either because you are going with attacks, behind single riders, or simply fighting to squeeze into line with your head in the wind. I stayed in the front for a good deal of the race and even attacked the United Health Care lead out train and bridged to a failed attempt at a breakaway. UHC bullied the race in the likes of HTC, just as a good sprinter team should. They went with and sat on all the break away attempts.  With 15 laps to go, they started increasing the tempo as the finish got closer. I tried to shove myself into this beautiful UHC choo choo, but one by one each rider in the train simply placed their hand on my hip and pulled himself past me, until I was with the other 15 riders fighting for the tail end of the train. Jonathon Cantwell stayed glued to that train like a champion and got cut off in the sprint.  I guess that is the benefit of having the lead out train and sprinting from the front. I lost position late, and in the last few laps it only got worse. The pace got faster as I cramped more and more. As I went around left hand turns my left hamstring would cramp. Then I would turn right, and my right one would lock up. I would have to stand through some of the curves, which is not safe or efficient. There were twice as many left turns as rights. This might explain why my left hamstring still feels pulled. In the last lap, I was simply closing gap after gap until the gap seemed too big to close. I looked back and had about 12 followers.  I slowed up, went to the back of my group and then sprinted past the majority of them in the finishing strait. The payout went 30 riders deep. I finished 29th. I was much more pleased with the way I felt and raced than the 29th place finish and the 85 bucks that came with it. I know I can race with these guys, and that is a good feeling. I want to especially thank Jim Brock and Will Hibberts for all of their training help lately. Jim has a funny way of pushing me to my very limits on the bike. ;)  Hope everyone enjoyed the helmet cam video.

New course for this year. Less climbing but the wind was rough. We did 6 laps of 10 miles. The first Lap was very active as usually with Mike, Chris and Stuart covering most of the moves. After the first lap, there were several big attacks and as it slowed down, I simply rolled off the front to see if I could slip away. I got a decent gap while checking to see if anyone was up chasing, and soon I saw a single file line behind me, which meant they were coming strong, so I shut it down. As they cought me, a few more attacks went off, then again, as it slowed, I rolled off. It doesnt take alot of effort to just roll away when the pace is slow but you can't create a good gap fast. So like last time, I keep checking to see if others would chase. Bryant Funston from Marx and Bendsdorf, whom I have worked well with in the past bridged up quickly with nobody on his wheel and I pulled him along, checking the pack behind me every few seconds. This time they gave us a little breathing room and we jammed it. I rode anaerobically for a few minutes and soon the gap was around 30 seconds. The guy with me was happy to do his share of work and by the next lap, we had over a minute on the feild. I told him to keep pushing hard until the gap grew to a minute and a half and then we could back off. We settled into a good tempo and worked very well together. With us both being big, we can do alot of damage on the flats and downhills so we really backed off on the uphills. This makes total sense to me as when one person is killing it on the flats, the other guy can benefit greatly from the draft until his turn. If you go hard on the hills, the guy behind has to work hard too and then you are both hurting when its time to crush the flats. We kept the gap at 1.5 until the motorcycle told us there was a chase group of 4 one minute behind. Just after the third lap they caught us and my teamate Brian Toone looked strong as always. The chase group was Chris Brown, Will Fyfe, Brian, and a Strong Krystal Cycling rider whom I've never ridin with before. Everyone seemed motivated to work and the gap grew. Behind us in the feild was a very motivated Jan Kolar, Jake Andrews, and Travis Werts who tried and tried to bridge the gap, but were shut down by Chris, Mike, and Stuart. I think that working to sit wheels in the feild is a harder job that actually being in the breakaway, since there is attack after attack, and you have to cover all of them. With a lap to go, the motivation to work together lessened and the attacks began. I was surprised to see that me and brian didn't have to do much attacking but were put on the defensive several times by the other strong riders. Bryant, the guy who went with me initially cramped up and fell off of our group, but the other 5 went to the line together. My teamate Brian gave up any chance to win by setting tempo on the front for the last K and then leading out the sprint for me. Brian jumped and ramped the speeds up to around 35 with Chris Brown on his wheel. I sat still until about 250 meters and then jumped. "when in doubt, lead it out". When you jump first, you have the element of surprise, but chance having someone catch your slipstream and come around you at the line as you fade. I was able to gap the others with the initial acceleration and was able to hold it through the line. The sprint topped out at 43.5. Brian Held on for forth. Chris led the feild sprint our for Mike and Stuart, who placed very well. I dont know exact placing but they finished somewhere 8th-15th. Overall a very impressive day for Birmingham Velo! I Hope we can replicate it tomorrow for the criterium.

