Take Two

It was a great first Friday in Chattanooga. After orientation was over, I met up with my best friend Brandon Wright and took another spin on the River Gorge road course. The course didn't seem nearly as hard or long as it did on Wednesday. Not sure if it was just because I had seen it once now or if my legs were shot from my 4 hours in Memphis on Monday. The climbs passed a lot easier and I knew where to get water this time. On the steep descent into Raccoon mountain, I was able to hit 53.5 mph this time. That's pretty close to my all time high speed I set back in 2007 in Colorado. It sure is fun descending these mountains. I also managed to make the last climb to the finish in 21:30. That's the cat 3 and the cat 5 climb to the lookout. I wasn't killing myself, but I wasn't taking it easy. Hopefully that bodes well for next Sunday's race.

I did run into some mechanical issues though. For some reason my Sram Red front shifter has been freezing up. It doesn't seem to be catching and gets stuck in the big ring. This happened twice and after enough fiddling with it and pushing on it I got it to drop back down. If that happens in the race and I have to do some of those climbs in the big ring it sure will hurt. Let's hope things go smoothly.

Now it's back to preparing for the first week of classes. The physical therapy department has already put the fear of God in us here and it's kinda unnerving. On top of the regular classes I have to prepare for, I am having to study 22 chapters of medical terminology. I never took a course in undergrad, so now they are giving us the option to clep out of it by taking the final exam this upcoming Friday. I finally found the book online yesterday and started going through some it. It's going to be one heck of a week. I really hope I don't start out behind, but I also really hope I don't have to add another 3 hour undergraduate course in the spring because I fail this final exam.

So, I might not be able to get as much playing done here as I thought I would be able to. Kinda disappointing.  I thought I was coming here to bike and learn how to climb...

East Overlook on Raccoon; R.G. RR finish

Views from the visitor center on Raccoon

Finally In Chattanooga

Well, I finally made it to Chattanooga. This will be home for at least the next three years. I plan on making it awesome and really taking advantage of everything that there is to offer in the surrounding area. Today, I road the River Gorge road race course. This was my first full day here and I don't know all the roads very well, but I don't have very many free days to do a ride like this. It was a lot more climbing than I expected. I haven't climbed like that since Fall of 2007 when I was in Colorado. I think I left my climbing skills out there too. The mountains kicked my butt today. The ride included five category 5 climbs and two category 3 climbs. It also included the climb that I did on the steep slopes of Brow road which wasn't part of the course and the category 5 climb in the TT course. In between climbs four and five a wasp landed on my shorts and stung me. That sucked. Almost as bad as not being able to find water and having to deal with some really hot water from the back of a run down hotel.

The ride did take me on a nice tour of the country side. I went to Georgia and did some miles there before heading back to Nickajack lake and riding along the river for a while. Then I headed into Raccoon mountain. The descent to the base was thrilling. I topped out at 50.2 mph. It felt great. BUT, then I had to start the cat 3 climb back up out of the valley. It was long and arduous on my tired legs. I saw a snake sliding down a concrete ditch at one point. It's that steep. After I made it to the top I had to keep going to find some more water before I could try to make it back to my car. Thankfully, I found someone that was practicing the TT course and asked him how to quickly get back to my car and where to get water. The descent back to the car was pretty fun too. The road was narrower and not as smooth so I couldn't risk as much as I had done before, but I was still cruising at 43 to 46 mph. Fun stuff.

I haven't had a ride that I sweated so much and had so much salt deposits on me. My new helmet had huge salt crystals on the straps from my head sweat. My sunglasses had a gooey film around the edges made of salt and sweat. My shorts and jersey both had big white rings on salty sweat deposits. It was a hot day. I hope the race is not as hot. I also hope there isn't a break because I know I won't be able to go with them. I only hope to score points in the road race. This omnium is definitely a climbing race and I am not a climber. I'll give it my best though and hope for great finishes in the TT and crit.

