Walburg Classic - My 1st Race of the 2010 Season

We had been checking the forecast the entire way down to Walburg. We looked on every different iPod app we had and all app’s pointed to a sunny start with a light south breeze and only about a 20% chance of rain for the day. It sounded real promising. The apps were wrong! The sun was hidden behind a think overcast and the thoughts of another Walburg day was the gossip. Apparently, Walburg has a reputation for bringing out some nasty weather, somehow the rain or wind finds its way to this race each year. This year was no different. The temps weren’t too bad; I got by with bibs, a short sleeve base, jersey, wool socks, and my gloves. However, the overcast soon turned to drizzle and the wind began to pick up. The once dry farm roads littered with dobs of mud and cow poo started to look more like a motocross course at times than that of a road race. Yes! It was going to be epic. I had never done Walburg before but I did want the complete Walburg experience and it looked like mother-nature was going to give it to us.

The RACE, 72 miles of hills, false flats and a long uphill finish and yes, I do mean a long uphill finish. This was a 24 mile circuit so we had the opportunity to ride the course three times. I was riding without a computer, for the first time ever, so I’m not exactly sure how long of stretch that finish climb was but I know it started before the 1 km marker. It started off gradual and then just began to wear on you. It was a finish you would definitely have to get your timing right if planned on sprinting it out.

The race had a nice little neutral roll out until the first left and then without wasting any time the pace quickly picked up. It was nice and steady and my starting position was good somewhere in the top ten. That’s what I had hoped for. Close enough to see what’s going on but not getting beat up by the wind or anything. My teammate, Mark, and I had kind of discussed a strategy prior to lining up. We had a couple of guys marked, expecting a break, and hoping to stick one of us in it.

Within the first five to ten miles the attacks started (sorry, I didn’t have my computer to give a little more accurate detail). One of the guys we had marked, who is also from Oklahoma, jumped. I jumped. We went a little off the front and he’d look back to see what was going on. He’d sit up, I’d sit up and we’d fall right back in. He went again, I went again, same result. I hadn’t ridden with him since last season but I know how he is in a break and he’s smart, he works and he’s a pretty cool cat to go along with it, all are great things when you’re off the front so I didn’t want to miss it if it happened. A mile or two later, he went again and I went again…same result. This time though I started wondering if maybe he wasn’t working for a teammate of his. I had ridden with him a week earlier and he was on point. He is also killer in a break and I decided that I wouldn’t try to cover another break with this guy and see if his teammate jumped at all. That decision to wait was my first wrong decision of the day. Somewhere between miles 15-18 the guy jumped and I didn’t go. Mark, my teammate, did however and it proved to be the best decision of the day.
The break started out as eight or so riders and eventually grew to twelve pretty quick. That’s when the switch flipped in my head. I’m pretty sure this was the first time this had ever happened to me or happened so apparent that I noticed it. I went in to teammate mode and I stopped worrying about my own personal result and I focused on the teams result. I stayed towards the front, within the first five or so riders and I watched, I covered attempted breaks to bridge up, and I listened for the time gaps. That was my job for the next 54 miles, to listen to time gaps and help that time to become more distant. I couldn’t even tell you how many attempts I covered in 54 miles, a lot. I don’t remember the last time my legs felt as good as they did on February 20th but I’m glad they did. Each time the motorcycle official called out a time I would try to do the math in my head and figure out what the odds were of the peloton catching the break. As the miles rolled by the break of twelve dwindled down and each rider was absorbed by the peloton. Each time we saw a guy drop I looked for the DNA Green and I never saw it. Each guy that rejoined the peloton increased our odds at a win. Neither, the peloton or any attempt to bridge up ever reached the break.
Mark was able to pull ahead on the final climb to the finish and bring home DNA’s first victory of the season! Me on the other hand, I had a decision to make at the end as we were approaching the final stretch to the finish. Do I sit in and try to recover a little and sprint it out or do I try to go with the few guys still trying to go off the front. I chose the latter of the two. My hope was that the field would let us get a small gap and hold it to the finish. By now my legs were feeling worn down from all the surges and I knew I wouldn’t have much of chance if I put myself in a position to sprint it out. As we hit the 1 km mark you began to see so many riders you hadn’t seen all day. Where did all these guys come from? About 2/3rds up the climb I was still in pretty decent shape and could possibly pull off a top ten finish. Then what I knew was coming happened, everyone started jumping and despite my effort my legs just didn’t have in them. I rolled across the line in 21st place.

