Saturday recap

The day started out well. Woke up, had some tea and breakfast, got ready, watched a little bit of the vuelta. We packed up the truck and started to head out to the race. But as I was driving out of our parking lot I realized I ran over something. Turns out it was my front wheel. Whoops. I had taken it off and leaned it against the truck, and forgot to put it in the truck. It now had no axle as I had managed to shear off one side of said axle.

Luckily, I had my old shimano front wheel upstairs, and it even had an unused tire and tube on it. So I threw that in the truck, and Carrie and I headed out.

Got warmed up, and the race started. I unfortunately lined up in the back, but I was able to quickly move up to around the middle. We started at the bottom of the corkscrew, and I kid you not, somebody crashed going up the corkscrew less than 30 seconds into the race. In fact, there were so many crashes in this race, it was hard to count. I had to pull a cyclocross move and go offroad for a bit because a crash pushed everybody to both sides of the course. It was sort of nutty.

But I survived with a pack finish. In all honesty, the race wasn’t that hard. I probably should have used more energy to get myself up closer to the front in the last few laps. I was a little hesitant to be up near the very front because I wasn’t sure how I’d handle the two over 90 degree turns at a faster speed. I usually went through that part of the course near the back, so I could see where I needed to be, and we were going much more slowly. 

Oh well, the next two days are much more classic crit courses. Flat with 90 degree turns. Should be fast races as there won’t be any course features slowing things down like today. So with my less than stellar time trial, and today’s pack finish I have yet to accomplish either of my two goals. However, there are two races left and I am confident I have the legs to reach my goals. And hopefully I won’t run over any more bike components! ;)

Time for sleep!

Getting Ready

This weekend (tomorrow, in fact) starts the Tour De Austin. One time trial and three criteriums. I am very excited, as I sort of circled this on the calendar a long time ago. I was very excited when Drew told me that he wanted this to be my big target for the summer. I’ve had a few training interruptions along the way, but I am feeling pretty good. I did my last ride early this morning… now all that’s left is to wait.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m not the world’s most patient person? ;)

I am not expecting to do too great at the time trial. I mean, I’m going to go out and give it my all, but I know there are some cat 4s out there with some bigger engines than me, and with probably nicer setups than me. It’s short, so the time differences aren’t going to be huge. The crits I think I have a better shot at. I had my best result of the year last week at the Driveway, so I think my legs are where they need to be.

I have two goals for the weekend. I would like to crack the top 10 in the one of the crits and I’d like to get myself some omnium points. I’m feeling confident, and I think I can get it done.

I have been drinking a lot of tea lately. Since I basically cut out coffee during the heart thing, I have been trying different types of tea to drink during the day. Some with caffeine, some without. While I was at Costco the other day I noticed they had nice little stainless electric pitchers on sale, so I got myself one. I love this thing. I can boil water at my desk and I don’t have to wait on the microwave down the hall anymore.

Well, that is it. I’ll post my race reports as the weekend goes on.

Tahoe Pictures and Assorted Thoughts

So first and foremost, I have posted the pictures from our Lake Tahoe trip. That place is absolutely beautiful:

We really had a great time at Ruth’s wedding, and it was great getting to hang out with people who don’t get to see very often at all.

Two days ago I woke up at 6 AM and went ride my bike. This had several advantages: 1) it was much cooler and 2) I was done with my ride by 8 AM. However, Tuesday night was pretty tired. We did trivia at the Flying Saucer on Tuesday night, so between some beverages during trivia and my early rise/exercise, I was pretty exhausted when we got home.

Tonight is the Driveway. I believe it’s the elevation loop. It’s not the easiest course to move up on if you slide to the back, so I am really going to have to focus on not sliding to the back to begin with. It really takes consistent effort. Somebody told me once if you aren’t passing somebody then somebody is passing you. Maybe that’s true. Regardless, I really need to be aware of that. Last week resting for a few seconds turned into moving 10 people backward. Can’t let that happen.

Last night I made an Okra and Shrimp masala. It turned out really delicious, though a bit spicy for Carrie’s palate. I thought it was fantastic. I took the fresh okra and cooked it super hot in some olive oil to de slime it, then threw in the onions, bell pepper, and seeded and deveined serranos. Gave that a bit to sauté, then put in the garam masala, anchum powder, and cumin that we have acquired for our neighborhood Indian grocery. Added a canned of fire-roasted stewed tomatoes and the shrimp, and boom, done. It was fantastic.

Today I am having a cup of coffee. Not very much. It’s mostly almond milk. But I was really craving for some coffee. I have really been enjoying my tea, but I still like the taste of coffee, and decided I’d give it a go today. I don’t think coffee was the cause of any of my heart/stress issues, but I don’t necessarily think it was helping. I have felt much more relaxed the last week and a half, so I figured a little coffee wasn’t going to hurt anything.

Labor day weekend is the Tour of Austin. Four days of racing (1 time trial, 3 crits) around Austin and my first real racing goal since I started this whole thing in February. The next few weeks I’m putting my training as a top priority, and I plan on putting more strictness back in my diet. Since I have achieved my weight goal, for the most part, I have been a little less strict with the diet the past two months. However, I really want to put good fuel in the next few weeks before the race.

I guess that’s it, hopefully I’ll have some good news from the Driveway tonight. Take it easy, everybody!