Up to Lately

So what has the dynamic duo been up to lately. Besides wanted to rip each others heads off as training has taken on a whole other term.

First off, we have started the cyclo-cross transition. Already got through a 4 week block and already got the flu. It completely sucks having the flu when it is 30 degrees outside. No air conditioning in the house makes it worse. So, this is my 3rd flu like illness in 3 months. Needless to say, I got some bloodwork done today but I'm fully sure that I won't be getting sick when I am finished working in 2 weeks. All those hours of work and training almost always push me over my limit.

Oh yeah, we started jogging. Ok, Derrick calls it jogging, Ken (coach) calls it dryland training. Okay, I'm the ex-collegiate runner..........yeah, neither of these terms fit the part. It sucks, feels good and sucks all at the same time. The first time I did the workout, I was like, this is fun, why did I ever stop running, yeah, that lasted for about 20 minutes and then I realized I wasn't even half way done and I said......"this is awlful." That's all I'm going to say on this secret cross jogging.

I read this article off of tri rudy today, and it has been exactly something I was thinking of writing on the blog. About what it takes to be an athlete, what goes through there minds and how much support it needed. The last part is what I've have been a little disturbed about lately. I won't get into the discussion of this to any more than this, but as Derrick and I take our dreams and goals further, working our buts off to achieve them, I have totally understood everything going on at the Olympic's this time around. I not only feel for the athletes but actually know what they are feeling. With two more weeks of work left for me, and a month left in our apartment, I'm getting really nervous, but all signs as far as training and progress tell me I am making the sacrifices for the right reasons and everything will be ok. The olympics gave me so much motivation to prove what I can do this season if I am racing full time.

This is a quote from the article that falls close to home:
"This was a story of possibility. If we fund our athletes, if we are innovative, if we do not bow to the nattering chorus, if we are talented, and if we are brave enough to commit our whole selves to winning knowing how much more crushing it will be should we fail, then Canada can compete with anybody. Then Canada can win."

For the full article, here's the link: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=735076.

Oh yeah, stay tuned for part 2 of possibilities from the dynamic duo this winter.

NCE

Rochester crit and RR

So the crit started at almost 9pm, it had rained, so it was wet. 12 corners per lap, only about 3 or so that were tight though. I didn't have a call up so the start was pretty hard. For once I think I was happy with the way I started, it took me three laps to get a descent spot, I kind of opend up a gap but was able to close it. The break went off pretty early and I still wasn't in place to get in it...shocker. It was really dark, it started raining and I thought I was going to die. But then I really started to have fun, it was so hard, so fast guys were blowing up, some were crashing. My tires were sliding out almost routinely through one corner. I just started to love it, it was nuts and so was I. I payed for my efforts in the final laps as the pace was ballistic and faded to hang on to the back of of was left of less than a third of the field.

RR
I figured the beak would go on the second climb.Wrong...after the neutral start, maybe about 8km in to the 180 km it was off. Man, I was disappointed, cause my endurance is phenomenal right now and I could have rolled all day, but so it goes.
The finishing circuits were kind of cool. Pete was trying to lead me out for the pack sprint and we were doing pretty well through the Karmess like finish, but we went tight in the final corner and I just missed the wheel of the lead train and settled for 10th from the field.

It was a weekend of near misses. A lot of good intentions good rides, but results and wallets empty. I was a little frustrated as I really thought I could be a player but it just wasn't so.

It was exactly a year ago that I had my big crash and I was just glad to walk away without stitches hold my flesh together. There were a couple of instances that I hit the breaks in the crit and the RR that most of the time I would just roll through, but the body remembers and does what it can to keep safe.

As much as I'm still pumped to race on the road this year, I have to start some of the Cross Technique if I want to really crush it this year. So I'm not sure how the legs will react to jumping around on the cross bike, but hopefully I can still manage a few good results. With my luck I bet I start raining for Cross and get the result of been waiting for on the road. Sometimes it just the way it goes, you take the pressure off yourself and you pull it off...or you end up really sucking hard and want to throw your bike in the River and have beavers make a damn out of it along with other pieces of useless riff raft.

