Rest Weekend

Yo!

I had this weekend off from racing and its been very relaxing! I raced last Monday and it went super well! 1st place! There were 3 of us on the lead lap of the 'B' race and I felt very confident coming through on the last lap, I feel very fast in a sprint and it will only get better now. I went early just about at the start of the final turn at Martin and I won by a good amount. I think one of my big strengths is going early in sprints because it seems like I am able to hold a sprint for a long time, which is a very good thing.

I met Mike Jones and we rode together for about an hour and it was the most informative ride of my life. Mike taught me about his '4 T's of sprinting' and I'm really hoping to implement them in my racing. The races I have been doing will benefit greatly from a much better sprint so learning so much from Mike is probably the best thing to ever happen in my cycling career. It feels very good for someone so seasoned as Mike to believe in me and tell me that I can still do big things with my cycling career.

We went over 3 new workouts that I'm going to incorporate into my training, I believe some structured training will help very much with my development. My hopes for the rest of this year are to get some solid results in Cat 4 and be a Cat 3 racer by the end of the year so I can spend the entire next year in Cat 3, where I feel I need to be. I'm going to start going on the Wednesday night ride as long as work doesn't get in the way, which I feel like it will be better once I get a full time job, which I feel is very close. I'm super excited for the rest of this racing season, I feel very confident and on top of things after talking with Mike.

4/14 Eagle Creek Crit, Indianapolis, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/22 Notre Dame Crit, South Bend, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/29 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 22nd Cat 4/5 (40)
5/6 Kalamazoo Half Marathon Kalamazoo, MI 13th (27) AG (M 19-24) / 249th (1392) Overall
5/7 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st 'B race' (9)
5/12 Tiger Lane Crit, Memphis, TN DNF Cat 3/4
5/20 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 6th Cat 4/5 (25)
5/28 Waterford Hills Circuit Race, Clarkston, MI 13th Cat 4/5 (38)
6/3 Cobb Park Crit, Kankakee, IL 18th Cat 4/5 (36)
6/4 131 Racing Series, Matin, MI 2nd 'B race' (6)
6/9 BTR Crit, Kalamazoo, MI 8th Cat 4 (16) 20th Cat 3/4 (32) $30
6/10 Race for Wishes, Lawton, MI DNS
6/15 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI 26th Cat 3/4 (43)
6/18 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st 'B race' (9)
6/24 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st 'B race' (10)
7/1 Great Lakes State Classic, Marne, MI
7/8 Ashland Crit, Ashland, OH
7/14 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/15 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/21 Whiskey City Twilight Challenge, Lawrenceburg, IN
7/22 Tour of Port Sheldon, West Olive, MI
7/29 Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/19 Gaslight Crit, Grand Rapids, MI
8/26 54th Annual Debaets-Devos Pro-Am, Detroit, MI

I think I need to take some time to show some appreciation to my roommates, especially Nate and Madi who I have spent a lot of time with recently. Nate is doing big things this coming year and driving a damn van across the country, I'm super excited for him and I'm sure this will be a fantastic adventure! Madi is the best, we rode bikes on the KRVT today and stopped at Genos and Twisters then we went to Applebees and it was super fun! Madi is doing big things too and I'm super excited for her to see how much she does this next year!

Bianca and Phil got married Saturday night at our cousins Stephanie's house! It was a beautiful wedding and we had the most fun we have ever had together. Betsy's boyfriend Mason is super cool, we love Mrs. Lacy, and we all danced the night away and had to be driven home, always the best of nights! Congratulations Bianca and Phil, you two are the best and super perfect for each other!

My writing is going downhill, but it is pretty late at night and today was a big day for me! I'm hoping the results start to turn for the rest of this year, and I think they will get a lot better.

Cheers! CE

Zeeland Criterium

Good morning!

I would pay the government a significant amount of money if they could help me sleep in past 7am on any given day, but here we are. I couldn't tell you the last time I slept in past 7am and, and I have to pay $110 to renew the tabs on my car. That letter was an unpleasant surprise when I went to my parents house yesterday for dinner.

I don't have a lot to say this week. I think I understand how my racing is going, it is about the same every weekend. I can hang with the main group, which has been very fast, but I am not at all a factor at the end of races. On Friday I went up to Zeeland for the Zeeland Crit, a very cool race in downtown Zeeland. There were about 40 people in this race, so it was big and it was very fast as well. At the end, our average speed was 27 mph, 27 mph!

