I will be racing in the Cat 4-5 group, and I am a little nervous. There are two main reasons for this, the first is that it will be my first crit. I went over my strategy with my coach, and I need to concentrate on four things:

1. Stay near front – no more than 5-7 deep
2. Stay out of trouble
3. Get to last two laps before making a break
4. Get there early and be on front of the pack at start

I suppose those things are similar to a normal race. He told me some other things, like make a break before the last corner if I am going to make one, and do whatever it takes not to get dropped, what weren’t part of the main game plan. Since this is only my first sanctioned race, it matters more that I finish it than whether I finish well.

I said two things were bothering me about the race. The second is that I will be in with the Cat 4’s and Cat 5’s. I am sure it won’t be as bad as it is made to seem, but almost every blog I have read mentions how inexperienced and bad at group riding the some of the Cat 5’s are.

I will have a full report posted tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The Pista Elite is a team based out of Cleveland, OH. It is mainly a juniors and masters team, with not many in between. Some of the members, juniors included, race internationally. It is also attached to several other competitive teams, including Texas Roadhouse, Black Dog, and America’s Cycling Team.

The benefits of being a member of the Pista Elite are great! There are several things I have to do to stay a member of the team, all very easy. I need to race in at least five sanctioned races throughout the year, wear the team kit at all races, and send my race results in to the team within 72 hours, no matter how good they are. In exchange, I get access to a rich network of local cyclists and potentially an “in” to college teams and scholarships. I also have access to a large equipment bank at no charge and can borrow whatever I need at any time, including bikes and carbon wheels. They even go as far as to provide clothing, not just for racing, but for training as well.

I hope this opportunity turn out to be as good as it is on paper. I sure am excited about it!

6/20 – Granville Grand Prix Crit
8/2 – Cleveland Triathlon (Sprint Distance – My First Tri Ever!)
8/9 – Kinzua Classic
8/15 – Wine Country Classic TT
8/15 – Wine Country Classic Crit
8/16 – Wine Country Classic RR
8/23 – Livestrong Challenge Century
9/5 – Long Street Tour (maybe)
9/6 – Tour de Tamarack

In addition to these, I have Tuesday night training races and possibly Thursday night track races if I am interested, and I will be probably adding more races as I go through the year.

I really enjoy cycling, and now I want to take it to the next level. A few weeks ago, I started looking for a coach, I started my search by researching the topic of how to find a good coach. My primary reference source was a blog post by DC Rainmaker, Thoughts on Triathlon Coaching. After reading this article, I realized that I needed to be really careful about who I chose as my coach, I wanted to be sure that if I was giving up the $100 every month, I would be getting my money’s worth. I also know I wanted a coach that used TrainingPeaks, so I went to the TrainingPeaks website and found a couple of coaches that looked good.

The first one I found, Angela Forester Training, looked like she would be a really good coach. She was local, and it seemed like a credible operation. I sent her an email and never heard back. That was the end of that.

After that failure, I went back to the TrainingPeaks directory to look for someone else. That’s when I found the coach I ended up hiring, Curtis Tolson. So far, I have been coached by him for about a month. He is very helpful, finding a team for me within the first two weeks of my time with him. When I call or email him, he will get back to me within around a day at the most. Shorter if I send him a text. Every month, he writes my workouts to TrainingPeaks, which is fairly easy, although it means I now keep 6 training logs, SportTracks, TrainingPeaks, Garmin Connect, WKO+, Garmin Training Center, and Gyminee (now Daily Burn). The best part of it, though, is that he keeps me accountable and on track. If I miss one day of training, he won’t say too much, but any more than that, and he will call or email me to politely, but sternly tell me to get my ass back on the bike.

Over the past month, I have had the opportunity to do many types of workouts, many of which I would have never thought to do on my own, such as cornering drills. I am also training with HR and power, which is exciting. I monitored HR before, but didn’t use it to train with.

