Johan Museeuw "today I need a little bit of lucky"

This has turned out to be an unlucky week as you'll read below. All this followed the flat last weekend at Cantua Creek which I'd hoped was the end of it.

Bad Luck 1. Thursday I had to rush home from work as super supporter Hailey managed to shoot herself in the head with a large catapult and received 11 stitches at the ER. As your can imagine this was a really stressful couple of days as we tried to get Hailey on the mend. With the truck packed up late on Friday night we were ready to roll on Saturday AM.

On Saturday we picked up Drew Touchstone at 8:30 in Menlo Park on our way to Snelling CA for the 27th annual Snelling Race. This is a NorCal classic and always attracts a large crowd of on form Pro/1/2's.

Bad luck 2. Shortly after we turned onto highway 5 a golfball sized rock was shot up from the back wheel of a truck and struck the windscreen of the Xterra right behind the rear view mirror. This created a huge starburst crack in the windscreen than grew to the whole length of the screen within the next few miles. Not much we could do about it but carry on.


The Cracken.

We arrived at the race and the wind was howling! I'd woken up this AM and looked at the weather report. The first thing that I saw was a severe weather alert for the Snelling area warning about high winds and blowing dust.

The report wasn't wrong, the old barn next to the parking lot was coming apart as chunks of the corrugated steel roof were flapping loudly in the wind. I was planning on riding my old Mavic Cosmic Carbones, they're from 97 but still great wheels. After a shot test ride I decided to go back to the box section Ritchey wheels as the wind was just too much.

The race started with the normal neutral roll out to the course with one difference, we all had to stop and put a foot down as we started the loop. No idea why, but they added this for today. The whole group was very nervous for the 3.5 mile rollout and there were nearly a bunch of crashes as people over reacted and locked up their wheels just or went off the road.

The neutral rollout

The first lap seemed fine with some strong teams pulling into the wind and stretching the peloton out into a long straight line. I was fighting to stay near the front and out of the wind. My whole goal was to hide as much as possible and stay as near the front as much as I could. Just after the feed there was a crash just next to me with about 20 people getting tangled and falling off the road. The front group took things easy for a few miles to allow people to get back on. Looking back at the picture it seems that the second group never got back on. I'm in the front 50 out of the 130 starters with the rest of the field shattered behind.

Where's Waldo?? See Drew just coming in to get a bottle from Super Supporter Hailey.

Things heated up on the third lap as we hit the cross winds on the back section. You could tell something was going to happen as everyone was trying to get to the front. I made my way into the front few rows as was comfortable enough as the head winds hit us. The group started to split and I was well placed still in the front group. As we got onto the rougher tailwind section I got out of the saddle to close a small gap and that's when I noticed that my front wheel was going soft. This was my second flat in two weeks, I was out of Cantua Creek due to a flat and not it looked like I was going to be out of Snelling too!

Bad Luck 3. I rolled off the back looking for a wheel van and soon found out that there wasn't one. A number of groups of Pro/1/2 riders were coming past me, the last attacks in the head wind must have done a lot of damage as the groups were really split up with large gaps.

Just before the really rough section I pulled off the course and took the short cut to the Feed Zone where Hailey was parked. The new plan was to change wheels and get back into the race for some training and hard efforts with the group.

I made it to the truck before the the field had come through so I changed the wheels as rolled on slowly waiting for the group to catch me. I'd probably missed about 2 miles of the course but figured I'd just hang on the back get some good training miles. The front group of about 40 guys caught me and I jumped onto the back in about the same spot as I'd flatted. As we hit the head wind section again I was really struggling and shouldn't have been, I eventually got dropped on a section that wasn't going that fast. This was weird. I was caught by another group of about 10 guys and promptly spit out of the back of that group too as the pace picked up. After this I looked back at my rear break and realized that it was rubbing on the rim really badly. This is what was slowing me down. At this point I knew it was time to quit. As always with cycling you need a bit of luck and this past week we've really had no luck.

Time to get back to training ready for the upcoming stage races.