21st place? How does 21st place feel? For this race, it felt great. Everything was clicking for me. Despite only 4 hours of sleep, mentally I was feeling good. Physically, my legs felt great. I felt as if I did my job as Marks teammate to do what I could to secure him a chance for the win. Did what I do really help…I’ll never know, but Mark and DNA Racing did get the win that day and I’m proud to be a part of that.

Some props, you might have noticed while reading this report that there are some killer pictures. That's all because of one man, Andy Chasteen. The guy is amazing. An amazing person and amazing behind the lense. If you need some shots, rock climbing, to sky diving, to just chilling with your family give this man a shout.

Maximum Velocite

After much anticipation the moment we had been waiting for had arrived! It was finally time to build up our new Velocite Helios frames. Velocite Co is a cutting edge company headquartered out of Taiwan. DNA Racing was fortunate enough to hook up with them and now have these beautiful steeds to carry us from one race to the next. In a couple of weeks a few DNA members will also be rolling their hoops. I'm syked to check them out also.

Zach and I made arrangements to meet at Al's Bicycles of Norman right after work and start the tear down of my old bike and then dig right into the build up our new bikes. I had the frames almost a week without totally opening and unwrapping them, just waiting to share the moment, it was killing me. The wait was well worth it though. The frames looked beautiful. Smooth lines, subtle details and a very crisp paint job catch your eye right away.

Ah, the feel of freshly unwrapped carbon! Just being in a bike shop puts a smile on my face. The smell of lycra, tires & tubes, the site of all those bicycles, bars & stems hanging on the wall, it's like my shoe store...they have shoes too. What's even better is going in to build up a brand new ride. Once the boxes were opened we couldn't wait to start throwing things on the scale.

First thing to hit the scale was of course the frame. The Helios frame has a 34.9 mm integrated seat post and a BB30 bottom bracket. It also has a tapered head tube going from 1 1/8" - 1.5" and fully internal cable routing. Did I say BB30! Race Ready.

My medium frame came in at 1150 grams. That's with uncut seat mast and rear derailleur hanger. So, just slightly over 2.5 lbs.

The Bora fork, again uncut, weighed in at 390 g's. The Bora is a full carbon fork, including dropouts, in which the steerer and fork blades are the same piece of carbon. Right now, we're at 3.36 lbs for frame and fork.

Cut calories or cut the seat post? I'll go with the seat post this time. Shaving off a whopping 36 grams. Cutting this baby takes us down to 3.31 lbs.

The Velocite ISP seat clamp came in at 142 grams. Frame, fork, headset and seat post all come in at 1760 grams. Roughly 3.89 lbs.

Next up, SRAM Force BB30 cranks. I went ahead and tossed this on the scale because after all the digging I did, I only found the weight listed once. It was listed at 645 grams with bottom bracket assembly. They were about 18 grams off. I'm turning the 172.5 compacts. My cranks came in at 608g's and the bottom bracket assembly (not ceramic) came in at 55 g's. Putting them at 663 grams (1.46 lbs). I'm not sure how much weight savings ceramic bearings bring, maybe that is the extra 18 grams. None the less, if you're looking for an accurate weight of the SRAM Force crankset, look no further.

I've been around most of the time when my bikes have been built up and lent a hand here and there but I'd say this was the build I got the most out of. I was a little more hands on this time and for me it seemed a lot easier to understand why this goes here or that does that actually getting my hands dirty. Of course, we had a little help from our boys down at Al's. A special thanks to Christopher and Andrew who kept the lights on and wrenches turning well past closing time.

Ride report and final weight coming soon!

