Training with Pow...T.A.L.

Christmas has past and I now am taking training a bit more seriously. I just got off the ole fluid 2 after putting on a lil less than an hour. Although it was not as boring as some of the other sessions I have had. I was thinking of a hundred things that would be more interesting. This American Life has been a great companion since it is usually interesting and keeps my attention. Most of the shows are an hour give or take a couple minutes, which is perfect for acheveing litespeed while standing still. I am pretty drained and lazy so it will be short. I hope everyone has a happy new year.

P.S. To shawny smalls I am holding the ditched breakfast date against you!

P.P.S. That's right, I am too lazy to post pictures.

Hopping on the Training Train

It has been over a month since I last updated the ole blog and not a lot has happened. I made a safe recovery from my case of mono and currently feel great. During that time I watched the state race which was pretty exciting. I had never wanted to race so bad as I did when I was watching the Cat. 3s. Team Pegasus had pulled out all of the stops and rolled in with two tents with windows, a heater that was designed by N.A.S.A., Grill and lots of other goodies. Then Jason and I helped tear down the course, which was about as enjoyable as setting it up at 7 a.m.

Last time I had up dated this thing was also the last time I had ridden my bike. Since it is almost half way through December I have decided to start putting in some base miles on the trainer and rollers. I noticed last year that at the end of my races I was a little too exhausted so until late January it is going to be an endurance based training. This is over a solid month and I hope to make some real progress. Also it will help me lose the 7-10 lbs. of weight I have put on since I had gotten mono. Ideally I plan to get a heart rate monitor, but my funding is running low and I have been going out more than I should have. Is there ever really an off season when you are a cyclist? I will answer that one myself with "kind of". The month I decided to slack off, blow money, and gain weight was a break from the bicycle, but I am now going to have to work twice as hard to get back on to where I was. Then I have to account for the effort of getting back into the groove of training. So yes there is an off season, but should you regulate what you are doing in that time, yes. So the "kind of" answer kind of makes sense.

Now all it will take is motivation which I already have plenty of. If anyone out there ever feels a lack of it I suggest you check out some you tube clips of Jens Voigt. That guys is arguable the ideal teammate and cyclist. After watching it I felt guilty that I had not worked on a winter training program yet or had touched any of my bikes in over a month. Now I just have to see the actual movie about team CSC.

Don't drop the ball or you won't be dropping the hammer come Spring.

Ending Early to Find Hilarity.

A trip to the Doctor Sunday morning infomed me that I do not have strep throat, which was at first a sign of releif. The Doctor had ran a test for strep and it can back negative. We both were still curious to why my lymnph nodes were swollen to the size of tennis balls and I could barley speak. I offered my expertise on the subject by recommending I be tested for Wucheria, but since I hadn't spent anytime in the jungle or have gotten bit by and mosquitos lately it was out. She next asked if I had been seeing anyone in the past two weeks?

I replied, "No, but you are quite a bit older than me and I don't think it would work. Although..."

She then explained to me that she thought I might have mono. I mentioned that my love life has been on the back burner now that cyclocross, school and work were all out to get me. When I explained, cyclocross she ran a blood test and bet me that I probably had mono. When the results came back she was correct and I was pissed because I knew this was worse than strep.

I was told that I need to stay off the bike for 2-3 weeks because if I were to rupture my splene, while it was enlarged I could potentially be fatal because it would spill blood into my body aka internal bleeding. Don't get me wrong as metal as an inner blood bath would be I was forced to obey her orders since it could be fatal.

What she asked next was probably one of the best compliments I have ever received in my life. Whether those were her intentions or not I still felt extrmeley PRO.

As my memory recalls the words that fluttered off of her lips were, "When is the next time you have to take a drug test? Because one of the drugs I want to perscribe you will make you test positive.

My at first confused retort, "Drug test? and positive for what?"

The doctor looked blankley back at then explained, "For your cycling since, if you have to take drug test you will test positive for doping."

It was as if the most beutiful girl just had confessed her love for me. I turned as red as the sprinters jersey at Super Week(bad picture of jersey).

