April has ended with a bang and May is feeling the need to match its momentum. April started to come to a close with the first of the UP Spring Classics that was held 2 weeks ago. The Ronde van Skandia. Coming off my biggest base period as an elite cyclist I was hoping to feel some fitness so I could finally take the spring classic that eluded me in the past 2 attempts. It was not so, but I enjoyed racing my bike and suffering along with teammates and friends. As the race progressed it was becoming more about the bike than the race. The race was fun and hard but the brightest of moments during the day was seeing my team. We had all on hand for the Ronde including Ron Willimas, Glen Lerlie, Danny Hill, Cody McGrath, Collin Kytta, Cooper Dendel, Gerry Koski and honorary team guest Brad Jalonen and Jason Jilbert. Dreams of establishing a cycling community and giving other cyclist the opportunity to shine on a bike started to come together that day. We had guys that have been around everything cycling for the past 15-20 years all the way down to guys and gals that were partaking in their first road race ever. My team and teammates give me the motivation to keep pedaling in hopes that my hard word pays thanks to them for allowing me to share in their promise, optimism, and joy.
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| A bit blurry but a lot of blue! |
The Ronde played out something like this. A 3 man break jumped the group from the gun and the 4th was added in our teammate Jason Jilbert. The thoughts were this was perfect as the 2 largest teams were represented in the break and the chase would be minimal. That was until our teammate was reeled back in after dropping off the break. With 60 miles to go we were not in an ideal situation but still favorable. We started to chase during certain sectors but other sectors still remained calm. We were given the split of greater than 4 minutes. Ron and I went to the front to break the large peleton down and begin an assertive chase. After a few miles the result was breaking it down to 7 riders with some good power in Pete S. and Tom C. and only 2 black ACE jerseys. Soon after the break we noticed that the group had swelled back to the original size. (Still a mystery of how this happened ??) After the swell another chase was never organized. At Sporley Lake Ron lead me out for an attack and I answered. By the top I had pulled 3 guys away including DA, Matt C., and my teammate Ron W. We rotated until the end where I threw an all in attack 2 miles out and it did not succeed This left Ron to be double teamed all the way to the finish. Ron 5th and me 6th.
April was a great training month logging a lot of hours and better yet a lot of the tempo hours to build the tolerance up. April brought the completion of my largest base period to date. It will be interesting to see the outcome of large hours down the road. Whether a larger base period sets me up for harder work and better recovery or whether it was just an ambitious plan and created a overuse. I'm on to some harder efforts now but still concentrating on tempo work to create workload for the long season to come. I have decreased my hours yet still trying to bank endurance for the coming months. The efforts are harder now but more enjoyable because they are a lot less in duration.
UP Classic races, completing base, harder efforts, and May 1st. All the sings of racing to come. WORS #1 Iola kicks off this weekend and I'm incredibly excited to wheel the line. Mostly to catch up with all the guys from a winter of retreat but also to put forward an effort after what seems to be endless hours in the saddle. #1 has so much optimism no matter where an individual is in their training. It offers promise and hope for an athlete that this may be the year. The year where goals and success await.
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