Thanks for keeping up with my updates here! Blogroll and just about everything else has moved to the "news" page on Vision-Cycling.com
We are extremely excited to welcome PowerBar on as our sponsor for all things related to sports nutrition performance!Make sure to look for PowerBar’s presence and maybe some free samples and/or nutritional information at up and coming races!
Their website is pretty cool too, you can find a link to them in our sponsors column over there -------->
Race recap
Iola went well, not great, not bad, right in the middle of expectations, 6th overall. I forgot how to race mountain bikes and for some reason thought it was no big deal that their was a small gap opening up to the leaders at the start. I was under no distress, felt well under limit, and just thought the gap would be closed. Well reality sunk in when they disappeared within half a lap. Me, Matter, and Chris began to chase.
Lap two I dangled as the hills hit again and I was over taken by Macjei. Not sure what hurt so bad because the rest of the race I felt fine there, then again I think me and Matter were both playing it very conservative for the rest of the race. Caught back up with Macjei and we bridged to Matter and Chris, Chris immediately checked out with cramps. Macjei dropped off somewhere in lap 3, but was always a threat 10-30 seconds back. Rest of race was damage control with Matter, learned a lot following him around about how I do not conserve energy well or know how to use a full-suspension well yet. I tend to animal my way through a race instead of using the trail for its speed and efficiency. I always thought of technical ability as how fast I can corner or ride through a “tech” section, but gaining and keeping momentum is whole other area I need to focus on to keep from wasting energy.
Anyways I pulled most lap 4 and half of 5 and then said good job to Matter and he was gone. Huge props to him to show up with hardly any training and be able to pull off a podium, amazing!
I have definitely gained some ability on the flats over the winter with some added power, but my climbing has suffered a bit. The extra 7-10 or so pounds from winter lifting is coming off quickly though and I think I can maintain my power.
Feeling good lap 1
Dangling Lap 2
Hugging my water bottle as I get energized to bring’em back.
Shirpke’s are awesome! Huge THANK YOU to Jack for doing awesome hand-ups! Perfect communication and delivery!
Trying to push the pace.
Fooling myself
Dropped…..
It is hard to see, but the surprise on Hannah’s face is priceless…”OH YEA, this is what racing feels like.”
“Maybe I will get used to that feeling another day” :) Hannah and Lindsay did really well though considering taking so much time off from focusing on training and racing.
Rest Week
This week is easy rides with a little speed work on the Doc Ride on Wednesday. I actually trained right through Iola, so it was time for rest after a hard three week block, but the legs did not feel too tired, well, until Monday... I was planning on doing something at 12 hrs of Stump Farm tomorrow, we will see what the weather looks like though.
I also got a few articles done while sitting around a lot with school out now. Article on Iola Here and article on WEMS Here
Thanks for reading,
Nathan
Photo Credit: B. Nigh, Bubba, and J. Senkerik.
That is how I would define the Gun Show! Huge thank you to Kate Heil for letting me use her power tap and as promised here are the numbers, well just speed and power. Who cares about torque and cadence anyways, oh and I forgot the HR monitor so that is missing too. Less cuddies (cooties?) for Kate anyways when I give the strap back.
I can’t figure out how to get graph numbers to copy with the picture so I made sure the cursor was over the highest wattage I could find for a reference, the Brynn road hill sprints of course. Data sheet says max was 1153. The two surges before that were HWY E going by Pewaukee Lake. We may be on road bikes, but this course and the way it is ridden feels like pure MTB race pace.
Me trying to make cross eyed, drooling on bars, tongue dangling look fun, while Joe kills the pace line.
Wrote an article on the Wheel & Sprocket Bike Expo with some cool video from last years expo and some WORS videos.
I recently got this sweet job writing articles for Examiner.com. So far I have written about Wisconsin being a MTB Hot Spot and the 2010 Bike Summit. Check them out and if you like please SUBSCRIBE! I will keep you updated on everything mountain biking. Also, if you know of any events or anything else you believe news worthy when it comes to mountain biking, let me know! If it seems relevant I will do my best to plug it in.
Lindsay and drove around putting our bikes on signs and taking pictures!
Then I dropped her off at home and rode to the local coffee shop for a latte and cheesecake chocolate chip muffin, cause you know all that “driving'” to different signs really took it outta me!
Then I pushed pedals till it got dark. I did not eat much before our ride and very little during, WOW did I feel like superman after those 2 shots of espresso and the best tasting muffin in the world!
Ok I really like this pick so I had to post it and now you know what we were really doing on the way to all those really cool signs we wanted to see.
This happens all the time and sometimes it is simply for convenience sake, but this is getting kinda crazy!
