It's getting cold

Ok so "cold" may not be the best word to describe the conditions in Southern California, and I am admittedly a giant wimp when it comes to riding in the cold, so i don't want to hear any crap from you guys in CO or MN about riding in the cold. You chose to live there.

I guess it's not as bad as I make it out to be. It's been a bit cool in the mornings, but still this last Sunday as I finished a local group ride and headed off for the second half of my ride I kept the arm warmers on the entire time, and I didn't feel like a sissy for doing so either.

The winter training has been going pretty well. It's almost time to start picking up the intensity, and judging from the teams finalized schedule next season, the sooner i get in shape the better. At first I thought with the demise of a number of pro teams, and large percentage of guys NOT getting new contracts, that the p1 races may actually slow down (just a little) compared to last years craziness. Upon second thought though, I think it will be even faster. The talent, which had been more spread out, will no be more focused on less teams. Now more of the really fast guys will be working TOGETHER instead of against each other, which spells doom for me.

It looks like USADA has really stepped up their game as well. They are now able to convict and hand down suspensions to guys who NEVER tested positive. Kayle LG was popped for 2 years this week, without ever having a positive test. That seems outrageous to me. The USADA actually said in a release that the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming enough to warrant to suspension. Circumstantial is not proof. I am all for getting rid of dopers, and I had heard plenty of rumors about Kayle, but at the end of the day he never had a positive test result. And if he was doping shouldn't dope control at races picked up on that? Seems to me they are able to find other racers, why not this guy? Hell they gave Monniger a 6 month suspension for taking a supplement that contained a chemical that wasn't listed on, and wasn't supposed to be in the supplement. How could he have possibly ever known that the pills he bought at a GNC (or some health store) had been contaminated at the production process level? Even the manufacturer said the pills were tainted with a chemical that wasn't supposed to be in there. Yet USADA handed down the suspension. They have NEVER lost a case. Ever. The implications of handing down a suspension to a racer with no concrete proof, just circumstantial evidence is very scary.

A preview of next season?

This weekend was the end of the year banquet for the old team. Same people, same bad food, and now I am done with that. It feels nice to know I moving on to a team where I can race some big events. The local stuff is all fine and good, but I can't survive on IP crits. I need something more, and I am going to get it next season. Hopefully I am ready for it.

Sunday was Como. I had a recovery week so on Sunday I was clear to hit the gas, just a little. The front group has been moving pretty good for the last two weeks, and I have been hanging back just a bit, not wanting to push it right now. Well yesterday was a day to let loose a little. The pace wasn't fast, just steady which was good. We got over the Cooks and on the way down into Santiago Canyon, some guy comes flying past motorpacing behind a BMW motorcycle. We all got on. "He" was Floyd Landis. Floyd is out at local rides often, but he was training yesterday. Flyod recently signed with a new team, OUCH Medical. It is mostly the former HealthNet boys, plus Flyod. Anyway, we got on the flats, and were strung out at 42mph. Finally someone gave up on his wheel and he pulled away from us. We went back to riding our paceline through the canyon. I hit the gas a few times on the Dump climb, but there was someone on me each time, so I dropped 4 or 5 spots back and sat in over the top. MJ and some other guy were just 10 seconds up on us, but I didn't want to be the guy who dragged the entire group up to them, so we let them dangle. I got refueld at the meeting point and tore out of there for the second half of my ride. Put in 75 miles in 3.5 hours. Not bad, I was going to do about 75 miles, but I figured it would take me around 4 hours. Guess not.

So Floyd was looking really smooth and good. I am stoked to see him back out training, and can't wait to see him race this next season. The bad news for the big teams in the country is that, if they hope to win any stage races this year they better sign some better racers. I can tell you right now Floyd is going to destroy people next year domestically. I would pick him to win just about any stage race in the country. Time to really start training.

It's on for next season

Now that the team has been decided on, it's time to get to work on the fitness. So what team is it you ask? Liquid Cycling. Yes I will race with the water boys next season. The team is really shaping up nicely for next season, and even if we only hit half of the big races we are looking at I will be a happy Travis. That reminds me, I need to renew my license, and give them my new team's name. I would hate to see all those valuable point (of which there are none), go to teh wrong club.

Speaking of the old club, the year end banquet is this coming weekend. One more apperance to make, and then I will be done with the ShoAir kids for while. I know I won't be racing pro1 forever, so I will keep those contacts strong, as some day (prob sooner rather than later) I will be out there battling it out as an old man. I know I have at least 2 more season of pro1 in me, but after that I will be ready to race shorter distances and not go AS fast. That is not to say that the old men aren't really fast, but they are fast over a shorter distance, which is nice some times. At the end of the day all of those guys are good people and I would be stoked to race with them again in the future. Having said that I fully plan on drilling it a little bit harder every time I see them in a p12 event.

What else is happening? Not too much. Halloween has come and gone without too much to derail my winter time efforts, but Halloween is just the start. Next is a bday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and then the my personal hell of winter time, the trade shows. The shows themselves aren't bad, it's the timing. I am right in the middle of pushing my winter training to get ready for the start of the season, and BAM there is a two week cluster F of travel and work and time off the bike. The goal this season is to hit a peak a little later, so I won't stress on that time too much, and be ready for the built in break from the bike.

