California Love

I'm off to Santa Cruz for 5 solid days of training with Coach Thomas and his posse. I am planning on about 20-25 hours of riding. The weather is supposed to be sun and mid-60's the entire trip. I'm taking the camera and will make an attempt to post some pictures of Redwood forests, single-lane roads w/o a car in sight, and crashing waves at the beach. I will also be hitting a Tour of California party on Saturday, maybe rub elbows with some celebrities (in the bike industry at least).

Now for some traveling music...

Tiger Mountain Saturday

The weather this weekend was surprisingly beautiful considering it is February and I've been punished with adverse weather since November. I took advantage and did a solo tour of Tiger Mountain.

I started the day by banging out a high tempo to Poo Poo point to take advantage of the clear skies and catch a nice view of Mt. Baker to the north. Poo Poo is where the paragliders launch to glide down to Issaquah below.



I followed up Poo Poo by heading out to West Tiger and on the way I got some good peak-a-boo views of the Olympics.



Last, I started up towards the main Tiger summit before turning around and heading back to the car. On the descent, I caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainer before it was engulfed in clouds as a low pressure cell moved in.



Back at the trail head, the Garmin registered over 5k feet of climbing in three hours of riding.



A solid day of training. I was definitely feeling the strain of the vertical gain later in the ride.

Blue Star

A Season's Objectives

At work when I start to procrastinate or can't seem to remain focused, I start a task list to keep me on track and getting things done. I tried to fight the list gene as a kid, but have seen the err of my ways later in life. Thanks for the list gene, Dad! How does keeping lists at work relate to bike racing? Well, the last few years I've talked about some season goals, but never put pen to paper (or electronic ink to screen) so there was nothing holding me accountable. This year, I'm going to apply my work strategy to the bike race season by posting my goals here, so they are staring me in the face. No excuses or backing out now:

1. Two top-5's at NMBS Series Events. The AZ NOVA Stage Race will be the first test and its a race I have won in the past. The two CA stops on the Series also offer good opportunities for me to do well.


2. On a Podium Step (i.e. Top 3) at the National Championships at Mount Snow in July. My favorite race of all time and the site of my first NORBA race back in 1994. The plan is for things to come full circle and it to be my final race as an expert.


3. Upgrade to Semi-Pro. I already have sufficient race results to upgrade, but I want to leave the expert class with some consistent placings before taking the plunge into the minor-leagues of professional mountain bike racing and staking claim to the back of the pack.

Now, I have to put my head down and work harder than I have ever before. Pushing out extra V02 max intervals, more reps in the gym, and treating every workout as if it will make the difference between going fast and being pack fodder. I'm dialing in my power to weight-ratio and when at race weight I hope to be cranking out between 4.4 and 4.6 watts/kg at threshold. Also, I plan on shaving some weight from the race rigs by making a few strategic part changes to ensure I'm not carrying a single extra gram on the trail.

A post with no photos is boring, so another goal this year is to take more pictures around the country at the many different race venues. I'll leave you with a shot of me at Mt. Snow in 2005 charging on the downhill.

Blue Star