First Race of the Year!

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the first race of the year. On the one hand, you are anxious and excited to race again. On the other, your are nervous and scared because your not sure what your fitness is like, and you are afraid of a poor performance.

Last Saturday was the first race of the year, the Greenville Spring Training Series (AKA the February World Championships) kicked of with the classic Donaldson Center road race. A nice 7 mile loop in an industrial park with only one railroad crossing per lap! The weather was great, 60 degrees and sunny with a brisk wind.

I don't know what it is but these spring races get bigger every year. Over 90 guys started the Pro 1/2 race. Looking around at the start i knew it was going to be a hard and fast race. Tim Henrey, Thad Dulin and Cesar Grajales of Jittery Joe's along with John Murphy of Health Net and Scottie Weiss of AEG were all ready to throw down at the first race of the year.

The race was fast and fun and surprisingly enough, felt pretty easy, I guess i did my homework during the winter because I was able to move around in the pack with ease and take plenty of long pulls. I went into a chase group with a rider from CSH for about 6k but we could not catch the horsepower that was off the front and eventually we were swept up by the field. It was fun while it lasted and gave me a chance to really test my legs.

A break of 4 or 5 guys went away early. We should have easily caught them and were on schedule to do so when the chase unexpectedly died off momentarily with about 5k to go. I ended up 29th overall, and about 20th in the field sprint, (a few more guys snuck away with about 2k to go).

Tonya rode very well in her race, chasing down several breaks and staying consistently up front. She ended up 12th out of the large women's field of 53. Thats her alongside one of her teammates in the picture.

Next week we head back to Greenville for round 2!

New Bike!

Its always a good week when you get a new bike! I picked up my new team Orbea Orca Saturday and promptly built it up and started riding. I have about 150 miles on it so far and I have to say its pretty sweet. I am looking forward to racing it in Grennville SC this weekend.

The ride is really tight, for lack of a better word. Kind of reminds me of the new Audi A3 i test drove a few weeks ago. Comfortable, with a sports car type feel. It is noticeably stiffer in the bottom bracket area than many of the bikes I have ridden, but is not lacking on comfort. It has nice steering and handles like its on rails. It is very quick and responsive without being nervous. I would say its a great all around bike if you are going to have just one arrow in your quiver. Well suited for both stage racing and criteriums alike.

My only complaints are that the head tube is enormous at 21cm, it reminds me of one of those $10,000 custom titanium bikes, what are those called again. The TT is also a little on the short side for an aggressive race position. Both of these issues will be easily fixed when the new 140mm x 10degree stem arrives for it latter this week. If you like a less aggressive position, the Orca geometry is a good choice with its sensible geometry.

Ill post a report this weekend to let you all know how it (and me) performs in the race this weekend.

7 Days

Well we are back from Expedition Disney, we rolled in Saturday night. I got my first ride in yesterday after 7 days off of the bike. My workouts last week were walking 6-8 miles a day, riding rides, swimming with Alex and 2 mornings in the lame resort gym.

I felt well rested and strong, although a bit awkward and rusty, we will see what the next few weeks will bring. Its less than 3 weeks until the first races and I still haven't done any real intensity work. Oh well i guess that's why we call them "training" races.

Disney was a blast, here are a few pictures.