AND SO IT BEGINS

Cyclocross season is finally here! I know there have been races going on in other places, and some hardy Montana racer have even travelled many hour to suffer with the best, but the Montana season starts tomorrow! The traditional (at least as long as I've been racing here) opening weekend in Butte gets thing rolling once again this year. Psyclocross and Copper Mountain Cross are both great races. I'm assuming most of the serious MT racers will be on hand to mix it up and see how they stack up against the competition this season. I know most of the racers are stoked and ready to get racing. Should be an exciting couple of races. I, for one, am ready to get the racing started. Unfortunatly for me, I will not be there for the Butte races this season. Mariah has a big soccer tourney in Jackson Hole, WY so we're headed there instead. Should be a good time, but I'm gonna miss throwin down with the boys and seeing how I stack up (or if I even stack up!) so far against the fast men of Montana. If I am lucky, I may get a chance to do a cyclocross race in Victor, ID (home of Moosecross) this Saturday while I'm down there, so at least I'll get some training and a little race experience under the belt. Good luck to all you racers, and especially to the PURE coached athletes that will be mixing it up. I'll see some of you next weekend, back in Victor for Moosecross, and many more of you the following week in Bozeman. Race hard.

Brad

BIG PLANS, BUT DENIED AGAIN

Well, it turns out that at least Tomas reads this, so I better keep it going. Had big plans for today, but they didn't happen. Originally, a few weeks ago the plan was to be at Starcrossed/Rad Racing this weekend getting dirty and with the big boys of cyclocross, just to see what it's like. I trained pretty hard so I could at least not totally embarrass myself, but I just couldn't totally commit due to work, family, etc. Turns out my daughter Mariah had soccer games in Helena Saturday, so as soon as I found that out, the Seattle trip was off. At least I'd have one more good weekend of training before the racing starts, with one last chance to get in a solid long ride to boost the base fitness before changing things up to more short, high intensity cyclocross type efforts. Best laid plans.....

Mariah had been sick most of last week, but started to feel better Friday afternoon, conveniently enough so she could play soccer Saturday. She awoke Sat am saying she felt great, let's go play some soccer! I, however, woke to the beginnings of a sore throat and a bit of congestion, not good. Turns out that Mariah was also still feeling it a bit once she started running for the game. It slowed her down quit a bit, but she was a trooper and fought through both games, even scoring three goals along the way (she's a total stud) I actually didn't feel to bad for most of the day, and thought I may have gotten off easy, so I still planned on going for a long ride on the 'cross bike from my house out in Belgrade, up and over Flathead Pass, down Bridger Canyon, and back home. I did it last summer. I think it was about 90 miles, plenty of which is on gravel, with some solid climbing along the way. Well. no such luck. I woke up feeling much worse this morning. I was far from being on the death bed, but had a pretty bad sore throat, congestion, and headache to boot. No way I was dragging myself out of bed at 7 am for a long ride. I chose instead to try and sleep it off. I lazed in a few more hours, but felt pretty much the same as the day wore on. I was up and functioning, and thinking I could probably go for a ride, and I really wanted to. But, I knew what advice I'd give to a client in this situation. Rest and get better. Do not dig yourself a hole by training hard while your body needs the energy for healing. It's a long cyclocross season, and though it's frustrating to miss training days when your motivated and feeling strong, it's much smarter to take a few days off/easy and get over the sickness. If I can get through from now all the way to Nats in mid December with just this little sickness as a set back, I'll feel pretty lucky. Chances are I won't be that lucky. So, no training the last two days and probably nothing for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll feel better in time to go play with the rest of the GAS crew and other Bozemanites that are crazed for cyclocross on Tuesday evening for the GAS cyclocross practice. Good times practicing the skills and drills, and chasing Curry around for some practice laps, should be fun.

I'm back.....hopefully

Ok, I'm obviously the worlds worst blogger, no surprises there. Time for the David EEEEEE time capsule to get pushed aside. My guess is there will be more to write about Mr. E in the future! I've been meaning to start posting again for about a month or so as I, as well as many other hardy Montana racers began preparing for the greatest time of the year, cyclocross season. I was stoked, training hard, and wanted to help get MT racers fired up for the season. Well, it just didn't happen. Now cyclocross season is basically here. Good thing Radley over at mtcx has been stoking the fire, 'cause I sure haven't been. Work, life, kids, training, etc is a full plate, and finding time to write useless crap no one really cares about is the easiest thing to put off, so that's what I do. I'm sure no one really missed my once a month ramblings, but I'm gonna try and bring them back. I'm going to try one last time to see if I can come up with some semi frequent blog posts throughout the cx season, and if I can't, then I will put this little show to rest for good. Ok, that's it for tonight. I don't want to use up all my ideas in one post, plus I gotta get up in five hours for some serious training. Tomorrow is gonna be some hard, fast(hopefully) practice laps, followed by a solid threshold session to finish things off. Then, as luck would have it, I get to go to work. Anyone care to sponsor me so I can quit my tile job? I need lots of money, and I'm not that fast. Just checkin'.