I almost forgot, I never said exactly why I got a coach. This year, I am going to start racing, and I plan to get serious about the sport of cycling. I am unable to do this on my own. Sure, I can do workouts out of magazines and stuff like that, but that wouldn’t provide near as much benefit of having a dynamic cycling program and someone to guide me through the sport at my own pace.

Now that school is out, I am going to start catching up on my blogging. This week, you can expect at least four articles, The Pista Elite, Rodger’s Ride to Niagara Falls 2009, Niagara on the Lake, and my 2009 racing schedule.

http://iwannagetphysical.blogspot.com/2009/06/who-wants-free-pair-of-shoes.html

Unrelated to this ride, I got an iPhone (which also means I now have a camera) for my birthday last week, so I am going to post the pictures from the ride below, instead of a narrative.

Starting out, it was a great day. I took this after being chased by a huge tractor for about two miles. It’s all farms where I live, so this isn’t that uncommon.

I took a new road this time as I headed West out of town. The huge hole you see is actually some type of strip mine.

Across the street from the mine was huge piles of dirt and some farm equipment under a single tree. I am not sure what the white stuff on the ground is, I didn’t notice it when I was taking the picture.

About another mile down the road was this farm, which looks exactly the same as the one across from my grandma’s old house in PA. You can really see the wind, at least in the grass. I was battling a 17mph headwind as I went out.

Heading South, I decided on this long, straight, poorly maintained road in the middle of nowhere.

Another look at the horrible surface of the road. The views are great, but roads like this really make me want to live in the city!

Crossing a small bridge, still heading down this small road. Soon after, I was chased be two pitbulls, I felt like I was in the one scene in “American Flyers” (perhaps the best movie about biking ever made!) where the brother are out training with “Eddy.” ( see the video below)

I didn’t get any pictures for the 15 miles following the dog, but I snapped a few as as was coming back down Leaver to get home.

The ride was a great way to kick off spring, and I am so happy I have a camera again! One thing I noticed was that I really need to work more on my nutrition, especially pre-ride. I was feeling pretty empty before going out, having only a bagel, and by the time I got back, I was starved.

Thanks to the great weather, the following Monday was the first day I could commute to school on my bike so far this year.

I am going to leave with saying I am [probably] going to have some exciting news regarding my biking career that I can tell you next week, as soon as it is finalized.

The first day we went on a slow paced eight mile loop through West Akron. This was only the second ride this year where I could wear shorts, thanks to the seventy degree weather. Below is a map, but you should know it wasn’t really a planned route, we were just playing it by ear and didn’t really know where we would end up. From my uncle’s house on Stadleman, we went up to Sand Run Park on treaty road. Once we got to Sand Run Park, we hid our bikes in the tree line and walked into the woods a little bit. We didn’t realize this at the time, but we weren’t permitted to go in the woods off the trails. The park ranger did though, and soon was standing back at the top of the hill, watching us. When we got back, he said it was Park policy that we weren’t aloud to go off the trails, despite it being public land we pay taxes on. Overall, the ride was excellent and we had fun. The heat was also great, it felt like summer again. Like I said before though, it was fairly slow, more of a warm-up for me, so I went out again about an hour later for some intervals.

I laid out a short loop, Google Maps said it was 2.2 miles from start to finish. It was rush hour and I wanted to stay in the better neighborhoods, that meant I had to stay off busy roads and not go to far East (into the city) or South. The route I took had me go up Orlando, over Elmdale, then Jefferson, down South Rose, and finally back over to Orlando via Delia. Unfortunately,  since my GPS is broken, I was unable to log this route, so I added a map to the left, but it also prevented me from training based on HR. I had to just go by how it felt. I decided to sprint on Elmdale and recover during the rest of the route. I did this four times, for a total of about 9 miles. I think I was approaching V02 max on the sprints, but again, I don’t know for sure without my Garmin. This ride was great training and I was exhausted for the rest of the day.

The next day, Saturday, I had the chance to get up to Eddy’s Bike Shop in Montrose. I got a great aerodynamic mirror from SprintTech that I can use while in city traffic. We also convinced my aunt to get a bike this summer and she will probably get a Specialized comfort bike next week.

