Lighthouse swim

Scott and I met at Headlands last night and walked over to the Coast Guard beach and swam inside the breakwall (on the east side) The wind was out of the west last night which would have made swimming at Headlands pretty rough. Scott had a great idea of swimming inside the wall, which was like glass except for the occasional boat wake that would hit us well after the boat had passed. We are estimating that the distance from the beach out to the lighthouse is around 800 to 900 meters, which is a fair estimate I would think. We swam out and back and then halfway and back, so somwhere between 24 to 2500 meters swim distance last night. It was cool becasue we had never swam there before and it really is more secluded than Fairport or Headlands, looks like this might be a good thing.

Good ride

this afternoon with Scott and Tony. 47.5 miles with hills and some hard efforts on the flats toward the end. Legs were okay but not great, and thats from the volleyball game after the race yesterday, Ouch! Nice ridin today guys.

Fairport Triathlon

This year the Lake Metroparks changed the format, the run course, the finish and the transition which included more running in and out of transition, it was a nice change and something different from years past. I felt decent except for the first few miles of the bike then once I got into rhythm I was okay. I always have difficulty on the first part of this bike course for some reason, I dont know if it's being anerobic coming out of transition and then hitting the hill and blasting up then trying to get into a fast pace or what, I dont know but my legs always feel like crap for the first few miles.

Anyway the race went pretty decent and I felt good on the run and ended up finishing 5th. overall and 1st. in my 45-49 age group. Tony rocked again today and was 2nd. overall and 1st. in the 19 and under age group. Scott was 9th. overall and 3rd. in his 35-39 age group, (Sean Gilbert was 2nd), Nice job Sean! and Doug was 6th. overall and 2nd. in the 45-49 age group. Scott's wife Carrie raced her first triathlon and finished very respectable, she's already talking about doing the GCT race in 2 weeks. Great job today Carrie you looked awesome out there! Nice job to all, everyone raced very hard. Actually I'm not sure what was harder though, the race or the beach volleyball game we had with all the kids afterward, my feet already hurt from playing barefoot, but it was fun spending the day with all of my family and friends after the race and the nice cookout we had too. Nick had to work so he had to leave early and missed the cookout and volleyball game, that was the only thing I missed about the day.

GCT Olympic distace race in 2 weeks so we have to start ramping up some mileage.

C-YA

Trainer TT efforts

while watching the Tour TT this afternoon. Actually for a change I didn't mind riding the trainer, the TT motivated me. It was a hard workout with my avg. wattage in the low 200's for just a couple clicks over an hour which is pretty good for me on the trainer. I was planning on going to Leroy tonight but with the rain I dind't want to to wait until late this evening to ride and then for it to be raining like it has been most of the day, so I just got on the trainer. The TT was pretty impressive. I wonder what riders we'll see racing for the Radio Shack Team in the Tour next year though??

Nothin doin

tonight. We planned on a swim tonight and it was nice and calm at home but when we got to Fairport there were white caps inside the breakwall, so we just rested tonight with no workout.

Another great ride by Contador today at the Tour but I didn't quite understand the attack that dropped Kloden ??? maybe inexperience or just trying to show that he is the man???, Lance rode a great race too finishing 5th. and looked strong. It would be nice to see him do well in the TT tomorrow and gain some time back before going into the last mountain stage.
This has been a great Tour so far and (I don't want to jinx anything) but no dopers found, hopefully it will stay that way. I wonder what DiLuca's fate will be now?

Nice weekend

Yesterday was the last Greater Cleveland Triathlon training day and it was the youth training day as well. Nearly 30 juniors showed up to practice the course. It was super windy in the morning but the swim portion of the race still went on, even though it was shortened quite a bit and stayed in shallow water there were still some pretty big rollers that were crashing in onshore. Tony and I along with Kevin Park and Theresa Stanek got in the water an acted as traffic cops so the swimmers could follow the buoys and exit the water throught the cones. The kids were having blast and none seemed at all intimidated. As they completed 2 laps of the swim it was on to transition and the bike and run and all the kids did a great job. It's nice to see this many show up for practice since they are the future of this sport. It's great that Mickey shows this much enthusiasm for the kids too to hold a special training day just for them, and it's nice to be a part of helping in some way for them also.

Today Tony and I did a hard fast workout on the Fairport course with an extra long swim and extra long run. Again Tony made me run hard, harder than I would have alone and this is good, especially toward the end of a race, hopefully I can keep this intensity going into this weekends race.

