Cold Saturday projects

Cold day around here but at least the sun is out. Today is a planned easy day so I hit the rollers for a bit then had choices to make.

Lay around like this one does all day or work on a few projects.


Hit the basement first to finalized the winter bike workshop. Everything is in its place and easy to get to.



Sneak peak of the new CX race bike. Ridley now is the pit and training bike. Weighed both bikes today without wheels, they both weigh exactly the same, 11.7 pounds. Weird.




Now I'm off to do some wood trim work in the dinning room.

USAC says I’m 40 now

USA Cycling says my racing age is 40 this year, so I guess I’m 40. Not sure what I think about that. I don’t feel 40.

What got me thinking about this is the flyer for Leadbelt XC is now available with start times, laps and categories. Cat 1 categories are 18-19, 30-39, 40+ and Women Open. So there you have it, I’ll be racing Cat 1 40+, I wonder how many Cat 1 40+ guys are out there? Can’t wait to find out.

The Power of Power

January is nothing too stressful, but solid work that will maintain the hard work from last year. And it's a month of decompressing from the cyclocross season and constructively start the build for the year ahead.

The Mean Maximal Power Curve has become one of my favorite graphs to compare like training sessions against each other. Last week was my first constructive training week for the season, I could certainly tell I had come off an extended break. This week things feel better and the numbers agree as I expected to see todays power curve above last week.

Yellow line last Tuesday

Dotted line today

Same wattage target

The latest version of WKO+ now has a Multi file range analysis tool that is very cool.

Now if I could just figure out this quadrant and scatter graph stuff.

Hermann Gravel this Sunday

Go Here

Gravel ride, trim work and football

.... and in that order. Jose and I started the day with a 2 hour plus gravel grinder on wet muddy fly in your face gravel to get the day started. Perfect weather, snow and Ice gone, super fun ride.




After getting the new bike cleaned up it was time to continue the indoor trim work project.



Then to end the day it was football. Perfect way to spend the day


Go Cowboys!

It has arrived

Comes in at 24 pounds - can't wait to get this outside. Thanks Joe and team at Revolution Cycles for making this bike happen! More photos here

Laying out Season Goals

2009 was my 5th year racing bikes and by far the best of all years. There have been some great races over the years but last season everything seemed to come together just right. Focus was more on the dirt side of things with several MTB races and cross was the main priority for the year. The cross season was simple awesome, best results I've had.

2010 the commitment to MTB and Cyclocross is 100%. Sold the road bike so there will be no crits or road races on the schedule this year. There will be at least one team Duathlon with Dawndi but I'll use my cross bike with skinny tires or see if Joe will let me barrow a TT bike for the day. And I may race my Herman Hilly TT event in Aug.

Power training and coaching will once again be in play. Best purchase of 2009 was the Power Tap; what an awesome tool. That and coach Donahue made a significant difference. I have my numbers from 09 as reference, goal will be to build on last year pushing myself to achieve higher peaks.

Team for 2010 will continue to be Revolution Cycles. Mark Gullet from Springfield, MO has joined the team too. Joe and his crew are great to work with as he has helped shape what bikes I will be racing on. New this year will be the MTB, Cannondale Scalpel 2 and new for cross will be the Fuji Cross Pro. The Ridley will now be a training and pit bike. I pick up the MTB today and Fuji next week; photos posted soon.

I've taken a nice break, enjoyed the holiday, gained a few pounds, caught a cold that lasted over a week, been on a few rides and now batteries are fully re-charged; serious training for this year starts Saturday.

Race schedule is clear, Midwest Fat Tire Series and United Federation of Dirt schedules are out. Like last year the time on the MTB I want to be competitive but it's more about working on bike handling which seems to be one of my top three weaknesses. I know there is allot of time I can gain in a cross race if I learn to carve a corner faster and stay off the breaks, it can be the difference between 5th and winning a race. I plan to race Expert this year and learn from the guys who are fast.

Main objective for 2010 will be the bubba cup standings, and MO State Cross Championship, goal is the top three for both. Bubba Cup races start with the Hermann Cross weekend , for a total of 11 races. And looks like the State race will be in Parkville, KS this year. It will be nice to not promote this year so I can just show up and race.

So there you have it, all you wanted to know about my season goals and more.

2010 Schedule as of today

March
3/14: Leadbelt XC
3/28: Lost Valley

April
4/3: Maxtrak Team Du

May
5/8: Greensfelder
5/16: Rhett's Run

June
6/6: Conquer Castlewood
6/12: MO St XC Champs
6/27: St Charles CO

July
7/1: Short Track Dirt Crit
7/8: Short Track Dirt Crit
7/11: OMBA Caramba
7/15: Short Track Dirt Crit
7/22: Short Track Dirt Crit
7/25: Show me St Games
7/29:Short Track Dirt Crit

Aug
8/1: Dirt Crit Final
8/8: Spanish Lake

Sept
9/4: Tall Oak 6 hour team
9/18: Hermann CX under the Lights
9/19: Hermann CX under the Sun
9/26: Diamond BlackFan (KS)

Oct
10/3: Boss Cross (KS)
10/10: Chris Cross (KS)
10/16: Bubba Cross 1
10/17: Bubba Cross 2
10/24: Bubba Cross 3
10/30: Bubba Cross 4
10/31: Bubba Cross 5

Nov
11/7: Bubba Cross 6
11/14: Bubba Cross 7
11/21: Bubba Cross 8
11/28: Bubba Cross 9

Dec
12/5: Mo St CX Champs
12/12: Washington CX
12/19: CXMAS

Winter cold

Lucky me, I caught a cold at the tail end of Christmas spending a week off the bike laid up. I hate colds, it's been well over a year since my last one. Dawndi was just as lucky as I was as she got the same thing. It's been a Kleenex fest around here this week.

Another cold I am not fond of is the temperatures of late. 6 degrees this morning with a high of 22 this afternoon, typical of the past few days. Not Iowa cold but still; o' well, just good to be back on the bike again.

photo stolen for the new twisted spokes team