SuperFrog Half=First Big Win in US!

30 September-

Originally I had planned on doing this race as a backup to Kona if I was not selected for the Air Force slot.  Luckily all of that played out right and I got the Air Force slot, but my travel plans back from Korea changed as well.  It just so happened that this race still lined up on my schedule other than it was a bit close to Kona, 13 days to be exact.  I talked it over with my coach and he thought it was a good idea to race it so I registered for it, about 2 weeks prior to Lance signing up.  With him signing up it ended up not being a USAT race which was a bad thing for me as I was hoping that it would be my 3rd USAT race of the year which would make me eligible for All American or Honorable Mention.  So now with it not being a USAT event it just means I have to sign up for another race after Kona.

I came into the race after a long flight back from Korea and then a quick 2.5 days at home.  Needless to say I hadn't got much training in and was a little jet lagged but for the most part my body adapts quite well to all the travel.  I got down to San Diego on Friday and stayed with some friends and had a quiet night.  Then Saturday night I stayed with some old friends from and went out to the Giants/Padres baseball game.  It was a nice relaxing night prior to the race and it was the first time I had been to a ball game in quite some time.

Woke up race morning with a not so restful night of sleep, not sure why I couldn't sleep it wasn't a big race for me or anything.  My pre race nutrition was sub par to say the least, I was able to at least get a Honey Stinger Protein bar down and a banana, but that is not my usual pre race meal as I like the usual oatmeal.  I was feeling alright going into the race with all the training in the past 9 weeks, but the days leading into the race weren't ideal.

Swim-

For not being a swimmer I was a little skeptical on the ocean swim, especially considering the size of the swell, someone reported 6ft, so yeah I was a little worried.  I struggled a little bit on the first of 2 laps to make it through the surf but eventually got out and into a rhythm.  Coming in from the first lap I caught a small wave in and it bridged the gap that I had between 2 guys.  I followed them out for the second lap and made it through the surf with them.  I figured if guys were ahead of me they had a little more experience in the ocean so I just followed their lead.  I missed a wave on the way back in but still felt I had a good swim.  I didn't really know how bad or how good my swim went, but felt pretty solid with it.

T1-

Uneventful as usual, other than I have been struggling to get my wetsuit off, so I need to work on that prior to next year.  Once out of the wetsuit everything went smoothly.  I make it a very simple T1; shoes are on the bike and my glasses are looped around my cables and I don't put them on till a few miles into the bike.  Saves a little time in my opinion.

Bike-

This was the area where I knew I could make up some ground to the fast swimmers.  I just settled into the bike and took it fairly "easy" for the first 1h30m and just slowly increased my power and effort through the whole ride.  The pro's started 15mins ahead of us so I was a little worried about getting "Lance'd" I mean lapped.  Luckily I would just see him with the other pros at the turn around and made it without getting lapped, other than by the relay team cyclist who was flying.  He was a little surprised when after he passed me I gave him his distance then came back around him to ask him if he was an AG'er or not.  We exchanged a few words and then off he went.  As I started my last lap Lance and the rest of the pros were just entering T2.  The last lap I really put my head down and put in a solid effort.  Felt good coming into T2 and knew I had a solid ride a little under 2:15, right where I wanted to be.

T2-

Left the shoes clipped in and came off the bike at a decent pace right into my run.  No problems getting the shoes on, the Zoots are great for transitions.  I carry my watch, visor, and glasses with me out of T2 and put them on while running.  Once again trying to save some time.

Run-

Really wanted to hold back here with Kona being 2 weeks out.  I talked to my coach and we came up with the plan to just run IM pace, little did either of us know how much sand would be involved in the run.  I kept it at IM pace but felt the effort was comfortable but a little harder than I expected due to the sand.  I think there was about 5 to 6 miles of soft and hard sand over the whole run.  I stopped once to use the bathroom, which I had already done on the bike as well, I guess I was well hydrated.  I felt really solid with my run and felt that if I wanted to push it a bit harder I had plenty in the tank to run in the mid to low 1:20's.  Overall I was really happy with my run and it was a huge confidence builder going into Kona, as well as a huge PR for my half IM run.

Overall-

I was extremely happy with how the race went and couldn't of asked for a better race leading into Kona.  I was a little skeptical about racing this race 2 weeks out but felt like it did a lot of good, and only time will tell if it did any damage.  It felt really good to show up to a military event, primarily Navy and Marines and be able to win for the Military and the Air Force, as well as being able to represent Team RWB.

Swim- 31:17 5th in AG/20th Amateur/26th Overall
Bike- 2:13:28 1st in AG/1st Amateur/5th Overall
Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/rides/23647362
Run- 1:29:27 1st in AG/1st Amateur/5th Overall
Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/runs/23648400
Overall- 4:13:48 1st in AG/1st Amateur/6th Overall

Here are some pics from the event

 

Love or Hate the guy he is still the one person to put Cycling on the map in the USA  and is making a huge impact with LiveStrong and triathlon these days.  I think the race director of SuperFrog said it best with something along the lines of "For every hater he has he has 20 more people that support him".

Camp Humphreys Sprint Tri

15 September 2012-

I was really looking forward to this race as I have done it 4 times previously.  I convinced my coach to let me race and he made sure I paid for it in terms of making sure that I didn't rest for the race and then stacked up some good workouts with the race as well.  I wanted to see where I had improved since last year so figured this race was a good place to do it at.  Same course the past 3 times gives a good gauge of my fitness.  I hadn't raced any other of the same courses as years past this year, actually this was only my 3rd tri of the season.

