It's too hot

It has been triple digits hot here for over a week now and not much cooler than that for a couple of weeks before that. The heat is really starting to wear me down. I managed to get a ride in last night. It was about 120 degrees with the heat index. My car read 103 at 6pm and 98 degrees at 8:15pm. The last time I got on the bike was 6 days before that. That is not a very good thing, but my mind and body was not into it like it usually is. I decided to listen and stay off. I took the opportunity to take the bike in for complete tune up and I also cleaned her up. I hadn't realized just how dirty she had gotten. It is amazing how happy it makes me to clean the bike up, it almost feels like I just got a new one.

I haven't been writing or riding much lately because I have become a little discouraged. I wasn't very happy with my turn-out in Topeka. I really thought I was going to do much better than I did. So I have decided to take it a little easier until I get all gung-ho again. I have also been spending a lot of time with Lucy. She is almost 3 months now and all smiles.

Cross season is only a couple of months away. With that means cooler temps. I can't wait to see how well I do this year in cross.

What A Waste

This past weekend was the 4th of July weekend and we had my brother and his girlfriend visiting from Florida. This was a great opportunity for me to show my brother what cycling is all about and why I am so enthralled by it. They were flying home on Sunday the 3rd so that meant that I had to race on Saturday instead. This weekends venue was the Tour of Lawrence. I love this venue simply for the amount of spectators that come out and watch the races. It is two days of racing, Saturday is a campus circuit and Sunday is a downtown crit. Last year I did the crit and managed to finish last. The funny thing is that my results were never posted to my rider profile on USAcycling, not sure if this a good thing or a bad thing. The campus circuit is the toughest race I have ever done, it has several climbs with one long one at the end of the course about 300 feet before the finish.  I know that the pros did a total of 9,000 feet of climbing in their race. If you read my blog you know that I am not made for climbing, but since I have been doing my hill intervals I know that I did better than I thought I would. My race started at 10:00am so I knew it was going to be an early start to the day since it wasn't going to be just me driving out. We managed to get there and set up with only about 15 minutes to spare after I checked in and pinned my numbers on. This is not good. I had no time to warm up at all. A friend of mine on another team who had just finished his race offered to show me the course and all the "bad spots" in the pavement. We thought we had enough time to ride the course, well this turned out to be a huge error in judgement as I missed my start time by at least 45 seconds or so. I managed to make up 12 positions out of 47. If I think about it, this is pretty good for me considering that I never had the protection of the peloton and all the climbing that was invloved. I am just dissapointed with myself for missing my start time. No telling how well I would have done if I had just been in the front of the start line. I only have 2 more races in my road schedule this season and then it is cross training for me.

Crit-Schmitt!

I have not done an official race since before the baby was born. I decided to take the time and train more and to be sure to be home if needed. I had set my sights on this past weekend of racing since it was as local as it was ever going to get. The 48th annual Tour of K.C. was this past weekend and there was racing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was only able to make Sunday's race since I spent Friday and Saturday camping with my nephew for Cub-scouts. Sunday was a hot day and by the time it was my turn to race it was even hotter. Most of our team was there, we must of had at least 20 riders in the Colavita corner. I think as a whole everyone did pretty well. Our one womens rider won both of her races. We had a mens cat2 finish 2nd on Sunday and I mens cat4 finish 4th on Sunday as well. I on the other hand didn't do as well as I thought,  but it was because I wasn't racing smart either. At the start of the race, I was sitting in the front 3 riders and not pushing myself too hard, really just sitting comfortably. After 3 laps of sitting there I decided to pass everyone on the climb and pull the group, but instead of setting a comfortable pace for myself I was trying to go a little faster. Not really sure why I did this other than I had my whole team watching and I have been improving a lot lately so I didn't want to dissapoint, if that makes sense. Then I start to fade fast and the heat started to affect me and my energy level dropped really quick. Not sure if I remember much after that other than I kept yo-yo-ing with three riders fighting for 19th place. I finished 20th because I thought there was one more lap so I didn't try to pass just before the finish and to be quite honest, it seemed pointless to fight for 19th place. So if I sit back and reflect on what happened I would basically say I blew my wad too soon. I should have just sat back and let everyone else do all the work and wait for the perfect time to go off the front like with one lap left. Oh well, you live and you learn. I am such a rookie. Any ways, This weekend is Tour of Lawrence and I am racing Saturday morning. This race is a circuit race with a tough climb right before the finish. Let's see how I fair with that.

Here is a link to a video of the mens cat4 race on Sunday. The course is dubbed "Citizens on Patrol"  http://exposureroom.com/members/chuongdoan/648637d47ea84f0ab1c94df86a32c3c6/

Are YOU positive

I've had to change my cycling schedule up a little, I now ride early in the mornings on both Mondays and Tuesdays. I get up at 5am on both days. Monday I have been doing Cliff Drive's gooseneck. This past Monday I talked myself into doing it 10 times. My first race ever was on Cliff drive and I had to do the gooseneck 4 times. I didn't think I was going to be able to do it and that was with being able to recover on the remainder of the course. 10 hill repeats one after the other, only being able to rest on the way down was a good gauge for me to see my improvement from last year. Tuesdays I do a short out and back from my house in the morning, about 7 miles. Most of the way back is all incline and I try to keep my intensity high. My weekly training schedule is as follows, Monday and Tuesday mornings, Wednesday and Thrusday evenings, and Saturday mornings. That is about 9 hours of training a week. That is going to have to do for now.

