An Interlude (from important things)

First and most importantly - CHECK OUT THESE SWEET SHADES

80's Oakley Factory Pilots... I have to be faster channeling my inner Lemond...right?

The last week has been rough. Due to my smartphone being far smarter than I am I ended up flipping some workouts last Tue/Wed. Normally not a big deal, but it ended up sandwiching a long run between two hard bike workouts. The result? Me having to cut the second bike workout and then cutting my long ride in half on Sunday. Some rest is necessary even for the most ambitious of us it seems.

Fortunately these things (some people call it life) happen, and when they do you just adjust. No need to panic.

My swimming on the other hand is coming along nicely. I've been getting tips from some of the local "fish" and I can tell it is really helping. Most annoyingly, my left foot darts out on my right stroke, breaking the "tube." It's something that I've got to work on... even if it's only costing me a couple of seconds per race, it's time I desperately need. Still, after my result in the Storm the Fort swim, I can't be too unhappy with how things are progressing.

Running is pretty static at the moment, I'm still increasing volume, although it won't "really" be going up until after I come back from the beach. Saturday I had a 90' run in what I can only describe as the aftershock of the Great Deluge. Going out it was just pouring down rain, but at the turnaround point (you know... 5 1/2 miles from home) I noticed that the trails weren't draining fast enough. By the time I got on my way back, I had to do my best Oregon Trail impression and ford a couple of floods!


In non-training news... it's time to build the Cervelo!

While not a TOTAL swap from the Planet X (Which is on it's way to Single Speed land) it is certainly going to be accepting a lot of donations. Here's the build sheet as it looks so far

Trying to get the measurements set in the "Bicycle Graveyard"

- Cervelo P3(aluminum) frame
- Cervelo aluminum (possibly end up with carbon) aero seatpost
- Ceramic Speed Bottom Bracket
- Dura Ace 7800 Crankset (170mm)
- Osymetric 56/42 Chainrings
- Dura Ace 7800 Front Derailleur
- Dura Ace 7900 Rear Derailleur
- Tririg Omega Front / Rear brake Calipers
- Alligator I-links and I-link mini's for cables
- Arundel Chrono Aero Bottle

I've also imported my cockpit from the Planet X, however I am itching to try out a 3T Ventus (or maybe a USE Tula) on this build. The upside is that the Ventus is a nutty slick aerobar. The downside is that it's a very "fixed" cockpit. To emulate my position will require a good amount of tinkering and adjusting/sawing/dremeling/whatevering to make it work. I'm down for the challenge, just not at the price Ventus bar's generally bring. If I lucked into a good deal I'd certainly give it a try though.

The stem (which wouldn't be an issue with the Ventus) I'm using is a Ritchey adjustable. This is a rock-solid stem I use on pretty much all of my bikes, but that said, I'd like to track down the "big daddy" LOOK Ergo-stem. Unfortunately these things are pretty rare (especially a non-threaded one) but I have my eye out.

Lastly is the fork. The stock "Cervelo" one (before the Wolf) is a fine fork, but I'm much more interested in hunting down a Blackwell Research Time Bandit or an Argos (MDT?) Flat blade fork. Again, rare parts, especially when they have to be 1" size. Still, the hunt goes on.

Wheels will of course be my old standby Hed3 front (with Aerowing) and Powertap rear (with GP4000s probably) and latex.

I'm also considering trying to build my own cockpit. It's probably a pipe dream (and of course i'm terribly poor at FINISHING projects.) but it would be really sweet.

I have been working on my carbon fiber work and I did a repair on a carbon steerer that was cracked. Everything looks like it's good to go (other than needing sanded smooth) no way this thing isn't as good as it was from the factory. (If not stronger) I guess I may end up being the crash test dummy though...

Overwrapped it most likely... but I wanted to err on the side of "more" instead of "less."

Well, that's it for this week. Thanks for reading :)

- Christopher Morelock

ReVIEW-Speed Skewers (and Amigo)

Hello Viewers and all,

The best way to dive back in to "normal" content... with a review of course!

Today I'm going to be talking about the View-Speed S3 Skewers. (and the Amigo multi-tool) View-Speed is Neal's (Nealhe on the forums) project, and it's "small" guys like him that really can come up with some great and innovating things you'd likely never see from the "big" companies.. Anyways, let's cut the foreplay and get down to business.

