Monthly Archives: July 2015

Nightime Criterium Racing

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I was just laying in bed, dead asleep, and wam, my right calf seizes up cramped and I can’t get it to release.  I grab my  calf, trying to move my foot to stop the pain, but it seems to go on forever.  Finally, after what seems like a minute, it finally eases up and I can try to breathe again.  Shit, what a horrible way to wake up.

I haven’t cramped this year racing, but I make up for that in my sleep.  I’ve been having these weird calf cramps, which I’ve never had before in my life, plus some minor foot and hand cramps.   I nearly forget about them and am not sure what to do about them even if I didn’t become so forgetful.  This morning was so severe, I don’t think I’ll be forgetting about it anytime soon.

Anyway, this was probably a by-product of racing in the humidity, and somewhat heat, last night in Nevada Missouri.  It wasn’t all that hot at 9 pm, when the race started, but it was super humid.

It is only a couple hour drive to Nevada from Topeka.  All interstate.  Bill, Catherine, Trudi and I drove down in my van.  It was fun having Catherine back in the fold.  She was excited about being racing again and the conversations bounced all over the place.

Her race was at 8 and ours started at 9.  This was Bill’s first race back in 6 weeks, since he collapsed his left lung at the Tour of Kansas City.  He really hasn’t done any real intensity, so he knew he was going to be hurting somewhat.

The course was awesome.  A real small town criterium.  12 corners in a little over a mile.  They actually had light sent up on some of the corners, but we were still riding in and out of darkness.  They had a horn band, which was super cool to race in front of.

Catherine rode pretty good.  She sprinted, and won, a couple primes, then during the final sprint, she jumped way too early, mainly because of lack of confidence because of lack of racing, and ended up dying before the line and finished 2nd.  She’ll get her confidence back and some more fitness, but until then she’ll have to pay her dues.   She really hasn’t raced much for two years, but it comes back so quickly.

I was worried that there wasn’t going to be many guys in the 1/2 race.  But I think a bunch of master’s rode two races because nearly 60 guys lined up in the dark.  That was a nice size field for the course.  I think Bill was a little relieved because there were plenty of places to hide.

The race started pretty quickly and it stayed that way for the full 70 minutes.  A couple corners were a little tricky.  One in particular where so some reason there was a puddle and about half the street was wet.  I was having real problems with that corner the first few laps.

There isn’t a ton to write about, other than it was super fun.  The field stayed pretty lined out all night.  I don’t think that there was a crash either, even though 60 guys turned 12 times for 27 laps.  If you do the math, that is 19440 corners at night.

A 3 rider break was away for about 1/3 of the race.  I was a bit worried that it was going to work, but they never got more than 20 seconds or so.  We caught 2 or 3 laps to go.  There were quite a few primes.  Colton Barrett, TexasRoad House, won  most of them.  He missed out on a couple, but he was pretty dominate.

With 2 laps to go, they rang the bell for a $250 gambler’s prime.  The field really didn’t know what to do.  It stayed bunched up the final corner, which was a long ways from the finish, like 4 to 500 meters.   We went around the corner and it spread out.  Colton took the right side and sprinted.  Then he didn’t wait after the line.

I was maybe 5 guys back sitting on Dennis Ramiez, Gateway Harley-Davidson, I think.  He yelled to his team mate, Connor Brown, and told him to drill it.  Connor was pretty incredible and kept the throttle down and pretty much single-handedly chased Colton down.  That kid is really good. We caught Colton with less than 1/2 a lap to go.

That is when it sort of started going south for me.  It eased up some and I got a little shuffled back with about 3 corners to go.  I had to jump a couple extra times and ended back on Colton’s wheel heading into the last corner. And this was when I completely blew it.

We went into the last corner and I lost Colton.  Well, I didn’t really lose him, but he put a couple bike lengths on me and I was in the wind.  I made a very bad decision and left my wingman.  There was a big glob of guys to my left, so I moved over there to draft.  Colton was sprinting away up the right and I was in line on the left.  But guys were coming up on both sides and I couldn’t really get out.  So when I finally got an opening, I jumped.  But it was probably 100 meters too early, because by the time I got to 100 meters from the line I was done.  I hate long sprints.   To excel in a field sprint, I need a corner in the last 200 meters, shorter preferably.

