Like Shootin Fish in a Barrel"

Thats what it was like this weekend at Crossroads for Time Pro Cycling. They took the lions share of the podium and prize money all week with Daniel Ramsey winning the first three days of Crossroads. There was not anyone that could go toe to toe with this powerhouse over the weekend. And I imagine this trend will continue through the rest of the 9 day race series this week.

Friday: Very hard race, big finishing hill. 36 Starters, 26 Finishers. I lasted 20 minutes. Ramsey lapped the field solo, followed by Hamblen and Johnson and that was your podium. Teammate Jay Cox hung in there for a field finish, great ride to even finish among mainly Pros that finished.

Saturday: Didn't race, the 8:00 PM start, chose to go home and sleep, but failed in that as well. Our team had no finishers in the filed of 26 that did cross the line.

Sunday: Up at 5am, set up course, put up almost a mile of crowd barriers, set out 50 hay bails, hang banners, on feet all day promoting the race in the heat, forgot to eat drink or sit, kitted up to race last minute with no warm-up. Strong recipe for a disasturous race, and thats exactly what it was.

The temp at the 3:30 start was about 95 degrees. All of the big guns were there from the past few days the 3 powerful teams being Time Pro Cycling, DLP, and Hincapie/Coke.
The course is one of the hardest in the south-east, if your not climbing your turning. Did I mention it was hot? The race was insanely fast from the gun and guys went off the back at record speed. I was hurting from working all day but was trying to hang in there until my body settled into the pain cave. The first few guys i saw of note drop out in the first 15 minutes were Torsten Wambold, Joey Coddington and Andrew Olson, all from the DLP PRO Cycling team. This race was crazy hard. At about 19:00 into it Erik Barlevev, famous for his recent win at Harlem Rocks Crit, was next to me and obviously on the rivet, then he just quit pedaling and pulled off. This was really bad for my attitude about the race, because i reasoned "if all these "Pros" are quitting, than ive done ok to stay in this long". I probably could have stayed in a little longer. Right after that there was a $100 cash preme and i was gone. My two teammates Pete and Jay hung in there to get 7th and 18th respectively. There were only 22 finishers out of the 44 starters.

Know When to say ENOUGH!

Last night it was looking like T-storms 2 - Zach 0. However by the time I got the bike setup in the garage to ride, it had blown over so I headed outside. The workout was this:

Warm-Up
2x5:00 at 410 watts (VO2)
1x5:00 "Race winning interval"

I felt pretty decent for the first 5:00 averaging 409, right on target. I decided to mix it up and go straight into the "race winning interval" after a 5:00 recovery. This is one of my favorite workouts that simulates an end of the race "winning move." It starts with a 15 second sprint, usually at around 1600 watts for me, and then goes into V02 or around 410 watts until 3:00, then settles into FTP (345 watts) for the last two minutes and then ends with a sprint.

This workout simulates perfectly a 2 to go race winning move in a crit. You have the sprint to create initial separation, the 3:00 of high output V02 to build a good gap, and the last two minutes you settle in to your FTP and then you finish with a sprint to hold off the field for the win. These are really hard.

So I start the "race winning interval" and at about a minute into it I notice that my HR is only around 185, very close to my LT HR, (max is about 203 for me). Normally my HR would be in the mid 190s for this particular workout. I have been noticing for the past few days that I was feeling tired and sluggish and legs have been sore, the deep soreness that feels like its in the bone.

Alarms and red lights went off instantly, WARNING WARNING MELT DOWN APPROACHING. I instantly killed the workout and headed home for some good sleep.

Which leads me to the point of the post, listen to your body and pay attention to the signs. Know when its time to pull the plug and take a rest day. This is where having a coach to review your power/HR files really comes in handy. Most athletes don't recognize overtraining until its to late and the are in a violent tail spin ending a large portion of their season, and perhaps ruining their "A" race of the year. Even riders that may recognize the signs are often too stubborn to listen to them and think they should "man up" and push through it.

I constantly preach "less is often more" and "when in doubt don't." When you get these warning signs listen to them and go home and take a nap, you'll be way better off for it.

Most of you know that one of my "A" goals is coming up Sunday the hometown Morganton Cycling Classic. So i have decided to stay away from the bike today and tomorrow and do a short "tune-up " ride on Saturday. I would much rather show up a little "dull" well rested and motivated than perhaps a little sharper but tired and overtrained. After all there are 7 crits next week, plus a TTT so I need the rest!

Thunder Storm..

Last night i went out for some good threshold work. Was planning on 2x20:00 at 97%. I waited around the house till about 7pm to leave since it was about 99 degrees, I wanted to wait for it to cool off a bit. Big mistake.