Frameset

Despite two days worth of drama our frames arrived safely to my office. To be honest, I was a little concerned with our frames getting from Taiwan to California but then figured it would be smooth sailing from there. I kept a close eye on the tracking and my worries were erased once I saw it had reached the good ole U.S. of A. I followed them as they went from Cali to Dallas one day and Dallas to Oklahoma City the next. The day they were to be delivered I was out of the office most of the day and when I came back in to find my framesets not there I knew something was wrong. I got online and looked at the tracking information and sure enough they had been delivered. Delivered to a JSmith at 3:20 that afternoon. Too bad there isn't a JSmith in my office. I got on the phone with the original carrier to confirm that they had the correct address and they immediatly went into action trying to help me recover my lost package. They contacted FedEx and was told
the driver would relocate the misplaced package and have it to me within 24 hours. 24 hours later I found out that wasn't FedEx's intentions at all and now they were telling me they had 48-72 hours to relocate and return it to me. This didn't make me too happy and after half a dozen phone calls to FedEx and some friendly exchanges my package finally arrived about 36 hours after the first call was made.

I gave the box a quick look over and found there to be no damage to it and it hadn't even been opened. I'm not sure how I got that lucky. I was kind of expecting our frames to already be listed on eBay. I opened the box to find each piece carefully wrapped and placed within. Velocite had done a great job of packing our frames along with the forks and headsets. You would of had to drive a truck over our package to damage our frames. I was really impressed with that. Packed with love.

The frames look beautiful. They have a very smooth finish. There a lot of minor details on the frame that aren't that noticable online that really add a lot if character to it. Zach and I are both syked to get these babies built up however we're both trying to restrain ourselves until we find a time convenient for both of us to get together to build them up. As soon as that happens I'll have a fully detailed report on the build along with photos and actual weights of most everything.

Sent from Chad's iPhone

Kappa Slappa Napa

I'm two glasses in to a bottle of "Screw Kappa Napa" chardonnay and I'm hoping it helps my writing a little bit. This post is long over due. It's been a little crazy lately and I really haven't had much time to sit down and put something together. Let's see, where shall we start?

Since my last post Emily has started crawling! Amie and I had been working with her every evening and as much as possible on the weekends hoping she would show some interest in it. Low and behold, she decided to start crawling while I was at work. She's been crawling now for about three weeks and is pretty darn quick. It's amazing to watch her grow up and develop a personality all of her own. However, I'm pretty sure Amie and I just cloned Addi. They are both beautiful, blue eyed, blond haired little girls running short on patients and having a quick temper. So who do they take after most...that depends on who you ask.

At work, my Heart Hospital-South has finally...almost...come to a close. It seems to closeout and reopen daily right now. But it's close. We just found out we have a few items to punch out in the Atrium and then hopefully, we're out. It's just small items right now, which is an entirely different ball game because now it's just based on someone's opinion, and then that someone has to get the opinion of someone else and so on. Not to mention, it is occupied now and more blemishes can be found on our walls daily. This project has been great for me and great for Cherokee Painting. The Genereral Contractor has also been great to work with and hopefully I have the opportunity to work with them again.

In my cycling world it's been a crazy couple of months. We've been going back and forth with kit design and Champ Sys approving and disapproving proofs. It's been a little bit longer process than I had hoped but our kits look AMAZING and I can't wait to get them in and hit the races. We've secured all of our 2010 sponsorships, or at least for now. Within the next month or so it'll be time to start trying to secure race sponsorships but that's another post all in it's own. We've also ordered and received a tracking number on our new framesets. As of Friday, they were in Cali just waiting to make their way to the O-K-C. I'd post pics of them now, but I'd rather wait and post some of my own pics during our build. I'm syked and can't wait for them to hit the street. I'm expecting them one day this week. We will be rolling on Velocite Helios framesets. I'll make sure and get actual weights, and pics posted as soon as we have them on the scale. It's been a pleasure working with Velocite and I'm excited to further our relationship into the 2010 season.

Give me a few days and I'll have approved proofs posted of our kits as well as an updated sponsor list.

If you would of told me ten years ago that I'd be lit after two glasses of wine, I would of thought you were crazy. Funny how things change. Used to, booze was a good time, now it's just calories.

