Just Quick

So we are now officially in countdown mode...Saturday is the last day of fun in the sun. Nick and I are off to go ride, pretty much right this second, but before we go I leave you with a parting image. I hope to do a whole series ranging from cycling to soccer. I will keep you posted.

Stage 2=80 miles

A few words from Clayville about yesterday's stage.


Stage 2 interview from Christopher Wingfield on Vimeo.

90

Nick is 8th in GC! from Christopher Wingfield on Vimeo.

Just a good song

A little bit'a taste o'da glory

Well it's about time I get'r dun, and by that I mean race my bike. This weekend was the Tucson Bicycle Classic (TBC) and my first race of the year. Well kind of the first race of the year, I'd done the shootout down here a couple weekends and got totally powned. I didn't even make it half way through the "race" before getting dropped. So I was a little unsure how the weekend would go. I'll save you the boredom of the first 2 stages, basically I went really hard in the TT, but not really fast. I missed the move in the road race on day 2 but made it into the second move and finished over 7 minutes off the pace. I did glean a few gems from the second stage, namely don't listen to Wingerz and look at the lame race bible they put out for the start times. Oh and don't neglect to warm up, oops. Now for the cherry on top, stage three. I was given the green light by TH to "ride myself sideways" and I wasn't about to miss an opportunity for good ol' fashion flogging. I played it a little conservative for the first couple laps because I'm still searching for fitness and I didn't want to ala Sammy J, swing the battle axe right out of my hands. In the mean while there were a couple moves that went up the road and then got dragged back. Finally on lap 4 a move got away and the group was seeming complacent to let it go. I moved up near the front and Daniel from Colavita turned to me and asked if I wanted to go to the break, uh no thanks I'll just stay back here and circle jerk with the rest of the peleton. Of COURSE I want to get to the break. So he gives me a lead out and I bridge to the break on the hilly section of the circuit. Once in the break I go to work immediately. We roll like this for 4 laps and on the final lap with a gap of about 2 minutes to the pack the break starts to fall apart and people start sitting on and attacking. I keep rolling through trying not to let any gaps open. With about 2K to go I pull through when I turn around everyone has sat up and let a small gap open to me and the guy who just pulled in front of me. This is it, time to get out of dodge. I stomped on the pedals and gave it everything. They started chasing immediately but I created enough of a gap that to close it would have taken the person out of the sprint and they were working as cohesively as a pack of seaguls fighting over a happy meal. I was able to hold it to the finish for the win. I moved up to 8th overall and made enough to afford a victory meal at In'n'out burger. I'll have a Double double animal style without special sauce. Oh and don't forget copious amounts of ketchup, lycopene please.

Racing in the sun!!!

Hello everyone, figured I would send out a race report for my first race of the year. Nick was in the Pro/1 field so you should see his report soon.

So the Tucson Bicycle Classic began on Friday, with a ridiculously shot TT. The 3 miles, consisted of a downhill section to the halfway point, (which took only about 2 minutes to complete) the 2nd half had an uphill section at about 6%. Just before the finish came the last little kicker of a climb, which hurt like hell, especially cause you had to make it a few hundred more meters to the finish once you were to the top. If you had spent to much energy before the last kick you could certainly loose a good amount of time. Oh, it was also really windy, which made it a little more tricky. Anyway I finished 14th in my group of 40 or so riders with a time of 7:55. For the first time in the TT bike in 6 months I was not expecting a great TT, so I wasn't to unhappy with my result, but we always want to do better right!? Also I should not that pacing yourself for 3 miles is really freakin difficult.

Saturday was the 80 mile RR, the course was a 20 mile loop featuring a long false flat section which was into the wind, and a very hilly back section, into a false flat downhill, and finally a right hand turn into a section of new flat pave before the finish. Breaks went off the front periodically but nothing stuck for too long. I sat in, and didnt do any work, pretty much traditional me. However with about a K to go I took a flyer off the front, and made a pretty good gap, with only one rider on my wheel, with about 400m to go I looked back expecting to see the sprint quickly swallowing me up, but my gap was still there, but I was quickly loosing steam. Not wanting to give up, I charged ahead one last time. But it was no good, the sprint blew past me, putting me in 18th place for the day, and 13th in GC.

