Cat 4 track

CAT4 Track upgrade, not a big deal, but I got it, so I don't have to ride with the "crash right in front of you gang"

Strange I got my upgrade, coz I won less and rode less than Erich, go figure, get some more sand in that bag Erich.

Fast Twitch Fridays and lack of real training!

Fast Twitch Friday rolled around again (Friday night track races), well what to say, I have high expectations about where I should be, but also it's early season and I have been naughty I have not been doing due diligence to the normal rules of race preparation and training (even though I would say that I don't train).

so as Joe Friel would say. I have broken 3 commandments out of 10.

# 1 Train Moderately.
yep I don't do that! I ride to work each day 34miles with 1500ft of climbing and hammer every bit of it. Combined with a couple of hard training sessions and an 80miler on the weekend.

#3 - Get Adequate Rest.
5 1/2 hrs of sleep a night aint gonna do anything.

#9 - Listen to your body.
if your body says don't ride, then don't. I break that all the time, just so I don't have to drive my car.

I also got some good advice from friends off Team Beer, they told me it looked like I was pushing too "hard" of a gear ratio and having a difficult time staying on top of it. At the moment I am running 88gear inches, I might drop down to 86" for future Omnium events.


This week I was trying really hard to help out Chip from team Grundlebruisers by doing a bit of pulling swapping out and blocking. Chip is a strong rider, has the lungs, motivation and the skill but quite often in our Cat5 Track field we are joined by CAT1/2 Roadies. Which basically means that with the fitness of a 1/2 roadie they can ride off the front of the pack, stay off gain all the points and win the events, thus the regular CAT5 guys get nothing and no points = no upgrades. Now in theory this is ok if a CAT 1/2 roadie comes along wins a race and upgrades to a higher level thus giving the rest of the 5's a chance but there is this terrible phenomenon called Sandbagging. here's an example

Let's just say the racer is called Erich (purely fictional link)

• A good experienced racer, Cyclocross A racer, cat1 roadie, Pro/Semi Pro dirt rider with top 3 wins consistently.
- Comes to the track as a newbie and joins the cat5 group to race 3 times per night (Omnium events)
-Said Eric wins all 3 races that night, overall #1, cool good job, nice work.
- next friday, Erich shows up again ,guess what
- yup Eric enters cat5 wins everything again.
- then next season, ye thats right next season
- Oh bless his heart Erich shows up again, enters cat5 again, wins all 3.
Now what does this say about Erich?
Erich is a good chap? - maybe, Erich is a strong rider - yes, Eric is scared of moving up? - Yes, Eric is not letting anyone have a chance at upgrading - Yes.
ok.
-So Erich shows up again Friday, cat5.
- no doubt as to what happened.

This to me defines Sandbagger, Slacker, Wuss, ScaredyCat, Lame arse, nob end or whatever you wish to label it.

Shame, and at one point (before I knew) I thought these individuals and Erich were ok peps. Now not only do I question you, I question your team.
No doubt I'll see you on Friday and ask you again if you really have to win 10 races to upgrade and you will have the puzzled douchebag look on your face like you have never rode competitively before.

Some people would say quit your hating, I say grow a pair and cat up.

bam - yours sincerely

Eric Kautzky Memorial track race

Why do I bother? maybe this is a common thought.... ok positivity on, check...so this last weekend was the first track race of the season, I went in thinking I would be stronger this season. I came out coughing like I smoked cigarettes. Maybe I shoulda had a bit more track time? a bit more intensity to blow all the crap outta my lungs, maybe, maybe just I should think before I ride.
I realized that my thought process is severely lacking but it goes like this.

1) Should I go off the front and try and try and stay off? Yes goto 3) No goto 2).
2) Ok sit midpack, get blocked in mid race. Achieve nothing.
3) Off the front, hammer the crap outta 2 laps, get points, do whatever, about lap 3 feel some pain, get passed from above, sit at the back. Achieve nothing.

maybe time to change my thinking? no shit.

After coughing a lung up and some rather shoddy performances, I managed to jangle up a 6th place position. Pretty lame but at least earned 3pts at least for my lameness.



This weekend is Reach the Beach which is a good cause ride to the beach from Portland, 100 miles and track racing Friday night.