90%

     It was good to get back on the road and travel this weekend. I have missed racing so far this year. It has seemed like a slower spring than normal. The target race for this weekend was the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, AL. It's the first big crit. of the year in the southeast. The race is part of the new National Criterium Calender, which is made up of the biggest races in the country. It's timing of just a week before Speed Week causes the race to draw a stacked field, which makes for fast, aggressive racing.

     I picked up Shannon at the airport in Birmingham after her trip back from Utah. We camped Friday night at the Pine Glen campground in the middle of the Talladega National Forest. We got there just before midnight and got the tent set up right as a rain shower moved in. It rained for most of the night, but we were too tired to be bothered by it.

    Saturday morning was chilly and cloudy. Our camp neighbors were very entertaining. They were the type of people that had no patience for children and probably shouldn't have any...yet they had four. They were some backcountry folk that were entertaining and annoying at the same time. The guy was possibly the cousin of the West Virginia Ninja, Diamond Dave.We had a nice breakfast on the camping stove and then explored the campground. It looked much better in the daylight. There was a nice creek at the back that we walked around before loading the car and moving to Anniston for the race.

Our camp

We picked up a friend in Alabama

Shoal Creek

     We arrived in Anniston several hours before my race. The weather was getting better. It had become warmer and the sun was peaking through the clouds every few minutes. It's normally windy when we race Anniston, but the breeze was very light today. The crit. is run in conjunction with the city's Noble Street Festival. The city really supports the race and welcomes all the riders. We walked around during the Masters race and chatted with some of the local volunteers that were marshaling the turns. They were all very excited to see an event like this in their town. I will have to say that the marshalls were by far the best I have ever seen. They paid attention, kept the roads clear and were nice. Can't beat that. We cheered on our friend Chris Cundiff during the Masters event as I played with the GoPro. I tried some different shots and a
angles, placing the camera on the end of the broom stick so I could get shots from above the riders.

Masters racers

The break that stayed away during the Masters event

     I have raced Anniston the past two years in the Cat. 2/3 race. We usually have 120 or so riders. This year, they split us into two separate races. I liked it that we got rid of some of the less experienced Cat. 3s, but the size of the race was much smaller. We only had 38 starters in the Cat. 2 race. I like the bigger fields and the longer races, which is why I want to get into the Pro races whenever possible. Our race was set for 45 minutes on the 0.7-mile course around downtown Anniston. The finish line was at Noble Street, right alongside the festival.

     The course is a simple 4-corner rectangle. All corners are 90-degree lefts. The finish straight is a long uphill drag that usually features a tailwind, while the backside of the course is the opposite with a headwind downhill. Turns 3 and 4 are tighter than the other corners and are encountered at higher speeds. That tends to be the scary section for us in a large group.

    The wind magically picked up in the 30 minutes prior to my race. It was the usual direction. I got in a quick 2 laps on the race course between the Cat. 4 and Cat. 3 races. The rest of my warm-up was spent on the trainer beneath a tree in a bank parking lot. There was a stupid bird that kept coming to the tree and showering down poop. He hit Shannon as she tried to nap on a blanket in the grass and he hit my arm as I rode the trainer. Stupid bird...

    I felt good on the trainer and was able to get my heart rate up pretty high, which is something I haven't been able to do the past few weeks. I got to the start line 12 minutes early to find the first two rows were already full.

    It was a fast start and I was unable to improve much from my back row start the first few laps. We were rocking the uphill. It finally slowed down after 4 laps and I moved up on the backstretch, only to drop back again as there were attacks on the uphill almost every lap. I was felling better than I have felt since getting sick, but the hill was killing me. I had a hard time holding wheels and couldn't get out of the back of the group. My legs were not hurting today, I just seemed to be lacking the power needed to carry that kind of speed up the hill. I looked down once to see 28 mph on my GPS as we crossed the start/finish line. We had a 26.1 mph average for the first 15 minutes.

