More Spy+ Optics

Last year we were fortunate to have SPY optics as a team sponsor (I may have been responsible for setting up the deal) and I continue to love and wear their products even though I am now buying them retail. Like many cyclists, my intro to performance sunglasses came from Oakley. While I enjoyed my Oakley glasses, I always thought they were very expensive - something that becomes apparent when you end up with scratched lenses from road debris and need to order replacements. So, when SPY launched their performance line, I was intrigued. The initial models (the Alpha and Quanta) offered lightweight models with a respectable price and great color options. With lenses that are easy to replace (both in ease of install and the dent in your wallet), they were an excellent addition to the market. SPY then released the Screw, offering the same great qualities of the earlier models with the full shield lens that many racers prefer. Working with some of the SPY team, we outfit my team with great glasses for the 2013 season.

As a follow-up from my review of the great Screw sunglasses, I was excited to finally get my hands on the newer, super-light Daft sunglasses. Going from a standard full-frame shield glass like on the Screw, the Daft moves to the ultra-light setup of just attaching arms to the shield itself, removing the frame from the lens to reduce weight. The Daft model also features a larger shield (similar to what is now offered on the Screw-Over model) to improve sight lines, and looks amazing.

 I have now been wearing the Daft sunglasses for about 4 months and through a variety of races (from rainy and long road races to fast and hot criteriums). I can definitely say that the weight reduction is nice (not that the other SPY glasses were heavy, these are just SUPER light) and the ventilation is great (no fog up yet!). Unlike what I have heard about some lens-only shield glasses, I have been able to wear these in humid, wet races while wearing a cap and have no fogging or glasses-cap contact.

 The Daft come in either a white or black frame (for now) and both models come with 2 lenses (the white model comes with a very slick green/blue mirror lens as well as a yellow lens for those wet or dark races). I am sure that SPY will continue to add colors to the lineup as they have done with the other models as well, so if you are looking for something a bit brighter, just wait. I absolutely love these glasses and look forward to racing cyclocross with them as well (I am sure the coverage will be great for keeping mud out of my eyes too). If you are in the market for some performance shades for cycling (or other sports), definitely check out the Daft.

As a cyclist, I often find myself wearing my racing glasses off the bike as well. My girlfriend finally had enough of me looking silly (race glasses don't go well with nicer clothes), so I picked up a set of the SPY Helm glasses last summer. These glasses offer a classic wayfarer-style look and fit, have SPY's high-quality lenses, and let me enjoy clear vision on any outing.

So, in continuing my review of products I enjoy, I highly recommend SPY Optic glasses, and hopefully will have an opportunity to work with them again in the future.

Getting there - WA state Road championships 2014

 This past weekend was the 2014 WA State Road championships, this year held up in Bellingham on the Northshore RR course. The course, which I have only raced once before, is only about 8 miles long, so for the Road Championship minimum distance we had to ride 10 laps. The field wasn't huge (results say 34 starters) but as it was a state championship race, the strong riders were in attendance and it wouldn't be an easy race. We started with three racers: Matt, Alec, and myself. This was Alec's first race since he crashed in March, so while he was excited to race, he wasn't sure how it would go. Matt and I both were feeling ok and decided to see how the race played out without locking into roles. We figured there would be a break at some point, so we would both watch and see if we could make the jump.

 The course is rolling and generally defined by the two climbs each lap. Starting from a local restaurant (the Fork), you immediately start a stair-step climb that takes you out toward the "official" lap point. At the top of this climb, the road flattens out (maybe even a small downhill) before an off-camber right angle turn into a small uphill. Here you then accelerate down a short hill to the lap point and make a 90-degree turn to the left. A longer flat section offers a time to sit in temporarily, although this also seems to be an area for kicking the pace up as well. At the end of this straight, the road kicks up for a short climb before the field flies into a downhill section at full speed. A sharp right turn at the bottom of the hill before another small downhill section to keep the ride at speed. Then begins the soul-draining section of the course - a long, open stretch of gradual uphill. The road looks like it is flat but actually averages around 2-3%, so you begin to feel quite drained by the later laps. At the end of this section you get a moment of rest before the 2nd climb - a longer section that kicks up toward the end (and is the site where most riders fall off the back). Once you force yourself over the crest, you are rewarded with a long winding descent back to the Fork to begin the lap again. This continues until the final lap, where instead of making the left turn at the "lap" point, you instead go straight into a short but brutally steep little hill before a flat roll over the line.