Location:Snelling, CA

20 - 15 - 10

So I was talking to some friends about my experience at VoS and how the TT really let me down for my GC placing. CT suggested I try a workout that was the core of his TT training and really worked for him.

It consists of doing a TT at full Race pace for the following intervals.

20 minutes hard effort
5 minutes easy
15 minutes hard effort
5 minutes easy
10 minutes hard effort

I gave this a try on Saturday and it really is a good hard workout. My legs were fried after this. I'd already done a lot on Saturday but driving 6 hours, racing 1 hour and then riding for another 1.5 hours but I still posted faster laps than I had on my previous hot laps of this loop.

Let's see how this progresses over the next month or two. Saturday's fastest lap was 5:03 with an average power of 275 watts. Not stellar but a move in the right direction.

Location:Los Altos, CA

A ride in the Sag Van

At the last minute I decided I was going to ride the Cantua Creek road race instead of the Grasshopper. The thinking was that if was going to drive 3 hours and put out a race effort, it might as well be for USAC points.
I got up at 4:00 AM and jumped into my truck for the 3 hour drive to Coalinga arriving with plenty of time to reg and warm up. I rolled to the line just before the 8:00 AM start, and was wondering why there were only 10 other guys lined up. After asking around it turned out that only 11 people had entered for the Pro/1/2 race. I asked about the mass of guys behind us and was told that was the masters field.

I was laughing and wondering how a race of 11 guys would play out. It was a small group ride. We rolled along for about 30 minutes in a pace line taking turns at the front with the only goal of not getting caught by the juniors. At one point the guys from Clif Bar wanted to stop for a pee, we all pulled over to the side of the road and took a leak. The people in the follow van were laughing. Such a civilized race.

We got back on the bikes and made the turn back to the start/finish. As I started drifting back from the front after taking my turn, one of the other guys asked if I worked at DODOcase as I was wearing my DODOcase kit. Turns out he had just bought a DODOcase the week before. I thanked him for supporting us and the next thing I hear is a loud clang and a hiss as I hit a sharp rock with my front tire and it started to go flat. I was running brand new tubulars and they're not supposed to get pinch flats, but just my luck it was going down.

I stuck my arm up and rolled off the back to get a wheel from the wheel van. The wheel van pulled along side me and the driver jumped out. I said I needed a front wheel and he asked if I'd put wheels in the van. Normally I do but this time I thought I'd rely on the neutral support, but no. With only 11 guys the wheel van was wheels in, wheels out. I said I didn't have wheels in the van and the driver said, sorry, put your bike in the back, your race is over. He wouldn't give me a wheel!

I'd got up at 4 AM, drove 3 hours and raced 20 miles in an 11 man field and now my race was over. This really sucked. I was given a ride back to the finish and then had to hitch a ride to my car as that was 2 miles further down the road.

I got back in the truck and drove the 3 hours home, stuck a new wheel on the bike and went back out riding.

I guess i've saved some energy for Snelling next week but that's not what I'd planned.

There were points to be had at Cantua Creek and with only 11 guys it would have been a good opportunity.

I'll go back to that race next year as there is unfinished business. Let's see how Snelling goes next week.

Location:Coalinga, CA

The brain’s the boss when it comes to oxygen uptake

I found this and thought it was interesting.

Eventually, your muscles can no longer get enough oxygen. It’s an immutable physical limit that kicks in during any sustained physical exercise and tells your body: “This fast – but no faster.”
At least, that’s the theory we’ve been working with since 1923. But a controversial new study from researchers on three continents suggests that the famous “VO2max” – the maximum amount of oxygen that you’re able to deliver to your muscles during hard exercise – isn’t really a maximum at all. Your heart and lungs don’t call the shots after all; your brain does.
When is VO2max not max?

