Slow Motion with D

thinking about this?

So, while most of OBRA land is in Baker City racing Elkhorn, I find myself missing the faces of friends and the challenge of competition. Having been home for a few weeks now with good weather, I’ve actually been on my bike more than 45 min, 3 days a week. It’s been nice. I really wanted to be in Baker racing, and Brian even worked his butt off to get my road bike ready, but after some long rides it was obvious to me that I wasn’t in any shape to be racing a stage race. Oh well, there’s still some season left to show my face. Instead I’ve decided to lump my last few weeks of riding into my own stage race. Like to hear about it? Here it goes.


Stage 1: 4 Falls in 4 Days

Stage 1 actually lasted 4 days, possibly making it the longest stage in the history of stages. The route started with a nice 3.5 hour ride in Salem. I met up with my good buddy Hugh and we explored some roads around a part of the valley that I’ve never ridden in. It was a nice loop to Silver Falls and the weather held nicely. The second part of the stage took place on Sunday and involved one of my favorite loops that I’ve ever ridden. It’s the Alsea Falls loop outside of Corvallis and it was a beautiful day. Thinking it would be a leisurely stroll, I met up with a group just outside of Philomath. Unlucky for me, the group contained Zach Winter, Jim Fischer (mr. needs to upgrade), Luke (used to be super fast and has been riding 5-6 days a week), Becka and 2 juniors who can kill it. Lucky for me, Alex Newport-Berra was on the ride and although he was once feared on the climbs, he’s been MIA from the bike for over a year. This made me the person with the second least rides in, and therefore, the second slowest! The ride went pretty good with some groupo-compacto riding, and some harder pace up the hills. The roads were clear and the weather was great. We had planned all along to end the ride by going up Mary’s Peak, a 9 mile climb with snow at the top. We all rode our own pace and were rewarded with clear enough roads to get all the way to the top! Part 3 was actually held on dirt and looped me from Phil’s Trail to Dillon Falls on the River Trail. The stage ended with some hard efforts up Skyliner to Tumalo Falls. I feel pretty good about my first stage and found that keeping the theme going made it more fun. To my surprise, I found myself leading the GC after stage 1.

Stage 2: Fresh Air Sports Individual TT, 12 miles

This TT was 6 miles up Skyliner and back. The effort took me 32:10:61 and landed me in 7th place on the day. About 4 miles in, I dropped my chain and it got stuck between the rings and chain stays. I had to get off on a hill and pull it out. Maybe 15 seconds lost. Those 15 seconds would have put me in 5th, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Overall I felt good about the effort and actually improved my 20 min power threshold. That in itself is a small victory. Yeah watts!


Stage 3: I though I was cool until I read this stage, 115 miles

The beginning of this stage consisted of 8 hours over 2 days in Bend and ended with a hors category 7 hour stomp from Oakridge to Bend. My good buddy Jon provided the transfer for this stage. He just moved to Eugene to finish school and needed someone to drive his car over from Bend (He U-hauled it). I volunteered and got the bright idea to ride home from Eugene. After mapping the route, I decided that 150+ miles just wasn’t in the cards and hitched a ride to Oakride 40 miles in. The route took me over HWY 58, over the Crescent cutoff to Cascade Lakes Hwy, Hwy 42, up the Sunriver cutoff and home via Century Dr. 6 hours 52 minutes of moving time. 1 luna bar, 1 gel, 1 Snickers bar and 2 bottles of concentrated Hammer Sustained Energy. I dropped the winner of the TT on the final climb up from Edson snow park and reclaimed the GC lead after this stage. It was the longest that I’ve ever been on my bike in one day.




Stage 4: High Desert Crit, 40 min

This was the first hard and fast ride on my new road bike. The steel frame was stiff and responsive when I needed it to be and paired with an Edge 2.0 fork, provided great cornering stability. A small group drifted off the front and finished with a 30 second gap on the main pack. I put in some good solid efforts and tried to sneak off the front for 3rd with a lap to go. My feeble attempt was quickly swallowed up and I had to settle for 9th place and pack time. GC is protected going into stage 5 which is for the sprinters.


Stage 5: Lower Bridge, 4hrs

This stage was uneventful and won by Timmy Volcano of Rebound Physical Therapy in a sprint finish. Usually on some longer stages the pack will respect the GC leader and stop when he needs to pee. This time we took a cold water and fruit pie break. I thank the group for banding together and collectively stopping for drinks and pie.


The next day is a rest day and this very unique stage race will end on Sunday, the same day that Elkhorn ends, with the Pickett’s Charge! mountain bike race. Stage 4 winner, Carl Decker, will be out there, so it may be hard to maintain the GC lead. No matter the result, this stage race has been a welcome change from the foul weather inside workouts. Thanks for reading!


