Bend, Part II

I have arrived! It was a looooong drive from La Grande to Bend where I consumed a lot of sunflower seeds and even a bit of coffee (not really coffee, it was more chocolate, vanilla, milk, and sugar plus a little coffee on the side). Yesterday, my first full day, was fantastic. I met my cooperating teacher and we get along very well, then moved most of my stuff in, went on a bike ride (first in about three months!), and hit Mt. Bachelor in the afternoon. It was fantastic, I can get used to this.

Today it's school and Superbowl. School because I need to finalize my plans for student teaching and Superbowl, well, because.

Cycling Analytics

Last week I got together with Brian, the founder and "captain" of the local bicycle and triathlon racing club Oregon Trail Racing. He is a faculty member at Eastern Oregon University in the sports science department and has developed a cool lab for videoing cyclists for the purpose of analyzing their pedal stroke and posture. I had developed a knee pain while training so he was going to take a look in order to determine if my bike setup was the culprit. You can check out videos from the session here (I couldn't figure out how to embed them, any experts out there?).

It was awesome; I felt like a professional athlete. He had reflective balls and tape all over my body, big spotlights, and multiple cameras focused on me. As you can see from the videos I was not on a traditional trainer, but instead on a new setup called "rollers." It was a unique sensation pedaling away, not going anywhere, yet not falling over.

We learned that my seat needed to be raised and pushed back in order to get a fuller extension on the down stroke. Sure enough, after making the adjustments I went on a 30 mile ride with no pain. Since then I've done hill climbs and a 60 miler with no pain at all. Not only is the pain gone, but the ride is generally more comfortable. Hooray!

Big Sporting Weekend

It was a big sporting weekend for me. On Saturday Brian and I, both members of Team Oregon Trail Racing, went down to Boise to race in the Boise Twilight Criterium. I placed 7th and Brian got 11th, so we were just a hair out of two top 10 finishes. The big up was that neither of us crashed, so it was a success!



Today I had a second round golf match in my course's Club Championship. It's really not a club championship because it is handicapped, it's more just match play, but still fun for a little competition. Today was a heck of a match. I was four holes down with seven to go and ended up winning on the 18th. On to the next round!

Bike Ride

This morning I woke up bright and early to join three other guys for a ride. After a few days of ugliness, the new day welcomed us with sun and 70 degree weather. I rode today not just for the exercise, but because the guy who got me into racing is moving and this was our last chance to ride together.

Anyhow, these guys are studs (former semi-pro, current semi-pro, and college distance runner)... and I haven't been on the bike for more than a month. I caught a beat down early and often. We warmed up with ten miles and I was already sweating. Then time for interval training: 2.5 miles on (sprinting), 2.5 miles off. I felt like I was going to puke/vomit/upchuck/ralph-gurgitate (all your favorite synonym in comments).

After the intervals we rode another ten or twelve miles. That part was easy until they kept riding faster and faster as we neared the end of the ride. Finally they dropped me and I shamefully rolled in after them. As they chatted it up I laid on the ground feeling (insert favorite synonym here).

And that is how I started my day.

Bike Project

I've been away from blogging the last couple days working on a project: building a bike. So far I've gathered the frame, handlebars, and brakes, but still need to track down a seat, crank/pedals, and wheels. The big work lately has been preparing the frame.
A good blogger would have taken a "before" picture, but a good blogger I am not. Instead you get a brief description: white with TONS of stickers. I spent about three hours yesterday cleaning, shaving off the stickers, sanding, and applying primer to end up with what you see above. The first color coat was slated for today, but The Rain decided to stop by for a visit (bleck), so it's a waiting game. Once the color is applied I'll post an update.

Raced Today

Today I raced (I think) my final road race until June at the Kings Valley Road Race. I felt like I was dodging bullets out there: a guy behind me broke a spoke, another guy behind me blew a tire in what sounded like a gun shot, and another guy beside me was sketchy as hell and caused a crash with just a couple miles to go. After all the fireworks I ended up with a 2nd place finish behind my new friend Lenny. He's a friend of a friend from home and turns out we're a pretty good cycling team. I actually had two chances to beat him at the end, but he's extremely strong and I simply didn't have the legs! After last weekend's crashes I'm happy finishing upright, the good result is icing on the cake!