After we got back from Eddy’s,  my uncle wanted to go for another ride, this time only about 5 miles. We went up into the neighborhood around Elm Hill Park?.Again I had a great time and my uncle did as well. I am really excited about how he is getting involved with the cycling as a pastime. As I wrote a previous post, he just got his bike last October and has been getting out a little bit every day, except for during the winter. Recently he has gotten much better at shifting and has also been able to sit on several climbs where he used to need to stand.

After he went back to the house, I went back out for a fast-paced, but short ride. My route took me over to Market, then I traveled a little on the busy streets. It was actually pretty easy to keep up with the cars going ~25mph for the short stretches where I got a chance to do it. It was a little over six miles. The city riding was exhilarating, changing lanes during rush hour on a bike is exciting and the feeling of almost crashing into the rear of a SUV because they are going slower than you is really motivating. 

Overall it was a great weekend for riding and I can’t wait for the nice weather to come back to stay!

Tires
Inspect for cuts and worn spots
Check tire pressure

Crank and bottom bracket
Check cone adjustment
Tighten crank arms and pedals

Headset
Check for worn parts and adjust

Handlebar and stem
Tighten stem bolt
Tighten handlebar anchor bolts
Tighten brake levers, shifters, and bar ends

Lubricate all external parts

Gears
Inspect freebody or freewheel
Inspect and adjust derailleurs
Inspect chain for worn links
Inspect cables and check tension

Wheels
Check cone adjustment
Check spoke tension
Check Wheel Alignment

Brakes
Inspect Brake Shoes and Cables
Adjust Brake Shoe Angle
Tighten brake levers
Set cable tension

Seat
Check and tighten seat post clamp

Clean the Bike

I want to use the remainder of this post to tell you about the first outdoor ride this year, despite it happening a few weeks ago.

The weather in the beginning of March was great, 70 degrees and sunny, and after school I decided to go on an eleven mile loop. I went down Rheam Road, through Clinton, down Warwick Road, through Canal Fulton, and finally back up Leaver to home. I will call this the “Warwick Loop” from now on on this blog. The ride itself was pretty uneventful, but it felt great.

I am sure a large part of this was because it was my first outdoor ride of the year, but I was also extremely fast. I am not sure exactly how fast since my Garmin has officially broken, but I felt like my average went up a good 2-3mph. I believe there are many reasons for my speed increase, but I think a large part of it was because of my football lifting program. (BTW, I was already tired when I did this ride, since I had done deadlift and power clean about an hour before I headed out)

I also had a new helmet, the Giro Atmos I got for Christmas. It felt like an air conditioner for my head. The 20-some vents funneled air into the helmet and made my hair blow, even at low speeds. The Atmos was also very light, it weighed just a couple of grams and was mad partly of carbon fiber.

My increased lung capacity was also a factor in increasing my performance on this ride. You may remember that I blogged about the PowerLung Sport that I got for Christmas, and I have been using that often. You can expect a full review on it a little later this spring.

The weather has since grown cold again since this ride, but I know spring is on it’s way. Next week is break, and my plan is to get many of my base miles in , at least so I can break in my new saddle!

Bench Press: 155 (+5lbs.)
Squat: 265 (+20lbs.)
Power Clean: 145lbs. (No Change)

Max Weight for Bench

Max Weight for Squat

We arrived at the grassy parking lot across form the closed down amusement park within just a couple of minutes. We took the three sleek road bikes off the rack and began riding. We first cut through the park (we could because they closed down due to financial troubles) and turned left onto the road on the other side.

Today was a perfect day for a good ride. The temperature was about 75 degrees, but no humidity existed. We talked a little, but we mostly enjoyed the view. We were in rural Pennsylvania, and we passed through miles of farmland. effortlessly spinning along.

Our first stop was a nature preserve. We rode up a long driveway through an old forest. It seemed like every bird was out singing that day. We went inside, looking around a little, but were mostly there to fill our waterbottles and use the restroom. The preserve was just a small building overlooking Conneaut Lake. We were getting hungry, so we decided to move along on our journey.