The concept of VO2max was first introduced by Nobel Prize-winning physiologist A.V. Hill, who found that the amount of oxygen consumed by his muscles increased as he ran at a steadily increasing pace – up to a point. Eventually, his oxygen consumption would plateau, even if he continued to run faster and faster until he reached exhaustion. That plateau, he argued, represented his body’s “maximal oxygen uptake,” or VO2max.
In the decades since, VO2max has become a standard tool to assess aerobic fitness. Researchers measure it using an incremental test to exhaustion: On a treadmill or exercise bike, subjects start at an easy pace, and get faster every minute or so until they’re unable to continue, having reached a plateau in oxygen consumption shortly before failure.

So what causes this plateau? In the conventional view, there are three possibilities, according to Fernando Beltrami, a researcher at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
“One is that the heart can’t pump any more blood,” he says. “The second is that the muscles are unable to extract any more oxygen from the blood. And the third is that the lungs can’t extract any more oxygen from the air we breathe.”

Over the decades, debate has raged among physiologists about the ultimate location of the bottleneck: heart, muscles or lungs? But the new theory, proposed by physiologist and author Tim Noakes (who is also Mr. Beltrami’s university adviser), suggests that the limit may not be physical at all.
In Dr. Noakes’s “central governor” theory, your decision to slow down or stop during self-paced exercise isn’t the result of an absolute physical limit. Instead, your brain applies the brakes proactively to prevent you from reaching these limits. After all, if you really did run to the absolute edge of your physical limits, Dr. Noakes is fond of pointing out, you’d be dead.
Last month’s issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine contained eight different studies that, in various ways, offered support for Dr. Noakes’s still-controversial views.

The most significant was a study led by Mr. Beltrami, with collaborators in Norway, Britain and Australia, that turned the standard incremental VO2max test on its head and used a “decremental” test instead.
Mr. Beltrami’s 26 volunteers started by performing a conventional incremental VO2max test. Then, on a separate day, half of them repeated the incremental test while the other half performed a decremental test. After a brief warm-up, the decremental test ramped immediately to a speed higher than the maximum speed reached in the previous incremental test. After about a minute – just before the subjects were about to fall off the back of the treadmill – the speed was decreased by one kilometre an hour. This process was repeated over and over, with the speed being lowered just before the subjects reached failure.

In the group that did two incremental tests, VO2max scores remained the same; but in the decremental group, VO2max scores increased by an average of 4.4 per cent. In other words, the subjects were suddenly able to transport more oxygen to their muscles, simply because the test structure was altered – a clear indication that it wasn’t a fundamental property of the heart, lungs or muscles that created the initial plateau.
The researchers reasoned that, since the subjects knew that the decremental test would become progressively easier, their brains would be less likely to pre-emptively apply the brakes in self-defence. Since emotional stress can affect blood flow and metabolism, that knowledge alone could alter their physiological response to exercise.

There was one further surprise: When the subjects did a final incremental VO2max test at the end of the experiment, the group that had previously performed the decremental test maintained their new higher max – a result that left even Mr. Beltrami puzzled. Whatever additional exercise capacity was unlocked by the novel decremental protocol somehow persisted.
For now, the study raises more questions than it answers. But it suggests that some of the limitations we encounter during hard exercise may actually be self-fulfilling prophecies – and that knowing your VO2max is less important than believing that you can go a little faster or a little farther.

Alex Hutchinson blogs about research on exercise at sweatscience.com. His new book, Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?, is now available.

Valley of the Sun Crit

The Cat 2's had a fairly late start to the day with our race going off at 12:56 PM. This meant eating light for breakfast and just snacks until lunchtime. I arrived downtown at about 11:30 with plenty of time for a warmup. I found a great parking spot just North of the last turn which was turn 8 on this figure 8 course.

I set the trainer up next to the car in the shade of a large palm tree and started the warmup. The legs were feeling fairly good after 2 days of racing and were loosening up nicely after about 20 minutes.

I packed everything back in the truck and rolled down to the start finish area just in time to see the finish of the 3's race and then roll out to the start line for a position centered on the second row.

