El Diablo a.k.a. The Tour de France Devil

The Tour has entered the Pyrenees and so to has the Tour de France Devil. It seems as long as I can remember reading and watching the Tour, I would see pictures of El Diablo on the side of the most grueling roads in the race.

Honestly, I thought it was a great costume and an obvious way to be recognized in the crowd, but in the back of my head I thought the guy was a bit cuckoo. That is until recently when I heard Bob Roll speak of him.

According to Bob, the devil will appear, jeer, and cheer the riders at the toughest point of the hardest climb. Brilliant!

I'm hoping that is true, because if it is, this guy just gained a whole lot of respect from me. He does have a method to his madness.

If you look in the picture, you'll notice he also has a hell of a vertical for an old guy!

Great Start... So, So, Finish

Yesterday was the the fourth race of the Winter Park series. The Valley Point to Point was the longest so far at 18.8 miles of racing. The great news for me was that the start line was in Winter Park and the finish line was downhill near Frasier, which meant more descending than climbing. I liked that!

Having had some time to think about it, this wasn't the best course I've ridden for the series. I loved course #2 a.k.a The Mountain Circuit. However, race #4 was the most fun I had while racing this year.

Let me tell you a story. Imagine if you will...

Pre-Race Day
I hadn't done a lot of riding in the past two weeks. After my bonk in race number 3, I had a rough time getting motivated to get back on the bike. I took a full week off the bike and then hopped onto the bike to summit Mount Evans with my brother. Once that was ridden I got another surge of energy to ride. However, work didn't play nice and I ended up not riding again until Wednesday.

The week and a half off the bike wasn't a waste. In fact, it was very helpful. During that time I focused on my diet. I asked people on my team and people I trust about diets that they have had success with before a big effort or race. I told them of my bonk during the previous race and I got one reaction that stuck with me a bit.

While I was at the Boulder Short Track I spoke with a Teammate about his diet. When I told him I bonked, he started to laugh and said, "It was only an hour and a half..." He wasn't being mean, or a jerk, but he made a good point. My body shouldn't bonk in a race that is only an hour and a half unless I really screwed up my nutrition. After that discussion, I started to think about my diet a bit more.

Friday
Evening
Pre-Race Dinner time! That means BBQ chicken. I'd been on good behavior the last couple days by not drinking any soda and tonight I opted not to have any beer either. I ate a healthy meal that included a green salad, corn on the cob, and BBQ chicken. It was delicious!

Saturday
Morning - At Home
I went to bed a bit earlier than usual last night, which made it all the easier to wake up and start the morning. I walked downstairs and started up the coffee. While the coffee brewed, I flipped on the TV, and starting to hydrate myself by drinking two full glasses of water. I eat a couple hard boiled eggs and fix myself a bagel with peanut butter for the road.

I hop into the car with my bagel and a cup of coffee and start the long drive to WP

Saturday
Morning - At Winter Park - Pre Race
I show up at the parking area about 40 minutes before my start time. I, of course, park next to a guy that is showing off his car's audio system by playing it very loud. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded that much, but the music he was playing was like a techno dance mix that just looped through the same beats over and over and over and over..... MAKE IT STOP!!!!!

I finish getting ready as quickly as I can so I can avoid getting that horrible beat/song stuck in my head.

As I start to warm-up my legs feel like lead. I take this as a good sign. When I was in high school I ran cross country. Every race that I did really well in started with my legs feeling like lead weights.

After a bit of a warm-up my legs still feel heavy, but I make a mental checklist of things I have going for me. I ate well, slept great, the sky is overcast, the race is on time, and I was able to sneak in a warm-up before my race.

The only question in my head is if I should push the pace from the beginning or sit on a wheel and let the other set the pace.

I line up to start my race...

Saturday Morning
Morning - At Winter Park - Race
The race begins I decide to let the other rides set the pace. My legs are still feeling heavy and I don't want to push any harder than I have to.

I'm the last in a group of four riders that climb the first ascent to the single track. A bit of a gap forms between me and the others, but I know that the dirt road is about to end and the single track begin. The single track brings with it a long descent. I'm not a very good climber, but I like to think that I do have some skills on the descent. The fast guy, Nigel, and I leap towards the single track and start the descent in spots one and two.

