It

I did not have "it" today.

Even yesterday, I knew I didn't have "it". 

This "It" is what an athlete needs to have for success. Over the years, I have come to recognize when I have "it" and when I don't.  I know before the race even starts if I am going to win or not.  Yesterday, I knew I was not going to win today.  Actually, I knew I was going to be sort of slow.  No matter how hard I tried to think otherwise, I knew in my heart "it" was not going to happen.  You can call it what you want- negative thinking, not believing in yourself, whatever.  Or I could blame it on excuses like it was hot, I got sick last week, etc.  That fact is, sometimes you have "it" and sometimes you don't.

The trick to success is finding "it", and once you've you've got "it" not letting it go.

The results speak for themselves- 12th place today.  Worst ride in 3 years.  There's nothing to do now but keep on riding, keep on working hard, believing in myself and trusting that "it" is coming.

The best part of the day--coffee with Anne and Robin.

The second bast part of the day--the walk home with Alexis after team meeting and dinner. We saw the sun rise on our bikes, and the sun set on our feet.

Here are my teammies post TT.

Almost Time

It's almost time.  Race time, that is.
Every year it feels the same.  "Oh no! I'm not ready.  I need more time to train to get race fit".
Well, it's here.  Ready or not.

The good thing about  not being ready is you can still get better as you "get ready" to race in the next few weeks/months.

Ready or not, race day is Thursday and we'll see how good what feels like a little amount of preparation was.

Published!

I think I B.S. pretty well. 
Cycleops.com

What do you think?

Oh and here's my very first Garmin/Strava ride.
AP Strava

Nutrition?

Yesterday, like the other day, I wanted something other than what was in my jersey pocket- which was a Vanilla PowerBar.

I had one dollar to spend, a Snickers was definitely out of the question, and I didn't want another banana.  So, I chose the Peanut M&M's.  As I was eating my M&M's, I wondered how they compared, nutrition wise, to the PowerBar in my pocket.  So I compared, and I must admit, I'm a little surprised by the results.

M&M's Peanut Chocolate Candies   

Calories- 250

Fat- 13g

Sodium -25 mg

Carbs- 30g

Sugar -25g

Protein- 5g

Milk Chocolate,

Sugar,

Peanuts,

Cornstarch,

Less than 1% - Corn Syrup,

Gum Acacia, Coloring, Dextrin

Costing only $1 and with only 4 main ingredients, no soy, and less sugar than the PowerBar, I'm surprised to say, the M&M's aren't bad. They do, however,  have a little bit too much fat for my liking, and don't have the nice vitamins and minerals that are in the PowerBar that costs $2.50.

Personally, I like simple foods-i.e. not many ingredients and of those ingredients, I would like to be able to pronounce them.  I like food that tastes good and rewards me for my hard efforts. Thus, the winner is....

 M&M's Peanut Chocolate Candies 

Weekly Commute

Come March, I try to have at least one "weekly commute" (i.e. big ass bike ride). These "commutes" can be as simple as riding to Boulder and back, or riding to my ride then riding home, or ride from point A to point B.

These rides all have something in common- they usually kick my ass and involve some sort of drama.
Yesterday's commute was no exception and it was actually a real commute.  The route-my parents place in Littleton to home. C-470 trail to Golden and up Golden Gate.  Pretty basic.

It seemed a little epic though.  Why is it that a point to point 4hr hilly ride viewed as "wow, you're doing what?" when a 4 hr ride from home is no biggy and doesn't seem that epic?

Everything started off well. The C-470 bike path is awesome. I met a nice man named CJ and we rode together for a while.  Then we got detoured in Bear Creek due to a "controlled burn".  Turn around, ride another bike path, saw a coyote on that path! Back to original path and on to Golden.  Make wrong turn, 2 miles downhill, followed by a U-ey and back up 2 miles to correct turn. Water and potty stop at Gas Station and on to Golden Gate Canyon.  First half of commute in the bag.  36 miles and 34 of it was on bike path!!  Awesome.

Up Golden Gate and it felt like I was on a totally different ride. I was in for 2 hrs of climbing, in a head wind, and little to no shoulder. Not to mention they were "tar-ing" the cracks in the road, so I had to stop a couple time to clean my tires so as to not detonate my Detonaters.   Thanks to the head wind and the steepness of the road, at one point, I was going 4mph with a 42 cadence.

Long story short, I started to crave a Snickers bar.  That's never happened before, but I went with it. 1 mi from the P2P, I stopped, got a Snickers and chowed it down. Yum.  The best $.87 I have ever spent!

Only then did I look at the Nutrition facts.  At least 3 of the ingredients were soy products.  Not good for me and my belly.  "Oh well, it was dang good".

I continued on, but 10 minutes later, the bloating and gas began.  Good thing it was mostly downhill home now.  This is my favorite view.  It means I am almost home and have no more climbing.

I made it home, 5 hrs later and spent the next several hours on the couch due to fatigue and belly pain.  Dang Snickers...kicked my ass.

Cool stuff

This is cool.- Mountain Flyer Magazine write up about the Frostbite TT
And, so is this. -my write up about the TT

Btw...I went Nordic skiing again yesterday. It was awesome.  Unlike the last time I went to Eldora, it was warm, it was sunny, and it was fast.  However, after 4 weeks not skiing, my Nordic fitness was somewhat lagging.  Guess I'll have to go again, to gain that fitness back.

Oh, and I feel like a rebel when I Nordic ski in March.  As a "professional" bike racer, one should focus more on the bike workouts and less on Nordic skiing, especially in March.  That's why I'm feeling rebellious (and it feels good).  When it comes to bike racing...I'll still be better than you.  :)

Home

Team camp has ended.  I am home now (yay!).

A few highlights from the last week or so-
Bike ride up Travolta
Bike ride down from Travolta into Santa Barbara --teammate Kendall goes downhill pretty dang fast.
Post ride cupcakes and espresso like drinks (dirty Chai)
Long drive to Merced- somehow the van/trailer combo beat the fancy Volvo's
Hard road race- those California girls are pretty dang fit for February
Crit race- we raced not so smart, but I got a hell of a workout
Good espresso and an enjoyable morning with nice Host Mom Annie
Fly home
HOME