I showed up a little late and wasn't able to get my typical 1-2 mile warmup run and short swim.  I got in the water for a few mins just to get use to the water and made sure I knew where the mark was for a good flip turn.  The weather was about as good as it gets in terms of temps, but the winds are always a little weird at Humphreys.  Luckily I had my HED JET6 on the front so wasn't too worried about the wind, but my buddy Dan had a Zipp 1080 up front and he was a little worried, after the race he was talking about getting blown around quite a bit.

Swim- 400LCM (50m pool)

I had a good swim and felt good coming out of the water.  I had really been putting in some solid time in the pool and really felt good coming into the race.  I was happy to confirm my swim fitness with a mid 5min swim, not great but good for me.  No one took my split but by estimation of my other times and total time I estimated a 5:20 to 5:30 swim time.

Bike- 20K (2 10K loops)

I came out of the water in the lead, as I was in the first of 5 waves.  I wanted to hammer the bike really hard and see how my legs felt running off a all out effort.  For some reason my legs didn't come around right away and I was quite disappointed with my power output for the ride.  I still set a bike PR on the course and was happy with my time, but it just took a while for the legs to come around.  I opened up the gap to Dan, who ended up 2nd, and I knew he would be one of the guys to watch for.  With the race being wave start it is really hard to gauge where everyone is, but we try to get all the "fast" guys in the first wave so we can race heads up.  It worked out well and we got most of us in the first wave and second wave.

Run- 5K (Out and Back)

With the limited running in the early season my run has been the one thing I have been worried about..  It has slowly been coming around, but wasn't sure where my short course speed stood.  I had a decent run at Armed Forces but hadn't ran a hard 5K in a while.  I ended up running a few seconds slower than last year but felt very good with my run.  I didn't see Dan for quite a while, I had already hit the turn around and was about 800m back down the road.  I still pushed hard on the way back and wanted to see how my time compared to last year.

Overall Time- 53:11
Swim- 5:30
Bike- 29:15 Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/activities/21222094
Run- 17:58 Strava Link: http://app.strava.com/activities/21223614

Sept 2011 -56:01
Swim-5:50
Bike- 31:18
Run- 17:42

Overall I was really happy with how the race went.  I lost a little on the run but smashed the bike compared to last year.  I think my other place of improvement was my transitions.  The other thing that I was really happy about was the amount of people that came down from Osan and how great of a showing we had.  It is always fun to go down to the Army base and have a bunch of AF people take the top spots.  I am sad that this will be my last race in Korea for quite some time, but I am sure I will find myself out there sooner than later to race again.

Here are some pics from the race:

 Outrunning the storm, that never showed up

 Finishing the run

 Team RWB Far East Representing at the race

 1st Place for Male 20's and Overall

 The Osan Crew

Hoengseong Half IM- 1st Long Course OA WIN!

26 Aug-

It had been 4 weeks since my last race and I was ready to race again.  The last race was the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon.  I was a little worn out by that point as I had been racing for quite a few weeks in a row and I had been back in the states for 4 weeks by that time.  It was also my first race as a CAT2, and needless to say I got a taste of what racing with the fast guys was all about.  I came back to Korea and got right back after it.  I started my training focus for Kona and picked back up with my tri coach Scott.  We had 10 weeks to work with and came up with a solid idea of where things needed to be fine tuned and we got right to work.

I had been lacking the run mileage with the heavy cycling focus over the last month so we were a little worried about that.  Over the 4 weeks leading into this race though the miles started adding up and the legs came around quite quickly.  I was feeling good with the 4 week block and was excited to see where I was at in terms of Long Course shape.

The race was a first year race, so it was quite a small race.  They had 111 people finish and I would estimate about 150 on the start line.  One of my teammates from my Korean cycling team is also a triathlete and didn't show up as he was aiming for a full IM in a few weeks, I was bummed as it would of been a great race between the two of us.

Swim- 1.9K- 30:29

My swim has been coming around so I was looking forward to see how I would perform in the race.  I had a good starting position and went out hard for the first 200m.  I opened up a nice gap and just continued to build on it throughout the swim.  It was a 2 lap swim, but you didn't exit the water and just swam around the buoy.  Luckily I didn't have to deal with lapping anyone, but I stayed out front the whole swim.  I came out of the water with about a minute lead, yes very rare for me to be leading out of the water.  Second time this year that has happened out here in Korea ;)

Bike- 91K- 2:40:36

I had seen the bike course profile and wasn't really worried about it.  I knew it was going to be hilly and was thankful for that.  With the bike being one of the stronger points of my race it is nice to have a tough course which helps keep the others from drafting, which is common out here in Korea.  What I didn't know is how brutal the bike course would be.  I brought an 11-28 for the rear and was still struggling for the last 1K of a 5K climb, it ended up being a CAT2 climb according to Strava.  Later on I had heard that there were a lot of people walking up that section.  The plan going into the race was to hammer the bike and just see what happened from there.  I felt good on the bike and held on to the lead throughout the whole bike, I actually never saw anyone.  Looking at the results I out rode the 2nd fastest bike split by 17 minutes, so that would explain that.