 As I mentioned earlier, the fact that the race was a championship meant that the main players were in attendance and ready to rip each others legs off. From the gun we were racing at a brisk pace, with small attacks literally going from the beginning of the race. The field stayed roughly together for the first lap, but eventually the strongest of the field managed to break away in a group that contained a large selection of HSP riders. Matt ended up in a small group in-between the fields that slowly drifted back and rejoined the main peloton. Our field got into a rhythm of rotation and were slowly closing in on the lead group after a lap or so, but couldn't close it down completely. At this point, our field was starting to lose riders - casualties of the high chasing pace. It was on lap 4 that Alec pulled the plug and rode with a few other riders on a cool-down lap before heading back to the cars.

 The reduced peloton (still containing Matt and myself) continued to work together, but the leaders had a significant gap and we wouldn't see them for the rest of the race. At this point, the race was turning into a game of attrition; it seemed that every lap would result in riders disappearing off the back. On lap 6, a strong Apex racer attacked off the front of the group and pulled away from us. The field continued to rotate, but it was disheartening that the Apex rider stayed away (I would later learn that he quit at the end of that lap, but I assumed he had caught the leaders and finished with them).

 Toward the end of lap 7 Matt and I had a short chat about how tired we were. The relentless climbing and chasing was wearing down all the riders and I could tell we had slowed down compared to previous laps. Matt asked if I intended to finish or not since he was feeling spent. Since we were soon to start lap 8 of 10, I figured that as long as I stayed with the group I could finish. At this point we had 8 riders left in the peloton. As we started lap 8, I noticed we had lost more riders and were down to 6. We started charging along the flat section and suddenly Matt was not in the rotation - I realized he had pulled the plug. Shortly afterward, the 10-Speed Hero rider (another strong engine in our little group) also disappeared. It was now just 4 of us: Starbucks, Olympic Ortho, Therapeutic Associates, and myself.

 For the rest of lap 8 and lap 9, we all rotated evenly sharing the workload of hauling toward the finish. I didn't know how many riders were up the road, but figured we were well out of the placings (and we hadn't seen anyone fall back from the lead group, so I assumed they were all together as well) so I was happy to work to get to the finish. Once we finally began lap 10 however, things definitely changed. During the flat sections the work was relatively even, but suddenly I was leading up all the hills. Going up the last hill, I could tell that the others were attempting to save something for the finish. I had been having small cramps for most of the lap, so I figured I would let them play and just ride my race. We flew by the Fork for the last time and into the stair-step climb together. As we approached the top, Starbucks took his chance and jumped ahead. The other riders looked at me to chase and then continued to sit in as I worked ahead at my own pace. We rounded the final corner and down into the finish stretch watching Starbucks stay roughly 500m ahead. Finally, as we hit the short hill, the other riders jumped past me. I stood to climb and immediately was back to seating as my legs refused to work any harder. I rolled across the line to end up 16th for the day.

 Our group ended up finishing roughly 13 minutes behind the leader. It turned out the lead group had splintered on the last laps as well, with 2nd place finishing a minute back, and 3-9 finishing another minute back from #2. #10 was about 45 seconds off that group and 11&12 finished only a minute ahead of our group. 2 more riders finished about 7 minutes behind us, and were the last people to finish (16 DNFs).

 Definitely a hard race, but I was happy to have finished, even if I did not contest my group. Now it is time for a little break before we hit the peak Criterium season.

