Sunday, February 27, 2011

Tour de Guahan

What a fun event!!!  I also must say hard event!! The weather turned out to be warm, humid, windy, with just a little rain.  Hmmm, surprised?  No, it has been like that all week. 

The hardest part of the day was the 4am up and about with no where to get food.  Michelle and I did some shopping the day before so it was cereal and bananas in the room before riding our bike down to the Pacific Island Club for our shuttle pic up.  We were greeted down there by "Joe the Bus Driver" and Peter Ford from Cycling Sport News.  Nothing like starting your morning with some comedic relief from Peter!  What a character!  Still waiting to see his article that he is publishing about this new wave of naked, brakeless, downhill MTB that was discussed at dinner!  Should be fun! 

So we loaded the bus and started the trek to the south part of the island for the race start at Jeff's Pirate Cove.  Once we arrived there, it was great to talk to the rest of the competitors and some last minute ribbing for wearing MTB shoes and using Crankbrother Eggbeaters on my Specializd SL3 Rocket Ship.  Good thing I can take it, cause it was the topic of discussion all weekend and some think my demise at the finish, maybe?? 

Anyway, the gun went off and we followed the pace car out.  We had a pretty easy roll out and once the car pulled away, the action started.  I think the first major thing that happened was when Kyle from Australia flatted less than 5K into the race.  I was ridding next to Malcolm at the time and was content to set up and wait a bit, but the other riders were having none of it and took advantage of the situation.  So game on.  We came across the top part of the loop in a pretty good paceline keeping the speeds high.  Then on the first climb of the day Malcolm hit the throttle.  I glued myself to his wheel and when we crested the top we had about 30 seconds on the group.  Once over the top he gave me a smirk and said "just checking to see who is strong!"  We then set up and let everything come back together.  We then rolled the flats and a pretty moderate pace and that is when Kyle bridged back up.  From there it was tame down the lower part of the island with just some acceleration up the hills.  I think this is what hurt me most, cause when we hit the first of the climbs, my legs were not ready to go.  Malcolm got about a 20 yd gap on me, and then about another 20 yds to the group.

Photo: Peter Ford, Cycle Sport News

I chased for a bit, but was really struggling with the first climb so I set up and let the group join me again.  Unfortunately once they were back on I noticed that the rest were hurting as well and was not able to offer a lot of help. So on the 2nd climb I kept the pace a bit higher and only Kyle (from Australia) and Hamada (from Japan) were able to go.  I kept hitting the small rises as hard as I could and finally unhitched Hamada, who was riding really strong that day.  Kyle and I then hit the cross island road with a horrible head wind that pretty much made sure no one was going anywhere.  I tried a couple attacks but they were matched every time.  So it came down to a sprint.  Not what I wanted since Kyle is a track rider!  We made the last turn and I told Kyle, no crashing, and that I have never contested a sprint on a road bike before!  He looked back at me and said "Good!"  There was a bridge about 100 yds out and I remembered when we did our pre ride the other day he said that would be his launch pad so I decided to attack him just before and try to catch him off guard.  It worked, but I did not have the power to match his sprint and ended up 3rd on the day. 


Michelle also had a really good ride and pulled the guys around for the day.  She did struggle some with the nutrition and the heat and humidity, but prevailed and finished 3rd on the day.  I think she is super excited cause now when she downloads her power files they have mileage associated with them! She has done nothing but ride the rollers all winter!  I was looking to find a good podium shot of her, but cannot find one.  The 2 girls that beat her can't be 90 lbs and 5 feet tall, so she looked super tall on the podium! 

Once again thanks to everyone here on Guam for the hospitality!  They keep making sure Michelle and I have all the support we need and have been so pleasant to share our vacation with.  We will definitely be back! 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Hello Wisconsin

So last night we all had dinner together.  It was great to get to know everyone and when we were asked where we lived, Kyle from Australia came up with the best....... you mean like That 70s Show!  That is the greatest.  So now Michelle and I are compared to the cast on the 70s show.  The question that comes up though is what characters are we???? Am I Fez, Eric, Kelso, maybe Hyde?????  Then what about Michelle, is she Donna???  The whole thing was pretty funny! 

Other than that, yesterday was very relaxed.  We got out on the bike for a couple hours in the morning, then just chilled at the beach for the afternoon.  Today we have a couple more hours on the schedule then the race tomorrow.  This time change still has me messed. up since I am writing this blog at 9am on Saturday for everyone back home to read at 5pm on Friday!  No wonder my internal clock is all screwed up!!  We wake up most days around 3am and so hungry!  Unfortunately nothing is open at that time, so it is spent watching the news on TV.  They love the news here, we have something like 10 channels and 8 of them are the news and the other two are Japanese and looks like the news as well?? 

