Bicycle racing this weekend - real racing - no running! (kidding...)

This past weekend was very exciting for TARGETRAINING at races all over the country. First, Justin and No Nickname Nate raced in the Adirondack Region Empire State Games qualifier on Saturday. For you NY State guys, you know how important this is to everyone up there. Well, in a scenario soon to be repeated, Nate got in an early break and Justin bridged up a lap later. Following wheels, Justin got away with two others until they made the mistake of shifting into their small rings on a climb, and Justin didn't and rode away. This may come as a surprise to everyone, but Justin won solo. Again. Seriously, this is getting old. No Nickname held on for 5th and both guys qualified and will be representing their region and TARGETRAINING next month. Further West one time zone, 2008 Elite team rider Will No-Break-From-College Nowak raced in the Winfield Twilight Criterium in Chicago. After an attack on his breakaway mates didn't stick, Will just out sprinted them for his first USCF win of the season. Kick ass! We look forward to seeing him soon, and welcome to the "W" club. Then, on Sunday, the whole team raced at the CCC Criterium in old familiar Bethel. With Rick, Tom Toal and Client Dave racing the 45+ event, things got exciting when Rick was able to get in a solid move again. He sprinted hard and barely got nipped at the finish but took 2nd. Friggin great. Welcome back Rick, looks like things are back to normal from March! Tom was great and Dave was in the mix. Remember that Dave is no spring chicken, so to see throwing shoulder blocks race long (as well as doubling up in the cat 4 event) was pretty cool too! Frank, Jim and Bart were all in the 4 and 5 races too. Great job to Bart, welcome to the 4s. The 3/4 race saw pretty boy Max Viega and junior Ryan Storm going super strong. Ryan got in the winning move, but got bested at the finish. Conserve my boy! Then in the P123 event, the U25/Elite lads were in town in force with yours truly pinning on a number for another afternoon of pain. With cash prizes, a $100 prime and an Ipod prime on the line, the boys had their work cut out for them as their instructions were to win those primes or motor pace home. The first laps went easy as everyone waited for their signature attacks. When none came, some tried to roll off the front. Nate went with them with Justin soon to solo bridge up. (booorrrrinnnggg). A few laps later, Stylin' Ben Zawacki bridged and then soon came Matt Baldwin. So, we had 4 out of 12 up the road. With BFD Dave making a nuisance of himself by blocking in the field (much to Stage 1's dismay) Nate took the $100 and Ben the Ipod. Looks like they can drive home! At the finish, a lap card mistake by the official saw Ben sprint for what he thought was the win, only to get the bell. He tried to stay off for the last lap, but got caught at the hill and hung for 3rd. It was the right thing, he saw "1 to go" and saw red and "green". Next time as this kid is super fast! The guys rode amazing as a team and represented us all well! Next on tap, is the ultra hard Balloon Fest this Saturday (Battenkill without the dirt), then Housatonic and we are off for a week racing in the Tour of Ohio! Look for my daily race reports and wish the lads all good luck! Also remember, we are still in desperate need for drivers to help with the HHRR next Sunday. It is a lot of fun driving either an official or wheel support and is a good way to serve the sport and the club. Please let me know if you can help! Thanks, and go fast!

Reminder: Sunday June 8th Housatonic Hills Cycling Event

Gang,

Please remember to reserve your spots for the Housatonic Hills cycling ride. This challenging ride will be led by TARGETRAINING professional endurance coaches on the Housatonic Hills Connecticut State Road Race Championship course. For one day, everyone gets to be a champion!

The ride will be 2-3hrs in length and will have cycling leaders for beginner to advanced cyclists.

For more details and to reserve your spots, please contact, Eneas Freyre:

Eneas@TARGETRAINING.com or 203-227-6177
9am start — Meet in commuter parking lot at exit 14 off I-84

TARGETRAINING clients ride for free along with one guest. Pricing is $30 for non clients.

Here is the flyer: http://www.targetraining.com/HousatonicTTRide_6082008.pdf

Official weekend results -- all sports and events

Anyone with pictures or stories please send them in (awaiting Kyle Wolfe's view of the cycling race):

For the Ridgefield Tri on Saturday May 31st:
http://www.plattsys.com/results/res2008/ridtri08.htm (Nicole Green won her age group, Megan Griffis was winning the overall through the bicycle but dropped out purposely -- see crazy story below).

For the Fairfield Duit Duathlon Sunday morning June 1st:
http://www.hitekracing.com/results08/fair0601.htm (Mitch West somehow got lost but he was up in the top ten but got no official result).