Full Results here - Northshore RR - 2014

New CX teaser and Spring updates

I know it is not even officially summer yet, but it is never too early to get started preparing for the CX season. After the challenging entry into the 1/2 field last season, I know that I need to step things up for 2014 to get the results I want. In addition, I have been racing the road this season with more vigor as well, racking up some big mileage and definitely feeling stronger and fitter than I have in the past.
I've been doing a lot of racing recently, and in combination with my class-load have fallen a little behind on posting race reports here, but that should be changing shortly. Recently I completed the challenging Capital Stage Race down in Olympia, finishing as the highest placed rider on the Bikesale.com team (however there were only 3 of us). I also just this past weekend raced the always exciting Ballard Criterium. This race was blisteringly fast as usual, but rather than being spit out the back as I was in 2013 (only lasted about 20min of the 70min race), this year I was hard charging until the end. My Garmin reported that we were running 26.6mph average for those 70 minutes - definitely a challenging effort!
While I didn't have any notable finishes in any of these races, I do feel like my form is coming along well, and we do have the whole summer of racing ahead - that just means it is time for some strong finishes!
Well, back to the main purpose of this post - I have just sorted out my 2014 racing machine. After a lot of research and working with a few builders and companies, I have found the perfect bike for what I was after. The next step involved a lot of back-and-forth with their team, making sure things would work out and getting the bike set-up perfectly. While I am not racing officially under their banner this season, I am acting as a representative of their products, and if things go well that could possibly change in the future.
I am going to keep things a little secretive until I have the bike dialed in, so stay tuned, but here are some teasers to get you as excited as I am...

 Some nice boxes for me...

 Some slick looking new wheels (with disks!)

And the teaser for the frame...

Vance Creek 2014

After last year's DNF, I was excited to see how my form would hold out this year. We had 3 racers in the field of 47 today: Matt, Jason and I. We started at a brisk pace, but the majority of the first lap was just smaller attacks to keep the pace high. The weather report was for some rain during the race, and they were right.
Lap one wasn't too bad, and it wasn't until the hill that the fireworks hit. As we hit the initial pitch, Carson Miller (Jamis-Hagens Berman) and Colin Gibson (Keller Rohrback) flew off the front while the field chased to catch them. By the time we hit the top, those two had developed a solid gap and continued to pull away. During lap two the rain started, and while we continued to push along, the leaders continued to grow their lead. The group continued to launch small attacks but they were continually shut down.
During the entire race riders were dropping out, and not just due to the speed. The road had recently been repaved, but with a rough chipseal (which made for a constant vibration while riding) that had been releasing sharp rocks into the shoulders. This, coupled with the wet surfaces, invariably led to numerous punctures.
Lap three began with a big increase in the rain, which was incredibly noticeable down on the farm road. Here we were basically holding onto wheels and hoping that no one was doing anything stupid while we couldn't see. Matt, Jason and I were all active near the front and staying out of trouble. We passed the ladies field along the farm road and then raced past their leader while going up the hill.
Starting the 4th lap, we had definitely started to whittle down the field. Matt had made the front section of the peloton at the top of the hill, and I worked with a few others in the second group to join back on along the winding section near the power plant. This lap, sensing the dwindled field, attacks began again. HSP continued to start and block attacks, and to stay out of the trouble, Matt and I stayed up near the front to avoid the whipping. I guess that near this point Jason was disqualified for crossing the centerline (I didn't see what happened and only learned this from Matt after the race, so it may have happened earlier). Again we had small groups go up the road, only to be dragged back before long.
Heading up the hill to start the final lap, the race heated up again, and by the top of the hill, there were only a few riders left in the pack. I had lost some time up the hill, and crested behind the group. At this point (only one lap left!) I tucked in and TT'd my way along the top section to catch the pack just before dropping back into the valley. I caught my breath and assessed that I was now part of a group of only 12 racers (Matt unfortunately had not made it, he later told me he pulled off at the top of the hill after having a "body flat" (Wilssens' term). I knew Colin and Carson were up the road, but I thought there were 2 more riders who had escaped as well. This meant that as long as I stayed with the group, I had a good chance of a great finish.
During the farm road, Jeff Reed (Starbucks) went off the front solo. I figured we would chase him back, but the group said we would catch him on the climb, so no worries. At this point, the pace slowed and it seemed like a rider from Oregon, one of the Olympic Ortho guys and myself were the only ones rolling the front. As we approached the first section of the climb, two riders rolled off the front. I watched with surprise as the pack didn't chase after them (in hindsight I really should have jumped with them!). Once we hit the hill, I just set my pace and slowly rolled past others who had blown up from attacking hard at the start of the hill. The big hitters really attacked the last hill and chased after the 2 racers who had escaped earlier, but didn't quite catch them in time. Wilssens (Audi) and Hitchcock (HSP) duked it out for the pack win, with Hitchcock slipping past at the last second. I managed to work past a few more racers and at the 200m was ready to push it for the final run. I missed my shift and unfortunately lost out on a higher finish, however I was very happy finishing in 12th in this very difficult race.
After having my off-day at IVRR last weekend, this finish is really nice and just reinvigorates me to prepare for the next race.
Great work to Matt and Jason for dealing with the weather and working hard in the race!