So we all learned to "pace yourself" when running the mile in elementary school. To me it makes alot of sense. The problem is that we learn to pace ourselves on flat tracks. Where we have gotten out of that, is on the mixed terrain on which we ride. We look at speed, trying to "pace" and end up doing intervals because of the hills and the wind. Keeping a consistant speed on a mixed terrain is no different that doing intervals on a flat controlled course or indoor trainer. If you were going to try to have the best speed on a flat course with no wind and no hills, would you go really hard, then easy, then hard then easy, or would you pace yourself, like you did when you were a kid running the mile? The upside of intervals is it helps with high end speed for short periods of time, and with the right timing in between, it can help with recovery and lactate buffering. Is there a place for that in triathlons? In my opinion....NO! Off and on efforts waste energy...consistant efforts save energy just like in the elementary mile. So...when you have to do a triathlon, and the terrain is mixed (hilly or mixed winds), you have to judge effort, not speed, to stay consistant. If you go hard on the hills, then have to recover, push hard into the headwind, then recover, you are simply doing intervals and wasting energy. You must learn the effort at which you can hold for the specific duration of the event and keep it there. Meaning your speeds will be way slower on the hills and headwinds, and way faster on the downhills and tailwinds, which in turn averages out a little faster than the intervals, plus your saving tons of energy. If this were a time trial, or just the bike leg of a tri, it would still make sense, but we havn't even mentioned the run you must do after the bike. The energy you can save on the bike can lead to an amazing run afterwards. Im sure most amatuers go all out the whole time and just simply finish the run, thinking "I went as hard as I possibly could". Im sure you did, but is that smart?  We can do better than that. Just like the elemetary mile run, we should pace ourselves throughout the swim, bike, and run, so that the overall time is improved. Next week Ill go over some quadrant analysis, disecting force and cadence. Ever thought about what kind of cadence is best to conserve energy on the bike so that you save energy for the run?

168k of rolling hills at 95+ degrees made for a tough day in saddle. I believe 216 riders started so I made sure to get a good position on the line. We came out of the first curve going 35mph and that increased to 42 before the first hill. I ran out of my 54/11 several times on this course. But what goes down must come up, and that it did, over and over and over and over. I had to learn to position myself and keep my momentum from the downhills to pass everyone half way up the climbs (even if I had to go in the grass), and then let them pass me back when it got tough. This and staying on the correct side of the peleton out of the wind, was the best way I could find to conserve energy while staying towards the front. Energy conservation was the key here as attrition really took its toll on the majority of the riders. Only 103 actually finished, some of these being dropped riders too. I had some issues with my feed zone planning but my mother and stuart lamp (who flatted out early) came to the rescue. I wont bore you with those details but just know that I would have pulled out of this race at mile 30 if they didnt do what they did. Long story but my mother somehow picked me out of 200 riders, and with perfect handoffs, provided me with a cold bottle, iced socks, gu packets, and cliff bars on everysingle lap. Stuart provided the goods. So most of the race I fought for position and climbed hard to recieve the feeds and waited to play my carbs on the final climb. A small group formed on the last lap, from twos and threes going off the front and coming together. They somehow stayed away from the main feild. The way the final climb played out was a fast descent onto a 1k climb that came to a false flatt with 300 meters to the finish. Not exactly a sprinters finish, but I knew I still had the juice. I started way back knowing that most would pop and started picking people off when I started cramping up on the inner thigh. I didnt want to stand just yet but was forced to and when I did, the quads locked to. I sat back down and stood back up a few times before the finish and ended up sprinting the last lap totally locked up. Hard to control the bike much less create any power with the cramps. But that is part of it. I was well hydrated, and had tons of electrolytes and food, just not the fitness to win this thing. It is hard to simulate these kinds of races in training. For this race, a good simulation would half to be over 4 hours, with probobly 30 intervals at or around threshold, anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, around 50-60 high cadence accelerations over threshold and a few 30 second to 3 minute max efforts. Like I said...hard to train specifically for these kinds of races. And when you dont train like you race, you deplete all the glycogen. And when you deplete the glycogen, you cramp. When you cramp, you don't win. Train Specifically!

 This was definately top notch racing! I Saw alot of familiar faces I remember from the Pro criteriums in Anniston and Athens. I think we averaged around 30mph with a few more slow points than the NRC events. There were less big teams to keep it flying but this only means there were more accellerations. I made up my mind to settle in as nicely as I could towards the front, far enough back to stay out of the attacks but far enough up to stay out of trouble and the yo-yo. I did a good job staying settled, but still seemed to run 180 plus bpm the whole race. Thats above 90% for two hours. This was a 50 mile criterium, and it is very difficult to train for two hours above 90%, and the local races are only one hour, so the attrition and sun got to me. I ran out of water and started cramping late. I fought my way into the top 15 and with 5 to go I made a move and settled into 5th wheel. I stayed here fighting for two laps until a swarm came by too fast for me to push into. I  got pushed back to about 30 deep, tried to fight my way back up on the last lap, which left me with no sprint. Apparently nobody behind me felt like sprinting either because i locked up with about 50 meters to go and nobody came around. Not sure who won but Rahsaan Bahatti finished 2nd. 152 racers started and only 61 finished. I ended up 23rd. I am please for my first trip to Nationals, but know that with some more pro crits like this under my belt, I can do much better. The Road Race is on Sunday. 110 miles of rolling hills. Full Crit results on usacycling.org

A great weekend up in memphis started with a big win in the circuit race. It was a very fast, safe course with one descent climb. We did 9 laps covering about 25 miles so it was fairly short. Nate Brown from the Trek Livestrong U23 team was there with a HUGE target on his back and I can't say I wasnt aiming at it. First lap he killed the hill and I almost ended my race trying to stay with him. I recovered and was able to work with him, and I took the feild two laps to bring us back. He chilled a few laps and breaks went up the road like crazy. I trusted he knew what he was doing and waited. He attacked a few laps later on the hill and flew by the riders up the road. This happened several times, but somehow never stuck. I didnt work hard in any of the breaks because the sprint was a flat 1k drag into a headwind and I knew I had the power. Last lap I was on Nates wheel all the way up the climb, he didnt make a move so the climb was slow and just over the top was the 1kilo sign. I kept my wheel free and put my head in the wind to keep good position until it lined up for the sprint. I lined up 4th wheel. Marx and bendsdorf had a leadout to 400 meters and "freinds" took us to 300. I marked a rider who seemed to have great acceleration and fitness throughout the race, and it payed off. He jumped at 300 meters and I was able to suck in behind him still seated until about 200. I came out and around hard, sat down for about seconds, shifted to a bigger gear and grinded it out for the win.

