iwannaryde

Surriously cravin some tarmac.

Weird.......they forgot to put TGR on the list!

For those who are not fans of proffessional cycling this post may be a bit dry. but then again pro cycling is why i started the blog in the first place. today was the announcement of 2012 pro tour roster.

UCI WorldTour Teams for 2012

AG2R La Mondiale (nothing to expect other then a few smaller victories and constant breakaway attempts)

Astana Pro Team (slowly lost all their power. 1st all the armstrong empire guys, then albeefo clenbutador, and now vinny. is there anyone left to make magic) *since starting this i did read vinokurov is coming out of retirement so there is hope yet for this team. hope he can show the world his strength.

BMC Racing Team (now we're talking powersquad. kangaroo fresh off his tdf win and captain america likely in his last season should make for some big moves. hopefully a rise of the powerful bookwalter and phinney to show us what the future will be like. but then youve got the confusing one. Thor. i'm at a complete loss at what his role is going to be here. How can a breakaway artist who had so much success in last years tdf, sit back and support cuddles all the way to paris?

Euskaltel-Euskadi (same as Ag2r)

FDJ (who?)

Garmin-Cervélo this team is a laundry list of power names...danielson, farrar, hausler,
martin, hunter, millar, hesjedal, zabriske, vandevelde. but i guess i have a hard time seeing how they will bring it all together. if you look at the 2008 astana team you can see that it doesnt always matter how many superstars you have you have to be able to mesh and work towards a common goal.

GreenEdge the "exciting" aussie team that every one is looking forward too. will this be the future team of cadel? will it be all hype and have a fizzle season such as early team sky?

Katusha Team (breakaway attempts?)

Lampre - ISD (and after a long day at the front the breakaway is caught)

Liquigas - Cannondale (a few basso let downs and sagan stage wins?)
Lotto Belisol Team

Movistar Team you know i thought movistar really had a hott start last year. they seemed to be represented in every move. hopefully this year they can have more success because they definatly were aggressive
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team another power team. (side note they revealed their new kits yesterday and i think they look horrible. not even worthy of a century kit) i think this team will be the escape artists (my favorite type of riders) a few kms from the finish they will have someone take off from the front to have a sprintless victory. i hope to see more of that this year.

Rabobank ohhh rabo......i really hope they can get some SOLID results in some big races. they have a solid team this year and i feel they may become more of a sprinters team. i am a little let down by them because they havent changed their kits hardly at all.

Vacansoleil-DCM before the last tdf id have said "who?" BUT (as versus would say) "someone decided to take a pass at crying uncle" last year when hoogerland got hit by a car, flew into a barbwire fence and untangled his shredded body to climb back on a bike and retain the climbers jersey and most courageous jersey in one of the most emotional podium moments ive ever seen



then there was three. (bmc should probably be down here too.)

RadioShack-Nissan- i know i already mentoined 2008 astana but this is text book 2008 astana (including many of the same members) the old legends joining forces with the new superstarts. will it be an unbeatable supersquad whos experience and vitality smash all who wish to challenge them or will it be a raging ego fire that eventually burns down the entire house?

Sky Procycling theyve got the fastest man in the world.....BUT!!!!!!! do they have the fastest lead out train in the world? that we will have to wait and see.

Team Saxo Bank ahhh the team of albeefo clenbutador. if you want to call them a team. i think they displayed loud and clear in july that they were not riding for alberto. after vino will there be anyone who will ride on his behalf? Dude needs to build some bridges is my guess.





everyone is asking if the supersquad team mergers are ruining the peloten? I think we will have to wait and see but my feelings are no. The fear is that because the teams are so strong that the little teams will have no chance to shine thus making the sport less interesting. Anybody remember that little team Europcar. That pro continental team that held the maillot jaune from stage ten to stage 19 including every pyrenees and alps stages?!?! At the end of the day this game is not about big budgeted teams and celebrity names, nor has it ever been. it's about who wants it so bad they will peel themselves from barbwire to finish a stage, that they will turn themselves inside out to do whatever it takes to keep their unknown leader in the maillot jaune, its about pushing the breakaway until you are swallowed up by the peloten and never handing them your own defeat but instead making them pry if from your tires, its about heart,(again to quote versus)"sometimes passion has a funny way of trumping logic".