By the time I headed out it was nice and cool, due to the dark cloud cover that had moved in. Thats ok ill stay close to the house i thought. I did my usual lazy 20 minute warm-up and started on my first 20:00. I do these on the same exact loop, and usually 20:00 takes my right to a certain stop sign. This is good because i can test different techniques like position and cadence to see if what is more efficient and will get me to the stop sign a few seconds quicker.

Anyway, at about 16:00 in, i started to see bad lightning on the horizon and i was headed right for it. I was really pissed because i hate not being able to finish an interval, much less an entire workout. But i did the "safe" thing and pulled off the road and hung out under a church awning in the middle of nowhere and waited out the storm, about 30 minutes.

It was a bad storm and i still got wet form the wind blowing in, it had to be gusting to 60mph, at least it felt like it, and a little bit of hail as well. I found this info below and thought it may be helpful, not exactly a "training tip" but its good to know. I was surprised to see that rubber tires will NOT offer any protection against lightning.

This Sunday is the Morganton Cycling Classic in my hometown, of which i am one of the promoters so it is high on my list of races to do well at. I feel pretty good but the crash hasn't helped any and im still stiff and sore. Ill try to post every day for the rest of the week so all can see what a "mini-taper" consists of.

Surviving a Thunderstorm

A PREPAREDNESS GUIDE for severe weather is published by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service. The following is our adaptation of that guide to specifically address cyclist concerns. National Weather Service has reviewed and approved this adaptation.

In general . . .

• Cyclists on the road are most at risk from thunderstorms if they are under or near tall trees, are on or near hilltops, or are themselves high points on flat terrain (such as crossing an open field).
• Lightning often strikes outside of heavy rain and may occur as far as 10 miles away from any rainfall.
• Rubber-soled shoes and rubber tires provide NO protection from lightning.
• If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning. Look for safe shelter immediately!
• When skies darken, look AND listen for increasing wind, flashes of lightning, sound of thunder
• Lightning remains a danger even when a thunderstorm is dissipating or has passed by.

When thunderstorms approach . . .

• If you are on a hill with exposure to the sky, try to head downhill, seeking out an overhanging bluff or a valley or ravine where you can lower your exposure.
• Move to a sturdy building or shelter if there is one within reach (such as an underpass, a large barn, a store or railroad station). Do not take shelter in small sheds or under isolated trees.
• However, get to higher ground if flash flooding is possible where you are (such as by a creek bed).

If caught outdoors and no shelter is nearby . . .

• Find a low spot away from trees, fences, and poles. Make sure the place you pick is not subject to flooding.
• If you are in the woods, take shelter under the shorter trees. (Lightning is more likely to strike the tallest trees.)
• If you feel your skin tingle or your hair stand on end, dismount fast, get away from your bike, and squat low to the ground on the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees with your head between them. Make yourself the smallest target possible, and minimize your contact with the ground.

BMW Gurls

Someone shot this great picture of my wife Tonya (left, AKA back) and her teammate Kristi (?) at a crit this past weekend. Her team does very well considering they are usually chasing around top pros at the regional races.

Tonya is sprinting really well this year, when she gets a good lead out or gets on the right wheel, she won the field sprint for 2nd place at the Piedmont triad omnium last weekend (2nd picture.)

FBCC - CRASH!

This past weekend was French Broad Cycling Classic omnium in western NC. I skipped the TT on Friday and had plans on doing the crits only. Saturday we drove down to Brevard NC for the crit and after Tonya raced, check that, chased around the two Pros from Chreerwine and Aarons for 40 minutes, it was my turn.

All of the usual suspects were there, including the Coca-Cola guys and the Pro DLP team, including Thad Dulin. Plus about 50 other local strong guys. The course was rotten with allot of holes and very narrow corners, but it had a climb up to the finish which suited me and I was able to easily move up each lap going up the hill.

I covered several early moves and felt GREAT, this was going to be a good race for me. Unfortunately in the very narrow and fast (30 mph+) second corner, the rider in front of me caught a pedal and did the usual bike hop, but didn't go down. I had no choice but to try and go to the inside to avoid hitting him. Unfortunately, the tires didn't hold that kind of corner and I lost a wheel, front actually, I think. Went down hard on the right side, two or three behind me went right into me. Everyone was ok thankfully.

I ruined my rear wheel and banged up the RD, shifter and bar. Along with my back side. I did get a new wheel and a free lap and got back in there. However, at this point I was pretty bummed and psyched out mentally, especially in the corners. Plus I was hurting pretty badly. I did about 20 more minutes with the main field and then hung it up, my head wasn't in the game at all after going down.