After riding several more miles, we came to where we would eat breakfast. It was a little diner, a mom and pop greasy spoon type of place, with tons of personality. When we walked in , we went under a white archway, decorated with morning glories. Inside, the walls were smothered with old pictures, plates, china, and movie posters. For my meal, I had scrambled eggs, toast, and a small slice of ham.

Following breakfast, we went to the gas station across the street to stock up on fresh Gatorade. Then we were back on the road again.

Our next stop was about halfway along our route. It was the spillway, just a bridge going over the water, but with a really neat sight below it. Thousands of fish are constantly crowded in the area of the bridge, but I am unsure exactly why they do it They provide entertainment for the people in the area, and you can typically see almost 50 people come to feed them.

The spillway was a short stop, only a few minutes, and then we had to go home. Going back took about two hours, and they were a warm two hours. We were biking in 90 degree heat. Mile after mile we traveled along. Our route took us through the rolling farmland of Western Pennsylvania, which is, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful land for biking. The road was smooth and we got into a paceline, with an effortless 75rpm-ish cadence.

It was the end of our 40 mile ride. we came back to the parking lot, riding between the old wooden roller coasters in the park. We packed up and went back to the house. It was a great way to spend a warm summer day.

When I moved to the district five years ago, our school was one of the best in the entire area. Although the school didn’t have as much money as some of the other schools, we were well off. During the last five years, we have laid off many teachers and tutors, and we have gotten rid of many programs. We are now the worst school in Ohio, financially.

Because of our situation, if we don’t pass this levy in May, the school is going to make the worst cuts yet. I heard it isn’t our choice, the state is going to take over and we will need to do whatever they say. They will make us shut down every program after 2:30, that’s every program after school. Ski Club will be gone, every sport will be gone, even the ones like football and basketball that are popular with many of the students and bring in money for the school. That also means band, cheerleading, choir, and every other activity you can think of will be gone too.

The school is trying to combat the negative votes. Every time the levy is up for voting, students canvas the neighborhood and parents call others to get them to vote. We are trying to do more this year though. We are going to have a community meeting, and I am sure many more community involvement events throughout the next few months.

Because of the cuts the school might be making, many of the student will be leaving for other schools in the area. Without sports, we will have our team split up, some will go to Tuslaw, some to Green, Manchester, Jackson, the list goes on. Northwest, which is known for football, will become just about the most frugal school in Ohio. Perhaps the worst part for me is that this is the first year I was going to play football for my school.

If you are in the Clinton / Canal Fulton area, please support our schools. Come to the community meetings and vote yes! Do it for the students, do it for the athletes, and if you only care about your own money and don’t want to help us, do it for the housing market. Just Vote!

In my first lesson, I worked on parallel skiing. I didn’t do a wedge a whole lot, but when turning, I sill made a small one sometimes. I did things such as turning using only my edges and skiing looking at one point at the bottom of the hill to keep my upper body still. I also went down the mountain once while shuffling my feet, that way I was forced to keep them parallel. I was lucky when I signed up for this lesson, I was the only person in it, resulting in more runs down the mountain and working on just what I personally had to work on.

My second lesson of the day was very easy. I had an awesome instructor. He was an older guy, maybe 70 or so. He was extremely knowledgeable about skiing, and was full of tips for skiing on the slightly icy snow as opposed to packed powder. He also had a bit of an attitude. When someone asked him the time, he started ranting about how BM “never replaced the damn clocks’ on the bottom of the hills, and when another guy in my group was checking out a girl instead of paying attention to him, the instructor whacked him with his ski pole! Our group of four went down the mountain twice, then we went inside the lodge because it was so windy and cold. He gave us some more tips and we all got our black stickers.

