It isn't easy being green... in Greene County

This past Saturday, April 21, was the Greene County Road Race, just outside of Waynesburg, PA. It was the kind of day that any hardened, battle tested, steely-eyed warrior road cyclist relished, a rainy, mid-April day chilled to a shiver inducing 50 degrees. The course was one of the most beautiful courses for this kind of race on this kind of day too, flat to gently rolling, narrow roads with an occasional small/mid-sized hill thrown in. This is the kind of course and the kind of day I... well, I like to think I thrive in.

As our group rolled out at 12:35 for our 36 mile excursion into cycling nirvana, the pace was friendly for the first four and a half miles. Around that point, there was a sharp, hairpin kind of turn, and right out of that turn, the screws were turned and the race was on full.

Feeling good and "settled in" at 25-29MPH, I was in the front end of the group where all the action was... attack, counter-attack, chase, catch, attack again... good to be racing! About eight to nine miles into the race the first hill came to further challenge us. At the front half of the group we charged up the hill. I blinked. In that blink I went from the front of the group to off the back of the group and losing ground. I clawed and scratched in anger and desperation to stay in contact but the gap was widening with each additional eye blink.

Gone. Gone was the group, my motivation, my impetus. Second road race in a row where I couldn't stay with the group. The next twenty-something miles were spent riding by myself, alone with my thoughts in my crazy head. I pedaled along, still enjoying the light rain and the beautiful surroundings of the course, but coming to an understanding, albeit discouragement induced, that my racing days are over.

This conclusion came from the realization that I'm just not able to get the training needed to stay with the group let alone be able to be competitive at the finish line. Trying to juggle the rest of current life and still get quantity and quality training miles in simply isn't working. I'm ready to retire. It's been a good twenty years.

That evening, a friend, Jay Downs, commented to me that I need to focus solely on criteriums. Haha... yeah, okay. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Criteriums, a race usually around a closed city block, are fast, flat, and are an hour or less in race time. Hmmm... that's what I gotta do. That is the answer. Well, that and time trials which are also under an hour. I can devote just one hour a day of super high intensity training, and I don't even need to leave my house, and can still balance out the rest of life's blessings and opportunities.

Like a crazed scientist, I started working on a "Meth Lab" (Meth, as in Methods Of Suffering), and will for now on be doing my riding and training there, indoors, with an occasional road workout to work on sprints. This should allow me to be pack worthy and hopefully even competitive again, and be able to better my juggling act. We'll see how this will work out and what further adjustments I have to make. I'll miss road races but you gotta choose your battles, and I do enjoy criteriums and time trials, so it's all good. While I was "given in" to the idea of race retirement, I wasn't ready for it. I still have more in me that needs this outlet.

My "Meth" Lab, tho more has been added since this picture.

Morgantown Road Race - A Classic In The Making

On April 2, 2011 I arrived at the Mason-Dixon Park in Mount Morris, PA to compete in the Morgantown Road Race, only to find conditions seen in this picture below. Big, fat snow flakes were coming down almost in sheets. The race was delayed by almost an hour and just as there were talks of canceling the event the snow quit, the sun came out (though it was still cold), and the race went on. It was an epic event for sure!

Fred Jordan Photography - 2011 Morgantown Road Race

Fast forward to this past weekend, April 7, 2012, the scene for the Morgantown Road Race was entirely different. Barely a cloud in the sky, it was a most beautiful 60 degree day for the hard, rugged 50 mile road race. And cyclists from all around agreed as it was a record breaking turn out. In attendance with me were teammates Mark Briercheck and Dave Shaffer, both first time participants in this epic encounter.

As we rolled out of town, away from the start line and into the glory of southern PA and northern WV, our group stayed together albeit with a hasty pace, speckled with an occasional attack by someone that was eventually brought back into the fold. But just under half way into the race there was an attack that formed into a small group of about six or seven that was successful in riding away from the rest of us. I thought for sure that being so early into the race, and with the looming big climbs ahead, they wouldn't be gone for long. I was wrong.

Personally, I was feeling great. I've been training hard and consistent... and resting equally so for recovery. When we got to the first "big" climb of the day, all that training and preparation fell by the wayside as I was developing a lower back pain, and the harder I worked to get up the climb and stay with the group, the more unbearable it became. It doesn't matter how good you're feeling, when you have a back issue like that it's hard to keep the momentum going and generate the needed power output. At least that's how it is for me.

