BUSY WEEK, TIME TO RACE AGAIN

This last week has been a busy one for me. I'm in the middle of a big project in Big Sky for work, and with the drive back and forth every day and trying to spend a little time with the family, there is barely any time left to train. I better get used to it, since I will be working up there from now until well past the end of the CX season. Lucky me.

After my results from last weekends races, I was ready to train hard again this week and hopefully start to make some progress on my high end fitness. My ability to repeat those hard efforts for an hour is definitely my weakness right now. I had high hopes of getting in a decent ride Sunday evening after racing that morning, but life got in the way, and that was another ride missed. Monday was back to work, then coaching Mariah's soccer practice for Tawnya, as she had her first spinning gig come up that evening, which is cool. So, no ride again Monday, which wasn't to big a deal, as it was just going to be an easy spin anyways. I woke up way early Tuesday and went for a good one hour run with the dog. I did a few short hard sprints and also ran hard up the one little grass hill by my house about 10 times. I still hate running, but it's getting easier. Tueasday evening I did a trainer workout, which I call the hour of power. After a good warm up, I did 2 min at about 120% threshold power, then 2 min easy, repeat for an hour. This doesn't sound to bad, but it gets pretty hard at the end. I cooled down and did some stretching, realized it was midnight, and had to hit the sack. Another busy day Wednesday led to another evening trainer session. This time it was an hour of sweet spot with a short hard burst every five minutes, recovering only back to sweet spot power. I was feeling a little fatigued, and only lasted about 40 minutes with this one before throwing on the towel and spinning easy for the rest of the hour. Thursday night, you guessed it, another late night trainer ride. I had planned on doing some microburst efforts, but could tell right away that I was to tired for that. The long work days with little sleep, along with the couple fairly hard rides earlier in the week had caught up with me. I decided to skip the intervals and just rode tempo for about an hour and a half, then hoped onto the treadmill for a short hard run with the treadmill set on the highest incline possible. Midnight again, so no core work. I need to make sure and get more of that in next week. Friday was a scheduled rest day, and I think it was needed, even though my training hasn't been to tough this week.

That brings us up to today, where I planned on heading over to Helena for the omnium, but have decided that I have to much stuff to get done. I am skipping out today, but plan on racing the two races tomorrow. Mariah will also be making her junior cyclocross debut, hope it goes well for her. In preparation for tomorrow, I just finished an hour easy ride with about five short hard sprints and a little time on some single track to open up the legs and work on the bike handling. I feel pretty well rested and ready to roll.

Tomorrows race should be a tough one. I expect all the heavy hitters to be there, and that Helena course is tough and technical. I think I'm a little better at the running this year, so that should help on that course. I remember my back aching and feeling totally wasted after the race last year. It'll be hard from the gun, hopefully I can hang with the leaders a little longer this week. The dirt crit following the cx race is pretty cool also. I won that last year on a solo break, wonder if I can do that again?

Brad

PSYCLO AND COPPER MOUNTAIN CROSS RACES

The rest week is over, and my first races of the season have come and gone. It was 'cross racing, so you know two things took place, fun and pain. Check montanacyclocross.com and the GAS website for race reports. I started strong and raced with or near the leaders for about the first half of both races, then faded back as the races went on. I think I finished in 8th on Saturday night, and 5th on Sunday. The course on Sunday suited me much better, as I think I lost a ton of time Friday night on the descents. With the training I have been doing, that is just about exactly how I expected my first races to go. I have spent the last month trying to raise my threshold power, but have spent very little time above that power. One of the key components to any training plan is specificity. That is, you have to train specifically for the type of event in which you will be competing in. Cyclocross racing demands much time above threshold in the form of short, hard bursts of power, a little recovery, then repeat again and again and again. Now that I have put some time into building that threshold power, I can now start doing some of the shorter, harder interval work that will help me be able to repeat those hard efforts. I will still spend some time working on my threshold, but the majority of my hard training time will be in the form of short hard intervals with little recovery between efforts. These training session will be hard, and they will hurt. I see lots of pain in my near future. Hopefully, the pain will be worth it, and the races themselves won't hurt quit as bad as they did this weekend. Well, that's not true. The races are always gonna hurt pretty bad. The hope is that while it's hurting that bad, I'll at least be closer to the front of the race. So, three more hard weeks coming up. Follow along and I'll try and explain some of the interval type work that I recommend for 'cross racing, just remember, you gotta like the pain!

Keep it PURE,
Brad

RECOVERY TIME

After four pretty hard training weeks, it's finally time for some rest. Yesterday I did a morning run, but then was pretty busy for the rest of the day, so it was hard to squeeze in an afternoon ride. I almost skipped out, but I knew this was my last chance to get some good training in before recovering for a while, so I hit the dreaded trainer at 9:30 pm to try for one last threshold workout. I was shooting for three twenty minute efforts right at threshold power, but figured that might be tough to do, so I was just hoping for the best. Once I was good and warm, which doesn't take long on the trainer, I ramped the power up to threshold, expecting it to feel hard. To my surprise, it actually seemed fairly easy, so when 20 minutes was up, I ramped the power up slightly and I kept on pushing. I held 10 watts above what I had previously tested to be my threshold power, on the trainer, without much difficulty, for a whole hour, and at the end of a HARD four week training block to boot. Obviously, my threshold power has gone up since my last test. I will take that as a sign that I'm doing something right. Getting in some miles and raising my threshold power were my goals of this training block, mission accomplished. Not only that, but that trainer ride that I almost skipped was a huge confidence booster for me as we dive into the beginning of the cyclocross season here in Montana next weekend with the Butte races. At one point I had decided to not race this season at all, and now after a little hard work I almost feel as if I'm right where I need to be. Here are a few stats from the last four weeks.

• 55 hours on the bike
• 5 hours running
• 3200 TSS
• CTL ended at 88.2
• TSB ended at -34.3, but was at an all time low of -52

It has been a hard training block, easily my hardest four weeks all season. I'm ready for some recovery, but for some reason I actually still feel pretty good. At the beginning of this week I felt very tired, and missed a few training opportunities, but I feel good right now. I almost feel like I can do more, and I WANT to do more, but I KNOW I need to REST, so that's what I'll do. Rest and recovery are needed for the body to reap the benefits of all the hard training that you do. Without the rest, the body cannot recover, adapt, and grow stronger from all the hard work. REST IS CRITICAL! So this week will be fairly easy, here's a general overview of what I plan on doing. Today I did a one hour neighborhood ride with Trey that was super fun and just the right speed for some serious recovery. Tomorrow's ride will be skills and a couple hard laps at the GAS team cyclocross practice which should be super fun. Wednesday will probably be an easy zone 2 paced ride for an hour or so, and Thursday will be a day totally off the bike. Friday's ride will again be mostly easy, with a few short hard efforts to remind the legs that they are needed for this weekends racing. Then this weekend is the Butte double header, with Psychlocross Friday night at Homestake Lodge, and Copper Mountain Cross Saturday in Butte. I'm sure all of the usual suspects will be there, fired up and ready to make an early mark on the upcoming season. Hopefully I can hang in there and battle with the big dogs for a while at least. Time will tell, I'll let you know how it goes.

