Nightmare

     I don't even know where to start. The weekend of April 20-21 is one that I am glad is over and behind me. It was supposed to be the first highlight of the season, but it will definitely go down as a lowlight for a variety of reasons. Allow me to explain.

     My week went perfect on the bike. I was as ready for Anniston as I could be. I've been picking up the Strava KOMs in the area the past week or so, accumulating 13 now. I lit up the local group ride on Tuesday and then loosened up on Friday with a few sprints. I felt awesome and was eerily relaxed Saturday morning. I did some work on the bike, then cleaned up the yard before we hit the road for Anniston, AL.

New box of Maxxis goodies came in a few days before the race

     We left earlier than needed on a chilly, but beautiful day, planning to get to the race at least two hours before my scheduled start. Like I said earlier, I was very calm and relaxed. I was almost confident. It felt like today was the day to end the streak of mediocre results. I felt like today was the day to show out and make something happen. It just felt like it was going to happen today. Little did I know what was really about to happen.

     The drive went well for the first half, then turned to a nightmare. It began with a gas spill at our first stop. It didn't slow us down, but was scary. The car behind us was not paying attention and sprayed gas all over the parking lot. Then, we got stuck behind a big accident on I-24. We were 7 miles from the next exit and were not moving for 20 minutes. I was getting worried and decided to take the Taurus off-roading through the median to get us moving again. We back-tracked to the nearest exit and then took backroads down into Alabama.

     We didn't bring our GPS. I hate using it. I love learning roads and navigating with a map. That works good until you get to an area that has few road signs marking the highways and your map is not labeled on roads that small. We got lost, going a little out of the way before we realized where we were. Once back on course, we got stuck in traffic from the High on the Hog Barbecue Festival in tiny Winchester, TN. We cleared the traffic, then found our only direct route into Alabama temporarily closed. Great, another detour.

    We took a tour of north Alabama backroads, some of which were really cool. They were narrow and twisty through the green foothills. Cool as the curves were, they were killing our speed and slowing us down! It seemed everything was trying to keep us from getting to Anniston. We got caught by every small town redlight and every car we encountered nearly hit us. People were backing out in front of us, doing U-turns right in front of us and running stop signs. I was started to think our car was invisible. No kidding, I think we dodged at least 10 accidents after crossing into Alabama. I was getting a tad panicked as I did drive-time math. It was looking like we would just barely make the race.

     We finally made some good time the last few miles, getting to Anniston with just enough time to pick up my race number and get suited up. I hopped on the trainer for 20 minutes and then headed to the start of the Cat. 2 race. I knew I wasn't fully warmed-up. The air was a bit cool and that made the lungs hurt when I tried to force my heart rate up. I tried to cram my full 60-minute warm-up into just 20 minutes. My body did not like that at all.

Sunny King Course Map

Cat. 2 race is underway

rounding turn 2

Chris Cundiff in the middle of the group here sporting his red, white and blue U.S. Military Team kit

     I got to the line just in time to line up on the back row of 70+ riders and turn on my handlebar cam. I didn't even get to take a lap of the course. I tried to be patient the first few laps and not blow myself up. The pace was fast and I hurt, but I was smart the first few laps. I had a ton of adrenaline and wanted to just sprint to the front, but I stayed calm. A few laps in I was forced low in turn 3, causing me to clip a rough patch of pavement. The next time I entered turn 1, my rear tire was totally flat. It hadn't felt soft coming up the hill, but was totally flat when I tried to lean into the corner. I barely kept the bike upright and I went through the turn sideways with the tire coming off the rim. Somehow, I managed to miss all the riders to my outside, only slowing up one of them. It was a sphincter-clinching moment for sure!