The time trail was a 4 mile out and back, with a few rollers and some descent wind. I have gotten alot better at my sustained efforts and actually rode one of the best TT's ever. I averaged 30mph on a road bike with the turnaround, so my speed average was actually a little higher than thirty. But still it is hard to compete with full aero TT bikes with disk wheels and aero helmets, and I ended up 11th. I ran an 8:07. Props to Nate Brown who past me just after the turn around going much faster than I was. He ran a 7:11.

I came Into the crit knowing that second place in the crit gave me the overall win, but I don't ever play for second. Im just not a stage racer. I play for premes, cash, and the stage win. After a few boo boo attacks in the first few laps, Nate took off like a rocket. There was a terrible crosswind and I was on the left side of the echelon staying protected, and nate flew out on the right, directly into the wind. I knew that I missed the wheel and didnt want any part of the headwind coming up, but knew I could make the bridge soon. Several riders responded, but went too hard into turn one and crashed out. I made it through safely and decided to go for it. Before the race I wrote down the top five rider's numbers on my handlebars. They were all with me, and we were all ready to work to catch Nate. We would have cought him, no doubt in my mind but as we came around the next lap, they had neutralized the race because of some serious injuries in the wreck. We stopped for about 10 minutes and restarted. They basically said Nate had a 10 second gap on the feild, so they gave him a 10 second head start. Totally different scenario now, and we never saw him again. The feild was very active, and with the cross winds, it split several times. I was in probobly 4 different breakaways, one being a two man break which lasted the latter half of the race, but was finally pulled back. I think I won all the cash premes, one being an all out effort to barely steal the gambler preme from Travis Sherman, who had shot a strong flyer, and left me with nothing in the tank for the final sprint a lap later. I finished 6th in the crit, which wasnt good enough to hold on to the overall win in the omnium. Nate won the omnium but in my opinion, the cash premes were worth it! Off to Nationals

I have run across several people in the past few days talking about stomach problems in the heat, and with some probing, I think I know the problem. I'm not a scientist or nutritionist, so I can't give you any reliable data or accurate numbers, but I sometimes tend to put two and two together and come up with my own theories. So...first of all, lets talk about energy systems. Basically while exercising, your going to be using fat, glycogen, and ATP for energy. There aren't any fine lines that say once you past a certain intensity, you start using a different system. Your always using a little of everything. But there are times when you use more of one system than the other. The lower the intensity, the more fat you will be utilizing. The more intense the workout gets, the more you lean towards complex carbs and on towards simple sugars for energy production. When looking at labels of performance drinks and powders, make sure you look at the ratio of carbs to sugar. I know that carbs are sugars, but there are different kinds. If it says 25g carbs and 25g sugar, you know you will be drinking pure sugar. If it says 25g carbs and 3 grams of sugar, you might as well be gulping down whole grain bread! When talking to several people with the stomach problems, I simply ask "whats in your bottles?" I seem to get the same responses. Heed or gu brew. I remember a few years ago taking heed in my bottle and having the same stomach problems on a hot day, so I decided to check out some lables. Not to my suprize, I found that heed and gu brew have almost no sugar. Also the gu gels are low in sugar, meaning that these products are mostly complex carbs. So lets go back to energy systems. Consider what kind of system the ride or race call for. Will it be short and hard, long and slow, long and hard. Then decide if it would be a great idea to pull a few slices of whole grain bread out of your jersey and chew it down in a criterium, in 100 degree weather. Sounds like a joke right? That would be obsurd! So why would we want to use these products! I am not knocking the products at all, and they are much better than simple sugar products on a long endurance day. So always consider three things. Weather, duration and intensity. Alot of products are half and half carbs to sugar. Check out products like the powerbar gels, drinks, accelerade, cytomax, powerade, gatorade. And for a crit on a hot day, maybe consider just water, or a light mixture of coke and water, or grapjuice and water, which is the simplest sugar there is. It will be easier on the stomach than the whole grain bread and you will actually be able to use the energy you take in, rather than it wadding up in your stomach. And don't second guess me when you see the pros eating little sandwiches, these sandwiches are white bread, which is also a simple sugar. The pros will also be drinking cokes toward the end of rides, because it gives them instant energy for the last kick. So in a your 45 minute crit or hour and half group ride...the whole ride is the last kick! One other thing to consider is that Is that there isnt much difference in the intesities of the weekday kill it ride and the race you do that weekend. So don't go putting 2 heaping scoops into each bottle (even if it is pure sugar) and popping gels before the races, when you simply take a few bottle of cold water with you on the group rides. Your not bonking then so you wont be bonking in the races!