Run- 21K- 1:35:57

Prior to the race I had talked to my coach and we had a conversation about the race.  He told me to cruise the run, but also said if I was in a position to win I had the green light to go for it.  Well I didn't know how big my lead was getting off the bike so I came off the bike and ran hard.  The problem was it was super hot and humid out, heat index of 97*F.  I came of the bike running well holding 6:30-6:40 pace for the first 3 miles.  Then I decided to back off into "cruise" mode and stopped at all the aid stations and shoved ice down my suit and took in some calories.  It was a 2 loop run course and I turned around at 5.5K and ended up not seeing anyone for another 8 minutes, and it was a relay runner.  At that point I knew I had a huge lead but still wanted to get a solid workout in.  I just ran between each aid station at a comfortable pace and got in a solid workout.

Total Time- 4:49:43

Swim- 30:29-1st
Bike- 2:40:36-1st  Link to Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/19765308
Run- 1:35:57-1st  Link to Strava:http://app.strava.com/runs/19766179
Total- 4:49:43

Overall I was really happy with how the race played out and I was just happy to walk away with the overall win.  Even though it was a small field it was still nice to have a great race and execute the plan we laid out prior to the race.  It was by far the toughest course I have done for a half, not the toughest race as 70.3 China and 70.3 Germany were really tough days for me, but overall it was a tough day.

Thanks again to everyone for all of the support.  Special Thanks to: Honey Stinger, FRS Healthy Performance, HED Cycling and all of my family and friends!

If you would like information on my nutrition plan for this race please email me at: airforcebadbrad@yahoo.com

A few pictures from the race:

 O how I am going to miss Korea and the friends that I have made!

 Coming in from the bike.

 Out on the run just having fun.

 The bike setup, P5???? Phhhhh Going Old School and taking the fastest bike split with a P3!

 The "Bull" Trophy and an ice chest of BEEF!  Ahhh the things you win in Korea!

The Overall Podium!

Cascade Cycling Classic

20 July-

Well I made the flight up to Portland on Wednesday to meet up with a teammate and then head down here to Cascade on Thursday.  It was about a 3 hour drive and we had a homestay all lined up.  We arrived into town around 1pm and then grabbed some lunch prior to heading over to the homestay.  We are staying in a town house with a guy named Jim, who happens to have 2 black labs.  The house is beautiful and about 1 block from the river.  Racing kicks off on Friday with a Road Race, then a TT on Saturday morning followed by a Crit that evening.  Then Sunday there is a brutal circuit race that is 4 laps with 2 climbs on it, we pre rode the course today and it is going to be tough.

Stage 1- 70 mile Road Race

We got a heads up on the way to the race with a Facebook post stating that it was 40*F and raining up at the start of the race, which was at Mt. Bachelor ski resort.  Luckily I had packed some cold weather gear into my race bag and I ended up starting the race with a vest and arm warmers on.  Luckily for us the rain had stopped prior to us arriving but it was still windy and cold, but right before the race it started warming up.  The race started at 1140 and it was downhill for about the first 10 miles.  The pace wasn't too crazy but it was fast since we were going downhill.

I was told to just sit in for this race and just get use to racing with the CAT2's.  I listened for a majority of the race and then tried to bridge a few times and then went back to sitting in.  When we got to the climb I was positioned poorly and lost ground on the lead group but was slowly moving up along the climb.  It was about a 20 minute climb and I ended up losing 1'56" to the race leader, which wasn't bad but wasn't great.  Looking back on the Stage my position was a key factor to why I lost so much time as the legs felt pretty decent and I didn't climb all that bad.  For my first CAT2 race, I was pretty pleased with how the race went and definitely learned a few things.

Category: CAT2-
Results: 50th out of 110 (http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage1/Cat_2_Men_Stage1.pdf)
Link to ride on Strava:http://app.strava.com/rides/13978196
GC Placing: 50th out of 109, 1'56" down
(http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage1/Cat_2_Men_GC.pdf)

Stage 2- 12.5 mile TT

I was looking forward to the TT as that is my strong point, but the day was just not going to be my day.  It started out with forgetting my Garmin 800 at the homestay and then having to go around to find one to borrow.  I ended up finding a 500 to borrow so luckily I was able to look at my power during the ride and try and stay within my zone.  Unfortunately yesterdays ride was taking a toll on my legs and my power was a little lower than expected.  However, the TT did move me up a few places in GC and I was happy with how it went considering all of the circumstances.

Category: CAT2-
Results: 38th out of 108 (http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage2/Cat_2_Men_Stage2.pdf)
Link to ride on Strava: Awaiting File
GC Placing: 42nd out of 108, 3'27" down
(http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage2/Cat_2_Men_GC.pdf)
  

Stage 3- 40min Downtown Crit

 Going into the Crit I knew it was going to be fast, but I had a feeling nothing would get a way.  After a few laps I found it really really hard to move up.  It was a 4 corner Crit all right hand turns.  Corner 3 was really sketchy and had some rubber stuff in the road, the stuff that fills the cracks, and it was super slippery.  After about 10mins I decided that I was just going to hand onto the back to avoid any craziness and just finish with the main group so that I wouldn't lose anytime.  With Kona being 11 short weeks away I wanted to make sure I wasn't caught up in anything.  Riding off the back was definitely more difficult but it was a lot safer in my opinion.  I ended up not losing anytime and finished with the main group, I was actually the last person to not lose time.