Video: flat tire going into turn 1

    I went to the SRAM Neutral Support Pit for a wheel and was inserted back in the race off the back. It was a very fast lap and the pack was single-file from front to back. The official let me go as the last rider passed by. They were doing 27 mph as they came by me so by the time I got up to speed I was gapped off the group. I chased hard through turn 2 and grabbed the last wheel as we rolled down the back stretch. My heart rate was pegged now, touching 187. Again, I was not ready for this and instantly got the pain in my chest. I was also having trouble with the wheel I got in the pit. It wasn't shifting very well at all. And the tire pressure was lower than I like. It felt like it was going soft and I kept having flashbacks to the near crash earlier. The wheel itself was stiff and fast, as the neutral wheel is a Zipp 404. I adjusted on my shifter cable every chance I got, but never got all the jumping worked out. It would always jump a gear at the worst times, like coming out of a corner or closing down a gap.

Riders tried to break away almost every lap

Will Fyfe in the group

     I stayed at the back a few laps, but couldn't recover. The pace was not ridiculous fast, but it was fast enough to keep me from getting enough recovery. The flat incident has made me much more cautious as well. I was not willing to push it through the corners like needed to get away from the back. Riders started to pop at 20 minutes and I had to begin closing gaps. I was hurting the most off turn 4. It was a tough sprint out of that turn and up the hill on the front stretch. It quickly took its toll on me. I realized I was blown up and the goal began to just hang as long as I could, praying the pace would slow down soon.

Finally a lap where the group slowed down a little

Me in the group with the Zipp wheel on the rear after my flat

     At 26 minutes, I popped off the back going up the front stretch. I was so mad! My legs felt awesome, but the lack of warm-up was too much for my heart and lungs. I had trained so hard for this race and things outside my control took it away before I even had a chance to try for it. I think I punched my handlebar three or four times in frustration as I watched the pack ride away. I was coughing up a lung by the time they pulled me out of the race at 31 minutes. I came here expecting to contend for the win and was instead being pulled halfway through the race. What a disastrous nightmare.

Group of 3 up the road led by a NashvilleCyclist.com rider

Me near the back trying to close gaps through turn 3

Cat. 2 field totally strung out up the front stretch climb

Video: Bar cam footage of my entire race at Anniston

     After the race, Shannon and I went by the SRAM Pit to exchange wheels. While standing there, a dog comes strolling by and bites Shannon on the leg. He didn't growl or anything, just gave her a quick bite. She had on jeans so she was ok, but it did make red marks on her knee. The guy walking the dog was looking the other way and I don't think he even knew it happened because Shannon didn't say anything right at the time. Turns out the dog was a bomb-sniffing dog, one of three the city was using as part of heightened security for the event. I couldn't even believe how our day was going!

     After changing, we walked a few blocks down to Dad's Bar-B-Que for some of the best barbecue around. I wondered if we would get food poisoning or something after the way things were going, but by this point, I really didn't care. It was a good dinner. We ate big plates of good southern food and picked up a stash to take back with us to a coworker who is originally from Anniston. Then it was back to the race to watch the Pro events. It was a chilly evening, but the races were great. I'm still amazed that the United Health Care team dominates so much. It's crazy how strong they are. They've won every major crit. this year.

Pro Women ready for their start

Pro Women show some speed off turn 2

I did a little filming during the Pro races and you can watch it below. The local Anniston newspaper has an article about the race posted here. CyclingNews reports can be read at the following links:  Pro Women     Pro Men

Video: Pro Women and Men clips

     Our hotel was sweet! We stayed in nearby Oxford. The place had been remodeled recently. It's just a few miles from Talladega and the owners had fully embraced it, placing a huge picture of a NASCAR event at Talladega up on the wall over the bed. I love any kind of racing so I thought it was really cool to have a themed room.

     Sunday morning came early. My start for the Cat. 2/3 race at the Foothills Classic Road Race over in Piedmont was at 8:15. It was still cold when we go to the race. Thankfully, this drive was uneventful. I was having some shifting issues after swapping wheels today. My Cosmic sustained a little damage in the crit. when the tire rolled off, so I raced my Reynolds Attack Carbon wheels in the road race. I spent my warm-up time working out the shifting kinks, so again I was not prepared for the start like I had wanted to be.