The two of us tear down the descent and Nigel even starts to gap me a bit as I get caught in some narrow spots behind riders in previous heats. I won't let him get out of sight because at this point my legs are no longer weighted and I feel damn good! When we are about to come out of the descent and start another climb, Nigel pulls to the side of the trail and waves me on. He had a flat tire, which put me in the lead!

I continue hammering away, passing people in previous heats as fast as I can when I come to what I thought was the river crossing. It wasn't! In fact, it was about a 30 foot, waist deep puddle. I high gear into the puddle and get stopped in my tracks. Waist deep in muddy water, I try not to think about what is growing in there as it would have made me stop in the river crossing - actually 100 yards ahead - and bath myself.

I try to push my way through the river crossing without dismounting, but I fail and I have to pull my bike through the water. As I get back on the bike, I notice the chain has fallen off. I quickly get off and yank the chain in place. I jump on again only to have the chain fall off a second time. This time it isn't so easy to put it back on and I waste about 1 minute messing with the chain.

A few obscenities, a couple riders in my heat passing me, and a minute later, I'm back on my bike riding as fast as I can to make up the time. I manage to catch up with one of the riders that passed me and I thought I was in luck because we are about to start another descent. However, my gloves are wet from the water, which makes my grip on the handle bar very slick. I hold back because I don't want to have an accident due to loosing my grip. I watch him ride away on the descent.

During the next several miles, my gloves dry, and I try like hell catch up. I'm slowly able to catch the lead group. Once I catch them on a dirt road descent I ride past them as quickly as I can. This is where it starts to get really fun. The final portion of the race is rolling terrain. Some of the terrain is uphill, which they do very well and some of it is downhill, which I do very well. So the battle starts. So many times in mountain bike racing you will start the race and then you will time trial as you try to keep your position. Not today. For several miles we play cat and mouse. Each of us taking turns as the mouse. I love it! That is racing!

As we reach the last couple miles, the roots and rocks on the trail really start to take their toll on me and I'm no longer able to play mouse. In fact, I'm no longer able to play the cat either, and I slowly watch the lead 3 riders pedal away from me. In the next two miles the three riders are able to put a minute on my time.

I finished the race and found it necessary to congratulate the other riders. They did a great race and really enjoyed it! I found the leaders and said my congratulations. I then bumped into several other riders from my heat and we struck up a great conversation, which I truly enjoyed. The day really encompass the spirit of racing.

Sunday
Evening - Post Race
Yesterday was a great day of racing, which I really enjoyed. I'm proud of myself for working on a better diet pre-race. I'm also happy to have challenge the other racers up to the point that I couldn't challenge them any longer. Truth be told, I felt great, well within my limits the entire ride. I didn't come in 4th because I bonked. I came in 4th because there were three guys that were faster than me. That makes me feel good and makes the race totally worth it.

Tire Confusion

Riddle me this, Batman.

what weighs only 4.4 lbs, feels like a ton, rides like a cadilac, and is able to make a 200+ pound man stand in a bike shop looking like idiot?

If you said the new Continental Traffic tires that I put on my mountain bike yesterday, you would be correct!

So let me explain a bit. The evening before last was spent at the local bike shop. I needed a new set of tires and was going to get a pair of slicks for my mountain bike. I've been riding a lot of roads lately and I'm sick of having to replace the tire due to worn tread. So, I walked into my local shop and right away a friendly sales person came to me and asked "How can I help you?" I simply said that I'm looking for tires and tubes and elaborated on my situation. He quickly took me to the back and pointed out the tubes that were on sale and a set of semi-slicks that were also on sale. The story could of finished there and everything would have been just fine, but I had to see what other tires I could choose from.

I started to browse the tire section and I came across a continental brand tire called Traffic. It is designed for on and off road. Basically, there is a lot of tread, really close together, which allows a smooth roll on the pavement and a bit of traction off road. The trade off is that these tires weighed a frigg'n ton at 800+ grams.

The semi-slicks that the salesman offered weighed in at a much slimmer 400 grams and they were about 5 bucks cheaper. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Not so.

For about 15 min. I went into a trance in the middle of the bike store. Trying to figure out the physics of rotating weight... And I don't know squat about physics!

As I stood there with the semi-slick in one hand and the Continentals in the other I had an internal battle going on. Cheaper and lighter vs. more expensive, heavier, but going to last a long time.

What to do? What to do?