P.S All the photos are from the Oakride to Bend stage and this muffin was my reward at the end of the day. It's from Humble Bagel Co. and is made with sour cream, oil, butter, sugar and loads of other things that taste delicious.

Those of you who saw me show my slow legs off at the rehearsal road race and/or Albany crit, may have noticed that I was on my cross bike w/cross gears. Yeah, not that great for crits. Well, no more! The next road race that I show up for, I'll actually be on a road bike. Here's the process in pictures.

Fit by Herriott Sports Performance


Then Brian at Marcroft Cycles works his magic with the numbers and comes up with a drawing (his are much better)


Then he starts putting the tubes together and welds them.


The finished bare frame.


Finished paint. Are you jealous of my fork?


Finished build. Dura-ace 10speed (Ultegra SL brakes), Edge fork, Ritchey WCS bar, Easton post/stem.

Time to go ride!

It’s been a while since I last wrote and I’ve been a busybeavergrrr (shout out to OSU Cycling who won the NWCCC D1 title for the second year in a row!). As is par for the course, I’m gonna do most of my updating with pictures for your enjoyment. My drive home from Sea Otter included a stop at a military surplus store. In these times, I can’t think of a much more contradicting message as in this pic.

I almost made a purchase, just incase I ever have a daughter.

 

 

If you can’t read it, it says, “Guaranteed Virginity *DrPolasky’s Approved* Chastity Protector.” Awesome.

The next stop was Santa Cruz to kill some time before dropping Jason and Alex off at the airport. I got a sweet case for my Ukulele, but it ended up being too small. Now I’m stuck with it. Anyone need a concert Ekue sized case? We also discovered the Bike Church. I’m so spiritual. It’s a co-op where they teach people how to work on their own bikes. It’s cool. They don’t do anything for you, but they teach you how to do it yourself. They get lots of stuff donated and I picked up a sweet 3 speed for cheap. Score.

I pity the fool who steals my bikes!

When I got home, it was a mini break and then off to Massachusetts for the new company party. I was there for a week, but it should have been shorter. I met the new owners and it was cool that I had my own place to stay. It would have been nice to have a tour guide though, since the area is pretty cool with lots of old roads to ride. I got to ride in and out a few times with Jason and we also met up with the H.U.P team at their training camp. Cool group of guys and a few weeks later I met the founder Zac up at CBS in Seattle.

I got home and it was a quick turn around to head up to Washington for a little more work. When I pulled into Bellingham I went into a burrito shop. As I was eating, and admiring all the bike jerseys hanging on the wall, I heard a familiar voice. It was Luke Pennington former Jr. national champ! Turns out he had just got back into town from Mt. Hood and worked there. Random and cool to see him for the first time in a while. I also went to Seattle for the first Urban Assault of the year. Sweet event and I highly recommend doing one if it’s in your area.

The next week I was in Portland for the second Urban Assault. Totally opposite weather from Seattle.

That’s Doug Ollerenshaw and Jason Sager winning by like 12 minutes. Gee, who would have thought? I guess the winning strategy was skipping REI and being the first ones to Fat Tire Farm. Apparently the second place team stood in line at FTF for 10 minutes.

Somewhere in between all this I did a MTB race. I was rocking for about 2 hours and 10min, and then it all went downhill. Looking sharp can only get you so far.

I also attended the rehearsal road race and Albany crit. I had to throw down late night in Seattle with my friend who is shipping off to Iraq, so I wasn’t really expecting much from the race, but I flatted in the first 5 min and never saw the group again. Not very cool for my first road race of the year. I did one lap hard and a half lap easy before hooking up with Zach Winter for another lap. Yeah, that was tough. Good workout though. The crit wasn’t too exciting either since I have limited riding and even less racing in my legs. Plus, I was on my cross bike and when the heat gets turned up, a 46/12 gear combo doesn’t do much good. I tried 2 attacks that got a gap both times, but when I got up to speed, I didn’t have anymore gears to click down into and just spun my legs around till the group got me…about 5 seconds later. Oh well. I avoided a big crash at the end, closed the gap then sat on the back for the last 5 laps till the sprint. Good times. I like crits, so it was fun to do one. Plus, being on the cross bike meant that I could pedal through every corner and make up ground at will.

I'm the Magnum P.I looking fool in the maroon and white to the right. Speaking of not having a road bike to race road bike races with, I went up and saw Russell at Herriott Sports Performance to get a proper fit, so I can get a new Marcroft.

Ever since my big, “base 1 week 1 post,” I have hardly ridden. Guess it’s back to the drawing board. I just wrote down my cross schedule. Very long. Very exciting, but more on that later. Thanks for reading!

