The Good, The Bad, AND The Ugly

Welcome to the "Grasshopper #2"!

There is a local series of "grassroots", "bandit", or whatever you want to call them, cycling events that take around Sonoma County. There are no categories, the courses (road, dirt, or combo) are not easy and there certainly is no mercy. While I mean this to be a bit of an update on my progress and an opportunity to share some lessons I have to give a little information on the 2nd race in the Grasshopper Adventure Series.

Round 2 is one of the more popular events in the series. This year we started (according to the GAS) 160 folks ... yup that's 160 mass start. Like I said previously there are no categories. That means I (and everyone else) lined up with Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Scott Nydom (BMC) and crap load of other Northern California talent. The terrain is relentless and you can see the 70 miles with 6500 feet of climbing in the course profile above. To add to the fun, the wind was blowing rather briskly.

Typically the peloton rolls out pretty smoothly and somewhat neutral until things hit the first two climbs. At that point "selections" are made and then groups join as you hit the "flatter" sections along HWY 1. I was able to get over the first two climbs (though I wasn't really intending to do it) with some key players. Mainly because of good position and the fact that I climbed better than I thought I would. Sitting in a large group that included a lot of teammates was good ... but which teammates, and other riders, that were there made me realize the horse power surrounding me. We had the daunting climb up the "Marshal Wall" (first big climb on the profile above) just ahead and I realized with my current fitness, relative lack of miles in training, and distance to go, I wasn't going to stay around this group for long.

What happened when we hit the base of the climb I didn't quite expect ... me legs absolutely rejected me and I felt really empty. No other way to say it, I felt like ASS! It's hard to explain the rest of the day from there. My legs NEVER cam back and I was in a raw mood (low blood sugar maybe?:) No sag cars, no easy way back, no short way back and a crazy head wind to deal with solo. What's a guy to do? Sack up and ride it in. For the longest time it felt like I was out there by myself, but I knew there were a good 100 riders behind me still. I was hoping I could pull myself together and jump in with a nice group that I really belonged in. I had 3-4 groups that came by me and I just couldn't respond for very long, PLUS I had no will to grab a wheel. Normally I would have been good in any one of these groups ... just not today. The only thing left to do was limp home, slowly.

SO ...

The Good - I positioned myself well to start, climbed OK (early), dragged myself to the finish, and my mind was committed to racing. One of the reason I have jumped back into the periodic race is to see where me brain is.

The Bad - I simply don't have the miles in my legs to make hard efforts early in a long ride and recover.

The Ugly - Likely the worst two hours I have ever had on a bike as I limped in. It was really humbling and frustratiing how I finished the event. BUT some Mexican food and a beer with the boys helped start to set my brain straight!

Lessons Learned as the Dust Cleared and in my progress back to the game?

> I was way more tired going into the event than I realized. I took a few very ez days M-W of this week and I'm starting to bounce back. I 'll leave out any intensive efforts until next week.

> As mentioned previously, I don't have the miles in my legs this year, HECK over the last four years, as most of those guys I was riding around in the early part of the race.

> I need to keep remembering that this is going to be a long process and realize all the positive that has happened in the last 6-7 months. Just the fact that I have lost almost 20 pounds is good in itself ;)

> Nutrition, Recovery, and Training? Gotta keep tweaking those things to make sure I get the most out of myself. There is definitely room for improvement.

Other than the few days of fatigue, which I seemingly am bouncing back from pretty quick, my body is doing well. As long as I keep listening with a keen ear and making smart decisions my fitness will keep coming back. To what level? Who knows ... but that's part of the fun I guess. I tell you, it's really difficuly mentally not go out and ride hard with team all the time ;)

More races to come in April and beyond!

Until next time ... DL