So, what's the big deal about the skewers? Well, let's get the technical stuff out of the way first.

- Made from Titanium

- 44ish grams (lighter than most NON weight weenie skewers)

- 5mm hex key installation

- ~$73.00 / pair

Ok, now the main reason you would be interested in these skewers (I assume) is because, like me, you are an aero nerd looking to shave as many precious seconds off your bike split as is possible. Comparing the S3's to a normal quick release skewer will quickly give you an idea of just how minimal they are.

Get out of here Fatty McFaterson!

What kind of time savings are we talking about here? View-Speeds estimate is around a minute for an Ironman bike split at 20mph average pace. This is the part where a lot of people are going to say to the screen "yeah whatever, that's not enough to worry about." Well... it's fine to be wrong if you want to be, but the fact is, you MUST have skewers on your bike. If using X instead of Y skewers can make me faster...why would I not choose them?

On the front of my Planet X. Sort of makes my 19mm Aerowing look like a fat tire!

Well, in honor of playing fair, there are reasons you might not choose them. The primary one is because of the way the S3's are installed. The bolt on system is not a big deal to install, however, it does add a step (and precious time) in the event that you have a flat and have to remove the wheel. I've timed myself a few times, and I don't think I can get the skewer off and back on in less than a minute... so IF you were in a 140.6 race, and IF you had a flat... then it would cost you some time to be using the S3's as opposed to quick-release skewers. That might be an issue for some... but speaking solely for myself, if I flat in anything under a 70.3 then the time it takes me to replace a tube is race-ending anyways. If I flat in a 140.6, adding a couple of seconds to the time I spend replacing it is "probably" not make/break... and is a risk I'm willing to take. I would also run them in a 70.3, although I think there could be some grey area there where I wouldn't blame someone for running QR skewers. I also obviously would not ever run these skewers in a road race/crit, where quickly changing out wheels is very important, but that's not who these are marketed towards.

I guess I'm saying I'm willing to gamble being a minute faster in a 112 mile ride against spending ~30 more seconds on the side of the road if I flat.

As far as "how they work" I can say I've had no complaints. I've been using them for a little over a month with absolutely no problem. I've used both the blue Loctite tape (included) and just regular blue Loctite in my installations and I've had no problem with any slipping or movement in my rear dropouts or any sign that the skewer might be loosening at all.

I went with the S3's over the S4's just because the S4's don't work with every fork out there (and I have quite a few different forks to move around) and also because the S3's are black. If you upgrade to the S4's you get a little bit lighter and a little bit less frontal area. (The cap has a little less bulge)

I don't think you can lose either way, just make sure your fork works with the S4 in advance.

The other item I got from View-Speed is the Amigo Multi Tool.

Included in the Amigo kit

This is a fairly handle little tool if you are looking to simplify your flat kit. It's basically a melding of a tire lever, a multi-head wrench and a spanner (for the S4 skewers) in either aluminum or titanium. (gotta save those grams)

Reviewing something like a multi-tool is tough. It is what it is. The tire lever acceptable (although being made out of aluminum I do have a nagging fear it *might* be easier to rip a tube with it as opposed to a plastic one if you were in a hurry. That's possibly an irrational fear though.) and will certainly get the job done on the side of the road. The S4 spanner I have not used (as I don't have S4's) but I assume they do the job, and the Wrench / replaceable heads is an excellent idea. The included "sheath" even lets you pick a couple of different heads so you'll be ready for multiple situations. The only gripe I come up with is that the included set of heads is fairly "low end." I think they would probably be fine, but I am a bit of a stickler for tools, so I will stick with my DeWalt bits personally.

Not a bad little compact setup to have when you're on the side of the road

I really like the View-Speed products (and projects) and Neal seems like a good dude (which shouldn't be the basis of whether or not the product is good or not, but it's always nice when the person running things isn't a tool.) so the Skewers and the Amigo both get the thumbs up from this guy.

On a completely unrelated note, the Aluminum P3 is in my possession and waiting for me to get all the necessary parts to build it up. I'm still a little undecided about whether I'll keep the Red/White Cervelo paint or if I'll be taking it to flat black. I was thinking if it stayed Red/White that the disc wheel would look cool with a decal of the TN state flag... although I am still on the fence... any thoughts from you guys would be appreciated!

