VOS aftermath

Wow, lack of elevation can really boost one's oxygen uptake (and ego). After 2 months of not much more than indoor riding, I headed to PHX entered in the cat2 field. Not sure what I was thinking when I did it other than for the extra racing distance to make it worth the drive. I was really looking forward to meeting up with some of my teammates even if we weren't racing in the same races. We had been planning this for months and I was pretty excited. Got down Wednesday with CF and previewed the road course Thursday. One look at the hill and I started having second thoughts on what I was trying to accomplish by having a bunch of 20 somethings pound me around for 89miles with a sizable hill to add to the mix. CF had already calculated that it would be about 9 minutes of suffering per lap, great. Headed to the TT course to do some openers and actually ride in this warm environ. Was feeling pretty good about myself till I did the a few intervals. It felt like my legs were going to burst and breathing wasn't as good either. Doh! I forgot to take a hit off my inhaler prior to offset my EIB. After good nights rest I was all set to do the TT. I had set a goal to be within 3 minutes of the winner and ended up 2:35 down, goal 1 accomplished. I was then off with my sister Chris and my 2.5 year old niece Katie to get something to eat and find Katie a helmet for the kids race on Sunday. After enduring "Potty Training with Elmo" about 6 times we finally made it to the Performance shop and picked out a nice helmet with bumblebees on it. Next days road race unfolded not as I had hoped for. I ended up lining at the back because I showed up late. Big mistake, the leaders attacked at the first corner into the wind shattering the peloton. I ended up in a group of 3 chasing hard and picking up stragglers for the next 1.5 laps before I decided that I needed to choose wisely when to put out power if I was going to survive the next 4 laps. All went well and I met my goal of finishing, 8:23 behind the leader. By now my legs were really sore and I was really doubting my chances of finishing the criterium. About Tempe, other than the fact that traffic sucked it's also impossible to locate a sitdown restaraunt there must be a million fast food places there. After driving around for what seemed like an hour CF and I stumbled across a Thai place. Woohoo food at last. which was a good thing because CF was bumming about the RR and we needed something quick to occupy his mind. Hey, it's good to be a cat 2 as most races start later allowing for relax time prior to start. Learning from my previous days lesson I was at the barricades waiting to start 20 minutes early. The whole race was pretty much a blur for the first few laps and at about 12 minutes in I was wondering how long I'll hold on. Everything was clicking well though and with the exceptions of the prime laps there were no real surges and nobody got away. I crossed the line in line in the pack and patted myself on the back. There must be something to this lower elevation thing as I was never really out of breath just lacking that punch. I did one cool down lap and headed up to the line again where my niece was under full steam on her tricycle in the kids race. She of course beat me. Next stop: Bouder's March races

Awesome weather for a change here in Wyoming. Today it hit 50 and sunny. Got to ride for an hour on the road in the typical 10+ MPH wnds that make it so enjoyable. If it weren't for the 38MPH cruise on the way back home I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the 12MPH ride out. Then I took it to the dirt for an hour with the dogs. Maybe 2 warm days in a row? Probably not because the forecast says cloudy hi of 42, 30% snow. Monday is worse, hi of 37 and 50% chance. At least Phoenix will be upper 60s lower 70s

Wow! a non cycling post

As I was in the process of shutting down for the night, I realized the XM radio that I was listening to through my Direct TV had stopped. The reason, my signal was lost. The reason for that, my dish had been ripped off the house siding. Well it had probably come loose in last weekends high winds (nearing 50+mph) and this evenings winds probably finished it off. I was wondering why some channels were breaking up sometimes, I just thought it was the sattelite. Upon inspection I could see the real culprit was the installer that did not use long enough bolts. They were just long enough to go through but not grab onto what was underneath. Not wishing to waste to much time I blocked it up using some large rocks and a concrete block. Presto! Now I need to find the time between training and dogs and work to reattach it properly. That'll probably be in about 8 months

New Shoes!

Wow, my addiction has returned and with it the need for comfort. Since I couldn't find stock cycling shoes that could accomodate my orthotics and even though my Shimano R215Bs were as close to comfort as I could find, they still didn't eliminated the pain and hotspots that forced me to adjust strap tension constantly. Enter D2 Custom Shoes, after reading the writeup in Pez cycle news and talking at length with Dan or Don (D2 get it) I was convinced that this would be the way to go. I got my fit kit in and returned to them this week. Don (or was it Dan) called me back to go over any fit issues I may have and the style of riding that I do. Comfortable with what we discussed it was now time to choose a color. I has asked earlier about colors other than what was listed and was lucky enough that they were working on some Team Slipstream (TIAA-CREF) shoes with orange and blue. Always one to show some color I was really interested in them. Lucky for me they had extra material left over from the TS shoes and I did not have to pay extra for the choice. Here is an example of the color scheme. I think it's sweet. They should look good with the new team kit which is just as bright. They should be ready mid March. That's when I'll take a road trip down to the shop to pick them up. This will also allow them to make any corrections to the fit while I ride a stationary bike (hopefully) ensuring that no return trips are needed.

New Bike on the way!

The NOAH! I have to give some thanks to the folks at Sinclaire Imports that hooked me up with a Ridley Noah and Dura-Ace components below wholesale prices. It's great when a company is willing to cover, out of pocket, the cost to help get their products visible in the marketplace. They were actually as excited as I was to put me on the saddle of their flagship bike. It was a nice treatment too how they took down al my info and made sure I had everything I needed, kinda made me feel like a pro. Too bad I won't have it built up before I go to Valley of the Sun SR in Arizona. And Saris, the maker of PowerTap, has sent out a replacement computer unit to exchange for the one I have. Everything is coming together. Now if I can only find an oil company to provide me gasoline sponsorsorship... Hmmmm