After giving a few last minute updates on the race duration of 55 minutes the official stood back and drew the starting pistol. Ready! Bang! We were off and racing, I had a great start and was in about 10th - 15th place by turn 2. The whole field was strung out in a long line by a couple of guys driving things at the front. This lasted for about 4 laps before things calmed down a little. There were a number of Primes being offered to spice things up and keep the field on its toes.

I never saw the first crash as it was behind me somewhere but a couple of laps later a rider was back in the field with blood running down his leg.

My goal was to stay in the top 10 - 20 riders for as much of the race as possible. If I started drifting back I would put in extra effort and move my way back again. Things were fairly uneventful up until we got the 5 laps to go signal, then riders started to get nervous and people were all trying to maintain position or move up. You could feel the change in the way guys were riding and it got a little more aggressive.

I was loving every minute of it, moving around in the front of the pack and weaving through into gaps that were left open. I didn't see the next crash that actually happened a few riders ahead of me, the first thing I saw was a guy spinning around on the ground instead of sitting on his bike. Everyone else managed to avoid him and the pace picked up again.

Another crash that I missed was when Raffi's front wheel fell out as he was trying to move up with a couple of laps to go. Apparently he hadn't tightened the skewer enough when he put the wheel in before the start. He wasn't injured but didn't manage to finish. Losing a front wheel with 2 laps to go in a Crit seems about as bad as it could get for a racer.

I'd drifted back a little in the pack and hesitated to move up wondering how crazy things would get on the bell lap but then made a last minute push after the bell to get in a better position for the final turn. At 250 meters, the position you came through the final turn was probably going to be the position you finished in. I went to the outside on turn 7 and came around a few people before turn 8 and we started the finish straight. At about
It 200 meters I heaved on the drops and started my sprint. I don't remember fading before the line and had a fairly clear run on the wide flat straight to the finish. This was great! I was actually sprinting at the end of a Crit. I hadn't done that in years. I came across the line in 20th place very happy to have stayed upright and actually being able to do what I wanted during the race.

I was certainly a bit rusty with my tactics but being able to ride most of the race in exactly the position I wanted to be in gave me a lot of confidence for the next one. If I'd had been more confident going into the last few laps I would have moved up more and really held my position at the front instead of slipping back.

This was a great event and a full weekend of fun racing. I'd love to be able to go back in 2013 for another go.

Immediately after the race I picked up my spare wheels from the pit, got changed and jumped in the truck for the 12 hour drive home. I drove straight through only stopping for fuel and snacks, arriving at my door at exactly 12:59 AM.



Video of the 2012 Cat 2 Crit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oQ6N6W8rHU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Location:Downtown Phoenix, AZ

Valley of the Sun Road Race

I'll be perfectly honest I woke up very nervous for this leg of the race after a less than seller performance in the time trial. I was wondering how this one would go. My legs felt tired and my throat was sore from being so dry the day before.

I arrived an hour before the start and got everything ready. I needed to sign in and put a set of wheels in the wheel van. The race started on time with a neutral rollout until after the cattle grate at turn 1. Everyone made it safely and started the downhill section flat out.

Lap one seemed to start out fast and I was sure that 5 laps at this pace was going to make a few people suffer.We made the turn onto 387 in a big group and started the first part of the climb. Is not really a climb by NorCal standards as it gains about 350 feet in 3 miles. This wasn't even as steep as Sandhill Road. Everyone was in the big ring and we were doing 22 mph all the way up. It gets a little steeper for a couple of hundred yards but still nothing that really causes pain. This was going to be a race for the big guys as they wouldn't get dropped on this climb.

We went through the feed zone and then the road flattened out for about 1/4 of a mile before the finish line. There was no way this wasn't going to be a sprint finish perfect for the big guns.

We went through the finish and started the downhill section to turn 1. About half way down the follow vehicle came up alongside the field and started to tell everyone that we were being neutralized. At this point no one knew why, we weren't being caught by the 3's and we weren't catching the Pro field so it seemed weird. We rolled to a stop at the registration/start line and found out that there had been a big crash at turn 1 in the Pro field. Apparently it involved a number of riders and a car.