Category: CAT2-
Results: 93rd out of 107 (http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage2/Cat_2_Men_Stage2.pdf)
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/14214595

GC Placing: 42nd out of 105, 3'27" down
(http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage3/Cat_2_Men_GC.pdf)

Stage 4- 68 Mile Circuit Race

After pre riding the course on Thursday I knew today was going to be tough.  To make matters worse I had to big days in the legs and it was really going to depend on how the legs felt on how I did.  I was told by my coach to sit in the first 2 laps and I made sure I did that to save up some energy.  On the start of lap 3 I threw some attacks and just couldn't make anything stick.  There was a break up the road that I was trying to bridge to and the best chance we had was with a group of 5 guys and the most we gained was 10 seconds on the main pack.  They just weren't letting anything go.  I tried several times to make it happen but it just didn't happen.  I went back to sitting in and figured half way through the final lap I would make some more attempts.

I ended up falling off the back after the feed zone towards the end of lap 3 and had to catch back on which took a lot of energy.  I ended up catching back on right before the steep climb and I just couldn't hang on to the group.   I ended up falling off the back with about 4 other guys and we just finished the race together.  It was a pretty big surprise to me, but looking back on it, it came to positioning once again.  I definitely learned a lot in this race and think it was a great experience to just watch the group ride away from me.  Not that I was arrogant going into this race, but I was riding a pretty big streak going into this race so I was pretty high on life, and this definitely showed me how the "big boys" ride and put things into perspective for me.

Category: CAT2-
Results: 87th out of 107 (www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage4/Cat_2_Men_Stage4.pdf)
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/14214575

Final GC Placing: 79th out of 92 (110 starters on Stage 1), 14'52" down
(http://www.obra.cascade-classic.org/results/stage4/Cat_2_Men_GC.pdf )

Overall I was happy with how the whole weekend went.  It was an awesome opportunity to learn and get some great racing experience under my belt.  A special Thanks to Dwayne and Shelby Farr for picking me up from the airport and taking care of me while in the Portland area, as well as providing transportation for me.  Big congrats to Dwayne on an awesome race at Cascade.  Also a huge thanks to our homestay Jim, amazing hospitality and an awesome house!  Thanks again to everyone that supports me along this amazing journey, the past 11 weeks of racing have truly been amazing with so many highs and a few lows.

Sorry for the lack of photos but here are a few:

We woke up Friday morning to Jim making coffee and laying out fresh fruit, simply amazing!

Before the start of Stage 1, all bundled up from the cold weather.

 Prepping for the TT with my skinsuit as a parachute.  Good times in Bend!

 The freshly painted P3 already for the TT with some awesome HED6 wheels and a wheelbuilder cover!

 

 And that is the last that I saw of the race....................

Little City Stage Race

7-8 July-

Not going to Superweek opened up some other opportunities, one of which was this weekends Little City Stage Race.  It was the first year of the race so the turn out was pretty small.  They had put a lot of focus on the Masters and Juniors Categories though with some decent prize money, total through all the Categories was $11,000 and for the CAT3 field it was $1,000.  The race was going to be held in Woodfords, CA and Minden, NV.  Some of the Categories started out with the Time Trial while others started out with the Crit.  For my Category we started out with a 9am TT followed by a 1215 Crit.  I really was hoping the Crit would be first for us and then the TT, as then I wouldn't of been marked in the Crit from having a good TT.  The race was points based (Omnium) instead of time based like a normal Stage Race.

Stage 1- 9.5 mile TT Woodfords, CA

I had one of the last start times of 0937 which was fine with me.  It would put guys in front of me to try and chase down, which I like, gives me something to aim for and try and catch.  The TT course started out on a gradual down hill and then went up a small hill prior to turning around and returning.  The last 2 miles was brutal up a false flat that just seemed to take forever.  I went out and tried to take it a little bit easier on the way out and then hammer back the return trip.  I didn't feel all that great on the second half but still had a decent Time Trial.

Category: Elite 3-
Results: 2nd out of 37 (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1IVAT_YIM_Ram5EZURNb2RTR0U/edit)
Link to ride on Strava:http://app.strava.com/rides/12891659
GC Placing: 2nd out of 37

Stage 2- 60min Criterium Minden, NV

Having a good TT and putting me in 2nd in the GC was going to make for a tough Crit.  I was going to have to be on defense for the whole 60mins and really keep my eye on the Yellow Jersey and the 3rd, 4th, 5th place guys.  To make things even tougher they announced at the start of the race that there would be 3 "hot laps" right off the bat with cash primes the first 3 laps.  Then there would be 2 points primes at random points throughout the race and then there would be 11 other merchandise primes.  This would make for a tough race.  I held back and didn't go after the cash primes and just sat in for the first few laps.  When the first points prime came I went for it and ended up 3rd across the line with the 3rd and 4th place guys in the GC taking 2nd and 1st in the prime respectively.  Half way through the race I started attacking and couldn't manage to get away.  I don't think it helped that the USAC Official let everyone in the field know that I had just come off winning the Davis Crit, not the kind of announcement you want prior to a race.  I couldn't manage to get away but was able to win a few primes, which included a bike pump (that was a good one since I don't have a pump at home while I am on leave) and then a bottle of win etched with the race name and date, which was cool.