Keep it PURE,

Brad

SUNDAY MORNING RUN

Started the day of with a one hour run this morning. Man, I hate running. It's getting better over the last few weeks, but I would still much rather be on the bike. Increased my run time to one hour, and did a few hard sprints up the one little run up hill close to my home. Feel like I have a pretty solid running base now, and will have to find somewhere else to run where I can get in more 'cross specific running, like short steep run ups with the bike. Also worked the core pretty good when I was done running. Great way to start the day. Time to get cleaned up, then it's off to Mariah's soccer game. Hopefully I'll have time to get in a good ride this afternoon.

Brad

ANOTHER HARD WEEK

After Mondays much needed rest day came the first of this seasons GAS cross practice sessions on Tuesday evening. We had a pretty good turnout for the first session and spent the evening working on barriers, run ups, dismounts and remounts on the bike. There was a mixture a newer and more experienced riders,and we all tried to help each other out with technique, skills, etc. We had a couple people just learning the technique of getting on and off the bike at speed, and with just a little instruction and practice, they improved dramatically. I also learned a thing or two at practice. This will only be my third season of 'cross, but I felt like I was getting pretty good at the barriers. It can be helpful to have others watching you practice, as they can pick up on things you don't know you're doing right or wrong. It didn't take GAS teammate Tomas "Ubersmooth" Dumbrovsky long to see that I was dismounting and running through the barriers kind of on my heels. He had me point my right foot toward the ground as I prepared to dismount, which automatically got me more on the balls of my feet as I ran through the barriers. With a little more practice, this will definitely make my barrier sections smoother, which will make them faster. Thanks, Tomas. Next Tuesday I hope to have my video camera set up so people can see how they look going through the barriers. That way, they can see for themselves what they may need to work on. I also learned that even though it's been three months since I broke the collarbone, shouldering the bike is a little painful. I may have to devise some sort of pad for either the shoulder or the top tube to help alleviate some of the pain. Of course, in the heat of the battle, there will be enough other pain that I may not even notice the shoulder! Hope to see more people out next Tuesday, when we will probably do some practice laps as the racing season is pretty much upon us.

So, since Tuesday's ride was spent mostly working on technique, I decided to get in a good run that night. I did 45 minutes on the treadmill, with a hard 2 min hill interval every five minutes. Not the same as a cross run up, but better than nothing. It was a pretty tough run, but at least I'm getting to the point that my whole body is no longer sore afterwards.

Wednesday was a day to pick up the intensity a little. I've spent the last few weeks building up my threshold power and getting in some good time on the bike, but now it is time to ramp it up a little. I started the ride with a good warm up, then did a 5 minute blowout effort. I did a lot of these efforts last year, so this could give me an idea where I am at compared to last year at this time. The 5 min blowout is basically an all out effort for 5 min. I definitely started a little to hard, and faded badly at the end. The 5 min power is still a touch below where it was last year at this time, but was higher than I expected. And, this is my fourth hard week in a row. With a little recovery I can expect that to be a little higher, which may put me closer to where I was last year at this time. However, I won a grand total of 0, ya that's right, ZERO, races last season, so I need to be better than I was last year. It's a long season, so hopefully I can continue to improve. After the blow out I recovered fully, then did three minute power intervals. Wow, those hurt bad. For power intervals, I basically go as hard as I can for three minutes, recover for three minutes, and repeat for about 5 intervals. Once again, I overestimated the power I could hold for the interval and faded badly by the time the three minutes was up. Ouch! So I dropped the power I was trying to hold, but still faded. On the third interval I could barely hold threshold power for three minutes, so I called it a day and spun home easy, because that's all I could do. Totally cooked!

Thursday I decided to do some tempo riding, and to help get used to the constant speed changes and acceleration in cross, I threw in a 20 second all out burst every five minutes. Two more hours on the bike, and another hard ride. I warmed up, and actually felt pretty good, then started the tempo/burst work. I lasted 45 minutes, and then I blew up pretty bad. Unfortunately, at this point in the ride I was on a gravel road that was freshly graded and felt like the gravel was about 3 inches deep. It was all I could do to keep the bike moving. I had to push pretty hard just to get down the road. Once back on the asphalt, I cruised the last hour at zone 2 power, once again, because that was all I could do.

Friday was another much needed recovery day. I did an easy ride on the town trails in Bozeman with Tawnya and Trey. It was fun to just chill out, ride easy and hang with the family. Trey and I also went into town that evening to get in some BMX practice. He has been to a couple clinics with some pro riders, and he decided I needed a clinic that night. It was hilarious. He would demonstrate a technique a few times and make me watch, then he'd park on a certain spot on the track to watch me try it, then give advice. He was so serious, and such a good little teacher. It was awesome! Thanks Coach Trey.

Saturday was back to some hard riding. Time for some microbursts, 15 sec on, 15 sec off for ten minutes. Recover, and repeat. I once again started out with the 5 min blowout effort. This time, the power was up there with last seasons efforts, which I take as a good sign. I rode easy for a little recovery, then came the first 10 minute session. It hurt, but wasn't to bad. The second 10 minute effort hurt a little worse, of course. I decided it hurt to much. I planned on doing three, but called it after two. I tried to tell myself the power was down, I'm fatigued, you're better off to not do the last effort, but basically, once the ride was over, I felt like I just quit and should have done it. I'll have to remember that next time I want to quit early! Once recovered, I did a good solid 30 minutes of Sweet Spot riding on the way home, which confirmed the fact that I had the ability to do another microburst interval. I'm such a quitter! Oh well, all in all it was a great ride.