The entire race I was trying to move up the field and get towards the front, but I never did it. I think my training needs to be more structured, and it might even be better to train inside, where I can design my own very specific workouts and not spend time doing riding that is not beneficial to my goal: getting top 10's at these races I'm going to. I think I might train inside for this week and maybe next week, and see how my results are coming up. I have this weekend off of racing, so it might be a good time to try some new training.

I have a plan, and I'm going to see if it works! Like I said last week, I think this year is for learning what will work, next year will be the one!

4/14 Eagle Creek Crit, Indianapolis, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/22 Notre Dame Crit, South Bend, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/29 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 22nd Cat 4/5 (40)
5/6 Kalamazoo Half Marathon Kalamazoo, MI 13th (27) AG (M 19-24) / 249th (1392) Overall
5/7 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st "B race" (9)
5/12 Tiger Lane Crit, Memphis, TN DNF Cat 3/4
5/20 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 6th Cat 4/5 (25)
5/28 Waterford Hills Circuit Race, Clarkston, MI 13th Cat 4/5 (38)
6/3 Cobb Park Crit, Kankakee, IL 18th Cat 4/5 (36)
6/4 131 Racing Series, Matin, MI 2nd "B race" (6)
6/9 BTR Crit, Kalamazoo, MI 8th Cat 4 (16) 20th Cat 3/4 (32) $30
6/10 Race for Wishes, Lawton, MI DNS
6/15 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI 26th Cat 3/4 (43)
7/1 Great Lakes State Classic, Marne, MI
7/8 Ashland Crit, Ashland, OH
7/14 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/15 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/21 Whiskey City Twilight Challenge, Lawrenceburg, IN
7/29 Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/19 Gaslight Crit, Grand Rapids, MI
8/26 54th Annual Debaets-Devos Pro-Am, Detroit, MI

Yeah, 26th out of 43 isn't the best, I finished in the bunch sprint. Like I said, I'm going to take these next couple weeks, race on Monday nights, but I think I want to do some very specific indoor training and we will see if that makes me a factor in these races for the rest of the season. I feel like I am slow out of corners, and I don't think I have enough confidence to move up in groups, which that has to change but its all mental at this point. I feel like most of this racing is mental, and it's hard to get in that mindset that when I am racing, my only goal is to beat every one else, I don't think I am there yet.

So looking at that first result, it was pretty good! There wasn't much time to train outside before that race, so all my training was on Zwift, so maybe it is going to be a good idea to move my training back inside! In that race, I was towards the front the entire time, so that is where I need to be during the next races. I need to do what works for me, and I need to stay towards the front and chase down attacks.

It looks like July is going to be packed full of races, a lot of driving for those races but I am very excited. I think some more deliberate training is going to help very much. I probably shouldn't be as excited as I am about this next part yet, but the girlfriend situation is going very well! We've been on like 6 or 7 dates and they have all been the best. She is out of town for the next couple days, and I'm going over to my parents for dinner tonight for Father's Day, but I am super excited to have the healthiest relationship of my life, it feels very good.

Tricia and I went to Black Owl for coffee with her best friend, and it was a great time, and it is always a great time with her! I mean just look at this picture, everything is perfect! I actually spent a lot of the week going on dates with Tricia and either her friends or my friends, and double-dates are the best! It is been a nice distraction from the bike, but I'm still able to find time to train!

Very, very excited about the full-time job thing at Advia, I think it might even be in the Accounting department! I don't want to move back in with my parents in August, so I think as long as the full time thing works out, which again looks like it is all happening very quickly (:, I'll get a place by myself for next year and it'll be great.

So, my life is moving very quickly and I'm loving it, I finally feel like I am growing up, and let me tell you, it is very strange considering where I was 4 years ago. Every person has a different journey at this point in their lives, and mine is strange but it looks like it is all going to work out!

Hope springs eternal!!

Cheers! CE

All of the rain!

It is a damp and drizzly November in my heart the last couple of days. It is also a damp and drizzly November outside, and it is awful. BTR was Saturday and Race for Wishes today. BTR went well, I'm still learning a lot and I think this year and this season has been about learning and will continue to be about learning.

BTR started out fast and it stayed fast the entire way. By the end of the race, our average speed was just under 27 mph, which is fast!! I thought I played the race pretty well during the beginning and towards the middle. I stayed out of the front and out of the wind, but I may have been a little too far back in the pack as I caught myself a couple times chasing. My chases were successful, I would catch back on, but it was a lot of extra work trying to get back on the group. Ideally, I would have been riding a little bit more towards the front. A few attacks went and every one came back. I think I tried to hop in a move but it came back almost before it got started.

