Sam's UCLA weekend report
February 12, 2006 Sam
On paper, todays race is hard enough, as I mentioned yesterday. But I definitely made it much tougher than I needed to today by attacking halfway through the second lap of six and attempting a solo break. I was hoping that someone else would eventually ride after me and give me someone to work with. But alas! I rode 3.5 laps alone until one of the later fast breaks caught me and just kept going (this was Chris’s three man group). I had been out riding alone at just below time trial pace for about 2 hours, so I was trashed. I had absolutely nothing left. At one point I thought I may have a chance at winning when I had about 5 minutes on the group, but it was pretty much a suicide mission to begin with that early on, especially since every downhill I had to tuck alone and the wind picked up as the race went on. All in all I was glad I went for it…it was a good learning experience and I figure you have to try crazy plans like that every once in a while because sometimes they’re just crazy enough to work. Also, the race was a big success because Chris ended up getting second to pro rider Kyle Barbary. The best part of Sundays race was having KO and maggie there, though. It was so exciting and inspirational to ride past them every lap, having never had real fans at one of our races before. They also played the key role of handing off food and water to us every time we went by the feed zone. I wish I could have done better on the one day they came to see us race… oh well. You win some, lose some. I’m still happy about yesterday.
February 11, 2006 Sam
We’re in Palmdale, California; about an hour and a half north over the mountains from school by car. It’s almost eight and Chris and I just woke up a while ago from significant naps. I also just received a pretty professional massage from Chris, who I’m training to be team massuese #2. Massage sure makes a difference—my legs were all knotted up from todays effort. It was a 20 km time trial (actually about 21.5km) on an out and back course in the middle of the desert. Luckily Chris and I secured race times one after another early on so as to avoid any afternoon wind. Chris went first and I went a minute after him, on the chase. The course had about 300 feet of climbing (minimal) and a tailwind on the way out with a fairly nasty headwind on the way back and a slight downhill over-all. I went out quite hard to begin with and never really back it down. I was really happy to be able to sustain a high heart rate the whole time without letting it creep down. The hills I came to I basically sprinted up and took the next downhill and flat section to ‘recover’. Using Chris as my target I pushed as hard as I could all the way to the finish. I ended up placing third. More important than the placing though was that I think today was my most intense and concentrated effort that I’ve ever done. I’m really satisfied knowing that all the B.S. I’ve gone through to be fast today was worth it, because I couldn’t have pushed myself any harder than I did. Chris and I are really nervious/excited about tomorrow where we climb a monster 9000 feet of climbing in 80 miles. Whew. I hope we feel as solid as we did today…
On paper, todays race is hard enough, as I mentioned yesterday. But I definitely made it much tougher than I needed to today by attacking halfway through the second lap of six and attempting a solo break. I was hoping that someone else would eventually ride after me and give me someone to work with. But alas! I rode 3.5 laps alone until one of the later fast breaks caught me and just kept going (this was Chris’s three man group). I had been out riding alone at just below time trial pace for about 2 hours, so I was trashed. I had absolutely nothing left. At one point I thought I may have a chance at winning when I had about 5 minutes on the group, but it was pretty much a suicide mission to begin with that early on, especially since every downhill I had to tuck alone and the wind picked up as the race went on. All in all I was glad I went for it…it was a good learning experience and I figure you have to try crazy plans like that every once in a while because sometimes they’re just crazy enough to work. Also, the race was a big success because Chris ended up getting second to pro rider Kyle Barbary. The best part of Sundays race was having KO and maggie there, though. It was so exciting and inspirational to ride past them every lap, having never had real fans at one of our races before. They also played the key role of handing off food and water to us every time we went by the feed zone. I wish I could have done better on the one day they came to see us race… oh well. You win some, lose some. I’m still happy about yesterday.
February 11, 2006 Sam
We’re in Palmdale, California; about an hour and a half north over the mountains from school by car. It’s almost eight and Chris and I just woke up a while ago from significant naps. I also just received a pretty professional massage from Chris, who I’m training to be team massuese #2. Massage sure makes a difference—my legs were all knotted up from todays effort. It was a 20 km time trial (actually about 21.5km) on an out and back course in the middle of the desert. Luckily Chris and I secured race times one after another early on so as to avoid any afternoon wind. Chris went first and I went a minute after him, on the chase. The course had about 300 feet of climbing (minimal) and a tailwind on the way out with a fairly nasty headwind on the way back and a slight downhill over-all. I went out quite hard to begin with and never really back it down. I was really happy to be able to sustain a high heart rate the whole time without letting it creep down. The hills I came to I basically sprinted up and took the next downhill and flat section to ‘recover’. Using Chris as my target I pushed as hard as I could all the way to the finish. I ended up placing third. More important than the placing though was that I think today was my most intense and concentrated effort that I’ve ever done. I’m really satisfied knowing that all the B.S. I’ve gone through to be fast today was worth it, because I couldn’t have pushed myself any harder than I did. Chris and I are really nervious/excited about tomorrow where we climb a monster 9000 feet of climbing in 80 miles. Whew. I hope we feel as solid as we did today…
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