Well...a couple days worth of diary entries to catch up on.

Thursday was my rest day.

I love my rest days.

I think the only time I even thought about my bike was when I passed it the way out the door in the morning. A rest day for me is as much mental as physical. I need to recharge my batteries both physically, and mentally, so I'll be ready to rip my legs off at the next training session.

In an ideal world, I'd even have rest days at work - days with little that needs to get done, and no stress at all. Ahh...a nice little dream. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way, and thursday was no exception. There was a little crisis with some prototypes we're making that caused a nice little spike in my blood pressure. I'd thought ealier in the week, that the little problems we were having would just be a little nip in the rear. Thursday though, I discovered that the problems were more of a bite than a nip. Thankfully it wasn't a chomp or I wouldn't have any rear end left at all!

Friday was my day to get loosened up and ready for the racing on the weekend. After spinning around for half an hour, I put in a nice 10 minute tempo effort at a heart rate average of 155 in the Los Altos hills. Some nice little rollers, and twisty roads to make it interesting and fun. After a bit more of a spin, I put in a couple short anaerbic efforts to remind my legs that there is yes indeed this stuff called lactic acid, and that they should be ready for more of it tomorrow. I finished the session pedaling off into the sunset - a nice relaxing way to end the session and get mentally rested to race.

The race today - the Winters Road Race - is one of my favorite courses. A wonderful mix of hills, wind, and twisty roads that doesn't favor any type of rider. Climbers, time-trialists, and sprinters can all do well on the course depending on the tactics. The Sierra Nevada pro team rode a perfect - though frustratingly negative - race. They had probably the fastest sprinter, and a great lead out team, so they were content to just control the race, sit on anything but the most promising breaks. I attacked and covered moves for the first 20 miles or so, but couldn't get the right combo of Sierra Nevadas in a break. There was a big split in the field around mile 25 that stayed off until around mile 85. 15 riders just rolled right off the front, including my on-form teamates Patrick Heaney and Marc Hagenlocher, with Jason Fernschuss and David Pierce along as well for support. 4 out of 15? I was pretty damn happy with that break!

It was a pretty tactical race though, and we eventually ended up catching the group about 10 miles from the line after some amazing chasing by Saturn's Erik Wholberg, and Glen Mitchell of Navigators. This set up the inevitable 40-rider bunch sprint which Sierra Nevada won. Our team just isn't set up well to do that sort of thing. Hard an hilly? We're all over that. Bunch sprint? No thanks.

It was a pretty easy race all things considered. Around 3000 kJ and 210 Watts average for just around four hours. The pace was on though - 25 mph average, which is pretty quick for 100 miles. Some good speed work, and I put in a couple hard efforts covering attacks during the race. I should be recovered nicely though for tomorrow's workout.

I think if you work, and want to be a competitive cyclist at the elite amateur level, you have to learn to love your trainer.


After getting out of work at 5:30 last night, running off to my mechanic to pick up a new prototype Bianchi, then grabbing a bite to eat for dinner, it was already 7:30 with the sun setting around 8:00. The only hope of getting any training in on a day like that is to spend a couple of hours on the trainer indoors in the evening.


I've heard many folks complain about how boring and tedious riding the trainer can be, but I don't think its that bad. The key trick to making it enjoyable is finding the right thing to watch on TV. During the fall and winter, when there are new shows on TV every week, its pretty easy to find something to watch. But, in the summer with only reruns on, it can be pretty difficult. So, last night it was "Black Hawk Down" in the DVD player.


This made for a bit longer training session than I had planned. The movie ran about two and a half hours.


Lets see...2.5 hours at 250 W average = 2250 kJ. Add in . This wasn't exactly an "easy" endurance ride. Often when I've gone out for an "easy" endurance ride, I've ended up with an average heart rate of around 120 and an average power of maybe 175 W. Unfortunately, that type of ride doesn't train what you actually need to do in a race. Try 250 W for 4 hours with an average heart rate of 140. That hurts. Bad. Even if you don't have any big power or heart rate spikes to mimic race conditions, it still is quite painful during the last hour. It actually seems easier to do this type of ride on a trainer. Outdoors, your heart rate spikes on climbs, and drops precipitously on descents. I find I have to really throttle the engines back up hill, then completely drill it on the descents, to keep the average power where I want without too many big power spikes.

Anyway, 2250 + 2500 for my base metabolic rate is about 4750 kJ for the day. Breakfast - oatmeal and some OJ - was around 700 calories. Lunch - some pasta thingy from the cafeteria at work, maybe another 700 calories. Dinner - leftover chicken and rice - probably 1500. Desert - a nectarine - maybe 100 calories. Two cups of coffee with cream and sugar during the day and 4 bottles of sports drink while riding the trainer is another 1200 calories. Totals to approximately 4200 calories. Probably lost just a bit of weight yesterday - but not much.

There are exactly 26 days left until the 2002 San Francisco Grand Prix.

Its time to start getting serious about my training.

Last year I came into the event a little bit tired after a massive block of training and a lot of stress at work to contend with. I had a project deadline in early October, and I was already spending countless hours working on my CRT tan in my cubicle. I felt a bit flat on race day, but still managed a 25th place - mainly because many pros in front of me dropped out instead of continuing to race for the minor placings.

Yesterday's training went well. I trained in the hills of Los Altos and Palo Alto. Two hours of light, endurance pace tempo, keeping it easy on the climbs. After a good half hour warm up, I pedaled over to the west side of Viscaino to do my power start intervals. Viscaino is a fun little climb. Only about a quarter mile long, it averages almost 12% in grade, but I was doing the intervals on the 20% grade near the top. The view from the top of Silicon Valley is pretty nice at least. These intervals really help develop top end power, and doing them on a steep grade helps simulate the climbs of Fillmore and Taylor streets. I had a really good session, and was able to hit around 160 bpm on three of the 15 second efforts. My legs felt relatively rubbery at the end of the session which is also a good sign.

Its really time to focus on diet as well. Cyclists seem to fixate on their weight more that supermodels! I'm pretty race fit right now, and my weight is close to where I would like it, but losing a pound or two would definately help get my rear up Fillmore. Dinner last night was gnocchi with a meat sauce. Dessert was an apple with peanut butter. Breakfast this morning consisted of oatmeal with blueberries and two glasses of pineapple - orange juice. I don't want much of a calorie deficit the next few weeks because I need to maintain my power and energy - only about 250 calories a day. I just need to make sure that I cut all of the junk out of my diet for the next few weeks.

Today might end up being a day on the trainer. I'm getting a new prototype Bianchi frame built up today, and I'm not sure if I'll get it done in time to ride during the daylight. I might just rent a couple of DVDs and plant my chamois on the trainer. The endurance work I have scheduled for today can be done pretty easily on the trainer.