My season is way over! I came out strong with a really good off season program that lifted my fitness, reached a goal of completing a century, but otherwise it has been a frustrating and disappointing season for me.. This may sound petty and it may indeed be, but I can't help being competitive. It's in my blood and how I was raised. The good news is I still had fun riding and competing here and there and every year I ride at a decent fitness level is another year with miles in the legs, lungs and heart which I can build on for next year. I just wish I had not gotten injured (plantar fasciitis on July 4th and still plagues me today) and had a more favorable work schedule to ride and compete more. The KHS train keeps adding more freight to the work load and rec time is being squeezed severely. My last opportunity to race at the Great Osprey Challenge was canceled, which is OK, since I've only trained six times in the last three weeks. It would have been ugly.
I didn't get to do any mass start races (well, I did one training criterium with Wheels way back in April) and not any mtb races either. Grad school in the summer is good for the career, but not so good for the bike racer. In the Maine Time Trial Series I finished 11 out of 56 riders in my age group (see below). That may sound good, and it is for me, but it could have gone better. The injury compounded by mechanical/tech issue during one race, extreme race day fatigue due to late nights in dorms followed by 5am wake-ups for race day travel and other assorted boarding school obligations that piled on at two other races. Also, a screw-up on a start time (I was WAY early) that had me over cooked for the race as I decided to get a good pre-race warm-up whereupon I got ridiculously lost and rode too far and too hard before the race. I rolled up to the start seconds before being a DNS and rode best I could considering I had no time to refuel with a carb drink per usual. I bonked about 12 miles into a 15 mile TT. I limped to the finish without any gas left. I chalked up the day to a good century preparation ride. Aside from a cervelo P4 TT bike appearing under the Christmas tree (hell, I'd be happy for any level TT bike!) I don't think I'll be able to sneak up much more than top ten in my age group considering the dudes that are ahead of me are cycling freak shows with $5,000 TT bikes to boot. So, If can break the top ten in my age group next year and hopefully top 25 overall, I'd be pretty happy. The goal this off season is to keep my weight manageable, continue working on the power and pile up some more miles this winter on the trainer, on the snowshoes and on the XC skiis. I know I'll be rearing to go next spring!
I'll aim for the stars to eventually land on the moon. All told, I can live with that.
I didn't get to do any mass start races (well, I did one training criterium with Wheels way back in April) and not any mtb races either. Grad school in the summer is good for the career, but not so good for the bike racer. In the Maine Time Trial Series I finished 11 out of 56 riders in my age group (see below). That may sound good, and it is for me, but it could have gone better. The injury compounded by mechanical/tech issue during one race, extreme race day fatigue due to late nights in dorms followed by 5am wake-ups for race day travel and other assorted boarding school obligations that piled on at two other races. Also, a screw-up on a start time (I was WAY early) that had me over cooked for the race as I decided to get a good pre-race warm-up whereupon I got ridiculously lost and rode too far and too hard before the race. I rolled up to the start seconds before being a DNS and rode best I could considering I had no time to refuel with a carb drink per usual. I bonked about 12 miles into a 15 mile TT. I limped to the finish without any gas left. I chalked up the day to a good century preparation ride. Aside from a cervelo P4 TT bike appearing under the Christmas tree (hell, I'd be happy for any level TT bike!) I don't think I'll be able to sneak up much more than top ten in my age group considering the dudes that are ahead of me are cycling freak shows with $5,000 TT bikes to boot. So, If can break the top ten in my age group next year and hopefully top 25 overall, I'd be pretty happy. The goal this off season is to keep my weight manageable, continue working on the power and pile up some more miles this winter on the trainer, on the snowshoes and on the XC skiis. I know I'll be rearing to go next spring!
I'll aim for the stars to eventually land on the moon. All told, I can live with that.
Peak Performance Maine Time Trial Series - 2009 Final Standings9/15/09
Men 35-44
1. Fred Thomas
2. Seth Brooker
3. John Meerse
4. Mike Golay
5. Jim Barry
6. Bruce Diehl
7. Steve Connor
8. Andy Haskell
9. Timothy Bryce
10. Bob Turner
11. Matt Moore
12. Joseph Ewings
13. Mike Spangenberg
14. Greg Goodhue
15. Thomas Connor
16. Matthew Sudduth
17. Paul Coluccio
18. Sven Lohse
19. James Karcanes
20. Patrick Ruane
21. William O'Brien
22. Norman Morgan
23. Guillermo Herrera
24. Mark Spottiswood
25. Scott Marr
26. Lucas Hubbard
27. Keith Loiselle
28. Robert Hetzer
29. John Caswell
30. John Kachmar
31. Armand Pantalone
32. Jason Callari
33. Jeff Yingling
34. Ron Colavolpe
35. Matt Fowler
36. Alvin Bugbee
37. Derek Hilton
38. John Tipping
39. Mark Burns
40. Paul Demerchant
41. Richard Brown
42. James Johnson
43. Peter Leavitt
44. Rick Durgin
45. Rick Scott
46. Jim Dunn
47. Bill James
48. Tom Murray
49. Richard Long
50. Ed Maillet
51. Tom Scontras
52. Chris Kein
53. David Richard
54. Troy Goss
55. Thomas LesBosquet
56. Paul Weiss
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