Maiden Voyage

After spending a few hours cutting down the steerer tube on the fork, installing the computer, adjusting the seatpost/saddle, etc., I finally got out for the maiden voyage of the new bike tonight. I ended up being able to get out on the road at 3:30 for what I planned on being a 30 minute shakedown ride around the neighborhood. Just to check out the gears, position, wheels, etc. WOW, all I could think of was ‘ridiculous!’. As in ridiculously light, fast, smooth, did I mention FAST?!?! Well, after about an hour and a half of riding I found myself pretty far from the ‘hood. I was having a blast, but was nearly frozen to death. It was around 35 degrees and blowing/raining/snowing/sleeting. Quite the break-in ride…

Good thing I had some cash on me, I stopped at a convenience store and bought fig newtons, Gatorade, and a Clif bar. Yummy. I was able to sit at a table inside and wolf that stuff down. I started shivering something fierce, though. Dang, I’m soooo ready for WARM WEATHER!!!! Especially after the time trial experience last night. Been a long cold winter of riding and training.

Anyway, it was pushing 7:00 by the time I made it home in a blizzard with big flakes blowing sideways and about a 1/2 inch of snow piled up on my outstretched arms. Good times!

The bike was ahhhhhsum!

RACE REPORT #6 Cherry Creek TT series – week 3 CAT 4

Eewwww. What’s that smell?!? Oh, sorry, that’s just me. I STINK!!

Man, I’m starting to get the impression that I really suck at this time trial stuff. This was supposed to be my day to shine. I’m finally over the cold I had for 2 weeks, this is my rest week so my legs should be fresh, and I have my TT bike all put together (I rebuilt my old Bianchi frame with new bars, shifters, etc.). Well, the weather was atrocious and I ended up posting my worst time yet (28:01). Dang.

I rode what I thought was a fairly conservative pace to the turnaround, thinking I would crank it up a notch on the way back. HA. I couldn’t go any faster. I actually had to drop into my little chainring on flat ground because of the headwind.

Hats off to Tim. He actually matched his time from the previous weeks while most of the rest of us lost significant amounts. He was using his brand new shoe covers, though…

When I got back to my car I sat inside and screamed in agony for a good 10 minutes while the feeling returned to the frozen chunks of meat that used to be my hands. Boy, what fun!

Oh, well. 3 down, 4 to go…

New Baby

Thanks to a last-year model still sitting on the showroom floor at the bike shop, and a sponsorship arrangement our team has with Orbea, I am now the proud new owner of a 15.5 pound race-rocket. Full Dura-Ace 10 speed components and Mavic Ksyruim SSC SL wheels. Doesn’t get any better than that.

It was love at first sight.

This frame is a little bit smaller than my LOOK, and has semi-compact geometry. I was really looking for a more aggressive riding position and this fits the bill. Not to mention it is LIGHT!! Good-looking, too. I hope I can do it justice.

Leige-Bastogne-Liege

What a cool race! One of my favorite riders (Jens Voight) got 2nd. He is a crazy-tough hard riding dude. I really admire how he puts it all on the line and busts his butt to get results. Today he instigated the winning break 50k out and did the lion’s share of the work to keep it away – never by much more than a minute with all the heavy hitters trying to bring them back.

Now this is European road racing…

Flying up High Grade

I’ve been working on this day for a year now. There is a hugely popular climb that starts about 7 miles from my house (perfect warm-up distance). It goes up Deer Creek canyon and then heads up High Grade road. It’s about 12 miles long and my goal since I started riding again last year has been to make it to the top in under an hour. As you can see, I made a few attempts last year…

2004
6/12 – 1:20:00 9.6mph
6/19 – 1:17:02 9.3mph
6/26 – 1:09:14 10.4mph
7/11 – 1:12:42 9.9mph
7/17 – 1:09:42 10.3mph
7/24 – 1:10:53 10.1mph
8/14 – 1:04:34 11.1mph
9/04 – 1:04:03 11.2mph
9/11 – 1:15:11 9.6mph
9/11 – 1:05:53 10.9mph
9/18 – 1:03:30 11.3mph

Last Sept. was my fastest time out of the bunch. I was very dedicated with my training and diet all winter and felt a little anxious about the ride today – more than six long, cold months had passed since my last try. Did all that work do any good?? There would be nothing worse than going through all of that and not seeing the improvement. Well, my fears were unfounded:

2005
4/23 – 55:08 12.9mph

I beat the tar out of that climb!