Course map for the Foothills Road Race

     Race distance was 45 miles, to be run on one big loop. The area is very hilly. Most of the climbs are small rollers, but you are always going up or down. It takes its toll on your legs over the course of the race. I started in the back, but worked my way to the front early. I wanted to be at the front when we hit the first climb which was one of the bigger ones on the course. I wanted to have the room to fall back if I wasn't warmed-up yet. The pace was fine and I stayed up front over the climb. I even went with a large break about 10 miles into the race. We were pulled back quickly. I was not ready for that effort at all and realized how crappy I was feeling today. My legs were not there at all and it seemed like I couldn't breathe when my heart rate was elevated even the smallest bit. I was just off in the early part of the race. I made some good moves to stay up front and get with that break, but I was also making a ton of small mistakes. I kept missing my bottle cage after taking a drink. I clipped the wheel in front of me twice. I just wasn't functioning well the first half of the race.

Me lined up on the back row of the Cat. 2/3 race with my pasty white legs

Race underway in Piedmont

Cat. 2/3 field leaving the start area. Notice the cop next to the car with his back turned to the race. Guy in front of me nearly hit him, missing by only inches.

Riding the white line to move up in the pack

Making a turn

    I dropped to the back and tried to stay as protected as possible to recover from the short break. The big decision-maker was going to be the final climb. It is over a mile long and gets steeper near the top. And it comes with just 5 miles to go. So I planned to hang back until just before the climb. The pace was fast, then slow. Then fast, then slow. We stayed bunched up tight for the most part, which made moving up nearly impossible with 60 riders in the group.

The group strung out on a fast descent

Making shifting adjustments on the fly. Seemed to be the theme of the weekend.

Crossing a bridge in the peloton

     My plan did not work as I was not able to move up before the climb. I was probably 10 riders from the back as we hit the lower slopes of the final climb. Gaps started appearing immediately as guys couldn't hold the pace. I was unable to close the gaps and was dropped off the back of the lead group. I kept them just 5 seconds ahead and was able to rejoin when the grade slacked off halfway up the hill. I was suffering bad on tired legs, but I was back on. I just had to last a few more minutes!

Sharp turn before the main climb

Getting gapped on the first part of the climb

Clawed my way back to the group by halfway up the hill

    The gradient kicked up again near the top and it turned out to be a bit too much for me. I came off the back again, but was again able to dangle just a few meters behind the group as we crested the top. I gave it everything I had over the top, but my legs just couldn't close the gap. The group gained so much speed on the descent that I had no chance to rejoin. I could only watch them ride away.

     The group slowed a little after they got 25-30 seconds ahead of me. Several other riders had caught me, but nobody wanted to work together. We had a slim chance of catching on, but without cooperation amongst every single one of us it was not going to happen. We finally got it together with 2 miles left, but by that time it was too late. The sprint for the win materialized ahead of us and we were left to fight for the lesser places. I used what little bit of strength I had left leading out our group. I was hoping to do the lead out and take the sprint, but I got my doors blown off when the others opened up their sprints. I guess they had more left than I expected. I finished 46th, far from my goal of a top 10.

Getting dropped for good this time

Doing a leadout only gets you smoked in the sprint

     Here'a video clip of the finish of our Cat. 2/3 race, followed by highlights of my race from the camera mounted on my stem.

Cat. 2/3 Finish

Video highlights of my race from my GoPro

     The local newspaper published a news story on the road race too. Read it here.

    I am pleased to tell you that the car ride home was smooth and uneventful. We got home early with enough time to unpack and relax before another full week of work and tending to the house and growing yard. I brought Snoop over to our house to help me with yard work. She patrolled the wood piles and drooled all over my car. In the past she has become sick during car rides. She's over that now, but still develops a huge drooling issue about 5 minutes into any car ride. Poor dog. She's still awesome though.

Cedar Hill

     After a week of feeling stale and flat, I got back to it with a fun weekend of training and racing. I was unsure if I would attend the Cedar Hill Criterium or not until the last minute. That seems to be the theme this year. It was a $40 entry fee so I wasn't going to waste the money if I didn't feel good. In my mind, I had ruled out the race because I had felt bad all week, so I opted for some pacing behind the car on Saturday, combined with some fast-paced road filming. It wasn't my normal pre-race ride, but I didn't care. I just wanted to go hard and see how my body was really feeling.