I have been feeling stronger on the bike since my last post. The positive talking and phsyching myself up has really helped. I have even been known to talk out loud. Some of you left some great comments on your own experiences with this subject and I took them to heart. Last Saturday I rode 60 miles with the a few teammates and felt great for most of it. I even surprised myself at how well I was riding among guys who are a higher "Cat" than me. It can be a lot of fun when you see improvements and even better when your teammates notice too. It has really helped to light a fire in my motivation as well.

Most of you know that I do both road and CX seasons but I am not much of a mountain biker or a gravel grinder. This year I have decided to do Joe Fox's Farm House Classic. Satruday July 16th, 2011. I am being told that this years route is 90+ miles. I have a single speed cross bike and have some reservations on this. Not because of the 90 miles but because of 90 miles riding single speed and it being on gravel. 7 other team members will be joining and it should be a blast. I will be sure to take plenty of pictures and post them as soon as possible.

Whatever you tell me to do drill sergeant!

This is something I have been thinking of writing for a while. I was spectating at one of the Perry Dam races. A few of us were sitting on a guard rail watching the women race. At one point in the race there was a small group of riders maybe 3 or 4 of them pedaling up the long inlcine, I took real notice of the second to last rider in the group because she was crying, that's right she was crying with her mouth wide open and everything. I can only assume she was crying from the pain she was going through on the climb and maybe to stay with the pack. That image has stayed with me and I frequently replay it in my mind. I admire that person. She wasn't about to surrender to the pain just yet. I am also jealous of her, I surrender to my pain way too easily. My pain has control over what I do, it constantly puts limitations to what I can and will do. Don't get me wrong, I have improved from the time I first got on a road bike, I am much faster now than ever before but I feel like I could be faster and I could improve quicker if only I would be willing to quiet the little voices in my head that tell me to "slow down", and "why do you even bother", and "is all this pain really worth it". Without pushing myself too far from my "Comfort Zone" I will improve slowly. Last night at Thursday Night Worlds, There came a point where I was trying to jump back into the group, I was really srtuggling to latch back on when I heard a fellow teammate Joe say something like " dig deep James, push yourself". That gave me the extra little push I needed and I was able to hang-on for a few laps. I only wish I always had someone right there coaxing me a long. Kind of like a drill sergeant breaking me down only to build me back up stronger and faster. That is one of the main reasons why I ride with guys who are all faster than me. This forces me to push myself. I am very lucky to have joined a team that does nothing but encourage its teammates, no one has a bad thing to say and I genuinely like everyone. I am going to try and start working on that little inner voice from now on and see if I can't get it to become an optomist.

If you see me out there and I am struggling, don't hesitate to yell some words of encouragement.

I had to share

I just had to share a photo of my little darling. This was taken at nap time yesterday. Yes, that is what I am talking about.

Gravel? What Gravel?

The weekend started on Thursday at 5pm. The first thing I did that evening was drive over to the police training course and did some crit racing. I felt stronger this week than last time and could hang on a little while longer with the faster guys. Not sure if everyone was going slower or if I truly was going faster. Ty is a regular fixture at these events and he is a good training partner. I would love to be at his level some day in the future. I have to admit that I do have some days where I get some what discouraged, but never enough to keep me away from riding. Obviously when you ride with guys who are stornger and faster than you, you will only improve. The frustrating part is that while you improve so do they. Needless to say, I feel like I am always chasing that carrot dangling in front of me on a stick, almost with in reach but never close enough to grab. I also notice that because of this effect I find it difficult to gauge my progress.

Friday my little family and I drove to Lawrence to pick up my nephew to have him over for the weekend. I was really excited about the plans I had for him and I to ride part of the Katy trail. He and I went to my sponsor bike shop Volker and we picked up some necessary supplies for a trip of this nature. Spare tubes, comfortable saddle for his bike and bottle cages for my CX bike. The plans were to drive out to Rocheport's trail head, park there and ride as far east as the kiddo could handle. Keep in mind he is only 9 going on 10, and riding a bmx style bike. For those of you who do not know what the Katy trail is, here is a little background. This was at one point a railroad line called the MKT line. MKT stands for Missouri Kansas Texas. In 1986 the line was discontinued and the state of Missouri decided to at some point after that turn it into a glorious 225 mile gravel trail that stretches from St. Charles, Mo. to Clinton, Mo. There are many trail heads a long the way with many businesses serving the trial travellers. This weekend was Memorial day weekend and Rocheport was hopping with business. Live music, outside patio eating, and so many cyclist that you couldn't help but get excited about riding your bike. All kinds of bikes can be seen on the trail from road bikes to recumbent, with all kinds of trailer attachments. The trailers were filled with anything from children, dogs, coolers, camping equipment, radios, I mean you name it and it was there to be seen. The "gravel" trail, and I use that term loosely was almost as smooth as paved road. I live in Missouri and I have seen bumpier paved roads. I saw no potholes in the 6 mile stretch that we road and it had rain the day before and saw no puddles either. I will ride the entire trail one day. All 225 miles and I will do it over a long weekend(3 days) and camping in a tent along the way. If you are interested in joining me on this adventure please let me know. The more the merrier. Not sure about other states but this is a great asset we have here in Missouri and we should take advantage of it fully.

Monday morning I rode out to the bike shop and met up with a few teammates for a 2 hour ride. when it was all said and done I had put in about 40 miles. I had been feeling guilty about not doing my usual Saturday morning ride but after the way Lucy kept Kate and I up all night Friday, I was in no condition to even try to keep up with the guys. It is hard enough with a full nights sleep.  have to say that I do understand now why Britton is not always chipper in the mornings.

My Niece and Nephew enjoying the fireworks

Monday night we wrapped the weekend up with a trip out to Community America park to watch the T-Bones play baseball. I don't watch sports on t.v. much, but i will go to a baseball game any day. Great fun, great food, great company, and fireworks.