Last year at Sea Otter, I'd just got my cool job with Pedro's.  I'd also put in a good winter of riding hoping to do well in some early races, including the Otter.  The job required a bit more time in the beginning and my training went out the window, as did aspirations to race well early.  No worries!  It's a good job and I was able to get a bit of fitness for cross, so that's all that matters.  This year, I'm taking a different approach.  Very little riding is in my legs now, and I had no desire to race the Otter....ok, I had a little short track desire, but I resisted and focused on enjoying the weekend without hard efforts.  I'd just come off a good week on the bike and I knew that the majority of the week would go by without riding.  I was actually ok with this, since I knew what to expect.  It was harder last year when I thought a job in the bike industry meant riding your bike all the time!  I do get to ride, but just not as much as you'd think.  There's work to be done!

Day 1


We had a little press conference.  We're gonna rock and roll from now on!

Trying to get special coverage with a little bribe.

Our big responsibility for the Otter was sponsoring the bike wash.  We've got some great cleaning products and people were appreciative to have us there.  This is Jennifer Gersbach who works and rides for Spot.  The weather was amazing on Thursday.  Warm and not much wind.  3 of us rode our bikes back to the hotel.  Only 45 minutes, but totally worth it.  So nice.

Day 2

What a difference a day makes with the weather.  No rain, but my ride back in to the venue (another 45 minutes, but lots of uphill) wasn't exactly clear at 7:30 in the a.m.




The long road in.  The first few days of the festival were pretty mellow, so it allowed us to take walkabouts to see new products and industry friends.  I ran into Lance (not Armstrong) at the TRP booth and he showed me the new magnesium cross brakes with adjustable pad post toe adjustment and cable adjuster.  I want some.  I also got to see my friends at Thule, Crank Bros and Edge Composites.



I was also able to sneak out and do the short course on my mountain bike.  It was good to spin, but boy was it windy.  The final long climb, for those who know it, sucked.  I took a spill over my bars and burped my front tire.  It's becoming a habit lately.  I gotta kick that.  The wind broke my spirit and I decided not to ride back to the hotel again.  Ride time for the day, 2.5hrs.  I'll take it.  Props to the Clif Bar and Luna crew who rides in and out everyday after set up. 

Day 3


Don't let the sun fool you.  It was F'n cold.  It was also busier on Saturday, but the boss and I snuck off to talk business and watched some of the pro men short track.

Here's a few Bend boys fighting it out till the end.  Decker and Shep.  I think Decker stayed just in front after Chris held the lead over him for most of the race.  Ryan got beat by a young'n on the final lap.  It's funny cause he doesn't have a mechanic, so now he has to wash his own bike, right in front of us.  Good times.

I can't really explain how windy it was today.  We took everything down at the end of the day to keep our tents from getting damaged.  The wind died down just in time for us to hit up the Clif Bar party for some beers and margaritas.

Jay and Mellisa, no doubt talking about marketing strategies.  She's with Luna, who is with Clif Bar, who is with the band.

And that gets us to the front of the line for beers.

Jay even, "helped," make margaritas with the bike blender.


Day 4

Not too much to report.  Kinda slow and all the racer nerds were out on the big loops of dirt.  We held down the fort and sold a few items for super cheap.  I was making fun of this guy a little, then I realized that he'd earned the jersey he was wearing.

Former world and olympic champion Miguel Martinez.  I can't even tell you how many times they rode past all weekend just looking all Euro and cool.

This shot is for Kenji.  She gets my style award for wearing leg warmers and jean shorts.  Awesome.

At the end of the day we tore down, packed up and went to bed early.  Another Otter in the books.  Hope you enjoyed the pics.

I say week 1 because I guess some of my random riding could be considered base.  Although I only rode 5 or so hours last week, they were all quality, controlled, mid-high intesity efforts.  I've learned a few good ways to pull together a little fitness in a small amount of time over the last few years.  Unfortunately the fitness is still a bit behind and it doesn’t do anything for my endurance.  Oh well, like I’ve said, baby steps.  Well, this last week was a bit different.  Somehow, 20 hours on the bike snuck up on me.  Now, I’m not complaining, but it wasn’t planned, I just couldn’t help it. 

The week started off busy with the vid store and getting things ready for Sea Otter.  By Wednesday, I hadn’t ridden at all.  I made myself go out for just over an hour before work on Wednesday and that got it going.  Thursday was a set of maintenance intervals and Friday was 2.5hrs of  mountain biking.  I also met with my coach Bart Bowen to talk about training for the year.  Not too many races to mention, but I will say that I’m gonna try to get fitness for Elkhorn and Cascade (not peak, but be fit), as well as the summer run of crits before cross fires up full time.  I’m excited, super excited.  I really want to put a full year together of training without things getting in the way (does anyone actually accomplish this?  Ha!).