Once I couldn't get away I just went back to the top 10 and managed to recover a bit to get ready for the final few laps.  With about 10mins to go the GC Leader started moving up quite fast and went pretty hot into the tightest corner on the course and pedal hoped and slid out taking himself and almost taking out a few other riders.  A few laps later I was sitting 3rd wheel and when we went through the chicane another guy pedal hoped and took the guy out right in front of me and I barely missed the crash.  At that point there was only 3 laps left so I made sure to keep my position up front.  With 1 lap to go I was still up towards the front and picked it up on the back stretch to keep things strung out.  Going into the final 2 corners which happened to be a chicane I was sitting 2nd wheel, just where I wanted to be.  With about 200m to go I started to come around the guy and sprinted for the line.  With about 100m to go another guy came around me who I found out was the 4th place GC guy and we ended up side by side at the line and I managed to get him by less than an inch.  Probably the best sprint of the year that I have been it, it was even closer than the sprint a few weeks back in Korea.

Category: Elite 3-
Results: 1st out of 37 (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1IVAT_YIM_Ram5EZURNb2RTR0U/edit)
Link to ride on Strava:http://app.strava.com/rides/12891662
GC Placing: 1st out of 37

Stage 3- 66 Mile Road Race

With having a solid TT and winning the Crit I went into the road race with a pretty solid lead.  The problem was I had to defend the yellow and do that without a "team".  Fortunately a team from Reno came over after the crit and offered to help me out as much as they could during the race as none of them were in GC contention.  I was relieved to have some help but knew it would still be a hard day.  The race was on a 11 mile loop that was going to be a tough because we had to cover it 6 times and it had 2 small climbs and then a 2 mile false flat back to the start finish line.  The other half of the course was a gradual down hill.

The first lap stayed together and then the start of the 2nd lap is when some guys got away.  None of them were GC contenders so myself and the 2nd place guy just let them go and had each other marked.  I tried attacking a few times over the next 2 laps but couldn't get away.  After that I just sat in the group and then when we would get to the climb I would just make sure I was around the other top GC guys and make sure none of them got away.  On the last lap we saw a few guys up the road and they ended up coming back to the peloton which left 4 guys up the road.  There was no way we were going to catch them so one of the guys from the Reno based team that was going to help me came up to the front and I asked him to just sit up front a keep the pace high for the last 3 miles.  When we got to about 1K out I attacked and got a small gap, but the group pulled me back with about 700m to go.  I sat about 3rd wheel of the main group and just kept my eye on the 2nd place GC guy, he was just sitting back so at 400m I attacked again but couldn't make it stick and got out sprinted by a few guys including the 2nd place GC guy.  Luckily there was only 2 or 3 people between us which wasn't enough for him to take the GC from me.  Overall I was happy with how the road race played out, even though I didn't finish that high, with a 9th place finish.

Category: Elite 3-
Results: 9th out of 37 (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1IVAT_YIM_Ram5EZURNb2RTR0U/edit)
Link to ride on Strava:http://app.strava.com/rides/12891677
Final GC Placing: 1st out of 37


Overall I was really happy with how the race went and I feel that I learned quite a bit over the 2 days and 3 races.  It was a great opportunity to get some upgrade points which was why I stacked the schedule so heavy over the past few weeks and this weekend should give me enough points to upgrade.  I will submit my upgrade after next weekend and hopefully be racing Cascade Cycling Classic as a CAT2!

A big Thanks to my Dad and step mom Brenda for coming all the way out to watch the Crit on Saturday.  We then went out to a nice steak dinner with Brenda's brother and I managed to play a little black jack, which always makes for a fun night.  Also a huge thanks to all of the support that I have been getting over the past few weeks while home.  It is always hard to just show up to the local rides and not know anyone, but over the last 12 months I have been around enough to get to know these guys and gals, and we truly have a great group of local riders here at "home"!

Also for anyone that is interested in doing a great stage race, check out www.littlecitystagerace.com.  For a first year event they did a great job and put up some big money and great primes for the crit.  I am looking forward to hopefully being able to come back and race next year, hopefully they have a CAT2 field, as I am not in the masters category yet and that is all they have for 1/2's this year.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

 

Right before the start of the crit, right after I finished my can of FRS!

 

Coming out of the chicane and onto the front stretch

The sprint for the win in the crit, yeah it was that close

Picking up my primes after the Crit, bottle of wind and the pump!

 

Putting on Yellow after the Crit

 Up the final climb of the road race course, sitting back to the left in yellow

 Talking with Todd after the race, he was one of the guys that helped me out during the road race.

 The top 8 for the overall GC

Top 3 for the Overall GC

Leesville/Atwater/Davis 4th of July Race Reports

30 June / 1 July / 4 July-

Busy weekend to say the least along with yesterdays mid week 4th of July race, so I will wrap them all up in one race report.  As many of you know I have a pretty stacked schedule while home chasing upgrade points, so a lot of racing means a lot of traveling and a lot of rest.  I am putting in some big training while home and also putting in some quality rest time.  But lets get to the point of this blog and catch everyone up on how the past races went.

Leesville Gap Road Race, 30 June-

I had put this race on the schedule as I thought the course would suit me well.  I had heard rumors of how rough portions of the road were but never thought it would be as bad as it was.  We had a full field of 60 riders and I felt comfortable along the opening stretch and was looking forward to the first climb which came around mile 22 of 66.  Well before that climb was the first dirt/gravel section and off the back I went.  I was just kind of hanging on, barely and the peloton was like a carrot I was chasing.  I almost went down a couple times in the gravel section but managed to make it to the climb.  This is where I started catching people and passing people but on the descent I wasn't willing to take risks like others were.  The roads were described by Chuck Hutcheson as "white-trash redneck cobbles" and I would have to say that is pretty spot on.