New Disc Wheel cover?

Until next time, thanks for reading! I appreciate it.

Cheers,

Christopher Morelock

An important lesson to a Triathlete from Dragoncon.

Last week was a far departure from the "norm" of this blog. This week I think I would like to consider it a bit more of a "transition" back to the standard fare. It's also going to be a little heavy on the musings, so for all of you out there that don't enjoy philosophy and basically just a bunch of wild and desperate ravings...  Sorry.

So, what was this little thing that I seemed to have forgotten that going to a convention (at least perceived to be) devoid of athletes reminded and enforced to me?

It's ok to be what you are. In fact, you should be proud of it. Hell, Celebrate it.

In the past few years I've made some pretty significant changes in the way I live my life. I've went on in moderate detail about my lifestyle prior to becoming a triathlete, and when I started my "metamorphosis" to athlete (and still, I use that term VERY loosely) it alienated a large portion of my acquaintances. (I use that term instead of friends because my real friends are still around) Even my family and close friends have had a very tough time understanding. Heck, for a long time I had the same trouble. Every new bike, pair of running shoes, wetsuit...whatever... would get a strange look of no less shock than if I had screwed my head around backwards a la exorcist.

 

Running stairs is a good form of cross training, and you can do it in your own home. Spider walk for added difficulty, or if by chance you are possessed by the king of wind demons...

 

And so, if you're like me, you almost end up "apologetic" for your lifestyle. "Sorry guys, bummer, I have to get up in the morning and swim." or "Oh... yeah it's just kind of a hobby." or whatever your excuse may be so that the rest of the world sees you as a bit more normal. I mean... you don't want everyone at the office to know just how serious you are about training...right?

 

But at Dragoncon I noticed something just standing around the lobby people watching. A lot of these guys and girls weren't ashamed that they were passionate about something... whether it was anime, video games, RPGs or whatever. They were celebrating it. And it worked. At no point did anyone look out of place just enjoying the sh*t out of what they loved. And that got me thinking, why the hell am I (are we?) not proud of what we love? Is it because we don't want to sound like we're bragging? F that. I worked my butt off! I'm not saying every time I meet someone on the street I'm going to kick off with a handshake and "Multiple Ironman Finisher" but if somebody asks, I'm not going to downplay it any more. Yeah, it was a long way, yeah it's a lot of work, yeah I love it. All of it.

 

 

Wearing spandex and half drowned, I'm having the time of my life.

 

Nerd

 a person, typically described as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities.

 

So I'm a tri nerd, and I'm proud of it. It took a trip to a convention as far removed from triathlon as you can get to remind me of that fact.

 

 

I apologize for disrupting your regularly scheduled blogging... I promise next week the crazy rants about non-tri stuff will be over and we'll be back to normal. But hey, I'm on a roll.

 

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

 

As for some real tri related stuff, I decided to do my long ride inside on the trainer last Sunday. No, it wasn't raining, it was actually very nice out. Why did I put myself through 4 hours on the trainer then? Ehh... I haven't done it in a while and every now and then I like to test the mental as well as the physical. Long rides inside seem to really kill some people... I've always been at least "ok" with them... (when training for the Full Rev3 I did a 6 hour ride... that was pretty miserable I suppose) they aren't the most fun you can be having, but it's riding my bike so it can't be all bad. The key is to have a LOT of smaller goals and not just some big stretch of time where you are "grinding." Grinding is giving your mind time to reason out why you should cut it short. Here's what my 4hr ride looked like

 

30' spinning warmup

 

15' building (200w for me)

15' 210w

15' 180w

15' 200w

 

4x10' pushing a big gear @ 210w / 5' spin between. Each set drop a cog in the back (& cadence)

 

2x(1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5) @ 250w, equal time recovering after each set.

 

30' cooldown

 

 

That passes the time pretty quick. Of course you need to make sure you're taking in sufficient calories and water during that time, and a LOT of fans and good music certainly help. Of course using that model you'd need to adjust for your own power levels (My FTP is sitting around 29X at the moment) and this ride ended with an Intensity Factor of about .85
 

I'm also excited to announce a new member to the stable.