So that gets me up to date. Right now as I write this, I'm watching the live updates from Starcrossed, where teammates John and Lisa Curry are battling it out with some of the top cross racers in the nation. Good luck, John and Lisa! Wish I was there! So far no mention of them, but I'm sure they're doing well.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

TIME TO WORK ON THE SKILLS

The GAS team will once again be holding cyclocross practice on Tuesday nights throughout the fall. Come join us as we work on cyclocross skills including dismounts, remounts, barriers, bunny hopping, off camber turns, etc. We meet at around 6 pm at the softball complex in Bozeman. We'll have some barriers set up, work on skills for a while, then we usually set up a short practice course and do some hard laps or mock races. Everyone is welcome, from the beginner to the expert. Come learn from the people who have been doing this a while, or if you 've been doing it a while, come teach others your secrets to success! It's a great time, and a good workout, too. Hope to see you there, and don't forget to bring a friend! Here's a link to a cool video showing why you need some skills, enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWGnM_1ViZA

A MUCH NEEDED REST DAY

Today was a much needed rest day, so I have time to blog rather than go down and ride on the trainer! Last week was my biggest training week of the whole season, thanks to the fact that I only worked for two days, and did a 6 hr 330 TSS ride on Saturday in Ogden, Utah.

My goal for this training block is to work on threshold power, get plenty of time on the bike, and raise the CTL a bit more before I start doing the shorter, harder intervals that cyclocross racing requires. In a perfect world, I'd have the threshold work done and be doing the cross specific work already, but I'm a little behind and trying to play catch up.

Last Thursday's ride was supposed to be threshold intervals, but I had to work a little late then take the kids to bmx. I almost went down to ride the trainer at about 10 pm, but ended up skipping it. I tried to justify this by telling myself I was a little tired and needed a rest day, but the truth is I was just to lazy, and I missed a good opportunity to put in some additional work. I didn't make this day count, but I tried to make up for it a little on Friday. Friday was scheduled to be an easy recovery ride as we had to travel to Utah. I only had about an hour to ride, but got in a good one, doing about 50 minutes of sweet spot riding, with a good hard burst every 5 minutes, then right back to sweet spot. This ride only lasted about an hour, but I was cooked. Spent the rest of the day in the car traveling to Utah with Tawnya. She was going to take her spinning certification course, which would be all day Saturday. The kids stayed home with grandma, so I had all day Saturday to ride. I looked up a ride on map my ride for a basic idea of where to go. I rode for a solid 6 hours, and there was tons of climbing. At one point on a hill in a residential area, I had to swerve back and forth across the road because it was so steep I could barley keep the bike moving. I also did a cool climb up to Snow Basin ski resort, followed by a screaming descent. I did some good hard climbing, and just enjoyed the ride, it was awesome. Unfortunately, after the 6 hr ride came the 6 hr drive home as we had to get back for Mariah's soccer game Sunday.

So Sunday I went to the soccer game, which was also awesome. Tawnya is the coach, and she does a great job motivating and working with those girls. They played like a team, and had a great game. Mariah played hard, scoring six goals and hustling her little but off. She is sure a little athlete, and she plans on doing a few cross races this fall as well. I can't wait to see her out there tearin' it up. After the game I squeezed in another 2 hr ride while Tawnya and the kids hung out with grandma. I felt surprisingly good considering the long ride the previous day. I did 30 minutes of threshold work, 5 min at threshold, 1 min recovery, repeat. After that I spent some time on a little single track trail working on bike handling and other 'cross skills. Then I finished the ride off with Trey, cruising around the neighborhood. Another great ride to cap off the week.

I ended up with 1003 TSS for the week, by far the most of any recent training week, and actually probably a little more than I should have done. Adding to much training load at once, or bring up the CTL to fast, can be less than ideal. However, I feel that I have sufficient base and a training history that can support this increase in training load. Hopefully I'm right and I don't end up getting sick! This hard week brought the CTL up to 85, and the TSB to a whopping -52, so like I said, today was much needed rest. Next week will be more of the same, with a little more intensity added in to start to prep for the racing that is just around the corner. The following week will be a recovery week, which comes just before the racing starts. Dig the hole a little deeper this week, then rest, recover, and hopefully come out ready to race. Only time will tell if my plan will work!

Keep it PURE,
Brad

BACK AT IT

Yesterday was a much needed rest day. I still did a short, fun 'cross ride around our neighboorhood with the family, but it was totally chill, no training load at all. So, today I had to get after it. Woke up early this morning for a 45 minute run with the dog. Then spent some time drilling the core and lifting my cx bike a bazillion times. Trying to get the busted up shoulder a little stronger before the racing starts.

Later in the afternoon I had time for a long ride, so I jumped (literally) on the 'cross bike for a 3 hour adventure. There are a ton of fun gravel/dirt roads around Belgrade that have some good short hard climbs on them. The route I chose was constantly up or down, so that makes it tough to get any sort of organized intervals in. I rode tempo whenever I could, and did all the climbs, and there were a bunch of them, at threshold or above. It was an awesome ride, just shy of 200 TSS, and I was pretty worked when I was done. Then, I got a quick bite to eat, and went to help with Mariah's soccer practice- more running for me! Another solid day of training in the books. Depending on how work goes tomorrow, I will either be doing more threshold intervals if I have to ride the trainer, or perhaps I'll get in some never pleasant microbursts. Friday will be a short recovery ride, then Saturday Tawnya and I will be in Ogden, UT. Tawnya has a class all day, the kids will be with grandma, and I'll be spending as much time as possible, shooting for 5-6 hours, exploring the roads and climbs around Ogden. It looks like there are some good ones, I should be able to make it hurt, at least a little!

Later, Brad

LABOR DAY

Spent the morning at the BMX track with the kids. They raced hard and had fun. I had enough sense to stay off the track this time! Got in a pretty good ride the afternoon. Did about 2 hours on the 'cross bike, with some dirt and gravel roads thrown in the mix. Most of the ride was tempo pace with a few hard effort on some dirt climbs. After the ride, the kids and I did some barrier practice in the yard for about 1/2 hour. Mariah and Trey are both getting pretty good at dismounts and remounting their bikes. It's pretty fun to watch them. I, on the other hand, am definitely a little rusty, and need much more cx skills practice over the next few weeks. Finally, since I skipped out on my run last night, I took the dog for a 30 minute run, then came home and did some bike lifts and core work. It all added up to about 190 TSS. All in all a pretty good way to spend a day off of work. Tomorrow is a much needed rest day, then back at it hard on Wednesday.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

THRESHOLD WORK

Today was a great day. Started out early this morning with a couple hours of hiking up in the mountains with the wife and kids bow hunting for the elusive wapiti. No wapiti today, but we had a great time hiking and letting the kids blow the elk calls. We saw some elk tracks, a wallow, some deer, and got some good old fashioned excercise to boot.

