Olympic Training Center Camp, Colorado Springs...

Wonderful week thus far. Working a Para-athlete camp is quite rewarding! Much bike 'skills' work, TT's, track stuff (Kilos, Pursuits), classroom time and esteemed visitors. Been able to contribute quite a bit and the head coach and me are working together well... Here is a picture on the 7Eleven Velodrome 35-degree bank! It's more fun riding a bike up there!

Coach Jim

Criterium Clinic Tonight!

Trouble reading this? Call 864-630-3081 for further detials or an e-mail copy.

Coach Jim

South Carolina State Road Race Weekend Success!

Awesome successes this weekend for JimCunninghamCoaching clients!

Ed McAlister - 1st Place, SC State Road Race, Master's 60+
Kristen Weinacker - 1st Place, SC State Road Race, Women Cat. 4

Honorable mention to those that raced and worked hard for others:

Curtis Jackson, Cat. 4
Scott Ogle, Cat. 4
Andre Vandenberg, Cat. 2
Chris Miller, Cat. 4
the entire Donne Pedala women's team, Cat. 4

Coach Jim

Ed McAlister's awesome JCC plug, ready to rip the SC State Road Race!

Ed McAlister, two-time Top Ten Finisher in the 2009 Master's Nationals Road Race and TT, sent me this today...

Rode the easy 45 min ride and felt great-legs felt strong and I feel ready. The 20 min crit last nite must have been just what I needed. If you ever need a reference about race prep, I will be happy to talk to anyone. Now it is up to me. Thanks, Ed

Thank you Ed!

Coach Jim

2009 South Carolina State Road Race Course!

See:


To view 2009 SC State Road Race Championships, follow the link below:


http://www.mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=749124892418467534

Coach Jim

STAGE 6, TOUR OF OHIO, FINALE

Last day! Tough crit of 60 laps and about a kilometer in length. 180 degree turn on every lap. Things got off to a fast start with a few attacks that were brought back readily. About 15 laps in, Sean Weddell and Tyler Hawes (Team Globablbike) got away with a Jittery Joe's guy and one other. Within two laps they opened a gap of 24 seconds and managed to lap the field by about 10 to go!

Everything stuck together for the finish and the lapping group sprinted first. Tyler got 2nd and Sean 4th.

Final stats for the 2009 Tour of Ohio:

Tyler Hawes - 1st Collegiate Competition, 5th Overall, three top-10's
Tommy Smith - 3rd Collegiate Competition, 6th place stage 5
David Forkner - WINNER, Stage 1, 3 top-10's
Sean Weddell - WINNER, KOM Jersey, 3 top-10's
Jim Cunningham - 4th Overall, two top-10's
Craig McKinney - 2nd Collegiate Competition, 8th Overall, 2 top-10's

Josh Whitmore, Andre Vandenberg and Hoah Metzger were a tremendous help!

Coach Jim

TOUR OF OHIO, STAGE 5

Granville, Ohio. Wow, what a tough stage this was! Going into it I thought we were over the hump on hard road races. Mistake. This was only about 50 miles with seven finishing loops in downtown Granville.

We rolled out of town and not more than three miles in a break went up the road with Alder Martz, a Jittery Joe's guy, Andre Vandenberg (Globalbike team mate), Craig McKinney (also a GB team mate) and a few others. They opened about a minute lead. The Specialized-Mercy team decided to pull it back and did so within three or four miles.

Dan Quinlen (Carbon) attacked and Globalbike team mate Sean Weddell went with him for game on! The two opened a gap of roughly two minutes in short order. Jittery Joe's felt threatened by it and put all their guys on the front and pulled for a solid 15 miles, maybe more.

We went over the first KOM (one mile climb) as a group turning many inside out including yours truly... It was H-A-R-D with a serious cross-wind which created at least two echelons traversing the entire road. Much of the time was pulled back but not all of it.

After another seven to eight miles we re-entered Granville and the screws really began turning! Two short steep climbs put us on the seven-lap, mile long finishing circuit. A small group splintered off including Tyler Hawes & Andre Vandenberg (Globalbike team mates) and the rest of us did our best to stay near the front. Each of the one-mile loops had a short 50 meter climb and one steep 400+ meter climb on it followed by a 200 meter ride along a ridge before descending into a hair-pin turn and a couple 90 degree crit corner/straight-away combo's back to the 50 meter climb... Man was this a hard little circuit!

