carmel valley training camp

After my last final and track session i booked it for monterey. after a recovery day on monday i launched into a hard few days. Being home allows me to training, rest, repeat. I wake up early to fight for coffee from our undersized coffee maker and eat before heading out towards the mountains. The weather cooperated great during my trip, allowing me to set a good tempo in awesome weather on my solo rides through the canyons.
I did minimal chores around my afternoon naps, baked, and ate my parents great food, leg of lamb grown on our farm as well as rib eyes from a cow we raised last year. Being home offers me access to a fully stocked shop, which allowed me to fabricate an arm holder for my left arm pad on my TT bike, rotate my tires and in general screw around with heavy power tools. This rest is a prototype for a custom one my dad and I plan on building when we get a hold of the material comprising my old orthodics.

Getting there

The past few days have given me a glimpse of the work the next few months will bring. After finishing class and finals I drove to LA to work on my track skills with Adam Duvendeck.
One of my greatest weaknesses on the bike is my inability to coordinate my pedal strokes between my left and right legs. In an effort to utilize my left leg my body tends to forget about my right leg, leaving it to turn a blocky, inefficient pedal stroke.
After working on starts with my power meter on my road bike, I tried a start on the track, only focusing on turning a perfect circle with my right leg as I drove off the line. I was able to drop my one lap
time below 24 sec, the first time I've seen a time that low. After driving home I packed for a week at home.
My training did not break for my trip as I stopped in the farmland south of my family's ranch to wring out some intervals on my TT bike. I've felt great the past few days, not having school
on my mind has allowed me to recover well, even with several long car trips.
Sunday was a different matter. When I picked up my number at reg the field size of twelve was a bit worrying. A wide open 1 km course, there would be few places to hide until the end. As I rolled around my opponents were sweating on trainers, talking of breakways and people to watch.
The race started off well enough, I easily matched the accelerations, watched people make digs off the front. My problem arose as I found myself on the front, chasing a few guys off the front. I was able to bring them back but flew off the back as multiple guys lit some sizable matches in an attempt to get off the front. The move proved successful several laps later as I rolled off the course toward home.
I came away frustrated, at myself and my inability to match the speed of the field. I made up for my race by flogging myself on the ride home. I dug deep on the climbs, didn't grab gears but instead muscled through the steeper pitches.
My race yesterday was my first and my intended last DNF of the year. I found myself in unfamiliar territory, no teammates, and no large field to hide in when in trouble. While unsuccessful, the race was another stepping stone on my way towards the top.
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Almost Free

After logging five solid days in thr library I'm almost free. Only a Greek mythology final stands between me and twelve weeks of freedom from classes.
While I'm looking forward to the training and work that will accompany my break from school I think I will miss the schedule that school keeps me on, allowing me to stay focused.
But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. From Thursday till I leave in april my focus is crushing myself at Defi Sportif.

wasting time

Like any college student i'm great at putting off studying for finals. Add in thinking about being fit, traveling, and racing, nothing is getting done. My days consist of rides, some class, and making up excuses of why i am not at work regularly. I have had some success, trance podcasts and forced study hours have allowed me a few productive hours. Here goes nothing.....

Thanks

Thank you to all that have helped me out in the past year with racing, life, and general survival. My family, coaches, and friends are the reason why I'm charging forward.

par le vous français?

That was the text i got shortly before my invitation to Defi Sportif (http://www.defisportif.com/en/) arrived friday morning from US Paralympics. Defi Sportif a two day competition in Montreal in April, and I see it as a sign that something is going right with my training. After two years of working my ass off, spending time in doctors offices and in bed with illness and injury i have a chance to prove myself on an appropriate stage. With this awesome news in my head i dove head first into our home collegiate weekend.
I planned on racing twice on saturday, in both the Men's C race and the category 4 race in the afternoon. With my experience of collegiate races starting off slow i decided to make my race count for training as i rolled to the line. After working on my clip in from the line in the past few months I nailed my clip in as I drilled it to the first corner. I think i surprised the field as i lasted about a lap off the front as i railed the 1 km course in kilo mode, no holding back as I knew the field would never let a break roll. After i blew up spectacularly I sat in the field and recovered until the last laps when i patrolled the front with my teammates sitting on my wheel. after this 25 min of us all riding pretty easy looking at each other people decided they would sprint and i slid to the back, saving my legs for my race in the afternoon.
The afternoon race was a simple 45 min crit, sat in, opened my legs up, closed some gaps. My main regret was dropping off the back on the last lap and missing my friend John's domination of the finish.
Saturday was an early morning. we got up at 4:30 to get to santa maria at 6:15. I got stuck ar reg when I should have been warming up for my time trial. After a truncated warmup i rolled to the start line, ready to bury myself. I felt terrible the first half of the race, my sore legs having a hard time pushing my big gear around. Thankfully I was in a groove when i hit the final climb before the finish, and crushed it up the 2km ascent before sprinting down to the finish line. After the race i felt terrible but knew that i did all i could. I really don't think I could have gone any faster. My pain was evident with my inability to breathe and answer people's questions as i cooled down.
This weekend showed my head is in the right place for racing this season. I had some tough moments where I wanted to quit, slow down. But I didn't, couldn't, not with the fact I'm going to be racing against some of the best in the world in a few short months.