Swim, Bike, Run... Skate?

I showed up at the expo for the Alexian Brothers Fitness for America Sports Festival on Friday with a 1 year-old, a 2 year-old, a 5 year-old… and 8 year-old “fitness” skates, all of which elicited smiles from the vendors. “Can I race with these things?” I asked, trying to figure out why a few of the wheels wouldn’t spin too well. Thirty-five dollars later, I had new bearings in my beat-up blades, and I was off-to-the-races, so to speak.

I felt like a guy who brings his mountain bike to a triathlon, but takes the basket and bike-rack off the back for speed! I've never done anything like this before.

Saturday was the bike time-trial, which was a disaster as my training partner, Jerome, was misdirected and never did find the finish line. And I ended up riding one out-and-back section twice. Oh well. The guys from Floyd Landis’ “Team OUCH” would have to wait until next year for their schooling. (grin) I still ended up 6^th.

So now it’s Sunday, the inline half-marathon. And I’m nervous. The pro skaters at Friday’s expo sprint race were skating on the flats at over 35 mph! What have I gotten myself into? The gun goes off, and as expected, my tiny-wheeled fitness skates and I are quickly dropped. I’ll just skate at my own pace and see how things play out.

Then I feel something touch my butt. I quickly grab it, thinking my water flask is falling out… and I grab a woman’s hand. “Ahh! How’d that get there? Paula, I swear, I never even kissed her!”

“Sorry,” she says.

“No, I’m sorry.” I say, as I realize that’s what skaters, do. They’re always touching each other as they try to keep their distance in a pace line. I didn’t even realize I was leading a pace line. And I’m thinking I’ve really got to learn to skate backwards. (grin)

After a few minutes, someone in my pack decides to try to bridge up to the front group. I jump on and we leave most of pack 2 behind.

Drafting in pack 1 was like an Ironman start. Getting dragged along by the draft, I hardly had to skate. So I decide to take a turn at the front. Problem is, I don’t know how to end that turn. I ease up, thinking someone will come around me, but no one does. I move to the side. Everyone moves with me. “Go ahead,” I say. And I’m relegated to the back of this 9-person group.

I do most of the pulling for the first loop, so I’m starting to get the feeling like I’m either the strongest one here or the dumbest. And since I have no idea what I’m doing, I figure it’s the latter.

About 8-10 miles into it, I punch it up a hill, and get a 20 meter gap. Soon the group catches me again, but no one comes around. So I push it up the next hill, which dislodges a skater or two. I may be the dumbest, but I’m going to have some fun with this! I wait for one of the stronger guys to take a pull. Then I hammer up the next hill, and I’m gone. I find myself in a headwind on the long gradual hill. Over my shoulder, I can see the pack is splintering and chasing hard. This is so much fun! I feel like a break-away rider in the tour… waiting to see if Mark Cavendish is here to wind up his sprint.

My back is about to give out, and my quads are full of lactate, but I suck it up. Yes! I’m going to win this thing!

Then I make a wrong turn.

Of course I do. Second time in two days! It’s a good thing I’ve got a helmet on, or I’d bash myself in the head! Why have I been cursed with this pathetic sense of direction? And why don’t they have someone directing us at this intersection?

By the time I get back on the course, I don’t know where the group is. Skaters from three races are all mixed together. So I keep skating hard and have to wait until the awards ceremony to find out that triathlon, coupled with a decade of youth hockey, is a recipe for winning this kind of thing. Looks like this offseason, I’m going to have to get some racing skates.

Dean

Racing again

It seems like I just unpacked from the OH trip and here I am heading off to another race this Saturday.

I have been looking forward to this race for a couple months now because I heard the course is fantastic and I think the competition at this race will be really good. It just might be tougher than the Xterra Midwest Cup.

On the start list I see Midwest Cup amateur champ Blake Vogues, Torn Shirt champion Kaleb VanOrt, and 35-39 midwest series champ Chris Scott will be there. I also have a feeling 35-39 national champ Tim Menoher will be there too. Who knows, if Jim James and Peter Hanson show up, it will no doubt be the race of the year in this region.

I almost conviced my teammates, elite triathletes Dean, Russ, and Matt Thibodeau to do this race. Too bad they couldn't make it, they are missing out.

Now that I clinched the point series title, this race will just be for fun. That and I will get an indication of what I need to improve before Xterra Nationals.

Xterra O.N.E.

This past weekend, I returned to Ravenna OH for the Xterra O.N.E. With the race director giving me the #1 bib as returning champ from last year, the pressure was on for me to repeat.

The mountain bike course here is the highlight of the event. With narrow, rooty and rocky singletrack for 90% of the course, it rewards mountain bike skills over sheer cycling fitness. This is a tough course. I crashed on the preride the day before the race in a rock garden and landed on my road rash from 2 weeks ago. Then the morning of the race while I am warming up 30 minutes before the race, I flat when I hit a rock at a weird angle, lose control and crash into a tree shoulder first.

It seems I'm not the only one who has been having bad luck crashing lately. It seems like everyone has been crashing lately as if it is the new cool thing to do. Kind of strange.

Before the race I see Bruce Pisarek floating in the water and he announces I am the returning champ. I think that drew the attention of the swimmers to me like sharks and they marked me for the swim. That was good because my shoulder is still sore and I haven't swam in weeks so that probably just slowed them down as they stayed with me. Anyhow I come out of the water at the front of the pack with about 7 others within 8 seconds of me. It is very rare where I come so close to the #1 swim split.