Early season 2014 (Sequim 1, Sequim 2, IVRR)

2014 racing has started and is off to a good start. After the work this winter, it was nice to get out to Sequim and see how it has paid off. The first Tour de Dung race was 72 miles, and while it was a fast and hard race, I felt good and finished with the pack. One of our racers was in the breakaway and managed a good finish - always a great way to start the season.
A week later we returned for the 84 mile 2nd race, which was a faster pace (no breakaways) but I felt great throughout the race and worked to help set up the finish. Unfortunately a rider caused a crash right at the end of the race, causing a big pile-up and locking our sprinter in the middle of the carnage. Luckily, one of our guys (the same racer who did well the previous week) managed to skirt the wreck and hang on to the leaders, finishing 4th! I again finished with the pack (after getting going again from the crash), so I was doing better than last year.
I then had a week to focus on training, with no race during the weekend. I continued my training regimen into the next week (and in hindsight I carried it a little too far into the week) before racing Independence Valley in Rochester. This race has two hills every lap, and can definitely start to wear you down. I started the race feeling good, but within the first lap I started feeling the training had taken a toll. My legs felt a bit heavy, and I was just working to stay in the pack. Heading into the 3rd lap, I just couldn't hold onto the group going up the longer hill. At the top I raced to chase back, but couldn't connect. I joined up with another racer and we worked together for a few minutes before catching onto a strong rider who was trucking along. We sat on his wheel for a few miles before I fell off, the pace being higher than I could hold. As I started up the 2nd hill, I caught my earlier companion, but he was now completely toasted and I rolled away from him without trying. I rolled for another few miles before another group came by. I jumped on their wheels and rolled with them to the finish line, when our group of 4 pulled the plug and called it quits without doing the final lap.
I didn't have any teammates at this race, so unfortunately I didn't have anyone to root for, but it was cool to see an old teammate win the race.
Not the finish I was hoping for after the good start, but it just shows me that I needed to alter my training to make sure I have energy for racing. Next weekend is Vance Creek, and I think I will see how I do there.