At the beginning of the race I tried riding in the front of the main group but I was doing so much chasing making sure no breaks got away that I burned a lot of my matches so I moved back a bit, probably too much. I was out of breath and it was hard to catch my breath again. The legs felt fine but its just that feeling of almost suffocating that really takes a lot out of me. Towards the end of the race with about 5 laps left, a move did form and they actually stayed away the rest of the race until the very last lap when the main group brought back a couple of the guys in the break. Coming around the last turn, I would have liked to have been a little bit further up in the pack, I just didn't have the legs or the confidence to make a move.

It was raining very hard before my race at Race for Wishes so I decided racing in a road race wasn't worth the risk of getting sick, crashing, burning myself out for the rest of the season, so I drove back home. I'm disappointed the weather wasn't better this weekend, but I did win $30 at BTR so thats pretty cool!

This was my big weekend and the rain took a lot of that away. The rain stayed away from BTR for most of our race, it didn't start raining until about 2 or 3 laps left and it wasn't really a factor. Like I've said, this year is about learning so I really want the next couple races to be a little more exploratory. I want to go out in a break, I want to attack with a lap left out of the main field, I want to make a move coming around the final turn; I really just want to try some things and see what works.

I still have a few races left, more than a few, and I'm excited for them.

4/14 Eagle Creek Crit, Indianapolis, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/22 Notre Dame Crit, South Bend, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/29 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 22nd Cat 4/5 (40)
5/6 Kalamazoo Half Marathon Kalamazoo, MI 13th (27) AG (M 19-24) / 249th (1392) Overall
5/7 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st "B race" (9)
5/12 Tiger Lane Crit, Memphis, TN DNF Cat 3/4
5/20 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 6th Cat 4/5 (25)
5/28 Waterford Hills Circuit Race, Clarkston, MI 13th Cat 4/5 (38)
6/3 Cobb Park Crit, Kankakee, IL 18th Cat 4/5 (36)
6/4 131 Racing Series, Matin, MI 2nd "B race" (6)
6/9 BTR Crit, Kalamazoo, MI 8th Cat 4 (16) 20th Cat 3/4 (32) $30
6/10 Race for Wishes, Lawton, MI DNS
6/15 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI
7/1 Great Lakes State Classic, Marne, MI
7/8 Ashland Crit, Ashland, OH
7/14 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/15 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/21 Whiskey City Twilight Challenge, Lawrenceburg, IN
7/29 Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/26 54th Annual Debaets-Devos Pro-Am, Detroit, MI

Uncle Dave got married to Grandma Gail this weekend on Friday and it was beautiful and I'm so happy for them both and all my pictures will be from that!

Looking forward to more races and trying to figure out what works for me. Next year will be my year, this year is for getting used to things and learning all there is to learn!

Cheers! CE

Pre-Kalamazoo Race Weekend

I've been thinking about Kalamazoo Race Weekend; Saturday at BTR and Sunday in Lawton since this last winter. It is these two races that motivate me to get through all this training, drive these long hours to races, pushes me to keep going. My mind has been elsewhere all week; I've caught myself on multiple occasions day dreaming about things that have no relevance to what I'm doing, whether that is driving or riding bikes primarily. Maybe this is good, maybe I need some mental time away from the bike. My fitness was very good today, I think things are on the up-swing just in time.

This is a bit of a recurring theme, but I didn't ride two days early in the week, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I think this may be putting my training back a little bit. I had Thursday off from work so I actually did two rides. In the morning around 11 I rode over to the BTR course and did the full 50 minutes, which is what the Cat 3/4 race will be in length this next Saturday. It felt good but the wind was brutal so I was a bit slower than I would have liked, but confidence is high ahead of the weekend.

Last Monday, Memorial Day, I drove over to the east side of the state to race at Waterford Speedway and it was very cool. It was a race track for cars and it was a 'street' course so it had a lot of sweeping turns which made for a very fast race. There was a brutal little climb before we turned onto the back side of the track and that split up a lot of the race. Just about from the beginning there was a break of about 7 or 8 and it stuck the entire time. After this race, I decided I needed to start watching breaks more, whenever more than one or two guys go, I need to follow. I finished that race with the main pack, I was second wheel in the main group coming around the final turn but my sprint let me down a bit and I finished 13th in the Cat 4/5 race out of 38 riders.

Pedal's Thursday Night Ride was a little cagey, lets just say when I'm in the front doing the work and I pull off, I'll never try to get back in the pace line until I'm at the back. I don't really want to talk about this one more. Some guy chewed me out pretty good and I'm just glad that didn't affect my racing this weekend.