Good Luck to all the 2012 teams and for the sake of the sport lets please have a CLEAN year.

things that go crank in the night

many around the world are having to deal with a cycling off season. for some that means donning christmas sweaters and focusing on nothing but the next big holiday meal. for some it means dragging their trainers out and sweating through a windless ride in their living room while their wife watches re-runs of desperate housewives and complains that their trainer is too loud. Most of this is due to unbearable temperatures, torrental downpours,and unrideable snowfall. None of these are a regular issue for a Bakertucky cyclist and anyone who is too fragile to be out in our average mildly cool days shouldnt consider themselves a "cyclist" in the first place. But there is one demon that winter brings each year......shorter days. with the sun down at 5pm it is tough for most people to get their weekday rides in. There are a lucky few (who dont have to be at work at 4am) that are able to ride in the mornings or during their lunch breaks. But, for the rest of us we are left to crank away into the dark abyss and pray that tommorow the moon will be bigger. I guess i should probably clarify, dont let my negative tone lead you astray. I actually love these night rides. There really are two different types though and it all depends on the big cheese ball (why are we told as kids that the moon is made of cheese <*sidenote* i love me some cheese>) probably pepper jack is my favorite but i do love to gnaw some medium cheddar.......oh wait two types of rides. theres the completely dark ones (no moon) (as pictured above) where if the light isnt shinning on it, it aint there. the cool part about these rides is it removes your ability to overthink whats around you while freeing your mind up on whats important...you, your bike, the pain,and the illuminated three feet in front of your wheel. the other type is better for group rides and definatly my favorite. that is the full(ish) moon rides (or big ball of cheese.....have i told you about how much i love cheese) on these rides you can shut off your light and still go well over 20mph with out any concern of not seeing an obstacle. these rides you can really get off of a bike path and go do some real riding on the open road. these rides are typically more fast and allows people in the group without light to break away (or get dropped) without the fear of finding themselves padded side up in a ditch on the side of the road. although i love to talk night rides i need end this. i believe this may be my longest blog so far. had a great week of riding and im really enjoying this colder weather riding. to all the cyclists in snow laden areas my heart breaks for you, i just hope that of the two types i explained at the beggining you are the ones putting on the stinky lycra and not the christmas sweater (unless its stinky lycra with a christmas sweater which wouldnt be a bad idea for an upcoming holiday ride!)

i wish i had more dirty laundry.

is that how you spell hookie? anyways, one of the supervisors at the office has to be out of town for the next few days and it just so happens to be the one i have lock up at the end of the day. so instead of me coming in and working a straight 15 hr day (yes we cut back hours) i came in this morning worked from 3 a.m. till 10 a.m. then left for 5 hours and came back for a shift from 3 p.m. till 10 p.m. why am i explaining my hours today?!?! oh yah because those 5 hours i took as an opportunity to get out to the time trial course and see what i could make as an individual time. i was pleasently surprised that wind issues included i was able to keep it under 31 mins. especially since guys said the wind added 2 mins to their time!! (i think that was some carried away math) either way i'm more encouraged for sunday although i am still feelin the nerves. Forecast says possiblity of rain. i say bring it on. something about rain makes me push myself that much harder. It's like "i'm out here cycling in the pouring rain i must be a hardass" and then what the mind thinks the body executes and you suddenly become that which you think you are, a hardass.

a see the light at the end of the tunnel for harvest. two more months till i can reinvigorate my training to full time stinky lycra wearer. i miss the days when i couldnt wash my cycling clothes fast enough cuz i was riding so often. after two months of slacking (ive been hardly doing such. lets use cutting back on training.) im starting to see it in my gut so its time to increase some intelligent training.

3 for 3?

well lots has happened since my last post. I got a new time trial bike. it's a velovie veloce 100

i ran into a ton of problems putting it together and only finally finished it at 9 o'clock the night before bakersfield triathlon.
but even with the last minute bike change i was able to get first in my age category and follow that up the next week with a first in the tgr time trtrial age category and a PR on that course. i look forward to getting to some out of town time trials to really test myself against a tougher category for my age group.

next week will be a team time trial for ryan and i here locally. we have been practicing the transitions and its definatly a different game then a standard time trial. i'm excited for us to get the technique down a little better because i feel we will be able to push so much harder.