 

Excited to build this fellow up

That's right. A long(ish) hunt for a new race bike to replace the Planet X at last turned up a winner. This 53cm Aluminum P3 will be my main tri bike next year...after a little modification (and paint work) of course. Finding one of these guys in 53cm is pretty tough (in my experience) so I'm lucky I snagged it! Doesn't hurt that it's got some perfectly fine Dura Ace 7800 in the package. Of course I'll keep you all posted on the build (and on the likely transformation of the Planet X into a Single Speed/Fixie.)

As for other things in the works... I've finally gotten back around to my CR1 after a big order to Fiberglast. Filler has been applied and now it's just a matter of a quick carbon re-wrap around the stays and to get it painted. I'll try to get some pictures of the final bit of the process.

Anyways... Next week I'd like to get a review in, but we'll see what happens.

Thank you all for reading. Remember to be proud of who you are :)

- Christopher Morelock

The Wittiest Triathlete at Dragoncon 2013*



I came (late) I saw (too little) and I didn't even get a F*n Tshirt.

- I'm going to be breaking this into two parts. This one will be more of a picture sharing / things I saw that were cool / geek out post that has nothing to do with sports. (well, other than Marathon viewing of Mystery Science Theatre 3000) Part 2 will be a bit more philosophical and will actually tie in with Triathlon (I know, strange contrast from the outside)

If you've been following the blog for any amount of time (or have had the... pleasure... of meeting me in person) you know that outside of my love for endurance sports (which in itself may qualify as borderline geeky) I'm a huge nerd. I grew up on comic books, video games and anime. (Or what qualified as anime in America in the late 80's and 90's) I played competitive Magic: The Gathering for about 15 years... even got pretty highly ranked at one time. Anyways, so yeah... taking a mini-vacation to Atlanta for Dragoncon only made sense as a good "battery recharge" from my race season.

We (myself and Chad, one of my best friends, and also one of my only friends who could "appreciate" the event in it's entirety) loaded into the car early Friday morning and made the 4 hour drive down to Atlanta, only having one or two "oh sh*t" moments of nearly missing our exit once we were actually in Atl. We stayed about 10 miles out from the convention (even getting a room nearly a year in advance it was as close as we could get) at the Holiday Inn Convention... and what a turd of a hotel. I liken it very much to the "levels" of hell portrayed in Dante's Inferno in that each floor seemed to have a different "torment." Floor 3 (ours) was plagued with moisture. Literally laying in bed my covers were soggy. On floor 2 (of course only some floors have an Ice machine...) it was blazing hot and the Ice machine was constantly out of ice. Such are the dangers of "sight unseen" hotels. Fortunately we were going to be spending very minimal time in our Hotel, so putting up with a few discomforts was acceptable.

Our hotel, floor 3. Perfect if you were a Glutton for Punishment. (See what I did there!)

Enough about the hotel horrors. We load our bottles (bike bottles are good for a lot of things besides on the road hydration) with Kraken (rum) and overpriced Diet Coke and make our way to Dragoncon! Full of adventure, amazement, beauty.... and long lines...

Welcome to...LINECON 2013!

Yeah, just the wait to check in was a little over an hour and a half. A few people we met (it's easy to get cozy with your neighbors when you have nothing to do but stand) said the line on Thursday afternoon was so long that they decided to just wait til' Friday. Ok...ok... we survived that setback (and ended up a bit tipsy by the end of the line) and were rewarded with our passes. Now, enough whining from me (for real this time) on to some pictures and the cool stuff.

 

Great Daft Punk outfit (I kid...I kid...)

 

The Chess playing Jawa!

 

Wendy and Ronald... sorry I was a couple of drinks in for this picture...

 

Grimace!

 

Galactus, destroyer of paper mache

 

No idea what they were supposed to be other than hot...

 

King Hippo!

 

I assume the look of anger on his face had to do with figuring out how to use a urinal in that suit...

 

Chad taking a Dragon Uppercut to the chin

 

Mega Man!

 

This dude called me a primitive screwhead when I asked for a picture.

 

Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn in line for a drink.

 

The start of the parade... although most of what you can see is just the mass of people...

 

Patrick Swayze's reanimated corpse...

 

Doc Ock!

 

These costumes were really good.

 

Big evil eyeball truck demon cannon thing...

