Excitement

Just a quick post to say that I'm really excited to finally get a time under 50 minutes up to Beeks. It's rare for me to attempt a personal best up to Beeks because the climb is usually part of a bigger ride.

Yesterday after work I decided to shoot for a new best and made it in 49 minutes exactly. The clock stopped at 49:00 exactly. It took me a minute or two to catch my breath since I was pushing so hard, but it was worth it. I also had to clean the drool off my face since I seem to drool when I go really hard.

Hopefully I can get my average time to be low 50's with some more practice. Now that I know what it takes to get a sub 50 time I'm hoping I'll be riding a little faster whenever I climb Blackstar.

Traverse 2009

So yeah ... I'm getting tired of these events. This was my third Traverse and every year the event is pretty much the same. Line up at 7AM, ride for about 5 and a half hours, cross the finish line and then cruise over and eat El Pollo Loco at O'neil.

The course is the same, it's always hot and my race time is always about the same.

I will say that this year I had some pretty bad cramps. Worse than the last two years. I think I need to train more specifically for certain races. My guess is that I wasn't used to being in the saddle and climbing for long periods of time.

All the riding leading up to the Traverse dealt with short climbs and short descents and so my body wasn't quite ready for longer climbs.

Some pictures ...

From Traverse 2009

From Traverse 2009

From Traverse 2009

From Traverse 2009

Not sure I'm going to do this race again next year. If I feel like I'm quite a bit faster next year I'd like to set a new personal best, but if I'm at roughly the same place in regards to my form, then I'd rather skip it.

I think the only race left this year is 24 hours at Hurkey in September. Hopefully we can get a team together.