Keep it PURE,
Brad

DAVID EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

David E leading the way at the Rocky Mountain Roubaix
www.jpsphotos.net

Who?

David Ellenberger, PURE coached athlete and GAS/Intrinsik racer solos to victory on the queen stage at the American Prarie Classic stage race in Malta, MT. I don't have all the details yet, but I heard that David went off the front with about 25 miles to go and held on for the win. I couldn't be more excited if it had been me taking the W. David is the perfect client. He works hard. No matter what kind of torture, I mean training, I send his way he gets it done- no excuses. I gave a brief "warning" to all you other CAT 4/5 racers early this year, but didn't want to say to much about how strong he was and make him a marked man. His season started pretty good with a decent showing at Frozen Flatlands, but was derailed slightly with a flat in Roubaix. I know he was riding super strong at Roubaix, and I was totally bummed to hear about the flat, but he handled it well, and continued to train hard. Well, the secret is probably out now. I'm telling you, don't give that guy an inch, because he'll turn it into a gap you can't close. He's packed with PURE power , and he's not afraid to use it.

Here's the email I reveived from David this evening:

Wow Brad...Today was the most excellent day of all my years cycling. Soloing to victory over the field was a thrill that I'll not soon forget! Thanks for all the help and encouragement this year and it looks like the hard work paid off big time. I'll give you a call tomorrow and we can chat about the weekend if you like.

Looks like he's giving some props to me, but he's the one doing all the work. Sweet spot rides, climbing repeats, threshold intervals, I name it, he does it. I am so glad to see it's paying off, because he deserves it more than anybody I know. However, I am a little concerned, because he said he wanted a coach so he didn't have to finish all the races on his own. I guess I'll have to hope he's OK with finishing alone off the front!

Congrats David. You deserve it.

SO DO YOU RACE INTERNATIONALLY?

That was one of the questions that I was asked after winning the Downtown Billings Crit last weekend. I went off the front from the gun and lapped most of the field, which gave me quit a bit of notority with the crowd. I was like a big time celebrity after the race. People taking pictures, asking questions, and telling me how great I was. I tried to be humble and downplay the win as much as I could, telling people I was probably a little more serious about this racing thing than the rest of the racers, and that I usually can't win like that in a race against more equal competition. It was basically like picking on a bunch of CAT 4's, but hey, It's still fun to be king for a day once in a while.

The day started with a 5k run. I am most certaintly not a runner, but my daughter sure is. She wanted to do the 5k, so I did my best to keep up with her. She ran it in 25:54, taking first place in the 15 and under girls catagory (she's 9), and beating probably 3/4s of the adults in the run. She is quite the little athlete.

Next up, after killing a few hours in the big city, was the crit race. It was a cool event with a good crowd. There was a beer garden and lots of excitment. The course, however, was shall we say, not quit traditional. It had four, yes four, U turns, yes, U turns, per lap. My biggest concern was getting crashed out, possibly getting hurt, and missing some of the "real" racing that is just around the corner. Against my better judgment, I decided to go ahead and race. The "expert" catagory (it was not a USA Cyling event) had about 15 guys, most of whom were kitted up and looked pretty fit. I figured the best way to stay out of trouble on a totally sketchy course was to try and get off the front and ride solo. A NRO rider, Jeff, I think, got the holeshot, but I got around him after a couple corners and never looked back. 45 minutes of microbursts later, I had lapped most of the field and took the win. The crowd seemed to be impressed.