Took the night off Friday, nervous about the Lawton race on Sunday as that race is not a crit and I believe is 50 miles. I know I can ride 50 miles, I'm not sure if I can race 50 miles. Not super high hopes for Race for Wishes, but we will see what happens; fake confidence is key in most situations!

Went for a nice recovery ride on Saturday, trying to keep my heart rate at or below 120. I did that most of the time but opened up the legs for the 'Campus Climb', in which yours truly is the new KOM!!

Sunday! Drove the 3 hours to Kankakee, Illinois where I raced the Cat 4/5 Cobb Park Crit. It was a beautiful park, but I couldn't help but notice the dismal towns and living conditions on the way down there once I got off the highway. South of Chicago is not doing very well right now, and it was odd to see just about an entire city abandoned.

This race preparation finally fell perfectly into place! Found a place to park, checked-in, and set up my trainer next to my car so I could see the races going on as well. I think this might be my new strategy, warming up on my trainer instead of riding around. I feel like riding on the trainer I can focus more on what kind of warm up or what exercise I'm doing; whether that is spinning real fast or mashing the pedals or standing up and pretending to climb, its all is easier to focus on, on the trainer!

It was really very windy on the Kankakee river today, so no breaks were able to stick or even start to form. I did come around the last corner about the middle of the race and kinda made a move. I looked behind me and I had a sizable gap but I knew I couldn't race solo and get any sort of result; other than burning all my matches far too early. I really only did this because the announcer was announcing the name of the leader for each lap, and I wanted him to say my name! Never heard him say it though so maybe this was a bit wasteful. While I was out in front, another guy rode up from behind me and as he was going past me he told me to grab his wheel, which I couldn't quite do. A teammate of his came past me next and I grabbed his wheel but we were never able to catch the guy in front to form a break so the entire field came back together again.

Another guy during the race yelled at me for taking a wrong line, which I admit I did but I see people do it all the time, like what is the big deal dude? Anyway probably not going to try to do that again, try to pass people on a turn; it is ill-advised. The whole field was together on the last lap, I was sitting about mid-pack and all of a sudden the race turned up a couple notches. We sprinted out of every corner the entire race and coming down the back stretch and into the final sweeping turn we were really cookin'. The speed was so fast and I was caught unawares, positioning kind of got away from me and I settled for 18th out of 36. Again, the entire field was together at the end and the leader only finished 2 seconds ahead of me.

What I can take from today's race is that my fitness is good. I am fast and now we just need to learn how to win. I should have been more towards the front on the last couple laps, especially coming around the second to last turn on the last lap before the very fast, downhill back stretch before the final turn. If I could have positioned myself better, I believe my result would have been much better as well.

Information overload today, but things are looking up for this next weekend. I'm racing tomorrow at Martin, then all eyes are on the Kalamazoo Race Weekend. Only working Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, that will be nice as well. I am going to Uncle Dave and Gail's wedding on Friday, and the key will be not drinking very much, if at all! I hope all my 'fans' can make it out to next weeks race at Western Michigan University's Technology and Research park on Saturday. Contact me somewhere if you want more information, it would mean a lot to me to have people cheering me on, that is what is missing at these races so far, people cheering for me. This is the race I have been focusing on and I hope hope hope it is a very good result for me.

4/14 Eagle Creek Crit, Indianapolis, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/22 Notre Dame Crit, South Bend, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/29 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 22nd Cat 4/5 (40)
5/6 Kalamazoo Half Marathon Kalamazoo, MI 13th (27) AG (M 19-24) / 249th (1392) Overall
5/7 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st "B race" (9)
5/12 Tiger Lane Crit, Memphis, TN DNF Cat 3/4
5/20 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 6th Cat 4/5 (25)
5/28 Waterford Hills Circuit Race, Clarkston, MI 13th Cat 4/5 (38)
6/3 Cobb Park Crit, Kankakee, IL 18th Cat 4/5 (36)
6/4 131 Racing Series, Matin, MI
6/9 BTR Crit, Kalamazoo, MI
6/10 Race for Wishes, Lawton, MI
6/15 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI
7/15 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI

Thank you for following my adventures so far this year, it means a lot to me that so many people have read my unorganized, often typo-strewn posts!

Ha! Almost forgot, have a date planned for later this week with a pretty rad gal, very much looking forward to that and hope it can take my mind off of bikes and racing and all this nervous energy and anxiety that is building up ahead of next weekend.

Cheers! CE