This afternoon was so nice that I wanted to go out for a fun ride on the mountain or 'cross bike up in the woods, but I did that yesterday, and today I needed to get some good threshold work in. We (me and my 'cross bike, Chili) headed out to a flat section of highway where there's room for some good long intervals. I did three 20 minute full on threshold efforts. The first wasn't to bad, the second one hurt a little, and the third one was torture. I wanted to quit after about 5 minutes, but tried to ignore the pain and pushed it hard 'til the end. It's times like these that I always remember a saying that my old high school football coach used to tell us, "The body can go longer than the mind wants to let it." I think most competative cyclist know the deal on that. Often times when it's hurtin' bad, all you want to do is stop pedaling. You have to ignore the pain, or even learn to like it, and make yourself keep going. You have to train your mind, as well as your body to be a cyclocross racer, because usually about 5 minutes into a 60 minute race you're on the rivet and hurting bad, but you gotta keep pushing. I have a little mantra I repeat over and over in my head when it gets tough, "Gotta suffer to win, gotta suffer to win." Doing something like that can help take your mind off of the pain, and if you don't think about the searing pain in your legs and or lungs, it's not really there, is it? Easier said than done, I know.

Anyways, I had a great ride today and did the work I needed to do. 2 1/2 hrs total with the threshold intervals and the rest mostly zone 2 or 3. The TSS ended up at 193, and I am going to try and squeeze in a little run and some core work this evening, since I havn't done that for a few days. More fun to be had.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

CYCLOCROSS IS ALMOST UPON US

OK, so I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this blog, especially since I got fired by Shaun at MTCX.com and removed from his favorite blog list. But hey, this summer has basically sucked for me, so blogging was the last thing on my mind. Due to a couple crashes on the BMX track, my road season was basically non-existent. Between injuries and mechanicals , I only had one race that went smoothly, in Belt, at least I took advantage of it and got the win. After that, things went south. Once I finally recovered a little from the broken collar bone, I decided to jump into the Tour de Bozeman, knowing I would get spanked. Having a flat just before the climbing started only made things worse. At the end I was cramping so bad I thought I was going to have to walk across the finish line. Not good. A week later, the family and I went to Missoula for the Zootown Throwdown. Eight year old Mariah jumped into the 10 yr old junior race, and held her own against a boy a little older than her. Trey then smoked the other youngsters in the 5 and under race, showing off the sprinting skills he develpoed at the bmx track. Then, both Mariah and Trey did the 6-10 race, Mariah winning and Trey hanging right in there with the older kids. Even my wife Tawnya couldn't resist the lure of the Throwdown, she raced in the women's field, and did great. I think she had fun, but you'll have to ask her to be sure. So, that left me. I woke that morning feeling a little sick, but decided to try and do what I could to help the team. My luck hadn't changed. About 5 laps in my bottom bracket seized up, race over. Those few hard laps really made me feel sick, and it turned into a three week sickness that had me feeling like crap. As my luck would have it, the illness brought on something called Bells Palsy, which causes the muscles in your face to become paralyzed, usually temporarily. For about a month now I have been unable to move the left side of my face. Can't blink my eye, can't take a drink without spilling it all over, and sleeping is a real chore. Probably the worst part is the vision in my left eye is always a little blurry, as I can't blink it and it seems to "water" all the time. This, more than anything, kept me off the bike for a while. This whole deal sucked pretty bad at first, but I'm starting to deal with it a little better now. And, today I was able to get just a teeny-tiny bit of movement on the left side. Hopefully, my daughter will only be able to call me "Half-face" for a little while longer.

So, where does that leave me know? In my last post, many moons ago, I was super stoked for 'cross season. Then I got sick and missed three weeks of training, when I was already behind. At that point, I threw in the towel. No 'cross and no training this fall, that's what I decided. Done deal. Once I made my mind up on that, it was almost a relief. I wouldn't have to experience all the pain of doing threshold and microburst workouts. No riding the dreaded trainer in the basement on those cold dark nights. No racing in the rain or snow. I could use my time to do so many other things. Well, after three weeks off the bike, it only took one short, easy ride for me to change my mind. What was I thinking? I live for the pain that training and racing provides. There is no way I can miss cyclocross season. NO WAY. I am a full fledged addict, no doubt about it. So I am gonna race, and have been back to training for a couple weeks now. I am way behind, and will have to be realistic and adjust my goals a little. I will not be doing Starcrossed, RAD Racing GP, or Crossvegas as I had planned. Those happen WAY to soon for the shape I am in. The early season races will be a little humbling for me probably, as I try to get back into racing shape. I still hope for a strong showing at Rolling Thunder, but that will come a little before I am able to reach peak fitness, so we'll have to see how it goes. I'm hoping to surprise myself. The good thing is that it is a long season, and hopefully this late start will help me maintain the motivation to train and race into December, and I'll be flying by the time Nats rolls around.

Now that I am back to training, I will try and post more frequently, and plan on at least adding a little info, perhaps daily, regarding my training. I figure that if at least one person is reading this, (wishful thinking, I know) and I have to post my workout, it may help me decide to get on the trainer instead of getting in bed and skipping a workout, which I cannot afford to do at this point. My cyclocross training motto for this season has become "every day counts." Really, this is true at all times in your training. Every day you skip is a missed opportunity to gain fitness or technique on your rivals. Of course, I'm not talking about rest days. Taking well planned rest days or blocks is an integral part of any training plan. When you rest is when your body adapts to the training load you have applied, and that's when you get stronger. So, every day counts, and I plan to train hard when I need to, and rest even harder when I have to. I can't wait for the real pain to start!

Being so far behind, I have decided to use a couple of weeks to build my threshold power before moving on to cyclocross specific drills. The last two weeks has been basically getting in some miles, riding tempo, and a few harder efforts here and there, nothing crazy, yet. Today's ride was a long ride with some sweet spot intervals. I did a 3 1/2 hr ride up Little Bear outside of Bozeman, almost all on gravel, with about 2 hrs of constant climbing. During the climb, I did several blocks of about 20 min where I maintained my sweet spot power, and went harder when it was steep. The legs didn't feel especially fresh today, and this was a tough workout. The hour descent was pretty sweet, though little bumpy on a cross bike. TSS for the ride was 165, bringing this weeks total so far to 590, and moving the CTL to a measly 72.3. Gotta get that higher over the next couple of weeks. More hard training coming up tomorrow, as well as a morning bow hunt for elk with the kids, should be fun. Thanks for reading.