My wife Tawnya was up next in the "beginner" crit event. I got changed out of my GAS kit, and headed back over to the course to cheer her on and take pictures, and thats when the paparrazi hit. I felt like Lance Armstrong trying to get through a crowd. I was unprepared, and even left my bodygaurds at home, bummer. Tawnya was looking good and riding hard, but I had a hard time watching her as so many people wanted to talk to me about how great I was. I assure you, this doesn't happen everyday, so I tried to oblige and give everyone a chance to get a question or two. OK, it wasn't that bad, but I was pretty popular all of a sudden. People were patting me on the back, asking about how much I ride, taking pictures, even asking if I race internationally. I assured that lady that I definatly wasn't that good, and in a normal event I would have been racing with more experienced racers, and in fact, there were other strong racers, right here in Montana that could have even beat me. I could tell by the look on her face that she didn't believe me, though. Yes, I was king for a day. But, back to Tawnya. She had a great race, riding strong for the duration, finishing 3rd woman, and beating many of the dudes. Way to go Tawnya, looks like all that spinning is paying off. Next up for her, the Peaks to Prarie cycling event. Better get that aero position dialed in!

The day wasn't over yet, as Mariah didn't get enough from her little run, and decided to hop into the "fun" crit to end the day. It was awesome watching her race. She was so serious, almost sprinting from corner to corner to corner to corner (you get the point), riding aggresive and having fun. She even got to sprint for the line against a guy on a red cruiser bike, barely nipping him at the line (thanks to a well timed pull of the brakes, thanks dude on the red cruiser!) Again, a great job by Mariah. She's the defending Rolling Thunder junior girls champion, as well as MT state Champion, girls age8 bmx racer from last year, and I predict some big things from her on the bike this season.

So, we all had a great day at a fun event. My 1st place prize was a bike donated to World Bicycle Relief in my name, which I thought was pretty cool. I talked with several of the racers, and some people who helped put on the races. Hopefully next year they can get more streets closed, make a better course, and some more of us racers can go put on a real show. I think I will ask for an appearnce fee though, since I'm such a superstar.

My head swelling didn't last to long, as the next day was spent chasing Frykmans wheel all around the Bridgers. Back to reality and the realization that racing is hard, and I am definatly NOT the king. The fun and pain of Roubaix is coming soon. I have been dealing with some knee issues that have kept me off the bike a bit, so the training has faltered a little lately. I plan on being as ready as I can be, though. Maybe I'll bring the bodygaurds this time, just in case....

My TSS is through the roof this week

Unfortunately, the TSS I'm talking about is tile stress score. I'm dealing with some looming deadlines on a couple big tile projects I'm working on up in Big Sky, so the tile stress is high. The real TSS that is important to a cyclist is training stress score. When you train with power, each ride is given a training stress score, based on the duration and intensity of the ride relative to your functional threshold power (it can also be estimated based on heart rate and/or perceived exertion). You can use TSS to plan how much training you do every week, or over a longer period of time. The TSS can also be used to build a performance manger chart, which is an awesome tool for tracking fitness, freshness, and fatigue over the course of the season. It's kind of a snapshot of your recent training, and can be used to help plan future training and peaking periods. More on this later, right now I have to much tile stress to deal with. No ride tonight, but tomorrow I get my aerobic workout from grouting 500 square feet of slate floor, not the best way to spend a Saturday.

ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND

To bad it has to come to an end with another Monday tomorrow! Mariah, Trey, and I spent ALL day Saturday at the rink in Billings for Mariah's figure skating competition. She had three events, did awesome,and came home with two gold and one silver medal-way to go Mariah! Tawnya had to stay home so she could teach a charity spinning class at Gold's gym in Bozeman, which was also a big success. She really enjoys teaching spinning, and already has a reputation for being the "tough" instructor. I haven't had the pleasure of taking one of her classes yet, but from what I hear, I may not be able to handle it! If you're from the area and looking for a good workout, check her out at Gold's or Manhatten Athletic Club, just be prepared for battle when you show up.

Today ended up being a beautiful day. Mostly sunny, and probably about 40 degrees so I got out for a long ride. I had a great ride with GAS teammate Tomas and GAS teammate/PURE coached athlete David Ellenberger. They were both riding strong, pulling hard, and we had a great time cruising around the Gallatin Valley, we even threw in some gravel roads for Roubaix training. Many of you Montana racers may not know David, but I predict he will make a mark on the CAT 4 field this season, and everyone will soon know who he is. Consider yourself warned! They called it a day after about three hours, but I rode on for a couple more, all mostly easy stuff, just putting in the miles. I made it to the 5 hr mark, and also hit just over 100 miles for the day. That's pretty good, at least for me at this time of the year it is. Some seasons I don't hit 100 miles all year, so I'll call today a success.

My season training is off to a pretty good start. Here my performance manager chart up to this point. The CTL is rising, just hope I can continue that trend for a while longer.

Another good week of training is in the books, unfortunately it's back to the world of tile, mud and Big Sky in the morning. Lucky me!