Blather on Bicycling

There I was, soloing off the front of the pack on my way to victory. . . or was I bridging up to the lead group. I had no idea at Slambiguity Road Race 2008. I felt good during the attack and solo effort, and I was closing on the guys in front of me until I ran into some wicked leg cramping and had to shut it down to survival mode. This kept me in no man’s land–or was it no woman’s land?, or was it out in the lead?–the remainder of the race. I finally resolved the issue after I crossed the finish line and scurried around asking the finisher in front of me if any of them were Cat 3. There was one, so second place it is. Before deciding to go over to the race, I told El-Train that I didn’t like the idea of an ambiguous race, but thought it would be a good tune up for Willamette Stage Race next weekend. The race was a bit harder with all of the categories combined, so it ended up being a good workout and I liked racing with the guys/gals. Plus I added an extra 1.5 hours of riding because the conditions were so balmy in Boise. I even got a sunburn to bolster my So Cal exposure last week. Read more

This weekend included a stopover in Echo for a TT on the way over to Banana Hammock. The Echo course was Foothillesque with the wind. Take a look at Lap 2 here, which was some serious wind powered speed: average of 36 mph for 5 miles coming back with 45.6 max on a minor downhill. What? I had a pretty good 12 minute dig on the final lap of today’s Banana race. The gravel, the crumbling pavement, and the suicidal riding by the 3s made that race scary! The only thing scarier was my ride down Union Highway last week. I don’t think I’ll ever ride that road on a bike again. Rad Doc’s approach to Union is best: Foothill > Hotlake (gravel) > Curtis (gravel) > Miller. Rocks kicking up on your road frame is well worth avoiding reckless traffic on a highway with no shoulder and poor pavement. Read more