Four turns, wide open, flat and fast. As a sprinter, I knew that if I could just stay with the top 2 or three, I could win the race. I got the advice from a little bird before the race to not go with the early stuff, but to wait on something that looks promising and go across to it. I took the advice a little to faithfully, started in the back and missed the two man aerocat break on the first lap. Herring tried to put a few guys on the front, I refused to help, and the break was gone. So were racing for second place. Herring attacked...aerocat sat...herring attacked aerocat sat. This went on for a few laps until Herring took off with Aerocat following, and got out of site. I decided to make the bridge. I made it quickly, worked a little bit, then attacked, knowing that I couldnt make the bridge to the two leaders, but knowing that herring couldnt hang, but wanted to show my disgust from the day before. I dropped herring and I rode a few laps dragging aerocat until I finally called it quits. We sank back and joined a group of two more aerocats with one more herring. So now the chase group is me, two herring and 3 aerocat. We worked until we saw the pack and aerocat stopped working. Apparently the two lead riders lapped the pack and one attacked again and bridged to us. So out of knowhere, another aerocat shows up in our break. The race got really easy from here just keeping the gap at halfway off the front and not lapping. At five laps to go, Aerocat started their leadout, but mistakingly went a little too hard. They had 5 guys, and the sprint was only about 200 meters. I knew they werent trying for a pro lead out where one guy after another goes as hard as possible until the sprint, but they were trying to go fast enough for no attacks and all of them sprint for 3-8th place. I knew I wouldnt be able to push in the line and knew I couldnt come around 5 of them with only 200 meter of sprint, so I did the unexpected. With two laps to go, they started the fast leadout too early and got close enough to see the feild. They started fumbling and talking about slowing down to not catch and just at that time, I killed it...I attacked all out and in half a lap...made the bridge to the feild. I came around the feild in the two bottom turns in the gutter, yelling at everyone to get out of the way, and when i reached the front I just kept driving. I rode the last lap at over 200 bpm (my max heart rate) and came into the last turn with a clean rear wheel. Aerocat had to revert, waste 3 guys, and lead out only two that past me on the line. I feel as though I made them sweat and freak out, and that was worth 6th place over the 3rd that I might could have gotten waiting on the sprint. Ive always said "when in doubt, lead it out" and when you see an opportunity, you better take it...cause you dont wanna be riding your cool down laps saying if I would have, but rather giving every ounce of effort, and selling out to beat the odds. All in all...I feal like Im flying right now...and all it took was a little discipline in a few certain ereas of training.

First of all, please excuse any typos as I'm typing in anger. Aerocat showed with their top 6. Herring Gas with more than that. A few other small teams. Racing solo was tough as Aerocat was attacking in twos, with no response from Herring, so I had to go with several unsucessful moves. I think I am marked a little bit as a sprinter and It has become increasingly difficult to find someone to work with me in a break, instead of just sitting on me and trying again. After a few laps, an attack came from two aerocat, and I made up my mind not to go with it, thinking that Herring with a full squad might try a move and work to bring it back. They did nothing...so I decided to try to bridge. I attacked and with a clean rear wheel, missed a turn. This course had 11 turns and I've never raced it before. They had just small orange spraypainted arrows pointing to the right direction. So as I missed the turn. The feild behind started yelling at me and I looked back and saw them all turn. So instead of stopping, turning around, and putting in a 10 minute chase, I saw where the course came back on just ahead and rolled to there. I got back on the course. Let the moto, followed by the two lead guys, followed by two chasers, and the entire feild go by and hooked onto the back of the feild. This was only lap two. 20 minutes into an hour and half race. So ive now missed the break and am on the back of the feild. I worked my way back up and after a few more laps, tried again. I was followed by aerocats Andy Crater, who was coming off a podium a week ago at the NRC race in Wilmington. After a lap, I closed the gap to 10 seconds, Crater attacked me and I was barely able to hang on, the gap after his attack was down to about 5 seconds but I was done. I went back to the feild and sat in for a few laps. With 3 to go, 12 miles, Crater attacked about 5 times in a row until he finaly got away, from me mainly. I rested for a second, and then went again. I closed to Crater in the first lap but just didnt have enough to get to him. He eventually caught the break!!! I rode the last three laps cross-eyed and held off a fast feild. I saw 200bpm for the last two laps, which is my max heart rate, and rolled across for forth.

I guess I'll start by saying if you have never been to the The Terrapin (athens) Twilight races, you must go. Even if you dont race, there is no way you could come here and not have an awsome time!

Despite giving myself an extra hour cushion, and using my GPS. I found myself stuck in Atlanta traffic going in the wrong direction and arrived at the Grid Qualifiers at 3:40 p.m. My start time was 3:45! The Grid Qualifiers are something you dont see too much. Chad Andrews, with Total Cyclist, set up eight computrainers on a stage. Almost 90 racers then mount up in heats of 8, and compete on an eight minute virtual time trial of the actual Twilight course. The competition is based on your strength to weight ratio. So I come flying in on two wheels, park illegaly (got a ticket), threw my front wheel on my bike, bag on my back and rolled up to the stage. I yelled at chad as I rolled up and he calmy said "settle down your fine, you have 3 minutes"!!! I litterally finished getting dressed on stage in front of tons of people, while they mounted and calibrated my bike. I got weighed in (205 with my bike. oink...oink) did a one minute spin up and hit it. I started super slow trying not to blow up, going strictly by feel, almost accepting failure to the eighty other pros competing, but quickly realized that I wasn't far behind and my legs were ok, so then I really started cranking. At halfway, I was in eighth place (last), but by the two minute to go mark, I had moved into 4th, and took over the 3rd place guy at the line. It was actually cool to hear the announcer saying, "Pat moves into 7th...Pat Allison on the end takes over another spot...Allison moves to 5th, 4th, 3rd"! I averaged 417 watts for eight minutes (5.25w/kg i think) which landed me in 16th place overall.