Today was a much shorter 45mile circuit race. It was a decently hilly course, in which we were to do 8 laps. Having done squat yesterday, and eager to break bad habits, I rode on the front of the pack. On the 3rd lap there was a sprint bonus of 15 and 10 seconds for 1st and 2nd, I began to pull on the front only to find I had made a gap of a 100m or so and 2 other riders were bridging to me. Once we were together we alternated time in the wind, but it became quickly evident that this was not going to work out. We got caught. Hmmmm, this did not come at a good time, especially because I didn't have long to recover before the sprint. I had hoped to attack after the line, thinking that the field would be wanting to sit up afterword. But my legs were not there and neither was my position. Apparently some guys had the same idea that I did, and a break went off, and quickly made a good sized gap. However once we hit the hill, I saw we were quickly bringing them back. But I knew it was time to do some hard work. Especially because Waste Management (the largest team there) had a man in the break, and they just oh so loved to get into the rotation just so the could sit up, and screw it all up. Actually come to think of it, there were only about half a dozen guys wanting to chase back the break, and the rest were content not pulling when it was there turn. This only increased my frustration and fury, so I focused my attention to one thing...bringing back that damn break in which I missed. I figured if I wasn't up the road then neither would they. Riders started popping off one by one from the break, until there was only 2 of them left, and only 2 laps to go. I could see two riders up the road, and the field was happy to sit, I saw this as my one and only chance to try and bridge the gap. I shifted down and went for it. A couple of guys went with me. If I wasn't going to make it then I certainly wanted to reel in the break as much as possible. But the field caught us before we caught the break. But our effort took its toll, and the gap was continuing to diminish. One lap left, and the break was still up the road, I had been in the wind for most of the day, either initiating a rotation (trying to) or finding myself in breaks. And now it seemed as though the break would stick, so with little left in my legs I was content on sitting near the front, out of the wind, and hope for a good sprint. But another WM guy decided it would be a great idea, to attack not one but twice!! What the hell, I wasn't going to let him go up the road, especially because his teammate was such a natural at blocking. So I chased him down both times, buhwahaha, I got him back. But now I was really tired, but I felt my efforts were well worth it. We were now nearing the finish, so I cobbled up some gels, and cranked down on my shoes. It was time to SPRINT! Ha if that's what you want to call it, I had poor position, tired legs and an up hill sprint to the finish. So needless to say I was sprinting for not a whole lot. I was 11th for the day, and now 12th in GC. Nothing at all that great but I felt good about my performance, and so I was not to worried about my final result. This weekend all said and done was a great way to get in some good training in the sun and warmth of AZ.

Well today was Nick and I's first race of the 2009 season. And what a better way to do that than with a 3 mile TT. How I am supposed to pace myself for that distance, I have know idea, then throw in some hills, and I am waaayyy lost. Oh well, it is the first of many races in the 2009 season, so there is no point to worry about 3 miles. We are still waiting for the results to be posted, but we know we were right around 8 minutes, but who knows where that puts us in the rest of the field. We will let you all know what turned out as soon as we know.

Now here is Nick in a post race interview.


Post TT from Christopher Wingfield on Vimeo.

ATOC-more to come

Thanks dad for taking some wicked photos!

Restless Mind

It’s been nearly 2 months since Chris and I arrived in Tucson and the monotony of doing nothing but training has begun to set in. Don’t get me wrong I love riding my bike and there’s no better place to be than Arizona in the winter but it may be time for some debauchery or at least a trip to the coffee shop to see what we can find. Mind you I’m not much of a coffee drinker so I’ll be looking for something else to catch my attention.

On another note out first race of the season is next weekend at the Tucson Bicycle Classic. It’s sure to be a harsh awakening to race pace as I haven’t done much intensity in my training thus far. I’m hoping to just hang on as most of the locals are fully into their season. I also have a power test this weekend so that will give me a good indication as to how my training is progressing. Wish me luck, I fear I will need it.

Also want to say hi to my friends from work back home at REI if any of you happen to read this.

Off to study Español. Necesito practicar mucho porque no hablo buen. Adiós!

NEW KIT!!!! Finally our new kit arrived, well some of it anyway. We managed to get a jersey and bibs each, so we could start taking photos down here. And that is exactly what we did. Below is a video I put together to show pretty much every photo we shot yesterday. Not much work has been done to them as of yet, just some quick post work in lightroom. Once the selects for the Hagens Berman website are made, than I will spend the time in post. Hope you enjoy all that there is to see, let me know what ones you like.


Photoshoot 1 from Christopher Wingfield on Vimeo.

Birthday!

It's my grandpa's birthday today, the big seven ooh! Yup he is 70 and still going strong, and I mean he is killing it. I am sure he could put to shame people a quarter of his age. Having been a competitive gymnast and sprinter on the track, my grandfather knows exactly what it takes to be a successful athlete. And he puts this knowledge to use everyday, I just hope I can be as fit as he is when I am 70. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY grandpa!

