ITU World Championship Series

I had an interesting weekend to say the least. Besides the normal studying and paper writing for my summer graduate class I managed to find time to ride with coworkers. The 6AM start time on a Saturday was not my choice. I'm told until I get married and have family obligations I won't be able to appreciate the early morning workout.

The ride was pleasant and along quiet roads filled with plenty of rolling hills. I left the group after 30 miles to do a few threshold repeats. Along the way it began to rain lightly. I prefer not to ride in the rain but I was determined to get in a much needed long ride in that day. I wanted to take Sunday off to watch the ITU World Championship Series race in Washington, DC. As I turned a sharp corner on freshly paved asphalt my front wheel lost its grip. Before I knew it, I was sliding down the bike trail on my side. The injuries consist of a bruised and swollen ankle, hip, shoulder, hand, elbow, and knee. I have a bit of road rash but not too bad. I think my bike took the worst hit because the handlebars are a little out of whack. I've been taking it easy this week, which has allowed me to concentrate on my final project for school. You got to find the positive, right?

On Sunday I rode my beach cruiser into DC to watch 4 of the 5 top triathlon finishers in Beijing compete for ITU points. All the big guns were in town: Javier Gomez, Simon Whitfield, Hunter Kemper, Jan Frodeno, Jarrod Shoemaker, and Andy Potts. I had a special interest in one athlete, Matt Chrabot, because he's a member of Coastal Racing from Virginia Beach.

My first impression of the Olympic triathletes was, "Damn they're skinny!" At 5'8" and 150lbs I look fat next to these guys. I guess the less weight you carry around the better when you're at that level.

The swim portion of the race was a two loop course through the nasty, brown, debris filled Potomac. I felt bad for the guys because they spent much of the time dodging logs and trash. Afterwards, I managed to watch most of the bike on the big screen they had at T2/Finish. It was pretty awesome.


The lead group of five turned a 10 second lead out of T1 into a 45 second lead on the chase pack of 15 or so guys. The chase pack never could put things together. Shortly after the run started it was clear it was going to be a two man race between Javier Gomez and 21-year old Alistair Brownlee. Seriously, this kid looked like he could have been 16. He dropped the hammer over the last 2km and won his second race of the year.

Bike MS 100 - Washington, DC

This past weekend I took part in the National Capitol Chapter MS Ride outside of Washington, DC. Coworkers, friends, and I donated $300 for my old roommate Ryan's Team OutSPOKEn. In return, I pledged to ride the century course. I had no idea what the profile looked like but I figured I could handle another 100 miler.

When the ride began I realized I was going to be doing most of this alone. There weren't any "competitive" cyclists around to ride with so Ryan and I headed out as usual. At Mile 36 we split ways since he only wanted 60 miles. Feeling pretty good I took off and attacked a surprisingly hilly course. Despite the grades I managed 19mph for the first 60 miles. It was at that point my left knee began to ache again (remnants from MoM). I backed off but finished strong over the last 15 miles.

So over the past three weeks I've completed my first two century rides. And I don't think I'll be doing any more in the near future. The good news is... 56 miles now seems like a short ride.

MoM RR

The misery is over.

My Memorial Day weekend was full of excitement in the mountains of Blacksburg, VA. Members and friends of Coastal Racing and I participated in the annual Cycling Doubleheader of the family oriented Wilderness Ride and the ominous Mountains of Misery. Both rides provide cyclists with challenging hills and, yes, mountain passes miles long with grades the organizers boast as reaching 12-15%.

The weekend started with a casual 38-mile Wilderness Ride that Ryan and I cruised through with relative ease in under two hours. Afterward we went back to the cabin to meet up with other members for an open water swim on Claytor Lake. Amazingly the mountain water was relatively warm for May but we still sported the wetsuits. I ended up swimming 20 minutes down the lake and another 21 back for a good solid workout. Afterward we ate like kings, had a few beers, and hit the sack for tomorrow's big ride.

The morning came way too early, partly because I didn't sleep well. I don't know if it was some pre-ride jitters about not getting enough training in or the fact I crashed last year and broke my thumb.

Only four of us were in for the long ride (Joel Bell being a stud and doing the double metric). We got there not long before the start and quickly got ready and lined up for the fourth wave. This time around the directors were limiting the size of the waves, which made the ride somewhat harder than last year because we were spaced out. Ryan and I spent the first 20 miles or so trying to find a suitable group of riders to roll with. Last year I had the privilege to ride wheels for most of the first half of the ride. When you're riding 103 miles in the mountains you take what you can, when you can.

Like before, the first serious challenge arrived around Mile 60 with the first mountain climb. This year I rocked a new Bontrager Race Lite GXP compact crank (50/34) and it made a world of difference. I still had to work like a mule to get the pedals around but I could get them around. By Mile 80 I was cursing the hills of a section with four or five continous steep rollers. My left knee had started to ache from all the climbing. And all I could think was that the person who designed the course was just being mean at this point. To say the least, I was happy when I reached the "five miles remaining" sign, but I knew it was literally an uphill battle from there.

After the ride we headed back to the cabin to eat and play flip cup till early morning, which is hindsight was a bad idea. The next day I felt a bit under the weather (partly hungover) and by the second day I had a full-blown head cold that sidelined me for a week.