Tommy Smith (Globalbike team mate) managed to sneak away from the group he and I were in and bridged to the secondary group. Sean stayed with the secondary group but climber extraordinaire Dewey Dicky (Specialized Mercy) rallied to bridge across and go ahead of the entire field gaining about 2 minutes on everyone.

Globalbike finished strong with Tyler Hawes in 5th, Tommy Smith 6th, Sean Weddell 9th (after an all-day break!) and myself 11th. Overall, Sean gained the climbers jersey as there were five KOM's in all (three on the final circuits and two on the initial loop) and I dropped a spot to 4th overall due Dewey Dicky's solo finish in the final circuits.

Stage 6, the final day, is tomorrow outside Toledo, Ohio.

Coach Jim

TOUR OF OHIO, STAGE 4

Worthington Crit, 40 miles. Awesome crit in a residential neighborhood with much cheering from the folks along the route. The course is more of a circuit/crit as many of the turns are rather wide (wide enough to pedal through) and the course itself is 1.2 miles.

A rather tame race in the first several laps. Things heated up on the first intermediary sprint when Jittery Joe's and us (Globalbike) went hard for the points. David got second. Not long after, I attacked and got a nice gap. Three guys came up to me and we worked hard to get a gap. The time-split grew and grew with a group of six bridging along the way. Ten strong, we lapped the field with Jittery Joe's doing much of the work trying to get yellow back. Sean and I were the only Globalbike racers in the break so we let them work and just sat for about 15 miles.

With about four to go we lapped the field and Craig and Josh immediately got to the front and pushed the pace. We sprinted hard up the last stair-step climb (this came every 1.2 mile lap) and Sean and I finished in the top six or seven. Overall, I moved into 3rd putting as our break was 2 minutes up on the field today and Craig retained the polka-dot jersey. More tomorrow!

Coach Jim

TOUR OF OHIO, STAGE 3

Nelsonville stage. This was about 70 miles and hilly again. Got away with Tommy and 4-5 others for about 25 miles including the KOM! Tommy 3rd over it and me 4th. Felt good! We got caught and then worked it to the end. Did plenty of work to the end. Couple tough climbs but nothing too bad. Glad KOM was with only 6 of us... 4 ultimately got away and David was one of them. Finished in downtown Nelsonville with 5 loops of a .5 mile course. Bad bricks on the one side. I managed to get in at second wheel behind a Jittery Joe's guy. Sprinted best I could at end and got 12th. David got second and Tyler and Noah just ahead of me. Great day! We have the green, polka-dot, and collegiate jersey!

Coach Jim

TOUR OF OHIO, STAGE 2

Wilkesville to Wilkesville, 65 miles. Tough racing Wednesday with a 1.5 mile climb in the last 12 miles. The team managed to put a guy in every move without exception! Sean got in an early move that stayed out for about 1/2 of the race. He was with only one other guy...

Plenty of moves and most came back but for one about half way through the race which Craig and Noah infiltrated. The break grew to six racers and was up one minute or so much of the race.

Jittery Joe's put a train of four on the front of the pack about 3 miles before the 1.5 mile climb to stave off any attacks. Yours truly managed to sneak into their train at third wheel. The climb started fast & furious with the wispy climbers drillin' it rather hard... Globalbike managed to put team mate Tyler in a group of four that open about a 100 meter gap at the front of the climb... Unfortunately Tyler detached just before the climb ended. Sean pushed it hard to the top bringing it all together but for the three off and Tyler still ahead chasing the three he was with.

I managed to roll of the front right after the KOM banner and got a solid 150 meter gap. Sean Adams, Team Lake Effect, joined me and we reeled Tyler in but did not catch the break. We, like the lead group, stayed away and Globalbike finished with four guys in the top ten, the climbers jersey and the sprinters jersey. We unfortunately lost yellow but will fight to get it back! Today's finish had Craig 4th, Noah 6th, Tyler 9th and me 10th. More soon!

Coach Jim

TOUR OF OHIO, STAGE 1

Wow, this went really well! 57 miles of rolling hills in Gallipolis, Ohio near the Ohio River. There was a flurry of attacks after about 3 miles. We have nine guys in the race and were in ALL of the moves. Very nice feeling to 'race with a net' as I call it.