5 days till race day and 77 hours of that will be at work. here's hoping for miracle fresh legs.

velo-fast and not like speedy fast

In the Ag community when it's harvest time you no longer exist to the outside community. to me that means 16-18 hour work days that are go,go,go and 6 days a week for 4 months. This is the yearly period where i traditionally live off of subway, monster energy drinks, donuts, and "jifi-mart" snacks. How does this all translate to cycling? i go from being a "120 mile a week" guy to being a "120 mile a month" guy. form naturally will suffer. But, combine that with my monsters and donuts etc.. and i pack on an extra ten pounds to haul up hills. my mission: don't let it happen this year. before i just always thought well this is my reality i will be slow in the winter and work to get it back in the summer. I don't have time to get slow this year. I have teammates who are out training every day getting better and better and i have to be able to keep my form at a level that i can support them and help deliver them to a win. I know that i WILL NOT be as fast as i was 4 weeks ago but i have to minimize that the best i can. MY METHOD: i now have a bike trainer that a teammate is loaning me that i can get on once i get home. This way i can still spend time with my wife and keep some legs under me. also, at work i walk as much as possible and not stroll but move with a purpose all day. Lastly, i will try to start squeezing in some late night spin classes. Oh and also race as much as possible. just because i'm getting slower doesnt mean i shouldnt be racing. the experience and pace of races throughout this four months will keep me from forgetting the tempo and what i'm training for. now lets see if i can keep that focus up for three more months.

this sunday is the team go ride time trial which is a once a month local race. looking forward to doing that and seeing how my time is compared to my non-harvest times. next sunday is my triathlon (probably my last one for a LONG time) i havent done any running or swimming in over a month and a half. when ever i swim or run i just wish i was on a bike so i think i'm done for a bit. my focus over the next few months will be time trials and crits then starting to get ready for the spring road races.

intervals, chainrings, and mexican pacelines

an older draft that i never finished or posted. looking forward to harvest being over to get back to this kind of schedule. it's been a week full of amazing rides. i had two days of awesome interval training monday and wednesday. monday was a two mile sprint course with 2 miles back recovery and i felt great. I ended up with the best time of the night though most of my competition wasnt there that night. 2:47 was the time to beat. and that was my 6th run at it. we'll see if i can gain anything on that next week. the next set of intervals was on wednesday and it was hill repeats a 12% gradient hill that is .7 miles long with about 1.5 miles recovery in a loop back to the bottom. my best time there was 3:06 but i was pretty shot from mondays intervals. one of the runs at it we did it in our hardest gear and that was a pretty fun SLOW run at it. but i forgot to set my timer but i think we added about a minute. i was with a teammate coming down the hill after our last climb when we heard two motorcycles coming up behind us. now this hill you can reach 40mph very quickly so he gave me a nod to say lets see how long we can hold them off. obviously at 40 mph they caught us quick but they knew we were racing them and gave us a holler as they went past. I'm pretty sure we gave them a good run for their money ;) once we got back to the cars we told everyone who was back already about how we just smoked a violent biker gang in a race.

in both interval sets i was CONSTANTLY looking for a harder gear. I have to get a smaller cog or a bigger chainring because im just maxing out too early. a teammate gave me a pretty decent program that lets you see the effects of different setups so i plan to mess with that a bit this weekend.

Thursday night is my epic night ride night
but this thursday i was supposed to be sitting up and hanging with the slower group trying to rest up for sundays time trial. yah we'll see how that went its kind of a somewhat all level ride BUT there is a very fast group that breaks off the front and destroys/ self destructs on two little climbs then drops into a wicked paceline for a 10 mile segment of some (reverse false flats) slight downhill. the ride started off quick and i get dropped to some bike prep timing issues had to do about a mile sprint out of the gates to catch them from the get go. then i was sitting at the back of the pack for about two minutes when i saw some guys start to make a move off the front. so i had to sprint to the front past about twenty riders to try to get the guys back wheel. well one violent crank was too much for my already dilapidated cleats resulting in my foot popping out my cranks spinning and my chain get wrapped in a mess that took me WAY too long to free and included two dismounts!! so again i was chasing this time for about 5 miles as the pace had increased. did i mention i was supposed to be sandbagging this ride. so i catch up and on the first hill force myself not to attack. i just sit up and let the climbers do their thing constantly thinking about sundays race and forcing myself to relax knowing there was a re-grouping point on the back end of the hill............... *i just found this in my drafts and realized i started typing it months ago but never posted it oops. trust me the story ended amazingly.