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Zamora Road Race
Place - 2nd
Sleep Time - 8hrs
Resting Heart Rate - 54 bpm
Max Heart Rate - 199 bpm
Weight - 154lbs
Feel Good Rating - 6.5
Food - Room Service and Musile
"It's 7:30 in the morning. Why am I awake? I should go to sleep. There's an hour till breakfast. I should go back to sleep, but I'm not tired. Ok
- I'm going to take a shower."
This is how my day started.
We stayed at the Sheraton in downtown Sacramento and my race wasn't till 11 o'clock and Zamora (where the race was going to be held) was about an hour away which basically meant that I had 2 hours to hang out till we had to leave. So I did the only thing that came to mind. Got back in bed and turned on the T.V.
Some movie with Jamie Foxx in it was on. It was pretty much a crappy action film, but it was entertaining enough to keep me amused. I tried not to think of the race, but it strolled through my head a little bit. I really didn't know what it was going to be like. All that I knew about the race was that it was in Zamora and it was right next to the highway so there weren't really going to be any hills, but even with this knowledge the thought of the KOM in the race kept running through my head.
After a little more of the movie and pondering the race breakfast arrived. The sequence happened something like this.
*Knock on the door*
The man in the bed jumps up (Tyler) - runs to the door and proceeds to tear the cart out of the poor mans hand (Room service attendant #1) - then shoves a tip in his hand and closes the door. The man (Tyler) then grabs ever bit of food that he can and ingests it.
****Fine print****
Tyler Gough does not endorse, recommend, or even indulge in any foods containing hydrogenated oils, high sugar, processed cheese, unripe bananas, and/or other foods that are bad for the human body - this includes nutter butters, hohos, ballpark nachos, anything at Denny's and other foods that fit into this category of foods. These foods are to be consumed at your own risk and Tyler Gough and associates do not hold any responsibility for anything that may be a consequence of there consumption - All rights reserved - Tyler Gough and Associates
After eating some eggs, fruit, orange juice, potatoes, and some muesli I got dressed, and we went downstairs and checked out.
The drive to Zamora was pretty uneventful. I slept for a little bit of time and then woke up. That was about the most eventful bit of the whole trip. So - I won't go into much detail about it.
When we made it to the race we had to park about a mile away from the barn that was the home of registration. So - I got dressed.
I put on my Craft base layer on and my Bergamo kit. Then I ratcheted up my Shimano R-215s and hopped on my Specialized E5 and went to registration. To get to registration you had to ride on the course. There was a strong cross wind and I knew from the minute that I started on the road that the race was going to be hard. I felt as if I was going to be blown off the road. But - that wasn't going to stop me I was going to race even if it was snowing, and despite the wind it was a pretty nice day. This was going to be fun.
When I arrived at registration there was a really short pre-registration line. It was just me. So it didn't take long to get my number, but I noticed something. There was my Bergamo long sleeve jersey that I had dropped at the start of the race the previous day. I put it on and headed back to the car.
After getting all of the stuff I needed for the race, I went to warm up and go to the restroom.
During my warm up I really felt how bad the wind was. You really could have been blown over in a gust. It was really bad. I did a couple of sprints and then turned around, and that's when the start of the mess began.
I went down on some loose gravel.
I stayed down for a little while. When I finally got up I noticed that I had messed my bike was pretty messed up. The worst part was that I was stuck about 2 miles away, my bikes was messed up, and I had 10 minutes.
I sprinted as fast as my pain stricken legs would let me. Then I noticed that I couldn't shift. My shifter was jammed. I was really in trouble- I had to fix this, get my shifter set right and then get to the start of the race and I had about 7 minutes.
I say my dad and yelled at him to get back to the car. He ran over, and we got everything working. My leg hurt like crap though. I hoped on and headed over to the start - according to my Polar Monitor I had 3 minutes so I was ok. When I got to the start - there wasn't a feild... So I started chasing and saw that they had already started - crap - I started chasing, and I was soon in the group.
