Tour of Grandview, Ohio Pro-Am crit #1

A rather epic day! Team mate Rodney Dender and I traveled to Grandview, Ohio where we met up with one of our other team mates Sean Weddell for the first of two Pro-Am crits this weekend. Thunderstorms rolled in just before our race but we got started after a short hiatus at 6 p.m.

The crit tonight was a rectangular four-corner type. Distance-40 miles, laps-44. Noticeably longer than we normally partake in. The race started fast and Sean got up the road early on. There were a flurry of attacks in the first 5+ laps yet we covered them well and stayed at the front of the race. A guy from Texas Roadhouse drilled it in the front stretch shortly thereafter and I managed to get on the back of that train which consisted of seven guys. Not long after, the group of us realized we were clear from the peloton and we rolled it hard and fast for next 10+ laps. Several primes were thrown in and I managed to win one for $50.00--sweet! The group of us managed to stay away and were joined by DLP rider Boyd Johnson who came across solo. After roughly 20 of the 44 laps we could no longer see the pack behind us and by lap 33 we lapped the field and I got to the front and did my best to finish strong. Rodney and Sean worked hard to keep me in position. With about five to go, Texas Roadhouse put a seven-man train into overdrive and simply drilled it to stave off any attacks. We did our best to stay in the top 10 and in the end I finished sixth overall.

Coach Jim

Derek Wilford Takes Silver in the Ohio State TT Championships!

It was a good day for me today in the TT. A great improvement over last year. 55:10 vs 57:17 for 24 miles. 2nd - Silver medal 45-49!!!

I am happy with that for sure! Pacing was pretty good, but could have been a bit better for the last 5 miles as I started to loose power and concentration a bit.

Thanks - Man for all your coaching, etc.!!!!Derek

Weekend Results and MORE on Mental Skills

Wow, what a weekend. On Friday evening I drove to team mate Sean Weddell's house in Statesboro, GA. After a short night's sleep, we woke at 3:30 a.m. and drove to Ocala, FL to do the Florida State Road Race Championships as preparation for Tour of Grandview (Columbus, OH, June 28-29) and Master's Nationals (June 30-July 6). We arrived after four+ hours of anxious driving with just enough time to sign up and race, literally. I was in the stall when they called us to the line and hadn't turned a single crank!

The race started off fast and the field was about 75 guys; Master's 30+ by the way... In the first seven mile lap, Sean and I made the break of nine guys and in the end were gone for the rest of the 50 mile race. Sean got away with one and then two others (one bridged up). They opened a big gap and I was able to sit on the other four who were chasing. Unexpectedly, they caught the three and I did my part and attacked straight away. At this point there were just over two laps to go or about 15 miles. I opened a decent gap and nobody came to me. After five miles or so I couldn't see the group behind. I kept pushing hard; so hard my stomach hurt... The chase did close in a bit but I managed to stay away for the win. Sean pulled off a sixth in the sprint and probably would've won the field sprint had he not been boxed in. Together we raced very well. Very fast, hot and hard race!

Here's an EXCELLENT article that all of us need to read, re-read and re-read again and again. Get my point? Read it, you will.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5976&status=True

Coach Jim

Kelly finds a new car, uh-oh!

Kelly and I rode the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC this past weekend. While there she found a new car...

Coach Jim

Marco Pinotti, Giro June 1st TT

For you power-heads! Below is Team High Road Marco Pinotti's final-day TT performance in the 2008 Giro. Check out his normalized power. High but not freakish. However, consider his body weight of 149 lbs! Also, note the average cadence of 100 rpm's. Ala Lance Armstrong? I guess so... Also consider this is on the last day of a 21 day grand tour! Wow!


Giro Final TT:

Duration: 32:41
Norm Power: 377
Distance: 28.236 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 783 374 watts
Cadence: 30 210 100 rpm
Speed: 27.3 63.6 51.8 kph

Coach Jim

Asheville training weekend and bears!

Kelly and I traveled to Asheville this weekend to get some long steady-state climbing in on the Blue Ridge Parkway along with some other euro-roads of the very narrow variety with switch-backs.

We parked at the Grove Park Inn and rode from there with the climbing starting immediately. Sunset Parkway, Old Toll Rd., Town Mountain, Blue Ridge Parkway. The ride went really well and we had quite the experience on Town Mountain Rd. Riding along, we saw a big black object enter the road from the woods about 200 meters in front of us. It was a black bear... no big deal right, well it was as she had three little cubs with her! Kelly and I both stopped and as I watched, Kelly turned around and threw down one of her trade-mark 'barking dog' sprints in the other direction... The foursome crossed the road and proceeded down the incline into the woods on the other side of the road. The whole experience was surreal. What if we'd noticed them say 50 meters away? I don't want to know what fighting a mama black bear would've been like!

The rest of the ride was normal so-to-speak. We rode to the picnic area atop Craggy Gardens. Kelly climbed well and it was time to descend back to the GPI. I figured about 1 hour (took us 2 hours to get up there). I was pleasantly surprised with Kelly's improved descending skills though and we made it back in about 45 minutes. She was taking corners much faster than I've ever witnessed.

Great day of riding!

Sunday morning presented us with a little rain but it cleared by 9:30 a.m. and we got out for a 1 hour spin.

Coach Jim