SCX #6 - Enumclaw - Season Finish

The 2013 Cross season wrapped up this past weekend with the muddy race down at Enumclaw's King County Fairgrounds. This race always tends to be a muddy one, but with the dry and cold lead-up to the weekend, I was wondering if we were in for a cold and dry course instead. Mother Nature had a change of heart mid-week and the moisture came in to restore the thick mud.
After the mud race at Steilacoom for SCX #5, I figured one more muddy race couldn't hurt, and prepared to get dirty. The course was a similar layout to previous years, utilizing the grassy field for some looping corners before sending riders across a muddy stretch and into the large run-up. Once at the top, you then worked through some single-track corners and into the upper section of grooved mud, before a short downhill/180 to uphill/180 to downhill that took you back to the lower level. Here we crossed through the deeper mud field before emerging back into the grass field for some more corners, a set of barriers, and a little muddy section before swinging back to the start and doing it all again. As usual, the course was nicely torn up for our race, and over the hour it would get a little more slick in some spots as riders wore down the last remaining grass sections into the mud.
Due to my decent finishes over the season, I was sitting nicely in 8th overall for the series. This meant front-row call-up! I didn't have a great start, so I hit the first corner at roughly 12th, but worked through some riders and was hanging onto the tail of the leaders as we worked through the infield and toward the run-up for the first time. For the majority of the first lap I stayed with this group as they worked to catch Russell (who had shot off the front from the gun). By the second time up the hill, myself and a few others from this group had fallen back a ways, but continued to work along, sometimes gaining ground on the riders ahead. On the third lap, a pair of riders crashed in one of the corners and I managed to roll past by pushing the course tape out of the way. This bought me some space behind, but cemented a gap to the riders ahead.
For the final 3 or 4 laps I worked with the pair of Dougvascas riders as we worked through the course. We managed to pass a rider who ran out of steam, but otherwise we just maintained the gap behind us for the rest of the race. Shortly before hitting the start line on the last 2 laps, Russell managed to shoot past us, meaning that we would only do one more lap instead of 2. At this point I was definitely getting worn down from the muddy slop, so I wasn't too upset. In the end, we were not passed by any other riders, so I feel like the race was done pretty well. My final race ended with a respectable 15th place, good enough to move up to 7th in the series! Not a bad result for my first season in the 1/2 field.
Now it is time for a little relaxing before the 2014 season begins. 2014 will be a big year, and I expect some good results both on and offroad. See you out there!

2013 WSBA Cyclocross State Championships

The WSBA Cyclocross state championship races were held up in Arlington again this year on a course situated on the airport grounds. Last year the rain turned the field into a soupy quagmire, and the course design featured multiple tight spirals through the energy-sapping mud. This year's race was a much different story however. The ground had frozen from the week of cold temperature, so the course designers were forced to resort to different strategies to whittle the field.
From the gun, the course shot into a right angle turn and then doubled back on itself toward the center of the course. Popping over a log, we then navigated a few corners before quickly jumping over the barriers and then into the only section of mud on the course. Shooting through the mud allowed for easy passage before navigating back into another series of tight turns.
Exiting onto a small chunk of pavement, we then shot up a short embankment and into a steep and rutted descent. A quick turn at the bottom and we then raced into the slick run-up. At this point, racers worked through some rutted corners before a long drag along the back of the course and toward the starting line.
I managed to get a decent start and work forward for the first half lap before a small bump caused my chain to stick. I was moving again almost immediately, but was now fighting from further back. Fueled by the frustration of the mechanical I flew back up the course, passing riders as I carved through the corners. Within a lap I found myself behind the same group of riders I had initially been combating. I put on the pressure as we entered a tighter corner and two of the riders wiped out. I snaked through the inside line and then turned up the throttle to gain some distance.
I was maintaining a good pace, and even passed a few more riders as we quickly approached the half-way point of the race. I could see my new targets ahead, and was slowly reeling them in. With 3 laps to go, one of the racers behind me had managed to latch on, and I could feel him breathing down my back. I held my lines and kept him contained for half the lap, but he managed to squeeze by on a wider section. I was on his wheel immediately, and we both raced ahead. As we hit a section of straight, I increased the pace and was back in the lead. I managed to hold this position until shortly after the barriers when he overtook me again.
As we entered the final lap, my opponent was just ahead and we were still gaining on the leading racers. I started increasing the pressure, hoping that he would make a mistake and I could capitalize on the situation. Unfortunately he was able to hold strong, and as we made the final corners I knew the positions weren't changing. We rolled through the line with a few seconds between us and started to cool off.
I was very happy to learn that I claimed 10th in the open Elite race - my best finish this year! We only have two SCX races left this year, so I only have a few left before the season wraps up. If I can continue to score some great finishes like this, I will be very pleased. Time to do a little work in preparation for Steilacoom next weekend and make sure I do well. See you out there, and keep on racing.