NWA Spring Classic

The week after the Hells Kitchen race was a recovery week. Last weekend I decided to do some testing to see if my numbers had gone up much. The workload I've been doing lately has included a lot of 10 to 20 minute SST type stuff, so my 5 minute and up numbers were really good. My 5 second and 1 minute numbers were up some, but not where they need to be.





Last Sunday was a nice day for a family ride. Coatney and I loaded up Chloe in the trailer and did a lap around Lake Hefner.




So yesterday was the NWA road race. It snowed pretty good here at my house and as we were driving up to the race, it had snowed a LOT in Tulsa. It looked like for a while we were going to be in for a wet and mushy race. As we got into Arkansas, it started to look a lot better. The course was 69 miles total doing 3-23 mile loops.



It was pretty cold when we started, so I decided to attack a couple of times just to get warmed up. The second one almost stuck as a group of 4 other guys bridged up to me and we had a good rotation going. We were off for 15-20 minutes or so before we got caught. A few other guys tried to make something happen, but everything was getting chased down.



About midway through the second lap, I got a flat tire. The guy driving the wheel truck did a good job motor pacing me back up to the field, but I burned a lot of matches to get back on. At this point I decided to sit in for a while and recover.



At the start of the third lap, Brady did one of his stealth attacks and rode away from the field. After Brady was about 30 seconds up, a couple of guys took off to try to reel him in with Erin glued to their wheel. Another 3 guys took off soon after and I jumped on that train. Pretty soon, both groups merged into about 9 guys chasing Brady. Erin and I just let the other guys do the work. We eventually caught Brady and about 5 other guys or so managed to bridge up the the break.



So at this point in the race, it's the last lap with most teams represented in a break. Most had one rider, the Specs team had 2 riders although 1 was pretty blown as he didn't do much of any work. The best part was we had all 3 of the Foss1l riders in. The big hill at towards the end shelled some of the guys. Brady punched it at the 1KM to go point then Erin tried to lead me out at the 200 meter point. I ended up getting 2nd. I came around 6 or 7 guys at the end and was leading, but at 10 meters to go, my legs just couldn't keep it up and I got nipped at the line.



All in all a very action packed and fun race. Our teams last KM needs some work, but we're only going to get better at it. I thought overall the team rode well. Very aggressive but mostly smart.

The OKC Velo club race series starts this Wednesday plus lots of other races coming up.

Hells Kitchen Arkansas

So the road race this past weekend was in hogeye which is just west of Fayetteville AR. I think this was my 4th time to do this race. The course is a pretty cool 20 mile loop with plenty of scenic terrain , one big hill, and one very big hill. Quite steep and painful.
This years race unfolded almost like a carbon copy of last year. By our last lap (we did 3) about half of the riders had been dropped or quit. There were 5 riders strung out off the front when we hit the big Hells Kitchen climb the last time. The main field split up into 3 sub-groups of 8 or 9 riders. I finished in the second group, probably about 15th-17th overall.
My teammate Brady rode a good smart race and finished 7th. My legs are definitely still felling the hills today. This week is a recovery week. I'll do some testing this weekend and then the NWA Classic road race is the following weekend on the 29th.

Salty Cow Extravaganza Weekend

The races this past weekend went OK. Saturday was the Salt Creek Criterium. Things were going pretty uneventful at first. A break of 3 guys got off early on and got up to about 30 seconds on the field. It got down to around 4 laps to go and a couple of guys bridged up, so I figured I needed to try to chase or the race was pretty much over.

So on a positive note, I chased the group and caught them. I think thats the first time I've ever done that and not been blown.

Anyway, once I caught them, we had a decent gap with less than 3 laps to go. For some reason, most of the guys didn,t want to go hard anymore. So long story short, we got caught on the last lap and my legs were pretty smoked. I managed to get 7th.

Sunday was the Cowskin road race. I've never done this course before and after doing it all I can say is it was tough!

We started with 36 riders. A group of 3 guys took off early. The field kept them in sight and let them simmer in the wind and hills for about 30 miles. My teammates and myself (FOSS1L RACING) and Team Undiscovered decided to turn up the pace and bring the break in. The 3 guys were pretty cooked when we did.

By the 10th lap (we did 11 total-4.5 miles each) the field was down to about 12-15 riders. I think we lost 2-3 guys each time we hit the big hill. At this point, I'd have to say I was pretty much in survival mode. I got dropped for a bit on the last lap but a few other guys and myself bridged up and managed to make it for the sprint. My teamate Erin led me out and I got 4th.

All in all a fun weekend. My form is still pretty low right now, but my fitness is headed in the right direction.

Next stop: Hells Kitchen Arkansas

Ready To Race

So the racing season for me starts tomarrow. It's going to be a two race weekend, The Salty Cow Extraviganza or something. Basicly a circuit race on Saturday and Sunday near Lake Keystone.

This is a picture from last year.

Last year was only the Salt Creek race. Somehow I won the Cat 3 race. I'm feeling a little under pressure because everyone keeps asking me if I'm going to defend my title or whatever.

It's weird how sometimes you think you're going to do well at a race and you end up getting smoked, and other times, you feel like crap. You're suffering, pretty much in survival mode, and you end up winning. Thats pretty much what happened last year. I did learn a little secret last year going for a prime and I think that helped in the end. Maybe it will work again for me this year.

All in all, I'm pretty stoked to get the season started. I got my new team frame a couple of months ago. Orbea Opal. It's super sweet!