Everyone found a shady spot and relaxed as they told us the road was completely closed and it would be that way for a while. As we waited the story of what happened unfolded. A car had got onto the course at turn 1 just in front of the field, as the racers went around the car the driver panicked and slammed on the brakes. 9 riders went down and 1 went through the back window of the Toyota sedan.

We sat for over an hour before hey told us that they would restart the race with the fields going off at 5 minute intervals. Our race would be cut by one lap, so we only had about 55 more miles to race. There was one guy off the front of our field and he was given a 20 second head start before the main field was allowed to chase him down, and chase him down we did. This first lap after the restart would be our KOM lap which meant the pace up the climb should be ballistic this time around.

When we got to the base of the climb the pace picked up but nothing too bad, a small group hung off the front of the main field and they took the KOM about 5 seconds ahead of us. I was tucked in the back of the field well away from the wind at this point.

The next couple of laps were fairly tame until we passed through the finish for the final lap. There was a break of 3 up the road and the teams with GC contenders were trying to bring things back. I moved to the front of the field and maintained a position in the top ten all the way around until we passed the feed zone and started the flat section before the finish. At this point people started to swarm around us and then the field almost came to a complete stop as we slowed before the 200 meter banner, at this point it seemed like a sprint from almost a standing start, I maintained my position in the group and maybe lost a little ground but came in only a couple of seconds behind the winner.

I heard there was a crash with about 5K to go because when I went to the wheel van to get my wheels back they told me that someone had my front wheel. It was returned quickly and I rolled down to the truck to get a drink and start packing for the drive to the hotel.

I'd finished and felt fairly good. I have nowhere near the power needed to contend this sprint but I was in the game anyway.With everything ready for the Crit on Sunday all that was left to do was go get some dinner for recovery.






Food or the day:
Breakfast. 2 turkey cheese tortillas, 2 bananas, banana nut muffin.
Race. Tortilla and almond butter, 4 gells.

Location:Phoenix, AZ

Valley of the Sun Time Trial

I loaded up the truck around 11:00 with both bikes ready to drive to the TT start.





Both bikes ready to race.

I arrived at the race venue and bumped into a guy from home who had just finished his TT. His advice was to take it a little easy for the first mile or so and ease into it as the return leg was into a head wind.

About 30 minutes before my start I jumped on the trainer to start my warmup. I got my HR up to 180 for a minute and was feeling good.




Ready for warmup.

I rolled over to the start and noticed that I was by far the oldest guy rolling around for the warmup. I was going to be the 4th guy on the road for the Cat 2's.
My goal was to get my HR to 185 and hold it there for the entire 14 miles.
I took my turn on the ramp and watched my 30 second man go, then it was my turn. 12:54 and I was ready to go.
5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. Weeeep! I literally launched off the ramp with a wheelie that lasted half way down. I managed to get the front wheel back on the ramp just before I hit the Tarmac and I was off. So much for an easy start, hopefully I'd be able to calm down and ease into it.

Within about 2 minutes I could see I was catching my 30 second man and it looked like I was also gaining on the guy in front of him. Just as I caught him I was also caught by my 30 second man. Two more guys came past me before I got to the turn around. I'd managed to hold my HR at 185 all the way out and was feeling relatively good. I was comfortable on the bike, more comfortable than I'd been on any TT bike in the past. I was suffering but feeling good doing it.

On the return leg I was pushing hard into the head wind and maintaining my speed and HR of 185, I wasn't fading but I also wasn't going any faster or slower.

I was gaining on the guy in front of me and with 1K to go I'd almost caught him. I'd caught 202 and 201 but been caught by 204, 205 and 206. It didn't seem too bad.

I gave everything I had on the last few K's and was completely spent when I came across the line, coughing and unable to swallow as my mouth was so dry. Id pushed my HR up o 187 at the end and was happy with the effort id given. I'd stashed a bottle near the start and went straight to it. I was parched in the dry air and could barely swallow.