Mid-Season Break

Almost every cyclist that trains consistently can benefit from taking a mid-season break. As serious cyclist, the last thing we think can benefit us is a break. We hate to miss a single workout, thinking there will be dire consequences and we will never get caught back up. The concept of taking an extended break from the bike just doesn't seem right. Even if your training is a little less structured, a little break can help. It can give the body a chance to recover from all the hard training and racing you've done up to this point. More importantly, I think, is that it gives you time to focus on other aspects of your life, get away from "having" to do those intervals or miles, and just relax. This will help ensure that you don't get a serious case of burnout. Take a week away from the bike, and instead of dreading to go out and do your intervals, you'll be looking forward to it. A break will help you maintain your motivation to train through the end of the season, and not give up your focus before you had planned.

Over the last couple seasons, my training was a little unstructured once race season arrived. With the other aspects of life demanding time, often times workouts would be missed, or cut short to fit everything in. I didn't think I needed a break, because I didn't think I was training that hard to begin with. The truth is, even though my training was a little inconsistent, I did train hard when I could. Since I didn't schedule regular recovery periods into my training, or take a mid-season break, by the time July rolled around, I was pretty much cooked. I would race when there was a race, and try and train hard, but I just couldn't find the motivation to keep at it. So, this year I decided that a week away from the bike was in order, since I planned on being in top form and ready to rumble for Montana's biggest race, Tour de Bozeman in late July.

When should this break occur, and how long should it be? Well, as always, that depends, and it will be different for each individual racer. It should occur after a good period of racing and training, probably at the end of a cycle where you would be taking a recovery week anyway. When in the season depends upon your season goals, and how long the racing season is for you, and when you star to lack motivation. As for how long, most people can handle a week away from training without significant loss of fitness, and the increase of motivation and desire to go out and hit it hard again will more than make up for what fitness may have been lost.

My mid-season break was kinda forced on me, due to injuries from my lack of BMX skills. I took a couple hard falls at the BMX track over the last month. The first one resulted in a very sore back, which I'm still having a little trouble with, but supposedly no significant injuries. That is, until I got the bill from the emergency room visit. That is a pain won't go away for a long, long time, OUCH! I wasn't quit so lucky on the second crash. I went down pretty hard. I'm not even sure what happened, but I broke a couple ribs and my collarbone. So, I've pretty much been on forced break for the last month, and won't be able to ride hard again for a few more weeks. My road season is pretty much shot, and I won't be able to help the GAS/Intrinsik team dominate the Tour de Bozeman, but something tells me they'll be just fine without me. GO GAS! One thing is for sure, I am motivated as hell to train again. The break has definitely helped my mind, and once the body is ready to roll, I'll be back out there, focused, and ready to inflict some pain upon thyself. To bad the road racing season will be pretty much over by then, but there's always cyclocross. That's right, 'cross baby! So, as a way to turn my wasted road season into a future success, my cyclocross season starts now. I've been doing some easy rides over the last week, finally feeling a little stronger today. I'm going to give myself a little more time to heal by resting hard and riding easy. Then, I'm going to start to ramp up the training again. I will spend some time with some base training, then try to build up the functional threshold as high as I can, and finally doing some short hard 'cross specific work when I'm ready. The goal will be to be super fit and ready to fight for the covted top hay bale at Radley's Rolling Thunder in October. I consider myself a long shot to win, with all the heavy hitters that are sure to be at the greatest 'cross race this side of Belgium, but you gotta have a lofty goal if you're going to push yourself to the limit, and perhaps a little beyond. Which, is of course required in 'cross racing. I will try and document most of my training between now and then here on the blog, follow along and see how bad I can make it hurt.

Rolling Thunder '08

John Sieber Photography

BMX Racing?

Trey getting ready to rumble

My son started racing at the bmx track last fall after we saw it on the Olympics. He loves it, and now that the weather has finally gotten better, the racing has started for the season again. My daughter has decided to give it a go as well. They race on Tuesday, Thursday, and most Saturdays throughout the summer, so we spend quit a bit of time at the track. The local bmx organization is awesome. All of the people are super nice, and it's just a great atmosphere. It's all about the kids. That said, they let the old guys play a little, too. Some of the "older" racers knew that I was "sorta" into biking, and have been trying to get me to do some racing. I thought it looked like fun, and besides, how hard could it be?


First off, thanks to Mr. All Things BMX, Bill Drysdale, track director at GVBMX for letting me borrow his sweet bike. I threw my Time mountain bike pedals on it, clipped in, and headed out around the track. Turns out it actually is pretty hard. I was always wondering why everyone was breathing so hard after their races, now I know. It probably only takes about a minute to go around the track, but it's all out, standing up, and for a newbie like me, pretty much wrestling with the bike and hoping to not end up on my head. There are definitely some skills involved, and I don't seem to have any. Everyone said I looked pretty good, but I felt like the old fish outa water, that's for sure.



After a few practice laps, I started to feel a little more comfortable on the bike. Balancing and coming out of the gate is a little awkward at first, but I got better as the night went on. Still, most times during practice the 12yr olds could get the holeshot on me, nothing like being schooled by a kid! Eventually, practice time ended and it was time for the motos to start. I raced in the old guys Novice division. It's just like road racing, in that you start out as a novice, win races and upgrade to race with more experienced and faster racers. Luckily, there were only three racers in that division, so I didn't have to worry about it being to crowded out there. Since I don't have any skills to speak off, I had to rely on my fitness to get me around the track. I was able to power away from the other racers in the few areas of the track that I could actually pedal through. We raced three motos. I was 1st, 2nd, then 1st again, for 1st place overall. Mariah also raced for the first time, placing third, and coming back strong after a hard crash in her first moto. Awesome.

Mariah's first race!

I'm sure I'll be back for more. It was a blast, and good training, too. I figure ripping around on the dirt can only help my bike handling skills when 'cross rolls around again this fall, not to mention the benefit of the short, all out efforts required to get around the track. I think it seems like a fun way to get some sprint efforts in, so I can be ready for the Downtown Sprints at the Tour of Bozeman this summer, unless I skip it to race BMX!

Rockin' the GAS jersey and the wranglers on the bmx track, but I am in the lead

Trophys for the first time racers. Since I got 1st place in my first race, they gave me a huge trophy. Trey was jealous!

Once a week?

Well, so much for updating the blog every week. Things have been a little hectic around the Morgan household lately. Between work, family, trying to get some training in, and helping a couple cyclist with their training, the blog seems to be the thing that gets neglected. Oh well, guess I'll have to try harder.

So, what's happened since my last post. I think I was whining about not being able to go race at Walla Walla because I had to work. Well, as usual, I found a way to put off work for a long weekend and make it to the race (it's good to be the boss!). That race is brutal. I thought I was pretty fit, and I got my ass kicked. Wow, some of those guys are fast. I rode what I think was the best TT of my life, I felt great, the watts were way up there, and it was only good for like 38th place, bummer. The crit just about killed me, and then I had a mechanical right at the start of the final road race. Got the big DNF.