     I spent the morning attaching the suction cup camera mount to different spots of the car, trying to decide just how I wanted to film during the ride. I also discovered Strava. I've heard all about it, but never got on the website to investigate. So if you don't ride/run a lot, you probably don't know what Strava is. It's a website that allows you to upload your rides/runs, keep track of your totals and even compete against other users on your favorite routes. You can mark off "segments" of your ride and Strava will calculate everyone that has ridden that segment and rank the times. It's like racing your friends on the days when you can't ride together. You get awarded the KOM (King of the Mountain - most segments are climbs) if you are the fastest. I found a segment nearby and decided to alter my ride route for the day to make an attempt at the KOM.

    My ride started too fast. I think I was a little overexcited about having Shannon tailing me in the car with a camera on the hood. We went through some of the area's best backroads north of our house, crossing over into Kentucky for the last part of the ride. I rode pretty hard for the first part, eventually getting behind the car and drafting. Shannon was driving like a maniac down some of the hills and making me work harder going down than up!

Blowing past an old barn while rounding a fast turn

Tractors were the worst traffic on this road

climbing

descending

    I was gassed by the time we made it to the Strava segment near the town of Cedar Hill. It's a long, fairly gradual climb with a long false flat after the crest. I was hurting as I started up the hill. I motioned for Shannon to leave me so I wouldn't cheat with the draft. I had a killer headwind the whole way and knew that I wasn't going to get the KOM, but I gave it what I had and at least took 3rd best time up the climb.

    After the Strava segment, I hit a few more climbs on our way up to the Kentucky line, where the road flattens out and we could do some serious drafting. I tired quickly and struggled to maintain a good pace. The wind was stiff and coming from the side, making it near impossible to draft. I was riding next to the car rather than behind it. I tried for a sprint at one point, passing by the car. The wind hit me like a punch in the face once I cleared the car, nearly blowing my front wheel right out from under me. It scared me a little and I was a bit more cautious the rest of the ride.

Drafting the car for some high-intensity training

    I was drained a bit earlier than I had hoped. The bad legs were getting better, but still not back to normal yet. We ended the ride early with a section of gravel road. The gravels were big and deep, making for a rougher ride than I expected. I had ridden through there before when the gravel was much thinner and the dirt was showing through. It seemed like an appropriate day to ride gravels with it being just one day until the Queen of the Classic, Paris-Roubaix, was to be held in Europe. The gravels made me work really hard, getting in a little bit more training on my tired legs.

Mmmm gravel...

Gravel road through the woods. Roads don't get much more fun than this!

     Here's a bit of the video we shot during our fun afternoon of road riding.

   I got up on Sunday feeling like a wimp for considering not doing the race. It seemed dumb to pass on a race so close when I needed more race experience before the big crits come later this month. So I went out for a morning ride with Shannon to loosen up the legs. I was tired, but not as much as expected.

     I decided to just go for it and do the Cedar Hill Criterium. It was a just a Cedar Hill kind of weekend. This race is nowhere near the town of Cedar Hill, but rather close to Nashville in a smaller town on the north side called Madison. It was a loop around Cedar Hill Park, a place that has hosted a crit. before and multiple cyclocross events including the Keep Calm and Race Cross event last year.

     The course was 1.6 miles in length. We started on a gradual downhill to the first of two turns on the course. Both turns are 90-degree right turns. After turn 1, it's a flat stretch across a dam before a short climb and descent that leads to the second turn. It's uphill right out of turn 2, followed by a long false flat and another small climb on the back stretch. Then came a very fast descent before one final climb. The sprint was a gradual downhill. The course was completely closed to traffic so we had a nice, wide course to race on.

Coure Map per my Garmin 310 

   In my warm up, I went into one of nearby neighborhoods to try a Strava segment. I know, I'm officially obsessed already! Well it paid off. I found out I had good legs and also took the KOM!

Pro/1/2/3 Women on the start line...and a guy walking around with a unicorn mask.