Here is the map of the course: hardest 40 mile race

Entering Raccoon Mountain

Last bit of the Cat 3 climb to Raccoon Mountain

Head Sweat

Race Report: Oak Ridge Velo Omnium

Well, I confirmed my suspicions; I can descend, TT, and sprint. My climbing on the other hand is quite deficient. This past weekend I raced my first serious road race. All in all it was pretty fun.

I got 9th in the road race. I didn't expect the front of the pack to attack so hard on the first climb and especially didn't expect them to stay away the whole race. I paced myself and started picking off some of the people that started to hard on the early slopes. I blasted down the other side in hopes of catching back onto the group: no luck. Only me and one other guy were willing to work with the group and to try to pull back some time. I yoyo'ed a few times when we hit a few different hills, but consistently got back on. Approaching the finish, I was with two other guys. We had been together for a while and just recently dropped 3 or 4 more guys. I could see two more guys working together about 100 meters in front of us. I wanted us to catch them, but it didn't look promising, no one was wanting to pull this close to the finish. The last one kilometer was a climb to the line and I started putting in some effort at the bottom of the slopes. I looked back and the other two riders were gone. I broke them. I now turned my focus onto the two guys in front. It was going to be hard to bring them back. I turned it into high gear and started my sprint. One of the guys turned back and saw me approaching, he hollered to the other guy and tried to stand and sprint as well. I blew past both of them as I peaked the climb. Twenty meters of flat and I crossed the line in ninth. Come Sunday afternoon, I was very thankful I made up those four positions; the points really helped.

I wasn't really happy with my road race finish, so I was looking to do damage in the TT and gain back some confidence. I showed up right on time and was ready to suffer. As the official let go of my seatpost, I started out hard with a standing sprint. Once up to speed, I settled down into the extensions; my legs were feeling that burst of effort. I buried my head and kept going. I passed one guy, then another. I had passed three or four guys when I came screaming into the turn around. That could have gone a lot smoother and faster, but oh well. It was a fast ride; I averaged 25.6 and did the course in 18:12. It earned me second place in Cat 5 and was the third fastest time in the Cat 4's. The guy that won the TT for Cat 5 beat me by 12 seconds. Supposedly, he is pretty good and solo'd off the front of the road race for the victory. Third place in the TT was over 30 seconds back from me. I felt pretty good about my performance.

Sunday morning was the crit. The one part of the race that I was actually pretty nervous about. I've heard horror stories of Cat 5 crit's and didn't know how it was going to go. I didn't know if there would be crashes, breaks, or if I would be able to hold on. Fortunately, there were no breaks and the laps went by pretty smoothly. A few people attacked, but the were countered quickly. We played the hesitating/"no one wants to pull so let's swerve all over the road" game a few times when we hit the head wind coming down the finishing straight. Nevertheless, I was feeling good as we circled around and Frank rang the bell signalling one lap to go. Since it was the last lap, I figured I should go ahead and shift into the big ring. I had been riding the whole race in the 39 tooth: higher reps and saving my legs for the upcoming sprint. I had been focusing on number 516's wheel since he was currently leading the omnium with me in second place. Not sure where he went to in the last straightaway though because as we entered corner 3 I was sitting in third place. The two riders in front of me bumped elbows and heads. I saw the younger guy on the outside fly over the curb, through the grass, and into a parking lot. A short incline and I was coming through corner 4 in second place. Once we were soundly on the straightaway about 60 meters out from the finish line, I launched my sprint and buried my head. Approaching the line, I looked back to see the gap. I had opened up about four to five bike lengths on second place, so I sat up and cruised through the finish line. I won!

With that finish, I clinched the omnium win, won $125 dollars, and got upgraded to Cat 4 ahead of schedule. Pretty awesome day. I was pretty pumped and pleased with myself for such a good finish and smart racing in the crit. I am excited for the upcoming races in Chattanooga now. Riding Cat 4 will give me a shot at prize money for each discipline. This will make things more interesting and give me more competition.

Bring it on.