 

All the Deadpools... All of them.

 

Want me to drag him out of here and kick the sh*t out of him?

 

Blasphemy... I'm sure the ark is made of Natural Light...

 

Noo... don't kill me until I've finished my ale.

 

Dragoncon really does have something for everybody. You could spend your weekend immersed in any number of things that would leave you without even scratching the surface of everything there. Want to play some obscure board games... there's a room for that. Grind an MMORPG or Frag your buddies in Halo? Yep, it can be done. Drone through a campaign of AD&D for 12 hours straight? No Problem. Meet a ton of Fantasy/Sci-Fi Celebs and pick through a massive art show? Got you covered. Just want to catch a buzz and hit on girls (and guys) dressed as any obscure sci-fi/comic/anime character you can imagine... yeah, no sweat. In fact, the bars (and mini-bars) were some of the premium places to see some crazy light saber duels and robot on robot battles... all while drinking $4 domestics and $7 imports.

As for us, we managed to fit as much as we could (for first timers) into the trip. We attended two retro video game panels (which were both rather unsatisfying... neither group seemed to have any idea what they were going to talk about.) earlier in the first day, and then attended a showing / discussion of AKIRA hosted by Joe Peacock. (who is the #1 collector) Now, this was one of the first (bootleg) animes I had ever seen, so I was interested from the start, but I have to say it was one of the best presentations I've been a party to on ANY subject, but specifically pertaining to how important this film still is to art and animation. Akira is one of only 2 cartoons to ever be shot in 24fps, the other being Richard William's (of Roger Rabbit fame) The Thief and the Cobbler (which is also beautiful... what's done of it.) of course, Akira took two years to make... The Thief is currently at 30+ years (Guinness record) and will never truly be finished. (although here is a link to the "re-cobbled" cut...) Anyways, back to Akira... so much depth and devotion went into that movie... it was mind blowing. This link is of Joe talking about one of the more obscure background paintings in the movie and it's immense level of detail, despite most of it being covered by foreground objects.

Yeah yeah... /tangent. Go watch Akira and the recobbled Thief & Cobbler. They're both pretty sweet and basically still untouched in terms of quality. (and I'm a Disney fan)

Vincent Price in his last role. Also the inspiration for a couple of characters in Aladdin.

We also went to a pretty sweet skeptics meeting with Michael Shermer (of Skeptic Magazine) who had a very good presentation and some thought provoking material, even if it was a bit presumptuous for my tastes...

Also, most exciting for me was the chance to meet and question Lloyd Kaufman, the founder of TROMA (Toxic Avenger, etc) whose movies have entertained me (and generally repulsed everyone else in the room) since I was about 10 years old. I always think it's cool to meet guys that could have been "legit" (Kaufman had a hand in movies like Rocky, The Final Countdown and Saturday Night Fever) but instead went on to be a "B" (or even "C") movie Legend.



I heart the monster hero. (Obscure reference in article # who knows what.)

Finally, after battling through the crowds and the freaks (I mean that in a good way) and the endless maze that is gigantic convention center hotels... we finished off our trip with a marathon viewing of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. "Manos, the hands of Fate" (A classic... what a terrible movie) probably the greatest MST3K episode ever, and an amazing recall to my childhood. I never really appreciated how great MST3K was when I was younger. Now that I can really understand the humor (and drink...) it's even better!

Sadly, real life called and both Chad and myself had to be back on Sunday, so we turned in early (well... 3a.m. early anyways... Dragoncon doesn't really distinguish "time" in the usual sense. There's always a billion people around and inside lighting, so the only way to tell what time it is is by the amount of Karaoke going on and the general level of drunkenness.) and made the unexciting trip back home.

Fortunately, I came back feeling like the batteries were back to fully charged and ready for some serious miles running to be put down. The goal is for a low to mid 1:2x run at the Knoxville 1/2 Marathon next year, and of course to stay injury free.

So ends part 1. I hope you enjoyed some of my crappy photography. Next week I'll be explaining a bit of what my trip taught me in regards to triathlon. (and maybe even life in general)

 

I know it's a departure, but I hope you enjoyed it. Now go click all the links and learn new nerdy trivia to impress your friends with!