By the time we got to the top I was dangling off the back like a low hanging apple on the tree ready to fall to the ground for a brusing. I saw Briercheck a head of me and was determined to stay with him. Fortunately what goes up, also goes down, and I go down pretty quick as I can descend rather well. On the descent I caught back up and went right back to the front of the group and stayed there until the second, and much bigger climb. Pop... that was it. My back was killing me. It was all I could do just to get up what was a mountain at this point. I slugged it out, got to the top, and down the other side, and this time it even hurt a lot to go downhill. I got together with some other guys who fell off the pace, we re-grouped, and got our little train rolling. Eventually we picked up Mark and a few other guys and Mark whipped us into a nice rotating paceline, very workman like, and we caught another group that was just a head of us. Now, as a bigger group, we motored along, again, until another big climb where I promptly fell off the pace in pain. Same story... repeat. I bombed my way down the other side, passing people, even Mark, and I was gone. I dug deep, caught up to the leading remnants of what was our big group, and we got on with business. They wound up dropping me once-and-for-all as I just couldn't keep with them even on the small rolling hills, and I came across the finish line... all alone and around 14:00 off the winning time. I finished the 50 mile race in 2:23:30 in 26th place, Mark Briercheck finished one place behind me and Dave Shaffer met his goal of finishing the race in 33 place.

Two days after this race I met with my chiropractor and he snapped me like a Slim Jim back into shape and gave me some suggestions, and Todd Schoeni from Pro Bikes suggested I get a bike fit to help with the back pain. With what I get from the two of them I hope to beat this nagging nemesis of mine once and for all and get on with actual racing! As for the race itself, it has everything a die hard cyclist could want... rugged beauty, narrow roads, glorious climbs, fast descents, and "on-the-rivet" sections of speed, not to mention the relative unknown of weather, blustery snow one year and bountiful sunshine the next. A classic indeed!

Fred Jordan Photography

Fred Jordan Photography

Fred Jordan Photography

The beatings will continue until morale improves

Whew... THIS was a hard week. A very hard gym session on Monday that left me struggling to walk, let alone climb steps later in the week, recovery ride on Tuesday followed by a tough sprint day on Wednesday with my legs still tweaked from three days prior (despite living in my SKINS recovery tights), and moderately hard rides on Thursday and Saturday with a hill attack workout in between them on Friday. Today, Sunday, I am completely wiped out... very tired. I was going to do an easy spin on the rollers for an hour, but my wife wound up being sick and in bed so I hung with the kids spending most of the day watching Stage 1 of the Paris-Nice bike race on NBC Sports, which was probably for the better. I wanted to just fall asleep all day.

Fortunately, the upcoming week is a "rest week" in the grand scheme of things, so there will be a lot of easy spinning, recovery, and muscle rebuilding. Early bedtime for my wife and I (she is feeling better now) tonight as we both recover. As for my morale, feeling pretty good... but then again I liked the beatings. :-)

Chasin' California Gold

California, Pennsylvania is a nice little community nestled in a valley along the Monongahela River. It was named after the state of California because the town's founding coincided with the California Gold Rush of 1849. Among the towns and communities along the river, California is the diamond among the coal. Most of the communities fell into decline and disrepair as the coal and steel industries fell by the wayside and became shuttered. But the saving grace of California was that it is also the home of California University of Pennsylvania (aka Cal U).

Today, and for about the last eight years, I make my living buying beat up houses in California, fixing them up, and renting them to the students attending Cal U. Over that time I developed a strong liking for the borough and everything about it. I love the location in regards to the river, I love going to the top of the hills and looking over the town, and I love the small town "feel" it has.

The last year or two I've been entertaining the idea of trying to get a bike race organized in California, and I was looking at a road looping around the Cal U campus as a desirable race route. Just within the last few weeks that idea suddenly took shape into reality as Mayor Durdines approached me about bringing the route into town. I introduced him to JR Petsko who organizes and promotes local bike races and now between the two of them it appears it's going to happen sometime in August.

I am excited about this race, called the California Grand Prix, and am looking forward to competing in it as it'll be like racing at a home crowd. Here's a picture of the route, you can click on it for a larger view. Thank you Mayor Durdines and JR for making this happen. There's going to be a lot of riders coming to town chasin' that California gold!

New Year, New Goals

A new year and new racing season is here, and I'm looking forward to it. JR Petsko and the Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association has put together the busiest racing schedule yet in the Pittsburgh/Morgantown region, and there are some doozies in there.

The 2011 season didn't go as planned as I suffered and slogged thru every race, scratching and clawing my way to the finish line at times. I'm anticipating this new season to be different... better.  Last year I was trying some new and different stuff in the gym during the off-season. This year I'm going old-school, getting back my old, results producing, weight routine. I was also bogged down with some work projects that took a lot of time away from much need on-the-bike training. This year I expect to plan those work projects better and to be better and be more proactive at time management (I barely even touched this blog last year).