SNOW!

I get a few moments between tempos.



A view from mile 15, yep you come up that road you see below.



SNOW nearing mile 10



Yep thats right, snow! A big ol storm rolled through Tucson dumping snow on the surrounding mountains. Lemmon was closed to cyclist for two days. Lucky for me however,the day I had to lay my watt powered assult upon the beast, it opened back up. SWEET!

So a little detail on the assult. First Nick and I rolled to mile mark 1 and then we stomped it, full out, as hard as we could go for 10 minutes. Very quickly the jersey was unzipped as we mashed our pedals deeper into the pain cave. Just past mile mark 3 our first effort came to an end. Back down the mountain we went, only to go back up...just as hard. The second all out effort was a little slower but hurt just as badly.

Now that both efforts was over, I had two 25 min tempos to complete. Oh the joy of training. But much to my delight tempo didn't feel nearly as bad as I thought it would, and by mile 9 I had snow to enjoy. Why is there snow in Tucson? I could have stayed in Seattle for that. However it is true that I have nowhere near the layers needed to ride here as I would back at home.

Ahh what an enjoyable day. Tomorrow brings five hours of endurance, sweeeeet.

Here's a quick look at some of today's power, let me know if this interests anyone at all. If not you wont have to see it again.

The Grey Wolf

This man is a local legend... he shows up for the "shootout" on Saturday, attacks off the front in the first couple of minutes and than pulls off shortly there after. Today when he pulled off he waited for the group to ride by so he could howl at everyone. This man is truly amazing and probably a little crazy. The interview is worth the watch.

New bars and a clean headset

Oh la la, today the beauty of my new handle bar and stem arrived. The previous bar sucked a great deal, it was like riding a pista track bar. I was pretty excited to put it all together today, and riding it tomorrow should be that much better. I have to say it looks way PRO, and with the added slope of the stem will increase my saddle to cockpit drop, which is good, really good. Alan even decided to fix his creaking headset, finally!

Sunset

Well this evening we just had our first real sunset. Its too bad I didn't go up Lemmon today. But none the less a view quick shots from the front steps is better than nothing.

Mt. Lemmon

I had some time today to take some photos up Mt. Lemmon, there is still miles of road to cover still.

DOWN

First off this is strictly a trial run, we just needed to see how well this would work. We mounted the G9 to my bars, and set it to time lapse (a photo was taken every 2s), its a little rough, I need to go back and change a few things, and try over. I am sure it can be better, so make sure to look back soon. But until then maybe this can give you an idea of what the decent down Mt. Lemmon is like.

Note this isn't anything special

We began from Windy Point (mile 14)

Mt.Lemmon from Christopher Wingfield on Vimeo.

Good things come in THIS package!

Good things don't come in small packages, good things come in packages sent from MOM! That's right we call in the cavalry, the Nestle cookies just were not cutting it. Lucky for us, one quick and very desperate phone call, fresh backed cookies were on their way. And today they arrived, oh the joy of seeing perfectly undamaged baked goods...THANKS MOM FROM ALL OF US IN TUCSON





These are the original cookies, nothing compared to what we would receive only a couple days later.

The Drive

So it has been a little over a week or so since our last post, so it is certainly time to do so. Currently its drizzling outside, making Tucson feel far to much like Seattle. However the beauty of the surrounding mountains shrouded in cloud is something quite breathtaking ( I will be sure to take photos soon). But for now here are some photographs from the drive down. The Lost Lake sign, I cant tell you anything about, other than it just appeared on the side of a road, in literally the middle of nowhere. The gas station, well...it was the LAST gas stop of the drive down here, pretty significant I would say. Well I will try to post some more fun and interesting stuff soon, I certainly have lots of material around here. Maybe Nick can take a stab at this soon?

Mt. Lemon

Rode up Mt. Lemon to the 15 mile mark today, amazing climb! Grabbed a few quick photos and video, nothing special, I will upload video soon.

Let the good times roll

We have made it, finally! After a mad rush out the door on Thursday to get through Steven's Pass, (the only road open) the trip had begun. Now we are here, and still alive. We even manged to get in a 2 1/2 hour ride before the sun set. AWESOME!!! No leg warmers, booties, arm warmers just a sort sleeve, and bibs. Pretty awesome considering its January! So the plan from here on out is to try and write, photograph, and video our training and living in Tucson over the next few months. Until later, enjoy the PNW RAIN!


Sorry for the wind from Christopher Wingfield on Vimeo.