Recap of 2008 Racing Season and 2009 Goals

The 2008 racing season is essentially over. Today was the last “Beat the Clock” Canada time trial, and next Saturday is the Mt. Tam Hill Climb – and that is it. The Russians have us in “active rest” for the month of September, so we haven’t been doing any special preparation for these events. Even the Sunday Russian rides for September are shorter distances, no serious hill climbing and medium-paced. We get chastised if we ride too fast (Vladmir at the side of the road motioning “down, down”). Our workouts are designed to maintain our current level and provide a rest period so that we are mentally and physically ready to start hard training in October. Except that RFA and I are heading off to Mallorca on Oct. 8 for ten days on a Santana tandem tour. The cycling in Mallorca will include some good climbs, and although it will be social, just by riding every day, we should be ready to jump right into the Russian’s October training schedule. It will back to the weight workouts in the cycling gym immediately followed by the trainer workouts. Nasty stuff. We have been duly warned that we will be doing repeats up Old La Honda with the lead water bottle and long (70 mile plus) hard training rides on the road in November, more intense weight workouts, and 1 ½ hour trainer workouts. We also need to work in training at the Hellyer velodrome on the track bikes 1-2 times a month. While I have been regularly doing weight workouts (5 times a week) on my own at Equinox, I haven’t done any leg strength training since the end of last January.

This is a good time to evaluate my cycling over the past nine months and contemplate what lies ahead for 2009.

A look back at 2008 racing season:
We have been training with the Russians for a little over 9 months. We have been very dedicated, not missing a workout and following the program. I must admit that I am very pleased with my improvement. I have a LONG way to go, but have made measurable progress.
By far, the highlight of the year was winning the Masters Track National Championship in the 2k individual pursuit with a time of 2:59. Along with that, being named “Rider of the Month” for that feat by my Alto Velo WebCor Racing Team and my first place finish at the Esparto Time Trial (that elusive victory).
My biggest disappointment: missing the podium at the Northern California Nevada State Time Trial Championships (Sattley)

A review of the statistics with some short commentary:
# crashes: 0
# falls: 0
# cycling-related injuries: 0
# friends made through cycling: Many
# new bikes: 2 (Orbea Ordu TT bike and Cervelo P3C Track frame)
# pounds lost: 9 (117 down to 108)
% body fat change: 5 % (13.8% down to 8.8%)

# Races this year: 26 (updated for Mt. Tam)
4 hill climbs
11 time trials (3 tandem TTs (one unsanctioned)), 8 ITT (5 unsanctioned)
6 road races (1 circuit race)
0 crits
5 track events (3 unsanctioned)
# DNFs: 0
# first place finishes: 7 (2 sanctioned/5 unsanctioned)

Details
Hill Climbs: (updated for Mt. Tam)
San Bruno Hill Climb - 10/20
WebCor King of the Mountain - 5/16
Mt. Diablo Hill Climb – 4/8
Mt. Tam - 10/16


Time Trials:
Berkeley Hills TTT (tandem) – 4/5 – happy we knocked 3:36 off our 2007 time
Bay Area Senior Games – 1/2 (non-sanctioned/on road bike)
Dunlop TT – 8/23
Northern CA/Nevada ITT State Championship – 4/4 – only 7 seconds out of second place; disappointing results because I know I am better than my results show.
Northern CA/Nevada Tandem TT State Championship – 2/2 – knocked 4:22 off our 2007 time and I had just done the 20k ITT
Esparto TT – First place (1/10) – My first victory!
Canada Beat Beat the Clock TTs
ITT 27:11 (7/19); Tandem 27:54 (2/2) (both RFA and I did ITT beforehand)
26:30 (6/11) – a Personal Best
26:51 (4/11)
26:37 (1/7)

Road Races/Circuit Races:
· Brisbane Circuit Race (24/40) – my first road race; happy that I didn’t crash, and made up time on the climbs and caught my team mate
· Wente Road Race (7/19) – in a breakaway and lead peloton until the end; dehydrated and neuroma foot pain
· Berkeley Hills Road Race (13/38) – in the lead peloton until the end
· Spring Hill Road Race – (11/16) – dropped by the lead peloton on the first climb, poor results
· Diamond Valley State Championship Road Race (4/6) – dropped by first and second place finishers on the first climb; almost dropped out due to extreme neuroma foot pain
· University Road Race (10/10) – finished last of the finishers – lapped – disappointing but acknowledged as the hardest RR.

Track:
Beat the Clock: won the 2K, 3K and 4K pursuits on my Orbea Ordu TT road bike
Track Masters National Championship: 4/5 in the 500 meter; 1/3 in the 2K individual pursuit with a time of 2:59.

The Year Ahead:
On Thursday, Dmitriy shared his goals for me for next year.
20’ OLH time (I am currently at 23:30 with a hard but not full out effort)
2:45 2K pursuit time at the track (my National Championship time was 2:59). I will need to do this in order to have a chance to win at Nats or Worlds.
Upgrade from Cat 4 to Cat 3 by the end of the year
I embrace these goals and I will definitely be working hard to achieve them.

Other goals for 2009:
First place in the State Masters TT championship (or at least close in on "she who cannot be named's" time and take second)
Improve my time at Dunlop TT by at least 30 seconds
First place at Nats Masters TT
Defend Esparto TT first-place victory
First place at State Masters Track Championship – 2k individual pursuit
Defend National Championship at Nats Masters Track Championship – 2k individual pursuit
First place Worlds Masters Track Championship – 2k individual pursuit