Thanks again for reading

- Christopher Morelock

*In my opinion

Storming the Fort (Olympic Race Report)

Last race report for a while... since, as of right now, this was the last race I had scheduled. As much as I have enjoyed just racing for fun this year with no pressure of a "Big" race to finish off with, it time to start winding down the racing (This month so far I've raced 5 times) and start working on my weaknesses... primarily my running.  That's a post for another time though. Today it's all about the Storm the Fort Olympic Tri.

Cannon Trophies!

The Pregame: Bad Luck take 1

Friday night I had some Sushi with Jenny and then turned in early so I would have time to get everything packed and make the hour(+) drive to Kingston by the time transition opened. (6a.m.) I make one last check over the Planet X and everything seems to be working perfectly.

Saturday all goes to plan. Heck, I'm actually feeling really good. Breakfast (Oats, Banana, Coffee, 2 Eggs) in and I'm out the door. I find some optimal parking and set up transition/get body marked. I see Josh and we banter for a while until the sun comes up and it's time to warm up. I unrack and head out for a good ride. Two miles into the bike is the only significant climb (a Category 5 though) and I want to get up it in warmup to see what gear I need to be in. I shift down into the small ring (42t) and feel like I've found a comfortable gear. I turn around to head back and try to upshift... I'm met by a bad grinding noise and no shift.

WTF.

You hear me baby? Hold Together!

I get off and inspect. It seems that my FD has pulled itself down into the way of the (Osymetric) chainrings. Crap. I limp back to transition and fortunately there is a mechanic from an LBS. I explain my problem (he looks at me like I'm crazy at first) but he does have some tools and threadlocker so we get the FD set back up "good enough" to get me through the race... hopefully. I have to cut my warmup a bit short and end up hustling to get in my swimskin and in the water before the start. I find Josh and some of the other guys I normally swim around/behind and get near them, waiting for the Cannon to fire. All the men 40 and under get pretty crowded together.

The Swim (24:54 - 12th OA, 1st AG)

BOOM!

Out of my way! I hear they're having hot dogs post race!

Contact is immediate. I'm punched right in the right side of the face, slapped on the back of the head from the left and all around just beat up. It was a fairly violent start, but I keep my cool and follow a set of feet for the first 150-200m. At that point things have calmed down but I can't keep my feet's pace, so I settle into my race pace expecting to find another set pretty soon. A few minutes later I realize I haven't seen anyone pass me. A few times I feel a slap on my own feet, but even that is fleeting. I sight a bit more than usual since I am almost afraid I've somehow went off course. Nope... buoys to the left, canoes to the right... seems like I'm on track. I plow on, making the final sharp turn back to the ramp. I exit onto the mat and see the guy helping with the exit who is telling me "4th."

4th out of the water? Me?

Man, sweet. I guess the changes I've made to my stroke have really payed off. No time to pat myself on the back though, off to transition.

T1: (1:07)

My dad is such a snazzy dresser

I run into t1 and fuss with my Xterra swimskin for a minute before getting my helmet and glasses on. Then it's a quick hop onto the bike (and narrowly avoiding my buddy Jimmy who is right on me with a camera) and off to the bike ride.

The Bike (1:03:14 - 2nd OA, 2nd AG)

Let's just get it out of the way... I'm nervous as crap about my Derailleur. I'm very worried about shifting up/down pulling it back down into the rings, so I choose to be VERY sparing with my upshifts/downshifts in the front. The plan is to only drop to the small on the first and last climb and then muscle through all of the rollers. As far as pace/power goes, I'm aiming for an Intensity factor of ~1.00 or possibly just a little over. The bike course is pretty optimal for a fast position, with some fast downhill to match the climbing and only 2 actual turns, so staying in aero was king.

Awesome picture by Eric Barger

I hit the turnaround and grab a bottle just to dump some water on my head (and score a free bottle!) I see the three riders in front of me but they have a pretty significant gap and I am not willing to kill myself on the bike just to walk the run. At the second turn the road becomes pretty rough and you start the second uphill section. I shift down... and drop my chain! I immediately shift back up (you can normally save a dropped chain that way if you didn't know) however my chain has lodged itself between the ring and the (obviously) improperly adjusted chain catcher. I jump off the bike, cussing and spitting and start trying to jam the chain back up onto the rings. After what seemed like forever I get it back in place and take off again, except covered in bike grease this time :) I check my timer and realize I was terribly close to have a sub hour 40k, but have to settle for 3 minutes over. Sigh. Back to transition with no more incidents.