What a finish on the Verbier today in the Tour. There is no doubt Contador is the best climber in the world and the strongest rider for Astana, wow what an attack he put in. Gotta hand it to Lance tho, he is still climbing with the best in the world and at his age to be sitting 2nd. overall in the G.C. and will probably stay there to the end is pretty damned impressive, I don't care what he naysayers think.

Swim & run

this afternoon and a break from the bike. We've been putting alot of mileage in on the bike lately so it was time to concentrate on the swim and run soley. I drove to Fairport and got in the water and swam a quick 500 meter warm up then got into some race pace laps. Felt pretty decent but didn't want to kill myself today since I will be in the water possibly both days this weekend. I rounded out the swim in 30 minutes. Stripped the wetsuit off then ran the 3.3 mile course in 25:15 along with a 1 mile cool down and afterward went and stood in the cool water for about 15 minutes. It's surprising how cool 70 degree water feels when your hot and sweaty from running.
We're going to do the GCT course this weekend as well to get ready for the Fairport tri next weekend.

C-ya

Enjoyed the workout

today in perfect weather, wow what a day. Did a nice 25 mile TT bike workout at a nice pace (1:10) then transitioned and ran an easy 5k. My legs felt very heavy at the start of the run and I told Tony I was just going to keep it easy and steady, after all we haven't ran in 2 weeks due to getting reay for the Tour of the Valley. After the first mile we both picked up the pace a little cause we were both feeling better than the first mile and ended up finishing easily in 21:45 for an even 7:00 per mile pace. Surprisingly my HR was pretty low on the run, probably cause it was cool and not blazing hot and my fitness just might be getting higher............I hope.

catch ya all later

Easy stuff

today, but the legs were still feelin good from the weekend. No Westlake tomorrow, have to get in some tri stuff for the 3 commited races coming up. Looks like a bike ride to the beach with a swim and a run, lookin forward to it.

Later

Stage 4 finale

Last stage today. A .98 mile crit in downtown Youngstown. Nice course, but the back side fast section was in pretty bad condition road wise. Only 1 crash in my Masters race (Jim Yankush MVC) and that was on the last lap which was really fast. He slid out in one of the corners which caused me to lock up and go high to the left of him which opened up a slight gap which I could not close and we were so close to the finish that I could not move up in placing. My fault anyway because I should have had better position going into the last lap. I ended up finishing 11th. in the race and slipped from 6th overall in the GC to 10th and that was the final standings. My good friend Phil Hines MVC won the stage today and I couldn't be more happy for him, he deserved it, he worked his ass off this weekend and got the win he deserved. I made some money this weekend and feel I raced agressively and had a great 4 races. My team did a great job in all races and represented Bike Authority and Team Lake Effect well.

Tony finished 11th overall in the Cat.3 GC but lost several spots today as well due to a DQ. He grabbed my bike on the back side of the course after a flat instead of getting to the pit first then grabbing my bike. We were both unaware of the ruling and after the ref explained it to us it makes perfect sense and he was right with the DQ ruling. Basically the same as the cyclocross flat rule. You have to get t the pit to change rather than have outside help on the course. It was a hard pill to swallow but a good lesson that we both will never forget.

Dan and Erin Quinlan, Sam House and all of the Carbon Racing Team and all that were involved did an EXEPTIONAL job with this whole race for the first year, it must have been a logistic nightmare. This race can only get bigger. I think the word will get out that this is a must do event, better than professionally run and everyone was very accomodating and very nice, a truly great stage race.

Thanks Carbon Racing.

Columbiana Road Race

Stage 3 of the Tour of the Valley was today held in Columbiana. The race headed South into the major hills, I'm guessing the biggest hills in the area. It was a very tough stage but I felt good on the climbs and rode at the front of the group on the King of the Mountain hill above lactate threshold and felt good. Nate got away right before the hills started on the valley road and stayed away with 2 other riders for the remainder of the race and took 2nd., great job Nate!

We dropped some riders off of the main group on the big climb up the KOM and after we crested the top there were 7 of us left in our group and it stayed that way through the steep hills and all the way til the 1k mark when Phil Hines attacked with the yellow jersey in tow and a few of the MVC guys and myself with him. We sprinted it out after the tough grade back into town with the sharp right hander toward the finish all of us very spent and happy this stage ws over.

I finished 8th on the day and stayed in 6th overall Master in the G.C.

After we got back to Jon's and showered we headed back into Struthers to a place called the Elmton for some of the best pizza in the world and an I.C Light. Great day today.

Tomorrow is the finale. A .98 mile criterium in downtown Youngstown.

Will update tomorrow evening.