Roubaix was a little better. I suffered mightily after having a couple flats and having to chase back on. I managed to get back on and try to help the team by following a late race move by Verticle Earth, only to flat again after we had a good gap. The team got the overall win with Brian Frykman. He kinda just rolled off the front after the first lap and rode away with the race. I noticed at Belt this last weekend that no one wanted to let him roll off the front again. Lesson learned I guess. John Curry ended up in the pink leaders jersey for finishing 1st in the CAT 2 competition. The win was a team effort, with both Sebastion and Jason stopping early in the race to help Brian when he flatted. Sebastion gave up a wheel, and Jason killed himself to help pull Brian back into the race. Tomas later stopped to help me when I flatted, giving up his wheel and ending his race so my suffering could continue. Thanks Tomas, next time can I get in the car?

The Belt Omnium this last weekend was another great race for G.A.S./Intrinsik. This time, I got the W after riding a pretty good (very painful) TT and getting some great team support in the road race. Shaun posted a great report on http://montanacyclocross.com. Seb, Brian, John, and Nate all took there turns attacking, pushing the pace, and covering moves so I could basically sit in and enjoy the ride until the time came to put the hammer down. Thanks for all the hard work guys, it was a pleasure, except for the last 20 miles or so anyways. With the win, it puts either myself or John C in the series leaders jersey for a few more weeks.

Also this last weekend was the season opener at Gallatin Valley BMX. Nails Jr. swept the 5 yr old novice class, winning each heat and the main event. A couple more wins and it's time to upgrade to the intermediate class. Way to go Trey. Not to be out done, Mariah scored two goals during her soccer game the following day. My kids are studs.

So what's next? Probably just some more racing here in Montana. Hopefully, I can keep up with the training. It seems in years past once the racing season got here, all I did was race and recover. This year, I hope to remain a little more focused on the training. A couple races are probably really going to hurt, as I will come into them with a high CTL and low TSB. What's that mean? I will go into that in a future post, but basically means I'm not going to rest before every race. For some, I will come into the race basically wasted, probably working for other teammates as my form just won't be there. I won't be giving up precious training time to come into each race fresh. I will continue to push the fitness higher, resting on a scheduled or needed basis, and peak for a goal event later in the summer. Only time will tell if my plan will work, but so far, I seem to be ahead of where I usually am at this time of the year. Having a good training plan, and following it as best I can with minor adjustments here and there due to life getting in the way seems to be working for me, and it will work for you, too. Shoot me an e-mail at coachbrad@bresnan.net if you need help developing your training plan, and I'll see if I can help you with your Pursuit and Understanding of Racing Excellence.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

Here's Elliot from NRO showing me how to win a sprint at the training race in Clinton last week. He played it just right, and once he came around me I had nothing left to get him back. Great job Elliot, guess I'll have to be better next time. Photo - nrocycling.com

Another week has passed, and the races are sneaking up on us. The second training race in Clinton was today. I'm not sure how it played out, as I was unable to attend due to the dreaded "work" problem I have. I guess I should be thankful that I even have any work to do, with the way the building has slowed drastically here in the Bozeman area, but it sure gets in the way of training and racing. I hope everyone is getting in some good, structured training in preparation for the upcoming season.

My training has been pretty good so far this winter and early spring. I have been more focused on getting my rides in, and have had more structure in my training than in years past. I feel pretty good at this point in the season, and seem to be a little ahead of where I was last year at this time. I had hopes of racing at some early stage races like Walla Walla and Frozen Flatlands to test the fitness, but don't think I'm going to be able to make it happen. So, for me, I get one more good solid block of training in before the Rocky Mountain Roubaix race outside of Missoula in late April. Hopefully, my busy work schedule won't derail my training to bad, and I can come into the Roubaix in decent shape. Time will tell. I had one minor setback earlier this week, when I somehow tripped and fell while climbing up the side of a bouldered deck at work. Ya, graceful, I know. I managed to land awkwardly on my left leg, resulting in a painful "charlie horse" that won't seem to go away. It forced me to take a couple days completely off the bike, followed by some easy riding to "spin" the leg out. I was finally able to ride hard again today, but there's still some soreness. Prior to that, I felt great. I had an awesome ride on the trainer early in the week where I was shooting for 1 1/2 hours of sweet spot training. I felt pretty good, having just come off a rest week, and was able to up the power a notch or two, and ended up riding for 1 1/2 hours at what I thought was my functional threshold power, with a pretty low average heart rate. Obviously, my training is working to some extent, as I am definitely getting stronger. Today I had some high hopes of getting in some good climbing miles, as my current job site is near the Norris Hill outside of Ennis, MT. I was going to go up and down that bad boy several times, trying to climb at or slightly above threshold power. I though that would be some good suffering. Unfortunately, just as I finished up with work, the weather turned nasty, and I was forced abandon my plans and head home without doing the ride. It looked as if there was another long, boring trainer ride in my near future.

Once back in Belgrade, the weather was a little better, though still cool, gloomy, and spitting a little rain off and on. I decided to sneak out for a short ride on my 'cross bike before dark. I have a little loop I do that keeps me close to home in case the weather gets bad, has a mix of dirt/gravel paths, sidewalks, grass, roads, and subdivision streets. It is super fun, and much better than the dreaded trainer. I ended up having a great ride, got a little wet and muddy, and did some solid race simulation type efforts. Most of the ride was in zone 3, but I did plenty of hard riding to keep it interesting. I did a few 1 min hard effort around our subdivision loop. There is virtually no traffic, and I can hit the corners as hard and fast as I dare for some good cornering practice. There are a couple long gravel stretches where I did some good threshold work, and tons of tight corners. The corners are great for bike handling practice, and also for working on your acceleration as you power out of each turn. I had a sprint point on each loop so I could get in a few good, hard sprint efforts, which I need. I also did some short hard efforts to simulate an attack, or closing up a gap. This is a ride that I do a lot in the fall to prep for 'cross, but also serves as a great ride this time of year to help prepare for the constant speed changes encountered when the racing starts, plus, it is killer fun. I also do it a lot of times at night, with lights of course, which for some reason makes it even more fun.

Well, that's what's going on in my little world. I was hoping for a good long ride tomorrow, but it sounds like more snow is on the way. I better go put my bike on the trainer.