Pro/1/2/3 Women underway

     I started on the back row of the race. I was expecting small turnout, but we had 54 riders in the Pro/1/2/3. I felt awesome right away, easing my way up every time the group slowed down. I usually have trouble holding the pace out of turns and up hills, but I never was put into difficulty in this race. I missed the break of four that got away halfway through. I was too far back and too scared to try a break with that much time left. I know I'm not super strong at 30+ mph. Texas Roadhouse had a full team there and they were keeping the pace high. But they had a rider in the break, and then sent another across the gap. I was blocked in and missed the chance to go across with him. Now there were five up front, with two being Texas Roadhouse and one Cumberland Transit, a team that also has many fast riders on their roster.

Pro/1/2/3 Men on the line

Off we go for 60 minutes of racing

Me in the middle of the group

The group strung out down the finish hill

Attacks came from everywhere

Andy Reardon tries to get a break going

The initial five breaking away

   The following lap, another rider tried to bridge the 15 second gap. I was again blocked, but then a hole opened up and I went for it. I had a good acceleration, but couldn't make it across the gap on such a windy day. The group reeled me back in on the fast descent, then caught the other attacking rider before sitting up. Normally, the Friends of the Great Smokey Mountains team wants in every break and works hard to set their team up. They had missed the break, so I was hoping they would be my ally in getting across. The gap remained at 15 seconds to the break, but nobody would pull in the group. Finally, I realized I wasn't getting much of a workout and so I went to the front, hoping FGSM would give me a hand in the workload. But nobody would pull through after my turn. Then I just got mad and pulled my guts out for 2 laps. I actually closed down the gap, but I couldn't hold that pace and had to back off, just in time for them to ring the bell for a $100 prime lap. What bad timing I have.

The five that stayed away

The field was not interested in chasing

    The following lap we went to 3 laps to go in the 60 minute race. I was hurting on the prime lap as the pace shot up dramatically. I recovered quickly though and was back at the front with 2 to go. The break was at 25 seconds now. We surely wouldn't see them again, so it was now time to focus on the sprint. With the downhill near the finish it seemed like good practice for Anniston. The downhills make for a bunching effect in the group which is usually followed by a big surge where some of the middle of the pack completely overtakes and blocks in the guys up front. I suck at those kind of finishes as I always seem to find myself blocked in. I was in the top 10 as we hit the downhill for the final time. I worked hard the bottom to pass guys who were blowing. I even hit 42.9 mph in crossing a small gap to stay near the Texas Roadhouse leadout train. I got a run in the draft a bit too early and backed off. That was a mistake as the surge came up on the left. I lost many spots and then got blocked in the rest of the sprint, not even getting enough room to stand up and sprint all out. I wedged myself through the group though, grabbing a few spots including two right on the line. I wound up 13th place.

    I was a little disappointed with the final placing, but not disappointed at the same time. For the first time, I was helping control the pace in a Pro/1/2 event. And this all came on a day after doing 2 1/2 hours behind the car pacing. Finally, I seem to be coming around. The race was fast despite the wind. I hit 187 max heart rate during my attack to try to bridge the gap. Average speed was a fast 25.9 mph for just over 58 minutes.

     I had the GoPro on my stem so you can see highlights from my point of view below, followed by a video of the sprint finish.

Handlebar Cam Highlights Video

Pro/1/2/3 Men Finish Clip

     Work has been a bit overwhelming with sheer volume of patients lately, but I have also had some fun. I've mentioned glute assessments here several times, but now I'm venturing more into running and cycling mechanical assessments, looking at the mechanics of the athlete in motion. I actually got paid to ride my bike last week when I went out for a ride with a patient. We did 8 miles at various speeds to examine how her position changes with different levels of effort. I even went so far as to get video from in front of her by attaching the GoPro to my seatpost and then had her draft me so we could see head-on how her knees and pelvis were positioned. I'm considering getting more into the mechanical side of things, maybe even working with some local runners and cyclists. It's an area that has really interested me lately. I get to use my therapy knowledge and combine it with my athletic knowledge.