Several times the salesman snapped his fingers in front of my eyes, obviously concerned that I was going to suddenly collapse. Several times he asked if there was anything he could help with. There wasn't, so I continued to stand there in confusion.

So you may be wondering what I decided to do.

Well, the more expensive tire that weighs more ended up being my choice. I came to the conclustion that these tires are for training and I shouldn't be concerned with the extra weight (4.4 lbs tubes + tires). If anything, it will make me appreciate my racing tires that much more. Plus, This tread is going to last a long time and I have no concerns about riding this tread on the road.

Finally, it gave me a great goal. I plan to put so many miles on these tires that I'll wear the tread down and with it the weight to sub 400 grams.

Wish me luck!

The Will To Suffer

Post Inspired By:
There Will Be A Light
from Ride with Nick Martin by Martini

Quote:
This past weekend's Firecracker 50 was a quick reminder that I need dig deep within myself to find my "will to suffer". Some call it a "broken motivator" others call it "the pain cave" some even refer to it as the "check engine soon light". Whatever your lingo, once you loose it, it takes some serious soul searching to bring 'er back.

It isn't easy when your passion is a sport that can literally bring you to your knees week in and week out.... you would think after 10 years of racing I would have it figured out?

This past weekend I was in the hurt locker when I bonked during the third race of the Winter Park Race Series. The story is pretty simple. A simplest change in diet made for a bad race.

For the last several years I've found that I need protein and lots of it the night before a tough ride. The morning of a hard ride, I'll again have some protein, but will also work in some carbs. I find this works for my body. This also means I get to eat a lot of BBQ chicken the night before a tough race. I'm not saying this is right, but it works for me.

This past Friday I went out to eat with the family and my In-Laws. Instead of the traditional BBQ chicken, I instead opted for a couple beers and a calzone from CB & Pots (I'm a big fan of their porter). Holy Carbs, Batman!

So in a feable attempt to regain some of the protein I needed, I ate some chicken the morning of the race and like an idiot, some of the left over calzone...

My race was at 11:20 and the carbs from the calzone were burned by 10:00, leaving me hungry by my start time. To make matters worse, the race was post-poned a half-hour, which made my starting time at noon (a.k.a. lunch time).

I had a good start and was able to use my race day adrenaline as a motivator for the first 7 miles. By mile 8 I was hot, hungry, and had no energy left... I BONKED!!!

At that point I was no longer racing. I was trying to survive. Looking back at it, the thing that bothers me the most is that I didn't have the "will to suffer" or the "check engine soon light" as Nick refers to in his post. I was spent and didn't have it in me to fight. I just wanted to finish the race. I never use to be that way. In addition, somewhere on the course I left a piece of me that I haven't been able to recover; my motivation to ride.

I figured with the Tour de France on TV, I'd watch a couple stages and be totally psyched to ride my bike, but even though I'm enjoying the Tour a lot, I still haven't got the itch to even ride, never mind train.

As Nick says, "Whatever your lingo, once you loose it, it takes some serious soul searching to bring 'er back"

So, it is soul searching time...

This week will be spent resting and this weekend I'll plan on a nice long bike ride. The perfect opportunity to search the soul.

Mud Covered Water bottles

Post Inspired By:
Wipe off that water bottle: 200 mountain bikers vomit
from Singletracks Mountain Bike Blog by jeff

I was really intested in the article that Jeff refers ( 200 mountain bike racers fall ill ). No, not because I'm a lover of gastrointestinal symptoms. More because I've always loved water bottles and have never even considered purchasing a camel back. Ok, I owned a camel back when they first came out (It was given to me). I'm sure they have improved since then, but I hated it. There is nothing like a blast of water that a water bottle can deliver on a hot, hot day. Granted, I'm not a distance rider and the most I ever need is three water bottles, which is very easy to carry between the bike (2 holders) and the jersey (center rear pocket). But I digress...

The reason I found the article so interesting is because I've wrapped my lips around the nipple of a water bottle to open it more times than I can possibly count. Many of those times I felt the grit, mud, and dirt on my teeth from the mud covered nipple. I never thought that was a problem. Pretty interesting to think about all the bacteria that could potentially be in that dirt.

Is it enough to make me convert to a camel back? Hell no, I still love my water bottles and I will continue to risk the chance of a gastrointestinal meltdown as a result.