Took Sunday off and laid around the house and took it easy, I will be back on the bike today, after i put it back together, and get tuned up for Crossroads starting on Friday.

TT Clinic at Mock Orange Bikes

Precision Cycle Coach TT Clinic

Zach Lail of Precision Cycle Coach, in conjunction with Mock Orange Bikes will be hosting a free Time Trail Clinic on Saturday July 11th, 6;00PM at Mock Orange Bikes in Winston Salem. This will be just in time for the Piedmont Omnium concluding Time Trial the next morning. Topics will be proper fit and positioning, aerodynamics, training, strategy and pacing. All are welcome to attend and even bring your TT bikes for a free position analysis. contact zach@precisioncyclecoach for more info.

Lowes Motor Speedway TT 7/9

Wednesday night was the Lowes Motor Speedway TT. MOB Racing was represented by Rick Lee in the 10 mile TT and Myself (Zach) in the 40K.

There were early bad thunderstorms and the organizers postponed the race for about 45 minutes until the lightning moved over. When both of us started however it was still a steady rain and there was plenty of water on the track. At least we will race on a wet track unlike those girlie NASCAR guys ;)!

Rick and I were able to warm up a bit together inside one of the NASCAR garages in about 75 degrees and 95% humidity, (not fun). It was nice however to get to know Rick for the first time. I was able to give Rick some strategy suggestions on how to race a TT since this was his first TT experience. He previously had some really bad advice to try and race for a "certain time" instead of focusing on pacing and staying near or slightly above his threshold heart-rate and perceived exertion. We talked about the importance of pacing and NOT GOING OUT TO HARD!

I didnt get to talk to Rick afterwards but he seemed to have a great race putting up a 23:25.63 at an average speed of 25.61 MPH., 4th place Cat4. Not bad for a newer Cat 4, second year on the bike and his first TT! Nice job Rick!

My sole intention for the 40K was to get in a good solid field test, representative of my power on the road bike. So I left the TT bike at home and raced on my stock LOOK 595 Ultra. No aero gear or clip-ons, just me and the bike. I started out easy by TT standards for the first lap riding at about 95% of threshold wattage, HR stayed low and I felt good. I was a little uncomfortable in the rain however and that caused my greatest weakens in the TT to start to rear its ugly head, FOCUS. I was able to keep my head on straight however and when the sky's cleared it helped a bunch. The race was pretty uneventful and I maintained a steady pace right at my threshold power for the whole 40K, kicking it up of course in the last mile or so to about 150% and then sprinting for the line.

The whole race however I was giggling to myself as I was literally lapping guys on the 1.5 mile loop that were on $12,000 super tricked out Pro Tour ready TT bikes. I was thinking "dude sell some of that crap and buy a power meter and hire someone to train you, you'll be way faster". Guys, a power meter and the knowledge to train properly using power IS THE BEST MONEY YOU WILL EVER SPEND ON YOUR RACING. Don't buy all of the fancy aero gear until you NEED it to go faster (unless you can afford to have both). These guys that were getting lapped were not old and/or over weight, they were young seemingly fit guys!

Anyway, soap boxing aside. The race went ok for me all things considered. I was 2nd 1:10 off of the winner (also on one of those tricked out TT bikes). Time was 56:45.35 at an average speed of 25.67. Not bad on a road bike I suppose. I'm guessing that on my TT bike with the disc and 404 front, I would be about 5 minutes faster, give or take. It became hard near the end to stay as low as possible and I had to stand a few times to give my butt a break which is like hitting a brick wall at that speed. It was a perfect field test, normalized power and average power were perfectly the same, 347 watts. Variability Index was 1.00 which indicates perfect pacing. The textbook way to ride a TT.

Looking forward to the Piedmont Omnium this weekend starting tonight with the Lexington Crit.

The new Casa!

I have been promising to post some pictures of our new house we moved into back in May, finally getting around to it. As you can see we still have some work to do, but its getting there.

Training is going well, spending ALLOT of time near threshold. Off today and tomorrow then doing a 40k TT on Wednesday.





I have been promising to post some pictures of our new house we moved into back in May, finally getting around to it. As you can see we still have some work to do, but its getting there.

Evening delight...

Ok, I over did it last night, 80 miles, 4 hours and 289 training stress points....nuthin like a little Tuesday night special to run you into the ground. Add to that the fact that i slept like crap last night, i am cooked today.

My TSB is at -61.8 today and i am actually still considering going up to Asheville tonight for the speedway race....its short. Thats my addictive nature, i LOVE that race, even thought the smart thing to do would be to stay home and rest. Ill try to catch a nap today and see how I feel later.