I was just trying to get to the finish and a two or three guys passed me right before the line.  I ended up 9th, which is right about where I deserved to finish.  Bill started the sprint on my wheel and a couple more guys passed him so he finished 14th.  There were 17 paying places, so he finished in the money.

Colton Barrett won, after winning the last prime and time trialing 1/2 the last lap.  He made us look pretty silly.

By the time the prizes were done, it was nearly midnight.  We stopped to get some take-out and drove.  We didn’t get back to Topeka until after 2am.  After unpacking, it was nearly 3 am.

I felt pretty good going to sleep.  My right knee was good and I had a endorphin buzz left over from the effort.  I had nearly 70 miles for the day, counting an afternoon ride and warm-up.  It was a good day all around.

Then this morning, harsh reality check with the cramp.  My calf is still aching from the cramp, sitting here writing this, watching the TTT at the Tour.

I’m hoping to ride a good while in the heat of the day today.  Maybe 4-5 hours leaving after noon.  I am really suspect in the heat and there is no way to prepare for heat without subjecting yourself to heat.  I hate skipping the race today in Nevada, but Catherine needed to get back last night and that was the deal we made.  Plus, a longer ride in the heat is probably better for me in the long run.

 

Results. Click to enlarge.

Results. Click to enlarge.

Racing in small towns, around the town square, is super fun.

Racing in small towns, around the town square, is super fun.

Lining up just at dark.

Lining up just at dark.

My friend, Aaro Froese, having the announcing duties last night. He wears many different hats at bike races.

My friend, Aaro Froese, having the announcing duties last night. He wears many different hats at bike races.

The prize checks had a little extra watermark thing on them. I've never seen something like this before. It was pretty cool. I wonder what it is. Something for fraud I'd assume.

The prize checks had a little extra watermark thing on them. I’ve never seen something like this before. It was pretty cool. I wonder what it is. Something for fraud I’d assume.  It is amazing I can win money for doing something so fun.

TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK… THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS. ANYONE OVERCOME BY HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION. HEAT STROKE IS AN EMERGENCY… CALL 9 1 1.

This is the weather forecast for today.  Heat index of 110.  If I thought I had trouble last night cramping in my sleep, tonight should be even better.

Pretty Proud of Myself

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Yesterday I did exactly what I intended to do.  I got on my bike and rode 5 hours in the heat, without ever deviating from my original plan, which often happens.  I had planned to just ride, ride super easy, like easy enough my butt was going to ache from all the pressure since I wasn’t putting any on the pedals.

4 of us started.  Bill, me, Trudi and Catherine.  Bill said upfront he was under slept and wasn’t riding that far.  Trudi has been riding a ton more, but it was going to be too much for her, so after about 45 minutes, it was just Catherine and I.  It was nice because we haven’t done that much riding together recently.

So, we just rode.  It was hot.  Like 100 degree hot with the sun blazing.  And it was pretty windy, maybe 15 mph from the south.  It usually isn’t very windy when it is that hot.  Plus it was really muggy, as it had rained nearly 2 inches the day before. Really a perfect storm of heat riding.

We headed east to ride to Lawrence since we needed somewhere to stop to get liquids.  We took a little different way, so it was a tad hilly.  But it didn’t matter because we were crawling up the hills.

We got to Lawrence and went to a Kwikshop and filled our bottles with ice and got a 69 cent Gatorade special to split.  Pretty cost effective stop, 37.5 cents each, including tax.  But we ruined that by heading over to Starbucks and getting a double espresso each.  Mine hot and her’s iced.

We then headed back to Topeka north, which is a little longer, but flatter, along the river. Catherine sat on a bit on the way back, since the wind was a tad from the west.  But in general, we rode side-by-side.  Just on the edge of town, maybe about 10 miles out, Catherine said she was out of water, so we stopped again at a gas station.  Same thing, ice bottles and split another Gatorade, this time it was 79 cents, so 42.5 cents each.