Here's Trey "Nails Junior" Morgan, #532 showing Dad the proper way to end a sprint, in front!

photo- Tawnya Morgan

Keep it PURE,
Brad

Clinton Training Race

First off, a big thanks to Shaun over at montanacyclocross.com for the interview and for adding this blog to his "favorites." No one has ever thought I was worth interviewing before, so that was pretty cool. I think he just needed something to post that day! Mtcx.com is where you can go for all the latest and greatest info about Montana racing and the inside scoop on Montana riders. I know I check it daily to see what's new, and you should to. Shaun has already posted his race report from the Clinton race, and it was informative and entertaining, as always. Thanks, Shaun

As Shaun reported, Brian "Freight Train" Frykman let people in on a little secret we've been aware of here on the GAS team for a while. He's a freaking animal. He picked the right time to attack, had a little help, and pretty much rode away with the race. I know Brian has a good training plan and has been training consistently throughout the winter, and it looks as if it is paying off. It's a fine example of what having and following a training plan can do for you.

This is the first time I had ever attended one of these "training races." There was a great turnout, as people are obviously itching to get the racing underway. These early season tune up races are a great opportunity to see where you're at with your training, as compared to your rivals. Although everyone has different goals and training schedules that will have them peaking at different times during the season, it's never a good sign if everyone your racing against can put the hurt on you, even if it is early in the season. If this happened to you, it's a good sign that you may need to reevaluate your training program, and see if there are things you may need to do a little differently to get your fitness level up to that of your competition. Of course, having a coach is a great idea, as he/she will be able to help you understand what you need to be working on, and why.

As for my race, it went pretty well. I put in a couple hard attacks early on the first lap. They didn't really accomplish much, but they did hurt. I did get a little gap just before the turn under the overpass. I had never been on the course before, and wasn't expecting that corner. I came in pretty hot, and had just dropped down into my "aero" position with arms on top of the bars, and suddenly had to shut it down as I realized there was a sharp, very gravelly corner to negotiate. That pretty much ended may "break", but did set Brian up to ride off the front as I was brought back into the group. GAS strongman John Curry had a "mechanical" issue, and was forced to stop momentarily, pretty much ending his race with the group. Never one to miss out on an opportunity to suffer, he still put in a hard effort chasing solo for three laps. With Frykman off the front and Curry off the back (Curry off the back-that doesn't even sound right), I just had to try and cover any strong moves off the front, and there were quite a few. I was confident in Brian's ability to get the W, so I was happy to sit in and see who would chase or attack. I covered a few moves, and tried not to get swallowed up by the sea of NRO green. The whole group pretty much stayed together. When we came down to the finish, I stayed right near the front. I was itching to give it a go from a couple K out, but decided there was just to much horsepower in the group to get off the front and hold it to the line. So, I was forced to use my "sprint," which, as usual, came up just a little short as Elliot from NRO shot past me and rode away to the finish. Sprinting is definitely one of my weaknesses, and that is something I hope to improve on this season by focusing a little more on that area of my training. All in all, I felt good. I never really had to dig to deep, and felt comfortable for the whole race. This is a good sign that my training is coming along as planned.

The best portion of the day came after the race, when the GAS team loaded up into the big green van, and headed out for a lap on the Roubaix course. We wanted to check out the road conditions, and a couple of us had never been on the course before, so this was a good excuse to put in a few more hard miles. The ride started out pretty mellow, as we were all feeling the legs after racing earlier, then sitting in the awesome van for a while. Once we got to the gravel and the first little climb, we hit it pretty hard. Curry and Frykman did not disappoint, as they cranked it up and handed out a little pain. I tried to reciprocate, and like to think I dished out a little as well. The best part of the ride was the rain and mud, not to mention a little cold thrown in before we were all back at the van. The rain came down hard, and we were all totally soaked, caked in mud, had bike that wouldn't hardly shift, and almost hyporthermic after a late ride stop to fix a flat. An epic ride for sure, one I was glad I got to be part of. Mud, cold, rain, and suffering, what a great way to spend a day.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

Spring Training

Spring is upon us. If you live here in Montana, that means the racing season is finally about to commence, and it's also probably stll going to snow a lot more. The first Missoula training race is a mere week away, with the "real" season close behind. The always challenging Rocky Mountain Roubaix has been pushed back a couple weeks from the previous years. This only means it's going to hurt a little more, as racers have a few more weeks of hard training in their legs, as well as some solid racing miles already in the bag. Many hard core racers, including some of my teammates on the super motivated GAS/Intrinsik Cycling Team will be attending Frozen Flatlands in Spokane, and the always brutal Tour of Walla Walla out in Washington. Racers will come into the Roubaix fit and ready to put the hammer down. Will you be ready???

Where should your training be at this point in the season? Well, as always, that is highly individualized and depends upon your overall goals. If you're following a periodized training plan, and if your goal race is mid summer, like say the very prestigious Tour de Bozeman at the end of July, then, generally speaking, at this time of year you should have a pretty good base established and be starting to ramp up the intensity in your training.

Hopefully you took a short break following the end of your season last year. This should have been long enough to rest and recharge your body and enthusiasm for the sport and training, but not to long as to allow all your hard earned fitness to completely disappear. Then, you began putting in some nice easy miles on the bike, as well as enjoying some cross training to help beat the dull drums of endlessly slogging away on the trainer. Some time in the gym to build muscular strength and some solid core work would also have been a wise way to spend part of the long, cold, dark winter months. You may have started with some nice long endurance rides, adding in some on-the-bike-strength-work, gradually building up to tempo rides, and occasionally adding some sub-threshold, threshold, and some climbing work into your training schedule. If your goal race is mid summer, this should be done, or very close to it.


So, what should you be doing now? With races starting to pop up in April, now is a great time to focus more on building your threshold power. Although you may have been doing a little threshold work throughout your base building period, now is the time to really focus on it. Before doing full on threshold work, a few weeks spent doing sub-threshold intervals, or sweet spot training is advisable. Sweet spot work is done at 88-94 percent of your functional threshold power, and is a great training intensity to help push your threshold power higher, without inducing quit as much fatigue as full on threshold work. Throw in two or three 12-20 minute sweet spot intervals during a couple of your weekly endurance rides, and you'll be ready for some full on threshold work after six to eight of these sweet spot rides. Once you've progressed to full on threshold intervals, which are done at 96-105 percent of threshold power, you can gradually increase the amount of time spent in this zone. Depending on your level of fitness, you can start with 2 x 12-15 minute intervals, then progress to 3 x 15 minute intervals, followed by 2 x 20 minute intervals, and 3 x 20 minute intervals. These are hard efforts, and require some recovery, but can be done up to a couple times a week. You should eventually be able to ride for 1 hour at this level of intensity, but it will hurt. A great workout for this time of year is to do a sweet spot or threshold ride with some high intensity burst thrown in. While riding in your sweet spot, do some bursts of 20 to 30 seconds every 2 to 5 minutes up to about 120 percent of functional threshold power, not allowing your intensity to drop out of your sweet spot or threshold zone after the burst. This is a great ride to help you get ready for the constant speed changes you will encounter in your races, as well as helping with being able to recover slightly, even at a fairly high intensity. Another area to address as the racing season approaches is short term power. Doing a few short, 1 to 2 minute intervals of high intensity will also help you prepare for those speed changes, and perhaps give you the ability to create some separation from the pack to start a breakaway, or hang with the peloton as those breaks are constantly being chased down.