Of the 66 miles I would say 20 of it was really rough and sketchy and I just didn't feel comfortable at all through this section.  Once I got out of the rough stuff I started putting in a solid effort to catch the group.  It took me quite a while to catch the group and once I caught them I found out they were the chase group and there was a break of about 8 up the road.  There were 12 riders in the chase group and of those 12 about 8 of them had teammates up the road, so I had 4 guys that were actually working.  I recovered for about 3 or so minutes then went straight to the front to tried to get the group to start chasing the break.  We had 1'30" deficit that we had to make up and we worked hard, but with only 4 of us working we just couldn't make it happen.  I didn't know the course all that well and all of the sudden the 1K sign came up.  I was up towards the front so I just kind of slowed and waited for some others to come around and then I sat in about 3rd wheel.  At about 400m I went and it was just a bit to early as the other guys that hadn't been working came around me at 150m to go and I ended up getting passed by about 6 of those guys and crossed the line 14th.  Not the results I was looking for but it let me know that I was in good form compared to the other riders in my Category (CAT3), minus my handling skills through the rough section.

Category: Elite CAT3-
Results: 14th out of 60 (http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2012-2539)
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/12166146

 Atwater Big Creek Crit-

After having such a big showing at Leesville I was looking forward to a big crowd down at Atwater.  I showed up to find out the CAT3 field was only going to have 10 or so guys in it which was quite disappointing.  I also heard that the P1/2 race only had 2 guys registered, so I asked the question if they would let CAT3's double up and do both.  They were fine with that so I was able to get 2 races in back to back which made the trip worth while.  They actually gave us free entry to the 2nd race which was nice.

I had already talked to my coach prior to the race about a plan for the race, but with the small field I threw that out the window and re adjusted.  The CAT3 race was the first race and we had 9 starters.  I waited till about 5 laps in of the 25 laps and then attacked out of the 2 corners and opened up a small gap.  I just slowly kept opening the gap up and gaining time.  I ended up lapping the field with about 5 laps to go and just sat in at that time.  There was 2 guys in the field that I knew from the local rides so I tried to set them up with a lead out, but one guy from another team went super early and I wasn't able to close the gap for the guys and ended up pulling one of the guys to a 3rd place finish.  I wasn't sure what to do once I had lapped the field but knew if I had teammates in the field I would have helped them out, and the local guys were the closest thing I had to teammates so I just helped them.  I was glad to get a win even though it was a small field, it was a confidence boost after the previous days race.

Next up was the P1/2 race, which included 3 CAT3's and 2 CAT2's, for a total of 5 people.  Really small race to say the least.  All of us but 1 guy had already raced a race previous in the day so when the race started we just talked and kept it very casual.  Then the officials got tired of us going slow and they rang the bell for a prime.  2 guys went hard for it and actually opened up a small gap and after the prime we figured they would sit up but they kept going, so once we caught them I countered and opened up a gap.  I ended up holding that gap for a while and slowly built it up.  I lapped the field with about 8 laps to go and took another win.

Overall I was happy to pull off 2 wins in back to back races but was really disappointed in the small fields.  It was also great to have my family there cheering me on and keeping me motivated to keep riding hard while I was solo.

Category: Elite CAT3-
Results: 1st out of 9 (http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2012-2540)
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/12253425

Category: P1/2 + CAT3's
Results: 1st out of 5 (http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2012-2540)
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/12253424

Davis 4th of July Crit-

Not necessarily the "biggest" race on the calendar while I am home, but it was an important one to me.  I really wanted to put the stars and stripes on the podium on this special day.  I had talked to quite a few people and they talked about how big of a race this was and how it brings a big tough field and a lot of fans.  I was really excited about the race but also nervous about it as it was a technical tight course and I would also have a lot of family there watching.

I got up to Davis a bit early and met up with my Aunt Renee, Uncle Kevin, and my Cousin Kyle who was the birthday boy and then my other cousin Todd and his fiance Dede.  We all had lunch together and then I went about my normal pre race routine and got in a short warmup as I was feeling really hot on the trainer and didn't want to get my body temperature up to high as it was going to be a hot race.  I got off the trainer and found a bathroom and then just spun around lightly in a small warmup area.  The race started at 1415, so I made my way to the start line around 1410.

I didn't get all that great of a start and just hung out for the first couple of laps.  I had a game plan that I was going to use at Atwater and myself and my Coach Zach had decided to use the same plan.  There was a pretty nasty crash right on the front stretch about 8 minutes into the race and that is when I decided I better move up a little closer to the front.  There was a solo rider that was off the front and then 2 other guys behind him but ahead of the main group.  I decided around 15 minutes to make my move and started to go.  It took me a bit to move up to the front but once I got there I went hard and bridged up to the 2 riders.  I then had my work cut out to make it to the next guy but made sure to not bring the other 2 with me.  I finally made it to the solo guy and the 2 others were back to the pack.  Once I got to him we got a split of an 8 second gap.

We worked really well together and worked the gap from 8 seconds to 12 seconds, which it seemed to stay at for a while.  Then it went from 12 seconds to 25 seconds in a matter of a few laps, not sure what happened there, but it just kind of hovered at 25 seconds all the way to the finish.  With 2 laps to go I looked over to the other guy and told him my situation of only being home for the few weeks and how I needed the upgrade points.  I offered him the 1st place prize in exchange for the 2nd place prize which was a difference of $60, so that I could take the win.  He had no problem with it, and I honestly think he would of given it to me anyways so that I could put the stars and striped on top of the podium on the 4th of July.  It was a great effort on both of our parts to make the 2 man break stick, half way through the race he thought he was going to "blow up" and I just looked over at him and told him to dig deep and believe because we were pulling it off.