     Last weekend was a bit of an off-weekend due to Shannon and I having to attend a course for work. It was a great course, teaching us different methods of kinesiotaping. It's the tape you have probably seen on volleyball and basketball players on TV. The class taught me new ideas for use at work, but also gave me ideas for using this on myself with training and racing.

    We got out of the class early enough one day to go for a ride doing headcase intervals. Those intervals really suck. You do 15 seconds of seated sprinting, then totally stop pedaling for 15 seconds. You repeat as many times as you can, or until you get to 30 minutes. It sort of feels like a race. In racing you hammer out of a turn, then coast in the group through a turn, then sprint again. Over and over and over.

     Tomorrow we are off to Anniston for the first really big crit. of the year. We decided to stay for Sunday's Foothills Classic Road Race in Piedmont as well. I'm hoping for good legs as I think I can do well at both of these races. We shall see tomorrow!

     You can watch the Sunny King Criterium live all day tomorrow at http://sunnykingcriterium.com/ and on VeloNews. Coverage starts at 12:00 CDT. I race at 3:50 in the Cat. 2 event. Watch it if you can! I'll try to make it worth your while.

Speed Week Video

     Speed Week 2013 is quickly approaching. It's one of my favorite weeks of the whole year, even though I never get to do the full week of racing. They have added 2 new venues this year, one being a completely new day of racing which now brings the total to 8 races in 9 days. I wish I could do it all, but work will not allow it if I want to go back to Utah this Fall.

     In honor of the biggest crits in the country being just around the corner, I will bring up the excitement level a bit with a new video. It's an edit of shots from last year's Speed Week races in Athens, Roswell, Spartanburg, Anderson and Sandy Springs. It really is an awesome week of racing. It's cool for both racers and spectators as these riders are some of the best in the world at racing crits.

      All the filming was done by either myself or Shannon. I did the editing with some help from Shannon and Dina. The clips are from a variety of classes including the Pro Men, Pro Women, Cat. 2/3 Men, and Masters. We tried to give a mix of shots to display the scenery and beauty at each race venue and also showcase the speed and intensity of the racing itself. It's set to the song "Let the Sparks Fly" by Thousand Foot Krutch. You can watch it in high def 1080p if you go over to the actual YouTube page to watch it. I hope it gets you as excited about crits as it does me!

Speed Week 2012

Hold On

     I chose Hell of the South over Chickasaw. The weather was not good either day, but the rain held off on Saturday and the road race wound up being the better choice. It rained overnight, but was gone by the time I woke up on Saturday. I was not at all prepared, mentally or physically. I was more set on racing Sunday. I literally made the call at the last minute and headed out for Berlin, not even getting in a good breakfast. I was coming off a rest week so my legs were stale. And I had been eating junk all week. It was not looking like the makings of a good day on the bike, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity to get in a long race, especially one with a gravel section in it on a cold, wet day.

     I was also dealing with a freak toe infection that came out of nowhere. Contrary to my Dad's comments, it was not from forgetting to clean to funk out from under my toenails, but rather an infection on the other end of the toenail up under the skin. I don't know where it came from, but I woke up Wednesday night with a throbbing toe and could barely walk at work on Thursday. It got better on Friday as I was able to drain some of the infection out, but remained sore Saturday morning. Luckily, it did not bother me one bit during the race and has now resolved itself.

     I am a huge, huge fan of cycling's Spring Classics. They are the one-day races that test rider and machine. They are long races full of rough, cobbled roads that often are accompanied by brutal weather. It really brings out the "hardmen." Hell of the South is the only race around this area that at least tries to simulate a Classic, though one section of gravel each lap that is less than a mile in length is hardly close to bringing out the "hardmen." Nevertheless, I am always up for a little gravel. The loop for this race is constant rolling hills with some sketchy pavement most of the way around. Potholes abound and claimed more than their fair share of rims during the course of the day.

    The Pro/1/2/3 race was 78 miles long, taking in 3 laps of the course. The gravel is normally the splitting spot, where the group will often blow to pieces. Some people are scared of the gravels while others can't get up the two small climbs that come in that section. It's usually chaos in that part so staying near the front of the group is very important.