Cat. 2 pack

     The pace stayed high for the first 25 minutes. A few breaks of 2 and 4 riders got away, but we were able to catch them with relative ease. I finally got up towards the front with 5 laps to go. I was very comfortable with my skills today, perhaps too comfortable at times. I was sliding in tight spaces and grazing hips with my hoods as I went by. It freaked a few people out, but I was fine bumping. Hips and butts are much softer on the hands than hitting trees.

Turn 3

     I couldn't hold my position at the front. The pace picked up on the hill the last few laps and I was in difficulty again. I had been swinging the outside in turn 4 to carry the maximum amount of speed up the hill during the middle part of the race. That had mad a HUGE difference in the amount of effort I needed to stay in the front up the hill. The last few laps I got pinched on the inside in turn 4 and lost my momentum. It was bad line choice on my part. I was near the back with 2 laps to go and we were rocking up the hill. The group was altogether and my dream of a mass sprint for the win was looking probable. The only problem was I was too far back!

     We did not slow on the backstretch with 1 1/2 to go and I was unable to move up. I got pinched again in turn 4 and was just 3 riders from the back of the line of 37 riders as we took the bell with a lap to go. There was a slowing before turn 1 and I shot to the inside and picked up a few positions. The group fanned out between turns 1 and 2. I took advantage and started working my way up through the middle of the bunch. I continued squeezing between people down the backstretch. I got to within one row of the front before the gap closed. I  wanted to go to the front, but I couldn't get through. I should've been more patient and not committed to the center of the pack so early. The left side of the road was wide open for the last 100 meters before turn 3.

     We were spread out very wide going into turn 3 and that led to some bumping coming off the corner. I thought we were going down, but everybody held themselves up. We lost a lot of momentum though. I went from top 10 back to about 15th. I had the legs left for a sprint, but I didn't make up much ground, gaining a spot and losing a spot before the line. The slower uphill sprints don't suit me that well and I ended up 14th. That's my best ever finish in Anniston and much improvement over the past few weeks. I'd say I'm back to at least 90% now. Still, I believe I could've been top 5 if I had positioned myself better. Positioning is key in a race that finishes in a bunch sprint. I can only think of six times in my life that I've put myself in a good position coming into the sprint. Of those six times, I have won four times and been 2nd twice. Definitely going to have to work on that! Race stats were 44:20 with a 25.7 mph avg speed. 28 laps for a total of 19.0 miles. My max heart rate of 183 was hit 5 times during the race, including at the finish.

Heart rate and elevation graph for my race

     I ran the GoPro on my seatpost during the race. I'm still editing the video and will post it as soon as I get finished. To hold you over until then, check out the videos below. First one is of the final few laps on the Cat. 2 race taken from the live feed. The second video is clips we took during the day. I tried to GoPro out, filming from above the riders, below the riders and any place I could fit the camera for a different angle. Just a reminder, it was my first time trying this so please excuse the shakiness in some spots. I'll get better at it. My favorite angle is early in the video, during the Masters race, when I climbed up a street light and hung off over the top of the riders. That got me some funny looks from the riders, spectators and especially from the official on the moto.

Final 2 laps of the Cat. 2 race taken from the live feed provided by Jacksonville State University.

Video of the Masters, Cat. 2s, Pro Women and Pro Men shot by Shannon and myself. Used the GoPro a lot at various angles.

     We had heard the the local barbecue joint called Dad's Bar-b-que was really good, so we swung by after my race. It lived up to the hype for sure, serving up tasty pulled pork, chicken, fried green tomatoes, baked beans, cornbread and more. Mmmm! We were surprised when Kenda Pro rider Phil Gaimon came in the door. It was less than an hour before the Pro Men's race and he bought a few pounds of barbecue and a jug of sweet tea. It must have been for after the race. We didn't hang around for the entire Pro Men's event. We had to be home to teach church on Sunday and it was a long drive back to Clarksville. We made it home just before 1 a.m. Here's some pics from the Pro events.

Kenda Pro rider Phil Gaimon in line at Dad's Bar-b-que

Tree growing out of a building at the exit of turn 1

Pro Women on the backstretch

GoPro...on a stick!

