4/13/2012 - Haystack ITT and TTT

This is the third year in a row for these early season time trials just north of Boulder, this year was a shortened course of just over 12 miles due to some road construction.  This is a great race to test early season fitness, and I knew that mine on the bike is…well not quite there yet.  There are a mired of excuses, but bottom line I need to start this season on the bike slowly, there will be bike racing through Jan 14 this year.

ITT –

The individual time trial went off just after noon for the CAT 3 guys, it was just a fast 12 miles, cross winds kept the speeds high.  I ended up getting passed, but stayed with the guy the entire race, and even managed to put some time into him at the end.  But we were 20 sec apart so not nearly enough.   The race went about as expected for me 6th place with an average speed of just over 29 MPH at 351 watts.

Time – 25:08 6th place

TTT –

The team time trial is always fast and really fun to race in.  Last year we won with 5 guys on our team, and everyone was excited.  The team this year needed to defend the title for sure, but we were down to only 3 guys come race day with only one day last Thursday to practice together.  Either way Brandon Mitchell, Ryan Taylor, and Gavin Anderson were ready to go, at the start line it sure seemed like the other 5 teams all had 5 guys each.  But we were not all that worried as the plan was to race ‘our’ race and have fun doing it.  We started 2nd a little after 3:00 PM, Ryan and Gavin had both come off the ITT a few hours prior, but were feeling ready to go again for sure.  The team mentality takes over pretty quick as you have to rely on the other guys to help pull you through.  It is just that this time we did not have the luxury of leaving 2 guys behind and using them up early, all 3 have to cross the line at the same time.  We took out the first north section steady as was planned and rotated counter clockwise.  The first right hand turn was a bit hairy as a car was turning with us, yes we stayed inside the cones, but at the apex Brandon got really close to giving the cars passenger a high five.  The east bound section was cross winds but at times was much more tail wind and downhill, we topped off at 50 MPH, which is always tricky on the TT bikes.  We were worried that we were going to get passed by the Primal team which started 1 minute behind us, but so far they were nowhere to be seen.  We continued to race our own race, on one of the uphill east section Brandon was feeling extra powerful and pulled away from Ryan and Gavin a bit.  With the wind going he could not hear us, but once he got tired and looked for us to take the lead it worked itself out real quick.  The second right hand turn heading south on 75th Gavin came in way too hot and took out one of the cones, the corner judge was quick to note our race numbers.  The rules are you get one cone or turn to miss, the second time you are disqualified.  This meant that we needed to be extra careful on the last turn.  Down 75th was the hardest part of the race and we all traded pulls equally, made the last turn down Niwot road very carefully and took the finish shortly after, all 3 of us within 1 ½ bike lengths.  We knew at that point that we put down a decent time for only having 3 guys, and rode back to the finish slowly.  Gavin went to pick up a bottle from the start and checked the results on the way back to the car.  Two guys said congrats on the way there, hmm did we really take the win?  We managed to post a time 9 seconds ahead of the Racer X Cycling team.  When Gavin went to notify Brandon and Ryan, they were beyond ecstatic to hear the news, seeing these guys and the rest of the team so excited for us is exactly what Sonic Boom Racing is all about.  Cycling is a team sport, but a TTT is truly a team effort.  Great job guys, next year is going to be challenge as no one likes to see a team go three years in a row.

Time – 23.08 1st place

Avg speed - 32 MPH

3/30/2013 - Oceanside 70.3

The first race of the season for me, while I should be saying I was in shape and ready to race, I was not. But I am confident in the fact that this is where I want to be early in the season this year. Two reasons for this mainly starting training very slowly to avoid injury and simply because I am going to be racing through mid January 2014 this season. So the best part of the trip to Oceanside each year is the annual Zoot team camp, which did not disappoint this year yet again. I figure even if I am not 100% ready to race, if I am going to be in Oceanside I might as well race even if it is going to be a training race. I arrived less than 24 hrs prior to the race, but got in a shakedown run and bike, pro meeting, and met up with the Zoot crew, everything fell into place quite nicely. Race morning I parked well away from T2 and rode there dropped off my new Zoot Kiawe prototypes and headed to the start. Even though this race had such a stacked pro field I did not feel much pressure since I knew it was just a training race. The water temp was about perfect 62 F, the start was normal male pro aggressiveness. But I like to swim to the outside even if that means swimming a little bit further, you waste a lot of energy playing around in the water with other athletes. I was a bit suprised at the pace that was set by the guys, Andy did not even get a chance to pull away, I led the 2nd group into T1 just outside the top 10. The bike is where I knew I was not in shape to ride with these guys, I have simply not put in the time yet this season. I lost a lot of time on the bike and was passed by many, no big deal I thought just want to see how the run feels. The run surprisingly went very well I ran a 1:26, while that is nothing to write home about all my previous seasons injures seem to be non issues which is great. I even ran in racing flats for the first time in a 70.3 and loved it. So I guess you can sum up this race as getting my ass kicked, but for me it was a a training race and it went very well.  The rest of the weekend was filled with Zoot team camp, dinners, photo shoots, kayaking, and lots of beach walking.  For now it is still snowy here in Boulder so the season continues its slow progression, but I am not worried one bit, after all this is all for fun, right?