It was amazing to have so many fans packed in the downtown streets of Davis and to have a lot of family there.  My Dad said he wanted an early Bday Present so that win was for him.  It was a heck of a day and honestly it still hasn't really set in, I put it up there with crossing the finish line in Kona, only thing I was missing yesterday was an American Flag to carry across the line or around the course, that would of made it extra special.

Category: Elite CAT3-
Results: 1st out of 58 (http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2012-2492)
Link to ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/12539210

Video of Race (3:20 for finish video):


Thanks again for all of the support and as always a special Thanks to all the great supporters out there.  Thanks to FRS, Honey Stinger, HED Wheels, Chamois Butt'r, Primal Wear and of course all of my family and friends and fellow military service members!


Here are some pictures from the Atwater Crit:

Here are some pics from the Davis 4th of July Crit:

 Thanks to Alex Chiu Photography for the great photos!

US Military Triathlon Championships

23 June-

I finally did it, I had finally made the Air Force Triathlon Team.  It took me just a little over 4 years from my first triathlon to make it to the starting line, but wow what a journey it has been.  It almost didn't happen due to the fact that I had crashed on some railroad tracks about 10 days prior, but luckily just some minor road rash and stitches.  I couldn't of made it onto this team without some amazing mentors along the way, but there is one person who really looked after me.  So first off I just wanted to say thanks to Kathy Rakel, the now 3x US Military Triathlon Champ, as she helped mentor me over the past 2 years.  I would go to her with questions in regards to the application process and what exactly the team was looking for.  So I owe a special thanks to her for all the help, and wish her the best as she transitions from a full time military member and pro triathlete to just focusing on being a full time athlete.

Last time I traveled over from Korea I struggled with jet leg for the first time.  I normally adapt really quick and typically do not have problems with jet lag.  So with that in the back of my mind I came out 2 days prior to the rest of the team and arrived to Pt Mugu on Monday.  Pt Mugu is located next to Oxnard which is about 30 minutes north of Malibu.  It is an amazing area and I was really happy to show up early so I could enjoy the local roads for some good training.  I woke up on Tuesday and got an early swim in and then headed out on the bike finding some amazing climbs right off of the Pacific Coast Highway.  I came back after training and had to send my coach a message asking him if I was allowed to ride longer the next 2 days as long as I kept it easy and didn't completely smash myself.  He was all for it, so Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I put in some amazing rides.  It was awesome to wake up to overcast weather and then just go out ride up the mountain a bit and then boom the weather was amazing.  It was nice to arrive early and just get settled in and be able to just focus on getting solid recovery and rest after each workout.

The rest of the team trickled in on Wednesday and I played the role of bike mechanic throughout the evening.  The team had a few issues, a few minor ones and then one major one.  One guy showed up with a 10spd cassette while the rest of his bike was 9spd, so off we went to Performance Bikes to get a 9spd cassette.  The major issue was one of our girls somehow went out for a ride and snapped her derailleur hangar and set screw on her derailleur.  She had a Look bike, so it was quite rare but luckily there was a shop in town about 30 minutes away that helped her out.  Other than that everything mechanically was fine.  I had switched my cassette out from the 11-23 to 11-28 to go climb the mountains so other than that my bike was all setup for race day.

The "busy" day of the week was Thursday.  It started out with a 10am team meeting and gear issue, followed by bike check at 1230.  They were pretty particular on bike check since it was ITU Style racing (Draft Legal).  After that we had the race briefing which took place at 1400.  Then 1600 was team pictures followed by opening ceremonies at 1800.  So to say the least Thursday was the busy day.  Friday was a really relaxing day, got my workouts done early then just relaxed.  We went to Olive Garden for dinner as a team and then followed it up with a past tradition from James Bales (who was not able to attend this year due to injury) with Dairy Queen Blizzards.

Race morning was not the typical race morning since our race didn't start till 1030.  Luckily our hotel was within a 3 minute walk of the transition area.  They were actually doing chip pickup and body marking right outside the hotel.  They had a sprint distance race that started at 0800, which my step dad took place in.  He had a good race, minus his swim as he was a little paranoid of the ocean swim, and ended up 3rd in his Age Group.  I just hung out and watched the start of the race and then went about my normal routine.  I got in a short 15 minute run to loosen up the legs and then took a 10 min shower that was nice and hot which really got the body loosened up.

Prior to race start they played the national anthem with all of us on the starting line.  Immediately after that the horn went off and the race started.

Swim- 21:32
The biggest horror stories you hear of this race is that the swim is brutal.  It is brutal in the sense that their are a lot of strong swimmers and then the water is COLD!  Not to mention there can be some surf, although it wasn't that bad.  It was a 2 lap swim and I just swam as hard as I could and tried to remain around someone the whole time.  As I was coming out of the water on the 2nd lap our coach was there telling me I was 30th out of the water (actual results have me at 28th), so right where I expected to be.

T1- 0:57
Nice and fast, but not quite as fast as the others comparing times across the board.  Off onto the bike I went and had my work cut out for me.