This is where the week got good.  That 70 degree weather we were forecasted to have…even better.  75+.  So nice.  On Saturday, a small group of us…lets say 13, went mountain biking out at Smith Rock.  Lets just say it was like a post card.  I’ve been out there before to climb and ride my road bike past, but I’ve never taken the mtb out.  You see so much more and everything is picturesque.  Amazing.  It was also hard.  Big climbs and steep, lose descents.  Awesome.  Add to that a big group of friends and it was a great way to spend the morning.  I also brought my road bike out and after the mtb’n, I loaded up and went to Prineville.  It was a little further than I thought it was, so round trip was 2.5.  I was pretty bonky and glad to be done after 5.5 in the saddle.  Sunday was also nice, but windy and cloudy.  Don, Mike and I went out Alfalfa and came back on Hwy 20.  Not that exciting of a loop and because of the wind I was stoked to have the good company of the Sunnyside boys.  More road on Monday and another mtb on Tuesday before driving to CA, pushed me to 20 hours.  Nice.  I took a few quick falls over my bars on Tuesday and my body was a bit stiff after the drive to Monterey.  Good times. 

Base one, week one down, and only 6 months till cross.

P.S. My boy Doug is in Georgia.  My Pedro's boss doesn't like my Rock Racing hat.  Weak.

I got to see Big Willy Clinton speak here in Bend.  Pretty impressive.



Please vote.

Is great. I got 4 days in on the bike last week. So what if it was only 5 hours total, I was still on my bike!!!! Got out today for another hour+. Baby steps right? I'm feeling the need to log some hours now, so....yeah, you won't see me racing at Kings Valley this weekend. It's supposed to be 70 here. I'll believe it when I see it. I guess our temps are 15+ degrees colder than the average spring temps for Bend. It's lame. Soon I'll probably complain about it being too hot while I log all my cross base miles in the Summer. Not riding this winter has made me a wuss though. Usually I'll ride no matter how cold it is, but this year I seem to be shying away from the cold. I need to harden the F up, especailly if my winter cross plans pan out.

Don't be too jealous of my sweet jacket.
Instead of logging big miles this weekend, I spent some time in the kitchen. Jamaican beans and rice, chicken stock, meatloaf and zucchini bread were on the menue. Tasty.

Wanna try something different for a, "diet?" Check out Nourishing Traditions. Deliciousness and not what you would expect for an athlete to use as guidlines, but lots do. Buy it from your local book store, please.

Tyrone at Left Side Ride in Colorado Springs painted this window. Buy local. It's more important than you probably know.

Ciao

D

So, I finished up my first Colorado swing of the year in style, in Boulder. I did a work swing into Grand Junction, Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder. Good times. A buddy flew in to Denver to visit family and then spent a few days with me. We tied it on a few nights and even found a dance floor on a Tuesday night. Rowdy’s in, Colorado Springs, is a good spot for cheap beer and good tunes. Careful though, looks like some fights could break out… Even closed the night out with some country line dancing. Shhh, don’t tell anyone. I got to see a few good shops and Pedro’s is popular in Colorado, so it’s always nice to see our stuff on the walls and work benches. The only negative to Colorado would be the food poisoning I picked up in the Springs. Not fun being uncomfortable (if you know what I mean) from 6am-3pm. Went to the grocery store after the vomiting stopped and walked, er shuffled, around like an old man looking for fluids. Good times. Here are some shop highlights:

Campus Cycles in Denver loves Pedro's!

If you're in the Springs, stop by Left Side Ride. You won't find any Dura-ace, but you'll get straight up honest talk about downtown and local Springs businesses. You'll find some sweet tee's and shoes too. I scored a pair of sparkle silver Vans. Pimp.


Wanna convert your bike shop into an enviro friendly self power producing machine? Talk to Old Town, also in the Springs.



This is the meter that tells the shop how much energy they are harnessing.
Finished up the week with a 3.5hr ride in Boulder with the Saturday ladies ride. Nice. Fred Dreier of Velonews was out there too. We were like, "one of the girls." They whooped me as we climbed left hand canyon for most of the day. Beers and college basketball closed out the evening and Sunday I started driving home. The drive home was less than ideal. Worst weather of the year for me driving through Wyoming.


Glad to have made it.

D

Want to watch a good movie?  Give The Magnificent Seven a try, or check out the original by watching Seven Samurai.  Great films.  It was also made into a pretty cool animation series.  Check out how much influence Seven Samurai has had in film.