Redbud, Race Tactics and Ardmore

Its been a couple of weeks since I've updated the blog and a few things have happened since then. So lets start at the top........

Redbud

The 2011 Redbud Classic got a record number of riders (over 1500). This event is classified as a tour, but usually the fast guys go out front and race it. This year I decided to see if I could hang at the front in the 50 mile tour.

It all went well until about mile 30. I was in the main pack when a guy directly in front of me hit the ground really hard. I managed to swerve, bunny hop and avoid killing him at 27mph. Unfortunately the guy behind me wasn't quite as alert and rammed straight into my rear derailleur. It completely destroyed the back part of my bike and ended my day......I was not hurt, but not happy at all.

Well crap.....

Red River Shootout - Ardmore

This race is somewhat unique in that being equal distance between OKC and Dallas it gets racers from both states and hence a very strong field.

I lined up at the front with 2 full rows of riders and got off to an awesome start, tucking into 2nd as we hit the trail.

Myself and eventual race winner to my right

From the minute myself and the race leader hit the single track we gunned it and opened up a large gap from the rest of the field. The course itself was extremely fast with some great rock gardens that setup perfectly for the 29er to float over.

We started to pass the 20-29 age group and moved through them pretty quickly and settled in with the knowledge it was just he and I. Something I learned during this race is that my race tactics are not great.....that will develop with more races under my belt. Since I sat behind this guys wheel for 95% of the race I was not able to see the good lines over the rocks and was playing catch up after riding over them. Also I probably sat behind the guy for too long as I had plenty of power and energy left in the tank that I could have powered away from him much earlier in the race and put distance between us with an open trail in front of me.

We got up to the last major rock section and the race leader got stuck and had to hop off his bike to get over the top, which forced me off the bike to follow suit. Once I got to the top, he had opened up a 30 second gap on me and we hit the last mile of the course which was a big chain ring flying section. If I had pre-rode the course I would've known this and might have been able to reel him in there......might have.

Burying myself for the finish

All in all I was very happy again with 2nd place, and am learning more and more interesting things in the races, such as how to use other slower riders to your advantage, when to drink, when to pass, where to put in bursts of speed. Technically I'm way ahead of where I thought I would be floating over rock gardens, rolling drops, cornering at speed, etc..etc.

Next up is a power test which is simply 20 mins of pure all out suffering, to figure out what your power to weight ratio is. I should see some improvement there from the last time I did it.

After that is my "A" race for the year down in Austin at the Mellow Johnny's classic. This race is run on Lance Armstrong's Juan Pelota ranch and is a national event with a lot of competition.

The HorseOutside is rollin a little faster!

Postponed Races and Training

Well its been a while since my last post and that is for good reason. Mother Nature has twice decided to interveen in the Team Phoenix race at Osage Hills. Unfortunately when an MTB trail gets wet, it should not be ridden at all as it will get destroyed.....so imagine what 200 racers on a wet trail would do to it.

Training Stuff
Ones of the things I've discovered is that focus on training is extremely important to making progress. You cannot go half-assed at all......if I find myself doing that I'll stop as the time isn't worth it.
These past few weeks, I've been training on the Computrainer a lot. This is basically a torture device into which you place your road bike. The laptop controls the grade (hills) and the power output. The cool thing is that there is zero place to hide on this thing......you're either hitting the workout or you're not.


Pain Cave (AKA Computrainer)

Mark has developed some pretty cool workouts on it, and if you're interested in more info around those contact him http://www.speedworkscoaching.com/

Today I did a singlespeed training ride around Draper which was awesome. Essentially you keep the bike in the same gear the whole way....hills & corners included! What this does is forces you to generate a lot more power up the hills, which I had in abundance today.....it was a lot of fun.

Next Race
The next event on the horseoutside schedule isn't actually a race but a bicycle tour. Every year since I can remember I've participated in the Redbud Classic and this year will be no different. On Sat I'll be doing the 52 mile tour, which I expect my time to be significantly better than it every has. On Sunday I'll be organizing & directing split timers on the course for the runners who show up in force for this event.
If you haven't registered, go here: http://www.redbud.org/

Hopefully next week I'll have something more exciting to post with pics of the Redbud.