I had my first ride and meeting with the new Riverside team the week after MB. It was a cold wet day, but we squeezed in about 41 miles on the road. We started on wet roads, but managed to beat the rain for 40 of the miles. It caught up with us in the final mile and soaked us down as we rolled into the parking lot. I felt awful the whole ride. My legs were not great all week after the snow race and I was still bruised on both knees and my left hamstring. From the first hill I could tell it was going to be a tough day. I got dropped on the bigger hills and they had to wait on me a few times. I was riding my heavier steel Lemond bike, but it was not that much heavier that I should be getting dropped. It wasn't the best first impression I could make with my new teammates who were so pumped to have an elite rider on the team. I noticed some play in the rear wheel when I was putting the bike back together at home. Upon inspection, I found the bearings were out of the wheel. It would barely roll at all and had so much play in it that it had been bouncing between the brake pads the entire ride. That explains a lot. Guess I got in a little extra workout today.
Goofing off for the picture. That's me in the back in a borrowed jersey.
Photo by Zack Solomon
After the ride, we had our first meeting and discussed the season ahead. I got to meet a few guys that I hadn't ridden with before. Everybody on the team is very nice and just all-around good guys. They are as much into doing things with their family as they are riding bikes. I like that they search for that balance in life instead of just being a bunch of hammerheads. We got to see the new kit design. They will be ordered as soon as Clarksville finalizes their logo. I am excited to wear a few other logos that the team places on their jerseys. They have three patches on the sleeves that I love. One is the American flag. The second is the patch of the 101st Airbourne. Finally, there is the yellow Gadsden flag.
We will be using Hincapie Sportswear for our kits. I have some Hincapie jerseys from eight or ten years ago that I never liked, but things have changed a lot in the clothing world. Fit is better and material is 1,000 times better. Our fit kits felt more like skinsuits which is good since the team will not be ordering skinsuits. That was my only complaint with the clothing. I have become hooked on skinsuuits the past few years. With most of the team being focused on crits and cyclocross, I don't know how they could pass on skinsuits, but I was the only guy that wanted one. So, I went with a small jersey to keep the fit as tight as possible. Now I need to drop a few pounds to be able to squeeze into that jersey comfortably!
A week later we had another team ride. This time it was warm and dry. The aim was for a 55-60 mile loop. I wanted more so I rode to the meeting place, hooking up with Paul Carter along the way. They wanted to start early so Paul and I had to ride the first 30 minutes with lights. In the middle of the ride, I convinced everyone to take a detour down my favorite road. It's a fast, twisty, narrow lane of a road on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. I don't think they enjoyed the corners quite as much as I did. I nabbed a KOM through the fastest section. The others definitely were not happy with the detour on the way back when we had a 20+ mph headwind. It added about eight miles to our loop. Some of the guys ran out of food so I gave away my extras to get everyone home. Paul and I hammered the end of the group portion, then rode most of the way home together. He ended up with 90 miles, while I went the long way home to make sure I got at least 100. I cut a tire at 99.1 miles and had to boot it to make it home, but I got in my first century of the year with 101.1 miles. When I got home, I saw Dina and my Dad heading out for some mountain biking on our trail, so I grabbed some a sandwich and swapped bikes, going back out for another 45 minutes of riding to give me 6 1/2 hours on the day.
We crossed the Red River several times on our group ride. It was muddy and swollen from all the recent rain
Stopping for food at the store along the route...it was closed.
Photo by Paul Carter
I've actually had several double rides lately with combos of road and mountain. Shannon and I got in a few Tuesday afternoon tandem rides, followed by tossing the lights on the helmet for some mountain biking laps with Dina. It has helped me get in some extra hours and keep my endurance higher during these winter months. Most of my other rides have been less than 90 minutes and at a high intensity. Those are usually home cyclocross efforts. I have built a few more trails behind my house that have given us more options for cross. I recently had my first practice race that took place entirely on my own land. I have some cool features, but none of the climbs are very long so it makes for very fast courses. I enjoy the speed, but I get more training from slower courses as I can keep the power down for longer and peg out the heart rate for more prolonged periods.
Shannon's favorite barn on our tandem route. She loves those quilt squares.
Front moving in on this ride.
I am doing all my cross efforts on my old hardtail mountain bike since I still don't have a cross bike after breaking my Redline to start the year. I found out that Redline is not going to warranty my frame. Redline is no longer making cross bikes and have given out all of their extra Conquest Pro frames. They handle warranties now by giving you shop credit towards the purchase of another bike. They have become really tight on what they will warranty. They denied my claim because I didn't have proof of purchase. The bike was bought by Wood-N-Wave in 2006 as a shop/demo bike and then given to me at the end of 2007, so I have no proof of purchase. The shop has now been sold and the records left there do not go back past 2012. I loved that bike as it is the only free bike I have ever been given from a sponsor. I am definitely going to have to purchase a new bike if I want to race cross now. I was hoping to get the frame replaced and use the aluminum Redline as a pit bike so I would have a spare at bigger races where mud can make bike changes a necessity. I am still aiming for the Giant TCX Advanced Pro 2, but so far the shop has not been able to get me a price on it. I want to get it soon so I can be adjusted on it long before cross season arrives.
In addition to cross, I have been getting myself ready for the next Montgomery Bell TT with a recon ride on the course. I got down there one morning before work. It was an early morning with drizzling rain, but I learned a lot and had fun. My Mom went with me and I was able to show her around the trails there and teach her where she can cut across when she rides to avoid the sections that are beyond her skill level, and show her where she can spectate when she comes down for the next race. We got in almost three hours before I had to jet off to work. It was a very valuable three hours and I feel like I know those tiny little trails in the second half of the course much better now.
Price Cemetery at Montgomery Bell State Park. I have ridden past this so many times and never noticed it being just off the side of the trail. It is cool to me to see things like this as it sheds some light on the history of the area. The burial dates on the markers we could read went back to 1856 and ranged from adults to infants. The smaller markers were very worn and are likely much older.
Next up on the writing list is the start of February with the second Montgomery Bell Winter TT. Look for more on that coming soon as I struggle to catch up on my posts.
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