So begins my first "real" season of track sprinting. What a beginning it has been so far. I'm starting to actually look like a sprinter!
Training has really been tough, but enjoyable. More local sprinters makes it more fun to go and train. I really do love how close knit the track community is. It's almost like have an extended family! Now on to the juicier news.
First sprint tournament of the year, March 22nd.
The second sprint tournament of the year came a few weeks later, on April 3rd. I had a small taper for this event and hopes for another PB. I was filled with dismay walking out of my door that morning. It was cold and windy. Terrible conditions for a PB. Not much I could do about that, so down to the track I headed, this time much earlier.
As expected, a taper coupled with a proper warm up yielded another PB, regardless of the day's conditions and almost getting blown off my bike. Tons of friends also PB's with a number of them getting into the 11's!
Well done everyone! Celebrations were definitely in order, post race. Off to St. Johns we went.
The taper led into a rest week, and then into a road week. Despite how much I thought I missed long road rides, I am much to specialized to really enjoy them too much anymore. Such is life. What I CAN still enjoy, are the amazing views that road cycling provides.
Oh, and who could forget coffee and brunch rides?
The ToC was also in town for my road week. This of course meant watching some pros throw it down. I rode down to the San Jose start with friends to watch the start of the stage.
Road week concluded with, biff, Amy Christensen dropping me like a bad habit up highway 9. My, how times have changed.
Back in the gym and on the track. I never realized how much I would miss riding in circles. I missed my friends, I missed going as HARD as I possibly could on a bike, I missed sprinting.
My knees however, did not miss all the strain. Thanks to team sponsor Rocktape, I've been able to push through!
It was also time to get some new shiny stuff for my bike. 165mm cranks, finally!
The next and most recent sprint tournament was on May 31st. No taper, and knee issues had me skeptical of my ability to perform. Ethan went earlier than me in the lineup, setting the fastest time of the day at blistering 11.56. Eventually it was my turn to head up. I wound up a little different than I had previously, while still getting used to my 165mm cranks.
I did my effort. It felt fast, but still had many points to fix. I rolled off the track to the judges booth to hear my time. What I heard was completly unexpected. I had run an 11.25! Beating my previous PB by just over a tenth of a second without a taper was insane. I was ecstatic!
Racing went well, but I had two mechanicals. Clipping out during races is a scary thing, and I was lucky that I was not injured. I changed to zero float cleats (thanks La Dolce Velo, another team sponsor) and ordered a new pair of pedals to switch over to.
Big thanks go out to Team Performance Cycle Coaching and Lee Povey as well as the various team sponsors such as Kattelo, La Dolce Velo, and Rocktape!
Huge thanks goes out to a very special somebody that I've been very lucky to have in my life, Whitney Scagliotti. Thank you for being so supportive of my passion for cycling and really helping me get off my lazy butt on days that I can't be bothered to train. You're the greatest, babe.
Great start to the season so far. I'm excited to see what's next in this story! Could 10's be in my grasp this year? Until next time!
Training has really been tough, but enjoyable. More local sprinters makes it more fun to go and train. I really do love how close knit the track community is. It's almost like have an extended family! Now on to the juicier news.
First sprint tournament of the year, March 22nd.
I showed up later than I had planned. For some reason I thought a 1pm start meant 1pm warm up start. Nope! I showed up 15minutes before qualifying and had a pretty lousy warm up. Lesson learned.
Despite that, I did fairly well with a qualifying time of 11.65 on a 92" gear with a peak rpm of 149. A new PB! Not too shabby. One new person joined me in the 11's with an 11.86. Ethan Boyes, a long time bike messenger, new to the track. He called to me with a "Gooby pls" after seeing my bike, and I new a great friendship was about to blossom.
The second sprint tournament of the year came a few weeks later, on April 3rd. I had a small taper for this event and hopes for another PB. I was filled with dismay walking out of my door that morning. It was cold and windy. Terrible conditions for a PB. Not much I could do about that, so down to the track I headed, this time much earlier.
As expected, a taper coupled with a proper warm up yielded another PB, regardless of the day's conditions and almost getting blown off my bike. Tons of friends also PB's with a number of them getting into the 11's!
Well done everyone! Celebrations were definitely in order, post race. Off to St. Johns we went.
The taper led into a rest week, and then into a road week. Despite how much I thought I missed long road rides, I am much to specialized to really enjoy them too much anymore. Such is life. What I CAN still enjoy, are the amazing views that road cycling provides.
Oh, and who could forget coffee and brunch rides?
The ToC was also in town for my road week. This of course meant watching some pros throw it down. I rode down to the San Jose start with friends to watch the start of the stage.
Road week concluded with, biff, Amy Christensen dropping me like a bad habit up highway 9. My, how times have changed.
Back in the gym and on the track. I never realized how much I would miss riding in circles. I missed my friends, I missed going as HARD as I possibly could on a bike, I missed sprinting.
My knees however, did not miss all the strain. Thanks to team sponsor Rocktape, I've been able to push through!
It was also time to get some new shiny stuff for my bike. 165mm cranks, finally!
The next and most recent sprint tournament was on May 31st. No taper, and knee issues had me skeptical of my ability to perform. Ethan went earlier than me in the lineup, setting the fastest time of the day at blistering 11.56. Eventually it was my turn to head up. I wound up a little different than I had previously, while still getting used to my 165mm cranks.
I did my effort. It felt fast, but still had many points to fix. I rolled off the track to the judges booth to hear my time. What I heard was completly unexpected. I had run an 11.25! Beating my previous PB by just over a tenth of a second without a taper was insane. I was ecstatic!
Racing went well, but I had two mechanicals. Clipping out during races is a scary thing, and I was lucky that I was not injured. I changed to zero float cleats (thanks La Dolce Velo, another team sponsor) and ordered a new pair of pedals to switch over to.
Big thanks go out to Team Performance Cycle Coaching and Lee Povey as well as the various team sponsors such as Kattelo, La Dolce Velo, and Rocktape!
Huge thanks goes out to a very special somebody that I've been very lucky to have in my life, Whitney Scagliotti. Thank you for being so supportive of my passion for cycling and really helping me get off my lazy butt on days that I can't be bothered to train. You're the greatest, babe.
Great start to the season so far. I'm excited to see what's next in this story! Could 10's be in my grasp this year? Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment