Lost

I lost my blackberry yesterday. Not a big deal except that I didn’t have all those handy things it has for me. The e-mail with my track workout, a stop watch for getting lap times, a phone so I could call people. Hopefully I can get a new one today.

I had a great weekend of not racing bikes. Saturday was a good ride with the team and yesterday was a nice easy morning and a great track workout in the afternoon. Hopefully the weather will clear up again later this week so we can have our opening Thursday night track races.

So nice, they named it twice

Walla Walla is done and over with, and so is stage racing for me this year. The Gentle Lovers descended on the little town of Walla Walla dressed in new kit and looked as good as ever. While the overall GC competition did not treat any of us very well, we all did get some good training in and had a lot of fun doing it.

From what I hear, it was not a nice weekend to be in the valley. The weather for us a good. It was cold, windy and snowed a little bit, but I would rather take some snow that the rain any day.

Stage 1 was a hilly 62 mile road race that turned out to be a death march with all the wind. I got popped fairly early, but met up with a few other and slogged out the rest of the first lap with them. At the start of the second lap, I was feeling a lot better and dropped the group of 8 that I was with. It was another 25 miles in the wind alone, but by the end of the race, I had put 2 minutes on the group I had been with. The last 10k of that stage were the hardest 10 k i have ever ridden. It was all into the headwind and I think I was pushing around 330 or so watts and going 12 mph on the flats.

Stage 2 was a short 6.6 mile TT on Saturday morning. It was a slow time out uphill into the wind and a quick trip back.

The third stage was a 95 mile road race on Saturday afternoon that consisted of one short loop and two long loops. I stayed with the pack until is shattered into pieces on long climb to start the last lap. I was on the back end of the shattering, so I rode the last lap alone again. It started snowing near the end of the race, but the sun was still out, so it just made things even more fun.

Sunday afternoon was the crit in downtown Walla Walla. My legs felt like crap in the morning when I went for a ride, so I was a bit unsure of how the race would go. But luckily things started out mellow and I got into my crit rhythm. The were two crashes in the race. I got stuck behind one of them and ended up on Veed's back and the top of my stem. But all was good and we took our free laps. Things got hot the last half of the race and I sprinted in for 7th place.

The Loverdrome

The Lovers had their first team track practice last night. Most everyone had not ridden on the track previous, so there was a lot of learning to do.

Hulick got his rental bike and immediately tried to ride around the stayer’s line with no instructions. As I was standing by the pill box, I heard a distant call from corner three. "Oh crap, this is really high!!" Veed took to the track like a fish to the water. He was in the pace line five minutes after he hoped on the bike, and he looked really good in his new team kit. Watson and Mahony continued to improve on their skills from last week, but this time they looked a little more relaxed. Playman and Markwelder came out for a good time, but somehow forgot their handlebars. After a bit of jerry rigging and some spacers, Mark was showing the guys "the move" in our mock race.

And then there was Joanna. She was unsure of the track, unsure of the rental bike but mostly unsure of the rental bike on the track. But after working with Andrea for a while and watching the guys ride around most of the evening, she finally followed Dan around the corners. She came around with a triumphant smile and the Loverdrome erupted with cheering and joy.

So, I hope you are getting ready for racing at the Loverdrome this summer, because as Veed put it, "Dude, track is fun. I'm in."

Hott...

Our new team kits came in today. Come out to Walla Walla if you want to see them. It will be worth the drive.

Not Last, but close

I almost got last at the Estacada TT, but didn't. This Power-Tap thing has me going a little crazy. It's always the same thing at all the races, should I ride my fast, light and sexy Zipps or my 32 hole OpenPro PowerTap wheels? I think I have finally made a commitment to data collection and will be doing almost all my racing on the PT from now on. They will be the only wheels that go out to Walla Walla.

The thing that has me stuck is track racing. Does anyone have a 28 or 24 hole PT Pro (the old one) that I can build into a fixed gear wheel? Or does anyone know if you can build a 32 hole PT hub into a 28 or 24 hole carbon rim?

Funny Stuff

http://www.gentlelovers.com/?p=189

Success!!!

Goals for Willamette Stage Race: Finish the race and get some good training in.

Goals completed.

Willamette was great, even if I did ride a lot of it off the back. It was great hanging out with the team. Andrea even made a surprise visit for the Crit on Saturday.

Big thanks to Emily for cooking and offering her support. Also to Birget and Santi who were awesome hosts and aways made us feel humble about our athletic abilities.

Now for a bit of recovery...

Update, The final results are in, and Gentle Lovers don't quit. Even if they are down an hour and 12 minutes.

Willamette Day 1

Team GL is rocking at the Willamette SR so far. After the 6.6 km prologue today Mr. Blackwelder is our clear GC contender, coming in a mere 59 seconds behind Dan Harm. If you know anything about Mark, you know he can make up this time gap with a smile. Tony and I finished on the second page of results with me in 53rd and Tony in 64th. Tony does get the coolest TT bike award with his little front wheel and plywood disk.

On the women's side, Laurel finished in 3rd, 24 seconds off of Jenn Tripplet, and Erin, in her first TT ever, rolled in with a smile on her face in 17th.

Tomorrow looks like it is going to be a painful one.

It's finally time...

to do some track workouts.

Andrea and I got in our first track workout yesterday. The track is in fairly good shape and it sure is nice having to think about gearing and pumping tires up higher than 120 psi.