Tucson 2014

Aaron and Brian have documented our 2014 training camp to Tucson on their blogs here: http://aaroncruikshank.blogspot.com , http://ueberdiebruecke.wordpress.com. I am going to give my thoughts with some training stats.




Stats:
Days in Tucson: 14
Training Hrs: 57.5
Kilometer's Ridden: 1578
Miles Ridden: 980.5
Training Stress Score: 2199
Kilojoules:  34436
Highest Elevation:  9,159ft or 2,792 m
Most Elevation Gain on one ride: 7795ft or 2376m
Highest Training Stress Score on one day: 275.5
Road with most expansion cracks: Nogales Highway
Dirt Roads Ridden: 2
Longest Ride: 7hrs and 26min, 138.5 miles or 223km and 4979 Kilojoules.






Great Trip. Tucson Rocks.

Selling

Stuff for sale.

Frame: 2011 cannondale cad 10 56cm
BB 30 Sram Force crank
7800 Dura Ace brake set
Brand New Sram Red braze on Front derailleur Steal cage.
Brand New TRP Euro X mag cross brake set.
S Works white Helmet
Lazer Helium black Helmet

Contact me! I would like to sell local if possable.

Shawn@cycle-smart.com

Stats

2012 Season Stats!

Cyclocross Races: 23
Road and Crits: 28
Training Races: 14
65 Race Days!

Cross Wins: 5
Road Wins: 1

1st Overall Race at The Lake Spring Series
2nd Overall OVCX Elite Men CX

Training Hrs: 693
Mileage Est. avg 17.5mph x 693 = 12127.5 mi or 19404 km

Goodbye 2012 its been real!

OVCX 6 Eva Bandman Worlds Venue

The next stop on the ovcx tour was Eva Bandman. The park is where the World Championship takes place in Feb. I really enjoy this park and Louisville; it’s a fun fast course.

The race was fast from the whistle and I got a poor start because I missed my pedal and was in about 20^th after the first lap. I knew right away that I wasn’t on a good day. My exercise induced asthma was bad and I couldn’t breathe. It was going to be a long day on the bike. Long story short I worked my way up to 15^th by the end and was disappointed but it happens sometimes.  I need to warm up longer and I was not dressed warm enough for the temp and wind chill. I knew better and will correct it this weekend at the Cincinnati uci weekend.

On a positive note a Cycle-Smart athlete Ryan Knapp won and started at the back of the 60 plus field! Look for him to hit it in Cincinnati this weekend!

Stay safe in the Frankenstorm!

Gun Club

OVCX 4 Gun Club

 

Gun Club is one of my favorite course on the on the OVCX circuit. I headed down with local young gun John Proppe, we got to the course and it was laid out the same as last year except they added a big fly over after the sand pit. Awesome!  The course is a combination of twisty woods and dirt path linked by some open grass fields. There are lots of transitions and corners; it’s a really good course for my skills. The best that could have happen for me was some light rain right at the start. The rain completely changed the course. It made it super slippy and even more techy. I decided to run the Limus right before the start with 26 and 28psi, they were like perfect for the greasy mud.

 

I was a second row call up because of my DNF the week before I ended up getting a reasonably good start. I was in about 4^th place after the first lap, and then I lost some spots when I got in to a scrum with a JR in the woods on the second lap. I was able to recover and end up in the group of 4 racing for 4^th place about half way through. Rob Kendall ended up winning, got a good gap at the start and cruised in. Luke Haley and Eric Anderson battled it out for 2^nd and 3^rd. I attacked my group on the last lap and was fairly close to Eric by the end. I was pumped to finally have good legs at the end of the race, the form is coming.

Video highlights

http://www.cyclingdirt.org/video/658818-OVCX-Gun-Club-Elite-Men-Highlights

Bunch of pics on my wall.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/shawn.adams.503

Podium pic. by http://jjakucyk.exposuremanager.com/

 

Ups and Downs

OVCX 3 Dayton

 

I headed down to the 3nd ovcx race in Dayton on Saturday, a relatively easy drive of 3hrs. I didn’t need to get a hotel and could be home that night all good things about close races. The course was in an old park that had an amphitheater in it that we rode up beside and the rest was more bumpy grass, with lots of long power sections. Not really best conditions for my skill set. Long story short I was having breathing problem with my asthma from the cold dry air and was riding poorly. Then about half way through I rolled my rear tubular off the rim and had to put it back on and ride to the pit. This was the end of the day for me. DNF.