Twilight night race.

Athens is unique in that there are qualifying races for the amatuers all day. Each race takes the top percentage of riders, and puts them into one final race located in the downtown area where all the people and festivities are. So I rolled up just in time to see the start of this race. I was absolutely taken back at the speed, and before the halfway point, half of the feild was gone. I couldnt imagine that we would be even faster. The first 20 minutes were nuts and there were several crashes. My brother described it as "dodging asteroids", and he was towards the front! I thought "we are definately in Athens!"

I got a great warm-up on the rollers, which everyone seemed to love. I guess a non-cycling and their kids would be sortof taken back by rollers, and I always love the extra attention from the drunk UGA kids running circles around me. I was seeded 19th, just behind the call ups, and thought we were going to be lined up based on our number. WRONG. I timed my warm up to get there late as I know call ups take 30 minutes or so, and found that everyone was already lined up, and I was only placed along with the other who simply "did" the computrainer qualifier, no matter how they finished. There were only another handful of riders behind me, so I knew I had my work cut out for me. Lesson learned. I finished 11th here last year with a back start, but didnt know how my fitness was compared to then. I found myself picking groups of riders off right from the start and actually thinking to myself "this isnt that hard". My teamate Brian, who also started in the back despite thinking he would get a call up from his usa crits series top 10 from last year, said the same thing. Knowing that this race is 80 laps, almost 2 hours above 90% max HR, you actually notice the fatigue, not just the burn. So I moved up closely behind Brian, as he is a super smart energy saver. It worked perfectly and we both found ourselves sitting pretty about 20 riders back where it gets a little more comfy. Bad luck struck as a rider went down in turn one, directly in front of us. Brian went over the top of him, and I came to a complete stop. Something a crit rider should always learn is when to go back to the pits for a free lap, and when not to. The majority of the time you get caught behind a wreck, you need to find a way to get a free lap. Fake a fall, or rub some dirt on yourself. But in this case, I think trying my best to dodge the wreck, and using the energy to catch back on and keep my position in the front would have been best because there were so many riders that got stopped. I watched as the 80 or so riders behind me came to a stop and though "this is bad". I was put in the same boat as them as far as coming out of the pits and ended up back where I started, fighting for the front. Brian, on the other hand flatted, so it took a little longer, giving him an extra free lap, and a much smaller group to come out of the pits with, which worked out really well in his favor as he jumped back into the feild in good position. Eventually I made it back towards the front, but had spent so much energy, I couldn't make anything happen in the last 5 laps when it counted. Brian went off the front for a cash preme and got it, so we all got to hear his name called out. I believe he finished 26th and I rolled in somewhere under 50. We averaged almost 30mph for two hours. I was very happy with my fitness as I moved around well and made it from the back to the front twice, and am leaving with an overall good feeling about this weekend. I spent the cool down lap high-fiving every person I could, steeling beer sips and showing off my neon shoes. At Twilight, you are a god for a few hours. A star. You feel like one of the pros...

I'm going to try my best to make this short, but it was a 4 part, 3 day, stage race, and there is alot to say.

This was one of the best overall weekends I have had so far in my career as a cyclist. Me, Brian, Justin, and Mike departed from Bob's Bikes at 11:30 friday morning for the night criterium. We joked and laughed, but silently prayed about weeving out way through the tornados. And Looking back on the drive, I feel very blessed and my heart goes out to the families of the lives lost.

Stage one: Friday night criterium. The move was initiated by Matt Davis (la sport), Brian (my teamate), and Baine Foote (herring gas). Those three got a good gap and I followed two others about halfway across to them. The two riders in front realized they couldnt make it, and when they sat up, I attacked and went across alone, and as soon as I got there, I went to the front, making sure it wasnt a wasted effort. 4 other riders came across, but one soon fell off. Justin and Mike worked hard in the feild covering any attempts to bring the break back. The four initial riders drove the break, lapped the feild, and moved strait to the front, barely avoiding a late crash. The finish was super fast with x-pro russ walker leading out matt. I couldnt quite come around matt but with Brian on my wheel, we turned in a very impressive 2nd, and 3rd, putting two minutes on the rest of the feild.

Stage two: 80 mile rolling course with heavy crosswinds made for a very tough race. There were tons of attacks early and we were represented in every break, but non stuck until the last lap. Mike was in a large early break, and Justin went off the front with a single rider about mid race and made it tough for the other teams. The final move went on a bad crosswind section, that played in my favour as a larger rider. There was a move that I covered, then a counterattack by matt and baine, leaving me being the only one of us in position to go. I think I spent 50% of my energy in those 10 minutes of the race to bridge to those guys. But after making the bridge, the race was over from there. I helped drive the break until we caught local rider travis sherman and one other rider, who had slipped off a little before us. After catching travis, I sat on, not wanting the time gap to overtake brian's 2 mintue lead over travis. But travis had good legs and matt davis was super motivated to put more time on brian. So the gap grew to almost 4 minutes by the end. I cramped up and couldnt come around in the end. I finished third. Brian blew the feild sprint away for 5th, but was wrongly awarded no time gap, which came back to bite us in the end.

Stage 3: Time trial. Short flatt time trial didnt fit us on our road bikes compared to the guys in full aero gear so none of us did well, but still managed to hold our overall times to 3rd and 7th.