****Fine print****
Just like I said before - I don't recommend this and it's not my fault if you do this and something bad happens to you so - don't take it as advice. Get it - got it - good.
The race went well the first couple of laps were ok. The pace was pretty fast but nothing to terrible. There were a couple of attacks and the stretch that was a hard headwind dropped people each lap. But in the end nothing exciting really happened. I felt pretty sore and wanted to just pullover, but I rode just kept going and thought that I'd wait and see what happened.
On lap number three Collin from Team Spine attacked and got off the front of the group. He held about a 30-40 second gap for about half a lap. When I saw that this was going to be a real move and that the group wasn't going to do anything, I knew that I had to start doing something; I attacked.
David from Davis covered and the two of us worked together to try and bridge the gap between Collin and ourselves. We made a little bit of time up on him, but when we got to about 10 seconds the pack caught us and soon we were back to square one.
About 10 minutes later there was some motion at the front of the race so I moved up. There was an attack and I covered dragging a couple of riders with me. We had a gap and the winner of the previous day's race was there, as well as four other racers including a teammate of the winner and myself.
We kept a good pace, and because the pack had pretty much given up we knew that we had a good chance to stay off.
The break worked well together. We kept pace and everyone seemed to want it to succeed so there were no attacks. It was cool. I went from just surviving to almost assured top five.
On the last lap the "green team" as I called them. Started attacking, and sense the other two riders from the group seem unable to respond I had to take it into my own hands to stay on top of the surges. This wore me out a little but was worth it because if I would have been dropped in the wind it would have been the end of the race.
On the last strait everyone slowed up to see who was going to make the first move. I knew that it had to be me. I had to be the one to get off if I wanted any chance of winning, so I made my move.
I got a good gap but it started to shrink. I tried to kick, but I was nicked at the line. I guess that that's just how it happens sometimes.
I could have made a hundred excuses for losing at the line. Everything from crashing, to taking the wrong line in the last turn, but that won't make me a better rider, so I'll just put this behind me and remember a windy day in end of winter - with a good breakfast.
****Fine print****
If you have not done so yet, go back and read the first section of fine print. It will clarify my beliefs on a good breakfast and that it's your problem if you eat something bad. Not mine - so bug some one else. All rights reserved. Tyler Gough and Associates
Dinuba Crit
Ride Time - 3hrs
Place - 1st and 1st
Sleep Time - 11s
Resting Heart Rate - 52 bpm
Max Heart Rate - 190 bpm
Weight - 151lbs
Feel Good Rating - 85
Food - Muesli, water, OJ, yogurt
I felt good. I basically slept forever then woke up and raced. It was a lot of fun. I wish that there would have been some more riders though. But none the less I still was in a break and I still won both races so - overall... not that bad.
Pine Flat
Ride Time - 195min
Place - 4th
Sleep Time - 8hrs
Resting Heart Rate - 52 bpm
Max Heart Rate - 190 bpm
Weight - 151lbs
Feel Good Rating - 6.5
Food - Muesli, water, OJ, yogurt
That sucked. I defiantly felt yesterday a lot and I wish that I would have recovered a little more. But - whatever I didn't and I just need to get used to dealing with the pain. It's going to happened and I just have to except it and fight on. Anyway - got separated when the strong got going (there not that strong - I just was a crap rider today) then when the weak got whinny - I rode away to escape the annoying bitching and whinging. The guys at the front are always more entertaining then those that ride the lowly ranks of the rear of the peleton. Ciao
Cantua Creek
Ride Time - 240min
Place - 1st
Sleep Time - 8hrs
Resting Heart Rate - 52 bpm
Max Heart Rate - 190 bpm
Weight - 151lbs
Feel Good Rating - 6.5
Food -Pasta, water, OJ, yogurt
So I basically won this because I sat in and hung out till I could win. Truth is that it hurt me though. I need to be better about the way that I ride. Especially on the multi-day stuff, because I want to be better at it. I need to learn more about how I ride and how I need to ride to keep my legs fresh for multiple days. Anyway - I got a tee shirt
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