T2: (:34)

Hop off the bike at the dismount line and run it in to the rack. Zoots on and grab the belt/hat and take off out the gates. Now to see if I put enough time into the runners to keep my position.

The Run (42:52 - 22nd OA, 7th AG)

I'm that little blue dot at the bottom of the hill :( Sigh...

The death march begins. My goal is just to go by feel and try not to bleed too much time. I haven't been running a lot (due to the bike racing) and I've never been a terribly great runner, so modest goals are what I'm after. The course is fairly flat for the first 5 miles, then makes a longish climb up to the fort the last mile. (Pff... building forts on elevated ground... who thought that up) As I close in on the turnaround I get a good view of the guys in front and behind me. I am definitely NOT catching anyone in front of me unless they have a massive blowup, and I've got a fairly significant lead on *MOST* of the guys behind me... the exception being Andrew. He's the closest to me and he's a MUCH better runner than I am. (He's also the guy with the #1 Bike split) I figure it's going to be close depending on just how fast I am running and how well I stay together. We make it past transition (mile 5) on our way to the fort when I hear breathing behind me. Too soon. I glance back to confirm it's him (it is) and try to work some plan out. As he comes beside me I give all the gas I've got into a move dropping my pace... hoping that he's hurting too and he'll crack. He's strong and obviously up for the challenge, matching my surge. I shake my head and give him the "you got me" and back off before I burn myself totally out. As we start snaking up the hill to the fort you can get a good view of the guys below you and I'm able to see another fellow chasing hard. I still have to walk the final aid station to give myself a break, but manage to find a little bit of juice left to sprint and stay ahead for the line. (although he was from the M40+ wave, so he backed off as he was already ahead of me overall) Overall not a disastrous run (7min/miles is about where I should be on pace) but still nothing inspiring.

Alright so now that that's over, let's play cowboys and Indians!

I grab some food and a coke to refuel, hang out and watch the other guys come though and just wait around for the results. 2nd AG and 6th OA. Not the worst performance ever. I get my cannon and then wait for the announcement for the 'Grand Prix series' awards. Despite DNF'ing at the race earlier this year I still had enough points to end up 1st in my age group... scoring a jacket for my trouble.

Shoutouts to Josh, Rebekah and Sharon who also crushed their Categories in the competition and had good races on the day.

And now it's time for me to learn how to run. It's easy to see when you compare my splits (12th/2nd/22nd) where I'm weakest.  The solution isn't quite as simple as more = more... but that's a good start. It's also a good time to see what's up with the bike. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I appreciate it!

- Christopher Morelock

SRS Knoxville - back to bike racing

Continuing the trend of being terribly unfocused this year, I signed up for another Crit / Road Race, this time with SRS. I want to try to get as many races in as I can, I really feel like it's the best (only) way to increase my skills in dedicated bike racing. I also want to have my 10 start/finishes so that I can move to a Cat4 when I am ready. Anyways, on to the races.

Saturday - Criterium (7/15)

On the far left in the Red/white. Getting last minute instructions.

The crit race was quite a bit different from every one I've done in the past. Basically a NASCAR course (except with right turns instead of lefts) with one Cat5 climb(!) at the very beginning. Our race was 35 minutes + 5 laps, with an intermediate prime lap.  I had decided beforehand to race the prime lap and let the chips fall for the rest of the race. We line up and I'm immediately scolded for holding on to the fencing...foot down...right right. There are two other Knoxvelo riders in the CAT5's, and so I expect we've got a shot. The race goes about how you would expect for the first few laps, with everyone together figuring out what lines are best and who's feeling good. At one point I move up to the front to speak with the other Knoxvelo rider (also named Chris) and ask how he's feeling. He's noncommittal and so I back off. As we come around the start line again the bell rings for the prime lap and so I make my move, taking the steep climb in the big ring and putting a sizable gap between everyone except myself and Chris who jumped on. I spend most of my matchbook making sure we have no challengers but Chris jumps me in the final corner and takes the prime without a response from me. I try to catch his wheel but know I've burned myself out, so I sit up and spin the hill again and wait to be swallowed by the field. I am swallowed by relief when I hear the "5 laps to go" on the microphone, I am yo-yo'ing off the back of the pack at this point, suffering up every time we climb and trying to keep contact the rest of the way back down. At 2 laps to go I notice the rider in front of me has fallen off the group and I'm unable (and unwilling) to try to bridge back up. We unremarkably stick together the last two laps and finish a few seconds off the back.  Chris was able to keep the gap created on the prime lap and went on to win the race. (and get moved to CAT4 seeing that he won the prime lap and the finish.) I was a bit bummed out at my finish... I had hoped to be stronger at the end, but I worked too hard too early.