Day 1

The TT prologue in the morning was fast. A short 5.6 mile loop with a few rollers and a headwind section that I actully got light headed on due to pushing so hard. I finished 6th. in the Masters and rode it as hard as I could, I left nothing out on the course this morning.

This afternoon was the crit in downtown Canfield. Great flow to the the .89 mile course. Good average speed for the Masters group at about 25.5 mph. My team did a great job today and we rode pretty aggressively the whole race. Nate did a great job, Brian was 5th and I was 10th, both of us in the money.

So far I'm sitting 6th overall in the Masters G.C., hopefully I can move up a little tomorrow during the 3rd stage road race which is very hilly.

More tomorrow.

Goodnight

Easy hour

this afternoon on the TT bike. It felt good and I'm lookin' to go fast Friday morning.
Driving down tomorrow afternoon to stay with my good friend Jon Rentschler for the weekend. He lives in Canfield and has graciously offered for us to stay at his house this weekend for the races, Thanks dude. Packet pickup tomorrow evening at the winery and it looks like they have a pretty nice Italian buffet there as well for a great price per person, looks like some pre-race pasta and a nice glass of wine to maybe take the edge off a little, we'll see.

I think I'll watch the Tour for a while and check in early tonight.

Later

Gettin' ready

for the weekend. Tony and I are headed down to the Tour of the Valley this weekend. He and I are both doing the 4 races from Friday through Sunday, it should be a fun weekend with hard racing I would imagine. We rode hard on Sunday since we still had good legs from the race on Saturday, rested on Monday and went out for an easy 45 this afternoon with a few climbs thrown in. We're going to ride easy til the opening time trial on Friday morning and then we'll see how it goes from there on.
Watching the Team TT right now on Versus, mucho inspiring, just the right stuff to be watching before this weekend's racing.

CYA this weekend.

Twin Sizzler re-cap

The 35+ large expert race started off fast on the way out. Attacks and chases were going off left and right and stayed pretty quick throughout the race. I was feeling very good and felt strong on the only climb and the rollers after the downhill right hander. On the stretch back into town things got pretty heated up and fast. I moved to the front and was taking my pulls and was feeling strong sitting about 4th or 5th wheel as we bunnyhopped the 2nd. set of RR tracks at about 32 mph. Just then I heard a noise in the back of my bike like my rear Zipp broke spokes and was rubbing against my chainstay which caused the rear wheel to start skidding. Guys were flying by me and I was trying to pedal but I knew something was wrong but really couldn't see. At that point I went from 4th or 5th position to basically the back of the group. I knew my race was over so I just pulled over into a business parking lot to assess the damage so as not to not cause further damage and found that my rear brake pad had came loose and twisted to a vertical position and was sitting against my wheel and tire which was causing the rear wheel to skid and me not being able to pedal. The brake pad rubber was all over the back of my bike and the cartridge itself was already ground down to the metal, not a good thing, but again, my Zipp rear was fine, just all scraped up from rubber.

Overall it was a good race and I was happy with my fitnes and the way I felt. Had the mishap not have happened I'm thinking I would have finished in a pretty decent place. Must have been a reason for it though, that's what I keep telling myself, either that or I should probably fire my mechanic, (which is me by the way)

Hope everyone had a great 4th.

Windy TT @ Leroy

last night but still there were quite a few that showed up for the 7.95 mile suffer fest. The wind was out of the Northwest so coming back down the hill and back down the straight to the finish, there was at least a 15 mph. headwind, it really didn't seem that bad though, maybe cause I was seeing stars by the time I hit the last mile. I rode a little differently last night by going out a little more conservatively than I usually do. The tailwind was pushing us all, so conservatively for me meant in the high 20 mph. range, for a few others it probably meant in the 30's. I still kept my hr. at about 165-169 on the way out. On the way back I upped the rpm's and the heart rate into the low 170's, 172-173 and finished surprisingly pretty decent on a windy night. I was satisfied with my effort last night and I know that on a less windy night and with some aero gear (beside bike) I could get into the 17's again.

Thanks for bringing the jerseys too Jim, that was very nice, I still say I got the best one!

Later

Hill workout

this afternoon and never got wet. Tony and I did our 33 mile hilly loop climbing in and out of the Grand River and creek valley's. The hills are short steep kickers that hurt (one of the hills being Blair Rd. the cover pic. on my blog.) but they don't last that long. It was a good hard ride and we used the climbs as intervals, 13 to be exact. Gonna hit up the Leroy TT tomorrow and most likely the Twin Sizzler on Saturday, just because.

CYA