HoS Race Course Map

     We began on damp roads with the temps in the upper-40s. It was a rather cool morning for the end of March, but then again every morning has been cool this March. The start was slower than in recent years. I've done this race 2 out of the 3 previous years it has been held and both of those times started like we were racing for 5 miles. We got a big speech from the official on the start line about how there are no yellow center lines on these backroads, but we all know where the center is and we would be disqualified if we crossed over it. What a joke. We were spread ditch to ditch nearly the entire race and not once did the official's car behind us honk the horn and no one was DQ'ed.

    I stayed in a good position early on and hit the gravel for the first time near the front. My buddy Chris Cundiff was also riding up front. He flatted last year on the first lap, even before we reached the gravels. I had a bad race last year as well, having just come back from the stomach illness. I took my only DNF of the year after just one lap of racing.

     I survived the gravel the first time through. I was hurting bad at the exit, but managed to hang on the back of the front group. I hit my max heart rate for the race here at 191. We had a few stragglers catch on after the gravel, but most of the riders that missed the split never rejoined. We went down from 60+ riders to about 40 after the first lap. I nearly lost a water bottle again this week. In Union City the week before I lost a full water bottle when I hit a pothole at the end of the first lap, which likely contributed to my cramping at the end of the race. I caught a rough patch on a fast bridge today that again dislodged my full water bottle from the rear cage, but it wedged itself between my calf and the frame and I was able to use my snail-like reflexes to get it before it hit the road. It must have wedged in there good because I really was slow to reach for it! Got to love the looseness of a carbon bottle cage. Sometimes I miss heavy technology...

Pro/1/2/3 group just after the gravels on lap 1

Photo by Thad Hoffman

     Chris was in the group until about 2 miles to go in lap 1 when the flat monster reached out and grabbed him again in the form of a sharp piece of gravel that sliced his tire. He made a valiant chase after getting a wheel from the awesome neutral support moto behind our group, but it wasn't to be for him today. Props go out to MOAB for providing not only many sets of wheels for neutral support, but also placing one of their mechanics with wheels and a car just after the gravel and another riding behind us on a moto. It sort of made this race feel like a big-time event.

     Numerous breaks tried to go away on lap 1, but all was brought back together with a huge effort from a few riders to start lap 2. I was put into difficulty during that time, but held my position. I didn't dare stick my nose into the wind when the pace was high. The 40 or so riders were still together until the gravel on lap 2, where we then split the group down further to just 31 riders. I was the last one out of the gravel that stayed with the front group. I just barely managed to latch myself onto that last wheel at the top of the second hill. The problem with this lap for me was that we went into the gravels too slow. That bunched us up and killed any momentum we may have had for the upcoming hills. It's hard to maintain traction on a steep gravel hill when you nearly stop halfway up and then try to go full-on again.

     I was getting tired as we started the last lap. The breaks were still trying to form, but it was all being pulled back so far. Then with 25 miles to go, the elastic snapped and 5 riders got clear. They were never to be seen again. I was starting to bonk. My goal was to get to the gravels with the group and then just take it a mile at a time. Again, I was last man out of the gravel, but hung onto the back by the skin of my teeth. I used a slightly different tactic this time. We again entered the gravel slow, but this time I didn't panic on the first hill, instead staying steady and then hitting the second hill hard to ensure I held my momentum through the last deep section of gravel. That seemed to work well for my tired legs. I sipped on my bottle of Ultragen throughout that last lap. It's a recovery drink, but works wonders on the final lap of a long race because it is designed to get a ton of nutrients into your body very quickly, making it perfect for reviving from a bonk. It was just enough to save my day.

     Two more small breaks of 6 riders slipped off the front in one of the hillier sections. We nearly caught the third group with 6 miles to go, getting to within 5 seconds of them, but then everyone turned off the chase and just let them go. I wanted to bridge across so bad, but I knew that physically I couldn't do it. It would've been sure suicide. I was content just making it with the peloton today.