I told her no and was soon on my way out the door with a perscription for a mild pain killer and steroid. As I went home to mope about not being able to race. I jumped on the internet in hopes of being cheered up. W/Mild man's blog had helped do the trick as well as Bike Snob for introducing me to this gem. I do not know if it was the pain killers or the actual blog, but my sorrow had soon left after reading the posts. I do think it is possibe for Kanye to have written about a set of zipp 808's seeing these pics. I would have gone with Lightweight's and Mono.
I will still be working the State Championship race, but I will not be competing for the the crown. My attention now lies on getting better and coming up with a training reigment for the winter months.

See you suckas later.

Estabrook and a Farewell...

I regret to inform all of my friends and family that I will be switching teams for the 2009 season. Team Pegasus has be more than great to me and are everything I have ever wanted in a team, but our views have grown apart. I have found that HCC appeals more to my needs as a cyclist. I 100% recommend Team Pegasus for anyone who likes to ride or race their bike. I hope there wil be no bad blood between us and I will complete my 2008 under the Pegasus uniform.

Woke up around 8 am and was too excited to fall back asleep. I was going to work the p.m. and take down the course, but teammate and friend Jason had called and was troubled by a lack of my presence. I called back and asked if they needed any extra help which he responded, "not really". I headed over to Estabrook Park because I was tired of sitting at home. When I arrived the final touches of the course were being done. I taped off a couple of sections and carried around some tape and stakes until completion.

The family came out once again with a couple of additions, which was a nice surprise. The starting line consisted of 22 riders and was about that wide across. A race was going on in ILL so our field was thin. At the start of the race I took it easy a bit and worked my way up. Lucky for me a single barrier was put up and I was able to hop over it. I saved some energy doing this, but a couple of times I was unable to get past the person in front of me because they were all over the place(a.k.a. avoiding a crash). Thomson Remo from Baraboo Sharks was killing it in the flat sections leaving me more than a couple of bike lengths behind. I usually caught up to him on the barriers or the shacains. Second last lap Jason and Cale had caught up to me. We rode together from there with Remo. On the final lap Remo made his move and turned on the heat in a flat section with pavement. I was dead by this point and assumed he would blow up and we could catch him on the shacain or barriers. Unfortunately, He knows himself better then I thought and he left our sights. On the last set of barriers I could see Matt Kamphius from Brazen Dropouts ahead of me. I should have put on the heat after the second set of barriers. It was pavement, flat and down hill in that part not to mention it meant the race was almost over. Next time I will have to think more about strategy such as good times to attack and bridge. The Pegasus Trio rolled through the finish together with Jason laid down a sprint that came from behind me trying to pass in the final straight. I can't remember how I knew he was coming or if I saw him when he was beside me, but was forced to get out of the saddle and give it my all. I beat him by less than a foot I imagine and was totally dead afterwards. It was a good race I rolled in at 8th which is what a got in Washington Park. Next race is in Northbrook, but I may sit that one out due to how I feel now. I think I might be getting sick again, but who knows.

Hit up Comet the night previous for food where I ordered mac & cheese, but with Swiss cheese instead of Chedder. Although my stomach is not one for tolerating dairy products, I live in Wisconsin and therefore by law must love cheese. One of my favorite cheeses is Swiss, which I quickly learned was a love based in moderation. Although, I felt great that I had carbed up, I did not phyiscally feel so great due to the dairy and the overwhelming taste of Swiss. Needless to say I retreated to my bed that night with what felt like a brick inside my stomach. Then upon waking the next morning I was greeted with the same pain maybe ten percent less intense. After running around and getting everything together Jason called and told me he and wife were outside. I slamed my coffee and started hauling my things to the car. While attaching my bike rack I managed to role my front tire through dog poop, but Jason stepped in it so I got off lucky. Once all packed up we went and picked up Kevin and his wife Dani. Kevin's costume was quite hilarious. He was a red M&M and had the gloves to go along with it. About 13 min later we arrived at the Washington Park and were lucky enough to find a parking spot next to Cale. On the way to registration it was begining to seem like this race was huge. We were parked about 40 yards away from the parking lot and I did not see one spot left open. We had driven about 40 yards to find our spot and cars lined both sides. While I was registering a camera man from what I think was TMJ4 approached the table and wanted to speak with someone about the race. I did not see the video or interview, but if you know of anything shoot me an email or post the link in the comments.