The Off Season has been busy

So far the off season has been chalk full of cycling related stuff. I was hoping to be as relaxed as the guy in the picture at this point in the year. Working, and sleeping in between easy rides and some core work stuff, but instead I am busy trying to get my slow ass on a new team. The good news is I have narrowed it down to a couple of new scenarios. One will have me doing a lot more traveling and racing in the USA Crit Series events as well as NRC stage races, one will have me doing west coast NRC stage races and maybe some superweek, and one will have me babysitting newbies and doing local stuff. Let's all hope one of the first two teams comes through with a spot. If I have to race nothing but local stuff next year I may swerve into on coming traffic and take myself out. Alright maybe not that gnarly, but I won't be dodging any car doors opening in front of me. I will take the pain and the insurance check and call it a season.

On a happier note the French Federation is now going back and doing supplemental tests on the riders from this years Tour. They are going back and retesting samples and looking for CERA. They are finding it too. This is good. At least the riders know they can't use CERA now. Time to move on to the next wonder drug and hope WADA doesn't have a test for that yet. Thanks for trying to ruin the sport, dopers. I hope the next wonder drug these guy's find had a side effect of making their junk shrivel up and fall off.

Since it is Rocktober I have started winter training. It's not going well. This time of year is muscle building. On and off the bike. It's amazing how much muscle you loose over the course of a season when you stop doing certain excersises. It's getting better and the wattage is going up, but I still feel like a complete whimp on the bike right now.

Hopefully by the next time I write on here I will know what team I am going to be on. If not, I guess it will be a plain black kit and a solo mission next season.

Are you kidding me?!?!?!

I got an email last week from the President of my former club (yes FORMER), asking me and the other two members of the executive board if we could meet on Monday night. Sure, no problem. I was expecting to hear that my budget was going to be cut, but instead they cut the elite team entirely. They bowed to the preasure of a sponsor, and decided to put all their eggs in a master's team basket. I have no problem with that, even though I think you get very little if anything out of a master's team.

No, the only thing that really pissed me off was the timing. IT'S OCTOBER!!!! Do they have any idea how difficult it is to find a team in October, especially a good team? I am screwed. I made a few calls and got the guys who could race masters' on the new masters squad. The rest of us are screwed right now though. So now it's time to get the resume together, and try and find that magic fit on another team. A number of people called and talked to me about forming a new team, and that is possible, but I would prefer to join a team that already exists.

I am sure there will be more on this later in the off-season. Last thing: When you go to SoCalcycling.com on Monday morning after San Dimas (or any race for that matter) who do you see on the home page? The winner of the men's pro race, not the winner of the master's 35+. Good thinking guys.

It's Training Time

Today marks the day when training starts for next season. WTF!?!?!?! Really? Already? Yes.

Mid-August until yesterday was a lot of fun. Lots of surfing a little mountian biking (more on that in a moment) and very little road biking. So now it's time to start training for next season. That may sound really gnarly, but it's not. It just means starting to ride the bike again with some regularity. Rocktober will consist of pushing a HUGE gear all month, in an effort to build muscle and lay a base for next season. The entire month will be nothing but a really long base workout, which won't be too difficult. At least that's what I think. I think that every Rocktober, and then I get out there and realize, I am a whimpy little sissy, who can't turn a big gear any more. This last weekends race might have helped kick-start me though. That's right RACE.

I did it, I went to the dark side, I raced my first mountain bike race. I had a small clue of what to expect, but just a small clue. Friends and clubmates had given me some ideas of how it would go down. One things for sure, I am not in any form to be racing right now. Having said that you throw a cat.1 roadie out with the sport class mtn bikers and there won't be too much competition. Before the race one of my closest friends was there with a friend of his. Sean was racing Expert, and his buddy (Ryan) was racing in my group (sport 35-39). Having never done a mtn bike race before, the highest level I was allowed to race was sport (= cat.4 I guess). So we start off by going 100m and then a sharp left and then straight up. I was 4th going into the first descent (not my strong point). Out onto the paved climb and now I am 2nd in my group, which contained 3 different age classes. So I was in first place for my class, and sitting second in our group. The group thing doesn't matter, but none the less I like to know I am beating everyone. Lap 2 and Ryan is still there. I back it off a hair to leave a little for the end. I put Ryan in front of me to pace for a while. Once through the s/f I take over the lead and slam it on every climb. By the time I got to the finishing climb (4.5 miles into the 5 mile long course) I was up by a minute. I cruised to the finish having won my race, and beaten everyone who was in the group I started with. Ryan was next in, then third was 6 minutes back. I guess that's a lot as they made a big fuss about it at the poduim. All in all a fun race, but it confirms what I already thought, I like the road better. I will leave the dirt to the other guys.

So now its time to get to work on the road. The goal for next season will be to help a few of our guys get their cat.1 status early on, and for me to try and get some GC results at stage races. Not an easy thing to do, but it's something to strive for. I have a meeting with the team big wigs tonight, and after that we will get bikes, and clothes and all that good stuff ordered up. Looking forward to next season. It was good to get that mtn bike race in though. I was already feeling that itch to race. That will hold me over until Roger's Cup. By Feb. I will be frothing to get out and race for real.

Rest time is almost over

The work travel is done for a while, and that's a good thing. If I had to do one more trade show, I would have to go to detox before returning to my office. Having said that, I got a disturbing email this morning. I sat down at my computer, and there it was, looking back at me, with a menacing snarl. The invite to the Vegas Crit. Not sure how I pulled this one off, but it happened. The first thought to go through my head was, HELL NO!!! And as I type this, I am on the phone seeing if I can get my sponsor to pay for hotel. What is wrong with me? Time to call the wife and see if she wants to do a weekend in Vegas.