About 10 miles in, team mate Craig McKinney got up the road with a Jittery Joe's guy and they proceeded to stay away to within 10 miles to go! There lead got to about a minute at most and yo-yo'd between 20 and 40 seconds quite a bit. During this time, the team and I (8 of us) simply covered attacks and sat on wheels. How nice to have a guy up the road!

Once the the entire field was together again, several of us Globalbike guys moved to the front and lined up to give David Forkner a fast lead-out. After a 1K climb, I went to the front first with about 3.5K to go and drilled it full-gas over some rolling terrain to the second last turn. Sean Weddell took over there and did the same to the final turn and then it was Josh Whitmore providing the final kick delivering D-Fork to the line for the WIN!!! Sitting pretty in
Y-E-L-L-O-W after Stage 1!

Coach Jim

Joe Martin Stage Race Final Update

Joe Martin Stage Race ended with some bright and not-so-bright notes for Team Globalbike. On the good side, Ben Miller finished 12th on GC, Alan Tripp 32nd and Josh Miller in the 60th spot.

Saturday 5/9/09, 92 mile Road Race -- Andre Vandenberg rode the race efficiently, moved to the front and sprinted for 14th. All finished with the main field but for myself coming out at 40 miles in... Simply didn't have the legs for it. I know what I did wrong and how to improve upon it (and will!).

Sunday 5/10/09, 60 minute Crit -- Three of the five starters from our team finished. Ben Miller unfortunately crashed in the last lap clipping a pedal breaking his seat-stay in half and injuring his right shoulder rather badly... His finishing time was that of the group he was in as it was the last lap preserving his 12th GC spot. A trip to the hospital afterwards wasn't so much fun yet he is okay with no broken bones just soft tissue damage that will heal on its own. Alan Tripp finished the crit in 26th place earning 32nd on GC.

Coach Jim

Joe Martin Stage Race update

Joe Martin has turned out to be a great experience thus far for Team Globalbike. VERY well run race regarding staging areas, sign-in, course marshaling and results posting.

May 7, 2009 Stage 1, Prologue: 2.5 mile uphill TT. Team mate Ben Miller brought his A game and finished in the top 20 of 101 riders at 9 min, 14 sec. The other five of us were mid-pack between 10 and 10.5 minutes. Not an epic day for the team yet all of us made the time cut.

May 8, 2009 Stage 2, Road Race: 110 mile rolling road race with one 9-mile climb. We worked hard early as a team to stay at the front and go with any moves that went up the road. Unfortunately one got away and had up to a 1.5 minute lead. We all worked hard to pull it back and ultimately the race came down to a field sprint in which Ben Miller got 13th (still in the GC hunt!). Alan Tripp finished about 10 riders behind Ben. The rest of us, although not with the main pack (we all came off on the 9-mile climb after having done too much work) did finish comfortably under the time-cut. At days end 25% of the starting 101 riders left the race via DNS, DNF or by missing the time-cut.

May 9, 2009 Stage 3, Road Race: 92 miles and three circuits... This is today! We race at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. Greenville, SC time). We'll keep working hard for Ben and do our best to improve his GC position. More soon!

Coach Jim

Joe Martin Stage Race, May 7 - 11th

We're off! It's 12:07 a.m. Wednesday morning (although feels like Tuesday night and to me is still...) and Team Globalbike in three vehicles are en-route to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race. Shawn Scott is driving right now... he's 'working' for us this weekend as a soigneir of sorts... Plenty of time for me to look at power files on my computer and read the Joe Martin Race Bible.... More soon!

Coach Jim

SRM, SKINS, ENDUROX, CYCLING PEAKS, COMPUTRAINER!

Jim Cunningham Coaching is an official re-seller of all the above. Reach us at (864) 630-3081 or via e-mail (jim@JimCunninghamCoaching.com OR steve@JimCunninghamCoaching.com) for all your needs. You can also click on the links to all of these products on our website - www.JimCunninghamCoaching.com.

Coach Jim

Calling all Power Junkies...