I did a pre ride lap and investigated the terrain. I adjusted the air pressure in my tires, which i regret doing. During the race they were way to low and at some points in th course I was hitting rim. At the start line I sat next to Kevin on the far left side of the course. When they told us to go I got in my peddle right away and started to weave through people in a effort to go to the front. After the secound lap I was sitting third and was very pleased with my performance at this point. After going into lap 4 kevin passed me, but told me to ride his wheel. I was so out of breath that I could not respond. My response would have been,"How are you able to speak? I can barely breath", but I just obeyed. I tried to ride his wheel, but it lasted about a quarter of a lap until I fell behind. He was the second single speeder to pass me, making me feel very slow. The I tried taking Mike G and Jerry P's advice about going into a bigger gear. Instantly I found pedaling it was impossible so I went back down. On the last lap a guy from Team GT powered past me and I fought to hold on to his wheel. He made some distance on a straight away before the finish line. I picked up my speed and closed the gap a little, but was worried that the trocadero guy behind me would catch me if iI blew up. I rolled in for nineth place. I do not remember getting passed by five people only three, but I was dieing the whole race so I may have not noticed it. I was really greatful for all the people that cheering me on. It makes the race alot more enjoyable if you have awesome fans yelling at you to go faster. It is even better when your mom and little sister are screaming at you and cheerin you on(thanks). Hopefully, this coming Sunday the turn out is just as big or bigger.

A couple people mentioned to me that I put a little to much out at the beginning, then slow down quite a bit throughout the race. I always feel like I am just making a position for myself, so I do not have to do it later in the race. I do get passed by people later on though, so I probably need to work on my endurance. I feel my pace at the begining is pretty good, but I am still not sure about it. Kind of a shitty post, but I am super tired and am about to take a nap...so shut it!

All Cated up

Well, I finally got my Cat 3 upgrade and did my first race in the big boy category at Badger Prairie. It was quite the race with a field of over thirty riders that were all looking to crush it. The week prior was an off weekend except if you did the WORS finale, which left a hefty chunk of us jonesin for cyclocross. The ourse was great with one set of three barriers, a barrier that was only accessible through a short cut(that no one took), and the last one being a log in the middle of an up hill. The leaders of my race were hoping over the log, a skill that is very valuable seeing that the top cat 1s were hoping it too. Those guys know what they are actually doing out there. Where I am just kind of riding around trying to look good, which worked out fairly well. So I am going to start working on the bunnyhops at a race pace and hope to break them out in a race sooner than later.

In the morning i woke up with enough time to hit Beans & Barley before going to M/Wildman's house to be picked up. I thought this errand would take me a half an hour so I alotted for such time. To my surprise it took a mere ten minutes. I headed to the randavu point regardless showing up a good twenty minutes early with the M/Wildman answering the door half naked. Once being picked up by Cale and Katie we were off to Badger Prarie only having to stop once for a pee pee break. I was nervous, thinking for some reason I would not get the "ok" to upgrade to the 3's. I did and was trembling with anticipation for the race. The pre ride I did before hand helped me out a bit with knowing what corners were going to be hairy and the overall course lay out. As for the line up I started a couple rows back, which later turned out to suck due to bottle necking. I made up most of my positions on the first and second laps. On the second lap I was behind the M/Wildman when he dropped his chain on a bumpy and speedy descent. John Fang of BKB dropped the hammer on the final climb after catching back up to me from a wreck and passed me like I was standing still. At the end of the race I came out with a seventh place finish. When the race was over I thought of a handfull of things I would do differently, but I can only apply them to the next race, since this one is now in the past. This race was the half way point through the season and since I need a lot more practice I will be able to tell if it is actually paying off.