Me going for a low shot in turn 4

Pro Men were just a blur under the street lights of Anniston

     I've had a good week in preparation for Athens Twilight and Roswell. I'd give myself 95% of full fitness on Tuesday at the group ride. It felt so great to go from struggling to hold a wheel at 24 mph with a tailwind just two weeks ago, to launching attacks and sitting out front solo at 28 mph going into the wind. Hopefully, I'll be rocking 100% fitness come the weekend. I'm not sure if there will be any live coverage from Athens, but it might be worth Googling if you really want to see how the races play out. Check out the USA Crits series page for updates on Twitter as the race goes on.

Cruising green roads near Springfield, TN

Digging Out of the Hole

    The week off really helped me to recover from the virus. Yes, I'm still talking about this virus. It has been devastating to my body. I actually felt normal again by the end of the rest week and began riding. I did some mountain biking and felt great. The legs were strong and the second day back on the bike I bettered my best lap time on my trail by another 10 seconds. But I could feel that my endurance was gone. After an hour, my legs were really tired. Tired legs was a good feeling though. It sure beats the heck out of feeling bonked all the time. It was like I couldn't digest anything for 3 weeks. That makes it hard to sustain energy levels for prolonged exercise.

     Some good things have come out of the sickness. I had some nagging forearm tendonitis that was bothering me in Dalton. It was caused by a ton of trail cutting with a heavier pair of cutters than I'm used to. Thanks to rest, Biofreeze massages (thanks Pat and Shannon!), ultrasound and kinesiotape, it is long gone. I also strained my left glute picking up the trash behind the house. I did a bunch of squatting one day and it really aggravated my glute. The bike didn't make it worse, but it was preventing healing so taking time off got that pain to go away too.

     I've also lost weight. I have dropped 11 pounds total since the Dalton race, 2 days prior to getting sick. I haven't seen this low of a number on the scale for almost 3 years. I can tell my pants have become loose around the waist, but I notice no other change. No conversion into a mountain goat yet. The hills still hurt just as bad as before. Shannon has also been sick, so it isn't just me. I think the bug has been going around town. When you come into contact with so many people every day like we do, it's bound to get you at some point.

    I'd say I have recovered now, I just have the lingering effect of loss of form to deal with. I've lost all my speed and all my endurance. I'm used to hammering the local group rides and going off the front at will. Now, I'm struggling to stay in the paceline at 23-24 mph. It's really frustrating. I felt like I was in great condition at Dalton. I was ready for the Pro races at Speed Week and beyond. Now I'm left with the Cat. 2/3 races and even those will be a difficult challenge. I'm learning patience for sure.

     I've been putting in a lot of miles since feeling better. It feels good to be able to ride again, even if I am going slow. Shannon has been out in Utah for Amber's graduation from BYU, so I've had plenty of time to be on the bike. I got in almost 6 full hours of riding this past Saturday. The plan was to ride 3 hours on the road and end at my parents house, where I would then ride the mountain bike for an hour, followed by some trail work. I had a great day and ended up doing some extra. I rode a very hilly 4 hours on the road before hitting the trail for 45 minutes. The road ride was really fun. I hit some steep climbs that I haven't ridden in a while. I'm convinced that I have become a softy when it comes to steep climbs. Other than a few trips to the mountains, I haven't ridden any good hills in the past year. The mountain bike ride was a blast too. I ran the GoPro on my seatpost while Snoop was behind me. It made for a cool video. Check it out below. I then did trail work and rode back home in the dark, giving me a total of 85 miles.

Snoop in pursuit

Lizard

Snoop!

Tree growing out of a rock

     Sunday was another good day. I went out for a slower 40 miles with Keith and Jonathan from Clarksville. We saw a pair of foxes along the way. You don't see them very often. The phrase "sly as a fox" came about for good reason.

    Work has been crazy lately. I'm splitting my work time between two clinics now. It can be hectic at times, especially at my home clinic. I don't exactly enjoy the way things go there most days, especially when people dump work on me. I've been stuck late a lot the past few months. It sucks to get home at 7:30 and then still have a ride to do. There are some perks to riding late though, like watching the sun set from the bike, lack of traffic on the roads, and the satisfaction I get from seeing people sitting on the couch watching TV as I ride by. I love being active when others aren't. But I also hate crawling off the bike at 9:30 or 10 and going straight  to bed to rest up for another early morning.