After the race I rushed to an indoor soccer game; I'm playing on a friend from home's team. We had a blowout win, but next week we start a new "season" against the next level of competition. More on that later, right now I'm totally wiped.

One last thought: I won $35 from the race after paying a $20 entry fee. Does my +$15 make me a pro?!?!?

Crash...es

Yikes. I've been gone the last two days bike racing... and crashing. Crashed yesterday in a sprint for the win and crashed again today going about 40mp. Not that I didn't know it before, and not that you don't know yourself, but crashing blows. I'm currently laying on the couch nursing four road rashes down my right side, hoping that tomorrow will feel a bit better. Gonna call it a night, but look for a race review tomorrow.

Willamette Road Race: Stage 1

It's been five hours since the end of the race and I'm still warming up. We rolled through beautiful scenery southwest of Corvallis, ultimately ending on a three mile climb that covered a thousand vertical feet over about eight miles. That, however, wasn't the big story. We saw wind, cold, rain, sleet, and even a bit of hail during the two hour ride that left both feet and hands numb. It was brutal, sapping everyone's energy as we tried to ride down the road while our bodies wanted to spend energy warming up. Near the end of the race, for about two miles, I couldn't shift gears with my right hand because I couldn't feel my fingers. The results aren't online yet, but I'm guessing I finished eighth, about two minutes behind the leader. I've been hydrating and resting the rest of the day, getting ready for tomorrow's criterium stage. Tired now. Goodnight.

Bike Woes

Tomorrow is a big day in my bicycle racing career: the first multi-day race. For a variety of reasons this is a challenge, namely trying to balance how much energy I use in the first couple days so that on the final day I still have some legs left. To be honest, I'm just clawing in the dark so it will be interesting.

Unfortunately I received an unwelcome surprise today. I took my bike into a local shop to have them check my bottom bracket (the part the goes through the bike where the pedals are attached) because it was creaking. Fortunately everything was fine there and they got rid of the creak. Unfortunately, they told me my wheels are worn out and in desperate need of replacement. The crappiest news of all? Wheels are crazy expensive. This means my bike purchase isn't as good as I thought because I'll be spending a few hundred on new wheels. Super damn.

There is an upside, however, that makes what would normally be a super crappy situation only moderately crappy. Yesterday I went on a ride with a bike mechanic at a local shop, the same guy who took care of my bike today. He is graciously letting me use one of his extra wheel sets until I find a replacement. Relief. I also got to meet his roommates, one of which works at another local shop, and between the two of them we're going to scour the town in search of the best deal possible.

Now I'm off to prepare for the first stage tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Lance

I started reading Lance Armstrong's book two days ago, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, and have been zipping through it. I know, I know, that's soooooooooooo three or four years ago, but I'm admittedly a little slow on the trend uptake and am just now getting to it. Two things are jumping out at me: 1) He describes one and two hour training rides as hardly worth it and dismisses them. That's almost all I do. Sad face. 2) Beyond that one training observation, I really am mostly interested in the human/cancer side of the story. I thought I'd be most interested in the cycling and training aspect, but it's been very interested reading about cancer survival. I have come to realize I don't know many people with cancer and those that I do know survived and are doing well. Sadly, that is not the norm. Anyhow, I recommend the book if you haven't read it.

Speaking of Celebrating

I'm back in La Grande after a short trip over to Portland for a bike race and a visit with Serena. I'm happy to report both were great. On the biking front I won my race! No need to send chocolate and cards because I was in the lowest division possible, but it sure was a great feeling. I got to thinking that this may be the high point of my cycling career. As you achieve better results in races you get bumped up to a higher level of competition, plus, I'll need to start doing steroids if I'm going to compete in this sport. Yeeks. Anyhow, there is a chance that this will be my one and only win, but for now, hooray for the win!

Hopefully pictures to come, it was a rainy day and I got a nice asphalt-mud facial.

UPDATE: The Oregon Trail Racing Team. Man I look awkward.