Far Away Place

I was planning to update this thing at least once a week and so far I have been slacking. I did get pretty sick this week, but how hard is it to type out a couple paragraphs with a cold? I think it is not that hard, yet I was still lazy.

On Sunday I headed down to Hawthorn Woods with Kevin(Grey/K-murder) in hopes of speeding up my upgrade. I wanted to acquire enough points to upgrade rather than do the five race route. I am not saying that one way is better than the other, but I do like finishing well and that is a lot easier to do in the fours than threes. We left at eight in the morning and arrived an hour before Kevin needed to race. My race was even later and had arrived about four hours early for it. With registration you got a clif bar and clif gel which was awesome and since I did not bring any food with me it helped out a bit. I got a free water bottle with registration which was also cool because I constantly loose them. Kevin was rolling in the threes with a single speed which was rad. The course was not set up for a single speed at all. It had a large toboggan hill that you had to ride up then turn immediately into a steep decent then go over a barrier and either ride or run up it again. Doing this twice a lap was exhausting and since I have let my health slide since road season it was quite the task. Before Kevin's race we talked about how important it was to get out front at the beginning, since the hill is first it would need to be accomplished by the second decent of the first lap. Trying to do this later on would be much more difficult because the field would be spread out. After the second run up Kevin was in first place all the way up to the second lap where his lack of gears may have hurt him a little. I couldn't imagine putting out the effort to spin one gear like he did. He ended up rolling into third place on a single speed. I was stoked for him and his placing gave me even more motivation to do well.

After about two or three hours of sitting around watching other races it was my turn to get out there and do some damage. They staged the leaders of the series which was super annoying because they took the front line at the start. I had fallen back to second row in a field of 49 people, which was not all bad. Once we were off I started to make the jump to the front. I moved up to the top ten before we hit the hill giving me an awesome position to pass people on the climb then run up and be in front. After the climb I had crept my way up to top five, then on the decent I held it. On the run up I was fortunate enough to have Kevin running up the hill along of me screaming at me to get in front. This was the medicine I must have needed because I had gotten to the top of the hill first. On the way down and through the course I had fallen into a not to shabby third. Unfortunately, from here the race for me takes a downward spiral. After the first barrier after the hill the first place guy at the time had trouble getting into his pedals and ended up blocking the second place guy out. I saw my opportunity and got out of the saddle and put on the heat. The part of the course this happened at was technical and happens to be a weakness of mine, then adding speed made it even worse. After almost losing it on a corner I still had my first place spot and was heading towards the mud pit. Being myself and totally disregarding what Kevin had said to me about the mud pit I blasted into it planning to turn once immediately out of it. No luck, and I went off the course into a tree. While dropping the F-bomb ten to twenty times I hoped back on my bike to find myself in fifth and holding strong. Next time around, I took a corner to wide and went off the course. After being passed by three or four people I was on the bike trying to close the gap. At this time I was fed up with all of my errors and even thinking about throwing in the towel. The remaining part of the race I rode with two other guys where we traded off positions. On the last lap I found myself rounding the last turn behind the two. I quickly thought of my options and if i had enough energy to drop the hammer on the final sprint. I did and took the luxury of sprinting into seventh for a not so great placing.

I now have enough races to upgrade which i have done. I assume that everything will go smoothly and i will be racing threes one Saturday. I think I will need to start stepping it up a notch if i plan to compete with M/Wildman, Cale, and Kevin. I feel a bit intimidated, but I imagine after the first couple of races the feeling will diminish. Another scary, but real fact is in this category people make the jump to semi pro. Like I said my fitness level is not at its best, but perhaps I am already making excuses. On Saturday will come the real test during which 45 mins of hell will be rained upon thee, ending in a painful world of hurt. I am as ready as I will ever be.