For the Connecticut Coast Cycling Cancer Survivor Race in Bethel:
http://www.connecticutcoastcycling.com/

Here is Megan's story (told by Megan):
here is my Tri - Ridgefield recap...I had a very good DNF. My foot was bothering me so much on Friday after the morning swim/run that I went to the orthopedic -said no stress fracture yet...but possibly one coming on. So, he said I could compete in alcatraz and run - if foot feeling OK and if I didn't run this weekend and did mainly aqua jogging this week. As for the race - I was first out of the water by a lot- walked/hobbled the LONG transitions. First off the bike by about 3-4 min. I think I average about 22 mph?...I forgot to take my splits and they are not posted yet. I passed lots of guys in aero helmets ;) I practiced my T2 -then stopped after I crossed the timing pad. The crowd looked VERY confused. They were like...keep going your winning by a lot. It was very weird. I wanted to keep going but knew I would pay for it later if I did. I would have likely won overall had I run or at worst come second. Pascale was first in 1:11 -which if I split a 23ish? 5K would have put me ahead of her. The race didn't take a lot out of me, so I did a 17 mile hilly ride after I got home.Newbie Target team member Nicole won the 25-29 AG!!!

What a morning! Fairfield Duathon

A beautiful morning to race 2mi-11mi-2mi duathlon in downtown Fairfield. The course was relatively flat through the neighborhood, in and around Fairfield University. TARGETRAINING had about 10-12 athletes racing this morning and all ready to go when the car horn blew just after 7:30a. It was amazing how fast the leaders took off. Some who you knew weren't going to be able to keep the pace, and others who were just fast!

I didn't start a stopwatch nor have I seen the results, but the pace was quick, and I was well behind the leaders. The bike course was two 5+ mile loops. Somehow there was a group (I won't name anyone specific - Mitch) who got off course. I thought it was well marked, but for Mitch's (oh, DAMN, I said his name again) sake, I suppose if you put you head down at the wrong intersection, you could have gotten off course.

Anyhow, the course was nice and besides a few potholes, you were able to pretty much open it up. False flat going out and some descending on the way back. Coming into T2, I felt decent. My calves were a little sore to begin with so hopefully I wouldn't feel them too much on the second run. The last run was the same loop again and despite slowing down by ~60seconds or so, I felt all right coming in.

Alcatraz in 7 days. Brrrr. That's why, I will enjoy this 70 degree day in Fairfield.

Overall, it was nice local race with many familiar faces that I would definitely do again. Great job everyone from TT!

Pawling Triathlon Recap

I was lucky enough to receive a (very) late entry into this race; I hadn't originally planned it, but begged my way in as a post-injury tune up before the World Age Group championships next week. This race has grown quite a bit in the last few years and had 420 entrants today despite the threat of weather Armageddon (which fortunately did not happen).

After a tense wait pre-start to get an official number (and not upset local race management), I was assigned to the 3rd wave. At Pawling, the swim is in a lake, and after the few swims with TT stalwarts Mitch and Greg in the chilly LI Sound, the lake was like a bathtub. I put an overhauled stroke to the test and ended up with statistically the best swim of my tri career - 11th fastest in the water.

Unfortunately, what I REALLY needed help with was getting my darned wetsuit off my legs. The top came off easily, but despite having greased up, the legs were rough. An older gentleman that happened to be standing there - hopefully, his wave had not yet swum - started to try to help take it off...and I screamed at him to stop - felt bad about that...THEN, on the way out of T1, my chip came off and I had to put it back on my leg. Between those two episodes, I lost 3 places in the race and a podium spot. But more on that later. Moral: practice transitions a LOT!!

On the bike, and the new Cervelo P2C didn't disappoint. The final time didn't show it due to the combined T1/Bike time, but I know I biked faster than I did 2 years ago. I was stronger on hills and hit a higher top speed on the (few) flats. Fortunately, T2 went much better than T1 and I was off on the run.

I'd spent the last month nursing my achilles back to health and this race was both a test of the achilles and a way to get race ready for next week. As such, I eased off the run just a bit, which also wasn't good since the run is typically my strongest leg and I could have used the extra time. I ended up with the 4th fastest run of the day, but that also lost me places by not going 100%. Still, I felt good and was happy with that.

End result: 5th overall, 2nd 40-44; 2nd place was only 20 seconds ahead, so given the difficulties above, I think things went well. Results can be found here: http://www.plattsys.com/results/res2008/pawling.htm

Now, a quick recovery, a day or two of decent training, then on to Vancouver and the World Championships next Saturay.