I rode Catherine back to Topeka and by then, it was close to 6, it started to seem cooler.  Probably because the sun wasn’t so direct.  We ran into Trudi who hadn’t had enough and was riding again on the bike path or her MTB bike.  I stopped to talk to her and Catherine kept going, in a rush to pick up her mom for dinner.

I rode by my house, refilled my bottles once again and went out for another hour.  By then, my Garmin was reading only 95, but it felt a lot cooler than that.

This was the slowest ride I’ve done in a long time.  I didn’t even average 17 mph.  I think I probably drank 12-14 big bottles, with.  I ate some S caps, these electrolyte capsules when I stopped by my house, but other than that nothing.  I really never felt crampy, which is strange.

I ate two Ally’s Bars.  You might not of heard of these, I hadn’t either, but I got a couple from Trudi after Tour of California.  John Murphy, who rides for United Healthcare, gave Trudi a few for me to try.  Then  a couple weeks ago in Lutsen, Ian Stanford came by after the race and gave me another small bag of them.  It turns out the woman that won Lutsen is Ally and she makes the bars.

Her name is Ally Stacher and she was already on my radar.  The chick is good.  She started Lutsen about the most determined of just about anyone I’ve encountered in sport recently.  She was actually leading the 1000 person group up the first climb.  Brian jump away and that was the last I saw of her.  But she kept that pace going, smearing the women and riding 6:10 for the 99 miles.   That was just 35 minutes behind me and I was going alright.  I’m pretty sure she finished top 20 overall.  I think she is planning on doing Leadville, and if that is true, then if she acclimates properly, I can’t see anyone beating her.

Anyway, her bars are good too.  There is a super long list of ingredients, a couple dozen with nearly everyone of them being organic something.  I’ve only had maybe 4 of the bars so far, but each time I’ve had them riding, I’ve had a pretty good day.  I’ve been looking for something to eat in these longer 100 mile MTB races and so far, these seem perfect.  They are just moist enough that you can get them down without drinking.  They are about the consistency, and taste, of the middle of a Fig Newton.  They are good.  Anyway, I like them but I only have a couple more. There is a link above.  You should try them.

So, today is gonna be hotter than yesterday.  I am planning, sort of, repeating yesterday.  The reason I’m doing this is that I hate not being confident at races where it is hot.  And I’ve found, at this point of my life, that I need to acclimate to heat as much as I do to high altitude.  Maybe more.  And the only way I’ve found to do this is by riding super slow in the heat of the day, building blood plasma.

This will be the last day though, because I’m heading out to Colorado to  acclimate to altitude. And most likely, I won’t be running into much heat there.  I am going to be in Steamboat Springs, at the Tour de Steamboat and was then thinking about maybe driving to Bend Oregon to do the Cascade Stage race.  That is iffy though.  It is 1000 miles from Steamboat to Bend and I only have two days in between.  Plus, Bend has a 16 mile TT and I try to avoid those.  But, a stage race would do me good.

Okay, enough of this.  I can’t write down everything I’m thinking right now.  I do have some stuff to do before I leave tomorrow. The heat index is supposed to be 115 today.  I’m not really diggin’ doing yesterday all over again now that I really think about it.

The bars are wrapped in Mylar, like Powerbars, but are way easier to open.

The bars are wrapped in Mylar, like Powerbars, but are way easier to open.

The podium of the overall men's and women's winners. Ally is the girl standing next to me.

The podium of the overall men’s and women’s winners. Ally is the girl standing next to me on the top step.

I heard having caffeine when you do long slow distance helps burn fat. I'm going with it.

I heard having caffeine when you do long slow distance helps burn fat. I’m going with it.  But, both Catherine and I were feeling a little weird after about 1/2 an hour after drinking it.  I call it a coffee bonk.  I get it sometimes after riding, then stopping for coffee and then riding again.  It is sort of a dizzy/bonky feeling that passes.