NEOCX Euclid

Euclid was a local race that was about a hr. from my house on Sunday. The weather was nice in the morning but by race time it was 40 and raining. I was bummed out from the day before but was determined to race better that yesterday

The course was right on Lake Erie and was super muddy and turnery, perfect for my skill set. I got a good start and was in a good battle with John Proppe and mtb legend Gunner Shoegrin. We were racing hard and soon had a gap on the rest of the field. I pinch flatted my front wheel on a rock and had to change bikes but was able to stay on the group about half way through John broke his chain and had to run so I got a good gap and stayed on the gas. I was able to take the win! It felt good after having a poor performance the day before. Gunner ended up 2^nd and it was a good battle. So an up and down weekend, hopefully there will be more ups than downs the rest of the season.

 

OVCX 2 St. Mary's

We headed down to the2nd ovcx race in Indianapolis Indiana on Saturday to pre ride for the race on Sunday. I got to the course and rode 4-5 laps and felt pretty good for just getting out of the car after a 5hr drive. The course was a grassy and bumpy. It looked like we would be doing high 6min laps and it was going to beat your back up. I decided to run Grifo’s at 27psi for the bumpy and loose turns. Had a good dinner at http://bruggebrasserie.com/ and was ready to rock the 2nd race of the ovcx season.

Race day warm up went well and I was ready to race. I was front row this based on the results of ovcx 1. There was another huge field in the elite race around 55 starters. This is a great sigh for the ovcx. The total entry’s for the race was around 500 again for the race. I ended up with a decent start and was in 10-12^th after the first lap. I was ok with my position because of how fast the course was and I knew it would break up later, but Josh Johnson had other ideas he checked out and had about 40sec after 3 laps. He was fresh off of 3^rd place at UCI gateway cup on Wednesday. He ended up crushing us all and won by over 2 min. Meanwhile I was battling for the 3^rdafter Mitchel Kersting went on the attack with about 4 laps to go. I positioned myself poorly for the last 3 laps and ended up getting 8^th. Better than the first week and my back is feeling better. We had post-race beer at http://tritonbrewing.com a great sponsor of the race.

This week we get to race in Ohio and it’s my birthday!

Results

http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2012-2907

 

OVCX 1 Huber’s Apple CX

I headed down to the first ovcx race in Southern Indiana on Saturday to pre ride for the race on Sunday. I got to the course and rode 4-5 laps and felt pretty good for just getting out of the car after a 5hr drive. The course was a flat dry and bumpy. It looked like we would be doing high 6min laps and it was going to beat your back up. I decided to run 34c fangos at 27psi for the bumpy and loose turns. Had a good dinner at New Albanian Brewery and was ready to kick of the ovcx season.

Race day warm up went well and I was ready to race. The call up procedure was a little wonky going by reg. order instead of your uci or usa cycling ranking. There was a huge field in the elite race around 70 starters. This is a great sigh for the ovcx. The total entry for the race was around 500 people for the race. I ended up being called up to the 5^th row and I knew that it was going to be a scrum to get to the front. It took me about 4laps to get out into clear track so I could start trying to get to the lead group. I ended up catching a lot of people but never made it to the front. I was in the second group racing for 10^th. I was 13^th overall not the result I was after but at least I have a better starting spot next race and it’s a long season. The ride of the day went to Josh Johnson who started last row and ended up 3^rd!

Results

http://www.cxmagazine.com/ovcx-1-draws-uci-level-talent-opener-hubers-apple-cross

Cross Touring

Wow the last month flew by. Here is why 1^st weekend I raced NEOCX 1 and the Big Valley mtb race. Then the driving started. We went to the opening UCI weekend at Nittnay Lion CX in Philly after that weekend we went to OVCX 1 in Louisville. Last weekend was Ellison Park UCI in Rochester NY. This weekend is OVCX 3 and 4 in Dayton. WOW good thing I bought a hybrid!

The support for this tour wouldn’t be possible with out my great sponsor’s. The Van Dessel’s are the best cx bikes I have ever raced on. If you want to ride one hit me up at cx practice or the race and give her spin. Cycle-Smart, Bike Authority and Verge clothing have also been great. The rest of the tour is coming fast see you at the races!

New Post

What a blog post? Yes. My Cross biking schedule is up. I am pumped. Cross is boss. All that I am going to say about last weekend is Jpow.com went fast in mud, I did not. See you at cross practice!

