Brain Smoke

     My legs decided to show up for this week's Music City Crits race. It was the 8th of 12 races in the series, so we are nearing the home stretch now. I was much more aggressive this week, going after all the moves to try to make the break. I did not want to miss another field split like last week. Going that hard makes for a long race. I was thinking we were about 30 minutes into the race and was a bit dismayed to looked down and see we had just hit 15 minutes.

Pro/1/2/3 group early in the race on a hazy afternoon

     I was very pleased to be able to cross many gaps during the race. I tried to follow attacks across to small splits, but sometimes you just can't wait for somebody else to do the work. At least five times I went on my own and dug very deep to cross the gap. I always made it across, but the group always followed me. Only once did any sort of split occur. I saw we had about eight riders off the front, but I had nothing at that moment to go to the front and drive it on. Besides, Tim Henry missed the split and I knew he would be coming after us. And he did, dragging the what was left of the group back to us. We had 33 starters and less than 20 were left in the group after 20 min due to the pace.

Entering the hairpin

     At the finish, I found myself in a good position. I rode hard to stay in the front the final two laps. I had to pull out of line on the last lap and stick myself into the wind, but it was one of those things where you have to move up or get swarmed by the riders behind. I did not want to be blocked in so I pulled out. I got on John Carr's wheel on the backstretch. He seemed like a good one to follow. Matt Schupp attacked first. I was in a position to follow him, but I did not want to open it up that early. My legs were getting tired and I knew I couldn't make it from that far out. I stuck with my plan to follow John. The first few riders chased Schupp like I wanted. I got a good run at the end of the backstretch, but one of the riders ahead sat up. It was a moment of chaos as everyone went around him. I had to give up my momentum to pass him and I never got it back. John got gapped coming out of the chicane and that was the end of us. I held his wheel into the final turn. I took a peek on his outside coming off the turn, but I didn't stick it too hard as there is not much room for two riders to exit that turn at sprint speed. I was the one looking eye to eye with a wall of concrete so the smart thing was to back off a little.

Me in the green and black rolling in line behind Jason Chatham

     Schupp hung on for the win. I took 7th which is my best finish of the year. I am very happy with that result. Again, I was active in the finish of the race, just not at the very front of the sprint, but I will get there soon. I thought this was the hardest race of the series, even though we had a slower average speed at 26.0 mph. The wind kept the speed a bit lower, but the multiple accelerations kept the pain and fury high. The weather had been a threat again tonight, but it held off just enough to get the race in. There was a huge thunderstorm approaching with heavy lightning just as we finished. I was so much in the zone that I never noticed the lightning until the race was over.

     The sideline pictures from this week were courtesy of my sister, Dina. She made it out to her first race of the season to cheer me on. I ran the GoPro on my handlebar again this week. Highlights of my ride are posted below. There's plenty of attacks to watch on this one.

Video: Pro/1/2/3 Handlebar Cam Highlights

     The end of our week was full of classes for both Shannon and myself. We signed up for the Rehab Summit in Nashville to knock out some of continuing education credits. It was 10 lecture classes spread out over three days. With these courses and one online class that we also completed this weekend, we have knocked out all of our credits for the next two years for our PTA license!

     Rehab Summit was fun. I liked the different topics and speakers. I learned a lot about the shoulder that I will use on my patients daily. Also, there was a lecture that builds on the glute program that I have been so interested in for the past few years. It was good stuff. My brain is a little fried after all the info uptake. That's a lot of info to cram into three days.

     There was an expo area in the lunch hall. I was surprised to see Swiftwick had a booth there, showing off some new medical compression socks and line of scrubs. Of course, they also had a huge selection of athletic socks. I stopped by on Friday and found Grant Castle working the booth. It was nice to run into a friend and get to talk mountain bikes for a while. He gave me a few pointers on picking out a new 29" mountain bike and then kicked Shannon and I both a free pair of socks! I was pumped. I really love the Swiftwicks. I was even wearing a pair at the conference that day. Before we left that day he also gave me a Pro discount for future ordering. Does that count as getting sponsorship?! Thanks Grant! It was good to catch up with you and thanks for the socks! Check them out online at http://www.swiftwick.com/.

