Jason Broome Time Trial

Great times.  That was fun.  In fact the more I think about it, the more I realize how enjoyable it was.

Kate & I got to the venue in plenty of time for me to check in & warm up & all that.  A little too early, maybe, actually.  It was windy so I decided to hang out in the van for a while before starting to warm up.  Then I realized that it was getting late so 

I rushed to fit my warm-ups & stretching in.  Didn't get nearly as much time in on the trainer as I wanted, so while I stretched I wasn't as limber as I should have been.   And actually my knees are starting to feel that now.

But I got to the start line on time.  Tyler was the starter and he gave me a nod of encouragement while another dude held my seat while I clipped into my pedals.  Then the fun began.  Had a tailwind and a slight downhill grade on the way out, so I took it a bit easy to save some juice for the trip back up & into the wind.  Still, I gained on the person in front of me and was a hundred or so meters behind him at the turn ("B" on the map linked above) - where he fell.  Ended up being a ~12-year-old BYRDS rider.  The official helped him up & held his bike while he remounted & got going, but he had to rebuild that 10-15MPH of momentum (that he otherwise woulda kept sans crash) going into the wind so he burned a lot of gas there and I overtook him easily shortly after the turn.  I thought about saying something encouraging but couldn't think of anything good and couldn't spare the breath anyway.  I figured he might overtake me again shortly (BYRDS is one of the top youth cycling programs in the country and I've heard there are a couple BYRDS riders going for cycling scholarships to college), but I never saw him again. 

Shortly after that I rounded a bend in the road that put me on that long straightaway heading due north - square into the teeth of the wind and culminating with the largest climb of the ride. Couldn't have been more than 50 feet of elevation gain but from my perspective it looked huge (now that I look, Google Maps says it's more like 90 feet, but still...).  But in my adrenaline-charged state I thought, "Bring it!"  And I kept thinking that for what seemed like an eternity.  Every time I looked up at the hill, it never seemed to be getting any closer.  One rider passed me.   Then he hit the hill and passed the next rider (whom I was gaining on).  Then I finally got to the base of the hill, got my cadence & form in order, attacked it with my glutes (not something you hear everyday), and motored straight up it.

Once atop the hill, I saw a sign for 1km to go, gaged how much gas was left in my tank (simultaneously making two mental notes: one about how glad I was to have learned the conversion between miles & kilometers, and the other about how funny it is that these racers want so badly to be in Europe), chilled at my steady pace for a little while longer, then shifted up a couple gears and hammered for the last 500 - 700 meters.  My final time over the ten miles was 29' 54.??" so I did indeed barely get over the finish averaging above 20MPH.

My average was 20.067MPH as a matter of fact.  And even better was that I was only overtaken by one rider.  And even better than that was that I gained on the two people ahead of me!  I did actually overtake the one guy, but who's gonna count a kid who falls as an overtaken rider.  And even better than all that, it was FUN!  And Kate came to watch me too.  :)

And I'm sure that in subsequent time trials I'll get my logistics & timing down better so I'll be ready when I need to be.

Getting Jazzed for the Race!

Yesterday I took the Trek out for another test time trial on the same seven-mile course as last time.  I managed 19.3 MPH last time and was hoping to top 20 this time.  I didn't bother doing the math ahead of time, but in order to accomplish that I had to shave more than a minute off my previous time.  And I did!  My previous time was 21:45 and yesterday I clocked 20:22 for 20.62 MPH.

So there.  And I think I can sustain that same pace for an additional three level miles, so I should be able to keep it above 20 MPH for Saturday's race!  Wish me luck!

Yikes it's windy out there now.

My First Race

I entered my first race.  The Jason Broome Memorial Time Trial.  It's the first race in the Lyle Pearson Spring Series - also a road race or two and maybe a crit.  But forget that noise.  First rider leaves the start (near Exit 71 of I-84 east of Boise) at 10:30 AM on April 4, 2009.  Wish me luck!

