Expectations for Granville

Tomorrow is my first Criterium, the Granville Grand Prix. The course should be pretty neat, it is 1 mile long, has 7 corners, and includes a short brick hill. The website describes it as being “very European like.”

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

Remember when I said I got a coach? I also said that he was able to get me on a team. I was amazed that he could get someone like me, someone with almost no racing history, on a team, especially so quickly, but he did. I am now a member of the Pista Elite.

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!

My 2009 Racing Schedule

Now that I have decided to start racing more, I need a racing schedule. Sure, It’s a little late in the season to be figuring out where all I will be racing, but I had to do it sometime. So here it goes:

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.

Let’s Get Serious!

For the past month, I have been meaning to write this post, but now I finally am. Remember my last one, where I said I would have some very exciting news,? well I am ready to announce that!

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.