Stage 4: New course made for a short easy final day. Rolling terrain with nowhere to get away led to a feild sprint. First year bad team comunication led to a somehow dissapointed feeling of a 3rd and 4th place finish by me and brian. So we left for home trying to convince ourselves that 3rd and 4th is very good, but knowing that we could have done things differently and maybe came out with a stage win. The overall came out with me in 3rd, Brian in 7th, and justin staying consistantly with the feild each day, and running just good enough in the time trial to come away with 3rd place in the 3 category and moving his way into the 17th overall, the last spot payed.

Really great weekend for tria. Be sure to read Brian's blog as it will probobly more detailed and better depicted than mine.

Wow! Where do I start. This was the fastest crit I have ever done. Usually in these races, You can hang on for dear life for the first 30 minutes or so, then after the breakaway gets established, it slows down until about 45minutes later when the break laps the feild. Last night, the pro teams were out for blood and there was no breakaway. The pace stayed unbelievably high for over 90 minutes. 60 laps. I sacrificed a little lag time between my warm up and start, to make sure I got a good starting position. It worked and I was one of the first guys on the line. The announcers made us take a lap, and when I came back around, somehow there were 100 riders already lined up in front of me. Perfect! But no excuses, I just didn't have the fitness. For 20 laps I slowly moved up, for the next 15 or so, I could not make myself move up, and the next 5 or so, I just prayed to finish, and finally fell off the back with about 18 laps to go. Bummer. I have some work to do. But what kind of work? My heart rate stayed above 93% the whole race, and at times, went up to 97%. Most people would say...well that in anaerobic, so you need to improve your anaerobic capacity. What I say...nobody can stay anaerobic for over an hour, so there has to be another way. The key here is threshold power, and muscular endurance. So...I have to train spefically to bring my threshold up around 93-95%. This might sounds impossible, but it's not. Also, that 93% has to at a wattage high enough to ride that fast; which is probobly around 600-1000 watts at times. And I have to be able to push those same watts and even more, for over 90 minutes. I wish I had a power meter, but I have my ways. I know what has to be done, now I just have to do it!

I knew that we would have a few more riders tonight with it being the first week we could really give people a heads up about it. But I was shocked to see about 20 riders there. I feel like the ride went really well as we finished with the same 20 as we started with. We had one flat tire, Chris stayed back, got it fixed and rode back in with him. I really have no clue what went on behind me. I dont know if people were hurting the whole time or chilling. I would assume some were hurting and some chilling. But I would love to get some feedback. I don't know how to get this out to all the people who participated but if you read this, please leave comments, even if they are short and sweet. I really want this to grow so I would like to know peoples likes and dislikes. If it gets a lot bigger, we might think about two groups...but I will have to find a good leader for a second group. Thanks to all who showed and hope to see you next week. Tell your freinds.

Everyone wants to blog about their good days, so let's talk about a bad one. Last night in Dothan, with $10,000 on the line, a great teamate to work with and fresh legs, I had one of the worst performances of the my carreer. I'm not gonna lie, It was a super fast race with several pro teams represented and some of the best pro am cat one teams in the nation. But I have raced with these guys for over a year now and I usually come out with a good finish. The course fit me, I feel that I am riding strong right now, I have backed off of training to peak for the big upcoming races and was totally pumped about the $10,000 available in this race. The race started, I mixed it up for about the first 15 laps, and shortly realized that the legs just werent there. I started to fall back and was not recovering well. My stomach knotted up, legs began cramping, and I started feeling dizzy. I pulled out of the race after 35 laps, leaving my teamate Brian Toone out to dry. He did the work of 5 men, and still managed 11th place. He's a maniac! Everyone sais "well, you can't always have good days". I agree that you can't always have the best days due to the circumstances of races, but this was different. I didnt feel like myself. I pride myself on setting up my training and racing to know how I am supposed to feel for certain races, and for this race, I was supposed to feel good. So what was the problem?

Problem one: I took the entire week easy and my body was shocked at the intensity. Solution: "Open up" the day before...which I usually do, but I don't think I did enough the day before to really get my body opened up after a whole week of rest.

Problem two: I usually eat oatmeal or cerial for breakfast, subway for lunch, and drink a light diet coke/water mixture before and during the race. We were on the road, so I a Mcdonalds breakfast, Moe's for lunch(at the race), and gatorade and regular coke before and during the race (because this race was a little longer). I felt sick from the start. Solution: find a routine and stick to it at all costs.

Problem three: I raced scared. I saw several crashes in other races due to the fast open corners. People were rolling tubulars left and right. My father crashed and went to the E.R. with neck injuries(hes ok). With this being a big race, I borrowed some $3000 Zipp tubular race wheels, glued them the day before, and was scared to death to race them how I needed to. In criteriums, one of the most important things is cornering. If you slow down in the corners, you have to really accelerate to catch up. Then you have to recover. With a 50 lap race, 4 corners a lap, I was doing 400 extra 20 second all out sprints for no reason! Solution: Find a routine, and stick to it at all costs!!!!! You have to be confident in your bike set up and race aggressive.