Cold Feet

The hardest part of this mornings workout was the long walk from the door into the garage out to where my cycling shoes were. To say the least, the garage floor was very cold. This morning I did remember to at least leave my shoes somewhat close to the heater (not the one pictured) I keep on a timer, so at least my shoes weren't freezing. Starting out with cold feet is never good and makes for a very long and cold morning.

Right now with the temps being so cold I'm using two heaters. I have an oil filled radiator space heater on a timer that kicks on one hour before I get out into the garage. It doesn't help too much but it does knock some of the chill out of the air. But that's it, it by no means warms up the garage. The second, is the one in the picture. I have no idea what kind of heater it is, only that it looks pretty old. It does a pretty good job of warming you up but I don't trust it on the timer and it has to sit like 2 feet away from my bike to feel anything.

Despite it being so cold, I still have to run a fan on low to get some air moving. Otherwise, you're covered in sweat and it's freezing cold and that's not a good thing. Enough air to keep you somewhat dry is actually a better option as crazy as it sounds.

Most mornings I'll get by with a long sleeve base layer on top, bibs and wool socks. If it's too cold I'll throw on my old school Pearl Izumi long sleeve pullover and slip on some tights. If I'm still cold, then I need to ride faster.

I'd like to invest, a small amount, in a good heater that I can leave on a timer without having to worry about it burning down the house. Maybe an electric convection heater? Any ideas?

As The Wheel Turns

It's 18 degrees out this morning and with the windchill it feels like 2 degrees. It felt almost that cold in the garage this morning. Indoor training really isn't that bad though, once you get used to it. For me the real trick is just getting my body used to getting up so early. I dread several consecutive days off just because of that. More than about three days off in a row and my body starts to reset itself and slowly gets used to getting more sleep. That much time off usually only comes in the "off season" or if I get sick, so it's not often. The crazy thing is, I'm so used to about 6 hours of sleep that when I do get more sleep I feel like I over slept and am pretty cranky. You would think it would be the opposite.

I've successfully completed my "off season" and have transitioned into my base cycle. I'm looking forward to my training this season. It seems like each season is kind of like a science experiment, seeing how little sleep I can get away with and my body still recover enough to be ready for the next day. This year won't be any different except we're going to introduce some cross training throughout the entire season to try and reduce my trainer time, even just slightly, and still get the intensity and duration needed. Most of my training will still be done in the early morning but now maybe I'll be able to do some of it outside of the garage.

Of course as the season progresses we'll make some tweaks and changes as needed but that's the plan for now.
I enjoy the changes and new challenges.

Sent from Chad's iPhone

Dreams for a Dollar

You know who they are, that person that buys a lottery ticket every Wednesday and Saturday. That person that then fantasizes about what they will do with all the money they win. You politely listen to them go on about how everything will be so much better once they take the lump sum payout and the whole time you're thinking to yourself, "do you know you could of bought yourself lunch with that five dollars you wasted on a piece of paper the size of a post it note?"

Yesterday, for the first time since we've had the Oklahoma Lottery, I stopped and bought a ticket. I spent a whopping three dollars on it knowing I had little chance of winning. My odds of actually winning the grand prize were 1 in 195,249,054, so the odds were definitely stacked against me and like I figured, I didn't win. I threw three days worth of my morning 7-11 coffee into the OK Lottery.

I wasn't disappointed with my purchase though. In the short time I had my ticket, after work until I went to bed, I was excited and couldn't help but to dream of what I could do with all the money I'm going to win. It was exciting, it was uplifting and most of all just the thought of the possibilities put a smile on my face. The thought of paying off our car and credit card, vacations, less work and more play. Taking that trip to France like Amie always talks about. Taking my girls to Disney World once a month instead of once every three years. Riding my bike for 6 hours a day. Helping out some friends and family. College funds for my girls. I mean the list goes on and on. There were so many things I would want to do if I had the opportunity.

Maybe, the reason people buy a lottery ticket isn't because they think they will win but just for the chance to dream. To smile on their trip home from a hard days work and imagine the possibilities.

I have to admit, to me, it was three dollars well spent. Don't worry, I won't be investing a whole pay check into this any time soon.

Sent from Chad's iPhone