    Those last 6 miles turned into a fun ride as we cruised in at 18-20 mph until the final sprint. I way underestimated what I had left and tried to wait for the final few hundred meters, but found that there were gaps ahead of me when I pulled out of line. I ate up several positions before the finish line, but wound up 5th in the sprint, giving me 22nd overall. I hit 187 heart rate in the sprint so there was definitely still something left in the tank. I was toast in the legs after the race, but actually felt good by the time I got home. If nothing else, I am recovering well this year!

Even with the rain overnight, my bike still came out of the race with a bit of gravel dust on the frame.

    Chickasaw wound up being very, very nasty. It was a good call on my part. My new drive train would not have enjoyed being welcomed into this world in those conditions. I feel like such a pansy for missing the race. I love the muddy conditions, but it just doesn't make sense any more for me to do them when I haven't shown any real race form on the mountain bike the past few seasons. Mud really hurts your parts, which in turn hurts your wallet. We just don't have that kind of race budget anymore.

    Since Hell of the South, Winter has reared its ugly head despite it officially being Spring. It has snowed twice and averaged in the upper-40s to low-50s on temperature. I have not tolerated it so well. I was mentally prepared to end the trainer the week of Union City, but the cold rain has kept me indoors and the motivation has suffered. I can only do so much on the trainer with my high-intensity workouts now. My plan was to be working on sprints and explosive power now, two things you just can't do on the trainer unless you want to rock the trainer over in the floor. With less bike motivation comes less motivation off the bike and my nutrition has declined as well. I think I pushed it a bit too far with dropping weight right after Union City and that has caused more food cravings. Easter is a bad time to want to eat because there is just too much candy lying around, especially at work. Patients have been bringing us oodles of chocolate and cakes. I have partaken of more than my fair share and have seen the effects on the scale this week. I've put 2-3 lbs. back on, but the positive thing is that I'm still below the weight I was at any point during last year.

The day of Chickasaw (March 24) started out with rain, then brought thunderstorms and even some hail seen above...

...then less than 10 hours later snow was covering the ground.

Snow on our cars as we leave for work on Monday

    The cold continues to bring me down this week. We did a group ride in Sango on Tuesday. I felt horrible, probably due to my nutrition and the cold. I thought I was going to freeze to death before getting home that night. I just hung on the back and got in my miles for the day, then struggled to keep feeling in my fingers and toes on the ride back home. Things have not gotten much better since then, with me not having any legs on the trainer today. I felt like such a weakling and ended up ending the workout early as I just didn't have the legs to get my heart rate up for interval work. I was doing so good with sticking to my training plan, but the weather has wrecked it the past 3 weeks. I've been forced to get in riders whenever I can, not always when I want. I thought I would plateau on my progress, but instead I have seemed to regress. It's frustrating and has killed all my confidence going into the big crits later this month.

     I hope it warms up soon. I don't know how much longer I can take this cold weather. As I write this, I'm staring out the window at a cold downpour with the temperature under 40 degrees. I can't believe this is nearing the end of the first week of April. Normally by now I am riding in shorts 4-5 days out of the week. So far this year, I've ridden in shorts in Tennessee 4 times...and probably shouldn't have for 2 of those rides. There's a race at Cedar Hill Park this weekend. It's close to home and I had originally planned to race it, but I'm not sure now. I'll have to see how I feel on my ride this Saturday and then make the call. Until then, I'm going to go search for my motivation. It has packed up and left town so I must go catch it before it gets away for good.

Sports Performance Video

     We have a Sports Performance Program at the STAR Physical Therapy location here in Clarksville where I work. Blake Ladson runs the program and works with local athletes of all ages to improve their strength, jumping ability, speed and agility.

    Recently, I made a short video for Blake to use to promote the program. He's recruiting athletes hard right now. If you are in the Clarksville area and want to get better at any sport, check into Blake's program. Just check out the video below to see a few of the things he has to offer.

STAR Physical Therapy - Clarksville North Sports Performance Video

     I'm hoping to get better at these videos and eventually make a long cycling video of some sort. The videos are fun to plan out and film. The editing isn't always the most fun thing to do, especially with the program I have, but I'm getting better at it. Look for more videos to emerge here in the near future. Check out my YouTube page for more frequent updates and postings.