Also today we have to get our registration and our timing chips for the bikes.  I asked Ben, the race organizer, if I could get a number plate for my bars just so I felt more comfortable??  Still not sure about this curly bar racing.  Luckily the course has some pretty wicked grades on it, up in the 10-12% range on some of the climbs.  Kyle was teasing me about that as well, he said with me using eggbeaters and MTB shoes that it might be faster for me to just jump off the bike and run up!  That wont be happening though, I hate running! 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Island living

Things are good here!  Really love the heat and humidity and it is amazing that even though it rains about every other hour it doesnt bother me when it is as warm as it is.  Yesterday was an awesome day with time spent meeting everyone.  Ben was very pleasant and has us all taken care of from a stand point of telling us where we need to be and when.  Thanks for putting this together for us. 

We also met Derek, Monessa, and their super smart 3 yr old daughter Cadence. You would never guess that they are a cycling family???  They took Michelle and I as well as Kyle and Malcolm from Australia down to the southern part of the island so that we could ride the bottom part of the course that ends with several shorter, steep climbs.  It is kind of like riding down in the Baraboo with Krayers so hopefully our Twin City(Denzer/Leeland) rides will proove to be useful?  Time will tell.

Thanks for everyones hospitality here on the island.  So far a pleasant trip and I cannot wait to ge the race over with so that we can hammer out some miles before heading back to the Wisco snow. 

Today I will try to do better and take a camera along!  The sights are awesome!! 

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Mikey P would be dissapointed!

So the rules Phillips and I used to use was the Race has to be longer than the travel!  Not gonna happen here!  That trip was painful!  Michelle is going to have a hard time getting me to board back into the germ tube and hurl myself through the sky at 500mph for the trip back!! 

Anyway we made it!  The bikes are built and Ben has already called given us the low down for today's schedule!  These guys are rock stars!  They have lunches planned, dinners planned, we have a sag today that is going to take us through the course, then let us get out and ride it today.  I guess the Aussie's are travelling with a press entourage so there is also a press conference today??  Should be fun and hopefully I do not say something inappropriate? 

So I will try to keep things updated, but for now here is the view from our hotel balcony:


Saturday, February 19, 2011

Riding with the elder

Today Scott and I cruised the back roads of Wisco on the cross bikes, or A.D.D. bike as I like to call it cause I can take off on any road, field, trail, etc that I want.  Today we used that as we did quit a few miles of dirt and ice covered roads to make up miles of talking bout nothing as we burned through the hours of the day.  Good way to spend a Saturday! 

Tomorrow is another good ride before I get the bikes packed up for our butt numbing 17hr flight to Guam.  Excited for the trip and some more time on the bike in warm climate!  Hopefully Michelle can put up with me for that long or at least has the tranquilizers ready. While we are there we will be doing our first race of the year and a road race at that!  This will be only my 4th road race ever!  The race is called the Tour De Guahan and is 68 miles of some island riding in the warm, humid South Pacific air!  So for the first time ever the Specialized Tarmac SL3 will be my weapon of choice! It won the tour so it must be a good choice!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Cali totals and pics!


Total Time: 18 hrs
Total Dist: 259 miles
Total Ascending: 22038 ft
Pastry Calorie Replacement Needs: 11509 KJ
Total Lattes: 11











Saturday, February 12, 2011

Mt Diablo

Put the triad in me, I am done.
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Day 4

In the flesh!
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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day 2!

I hope it includes as many pastries as day one!!!
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

How's work?

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

You take da bus, you gets there!

Just boarded the Marin Airporter to Mill Valley to meet up with coach. He is almost there has my coffee order so it is ready when I arrive.

The bike made it, the clothes made it, the sun is shining, it is 60 degrees out, and we have time to still get a ride in tonight! Flip'n sweet!
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Monday, February 7, 2011

Here, there, and over there

So if you haven't noticed, I have opened the blog up to the rest of the team to post to.  Thought since I was slacking at updating that someone should use the space.  I even gave Tim a go at it, with his nice "Life as a Water Wench"! 

As for me, it has been an interesting start to the season.  With the broken ribs I ended up having to ease into the season which might end up being a good thing??  Guess time will tell.  As for the last few weeks:

I started outside, but ended up getting some frost bite on my upper lip that has been bothering me so now I have moved to these.  After logging some 3 and 4 hour rides in place, I left town and went here:



After a few days here, it was home and back on the rollers!  We then had a family emergency that had Michelle and I hopping in the car for a trip to Michigan. After 20 hrs in the car in 3 days, it was back home and on the rollers again.  Now this morning I am getting the bike packed up and going to meet bossman in sunny Cali for some riding and year planning!  Super excited to get out of this weather and get some good riding in!  I hope he is ready to ride though, cause I will not get back on the plane unless a wheelchair is needed!!  I am then home for a week then it is off again!  This next one will be interesting with some sun, beaches, and our first race of the year! 

In the meantime, I will try to get some good pics out in Cali while riding to post up here! 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Peariso sighting on Singletrack.com

A rider gets encouragement during the 2010 Subaru Cup Pro XCT race in Wisconsin. Photo by Matt Guttowski

Jitters gets his 15 minutes of fame!