I'm still sorting out my training/racing schedule for this season, determining which races I'll be able to get to and which races suit me better. I have a few in mind that I want to do really well in, so those are in the cross-hairs for sure. Big thanks to the sponsors of my team for helping us reach our team goals, and a big thanks to the business listed on the right side of this page for helping and supporting me in my personal race goals. I hope to represent each and every one of you well this year! Thank you!

Testing Tales of the Time Trial

On July 2, 2010 I competed in my first time trial since my 7th place finish in the State Time Trial in 1997 (I placed 3rd in 1996). It was a 15 mile event at the Bud Harris Cycling Track in Pittsburgh, and I finished with a time of 36:34.  On August 20 of 2010 I did another 15 mile time trial and finished that one in 35:06, one minute twenty-eight seconds faster.  Good improvement.

Exactly one year later, on July 1, 2011, I once again raced in a 15 mile time trial, and finished with a time of 34:31 (26.07 MPH average speed), two minutes three seconds faster than the 7/2/10 race and one minute fifteen seconds faster than the 8/20/10 race.  Much, much better improvement.  I was very happy with that result and time.  It shows that I'm on the right track but there's still room for improvement.

With that said, it all fell apart last night, July 15, 2011, at the 20 mile time trial.  Going into the event I was feeling a little tired already from mowing a hilly lawn and then climbing up and down a ladder painting walls, but I was feeling up to the challenge.  However, just a few miles into the race I knew it was all over for me.  My legs felt like I was churning thick butter with them... slow and laboring.  I tried to fight through it thinking I'd come around, but it wasn't to be.  At the 15 mile mark I saw that I was considerably slower than my time at the 15 mile race just two weeks earlier.  People I passed at that race were now passing me.  I did what I could and gave it everything I had for the last 5 miles, and ended with a time of 48:09, good enough for 8th place in the Men's Open.  Blah... completely empty.

Today, the day after, I'm still feeling the effects... sore legs, sore shoulders, sore back, and all around tiredness.  Whew, time to regroup and put it back together.  In two weeks is another time trial, the big one, twenty five miles, which I did last year in a time of 57:09, a 26.2 MPH average speed.  My head believes I can beat that time, I just hope my legs do too.

And kudos to my great teammates for their awesome results in last night's race too!!!

Deflated at the Hilly Billy

In my last post I told of my training for an upcoming race, the 70 mile Hilly Billy Roubaix, and how I hurt my back bad in that particular training ride.  Well two weeks went by between that injury and the race, and with a lot of chiropractic therapy, ice, and stretching, I went into that race as close to 100% as I could get.  I was feeling very good.  My back wasn't hurting or bothering me at all and I felt pretty comfortable with my fitness.  I was also on a high from just being at the race.  I was really excited just to be there as I knew it was going to be a lot of fun.

So... short long story short, by the time the whistle blew for the start to around 16 miles into the 70 mile event, I had five flat rear tires!  I had two spare inner tubes and a patch kit, but that wasn't enough on these harsh, horrible roads, at least for me.  I can't even recall at what mile markers I had the first four flats, but on the fourth flat the "sag wagon" rolled up behind me (the sag wagon is a vehicle that tails the race and picks up people who can't finish).  I asked the driver, "I'm the last person on the course now, huh?"  He replied, "Yup."  My heart sank some and the last of my imputus was about gone.  I got that flat fixed and he followed me and as I was going up another dirt climb my rear tire was going mushy again.  Flat #5.  At that point the driver of the sag wagon, Jeff Gernert, and I fiddled around with the tire a bit and then decided it was a lost cause.  He then proceeded to put my bike in the back and handed me a beer and we drove off.

I was eventually handed off to Rick Plowman and his dad for a ride back to the start/finish line (Rick was also out of the race due to a nasty crash which required stitches in his knee).  I cleaned up, put on my happy face (a competitor never wants a DNF by his/her name!), and eventually made my way to the 100 pizzas and two kegs of beer waiting for all the participants.

I was sad that I didn't get to experience the full glory of the Hilly Billy but what I did get to taste made me hungry for the full plate next year (and the post race festivities were quite a treat too!).  I still had a blast despite my flat tires.  As this WAS my first attempt at a race on dirt let alone the craziness of the Hilly Billy, I had some lessons to learn, which I did.  I am truly looking forward to it next year!

(For a full gallery of photos, visit Fred Jordan Photography.)