     The Summit was held at the Omni Hotel, which is probably the nicest hotel I have ever set foot in. It is when I go in to places like this that I realize how much of a simple redneck I am. It was very fancy and I could not have felt more out of place. The decorations were ridiculous. No wonder they charged $195 per night with the Rehab Summit discount. I can't imagine how much it would be without a discount. I guess I'm just a Super 8 kind of guy. I'm all for having nice things, but when you buy something just because it costs a lot and it has no function, well that just seems kind of wasteful. My opinion though.

Walking through downtown Nashville during lunch at Rehab Summit

     Lunch was probably the fanciest thing, at least the first day. They had lots of froo-froo sandwiches and salads. I felt like I should eat with my pinkies in the air. I got some random meat sandwich that I really had no idea what it was. It had a strange texture, but I was hungry and did not really care. I was almost done with it when I finally examined the meat. It was salmon fillet...raw. I'm not much of a fish person, especially when it's not cooked. Sounds like a good way to get a new friend...an amoeba. At least it had bacon on it. The second day was much better. It was a build-your-own sandwich buffet. They had piles of ham and turkey so I made a nice sandwich my way, with lots of mustard. For dessert, the hotel provided GooGoo Clusters and Moon Pies, two Tennessee staples. I always laugh at tourists when they come here and flip out over Moon Pies. I guess I didn't realize how local they really are.

GooGoos and Moon Pies, there's nothing quite like them. All that was missing was a can of RC Cola.

     I got mixed feedback on the barrel ride video. Most people have expressed their opinion on how stupid it was. Several times I heard, "How many times do you have to fall on your head before you stop trying to make it." Well, it only took three falls before I made it. The idea was one I wasn't even sure would work, so I thought it was great to not only make the ride work, but actually complete the ride as well. There were a few that thought it was cool and gave me props on my skills. Thanks guys! I have more plans for fun rides this fall. It's going to be a "Freeride Fall" this year.

Found a new gravel road in our area.

Saw this on a ride this week. Those are three goats standing in the loft of this barn. Goats can find a way to get anywhere.

     I'm back in the pool now, doing some swimming. I'm up to swimming about 600 meters right now quite easily. I'm not training for anything specifically. I just felt it was time to work on something that would complement my bike training. Swimming really builds up the core and we could all use some help in that area. Plus, the compression from the water is great for recovery, not to mention it cools the body down nicely on the 98-degree days we had this week.

I dug up dozens of carrots from the garden this week. What's up doc?

     The Tour de France is over, but my "Tour" begins tomorrow. Crossroads is the closest I get to a stage race. It's six days of crit. races in North Carolina. We begin tomorrow evening in Mocksville. I am excited to do the full week. I am riding much better than last year. Mocksville will be hard for me, as it is fast, narrow and provides little opportunities for rest. Day 2 will be in Kannapolis this year rather than in Concord. The course looks narrow, but better than the short Concord course. Thursday night should be a good one for me in Salisbury. Friday is another hard one in Statesville, then we visit a new venue in Asheboro and finish up on Sunday with the difficult City Park Circuit in Salisbury. I am not very excited to climb that massive hill over and over on tired legs. It is going to hurt!

     When I get back, it will be time for some local racing in August, with the Music City Crits Series, Bells Bend Time Trial Series and a new running event in Clarksville at Rotary Park. It will be a night trail run, which should be a lot of fun. I have not been running and will suffer like a dog for the 4.5 miles, but I could not pass on the chance to do a night race. I'll try to post updates next week from Crossroads if time permits. I'll be working on some more coaching education programs next week so I am not sure how much blog writing I will be doing each day. Thanks again for reading!