Pig Lap Peak

Sunday was Lapham Peak cyclocross race as many of you know. I had managed to get a ride from Mike Garber who rides for H.C.C. and teammate Jason Ludtke. A huge thank you goes out to Mike for heading to the race a couple of hours before the start of his own race, so I could race. I feel somewhere in between great and crappy about my performance. I had been with the top two guys in the race until the second lap where I dismounted a bit late resulting in hiting the front wheel on the first barrier leaving my bike behind it and myself on the otherside. The racers in front of me asked if i was alright which was awesome since they were fighting against each other for first. My response was yeah although that was just phyiscally. This mistake had left a huge gap between them and myself. I had started to gain on them a little, but am not completely sure. Most of the time they were in my sights, but well ahead. Another errorI made and need to work on is clipping in. This costed me alot of time during the race. After the first lap I began to take count of how many times it would take me to clip back in. The majority of the time I was looking at 4-5 attempts at getting back in. I definatley have to work on everything else as well such as mounting, dismounting, cornering , running over actual barriers and a number of other things. This race was good reality check to see where my cyclocross game was.

At the start of Jasons(cat 3) race the cycling gods had opened up the clouds and let a hellish rain come down setting the stage for an epic cross race. I had wished that this would have been the weather for my race, but was not so fortunate. Everytime I saw Jason he was by himself, while looking strong. He later revealed to me he had not been feeling that way. At the end of his race he was absolutley covered in mud and grass. I have pictures that will come soon, since I don't have the cord to put them on the computer. Jason rolled in for 16th place, which is amazing for not feeling strong and riding the race solo. Mike's race was next which I was unable to watch because I was starting to get cold and was exhausted from my race. I did not want to risk the chance of getting sick so I kicked it by the truck and bathrooms. An awesome feat Mike accomplished was riding up a steep, muddy, and wet hill that I had to run up when it was dry. He had pulled out of the race early because of a flat and didn't have a extra set of wheels. What is even more impressive was he flatted about a mile and a half away from the wheel pit. He ran the whole way to the pit only to be informed by Jerry Pearce that it was not the way it used to be, where you would just take any wheel in the pit and use it. When he rolled back to the truck he had told Jason and myself he forgot to fill up his back wheel. My jaw dropped when I heard this and was speechless as was Jason. After seeing that we were incredibly gullible he told us the truth. We did not stick around for the 1 and 2 race, which James Lalonde of Trocadero absolutley crushed finishing behind his brother for 2nd. It was his first race as a cat 2 and since the field included the 1's his competition was some of the best.

This coming weekend I will be venturing down to Hawthorn Woods in Illnois for a cyclocross race. In an attempt to upgrade to the 3's faster. My race is at three so if anyone needs a ride down i will be willing to leave early to accomadate people. Until then I will be getting used to the high five in hopes of racing it to its full potential.

In the Back Yard Doing Laps

The Jonathon Page Cyclocross weekend went spectacular. Everyone told me how great of a time they had and how much fun it was. The guy from Belgium Knee Warmers was even there. Which is really cool seeing that his blog is considered one of the best in cycling. The only downside of the whole thing is that I was not there. That is right, I missed my chance to see world class riders compete in my own backyard. I consider the State my backyard and the lake my front, which is why my crib is so fresh(all that water). I did not attend because my bike is still in the process of being built up, yet I could have spectated. Anyway, I am waiting until Wednesday so Andy can teach me to hook up my derailor a.k.a. do it for me. I suppose that I could do it myself, but all the thinking i have done about not racing cyclocross has left me mentally exhausted. I do have to say congratulations to Jason "mild/wild man" Ludtke for finishing tenth and Cale Wenthur for finishing 11th. It was both there first race in the threes category. Also to James Lalonde for killing it in the threes as well by winning both days on a single speed. Katy "Snacks" Steudel for crushing it, while manging a modeling career too. By the time my bike's put together and I bribe someone to upgrade me to threes everyone will be in the twos! Great job guys!