Althougth the first races of the season may not figure into your overall goals, if you've done your work up to this point, you can still be competitive and get in some good racing miles. There will be some racers who are in exceptional shape, even this early in the season. If you're following a periodized plan you may not be one of them, don't let this discourage you. Use these races for training. Get in some good, solid miles at race intensity, and some good racing experience. Get used to riding in the pack again, throw in some attacks, chase down some breaks, try some things you may be afraid to "risk" doing in a race that "counts". Most of all, have fun, whatever that means. I still haven't figured out what the fun part is, as most of the time I'm suffering to bad for it to be even remotely fun, but, regardless, I'll still be paying my hard earned money to toe the line, and see what I've got week in and week out, hope to see you there.

Until then, keep it PURE.
Coach Brad

Welcome

Racing excellence. I think that is one thing many, if not all, bike racers are striving for. But, what is racing excellence? Is it winning every race? Is it not getting dropped two minutes into the race? Is it leading out your teammate for the sprint or chasing down the break for your team leader? Surely it can mean different things to different people. I am going to define racing excellence as being the best you can be, on the day you need to be your best. Sure, everyone wants to win, but we all know that everyone is not capable of winning. Everyone is, however, capable of being the best they can be. How good is that? How good can YOU be? What is YOUR best? That depends on many factors- genetics, age, time constraints, nutrition, family support, and mental strength (willingness to suffer) to name just a few. One of the big limiters of how good you can be is deciding how good you want to be. How BAD do you want it? How much time are you willing to give in pursuit of your goals? Are you willing to change your lifestyle to become a better racer? Maybe you are, maybe you're not, but either way, you can still be the best you can be. The simple fact is, the more you're willing to give to the sport and your training, the better your best can be. Most of us have busy lives that require us to do crazy things like work 40+ hour a week. We have families, kids' sporting and school events to attend, relatives in town, yards that need mowed, etc, the list goes on and on and on. This is a limiter to how good your best can be. So, we can't all be the next John Curry (awesome Montana racer, I'm sure you've all heard of him), but we can figure our limiters into our plans to set real and attainable goals. We can asses our current life situations , fitness level, training history and DESIRE to race, train, and win and use all that information to help us be the best we can be on the day we need to be our best. We can look to science, past experience, course profiles, strengths, weaknesses, and goals to help understand and guide us through the training process. Once we decide how much we are willing and able to give to get to our best, we can tailor our training plan to fit into and around our busy lives. We can plan our season and workouts so we are at our best on the day we want to be, not on some random Wednesday while we're out hammering on a group ride, but on the day of our goal event when it counts. This can all seem a little overwhelming at times. Should I ride or rest today? Should I go hard, or just spin the legs? Do I have a plan to get me to be the best I can be on the day I need to be my best, or am I just "riding around in circles"? Most self coached racers have asked themselves these questions. I know I certainly have. Having a coach can help put all of this together. A coach can structure a plan that fits your individual needs, and help guide you to your goals. A coach can focus on how hard you should or shouldn't train at any given time, so you can focus on doing the training to the best of your ability. A coach can write training plans and review training data to keep you on track, or reroute you if you get derailed by an illness or other situation. A coach can motivate and inspire, teach and mentor. Virtually every bike racer can benefit from having a coach.

Though I'm new to coaching, I am not new to riding and racing, I spent a few years "riding in circles" and still had some decent results, but wanted more. So, I decided to learn how to get more from what I could give. I've read all the training books, experimented with different training plans, learned from others, and taken seminars on training with power. With the increase in knowledge, came an increase in results. Here are just a few:

• former Montana Road Race State Champion, CAT 3
• former Montana TT State Champion, CAT 3
• former Montana Criterium State Champion, CAT 2
• former Montana Series Points Champion, CAT 3 and CAT 2
• 1st place GC, High Plains RR, Devils Tower, Wy, CAT 1,2,3
• 3rd place TT, State Games of America, Colorado Springs, CO, CAT 1,2
• 1st place, Helena RR, CAT 1,2,3
• 2nd place, Big Sky Cyclocross Race, CAT 1,2,3
• 1st place, Rolling Thunder Cyclocross, CAT 3

I was able to accomplish all those things and more over the past few years, even though I have a fairly busy life. I am married to my lovely and supportive wife, Tawnya, who puts up with all the hours on the bike, the leg shaving, the skin suits, the traveling to races, and all the other things being a bike racers brings into ones life. And, we have two young children, Mariah 8 and Trey 5, who are very active and keep us running in circles on a daily, almost hourly basis. I also own a tile installation business, that usually keeps me busier thanI want to be. My family, of course, takes priority over my cycling, and unfortunately, my business does as well. I have also had to battle back from a fairly serious injury recently after suffering a broken hip in a TT crash a couple of years ago. So, I know what it takes to fit cycling into a busy life, be fairly successful at it, and still be married, (thanks for the support Tawnya). I know what it's like dealing with adversity. I know what it's like to want to give more so you can get more, yet being unable to do so. I had to prioritize my goals, and focus on training smarter, not training longer or harder, so I could be the best I could be.

Most recently, I have attended a USA Cycling level 2coaching clinic where I learned a ton about sports science, nutrition, training plan design, and also had a chance to interact with and learn from about 30 other USA Cycling coaches. With that, I feel that I'm at the point now where I can do all those things a coach needs to do to make someone a better racer. I think I can help racers with their pursuit and understanding of racing excellence. All I need now is someone to be my first success story. Let me know if you're interested, it could be you.

So, welcome to my blog. I plan to use it to relay some coaching and training information to those who are interested, as well as write about my own training and racing throughout the season. If I have athletes who are willing, I'll post some of their training data and info as well. There will probably be some race reports from my team, GAS/Intrinsik Cycling, as well as a few tidbits on what my family is up to, since we all race bikes of some sort. Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

Coach Brad