I get to the singletrack in first place and notice the air in my tires is low. While it may have been a good pressure for riding around in the hotel parking lot, it is not a good pressure to ride at high speeds over roots and rocks. I can feel my back tire bottoming out on the rim and rolling over under hard cornering pressure. I decide I will not stop and refill with a CO2 and instead resign myself to riding more conservatively in the technical sections and riding hard on the hills and open sections.

I let Bruce, mountain bike extraordinaire, pass me and I try to keep him in sight so I can have a chance at reeling him in on the run. I get through the bike both crash free and flat free and feel warmed up and ready to run.

I felt great and caught Bruce about half way through the run. The run felt effortless and I am sure I could have gone much faster if I wanted. I guess toning down my effort on the bike translated into more energy available for the run.

I came across the line about 3 minutes faster than last year and repeat champ of the Xterra O.N.E. This victory was significant to me for many reasons. First, this locks up the Xterra point series for me so I am the Midwest champ for the sixth year in a row. Second, this is the first time I ever had a perfect score in the point series and as a result I am tied for first in the National ranking among my age group peers. That's quite an honor because there are a whole lot of superstars on that list. Third, this guarantees an invitation to the Xterra USA Championship, which I look forward to competing at in 2 months. Fourth, all my goals for the season have been met and it is only July. Now I need to formulate new ambitions for the USA and World Championships and see what I'm made of.

I'd like to offer congratulations to Derrick who had a breakthrough race today. He came in midpack on the swim and then proceeded to move up through the field with the 6th best bike split on the day and the 2nd best run. He finished right behind me in fourth place, his best Xterra finish ever.

Close Call

I took the one (sidewalk) less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost

Yesterday, I left work early to ride my bike to the dentist in Arlington Heights. I stopped at a lamppost to pick up the bike lock that I left there in the morning, so I didn’t have to carry it downtown and back, and decided, since I was now on the sidewalk, I’d continue around the corner to the dentist.

A few pedal strokes on the sidewalk and I hear a screech of car tires from right behind me.
“Why do you always end up down at Nick’s Café?”
“I said, ‘I don’t know, the wind just kind of pushed me this way.’
She said, ‘Hang the rich.’” (--Robbie Robertson. I couldn’t resist another Candian quote.)

I turn to watch a big ol’ Oldsmobile veer left, across oncomming traffic, over the curb of the frontage road, and smack into a wide tree. CRASH! The sound was almost fake. Violent, horrible sound …like your wife telling you she’s pregnant with number four. (Paula, if you read this, I'm just joking!)

I call 911 as I approached the vehicle, its wheels still spinning at 40 mph. I’m thinking, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to get this woman out of the car. And what if it blows?” I know, too much TV. Then I turned into a green steroid user and, in a rage, lifted… No. Can you tell this experienced kinda messed with my head?

The tree is practically in her lap. Air bags, flying grass and dirt, smoke. And the 70-80 year-old woman conscious and looking at me in disbelief, as if to say, “I didn’t do anything. Get me out of here!”

Before I could even try the door handle, two fire fighters come running out of the building where I dropped my bike. “We got it.” Seems the fire department is directly across the street.

I tell the 911 dispatcher that the fire department is here and the ambulance arrives in less than 30 seconds. I hung out for a bit until it was clear that no one wanted me as an eye-witness, and sat in a dentist chair hoping the woman will be OK, wondering why they insist on “soft” toothbrush bristles but it’s OK to scrape at your enamel with a metal prong, and very thankful that, for whatever reason, the Oldsmobiel was more inclined to go left… instead of right.

Ride safely.
Dean

Whitewater Road Race

Russ convinced me to do a bike race with him up in Whitewater. Generally I don't like to do bike races in the middle of tri season because i learned from experience that one crash can ruin a whole season. Since I did this race last year, I knew there were very few difficult turns and the course seemed reltively safe. This is Russ's first race so I figured I'd race with him and see what he got.

Russ, Derrick and I take the start and we manage to stay near the front and stay out of trouble for most of the race. I felt really good throughout the race working hard but never stuggling. Russ was awesome in his first race, he would often take pulls at the front pushing the pace, and on the climb, even when he got dropped he would catch back up to the pack without a problem.

Last lap, after the last climb I size up the field and there are only about 15 - 20 riders left in the field and Russ and I are well positioned in the front of the pack. I'm confident I can win, I haven't wasted a lot of energy and I still have one strong jump left in me. The long descent launches us toward the finish line at insane speeds. I spin out my gear and try to shift to a harder gear only to discover i'm already in the 53-12. 500 meters to go and people are starting to jump. It's too far for me to take a flyer. I have to decide, go on Russ's wheel on the right side or move to the middle for a better draft. I think Russ went to early and will soon blow so I move to the middle so I can go at 200.

We're riding over 35 mph and get to about 200 when everything falls apart horribly. The 2 guys right in front of me touch wheels and both go down. I have nowhere to go but to follow them, bouncing off the ground. For several minutes I'm laying on my back staring at the sky, nauscious and confused. Eventually the ref car drives up to me and tells me I have to get off the road before the next pack comes through. I get helped up and don't think anything is broken. The guy from Whitewater looks like he is in bad shape. I hope he's OK.

Derrick helps me back to the registration area and he and Russ help clean me up my wounds. You guys are awesome.

The guy who won the race came up to us and gave me and Russ props for pushing the pace and riding hard throughout the race. I guess if I got some props it's all worth it. Respect of my peers, that's what I race for.

I was watching the tour later in the day and thinking those guys have crashes and they have to get up and chase back on after a crash, then they have to ride the next day on a stage that is 3 times longer and the pace is much faster. Then they keep doing it day after day.

You gotta be tough and a little crazy to do this sport.