I still had time for another lesson, and being the end of the week, I decided that I would take the SnowPro pin. SnowPro is an extra level you can receive, beyond the green/blue/black stickers. It focuses on dynamic skiing, and is the certification you have to pass if you want to be a ski instructor at Boston Mills or Brandywine. In this lesson, we went over to the Croyle Racing Slope, where we practiced quick turns, hop turns, turning on one foot in both directions, and skating turns. We then practiced the moguls, where I had a major wipeout. I fell, my ski came off, and a cloud of snow flew several feet in the air and covered me. For our last run, we went down the biggest, steepest hill, Tiger. Tiger is a 45-50 degree slope. I was able to make it down in one piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my pin.

This week was the last week this year, which is a bummer. I would have liked to have gone for my SnowPro pin again, because I was fairly close.Hopefully I will get up there some time again this year, but if not, this was a great year for ski club and it was a lot of fun.

Due to this post, the post I planned for Friday about my school’s cancellation of sports will have to be pushed back to Saturday or Sunday.

Yesterday, one of my friends on the football team was lifting with me. I will refer to him as Mitch. Mitch decided that he has going to be lazy and not do the lifting again yesterday. He does this pretty often, and although I don’t like that he doesn’t lift, it’s his progress he is hampering, not mine. We did squats, and it went fine, except for him trying to hold me down during Burn Outs. We had to do a 10-8-6-4-2-BO pyramid, Mitch did about 10 reps total.

We moved on to power cleans, where we had 18 sets of 2 reps. We started out fine, doing about 3 sets with 115 pounds. Then he tried to move up to 135lbs, when we still had another 15 sets to do. I stated to get irritated. That was more than I should have been doing that early, and there would be no way I would be able to finish at that weight.  Of course, to make matters worse, he took forever between sets, we needed to be going at least twice as fast as he was right then.  After two more  sets I became too fatigued, and Mitch decided to add on another 10 pounds. He could barely lift it, and then he started pressuring me to lift it. It was my max and I wasn’t able to do another 13 sets of this weight. Mitch wouldn’t let me change the weights, and I decided to simply wait until after timed lifting was done to finish my cleans. He proceeded to get half the weight room to start chanting “Watkins! Watkins! Watkins!,” and I had to look like I was at least trying. He only did one more set during about 4 minutes of this before we had to switch to the bench press.

My max on the bench press is 145lbs. To do a 10-8-6-4-2-BO pyramid I need to lift the weights of 100-100-105-110-115-100. Mitch tried to get me to start at 115 pounds for warm-ups, I wrestled my 100lb warmup on the bar, but by the third set I was up to 135, and couldn’t lift the weight more than three reps, although I needed six. Throughout this entire time, Mitchen kept getting people to cheer my name, and I snapped.

I threw off the 135 pound bar, and in about 1/4 of a second, I was standing up and lunging at Mitch to start beating the shit out of him. That didn’t happen though because another two guys saw me and held me back. Then the assistant coach decided to come over so see what was happening. I’m not a rat, and didn’t tell the coach that Mitch had done about 20 reps of anything the entire day, and he left, but still keeping his eye trained on us. The rest of the lifting didn’t happen with much of a problem, and I thought everything was settled.

Today I went to lifting, and though I had to go with a different group to fill in for some people who weren’t there before, Mitch and I got along fine, but since everyone had seen the incident, they all decided to cheer “Watkins! Watkins! Watkins!,” whenever I did squats, or when we were just hanging around or doing auxiliaries. Without somebody messing with my workout, it was really pretty humorous.

If you are still reading this post after all that ranting, you must understand why I flipped out. It wasn’t because of the cheering or Mitch not lifting much or even him messing with me a little bit. I got so angry because he wouldn’t let me do my workout. Except for squats, all my weights were messed with and I didn’t get all my reps in. I am one of the smaller people on the team and I want to gain both strength and lean mass. Lifting is also the one part of my day that gets me through school. It’s my favorite activity of the day, so when I can’t get it done correctly I get mad.

Wow. That felt good to get out into the internet! Look for a new post Friday; it’s pretty serious, but important. It’s why I may not be doing sports next season and how the people in my area can help.