The Dog Days of Late Winter

Kate's doing dog stuff in Caldwell this weekend, so my plan was to ride out there today, watch the dogness, and ride home, maybe taking a detour around the lake for some extra miles.  While I was planning this, a friend of mine emailed me and asked if I'd be able to ride.  Heck yeah!  So we did something like this except in reverse order and stayed to watch the dogs for an hour or so.  Plus I rode a few miles to warm up, plus we zigzagged around a while in Caldwell, so I got 45 miles today.  It was great to have a riding partner again.  Makes me look forward to STP's startup even more.

My Happy Little Time Trial

I couldn't resist.  I'm not supposed to be increasing my intensity quite yet but I just couldn't put off seeing what I could do on the Trek.  So I constructed a short time trial course for myself on the closest lightly-traveled straight couple miles without a stop sign that I could think of: Happy Valley Road.

I rode out through my cousin's sub to warm up, stretched, looking at the clock on my cell phone (which I only now realize had a stopwatch I coulda used), and took off south to near Kuna Road, turned around, arrived back at the same spot, and checked my clock again.  It was decidedly above base intensity, but it wasn't quite "race" pace.  Not that I even know what "race" pace is, but I know what it's not.  :)  Anyway I finished the seven-mile (+/- 0.1) course in twenty-one minutes and forty-five seconds (+/- 15 sec).  That's 19.31 MPH (+/- 0.5 MPH).  Sweet.  I'm thrilled.  Not exactly an olympic record, but more impressive than I anticipated for myself.

I thought that might have been a new top speed, but no - I had two rides over 20 MPH last year on the Look (but I was near the height of my conditioning for that season, and I remember still gasping for breath ten minutes after getting home both times ).  I'm sure I'll top that after not too long on the TT bike though.

AND!!  I bought another set of pedals today so I actually have a pair for every bicycle that I own again.  I'll see them in 4-11 days.

The Hilo's Inaugural Ride

Wow.  Well the bad news is that I planned to ride over thirty miles today but only ended up with about fourteen including a trip to Tyler's.  The good news is that thirty-two miles was ridiculously and wholly unrealistically ambitious for my first time on a new bike and my first time on aero bars so I don't feel too bad about cutting it short.  In fact I feel far worse for expecting myself to do the longer ride in the first place.  The saddle was too low (despite my attempt at fitting on the trainer a few nights ago), so I didn't quite get to put everything I could have into the effort either.  That, coupled with the new riding position, really has my legs sore too.

But more good news: that was fun!  After getting used to the aero bars (I was very wobbly at first), I was able to maintain a good clip AND I was far more comfortable in the aero position than I thought I'd be.  That one straightaway without stop signs heading north on Powerline (which was actually longer than the map shows partially because I'm too lazy to make a better map) was a blast with a little wind at my back.  I don't have a speedometer on that bike yet so I can't know exactly how fast I went, but it felt pretty respectable.

Now I just need another set of pedals so I can use all of my bikes whenever I want.  And a speedometer/heart rate monitor to guide my training.  And upgraded legs and lungs.  :)

Power Butte

To celebrate the demise of February, possibly the most hated month in all of cycledom, I took a ride today on the Look.  I'm beginning to like the Power Butte ride.  Boy it was windy though - 15 MPH out of the SSE.  And I made my first conscious effort today to maintain a base pace (generally thought of as the pace at which one has enough breath to maintain a conversation).  As a result, I was at 10MPH on much of my way south - I think my average was around 12 when I took a break near my southernmost point.  I passed Tyler's church and saw his car as well as my ex-boss's car sitting in front as the place was warming up for 10:00 services.  I hope they remembered to pray for me.  ;)

But a ride into the wind on the outbound leg can mean only one thing for the inbound journey!  Yeah it was a thing of beauty.  I was still at base effort, but I was up near 30MPH for a good portion of the ride home.  Cresting hills at 20MPH is a cool feeling.  Went past Tyler's place a little after 11:00 but it looked like he & Sheree were still in church.  Cruised past my cousin's place again but saw no signs of life other than the pickup in the driveway.  23.7 miles in an hour and a half.  The end.