Bike- 52:27
With the bike being draft legal it does not play into my favor at all.  I knew I would have my work cut out with my swim time, but was hoping to have some people to work with.  Out of transition I had one guy with me but he didn't want to come along so I just settled in and started to bridge to the first group ahead that I saw.  My tactic was once I caught a group I would sit in for about 15 seconds and then move the front and get the pace going.  Well I would move to the front and pick up the pace and then look back and I would open up a gap.  The first 2 times it happened I slowed up for the group thinking maybe I just accelerated too fast.  Well after those first 2 times I decided that I just needed to ride my own race and moved on.  This happened as I came to 3 different groups.  No one wanted to come with me, except one guy, Brad Pigage, who is on the Navy Team (he is actually in the Coast Guard though), and is also a member of Team RWB.  He came with me right before the start of the 3rd lap, he took a pull or 2 and then I went to the front and looked back and he was off the back.  I was actually kind of happy that I dropped him because he is a stellar runner and I didn't want to take him into T2 with me.  At the start of the last lap I saw a group ahead which had 5 people in it, they had about 30 seconds on me.  I worked hard to catch this group but it took a lot of effort and I didn't catch them till about 1.5 miles to the finish.  When I caught the group it had my teammate Ken in it.  I knew I had already worked really hard on the bike, and figured I would lay it all out there since my legs were pretty shot.  I looked over at him and said "You just tell me when and I will pull you all the way to T2".  He was kind of in shock that I had made it to the group and after about 10secs he looked back over and said "Lets GO".  I dropped the hammer and off we went.  4 of the 5 guys in the group came with, so one less person to worry about.  I liked the tactics there as I felt if I could put some guys into the red right before T2 it might play into my favor.  I think it was a little to late to put them too far into the red, but it was the "lead" group, with 3 other guys solo off the front.

T2- 0:23
I had the fastest T2 time along with one other guy.  I was really happy with that as my T1 time wasn't all that great compared to others.  I got in and out of there and was out on the run with the guys I came off the bike with.

Run- 35:58
I knew I worked hard on the bike and it was just going to be a matter of how hard I worked to how bad my run would be.  I was confident going into the race that I would be able to hold low 6min pace if not sub 6min pace.  I came out of T2 and just tried to stay with Ken, but he set a blazing pace out of T2 and I just couldn't hang.  I settled in and just ran my race.  The interesting thing about this race is they take the top 6 to Military Worlds, and then for the team competition it is Cross Country Scoring (meaning you just add up a said amount of finishers placings and that is your team score, it was 7 men and 4 women, scored separately as a male and female competition, no joint overall winner).  I was running to protect my position as well as trying to move up to the top 6.  Once I realized the 2 guys in front of me were running quite well I just settled in and wanted to make sure I had some energy if I had to protect my position.  About half way through the 2nd of 2 laps, Brad Pigage had caught me.  I knew he had to put in a solid effort to catch me but I still had roughly 1.5 miles to run with him till the finish.  When he caught me I just stayed with him and realized he was breathing pretty hard.  I felt under control and was able to briefly talk here and there.  We ran stride for stride for about half a mile, then I started playing games.  I wanted to see what he had left so I would put in a surge then just float out there.  He would come back up to me and then about 30-45 seconds later I would do the same thing.  I did this about 3 times and then with about 400m to go I put in one final big surge and held him off to finish the race 8th Overall.

**A couple key points about this race that I want to address be for going further.  The course is SHORT, everyone has to race the same course so it DOES NOT matter that it is short.  So when looking at the above times realize that the bike is 22.8 miles and the run is 5.9 miles.  Also, the Canadian Armed Forces Team races in the race as well although they are not counted in the scoring, 1 Canadian was ahead of me, so technically I was 9th Overall, but among US Athletes I was 8th.***

Swim- 21:32 / 28th
T1- 0:57 / 17th
Bike- 52:27 / 1st    Strava File:http://app.strava.com/rides/11659563
T2- 0:23 / 1st
Run- 35:58 / 16th   Strava File: http://app.strava.com/runs/11658991
Total: 1:51:17 / 8th Overall US Finisher (9th w/ Canadians)
Link to Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20120623_Armed_Forces_and_Admirals_Cup_Triathlons.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Armed+Forces+Triathlon+Individual~All

Male Team Finish:
1st Navy
2nd Air Force
3rd Army
4th Marines

Female Team Finish:
1st Air Force (Also swept individual podium)
2nd Marines
3rd Navy
4th Army

Overall I was extremely happy with my performance as well as our teams performance.  Although we did not defend the championship, we had a great time and have an amazing group of athletes.  I was honored to be part of such a great team.  I came into the race with low expectations and ended up shocking myself.  I had no thoughts of going to Military Worlds, but missing that opportunity by 55 seconds is what will fuel my training over the next year.

I can't thank everyone enough for all of the support.  The race atmosphere was awesome down there with some great fans and all of the teammates on the course cheering each other on.  A special thanks to my Mom, Step Dad, and sister Madyson for coming down for the race and cheering me on.  Also, a huge thanks to HED Cycling for the great wheels that helped me achieve the fastest bike split.  HoneyStinger for the great support of the military and great products, and FRS for the awesome products.

Here are some pictures from the race and time down there  

Out on an easy spin day prior to the race.

Prior to Steve's swim start

 

The team, minus Stephanie, Erin and Scott

 Last minute pep talk from Mace and then a short prayer

 

 Hammering the bike Solo.

Out on the run course

 Finishing up the first loop

 The post race ride which happens every year up some random road that climbs up the mountains, great time with great guys.  Check out the strava file! http://app.strava.com/rides/11659574