Hey guys, I have been wanting to lead an intermediate ride for a long time, and feel like I can be consistent with a 6:00p.m. group on Thursday nights. Please try to spread the word. I am targeting riders who want to learn, not those who know it all. If somebody shows up that knows it all, they will be asked to not come back. There is a way to go fast without going super hard, and I will show you here. The speed will be set by me and only me for the first few rides until we establish an understanding about the purpose of the ride. Then we might try to ease into paceline work. I promise this ride is for everyone in between, so don't be afraid to come try it out. For the first few rides, we will simply head out to Irondale and come back on old leeds until we figure out exactly how much daylight we will have. Feel free to call or e-mail me if you have any questions. 205-790-3863 pla23@bellsouth.net

Well the best blog to check out is Brian's at http://toonecycling.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/tour-de-tuscaloosa-race-report-2/

But I will tell you my side of the story...which is much more interesting than a 70 mile 3 man breakaway to win the state title...lol. So...as we roll out of the neutral zone...I make a psss...sss...sss...sss sound behind brians wheel and he freaks out and tells me "hey...thats not nice"...I love messing with brian now that hes a teamate. We had talked about traditionally the breakaway going early in this race and that he was the man for the job. He was warming up on the rollers and I was still getting dressed when they called us to the line so he was the man for the job. As soon as we were flagged go...he took off on a wheel, got up the road, got caught, then took off again. I sat and watched hoping he could slip off. He did. He followed jacob brewar up the road but i knew just the two of them wouldnt make it and knew I would have to go on the counter attack. As we crested the first hill, Dan Holt took off, not to bring them back, but to bridge. Normal teamate strategy would be to sit on Dan's wheel and let him drag me to the counter, but I thought "maybe just let Dan get there and those three could definately stay away". So I sat up...Dan made the bridge, and the race was over. Behind them was total carnage with every other rider not represented trying to bridge. Alot of Accelerations made me worry about cramping out but my legs held up. Team Type 1 rider Joey Roskoff set tempo up the feed zone hill hard enough to split the feild on almost every lap...and after about the forth lap...the split stayed away. I remember it being me, 3 Team Type 1 Riders, 2 strong hincapie riders, Mountain kackis, and about four more stragglers. I sat on like a champ not speaking with anyone. On the final lap, Team Type 1 along with Hincapie and Mountain kackis attacked one after another. I stuck the moves, barely making it over the last climb and bringing it to a feild sprint, where I knew I had the best chance. With a lead out from sprinter Tye magner, I couldnt quite come around Roskoff but with a huge bike lunge, managed to finish second in the feild, which was fifth overall. Very glad to be racing with Brian and not agaist him. Look for big things from Tria this year!

Well the best blog to check out is Brian's at http://toonecycling.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/tour-de-tuscaloosa-race-report-2/

But I will tell you my side of the story...which is much more interesting than a 70 mile 3 man breakaway to win the state title...lol. So...as we roll out of the neutral zone...I make a psss...sss...sss...sss sound behind brians wheel and he freaks out and tells me "hey...thats not nice"...I love messing with brian now that hes a teamate. We had talked about traditionally the breakaway going early in this race and that he was the man for the job. He was warming up on the rollers and I was still getting dressed when they called us to the line so he was the man for the job. As soon as we were flagged go...he took off on a wheel, got up the road, got caught, then took off again. I sat and watched hoping he could slip off. He did. He followed jacob brewar up the road but i knew just the two of them wouldnt make it and knew I would have to go on the counter attack. As we crested the first hill, Dan Holt took off, not to bring them back, but to bridge. Normal teamate strategy would be to sit on Dan's wheel and let him drag me to the counter, but I thought "maybe just let Dan get there and those three could definately stay away". So I sat up...Dan made the bridge, and the race was over. Behind them was total carnage with every other rider not represented trying to bridge. Alot of Accelerations made me worry about cramping out but my legs held up. Team Type 1 rider Joey Roskoff set tempo up the feed zone hill hard enough to split the feild on almost every lap...and after about the forth lap...the split stayed away. I remember it being me, 3 Team Type 1 Riders, 2 strong hincapie riders, Mountain kackis, and about four more stragglers. I sat on like a champ not speaking with anyone. On the final lap, Team Type 1 along with Hincapie and Mountain kackis attacked one after another. I stuck the moves, barely making it over the last climb and bringing it to a feild sprint, where I knew I had the best chance. With a lead out from sprinter Tye magner, I couldnt quite come around Roskoff but with a huge bike lunge, managed to finish second in the feild, which was fifth overall. Very glad to be racing with Brian and not agaist him. Look for big things from Tria this year!

Me and Chris were the brave souls from tria to compete in the Pro 1,2 race this weekend in Union City. Justin Bynum, Jacob Tubbs and Phillip Thomson did the threes. I knew it would be a tough race when I looked at the feild, consisting several pro teams. Team Type One, Kenda, Real Cyclist, Round Here Cyclist, & Specialized Juniors. Not to mention the stacked feild of "locos", Iron Data, & Aerocat. The crit, as you can imagine was flying from the start. The backside was superfast as I recorded top speeds over 40mph. And with the slight hill into the headwind, It made for an even tougher race. Chris worked hard early for me and then slowly fell back and pulled out before the finish. I found myself marking certain guys, and actually thought I made the winning break, but got pulled back in after a few really tough laps. I managed to win the MAR (most aggressive rider) which adds to the omnium total. A little rusty as this was my first race of the season I screwed up the last corners and found myself sprinting from too deep. I ended up 9th with Emile Abraham winning with Tye magner just behind him in second.