It's such a good thing the people I work with are pretty understanding of everything, cause I walked into work Monday morn' and I looked like I spent the weekend with Cheech and Chong man, my eyes could have been cover by a piece of fishing line. Speaking of that, I gave notice that I will be away all fall/winter and they said no prob, we'll see you when you get back...got to love that.
DSJ

Rochester UCI 2.2 Omnium

Prologue...
One of therse days, I just want to finish a TT saying that I rocked it. This one I certainly didn't.
Not to make excuse, but I'll make a couple...Let's just say getting to an event that last 7-8 minutes and warming up for 15 mins is not ideal, but sometimes you just gotta go, and stuff happens so I just dealt with having 20 minutes to prepare including warm up, bike check, bathroom and finish gearing up...yah not ideal. Oh well, that's what you get for riding your TT bike 4 times a year.

So...tonight 2 hour crit, hill, 12 corners, starts at 8 finishes in pitch black. Gotta love it. They had 30,oo spectators last year, maybe more this year. If you've never been to Rochester (pronounced Ros-ter by local NY ers) parts of the down town have a pretty cool vibe. It's built up, like a big city and there's a certain Gotham city feeling to it, lots of news paper buildings and cool architecture.

Tomorrow 180 km RR, point to point with finishing circuits. The organizers said the guys will be surprised that there are climbs of this proportion around here, the 1st KOM is about 8min and the second one is about 20 minutes...ouch that's gonna hurt, I have a feeling that's gonna be the "crunch"...well obviously that's gonna be the crunch if it's not already cracked.

DSJ

Worst ride

Oh my God, that had to be the most painful 130 km today. somehow I think I was kind of unwell from the humidity in the basement, and I cooked myself. Today I just felt like I was running out of energy, kind of reminds me of the time Rick Hellard and I did a 180 km ride in Mallorca. They say you can't really bonk more than once, but I think I have a way of going through bonk after bonk, that's what today was like. I was on the front trying to act tough, but I knew there was a problem when Tasha pulled around me once on rollers saying "it's not hard enough". Well I can't really accept that, so I just grin and bear it, not fun. I'm not exactly sure if I was almost sick or something, but I got home and had a fever, chills, pain all over. I thought...well I'm not going to say what I thought, but it lasted about 4 hours and I'm ok now.

Tasha says it was the 800 km "rest" week I did last week...bah..well....now that I think of it...maybe.

Funny Story. So during my "unwellness" I was on the couch moning like a baby, I watched the X-Games. Who do I see but Dave Mira, the greatest BMX'er doing Super rally car driving. I met Dave a few times while I was living in North Carolina. We were supposed to go for a ride, but not a week after we were drinking some tasty Beverages at a local Greenville Hang Out, I fractured 3 vertebrae, in what has to be less than logical thing to do with a bike.

Things were alot different back then. I was racing mountain bikes with a University team, doing 24 hour races. Training consisted of going to the gym and well riding my bike and jumping over stuff. No heart rate, no speedometer, no regimentation. Seeing Dave it just kind of reminded me of a time when things were so different. Funny how I had actually thought of trying to "go pro" as a mountain biker back then. 9 years later it's still a similar dream, but this time it feels like it's happening.

DSJ

Signed up...

Man oh man what have I signed up for...
So no racing this weekend, "just" training. Whatever. I just want to say that Ken, my coach is a demon child and him and Natasha have conspired against me to beat me down.

Yesterday wasn't that bad, but today i did my intervals on the trainer. All this talk of going to 'Cross the World, I figure I gotta step it up, so 100%. Put it this this way I usually just do the intervals then go ride while Natasha is doing hers, then we do 100km or so.
This morning I went so hard, I had to take a shower after and collect my thoughts. Natasha was scared and she is doing hers during our ride. 3 hours to go and I'm already messed up babbling...
uhhhhh what is the next 4 months going to be like...pain and suffering.