     My form is slowly coming back. I rode the local group ride this week and noticed a vast improvement from last week. My speed is getting a little better. I could actually stand up and go off the front. I didn't stay off for long and I'm still a long way from where I was before the illness, but it is a sign of improvement. My sprint is still decent so that will come in handy at the races if I can just hang in until that final lap. We set a new record on our loop this week, covering the 25 miles with a 23.7 mph average. I think we can break 24 mph because I really didn't do that much work. When I feel good, I know I can really crank it up if they want to try for a faster average. You never can tell with that group though. They may ride slow for the next month.

    This weekend it's back to racing with the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, AL. I'll be doing the Cat. 2 race and hoping for some good legs. I want to use this race to decide whether I should race Pro or Amateur at Speed Week. It's also a good opportunity to get some upgrade points and accumulate some prize money to help offset travel costs. The races will be broadcast live for most of the day. Here's the link if you want to watch. http://sunnykingcriterium.com/  Cat. 2 race is at 3:50pm. If it's like the past few years, you can send people a shout-out through the website and often get them a better starting spot, so please help a brother out if you can!

The Plague

     The day before Hell of the South, I received a little present. Shannon had wanted to get me a GoPro camera for Christmas. She sat out the money, but with the break-in, I sat on the money just to make sure we were able to replace all of our stuff. Now that we are fully recovered from the theft, it was time to have a late Christmas gift. The new GoPro HD Hero2 arrived here on Friday, one day before the race. It came just in time for a quick set-up and mount on the bike.

     The camera is much smaller than I expected. We went ahead and ordered all the mounts because I know I will put it everywhere. The guys at GoPro really thought everything out and you can find all the accessories you need. I didn't have much time to play with the mounts before the race. My first idea was to put it on the handlebar, but I was not comfortable with the height of the camera. It looked like it would be in my way during standing. I wasn't willing to chance it in a race, so I put the camera off the front of the bike to where it hung down below the handlebar. I was somewhat pleased with the result. The amount of mounts I had to use to get the camera where I wanted it left the camera hanging quite a ways from the bar. The plastic of the mounts flexed on the rough roads and contorted the picture on the rougher sections, but it is still watchable and has great quality in 1080p.

Camera in its case and hooked onto the seatpost mount

The Outdoor Edition comes with a variety of mounts

Chest mount and harness. this works good for riding or walking.

     I was excited to do Hell of the South, but scared at the same time. The gravel section is always fun, but the length of the race was going to be a problem for me. Since being sick, I haven't felt like I have any endurance. Race distance for the Pro/1/2/3 was 3 laps for a total of 78 miles. The race name makes it seem like a tougher race than it is. The course is rough in places with some scattered potholes. It's mostly chip-and-seal roads with one stretch of gravel just over a half mile in length. The toughest part to me is the constant rolling climbs. You rarely ride a flat stretch.

Hell of the South course map

     I got in a good warm-up and felt pretty good as we got underway. We had a large pack with over 60 riders on narrow roads. I couldn't help but laugh at the official early on. They put us on a road just over a lane wide, with no road paint, and expect a group of 60 to maintain the "centerline rule." Haha yeah. I heard the horn of that motorcycle so many times the first 20 minutes that I thought we were at a Belgian cyclocross race.

Still shot from the GoPro taken very early in the race

     There were a few accelerations the first few miles, but no breaks went until the first fast, twisty section. The biggest challenge was dodging potholes. People were hitting the holes and having flats or destroying wheels. We went onto a road that I hadn't been through before. It was very fast following an initial climb. The climb spread out the group. Then we went into a fast descent that was twisty. I was glad to be single-file because the corners would've been sketchy going 3-wide.

On the rough first climb

Going down a fast, twisty descent on a narrow road

    There were some gaps after the descent. I was too far back and had to work harder than I wanted to rejoin the front group. I was still feeling good as we began a long false flat that led to the gravel section. I was midpack as we approached the gravel for the first time. It's important to be up front entering the gravel for several reasons. Reason 1: everybody tries to kill it in that section. It's their chance to feel like they are in Roubaix. Reason 2: there's a climb as soon as you enter the section and is followed by a rough descent where gaps are sure to happen as people look for smooth lines. Reason 3: there is always the risk of a crash when you throw a little gravel into the mix.

