Circuit of Sauk Episode 2: Meat Attack

I feel like I got hit with 200+ lbs. of Meat. I let the group go a couple of times to see if I could catch. The first climb up Golf Course wasn't bad and I reeled everyone in and kept on it. Then I let them go again on Summit while I talked to Lisa and Helmi. That wasn't as smart. There were some guy's who can really flex their descending muscle in that group. I passed most everyone on the climb just after turning on to Pine Bluff, everyone but Meat. I knew if I couldn't catch him before the descent it would be really tough to reel him in. I didn't catch him. He was still 50 meters ahead at the bottom and I was doing all I could to catch and he was coming back oh so slowly. Anyone who has raced here knows how the finishing straight is. So with not much to go I launche a painfully slow sprint(?) on him. He looked back and saw me stand up, he tried to go and Cracked, like an Egg. Thank you, Jesus. We rode down Deadman's Hill into Rock Springs and then I left the group to go home. Nice night, great ride.
Meat is murder.
Well, for most people.

The Spin Zone

Unlike the O'Reilly factor, blog's seem to be full of spin. I'm sure mine is no different. I suppose that's what blogs are for. That and fulfilling contract obligations. So my spin on this weekend goes as follows. I went into the weekend with no real goal other than staying on. My first ever Cat3 race was the Masters 1,2,3 and featured Andy Crater and Jeff Melcher, and I finished well behind both. I tried to bridge once, which happened to be the first time I ever went clean in a road race, and failed. Oh, well. Back to being pack fill. Managed to stay on and finished the race not last. Immediately lined up for the 3's race. The pace was a little slower, more sitting in and trying to help Sam, same result as the first race. A good day, I guess. Although after almost 2 hours of going around in circles did become a little, shall we say, less than exhilerating. Anyway, day 1 was over, no crashes and I stayed on. Pretty ok.
Day 2 started out dry and with about 5 laps to go in the 1,2,3 race it started raining pretty good. Pretty uneventful but I did start to see things happen in the race. Seeing and doing proved to be completely different and the end result was the same as day 1. The 3's race started in the rain and stayed that way. Pacholski attacked at Go and no one responded. I tried to tell the pack he did this all year in 'cross and he could stay off but they didn't seem to care or just didn't believe me. So, no one worked to pull 'em back and no one elses attacks worked and it was pretty lame. You should have seen everybody respond when 'ski came around us with 3 to go. It got faster until the end. For me, same end result. Nice win for 'ski.
All in all, a good weekend of training. Plenty of intensity, all my skin and some minor increase in knowledge of how to race on the road.
In other news, Meat stayed on in both his races and Bryan did his first races as well. I think he stayed on for the whole second race, very nice. Lisa also did the women's open race on Saturday and did pretty well. Kylie was in her cheerleader outfit and yelling "GO DAD GO!!!" every lap of all 4 races while jumping up and down. I'm pretty sure I was the only one that thought that was super cool all weekend.
Now, time for a rest week.

Spring

Isn't it wonderful? It's nice to see the people not seen since the last group ride of last year. It's almost as nice as seeing the work done over the winter pay some small dividends and feel good about them until being brought back to reality at the first race. Test 1 comes on Saturday at the GDVC crits.

Circuit of Sauk: Episode 1 The Pre-Ride

Today we familiarized the new people to the course. We only had 2 juniors show up today, hopefully more next time. Jordan was there and rode a full lap. That more than doubled her longest ride ever and probably was 10 times more climbing than she had ever done. Everett was rockin', too. Niki showed us she can climb now as well. It was a nice, mellow first lap and a good time was had by all. 2nd lap started out pretty hard and pretty much stayed that way. Meat was pounding out some serious power. Bryan was climbing like an animal but in the end, I had to take the 2nd lap win. 3rd lap was just Bryan and I. We kept the pace pretty steady and plenty hard. I started the lap off by drafting Meat in his van at 39 mph most of the way to Golf Course rd. That was fun. I love drafting. Manure spreaders, tractors, those little 3 -wheeled epi's(sic?) in Italy, cars, whatever. Anyway, we rode the course to the top of Shortcut rd then ended at LaRue for beer and pizza. They have the New Glarus Coffe Stout. That was delicioso. It may have been better than the deep fried cheese curds.
See y'all at the GDVC races next weekend. If I may make a request. PLEASE don't crash in front of me. Happens every year. I don't want to run anyone over or get crashed out this year. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

It's just watts

Zone 5 is so much fun. The efforts are more like riding through a tunnel that you can see the light at the other end. It's kinda' hard but short and much like Lisa has to, I can deal with that. I finished up that block of training and ended it by riding with Jordan the neighbor girl for a half hour real easy. 2:45 and today my legs are telling me the effort was harder than I thouight. Towards the end of my ride I came across this guy pedaling about 17 rpm into a headwind. I saw him come to a stop and start again in the same hellacious gear. I chatted him up for a bit and he never shifted. Maybe his "comfort bike" wouldn't shift. He can't ride a "race bike" like mine because he gets too stretched out. He does the same 12.3 miles 3 times a week. ?!... Well, at least he rides his bike.
On other news, we got our check back from Chequamegon. First time I didn't make the lottery. The 6 bastards in front of me that kept me from the automatic entry hopefully got in. Maybe next year. Of course I probably would have won the fat tire this year had I gotten in. We'll never know. So the O2S becomes the race. Oh, and the Breck Epic of course. Anyone who would like to come out and wrench for Jerry and I would be welcome.

Home Trails

The weather last Saturday was awesome. Got to ride the Zaskar Pro on trails I had ridden before and it was awesome! Then we were supposed to race on Sunday but the mysteriously transparent 7" of snow we got cancelled the race. Oh, well. This weekend we are pre-riding the circuit of Sauk course if anyone is interested. We'll meet at the health care center at 2pm and ride followed up by supper at the LaRue tavern. Try the deep fried green beans. You won't be dissappointed.