Check out this awesome article from Power Training Extraordinaire, Hunter Allen--

http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/Archivedarticles/Better%20Understanding%20the%20Peaks%20of%20Cycling%20with%20Your%20Power%20Meter.pdf

JCC Affiliate Coach Sean Weddell and I took the opportunity to learn from Hunter at his Virginia office this past fall. He's a really cool guy and taught us some cool power-file analysis techniques over a few days.

Let Jim Cunningham Coaching know how we can help you with your Power Training!

Coach Jim

Hincapie Spring Series Weekend #1

Lots of ups and downs for Jim Cunningham Coaching this past weekend. On the bright side, JCC athlete Steve Senn finished fourth in the Saturday, 2/21 Donaldson Center Cat. 4 race after being off the front for three laps. He was caught but still had enough to sprint for a top-five spot! JCC athlete Rick Taylor took fifth place in the same race. Good work gentlemen!

JCC athlete and Cat. 2, Andre Vandenberg was in good position for the final sprint on Saturday in the Pro-Am race but unfortunately took a tumble. He and his bike are okay.

Finally, my Team Globalbike presented by Catoma team-mate David Forkner initiated the winning break in the Sunday 2/22 race, had a few others join him and they stayed away. David took fifth in that Pro-Am race. Good work David!

Coach Jim

First Post-crash group event. Myrtle Beach Metric Century Timed Ride

After a lousy first day back on the bike two days ago (Friday), today went much better (Sunday). Did the Myrtle Beach Metric Century (part of the Marathon weekend) with a group from Greenville. And although not a race, it is a timed ride with with a well-designed finish line and more. Plus, there were about 20 strong guys going for the fastest time.

I wanted to test my legs (and ribs and head!) and did. At just past the 42 mile point after a three-man break came back I attacked immediately and opened a nice gap that just grew and grew!

Finished about five minutes up on the group in 2:45 total for about 64 miles! Here's the power data for those interested:


MYRTLE BEACH MARATHON RIDE:
Duration: 2:42:45 (2:44:54)
Work: 2410 kJ
TSS: 198.3 (intensity factor 0.855)
Norm Power: 265
Distance: 61.61 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 906 247 watts
Cadence: 29 252 97 rpm
Speed: 0 34.7 22.7 mph

ATTACK AND SOLO TO FINISH:
Duration: 1:01:06
Work: 1034 kJ
TSS: 88.5 (intensity factor 0.932)
Norm Power: 289
Distance: 22.918 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 906 282 watts
Cadence: 29 135 98 rpm
Speed: 0 30.2 22.5 mph

Coach Jim

One Little Victory! Cleared by the Neurologist.

It's a good day. Eager with anticipation and a little dread (what if I COULD NOT ride outside for months?!?!?!) I visited Dr. Courson Cunningham-Neurologist at Neurology Associates on Grove Rd.

He said my brain is fine and although another fall would not be a good thing, such an event wouldn't be significantly more dangerous due to the recent Grade-3 Concussion I had. Thanks Doc! Back on the bike now with renewed energy...

Coach Jim

Jim Cunningham Coaching 'Mental Toughness & Race Prep' Seminar

See details below!

MENTAL ASPECT OF CYCLING
*START SPRING 2009 MENTALLY TOUGH*


· PRESENTER- Steve Sperry
· WHERE-Carolina Triathlon, Downtown Greenville
· WHEN-Thursday, February 12, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
· WHAT-Classroom style with Q & A

o Race Preparation
o Race/ride strategy
o Mental skills


MORE DETAILS—Jim@JimCunninghamCoaching.com
www.JimCunninghamCoaching.com
(864) 630-3081

MRI

Had an MRI on Monday night. Will have it 'read' by my neurologist this week. Hoping to get cleared to ride by the weekend!

Coach Jim

Crash, Bang, Boom!

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know it's been too long since my last post. I will try to do better!

Here's what's new...

Last Saturday I crashed in the Waterloo Upstate Winter Bike League ride about 20 minutes in. I didn't cause it and remember none of it. Spent a night in hospital with a grade 3 concussion... I rode today (8 days later) for the first time on trainer. Did 2 X 10 minutes at sub-threshold. Felt good; no head problems. But I became really tired shortly thereafter and remain so...

We'll see what the MRI says... Having it done tomorrow and will see a neurologist this week.

More soon! 'Til then, enjoy your training and stay positive!

Coach Jim