For the Road race, I almost got dropped in the first mile. These pro guys act invincible in the local races so they thought it would be funny to hit it from gun. We actually passed the lead car and the motor cycle got trapped behind a garbage truck so we were free to do as we please, which was pandimonium for the first few miles on the four lane highways. They got us under control and the break was established. I didnt want any part of a 75 mile 6 man breakaway so I settled in the pack and marked any chase groups. Iron Data managed to pull 3 of the riders from the break back just before the finished. The last 3 miles were nuts, but I managed to stay out of trouble, position myself at fifth wheel coming around the last corner. I passed several and It was a photo finish between me and two others for the feild sprint. I ended up 6th. Chris did a great job helping bring back some chase groups I missed and ended up hanging on for 15th. With the crit points, MAR points, and the weighted 6th in the RR points, I ended up 2nd for the Omnium behind Tye Magner from Team Type One. Not a bad weekend.

Just wanted to talk a little bit about how to improve your climbing. The common problem I see, especially here in birmingham (where the hills are short and steep) is that everyone works on anaerobic efforts. That means going really hard for short periods of time. And if the hill is a little too long, they will pop and assume that they are bad climbers. All this means is that your anaerobic capacity can't get you all the way up the hill. Climbing is supposed to be aerobic (under threshold). This is why most climbers cant sprint, and most sprinters cant climb. It is not all about strength to weight ratio (although it plays a big role). This is why most sprinters in the Tour can't make it throught the mountains. Big or small, The guys in the Tour that can climb, can also time trial (lance, contador, Indurance, Ulrich). Sustained efforts under threshold is the key. First of all you have to find your threshold. Then you have to structure your workouts to raise it your threshold. Once you have realized this, you will begin to climb better, time trial better, recover faster, and save tons of anaerobic energy throughout the rides or races, so when the time comes, you can unleash that mean sprint of yours! Hope this helps. Please leave comments or questions. 

Standard loop again today with attack zones set on Sterret and Cemetary hill. Team Tria split up teams today, which made for very fast and exciting attack zones. Darryl Sealhorst kicked up the pace immediatly and created a nice gap, lennie moon also tried for a solo attack as well as Wes douglas. The group chased hard and were able to bring the finish down to a sprint. The stronger riders seemed to use the hill to move into position. Sammy Flores played the lead out role for Chris and Pat Allison to perfection. Darryl Sealhorse started early and hard but was swallowed up by Smmy followed by Brian Toone. Pat Allison came around Brian for the win with Chris Allison, Jim Brock and Stuart Lamp For third forth and Fifth. The pace was good and controlled until the second attack zone beginning at the Bottom of Cemetary Hill. The action heated up quickly with an attack by Brian Toone. Only teamate Stuart Lamp was able to match the attack. Pat Allison went for a solo bridge and was only able to catch Stuart. Brian Toone Just held off Will Hibberts, who came flying out of the chase group passing Stuart and Pat. The pack was splattered ending with Brian for the win, Will Hibberts for second, Pat for third, Wes douglas nipping Stuart at the line for forth and fifth. "Team Sprint" edged out "team climb" by just one point for the extra two bonus points. Great ride everyone!

Chris Allison takes sterret, Brian Toone goes old school and Jim brock schools the others. A cold gloomy day heated up quickly after a controlled camp winnie. As we turned onto Sterret, the pace picked up but seemed extremely slow compared to most attack zones. The tria team decided to go mono-e-mono today so there were few attacks, which made for a sprint finish. There was a small group off the front early, followed by Darrel Oquin's solo breakaway try. As we hit the hill, Jim Brock attacked first and created a gap. Brian Toone Jumped at the topped and was marked by Chris Allison. Both came around Brock and Allison edged out Toone for the win. Jim brock came in right behind, followed by Pat Allison and Will Hibberts. Except for the freds off the front on vandiver, the rest of the ride went well. It seemed quiet out there! Something was missing...

Another great ride this Saturday. The weather could not have been any better. Around 40 riders showed up for the ride and without Brian's leadership, we decided to do the old Camp Winnie, Sterret, Vandiver loop that most everyone knew, and it turned out great. I had right under 60 miles. I was very proud of how controlled the vandiver climb was. Everyone stayed two abreast at a slow controlled pace. No riders were dropped and cars had no trouble passing. Except for the last climb on 78, which I personally gave the "mountain goats" a green light to go ahead, we finished with the same number or riders we started with. We had some new faces show up from out of town and they seemed to enjoy the ride. Next week we start the attack zones. The 1,2 riders from Tria have decided to split into 3 teams of three for this years BBL. Teams and rules will be announced before the next ride. Check the Tria Cycling web site and this one for more details. Great Ride!

This is pertaining to the last entry about the BBL and riding consistantly. People love to go hard up the hills and stop. As Brian said, you could think of it like keeping a consistant heart rate. And chad said everyone needs a powermeter. That would all be great if people would use them. But why?...every other ride they do is done that way. And where else are they going to get the chance to show their strength. I think its almost a subconscious way of showing off. If people would put their egos aside and learn to ride consistantly it would open up a whole new element of fitness for them. And its called endurance.

We had another great turnout for the second week of the BBL series. I think the mileage was around 60 again with a pace of about 19mph. I know there were a few riders dropped but in my opinion it was a good pace. These riders will just have to get a little stronger, and that is what the BBL is for. I still see tons of riders who don't ride consistantly, which is the issue with most group rides. Everyone pushes alot harder on the hills and alot easier on the downhills. This create a big yoyo in the group and is a huge waste of energy...resulting in alot more dropped riders. So now, before we begin the attack zones, and between zones when they start, lets try to focus on consistant pressure on your legs the entire ride. Not to mention what that will do to your overall fitness. Good ride!