     Reason 3 turned out the be the problem today. There was a crash entering the gravel which caused a big gap in the group. I made it past the crash, but was faced with a big gap as the climb began. I held all my momentum up the climb and bridged the gap. I was onto the back of the lead group as we crested. There were guys on the back that began to let gaps go as soon as the rough descent began. I tried to go around them, but there was really only one line at the bottom that wasn't full of deep gravel. I chose to risk it and ride the deep stuff and was doing fine until a rider to my left lost a water bottle and it found it's way to my back wheel. I shot sideways as I ran it over, but I didn't go down or get any damage on the wheel. It did kill my momentum though, and I fell off the group. My legs were hurt from the first bridge and now I was going to have to do it again.

Crash beginning to happen to the left

Riders down!

About to cross a rut on the gravel climb

Cresting the gravel hill just on the back of the group

Water bottle is loose and on its way to my wheel

Video: The gravel section on lap 1 of the Pro/1/2/3 race at Hell of the South

    I was in no-man's land for a few minutes once back on pavement. A dog ran out in the road, which slowed me down even more. I was eventually joined by a chase group. Suddenly, I had no legs. I got dropped form the chase group. I got into another chase on the next climb. I was able to stay with these guys and we worked well together to keep the group in sight. I thought we might catch on, but then the pack must have taken off again. They were out of sight in just a few seconds and our race looked to be over.

Dog in the road

In a chase group just behind Chris Cundiff

My two chase companions

     There are some bigger rollers near the end of the course. I had nothing left in my legs and was dropped by my two chase companions. I got caught by several smaller groups, but would get dropped each time we hit a climb. I felt bonked after just 16 miles. I rode by myself to the feed zone and stopped. I felt like I had ridden 100 miles, not 23. There was no way I could make two more laps on my own.

Getting in another chase, this time with Andy Reardon and a Krystal rider

     Shannon was waiting in the feed zone and we rode back to the car together. I was really upset. It was my first DNF in over 3 years! I avoid DNFs like the plague. I start every race with the intention of finishing at all costs. But today was unavoidable. I was still clearly feeling the effects of the stomach virus and making the full distance just wasn't going to happen. My body wasn't going to let me. I later learned that the main group missed a turn. By the time they got going right again, all the chasers were able to rejoin. That just shows you that you should never give up, even when all hope seems to be gone.

Masters solo leader comes by

Small group off the front of the main Pro/1/2/3 peloton

The main group

    Here's some highlights from my race taken off the GoPro.

Highlights of the first lap of the Pro/1/2/3 race from my handlebar cam

     Here are some pictures taken at the finish line as the groups sprinted in. There's also a finish line video below.

The two riders dropped out, but it was a good chance to test the photo part of the GoPro. Yes, it can do finish line shots.

Shannon Williams dropping out after 2 laps

Masters overall winner Bill Robison

Robison was the top 45+ rider

John Carr stuck the break with Robison to be the 35+ winner. 

Women finish

Justin Lowe wins the Pro/1/2/3 race

Finish videos from nearly all categories

     After a roller coaster week of feeling questionable, I figured it was best to take a week off and let my body rest to be sure I kicked this virus for good. I spent the week doing some light trail work, piddling in the yard with Shannon and cleaning up trash from around the house. There has been a bunch of trash in the woods surrounding our yard since we moved in. It looks like people have just been throwing things into the woods for years. I found things from the 1950s back there. I found EVERYTHING. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Busted toilets, plastic kiddie swimming pools, old metal pails, aquariums and even a kitchen sink. I've slowly been bagging it up and carrying it off to the disposal. It was driving me crazy!

Shannon watering the seedlings

     Shannon has been cooking up a storm trying to help me get my taste buds back. She has fixed some delicious stuff, but my stomach has been slow to accept food again. Mmm! Sweet potatoes and eggs on a bagel!