After picking up another bottle at the car I spent another 30 mins rolling around trying to loosen up the tightening ham strings. It felt like they were being sucked up my ass like spaghetti. I put the bike away and walked over to the start to find the results. When the results were posted I wasn't on the first sheet, it wasn't till they posted the second sheet that I found my name in 71st place.

The big question I was trying to answer was if a 46 year old Cat 2 could get enough points to upgrade to a 1. The race of truth was showing that this was going to be much harder than I remembered. I'd spent many years racing Pro/1/2 and the only Cat 2 race I'd ever done was the Visalia Road Race in 2000 and that doesn't even exist anymore.

This was my first stage race for over 10 years and I'd been back seriously training since October. Obviously not long enough at this point. It's hard to think that I'd placed 11th in a State Time Trial back in 1996. Looks like I have plenty of work to do but 71st is a long way off where I wanted to be. I guess a national level race like this is a hard place to start the comeback. I eed a lot more power if I'm gona do this.

I picked up a burrito on the way back to the hotel and went back to start the recovery process.

Tomorrow is the road race and everything is ready to go. Even the DODOcase jersey is pinned up with numbers. It's going to be hot so I'm going with the white jersey.





The DODOcase jersey ready to go

With a 95 mile road race and tomorrow I have nothing to lose being 71st on GC. I'm going to have to get back to bing the crafty bastard that got me where I am today. Let's see how it goes. I'll sit in and conserve everything I have for the end and see if I can squeeze my way to the front.

Food for the day
2 bagels with cream cheese
Muscle Milk
Caffeinated gell 30 mins before start.

The Trip to Phoenix

The plan was to start driving to Phoenix for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race as early as possible on Wednesday afternoon. I ended up managing to leave the office around 5 pm and made a quick stop at home to have dinner, load the truck and kiss Hailey before I left.

I started the drive just after 7 PM and managed to avoid most of the heavy traffic. I was heading to Bakersfield and planned to sleep in the back of the truck once I was the other side of the City. I went through Bakersfield around 11 PM and was in the mountains around 11:45. I found a great spot at about 3500 feet that was just off one of the exits. This exit didn't really seem to go anywhere, both directions went about 100 yards and turned into dirt parking lots. I parked on the South side of the highway well away from the road and made space in the back of the truck for my sleeping bag. It was a big full moon and I didn't need any lights while I put everything together as it was so bright out. It seemed really warm but I expected it to cool off at this elevation before morning.

Somewhere to the south there was a railroad track as you could hear the trains but they were far enough away that it wasn't disturbing.

I had about 6 hours of good sleep and woke just as it was getting light. It had got really cold over night and there was frost on the roof when I got out of the truck. I'd had to pull the hood up on the sleeping bag to stay warm.




Sunrise at the camp.

My route from Bakersfield to highway 10 wasn't the best, I ended up too close to LA and had to deal with rush hour traffic, but once I got onto Interstate 10 it was smooth sailing if a little dull for the next 7 hours.

I decided that as I was going to pass the TT venue I'd take the bike out for a spin. I was there at the same time of day as the race start would be and found that the wind was blowing but it was nice and warm. The course was mostly pancake flat with some small rollers.

It was a good spin and just what the legs needed after a long drive. Driving to the hotel I found a Chipotle, bought a big burrito and continued to my hotel that was only about 10 miles further on.

I checked into the hotel and decided to try to drive to the Landis Cyclery to pick up my race packet. The shop was only about 15 miles away but the crazy rush hour traffic made it take nearly 2 hours. It was a total waste of time and I should have just picked the packet up on race day.

I returned to the hotel to get everything ready for race day. About half way there the front tire on the TT bike that was in the back of the truck started to hiss and went flat. I checked the tire back at the hotel and found that there was something wrong with the rim strip. I changed the tube and adjusted the rim strip to hopefully avoid a repeat the next day.

After a shower and a quick massage I was in bed around 10:00 and slept well.

Location:Phoenix, AZ