Looking sort of like I have some idea what I'm doing... although I don't :)

After my race I was ready to watch my friend Jimmy race the CAT4's, but his day was worse than mine. He started with gravel in his cleat, preventing him from clipping in at the start. Then after catching back on, he flatted on the third lap. Not the greatest day for the good guys.

Jimmy had a rough day too. His kit is also awesomely hideous.

Sunday - Road Race (4/24)

I wake up and I hurt. That Crit really took a lot out of me. For the first (but not the last) time that day I consider not racing. I get some food and coffee and start feeling a bit better. I decide to go see what I have left in the legs.

The road race was a 10 mile course that we would be doing laps (4) on. I did not have a chance to preview the course, so going in I knew I was at a disadvantage. CAT5's started late in the day, and by the time I arrived most of the other races were either finishing or well under way. As I am getting my things out of the car I start hearing the horror stories. The men's Pro/1/2 race is littered with DNF's from crashes. The women (Pro/1/2) decided to cut their race to two laps due to the danger. Rain in the morning had caused the roads under the canopy cover to stay wet, and the leaves/grass on the road had become like Ice on an already fairly technical course. One of the Pro men said one turn wrecked close to 20 guys.  I see Jerome and he tells me I may want to consider not racing.

A start to a rainy day. This kid in the front was crushing it all weekend!

I consider it for a few minutes, but... Fortune favors fools. My goal goes from "try to do well" to "finish rubber side down."  We end up having to wait 30-40 minutes for some of the other groups to finish, and as we line up for the start it begins sprinkling and then full on raining. We have a bit of a gentleman's agreement to take it easy the first lap and get a feel for the course.

I immediately fall towards the back of the pack. I'm not feeling great AND my sunglasses are limiting my vision. I should have RAIN'X'd them beforehand... now I'm choosing between taking them off and being partially blind. I decide that getting crap thrown up in my eyes is too big a risk and for the remainder of the race suck it up and make the best out of it. Only two guys go down in our race, and neither of them are hurt. On the second lap we split the group in half and continue at our steady pace. On the last part of the third lap one rider makes a jump. Nobody responds and he claws a solid minute and a half lead over us. I'm not exactly feeling great, so I'm just happy to still be in contact with the pack. As it turns out, that's pretty much the sentiment across the board, so we stay together and never pull him back below a minute. We turn onto the final straightaway pretty much all together as we have been all day.

I think this was the start of lap 3. I was trying really hard not to lose contact.

At 500m the road becomes open (both lanes) and the attack starts. I jump behind the first two men out and we pull a good lead. The second pull comes behind us just as the road pitches to the finish. At the last (50m?) corner to the line I'm pushed outside by the first guy that jumped fading... another guy takes the inside of the corner and manages to just out sprint me for 3rd place.  (with the same finish time...sigh)

Digging to hold onto 4th... I am so dead on this last incline.

Frick.

Nonetheless, the goal was to finish... then the goal was to finish with the group... so 4th place was much better than I expected. I was very happy I decided to race. I learned a lot and actually had a pretty good day on a tough day. Sadly I still haven't gone above 900 watts in my sprints. I really need to work on my final kick if I want to beat some of these guys on the line. Oh well, I'm a triathlete, not a cyclist :)

My socks and gloves make a perfect line to show how dirty I am.

So that was SRS weekend, another venture (dabbling) in bike racing. This weekend will be my (probably) last triathlon this year, Storm the Fort in Kingston TN. (An Olympic) After that it will be time to learn how to properly run.

Thanks so much for checking out the blog. It means a lot.

- Christopher Morelock