I did manage to go on a longer ride though. It was nice although it was overcast and it took me an hour or so to actually get out the door. I had already been bumed about missing cross, then I wake up to the weather looking like it was going to rain. I did the old Port Washington ride and felt amazingly strong the whole way there (keep in mind only one way). Once I arrived I descided I needed to make up for my absense in cross, so I headed west to Saukville where after passing thourgh started to go south. I had been feeling great, but I must have left the feeling in Port as my legs started to hurt. I hustled down to Cedaburg, then headed back east to my front yard(the lake). After the short loop up north, I began the ride home while munching on a powerbar that gave me some power gas(not the kind that fuels a bike ride). At about Whitesnake Bay a black s.u.v. layed on the horn next to me. I was exhausted and was to tired to look over, until they rolled the window down then yelled, "Pick up the Pace!". It was a guy I deliver packages for, which I thought was pretty cool. I only see him a couple times a week for probably under five minutes at a time. So I was blown away that he recongised me. I soon was approching Kenwood where I dropped into the little ring where I belonged. The ride made me feel that I had accomplished something this weekend and gave me a bit more pep to get the cross bike together ASAP. So hopefully next time you see me i can give you a high five on my high five or atleast you can watch me ride it.

Congratualtions to everyone at the Sun Prarie race. Sorry if i missed you perhaps next time I can give you a shout out. Although I doubt people actually read this.

High Fives and Crappy Bike Rides

The High Five is finally here! It came in the morning yesterday, while i was at school. It looks rad, it is all white with a white fork, has silver cursive that says high five and has an integrated headset. I was pleased to see it came with a seat post and a head set, seeing that I have just discovered there is a difference between the money i pick off trees and the stuff i get from my bank. My plan would be to build it up today, but i have to work, then have class until late which will be followed by some homework. This makes for a nerve wrecking day knowing that i have finally got my cyclocross frame and fork, but have to wait to build it up. With any luck it should be built by Thursday, but I imagine that the weekend is more likely. Jonathon Page's CX race is this weekend both Saturday and Sunday. I would like to do both days, Sunday seems more of a real possibility than Saturday. My second thought is just blow off school entirely and build up the frame tonight. This way I would guarantee my readiness for the coming up races, yet an unusual feeling has fallen over me that says I should not go down this route. I remember someone telling me that is what responsibility feel like. I don't think this could be what it is because:
A. I don't want to over exert myself by going over to dictionary.com and find the actual definition.
B. I am 21 and can still get away with being naive
So I am still unclear on the name of the feeling, yet I will be going along with it and sticking to my gut, which has recently grown.

On a different note i took the trek up to Concordia like usual, but had made the mistake of leaving at six, which would make slow and cautious ride home since it gets dark earlier. I was feeling great on the whole ride there except when the sun started to retreat so did my level of comfort, since I didn't bother to bring any lights with me. As I cruised past Virmont Park(not sure of actual name) home I realized that it was completely dark and thoughts of being plowed away by a Soccer mom or Lawyer began to sink in. So I made the drastic choice to slow down by all busy intersections since most people drive like lunatics anyways, the thought of them not seeing me at night seemed very real. On the way back i noticed that Lake Drive has no street lights which added to my paranoia. I eventually turned on to Oakland and took that back deciding it was the safest route. This thought was soon interrupted when i blew the first red light and realized a cop was sitting on the other side of the intersection. My half ass ride was sure to become a complete ass or a complete ass and a half ride if I were to get pulled over. To my relief he had not turned around to pull me over, which was a bit shocking. I have heard they are a bit tougher on the cycling laws in the Shorewood and Whitefolks Bay. I probably will not be doing that again just for safety and financial purposes. Additionally the ticket would certainly make a dent on the already small budget of the HighFive. A budget that needs as much money as it can get.

I have talked about it before like I usually do, but have never actually done it until now. The blog of Teal has been born like a baby in Bethlehem in a barn on a starry night. I plan to use this as a tool to keep me training throughout the year. This is a tool to keep me motivated to stay on the bike, though the motivation that it will actually deliver I am sure is meager. When I ride I often run into situations that leave me thinking, "what the hell just happened?" then shortly after the ride the memory is forgotten like the motivation that this blog will bring. Even though the story from it would have been mediocre and the number of people I tell that would enjoy it would be less than 1%, I still feel compelled to tell it. So to my reader(s) be prepared for poor grammar, illogical thinking, and a lot of opinion about cycling with very little fact.