CX Practice

Cross Practice at Brett's

Here is the address for cross practice at Brett's farm in Chagrin Falls. Practice starts at 5:30 Wednesday Sept 7th. We will be doing skills for the first hr then we will be racin the 2nd hr. BOB.
7111 Bainbridge Rd
Chagrin Falls, OH 44023

Season

I have been a very bad blogger again, sorry for the lack of updates. The first part of the season came to a close for me last week at Lumberjack. I had my season planned around doing some endurance racing in the beginning of the season then resting and focusing on cross for the second half of the year. So that is the plan and I am sticking to it.

The first half of season was a little disappointing result wise. I have been competitive but just lacking the edge to get a big result. The Cohutta 100 went well and I ended up 8th. The next 2 hundreds were disappointing. The Mohican 100 was a priority race and I was in survival mode after 4hrs and finished 21st; not so hot. Last week was the Lumberjack 100 and it was my best race of the season till the wheels fell off after 3hrs. I was racing for the win for the first time this year in a 100. But I cracked badly and DNF with cramps.

So its time to redo some base and get ready for cross. The next part of training will include more endurance work mixed in with racing to roll into cross full throttle. At this point in the season it’s important to reassess and retrain for 2nd half of the year. The first race back will be Tour of the Valley and then I might head up to Superweek. Those races should be good to get the speed back for cross! I will try to be a good blogger and update more often.

Ride On

Cohutta 100 recap

Well I got the first hundred under the belt for the season. The race went well just a bit off of the leaders. I have done this race 3 times, 2007, 2008 and 2011. The race results are very similar in all 3. The first year I was 5th and was racing for the win, in the 2nd I was just off of the leaders and was 8th. This year I was just off of the leaders in 8th again.

The conditions were great and it was a fast race for a hundred. The race starts with a 3 mile road climb the about 15 miles of single-tract the about 70 miles of dirt road and the rest is nice single-tract to finish. I was in 10th going into the single-tract; I should have been more agro and got the hole- shot! I came off of the leaders going into the dirt road section. This was not good because I road by myself for the rest of the race. I ended up catching 2 riders who made the front group and finished 8th. This was the best my legs felt but I need to be in the group to draft on the dirt roads, overall a good day.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/national-ultra-endurance-nue-series-cohutta-100-ne/results

http://www.mtbracenews.com/view_article.jsp?id=303

Big Ride

Well the first MTB race of the season is upon me. It will be a big one, opening up with the Cohutta 100 in Saturday sure to be a lot of peddling and breathing! Give you guys an update on Saturday or Sunday depending on the crack-age!

Shootout

Little late, sorry I was cracked from the bikin today. The Shootout was a spectacle for sure. We rolled out and there was a crash instantly. I guess that happens when 180 people show up for a group ride. The ride was 100k and the average speed was 37kph and I made the front group with about 20-30 riders. Normal power was 239w and max was 1000w. It was a fun ride and I got some really good variable pace work in. I like the WBL rides in Athens Ga a little better than he Shootout because they are longer but it was super fun too. More to come!

Tucson

Ok. I am sorry that the weather is bad in Ohio land. Its sunny in Tucson. The week has been going good, lots of biking, lots of sun. Saturday is the famous Shootout ride, I will give you all a post and some data from what Bicycling magazine calls the best group ride in the US.

Group Ride

The group ride last week had a great turn out, but there we a few problems. The first was that we didn’t ride two by two, we need to work on this, getting 3 or 4 wide is very dangerous to everyone. The goal of ride was to work on endurance and tempo. That means riding steady. We didn’t do this very much. When you pull on the front you should be riding at a pace you can hold for at least 30min or if you have a power meter high zone 3 or low zone 4. When we go up hill we should still be in these power zones, not in zone 6! We rode all of the climbs to hard and went to easy on the flats. Lets try it again this Sunday if the weather is fit!

Ride On!

News

Big news! I am now part of Cycle-Smart Coaching. This is a great opportunity and I am very excited to be a part of this excellent coaching group. We are accepting new clients for this season, feel free to contact me. Check the website out here.

http://www.cycle-smart.com/

2011

Yes, I still blog. It’s been a while so I will keep it short; we have to ease back in to this. The 2011 season started for me in November. The plan is to hit cross full throttle next season so I took a nice break and I am ready to go at it next season. The cap city race was the first race back. It was a nice course and it was cross weather with the cold and wind. I had a good start and we battled it out for and hour. I attacked with 2 to go and almost held it but Greg got up to me and got by me at the end. It was a good race and I was happy with my performance my form is on the rise. One more race this year and we are in to 2011! More posts soon!

Cross Practice at Brett's

Here is the address for cross practice at Brett's farm in Chagrin Falls. Practice starts at 5:30 Tuesday.
7111 Bainbridge Rd
Chagrin Falls, OH 44023